delta rhino, there is no quick launch option. But that's a good suggestion! We can add that as an update. I'm thinking that if you replay the same map on Master or higher, we can skip everything and just go directly to the map. How does that sound? dib, I'm sorry to hear that. IAP was added more than a year after the launch of Defender Chronicles: Legend of the Desert King. In that first year, many players have proven that the game is beatable and the later added IAP are just there as optional/ for fun only. Defender Chronicles II follows the same model. You don't need IAP to beat the game. If this doesn't satisfy you, please clarify and let us know what kind of business model would be ideal for you?
I'm glad to hear that, at least from the sound of it, DCII won't be flooded with IAPs. That would definitely turn me away from the game. On another note, and I expect that I know the answer, but will the sequel be more of a complete game than the original? I was never really satisfied with the ending of the original, especially when it was first released. It just had an incomplete feeling. I don't even finish many iOS games to be honest, but I did finish DC and was just a little disappointed. The updates helped, but by then I had started to move on already. That said, I'm not trying to take away from how great the original was as a whole.
Jibba, do you mean story-wise? Yes, DCII will have a huge boss at the end and some closures to its story. But we are still keeping some plots open because we want to add more units, story and maps for update. In fact, we are currently already working on the new maps and have contracted the artists to draw the next 10 maps. And yes, IAP are always optional. Thanks for the support!
I don't mind IAP at all, as long as as the game hidden beneath is still a cohesive whole (not balanced after IAP purchases), and the purchaseable items and advantages offer NO competitive advantages in online multiplayer (which is the great, big, taboo in allowing purchases for real-world money in games). However, the reality of the hardcore iOS scene (of which sites such as TouchArcade are both icons, symbolizations, and good representation), is that as long as you include ANY IAPs that allow players to purchase anything beyond visual customization, there will be a counter-reaction. Often a sizeable one. There are some poignant examples here on TA of games which are free but also actually qualitative, and which offer plenty of ways to earn the IAP currency through gameplay, in infinite amounts (which means that the whole game, every single aspects, mechanic and item, is available for free), and who still get a bad rep for IAP. It is a shame, as it sometimes puts a stopper on developer experimentation to find alternative sources of profit. But it can also be a good reason not to dabble in IAP at all, for fear of the communal backlash. So, if you think the increased profits from IAP outside the hardcore iOS community and TouchArcade's sometimes rather higly walled garden will justify the loss of the IAP opponents as customers, pay no attention to any complaints (justified or not) about IAP I am confident you have made the game most satisfying for those of us who plan to enjoy the game without purchasing our progress (and thus ruin the fun for ourselves). But if you care about above-mentioned demography (and I have no pretensions of knowing whether this is a sound business decision or not, though my guess is that turning a deaf ear to their lamentation and including IAP will lead to higher profit yields), I'm afraid you might have to rip every single IAP out of the game.
Ayjona, well said! I can't say it better. I'm totally aware that it's impossible to please everyone. So beyond explaining, we're certainly not going to force everyone to agree with every single decision that we've made for the game. Here is a summary of how IAP work in this game, especially for those who have not played DC1: 1. There is only 1 currency in the game and you can get that from playing. 2. We tested the game without using any of the IAPs. IAPs were added late in development after everything is balanced. The game is beatable without IAP. 3. There is no online multiplayer but there is online leaderboard via GameCenter. Those who dont purchase IAP can still compete with those who do. 4. When we add new maps, you can get those for free (no IAP purchase).
The thing that turns me off is the need to beat each map 20 times to advance on the special difficulties (which I read on the game's forum). That seems every bit as bad as, and maybe worse than, the original, which I stopped after beating the normal difficulties. I'll probably still buy it, as the normal difficulties on the original were fun enough to justify the purchase price. But the higher difficulties should be about higher skill, with the same level of grinding required unless you need extra help because of the difficulty, but with clearing the levels being possible with the same modest level of grinding. Just my opinion, but I think the concept of a rpg/tower game was new in 2009. Today its old hat. I'm sick of excessive grinding, and I bet many other players are too, even some that originally did the advanced difficulties in the original. "Difficulty" levels which deliberately require massive grinding hold no appeal at all, if they ever did.
