▶
Warring States - Released!
It's finally here, after a long road. At the bottom of this post you'll see a list of changes from the Beta update. From the bottom of our hearts, thanks to all of you that put up with us on this long journey for our small game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd2fBH-YpiQ For a bit of fun, compare this to our OLD Greenlight Trailer from 2013! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKasc0qUO0g
https://www.warringstatestactics.com/
The Beta was the last News announcement we posted, but we've been releasing small updates and maintaining a thread on the old Early Access general forum of the patch notes. Here is a complete list of all changes since the Beta update.
[ 2018-01-29 20:57:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Warring States: Tactics has been Released!
It's finally here, after a long road. At the bottom of this post you'll see a list of changes from the Beta update. From the bottom of our hearts, thanks to all of you that put up with us on this long journey for our small game.
Release Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd2fBH-YpiQ For a bit of fun, compare this to our OLD Greenlight Trailer from 2013! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKasc0qUO0g
New Website
https://www.warringstatestactics.com/
Changes
The Beta was the last News announcement we posted, but we've been releasing small updates and maintaining a thread on the old Early Access general forum of the patch notes. Here is a complete list of all changes since the Beta update.
- Improved handling of AI threads
- Fixed error caused by killing all remaining Supply Depots in Mission 2-3 at the same time
- Fixed issue with AI deploying cavalry on walls
- Improved resource loading
- Added alert for first time players to direct them to the Game Guide on the HUD
- Improved default naming on save files
- Fixed scrolling health not respecting the x2 animation speed
- Fixed AI retreating sometimes getting stuck
- Fixed AI not moving because its own units block the best path
- Eased difficulty of Campaign 1 missions and S ranks
- The Cursor is now confined to the game in Fullscreen when you have two monitors (use alt+tab or Windowed mode otherwise)
- Disabled edge of screen map scrolling when the window doesn't have focus
- Improved Windows Fullscreen support. Now by default Fullscreen means Exclusive mode on Windows and Borderless Windowed fullscreen is now a Steam launch option. Unfortunately this is a Unity engine limitation, but unlike most Unity games, we wanted to give you the option to have both.
- Fixed an issue with retreating units not moving (related to gates)
- Fixed Mission 4-2 Lua serialisation error after taking the flag in the city
- Fixed a soft-lock related to killing undeployed Siege Towers
- Errors in missions no longer use the Debug UI and now exit the mission
- Fixed an error in Network deployment if you deployed before your opponent finished loading
- Improved AI handling of invalid paths
- Added Player tooltip for Battle and MP that shows a player's current tactical points, units killed and units lost
- Fixed audio error that would occur in MP games
- Added missing tooltip icons for Raise Morale and Salvo
- Fixed floating text and engagement arrows appearing in Fog of War
- Fixed Retreating units ignoring Animations Off
- AI will now use Raise Morale correctly
- Fixed FoW visibility not reseting after Disorganise
- Reduced tower attack duration to speed up upkeep phase
- Rebalanced tower damage slightly (improved)
- Fixed Volley and Salvo sometimes selecting the same unit multiple times (causing coroutine error)
- Improved MP data handling to remove desyncs
- Fixed Fire damage not applying consistently between animation modes
- Increased timeouts in MP for slow loaders
- Fixed Salvo and Volley highlighting on gates
- Increased damage bonus on various melee special attacks to make them still worth it on single target
- Reduced duration on Pierce and Disorganise debuff
- Fixed various unlocalised text elements
- Fixed colour in game lobby screen showing game settings
- Added unique art for new Raise Morale and Salvo actions
- Fixed error introduced by Hotfix #4 related to Fire special attacks
- Added unique art for some traits still using generics
- Updated Campaign image for Mission 4-3
- Fixed Zhao general in 4-4 being a treacherous Han
- Fixed the Linux build
- Restructured some assets which has reduced loading times and install size
- Removed needless particles in specials when using Immediate animation mode
- Fixed some AI errors with forts
- Fixed issue with capturable buildings not counting
- Moved an enemy reinforcement point to ouside fort in 1-3
- Fixed the fort area in 3-1 to include all wooden towers
- Added some missing effects for Light Cavalry attacks
