I typically add one person at a time and boost them as I go, I I wouldn't use it either probably :P. I think we just have different play styles, since I don't have anywhere near 16 units. Or you are just a loooot further than me
If anything, the further you get, the fewer units you put out at once.
One level 5 healer is better that 5 level 1's or 2's.
One level 5 Berzerker is better than 6 level 1's.
When it starts getting really difficult later in the newgame+ having a few high level choke points is far more important than having the sheer coverage of putting out like two dozen units.
Some units, even at level one, are always going to be useful; but generally that "some units" is Ice Mages as even their base attack is really really useful. For damage units though, when any given enemy on the map can have 1m hp, having a bunch of level 1 or 2 unit just isn't going to do a damn thing compared to one max, or higher, level unit. Except for Dragons, who's best ability is their base ability with a high level noms. With really high health enemies it shines; but their fire attacks dick up ice mage attacks and aren't worth it.
So yeah, I guess that's why i don't generally feel like said feature would be useful. At level 60 against level 100+ enemies, having 16 level 3 guys is not the way to go. It's rare, when the game starts getting at all difficult, that you'd ever just mass level everyone out.
Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
I'm either in Act 6 or Act 7. Pretty sure I'm close to the end. I have 4 berzerkers, 4 archers, 2 healers, 2 knights, 1 ice mage, and 2 dragons. So 15. It's not a big thing, but it gets tedious putting them all, boosting them all, oops, Azra got hit, gotta start over, putting them all, boosting them all, etc. I'd actually prefer to set each unit's default boost rate, so when I put this particular berzerker down, he costs 75 and is boosted to 2.
If I were to request a personal change in the way boosting and such works is that Psi went back into your pool instantly, even if paused.
Playing the game at 4x and using pauses to make changes; if I need to recall something for whatever reason, the Psi has a 'travel time', so I have to unpause, let the Psi go back in my pool; then repause to 'fix' things.
I'd like it to just be there so I didn't have to spam the space bar so much. :rotate:
Anyway, as I said, I think some way to check a box to make things place at level <whatever> would be fine. I just don't think a mass boost would be all that useful, in general. Low level stuff where you can more or less breeze through everything, ok. But the high level stuff in new-game plus, you'd never touch it. I'm not saying that trying to be a dick or cocky or anything; I'm thinking purely from the developers standpoint, that'd be a big feature to implement for relatively little use.
I agree, having a way to save your initial "Boost Level" when summoning a Defender would be pretty handy - after a while, you do sort of get into a rut - "ok, Berserker X goes here at Boost Y, Ranger A goes here and gets Boosted to B", and so on.
I wonder if you could tie it to the "save your Targeting Settings" button somehow?
Hey! Great thoughts all around. A couple of quick responses:
@The Dude With Herpes: As for dragons and ice mages, you can set their targeting sub-option to "optimize effects" which will make them do their best to avoid interfering with iced/burning enemies wherever possible. There's still some interaction, but this minimizes it. Also, the "book of synergy" will keep fire and ice (and water) from canceling, with the downside that enemies give less PSI overall. I think the current "psi tax" is a little high, however - I might lower this in a future patch.
Everyone else - I think we might look into some sort of solution for the "default boost" problem, as it seems to be one that's been requested a bit. If I can find out a decent interface solution, I'll try that. One thing that's been requested a lot is to be able to save a certain "starting loadout" for a map, ie, placement locations as well as boost, especially if you have to play it a couple of times in a row. One way we might do this is let you save the initial configuration before the first wave hits, and then have some way to restart from that. I'll think about this some more and see if I can figure out an interface solution for "default boost level" for a given character.
So I put some time into this and holy hell is it good. I've yet to beat the story and get to new game+, but what I've played of it so far is solid. I'll be buying it once it's on steam for sure.
New Game + is really impressing me so far. They introduce enough new stuff to keep things feeling fresh, and every time you start to remember that you're playing the same old maps with higher level stuff, they throw something new at you to re-spark your interest. Really impressed with the timing of new content/mechanics in New Game +.
The only downside is that playing a few maps on New Game + will trivialize the challenge of getting all 3 Stars on the last few battles in the standard game, but I'm pretty sure that's just the obsessive purist in me talking.
0
El SkidThe frozen white northRegistered Userregular
edited September 2012
From a game design perspective, you could borrow from other games- instead of having enemies start coming x seconds after the level starts, you could just have a button that indicates that you're ready, and until you push that button you can take back any points you spent free of charge. (apologies if things have changed since the demo, which is all I have played).
So add in a default hero level setting, and until you start the level the player has a "- level" button available.
