Gladiator Guild Manager News

Hey guys! I hope you're all doing well!

Tournament Mode is almost here. There is a LOOOT more work to be done, and we have a fixed deadline to get it done by this weekend on 26th March. Also, the game will be at a 20% discount once the update goes live.
Here's the countdown: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/gaming?iso=20220326T17&p0=35&msg=Tournament+Mode+Update+For+Gladiator+Guild+Manager%21&font=sanserif&csz=1

If you prefer video over text, and want to see how Tournament Mode is looking at the moment check out this youtube video:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


So it will be 5 days of pure madness, way too much coffee, and way too little sleep. Which for some reason appears very exciting to us. The thrill of the challenge I suppose ːsteamhappyːːsteamfacepalmː

But we'll give our absolute best to get it done and we'll keep you guys constantly updated on the progress in our Discord Community on the "work-in-progress" channel. We plan to have it functional in about 3-4 days from now so we can make a Beta branch where you guys can try it earlier and help us test it, tell us some feedback, or report any bugs or issues you might run across.

[h2]How Will Tournament Mode Work?[/h2]
You will have 5 lives (chances to lose a battle) and the goal is to push through as many rounds as possible and get the highest score you can. The score will be uploaded to Steam Leaderboard so you can compete with other players. You'll be also able to see scores of only your friends so you can compete with them directly and settle the dispute of who's the best gladiator manager amount you!



The mode will be simpler than the current game mode (now renamed: Campaign mode). Without quests, guild buildings, or wages.
Each round will have several battles earning you gold and items. Each round will end with a boss or swarm fight that you need to defeat in order to progress to the next one.


Once you lose all your lives, you'll see your score that will be uploaded for all players (and your friends) to see and compete with you. Making it have a rogue-lite feel to it, with shorter playtime but high replayability.

There are other changes like being able to choose your exact starting gladiators (this will work on Campaign Mode as well). So you don't have to rely on the game giving you random gladiators but you can compose your starting team exactly the way you want it and plan for maximum efficiency.

We hope to see you in our Discord Community and join us in our journey as we're putting this together and share the progress with you ːsteamhappyː

Thank you for all the support! We hope you guys will enjoy this new addition to the game!

Once this is done and we keep expanding Campaign mode, this mode will grow as well with all new gladiators, bosses, quirks, and items that are going to be added to the Campaign mode.

The level of gladiators in the shop is reduced so you’re not encouraged anymore to sell your old gladiators for new higher-level gladiators.

There was still sometimes a bug where new gladiator buildings would stop appearing as you finish championship arenas. Now fixed.

Several quirks are now better assigned across gladiator classes. For example, Lone Wolf quirk (one that makes gladiators powerful if they are alone in the arena) won’t be assigned to classes like Cleric, etc.


Items:
-Book of Fire now sets enemies on fire after 2 seconds (instead of 1). It's more useful this way, as there is more time for enemies to approach. It also has a slightly bigger range.

Hey guys! I hope you’re doing great!
Here’s what’s new in this update:


There was an easy way to beat the game. Choose a few strong gladiators, upgrade their building to max (that will allow you to put six items on them), and they will become way too strong. Get a few of those gladiators, and you don’t need to consider tactics too much. Just force your way through the game.
This was taking away a lot of fun and was making many gladiators feel like they are OP.
We talked with players and come up with a solution. Now upgrading gladiator buildings no longer expand their inventory slots. At this moment they only increase the amount of experience gladiators will earn. Because of this, we made them much less expensive to upgrade now.
In order to get a new slot for gladiator, they need to reach a higher level. Every 5 levels earn gladiator a new inventory slot.


This will prevent OP strategies with a team of a few gladiators and instead put more focus on tactics, using the best gladiators for each situation and countering the enemy team. It will also encourage trying out and adding new gladiator types into your team. Before new gladiators would start with only 2 inventory slots (before upgrading their building), making them always weaker than your current fighters. Now they will not have this disadvantage anymore.

Another inventory change that we believe will make the game more fun (and was something requested by many players), is that one gladiator can no longer hold two identical items. So you need to find a good balance of items for each of them instead of using 6 same strength items on Mace Orc and letting him one hit everybody.

We know that some of you guys got used to the previous mechanic and might take time to adapt to this change. But by thinking a lot about this and talking with you guys on Discord, we decided to make these changes. Try them out and tell us what you think.
Btw, this change in inventory will only happen if you start a new game. Otherwise, it would ruin your current game as you’ve built a tactic around the previous inventory mechanic.


We have added new quirks that will be appearing on gladiators.
Some of the quirks require stats like the number of enemies a gladiator killed or information on how long you had a gladiator in your guild. So now when you click on the gladiators “More Info” button you’ll see some additional stats about that gladiator:


[h2]Here are the new quirks:[/h2]

[h3]Upcoming Mental Breakdown[/h3]
When the battle starts gladiator has increased Main Stat by 30%. But after killing more than 50 enemies, the gladiator will instead lose 30% of Main Stat.

[h3]Enough Is Enough[/h3]
If the gladiator died more than 10 times, their Main Stat is increased by 40% when the battle starts.

[h3]Old Timer[/h3]
When the battle starts gladiator loses stamina by 5%. Each month this number is increased by 5%. (max 50%)

[h3]Resurrection Sensitivity[/h3]
When the battle starts gladiator has increased Main Stat by 30%. But for each death permanently loses 10%. (max -50%)

[h3]Introvert[/h3]
When the battle starts gladiator has increased Main Stat by 30%. But for each additional friendly gladiator loses 10%. (max -60%)

[h3]Extrovert[/h3]
When the battle starts gladiator has decreased Main Stat by 30%. But for each additional friendly gladiator gains 10%. (max 60%)

[h3]Wind Rider[/h3]
Has 40% higher Main Stat during Heavy Wind weather.

