It has indeed. After a few more iterations with my sprite artist, we had agreed upon a more fleshy version of number 2 in the end. This is one of the male main heroes, by the way (to the very left). The standard mage of Tactics Maiden is displayed in the middle. And to the right you will certainly recognize the original sized mage from Mangobile's first SRPG Swords & Earrings, 'hand-crafted' by myself back in 2009. Due to the scarce phone memory at this time, everything had to be as small as possible. I've just had a look at my file archive, the original Sw&Ear version for Java ME phones was 568 kb. That's less than the smallest music track that comes with Tactics Maiden now. Those were the days.
Awesome I can't wait for this release. I was an absolute Kingturn and Knighturn addict for a long while. I remember pouring hours into that game on my potty breaks and smoke breaks. It was an easy pick up and go game for work. I also remember leveling up my solid team members and then getting an itch to level up my mercs as well for a challenge. I'm glad to see some changes in this one though. I think the barracks will be an interesting one to say the least. The "struggle was real" on some of those levels trying to vie for position on that barrack in the middle of the damn map. Back and Forth Back and Forth lol. But I'm sure these changes will all in all bring a new light to the game and make it even more enjoyable. I'm looking forward to this newest installment. They have progressively gotten better and better. Congrats on that guys. Wish you all the luck. aconfusedkender
This. Basically Tactics Maiden takes this very concept just a few steps further: - You have a bitter fight over every single outpost, and you just can't be sure to win a scenario until you have conquered the very last of them - The once more massively overhauled AI is another key ingredient: Enemies launch combined attacks against weak spots, only to spread out and conquer unguarded outposts and pillars at the worst possible moment - The new spawn system makes up for these 'increased hardships', though: It is much fairer, more predictable, and much easier to understand There is a short but detailed in-game tutorial that will help new players to learn the ropes quickly, and the overall difficulty curve is smoother than in Kingturn. Early levels are a little bit easier than in Kingturn, later level are a little bit harder than in Kingturn.
These sound like awesome refinements. Did you write the narrative again Niebau? The gameplay in the Kingturn series is compulsive but I also was getting dragged into a great story that I didn't expect with the first three. I think it's because of the attachment you build with the protagonists through the gameplay. Somehow the characters in the Kingturn series 'come alive' which is something a lot of games do not succeed with. Looking forward to a great yarn told with this game
Yes, I've written the story and dialogues myself once more. Not so much because I would think of myself as a fantastic writer, but more out of a game (and budget) related necessity: Telling a narrative solemnly in dialogue form where every single (opening) dialogue ultimately ends in a fight is nothing that can be easily outsourced to a third party. Especially if you want to create a story that fits to a game, and not the other way around. In order to make all pieces of the puzzle fit together (scenario design, character classes, artwork, sound tracks), the writer should be involved in the whole development process, imho. A good example for this is the character Eugene from Kingturn (main). When my artist had sent me the corresponding sprite sheet for the trickster class, I was completely puzzled what to do with it. A smaller-sized childish looking jester didn't really fit into my picture of the game at this time. So I've came up with a completely 'ridiculous' character: A self-centered, disfigured cynic who thinks of himself as a womanizer. But I'm digressing... The style of Tactics Maiden's narrative is very similar to the one in Kingturn: Much more character driven than lore driven. And while the characters are not as extreme as in Kingturn (Utakah, Eugene), I think the story of Tactics Maiden is the better one. And like I've said before, this time I was supported by a professional writer and editor who did a lot of 'post-processing'. So let's see ... .