- Adjusted music intensity levels on numerous campaign missions to fit the levels of combat
- Fixed inconsistency in retreating units when their path is blocked
- Fixed numerous desync issues in MP related to edge case combinations of abilities
- Adjusted stats on faction-specific units to differentiate them from their generic versions
- Fixed enemy units self-deleting in the last phase of 4-2 when retreating to the gate
- Added Tactics bonus for burning enemy units and even more for burning wooden enemy buildings
- Added Catapult and Balista as deployable units in non-Siege battle/MP maps
- Adjusted Deploy areas for Siege battle/MP maps so the defender can deploy anywhere in a castle/fort initially
- Enabled S Rank achievement
- Fixed score display in 4-2
- Fixed error in 4-2 when your units transport into the city
- Added 'Detailed Tactics Points' option to toggle the detailed information about where tactics points are earned
- Improved layout of Detailed Tactics Points to no longer wrap, and be on the second line below the actual point value
- Increased damage on Swordsman Rushing Blow
- Lowered damage on Crossbow Pierce attack
- Reduced Tactics Bonus for Spear vs Cavalry advantage, since it's so easy to get
- Fixed Spear holding units getting the Spear vs Cavalry combat bonus when engaged with another unit. They should only get the bonus when they fight back.
- Fixed destroying a siege tower with a unit on top not removing said unit
- Fixed more inconsistencies in Immediate Animation mode vs Normal
- Fixed potential desyncs in Multiplayer when players had different animation modes
- Reduced number of lights in 4-2 for performance
- Added missing effect for the start of Horse Archer special move and Fire Attack special
- Fixed flags not updating when castles change ownership
- Improved spacing on scrolling combat text
- Moved some deploy positions in Attacker vs Defender MP maps to be closer
- Fixed an issue with save file names
- Fixed units being able to occupy the same tile of a fleeing unit that was initially out of sight due to fog of war
- Fixed ambush not triggering when moving next to a hidden unit inside a forest
- Fixed Sword Faint not breaking engagement on immediate mode
[ 2018-01-29 20:57:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Warring States - Released!
It's finally here, after a long road. At the bottom of this post you'll see a list of changes from the Beta update. From the bottom of our hearts, thanks to all of you that put up with us on this long journey for our small game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd2fBH-YpiQ For a bit of fun, compare this to our OLD Greenlight Trailer from 2013! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKasc0qUO0g
https://www.warringstatestactics.com/
The Beta was the last News announcement we posted, but we've been releasing small updates and maintaining a thread on the old Early Access general forum of the patch notes. Here is a complete list of all changes since the Beta update.
[ 2018-01-29 20:57:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Warring States: Tactics has been Released!
It's finally here, after a long road. At the bottom of this post you'll see a list of changes from the Beta update. From the bottom of our hearts, thanks to all of you that put up with us on this long journey for our small game.
Release Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd2fBH-YpiQ For a bit of fun, compare this to our OLD Greenlight Trailer from 2013! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKasc0qUO0g
New Website
https://www.warringstatestactics.com/
Changes
The Beta was the last News announcement we posted, but we've been releasing small updates and maintaining a thread on the old Early Access general forum of the patch notes. Here is a complete list of all changes since the Beta update.
- Improved handling of AI threads
- Fixed error caused by killing all remaining Supply Depots in Mission 2-3 at the same time
- Fixed issue with AI deploying cavalry on walls
- Improved resource loading
- Added alert for first time players to direct them to the Game Guide on the HUD
- Improved default naming on save files
- Fixed scrolling health not respecting the x2 animation speed
- Fixed AI retreating sometimes getting stuck
- Fixed AI not moving because its own units block the best path
- Eased difficulty of Campaign 1 missions and S ranks
- The Cursor is now confined to the game in Fullscreen when you have two monitors (use alt+tab or Windowed mode otherwise)
- Disabled edge of screen map scrolling when the window doesn't have focus
- Improved Windows Fullscreen support. Now by default Fullscreen means Exclusive mode on Windows and Borderless Windowed fullscreen is now a Steam launch option. Unfortunately this is a Unity engine limitation, but unlike most Unity games, we wanted to give you the option to have both.
