It took a bit longer than expected but Alpha 5.8 Make Repairs is out now. It brings 2 new blocks, a new action card, changes to the way the barracks works, and a major gameplay system. Also lots of bug fixes thanks to the help of the discord community.
This new system involves defenders and the way they are restored. Previously at the end of each wave any missing defenders would be automatically replaced. This meant that losing most of your defenders was no real issue as long as you managed to keep the enemies away from the keep. Now however you need reinforcements to replace missing soldiers. The keep will provide up to 5 reinforcements after each wave and will send them out automatically to blocks that are missing some of their soldiers. One of the new blocks and the new action card are involved with this system.
The action card is called Reinforce. You can play it on any blocks missing defenders to restore them back to the full number. It can even be used to restore the defenders on your keep, however in that case it is only one at a time.
The first of the new blocks is the Infirmary. Each one will provide 3 more reinforcements per wave. Quite useful to keep the numbers up if you are losing a lot of your soldiers later in the game.
The second new block is the Guard Post. It holds a couple strong melee defenders who will attack nearby enemies. These units are stronger than the barracks soldiers but are limited in number.
The Barracks block has changed a bit as well from the previous version. Before it would send out a couple soldiers who would then return at the end of each wave. Now it still sends soldiers to nearby blocks but it doesn't call them back. This means that over time it can slowly build up many weak melee defenders on nearby blocks. The range in which it can send soldiers has increased from only 1 tile way to 2 tiles and they are now better able to prioritize where to send their soldiers.
See below for the rest of the changes
Changes:
New reinforcement system as described above.
New Action Card - Reinforcement
New block Infirmary
New block Guard Post
Changes to the Barracks block.
More performance improvements
Units can now jump down a whole block height instead of only a half. The effects both enemies and your own defenders.
Enemy archers are now a bit more accurate and shoot a little faster.
Adjusted collision of defenders to make it easier for them to move passed one another.
Battlements have been made a little bit more accurate.
Archers now shoot a little bit slower.
The keep now has 50% more health as well as takes a bit less damage from rams.
Reduced the cost of all action cards
Fixes:
Soldiers have learned to wait until the block has come to a complete stop before getting on so they don't fall off and have to climb back up to their positions.
Fixed an issue with Creative Mode where losing would stop the wave from ending and thus prevent any further building.
Fixed a bug with the tutorial that prevented advancing after receiving the volley action card.
Fixed incorrect Cheval De Frise description.
Cards are now deselected when night ends and the build phase only cards are returned to the hand.
Additional changes to Flood Plains level to try and fix the random issue with it.
Wave start button now enables on build phase start rather than wave end.
Messages to wishlist on Steam should no longer appear in the full version of the game.
Path over marsh tiles is no longer floating in the air.
Climbing defenders are now properly teleported to their positions when the wave starts.
Fixed an issue when clicking on a ballista that could sometimes cause a different ballista than intended to rotate instead of the target.
Fixed an issue with the campaign that caused it to indicate that there was one more start obtainable than there actually was.
Fixed an issue that sometimes occurred when trying to return to the map and soft locked the game on the level.
Fixed Battlements not having stairs leading up to crossbow blocks.
Numerous small fixes and changes to make the game more stable.
Alpha 5.7 Clear the Rubble
Alpha 5.7 has just been released. This update focused on cleaning up some of the code and trying to fix some of the issues that have been reported.
In addition to that we improved the lighting with a new day/night cycle which is tied to the waves. It starts at mid day while you are building and then quickly speeds ahead to the night when you start the wave. The wave will play out and then it will speed through the rest of the night and return to the next day once the wave has been beaten. As part of this we have also added a useful catch to force end waves that have gotten stuck. If a wave goes on too long it will finish the wave to prevent a soft lock and allow the player to continue instead of needing to restart the level.
Creative mode has been improved as well. The drop downs have been replaced with buttons for adding units to the wave which is faster and clearer. In addition to that, several buttons have been added to generate different strength groups of enemies.
See below for the rest of the changes
Changes:
New day/night cycle w/ wave timeout
Various performance improvements
Greatly improved creative mode wave creation with buttons to automatically generate waves of different strengths
The Cheval-De-Frise makes a return with new functionality. Now it acts as a temporary barricade that soldiers will attack and destroy before they can move through it.
Balanced the Crossbow block, increased damage and slightly increased range but also increased their cost.
Cleaned up the code
Added additional catches to reduce/prevent error propagation.
Fixes
Fixed the deck building screen layout for wide aspects
Fixed and issue when trying to give armor to soldiers which could result in armor being missing and/or preventing a wave from starting.
Fixed an issue with the Flood Plains level which stopped the paths from appearing and broke waves.
Fixed an issue with the Barracks block where sometimes Barracks soldiers were unable to walk back into the barracks.
Fixed an issue with archers in formations where enemies archers could sometimes get stuck.
