Speaking Out: Update this weekend, what my priorities are, why classic mode!

Want to play Ninja-ja? Get a shiny pikachu, shiny mew, shiny starter, shiny magikarp or have your suggestion for a weapon design to be used on Ninja-ja? Click here for more info on how you can get those things.

So I have a small surprise for you guys, there will be an update this weekend!

It is actually so small that I waited all this time to mention it. It will have a new shiny hunt for this week very similar to the Onix one. This week you get Regular Staryu for your shiny hunt. Just like Shiny Onix, I'm adding a new non luck based (meaning you don't have to get lucky to beat the achievement) achievement to get Shiny Staryu. Like I said it is a small update but it gives you something to do.

Adding Staryu to the game (100%)

• Shiny Graphic (100%)
• New Move Camouflage (100%)

Adding Starmie to the game (100%)

•  Shiny Graphic (100%)

Adding new achievement to the game (100%)

This whole week I haven't been slacking off. While I haven't been able to answer any comments I do read them before I publish them and even if I don't publish them I read them. But besides that I have been hard at work on one particular part of the game. Which part of the game you might ask?

I've been working on Security. Security is always a high priority, you don't want to lose your save file because it wasn't secure. You don't want to spend all this time trying to clear an achievement and have somebody else cheat. You don't want to pay for something and then watch somebody else get it for free. Unless you are the one cheating and getting what you want without any effort.

I always get emails with all the latest hacks and all the latest generators and what not, I know how these things work. I see the holes that they have been using, I see the holes in my game that create vulnerabilities.

So I have been working hard this week, and I'm not done yet, to fill these holes. I can see the comments now... "Who cares about the holes?! work on levels!", "The holes are fun, I like getting stuff easily!" but this is something that must be done.

What does it mean for you, the player?

• The game will save online automatically. No more hassle of forgetting to save and then next week your profile is deleted.
• You will have to be online to start playing and to save after every level or when you are doing an achievement. You need to be online to save your progress.
• The new trading center is also part of security. Trade yourself without the hassle of codes. Find a list of what others want for a particular pokemon as simple and hassle free as possible.

That is my main priority right now. The reason is that I want to start adding cool achievements and prizes for the achievements and daily codes but if most can just get it by cheating then it's not worth doing. I might as well just fill your profile with every pokemon at level 100 and call it a day.

Before anything else these things need to be completed, in my opinion, for me to feel the game is ready to move forward. This is my decision.

After this comes new levels, move balancing, tower health, new attacks, new pokemon etc.

Okay so let's talk about Classic Mode.

I think I didn't really describe classic mode that well to you guys. So I will try to explain it more clearly.

Classic Mode is:

• Think of it as an Easy Mode.
• All moves will use the original game's value (Using Generation 5's data).
• Most moves will have cooldowns of 18 or lower (for quick attack, extremespeed), some moves that take two turns might have higher cooldowns (like hyper beam).
• Your tower's won't have health at all, so they can't faint.
• It will have the exactly same levels as the other mode ("Advanced Mode"), because of this the levels will be easier to beat in Classic mode.

Advance Mode is:

• Think of it as a Normal Mode.
• Moves will be balanced so that moves aren't extremely better than others. Using my design with feedback from you guys.
• Most moves will have cooldowns of 18 or lower (for quick attack, extremespeed), some moves that take two turns might have higher cooldowns (like hyper beam).
• Your Towers will have health so they can faint. But most of the damage will come from moves with recoil, and moves that hit the whole screen. This will help moves that restore your health and give you extra defense be very useful while defending.
• It will have the exactly same levels as the other mode ("Classic Mode"), because of this the levels will be harder to beat in Advanced mode.

As you can see the only difference will be in tower health and move attack power numbers. Basically I have to switch a couple of numbers and I have a whole new mode. It's not going to take a lot of hard work at all.

Are you still with me?

Last thing I want to talk about is the future!

I wanted to talk about the plans after all this is done.

• My plan is to not increase the level cap from 40 until we start reaching the 4th gym.
• New levels
• New challenges
• More new pokemon to catch.
• More new TMs.
• Adding all the required relearn moves such as (Thunder Fang, Flash Cannon)
• Better pokedex with pokemon info, and pictures!
• Pokemon holding items to increase attacks, or heal themselves (berries)
• Better pokeballs!
• Pokemon Targetting
• Pokemon Nicknames!
• Be able to catch all pokemon from 1-151
• Pokemon Day Care

I hope I have answered a lot of the questions, as always leave me some feedback.

