EDIT: We’ve made a significant change to the Caravan on 3/18, before it was actually launched – you now no longer permanently lose units during the campaign. Read all about the changes that went into version 1.20 here.
Today marks the 1-month anniversary* of the launch of Gem Wizards Tactics! It has been QUITE a month – so much has happened. The game has continued its extremely rapid improvement. Here’s a list of some of the cool stuff that we’ve done since launch:
- I’m just finishing up the finishing touches now on the Caravan, a huge overhaul to the Campaign Mode that adds a ton of value – more on that later in this article.
- An entirely new mode added to the game, Derby’s Story was created, pretty much from scratch in about 5-6 days! Those were some intense days…
- I commissioned this fantastic new banner art from SmokedKun on Twitter (follow her!)
- The new “icon-flags” system, where capturable flags have icons on them that changes what it means to capture them (read more about that here).
- Three difficulty modes for the Campaign Mode, with trophies you can get for beating them!
- New units, new abilities, new buffs, new tilesets, new enemies, new squads – lots of new content of every kind!
- Countless quality of life changes. Like really, dozens of changes, any of which alone are a big improvement in how it feels to play the game.
- Countless balance improvements.
I could go on, and you can read the full list of updates here. But today I want to talk about our new upcoming CARAVAN system a bit more!
Accessible in a sub-screen from the Campaign Hub, the Caravan is a whole new screen that provides the player with a bunch of new options for setting up your squad. There are also some ne
The top left section is your inventory, and it shows you items that you can equip. Alternatively, you can sell items for gold. You may also find Treasure Chests in missions; when you pick them up, they appear here in the inventory, and you can open them to gain 2-3 random things (they are usually items, or they could even be level 1 units).
The top right section shows your Caravan Upgrades section. This includes a couple of random units for sale, but also four special permanent upgrades you can buy:
Barracks – You can bring 1 additional troop into battle!
Surgery – After the mission, one unit of yours that was lost will be ready to go right away.
Gem Lab – Start each mission with 6 Gem Power instead of 2.
Training Center – After each mission, any units that weren’t in your squad increase their level by 1, to a maximum of 3.
When you get these upgrades, they stay active for the rest of the campaign. So some of them, definitely make more sense to get earlier, like Training Center especially, although it’s also the most expensive.
These features, plus the ability to freely equip and unequip items from units as you see fit, I think will add a lot of “strategy/RPG” layer to the Campaign Mode. Oh, also, before I forget. We now have 12 items in the game! We’ve got a JETPACK, which gives your unit Flying movement (all terrain costs 1) and sets forests they walk through on fire. We’ve got a FLAME SWORD which leaves fire on the enemy tiles. We’ve got some simpler items like a helmet that adds 1 Defense, and Ruupart’s Blade which adds 2 attack and removes 1 defense… and a bunch more.
I’m super pumped for this mode. It should be out in the next day or two. Thanks so much for reading and you’ll hear from me again soon!
* (I think actually it’s a “mensiversary” or “monthiversary”, but, we’re stickin’ with anniversary)
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