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I'm settling into a weekly cadence for updates, with any additional hotfixes occurring as the week unfolds. This patch covers a lot of ground.
I wanted the game to respond to players ability to grind and gain all the items with more friction. Here's how I'm having the game do this:
When you get to the end of a successful busking round, the audience is given a permanent"Familiar Act" modifier that permanently buffs their rolls. There are six tiers of this, going from \ all the way to \. Currently this only works for street busking and not plants.
You can now fully subdue lobster creatures using Physique. The correct agent will be disabled, and should remain so. If you fail to pickpocket a peaceful lobster, they'll just escort you to the entrance. Otherwise, they'll just remain docile.
cash rewards for drinks in Floating Frequency have been lowers
Klang's Mints have gotten more expensive ($20 -> $80)
costume requirements raised for Tier 3 costumes (4|5|6 / 5/5/6 range)
cocktail dice rebalance:
Lemon Juice Diluted -> +2 locked
Gin Diluted -> plus 2 health and nerve
cocktails (unsuccessful recipes and any freeform drinks yield 1 drink). successful recipes yield 2 drinks as before.
the dice roll button now looks more like a chunky 3d button
you are now able to choose random pizza renames like you can for drinks
store purchases require a hold-to-confirm and provide a satisfying tween
quest screens now have their panels slightly separated, making them more legible
pizza ingredients icon is shaded
store discount in menu shown
double escape no longer required out of new game screen
you can see how many items you have while shopping
you can hide clean clothes in the laundry screen
certain areas in library easier to traverse
lion no longer traps you in certain parts of library courtyard
item details now behave more consistently
flavor text on items should show consistently
slowed by sap (and other area effects) fade consistently when entering / exited
cars no longer float in the street
you can now type 1, 2, and 3 in the drinks' name enter screen
tutorial graphic updated for costumes degrading
Small "Do not show again" state logic for tutorials fixed
controller traversal in drinks behaves more consistently
NEW OPTIONS PANEL: EXPERIMENTAL MODE
this is where I'll be putting any new features you'd like to try that haven't yet been fully tested, but should still work. test drive!
you can now play with unlocked frame rates
VSYNC is toggle-able
fixed issue where you could game over while getting a busking reward, reload, then be unable to access menus
situational soft-locks during certain tutorials fixed
A quality-of-life patch, with a few stray fixes + balance tweaks thrown in.
implemented "Continue" button (will work once you've loaded /saved in the new version)
you can now control the speed of when you can click through dialog, including near-instant clicking. available in options screen
quick save (F5) / Steam Deck Button L5
quick load (F9) / Steam Deck Button R5
automatic naming of save files
detergent prices increased by 1/3
blue folding chair no longer clips from certain angles in front of spiked building
safety: you cannot name your save game "QuickSave"
default controller selection in new save game screen is "save" for a new file
default controller selection when hitting "save"
you can see fabrics while buying them
fabric costs increased across the board
duct tape -> $60
superior duct-tape -> $100
controller guides disappear during dice rolling (same as mouse/kb guides)
cello pedal bonus given immediately, not just during plant session
minor typos and graphical glitches fixed
And so... the game is out. Two weeks slide by. Several hotfix patches later and here we are.
To start, a massive thanks for everyone who has given my game a deep dive. Whether you've streamed it, written about it, told your friends, whatever - it's been a thrill and an honor to present you this work, even in its emerging form. I honestly had no idea how long you all would spend in its streets, alleys and hidden passages. You've shown me the myriad ways you can push and bend the systems to your will. To the degree that you've been able to really lose yourself in this space and just enjoy it is deeply gratifying to hear.
So what's next? The roadmap lays out a clear path, but it's broad-strokes, and doesn't account for emerging issues or opportunities. There's a lot of specific work to do between now and the Chapter 3 release. So... where to start?
This is how I write my dialog. A straightforward JSON editor with custom syntax highlighting. It gets fed into a script which knows to look for the keywords and jumps around from there.
