Hi everyone, it's been a while! Today I want to announce Leena's second major update! But first, to celebrate this update, Leena is 50% off in the [i][b]Tower Defense Fest[/b][/i] sale! This will be Leena's final sale in Early Access, so get it while you can at this low price! Now to start off, yes Leena is still being worked on, and we're very close to completing the game! It'll still take a little bit longer, but we're inching closer and closer to the finished game. I'll also be discussing the final major updates and sharing a roadmap of what we have planned, as well as the estimated date we're aiming to fully release the game and exiting Early Access. So let's get started! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/e1cae5fb3332da7cd2979ab3110483888965b6ec.png[/img] [i][b]Second Major Update[/b][/i] For this second major update, I've been hard at work on a visual rework for many reasons. The main reason however, is localization. When I first started Leena, I had no plans to localize the game to other languages. However, as I progressed and kept working on the game, I realized it would be better to separate a lot of the menu text to its own thing for easier editing. Since it came to this, I decided to just separate ALL of the text in the game into its own system, and make it easier to just export the whole thing for easy localization if we wanted to. This resulted in changing many things, such as text on buttons, as having text in one language may be longer in another language. Having text in a button would not work due to this. Instead I opted to switch things out for icons. I then added the icons text description to a menu at the bottom where there is more space. This temporary menu will disappear after four in-game waves during each map, as the player will know by then what each icon should represent. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/021cff2919958e5a98d848e36996b05551ac7861.jpg[/img] I also changed the fonts, as our original font had no support for any characters other than English ones. These new fonts support most languages. I also remade most menus to fit these new fonts better, as well as new menu colors, and added text effects such as shadow for menu titles. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/b2c2ef741a3c7dd8727b92229d27cab62dca135d.png[/img] Dialogue Scenes have also had a visual upgrade, as well as a new font that fits better with these new sprites and supports more languages. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/ed562666415013706b37dfcd8a729e9ca5828170.png[/img] Tutorial Scenes have been improved and now display the actual menus for specific scenes. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/4bd121ed20e8fdbc4e22ef8b5cef75f7a7a30fa5.png[/img] Now let's get into the bigger changes in this update! [i][b]Leena Mode[/b][/i] In the first major update, a survival mode called [b]Endless Nightmare[/b] was added, which had 200 waves. This alpha mode was a test to see how well survival could run, and we had lots of feedback and bug reports for it, so a big thank you to the people who played! The main issue with the alpha survival mode, is that we only had the monsters we had made in story mode at the time, so in the later levels of survival, there is a lot of repetition of the same monsters, and frankly it felt a bit incomplete. I felt that it should have been limited to 100 waves to start instead, but it remained as is since the update was already out. I decided that for the next update I wanted survival nearly or fully complete. But, I also wanted a harder survival mode. Something completely insane, that would bring the game to its limits. And so, I announced in a Kickstarter update a few months ago I was working on a new survival mode called [i][b]Leena Mode[/b][/i]. A mode created by Leena herself! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/111085f8bde317c13e17fdef35eadfbb89cdad59.png[/img] With the visual rework, this mode came out very nice and very difficult. At a whopping 400 waves, we added [i][b]200+ new enemies[/b][/i], including new special monsters and some unique bosses you can only find in Leena mode. A new music track was made specifically for this mode as well, which I hope you'll all enjoy! [i][b]Bonus System Expanded, and Wave Info[/b][/i] Previously in the first update, the bonus system was exclusive to the alpha survival mode. Now, I have added the bonus system to regular maps. This means, you can earn goodies just by completing waves during the campaign. A new tutorial scene will unlock the bonus system during the campaign, and all maps unlocked after that will have the bonus system enabled. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/d71e675ba54e93d5e22161d40f027a74e8d1ae75.png[/img] Wave information is also now available in the bonus system menu at the bottom. At a glance you can view the number of monsters in the upcoming wave, as well as an estimated number of what kinds of monsters they are, including flying types and boss types. Please be aware these are only estimates and are NOT exact number. However, this should help players prepare their defenses, and it was something several players requested both in 1 on 1 feedback and in the community forums. