Hero Tower Defense: Scheduling

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Play Hero Tower Defense!

Alright, time for a update on some HTD related stuff. First off as you may have noticed from the title and date of this post is that I will no longer be sticking to a new HTD post every Thursday. Reason being is that sometimes there just isn't much to report since we are taking our time with the new releases even though we are continuously working on it. So it would seem to make more sense to just make a post only when there is something worth posting about rather than trying to fill a weekly requirement. Plus it uses some valuable time that I could be using to work on the game instead. With that said I'll still be posting about HTD fairly often just not as consistently as before.

Now onto business. Sam and I put on our business hats and decided that the best thing for us would be to let Sam focus on getting PTD2 going and put the programming for the new HTD graphics setup on hold. The reason is a pretty clear one, more people want to see PTD2 than HTD and we're all about giving you guys what you want. However, don't mistake this to mean HTD progress is stopping. That's not true at all, all that's on hold for now is the programming part, the graphics are still being worked on. If you've been following Kevin's blow you probably already know this (linke at the bottom of this post). In fact, once Sam gets a playable version of PTD2 out he will be dedicating some extra time to HTD in order to get everything moving again. Another thing to keep in mind is that since the graphics are still being worked on in the meantime that the next release of HTD will contain even more reworked content than we originally planned for.

For those of you that have been looking forward to the next HTD release (like me) and have been patiently waiting, I apologize for the temporary delay but it's ultimately a better route for the company to take. It shouldn't be too much of a delay though really. And for those of you who want to point out Ninja-ja I'll assure you this is a different case because there is more than just one person (me) working on HTD. Plus, a new version of Ninja-ja WILL come out eventually. I just need to find time for it which is scarce these days.

Thanks for all the continued support guys!


In the Works:

Design

• Commander/Player Skills (25%)
• Stat Progression (5%)
• Pet System (50%)

Graphics

• Unit: Human Male - Animations (90%)
• Unit: Race #2 - Concepts (20%)
• Unit: Race #3 - Concepts (10%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Concepts (80%)
• Unit: Creature #3 - Concepts (20%)
• Unit: Creature #4 - Concepts (10%)
• Weapons: Batch #2 - Assets (20%)
• Armor: Batch #1 - Assets (10%)

Programming

• Interface: Setup (75%)
• Unit: Setup (10%)

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

Be sure to leave any ideas, suggestions, or other feedback you might have in the comments! Thanks!


-Dan

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 42 - Creatures Vs Races

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Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 41 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Progress on the new art and graphics system is still underway and is going well. We're doing our best to get a new release out to you guys ASAP but we aren't looking to rush it out just so we can have something. I never liked seeing that happen in other games and then having to deal with all sorts of annoying bugs. Granted we're a small group and can only find so much but we do what we can. :)

Now, on to the topic at hand. Creatures Vs Races! In HTD when we say Creatures we are typically referring to enemy units and when we say Races we are referring to playable heroes. However, there will be units that are both playable races and creatures that you fight. The HTD world isn't one with race wars going on with one versus another but rather just a world full of all sorts of races and creatures that have various factions within different groups. Some are good, some are bad. This allows us to be a bit more versatile when it comes to designating enemies for maps because we can mix various kinds of units together and still have it make sense.

You might be wondering why aren't all units just creatures and playable races. Well, because it would be difficult to make something like a slug into a playable unit. The playable races require far more animations and set up in order to work with the system we've established. The main reason is because they are dynamic and allow for weapon and armor swapping which requires a lot more assets and work. However, we can always use creatures as companion pets/combat pets since they are a more limited version of a playable unit. So some might end up being available in that respect.

Another good thing about having creatures as pets and races as enemies is that we can reuse assets that we already have. It's a huge time saver and provides some additional diversity, especially the races. For example, we can use the human race as an enemy and have all the armor and weapons available to outfit them however we like and even give them variations among themselves. We can also use their animations to do different things with. All of this essentially for free since we already have them available for the playable human race.

We're all looking forward to the next release and hope to share it with you guys soon. Thanks for the continued support!


In the Works:

Design

• Pet System (50%)
• Interface Revision (100%)

Graphics

• Unit: Human Male - Revision (100%)
• Unit: Human Male - Animations (25%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Melee Concept (75%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Ranged Concept (75%)
• Unit: Meerkat Non-Combat Pet - Concept (25%)
• Unit: Goblin - Concept (25%)

Programming

• Graphic Processing Revision (75%)
• Saving Inventory and Equipment Setup (0%)

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

Be sure to leave any ideas, suggestions, or other feedback you might have in the comments!


-Dan

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 41 - Show and Tell

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Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 40 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Unfortunately the new release won't make it out this week because we were originally thinking we could set up the new interface menus using a mix of the old graphics process with the new graphics process. It seems now that we can't actually do that or it wouldn't be worth it because we'd have to redo it anyway. So we're taking the more efficient route by continuing to work on the new graphics process and then once we have that set up we'll be able to throw together the new interface and it'll be set for good. However, I wanted to give you guys a little bit of a preview in the meantime.

