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Fogpiercer is a deckbuilder roguelite in which you build and upgrade your train to build your deck, fight off bandits on a square grid using unique carriage cards. Your final deck will depend on the decisions you make in the run.

Moments Of Genius

Positioning is key and if you play your cards right, you can get the enemies to attack each other, push them out of the way or even place them right into your path and crush them underneath your wheels!

Upgrade Your Train, Make Your Deck Powerful

Your train is your deck, each carriage holds unique cards and as your upgrade them, new cards get added to your deck ready to be used. Carriages have synergy cards too, which get activated when both carriages reach max level.

Make Tactical Decisions On the Map

Your journey is not an easy one. To get to the final destination of your train, you’ll have to make the right choices, sometimes risk making the wrong ones. As your understanding of the game deepens, so will the ideas of what can be done when deciding where to go next.

Stations That Let You Grow

Get your train to a station so that you can heal up or buy a new carriage. Grow stronger as you progress through your run or rebuild your machine after a tough fight.

Made By People That Love Trains

We’re a tiny team and each of us has a special place in their heart reserved for trains, having grown up in Europe, trains were always a part of our lives, taking them to get to school, work or just to travel on rainy Mondays. We’re making this game to connect meaningful, deep mechanics with a theme that’s dear to us.

Demo - update #8

An exciting update for the demo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/

Previously saved runs will be wiped. Your permanent progression remains intact.

This is a one time thing only. We know it's not ideal, but it was the best we could do, given the context. We had to work out several issues with the run seeds system, due to this, there is a single time wipe of saved runs. When launching a run that previously had a save, the save will be wiped due to an incompatibility with the new system.

The fog

The fog is an important part of the game, sadly till this update, it wasn't all that in there. We've been thinking about how best to implement it and eventually settled on a global shader, that hides things further from the center, to give the illusion of the fog engulfing the train. It is far from realistic, but we're hoping the stylization is exactly what the game needed

UI updates!

Panels, colours, animations, there's a lot all around, but let me share my favourite, there's something super satisfying about it too:

look at those circles!

More encounter rewards

Chop shops provide more options, fights have a chance of having a random extra reward too, we've boosted the scraps economy a little bit as you can now enter fights that reward you with double scraps from destroying enemy bandits.

Random encounters got more stuff too! Whether it's a free carriage upgrade or increasing the max HP of one of your carriages, there will be some tough and interesting decisions to make in your runs!

All of the extra rewards and encounter modifiers have been rebalanced from the perspective of their probabilities for a better mix

Check out the changelog for a full list.

Card modifications

We made them make more sense! The system was a great start but we decided to push it further. Now there are many more conditions that decide what can happen where and the cards that come out of the new card modification system usually offer tempting alternatives if not outright upgrades!
Game Description Image

Lastly we also added a small panel, that mentions the mods that were most recently added to the cards:
Game Description Image

Changelog

With over 100 changes we've got new modules, cards, visuals, UI improvements, bug fixes, balancing, encounter modifiers and more.

Added

Modded cards' names are followed by "+"
The number of mods is represented by the number of "+"s
Cards now visualise the modified elements by using colours
Card modifications are now also visualised in card descriptions
[list]
Colour coded in the same way as other modifications
i.e. "Deal 2 damage", if previously 1

New module: "Card fuel"

Whenever you exhaust a card, draw a card

Card modification can now increase card rarity in situations where the card avoided getting a trade-off in conjunction with a strong effect

Bogie exchange can be modified now

Fog

Seriously

New cards:

"DNA Flip" meta card: Discard either a red or blue card from hand. Draw a card of the other colour from the draw pile
"Secret choices" meta card: Exhaust a card then draw cards equal to its AP cost
"Alternative fuel" meta card: Discard a card, movement cost is decreased by its AP cost

"Innate" card effect

Placed at the top of the draw pile at the beginning of a new fight
Can be put on cards through card mods

Player messaging of what happens when cards couldn't be put on hand

They're added to the top of the draw pile (i.e. drawing a driver card with Diamond Hands active)

New encounter mods:

Chop shop will now have either of these three:
[list]
Card remove
Card duplicate
Card transform
Each one has three uses and can be activated for scraps

Fights now have a chance of having additional:

Card mod reward
Card transform reward
Card remove reward
This means there's more planning you can do for your journey!

Fights have a chance of having "Double scraps" reward

Get 2x scraps per enemy destroyed

[/list]

Lamp props have been added to the chop shop visual

Implemented mod-ability of Powerful and Hot Cask

You can make them stronger now through mods by changing their power!

Better information labels for ranges:

"A full half of the pattern depending on grid side"
"Target range is all enemies"
"AOE range is a half of all available target range depending on grid side"

Labels detailing mods currently applied to cards

New random encounter rewards:

Upgrade a random carriage (at derailed train)
Grant +1 max HP to a random carriage (at workshop)

New settings aiming at providing more control over the game's performance:

Visual effects (Low, Medium, High)
[list]
High is what the game's had till now
Low turns off mist, snow, and locomotive lightshaft

Shadows

This one already existed but wasn't properly applied

[/list]

Depot encounter modifier:

100% chance of getting a card modification reward

Credits screen in the main menu

Initial version; more credits (illustrations, code help, special mentions) will be added over time

[/list]

Changed

Renamed "card upgrades" to "card mods" / "card modification"
[list]
To better reflect the nature of the system

A substantial update to the upgrade system -> card mods:

