tinywars

  • andrew
  • No Comments

TinyWars Theme Song is Released
TinyWars Theme Song is Released 1920 1080 andrew

This weekend, we have released the official theme song for the game. We hope to begin the transition from our gameplay prototype on to more substantive content relating to the game’s incredible story that will hopefully be a memorable journey for everyone.

However, TinyWars is not all about cute anime girls fighting cute monsters. As you listen to the song, imagine not only the cuteness, but also the journey the characters will go through. Imagine the loss and hardship and the beautiful things they will discover along the way and try to remember that there is a lot more beneath the surface of this game.

Album Cover Artwork

The album cover artwork depicts Mary standing on the sheet music. You can very clearly observe by the sewing needle in her hand (as the conductors wand) and the size of the sheet music, that Mary is a tiny person. We tried to make this cover artwork something that would look very simple and processional, something we could envision as a CD cover for an official music CD.

conductor-mary-2-cc-jpg

The TinyWars Official Soundcloud page can be found here.

conducto-mary-lineart-2

We have a lot more to discuss regarding sound design and how it will help to tell the story of our game, but for now please enjoy our theme song! Be sure to get the latest updates, follow us on Facebook!

  • andrew
  • No Comments

TinyWars Prototype Publicly Available on Android and PC Download
TinyWars Prototype Publicly Available on Android and PC Download 1080 1499 andrew

For too long we’ve been teasing character artwork and music without any point of contact with an actual product, finally we are happy to announce the public release of our gameplay prototype! The prototype is available for both Windows PC and Android devices, and can be downloaded here.

Feel free to play our prototype if you want!

What’s Next?

Here’s a break down of the development timeline:

  1. Implement the new menu systems and visual theme. (As close to final as possible, what you see in the prototype is only temporary)
  2. Begin work on assets for the cutscenes and story elements. (The next demo will feature the first chapter of the game, including story and gameplay.)
  3. Develop/Program the new story cutscenes
  4. Build out the tutorial level (There will only be one tutorial level, then the player can jump directly into full featured gameplay.)
  5. Build out the first levels’ gameplay sequences.
  6. Finish animation frames for units and enemies.
  7. Compile everything together into the game and release the first official demo. (What is currently released is a prototype, what we plan to release will be an actual representative demo.)

New Visual Theme

messy-table-sketch

Imagine somebody has been collecting hints and evidence for the existence of “tiny people” and has been compiling all this evidence into a scrapbook: This is the theme of TinyWars in terms of menu design as well as how we plan to deliver the story. It is slightly complicated to explain without a video or some better visuals, but in terms of the TinyWars story, there has been a lot of events that happened before the main game that lead up to this tiny “war.”

Part of the purpose of this book is to help deliver an account for all the events that have happened. Of course, if the player has no interest in this, they don’t have to explore the journal entries. You can play through the entire game of TinyWars and experience just the story of Mary and the girls saving the kingdom without having to read any of these entries. However, those who take their time to read through the entries might experience a totally different story. And perhaps, some elements and references in the game’s cutscenes will be clearer.

Any extremely key events will be included in the game’s main cutscenes, but other story elements that I deem optional will be put into the optional reading. If the game is able to raise a larger budget, ideally I’d like to have all the journal entries animated or at least in some form of interactive cutscene, however I think most of these smaller entries will be text format. Sorry, I know it doesn’t sound like the most exciting thing in the world! I promise that I will do my best to at least give justice to at least some of the bigger key events.

Is the Story Really That Good?

The game looks so cute and happy right? How could it possibly have a deep and interesting story, it’s probably some cliche anime girl story right?

suzu-with-stump-bg-copy

While I am in no position to brag about the story which has yet to be materialized into the game, all I can say in response is that I will be very surprised if the game does not receive an “M” rating after all the story elements and visuals are put into the game.

Anything Else to Say About the Game?

I really wish I could say more about this project, without having the game released, most of what I discuss is just concept at the moment. There’s a lot of material here that I would love to discuss! We will be releasing some official music tracks to help build up some excitement for the game.

marymary-music-copy

This is just a mockup image of the music “cover.” There will be more to discuss when the soundtrack is released. I hope you will enjoy our live recorded orchestra, some beautiful violin pieces, and some great action/boss fight background music!

 

  • andrew
  • No Comments

TinyWars First Tests on Android Device
TinyWars First Tests on Android Device 1399 1044 andrew

Running our game on a mobile device for the first time is very exciting!

tinywars-on-android-testing

A figuring of one of our characters, Kim, stands and supervises the mobile development testing. The game appeared to be running flawlessly at a consistent frame rate. However a few of the controls (such as pan and zoom) did not translate over to touch, so the Android version will have some special tweaking done to it before the package is uploaded to the Google Play store!