Hero Customization Screen

This is the Hero Customization screen where you'll be able to change things like your Race, Hair Style, Colors, etc. You might notice that there's no character roster at the bottom. This is because this screen won't always be available, it's more of a triggered screen that will become available when you are presented with the option to change some of those features. For example it'll appear when you start a new game in order to make your main hero and when you get new customizable heroes or items/quests that allow you change race or hair color. For testing purposes we'll be allowing easy access to this screen from the Party Management screen till we are at a more finalized version of the game.

Party Management Screen

Next is the Party Management screen where you'll be able to set up the group you'll take into battle, enter battle, and for now, access the Hero Customization screen. On this screen you can see the character roster, navigation buttons, and a preview of the currently selected hero. The preview will also show you the hero's name, native element (behind the character), and their currently active skills. The Enter Battle text and icon will light up when there's at least one character in your active party.

Inventory Screen

And lastly we have the Inventory screen. Your currently selected hero's equipment is on the left and the shared inventory (all characters use the same one) on the right. The check marks on the Helm and Cloak slots are toggles for turning those items visually on and off. In order to see the details of any items/skills you would just hover the cursor over it and details for it will pop up in a window.

That's all I'm going to show for now, don't want the post to get too large. There are still some placeholders at work here but as you can see it's mostly an overhaul. Hopefully we can get a new release out for you guys soon so you can try it and provide us with some feedback. As you can see we're hard at work though and things are coming together nicely, the current content just takes some time to put together.


In the Works:

Design

• Pet System (50%)
• Interface Revision (90%)

Graphics

• Unit: Human Male - Revision (90%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Melee Concept (75%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Ranged Concept (75%)
• Unit: Meerkat Non-Combat Pet - Concept (25%)
• Unit: Goblin - Concept (25%)

Programming

• Graphic Processing Revision (75%)
• Saving Inventory and Equipment Setup (0%)

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

Suggestions and ideas are always welcome in the comments, thanks guys!


-Dan

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 40 - Revised Graphics and Interface Progress!

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Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 39 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Hope you all had a good holiday weekend! We were all a bit busy visiting with family and such so no game update this week. However, we have been making good progress with all the revising we have going on. The graphics are moving along and the revised interface is just about finished so we should be able to release a new update next week. There's still some tweaking to do but overall it should be a big improvement over what we currently have which is mostly a bunch of placeholders.

Some of you have commented on how it felt clunky and a bit confusing and that's definitely one of things we've addressed. This new set up should make all the menu screens much easier to navigate and more intuitive. One of the main features is that you can change characters from any screen and the navigation buttons that let you go to other screens are always available. We'll also be making use of tooltips for further instruction as well as displaying things like skill and item details.

With the interface out of the way I'll be able to help Evan with some of the 3D assets which should also help speed things up. Evan is working on the animations for the Human Male character which requires rigging the model in order to make it easier to animate. I'm getting a render scene set up which will be used for importing any assets and then rendering out frames for all three angles, lighting, and position. Once we have those frames Sam can take and implement them into the new system which will allow him to proceed faster and easier since he'll have some reference graphics.

So things are moving along slowly but surely. As I mentioned before we hope to have a new version available for you guys next week which should include all the new interface menu screens. We hope you guys will like it and we'll definitely be looking forward to everyone's feedback!


In the Works:

Design

• Pet System (50%)
• Interface Revision (85%)

Graphics

• Unit: Human Male - Revision (85%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Melee Concept (75%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Ranged Concept (75%)
• Unit: Meerkat Non-Combat Pet - Concept (25%)
• Unit: Goblin - Concept (25%)

Programming

• Graphic Processing Revision (65%)
• Saving Inventory and Equipment Setup (0%)

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

Suggestions and ideas are always welcome in the comments, thanks guys!


-Dan

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 39 - Community Request: Playable Races!

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.

Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 38 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Just a short post this week while we continue to chug away at the next release which should be coming soon. Another benefit of the new graphics system is that it will allow us to more easily add additional playable races. Before it meant an exponential amount of more work when adding armor because of all the additional frames required for the new race. Now, since it's in 3D, it's just a little extra work fitting it to the model of the new race and then rendering out all the necessary frames accordingly.

So, what this means is we have a lot more flexibility with what sort of playable races we can put into the game since the workload is far less significant. This works out because we weren't going to have much focus on race wars and factions but rather on good and evil. In other words it'll be a common occurrence to see a mix of races working together on everything from daily tasks to fighting a common enemy.

This is where you guys come in. What are some races you would like to be able to chose from? Are you a fan of the tried and true trifecta of Human, Orc, and Elf? Are you more interested in an obscure race that you don't see so often such as Golems (like Kevin!)? Tell us what sort of races you'd like to be able to play as in the comments!


In the Works:

Design

• Pet System (50%)
• Interface Revision (75%)

Graphics

• Unit: Human Male - Revision (75%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Melee Concept (75%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Ranged Concept (75%)
• Unit: Meerkat Non-Combat Pet - Concept (25%)
• Unit: Goblin - Concept (25%)

Programming

• Graphic Processing Revision (50%)
• Saving Inventory and Equipment Setup (0%)

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

And of course, leave any suggestions, ideas, or other feedback you might have in the comments!Thanks!


