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Name

 Elemental War 

 

Developer

 Clockwork Origins 

 

Publisher

 Clockwork Origins 

 

Tags

 Strategy 

 

Singleplayer 

 

 Early Access 

Release

 2018-10-18 

 

Steam

 € £ $ / % 

 

News

 75 

 

Controls

 Keyboard 

 

 Mouse 

 

 Partial Controller Support 

 

Players online

 n/a 

 

Steam Rating

 n/a 

Steam store

 https://store.steampowered.com/app/917850 

 

SteamSpy

Peak CCU Yesterday

  

Owners

 0 .. 20,000 +/-  

 

Players - Since release

  +/-  

Players - Last 2 weeks

  +/-  

Average playtime (forever)

 0  

Average playtime (last 2 weeks)

 0 

Median playtime (forever)

 0 

Median playtime (last 2 weeks)

 0 

Public Linux depots

 Elemental War Linux [2.6 G] 




LINUX STREAMERS (1)
sirsamsai




Announcing HexaScape: Cyber Defense

Hi everyone,

Welcome to cyberspace! Our next game HexaScape: Cyber Defense has just been announced - and it comes with a demo!

HexaScape: Cyber Defense is an addictive mix of hex grid puzzles and tower defense mechanics to create a compelling turn-based strategy game. So if you are a strategy player or a board game addict, this game is for you!

Be sure to give it a try:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2647510/HexaScape_Cyber_Defense/

[previewyoutube=MajT21aXqeU;full][/previewyoutube]


[ 2024-04-18 16:48:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.11.2

After the current gen version of Elemental War and the patch 1.11.1 not much did happen for Elemental War this year. Of course its a quite old game, but as still a lot of people play it and we also stumbled upon some bugs, we fixed them and now have a new patch for you.

We fixed the Looper achievement that was harder to unlock than it should have been, improved the Water of Life quest and fixed a few small issues here and there. If you find anything else, let us know and well see what we can do.

Full changelog
Fixes:


  • fixed Looper achievement only unlocking under certain conditions
  • fixed title of battle summary in leaderboards not getting translated
  • fixed ingame menu not closing clicking on continue button having opened the menu with the simulated cursor on controller
  • fixed missing padding between platform icon and username in scoreboard
  • fixed dropdowns not being easy to use with controller
  • fixed water puddles for Water of Life quest being barely visible
  • fixed flask progess not always being properly displayed
  • fixed time controls being triggered when navigating while in bottom menus or in ingame menu
  • fixed Griffin being able to catch elementals


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2023-10-23 11:30:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.11.1

Well, this new patch for Elemental War is really small content wise. There was just one bug report that mentioned blue towers after loading a savegame. This issue is now solved and the patch will be available on all platforms today.

This is our last update for Elemental War. If you find any critical bugs we of course will continue support, but besides that dont expect any more updates here.

Full changelog
Fixes:


  • fixed rare issue causing towers loaded from a savegame being blue


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2023-03-16 08:25:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.11.0

As we worked again on Elemental War anyway due to some other ports we decided to also update the other versions and so we added Steam Deck support!

In general dont expect huge jumps from this update. We slightly improved the graphics by adjusting post processing and raised texture quality.

Besides that are just a bunch of minor tweaks and some adjustments required for Steam Deck.

This is our last update for Elemental War. If you find any critical bugs we of course will continue support, but besides that dont expect any more updates here.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • slightly improved post processing
  • Steam Deck adjustments

Fixes:

  • fixed random network connection popups
  • fixed pressing back button in buy modifier overlay keeps the menu open, but goes to the upper alliance menu
  • fixed wording in build tower tutorial text


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2023-02-03 14:54:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

CyberTD: Futuristic tower defense in the Triverse

Its finally time to announce our new tower defense CyberTD, a mix of tower defense, roguelite and deckbuilding taking place in our cyberspace setting now called Triverse.

Working on it since April this year were finally ready to announce our new game, CyberTD! Its a tower defense game, mostly turn-based, roguelite with deckbuilding and inspired by Taur, Core Defense and Slay the Spire.

You have one tower to defend the cyber core against viruses. Each wave you can select an upgrade to enhance your tower and its customizable loadout of weapons and active abilities to strengthen your defense and explore different combinations.

Play it alone, in local or online multiplayer both in coop and a versus mode or on Twitch with or against your chat!

You can already wishlist the game. Doing so will help us a lot, even when youre not going to buy it in the end, so please consider it and tell all your friends about it as well!

CyberTD shall be released on PC (Windows, Linux, Mac) in 2023.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2109510/CyberTD

Check out our announcement trailer:

[previewyoutube=0-INm_7mdt4;full][/previewyoutube]


[ 2022-10-04 21:13:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.10.1

Today we release Elemental War 1.10.1 with a few bugs we noticed while working on Elemental War 2 and a critical issue with two achievements on Xbox and UWP.

During the development of Elemental War 2 we found a few bugs that also affect Elemental War. So we decided to backport them even though they arent too critical (mostly savegame related) and nobody ever reported them.

Full changelog
Fixes:


  • fixed score stats for overall scores not working
  • fixed newsticker being cut off
  • fixed Cerberus ability
  • fixed unhovering monsters/towers not always working properly
  • fixed Transform tower not working properly when loading a savegame
  • fixed 'What the beetle hides' quest automatically succeeding when loading savegame
  • fixed bug that caused tower damage to be reduced when loading savegame with gravity orb equipped to a tower


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063020


[ 2021-07-30 09:27:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 2 coming 2022



Today we announce our next game: Elemental War 2!

Elemental War 2 takes you into a threatened world: hordes of monsters suddenly pour out of the abysses of hell from a faulty summoned portal. Will you manage to build a defense line of defense towers against the forces of evil in time?

Elemental War 2 offers you the popular tower defense feeling combined with innovative game mechanics: as soon as you defeat an elemental a particularly strong enemy that will demand everything from you youll receive its element stone, which you can use to build new defense towers. As you keep collecting elements, youll always have new levels and tower combinations at your disposal.

Only if you skillfully combine the different towers and make use of their advantages will you be able to stand up to the monster hordes. Through in-game side quests, youll also unlock items that further enhance the abilities of your towers or decisively weaken your opponents at just the right time!

Elemental War 2 offers you dozens of hours of gameplay to develop strategies, complete all the quests and discover all the secrets of the game world. The lovingly hand-built maps offer you varied games and always new challenges!

Features


  • The popular tower defense game principle with new gameplay elements
  • Face the powerful elementals and their special abilities
  • Solve quests to unlock upgrades for your towers
  • Play 15 varied maps in three unique environments: forest, ice and desert
  • Play alone or in co-op mode
  • Compare yourself with other players in the global leaderboards


Are you ready to face the elementals?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063020

Wishlist and follow now to don't miss any updates!

[previewyoutube=qITDGTvtz8w;full][/previewyoutube]


[ 2021-07-05 22:42:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.10.0

Elemental War 1.10.0 is now available on all platforms and brings the game to the same state as the upcoming PlayStation release next week.

Since the Elemental War 1.9.0 release in February we fixed a few small issues we now that we passed PlayStation certification want to release to all platforms.

The changelog contains a few things that only affect individual platforms and some that are relevant for all.

On all platforms we fixed the behavior of Windrunner, fixed two typos and improved the Shockwave effect. On consoles or using controller we improved saving maps in the editor and navigation in there. Only on Xbox (and that wont work on PlayStation!) we also enabled the minimap now as it finally doesnt crash anymore there (but sadly still does on PlayStation).

And for PC only we added the option to change the UI scaling. So if you think the UI is too big you can now reduce the size via the settings file. Here are the steps how to do that:


  • navigate to C:\\Users\\\\AppData\\LocalLow\\Clockwork Origins\\Elemental War
  • open settings.ini
  • in UI category enter Scale=, scale factor = 1 is like the default, < 1 makes UI smaller, > 1 makes UI bigger

Full changelog
Enhancements:

  • added support for tower shortcuts on consoles using keyboard
  • added UI scaling for PC version only via settings

Fixes:

  • improved shockwave effect
  • fixed Windrunner attacking wrong area after moving it
  • fixed minimap crash on Xbox and so reenabled minimap functionality there
  • fixed controller navigation in editor from right most column of map to name
  • fixed saving on maps that failed sometimes (especially on Xbox)
  • fixed tooltip scaling on resolutions greater than 16:9
  • fixed typos in two monster names


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2021-05-11 17:44:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.9.0

Elemental War 1.9.0 with several controller improvements and autosave is out now.

The update fixes several small issues all over the place, mostly controller related, improves the mouse simulation using a controller and re-adds the old autosave functionality that got a complete redesign to work better now.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • score rank achievements now also work without account
  • reimplemented autosave functionality

Fixes:

  • fixed several small issues
  • fixed drawing with controller for quest 'Knowledge acquired at school, refreshed'
  • fixed same map being uploaded multiple times
  • fixed controller navigation for "Play challenge" button
  • fixed placement of "Play challenge" button to not overlap with "Show tooltips" hint using a controller
  • fixed news ticker updating user based news too slow
  • fixed alliance event markers not being properly shown
  • added link to editor tutorial to editor view
  • improved switching between mouse/keyboard and controller usage
  • improved controller sensitivity for cursor moving
  • fixed leaving alliance not resetting everything in view
  • fixed controller navigation when trying to join an alliance


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2021-02-04 17:32:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.8.0

Elemental War 1.8.0 brings several small fixes here and there from controller issues over balancing and functionality problems to graphical issues.

The fixes target a range of problems like graphical issues, controller problems and some functionality not working as expected. Also balancing was slightly adjusted as there was a bug that broke proper duration calculation for some status effects.

Full changelog
Fixes:


  • fixed transparency of leafs on Root Nexus tower
  • improved position of Report Content button
  • disabled platform icons for alliance scores
  • fixed tooltips placement in general and another bug for resolutions other than 1080p
  • fixed network issue notification message
  • fixed stun, fossilize and shadow root duration being too long
  • fixed stunned enemies not restoring their walk animation
  • fixed loading of some data for non-Steam PC versions
  • fixed controller navigation in ingame menu and editor
  • fixed crash when killing monster with Disturbance ability
  • fixed typo in German translation
  • removed culture info from settings as it was kinda stupid (still can be configured in ini if necessary)
  • fixed some LODs
  • fixed damage dealing sometimes not working properly with certain abilities (e.g. Gizmo)
  • improved error message when path in editor is not correct
  • fixed display name of map author not being displayed properly when using special formatting
  • fixed jump to player in leaderboard not always working properly
  • unregistered players are also displayed in leaderboards locally now


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-12-07 14:43:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report October 2020



September has ended and were closer to the console launches of Elemental War and Tri6: Infinite than ever before! And we have a first release date as well!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-october-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/917850/Elemental_War/?snr=1_5_1100__1100
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1120390/Tri6_Infinite/?snr=1_5_1100__1100


[ 2020-10-03 13:06:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.7.6

Elemental War 1.7.6 is a small hotfix release mostly affecting the Steam version.

As a small addition to yesterdays update to Elemental War 1.7.5 we have a small hotfix. Thats necessary, as we found out the Steam version doesnt properly restore some stored data like the tutorial progress which is very inconvenient. We also fixed two more small bugs.

Full changelog
Fixes:


  • fixed some data not being loaded properly playing on Steam
  • increased brightness of skip button for dialogs
  • fixed Code of Conduct text not being visible


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-10-03 11:04:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.7.5

Elemental War 1.7.5 provides a few more bugfixes and improvements.

As we received a few bug reports since the last update we decided to release another patch to fix those. It mostly affects the render issue after completing a game, but we also fixed everything else we found in the meantime or got reported.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • author of mods now is tracked
  • added feature to report inappropriate content

Fixes:

  • fixed password reset not working when trying to enter e-mail address
  • fixed back to menu after game leading to render issues
  • fixed overlapping screens
  • exchanged platform icons in leaderboards
  • fixed potential bug when Vampire transforms to Vampire Bat in Hero Mode
  • hopefully fixed appearing empty message box


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-10-02 21:43:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.7.3

Due to a bug report and our progress on the console versions we have a new Elemental War update with some fixes.

The last update was quite a while ago and in the meantime we worked a lot on the console versions to finish them. As we got some critical bug report a few hours ago we decided to release another update before the official 1.8.0 release that contains already all fixes we did in the meantime. The critical fix is for an issue in all multiplayer modes when starting a second game in an existing session.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • added hint how to scroll and show tooltips in menus with controller
  • added hint how to open element and tower menu with controller

Fixes:

  • fixed memory leaks for Healer and Sacrificer ability
  • Balrog doesnt burn itself anymore
  • fixed savegames for certain environments in Hero Mode
  • fixed Death tower being too bright
  • fixed Stun tower being just white under certain circumstances
  • improved look for Black Hole teleport effect
  • fixed Black Hole projectile being invisible
  • improved Fire tower sound a little
  • fixed missing walk animation of some monsters after they have been stunned
  • fixed controller navigation in game settings, audio settings, leaderboards, alliance challenge menu and alliance help menu
  • fixed wait spinner never being removed when showing alliances to join
  • improved highlighting of currently selected leaderboard entry
  • fixed rank not being properly displayed when player is not on page 1
  • fixed wrong buttons being mentioned in camera tutorial when playing with PlayStation controller
  • fixed second coop/multiplayer session in a row not working properly anymore


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-09-13 01:20:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report September 2020



August was a very busy month with the final spurt on the console versions of Elemental War and Tri6: Infinite, four content updates for Tri6: Infinite, a big Spine update and our new animated logo. And September wont be less busy!

[previewyoutube=F8Ws11UG-Do;full][/previewyoutube]

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-september-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/917850/Elemental_War/?snr=1_5_1100__1100
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1120390/Tri6_Infinite/?snr=1_5_1100__1100


[ 2020-09-06 21:15:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report August 2020



Tri6: Infinite release and future plans, Elemental War entering console certification soon, Red Skies: Ascension progress update and a big Spine update coming in August read about it now!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-august-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/917850/Elemental_War/?snr=1_5_1100__1100
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1120390/Tri6_Infinite/?snr=1_5_1100__1100


[ 2020-08-05 20:36:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tri6: Infinite Release



Finally our second game, Tri6: Infinite, has been released for PC (Windows, Linux, Mac) on Steam, itch.io and Kartridge.