- Fixed an issue with retreating units not moving (related to gates)
- Fixed Mission 4-2 Lua serialisation error after taking the flag in the city
- Fixed a soft-lock related to killing undeployed Siege Towers
- Errors in missions no longer use the Debug UI and now exit the mission
- Fixed an error in Network deployment if you deployed before your opponent finished loading
- Improved AI handling of invalid paths
- Added Player tooltip for Battle and MP that shows a player's current tactical points, units killed and units lost
- Fixed audio error that would occur in MP games
- Added missing tooltip icons for Raise Morale and Salvo
- Fixed floating text and engagement arrows appearing in Fog of War
- Fixed Retreating units ignoring Animations Off
- AI will now use Raise Morale correctly
- Fixed FoW visibility not reseting after Disorganise
- Reduced tower attack duration to speed up upkeep phase
- Rebalanced tower damage slightly (improved)
- Fixed Volley and Salvo sometimes selecting the same unit multiple times (causing coroutine error)
- Improved MP data handling to remove desyncs
- Fixed Fire damage not applying consistently between animation modes
- Increased timeouts in MP for slow loaders
- Fixed Salvo and Volley highlighting on gates
- Increased damage bonus on various melee special attacks to make them still worth it on single target
- Reduced duration on Pierce and Disorganise debuff
- Fixed various unlocalised text elements
- Fixed colour in game lobby screen showing game settings
- Added unique art for new Raise Morale and Salvo actions
- Fixed error introduced by Hotfix #4 related to Fire special attacks
- Added unique art for some traits still using generics
- Updated Campaign image for Mission 4-3
- Fixed Zhao general in 4-4 being a treacherous Han
- Fixed the Linux build
- Restructured some assets which has reduced loading times and install size
- Removed needless particles in specials when using Immediate animation mode
- Fixed some AI errors with forts
- Fixed issue with capturable buildings not counting
- Moved an enemy reinforcement point to ouside fort in 1-3
- Fixed the fort area in 3-1 to include all wooden towers
- Added some missing effects for Light Cavalry attacks
- Adjusted music intensity levels on numerous campaign missions to fit the levels of combat
- Fixed inconsistency in retreating units when their path is blocked
- Fixed numerous desync issues in MP related to edge case combinations of abilities
- Adjusted stats on faction-specific units to differentiate them from their generic versions
- Fixed enemy units self-deleting in the last phase of 4-2 when retreating to the gate
- Added Tactics bonus for burning enemy units and even more for burning wooden enemy buildings
- Added Catapult and Balista as deployable units in non-Siege battle/MP maps
- Adjusted Deploy areas for Siege battle/MP maps so the defender can deploy anywhere in a castle/fort initially
- Enabled S Rank achievement
- Fixed score display in 4-2
- Fixed error in 4-2 when your units transport into the city
- Added 'Detailed Tactics Points' option to toggle the detailed information about where tactics points are earned
- Improved layout of Detailed Tactics Points to no longer wrap, and be on the second line below the actual point value
- Increased damage on Swordsman Rushing Blow
- Lowered damage on Crossbow Pierce attack
- Reduced Tactics Bonus for Spear vs Cavalry advantage, since it's so easy to get
- Fixed Spear holding units getting the Spear vs Cavalry combat bonus when engaged with another unit. They should only get the bonus when they fight back.