High chance of getting an effect-related modification
[list]
i.e. add burn

Low chance of getting a strong card-related modification

i.e. lower AP cost, higher card damage
Increases card rarity

Super low chance of getting both

Counts as two mods instead of one, super rare

Multiple conditions ensure most offers make sense; some mods offer tradeoffs, while some are clear upgrades

[/list]

Refactored the card effects' logic to make it more robust

Renamed "Shield +" to "Emergency Shield" to avoid name collision with modded cards

Improved UI communication of effects' properties (temporary, turns left)

The following cards: [Sticky Bomb, Carpet Shot, Artillery Attack, Enemy Cannon, Enemy Minigun, Bolas, Shield Revenge] now support modification influences (damage, shield amount)

Improved font support for 2D cards

Ammo Scavenger:

Now reads: "Draw {CARD_POWER} minigun cards, one from the draw pile and the rest from the discard pile"

Improved minigun SFX

Improved card modification system checks

Disabled enemy support units no longer trigger active skills when [Disabled]

Improved visuals of the playtesting panel

Highlighted cards in meta progression have a slight rotation to their appear animation

Improved main menu visuals:

Optimized particle usage
Tweaked visuals to better align with gameplay lighting and colors
Slowed down movement

Icon of train movement in UI updated

"Diamond Hands" wording updated to match refactored system distinguishing hand draw size and max hand size

Refactored buttons:

Number of uses and cost of uses should now be more robust

Movement cell is visually stronger

"Emergency Shield" now only has 1 copy in deck, since it's [Innate]

Reworded the button at end-of-run screen to "Continue"

Changed the visuals of encounter modifier visuals

[/list]

Fixed

Modified card effects are now correctly saved and loaded
Improved wording of [Temporary] card effect
[Hold] cards are no longer ignored when discarding your hand
Settings' "Shadow" option now correctly adjusts main directional light
"Mastermind" can be cancelled again
If a card has a random AP effect, it no longer gets a modification of its AP
"Emergency Repair" now works when the encounter was escaped
Only increase card rarity under special conditions
Pressing the locomotive button on the main screen no longer removes cards from your deck before the run begins
Spiked hull check no longer crashes the game
Seed strings now generate consistent maps
[list]
Note: current run saves may be broken due to this

Tutorial train is now always the same

Enemy overkill chain crashes fixed

Destroying an enemy that overkills another no longer causes crashes

All reward states now correctly register as triggered

All temporary effects are correctly removed at the end of a fight

Temporary effects are now correctly flagged as temporary

Harpoon no longer moves carriages

Cards with unused card power no longer display that power (Damage/Shield) in UI

Sticky Bomb's detonate correctly has [Hold] again

Ammo Scavenger no longer draws all minigun cards

Edge-case crash fixed:

Caused by an enemy destroying another that was queued to act later

Sticky Bomb no longer remains on train units if the fight ends before detonation

[/list]

The update is now live, we're off to making the game even better, cheers!

[ 2025-07-02 14:41:49 CET ] [Original Post]

Demo - update #7

This is a big one!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/
Ever since our last demo update, we've been hard at work implementing the save/load system, drawing illustrations, adding cards and improving the game overall.

There is a myriad of things that have changed, improved and been fixed. This update brings it all! The most important of them however is the run save/load system, additionally there are a couple of others, let's take a closer look.

Save/Load System

Whenever an encounter's been finished, the game will autosave the progress, and will offer to load the progress when you get back into the game. The runs now also support seeds and we'll be adding extra support.

At the moment the seed is only used to generate the map and encounters, we'll be adding support for the seeds to also generate the same enemies, cards, upgrades and more!
Game Description Image

UI Improvements

Our previous post also looked at these, there are better popups, easier to find buttons, several screens have been merged together and more, some of my personal favourites:
Game Description Image

the shop got a lot of love! new colours, panels, ability to reroll and improved animations

selecting cards eveywhere got new VFX, SFX and juice!
Game Description Image

choosing your save slot now makes it clearer which one of the lot is currently active

New range patterns

The game now allows us to design patterns that dynamically change depending on the grid, selected cell and the side of the grid on which the pattern is being applied. A couple of examples:

AOE that covers an entire half of the map, depending on which half's grid cell the card targets
AOE that covers an entire row of the map, or multiples of them, and they can also rotate around the mouse as their pivot point, depending on the side of the map that's selected
AOE that covers the entire map, however only filters the cells with enemies

this is a quick preview of what the new range pattern system is capable of

This was a refactor that's been needed and long time coming. Since we've started implementing the Harpoon, new and improved ways of utilizing range patterns has been necessary.

Multiple Environmental Hazards

Up till this point, the game only supported a single env. hazard being triggered at the same time, but since we really wanted to add a card to the game that would spawn a new one, this opened up the possibility of mulitple hazards having the same countdown.

Taking the opportunity, we coded the feature in and it's a fair amount of fun when you manage to utterly devastate the bandit group using 2 hazards that cut them off

in an extreme case, you're able to cover the entire grid in env hazards!

Card upgrades/transforms

Some encounters (those with "Extra Rewards", but also random encounters) now offer powerful rewards such as Card Upgrading and Card Transform. The rewards found at random encounters are more powerful versions that give you more control.

3 upgraded versions of the base Artillery card to choose from

Changelog

Enough about the highlights, time to take a look at the nitty gritty! Personally, this is my favourite part, it gives visibility to the work we've put in and also puts things generally into perspective when we, as a team, retrospectively want a quick overview of what happened when during development.

