Another month, another update! The first  change you’ll probably notice–indeed, the change you almost certainly have already noticed–is not to Telepath Tactics, but to the website. Which is to say, the uber-talented Telepath Tactics. With a second go at Kickstarter on the agenda for mid-to-late March, I’ve been hunkering down and working to improve core aspects of the Telepath Tactics engine.

• Telepath Tactics now supports branching, scripted dialog: which means the game now also supports branching campaigns.

• By far the biggest undertaking this past month has been improving enemy AI in Telepath Tactics. There are already a number of noticeable upgrades–among them:
  • AI characters now grab item sacks lying within reach, then continue their turns;
  • AI characters now intelligently use items sitting in their inventory;
  • AI characters with non-turn-ending attacks now continue moving after attacking; and
  • badly injured AI characters now flee in the direction of a friendly healer if they can reach one.

• I’ve implemented Rally, a feature that simultaneously WINDOWS  |  MAC / LINUX

You can also see many of these fixes and features in action in Telepath Tactics Teaser #10, posted here for your viewing convenience. You’ll want to watch this sucker fullscreen, in HD:

Going forward, there is one more big AI improvement that I’m halfway through and looking to have completed in the coming month: a routine that discourages enemy units from standing on spaces where they can get attacked.

In addition to all of this, I’ve hired another artist to help me make headway on the remaining character animations. I’m limited in how much I can afford to have done in any given month, however; I’ll be relying on the success of the coming Kickstarter campaign to wrap everything up in a timely manner.

Onward!