Book of Demons news & patch notes

The Archduck, often seen lurking next to adversaries in both Hellcard and Book of Demons. An innocent duck with the wrong friends? Or an evil mastermind, subtly pulling the strings from the shadows? Now you can also befriend this somewhat sinister fowl and see if you end up running your own paper dungeon. Don't blame us if a party of heroes kicks in your doors sometime down the road, though! We have joined forces with Makeship to see if there is enough interest in Archduck plushies. If there is they will bring Archduck plushie into the physical realm. They are the same guys who did Rimworld plushies, so they are solid. You can sign the petition here: https://www.makeship.com/petitions/archduck-plushie If it reaches 200 orders the game is on. If not - we still have our unique, improvised archduck plushie at the office to cry into ːarchduckː As Always, Stay Safe in Paper Dungeon ːArchduckː Konstanty

As you might already know, Book of Demons continues in our next game, a co-op deckbuilder Hellcard. Which, coincidentally, is going to leave Early Access in the coming weeks. All the heroes you know from Book of Demons are already in Hellcard and now we are testing the fourth class. Someone new who isn't present in the Book of Demons' line-up. Once we are satisfied with the balance we will lock in the launch date. We also thought it would be a good idea to bundle both games since it's the same universe. Not sure why we didn't do that earlier. Anyway, without further ado, the Hellcard x Book of Demons bundle! https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37956/Book_of_Demons_x_HELLCARD/ And if you want to try Hellcard's take on deckbuilding before committing, you can do so in the prologue. As always, Stay Safe in Paper Dungeons ːarchduckː Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/4f849f5475a48f51d3d02c6aaf950db030d42c54.png We went quiet for a while but for a good reason; the Hellcard's closed beta was raging behind the scenes. We had our hands full balancing and adding quality-of-life stuff to the game. At the same time, we were making plans for the launch. Finally, the time is upon us.

Launching on 16 February

Mark your calendars, wishlist, and tell your friends. This train can't be stopped: Hellcard is releasing into Early Access on the 16th of February. Why Early Access, some of you might ask. Those who participated in the Early Access of our previous game, Book of Demons, know that our EA launches are atypical. We launch in Early Access with the game fully playable and somehow polished. For us, Early Access is an opportunity to gather feedback so that we can polish and balance the game where you feel it will make a difference. We will also be adding extra content to make sure the game stays fresh.

New Trailer

I would have forgotten! Here is our new launch trailer, where you get to know the antagonist of Hellcard a bit better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zssuAFHzGIA

Last but far from least, the Prologue

Instead of doing the demo, we are relaunching it as a prologue. This might increase the visibility for the new players since the demo had poor visibility on the store page and people on our Discord were asking where is it. Until we make sure we can have both demo and the Prologue live at the same time the demo will be unavailable, sorry for the inconvenience. The good news is that: All your saves and progress from the demo will transfer to the prologue and later on to the full game. You can just install the prologue and continue where you left off in the demo. You can check out the Prologue in either single or co-op multiplayer here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2207480/HELLCARD_Prologue/ See you on the 16th and, as always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons ːArchduckː Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/28ee8ec713bc41c0706e58e8afde0e8c62164427.jpg Good news everyone! First of all, the game now includes the Czech language! This is thanks to the excellent community translator who took the time to translate the game and worked with us to integrate the translation. We also, finally, got the official playable verification for Steam Deck! The only thing holding us back from getting that green tick is the text size in the game, which is a tiny bit smaller than required for the Steam Deck. Aside from that everything works and the game runs perfectly. Since the text size probably won't change (as it would require a manual rework of the whole GUI) now is the best time to play the game in your Deck. Other stuff included in this update are various accumulated fixes and improvements to the rendering and window system backend. Peculiar resolution handling issues on ultrawide displays should be a thing of the past. As always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons ːarchduckː Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/9475e9b87f57346eba854adafd87c2f04c102321.png Although we work hard on the next titles in the series, we of course keep maintaining and updating Archdemon's dungeons. Like we could stop ːarchduckː

Ukrainian translation

Without any further ado, the first and the biggest news of this update is the addition of Ukrainian community translations!

Other stuff (read: bug fixes)

We have also found and fixed multiple minor issues with other languages. There were also some controller issues and crash bugs that are no more. Full changelog:

• Ukrainian language is now available thanks to awesome community translators!
• Fixed a seemingly random crash on Massacre difficulty
• Various updates and fixes to all translations in the game - also thanks to awesome community translators!
• Controller - fixed an issue where the game pedestal would be highlighted on game startup but pressing a button opened the menu instead of launching the game
• Fixed avatar sharing to Facebook

As always, Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː Konstanty

Update 18.3.2022: We posted this statement and raised the price in order to draw the attention of Russian players to our statement so they could see what is happening in Ukraine in their name. It worked. We received a lot of angry and grateful feedback both from Russians supporting and hating this war. Since then we have joined other studios and halted sales of Book of Demons in Russia and Belarus until further notice. Owners of the game will continue to be able to play it. Supporters will still receive all the content. Again, this is not an action aimed at Russian and Belarussian players, although it affects them. Taxes from sales of games on Steam go back to the country where the sale has taken place. This means that every sale of our game in those regions would be helping wage this war. You can read the original statement below. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/7fedaeb4f7ae2c579eeaa23ce6035e1ad5b343ec.png Here in Poland we still remember horrors of war from our grandparents' stories. Now we witness them at our doorstep. We support our neighbors from Ukraine in this dark time. Members of our team are privately driving to the border refugee camps every day and transporting mothers and children fleeing the war-ravaged country. It's all not enough. There is a river, an ocean of people crossing the border every minute. Often with nothing more than a child or a cat cradled in their arms. This madness is hurting innocents, mothers, fathers, and gamers like us. First of all, for the next seven days we commit to donating all income from the sales of our game on PC to NGOs that take care of refugees. Furthermore, as a company, we would like to try and reach our Russian players and let them know what is really happening in Ukraine. We are raising the price of Book of Demons over 10x to 6666 Rubles for the Russian region. This price change is a temporary measure to bring attention to this statement. Eventually, the price will return to normal levels. This is a drastic measure, as we are aware that some of our greatest fans are from Russia, the country where love for the ARPG and the original Diablo is strong. Most of them probably are aghast with war crimes their government is committing on innocent Ukrainians. We know this might feel like punishment to some of them. Yet if this makes new players check our post for an explanation and thus allows us to be heard and reach those who are not aware of what the Russian government is really doing, then it will be worth it. We don't blame regular Russians, we are all brothers and sisters. It is their government that is to blame. The price will remain increased until further notice. To our Ukrainian friends considering escaping the horrors of war: if you can risk getting to our border there are thousands of people from all over Poland waiting there to get you to safety. We have food, toys for kids, medical and legal aid. You will get driven to your friends or families all over Europe. If you have no one we will take care of you and build a new life for you. Thousands of families are offering their homes to refugees. You don't need a passport to cross the border, take your pets with you. Everyone is welcome. More info in Ukrainian here (official government site). As always, stay safe. Thing Trunk team

https://i.imgur.com/nintCMW.gif It's October so the Town is also celebrating. You would think they had enough scary stuff going on with the Archdemon and the whole undead invading the land but apparently, there is always room for more! Pumpkins, last year sweets, spider nets, and paper skeletons are dragged out of cellars and dusted off. Coincidentally, this all is also done by paper skeletons! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/f6c7b53d4b04f890f5b506ead8597a4cf70d1733.png This also means that “Limited Edition Spooky Challenges” are back starting from 10/26 until 11/2. Here is a rundown:

