And finally, the info pages for Wizard Wars have been filled out so if you’d like to know a little more, check out these sections:

Scan the tag with your phone (hit the search button then the eye WP7) for a direct link

or click the download for windows phone button.

Hello.

As development finally wraps up and we start putting forward our game for approval and release, it’s important that everyone has some idea what they’re in for. So naturally, a gameplay video was in order!

-John “Blaze” Doherty

The original towers were just doodles (with the construction dustcloud on the left of the image). The second set were more in line with the final aim but it wasn’t until the third set were produced that Wizard Wars defined its style by which time it had lived up to its name by actually featuring some wizards. Ironically, this is the one normal tower without a wizard on it but I digress…

Yes, that is our favicon. Enemies went through a few more changes than the towers. The floating heads were a staple of Wizard Wars until the Scouts got their full set of animations. We now of course have a range of enemy types (with a few more surprises in the final game) that do more than rotate on the spot when they reach the gate.

Did you know until the 6th of February, Wizard Wars had no wizards? OK, well there was one on the title screen but until the pixelated bearded fellow appeared on top of the tower, Wizard Wars had a servere lack of magic users (buffed Wrorcs don’t count). The little animated fellows really add some life to the game.

While the format of the maps hasn’t changed a huge amount, visually they’re rather different with colourful tones. A number of maps now also have caves, allowing the Wrorcs to sneak in, right in the middle of the map.

Finally, an easily overlooked part of the game is the menu system but it’s the first part you’ll interact with. The menus got sound effects, music, various new button textures and a much more interesting titlescreen with 200% more Wizard for the same price. We’ll even throw in three Wrorcs (who are obscured by the relatively giant wizard in the above image).

Since I called this entry “Evolution”, I am of course obligated to detail the creationist development of Wizard Wars.

A wizard did it.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll have more news soon.

- David Valente

Introducing Irritated Wrorcs!

The survival of the Wrorcs are at stake! Dish out revenge on the wizards who pummeled the Wrorcs in the first game. By launching the various Wrorcs via a touch-controlled trebuchet, you can destroy the forts and castles of the Wizards which are of course made of wood and glass.

I bet you can’t wait to play it!

Just my little joke.

- David Valente

Upon first glance, you may notice some similarity between the riders and Scouts. Scouts lucky enough to tame the Wrorc boars (and pinch a shield or two from human settlements) will find themselves elevated to the lofty rank of Pig Rider. Equipped with their meagre targe and pointy stick which you may generously call a lance, they will determinedly make their way towards their objective, much like their foot-troop allies.

However, Pig Riders possess a key difference. Whereas a Scout, Brute or Grunt will always take the shortest footpath towards the gate (while Batpigs fly straight towards it), Pig Riders actually prefer alternative routes. If the opportunity presents itself, they’ll skirt around the main path, hopefully avoiding your defenses or at the very least, acting as a pincushion while some other troops march onward.

As you can see here, some Pig Riders are passing into view on a windy path while the Batpigs fly horizontally with Scouts running underneath.

No matter what road they take, though, every Wrorc (provided it is hardy or lucky enough to survive) will reach the same goal, be it the gate or simply escape via the end of the path. A mixture of Batpigs, Pig Riders and normal troops will surely test the effectiveness of your defense so if you see multiple paths, prepare!

Even if there aren’t multiple paths for the enemies to take, you can always tell of a band of Pig Riders is coming through the wave indicator. The icon with their trademark tusks and snouts is a sign that once the next wave starts, it’ll consist of Wrorc Calvary.

Hopefully there will be even more to show soon!

- David Valente

First of all the game actually lives up to its name now (yes, about time) as there are finally wizards in the game!

The little guys on top react to things like firing at the enemy and restoring the vines. He looks quite pleased, doesn’t he? You can also see a little of the new checkerboard-style tiles.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the enemy “buffs” here before. Some enemies (mostly in groups) are buffed with speed, toughness or strength enchantments. These are indicated by the circling sprites above their heads.

The steel-blue sprites represent a toughness enchantment whereas red and yellow are strength and speed respectively. The strength-buffed enemies will be devastating if they get to your gate so you’ll want ice towers to slow them down.

If they’re still giving you trouble, you should head into the shop to buy a dispel scroll. Check out this trio of grunts. The pink parchment at the bottom is the debuff spell, that removes any buffs placed on the enemies.

Tapping with this item selected will remove any buffs on enemies within its area of effect.

