Latest Hero Academy update brings 28 new single player challenges!
Robot Entertainment has today released their latest update to Hero Academy, version 1.2.3. This update brings an exciting set of single player missions to the table called “Challenges”. For the first time players can now play through single player challenges to boost their skills. The 28 strong challenges have a range of difficulty, some are quite easy – others are particularly tough and will test your wits greatly.
The 28 challenges allow players to play through all the available teams regardless as to whether they have been purchased or not. Each team as 7 of there own challenges to play through. This is great news for those who want to try out a team before committing to buy.
In other news, the update brings a far more detailed tutorial system which includes 8 new interactive tutorials to help new players get up to speed and reduce the learning curve. There have also been changes to the taunt system, where previously taunts have been purchasable they can now be unlocked each time a player wins a match. Don’t worry, you wont lose any taunts that you have already purchased.
Be sure to check out Robot Entertainment’s latest blog post which details the latest update in full.
Now.. to the Academy, Heroes!
Orcs Must Die 2 release date announced – July 30th!
Great news for budding Orc slayers! Robot Entertainment has announced the release date for the sequel to Orcs Must Die! This time featuring what we have all been waiting for.. co-op mode! Not to mention of course a whole bunch of brand new levels, defenses and enemies! Its all kicking off on July 30th. I look forward to seeing you all then for some Orc bashing action!
For more details check out the Robot Entertainment blog post, here is a quick extract to remind you of what to expect:
Orcs Must Die! 2 thrusts players and their friends back into battle against a terrifying mob of orcs and other monsters. With a redesigned spellbook, players will have a broader range of options to build a deadly arsenal of defenses. Investing hard-earned skulls in an enormous new upgrade system will allow players to cater to their favorite methods of burning, grinding, tossing, or dismembering orcs.
Orcs Must Die! 2 begins days after the ending of the original game. With the rifts closed and the magical Order dead, the War Mage finds himself suddenly thrust into a new battle against the mindless orc mob. He has a powerful, if questionable, new companion in the Sorceress, an ex-War Mage responsible for the destruction of the Order.
Game Informers “Directors Cut” interview with Patrick Hudson
In the latest edition of Game Informer you will find an interview with Robot Entertainment’s CEO, Patrick Hudson. There is also a directors cut version of this interview available online at the Game Informer website. The interview discusses the Halo MMO that was cancelled mid-development at Ensemble Studios and then goes on to talk about the visions for Robot Entertainment including the desire to work on smaller scale products with shorter development times. This vision has been realised already with Orcs Must Die! and Hero Academy which have been markedly smaller projects than say, Halo Wars at Ensemble.
We didn’t want to go out and start pitching publishers and trying to raise money for a big game. That was a bit of a driver. But the biggest driver was, “Hey, we don’t want to sign up for another three-year slog.” It’s just tough to go through that over and over again. We were ready for something different. – Patrick Hudson
The interview is definitely worth checking out. There is also some tidbits about Hero Academy and Patrick’s thought on the App Store and mobile gaming markets. Go forth and check out Game Informer’s website!
Orcs Must Die 2 announced!
Orcs Must Die 2 has been announced by Robot Entertainment. Here you can find a summary some of the news generated by this exciting announcement. So here we go, here is your quick round up of all the latest OMD2 news and FAQ’s!
Listen to the Robot Radio interview
To catch up on all the OMD2 news you really have to start here. This excellent interview between Robot Fan’s @radiokenny and Robot Entertainments @sixokay the interview discusses the announcement in some more detail and provides a good insight into how the game is shaping up. Some of the things discussed includes the co-op feature, change of weapons, the Sorceress as a playable character, brand new upgrade system, plus lots lots more. So tune in now for your quick OMD2 news bite! Hit play below!
Co-op!!
This has to be one of the most exciting features of OMD2. Co-Op is something that has been heavily requested in the first game and now all those people will be getting their wish as OMD2 brings a complete Co-op experience. No longer will you have to face the mob on your own, team up with a friend and take them on together!
New campaign
OMD2 will feature a brand new campaign. Infact the campaign starts just days after we left off after the War Mage closed the rifts. Or so we thought, it seems. The campaign will feature all new levels and for the first time some out door levels. We’ll no longer be restricted to castles which should add some more interesting visuals into the mix.
New playable character – The Sorceress
Fans of the original OMD campaign may well recognise her as the “evil protagonist” in the first game. This time however it seems that despite putting the Order into disarray before she is now fighting on the good team along side the War Mage. The Sorceress will be available to play in both single player and co-op. Exciting times!
