Maybe a compromise would be to allow users to take control of any unit on their fortress to manually "possess" with units acting autonomously when not selected for player control. Is this still on track?
@undead Yep, still on track for release sometime in Feb. So, quick update. We've made a lot of gameplay tweaks and now have a formula that we think works really nice, with a nice combination of what we think many people want when they envision a game like this. So, essentially there small rounds or waves, like in any TD. There are 2 "phases" with each round... there is the building phase, where you are flying around in a god-like perspective, repairing your walls, planning out your base, building turrets, and setting up your fortress. This is done at your own leisure, and you can take as long as you'd like doing this. Additionally, you can upgrade your avatar in this mode with new weapons and abilities. Note that you do NOT earn resources in this phase (resources are earned like in a traditional RTS, where you'll have to build mines, generators, and other things to collect resources). Whenever you are ready, you can send the next wave of enemies, where you will drop down and find yourself in a FPS perspective ala Minecraft, equipped with whatever you had bought for your avatar. This is where you'll be fighting in, around, and on top of your fortress that you've build so far. You can use certain abilities and of course your avatars weapons, but you cannot build or repair while in this "action" phase, nor can you buy anything new for your avatar. It ends up creating this really awesome blend of both that feeling in Minecraft when you're walking around amidst your creation, FPS action, and the strategy and planning of a TD. Also, the beauty of Block Fortress is the incredible amount of expansion we can do based on player feedback. If we hear that people want a more traditional TD, we can add a traditional TD mode in, just as an ex.
Block Fortress!!!!!!!!! Looks sexy. Well, I remember playing pixeljunk monsters before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PixelJunk_Monsters It was really fun in my opinion, because you could move this little dude around, and you had to build towers by actually walking to them. Standing near that tower, would continue building them, and also upgrade them. You also had a predetermined path for enemies to go to, and you could build around 10 different towers. There was also multiplayer, which involves you and your buddy building towers, and helping each other upgrade, while you go against stronger baddies. The most memorable, and fun mechanic I found was the ability to actually have a character doing the Tower Defense, instead of just sitting around, and I think you had to manually collect gems. It was a very nice change. So yeah, an avatar or, something that makes you active would be really cool. I'm not sure about doing damage, because you are right, there would be less TD going on.
See above for what we've currently got going on... players will be taking turns with different phases... phase 1 will be building, planning, and upgrading. Phase 2 will be fighting from 1st person as your avatar. We think its a really cool juxtaposition of genres, done in kind of a unique way Not sure on price yet. We aren't planning on launching until mid Feb, so we'll have more details on that soon. We've still got a few more assets to make, and some effects... don't want to show it off too early The game is actually very far along though, its just those elements of polish that are holding us back from releasing a vid quite yet. I think hopefully in another week or so we can get something out for you guys though.
This looks so awesome! Will there be a beta test using Testflight? I would love to try it and leave you feedback!
We may or may not have an open beta... stay tuned to this thread for more info on that in the future! Will definitely not be F2P.
Yep, we've been making tons of progress! Just got finished making most of the 1st person avatar equipment and weapons Right now we're really fleshing out the game-play and balance. Its got a really cool mix of strategic planning and base building, and fps combat that we think is really starting to come together nicely. I know we keep saying it, but we really want to show off a video, but unfortunately there are just too many missing effects and visuals at this point. Trust me - as soon as we can, we'll have something up to show you guys!
I've bought all your games. Really, really looking forward to this one. Super excited for that game-play video.
Yep just got into playing their games and after I get bug heroes quest ill have my collection. Haven't been let down yet.
I know news has been slow, but rest assured we are working really hard getting this baby ready for release, and its coming along really nicely. In fact, we plan on having a small, closed beta soon! We're not sure how we're going to handle it yet (whether its private invites, or a public announcement here), so stay tuned. Anyway, the latest feature we've added is a really awesome crafting system - but of course our own take on it, and one that makes sense in the scheme of the game. Basically, there are a variety of different environment types (snow, jungle, forest, mountain, etc), and each one provides a different type of rare mineral you can collect, which is used for crafting. The cool part is, every turret and piece of equipment has several spots for crafting different add-ons and modules... and there are a ton of options for stuff you can craft (from basic damage, range, ROF modules, to more specific add-ons unique to certain weapons). Even better is you have complete freedom to focus on whatever weapons you want... We've also got 3 game modes which will be in for release (with more planned for the future)... first there is the standard survival mode. In this mode you are free to save and load at anytime, so if you die, there is no penalty for loading and trying a different strategy. You'll go back and forth between the build and action phase, until your barracks or avatar is destroyed. Then there is the casual mode. This is basically just a sandbox mode where you have unlimited money and can pretty much do whatever you want (even switching freely between "god mode" and avatar mode whenever you want)... you can test out strategies, or make intricate and awesome looking fortresses just for the heck of it. And then there is the "Quickstart" mode... this is the competitive mode where there will be leaderboards, etc. In this mode you build up your entire base at the start (with a huge lump of cash), and then you last as long as possible as your avatar. I know we haven't posted any screens or videos recently, but that doesn't mean we're behind schedule... it just means we've had to focus on getting the game-play ready for beta, and we've had to put the visuals and effects on the back-burner (which means we can't show anything off yet). But again, we're getting closer than it may seem!
