The end of PTD but the rise of DTD!

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!


THIS IS AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE!

Today 12:00AM one minute after 11:59PM March 31st I received an email from Nintendo stating that I must remove this game and burn it in a fire... So I'm canceling my plans to make PTD 2 and deleting PTD 1 and all the accounts in the system.

I will then focus all my attention on a new Tower Defense game... announcing Digimon TD!

Our new Tower Defense game!

This game will have you collect all your favorite digital monsters! You can umm do stuff with them. I think they can attack and turn into crazy creatures that don't make any sense at all!

As always let me know what you think!

P.S. Happy April Fools!
Much Love,
Sam

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 32 - HTD Pre-Alpha v0.012 Release! Inventory and Equipment!

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!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 31 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

This week we get to implement one of the bigger RPG elements of HTD, the inventory and equipment systems! Well, the start of it anyway, it's rather limited right now but we'll be building on it. Once again the graphics for the menus are temporary for the time being. Kevin will be replacing them with nicer ones soon.

The inventory is a place to store all your items that you gather through your travels. It will hold everything from potions to materials to ingredients to equipment. You can access the inventory and equipment screens from either the Hero Screen or by pressing the Inventory button in the bottom right during battle. The inventory itself is universal for all your heroes, they all share it. However, depending on the hero you have selected will determine which equipment is shown in the hero equipment window.

You can see that there will be quite a few equipment slots. Not all will be visual, smaller items like rings and necklaces most likely won't be visible on your hero. You'll also have a Main Hand and Off Hand weapon slots for both melee and ranged weapons. Your character will automatically switch between melee and ranged based on the enemies distance and the skill the hero is currently using. We'll get more into this later but basically you'll have Physical and Magical based weapons which your hero will choose to use for optimal efficiency for whichever skill they are about to execute.

Right now all that you can do is equip and unequip your armor and Main Hand melee weapon. You can move things around however you like; give each hero a different weapon, take off some of their armor, or take away all of their armor if you want to be mean (those of you that intentionally KO your own heroes will probably do this). Keep in mind that your equipment setup will no save for now, we're still working on that.

Currently none of the items have stats yet so you'll just be affecting visuals for now but those are coming soon! There's a bunch of stuff in the works that are taking some time but we're slowly but surely getting there. Some of you may have noticed the game getting a bit choppy after awhile. We're currently in the process of fixing this and should be able to resolve it soon.


What's New:

-Inventory System

-Equipment System


In the Works:

Design

• 
  
• Story: Intro (100%)
• Story: Intro Scene 1 (0%)
• Class Skills: Tier 1 (100%)

Graphics

• Inventory Screen Graphics (0%)
• Light Skill: Radiate (Native) (10%)
• Light Skill: Shinning Strike(T1 Physical) (10%)
• Light Skill: Fleeting Light (T1 Magical) (10%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko Concept (100%)

Audio

• Sound Effects: Light Spell (100%)

Programming

• Multiple Profiles (100%)
• Light Skills (0%)

Check out Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD for HTD art-related concepts, WIPs, polls, and more!

As always feedback is welcome in the comments!


-Dan

Weekly Progress, Pokemon Tower Defense 2 Talents, Creature Universe (ANPO) Battle System!

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!


Hey! Nice to see you again! Like all Mondays it's time for the weekly progress blog here at Sam and Dan Games. If you haven't read last week's blog I suggest you read it. I talked about the ending of PTD 1 and the last update to come to the game among other things.

So keep track of my progress as I finish the game I will be posting updates here on this blog post.

