A lot of things have happened during the past three months so let's not use up any more time and dive right into it.
Aside from attending some conferences and taking a few days off for vacation we have finally started refactoring the remaining systems that were still using code originally written back in 2019. This includes all systems that allow the game to communicate with networking services like fetching the server time, handling cloud saves as well as user authentication and communication with the Steam API. This led to massive changes to the codebase in those areas following an extensive amount of testing. We also focused on improving some existing gameplay mechanics and even added a new feature for infinity perks.
Our plan to release v1 this year remains unchanged, even though we don't have a specific date set yet. There are still a few open tasks that we want to cover before it’s ready:
Workshop UI
The workshop user interface remained largely unchanged since the first implementation and requires some tweaks and additions.
AI Budget System
The AI execution flow will change to use a budget/cost system that allows for a better control over the execution speed.
Nexus Overhaul
The nexus will receive the remaining purchasable cosmetics we have planned and in general a visual overhaul so it fits more to the remaining style of the game. We would also like to support Steam wallet as a purchase method.
Tower Customization
Tower customization is still missing the keyframe animation system which technically exists inside the format we have created but it is not accessible yet via the tower customization UI.
Localization
There are many labels inside the game that have hardcoded strings or strings that are embedded inside the UI components themselves that need to be replaced in order to become localizable.
Supporter Modules
We still have a few supporter modules in the queue that will have to make it into the game prior to its full release.
Misc.
After everything else we will also be looking at which community suggestions still make sense and implement them. This is also the phase where we plan to change the balance of the game to be more streamlined.
“What happens after v1? Will the game still receive updates?”
As with any game, there is a point in development where you shift the focus to primarily polishing and adding quality-of-life features. At this stage you are basically in a cycle that potentially repeats forever. The Perfect Tower II version 1 serves as a milestone rather than a finish line. Once we've reached it, we'll just keep walking towards whatever comes next. It also makes it easier to add new content because it feels like you're extending something rather than completing it. Just like adding a little shed to the garden instead of finishing the roof of the house.
After version 1, the game will continue to receive updates that include bug fixes, quality-of-life changes, and the occasional new content. Much more will be happening in the background. On the one hand, we aim to finish the mobile version of the game and improve modding capabilities, while also officially preparing MT16-MT20, a large free update containing post-endgame content.
Modding DLC
The paid modding DLC that we have announced at the beginning of development will be released alongside version 1 of the game. It will include a moddable client for the game, as well as a mod editor that allows you to add and edit content without needing coding knowledge. However, creating complex logic may require some understanding of Lua scripting. Our goal is to give mod creators as much freedom as possible while at the same time ensuring a high level of compatibility between individual mods.
Even though the modding capabilities of the game will be ready for version 1, we may need to release the modding tools in an "early access" state. That means modding tools will be quite basic at launch and we intend to expand them based on feedback from the community.
Since the last public update, we have made many changes to underlying systems that can have a lot of unforeseen effects. That is why we are considering the current development build as unstable, even though our premium supporters have already tested it. However, we don’t want to let you wait for an update any longer! That is why we have decided to create a new branch on Steam with an “experimental” version of the game. This branch is accessible to all of you. You can make the choice if you want to see the new changes with the potential for many new bugs or if you want to continue on the stable version. We will keep updating the experimental branch until we consider it stable enough again.
If you want to play version 0.48.0 Experimental, go find The Perfect Tower II in your Steam library and right-click on it. Select properties. A new window will open up. Navigate to betas. Enter “experimental” into the textbox and click on “Check Code”. On the dropdown menu you can now select "experimental” and when you close the window, you should see your game update. To opt out of the experimental version, simply go back to that dropdown and select “none”.
Please remember that this version is considered unstable and might have unforeseen effects on your save game! Additionally, once you have loaded your save in the new version, you cannot use it anymore in any older version of the game as the save format has undergone some drastic migrations, which makes it incompatible with early versions of the game! Please create a backup of your save game folder before you switch to this version!
To backup your save, open an explorer window and navigate to “%userprofile%\appdata\locallow\Fire Sword Studios\The Perfect Tower II\”. Make a copy of the “save” folder and keep it safe somewhere else on your disk.
What's new in v0.48.0 Experimental
Title Screen Rework
The title screen has been reworked to better match the overall style of the game and a continue button has been added, which takes you directly to your most recently played savegame.
