Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 16 - Weapons
Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!
HTD Logo WIP
Alright, in this weeks post I want go into weapons and how they may differ from eachother.
In HTD we plan to have many different types of weapons that players can choose from to fit their style. These, of course, won't all be available right at the first release but we'll be releasing more and more as we continue with development. The term "weapons" in this case also includes things like shields and trinkets that you can hold. There will be one-hand and two-hand versions of all nearly all the different types of weapons. I say "nearly all" because there are some exceptions like shields which are usually only one-handed and polearms which are typically only two-handed.
The weapons will be broken up into a few general categories and than branch from there. Here's a list of what we're thinking for some of those categories with their type of weapons:
Light Melee: lighter and faster, close-range weapons
- Daggers, Shortswords, Small Axes and Maces, etc
Heavy Melee: heavier and slower, close-range weapons
- Polearms, Longswords, Large Axes and Maces, etc
Light Ranged: lighter and faster, long-range weapons
- Bows, Small Guns and Throwing Weapons, etc
Heavy Ranged: heavier and slower, long-range weapons
- Crossbows, Large Guns and Throwing Weapons, etc
Fist: Varying sizes and speeds, close-range weapons
- Knuckledusters, Bos (Sam: What's a bos?), etc
(Bos - It's a super secret weapon! :) No, actually I guess the plural version is actually just Bo, aka Bō. Like a Bo Staff and other stick weapons.)
Magical: Varying sizes and speeds, long-range weapons
- Wands, Staves, etc
Light Shields: Smaller and lighter, off-hand weapons
- Bucklers, Heater Shields, etc
Heavy Shields: Larger and heavier, off-hand weapons
- Kite Shields, Tower Shields, etc
Trinkets: Various sized, off-hand weapons
- Scrolls, Books, Magical Globes, etc
The weapons in each of these categories is affected by certain character stats differently. For example, Heavy Melee Weapons will benefit from high Strength and some Dexterity whereas Magical Weapons will rely mostly on Intelligence and only a little on Dexterity.
Another thing is we'll probably have equipment slots for 1H/2H Close-range Weapons, 1H/2H Long-range Weapons and your character may swap between them automatically depending on the distance of the closest enemy. So if there's an enemy unit coming towards your warrior character he won't just be sitting there waiting for the unit to come within melee range. Instead he'll auto-switch to his ranged weapon and use that till it gets closer or another enemy gets closer. This also helps prevent your warrior character from just getting out-ranged by an enemy unit that is attacking him constantly from a distance.
We're also thinking about having weapons be a bit customizable in some way so you can gear it more towards your character's style. Things like tradeskills will certainly provide some other possibilities as well. Either way, we'll have tons of weapons eventually and any suggestions you guys make will be helpful as always. Even some of your own designs could certianly make it into the game and would help Kevin out greatly.
Speaking of Kevin, check out his blog, KXN @ HTD to see some additional HTD art and be sure to participate in any polls he has going because that helps us know what you guys want first. Also here's a fitting image of some weapons:
HTD Weapons
Be sure to leave use any feedback and suggestions you guys might have, it's greatly appreciated and very helpful to us, thanks!
-Dan
Booya!
ReplyDeletesecond :/
ReplyDeleteI think customizable weapons would be pretty cool. Maybe something Fable III esque? What enemies you use certain weapons on affects/evolves your weapons.
ReplyDeleteAnother possibility would be to come to certain choices at points of the game, remniscent of pokemon (choose out of these two fossils, these three startes, etc.) except have multiple choices and no way to go back to change the decisions made, thus uniquely evolving your weapon. Say there are 5 points in the game with 5 choices evolving your weapon in a certain way that's 120 possibilities for weapon evolutions alone, not to mention how many weapon combos somebody could have!
P.S. Should crossbows be one-handed? I'd like to see someone accurately shoot one using one hand.. :P
lol Nice!
ReplyDeleteYou should add a more variety of weapons like different types of weapons:silver knuckles,gold knuckles,burning knuckles in stead of just brasss knuckles and they should increase stats or something....
ReplyDeleteSomewhere in the top 100?
ReplyDeleteWill there be any unique weapon classes like heavy thrown handaxes?
Not first.
ReplyDelete2nd please and thank you for the good post cant wait
ReplyDeleteWow, cant believe it. though, i could have been 2nd more times but i was lazy.
ReplyDeletecool. hopefully in top 10.
ReplyDeleteso will you add more weapons over time? and what is a bos?
I really want to see the bows. :)
ReplyDelete2ND!!!!!...i think. this post sounds great. I think it would be really cool if htd was released around x-mas time so it was sort-of like a gift
ReplyDelete-DTAkillR
are there going to be Weekly/Daily codes for items or special avatars for HTD too?
ReplyDeleteWill you only be able to carry one close range, one long range, and one off-hand weapon at a time? Or will you be able to switch? For example let's say you have a level where you have foes that are weak to one kind of weapon as opposed to another (ex. Fire Emblem Path of Radiance had two different axes that worked against different units: the hammer is effective against armored units and the poleax is effective against horse units). Would you be able to switch between the two, or would you have to make a choice as to which one you bring in?