• Viridian Ending (Movie Scene only level, sets up the last chapter of the game, Lickitung NPC trade will happen on this level) (0%)
• Intro (0%)
• Adding the crucial Lickitung NPC trade to the new level (0%) 
• Add Hyper Potion (0%)
• Ending (0%)
•  Power Plant (Zapdos, Electabuzz (Red Only), Magnemite) (0%)
• Intro (0%)
• Layout (0%)
• Waves (0%)
• Ending (0%)
• Seafoam Island (Articuno, Seel) (0%)
• Intro (0%)
• Layout (0%)
• Waves (0%)
• Ending (0%)
• Victory Road (Moltres) (0%)
• Intro (0%)
• Layout (0%)
• Waves (0%)
• Ending (0%)
• Elite 4 (Fight the elite 4 using the same team but team is completely healed between fights)
• Intro (0%)
• Layout (0%)
• Waves (0%)
• Ending (0%)
• Champion Fight (Champion and Mewthree)
• Intro (0%)
• Layout (0%)
• Waves (0%)
• Ending (0%) 
• Unknown Dungeon (Mewtwo) (0%)
• Intro (0%)
• Layout (0%)
• Waves (0%)
• Ending (0%)
• Add new moves to Pokemon Center's Move List (100%)
• Add Missing HMs (40%) 
• Fly (40%)
• Strength (40%)
• Surf (90%) 
• Graphics/Programming (100%)
• Adding to Pokemon's HM list (0%)
• Add Level Select Graphics (100%)
• New Moves (100%)
• Psystrike (100%) - Mewtwo 
• Adding new pokemon (87.5%) - Mewtwo, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Electabuzz
• Graphics (100%)
• Shiny Graphics (100%)
• Shadow Graphics (100%)
• Add Stats to game (100%)
  
• Relearn Moves (100%)
• TM/HM List (100%)
• Add to Save Code (0%)
• Add to Pokemon Center (100%)

As you can see there is a lot to be done! Keep cheering me on as we reach the final miles of this race!

Just like Hero Tower Defense every week I will talk about PTD 2 and Creature Universe (ANPO) leading up to the eventual pre-pre-pre alphas. Then just like PTD 1 and  HTD we will keep updating the games until they are finished. This is just our way of keeping you, the player, involved in the process of game creation as much as possible. So instead of waiting a year and a half to see PTD 2 and longer for ANPO we will talk about them and show you our progress along the way. PTD 1 took a year and a half to make, imagine if PTD 1 just released today?! The game would be totally different I would think, a lot of your feedback was incorporated. Also without you guys I wouldn't have pushed myself so far to get it done as fast. So I really think this method will work for us here, what do you think?

Pokemon Tower Defense 2

So last week I talked about a few new mechanics that I thought would help add some new freshness to the game. Most of you really liked the ideas so I'm very happy with that and will make plans on how to add those in. This week I want to talk about something that some of my favorite Tower Defense games have that PTD 1 didn't have. This "thing" that I'm talking about is Talents!

Introduction "Trainer Specializations"!

 I also love talents systems in games, and I think it will make a great addition to PTD 2. So let me talk a little bit (for those who care lol) about how this idea came to be and my different thoughts on getting to where I am with the talents now. So while looking at some other games and their talent trees I thought it would be amazing to have some sort of talent tree in the game. My first thought was "okay every pokemon will have a talent tree!" Then I was like.... "NO WAY!" having a talent tree on every pokemon, while interesting, would take forever and could prove to have many issues attached to it, including: overwhelming players, making the database even bigger and take longer to save and load! So then I thought how about if the trainer can specialize in a certain type of pokemon, almost like a gym leader! That sounded really cool to me.

So the way it works is that you will have a trainer level. You level it up by playing levels in the game. At the end of each level you will get experience points for your trainer. The higher and more difficult the level the more experience points you get. When you level up you will get talent points that you can assign on any of the specialization trees available. There will be a tree for each type of pokemon in the game. Each tree will give you bonuses not only for a particular type of pokemon but for all your pokemon. For example a fire talent might be like "Increase all your towers' damage by 5% if you have a fire pokemon in your party.". Talents will also unlock Special Abilities (I talked about these on the last blog) only accessible from talents.

So now that you read about Trainer Specializations, tell me what you think! Now onto Creature Universe!

Creature Universe (Project ANPO)

Last week I talked about the creatures feeling alive and dynamic. This is something that I want to show up in every facet of the game. This week I will start introducing the battle system. Note that this game is in a very early stage. You are pretty much getting the notes that I'm writing down as I come up with them. Something like a battle system is really hard to explain but I will try my best here to paint the picture in your head. Okay so for a long time I thought it would be very interested to make a game that when you told your "avatar" to do something he wouldn't do it automatically. Essentially your "avatar" would think about it first before doing it. Imagine you have a warrior character but his "courage" stat is low. So if you tell him to attack a dragon, he isn't going to run in there! While this is a good idea in theory... it probably isn't that much fun. Once you character has enough "courage" he might just do everything you tell him to. So what's the point?! It wasn't until I started thinking more about ANPO that I realized "Hey! I might bring this idea back!" but while I can bring part of it back, it needed some heavy tweaking.