Tri6: Infinite is an endless racer in a Tron like cyberspace setting. Randomly distributed obstacles with increasing difficulty level, virus opponents and 11 powerups provide plenty of variations. The longer you survive the higher your score gets and you can try to climb to the top of the global leaderboards. For even more fun, Tri6: Infinite even contains a four player splitscreen mode to play against your friends.

For additional challenges were partnering with 4Players and SCILL Play. SCILL Play is free to use and provides you with challenges you can solve in Tri6: Infinite to increase your SCILL level and unlock exclusive skins.

If youre a streamer/lets player and want to cover Tri6: Infinite, feel free to check out our woovit campaign. On Twitch we also enabled some drops. Just keep in mind you have to link your accounts with our own account system for it to work.

Check out some gameplay with developer commentary we captured in June:

https://youtu.be/ngNsbwgrNHU

If you want to try out the game first, you can download our free demo via Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1120390/Tri6_Infinite


[ 2020-07-17 14:17:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report July 2020



The first half of the year is over and we have released an Elemental War performance update, made progress on the Red Skies: Ascension dialog tool, had a big Spine update and the Tri6: Infinite demo has been released as well what a month!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-july-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2020-07-03 17:46:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.7.0

After a long time we finally finished Elemental War 1.7.0 with huge performance improvements!

More than two months after the last update and a lot of work we finally finished our next update. We upgraded to the latest Unity version and a new render pipeline. Additionally we also improved some CPU bottlenecks in the code. The end result is performance gain of around 100% in most cases which is pretty awesome!

Additionally we fixed some bugs we discovered that already were present in previous versions and we improved multiplayer, especially for the Steam version of the game.

We will continue our support and now focus mostly on the console versions again to release them later this year.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • upgrade to Unity 2019.3 and URP for better performance

Fixes:

  • reduced volume of Pentagram attack
  • fixed main menu in 4K resolution
  • fixed tooltip showing when dragging item from one tower to another
  • fixed navigation via minimap clicking for resolutions > 1080p
  • fixed sometimes the same item spawning twice
  • improved multiplayer connection when playing via Steam
  • improve multiplayer performance
  • adjusted balancing a little


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-06-24 21:23:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report June 2020



Elemental War performance optimizations, Red Skies: Ascension demo progress, Spine getting support for games besides Gothic and Tri6: Infinite demo close to release!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-june-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2020-06-01 12:36:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report May 2020



Corona is still going on and so is our work. Performance improvements in Elemental War, demo for Tri6: Infinite coming soon, a Spine update and progress on Red Skies: Ascension this and more now in the progress report!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-may-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2020-05-02 21:02:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report April 2020



First quarter of 2020 is over and despite the whole COVID-19 crisis we made good progress with a clear roadmap for the Elemental War performance improvements and Tri6: Infinite beta start!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-april-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1120390/Tri6_Infinite/


[ 2020-04-03 22:34:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.6.0

This month's maintenance update Elemental War 1.6.0 improves performance a little, fixes a bug and added a feature request.

After a small delay of a week we now have the regular update for you. On the performance side we have some first optimizations, but the big boost will come in the next weeks. We will set up a beta branch probably in two or three weeks. As the whole upgrade process will require a lot of testing we hope some of you will join the beta branch and help us to ensure everything is still working as expected.

While working on these optimizations we also got a feature request and a bug report. The bug was the Money tower resetting its orientation on upgrade if it has been rotated by the player. The feature request was to show the remaining active item cooldown also in the tooltip in the inventory. Both things have been done for 1.6.0.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • added remaining cooldown for active items in tooltip

Fixes:

  • improved audio performance
  • improved level performance
  • Money tower now keeps its orientation on upgrade


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-04-03 10:46:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.6.0 delayed

Just a small heads-up! This weeks Elemental War update is delayed by one or two weeks.

It has nothing to do with COVID-19. Its just that it took longer than expected to figure out a solid plan for the performance optimizations. The whole optimization process will be split up in a few different steps.

We already did some performance optimizations for the whole audio processing for 1.6.0. But we want to improve the levels for 1.6.0 now as well. This will already give a small performance boost. Depending on how long it will take we will delay 1.6.0 by one or two weeks. It wont be more.

The next step is already bigger. We will upgrade to a newer Unity version. That alone wont bring any performance benefits, but allows us to use some new techniques that will help. There are two things: The Universal Render Pipeline and DOTS.

The Universal Render Pipeline is a new and a lot improved rendering pipeline Unity developed in the last years. We already use it in Tri6: Infinite and its pretty cool. A first try with Elemental War gave us around 50% better performance on Xbox One in the benchmark scene, thats already a lot.

DOTS stands for Data Oriented Technologies Stack and is also a new thing in Unity we also use for Tri6: Infinite. It makes it easier to write more CPU friendly code and use multithreading in Unity. This will mean we have to rewrite some of the functionality of Elemental War, but therefore it will be way more performant afterwards.

So the plan is to release 1.6.0 with the optimizations we can already do now, then we will upgrade Unity and convert to URP which will end up on a new beta branch we will set up for that purpose. While thats being tested, we will upgrade our code base to DOTS where it makes sense and push these changes to the beta branch as well.

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-03-27 17:36:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report March 2020



Last month of the first quarter of 2020 already reached and our projects and the team as well made very good progress!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-march-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2020-03-01 16:45:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.5.0

This month's maintenance update Elemental War 1.5.0 improves controller support and adds some bugfixes.

As you might know we're currently porting Elemental War also to Xbox and PS4. These platforms of course require proper controller support. Even though Elemental War supports controllers since release and in some beta state even since Early Access, we found some things to improve again. A big problem was for example the speed of the simulated mouse cursor, especially on screens with a different resolution than 1920x1080. Also the menu navigation felt not perfect as it wasn't possible to use the digipad and when navigating to the top bottom and try one up it was stuck and didn't switch to the bottom most button. The latter two things were more or less just things we personally prefer, there are games that support it and others that don't. But in our opinion it feels better now and as the code for that was already prepared by our next game Tri6: Infinite it wasn't a big deal anyway.

Another big topic is again performance. Even though we spent a lot of time to improve the performance, we found out that the CPU performance on consoles is pretty bad at the moment. For us that means a lot of additional work to optimize the game further. For the PC version that means that you will get better performance as well. Some small improvements are already part of 1.5, but we have to figure out how to solve the big problems now.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • improved mouse simulation with controller
  • improved controller navigation in main menu
  • added digipad navigation to main menu
  • performance improvements

Fixes:

  • cursor now is hidden while game is started
  • fixed Steam rich presence
  • fixed progress display of monster hunter achievement
  • disabled tutorials in benchmark
  • adjusted buttons in profile menu (text length)
  • Pegasus doesn't decrease speed anymore if it's already higher than its effects
  • fixed opening of leaderboard using controller


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-02-28 09:25:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report February 2020



Almost missed that its already February again. So time for the second progress report this year!


This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-february-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2020-02-02 17:01:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.4.0

This month's maintenance update Elemental War 1.4.0 has been released with some new bugfixes and a feature request to always show at least one entrance portal in the top area of the default camera.

With this update when starting a map, the default rotation of the camera will ensure that at least one of the start portals is in the top area of the screen. Of course you're still able to rotate the camera as you like, but it should be a little easier now to find the entrance point.

Besides that we fixed several small bugs we found while playing or got reported. Mostly cosmetic stuff, nothing crucial.

Another good news: Elemental War got approved for PlayStation 4! That means besides the Xbox One port we're also working on a PS4 port soon.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • at least one start portal now is always on top of the map

Fixes:

  • fixed error when activating controller for the first time in a submenu
  • damage type change is only shown now by Joker when the tower is selected
  • when logged in only via linked Steam account alliance score is now displayed properly
  • Root Nexus effect is removed now when last Root Nexus is sold
  • inventory can be closed again using the close button
  • slightly improved CPU performance
  • removing item from slot 3 now updates the tower overlay properly
  • game restart now clears tower and monster info screen
  • optimized login button for login hint
  • dragging an item from one tower directly to another one now drops the items always on the correct tower


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2020-01-24 14:24:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Past and future 2020



Its 2020 already for a few weeks now and so we want to look back on what we achieved in 2019 and what we have planned for 2020.

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full news on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/past-and-future-2020/

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2020-01-17 22:07:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report January 2020



The new progress report is now live and contains many updates for all our projects and future plans!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-january-2020

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2020-01-01 20:18:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.3.0

This month's maintenance update Elemental War 1.3.0 has been released with some new bugfixes and quality of life features.

On the feature side we added a new feature that allows to join lobbies of friends/invite friends to a lobby when playing via Steam. This will make it a little easier to play together with friends now.

Then there have been as usual some small performance fixes. So we slightly improved general performance of all distance based checks (e.g. if a monster is in the range of a tower). This will especially help with a lot of towers and monsters, but won't be a big breakthrough. The other performance optimization only affects the multiplayer. There it will help to keep the game lag-free even with a lot of towers and monsters on the map which could lead to big lags sometimes before this fix.

There are more changes you can find in the changelog below.

There is also our christmas event running which gives you a special item for Hero Mode you can only unlocked during christmas time! So play Elemental War in the next days to unlock it and keep it forever. And if you don't own Elemental War yet, we also participate in the sale.

Furthermore we now changed the versioning of our releases. To explain it: Each of our releases is a combination of ... The major version will be changed if something really, really big changes, mostly something like a remaster/remake. But that would probably a new game and isn't planned at all. Usually we only use 0 for the time before release (alpha, beta, early access) and 1 afterwards. The minor version will change with every regular update. These are the planned updates that at the moment are released every month. In case we need a hotfix, like 1.2.1 and 1.2.3, we will now use the patch version for. This won't change much for you, but it helps us a little with planning as we don't need to rename milestones anymore due to an unforeseen hotfix.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • leaderboards now show the platform of the player
  • changing later to a Clockwork account now applies scores and experience
  • it should be possible now to join lobbies of friends/invite friends via Steam

Fixes:

  • fixed missing own scores (marker) when only being logged in via account linking
  • improved keyboard/controller navigation in login screen
  • fixed missing name of local player in multiplayer when not logged in and host
  • fixed cut off text in player dropdown in lobby
  • slightly improved CPU performance
  • unregistered users can't create challenges anymore
  • improved multiplayer performance in late game (client)
  • speed up of online features for Steam users
  • maps created or requested by non-Steam users can be downloaded now


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-12-20 11:14:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report December 2019



The new progress report is now live and contains many updates for all our projects and future plans!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-december-2019

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2019-12-06 09:49:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.2.3

Small hotfix incoming! We accidentally broke the game as soon as the Blade Machine tower is built. This hotfixes fixes the tower again and contains some other small fixes we noticed or got reported since the 1.2.2 update on Friday.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • added hint when there is no internet connection available during game start
  • mods now show the platform they've been created on

Fixes:

  • fixed missing scores in challenge tooltip in singleplayer menu
  • Blade Machine doesn't cause game hanging anymore
  • fixed rare bug when Freeze tower wants to add status


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-11-25 11:00:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.2.2

The new Elemental War update 1.2.2 adds again some new Quality of Life improvemens, small performance improvements and bugfixes.

I always was a little annoyed that I had to open the minimap and inventory again for every game even though I keep them open for the whole time anyway. Now we finally added a persistence layer there to automatically open them again if they were open in the last run.

It's also possible now to link your Steam account with your Clockwork Origins account. That means when you switch PCs and use the same Steam account, you will automatically log into the game on your second machine. This also works for our other games in the future.

Regarding the performance improvements we could slightly reduce the CPU usage for most moveable stuff. That affect e.g. movable parts of towers (like gears and pumps), the gold earned hints and even the monster healthbars above their heads. It's not a huge boost, but a nice small improvement.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • quest button now is hidden when no more quests are available
  • inventory state (opened/closed) now is carried into next game
  • minimap state (opened/closed) now is carried into next game
  • added platform to players in lobby
  • Steam account now can be linked to Clockwork account

Fixes:

  • slightly improved CPU performance
  • fixed players not being able to join multiplayer challenge lobbies
  • fixed bug that caused achievements to be unlocked again for every game start when playing non Steam version
  • fixed Shrine tower affecting the limit of Acid tower status
  • fixed potential bug in multiplayer regarding status changes
  • selling multiple towers at once now properly deselects all of them
  • sold towers can't be upgraded anymore


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-11-22 14:08:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report November 2019



The new progress report is now live and contains many updates for all our projects and future plans!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-november-2019

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2019-11-03 16:18:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.2.1

This Elemental War is meant to fix a bug that caused registering an account didn't work.

There are also a few other fixes that were done since the last update.

Full changelog
Fixes:


  • if a multi-selected tower can't be upgraded it is deselected properly now
  • fixed error that could happen when updating monsters
  • fixed potential error in Life Stealer ability
  • fixed too much memory being used for some effects
  • fixed projectiles not always being removed properly
  • fixed bug that caused register button to be hidden


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-10-30 17:47:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.2.0

The new Elemental War update is now available and adds several new maps! The half has been submitted by our community during our map contest, the other half are maps from the team.

