Changelog for Protobyte, an action-packed collectible card game in the making.
This post will be updated for each new release. Follow @vocksel_ on twitter for development progress, and join Block Factory for news on updates to the game (and this changelog).
Patch v0.13.1
By vocksel on May 30, 2018
Quick patch before updates slow down.
I’m going to be moving to California soon to start as an Accelerator at Roblox, so this will be the last update until I have some free time. Have to prioritize my efforts on the internship for the time being but very much looking forward to getting back to Protobyte!
Also make sure to check out the 0.13.0 changelog if you haven’t already. Now without further ado, the patch notes:
Cards
Power Surge
Time for a buff! Power Surge is currently very underwhelming, dealing significantly less damage for the energy cost.
Back in patch 0.8.0 damage for this card was reduced from 8 to 5. It was also classified as an Attack card, which lead to the massive drop in damage due to defense also being accounted for.
It’s damage is being returned to its old value to put it in a better place.
- “Deals (
5->8) damage for each remaining Energy”
Other
- Your max energy is now displayed next to your current energy
- Fixed lingering cards lasting half as long as they should be.
- Fixed augments not getting cleaned up after playing a card
- Added floating effects to some game objects
Play
All caught up? Check out the changes for yourself!
Patch v0.13.0
By vocksel on May 27, 2018
A very visual update. We’ve got a new lobby, new icon, new ranks, and some fixes this time around.
This is likely to be the last update for a while, as this summer has a lot in store for me. I’ll do what I can to maintain the game, but for the coming months I don’t expect to be able to add much in the way of features.
But never fear, Protobyte is a constant in my life and I’ll find my way back to it one way or another. In the meantime, I hope this is enough to hold you guys over. Thanks for riding this out with me so far, can’t wait to give you guys even more.
View changelog
Lobby
A brand new lobby has been added for you to run around in! No longer is the the face of the game just a placeholder map, now we’ve got some substance.
Ladder
The top 5 players now have their rank displayed next to them
Blockades
Walls now have a brick wall icon, instead of reusing the shield.
Fixes
- Battle requests sent from a user that left the game will no longer break your entire UI.
- Fixed battle requests not being able to be accepted.
Play
All caught up? Check out the changes for yourself!
Patch v0.12.0
By vocksel on May 15, 2018
Hefty new update for you guys! Lots of changes and fixes, this update is effectively a stew of many different things. Information is now displayed more clearly, better cues, and lots of internal work done. Read on for the full details.
View changelog
New Card Artwork
Some of my lovely friends supplied new artwork for some of the cards! They look much better than what was there, and are a step towards getting proper artwork for all the cards in the.
The artwork takes up a lot of space, so check it out in-game in the deck builder!
- Bubble Shield from x_o:
- Call of the Void and Drain Punch from Arch_Mage
- Energy Cannon and Power Surge from Injanity
Blockade Health
The health for blockades has been a disjointed mess for a while, with each blockade’s health floating in space. Health has now been consolidated into a single location above the player, which is significantly cleaner to look at, and get information from.
- Changed how health for blockades is displayed.
Battle Requests
You are now notified immediately when someone wants to challenge you to a match. This has been a pain point with battle requests for a while. How are you supposed to know someone wants to fight you without any visual or audio cues? Well now we have both!
- Added a notification (with sound!) when you get a battle request.
- The sound will not play while you’re in a match, so users won’t be able to spam you with battle requests to annoy you.
Changes
- Readded the card history in matches.
- Added a prompt to purchase Early Bird.
- This gets displayed after your first match played (if you don’t already own it).
- Added click-to-select for cards.
- This allows you to play cards how you like, be it standard drag-and-drop, or clicking once to move it around.
- Added an image for the bot when loading into a match.
- Changed energy to reset and increase at the start of your turn.
- Changed wording for the gamemode buttons.
-
Play vs. AI→ Practice -
Join PvP Queue→ Find Match
-
Fixes
- Fixed the leaderboard not displaying all 5 players.
- Fixed the auto-forfeit countdown staying on screen for the rest of the match.
- Fixed the prompt to play a practice match not showing up.
- Due to a piece of data not being reset between play sessions, this little prompt wouldn’t show up again after you played your first match ever.
