I’m working on some video tutorials/demonstrations to SHOW you what Waddlefield is, since showing is easier than telling, which is what this post is about, but until then this explanation will have to do.
Waddlefield is a turn-based, tactical strategy game. You control a team of four heroic farm animals as they battle the minions (hedgepigs, foxes, llamas) on the Waddlefield.
The Waddlefield
The field is a 15×8 grid, in which an obstacle or character can occupy a single square. In Story Mode the obstacles on the grid are predetermined, while in Free Play mode the obstacles are procedurally generated (aka, randomly placed). Some terrain can be manipulated by certain characters. There characters can plant obstacles (trees, shrubs) or traps, thus giving the player more control over the field itself.
The Heroes
There are nine playable characters: three cows, three sheep and three bunnies. The cows are your combat characters, specializing in hitting the minions. The sheep are your farming characters, specializing in planting. The bunnies are your healing characters, specializing in restoring health to your other characters.
You can only have four at a time on the Waddlefield, and there are no restrictions as to your team composition. You can have three cows and one bunny, two sheep and two bunnies, or whatever combination you would like.
Each character has varying ratings for attack and defense. A higher attack means the hero are more likely to hit a minion than another with a lesser attack. A higher defense means the hero are more likely to be missed by a minion than another with a lesser defense.
Each character has their own health points. Some characters, like sheep, are very tough and can take many more hits to their health before fleeing, than the smaller bunny characters.
There are many different strategies when it comes to your characters. Characters with high health, but low defense will get hit often, but can sustain longer without the need of a healer. Characters with low health but high defense may be able to last just as many rounds. The character being hurt often will need a healer, where as the one who rarely gets hurt will not need such aid.
Lastly, each character has a unique action. Most actions have a single target, but some have multiple targets. All targets, whether they be friend (for healing), foe (for attacking) or flower patch (for planting) must be adjacent to the character.
You will find that some characters have great actions, but poor attack/defense ratings (like Bramblefluff), or visa versa. There are many different styles of play which you can adopt; you can rely on the attack/defense ratings primarily as your chance at victory, or you can rely on the cunning use of actions to manage and defeat your foes.
The Minions
Minions are the bad guys, in service of Blue Tail, the Pirate Llama. Yes, I believe this is the best villain ever to be introduced in a game.
The minions you will encounter in this game are hedgepigs and foxes. There are three tiers of each of these animals, each one being more powerful than the previous.
Hedgepigs have low hit points, high attack ratings and low defense ratings. They are dangerous in large numbers because they will score many hits on your characters. Hedgepigs are the easiest to defeat, but be sure to bring a few bandages if they come in large numbers.
Foxes have medium hit points, attack and defense ratings. They don’t attack as strongly, but they also are quicker and able to defend better. Foxes will take a longer time to defeat and will cause serious problems if you’re surrounded.
Llamas are, undoubtably, the toughest of all the baddies. They have high hit points, attack and defense ratings. In Story Mode you only encounter one of these, Blue Tail, the villain. In Free Play Mode, however, you can find quite a few simultaneously. They are difficult to defeat and will require you to change tactics when you encounter them.
Combat, Random?
Some things in Waddlefield are precise and determined, such as where a hero moves, and to whom he does his action. When it comes to combat, however, there is a randomness which very much different from other tactical strategy games.
During combat both heroes and minions will select one from all adjacent targets to try to strike. You cannot directly control who your character attacks, but can maneuver them so that their target selection is more limited if you’re trying to have them hit a specific enemy. What I mean by this is, if you keep your hero only within range of a single hedgepig, then your hero will only strike at that one hedgepig. If you allow your hero to become partially or completely surrounded, then they strike out randomly.
Concentrating your attacks on a specific minion allows you to a better chance to defeat them, but if the attacks and randomly dispersed throughout a group, it becomes exponentially more difficult to defeat them.
Natural terrain, plantable terrain and traps, however, allow a good deal of minion management to take place, giving your heroes a chance to bottleneck their foes and win, even with ever-increasing odds of defeat.
It’s About the Cuteness, the Community
Waddlefield is by no means the most strategic of the strategy games, or the cleverest of the puzzle games. Waddlefield is about the introduction of an adorable fantasy world of farm animals with hats, and their pursuit of pie. It’s much more casual than most games of this genre, but with the same amount of development time and care as any other game.
What role does the community play? The largest role of all. The silliness and cuteness is really just supposed to bring a smile to your face. The characters, the world itself, is just a fun little place to escape to when you need to laugh or smile.
Being a player, however, isn’t the only part of this. Waddlefield will continue to grow with your support, and your time. Not all the features I’ve wanted I can put in the first release. This is why the website has a ‘roadmap’ section, so you can see what the future holds for the game. The roadmap is dynamic; changing with the suggestions from the community.
If you’re interested in more, the videos of Waddlefield will be available soon.
Well done Temp.
You have accomplished great things since last we spoke! =o)