Hey there, this is just a small update containing a few new icons, and a new section in the Help describing Uniques and Rarities:
Uniques are weapons, protections or accessories that cannot be bought in shops. Some fighters may come equipped with one or more uniques and they can be obtained as loot.
Rarities are weapons, protections or accessories that can only be obtained as loot in dungeons battles.
I hope you enjoy this update and if you can spare a minute spread the word about the game, like the page on fb
www.facebook.com/HartaconTactics
and follow on Twitter
twitter.com/HartaconTactics
Ciao,
Charlie
Release
As of 1 Jan 2019, Hartacon Tactics has ended its Early Access phase and is officially released.
Please keep the feedback coming, in form of reviews, discussions and bugs reports as development is by no means suspended.
The focus from now on is consolidation though, therefore if you would like to share ideas for new features or game mechanics, your contribution is greatly welcomed but don't expect any mayor tranformations.
Beta v7.14 - Close to final release
Hi everyone, the default and current branches of the game have been updated to Beta v7.14, meaning everybody gets the most up to date version of the game. Here's what's new:
- Mp-recover passive skill.
- All physical attacks damage armors.
- Damaged armors have proportionally reduced Pdef, Mdef and Eva stats.
- Back command can be used as a shortcut to enter View mode.
- Added Legends to multiplayer.
- Original soundtrack.
There are a few gameplay changes. I've read comments about how some players found skills much more useful than regular attacks, so I tried to balance that by having attacks always damage armors.
Damaged armors are less and less effective as their health decreases from four to zero, but don't worry, they get repaired at the end of every battle.
There's a useful shortcut now available in battles during commands selection. With "Back" you enter View mode without having to switch to the second selector.
Parties completing the single-player campaign become Legends. The party formation after the last battle is locked but you can still use the shops and develop the characters. If you replay the last battle, maybe after a little more grinding, the new formation will replace the old one in the Legends. In other words: one campaign, one party in the Legends.
Finally, the game now has an amazing soundtrack made of seven engaging original tracks composed by Jack Le Breton.
It's been a while since the last update, development has slowed down a bit, but I finally reached a point where I feel that my early access goals have been met, so this is features-wise the version of the final release. I'll be doing bugs fixing of course, especially on multiplayer, which is the section of the game that has been tested comparatively less.
The official release date is 1 January 2019.
If you want to get the game at the early access price, you still have a bit of time.
Thank you all for following and supporting the development of the game during early access, and for all the feedback, questions, suggestions, reviews and bug reports.
It's been a teaching experience. The world of game development is tough. Even if you're a single indie developer, in the mind of the players you're compared with games having a twenty-fold price tag. I hope I delivered a game that is artistically worthy and can offer some hours of challenge and entertainment.
As always spread the word about the game, like the page on fb
www.facebook.com/HartaconTactics
and follow on Twitter
twitter.com/HartaconTactics
Ciao,
Charlie
Beta v7.13
Hi everyone, the "current" branch has been updated to Beta v7.13. Here's what's new:
- Depth of dungeons depends on difficulty.
- Fixed a bug affecting elemental alignment.
- Window border glitch fixed.
- More on-screen clickable buttons added.
- New fire magic animation.
- Changed how turns are counted for dead units timeout.
- Atom skill damage decreases with distance.
- Improved battle command selection with analog stick.
- Changed action delay calculation to include distance moved.
- Only active locations shown on map during campaign.
- Updated a few maps.
- New skills page.
Less than I hoped to put in this update, but still a nice set of improvements I dare to say.
There are a couple changes to the campaign, in that locations in the map won't be visible until they become accessible. Not much of a novelty if you have played the campaign before but I feel it adds to the experience for the new players.
The depth of the dungeons is not fixed anymore and depends on the difficulty level. Campaigns from previous versions cannot be loaded.
In terms of battle gameplay I modified the action delay to take into account the distance moved. Use that and the Skip command to give your character another action in a few turns.
Another distance-related change is the skill Atom, whose effect reduces with distance, giving you the choice between attack power and safe position.
You'll see a new fire magic animation. The plan was to update them all, but my artist disappeared. That's the world of small indie developers.
However I have a really talented composer working on original music tracks.
I hope you enjoy this update and if you can spare a minute spread the word about the game, like the page on fb
www.facebook.com/HartaconTactics
and follow on Twitter
twitter.com/HartaconTactics
The Default branch will be updated to beta v7.13 after some testing as usual, allowing me to get feedback and bug reports.
Ciao,
Charlie
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HOW TO ACCESS CURRENT BRANCH
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If you open the Properties of the game from your Steam Library, you'll see a BETAS tab.
