This week I’m finally approaching that exciting time in a game’s development where it’s fully playable! (Big Cheer!) I’ve been adding the improved Endless mode and the final tower upgrades which are the last features that I deem absolutely necessary for release. There are still lots of graphics to put in, and fx and polish, sounds, music and of course testing and balancing so we’re not about to commit to a release date just yet. I also have a big ‘wish list’ of cool stuff i’d love to put in as I’m sure all developers do for every game.

Endless mode

Even though some tower defence games omit this, I believe an Endless mode is key for the Sentinel series. Not only is it cool to compete for highscores, but it now provides a great way to earn persistent rewards such as credits and hero XP, which can be used to increase the power of your arsenal. Sentinel 4: Dark Star is absolutely loaded with new upgrades and unlocks, so the Endless mode is designed to be the preferable way to get these rewards rather than repeating campaign missions.

Awesome New Features

In Sentinel 3, the wave patterns and paths for the enemies were very simple. Sentinel 4: Dark Star is an improvement in every way on this to make it more exciting. For example:

• The endless waves are now completely unique for each map!

• Enemy waves no longer contain a single enemy type, they now have a mix of up to four different enemies.

• The enemies can now meander across wide areas, and groups of enemies can come from different entrances together.

• Maps contain shortcuts and special entrances for some types of creature. So a boss may spawn from a fiery pit, or a flying creature may enter through a canyon

• Some enemies don’t even follow the path at all, they can fly around the map causing devastation

In addition, I’ve got big plans for a really exciting new online feature, which I’ll talk about in more detail if I find time to get it implemented before release. Watch this space!

Now that we’re getting a steady flow of new graphics into the game, you can expect slightly more frequent blog posts showcasing some of the new stuff now that there is something to see. As always, all feedback, questions and suggestions are more than welcome.

cheers,

Paul