• 7th sense: killed enemies respawn and can be killed again for more gold. They don't give you more points, but think of all the gold! Grab as many coins as your pockets can hold and run before the monsters surround you! Begins on 10/25.
• Spooky Spores!: We heard you like spores, so we put spores in your spores. Did we mention you now also spawn spores that spawn other spores and all spores poison you? That's how it is Run or kill enemies around you to gain more points: the choice is yours. Begins on 10/27.
• For The Horde!: the enemies are blindingly fast and can sense you from far, far, very far away. Kill them quickly or push them back in order to finish the run as fast as possible! Begins on 10/29.
• All you need is Blood: each second you lose 1ːpaperheartː Every time you deal destroy enemy heart you gain 1ːpaperheartː Perfectly balanced as all things should be, manage your hearts and survive. Begins on 11/1.

As always, Stay safe in the pumpkin dungeons ːarchduckː Konstanty ːpaperheartː

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/c18e5bce439dd557cf4791c819ccbb8719c6fa54.jpg It's been a while since we have released an update. Rest assured, though: we are committed to the long-term support of the Book of Demons. We are simply bundling fixes in larger batches. Without further ado, This Update's Highlights!

Better backups, safer saves!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/66c46e9408fd178fe616201aa204436d405216f5.jpg There have been issues with saves being corrupted due to power outages. Each time we tried to recover the saves by hand and sometimes we succeeded. Now we are adding a two-tier automatic backup system that should keep your heroes safe.

Fixed Razer Chroma Keyboard Support

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d9294efdf80bf8f4053836181bbc8b3463acb442.gif There was a bug preventing Razer keyboards from going full RGB on you. They will now. And it will look glorious, give it a try!

Bug of the Update

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/2c27836564b09d1f4242b82735c8275a88ca7e5d.png This title goes to slowed, frozen, and stunned states not being recognized by the game. This resulted in stun locks on the hero and some general weirdness. It won't be as easy to get frozen to death now and goats won't be so frustrating! The funny thing is, we actually fixed this bug two years ago but it came back. Fingers crossed it stays squashed for good this time!

Full changelog

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/b8ca5fe0571937e3221d9673b05f4704aaa8bd33.jpg Ver. 1.05.211020 - 21 October 2021

• Changed the save manager system to keep two-tiered backups of characters in case of a power failure
• Fixed Razer keyboards not using RGB backlights correctly when enabled in the "Extras" section in options - the return of RGB glory!
• Revamped the whole credits backend system - supporters can now be updated more often, regardless of the game updates
• Now, if you are a supporter, your name will be highlighted in the credits when you view them! How cool is that?
• Fixed slowed, frozen, and stunned states not being recognized properly by the game mechanic
• Updated supporters list in credits
• Updated translations with small fixes

As Always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons! Konstanty ːpaperheartː PS.: Looks like there was a nasty bug that slipped past our tests and affected players with non-latin characters in the same path. A hot patch just went live that fixed that issue. If you have been affected you might get a "save corrupted" message on startup but your saves should be fine. Sorry for the commotion! PPS Update 10/27/2021: we are releasing a small fix, some fixes from the previous update required fixing and now should be fixed ːarchduckː

Hello! It's been a while since the last progress update and we are sorry it took us so long to write them. Matt opens a new era of regular updates with a lenghty blogpost on why making games takes so long and what is our current status. As I said it's lenghty but there are also concepts and renders from new projects sprinkled in there, so hopefully it will be a worthy click and read! You can find the full post here, on our blog. And here is a taste of these new images and concepts ːarchduckː {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/5a17fb1784a21f60453867c41ce9b34ea5056ae4.png As I mentioned this post ushers a new era - an era of montly dev updates from us. So see you soon! As always, Stay safe in paper dungeons! Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/242ff6ac5b98d77053ab505fb07c7474c20dbabf.png Our last roadmap began with the words ‘2019 was a particularly chaotic time for all of us here.’ Oh boy, were we in for a big surprise, because we all know how 2020 turned out. But was it really all that bad? Let’s find out! In the roadmap for 2020, we announced not one but two new projects: Hellcard and Book of Aliens. Internally, we had big (not to say brazen) plans: to find and onboard five new team members and finish moving into the new office. What we didn’t exactly plan for was abandoning our new office pretty much the day it was finished! Thankfully, we were ready for the transition to home office model since our philosophy was always to be flexible and if someone on the team needed to work from home it wasn’t an issue. What we never tried was everyone doing so at the same time. The pandemic helped us improve our work organization and lower heating and electricity bills at the same time (hello, remote work!). Unfortunately, it also tossed a wrench into our recruitment efforts. Still, we were lucky enough to welcome aboard two new team members: Wacław – a new graphic designer, and Mateusz – a new community manager (that would be yours truly, actually!). We are still recruiting and even though the process is moving slower than we have hoped, we are on track to hit our 2020 target of 5 new team members in 2021.

Book of Demons

https://store.steampowered.com/app/449960/Book_of_Demons/ Despite having moved onto new projects, we have been keeping Book of Demons up-to-date and alive. Not only that, but it also made it to new platforms! iPad users can now play Book of Demons: Tablet Edition. With the great help of 505 Games and Sonka, we released Book of Demons on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch as well. Last but not least, Book of Demons was included in Humble Choice in February, helping us spread the word about our games and Return 2 Games vision. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/897473e9f3b3ecceb8ee7812939a0be75e7e8be2.png As you can see, 2020 wasn’t all that bad for our team. But now, let’s move onto some exciting stuff you’re all waiting for!