The changelog offers over 80 items detailing changes, additions and fixes. Check it out:

Added

animations for when a card is Removed or Duplicated
first step in making unlocking modules and cards more visually appealing
Harpoon Carriage
[list]
Available in the playtest version only

Run Save/Load

run is autosaved when the player enters the map after finishing an encounter

Seeded runs

an input field added above the start run button, if left empty the game generates a random seed
pause menu shows the current seed, can be copied to clipboard

[Sabotaged] effect

affected unit takes 1 damage when it moves, effect is then removed

introduce data difference for which units and cards are available in demo, playtest and debug versions

SFX for duplicating and removing cards

added a new model for a random encounter (The brother's workshop)

SFX for harpoon

info hover button on 3D cards

Cards pressed in the side panel, show extra information about their state

for both the player and enemies

added new localisation strings for temporary currency

New card patterns

all enemies
all friendly units
half of all available
half of all available with a margin around the rail track

QOL

Previously chosen carriages are remembered
Run stats added to the pause menu (needs to be enabled in settings)

show run seed at the end of the run

tracking new stats

AP Spent
Health Lost

refresh buttons in the shop

animations and better scaling in Module and Card Choose screens

"Cafe" random encounter visual

"Change card for a random other card from your deck" - random encounter reward

Most of meta cards now have illustrations (last 2 missing!)

You can now enable Auto deselect cards on hover in the settings for easier card management

Card illustrations for Hand Throw and Picky Jester

a short pause (that scales with animation speed setting) after "end of turn functions" get triggered. At the moment this applies only to "Malfunction"

"Deck" button to Module and Card choosing screens

new messages in the cards screen

about how to unlock cards of units when at least one of them is locked
about how to get to driver cards in the game

if you finish a fight with a destroyed carriage (chassis)

only a single reward is available that revives the chassis into the original carriage, activating its first card (fresh start) and 1HP

[Random AP] is now visualised also on 2D cards

new encounter rewards

Card Upgrade choose from 3 upgraded versions of a card
Card Transform choose a card which will transform into a random other card from your deck
Card Upgrade + choose one of three upgraded versions of the card you chose
Card Transform + choose one of three cards, to transform the selected card into

new encounter modifiers

Extra Rewards gives either Card Upgrade or Card Transform as an additional encounter reward
No Rewards encounter has no rewards

Multiple environmental hazards can happen at one time

new meta card: Radio In

creates a new env hazard on selected lane

new SFX

Emergency Repair
Choosing a card to upgrade
Malfunction being triggered
Card interaction sfx changed to sound more machine-like

new effect [Temporary]

cards with this effect are destroyed upon use
added to all temporary cards, such as Detonate and those created by Lost And Found

Cards spawned using Lost And Found now also have the [Hold] effect

Fancy background when driver gauge is full

Extra SFX for general epic cards

Audio related parameters now get saved and loaded together with the run

Card upgrades conditions

Cost Up will remove Cost Down
Cost Down will remove Cost Up
Random AP will remove Cost Up/Cost Down
Cost Up will decrease AP cost by 2
Cost Down will increase AP cost by 1
Exhaust will decrease AP cost by 1

Ace up your sleeve

adds Hold and Cost Down to the selected card

[/list]

Changed

Theming of the run over screen buttons
Iron Rain
[list]
target one half of the map instead of the full map

Shield Siphon

steal shield from friendly units too!

"Coal pusher" -> utility card

made card images brighter

improved text margins on cards

moved the offset of 2D cards' extra borders

moved UI elements of the chop shop's shop

moved most UI information to appear next to the mouse instead of in the top left corner

only with elements where it made sense

improved UI panel shadow visuals

improved wording of information regarding types of cards in the unit side panel

Modules and Meta cards screens have been merged into a single one

redesigned the end of run screen

more space for stats
more stats!

version number is now always visible

choosing a module gives a bit of time now, same as cards

[Sabotaged] can be stacked, lifetime goes down when used or at the end of a turn

improved Shop UI visuals

Driver cards are no longer added instantly, instead they are drawn together with the other cards

Improved the animation and SFX of picking a card using mastermind

"Stock Up" wording

renamed "Foresight" to "Lane Call"

order of UI elements in the driver corner for better registering of mouse position for tooltips

weaker screen shake on missile projectiles

improved logic that activates rewards, ensuring that they can't be activated multiple times

full driver gauge needs to be confirmed by a button by default

confirmation dialogue now focuses the YES button instead of NO by default

improved the moment during which [Malfunction] card is triggered at the end of the turn

aligned [Carpet Shot] pattern with other similar cards (ie. suppressive fire)

fight encounters now give an option of a card reward by default

each random encounter now has a custom camera angle, it should be easier to inspect the Cafe now.