Besides that there were the usual improvements and fixes. We discovered a huge bug that caused the wrong lighting settings being used. It doesn't make a difference on the visual side, but might affect performance on some systems (so it's probably better now). Couldn't measure a big difference on my machine in the benchmark though, but my fps are weird for a while now, I guess it's some driver issue.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • added 10 maps from the community into the official map pool
  • added 10 maps from the developers into the official map pool
  • improved performance when changing global volume
  • privacy policy now can be opened from profile
  • cloned towers being selected via multi-select can't be sold and upgraded anymore
  • Charisma monsters aren't switched with every attack now as long as they stay in range

Fixes:

  • fixed error when monster has exactly 1000000 HP
  • fixed missing text during upload of a map in the editor
  • fixed bug in editor that caused way to be used twice for some crossings
  • fixed error in English translation of "Fully charged" achievement
  • fixed wrong lighting settings being used (might improve performance under certain circumstances)

What's next?
The next weeks/months we're mainly working on the Xbox port of Elemental War. We will keep up the updates for the PC version as long as bugs occur or there is something to improve. Some of the stuff we need to implement for Xbox will also be interesting for the PC version, so you can expect it to be available there too and even earlier.

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-10-25 13:39:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report October 2019



Our new progress report is now live and contains not just only the usual updates, but this time also the official announcement of our new big project, the post-apocalyptic RPG with turn-based combats Red Skies: Ascension!

This report covers Elemental War, Red Skies: Ascension, Spine and Tri6: Infinite.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-october-2019

We hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your opinions on it either here or better on our Discord.


[ 2019-10-05 16:32:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.1.2 Start of the map contest

Today's update is rather small with some imrpovements and fixes. The most important fix is the one that fixes the thumbnails for Steam Workshop. Why? Because today we want to start our first map contest!

The Map Contest

How is this going to work? Well, as you might now Elemental War comes with a map editor to create custom paths. Some of you already created really nice maps and now we want to honor the best of them.

So the procedure is the following: In the next two weeks, that means until October 18th, you can submit maps to us that shall participate in the contest. You can submit new maps or those you already created before the event started.
Then we'll sit together in the team and choose the 10 best submissions. These then will be added to the official map pool with you being mentioned in the credits. The advantage of being an official map is that it counts into the score rank, the game mode score and of course every player will see your map without the need to download it first form the Workshop or (in case of a none Steam version) from our server.
Of course that means by submitting your map to the contest you accept that the map will be added to the game if it wins.

You can submit your maps in the Steam discussions or altenatively on our Discord by providing the link to the Workshop entry (if in there) or the name of the map when submitted from a none Steam version.

Together with the winners of the contest we will also add some maps we created, so we have a nice map update in the end. That will be released around Halloween.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • shift + tab now allows to jump to the previous UI element
  • HP now are displayed now shortened when too long

Fixes:

  • hosting private game works again
  • fixed rare bug that could lead to restart/back to menu not to work anymore and requiring a shutdown of the game
  • fixed thumbnail generation for Steam Workshop

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-10-04 14:02:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.1.1

Update 1.1.1 is an out of order update for Elemental War due to two bugs that were discovered that lead to exploits giving a huge advantage ingame.

Besides the fixes there is also a bigger change regarding the map editor. Starting with this update the editor is integrated directly into the main game and no standalone application anymore. This slightly reduces the size of the game in total and is necessary to release on some other platforms that just allow one executable per game.

Full changelog
Enhancements:


  • added cooldown to time updates in co-op so players don't disable pause mode for each other
  • level editor now is directly integrated into the main game

Fixes:

  • dragging item from one tower to another one doesn't duplicate it anymore
  • keep mouse in screen toggle now is properly restored when game is restarted
  • fixed limitation of Gulp
  • dragging none equipment item on a tower resets its slot correctly again now

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-09-20 12:46:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.1.0

The Elemental War co-op update is now available! With 1.1.0 you're able to play Classic and Survival Mode together with up to three friends. That was a feature that was requested by some players and now we're able to release it.

These two modes mostly behave the same as in singleplayer including all singleplayer features like calling waves and controlling the time to speed up, slow down and pause. We just slightly adjusted the gold so you're not lost due to the split resources.

You can have a look into the gameplay in our Let's Play:

[previewyoutube=MSpS1gPPTmM;full][/previewyoutube]

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • added co-op mode for Classic and Survial Mode for up to four players
  • added tooltips for setting events explaining what's happening
  • setting event notifications now can be clicked to jump to the place of the event

Balancing:

  • Shrine now deals more damage when attacking cursed monsters
  • Shrine weakens monsters longer now on higher upgrades
  • increased mine limit
  • slightly increased damage of Ritual Site
  • Shadow Golem now stays longer on the map

Fixes:

  • reduced amount of updates of Taxman tower damage in multiplayer
  • ranks 9-12 now are displayed properly in the leaderboards
  • probably fixed graphics issue on some Linux systems with Radeon GPU
  • disabling grid for map now works again
  • if connection to a server can't be established player isn't asked anymore if he wants to leave the lobby
  • status mode now can be configured for Hourglass tower
  • fixed path wall display issue on Accordion map (mod)
  • fixed potential error with status changes after loading savegame
  • leaving and re-entering lobby works now
  • when entering the challenge menu directly from the news ticker and then going up to the alliance menu the flag now is updated properly
  • buffs of other towers now are respected by Root Nexus (e.g. Buffer)
  • disabled create challenge button for players without alliance
  • fixed Money tower sometimes not dealing damage
  • ones doesn't get interest anymore in Classic Mode when already at wave 60
  • restarting a challenge without entering the main menu again now updates score properly so New Highscore message isn't displayed after every run
  • reduced network traffic in some cases

What's next?
We already mentioned parts in our monthly progress report, so the next big update will contain new maps. We'll start a contest for this in around a month. We also will test and improve gamepad controls and some other stuff. There'll also be some big announcement soon.

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-09-06 12:08:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report September 2019

Here is the second progress report since we introduced them. This one will cover our work in August and give an outlook on September. And there is going to happen a lot again!

This report covers Elemental War, Spine, Tri6: Infinite and our new main project.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-september-2019


http://store.steampowered.com/app/917850


[ 2019-09-01 20:23:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.0.5



A new update for Elemental War is now available and we have a bunch of new quality of life improvements and bug fixes again.
The changes include improvements for the alliance and challenge system, some performance improvements and user wishes like a display of the element of the next wave and the possibility to drop items also on the physical tower instead of on the inventory slot of the tower.

We're keeping up the updates and in September we will release a big one bringing co-op for Classic and Survival mode. That means you can play these two singleplayer modes on all maps including mods with your friends!

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • challenges now can be created and accepted by any alliance member
  • players for alliance invitation now can be filtered by name and activity in the last 30 days
  • alliance stats now are displayed in flag tooltip in the scoreboard
  • items now can also be dropped onto physical tower
  • element for next wave now is always displayed


Balancing:

  • adjusted modifier prices a little


Fixes:

  • fixed Superfood modifier causing game to not work properly anymore
  • accepting a challenge now properly decreased notification marker in alliance menu
  • updating of the damage type of a tower now also updated the tooltip properly when this tower is selected
  • reduced offset of tower overlay for Tornado tower
  • improved mouse simulation using controller
  • limit of 2 alliances per multiplayer challenge works now
  • alliance scoreboard now is also displayed in alliance menu when not in an alliance
  • entering join alliance menu the first time during a session now still shows alliance list
  • invitation label now is properly disabled when last alliance invitation is declined
  • while loading stuff in the alliance menus a loading spinner is displayed now
  • lobby isn't removed anymore when a participant leaves it
  • buying a modifier now directly updates the available alliance gold
  • bonus/malus range handling for towers now is always relative to the current range instead of absolute
  • kills done via splash damage now directly update kill count in tower info screen
  • kills via status change now also count for the tower that caused it
  • fixed slots next to a path on the border of a map to being able to build on
  • too long map names now are displayed smaller in the level list
  • slightly improved performance of Money tower
  • improved performance and memory usage with multiple towers of the same kind
  • added some additional checks in case upload of a highscore doesn't work properly
  • restarting game while monsters/towers are on the map now keeps loading screen alive until all monsters are removed
  • restarting game while monster with Resurrection ability is on the map doesn't respawn Zombies for the new game
  • reduced CPU usage especially with many towers and monsters on the map
  • Tornado and death effect don't spawn in the air anymore for flying enemies
  • experience progress bar after match should show correct progress now
  • added check when trying to leave a multiplayer lobby


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-08-16 11:19:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Progress Report August 2019

Welcome to our new monthly progress report. In this series we want to keep you informed about the progress on all our projects we worked on in the past month and give you an outlook for the upcoming month. This is the first of these reports and will cover July and give an outlook on what we're going to do in August.

This report will cover our already released projects Elemental War and Spine, officially announce Tri6: Infinite, a new small project we're working on, and tease our new main project.

Read the full progress report on our homepage: https://clockwork-origins.com/progress-report-august-2019/


[ 2019-08-05 17:16:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.0.4



Update 4 for Elemental War is ready to be played now. This time have a few bugfixes and improvements mostly for quests and challenges. We also added more of your feedback like timestamps in the alliance chat or an optional grid on the map.

We're still getting a lot of feedback and have some more updates plannend. And in September you can expect a big update introducing Co-op for Classic and Survival Mode!

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • increased limit of chat messages in lobby
  • added hint to multiplayer menu that one can look for other players in the Steam discussions or on Discord
  • it's possible now in multiplayer to give money to teammates
  • added hint how chat in multiplayer works
  • map description now is saved in Editor
  • added timestamp to alliance chat
  • added optional grid on the map (game settings)


Balancing:

  • increased dps of Steam and Smoke tower
  • reduced explosion damage of Gas Bubbles


Fixes:

  • pressing RB/LB on controller while B is hold now keeps camera rotation
  • kills via status change now also count for the tower that caused it
  • changing alliance name works again
  • chat messages now stay visible for a longer time
  • typing chat message now doesn't trigger spawner anymore
  • when a player leaves the lobby his skills now are disabled too
  • new highscore notification for challenges now only appears when the score is better than the previous challenge score
  • improved performance on Island environment
  • alliance rank change news now contains the info, that it is for alliance
  • challenges now can also be created when the start day is in the next month
  • create challenge button now is removed when creating a multiplayer challenge and being already in challenge menu
  • it's now possible to create a new singleplayer challenge while one is running
  • added highlighting to mushrooms for Witch Cauldron quest when hovering them
  • in multiplayer only the monster sounds for monsters close enough (field currently observed) are played
  • apostrophe now is always correctly displayed in chat messages in alliance
  • projectiles now still fly to the target position and deal splash damage if the tower has it even though the target monster isn't there anymore
  • clicking on Play Challenge for a multiplayer challenge now opens multiplayer menu
  • improved spacing of chat messages in alliance
  • reset password working again
  • fixed condition for Gold Fever quest
  • fixed typo in English translation of Time Bombs quest
  • fixed Transform tower chance to transform
  • logout now disables the region selection


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-08-02 10:59:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.0.3



The launch week is over and we received a lot of awesome feedback. With today's update we add some bugfixes and improvements and target parts of your feedback. More will follow in the next weeks.
And we're also working on integrating Co-op so you can play at least Classic and Survival mode together with friends.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • it's possible now play multiple challenges at once


Fixes:

  • disabled own screenshot functionality when playing on Steam
  • building or upgrading many towers at once doesn't increase volume of build sound anymore
  • fixed animations of Money and Pitch tower
  • flask for Witch Cauldron quest is now removed when quest is completed
  • progress for Witch Cauldron quest now is properly updated
  • added validation for map name in editor to avoid special characters that are incompatible with the filesystem
  • fixed several small internal errors
  • Battle Summary is now empty for alliance scores
  • fixed error when pressing Ctrl + (0-9) while no tower is selected
  • improved scores/gold for alliances actively participating in challenges
  • new highscores reached in a challenge now also count for leaderboard
  • fixed minimum size of alliance flag tooltip in leaderboard
  • alliance score properly restored now when challenge was played from alliance menu
  • when checking alliance score at last before leaving game Steam progress on score rank statistics isn't set to 0 anymore (visual issue only)
  • monster sounds of elementals now have a higher priority than normal monster sounds
  • background music now also continues during loading screen
  • loading a map/creating new map in Editor now clears the description
  • remaining alliance time now is also updated in challenges menu in alliance
  • fixed English translation for Frozen status
  • fixed English translation for Midas status
  • gold earned via Money Tower now appears directly in front of the tower
  • fixed condition for unlocking quests for Bloodseeker's Scythe and Wicked Knife
  • improved description of Witch Cauldron quest


[ 2019-07-28 12:45:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.0.2



The launch weekend passed and we decided to release another small update to fix some more stuff that came up during the weekend. We also added two small features that have been requested.
Of course we will continue fixing bugs and improving the game with the feedback we get, so make sure to share your experiences with us.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • Editor now shows grid lines
  • tower kills now are also displayed for all upgrades


Fixes:

  • fixed error in editor when trying to save a map with empty path
  • fixed several small internal errors
  • accepting/declining alliance entry requests now correctly updates the marker
  • fixed some cut off characters
  • tower kills in multiplayer now are displayed properly


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-07-22 11:16:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.0.1



Our release went pretty well and we already received some good feedback and also some new bug reports. This patch will tackle the first ones and increase stability in some edge cases.
We will continue evaluating your feedback and improving Elemental War in the next days, so please don't stop telling us your opinions ;)

Full changelog

Fixes:


  • camera tutorial info now can be closed right from the beginning
  • fixed error leaving game in controller mode
  • fixed error loading savegame with many projectiles on the map
  • being not logged in doesn't highlight all alliances anymore in alliance leaderboard
  • Nature tower now uses correct idle sound
  • fixed several small internal errors


If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-07-20 10:58:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 1.0.0



Today, after 9 months, Elemental War is leaving Early Access. We added a lot of features in this time and want to sum up the highlights in this news.

Highlights

During Early Access we added a lot of stuff. Some things were just bugfixes and optimizations, others were Quality of Life features and the biggest were new features like the Map Editor, Multiplayer and the Alliance System.

