v1.4.0 — Classic Mode is back. An apology, and both battle modes now switchable

An apology from the developer

I'm a solo developer with a full-time day job, and I'm listening. I've read every review, comment and refund note.

In July I replaced the Hearthstone-style battle you bought with a poker-style one, without asking you. That was wrong, and I'm sorry. Some of you also found Korean text on screens that should have been English. Because I do everything alone — code, art, translation, testing — fixing things takes longer than it should. Thank you for your patience while I caught up.

What changed in v1.4.0

• Classic Mode is back. The original Hearthstone-style battle system — mana, summons, hero powers, card effects — restored from the original build, not rewritten.
• Two modes, your choice. On first launch you pick Classic or Poker from real in-game screenshots. Switch anytime in Settings or the Lobby. Each mode keeps its own cards, decks and packs (the shop marks every pack as ★ Classic or ♠ Poker); gold, story progress, achievements and missions are shared — clearing a stage in either mode counts.
• Season 2 in Classic. The Machine Kingdom and Undead invasion now play in Classic Mode too: 42 new classic cards, 7 boss heroes with their own hero powers, and the classic-only Invasion Pack. Machine cards Overclock (gain attack each turn, but take damage); Undead cards Rise (leave a skeleton behind).
• Every classic card re-tested. All 165 classic cards were played one by one on both sides of the board and compared against their text. About 25 effects that silently did nothing when the AI played them (draw, discard, mana, cost reduction, return to hand) now work, "both players" effects hit both players, and three cards that showed a tiny dot instead of their artwork have proper art.
• You can see what an effect did. When a battlecry, spell or hero power fires in Classic, a large card-style notice shows the card, who played it and what it does. The new Effect Log button lists recent effects. Poker Mode now shows the same notice for roulette powers, hand effects (Freeze, Vulnerable, Pierce…), Overclock, Raise and items, with its own Effect Log.
• Fairer Poker Mode. From chapter 2 on, enemy decks were accidentally built from twenty boosted 1-cost cards — a wall most starter decks could not pass. Enemy decks now follow a proper cost curve, enemy HP was retuned chapter by chapter, and your monsters' traits and suit bonuses now apply to your own attacks as the card text says.
• Every stage has its own opponent. In Poker Mode most stages showed the chapter's queen or the same few faces. Each stage now faces its own character — Clover Guard, Jubjub Bird, the Gambler, Absolem, Training Drones… the same cast Classic Mode uses — and the stage select tells you who you are about to fight.
• Choose a Boon. A small roguelike twist in both modes: every story battle offers three random boons and you take one. In Poker Mode you pick one of three random items (six in total, each with its own icon now); in Classic Mode, on your first turn, you choose between drawing 2 cards, +1 mana this turn, 3 damage to the enemy hero, or a free Royal Pawn. (Not offered in your very first classic battle, so the tutorial hints stay readable.)
• Poker battle effects are visible again. Hit, destroy and summon particle effects were playing behind the battle UI where nobody could see them. They are now drawn in front.
• The expansion now plays differently. In the Three Machine Dragons expansion (chapters 7–14), Poker Mode spins its own roulette: Normal / Undead / Machine / Fused — Steady, Soul Drain, Overvolt (big damage with recoil) and Fusion. In Classic Mode, chapters 7–10 each have their own Field Rule that triggers at the start of each player's turn (for example, on the Graveyard Field a player with an empty board raises a 1/1 Skeleton).
• Empty rewards fixed. Stages marked "Reward: Potion" or "Reward: Rest" gave nothing at all — including every stage of chapters 8–10. They now pay gold.
• Full English/Japanese/Russian pass. Every screen was captured in all four languages and scanned; the enemy-turn banner, status icons, guide bars and battle logs are now in your language. 40 card names that showed as garbled text in Russian are fixed, the classic story result screen is translated (it was English-only), and the hero unlock popup shows the hero's name in your language.
• Welcome gift. The first time you enter each mode you receive 2 Wonderland Packs for that mode's collection — so switching modes never starts you from an empty shelf. Existing players get it on their next launch too.
• Friendly match. A new Friendly tab lets you play the AI with no wager and no rank-point change. Ranked and Friendly matches are both played against AI, and the ranked screen says so.
• Card text you can read. Hold right-click on a card to see it enlarged with its full effect text — in the library (both modes) and in Classic battles (your hand and the board, including the opponent's creatures).
• The classic AI finally fights back. In Classic Mode the enemy never attacked your hero, never cast a spell and never used its hero power — its scoring valued any creature trade above damage to your hero, and it could not read the effect lists that all 31 spells and 20 hero powers use. It has been rewritten: it takes lethal when it has it, hits your hero when there is no good trade, and plays its spells and hero power. A smarter enemy makes every stage harder, so difficulty was re-measured with automated real battles across all 14 chapters (with the starter deck for the base chapters) and retuned by stage type: elite and boss HP were lowered and the AI holds back on how many cards it plays per turn. Overall difficulty is about where it was — the difference is that the enemy now plays the game.
• Cleaner UI. Plain colored boxes across the menus replaced with the lobby's glass-and-gold style; buttons and labels no longer spill out of their frames. The ranked panel, match result, rank-up, story result, settings and reward center screens were rebuilt in the same style — no more flat colored boxes, and no stat cells sticking out of their frame.
• Bug fixes. Creatures reduced to 0 health by a stat-reducing effect now die instead of staying on the board at 0/0; the enemy turn could freeze when the AI picked a card it had just played; the Season 2 poker screen's three-line DLC guide is now one line and the Overclock / Raise buttons no longer overlap the roulette; Classic battles no longer break at turn start for heroes without a hero power; classic hero HP corrected to 30 (it was using the poker value); classic decks hold 30 cards again (they were cut to 20); card faces and hero portraits in classic battles render correctly; hand is capped at 10 and the board at 7 for both sides (the AI was holding and summoning without limit); fatigue damage works again; the enemy-turn banner no longer shows raw engine text.

Next

• A clearer first 10 minutes for the poker mode.

If you refunded because the game changed on you — this build is for you. And if something is still wrong, tell me. I read everything. — yawangshiro (solo developer)