Boss encounters now give a module reward

additionaly either Card transform,upgrade or duplicate reward will show up after completing the boss battle

card illustrations underwent further unification of style, we removed glowy backgrounds from many to make them consistent with the rest

replaced future content buttons with a general button, singaling our planned amount of locomotives, drivers and carriages. Subject to change

simplified logic that loads resources

start run button now remains visible even in the modules and cards screen

changed "run seed" input field size to accomodate for a larger number of buttons

Temporary effects label is in text, to prevent it from covering text

discard SFX

Minigun standard range extended

wording of extra reward card upgrade

wording of extra reward card transform

Har Har range

you can now choose which 2 lanes you want to pull toward the rails, flips depending on the side

[/list]

Fixed

module tier 1 no longer auto activates
modules can finally be deactivated again!
Civil engineer typo
removed an info button from the permanent currency panel, to stay consistent with the temporary currency panel
removed mentions of the word "wagon" from localisation strings to keep consistency across the board
enemies flying away are now properly scaled to imitate the effect of them disappearing in the depths of the universe
Sabotaged enemies who die during their move turn no longer crash the game!
extra stats panel no longer covers the settings panel
[Sabotaged] is no longer triggered when an enemy moves to the same cell its on
game no longer crashes when a support units ends its turn with death
some cards would filter the grid for cell with non-existent enemies
Improved environmental hazard checks
Improved auto-victory checks
Some debug options are now hidden in demo mode
Max health is now properly saved in run data
Total amount of Spikes now gets properly saved
Better run seeds!
when using the new "hover doesn't cancel the selected card", picking cards no longer activated their hover animations. (i.e. Picky Jester's effect)
all popups can now be closed using "ESC"
drivers not showing their cards in the new card's UI
cards hovered before their data is set up no longer crash the game
driver gauge can only be triggered in fights
improved handling of the data of Detonate
removed "Duplicate a card" reward from the first station
"Spiked Hull" description: dmg -> damage
Shop never giving 5 cards, even when it was supposed to
cards of unavailable drivers show up as viewable
upgraded cards no longer offer duplicate effects
game no longer crashes when the locomotive button is pressed in rapid succession
module and cards screen will now show UI properly when the run is started from there
cards with [Hold] are no longer discarded after x turns (edge case)
Sticky Bomb no longer crashes the game if it's triggered due to the count down
Selecting an upgrade too quickly no longer crashes the game

As you can see, we're actively developing the game, thank you all for the feedback and for playing the game! Since the Save/Load system is in now, you can expect smaller but more frequent updates for the Demo that improve UX, QoL and stability.

That's it for this one, thank you very much!

[ 2025-06-16 15:20:35 CET ] [Original Post]

Music of Fogpiercer - update #6

Hi folks, Im Peter and today were shaking things up a bit and bringing you a behind-the-scenes, or in this case, a behind-the-speakers view of Fogpiercers music, which has recently been nominated for Best Audio at the prestigious gamedev conference Reboot Develop Blue in Dubrovnik.

However, before we have to read some more, lets listen first:

In a Nutshell

I could mention the obvious inspirations of industry titans, but a review summarized the music as being a combination of Ben Prunty, Chris Christodolou and Vivaldi, and I feel I couldnt describe it more concisely if I tried.

A Musical Duel

As far as the instruments go, I have tried placing a great deal of importance on sonic uniqueness of the individual characters and bosses. For example, Lojzo, the menace who uses his huge speakers to yell at you and disable your carriages, has a huge blaring synthetic foghorn that pierces through the 15/4 rhythm. On the other hand, while playing as Monica, each track has a chilly overdriven violin. This way, when youre fighting a boss, you can really feel the instruments going head to head as you plan your next step.

My Train is an Instrument

The music itself is made to sound like a train, whether its the delayed snare evoking a steam locomotive hurling forward or the clangs of a train crossing keeping a steady beat. While some of these rely on twisting and turning already existing musical instruments, a lot of them do not. That is when my field recording experience came in handy. Using a combination of the Slovak-made Geofon and Ui microphones, I took several trips by train, recording both the inside click-clacks, as well as the outside thundering of a train engine. These then made their way into the game not only as sound effects, but also as an integral part of the musical texture.

Game Description Image The wonderful Geofon by LOM similar microphones were originally made to pick up seismic vibration, they now lend their abilities to capturing the games sonic essence.

Sonic Feedback

If the player manages to draw a Malfunction card and it is still in your hand when you end your turn, your locomotive will receive damage, forcing the player to smartly play around it and make sure it is discarded. Holding a Malfunction card is a run-threatening event and the player is notified of its significance by the aforementioned steam-snare entering the musical environment, letting you know the pressure is ON.

Technical Solutions and Variability

Since the game focuses on repeated runs, I wanted the music to be something that does not get stale after a run or two and can accompany you on your entire adventure through the frozen wastes. This meant coming up with musical ideas that can slot into each other, while at the same time lead the player on a musical journey that makes sense from a compositional point of view.

Game Description Image When fighting Marauder our second boss and Monicas old enemy I wanted the player to truly feel the struggle. That meant the ebb and flow of tension had to be tightly controlled, while not getting repetitive. This screenshot illustrates the madness this required stems jumping around with cascading probabilities to switch to a different point in the track, which then again escalates the tension and puts either Monica or Marauder center-stage.

Ever Forward!

One of the core tenets of the game is that the train is an unstoppable machine, advancing ever forward through the icy planes. The music reflects that, requiring in-game tracks to seamlessly switch between the game stages from building a train, through throwing bandits off of cliffs, all the way to falling silent while you deliberate your upgrades at depots and chop shops.

Game Description Image The individual game states are organized horizontally, not unlike a train, where each stage is connected to the next one, eager to respond to the changing gameplay.

