(Showcase of the current state of the game)
Week 15
Hi and welcome to the 15th development blog for Unleash!
The previous week has seen a huge amount of small bug fixes, minor improvements and increased stability. In other words: The development is mostly in a ‘polishing’ state. However, there are still a few larger topics, such as a new tutorial for learning the game and the continued implementation of ‘Loadouts’ (see previous development blog post).
New Tutorial
We have started work on a new tutorial for Unleash. Since the game can take a little bit of time for some players to get familiar with, a tutorial is definitely beneficial for learning the game - especially for gamers largely unfamiliar with tower wars and tower defense. The old tutorial was one, long mess which easily took half an hour to complete and encompassed all important features of the game. The new tutorial will be split up into separate parts, e.g. ‘Basics’, ‘Defense’ and ‘Offense’. This should make it much faster to complete each part, and also allows for selecting which part one needs help with. Additionally, we will be bringing a visual upgrade to the new tutorial compared to the old one.
(The new tutorial will be shorter, with new visual effects and structured slightly differently - work in progress)
New Camera Options
Some more camera options have been added, especially to facilitate screen recording. One new option is the ‘Orbit’, by default mapped to the F4 key currently. This will make the camera rotate around its focal point.
(Camera automatically orbiting the focal point)
Another option is the ‘Smooth Move’, which smoothly moves the camera upwards and downwards in the lane’s vertical direction. This allows for smoothly tracking over a base, or follow a group of fast monsters.
(Camera smoothly moves up and down the lane)
We have, for some time, had a ‘Follow’ option - which has now been improved to be more smooth. The camera can follow a monster by holding down the spacebar (currently, by default), or center over a tower by pressing the same key.
(Camera follows a monster as it moves)
Finally, there is also a new ‘Camera Reset’ key, which simply resets the camera to its default state, stopping any orbiting and smooth moving.
New Magmaback Model
The Magmaback monster has seen three of its upgrade tiers receive a visual overhaul with new animated, 3D models. Only the second tier is the same as before. The new models should help in showing a progression from a four-legged animalistic beast, to a humanoid, bipedal, four-armed monstrosity. The Magmaback is one of the ‘core’ monsters in Unleash, and one that has been in the game for a long time.
(The new Magmaback models now ensure that each upgrade tier of the monster has its own unique 3D model)
Blubbertwister Emerge and Submerge VFX
The new Blubbertwister models (see Dev Blog Week 14) will be accompanied by new visual effects that help to show that they dig into the ground, under towers and walls, and pop-up elsewhere. By accompanying the animations with particle systems and a decal on the ground, it should become much more clear and aesthetically pleasing to watch the monster torment defenses everywhere.
(Blubbertwisters create a pile of dirt where they dig underground - work in progress)
Player “Ready”
Due to the ‘Loadouts’ feature (working title, see Dev Blog Week 12 and 14), players require a little bit of time in the lobby to make their loadout selection. Thus, if the game host decides to start the game immediately, it could upset players who didn’t get the chance to pick their loadout. To that end, we have implemented a typical ‘Player Ready’ feature for the lobby, where non-host players must click ‘Ready’ before the host can start the game. However, in order to avoid excessive wait times due to players not noticing the button, going AFK or otherwise, a 30-second timer is also present. This gives players 30 seconds from the moment they join to pick their loadout, at which point they are automatically marked ready.
(Players must mark themselves as ‘ready’, or wait for the timer to countdown, before the game host may start the game)
Closing Remarks
This week has mostly been in the name of ‘polishing’, meaning: bug fixes, minor improvements and better overall stability of the game. However, we have also started work on a new tutorial, implemented new camera options to facilitate screen recording, new visual effects and models and the ‘player ready’ feature necessary, due to the new ‘Loadouts’ feature (working title).
We play Unleash every week, and you can join us for our play sessions. Next one is Tuesday the 16th of January at 17:00 / 5 PM (CET). Join us online for a multiplayer Unleash match!
If you want to see how we play, but cannot join the play session, you can watch gameplay videos without commentary through our Twitch profile. We live stream almost every session.
And remember… Monsters never come alone.