ArtNJ, the game is supposed to end at Heroic difficulty. The first version of DC only has 4 difficulties (Novice, Casual, Master, Heroic). Some hardcore gamers wanted a harder level, so we added Legend. Then some wanted infinite play, so we added the special difficulties after Legend. For most people, they can consider the game ends at Heroic (or at Legend for hardcore gamers). That's why in the press release we only mentioned five difficulties: "... five difficulty levels and game modes to work through." You can consider the special difficulties as a bonus. When you completed Heroic/Legend, you are done with the game. If you want to keep on playing, this is where the special difficulties will come in handy; but otherwise you're done.
That makes some sense, and I did feel like the original game was pretty well balanced through Heroic in terms of the modest amount of grinding that was necessary if you focused on problem solving rather than grinding through it. DC is unique I guess in that you truly did develop a hardcore fanbase that wanted the massive grind difficulties. These days, massive grinds are a freemium thing, and have a fairly negative connotation, at least for me. So, I'd still rather see it done differently, with gear awarded for certain skill based achievements, giving you an incentive to re-play levels and tackle the enhanced difficulties, without merely multiplying the grinding factor by 10. I mean, sweating to get an achievement on a level an unlock a piece of gear you need for an enhanced difficulty, and retrying that level a whole bunch of times, has a different feel than being told you have to beat every level 20 times to advance. If your fan base wants the grinding, they want the grinding, but at least in general and to me, there are better ways to give people extra content.
As one of those original "hardcore" gamers for DC1, I was extremely grateful for the harder multi-stage difficulties, though it seemed like the early stages of a new difficulty were easier than the last stage of the previous set. E.g. Immortal r1 seemed easier than Mythic r20. Or is it just that by the time I've beat everything in one special difficulty my skill points increase enough that even with similar gear it seems easier? Can you comment on that Gimka? (I think I remember reading on the DC forum that each r+1 increased difficulty 1%, but I never saw the increase from one special difficulty to the next.) ALSO..... is there any improvement to the store and "discovering" better gear? The only time I ever felt I was REALLY wasting time was all that time constantly refreshing the store to find that certain combo weapon/ring/gear I needed at the time.
DC2 will have both medals to earn, which will unlock skills and abillities, and loot is now awarded after each successfully defeated map.
Deltha_rhino, the increase difficulty is 2% per round. Immortal R1 should be 2% harder than Mythic R20 and has an extra elite/ boss enemy. Maybe its just like youve said, the additional skill points help and perhaps you have refined the strategy further during Mythic R20. The shops in DC2 has improved filter. With higher rep, you will get much less lower rank/ quality items. Each item also has minimum and maximum rep. For instance, Dagger will only appear at Rep 1 to 3. After 3, it will be replaced with Sword until Rep 5 then it will be replaced with Longsword. This applies to all items. So, the shop will not be cluttered with lower grade items anymore. ArtNJ, the special difficulties are not for everyone. Like Plast2 said, we already have medals for that. This is probably too much detail but here is the list of requirement that we used when we designed the level for each difficulty: Novice Casual - Target new/ casual players - Minimum strategy required - No grinding required - No artifacts required - Might need to spend some skill points to achieve perfect victory on some maps - Note: Novice & Casual for DC2 have been adjusted to be much easier compared to DC1. Master Heroic - Target experienced players - Additional waves and boss units may appear - Good to strong strategy required, especially to achieve perfect victory on Heroic - Minimum grinding for Melwen; medium grinding for General - Some artifacts required - Max level on 1 to 3 most important skills required for some maps Legend: - Target hardcore players - Strong strategy required - Grinding required: not recommended if you dont like this. Most players will be done after Heroic. - Strong artifacts required - Max level on 4 to 5 most important skills required. Mythic Ultima: - Beyond hardcore; target those who want infinite play. - No new features: think about going beyond floor 100 in Torchlight/Diablo. Same items, same enemies, just stronger. Nothing new to expect; just replaying the same thing over and over again (with slightly more difficult every time). - Lot of grinding required. Probably less than 0.5% players will reach these difficulties. Obviously, not for majority For Legend and beyond, we intentionally dont add new features because these difficulties are optional. If we start adding new items/ gears then they won't become optional anymore. People will get back to us mentioning they cant get such gear/ item because they cant beat Legend/Mythic difficulty, which obviously are not designed for majority of players. Hope that make sense!
