Version 0.9.1.1759
Final release 12 April 2018
As Tower of Time is nearing its final release date we have published a major update that makes the game Feature Complete. The only thing missing now are the final four levels of the tower and completion of the story which is in the final polishing state.
What comes in the Pre-release build:
Combat state and Pause added
We have further refined combat system and we have perhaps the most complex tactical system ever done in RPGs.
We added Pause. You can change between slow time and pause anytime, even during combat.
There are several new effects in game, for example freeze – if your champion is frozen you can either wait until it thaws (relatively long) or break the ice, sending other champions to attack it.
Enemies also have few nasty surprises, some elite enemies can sense the weakness of one of your champions and order all other enemies to focus on him/her, much as any player would do.
New combat mode: Defense Towers can show up in certain encounters. Towers attack your champions in range and thus limit your movement options. You can either avoid them or destroy them, the choice is yours.
Finally, we expanded Battle Report screen significantly, so you can check in details how your champions performed. This is very critical for the Ultimate Tactical Experience (Epic difficulty).
Party Alignment
At certain moments in game, your party will face an important choice. Your champions’ personalities are different and they have (perhaps) their own hidden agendas. As you progress deeper, your champions will diverge.
In such critical moments you can let your champions decide for themselves or impose your will by the power of the crystal throne. Careful though, no one likes to feel like a puppet.
These choices are not only dialogue options – party alignment will have an impact on combat as well. If your champions support you, they will support each other in combat too, granting powerful buffs. If not, then they will reduce everyone’s combat effectiveness.
Skills and Skill Tree
Skill tree and individual skills are adjusted, based on intense balancing efforts. There are too many changes to list here, but we followed this idea in principal – each of your champion is unique and his skillset has to be unique as well.
Each skill has two different enhancement paths, one which strengthens the effect of the skill and second which might change its nature.
We added few new skill mechanics, e.g. damage reflection. If you miss this and don’t adjust your tactics, your champions can literally kill themselves now. Similarly, apply this enchant on your champions and see enemies’ health goes down.
Finally, we still have only one fireball in the entire skill tree. Mission accomplished.
Itemization and Item Forge
We further expanded on our itemization and added new statistics. When we did the counting, we now have over one million possible combinations of weapons, base statistics and additional statistics.
Very important addition is Item Forge. It allows you to selectively upgrade an item and its certain statistics – as long as the item has unused upgrade counters. The cost increases with each upgrade – so if you want to create an item worthy of a song, it will cost you dearly.
Guns and 1-handed crossbows
Physical range classes got two new weapon types – 1-handed crossbows and 1-handed pistols. Yeah!
Map Markers and Quests
Map markers and better quest tracking – a feature that was in the top 3 requests from the players. We added that, so you can find NPCs and important locations easier now.
We improved quest descriptions and also added information where the quest did originate, so if you take a break for few days, you should have no problem getting back.
New Enemies, New Bosses, New Unique Items
We have added new enemies, new bosses and lots of unique items. As per request – we added more ”unique” unique that have both positive and negative effects. Encase Kane in nigh-impenetrable Titan Armor but it is so heavy that he moves very slowly -- so have his Dash skill on a short cooldown or just bring the fight to him. Or use powerful Staff of Winds but be ready that each attack will drain your mana.
Optimization and Loading Times
We did optimize the game heavily, going area by area and we will continue to do so until the full release. Game runs quicker overall and there should be no more areas that would tax your CPU and GPU over the usual performance.
Also, we implemented a system of loading part of the scenes into memory. When you enter the new location first time - the loading time will be as before, but then every time you save/load or move between the tower, combat maps and the city – the loading time should be very short.
Music and SFX
We have added new music tracks and hundreds of new sound effects.
Linux version
We are testing a new video player and new movie formats - the problem we have since day 1 of our adventures with Linux. We are on a good track but we need to run a lot of tests on different distributions since we are committed to release 100% working version. Should take few more days.
Balancing
We will balance the game until the very end. At the moment Epic difficulty is midly challenging on level 1 but then from level 2 you really need to think outside the box and find the best synergies between champions' abilities be good at tactical-side of the combat (team positioning, threat management, effective tanking, learning your enemies and what they can do, understanding their weaknesses, etc..).
If you would like to help us, please join our discord channel:
https://discord.gg/8hpkCgD
We hope you will enjoy Tower of Time in its final state.
Cheers,
Event Horizon team