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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hero Tower Defense Tuesday: Day 7! Talents, Kevin's Blog and game progress.

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar!


Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Tuesday!


Sketch of logo


Go here to read the Day 6 of Hero Tower Defense Tuesdays.

Sam again, working hard on the PTD update which is why this came so late.  I will continue talking about the talents and elements in this post plus give you guys an update on where the game is in programming so far.


If you haven't read last week's post then you will probably be really lost so I suggestion you give that a quick look and then come back to read this.


First a lot of you commented on adding more elements to the mix and while that may be possible we want to keep it pretty simple at first and then in the future possibly add more elements as we go. Today when I explain the talents more you will see why we want to keep it at 5 elements for now.


Okay so in HTD the elemental talent system has some pretty unique features.
  • Every character gets the same elemental talent tree, regardless of what you pick.
  • Regardless of what element you are attuned to, you can pick skills from any element. (If you are attuned to Fire you can still pick up water element skills or shadow element, etc.)
  • Skills are separated by Physical and Magic and then by elements. (See picture below)

Mock up of Elemental Talent Trees
  • You can get special combination of moves by fulfilling the requirement of that move. Combination moves are special moves that sometimes give you a different version of the original move or a move that will trigger a special effect on a previous move. An example of this is a Tier 2 Magical Fire move that will create Magma Armor for your character, if you get a Tier 2 Water skill then it will unlock the combination move for the Magma Armor which is dousing the Magma Armor cooling it down and turning it into a Magma Stone Armor. The Magma Armor will help against magic while the Magma Stone Armor helps against physical attacks. In the picture below the requirement for Tier 1 Fire is to get any Tier 1 Light Move. You can see that now the combination move for Fire is unlocked. Note: Combination moves are free and don't cost points.
The combination requirement for Tier 1 Fire is Tier 1 Light, the combination move for Fire Tier 1 is unlocked.
  • You will get 15 points to work with once you reach the highest level in the game. You can go pure on an Element and it will unlock an Ultime move that you can use your last point in.
Using 7 Points on Fire Physical and 7 Points on Fire Magical will unlock an Ultimate Fire Move (not pictured)
  • Putting 3 points into all the elements will unlock all the combination moves for all of them, this will get you more versatility. Doing this will unlock a special move that will be free. But not as powerful as an Ultimate Pure Elemental move.
Putting 3 points into every element will get you the most elemental skills, and will unlock a special move for free (Not pictured on this mock up)
  • Other special arrangements like putting 7 points in one element and 7 points in a different element will give you an Ultra move. Also putting 5 points in 3 different elements will unlock a special move.
I know this is a lot to take in and it might be hard to understand without being able to play with it but this is the most we can offer right now.
With this system you can create a character as you see fit, do you want him to shoot fire balls and be able to heal with water? Go for it. Want to be a pure Shadow Master? Go for it. Want to be a pure physical machine? Go full physical fire and shadow. There are so many possibilities to what you can do! But we aren't done yet.

You might be thinking well what about classes? While the Elemental Tree system will let you go wild and create your own special class, there is also a Specialization Tree that you will get access to. The Specialization tree will allow you to pick more specific abilities both passive and active to your character. These will be more restrictive in that they require certain points to get them. When you put a point in the physical side of the Elemental Tree you will get a Physical Specialization Point that you can use in the Physical side of the Specialization Tree, same with magic. The specialization will help you define you character more with categories such as Defense, Stealth, Healing, Damage. Want to be a powerfull mage that can take hits like a tank? Well you can! Gone are the days of picking a class and being tied down to what you can do, we hope you will enjoy this system and help us fine tune it as we move forward.

Let's talk about our great artist, Kevin, for a little bit here. Kevin came to Dan and I requesting that he wanted to make his own blog that focuses on the art for Hero Tower Defense. While at the beginning we had our doubts on the whole idea, we finally decided to try it out and see how it goes. So click here to check out Kevin's blog, KXN @ HTD. On top of that we will be posting small summaries each week here about what's going on in his blog so that you don't miss a thing. So go check it out!

The last thing I wanted to talk about is how the programming is going for HTD. A lot of you keep asking when the game is coming out, and while the game is not close to being ready I will update you on where we are now. Each week I will provide an update.

I'm actually re-writing all the code for HTD using PTD as a reference. I have learned a lot from PTD and using all those lessons to make the code in HTD even better. HTD is also more detailed graphically so it requires more detailed code for attack effects. For example in PTD the pokemon will just tackle and hit the target in the middle of it. In HTD your character will move infront of the target and then swing it's swords. These differences make all the difference as far as presentation and code.

Work in Progress Picture, two characters attacking the dragon whelp.
Disclamer on the Picture above: We aren't going to have 10 units at once, only 5. I have 10 there as a previous test.

So that is what we have so far, the characters can be put on their spots and will attack an enemy that is going around the path. We are tweaking attack code and looking at how we can make the action easier to follow.

So which element will you choose?

