the Official Hero Interactive Blog

Well folks, Bubble Tanks 3 is well under way and in full blown development and has been for a bit now.  It’s not just announced, we are actually working on it and making progress every day.  We’ve been getting a TON of “When is BT3 coming out?!” comments; so before you ask- let me tell you that we don’t have a release date yet.  So sit tight.

As we are going through the game and working on it, a lot of details are coming together so I can start sharing with you all a little bit about the game and some of the features.  Here are just a few of the things you have to look forward to:

• Classic gameplay in the style of Bubble Tanks 2- It’s blue again, we’ll start there.  Also, you’ll be able to move freely from Bubblefield to Bubblefield as before and exploration will be a big part again.  Bubblefields will finally come in different sizes.  And again, if you’re looking for a harder game you can race outwards, those looking for an easier relaxing experience can spiral around the start point.

• The improved Tank Editor and system- We’ve taken a lot of feedback from BTA and are keeping it in mind moving forward with BT3.  Bubble Points will be out and replaced with a new Complexity Meter (think Spore).  Larger classed tanks will have more Gun Points available for trashing enemies.  A lot more will be considered when determining tank size too, 4 small bubbles spread out to the corners will still remain a Class 1 rather than 6 as it was in BTA.  Enemy tanks also now degrade and shrink as you hit them.
• PARTS-  Lots of ‘em.  BTA had no new weapons.  BT3 will have so many new parts it will make your face melt. Not only that, but it will have new part types!
• Interface Parts- Some parts won’t be weapons at all, some will give you other advantages.  For example, a type of scanner part may show little arrows around the edge of the screen pointing to enemies.  Better parts will give you more information about enemies.
• Behavior Parts- Units with computer controlled AI can now be equipped with Behavior Parts!  Rather than just having enemies wander around randomly, new behavior parts can be equipped to direct them.  An Aggressive part will cause an enemy to get up in your face while a Cautious part will have the enemy try to keep it’s distance from you.  Other behaviors such as Healer will allow enemies to aid each other.
• Allies- Yes, you’ll finally be able to get some allies in your battle against all.  Allies will come in all shapes and sizes from the Fighter Swarm in BT2 to some really heavy guys that break off your main tank.

That’s not even the best of the features!  Stay tuned to the blog as we reveal much more on the upcoming Bubble Tanks 3!

Work has really been progressing on Roaming Fortress and as promised, we plan on revealing a lot more about the project as it develops.  One of the coolest parts of the game is the art and the variety of really neat creatures and units- it’s something we definitely want to start showing off.

Cue the Roaming Fortress cards!  Each week we will be revealing/featuring a new unit/enemy/whatever from the game as part of a collectible card!  As we move along, all of our blog visitors will get to see some cool art and learn a lot of inside information about the world of Roaming Fortress.  Our first in the series is the Burden Drake:

BTTD 1.5 is now available on Kongregate and Newgrounds! It’s also available to anyone else that would like to host it. For info on hosting it, check out our Release Packages page!

Today we’ve decided to introduce you to another character in the Mary Reed Chronicles. Stella! We don’t want to give too much of her back story away, but let’s just say she’s Mary’s ally. But only in the alternate ending! Meaning you’ll have to collect all the letter drops to see her.  She’s pretty hardcore in her own right, too. You’ll see what we mean, but trust me, she’s awesome!

Here she is, in all her steampunk glory:

I know the Bubble Tanks 3 post has gotten a lot of item suggestions on it. So, give us your best ones! We’re looking to have a LOT of items in BT3 and we’d like to hear what you guys want.

Comments on this post are ONLY for BT3 ideas! Off-topic comments will be deleted! This’ll make it a lot easier for us to go through and just look at your ideas. Thanks for understanding.

Hey!  It’s a Mary Reed Chronicles update!  Yay!

I know we keep going a long time between updates and I really do want to ramp it up a little bit, so I thought I’d begin with an update on SW:MRC.  First for those of you who missed our last post:

SW:MRC will be a Point-and-Click game, NOT the strategy/shooter hybrid that the traditional StormWinds games are.  There’s been a lot of confusion about that.  Also, a lot of people have (falsely) assumed that all future games in the StormWinds series will be Point-and-Clicks and that we’ll never do another standard SW game- Wrong!  There is a lot of very cool and exciting stuff about the StormWinds world that you guys don’t know about, and we wanted to do something different to show you more of the world.  But you can be sure that there will be more classic StormWinds action at some point in the future, so rest easy.

