Mirror mirror

Hi fellow taggers (insert Steve Buscemi meme), It’s been quite a while since we last wrote a proper dev log. Finally, after months of intense development we feel like we have the time to dwell on our thoughts about the past, presence and future of TagTime.

Obviously a lot has happened since our last proper dev log. We will cover the changes in broad terms in this log even though most of the time consuming work is in the details - netcode we’re staring at you!

To make this massive dev log more digestible we’ve chosen to split it up in two parts. In this first part we’ll take a glance into the rearview mirror and serve you a course consisting of the most exciting changes we’ve made to the game since our last update. In the second part we’ll rub the crystal ball and take a look at all the hot stuff we’re currently working on.

Without further ado, let’s get back on track with our crazy new character abilities and beautiful new HUD.

Abilities

It seems like we’ve been writing about special abilities for our characters since the dawn of time. It has always been our idea that we wanted each character to have a character defining ability, much like you know it from classic MOBA’s. Now finally we have actually made it happen. Despite still using placeholder graphics we can already feel how much excitement they bring to the game. So let's make a run-down of each of the characters and their abilities in their all new glory.

The Wolf

The wolf's ability known as Big Bad Wolf is twofold. At first he can sniff out the nearest runt. When activated a blood trail appears guiding him towards the nearest runt. The blood trail is omnipresent which means that the targeted runt knows that the fearsome wolf is in their trail. Whenever he kills a runt his ability can now be used to make him go into a frenzy mode making him move and attack faster. Time it just right and you may succeed in chaining kills in a crazy blood rage.

The Witch

The witch’s ability Manic Moonshine is all about wreaking havoc and chaos. Once activated she will mount her broom, making her able to fly above barricades, and spread a toxic gas that will kill all runts who stay too long in her gas cloud. While flying she can’t attack but the toxic clouds will make sure that all the runts will flee for their life. Her ability comes in handy when a heavily fortified objective needs to be cleared of runts before they succeed in clearing it.

The Pig

Our dear pig can spend 10 (amount is subject to change) of one resource to build a special barricade also known as a house. These houses are twice as big as the regular barricades and while their durability remains the same as their regular counterparts, they provide alternative safety for the runts. Common for all of the houses is that they are passable - in other words they can be entered - by the runts. The houses provide temporary safety, meaning that runts can’t be killed as long as they are inside the house.

Club House (Cost: 10 straw resources) The weakest of the houses. When a runt is inside they are hidden. Much like when hiding in a bush.

Watch Tower (Cost: 10 lumber resources) + Provides a greater overview of the arena to runt players standing inside this house.

Cannon tower (Cost: 10 stone resources) ++ Gives the runt players inside this house the ability to launch themselves in a 10 unit (amount is subject to change) radius from the house.

As can be seen above the current pig houses are just simple greybox placeholder assets. Hopefully soon we can show the real deal but until then you will have to do with these beautiful sketches our artists are working on.

The Fairy

The fairy’s Mischief Maker ability is in all essence a blink ability. When triggered she will quickly dash up to 10 units (amount is subject to change) in a specified direction. While moving she is invisible and invulnerable.

The Gnome

Our garden gnome inspired character can choose to consume the power-up mushrooms to clone himself instead of using its power-up functionality. Once consumed a clone of him will stack on top of him, providing him with a greater overview of the arena and giving him extra protection. If the gnome is hit while having a clone (or more) stacked on top of him he will not die, instead he will get a slight speed boost for each of the clones stacked on top of him.

UI

Let’s look at the most immediately noticeable change; the in-game UI. Since forever, we have longed for a more appealing, informative and responsive in-game UI for the game.

The game changer here is the much improved mini-map and the chat-like announcements of in-game events. Now the map shows you your teammates positions, and events like objectives being worked on. The announcements give you alternative game-wide information like, who killed who and who made significant progress on an objective. The new much improved resource and ability section gives you all the info you need in terms of ability cost, cooldown, duration and so on.

Furthermore our artists are hard at work creating new icons for the game.

This marks the end of this dev log. Part 2 is in the making as we speak and we aim to publish it in a week or two. If you want to try the game and experience all of the exciting changes we’ve made lately, head over to our Discord and grab a build (Windows and MacOS). If you are a content creator and want to feature TagTime you can contact us for steam keys for you and your community.

That's all for now folks!