Just sent out this newsletter:
Dear Defender's Quest fans,
An auto-update patch is coming later today!
We've tested this feature extensively prior to release, but never with so great an audience. There's always the chance something bad might happen so I want to alert you all in advance.
For instance, there's been some bugs with the auto-update feature where if there's a server timeout, the game hangs on the loading screen. This is FIXED in the upcoming patch, but obviously if our server goes down WHILE you're trying to GET the patch with the fix, you might experience this bug again.
I think this bug happens only when the server is laggy, and I've tried a simple fix that seems to work on my machine - simply unplug your computer from the internet and run the game. It seems NO connection to the internet is different from a BAD connection to the server and gets you to the title screen with no trouble. The new version explicitly checks for BOTH error cases.
At any rate, this should all be unnecessary if all goes as planned. This first patch has a lot of quick bug fixes, so there's no major changes to content just yet.
Fixes in version 0.8.4:
- Fixed broken music tag in "All the Reinforcements We Need"
- Fixed missing background in "An Even Greater Foe"
- Fixed missing graphics for unique sword "Evni"
- Fixed equip bug when getting "Glory of War" too early
- Fixed triggers/dialog not showing on a critical battle
- Fixed auto-update mechanism to skip forward after 5-second idle
- Fixed healer priority logic:
- HEAL means, "use a heal skill if anyone in range is wounded, even if I have a higher attack skill ready"
- FIGHT means, "use an attack skill if enemies are in range, even if I have a higher heal skill ready and my friends are wounded."
- BOTH means, "use the highest skill, regardless of its type."
- This means FIGHT/BOTH will get the healer to use "ZEAL" even if no-one in range is wounded, so long as there's enemies to hit.
- Default healer priority is now "BOTH" rather than "HEAL."
We'll also be trying to get a wiki and forum up on our website soon. We'll let you know as things develop.
Thanks for being a fan of Defender's Quest!
The Windows version will be up first, followed by the Linux version, and then the Mac version later tonight. All you have to do to get the update is start the game up sometime after the new files have hit the server.
NOTE: demo versions, both in-browser and downloadable, do not auto-update.
Thanks for everything! You have all been WONDERFUL, and as always, if there's any trouble, or you have feedback or bugs to report, send 'em all to leveluplabs@gmail.com.
I'd also like to point out our new FAQ/Support pages in case you haven't seen them yet. If you have questions, go here first before e-mailing us:
www.defendersquest.com/faq.html
www.defendersquest.com/support.html
-Lars Doucet
Level Up Labs
Posts
50 comments:
I really like the adding a number of total stars we got (Probably would like it even more if it was 90/90 or something like that as this would help me keep track if I missed anything easier). Lowering the requirement for Bonus 1 is great idea as it seemed to easy during end game.
Healer Fix is probably the best as it makes inspire trigger even if there is no attacking creeps.
Thanks for your hard work! ^^
Oh yeah, I forgot that we changed bonus requirements! Yeah, it's based on stars now rather than completion, and we'll be changing bonus missions around quite a bit (making the current one unlock at a lower number of stars, for instance, since it's pretty easy by endgame).
We'll have much better (and more numerous!) bonus missions .... "soon" :)
BTW I just got a bug with a healer. He uses Zeal even when there is no injured members AND no enemies. I guess it's because of inspire... even allies in range has no enemies close so it's totally wasted. I have no healer without inspire at this point and he was set on "both".
Hmmmm... drat! I'll try to get a fix for this out today!
New policy - update candidates go in a holding pen for a day or so before release :P
Bug is fixed. Compiling / uploading now. Try again in about 30 minutes.
LOL
I have yet see to see a fix that doesn't break something besides fixing what was intended... I mean I know such things exist... probably ;)
I would say it's rather impressive releasing first patch after what one week from release? (I'm currently enjoying a break from work so time for me flow differently lol). Fixing it in less than hour is even more impressive ^^
If I may suggest something I would add a number of the current wave to the bonus levels as I can't seem to find it... monster level - 25 for the first one works (or I think it works...) and maybe at the end congratulations you killed x revenants and reached wave Y. And I just remembered that Normal level of "Following Zelemir" had infinite number of waves left which I thing is bug (and It seemed to unimportant to bother you with bug email).
Fixed and uploaded. Let me know if it works!
We've gotten a couple emails about bonus level wave numbers - feedback could definitely be improved in a lot of ways, so that's on our stack for sure :)
Got the update and now healers works as they should have ^^
Great job at fixing it so quickly.
BTW Can I download updates in any other way than in game? My ISP thinks that up to 1 Mb/s means 12 kb/s on average so option to get it on computers not hooked to the net would be great. Especially it runs on really ancient ones. I could download update on the pen drive instead of taking my comp to a friend's house ^^"
I'll have to look into that.
I need to find some way where legit users can get updates without a cumbersome login system, and without making it super open so that people can directly hotlink to the update files (not really worried about piracy so much as bandwidth costs).
I see. I certainly understand your point. And if you guys get on steam then there is almost 100% chance of hitting torrents. I was wondering if setting it up similar to demo would work (via torrents) cold work.