- Fixed destroying a siege tower with a unit on top not removing said unit
- Fixed more inconsistencies in Immediate Animation mode vs Normal
- Fixed potential desyncs in Multiplayer when players had different animation modes
- Reduced number of lights in 4-2 for performance
- Added missing effect for the start of Horse Archer special move and Fire Attack special
- Fixed flags not updating when castles change ownership
- Improved spacing on scrolling combat text
- Moved some deploy positions in Attacker vs Defender MP maps to be closer
- Fixed an issue with save file names
- Fixed units being able to occupy the same tile of a fleeing unit that was initially out of sight due to fog of war
- Fixed ambush not triggering when moving next to a hidden unit inside a forest
- Fixed Sword Faint not breaking engagement on immediate mode
[ 2018-01-29 20:57:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 21 - Beta
It's not an excuse, but the reason the updates have stopped is because of our small team, I was the one doing updates. At the start of the year I got really really ill and spent a good half of the year dealing with it, including numerous trips to the hospital and an unpleasant procedure. Despite this work did not stop on the game at all. But we don't like to put out updates with half finished work and loads of my work went half touched. Now that I'm back we've been busting the past few months to bring all of the year's work together into an update. All I can do is apologise for the lack of updates and poor communication at this point, and hope you can forgive me. Okay so, on to the update!
Campaign 04's remaining missions have been released, this is 4-2, 4-3 and 4-4. This campaign culminates in the epic Battle of Changping which set the State of Qin up for total dominance over the rest of the Warring States of China.
This large map has you battling over a 4-way crossing of rivers interlocked with bridges. Suited for 4 players, but can be played with 2 as well.
This medium map promotes a game of cat and mouse with numerous bridges, forests and hills to gain an advantage over your opponent, prepare ambushes and launch a counter attack after throwing back their attack.
We have done a pass over all multiplayer maps and their modes for balance. Siege levels now have clear capture points within the forts to end the battle as well as much larger deploy areas around the forts giving the attacker more choice, and less time is spent running up to the walls on the larger maps.
Every single mission has been tweaked, reworked, balanced and adjusted to feel a steady progression of unit availability, difficulty and flow. Some missions have had major adjustments done to get this to work better (for example 2-1 with new ambush mechanics from the AI).
AI can now use Special Attacks! Previously they did Reinforce but that was about it. Be careful though, because they can really mess you up now with clever AOE attacks and displacements when you weren't expecting it before. This is a small change on the list, but probably one of the biggest impacts to the game when playing against AI. We have also done some significant overhauls of the AI that make them much more aware of tactically important tiles and how to manipulate Special Attacks to their advantage. For example, if you're standing on a capture point the AI will now use displacement attacks to push you off of it.
We have added a cheaper and smaller ranged special attack, Salvo. This hits all enemies in a direct line, but you have to make sure they line up! Use this when Arrow Eclipse is just too much. This attack is also available on lower tier units, where Arrow Eclipse is not.
There have been a few fundamental improvements to combat as we balanced every aspect of the game.
This is a big one. We've introduced Line of Sight to ranged attacks. Not all buildings block it, but the obvious ones do. This primarily came about as we felt it was weird that defending a castle meant having archers on the ground behind the walls, trading shots with archers outside the walls. Now walls and towers will block Line of Sight and force you to rethink your approach, defending or attacking.
Morale was behaving a bit incoherently. We had a lot of hidden mechanics like if you were low health, you could take multiple morale hits at the same time. This made it feel like you could break really easy for no reason when this 'rolled' against you. Additionally ranged attacks were too good at causing morale tests and breaking enemy units, which goes against how we feel combat should work. We've removed these spikes and made it totally transparent. Now you cannot cause morale tests with ranged attacks unless a unit is significantly low strength already. We've also reduced the impact of the Under Fire debuff and introduced some new ones to compensate. Now we have added the Flanked and Charged/Cavalry Charged debuff that happens when (as you can guess) you Flank or Charge a unit. This puts a one-turn but significant Leadership debuff on the unit. This also makes it feel more plausible that you're flanking and crashing cavalry into a unit, causing real terror.
These new debuffs plus the removal of multiple morale level losses in one have really smoothed out the way morale is lost in fights and should feel far more predictable. It also rewards good tactical behaviour more directly.