Hellcard

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/HELLCARD/ As you might remember from our previous announcements, Hellcard started as an idea for a Book of Demons’ mode, not unlike Superhot mode. It quickly became clear that in order to execute it properly and with multiplayer, we will have to write it almost from scratch and so it evolved into a standalone spin-off title. Hellcard will feature its own Archenemy, a slew of new cool features, game mechanics, and we really can’t wait to show it all to you! Since most events and shows moved to digital form due to the pandemic, we took that opportunity to show you our internal tech demo during Steam Spring Festival, Tokyo Game Show, PAX/EGX, Taipei Game Show, and Gamescom (we even had an awesome virtual Booth at IndieArena!). In November we also participated in The Escapist Games Showcase – Fall Edition, where Konstanty answered a couple of questions about Hellcard. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/1af0cb3bf4d2131368007ea0fc805c34e0133415.png We gathered a lot of useful insights and feedback from you but the work is far from over. As you know, what you have played was barely a prototype. Since then it was scrapped and rewritten as was always the plan. The actual game will be… more polished ːarchduckː The development process is especially challenging for us due to the multiplayer mode – it is the first time ever we’re making a multiplayer game. We’re also exploring the possibility to implement modding to Hellcard (nothing 100% confirmed, though!), which further complicates the matter. But how cool would that be? Very cool, we think, which is why we are trying to squeeze it into the production plan. https://i.imgur.com/2vOJqE9.gif Still, with so much stuff going on with Hellcard, instead of pushing for an Early Access release at all cost, we’re instead aiming for a Closed Beta launch at some point in 2021 and Early Access after that. This will allow us to do further testing and tweak the game along with your feedback, while at the same time giving our community exclusive access to the game.

Book of Aliens

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196230/Book_of_Aliens/ The second installment in the Return 2 Games series, Book of Aliens, will pay homage to UFO: Enemy Unknown. While it will share card-based mechanics and the paper art style of the whole series, ultimately, it will represent a completely different genre – a turn-based tactical strategy. We made a lot of progress in the design department and finalized how the tactical part of the game will work. Because our plans to grow the team were thwarted, we made progress slower than we have hoped for. This means that Book of Aliens won’t come out in 2021 as we initially planned. There is good news too. We brought about a revolution in the visuals department. The game will look different from what you might expect from the first screenshots. Later this year, expect a solid post on the art style of Book of Aliens, similar to our post on the same topic regarding Book of Demons. But that's not all, we are also planning a bigger surprise reveal about Book of Aliens later this year. As an exclusive sneak peek below you can see one of the rejected art prototypes from the process and see how far it came since the first screenshots we shared. And now we are even further. https://thingtrunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/boa_teaser-1-1200x734.png

But wait, there is more! Something Wicked This Way Comes

There are some things that are inevitable. One such thing is happening later this year after brewing in secret for some time now. Sometimes you finish a book, close the cover but the thing just won’t stay closed. Let’s see if you can guess what it is before we are ready for a full reveal. Being unable to assemble the full-strength team for Book of Aliens left part of the team, paradoxically, with more time on their hands. We were able to keep working on a secret project of sorts. We are not ready to reveal what it is just yet, but it will be ready soon. Here's a small teaser for our secret project. Can you guess what it might be? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d58ab060a49450b5052ed84940ae0bad9068962c.png We are super excited and can’t wait for you to check it out.

New year, new prospects

I think we can all agree that 2020 was disruptive and not the best year on the record, to state it mildly. Despite all the setbacks, challenges, and other minor issues, we stay optimistic. This year shapes to be the busiest year Thing Trunk ever had when it comes to reveals and mystery projects. Thank you for your continued support - we are lucky to have such a great community. Remember to join our Discord channel to hang out with us and other Book of Demons’ fans, and make sure to follow us on Twitter and like our Fanpage! And if you are intrigued by the mystery project or would like to get your hands on early builds of Book of Aliens or Hellcard, consider subscribing to our Newsletter and joining our Discord server. Discord and our newsletter are where all the super early previews and tests will happen so it’s the place to be. Not to mention it’s a great community. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d587560cb6d210c470913324624f1722074688c0.png Take care and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Liven up your Steam profile with brand new animated frames and backgrounds to stand out among other players! The Steam Points Shop allows you to spend your hard earned points on emoticons, profile backgrounds, and avatar frames related to various games, including Book of Demons. While we already had some items in the past, such as the lovely archduck emote ːarchduckː or paper skull ːpaperdeathː, they were static and didn't do much (apart from looking good, of course). This time we've added something more lively that will bring your Steam profile to life! https://i.imgur.com/zLDrikl.gif The new items are:

• an animated profile frame that shows around your avatar
• 4 animated mini-profile backgrounds with our heroes (visible whenever someone hovers the mouse over your avatar)
• 3 animated profile backgrounds with our heroes (visible on your Steam profile page)

You can access the Steam Points Shop for Book of Demons and get all animated items for 2000 points ːgoldpileː right here.

The more the merrier

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d587560cb6d210c470913324624f1722074688c0.png If you want to get in touch with us or hang out with other Book of Demons' fans, click here to join our Discord channel! That's where you can chat and discuss and play together. And that's where we are running sneak peek channels with early betas and previews of Hellcard - a sequel spinoff to Book of Demons and a true single and multiplayer co-op deckbuilder! If you think that's right up your alley, wishlist and follow the game to get updates on public tests and launch! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/HELLCARD/ As always, stay safe in the animated dungeons! Mathyou ːpaperheartː

https://i.imgur.com/BO4iqsO.gif Have you ever thought to yourself, “man, those paper dungeons are bleak and dull?” Well... good, because that's how dungeons are supposed to look like ːarchduckː But if you really want to add some color, you can now make good use of your SteelSeries peripherals and light the room with all shades of red, green, blue, and more! https://i.imgur.com/jcqm3XM.gif We've partnered with SteelSeries to implement GameSense support in Book of Demons. What's GameSense and how does it work? To put it simply, it allows the game to lit up your SteelSeries RGB enabled mice, keyboards, and headsets and react to events in Book of Demons in real-time. That's coding magic for ya! The full list of effects now available includes:

• Health and Mana indicators on F5-F8 and F9-F12 respectively. We use fewer keys but the rightmost key dims as the parameter value gets lower for fluid visual feedback. Additionally, health gets tinted green when the character is poisoned.
• Equipped cards highlight keys bound to their slots. The type of card equipped is color-coded exactly as they are presented in-game. Additionally, when a card is not usable at the moment, it's dimmed. And when it's on cooldown, it's also indicated by gradually making the key lighter. These keys and health/mana bars are rendered on top of other effects as they are utility indicators.
• When a card becomes usable or its passive effect is triggered, it flashes gold
• When the character is frozen, the keyboard mimics the on-screen effect and "freezes" in blue color on the edge rows and columns.
• When the character is poisoned again, the keyboard mimics the on-screen effect, and "bubbles" of green spawn at the lowest key row and make their way upwards.
• Level up, level clear, and card identified/discovered notifications now have a fast "swipe" effect on the keyboard.
• Mouse glows in the color the current dungeon is tinted with. This creates a cool ambient effect at the player's desk that compliments the in-game color scheme.
• On death, the keyboard gets "flooded" with red to mimic the on-screen effect ːpaperdeathː
• When the player is stunned, the headset blinks yellow to mimic the yellow stars on the screen

https://i.imgur.com/mhRUV1f.gif As always, stay safe in the colorful dungeons! Mathyou ːpaperheartː

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/ef2e35aad5b1859210f45f12547f2f35ecbc76af.png Hello everyone! As a part of the general backend modernization effort, we have reworked the launcher. Most of the changes are under the hood and affect the way games in the series will talk to each other, unlock avatars and show up in each other's launchers.

