Hi, there were many things I think I could have done better with Mage and Monsters. The first one is the user interface (UI). When I made it, it was mostly just the default Unity UI that I used to make rectangles and lines, and it definitely showed. I think this simple UI may be one of the weakest parts of Mage and Monsters, it definitely got a lot of criticism! Here is my first attempt to improve it in the sequel, Mage and Monsters 2:
I hope this looks better to you. I would love to hear what you think about it. I have replaced all the health, damage text with icons, that gives a quick overview of the unit's strength. I am also now showing the movespeed of each unit. I aim to give very short and precise text describing what each upgrade does.
I really can't wait to have a demo ready for Mage and Monsters 2 at some point. It is some time away, but please in the meantime wishlist Mage and Monsters 2 to get notified about the game:
I hope you appreciate this look at the first game, and what I aim to improve when making the second. Let me know if you like to have more posts in the future, I have some cool ideas on how to increase the depth of the game, and give more player choice and freedom. Oh and making the hero you pick at the start be much more meaningful for the game.
- Lasse
The Future of Mage and Monsters
Hello all, thank you for the great reception that Mage and Monsters has received! The game is currently on a 90% positive rating out of 771 reviews, which is far far better than I could ever have imagined when I started working on this game. It has given me the security and confidence to keep going on this indie development path.
The development of Mage and Monsters is at or nearing its end. and I would like to ask for your final feedback. Is there are any features, fixes or improvements that you would like to have in the game before it is in its final complete form?
Also I am working on Mage and Monsters 2, which I have high hopes for can be an even more deep, complex and popular game than the first Mage and Monsters. So please say if there are any new features you definitely think should be in Mage and Monsters 2.
Lastly in just 2 weeks my new experimental auto battler Behold Battles launches. It will release March 4th, costing 4 USD with a 20% launch discount. Please wishlist the game and try it out when it releases if you are interested!
The pathfinder has been improved from using 1 thread to now being able to use 4 threads. This should make the units move smoother, and make them less likely to sometimes move back and forth while walking to their target.
This pathfinding improvement has also been applied to Behold Battle, which is very close to complete, and I expect to release it perhaps February or March next year. Wishlist Behold Battle here:
Patch 3.2.4: Cave map: -Fixed a bug where selecting Effero or upgrading ranged units' range would mistakenly grant enemy ranged units, such as Archers or Cyclops, extra range.
-Fixed a bug that could cause some enemy units to gain more movespeed.
Patch 3.2.3: Nerfed dragons, nerfed cave endgame
Patch 3.2.3: - Nerfed the following enemies in cave (less will spawn of them on average): Elder Dragon and Forest Dragon.
- Reduced the amount of units spawned in the endgames of cave with about 10%.
- Fixed a bug that allowed you to take Frost Giant + another unit selection.
Patch 3.2.2: Can now start with 1 Frost Giant, improved shuffle enemies
Patch 3.2.2:
- Added 1 Frost Giant to start unit selection options in cave and forest.
- Nerfed the following enemies in cave (less will spawn of them on average): Footmen, Dwarf Warrior, Knights, Pyromancers (big nerf) and Necromancers.
- Can’t reroll exact same enemies now.
- Can’t meet exact same enemies twice in a row now.
- Start Reroll from 4 to 5.
- You now get 1 extra reroll in the endgame.
Patch 3.2.0: More gold in cave map and nerfed many enemy units
Patch 3.2.0:
- You now gain about 20% more gold on average from units and spells in the cave challenge (reduced variance by raising the minimum gold that you can get).
- Nerfed the following enemies in cave (less will spawn of them on average): Shard Souls, Brutes, Dwarf Warriors, Centaurs, Fish Priests, Ogres, Golems, Pyromancers, Frost Giants, Griffins, Elder Dragon, Forest Dragon.
- Rogue Rats are now added to the pool of enemies from round 10, instead of being possible to get from round 1.
Patch 3.1: Reroll in cave endgame, and balanced enemy units
Patch 3.1.0:
- You can now see upcoming enemies and reroll in the endgame.
- Made a bit less enemies spawn on round 30 to 35.
- Frost Giant, Arch Angel and Guardian Construct are now being added later to the pool of enemies in the cave, from being added at level 10 to being added at level 20.
- Nerfed the following enemies in cave (Less will spawn of them on average): Elder Dragon, Forest Dragon, Frost Giant, Arch Angel, Guardian Construct.
Bug fixes: - Fixed Troll enemy being able to appear in the endgame.
Thanks to everyone who gave feedback and helped me improve the new cave map.
Patch 3.0: New cave map with randomly generated enemies!
New cave challenge:
Fight randomly generated enemies in the new cave map, including traitor units who now fights against you! Unlocks after you beat forest endgame round 5. If you have already beaten forest endgame round 5 before this update it is also unlocked.
Includes 4 new achievements: - Defeat Cave on normal or harder difficulty. - Defeat Cave on impossible or harder difficulty. - Defeat Cave on +400% or harder difficulty. - Defeat Cave on brutal or harder with max 800 Blood Shards spent on upgrades.
Let me know your thoughts about this new map challenge, or if you discover any bugs. Good luck in the cave!
Also please check out and wishlist my upcoming auto battler Behold Battle:
Patch 2.5.4: Reverted to old system of Max 1200 Blood Shards
The max 1200 Blood Shards system now works like before, where it is only silver upgrades that count towards the limit. Gold power ups do not count towards the limit, and for the two max 800 Blood Shard achivement, Gold power ups also do not count towards that limit. The gold upgrades are: Reroll, Teleport, Tornado, Frost Shock, Necromancer and Pyromancer.
To make the new 800 max achievements work I tried to do it a quick way, but it was badly done, and some people were rightly annoyed and confused about this change. It is back to the old system now. I apologize for this.