- Patched up some minor memory leaks.
Players to UserIds
This is a bit technical, but is one of the the reasons for this update taking so long to release.
Internally, Player instances are used to keep track of data relating to each user. The problem with this is Roblox instances don’t play well with being converted to strings. In the interest of allowing the game’s state to be recorded, all Player instances have been converted to UserIds instead.
- Changed all occurrences of Player instances to UserIds in the game’s state.
Play
All caught up? Check out the changes for yourself!
Path v0.11.0 - Ladder & Characters
By vocksel on April 30, 2018
Updates on updates! Back again with some very nice features: a leaderboard to keep track of who the best players are, along with support for your Roblox avatar in combat! Read on for full details.
View changelog
Ladder
Winning in losing has impact now with the addition of the global ladder. As you play you’ll gain or lose points based on if you won/lost. The top 5 best players are now displayed for the world to see on a (very temporary) block in the lobby.
- Added ladder to keep track of the best players
Roblox Avatars
Since the beginning, you’ve played as a plain R15 avatar, finally your own Roblox character will be used in battles! This was a much needed change that adds a lot of personality to the matches. Instead of fighting a plain grey character, you now fight real avatars.
- Added support for your Roblox characters in matches
- The bot has a custom character, too!
Fixes
- Fixed not being able to select cards in the deck builder
Play
All caught up? Check out the changes for yourself!
Patch v0.10.1
By vocksel on April 29, 2018
Some nasty bugs snuck through in the last patch, which have been patched up so you can properly enjoy the game!
View changelog
- Actually picks the first player randomly now.
- Fixed your name being displayed when the bot plays a card.
- Fixed Power Surge not being able to be played.
- Fixed per-win EXP boosts being used even when losing.
- Fixed a few other bugs that were causing game-breaking errors.
Check out Patch v0.10.0 below for the full list of changes!
Patch v0.10.0 - Turn-based Combat
By vocksel on April 27, 2018
After a grueling week+ of development, turn-based combat is now live for testing! This is a big change and reworks how the game is fundamentally played. This update also includes some fixes, and the first data wipe (any Robux purchases will carry over).
View changelog
Data
We’ll get this out of the way first. Data has gotten messy while the game is still in alpha, and it was deemed necessary to perform a wipe to make sure every player starts with the right data.
All purchases made with Robux will be reapplied to you when rejoining the game.
This is the first of hopefully another 2-3 data wipes before the game is fully released.
- Wiped all player data
Combat
Previously, each player would select the cards they want to play at the same time. They would both ready up, and once both players were ready the fastest of the two would play their cards first.
This system wasn’t great, and lead to a lot of confusion about who was going to go first each turn. Because there would always be a speed tie at the start of the game, the player to go first would be completely random.
Now the player to go first is decided at the start of the match. When the game begins, the first player selects each card individually, and drags it onto the field to play it.
This is intended to make your attacks feel more impactful, as you’ll now be able to visually see the effects of each card, instead of them all being lumped together in a single move.
- Implemented turn-based combat
- The player that goes first is decided at the start of the match.
- The first player is given a little batch in the loading screen.
- Both players are given their own turn to play cards.
- Cards are played by clicking and dragging them onto the field.
Speed
Speed has been removed to pave the way for turn-based combat.
This was a confusing mechanic that only lead players to wonder who went first each turn. As both players started with the same speed, there would always be a 50/50 coin flip for who would go first unless someone increased their speed.
Now the player that goes first is now decided at the start of the match, and is consistent throughout.
- Removed Speed as a mechanic.
Cards
With the introduction of turn-based combat, we unfortunately have to shelve a couple cards that are incompatible with it. Accelerate modified the Speed stat that no longer exists, and High Priority.
We have every intention of reworking these cards to salvage the exceptional artwork, but for the time being they will no longer exist in the game.
- Removed Accelerate.
- Removed High Priority.
- Fixed Head Smash having no effect when played.
- Reworded Energy Bomb.
-
Deals (25+ATK) damage next turn.→ Deals (25+ATK) damage at the start of your next turn.
