Pawnbarian news & patch notes

Hey everyone, It appears a recent Steam Deck update broke the native build of Pawnbarian - the game launches, but isn't playable. I can't check right now, but I assume the same is true for Linux on regular PCs. I'm figuring out a maintenance fix, but until then, you can get the game to work by forcing the use of Proton: ⚙ icon / right click → Properties → Compatibility → Force → choose Proton instead of Steam Linux Runtime, e.g. Proton 9.0-4 Apologies for the inconvenience. Thanks for dropping by to play Pawnbarian! Cheers, Jan

new: Latin-American Spanish localization (thanks Diego Hernández!) new: Ukrainian localization (thanks Lacki23!) change: small update to the French localization (thanks Wok!) change: small update to the Finnish localization (thanks Minilammas!) On another note, Pawnbarian is now available at a discount in the Chess-like Rogue-like Bundle alongside The Ouroboros King, which released today. It's a very interesting take on the genre, and I'd say it has a bigger focus on the "chess" part than Pawnbarian - you get to feel more like a strategist guiding an army, and planning multiple moves ahead plays a bigger role. Check it out here. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30724/Chesslike_Roguelike_Bundle/ Visit j4nw.com for my twitter, discord, newsletter, and so on Cheers, Jan

Yo! The demo version is available again. It didn't sit right with me that the game's mobile version has a free demo available and the Steam one doesn't, so I spent some time tweaking the game to create an updated demo without any of the mobile-specific stuff. Other than that, there are two minor gameplay changes in this version. One is a small tweak that removes pointless randomness, and the other is there for those of you who enjoy digging deep into the Gauntlet, especially as the Capyzerker. change: The Golem Fortress boss now alternates between the two different spawns, instead of picking at random change; there's now a full heal after each Gauntlet floor, instead of single heart heal Visit j4nw.com for my twitter, discord, newsletter, and so on Cheers, Jan

...and I'm holding a record low 50% off sale to celebrate! I have no surprise patches prepared, but as a small treat, check out this lovely piece I comissioned from my buddy SquareAnon. It's sized exactly to potentially serve as a 16:9 4K wallpaper. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35770431/084c20e7d438638024ead8314b2c07f67618c662.png open full size Pawnbarian matured and expanded a lot over the past year, got localized into 15 languages thanks to your generous contributions, and goes a long way towards letting me and my co-creators support ourselves and letting us pursue new creative endeavors. As always - thank you! As I've consistently said, there are no more major content updates planned, but I'm never saying never. In the meantime, I hope Pawnbarian will continue to make you launch one more run™ once in a while, and be enjoyed by some new arrivals as well. It's a game I'm immensely proud of. I'm slowly working towards some new turn-based, boardgame-inspired thingy, possibly even smaller in scale than Pawnbarian. There's a good chance I'll initially launch it as a work-in-progress, browser-playable demo, much like I did with Pawnbarian. If you'd like to keep an eye out, there are a bunch of ways you can do that:

• follow me on Twitter to see random creative endeavors and the occasional funpost
• join my Discord to get a rare @everyone ping with substantial news and chat with some chill peeps
• join my newsletter to get a rare e-mail with substantial news
• follow my Steam dev page to get a SECRET RARE notification when I release something new here

Cheers! j4

change: updated JP localization (thanks Lunalia!) change: adjusted compression settings for some assets, let me know if anything looks funny fix: Nomad shot now properly affected by SFX volume settings Cheers, Jan

The game has a brand new Finnish localization by Minilammas. Thank you! Again, there were some mobile-specific QoL tweaks that should be invisible on desktop, but let me know if anything behaves weirdly. new: Finnish localization change: other tiny localization updates change: main menu homepage button replacing the gaudier mobile-specific ones fix: End Turn and Shogun action keyboard shortcuts no longer broken (oops) Follow me on Twitter to see what I'm up to, not always strictly game-related Join my Discord to talk with me and other players Follow my Steam dev page to simply get notified when I have something new out without any fluff Subscribe to my newsletter likewise for a very rare message about substantial stuff only Cheers, Jan

