Hey everyone! It's been a week since DINO MERCS exited early access. It's been an exciting time and there's still more to come! If you've played the game, thank you so much! It means a lot to me (Tim, the dev) that you would spend your time playing my game.

In this post, I'd like to give everyone an update about what's upcoming:



This is my first game, so I will be the first one to admit that I have a lot to learn about game design and balance. I'm continually working on tweaking variables and adjusting how the game plays and feels.

You can expect to see regular patches that improve the game's balance (I've already released a few updates this past week). Whenever a larger patch/update is released, I'll do a formal post here on Steam.

Have you noticed something in the game that doesn't feel balanced? Is a card too weak or too powerful? Is an enemy seemingly impossible to beat or too easy to defeat? Let me know! The best way to communicate with me is via the Discord server[discord.gg]. You can also post in the Steam forums for the game, I check those too.



Personally, I'm not a huge fan of how events (firefights, scavenge, hot zones, etc.) work in the game. So, I'm working on doing a slight overhauling of how they work, look, and feel. Specifically, I'm looking to improve a few different things:

Player Choice / Streamlining

Right now, each "turn" of a run, you can pick between three events. It's a little cumbersome to figure out what each event does, and picking between three different events can feel like too much.

In order to improve the user experience and still keep player choice, I'm reducing the three events down into just one event. BUT, you'll get two options for how the event plays out. For example, when you come across a potential Firefight, you can choose to dive right into combat, or you can avoid the fight if you prefer that. Or maybe you'll have the option to choose between an easy fight or a hard fight (for greater rewards).

Overall, I feel like this streamlined approach will be a major improvement over the current implementation.

Better Integration With Your Run

There will also be new events that provide additional options for increasing stats, healing your HP, and more. On the other hand, there will also be danger - chances of losing supplies, HP, and more.

Overall, I hope that this change makes events feel more dynamic. Things will be less predictable and events will influence the course of your run more so than they do right now in the game.



I have some ideas for new cards. To be up front: I won't be adding a ton of new content right now (but I might in the very near future, if the game sells lots of copies and gets lots of positive reviews, hint hint ;) ) but I do want to keep adding new cards where there are "gaps".

First up, I plan to add some more defense cards. Right now, the options for defense seem a little lacking, like no rare defense cards (?!). Next, I'd like to get some more info on what play styles don't feel very viable and introduce new cards that make those play styles more playable (and tweak existing cards!). Again, if you have any ideas or opinions on this, please let me know! I'd love to chat with players in the Discord server about this kind of thing.

Okay, that's it for now. If I seem to be missing anything that really needs improvement or attention, be sure to let me know. Keep an eye out here and on Discord for more updates soon!

Thank you,
-Tim, the dev

Attention all mercenaries! The long-awaited release of DINO MERCS is finally here, unleashing its full glory on Steam!

Strap into your boots and join the ranks of Dark Solar Defense to unleash your inner DINO MERC — a battle-hardened veteran ready for action. With four unique characters, each boasting their own skill set, you'll be equipped to wreak havoc on fascist forces like never before.

But here's the twist: victory isn't just about brute strength. Master the Card Positioning System to outmaneuver your foes and strategically play your cards to evade chaos. As you build a deck that strikes terror into the hearts of rival mercenaries, remember: you don't just play your cards but the enemies as well. Be careful not to sabotage yourself in the heat of battle!

So grab your gear, rally your comrades, and remember: In the chaotic dance of battle it's not just survival, but domination, that defines a true mercenary.

I've got some fixes, adjustments, balancing, etc.! Hopefully these tweaks all improve the gameplay experience. There are still a number of things I'm experimenting with, and should be able to release those soon!