-Dan

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 38 - New Weapons! Revised Player Controls! MOAR Artists!

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Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Thursday!

HTD Logo

Go here to read Day 37 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Alright well we're back up and running after some technical difficulties. Hopefully that doesn't happen again but you never know. You tend to run into some speed bumps no matter how much you plan ahead. Speaking of speed bumps, the transition to the new graphics system is going well. Evan just finished up a nice 3D model for the Human Male and will now start implementing the animations. We have to take things one step at a time since this is our first go at setting things up this way but once we have a system in place things will speed up. I'll also be helping with some of the 3D assets once I finish re-arranging the Interface and some other design and management tasks.

Kevin and Bill have been working on some new Creature concepts and we've also picked up Josh, another enthusiastic artist who is excited to work on some concepts for us. We've also picked up some assistance from Sam's brother, Joel. He'll also be helping with some art concepts and assets.

So you've probably noticed by this point that we've only been picking up additional artists, and lots of them. There are a few reasons for this. Primarily it's because art tends to take more time than everything else because of the sheer amount of art work required for video games. They have to create concepts with multiple views, then they have to be modeled in 3D, textured, rigged for animation, animated, and then rendered. And all throughout that process thing have to be tweaked, changed, and approved. In other words, it's time consuming. It's also better for the art to be done before programming so that when the programmer (Sam in this case) codes in something new he has the art assets to go with it. As you've probably seen we currently have a lot of placeholders scattered around HTD. That's because programming is ahead of the art right now. Granted we have to redo a bunch of art now with the new system but that is something that's pretty unavoidable and necessary, but it's a logical move in the right direction and we all agree it's worth the extra time and effort.

Now then, on to more fun topics. We put a new version up with some new weapons! These were some of the last assets done with the old graphics system so we decided we'd just throw them in. And yes, some are massive, but who doesn't like swinging around huge weapons? The Boomerang is a melee weapon for now, but don't worry it won't stay like that, it's just a temporary arrangement. We also couldn't add the Ranged weapons we had made because we don't have a ranged animation yet and it'd look pretty silly trying to make it work with one of the current animations. So we're leaving those out for now.

Lastly, we're going to change the way the player interacts with the game a bit and make you more of a commander and less of a 5 person entity. Right now you have access to 5 characters and all of their active skills which you can use manually at will. We've come to the conclusion that this is too micro-intensive for what we want to do so we'll be removing that aspect of interactivity. They skills and everything will still be there to setup your characters with but they'll just do them automatically in combat and will be affected by the behaviors once we have those in. All we're really doing is removing the manual override you can do during combat. We will, however, be adding some new skills that only you, the player, can do. These skills will be along the lines of the Class Native Skill (the same for all heroes, it lets you transfer charges to another Hero), a skill that lets you temporarily power up a character, perhaps a skill that absorbs all charges your heroes have and then unleashing a powerful attack, and probably combination attacks where you'll select multiple heroes to perform a powerful attack that differs depending on the Native Elements of those heroes. I'll elaborate more on this later but we think it'll free up up the player to focus on more fun tasks like strategy and power moves instead of trying to micromanage every hero.

So, as we continue to catch up again on the new art and graphics process have fun with the new weapons and let us know what you think about the idea for the new player skills. Thanks guys!


In the Works:

Design

• Pet System (50%)
• Interface Revision (50%)

Graphics

• Unit: Human Male - Revision (75%)
• Unit: Fire Gecko - Attack Concept (75%)
• Unit: Meerkat Non-Combat Pet - Concept (25%)
• Unit: Goblin - Concept (25%)

Programming

• Graphic Processing Revision (25%)
• Saving Inventory and Equipment Setup (0%)

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

Be sure to leave any suggestions or ideas you might have in the comments!


-Dan

Weekly Progress, Day and Night system for PTD 2, PTD 2 Title Screen CONTEST!

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 guys and gals. Another week of Sam and Dan Games has begun! v6.1.1 of Pokemon Tower Defense is now out! You can get your very own Shadow Lickitung by finding the Mystery Gift Code at the link above. (Yes I know he doesn't know Shadow Rush, but you can relearn them move if you want :) )

 We are working hard to get you guys some entertainment and at the same time thinking about what the next steps are for us. As an small independent game studio (we aren't even an official company yet, but will be this year) the best thing we can do is create new and exciting games. Pokemon Tower Defense is an exciting game but we really can only do so much with it because we didn't create Pokemon. Which is why you will see us focus on Hero Tower Defense once PTD 1 is over. But I realize that most of you here are fans of PTD and I have created over 400 moves which I plan to maximize. So I will also be working on PTD 2 on the side.

Last week I put up a poll about the Day/Night System for PTD 2 (which I explained last blog) and it looks like the winner is a Dynamic Day/Night System! Because that is the winner I wanted to include more details about it.

