Hey Fusers,

The last four months have been amazing, with tons of kind words and inspiration from our Early Access users. I've just uploaded an update to Fusion Factor (V1.03) which fixed some typos.

I've just released our latest supplement [The Cupid Cup]. This is an exciting supplement that I made with the hope of highlighting some of the ways that Fusion Factor can incorporate unlikely themes and make them mechanically interesting. Proposals and Break-Ups are always fun narratively, but it's even better when you can use your love and your heartbreaks to gain an edge in battle. Also, this is the first scenario to incorporate PVP element, which I always think is exciting a role-playing game and I'm confident we will see more games exploring PVP in the near future.

[The Cupid Cup] is the third supplement for Fusion Factor since it was released for Early Access four months ago. I always found games to be a lot more accessible when there is a healthy amount of content ready to use. These supplements were created to be fun to play obviously, but to also give guidance and examples of just what is possible within the system. Each of them represents different genres and themes, but also show how to add new content into the base game yourself.

In the process of making these scenarios and supplements, I learned a lot more about my game. I'm very excited about what kinds of stories and play it can provide a player, but I'm also giving myself a chance to look at the game with a continuously sharpening critical eye. From this work I've come to see that not all the elements of Fusion Factor are meant to stay in the game. While the game is in a completely playable state, some of the systems that worked on paper just don't spark joy for me any longer. Now that there is a healthy amount of content for players to explore the game with, I plan to focus next on refining and expanding upon Fusion Factor itself.

MY TOTALLY UN-BINDING GOALS AND ROADMAP

Remove/Add/Change the following.

 Missing
When you miss in battle it just isn't very fun or a good use of the player's time. The goal is to make every attack viable. A low roll should just mean it's easier to counter for your opponent. I'm toying with weather to keep critical/fumble effects or just keep things streamlined. A high roll is its own reward in this game...but who doesn't love a bonus.

 Rank/Advancement
The original concept behind the way ranks work in Fusion Factor was that it would be equipment driven. The more Fusions you gain through play the higher your rank becomes. The problem is that it is very easy for characters to outpace and be outpaced by each other. Additionally, while logical in its own way, the system is confusing at best and a bit of a mess to explain to players.  As I continued developing content for the game, I realized how much the ranking system creates unneeded difficulty for anyone trying to make their own content for the game.

The game already has a more traditional advancement system in the form of Charge Points, but those charge points were always tied to problematic ranking system. I plan to simplify character advancement to make it simple and more easily combined with a wide variety of content.

Fusions
Currently the game has 72 Fusion with a wide variety of abilities. It's not enough. For a game that is largely about customizing your abilities to create a powerful fighter, you will pretty quickly run out of options. I've tried to bottleneck how quickly the players can gain access to all the fusions and essentially 100% it by adding in things like trading taxes, but the actually long-term solution is just to make more Fusions and abilities for the players to continue to strive for. Ideally the core game when complete will have 216 unique fusions.

Some of the fusion because of some other rule changes will become obsolete and will have to be replaced. The added benefit to this expansion is that you will be able to make a better variety of enemies as well since by design they have access to the same fusion the players have.

Class Abilities
What I love about classes as they are now is that their abilities are shared with their partners. When you team up with a scholar you know what enemy you are going to be facing. If you team up with a shopper, you know that you will be able to get a better deal. These kinds of bonds encourage role-playing and engaging with other players who help you reach your goals. That being said I think class should probably have more to them. I want to experiment with adding in additional abilities that are uniquely accessible to their owners. After all if I want to truly allow for exciting competition between players you need to be able to make your own advantages.

Give The Book A Glow Up
With my skillset and resources, I think the Early Access works just fine as an RPG book. That being said, it's not pretty. Over time I intend to explore creating more custom art and assets and improve the general layout. The dream is to get this physically printed, so I am aiming towards a more professional look. Very excited to collab with some artistic friends to see what we can do with it.

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I'm very excited to continue to clarify my vision as I continue creating and working on making games I've always wanted to play.
Look forward to seeing [The Cupid Cup] in an upcoming bundle hosted by the prolific Sprinting Owl Games. As always if you want to play my game and need someone to host it, just send me a message!