Monthly Archives: January 2015

Over last few weeks there has been some pretty interesting Orcs Must Die! Unchained insider access streams taking place over on the OMDU Twitch channel. These shows have given fans a good insight onto what kind of things we can expect to see in phase 2 of the closed beta.

Show #1 – Tencent announcement

The first insider access was a biggie, it was where we found out that Robot has a new partnership in place with Tencent Games in China to bring OMDU to the eastern audiences. It was also where, much to fans excitement we found out that barricades are returning! Other traps were discussed along with some ideas about changes to the gameplay and in-game economy.

Show #2 – Bosses and levelling

In this Insider Access, Mother (Ian Fischer) took the hot seat to discuss the cool ideas the studio has about implementing bosses. We saw a ton of artwork for potential bosses and we learnt about the plans to introduce daily challenges, specific goals that players can work towards.

Show #3 – Meet Doug Houserman, balance designer

In this show we met Robot’s new balance designer, Doug Houserman who talked to us about some of the plans and ideas he has for game-balance. Not only that but we got to see a whole ton of new trap ideas fresh out of the box from Doug’s mind!

Show #4 – Hero rewards, experience, bosses, XP and rewards.

Shoop (Shovaen Patel) and Shade (Doug Houserman) join Justin for a detailed look at how things like experience, XP and rewards are changing in Phase 2. We learnt that there are plans to track victories for individual heroes, allowing players to level up on a per hero basis. Bosses were discussed again, and we also found out that at the end of each game players can choose a card from a random set to get a random reward.

Reveal #5 – New Map!

Something we have all been waiting eagerly to hear about, a new map, this time with a much darker Orcish map to give contrast to the two current fortress based Order maps.

Catch up show – Tuesday, January 27

With so much that has been covered in the last few weeks, it can be tricky to digest all the new ideas that Robot is working on. Luckily Robot’s community team have this covered with this weeks show going to be a “Reveals Overview” show where Justin “SixOkay” Korthof will be going through the key highlights of each of these five big reveal shows to give us the low down on the key changes that will be going into Phase 2.

Its definitely a show not to be missed so be sure to check out the next Insider Access Tuesday, January 27 at 2PM Central Time on the OMDU Twitch channel. If you have a burning question be sure to come along and ask it in the Twitch chat.

See you there!

We’ve got another special Fan Friday feature this week. We’re interviewing Rimmon of the OMDU EU community. Those who check the EU forums will probably know that Rimmon is currently working with Muchcoffee on a brand new OMDU community website called “Atypical Neurons“.

The duo have some BIG things planned for this new website and is set to be jam-packed full of very useful features and tools for players to make the most of OMDU. The website has been described as an Information Hub and Theorycrafting Platform. It certainly lives up to its description boasting a fully detailed heroes, weavers and card database, a game guide detailing leadership, maps trap placement and more.

Looking ahead the duo have plans to introduce some excellent features including:

• Attribute Calculator and Deck Builder will help you plan your builds, and share them with others to get feedback.
• Click on 5 Heroes and the Setup Planner will automatically tell you how many Trap Disables, Stuns, Roots, Escort Abilities, (and more) that the setup includes. It’ll show all relevant hero and minion synergies.
• The Warcmap Editor will let you put minion cards in to a warcamp; displaying the minion formations, minion speed, and which buffs or debuffs they provide. It will point out if any minion will run ahead of the pack, or get left behind, and other useful information.
• Plan whole trap rooms with the Trap Layout Editor. Showing unique combo points, debuffs, the individual and total coin cost, and more.

Lets find out a bit more about him!

Interview

Name: Joel Bergqvist

Age: 27

Home Town: Västerås, Sweden.

Questions

• What do you do by day?

I’m unemployed while waiting for further diagnosis and treatment. I have a preliminary diagnosis of Bipolar disorder, and my professional life completely fell apart due to it about two years ago.

• How about outside of work – what hobbies / interests do you have?

I love interior decorating, which ties in to my interest in thrift shopping and building furniture out of salvage. I also read, and practice philosophy, mainly stoicism.
During the not so cold parts of the year I spend a lot of time outside picking berries, mushrooms, fishing, etc.