The Day/Night System will work similar to how it works in the game. Some pokemon or events will only happen at certain times in the game's clock. But unlike the game the clock will not be based around 24 hours or around your device's time. It will be based on your play time on levels. Each complete day might like 2-3 hours, when you first play the game will be in day time and as you play the time will be changing. About half way through the day you will enter night time. So as you can see it's not tied to any specific time zone or your computer's clock.

Last week I also finished the preloader for the game, so instead of seeing a white screen you will see a percentage on screen and I made a cool little race so you have something to be entertained by while you wait. The race is Chikorita vs. Totodile vs. Cyndaquil as you load your game they will move closer to the finish line and who knows maybe they will evolve. This is just a small detail that I hope you can appreciate while you wait for the game to load.

Also PTD 2 will have a nice little intro scene that Joel, my brother,  made. Joel will also be helping make the intro and ending cutscenes for all the levels which will help make them more interesting and detailed. It will also help me complete more since I will have my hands busy with HTD.

PTD 2 TITLE SCREEN CONTEST!
Speaking of intro scenes, just like PTD I'm holding a competition for the actual title screen of the game, this time they can't have their own animated intro (since the game will already have an animation to start) but can have animated elements. So no rolling pokeball and pikachu coming out of it but you can have the rollovers or animations in the page itself. For now just put the same elements that the current game has on there. (Start, Options, Feedback, the Mystery Code, Pokemon Tower Defense 2, a Sam Game, and tell us how to make it better) Post these on our forum so other users can comment and give you feedback. The prize will be all 3 SHINY LEGENDARY DOGS! Which won't be available until PTD 2 comes out later this year. Like I said don't email me your entries, post them on the forum. This contest will run for at least a month so you will have time to make them special. Show me what you got!

We are also talking about our third game which is the Creatures Universe game (Project ANPO), you can read more about it here. As the weeks go by I will be talking more about the ideas I have for it on the blog so look forward to that.

This week in PTD we will have a new Story level, new TMs, a new Mystery Gift, new level cap, along with some other bug fixes. I will also put some of my pokemon up for trade, got any special request for what pokemon I should put up for trade? Let me know in the comments. Also let me know which TMs you would like to see this week in the comments. (TMs with moves that are already in the game will be more likely to be added this week)

PTD First Look for v6.2 by GraphicForce!


PTD 1 Progress:

Story Level (100%) - Pallet Town Training

• Intro (100%)
• Layout (100%)
• Waves (100%)
• Ending (100%)

Mystery Gift Pokemon (100%) - This is for Monday! MissingNo. The Glitch Pokemon!

• Implement in Saving Code (100%)
• Stats (100%)
• Graphics (100%)
• Moves (100%)

Added Toxic to the Pokemon Center's Move List (100%)
New TMs (100%)

• Hydro Pump (100%) - Being available to more pokemon.
• Bulldoze (100%)
• X-Scissor (100%)
• Fury Cutter (100%) 
• Sludge Wave (100%)
• Psyshock (100%)

Level Cap Increase (100%) - Level cap to 95

• Implement in game (100%)
• Implement in Saving Code (100%)
• Implement in Trading Center (100%)

PTD 2 Progress:

Temporary Title Screen (0%) - The final one will be from the contest winner, but I will make a placeholder one for now.
Options Menu (0%) - Adding some more options here, like a logout, and more.

HTD Progress:
Click here to see my HTD progress for this week.

That's all for today! As always let me know what you think! If you have any question about PTD, beating a level or how to get a particular pokemon head to our forums, many people there will be happy to help you. If you have account problems send me an email for everything else leave me a comment below!

Hero Tower Defense Thursday: Day 20 - First Impressions And What's Next

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! 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 WIP

Go here to read Day 19 of Hero Tower Defense Thursday.

Play Hero Tower Defense!

Alright, we're back! The first release of HTD was rather well recieved considering the low amount of content. I think pretty much everyone knew that's how it was going to be though and nearly all the feedback was written accordingly so it was very helpful as always. Several of you pointed out that bug where you could swap locations with the damsel in distress, sending her to the front lines to fend for herself lol. We're really glad you guys enjoyed it though and we got a lot of good comments and suggestions, so thanks for that!

Now to fix that low content problem. We'll be releasing updates for HTD as often as we can. On average I'd say every 1-2 weeks but we're not guaranteeing anything because we'd rather take our time to do things correctly instead of rushing things out. Sometimes things might take a little longer than usual because we're making everything from scratch and trying to keep everything original. We're also still finding our groove as far as having a steady workflow which will allow us to schedule things more accurately. So it'll be a little up and down at first but figuring all this out is part of the fun!

Currently we're working on the next update which we hope to have ready for the next HTD post on Thursday. A few things on the to-do list are a refined interface with better portraits and more information displayed, skill and cursor icons, clickable skills which will allow you manually use them on specific targets, separate heroes that you can customize a bit so that all 3 aren't identical, a male hero, and more! We'll see what actually ends up making it into the update but we're working hard to get as much done as possible.