Powerful, yet 'Thinky'

However, this is, first and foremost, a game about masterful planning and execution, which is not always the easiest thing to do with electric guitars chugging along. That is why I introduced dynamic mixing that makes the music take a backseat when its your turn to crush the bandits, facilitating those wonderful tactical moments of genius that clear an entire lane of enemies. In addition to a small volume change, the music also responds by gently rolling off the highs, to allow you to get into the zone.

More to Come

While this already has us giddy with excitement whenever we see players tap their foot to the rhythm, a lot of work still remains. In the future, you can look forward to more drivers, each having their own instrument representing their powers and personality, new bosses challenging you on your way to your final destination and generally, just MORE music to hum along with while you outwit bandits on the grid.

If youre interested in chatting further, whether its about the music or the game itself, stop by our Discord , wed love to chat!

[ 2025-06-13 19:32:38 CET ] [Original Post]

Developer update #5

This time round, this is not an announcement for a new demo version, so it's a bit of a different format!

We're now pretty busy with improving the game and adding content!
Here's an overview of what we're working on:
[olist]

run save/load system

seeded runs

harpoon carriage

improving UI

new illustrations
[/olist]

I'll go over these in more depth but first of all let me mention that every change which relates to the general and overall quality will make its way into the demo eventually! We just want to make sure that the new features are stable and won't cause issues for existing players.

All of the above mentioned are now deployed on our Playtest steam version of the game, there is a limited number of available slots and if you want to join the playtest, visit our discord, we've got instructions and commands ready for you there!

Save/Load Sytem

This one is just exciting. We've been working on this for a good while, and knew it was going to be an important feature for the game!

The way the system works is very straight forward, whenever you finish an encounter, your progress is saved. Whenever you turn the game on, and the game finds a saved run, you get a confirmation dialogue:
Game Description Image

Also when you're in the pause menu, we added this message that pops up, to ensure the save/load system is communicated:
Game Description Image

Seeded runs

Infomation and an input box can be found next to the start button and in the pause menu, also at the end of the run, so that if the seed was good, it can be easily copied.
Game Description Image

Having created the save/load system, meant we also had to link everything up with seeds, there is more work that needs to be done here, as the seed at the moment is only used for map generation itself, however fights and player options aren't yet. Wer're working on that next!

Harpoon Carriage

Alright, this is the first new carriage we've worked on since releasing the demo. There was a ton of balancing and reworks of cards as well as modules, so we wanted to hold off on implementing our designed new carriages, to best ensure that when a new carriage is indeed implemented, it's instantly fun and strategically deep!
Game Description Image

The harpoon carriage currently has 9 cards, due to us testing out multiple ideas! They've all been illustrated and are now being heavily tested.

The entire idea behind the carriage is that it, in one way or another, moves enemies toward the tracks or the carriage itself. There are a couple of surprise cards, my personal favourite is the one that deals damage to the enemy unit and pulls the train in the direction of said unit.

Improving UI

This is something we do all the time. We notice papercuts and small issues that could be made better or nicer, so here's a couple of standout things we've changed so far.

better info

Contextual infomation used to only show up in the top left corner, we've revamped this across the board, so that wherever possible, the information pops up right there!
Game Description Image

Merged modules and cards screens

The screens for modules and cards in the starting screen have been merged into a single screen, meaning that you can now manage you run card and module options from a single screen.
Game Description Image

Better cards overview

Before selecting a carriage, one of the most important pieces of information is the carriages card loadout, we've implemented a brand new screen that gives you exactly that (including smooth animations, super proud of those)
Game Description Image

Better visuals for Save Slots

The game offers 3 slots, these allow you to play 3 different setups and have up to 3 different saved runs at any one time, we've improved the slot selection screen to better communicate the active one, as well as the game doesn't instantly go into the run start screen when a new slot is selected
Game Description Image

Side notes

We're visiting gamedev conferences with the game! (Digital Dragons (Krakow), GameAccess (Brno) and others, depending on which ones pop up and where)
There's a massive amount of work that's gone into the audio of the game, stay tuned for a future Developer update!
Our discord community is slowly growing and it's super exciting to see, join us!
We've hit 12k wishlists! This is utterly surreal and we're just baffled, excited and motivated.
The development continues, cheers!

If you haven't had, give the game a play!https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/
That's it for this quick developer udpate, have a good one peeps!

[ 2025-06-05 10:09:02 CET ] [Original Post]

Demo update #4

This is a quick one! We found bugs, and fixed them. This update also fixes crashes related to sticky bomb usage.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/

Changelog

Changed

Civil Engineer
[list]
Give +2AP
Original effect stays the same

Improved visualisation of the sticky bomb counter

Deck resets right at the end of a fight

Entry to the first station was made a little longer

[/list]

Fixed

Stations now properly remove props
Modules now correctly load in shops
Projectile cards now get correctly destroyed when leaving hand in any way
Projectile cards are now correctly removed when a fight is escaped while a bomb is placed on grid
Cards staying on hand now properly update their disabled status
Held malfunction no longer stays disabled if it was drawn that way
[list]
This applies to all cards, a lovely bug fixed!

[/list]

The update is live now, have fun trying out the new stuff and let us know how it went!
Cheers!

[ 2025-05-12 13:51:15 CET ] [Original Post]

Demo update #3

The new driver system introduced in the previous update, has overall been super welcome, and people have enjoyed using it as well. We then had the time to focus on further stabilisation of the game and improving its settings as well. (steam cloud saves should now finally work!)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/ Game Description Image
image shows the newly organized modules and a really fun new module

Changelog

Let's jump straight into what this update brings!

