Bizurk Software concludes another month of TinyWars’ development by further expounding its Expanded Gameplay Model.
The current build of TinyWars now features a functional Overworld page; functioning as an in-game dashboard, the Overworld provides a visual representation of player progress.
It was announced in April that said Gameplay Model would seek to blend various quest-based mechanics with tower defence gameplay, with players being granted the ability to complete both mandatory and optional quests to further the game’s tower-defence narrative.
‘As the player progresses through the game, more and more pieces of the map will become colored,’ explains Lead Developer, Andrew Taraba. ‘Each area will contain its own story and characters; players who take their time to visit the optional areas on the map will most likely be rewarded well for their time and unlock certain items which might make beating the main tower defence missions easier.’
Zooming-in and selecting a particular area on the Overworld map yields various elements within that area — buildings, foliage and other populace — clicking on which takes players to a ‘Live’ world.
The Live world is a responsive version of the selected area, featuring various characters and elements that players can interact with, shops from which items can be purchased/sold, acquire/maintain properties within and even earn in-game currency via side quests.
‘This portion has not been fully developed yet, and it will actually be developed a little later in the development pipeline, ‘continues Taraba. ‘After we finalise and refine the gameplay a little further, that is. But this is a feature in the game which we are very excited for!’
With regards to which, updates to the game’s various visual/GUI elements are now in effect. These include a new and improved notification system that aims to reduce cognitive load, as opposed to speech bubbles that exist within the current prototype.
All notifications are set to appear in a distinct section at the top of the in-game HUD, which although providing the same information as the prototype HUD, now has a cleaner and more minimalistic feel.
The improved HUD design further incorporates player feedback procured from the prototype, implementations of which can be seen in new pre-Battle screen and inventory designs (attached). The team is also working on various revisions for the game’s graphical style, hoping to implement them in code by the end of the month.
Finally designs for a new enemy character, concepts of which were previously previewed on social media, were completed by artist Litchipix during the course of May.
‘Rose is not our friend; she’s capable of using her forbidden magic to control thorny bushes and plants.’ describes the development team.
‘This will hopefully make for an interesting battle and we do intend to throw the player immediately into the fray with the characters, story, and some big battles in the limited content we have to show off in this new Story Demo! We hope you’re excited for it.’
Due for a release later this year, the Story Demo will be a vertical slice of the full TinyWars experience. Those wishing to get their hands on a free tech-prototype of the game’s tower defence element meanwhile, can download the same for Windows PC and Android via the Downloads section of the game’s website.
