Tactical Nexus News

https://twitter.com/TeamNexus12

We have created a Twitter account to post the game development status, new systems to be implemented in the future, and the game development scene.
If you like, please follow me. We will answer questions about games as much as possible.

After the end of TacticalNexus development, we will be releasing a few games every few months that can be played for $ 5-10 for a few hours to over a dozen hours.
We hope to announce information about those games on this Twitter account in the future.

["Tentative" completed! Chapter-3]
Chapter-3 is a group of works of tremendous difficulty, but all stages have been completed for the time being.
We were really sorry that this Chapter was updated late.

Bugs on the map and areas that are too out of balance may be adjusted in the future,
Basically, the adjustment is very small. After two weeks, it will not be done.

In addition, the following adjustments have been made.
Sword tactical lord-Sunstone and Diamond Medal are now easier to obtain
・ Limit tactical lord-The difficulty of normal mode has been reduced



[Current players status]

This is the data for around 2/20, but the average play time of Tactical Nexus is now 49 hours
(Average playtime data seems to be updated occasionally, once every few days).
It seems that many people play the game for a long time, and our development staff are pleased.

However, as the "median" of this game indicates,
This game seems to be causing a polarization between "very enthusiastic players" and "players who get bored quickly".
We don't want to disappoint those who buy the game, as this game will eventually be expensive.
Therefore, we put these data on the store page and posted a message recommending players to play the trial version.


[Chapter-3 stages were too long and too difficult]
Tactical Nexus game designers have introduced only large-volume stages to Chapter-3's work because of the enthusiasm that "the number of stages included in one package will be reduced and the game volume of each stage will be increased".
However, since the game designers were originally "masters", the resulting work was very difficult and the test player group took several times longer to play the game than expected.

The current version makes it easier to get a copper-silver Nexusmedal because the test player group has greatly eased the difficulty.
However, it still tends to take a long time to play once.

Originally, the development staff was trying to build a body that can work about 360 hours every month, but in February the development staff also participated in test play, and as a result there were many situations where they worked continuously for more than 30 hours. It has become an incredible work system for the Indies development group.




[Youtube channel has been opened / Video editing environment has been built]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YiOHNLdW85cxxfgoafEQ/
Team-Nexus Youtube channel has been launched. If you like, please subscribe to the channel.
On this channel, game introductions and capture videos will be posted.
Most of the videos could not be posted in February due to the test play storm mentioned above,
The following dungeon walkthroughs will be uploaded by 2020/3/15
(If you can't read English, We think you can understand the content somehow).
〇Tactical tower New
〇Tactical tower K
〇Tactical trip mini
〇Tactical tower W
〇Sword tactical lord



This video development environment has been pretty solidly built by Team-Nexus designers and programmers.
(If you talk about technical matters, we can output pngs that perform any animation by programming one by one,
An avi file is created by combining the png files.
This allows you to incorporate highly flexible animations and productions into your videos. )


[About the third song]
"Overviewreport-2020 / 01/19" explained that three songs will be implemented in Chapter-3,
Due to the stiff composer, the third song has not yet been implemented.
As soon as the song is completed, it will begin to flow in the Limit tactical lord, Life tactical lord, and Glorious tactical lord.


[Auto Save has been implemented]
Starting today, data is automatically saved every few to ten minutes.
However, since this game takes a little time to save, some players may think that the game will freeze for about one or two seconds every few minutes.
For this reason, we plan to set the Config button sometime, and enable the setting of auto save etc.
(Please note that Auto Save cannot be canceled in the current version).

Note to players: If you have a request to add such a feature, please comment on the bulletin board or this article.
Some cannot be implemented, but we want to implement as much as possible.






[About the achievements system]
Team-Nexus programmers are not familiar with Steam features,
It was a track record system that was not implemented because the number of players was small and it did not have much meaning,
Probably, it will be introduced in April or May.
As a general rule, the following three timings are used to unlocked achievements.
・ Get the highest Nexusmedal of the stage
・ Complete Nexusstage on the Very Hard stage
・ Sunstone possession reaches a certain number



[About Chapter-4]
Chapter-4 will be on sale around March 20th, but I think that it will be the same as "Chapter-3, implemented as each stage is created".
Also, since the development of Chapter-3 was very difficult, the difficulty of Chapter-4 was much lower than that of Chapter-3,
We think the volume per stage will also be reduced
(However, Nexusstage remains overwhelmingly difficult).

