v0.3: New cards and Mechanics

This update is all about making defensive builds more interesting, with two new card types: paddle magnetism and combo shields. Paddle Magnetism cards gently pull the ball toward the paddle, boosting defense and enabling riskier offensive choices. Combo shield cards let players absorb a hit by maintaining a high combo streak.

Thanks to great playtest feedback, a few bugs have been squashed, and the Streak Runner card has had its cost and rarity adjusted to better reflect its value.

Here are the full release notes:

New Mechanics

• Paddle magnetism — new card effect curves the ball gently toward the paddle's Y position when nearby, helping you catch returning balls without affecting offensive trajectories. A subtle cyan line shows when the magnetism is pulling on a ball.
• Combo shield — new card effect grants a one-shot damage absorber when your combo reaches a threshold. Reuses the gold fault line barrier, so any gold barrier means "you're protected".

New Cards (5)

• Magnetic Paddle(Tank, common) — Ball curves toward paddle when nearby
• Gravity Well (Tank, uncommon) — Strong pull on nearby balls toward paddle
• Streak Guard (Tank, uncommon) — At 12 combo, gain a shield that absorbs the next hit
• Resonance Shield (Tank, rare) — At 8 combo, gain a shield that absorbs the next hit
• Quickfire (Speed, uncommon) — Ball 18% faster, +0.4s combo window

Card Changes

• Streak Runner promoted from uncommon (100 cost) to rare (180 cost) — its on-hit compounding made it disproportionately strong vs. on-destroy alternatives like Momentum.
• Ball Magnet renamed to Wide Catch — avoids confusion with the new ball-attraction mechanic. Same effect (paddle 25% larger).
• Zone Magnet renamed to Orb Beacon — same reason. Same effect (zone orbs 50% more frequent).
• Coin Magnet renamed to Gold Rush — same reason. Same effect (+50% currency).

Terminology

• Hit zone renamed to Fault Line — clearer distinction from zone orbs, ties into the game's name

UX

• Fullscreen hint on main menu — detects non-fullscreen and shows a one-time "GO FULLSCREEN" prompt
• Shield power-up now shows a pulsing gold barrier on the fault line when active, making protection visually clear
• Card counter (x/8) shown in shop header

Balance

• Fragment economy soft cap — scores above 100K now use logarithmic scaling. Normal scores unaffected; extreme combo builds no longer trivialise the meta-progression.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed duplicate cards appearing in shop after re-rolling
• Fixed shop triggering card discard dialog too early when hand wasn't full
• Fixed perks not being applied when starting a new game via the Retry button (Head Start currency, etc.)
• Fixed max HP going negative when stacking too many max-HP-reducing cards (now clamped to 1)
• Fixed decay bricks (Depth 10) splitting into new bricks that could overlap void bricks (Depth 8+), causing soft-locked sections
• Fixed platinum paddle skin leaving a white rectangle artifact on the paddle after switching skins or starting a new game
• Fixed Gameplay page in How To Play overflowing with a scrollbar
• Fixed music system race condition where two audio init calls could create duplicate music instances, causing menu music to bleed into gameplay