• What was your highlight of 2014

2014 was an amazing year to pick Porcini, and some other mushrooms.

• How did you discover Orcs Must Die! ?

I’ve played Tower Defense games for over 10 years, so I’ve always been on the lookout for nice games in the genre. I was a bit late to the party when it came to OMD, only found out about it a few months after OMD2 had been released. I was probably just browsing games on Steam, often a fruitless endeavour for me, this time however I struck gold.

• We hear you are working on a new website for OMDU – can you tell us a bit about it?

I’d be delighted to! Atypical Neurons is intended to support the OMDU community, and work as a hub for everything OMDU related. Our main focus will be to provide tools for players to better plan their tactics, but we’ll also post news, videos, guides etc.

• What made you want to start Atypical Neutrons with Muchcoffee?

Back in August when I first started playing OMDU I was doing trap layouts in excel, and I wished there would be website with a trap layout editor. Muchcoffee was over here from Norway to visit, and we started talking about what such a website could contain. That turned in to a three day long brainstorming session. And a few days later the first version of the site was online.

We quickly understood that the project would work wonders for both of us, on a personal level. It was the first thing to ever motivate us to the point where quitting was no longer an option. If I allow myself to use hyperbole I’d say it brought meaning to our lives.

• With lots of features planned – what are your top 3 best features for the new website?

1. The Card Database

My speciality lies in Data Management, so building the database and the means for people to search and filter through it, is really exciting to me personally.

2. Planning Tools

There’s so many tools planned (ha. ha.), that it’s hard to pick just one. They’ll all tie together to let you plan and share a whole team’s strategy. But since the Trap Layout was what set the project in motion it’ll feel really special to launch that.

3. Guide Writer

We have some ideas on how to streamline user submitted guides. This will simplify the process of submitting a guide, a lot.Players will be able to display heroes, minions, traps, and anything else by choosing it from our database. No need to link to pictures or copy the skill descriptions. This will speed up the writing process as well as ensure consistency even in the user submitted material on our site.

• Looking further down the road, what else would you like to implement on the site?

We’d love to have user accounts linked to in-game accounts, so you can use your in-game inventory for our deck editor etc. Our wish is that Robot will provide the community with a nice API in the future, making such things possible.
If the game would grow bigger than we expect, a mobile app might happen. So you can see current special offers from the in game store, read news etc. A simple version of some of our planning tools could also be included.

 

• Roughly when are you planning to Go Live out of alpha?

We’ve been working really hard the past few weeks to put together a working alpha version of the site, which is intended to be live at the time this interview is published. Before this we’ve considered ourself to be pre-alpha, if we are to use such definitions.
If we can enter beta during phase 2, and get far enough to have a functional, user friendly site once the game is released we’d be more than happy.

• Is there anything the community can do to help with this big task?

Tell us we’re pretty. Every time we get feedback, and see that people use what we create, it motivates us to work even harder.

 

Spread the word, engage in the discussion about our site on the European forum, give us feedback. And spread the word about the game, our site is nothing without a player base to support.

 

While we don’t expect it, we wouldn’t mind if you would donate money to help us out. We hope to prove ourselves capable of realizing all of this, and once we’ve proven ourselves capable we hope someone will feel us worthy of a small donation.

Shout Out

Is there anything you would like to say to all the OMD fans out there right now?

Keep playing, keep discussing on the forum, keep watching the streams. If you’re interested in seeing this game succeed, be an active community member! It might not be much, but providing towards an active community is the easiest thing we can do to further the success of the OMD franchies.

 

We’ll be catching up with Muchcoffee a bit later on to see how things are going with Atypical Neurons. In the meanwhile be sure to check out their website, currently in alpha, to see how things are going so far. Be sure to leave feedback on the forums or the comments box. They would sure appreciate your thoughts.

http://atypicalneurons.com/

We look forward to seeing these excellent features come to life!

New year, new Robot staffers! Today Patrick Hudson, CEO at Robot Entertainment announced on the studios blog that Paul Hellquist has now joined the team as Lead Designer. Paul has an impressive career in the industry having spent a considerable number of years at Gearbox Software and Irrational Games before that. Paul has worked on Bioshock as Lead Designer and Borderlands 2 as Creative Director. Needless to say Paul brings a great amount of experience to an already strong team.

