Endless Tactics News

[p]Back with another contest at last!

Videos are a great great way for me to have some new influx of feedback (commentary/facecam are optional of course, but highly appreciated and very important to the dev process of Endless Tactics), so it's a win-win situation for us, if you're wanting to earn the full game for free and to be able to play it before release that is ;)

So it's pretty self-explanatory, you just record yourself (screen rec) beating an Apex Wave (aka slaying a Swarm Queen enemy, the big purple and green insect-looking one, with lots of HP), head over to our Discord, post the Youtube link to it on there (#contests text channel) and done, it's yours! [/p][p][/p][p]IMPORTANT: The video must be public and uploaded to Youtube. The video title must include "Endless Tactics" (eg.: "Submission for Endless Tactics Contest", "Endless Tactics Playthrough", etc). The recording must include both the beginning and the end of the Operation/run (whether through victory or defeat/quitting after beating the boss) in order to be approved. [/p][p][/p][p]Swarm Queen - The enemy you'll have to beat (it spawns exclusively on Boss/Apex Waves)... the Purple one at the center.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Short demonstration on how to beat it above.[/p][p][/p][p]That's all! Good luck everyone.
In any doubt, just write a comment down below.[/p][p][/p][p]As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit. [/p][p]Feedback Form [/p][p]Discord Server (Dev Updates) (Go here and drop your Youtube link to earn the Key!)[/p][p]- the_procrastinator[/p]

[p]Finally back from my self-imposed holidays! Well, to be honest that was a while ago, but I've been too lazy to post my compiled changes (what a surprise)...

Unlike previous times, nothing too impressive here, just a lot of smoothing, tightening of certain screws, fat trimming, and whatnot. And by that I mean polishing, major fixes, and the trimming of certain dialogue to make the tutorial a bit less overwhelming, and at the time faster to convey important info (as details are already covered by our recently added Guide Menu).[/p][p][/p][p]CHANGES [/p]

• [p]Brand new Intro Screen![/p][p][/p]

• [p]Major Bugfixes - Of all kinds really (list would be too long to include here), most of them visual/non-game-breaking, but a few rare crashes were fixed nonetheless (especially regarding the multithreading)... All known memory leaks are now gone as well.[/p]
• [p]Text Improvements - Tons of rewrites, trimming, and more... Mostly to dialogue, but also to a few UI components.[/p]
• [p]Improvements to the Latest Features - Guide, Unit Modifiers, and much much more. They're now officially 100% finished![/p]
• [p]Art Reworks - Shields (small and big variants now), Stat Icons, UI art improvements, etc.[/p]
• [p]New SFX - To the Corruptor Enemy, Crimson Moon, Ascension Core/mechanic, and Capture mechanic.[/p]
• [p]Pause Info Improvements (and fixes) - New info conveyed on pause menu (based on user feedback): Waves until Airdrops. Plus major reworks/fixes to other existing counters (which has also lead me to rework day/night cycle in-game logic for certain quite specific interactions).[/p]
• [p]Optimizations - To Saving, Multithreading, visuals, ...[/p]
• [p]Major AI Improvements - To Territorial Units (mostly Apex Enemies, but exclusive to them)... They're a lot more efficient at wandering around while hunting for Units now.[/p]
• [p]Countless UX & Balance Improvements![/p]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]As stated previously, all features are in! So it's just polish now indeed. I'm still addressing suggestions and feedback as always though, so feel free to give your thoughts down below![/p][p] [/p][p]As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit. [/p][p]Feedback Form [/p][p]Discord Server (Dev Updates)[/p][p]- the_procrastinator[/p]

[p]Due to some annoying real-life stuff, I'm late again (sorry). But on the other hand, this is likely the biggest recent Update mechanics-wise! After getting a bit of a new wave of feedback these last weeks, I've been able to pinpoint and better examine many of the cruxes that've been making the early UX of Endless Tactics "boring", or not engaging enough to keep players hooked. [/p][p]... To start with, many balance adjustments have been made to give further emphasis on the "tactics" part of the experience - tougher choices, and more impactful decisions from the getgo; besides that, I've also added a brand new mechanic, Unit Modifiers (which is also a core part of the early game btw), and I'll expand upon it right below:[/p][p][/p][p]CHANGES [/p]