There's been some discussion around the "Work In Progress" signage I put in the game where I clearly wasn't able to implement the next steps of quests or areas. Some people appreciate the realness of it, others feel like it breaks their immersion. Since those quests and areas are going to be added to anyway, I'm going to address this by taking down some of the more obvious sign-posting and weave in smoother, thematically appropriate barriers, locked doors or guard rails.
This is how I make conditions in the game. Lots and lots of JSON entries. This keeps the whole process fluid and easy to search and traverse.
I was genuinely not expecting players to find ways to go wild with grinding in the game, but with the music busking (and plants performing), I now realize this was possible from the get-go. I'm fine with players doing this. Still, there are certain ways I want the game to push back more deliberately on dedicated grinding for its own sake, The low-hanging fruit here, and it's been suggested in multiple places, is to simply make the "encore" performances of the music busking just get permanently harder. If you succeed in playing through a whole performance, the audience gains a permanent buff, like "Raised Expectations" or "I Heard That One Before." Perhaps, I'll make up a whole new set of written options for performing - but I have a lot to write as it is, and the buff is the more efficient way to achieve the same thing, gameplay wise.
I need something to make recycling more enticing again - perhaps cloth will simply be... more expensive.
Laundry dice will have an effect similar to sandwiches - they must be re-rolled (a spin cycle takes time).
The cost curve for higher dice scores may need to be spaced out a little more. We'll see.
This is coming along. That's all I can really say about it for now - after more playtesting I'll be able to really talk about it!
The next big area. Currently it exists in a raw, emerging form, but that will also change.
Feel free to keep the bug reports coming. My cadence for patch releases remains steady. Re: quality of life suggestions, I hear them all and think they're all great! Some are more urgent then others, but overall you should expect to see QoL enhancements trickling in through out the whole EA process. It really comes down to priority, or if I see an opportunity to weave them into the current content I'm working on.
See you soon!
-Cosmo D
Here it is - Moves of the Diamond Hand, ready and available for you to play. This game is me pushing my design and world building chops to the absolute maximum, and also letting you in on the process through Early Access. The first two chapters are ready and waiting for you, while the next three will reveal themselves over the course of this year. Your purchase gets you access to all the content as it releases, and also ahead of time in its emerging form, if you so choose.
Right now we're clocking it in at around ~12 hours of gameplay but your mileage may vary, given the various paths on offer.
As ever, if you run into any technical issues, you can submit a report in-game, jump into the game's discord or post an issue on the game's server. See you in the game!
I'm excited to finally announce that Moves of the Diamond Hand will launch in Early Access on April 13th, 2026.
These opening chapters — the first two in a multi-chapter story — lay out the world, its characters, and its challenges. Based on playtests, this is by far the longest and most substantial game I've ever made. I can say with confidence that you're looking at 10 to 12 hours of gameplay in these first two chapters alone, with more if you want to replay them.
This game is an RPG through and through. I've taken the dice mechanics and brought them fully into first-person, deepening everything around them. Every playthrough sends players on a distinct journey through one city block. Go one direction and you'll stumble into situations and dice combinations you'd never find another way. Do your laundry first, or head straight to the jazz bar. Take out a loan and sit with that dice condition, or sneak around and steal the library card. These choices create emergent challenges and opportunities that ripple through the story. As of now, there are four main quest paths that crisscross and ultimately converge on the central mystery: who is the Diamond Hand?
This is very much Club Low, but bigger and deeper.
The plot revisits characters and the world from past games while introducing new layers of drama and world-building. The social complexity and drama from my past work is back in full, but the lens has widened. This is my biggest swing yet, and it's 10 years deep into my game development journey.
When I make games, it's always been a transparent and collaborative process. Public playtests, informal hangout sessions, closed betas. This has been the development rhythm for the past three games, mostly with my community here in New York. These games wouldn't be what they are without honest feedback from players, and Early Access is the most accurate way I know to carry that spirit forward. Opening up to you, the Steam community, feels like the right fit all around.
