So what's taking so long?

>>714565870 (OP)
The new engine because Unity pulled a nigger.

>>714565870 (OP)
virtue signalling engine swap

>>714565870 (OP)
I dont know, but hopefully they dont make it like the first game where 99% of cards are weak as balls

>>714566321

>>714566356
>there are guaranteed unwinnable seeds because the Silent's cards suck dick
Cry about it.

>>714566641
There's like, one, and it's A:20, and it's only the Silent. The chances of this ever happening to you are a statistical impossibility.

You said long huhuhuhuhuh

>>714566221
>>714566287
Fuck Unity it's good if gamedevs use their own engines or pivot to something else, sick of engine monopoly

>>714565870 (OP)
Making AI draw cards is hard, please understand.

what could they even possibly improve upon?

>>714566956
While I'm with you anon because making an engine to do as games did back in the 90s is easier than ever. Indie shits aren't really doing exactly as 90s games were and need much more which requires more complex engines and labor. Unreal 4 and Crytek took off so well because they basically are engine developers that makes games as a side hustle. All you need to do is learn it which is much easier than assembling some shit from scratch. Still you are right the engine monopoly leads to bloated and poorly optimized ass fire games because no one has to try and be better they all are equally liquid ass.
>>714567112
I've always wanted a co-op mode with dedicated classes like healer, aggro pulling tank, status effect wizard, etc. Even the bare bones slay with friends mod is quite fun. As far as actual improvements, more variety in route layout, random events, and starting modifiers for starters.

>>714567112
Don't need to improve on a whole lot. Just make it like the first game but expanded. Reinventing the wheel every time with a sequel is begging to fail.
It only becomes an issue if you keep doing that for multiple installments.

>>714567112
Aren't they just adding new dudes, that's all they really have to do. If i made a big video game i would sell out so fucking hard. I'd be releasing low effort shit 24/7. Scott Crawthorn had the right idea

>>714567112
While we don't live in a age where its NOT worth making the same game for the new console, sequels had occasionally really hit the mark.

>>714566956
>it's good if gamedevs use their own engines
Do you have any idea how resource intensive that is? No way that anyone apart from AAA studios could do that and they won't bother because they just use Unity or Unreal and they'll have enough leeway that they won't get jewed by them.

downfall is pretty neat
some of the characters feel like they desperately need unlocks to work better

>>714567112
They don't have to do anything, they could just repackage the first game and it'd sell 6 million

>>714568634
i've tried downfall and it just felt like they krangled the whole game. the cowboy character was really good, but the bosses were just overly complicated, and not nearly as high quality as the original 4 characters.

>blade dance exhausts now
Fuck that, I shan't be playing.

>>714568378
I didn't say it's easy, the thing is it has to be done to curb the tide of UE5 slop, which is unsustainable. At some point Unity and Unreal will start jewing. if game dev companies weren't so bloated maybe they could actually afford to go in-house.

>>714567545
there are already mods (even in steam) which add more content like new playable characters, bosses, events etc... the new game game is a shameless cashgrab.

>>714566956
I think they're using godot now

>>714567112
my personal opinion on this game:
if you answer to "what could they even possibly improve upon?" with "the art", or if you refused to play it because you didn't like the art, then you are a lower form of humanity, probably a SEA or Indian. (That probably only enjoys AI art and that probably grimaced when they visited the any museum that wasn't about classical art in middle school)

>>714570832
i refuse to play any anime game because of the """art"""

>>714570893
thats normal
japanese anime artists have yet to discover shading and color gradient
or should i say they have forgotten about them

>>714569250
i don't know, the slime boss feels like an alternate defect with cool little slime guys and looping tackles that do cool things. i'll give it up that something like snecko or the gremlins make my head spin but overall the boss characters are kinda dope man

i genuinely don't get why people hate the art in this game so much, i never even thought twice about it but it seems so vehemently hated. to me it's incredibly inoffensive.

>>714571443
Hence why this game is one of the greatest midwit filters
not only it filters by "uuugh this game is luck based" but also by art

>>714570087
>it has to be done
it can take a decade to make an engine, you can recreate the functionality (not all the cards, but the functionality) of Slay the Spire in an afternoon in unity.
You have to have a really good reason to make an engine, and there's only 3 reasons
1. you're rich enough and dont want to pay royaltees
2. whatever you're doing is physically impossible within an off the shelf engine.
3. you like making engines and not video games

anything else is a massive waste of your time and talent, any time spent reinventing the wheel reprogramming save file serialization is time you could have spent making your game.

>>714567112
Card art which doesnt look like ass

>>714567112
There's a lot of great changes they could make, the workshop mods prove that. Enemy/boss variety, more playable cards, unique mechanics, different visuals, QoL changes, etc.

