Blasted Fortress
Bigger Things
We wanted to cut to the chase, as it's been a long time. Blasted Fortress is currently 50% off - only $2.50 - for the Steam Summer Sale 2022. For several years, and despite many free updates, we've avoided putting the game on sale because we haven't been totally confident with promoting it. However, we have some plans next year for hopefully improving and finalizing the game, so it's on sale again. It was developed 10 years ago, was our first release, and frankly I've gained a decade of expertise since then.
Blasted Fortress is amateurish under the hood, so we'd like to produce a sort of "Gold" edition of the game that is fixed up, fundamentally designed better, and something we can be proud to promote as a legacy title instead of kind of timidly kicking it under a rug. I've personally been way too risk-averse as a developer which has resulted in me being stunlocked for several years. I'd like to start taking more chances and releasing things again.
Oh, and please provide constructive feedback on the Steam forums if you can. It would be super helpful to see what everyone likes and dislikes about the game in its current state so we can calibrate a bit on where to focus.
Speaking of improvements (and speaking of breaking my personal stunlock) I'd like to discuss the future of Dapper Swine. We are going to be changing our team name sometime later this year to Wrench Laboratories. We also have new games under development, one of which is a short horror game that will hopefully release around Halloween.
The purpose of the rebranding/renaming is really just because it's something I am aesthetically happier with, and that I think better fits the tone, intention, and "philosophy" I've been building regarding game development over the past many years.
To anyone who got this far, thanks! Maybe drop this announcement a thumbs up to let me know you're reading. Anyways, here's to getting back on track! See everyone soon.
Pricing Updates & More!
Pricing Update
Earlier this month Steam began supporting new currency conversions for Vietnam, Ukraine, Australia, Poland, Argentina, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Costa Rica, and Uruguay.
For most of November, these countries have been unable to purchase the game in their native currency, but we've since caught up and submitted prices in those currencies so if you live in one of those countries, you should be allowed to buy the game again. Sorry to anyone this affected.
If any of the prices in your native currency don't seem fair, please let us know and we'll give them a second look, but keep in mind they all fall in line with the official conversion from $5 USD.
Further, as always we're participating in the Autumn Sale (over soon!) and the Winter Sale this year, so do pick the game up for the cost of a cup of coffee during those times.
Game Related Update
There are some irritating bugs at the moment with the current version of the game related to playing at certain resolutions (especially the map editor not fitting the screen, which slipped by us somehow in one of the last couple updates).
We'd like to get those fixed for you before the year's end, likely before the Winter Sale. We may also have some heavy optimizations related to combat performance (especially when a lot of stuff is being summoned at once, like damage numbers and so forth). We have ideas kicking around for some new content as well.
Our final goal for Blasted Fortress is to update it to a sort of "definitive edition" status where the performance is smooth, most of the bugs are gotten rid of, and perhaps with some new long-term content to play for. We're thinking some kind of Steam item drop cosmetics that change the look of your tribe would be cool.
Until next time, take care.
Pricing Updates & More!
Pricing Update
Earlier this month Steam began supporting new currency conversions for Vietnam, Ukraine, Australia, Poland, Argentina, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Costa Rica, and Uruguay.
For most of November, these countries have been unable to purchase the game in their native currency, but we've since caught up and submitted prices in those currencies so if you live in one of those countries, you should be allowed to buy the game again. Sorry to anyone this affected.
If any of the prices in your native currency don't seem fair, please let us know and we'll give them a second look, but keep in mind they all fall in line with the official conversion from $5 USD.
Further, as always we're participating in the Autumn Sale (over soon!) and the Winter Sale this year, so do pick the game up for the cost of a cup of coffee during those times.
Game Related Update
There are some irritating bugs at the moment with the current version of the game related to playing at certain resolutions (especially the map editor not fitting the screen, which slipped by us somehow in one of the last couple updates).
We'd like to get those fixed for you before the year's end, likely before the Winter Sale. We may also have some heavy optimizations related to combat performance (especially when a lot of stuff is being summoned at once, like damage numbers and so forth). We have ideas kicking around for some new content as well.
Our final goal for Blasted Fortress is to update it to a sort of "definitive edition" status where the performance is smooth, most of the bugs are gotten rid of, and perhaps with some new long-term content to play for. We're thinking some kind of Steam item drop cosmetics that change the look of your tribe would be cool.
Until next time, take care.
The Content Update & Music Update have arrived at last!
