Hi all, Ben here 👋

What's been happening:

It's been a busy month since we launched the first version of Fool King and we're thrilled by the response we've got so far! So a big thank you to everyone that played the game, gave feedback and joined our discord (we're a nice lot and would love you to join).

When you last saw our heroes, they were off to Develop: Brighton. It was a great event. We were mostly beaching, getting sunburnt and hanging out with excellent folks.  We also spent some time putting together a pitch, getting advice from other developers, talking to a couple of publishers and planning the journey to v1.0. 

Back to the game!

The Version 0.0.6 Update 

Goblin Catapult!

We've added our first new unit to the game, the Goblin Catapult ! A catapult that fires goblins! 

It is a long range siege unit that does large AOE damage but has limited ammo. Perfect for taking out an unsuspecting clump of archers. When rolling for the catapult, the dice value is the amount of ammo the catapult has. When it runs out of ammo its just a big sad paper weight...

It's a bit janky and we're going to be polishing it up, but we were too excited to wait. Let us know what you think!

One True Fool King

We realised that there was a bug in the backend that meant the final round didn't always present you with a true Fool King ghost. So the challenge of dethroning a Fool King has gone up significantly!

Another change we've made is so that there is only ever one Fool King at a time. This means that everyone will face the same Fool King until they are dethroned and a new one takes their place! So when you win a run, your character will be the only one sitting on the throne.

At the time of writing, Sylas Shadowblade rules as the Fool King. He was created by none other than the villain Gareth Davies:

Customisation Options

We've added several options to customise your session. You can now choose your name, title, banner style and your army livery. Your choices will be saved between runs. 

 For those paying attention, you will see that some options are locked, these will unlockable through challenges or meta progression in future updates. So keep a watch out for those in the coming weeks.

Gameplay Changes

Lives and Rerolls

• We have reduced the number of lives from 5 to 3 
• Rerolls purchases are no longer permanent and extras can be bought at the shop

AI & Pathfinding

We have made some improvements but there is still a long way to go. This is a high priority and we will be making some tweaks and improvements. 

One thing we have improved; projectile units can now be pushed so that they are less likely to block melee units.

Formation Rotation

You can now rotate your formations in increments of 15 degrees by hovering over the banner and pressing Q or E

Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Dice / Banners now highlight when hovering so its easier to tell which is which 
• New purple poison VFX to better match the style of the explosions
• Changed the look of the water in the river maps and made tweaks to the lighting
• Added a new level to the Field Environment
• Added unit descriptions to the loadout selection screen
• Added error pop ups if the version is out of date
• Starting loadout selection randomisation has been improved by giving three types of loadout "Mixed", "Melee" and "Ranged"
• Improved randomisation between levels so less likely to get the same level twice in a row
• Unit Changes
  • Crossbowmen: Improved consistency of crossbow attacks
  • Axemen: Improved consistency of attacks, increased range and damage
  • Fire Wizard: Increased damage

We want to hear your thoughts!

We're really excited to interact with the growing community, so if you have ideas, suggestions or feedback please let us know! 

• Join our discord for early updates, WIP's and a nice place to hang out
• Contact us at info[at]lootdonkey.com