I especially like your explanations, they're detailed and well thought out. I will agree that the starting points do actually make up for this idea I proposed. However I still feel there might be a flaw to some of the balance of the units vs waves beyond world 2... But then again I just wrote a big post about Goombas vs Pokeys but I realized they actually might be more balanced than I think. Goombas are good for larger groups of waves by attacking individual Shy Guys faster than a Pokey, while Pokeys are better for smaller groups and can deal three damage in quick succession with a long cooldown. Is my understanding correct? Reading back to your post, my opinion on your two points is I want to believe that by increasing the economy, the player is only going to want to use better units that were recruited at the most recent World to subdue the waves. My question is: Would something simple as decreasing the starting point count encourage use of previous-world units (Goombas, Koopas)? My target is World 2 and World 3, as I understand that World 1 and World 4 are designed with this in mind. In retrospect of writing that last paragraph, maybe nothing needs changes. I would be in favor of seeing one minion slot be removed. I have found myself in several cases where I only used 5 minions,... Maybe I'll replay the game with only 5 and see how it goes.

[quote]My question is: Would something simple as decreasing the starting point count encourage use of previous-world units (Goombas, Koopas)? My target is World 2 and World 3, as I understand that World 1 and World 4 are designed with this in mind.[/quote] That is precisely the case. I would describe the themes of the worlds thusly: World 1: Tutorial. The minions are all just different methods of dealing damage. World 2: Hazards. All of the minions introduced have some method of avoiding damage from stomping/fire. World 3: Cost-effectiveness. All the minions introduced are significantly more cost-effective (when in their element) than previous minions. World 4: Tech. The minions are all heavily specialized towards dealing with certain types/concentrations of enemies, and minions from previous worlds are encouraged to mop up the remainders.

Pshaw, I don't know what you guys are talking about. I found myself spamming Goombas and Koopas in every level right up to the very end of the game. Like [url=http://phpbb.mfgg.net/viewtopic.php?p=493863#p493863]this[/url]. Granted, I did go through a stage where I stopped using Goombas entirely. After discovering they could be permanently squashed, I used exclusively Buzzy Beetles for a while. But I realized that if I carefully checked the enemy units before entering a stage, I could continue spamming Goombas in stages without green shy guys. As for Koopas, I don't think they ever really fell off in usefulness. They're nice for thinning enemy waves as long as you have anti-fire backup from Buzzy Beetles, Pokeys or Monty Moles. If anything, I'd like to see the mid-game enemies become more tempting to use. Specifically Spikes, Hammer Bros, Bob-Ombs and Dry Bones. I rarely used those minions outside of their introductory stages.

I was mostly talking about laptop touchpads, but I was also talking about touch screens. In GM-made games, touchscreens usually require two taps to perform one click - one tap to move the cursor to the desired location, and another tap in the same location to actually click. If anyone knows of a way to make this better, let me know. I'll check out the new version of the game when I get a chance.

[quote="DragonDePlatino"]I could continue spamming Goombas in stages without green shy guys.[/quote] [i]Technically[/i], about a quarter of the Shy Guys have some sort of jump or drop in their movement pattern that can dispatch Goombas. They are balanced with the intent of using them against those sorts of enemies, though. [quote]Specifically Spikes, Hammer Bros, Bob-Ombs and Dry Bones. I rarely used those minions outside of their introductory stages.[/quote] Spikes are primarily intended to be a member of the anti-fire backup group. The next patch should buff their attack rate slightly (about 10%? They weren't perfectly at the standard 3 second attack rate before) and the nerf to Monty Moles should make them a bit more attractive as a ranged alternative. I'm actually a bit curious as to how you got through World 4 without spamming Hammer Bros-when I was S-rank testing them I used them on every level. They're currently the highest DPS ranged minion, doing 2 damage at double the rate. Dry Bones are a bit of an odd one. As of this demo they're primarily meant to be used for Survival, since their immunities and secondary projectile make them ideal for handling a varied assortment of waves. Bob-Ombs are the ones I'm most unsure about. When they were initially created, they took 15 seconds to recharge rather than 20. They felt a bit too strong that way; OHKOing a bunch of enemies in a fairly significant radius every 15 seconds felt very overpowered (they nearly outdid Boos on the Boo introductory stage). Perhaps I'll return them to 15 seconds and alter the explosion so that it doesn't do any damage after the first frame? [quote]I was mostly talking about laptop touchpads, but I was also talking about touch screens. In GM-made games, touchscreens usually require two taps to perform one click - one tap to move the cursor to the desired location, and another tap in the same location to actually click. If anyone knows of a way to make this better, let me know. I'll check out the new version of the game when I get a chance.[/quote] Hrm. I might do a bit of research on that, though I doubt that GM 8.1 could handle it (since it predates the popularity of touchscreens and all that). I haven't released the keyboard control alternative yet.