In the meantime continue having fun with the initial release and don't forget to see some concept HTD art Kevin's currently working on at his blog, KXN @ HTD!

We always welcome feedback from our fans so leave any suggestions, questions, or ideas you guys might have in the comments!

-Dan

Hero Tower Defense Tuesday: Day 8 - Character Creation

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! 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 Tuesday!

Go here to read the Day 7 of Hero Tower Defense Tuesdays.

This week we're going to take a look at Kevin's WIP human female design, talk about character creation, and answer some related questions that are likely to be asked after reading this.

Kevin has started working on the human female character which I know some of you have been waiting for. It's still early in development though and we're making adjustments as we go. Check out Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD for some additional information and concept art he's working on. He'll also be starting on some hair styles and is interested in some suggestions for them from you guys. Here's the latest version of the human female character:

Early render of a human female in full plate armor

You might notice the usual characteristics that distinguish a female from a male are absent in this initial image. We intentionally started out this way because we want to be sure that you can easily tell the difference between the genders just from their contour and shape even when they are fully suited in armor. This is important for being able to glance at things quickly and knowing exactly what it is.

Male characters can also share a lot of the same features that are typically used to identify females, e.g., long hair, light colors, etc so we don't want to be restricted by these things by fixing them to a specific gender for the sole purpose of differentiating them from eachother. Another thing that falls into this category is having all the females showing a lot of skin regardless of how much armor they are wearing. To me that's a cheap way out for making a female identifiable in heavy armor.. or lack thereof. It makes more sense for lighter armor to look that way since it allows you to be more agile.

Another reason we don't want to restrict specific colors, hair styles, etc to genders is because we want there to be as many options available as possible during character creation so you can create the characters you want. We're still figuring out what you'll be able to customize exactly but right now we're thinking race, gender, skin color, hair style, and hair color (remember this is just for your character, not their armor, weapons, effects, etc). We would like to have some facial features as well at some point but it's a lot for a little so it's not a high priority right now.

Now I'll address a few questions that are bound to be asked eventually:

"What about eye color?"

The style Kevin is current going with doesn't really involve significant detail to the eyes so they are generally just black ovals. They will be quite small as well so only a few colors would be really be noticeable and the rest would kind of all look the same as those.

"Can I change the character's height, size, or proprotions?"

This is very unlikely unfortunately because all our graphic assets are sprites and changing any of these attributes, even a little, would cause all kinds of conflicts with the armors and such.

"Will you see the hair when wearing a helmet?"

This is an interesting topic because it's one of those simple things that is actually quite complex to implement. As of right now we are going with no visible hair while wearing a helmet, even if you have long hair. However, we would allow you to turn off the helm graphic without actually unequipping it and thus still taking advantage of it's stat bonuses.

The reason for this because you'd not only need to create the hairstyle itself but you'd also need to customize every hair style for every helmet in every angle and that adds up to a lot of work very quickly for something that isn't really that significant.

Although something that just came to mind is maybe we could have just a generic "long hair" look while wearing a helmet and that would be applied to all long hair styles and their share their color of course. Shorter hair styles would just show no hair while wearing a helmet. A problem you might realize though is that if your character has a ponytail and it switches to this generic "long hair with helm on" look it wouldn't be in a ponytail anymore. A possible solution could be to just have a couple different "long hair with helm on" looks to cover the majority of the hair styles but we'd probably only start with one for now. We'll have to see, I'm rambling now though so I'll stop there :P

As always feel free to leave us feedback, give us suggestions, ask us questions, or just let us know what you think in the comments!

-Dan

Pokemon Tower Defense: v4.3 is out now!

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! 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 guys, Sam here, v4.3 is now out! Here is a summary of what is new and changed.

What's new in v4.3

New Story Level - Team Rocket Hideout - Meet a certain video game creator that will train you for your next battles. On this level even if all the candy is taken you will still win. Later on I will add achievements for actually beating the level correctly.
New battle song from The Kira Justice - http://youtube.com/thekirajustice2
Level Cap up to 52 - New moves are introduced into the game because of this level cap increase.
New Mystery Gift Pokemon -Venonat and it's evolution Venomoth!
New Adoption Pokemon -Venonat is now available for adoption!
4 new moves added to the game.
New Pokemon Evolutions (1) - Venomoth.
Added Keyboard Controls for scrolling the map - Arrow keys or WASD.
Potion upgrade - When you beat the latest level.
New TMs

• Hyper Beam

Fixes:

• Pokemon that level up will regain all their health.
• Added steamroller for Golem.
• Added Swagger to Hypno and Drowzee at level 45- Thanks Tyd from the blog comment!
• Geodude now properly learns Stone Edge at level 50
• Made Tri attack faster so it shows all the components and lower the amount of particles in the attack so it will hit faster.
• Using the attack Double Hit will no longer freeze the game.
• Pikachu can now learn and relearn Thunder at level 50.
•  Game Corner now takes 5 coins to play, you only get 50 turns, but you win x10 more coins on each prize (80, 150, 1000, 3000) - This change was made to alleviate the server from too many request. Since you only get 50 turns instead of 100.