Android Release Soon

 

Once our private beta testing for the PC version is complete and we’re satisfied with the final prototype (which will still be lacking in many aspects such as: animations, graphics, visuals, etc.), we will release the gameplay prototype to the public as a PC download here on our website as well as an app on the Google playstore.

 

  • andrew
  • No Comments

Gameplay Prototype (Closed Beta) Has Officially Begun!
Gameplay Prototype (Closed Beta) Has Officially Begun! 1004 1075 andrew

The TinyWars gameplay prototype is finally in the hands of beta testers! Wave 1 or “phase 1” of the closed beta testing has begun. This means that the beta is not publicly accessible, but as a trade off, when the beta is released to the public it should be polished and ready for everyone!

Beta Testing “Waves”

How appropriate is it, for a tower defense game, to be tested in “waves?” These waves are divided up based on the volunteers who signed up to be beta testers!

wavvv

Refer to this incredible chart to see the difference in wave sizes. (Sorry, pulled all-nighter to finish the prototype…)

Because there may still be game breaking bugs present in the current beta build, we want the first wave to have a small number of people. We want to inconvenience the smallest amount of people in the event some horrible bug comes up and renders the experience unplayable.

Wave 2: Will have a moderate amount of people, if all game breaking glitches and bugs are taken care of, then we will be primarily concerned with “fun factor” and ways we can address that! (approximately week #2)

Wave 3: After considerations from wave 2 and wave 3, the largest group will be able to play the beta and provide feedback. Minor bugs and visual glitches may be addressed at this point before the gameplay prototype is released to the public! (approximately week #3)

Public Release: If all the game breaking bugs are taken care of and we feel that the fun factor is there, then we will release this exact prototype to the public immediately after Wave 3 is finished beta testing!

Have You Played It Yourself?

Of course… I’ve played it so much that I’m sick of it. What? I can’t be sick of it? I guess the game isn’t perfect unless I can play it a million times without getting sick of it right?? Give me a break!

battle-reportttt

This is my battle report. (I have censored out the map because I do not want to reveal my unit placement.)

I have played through the beta one final time before releasing it to the beta testers and have proved that it is indeed possible to beat the beta with a perfect score!

10/10 means that I took no damage. We only grade our players on the final castle health. We don’t rate your gameplay on units, unit diversity, or spending efficiency like some other tower defense games. In TinyWars, the ends justify the means. Do whatever you have to do to end up with a perfect 10/10, you will get your 3 stars!

How do I sign up?

Message TinyWars Game on the official facebook page with your name and email address and you will be added to the beta testing roster! The roster has filled up quite quickly, so you may be added to Wave 3 until Wave 3 becomes so full that we might have to reject some signups.

https://www.facebook.com/TinyWarsGame/

 

  • andrew
  • No Comments

TinyWars Gameplay Prototype Ready for Testing This Week!
TinyWars Gameplay Prototype Ready for Testing This Week! 1228 1228 andrew

After all the teasing, artwork, and seemingly “random” cast of characters, we are pleased to announce that officially NONE of those connections or story will be clarified at all! This gameplay prototype serves one purpose, the backbone of the gameplay for TinyWars and gameplay, as a mechanism to deliver our story! Sorry, that has to wait for the real demo! It would be an injustice to the story if we released a buggy game attached to it!

Screenshots

credits-page-menu-compressed main-menu-prorotype-compressed-2 in-game-screenshot in-game-screenshot-2 screenshot-title

How to become a Beta Tester

Beta testing will begin this Thurdsay, October 20th, 2016. We have a pretty hefty list of volunteers to conduct the beta testing, however we are happy to have more!

Beta Tester Signup:

Send a message to TinyWars with your email address! That’s it!

https://www.facebook.com/TinyWarsGame/

If you don’t have facebook (which is the easiest way to get in contact with us), you may also contact us via the contact form on this website!

Plans for Beta Test

We plan to release the beta downloads in waves, once per week until the beta testers have run out! First wave will test the first beta, after we have a few days to address some common issues or bugs, we will release the revised beta to the next wave, and continue this for a span of 2 – 4 weeks before the bug free beta is released to the public!

The beta will be released on a first come first serve basis, beginning with our closest personal contacts first, then branching out to the volunteers on our beta testing roster, beginning with those who were added earliest!

Unfinished Aspects of the Beta

frame0melee

Many animations in the current gameplay prototype are totally incomplete! As you can see from the picture above, a lot of love and car goes into every single animation frame! We can not spare enough time to incorporate the full animations. We need to get people playing this game or else I fear that some may loose interest and hope in the project! The prototype will be the first manifestation of TinyWars as a video game.

Up until this point, all TinyWars has been was a bunch of images and characters with supposedly “interesting stories” but nothing to deliver the story. This prototype will do nothing to clarify this! But it will have somethings in it to look out for, mainly gameplay experiences.

What is in store for the future?