Tactics Maiden - Skill System One of the exciting things about Tactics Maiden is its unique take on skill systems. Skill points earned during level up can be spread (and stacked up to 3 times) among all the character's attributes and special skills, and they can be reset and redistributed at any time before a unit joins the battle. In some cases invested skill points just strengthen an attribute or a special skill, in other cases they add completely new abilities. An interesting example is the priest skill 'Shelter'. It provides complete damage protection for 1 turn, and maxed out it also fully heals the target. At first glance you might think that having a full heal is always the way to go. But there are a few reasons why this isn't true: - Warriors have the class ability 'Berserker' that enables them to do a large amount of extra damage once their hitpoints are critically low. A 'Shelter' without a full heal will keep warriors alive without removing an active 'Berserker' status. - Maxed out special skills usually require (much) more Magic Points to be used. - Maxing out an attribute or special skill requires 6 skill points (1 for the first improvement stage, 2 for the second stage, and 3 for the last stage). In some cases you are just better off using these skill points somewhere else. Another example is the mage class. In some battles you might just need a little bit extra damage, so you could invest more skill points into Pow (= Skill Power) and in the AoE skill 'Star Burst'. Alternatively you could also boost your Atk attribute (Attack Power) and shift more skill points to the single target skill 'Magic Missile'. For more strategic battles, you might be better off with investing skill points into 'Magic Ward' to protect your allies instead, or into the skill 'Place Swap' that enables you to bring key allies out of a heated combat zone, or even change the position with an enemy unit located at the other side of a river. Added Note: Each stage of 'Place Swap' increase the skill's range (up to 5 tiles if maxed out)
Great change there. The distributing point is really well thought out as from the former single-stat boost in kingturn series, its provide much more customization. some question for you: How is the stat boost for each lvl distributed? And how many point is given per lvl? and the lvl cap in this game?
I've played around with theses parameters for a long time, and the current setup seems to me the most balanced one: 1) Skill points per level Every even level a unit gets 1 additional skill point. Every odd level a unit gets 2 additional skill points. Each class starts out with 2 skill points (which you can just consider as a level up from 0 to 1). At level 4 a unit has 6 skill points available. So this is the first time where you can completely max out one skill or attribute. Most players will probably maximize one of the damage attributes or skills then. And most players will reconsider this setup sooner or later (see below). 2) Stat Boost This might come as a surprise, but unlike Kingturn, stat boosts are now constant and don't depend on the unit's level any longer. For the Atk value, for example, the stat boosts are: Stage 1: +3 (altogether) Stage 2: +8 (altogether) Stage 3: +14 (altogether) The trick is that all special skills are based on percentages of Atk and Pow (or both). Thus, Atk +14 will result in higher damage for higher levels, because you have more additional skills points available to boost the skills as well. Combined with the higher amount of required magic points for maxed out skills, this is the reason why you might be better off with splitting your skill points early on, instead of maximizing a particular skill or attribute. The whole game has been balanced to match this setup (e.g. slightly lower item stats compared to Kingturn). It should be also mentioned that HP and MP (magic points) are special when it comes to skill point boost: Units with plate armor: high HP gain, low MP gain Units with leather armor: medium HP gain, medium MP gain Units with cloth armor: low HP gain, high MP gain 3) Level Cap In theory there is no level cap in Tactics Maiden any longer. That said, right now your units cannot get past level 21 in the main campaign. A unit that is 3 levels higher than the (average) opponent in the current scenario won't get any experience points. And the opponent level in the last two scenarios is (currently) 18.
Mov - Skill Points Now here is a small design challenge for Kingturn players . How do you think Mov is handled in terms of skill point distribution? Respectively, what solution would you have come up with? To get one 'possible' solution out of the way right from the beginning: Kingturn players know that a higher movement range is a huge strategic advantage, e.g. reaching enemy outposts more quickly. Thus, simply adding +1 Mov for each of the 3 stages is far too strong, and not an acceptable answer .
I think that maybe it will cost more based on whatever class you are using. e.g a close quarter fighter would get more out of a Mov stat than lets say a Mage due to the fact that a mage has spells that can extend the damage area(spells) and a close quarter combatant will need to Mov skill more to get in for the kill. Idk just a thought??? I don't think I would allow skills to be dispersed into Mov and maybe have a set number per class? Or Maybe max it out at 1 point if you choose instead of 3. Kinda like a mini-help but as we know that makes a difference. Make it a one point that costs alot so that it's not an instant upgrade off the bat. Like I said I'm no pro but just trying to put in my .02 hope I don't look too foolish
That doesn't look foolish at all . I find your considerations actually quite good. For the time being I would rather hold back with my own thoughts and solution, so the flow of ideas isn't disturbed or influenced. Let's just see whether there are more ideas coming up in the next 1 or 2 days.