Unit costs have been totally redone across the board and now much more closely represent their power. If a unit costs more, in general, it should be better barring specific tactical situations. We have also done a major pass on unit values to ensure each type of unit at each tier had a purpose and style, as well as making sure the tiers battling each other were well balanced.
We have done a pass balancing the cost of special attacks, their damage and how quickly you earn Tactics Points. There should be a steady feeling of always being able to spend tactics points and not being forced to conserve them. You now gain a small amount of Tactics Points per turn. We have also added numerous additional tactics points sources:
Reinforce has been tweaked to now only give 25% of your maximum strength, but the cost has been reduced to compensate. This should stop it being the unstoppable tanking action and also make it so you can spread the value of your Tactics Points across your army.
Previously, you could use the Rally action to try to raise the Morale of a unit that wasn't broken, but this actually used the Leadership stat and had a chance of failure, just like a Rally. This felt unfair to waste an entire unit's turn on, so now we have split it into a new action that replaces Rally when a unit is not broken. Raise Morale always succeeds and always raises your morale a level.
Charging is fun and as part of the balancing we have made it much cheaper to do.
Unused/Leftover Deploy Points are now converted to starting Tactics Points at the beginning of a mission. So you no longer feel sad that you just couldn't quite spend those 50 remaining points.
We have been fixing minor things across the game in terms of HUD, UI and input. Here are a few of them:
Previously, the default action of a unit could execute with Right-Click (move, attack) but when you selected an action directly you had to finish with Left-Click. In the end this felt unneccessary and clunky so we've changed it to all be Right-Click for consistency.
You can now select units by clicking on their flag. The tooltips used to work on the flags as well, so why not selecting? Done!
When deploying it now keeps your previous selection so if you want 3 Light Archers just keep clicking on the map to keep deploying them.
The Options menu now has tooltips explaining what the unclear options do specifically.
This is a favourite of mine...you can now toggle the speed of animations between 1x and 2x speed. You can even set it to always be 2x in the options! The toggle is Spacebar by default, but is of course rebindable in the options.
You can not set the maximum number of characters in a unit for performance. We know many of you play on lower end machines or laptops with very hot CPUs when running a game, and this is for you. Along with strict frame limiting options and the ability to limit the number of characters in a unit, the game should be quite playable on a low-end machine.
A ton of optimisation work has gone on to reduce frame spikes and overall cost of frames. One example is when lots of units moved at once in a cutscene there was some serious hit to the performance. A big rewrite of our underlying coroutine usage here has wiped this specific spike totally out.
More bug fixes than we can even count have gone into this, but I love mentioning it. It's the silent work that doesn't make for a good headline or update note, but really improves the quality of the game as a whole.
[ 2017-12-17 17:18:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
Long time no see! It's time for an update and it's a pretty big one with lots of changes across the board. We're calling this 'beta' because it has all the content in we want for the game and what's left is balances, fixes and polish. This update will go live today.
Where have we been?
It's not an excuse, but the reason the updates have stopped is because of our small team, I was the one doing updates. At the start of the year I got really really ill and spent a good half of the year dealing with it, including numerous trips to the hospital and an unpleasant procedure. Despite this work did not stop on the game at all. But we don't like to put out updates with half finished work and loads of my work went half touched. Now that I'm back we've been busting the past few months to bring all of the year's work together into an update. All I can do is apologise for the lack of updates and poor communication at this point, and hope you can forgive me. Okay so, on to the update!
Campaign 04
Campaign 04's remaining missions have been released, this is 4-2, 4-3 and 4-4. This campaign culminates in the epic Battle of Changping which set the State of Qin up for total dominance over the rest of the Warring States of China.
New Multiplayer Map - Confluence Crossing
This large map has you battling over a 4-way crossing of rivers interlocked with bridges. Suited for 4 players, but can be played with 2 as well.
New Multiplayer Map - Stone Forest
This medium map promotes a game of cat and mouse with numerous bridges, forests and hills to gain an advantage over your opponent, prepare ambushes and launch a counter attack after throwing back their attack.