As with all content updates, it's free for all. There were so many goodies we wanted to pack into the Content Update that we had to leave a few things out for now, but you sure wouldn't know it from the size of this change list! As always, talk to us if you find bugs or balance issues. Without further adieu...
Update 1.2a
- The Content Update is here!
- There is now Steam Cloud support for your save file.
- All new music throughout the entire game thanks to musician Chris Sinnott! If you'd like to own the new tracks outside the game, the entire soundtrack is also available as DLC. You do not need to own the DLC to enjoy the new music in-game.
- The map editor has been upgraded greatly. Maps must pass validation before they can be saved, and this validation system will also act as a guide to help you make better maps that play more like official maps. While editing, you may also flip between foreground and background editing.
- New siege objectives are available! Maps have objectives based on the type of "objective blocks" they contain. Previously, the only objective was to destroy resource crates. More objective blocks will be on the way later.
- New block: Treasure Block. When included as a part of a map instead of Resource Crates, the objective will be to break all the treasure blocks instead. Treasure blocks will burst into a puff of magic instantly upon touching the ground but are otherwise indestructible.
- New block: Penalty Block. If this block touches the ground, it will cut 10 seconds off the timer. This is useful for making levels that funnel the player into using a specific tactic.
- New blocks: Background blocks. The background of a level is now fully editable. Any block in front of a background block is affixed and won't fall from structural failings alone.
- Maximum building size has been drastically increased. (Your old custom maps are incompatible because of the data structure changing.)
- Engine version updated to Unity 5.0.1f.
- Audio system uses the new Unity 5 audio system.
- Sound effects are pooled in memory rather than created on demand, drastically reducing the CPU load when many sounds are requested to play at once.
- Music now uses the in-house system we created for playing sound effects, which supports crossfading.
- Added sound effects to the vault.
- Rebuilt certain visuals of the day/night system.
- Lightning strikes are more visually impressive.
- Added an interface element showing your total vaulted gold inside the vault itself.
- Blasted Fortress is now pixel perfect in 16:9 widescreen! Now we support 2 fixed resolutions, 800x450 and 1600x900. This has greatly helped in achieving a more old-school look. Windowed and full screen modes are still available. The game will automatically set your resolution to the highest of the two that your monitor supports.
- The cannon is now much farther away from the castle during a siege to enhance the sense of scale.
- Throwers now cower in fear and briefly interrupt their attack pattern when the player casts a voodoo spell.
- Added helper icons over everything in the home base that can be clicked on.
- The credits window has been altered to note Chris Sinnott's contribution.
- Further refining has been done to the GUI to maintain pixel perfection.
- Many UI elements have been minimized, rearranged, and redesigned.
- The way a siege is selected is completely new. The Siege Map is here! A number of sieges of various sizes and difficulties will appear on this map. 1 gold can be spent to quickly rescout the map and generate different sieges. If valid custom maps are present, the siege map will also be guaranteed to pop up with one.
- New swamp biome for sieges. Sieges originating from the "scar" on the map will take place in the swamp. This is the first time we've ever added new landscapes to the game; let us know what you think of this!
- You can now plan out every shot during a siege by using the new trajectory arc! This line shows you exactly where your shot will travel (provided nothing happens to bump it off course along the way). This changes the game a lot, and we'll be monitoring the forums to see what everyone thinks of how this change affects difficulty.
- Using the mouse wheel, you can select between 3 different firing strengths. Observe the arc to see how these levels will affect your shot.
- Firing the cannon no longer requires charging. Projectiles of all weights and sizes will be automatically fired at a power level appropriate for them to follow the shown trajectory.
- Stego Slots is now timed and can be failed. It's unlikely you will be able to get a jackpot every time.
- Added a speech bubble system, used to upgrade the tutorial sequence's production value as well as add flavor speech to parts of the game.
- Explosions blow out back walls.
- Magnet Shot now also pulls Treasure Blocks. Oh... and Penalty Blocks. Bummer.
- Fixed a bug where not all explosions behaved equally.
- Fixed a bug where a particular script was needlessly running on multiple objects. Fixing this behavior resulted in a big FPS boost (about 20% on average).
- Fixed particle sorting issues on many particle effects that were making them effectively invisible.
- Performed an optimization by killing off excess polygons generated when creating sprites.
- Some lore of Blasted Fortress is now available at the Bossman's throne. There you can read his journal of events as he witnessed them before the events of the game and during, however each page must be unlocked.