Where can I play?

• Play here on the blog by clicking on the "Play PTD!" tab.
• Download the EXE, SWF or APK by clicking on the "Game Downloads Link" tab.
• PlayTowerDefenseGame
• FreeWorldGroup
• Gamerfish
• OneMoreLevel
• NewGrounds
• MiniJuegos

On monday I will post the top 10 forum questions of the week along with the new weekly progress list. Next week we are going back to the Pokemon Tower! Gastly and Cubone!

That's all I have for now as always, let me know what you think!

Hero Tower Defense Tuesday: Day 7! Talents, Kevin's Blog and game progress.

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! 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 Tuesday!

Sketch of logo

Go here to read the Day 6 of Hero Tower Defense Tuesdays.

Sam again, working hard on the PTD update which is why this came so late.  I will continue talking about the talents and elements in this post plus give you guys an update on where the game is in programming so far.


If you haven't read last week's post then you will probably be really lost so I suggestion you give that a quick look and then come back to read this.


First a lot of you commented on adding more elements to the mix and while that may be possible we want to keep it pretty simple at first and then in the future possibly add more elements as we go. Today when I explain the talents more you will see why we want to keep it at 5 elements for now.


Okay so in HTD the elemental talent system has some pretty unique features.

• Every character gets the same elemental talent tree, regardless of what you pick.
• Regardless of what element you are attuned to, you can pick skills from any element. (If you are attuned to Fire you can still pick up water element skills or shadow element, etc.)
• Skills are separated by Physical and Magic and then by elements. (See picture below)

Mock up of Elemental Talent Trees

• You can get special combination of moves by fulfilling the requirement of that move. Combination moves are special moves that sometimes give you a different version of the original move or a move that will trigger a special effect on a previous move. An example of this is a Tier 2 Magical Fire move that will create Magma Armor for your character, if you get a Tier 2 Water skill then it will unlock the combination move for the Magma Armor which is dousing the Magma Armor cooling it down and turning it into a Magma Stone Armor. The Magma Armor will help against magic while the Magma Stone Armor helps against physical attacks. In the picture below the requirement for Tier 1 Fire is to get any Tier 1 Light Move. You can see that now the combination move for Fire is unlocked. Note: Combination moves are free and don't cost points.

The combination requirement for Tier 1 Fire is Tier 1 Light, the combination move for Fire Tier 1 is unlocked.

• You will get 15 points to work with once you reach the highest level in the game. You can go pure on an Element and it will unlock an Ultime move that you can use your last point in.

Using 7 Points on Fire Physical and 7 Points on Fire Magical will unlock an Ultimate Fire Move (not pictured)

• Putting 3 points into all the elements will unlock all the combination moves for all of them, this will get you more versatility. Doing this will unlock a special move that will be free. But not as powerful as an Ultimate Pure Elemental move.

Putting 3 points into every element will get you the most elemental skills, and will unlock a special move for free (Not pictured on this mock up)

• Other special arrangements like putting 7 points in one element and 7 points in a different element will give you an Ultra move. Also putting 5 points in 3 different elements will unlock a special move.

I know this is a lot to take in and it might be hard to understand without being able to play with it but this is the most we can offer right now.

With this system you can create a character as you see fit, do you want him to shoot fire balls and be able to heal with water? Go for it. Want to be a pure Shadow Master? Go for it. Want to be a pure physical machine? Go full physical fire and shadow. There are so many possibilities to what you can do! But we aren't done yet.

You might be thinking well what about classes? While the Elemental Tree system will let you go wild and create your own special class, there is also a Specialization Tree that you will get access to. The Specialization tree will allow you to pick more specific abilities both passive and active to your character. These will be more restrictive in that they require certain points to get them. When you put a point in the physical side of the Elemental Tree you will get a Physical Specialization Point that you can use in the Physical side of the Specialization Tree, same with magic. The specialization will help you define you character more with categories such as Defense, Stealth, Healing, Damage. Want to be a powerfull mage that can take hits like a tank? Well you can! Gone are the days of picking a class and being tied down to what you can do, we hope you will enjoy this system and help us fine tune it as we move forward.

Let's talk about our great artist, Kevin, for a little bit here. Kevin came to Dan and I requesting that he wanted to make his own blog that focuses on the art for Hero Tower Defense. While at the beginning we had our doubts on the whole idea, we finally decided to try it out and see how it goes. So click here to check out Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD. On top of that we will be posting small summaries each week here about what's going on in his blog so that you don't miss a thing. So go check it out!

The last thing I wanted to talk about is how the programming is going for HTD. A lot of you keep asking when the game is coming out, and while the game is not close to being ready I will update you on where we are now. Each week I will provide an update.

I'm actually re-writing all the code for HTD using PTD as a reference. I have learned a lot from PTD and using all those lessons to make the code in HTD even better. HTD is also more detailed graphically so it requires more detailed code for attack effects. For example in PTD the pokemon will just tackle and hit the target in the middle of it. In HTD your character will move infront of the target and then swing it's swords. These differences make all the difference as far as presentation and code.

