It's still in the works, held up only by the fact that my day job has become kind of all-consuming of late.  There's one Windows-specific bug to address before we can release it.

Good luck with the day job!

I just know that it would be really great! :)

A couple of things.

First of all, I think I found a bug. At level 121 and above, Ice Orcs are not affected by Ice towers (no Chill) even when Weakened. I have not explored things beyond that. If this is a known feature then I am waaaaay behind.

Secondly, I hereby grant the moderators permission to delete the two previous advertisements from 'Mariah Blake'. They may be well-intentioned, but they are out of place.  ;-)

Marty

Okay, I have seen/played the future and it is pretty. I cannot quit - literally (the game can only be quit by a force quit operation). Other than that little issue, the new version looks terrific so far!!!

Thanks.

The quitting problem appears to be confined to full-screen execution, and I'm able to reproduce it.  Working on a fix.

The ice orc issue...  It MAY be a question of the orcs being so fast they outrun the projectiles, BUT if you're certain they're being hit and not being affected that's a whole 'nother issue that I should look into.  I'll set up a test scenario and see if I can recreate it.

I was running in window mode, but if you can reproduce it, then no problem.

Interesting.  When I checked windowed mode, I did not see the behavior.  I will double-check to ensure I'm not insane (it's happened before).  Either way, the issue should have the same root cause even if it's a little more complex in its behavior.

Played a couple more games and learned some of the new tricks, you sneaky dog!

What is the crown for? It always shows '0' which is not that helpful. What happened to the 'accounting' for the early wave bonus - I now only see that at the end of the game. Is this a bug?

Unfortunately I have a gripe with the new interface - I actually do not like the scrolling status box and prefer the old method were I can see everything for any given selection. As another change, making the selected strategy for the tower a different color (rather than listing the chosen strategy) could reduce the size of the status box, making it easier to display everything.

I do like the look of the game, please do not take the above comments as a harsh criticism. It was terrific in V1 and V2 does look better, except for the lack of visible data.

Found a couple more bugs for you.

The spell costs are not listed anywhere. I assume they should be in the spell description in the status box.

There is apparently a path bug, or the immunity system of Granttantrons has changed as they seem to ignore Bait about half the time. If that is a new feature, it is really nasty.

 Just wanted to report the same 'quit bug'. I have run in both full screen and window mode, and have to force quit to actually quit no matter what way I run it. To answer above, I was thinking that the crowns might be for when you beat a level/how many times you beat that level. However since you have to force quit, the game is not remembering you beat it, so it always comes up zero. I noticed that it has not saved any of my high scores, so it is like launching from scratch every time.

 The game has been real fun though. The rail gun is a great addition, and some of the smaller changes I have noticed make strategy a little different. Overall very happy, just let me save my scores!

If I go back o the main menu before force quitting, my high scores are saved.

I like most of the changes, except for the skeletons. I am beginning to hate skeletons. They ignore Bait, are not worth anything and there are too many of them. Cute little bugger, though.

Well I tried again, and going back to the main menu before force quitting does not save anything for me.

Ok, I'll add savegame issues to the queue of things to look into.  Thanks!

I also confirm the quit problem is full screen and window mode. i only play window mode now, as in full screen I couldn't get it to force quit and and to restart computer ;(

I was also playing one of the maze levels and had no access to the Fog. It was greyed out for the entire game. Is this meant to be?

I was looking forward to some new mazes in version 2 after conquering v1 but alas, they are all the same... any chance of some new mazes?

Keep up the good work though!

I just had the gray Fog today - Playing Infinite, AND my score was not saved.

I've found a few glitches. I'm having the same "force quit" problem in window mode. Also, the fog button goes grey from time to time. I can't see any patterns there, but you have to (force) quit and relaunch the game to get fog to work again. Finally, the crossroads level appears to be unbeatable. If anyone has beaten it I would like to know.

Found a couple more problems just now. Unlimited Open Warfare.

A Radiation 4 tower did not always shoot. There were too many orcs around to be sure, but as far as I could tell it was not doing any damage when not shooting (in other words, it was not just a graphical glitch).

I also had a Lightning tower that ignored all enemies until upgraded to level 3.

Fog is the biggest bugaboo, since once it goes off it does not come back.