Difficult question about the movement...let's see: Your early screenshots (http://www.mangobile.com/blog/?p=187) show one Rogue with a Movement Range (Mov) of 4, another with Mov 5 and 3 dots in the Mov skill; as well as a Warrior with Boots that give +1 Mov. The class overview (roster) image also shows a wide range of Mov (3-7) , which indicates that the mechanics are similar to Kingturn. It also shows that different classes have different movement range. I assume - that you want to keep the skill mechanics identical whenever possible - that TM does not have terrain differences, i.e. all squares cost the same movement. You would have mentioned such an interesting new feature already, I bet If the above mentioned screenshots show correct data, a Rogue might have to spend a whopping 6 SP to get +1 Mov - from 4 to 5: a bit much for a class that is generally perceived as fleetfooted and lightly armored. I don't think they only start with 2 Mov, which would make the numbers right (2 base, +3 from skill: 5 Mov) . So, the screenshots in that old post don't really add up in a meaningful way for me. But they are from early development, and might simply not be correct. No idea what you are really up to but here goes the result of my brainstorming: Idea 0: Basic approach is pretty much out: If all classes get +1 Mov per Skill Level and at the same cost (1,2,3 SP): a Wolfrider (assumed 7 Mov) might end up with a whopping 10 Mov, which feels like overkill. And even a formerly slow Knight gets from, say, 3 Mov to 6 Mov: well, great for shock troops, but most likely breaks game balance too much. Idea 1: Depending on class, you need to spend more or less SP to get more or less Mov. Example: A heavy/slow unit (e.g. plate-armored Knight) will have to spend 6 SP to get +1 Mov at Skill level (SL) 3; the first 2 SL don't do anything. A medium unit (say, Archer) gets nothing on SL 1, +1 Mov at SL2, and another +1 on SL3. A light/fast unit (e.g. Assassin) gets +1 Mov on SL1, nothing at SL2, +1 Mov at SL3. This makes it cheaper for the fast unit (compared to Medium) to get the first extra Mov, while the overall cost remains the same. Exceptionally fast units (Bats maybe), or otherwise special characters (that Grimlog Shaman who snorted all the party's speed ) could get +1 Mov for every SL, ending up with a nice +3 total. Idea 2: Alternate approach would be to make the different SLs cost differently for each class/type (light,medium,heavy) Example: Light pays 1,2,3 SP; Medium 2,3,4; Heavy 3,4,5 . But I do not like that, as it would introduce even more different mechanics (than idea 1) for one skill, which always should be avoided. Idea 3: SP costs stay the same as for all other skills. But your class limits which SL you can get: 1,2,3 for Heavy,Medium,Light. Don't like this, as all classes pay the same for the first +1 Mov. And at least in my book it should be much more difficult for a Knight in heavy platearmor to get even 1 additional point, than it is for a fast Bat or Wolf. Almost forgot to mention that Light units will end up with a lot of Mov then. While idea 1 would limit the maximum gain of +3 Mov to a handful of special characters/classes. Idea 4: Totally unbalanced: Mechanics are the same as for all other skills. But your class decides how much +Mov you get: Heavy gets +1/SL, Medium +2/SL, Light +3/SL . Which would result in some Mov ranges that are totally off the rocker Personally, I like my idea 1 best: moderately reasonable, and hopefully not too over the top. For that I can accept the downside of having slightly different advancement mechanics than other skills.
my idea: The movement increasement should be +1 at 1 stage and throw in another +1 as innate passive for each class. Ex: WolfRider +1 if run in straight line. Champion +1 when hp lower than 50%. Assassin +1 after a critical hit. Archer +1 only work after attack. Mage +1 if full mana? Knight +1 after taking a hit. Animal +1 if stand next to a human. (What class i m missing here?) So, how 'bout it?