Multiplayer Map Balance
We have done a pass over all multiplayer maps and their modes for balance. Siege levels now have clear capture points within the forts to end the battle as well as much larger deploy areas around the forts giving the attacker more choice, and less time is spent running up to the walls on the larger maps.
Mission Balance Pass
Every single mission has been tweaked, reworked, balanced and adjusted to feel a steady progression of unit availability, difficulty and flow. Some missions have had major adjustments done to get this to work better (for example 2-1 with new ambush mechanics from the AI).
AI Improvements
AI can now use Special Attacks! Previously they did Reinforce but that was about it. Be careful though, because they can really mess you up now with clever AOE attacks and displacements when you weren't expecting it before. This is a small change on the list, but probably one of the biggest impacts to the game when playing against AI. We have also done some significant overhauls of the AI that make them much more aware of tactically important tiles and how to manipulate Special Attacks to their advantage. For example, if you're standing on a capture point the AI will now use displacement attacks to push you off of it.
New Special Attack - Arrow Salvo
We have added a cheaper and smaller ranged special attack, Salvo. This hits all enemies in a direct line, but you have to make sure they line up! Use this when Arrow Eclipse is just too much. This attack is also available on lower tier units, where Arrow Eclipse is not.
Combat Improvements
There have been a few fundamental improvements to combat as we balanced every aspect of the game.
Line of Sight
This is a big one. We've introduced Line of Sight to ranged attacks. Not all buildings block it, but the obvious ones do. This primarily came about as we felt it was weird that defending a castle meant having archers on the ground behind the walls, trading shots with archers outside the walls. Now walls and towers will block Line of Sight and force you to rethink your approach, defending or attacking.
Morale
Morale was behaving a bit incoherently. We had a lot of hidden mechanics like if you were low health, you could take multiple morale hits at the same time. This made it feel like you could break really easy for no reason when this 'rolled' against you. Additionally ranged attacks were too good at causing morale tests and breaking enemy units, which goes against how we feel combat should work. We've removed these spikes and made it totally transparent. Now you cannot cause morale tests with ranged attacks unless a unit is significantly low strength already. We've also reduced the impact of the Under Fire debuff and introduced some new ones to compensate. Now we have added the Flanked and Charged/Cavalry Charged debuff that happens when (as you can guess) you Flank or Charge a unit. This puts a one-turn but significant Leadership debuff on the unit. This also makes it feel more plausible that you're flanking and crashing cavalry into a unit, causing real terror.
These new debuffs plus the removal of multiple morale level losses in one have really smoothed out the way morale is lost in fights and should feel far more predictable. It also rewards good tactical behaviour more directly.
Unit Costs and Stats
Unit costs have been totally redone across the board and now much more closely represent their power. If a unit costs more, in general, it should be better barring specific tactical situations. We have also done a major pass on unit values to ensure each type of unit at each tier had a purpose and style, as well as making sure the tiers battling each other were well balanced.
Tactics Points and Special Attacks
We have done a pass balancing the cost of special attacks, their damage and how quickly you earn Tactics Points. There should be a steady feeling of always being able to spend tactics points and not being forced to conserve them. You now gain a small amount of Tactics Points per turn. We have also added numerous additional tactics points sources:
- Destroyed an Enemy Unit
- Attacked a Broken Unit
- Defended a Narrow Gap (low combat width tile)
- Defended an Outpost
- Defended on a Hill
- Capturing an Enemy Outpost
- Attacking a Charged Unit
- Attacking a Flanked Unit
Reinforce
Reinforce has been tweaked to now only give 25% of your maximum strength, but the cost has been reduced to compensate. This should stop it being the unstoppable tanking action and also make it so you can spread the value of your Tactics Points across your army.
Raise Morale/Rally
Previously, you could use the Rally action to try to raise the Morale of a unit that wasn't broken, but this actually used the Leadership stat and had a chance of failure, just like a Rally. This felt unfair to waste an entire unit's turn on, so now we have split it into a new action that replaces Rally when a unit is not broken. Raise Morale always succeeds and always raises your morale a level.
