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Dire Defense Reforged (DDR) [v2.0c SOLO]

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Reactions: deepstrasz
This recent update added a ton of new changes, please consider playing again even if you've beat the game before!
DIRE DEFENSE REFORGED v2.0
A modern spin on a classic single-player minigame. Defend against hordes of enemies; time your attacks, manage your army, and counter your foes with magic. This is a game that requires creativity and skill. To be successful, you must constantly adjust your strategy to the strange, crafty foes you'll face.

Features:
  • Challenging high-APM timing-based singleplayer combat reminiscent of The Death Sheep
  • 11 bosses, each with a unique combat style
  • Endless mode! Fight against waves of foes with endless random modifiers & tactics
  • 100+ different types of foes, many of which will need you to adapt your playstyle
  • Several different ways to develop your strength - to your preference. Master spellcasting, hone your edge, hire mercenaries, and more!
  • Multiple endings depending on your difficulty
  • A story? kinda? not really?
  • est. time to reach end: 30 minutes
This game was only recently developed. Please report any bugs and offer suggestions for future development.

Resources & Accreditation:
Special thanks to Dentothor, Dojo, assasin_lord, Suselishe, Sin'dorei300, b17rider, Necrokenis for their custom assets in this map.



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Changes

v2.0c: Massive changes!

Version 2.0
- Added new mechanic: "Marking." Clicking on an enemy "Marks" it. Only one enemy can be marked at a time.
- Added multiple endings. Complete the game on different difficulties to unlock secrets!
- Reworked tower system. Instead of attacking, Towers are now passive structures that add synergize with the "Marking" mechanic, such as armor reduction and increased bounty. The Tower is now more of a greed-focused lineup.
- Endless mode! Defend against an unending horde of enemies, each wave with different tactics and modifiers.
- Slight nerfs, buffs, etc. / Removed an exploit with a certain boss.
- Reworked spell system. Instead of clicking on units to cast spells on, casting spells from the Arcane Sanctum now only applies the spell to the current "Marked" unit.
- New mercenary: Great Magister.
- Misc. fixes: Blood orc shaman, music looping, certain SFX
- Fix to mounted creeps delaying the round start.
- More powerups i.e. mana rune, life rune
- Reworked intro to be more informative for new players.
- MANY QOL/polishing changes.
- And more...

v1.0b:
- Hotfix for playing in BNet

v1.0:
- Added ability to control movement and attacks from the Hero using QWER.
- Added protective abilities to Tauren and Footman. (Tauren Rage and Human Resilience, respectively - reduce attack cooldown and reduce fall time after being hit)
- Nerf to Tauren, Promulgator, Renaissance, Tower.
- New optics for map preview.
- Bug fixes, memory leak reduction, and slight gameplay improvements.

v0.5:
- Massive buffs and fixes to Tauren class.
- Several bug fixes related to new additions.
- Slight performance updates.

v0.4:
- Added 2 more mercenaries: Promulgator and Regrower. The mercenary camp is now mostly complete.
- Reworked tech tree costs.
- Added Tower 4 and Tower 5.
- Added a new upgrade: "Renaissance," which buffs the Promulgator, Mortar Team, Scavenger, and is needed for Tower 5.
- more bug fixes
- Performance updates.

v0.3:
- Bug fixes: Undead & Demon boss algorithms fixed.
- Many performance updates.
- Small balance tweaks to Huntress.
- Rider-type units no longer spawn 2 units on death.
- More range to supporting units.
- Many supporting creeps spawned during boss rounds no longer give bounties (deter stalling)

v0.2:
- Changed available mercenaries. Now there'll be more interesting and varied aid you can hire!
- Changed skin set of early waves.
- Nerfs to Druid and Warlock.
- Changes to both attack algorithms.
- End-game bosses are now harder.
- Awarded trophies are now displayed every round.
- Added option to choose difficulty.
- Changes to economy.
- Performance enhancements.
Contents

Dire Defense v2.0 (Map)

Reviews
deepstrasz
Why not let the player choose the player colour? Takes a lot of time to get from one side to another especially if you have to press the arrows each time instead of holding them. Pretty annoying to drop the letter keys and use the mouse switching the...

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
  1. Why not let the player choose the player colour?
  2. Takes a lot of time to get from one side to another especially if you have to press the arrows each time instead of holding them.
  3. Pretty annoying to drop the letter keys and use the mouse switching the right hand from the arrows to the mouse and the left from the letters to the arrows.
  4. When the catapults start coming (wave 14), a unit went past and did not disappear, hence the game was put to a halt and the archers could not reach the unit. For some reason, the unit came back and was killed right at the south screen border by the archers.
  5. How to dodge Silence? Tried moving, nothing.

