Demo Update 1.1.5

DEMO 1.1.5 RELEASE NOTES

Welcome to another necessarily long Release Notes update!

! IMPORTANT !

(REMOVED) TUTORIAL

I've removed the Tutorial as it needed a way better version of it; As soon as I have a new version, I'll add it back!

(REMOVED) PT-BR Translation

For my fellows Brazilians, I want to give the best localization I can do, but I need first to finish the dialogues, texts, and don't want to deliver a half-assed translation. So I decided to remove it for now until I finish everything, so I can bring it back. Desculpe o transtorno!

STORY MODE & CHARACTERS

(NEW) STORY MODE DIALOGUE

Story more is still in progress, but now we have a meta dialogue between the characters talking about it! Hope you like it while we wait for the actual story mode. It shows a bit more of the personality of the characters, plus a reveal of our latest character.

(NEW) INTRO DIALOGUES

Now every match starts with some fast dialogues between characters. This are short conversations to help showing the characters personalities.

• The conversation is different depending on which Character is "Player 1". So Armstrong x Reiko will have a different dialogue from Reiko x Armstrong;

UNITS

(UPDATED) Hover FROSTY

The Hover unit got updated and it's now called Frosty!

• (SAME) It's still the only unit that can move on water;

• (SAME) Visuals;

• (NEW) Now it has a Special Die during battles: a D6 Freeze Die;

(UPDATE) Inferno VENOM

Inferno unit got updated and it's now called Venom!

• (REMOVED) Splash damage;

• (REMOVED) Usage of Burn Die;

• (SAME) Visuals;

• (NEW) Now it has a Special die during battles: a D6 Poison Die;

SPECIALS

Specials have been reworked to better fit the Commander Personality (and for balancing as well)

(UPDATED) Armstrong: Collateral Damage

Select any unit to drop a bomb on it and deal damage to it and all surrounding units:
If the selected unit is an enemy -> deal 30% damage;
If the selected unit is an ally -> it will deal 75% instead.

(Developers Note: To balance this special, I've made it not so powerful when you are using directly on enemies. But it could be worth sacrificing a low-health unit to deal the extra damage!)

(NEW) Amara: Chain Reaction

Select an enemy to Shock it. Lightning jumps in lines, and each shocked unit chains again.

Units hit are SHOCKED (Shocked units can't move, attack nor counter-attack)

(Developers Note: Always check the enemy positioning before using the special. Depending on it, you can basically have a free turn attacking all enemy units with no drawbacks!)

(NEW) Reiko: Thorned Runaway

Place 5 tile wall of impassable Thorns: all units caught are ENTANGLED until next turn.

(Entangled units cannot move, but can attack/counter-attack)

(Developers Note: Time it correctly to entangle most of enemy units, or block their way to reach an objective. Just watch out not to entagle your own!)

(NEW) Vihaan: Castling

Note: Vihaan was playable during Playtest, But won't be for the demo.

Select 2 allied units to swap places. Both are healed 50%.

(Developers Note: This special is based on the Chess move: Castling, if it was not obvious)

DICE

(UPDATED) DICE THROW

Dice throws have been updated after some feedback As a reminder, the Main Battle Die D20 adds or subtracts the face value from the base attack. It has:

• 5 Faces with a 0 (25%);

• 5 Faces with a 3 (25%);

• 4 Faces with a 5 (20%);

• 3 Faces with a 10 (15%);

• 2 Faces with a 15 (10%);

• 1 Face with a 25 (5%);

Before (Basically, closer to green would guarantee a bigger number)

Now

Meaning that hitting RED or ORANGE is a bit more punishing, while hitting YELLOW or GREEN is more rewarding!

(UPDATED) Burn Die

• (UPDATED) Visual: Burn die now is a proper D4;

• 1/4 chances of Burning the enemy;

(UPDATED) Shock Die

• (UPDATED) Visual: Shock die is now a proper D8;

• 1/8 chances of Shocking the enemy;

(NEW) Freeze Die

• (NEW) Visual: Freeze die is a D6;

• 1/6 chances of Freezing the enemy;

(NEW) Poison Die

• (NEW) Poison die is a D6;

• 1/6 chances of Freezing the enemy;

STATUS EFFECTS

(NEW) FREEZE

• Freeze can be done via terrain effects (not implemented yet) or via Frosty Freeze Die;

• Freeze makes unit immovable, unable to move/attack/counter-attack during the current player's turn;

(NEW) POISON

• Poison can be done via terrain effect (not implemented yet) or via Venom Poison Die;

• Poison makes a unit take 8 damage per turn. It can only be removed by a Medic Unit;

(NEW) ENTANGLED

• Specifically attach to Reiko Special: Thorned Runway;

• Units Entangled cannot move during the turn, but they can attack/counter-attack;

(NEW) HIDDEN

• Note: This is not in-game yet, but I've already added here;

• Make units "hidden" for ranged attacks. They can still be target if the attack is close-range;

(UPDATED) Burn Cancels Freeze and Vice-Bersa

• Burn and Freeze can cancel each other!

DAMAGE

(UPDATED) Terrain Defense Math

Previous, terrain defense would only remove the number from the base attack of the attacker
(so if the base attack was 40 and the defense was +2, the result would be 40 - 2 = 38)

Now, Defense is in percentage!. Meaning that now if a base attack is 40, and defense is +2 (meaning, 20% extra defense) , the math would be 40 - (20% of 40) = 32!

Another example with +4 Defense and a base attack of 40.