The shop also got another visual overhaul. If you’ve been here before, you might remember the update about the shop back here; in fact, it was the first proper blog post. Well although the functionality’s virtually the same, it does look a bit nicer at least!

Check out the progression:

Anyway, there’s lots more work done behind the scenes, but those are just a few of the things I want to show you today!

- David Valente

Batpigs are the latest addition to the Wrorc forces. Unlike the foot troops, these guys aren’t limited to the path and therefore winding roads are no bother to them – they’ll make a bee-line straight to their objective. Their flight gives them another couple of advantages:

Fully upgraded fire towers simply can’t touch the would-be porkchops. Flamethrowers pass underneath and the meteor explosions and debris or the other upgrade path fails to reach their trotters.

Of course, this also means that nature towers can’t hit them with their thorns. They’ll fly straight over the brambles and your only option here is to upgrade it to use poison darts. The poisoned batpig at the front has lost most of its health from them.

Ice towers will work just as normal and will buy your other towers precious time. They’re also effective at getting them to bunch up so towers with area of effect will be even more useful.

Archer towers are the preferred towers for taking down batpigs. Not only do they target the batpigs regardless of their upgrade, they actually prioritise the flying enemies over the ground troops. A few of these along the path will make sure any flying Wrorcs won’t make it to the objective while the towers target those below.

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy encountering these in the game!

- David Valente

Scouts

Scouts are the lowest rung of Wrorc society, being much weaker than their taller brethren. However, what they lack in brute strength, they make up for in speed. Scouts are nefarious little creatures in that they like to use the larger Wrorcs as shields. Quite often a few of them will slip through while the archers are focused on the rest of their tribe.

Grunts

Grunts are the standard troops of the Wrorcs, many in number and expendable. Although they’re far from the strongest kind of Wrorc, they do make up for their weediness somewhat through their basic armour and primitive clubs. One or two are nothing to fear but when they attack en masse, their numbers can turn the battle.

Brutes

Brutes are placed rather high on the pecking order, prepared (and rather eager) to pull any lower-ranked Wrorcs into order. While relatively slow, their methodical march can seem unstoppable and what appear to be sound fortifications can quickly fall to their weapons of choice. Their considerable bulk combined with their trustworthy battered helmets and large shields means they can take a fair pelting before they submit. Swifter enemies can easily breeze along while the towers are focused on Brutes.

Mixed Forces

Just because the different castes of Wrorc society don’t see eye-to-eye doesn’t mean they won’t join forces on the battlefield. It can be hard to keep up with multiple kinds of enemies stomping forward in one wave but the right mix of towers can break their line.

Anyway, hope you like the current line-up of enemies in the game!

- David Valente

Using towers containing elemental wizards, you must defend your castle gates from the savage Wrorcs. In the screenshot below they’re represented by the disembodied heads with saucepans.

Update: Check out the new blog post about enemies (and their updated images) here!

When you start up the game, you’ll be presented with the home menu.

If you go to the Shoppe before a level you’ll get a chance to buy some items. Find out more about that here.

Once you’ve perused the wares, you can start a level and get building. Tap a build tile and you’ll be shown towers you can build.

Here you can see a row of towers built, each with differing attributes like attack power and secondary effect.

You can see here that the nature tower has already set some vines, ready to damage the attackers unlucky enough to pass through!

The towers that you’ve placed can be upgraded with the gold that the enemies drop. This increases their rate of fire and damage and then unlock that element’s power!Two of the ice towers here have been upgraded to level 3 meaning the ice power is available.

Tapping on the screen summons an ice storm that freezes the enemies.

Hope that gives you an idea of how the game works.

- David Valente

This is the first screenshot of the shop actually in the game. Truly fitting of the title programmer art, each asset was extracted from the graphic itself and converted into a semi-functional object. Of course, it’s not that interesting just having a shopkeep describing some items to you…

Bam! This is more like it! With a little vector-based upgrade, the shop screen’s looking slightly more presentable, at least until some better art becomes available. More importantly, though, you can actually see how much the items cost, buy them and (in the case of buyer’s regret) sell them back, at discounted prices, of course.

With Chris’s inventory class, the shop screen has broken the barriers between itself and the actual gameplay. Your inventory (including your precious gold) is saved between games and the items are available when you’re shooting down the hordes of marauding enemies.

The shop screen’s also seen some nice additions under the hood. If you get a chance to play the game you might notice that the phrases are randomised so although he’ll only give you 9G back for your Hammer, at least he’ll offer it with different dialogue! The items you see are just placeholders for now but there’s ideas for each of them.

Now all that’s left is to make them useful in game!

- David Valente