If thats the case Niebau why not have an Arena or maybe an endless battle of some sorts? Where every few turns the map spits out a few more baddies that get progressively harder? I think if it's not too hard to write maybe throw that bag of funness at us and see what we can do with it? I think it would allow the grind to have a purpose other than just beating the game and plus that people can get the best loot based on how maybe "waves" they complete. Just a thought
Now that sounds much better, and interesting as well Have to see it in action to really form an informed opinion, naturally. Plus, levelcap to increase the challenge - especially on harder difficulties - is very reasonable. And it makes balancing much easier, too. Question: Can you reach level 18 with a "normal" playthrough before the last scenario? Which means - for a reasonable amount of units - with only minimal - ideally none - replaying of scenarios. I assume that your average player wants to win each stage (including the repeatables) at least once, so throw a few of those in for good measure. This relates very much to your "fun vs. mandatory grind" comment. Unless grind is a big part of the game concept (think the Diablos, or the Battlehearts on iOS), I never consider it a good thing. "Mandatory" (long) grind just to get through the normal game (as opposed to, say, beating the insanely difficult optional bosses in various Final Fantasy games) is bad game design/balancing in my book. Will see what else comes to mind during processing your reply
That sounds like a very good idea. Maybe something similar like the arena battles in Kingturn with the following additions: - Can be repeated endlessly - Scales to the average level of the player's unit - With a higher chance for rare or legendary item drops Neat. Yes. During my first playthrough I have reached level 19 with most of my units. With some of them even level 20. This is partially due to the fact that there are more scenarios than in Kingturn. It's also because you need less units compared to Kingturn, mainly because you have better means of protecting them (The overhauled shield skill of the knight really deserves the name now. And there's also the new mage skill 'Magic Ward'). Absolutely. This is the very reason why we have a beta test. I also wonder how many playthroughs are needed to get the balancing '100% right'. There are more than 60 special skills in Tactics Maiden, each of them having four stages (no skill points, and skill point stage 1-3). So there are virtually more than 240 skills at the moment, and the main thing I've done during the past weeks was to rebalance these skills. While it looks quite promising already, I'm still running into some over- or underpowered skill configurations now and then.
Something arena-style is a nice thought. But I think we can do better than just "endless waves" E.g. add additional hindrances at certain points ("the Mages go on strike for the next 3 waves, you cannot use them"). Or even make a whole row of extra "challenge" scenarios (Juliet's Gauntlet, maybe?) : E.g. "win this without Knights", "sneak enough Assassins to the King".
I love the ability to redistribute skill points at will that way youre not locked into a inopportune character build. Hypothetically there would seem to be potential secondary gains by retreating; but I'm not sure gamers play with a style of intentionally bailing just to amass stuff (that would seem tedious). If a statistics counted attempts on a level win, lose, retreat then that might mediate things. A statistic would have little practical impact on gameplay but might give players feedback hinting against intentionally retreating. Some people really get hung up on stats (hence the popularity of Game Center). Hypothetically it may be possible to take this win/loss/retreat stat and apply it to concrete elements (i.e. if you have an honorable win record you get an elusive playable character or loot, an alternative story event, etc). Cheers on that! A lot of the design choices seem focused on keeping players oriented on strategy and not just overpowering foes. Level caps arent typically popular but probably necessary to keep gameplay balanced in many cases. If move and attack (or defense) are related then allowing players great mobility but frail condition could keep things balanced; in Kingturn the bat riders could cover large areas but for little good (other than as a diversion). Maybe Mov relates to injury rates, higher Mov stat keeps your unit disabled for shorter time thereby more mobile in the long run without immediate superior advantage. or it could be a starting bonus move and extra +1 only on starting turn, this would help shrink the battlefield for newly recuperated units without long term imbalance. We want post-game expansion content before the release!
Okay that would be freaking EPIC. I love the hinderance factor of an endless mode or survival mode that threw in a few tricks. That would be fun. Don't really know how you would implement the switch between waves but it would be fun. Let's see what the boss says about a mode like that idea and I'll expound on it. I like
That's a very good point. While I haven't a concrete concept for Game Center support, yet, there is a lot of data recorded already to keep this option open. The game is tracking, for example, whether the player has changed the game difficulty between scenarios, and memorizes the lowest difficulty setting. These kinds of things are best done from the very beginning, otherwise there are potential save game compatibility issues once leaderboards or accomplishments are introduced. So far the game doesn't track the number of retreats, but I will add it now. This information might indeed come in handy one day. I've tried something very similar as a class ability already: A temporary +2 Mov bonus if a unit is activated from an outpost. I have been running into a surprising amount of technical issues (wrong Mov calculations), but this is definitely worth to further investigate. +1. I couldn't have said it any better .