Alliance System

Already in update 0.9.2 in November we first introduced our alliance system. With it you can team up with other players, chat and increase your alliance rank by participating (and winning) challenges. Challenges are available both for singleplayer and multiplayer. The challenges can be played by as many alliances as like. The highlight are the modifiers you can buy for the challenges. For every challenge every team can buy up to on modifier that will affect all enemy alliances. We have five different ones in the game and they are pretty mean and can e.g. decrease the lives of your enemies or increase the hitpoints their monsters get. Gold is earned by playing challenges and even without winning the challenge you will earn some.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU1Y2WsTPbs

Map Editor

In update 0.9.11 end of March we released our Map Editor. With this editor you can create maps that can be played in the game, both for singleplayer and multiplayer! The maps will be uploaded both to Steam (when playing via Steam) and our own server (for everybody else) so you can play all mods no matter which version of the game you play. After the launch of the editor we even added some new features for maps in general like portals that don't need to be at the edges of the maps anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V5RCa6G7yI

Multiplayer

Not that long ago, in update 0.9.13 end of April, we finally released the Clash Mode, our multiplayer. There you have to send monsters to the opponent team while at the same time defending your own map from the monsters your opponents send. Different tactics and more than 21 skills help you to get your enemy lives down. It can be played 1 vs 1 up to 4 vs 4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOhBC-iaLcY

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • added special sound when new elemental spawns
  • added seven more quests with achievements
  • added another achievement
  • added sounds for some towers
  • added progress bar for interest countdown below gold panel
  • added earned interest below gold panel
  • added unlocked tower levels to tower info screen in main menu
  • increased frequency of swamp gas


Balancing:

  • reduced negative effect of Hourglass tower
  • slightly increased malus for multiple Root Nexus
  • decreased damage of Taxman tower in end game of multiplayer


Fixes:

  • restarting game when choosing elements yourself now works properly again
  • it's easier now to solve quest 'Gold Fever'
  • improved some tower upgrade tooltips
  • scrolling in achievement view works now
  • fixed animation of Money tower
  • added missing word in English description of Sustained achievement
  • fixed map editor not working for maps with start portal in a corner
  • DPS in damage tooltip now are updated when attack speed is changed while tower is selected
  • fixed an issue that caused some texts in some menus being cut off in the front
  • fixed error on Mac that caused UI elements becoming invisible after they've been highlighted
  • reduced RAM usage
  • decreased loading speed of ingame settings
  • fixed broken Mine tower animation
  • fixed performance problem in multiplayer
  • gold text now gets scaled in case it would overflow the box
  • fixed typos in English achievement descriptions
  • map editor now should be able to properly publish to Steam Workshop also on Linux
  • changing the alliance flag now also updates the preview
  • fixed tooltips sometimes causing game to hang up
  • background music in editor now uses same volume settings as the main game
  • fixed display error of T crossings in editor when loading a map
  • fixed error hinting player where to go with T cross in editor
  • hint to manually select next path for unclear paths in editor is triggered just once per path now
  • Gas Bubbles now raise again


What's next?

Even though Elemental War is finished now, we're not going to abandon it. If bugs or other problems come up, we will of course fix them. The rest will mostyl depend on your feedback.

If you liked Elemental War and want to see what we're doing next, join our Discord and/or subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay informed. You can also follow us on Steam.

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B0QgYUB__Y


[ 2019-07-19 10:07:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.18



Just two weeks left until the full release of Elemental War. Almost done!

Highlights

We'll leave specific highlights out this time as there is no big new stuff this time. In 0.9.18 we fixed a lot of bugs, partially they are related to the newly introduced achievements, but there is also other stuff. The Steam and Smoke tower got their smoke/steam highlighted which didn't look that good, so we removed it. Selling multiple towers was broken for a while now and on Mac the element buttons were invisible when starting a game and before hovering them the first time.
There was way more than this, but these are some highlights.

On the feature side we made the score rank achievements to progress achievements so you can see your progress no reaching them in the Steam achievement view. This was already part of the hotfix for 0.9.17. We also added more monster sounds, so every monster now has a sound that is randomly played while it's on the map.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • score rank achievements are progress achievements now on Steam
  • added remaining monster sounds


Fixes:

  • fixed conditions for achievements 'Man of Steel', 'Combiner' and '3 in 1'
  • path preview for challenges now looks better
  • score rank achievement isn't triggered on every start anymore
  • reduced flickering of HP bar of monsters with regeneration
  • tried another minimap fix for Linux
  • fixed bug that caused element buttons to be inivisible at first on Mac
  • fixed target cursor sometimes being active in highscore panel
  • fixed rare bug that caused leaving the highscore menu sometimes not to work properly
  • tower build achievements aren't unlocked anymore in benchmark
  • fixed unlocking of Completionist also happening when just restarting the game often enough
  • fire of Smoke tower isn't highlighted anymore
  • it's possible again to sell multiple towers at once
  • steam of Steam tower isn't highlighted anymore


What's next?

The next two weeks we will have to prepare some stuff for the release, especially for the release party on July 19th. It will be in Nuremberg, Germany in the "Haus des Spiels". If you're in Nuremberg that evening, step by and talk to us.

Of course we're still testing the game to find also the last bugs and we also will add some new quests for release to unlock even more cool items.

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-07-05 09:39:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.17



Four weeks left until we release Elemental War and we're perfectly in time.

Highlights

With update 0.9.17 we added some improvements to help with understanding what certain UI elements mean. We also added full controller support for the map editor and a lot of achievements.

Achievements

We now have a total of 58 achievements in the game with 7 more to come as we add the remaining quests. We have different types of achievements as you can see in the achievement list. The green ones are those that are hard to unlock. Blue ones are for the score ranks. The red ones are the achievements you get when you complete a quest and the purple ones for "tutorial" achievements that are easy to unlock just by playing/trying out basic stuff.

We hope you have fun with all of them and happy achievement hunting.

Editor

The editor got some improvements and now also has full controller support. That means Elemental War in total now has full controller support. If you still find some issues or something isn't easy enough to use, please contact us.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • added label to drawing board for quest 'Knowledge acquired at school, refreshed'
  • added tooltip for hidden achievements so it's clear they are hidden
  • added notification sound when player joins lobby
  • added controller support to Editor
  • none Steam users now can also download maps
  • added path preview to challenge
  • total score used for score rank now is displayed in tooltip as well
  • added a lot of new achievements


Fixes:

  • playing singleplayer challenges works again properly
  • tried a fix for black minimap on Linux
  • reduced amount of network messages in Clash Mode
  • fixed error happening sometimes when starting a second game during a session that could cause game start to break
  • changing target/status type with multi selection now shows the correct icon
  • opening the settings from the ingame menu is faster now
  • fixed tooltip of target change button changing back to previous one when selecting it
  • field marker for Net and Moral Boost skill are removed now when effect is applied
  • fixed controller cursor being below multiplayer info screen in-game


What's next?

In the next four weeks we will focus on testing, bug fixing, optimization and marketing.
Besides that we want to add the remaining 7 quests. They are basically written down, but need to be reviewed and implemented.
We're also going to add more monster sounds and also add and improve some of the existing sounds.

In the meantime you can watch our "Dev Play" of the Classic Mode of Elemental War:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRgHWAvRuDU

If you have any balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-06-21 15:31:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.16



Full release is coming closer and closer and we're still in the process of improving Elemental War!

Highlights

With update 0.9.16 everything in-game can be used with controller now. Besides that we added menu music and the possibility to play multiplayer even without a Clockwork account.

Controller Support

With 0.9.16 it is possible now to play every game mode also with controller. This works pretty good. There is just one problem in combination with Steam that we'll have to figure out.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer got two improvements. First we added some tutorial infos there. This should help to understand what to do when playing the Clash Mode.
The other thing is that we added the possibility to play Clash Mode now also without a Clockwork account. That way we remove a barrier for newcomers, even though players without an account won't get experience points and can't buy skills and so will run into problems in the long term.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • added menu music
  • added tutorial infos for multiplayer
  • improved highlighting of disabled skills when selecting them via controller
  • improved portal tutorial part
  • improved ingame controller support
  • it's possible to speed up to 10 times
  • added rich presence for Steam
  • added more monster sounds
  • slightly improved performance
  • multiplayer now can also be played without a Clockwork account


Fixes:

  • Ok button for camera tooltip now is always properly displayed after fullfilling all conditions
  • disabled tutorials for multiplayer
  • Transform tower now can transform monsters again
  • leaderboard overlay now can be shown with controller using LB
  • leaderboard now can be opened with controller
  • disconnect message now isn't displayed anymore when game was already finished
  • fixed controller navigation in level select menu
  • fixed small bug that could happen while building Root Nexus
  • Root Nexus now gets weaker again when building many of them
  • fixed some rare script errors
  • fixed conflict of quest for "Arcane Shield Generator" and tutorials
  • fixed error when finishing a game while monsters with Hydra ability are on the map
  • Volcano projectile collision now has a sound
  • fixed info boxes in main menu that could overwrite each other
  • fixed another problem loading a save from Class Mode
  • smoke of Smoke tower isn't highlighted anymore
  • fixed bug in multiplayer that could cause the level to be loaded twice
  • fixed bug that caused item to disappear when dragging it to the wrong position
  • fixed bug that caused game to hang up when trying to play an alliance challenge
  • tooltips now are always properly removed when using controller
  • tower utilization is displayed again in info screen
  • fixed alliance invitations label being empty


What's next?

The next version is going to also provide controller support for the map editor so we have full controller support then.

There are also more graphical improvements planned and ways to make certain things clearer by adding better tooltips or other labels.

We're also going to add some more achievements soon, but we don't know yet if this will happen in 0.9.17 or 0.9.18.

If you have any other ideas, whishes, balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-06-07 10:24:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.15



Just 8 weeks left until our full release on July 19th! And we're still busy polishing the game.

Highlights

In update 0.9.15 controller support got big improvements and there have been some more quality of life additions, bugfixes and performance improvements.

Controller Support

If you're using a controller, you're now able again to use everything in the main menu again. Well, everything except the leaderboards which will come in 0.9.16. All other menus worked in our tests. We didn't test ingame stuff again yet, this will be part of 0.9.16 and maybe 0.9.17 if it's as much work as the main menu.

If you have a controller, feel free to test around a little either in the menus or ingame and share your results with us.

Quality of Life

On the QoL side we added different things. There were feature requests to add the tower kills to the info screen and damage indicators above the monsters. Both features are now part of Elemental War. The damage indicators though have to be enabled in the Game settings as they're optional.

Besides that it's now possible to start the editor from the game and vice versa. In the game there's an entry in the main menu. In the editor you now have the "Test map" option which will start the game.

Tutorials

We removed the tutorials back in 0.9.13 as we weren't really happy with them. Now we integrated parts of the old tutorial into your first game(s). This also affects players that already played the old tutorials or inbetween. You'll get some basic informations how some of the stuff works. We'll check what else might be worth to be explained and add more infos in the next updates.

If you have ideas what shall be explained or you don't know how to do something, feel free to share your experiences.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • added an easteregg
  • tower kills now are shown in tower info screen
  • when a player leaves a multiplayer game, all other players now get a notification
  • when getting kicked from a multiplayer game due to a timeout player now gets notified
  • added optional damage indicators
  • added some statistics for Kartridge
  • on Discord you can see now some infos when playing Elemental War
  • game now can be started from editor to test a map
  • editor now can be started from the game main menu
  • added Credits page
  • added some more monster sounds
  • it's possible to see some first tooltips easily now using controller
  • integrated some tutorial infos in the normal game flow


Fixes:

  • performance improvements
  • during restart of a map loading screen is shown again
  • fixed some rare errors in different code locations
  • alliance names with tag in the name now are visible in the flag tooltip in the leaderboards
  • fixed bug with Shadow Golem when corresponding Ritual Site was sold/upgraded
  • rotation of spheres in multiplayer for team 2 should be correct now
  • Stun attack effect looks better now
  • fixed several issues when shutting down the game
  • fixed several controller bugs in main menu
  • closing and re-opening on screen keyboard properly deselects last used button
  • fixed bug that caused all UI elements on Mac to be invisible when using an own shader
  • weird random bug when starting a game should be fixed now
  • rank tooltips won't be shown anymore fore empty slots
  • joining alliance works again
  • rank for Classic Mode in alliance overview now is displayed correctly
  • join alliance button now visible in help menu


What's next?

0.9.16 will further improve controller usage and add the missing leaderboards in the main menu and start to improve the ingame controls. Besides that we'll further improve the performance and of course fix all bugs you report or we find in the meantime.

And in case you have other QoL features you're missing or anything else, share it with us and we'll see if it's feasible for us.

If you have any other ideas, whishes, balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-05-24 10:23:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.14



Good news: We now have a final release date! On July 19th we'll leave Early Access.

Highlights

With update 0.9.14 the multiplayer leaves beta stage, we introduced an alliance challenge for Clash mode and improved performance.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer is officially out of beta now. If you still find bugs we'll of course fix them and also improve things when we find things to improve. We also added our new multiplayer trailer to the Steam page. You can also check a full multiplayer match on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dO6ojzfPqk

For this update the multiplayer also got an alliance challenge. This means you can create challenges for the multiplayer and fight against other alliances to increase your alliance rank. With the modifiers you can also affect the multiplayer matches and make it pretty hard for your opponents.

Also the remaining icons for the multiplayer skills are in now and they're really awesome!

Performance

On the performance side we could improve some things.

In the main menu VSync now is always enabled. That's good to reduce CPU and GPU usage and on Laptops to increase battery service life.

Ingame, especially in the endgame (higher waves reached) performance is way better now. There was a bug that caused the gold drop notificators to be updated even though not visible. Also the healthbars above the monsters got updated too often, so that's also no problem anymore.

For players using low and medium shader quality I also fixed some materials that still made use of higher quality shaders, so this will slightly improve performance when you're GPU bound and certain monsters are on the map.