ReplyDeleteAlso, will there be weapons that serve as both a long and close range weapon (like a javelin or spear)? For example, some games like Advance Wars have it so that a unit can strike directly (they must be right next to the target) and indirectly (they have to be at least one space away). Also, in Fire Emblem, there are swords, lances, and axes that can be thrown as a long range weapon and still be used at close range. Some even have magical enhancements.
Still not first, as you two normally do...
ReplyDeleteUm... aren't bows lighter than crossbows...
ReplyDeleteAdded a little note on this post :)
ReplyDeleteHey Sam,How about making ShortBows Light Ranged and Longbows Heavy Ranged? pretty good to end the argue...btw,Why not make Light,Heavy and Medium Melee? like, LM:daggers,shortswords,...MM:1-handed long sword,staves,...HM:2-handed swords,2-handed axes,zweihanders(a 2-handed broad,long sword.),...
ReplyDeleteHey! Nice arrangement of weapons ;) Tho I'd like to give some thinking over some points lol not sure blunt weapons and piercing/slashing should be all in the same category. Dunno if you're going into that but imagine a skeleton made of some metal league, a dagger having the same impact as a hammer/club seems dogdy, no? Just give it a thinking on it ;)
ReplyDeleteAbout the long swords, if they are 2h will that mean there won't be 2 big 1h wpp wielding? Cause there are the greatswords and such for 2h ^^, Well, unleeeeeess 2h will become bigger and bigger (for greatswords and zanzas, etc) =P
What's a bos? "Blast Own Shaker"? =P
Cool stuff on the melee/range wpp auto switching like it a lot!
OMG!!! Is that the Crystaline Inquisitor??? =D IT LIVES!!! <3 And has a new sister?! Could that be the "Demanding Wand of ..." LOL =P
ps: I'm really happy to see the Crystaline Inquisitor made it to this point, just hope it gets its name in game also ^^, (already thinking on my 2nd profile with a "mage" just for that wpp =P)
hiya just wanted to say uhhhh that you spelled from wrong if you look in the post i says form here is a copy and pasted please uhhh correct this.
ReplyDeleteThis also helps prevent your warrior character from just getting out-ranged by an enemy unit that is attacking him constantly form a distance.
see the form it is 3 lines down and 6 accross hope this helps
bugfinder :)
P.S. SAM WHAT'S A BOS
Please make a nice katana!
ReplyDeleteis there gonna be dual wielding light weapons?
ReplyDeleteBOS means balls of steel. Raunchy.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, WHAT ON EARTH IS A BOS?????
ReplyDeleteI spent like half an hour looking for this, and the closest I got was Bank Of Scotland!!!
Sorry for the shout, but I got really annoyed when I couldn't find it!
On another note, I would also like you to rethink about the guns idea. They ruined many an RPG, and their stats in WoW made bows virtually obsolete.
If you do include them, then please try to balance them with bows, so that they don't just overpower your arsenal.
Thanks for all your work, you are the best game maker ever!!!!!
I never played, and I've a question. Is this still a TD game, because it doesn't sound like one.
ReplyDelete@vinicius - :\
ReplyDelete@Anon 7:59 PM - I never played Fable 3 but I've heard of that concept before and it's certainly and interesting mechanic. I think this was actually brought up at one point as a possbility so we'll have to see.
The only problem with having the choices is you won't always have the same weapon so if you spent the choices on a weapon that is eventually outclassed it would feel like a waste. The customization probably wouldn't allow you to just stick with one weapon the whole game but rather allow you to gear it's bonus stats towards your character build rather towards stats you don't actually want or need.
I think I've seen them do it in movies :P but good point.
@Armorbomb - Yeah, there will be. I wasn't about to list every weapon in the game so I just gave a few general examples and left it with an "etc" so don't worry, there will be lots!
@Crazy Italian Detective - Hmm, probably not because Heavy Throwing Handaxes would just fall under Heavy Ranged Weapons. I might be misunderstanding your point here though.
@Anon 9:14 PM - Sorry.
@Nicholas Smith - Sorry, not 2nd :( but you're welcome for the post! :)
@Anon 10:16 PM - I see
@Pokeman - We'll definitely be adding more over time. There's almost no limit except our imaginations but we could always ask you guys for suggestions.
Haha, by bos I meant like a Bo, aka a Bo Staff, Stick Weapon, etc
@Sly Kamaui - Me too!
@DTAkillR - We'll see :)
@Anon 12:10 AM - Possibly, it's certainly not out of the quesiton.
@Chris Tan - There probably won't be like a quick switch option but you could probably just switch weapons manually by going to the equipment screen if you wanted to. There will almost always be a mix of units though so switching all the time probably won't be ideal except against harder units and bosses that you are having trouble with.
Hmm, well in theory they'd have to be magical or something because if you threw your sword at something it's not like you'd have another to throw because you'd only have one lol. Whereas something like throwing axes you'd probably have a bunch of. We probably won't have things like limited ammo though because it's not really the focus. However, some ranged weapons may have minimum ranges while others do not and so really those without a minimum range can act as both close-range and long-range weapons.
