Gates of Orbis ⛩️

⚠️ Beta Version

Gates of Orbis was created for the Hytale New Worlds Contest. The project is already playable, but some features are still being built and polished.

What Is Gates of Orbis? 🛡️

Gates of Orbis is a wave defense mod for Hytale.

You enter an arena, place defenders on fixed spots, and protect the gate from the waves of enemies. Between waves, you earn gold, upgrade your team, and adjust your strategy for the next attack.

The goal is simple and easy to understand:

Place defenders
Stop enemies
Protect the gate
Survive all waves

Each run is self-contained, so your normal inventory stays safe. When you enter a match, your items are saved. When you leave, they are restored.

This makes Gates of Orbis easy to jump into, easy to learn, and fun to replay.

Quick Start 🚀

If you want to jump in right away, start by crafting a Gates of Orbis Arcade at a Workbench using 6 Iron Bars, 4 Hardwood, 2 Blue Crystals, and 1 Gold Bar.

Place the crafted Gates of Orbis Arcade in your world.
Interact with the arcade and confirm in the menu to enter the lobby.
Open your inventory and drag the matching defenders from your backpack into your hotbar.
Talk to Orin the Guide to open the Lobby Guide menu, learn the basics, and teleport directly to an arena.
As an alternative, walk through one of the arena gates in the lobby.
Place defenders on the marked spots, survive the waves, and protect the gate.

Alternatively, admins or players with access to GoO commands can teleport directly to the lobby with /goo lobby.

ℹ️ Note for testers: Older versions may occasionally cause a client crash when teleporting to the lobby or into an area. This is a known client-side bug and has already been reported. If it happens, please restart and retry once, as the issue usually does not occur again within the same session.

Gates of Orbis Arcade

The Gates of Orbis Arcade is the crafted entry item used to reach the lobby.

Crafting recipe for the Gates of Orbis Arcade

Workbench recipe for the Gates of Orbis Arcade.

Lobby Guide menu

Orin the Guide explains the basics and can send you straight to an arena.

Arena gate and defender hotbar

Arena entry view with defender shortcuts ready for the next run.

Useful Test Commands

For gold testing, the current command is /goo addgold rather than givegold.

/goo lobby - Teleport to the Gates of Orbis lobby.
/goo exit - Leave the current Gates of Orbis world and return to the normal world.
/goo addgold - Add gold to your current match session.
/goo highscore - Show your personal best scores across all arenas.
/goo highscore [arenaId] - Show the top 10 for a specific arena. Arena IDs: GoO_Test_Arena, GoO_Crypt_Arena, GoO_Siege_Arena, GoO_Feran_Arena, GoO_Kweebec_Arena.
/goo wave info - Show the current wave status in the active arena world.
/goo wave start - Manually start waves in the current arena.
/goo wave skip - Skip to the next wave.
/goo wave reset - Reset and restart the current wave.
/goo wave stop - Manually stop waves in the current arena.

Why It Stands Out ✨

Clear and readable gameplay from the first minute
Fast onboarding through a lobby, guide NPC, and simple arena flow
Distinct defender roles that are easy to learn but fun to combine
Multiple arenas and difficulty levels for replay value
Strong focus on short, complete matches with a clear start and finish

Screenshots 🖼️

Lobby Guide

Lobby Guide menu with arena options

The Lobby Guide menu gives a quick overview and can teleport you directly into battle.

In-Game Action

Combat view with HUD, defenders, and enemy wave

Live match view with the HUD, gate health, wave progress, and defenders holding the line.

Defender Lineup

Available defenders lined up for preview

A quick look at the different defenders you can place during a run.

Hall of Champions

Highscore board in the lobby

The Hall of Champions tracks top scores across different arenas and difficulties.

Match Results

Match result screen after a run

After each run, the result screen shows your score and a compact summary of the match.

Current Features 🎮

Match Flow

Lobby with a guide NPC that explains the basics
Arena selection before each match
Difficulty selection before entering
Build phase before every wave
10-wave match structure with rising pressure
Result screen and highscore board after the run

Defenders

There are six defender types. Every defender can be upgraded from level 1 to level 5.

Archer - Reliable ranged damage and a strong all-round pick
Rogue - Similar to the Archer, but with a more aggressive attack style
Berserker - Big hits, slower attacks, great against tougher enemies
Frost - Deals damage and slows enemies to help the whole defense
Cannon - Heavy hitter with a high cost and strong late-game value
Spear - Cheap melee unit for narrow paths and tight choke points

Arenas 🏟️

Four main arenas are currently available, plus one test arena for practice:

Crypt Arena - Feran defenders vs. Skeleton enemies
Feran Arena - Feran defenders vs. Trork enemies
Kweebec Arena - Kweebec defenders vs. Skeleton enemies
Siege Arena - Kweebec defenders vs. Trork enemies
Test Arena - Simple practice setup for learning the basics

Difficulty ⚔️

The game currently includes three difficulty levels:

Easy - Good for learning the layout and flow
Normal - The main intended experience
Hard - Faster, tougher, and less forgiving

Economy and Progress 💰

Earn gold by defeating enemies
Get 30 gold for completing a wave
Get an extra 20 gold if no enemy reaches the gate
Spend gold on new defenders or upgrades
Remove a defender to get back 50% of its deploy cost

Other Gameplay Features

Inventory protection for every match
HUD with gate health, wave number, and gold
Persistent highscore board in the lobby
Fixed arena setups that help keep matches readable and focused

Known Issues ⚠️

The current build works, but there are still a few important limitations:

Solo play only - Only one player is supported per arena instance right now.
Arena join crash can happen - This appears to be a Hytale engine issue during instance transitions.
No custom map support yet - Arenas currently use fixed configs and prefabs.
Nightmare difficulty is not available yet - Planned, but not playable right now.

Roadmap 🧭

Planned features for future versions include:

Co-op support
More defender types
Nightmare difficulty
More arenas
More polish for UI, balancing, and match feedback

This plugin is under active development. 🛠️