Update coming soon
The next update will be out soon. I'm working on fixing some more bugs that have been reported and making some additional adjustments to the update before I put it out. I'm planning to release the update this Wednesday the 11th or Thursday the 12th once I have had time to get a few more of the issues worked out.
Thanks again to everyone who has reported bugs and given feedback!
Alpha 5.6 - Prepare for Spring
Alpha 5.6 has just been released. This update was a shorter one focused on improving the UI. The game now supports more aspect ratios with proper UI scaling and has more options for changing the resolution. The game also allows toggling between windowed and fullscreen. In addition to this we have also added the Crossbow block. It shoots more slowly than archers but the bolts shot by it will pierce armor, making it quite useful against heavily armored enemies.
Changes:
Added new options for controlling resolution and full screen
Changed the text of the button for exiting the level from "Return to Map" to "Exit to Map" to make it clear
Made chain and plate armor a bit stronger
Added a option for disabling effects such as the fire and arrow impacts.
Fixes
Fixed issues with the tutorial map
Fixed an issue with enemy armor not being set properly which could result in enemies having the wrong level of armor.
Fixed the campaign listing the wrong number of stars available.
Fixed one of the rocks on Desert Dunes not properly keeping enemies from walking through it.
Alpha 5.5 Patch
We have released a small patch to the latest update which fixes a couple reported issues.
Fixed: Enemies walking through Barracks blocks.
Fixed: Barracks Soldiers not properly targeting enemies.
Fixed: Barracks block description.
Alpha 5.5 Repel the Assault
Alpha 5.5 Repel the Assault has now been released. This changelog covers both this update and the placeholder update from February.
First up is the new Melee combat. Rather than defenders and enemy soldiers ignoring each other when they are close by, now they will attack one another. Currently this means walking up to their target and damaging them as they throw them back but this may be changed in the future. All ranged soldiers will participate in melee combat such as battlement defenders but we have also added in new Melee defenders which have no ranged attack. The new Barracks block spawns a couple of these melee defenders at the start of each wave and sends them to reinforce nearby blocks. The new keep also uses melee defenders. In earlier versions the keep was covered and enemies that got inside would disappear into the keep and damage your health. Now the keep is open and spawns 3 melee guards at the start of the level which act as your health. They will fight any enemies that climb onto the keep but once the guards are gone it will only take a few moments for an enemy soldier to capture the keep.
In addition to the major changes there are a number of balance changes and fixes to the game which are listed below.
Major Features:
Melee Combat: Soldiers now hit each other with melee attacks rather than walking passed and ignoring enemies.
New Barracks block: Spawns a couple melee defenders at the start of each wave. These defenders head to adjacent blocks to help fight off enemies that climb onto your blocks.
New Keep: The keep has been changed to be open and with 3 melee defenders guarding it. Enemies now need to defeat all the defenders and then survive on the keep for a few moments to capture it. The keep defenders act as your health pool and are not restored between waves.
New system for positioning defenders. The position of defenders will now change based on how many defenders are on a block with the defenders now more evenly placed.
(Full Game) Improved Modding. The limited modding has been improved with some controls on the main menu. You can now enable or disable the mod files from in game and the mod file no longer needs to be deleted in order to reset the default values.
Changes/Balance:
Reduced the strength of Leather armor.
Adjusted color of Leather armor to make it stand out more from the enemy shirt colors
Adjusted wave strength in Endless and Campaign.
Improved accuracy of Archers and Battlements.
Slightly improved the collision of arrows so they are less likely to slip passed an enemy when it looks like it should hit.
Slightly increased the range of all ranged blocks by about 10%
increased the number of repair cards purchasable in endless from 2 -> 3
Removed friendly fire.
Replaced the Swiss Architects tech with the Royal Guards tech which adds more keep defenders.
Shields now take more damage from fire.
Siege now takes more damage from fire.
Enemy soldiers can now climb onto turrets.
Enemy archers now show up sooner and more often.
Fixes:
Fixed Siege Towers sometimes getting stuck between two blocks when trying to pass between them.
Fixed soldiers sometimes ending up with multiple helmets and/or armor.
Fixed an issue with shields sometimes being invisible.
Fixed an issue with the destroy block tool.
Fixed an issue where sometimes arrows would be left floating in the air.
Fixed an issue where the side bar controls would not reappear after a wave in creative mode.
Fixed issue where plate armored Rams and Siege Towers were having their plate armor replaced with wood armor.
Minor update: Campaign fix and melee combat
With this update the recent campaign issues should be fixed. In addition the first part of melee combat is now available. Defenders and enemies will now fight each other when they get into close range rather than just walking passed each other. The rest of the melee update and the full changelog will be released around the end of the month when the Barracks block and other items are complete.
If you encounter any bugs or have any suggestions feel free to let us know in discussions or on the discord. Thanks!
Fix for campaign issues almost ready for release.
There have been a couple campaign issues that have been reported recently. I have been working on a fix for that and should be able to have that out in a day or two after some additional testing. In addition to the testing the update will include the first part of the melee combat update with units now able to fight each other. This update is currently available on the test branch if you want to try it out now.
