Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten, by Level Up Labs, LLC

Tube · September 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKe54cEGYto&feature=player_embedded

Site: http://www.defendersquest.com
Web-based demo: http://www.defendersquest.com/play_demo.html
Media page: http://www.defendersquest.com/media.html

Elevator Pitch:
Final Fantasy tactics meets tower defense. The battle system is tower defense, where your party members are the towers, and persist between battles - they level up, learn new skills, equip weapons and armor, etc. It also features a cool story written by an actual English major! Featuring lots of customization, strategic depth, and stacked challenges. Breeze through in a few short hours on casual battles, or delve deep for an epic 60+ hours on extreme challenges, bonus maps, and New Game+ mode.

Quotes/Reviews:
"It's Brilliant" - Rock, Paper, Shotgun (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/24/hours-of-towers-defenders-quest/)
"A mixture between Tower Defense and a traditional RPG and it's REALLY fun" - Robert Boyd, Zeboyd Games
"8.5/10" - Destructoid (http://www.destructoid.com/review-defender-s-quest-valley-of-the-forgotten-220503.phtml)

25 Free codes:
(to use, go to http://www.defendersquest.com/buy.html, enter in coupon field for $0 price)
FREE4TNKZ
FREE4TZWH
FREE4UNBT
FREE4URYZ
FREE4USNR
FREE4WAHK
FREE4WAKE
FREE4WFWR
FREE4WHJJ
FREE4WKSE
FREE4WUTH
FREE4WXEZ
FREE4WYBC
FREE4XFRC
FREE4XUST
FREE4XXAC
FREE4XXAT
FREE4YJWK
FREE4YKDH
FREE4YMJM
FREE4YSUM
FREE4YUZY
FREE4ZBTM
FREE4ZFJB
FREE4ZFNY

Thanks,
Lars Doucet
Level Up Labs

larsiusprime · September 2012

I'm the developer and this post is reserved for my updates!

Hey guys, did a quick check and these 5 codes seem to still be active:
FREE4USNR
FREE4WAKE
FREE4WUTH
FREE4XUST
FREE4XXAC

Update: I think they're all gone now! Luckily, you can still play the free demo. It's pretty long!

Update 2: 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.

Update 3: We're launching on Steam October 30th! And yes, anyone who bought it on our site will get a Steam Key! Kongregate customers probably won't get Steam keys, unfortunately (purely for technical difficulty reasons), but will eventually get a DRM free downloadable copy of the game.

Thanks so much for playing! If you have any feedback, let me know! If you find bugs, we'd love it if you could post on our bug report forum: http://www.defendersquest.com/theforum/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=acb74db75d3fe3d9d4e5e4f7144b1544

For when the codes run out, we have lots of demo builds here:
http://www.defendersquest.com/play_demo.html

There's a web build there so you don't have to install anything, but there's also downloadable installers for Mac/Win/Linux, downloadable directly or by torrent.

Erin The Red · September 2012

I am a total tower defense whore, and will gobble this up. Used code FREE4ZFJB
Thank you very much!

Elvenshae · September 2012

I've used the FREE4TZWH code; this game sounds right up my alley.

Foomy · September 2012

Always a fan of interesting tower defense games, looks to be a nice twist on the genre.

used the FREE4XFRC code.

Firmus_Piett · September 2012

Final Fantasy tactics and tower defense are two things I absolutely eat up. Code FREE4YUZY used, thank you muchly.

Morblitz · September 2012

I used the FREE4YSUM code. It looked quite fun and I wanted to try it out. So thank you for that. I'm a half and half tower defense fan, I like the premise, but most of them get old fast, unless they've got some kind of creative angle. This one looks pretty interesting.

Psiberian · September 2012

Ooh 2 things I dearly love in one game. Used code: FREE4TNKZ

CyberJackal · September 2012

Looks really interesting. I used code FREE4UNBT, and I'll be sure to try this out and leave my thoughts as soon as I can.

Shadowfire · September 2012

I used code FREE4WFWR and I'll be giving this a shot tomorrow. Looks like it could be really fun, and I'll leave feedback as soon as I can.

piL · September 2012

Just used FREE4WHJJ, going to give this a try; it looks fun!

P10 · September 2012

I used the FREE4ZFNY code and have been playing ever since.

Game has been good fun but I'm a huge TD fan to begin with. Will probably post more detailed thoughts/feedback when I finish.

heenato · September 2012

You've sold me on the game with the mention of tactics alone. I've used the code FREE4URYZ, and I'll be playing very soon.

Spoit · September 2012

I remember trying the demo and being fairly interested a few months ago. I used the code FREE4WXEZ, thanks!