Avatar system changes

So there is more than meets the eye here, but what meets the eye is how the avatar system changed. As you might remember avatars were placed on a graph and unlocked with a meta score. This idea was cool but difficult to work with and, to be honest, a tad clunky visually. Which is why we have reworked that system. Now each game can unlock an avatar according to its own rules and will inform other games that it did so. All avatars are now browsable in a neat list with descriptions visible all the time and not only in tooltips: https://i.imgur.com/kwM0wAE.gif Looks much better, doesn't it? There will also be an option to copy avatar in .png format to a folder, so it could be used online with ease. This option will be available on selected platforms that allow it (Steam does ). Aside from that check out Hellcard and Book of Aliens if you somehow missed them ːarchduckː https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/HELLCARD/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196230/Book_of_Aliens/ and consider joining us on our Discord server! As always, stay safe in the paper dungeons ːarchduckː Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/2f5b5d1b915a12c5cb10314a0406ae88b66685dd.gif Defeat the Archdemon and his army of spooky skeletons, ghosts, and fiends in Book of Demons - a modern Hack & Slash game reimagined. Are you ready to enter the dungeon and save the Paperverse from the forces of evil? Grab your swords and shields, bows, and magic staffs, because it’s adventure time! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/4c85b3f4c24eb9f780ab30b141d411ca12eec93f.gif

Halloween under the Cathedral

Colourful fallen leaves, warm sweaters, and the pumpkin spice latte - ain’t autumn great? And if you want some fun, October got you covered too. There is this one day a year when all ghouls, ghosts, vampires, zombies and other monsters leave their comfy dungeons to visit their definitely-not-terrified human friends. Yes, you’ve guessed it - it’s HALLOWEEN time! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/f0e01cb9faea7ef8892cffa5bc1da28c10524d6d.png This year will be different, however. This year, you will pay all the spooks a visit first instead. The dungeons are already decorated. The treats are already prepared. The monsters are already waiting for you to come and play with them (and steal all their candy). So what are you waiting for? Challenge the Archdemon in a Special Halloween Special ːpaperdeathː {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/f4cb786ff4fc932fe188c34709ffe93d9c6d9a6b.gif

Limited Edition Spooky Challenges

We celebrate Halloween with Limited Edition Spooky Challenges and Halloween decorations in all the dungeons (made by the Archdemon himself). Introducing: ːarchduckː All you need is Blood - each second you lose 1 HP point. Each broken enemy heart gives you +1 HP point. Hearts become a resource you have to manage in order to survive. ːarchduckː Spooky Spores! - we heard you like spores, so we put spores in your spores, so that you can get spores while strolling around the dungeon. Now your own body will spawn spores which then spawn even more spores. And that’s how you become constantly poisoned. Do you run or kill enemies around you? The choice is yours. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/60aa7a114478bc7a06fba13536ec2ff0b11ccdcf.gif ːarchduckː For The Horde! - the enemies are super fast and can sense you from a long range ːarchduckː 7th sense - enemies spawn once killed and drop gold (killing them doesn't give you more points) - grab as much money as your pockets can hold and run before the monsters surround you!

The more the merrier!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d587560cb6d210c470913324624f1722074688c0.png If you want to meet like-minded people or get in touch with us, click here in order to join our Discord channel! Among other stuff that's where we are running sneak peek channel with early betas and previews of Hellcard. Hellcard is going to be a sequel spinoff to Book of Demons and a true single and multiplayer co-op deckbuilder! If that sounds cool, wishlish and follow the game to get updates on public tests and launch. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/HELLCARD/ Enjoy Halloween everyone and don't get spooked! Stay safe in the Haunted Dungeons, Mathyou ːpaperheartː

Our good friends over at Monster Couch have released their digital edition of Wingspan today, and we've teamed up with them to offer a special 10% discount for Book of Demons owners on top of their launch discount (so it's an extra 10% off the discounted price). https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054490/Wingspan/ Wingspan is a relaxing strategy card game about birds designed for 1 to 5 players. Each bird that you add to your preserve makes you better at laying eggs, drawing cards, or gathering food. Many of the 170 unique birds have powers that echo real life: your hawks will hunt, your pelicans will fish, and your geese will form a flock. So if you are into birds or board games it might be worth checking out ːarchduckː As always, Stay safe in paper dungeons ːpaperheartː Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36304302/f16f3edfa5e7cba0267791e6e871fd577c91a624.png The Steam Games Festival was a blast, to say the least! We scrambled to get the demo up and running and tested for it but it was well worth it. We got a ton of valuable feedback from all of you. What's more, we also tested the network backend. You are all amazing, thank you ːpaperheartː As you might already know from the past updates we are now scrapping the demo and writing the net code and the game from scratch. We will use all of that knowledge gathered to power-up the production of Hellcard. With more content, less Infernal Network Errors... aaaand without small cards sticking to a mouse cursor from time to time ːarchduckː https://i.imgur.com/N0BN0bb.gif

Demo in numbers

Curious how the playtests went? Here are some data we can share!

• It was quite crowded - over 3000 players tested the demo ːpaperheartː
• DemoN, the community boss, was slain over 100 times! We expected him to die maybe twice, nice ːpaperdeathː
• You did a great job spreading the news - 1 out of 7 players told about the game to their friends, almost half of the players played with a friend!
• You were real brothers-in-arms - almost 9 out of 10 players stayed with their initial party for good and for bad
• I streamed the game for 16 hours using my homemade jury-rigged setup (green curtain bought for 10 bucks and my phone). Streaming the game is something we will be doing more often in the future (maybe we will even get a real camera not to use my mobile phone!).
• At one point there were over 7000 viewers on the stream and Hellcard was #1 stream on the whole Steam - that’s INSANE!
• I also ate 4 candy bars, 2 dinners, and showed my cats twice three times while streaming

But most importantly, we got tons of feedback messages and surveys filled! We were flooded and floored by the amount of feedback we got ːarchduckː It was very positive too, which is a good sign since the demo had only a sliver of the final content of the game! Oh, and to celebrate the 100th death of the Community Boss, we are working on a special wallpaper. Here is a sneak peek of the early speed paint concept: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36304302/d525d7d433d9ee4569b73d4adfd122011e194140.png

So, what will the final game look like, then?

