3 weeks in: PVP mode and more!
Hello, tactics fans! It's been 3 weeks since the release of Telepath Tactics Liberated; since that time, I've been busy updating the game with requested features, balance tweaks, and bug fixes. As of today, I've pushed 15 updates to the game.
[h2]Quality of Life Features Added So Far[/h2]
I'd like to take a moment to look back at all the QoL features I've added since launch based on player feedback:
As a solo developer, it was not easy to add this much stuff to the game in such a short period, let alone while also marketing and handling bug fixes--but it feels worthwhile to me to make the game as good as humanly possible. And there's more...
[h2]Player-Versus-Player[/h2]
Speaking of browsing and downloading of custom campaigns from Steam Workshop, a brand new game mode is now available for free: PVP mode! Grab a friend (or find one using Steam Remote Play) and play through the main campaign's battles head-to-head.
This version of the campaign strips out all of the tutorials for a more focused experience. Either player can save the game, and there's no need to restart and play through the battle again if you lose: the campaign will simply display Player 2 as the winner and progress to the next scene, keeping things moving forward!
[h2]Monthly Campaign Contests[/h2]
Going forward, I want to encourage players to create their own campaigns. As such, I am going to choose a player-created campaign to highlight every month going forward, starting in May! Check out this video for tips on getting started making a campaign of your very own. I'm available to answer any questions you might have--just post 'em on the forums.
[h2]Version 1.0.15 Changelog[/h2]
While we're at it, why don't we look at changes to the game's code in version 1.0.15?
-- halved the rate of enemy reinforcements in Battle with Tarion to make the fight less of a slog.
-- boosted Energy gain for promoted cavaliers.
-- scaled the difficulty up a bit for Five Guardians and the bandit fortress outer wall battle on Veteran and Tactician difficulties.
-- the AI now takes into account the presence of "on death" attacks when scoring attack targets, discouraging it from attacking explosive charges from within Explode range.
-- fixed an error in the counterattack damage calculation used by the AI to score potential attacks against opponent who can counterattack.
-- new AI handicap level 9: the AI does not account for damage it will take from counterattacks or from "on death" attacks.
-- fixed: changes to the way the game values destructible objects as attack targets led to the AI never considering Camp a viable target. This has now been fixed by massively increasing the multiplier in Camp's TargetValue tag to counteract those changes.
-- fixed: in rare circumstances, the game could end up with multiple "wait and execute next move" coroutines running at once, producing weird and unexpected enemy behaviors.
-- updated the Guide descriptions of Accuracy and the Res. stats to mention that these affect the likelihood of status effects taking hold.
-- the AI now grants a target value bonus to its own units that will die without intervention due to poison or burning, prioritizing them for healing. (This is turned off on AI handicap level 4 or higher.)
-- fixed: if an AI-controlled character had a skill without a valid, recognized after-attack type, it would cause a fatal "key not found" exception in the AI's algorithms.
-- fixed: the game's method for choosing skin, eye, and hair palettes for portraits of procedurally generated unique spriggats did not correctly account for promoted spriggat classes.
-- fixed: it was possible to use Books of Power in shop cut scenes, wasting the item.
-- new cut scene-only condition: Item Use. If set to false, items cannot be used in this cut scene.
-- fixed: the script action granting Meridian art supplies in Merchant 2 was using outdated syntax, causing the supplies not to be auto-equipped upon receipt.
..and that about does it!
[h2]Thank You[/h2]
I'd just like to say, thanks for coming with me on this journey. If you're enjoying the game, please don't forget to leave a review; and while you're at it, why not (politely) request that your favorite Youtuber or streamer check TTL out? That sort of thing helps out more than you might think!