Patrick Hudson took the company blog, posting:

I spent a considerable amount of time with Paul recently, and I was consistently impressed with his breadth of thinking, passion for great design, and humility. His remarkable portfolio of work is clearly well-earned. Paul is a great fit for Robot, and I expect him to have a profound impact on the games we make, starting with Orcs Must Die! Unchained.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Paul said:

“It’s always difficult to leave a place you’ve spent a huge chunk of your career, but it is always exciting as well. Robot has a great track record and I’m thrilled to join the talented and veteran team. I look forward to adding my perspective and skills to Orcs Must Die! Unchained and future projects.”

REF also welcomes Paul to the Robotic studio – we’re looking forward to the next phase of Orcs Must Die! Unchained due to be announced soon.

For more on Paul’s hire, check out the Robot blog and the article on Gamasutra.

Following on from part 1 of our interview with our streaming couple Cremvursti & Dubioasa we now get Dubioasa’s answers on the same questions. Without further ado, here we go!

The Basics

Name: Cristina (in-game: Dubioasa)
Age: 21
Home Town: Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Questions

• What do you both do by day?

We’re Journalism students, away from our homes to study at the university, but we are too lazy to do that. I am an intern at the European Youth Capital (Cluj-Napoca is going to be that in 2015 xD) and I sometimes go there to write articles for the websites and to promote the city. If I could, I’d sleep all day long, like our cat, Skittles.
Otherwise, we like to watch TV series while we eat. I love to cook and I`d stay all day in the kitchen preparing Italian food especially. Generally speaking, that’s our day: movies, OMDU, food and playing with the cat.

• How did you first meet?

We were in the first year at the university and we had a Facebook group. I posted an invitation to a concert I didn’t even wanted to attend, but he thought I like his kind of music and asked me out. I forgot about it and went out with my friends, and I felt embarrassed. So I asked him out next time. We dated for like a week, then he never left my house. It’s true, I have a nice apartment.

• What made you want to start streaming?

He said that it would be great, `cause I’m cute, not bitchy and annoying. Turns out that didn’t help a lot. I’m still a beginner at everything regarding games and streaming and I really feel uncomfortable being in front of the camera and talking by myself. Hope it’s not gonna be like that for too long.

• Outside of OMD and streaming, what other things do you both do for fun?

I like to dance a lot. I could dance for hours, it’s a thing I do to relax and to cheer up. Sometimes we go out with friends.

• What are your highlights of 2014?

Hmm, I think visiting Amsterdam and getting a new laptop were #1.

• What are you doing over the New Year?

Next year, we’d love to visit Germany during Gamescom. I really want to meet the OMDU community sometime. I’m very friendly and enthusiastic if it’s about people I have something in common with. Seriously, I want to make myself a Sorceress outfit and meet with everyone and play together. Ball & Chain costume may be a bit too large for me, heehee.

• How did you discover OMD?

It`s the first game I actually played recently. I used to play when I was little, but then I stopped. I have to give credits to Cremvursti for that. I said I might enjoy if he found some tower defense based games. He showed me OMD 2 and we played in co-op. Then we moved on to other games, but I just couldn’t. OMD is my love.

• Which are your favourite heroes and why?

Sorceress. I played with her in OMD 2 and I liked her. I tried Blackpaw but fed too much. Then I started with Ivy and Ball & Chain and I like them both. Still, I prefer long-ranged, otherwise I feed like a grandma.

• If there was one thing that you would most like to see phase 2 bring to Unchained, what would it be?

More maps and more heroes. And more traps. *breathing heavily.*

• When can we see you streaming next?

We’ll try to get back live from the beginning of January. Now I`m not in Cluj and my internet is not so great, but I hope asap. I love streaming and I hope to get better and less boring at it.

 

Shout out

• Is there anything you would like to say to all the OMD fans out there right now?