So while the concept works, the playing is pretty demanding.
A neat Death Sheep-like map.

Approved.


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If you're not satisfied with the review and wish another opinion, contact the other reviewers or use the staff contact:
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Level 3
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
8
New version addresses some of deepstraz's review comments:
- Added ability to control movement and attacks from the Hero using QWER.
- Added protective abilities to Tauren and Footman. (Tauren Rage and Human Resilience, respectively - reduce attack cooldown and reduce fall time after being hit)
- New map preview! This version is considered complete for now.
- Bug fixes, memory leak reduction, and slight gameplay improvements. (Unit stuck bug should be fixed now)
- Nerf to Tauren, Promulgator, Renaissance, Tower.
 
You get about 0.1 seconds to pick your character before you're prompted with "Are you new?", and never get the option to select your character again.

It's a neat game, I had to restart and just hit enter as soon as it started and accept what I got to play. You need to fix that issue, it's extremely annoying.

Another issue is that there's simply too much to control and not enough time to do it. Maybe you should allow the player to hotkey some of their favorite spells onto their hero, so they can use them that way. You can just trigger it to cast the ability on the target that the player targets.

Here is my suggestion to improve the map:

Instead of using abilities for the hero controls, just use triggers to detect the player pressing buttons, and use that to control the heroes. This will free up space. Next, put the spells for the sanctum onto the controllable tower, so that they can be cast from it -- even if you just use the tower to cast the abilities, and the sanctum then actually uses them.

Have the tower remain selected by the player as the default unit.

Now, the player can use the controls for their hero, use hotkeys to cast spells, and right click enemies to attack them with the tower, all without having to switch units.
 
Last edited:
Level 3
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
8
You get about 0.1 seconds to pick your character before you're prompted with "Are you new?", and never get the option to select your character again.

It's a neat game, I had to restart and just hit enter as soon as it started and accept what I got to play. You need to fix that issue, it's extremely annoying.

Another issue is that there's simply too much to control and not enough time to do it. Maybe you should allow the player to hotkey some of their favorite spells onto their hero, so they can use them that way. You can just trigger it to cast the ability on the target that the player targets.

Here is my suggestion to improve the map:

Instead of using abilities for the hero controls, just use triggers to detect the player pressing buttons, and use that to control the heroes. This will free up space. Next, put the spells for the sanctum onto the controllable tower, so that they can be cast from it -- even if you just use the tower to cast the abilities, and the sanctum then actually uses them.

Have the tower remain selected by the player as the default unit.

Now, the player can use the controls for their hero, use hotkeys to cast spells, and right click enemies to attack them with the tower, all without having to switch units.

Hey, thanks so much for the detailed comments.
I've fixed the delay issue you were talking about. I had neglected to account for people hosting in BNet/LAN/anything non-single player mode.
The rest are great ideas. I've been thinking about a reworked control system and will get around to releasing something similar, bundled with more substantive content changes/updates later on (considering, at this point, few people will get to see the changes or bother redownloading without something else).
Again, thanks for the thoughtful insight and hope you enjoyed, issues aside.
 
Level 3
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
8
I've updated this map with a huge number of changes including a new spellcasting system and QOL changes that addresses some of the concerns above.
Updates include:
  • Added new mechanic: "Marking." Clicking on an enemy "Marks" it. Only one enemy can be marked at a time.
  • Added multiple endings. Complete the game on different difficulties to unlock secrets!
  • Reworked tower system. Instead of attacking, Towers are now passive structures that add synergize with the "Marking" mechanic, such as armor reduction and increased bounty. The Tower is now more of a greed-focused lineup.
  • Endless mode! Defend against an unending horde of enemies, each wave with different tactics and modifiers.
  • Slight nerfs, buffs, etc. / Removed an exploit with a certain boss.
  • Reworked spell system. Instead of clicking on units to cast spells on, casting spells from the Arcane Sanctum now only applies the spell to the current "Marked" unit.
  • New mercenary: Great Magister.
  • Misc. fixes: Blood orc shaman, music looping, certain SFX
  • Fix to mounted creeps delaying the round start.
  • More powerups i.e. mana rune, life rune
  • Reworked intro to be more informative for new players.

Please let me know what you think!
 
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