New enemies, traps and a brand new upgrade system
This new outbreak of Orc invasion has resulted in some brand new un-seen enemies to spew out from the other side. It is only suitable, of course, for players to be kitted out with a whole new set of traps and spells. A whole bunch of the favourite traps from the original OMD will be a making a return on the new game and combined with the upcoming new traps and spells players will be enjoying a fully stocked arsenal for their Orc killing rampage.
A new spell book is also on the cards plus a brand new upgrade system that completely overhauls the old 5 skull system. As mentioned inRobot Radio the new system will cater for multiple upgrades per trap and there will be new ways to earn skulls. Happy days for us!
PC Only – no XBLA
A bit of sad news for XBLA players, OMD2 will be PC only. This comes down to a number of things, particularly time and resources to make an XBLA version. Although the XBLA version of the original OMD enjoyed a good community presence it was felt the PC community was alot stronger and by devoting more time to this platform will help provide an even better experience. If you have found the controls on PC hard to use in the past, never fear, there will be support for the Xbox control pad to be plugged into the PC. More details about the XBLA support can be found on the RE.com forums.
Its coming this Summer
That’s right – it wont be long until we’re thrown back into the action in the race to climb up the leaderboards as we destroy every single Orc that dares come our way. Summer is only a few months away folks so expect to be playing this real soon!
More news at PAX
The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is taking place this weekend which will be perfect for Orcs Must Die! fans as there is sure to be a whole bunch of additional information, interviews and videos. We’ll be covering it all here on REF so stay tuned! Ears to the ground, War Mages!
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Dusty Monk closing Windstorm Studios
It was three years ago when we heard that one of the start ups forming out of Ensemble Studios would be Windstorm Studios. Unlike the other endeavors undertaken by ex Ensemble staff, Windstorm had one unique element about it, the studio was to be founded and run by a single person – Dusty Monk. In order to do this Dusty had to sacrifice a day job and work full time on a project that he was greatly passionate about to pursue publishing his very own video game. After all, working on your own video game as a one man band is no easy task and can only be accomplished with passion and drive. Luckily there was no shortage of passion where Dusty was concerned, he single-handedly went about commissioning freelancers to help him build his dream game.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with some extraordinary musicians, sound designers, artists, and voice talent. And I’m extraordinarily proud of the work we accomplished together
Writes Dusty on his final blog post.
Windstorm successfully launched Atomic City Adventures (the case of the black dragon) on August 19th 2011. This was a fantastic accomplishment having spent over two years creating and designing his own truly unique game. There were hurdles along the way, initially Dusty hoped for the game to be a large-scale MMO, however there were unfortunately difficulties in securing a publishing deal. After all, it can’t be easy to get publishers on-board working as a one man band. However this did not stop Dusty and he continued full speed ahead to launch Atomic City Adventures as a full-blown RPG.
Just over 6 months since the games launch it has been deeply unfortunate that despite all the efforts Dusty went through to produce Atomic City Adventures, it was unable to produce the sales that Dusty had hoped for.
Atomic City Adventures has never produced the kind of sales necessary to sustain itself or the company. There are a number of reasons for this, and those lessons are things I will take forward in my career. And though I still firmly believe in the franchise itself, and I believe that with enough funding, time, and effort it could be promoted and molded into the product I originally envisioned, I found that I personally simply didn’t have the time – or really the desire – to work a full-time job to earn a living, and to spend every additional waking moment working on Atomic City.
Personally I had always considered Atomic City Adventures to be a very unique game which was taking bold ideas and producing something that we haven’t seen before in the video games market. Crime busting set wildly into the future with hover bikes and flying vehicles was certainly an exciting and fun concept. I believe the game achieved its goal and the end was result was certainly a fun experience to play through. The concept certainly has legs and I do agree that if given the opportunity with funding it could be taken further into an awesome MMO project.
It is not reasonable for Dusty to invest further time into the project without additional funding and unfortunately personal reasons and balancing life’s dynamics means that Dusty will be returning to a full-time day job going forward. Dusty will be re-joining some of his Ensemble co-workers at Robot Entertainment where he’ll continue making independently published games, but now as part of a larger team. Robot will be lucky to have Dusty on board who has clearly demonstrated outstanding flair and talent crafting Atomic City from the ground up.
