We take a look at the new changes in Castle Mashers and the devlog format.

Posted by Va11ar on Jun 10th, 2016

General:

If you are following the blog, you noticed that we changed the format, the reason is that I’d like the blog to be more centered about the game and the updates we have rather than about the story of development itself. This would make it feel more like an update Patch Notes more than the story-like feel it had before.

You’d also notice that the header of the blog is now focused on the entry itself rather than the previous title; focused on the story.

Nonetheless, we owe it to you (our readers) to explain why we have disappeared for the past 4 weeks and jumped off from week 13 to week 18 in posts. We do apologize for that but there is a good reason behind it:

We’ve learned of the new Game Founders Announcement and the previous deadline was the 10th of June. That didn’t leave us too much time so we can polish up the game for submissions. We have been hard at work tooth and nail into development that we didn’t notice the time fly by. However, we are back with a blog entry since we managed to reach a good internal milestone and the deadline was pushed further to the 20th. So let’s jump in:

Update Notes:

Player movement has now been modified to feel more snappier — no more floaty movement. This includes also the ability to move vertically within the level, albeit the vertical movement will be confined to the lower 25% of screen space.

There are now 3 classes in the game; Knight, Wizard and Ranger. Only knight is playable now, but they do exist in the game.

Each of the 3 previous classes would have 2 special attacks and 1 defensive special move. Currently each class has 1 special attack and 1 defensive move implemented with plans for more.

A new upgrades screen have been implemented and working. Player stats, ball, potions, special attacks and defensive abilities are all upgradeable.

Overhaul in the code where we fixed a myriad of bugs, nuances and killed a few zombies in the process.

Ball speed has been adjusted and made faster.

Melee attack is now available, you can melee enemies when they come close to you. That said, when you melee the ball it will activate one of the two special abilities the character has.

The Knight now got his Penetrate Ball ability working. Once you strike the ball with your melee attack instead of letting it bounce off of you, the ball goes through enemies and only bounces off walls.

Speaking of the Knight, you can click the right mouse button to activate its defensive ability; Armored. It increases your armor and reduces all damage received by a certain amount. You can of course upgrade said amount in the Upgrades menu.

Player now receives an ability point each level instead of every 3 levels. Ability points are used in some of the upgrades.

Penalty for losing the ball has now been removed and you no longer lose health, however, the ball has a respawn time.

Enemies no longer die if they move out of screen, they’ll spawn back in their previous location ready to attack once more.

When enemies lunge at you, they no longer gang up on you in numbers and look like they are storming a 7/11 on a Black Friday. They’ve become a bit more thoughtful.

With that said, we have a few more updates however they are all related to art.

Art and Eye Candy:

Serg has been working hard to produce a new set of sprites for our new update that we’ll be launching soon.

After a few iterations this fine Castle Mashers logo spawned into existence.

The dark wizard, one of the enemies you’ll face in your adventures within the dark castle.

The new player animation, notice the Knight’s weapon has changed from a mace to a flail.

Don’t think that because he is idle, he is not angry

The all new Knight’s weapon. He threw his shield away and now he has a more effective weapon. Once you throw the flail’s ball, the stick will extend and the Knight can use it to bounce the ball off and towards his enemies.





This is how the Knight would look like once he activates the Armored defensive ability.





The concept for a werewolf vampire hybrid enemy that you’ll enjoy meeting at a later point in the game.

To be revealed.



One of the surprises you’ll find in the game, we won’t spoil the fun by revealing it.

Final Words:

Hopefully the new devlog format is better and would allow us to keep up the schedule we have. That said, it is less of a wall of text so it easier for you to read. That said, we might dedicate a post here or there (outside of the weekly posts) to topics related to game development in general or Unity development.

See you next week and don’t forget to follow us and like us on Medium, Twitter and on IndieDB here.