So to answer your question, yes, there probably will be weapons that can be used as both a melee and ranged weapon but whether they act differently for those different situations I'd say probably not.
@Anon 1:42 AM - :D
ReplyDelete@Anon 2:03 AM - Why, yes, yes they are. I changed it, thanks :)
@Gon - Oh, these are just the general categories, they will be broken down further into sub-categories like you mentioned. :)
I removed the one-haned and two-handed descriptions because it was confusing. I was listing it as just a general idea like saying "These are gereally two-handed weapons" but I guess it came across too literally. I changed it a bit to make it a bit more clear about what I intended, sorry about that.
Haha the infamous Bos weapon, check back in the post, I added a explaination. :P
Haha Kevin listens to you guys about wepaon suggestions too so always be sure to give us your ideas.. we definitely use them!
@bugfinder - Thanks! Check the post again for what I meant by Bos ;)
@Anon 6:27 PM - I'm sure Kevin will do his best!
@Anon 6:46 PM - Yes
@Anon 11:33 AM - lol, not in this case :P
@NinjutsuMaster - Haha, I added a explaination for Bos in the post. Sorry for the confusion.
Oh don't mistake, balancing is a huge priority. It'll be difficult but I'm right there with you about hating when a weapon type is just simply inferior or surperior to another making it obsolete. We'll be working hard to make them all have advantages and disadvantages, you guys will be a big help with that too.
Thanks!
@Anon 4:10 PM - Yes, it's a mix of a TD and RPG.
Sam... what if you could level up your weapon? Lets say you have a sword and shield. Your sword gains xp every damage it does, and a shield gains xp every damage it blocks. That way, even when you max the levels of your char, you still can do more leveling.
ReplyDelete~Mewthree
I think you guys might have this idea in mind: monsters don't drop weapons/accessories but they drop different kinds of materials. You can buy maybe weapons and shields up to 20 ATK and 20 DEF respectively but beyond that you have to upgrade your weapon using monster drops to get higher attack and some chance to inflict status problems. Upgraded weapons can be traded with your friends!
ReplyDeleteI feel like an idiot, addressing it to Sam, I got the names mixed around XD Sorry, Dan. Won't happen again. Anyways... I like danychriz's idea and,with his permission, I would like to combine our ideas. You need a certain amount of exp AND materials to upgrade.
ReplyDelete~Mewthree
OMFG!! LOL The all mighty secret kickas BOS is a stick? ROTFLOL AHAHAHAH (I'm controling myself cause I have people sleeping but I'm laughing like an insane)
ReplyDelete@Dan - Great geniuses think alike =P Is the name of the weapon approved and definitive? =D
OH!!! And I have to share with you, you know what? I got a new pet (well actually 3, but besides the 2 micro-mice =P) wanna know what I have? my 1st snake!!! =D A beautiful Corn Snake! Can a corn snake show up as a pet? =P I know their native to your lands so you know what I'm on about don't ya?
In the HTD Thursdays! there aren´t days 15 and 16.
ReplyDelete@Mewthree: I don't think it is realistic for your weapon to gain XP. They got dull and rusty the more you use them. So stick XP and level up just for the characters while the weapon can be upgraded into a higher class weapon as soon as you have all the materials needed. Oh btw Mewthree, I guess weapons can also be leveled up (without being changed to a different named weapon) by forging/mending them...
ReplyDeleteAlso, to avoid new players from using overpowered weapons, each weapon requires a minimum level for the character to wield it.
@danychriz 11:47 PM - That actually just sounds like crafting, which we will have eventually. So really we'll have both full item drops as well as materials. Also upgrading a weapon through something like crafting is definitely a possibilty and something that's come up, as well as trading so keep an eye out! :)
ReplyDelete@Mewthree 11:42+11:47 PM - Lol, no problem about the name mix up. :P Usually I let Sam answer any questions that are directed at him but I saw your comment saying it was for me so I'll answer.
The idea of leveling your weapon and even stats based on usage has been tossed around actually. It's an interesting concept but upgrading your weapon is sort of the same idea except through different means which helps to add some variation. However, there could always be special "living" weapons that perhaps can't be upgraded but rather level up instead, that way you have both mechanics in the game but for different weapons. I think WoW has something like this actually. Sounds cool though.
@Gon - Haha, now I'm probably going to have to add some secret weapon in HTD that is actually named as BOS just because of this post. :D
Indeed they do! Yeah, Kevin tends to name all his assets that he creates for the game so it's quite likely you'll see it by that name. :)
I don't see why not. There's room for plenty of different types of animals to have as pets in HTD. You can expect us to ask for some suggestions eventually as well because we'll be doing that a lot for HTD just as is done with PTD. So I'm sure you'll have a field day when we get to that point.
@Anon 1:44 PM - Thanks! They are listed there now.
@danychriz 2:57 PM - I responded to Mewthree as well but basically I was thinking we could have both types but separately. See my responses to him above for details, it could be pretty cool actually.
There's a few ways to deal with twinks but yeah having a level requirement is certainly one of them.
hey guys if you still havent settled on pets and stuff maybe you could make it like kingdom rush where they block an enemy so your guys could kill them.
ReplyDelete