New Alpha Build of The Counting Kingdom: 0.7.3

Hold onto your spellbooks because this update's a big one!

New Spell Effects

kaPOW! We've made all new spell explosions, and we think you're going to like them.  The more monsters you cast a spell on, the bigger the effects are!  We dialed the awesome knob all the way up to 11 here.  How many monsters can you cast a spell on?

New Interface for Working With Spells

In previous builds of the game, you would drag and drop spells on top of the spellbook to discard them, or other spells to combine them.  These still work the same way but will look a little bit different to help make this feature easier to understand and use.

Discarding a spell to get a new one

Combining spells together

Catapults & Progress Meter

Progress Bar

Catapults

It was a little bit unclear how many monsters were left in the level, so we've added in two new features to help.  The first is the Progress Meter.  This bar in the upper-left hand corner of the game will show how close you are to the end of the level.  The second is the catapults - they'll show up at the end of the level to push any straggling monsters forward! (Don't worry, they won't fire on the towers.. yet).  

Freeze Potion

We're added in all new art, sound effects and particle effects for the freeze potion. Ice blocks fall down from the sky, and crack apart as the turns progress.  Have you tried out this potion yet?  You'll unlock it in the icy tundra area.

Optimization

With all the new goodies going in this week, it was important that we didn't bog down the game.  We went in and cleaned everything up, so the game should be running more smoothly than ever!

Revised Tutorial

More tutorial revisions - what an enormous surprise!  We're continuing to work on this every week, and we think the tutorial is in really great shape.  Let us know what you think!

Miscellaneous Bug Fixes & Polish

Here's the full list of all the little things that have been updated since the last build:

• Bug fixed: the game takes 5-10 seconds to quite
• Increased size of the stars on the castle flags in the world map
• Renamed "Pause" menu to "Menu" 
• New audio: ambient monster noises, additional ambient environment noises
• Equation Window is now anchored to the top of the screen so it will look good in all screen resolutions
• Bug fixed: players could pick up potions through the "You Win!" menu
• New images for the Apprentice
• Bug fixed: potions sporadically would not get applied to monsters
• The Zero potion is now unlocked in the forest, and the Freeze potion is unlocked in the Tundra

New Alpha Build of The Counting Kingdom: 0.7.1

It's been just a few weeks since the last build but we're back with even more fun things to share!  Not signed up for the alpha yet?  Sign up here to download the game for PC or Mac and start playing!  Here's what's new:

Fullscreen and Additional Resolutions

You've been asking for this, and we're happy to say it's now possible to play the game in full-screen mode or at different resolutions.  When you open up the game you'll see a menu that lets you choose your resolution and whether you'd like to play in 'Windowed' mode (ie not fullscreen).  The game current supports these aspect ratios: 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10.   We recommend trying the game on fullscreen at the highest resolution!

To exit the game while you're in fullscreen, you can click on the Exit button on the title menu or hit the "Esc" key from anywhere in the game.  We have a known issue where closing the game down takes up to 5 or 6 seconds - we're looking into it and hope to have it resolved soon.

Intro Cinematic

If you select the first castle from the World Map you'll be treated to a short cinematic that shows how this whole kerfuffle began!  The artwork is still a work in progress, but let us know what you think!

Win the Game

If you wind your way through the meadows, past the harbor, under the trees, beyond the icy tundra and up the mountain, you've saved the kingdom!  Rescue all 30 castles to see a special fireworks celebration that we have in store just for you.

Sound Effects

Our first round of sound effects has finally gone into the game!  Birds chirp, potions gurgle, and spells go KABOOM.  Let us know how it looks (err.. sounds)!

Balancing

We're always working to make sure that the difficulty curve of this game is just right.  In this build you'll notice that the game is easier across the board, and gets more difficult at a slower rate.  If you're playtesting with kids, we'd love to know what you think of the difference!

Help us out!