• [p]UNIT MODIFIERS - And finally, a brand new core-gameplay-mechanic (been a while since the last of these)! Unit Modifiers are essentially "rolls" for Units. Both for Player's (via Airdrops), and Enemies' (odds increased by Escalation). Whenever a Unit gets blessed (or not) by the RNG, it'll have ONE of its Stats permutated with another - such trade will occur to varying degrees (classified by a "rarities"-like system), whereas one Stat will be benefited, and the other will be detracted from (with dynamic weights and values to each). For example, a Unit with the \[ EXTRA CHARGED ] title will be granted more Damage in tradeoff say Health (+3 Damage, -3 Health, for example). As a bonus, Units affected by this will also have entirely unique (and dynamic) visuals![/p][p][/p]
• [p]GUIDE - As (hopefully) the final nail into the tutorial-stage of Endless Tactics, the Guide is a mini-encyclopedia that retains ALL crucial data and info displayed through the very first Dialogue blocks of the Trial Run (plus certain one-shot Dialogue to explain mechanics like Weather Events and alike). There you'll be able to browser through every single aspect of the game, and even get hints to certain secret interactions. Whenever seeing a tutorial Dialogue for the first time, you'll be prompted to check its Guide entry, and you'll be also able to reset said Dialogue over there (aka trigger it again on next playthrough)... All of this directly answering a good deal of player-feedback I've been getting the last months, so I tried to make it as integrated and as encapsulating as possible to the current beginner UX. Viewable both in the Main and Pause menu, for your convenience.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]NEW UPGRADES/ARTIFACTS - Plenty of new Artifacts related to the recently added mechanics, and an Upgrade that controls how many Airdrop Slots with Unit Modifiers you'll get at every Reroll! (by default, only 1 Airdrops Slot is granted to pop up with a Unit Modifier).[/p]
• [p]ITCH.IO RELEASE - As we've just reached Pre-Release status (as can be seen above), the Itch.io version is finally in! HERE IT IS - Will be constantly updated, just like the Steam version, and will also come with a free BETA TEST key (that grants you permanent access to the game) so you can also play the Steam full version right now if you buy it![/p]
• [p]NEW ART - New Icons, Shield sprites, and more![/p]
• [p]TONS OF BUGFIXES! - Crash fixes, dialogue-related fixes, UI-related fixes, etc...[/p]
• [p]MAJOR QOL - New more intuitive way to skip Trial Run (aka tutorial-run), new Assist Option related to Unit Modifiers, better scroll-bars, WIP Language prompts, etc...[/p]
• [p]MAJOR BALANCE CHANGES - Tons of Enemy Scaling and Stats related changes, alongside the inclusion of Unit Modifiers for Enemies as stated above. Operations should be a lot more intense from the getgo, but not unfairly so, as both this and other patches have been giving the Player a lot more tools and options to efficiently dispose of them... So this was mostly just me evening out the playing field.[/p]
• [p]DIALOGUE CHANGES - Several improvements/fixes to previous Dialogue text, and a few new entries added as well.[/p]
• [p]And much more![/p][p]
  [/p]

[p]We also just wrapped up our Artifact Anomalies giveaway contest a while ago, by the way (Suggest your Artifact Anomaly! (earn Steam Keys for the first 50 suggestions!) :: Endless Tactics Events & Announcements). Couldn't be more satisfied with just how many of you participated, and thanks for the input, everyone! Will surely be doing more contests like this in the near future, so stay tuned![/p][p] [/p][p]As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit. [/p][p]Feedback Form [/p][p]Discord Server (Dev Updates)[/p][p]- the_procrastinator[/p]

[p][/p][p]So... This was the old Roadmap - and yeah, it's fairly modest by comparison to what we have now, to say the least. Beyond that, many major features were added such as Turrets, Proc-gen (for maps), Artifact Anomalies, Custom Artifacts Mode, Apex Waves (Apex Units & Nest), Unit Ascension, the Codex, Online Leaderboards, and many others still! [/p][p][/p][p]This of course was not just scope creep for the sake of scope creep, but rather things I thought were integral enough to be added before full release, due to how our playtests went at the time, via feedback given via our FORMS, REDDIT, DISCORD, and alike. I simply could not see Endless Tactics anymore as a full experience without our beloved Apex Units, which essentially act as periodical posses to the endless-type horde mode it is - Units that are unique to each Planet, and by the way are fully playable via Artifacts, certain Upgrades, and other late-game combinations.[/p][p][/p][p]So now to the meaty part of it, our (potential) Post-Launch Plans: [/p][p][/p][h3] A) OPERATION COMMANDERS [/h3]