Cloud Changes
Our cloud system has been overhauled to give you complete control over how you use your three available cloud slots. Savegames can now be freely linked to specific cloud slots, as well as downloaded and uploaded individually from the cloud. If a savegame is marked as synced with the cloud, it will automatically upload the current savegame to the cloud whenever you save your local game. In addition, when loading your save, it will check to see if the cloud and local versions are the same, and if not, a dialog will appear asking which save you want to load. To access the new cloud options, navigate to the "Load Game" menu and look for the sidebar on the right side of the screen.
Savegame Limit (PC)
The PC version of the game no longer limits the maximum number of savegames. You are free to make as many savegames as your hard drive can hold.
Global Options
Global options have been added. They are savegame independent and can be set up directly from the main menu, in addition to the standard in-game options menu. Audio, Graphics, and Misc have been moved to global settings. Previous changes to these settings are lost and must be entered again.
Changelog
v0.48.0 Experimental
New Stuff
overhauled the title screen
added button to quickly access the last used save game from the title screen
added a summary of important changes since you last played
added infinite save game amount (PC only)
overhauled cloud storage behaviour to allow for more user control
added global options
added option to only turn off cloud storage
added AI function 'Time: Frame'
added infinity inventory for infinite stacks to Factory (unlocks after getting first infinite stack)
added 'cycle' option for collecting asteroid rewards to worker task 'Treasure Hunter'
added tree production boosters to Factory
added 'Armor Factor (vs. any)' to town stats
added 'Max. HP factor' to town stats
added a 'Pause All' button to workers which overrides their current active state without changing it on individual workers
added module 'Martyrdom'
Changes
moved audio options to global options
moved graphics options to global options
moved misc options to global options
moved notation to be a global option
online service state is accessible via options menu
crafter is able to scan all items
crafter can craft booster related items and ingredients
crafter internally predicts steps and requirements with fractions which reduces excess waste products
improved crafter crafting step prediction
Factory items have a separate property that defines if they can be crafted via the crafter and/or fabricated
Factory item 'Rainbow Dust' can be fabricated
Factory items are removed from the fabricator queue if an infinite stack of them is already present in the inventory
replaced list shuffle with fisher-yates with in-place swapping, treating lists like arrays
optimized floating boxes
floating boxes don't spawn anymore for one frame when their size is at 0%
changed the save format slightly without breaking compatibility
save game names are stored inside the save game instead locally
Fixes
fixed various crafter processing step prediction issues related to existing items
fixed crafter queue not updating when queue entries change their count
fixed Cylindro fight not reacting to esc when pressing it for the first time after watching the cutscene without skipping
fixed Cylindro fight sometimes starting without full health
fixed last element inside the construction queue UI not being refreshed when construction queue is empty
fixed shield buff of 'Dice Of Fate' not nullifying incoming damage
fixed Factory items with durability behaving incorrectly in the crafting grid when approaching infinity
fixed cauldron bonuses applying when offline
fixed in-game stats showing the era kills graph when clicking on era hits
fixed module 'Universal Gift' reducing damage bonus only of the tower element 10 times instead of applying to all elements when using an active module
fixed AI window text component having a fixed size of 200x50 when not inside a container
v0.47.1
Changelog
Fixes
fixed crafter subtracting inventory items before multiplying with crafting count instead of after
v0.47.0
Hi everyone!
The first round of changes for the crafter are included in today's update. Technically speaking, the crafter now stores recipes inside its queue instead of items. It can now distinguish between the different ways an item is crafted as a result. Additionally, you can see a preview of what is being added to the crafting queue, along with the raw items required for the crafter to fulfill the requested crafting steps. In the preview screen, you can also alter your preferred method of crafting a particular item.
It is now possible to partially uptier or downtier dust with the crafter. The generic way to solve this is a bit tricky since we cannot simply hardcode it into the game. The crafter should still be able to automatically detect recipe loops with modded recipes as well. However, this is a functionality we are still working on, along with a virtual inventory for the crafter that allows it to store the items it produces during partial steps, separate from the regular inventory.
Items will receive properties that define if they can be crafted, dissolved, or fabricated, in order to not link their creation methods to their mass. The crafter will be able to create items without mass thanks to this.