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/e0c4f83eae08617b56da75f532ee51e5a7340f17.png[/img] [i][b]Banking System[/b][/i] The banking system makes its debut this update. During the campaign, you'll gain the ability to deposit unused gold in the bank. This gold will gain interest every map you complete. You're able to withdraw bank funds up to a certain amount in every map the bank is enabled, provided you pay a fee to do so. The fee amount is taken from the accumulated bank funds, not from the gold you currently have on the map. You are only able to deposit remaining gold in story maps. Survival does not qualify. You ARE able to use the bank to withdraw funds in survival modes though. Gaining a bit of extra funds on bank enabled maps will help you gain additional starting funds to build additional towers to defend! Use it wisely! [i][b]The Tower Select Screen[/b][/i] Before the first major update, the tower select screen already existed. When we added controller support, we had to disable the tower select screen in controller mode due to compatibility issues, but it remained available in mouse only mode. Now, I have re-enabled the tower select screen for all modes! This makes navigating the large roster of towers much much easier! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/4c7d6e15ace073bcacc0d6ea813151300cc0e07e.png[/img] Speaking of towers, this new update will add 5 new towers, and one tower previously available only in the demo, for a total of six new towers! This includes our final design tier tower [i][b]Dree[/b][/i]. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/0660361c1447f0bc4c98a313bad8f370ae69fb1e.png[/img] This tower brings with it the ability to give allies a shield, which gives towers an extra bar that needs to be depleted before their actual health is reduced. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/81c3e8cb67138422ea88ab186c1284aee2e9912d.png[/img] This update also includes our final design tier monster [i][b]Bedlam[/b][/i], which sports a very powerful shield capable of blocking all incoming projectiles. Beware! [i][b]The Laboratory[/b][/i] The laboratory is complete and is also included in this update. This map introduces more unique bio type monsters. These are humanoid type enemies, which are far stronger than regular monsters. These monsters can attack just like their tower counterparts, or use unique special abilities. Beware! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/16b39304364eb82923a96afb745d567005a768d4.png[/img] [i][b]The Lair[/b][/i] The lair is also included in this update, but only the first map. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/45eab55bf9aceb60e409c6368f6f6ee8c79bd07a.jpg[/img] I aim to finish the Lair within the next few weeks, which will complete the campaign mode. [i][b]Backward Compatibility[/b][/i] Throughout development I have tried to maintain backward compatibility with game saves. So far in testing this does not seem to be a problem, but if you face any errors when loading the game (the third load screen), please report it in the steam community forums. I will make a specific forum post about any save/loading issues and how to potentially fix them or to stop them. Backward compatibility is something that should work for saves made after the first Early Access version and beyond, but if you do have any issues, please report them to me in the forums. [i][b]Beta Builds[/b][/i] I have made some earlier versions of Leena available in the beta section of the application. If you'd like to play those earlier versions, you are welcome to try them. Please keep in mind however, newer saves will not work with older builds, and backward compatibility will not be guaranteed. You will have to delete/backup your save file when testing older beta builds, or to maintain backward compatibility. You can find more info in the community forums. The last thing I'd like to discuss is the roadmap. [i][b]Roadmap[/b][/i] Here is a small overview of how I want this to go. Please keep in mind the dates may change slightly, but I'm hoping to stick to these dates as closely as possible. [list] [*] Second Major Update - Now. Includes all of the above, plus a new trailer and screenshots for the steam page. [*] Third Major Update - Mid August [*] Final Major Update - Late August to Early September. Will include the post-campaign worlds, and expansion of Leena mode to 500 waves (if possible). Includes final towers. Polish and bug fixes. [*] Final Polish Update and Exit Early Access - Early to Mid September [/list] That's it for this update! Stay tuned for more! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42433900/aa2c1e5fa857ea75db253f6e4bd8ba9147a37e87.png[/img]