I do not know if this is a bug or new feature, but Gratantrons and several others were walking right through Bait. I am not a fan of the ten second time limit and without Fog or Bait the game is too hard.

Any news on the bug fixes? Force quitting and unreliable Fog is getting pretty old.

I've submitted a build to FV that fixes both fog and quit bugs.  Waiting on them to release it...

Thanks. I knew you would come through.

In addition to the previously mentioned bugs I've encountered a rare issue where the pause button fails to work. But it's only occurred twice and I can't duplicate it.

I think the root of the problem with the difficulty of the Crossover level is originally the strategy to win required using only arrow towers. With the inclusion of the skeletons, that is impossible. You cant get enough firepower and range with a mix of anything else.

I would also like to suggest that HoO would be an excellent game to port to the iPad. I think it would be very popular.

when will the release be available?

An excellent question.  I will ping FV about it.

Sent FV an e-mail regarding this several days ago, just got notice that it is waiting to be assigned today... still have not gotten a reply or any word on when the fix is going to be available.

Tried the new version of Hordes on my iMac (latest Snow Leopard OS) and contains many drawbacks which need to be corrected as in

- you can't leave the game without physically switching off the game at the power socket i.e. the 'Quit' function does not work

- on Burninator the arrow hits don't register for certain of the larger orcs

- generally when compared to the original Hordes it is too easy i.e. can complete Gra'em without any bait, fog whatever

More work needs to be done!

Ok, SO...  I've pinged the producer at FV about it, and he's trying to wedge it into his schedule.  Was hoping it would be done by the end of this week, but since he's not responding on IM right now I'm guessing he's got deadlines to meet.  I will continue to pester him and post here when it's up.

Ian:  The point-release being discussed fixes the quit issue (among others).  I'm not familiar with a situation where arrows don't hit orcs in any level but I'll try and reproduce it.  As for difficulty -- we haven't run a cycle of the Balance Engine yet; I just haven't had time.  Hoping to get to it soon though.

I am just assuming that the arrow towers not hitting had to do with the brutes immunity to first level towers.

Looking forward to the update.

Am I imagining things, or did the hordes of Orcs on the splash screen just start wearing Santa hats?

To Ian,

> you can't leave the game without physically switching off the game at the power socket i.e. the 'Quit' function does not work

You're right that the Quit function does not work, but Command-Option-Escape (the Mac OS X keyboard shortcut for Force Quit) does.  Not ideal, but better than pulling the cord out of the wall outlet (and causing a completely unexpected shutdown of the whole system) every time you want to quit the game.

So, the Mac version of the update has been approved and is ready to go.  The Windows version is still pending review.  I'll be updating the metadata for the game shortly, which will result in the game prompting you to go fetch the update.  Apologies for all the delays on this!

No HoO update for christmas. Oh well.

Hey. I see an update to HoO! Happy New Year!

I am, apparently, too dense to figure out how to actually get it. I see and click 'Download Update' which takes me to https://freeverse.com/mac/product/?id=9023....but I don't see anything to download except the Demo. Help!

Looking for the update, too.

Happy New Year! :-)

So, Freeverse, what's the hold up with the update? Been nearly a week, are you waiting for CES? Is it possible to release the Mac version without waiting for the PC review? It would be nice for the shoe to warm the other foot for a change.

Thanks,

Marty

I went back and used the original download link in the e-mail which I received after buying HoO2 and I got the updated version that was. Worth a try?

I nominate Clark for man of the year!

I would settle for a tip on getting past level 105 on Pachinko...

I made a few attempts over the weekend and am not going to be of much use to you. I can make it into the 60's on Pachinko, but it is not my favorite map. I was able to make it to the 150's on the crossover and standard maps though. Other than, you know, watching the village get overrun, it gave me a sense of accomplishment and was a lot more fun than watching the tennis and dancing shows that my fiancée had recorded.

I am sad to report a new bug. The Weaken spell has no effect on irradiated Heroes near level 2 Radiation towers. They shoot at the Weakened Hero but inflict no damage as the Hero walks by.

Made Pachinko 107 just now. Using x,y where x is across and y is down and 1,1 is the top left corner:

Started with Fire 2's at 2,2 and 5,2 and then built a level 3 railgun at 3,4. Let'er rip and built the railgun toL3 and the Fire's to L4.