The game’s balance is where I want it right now, but I genuinely don't know what players are going to find – what systems they'll break, what combinations they'll discover. I want to know. I want to improve it in real time.
And know that when you join Early Access, you get everything that's there now and all future content for the game going forward.
An updated demo is available right now, and it introduces a lot of new concepts since last year's version. You can also wishlist the game immediately.
Come join me on April 13th. I'm so excited for you to play this.
I've arrived at the point in my development work where a lot of what I've been doing over this past year is coming together. The various areas that I've been playtesting internally in discrete sections are getting connected through a “hub zone”. Specifically, it’s a street scene reminiscent of what I did in Tales of Off-Peak City Vol. 1, but it’s much more dense and meant to evoke the classic street hub levels from games past. Think Santa Monica from Vampire Bloodlines or Detroit from Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Any of the Deus Ex street levels, honestly. I’ve come to realize that the street level is quite unique in its technical and design needs. It serves as a portal to other more descreet challenge areas, but it also has its own distinct zones and unique mission design opportunities.
Question: Do all the “shops” in the hub world get clustered one place? Answer, for now: I'm spreading them out to offer variety, but not too much so it feels like a slog to get across the map just to partake in a particular type of transaction. At best, I can offer shortcuts and alternate transactional locations which are thematic appropriate.
Question: Is the space meant to be totally safe, or have zones of danger and challenges? Answer, for now: I mix up the danger and the safety. Just to keep it interesting and players on their toes. It should feel like you're flowing through a dense space, filled with purpose.
Question: Do I give players an in-game map? Or do I let them use their own natural sense of direction and land-marking to find their way around? Answer, for now: No map for now. I think the space is intimate enough and dense enough that players can use real-life direction finding skills to get around.
Question: because of the connective nature of this space, as well as its density, how do I manage the technical load?
Answer, for now: Loading in discrete zones for the different areas. This is a tried and true technique I've done with all my games, but this area is promising to be one of my most elaborate.
The scene collection has a lot of unrelated things going on in tandem. One moment you’re sneaking by a wandering guard - the next, you’re making a pizza on a balcony nearby.
Other strategies I’m thinking about to address these design challenges:
Moving through the hub world in a cyclical nature. Ideally I want to create a space that players can flow through and meet all their needs / desires, like wandering through a bazaar or carnival.
Anywhere you look, there’s something enticing from any angle. Neon signs abound.
The variety of spaces that are distinct from one another visually, as well as functionally.
Shopping.
The newsstand that also sells booze on the sly
A kiosk allows you to sell items back.
Challenge and rewards,
A local “lair” where a vagrant creature hoards his treasures. At first he's docile, but if you want his treasures, you'll have to face his ire.
Simply learning about the world.
Circus X, your ultimate destination, is right in the middle of everything. It serves as your ultimate destination, but also a reminder of how far you have yet to go.
Like in previous games, I've created layered sky-boxes so that you see what exists beyond the immeidate street life, while also learning about the city's layers of history and lived-in feel, (the graffiti, the architectural details)
Differences in height to give players a sense of verticality, different activities and zones of importance exist on different actual vertical planes.
All of these elements are coming together to create a distinctive hub world that offers its own challenges, mysteries and opportunities. It’s taking a lot of work, but it feels dense, alive, carnival-esque. I look forward to having you traverse it.
In Moves of the Diamond Hand, donning the perfect disguise can be just as powerful as rolling the right dice. If you’ve played the demo, you’ve already encountered disguises. In the full game, they’re woven into the core gameplay—how you find them, keep them intact, and eventually rework them into stronger forms.
Where it happens.
It starts simple: a musician’s tuxedo, a chef’s outfit, a business suit, a unitard, a tracksuit. Each comes with its own unique dice, escalating in power as the player progresses. Every disguise ties back to the skills you’ve invested in, so your wardrobe becomes another reflection of your build. Certain disguises can only be worn when you’re powerful enough to wear them, giving you an incentive to really define who you want to be in the game.