Interface rehaul is underway! [spoiler][img]http://i.imgur.com/srW5a6K.png[/img] There are a few minor changes from Yakibomb's template. - The world completion status on the top-right gives you a percentage based on your level clears and level ranks. Completing every level in a world gets you to 50%; the remaining 50% comes from level ranks. - The coin/averageRank field is pushed down a bit to ensure that a border exists around the entire window. - An additional thumbnail has been added for the Options menu. - The minion icons are a little bit closer together to avoid contacting the sides of the window. (ignore the placement of the Buzzy Beetle/Fire Piranha, I'd completely forgotten that their code IDs were different from the order of display)[/spoiler] The army size has been reduced to 5. The buttons looks a tad empty at first glance, but I've tried putting more information on them (minion count, hotkey numbers) and found that it detracted from the button's simple appearance. After glaring at them for an hour while working on the interface I've gotten used to them. Oh, and an anonymous contributor has provided some new Monty Mole art! While the Monty Moles will be less cost-effective in the next update, the art alone is improvement enough to be considered a buff.

That looks amazing! It has better aligning than mine, that's for sure! Excellent work. I noticed you shrunk the map size down to get more space.

I believe the map is the same size? Spells and Options are done! [spoiler][img]http://i.imgur.com/R3zdGgZ.png[/img] Spells only get a name and a description on the world map-the Spell Shop will give a bit more information on the specifics of each spell. Miniboss spells get their own row. [img]http://i.imgur.com/2Ztsczq.png[/img] It was surprisingly more enjoyable to make sliding bars from scratch than I had expected.[/spoiler] Options menu is looking a bit bare right now; the only things you can do at the moment are set the volume of background music/sound effects and toggle Flip Action Buttons. All of the options are bound to your save file. Flip Action Buttons flips the mouse buttons (and keyboard keys) used for moving and casting. This does not affect clicking on buttons and all that, only controlling the player themselves (so with Flip Action Buttons on, one would left click a minion button to select it, then left click on the ground to place it). To compensate for the dual control schemes, both left and right clicks can be used to go between levels on the world map. Does anyone have any suggestions for Options they would like to see in the game? I have some empty space that needs filling. Oh, right, forgot the most important thing; I have made progress towards fixing the sound glitch! Discovered a significant part of the problem when the sound effect slider refused to work at first (while the music volume slider worked fine). For those of you with programming experience, take a look at this pseudocode and see if you can find the (a bit more obvious with the psuedocode) error: [code] function sfxAdd(string soundName, int group) { sound = FMODSoundAdd("sound/"+directory+soundName+".wav"); FMODSoundSetGroup(soundName,group); return sound; } [/code]

Hm, what about an option that lets you change the resolution size? You could maybe at least do 1x, 2x, and full screen. Anyway, the game is looking very nice! I like the concept behind it.