Another optimization in this update are the reduced loading times. In general the first 20% of the loading bar already are loaded in the main menu now. Additionally, for multiplayer games the second 20% of the loading bar are preloaded in the lobby. Those are for the level you're going to play in the multiplayer match, so that's already known in the lobby.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • in the main menu now always VSync is enabled to save GPU and CPU power
  • improved layout of monster element tooltip
  • added alliance challenge for multiplayer
  • added remaining icons for the multiplayer skills


Balancing:

  • the high ranks in leaderboard (medals) now are easier or at all reachable
  • elemental level 4 in Clash mode is stronger now


Fixes:

  • fixed error teleporting monster when no teleport effect is available
  • fixed game hanging when too many Tornados have been built
  • own towers can't be blocked anymore by Block skill in multiplayer
  • Cheat 1 skill now respawns elements properly at the beginning of the path after they reached the end portal
  • Cheat 1 skill now decreases lives by 3 as normal elementals would do
  • Transformer limitation now counts per player in multiplayer
  • it's possible now to build more than 5 Transformers without it loosing its ability
  • fixed tower highlighting after upgrade
  • fixed bug that caused Forest Spirit to produce too many lives in multiplayer
  • fixed bug in multiplayer that caused effect not to appear at clients when Forest Spirit produces a bonus life
  • added missing label in inventory
  • improved hover color of inventory button
  • removed condition of a quest that required the tutorial to be finished
  • version number in main menu now is always on top of everything else
  • improved presentation of learned and learnable skills
  • grass at tower position now is removed properly in multiplayer
  • Level tower now also gets its bonus in multiplayer
  • fixed bug when pressing shortcut for Spawner in singleplayer
  • added some missing click sounds
  • alliance button now is only enabled when in main menu
  • grass and trees now aren't part of minimap anymore because it was kinda ugly
  • exiting game with FPS display being active now shouldn't cause display bug anymore
  • slightly reduced network traffic
  • increased loading speed when starting first game
  • reduced CPU usage
  • fixed bug when using controller
  • fixed bug that caused player to get way too many XP in multiplayer
  • connection being closed too early so result isn't synced to everybody
  • fixed compatibility issue between Windows and Mac (maybe also Linux) lobby
  • lobby list now is properly updated when amount is reduced
  • Mud tower now works with bonus speed
  • when alliance is closed score now is removed from Leaderboard
  • reduced loading time in multiplayer
  • fixed bug that could cause the game to hang up for certain tooltips (especially in alliance menu)
  • leaving multiplayer doesn't create a savegame anymore
  • removed "Restart" button in multiplayer
  • fixed display errors in main menu using UHD resolution
  • fixed wrong text in score statistics in leaderboard for Hero Mode
  • sound of Gulp and Spike aren't played directly when built anymore
  • fixed several small errors
  • alliance flags now are hidden when switching page in leaderboard
  • fixed bug when cancelling spawn in multiplayer
  • fixed some monster materials to improve GPU performance on low and medium shader quality
  • increased timeout in multiplayer
  • Transform tower can't transform monsters with 0 HP anymore


What's next?

We got some new feedback during this milestone and will add some of it with the 0.9.15 release. This contains a damage indicator above monsters. So when a tower hits a monsters you'll see the dealt damage like you see the dropped gold. This feature will be disableable if you don't want to use it. Furthermore the kill count of the towers will be visible in the tower info screen.

Besides these feature requests we'll focus on more performance improvements, both for CPU and GPU, and also start testing and fixing controller support.

If you have any other ideas, whishes, balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-05-10 13:51:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.13 Hotfix 1



After testing a little more yesterday and capturing ingame footage for the new multiplayer trailer we found some bugs that we thought might be worth a patch out of the usual order as we found two freezes ingame and some balancing problems caused by the not properly working Cheat 1 skill.
Here is the changelog:

Fixes:


  • fixed error teleporting monster when no teleport effect is available
  • fixed game hanging when too many Tornados have been built
  • own towers can't be blocked anymore by Block skill in multiplayer
  • Cheat 1 skill now respawns elements properly at the beginning of the path after they reached the end portal
  • Cheat 1 skill now decreases lives by 3 as normal elementals would do
  • Transformer limitation now counts per player in multiplayer
  • it's possible now to build more than 5 Transformers without it loosing its ability
  • fixed tower highlighting after upgrade
  • fixed bug that caused Forest Spirit to produce too many lives in multiplayer
  • fixed bug in multiplayer that caused effect not to appear at clients when Forest Spirit produces a bonus life
  • added missing label in inventory
  • improved hover color of inventory button
  • removed condition of a quest that required the tutorial to be finished
  • version number in main menu now is always on top of everything else
  • improved presentation of learned and learnable skills
  • grass at tower position now is removed properly in multiplayer
  • Level tower now also gets its bonus in multiplayer
  • fixed bug when pressing shortcut for Spawner in singleplayer


[ 2019-04-27 13:04:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.13



We're already six months in Early Access and now we have the biggest update for you so far that brings you multiplayer!

Hightlights

It's finally time for us to release the multiplayer. Besides that we reset the leaderboards due to the balancing changes in the past six months and added some other stuff.

Multiplayer

We did it and finally released our multiplayer. You can now play against other players. Every team can send monsters to defeat the enemy and has to build towers at the same time to defend the own teams portal(s). The multiplayer works with all official maps including random maps and also every mod. There are also three new maps that were created directly for the multiplayer but are also available in singleplayer.

By playing the multiplayer you will gain experience points to raise your level which then allows you to buy skills to personalize your tactics.

If you don't find an opponent, join our Discord to find active players. And if nobody can join your server, make sure Elemental War has a rule to pass through your firewall.

Important note: the multiplayer is considered a beta feature with this release, so it still might contain a few bug even though we had no problems testing with up to four players.

Map Editor

In the map editor a bug was fixed that prevented T crossings to work properly. Furthermore the user feedback was improved by adding some sounds and highlights.

Leaderboards

The leaderboards have been reset for version 0.9.13, so you get a new chance to raise to the top. This also removes the previous top scores that only were possible by using some exploits that have been fixed in the meantime.

Additionally the score calculation was slightly changed. The time bonus isn't part of the score anymore as its influence was too low before and there is almost no chance to get some significant boost of it in higher difficulties. The influence of gold was also changes to reduce the impact of gold exploits if still possible. Therefore lower gold values now give more points. A change that happened in one of the previous updates was that the value of towers now also affects the gold score.

Full changelog

Enhancements:


  • multiplayer is now available
  • added highlighting and sounds in editor
  • added statistic for multiplayer victories
  • removed tutorials
  • unlocked three new maps for singleplayer
  • added help page for alliances and challenges
  • reset leaderboards


Balancing:

  • cooldown of Gulp tower increases way slower than before
  • cooldown of Money tower increases way slower than before
  • reduced impact of gold on highscore
  • removed time bonus from highscore as impact was almost 0
  • elementals aren't healed anymore by Healer ability


Fixes:

  • UI of editor now is blocked while publishing a map isn't finished
  • transformed monsters now can't have more HP than monster before transformation anymore
  • fixed wrong path detection in editor when there were two tiles directly next to start portal
  • monsters don't move sidewards anymore until the first curve when start portal isn't at the edge
  • fixed T crossings for single paths in editor
  • fixed rare bug loading savegame of Hero Mode
  • alliance flag now is displayed again when returning from sub menu
  • correct emblem and pattern now is selected in edit alliance menu


What's next?

At this point we added almost everything we wanted to add. So we're moving towards the end of our Early Access period. That means that we'll now focus mainly on optimization.

For optimization we'll try to reduce memory usage, used CPU and GPU and also the network traffic in multiplayer.

As we want to try to also release on consoles we'll further improve the controller support.

There will also be some features that will come in the next weeks like an alliance challenge for the multiplayer and some more quests for Hero Mode.

If you have any other ideas, whishes, balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord. You can also reach out there when you are looking for an opponent in multiplayer.


[ 2019-04-26 14:00:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.12



Here we go with another update. This is the last update before we finally release our multiplayer mode, so stay tuned!

Highlights

The mutliplayer seems stable so far and the editor and maps got some new features to allow even more creativity. And there are already 5 maps in the Workshop! Here are the details:

Maps and Editor

Besides the two changes we made for the Editor update between the usual updates we also have some new stuff for 0.9.12.
The first thing is that the editor now also supports T and X crossings for single paths. So now you can create all kind of maps that are supported by Elemental War.
Then we also removed the limitation that portals have to be at the edges of the map. So now you can place portals wherever you want. This allows even more creativity. Together with the update I'll release two maps already using this feature, so you can have a look on them.
And last but not least the new Island setting introduced for the multiplayer and which could already be used in the editor now can be played when playing random maps. We also added the setting attribute and event for Hero Mode.

Multiplayer

As mentioned above the multiplayer seems to be stable. The last fixes all have been just small fixes here and there, the critical main part is done. We'll invest two more weeks into testing and fine tuning before we make some soft launch as I like to call it. That's kind of an open beta. In four weeks there'll be the final release. Of course we'll still add bugfixes afterwards in case bugs are occuring.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • Important keys for editor usage are now directly displayed in the editor
  • maps now can contain portals that aren't located at the edges
  • added hint that publishing map was successful
  • added event and attribute for Island setting in Hero Mode
  • random maps now can have Island setting
  • editor now supports T and X crossings for single paths


Balancing:

  • cooldown of teleporters increases way slower than before


Fixes:

  • highscores for Mods now are always displayed correctly
  • disabled chat for singleplayer
  • preview image for Workshop works properly now with multiple paths
  • fixed error when removing mods again
  • inventory button now is greyed out when disabled
  • removed mouse slices on shutdown
  • fixed bug when loading savegame of Classic Mode
  • while input field or dropdown is active, tile rotation/switching in editor now is disabled
  • fixed condition for "Invulnerable" achievement


What's next?

Yeah, what can I tell you here what I haven't sad before. We'll test and fine tune the multiplayer in the upcoming two weeks, so you'll get the best experience possible.

Together with the multiplayer update we'll also reset the highscores. As the singleplayer balancing seems fine besides smaller adjustments here and there we think it's the perfect time to make the reset. This will finally remove some scores that used former exploits to reach really, really high scores that aren't reachable anymore.

If you have any other ideas, whishes, balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-04-12 10:39:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War Editor Update



With the last update we introduced our map editor to create own maps. We already received feedback and have a small update today to fix a bug and make usage easier to understand. So happy map making with this update, let the Workshop grow!

Changelog:


  • usage hints (keys for tile control) are displayed in the editor now, so it's not necessary anymore to read the manual before
  • preview for Steamworks now can also display multiple paths, not just the first one


[ 2019-04-01 15:05:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.11



Already end of March and we have a big release for you even though the changelog looks different!

Highlights

The multiplayer made good progress as well as the map editor. Here are more details.

Map Editor

This week we have a first release of the map editor for you. It can do almost everything Elemental War supports. The only limitation is that you can't use T and X crossings yet for single paths. It's no problem when different paths cross each other.

The maps can be uploaded to our server and Steamworks and then are available for everybody. You can see a first quick map I created already in the Workshop. Here is the Manual for the editor.

Multiplayer

Again big progress on the multiplayer. All skills are implemented now even though some haven't been tested yet. There are also three new maps now that can played in multiplayer and have been created with the new map editor. And of course a lot of bug have been fixed and other stuff has been optimized.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • Map editor is now available


Fixes:

  • fixed unhandled exceptions
  • fixed neutral cultures being presented in UI, but not being possible to use
  • fixed several bugs that caused player to not get gold in Hero Mode when monsters die through abilities and items
  • probably fixed highscore display error in slot machine


What's next?

The next update will again focus on multiplayer functionality. We need to add some functionality to highlight some events, e.g. players that already clicked "Ready" in the lobby or which tower belongs which player.

The map editor will get support for T and X crossings and some minor improvements like button highlighting. We hope to also get feedback for the editor and of course some maps.

If you have any other ideas, whishes, balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-03-29 08:35:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.10



Another two weeks have passed with a lot of progress on the multiplayer. Here are this version's highlights.

Highlights:

Multiplayer is still on ongoing thing that will take some more weeks to be ready for release and also the editor didn't make it into this update, but we have at least an update on their state.

Balancing

This update contains some changes for two of the towers I personally tried to avoid most of the time because they were useless/too risky.
One is the Windrunner. It's ability wasn't really helpful as the rest of the tower was just very average. Now the tower has way more damage, but a shorter range. So now it makes more sense to move it to another place to help there if some monsters cause trouble.
The other one is the Hourglass tower. There was a bug that caused the negative effect being positive. That's fixed now. Also the chance to get the negative effect (for the player) is slightly reduced now. It's still a little tricky on Level 1, but feels better now.

Map Editor

The map editor and Workshop didn't make it into 0.9.10, but we think it won't be a problem to get them into 0.9.11. The editor is almost done, it's basically saving of maps that's missing and without even a previous version doesn't make sense.

Multiplayer

Again a lot of time was spent for the multiplayer and we have really great progress there. The basic synchronisation is finished and seems to be stable. Also on gameplay and balancing side a lot has already been fixed and improved. As the multiplayer will contain some progression system so you're able to specialize your style a little we're in the progress of adding skills to the game. While none of them are working yet, we decided to already give you the chance to have a look on them (text-wise, graphics aren't done yet). So in the Profile there is a new sub menu called "Progress" and in there you can see all skills you'll be able to unlock.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • achievements now can be seen in the profile
  • progression system now is visible in profile
  • it's possible now to also add multiple towers on the same shortcut


Balancing:

  • improved chances of Hourglass tower, so the chances for negative effects are smaller
  • increased damage of Hourglass tower
  • significantly increased damage of Windrunner, but reduced range a little instead


Fixes:

  • coming back from highscore menu to level select menu now shows the correct score
  • fixed a compatibility error with savegames
  • fixed another bug when loading a savegame from Classic Mode
  • fixed bug after loading savegame that caused player to not being able to upgrade/sell towers anymore
  • fixed bug where alliance flags have been overriden so always the same has been displayed
  • fixed bug when sending feedback from the main menu
  • making older ability of Hourglass tower now really reduces the HP
  • it's not possible anymore to try to equip a fourth item to towers
  • mods are displayed correctly again


What's next?