Some of you also mentioned it wasn't clear for them what differs the demo from the full version of Hellcard. As we’ve mentioned before, the demo was supposed to test the core mechanics and multiplayer with the new code only. This demo prototype sported 28 cards, the final game will have well over 100 cards. There were only a few monsters and two bosses in the demo. The final game will have a lot more, it will be impossible to see all of them in a single run or to play a similar run twice. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33019925/839c96df51e5e6c18210804761e9ba99531e43ee.png In the demo, you got to pick one card or heal between fights. This was obviously a placeholder. In the final game, there will be story events between fights. I don't want to spoil too much as I plan to focus on this in another post. Last but not least - the singleplayer mode. Obviously, in the final game, there will be a single-player mode. It won't be simply playing with bots either, but a more complex system of companions. Again, it's something I will focus more in a separate post. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36304302/965650f83e3e80548a56d8888d387b70a48c4ab0.png

A huge THANK YOU

This is also the time to thank all the Supporters and Discord beta testers who answered the call and tested the game before it hit Steam Games Festival. Without you, this demo wouldn't be anywhere near the quality it was. Also, a separate BIG thank you goes to all our friends on Discord who helped us answer the questions during the AmA on Stream. The Discord community even wrote a standalone debug tool and save manager! You are amazing! ːpaperheartː For anyone who would like to be a part of that fantastic community here is the link to our Discord. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33019925/2976611e785578e3fb32935695f0535de5e9286b.png If you tried the demo and liked what you saw, please consider spreading the word and wishlisting the game - it's the only way Hellcard can reach new players as Steam shows wishlisted games to more people. This means a bigger player base and thus more people to play with! Not to mention you will get notified once it's released ːarchduckː https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/HELLCARD/ As Always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons! Konstanty ːarchduckː

https://i.imgur.com/ZocETwU.gif Since Hellcard is going to be a multiplayer game, it's crucial to get the netcode right. We want to squeeze as much as we can from the available solutions and that calls for a lot of testing ːarchduckː

Testing, testing, and then some testing on top of it

That's why a few weeks ago we have started tests with the players over at our Discord Sneak Peek channel. Testing raw net code is no fun, which is why we are doing that on a pre-alpha Hellcard prototype. It has only a few enemies and some early cards but is playable and a challenge. It also gives us a "two birds one stone" type opportunity. Not only we can test the netcode but also core mechanics. By the way, if you would like to be part of similar closed tests in the future consider joining our server: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33019925/2976611e785578e3fb32935695f0535de5e9286b.png We have already learned a lot, switched the network topology as a result and we know how we will rework netcode and architecture for the final game. We have almost all the data we need to scrap the prototype and get back to work. One missing piece is a large scale stress test. We already invited our supporters for closed tests but now it is time to hold an open pre-alpha demo test. And what better time to do that than during Steam Summer Game Festival. https://i.imgur.com/toWfu2p.gif

Disclaimer

Please keep in mind, that what we are testing here is a pre-alpha prototype build. It will actually be scrapped after the public test and we will use what we learned to improve the actual game. The demo focuses on battles, contains only a fraction of final gameplay and content. Still, it shows what we are going after, can be played and can be won. It features our feedback widget so if at any point you spot bugs or have an idea for improvement write to us! And expect to see a lot of our Work in Progress Skeleton Crew, who came to symbolize the pre-alpha state of the build: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33019925/839c96df51e5e6c18210804761e9ba99531e43ee.png As always, Stay safe in paper dungeons ːarchduckː Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/0be39edaaafea6470922b199f1487af89400a963.png The hour is upon us! The Book of Demons made it to Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. The console version is pretty much the same as the PC version when it comes to features, achievements, and stuff. What changed were under the hood optimizations and a lot of UI tweaks to make it more readable and more couch gaming compatible. The same goes for controller support - in console version the card selection was redesigned to make for more snappy combat. Meanwhile, once the launch dust is still settling, we are hard at work on the upcoming HELLCARD and Book of Aliens. If all goes well I will have cool news to share soon. PS Some of you might have seen this post earlier today - yeah it was totally me fumbling and posting too early by accident ːpaperdeathː As always, Stay safe in crawled from the comfort of the couch paper dungeons ːarchduckː Konstanty

https://i.imgur.com/UboHtaa.gif The date is set! In our previous post, I mentioned that guys at 505 Games are helping us with console publishing and are aiming for release in April. We just found out that everything is on track and only one week from today Book of Demons will hit Xbox One, Playstation 4, and last but very far from least, Nintendo Switch! Also, preorders on Switch are live now and come with a 10% preorder discount. Coincidentally, today is World Book Day. Life works in mysterious ways ːarchduckː As always, Stay safe in paper dungeons ːpaperheartː Konstanty

https://i.imgur.com/8mjXKI8.gif I thought it would be cool to share what we are doing, hence this update. First of all, although the Town might seem deserted, the work continues behind the shutters! We have switched to a home office model early during the pandemic. As a team, our origin story is that of working from our bedrooms and we always encouraged working from home when someone was feeling under the weather, so the transition was smooth. We are now scattered all over the country and kept alive thanks to brave pizza delivery people (seriously, everyone who keeps the infrastructure going in these grim times is a hero, kudos to you!). Meanwhile, we keep working on both Book of Demons: HELLCARD and Book of Aliens. For those of you who are not on our Discord, I will do a quick recap. And encourage you to join the server, of course. It's where we post sneak peeks and where we will organize alpha and beta tests: Discord.gg/bookofdemons So, without further ado...

Book of Demons: HELLCARD

We finished card rendering subsystems. Sounds straightforward but it was a lot of work actually, we want cards to be super readable, smooth, and clear regardless of scaling and we are using a custom engine. We will probably write a separate post about that later on. https://i.imgur.com/TwEaf53.gif I will also have a better quality gif, Steam size requirements are atrocious ːarchduckː The card art was a subject of hot debate both internally and with the community on our Discord. We have written a blog post on how the art style evolved and what motivated our decisions. https://i.imgur.com/drM9LnN.gif We are also in the process of reforging the prototype into a production-ready engine. Yet another topic for an upcoming post! The work is progressing smoothly, all things considered. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/

Book of Aliens

In the case of Book of Aliens, we are still tinkering with low-level mechanics, so a lot can (and will) change before release (planned for 2021). We are preserving our playable prototypes, so if all goes according to the plan we would love to show you what the game could have been. https://i.imgur.com/8zxjVs4.png While we tinker, our more artistically inclined part of the team is coming up with coolest ways to render scenes, shaders and, effects. But it all always begins with early concept sketches. Here is a sneak peek of the very earliest paper aliens concepts https://i.imgur.com/9cGM7iU.png https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196230/Book_of_Aliens/ If you don't want to miss sneak peeks like that and have an opportunity to discuss them with us, consider joining our Discord and the Sneak Peek channel there: Discord.gg/bookofdemons Aside from that, if you would like to support us further simply wishlist the game you are interested in (or both, if that's the case!). Steam offers more visibility to often wishlisted games and that's the best an indie studio without big marketing bucks can count on! As always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons ːpaperheartː Konstanty

https://i.imgur.com/8mjXKI8.gif I thought it would be cool to share what we are doing, hence this update. First of all, although the Town might seem deserted, the work continues behind the shutters! We have switched to a home office model early during the pandemic. As a team, our origin story is that of working from our bedrooms and we always encouraged working from home when someone was feeling under the weather, so the transition was smooth. We are now scattered all over the country and kept alive thanks to brave pizza delivery people (seriously, everyone who keeps the infrastructure going in these grim times is a hero, kudos to you!). Meanwhile, we keep working on both Book of Demons: HELLCARD and Book of Aliens. For those of you who are not on our Discord, I will do a quick recap. And encourage you to join the server, of course. It's where we post sneak peeks and where we will organize alpha and beta tests: Discord.gg/bookofdemons So, without further ado...

