Hey Ad Hunters! First I wanted to say sorry that it took so long for me to finish this changelog.

After each update, I tend to work a lot on fixing current issues, and this update changed the game so much that it also introduced new things to fix. After that we were behind schedule for the new content, so I rushed to work on update v0.4.5. Hopefully by the end of this changelog you will get an idea of HOW BIG this update was to the entire game.

Without further ado, let's get into it!

New Level: The Adpocalypse

When I first created the game, it started with the bullet hell genre but we had a problem with it: it was TOO HARD for new players. Some players ended up dropping the game before playing the multiple game genres! It was a really difficult decision to made, so we ended up discarding the Bullet Hell and it's 3 levels.

But it's not lost: we're going to make a new game / mini-game out of the lost levels in the future.

After discarding the Bullet Hell, we re-made the whole city level into a Top Down Shooter level that sort of acted as a tutorial first, then it opens up so you can almost instantly start exploring at your own will.

This new level is called "The Adpocalypse" for the disaster that kickstarts the game story. Alt's mission is to get to the AdBlue building.

As we scrapped the old Bullet Hell Level 2, we wanted to bring The Gatekeeper to this level, it ended up working as the first boss.

Also: back in march we attended to our first game event, and we were lucky that we got to live test this level. People had a lot of fun with it and the level boss, so we knew we were on the right track.

Vs Combo Bosses

The old Combo battle was a Bullet Hell level with 4 bosses, so we had to re-do it as well.

It's now broken up into 3 separate battles: Burger (RPG), Fries + Soda (Platformer) and the Mighty Ice Cream (Top Down Shooter).

We also re-made the Internet Portal and made a new cutscene that introduces the New Combo Bosses and wraps the Intro episode of the game.

Construct 3 Migration + Entire Project Optimization

When we first made our game, I used Construct 2 as our engine, as it felt like it provided the freedom to make a multi-genre game. But, after years went by, it felt that we were stuck with really old features, and the performance was starting to show it's age. So we had to upgrade.

It took some time, because we had to port the entire game, delete plugins, and dish out really old code.

Thanks to the new engine features I was able to optimize the game code A LOT. This + the new engine (which is tons faster too) made a night / day difference in terms of performance. I cannot stress how big of a difference it ended up making. It felt (feels) like a new game, and now I can work on new features faster.

An example of a major improvement is that now the game is fully responsive! It will scale up / down according to your display. Gone are the days of scaling issues!

Gameplay UI Reboot

Back when we made the pause menu / inventory system, it was already clear that we needed to re-do our Gameplay UI. It was a debt we had with the project for a couple of years.

You can now see your current weapon (Sword), your equipped item (or Spell), your Health Points (red), your Magic Points (Green) and the Weapon Durability (Yellow circle around the weapon).

Boss GUI

This was part of the new Gameplay GUI. We re-made the Boss Lifebar with the new visual theme.

Also, whenever you fight a boss, there's a new GUI that shows the boss position even when it's out of the screen, so you can keep track of it's position.

Notifications

Tiny pop-ups that show up whenever you pick an item / weapon.

Big Feature: Upgrade System

In Ad Wars you destroy ads. Destroying ads give you Upgrade Points.

What can you do with your precious Upgrade Points? You can now purchase upgrades at any Checkpoint System to enhance your abilities. This can vary from a much needed permanent Health Upgrade to more base damage to your Sword and Blaster!

This is a core mechanic to the game, and the entire game has been reshaped to spin it around finding hidden ads.

Accessories

You can now find and purchase accesories, which get you non-permanent upgrades that sometimes work context-wise like resistance to Ice damage (which helps you in the Ice Cream Boss Battle by the way), other times they enhance abilities like giving Platformer Alt more Jump height.

You can equip a limited amount of accessories at a time, using Accessory Points (which can be upgraded by destroying ads and using the respective Upgrade Points).

Fast Weapon Swap

Throughout your adventure you will find lots of weapons, spells and items to use. Before, you had to open up the pause menu, switch tabs to your inventory and equip it. While you can still do that, you can also use the shoulder buttons to quickly swap between your current weapons. This made the combat much faster.

Spells

Spells are a secondary type of weapon that you can use at any time that have many effects like protecting yourself, attacking rows of enemies, staling enemies and more! We're also working on special obstacles where you need to use the spells to unlock your way through (ie special ice block that you destroy with the Fire Spell).

The first 2 spells are the Shield Spell and the Fire spell.

Shield Spell

The Shield Spell creates an orbitting sphere that protects you from damage and also damages enemies. you can spawn 2 at a time, but you will be able to upgrade it in the future, so it can withstand more damage and other effects like exploding when it gets destroyed.

Fire Spell

The fire spell launches a powerful ball of fire that goes through enemies and also burns them, dealing extra damage.

RPG Battle Item weapons + New UI

You can now use weapons from all other genres into RPG Battles! Some weapons like bombs attack every enemy on the battlefield.

Others, like the Electric Gun deal Electric damage and are able to stun enemies as well!

You can also use any Spells that you find around, like the Shield Spell.

To integrate this new feature, we redesigned the entire RPG Battle UI, it's now shinier than ever.

Level Select Screen v2

While the whole game grew, the Level Select screen was left behind, it didn't help keep track of your current collectibles, so we decided to re-do it from scratch.

Rocket Launcher + Revolver

Who can say no to a bunch of new weapons?

Joystick movement redone

We heard the complains loud and clear, you were absolutely right about joystick movement! I've now re-made the Gamepad Joystick movement from scratch. It now uses direct axis inputs for smooth control.

Platformer / Shooter Enemy AI Revamp

All enemies in the game now use a line of sight system where they can be alerted or go back to idle. You can tell it because they will either pop out an "!" or "?" symbol. They are smarter and more fun to fight.

Full screen tutorials

Ad Wars is a complex game. There are lots of mechanics that need to be explained to players, and sometimes it was overwhelming. We introduced full-screen tutorials with videos to make it a better experience.

We're also working on a section on the Pause Menu where you can check back all the Tutorials any time you need (TBA).

Zoom

You can now toggle zoom in / out by pressing Backspace on the Keyboard, and Select on a Controller. It's specially helpful on bigger screens.

Platformer Respawn System v2

Previously, if you fell off the stage or landed on a Spike, you respawned at a set location, which caused problems with open ended levels, like Convenience Store, where you're running left to right at times, and right to left at others.

You now respawn at an invisible checkpoint that is near the falling pit / spike.

More Features:

-Platformer Camera shakes whenever you stomp an enemy, get hit and destroy boxes
-You can now use Bombs in Top Down Shooter and RPG!
-New Songs for Hero Village! (Credits to the great Yemmie)
-Map Names / Quest Status Updates Fix
-Adblue Platformer: Added a Walljump Tutorial Room Before the Cracker Fight

There are tons of small / tiny features and improvements everywhere in the game that are not listed here.

We feel like this update ended up the research phase of the project. All loose ends tied, major features all working together into a cohesive experience.

I really mean it when I say that I hope this is the version of the game you get to play.

Thanks for all the love and support,

aGlitch