- Campaign Mode is here! Playing Campaign Mode initiates a string of 4 sieges that must be played sequentially without taking breaks, with sieges that gradually ramp up in size and difficulty. Campaigns are randomly cobbled together from built-in levels, and completing one will reward you with a final bonus to experience and resources gained as well as a page of lore.
- Beasts have a brand new look and their fights have been totally remade. Hit them when they're vulnerable to open up a window of opportunity!
- Beasts are now deadly accurate with their boulders, and throw them harder. Do anything you have to in order to stop them before they hit you.
- As the cannon no longer has a charge-up, Nemmel's acid cloud works differently. Now it will temporarily blind and choke the cannon operator, disabling your trajectory arc. The witch doctor will also choke and cannot raise the shield.
- Lumamon's fiery boulders can now ignite your cannon, causing you to take damage each second until the fire goes out. The fire can be blown out by putting up your shield while burning.
- Szalec's magnetic boulders now suction themselves towards the cannon.
- Genix's bomb can now explode on impact if it hits the cannon, but will otherwise be indestructible until the bomb detonates as usual.
- Bomb Shot now explodes after 4.75 seconds, up from 3. This is to prevent bombs from exploding before touching ground.
- The Steam achievement "I Fight For Perfection" is now achieved differently because beasts no longer block.
- New Steam achievement: Traitor.
- New Steam achievement: Shaman.
- New Steam achievement: Warrior.
- New Steam achievement: Seer.
- New Steam achievement: Campaigner.
- Fixed a bug preventing ammo firing statistics from being logged. It was also preventing ammo firing achievements from being unlocked.
- So many little bug fixes, balance tweaks, and art adjustments that we truly could not keep track!
This announcement was made prior to the patch being released. The patch should arrive around noon on June 8th, 2015 to coincide with the release of the soundtrack.
Wanna Go Halfsies?
We're getting ready to push the first half of The Content Update. That's right, we're going halfsies on this one!
The Content Update is so huge that it could take another couple weeks to sort out certain details, like the two new minigames. We've decided that there is more than enough new content already in that we can push the update as a two-parter. The lore book, campaign mode, the new siege selection map, revamped beast battles, new maps, new blocks, and more are already in the update and pretty much ready to go.
Here's our current game plan: We want to push version 1.2a sometime before the end of the weekend. This has the new music, a ton of new features and blocks, all new levels, and is only lacking the promised minigame additions, which we will pack up with version 1.2b sometime next month.
See you soon!
Update on Patch 1.2 (The Content Update)
We just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that the Content Update is indeed still in the works. We just recently wrote a ton of lore for the in-game tome, and the lore pages can already be unlocked by doing campaigns.
We're currently working on fixing up the new beast battles, and did a lot more work this week on shinying up the interface.
There is an announcement to make: 1.2 will be the final update for Blasted Fortress.
Don't forget though, we're including the Music Update with 1.2, smashing the two updates into one for this final hurrah. It'll be good stuff!
But... why is this the end?!
Looking at our statistics, sales have been flat over the last few months and concurrent users have gone way down to the point of vanishing. Providing free updates for an audience that no longer exists benefits no one.
Should our stats come back to life, we would certainly consider going through with the Tribe War update (which was meant to add a competitive online multiplayer mode to the game), but the current trend is not showing this. We would never dream of canceling promised updates under normal circumstances, but these are a bit abnormal.
At any rate, we're doing our best to have the Content Update live on Steam before the month ends. Coinciding with the release will likely be a sale, so if you've been waiting on one, we'll be making it worth your while. We see that several hundred people have the game on their wish list and we're eager to see if we can invite them in! :)
Have a good one, and hopefully we'll be back in touch at the end of the month with a delightful list of patch notes and a new update.
Update on Patch 1.2 (The Content Update)
We just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that the Content Update is indeed still in the works. We just recently wrote a ton of lore for the in-game tome, and the lore pages can already be unlocked by doing campaigns.
We're currently working on fixing up the new beast battles, and did a lot more work this week on shinying up the interface.
There is an announcement to make: 1.2 will be the final update for Blasted Fortress.
Don't forget though, we're including the Music Update with 1.2, smashing the two updates into one for this final hurrah. It'll be good stuff!
But... why is this the end?!
Looking at our statistics, sales have been flat over the last few months and concurrent users have gone way down to the point of vanishing. Providing free updates for an audience that no longer exists benefits no one.