After the gameplay prototype has been thoroughly tested and perfected (and I don’t expect it to be 100% perfect at this point, but polished up enough), We will begin work on the actual, official, real TinyWars game! The idea being that, once the first few levels of the real campaign have been developed, we can release that as a true TinyWars demo and give the players a real experience of what is in store for them!

I hope people will get a taste for the unique story telling and tower defense/siege gameplay we want to bring to the table. Anyways, this is all for now, if you are interested in beta testing be sure to contact us!

  • andrew
  • No Comments

What We’ve Learned About TinyWars
What We’ve Learned About TinyWars 1560 1040 andrew

Post Fan Art Competition – Popular Character? Oh Yeah!

popularity-indicator

This is a popularity indicator generated based on results from our contest’s Judges. The lovely character Kumo, appears to be an extremely popular character being featured in 23/70 entries. What this tells us is that, regarding the pacing of the game and how long we spend time with each character, Kumo’s arc should be lengthened to satisfy the demand for this character. (But not too long, part of this character’s appeal is her mysterious aura and backstory.)

kumo-fan-arts

Artists from top, left to right: SoloEsper01, Janthida, Hyperion-Yamazaki, MiahWolf, emiyana, iorisu

What does this mean for the rest of the cast?

drawxangel-all-the-girls

Contest Entry by DrawXAngel

The rest of the cast won’t be changed or redesigned. Their designs are solid and each of them have their own unique story! There is currently no game content of TinyWars or even any story really released yet, so I do not have any concern about Kumo’s popularity over the rest of the girls. Kumo was specifically designed to look “mysterious” and “intriguing.”

vkingstudio-fan-art-b

Entry by VKingStudio

Progress Update For Gameplay Prototype

As scheduled, the gameplay prototype should be ready for play testing this month! We have currently finished implementing the final wave to this prototype level. As far as the game’s content goes, it is complete! However there are a few more technical features that need to be completed before the prototype is ready for testing, these include:

TO DO LIST

  • Implement a “Level Complete” screen at the end of the level
  • Implement a basic menu system (Provide developer info, build info, and basic menu options)
  • Disable the incredibly buggy “fast forward” feature (It’s not going to work for this build!)
  • Actually do a play through and make sure it is POSSIBLE to beat the demo with perfect health!
  • Might leave the test controls enabled so people can have fun experimenting with the game. (Spawns enemies, adds money, etc.)

spore-1

Remember this little test creature that looks like it was drawn in MS Paint? We’ve grown quite fond of it.

spore-2-new

His sprite has been enhanced by our lovely artist, LaDollBlanche.

Things to Consider

Many features of this gameplay prototype will be changed in future builds and demos. Particularly the menu system and general theme of the GUI will be revised to fall more in line with the “tiny” theme. Certain enemy sprites and enemies themselves might be changed.

sleepy-2

The prototype is one single sandbox level. It was designed simply so we could develop all the features that the TinyWars game would run on. There are some specific advanced features that have not been implemented, but we have implemented the core features that most of the levels will run on! (We have a few special levels planned)

mushy-2

Because this prototype is designed for testing, there are a variety of enemies that spawn in each wave. In a normal level we would not have this much variety of enemies. Ideally, we would want to build it up, or keep all the enemies within a specific theme. In this prototype you will encounter a bunch of different enemies that look like they came from all sorts of different places. It  looks like a mess on screen and doesn’t have any predictability to it.

spider-test-1

Why Tower Defense?

The purpose of this gameplay prototype is to show off some unique features of TinyWars and show that this is NOT your ordinary tower defense game. Someone had suggested to me that we call this a “Siege Game” because “Tower Defense” has such negative associations with it. Specifically tower defense is seen as an old, “dead” and over done genre of video games that is usually associated with people’s first games.

I have a feeling that tower defense, especially for mobile is still a pretty strong genre. Games like Radiant Defense which had been on the app store’s top list several times and other great TD games are all inspirations for TinyWars. However, I will say that I am generally disappointed with most tower defense games that are anime themed. Why do I want to play anime themed games? Is it to see overly sexualized witches with subpar gameplay? No of course not… (I mean I guess some people wouldn’t have a problem with that!)

Why anime theme in general?

Because we have a compelling story to tell. The anime artwork and design is an art style we choose to go with because we have a particularly interesting and engaging story to tell. I know other “anime” games use the anime theme for the sake of being anime, but we have our motivations and I hope that our hard work, whether in writing or in the gameplay, will not go unnoticed!

Interested in Beta Testing?

If you are interested in becoming a beta tester for the prototype, the easiest way to get in touch with us is through our facebook page!

https://www.facebook.com/TinyWarsGame/

Feel free to send us a message and tell us that you’re interested in becoming a beta tester. It’s going to be pretty easy, nothing much you have to do besides play the game and if possible, do a screen recording of the gameplay! Simple right? 🙂

Enter your
text here