So scenario: New level. Default level for archer#1 has been set to 4. Ice mage #1 has defeault level of 2.
I choose the archer and put him down. He's level 4. I decide I actually need more psi for ice mages this level, so I bump him down to 3 by clicking on the temporary minus button. I choose the ice mage and place him. He has a level of 2, and I bump him up to 3 this time. Everything else I place and don't change the default level, so they come out perfect. I can also unsummon and resummon without cost at this time (optionally)
Once I hit the "start level" button, all of that extra functionality goes away and my choices are locked in.
I don't think this actually breaks anything, as you can pause the game before you start to take unlimited time to set up, but I think it certainly adds "expert user" value in that you can start with a default setup and tinker from there, or ideally just place units and go. If a beginner user doesn't set the default levels, they won't be inconvenienced as literally nothing would change for them.
First:
I'm pushing the version 1.0.22 patch to the update server right now. This fixes a few things, notably the "delayed damage" bug and some problems with porcupine damage. This also fixes a visual glitch or two, a problem with the "psi shield" book, and some other random things. The delayed damage bug was a big problem, and was also causing a memory leak (I think) which might be the cause of some crashes people have experienced.
All you need to do to get the patch is to run the game and be connected to the internet.
Second:
I'm working on writing up documentation for the game, so modders will know how everything works. It's not complete, but here's the forum thread I'll be updating whenever I make an addition:
Right now it gives a quick overview of how to setup a mod, and goes into detail about the overworld, towns, battles, etc. I'll be covering how to create/modify defender classes, skills, spells, enemies, and items, soon.
We tested this prior to release to make sure we didn't introduce any *new* bugs, but let me know if you see anything that hasn't already be reported and we'll add it to the list of things to fix in the *next* patch.
I enjoyed this game as well. My only criticism was that the higher difficulties seemed to be completely impossible until you'd upgraded your team quite a bit by grinding on easier difficulties. This complaint is probably a matter of taste though.
El SkidThe frozen white northRegistered Userregular
edited September 2012
I noticed this too.
The way the armour works (subtract x damage from a hit) means that scaling is wonky. Often the first time you try a really hard difficulty level, you are not able to damage things at all and you fail miserably. Then you go off, level up a bit and get one of your dudes a really good weapon, and you can do the level normally.
I think the danger with this mechanic is that people who don't realize exactly how armour works might look at their entire team not doing any damage and get pretty frustrated about this. I wonder if this would be possible: When you decide to start the level, the game does a check in the background. Take the armour of the highest-armoured enemy on the level and compare it with the damage any of your skills can do if the character were buffed to level 5 with psi. If the result is negative (higher armour then damage) or too low (2 damage per hit probably isn't going to kill anything), it gives the user a warning that they are probably too low level to do this map on this difficulty, and asking if they want to proceed. They can still feel free to play anyway, but it might save some aggravation.
I really liked this game a lot. I'm not usually into tower defense games either, but this one has so much personality that it's easy to get sucked in and want to play "just one more battle". All of the RPG elements and customization options really helped with that. I would find myself thinking of units as individuals in a way ("Tetch has power, but Kezmir has speed... Who should I use in this fight?").
I also really loved the music and the graphics in the battle sequences. Made it all feel very old-school, in the best possible way.
Definitely want to say thanks again to the developers for providing so many codes for us to try the game. I would say it's one of the best games I've played in a good long while.
Hey everyone - quick update, we just launched the game on kongregate! As a special deal with Kongregate, if you're logged into your kongregate account, you get even more demo content - it goes through Act IV instead of just Acts I & II.
I'm 95% sure we'll be able to give them to our FastSpring customers. I'm waiting on final confirmation from Valve today. I can confirm however we won't be able to give keys to people who specifically bought the game on kongregate, but we are working on a solution to at least hook them up with a DRM-Free downloadable copy of the game.
I'm 95% sure we'll be able to give them to our FastSpring customers. I'm waiting on final confirmation from Valve today. I can confirm however we won't be able to give keys to people who specifically bought the game on kongregate, but we are working on a solution to at least hook them up with a DRM-Free downloadable copy of the game.
FastSpring?
I bought directly from your site; which is that?
EDIT: quick search through gmail says the levelup labs llc billing was done through fastspring.
EDIT2: I mentioned before in a post that the most recent version(s) of the game don't handle the steam overlay very well; when you launch the game through steam currently (in full screen, can't say I tried in windowed). I'm not sure if that's something that is just due to the game not being intended to run that way (though I don't have any problems with any other game really, that doesn't have an external launcher, running via steam), or if it's something that needs worked out prior to it going onto steam. Just thought I'd mention it again.
