- Russian bots propel indie game to top of Steam charts - 23 April 2021
Discoverability is a tech buzzword that indicates how likely someone is to find your product. It's important on Steam, where indie developers are constantly under pressure to get their product's name in front of players' eyes. The stakes involved, and the fact that Valve has largely automated the process, has led to some pretty weird outcomes, as one indie developer learned this past week. Prismata, an Early Access deck-building RTS by rookie developer Lunarch Studios, hurtled to the top five of Steam's concurrent player charts recently, taking the developer completely by surprise. Here's what happened. In the last month, Lunarch Studios has done what a lot of indie developers do to attract interest to their game: gave out free keys. The team also ran a free weekend, letting anyone who played their game keep it forever. If you're not a robot, then feel free to check out our list of the…
- Balance Patch - 14 January 2019
Hi everyone! In our ongoing quest to have the best version of each and every unit in the game, we've just pushed a set of changes to six Prismata units. These aren't just nerfs; actually, we focused more on buffs this time to try and give a few of the underrepresented Prismata units more of a chance to shine. A full explanation for the reasons behind these changes (alongside some stories about other things we've tried) can be found on the blog. Odin - Health reduced from 4 to 3. Mobile Animus - Click ability cost reduced from 3 to 2. Wild Drone - Completely redesigned. Now has 2HP, 10 supply, 2 buildtime, costs 2E, and produces 1 gold per turn. Still Frontline. Sentinel - Cost reduced from 7GR to 6GR. Health reduced from 4 to 3. Militia - Cost changed from 6B to 3B + sacrifice a Drone. Blood Phage - Cost decreased from 8RE to 6RE. Buildtime increased from 1 to 2.A number of other small…
- Deviously deterministic card battler Prismata goes free-to-play - 26 September 2018
Despite its card-game layout, Lunarch’s Prismata is more Starcraft than Hearthstone and maybe even purer as a strategy game than that. Going free-to-play today (though still early access), I recommend strategy fans give it a try, partly as it defies easy description and mostly because it’s very clever. I’d call it a turn-based card game without decks, hands, boosters, trading or dice – it’s entirely deterministic strategy and math. Today’s free-to-play launch makes much of it free, minus four episodes of solo story missions, a bundle of puzzles and some restrictions to ranked multiplayer. Below, a new launch trailer. (more…)
- Prismata is now free-to-play on Steam! - 26 September 2018
It's happening! Prismata has been officially switched over to free-to-play on Steam. And we've got a few amazing reveals for you to check out right now! New Cover Art Prismata now has a brand new cover image, featuring Swade, Anya, and a host of our favourite Prismata units. Check it out: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Ff13d0f8308ded052625965b74b8c8c632c474618.png New Trailer Yep, we have a new trailer too! Check it out here. Is Prismata pay-to-win now? NO! NEVER! Prismata will retain its current business model through the free-to-play transition, focusing on premium single-player content and customizable cosmetics. There are absolutely no card packs to buy, or any other paid way of gaining an advantage in competitive multiplayer. The Prismata promise is real. ^_^ See you next update! ~ Elyot Grant Founder, Lunarch Studios
- Prismata Puzzle Packs, Road to Glory, Language Support, and a big announcement - 14 September 2018
Hi everyone! Earlier this week, we deployed our biggest Prismata update of the year, featuring our new Puzzle Pack, Road to Glory system, multi-language support, and more. I'm going to tell you all about all that new stuff... but first, a huge announcement: Prismata is going free-to-play on September 26th! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fe0aa081e0941c29dd0b879ecbdd2b3e55d989d7c.png It's happening! Prismata will still be considered an Early Access product until we complete the rest of the campaign and launch globally. But going from paid-only Early Access to free Early Access is still a huge deal. We got many thousands of new players every day when we tested a free weekend back in June, so this is when things will really start to heat up! Also, to be absolutely clear, Prismata will fully retain its competitive integrity through this free-to-pla…
- Episode 3: Keystone is now available! Plus, a developer update. - 13 July 2018