Thanks for supporting us.

Weekly Update: What's coming next for PTD, Ninja-ja's update, and taking a break!

Want to play Ninja-ja? Get a shiny pikachu, shiny mew, shiny starter, shiny magikarp or have your suggestion for a weapon design to be used on Ninja-ja? Click here for more info on how you can get those things.

Happy Monday!

Ninja-ja's update will be coming this week, we apologize for the lateness.

I will be taking a break from updating PTD this week, meaning there won't be an update this weekend. Constantly updating a game can put a lot of strain so every once in a while I will take a weekly break to recharge my batteries.

Update: I'm considering adding a new mode called "Classic". Basically in this mode your pokemon's attacks will have the same stats as the original game or as close as possible. You will be able to use the same pokemon for both "Classic" and regular mode but there will be different achievements for each mode. In regular mode the attacks will be more balanced and towers will have health. In classic mode towers won't have health and attacks will do the attack power that the original games have (based on Gen 5). Vote on the poll and let me know what you think. 

But I want to talk about what's coming next for the game and just comment in more detail about a lot of the questions and concerns you guys are all having.

First about the move balancing. By looking at the poll I can see that a lot of you guys liked the balancing except for a few special moves that could use some more love or uniqueness.

So for the next update you can expect quick attack and extremespeed (to name a few) will have a lower cooldown.

I will also be looking at how difficult or how high of a level you need to reach to get a move in order to figure out the appropriate damage it should do. If you can just buy a TM then chances are the move won't get significantly stronger, but there are some specific exceptions.

Let's look at Earthquake! It hits everybody on the field while it has a target in range for 20 attack power. Most of you think this is too low, which I can understand seeing as how powerful the move is in the real game. I can make it stronger (40 attack power) but there needs to be a drawback to such strength. I tried longer cooldowns but I just don't like how it makes some moves useless. Some people in the chat actually mentioned something that I originally sorta brushed off as I won't be adding that to the game. But today thinking about it, I think it can work. So for the next update I will be introducing.... Tower Health!

That's right your towers will now have a health bar, just like the enemy! But slow down a bit... the enemy isn't going to stop and do attacks towards you. The point is that a move like double-edge can now actually have a recoil damage (and much higher attack power). A move like recover is useful while defending, and best of all, defense moves will be useful both in attacking and defending, a defense move will lower the amount of damage received from all sources.

Another big thing is the duration of defense and offense buffs. It is a pain to keep using rage every time it runs out on one pokemon, imagine keeping it up on all 6! Therefore I'm drastically increasing the duration of these buffs. They won't last forever but you won't have to re apply them nearly as often making it more manageable to use in battle.

Now let's talk about trading. Trading is going to change radically. The trading center is coming, and no more trade codes! You will be able to search for the pokemon you want or search for somebody that wants your pokemon, also transferring pokemon from one save to another will be easier than ever.

Next update will also include two new story mode levels one being the S.S. Anne level and the other being the Vermillion Gym level. You can expect to get the HM Cut, and you can expect to use it on different levels to find secrets.

Lastly I haven't forgotten about Daily Codes, Missing Relearner moves, so those will be coming also.

Below is my progress on these things, keep checking back to see how I'm doing!

Tower Health (50%)
Move Balancing (0%)
Buff Durations (0%)
Trading Center (0%)
Story Levels (0%)
Daily Codes (0%)
New TMs (0%)
Relearn Moves (0%)
New Pokemon (0%)
New achievements (0%) (old ones won't get removed ever)

That's all I have for now, as always let me know what you think, read the FAQ and also read the comments on this blog post before you post as I won't be publishing comments that have already been asked.

Pokemon Tower Defense: Alpha v3.1 is out now!

Enjoy! I will post a new blog on Monday.

Want to play Ninja-ja? Get a shiny pikachu, shiny mew, shiny starter, shiny magikarp or have your suggestion for a weapon design to be used on Ninja-ja? Click here for more info on how you can get those things.


It includes:

• Level Cap up to 40!
• New TMs: 
• Flamethrower, Sandstorm, Giga Drain, Earthquake, Rock Tomb, Rest, DynamicPunch, Rollout, Roar, Sweet Scent, Protect, Rain Dance
• All attack moves now have a cooldown of 18!
• All attacks moves have had their attack power balanced. Most remained the same.
• Damage and Experience Text!
• Achievement 1 Reward added.
• Bug Fixes

Look at the previous blog for more details on what this update includes.


