Heroes and Castles 2 - by Foursaken Media (action-RPG/castle defense/strategy)

Everyone gets the release in their time zone, Wed 11-12pm, as far as I understand So technically, NZ gets it first, but really they're just getting it at the same time in their respective time zone as everyone else.

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Re: that video preview, not really worried about it If you've played H&C1, you know what you're getting (x4 imo ). If yo haven't played the 1st, then just make sure you know what kind of game this is first It is definitely a challenging game, and strategy is a key part of the gameplay (as advertised, I think). You absolutely cannot win for example by spamming random units In fact that one tutorial he skipped tells him to build Wood Elf Warriors to counter the Ghouls, and he then immediately spends some of his money on Footmen (and then proceeds not to spend anymore, haha) >_< Also I don't know, he just kept sighing every time a tutorial popped up (after which he skipped, thus not knowing what to do), or when it told him to keep spending his income (as if its the games fault he's not buying new units?), or when he blindly runs into an enemy and gets knocked down, or charges out into a battlefield littered with archers without any unit support (the second level for example talks about how using Shield Knights are used to counter archers - the thing about this game is that when you build the right units, it takes a HUGE burden off your hero). He also says how its worthless to spend your skill points because of the tiering system... huh?? Ah well To me it just sounds like this type of game isn't his cup of tea - its a big, deep game, by design. At least I don't think he actually listed many tangible things that were wrong, other than his opinion of movement, so I guess that's good .

As for running, the run animation is intended to be more like a shoulder/shield first charge with weapon at the ready, as opposed to a nonchalant sprinters run with arms at the side (being in the middle of a battle, we wanted it to feel like your hero was ready to attack at any moment while running). Also run speed and stamina can later be augmented by equipment (trust me - you can end up VERY fast ). I suppose it does look more awkward when running without a weapon, but every new animation costs a chunk of memory, and since you're only running in the castle in between levels without a weapon, it didn't really seem necessary. I think we would remove sheathing of his weapon in between rounds first before we added a new animation.

Re: controls, I think they're pretty standard fair - same as we've been using in all our games from H&C1, BH2, etc (can't really recall any complaints), and same afaik as most other games with this control scheme - so if you're familiar with those, then you'll be right at home. In fact, with the restricted camera (no up/down look by default), it should be quite a bit easier to control than most 3rd person/fps games for beginners imo! And we do of course have sensitivity and free-look options as well, as well as auto target snapping, which may have been a good option for him (I'm guessing he didn't look in options). We also have controller support.

 

Nah, its just easy to focus on the negative (trust me, as a developer its a curse ). I think only 2 people have negative comments, and usually non-constructive ones like that I don't pay much attention to. If someone thinks the graphics suck because grass has fade in (and not instant pop-up, mind you, like many games ) at a relatively short distance, then yeah

And yes, there are different vegetation and graphics settings. For example he is indeed running med veg, and is not running full shadows (where the environment and characters cast shadows). But we have the graphics defaulted by device, for optimal frame rates.

Also another thing we learned is that certain genres and types of games invite different types of people to comment - just something you have to get used to as a developer. A game like this for ex invites harsher criticism bc its size and depth inevitably get it compared to a console game - heck, to be compared to console games at all is a compliment in and of itself!