[h3]Crimson Lungs[/h3]
During Crimson Mist weather gladiator has 25% higher Main Stat and restores stamina 100% faster.

[h3]Rain Absorber[/h3]
During Rain weather, the gladiator heals 5% of their max health each 1 second.

[h3]Feeling At Home[/h3]
If a gladiator spent more than 3 months in your guild his Main Stat gets increased by 35% when the battle starts.

[h3]Negotiator[/h3]
Gladiator is willing to join your team for free but demands triple wages.

[h3]Energy Vampire[/h3]
Each attack takes away 5% stamina from the enemy and restores 5% to this gladiator.

[h3]Lone Wolf[/h3]
When alone in the arena (has no ally gladiators), their Main Stat is increased by 80%.


[h2]Weather Buffs[/h2]
A player in our Discord Server pointed out a very interesting fact. That it’s not really fun playing around negative weather buffs. For example, if it’s raining, gladiators will have their strength decreased by 30%. Meaning that you should probably avoid using Berserker Orcs in this battle. But players tend to ignore this as an annoying nuisance. It would be way more interesting if different weathers would increase gladiator stats. For example, rain would increase strength by 30%, which would mean that using Berserker Orcs is a great opportunity to gain an advantage in that particular battle.
So we listened to this feedback and did just that. Now the 3 basic kinds of weather (not counting consistent weather buffs that Ancient Temple or Hollow Mountain arenas have) are now increasing stats instead of decreasing them.



Here are some more feedback-based changes (Lots of those in this update ːsteamhappyː). It was pointed out to us that playing on PermaDeath without Gold Compensation for dead gladiators is just way too hard. But playing with Gold Compensation turned on is fairly easy as you get to replace your fallen gladiators with all this extra gold (30% of gladiators and their item values). Of course, this will all depend on the player’s skill. So we decided to turn the Gold Compensation toggle into a slider. Now instead of turning it on or off, you can choose the percentage of gold that you’ll get for your fallen gladiators and set the difficulty that is the most fun to you.



Now as we tweaked some important things about the game and added some more content, we started working on the Tournament Mode. That will be the quick, simplified, endless mode. Something that you can play in 10-20 minutes, test how many rounds you can reach, earn a score and compare it with other players. A fun little mode that you can play quickly from time to time, while you wait for new content.

You won’t have guild, wages, or quests. You will have five lives. There will be about six regular battles, then a boss battle, and a reward for finishing the round. Each would get harder and harder until you can no longer defeat enemies. So you can test your skills and see how far you can get.


As we’re developing it we might adapt things but this is the core idea.

Join us on Discord Community where we’ll share the progress and also tell you when the beta version of this mode is ready for testing before we publish it into the main game.


Your feedback has been amazing and is helping us make a way better game. Join us and let’s discuss this new mode as well while we’re working on it.

Thank you all for your support and kindness!
-Entertainment Forge Team

The new update had an issue with the save game. If you continue the game you played, it would break and show you an empty gladiator market. Now, this is fixed. Thank you all for quickly reporting this!

First of all, happy holidays everybody! We hope you’re having a great time! ːsteamhappyː

We have just updated the game with the main quest chains (v0.759). Once you reach a Friendly reputation with any faction, they will offer you an alliance with them. You will still be able to do all side quests with any faction, but you’ll get main quests only with the faction you chose for an ally, helping them achieve their goals.

In addition to that, you’ll be able to hire their units.



[h3]Join Baroness to help her stabilize the Deadwoods district[/h3]


[h3]Join Necromancer by helping him with his dark magic projects[/h3]


[h3]Join Peasants and assist them in their struggle for their rights in this harsh region[/h3]
If the rebellion is successful, in addition to higher wages and lower taxes, they will also get approval to form a witch-burning council that you can join.
Make sure you ask them about their rebellion plans to start this silly side quest chain where you’ll be presented with facts about the captured witch and be able to decide if she’s a real witch or not. Then bear the consequences of your decision.



[h3]In some of those quests, you’ll:[/h3]

• Discover Baroness’s secrets and what caused the conflict between her and High Necromancer.
  
• Learn a few things about the history of the Deadwoods. How it earned its name, and about Crimson Desolation.
  
• Fight two new boss monsters.
  

The first main quest chains will start at the Ancient Temple arena. The second part will start either in Iron Town or Hollow Mountain. Depending on the faction you have chosen.
There will be more main quests coming as we add new arenas.


[h2]Changes:[/h2]

[h3]Cleric[/h3]
There were some issues with his behavior that we fixed. He’s also significantly buffed with a much stronger heal and a larger area of effect.

[h3]Healthy And Powerful - Quirk[/h3]
This quirk was so OP that it became a meme on our Discord ːsteamfacepalmː
Now it’s significantly nerfed, so it increases main gladiators stat three times less than it used to. It’s still a pretty good quirk to have but no longer broken.

There are also many minor fixes and tweaks.


[h2]What is Next?[/h2]
We hope you’ll enjoy the new content! New gladiator quirks are coming soon after this update. After that, we’ll be focusing on the endless game mode.
We’ll talk more about its design, so be sure to join us on Discord, tell us what you’d like to see in the game, or follow up the development more closely.



Thank you and happy holidays! ːsteamhappyː