When you switched to the overlay, the game would be running in the background super duper slow; and when you switched back to the game it'd flash a half dozen times or more before getting back on track. Sometimes the overlay would refuse to run again after that.
1) Yes, FastSpring == our store. And just heard this from Steam:
"Kassidy can help you set up the ingestion of your keys you sold on your site. We can support that. "
Not exactly sure what "ingestion" means in this context, but I think this means we can give you guys Steam keys!
2) Hmmm, that's weird. I'll be sure to test that more thoroughly before release, it might just be a consequence of you manually importing it into Steam. I can see the test version of the game in Steam right now ('cuz I'm the developer) and it seems to run fine for me. If there's a way for me to give you preview access prior to launch, I definitely want to do that so we can test whether it still happens for you with the "real" Steam build. You game?
Hey guys, we've only got a little bit of time before we launch on Steam, so I might not have time to integrate everything right on launch day. So, I'd like to ask a quick question:
What's the most important feature of the Steam SDK to integrate?
It is modable, you can supply all your own data, story, graphics, character classes, enemy types, pretty much everything. Does that change anything for you?
I remember when Borderlands 1 went back and added achievements, it was kind of annoying because they weren't retroactive, you had to play through again. Whereas mods are something I typically mess with after beating the game. So based on that I'd say achievements then workshop. I personally don't care about cloud at all.
If we add achievements later, we'll definitely do them in a retroactive way - ie, the check will happen when you hit the overworld and it will just scan your progress to see if you're met the requirements, etc, and then award you the achievement if you don't have it yet. Our background in flash games with Kongregate badges has given us a bit of experience with this one
Interesting to see nobody seems to care about cloud saves, at least so far. I thought that'd be in more demand. Works for me, as that's the most complicated feature to implement by far.
Games like this are things I like to throw on my wifes laptop when we go on a trip since it can't handle anything very graphically intensive. Having Cloud on various 'indie' games on Steam helps a lot with getting ready to go on a weekend trip or whatever and not worry about finding files to transfer for different games. Having access from anywhere to my saves, whether or not I remember to back them up to a memory card or whatever, is always a plus for me.
Steam Achievements I rarely bother with. Which is weird because I go out of my way to complete games on the 360. Not sure why. They're nice to have, but unless they're tied to unlocks or something, I don't need them. I wouldn't even blink if Steam just outright removed achievements.
Mods, meh. For me, meh. I totally understand that they're the bee's knees for many folks, but I tend to not mod games I play, and when I do it's typically just to 'fix' things that were broken or just not done right from the get go. I don't usually play overhauls, total conversions, or user made campaigns. There's nothing wrong with them, and from a content standpoint it would probably make sense for many folks to want it over the other features. Just not me. :P
Not really related; have you guys considered porting this to mobile devices? Seems like it'd be a perfect fit.
RE: Mobile stuff, we've considered it, but we're going to exhaust our options on PC first before we undertake the task of porting this sucker. I'm not sure if/when we would go to mobile, but if we did it'd probably just be tablets as the game would be a tight fit on a phone's screen (mostly due to "finger resolution").
I've got two batches - regular steam keys, which won't work until the game is released, and early access keys, which will give you access RIGHT NOW!
We only have a handful of early access keys, so I can only give out about 6 or so on this forum, and I'll be favoring people who have the time and dedication to help us do some serious testing over this weekend. If there's any last-minute bugs, we NEED to catch them before October 30th! To qualify for an early access Steam Key, send me a PM with a convincing argument about Why You'd Make a Great Tester and I'll send 'em on out
Also - the votes are in, and the people wanted achievements. So, those should be ready before launch. The current default build (1.0.35) up on Steam does not have these yet, but the latest debug build (1.0.38) will, and once that's verified to work we will replace the default build in anticipation of launch.
Posts
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
One level 5 healer is better that 5 level 1's or 2's.
One level 5 Berzerker is better than 6 level 1's.
When it starts getting really difficult later in the newgame+ having a few high level choke points is far more important than having the sheer coverage of putting out like two dozen units.
Some units, even at level one, are always going to be useful; but generally that "some units" is Ice Mages as even their base attack is really really useful. For damage units though, when any given enemy on the map can have 1m hp, having a bunch of level 1 or 2 unit just isn't going to do a damn thing compared to one max, or higher, level unit. Except for Dragons, who's best ability is their base ability with a high level noms. With really high health enemies it shines; but their fire attacks dick up ice mage attacks and aren't worth it.
