Oodellllally! There are quite a few new things in store this month, and we’re now on the road to version 1.0.
Campaign Editor
I’m not sure how much use it will see, but for a long while I’ve wanted to add a campaign editor to There Will Be Ink. At last, that day has come!
The Campaign Editor allows players to string together missions (made with the Map Editor) into a campaign. Each campaign tracks a separate set of stats and allows for campaign-specific unit progression. You’ll note on the screenshot above that there is a list of units on the right. The checkboxes can be toggled between disabled (unit will not show up on Barracks page), enabled (unit shows up on Barracks page, unlocked), and locked (shots up on Barracks page but has to be unlocked, usually by destroying one of that unit type in a mission). A list of available maps/missions is listed in the middle, and those mission tags can be dragged to the campaign list on the left and reordered from there (drag & drop). The campaign name, difficulty, and description can also be entered by clicking on the appropriate fields and entering text. Please note that, as with the Map Editor, the Campaign Editor is keyboard & mouse only (no gamepad support). In case anyone made any campaigns using the old method of dropping a bunch of map files at %localappdata%\ThereWillBeInk\Campaigns\\Maps\, those campaigns should still work. If anyone wants to share any campaigns or missions with me, I’d love to check them out! Just zip everything in the folder and send it along to [email protected]. I’m thinking there should be a downloads section on this site where players can download user-created maps/campaigns, so please let me know if you’d like your creations shared.
Badges
Badges! These are awards of sorts that are presented at the end of a battle for such things as highest accuracy, most grenade kills, most deaths, etc. I don’t want to spoil them all so I’ll say no more except that there are currently 15 available to discover. I find the badges are a nice little touch for multi-player matches and add a bit of friendly competition. Also, check out that expert artwork! Badges are disabled by default in single player but can be turned on from the Options page. I may yet add some single-player specific badges (or just a subset of the existing badges) so not to leave anyone out.
Misc New Features and Changes
In addition to the big changes above and below, there have been a lot of smaller additions, changes, enhancements, and bug fixes. A full list can be found in the changelog below, but highlights include new seasonal content (Valentine’s Day only!) with a new music track, ability point progress at the end of battles, pulse grenades and two new abilities for Zaponeers, new stats, graphics updates, quality-of-life improvements, and many a bug fix.
Beta Campaign Completion and The Road to 1.0 (and beyond)
Three (actually kind of two and a half) new missions have been added and the Beta campaign is now complete with 18 missions. It is kind of a wacky campaign, to be sure, but not out of line with the spirit of the game. With all of the game’s major features now in place, my focus is on polishing things up and adding new content. There will likely be a new campaign for version 1.0. I’m presently trying to decide on whether to use the existing unit set (with perhaps another unit added) or to create a whole new set. I’ve had ideas for three other sets of units for a while, but maybe it makes sense to finish the core game and then release them as free content updates. Either way, there is much work to be done. Onward we march!
Changelog
New Features & Content
- Campaign Editor – Players can now string together campaigns of existing maps (made in map editor)
- Includes ability to add and re-order missions (drag & drop), choose units available for upgrade, save/load campaign, and enter campaign name, description & difficulty
- Added 15 end-of-battle badges for various feats, featuring out of this world artwork (disabled by default in single player, but can be enabled from Options page)
- Completed Beta campaign with three new missions: “Out Of The Woods”, “Peace Talks”, and “End Times”
- Added end game credits
- Added new Valentine’s Day seasonal content (one day only! can be disabled from Options menu)
- Added new music track: “Comrades In Arm In Arm”, presently only used on final Beta campaign mission and some seasonal events
- Added unit progress bars at the end of battle, including an indicator for when a new ability point has been earned
- Zaponeers now throw pulse grenades, which have a larger explosion area and instantly kill units but do less damage to buildings than do regular grenades
- New Zaponeer ability: Fuel Efficiency – Reduces stamina cost of jetpack
- New Zaponeer ability: Self-Charging Rifle Cell – Adds ammo regen of 1 per second to laser rifle; stacks with hi-tech ammo regen ability
- Added new end-of-battle stats for units killed with grenades and units killed with mines
Changes & Enhancements
- Replaced green progress bars on Barracks page with squiggly lines used at end of battle
- Replaced “Ash” sprite (for lightning & pulse grenade deaths) with larger, animated sprite
- Units now refresh the nearest resupply crate each time they run out of ammo (should make ammo drops more effective)
- Changed end-of-battle note to show killed/killed-as stats as separate page (instead of separate note below)
- Added indicators for changing page of stats note at end of battle (TAB for keyboard, dpad l/r for gamepad)
- Changed font used on Main Menu and Options pages, and added paperclip icon as selection indicator
- Added “Tutorial” as a separate option on the Main Menu (though Tutorial campaign can still be set as the active campaign)
- Set “Beta” campaign to be the default campaign
- Balance: Super Powerups are now disabled in Hardcore mode
- Quick Battle: Dragging the tree & rock sliders past their min & max values now sets them to their respective min or max value
- Added Misc Tip about ability points being earned on campaign missions to Main Menu
- Added mini page flip sound when flipping general abilities notepad on Barracks page or end-of-battle stats
- Increased distance a unit can be from flagpole to raise/lower flag
- Balance: Reduced ability point cost of RPG Infantry (from 100 to 50)
- Balance: Reduced ability point requirement for Medic
- Disabled interpolation between pixels on 1080p+ resolutions (already disabled on lower resolutions)
- “To the barracks!” option at end of battle now only comes up if a new point was earned that battle
- Navigating up or down on Barracks page will now go to the nearest item above or below respectively if no item lines up
- Slightly reduced volume of “Paratrooper Glide” music track
Bug Fixes
- Fixed bug where T-Rex’s body had mysteriously disappeared
- Fixed bug where grenade aim (gamepad) was defaulting to top left
- Fixed bug where units would sometimes leave the map when attempting to resupply (sometimes making a mission impossible to win)
- Fixed crash bug that sometimes occurred when changing campaign and then re-visiting Barracks page
- Hit Percentage and Battle Efficienty stats will now show 0% instead of trying to divide into 0 and showing err text
- Fixed bug where going to Barracks page from Main Menu with gamepad selected first note pad
- Fixed bug where legs of jetpacking units would keep moving when game was paused
- Fixed bug where sounds sometimes play after battle is left
- Fixed bug where active note pad wasn’t highlighted when first visiting the Barracks page
- Fixed bug where Engineer unlock info was instead based on another unit (HMG)
- Fixed bug where “life restored” stat was lower than it should be (sometimes going negative)