From Chapter-4, the “Orb” system described later will be introduced,
The sooner you get Nexusmedal, the more room there will be in replaying the earlier Chapters.
I think the amount of play time increased by purchasing Chapter-4 will be even greater than that of Chapter-3.

Also, since the “Orb” system is one of the factors that will increase the freedom of the game,
I think that you can enjoy the fun of trial and error, "trying the game with various approaches" more than before.


Now, I would like to introduce works that will appear in Chapter-4.





"Tactical Tutorial 4" Game Volume-7
This is a stage where "Orb" system is explained.


"Choice Tactical Lord " Game Volume-8
A stage where various Orbs appear.


"Oath Tactical Lord" Game Volume-10
In this work, equipment with special effects called "Oath" equipment will appear.
・ Oath of Yellow (Weapon)-Increased XP gain for possession of yellow key × 10%
・ Oath of Blue (Accessory)-Possess Blue Key x LV Defense Up
・ Crimson Oath (Weapon)-Possess Crimson Key x LV Attack Power
・ Purple oath (weapon)-Increases HP recovery multiplier by 10% of possession violet key
Since the Thief Bandana also appears on the Tactical Road of Oath, Purple's status will explode in this work.


"Tactical Trip petit" Game Volume-2
Tactical trip mini has 2 floors, plus bonus weapon and orb system.
Like the Tactical trip mini, the stage is more exhilarating in the second half.


"Heavy Tactical Lord" Game Volume-12
This is a special game balance game in which the XP required for level up is increased by 10 times and the level up bonus is extremely large.


"Glitter Tactical Lord" (Very Hard) Game Volume-20
"Map movement gimmick" which appeared in the latter half of Glorious tactical lord is a work that was used abundantly
(This work may be replaced with Chapter 5's Very Hard).
Use Orb to solve puzzles and alternate between ground and underground.



[Best score of developer (game designer) as of Chapter-3]




(Because the translation software is used, the sentence may not be converted properly. If there is any unknown part, please comment.)

While the test player team was testing Chapter-3, the Team-Nexus video development team set up a video production mechanism.
We have created a TacticalNexus video using the newly developed mechanism.
If you like, please subscribe and introduce.
(Basically, the subtitle sentences use a translator, so it may be a bit difficult to understand.)

I haven't got used to youtube and steam yet, but I hope to be able to use some coordination functions.
About 3 to 5 times a month, we plan to release videos such as captures and hints for any work.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5YiOHNLdW85cxxfgoafEQ


If you have any requests for videos, please leave a comment in this announcement.
Feasible requests will be fulfilled as much as possible.

The release of Chapter-3, which was postponed for several days, is likely to take a little longer. Excuse our.
Due to the game's difficulty, it is recommended that you purchase Chapter-3 after obtaining at least 8 Nexusmedals of copper or silver in the main package.
(If you want to capture Nexusstage early, you need 8 Nexusmedals with platinum medals or more)
Chapter-3 will remain at $ 8 until March 15, 2020.

In the first half of this article, we will introduce the current situation of TacticalNexus and the game systems from Chapter-3 to Chapter-5, and in the second half of this article we will introduce the development contents of Team-Nexus.


[Current players status]
The percentage of the current player's play time in the main package is as follows.



It's been less than 40 days since "substantial sales" started,
According to Steam statistics, 20% of players have played this game for at least 20 hours, and 9% of players have played for over 50 hours.

In March 2019, we held an event to release the proto version of the main package for free for 110 days in Japan, the percentage of the minimum play time of the players who cleared the tutorial is as follows It was like:
20 hours 61%
50 hours 20%
200 hours 8%

Given the differences in game launch periods, the current version feels more enthusiastic than at the time.
Also, players who have played the game for more than 20 hours tend to be familiar with Nexussystem, and players who have played for more than 50 hours tend to conquer one Nexusstage.

There are many works that follow the game system of Tower of the sorcerer.
On the other hand, there weren't many works that introduced a system like Nexussystem that redo the same stage or capture the extra stage.
Fortunately, however, the Nexussystem at TacticalNexus has the impression of being accepted by players.
(Because Team-Nexus is also a core player of this game system, we hope that a game system like Nexussystem will spread in the future.)


