Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 24 - HTD Pre-Alpha v0.005 Release! Human Male is back! Weekly Progress!
Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Click here for more info.
Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar!
Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!
Go here to read Day 23 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.
Hurray, the human male is back in action! Kevin wasn't happy with how the original male turned out so he wanted redesign him. There were also some technical issues we started to notice after finishing the original male which would eventually become a hinderance if we didn't address them now. So with that in mind he built the female in a way that could overcome the technicalities that the original male's build had trouble with and then planned to rebuild the male himself using these new techniques. Overall he turned out well and we're happy with him, we hope you guys think so too!
Now on to other things. We made a bunch of small technical fixes like text telling you if your target is out of range or on cooldown so that the game is more responsive. The Shadow character is now the only one with the wand and primarily uses their Magical skill (Shadow Bite) but will melee if close. Some new sound effects have been added and various bug fixes. Read below for all the details!
Also, we've decided to add a weekly progress list for HTD as well so you can check back and see how far along development is going for the items in the list. It's in the "In the Works" section.
Note: I changed this to be more like an overall progress list rather than a weekly release list. Basically it just lets you see how we're doing. Anything that is at 100% should make it into the next release, otherwise we're still working on it. The list doesn't represent everything we're doing though, just some of the major stuff, we are always fixing bugs and smaller things as well.
What's New:
-Re-added Human Male, he's now more awesome (There's no hair or cloak for him yet)
-Re-added the T1 Physical Fire and Shadow skill effects, they disappeared the last release somehow
-Added sound effect for the Whelp's Melee attack
-Added casting sound effects for the Fireball and Shadow Bite skills
-Added sound effect for Shadow Bite's detonation
-Added "Target is out of range!" notification
-Added "Skill is not ready!" notification
-Changed the skill range indicator graphic to be less intrusive
-Made Focus Fire (When you just click on an enemy without a skill) affect all your heroes. So now they will all go after the target you choose instead of just the hero you currently have selected.
-Made the auto-mode skill selection smarter and less wasteful
-Made Native Skills have a longer cooldown (6 seconds) but will now cancel all skill effects of a countered type on the target.
-Gave the wand to only the hero with the Shadow skills. She will primarily cast her T1 Magical skill but will melee if an enemy is nearby.
-Adjusted the Whelp Melee hit sound effect to be more in sync with the animation
-Fixed a bug that caused the skill range graphic to disappear
Each week I'll list and update the descriptions for the current skills available in the game. That way you guys know what they actually do (eventually there will be in-game descriptions). I'll just provide a brief description for now because the actual damage values and such will be changing a lot as we tweak them. You'll be able to see them in the future though.
Key Terms:
Direct Damage (DD) - Causes full damage instantly
Damage over Time (DoT) - Causes continuous damage over a period of time
Damage after Time (DaT) - Causes damage after a period of time has passed
Here are descriptions for the current skills in the game:
Fire:
Burn (Native Elemental - Stackable DoT - Fire Burning Man Icon) - Sets your target on fire causing it to take continuous damage. Stacks up to five times. Grants the caster a Fire Charge that increases their Fire Damage. A character can hold up to five charges at a time.
Flame Strike (Tier 1 Physical Elemental - DD - Fiery Sword Icon) - Attacks with your weapon ignited in flames.
Fireball (Tier 1 Magical Elemental - DD - Fireball Icon) - Hurls a fireball at your target
Shadow:
Infliction (Native Elemental - Stackable DoT - Shadow Consuming Man Icon) - Inflicts your target with Shadow decreasing it's Physical and Magical Defense. Stacks up to five times. Grants the caster a Shadow Charge that increases their Shadow damage. A character can hold up to five charges at a time.
Dark Strike (Tier 1 Physical Elemental - DD + DaT - Shadowy Sword Icon) - Attacks with your weapon engulfed in shadow, does additional damage after timer runs out.