I know that my friends used to host many files of similar size (50-100 MB) on ifile.it I believe the files were safe about 6 months after last download so it was a lot. Links could be sent by mail to the same one used to purchase game.
But I should probably leave it to you as I have really no idea how those things really work ^^
I'll let you know if I think of something :)
Obviously, I don't want people to pirate the game, but I lose absolutely 0 sleep over it, too. If someone wants to pirate the game, I'd rather they use torrents than link directly to our servers and cost us bandwidth. So that's really the only consideration with the updates. Right now the in game auto-update is about the best thing I can think of that is convenient and easy for legit users... of course pirates, once they have a full copy, can use it too... but as long as can't posting direct links to the update server that people can hammer on some download site, I'm more or less happy.
Linux and Mac updates will go out "soon..." may have to wait until tomorrow. Got totally snowed under! But they are coming!
Linux user here. Really looking forward to the healer update. This game is fantastic -- thank you for making it!
I encountered some bugs while playing Attack at the Hospital Extreme mode:
Some units on last wave seemed non-targetable by some of my units.
Game went to a black screen after the level was complete. I closed and re-opened, however, and save game showed that level was completed.
FYI, I am playing the full version, and I did update to the latest version tonight. This is a great game, by the way. I've never seen an RPG/Tower Defense type game done right, but I think you absolutely nailed it. This is the second TD game I've paid money for, the first was Gemcraft: Labyrinth.
Honestly, I'm not so sure about your mothod of distribution of this game. Certain websites would pay thousands in licensing for a game this good (not to mention ad sharing). I'll admit I was wary of purchase having to navigate to a couple of external websites to buy it (I didn't even know there was a full version until I read the comments on Kongregate).
I can't seem to complete the update on Linux.
I choose Linux, then the .deb file option. The file downloads, then I click Okay on the screen which says it will auto-close and navigate to the downloaded file.
Except it doesn't. It doesn't close, or even do anything -- it just hangs there until I quit the program. No Nautilus windows open.
I tried looking for the downloaded file, but it's nowhere to be found. It's not in Home, Home/Downloads or opt/DefendersQuest.
I'm running Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit.
Any suggestions?
I'm using windows and the file was put in Temp folder. I would check Linux equivalent of it ^^"
Thanks Wredniak. I found it in the /tmp folder, in a subfolder called "FlashTmp(string of characters)". I guess I couldn't find it in searches because the filename doesn't have 'defender' in it, unlike the original deb file. :)
The deb successfully upgraded the install. All seems to work, except that for some reason it removed the game's shortcut from the Unity launcher. Easy to add back, but I've never seen a deb upgrade do that before.
Hey there! Sorry about the upgrade glitches - in the next patch I will make it so that it prints out the download location in the upgrade window in case the file somehow fails to launch for some reason.
Weird that it removes the shortcut! It doesn't do that in Linux Mint running Gnome, but I'll check with our Linux guy to see what's up.
I want to know if the new patchs included the older. Seem studid but I have played games where they didn't make it, and so you have to patch from de earliest version.
They're not exactly "patches" - they're just full installers for the new version of the game. When you install, it replaces the older version. So, you don't need the earliest version, no.
Downside is, bigger download size, but this is simpler :)
Thanks.
The tutorial/dialogs bug is gonna be fixed? (When you select "for new battle", you only get it at the first mission, the first time",plus the tuto for stat don't work if you level-up at the first mission).
Experiencing bug with healers -- when they're on the default "both" setting and there is a unit to be healed and NO OTHER ACTION TO BE PERFORMED, they don't heal!
@Vortastic:
Looks like it's time for another patch on Monday. What version are you running? Also - does switching the targetting back and forth fix it?
Either way, I'll try to fix it and get a patch out soon.
Healer doesn't cast Zeal when he's in the middle of archers with nothing to do except Zeal them (for Inspire). Doesn't matter which setting I put him on. Found out on the sheep level.
@Vortastic:
Is this in version 0.8.6? Or is it an earlier version?
Once you reach the maximum level with any unit, if you restart the game, you can start gaining experience with them again. Leveling in this way does not increase your level, but you still gain a skill point.
I also suggest lowering a bit the cost of respecializing your units.
Is there some more end-game content on the way?
http://i44.tinypic.com/ver905.jpg
As you can see from the screenshot, I'm level 40, but I have 41 assigned skill points. (Also, I have 9k/39k exp).
Lars, it's all in 0.8.6
@Vortastic, Illedran:
Gotcha, okay! We'll try to fix those bugs for sure. Illedran, the is definitely more end-game content on the way. It might be a little while as we're up to our eyeballs in bugfixes at the moment, but as soon as we can our next goal is to get the game to version 1.0, which will include more bonus challenge modes among many other features.
The skill cap thing you're reporting is absolutely a bug - it's supposed to just stop right at 40. In future releases one of the rewards for certain bonus missions will be raising the skill cap by 10 levels, so it eventually will go all the way up to 99 in theory.