Prototype UI of the washing system.
One feature missing from the demo, but definitely part of Early Access, is laundry. Disguises get grimy with use, and the only way to restore them is at a washing station or machine—with detergent, which is also represented by dice. When you wash a disguise, you enter a dice check where the item itself modifies the roll as “dirty laundry.” Win, and the whole costume is restored. Fail, and you can still clean up to three faces. It’s never a hard loss, just a “win big” or “win less.” Either way, the laundry always gets done.
Disguise recycling is another focus. Old disguises can be shredded for materials, but once again, the dice decide how much you recover. Win, and you salvage most of the parts. Lose, and you only get some.
Once you’ve collected enough materials—by finding them, buying them, or recycling—you can assemble more elaborate disguises using schematics hidden across the city. These schematics lay out color-and-number requirements on a dice grid, similar to building stained glass in the board game Sagrada. I’m drawn to that emergent puzzle of matching limited resources into patterns, and here it plays directly into the theme of cobbling together thematic disguises from improvised scraps.
In the end, the disguise system lets you maintain, break apart, and rebuild outfits into more powerful forms. It’s not a sprawling crafting tree, but a tight loop informed by some of the great board games I’ve played over the years—pattern matching, set collection, and dice-rolling shenanigans. The systems I’ve built around it are part of the texture of a world where a fuzzy corduroy sweater, held together with duct tape, could get you in the door when fists could not.
It calls to you...
I hope you enjoy this facet of the game!
One of the major additions to this game that’s new to my process is the idea of a “wandering agent” who roams around an area—like the classic Immersive Sim guard out of Thief or Dishonored.
As ever, I wanted to approach the wandering agent concept from a distinct angle. Sure, you could sneak up behind them and try to pick their pockets—all in the spirit of mischief. And my game leaves room for that. The agent has sight cones, patrol routes, and a sense that they can “catch” you. But there are aspects to this sort of encounter I’ve chosen which separate what I’m doing from my inspirations.
For starters, more confrontational physical aspects are already being handled by my dice system. If a guard catches you, you can try to wrestle, cajole, charm, or bribe—whatever makes thematic and situational sense. However, if you’re unable to convince the guard, you’ve effectively surrendered. Then what?
For one thing, an unsuccessful encounter like this doesn’t lead to a one-on-one fight to the last person standing. Basically, when you surrender, the guard “ejects” you from the area you're trying to roam in. It’s a “start back at the edge of the arena” situation. It still creates tension because when you get ejected, both you and the guard gain condition dice representing the outcome. It could be something obvious like “Injured” or “Embarrassed”—like if a bouncer tossed you out of a club. As before, you’ll need to roll dice to fully remove this condition.
So the risk remains, but you still get to choose whether to step back into the area where the wandering agent might find you again. Failure is never game over—but it can be if you have an appetite for more risk.
Another thing I’ve added is the opportunity to hide. Hiding is simply finding an area in the game where you can be sure the agent won’t see you. Even if they’re chasing you, hiding gives you cover to wait out their search. However, once you step into a hiding “zone,” a timer starts. If you hide for too long, you’ll gain another condition—another die you’ll have to roll away later. To me, this is another way to keep the tension high so you never get too comfortable while engaging with this system.
Finally, I’ve included certain traversal areas that give you passive environmental conditions. Examples include sticky surfaces or cloudy hazes that apply temporary conditions while you’re in them. You can’t roll these away as long as you remain in that environment. Guards can pass through these areas too, and the conditions affect them as well. Maybe you follow an agent into a hazy zone, but time your move so that they’re in it and you’re not. Yet more flexibility and reactivity in the system.
I want all of this to be dynamic, dramatic, and interesting—getting players to think about spatial traversal. But I also want to make sure players aren’t forced to engage with stealth if it’s not their style. They might move through a space that’s a little dangerous, or pursue an alternate path. The game is still a dice-based RPG at its core, so all of these systems serve role-playing, dice strategy, and the drama that comes with it.