We're incredibly grateful for all of the feedback and bug reports we've received so far, every e-mail from you helps make our game better.  We'd love to ask you another favor - help us spread word of the game!  A mention on Twitter or a screenshot posted to our Facebook page can go a long way in helping us get the game out there.  Also, if you know anyone who might be interested in the game please share the link for alpha testing with them!

New Alpha Build of The Counting Kingdom: 0.6.1

Today we're releasing a new build of the game to alpha testers with all sorts of new features and goodies - hooray!  Not signed up for the alpha yet?  Sign up here to download the game and start playing!  Here's what's new:

Mac Download

Previous builds have been PC only, but Mac users can now join in the fun.  If you have been waiting to join the alpha because it was PC-only, now is the time to dust off your spellbook and join the fray!

Free Play Mode

Players in The Counting Kingdom rescue castles one by one as they travel across the land.  This new mode changes things up a little bit by allowing players to select a difficulty level and jump right in.  Click the Free Play button from the World Map to access this new mode.

We believe this mode will be especially helpful for teachers; you won't need to unlock all the levels to get access to the various difficulties!

New Potions

Previously potions were limited to +1, +2, -1 and -2.  We have four new potions that you will unlock as you travel throughout the kingdom:

Move: Drop this potion on a monster to move it to any open square next to it. Drop the potion on the monster, then select the arrow for the direction you want the monster to move in!

Zero: This potion immediately drops a monster's number to zero.  This can be extra helpful in the later levels when the monster's numbers get particularly big!

Freeze: This potion will drop ice chunks on an entire row.  The row is frozen in place for two turns, but you can still cast spells on frozen monsters.  If you have a row that's getting precariously close to the towers this potion can give you some breathing room!

Kaboom: Easily the most powerful potion in the game; drop it on top of a monster to make an entire row of monsters disappear.  Save this potion for when you really need it!

Tutorial Updates:

We've streamlined the tutorial and spread it over the first four levels.  The first level will teach players how to select monsters and cast spells.  Over the next three levels you will unlock the ability to recycle spells using the spell book, combine spells, and use potions.  (Note that you will be unable to see these unlocks if you have already beaten these levels). 

Visual Effects:

We've been working on making the game as exciting as we can, so you'll notice stars, confetti, potion bubbles, and big explosions!  

New Icon:

Last but certainly not least, the game has a new icon.  This is one of the three icons that we've come up with - let us know which one you like best!

What's Next?

This is a big update but there's still a lot to do!  We are going to focus on releasing smaller updates more frequently in the upcoming months, so you can expect to see updates approximately every 2 weeks.  Here are a few of the things we're working on next:

• Screen resolutions: Right now the game only plays in 1024 x 768 windowed mode.  We'll expand on this to let you choose your preferred resolution and play in fullscreen.
• Introductory cinematic: This will show the story of the monsters invading the kingdom, and how our brave Apprentice decides to fight back!  Here's an early storyboard of what it might look like:

That's all for now!  If you haven't signed up for the alpha, join now to check out all the new features!

The Counting Kingdom Update

It's hard to believe we're halfway through December already!  Recently we’ve been heads down here at Little Worlds Interactive, directing monsters, mixing magical ingredients, and exploring the furthest reaches of The Counting Kingdom.  I’m extremely excited to share some peeks into what we’ve been working on in the past month:

World Map

We set out to investigate the four corners of The Counting Kingdom, and the monsters are everywhere!  Work your way through 30 different levels across the five regions of the Kingdom.  Start with low-level monsters and spells but work up to truly challenging fights.

Higher level enemies

Say hello to the big baddies.  We have some newcomers to the fight - monsters now go all the way up to 20!  Don’t worry, you’ll earn more powerful spells to deal with them.

Odds and Ends

Saving! Pausing!  Credits screen!  We’ve added in all sorts of glamorous features like this that get the game up and running.

View fullsize

Keep an eye out for more detailed views of the regions of The Counting Kingdom, as well as profiles of some of the monsters you can expect to come across.