Book of Demons: HELLCARD

We finished card rendering subsystems. Sounds straightforward but it was a lot of work actually, we want cards to be super readable, smooth, and clear regardless of scaling and we are using a custom engine. We will probably write a separate post about that later on. https://i.imgur.com/TwEaf53.gif I will also have a better quality gif, Steam size requirements are atrocious ːarchduckː The card art was a subject of hot debate both internally and with the community on our Discord. We have written a blog post on how the art style evolved and what motivated our decisions. https://i.imgur.com/drM9LnN.gif We are also in the process of reforging the prototype into a production-ready engine. Yet another topic for an upcoming post! The work is progressing smoothly, all things considered. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/

Book of Aliens

In the case of Book of Aliens, we are still tinkering with low-level mechanics, so a lot can (and will) change before release (planned for 2021). We are preserving our playable prototypes, so if all goes according to the plan we would love to show you what the game could have been. https://i.imgur.com/8zxjVs4.png While we tinker, our more artistically inclined part of the team is coming up with coolest ways to render scenes, shaders and, effects. But it all always begins with early concept sketches. Here is a sneak peek of the very earliest paper aliens concepts https://i.imgur.com/9cGM7iU.png https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196230/Book_of_Aliens/ If you don't want to miss sneak peeks like that and have an opportunity to discuss them with us, consider joining our Discord and the Sneak Peek channel there: Discord.gg/bookofdemons Aside from that, if you would like to support us further simply wishlist the game you are interested in (or both, if that's the case!). Steam offers more visibility to often wishlisted games and that's the best an indie studio without big marketing bucks can count on! As always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons ːpaperheartː Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/e6d0aff8b96161af371985d1ba582346115a5b02.png We have been tinkering with Xbox One port for some time now, but now thanks to awesome guys at 505 Games porting gained much-needed momentum. Having a publisher for consoles allows us to focus on making future games while remaining confident that Book of Demons will get the best possible console treatment. Because it's not just any publisher, it's the 505 Games! Recently judged to be Metacritic's the best publisher of 2019! And now, without further ado, the most important part of this news! Book of Demons will be coming to Xbox One, Playstation 4 and last but very far from least, Nintendo Switch! Ports were prepared by Sonka, a small friendly company coincidentally located in the same town as us. These talented geniuses worked closely with us to make the ports perfect. And while both Xbox One and PS4 are powerhouses so it's no wonder game runs great on them, the Switch port deserves a bit of limelight for its optimization. Demons run like butter on it! Ok, that might have sounded much better in my head, but you get my point ːarchduckː All this should be happening around April 2020, so any moment now! As always, stay safe in paper dungeons ːpaperheartː Konstanty

The Cook got uneasy with how some of our achievements looked, so he forced us to brew up a new update to fix a few things here and there! In the latest Book of Demons update, we have a full menu of changes, including a litter of letters rearranged for your literal convenience.

He rises to fix your letters!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/87269ce77b6b38451182fbee5ad645bcd5890f3a.gif As Book of Demons is receiving a new batch of fixes and changes, our team is hard at work on upcoming projects. For Book of Demons: HELLCARD we are designing a new card look. You can see how the cards will be transformed below. Expect a larger blog update regarding that soon! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/ed7d0e538523c774f23d23c2bc8b5fdbc2995f21.gif

Changelog - Version 1.03.20383 9th March:

• Fixed a very rare bug when Archdemon level would crash
• Fixed missing controller support in wishlist window
• Fixed GUI displayed incorrectly when 3:2 screen ratio was chosen
• Fixed many typos and style inconsistencies in English and Polish language versions of the game
• Fixed Identify button lightning up when there were no cards to identify at Sage's
• Fixed legendary Shield card killing zombies with their own poison missiles (sorry!)
• Fixed Fury of Blows description in the Spanish version of the game
• Updated translations
• Added new Supporters and Community Translator to credits
• Updated Steam API SDK to a current version
• WASD auto walk on short taps can now be disabled in custom_settings.txt by adding WASDAutoMove = "0"

There's even more... somewhere else!

If you liked the Hellcard cards sneak peek above, consider joining our discord for more information on Book of Demons, Book of Demons: Hellcard, and Book of Aliens! We will have some very exciting news to share with you soon! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/cce5e1020f283d15d9292d3c9f2bd74fbed170fb.png As always, stay safe in the paper dungeons, Artur ːpaperheartː

The day has come - Book of Demons finally hit iPads! Today, on February the 13th (sadly not Friday but what can you do!), you can descend into Hell tapping your way through demonic hordes and hellish cooks - all made out of paper! The game is available on Apple Store for just $4.99 (launch week promotion, the regular price will be $9.99 so grab it while it’s hot ːarchduckː). {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/a923d14621827e7756b844b6bb375239ae8fd91f.png We introduced a bunch of changes into the Tablet Edition, making elements such as shields a bit easier to hit, and completely reworking control scheme to make it touch-control friendly. It's as responsive as you would expect it to be, and the only thing that might be lacking from the tactile experience is the feeling of crumpled paper you would expect from a pop-up book game ːarchduckː! Book of Demons: Tablet Edition requires iOS 13 to run and is available on iPad devices. This version is also up-to-date with the current PC build and contains all the content. You can now take your demon-killing everywhere you want, and let's face it: there is no setting unfit for a classic evil-fighting adventure. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/fec2ede60cae31e2127ca3c4b90139a524b55118.gif Tell your wife, tell your kids and spread the word in general: Book of Demons Tablet Edition is out! And as always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons (and join us on Discord)! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/869f949825342cbf3d2e0981c714dcfbed1b3958.png

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/c40038fda72b738f40773eaef15910bbc3790783.png As you know from previous announcements we have been working on bringing Book of Demons to iPads. Time for an update on that: we are finishing the beta tests and getting very positive feedback from players. Bugs are ironed out, controls are crafted with iPad in mind and the game runs smoothly. The current build looks so good in fact, that we have already locked the launch date.

Book of Demons: Tablet Edition hits iPads on the 13th of February

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/a4ba9fc15a598a66859ea8fbea0d92f4e6df822b.gif Sounds like a lucky enough date to us ːarchduckː Preorders are starting now and since we are doing a steep launch discount you can get the Tablet edition for a mere $4.99, less than a half of the regular planned price. Ask the Rogue, she will tell you it's a steal ːarchduckː The game will require iOS 13 and will be available only for iPads. Feature-wise it's up to date with current PC builds, although the control scheme is different and crafted for the tablet experience. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/548c4442424564527d479e9e5e2c8c898c4d2570.png Tell your kids, tell your wife! Word of mouth is still the best ally of indie developer so let your iPad-owning-friends know ːpaperheartː As always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons! Konstanty

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/347d4e4e62f30a4f3fd04bb197ad9a4a06ec3e72.png They say music makes the world go round, so in today's update, we make it go round and round with way more music! In your feedback you often pointed out the lack of variety in music and that it feels static, not contributing to the excitement of more intense combat. Well, that’s about to change.

