Calling Tower Defense gamers: testers needed for OTTTD!

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by SMG Studio, Apr 9, 2014.

  1. SMG Studio

    SMG Studio Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2014
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    #1 SMG Studio, Apr 9, 2014
    Last edited: May 16, 2014
    [[--- EDIT --- ]]

    MASSIVE thanks to all our testers - it was great working with you all. We're officially out of beta now and can't add new testers at the moment.

    When the time comes for extra content and tweaks though, we'd love to bring new people on board.

    Cheers!

    ------------------

    Hello people!

    We are SMG, a small indie team working on a game called OTTTD.

    [​IMG]

    OTTTD stands for Over the Top Tower Defense, and consists of a pre-emtive defense campaign across alternate dimensions - a tale of redemption for the out of work global military industry suffering world peace on Earth.

    It's a hybrid mix of tower defense and RTS-lite, with a touch of RPG-lite type mechanics in the mix too.

    We don't have our final trailer ready, but here's a section of it consisting of some Hero-management and gameplay footage:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7XjH78sy3g

    We've also got tonnes of concept art & screens on twitter:
    https://twitter.com/smgstudio

    Summary of features:
    - 21 levels (at launch), consisting of TD + a squad of three movable hero units that directly attack, additionally bringing two active-abilities each
    - 7 hero classes - each gaining individual XP to level up their respective skill trees (16 skills each consisting of active & passive)
    - hero weapon upgrades via in-game currency
    - wide-ranging tactical options by way of the heroes you choose to deploy to a given level, and the active abilities equipped on them

    We're currently about 2 or 3 weeks away from an iOS launch, and we're in a major game-balancing push to get the difficulty progression of levels right.

    If you're a TD, RTS, or any other kind of strategy gamer, consider this post an official request for your discerning eye (and mind) to help us make OTTTD the best it can be!

    If interested, feel free to either reply here, PM us, and drop a message over our FB: https://www.facebook.com/SMGStudio

    We do have limited iOS profile slots though, so please get in touch only if you're serious about giving the kind of feedback to help us really improve the game.

    Many thanks!
     
  2. plugger603

    plugger603 Member

    Mar 23, 2012
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    Interested

    Sent ya a pm
     
  3. redribbon

    redribbon Well-Known Member

    Jun 11, 2010
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    entepreanur,programmer
    looks amazing. i'm interested in beta testing this.
     
  4. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    Damn! This looks pretty frickin awesome! Sent a PM
     
  5. slewis7

    slewis7 Well-Known Member

    Apr 6, 2011
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    Me four!
     
  6. master lee

    master lee Well-Known Member

    Jun 19, 2009
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    Greece kos island
    PM Sent game looks frickin Amazing!
     
  7. EvilArev

    EvilArev Well-Known Member

    Mar 24, 2011
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    Hi SMG! The game looks really polished on the YT video. I liked the unit overview very much. The gameplay also seems to be quite smooth.
    But there's one thing that, in my opinion, works agains all that polish. It's really hard to distinguish the towers and enemies from the background, once it's messed with enemies' remains. All those objects have textures of similar contrast which makes them harder to see. If you have some time, here's a great lecture about the art direction of Diablo 3.
    http://gdcvault.com/play/1015306/The-Art-of-Diablo
    One chapter speciffically addresses the issues of visibility of the important objects during action-intense moments. I'd also be happy to playtest the game, so you can count me in : )
     
  8. SMG Studio

    SMG Studio Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2014
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    Thanks all for the kind words and PMs!

    We're still looking to fill a few slots if any others are keen.

    I left off some of the basic info, my bad..
    This is a Universal App, for iPhone 4s and above / iPad 3 and above or mini.

    iPhone 4 and iPad 2 will -hopefully- come into the fold but the optimisations are still being worked out.

    @EvilArv
    Thanks for the link! I'll look for the section of the vid talks about bg/fg separation as Blizzard are long time veterans of the genre.

    There's been a lot of constant discussion during the development of OTTTD around the permanent carnage left on the battlefield and it's something we tweak often.
     
  9. SMG Studio

    SMG Studio Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2014
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    First round of devices are in Test Flight and ready to install.

    For the people that haven't accepted the Test Flight invite yet, the next build will be in roughly 24 hours.

    If there's any issues just hit us up over PM!

    Many thanks.
     
  10. slewis7

    slewis7 Well-Known Member

    Apr 6, 2011
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    My early impressions are quite positive. This game has style, humor and great graphics! Also, it does not feel like a paint by numbers TD game. Fantastic!

    Through the first three levels, the balance feels quite good, but it is usually the later levels that do not get enough attention in testing, so I will work towards those.
     
  11. SMG Studio

    SMG Studio Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2014
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    Thanks for the feedback. You're right about the earlier levels getting more love as it's those levels we've also had the most user testing on. We're keen to know when the difficulty becomes too hard as it varies for a lot of people based on their strategy
     
  12. Cerberus_17

    Cerberus_17 Active Member

    Apr 10, 2014
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    Sent you a PM
     
  13. redribbon

    redribbon Well-Known Member

    Jun 11, 2010
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    entepreanur,programmer
    i already receive the invitation email but when accept the build is not available on my compatible list. i also check the incompatible but still no present.
     
  14. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    Hahah, the blood and guts is really over the top

    I'll respond with some actual feedback soon
     
  15. 3mry5

    3mry5 Well-Known Member

    Feb 16, 2014
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    Completely in love with this game so far!
    Would you like me to post proper feedeback here or in a PM.
     
  16. SMG Studio

    SMG Studio Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2014
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    that's really awesome to hear 3mry5 :)

    PM or email is better for detailed feedback as it makes for easier conversation and tracking, but feel free to discuss here also - especially regarding strategy and and any levels that are proving difficult.
     
  17. redribbon

    redribbon Well-Known Member

    Jun 11, 2010
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    entepreanur,programmer
    the whole stage was covered in bones and bloods LOL...im starting to like this game. I'm on level 3 right now. will keep playing and post my initial feedback later.
    ps. quick one, is this game will go the freemium road?
     
  18. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    Yeah, and what does the "go premium" IAP actually do?
     
  19. slewis7

    slewis7 Well-Known Member

    Apr 6, 2011
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    I just finished level 8. So far, the level that took the most attempts for me was level 7 - Rockpool. It never got to the point of being frustrating, however. Just darn challenging.

    This TD game rocks!
     
  20. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    One thing I noticed is that enemies basically only fire upon the dirt tower they see until it leaves their range, resulting in only 2 or 3 towers actually taking damage most of the time. I think it should be changed so that they attack the tower closest to them
     

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