In this tab there's a drop down list of branches you can opt into. Type the following password in the code box:
htcurrentbuild
and this will give you access to the "current" branch of the game. As you select it, the game will update and you'll be able to play v7.13.
You can swap back to v7.12 but be aware this will delete your savegame.
Beta v7.12, Achievements
Hi everyone, the "current" branch has been updated to Beta v7.12. Here's what's new:
- Archer's skill Bird Killer deals extra damage to Hawkmen.
- Sorting added to campaign setup recruiting screen.
- Updated spawn positions on most large maps.
- Added status ailment effects to some skills.
- Updated height reach of all weapons and skills.
- Advance and Jump cannot be used if walk range is reduced to zero.
- Class specific skills introduced.
- Achievements.
- More popular online maps displayed first in map editor by default.
- On screen directional arrows for skill target selection removed.
Quite some work done as you can see. Achievements made it to the headline as it's the last of my objectives for the Early Access stage. There are eight of them at the moment, more will be added, with rewards, in the near future.
I received some suggestions and I introduced sorting of recruits.
Some people felt a few maps were just too large. I thought about reducing the size, but then I didn't want to sacrifice the good work done by my level designer and so I just moved the spawn points so that teams start closer to each other. Everybody is happy now.
A lot of re-balancing work on skills, with a few novelties including skills that can only be acquired by certain classes, and skills that deal more damage to certain classes.
Finally I replaced the on-screen directional arrows with on-map target selection for directional skills for those playing with the mouse. You guys are hard to please! It's more of an experiment, let's see what kind of feedback I get.
I hope you enjoy this update and if you can spare a minute spread the word about the game, like the page on fb
www.facebook.com/HartaconTactics
and follow on Twitter
twitter.com/HartaconTactics
The Default branch will be updated to beta v7.12 after some testing as usual, allowing me to get feedback and bug reports.
Ciao,
Charlie
-------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO ACCESS CURRENT BRANCH
-------------------------------------------------------
If you open the Properties of the game from your Steam Library, you'll see a BETAS tab.
In this tab there's a drop down list of branches you can opt into. Type the following password in the code box:
htcurrentbuild
and this will give you access to the "current" branch of the game. As you select it, the game will update and you'll be able to play v7.12.
You can swap back to v7.11 but be aware this will delete your savegame.
Beta v7.11, the Sorceress
Hi everyone, the "current" branch has been updated to Beta v7.11. Here's what's new:
- Sorceress character added
- Martial Artist class becomes Warrior
- changed some class weapon types
- Support and Counterattack become passive skills
- changed Assassin's Execution skill
- minor bugs fixed
The main novelty of this update is the introduction of the eighth and final character: the Sorceress. As you would expect this character's strong point is magic power, with a great affinity for the dark element, which makes it deadly to Healers.
I mentioned some changes to class weapon types: the Sorceress becomes the utiliser of Staves, meaning the Healer goes back to Knuckles as originally intended, and the Martial Artist class becomes Warrior and takes Hammers.
Support and Counterattack are no longer innate characteristics of all characters, they are instead Passive skills that need to be acquired. More passive skills will come.
The Assassin's Sneak Attack skill now deals extra damage when executed from behind the target, making positioning and facing important as they are supposed to be in a tactics game.
I hope you enjoy this update and if you can spare a minute spread the word about the game, like the page on fb
www.facebook.com/HartaconTactics
and follow on Twitter
twitter.com/HartaconTactics
Since there are some main structural changes, saved teams and campaigns from beta v7.10 cannot be imported.
Default branch will be updated to beta v7.11 after some testing as usual, allowing me to get feedback and bug reports.
Ciao,
Charlie
-------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO ACCESS CURRENT BRANCH
-------------------------------------------------------
If you open the Properties of the game from your Steam Library, you'll see a BETAS tab.
In this tab there's a drop down list of branches you can opt into. Type the following password in the code box:
htcurrentbuild
and this will give you access to the "current" branch of the game. As you select it, the game will update and you'll be able to play v7.11.
You can swap back to v7.10 but be aware this will delete your savegame.
Beta v7.10, the Assassin
Hi everyone, the "current" branch has been updated to Beta v7.10. Here's what's new:
- assassin character added
- rebalanced classes, skills and equipment
- restructured the Help section
- removed three-tiers online mode
- campaign candidate units increased to 48 and high ranked unit made less common
- fixed a bug on damage calculation including adjacent characters that can't attack the target
- increased dead characters timeout
- fixed a bug on HP/MP when comparing equipment
As you can see, it's a big update, which explains why it has been a while since the last time.
The highlight of this update is of course the Assassin!
The Assassin is a melee unit with a high movement range and relatively low HP. It can acquire a skill that allows him to throw his knives and he can also use shurikens, although you cannot buy those in shops, you'll have to get them as loot or recruit units that come with them equipped.