>>714571443
the art looks like it was drawn by a group of 10 year olds, it's simply repulsive and I don't play the game because of it even though I like the concept

>>714571443
I've played the game a lot
The art is shit and is jarring if it's been a while since I've played
Once I've started playing the game I get used to the bad art

>>714572082
>>714572184
ok but what about it is bad specifically

Monster Train 2 proved itself to be a splendid sequel to Monster Train 1.
But will Slay the Spire 2 feel sufficiently different from Slay the Spire 1? Let alone actually feel like an improvement?

>>714572274
fucking love mt2
better than sts imo

>>714571443
I don't hate it like the other guys, but I would never say it's a selling point at all. Same with the music. The designs are good though.

>>714572240
low detail
low stroke count
blurry

Virtue signaling indie slop devs figured out Godot can't do jack shit.

>>714572240
it looks like a commissioned placeholder art that was never replaced

>>714571646
You might say it's a massive waste but that's only looking at the short term, in the long term it does benefit your company more, specially if you don't reinvent literally every single thing, which people don't really do when they're making in-house engines anyway. You don't need to make your engine have all of UE5's features for instance because it's not intended to be a direct competitor to UE in the first place, it's just for that company to use.

>>714572998
>in the long term it does benefit your company more
yeah not only do you now have to maintain the video game you made, but the engine it's built in too!

>>714567112
Basically the first, but expanded. A sequel in short.

>>714567112
Animations would be nice

>>714574704
Was this an issue Konami ran into with the Fox engine or were they able to tank it you think? The answer might actually shock you, they didn't end up going bankrupt because of the maintenance costs

>>714567112
I want Dimensional Challenges. But they probably wouldn't be shameless enough to copy something so 1:1. I wish they would be though.

>>714567260
If you want co-op play the boardgame with friends, it's pure kino

>>714577532
Oh I do that

>>714566641
The funny thing is that the Defect is actually the worst class if you compare A20 win-streaks, which is probably the best measurement for how consistently good a class is. Watcher is completely broken of course.
Defect is my favourite class, but it's really unreliable because it relies the most on synergies, so needs the most specific card combos. You are completely screwed if you don't get one of the three focus cards for example. Also it shits the bed against 2 out of the 3 act 1 elites

>>714567112
I would like to see a fix to the start of the run. Neows Lament and transforming two cards are the only good things you get, and the first half of act1 feels way too samey every time. From what we've seen there seems to be some kind of "card packs" for the beginning of the game, which could be promising. I just hope it doesn't lead to restarting the run over and over to get a great pack.

>>714570832
The art sucks bro

Genuine question. Is it actually fun how the Whale punishes incomplete runs?
I used to argue in favour of it. That you should just stick to your guns and see how far you can go even if you're unsatisfied with how it starts.

But the more I have played Monster Train the more I have started to think that maybe I don't actually believe that anymore. Or maybe I'm just more of a casual than I thought.

>>714567112
Look to MT2 for how to do a good sequel. Honestly that game raised the bar a lot and I don't think STS2 is going to pull of what the game did

>>714577896
>You are completely screwed if you don't get one of the three focus cards for example
You are weak. WEAK.

Why hasn't a shamelessly anime ripoff of StS got made?

>>714583534
define shamelessly anime
would you count this? Or what about the touhou rip off? I'm sure one of the dozens of h game rip offs has an anime art style.

>>714583534
it already exists, the catch is that it's gachashit.

>>714566641
There are 1 out of 52! unwinnable seeds, whoah….

>>714567112
Slay the Spire 2
New cards, rebalances to change things up and new characters
The first game is still playable in fact I am still doing ironclad A20 runs today
So it just needs to be an alternative to the first game that does something different honestly

>>714578026
>implying that 14 max hp (mango) is bad
>implying that a rare relic is bad
>implying that a rare colourless is bad on average
>implying that choosing a rare is bad
>implying that 3 potions are bad
>implying that neows lament is good
>or can even compare with taking the hp instead
Winrate and ascension bro?

