[h3]Backdrops[/h3] As mentioned in my last post, I was keen to work on new backdrops for Artificer's Tower. At the same time, I said I'm very slow at art, and this was an even more extreme case. I had trouble with the organic modeling, matching the current lo-fi background and lighting. It's close, but I need fresh eyes on it in a week or two; the area of concern is that the contrast change with the chasm can distract your eye from the tower too much. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/2d57030a7e5cd694afa8cd265c49ba92d7577515.png[/img] [h3]UI Effects[/h3] Switching gears from backgrounds, I worked on the game's user interface by adding a new UI to show the effects a mage is under. There are only three effects, but this will increase soon, and viewing this was important. As you can see below, I've added another tab to the mages to show the list of effects with a straightforward UI with the icon, name, amount, and length of time. Boiling this down was more complicated than I thought it would be, as there are several different types of modifiers. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/f764ef3fee0bed4cab4b5a9ddfa100684d18ff75.png[/img] [h3]Rally Points[/h3] Next up was to get back to the final bits for the tower defense side of things, and first on that list were rally points. One challenge with the mages and not controlling them is what to do with extra mages if they are not assigned to a Shield Room? Their only option is to go to the Foyer and run around. I knew I needed to fix this, and my best solution was to add a rally point system like in an RTS. Setting the rally point will be possible for each mage, but the easiest is to set a rally point for all mages to a certain point, like behind a shield room. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/06cb1683fd886fec2c8ada4999de1e650631484a.png[/img] [h3]Dimensional Door Mazes[/h3] I love making mazes in tower defense games and wanted to make something similar in Artificer's Tower. The idea I've had for over a year was to build out linkages between Dimensional Doors to create a path for the enemies to follow. The logic is challenging, as I want to avoid infinite loops or enemies getting stuck. What will happen is the enemies will follow along the path once, but if they must use a linked door a second time, it will let them teleport anywhere. This will need much more testing and a tutorial, but it's working so far! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/1befbed7ff2063f1c164e83252be5a199d3c9164.png[/img] Other fun bits: - Fleeing or looting enemies will cancel the attack sooner to speed up the game flow - GodMaker will cap out the mage's skills if the mage becomes a demi-god This is not in the current build as it needs more testing but should be available soon! Thanks for following along, Jason [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/275f272a46ed5cbbe67e9ee0c5924b8b045ae0cb.png[/img]