v0.1.4 Update - Playtopia

This update brings a handful of quality-of-life improvements and small refinements made ahead of showing Magnus publicly at Playtopia 2025. Most changes focus on readability, clarity of intent, and reinforcing core mechanics for new players.

Clearer Emphasis on Forms Destroying the Grid

One of the main points of confusion I observed during playtesting was that players often didn’t understand why the Forms on the board were exploding at the end of a round. Many assumed they had triggered some mysterious effect, rather than failing to clear all Forms.

To make this distinction absolutely unmissable, I implemented a new detonation sequence:

• Surviving Forms flicker,
• emit warning beeps that accelerate in tempo,
• and finally detonate, dealing damage to the Grid.

The new audiovisual rhythm helps communicate that this is a failure state, not a normal Form destruction. Players now immediately recognise “something bad just happened.”

Shop Improvements

A recurring piece of feedback was that the upgrade text was too small in the shop, making cards difficult to read. I also noticed players instinctively trying to click the cards to buy them rather than the separate “Buy” buttons. So I leaned into that instinct.

Cards can now be clicked directly to purchase. A subtle tag pops out beneath each card prompting:

• “Click card to BUY” when affordable
• “INSUFFICIENT fragments” when costs aren’t met
• “INCOMPATIBLE augment” when an upgrade can’t be applied in the current context.

Removing the old Buy buttons freed up space, letting the cards themselves become larger and much more readable.

The same UX improvements were applied to purchasing new Constructs (chess pieces).

New Upgrades

Quite a few new upgrades have been added since the last update:

• Brightfield (Uncommon)
• Darkfield (Uncommon)
• Grave Matter (Uncommon)
• Inheritance (Uncommon)
• True Lineage (Mythic)

Brightfield and Darkfield introduce new board-based upgrades, while Grave Matter, Inheritance, and True Lineage lay the foundation for death-based builds, where destroying your own Constructs can lead to powerful advantages.

Tweaks & Fixes

General balance adjustments Bug fixes and polish passes Minor UX improvements throughout the game

Next Steps

With the next update I want to introduce bosses, known in Magnus as Meta Forms. I am planning to add three Meta Forms to bookend this prototype as I move toward launching a Steam page with a playable demo in early 2026.

Seeing people play Magnus at Playtopia 2025 and respond so positively has been incredibly encouraging. It is a nice confirmation that Magnus is moving in the right direction.