Charges
Charging is fun and as part of the balancing we have made it much cheaper to do.
Unused Deploy Points
Unused/Leftover Deploy Points are now converted to starting Tactics Points at the beginning of a mission. So you no longer feel sad that you just couldn't quite spend those 50 remaining points.
Quality of Life
We have been fixing minor things across the game in terms of HUD, UI and input. Here are a few of them:
Right-Click Actions
Previously, the default action of a unit could execute with Right-Click (move, attack) but when you selected an action directly you had to finish with Left-Click. In the end this felt unneccessary and clunky so we've changed it to all be Right-Click for consistency.
Flag Selection
You can now select units by clicking on their flag. The tooltips used to work on the flags as well, so why not selecting? Done!
Deploy Multiple Units
When deploying it now keeps your previous selection so if you want 3 Light Archers just keep clicking on the map to keep deploying them.
Options Tooltips
The Options menu now has tooltips explaining what the unclear options do specifically.
Animation Speed Toggle
This is a favourite of mine...you can now toggle the speed of animations between 1x and 2x speed. You can even set it to always be 2x in the options! The toggle is Spacebar by default, but is of course rebindable in the options.
Unit Performance Option
You can not set the maximum number of characters in a unit for performance. We know many of you play on lower end machines or laptops with very hot CPUs when running a game, and this is for you. Along with strict frame limiting options and the ability to limit the number of characters in a unit, the game should be quite playable on a low-end machine.
Optimisation
A ton of optimisation work has gone on to reduce frame spikes and overall cost of frames. One example is when lots of units moved at once in a cutscene there was some serious hit to the performance. A big rewrite of our underlying coroutine usage here has wiped this specific spike totally out.
Bug Fixes
More bug fixes than we can even count have gone into this, but I love mentioning it. It's the silent work that doesn't make for a good headline or update note, but really improves the quality of the game as a whole.
[ 2017-12-17 17:18:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 21 - Beta
It's not an excuse, but the reason the updates have stopped is because of our small team, I was the one doing updates. At the start of the year I got really really ill and spent a good half of the year dealing with it, including numerous trips to the hospital and an unpleasant procedure. Despite this work did not stop on the game at all. But we don't like to put out updates with half finished work and loads of my work went half touched. Now that I'm back we've been busting the past few months to bring all of the year's work together into an update. All I can do is apologise for the lack of updates and poor communication at this point, and hope you can forgive me. Okay so, on to the update!
Campaign 04's remaining missions have been released, this is 4-2, 4-3 and 4-4. This campaign culminates in the epic Battle of Changping which set the State of Qin up for total dominance over the rest of the Warring States of China.
This large map has you battling over a 4-way crossing of rivers interlocked with bridges. Suited for 4 players, but can be played with 2 as well.
This medium map promotes a game of cat and mouse with numerous bridges, forests and hills to gain an advantage over your opponent, prepare ambushes and launch a counter attack after throwing back their attack.
We have done a pass over all multiplayer maps and their modes for balance. Siege levels now have clear capture points within the forts to end the battle as well as much larger deploy areas around the forts giving the attacker more choice, and less time is spent running up to the walls on the larger maps.
Every single mission has been tweaked, reworked, balanced and adjusted to feel a steady progression of unit availability, difficulty and flow. Some missions have had major adjustments done to get this to work better (for example 2-1 with new ambush mechanics from the AI).
AI can now use Special Attacks! Previously they did Reinforce but that was about it. Be careful though, because they can really mess you up now with clever AOE attacks and displacements when you weren't expecting it before. This is a small change on the list, but probably one of the biggest impacts to the game when playing against AI. We have also done some significant overhauls of the AI that make them much more aware of tactically important tiles and how to manipulate Special Attacks to their advantage. For example, if you're standing on a capture point the AI will now use displacement attacks to push you off of it.
We have added a cheaper and smaller ranged special attack, Salvo. This hits all enemies in a direct line, but you have to make sure they line up! Use this when Arrow Eclipse is just too much. This attack is also available on lower tier units, where Arrow Eclipse is not.