That's what we have this week for Hero Tower Defense. As always let me know what you think!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Pokemon Tower Defense: Weekly Progress for v4.3, Avatar Chat, Scams, Top 10 forum questions of the week!

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar! 

Hey guys, Sam here, v4.2 was released recently, here is a small summary of what is in it.

What's new in v4.2 

New Challenge Level - Celadon City Gym, can you win the shiny magnemite without the help of Celebi and not using your own pokemon?
Level Cap up to 50 - New moves are introduced into the game because of this level cap increase.
New Mystery Gift Pokemon -Magnemite and it's evolution Magneton!
17 new moves added to the game.
New Pokemon Evolutions (1) - Magneton.
New TMs
  • Iron Tail
  • Stone Edge
Fixes:
  • Added Aerial Ace to Scyther's TM List
  • Pikachu can now learn and relearn Thunder at level 50
  • Game Corner now takes 5 coins to play, you only get 50 turns, but you win x10 more coins on each prize (80, 150, 1000, 3000) - This change was made to alleviate the server from too many request. Since you only get 50 turns instead of 100.
Where can I play?
Top 10 Forum Questions of the Week:

I talked last week about our community forums merging and adding some new features. One of the features is that every week the forum moderators will gather 10 questions that they want to ask me or Dan and we answer them each week. So here are the questions and answers.

1) xplay10: In the most recent level, "Celadon City", Celebi has mentioned that Mewtwo's triumph will end and won't be coming back for the sequels to come, along with Joey. Do you plan on having Pokemon like Mewtwo in terms of strength become the main villains for the upcoming sequels? If so, will they be shown in PTD following the main storyline?


I haven't decided if I will make a sequel yet, but if I did I would definitely have a strong main villain in the game that compares to Mewtwo. If I do make a sequel it would be a different game so PTD will stop once it reaches it's last level. You won't see the next villain on PTD.

2) Muncho11/Budgetspaner: What is the chance of actually finding a legendary beast (Suicune, Raikou, Entei) in the wild? And will we be able to catch multiple legendaries (Zapdos, Moltres, Articuno, Mewtwo), or will it be only one per profile?



I get asked this question about once per day lol. I'm not revealing the exact encounter rate of the Legendary Beast since it can lead to hacking. I'm still deciding on the second part of this question. But I would think that you can't get more than one of each of those per profile. (Unless you trade)

3) blastoise 889: What is your favorite Pokemon?

I have a soft spot for Bulbasaur, since he was my first pokemon. I also like Poliwag, which happens to be the first created pokemon.

4) Trainer Red: Where do you get your inspiration for PTD and what was your first acquaintance with Pokemon?

I've always liked Pokemon since I first saw it on a comic on the Nintendo Power Magazine. I bought the game before it became insanely popular in the States and I've really liked it since but I haven't liked how they have continued to make the same game over and over. I got inspired to make PTD when I noticed a bunch of other Pokemon Apps on the Android Marketplace. I figured I would make a Pokedex or a virtual pet simulator. As I was making the simulator I noticed that I might as well do something more enjoyable. So I saw that the highest grossing android game at the time was a tower defense. Immediately I thought about capturing your enemy and using them as towers.

5) almostpro: Do you plan on changing Pokemon adoption prices? (10 for a starter seems high because all other non-legendary are 5 at most. People would rather buy new game corner Pokemon than starters. I believe there should be a clearer distinction between Pokemon in terms of trade value and I believe dogs and Mews should be different in price as well.)

There is a possibility that the prices might change in the future, but it's not in my plans at this time.

6) gogogogo99: Will you ever let new PTD players get the past mystery gift avatars?

I'll find ways to re introduce the past avatars, without boring the people that already have them.

7) ZKS: Have you ever considered buying your own server? (As an accountant, I see how much my company spends on them. They don't have a massive start up cost, especially since our data is relatively small and upkeep is negligible)

I do have a host that I pay monthly for the server that hold the Pokemon Center, I think the game corner really slowed everything down, but now with the change on it I hope it will help the issue.

8) KimmyLube: Real world question - outside of PTD, what exactly is your real world job?

Outside of PTD, I'm a programmer, I work remotely from home. Hopefully soon I will be able to leave the job and focus completely on Sam and Dan Games.

9) Link: How do you think the cooperation with S&D Central will continue? Do you have any ideas for future cooperation plans?
I think think the cooperation between us and the Forums can only get better from now. I don't have anything specific but I'm sure we can work on some contest :)

10) PokeFan Gen. 1: Since the safari zone will be coming within the next month or so I was wondering will the level layout be similar to Rock Tunnel? With multiple rooms (zones) where you catch certain Pokemon? I feel like safari zone is such a key section it may take two weeks to actually put it together

Yeah the Safari Zone is a big deal, a lot of new pokemon will show up there. Right now I'm thinking of an idea for it that not everybody will get every pokemon but that each profile will get it's own pokemon out of a list. This is to encourage more trading. I also like the idea that your profile is unique from another. The layout itself might be similar to Rock Tunnel or it might be something new.

Well that was fun! Head to the forums if you want to submit your question and have them posted next week.