Work in Progress Picture, two characters attacking the dragon whelp.

Disclamer on the Picture above: We aren't going to have 10 units at once, only 5. I have 10 there as a previous test.

So that is what we have so far, the characters can be put on their spots and will attack an enemy that is going around the path. We are tweaking attack code and looking at how we can make the action easier to follow.

So which element will you choose?

That's what we have this week for Hero Tower Defense. As always let me know what you think!

So where's the next Ninja-Ja: update?

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! 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!

For those of you who have been asking about when the next Ninja-Ja update will be out here's a quick explanation.

When I started on this update I had a few new features in mind that I wanted to add that would open the game up to more than just survival and top scores. As I was developing these features I realized some current things needed to be changed to accommodate the new stuff. What ended up happening was I noticed that some of the core code needed to be revamped a bit as it wasn't originally designed with these new features in mind. Also since I'm still a beginner at programming as I get better I notice some mistakes that I've made earlier that are hindering progress so I have to go back and fix them. This all adds up to a lot of work that needs to done before I continue with adding things but is good because once I have it in place then future updates should come faster.

So while I don't have an ETA for the next update it will have a bunch of new stuff like Story Mode which has an intro and boss fight, attacking as well as defending, actual enemies you can hit with ranged weapons, and different ranged weapon mechanics since they are primarily used for attacking now.

Anywho that's all for now, just wanted to keep you guys in the loop. Sorry for the delay! I know some of you are eager to try it out but bare with me while I get this set up properly and learn some more about programming so I can do things faster. As always any suggestions, comments, and general feedback is appreciated, thanks!

-Dan

Hero Tower Defense Tuesday: Day 6!

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! 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 Tuesday!

Sketch of logo

Go here to read the Day 5 of Hero Tower Defense Tuesdays.

Dan is hard at work on the next Ninja-ja update, so I'm taking over this post bringing you more news and art for our next game Hero Tower Defense. If you haven't done so already make sure to read past blog post of HTD Tuesdays by clicking the link above this paragraph. I'll wait here until you do..... Okay! You ready now?

This week we are going to talk about the first game that Dan and I had planned but never released. Many years ago Dan and I would meet up once a week to work on our game. It was to be an action rpg, one of the main draws of the game was going to be its unique talent system. Sadly we never got around to making that game but we always wanted to use the talent system, so we are going to tweak it and add it to HTD.

The game world will revolve around 5 different elements. Every character will be linked to one of these elements. The elements will be Fire, Water, Nature (this name could change), Shadow and Light. Each of these elements will have an advantage against two other elements and have a weakness to the other two.

There are 3 categories for abilities (moves you will use in the game).

• Offensive - These will be moves that mainly cause damage.
• Defensive - These moves will prevent you from taking heavy damage also healing moves fall in this category.
• Utility - Moves that will slow down the enemy, or trap them etc.

Element: Fire - Pure destructive energy, also provides light.

• Main Category - Offensive
• Second Category - Defensive
• Advantage against: Shadow and Nature - Fire creates a light that shadow cannot beat, fire can also burn plants and nature very easily.
• Weakness against: Light and Water - Fire creates light so Light element grows in the presence of fire thus overpowering it. Water can put out fire.

Element: Water - Healing powers and versatility. Water can take many shapes.

• Main Category - Defensive
• Second Category - Utility
  
• Advantage against: Fire and Light - Water can put out fires. Light going through water gets distorted and weakened.
  
• Weakness against: Shadow and Nature - Water helps nature grow more powerful. Shadow and corruption can easily get into water and corrupt it.

Element: Nature - Wild energy, can take many shapes, and fulfill many roles.

• Main Category - Utility
• Second Category - Defensive
  
• Advantage against: Water and Light - Water and light both feed Nature it's nutrients and allow it to grow stronger.
  
• Weakness against: Fire and Shadow - Fire destroys nature, and shadow can easily corrupt and prevent the growth of nature.

Element: Light - Pure energy, provides healing and power.

• Main Category - Defensive
• Second Category - Offensive
  
• Advantage against: Fire and Shadow - Fire creates light so Light element grows in the presence of fire thus overpowering it. Shadow cannot exist in light.
  
• Weakness against: Nature and Water - Nature uses light to grow. Light gets distorted when it goes against water.

Element: Shadow - Evil energy full of trickery and corruption.

• Main Category - Offensive
• Second Category - Utility
  
• Advantage against: Nature and Water - Shadow prevents nature from growing and can easily corrupt both nature and water.
  
• Weakness against: Fire and Light - Both fire and light create light and thus remove shadow.

Linking into an element will give you a passive chance to give your target a passive debuff having to do with your element. It also gives you resistance and weakness to other elements. For example if you link to fire all your abilities have the chance to trigger a fire debuff on your target that will burn him for a period of time but will increase his damage done slightly. Also you will take 5% less damage from shadow and nature attacks but take 5% more damage from light and water attacks.

I will continue talking about elements, talents and abilities next week. Now I leave you with some art that Kevin worked on this week.