Yay, that's fantastic :)
Congratulations on the game, it's very good :)
I have seen that the xp gain is the number showed minder 1. (But sometimes it is the true valor). (I have make 10 times the first mission (normally 430 xp) but I got 421 xp.
For some reason the game doesn't seem to be keeping my default speed selection through shutdown. So when I load the game I have to select 4x in the Accessibility menu every time. Not really a problem, but not the expected behavior either :D
I looking in the config XML file and it appears to store that setting; it just doesn't load it when the game starts up or something.
Just thought of an enhancement I'd like. It'd be nice to see boost levels on the unit panel to the right of the field. So when I open the list of berserkers I can tell at a glance which hasn't been boosted yet. Perhaps an unobtrusive little 1-5 on the bottom left of the unit card like so
http://i.imgur.com/K16vF.jpg
I like what delve is saying, with the boost levels on the unit panel. If not a number - how about a little bar, similar to the little bar above their heads on the battle map.
Kong version got badges ^^ Hopefully it will not increase number of people complaining about the "demo" part. Now I wish I could transfer full game save to demo... (Bought full version after 2 missions lol)
@Rocky, @delve,
It's a good idea. I think I'll do the bar instead of the numbers because the interface is cluttered with enough letters/numbers already, but I think the little "boost doodad" would fit nicely and communicate useful info without distracting. Now I just need time to implement it along with my huge list of bugfixes and gold features :P
There is a problem with the Healers. First, when set as BOTH there are MANY times where the Healer will just sit there and NOT heal anyone. So I have to set all my healers to heal at all times. The other problem is with the health of Healers. In the party menu it says my Healers' hp is 504, and yet in battle their hp is only 369. I am actually finding this is the same with the Dragon as well. In the party menu the hp is 1895 and yet in battle it is 1845. I THINK that this is a bug with the passive skills that buff hp. As I only have one point in Fatten Up for the Dragon and that would count for the 50 hp. So I am assuming that the passive hp buffs are not working in fights.
@Ameluun:
We're aware of these bugs and will try to fix them in the next patch :)
Ok, first sorry for the bad English. And second I realy liked the game as a TD and as an RPG (so much that I bought the game, what is rare to me).
So after experiencing a lot in the game, I would like to say some sugestions:
1- For some reason the game dosen't save some options, like the "4x Speed" and the "Hide Numbers", they both came unselect every time I came back to play the game. It's just annoying some times.
2- Please, it would became really helpful if the Knights had the option in priority "Armored", so they could hit only the enemys with armor, since they are really susceptible to let some of them pass by them, and in the final levels armors do change a lot, when trying to do damage.
3- Somehow I don't think that Arza's book, that you get from the endless mode, works, at least, I have not seen it working with my character that hit the requisite.
4- The updates. Somehow the game wait to little time trying to connect with the server, and always end up not doing the updates in my game (my game is in the 0.8.6 v. while the demo is in the 0.8.7 v.), maybe puting a little more time would help, or maybe puting a uptade to download.
5- I read somewhere in the comments that the healers problem had been solved, but in my game they still idle when in "both" priority and I have some hurted Allies, what make me need to put them in "heal" priority. But for some reason I don't even know why they have priority when they use both heal and damage skils in any priority.
6- Seriously, I'm saying this because my computer usually became slow a lot when the game has to many animations going on, so I would like to ask a option to deactivate animations like the ones that the "Healers" and the "Mages" use. The magic Blizzard and Zeal seems to make the game way to much slow...
There was more, but I don't remember right know, anyway keep doing the good work so far.
Hi version 0.8.6
I got a bug starting in level "the way out" and "following zelemir" i dont have most of my defender to sumon. But i dont have this bug in lower level
http://imgur.com/tY4PD
I would definitely be content if knights defaulted to Strong. Usually amounts to the same as targeting armored.
It would also be nice if healers could use Zeal strictly for the damage bonus. The ultimate sheep level, for example, would be easier this way.
Also, this game needs minotaurs.
Spoilers...
hocm - "The Way Out", it's a special level with special conditions. Watch the cutscene, if you haven't already. The majority of your party disapproves of your decision to run away, and therefore they leave you to fight a somewhat weak set of monster waves using a drastically reduced party as your last fight of the game. In particular, only the classes given in your pic stay with you.
the 10M HP sheep and shadow/dark are overpowered in my opinion
I got all up to lvl 40 and equipped the best equipments(excluding the 500k sword)
I can only deduct like 2M of the hp
and I can't seem to be able to defeat the extreme with the 1.5M HP Zelemir because of the shadow boxer
no matter what I place they get through
and I cannot get a perfect
where in other lvls it is easy
otherwise very decent TD
Alex - I've beaten them with about level ~20 units. Here's a guide to beating the "Storm the SHeep" level: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/48796/how-to-clear-storm-the-sheep-on-extreme-in-defenders-quest
Also, it would be nice to be able to click-and-hold to spam lightning.
Hi,
great game, can't wait next update :) (as I see there are some "empty spaces" left on the map)
Shame to admit, but after playing demo version for a while I searched for a full version and use pirate for few days :(
But well... better late than never, so I just bought copy for myself. Worth every cent :)
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