Where can I play?

• Play here on the blog by clicking on the "Play PTD!" tab.
• Download the EXE, SWF or APK by clicking on the "Game Downloads Link" tab.
• PlayTowerDefenseGame (Not yet updated)
• FreeWorldGroup (Not yet updated)
• Gamerfish (Updated to v3.1)
• OneMoreLevel (Not yet updated)
• NewGrounds (Updated to v3.1)
• MiniJuegos (Updated to v3.1)

As always let me know what you think of the new features added to this update.

Thanks for the continued support.

June Contest: Lost Artifacts

I wanted to start 2011 off with some contests and hopefully we can continue to run various contests each month here on the Wastex Games website. I now present the June Contest...

Lost Artifacts

Craft a unique magical artifact that would give a dangerous boost to a normally (mostly) harmless enemy. Tell how this might change the monster's tactics and lead it (and possibly its allies) to victory.





There is no minimum or maximum word count required and it is open to anywhere Amazon.com will ship, unless noted on the prize item below.

Submit your entry below and tweet the following on Twitter:
I just entered the June Contest at @WastexGames! http://bit.ly/lzWZG4 #dnd #rpg

If you wish to include any images, include a link to them in the form below. If you do not have a file sharing service, I highly recommend DropBox. It is free and if you use my referral link (here), both our accounts will receive an extra 250 MBs of storage.

The winner will get their choice of one of the three following items:

Lords of Madness - Miniatures 6-pc Booster Pack


OR

Custom made, hand dyed Dragon Chow dice bag.
(Subject to available colors once winner is announced.)


OR

A free character commission by @thedandmom.
Examples can be seen on her Deviant Art gallery.




Use the form below to submit your entry, submissions will be accepted until Thursday, June 30th at 11:59 PM EST. If you have any questions or comments, ask away here in the comments! Good luck!

Contest is closed.

Weekly Progress: PTD and Ninja-ja

Let's get started, first the usual news.

Want to play Ninja-ja? Get a shiny pikachu, shiny mew, shiny starter, shiny magikarp or have your suggestion for a weapon design to be used on Ninja-ja? Click here for more info on how you can get those things.

We are still working on the Ninja-ja update and will release it as soon as it's done.

Update out now!

For Pokemon Tower Defense, this week we are focusing on increasing the level cap to 40.

• Finishing Touches & Distribution (100%)

• New Pokemon for Weekly Hunt and for Shiny Hunter Achievement (100%) - Weekly hunt gets the Non-Shiny and Shiny Hunter Achievement gets the Shiny version.
• New Moves (2) (100%)
• Graphics (100%)
• Shiny Graphics (100%)
• Add This Pokemon's stats to the game (100%)

• Reaching Level 37 (100%)

• Seed Bomb (100%)
• Flamethrower (100%)
• Drill Peck (100%)
• Sandstorm (100%)
• Gravity (100%)
• Poison Fang (100%)
• Giga Drain (100%)
• Cross Chop (100%)

• Reaching Level 38 (100%)
• Nasty Plot (100%)

• Reaching Level 39 (100%)
• ExtremeSpeed (100%)
• Hydro Pump (100%)
• Earthquake (100%)
• Avalanche (100%)

• Reaching Level 40 (100%)
• Captivate (Skipped due to lack of genders)
• Psycho Cut (100%)
• Barrier (100%)

• New TMs:
• Flamethrower
• Sandstorm
• Giga Drain
• Earthquake 
• Rock Tomb
• Rest
• DynamicPunch 
• Rollout 
• Roar 
• Sweet Scent 
• Protect 
• Rain Dance

• New Relearn Move: 
• Nasty Plot

Flamethrower animation in progress

• New additions
• For all those asking for a mute button. Instead of an Exit button there is now a Menu Button on the level that will let you change the audio settings right from the level, and also change if you wish to see the damage numbers among other things.
• Added a damage number feature, whenever you do damage to an enemy the amount of damage you did will show up above the enemy. Black text means the attack was normal, orange will be for super effective and dark gray will be for ineffective attacks. 
• Added an experience number feature, whenever you get experience the amount will show up on top of your pokemon.(Thanks for reminding me Darren)
• Changing most damaging attack cooldowns down to 18 but reducing their attack power. This will result in some moves hitting for less but hitting more frequently.
• Example: Flame burst: Old Cooldown: 54 - New Cooldown: 18 and Old Attack Power: 70 - New Attack Power: 40

• Re balancing the attack power of all moves so some of the weaker moves (Absorb) are more in line with everything else, some of the stronger moves will have their attack power lowered so that all the moves aren't drastically separate in attack power.
• Example: Absorb: Old Attack Power: 20 - New Attack Power: 40.
• Example: Drill Peck: Old Attack Power: 80 - New Attack Power: 70

• Changed Poison Powder and Toxic Spikes to "badly" poison the target, meaning it will do double damage.