@cretpetpet: Interesting concept, but bloody complicated. I don't want to have to remember 10+ different conditions for movement (or any other) boni. Btw: niebaus's opening post says 36 classes... Even if we subsume those into a handful of "metaclasses" (e.g. Heavy, Mage, Priest, Assault, Animal, Undead, Monster, Magic being) , it is still a lot of stuff to keep in your head all the time.
Almost forgot to comment on these: Ouch, the more I think about it, the less I like it. Being able to replay scenarios to get better - and often unique (=not available in the store) - equipment and more gold was a good mechanic in Kingturn, and well implemented. My advise: throw those two out. 1) Where is the difference between sticking it out to the end (=losing the stage) and retreating at the last possible safe moment (e.g. during your turn, when you know that you won't survive the next enemy round) ? 2) Not being able to replay for equipment only makes things take longer: because now I need to buy it all, and items found no longer speed up the process. 3) Retreat fine: further worsens the grind, as I get less gold per replay. Example: I cannot win the next scenario yet, and need 1000 gold to upgrade my folks enough to do so. In Kingturn, this was sped up a bit by equipment I got in that stage. Let's say a good bow and a nice armor, total worth 300 gold; and thus 300 gold less of replays. Now, in TM: no extra loot. And let's say the scenario I replay to powerup gives 200 gold reward. But of that, I pay 100 as fine. Result: I need to replay 10 times to get the same result I could get with 5 or less replays in the old system. Not good in my book, as it does not really add anything to the game.
No more repeatable scenarios that scale with your level, like we had in Kingturn? Huge loss, I think. That was an excellent addition. Especially because it allowed to simply throw a few additional levels at any problem I could not solve when I first encountered it. Without those, I am down to one option: lower the difficulty. Less choice is not always bad, but here I see a clear advantage for having more. Any chance you can still add at least one or two in?
Let's sort this out step by step, and try to find the points where we might agree . My main gripe with Kingturn's current concept is that it is more rewarding to lose a scenario than to win it during your first try. There are only advantages: More gold, more XP, better items. In other words, you get 'punished' for successfully beating a scenario at your first try. From an RPG point of view this might be acceptable, from a strategy point of view such a concept seems to be difficult to justify. The difference between sticking it out to the end and retreating shortly before a defeat is the chance of miscalculation. While you might be able to foresee a threatening loss many times, you might not always be able to do so. To be honest, I was also very tempted to throw out the 'Retreat' option entirely for the reasons above. The initial idea of 'Retreat' was not to enable grinding. It was supposed to give players a chance to 'not have wasted their time entirely' once they realize they cannot win a scenario any more. And at least on default difficulty, grinding should never be necessary (I'll get back later to higher difficulty settings). That said, I fully understand that some people like grinding, and I don't want to prevent them from doing so. The question is, though, whether 'abusing' the Retreat Option is a reasonable and enjoyable way to do so. Wouldn't it make much more sense to have repeatable scenarios with mediocre difficulty which the player has to beat? There are two reasons for the Retreat fine: - To prevent 'quick grinding' (start, kill one enemy, restart). The fine is really very low, just to prevent this. - In order to increase the replay value, there are (among other things) a few random settings for each scenario. I just wanted to prevent players from 'restarting' the scenario several times until a convenient starting position shows up Admittedly, this concept stands and falls with the question whether grinding is necessary to beat the game on higher difficulties, or whether grinding is just a fun option. If the player really doesn't have the required resources for beating the game on higher difficulty settings, there should be an alternative to grinding to accomplish this, imho. At the very least, there should be an alternative to do grinding via Retreat / Restart .
As hinted on in my previous post, there will be 'repeatable' scenarios that you can use for grinding XP, gold, and items. These scenarios are changing and are randomly selected from a 'pool of scenarios', with one of them being always available once you have made some story progress. In other words, repeatable scenarios with slightly more diversity compared to Kingturn. These scenarios scale to the average level of the player's units, but right now they are capped at level 18. My initial idea was to remove this level cap, once the player has beaten the game. I don't want to make beating the final scenarios of Tactics Maiden on the hardest difficulty setting too easy.