So yeah, I guess that's why i don't generally feel like said feature would be useful. At level 60 against level 100+ enemies, having 16 level 3 guys is not the way to go. It's rare, when the game starts getting at all difficult, that you'd ever just mass level everyone out.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Steam Support is the worst. Seriously, the worst
Playing the game at 4x and using pauses to make changes; if I need to recall something for whatever reason, the Psi has a 'travel time', so I have to unpause, let the Psi go back in my pool; then repause to 'fix' things.
I'd like it to just be there so I didn't have to spam the space bar so much. :rotate:
Anyway, as I said, I think some way to check a box to make things place at level <whatever> would be fine. I just don't think a mass boost would be all that useful, in general. Low level stuff where you can more or less breeze through everything, ok. But the high level stuff in new-game plus, you'd never touch it. I'm not saying that trying to be a dick or cocky or anything; I'm thinking purely from the developers standpoint, that'd be a big feature to implement for relatively little use.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
I wonder if you could tie it to the "save your Targeting Settings" button somehow?
@The Dude With Herpes: As for dragons and ice mages, you can set their targeting sub-option to "optimize effects" which will make them do their best to avoid interfering with iced/burning enemies wherever possible. There's still some interaction, but this minimizes it. Also, the "book of synergy" will keep fire and ice (and water) from canceling, with the downside that enemies give less PSI overall. I think the current "psi tax" is a little high, however - I might lower this in a future patch.
Everyone else - I think we might look into some sort of solution for the "default boost" problem, as it seems to be one that's been requested a bit. If I can find out a decent interface solution, I'll try that. One thing that's been requested a lot is to be able to save a certain "starting loadout" for a map, ie, placement locations as well as boost, especially if you have to play it a couple of times in a row. One way we might do this is let you save the initial configuration before the first wave hits, and then have some way to restart from that. I'll think about this some more and see if I can figure out an interface solution for "default boost level" for a given character.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
The only downside is that playing a few maps on New Game + will trivialize the challenge of getting all 3 Stars on the last few battles in the standard game, but I'm pretty sure that's just the obsessive purist in me talking.
So add in a default hero level setting, and until you start the level the player has a "- level" button available.
So scenario: New level. Default level for archer#1 has been set to 4. Ice mage #1 has defeault level of 2.
I choose the archer and put him down. He's level 4. I decide I actually need more psi for ice mages this level, so I bump him down to 3 by clicking on the temporary minus button. I choose the ice mage and place him. He has a level of 2, and I bump him up to 3 this time. Everything else I place and don't change the default level, so they come out perfect. I can also unsummon and resummon without cost at this time (optionally)
Once I hit the "start level" button, all of that extra functionality goes away and my choices are locked in.
I don't think this actually breaks anything, as you can pause the game before you start to take unlimited time to set up, but I think it certainly adds "expert user" value in that you can start with a default setup and tinker from there, or ideally just place units and go. If a beginner user doesn't set the default levels, they won't be inconvenienced as literally nothing would change for them.
First:
I'm pushing the version 1.0.22 patch to the update server right now. This fixes a few things, notably the "delayed damage" bug and some problems with porcupine damage. This also fixes a visual glitch or two, a problem with the "psi shield" book, and some other random things. The delayed damage bug was a big problem, and was also causing a memory leak (I think) which might be the cause of some crashes people have experienced.
All you need to do to get the patch is to run the game and be connected to the internet.
Second:
I'm working on writing up documentation for the game, so modders will know how everything works. It's not complete, but here's the forum thread I'll be updating whenever I make an addition:
http://www.defendersquest.com/theforum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=505
Right now it gives a quick overview of how to setup a mod, and goes into detail about the overworld, towns, battles, etc. I'll be covering how to create/modify defender classes, skills, spells, enemies, and items, soon.
We tested this prior to release to make sure we didn't introduce any *new* bugs, but let me know if you see anything that hasn't already be reported and we'll add it to the list of things to fix in the *next* patch.
The way the armour works (subtract x damage from a hit) means that scaling is wonky. Often the first time you try a really hard difficulty level, you are not able to damage things at all and you fail miserably. Then you go off, level up a bit and get one of your dudes a really good weapon, and you can do the level normally.