About Scams: 

I want to talk about something that I have been receiving some emails about. I've been receive a lot of emails about people being Scammed. I know that Scams are a terrible thing, but it's one of the things that I really can't stop since most scams aren't doing anything illegal. So here are some tips to protect yourself.
  • If the person wants more than 6 pokemon, avoid the trade unless you personally know this person is trustworthy.
  • Do all trades through the Trading Center's system. Use the request feature that way you know that what you are getting is what it's supposed to be.
  • If the pokemon's picture doesn't show up on the Trading Center then that pokemon is not what it seems to be, do not trade for this pokemon.
I hope that those simple tips can help somebody out there from being Scammed. I can't really help you with scams cause there is really no proof of it happening. For all I know you are trying to scam me!

Weekly Progress List: 

So let's talk about this next week coming up.

New Story Level  (100%)- Team Rocket's Secret Base
We managed to beat Erika and get our fourth badge! Now it's time to head to Team Rocket's Secret base and grab the supply of Silph Scopes, but there is somebody in the way!

Level Cap up to 52 (100%) - Getting closer and closer to Dragonite!
  • Extrasensory (100%) - Vulpix
  • Heat Wave (100%) - Growlithe
  • After You (100%) - Clefairy
  • Superpower (100%) - Pinsir

New Mystery Gift Pokemon (100%) - It doesn't bug me to add this new pokemon into the game.
  • Graphic (100%)
  • Shiny Graphic (100%)
  • Add Stats to Game (100%)
  • New Evolution (100%)
    • Graphic (100%)
    • Shiny Graphic (100%)
    • Add Stats to Game (100%)

Avatar Chat (0%) - Use your avatar to enter a virtual room and chat with other trainers. This is the first step towards Multiplayer.

Potion Upgrade (100%) - Receive the upgrade when you beat the new story level!
Adding Steamroller to Golem (100%) 
Adding leveling up will restore your pokemon's health (100%) 
Added Arrow key/WASD controls to move the level maps (100%) 

TMs
  • Hyper Beam (100%)

Bug Fixes
  • Added Swagger to Hypno and Drowzee at level 45 (100%)- Thanks Tyd from the blog comment!
  • Geodude now properly learns Stone Edge at level 50 (100%)  
  • Make Tri attack faster so it shows all the components and lower the amount of particles in the attack so it will hit faster (100%)
  • Using the attack Double Hit, freeze the game (100%)
Distribution (0%)

That's all I have for now as always, let me know what you think!

Friday, September 23, 2011

So where's the next Ninja-Ja: update?

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar!


For those of you who have been asking about when the next Ninja-Ja update will be out here's a quick explanation.

When I started on this update I had a few new features in mind that I wanted to add that would open the game up to more than just survival and top scores. As I was developing these features I realized some current things needed to be changed to accommodate the new stuff. What ended up happening was I noticed that some of the core code needed to be revamped a bit as it wasn't originally designed with these new features in mind. Also since I'm still a beginner at programming as I get better I notice some mistakes that I've made earlier that are hindering progress so I have to go back and fix them. This all adds up to a lot of work that needs to done before I continue with adding things but is good because once I have it in place then future updates should come faster.

So while I don't have an ETA for the next update it will have a bunch of new stuff like Story Mode which has an intro and boss fight, attacking as well as defending, actual enemies you can hit with ranged weapons, and different ranged weapon mechanics since they are primarily used for attacking now.

Anywho that's all for now, just wanted to keep you guys in the loop. Sorry for the delay! I know some of you are eager to try it out but bare with me while I get this set up properly and learn some more about programming so I can do things faster. As always any suggestions, comments, and general feedback is appreciated, thanks!

-Dan

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Hero Tower Defense Tuesday: Day 6!

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar!


Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Tuesday!


Sketch of logo


Go here to read the Day 5 of Hero Tower Defense Tuesdays.


Dan is hard at work on the next Ninja-ja update, so I'm taking over this post bringing you more news and art for our next game Hero Tower Defense. If you haven't done so already make sure to read past blog post of HTD Tuesdays by clicking the link above this paragraph. I'll wait here until you do..... Okay! You ready now?

This week we are going to talk about the first game that Dan and I had planned but never released. Many years ago Dan and I would meet up once a week to work on our game. It was to be an action rpg, one of the main draws of the game was going to be its unique talent system. Sadly we never got around to making that game but we always wanted to use the talent system, so we are going to tweak it and add it to HTD.

The game world will revolve around 5 different elements. Every character will be linked to one of these elements. The elements will be Fire, Water, Nature (this name could change), Shadow and Light. Each of these elements will have an advantage against two other elements and have a weakness to the other two.