-
Card History
The in-game history of which cards have been played has temporarily been removed. This is due to an internal change to how turns work, which is currently incompatible with the card history.
This will be fixed and readded later, but is currently not a priority.
- Removed card history
Patch v0.9.1
By vocksel on April 18 2018
Quick patch to take care of some bugs lying around. More coming soon!
View changelog
- Added a loading screen.
- There was a nasty case where while data was being setup for the first time, you could still interact with the UI and play the game, which lead to a lot of unexpected errors.
- Removed the prototype introduction. The game is far enough along that it’s no longer applicable.
- Fixed battle requests not being able to be accepted.
- Fixed decks created through the deck builder not saving.
Check out Patch v0.9.0 below for the full list of changes!
Patch v0.9.0 – Stepping Stones
By vocksel on April 12, 2018
This is the first step towards a much bigger update, consisting of a heavy rework to the game’s core mechanics. More info on that coming soon. In the meantime, read up on all that’s changed so far!
View changelog
Match Intro
When starting a match, you will now be greeted by a smooth animation that displays your opponent and transitions you between the lobby and match.
Augments
Augments are now displayed along the stat bar, instead of being displayed when selecting a card.
-
Displayed on each card→ Displayed along the stat bar
Fixes
- Fixed the “Buy” buttons in the shop being called twice.
- Fixed purchasing boosts not crediting them to your account.
Patch v0.8.0 – Internal Revamp
By vocksel on April 5, 2018
Smaller update this time around. Mostly balance tweaks and fixes. This update was primarily to rework a lot of the game’s internals, which resulted in not much to show off. But trust me, the code is a lot better now.
View changelog
Additions
- Added camera shake when taking damage.
Cards
Greed’s Downfall
Some damage tuning and fixes were in order for Greed’s Downfall.
This card is now classified as an Attack card. This means that using the card will play the attacking animation, and will take the opponent’s Defense into account.
Damage has also been tweaked slightly, as the card was a bit too strong even with Defense taken into account.
- Card type:
Status->Attack - Damage: (
8 * opponent graveyard)->(7 * opponent graveyard)
Power Surge
Bug fixes and some tuning!
Like Greed’s Downfall, Power Surge is now classified as an Attack card. Again, this means that using the card will play the attacking animation, and will take the opponent’s Defense into account.
Damage has also been toned down, this card was way too strong, dealing devastating amount sof damage from stacking energy early into the match.
- Card type:
Status->Attack - Fixed energy cost displaying as
Label. Now displays as∞ - Damage:
(8 * energy used)->(5 * energy used)
Recovery
Recovery was giving way too much health with no counterplay. The health you get back may still need some adjustments, but the card should be in a better place now.
- Heal:
40->30
Call of the Void
The description incorrectly displayed the damage it gives as +1, when it internally gives you +2 for each card.
- “
+1->+2 attack for each card in the user’s graveyard.
Mechanics
-
Cards with Shatter now properly overflow their damage.
If your opponent has a 20 health wall, and your card with Shatter does 30 damage, 10 damage will overflow to the player (or the next blockade)
This was an issue, because if you had a lot of attack, using a card with Shatter on a low health wall meant a lot of your damage wasn’t going anyway.
Damage Indicator
There were a few issues with the damage numbers displayed when a player gets hit with an attack, which have all been fixed!
- Sometimes the numbers would stick around and be displayed when starting a new match. Fixed now.
- They now account for blockades. If the damage dealt can’t break through a player’s defenses, it now shows up at 0, instead of the damage it would have dealt.
- Power Surge and Greed’s Downfall are now supported. These cards deal variable amounts of damage, so it was incompatible with the previous system for checking how much damage was dealt.
UI
- Added opponent’s name on screen.
- The opponent’s name used to be displayed in the form of a nametag above their character. This was removed to make room for the new health gui. After playing around with this change, it became frustrating not knowing who your opponent was until they played a card.
Misc
- Attack animations play for delayed cards now.
- Fixed blockades going away early.
- When you played one card that gave you a blockade, and then next turn you play a card for the same blockade, the blockade would be removed when the first one expires.
- Fixed up a ton of the internals. This is what took up a majority of time on this update, but unfortunately doesn’t have anything to make note of.