• [p]Medium Update. Buy and unlock new Commanders to play as! They'll each have their own unique Special Units squad, with their own Special Abilities and Unique-Mechanic Synergy (eg.: Fire Commander has 3 different flamethrower Mechs available for the Airdrops + Initial Squad pool; Air Commander has access to Flying Units, etc.). [/p]
• [p]Unlock them by retrieving DNA samples when killing Apex Enemies... They also die whenever you fail to Extract before getting overrun and/or lose![/p]
• [p]Each Commander will also permanently Unlock its own set of foes, for example the Air Commander (whenever first Unlocked) would add Flying Enemies to the Enemy Spawn Pool! [/p][p][/p]

[h3]B) TERRAFORM GAME-MODE[/h3]

• [p]Big Update. Due to increased mining activity and local disturbance, Corruption starts to run wild! As a damage-control measure, a new Operation-type will be available: Terraforming Stations will be periodically dropped throughout the whole map - defend them and Terraform EVERY SINGLE terrain tile... or lose. An All-or-nothing mode; get a huge bonus on victory, or barely enough to cover your expenses! No Extractions available.[/p]
• [p]It's a two-staged mode, whereas you'll first have to defend (periodically-dropped) Terraforming Stations for a whole Wave until they finish their job, THEN, once all Stations have ran their course, you'll be issued a set of MTUs (Mobile-Terraforming-Units) to clear up the leftover Tiles (don't let them get destroyed!!). Terraformed Tiles are permanently Cleansed (immune to Corruption).[/p]
• [p]Meta Progression - Every time you LOSE in any Operation or mode, the \[NULL] Solar System's Corruption increases (X percentage). It must be always BELOW quota, else enemies get buffed and/or spawn more (across unique Corrupted Upgrade-like modifiers... each System-Corruption Upgrade gets activated as their threshold is met, and thus all stacking up to max level once the system is 100% Corrupted). [/p]
• [p]Xenoform Extra Mode - Basically reverse mode! Your ship will drop off multiple Xenoform bio-stations (courtesy of BioTek department) and they;ll ONLY convert corrupt rather than cleansed tiles into 100% alien-suitable terrain. Given to being easier by nature (as you don't need to actively cleanse corruption to progress), alien-suitable terrain will also present some form of buff to creatures (PERMANENTLY Corrupted)... Instead of MTUs afterward, there'll be Biomechanical MXUs. Once finished, it'll DROP OFF the System-cleansing quota, if by any chances you might want to revert it back to make the game harder, it's now entirely up to you.[/p][p][/p]

[h3]C) SOLAR EXPEDITION[/h3]

• [p]Huge Update/Expansion. New Game Mode whereas you'll to navigate through an procedurally-generated Solar chart to reach your final destination. Between point A and B, there'll be several randomized Nodes, with branching paths, such as Planets (Operations) with randomized RISK, Artifact Anomalies active, Missions (with dynamic rewards), Moon Shops (buy Units, Items, and per-run Upgrades), and other types of events! [/p]
• [p]An actual Boss will await you at the final destination, beat it and cash-in a massive rewards - unlock brand new rewards on completions. No Airdrops (your Units are fixed) - Unit levels, and more! Much like with Operations, Solar Expeditions will also feature different RISKS, or rather, Scales.[/p]
• [p]Brings many unique Unlocks back to the main game, such as Unit levels and more! In an effort not to create any content islands, any and all mechanics like that will be FULLY integrated back into all Game Modes - such as how all Artifact Modes are gonna be accessible via both Standard Operations and Terraform Operations (and present in Solar Expeditions to enhance node variety).[/p]

[h3][/h3][p][/p][p]... Quite the long read I know. But now, if you're still with me, here's the part where you'll come in! Vote in your favourite Update and it'll (most likely, given its within our reach of course) be prioritized as the first one to come post-launch ;) [/p][p][/p][p]Also, feel free to give suggestions, new ideas, and similar to any of these, and/or an entirely new potential Update you really want to see!... So far Operation Commanders (A) has been the player favourite (in our Forms), but I'd like to revisited and then bring this discussion into a more public place, especially with how much the game has changed since well most of the votes we've had before.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit. [/p][p]Feedback Form [/p][p]Discord Server (Dev Updates)[/p][p]- the_procrastinator[/p]

[p]As you can see, we've recently launched a give away contest for suggesting your own Artifact Anomaly! Essentially a challenge mode, comprised of a fixed set of Artifacts, usually in some kind of synergistic (or totally chaotic) manner, with a solid reward for enduring it up until the end (CONTEST THREAD). And phew, it had way more people joining in than I initially expected, so thank you all very much for your participation ;) I'll definitely be doing more of these later on, given how successful it was!
(31/50 keys gifted btw, so hurry up and grab yours!)