There are 3 categories for abilities (moves you will use in the game).
  • Offensive - These will be moves that mainly cause damage.
  • Defensive - These moves will prevent you from taking heavy damage also healing moves fall in this category.
  • Utility - Moves that will slow down the enemy, or trap them etc.
Element: Fire - Pure destructive energy, also provides light.
  • Main Category - Offensive
  • Second Category - Defensive
  • Advantage against: Shadow and Nature - Fire creates a light that shadow cannot beat, fire can also burn plants and nature very easily.
  • Weakness against: Light and Water - Fire creates light so Light element grows in the presence of fire thus overpowering it. Water can put out fire.
Element: Water - Healing powers and versatility. Water can take many shapes.
  • Main Category - Defensive
  • Second Category - Utility
  • Advantage against: Fire and Light - Water can put out fires. Light going through water gets distorted and weakened.
  • Weakness against: Shadow and Nature - Water helps nature grow more powerful. Shadow and corruption can easily get into water and corrupt it.
Element: Nature - Wild energy, can take many shapes, and fulfill many roles.
  • Main Category - Utility
  • Second Category - Defensive
  • Advantage against: Water and Light - Water and light both feed Nature it's nutrients and allow it to grow stronger.
  • Weakness against: Fire and Shadow - Fire destroys nature, and shadow can easily corrupt and prevent the growth of nature.
Element: Light - Pure energy, provides healing and power.
  • Main Category - Defensive
  • Second Category - Offensive
  • Advantage against: Fire and Shadow - Fire creates light so Light element grows in the presence of fire thus overpowering it. Shadow cannot exist in light.
  • Weakness against: Nature and Water - Nature uses light to grow. Light gets distorted when it goes against water.
Element: Shadow - Evil energy full of trickery and corruption.
  • Main Category - Offensive
  • Second Category - Utility
  • Advantage against: Nature and Water - Shadow prevents nature from growing and can easily corrupt both nature and water.
  • Weakness against: Fire and Light - Both fire and light create light and thus remove shadow.
Linking into an element will give you a passive chance to give your target a passive debuff having to do with your element. It also gives you resistance and weakness to other elements. For example if you link to fire all your abilities have the chance to trigger a fire debuff on your target that will burn him for a period of time but will increase his damage done slightly. Also you will take 5% less damage from shadow and nature attacks but take 5% more damage from light and water attacks.

I will continue talking about elements, talents and abilities next week. Now I leave you with some art that Kevin worked on this week.


You will encounter this monster on the first level of the game.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Pokemon Tower Defense: Weekly Progress for v4.2, Community Merging, how things are going, future talks

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar! 


Hey everybody! Sam here bringing you the goods for this week. Last week I started the update half way during the week so I didn't get to complete the level 50 cap. That will be a priority this week.
Also this week something that is not going to happen that often will happen. The return of a pokemon for the Weekly code. There won't be a new code this week but for v4.2 there will be one. Like I mentioned before I'm bringing the Challenge Mode Celadon Gym level and the prize will be a shiny pokemon. So you get the regular version from the Weekly Code and you get the Shiny from the Challenge Mode. I will leave the pokemon to be a shocking surprise.

Other than that there will be some changes with the casino, I will be reducing the amount of tries per day, increasing how much each play cost but also increasing how you get per day. This will help reduce the server load that many of us have been experiencing.

Another thing is many of you have requested that the potion behave like the pokeball in that it scrolls the screen when you are close to the borders, so I will be adding that on this update also.

Progress List for v4.2:
Level cap increased to 48 (100%)
  • Leaf Blade (100%) - Victreebell
  • Future Sight (100%) - Kadabra/Alakazam
  • Retaliate (100%) - Growlithe
Level cap increased to 49 (100%)
  • Gunk Shot (100%) - Ekans
  • Iron Tail (100%) - Onix
  • Close Combat (100%) - Mankey
  • Hyper Voice (100%) - Jigglypuff
  • Healing Wish (100%) - Clefairy
  • Double Hit (100%) - Scyther
Level cap increased to 50 (100%)
  • Mirror Coat (100%) - Voltorb
  • Last Resort (100%) - Eevee/Vaporeon/Jolteon/Flareon
  • Ancient Power (100%) - Mew
  • Stone Edge (100%) - Geodude
  • Sludge Wave (100%) - Tentacool
New Pokemon for Mystery Code and Challenge Mode (100%) - Magnemite
  • Graphics (100%)
  • Shiny Graphics (100%)
  • Add this pokemon's stats to the game (100%)
  • New Moves for this pokemon (3) (100%)
    • Metal Sound (100%)
    • Magnet Bomb (100%)
    • Mirror Shot (100%)
  • New Evolution (100%)
    • Graphics (100%)
    • Shiny Graphic (100%)
    • Add this pokemon's stats into the game (100%)
Add Magnemite as a prize for mystery code and challenge mode (100%)
Challenge Mode Level - Celadon Gym (100%)
  • Level Intro (100%)
  • Level Layout (100%)
  • Level Waves (100%)
  • Level Ending (100%)
Game Corner Changes (100%)
Potion Changes (100%)
New TMs (100%)
  • Iron Tail
  • Stone Edge
Bug Fixes (100%)
  • Scyther can now learn Aerial Ace TM (100%) - Thanks to you guys for helping me find this.
Distribution (100%)

The community is a big part of what gives games the extra spark needed to keep them alive even after they have been around for a while. It's been 5 months since Pokemon Tower Defense was released and our community is as big as ever. But a divided community does more harm than good. Having two different forums, adding more chats, all it does is thin out the community. Thankfully the two most popular PTD Forums are going to combine and create one central Sam & Dan Games Forum. The merger is still in progress, once everything is ready to go I will post the link.