Essentially you will control your avatar (your human trainer) and he will issue commands to your creature. Then your creature will try its best to perform your command. So what does it mean to "try its best to perform"? To me this means that creatures have limits! In pokemon a creature has some limits in the form of Attack, Defense, Speed, and PP. These are fairly straight forward, but I want to add some new stats into this game. What if your creature had a "Reaction Time" stat? I want the battles in this game to be in real-time instead of turn-based. So reaction time would be how long it takes from your command going out to the creature performing it. So lets say your creature is going to tackle the enemy but the enemy is about to throw a hyper beam kind of attack straight at you, and you the trainer select the dodge + left command! Depending on your creature and the timing of your command your creature will dodge or get hit by the enemy's attack.

Also a big change from pokemon would be the attacks! The moves in ANPO will be done by chaining a series of commands. The example I used above "dodge + left" is an example of this chaining. While just saying dodge (maybe to save time) will make a creature dodge in a direction that the creature chooses (probably random or based on something else) you can be specific and say "doge+left" or "dodge+front" etc. Each creature will have a set of commands that are standard for all creatures. Things like "dodge", "run", "attack", "jump" are examples of a few of the standard commands. But then bird like creatures will have "fly", "flap wings", "peck". Using a combination of these will result in different attacks! You will also be able to save custom combinations so you don't have to keep selecting them over and over.

So I hope this gives you a small view into what I'm aiming for. You don't have direct control over your creatures but you will be issuing them commands. As you get to know your creature more and more you will learn the timing for when to issue commands to be able to battle effectively. You will also be able to train your creature to increase its speed and reaction time.

I hope you guys have a good week, and as always let me know what you think on the comments below!

Try to keep the comments about this blog post, if you have any account issues check out the forums and our FAQ page for help on solving common issues.

Seven Years War Non-project Begins

I'm going to call this pile of lead a non-project. What is the difference between a project and a non-project? A project supersedes all other painting and is the focus of paintbrush attention; a project has a finishing date; a non-project has neither.

Although a lot of the pile constitutes new units (perhaps 30) a good deal will be used to upgrade infantry units from 16 figures to 24 figures. I have never been happy with the basing method decided on by the Ilkley Lads, though it did get lots of units on the table quickly, but I conformed. Now I choose to rebel!!!!

Below are some shots of the first two 24 man units, each with 8 newly painted figures attached to them. The first photo shows before and after. Before, the figures were based 4 to a stand measuring 40mm frontage by 50mm deep. Now they are based 6 to a stand measuring 45mm frontage and 50mm deep. I think you will agree that the density (50% more figures on an extra 12% frontage) is much more SYW looking.

My first target will be to upgrade enough units to play scenario 12, Flank Attack, Scenarios for Wargamers, by Charles Grant. It is based on Leuthen. The forces will be Prussian (red) Vs Russian (blue) with cavalry increased by 50%. It shouldn't take too long to knock out the units.

Tsolias vs Zombies 3D Official Blog

The official blog of the iOS game Tsolias vs Zombies 3D is now available.

Visit here: www.tsoliasvszombies.blogspot.com

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 31 - HTD Pre-Alpha v0.011 Release! Buff/Debuff Icon System, 5th Hero, 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!

Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 30 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

This update introduces a 5th Hero who comes equipped with a 1H Hammer. With him you can now take a full party of 5 into battle! We've also added the Buff/Debuff Icon System, a new cursor, and some minor other tweaks. We're working on the Light Skills next and those should be fun. Then all that's left will be Nature! At least for Tier 1 Elemental Skills, there's still plenty more to come.

For the buff/debuff icons you'll notice they are flashing, this is to warn you that they are about to run out. In this case these will always be flashing because the current skills only last a few seconds since they can be reapplied constantly. This won't be the case for all skills so when a buff/debuff lasts longer it will just stay solid.