Work on the Sorceress character has started.
I also made a massive update on the whole game balance, affecting classes, weapons, protections and skills. The idea behind it is to avoid that characters quickly become overpowered after gaining just a few levels.
The Help section has been restructured and it will make it easier to add content.
I removed the three types of competitive online gameplay, there is just Online for ranked matches and Online Dev for unranked matches where your characters can level up.
Opt in the "current" branch to try this update. I'll extend this to the default branch as soon as I get some feedback and (hopefully few) bug reports.
Have fun and share like mad! :)
Ciao,
Charlie
-------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO ACCESS CURRENT BRANCH
-------------------------------------------------------
If you open the Properties of the game from your Steam Library, you'll see a BETAS tab.
In this tab there's a drop down list of branches you can opt into. Type the following password in the code box:
htcurrentbuild
and this will give you access to the "current" branch of the game. As you select it, the game will update and you'll be able to play v7.10.
You can swap back to v7.9 but be aware this will delete your savegame.
Beta v7.9, better mouse support and key bindings
Hey everyone, default and current branches have both been updated to Beta v.7.9. Here's what's new:
- added configurable key bindings
- fixed a bug affecting movement in rotated maps
- fixed a bug that made non targeted characters flash
- improved mouse support with on-map selection of movement and attack/skill target
- added option to disable mouse
Configurable key bindings have been requested, you'll see there's a new Keyboard entry in the main menu.
Mouse support in battle has been improved with in-map target selection. That applies to character movement, attacks and skills. The arrows are now only used for directional skills and to decide which way you want your character to face when defending.
If you don't actually use the mouse, it can be a bit in your way, so I added an option to disable it.
It's been reported that characters may be hard to see when the battle is too cluttered, and I agree with that. One of the reasons is that characters are quite big and they cover each other, so a scale factor may appear in the future for a little correction.
I am also playing with some other ideas in my mind for passive abilities and character development, something that goes beyond just stats, something in XCOM style.
In the meantime I hope you all enjoy the update.
Ciao,
Charlie
Beta v7.8 and Elo rating
Hey everyone, those of you who opted in the current branch of the game will soon update to Beta v7.8.
At the same time the default branch is updated to Beta v7.7, so everybody gets mouse support.
So what's new in v7.8?
- added Semi-All option in See Through settings
- added description for SPEED stat
- updated Advance skills to match movement speed option
- added command to rename teams
- Elo rating implemented for online matches
- players avatars displayed in map editor
The biggest one is definitely the Elo rating system and I am particularly pleased for this as it is one of the objectives of the early access.
Elo is a popular rating system used in many types of competitions, most famously probably chess.
Every player starts with an entry rating (1000 in this case), which gets updated after every online match depending on the oucome and on the strength of the participants.
It supports not just 1vs1 matches, thanks to a little trick, for example a 3vs3 match is regarded as a combination of 1vs1 submatches.
Notice that a team is considered winning if the alliance wins, even if all the characters from that particular team are dead.
The other changes are mostly in response to the feedback I received. Keep the comments coming as they are really useful.
Next step I want to work on configurable key bindings for those who use the keyboard and on different winning conditions, rather than total elimination of the opponents, which can get tedious at times.
I hope you enjoy the update.
Ciao,
Charlie
Beta v7.7 and Mouse Support
Hey everyone, this is to announce that beta v7.7 is available in "current" branch.
If you don't know what that means, read the little how to at the end.
Here's what's new:
- fixed a bug on turn timeout
- fixed a bug on online maps ids
- removed turn timeout in campaign mode
- implemented mouse support
So, yes, mouse support is there!
Now, this requires some explanations because it's not as smooth as you would expect from a game that was born for PC. Interface mechanics have been originally designed with the gamepad in mind, so here and there some clunkiness was not avoidable.
In short, windows and the commands bar at the bottom can now be clicked and this takes care of 100% of menus.
Map navigation in battle and editor is through an on screen GUI, however I recommend using the arrow keys on your keyboard.
I know this "virtual gamepad" approach is not ideal and I look forward to your feedback. There will be refinements to it, but I really would like to focus on gameplay now. There have been some great suggestions and I am excited to start working on some ideas.
Thanks for reading.
Ciao,
Charlie
-------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO ACCESS CURRENT BRANCH
-------------------------------------------------------
If you open the Properties of the game from your Steam Library, you'll see a BETAS tab.
In this tab there's a drop down list of branches you can opt into. Type the following password in the code box:
htcurrentbuild
and this will give you access to the "current" branch of the game. As you select it, the game will update and you'll be able to play v7.7.
You can swap back to v7.6 but be aware this will delete your savegame.
