July 2023 Update: Orc Race, New Website, Items & Oils

Hello,

This month we worked on adding new sprites for creeps, finishing up items, and improving the website of the game - youtd2.com. We've also enlisted the support from the original You TD community in discord! It's a big deal for us and we'd encourage you to join it if you're a fan of this tower defense game - https://discordapp.com/invite/KMAAvJg.

Gameplay

For this version, we thought we'd try something a bit different with our new commentator (warning: he might sound a tad robotic). What do you think? Feel free to drop your thoughts on the youtube comment section or right here in the comments.

Creep sprites

Added animated sprites for all types of Orc creeps. We are trying to reduce the build size and not to use very heavy assets, that's why we reduced sprite quality based on the action. Currently, we only have 2 actions implemented - run and slow run. They have different compression configuration and frame rate. In the future we may allow players to tweak graphical quality of assets via in-game settings.

• We've decided to make flying units to be like superheroes - flying by a mere force of the mind. They have 8-directional sprite animations, unlike other type of creeps.

• Modified health bar for creeps. Now it changes its color depending on the left health points.

Items

All item scripts, including those for oil items, have been completed! This represents a substantial amount of work, and from now on, we will focus solely on bug-fixing. We also need to brainstorm new names and descriptions for these items, as most of the icons were designed without considering their original background.

Implemented real logic for item drops which takes into consideration item rarity, type and current wave level. At the start of the game, creeps will drop simple items. As the game progresses, creeps will start dropping more powerful items.

• Oil items can be dropped from creeps, just like items, but they don't occupy tower inventory slot. Player should use oils on a tower to grant it a permanent bonus to stats.
• Display item name when item is dropped by a creep.
• Items now fly to item stash automatically after they are dropped by creeps.

Website

Our website at https://youtd2.com showcases the latest changes in the game, and anyone can contribute to it as well! Here's the repository link: https://github.com/Praytic/youtd2-website. Here are the recent changes that our supporters have contributed:

• New loading screen with 3 brief steps on how the game works
• More responsive design on mobile devices
• We've added warnings for different platforms. Our preview version currently only supports Windows and Linux OS. However, you can still play on MacOS, if you are willing to wait a bit longer for the game to load.

Miscellaneous

• Re-enabled changing camera zoom using touchpad.
• Fixed combo wave specials reducing creep health too much.
• Fixed tower autocast abilities sometimes not triggering.
• Improved font for message text.
• Added more decorations to the tilemap.