Perhaps you mean 'many players' in the sense of the diehard fans who actually frequent the forum and didn't mind pouring countless hours into replaying the same levels in order to progress. I just loaded it up to check where I was: Melwen level 105. Three levels that I could never beat on legendary: Silver Keep, Helegom, Siria. The way the game is balanced favors equipment over strategy. Perhaps you also mean beatable in the limited sense of finishing the final levels, as opposed to playing on the hardest difficulty. The point being that the latter is impossible without the best equipment. There simply is no strategy to overcome the fact that many enemies cannot be damaged by normal units without the hero and massive boosts that comes with equipment. The problem being the game was grindy. Equipment costs hundreds and thousands of tokens. The number of tokens for beating Helegom on master level: 16. The total value of equipment I was using is 7529. Meaning I would have to replay that level 470 times in order to afford it. But of course, you guys so kindly provided the shortcuts in IAP: purchases like double tokens, or buying your virtual currency outright. Should I spend a couple months grinding away in the game, or buy 30,000 tokens outright? So don't insult us by insisting that it was purely "optional/for fun".
dib, I'll just say the honest truth, Legend is not meant for you (and for most players). Legend requires strong artifact and grinding. I have no intention to hide that fact. Your game ends at Heroic. Legend: - Grinding required: not recommended if you dont like this. Most players will be done after Heroic. - Strong artifacts required And there are still 3 difficulties after legend. Those are only for those who want infinite play (meaning repeating the game again and again). And there was never insult intended. If you felt that way, I apologize for my inability to explain clearly. And thanks for the detail reasoning on your side.
@dib: If you look just above your post, you'll see that the target for Legend is hardcore players. In fact, Legend was added some time after the games release because many players requested a tough challenge. We have just finished the beta tests for DC2. Only two testers actually had access to the IAP items, the rest of the beta testers did not. IAP items are optional, and for fun. - And you can believe that or not. - It seems like you have made up you mind about it though...
@dib: I have never done an IAP with DC1 but have beat Legend, Mythic, and most of Immortal (on this my third play through). My current Melwen sits at level 305. I really appreciate that it took a lot of strategy to beat the harder levels. I had to learn to grind with the General with certain skill points high, and use a different game mode to (more quickly) grind tokens. I had to learn how to balance skill points and gear differently for different levels... Between Helegom and Siria I had to completely reset and reapply my skill points and switch up my gear. That level of depth and strategy is what made the original awesome and I hope the sequel is every bit as awesome... SIX DAYS! Just saying...
I completely agree with delta. I never bought anything IAP, never felt the need. I personally thing buying these optional items makes the game less enjoyable then working hard for them. I spent hours and hours learning the strategies (a lot of reading on the forums about strategies) I also spent many many more hours just grinding to get one or two items required to beat a level. The first game was by far my favorite game for mobile device. I bought an android phone (this isnt the place to debate which is better ) but i keep my old iphone 3s around just for DC1. I am SOOO excited for DC2, I hope there is just as much grinding to keep myself occupied for another countless amount of time
Gimka: Plast wrote that this will be linked with iCloud... does this mean that my game progress on my iPhone and on my iPad will be synced?
delta_rhino, we are working on iCloud support. But we don't want to rush that as we heard some people are losing save games because of it. So we want to make sure we give it enough time to implement and to test it properly. We have June 4th target submission date for update 1.1. That will include a new map, a new enemy and few more new things that I'll post in more detail in the next few days but most likely it won't include iCloud yet for the reason above. Deity X, all major sites have received the game and they will post reviews on launch day.
Looking forward to this, but any word on file size (uncompressed)? Gotta think about what I may/may not have to delete to grab this upon release.