Should our stats come back to life, we would certainly consider going through with the Tribe War update (which was meant to add a competitive online multiplayer mode to the game), but the current trend is not showing this. We would never dream of canceling promised updates under normal circumstances, but these are a bit abnormal.
At any rate, we're doing our best to have the Content Update live on Steam before the month ends. Coinciding with the release will likely be a sale, so if you've been waiting on one, we'll be making it worth your while. We see that several hundred people have the game on their wish list and we're eager to see if we can invite them in! :)
Have a good one, and hopefully we'll be back in touch at the end of the month with a delightful list of patch notes and a new update.
Let's put all of our cards on the table and talk content!
Well, this update is bigger than even The Update That Changed The World (prior to our Steam release) where the entire game's aesthetic was recreated in lavish 2D. Unlike that update however, these additions and changes aren't inherently visual (though we most certainly have done some new artwork).
Let's talk about what was bad and what we're doing to change it for the Content Update.
Back wall generation is ugly. Because of it being an automated process, when the game generates back walls of castles it lacks creativity and nuance. Holes may be present where you wanted walls, walls may have been created where you intended there to be holes. We thought of numerous ways to fix this. Do we add rule after rule to the automatic back wall generation? We could, but it still wouldn't be perfect and would also not account for what you were going for when you made your custom map. Indeed, even the built-in maps have this issue.
Welcome to the revamped map editor.
(Click here for full size.)
There is now foreground and background editing modes; build the background walls of your dreams! (Well, implying you dream of background walls.) Not only does this allow the creation of new back wall types, starting with wood, but no longer will the game automate this process and do something ugly to your level design.
The editor redesign comes with a few other new features, the most important being map validation. Previously you could make any map you wanted and exploit or break the game with them. There are now strict rules based on certain aspects of level creation so that you must more or less adhere to the same rules we used when building the internal game maps.
When you start on an empty map, the validation text at the top of the screen will likely tell you that this isn't a valid map because there aren't enough blocks. After you add some blocks, it may then tell you that the map isn't valid because there aren't any resource crates in the level. Once you add some, if no other rules were broken, the map will be valid and is able to be saved and played. In that sense, map validation can actually seamlessly walk you through the creation of an "acceptable" siege map and every time you break a rule, that rule will show you how to get your level back in check. Keep in mind the rules are slightly loose, as we encourage creativity over tyrannical control, but allowing cheesy custom maps was something we really needed to reel in.
If you're a veteran user of the map editor, you also have noticed that something else is entirely new. Let's break into a separate discussion regarding that change.
Sieges are too small and the cannon is too close. We did some soul searching and we felt that the maximum building size in Blasted Fortress was too small. Even without increasing the maximum size, the cannon always felt a little too close. Remember that Blasted Fortress was originally created 3 years ago now, and if widescreen wasn't an absolute back then it certainly is now. Indeed, the cannon was so close to account for those with 4:3 displays, but everything is now spaced out to appear optimally in 16:9. The maximum firing strength of the cannon has been improved so that you can clear this new distance.
We don't yet have a flattering screenshot of this to show off, because...
Pixel perfection is serious business. And right now, the game is shimmery and weird. In order to maintain that old school feeling, we're finally taking pixel perfection seriously. This will mean that you will no longer see oddities such as sprites "shimmering" (when a pixel can't figure out whether it should be 1 or 2 pixels wide/tall so it fluctuates; though this is funny to see a tribe dude's eye spaz out, in general it's not pleasant). We're also taking this opportunity to adjust the interface further, which is why it isn't quite ready for primetime.
Random is good, but sieges are too random. We think having sieges be random is healthy from a gameplay perspective because you're forced out of your comfort zone and into a potentially challenging position, but are they too random? The answer we're leaning toward is yes. It's time we got serious about siege selection, and that's why we have implemented the battle map.
(Click here for full size.)
Instead of sticking you with a totally random level, you now select from a handful of random levels. We can also do cool things, like guarantee that one or two levels that appear on the battle map will be a custom level from the editor (provided it's valid, of course!). Each blip on the map has a difficulty icon, and mousing over it shows you information on the level you would be playing if you selected it.
So many other things are on the plate for this content update that it would be crazy to go on as this announcement is already enormous... lore scrolls, campaign mode, etc. and so for now we'll just leave you with a preview of the brand new Beast sprite that will coincide with the overhaul of Beast battles.