Shadow Bite (Tier 1 Magical Elemental - DD + DaT - Shadow Bolt Icon) - Casts a shadowy bolt at your target that fills it with darkness till it explodes, does additional damage after timer runs out.
In the Works:
Note: There isn't a 2H animation yet so really these weapons will just be used with the current swing animation. So imagine them as large 1H weapons for now :P
Kevin currently has a poll going on his blog, KXN @ HTD for determing what order we'll be adding the elemental skills in (Ignore the The Second Element title, he's just extending the time and it won't let him change it). Shadow was winning originally so we did that as the second element already. Looks like Water might be next!
Any feedback is welcome as always, let us know what you think in the comments!
-Dan
Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!
HTD Logo
Now on to other things. We made a bunch of small technical fixes like text telling you if your target is out of range or on cooldown so that the game is more responsive. The Shadow character is now the only one with the wand and primarily uses their Magical skill (Shadow Bite) but will melee if close. Some new sound effects have been added and various bug fixes. Read below for all the details!
Also, we've decided to add a weekly progress list for HTD as well so you can check back and see how far along development is going for the items in the list. It's in the "In the Works" section.
Note: I changed this to be more like an overall progress list rather than a weekly release list. Basically it just lets you see how we're doing. Anything that is at 100% should make it into the next release, otherwise we're still working on it. The list doesn't represent everything we're doing though, just some of the major stuff, we are always fixing bugs and smaller things as well.
What's New:
-Re-added Human Male, he's now more awesome (There's no hair or cloak for him yet)
-Re-added the T1 Physical Fire and Shadow skill effects, they disappeared the last release somehow
-Added sound effect for the Whelp's Melee attack
-Added casting sound effects for the Fireball and Shadow Bite skills
-Added sound effect for Shadow Bite's detonation
-Added "Target is out of range!" notification
-Added "Skill is not ready!" notification
-Changed the skill range indicator graphic to be less intrusive
-Made Focus Fire (When you just click on an enemy without a skill) affect all your heroes. So now they will all go after the target you choose instead of just the hero you currently have selected.
-Made the auto-mode skill selection smarter and less wasteful
-Made Native Skills have a longer cooldown (6 seconds) but will now cancel all skill effects of a countered type on the target.
-Gave the wand to only the hero with the Shadow skills. She will primarily cast her T1 Magical skill but will melee if an enemy is nearby.
-Adjusted the Whelp Melee hit sound effect to be more in sync with the animation
-Fixed a bug that caused the skill range graphic to disappear
Each week I'll list and update the descriptions for the current skills available in the game. That way you guys know what they actually do (eventually there will be in-game descriptions). I'll just provide a brief description for now because the actual damage values and such will be changing a lot as we tweak them. You'll be able to see them in the future though.
Key Terms:
Direct Damage (DD) - Causes full damage instantly
Damage over Time (DoT) - Causes continuous damage over a period of time
Damage after Time (DaT) - Causes damage after a period of time has passed
Here are descriptions for the current skills in the game:
Fire:
Burn (Native Elemental - Stackable DoT - Fire Burning Man Icon) - Sets your target on fire causing it to take continuous damage. Stacks up to five times. Grants the caster a Fire Charge that increases their Fire Damage. A character can hold up to five charges at a time.
Flame Strike (Tier 1 Physical Elemental - DD - Fiery Sword Icon) - Attacks with your weapon ignited in flames.
Fireball (Tier 1 Magical Elemental - DD - Fireball Icon) - Hurls a fireball at your target
Shadow:
Infliction (Native Elemental - Stackable DoT - Shadow Consuming Man Icon) - Inflicts your target with Shadow decreasing it's Physical and Magical Defense. Stacks up to five times. Grants the caster a Shadow Charge that increases their Shadow damage. A character can hold up to five charges at a time.
Dark Strike (Tier 1 Physical Elemental - DD + DaT - Shadowy Sword Icon) - Attacks with your weapon engulfed in shadow, does additional damage after timer runs out.
