IronZilla Media » hero interactive

All About Bubble Tanks 3 Enemies

John — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:45:01 +0000

Since Bubble Tanks 3′s release we’ve gotten a lot of questions regarding enemies such as:

Why can’t I find the enemies I made?
How does the game choose which enemies show up?
When does the game find new enemies on the server?
How does the game stay balanced?

In this article I’ll run through all of these questions and explain how the whole enemy thing works as well as provide you with all you need to make Enemies that are frequently found and used. Very soon we are going to start featuring some user created tanks so we are excited to see some amazing tanks of all types!

The Big Question: Why can’t I find my own tanks?

The answer has to do with game balancing. Essentially what happens is as you are swimming around the game says “I need a fighter enemy” or “I need a mini boss”. These unit types are at the heart of how BT3 balances the game and chooses enemies for you to fight against. When you enter a bubblefield the game might look for 3 units of a DeadHead type, a 2 units of a Small Fighter type, and 1 unit of an Early Heavy type. It are these types that allow the game to pull in the appropriate enemies at the right time- you don’t want to end up with 4 mini bosses or 3 heavy units every bubblefield at the start of the game.

Once it knows what types of units it wants you to fight, the game has to do two things: 1) know how to tell the difference between a fighter and a heavy tank and 2) know where to get these tanks, from your local machine, the server, or elsewhere.

The answer to item #1 is Unit Definitions. Each unit type has a definition that tells the game exactly what constitutes that type, and it is VERY specific. For example, the Small Fighter type is designated as a class 1 tank with difficulty either 1 or 2, exactly 1 gun point, speed of 1.9 to 3.5, 15% or less bubble complexity, returns 2 to 5 bubbles, and has 4 to 8 life.

These guys look tough!

That’s pretty clear to the game what it is looking for and unless you make a tank that fits all those exact properties, you didn’t make a Small Fighter. That’s okay though, because we have a number of different unit types and for the most part there is a unit type for everything. But you didn’t want to make a Small Fighter anyways did you? Who cares about a little Dead Head? Not you.

Although there are a TON of really cool enemy tanks made by players on the server, over 75% of them have a difficulty rating of 8 or greater. There are only 4 unit types that have a difficulty in that range: Super Fighters, Very Heavies, Fighter Mini Bosses, and Heavy Mini Bosses. And you have to go far out to see all of those (at least 20 or so bubblefields out), and when you do, the game only needs so many of them.

The number #1 reason players don’t find their created tanks is because they make tanks that are too difficult.

So there you go! Most players are out to make the most awesome killer tank ever that destroys EVERYONE. That’s awesome. But the problem is that you often make enemies that the game finds too difficult. You know what the game wants a lot of? Small Fighters. Early Heavies.

Alright, so the game knows what makes up a Small Fighter. The next thing the game needs to know is where to get the tanks from. Based on your selections at the start of the game, that will determine where the game looks first.

If you want to increase the likelihood of seeing your tanks, select Local Tanks ONLY.

Because there are a number of pre-built tanks that are local as well, this does not guarantee you’ll see your units, but it makes it FAR more likely because the game won’t pull tanks off the server. If you make a Light Heavy and you only have 4 tanks that fit that unit type, you have a 1 out of 4 chance instead of the server’s chance of picking your tank out of hundreds.

You can edit some settings via the Enemy Info tab.

Additionally, we’ve done more to make it so that users tanks can come into the game. If you select your source to be any type other than just Hero Interactive Tanks only, the game adds a number of unit types such as Open Fighter and Open Heavy. The definitions for these types are much more lax so more user created stuff can fit them, but it does make the game slightly less balanced.

Finally, how often does the game find new tank types? There are two triggers: 1) distance outward and 2) total bubblefields traversed. Most of the triggers to do a search are based on you moving outwards. We don’t bother loading up Very Heavy tanks when you are within the first 5 Bubblefields, that would be a waste. We also do searches as you keep moving, so even if you spiral, you’ll eventually see some new easy types.