To wit, I’m not grafting a stealth game into my current one—I’m incorporating stealth elements to serve dice-driven gameplay. It’s a genre hybrid approach. It’s a way for me to push what I feel is possible in this sort of space.
Part of why I’m excited about Early Access is that I get to workshop and refine this idea with you all. If you see opportunities for balance, for elevating the experience—or if it gets in the way of your fun—I want to know. I’m excited about the idea, but it’s still a work-in-progress, and I welcome your feedback when the time is right!
I look forward to sharing more of my new ideas with you from Moves of The Diamond Hand.
Cosmo D here. One thing I’ve come to realize in my years of board and tabletop gaming is a simple truth:
I really like the physical tumble. That chaotic ritual of tossing a big handful of dice into the air and just seeing where they land. It’s a timeless ritual. Too many dice, visually speaking, are awesome. It’s maximalist, a visual overload of symbols tripping over one another. And it's ok if that's a little hard to parse in the moment - it's all part of that drama. As a designer, I'm drawn to the spatial constraint, too. Just six dice faces to work with, small squares. Not a lot of room for baroque iconography.
In both Betrayal at Club Low and Moves of the Diamond Hand, I’ve really dug into all of this. The dice are 100% simulated in the physics engine. Sure, that’s created some issues with jankiness—especially in Club Low—but I’ve worked to address those issues over time. The payoff, though, has been worth it. You’re watching the dice make your fate - it’s theater. Your listening, too. I still remember recording those dice hits on my felt dice tray back in 2020.
The part I find just as compelling is the strategy: taking what you’ve rolled and trying to make the best of what you’ve got. In my system, you roll three times using modified Yahtzee rules. You keep what you like. It’s a classic foundation, but I’m always tweaking it to fit the situation. And that situation is constantly changing. Which means players need to think on their feet, they gotta improvise. But if you’re clever, gutsy or just feeling bold, rolling and re-rolling those dice should offer a path to triumph, relief, or a bit of both.
The above example, recorded from a Steam Deck work-in-progress build, shows how you can use certain dice to turn a bad situation into a good one. Note the explosion symbol - it lets you destroy your opponent's dice.
The above video features all-around dice shenanigans, using dice to manipulate the situation to the players' advantage. You'll notice a message that says "The Sandwich is Too Tasty, you must re-roll it." That's for special "Sandwich Dice" (this area takes place in the basement of a deli). Sandwich dice are powerful, but they have to be re-rolled - another strategic layer to consider.
Even the harmful dice usually have an upside. There’s always some slim chance you’ll roll the “least bad” option—or even something unexpectedly helpful. The tension comes from that mix. And then I throw in temptation. Do you roll again and go for something better? Or hold onto what you've got and play it safe?
The above video shows how the player narrowly escapes game-over using various dice powers.
One or two sides that are just okay
One or two where something good could happen
One or two where something bad might go down
Then, I think about what that dice actually represents- what story can it tell within these three tiers, these six faces? For example, "Too Confident" is a condition you can get when you tie a roll. In my games, ties are successes, but the tied success come with a cost.
Certain sides are helpful, certain sides are harmful, certain sides are middle-of-the-road (including "blank" sides). This die is communicating that “you can roll well, but you might roll bad because you got too confident with your approach. A humbling moment is just around the corner if you’re not careful.” That way, no face is irrelevant. Even the risky dice make you think. Maybe you rolled something decent, but you’re eyeing that better outcome—and risking a worse one in the process. That’s the internal Dice Drama: the drama of decision-making. Coupled with the thematic storytelling, the whole system is really meant to draw players in and make every roll feel tense, strategic and tactical.
Then, when the dice start interacting with each other—when their quirks combine and escalate—that’s when the higher-level Dice Drama kicks in. I’ll talk more about that in the next post, but for now, I'll leave you with a clip of the player using dice to narrowly escape a game-over. Notice certain dice that let you choose faces of another die.
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This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for Moves Of The Diamond Hand, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main Moves Of The Diamond Hand statistics page.
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