We're looking to start on the Inventory, Hero Stats, Leveling, Skill Point System, and Class Skills soon. Those will add a lot of the RPG mechanics we want into the game and then we'll finally have nearly all the core mechanics implemented. The Inventory will be pretty typical although looting will be a little different than usual. I'll go into more detail about that when we implement it. The primary Hero Stats will be the traditional Strength, Stamina, Intelligence, etc but there will also be some secondary stats like Elemental Attunement stats which basically make you both better with a specific type of element overall as well as more resistant to the harmful effects of that type.

So look forward to those coming soon along with other cool stuff. We've also made progress with the development of the overall story (think of it like the main quest line) and will be starting to develop some more maps and such as well. So stay tuned!

On a side note, the HTD wiki folks requested some information so I'll be adding enemy stats and other tidbits to the Play HTD page for viewing till we get in-game versions implemented. Keep in mind the information there is temporary, the names and stats will be changing.


What's New:

-Added Buff/Debuff icons (They flash when under 5 seconds which is currently all the time, there will be longer ones later)

-Added 5th Hero

-Character Names (This was actually already in but you have to do it at the Hero Screen)

-Smaller Character Nameplates

-Added 1H Hammer

-Added New Cursor (It changes when dragging things)


In the Works:

Design

• Hero Stats and Points (100%)
• Story: Intro (20%)
• Story: Intro Scene 1 (0%)
• Class Skills: Tier 1 (75%)

Graphics

• User/Profiles Screen Graphics (100%)
• Inventory Screen Graphics (0%)
• Light Skill: Radiate (Native) (10%)
• Light Skill: Shinning Strike(T1 Physical) (10%)
• Light Skill: Fleeting Light (T1 Magical) (10%)

Audio

• Sound Effects: Light Spell (0%)

Programming

• Inventory System (100%)

Also check out Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD for HTD art-related concepts, WIPs, polls, and more!

Any suggestions, ideas, or feedback in general is welcome in the comments. Thanks guys!


-Dan

The Battle of Arpi - initial deployments.

The Battle of Arpi will not be fought for two weeks due to my son's birthday falling on next wek's wargaming night. But, as a taster, I offer you some photos of the initial deployments. A full battle report, including characterisation card draws, etc. will follow the battle being fought out.

Punic War campaign - Map moves mid 217 BC to early 215 BC

This is the situation map following the Battle of Ariminum. It is mid 217 BC.

Rome plays card 56 to restore lost political control of two regions following the Battle of Ariminum.
Carthage plays card 33 and moves Mago and Hasdrubal to Dertosa and Hannibal to Beneventum.
Rome restores more political control with card 49.
Carthage plays card 27 as an event to sway Romes allies away from it. It flips two control markers to blue [Carthage].
Rome plays card 3 to gain control of neutral areas in Spain.
Carthage plays card 26 as an event and Syracuse switches allegiance to it.
The next two cards are both Roman. Using card 63 P. Scipio sails for the Balearic Islands then, using card 40, takes political control of them and further areas in Spain.

The situation at the end of 217 BC.

Both sides, as you will see, will spend 216 BC, the historical year of Cannae, consolidating their positions without a major battle.

The elected consuls, both in Rome, will be Nero and Paulus.

Of 216 BC, the most famous words of Scrotivius deal with etymology.
 "..and the people of Tarentum, seeing the Carthaginians about their city, feared for the safety of their homes, children and prosperity. They beseached the garrison to surrender, but the garrison commander, called Nutsicus, refused. The people of Tarentum rose up in a mad and distressed panic and slaughtered the garrison; then they opened the gates. Now, when children in Rome become distressed and unruly, it is said they are throwing a Tarentum."
  

Using card 50 (Adriatic Pirates) Mago sets sail for Tarentum.
Rome plays card 51 and Hannibals army is hit by an epidemic causing 1 CU loss.
Hannibal, using card 6, marches to join Mago. 
Scipio, using card 1, sails to Malaca in southern Spain.
Tarentum falls to treachery (see the words of Scrotivius above) on card 18.
Rome uses card 25 to gain political control of Malaca.
Hasdrubal moves to Salaria on card 52.
His sortee over, Scipio sails on card 34 to Emporiae.
Hannibal moves to Heraclea on card 17.
Rome extends political control of neutral regions on card 53.
Carthage sparks a revolt on Sicily with card 2.
Rome regains control of two of the revolting regions on Sicily with card 5.
Carthage uses card 43 to take control of the remaining two regions on Sicily.
Rome uses diplomacy (card 36) to exert further political control.
 

