Greetings, mighty heroes! Been a little while since the last update for Gorgon Shield, but the game is nearing completion.

It's been nearly a year since I started work on this game - what I thought would be a 3-4 month journey has lasted nearly a year, and it's definitely not been without its challenges. For many reasons this has been one of the harder games I've worked on, design-wise, concept wise, external factors. Stepping out of the Swords and Sandals bubble is always a challenge but I think to better myself as a game dev, its important to be able to build non S&S games - to keep my skills up and my mind sharp.

A lot of good stuff in 0.6, including new Level Quests, Warp Mirrors (these are for the full version so you won't see them yet), Forked Paths, new monster patterns and a lot of other good stuff.

Please check it out and let me know what you think here in the Steam forums.

Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios

v 0.6.0.0:

• Added in Chinese Language Support - thank you to new co-publisher GamerSky Games.
  
• User save game data has been reset and moved to a new save directory in prep for final launch, so any progress (as well as game settings) have been reset. Apologies for this!
  
• Added in Level Quests! These appear after you defeat the first boss, and challenge you to complete tasks each level. Complete the tasks for special rewards like gold, loot, runes and even Warp Mirrors (full version only)
  
• Added Warp Mirrors( will be in full version). Single use items that allow you to skip most elevator levels (not doorways/bosses). They disappear upon use
  
• Added 44+ Achievements to the game ( full version only)
  
• Finished all monster and boss sprites (full version only)
  
• Finished all character classes (full version only)
  
• Redesigned Tower Shoppe Screen so it is vertical now
  
• Misc bugfixes and many other changes!

v 0.5.1.0:

⦁ End game 'wishlist' screen appears less frequently so you can get back into the action faster
⦁ Ranged Damage is now tied to Intellect
⦁ Ranged Attack Radius is now tied to Strength
⦁ Fixed a bug where Lightning Bolt and other attack powers had a long duration (instead of instant) which led to longer cooldown times
⦁ Fixd a bug showing incorrect cooldown times on Special Powers
⦁ Tower: Fixed a bug where the shield's power bar went offscreen during boss fights
⦁ Tower: Fixed a bug where Grim Bargain did not grant the proper reward to a hero
⦁ Labyrinth: Delayed monster spawning for first few seconds of being in the labyrinth
⦁ Labyrinth: Reduced damage taken from labyrinth dungeon traps to make them fairer
⦁ Labyrinth: Enemies don't start spawning from traps until a few seconds has passed
⦁ Improved cache loading times at start of game to hopefully stop some older machines freezing up on first load.

"This is madness.... this is V0.5 of GORGON SHIELD!

Greetings, brave heroes! Been a few months since the first demo for Gorgon Shield went up, and I got a ton of really useful feedback from you guys - so firstly, you have my thanks. At the start of the year, I decided I needed to bite the bullet and redo some of the systems that just weren't working in the game to make it feel more dynamic, more strategic, basically more engaging.

So, here's what's new in the latest version of the game. The MAJOR addition is the new labyrinth mode, a full 'Gauntlet 2' style dungeon to explore behind some of the tower's doors. There's also a totally reworked levelling up and power system - meaning you get a LOT more control over your heroes development. Want a Barbarian specialising in hamstringing your enemies, and another with the Berserk power? Or two wizards, one with lighting, one with fire? Now you can.

Oh yeah, and there's a full loot system in the game. Magic rings, gauntlets, capes and more.

I'd love for you to check out this new version of the game and give me more invaluable feedback. The game's scheduled to launch this July and I've still got a lot more systems, minigames and additions to add. "This is but a taste of the terror Medusa will unleash!" (to paraphrase Gandalf!)

Cheers , Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios

Patch notes for V0.5.0

• Added labyrinth levels to game! Use ARROW KEYS to move around the labyrinth and find the exit.
  
• Tower content is now randomised, from background wall textures to door options
  
• Total overhaul of levelling up system introducing loot, cards and more
  
• New customizable character power system. Characters start off with no powers and can learn as they go.
  
• Added many new graphics and game option settings, including difficulty level
  
• Removed Tower Level selection screen
  
• Added Medusa taunting screen between certain areas
  
• Enemies now fall off platforms when killed, unless by a critical hit, then it's a splat
  
• Added new death animation bounce to heroes
  
• Improved textures in the tower
  
• Many new visual FX from tilt shift to lens flares and tower exterior backgrounds.
  
• ⦁ New arcade cabinet in game over
  
• Many bugfixes and balance changes
  
• Set demo level cap to 20
  
• A billion other things!

Greetings, mighty heroes! Welcome to patch 0.4.0 of the demo. Check it out, I'd love your feedback on the game so far!

Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios

V 0.4.0.1 Patch Notes

• New optional Battle UI options to choose from at the Graphics settings panel. You can now select a 'minimal' panel that shows a compact, minimal panel over your characters and hides the large panel at the top. You can even select both at the same time!
  
• Gold is now POOLED between the whole party. No longer counting individual gold tallies means you can choose any hero to buy items while you are at shops.
  
• Switched Green and Red hero positions around so green hero is first selected.
  
• Fixed a bug where runes were destroyed when removed from the shield
  
• Character grid now shows heroes in columns of 3 rather than 4 (to match the fact there are 9 total)
  
• Improved texture on shield pylon and brightness on Shield damage texture
  
• Fixed a bug where the tower tutorial could be reactivated accidentally from the Select Tower Level menu
  
• Defeating bosses now grants the party bonus gold
  
• Increased base melee damage of all characters

Hey adventurers!

Version 0.3.5 of Gorgon Shield Demo has just gone up. I got some fantastic feedback from users via the in-game feedback form, so I wanted to thank you guys for that!

I've been able to add a bunch of stuff to the game since the demo went up - the biggest addition being the Forge, a new building you can unlock. All those runes you earned by beating up the Cyclopes and other bosses can be used at the Forge to upgrade the Gorgon Shield. There are only 3 available rune types in the demo but I'll be adding a lot more to the full game.

You can almost treat the Gorgon Shield itself like an ultra powerful 'fifth' party member, as by the time you fully upgrade it , it's a power to behold. I've still got to tweak and balance the runes before full launch of course, but hopefully it's a nice update to the game.

This will be the last bit of 'new content' for the Demo - all efforts now move to the full version and a 2024 release!

Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios

V 0.3.5.0:

• Added the FORGE into the demo - this is now available from the town. You can add runes to the shield here, as well as combine/sell them.
  
• Standardized the progress timing for healing,repairs and treasure gain across all characters. Increasing Healing/Treasure stats etc will increase the Health you get back or Treasure gained when the blue progress bar fills up.
  
• Switched physics engine over to Jolt
  
• Potential fix for jitter on high refresh rate monitors 75hmz and above
  
• Right clicking the mouse button now rotates the shield to the right
  
• If all heroes die on the platform , but the platform survives until a doorway platform, the next shop they see will be the Muse who can resurrect them if they have enough gold
  
• Fixed a bug where characters would stop attacking if their melee attack speed was too fast
  
• Slightly reduced melee attack speed for all characters and enemies

Greetings, mighty heroes! If you read nothing else in this post, know that RIGHT NOW you can download the DEMO for Gorgon Shield from the Steam Page!

Today with great excitement and trepidation I pushed the Release My App button in Steamworks and unleashed the demo for the game upon the world. Funny enough though, I can't even say it's been a long journey. Gorgon Shield's development started in May, and the demo is now ready after roughly six months.

With a release date of tentatively mid 2024, I can safely I'm over halfway though the game's development, and what better time to share it with the world than right now. I can't wait to see what you think of the game. Here's a few notes for you guys!

What's in the demo for Gorgon Shield?

So, this demo build is a pretty fair representation of what you'll see in the final version.

• You can choose 3 of the 9 heroes ( start with one, and then unlock the other two as you go
  
• Two of the five buildings are available ( wagon and tavern) at present
  
• Only a few of the market stall items are available right now
  
• I am planning on adding the FORGE to the demo next week, I just ran out of time for this!
  
• You can adventure all the way up to Tower Level 30 - the third tower boss awaits there
  
• Four of a proposed X tower shop scenarios are in the game - there will be a LOT more of these
  
• The 'snakes and ladders' level events are in the game

What's STILL TO COME for Gorgon Shield?

• The Labyrinth levels - I've started on these ( Imagine a top down Gauntlet 2 style dungeon crawler), but there's a lot more work needed
  
• The Rampart levels - side scrolling auto-battler with your heroes. Yet to start work on these
  
• More minigame levels (like the Snakes and Ladders one) are planned. These take 3-4 days to build each so I should be able to get a bunch more of these done
  
• Engraving runes on the shield is *mostly* working and that should be part of the demo soon, the rest will be in the Full Version launch next year
  
• The endless pit and dungeon modes will be part of the full version
  
• A lot more boss monsters and minions still to come - I've created 3 of the 10 proposed bosses so far

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2446920/Gorgon_Shield/

So, please check out this demo and be sure to WISHLIST it if you enjoy it. My wishlist numbers are really low right now, I'm not going to lie - I really need your help or this game might sink like a broken shield to the bottomless abyss beneath the tower!

Finally - there's also a FEEDBACK button on the game, so if you have anything you want to share with me, fill out that form - it'd be super useful to me to improve the game.

Without further ado, good luck on your quest to defeat Medusa's minions!

Cheers, Oliver Joyce
Whiskeybarrel Studios