Evolution – Beta 1.6

Beta 1.6 focuses on clarity, music, tutorial improvements, combat rules, credits, settings, and continued balance work. This update makes Evolution easier to understand, more atmospheric to play, and better prepared for wider testing.

Tutorial

• Replaced the old tutorial sheet with a new 3-page tutorial
• Added a dedicated Player Effects page
• Added a dedicated Enemy Intents page
• Added a Combat Tips page
• Player Effects and Enemy Intents now use two-column layouts for better readability
• Combat Tips uses a single-column layout for clearer explanations
• Added page navigation with Previous and Next buttons
• Added keyboard navigation for tutorial pages
• Added explanations for Block, Heal, Draw, Overflow, Ferocity, Bleed, Prey, Weak, Regen, Infect, Spore, Symbiosis, and Card Rot
• Added clearer explanations for enemy intents and mixed enemy turns

Combat Rules & Clarity

• Block now clearly stays from round to round until reduced by damage
• Bleed now deals damage under Block
• Infect now deals damage under Block
• Heal now removes Infect from the player
• Enemy Heal now removes Infect from the enemy
• Overflow is now explained as extra drawn cards going directly to discard when the hand is full
• Clarified that the hand limit is 9 cards
• Improved explanation of damage-over-time effects and when they are strongest
• Improved explanation of how Ferocity works with multi-hit attacks

Music & Audio Settings

• Added music support
• Added one shared menu music track
• Added story-based battle music
• Infested Wilds can now use its own battle music
• The Rot Below can now use its own battle music
• Added separate Menu Music setting
• Added separate Battle Music setting
• Added separate volume sliders for Sound Effects, Menu Music, and Battle Music
• Renamed the old music setting concept into Menu Music
• Battle music now changes based on the enemy’s story
• Music respects settings for enabled/disabled state and volume
• Improved settings layout to fit the new audio controls

Credits

• Reworked the Credits screen into a proper styled panel
• Added clearer sections for creator, testers, fonts, sound effects, music, tools, and thanks
• Added font credits
• Added tool credits for Python, Pygame, ChatGPT, Paint.NET, and future video editing tools
• Prepared the Credits screen for future sound and music attribution
• Improved Credits readability and presentation

Settings

• Added Menu Music ON/OFF setting
• Added Battle Music ON/OFF setting
• Added Menu Music volume slider
• Added Battle Music volume slider
• Kept Sound Effects as its own setting and volume slider
• Improved spacing and layout on the Settings screen
• Fixed slider behavior to make it easier to reach 100%
• Settings continue to save automatically

Balance

• Continued enemy balance pass through the early game
• Balanced enemies up to and including Bog Serpent
• Early fights are now more dangerous and can be lost
• Leech Stalker and other early enemies are being tuned to feel threatening without being unfair
• Continued work toward making deckbuilding and card upgrades more important
• Early Story 1 progression now has a stronger baseline for future balancing

Battle Flow & Bug Fixes

• Improved handling of enemy death timing
• Started fixing cases where enemy intents or damage-over-time effects could continue after the enemy was killed
• Added stronger checks to prevent enemy turn logic from continuing after death
• Improved intent-preview safety around enemy death
• Investigated enemy multi-hit behavior
• Cleaned up enemy attack event data to better support multi-hit attacks and combat feedback

User Interface

• Improved tutorial layout and text spacing
• Improved credits layout and text spacing
• Improved settings layout for additional audio controls
• Improved consistency between Tutorial, Credits, Settings, and other styled screens
• Reduced text overflow issues in tutorial content
• Continued general UI polish for readability and presentation

Technical Improvements

• Added tutorial page data structure
• Added tutorial page rendering helpers
• Added tutorial navigation handling
• Added music constants and story-based battle music mapping
• Added music playback helper functions
• Added automatic migration for new music settings
• Added separate menu and battle music setting support
• Added tighter wrapped text support for credits
• Improved settings slider calculations
• Continued cleanup of combat timing and enemy intent handling

Improvements Still in Development

• Further balance tuning for Story 1 and Story 2
• Improved balance calculator and danger score
• Final sound effect and music credits
• More sound polish and volume balancing
• Possible additional background music refinement
• Fresh 20–30 minute playtest from a new-player perspective
• More screenshots and video material for future store pages
• Longer-term biome gameplay effects
• Future Card Rot interactions
• Future new classes and mechanics

Thank you to everyone testing Evolution and providing feedback.

Beta 1.6 makes Evolution clearer, more atmospheric, and more playable. The game now has stronger tutorial support, better audio structure, improved settings, clearer credits, and a more dangerous early-game balance baseline.