I wish Dusty all the best in his role at Robot Entertainment and I am sure this is not the last we will from Atomic City Adventures.
Read Dusty’s full blog post about Windstorm Studios closing
Dwarves en route to Hero Academy come February 22nd
Good news for budding Hero Academy players – the brand new team to join in the fray are the Dwarves and will be hitting the academy on February 22nd! We’ll be seeing this new and exciting team in just one week!This news comes hot on the heels of the new board which is also being released on the 22nd and is available free for all players. Whatsmore, the the update is also bringing Gamecenter and leaderboards support – boom, just like that! Not to mention some balance changes are also on the cards.
Robot Entertainment has detailed some statistics about the Dwarves and describes them as “extremely crafty” and that they gain improved bonuses when placed on bonus squares. The Dwarves also feature and expertise in wide area attacks. Details about the new hero faces are as follows:
PALADIN
(Class: Fighter) – Holy warrior who can heal and revive allies, healing herself in the process.
GUNNER
(Class: Shooter) – Shooter who deals high damage to a nearby enemy. AOE damage at range.
GRENADIER
(Class: Caster) – Lobs molotovs over enemies for AOE damage. Weak melee attack.
ENGINEER
(Class: Support) – Shields a single ally/crystal. Higher bonus from premium squares.
ANNIHILATOR
(Class: Super Unit) – Deals heavy damage with AOE knockback. Direct hits weaken physical defenses.
All this coming next week – February 22nd!
I’m sure all Hero Academy fans will be looking forward to this exciting new update!
Brand new board coming to Hero Academy
Good news for Hero Academy players. Things will be shaking up as a brand new board is scheduled to be released soon. This new board will be included in the random rotation and will be available for free for all players. Just when you were starting to get comfortable with the current boards here is something new to feast your eyes on:
Expect this new board to land on your iPhones and iPods very soon!
Windstorm Studios gets a new website design!
Dusty has been hard at work over at Windstorm Studios where he has launched a brand new website design for the futuristic video game studio. The new website highlights and provides alot more detail about Atomic City Adventures including background information and character bios. If you have played the game and are interested in reading a bit more about the world of Atomic City then checking out this new website should be your first port of call.
Dusty is looking for feedback about the new site design so feel free to head over to the Atomic City Adventures facebook page and be sure to let him know your thoughts. I think its quite a snazzy design!
Check back to the site every now and then for more character and district information!
Robot Entertainment Fans launches!
I am excited to announce the launch of Robot Fans! This is a brand new fan-site focussing purely on Robot Entertainment. As the studio gets bigger and bigger with more video game releases it was time to give the studio its own space on the internet for fan based articles, news, video and even its own radio podcast!
Our ambition is to position this website as a resource of fan generated content along with providing exciting competitions and interviews along with original thought and speculation about the studios endeavours. Fans can join in the Orcs Must Die! Combo leaderboard and try and gain on-site achievements for activity on the website. Anyone who wishes to help with the website is most welcome and the sign up form can be found readily under the “contribute” section.
Robot Fans launches with two episodes of Robot Radio and a brand new exclusive art piece from Chris Moffitt, one of the artists at Robot Entertainment. There is also a chance to win a prize by registering in the first 30 days. So what are you waiting for – head over to Robot Fans and register today! We’d love to hear your thoughts!
As we move forward Remember ES will continue to deliver studio news from Robot and all the Ex Ensemble Studios. So don’t worry you’ll still get your fix of news right here as before. If you’re looking for even more news, articles and speculation about Robot Entertainment you’ll find that over at Robot Fans.
Graeme Devine designs “Spider Swiper” an iOS game for Mentos
Popular mint maker, Mentos has recently procured the services of Graeme Devine to help them launch a new iOS game to go along with a new marketing campaign for the Mentos brand. The company certainly know how pick their game designers enlisting the help of Ex-Ensembler and now founder of GRL Games, Graeme Devine to design the game “Spider Swiper” for iOS.
The game itself is pretty simple, players just need to swipe the spiders in order to defeat them. The best swipes lead into spider swiping combos. Beware though, these spiders look incredibly realistic, so if you are scared of spiders you may like to give this one a pass! Alternatively, if you want to give those pesky spiders a piece of your mind then this app is just perfect to release your dislike! Check out the game on iTunes using the link below and enjoy swiping!
Did I mention if you beat the first spider you can get a code for a free pack of Mentos? Hello free mints!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spider-swiper-by-mentos/id494017300?ls=1&mt=8
