Hello all,

Another month has passed, so today there is news about the progress of the game.

I was able to complete the biggest tasks for Spring Update 2022.

The following three items will find their way into the game:
- 3 new multiplayer maps
- Graphical revision of the UI
- Improved Inventory System

More information on the details can be found below in the patch notes

As I wrote in the last news, it was not possible to release the update in small steps due to the revision of the UI. This will change again with the next updates. This means that updates will appear again with higher frequency.

With a look at the roadmap, I would like to involve the community in particular again. It is about the point "New Game Modes". I have some ideas about which game modes could come into the game next. Ultimately, I would like to leave it up to you to vote on them.

Roadmap:

Patch notes

I want to highlight things that have come about because of the community. I look forward to your feedback.

Update 2022.2.4.25a

The entire UI has been reworked.

The following are the individual UI elements and their changes.


First the UI elements which have only been visually revised:

- Loading Screen
- InformationBox

In addition, all those who have received further changes to the visual change:

*Region Selection
- A description has been added to the region selection.

*Profile Selection
- The behaviour of the profile selection has been changed. The changes to the profile are now only accepted when Accept is pressed, otherwise all changes are discarded.

*Bestiary
- Renamed from "Creep Menu"
- The menu has been restructured and should now be clearer.

*Tower Settings
- The menu has been restructured and should now be clearer.

*Settings Menu
- The menu has also been slightly changed in structure. The tabs are now displayed above the content and no longer on the left side.
- The behaviour has been adapted. The changes must now be confirmed, otherwise all changes are discarded.

*Main Menu Top Bar
- The labels of the buttons have been changed.
- The menu item "Roadmap" has been added.

*Create Lobby
- The structure was adapted. The description and the settings have been divided into individual tabs.
- The selection "Standard Lobby" was added.
- All settings now have additional tooltips

*Join Lobby
- Added a timer to indicate when the server list is updated
- Added a button to create a lobby directly from the server list

*Lobby
- A label has been added that shows the version, the internal and the external IP when hovering over it.

*Singlerplayer Map Settings
- The structure has changed. The display has been divided into tabs. Which are separated according to game modes. However, the new game modes will only be activated with a later update (see roadmap)

*Roadmap
- The Early Access Roadmap has been added to the game

*Ingame HUD
- The upper middle menu bar has been removed.
- The resources, the waves/income and the time have been moved to the upper left corner
- The slider for setting the speed has been replaced by 5 toggles that offer the same speed intervals as the slider
- The right menu is an additional menu and can be folded in or out
- All buttons have been split in the bottom bar
- Spawmenu, Inventory and Game Settings are located around the Health bar
- Bestiary, Tower Settings and the Upgrade Menu are located around the Mana Bar
- The Upgrade Menu no longer shows all resources. Instead, only those that are relevant for the respective tab are displayed

*Inventory
- The inventory now additionally shows the number of coins of the player

*TowerView
- The menu has been revised structurally and subdivided into tabs
- The menu can be moved via drag & drop
- 8 equipment slots have been added to the Tower Menu, which will be used in a later update.
- In addition, all relevant properties of the tower are now displayed in the menu

Tooltip System
- All tooltips have been replaced by a new system
- The new system takes into account the size of the object the mouse is moving over. It also checks the position of the mouse on the screen to position the tooltip
- In addition, the tooltip now adapts to the size of the content


Inventory System:
- The entire inventory system was reworked
- There are now 3 different types of slots
- Item Slot: only items can be deposited in an item slot
- Usable Slots: all items that can be activated (e.g. healing & mana potions), abilities and towers can be placed here
- Equipment Slot: only items that act like equipment can be placed here
- The content of the slots can now be easily exchanged by drag & drop. It is no longer necessary to press an additional key.