[About BonusEquip system of Chapter-3]

BonusEquip which came out in Chapter-2-5 and Chapter-2-6 of the main package, but from Chapter-3, this system is implemented in almost all stages.
BonusEquip has very different effects, and Chapter-4 and Chapter-5 will introduce more special BonusEquip.
The number of BonusEquip will eventually exceed 100, but Chapter 3 plans to have about 30.

[About the new system: Giant Killing]
From Chapter-3, "defeating enemies higher than yourself" is called "Giant killing".
From Chapter-3, weapons called "Giant slayer" and decorations called "Challenger's Belt" appear. Giant killing with these equipped will increase ATK and DEF by 1 point, for example.


[A new kind of enemy: Breaker]

From Chapter-3, a powerful enemy in the form of a lizard, Breaker, will appear.
Breakers have even higher attack and HP and lower defense than Slashers, and Breaker has a higher status than other enemies of the same rank.(like Thieves)

Except for some works (TacticalTowerK, HitofudeDojo, etc.), TacticalNexus is designed to be able to clear the game regardless of whether the player's status is biased to attack or the player's status is biased to defense.
(However, if you want to get a higher ranked Nexusmedal, players need to consider the status distribution)

Breakers are also enemies that can be defeated even if they have a low attack power, but unless you are very confident in your stats, players tend to be able to beat Breakers better with higher attacks.
When fighting against Braker, be aware of the differences between player and Braker status.

[New item: Orb]
From Chapter-4 or Chapter-5, a special item called Orb appears.
Orb can activate special effects only once when used.

For example, "ShiftOrb" can swap the player's position with the position of the enemy who stands in a straight line of the player,
"BlowOrb" has the effect of extinguishing the player's linear enemies.
"PaveOrb" has the effect of replacing floors such as Popstep with a normal floor, and "SuperPaveOrb" has the effect of replacing walls with a normal floor.

These are simple effects, but tend to make the game extremely complicated.
For this reason, the implementation of Orb is scheduled to be Chapter-4 or Chapter-5.


[New songs added (3 types)]
From Chapter-3, three new songs will appear.
(However, one of these songs may be delayed in implementation)

Usually, 0 to 1 songs are added per Chapter.
However, the proportion of players who are enthusiastic about the game is higher than we expected, and the composer is working hard to make a solid song right now.


[About graphic output]

Team-Nexus has developed an original pixel art editor, which allows you to make your character take various poses just by drawing an upright picture.
(There is a problem that some pictures are crushed).



Characters appearing in the game can take various motions with this editor.
Originally, this editor was developed for a large-length action RPG, but even in such a bird's-eye view game, it turned out to be applicable, and Team-Nexus graphicker is actively producing various graphics.
Currently, Team-Nexus graphicker is working on adjusting each graphic, and several months later, when the enemy is defeated, each enemy takes a dedicated reaction, and the player character (Purple) takes more various reactions according to the action It will be taken.


[Map production and communication functions]



Team-Nexus game designers create maps based on a map editor developed by Team-Nexus programmers.
This map editor allows you to perform a wide variety of processes, from adjusting enemy stats to changing map tip data attributes.


From 2018 to 2019, Team-Nexus programmers studied communication related processing.
Currently it is not implemented in TacticalNexus, but originally this series supports communication function and ranking function, and once you clear the game you can see the level up history of other players.

Currently, the number of package purchases makes a big difference in the score.
For this reason, we do not plan to implement ranking in the middle version.
However, when all packages are completed, we plan to implement a function that will allow players who have purchased all packages to register data in the ranking.

By the way, one of the development work of such communication processing is "upload of user data".
Actually, the data of TacticalNexus stage is about several MB per stage.
For this reason, if you have a server with a certain capacity, users can also post their own maps and develop their own Tactical Nexus with Nexussystem.

We are not yet used to the Steam communication process at all.
However, if TacticalNexus's major commercial rollout succeeds, we may sell a "user-submitted" program that allows users to post original data, apart from regular TacticalNexus
(But it's technically quite time-consuming, so I think it will be 2022 at the fastest).


----

In the future, there may be delays in development, but most of the time, this is due to additional production work to make the game more enjoyable.
Whether you're already enthusiastic about this game or just starting out, Team-Nexus offers a variety of tricks to make this game play for thousands of hours.
Thanking you in advance.


(Because the translation software is used, the sentence may not be converted properly. If there is any unknown part, please comment.)