I love you, guys. Devs, fans, from FaTeReLLa to Yolteotl, from Rimmon to CrystalStorm. Playing with you doesn’t feel like standing in front of the PC and wasting some time, but more like playing with friends from childhood. Hope it’s not a cheesy message to send. If it is, it’s okay, I’m a cheesy girl then.

We’re back with Fan Friday in 2015! As things start to fire back up at Robot and the new year gets into swing, its going to be an exciting next few months to be a Robot and OMD fan. We’re kicking things off with a special Fan Friday feature too with a double interview. Those in the EU community may recognize Cremvursti & Dubioasa as the couple that stream OMD over on their Twitch channel. They both found OMD together so we thought it only right to interview them both.

Today we have Part 1 of the interview with Cremvursti and on Sunday we’ll be seeing Dubioasa’s take on the same questions. So lets find out a bit about them!

The Basics

• Name: Valentin (in-game: cremvursti)
• Age: 21
• Home Town: 20k ppl lill romanian town that translates as “fir tree”; moved to Cluj-Napoca, Romania, for studying purposes.

Questions

• What do you both do by day?

Well, we’re both studying Journalism, but given the fact that our schedule is pretty relaxed, we sit around doing lazy stuff around the house. This includes things like playing video games, watching movies or just hanging around with our cat Skittles .

• How did you first meet?

Haha… Dubi actually dumped me on our first date … she totally forgot that she had to go out with me (I asked her out on Facebook after seeing that she was in the same year with me studying journo (this happened about 2 years ago). She felt bad about it tho and asked me out a few days later. It went cool. Now I’m happy xD

• What made you want to start streaming?

I’ve been long planning on streaming, and this semester@uni we have a course in which we get graded based on the number of viewers we get on a website that we had to build. Looking back at it, it may have not been such a great idea, given the fact that it’s pretty hard to convince people to watch your stream on any other website than Twitch. But still, it made me think seriously about streaming. I asked Dubioasa about her 2cents on my idea, she agreed and here we are.

• Outside of OMD and streaming, what other things do you both do for fun?

Play /w Skittles, cook and drink Cola <3

• What are your highlights of 2014?

Hmm. Dunno for sure. Maybe the fact that I got a scholarship for good grades (which was totally unexpected, usually only Dubioasa gets that)… Also, it’s the year we started our streaming project, which hopefully we will be able to continue for quite a while. And also the fact that me and Dubi celebrated two years together <3

• What are you doing over the New Year?

Celebrating with Dubi, popping some champagne (Robby Bubble ftw xD)… something along those lines.

• How did you discover OMD?

I’ve read reviews about the first game AND the second, but never really tried it until I met Dubi. I bought two copies of OMD! 2 and played it in co-op with her (it was actually our first co-op game played together <3)… that happened either late 2012 or early 2013.

• Which are your favourite heroes and why?

When I started playing I mained Hogarth. He was the type of hero that I play in MOBAs (bulky, physical, melee). Then I started noticing how OP is Stinkeye in defense and this, coupled with the fact that Dubi usually plays Sorc, made me choose him as my main. That way we can both play in defense and coordinate our actions.

• If there was one thing that you would most like to see phase 2 bring to Unchained, what would it be?

If we’re talking about game mechanics or content… I’m not quite sure… maybe more heroes. But the ONE THING I’d like to see from phase 2 is more players. This game has a huge potential of being “the next big thing” and if it reaches at least half of it, I’m going to be very happy 

• When can we see you streaming next?

Probably on the 3rd of January (I think FaTeReLLa will stream on the 2nd, so we won’t try to compete with her ). Seeing as how we had mild success with the stream, we’re probably going to try and set up a fixed schedule of OMD! Unchained streams (probably about twice per week, at least up until Phase 2).

 

Shout out

To all the OMD fans: if you haven’t played Unchained, you seriously have to. Don’t let words like “free-to-play”, “multiplayer” or “MOBA-like” stand between you and a great game.

Also, we’d like to thank everybody that has watched our stream. Hopefully you found us entertaining. If not, come again soon, we work really hard on improving the “fun factor” of our stream, but it’s a lot easier when you have viewers with whom to chat and have a laugh.

Stay tuned to see Dubioasa’s take on these interview questions on Sunday!