Changelog
New Stuff
added tooltips to tabs inside Power Plant
added tooltips to power selection in boost tab inside Power Plant
Factory item stacks that reach their max. size (=1e18) turn into infinite stacks
added option to customize crafter to use specific recipes for specific crafting tasks
added preview to crafter that shows recipes added to queue and raw items required
added machine speed boosters to Factory manufacture
Changes
reduced processing time of dense blocks by 10 seconds for each tier (so -10 on T1, -20 on T2 and so on)
reduced processing time of down-tiering dust by 2 seconds and decreased the increase by tier by 1 second
Power Plant boosts automatically unselect when cancelling them
updated localization of 'Shoreline' module
altered order of operations for all module attributes that use the alternative exponential scaling which fixes their attribute values at low levels on higher tiers
changed crafter queue to be recipe based instead of item based
removed deprecated migration checks from 2021 to speed up loading time
improved description of 'Something' module
changed 'Sky Blessing' to have a 1 sec. cooldown for individual enemies when not triggering on their hit
Fixes
fixed modules in Workshop not properly refreshing their background when switching blueprint while a search is active
fixed wrong punctuation in darkness infinity stone unlock message
fixed resetting air experiment sometimes causing the recharged percentage to become NaN
fixed light blue color requirement for Trading Post light image in light experiment
fixed town perks showing wrong current level beyond max level in hover preview when buying town perks with a multiplier
fixed Workshop using deprecated background sprite
fixed distribute equally button not appearing instantly after upgrading manufacture
fixed cooldown of 'Rain Of Ashes' being off by 130 on lvl 1
fixed nature and earth button order in era experiment
fixed wave floor breaching the wave limit in sandbox mode
fixed 'Nar's Tubular Test Tube' artifact unlocking on tower death when conditions are met
fixed 'Trust Fund' duration not adjusting when reducing max. duration via exotic skill
v0.46.0
Hi everyone!
This update adds a new artifact, new icons for Construction Firm skills, the introduction of the 'Trust Fund' mechanic, and comprehensive in-game stats for tracking your era hits & kills. We've improved the clarity and performance of a few features, such as the military tier rewards' updated visuals and quicker processing for air experiments.
Trust Fund
Many players who previously only played non-incremental games struggle with the notion of having to give up all current resources in order to advance further in the game. In the early stages of development we actually planned to have more military tiers and to let you progress quicker through them, but over time we decided to keep the total count low while in turn making each of them more meaningful instead. We want our town prestige mechanic to be less punishing while still keeping the bump that currently exists after a tier up in order to not affect the pacing too much. That's why in this update, on reaching the next tier all your resources will be put into a so called "Trust Fund" which gradually returns all the resources you have spent to tier up over time. This way the resources gathered before tier up are not lost, while still incentivising proper preparation before proceeding. The time it takes to get back all your resources can additionally be reduced with an exotic skill in the Headquarters.
Furthermore, gems will no longer be awarded to you based on your current resource amount when you military tier up. We feel like there was almost no impact once you had your own gem production going in the Mine, Factory or the Shipyard. We originally envisioned that gems would be available in a more limited capacity and therefore be worth more. Instead, after achieving the first four military tiers, you will now receive a set quantity of gems. In addition you will also receive exotic gems, which should allow new players to get exotic upgrades much earlier.
Modding
A huge part we have been working on is the mod editor for the modding DLC. We have finally decided on the framework we are going to use after a lot of prototyping in various languages and engines. If all goes well then even the mod editor itself might be easily modable.
Changelog
New Stuff
added artifact 'Nar's Tubular Test Tube'
added 'era kills' to the enemy tab in the ingame stats menu (clickable for details over time)
added 'era hits' to the enemy tab in the ingame stats menu (clickable for details over time)
added icon to Construction Firm skill 'Fast Construction'
added icon to Construction Firm skill 'Advanced Offline Construction'
added 'Trust Fund' mechanic
added exotic skill 'Trustworthy Trust Fund'
Changes
added 'aura' tag to module 'Googles Influence'
reduced memory usage of newly allocated mining asteroids
improved air experiment processing performance (offline process calculation ~24k% faster)
slightly improved clarity of reset info for gems experiment
changed icon of boss unlocks in military tier rewards
changed icon of new software unlocks in military tier rewards
increasing military tier does not reward gems based on resources anymore, instead gems and exotic gems are now regular rewards at certain military tiers
updated military tier help page
Fixes
fixed being able to import empty blueprints which are stored in the old format (to prevent errors being thrown in the console if there is an issue with the formatting)
fixed final damage display in boss 5 not factoring in final Laboratory and Museum bonus
fixed tower customization UI not updating when importing a tower styling
It took bit longer than expected but it's finally ready: The unified import/export dialog!