In terms of game pricing, we plan to do the following:
(I wanted to put these on Steam top page,
Steam seems to be prohibited from writing a specific currency unit on the top page.
Therefore, this table could not be placed on the top page.
Sorry for the inconvenience. )



Regarding the discount amount of all games sold, in principle, it will be reduced by 5% collectively every two months.
(However, this is not the case if you cannot pay extra immediately after the start of sales.
In one package, it seems that the price can be changed once a month or once every two months.)

Pricing is specifically as follows.

2020/ 1 80% Off
2020/ 3 75% Off
2020/ 5 70% Off
2020/ 7 65% Off
2020/ 9 60% Off
2020/11 55% Off

2021/ 1 50% Off
2021/ 3 45% Off
2021/ 5 40% Off
2021/ 7 35% Off
2021/ 9 30% Off
2021/11 25% Off

2022/ 1 20% Off
2022/ 3 15% Off
2022/ 5 10% Off
2022/ 7 5% Off
2022/ 9～ 0% Off


In other words, if you purchase all the content for this game,
Even the cheapest price (= if all content is purchased immediately after release) costs 300 $ in total,
If you buy all the content after 2022/9 when the discount ends, you will cost a total of $ 725.

This is an unusual price setting for indie game pricing.
We also think that the discount amount is quite unusual for existing games.

This is for the following reasons:


The reason this game is expensive is that it has a special background in its packaging.

Tactical Nexus is inspired by a game system called Tower of the Sorcerer(魔塔),
Tactical Nexus comes in 3 to 12 games in one package.
(In addition, the average volume increases as the Chapter progresses.)

And this game has a special game system called Nexus system.
To explain this system simply, if you clear one game in the package, the difficulty of other games will decrease.

The Nexus system is a system that greatly enhances game enthusiasm.
For example, if you now have a main package (Chapter-1 & Chapter-2) and purchase a new Chapter-3,
With the Nexus system, the game included in the main package also has room for further capture,
The possibility of completing "games that were recorded in the main package but were too difficult to complete" is increased.

This gives you room to play more than a few hundred hours of games each time you buy a package.
In addition, from Chapter-6 onwards, special items "Legacy" such as "Enhance the effect of specific items" will be available,
In addition, a play has been added that brings "Legacy" to game works from Chapter-1 to Chapter-5.
This allows both beginners and advanced players to play more than 1000 hours in a single package in the second half of the chapter.


For these systems, we wanted to include multiple games in one package.
As a result of multiple games from $ 5 to $ 25 per game in a single package, the price per package was extremely high.


And the reason why the discount amount of this game is abnormal is that the system of this game is a very unique system.

With the Nexus system described above, this game can be played for hundreds of hours in one package.
However, this game is still a minor genre game.
If you don't play it, you won't know the fun of this game.
(Also, since this game is a difficult game, the difference between likes and dislikes tends to be quite large depending on the person)


From mid-March to late June 2019, we had released a free online version of our country for as long as Chapter-1 for a limited time.
In three and a half months, 25% of players played the game for 50 hours and 16% of the players played the game for more than 100 hours.
As a percentage of play time, this was a very good result, but the game wasn't downloaded to too many players.

We analyzed on Steam for half a year, but not many games have introduced the "Tower of the sorcerer(魔塔)"' game system,
And,few games have introduced systems like the Nexus system.

Tactical Nexus is a game that will be updated for two years from 2019 to 2021.
And the Tactical Nexus system became popular,
When this system becomes known, if creators who make games of the same system appear,
We want to create a sequel 6 to 10 years later, even larger than Tactical Nexus, that introduces online systems (such as ranking systems).
(The programmers and game designers of this game are math professionals and are already in a position to release 2-4 games a month.)

For this reason, we thought we needed to promote this game system first,
Over the course of about three years, we want to make massive price cuts and increase the number of players.


And this game is very large,We believe that it will take about 5,000 to 12,000 hours to complete all games up to the Extra Chapter.
For this reason, we believe there may be a time lag of several months to several years before players can play and spread the game.

Because of these things, we don't want to "cut down after a while"
We decided to take the stance of "significant price reductions at the start of sales".

Regarding the key game system, this player has a very clear, polite and easy-to-understand review.
(Since it is written in polite sentences, it is easy to understand in any language just by using translation software.)


https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198002512132/recommended/1141290/


The text of this article is written using translation software.
Because we use translation software, there may be parts that are difficult to understand.
If there is still content you want to check, we will reply if you can ask a question about that part, so please feel free to ask a question.