Of course in the next week we'll make more progress in the multiplayer. It's basically finished, but we need error handling, optimizations and even the map for the new mode isn't done yet. Also all the skills you'll be able to unlock have to be implemented, synchronized and tested.

Besides the multiplayer we'll also finish the editor. As mentioned in the Highlights only a few things are missing. The biggest part is the saving of the map or better the translation from the UI presentation to the map format. Afterwards we want to add some validation steps. But that's basically it.

If you have any other ideas, whishes, balancing concerns or bugs, please let us know, either as comment, in the discussions, via the Feedback functionality ingame or on Discord.


[ 2019-03-15 10:43:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.9



Now it's already March, the multiplayer release is coming closer and closer. And here are the highlights for this update.

Highlights:

As we're still busy with the multiplayer and the work on the map editor will be started for 0.9.10, there is not much for singleplayer right now. But of course we have some stuff for you and the usual multiplayer update.

Alliance Flags

As leader of an alliance you're now able to create an own flag for your alliance. We added a few different patterns and emblems you can combine and of course you can adjust the colors for background, pattern and emblem. Your flag is shown in your alliance and in the leaderboards next to your alliance members. We might add it also in-game in the future.

Balancing

So far it was the best tactic to sell all towers right before loosing a game to get a higher gold score for your game. Of course that's a little stupid, so we now added the value of the built towers to the gold value, so you don't need to do this anymore.

Multiplayer

In multiplayer now everything is synchronized. We had some first test sessions with a lot of bugs you can be happy to never see. The good thing is that they're fixed. So besides small features and optimization the focus now lies on gameplay testing and improvements.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • the leader of an alliance now can create a flag for the alliance that is shown in the alliance and the leaderboard
  • added functionality to use maps loaded from Steam Workshop
  • added more monster sounds


Balancing:

  • value of towers now is count into the gold value for the highscores


Fixes:

  • Tornados now are smaller to improve the sight
  • loading Classic Mode game works properly again
  • fixed typo in a tooltip
  • fixed another bug that caused player to be able to try to summon a fourth element when third one of a kind was still on the map
  • hint on profile page now is only displayed when not already logged in
  • Savegame creation now is more robust
  • fixed bug that caused tooltip not always being high enough
  • fixed bug in the condition of the Gold Fever quest
  • several untreated exceptions in code now are handled properly


What's next?

As mentioned above, the next multiplayer steps are adding new small features, improving the existing functionality (especially the synchronisation) and testing and improving the gameplay. Furthermore we'll add the first skills. For each match in multiplayer you'll get some experience points that will increase your level. For each level you'll be able to spend a skill point. The skills are meant to specialize on play style and improve your tactics there.

For mod support the next step is to create the map editor. I'm not sure if it will be done for 0.9.10, so maybe it will be part of 0.9.11 in four weeks. We'll see. So far it's possible to play maps downloaded via Steam Workshop, but uploading them to the Workshop will only be possible when the editor is done, so currently this feature is useless. But when the editor is done you can freely create new paths or edit existing ones.

For singleplayer I would like to further improve the balancing. I have the feeling some towers aren't as good as others. If you have opinions on that, feel free to give us feedback via the discussions, in-game or in our Discord.


[ 2019-03-01 09:20:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.8



Another two weeks have passed, so it's update time again!

Highlights:

We're still very busy with the multiplayer, but here are the most important changes in this version.

Mod Support

It is possible now to save every map in the game. Those saved maps can be edited (if you like to change paths), loaded and be played again. The editing has to be done in the map file with some text editor for now, but I think we'll add a small path editor in the next updates. You can switch between the official maps and the mods in the level selection menu and each mod also has support for a complete leaderboard as the official maps have. In the next update(s) we're going to add a map sharing feature, so you can just upload your map and everybody else can play it as well. The best maps might even make it into the official map pool.

Tower Overlays

Sometimes it was annoying in the higher waves to find the tower that contained a specific item you wanted to give to another tower or to see which towers you haven't upgraded yet. These informations now are displayed above each tower. Also the full utilization of status towers is displayed there. Additionally when hovering a tower or pressing left alt key, you'll see the level of the tower.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer again made some really great progress. It's now possible to synchronize upgrades, selecting target and (little spoiler for the game mode we're working on) send monsters to the other team. It needs to be tested more and there are a lot of small things left to do, but I think we can start testing and improving the gameplay with 0.9.9.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • it is possible now to save maps
  • added sound for Mole Tunnel event
  • unofficial maps now can be played again
  • unofficial maps now have a leaderboard
  • added tower overlay showing some important infos to make finding relevant towers easier
  • added hint why login/register button is greyed out
  • added icons for monster element resistances
  • added hint when auto save was performed
  • added new quest


Balancing:

  • Sacrificer now can no longer Sacrifice monsters with higher tier
  • optimized status limits
  • Healer ability now uses the maximum HP of the Healer instead of the target for the healing effect, to decrease effect on elementals
  • reduced damage of Spike tower


Fixes:

  • reduced size of savegame when Sphere of Sphere tower are on the map
  • interval between two sacrifices now really increases
  • if Leviathan is on the map in Hero Mode while player restarts the game, rain effect is properly removed now
  • hut of Money tower now is part of the preview image
  • fixed bug that caused an exception when loading invalid savegame
  • fixed bug that caused player to be able to try to summon a fourth element when third one of a kind was still on the map
  • small improvements on CPU performance
  • game configuration now is stored in correct section in the ini file
  • when loading a savegame score now is always saved for the correct map
  • towers built in benchmark don't count for tower statistics and achievement Collector anymore
  • fixed bug that caused input settings not to open from running game
  • region button on highscore box now has hover effect
  • reduced UI updates when an active item is in cooldown
  • hopefully fixed error that caused tooltips sometimes not to be removed
  • camera movement now is disabled while hovering Quest button
  • fixed pink monsters when they get killed while being fossilized


What's next?

For multiplayer the next steps are to synchronize some last stuff like some abilities (Hiker, Rainbow, rotation of Money tower...), lives (currently both teams share the same lives) and others.
Besides that we'll start working on the prorgess system. Each multiplayer match will give you some experience points that will increase your level at some point and for each level you can buy a skill to improve your offense or defense and individualize your tactics.

For singleplayer we'll improve the mod support by adding a map sharing functionality. This will work via our server and via Steam Workshop. I'm not used to the Workshop yet, so I can't estimate if it will work until 0.9.9, but at least it's planned to get it into that update.

And for those of you that are alliance leaders we will introduce alliance flags that are somehow customizable. So you can select some patterns and colors. The flag will be shown in the leaderboards and maybe also ingame, at least in challenges. But the ingame part is a future step and won't make it into 0.9.9.

We hope you enjoy the new update and are looking forward to get your feedback, either here in the discussions or in our Discord at https://discord.gg/bwnuXq9.


[ 2019-02-15 09:17:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.7



Wow, already reached the second month of the year. Time passes really fast, so here we go with a new update for Elemental War.

Highlights:

As usual we have some version highlights we want to present you besides the full changelog. Besides a status update on the multiplayer progress, we have the following for you.

Achievements

This update contains the first 10 achievements. We added some that are not too hard to achieve, but others will really hard to reach. We hope you enjoy them. There will be more in future updates, but they have no top priority at the moment.

Balancing

This update's big balancing change affects all towers with status changes. Each of these towers now has a maximum of targets that can get the status. This maximum counts per tower type, so e.g. all Stun towers together can only Stun x enemies at once. This change it meant to stop players from permanently slow/stop all enemies and be able to stay alive forever in Survival and Hero Mode. The limits aren't too low to affect normal games though. If you still encounter issues with that, please let us know.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer made good progress too. We're now able to load multiple fields (one for each team) and synchronize tower building and most tower abilities. Still a lot to do though, see below for details.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • added the first 10 achievements
  • added new input setting to configure whether mouse shall be locked to window or not
  • inventory position now is stored/restored
  • Money tower can be rotated now
  • cooldown for some towers is now visible in tower info screen
  • utilization now is visible in tower info screen
  • added and improved some monster sounds
  • added new quest
  • quest for Water of Life now shows the progress
  • with multiselect when towers have different target or status modes it is marked now and changing it will properly reset to default mode first


Balancing:

  • towers with status changes now have a maximum number of enemies they can give their status at once


Fixes:

  • fixed pooling of monster minimap markers
  • fixed bug displaying wrong background texture for the path preview when opening level select menu after tutorial menu
  • fixed sound of Rage tower not being hearable
  • fixed bug that caused input menu being invisible when opening it ingame
  • upgrade of Money tower doesn't change its orientation anymore
  • fixed bug that could delete monster camera when a monster was selected when finishing the game
  • added missing special event icon
  • Shadow Golem now doesn't show a level anymore in its name
  • hovering of Gas Bubble and Frozen Treasure works now
  • projectile of Black Hole tower is visible now
  • highlighted Black Hole looks a little better now
  • fixed bug that caused towers with multiple targets not always to attack their maximum amount of possible targets
  • it's not possible anymore to sell towers multiple times using multiselect
  • fixed null pointer access when Ritual Site is removed while Shadow Golem is on the map
  • fixed small performance problem with Sun towers
  • fixed problem when loading a saved game
  • Tab to jump between input fields works again
  • damage of Arcane Shield Generator works better now
  • slightly improved CPU performance
  • monsters caught by Griffon now drop gold
  • fixed bug that caused player to get too less gold for monsters respawned by Hydra ability
  • fixed English tooltip for Root Nexus
  • fixed rotation of Elf Archer projectile
  • the first monsters in Survival Mode don't spawn at once anymore


What's next?

As mentioned in the highlights, the multiplayer made good progress. Until the next update we're going to synchronize also monsters, tower upgrades and some other minor stuff. When that's done we should have a working base and we just need to improve, test and fix a lot.

While testing today's update I found some interesting CPU activities in the profiler. Most of them are related to the UI, which is updated way too often (or too much is updated too often). I'll try to reduce these updates to save CPU time and so increase the framerate. There are also some small improvements already contained in this update, but I don't think that they'll have a noticable effect.

As there was the wish to support saving and loading of randomly generated maps we're going to add support for that in the next update. In the first step you will be able to save, load and play maps and have an official leaderboard for each of them. You also can share them with each other by sending the level file to someone else, but there'll be better ways for that in future updates. You can also modify the paths in the level files afterwards, if you like. Some kind of level editor will follow in the future, too, so you can see how your path will look like as the format is very simple.

We hope you enjoy the new update and are looking forward to get your feedback, either here in the discussions or in our Discord at https://discord.gg/bwnuXq9.


[ 2019-02-01 16:52:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.6



The second update this year and of course it includes again a lot of fixes and improvements.

Highlights:

As currently the focus is on integrating multiplayer, the singleplayer won't get so many new features. But of course you'll still get some new stuff with every update. So here are the highlights for this update.

New Quests

Hero Mode got two new quests to unlock new powerful items that will help you to defeat the monsters. Furthermore version 0.9.6 contains a fix for a bug that prevented an already implemented quest to start. So in total you can play three new quests now.

Monster Sounds

Did you ever play Elemental War and thought it would be nice if you could also hear the monsters? Well, 0.9.6 introduces monster sounds. Not every monster has a sound yet, but there already are a lot with sound and in my opinion it's a really nice addition.

Balancing

This time there were just small adjustments for the balancing, 0.9.7 will do more on this end. The biggest change is that Death tower is weaker now. Pre 0.9.6 he could even one-hit monsters in the end game. Now it's damage is limited to 2000000. That's still enough to one-hit until around wave 50, but it's not the best tower in endgame anymore. Also its damage bonus will only take effect when the target has <= 50% of its HP.

Multiplayer

Well, you can't play it yet, but of course we made some progress with multiplayer too. Besides a meeting regarding what kind of mode we start with first we now are able to start a game on all clients at once with the same map. Still a lot to do though.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • added hint when reaching 100000 gold because at this point you won't get interest anymore
  • gold display of monsters now fades out in a nice way
  • added icons for Gas Bubble, Ghostlight and Frozen Treasure
  • added new quests
  • added sounds for some monsters
  • added icon for special event message
  • added icons for the modifiers


Balancing:

  • skeleton spawned in Graveyard environment is weaker now
  • increased time until an elemental spawns in Survival Mode (2 minutes => 3 minutes)
  • weakened Death tower (instant kill => 2000000 damage)
  • Death tower now can only use its bonus when target has less than 50% of its HP


Fixes:

  • it's not possible anymore to interact with the game while ingame menu is opened
  • if the target of the griffon is killed while he's already sinking and he can't find another target he doesn't fly into the ground anymore
  • mole tunnel tower destruction now also takes place when game is paused
  • when a hovered monster dies the info screen above it will be disabled now
  • reduced bloom effect of Resurrection particle
  • Joker doesn't fly anymore after position change
  • small performance improvements when showing a lot of earned gold
  • fixed script bug in Desert environment in Hero Mode
  • fixed memory leak in Desert environment in Hero Mode
  • attack speed and monster speed should also be translated correctly from number to text when it's really close to the next threshold
  • accepting a challenge now directly enables the button to buy a modifier
  • while quitting the game news aren't displayed anymore
  • fixed corrupt shader with Hide and Fossilize
  • clicking on "Play Challenge" now also visually updates the map game configuration
  • when clicking on an item to equip it on a tower the next item on this slot is no longer highlighted
  • it's easier to solve quest Fastening Technique now (requires just 100 monsters at once instead of 200)
  • moving item to a slot moves it now really to that slot and not always to slot 0
  • fixed saving/loading of game in Hero Mode when quest is active
  • Ghostlight in swamp can't be sacrificed by Sacrificer anymore
  • quest description now is below dialogs
  • in case Earthquake tower is blocked while the block reaches the top it stays visible now
  • quest 'Risky Trip' now can be received
  • calling first wave in Survival mode now works again
  • when a tower was selected when finishing a game the next game works now correctly
  • target mode button is hidden now when ability of Rainbow tower is activated


What's next?