- Smaller band of effect levels: +3x <-> -2x
- Add "none" slot in the middle
- Modified damage profiles, but I will likely continue to revisit these
- Fixes for Armor Bash & Energy Lash cards
- Greatly increase bleeding and toxic gas damage
- Increase (double) the effects of all status cards (panicked, dazed, etc.)
- Lower all max stats, give characters and enemies lower max defensive stats overall
- You now start runs with only 250 supplies to spend
- Double cost of removing cards from deck, cost increases by +500 supplies each time to remove a card
- Increase the cost of all cards (+250), and fix some card costs that didn't match rarities

Get ready for the BIG BANG!
We’re transitioning from early access to full release on 12th of March, 2024! Whether you're a battle-hardened mercenary or a green bean recruit, DINO MERCS is sure to leave you in awe!

But before we unleash the mayhem, we've got some bug stomping and meat munching to do. Gotta get that primal vibe going, right? Ha! So sharpen those claws and chomp on that raw meat—it's gonna be a wild ride!

Now, let's talk about what's crackin':

• Strategic deckbuilding: Beef up your deck after each round to outsmart rival mercs.
  
• Tactical card play: Utilize your and opponent's cards for maximum impact and tactical terror.
  
• Four unique characters: Each with their own special skills, strengths, and weaknesses for diverse gameplay.
  
• Multiple runs: Test your mercenary skills against various difficulties and enemies.
  
• Highscore chase: Dive into an arcade-style, endless mode with escalating levels of challenge where the stakes are high and glory is eternal.

Prepare to stack the corpses and roar in triumph! See you seven days!

Oh, and feast your eyes on this new trailer we whipped up — it's dino-mite! Alright, I'll see myself out.

I've fixed another handful of things!

- Changed Armored Division card to buff character's Max Armor instead of Aim
- Fixed Tank Boss title (had wrong affiliation)
- Fixed a Hot Zone description that was messing up the typing effect
- Dramatically increased the speed text is typed out, sorry it was so slow before!
- Fix the render order of the menu on the combat rewards store, so you can actually use it now

Next up: I'm going to be doing quite a bit of balance changes. In particular, the power level of enemies and cards will increase at a slower rate, so things don't get so wild so quickly.

If you have any thoughts on anything that seems out of balance, please let me know!

-Tim, the Dev

Various players were experiencing some issues that I've now fixed!

If you come across anything else, please let me know and I'll fix it asap. If you haven't played the game in a long time (several months or more), your save file may be incompatible. I had to make some breaking changes to save files a while back. So if you are playing for the first time in a long time, and get stuck on the "Unnusual Undertaking" splash screen, you may need to delete your save file or reinstall the game. I'm very sorry about that! I try to avoid this kind of thing but at a couple points during Early Access, the game data changed dramatically, meaning old save data was simply incompatible.

Anyways, here's what I fixed:

• Sometimes the Utahraptor character loaded in, but was really tiny. It's normal sized now.
  
• The BSC Trooper enemy was invisible. It wasn't suppose to have those powers. It doesn't anymore.
  
• On some save files, clicking on operation event nodes didn't work. It should work now.
  
• For some players, Hot Zones that triggered combat events loaded you into combat encounters where the cards were never dealt. This is fixed too!
  
• There were some issues with achievements unlocking even if you didn't accomplish what was required. Now achievements should only unlock if you earn them. (if this doesn't happen, let me know exxactly what achievement unlocked incorrectly)

Thanks for your patience with me while I sort out these bugs!
-Tim, the Dev

I know it's been a long time since I've given an update, sorry about that! Well, today I have big news: all the changes, fixes, and polish that have been simmering on the beta/test branch of DINO MERCS are now fully available to all players!

This is the last *big* update before leaving early access. So there will be bugs, balance issues, and lack of polish in some areas. Please be patient with me while I clean everything up! From here on, you can expect a number of small patches and improvements.

There are a ton of changes in this update. Like, I lost track of all of them. Here's a bunch of them:

• Combat encounter modifiers to make battles more interesting. Extra cover, sandstorms, sweltering heat, and more!
  
• Curated card pools for each playable character.
  