The situation at the end of 216 BC.

I'm sorry, about the jaunty angle of the pic, but it will not load to the blog the right way up! 

Marcellus is elected to the consulship and Nero gets a second term.

215 BC begins with Hannibal recruiting troops in Bruttium (card 13).
Rome recruits auxiliaries in Campania (card 48).
Carthage uses card 37 (Minor Campaign) to Split hannibals force. Hannibal marches to Arpi whilst Mago attempts to sail from Croton to Sicily but fails to leave port.
Marcellus leaves Rome at the head of a large well trained army. Hannibal fails to intercept, but Marcellus attacks him anyway.

The Battle of Arpi.

The area here is hilly. Looking at the area around modern San Giovanni Rotondo (41,42,21N 15,43,36E) on google earth you get a good idea of the terrain we will fight the battle on.

this is the biggest CU battle we have had up to this point. Consequently, we have decided to make the battle quite big. The Romans will field 3 legions (plus ala) instead of the usual 2.

On the agenda today............

Now that all of the Punic War figures have been painted (http://olicanalad.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/punic-wars-figures-painted.html) I am casting my mind to what I want to do next. Surprisingly perhaps, or perhaps not, I am not going to embark on a new project. Instead I am going reduce my lead pile and revamp some old collections and finish some non-projects. I'm not going to tackle any of them start to finish. Instead, over the next two or three years, I'm going to swap from one to another as the mood and scenarios take me.

First lead pile. This is my WWII non-project. Things for the Desert November 1941 - January 1942.

This 15mm scale collection, which is short the Italians at present, was supposed to fill the times when I am bored of painting 28mm men. I've painted about 60 packs since this photo was taken. Unfortunately, I've added at least another 60.

The second lead pile. Italian War collection additions.

Until Christmas last, when a kind relative gave me 100 new TAG Italian figures, this pile was almost exclusively purchased from ebay. There are about 450 figures here. They are mainly Italian pike, and arquebusier and crossbowmen of various types. To this pile I will add about another 50 cavalry (mainly light) and another 250 or so pike.

The third lead pile. 1:144 World War I aircraft and 1:600 gallies. Another non-project (WWI) and some fleet additions. 

45 models all told. The aircraft have been sat in a box for over 5 years. It's time I did something about them. 

The fourth lead pile. Seven Years War collection additions.

Like the Italian Wars stuff, this lot was obtained from ebay over the last 5 or 6 years. They are Foundry with some Front Rank. Initially I was collecting stuff to build my existing infantry units up from 16 to 24 man units - keeping army size the same. I went a little mad. There are about 700 infantry and 125 cavalry here; to which, to balance up the armies (Prussia, Russia, Austria) I need to purchase another 150 infantry 10 guns, and 72 cavalry.

Of all the piles, this is the one I'm most looking forward to tackling. This is partly because, at first, I will be adding to existing units (I only need to paint 8 figures to get a unit of 24). But, mostly I'm looking forward to reducing this pile because I have a hankering for some big horse and musket battles.

I'll tackle the Prussians and Russians first. The infantry figures I still need to purchase are entirely Austrian. I wonder if Austrians don't appear much on ebay because I miss them; because people always paint the Austrians they buy; or because people don't buy Austrians so have none to sell - one to ponder.

This morning, in a rare spare moment, I spray undercoated 16 Prussian infantry and hand undercoated (in Humbrol 225) 12 Panzer tanks. We are underway!!!!!

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

The Battle of Ariminum 217 BC (note ammended battle result)

The Roman centre advances slowly. The Carthaginians counter with a bold move on their right.

The Carthaginian move causes the Romans to dispatch an ala to counter it.

Hannibal's newly found Gallic allies occupy the woods.

The Romans know that time is against them. The legions go forward (with a triple move). 

The Gauls in the woods charge. The effect, charging into the flank of the legionaries or downhill upon them is too much for the Romans.

The demise of the Roman left has begun. 

The Gallic hordes.

The fight becomes general along the entire front. The Carthaginians keep rolling maximum die results - the Romans die by the hundred. 

The Roman withdrawal begins. 

The Romans in the foreground are the only ones that will escape.