Yours in tactics,
Craig
[h2]Quality of Life Features Added So Far[/h2]
I'd like to take a moment to look back at all the QoL features I've added since launch based on player feedback:
- browsing and downloading of custom campaigns from Steam Workshop from in-game;
- a custom difficulty setting for the main campaign letting you customize weapon durability, death rules, AI level, experience scaling, shop prices, and more;
- immediate visual feedback on who can use equipment when mousing over weapons and armor in the reserve supplies screen;
- faster camera zoom and support for a greater level of zoom-out;
- optional screen-edge panning;
- support for VSync;
- auto-restart upon suffering defeat in single player;
- faster character movement on speed settings 3 and 4;
- a "turns passed" timer visible in the battle settings menu;
- more battles with elements that scale directly with the chosen difficulty; and
- support for promoted units in the character creator
As a solo developer, it was not easy to add this much stuff to the game in such a short period, let alone while also marketing and handling bug fixes--but it feels worthwhile to me to make the game as good as humanly possible. And there's more...
[h2]Player-Versus-Player[/h2]
Speaking of browsing and downloading of custom campaigns from Steam Workshop, a brand new game mode is now available for free: PVP mode! Grab a friend (or find one using Steam Remote Play) and play through the main campaign's battles head-to-head.
This version of the campaign strips out all of the tutorials for a more focused experience. Either player can save the game, and there's no need to restart and play through the battle again if you lose: the campaign will simply display Player 2 as the winner and progress to the next scene, keeping things moving forward!
[h2]Monthly Campaign Contests[/h2]
Going forward, I want to encourage players to create their own campaigns. As such, I am going to choose a player-created campaign to highlight every month going forward, starting in May! Check out this video for tips on getting started making a campaign of your very own. I'm available to answer any questions you might have--just post 'em on the forums.
[h2]Version 1.0.15 Changelog[/h2]
While we're at it, why don't we look at changes to the game's code in version 1.0.15?
-- halved the rate of enemy reinforcements in Battle with Tarion to make the fight less of a slog.
-- boosted Energy gain for promoted cavaliers.
-- scaled the difficulty up a bit for Five Guardians and the bandit fortress outer wall battle on Veteran and Tactician difficulties.
-- the AI now takes into account the presence of "on death" attacks when scoring attack targets, discouraging it from attacking explosive charges from within Explode range.
-- fixed an error in the counterattack damage calculation used by the AI to score potential attacks against opponent who can counterattack.
-- new AI handicap level 9: the AI does not account for damage it will take from counterattacks or from "on death" attacks.
-- fixed: changes to the way the game values destructible objects as attack targets led to the AI never considering Camp a viable target. This has now been fixed by massively increasing the multiplier in Camp's TargetValue tag to counteract those changes.
-- fixed: in rare circumstances, the game could end up with multiple "wait and execute next move" coroutines running at once, producing weird and unexpected enemy behaviors.
-- updated the Guide descriptions of Accuracy and the Res. stats to mention that these affect the likelihood of status effects taking hold.
-- the AI now grants a target value bonus to its own units that will die without intervention due to poison or burning, prioritizing them for healing. (This is turned off on AI handicap level 4 or higher.)
-- fixed: if an AI-controlled character had a skill without a valid, recognized after-attack type, it would cause a fatal "key not found" exception in the AI's algorithms.
-- fixed: the game's method for choosing skin, eye, and hair palettes for portraits of procedurally generated unique spriggats did not correctly account for promoted spriggat classes.
-- fixed: it was possible to use Books of Power in shop cut scenes, wasting the item.
-- new cut scene-only condition: Item Use. If set to false, items cannot be used in this cut scene.
-- fixed: the script action granting Meridian art supplies in Merchant 2 was using outdated syntax, causing the supplies not to be auto-equipped upon receipt.
..and that about does it!
[h2]Thank You[/h2]
I'd just like to say, thanks for coming with me on this journey. If you're enjoying the game, please don't forget to leave a review; and while you're at it, why not (politely) request that your favorite Youtuber or streamer check TTL out? That sort of thing helps out more than you might think!
Yours in tactics,
Craig