So. After forgetting about the game's existence for a few months, I just took the time to listen to Sticker Star's OST for the first time. Oh...so that's where that's from... Gotta admit, that kinda dampened my favorite moment from this game a bit. I thought that was an original thing. :(

I'd like to take [i]some[/i] credit for [ispoiler]syncing cannon blasts to the music[/ispoiler]. The sound was originally synced to [ispoiler]Gooper Blooper pounding the ground in its idle animation.[/ispoiler]

Haven't done much work in the past two weeks (combination of university work and apprehension for starting on the shop interface). I've decided to get the gears running again by doing one of my favorite activities: [s]destroying[/s] improving the balance. I'm finding that the difficulty doesn't scale down quite as much as I'd like it to when going for bad ranks, so I've decided to reduce the impact of the two biggest 'punishments' in the game: 1. The standard refund for a lost Minion is now 50% rather than 25%. Goombas still return double the normal rate, so a defeated Goomba now [b]refunds its full price upon loss[/b]. Goombas should be a fairly universal Minion now. 2. Each time the block loses a coin, the player gains 5% FP. This should help with those who tend to spam the regular attack in a panic while losing coins, as it gives one a chance to bounce back. Still haven't started on the shop system, so I can't release these changes yet.

I like these changes. Two things I wanted to bring up: 1. I suggested this in the last thread but I don't remember seeing a reply--Have you considered coins dropping on the ground if a Shy Guy that collected them has been defeated? In this fashion, the coin could slide on the ground a la SMW, going toward the left until either A) The Magikoopa shoots it with magic or collides with or B) Another enemy picks it up. What do you think of this? 2. I recently had an image pop in my head, and I was thinking about yet [i]another[/i] redesign of the menu--What do you think of enemies becoming stamps in a stickerbook kind of collection?

I believe I responded to that question in the same topic-I want the moment before a Shy Guy hits the block to be a dramatic moment and the act would be cheapened a bit if it could be easily reversed. These changes are intended to make D-A ranks easier without really affecting S-rank strategies at all, whereas that change would only make S-ranking a bit easier. I'm not entirely sure what you mean in regards to the enemies being stamps. ...Anyways, now that losing Minions isn't quite the dealbreaker it used to be, I can finally implement a Minion that I've been on the fence about for months: [img]http://i.imgur.com/dXdjsD6.png?1[/img] The Rex is quite similar to a Koopa, attacking at exactly the same rate. When stomping is not considered, the only act Rexes do differently is walking off of cliffs. However, Rexes have a fairly unique response to being stomped: they compress, get angry, and then begin to attack at an increased rate (equivalent to a Dry Bones). After being initially stomped, they are immune to further stomps for the next five seconds; after that point, a single stomp will defeat them. The increased attack rate is permanent.

1. Ahh, that's a very good point. Agreed. 2. I did say stamps, but I meant stickers. My mistake. Something like a black outline around the sprite, with a white border around that, could give a little more personality to the icons? [spoiler][img]http://bin.smwcentral.net/u/124/MSF%2BSticker%2BMock.png[/img] The outline on the spell icon for Frosty Flurry.[/spoiler] :think: I'm not sure if it's needed, since on one hand it could be spiced up, but on the other hand it's not broken or cumbersome. Really I throw the idea over for the thought this could be further developed into something more... artsy. It's ultimately up to you what you want to do, though.

This marks roughly a year since the last frantic burst of development, so I suppose it could be a good time to attempt to raise this from the dead once more. [spoiler][video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQfEQFRZMQg[/video][/spoiler] This is a fairly spoilerific video for those who haven't played through the latest release, showing off some of the UI improvements in the pipeline. The shop is still missing, so I'm not quite ready to put it in a release. I do hate to make an update after so long without anything truly tangible to show. However... https://discord.gg/A5rZvcb Magikoopa Security Force now has a discord! I tend to be available on Discord for a fair portion of the day, so I can be easily contacted from there. A couple of my acquaintances are present there as well. I would like to make this a congregation point where players (few as there are) can discuss the game, as I don't believe I've ever witnessed a conversation about Magikoopa Security Force wherein I was not a direct participant. There is also a 'suggestions' channel where one can suggest improvements or modifications to the game, but for the sake of sanity I've limited it to members with named roles; I will personally promote anyone that has played the game to a role to promote such discourse. As for the game's development, my next goal is to finally complete the shop.