Added

Modules
[list]
Spiked Hull
Enemies ramming a carriage with 2 shield or more receive 1 damage
Civil Engineer
When a card is used and the hand is not empty, discard a random card from hand and draw a card

Outline to card effects in UI to align with the 3D visuals in game

Better visualisation for the cells being targeted

[/list]

Changed

Updated illustrations
Panzer dome All blue cards
Cards in UI now have more resolution. Staying crisp even when larger
Updated some module illustrations
Improved angles from which the outline shader works
Map now generates smaller fights less often
Improved code handling drawing and discarding cards, especially with bonuses
Ground texture made lighter to resemble snow more
Reorganized shop cards
Reorganized modules
New players now start with more modules and cards unlocked by default
Refactored the world prop spawning system

Fixed

Second wind now correctly gives 2 AP
Shielded wheels now correctly visualises health results
Card Syringe gives +1 card instead of +2
Shielded wheels module now properly visualises in game
Extra Valve
[list]
Counts all "intentional" discards (when a card is sent to the discard pile, as a result of using another card)
Issues related to it should be resolved! (tm)

"Press anything" now works with any key or mouse button press

World props (trees and such) no longer float in certain situations

Managing default unlocked modules

[/list]

That's it for this update! It's live now so have fun trying out the new stuff and let us know how it went!
Cheers!

[ 2025-05-11 10:31:56 CET ] [Original Post]

Demo update #2

For the second update we've focused on a number of things, there are a couple new modules, tweaks and balance updates, but most importantly we've completely revamped the driver system and improved the tutorial!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/

The new driver system

Previously drivers had a levelling system, wherein the player collected experience points by destroying enemies, and then adding one of the driver cards into their deck when levelling up. Although not a bad system, since inception of the idea, we wanted the driver cards to feel more special, more impactful akin to an ultimate skill.

This all lead to the decision to go ahead and try something new! We've removed the experience point and leveling system, and replaced it with a much simpler one where the player gets points by dealing damage (each driver will have a different trigger), once the gauge fills up, the player is instantly given a random driver card, that has to be used during the turn. At the same time we also made the driver cards more powerful!

Before: Game Description Image

After:

Tutorial changes

The tutorial is another part that we wanted to take a step further, apart from fixing bugs and implementing safeguards against soft locks we also added an additional fight encounter that is really tough to beat (not impossible!): Game Description Image

This way you'll have more of an opportunity to test out what the numerous cards and carriages are capable of!

Changelog

Alright! Let's take a look at the list of things that have been added/changed/fixed in the demo!

Added

New modules
[list]
Piston Overdrive
reduce movement cost by 1AP every 4th train move in fight
Scrap King
tier 5
grant 1AP every 3 exhausted cards
Diamong Diamond Hands
tier 6
do not discard hand at the end of the turn. -1AP. cannot exceed maximum hand size
Extra valve
draw an extra card for 5 discarded cards
Vents
gain 1AP for every 10th enemy intent
Lookout
add 1 shield to the locomotive for every 15th enemy move
New module illustrations, updated some of the old ones!
Stranger
Random card gets randomized AP when drawing hand
Shielded Wheels
carriages take no damage from ramming if shielded

New stats that contribute to making spikes, each adds 1 spike at the end of the run

Redesigned the UI for end of run stats

Cliff throws
Cliff collisions
Ram kills
Env. hazard Kills

initial stop !

gives a random selection of 3 bonuses
happens right after pressing the start button
counts as a "station mode" since the train is stationary, meaning you can sell / upgrade right there
subject to change

New driver system

Fill gauge for every point of damage that happens in the game
When full, get a driver card in your hand.
If unused it disappears
Driver cards are 0AP
Driver screen UI

deck button at the end of run screen

"Extra overdrive card" boost card

when the next overdrive triggers, you get an extra driver card

can be stacked

label that mentions number of turns left for applied effects

i.e. burn will last 1 more turn

Attack order button and panel

When launching the game, you'll now be presented with running the game either with Vulkan (default) or D3D12

use the latter if you're experiencing crashes and let us know!

warning message when the player doesn't have enough spikes to unlock a module or a card

driver card activation SFX

new fight encounter in tutorial

[/list]

Changed

start run bottom tab buttons are now hidden in tutorial as not to confuse new players
primary button sound effect
"Grant" to "Gain" rewording
Improved audio for random encounters
Pause menu "Restart" button now specifically mentions that it restarts the run, to avoid run/encounter confusion
bigger ranges for all of Monica's cards
redesigned driver screen to align with the new driver system (Overdrive)
changed XP boost card to give +2 extra overdrive points next time the gauge ticks
"Bandit Intel" module is changed to "Intel", gives +1 overdrive point every time the gauge ticks
[list]
effectively making overdrive gauge progress twice as fast

improved mouse hover area for the overdrive gauge

auto-accept loading screen by default

train steam blow-off sounds in stations got tweaked

Illustration for "Overdrive points" card

Improved illustration of Extra valve

pimped the visuals of in-game console

removed "Driver cards" panel from the end of run screen

deck is reset at the end of the fight instead of before the next one

Shield siphon -> can be used on any unit. The unit doesn't need to have any shield

makes it possible to steal shield from one carriage to another

Overdrive boost card now gives 10 extra points instead of 2

can be stacked

Improved the deckview pop up

Effects

changed the logic of effects
they all last 1 turn by default now
their on unit effects are applied after attacking
effect lifetime is reduced at the end of enemy turn (and removed when it reaches 0)

"Save slots" are now separated from the main play button.

