Well, folks, this is it – the lastest ever beta version of Revenge of the Titans, now at the heady heights of version 1.71. This is our “release candidate” – provided no bishops in hell turn up and fart in the trifles of our lives, this will then become the finished game. Well, I say finished – we’re probably likely to tweak it some more in the new year once the dust has settled.

First things first – here’s the direct links:

Windows

Mac OS X

32-bit Debian package

64-bit Debian package

32-bit generic Linux

64-bit generic Linux

Java Webstart (all OSes)

Now, on to business. What’s changed? If you haven’t already, go and have a quick read about 1.7 first, to better know thine enemy.

The short summary is: 1.7 didn’t work out very well, so I’ve reverted a few of the design decisions. It’s been such a panic getting this penultimate build together though I haven’t had time to write the usual changelog, so I’ll go through the major changes.

Changes in 1.71

The Titans stop coming when the timer runs out again – phew! In hindsight this was a mental idea. So it’s back to its original behaviour. To compensate for the level being rather dull once the aliens aren’t arriving any more, it will finish as before when the last one is slain…

again – phew! In hindsight this was a mental idea. So it’s back to its original behaviour. To compensate for the level being rather dull once the aliens aren’t arriving any more, it will finish as before when the last one is slain… …and you’ll scavenge the remaining crystals. Unfortunately it pays to dig them up the proper way – scavenged crystals make no use of silos (more on these below) and you only get 40% of the remaining value, a bit like building recycling. You also get a $500 bonus for digging them all up before the timer expires, so well worth it.

Unfortunately it pays to dig them up the proper way – scavenged crystals make no use of silos (more on these below) and you only get 40% of the remaining value, a bit like building recycling. You also get a $500 bonus for digging them all up before the timer expires, so well worth it. Refineries now take 15 seconds to fill up with money (it was 10 before). Reactors make approximately a 2.5 second difference to this time – so with the maximum useful complement of four reactors on a refinery, you’re looking at a collection every 5 seconds.

with money (it was 10 before). Reactors make approximately a 2.5 second difference to this time – so with the maximum useful complement of four reactors on a refinery, you’re looking at a collection every 5 seconds. You might be interested to know that a small crystal holds $2000 , a medium one $4000, and a large one $6000.

, a medium one $4000, and a large one $6000. Silos have changed – they’re now called reprocessors , and their function is basically the same as it was before – they increase the efficiency of your refineries – but they no longer affect the capacity , which remains at $250. You might also be interested to know the efficiency gains are 17%, 25%, 33% and 50% for one to four silos respectively. So you could be eking $9000 out of a large crystal. Four reprocessors will cost you $2500 in outlay and you’ll get $1000 back in recycling – so you’re making $2000 profit on the venture. Place them cunningly to mine two or more big crystals and you’re looking at big money!

, and their function is basically the same as it was before – they increase the efficiency of your refineries – but they , which remains at $250. You might also be interested to know the efficiency gains are 17%, 25%, 33% and 50% for one to four silos respectively. So you could be eking $9000 out of a large crystal. Four reprocessors will cost you $2500 in outlay and you’ll get $1000 back in recycling – so you’re making $2000 profit on the venture. Place them cunningly to mine two or more big crystals and you’re looking at big money! I fixed a massive bug with reactors that caused them to make crystals spew out tons and tons of money. Strange that no-one noticed. Maybe nobody ever used them to speed up refining.

that caused them to make crystals spew out tons and tons of money. Strange that no-one noticed. Maybe nobody ever used them to speed up refining. The Titan brains have been given one last tweak to make them behave slightly cleverer than they were before, and they now swarm in quite a believable way.

have been given one last tweak to make them behave than they were before, and they now swarm in quite a believable way. Decoys are back to being really expensive again at $2500 a pop when I realised just how awesome they actually are. Although Titans aren’t quite so easily fooled any more, and will randomly select from the available decoys and the base (before, they always went for the nearest one, which made a single decoy effectively like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn). So now you can place, say, 3 decoys, and 75% of the rank-and-file will head for them, and the rest will pick the base.

at $2500 a pop when I realised just how awesome they actually are. Although Titans aren’t quite so easily fooled any more, and will randomly select from the available decoys and the base (before, they always went for the nearest one, which made a single decoy effectively like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn). So now you can place, say, 3 decoys, and 75% of the rank-and-file will head for them, and the rest will pick the base. All sorts of annoying beeps have been added to the flashing warning lights. Sorry. But they do appear to help.

have been added to the flashing warning lights. Sorry. But they do appear to help. The amount of crystals generated on a level has been tweaked, but I’m not sure if I’ve got it dead right yet. Time will tell.

has been tweaked, but I’m not sure if I’ve got it dead right yet. Time will tell. Endless level 51 no longer crashes. Yes, someone actually played that far.

Certain sound effects ignored the game volume settings

Fixed a whole load of emitter bugs that caused far too many particles to get emitted.

In game help has been moved to the interwebs. At the time of writing this blog post it’s nowhere near finished but Chaz is beavering away at it like a beavery thing, and soon it will be all shiny and sparkle.

has been moved to the interwebs. At the time of writing this blog post it’s nowhere near finished but Chaz is beavering away at it like a beavery thing, and soon it will be all shiny and sparkle. We’ve got a bunch of nice new sound effects for the bezerk, freeze, and shield powerups, and various incidental noises. If you listen closely you’ll be able to hear the Mars boss gnashing his maw. Yeeech!

Please give it a great big test. Especially interested in your thoughts on difficulty, survival mode, and endless mode.

Stuff I’m Considering for the New Year

Possibly making research free, meaning you simply get to choose one upgrade per level. To accommodate that we’ll have to dream up a bunch more intermediate research to get it to stretch better across the 50-level campaign. I can think of at least 10 more things, some of which will actually be useful in their own right, so that shouldn’t be too hard, but poor old Chaz will have to redesign the research screen. Again.

An online hiscore table for Survival Mode

The game will officially be released on 14th December 2010. Whereupon you will also discover the surprise we mentioned. Please consider buying our games as a Christmas gift for a friend when it comes out 🙂