My passion is to create games but a huge amount of my time goes into the community. Listening to suggestions, answering emails, taking care of account issues. Dan answers any orders that come in for SnD coins. He answers comments for Hero Tower Defense. We are as open as we possibly can be and the merger of the forum will open new ways for us to connect with you guys. We will have a weekly questions section. You submit your questions on the forums and every week Dan or I will answer the questions and post them on the blog. Another feature that will come to the forums will be that you will be able to suggestions a new feature for the game and every other week the best one will be chosen and I will implement it for the update. Unless it's something that will make the game worse. I can't wait to see this feature play out.

I enjoy working on PTD and HTD, I like the fast schedules, the instant feedback. With every update the game get's closer and closer to completion, the more moves are created the easier it is to increase the level cap and the easier it is to add new pokemon. I always like to think of the next step.

Multiplayer is always a topic that gets brought up every single day. I don't have a lot of experience making a fully working multiplayer system. So in the near future I will be taking the first steps toward the multiplayer with an Avatar Chat. You will be able to use your avatar and move him around while chatting with other players. This will help to get my feet wet and start working ironing out any bugs that might come up.

I constantly ask myself, what will I work on next? Will I make a PTD sequel? If I make a poll the answer will be YES! MAKE A SEQUEL! I don't even doubt that result. I know the demand is there. I haven't fully decided if I will make it or not. After PTD, Hero Tower Defense will be getting the most attention like PTD gets now. But I like working on multiple project so when HTD goes into high gear I will be working behind the scenes on the next big game.

I do however spend some time here and there thinking about what a sequel to PTD would be like. While making a Johto Sequel to PTD is a no brainer, I always like to push myself so what if the sequel wasn't a tower defense game?

I leave you with that, as always let me know what you think, try to keep any account issues away from the blog comments just email me directly. Thanks for the great support that all of you continue to give us to this day.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Pokemon Tower Defense: Weekly Progress for v4.1, Level cap, and Potions

Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar! 


Okay so we are starting this week's update a little late but I will update this weekend. First if you haven't seen my brother's fan film I suggest you check it out, it came out great. He told me he is making a second video since you guys liked it so much. We also thought that you guys would enjoy a different point of view of the events in the game rather than just follow the game exactly so the movies will follow two new trainers.

Pokemon TD Fan Film
The Game Corner is out, you can play up to 500 times every day. You get 100 coins to start, if you ever go down to 0 then you will get 100 coins again, compliments of Giovanni himself. Different Machines have different rates of winning and different rates on their prizes. Some machines win more often, some win less often. Some have higher chances to win better prizes. You can win 8, 15, 100 or 300 coins. Play every day and save up for the new pokemon. Some of you, before the Game Corner came out, in the blog comments mentioned that you would like to buy the shiny versions of the pokemon with the casino coins, I thought it was a great idea but obviously the price for them has to be extreme since shiny pokemon are meant to be something that takes some time to get.

I get a lot of request by email or in the comments about converting Pokedollars to SnD Coins or Casino Coins. Before I can properly answer this question I have to address Pokedollars, right now getting a huge amount of Pokedollars is very easy to do, so providing a way to convert them to SnD Coins or Casino Coins essentially means that you could have an unlimited supply of SnD Coins and Casino Coins. I have decided that I'll be adding Casino coins to the Daily Codes. Instead of getting normal pokemon with breeding moves often you will get Casino coins often and the pokemon will be uncommon. The more you pay for the code the more Casino coins you can get. This will be implemented by this weekend.

Okay so let's talk about this weekend's update. These are the main things I want to get done.

These are for v4.1 which will be out this weekend.

Distribution (0%) - Creating all the different version, sending out the different versions to all it's locations. 

I want to increase the level cap up to 50 but I don't know if I will make it so I will do it one level at the time. When that level is done I will post the next one.
  • Level Cap Increase to 45 (100%) - New Moves (4)
    • Horn Drill (100%) - Nidoran Male
    • Fissure (100%) - Diglett
    • Punishment (100%) - Mankey
    • Lock-On (100%) - Porygon
  • Level Cap Increase to 46 (100%) - New Moves (2)
    • Quiver Dance (100%) - Butterfree
    • Curse (100%) - Onix
  • Level Cap Increase to 47 (100%) - New Moves (5)
    • Hyper Beam (100%) - Gyarados
    • Leaf Storm (100%) - Victreebel
    • Wring Out (100%) - Bellsprout
    • Grudge (Skipped) - Vulpix - There is no PP in the game so this move will be skipped. In the future I might come back and add it.
    • Guillotine (100%) - Pinsir
      The other big thing I want to do is add potions to the game, the first implementation gives you the regular potion for free as a default, eventually you will be able to buy upgrades for the potions. Once you upgrade you will get the updated potion for now on. With potions you will be limited to using 6 potions per level. Once you use 6 you won't be able to use it anymore until you start a new level. 6 should be enough to provide you a chance to beat the more difficult levels. They will work like the pokeball, you can drag it to your tower or drag it to the button at the bottom of the screen. I will also be adding the life bar to the button for each pokemon, so it will help you keep track of the tower's health.
      Scyther doing Fissure (He can't learn it, I'm only testing). Notice the life bar in the button, and the potion above the pokeball.
      • Adding life bars to the tower buttons (100%)
      • Adding the regular potions to the game (100%) - Drag this to the towers to heal that pokemon for 20 health. Does not work on enemy pokemon.