Shadow Bite (Tier 1 Magical Elemental - DD + DaT - Shadow Bolt Icon) - Casts a shadowy bolt at your target that fills it with darkness till it explodes, does additional damage after timer runs out.
In the Works:
- Human Male Hair: Swagger Shag (0%)
- 1H Mace Weapon (100%)
- 2H Axe (100%)
- 2H Sword (100%)
- Character Customization Screen (100%)
- Party Selection Screen (100%)
Note: There isn't a 2H animation yet so really these weapons will just be used with the current swing animation. So imagine them as large 1H weapons for now :P
Kevin currently has a poll going on his blog, KXN @ HTD for determing what order we'll be adding the elemental skills in (Ignore the The Second Element title, he's just extending the time and it won't let him change it). Shadow was winning originally so we did that as the second element already. Looks like Water might be next!
Any feedback is welcome as always, let us know what you think in the comments!
-Dan
tsrif
ReplyDeletejust found a bug
ReplyDeleteyou cant put on the boy characters hair or cloak
The art for those didn't make the cut for this update, told Dan to mention it but I'm mentioning it now :)
Deleteok sweet. :)
ReplyDelete4
ReplyDelete-kk
are you going to make this available for ipad and iphones soon?
ReplyDeleteWe don't have an ETA on that yet, but probably won't be for awhile.
DeleteIs it a bug that When you pick the male character, The buttons show up as female?
ReplyDelete-SnorlaxFTW
P.S. Looks like im 6th.....but who really cares....
Not sure what you mean, could you explain further so I can check it out?
DeleteHe means the hair and cloak on of buttons since it doesn't change the male yet
Deleteif you pick male female shows up in the circles that tell you who is on the field and is there supposed to be a female and two males if you pick male
DeleteAh! Yeah, there's no hair or cloak for the male yet so those options won't do anything just yet.
DeleteAnd yes, the portraits not changing for the male is a mistake, not really a bug. We just sort of forgot lol
Thanks for pointing these things out!
Lol, for the male character it still says "Name:Cheyl" on the top of the screen when customizing your character.
ReplyDeleteHaha, oops. Can change that in the next release. :P
DeleteHey, I was thinking, perhaps the ability to name your character? *wink*
DeleteYeah, these names we are using are just temporary till we add in the functionality for changing your character's name.
Deletethere is a glitch if you are going to use one of the girls when they die you still get to use there move
ReplyDeleteNice find, thanks!
DeleteThe hair is called shagged swag, not swagger shag.
ReplyDeleteI changed it. Swagger Shag sounds so much less suggestive. :P
DeleteWhoops. I was always a slow, bro.
Deleteis it just me or dose the male look chubby
ReplyDeleteYou guys need to change the icons when equipped to boys. Because when I played with the male you would see the woman's icon.
ReplyDeleteYup, added it to the list.
Deletelooks good guys. some things that might put a better finishing touch on that I thought of.
ReplyDeleteI have not read the blogs on these lately so sorry if this is repetitive, I'm just throwing my 2 cents.
-click with the finger when you actually click on something might be good. Or like a holding motion of the hand for when you pick up a hero
-brief spell description when highlighted
-somehow make it more obvious that you're performing a spell. Idk, different character animation?? Something simple to let you know who is doing what kind of thing.
-Might look good to have an injured hero kneeling over or something a la FFI.
Good suggestions. We'll definitely be addressing these in time I just can't put a date on it right now. We're trying to get the core mechanics in first.
Deletetime ago, u told us to have 3 profiles, and also 3 starters heroes with unique final skills (that no other hero can learn), and also told us to be able to select the element of heroes (water, fire, light, shadow or nature) by leveling up them and spending skill points on the element skills that we're looking for. This means there'll be 15 unique skills in the game (3heroes x 1unique skill per element x 5 elements)??
