0.9.7 - September 1, 2025

Hey all,

Another day another update... but this time it's a really big one! There's a lot of stuff in here: new units, items, indulgences, the addition of curses, as well as yet another pass on the artwork by my new collaborator Mr. Peckinczyk. All of this came about because I got to show the game at the MIX and at PAX West (two big game events in Seattle), and because I started working with a publisher called better publishing : ) They've been cool to work with and are helping me improve the game in ways I wouldn't have been able to do on my own. 

So the new demo: I feel like the core of the gameplay is really coalescing into what I've been imagining for a long time. I've been experimenting with balance and it finally feels like there are finally different viable team builds. I'm really happy with the pace of giving out indulgences in this build. Also, I added a whole new mechanic called curses, inspired by Shotgun King and Slice & Dice. Basically, curses are persistent upgrades you pick for the enemy team that are bad for you. I was really able to spend some time balancing the run in this version, and while it's not perfect, I'm pretty happy with it : )

Another thing I'm happy to have addressed was the overwhelming amount of randomness. While auto battlers do tend to have a high level of randomness, I agreed that it was a bit too high in previous versions. To fix this I've done a couple things: First I changed the standard attack of units to always target the opposing unit in the lowest numbered cell. Game dev is funny - I resisted this for a long time because I thought it would make the game too simple, but it really doesn't. This adds a level of predictability that is very welcome in my opinion. Secondly, I added 2 items that let you change the default attack targeting of your units. The result is that you have a lot more ways to mitigate randomness. Sometimes it even starts to feels more tactics-y than an normal auto battler, which is a win in my book.

So Order Automatica is moving along. It's been a time of reflection and thinking about where I want the game to end up. While the game definitely rests on the shoulders of giants mechanics-wise, I do feel like it has an identity of it's own that I'm trying to emphasize going forward. What is that identity? I think the most important thing for me is the way that you can "break the rules." What I mean is that at first you might think that special abilities can only be triggered at very specific times, but soon you'll learn that there are multiple ways to trigger them. Triggering them during the preparation phase makes them permanent, and is often the key to exceedingly strong builds. Maybe you'll figure out that you can even do attacks during the preparation phase : ) This kind of thing is really exciting to me, and it's hard to explain if you haven't played the game, but it adds a depth that I think is especially exciting. In addition to that, I think the ways to mitigate randomness that I described in the previous paragraph gives the game a specific flavor that I really like. After all is said and done, I'm really just aiming for a specific indescribable vibe that exists in a lot of games I love. I'm hopeful and optimistic that I can keep moving in that direction!

Finally - watching people play in person this weekend helped a lot. I've already patched this demo 3 times because of it. My biggest learning:

REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN LEVEL UP UNITS BY PUTTING THREE OF THE SAME UNITS IN A ROW OR COLUMN!

Hehe - I forgot to teach that properly and it's pretty hard to beat the demo without it 😅

The latest patch to the demo adds a "wiki" with that info and a few other answers to frequently asked questions. I'm not sure if it's enough for people coming to the game for the first time, but it was the quickest thing I could do. I'll think about adding something better in versions down the line.

If you've read this far, thank you! I hope you enjoy the new demo and I'd love to hear any thoughts or feedback you have about it. I'm doing my best to make something cool and different and it's helpful to know people's reactions, good or bad.

Thanks again,

Mickey