With so few Romans escaping, and the Carthaginians in such fine fettle, it was decided to declare the result a 4 card battle with a double envelopment finish. Note that the Roman result has been ammended due to the rules being misread initially.

The Romans rolled badly on the battle casualty table and took 2 CU casualties. Then they rolled very badly on the retreat table - the army was destroyed completely in the resulting rout. Fabius was displaced.

Hannibal was unlucky, he rolled a 6 and lost 2 CU and both elephant CU. His army now only musters 6 CU - for the first time in this campaign I feel a bit exposed, but I have a cunning plan.

Gunny noticed that I'm using a different set of morale chip cards than that published in MW. I sent the wrong copy off for publication. The deck has the same 'characterisation' cards but the chip cards we are using are:

6 x 6 MC
10 x 8 MC
10 x 10 MC
6 x 12 MC
6 x 14 MC
3 x 16 MC
1 x 20 MC

Punic Wars figures painted

I started to paint stuff for this project in September 2009 - certainly by mid October I had painted 200 figures. Today I finished painting the last figure for my 2nd Punic War collection and tacked it to its base. There is still some basing left to do, but at least the figures are now finished. So how many are there? Roll call!

The Romans:
8 x 24 figure units of hastati,  8 x 24 figure units of principes, 8 x 12 figure units of triarii, 8 x 12 figure units of velites, 8 x 8 figure units of cavalry, and 7 command stands with 5 cavalry figures and 10 infantry figures in total. Total figures: 655 (including 74 cavalry).

The 'Africans':
8 x 24 figure units of Libyan spearmen, 1 x 24 figure unit of Numidian 'Roman trained' infantry, 7 x 8 figure units of Numidian and Libyan javelinmen, 2 x 8 figure units of 'Greek' archers, 8 x 8 figure units of Numidian cavalry, 1 x 8 figure unit of Carthaginian cavalry, 4 x elephants plus attendant crew (24 figures), and 6 command stands with a total of 11 cavalry and 2 infantry figures. Total figures: 397 (including including 83 cavalry) plus 4 elephant models.



The Spanish:
15 units of Scutarii in units of 22 to 24 figures each (341 figures total), 8 units of caetrati in units of 11 or 12 figures each (92 figures total), 4 x 8 figure units of Balearic slingers, 6 x 8 figure units of cavalry, and  5 command stands with a total of 9 cavalry and 2 infantry figures. Total figures: 524 (including 57 cavalry).

The Gauls:
18 x 22 figure units of warband, 10 x 8 figure units of cavalry, 4 x units each of 3 chariots (24 crew), 4 x 8 figure units of sling and bow armed skirmishers, and 6 command stands with a total of 4 cavalry, 8 infantry and 1 chariot with 2 crew. Total figures: 546 figures (including 84 cavalry) plus 13 chariot models.

Grand totals:
2122 men
324 horses
4 elephants
13 chariot models

I'm not sure, but I don't think I'll ever tackle this many figures as a single project again. By the end of it I hated every last one of the little bastards. Now that the painting is done I can relax and enjoy playing with them for the rest of my life.

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 30 - HTD Pre-Alpha v0.010 Release! Water Skills, Healing, Buffs, and Changeable Native Skills!

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!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 29 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Ok, we're back with another HTD release! We ran into a few issues last week which is why there was no update. If things aren't ready then we don't release an update, we'd rather take our time to make them good instead of rushing things out.

So then, we've introduced some Water Skills. Since Water is the more defensive element you'll notice that these act a bit differently. For example the T1 Physical and Magical Water Skills still do damage like the Fire and Shadow skills but also give you a buff that increases either your Physical or Magical Defense respectively.

These buffs only last a few seconds but but they are easy to keep going since it is triggered every time you use the skill which has a lower cooldown than the buff duration. So essentially you can keep them up forever if you only use those skills. You'll only see the buff effect if it is a fresh buff. In other words if you aren't renewing the duration of a prior application of the buff then you won't see the effect. This is to prevent it from spamming.

You'll notice there aren't any buff icons to go with the buff themselves, these will be added soon. They just require another system that we don't have yet but it's high on the list. With the buff icons you'll be able to see which buffs/debuffs you have on each character.