>>714585397
>Step 1: It's not happening
>Step 2: Yeah, it's happening, but it's not a big deal
>Step 3: It's happening and it's a good thing, actually
>Step 4: People freaking out about it are the real problem
LMAO

>>714568634
I tried it
I liked the Hermit, but I hated the actual downfall mode and all the boss characters
I beat it once and thought never again, it felt like a slog compared to the real mode

>>714569678
There is a card that brings all of your shivs back from the exhaust pile

>>714571443
It looks stylistically ugly if you look close I guess. It’s not meant to be pretty and it shows. So it’s a question of if flavour, style, and readability are more important than aesthetics
I came to love the green people in time, but I understand why people hate them

>>714585940
You are terrible at the game

>>714580090
Neow’s bonus matters but your draw luck and rewards in the first 5 combats matters more than the starting bonuses any day. Because it will shape your deck and pathing more than the bonus any-time
If you dont get attacks from gremlin nob, lowroll gold before shops, dont get potions, and dont get a good path etc that has more of an impact than 80%+ of the bonuses
So I think it’s fine. You can get to the act 1 boss on A20 the vast majority of the time even if you are limit-testing into the burning elite or a 3 elite path with no rests. Even Xecnar wipes before the boss sometimes but it’s fine. I never really have the problem anymore except when I purposefully throw my act 1 due to getting mad at my bad luck

>>714583534
Lost Branch of Legend already exists.

>>714567112
more characters and actually giving you enough cash to buy shit

They're really pushing RNGslop events hard

>>714586713
>but your draw luck and rewards in the first 5 combats matters more than the starting bonuses any day
Yeah no doubt. But it's still frustrating how rerolling robs you of the former. It's not so much an actual hindrance as it is unsatisfying or just annoying to have something taken away from you for such a trivial reason.

>>714588151
yeah i dont get it
its just gonna make ? spaces not worth going to and theyre already often not worth it

>>714586725
I really, really, really want to play this.
But it's Chinese. So I probably won't. It actually makes me sad.

>>714567112
list of my problems with it
>just enable A1-20 from the get go fuck that gay bullshit of needing to beat the game 20 times on EACH character
>some way of making runs more varied since you will play 10 games and end up with the same decks every time
>more/new areas

>>714588402
I agree it is annoying and could be removed without an issue. But you just take the max hp and move on or neows lament if you are really tilted and need to go fast.
That is just my logic for why the devs did it like they did. I think it is primarily there to encourage newer players to play safer so they can beat act 1
It’s not like the 4 bonuses are guaranteed to be good either
You could just get upgrade bash, 8 max hp or remove 2 strikes for 7 max hp for example

>>714592208
I agree that it’s boring to always go through the same 3 area, but the reason why the game is so limited in encounters and environments is to make it better balanced. If there were 7 different areas with unique events, bosses, and enemies you would not be able to plan ahead and learn the game in the same way. What makes STS so good is its near perfect balance ans how different fights and bosses test your deck in different ways. Having more variety means it’s worse at doing that
I agree having to unlock ascensions is stupid though especially since most of them are nothingburgers that don’t change anything

>>714593626
the problem is that roguelite gameplay loops are incompatable with card games. Roguelites introduce fuck tons of RNG, card games test skill expression via reducing the RNG of your deck. StS falls into this weird middleground where its got excellent balance but its too damn samey between runs and I just start throwing runs so I can get decks that arent the same shit Ive played for the past 10 runs. Stage 1 especially has a problem with spawning payoffs to certain strategies and then never spawning the enablers of those playstyles in later areas. Its unironically too balanced and it just kills long term playability for me

>>714566641
It’s funny because I win more with Silent then the other ones
The last character can suck a dick

>>714577896
It's funny that these days Ironclad has the worst A20 streak record

So what are the most promising upcoming Deck Builders?
I've got a fair bit of hope for As We Descend, and My Card is Better Than Your Card! also seemed like it was good.

Anything else?

>>714595098
Artifact:Re

>>714594032
>plays the same game for 128 hours
>"omg it's too samey"

>>714596201
Valve's Artifact?

>>714571358
>>714569250
>>714568634
Automaton is my least favorite by far. Like Encode is just a design sin and none of the cards have interesting effects, so it all comes out samey. It's a case of "did it because we could do it".
hermitdev is a cool guy and I'm glad that his game got popular and ironically outlived monolith studios, and it's easily the best character of the entire mod in terms of overall quality.
A lot of the unbalanced fucks like automaton, gremlins, and collector, it becomes more obvious that it's more design than balance problems.
the actual downfall campaign is major scope creep as well but it's not something that can really be dropped or majorly reworked either
next character is more complicated, maybe

>>714595098
>Yaoi Guai Hunter
Probably the best balanced "StS-clone", it also has a unique approach to the genre that mitigates the small deck meta somewhat by adding a punishment to fully drawing your deck.

>With and Council
Visually a stylish game. The approach of having three playable characters who each have cards that interact with one other inside your deck definitely adds a fresh take to the combat system, but it is very much on the easier side of things unfortunately. Dialogue is confusing as well.

>Phantomancer
This one is really rough at the moment, but I love the concept of summoning and managing minions on the field using cards.