We are nearing the end of this project.  We’ve got a lot of testing to go yet and the audio still has to be worked in.  Dialogue is still being written.  For the most part though, we have all 6 scenes and major puzzles wrapped up. Some of the puzzles are pretty easy: find the missing part. Near the end though we’ve come up with a few trickier ones involving timing (you have to click on something WHILE something else is going on).  Also, near the end, if you’re not quick enough you get shot.

Which brings me to my next point- this game is violent and there will be blood.  Far more so than Alien Abduction II even which is kind of saying something for us as we typically stay away from that stuff.  But there you have it.  I don’t want to give too much away and spoil things, but a dude gets a propeller thrown into his body.  Whoa!

One other thing we are working on is an alternate ending.  Throughout the game are a number of letters hidden and dropped.  If you collect them all you’ll find out a second storyline and be able to perform an alternate ending to dispatch your enemy (that will be far more awesome).  Should be fun when trying to get achievements and whatnot and hopefully add just a little bit of replayability, although there is only so much you can do with this type of game.

The game looks great, that’s all I have to say about that.

Now I end this post with a napkin from The Rusted Wench pub (because it’s awesome):

The game is nearing completion, but sadly it won’t be ready for release by the end of the month. Expect it soon, but not in July.

We tried discussing the prospect of pants with the goblins, but it didn’t go over too well and now they’re on strike.

I’m very pleased to announce a new game under development: Roaming Fortress!

Developed in partnership with our friends (and fellow Michiganders) over at YETi CGI, Roaming Fortress will be one of our bigger titles- featuring epic battles between your giant upgradable fortress on the back of a massive creature against hordes of oncoming enemies.  Not only can you defend your fortress with Spearmen, Archers, Catapults and more as you watch the gigantic battle unfold and your orders are carried out, but you’ll be able to use your hero to fire arrows yourself into the fray and use special abilities.  The game will also feature several locations to battle through and an array of really sweet enemies.  Enemy units can even mount other units, for example you might come across a siege tower with a fire mage on top, pushed by a huge ogre- killing the ogre will leave the siege tower standing and mage still attacking you!

The game features some gorgeous 3d rendered art and it is really looking fantastic.  We should have some screenshots in the next couple of months that I can throw up on here as well as some updated information about the game.

Expect some more kick-ass games as a result from our collaborating with YETi, they are putting out some amazing work and it means we’ve got a lot of good stuff headed your way.

Did you know that nearly all our games have cheat features built into them from the beginning?  It’s true!

Here are just a few games with cheats.  Some of them link to the blog posts describing them.  Also note that some cheats only work on the games hosted on ArmorGames:

Bubble Tanks Arenas - Link        (This cheat will soon be a main menu button on ArmorGames.com)

StormWinds: The Lost Campaigns - Link

StormWinds 1.5 (Note: EC Purchase is not necessary on ArmorGames.com) - Link

Bubble Tanks 2 - Hold `Ctrl` and press the `+` key on the numpad to gain 100 life!

LightSprites - Hold `Ctrl` and press the right arrow key to move on to a new theme!

JayIsGames has recently reviewed Bubble Tanks Tower Defense 1.5, it’s a great article and a great site, so definitely go check it out!

About a month ago they also reviewed Bubble Tanks Arenas which we failed to point out.  So you should go check out that article as well.

In short, JayIsGames is totally awesome.  I can’t say it enough about how great it is.  If you love life and have a passion for casual games, it’s your place.

We’ve begun the distribution process of Bubble Tanks Arenas and you should start seeing it popping up on other portals now such as Newgrounds, Kongregate, and so on.  If you own a website and want to host the game, just let us know.

Retired Wizard Defense is a Hero Interactive Mini Arcade project developed by our interns Lisa and Brent!  Small but fun, this little game features our wizard hero’s nap constantly under the threat of all kinds of horrible creatures who are apparently still bitter about past battles and such.  To cut off the hordes of incoming goblins and other creatures, you the player can summon and drop all sorts of ridiculous objects on them: toilets, school buses, sharks… whatever.

Featuring stylish art and some fun characters and quirky objects, I think this game will be a fun distraction from work or between classes.  Expect it out this month!