If you have any trouble with the game or this update feel free to let us know either on the discussions page or on our discord.
Alpha 5.4 Armor Up has been released
Alpha 5.4 Armored Up makes some major changes to the game. All soldiers now have body armor and helmets. The armor comes in three levels of strength, Leather, Chain, and Plate armor with each being stronger than the last. Along with this enemies now take damage depending on where they are hit. Leg and arm shots only take 1/3 of their health while body shots take 2/3 and head shots kill them. There have also been some changes to the paths. In previous versions all levels would start with 6 different paths and would send enemies from any number of them right from the start. Now the game will start with a single path of those 6 active and additional paths will be added over time. This should allow players a better idea of where to start building their castle while still letting the waves build up to attacking you from all sides.
With this update we have also added some simple modding capability. After launching the game a mod file will be created in the same folder as the game save C:\Users\[name]\AppData\LocalLow\Sisyphean Games\Castle Constructor This file will have the default values for enemy health, armor health, and a couple other fields. Changing these will adjust the in game values the next time you start the game. This will likely be expanded over time with more fields.
Major Changes:
Enemies now take damage depending on where they are hit. They have 3 hp and take 3 damage from a head shot, 2 damage from a body shot, and only 1 damage from an arm or leg shot.
Enemy soldiers now have helmets and body armor that can take a number of hits before breaking and falling off.
Added new variants of enemies that use the different levels of armor.
The enemy flags now come in over time rather than starting with all 6 flags active and enemies able to come from all sides.
Added simple modding capability to allow players to modify enemy health, armor health, enemy costs, etc.
Changes/Balance:
Adjusted the knockdown rate of moats and made it so that enemies are less likely to get knocked down multiple times in a row
Ballistae bolts now pierce armor
The number of starting blocks has been reduced since fewer directions need to be covered at the start of the level now.
(Endless) Vaults are now considered a special block in endless.
Adjusted the projectile arc of some blocks to make arrows more likely to hit the enemy body rather than head.
Added a stronger level of Rams and Siege Towers.
(Endless) Adjusted the difficulty of endless mode.
(Endless) Adjusted the cost of some blocks.
(Endless) Adjusted the starting cash and gain per wave a bit.
Updated the creative mode wave builder to include all the new enemy variants.
Archer caps now act like a weak helmet rather than being purely decorative.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed the health indicator flag on the keep so that it more accurately shows the player's remaining health.
Fixed and issue with moats permanently slowing some enemies.
Fixed a minor pathfinding issue on the Swamp Lakes level.
Alpha 5.2 Moats and Marshes
Castle Constructor Alpha 5.2 has been released. This update brings in both the new moat block and the new marsh terrain as well as improved targeting of enemies. Moats can be placed on flat ground and will slow down any enemy trying to pass through it. In addition while doing so soldiers will have a chance of tripping and falling down, giving your towers even more time to take them out. Marshes are a new ground tile. They will let enemies pass through but they keep you from building on that tile. The only way around that is to use the Vault blocks which can be placed on marsh. Be aware though, if the vault gets destroyed the whole tower will end up collapsing.
Besides these additions, towers are now better at choosing which enemy to target first and they are more accurate when trying to hit enemies that are climbing. There are also some good performance improvements, some smaller changes, and several bug fixes. For more details check out the full list below.
Additions and Changes:
New Moat block. Moats slow down enemies and can cause them to trip as they walk through it. (Replaces the Cheval De Frise.)
New Marsh ground. Enemies can walk through marsh but you are unable to build on them unless you use a Vault.
Added 3 new levels that use the new marsh tiles.
Greatly improved targeting priority. Towers are much better at determining which enemies to target first.
Removed the limit on climbing height. Enemies will now climb over taller towers than before.
Improved tower aiming at enemies that are climbing up blocks. Towers are much better at hitting them now.
Greatly Improved soldier performance. There is now much less of a fps hit from having a large number of soldiers on screen.
Slightly improved performance of ranges. Rotating the camera while placing a block with range should have much better performance.
Added a new option to hide unplayable cards during a wave. This way you can see all your action cards and easily play them.
(Endless) Added a display for how much gold you will earn next wave.
(Endless) Destruction tool is now available in endless mode.
Adjusted the destruction tool cursor to make it clearer where it is pointing.
Fixes:
Arrow slits can no longer shoot straight up to hit enemies on top of them.
Update Archer block description to include that height improves its accuracy.
Fixed enemies that fell down sometimes being unable to stand back up.
Fixed paths sometimes changing when a ram was killed.
Fixed a minor pathfinding issue on the River Delta level near one of the bridges.
Reduced the chances of an enemy getting stuck between blocks.
(Campaign) The clear ground button can now be clicked while the new pack selection screen is open.
Fixed creative mode 'tutorial' not being cleared when leaving creative mode.
Fixed the card selection highlight not properly being reset between levels.
Siege towers should no longer clip into the keep instead of setting up against it.