Default FPS limit is 144 instead of uncapped (Vsync is ON by default)

module and card previews are now larger in the first screen

Lookout illustration has been changed

The previous one will become a new module

new Carriages are free in tutorial runs

[/list]

Fixed

correct loading of Module id 20, this hadn't been an issue till today, but the bug was there, FIXED!
correct picking of modules for random encounters
Golden Circuits no longer has an incorrect counter label
deck view UI no longer has a moving return button for the module screen
game crashing when an env hazard destroys an enemy with active intent while the game is on the fastest animation speed
"carragies to buy" animation speed now also responds to animation speed setting
improved code handling validity of carriage level meshes
rewards panels no longer block mouse events when disappearing
driver screen and the deck screen no longer allow the contextual information panel to pop up
floating card info panel no longer jumps up and down randomly when looking for its own position
driver cards no longer stay on hand when "diamond hands" module is active
invisible station stop lights no longer make constant ticking sounds
driver cards contain the "Driver card" effect even before they're added to the hand
Repair button
[list]
uses the correct word for currency
updates instantly when the amount of scraps changes

Better handling of max hand size for "Diamond hands"

Card information panel will always close when a card / module were bought in the shop

Cards with a single effect did not show it, they do now!

bottom screen player message correctly recalculates its center point

units flash white again when damaged or upgraded

all discarded cards go away from the hand (data wise) hopefully fixing shadow cards!

discarded cards correctly registered by Extra Valve

driver cards are always destroyed at the end of the turn

only driver cards are driver cards now

price of card removal is now properly calculated not only shown

driver cards are removed when deck is reset

time tracking is stopped the moment the run is finished

pause screen no longer keep on tracking the time after a run's been ended

most fullscreen UI Pop Ups no longer allow focusing grid elements with the mouse

card details panel now properly disappears after buying a card

overdrive instant boost cards can appear regardless of player XP (legacy driver system)

card details panel correctly disappears after removing a card (edge case)

shield siphon no longer unlocks free endless shielding on the available cells

Shop UI can no longer be abused. It is cleared up once the train leaves a chop shop encounter

AP sprite on cards no longer casts shadows

Attack order no longer hidden behind other elements

God mode (take no damage), is now correctly applied and saved when going in and out of tutorial

Destabilized shows its visual again

Extra Valve (fingers crossed)

[/list]

That's it for this update! It's live now so have fun trying out the new stuff and let us know how it went!
Cheers!

[ 2025-05-05 12:02:39 CET ] [Original Post]

Demo update #1

Releasing the demo was wild! We have a playtest version of the game that you can get on our discord, that's a version of the game where we push updates first, and only then do they make it into the demo.
We've been busy improving the game from the get go, at first pushing daily updates, and afterwards (once things stabilized, and critical issues were fixed) moved on to weekly updates.
This update article looks at what's been happening behind the closed doors, although they're pretty open, our discord is a place where you can chat with us any time!

Enough preface, let's dive right into it!

Youtube videos

We've been super fortunate, and people have created youtube content playing Fogpiercer. To all of you, but also to our Discord community, we owe a massive thanks!
The videos and feedback we're receiving are a source of inspiration and data, helping us make Fogpiercer into an even better game. Here's a couple of those!

https://youtu.be/3iAVF2ozeR8?si=h8N9Dkr-bRLMRPEE
https://youtu.be/hP1dtB_iWSI?si=sDxmQ9pQHN6fYXq5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPOEnlLhpGM

Speedrunning

Never thought this was going to happen, honestly. In terms of spotaneous combustion theories, this is pretty close. If you visit youtube you can find numerous videos from our speedrunners already, and in addition to that there's an official Speedrun.com page for Fogpiercer Demo now as well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubhymOBZgiE
Fogpiercer Demo on Speedrun.com

Changelog

The changelog is fairly extensive, but also shows just how much we've done since launching the demo, if you want a more detailed look into the changelog, feel free to visit our discord (and the #Changelog channel).

Most notable of these changes is going to be the rework of the tutorial system. We've noticed that few players come to grasp the coolest strategies of the game, and we've aimed at making them more obvious right from the get go, in the tutorial!

Added

different colour for enemy turn intent that has an effect
[list]
this also adds a colour setting under the accessibility tab
i.e. Lojzo's carriage disable attack

unit side panel can now be turned off by pressing a grid cell that does not have a unit

a couple of missing translation strings that were still hardcoded

"Magenta" colour to accessibility settings

it was just purple, but then it started looking a little different

"Speedrun Statistics" which appear in the pause menu

time of the run (excluding game pauses and initial screen)
number of turns taken

loading screen

also a setting for auto accepting the end state of the loading screen
this implements asynchronous loading

new shortcuts!

Z/C move the train back and forward
F to end turn / F to choose
M to toggle the map

number of copies of a card in the Unit Side Panel

number of player turns taken in the "Run Over" screen

Weighted random when modules are being offered to the player

Each boss will now have a station right after it

Stronger buggies have burn resist

Cannon heavy has stun resist

top panel for train overview now also has buttons as shortcuts for moving the train

top panel for train overview shows an icon when a carriage can be upgraded in a station

steam wishlist and "Discussions" links to the top right corner in the main menu and pause menu

returning back to a station from the map view is now possible

warning label to the "main menu" return option in the pause menu that warns the player of losing run progress

ability to change animation speed

a lower default for 3D scaling on the steam deck

overall number of activated modules in the modules screen

overall number of activated cards in the cards screen

chop shop cards now also show the number of copies that will be added to the deck

Demo / Playtest windows now have their correct respective names

Malfunction does not trigger if disabled

animation speed also influences the slow-mo amount

save slots!

minigun to the main menu!