Hi, everyone! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F889e5d5249fc6968f1dbc359af0ae2c94b5b7acc.png Additionally, we've deployed a number of small tweaks and updates, including some new skins: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fc5081d3fe885f1d4e392396e037ceede7160bb25.pnghttps%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fabf9d65336ce29c296b2b82417f18ae4272894dd.png Next, we have a community tournament running this weekend. Check out RuinedShadow's "game of morale" tourney happening this Sunday. There will be shard prizes and a badge for the winner. Sign-ups are still available: https://www.reddit.com/r/Prismata/comments/8xoa22/prismata_is_a_game_of_morale_open_1_this_sunday/ Finally, we have a developer update for you, in which we talk about some of our progress over the last month, and…
- New units are live! - 30 June 2018
Hi everyone! We've just deployed an update featuring four new Prismata units! Here they are: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Ffd5225437f2e5eceefd449151992bc9325106cc0.png 10 supply https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fa4764cf09cb8994d41a3587875f89d681227c3e7.png 1 supply https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F3962f920693c02ccb2b8f59dfcf28aedc219c2c3.png 10 supply https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F6f9b96641335bc8295bba8b36239d82a87fd08e5.png 10 supply These new units will have a 300% occurrence boost this weekend, so you'll see them three times as often as usual in your ladder games. Development Update We've posted another development update vlog, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=768USc1iHRM Highlights in…
- Beta Pre-season tournament this Sunday! $100 prize! - 1 June 2018
We're thrilled to announce the first official Prismata Early Access tournament! This is a Beta Pre-Season event (the last one before our Beta World Championship, which is coming later this year). The tourney is this Sunday and is open to all players. Info below. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F661be0e94e8898a879ac5c95268eb7a9f58e35e1.jpg Time: Sunday, June 3rd, 2018 from 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM EDT Format: PLANETARY MEGA BRAWL! Players have 2.5 hours to play Base+8 30s Prismata games in the Event queue. The goal is to score as many points as possible, where points are granted as follows: 5/3/2 points for a win/draw/loss during a player’s first 5 games of the brawl. 2/0/-1 points for a win/draw/loss during all subsequent games. Players will receive a time handicap when matched against an opponent with a lower score (one second per point, down to a m…
- Kill The Servers weekend! - 18 May 2018
Hi everyone! Our "Kill the Servers" weekend is now live! From May 18th to 21st, you can grab the Prismata base game for free (and keep it!) Please tell your friends! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F1a69056def43c9b066656cfa96311e1ec144f268.png We've also deployed a number of small tweaks and bugfixes to the Prismata client. Check the in-game patch notes for more information.
- RTS-inspired deckbuilder Prismata goes free-to-play(ish) for the weekend - 18 May 2018
Prismata is a bit of a hard sell because I can’t think of any other strategy game quite like it. It looks and controls like a Magic: The Gathering inspired card game, but flows like an RTS, and while you do gradually expand your construction options between matches, there’s no randomly drawn booster packs or loot boxes. While previously the only way into the game’s early access release was to buy the $25 Founders Edition, this weekend you can jump in and play multiplayer and the start of the solo campaign free , from now until Monday, 10am Pacific, with those who get in on the free weekend seemingly able to keep this cut-down edition of the game. (more…)
- Episode 2: Recombination is now available! - 11 May 2018
Prismata's second thrilling single player story campaign episode is now available! https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F428237216c9b7f14c4ed4b1018e320677a9f2601.png Travel to majestic Tauren Prime, the academic center of Beacon's biotechnology research efforts. Home to the Earthlife project, Vorexus Technologies, and a secret bio lab or two, Tauren Prime has been infected by the deadly VILE malware, which threatens to turn the city's robots against their creators. As Swade and Anya battle to contain the robotic threat, they find their efforts undermined as something even deadlier arrives... Grab the Prismata Founder's Edition now to get access to all 5 episodes, plus other exclusive benefits.