I think the danger with this mechanic is that people who don't realize exactly how armour works might look at their entire team not doing any damage and get pretty frustrated about this. I wonder if this would be possible: When you decide to start the level, the game does a check in the background. Take the armour of the highest-armoured enemy on the level and compare it with the damage any of your skills can do if the character were buffed to level 5 with psi. If the result is negative (higher armour then damage) or too low (2 damage per hit probably isn't going to kill anything), it gives the user a warning that they are probably too low level to do this map on this difficulty, and asking if they want to proceed. They can still feel free to play anyway, but it might save some aggravation.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
I take it someone just discovered the "super sheep" level? :P
I also really loved the music and the graphics in the battle sequences. Made it all feel very old-school, in the best possible way.
Definitely want to say thanks again to the developers for providing so many codes for us to try the game. I would say it's one of the best games I've played in a good long while.
Definitely worth the price.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
The writing is really top notch! Funny and there is a decent hook to keep you interested in wtf is going on.
FastSpring?
I bought directly from your site; which is that?
EDIT: quick search through gmail says the levelup labs llc billing was done through fastspring.
EDIT2: I mentioned before in a post that the most recent version(s) of the game don't handle the steam overlay very well; when you launch the game through steam currently (in full screen, can't say I tried in windowed). I'm not sure if that's something that is just due to the game not being intended to run that way (though I don't have any problems with any other game really, that doesn't have an external launcher, running via steam), or if it's something that needs worked out prior to it going onto steam. Just thought I'd mention it again.
When you switched to the overlay, the game would be running in the background super duper slow; and when you switched back to the game it'd flash a half dozen times or more before getting back on track. Sometimes the overlay would refuse to run again after that.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
1) Yes, FastSpring == our store. And just heard this from Steam: Not exactly sure what "ingestion" means in this context, but I think this means we can give you guys Steam keys!
2) Hmmm, that's weird. I'll be sure to test that more thoroughly before release, it might just be a consequence of you manually importing it into Steam. I can see the test version of the game in Steam right now ('cuz I'm the developer) and it seems to run fine for me. If there's a way for me to give you preview access prior to launch, I definitely want to do that so we can test whether it still happens for you with the "real" Steam build. You game?
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
What's the most important feature of the Steam SDK to integrate?
1) Achievements
2) Cloud Saves
3) Steam Workshop integration
If you could reply with your answer here, or vote on this poll in our forum, I'd be much obliged:
http://www.defendersquest.com/theforum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=553
Cloud saves...are kinda hit and miss. Sometimes they get kinda screwy.
Interesting to see nobody seems to care about cloud saves, at least so far. I thought that'd be in more demand. Works for me, as that's the most complicated feature to implement by far.
Games like this are things I like to throw on my wifes laptop when we go on a trip since it can't handle anything very graphically intensive. Having Cloud on various 'indie' games on Steam helps a lot with getting ready to go on a weekend trip or whatever and not worry about finding files to transfer for different games. Having access from anywhere to my saves, whether or not I remember to back them up to a memory card or whatever, is always a plus for me.
Steam Achievements I rarely bother with. Which is weird because I go out of my way to complete games on the 360. Not sure why. They're nice to have, but unless they're tied to unlocks or something, I don't need them. I wouldn't even blink if Steam just outright removed achievements.
Mods, meh. For me, meh. I totally understand that they're the bee's knees for many folks, but I tend to not mod games I play, and when I do it's typically just to 'fix' things that were broken or just not done right from the get go. I don't usually play overhauls, total conversions, or user made campaigns. There's nothing wrong with them, and from a content standpoint it would probably make sense for many folks to want it over the other features. Just not me. :P
Not really related; have you guys considered porting this to mobile devices? Seems like it'd be a perfect fit.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
RE: Mobile stuff, we've considered it, but we're going to exhaust our options on PC first before we undertake the task of porting this sucker. I'm not sure if/when we would go to mobile, but if we did it'd probably just be tablets as the game would be a tight fit on a phone's screen (mostly due to "finger resolution").
I've got two batches - regular steam keys, which won't work until the game is released, and early access keys, which will give you access RIGHT NOW!
We only have a handful of early access keys, so I can only give out about 6 or so on this forum, and I'll be favoring people who have the time and dedication to help us do some serious testing over this weekend. If there's any last-minute bugs, we NEED to catch them before October 30th! To qualify for an early access Steam Key, send me a PM with a convincing argument about Why You'd Make a Great Tester and I'll send 'em on out
Also - the votes are in, and the people wanted achievements. So, those should be ready before launch. The current default build (1.0.35) up on Steam does not have these yet, but the latest debug build (1.0.38) will, and once that's verified to work we will replace the default build in anticipation of launch.
That made me LOL. There's also a good similiar game on the iPhone with anime style and large boobs: "Fantasy Defense"
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/budleiser/web-and-ios-game-twin-stick-shooter-tower-defense