Is this system perfect? Definitely not. It’s got a lot that can be improved. We definitely need a way for players to test out their enemies and that’s on our to-do list.

Want to know what the definitions are for all of the standard types? You can download the OpenOffice file below:

DOWNLOAD ENEMY DEFINITIONS (Microsoft Excel)

DOWNLOAD ENEMY DEFINITIONS (OpenOffice)

GO TO OpenOffice.org

via BubbleTanks.com

A Lot More Is On The Way

John — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:51:58 +0000

By Hero Interactive

Now that Bubble Tanks Arenas is out the door we are beginning to shift more of our attention to wrapping up a great number of other titles that have been in development for a while. StormWinds: The Mary Reed Chronicles is getting into the tail end of development as well as a few other small unannounced titles. Hopefully next week we should be announcing one or two new games in development.

Stay in touch, more information is on the way.

Check out a new screenshot of StormWinds: The Mary Reed Chronicles below:

BTA Update! Version 1.04 Released

John — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:44:49 +0000

From Hero Interactive

by Jared on June 07, 2010 07:33 PM

Alright everyone, despite the fact that there has been some rampant impatient whining going on this blog, we DO still love you guys. And although we’ve been extremely busy here and haven’t been able to respond to many of the 1500+ comments finding their way to us, we have been taking in all the feedback positive and negative. Everyone has gave us a lot of very good feedback- I don’t agree with all of it, but it’s been pretty constructive and useful.

With that said, I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just updated the game up to Version 1.04 over at ArmorGames.com!

Version 1.04 includes a lot of changes:

Added an “Efficiency Mode” button under the “Settings” menu (from either in game or the main menu). Although we can’t guarantee anything, if you are experiencing heavy lag this new fancy button might just clear that up. It adjusts the settings, effects, and frame rate and in our experience has really boosted the game speed on slower computers.
The Sticky Enemies in the second arena “The Goober” has had it’s life dropped from 18 to 10.
A new part for avatar tanks has been created: the “Mega Cannon”. Essentially all it is is a glorified Heavy Cannon but for large class 4 or larger tanks with slow movement speed. It deals 1 more damage than a Heavy Cannon but costs 1 GP less. This combined with Auto Cannons, Massive Cannons, Bullet Busters, and Shields can give your large class tank a fighting chance and some really massive damage dealing capabilities (use Bullet Buster and Shield for defense). If you complete the built in Arena “The Surprise” you can unlock it. If you already beaten that Arena, it should automatically unlock for you.
Each enemy Mine Layer can only drop a maximum of 8 mines. So if you have an enemy with 2 Mine Layers it can do 16, etc… If it creates more than 8 mines out, it’ll pop the oldest one.
If an enemy is composed of only a Seeker Carrier and then you pop that, the Enemy automatically dies now.
We’ve looked into the intro loader audio problem. Not 100% sure it is fixed, we’ll find out…
If you try to edit an enemy with over 12 GP, you can now.
Cheat Code now has an option to get up to 50 GP (you cannot save tanks with over 12).
We’ve also made a significant number of miscellaneous security/bug fixes.

Also, if you’re worried about content quality, be sure to RATE stuff. We are constantly going through and marking tanks to be featured. We are also personally creating some new Arenas ourselves and are going to be stepping up the amount of content created by Hero. To see what is Featured or made by Hero Interactive, simply check out the “Search” menus!

Additionally, currently, Bubble Tanks Arenas is only available (if it is legit) on ArmorGames.com. This is good despite what you may think- if we find problems (and we always do) this is the file that we upload and patch with fixes. Beginning July 1st, the game will be available everywhere (Newgrounds, Kongregate, and so on).

We will have a lot more news on projects coming out sometime soon. Enjoy!

New BTA Screen Shot!

John — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:52:13 +0000

By Hero Interactive

First of all, I have to apologize for letting the blog go unattended for so long. I got a good “sinuses on fire” kind of cold and basically did nothing for about a week. Jared got a touch of it, too, but we’re both feeling a bit better and everybody at the office has still been working good and hard. Speaking of which…

Check out this new screen shot from Bubble Tanks Arenas! As we’ve said before, in BTA you’ll be battling it out with enemies in arenas which are groups of bubblefields (the giant bubbles you fight inside of). This screen shot shows one bubblefield within an arena. You can see the “good guy” in the middle shooting the snot out of surrounding enemies.

Hero Interactive trip to San Francisco

John — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:49:14 +0000

Day three of the San Francisco trip…the Flash Gaming Summit! It’s finally here!

After rising bright and early the team found their way to the summit where they were welcomed very warmly…even in the keynote address! They were asked stand as one of the leading game development companies there! That was an incredible honor and an incredible moment. Throughout the day they listened and learned at the summit and Jared was even a speaker/moderator for one of the afternoon panels about sponsorship and licensing. They didn’t come home with this year’s Mochi award but they were still incredibly excited to be nominated and to have BTTD shown among the other nominees.

Later that night they went to an after-party where they talked with TONS of awesome game developers and company owners including ArmorGames, Ninja Kiwi, the creators of the Several Journeys of Remus, AND MORE THAT I NEED TO FIND OUT! It was another amazing night leaving the team happy and exhausted.

The next day was a bit of a challenge as they had to pull themselves out of bed to catch a flight out of the warm weather and fun. They made it back to Michigan late in the evening and slept like babies once their heads hit their pillows. It was another incredible year at the Flash Gaming Summit and we’re already looking forward to next year’s trip!

(Above: BTTD is honored as a nominee for a Mochi Award in the Best Strategy Game category! Below: Jared (far right) speaks as a moderator to a panel of biz professionals.)

(Above: The HI guys with Con of ConArtist productions (Last Stand 2) and their friend Brian. Below: Jared and Eric with Mike/Tasslefoot with Armor Games. (He helped with This is the Only Level 2.)

(Above: Jared and Eric try to stay awake in the airport on the way home.)

Bubble Tanks Arena Update 3

John — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:01:13 +0000

By Hero Interactive

Since Bubble Tanks Arenas Update #2 seemed to be successful, I thought I’d hold up my promise to do a follow-up post with more answers to your questions submitted via the comments section. I’m not going to try to answer all questions here, but just a few. Onward!

Q: Will you be able to face other people’s tanks?
A: Yes, sort of. If I create enemies and arenas and upload them to the server, other players will be able to fight the enemies I created. If I create an avatar tank (player controlled), you can’t fight that with your avatar tank.

Q: What is special about creating Arenas?
A: Arenas let you create Bubblefields with your own custom created tanks. If my friend John plays an arena that I created, his game will automatically download all of the enemies I created as well so he can fight them in the arena I made. You can determine how many of each enemy you want and combinations you’d like, but you can’t determine the starting positions of enemy tanks.

Q: Can I make a tank on one site such as ArmorGames.com and then load it up on another site such as Kongregate.com?
A: As long as both sites allow us to connect to our server (the above named sites will), and as long as you upload your tank to our server, then yes, you will be able to download your tank on other sites.

[Edit] You can also simply copy and paste the Tank Code (TC) from wherever and paste it into the game to load a tank.

Q: If I sell a weapon will I get all my Gun Points (GP) back?
A: Yes. GP is more like a limit to how strong you can make your tank. You can totally swap out weapons. If you don’t like one 3 GP gun, you can trade it in to get a different one or even 3 separate 1 GP guns.

Q: If you save a custom tank will you have to write down the number to retrieve it or does it also save locally?
A: There are a lot of ways to get tanks. First of all, when you save a custom tank, it will save locally. It will also give you the Tank Code (TC), the actual data, that you can copy and paste into notepad to save or email to a friend, whatever. You then also have the option to save the tank to our server on top of that, if you feel it’s a particularly awesome creation. Tanks saved to the server are issued ID #’s.

