Content Update! 1.0.1.0

The web version of The Haunting of Hyde Manor is now available as an open beta, free to play exclusively on itch.io. The initial release consists of the first six maps, four mob types, and two tiers of ghost abilities. This update adds a seventh map and a third tier of ghost abilities.

The Haunting of Hyde Manor is an independently-funded project by a (very) small studio, the purpose of an open beta is to help find bugs and gather players' feedback to help guide future development. If you've played it, please consider taking a moment to let us know what you liked about it, or what you didn't. If you enjoyed it, ask your friends to try it out and encourage them to let us know what they thought. And most certainly, if you find something that doesn't seem to be working like it should, let us know. Screenshots are helpful, along with any information about which map you were playing or what you were trying to do.

v1.0.1.0 - Content Update - August 26, 2023

New and Updated Features

• 📍 New map: Chapter 06: Crowded Ballroom (T3) - this is the first Tier 3 (Difficult) map
• 👻 New skills: Tier 3 skills for all five "classes" - Psychic Slap, Hideous Cacophony, Banshee Screech, Blackout, and Chill of Death. Tier 3 skills are significantly more powerful than their Tier 1 and 2 counterparts, and Tier 3 ghosts move much faster when being relocated.
• 🔮 New feature: The capability to summon a ghost of your choosing from your compendium has been implemented for Tier 3 maps. When starting a Tier 3 map, you'll be prompted by a "mini-compendium" window to select the ghost you'd like to summon.
• 🔮🎵 New feature (and new music): Event music - short pieces of music that play in response to specific events. This version implements event music for successfully clearing a map, other events may be added in the future.
• 🖌️ New artwork: Added artwork for the Tier 2 version of Death Rattle, Bump in the Night
• 🖌️ New artwork: Added artwork for the Tier 3 skills Hideous Cacophony, Banshee Screech, and Chill of Death (artwork for Psychic Slap and Blackout was included in initial release)
• 🎮 Character Ability Changes: All five "classes" of ghost have had the mechanics of their abilities tweaked to help with scaling, and their stats re-balanced accordingly. They should all be roughly as powerful as they were before individually, but the "synergy" between different types of towers has been refined, it's expected that some 1.0.0.0 strategies may be less effective than they were previously, others will be significantly improved.
• 🎮 Progression Changes: Psychic energy (XP) required to level has been retuned for all abilities. Death Rattle/Bump in the Night/Hideous Cacophony will gain energy much more quickly than in 1.0.0.0, Bitter Draft/Cold Spot/Chill of Death slightly more slowly. The changes to other abilities were minimal.
• 🎮 Mob Stat Changes: Mob stat variation is now algorithmic rather than random. This preserves the feeling of variety in the mob stats while being more consistent in terms of difficulty. Players aren't likely to notice much of an effect on gameplay, but this change allows for tighter difficulty tuning for the large, roving packs of mortals in Tier 3 maps.

Bug Fixes

• Mortals are now appropriately wiggly on the stairs in Map 01

Known Bugs

• Vincent sometimes doesn't gain psychic energy at the expected rate on Map 05, this delays his level up to Bump in the Night and makes the map significantly more difficult than it should be. For now, if around Wave 6 it starts feeling unfairly difficult, try restarting the game and beginning the level again, this seems to resolve the issue.

v1.0.0.0 - Initial Release - August 5, 2023

Initial Features

• Six maps (00-05)
• Four distinct mob types with two art variants each
• Five ghost types with two ability tiers each
• Two music tracks

Known Bugs

• Mortals don't visually 'wiggle' up the stairs on Map 01

Development Roadmap

v1.1.0.0 Planned Features

• Downloadable Windows desktop version
• Three (or more) additional maps
  • v1.0.1.0: Adds Map 06
• Two new distinct mob types with their own art variants
• Mob sub-types that confer unique characteristics to affected mobs
• A third tier of ghost abilities, with new artwork
  • v1.0.1.0: Includes third tier versions of all five ghost abilities, with unique artwork
• Additional music tracks and incidental music
  • v1.0.1.0: Adds event music for map clear
• "Endless" mode - optionally spawn an infinite number of waves after the end of a map
• Maps that utilize the ghost compendium to allow you to select a team of "starter" ghosts
  • v1.0.1.0: Implements a mini-compendium to select a single ghost for Map 06

Long-Term

• Map packs with new maps, mobs, and abilities
• "Survival" runs, timed gauntlets where your reputation doesn't recover between maps
• Options to visually customize and nickname ghosts in your compendium
• Downloadable versions for additional platforms (Linux, Android, Mac, iOS all under consideration) as testing allows