A Big Update For A Big Year

2020 continues and so does the development of A Giant Problem. We hope this update finds you well. If not, hopefully this will be a bright moment in the day. And boy do we have a lot for you to be excited about. So much so, it’s almost too much for a single patch.

We’ve been quiet for a couple of months in part because of the summer holidays and then our intense focus on implementing all of these new features and changes. But enough faffing, you want to know what we’ve done!

This update includes the following:

• AI & Animation Overhaul,
• Repair Hammer
• Mana System,
• Destructible Gates,
• Stele Oasis,
• Warrior 2.0,
• Main Menu Scene Update,
• Holster Overhaul & UI Updates,
• Sound Updates & Fixes,
• Troll Hitting Walls Fix,
• Dragon Flight Rework, and
• Other Bug Fixes.

AI & Animations

The two are intricately connected in games. So we of course had to improve them. What does that mean? Well the game should be buttery smooth now in terms of all of the characters running around and causing chaos. Not that there won’t be issues or bugs, this game is still in EA after all. It’s just that we’ve improved the flow of information within the game and you should see that very directly in how characters behave.

Repair Hammer

You’re big so you need some big tools. Thus we have given you a hammer that repairs things. Don’t ask how, just accept that it does. Why? Well because you’ll need to be rebuilding your defenses and villages. The pesky invaders aren’t just after your gold, they’re destroying your home. So it’s time to put your muscle to work.

Mana

Magic requires a cost. That cost is mana. But it’s not on you to generate the mana, it’s on your village. They’ve transformed you into your current fighting form using magic, and now they’re providing more support. In turn fireballs and iceballs now cost mana, but you’ll be able to easily transfer everything during the game and ensure you’re at peak destruction.

Gates

We call them gates cause they’re kind of like walls that you can shut at any time. Though it is on the enemy to open them again. While you can’t repair them, they do have the added benefit of being able to destroy anyone unfortunate enough to be standing in their way. They’re not being introduced on every map as they’ve been designed to take into account the particularities of our newer maps.

Stele Oasis

Speaking of. Your wait for more has been worth it because we have it for you. We now take you to the desert locale that we call Stele Oasis. This map has been lovingly designed to take into account all of the new features we’ve been adding. So it highlights the destructible gates and the repair hammer, as well as mana.

Warrior 2.0

A new contender has entered the ring. Well it’s dressed like the old contender because it is. It’s still the Warrior, but it has some surprises for you. These changes stem from how similar the Warrior was to the Goblin. This was in part because of features which have not yet been implemented. So the Warrior isn’t operating to its full potential, added to that is the complicating factor of that behavior being dependent on the players actions. Ultimately, if you don’t play a certain way then you don’t get to experience everything there is to about the warrior. And we didn’t want that. Which means it’s time to get to grips with the new warrior.

Main Menu

We’re setting a scene with our main menu. Our Art Director has been lovingly decorating the scene so when you first start the game it’s more than a menu. It’s a bit of an amuse bouch, a taster if you will, of what’s to come.

Holsters

Thanks to your feedback and that of our dedicated team we have improved the holsters and how you interact with them. This isn’t just a UI improvement, it’s an overall user experience change. It was a long time coming and we think you’ll welcome it especially with the introduction of the repair hammer. 

New Sounds

New features mean new sounds, and boy do are they audible. Didn’t want to say the sound good cause that would just be a bit too much use of the word sound. Not that they aren’t. We think they add nicely to the atmosphere of A Giant Problem and help with the overall user experience.

Troublesome Trolls

Look trolls are big and lumbering. They’re not known for their grace and poise. So to some degree having trolls hit multiple targets at the same time made sense. But not from a game balance perspective. They were just too strong, so we changed the attack model for them so they no longer hit multiple buildings or enemies in a single swipe. It makes the game easier for us to balance and just a bit easier for you to play. But it’s all for the better. 

Flying Lizards

Dragons have wings. That’s how they fly. They’re not some simple gasbags. All the same they weren’t doing so well on some of our maps. So we’ve worked to get them flying straight… or at least to hit fewer things in their pursuit of you. You should see the biggest changes on Lost Ziggurat.

Bugs

The introduction of new systems and features, changes, new content all inevitably introduced new bugs. So we’ve squashed many if not most of those. We’ve also been hard at work getting some of those older, peskier bugs too. When the world is affected as much as it is by a bug, we don’t need anymore. 

That’s it for this update. And as always, we have more in store for A Giant Problem. But for that we need your feedback. Please be sure to reach out to us on the Steam Forums, on our Discord or via our support email.