We've made it so you can change the Native Skill of each hero. Go to the Skills Screen and click the Native Skill Icon (The big middle one) to toggle through the current (3) Native Elemental Skills. This is just temporary for testing purposes because in the actual game you won't be able to change this on a whim, you'll have to do something in order to change your Native Element.

The Water Native Skill is the first skill where the primary targets will be your own characters and not the enemies. This is because it is a healing spell which, like the other Natives, stacks up to 5. So since this would mainly be used on your own guys we had to make the heroes and the civilian target-able as well, which they weren't before. Also, we had to make the AI a bit better so as to heal your weakest guys first which helps a lot. The Heroes should also now prioritize their target selection to the lowest HP enemy within range for damage skills.

So now you get to play around with some defensive and utility skills and see how that'll work. As I've said before these Tier 1 skills are very basic because there is no plain generic attack to use. You will always be using a skill of some kind so the first skills had to fulfill that requirement for each elemental type. Light Skills are up next so expect to see those soon!


What's New:

-Added Water Skills

-Added Hair Customization Toggle Graphic

-Made Native Skills temporarily changeable (click the Native Skill icon in the Skills Screen to toggle through the current (3) Native Element Skills)

-Improved Sound Quality

-Added Character Name Plates (Changes to the names themselves still don't work yet though, we'll implement that soon)

-Dragging a character to any side of the screen now scrolls the map

-Added restrictions for how far you can scroll over the map


In the Works:

Design

• Hero Stats and Points (50%)
• Story: Intro (20%)
• Story: Intro Scene 1 (0%)
• Class Skills: Tier 1 (50%)

Graphics

• User/Profiles Screen Graphics (75%)
• Inventory Screen Graphics (0%)
• Light Skill: Radiate (Native) (10%)
• Light Skill: Shinning Strike(T1 Physical) (10%)
• Light Skill: Fleeting Light (T1 Magical) (10%)
• Weapons: Hammer and Swords (100%)

Programming

• Buff/Debuff Icon System (100%)
• Inventory System (0%)
• Saving Character Names (100%)

Also check out Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD for HTD art-related concepts, WIPs, polls, and more!

Let us know what you think in the comments and as always any feedback is welcome, thanks!


-Dan

Roll and Smoke 3D now available on the App Store!

The sequel to the most realistic virtual smoking simulator is back with many awesome features.
With amazing 3D graphics, smooth animations, smoke physics and many more.

Roll your own cigarettes and then smoke them, or learn how to roll in this very realistic app!
It is also a good way to stop this bad habit.

Roll and Smoke 3D teaches you step by step how to roll a cigarette with a simple interface and amazing, full 3D graphics.
When you have your cigarette ready you can smoke it.
Or you can just smoke one from the beginning without the need to roll one.
You can select 'what will you smoke' like: Cigarette, Hand-Rolled Cigarette, Cigar or Tobacco Pipe.
You can even change the lighter or the ashtray!

While you smoke the cigarette if you hold the device in flat position an ashtray will appear to get rid of the ashes.
The smoke reacts and moves based on the accelerometer orientation changes.
When the cigarette ends you can drop it by simply tapping on it.

Roll and Smoke 3D takes full advantage of the multi-touch and the accelerometer.

New store front is now live!

You may need to refresh your browsers... You can click here to go to the new store.

All the best!

Mark-

DreamForge-Games

Pre-Orders available on March 12th! 10% off sale!!

It has been a week of html and CSS joy, as I pull together a new store front and fill it with products.

 

I still have a few products to add and some testing to do… I will push the site live and allow pre-orders on March 12^th, the sale and pre-orders will run through St. Patrick’s Day March 17.

I have about 200 Sturmtruppen and 100 Kriegsmarine on hand, so I will begin shipping some or all of the pre-orders on March 20^th with the rest to be shipped (hopefully) within ten to fifteen days depending on the volume of orders.

So much still to do, so it’s back to work for me.

All the best!

Mark-

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 29 - The Class System

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!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 28 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Unfortunately there's no update this week because we are still working out some things that would have made for a less than stellar update. Things like game crashing bugs and whatnot so we'll be holding off till next week. You can expect this on occasion with HTD because while we shoot for weekly updates sometimes we have to skip a week here or there in order to spend a little more time to fix stuff.

So then, let's talk about classes. If you recall in an earlier post way back when I had mentioned the classes but I don't recall going into significant detail about them. So allow my to explain what out current plan is... it's interesting.