When people load tanks, they can either enter in a tank ID number to load a specific tank, they can copy and paste the Tank Code into a box and load it that way, or they can just browse our server and see what other people have made. If they see something that looks cool it’s just one click to save that tank to your local machine so you don’t have to browse for it again or remember the ID number.

Q: Will guns rotate with the tank or rotate independently?
A: Both, it depends on a few things. Some guns NEVER rotate, i.e. the massive cannon from BT2. Typically though when you’re talking about basic and heavy cannons, it depends on the size of your tank. There are 6 size classes. Tanks sized class 3 or lower will not have rotating cannons. If you have a gun that points backwards, it’ll always shoot behind you. If you are class 4 or larger, then your guns will rotate. Really large tanks may also have the option of getting weapons that have auto targeting enabled- basic cannon auto turrets as they were in BT2.

Q: What do you mean by “the money we receive” in the question regarding Extra Content in the previous Q&A?
A: BTA will be free to play, but it will have Extra Content. EC will be free to play, but you will have to play it on ArmorGames.com. ArmorGames pays Hero Interactive to make the Extra Content because it drives more traffic to their site. Although EC can be frustrating, we like it because it allows us to make a LOT more stuff for BTA (and make the game in the first place) while at the same time making everything free for the players.

Q: Will there be a way to get infinite GP and BP?
A: Probably not.

Q: Will Arenas keep track of scores and time’s of completion?
A: Of course!

Q: How is tank speed determined?
A: Both armor and speed are determined by the Class of your tank. Class is determined by the size of your tank. The bigger you make your tank, the more health it will have but the slower it will be. Starting the game, you will be only able to make Class 1 tanks. As you progress, you’ll be able to unlock larger classes. Also, if you’re wondering why you’d want to make a small tank when you have class 6 unlocked, some weapons and parts will have class restrictions. For example, a massive cannon might only be able to go on Class 5 and higher tanks. A piercing sniper cannon might only be able to go on a class 2 or smaller tank. So there are advantages to going either way.

Q: Will there be many new weapons?
A: Probably not unfortunately. This round, we’re mainly focusing on the ability to simply create tanks and share them. In future versions of the Bubble Tanks series (aka, BT3), we’ll be focusing mainly on making many new weapons and parts for your tanks.

Bubble Tanks Tower Defense

John — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:54:58 +0000

“These Bubbles Don’t Run”

An extremely addicting tower defense game!

Had me hooked, simply because of the sheer number of variety.

Where else can you destroy baddies with mega-MEGA-TOWERS?

Bubble Tanks is out!

John — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:01:22 +0000

By Hero Interactive

Bubble Tanks Tower Defense has just been RELEASED on ArmorGames.com!

Bubble Tanks Tower Defense takes Hero’s popular series into new genres and beyond! With 7 enemy types, over 11 unique tower paths, tower merging allowing for mega towers and mega-mega towers (the size of 16 towers combined!), and 52 whopping game modes, we’re pretty sure you’ll have plenty to keep you busy until the release of Bubble Tanks Arenas. If that’s not enough for you, just check the “FML” checkbox from level select and prepare to get your world rocked… er… blocked.

This has been a huge undertaking for Hero Interactive and we’re proud to finally release the game. A special thanks goes out to our fans for all of your support!

Want to play the game? Then just CLICK HERE!

If you want to be totally awesome… give us your 10 rating!

Hero Interactive’s Office Progression

John — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:34:17 +0000

Over the last few months we’ve really settled into our office. It’s become almost like a second home to some of us! We’ve got art, plants, books, a t.v., and even fun figurines on our desks including cows, dinosaurs, and action figures. Check it out!

From top left: part of the “Wall of Fame”, the ever-expanding library, our new art, and some plants; Eric hard at work; Jimmy and K.C. having a meeting at our super high-tech and modern “conference table”; the game area which includes a big fluffy couch, a t.v., and a couple of game consoles (oh yeah, and the vacuum…we need that to keep things tidy!).