NEW:
- The map "Wintermaul" was added as a new map. It is designed for up to 9 players and is very much based on the Warcraft 3 map of the same name. It is therefore a PVE map that you play together. The map is designed in such a way that it can also be played with fewer players.
- The map "Line Tower Wars" was added to the game. It is designed for up to 8 players and is also based on the Warcraft 3 map of the same name. You play the map against other players in "Last Man Standing" mode.
- The map "Dornheim Village" was added to the game. The map is designed for up to 2 players. You play the map together in classic mode.

General Fixes:
- Fixed a bug where the blocker on the Nights Secrets map is disabled
- Added Tooltip with internal, external and version on server list
- Fixed a bug where the version was not communicated to Steam when a lobby was created via Steam
- Fixed a bug where hotkeys were displayed incorrectly
- Fixed a bug where some audio settings were not applied
- Fixed a bug where the skill indicator on the map "A Breath Of Spring" disappeared into the ground.
- The Tower Upgrades "Construction Tools" and "Reinforced Plates" no longer count as part of the talent counter.
- Fixed a bug where you could not build a Crossbow Tower on the Railway Tracks map.
- Fixed some problems when connecting to a host.
- Fixed a bug where the chat in the lobby was not reset after entering a new lobby.
- A visual error was fixed that occurred in connection with the TrailRenderer and the ObjectPoolMananger.
- The sound of the Canontower now drops as the range increases.

Changes:
- After a message has been sent via the chat, the focus is immediately set to the input field.
- If the own towers suffer damage, an effect appears that shows that the tower has suffered damage.
- In addition, a sound is emitted at certain intervals when one of your own towers suffers damage.
- The color in the Damagetype for values above 100% has been changed from #008000 to #00FF20.
- Removed the line between the header under the description for armour and damage descriptions.
- A new tab has been added to the creep as well as the tower view. It contains a description of the unit's characteristics and its armour and damage types.
- Network has been added as a new tab in the settings.
- The connection timeout can be set in the Network tab.
- The last enemy in the map "To The Village" was marked as a boss.
- If you hold down the left shift key while building a tower, the currently selected tower remains in the selection. So you can build several towers of the same type in a row.
- The description of the creeps in the bestiary has been significantly expanded.
- Minor changes were made to the netcode.
- When a map is reloaded, the main menu is no longer loaded first.
- When returning to the menu from a single player map, the map selection is now automatically opened.

Balance:

Tower:
- The damage of all Tesla Towers has been increased
- The damage of all Crossbow Towers has been increased
- The damage of all Arance Towers has been increased
- The damage of the laser towers 1 and 2 has increased
- The damage of the Crystal Tower level 3 has been reduced
- The slow of all Crystal Towers has been reduced by 5% at each level

Note:
It turned out that the combination of "quickly bring the Crystal Tower to level 3" and "skill Holy Power" turned out to be too strong. Also, you could build the Crystal Tower in just about any situation, which never made it a bad choice. To counteract this effect and make other tactics more attractive, the Crystal Tower was weakened and all other towers in the class were strengthened.

Creeps:
- The "Forest Ogre - Brown" now subtracts 5 life when it arrives at the target.
- The "Orc Slinger - Green" now subtracts 3 life when it arrives at the target.

Creeps (PvP only):
- "Forest Bunny - Black" nerfed
- "Spiderling Venom - Red" nerfed
- All Creeps except "Forest Bunny - Black" and "Spiderling Venom - Red" income has increased (17 in total)
- "Giant Dark Treant - Green" and "Giant Caterpillar - Blue" no longer has negative income (set to 0)

Note:
So far, it has mainly been the case that it has been worthwhile to send many weak units. This generated more income than the stronger units. Then later, when you have generated enough income, you can switch to the stronger units. To make this effect less attractive, the curve was adjusted by making the expensive units generate less income. In addition, you now get the costs back when a unit reaches its destination. This is of course particularly worthwhile for expensive units.

PvP:
- If you have sent a unit to a player, you now get the half costs back if the unit reaches its destination.