(Showcase of the current state of the game)
Hi and welcome to the 18th development blog post for Unleash!
First off, we have decided to cut down the time we spend on writing this blog so that it is now bi-monthly, rather than weekly. This frees up more time for what we enjoy doing the most: game development!
In the past two weeks we have decided to postpone our Early Access release (more on that below), we have been crunching hard on improving all the graphics for the game, and have had time for a myriad of other improvements, including a considerable improvement of the game’s AI bots.
Early Access Release Postponed
As mentioned in this announcement, we felt that we needed to postpone our planned Early Access release on the 6th of February. The truth is that we welcomed a few new faces in our office - including a new art director - and this naturally and necessarily resulted in a major graphical overhaul.
(The new logo rework has been through several iterations already, and the design is still not finalized)
We began the work on upgrading menus, logos and in-game graphics as soon as possible and have been crunching hard to try to make the deadline. However, in the end we simply were not able to achieve our ambitions with the time available. Instead of releasing a rushed, semi-complete build with an inconsistent visual identity, we felt it better and more responsible to hold back the release until we can complete the graphics work and make an appropriate launch trailer. Stay tuned for an update on the new release date!
New Menus
The new menus are finally pretty much done! There are still some small bugs that need squishing and more testing is needed to ensure a stable, consistent experience, but we’re almost ready to close that chapter for now. We are however planning to do at least one more overhaul eventually, placing greater emphasis on user flow and user experience. We’re hoping for user feedback on this topic to make it the best it can be!
(The main menu intro)
The new main menu front page sets the tone for the rest of the UI; the green color scheme is consistent throughout the menus. The ‘Play Now’ button expands without changing pages, providing a quicker path to play. Orange flares highlight the buttons when hovering with the mouse to make it clear what is interactable and what is not.
(Scoreboards menu)
The scoreboards follow the same color palette and style, showing 10 results per page and split into the two game modes currently provided: Line Tower Wars and Tower Defense. One’s own entry, if one such exists, is always placed at the bottom so it is quick and easy to compare one’s own standing with the rest of the scoreboard. As previously, each Tower Defense scenario has its own scoreboard.
(Loadouts editor menu)
The loadouts editor has been reworked as well. However, we have not gone through replacing all the monster icons yet, so they still exist in the old format. We will get there eventually, since the ‘old’ buttons currently seem out of place in the new menu look.
(Create menu)
The create menu can be used to create a game of both game modes, as well as sandbox and tutorial games. Blue boxes signify non-interactable elements, and green boxes signify interactable elements, such as buttons, input fields and toggles.
(Lobby menu)
The lobby generally shows the same functionality as previously, but now in a simpler and more clean style, following the general style for the new menus. Additionally, the lobby finally has a countdown with sound, after the host has clicked ‘Start’, thus providing all players with an alert that the game is starting.
New In-Game Graphics
We are working hard on improving the in-game graphics. Pretty much every aspect of the graphics are being improved; from towers to monsters, to effects and the HUD. A range of towers have received new models and textures to lift the graphical quality and provide a more consistent visual look. Additionally, we wanted to make each tower more iconic and unique so as to minimize the confusion of not knowing two towers apart from each other.
(The towers that have so far received a visual upgrade in the form of new textures and in some cases new 3D modelsl)
The effects that the towers use to display their attack, e.g. streams of flames and frost and so on, are also being reworked. This process involves quite a bit of experimentation to achieve a look that is both impressive alone, but also works when there are rows upon rows of towers firing at the same time. So far, the Freezer, Diesel, Flamethrower and Frost Cannon towers have received new ‘attack’ effects.
(The towers that have so far received new 'attacking' VFX)
AI Improvements
A perhaps little known fact about DeSync Studios is that it was born out of ‘Apex Game Tools’, which specialized in developing AI tools for other game developers. Thus, some of us have been working with and specialized in AI development for years prior to starting development of Unleash. We still have high ambitions for the AI in Unleash and we have a vision of a future where the community can contribute to the AI development in Unleash through various modding features. For now, however, we have resorted to improving the current Utility AI-based AI bots that the game currently provides.
The way that the AI builds is based on what we call ‘Structure Configurations’. They are basically a set of instructions for building a limited set of rows of towers, mostly consisting of walls that may later be replaced dynamically by towers. Previously, these structure configurations were hard-coded and written by hand, which was a lengthy and error-prone process. Now, the AI loads its list of available structure configurations dynamically based on .json files. The configurations can easily be saved by using specific development console commands that we have made. Basically, this means that it is much easier and faster for us to expand upon the set of possible configurations that the AI can choose to build.
(The AI bots can build from a more varied selection of ‘structure configurations’)
Additionally, our ‘Mr. Think’ AI bot, which evaluates the game state and acts accordingly, has been upgraded to be more responsible defensively. This makes it harder to defeat and provides a greater challenge, even for us developers! Mr. Think will build more configurations up-front and be better at responding to specific damage type threats. There are still many improvements that we want to make in time on the AI front, as there are still some obvious shortcomings. Furthermore, we would like to make a truly ‘brutal’ AI at some point which can be challenging to even very experienced players of Unleash.
Closing Remarks
Even though we reluctantly felt the need to postpone our Early Access release, it may in the end work out for the better. It gives us more time to complete the graphical overhaul and improve upon the game further, which ultimately means a more polished and stable game when we do finally release! Already now we are almost done reworking the menus, we have started a major rework of in-game graphics, we are redesigning the game’s logo and we have had time to carry out some AI improvements that we have had on our to-do list for a while.
Get in contact with us through Discord, or any of our other social media channels. You can find all of them through our website. Also, you can watch our internal gameplay sessions over at Twitch.
And remember… Monsters never come alone.