Patch v0.7.0 – New, new, new
By Silthreent on March 10, 2018
New patch, new mechanics, new features, new cards. This is a big one, so buckle up boys and girls. We’ve got a ton of new core features, such as a new deck builder to showcase your imagination. New progression to show everyone how much more you play than them. A new shop to buy things, like a special Early Bird player tag. A new soundtrack, so battles aren’t so sad and quiet. New cards to expand strategies further. Noticing a theme here?
View changelog
Deck Building
Freedom! Freedom to build decks as you please! Now you may construct your deck in any way you please. Instead of being given a random deck, you now throw together cards to make a deck of 30 cards, up to 4 copies of a card. You can create up to 9 different decks, decks are not currently saved on exit, coming soon.
Battle Requests
Tired of queuing at the same time as your friend, hoping it matches you two? No longer! You can now select a player and challenge them directly to a battle for honor and glory.
Progression
Now after completing battles, you’ll gain XP. Gather enough XP, and you’ll go up a level! Along with this, you’ll also gain Bits after every battle you play, win or lose.
- Winning gives you more XP and Bits than losing.
- PvP matches give full XP and Bits.
- Bots give 1/4th value.
- Direct challenges award none.
Player Tags
Player Tags are a new feature, allowing you to showcase a fancy title next to your name. Small number of tags right now, but you can purchase the Early Bird tag in the shop below! More tags will be added at a later date.
Shop
Introducing, the shop! Here, you can purchase items using either Bits or Robux. Currently, there’s a limited selection of items but this will be expanded in later patches.
-
2 Win XP Boost for purchase
-
Doubles the amount of XP gained from wins for 2 wins.
-
Costs 1000 Bits
-
Early Bird Tag
-
Unlocks the Early Bird tag for use.
-
Includes 2000 Bits!
-
Costs 400 Robux.
Post Match Screen
Now, after completing a match, you’ll be presented the brand new and shiny post match screen! Here, it will show you whether you won or loss along with various stats, such as how many Bits you got, how long the game lasted, and how many cards you played.
Music
Protobyte has gained it’s voice and is no longer mute. Battles now have a snazzy new soundtrack, and buttons let you know you clicked on them with a satisfying click sound.
Mechanics
In further deepening the game, more combat mechanics have been added. Some old cards have been modified with these new mechanics, while some new cards have been introduced with these new mechanics. Along with a minor change to turn timers.
Auto Forfeit
Just a minor change to give you more time to think through your turn. We know all these new mechanics can make you use your thinking cap more. We’re here to help.
- Time to auto forfeit:
45→ 60 - Timer still appears at 15 seconds remaining.
Turn Priority
Are you as slow as a snail? Don’t like going to the gym? Well, now you can skip the work and go straight to the top! (Does not work on your real life exercise, don’t skip leg day)
- Allows you to move first, regardless of speed.
- If both players play a Turn Priority, they are canceled and the faster player moves first.
Blocked
Interrupt your opponent’s plans with the devious Blocked. This new status will lock out cards, putting a dent in whatever they had planned for you. Take care that it doesn’t backfire on yourself, as it blocks for both you and the opponent.
- Blocked cards are unable to be played.
- Remains Blocked for a certain number of turns.
Shatter
So, the opponent has built a fort that touches the sky in front of you, what do you do? How about Shattering it and their dreams? Nothing is safe from a Shatter. Nothing.
- Destroys the first Shield or Wall hit.
Pierce
Imagine the medieval ages, with their heavy suits of armor. Pretty intimidating right? Thou does not needst to fear as long as thou has Pierce on thy side.
- Ignores the enemy’s Defense in damage calculation.
New Cards
As mentioned above, with new mechanics comes new cards. Here we got cards with the new mechanics, and got cards that are just new.
Vulcan
With the new EMP(ooooh foreshadowing), you’ll need a basic damage card that’s not an energy based card. Here ya go, counterplay.
- Attack
- Deals (15 + ATK) damage.
- Costs 3 Energy.
Head Smash
STRENGTH IN PAIN. ME SMASH. YOU HURT. ME HURT TOO.
- Attack
- Deals (30 + ATK) damage.