Prime · September 2012

Trying this out, looks interesting take on it (used FREE4XXAT)

FANTOMAS · September 2012

It looked interesting, and the people seemed to like it, but apparently all the codes have been used. It would be good manners to say wich code you used, (like all previous posters have)

Tube · September 2012

25 codes is a pretty astoundingly generous display.

larsiusprime · September 2012

Hey! This is the lead developer, Lars Doucet. I have a couple questions for you guys if that's okay!

1) What do you think of our trailer? Some have said it's a bit misleading as it starts with the single-most depressing part of our game (it lightens up a lot afterwards)

2) What do you think of the game? Got any feedback for us?

3) How was the pitch? Did it catch your interest? Could it be improved in any way?

durandal4532 · September 2012

This game is super great, man. I tend to both obsess over and loathe tower defense games, because they tickle my habit-center. So I pour time into them while thinking "Oh good lord this is just dumb can't I skip to the end?" I like the fact that your system allows for a lot of dynamic play, and has a fast-forward for when you think you've got the puzzle basically solved. The difficulty levels work really well, the RPG system is nicely balanced and makes progression fun, plus I love naming everyone after friends of mine.

Also I like the trailer pretty well, a quote from RPS is usually enough to sell me.

I like the pitch, too!

Really solid work, is it on Steam yet? Can I greenlight this?

larsiusprime · September 2012

It's not on Steam yet, but Greenlight won't be necessary as we've already been accepted. We were one of the last few games accepted under the old model. We're just finishing the paperwork, etc. now.

R0land1188 · September 2012

Used the FREE4XXAC code. I will definitely post feedback after I get a couple hours in.

GnomeTank · September 2012

When this hits steam I may have to buy it, since everyone seems to enjoy it so far.

Any chance of a demo build so you don't have to keep handing out free codes to people? I'd like you to, ya know, make some money.

larsiusprime · September 2012

Yep, we've got demo builds out the wazoo:

http://www.defendersquest.com/play_demo.html

There's a browser based demo there, so you don't even have to install anything! And if you'd rather have an executable on your hard drive, scroll 'on down and there's several builds, available in Windows, Mac, and Linux flavors, available for download directly or by torrent.

GnomeTank · September 2012

Well that will teach me not to look closer before asking questions, now won't it? I'll try it when I get home.

Drake · September 2012

I used code FREE4XUST

Thanks for the code, I'll be back with some impressions once I've put in some time.

kime · September 2012

larsiusprime wrote: »

3) How was the pitch? Did it catch your interest? Could it be improved in any way?

Final Fantasy tactics meets tower defense

Oh my yes

I grabbed FREE4USNR. Will be playing this later today, I'll try and give you more feedback once I've played more.

Edit:
On Windows 8, when attempting to install, it said that I required a newer version of Adobe Air that was not available for my system? Unfortunately I didn't save the message and can't recall it exactly. I just downloaded the newest version of Adobe Air (I'm not sure I had any version installed previously, to be honest), then tried to install again, and it worked fine. Just letting you know that according to the initial message I got, I was under the impression that I could not get the correct version of Air on my system, which would have been sad and was apparently misleading.

That, or I read it incorrectly

larsiusprime · September 2012

@kime:

Interesting! We don't have any control over what messages the Adobe AIR checker throws up, but it's good to know that's happening. Will keep an eye out for it. Anyone else who sees something like that, please take a screenshot and send it my way.

GnomeTank · September 2012

I'm on Windows 8 and plan to play this tonight. If I get the same issue, I will screenshot it and post it.

Sir Carcass · September 2012

Used FREE4WAKE.

Thanks so much! This game looks really cool.

Dírhael · September 2012

You had me at FFT & a RPS recommendation, used the code FREE4WUTH. Thank you! If it plays well on my macbook, I'll purchase a copy over at Steam when it's released there

larsiusprime · September 2012

@Dirhael: I know it runs pretty well on my Macbook (better than my windows laptop!), though I think on OSX Lion it puts up a scare screen because we haven't finished going through Apple's "approval" process.

The Dude With Herpes · September 2012

larsiusprime wrote: »

Hey! This is the lead developer, Lars Doucet. I have a couple questions for you guys if that's okay!

1) What do you think of our trailer? Some have said it's a bit misleading as it starts with the single-most depressing part of our game (it lightens up a lot afterwards)

2) What do you think of the game? Got any feedback for us?

3) How was the pitch? Did it catch your interest? Could it be improved in any way?

Oh hey, I didn't know there was a thread over here; I'd been bumping the one in G&T.

Do you have any further update on the Steam dealy past what's on your blog? Mainly curious about if current owners will get a steam key.