Before: 40 - 4 = 36;

Now: 40 - (40% of 40) = 24

This makes terrains with bigger defense more valuable!

(UPDATED) Overall Damage for Sniper, Missiles, Artillery, Laser.

Ranged units, now deal way less damage to Infantry Type Units (Scout, Infantry, Flame, Bazooka, Sniper)

This is balancing to make ranged units not so OP.

GALLERY

(UPDATED) Overall UI

All Characters are available with descriptions. Even the "glitched" ones, which will be revealed as you play the campaign!

(NEW) Sir Arthur Gray - The Overseer of Project A.V.A.N.T.E.

A War Veteran, now Diplomat and certified Sir, responsible for keeping the players in check and the project running fine.

(NEW) Ava - The AI Helper of Project A.V.A.N.T.E.

Ava (or A.V.A.N.T.E) is the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world of Avante! Atlantis. She will help Arthur to keep players in check as well!

You can read more about them in the Gallery! They are the First set of NPCs of the game!

MAPS

(UPDATED) MAP SELECTION SCREEN

Better selection, and now the Mini map shows exactly how the map is!

(UPDATED) The Great Divide

Now with extra Canyons!

(UPDATED) Desert Clinic

Adjusted to be more centered around the Oasis area! (and also extra canyons!)

(NEW) JustIce

This is a fun one. Watch your step and push your enemies to cracked ice!

UI UPGRADE

There has been a complete overhaul on the UI for the combat!

(UPDATED) Commander Card

The Commander Card Visual has been updated:

• Now more compact;

• Animation for Special Bar when reached 100%;

• Shows the current money you have for deploy/construction maps!

(UPDATED) Unit Card

The Unit Card has been updated:

• Updated Icons;

• Moved Health to the top section;

• Shows Status Applied to the Unit! (In the image example, the unit has all the status, a very rare, if not impossible, occasion!);

(UPDATED) Terrain Card

The Terrain Card has been updated:

• Updated Icons;

• Terrain cards now shows extra information if needed. (e.g.:, if we stay on the Cactus, our unit will take 10 damage);

• Some terrains will have custom sprites; (Mainly for terrain without proper sprites, like Plains, Roads and Water);

• Some other effects that special terrains could have: Give a Status Effects (Mushroom), Move the Unit (Quicksand), Become Water (Ice), Heal (Oasis), etc...

(UPDATED) Player and Action Cards

Both Player and Action Cards have been updated:

• (NEW) Visuals and Icons;

• (NEW) Give Up Button;

(UPDATED) Show Damage Card

The Show Damage Preview Card has been updated:

• Now a bit more intuitive on what is happening;

(UPDATED) Buy Units

The Buy Unit UI has been updated:

• Now you can access this screen as well in the pause menu (Unit List);

• Added new icons;

• Added tooltip to the icons;

• Added new descriptions;

• Added "Base Damage" Values for each unit class;

• Added a "Back Button" to it;

• Added a "Hide" button to hide this UI to show the map;

TILES

(NEW) Barrens: +2 Defense;

(NEW) Canyon: Impassable Terrain for everyone;

(NEW) Thin Ice: Stepping on it will make it Cracked Ice;

(NEW) Cracked Ice: Staying on will turn into Water;

(NEW) THORNS: Exclusively to Reiko Special. Impassable terrain that ENTANGLES units;

(UPDATE) CACTUS: Now it deals 10 damage if staying on it;

(UPDATE) OASIS: Now it heals 20 damage if staying on it;

QUALITY OF LIFE and ADJUSMENTS

• All Maps are by default unlocked;

  • Decide to undo the lock/unlock system for the demo;

• Added "Controller Disconnected" UI if playing with controllers with a friend;

• Added Motion Blur:

  • Now the Dice and Ammo in Battle will be affected by it, making it more cinematic;

• Battles can now be controller with Keyboard + Mouse, Keyboard Only or Gamepad;

  • Meaning you can play with just keyboard for faster actions/shortcuts;

  • Settings menu is still only with mouse (they will need rework);

• Fixed Player Menus not appearing where the mouse is;

• Fixed UI sometimes appearing off-screen;

  • Now I'm forcing it to be on screen all the time;

• Added button to cycle through all available units

  • Q/E for Keyboard. Scroll for Mouse, LB/RB for Controllers;

• Added "END TURN" notification when all units are in "wait" mode;

  • The notification only checks if there are no more units available to move. You can still use specials or buy units;

• Added Back Button on Map Selection;

• Bases/Camps Dioramas are now slightly darker and desaturated compared to the units;

  • This is so the battle in camps/bases were not too over-satured;

• Some Diorama arts were adjusted/updated;

• "Heal" is selected first instead of "Wait" for Medic Unit;

• Added sound for Magnet walking;

FUTURE (Update 1.2.0)

Story Mode: Prologue

The next big update, 1.2.0, will feature the Prologue and will be the last important update for the demo.

After that I'll focus on the main game with all it's features.

(NEW) Game Mode: Tile Clash

During playtests, players test a new game mode called Tile Clash, where you would randomly place terrain pieces in a board, and when it's finished, you would play the constructed board.

While the players like it, there's much I need to refine to bring a better game mode in general. So please, stay tuned for the next play test! I can only improve so much without feedback from you!

Other topics that will be done for the demo in the future

• (Proper) Tutorials

• Overall balancing and QoL updates;

• UI Adjustments;

And that's a wrap! Hope you like the new updates!

Thanks again,
and Avante!

Danilo (creator of Avante! Atlantis)