Better… stronger… faster!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/8ce58329f14610f6c16a42be5bcc75283d7f713d.png Once again we decided to lay the burden of composing the music on the shoulders of Paweł Błaszczak. Paweł, who also created the original Book of Demons soundtrack, is a renowned music composer. You probably heard some of his tracks while playing Witcher, Dying Light, Call of Juarez or EVE Online. So we knew the sound is in good hands. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/a9a63672c13a9f6bbd2ce65d27616c16888135cd.gif But new tracks are only a part of this update - the machinery underneath also changed. Let me introduce you to our new dynamic music system! The music will change to more dynamic as you approach tougher fights with clutches of enemies or trigger bosses and cursed chests. This should build more tension and introduce a lot more variety during your runs.

Book of Aliens and Book of Demons: Hellcard

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/2ce4742e004fdb432be0473bf70557e3d44258a6.png In case you missed the 2020 Roadmap post from December, we have a surprise for you! In short, we have not one but *two* new games in the oven right now:

• Book of Demons: Hellcard - a cooperative roguelike deckbuilder supporting both single and multiplayer modes and which has more in common with games such as Slay the Spire than with action RPG’s.
• Book of Aliens - the next installment in the Return 2 Games series and our take on the turn-based tactical game with overreaching global strategy. And it’s a tribute to MicroProse’ UFO: Enemy Unknown.

You can read more about them in the original Announcement post - click! If the above games sound like something you might enjoy, be sure to wishlist. Wishlisting makes the game more visible on Steam so it’s not only a great way of keeping up to date with the game but also a huge help for the game itself. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196230/Book_of_Aliens/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/ And if you are not hooked yet - we will be posting dev updates along the way. In fact, you can expect some more detailed information on the progress quite soon.

Final notes

As usual, I encourage you to join our Discord server on which we plan to unveil all the magic of early development. All that in the form of brand new dedicated Sneak Peek channels where we will be posting news about the games and development process. You can set notifications for both channels (read more on notifications on #About-SP Discord channel). If you wish to follow the games' development more closely, Sneak Peek channels are the way to go! Click here to join the server.

Changelog - Version 1.03.20073 16th January

• Added new soundtracks and updated music system
• Fixed a possible crash at the beginning of a challenge
• Fixed double click occassionally moving character when Click to move option was disabled
• Decreased a chance for triggering SFX while using Charge card
• Updated translations
• Added new supporters to credits

Stay safe in the world of Paperverse! Margaret ːpaperheartː

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/2ce4742e004fdb432be0473bf70557e3d44258a6.png 2019 was a particularly chaotic time for all of us here at Thing Trunk! A whole year has passed since Book of Demons went out of Early Access, so it’s high time we share with you what we’ve been up to for the last 12 months. In the spirit of the annual roadmap update, I’ll try to briefly sum up what we managed to do, what’s coming up in the near and not so near future, and - as usual - why everything is always going slower than we’d like to. But most important of all, today we’re announcing not one, but two new games that we are working on in the Return 2 Games series! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/7c4713bb16ae4f28267362decb859cd46185c567.png

Book of Demons: HELLCARD

Hellcard is a cooperative roguelike deckbuilder supporting both single and multiplayer modes. It takes place in the same universe as Book of Demons, but takes the story further and into unexpected places! Book of Demons used cards for many of its mechanics and we have toyed with the idea of making a truly deckbuilding mode on top of it, but within the original game it could never be developed to its full potential. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d218070b9ac8375031828ff4ae4a26f929de1f3c.gif Hellcard, on the other hand (pun intended), is a true turn-based card game and in this sense, it has more in common with games such as Slay the Spire than with action RPG’s. What makes HELLCARD unique is that the battles take place in the dungeons and monster placement actually matters. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/ea558ac40147ef701707f9e8aa6d208398374c18.gif Another feature we’re extremely excited to share is that with Book of Demons: HELLCARD we’re planning to support co-op battles with up to three heroes facing Archdemon’s hordes. You’ll be able to descend into the dungeons solo, recruit computer-controlled companions, join your friends or strangers in their battles against the armies of darkness. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/4a2d3c0c0d73770c210f60e990e39d58ee921334.gif Hellcard internally started as an idea for a new game mode inside Book of Demons, but we soon realized that it’s a much bigger design and that it should be executed as a separate stand-alone spin-off game. While not a separate “book”, Hellcard will be a part of the Return 2 Games series and will be free for our R2G Supporters. Book of Demons owners can expect *very* heavy discounts on launch. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1201540/ If the above features get you excited, be sure to wishlist the game! Otherwise consider wishlisting anyway - who knows, maybe we will get you excited along the way! - CLICK! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/c0e64f2975a6a9851861fe20732a8e52592b4785.png

Book of Aliens

As many of you speculated, Book of Aliens is the next big book in the Return 2 Games series and it’s a tribute to MicroProse’ UFO: Enemy Unknown. A game of global strategy and battlefield tactics. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/fc822cea1605865d72cf61489cd14b3b1583d654.png Unfortunately, we can’t reveal much about the game mechanics at this point. The screens you see above and below are an indication where we want to be in terms of visuals, but they are just mockups based on one of the older prototypes. After testing lots of ideas, we had to scrap most of them because none of them fulfilled our R2G vision. Currently, we’re experimenting with several new gameplay mechanics that are much more original and promising. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/4375f4436338c10a930d13ff5e0fd85c43227da0.png In terms of story, Book of Aliens’ action takes place during a global crisis. Earth (or… PapEarth?) is threatened by an alien invasion originating from below the planet’s surface. Your mission is to lead a supranational agency of scientists and military agents in a desperate but valiant fight to understand the alien agenda and thwart it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1196230/Book_of_Aliens/ If you want to stay updated and be notified when the game is released, be sure to wishlist Book of Aliens! - CLICK! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d48e388ec908960d0f7e0f1840c2403553364a20.png

