Weekly Progress, Hacker vs Hacker, the poll, shiny legendary beast (dogs), and more!

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!

Hello hello! Welcome to a brand new week of Sam and Dan games! I'm bringing you the latest news about what is going on with Pokemon Tower Defense 1, PTD 2 and our Creature Game (Project ANPO). Lets get on with it.

First lets look at the progress for what is left of the game, as you can see three new levels are needed, there won't be an update this week since these will take longer than the simple training levels. But I expect the final update to be out the week after, so look forward to some pretty hard battles and the end of the game!

• Elite 4 (100%) (Fight the elite 4 using the same team but team is completely healed between fights, potions will reset between fights (thanks for asking Kpwbo), any fainted pokemon will be brought back in full health between fights (thanks for asking Ethan))
• Intro (100%)
• Layout (100%)
• Waves (100%)
• Lorelei Ice Type Battle (100%)
• Koga's Poison Type Battle (100%)
• Bruno's Fighting and Rock Type Battle (100%)
• Lance's Dragon Type Battle (100%)
• New Moves for the enemy (100%)
• Freeze all towers (100%)
• Slippery Floor (100%)
• Brain Freeze (100%)
• "Anti" Poison (100%)
  
• Ending (100%)
• Champion Fight (100%)(Champion and Mewthree)
• Intro (100%)
• Layout (100%)
• Waves (100%)
• Ending (100%) 
• Unknown Dungeon (Mewtwo and Mew) (100%)
• Intro (100%)
• Layout (100%)
• Waves (100%)
• New Moves for the enemy (100%)
• Tower Teleport (100%)
• Return to Pokeball (100%)
•  Ending (100%) 
• Adding new pokemon (100%) - Mewtwo
• Add to Save Code (100%)

• Change Lorelei's Character Avatar to the right one (100%) 
• Fix Bruno's Avatar in the level select screen (100%) 
• Fixed an issue that would erase your avatars when you bought an avatar in the avatar store (100%)
• Fixed an issue that does not let you end the level if using a move like sunny day (100%)
• Added Shadow Mewtwo and Mew to the Game Corner Random Shadow List (100%)
• Fixed a bug that was preventing Blue version players from getting all the waves in the Unknown Dungeon level (100%)
• Fixed a bug that was not resetting your towers health between levels causing your towers to have a huge amount of health when they shouldn't have that much, removing all challenge (This only happens in the Elite 4 and Champion levels (100%)
• Fixed a bug that was preventing your pokemon from getting the proper HP boost in the Elite 4 levels (100%)
• Missing Gym Achievements (100%) 
• Implement in game (100%)
• Implement in Server (100%)
• Remove Shadow Magmar and Shadow Squirtle from Game Corner Random Shadow List (100%)
• Convert all Legendary Beast (Dogs) to their shiny version from regular (100%) 
• Add Shiny Graphics (100%)
• Add Shiny Graphic to the trading center (100%)
• Change the Adoption Center to Shiny (100%)
• Convert all current trades to shiny (100%)
• Convert all account to shiny (100%)
• Allow the hacked version of the game to use hacked version pokemon to get hacked version legendary birds (100%) (This will show up on v1.0)

The last two points are of special interest. Converting all Legendary Beast (dogs) to shiny. I never really explained it so I can see why some of you are confused. Well PTD 2 is set on the Johto Region which has Entei, Suicune, Raikou in them. In that game you can expect to catch the regular version without having to pay. So I think people that paid 20 snd coins for them would be very upset that other people can easily get them without paying. Converting them to shiny allows for the regular version to show up in the game while still having the shiny be rare as the beast are now. If you really just want to have them be regular as one person mentioned then you will have to wait until they are available in PTD 2, another possibility is that I convert them but then add the regular ones in the adoption center for a smaller coin price.

The second point is that in the hacked games you can't get the legendary birds at all. This change will allow you to get them in the hacked version of the game but they will be branded as hacked version.