Yo! The game has a brand new Bulgarian localization by Christiyan Zhechev. The Japanese localization was overhauled by Lunalia. Thank you so much! There were also some quality of life tweaks, but they mostly relate to other platforms and should be invisible on desktop. new: Bulgarian localization change: Japanese localization updated change: some other small localization tweaks, thanks to everyone who contributed! sorry, I lost my list this time around change: another new button in the main menu, I wonder where it goes Follow me on Twitter to see what I'm up to, not always strictly game-related Join my Discord to talk with me and other players Follow my Steam dev page to simply get notified when I have something new out without any fluff Cheers, Jan

Yo! Just a few changes for a few languages this time around. - change: updated PL localization (thanks Agata & fri!) - change: updated IT localization (thanks BRino!) - change: updated PT-BR localization (thanks ivanilos!) Cheers, Jan

Yo! The three weaker characters are getting buffed. The Pawnbarian is getting a pretty significant buff of two extra upgrades in his starting deck. He wasn't necessarily the weakest of the bunch, but he's the face of and the introduction to the game, so the power level was less than ideal - especially given that you need to win with him to unlock all the other fun stuff. The Knight Templar is getting a single extra upgrade. The Capyzerker is getting a smaller nudge - his two Knights are retired and replaced with the strictly better Bears. There was something else... it felt important, but I seem to have forgotten. Something to do with... humanoid robots? Huh? No idea. change: a new button in the main menu, I wonder what it does change: Pawnbarian starts with an extra Cardinal Splash on a Pawn change: Pawnbarian starts with an extra Shield on a Pawn change: Knight Templar starts with an extra Shield on a Knight change: Capyzerker's Knights are now Bears change: on first launch try to set the game's language to system language change: on first launch "New Game" goes directly to dungeon select with the tutorial selected change: social buttons now follow brand guidelines so I don't have lawyers out for my blood Follow me on Twitter to see what I'm up to, not always strictly game-related! Join my Discord to talk with me and other players! Follow my Steam dev page to simply get notified when I have something new out without any fluff! Cheers, Jan

Yo! You know the drill by now. Danish by Thomas Brøcker. Tak! Hungarian by Roland Kalászi and Richard Nagy. Kösz! Korean by Kim Pilra. Gamsahaeyo! Russian by kivy0. Spasibo! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or suggest some changes? Check out this thread. new: Danish localization new: Hungarian localization new: Korean localization new: Russian localization change: changed localization font location (see thread) change: CJK font is now pre-baked, which means a 50MB smaller game size (but: see thread) change: Spark Imp now has a persistent sparking particle to remind you that it does scary stuff change: updated minor stuff in some languages change/fix: game now runs in background again change/fix: Goblin Tinkerer now shoots a lighting bolt... again? I feel like I've changed this before Follow me on Twitter to see what I'm up to, not always strictly game-related! Join my Discord to talk with me and other players! Follow my Steam dev page to simply get notified when I have something new out without any fluff! Android version is this 🤏 close! Cheers, Jan

Yo! Pawnbarian has been translated into Japanese by my wonderful girlfriend Agata Stasiak, and into Italian by a wonderful community member Robin Bernardinis. Thank you so much! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or suggest some changes? Check out this thread. new: Japanese localization new: Italian localization new: social buttons in the main menu change: Traditional Chinese localization slightly updated change: Simplified Chinese localization slightly updated change: globally scaled down the font used for Japanese and Chinese by a bit to fix some typographical issues change: lots of little optimizations and tweaks that should be mostly invisible, but let me know if something breaks Work on the mobile port is nearing completion and the Android version should be out very soon! Cheers, Jan

Progressing through Chains might've been a bit too grindy to begin with, but definitely became so with the new characters introduced in 1.2.0. This has been completely reworked. The chains still require unlocking, but it can now happen much faster. The highest unlocked Chain is now shared between all characters, and the required dungeons can be conquered by different characters. To be clear, the difficulty itself is unchanged, and actually conquering the chains is still separate for each character (same for the achievements), but you can skip a bunch if you feel up to the challenge. Conquering a chain counts as conquering all the lower ones as well. change: reworked chain progression, as explained above change: player gets fully healed before entering the Gauntlet change: menus have new crown icons that correspond to dungeons conquered for the currently selected character and chain change: chains on the character select screen turn gold as they're conquered, instead of all being gold at Chain X fix: game starting in a broken state if never launched through Steam Cheers, Jan