• Bugs
• When you exit out of a story level it will take you to the correct chapter page instead of the chapter select screen.
• Fixed issue with not losing a level when all the candy is taken. 
• Rock Blast was hitting for an extra hit, this is now fixed. Example: It would hit 6 times instead of 5,  or 5 times when it only got 4.
• Pokemon on Vermillion City now have a more balanced defense, this will make moves like Aqua Tail hit for more on Fire and Ground types and Water Pulse hit for less. Instead of having x4 Physical Defense they will have x2 Physical Defense and x2Special Defense. Overall it should make the level a little harder.
• Pay Day will now only give 10 extra poke dollars per hit. 
• Fixed issue with using healing moves while defending.
• Fixed Graphical issue with the move Endeavor.
• You can now view more than 20 TMs for a pokemon.

This won't be the only thing coming to the update, so keep coming back to see what else will be added.

Enjoy and tell me what you think.

Pokemon Tower Defense: v3.0 is out now!

New update is out now! Enjoy! I will post a new blog on Monday. I won't be around much today so I won't be able to moderate a lot of comments.

Want to play Ninja-ja? Get a shiny pikachu, shiny mew, shiny starter, shiny magikarp or have your suggestion for a weapon design to be used on Ninja-ja? Click here for more info on how you can get those things.

I'm keeping the same shiny hunt so that everybody can get their shiny Farfetch'd :D Also the avatars are not added on this update but when I do add them I will allow you to pick which generation you want it from the ones I posted on the poll. A lot of you requested this so I will make it happen.

v3.0.1 is now out it fixes the following:

• Small typo on the new story level.
• Pokemon that have the move selfdestruct will now be able to move around.
• The 4th challenge mode will now work correctly no matter what you do.
• The chapters will now unlock correctly once you beat all the levels in the previous chapter.
  

It includes:

• New Story level!
• New Challenge Level!
• One new pokemon to catch via NPC Trade!
• New TMs! - Poison Jab, and Swords Dance.
• Bug Fixes

Look at the previous blog for more details on what this update includes.

Where can I play?

• Play here on the blog by clicking on the "Play PTD!" tab.
• Download the EXE, SWF or APK by clicking on the "Game Downloads Link" tab.
• PlayTowerDefenseGame (Not yet updated)
• FreeWorldGroup (Update to v3.0.1)
• Gamerfish (Updated to v3.0.1)
• OneMoreLevel (Updated to v3.0.1)
• NewGrounds (Updated to v3.0.1)
• MiniJuegos (Updated to v3.0.1)

As always let me know what you think of the new levels, and features added to this update.

Thanks and have a good weekend.

Anachronisms: Contest Winner!

May's winning entry was written by Jim White, for the May Contest: Anachronisms. He can also be found on his website Wombat's Gaming Den of Iniquity and twitter under @twwombat.

Story
What if the adventurers find a full-color collating photocopier?

Consider: They open a cartography shop, able to recreate any map in mere moments. Since it's so easy, they take a copy of every map they reproduce, eventually compiling the most accurate atlas in the world, with every treasure clearly marked with an X.


Literacy rates will shoot upward since the bottom fell out of the book market, even though books are now bound with only a single staple in the upper left corner. Everybody earns training in history and geography, and many children learn the ways of the world with purloined copies of the bawdy (and graphic) "The Piercer and The Beholder".

When war comes to the kingdom, the party is put in charge of a generating and distributing propaganda leaflets which eventually end hostilities and lead to the annexation of the enemy country as a vassal state.

And don't get me started when they figure out the ink formula so they can photocopy viable magic scrolls. They'll have an unstoppable magic school where even apprentices can cast any first-level spell because scrolls are effectively free.

So it's not so much a party advantage as a world-changing device, but I still wouldn't want to be the gnome who has to keep it clean and free the paper jams all the time.