You can now export blueprints, AI scripts, AI windows and even tower styles using a single export code. It also features a preview of the data you want to import together which any requirements you have to fulfill (like RAM requirements in the case of AI scripts or modules in the case of blueprints). You can freely select which one of the things contained inside the code you want to import and which you don't. Similar on the export side you can now simply select what you want to export and it will instantly generate a shareable export-code for you.
The new dialog still accepts the old format so it doesn't break compatibility with existing codes but we still recommend to update any guides of yours by packaging all your AI scripts and blueprints into a single code.
Thanks to all our supporters who helped us testing this feature. It was quite a technical challenge to make it work with new and old export codes so it's very likely that there are still some issues here and there. Please let us know if you encounter any issues.
Changelog
New Stuff
added unified Import/Export dialog
added upgrade to lava pump in Power Plant
added upgrade to plasma pipe in Power Plant
added upgrade to fusion generator in Power Plant
added upgrades to plasma turbine in Power Plant
Changes
replaced blueprint export/import with new system
replaced AI script export/import with new system
replaced tower design export/import with new system
Fixes
fixed AI scripts allowing arbitrary arguments for actions/functions when importing a script
fixed worker not refreshing 'Construct Drone' button in Power Plant
This week's update focuses solely on Adventure, but we've also implemented the long-awaited unified import/export dialog. Since this new dialog will replace all areas of the game where you can import/export, we decided not to release it with this update and instead polish it up and give it to our Discord/Patreon premium supporters to test first.
Here are some screenshots of what you can expect the dialog to look like in the future:
Changelog
Adventure
added spell 'Identify Room'
added spell 'Mana Armor'
added AI Action 'Adventure: Cast Spell'
added AI Action 'Adventure: Teleport'
added AI Action 'Adventure: Buy Market Item'
added AI Function 'Adventure: Get Mana Armor'
mana no longer drops in chests
last armor drop reduced to d130 (was d200)
last sword drop reduced to d160 (was d200)
fixed a bug with AI function 'Adventure: Count Entities'
fixed a special case where map button doesn't get enabled after map unlock
fixed 'Phoenix Feather' missing a sprite when dropped
This update brings some more changes to Adventure and changes the scaling of Infinity Stones.
The main focus of the Infinity Stone rescaling was to make Infinity Stones usable way before reaching the final military tier. Previously, there was barely a gradient between not charging the stones at all and instantly charging them in the blink of an eye. Now, it's possible to charge your first stone even without focusing directly on doing so. It's also much more rewarding now to reach higher infinities on lower difficulties due to the Infinity Power values now being multiplied together.
Changelog
Adventure
added AI function 'Adventure: Mana'
added AI function 'Adventure: Emeralds'
added AI function 'Adventure: Has Phoenix Feather'
added AI function 'Adventure: Has Item'
added item 'Hammer'
added relic 'Master Sword'
added relic 'Master Armor'
added new enemy
removed 'Emerald Map' from market
added 'Emerald Map' as chest drop (d50+)
rescaled market prices
changed 'Emerald' drop to fixed amount of 3 without 'Emerald Map' and to 6 otherwise
removed drop cap of 'Emeralds' when 'Emerald Map' is unlocked (previously 100)
increased chance of rocks on higher distances
changed effect of item 'Holy Bomb'
changed teleport location to be the closest exit (prefers x over y)
changed effect of 'Phoenix Feather' to negate damage when player would die instead of setting player health to 3
Infinity Stone Rescaling
added help page for infinity stones
required start amount of stones now starts at 200
upgrading reduces the charge amount by a fixed -1 (up to a total of -150)
extraction bar production now starts at +1
bars now have a base filling time of 10 minutes (down from 1 year)
the duration upgrades now reduce the base charging time by a flat 5 sec. (up to -500 sec.)
infinity power formula based on infinity highscores has been completely rescaled
infinity powers for each difficulty now get multiplied together instead of added
infinity power now has a logarithmic scaling to better reward spreading your highscores instead of constantly grinding the same difficulty
the minimum and maximum charge time for infinity stones is now 0.028ms and ~33 hours