Yo! The new characters have been very well received overall, and exactly 0 bugs popped up. That being said, the Mystic turned out to be slightly overtuned. With 1.2.1, her starting deck no longer has Diagonal Splash on one of the Ghost pieces. She remains very strong at all levels of play, but early floors should no longer be such a heavy snowball. The Gauntlet now heals 1 damage after each floor, so you're able to keep going for much longer if you feel like it. Martin Alonso returned to update his Spanish localization for the new content, Alain & Nicolas Cordier stepped up to both fill out and clean up the French localization, and Bruno Krynicki Storskog provided a whole new Swedish localization. Thank you so much! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this thread. new: Swedish localization change: Mystic lost the starting Diagonal Splash change: Gauntlet now restores 1 health after each floor change: Spanish localization updated change: French localization updated Cheers, Jan

Hello! Pawnbarian is almost exactly 6 months old today, and there's some fun stuff lined up for that. Most importantly, 1.2.0 is a major content update, bringing three new heroes into the game.

• The Nomad fights using her deadly aim with a bow instead of a melee weapon.
• The Capyzerker fuels his rage with pain, and enjoys improved healing to match.
• The Mystic relies on supernatural blessings to stay away from harm.

Each has an unique ability and a whole new playstyle to explore and master. Their decks are based on international chess, but each brings a single fairy (non-standard) chess piece into the mix, which complements both the mechanics and the theme. https://i.imgur.com/WgJKOHn.png Releasing alongside the free content patch is the Support the Developers DLC, which gives all your heroes a gaudy snazzy gold coat of paint. This is purposefully a minor, purely cosmetic change. as I didn't want to nickel-and-dime you by splitting up content into DLC for what's ultimately still a small game. If you enjoy the work me and my two wonderful co-creators did - please consider blinging out your heroes! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1938870 Of course, you can disable the DLC if you want to throw some extra money our way, but don't like the new look. Both the game and the Original Soundtrack are 30% off for the week. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1734720/Pawnbarian__Original_Soundtrack/

Patch notes

new: all-new Nomad hero new: all-new Capyzerker hero new: all-new Mystic hero new: chain 0, V and X achievements to match new: Support the Developers DLC release change: +1 loot track gold on all floors, as a gentle global buff for the player change: all characters now unlocked with a single Pawnbarian victory change: updated all achievement icons change/fix: minor text adjustments change/fix: minor sprite adjustments

A note about localization

Pawnbarian relies on generous community translations, and the new content isn't fully localized in all the previously supported languages, using English placeholders where relevant. It's been translated into Polish, as well as Traditional & Simplified Chinese thanks to AJiang. If you'd like to fill out the remaining content in one of the languages which are almost there, or help support a whole new language, check out the dedicated thread. Thanks!

What's next?

Mobile version, full steam ahead! Follow me on Twitter and join the Discord to keep an eye out for updates, and likely some playtests along the way. I'm also inevitably going to get started on another project sometime soon. Hope you enjoy! Jan

Pawnbarian is part of the absolutely massive Stand with Ukraine Bundle, a charity bundle of games organized by Humble. 100% of the proceeds are going towards organizations dealing with the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is a cause particularly close to me in a very literal sense - I live in Warsaw, Poland, mere hours of travel away from the atrocities commited by the Russian army, and minutes away from places where many of the millions of Ukrainians fleeing their country are currently living. Anyone reading this probably already has Pawnbarian, but the bundle should still be a pretty amazing deal. You can also spread the word about it, and most importantly, please consider helping in ways other than just getting some viddy games for cheap. You can get started here: https://linktr.ee/razomforukraine Here's to a free, independent, and peaceful Ukraine, and a kinder world for us all. https://i.imgur.com/KcS1GKM.jpg NEVER AGAIN WAR - a monument at Westerplatte. credit In some strictly game-related news, for all your escapist needs - a free content patch with three new characters is coming to Pawnbarian, and you can try them out right now. They're mechanically complete, just unfinished on the audio-visual side, and will probably have a balance pass or two. Join the Discord and follow the instructions there to join the private-beta branch. Cheers, Jan

That is all. Have a great day!