Anyway, loaded the game up last night first time really since release; to check out the new patch. Looks great, but haven't had a lot of chance to play it. One thing I did notice, however, was that when I went to respec my mans, I lost skill points. Way back when once you reached the cap you'd still get xp and skill points past the cap; but seems like that isn't the case anymore? Was this intended? I'm really happy about the reduction in scrap costs to respec, but I don't want to lose a bunch of points.

larsiusprime · September 2012

@The Dude:

Hey there! So yeah, you were using that SUUUUUPER old build (Before 0.9.01 even!) where you could pump yourself up past the level cap and not get the level, but still get the skill point. Respecing will unassign all your points, and it assumes that you should have as many points as you do levels, so that's what's happening.

The only real workaround here is for you to manually hack your save file - just go in there and set each character's level to equal their amount of skill points - that's what you would have had with a higher level cap anyway, so you've "earned it" in that sense. Once your level matches your skill points (which is always the case for anyone who's played any version of the game released since February) the respec shouldn't cause you any problems.

The new level cap is 60, and with exponential XP growth it will take you a long time to get there, at least in theory :P, so hopefully this will be "enough" room. If not we can always raise it.

As for Steam, I need to ask my release manager. I'm pretty sure we should be able to work something out, the main challenge will be the technical aspects of it - I need to find a way to send redemption codes to everybody should Steam give us permission to do so. Shouldn't be too hard for our direct sales customers, but Kongregate will be very difficult if not impossible - I don't even have email addresses for those customers, just Kong usernames.

The Dude With Herpes · September 2012

That's cool.

I'll probably start a totally fresh game with the Gold patch out to see it all 'right' and then play with all the fancy newgame+ toys. Thanks!

EDIT: I did a direct purchase, so I think I'm good there, re: steam stuff.

piL · September 2012

I definitely like this game, although now I wish I had tried out the demo, just to see whether it would have tempted me. This is certainly worth the $10, but, at least for me, it would have been a difficult sale. Tower defense, despite being something that's eaten a lot of my time, is available in a lot of free configurations, and so it's difficult to muster the desire to play. But play people should, because it's excellently designed!

It caught me like a game of Civilization. I finally put it away at 5:30 am when my roommate got up for work and my face was covered in shame.

PikaPuff · September 2012

FFT meets tower defense was done by.... final fantasy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya4DdjzFT8o

and it was great. so this game is probably also great. people should go buy defender's quest

The Dude With Herpes · September 2012

For my money this game is considerably better than Crystal Defenders and I enjoyed CD quite a bit (at least enough to get all the achievements on Live).

What FFCD is lacking that Defender's Quest has, aside from humor and...well...a story, is integrating typical RPG elements of xp/leveling, skill trees and equipment. Plus you have to actually recruit your units before you can use them.

Once you're actually in a stage, yeah, it's TD straight up, not that that's a bad thing; but outside of each map it brings a lot more to the table than most games in the genre. EDIT: Also though, in the stage, since you recruited, leveled, equipped, and probably named/designed each individual unit, you feel more attachment to them than random placed 'tower' in most TD games, which is cool too.

I play a lot of TD games, and I can't vouch for this game hard enough.

larsiusprime · September 2012

Funny story - way back before we made DefQ, we heard about Crystal Defenders and were like, "FF Tactics meets Tower Defense? That's awesome! I wish we'd thought of that first!" Then we played the game, and realized that it wasn't actually the full-blown TD/RPG mash-up we were expecting, but more of a by-the-numbers TD with a heavy FF Tactics theme (nothing wrong with that, of course!)

Then we were like... "I guess we did think of it first!" That's where the idea for DefQ was born.

It's kind of like having one of those dreams where someone beats you to a great idea, then you wake up and realize that it doesn't actually exist yet and now it's your idea.

(And for what it's worth, as proud as I am of the final product, I'm pretty sure the idea itself isn't as original as I'd like to think - I've seen a few other TD/RPG mashups doing the same kind of thing we're doing. This is just our personal take on it).

Gaardean · September 2012

Bought this months ago and absolutely loved it, I'm really glad to hear it'll be showing up on Steam. Hadn't heard about the gold release, time to dive back in.

kime · September 2012

So finally getting around to playing it. I'll post more as I go, but my initial thoughts are that it would be nice to be able to change the size of the window. I don't want to play fullscreen, but the default window is kind of small...

Edit: When I go to Fullscreen mode and try to change the resolution, most of the options are repeated several times. As in, there are three identical 1280x800 choices. I'm also not sure that the resolution is changing anything...

Edit2: The writing is pretty great. I'm greatly enjoying the antics of that first barbarian.

kime · September 2012

I get a dragon!? Best game ever :P

Also, really making me laugh out loud occasionally. Fantastic gameplay and design, really nice.

My one complaint is that it is taking up too much time when I should be working :P

Penny Arcade

Quick Links

Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten, by Level Up Labs, LLC

Posts