- Prismata campaign update - 1 May 2018
Prismata's single player story campaign continues this Saturday, May 5th with Episode 2: Recombination! Prismata founder Elyot Grant has a new developer vlog discussing progress, achievements over the last month, and the high standard of quality he's trying to bring to Prismata's single player modes. Have a look here: https://youtu.be/NTGbeFz-D2w
- Quality-of-life update - 18 April 2018
Hi everyone. Episode 2 is only a short ways away (sorry to make you wait, we're just putting a few finishing touches on things!) Before it goes live, we've deployed an update to Prismata containing several improvements and new features: Switched the client to download assets from Amazon Cloudfront. This should substantially reduce loading times in areas of the world that are further from North America, especially on the web client. Added a new 150s (Extended) queue to Ranked Play. Adjusted when the "low time warning" sound plays. It now happens when 30/20/15/15/15/10/6/3 seconds remain in games with 150/90/60/45/30/20/12/6 second time limits. Added a search box to the Ranked Play leaderboard. Adjusted phase 1 of the Squarewave mission to have fewer enemies. Improved some bot behaviours involving defense with Urban Sentry. Switched the default menu hotkey from F12 to F9 for new players o…
- New units, balance patch, and tourney! - 7 April 2018
Hi everyone! Our new patch is out, featuring the following brand new units: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fc33dbca3fa0c31a33ddf4c0b5f6c294496001502.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F58c9fb21e4bcc18197da30d740396d4bfd61f80a.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fa788752c4c4072f1c86cf43dfb15fed2683fbf67.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F79d35a510f9e75696da99236c8feda7ca26606e7.png Balance Changes Additionally, we've made the following balance adjustments. More information about the reasoning behind these changes is available on our blog: Thermite Core - New ability: pay 2 attack to construct 2 Pixies. Lifespan reduced from 8 to 5. Asteri Cannon - HP increased from 14 to 16. Blood Pact - Now spawns an enemy Grimbot…
- New units, balance patch, and tourney! - 7 April 2018
Hi everyone! Our new patch is out, featuring the following brand new units: https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fc33dbca3fa0c31a33ddf4c0b5f6c294496001502.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F58c9fb21e4bcc18197da30d740396d4bfd61f80a.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2Fa788752c4c4072f1c86cf43dfb15fed2683fbf67.png https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32055943%2F79d35a510f9e75696da99236c8feda7ca26606e7.png Balance Changes Additionally, we've made the following balance adjustments. More information about the reasoning behind these changes is available on our blog: Thermite Core - New ability: pay 2 attack to construct 2 Pixies. Lifespan reduced from 8 to 5. Asteri Cannon - HP increased from 14 to 16. Blood Pact - Now spawns an enemy Grimbot…
- Mini update - 29 March 2018
Mini update March 29th, 2018 Just a few small updates: Changed it so that bot games count as draws instead of losses if they are abandoned due to the user being automatched (this preserves Master Bot streaks). Fixed an exploit that involved using Steam family sharing to redeem DLC multiple times. Fixed a bug where Steam payments would not work in some regions with certain tax rules. Changed Event Mode to require Level 25 to access. Made a number of small new user experience updates, including changes to some tips in the menus. A unit and balance update is coming next week! An announcement of the upcoming changes will go live this weekend.
- Mini update - 29 March 2018
Mini update March 29th, 2018 Just a few small updates: Changed it so that bot games count as draws instead of losses if they are abandoned due to the user being automatched (this preserves Master Bot streaks). Fixed an exploit that involved using Steam family sharing to redeem DLC multiple times. Fixed a bug where Steam payments would not work in some regions with certain tax rules. Changed Event Mode to require Level 25 to access. Made a number of small new user experience updates, including changes to some tips in the menus. A unit and balance update is coming next week! An announcement of the upcoming changes will go live this weekend.
- Oh hey, announcements exist! - 20 March 2018
Hi everyone! I just learned how to post these announcements, so I guess we will start using them for patch notes and other updates. I've pasted all of our patch notes since the launch below. Don't hesitate to reach out via the Steam community, subreddit, or Discord server if you have any questions, problems, or feedback! Best, ~ Elyot Grant Founder, Lunarch Studios ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loader Bugfixes March 20th, 2018 Hi everyone. Today's update is just a couple of fixes for the loader to reduce load times and implement additional backups in the event that loading fails. If you encounter any further problems on the loading screens, please report them or contact [email protected]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mini update Marc…
- Oh hey, announcements exist! - 20 March 2018
Hi everyone! I just learned how to post these announcements, so I guess we will start using them for patch notes and other updates. I've pasted all of our patch notes since the launch below. Don't hesitate to reach out via the Steam community, subreddit, or Discord server if you have any questions, problems, or feedback! Best, ~ Elyot Grant Founder, Lunarch Studios ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loader Bugfixes March 20th, 2018 Hi everyone. Today's update is just a couple of fixes for the loader to reduce load times and implement additional backups in the event that loading fails. If you encounter any further problems on the loading screens, please report them or contact [email protected]. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mini update Marc…
