Author Topic: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!  (Read 2798 times)

Offline x4000

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Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« on: May 24, 2013, 05:15:00 pm »
Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2013/05/skyward-collapse-1002-hunting-through.html

This one is our first true post-release update, and it includes all of the main requests from new (post-alpha) players.

Probably my favorite thing is the ability to see what former building sites were by hovering over them or holding the Ctrl key.  Actually, holding the Ctrl key in general is super useful for telling at a glance whether you have the buildings you want in a town -- when you're zoomed out or a unit is standing in the way of a tile, it can otherwise be hard to tell very quickly.

There have also been a number of mostly-minor balance changes, with the exception of the Minotaurs, which were rebalanced pretty heavily.  These dudes still hit like a ton of bricks, but they do it with a hammer rather than ranged fireballs now.  And they have both more health and lower regen, which makes them a little more tank-like in an interesting way.  Overall they should be less OP now.

Which brings me to an interesting point, really: the fact that the Minotaurs were OP before wasn't really causing game-breaking easy strategies.  In fact, kind of the opposite -- players would play a Labyrinth (which spawns minotaurs) and it would soon be game over if they weren't careful.  Not to say that Minotaurs weren't also an occasional "get out of jail free" card, but it's just interesting how the balance concerns here are the opposite of most games -- our goal is actually to unbalance the game, not balance it.  But it always has to be in a fun way, where it's not frustrating trying to bring balance to their own games.  Bit of a different design challenge from, say, AI War -- which is a fun change of pace. :)

There were also a couple of multiplayer glitches that have been fixed, and a couple of typos.  Oh!  And the finished goods on the sidebar should be way less confusing for new players now.  That was another big thing off the "top feedback" list.

Enjoy!

This is a standard update that you can download through the  in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game.  When you  launch the game, hit the big "Play" button and then you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.
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Offline mrhanman

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2013, 05:18:06 pm »
Man, that Ctrl key thing is a life-saver!  Thanks for that!  :D

Offline x4000

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2013, 05:18:48 pm »
You bet!  Thanks for suggesting it. :)
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Offline Honknatter

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2013, 06:48:30 pm »
I must admit I do find the new markers (<<XX>>) for the on-demand resources rather unattractive. In case of the lumber the markers extend into/over the border of the sidebar. Sure, the aesthetical perception of the markers is subjective so ... maybe reduce the markers to <X> to avoid the marker-sidebar overlap?

Offline Castruccio

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2013, 07:24:57 pm »
Is it just me or does the crtl key work, but the hover over doesn't.


Offline Teal_Blue

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2013, 08:29:28 pm »
hover works for me, with a black and colored popup in the lower right corner showing what the tile is and what it produces.

Are you getting this?

-Teal
 

Offline Misery

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2013, 08:37:44 pm »

Which brings me to an interesting point, really: the fact that the Minotaurs were OP before wasn't really causing game-breaking easy strategies.  In fact, kind of the opposite -- players would play a Labyrinth (which spawns minotaurs) and it would soon be game over if they weren't careful.  Not to say that Minotaurs weren't also an occasional \"get out of jail free\" card, but it's just interesting how the balance concerns here are the opposite of most games -- our goal is actually to unbalance the game, not balance it.  But it always has to be in a fun way, where it's not frustrating trying to bring balance to their own games.  Bit of a different design challenge from, say, AI War -- which is a fun change of pace. :)




Yep, that's pretty much why I pushed the Minotaur thing so hard.... they were unbalanced, sure, but not in quite the right way.  Unlike, say the Ice Giants, who are also pretty crazy but not in a "throw keyboard at wall" sort of way.   Particularly if the bandits were to get these guys, with their previous balance, they might be a bit TOO much from bandits in general, in a frustrating sort of way.

.....also they were making Labyrinth basically impossible to use.   It's one thing to cause lots of chaos with a big effect, but it's a whole other thing to cause so much chaos at once that the thing suddenly has no sensible usage.   It's alot more sane now!   Sort of.   

That, and the Greek already have super-strong siege units that eat buildings, but that guy kinda made them obsolete.


That thing with the rubble though should be a huge help!  That one, I think, is appreciated :D     That suggestion originally came from the Steam forums.


Looks like a good update overall!

Offline Teal_Blue

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2013, 08:43:15 pm »
I must admit I do find the new markers (<<XX>>) for the on-demand resources rather unattractive. In case of the lumber the markers extend into/over the border of the sidebar. Sure, the aesthetical perception of the markers is subjective so ... maybe reduce the markers to <X> to avoid the marker-sidebar overlap?



I agree the double quotes makes the text hang over the edges of the border sometimes, although it isn't a really big thing to me. But i do think that if there were single quotes as noted above in Honknatter's post that it would still be recognizable as an on-demand resource, but take less space. I think that sounds like a good idea.

I have taken the liberty of putting the request into Mantis here :
 http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=11667

Take care,
-Teal


Offline x4000

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2013, 09:40:46 pm »
I'm going to be out for most of the weekend, but I'm totally cool with changing the borders thing on the finished goods.  I just couldn't think of anything else that would set them apart and help ease new-player confusion.  I'm certainly open to ideas on that though.

Happy weekend!  Next week it's time to inject some more craziness into the game.  :D
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Offline Teal_Blue

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2013, 11:46:34 pm »
I'm going to be out for most of the weekend, but I'm totally cool with changing the borders thing on the finished goods.  I just couldn't think of anything else that would set them apart and help ease new-player confusion.  I'm certainly open to ideas on that though.

Happy weekend!  Next week it's time to inject some more craziness into the game.  :D



Thank you!  You might want to open a thread when you get ready to do the change and ask everyone what they think, or try something and see how it flies.  :) 

-Teal


Offline nas1m

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2013, 01:58:38 am »
Enjoy your weekend off, Chris! You owned it dearly ;D!
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Offline PokerChen

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2013, 04:09:17 am »
I'm going to be out for most of the weekend, but I'm totally cool with changing the borders thing on the finished goods.  I just couldn't think of anything else that would set them apart and help ease new-player confusion.  I'm certainly open to ideas on that though.

Happy weekend!  Next week it's time to inject some more craziness into the game.  :D

Thank you!  You might want to open a thread when you get ready to do the change and ask everyone what they think, or try something and see how it flies.  :) 

-Teal

Color-code them. Always color code them either in the font or a border around the graphics, since italics doesn't seems to be a good idea with your chosen font. Then I can change the PDF to match the colors you decide on.

Offline Wingflier

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2013, 09:36:41 am »
Out of curiosity, what is the deal with the "gods"? I thought that the player got to choose the god for each race on the 20th turn or whatever. It looks like they are instead assigned randomly?
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Offline Misery

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2013, 09:38:51 am »
Out of curiosity, what is the deal with the "gods"? I thought that the player got to choose the god for each race on the 20th turn or whatever. It looks like they are instead assigned randomly?

Yep. 

Adds a bit more chaos, and keeps things interesting, rather than players just picking the "best" ones every time or something like that.

Offline Wingflier

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Re: Skyward Collapse 1.002 "Hunting Through Rubble" Released!
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2013, 09:54:58 am »
Okay, thanks for clarifying.
"Inner peace is the void of expectation. It is the absence of our shared desperation to feel a certain way."