        Like I mentioned before I want to add Casino Coins to the Daily Codes and tweak some of the numbers on that.
        • Add Casino Coins to Daily Codes (100%) - Casino Coins will become the easiest prize to get on Daily Coins. This is available now!
        • Tweak the Daily Code prizes percentage to fit in the Casino Coins (100%)
        The last thing I will work on is the big bugs that are hitting the game right now. The button pictures of the new pokemon are not showing correctly. (Examples: Eevee evolutions show gyarados, porygon, pinsir, scyther showing up as moltres, and new shinies showing up as Bulbasaur). Another bug is the life bars of your towers, making them behave correctly when you take damage. Also there is a bug when you remove your pokemon before it dies, so I will try to squash that also. Another small bug is pokemon in the Celadon Gym Level are running away after using their powder attacks (poison powder, sleep powder).
        • The tower's button showing the wrong pokemon (Ex. Flareon showing as Gyarados) (100%)
        • Tower's Life bar not showing correctly when taking damage (100%)
        • Removing a Tower before it dies bugs out (100%)
        • Enemy in Celadon gym turning around after using Sleep Power or Poison Powder (100%)
        • Fix False Swipe to actually work (100%)
        • Fix Daily Codes Reset (100%) - This is available now, you will no longer be able to use the code as much as you want on certain occasions.
        • Allow only members of Team Rocket to play in the game corner (100%) This is available now! This was made because you guys voted it to be this way!
        • Fixed a bug that was causing your moves not to go on cooldown when you missed (100%)
        I was going to add a new challenge level but because I'm starting at the middle of the week I won't be able to fit that in.

        We are about half way done with the story mode, 4 more gym battles, the elite 4, and then the final battle against Mewthree!

        As always let me know what you think about the game, and about all things going on with Sam & Dan Games.

        Tuesday, September 13, 2011

        Hero Tower Defense Tuesday: Day 5!

        Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

        Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar!


        Welcome to Hero Tower Defense Tuesday!



        Sketch of logo


        Go here to read the Day 4 of Hero Tower Defense Tuesdays.

        Alright, it's Tuesday and time for another HTD update! Let's talk how we're going to implement offense and defense into HTD.

        As we all know traditional tower defense (TD) games typically revolve around, as the name implies, defending. While this is fun and all it's also a bit limiting. When you start adding RPG elements to this system you begin imagining scenarios where you wish you could also attack. So why not add it? I'll describe some such scenarios to better illustrate what we have in mind.

        Okay first let me just give some relief to the TD purists. There WILL be traditional TD levels, just not ALL of them. You'll still have your towers (heros) with your base/candy/etc (thing to defend) and all you'll do is defend against waves of enemies, just like the good ol'times. There will most likely be both versions of this as well. For example in some TDs (like PTD) the enemies have to make it to your candy and then return back with it. In other TDs the enemies simply need to reach your base and cause damage to it. I don't see why we can't just have both.

        So having said that I've always thought it was kind of lame to have boss enemies simply be tougher units with maybe 1 or 2 special abilities that do exactly same thing as the other units. With RPG elements at your disposal you can do so much more and RPGs ALWAYS have awesome boss fights, which brings us to attacking.

        Bosses are just one example of where we can use offense. Suppose you just finished working through a dungeon (each section would be a level with a TD set up for example) and now you face the boss. In this case he's defending his own thing (phat lootz most likely) and so you'll need to approach and attack him in order to get his treasure.

        Some bosses may be stationary while others are mobile. You don't want the boss to start beating your casters to a pulp by either getting close to them or targeting them from a distance. So in order to do that you'll need to move and attack with the right units (melee/tanks) to keep him distracted. Just like how in PTD you can move units to different locations there will also be locations near the boss. Of course this puts you right where you'll take the most damage so you might not be able to stay there the whole time and have to swap different units in and out.

        Now since we have both pure defending and pure attacking scenarios there's really no reason you can't have a situation in which you have a mix of both. What if there's a boss with little minions that are attacking you and going for your base/candy/etc at the same time as you're trying to defeat him (hint hint). It doesn't even need to involve a boss really, there's plenty of ways you can have defense and offense going on at the same time from both sides.

