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[Core Xii]

It's not something I think you can "present" as not there - it's inherent in the game's mechanics.

You're wrong. Here's an easy fix to the presentation: After defeating the last enemy tank, have the player's tank automatically drive off the map.

Small change, but it clearly signals you're not supposed to loot for blocks at the end of a map; Which makes players feel like they want to save blocks between missions.

[Lode]

Hey,

My favorite level was the one where you started with a very small tank against huge enemies, and you had to shoot weapons loose of enemies. There were 4 such enemies in a row, and if you hit the right few blocks every time, you could steal each enemies weapon. I really loved the strategy of this.

This just shows how much potential this game's combat has!

What I also found funny was how you can buy tips from the people in shops, and the first time there was a woman, she just told some random useless gossip about a citizen cheating his wife. A few shops later, there was this very girly looking woman, who I assumed would also tell some gossip, but I bought the tip anyway, and instead she gave this really technical and detailed advise about combat strategies of the enemy tanks!

Nice work, I enjoyed it a lot!

I really think there should be a Steamlands II!

[magequest]

this game is addictive! every time I rage quit I just kept thinking of it. great graphics and creative game play, but there is no way on earth anyone can beat the titanic level. also the game would be better with a reset button, when i know i'm going to lose it would be nice to not have to wait and watch my guy die.   

[st33d]

You can quit from the pause menu. Unless I've accidentally disabled it, the P key will bring it up.

I've working on a few basic changes for the game but I'm quite ill right now so no updates immediately.

[st33d]

Finally over my chest infection.

Patch 1.01:

Added auto-drive out (except on levels with no enemies such as the first where the player needs to learn the driving skill).

Added a confirmation prompt on Unlock Everything in the Campaign Map Editor.

The game completion animation is now accessible (complete THE PIRATE COMMANDER to view it)

The title now has a version number to help distinguish between cached versions of the game

*

I don't think auto-drive out solves the desire for accumulation but it eliminates a chore. There's no gameplay benefit in forcing the player to drive out of the level - other than on the first level when the player must be taught how to drive.

[Lode]

You can quit from the pause menu. Unless I've accidentally disabled it, the P key will bring it up.

I've working on a few basic changes for the game but I'm quite ill right now so no updates immediately.

A restart option there could be handy too!

Now my technique to restart a level is to remove all blocks and let the enemy destroy my core. This is actually faster than quitting to the menu and doing the whole process of skipping the shop and so on

[st33d]

I see what you mean now.

I'll put it on the list for the next patch.

[jotapeh]

I can't believe I missed the release of this. Loving it. So many fantastic details.

[st33d]

Bah - multiplayer looking dead in the water.

Cirrus sending UDP messages had up to a 2 second latency. Over which I would have to send bullet spawns, tank movement, little man movement, block dragging, block placement, block destruction, effect spawns and synchronise two physics simulations. There's more elements to track than in a game of StarCraft 2.

And no, I'm not interested in porting it. This game was fun to make. Porting isn't. Someone else can port it.

At least endless mode is pretty simple to visualise now. My boss said you could explain it as the current quest being work for hire, and the endless mode is you going freelance.

[st33d]

Current plan is to move steadily forwards with expansions.

But we're hoping to get some player made levels with the new Dev Mode we've installed:





We've also put in some new weapons for level builders to make levels with.

This is the first milestone towards Endless mode. I'm praying for a good response to this so I can keep on developing the game.

[Nugsy]

I haven't been following this as much as i should have, but i'm extremely glad to see an endless mode and a level editor in the works!

Keep up the good work!

[st33d]

cheers

The latest version is now on Kongregate, Newgrounds and Mochi distribution.

We're spreading the net for levels  

edit: Here's a link to our distribution version in case anyone fancies hosting it:

http://www.nitrome.com/distribution/steamlands.zip

[st33d]

Just checked the MochiBot stats on the distributed version:

Code:

2 days, 1 hour in the wild. (published August 05, 2011)
Total Views: 145,891
Total Hosts: 132

Plays on Kongregate: 99,312

The total hosts is a bit mind boggling as we only stuck it on 3 hosts to begin with.

But Kongregate really seem to like it. I'll admit that I had a mixed response to this game, with it being too complicated for casuals and not enough like Captain Forever for indies. The stats for Kong and the nice comments on the game page as opposed to the usual expected bile of a bunch of chodes is quite refreshing.

It really is worth trying different audiences for your games rather than taking the first feedback you get.

[jotapeh]

Grats, those are great numbers for 5 days of play.

[moi]

this is one of those games that I can't find the time to play, despite being a fan

[st33d]

This is bloody epic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/estragonhelmer/sets/72157627465287113/

Someone has made papercraft versions of the Steamlands blocks.

[st33d]

We put out a request for player levels and the players delivered:

http://www.nitrome.com/games/steamlandsplayerpack/

We got a rather modest influx of levels, but some were actually quite fun and someone even sent in a full campaign that had properly balanced levels. The more incomprehensible submissions we cobbled together on the title screen.

I emailed every single person who submitted a thankyou.

Also with this release I've put out Patch 1.03: Minor bug fixes, a link to the Player Pack, new game saving system (fewer crashes and smoother experience overall) and an extra option on tanks in Dev Mode to allow players to save images of the tanks they've created.