HOTAR is an RPG about fighting bosses and arming your soldiers making them stronger and more dangerous. You will have to figure out the correct tactics and also get the right gear (e.g. some which provides you a certain resistance to a magic school) to be able to defeat a boss. If you enter a dungeon, the configuration of your party may also be crucial for your success. Different character classes offer different abilities and spells which you might need to control and defeat your enemies but also to heal and strengthen your own group members.

In the world of Hotar usually you will control a small group of 3 members which will gain experience and loot from each defeated enemy. However to face stronger opponents you will have to enter dungeons. These are special areas designed for bigger parties (6, 10, 15 or 20 people). In the game you will meet NPCs which will allow you to recruit further party members for some gold. These members initially will have a very poor gear but they will start at a higher level so you don't have to train them all the way up from the beginning. Any time you will have access to the pool of your group members and can decide which of them should fight the next battle to adapt your group to the current situation.

This game feels very much like an MMORPG with the difference that you can control all the involved characters by yourself. During battles the game can be paused so you can give orders to your people e.g. to use a spell or to move so you have enough time to control even the largest groups.

Some of the features the game currently has to offer:

+ 8 character classes
+ Level 50 as the highest possible level which can be reached
+ Dozens of different talents, magical spells and abilities
+ Loot system: random items dropped by all monsters and specific, generally better items dropped by bosses
+ A crafting system
+ Usable items, i.e. potions (more to come)
+ Different qualities of the items: bad, normal, magical, rare and epic
+ Big levels which are filled with new enemies every time you re-enter. This way you can look for (specific) gear until you have what you need to proceed or try to reach even higher levels to become even stronger. You can also defeat a boss multiple times in a row if you have to.
+ Dungeons which can be entered by parties of 6, 10, 15 or 20 people only
+ Pause the game any time during battle to give orders to your characters
+ English and German localization

Planned features:
+ Much more areas
+ Much more bosses and other monsters
+ More talents, spells and abilities to come
+ More items
+ Further kinds of items, e.g. arrows
+ etc.

You can already download the game for free: https://blast82.itch.io/hotar

Also check the offisial site where you will find more videos, screenshots and a forum: http://hotar.de/

I'm looking forward to read your comments :)

This is the talent tree of a warrior which is still in development. Some talents are passive but some of them are required to unlock new spells and abilities of the character.

HOTAR updated to Version 0.1.03 which adds a new dungeon and many new features and fixes.

The new update for HOTAR mainly adds inventory inhancements (i.e. bags), a combat log and some balancing improvements to make the game more interesting and challenging!
You can download it here as usual: http://hotar.de/downloads/

The next update will be released next weekend and will hold a new map for 3 characters along with many new talents and spells and other fixes and enhancements!

HOTAR 0.1.05 is released!
You will find a new map and a lot of new talents and spells. There are also several new features and fixes.
Download it: http://hotar.de/downloads/

The development of HOTAR goes on! Currently I'm working on the next dungeon - Crypt. The next update will require some more time as usual until its release because I had a lot to do with other things but it will come and the new dungeon will be great! The map itself it pretty much done and I am working on the monsters and new bosses now. All day long, no matter what I'm doing at this moment, I am thinking about the spells that I will give to these bosses and the tactics which the player will have to figure out to beat them. I am so excited about the development of this game and have so many ideas about features I will implement :)

Please feel free to leave comments on itch.io (https://blast82.itch.io/hotar) or on the official forums (http://hotar.de/).

The release date of the next update is approaching. Here is a first screenshot of the new dungeon and the monsters which are waiting for you.

I was just playing my game and trying to kill the last boss of the new dungeon. I almost had him twice! Actually I have killed him one time but died at the same moment, too :D

These are some items he can drop together with some bags:

I am working on graphics now. The maps will be reworked first, then the UI to make the game look better, wish me luck!

The new graphics of Hotar will look like this. The first map is almost done.

Additionally to the graphics I am also working on a new path finding algorithm! The goal is to make characters always choose the shortest way to their target while not using very much of the valuable CPU time. Today I have finally achieved a good progress on this hard topic but there is still a lot to do to make it stable and work in every situation. :)

The overhaul of the path finding is complete! The new algorithm is very complex and was difficult to implement but it will allow you to control your characters more comfortably. I have developed the algorithm from different ideas. However your soldiers might not be able to reach very distant goals with lots of obstacles on their way, I have built in a limit on purpose to prevent the CPU from consuming too much time.