        So to conclude, levels in HTD will vary from pure defense to pure offense to a mix of both which we think will keep things interesting and allow us to do much more with the game. And to finish it off here's an image showing some side angle frames from an attack animation that Kevin worked on:

        Concept sketches and actual art with armor

        As always give us your feedback in the comments and let us know what you think!

        -Dan

        Saturday, September 10, 2011

        Pokemon Tower Defense: v4.0 is out now! Celadon Gym!

        Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

        Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar!


        Bug Report: Eevee Evolutions are showing up as Gyarados, I will fix this on v4.1.

        I had a good time making this update, we are still missing the game corner and new daily codes but I will have those out by Monday. For now enjoy the Gym. This time around I didn't want to give you an impossible task so I added some healing for your pokemon every so often thanks to a special friend and also some assistance from your friend Joey.

        I've never really talked about him here but my brother, Joel, makes films and he made a fan video for Pokemon Tower Defense,  it came out great so check it out by clicking on the picture below and tell him what you think on youtube. Like the video, subscribe to his channel, check out his blog to check out what other things he is working on in the future.
        Pokemon TD Fan Film

        What's new in v4.0  

        New Gym Level - Celadon City Gym
        Game Corner Section in the Pokemon Center
        New Daily Code Prizes (Pushed to v4.1)
        New Mystery Gift Avatar - Thanks Kimmy Lube! 
        New Pokemon (4) - Porygon, Scyther, Pinsir, Dratini (You can get these from the Game Corner in the Pokemon Center)
        New Pokemon Evolutions (1) - Dragonair (Level cap is not high enough for Dragonite)
        New Moves (10)
        • Conversion - Porygon
        • Conversion 2 - Porygo
        • Signal Beam - Porygon
        • False Swipe - Scyther
        • Vacuum Wave - Scyther
        • Razor Wind - Scyther
        • X-Scissor - Scyther/Pinsir
        • ViceGrip - Pinsir
        • Brick Break - Pinsir
        • Dragon Tail - Dratini
        • Dragon Rush - Dratini
        New TMs
        • False Swip
        • Aerial Ace
        • Gyro Bal
        Added the words "Hacked Version" on the main screen of the hacked version of the game - Big red text will let you know  that you are playing the hacked version.
        Fixing types affecting the wrong moves - I thought I had fixed it but I made a mistake in my code, this now works correctly.
        Made Daily Code Reset at the same time every day - This is available now! Instead of the code's 24 hour timer triggering when you get the code, it now resets at the same time everyday so no matter when you use the code you won't lose time. A lot of you requested this so here it is :)
        Fix typo on Meditate attack info - The duration text is now 1800 as intended.
        Fixed Vaporeon Graphic - Thanks Haplo!
        Where can I play?
        I hope you guys enjoy the level, I took a lot of the feedback you guys gave me. A lot of you asked for spots that only allow one type to be on it so I added those. A lot of you asked for a gym with only it's own type of pokemon so I did that. Many of you also asked for Joey to help you in levels again so I did that also. 
        The next update I will make the gym level into a challenge level, removing some of the help that you get and making your enemy stronger.
        I'll be posting a new progress list on Monday, for now let me know what you think.

        Hero Tower Defense Tuesday: Day 4!

        Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Purchase some SnD coins and get Ninja-ja bonus items free! Click here for more info.

        Go here to read the Day 3 of Hero Tower Defense Tuesdays.

        Today we're going to touch on some ideas we have for HTD and where we hope to take it.

        So over the years Sam and I have played many games from all different genres. While most games generally share similar ideas overall, every once in awhile you'll experience something that sticks with you because of how awesome it was. It might be a quest with a great story, maybe an intense boss encounter, perhaps even just a spe
        cific environment, dungeon, or town that left you feeling like you were actually there. Sometimes it's certain characters and their personalities, etc. It could even just be a cool item, ability, or spell. Whatever it may be it leaves you with a great memory and sometimes you wish you could experience it again.

        Sam and I have a lot of these memories and we think it would be cool to be able to relive some of them again, but this time in HTD. This means you might notice some of the content we create is greatly influenced by something else you might be familiar with. While we don't want to copy these things exactly, for several reasons, we would like to look at the general concept of something, add some S&D flavor, and create something that is both new and nostalgic.

        We stopped to think though, why stop at just games? Some of our memories are from books or movies too, so why not add them into the mix? Lord of the Rings comes to mind. Also, Sam and I are only two people, we haven't played, read, or seen everything. So why not ask our fans! What are your favorite memories? Let's hear about them in the comments. Of course, anything we put into HTD has to be relevant. You're not going to see a bunch of stuff that doesn't really fit just so we can rereate the memory. Sorry Star Wars fans, I'm not sure a Death Star would fit into the HTD world exactly.. unless maybe you have space gnomes or something. :P

        As for those of you who prefer purely original content, rest assured. We'll have plenty of original content. We have a lot of our own ideas and hopefully we can create some new experiences that will leave a lasting impression for all to remember!