... Alongside that, this is a packed one, and you'll see why right below:[/p][p][/p][p]CHANGES [/p]

• [p]ARTIFACT ANOMALIES - A brand new game-mode! Yep, this down the line, and even though I said we were "feature complete" cause why not? Tbf it was something that I had in mind since the beginning, but didn't know exactly how to properly fit it into the game loop, make it interesting enough - and I finally (hopefully) figured it out! As said above, it's essentially an Artifact-based challenge mode, with X Waves to endure for each and a reward (difficulty/reward greatly varies). With the twist that I'll be adding tons of Anomalies suggested by the community as well! To further amplify our focus on player-input and dialogue - to great results so far, as many of you also chimed in to give your thoughts on the game, which always helps a lot! I'll be also potentially designing a few "special" Anomalies myself later on (and who knows, maybe even a few for the community), Anomalies with a "special" modifier beyond Artifacts... So keep an eye on that too![/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
• [p]UNIT ASCENSION - And that's right, another brand new mechanic has just been added! Well, not entirely new, but rather a major rework for the reward given by Ascension Cores (main drop of Apex Units) - which, self-admittedly, was lazy af. Now Ascension Cores will actually ascend your (or the enemy's) Units progressively, making them scale their (Damage and HP) Stats at every Wave, so that they'll never fall behind Enemy Scaling! They'll also be granted literal Halo at doing so, which gets stacked up depending on their Ascension Level... The overall goal behind this one was to make the reward for beating Apex Enemies actually meaning and unique, rather than the unimaginative flat stat boost we had before; due to it being a new mechanic, I've also gone ahead and added a new exclusive Epic Artifact that interacts with it (Elystrum)![/p]
• [p]NEW ARTIFACTS/MISSIONS/UPGRADES - Brand new Corrupted Upgrade Immune Response, which reduces Nest-spawn-interval to a single Turn for those feeling especially confident! New Artifact Anomalies Mission Overtime Enjoyer 1/2/3, for clearing up Artifact Anomalies (well duh)... and new Artifacts: Minimization, Scorvia, Assimila, Elystrum, Coliseum. Check them out at our ARTIFACTS LIST.[/p]
• [p]NEW ART/VFX - Major rework to Nest animations (still in progress); brand new VFX for Corruptor Unit, so now it properly signalizes when its capturing a foe Unit (+ new attack animation); plus the addition of the Unit Halos for the new Ascension mechanic. Oh, and the Corruptor Unit is finally in btw (soon we'll add its SFX too)![/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
• [p]MAIN MENU REWORK![/p]
• [p]10 OFFICIAL ARTIFACT ANOMALIES + 39 COMMUNITY ANOMALIES! (if you're one of the remaining 8 suggesters, please join our Discord to grab your key!)[/p]
• [p]MAJOR OPTIMIZATIONS - Almost a 100% perf gain on late-game Waves! (also affects Shop, and many other gameplay elements).[/p]
• [p]QOL - Actual hardware Cursor mode; Unit Hover Panel Rework (trimmed out Unit hover icons to further de-clutter the screen); general readability improvements; Custom Artifacts Mode improvements; More/Better UI animations; Shop improvements, Upgrades Menu improvements; Tooltips improvements; Brand new visual effect for dialogue "glitches" (eg.: \[NULL], \[INVALID_REQUEST], etc); auto-grabbing for the nearest scrollbar whenever using the "scrollbar" hotkey.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
• [p]MAJOR FIXES - Major cursor-mode switch fix, major leaderboards fix (user names previously not appearing sometimes), Custom Artifact Mode fix to mission-completion prevention, several (very rare) crash fixes, proper AOE explosions for certain non-aoe Units (that turn into AOE via Artifacts), fixed death AOE preview for multi-tile objects (like the Apex Nest), major fix for death AOE calculation for multi-tile objects, general UI fixes...[/p]
• [p]AND MORE!...[/p][p][/p]

[p]More and more polish, on all departments, that's how the next Update's gonna be too, it looks like, and it feels good to every time make Endless Tactics a more rounded up and complete experience! Looks like some of you (contest winners) have been playing for over 10h lol, so looks like my efforts are starting to pay off at last!

We're also possibly launching the game on Itchio early on! So keep an eye on that ;)[/p][p] [/p][p]As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit. [/p][p]Feedback Form [/p][p]Discord Server (Dev Updates)[/p][p]- the_procrastinator[/p]