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.