You will encounter this monster on the first level of the game.

Pokemon Tower Defense: Weekly Progress for v4.2, Community Merging, how things are going, future talks

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! 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 everybody! Sam here bringing you the goods for this week. Last week I started the update half way during the week so I didn't get to complete the level 50 cap. That will be a priority this week.
Also this week something that is not going to happen that often will happen. The return of a pokemon for the Weekly code. There won't be a new code this week but for v4.2 there will be one. Like I mentioned before I'm bringing the Challenge Mode Celadon Gym level and the prize will be a shiny pokemon. So you get the regular version from the Weekly Code and you get the Shiny from the Challenge Mode. I will leave the pokemon to be a shocking surprise.

Other than that there will be some changes with the casino, I will be reducing the amount of tries per day, increasing how much each play cost but also increasing how you get per day. This will help reduce the server load that many of us have been experiencing.

Another thing is many of you have requested that the potion behave like the pokeball in that it scrolls the screen when you are close to the borders, so I will be adding that on this update also.

Progress List for v4.2:
Level cap increased to 48 (100%)

• Leaf Blade (100%) - Victreebell
• Future Sight (100%) - Kadabra/Alakazam
• Retaliate (100%) - Growlithe

Level cap increased to 49 (100%)

• Gunk Shot (100%) - Ekans
• Iron Tail (100%) - Onix
• Close Combat (100%) - Mankey
• Hyper Voice (100%) - Jigglypuff
• Healing Wish (100%) - Clefairy
• Double Hit (100%) - Scyther

Level cap increased to 50 (100%)

• Mirror Coat (100%) - Voltorb
• Last Resort (100%) - Eevee/Vaporeon/Jolteon/Flareon
• Ancient Power (100%) - Mew
• Stone Edge (100%) - Geodude
• Sludge Wave (100%) - Tentacool

New Pokemon for Mystery Code and Challenge Mode (100%) - Magnemite

• Graphics (100%)
• Shiny Graphics (100%)
• Add this pokemon's stats to the game (100%)
• New Moves for this pokemon (3) (100%)
• Metal Sound (100%)
• Magnet Bomb (100%)
• Mirror Shot (100%)

• New Evolution (100%)
• Graphics (100%)
• Shiny Graphic (100%)
• Add this pokemon's stats into the game (100%)

Add Magnemite as a prize for mystery code and challenge mode (100%)
Challenge Mode Level - Celadon Gym (100%)

• Level Intro (100%)
• Level Layout (100%)
• Level Waves (100%)
• Level Ending (100%)

Game Corner Changes (100%)
Potion Changes (100%)
New TMs (100%)

• Iron Tail
• Stone Edge

Bug Fixes (100%)

• Scyther can now learn Aerial Ace TM (100%) - Thanks to you guys for helping me find this.

Distribution (100%)

The community is a big part of what gives games the extra spark needed to keep them alive even after they have been around for a while. It's been 5 months since Pokemon Tower Defense was released and our community is as big as ever. But a divided community does more harm than good. Having two different forums, adding more chats, all it does is thin out the community. Thankfully the two most popular PTD Forums are going to combine and create one central Sam & Dan Games Forum. The merger is still in progress, once everything is ready to go I will post the link.

My passion is to create games but a huge amount of my time goes into the community. Listening to suggestions, answering emails, taking care of account issues. Dan answers any orders that come in for SnD coins. He answers comments for Hero Tower Defense. We are as open as we possibly can be and the merger of the forum will open new ways for us to connect with you guys. We will have a weekly questions section. You submit your questions on the forums and every week Dan or I will answer the questions and post them on the blog. Another feature that will come to the forums will be that you will be able to suggestions a new feature for the game and every other week the best one will be chosen and I will implement it for the update. Unless it's something that will make the game worse. I can't wait to see this feature play out.

I enjoy working on PTD and HTD, I like the fast schedules, the instant feedback. With every update the game get's closer and closer to completion, the more moves are created the easier it is to increase the level cap and the easier it is to add new pokemon. I always like to think of the next step.

Multiplayer is always a topic that gets brought up every single day. I don't have a lot of experience making a fully working multiplayer system. So in the near future I will be taking the first steps toward the multiplayer with an Avatar Chat. You will be able to use your avatar and move him around while chatting with other players. This will help to get my feet wet and start working ironing out any bugs that might come up.

I constantly ask myself, what will I work on next? Will I make a PTD sequel? If I make a poll the answer will be YES! MAKE A SEQUEL! I don't even doubt that result. I know the demand is there. I haven't fully decided if I will make it or not. After PTD, Hero Tower Defense will be getting the most attention like PTD gets now. But I like working on multiple project so when HTD goes into high gear I will be working behind the scenes on the next big game.

I do however spend some time here and there thinking about what a sequel to PTD would be like. While making a Johto Sequel to PTD is a no brainer, I always like to push myself so what if the sequel wasn't a tower defense game?

I leave you with that, as always let me know what you think, try to keep any account issues away from the blog comments just email me directly. Thanks for the great support that all of you continue to give us to this day.