Speaking of hacking... I wanted to clarify the different levels of hacking, what I'm okay with and what I'm not okay with. What I do to stop them and what the hell happened this weekend. So first I want to talk about "Hacked version" pokemon and playing the hacked version on various websites like hacked arcade games. Having pokemon with the "Hacked version" tag (that can be seen on the pokemon center) or playing the hacked version games on those sites, (You can see HACKED VERSION in red letters in the main screen) is not something that I'm against. Which is why I asked you guys if you wanted a way to convert from "hacked version" to normal. Since playing the hacked version is not really hacking at all but more like a cheat code. Any other form of hacking, either using cheat engine or any scripts I do not agree with. Recently we have some drama with hackers attacking other hackers and users were caught in the middle of it. I believe everything is resolved now. So lets move on. (If you want to find out more about the whole incident head to our fan run forum.)

So looking at the poll I can see that the majority wants to be able to convert hacked pokemon back to normal, but a good chunk (29% as of writing this) don't want it. Some might think that it's not fair since you can level up pokemon much faster in the hacked version. But they also have to spend their precious casino coins on clearing hacked pokemon that you can spend on Shadow pokemon. If anything I'm interested to hear what could be tweaked in the idea that would make it so you would agree with it.

PTD 2
I get a lot of emails asking me questions or giving me suggestions about PTD 2. While I can't answer them all (I wouldn't be able to get anything else done if I did) I do read them all since it's easier to read and move on that read and think of a good reply to send back. People talk about different things in these emails but the one thing that people talk about the most is transferring pokemon from PTD 1 to PTD 2. So I want to talk in more detail about my current plans (these can change) on the subject.

1. Yes, you will be able to transfer your pokemon from PTD 1 to PTD 2.
2. You won't be able to transfer pokemon from PTD 2 to PTD 1 if they don't exist in PTD 1 or have moves that don't exist in PTD 1. Any other pokemon that exist in PTD 1 and has moves from PTD 1 can be transferred back and forth. (By exist I mean that you can capture in PTD 1)
3. You won't be the same character in PTD 2 that you are in PTD 1 so your pokemon won't obey you when you trade them over unless you have the proper badge. So transferring a level 100 won't mean that you can beat the game easily since that pokemon won't obey you.
4. You won't be able to trade pokemon from PTD 1 to PTD 2 until you have 4 badges in PTD 2. After you get 4 badges the ability to trade from PTD1 to PTD 2 will be unlocked. 
5. When you trade a pokemon over to PTD 2 it won't lose any of its experience or level.

I hope this explains a lot of the questions.

Creature Universe (Project ANPO)
I've been so focused on PTD 1 and HTD that I haven't been able to design more for ANPO. If you haven't read the past post for ANPO I suggest you check them out to get all the juicy details.

Before I conclude, I wanted to say that there won't be any new Mystery Gifts for PTD 1. Also for PTD 2 I'm going to rethink the Mystery Gift to see if there is a better way of making it happen or if I will keep it the same.

As always let me know what you think! I read all the comments, so even if I don't reply rest assured that I read it. I have to read them to accept or deny them so even if you post doesn't get published I looked at it. :)

So have a good week and keep coming back to check out my progress and Thursday for HTD! Enjoy!

Finished Moving, Pokemon Tower Defense One Year Anniversary, the last update, random game sequels, PTD 2 news, ANPO news, and more!

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!

Hello everybody! I'm backkkkkkk!! So as many of you know I recently moved and getting internet has taken way longer than I expected so we had two weeks of PTD silence besides the update (which I hope you guys enjoyed (: ) I'm using slow public internet right now but on Tuesday (3/20) the cable company is coming to install internet (hopefully...) Update- Got internet! Woo! The move went well, I'm still adjusting to the new location, learning where the grocery stores are at and finding the best routes to use etc Thank to everybody who was concerned with how everything went, I really appreciate it :)

Happy Anniversary Pokemon Tower Defense!