Built L2 ice at 1,2 1,4 and 1,6 and then full up laser towers at 1,3 and 1,5.

Started a second railgun at 4,4.

Needs adjustment but it worked well enough to get 107 (would have been 108 but I messed up the Teleport spell and several orcs got through that should not have.

Hello everyone,

I'm new here but have played Hordes of Orcs a few 1000 times the last couple of years. It's the only game i play, when I play a computergame.

I'm running it on a Mac and can't seem to download the update. When I do and I want to update, I can't click the update-icon.

@Martin Gello I think you ment crossroads in the 150's as the maze defence game crossover is not beatable, if you ask me.

I've made Pachenko to level 119.

Wow, 115. Thanks.

This game is mysteriously addictive, and I was very glad to see version 2 came out, as well as the latest update.

What I really miss a lot from version 1, though, is the way the orcs' appearance changed as they took damage.  It was very useful strategically and also fun to watch.  Is there any possibility of bring that feature back in version 2?

The update still does not work on my computer. I've made it to level 122 on Pachenko!

I purchased the game from Freeverse; however you're selling it in the App store, too.  I assume you'll release updates through the App store, but the App store doesn't recognize my copy as installed.

Please advise

So, what is the crown for? It does not record the number of wins.

Has anyone figured out a strategy for the crossover map. The best I can do is level 39. (perhaps even being able to start with some more cash would be enough to help complete it , but I just cant get the range of different firepower needed for the onslaught of ice orcs around these levels....

@Chris Walker:  Experiment more with the rail gun.  Or if you want the total spoiler version:  first place an ice tower near the middle where it can take care of the skeleton orcs, then gradually build walls of arrow towers to make orcs from both gates walk past the ice tower in a long, straight line directly toward a rail gun.

thanks Tom, but an ice tower in the middle wont reach out to the paths. I have tried with ice towers in two corners for the skeletons, and then experimented with rail guns, lightning towers, fire towers or arrow towers for everything else, but I just cant get enough firepower in time for levels 30-40. 

I have completed all the other maps and the other levels (open warfare, crossroads, pachinko etc except infinite obviously), but just can't seem to find any way to finish the crossover map.

@Chris Walker: I've got up to about 50 regularly, max 57 I believe. Took probably close to 100 hours though and still working on it -- I think I like challenges too much. The main strategy is to build up ice towers in the bottom-left and top-right corners to take out skeletons and put a rail gun right in the middle to work on everyone that survives the ice towers, particularly the ice orcs and machines. Nothing besides the rail gun seems effective against the ice orcs or big machines, and it can reach all 4 paths at once.

There are two spots in the bottom-left and top-right corner that intersect 3 separate paths, I like the one closer to the center for ice towers because it also supports the rail gun in the middle at high levels. I tried putting in two ice towers right away, but I almost definitely lose a few lives before getting the rail gun for the ice runners. So I put an ice tower in the bottom-left and a lighting tower in the very top right intersection square, and then sell it later after putting in an ice tower and rail gun. With good play (well-placed bait mostly), you can get the rail gun in with at most 2 casualties. I set the rail gun to 'first' strategy [2], or occasionally 'fastest' to catch runners. After this I upgrade one or both of the ice towers to take on those Orc Brutes, using bait and maybe teleport as needed. Then upgrade the rail gun to level 2 and 3. The skeletons will spill over a little, but the level 2 ice towers do a pretty good of stopping them. 

About this time things get crazy (as you mentioned, close to level 40), and I don't know the best way forward. Usually around here I stop using bait and only use teleports if I'm going to lose two lives at once. Also setting the rail gun to target "weakest" [4] seems to reduce losses. Upgrading the ice towers to level 4 works good. Other ideas I've tried with some success is an additional ice tower in the top-left or bottom-right corner or another rail gun. Also upgrading ice tower to level 5 is cool, but expensive. 

Arrow towers, fire towers, and electric towers seem to inevitably fail not having enough firepower. Nuke's are promising, but don't seem to have quite the punch that ice towers do until high levels (and it's very expensive to put in the 2 needed to cover all 4 routes). 

Thanks Lucas,

I can make it to level 36 on the crossover map.

By the way, the update can't be installed on my mac. Does anybody have the same problem?