Boss texturing and some code rework

Hi!
Today, I started to paint boss texture. But more important, I reworked some parts of the code.

Why? Because, I have to change how game mode is selected. Before that change, there was only one statement randomGame that could be true or false. Now I can add as many game modes as I want. For example... multiplayer! Yes, I am going to add new multiplayer mode - Versus - where two tanks will be fighting on a small arena!

You will be able to play agains AI, or your friend locally on one PC or via internet (this is a little difficult to do - it will take me more time, but it's possible). Stay focused, because lots of new things are comming!

Working on new chassis

Hi!

Today, I was working on new chassis. I have spent a lot of time on unwrapping model. It still need better texture and painting, but at least UV wrap is quite good. I have also added new wheels to chassis, they are of course animated.

I need to finish 2 old meshes - turtle destroyer boss and laser turret. But as you know, Easter is comming and I have a lot to do at home.

New armor system and GUI rework

Hi!

Today, I am focusing on player. I have finished new player chassis and added a possibility to change chassis and turret in game (for example, as a reward from picked up bonus). It works quite well. You can also change a color of your tank! Now I am going to add an option to customize a tank in game menu.

I have also added new armor system. Before, every hit that player has taken removed some of player health. Now health is something like lifes (chances you have before you die for good) and if you get hit, you will lose some of your armor. If you lose all of your armor, your health will be reduced by one (and armor will be set full). You can change your armor, by choosing turret and chassis.

 

Some turrets gives you a bonus to armor and some chassis are lighter (so you move faster) but are more fragile and has less armor. Basic chassis has armor value of 4 - that means you should survive about 4 standard hits and basic turret gives one bonus armor point.

Because of new armor system, I was forced to rebuild GUI. Now its fully scalable to monitor resolution and looks better. I still need to change some texts - like game over and messages.

Modular player tank system

Hi!

I am currently working at modular player tank system. What does it mean? It's simple - you can quickly select player chassis and turret (in future you will be able to select camouflage and color as well). Different turrets shoots different ammunition and some chassis are lighter but faster, where other are heavier (and offer more basic health - in future, basic resistance). Let's look at the turrets now:

 

A) Basic turret - all of you know it well. This turret shoots standard tank bullet with intermediate damage at medium rate of fire.

B) Heavy turret - this turret is heavily armed. It will give a bonus to health (and armor in future) and shoots highly explosive bullets that do a lot of damage at low rate of fire.

C) Laser turret - this turret is light (so it will give you a boost to speed) and shoots new kind (actually old - because laser bullets were made by me at first) of weapon - laser! It's fast, but because of dense atmosphere of earth, it do a little damage.

So choose your turret and roll into the battlefield!

Dev update

Hi!

I have been making some web materials today. I have created buttons and I am still working at new webpage background. I have also signed for a polish indie promotion campaing.

New boss - turtle destroyer - await to be painted. I should finish it tomorrow. Easter is comming and I have a lot to do at home. Thats why my work slowed down a little. I focused on fixing bugs and rewriting the code to be more flexible for me and allows me to add (usually) more features in future.

For example, I started to work at system that allows me to quickly change player turret or chassis. You will be able to customize your tank soon!

I have also added a bunch of new screenshots to ModDB.com. You can watch them here: http://www.moddb.com/games/the-tanks

Space Tactics - awesome indie strategy game by 13branniy

Hi!

Today, I want to tell you a word about upcoming indie game by 13branniy - Space Tactics. This game reminds me hours spend on playing Starsector and I must to say - it looks better! In ST player takes a role of a fleet commander or fighter pilot and fight fiercy space battles!

 

Graphics is minimalistic. Ship models and patricles looks like objects seen on radar screen in command center or in some kind of a tactics simulation. Great idea! I would like to see The Tanks looks at least half as good as Space Tactics one day.

 

But the most important thing is the gameplay - and Space Tactics is designed to give you a lot of fun while fighting enemy fleet! Whether are you a fleet commander or fighter pilot, it's very demanding, but it gives you a lot of satisfaction. Ships can use special abilities and rest assured, you will use them a lot.

The game will be released on mobile platforms and Steam. Check https://twitter.com/13branniy, if you want to stay in touch. You can also check 13branniy devblog on: http://spacetactics.blogspot.com/

 I can't wait to play this game on my PC!

Original concept of War - Original War review

Hi!
This time, I would like to remind you of the classic RTS genre, a genre that it's glorious years has sadly passed. This game is - Original War, the game of Czech studio Altar Interactive, now Altar Games - yes, the creator of the very popular game UFO: Aftershock. Original War is a wonderful mix of strategy and RPG game, where we lead a group of American or Russian soldiers, who are trying to take control of the mysterious mineral (Series C & C bows), where? Exactly!

 

 

Welcome to Siberia!
The game story takes player only 2 million years BC somewhere in the endless wastes of Siberia. Despite the passage of years, graphics has barely grown old. Hand-drawn backgrounds and complex object models, neat special effects (and a great burst of "nuclear" weapon) even today delight the eye of player.

Build my tank
Original War has an incredible feature. Because of a mix of strategy and RPG, you have only limited amount people. Your soldiers are not produced in the barracks here, so you need to take care of every of them. On the other hand, we can construct a whole lot of types of vehicles, because we have the opportunity to choose the individual components of our new tanks, such as chassis, engine, weapons and the driver type. In later stages of camapign we can invent a technology that allows us to replace people with computers, making the game a little easier, because we do not have to worry about the loss of our peole lifes. But still we need to fuel our tanks in time, otherwise they will be only a dead piece of junk.

It was a long, long time ago
In my opinion, Original War is one of the best-routed in the history of gaming ever. You can feel the depth of the story and you can easily identify with the characters of the game. The stories are very complex, the main characters have a rich background. The dialogues are written lightly and with flair. Interestingly, some of the decisions taken at the beginning of the game have an impact on the further course of the game, eg. If you kill your prisoner, he won't be able to free one of our comrades from enemy hands (because he's dead) and at the very end of the game, our comrade does not come to our rescue at a crucial moment of the battle.

Game in the hands of players
After a few years since the release of the game, Altar Interactive has decided to give away the source code and tools in the hands of players (precisely in 2005). And it was a very good decision. Community took care of the patching the errors and fix multiplayer issues. That allowed every willing to create their own missions, and even his own campaign. The programs gives you so much possibilities, that you can even alter the mechanics of the game and, for example, add new graphics of vehicles or buildings, or entire new factions. There was a time, I worked as modder in the Original War coding team and it was the time when almost every multiplayer clan made its own mini-campaigns with teammates as characters to memorise their glory and great victories in Original War contests (this is just a sensation! does players in CS do machinimas about their teams?) I tried to create a good history - a spin-off for American campaign. Community in game is still active and interestingly, despite the 15 years since game release, the latest patch was published on 6 December 2015 and introduced - among other things - support for Steam Workshop!

It's boring to play alone 
So why won't we play a round in Owar? I do not know how it looks like today, but a few years ago, servers were crowded by players. Creating a thousands of game modes, most of which were based solely on honor of the players and were extremely engaging.

So old that no one had heard about it 
Unfortunatelly, the game has not obtained great popularity in the west. But today, in the era of electronic distribution of this reheated pork, but rather a delicious stew tasted anyone who likes really good RTSy. I highly recommend to any fan of good RTS games and the players who appreciate the story.

If you want to play it: http://store.steampowered.com/app/235320/