Pokemon Tower Defense was first released to the Android Marketplace on March 10, 2011!  I remember releasing it and never expecting it to grow as big as it did, and I'm always very grateful to all of you guys and gals for making this happen! My goal for the game was to finish the story mode in a year or less and while I didn't complete my goal I think we got pretty close!  

As a special gift the next Mystery Gift will be...... Regular Mew! This will be your first chance to get Regular Mew, after a week the gift will change and Mew will be added in the game with a secret way of finding it.

The Last Update! (To rule them all?)

So going back to completing the game... the next update will complete the game! Yes, you heard (read) right! The next update will contain all the remaining levels:

• Power Plant (Zapdos, Electabuzz (Red Only), Magnemite) (0%)
• Seafoam Island (Articuno, Seel) (0%)
• Victory Road (Moltres) (0%)
• Indigo Plateau (Fight the elite 4 and Mewthree), Unknown Dungeon (Mewtwo) (0%)

PTD v6.4.1 is now out on the blog, it has a new level cap up to 100! New Mystery Gift - Regular Mew! Enjoy!

Level cap to 100 and all the moves that are left (100%)

• Implement in Game (100%)
• Implement in Saving Code (100%)
• Implement in Trading Center (100%)
• Add new Moves (100%)
• Aura Sphere (100%) - Mew (level 100)
• Overheat (100%) - Victini (level 97)
• V-Create (100%) - Victini (level 98)
• Fusion Bolt (100%) - Victini (level 99)
• Fusion Flare (100%) - Victini (level 100)
• Sky Attack (100%) - MissingNo (Relearn Move)
• Sharpen (100%) - Porygon (Missing Attack)

• Add move names to Pokemon Center's Move List (100%)

Mystery Gift Pokemon - Regular Mew (100%) - Out now on v6.4.1!
Adding the crucial Lickitung NPC trade to the new level (0%)

But as you might have guessed this update will take longer than a week. How long will it take? I don't even know myself which is why I will keep updating the blog with my progress towards finishing it. I really don't want to try to rush the ending since I want it to be very special. The reason I'm not releasing it little by little is that I really want you guys to experience it all at once.

Random Game Sequels

When I got my internet back and saw the huge pile of emails that I have there I saw a couple that were really interesting. Mostly regarding a game that I didn't make but it's called Pokemon TD 2: Kanto. If any of you were wondering I had nothing to do with this game at all. If you want to know what I think about it, then my response is... neat. I don't own Pokemon so the fact that somebody made this game doesn't bother me and I think that it is pretty flattering that somebody decided to make it, it's interesting to me to see the changes that he made to the game and friendly competition is always welcomed :) On a side note, my sequel will be about a million times better ;p

Pokemon Tower Defense 2

Speaking of sequels! You guys made it loud and clear in the last poll! 56% of you want instant capture with the pokeballs. Looking at all the comments and arguments made, I totally agree with you! What I will do is keep the 100% catch rate when weakened but still have multiple pokeballs, I'll think of ways to implement them without letting you capture the pokemon when they have really high health and then I will present the idea to you again.

For PTD 2 I really want to introduce some elements to the game that will make the game fell fresh while still retaining what made PTD well PTD. Here are 3 new elements that I want you to look at and tell me what you think.

1. The "candy" can move - When I say the "candy" I mean the thing that the attacking units will be after, so it can be candy, a pokemon, an egg, etc. In PTD 1 the candy was always stationary. Only the enemy could move it and then you could manipulate the enemy (using moves like whirlwind) and then defeat them to change its location. In PTD 2 sometimes the "candy" will try to return to it's original spot once dropped. Sometimes it might be trying to leave the level by itself. Adding this new functionality will enable all kinds of new levels.
2. Blocking or Unblocking paths - A new mechanic that I want to add for PTD 2 is being able to block or unblock a path that your enemies or allies can go in. An example is the enemy has direct access to the "candy" you can block their path but putting an obstacle in their way (How exactly you would do this is still up in the air) and now they have to down a long way to reach the "candy" giving you more of a chance to defeat them. In the same way you might want to unblock a path, you might have to use attacks to destroy the the obstacle or have your pokemon carry the obstacle away.
3. Special Abilities - Another feature that many modern Tower Defense games have is some sort of special ability that you can use to help you defeat the enemies. In a lot of game this will be a Meteor attack. Something that you can click and drag to the enemies to unleash upon them. Normally you will have to wait for this move to recharge, charging it might be done by your towers attacking or just naturally over time. The special abilities will vary based on what your current team is.