• Enhanced and refined status cards.
  
• Card art for just about every single card in the game!
  
• Attack animations for most characters (more on the way!)
  
• Controller support is almost 100% there, just a few bugs and inconveniences to fix.
  
• Attack and defense cards, cover, dodge, stealth all scale up in power as you survive more sectors.
  
• Lots more achievements to unlock!
  
• More Hot Zone and Scavenger events.
  
• UI improvements and reskin
  
• Some powerful attack cards now also impart status effects
  
• And a lot more that I can't remember right now...

If you encounter any issues (or just have feedback or want to chat about the game), please post on the steam forums or on the discord server, and I'll fix any bugs asap! I'll be working hard to get the game really polished and dialed in over the next few weeks.

It's been fun seeing how the game is coming together, so I'm looking forward to hearing what players think of the new changes!

-Tim, the dev

Got a patch for the latest version of DINO MERCS!

Includes these fixes and polishing:

• Fixed an issue where some common cards weren't unlocked by default, causing a bug on the unlocks screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where some stat cards were not being included in Simulated Combat, resulting in some cases where card descriptions were not 100% accurate.
  
• Fixed an issue where card descriptions sometimes had wording like "Aim + -12". Now it will be "Aim - 12".
  
• Massively buffed Support card passive effects since max stats are so much higher now.
  
• When you remove a Support card from your deck, the passive effect is now disabled.
  
• Adjusted and balanced the ramping up of Card Slot Effect Levels.
  
• Fixed broken Mecha-Styracosaurus character asset.
  
• Fixed a case of broken art on an enemy card.
  
• Fixed an issue with bonuses to Enemy HP/Shield/Armor not being applied as a run progressed.
  
• Fixed some UI issues with stat modules.

In addition to these things, I have a lot of other bugfixes, polishing, and balance fixes planned! Keep an eye out for more patches coming out soon.

- Tim, the dev

This update might not seem like much at first glance, but underneath the hood, there's a lot going on!

NOTE: since the game is still in early access, please be aware there will be plenty of bugs, balance issues, and missing things. If you find any of these, please let me know here on Steam or on the discord server[discord.gg]!



Previously, if you looked at a card description, it would tell you its immediate effect. This was slightly misleading because things would perhaps change by the time that card actually resolved. Now, every time you reposition a card, the game simulates a turn of combat and shows you exactly how much damage the card will actually do. This took a while for me to actually implement because it's kinda tricky to do this simulated combat in a way that is high performing and doesn't mess with the actual game logic. But now it's here and should help make card descriptions clearer.


This is another "invisible" change that you, the player, won't actually notice. But, it allows for some future things, like achievements based on certain strategies used in a combat encounter. For example, if you defeat an enemy only using Energy damage or Toxic Gas, the game will know that. I'll be doing more with this later.


I'll be upfront about this - the game is still not fully balanced yet, so this isn't perfect. But I did dramatically increase max stats, lowered initial stat values, increased Shields/Armor/HP and increased attack card bonuses. These changes should all help a bit. I'll be doing a lot more work on game balance soon, though. Please let me know your thoughts on how the game balance feels! That would help a lot.


There were so many bugs I fixed, I stopped keeping track. Unfortunately, there's still a lot more. Next month will be the month that I finish stamping them all out!


November will basically be the last month of development. In December, I'll be exiting Early Access unless something totally unexpected happens. If you'd like to know what else I'm working on during that month, here's my to-do list of major things to tackle and finish:

• Add in backgrounds variants
  
• Another slight UI overhaul
  
• Controller support
  
• Leaderboard
  
• Finish all card art
  
• More balance fixes
  
• Add the rest of the achievements
  
• Add that one boss that's missing
  
• Add attack animations

That's all for now! Please let me know your thoughts on the new changes and what you would like to see me do in November (I'll try to squeeze in any requests, but no promises). Thanks everyone!

-Tim, the dev