        On a final note, while I'd love to give you some examples of what we have in mind I don't want to spoil anything. I will, however, give you this little teaser of the level Kevin is currently working on. Let's see what you think it might be in the comments. :)


        Level Teaser


        Don't forget to leave any feedback you might have for us, it's always welcomed! Sam will probably add some more later as well.

        Saturday, September 3, 2011

        Pokemon Tower Defense: v3.9 is now out! Progress List

        Want to get the legendary dogs? Shiny Mew? or any other shiny pokemon in the game? Adopt them today using SnD coins! Get some SnD coins by buying any of the Ninja-ja Editions. Click here for more info.

        Visit the PTD: Pokemon Center - a place to trade pokemon, get your Daily Code, adopt Pokemon, view your items and change your avatar!


        What's new in v3.9
        • Being able to level up your starter pokemon properly when making a new account
        • Putting an enemy to sleep or freezing him or making it flinch will make him stop attacking
        • Fixed an issue that was preventing people from saving
        • Fixed a bug in the Trading Center that prevented automatic trades from happening with "Any Pokemon" was one of the request
        • Issue with Charmander not leveling up properly in the challenge mode level
        • Skip button at the end of Route 8
        • Fire Blast not working on certain levels
        • Extremespeed will no longer make the targeted enemy turn white
        • Vital Throw and Submission attack effects will now rotate more as intended
        • Submission will now un-fade your pokemon after the attack
        • Pokemon being affected by moves that shouldn't affect them
          • Fire Types can no longer be burned
          • Ice Types can no longer be frozen, except by Tri Attack
          • Ground types can no longer be paralyzed  by Electric Moves
          • Leech Seed no longer works on Grass type enemies
          • Poison and Steel Types can no longer be Poisoned
          • Bulldoze will no longer slow down Flying Type Pokemon
        New TMs - (Sorry but Hydro Pump is not a TM ): )
        • Blizzard
        • Solarbeam
        • Thunder
        • Fire Blast
        Where can I play?
        New mystery gift code will come on Monday! Sponsor is not around so we will wait until Tuesday for the Mystery Gift Code. No new code this week :(

        Another week another update, this week we took it easy no new pokemon or level but a lot of fixes and some nice new TMs for you to enjoy.

        This week coming up we got a lot coming at you, new pokemon, a gym battle, new daily code prizes, new TMs and more.

        Distribution (0%)

        New Gym Level (100%) - Celadon City Gym
        • Level Intro (100%)
        • Level Layout (100%)
        • Level Waves (100%)
        • Level Ending (100%)
        Game Corner Section in the Pokemon Center (Pushed to Monday) 
        New Daily Code Prizes (Pushed to Monday)
        New Mystery Gift Avatar (100%) - Thanks Kimmy Lube! 
        • Implement graphic (100%)
        • Link to Sponsor site (100%) 
          Non Obtainable Pokemon (2) (100%) - Exeggcute, Tangela
          • Graphics (2) (100%)
          • Shiny Graphics (2) (100%)
          • Add these new pokemon's stats into the game (100%) 
            New Pokemon (4) (100%) - Porygon, Scyther, Pinsir, Dratini
            • Graphics (4) (100%)
            • Shiny Graphics (4) (100%)
            • Add these new pokemon's stats into the game (100%)
            New Pokemon Evolutions (1) (100%) - Dragonair (Level cap is not high enough for Dragonite)
            • Graphics (100%)
            • Shiny Graphics (100%)
            • Add these new pokemon's stats into the game (100%)
            New Moves (10) (100%)
            • Conversion - Porygon (100%)
            • Conversion 2 - Porygon (100%)
            • Signal Beam - Porygon (100%)
            • False Swipe - Scyther (100%)
            • Vacuum Wave - Scyther (100%)
            • Razor Wind - Scyther (100%)
            • X-Scissor - Scyther/Pinsir (100%)
            • ViceGrip - Pinsir (100%)
            • Brick Break - Pinsir (100%)
            • Dragon Tail - Dratini (100%)
            • Dragon Rush - Dratini (100%)
            TMs (100%)
            • False Swipe (100%) 
            • Aerial Ace (100%) 
            • Gyro Ball (100%)
            Add the words "Hacked Version" on the main screen of the hacked version of the game (100%) - Big red text will let you know  that you are playing the hacked version.
            Fixing types affecting the wrong moves (100%) - I thought I had fixed it but I made a mistake in my code, this now works correctly.
            Make Daily Code Reset at the same time every day (100%) - This is available now! Instead of the code's 24 hour timer triggering when you get the code, it now resets at the same time everyday so no matter when you use the code you won't lose time. A lot of you requested this so here it is :)
            Fix typo on Meditate attack info (100%) - The duration text is now 1800 as intended.
            Fixed Vaporeon Graphic (100%) Thanks Haplo! -Graphic had a green color that didn't belong, this is fixed for this update.

            Also don't forget to check out Ninja-ja, now available for free (the game only, no coins) and let us know what you think.Click here to download it.

            I'll update this post as the week goes on, as always let me know what you think!