New games timeline

We have an ambitious plan to launch Book of Demons: HELLCARD into early access before the end of next year. This should be doable given that Hellcard will be using much of the Book of Demons tech. We plan to showcase more details from the game, including gameplay clips, throughout the year and generally be as open with the development as possible. Book of Aliens, on the other hand, does not have a release target yet, as we are still experimenting with new gameplay mechanics to find the perfect one. We don’t want to rush things and accelerate deadlines as this would mean compromising on quality. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/f145569bb1c51a153c1b42a37d3593e197f6d878.png Another reason why Book of Aliens might take more time to develop is that we decided to switch to a new game engine for this title. Book of Demons was created using a custom in-house C++ engine that was developed almost a decade ago. While it’s still on top of current technology, keeping up with all the latest advancements in graphics tech is not realistic for such a small team as ours. We’d rather invest time into migrating to a new technology stack rather than keep reinventing the wheel. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/6faa386088609c5b95889811d516b58cef69f1ea.gif Just like with Hellcard, we plan to give more regular updates on Book of Aliens and show how the game is progressing. And if you are excited about Hellcard and Book of Aliens and want to be the first one to test our future games be sure to join our Sneak-Peek Discord channel to follow their development. That's where we will post about updates, public tests and ask your opinion. Just click here! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/d48e388ec908960d0f7e0f1840c2403553364a20.png

A quick look back at 2019

Like I mentioned in the beginning, the whole year after the Book of Demons launch was insanely hectic and it wasn't until recently that things started to settle a bit. Looking back at it I’m wondering how we even managed to squeeze in any new game development at all. After we launched Book of Demons, the amount of work we had to do with the game didn’t drop, it actually increased! On one hand, we still had to keep developing the game to bring all the features that we promised in the post-release roadmap (last one of those should be coming in less than a month), and on the other, we had to start bringing the game to more shops and markets. In some countries, we launched a physical version of the game in retail stores. Thanks to our efforts, Book of Demons was one of the few launch titles for Xbox Game Pass on PC. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/a4ba9fc15a598a66859ea8fbea0d92f4e6df822b.gif Apart from this, we were (and still are) working on an iPad port of Book of Demons and this is coming along nicely and is almost complete. As you know from our previous announcements, we were working on an Xbox One version of the game. Luckily, in the middle of the year, we were approached by a publisher who offered to port the game and bring it to even more platforms. Expect an announcement about it soon. A considerable amount of time was dedicated to a thorough review of our technology stack and planning of future features. This was when we came to the conclusion that Hellcard would be the last title made in our current technology and that we need to make the switch to a mainstream modern engine with Book of Aliens. Learning a new technology can be a big endeavor on its own, but it’s an investment that should allow us to make better games faster in the future. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/b0e86c72ac366b29fc876664f0b1949fba443102.png We also dedicated a significant amount of time to expanding the team. But thanks to the new people on board (two graphic artists and a designer) we were able to kick off a simultaneous development of Hellcard and Book of Aliens. Our team is now 10 people and we are still looking for a community manager. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/62d95e3c1458b66e56028d30d27849497de15e8c.gif By far, the biggest amount of time in 2019 sunk into moving to our new office. We found a very nice place in a good location and capable of accommodating our bigger team. Sadly, it was a mess and needed full remodeling. We moved a little over a month ago and it’s still not complete, but at least everyone’s got a place to sit and work. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/2815133bbd8976f4c7d82ab1996d142a5a9fee16.png

Stay tuned for more!

The good news is that new games are coming along nicely and we can finally focus on them, as the biggest hurdles are behind us. If you are excited about Hellcard and Book of Aliens, and want to follow their development, be sure to join our Sneek-Peek discord channel. If you want to be notified when the games are released, wishlist the games on Steam or simply subscribe to our newsletter. Take care, and let us know in the comments if you have any questions :) Stay safe in the world of Paperverse! Thing Trunk team ːpaperheartː

Autumn Sale is finally here and so do the Steam Awards of 2019! While taking this opportunity to expand your libraries consider taking a moment to vote for your favorite games as well. And if it is Book of Demons that holds a special place in your heart, let us propose the category so we can all focus our efforts (and votes). {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/c8decf0322ba48632a38b7a9cc120a9c6e29d481.gif

Outstanding Visual Style

How awesome sounds that? Pretty awesome. We spent a lot of time designing and searching for Book of Demons' paper art style to create something unique but readable and, well, nice looking. Let me tell you a bit about that journey so you can decide for yourself if the game is worth your vote! Developing the paper art style for R2G took us almost two years, but why we needed a unique art-style at all? Why didn’t we just make “normal” realistic graphics? Why it took us so long? {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/9459e551938eb3d9f025f63885d58cb435bd992a.png We wanted R2G to have an iconic look, and be adaptable to various themes. We considered taking a safe route and adopting a 2D or a 3D cartoon style. For a while, we thought about making everything of macaroni, voxels, or mono-color pixel art but all of these ideas were quickly scrapped. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/4ea3ab1434b102da787857e399b054978059926e.png One day someone said, why don’t we make each game in the series a book with the action taking place inside a paper pop-out world. Everyone on the team was sold on the idea. Paper is a very flexible material, so we could really do whatever we wanted with it! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/f0e01cb9faea7ef8892cffa5bc1da28c10524d6d.png And that's how we ended up with tons of pop-up books on our shelves and whole games taking place in one of those. If you enjoyed this short version of the art style search story you might enjoy this longer version on our blog. And don't forget to vote ːarchduckː As always, Stay safe in the paper dungeons Konstanty

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Здравейте, everyone!

And now you know how to greet a fellow Bulgarian playerːpaperheartː. From now on, thanks to the titanic work of community translator Peace, you can play the game in Bulgarian! ːsteamhappyː

But there is more!

Today's update also brings an awaited Korean translation. Many players asked about it and finally, thanks to Coco Love fantastic and much-appreciated work, it finally arrived! It's over 6000 lines consisting of 20.000+ words and they completed the translations not even in weeks but in mere days! It's insane! Let's have a big round of applause for our heroes!ːpaperheartː {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/12639450/e17843b70731ddc1346fb25c53698fff7f8e1ca0.gif As always, if you’re a native speaker and have any suggestions about the translation (or to any previously added), get in touch with us at our official discord server or via email: [email protected]! You can also talk directly to the community translators in the forums.

Version 1.03.19733 21st November 2019

We are using this opportunity to sneak in some fixes as well. Here is the Changelog:

• Added Bulgarian and Korean languages
• Slightly changed the way credits are presented
• Added a counter of cards left to collect in Antipope's quest
• Fixed selecting pedestals with a gamepad in nonstandard aspect ratios
• The order of gossips in the gossips window now match the order of discovering them in the game
• Fixed a bug allowing players to enable Superhot mode in all challenges
• Fixed a bug with teleport allowing players to cross the Archdemon's gate without finding shards
• Fixed the position of dispelling progress bar when a monster casts two spells simultaneously
• Fixed congratulations window showing sometimes after mastering a quest
• Fixed the damage of legendary Ice Blast
• Fixed the damage of Barrage not scaling with levels
• Fixed a crash occurring when 'R' key was bound to swapping a card's deck
• Updated translations
• Added new ːpaperheartːSupportersːpaperheartː to credits

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Discord

And if you would like to know more we are on Discord and we are running Ask Us Anything channel for the curious ːarchduckː Check it out! -> Discord.gg/bookofdemons As always, Stay safe in the dungeons ːpaperheartː Gosia