The multiplayer will get basic synchronisation including towers and monsters. Therefor we have to get rid off some random events. This might be a lot of work, but I think I can do it in two weeks besides the other stuff.

For singleplayer we'll get more quests, some UI improvements, balancing, (hopefully) LOD as mentioned two weeks ago and first achievements.

We hope you enjoy the new update and are looking forward to get your feedback, either here in the discussions or in our Discord at https://discord.gg/bwnuXq9.


[ 2019-01-18 18:30:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.5



The new year has begun and we were busy to get the new update finished.

Highlights:

For version 0.9.5 we started working on the multiplayer. But as it will take a while to reach a point where we can release something playable we are also working on improvements for the singleplayer/alliances. So, as usual, here are the version hightlights.

Challenge Modifier

For those of you that already founded or joined an alliance that wondered what the alliance chest is for: Well, now you can spend your gold for challenge modifiers. When creating a challenge or accepting one, you can buy a modifier. This modifier will be applied to the game of all enemy alliances in the challenge and make their game even harder. You can e.g. reduce the start live count, increase the HP of the monsters or block some random fields on the map. That's really mean and so it will be a lot of fun!

Balancing

The balancing improvements continue. This time we changed the spawn amounts in Classic and Hero Mode. The monsters now are grouped by strength. Stronger monster types spawn less monsters, but each of them is stronger now, while weaker monsters spawn more, but weaker monsters. Example:
Dragons are strong monsters, so there will be less spawns of them, but each Dragon has more HP. A Giant Rat is a weak monster. When they spawn there will be plenty of them, but each with less HP than the average monster on this wave.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • for challenges now modifier can be purchased with the gold in the alliance chest
  • items in inventory now can be reordered


Balancing:

  • spawn amount of each wave now depends on the kind of monster (Hero and Classic Mode)
  • start of Survival Mode is slightly more difficult now
  • drastically nerfed Money tower: monsters have to pay their fee just once now instead for every Money tower


Fixes:

  • it's not possible anymore to create empty names for users or alliances (also not just using spaces)
  • target mode buttons aren't visible anymore in upgrade menu
  • target mode now can also be changed in multiselect mode for all selected towers
  • fixed long tooltip titles not being shown
  • fixed scrolling in help menus
  • Gulp should work again properly when there are multiple of it
  • after first sacrifice the sacrifice button shouldn't be greyed out anymore
  • sacrificing a tower now frees the build slot again
  • added tooltip for sacrifice button
  • fixed orientation of Death projectile
  • after an upgrade tower effects aren't highlighted anymore
  • fixed bug with status changes when a savegame was loaded
  • fixed bug that caused monsters to become much faster than they were allowed to
  • notification to choose region now only comes up when really the profile was opened
  • monster element tooltip is context sensitive again and now shows their resistance
  • fixed script error when finishing a game
  • water for Water of Life quest shouldn't float above the ground anymore
  • with multiselect selected towers now are directly highlighted again after upgrade
  • spawns display in Survival score slot machine shows correct formatting now
  • effect of Shock Wave looks more powerful now
  • maybe fixed error that caused tooltips to be not removed
  • fixed bug during path generation that caused wall standing on the path in a certain combination
  • a restarted game now doesn't break anymore when using an active item
  • restarting a level now removes the path preview


What's next?

On the multiplayer side the next goal is to start the game and build the basic architecture to synchronize everything while playing. Also we'll decide what the first game mode(s) will be (I guess we'll start with a coop mode, but let's see).

Besides that we'll continue improving the balancing. If you think any towers are too strong/weak, please let us know.

On the content side we'll add more quests now. We received no feedback whether you like the idea of unlocking items through quests, but I do. And we have so many more cool items!

The last big bullet point is to get back to improving performance. We're going to start to add proper LOD variations for the monster models. For those that don't know what LOD means: LOD = Level of detail. Doing so we'll decerease the amount of triangles used per monster, especially when they're far away from the camera and it doesn't matter if there are additional details or not as you won't be able to see them anyway. This will help to get better performance with many monsters on the map. Besides that we'll profile the game and see what else can be improved.

All these things will be ongoing processes, so each of the next updates will contain stuff for them. If you have any other wishes or ideas, let us know.

We hope you enjoy the new update and are looking forward to get your feedback, either here in the discussions or in our Discord at https://discord.gg/bwnuXq9.


[ 2019-01-04 11:48:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy New Year!



Happy new year from Clockwork Origins to all of you!

2018 was a great year for us with the early access release of Elemental War, a project I personally worked on for several years now, first released as Gothic 2 modification in 2010, and now the standalone version. We got good feedback and released a lot of new stuff already. But what are the plans for 2019? Here's a short list of the most important things we're going to work on during the next months:


  • Multiplayer: the lobby system was done for version 0.9.5 (won't be accessible though because it makes no sense), now it's time to start working on the synchronisation stuff while playing. It's a big feature and also a big challenge and we're really looking forward to it. It will take some weeks until we can release it, but I hope we get at least a first game mode done in late Q1.
  • Balancing: We already started to try some changes for the balancing. 0.9.5 continues that with changing the spawn amounts depending on the monsters that will be spawned. That means a wave consisting of e.g. Giant Rats will spawn more monsters than a wave of Dragons. Therefor the dragons will be stronger now. Besides that we'll have a look on the abilities and towers because some might be too weak compared to others and vice versa.
  • Performance Optimizations: While the performance already improved compared to the initial release, there's still potential left. We're going to improve that during the next months so the game will run better on all machines and also powerful graphic cards really benefit from their power. We'll start improving performance again with 0.9.6.
  • Bugfixing: A thing that we'll never stop is bugfixing. When you find bugs, please report them either here in the discussions, in Discord or ingame via the feedback functionality. If it's a blocker we'll release a hotfix as soon as possible, almost everything else will be fixed in the next patch (except it's a big issue that might take longer)
  • More Content: We didn't get much feedback yet what you like most and what we should improve/add more content for first. The last updates added a lot of stuff for the alliance system and we hope you like it. Now we're first going to add more quests so you can unlock more items in Hero Mode. So let us know what you like most and for what you would wish more content and we might give it a higher priority.


We hope you enjoyed your year 2018 and you'll accompany us in 2019 and help us with feedback, reviews and - most important - playing and enjoying Elemental War.


[ 2019-01-02 00:24:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.4



Just a few days left until christmas and of course we have some presents for you!

Highlights:

While version 0.9.4 doesn't introduce new big features like the previous releases it focusses on improving the existing features and adding some requested new ones.

Christmas Gift

As christmas gift all of you that play until the next update in two weeks will get the treasure map as an exclusive item for Hero Mode. This item won't be unlockable outside christmas time.

Target Modes

The target modes are a feature that was often requested so far. Previously the behavior for normal towers (those without any status change) was locked, so they always chose the target closest them when their previous target was killed/out of range. Now you also have the option to change that behavior and prefer the enemy in range that is closest to the end portal.

For towers with status changes the behavior was different. They always ignore the target you set in first place and try to give their status to every enemy that doesn't have it yet. While this should make sense in most cases, you are now also able to disable this behavior. By doing so, the first two target modes are always respected.

Balancing

With this update we changed some first parts of the balancing. This will be a steady process of tweaking here and there. The main change in 0.9.4 is that the time between two spawns of a wave isn't fixed to two seconds anymore. Instead the time is reduced with every spawn. This will make also the first waves a little harder as you can't rely anymore on your old tactics.

As you will have to spend some more gold in the base towers we also slightly reduced the price of the first element tower and increased the damage of the Ballista.

Feel free to leave your opinions on these changes and what else might be necessary to change.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • shortcut for accepting to sell a tower now has the same shortcut as triggering the sell process
  • gold for sold towers is shown above them now like for killed monsters
  • benchmark now is in the video settings menu (just in the main menu)
  • drastically improved optics of element tooltips
  • drastically improved optics of tower upgrade tooltips
  • for towers with a target it's now configurable whether they shall attack the monster closest to the tower (that's how it actually is) or the one closest to the end portal
  • towers with status changes now can be configured to behave like normal towers instead of spreading their status on as many monsters as possible
  • added hint for players that are logged in but not in alliance so far, that there is the possibility to found/join alliances
  • added hint for players that are logged in but don't have chosen a region yet that it's possible to do so now
  • new item is exclusively unlocked during the Christmas version
  • added visualization of Mole tunnel event
  • added visualization of Phoenix respawn
  • added visualization of Resurrection ability
  • added visualization of Earth Golem respawn
  • added visualization of Hydra respawn
  • water orb now looks more like water
  • by Hydra respawned monsters now are smaller than the original
  • added more interesting background to character portraits
  • added better highlighting of hovered/selected monsters/towers
  • improved tooltips


Balancing:

  • reduced price of first element tower (155 => 90)
  • in Classic and Hero Mode the time between spawns is reduced with every spawn per wave (reset to two seconds when the next wave starts)
  • in Survival Mode the time between two spawns is decreased with every spawn
  • reduced speed of very fast monsters (> 3) to 3
  • increased cooldown of Sacrificer ability (15 => 25 seconds)
  • speed bonus of Flight Instinct now is limited
  • Teleport and Crasc now also have a minimum distance to the end portal they have to respect
  • reduced bonus of Gregarious Animal (3% => 2%)
  • reduced bonus of Double Time (5% => 2%)
  • monsters respawned by Hydra or Resurrection now always give a minimum of 1 gold
  • increased damage of Ballista (level 1: 25 => 40, level 2: 50 => 100)


Fixes:

  • "Start challenge" text is now not longer anymore than the button is wide
  • Newsticker isn't shown anymore when trying to exit the game
  • rank per game mode in alliance tooltip isn't displayed anymore when at least one player already played the game mode
  • Elementals and special monsters now are ignored by Quicksand event in Desert environment in Hero Mode
  • tooltip for play challenge button in Play menu now also shows the current challenge ranking
  • accepting/declining entry request now correctly reduces the markers
  • when trying to join the same alliance multiple times news for it isn't generated multiple times anymore
  • alliances that accepted a challenge but didn't play then now are respected for the scoring in the end
  • unified score calculation so display and sometimes upload error of scores should be history now
  • game now can not be paused anymore while highscore is displayed
  • fixed monsters sometimes being stuck in their animation or not being removed anymore
  • Creating challenges should work for all languages now properly
  • set threshold for rotation with right click now is ignored when selecting target for a tower
  • restarting game from highscore panel now works also when message box is used for something
  • tower placement marker now has the same color as tower hover/selection marker
  • founding an alliance now works again
  • tree in Forest event only blocks enemies when falling down
  • after finishing/aborting the quest for the Life Essense the flask now is removed
  • after leaving Forest level the falling tree now is correctly removed
  • portals now fade in and out smoother again
  • slightly improved The Maze
  • improved selection of towers and monsters
  • UI now also works for ultra wide resolutions like 3840x1080
  • it's not possible anymore to give alliance an empty display name
  • fixed animation of mine spawn
  • selling multiple towers at once works now properly
  • sold towers shouldn't pop up anymore after their animation
  • if elemental spawn is triggered during shutdown of a game elemental won't spawn now afterwards anymore
  • when equipping an item with a single mouse click while in the next inventory slot an active item is placed, the active item isn't triggered anymore
  • when hovering monsters in a group elementals are always preferred
  • in case a button is enabled directly underneath the mouse it gets hovered now
  • map list now can be scrolled with mouse wheel
  • added scrollbar (readonly) to level select menu do indicate that there are more levels than visible at first glance



We hope you enjoy the new update and are looking forward to get your feedback, either here in the discussions or in our Discord at https://discord.gg/bwnuXq9.

While working on the next update we'll also start to work on the multiplayer part of Elemental War! It will take a while until you can play it and we will provide other features/fixes/improvements during that time, but that's the new big feature coming in 2019.

Merry christmas from Clockwork Origins!


[ 2018-12-21 11:44:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix 0.9.3 rev2863



Sadly we found a bug today that blocked players from founding new alliances. That's of course a blocker as the new alliance features were the main features of the latest update. This bug now is fixed, so feel free to found alliances and challenge us!


[ 2018-12-14 20:28:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.3



It's time for another update and we have some really cool stuff for you again!

Highlights:

Version 0.9.3 introduces some really new cool features focussing on the alliances and community features in general.

Alliance Challenges

In 0.9.2 we already introduced alliances and a few alliances already have been founded. Now, in 0.9.3, we added challenges for the alliances. The leader of an alliance can configure a game configuration (game mode, difficulty, element mode and map) and a time frame for the challenge. Every other alliance can participate in this challenge. While the challenge is running all score for this configuration are not added to the normal leaderboard, but instead collected for this challenge. When the challenge is over the alliance with the highest score wins and earns some points in the new alliance leaderboard and some gold for the alliance chest. The gold is not relevant yet, but will become relevant in one of the next updates. The challenges will be a lot of fun, so try it out and send us your feedback!

News Feed

In the main menu of Elemental War we added a news section in 0.9.3. On top you'll always see the version highlights, explained by one of the characters in Elemental War. So even when not reading the changelog in the update news or the readme file in the download folder you will be able to see at least the hightlights.
Below that you can see a new news feed with the last events happening in the game, e.g. new alliances, changes in the top 3 of the leaderboard, new challenges and more. That way you will always be able to directly see what's happening in general and also things that are interesting for you or your alliance.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • for the country settings the corresponding national flag now is displayed
  • added news section in main menu
  • added an alliance leaderboard
  • it is possible now to select a monster and set it as global target for all towers
  • improved look of quest view
  • alliances now can create challenges and participate in them
  • restarting a game is now also possible from highscore panel at the end of a game
  • restructured alliance menu and moved it to main menu
  • moved statistics button to profile
  • added new score ranks showing a new rank based on the sum of the scores over all maps
  • enabled new quests in Hero Mode


Fixes:

  • fixed empty map when choosing random map
  • it is not possible anymore to sell same tower multiple times
  • names in the member list of alliances now are displayed correctly
  • one can now get the last crystal for the last element in Hero Mode
  • when clicking on cancel on the hint for login on first startup login menu now really isn't opened
  • now there are also visually only three item slots
  • fixed several display errors here and there
  • ability "Sacrificer" now ignores ghost lights, frozen treasures and gas bubbles
  • path texture in iceworld now is correct
  • restarting a game now properly stops special events in settings
  • fixed selection marker for frozen treasure for Lichlord quest
  • fixed bug that sometimes caused invisible enemies to be displayed incorrectly
  • scrolling in dropdowns is much faster now


We hope you'll enjoy the new update and are looking forward to get feedback on the new features! So let us know what you think, either in the forums or in our new Discord channel at https://discord.gg/bwnuXq9

The next update will be released in three weeks (December 21st) instead of the usual two weeks as I'm on business trip for my day job for the next 10 days. I'll try to look into the forums and discord as often as possible. The update will focus on improving the existing features and add some new quality of life stuff like the new target modes for towers.