- Deals 50% of the damage dealt BEFORE enemy’s defense to yourself.
- Costs 4 Energy.
Call of the Void
Bring out your dead. Find strength in those that are gone. None can resist the call of the void forever.
- Status
- Increases your ATK by 2 for each card in your Graveyard.
- Costs 3 Energy.
Uncapped
For those that like to go even further beyond. Commence shouting.
- Status
- Increases your Max Energy by 1.
- Costs 3 Energy.
Quickdraw
In the current state of the game, there was a real lack of ways to refill your hand when it became empty. Here’s a way to keep yourself topped off and ready for action.
- Status
- Draw 2 cards.
- Costs 4 Energy.
Greed’s Downfall
To go with the new way to draw cards above, here comes a way to counter card draw. Punish your foes for their greed.
- Status
- Deals 8 damage for each card in the opponent’s hand.
- Ignores your attack, your opponent’s defense, shields, and walls.
- Costs 4 Energy.
Power Surge
Feel the power course through your body. Channel it, let loose in an explosive burst.
- Status
- Costs all remaining Energy.
- Deals 8 damage for each of the Energy spent on this card.
- Ignores your attack, shields, and walls.
Exhaust
Sticks and stone may break my bones, but Exhaust will not let that happen.
- Status
- Reduces the opponent’s ATK by 10.
- Costs 3 Energy.
Weak Point
Striking your opponent’s weak point is one of the first rules of combat. This card allows you to do so.
- Status
- Reduces the opponent’s DEF by 10.
- Costs 3 Energy.
High Priority
Strike fast, strike first. Now you can do the latter, without being the former.
- Status
- Gives you Turn Priority this turn.
- Costs 2 Energy
EMP
Energy can be pretty scary. Chase the fears away with an electromagnetic pulse.
- Status
- Blocks any card with the word “Energy” in it’s name for 2 turns.
- Costs 4 Energy.
Changed Cards
More uniquifying of cards. Diversity is good.
Raycast
Counterplay to Walls!
- Now ignores Walls.
- Shields still block the damage.
Cleaver
Counterplay to Defense! Damage lowered to compensate for it ignoring Defense.
- Now has Pierce.
- Damage:
(15 + ATK)→ (5 + ATK)
Shatter
Counterplay to Walls and Shields! Damage lowered to push it as an “anti-shield/wall” card.
- Now has Shatter.
- Damage:
(10 + ATK)→ (0 + ATK)
UI
- Health is now displayed above each hero.
- Whenever damage is dealt, it is now displayed next to the hero.
- Level and Bits are displayed under each player’s name.
- Cards got a facelift.
- Overall new look.
- Resolution no longer looks stretched.
Bug fixes
- Fixed UI disappearing forever on death.
- Fixed Grave Robber being able to select itself as a target.
- Can still select other copies of Grave Robber.
- The prompt to play a Bot match when no longer show if there is another player on the server.
Patch v0.6.0 – Robots!
By vocksel on February 22, 2018.
This update includes the addition of AI to fight. A much bigger update will drop in the coming weeks, but this is too important not to include right away.
View changelog
Bots
When you hop in-game, you can now choose between joining the PvP queue, or starting up a bot match. The biggest reason for this update is so that when someone hops in game, they can instantly start playing.
A big pain point with Protobyte is that it requires a minimum of two players before you can have fun. And if there’s an uneven number of players, you have to wait until someone is available.
The addition of AI alleviates that problem, and allows a new user to the server, or someone having trouble finding a battle partner, to jump right into the game.
- Auto-forfeiting is disabled in bot matches. Nobody’s waiting on you, so you can take as long as you like to make your move.
- A prompt appears above the button to start a bot match to let players in empty servers know they can still play.
- This unfortunately sticks around indefinitely, but will be fixed next patch.
Patch v0.5.0 – Better Core
By Silthreent on February 13, 2018.
The goal of this patch was to flesh out the core systems of Protobtye. For this, we added more options so you have more control over your turn, and more counters to what the opponent does.
This patch brings new Shields and Walls for defensive options, a new delayed attack type for masterful tacticians, the debut of an Augment mechanic for exciting turns, and a host of quality of life changes and UI fixes.