Yo! The Lunar New Year is almost upon us, and that's a prime occasion to release the traditional and simplified Chinese localizations of the game, gracefully provided by AJiang. Just as great to have is the Spanish localization by chuky666. Thank you so much! This means roughly 1.5 billion more people can play Pawnbarian in their native language, and that's pretty bonkers. The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this forum thread! new: Traditional Chinese localization new: Simplified Chinese localization new: Spanish localization change: changed the underlying CJK font support fix: improved some formatting issues for all languages cheers, Jan

Thanks to community member Lazar Ljubenović, Pawnbarian is now available in Serbian in both Latin and Cyrillic script versions! The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this forum thread! There are now onscreen button hints when using a gamepad (on by default, but you can turn them off in the settings), and you can use the mouse scroll wheel to select cards. new: Serbian (Latin) localization new: Serbian (Cyryllic) localization new: scroll wheel selects cards (the same way gamepad shoulder buttons do) new: togglable gamepad button hints change: game font is now Libertinus instead of Linux Libertine (should be mostly invisible, but some things might look subtly nicer, and some issues for non-Latin glyphs were fixed) fix: Dragon Drop sfx no longer missing (has been since 1.1.4? oops!) build 73d56fc fix/change: made the splash screen shorter again build a87ddab fix: restore stroke to cost of Heart items in the shop Cheers, Jan

Happy New Year! Thanks to generous contributions by community members Supernova888 and ivanilos, French and Brazilian Portuguese localizations are now available. The community translation effort is ongoing. Do you want to help translate into another language, or perhaps just suggest some changes? Check out this forum thread! Additionally, there is now a new Display settings menu, with several frame limiter options achievable via either VSync or a soft target rate cap. For most people there's no reason to ever touch this setting, but it can be helpful if the default VSync setting doesn't work for whatever reason and your GPU is getting melted, or you want to skip frames to reduce power consuption on battery-powered devices, especially ones with high refresh rates. new: Brazilian Portuguese localization new: French localization new: separate Display settings menu, with several frame limiter options change: updated Polish localization change: Webbed! status is now shown with an icon instead of text Cheers, Jan

Happy Holidays! It's a few days early, but the 24th happens to be not just Christmas Eve, but also the quarterversary of Pawnbarian's release. I'm still not quite used to the fact that there are enough of you who chose to grab the game that I can keep being a fully independent game developer, release these patches, and start working on another project. Thank you! Patch 1.1.4 brings full gamepad support to the game, and should make it fully Steam Deck-ready. new: full gamepad support, automatically hotswappable with with keyboard & mouse controls at any time new: a screen showing the gamepad controls, accessible from the settings menu new: tutorial explains gamepad controls (if applicable) change: slightly updated the tutorial in general change: menus have more consistent styling change: reworked the entire underlying input system - this should be mostly invisible, but you have to set keyboard shortcuts again if you've been using any non-default ones change: updated Polish translation Cheers, Jan

Full gamepad support is now available in the beta test branch! Everything seems to work A-OK, but the whole underlying input system has been overhauled, including for keyboard & mouse, so I want it to go through a short testing period first. Give it a spin, and please share any thoughts on it - even if it's just a "works fine", which is what I'm hoping for! To switch to the beta branch: - right click Pawnbarian in your Steam Library - select Properties - select Betas - switch to "public-beta" Select "none" instead to switch back to the main version of the game. https://i.imgur.com/mRMehuE.png I've been testing with an Xbox 360 controller, but any generic gamepad (and Steam Deck!) should work just fine. You can swap between K&M and gamepad at any time, the game will adjust accordingly. A few limitations / not yet implemented features: - Tutorial text doesn't account for gamepad use. High priority. - Polish language version doesn't have the new strings translated. High priority. - Gamepad input isn't rebindable. Medium priority. - There are no button prompts during gameplay. Medium priority to have it as an option. - Some non-crucial descriptions aren't available (loot, hearts, deck/discard). Low priority. Cheers, Jan

Pawnbarian's original soundtrack by Aleksander Zabłocki is now available for purchase! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1734720/Pawnbarian__Original_Soundtrack/ Additionally, for the next 48 hours, the game is 20% off as a Steam Daily Deal! It's gonna be the best deal for a while, so consider grabbing the game, or telling a friend if you think it's worth it. Cheers!