The redrawing of existing maps is moving on pretty well. I have redrawn three maps already, others will follow, too. I hope to release as many redrawn maps as possible with the next update. Please tell me what you think about the game on the forums (http://hotar.de/forum/index.php).

HOTAR 0.1.07 is finally released! These are some of the major changes:

- completely overhauled the path finding system! The new algorithm is very complex and was difficult to implement but it will allow you to control your characters more comfortably.
- implemented a statistics pane which will display damage and healing done by your characters during combat so you can see who is performing best; there is also a new button on the left bar and a hotkey ('k' by default) to open this pane
- completely redrawn first five maps; other maps will follow during next updates to provide a better and more coherent look to the game; the UI will be redrawn later, too.

Please tell me your thoughts about the game and also about recent changes on the forums. You can also tell me what you would like to see in Hotar in the future.

Graphical update of Hotar is moving on. Currently I am working on new, resizeable fonts and redrawing the maps.

Graphical overhaul of maps in Hotar is done. These are some examples of how the style has changed.

The UI will be modified next and I already have some nice elements ;)

Development of Hotar is moving on. This is what the character pane will look like after the next update! Other windows will look similar. I have implemented some new talents and spells, too.

Graphical rework of maps and the entire UI is finally done! It was a lot of work. I have also implemented many new talents and spells to the game, so when the last tests are finisched you can count with the next update ;) At the moment there are already more than 100 different spells and abilities most of which can be used by player characters.

Hotar 0.1.08 is out and can be downloaded here: https://blast82.itch.io/hotar

Please comment the game and give me your feedback in the comments or on the official forums: http://hotar.de/forum/index.php

I have already implemented difficulty levels to Hotar wich can be chosen when starting a new game.

An orc village will be part of the next update. The map is already done, working on a second map now.

This is the second map. It is a friendly area where you will be able to recruit some level 45 party members. Hotar 0.2.00 will be released tomorrow! Be ready to download it.

The talent tree of the warrior is almost complete. I have added several new talents to the warrior and also some other classes.

A new map with goblin pirates will be part of the next update. The map will have a level range of 14-16 to cover a gap in this area and bring even more fun and variety to the game.

Planning to bring a second map in the next update. It will be an oasis in a desert filled with water elementals and some other enemies.

Working on the crafting system atm. It will allow to craft items with different stats with the same plan or blueprint. The components of your crafted item will directly influence the stats of the end product. It will also be possible to disassemble items to take best parts of them and make something more powerful!

I have already fully implemented a crafting-page and about 30 different plans. 18 of them will be available from the beginning of the game or if you load your saved game from an earlier version of Hotar, others you will have to find in the world. There will also be some rare plans and those which only can be found when killing a boss. You will be able to assemble and to disassemble items. This way it will be possible to take best parts from 2 or 3 items and make one good item from them which will give even more interesting opportunities to the player. You can make use of items you usually wouldn't use!

At the moment there is only blacksmithing implemented in the game but some other professions will follow (Tailor, Jeweler, Alchemist, ...).

Potions and stackable items will be introduced soon. In fact this new feature is already implemented, just needs to be polished a little followed by some in depth testing. There is a new bar on the bottom of the screen now where you can put up to two usable items for each character to use them in battle.

Some boss fights in Hotar are very hard and can only be mastered with according gear and tactic.

One more spider boss in the same dungeon. A very funny fight which requires some AoE :)

Warlocks will be able to summon different minions with different abilities soon. All the most important work is already done. Warlocks will also get additional talents to make their minions and also themselves stronger.

One more powerful minion for warlocks coming soon! He has lots of armor and a shield and some resistances, too, so you can use him as tank, available at level 50. I will give him some nice abilities, too.

Be ready for epic boss fights! Dragons are some of the most dangerous bosses.

On this gif you can see some of the spells (there are more and more will be developed, too) mages have access to.

Added some more talents. Warlocks will be able to summon minions!

HOTAR 0.2.03 is out and ready for download!
The main feature of this update is that warlocks will be able to summon minions now! You will get access to minions if you spread your talent points accordingly. There are also some new talents for other classes and I have added lots of new plans and ressources for crafting.
So, have fun!

Download the game at http://hotar.de/downloads/

Warlock in action :)

Made a new background picture which I really like for the homepage :)

Working on a new map "Badlands" with some new monsters!