So that is what I have in mind, some new mechanics that will enable all kinds of different new levels. Tell me what you think on the comments below.

Creature Universe Game (ANPO)

This game is always shifting, changing, evolving in my head. Recently I decided it was time to start putting down some notes on paper to really start to brainstorm what this game will be about and what ideas I want to explore in it. Today I bring you some of my notes plus I open it up to you guys to tell me what you think this game could be about. Note that while I read every single comment I can't comment or agree with all of them but I do read them and they do affect my decisions and way of thinking. So they are more than welcome.  While in the bathroom (a lot of interesting ideas usually come up in the bathroom) I started to write down my thoughts.

• First I want the emphasis of the game to be the world and creature simulation.
• The world is vast and has many secrets scattered all around for players to find (Think Zelda, Mario Bros)
• Creatures are dynamic and feel alive

When I reached that note I stopped and I said what does that mean? How do you make something feel alive? After some thought I came up with an answer. (There are many answers to this question, which I want you guys to tell me what you think it can be.) My answer isn't some sort of ultimate answer but just what I came up with. I thought that for a creature to feel alive when you see it out in some area would be that the creature must:

• React how you would expect it to - This is a very important idea. One of the top reason I play videogames is to see how the game reacts to my actions. Imagine punching somebody in a game and having them gain health instead of losing it. That reaction would be totally unexpected but weird and bad in my opinion. Cause and effect must make sense for a player. So to make the creatures feel alive they have to react to you in ways that you would expect them to. If you run at a bird in real life, that bird would most likely fly away. If it doesn't I usually freak out, is the bird used to humans/ isn't afraid of them? How the creatures react to your character, surrounding and your actions is a big part of making the world and creatures feel alive, in my opinion.
• Their actions must vary - Nothing ruins the illusion of something feeling alive more than seeing a pattern. If the creatures keeps repeating the same pattern over and over you just see it as a system but if the creature does something that makes sense but isn't following some sort of pattern then you really start believe it is thinking about what to do rather than following a set of rules. A certain amount of randomness must be introduced into the creatures but also some rules since animals aren't random but they follow their instincts. (Just to be clear the randomness plays out when they are in the wild and not once you "captured" one. Once you capture a creature they won't randomly run away or anything and they will obey your commands.)
• They have objectives - The last thing is that these creatures are a step above animals, they are a little bit smarter and have a wide range of emotions that they will express. Because of this creatures must always have an objective that they are trying to follow. I have a long list of over 20 objectives that creatures would have at any given time. Some examples are:
• Locating Food
• Having fun
• Running away from something
• Protecting something
• Gathering with others
• Looking for a fight

So to me these are some of the things that the creatures in this game must have to make them feel alive in the way that I want them to feel. What do you think would make the creatures feel alive in this game? Let me know in the comments below!

And More!

The goal from the very beginning for Dan and I was to make fun games that we liked and we thought it we liked the games there must be people out there that will like them to. That is still our goal. We also wanted to be very open with our fans and let them in on the process of developing games. We really strive to be very open with talking and listening with you guys because in the end if you guys don't enjoy our game then we failed. I want to thank you guys for the continued support, this first year has been a roller coaster ride with mostly ups than downs and we wouldn't be here with you. I would still be working a desk job wondering if my games would ever take off. I'm really looking forward to the ending of PTD, I'm extremely impressed and excited for anything HTD, and also excited for PTD 2 and Project ANPO. Let's make this next year even better than the last!

Sincerely,
Samuel Otero