The Pawnbarian is now Mr. Worldwide! 1.1.3 brings an official Polish translation (cześć i czołem!), as well as support for trivially modding in community translations, and an easy way to translate via Crowdin. I'd love you to help! Read on in the new Steam Community subforum and sticky: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1142080/discussions/4/3156454576342449483/ It's not a huge undertaking - there are roughly 300 strings and 2.4k (English) words to translate for the game, and a bit extra for the Steam store page if you're feeling up to it. build a802ee9: fix: "Abandon Run" now does, in fact, abandon the run

A tweak to solve a long-standing issue confusing some newcomers to the game, and a more pleasant game reset flow for everyone. change: overhauled the dungeon select screen with a more intuitive layout change: exiting to menu after a loss, victory, or abandoning the run now goes to character select change: exiting to menu after the tutorial now goes to dungeon select with Goblin Caves selected change: description now makes it clear that the Knight piece "jumps" instead of "moving" fix: upgrade icons now properly restore their full scale when going down from 5 upgrades

Pawnbarian is participating in Steam's Digital Tabletop Fest, and I'll be trying my hand at live streaming. Come watch me be bad at my own game and maybe chat a little. In the meantime come check out some other sweet games in the Fest! https://store.steampowered.com/sale/tabletopfest

new: you can now hover over cards in the deck or discard to see a detailed description change/fix: lots of improvements to some sprites appearing blurry or aliased at certain resolutions change/fix: the game will now keep trying to connect to Steam for a while after launching, and retroactively award achievements upon successful connection If you're still not receiving the achievements, please launch the game, wait a minute, and submit a bug report following these instructions (steps 3-5). build 1d47304 (macOS only): fix: adjusted Steam configuration for Apple Silicon devices build 127e050: fix: Chain 0 achievements now properly awarded retroactively in all circumstances

Pawnbarian's first gameplay update is here! It ended up being a pretty substantial balance overhaul, even with a bit of new content, so I didn't dive into the Chain progression after all - it might still be necessary, but no point in fiddling with too many variables at once. Overall, the changes should open up more options to deal with whatever the game throws at you. Hope you enjoy! Jan new: Purify, a Blight-cleansing upgrade available only for the Knight Templar (for now??? :>) new: vfx for Spark Imp's Golem Soul activation change: shop has 5 upgrades (was 4) change: Kraken Tentacle no longer has Brawler change: all Blight Wake enemies move twice (new for Kraken, Tentacles, Blighted Capybear) change: King Golem randomly spawns either a Guard Golem or a Knight Golem (was just Guards) change: Pawnbarian checks the 3 Pawn promotion trigger after the row trigger (was before) change: Knight Templar starts with Purify instead of Shield on one of the Knights change: Shogun's Pawns start with 2 Cantrip and 1 Cardinal Splash (was 3 Cantrip) change: every third Gauntlet Floor is a boss fight (wasn't spawning bosses at all) change: Gauntlet Floors in the Golem Fortress spawn with 3 Spark Imps (wasn't spawning Imps at all) change: improved clarity of many descriptions change: made some flavor text more flavorful build acc6265: fix: King Golem description no longer partially missing

Pawnbarian now has all that Steam goodness - a dedicated Badge, Trading Cards, Backgrounds, and Emoticons. Enjoy!

- added extra failsafes and backup steps to protect from potential save file corruption - fixed game launching in a broken state when encountering save file corruption - fixed Goblin Caves boss not being influenced by Chain X build 8dbecc2: - fixed issue with strings not loading properly for systems with locale other than en-US build 810d645: - changed the saving mechanism to pre-1.0.6 if encountering a file access violation