ReplyDeleteif we're going to have 3 starters heroes, each one could have an unique starter aura; a passive skill that works on the whole party; this is my suggestion
hero 1. Attack aura. Increase the final damage dealt by the whole party a 5% (stacks with other buffs and debuffs); it affects to DD (Direct Damage, most of the offensive skills), DoT(Damage on time, such as poison or fire effects) and DaT (Damage after Time, damage that triggers after a time; like a bomb).
hero 2. Defensive aura. Decrease the final damage dealt by enemies to the whole party a 5% (stacks with other buffs and debuffs); it affects to DD, DoT, and DaT
hero 3. Utility aura. Increase the buffs efects and decrease the debuffs efects on the whole party a 5% (stack with other buffs and debuffs), and also increase the debuffs efects on enemies at your party range in the same amount (5%); it affects both to stats buffs (defense, attack, parry, evade...) and to healing in time effects
Yeah, you're talking about things mentioned waaay back haha some things have changed since then as is the case when your in the alpha. You'll still start with a few heroes but they are sort of just temporary, you'll primarily be focusing on your main hero at first and then you'll acquire more permanent party members as you progress.
DeleteAll the elements, leveling up, and the skills are all still in the works. We just haven't gotten to all of them yet.
The auras you mentioned sound pretty strong, especially for being passive. There will probably be skills that are similar to what you describe but you won't have them right away. that's more higher level stuff.
The girlin the background is bald when your character is.
ReplyDeleteRight now all the characters (including the girl you have to protect) share the same settings as what you set up at the customization screen. So if you turn on hair, they'll have hair (except the male since he doesn't have a hair style yet).
DeleteI picked bald female and a male showed up for the bottom person
ReplyDeletehttp://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh122/qasz/png.png
I can't be sure about this, but I (maybe) think that's supposed to happen. Think about it the one in the middle is the YOU, but the other two are your friends (1 male,1 female)
DeleteYeah, see my response above. They are all sharing the same settings right now.
DeleteLooks like next update will be big, compared to the others. Can't wait :D
ReplyDeleteHey Dan can you make the history of HTD with something tipe Assesin Creed Brotherhood (you know him?) something like one can make its army of warriors or repair the city for win income that are used to win more money that is used to buy armors for the army and make him more strong for the missions
ReplyDeletePs:sorry for my bad English because I'm from Venezuela
I've never played AC:Brotherhood so I'm not too familiar with the idea. From the sounds of it though I would say we probably won't be going in that direction necessarily just because it sounds rather extensive for a TD game. There may be quests or something that are along those lines though. :)
DeleteIf I want to cancel using an ability, can you please make it possible so I can just hit Escape instead of having to press another character? And to second someone else's idea, yes please make a male character icon. Lastly, the cursor is lagging and not very comfortable unlike PTD. It just doesn't get to where I want it to be until at least 0.25 seconds later. Doesn't happen when I play PTD
ReplyDeleteI'll add these to the list and see what we can do, thanks!
DeleteOh and you can cancel an ability by clicking on the currently active ability's icon again (or pressing the hotkey for that ability).
DeleteHey Dan,
ReplyDeleteWhen do you think Alpha v1.0 will be out? I am sure many people are wondering the same question. Also the game is coming along great!:) Also what are the types that will be for the characters?(I know of the two in the game, Fire and Shadow)
-Bjf
You can see on Kevin's poll, on his blog, that the other 3 elements will be Water, Nature, and Light.
Delete:) Hope I helped
As a storyline you could make the woman you protect in the cave turn nout to be a princess that was captured by an evil warloc and once rescued you must travel across the land searching far and wide (sound familliar) looking for his fortress, visiting cities and bandit camps along the way. Then when a member of your team is suddenly possessed by the warloc you have to defeat them to free them and learn his whereabouts ready to finally end his dark reign of terror. Thank you for reading this Sam, hope it helps in like v5 or something. By SMthegamer, always loyal.
ReplyDelete