[ 2018-11-30 14:08:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix 0.9.2 rev2745


Due to two bug reports we received around an hour ago we decided to fix them and upload a hotfix.
Thanks for reporting these two bugs.

Changelog:


  • fixed empty map when choosing random map
  • it is not possible anymore to sell same tower multiple times


[ 2018-11-17 19:55:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.2



Our second update for Elemental War is arriving today and we have some cool stuff in it.

Highlights:

Version 0.9.2 contains to big new features and several smaller ones that will improve gameplay. The highlights will focus on the big ones, see the full changelog at the bottom for the rest.

Setting Special Events

In Hero Mode you will now have at least one special event per environment. Swamp and Grassland already got two. The events can be both positive and negative for the player and will add some more variety.

Such special events can be everything. For example in grassland a Griffon can fly across the map and catch any monster as its prey and fly away with it. In swamp enemies can get stuck for a short time randomly.

So there are already 8 of them implemented and we have some more ideas. If you also have ideas or opinions about this feature, let us know in our discussions.

Alliances

We already announced it a few weeks ago, now the first step is done. In 0.9.2 you can found an own alliance or join an existing one. So far you just can browse your alliance members, color your own name and as alliance admin the one of the alliance and see the alliance name in the leaderboard for your scores and those of other alliance members.
This is the base for the upcoming alliance features because 0.9.3 will then introduce the alliance challenges that will allow you to challenge other alliances (obvious, isn't it?). Such a challenge will be e.g. to reach the highest score in a specified time frame in a specified game configuration (game mode, difficulty, random or chosen elements, map). You will also be able to buy modifiers to make the challenge more difficult for your opponent.

So stay tuned, this will become a really nice addition and you can already prepare for the challenges by founding and joining alliances and group up with your friends.

Full changelog:

Enhancements:


  • introduced new statistic: Solved Quests
  • build menu isn't closed anymore when building tower while Left Shift is pressed
  • tower upgrades now show a difference to the current tower for damage, range, attack speed and damage per second
  • culture info now is configurable
  • normal maps now are also unlocked for Hero Mode, random generated maps for Classic and Survival Mode
  • added possibility to directly restart a game without needing to go back to main menu
  • added dices on Gambling tower showing the bonus damage
  • introduced profile page
  • added alliance system: you now can found and join alliances and get the alliance tag added to your leaderboard entries
  • added first special events in Hero Mode
  • it is visible now that post processing settings are disabled when post processing itself is disabled
  • unlocked a new quest
  • in the profile you can now select your country to filter leaderboards for this country and only show scores of players from there
  • enable background music in tutorials as there is no dubbing yet


Fixes:

  • upgrade menu now can be closed via right click and same shortcut as it is opened with
  • towers now can also be upgraded when selected via selection rectangle in case it's just one tower or all towers are the same type
  • zooming on Linux might be better now
  • hp in monster info screen now are scaled now if text is too long
  • message "Crystal Received" doesn't appear twice anymore in Hero Mode


We hope you enjoy the new update. Feel free to leave your opinions and ideas either as comment, in the forums or ingame using the feedback button. The next update will be available in two weeks.


[ 2018-11-16 15:19:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War 0.9.1



Today we're releasing our first update for Elemental War. We fixed a lot of bugs, improved the performance and of course also added some new stuff.

Highlights:

In this section we will show you the biggest improvements in this release. At the end of this news you will find the complete changelog.

Setting Attributes

As mentioned earlier we're going to introduce special attributes and events to all environments in Hero Mode. The first step were the special attributes. With them we want to make gameplay in every environment a little more unique. While grassland is something like the neutral zone and doesn't have any advantages or disadvantages, every other environment got one. These are:

Desert: enemies that are 2 minutes or longer on the map will get a little heat damage. It's not much, but if you can hold them back long enough it will help you.

Forest: tower range is reduced by 20%.

Graveyard: undead enemies have 25% more health.

Iceworld: some status changes like Poison and Freeze have a higher impact (last longer).

Swamp: enemies can stuck randomly for a few seconds.


Tower improvements

Most important: All towers now got their textures, so there are no placeholders anymore.
Besides that we added some more sounds and adjusted the existing ones, especially the distance the sounds could be heard.
The rest of the changes for towers were mostly small fixes and improvements except of Money and Mine tower, that were broken before. Both towers work now as expected again. Money tower will give you gold for every enemy that passes it and deal damage to every one of them. Every few seconds it will lower its gates and stop all enemies from passing it. But be careful when building multipe Money towers as every one of them will increase the cooldown until gates can be closed again.


Performance

Performance is our main issue so far and even though we already improved a lot for this update, we will further improve it with future updates.

Update 0.9.1 improved performance in the following areas:


  • closed minimap now has zero impact
  • opened minimap has a much lower impact than before as just the markers have to be rendered, but not the whole terrain
  • every tower that turns somehow to its target (like Ballista, Poison, Pulp, Slime, Earth, Nature...) uses less CPU time
  • reduced CPU time used for getting targets of towers with area damage
  • Laser and Fossilize use less CPU
  • loading times should be slightly faster (but they should not have been a big issue before)
  • reduced CPU usage when there are multiple enemies that are not visible
  • improved performance when enabling SSR (Screen Space Reflections)


For performance gain measurement we use our built-in benchmark on High quality level. I ran it with the release version and compared to the results of the 0.9.0 hotfix. The results show the lowest value of three runs. The used PC runs with Windows 10, 16GB RAM, i7-4790K (4GHz) and a GTX 970. Results are shown in fps, so that's what is compared.

1920x1080 (Zoomed Out/In)
0.9.0: 47.3fps/34.1fps
0.9.1: 51.2fps/39.5fps
=> +8%/+16%

2560x1440
0.9.0: 35.2fps/26.9fps
0.9.1: 34.8fps/31.1fps
=> -1%/+16%

3840x2160
0.9.0: 9.2fps/13.8fps
0.9.1: 18.3fps/19.3fps
=> +99%/+40%


Full changelog:

Enhancements:

  • unlocking achievements for non Steam version now can be displayed
  • added percentage view to volume sliders
  • added notification sound for new wave also to tutorials 2-4
  • added new setting attributes for Hero Mode

    • Desert: if a monsters is really long on the map it gets some heat damage
    • Forest: tower range is reduced by 20%
    • Graveyard: undead enemies are 25% stronger
    • Iceworld: some status changes have a higher impact
    • Swamp: enemies can stuck randomly for a few seconds

  • added more sounds for towers
  • hovering an upgrade button now shows the range of the new tower
  • added remaining tower textures
  • added new quests to Hero Mode
  • monster selection works much better now than before


Fixes:

  • CPU improvements
  • aspect ratio for 2560x1080 now is displayed as 21:9 instead of 64:27
  • removed tree models with defect materials from forest that caused graphic errors when using Ambient Occlusion
  • improved performance when enabling Screen Space Reflections
  • stunning status changes now have a cooldown again so it isn't possible anymore to stun them permanently
  • player now gets slightly more gold on two easiest difficulties in Classic Mode
  • ball of Sphere tower doesn't get culled completely anymore on lowest LOD
  • fixed small render issues with path borders on minimap
  • Poison tower doesn't get culled completely anymore on lowest LOD
  • unlocked element now is displayed below info box
  • fixed strengths and weaknesses in element tooltips of monsters
  • crickets in forest setting now count as ambient sound
  • tutorial 2 doesn't hang up anymore after upgrading first tower
  • message "Crystal Received" doesn't appear twice anymore in Classic Mode
  • improved performance of minimap both when opened and closed
  • fixed lag when finishing a map with many monsters and towers on it
  • changed sun position in forest so godrays are visible again
  • fixed time not always being synchronized properly
  • removed duplicate entries in the selection menu for resolutions
  • slightly decreased loading time
  • Money tower works again
  • improved Bomb explosion
  • it's not possible anymore to navigate to next leaderboard page if it's empty
  • fixed double costs/monsters hanging when upgrading tower using shortcut
  • gold, crystals and lives now are displayed correctly after loading a savegame
  • added construction side stuff when building/upgrading a tower
  • selection rectangle should be always disabled correctly now
  • in case controller is detected and player isn't really using one he can directly disable it now
  • fixed error that camera was permanently wrong rotated sometimes caused by Earthquake
  • mines of Mine tower now are placed correctly
  • towers can't be sold multiple times anymore
  • in case first tutorial is aborted while infinity symbol is active now disables it correctly
  • it doesn't matter anymore in which direction the infinity symbol in the first tutorial is drawn
  • separator for thousands and decimals now fits the selected language
  • leaving Hero Mode while quest dialog is active now disables the dialog
  • improved UI scaling for resolutions wider than 16:9
  • gold for first tower in tutorial 1 isn't removed twice anymore
  • significantly reduced gold bonus by Money tower (level 1: 25% -> 5%, level 2: 50% -> 10%, level 3: 75% -> 15%)
  • improved some upgrade texts so also unnamed effects now are mentioned in there


[ 2018-11-02 17:25:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Coming Bugfixes Enhancements



The first week of Early Access has passed and we got some feedback from you how to improve the game. Thank you for that, for gaming, streaming and the positive reviews!

We are working hard to implement your ideas and do anything to make EW an even better game. So here's what you can expect from Elemental War throughout the next weeks:

Bugfixes & Improvements


  • First and foremost it is our goal to improve the framerate of EW. We did some improvements here and there but are still in search for the cause of the low performance. Nevertheless we guarantee a much better performance for the game versions to come!
  • Direct preview of new tower range when hovering upgrade button
  • Improvements for controller support
  • Monster/tower selection will be improved, so its easier to select them either to see their stats or target them
  • Either fire element or missing condition for upgrade will get another color so they can be distinguished
  • Lives, gold and crystals will be correctly displayed after continuing a previous game


Enhancements

  • More quests: There will be many more quests waiting for you in Hero Mode.
  • Setting features: Each setting will find possibilities to make your life even more difficult by special events and distinct features.
  • More community features: You will be able to organise your profile, establish alliances with your friends and compete with other alliances. Wow. We really look forward to that.
  • More sounds for tower attacks
  • Remaining tower textures
  • If you see youre going to loose a game and want to quickly restart the map with the same settings, this will be possible soon
  • Building multiple towers without the need to click the build button/shortcut again by holding Shift pressed
  • Upgrades will show the difference in range, damage, attack speed to the previous tower in the tooltip
  • Maps from Classic and Survival Mode will be unlocked for Hero Mode


We hope you enjoy the game! If there's anything we could/should change, don't hesitate to contact us.

Daniel & Sebastian from Clockwork Origins


[ 2018-10-25 20:48:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix 0.9.0 rev2488



We already released a first small hotfix for Elemental War today. It just fixes a bug that could cause tutorial 2 to stuck when upgrading your first tower.
Thanks for reporting this bug to us.

If you find another bug, miss some feature or think something shall be improved feel free to contact us either via the ingame feedback functionality or here in the discussions forum. The forum has the advantage that we can directly reply and others see your suggestions, too.

Our usual updates will be released every two weeks on Friday. So the first update will be released on November 2.


[ 2018-10-20 11:32:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Elemental War is Now Available!



Elemental War is now available to buy on Steam!

What can you expect?


  • Three different game modes in singleplayer, each with different requirements: Classic Mode, Survival Mode, Hero Mode
  • More than 50 items and monster abilities in Hero Mode
  • 6 settings from desert to graveyard
  • Rankings: detailed leaderboards of players


What will be next?
As Elemental War just starts in Early Access today, there'll be many updates in the future. Besides using the feedback you give us, we of course have our own plans to further improve the game. Here's a list of the most important stuff that's planned in the near future:


  • More Quests and Items: in Hero Mode you can unlock new items by solving quests. Actually there are just 5 quest available (they aren't easy, so you won't get them solved that easily), but we will add many more during the next updates to unlock all items that are already part of the game and add new items, too
  • Side quest, that will give a boost for the current game session when completed
  • More Sounds and Effects
  • Full Controller support: playing with controller basically works, but there's enough room for improvements
  • Abilities and Special Events in the different settings: we offer you 6 different settings so far, but they just have a different look yet. The plan is to add some abilities and special events to the settings for Hero Mode to make them more unique. Such abilities can be e.g. higher chance of causing a status change on monsters in the ice world, while a special event can be an ice storm that reduces the range of your towers but also slows down enemies
  • Community Features: We want to push both competition between players and also cooperation.

    • The first step will be to introduce special ranks in the leaderboard (so the better your overall score is the better your special rank will be).
    • As soon as we reached enough players we will unlock new regions for players to join. The idea is to be able to compare your scores with people that live in the same country, area or even city than you do
    • The biggest part will be alliances: You can connect with other players and join a group and be able to cooperate and compete in new ways



Bugs, Feedback and more

For bugs and feedback we have a great ingame reporting functionality. This of course doesn't allow for discussions. We set up https://steamcommunity.com/app/917850/discussions

As we're in Early Access we want to hear your feedback on anything. May it be bugs, new ideas or stuff we should improve, everything is welcome.

And now have fun in Elemental War!


[ 2018-10-18 19:45:06 CET ] [ Original post ]