We have no ETA on the Content Update's release yet, but if you have any input about what you would like to see in it, please let us know in the comments here or on the forums. We do read them!
The Interface Update is Live!
Update 1.16 (January 27th, 2015)
- The Interface Update is here!
- Every single GUI element in the entire game has been remade. Too many visual details to note; see for yourself!
- Voodoo spells are no longer purchased individually per shot. All spells now draw from a brand new mana pool; the pool is filled by spending Talismans. This means you can fill your mana pool and decide on the fly which spells you want to cast with it.
- All voodoo spells are now on separate cooldown periods. Casting one spell doesn't disable the others. Wield your new power responsibly!
- New ammunition: Spirit Orb! Spirit Orbs are fairly expensive and powerful new ammunition. They are also the very first Community Item; you must follow the Blasted Fortress community via Steam to unlock them. Spirit Orbs will phase through the first obstacle encountered, becoming ghostly until it has room to corporealize again without becoming stuck.
- Roughly doubled the amount of experience required to gain a Talisman, but also roughly doubled the experience gained from jobs taken off the Job Board. This is to make jobs more important as well as to balance the fact that the new mana pool system and unlinked magic cooldowns will give you a greater edge in battle.
- You can now create as many maps as you like in the map editor without the custom map list vanishing off the bottom of the screen.
- The charge bar that indicates your cannon's power level has been removed/reimagined and is now a gold ring around your crosshairs.
- The Juju Pot has been renamed to the Scrying Vessel. It still provides an entry point to fight beasts. All beasts now cost 10 Talismans to locate and battle. The interface for this has changed to buttons that are either enabled or disabled based on the Talismans you have. Improvements to beast battles themselves are being worked on for the content update. Stay tuned!
- Minor artistic changes to certain home base assets and other environmental sprites.
- Female tribe members look more like females and all tribe members now have vastly improved lighting to eliminate the cardboard cutout look.
- Stone blocks now have a 75% reduction in fire ticks, up from 50%. Fire is very ineffective against stone now as it should be.
- Jobs from the Job Board can now appear as being x3 as well as normal and x2.
- Deleting your save file is a more involved process. No more accidents!
- Added a global statistics window to the main menu. You can see all sorts of global Steam stats here as well as your own personal statistics.
- Through some sort of ancient black magic and/or breakthroughs in futuristic technology, we've made it so that you can click on the ladder to leave the Vault. Sorry we never did it sooner!
Important: The interface update required us to re-hook pretty much everything. Although much testing was done, if you notice any bugs, please report them and they'll be hotfixed ASAP.
"The Interface Update" Preview, Part 2
Again, we've bubbled in the important bits. This is how the interface will look during a siege (pending any tweaking before the patch arrives). On the top, you'll see we've moved the spell casting buttons. The timer is now graphical, and appears as a pie chart that slowly turns red. There's also an orb on the left of the spell buttons... more on that in just a second.
The power charge bar has long been a hassle. You're aiming the cannon, but at the same time you want to see how much you're charging your shot. You can't look at both at once... until now. We've placed a golden ring around the cursor that fills now to show your current charge level. This means you can watch what the power of your shot will be at the exact same time your eyes are on where it is you're trying to shoot. It also does a great job of making the UI more minimal.
Lastly in this shot, we see the bottom bar of cannonballs. Again for minimalism, if you don't have an ammo type unlocked it will simply not appear. Hey, wait... what's that one on the far right? I'm sure it's nothing...
The Juju Focus where you upgrade your passive abilities and buy spells has been altered both in form and function.
As you saw in the first shot, there was an empty glass orb. Here we see one that is partially filled. This is because spell uses are no longer purchased per spell; in 1.16 you will directly use Talismans to fill a mana pool and can cast any of the three spells using 1 point of mana. What's more, each spell is now on its own cooldown, so you can cast more spells, more often.
Because the siege timer is almost like your health bar for combat, we thought it would only be natural to surround either side of the spell bar with your mana and time (totally NOT a nod to Diablo...).
One last minor thing you may notice is that the second screenshot takes place at night, and that the foreground of the world now correctly darkens at night. It's the little things...
What's next? Well, we expect the Interface Update (Blasted Fortress version 1.16 to be exact) to arrive before the week ends. There are still things that need doing, but we're well past the halfway mark.
And no, we're not telling you yet what the new ammo is. See you later this week! ;)