View changelog
Mechanics
Energy Gain
Energy now starts low and is increased every turn. This should slow down games, as well as open up more combo and card options.
- Energy now starts at 3.
- Increases every turn, up to 8.
Augments
Augments are an entirely new mechanic. Each turn, you can activate one of your Augments to enhance one of your cards. There are currently two different Augments with more to come!
First Aid
Feeling a bit under the weather? Want some warm chicken noodle soup? We don’t have soup, but First Aid is a close alternative.
- Adds a 20% healing boost to all healing on a card.
- Additive with other percent healing. (50% + First Aid = 70%)
- Multiplicative when applied to flat healing. (40 + First Aid = 48)
Charge
Got an Energy Bomb ready to go? Want it to shock the opposition a bit more? Charge is the Augment for you!
- Boosts the damage of any card with “Energy” in it’s name by 5.
Shields and Walls
Shields and Walls are both new defensive tools to help stop incoming punches. Currently, they function identically but that’s to change in future patches. The new cards that give Shield and Wall can be found below in the Cards section.
-
Will absorb incoming damage, up to it’s HP.
-
Damage done to it’s HP ignores your defense.
-
Disappears when it’s HP reaches 0.
-
Any damage dealt in the final blow beyond it’s HP is dealt to you, this damage will be reduced by your defense.
-
Can only have one Shield and one Wall active at a time.
-
Damage is dealt to Walls first, then Shields.
Starting Health
With the Energy gain change listed above, games were lasting a bit too long with both players running out of cards and just topdecking. This change is temporary, and will most likely be reverted in a later patch.
- Starting HP:
200 HP→ 100 HP
Auto Forfeit
With the addition of this, if you don’t choose a card by the end of the timer, you will automatically forfeit. No more stalling forever!
-
Timer counts down from 45.
-
At 15 seconds remaining, a countdown appears on screen.
-
Whichever player hasn’t chosen a card by the end of the countdown forfeits.
-
If neither player has chosen, the game is a draw.
Cards
Firewall [NEW!]
Firewall is the first Wall card in the game. Upon use it creates a wall to protect you. It’s that easy.
- Create a 30 health Wall for 3 turns.
- Costs 4 Energy.
Bubble Shield [NEW!]
Bubble Shield is the first Shield card in the game. Upon use it creates a shield to protect you. It’s that easy.
- Create a 20 health Shield for 3 turns.
- Costs 3 Energy.
Energy Bomb
In order to differentiate Energy Bomb from other cards, it now has a new mechanic that has it deal it’s damage at a later time.
- Card text:
Deals (25 + ATK) damage.→ Deals (25 + ATK) damage next turn.
Recovery
Using Recovery always felt like a waste of a turn. Now it heals more.
- Heal amount:
20 HP→ 40 HP
Drain Punch
The heal from Drain Punch never felt impactful. It was just a side effect “I guess I get HP back”, not “I’ll use this to heal back”. Now it heals more.
- Heal amount:
30%→ 50%
Energy Tweaks
Multiple cards have recieved minor adjustments to their energy costs.
- Energy Sword: Cost
4→ 3 - Cleaver: Cost
4→ 3 - Rage: Cost
2→ 3 - Accelerate: Cost
2→ 3 - Grave Robber: Cost
2→ 3 - Overclock: Cost
4→ 5 - War Cry: Cost
1→ 2 - Endurance: Cost
3→ 2
UI
Big overpass over the user interface to fix a lot of problems and add quality of life improvements everywhere
-
Added an option to skip your turn.
-
Added a legend of what each icon means.
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Added custom name tags to replace default Roblox ones.
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Added a list of cards that have been played on screen.
-
Added “not enough Energy” notice when trying to select a card you don’t have Energy to.
-
Changed the Energy icon
-
Changed card damage to be listed as one number instead of two.
-
Fixed displayed cards rolling over into the next match.
Arena
The battle arena has recieved a facelift! It’s now fancier and looking better than ever.
- Added a new arena.
- Arenas can now change the skybox and lighting.
- Camera has been moved to give a better viewpoint.
Play
Check out all the changes in-game:
And join the group for updates on when new changes are released: