Updating Early Access version (v1.9.24) to Playtested version (v2.0 Beta 5) - bringing significant updates and extensive additions. See previous announcement for latest changes.

Playtesters - thank you for your invaluable feedback; if you haven't had a chance to review Manhattan, please do!

Expand your horizons! 🌌

The first arc is free to play for a limited time! Explore Wizard City through Dragonspyre for free through the month of May! You don't want to miss this! Learn More: https://www.wizard101.com/game/FreeFirstArc

This update to the demo brings many bug fixes, and many new things such as:
- Range Indicators for all Towers
- High Score Challenges
- Steam Leaderboards for new challenges
- Game Speed options
- Tower Adjustments
- Monster wave adjustments
- Level failure now sends you back to map select instead of restarting the game
- Gem rewards for map completion and challenges

Bugs fixed:
- Fixed a major bug where trying to open the game on steam would sometimes fail.
- Other minor bugs

High Score Challenges:
- Courtyard II features 30 waves with Steam Leaderboard functionality
- School Gates II features 35 waves with Steam Leaderboard functionality

2023-05-01

Many quality of life improvements! It is well worth checking out the new features section, especially if you like to hunt achievements or want to know how complete your playthrough was. Some visual improvements in the form of far less visual pop-in due to model changes at varying distances.

• Chapter Selection added! When the game is completed once, the title screen will include a new menu that enables players to load different points in the game.
  
• Improved Achievement hunting!
  
  1. Collectibles, viewed Cinematics, visited Yoik Spots and Locations and read Dialogue are saved globally. Players can use the Chapter Selection to return to specific points in the game to get what they missed
     
  2. "Collectibles available" and “Dialogue read” are listed for chapters in Chapter Selection
• Pause Menu now shows how many collectibles are available in the current location of the game. The menu only shows collectibles that can be reached at that point of the game.
  
• Map highlights Áilu’s location for easier awareness.
  
• “Photopause” added to D-Pad left or P-key on keyboard. Feature intended for taking screenshots easier. Photopause will freeze time while allowing moving the camera and changing camera distance and orientation, the same way it works during normal gameplay. Note that it does NOT include features commonly seen in ”Photo Mode” such as a free camera, filters or color adjustments.
  
• Recenter Camera to Checkpoint Orientation when loading a Save
  
• UI feedback / Flash Ability Icon on top of Attunement Icon when using Ability while drumming
  
• Attunables (Bleeders) have an UI indication as to what attunements can be cast on them. The prompts can be set OFF in the Settings Menu.

• Improvements to some tutorials
  
• Smoother model changes across distances when the LOD changes.

• Spirit Icons getting stuck/greyed out after a cutscene transition
  
• Ailu’s LookAt could sometimes override interactable and lockable targets
  
• Certain enemies were acting less bright than intended

The first community mod Wode's Grimoire is now available in Community Servers. Huge thanks to Blood Spartan and his unnamed friend who did the art for this incredibly fun mod! You can try it now by clicking on "Mods" in the main menu and enabling it.

If you are interested in making your own mod, you can checkout my modding playlist on youtube https://youtu.be/qyGxK-tdSqs or the modding repository on github https://github.com/jdoleary/spellmasons-mods.

Changes in this update:
- content: Add new unit: "Ancient"
- content: Add new type of Calamity "Stat Calamity" that makes enemies more dangerous

- balance: Continue to allow gaining perks after looping
Thanks S4m for criticism that led to this balance

- src: Improve statCalamity percentages
- src: Choose available statCalamities based on
which units are in the current level so that the next level has
increased difficulty due to calamity.
- src: Add mana refunds for slash
and target_arrow without targets

- UI: Add attack range to tooltip
Add words ("mana", "health") to tooltip
- UI: Add visible level count UI when inventory is open to the top right corner.
Thanks MrMarblz for this suggestion!
Note: Levels past the Deathmason are now displayed with a trailing "+"
to denote that it's a loop level
- UI: Make "Spawn instructions" less obtrusive after level 3. Thanks Mr. Marblz for this suggestion
- i18n: Translate stat calamities

- api: Add pixi particle emitter to modding api

- fix: Prevent Last Will from stacking like the card says it doesn't.
Thanks to MrMarblz for pointing this out
- fix: Fix link to source code in Mods menu
- fix: desync issue
where player loses control of themself.
This was reproducable by having 2 players in a multiplayer came, killing one unit and then
casting Harvest on them. Then the underworld's units array would be
filled with a bunch of units that weren't cleaned up and some were
the player units that still shared the same id, but these 2 changes (changing the
id's of cleaned up units) and removing cleaned up units right
after a sync resolves this issue.
- fix: Support player thought spell icons from mods
Modded icons still have to be manually added to the sprite sheet.
- fix: Add SYNC_SOME_STATE
after every SPELL to attempt to remedy desync snowballing
that sometimes occurred on the same player turn when
multiple spells are cast by having the server only send a
SYNC_SOME_STATE message after every SPELL message
- fix: Archer movement bug
Thanks to scojbo and others (not recorded) for mentioning this issue
- fix: statCalamities not applying double whenever a 2nd or beyond
is chosen. When a new statCalamity is chosen, only apply that one an
extra time to already existing units
- fix: Prevent unspawed players from being targeted by ally magic.
This only impacts multiplayer. Thanks mrman227 and others to reported this issue
- fix: Allow Capture Soul for minibosses
Thanks MrMarblz for pointing this out
- fix: Ghost Archer doing 20 more damage than predicted. Thanks Jackson for pointing out this bug!
- fix: Admin "Regenerate Level" command
- fix: spell mana cost calculations
To allow for mana from manasteal to be used in the same spell.
This uses what mana is left from the prediction player
to see if they have enough mana to cast in the first place
Thanks TonyFTW and JamesGamesA_Lot
- fix: Desync caused by sending initialTargetedUnitId
or initialTargetedPickupId as array. They should be numbers.
Also; somehow in javascript `3 == [3]`

We are glad to announce that a new map is available for free!

On the map The Hospital you will be reliving a memory of the first enemy faced by your character.

Duchess: She was the first threat faced, and was part of the training test. Unlike the enemies on previous maps, The Duchess is always on the hunt for you, and will chase you when she spots you. But this time you can use a fire extinguisher to escape her clutches.

Leecher: They are small creatures that hatch from scattered nests and prowl around the walls of the hospital. They only attack when they're not being watched, so keep your eyes peeled when walking past them!



New Weapons: Five new weapons have been added for you to unlock. The order of unlocked weapons has also been readjusted to accommodate the new additions, as well as the level required to unlock them.

Voice system: The voice system was redone to bring more quality during its use. In addition, the voice system is part of one of the new mechanics of the new map.

Prison Settings:
Barkannan's height has been readjusted, making him slightly taller.
The step of flooding the cell area to turn the prison's power back on was removed as it wasn't in line with the flow of experience we wanted to present.
Foliage has been added to the outside area to create a better setting.
The map has had the lights optimized, and now supports Lumen and Nanite technologies.

Motel Settings:
Foliage has been added to the external areas to create a better setting environment.
The map has been redone for better optimization, and now supports Lumen and Nanite technologies.

We want to thank everyone for the support!

Thanks for reading!

Discord: https://discord.gg/7Ncna2P7hH

MAY the sales be ever in your favor. Get ready to take your creativity to new heights and MAYke your game design dreams come true with this new version during our highly anticipated May Sale!


We're excited to share that a fresh and revamped version of our "Tower Defense" demo is now available in this update of 001 Game Creator! You might recall the previous version of this demo had some issues, but the current version has been completely overhauled with new, streamlined scripts and enhanced gameplay mechanics. Plus, the map now looks even more stunning! This updated demo is an excellent source of learning material and a great foundation if you're planning to develop a game in this genre. Additionally, we've increased the Android API version to 33 and fixed a quirky bug that has been lurking around for years, where selectable fields could affect the colors of other fields.




As you may recall, recently our Wiki received a massive update, adding two entire new sections dedicated to Events and Use Values, along with links to video tutorials and game recipes where applicable. This means you can access even more detailed and comprehensive information on 001 Game Creator's features and how to use them more effectively in your game design.

For those of you that haven't caught up in a while, the previous software update also included some sweet new features and fixes mainly related to DPI and how games are affected at different resolutions. Additionally the game and editor startup time has been improved, although this should be more noticeable on Android/iOS and HTML5.




Teasers about our brand new secret project are still dropping in! Our Patreon community has recently witnessed the 7th teaser. Each teaser reveals a small bit of what this whole new project of ours is going to be about. The next one is on the horizon so if you'd like to see it along with all of the previous ones then now would be a great time to become part of our amazing Patreon community! Plus, you also get early access to betas, game recipes, tutorials and other similar content before they get released to the public.



Additionally, you can join our newsletter to receive updates about the upcoming project and other news about 001 Game Creator. Subscribe on our website: https://www.softweir.ca/teaser/


During our May Sale, you can enjoy a massive 75% discount on our main software, and 15% off the DLCs! This is a perfect opportunity for you to put on your game design hat and take your skills to the next level. Don't miss out on this incredible offer lasting until May 15th!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/347400/001_Game_Creator/

Don't forget to add to your cart our latest DLCs for 001 Game Creator! The STEM Course E-Books which come in two volumes, covering both the Basics and Resources, as well as our SoftWeir Game Design Worksheets! These resources have already been helping many of our users master the basics or polish more advanced topics, and the game design worksheets are a great way to plan your next project. With multiple worksheets, detailed explanations, and tips & tricks from real game developers, you won't want to miss out on these incredibly useful resources!

Did you spy the tribute to the original Age of Empires hidden within the Monastery of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition?

The Artifact will be back with the Return of Rome DLC, available May 16th!

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/2141580/Age_of_Empires_II_Definitive_Edition__Return_of_Rome/

Did you spy the tribute to the original Age of Empires hidden within the Monastery of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition?

The Artifact will be back with the Return of Rome DLC, available May 16th!

---

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2141580/Age_of_Empires_II_Definitive_Edition__Return_of_Rome/

Greets to thee! Remember that time we made a point-and-click adventure game? So do we!

While the game itself remains perfect and in need of absolutely no bugfixes whatsoever, we wanted to let you know about some The Idiot's Tale-adjacent content! Woots all around!

• The official Idiot's Tale soundtrack is now available on Steam! You can download the 16-track masterpiece in MP3 format (or lossless WAV format if you have Very Good Ears (TM)).
  
• We've tested The Idiot's Tale out on Steam Deck, and it runs beautifully! Now you can take Sir Quest on the go! Play The Idiot's Tale in many exciting locations, such as the grocery store or the post office!

• Finally, to celebrate all this Miscellaneous Hubbub, The Idiot's Tale is 33% off for this week only!

That's all! Now scram!