Disabling classes for a scenario is no problem at all. Without revealing too much of the story before the game release: There is one scenario already where your units 'run out of arrows'. In this scenario you can't use any unit wearing a bow. Prohibited class(es) could also be easily randomized for a repeatable arena scenario.
re: postgame content: Jaja, make fun of me better I throw it out now and you get a good laugh (and we some neat DLC additional campaign in a few months, maybe. Poor niebau would have to create all of this...), than forgetting and nothing coming of it. The statistics part made me think of the ratings several - mainly Japanese - games do: Based on performance (e.g. total health lost, turns taken), you get a rating for a stage; traditionally going from E to A, and "S" for a (near) perfect run. Sometimes just for sense of achievement. Other times you get rewards based on that: e.g. an extra item, or an extra character. Other games gives stars, say 0-3, as rating indicator. I also remember some games giving rewards based on total performance, e.g. "collect 10 stars to unlock this character".
Hurray! By the way - official Warlords port: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=229321 For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of Game Center and think Tactics Maiden would be as well off without it. In-game stat systems feel much more natural. Very nice. If number of retreats were displayed it would at least be an amusing statistic. Total time played is another one that I enjoy (although thankfully that was absent in Kingturn(s) - I killed a bunch of time with those). Kingturn(s) got what seemed like more than a few levels added post-release. The demonic epilogue to Kingturn Underworld was "epic" when it showed up (in the Knighturn build). The amount of post-release refinement that went into that series rivals nothing on iOS to date - total facelifts, new missions, etc. It was almost worth it during their period of Android exclusive to see a totally bulked product enter iOS complete with post-release material (not sparse to begin with). Isn't that similar to what has already been announced in the original post... now you're just cheating! ...The thing is that ratings like this make me want to replay scenarios to perfection; but past Mangobile games have not allowed scenario replays (for good reason due to gameplay balance).
If that's the case then "ALL HAIL TO KING NIEBAU" I expect to see this in Beta!! Haha jk I would like to see this in a post-release though. Like I said i think it would add quite a bit of replay ability and a keen sense of achievement. As for Game Center imho I say leave it out. Let the game be the game. I don't care for the star system or stat comparisons between me and undeadcow but like I said it's probably just me and a few others who think like me. Thanks Ninja Jake
I think I didn't mention it explicitly so far, but there is a 'Replay' button available on the 'Mission Success' screen in Tactics Maiden. So even in case of a success, the player can decide to replay a scenario if he is not entirely satisfied with the outcome. The same can be accomplished with reloading the last autosave by the way (also available in Kingturn already), but having a Replay button makes this option more obvious, especially to new players. Besides missing out on a treasure chest or not achieving a perfect rating score, there is another reason why replaying a scenario might be interesting now and then: In some of the scenarios neutral units are fighting at the players side, and only the surviving units will offer their mercenary services afterwards. Since it is very difficult to save all of them, the player has to decide whether he wants to protect the Wolf Rider or the Paladin instead (just an oversimplified example now).
I know that was more a comment about my sometimes lousy memory (paired with information overload, need to keep a lot of stuff in my head) than anything else. Which proves my above point I had to go back to first post and find it, mind pulled a total blank on it. Here you go:
Agreed, Game Center, Spoiler which seems to exist only to compell smucks to repeatedly toy with shallow casual games (*hides*) , is un-necessary in strategy games. ...but I love in-game stats. Epic feature! So replaying a scenario after willing it will forfit all experience/loot/etc? Tactics Maiden is sounding better day by day.
Fully agree, never got that Gamecenter craze. Mostly not worth paying attention to. Only exception I know is Spellcraft, where they have GC achievements that range from minor tactical challenges to truly mind-boggling stuff that requires serious planning. Ingame stats, on the other hand, can be quite interesting (and revealing about your playstyle) . and Agree again, this sounds extremely good and well thought-out. Also, should increase replay value, if you can go down different paths. And I smell a challenge for hardcore players: "save all the Neutrals, even where niebau tried to make it impossible" Which brings up another question: Are there branching paths, where you have to decide which route/storyline you want to follow? Or can you play all scenarios in one playthrough?
Nice. I have very fond memories of Warlords. Must be interesting to play it again after nearly a quarter of a century has passed. Fine with me. Saves me a lot of headache to prevent all kinds of leaderboard cheatings that could probably done right now. Precisely so. The Replay button also shows up if you retreat from a scenario. This time you will keep everything, though. It's a smart button . Initially I wanted to add story branching to Tactics Maiden, but I'm glad I didn't. The half-hearted approach I would have been forced to come up with wouldn't have done any good, I think. So I've used the time to improve upon all the other aspects of the game instead. So yes, you can play all scenarios in one playthrough.
And I smell a challenge for hardcore players: "save all the Neutrals, even where niebau tried to make it impossible" Which brings up another question: Are there branching paths, where you have to decide which route/storyline you want to follow? Or can you play all scenarios in one playthrough?[/QUOTE] I can't wait to see the finished product. I think the different paths come in by the means of side missions like the others or staying with the main storyline but I would like to know if the side quests could have side quests heehee...I see what you're saying though, if maybe by meeting certain requiremnets in a said level you could unlock a new story path that would be cool e.g. save the mage and get to go fight a rival mage in his tower or save the rogue and go assasinate someone...anyone will do I like the sounds of this and I'm Neibau hates us now for coming up with all sorts of new stuff to put in the game
No problem. Making insolent demands is part of the player's job. And rejecting them is part of the developer's job. The important thing is just that both players and developers are unhappy in the end .