"missions" system

at the moment only used in the tutorial, we'll expand on it in the future
enemy waves?

setting to turn off shadows

[/list]

Changed

improved the settings popup
[list]
added a super quick animation when it's turned on and off

further tweaks of fight progression for the first part of the map, mainly focusing on probabilities

weighted random of enemy kinds and support unit chances

tweaked probabilities of enemies in the second map fights

malfunction cards now wait for env hazards to resolve

enemy turn now waits for malfunction cards to resolve

Game Over screen uses the game scene loading as the rest of the game (the async loader)

Player XP amounts got lowered, enjoy slightly faster levelling!

Modules in Tier 1 are unlocked by default for new players

can be disabled

Cards in Tier 1 are unlocked by default for new player

can be disabled

Meta progression Modules and Cards got a face-lift

Chop shop - shop UI got a face lift too!

station bonuses no longer overlay shop UI

Animation speed has been changed to having 5 pre-set options

SLOWEST, SLOW, NORMAL, FAST, FASTEST

Fight Back

the enemy that destroyed the carriage, is insta-killed

Silver Tongue

30% discount!

Shield Carriage

Shield Trick
[list]
1x in deck

Panzer Dome

Cost Up + AP Cost 1

Shield Revenge

new pattern and AP Cost 1

Sheild Siphon

the same but +1 shield

[/list]

Artillery Carriage

Iron Rain - Exhaust

card text and effect position

camera animation when leaving the map is faster

shop items leave an empty border when bought

unavailable shop items (no more modules/cards) are visualised

revamped visual style

stronger colours, some may need tweaking, let us know!

lots of colours changes all around, we'll be iterating

train travel speed is BACK!

though with saner limits

"Money" -> "Scraps"

reworded most cards and modules, to ensure a same style of writing

Hand Throw

discard hand, draw as many cards as were discarded

The title below the game's logo now aligns with the version of the game (Playtest, Demo)

Loading screen has a game logo progress texture instead of Coal Pusher illustration

and it always reaches 100% now too!

hide AP cost and number of copies of cards that are locked

redesigned the enemy list panel on the right of the screen

trees and rocks no longer float above the ground

improved visuals of stations

Tutorial redesigned

Improved performance by selectively casting shadows only where necessary

Changed the icon on negative module of Extra Move Cost

The player gets free scraps in the tutorial to ensure that upgrades and a new carriage can be bought

[/list]

Fixed

Right Mouse Button (RMB) no longer shows intent details and it's also used to cancel an active card
Station UI not appearing when it should if the player is in map preview when entering a station
Underlying system for bonuses, this fixes the "Mirage Mystery" module and prevent similar issues in the future
Final damage that destroys a carriage not being registered in run stats
Choosing a module after a "Module Van" fight before all modules have initialised, no longer crashes the game
multiples of the same module can no longer appear
visual of the unit position didn't always correctly update
pressing enter when choosing upgrade cards no longer breaks UI / crashes the game
[list]
a better fix is incoming! we need to add the ability for cards to be focused

one cannot endlessly reroll modules anymore

upgrading a carriage and picking a card no longer crashes the game

map can only be toggled using the M shortcut when it's available, preventing a softlock

hitting enter after choosing a reward no longer triggers it again

card arrow line should no longer be "red"

previously used malfunction cards are no longer hidden

a missing card in the chop shop when the player no longer has any rare/epics available

grid annotations render over cards no more!

max health card wording

default unit movement speed is back to its original value

instant cards can no longer be spam activated

brake and move forward sounds were flipped

choppy particles have been tweaked, likely an engine error

translations for new effects

grid annotations only turn on when set so in the settings

all default modules now turn on properly

preview map no longer has a button to return to the station (broke things)

audio low-health is now correctly reset even when Malfunction is in hand when the fight ends

Station should now always be spawned at a correct location, so regardless of the train and animation speed the train will stop at the right place

Malfunction can now be always removed

Colours now get initialised properly

correct info text for spikes

pause menu now renders above everything else at all times

stations no longer randomly spawn as props

[/list]

That's it for this update! The build is now live, let us know what you thought of the changes, cheers!

[ 2025-04-22 12:01:52 CET ] [Original Post]

Fogpiercer DEMO out now!

Hey peeps!

After months of playtesting, bugfixing, balancing and new content being developed for the game, we're finally releasing the demo!

What to expect in the demo:

Diverse carriages with unique abilities and synergies
Modules, cards and a driver that can be unlocked, used and strategized around
Bosses, diverse enemy units each with a different set of attacks
Post-apocalyptic world where train stations are the last safe havens

Many of you already know, the game's combat is heavily inspired by Into The Breach mechanics, with a unique twist on the environment as it's constantly moving but also the fact the game is built around deckbuilding mechanics, each unit has a unique set of cards and strategies.

There are natural synergies you can discover, new strategies to explore and cards + modules to unlock and make use of!

Have fun playing!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/

[ 2025-04-04 10:25:46 CET ] [Original Post]