First we want to have it be more along the lines of an open-class system. That basically means everyone starts nearly the same way but customizes their character into a specific class as they level up. In a closed-class system you pretty much just pick a class and that's that. You might be able to branch off into different skill trees within the class but that's about it.

What we are hoping to do is take the open-class system but having it guide you into a class that is determined by what skills you want. So instead of assigning attribute points to increase hero stats you will just be picking skills which will then determine which what attributes are increased. It's important to keep in mind that there is another set of skills called Class Skills (CS)which we haven't implemented yet. These are more character based and mostly passive skills that help shape your hero into the class you want.

So let's go through a few steps on how this would work. Every so often you would get a Elemental Skill Point (ESP), you'll probably only get 10 of these (used to be 15 but lowered it for a few reasons). You would assign this ESP to a skill like Physical Tier 1 Fire, Flame Strike. So now you have this ESP in a Physical Skill (PS). Every level you will be getting Class Skill Points (CSP), there are two types of these, Physical and Magical. Which one you get is determined by what ratio of Physical:Magical ESPs you have signed. So for example if you have 1:0, each level would be giving you all Physical CSPs. If you are 1:4 you'll be getting some Physical CPS but mostly Magical CSPs. The amount of CSPs you get increases by one per level each time you get a new ESP until you are maxed and then every so often after that. So eventually you're getting 10+ per level.

The reason for the Physical and Magical CSPs is to keep you on track with your Elemental Skill (ES) choices. It's never really good to assign all your ESPs to Physical ESs and then increase your Intelligence stat really high. It's a bit of a conflict since the damage of those ESs will be based on other stats like Strength. With this set up you pick the ESs you like and you are given CSPs to help make it better. If you have a mix of Physical and Magical ESs then you get a mix of CSPs, etc.

Class Skills themselves will increase various stats to different amounts depending on their purpose and the amount of points invested in them. For example there might be a skill that allows you two wield Magical weapons more effectively. This would be a passive Magical skill that increase your Intelligence and perhaps Agility stats as put more points into it. You might also find an active skill such as Taunt in the Physical section which would increase your Strength and Stamina per point.

So the reason for all of this is so that you can pick the skills you like and end up with character stats and CSs that support them. Doing all of this ultimately defines your heroes into certain classes. For this reason, it's more like a dynamic class system that adjusts as your character takes shape. You might start out as a Warrior and end up a Paladin with healing. You could begin as a Healer and end up as an Battle Mage that can also tank. Perhaps you'd start as a Fighter and become a Monk. You can still go the pure route as well and be a full on Archer, however their title will also change as they develop because there will be different "classes" of Archer. For example some higher classes might be Marksman, Bowman, Ranger, Sharpshooter, etc.

The ESs you choose may also affect your class, for example Shadow Knight (Shadow ESs), Holy Paladin (Light ESs), Arch Mage (Wide mix of ESs), etc. For this reason there will be a whole lot of classes that you could end up as. Discovering them will be part of the fun, and yes there will be ways to respec your heroes so you won't have to keep making new characters to experiment.

Now, what I'd like to ask you guys is, what classes would you like to see? Give me a Class Name and what sort of Elemental and Class skills they might have. Be general with the skills, I don't need specifics but more of just an overall idea. Here's an example: Death Dealer - Fire and Shadow Skills with dual wielding melee skills and fast attack speed skills. Now let's here yours in the comments!

I'd also just like to mention once again that there is a HTD wiki page that has been created by our fans! It can be found here: http://herotowerdefense.wikia.com/wiki/Hero_tower_defense_Wiki

Big thanks to everyone who has been contributing! We've also added the wiki to the Fan Links/FAQ tab.


In the Works:

Design

• Mid-Battle Skill Screen (100%) - Different from the current pre-battle screen
• Story: Outline (100%)
• Hero Stats and Points (50%)

Graphics

• User/Profiles Screen Graphics (50%)
• Inventory Screen Graphics (0%)

Programming

• Targeting Heroes With Skills (100%)
• Bug Fixes (100%)

Also check out Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD for HTD art-related concepts, WIPs, polls, and more!

I'm looking forward to hearing what classes you guys come up with along with any other feedback and comments you guys have! Thanks again for the support!


-Dan