Milestone 4 (v0.4.4) is now live! It transitions the game into a complete roguelike loop, introducing the full suite of interactive encounter nodes, a pre-run Starting Draft, a balanced dual-layered economy, deep post-run analytics, and comprehensive tester tooling.

1. The Starting Draft

• Pre-Run Archetype Initialization: Before entering Floor 1, every run begins with a dedicated, non-skippable Starting Draft sequence to configure your opening engine:

  • Round 1 (Ultima Selection): Choose 1 of 2 character-specific Ultimas to serve as your mechanical anchor.

  • Rounds 2–4 (Card Draft): Complete 3 consecutive drafting rounds, selecting 1 of 3 standard cards per round to add to your starting deck.

• Fair Starting Economy: Skipping is disabled during the draft, ensuring all players enter Floor 1 with strictly 0 Ink and 0 Artifacts.

2. Specialized Encounter Nodes

• The Sanctuary:

  • Automatic Entry Boons: Entering grants +1 Provision, and executing any room action automatically restores 20% of your Max HP.

  • Cooking Actions (Costs 1 Provision): Choose from Purge (remove a card), Scavenge (gain a Charm), Scout Ahead (reveal hidden map nodes), Wish (triples your next action's yield), Gratuity (+100 Gold), or Extra Heal (+20% HP and a 3-battle combat buff).

  • Deck Stash (Inventory Storage): Features a 3-slot Stash allowing players to safely store non-starting cards outside the active master deck, complete with direct card-reward routing from combat victory screens.

  • Legacy Sanctuary & Vestige: Reaching the furthest Anchor Sanctuary from your previous run spawns a persistent "Vestige" care package containing bonus Max HP, Gold, Ink, and Artifacts scaled to run depth.

• The Workshop:

  • Act-Scaled Card Matrix: Displays a fixed 6-slot inventory offering cards weighted by Act progression (Act 1 features Common–Rare; Act 3 introduces guaranteed Epic rolls).

  • Core Actions: Purchase base cards using Gold, or spend Ink to execute advanced manipulations: Reroll inventory, Recycle cards for +1 Ink, Duplicate deck cards, or Trade for equal/lesser rarity shop offerings.

• The Collection:

  • Static Rarity Matrix: A dedicated artifact shop offering 3 slots with guaranteed rarity tiers across all acts: Slot 1 (Epic), Slot 2 (Rare), and Slot 3 (Uncommon).

  • Zero-Duplicate Rule: Offerings strictly filter out duplicates and any Charms currently equipped in your active Satchel.

  • Core Actions: Purchase Charms with Gold, or spend Artifacts to Reroll, Donate (converts a Charm into +1 Artifact), Trade (combine 2 lower-tier Charms into a higher tier), Commission (study a Charm for a bonus duplicate next visit), or pull a Random Charm.

• Procedural Dynamic Events:

  • Trade-Offs ("The Shape of Birds"): High-stakes narrative choices trading health, gold, or short-term debuffs (such as 1-turn Blindness) for powerful Charms like Quick Foot.

  • Fairytales ("The Hero Twins"): Progressive Anchor NPC storyline featuring Brother 1, Brother 2, and their merged encounter, introducing the new Twinned card keyword (cards draw, discard, exile, and trigger together for 0 Energy).

  • Games of Chance ("War"): A High/Low wagering mini-game allowing players to risk Gold, Charms, or Cards for double payouts with a strict no-tie guarantee.

  • Restorations ("The Withered Tree"): A 5-stage persistent World Tree that can be harvested early for instant Solar Essence or cultivated across runs to unlock massive meta-currency payouts.

3. Dual-Layered Economy & Meta-Progression

• Session-Bound Currencies:

  • Gold: Earned via battles, Gratuity, and events; spent on base cards and base charms.

  • Ink: Specialized resource for structural card actions (Duplicate, Recycle, Trade, Reroll).

  • Artifacts: Specialized resource for advanced charm manipulations (Trade, Donate, Commission, Reroll).

  • Provisions: Dedicated action currency consumed to execute choices within the Sanctuary.

• Persistent Meta-Currency (Solar Essence):

  • Decoupled from single-run purges and earned based on total encounters completed per run (scaling from standard battles up to Act Bosses) or Restoration events.

  • Redeemed in the Starting HUB to permanently unlock new cards, charms, ultima mechanics, and advanced node features.

4. Run Summary

• Shareable Snapshot Screen: Concludes every victory or defeat with an instant visual breakdown featuring run seed, playtime, character, and an outcome banner.

• Comparative Performance Tracking: Directly compares your current run against your historical Average and Personal Best with color-coded delta indicators (playtime, maximum single-turn damage, and damage mitigation efficiency).

• Economic Footprint & Fun Facts: Visualizes gross earned vs. spent totals for Gold, Ink, and Artifacts, alongside a "Most Played Cards" showcase highlighting your deck's core tactical identity.

5. Game Modes & Tester Suite

• Main Menu Selection: Choose between two locked execution environments:

  • Standard Mode: The authentic, intended roguelike deckbuilder loop with all debug overlays and cheats suppressed.

  • Tester Mode: A single-scene sandbox debug environment providing developers and QA with direct access to Resource State Overrides (HP, Energy, Currencies, Act Depth) and Encounter Spawners.

Please submit all feedback, balance impressions, and bugs through the 🎮 Playtest Feedback & Bug Report form. Thank you for helping shape Project Rogue Deck!