There have been a few fundamental improvements to combat as we balanced every aspect of the game.
This is a big one. We've introduced Line of Sight to ranged attacks. Not all buildings block it, but the obvious ones do. This primarily came about as we felt it was weird that defending a castle meant having archers on the ground behind the walls, trading shots with archers outside the walls. Now walls and towers will block Line of Sight and force you to rethink your approach, defending or attacking.
Morale was behaving a bit incoherently. We had a lot of hidden mechanics like if you were low health, you could take multiple morale hits at the same time. This made it feel like you could break really easy for no reason when this 'rolled' against you. Additionally ranged attacks were too good at causing morale tests and breaking enemy units, which goes against how we feel combat should work. We've removed these spikes and made it totally transparent. Now you cannot cause morale tests with ranged attacks unless a unit is significantly low strength already. We've also reduced the impact of the Under Fire debuff and introduced some new ones to compensate. Now we have added the Flanked and Charged/Cavalry Charged debuff that happens when (as you can guess) you Flank or Charge a unit. This puts a one-turn but significant Leadership debuff on the unit. This also makes it feel more plausible that you're flanking and crashing cavalry into a unit, causing real terror.
These new debuffs plus the removal of multiple morale level losses in one have really smoothed out the way morale is lost in fights and should feel far more predictable. It also rewards good tactical behaviour more directly.
Unit costs have been totally redone across the board and now much more closely represent their power. If a unit costs more, in general, it should be better barring specific tactical situations. We have also done a major pass on unit values to ensure each type of unit at each tier had a purpose and style, as well as making sure the tiers battling each other were well balanced.
We have done a pass balancing the cost of special attacks, their damage and how quickly you earn Tactics Points. There should be a steady feeling of always being able to spend tactics points and not being forced to conserve them. You now gain a small amount of Tactics Points per turn. We have also added numerous additional tactics points sources:
Reinforce has been tweaked to now only give 25% of your maximum strength, but the cost has been reduced to compensate. This should stop it being the unstoppable tanking action and also make it so you can spread the value of your Tactics Points across your army.
Previously, you could use the Rally action to try to raise the Morale of a unit that wasn't broken, but this actually used the Leadership stat and had a chance of failure, just like a Rally. This felt unfair to waste an entire unit's turn on, so now we have split it into a new action that replaces Rally when a unit is not broken. Raise Morale always succeeds and always raises your morale a level.
Charging is fun and as part of the balancing we have made it much cheaper to do.
Unused/Leftover Deploy Points are now converted to starting Tactics Points at the beginning of a mission. So you no longer feel sad that you just couldn't quite spend those 50 remaining points.
We have been fixing minor things across the game in terms of HUD, UI and input. Here are a few of them:
Previously, the default action of a unit could execute with Right-Click (move, attack) but when you selected an action directly you had to finish with Left-Click. In the end this felt unneccessary and clunky so we've changed it to all be Right-Click for consistency.
You can now select units by clicking on their flag. The tooltips used to work on the flags as well, so why not selecting? Done!
When deploying it now keeps your previous selection so if you want 3 Light Archers just keep clicking on the map to keep deploying them.
The Options menu now has tooltips explaining what the unclear options do specifically.
This is a favourite of mine...you can now toggle the speed of animations between 1x and 2x speed. You can even set it to always be 2x in the options! The toggle is Spacebar by default, but is of course rebindable in the options.
You can not set the maximum number of characters in a unit for performance. We know many of you play on lower end machines or laptops with very hot CPUs when running a game, and this is for you. Along with strict frame limiting options and the ability to limit the number of characters in a unit, the game should be quite playable on a low-end machine.
A ton of optimisation work has gone on to reduce frame spikes and overall cost of frames. One example is when lots of units moved at once in a cutscene there was some serious hit to the performance. A big rewrite of our underlying coroutine usage here has wiped this specific spike totally out.
More bug fixes than we can even count have gone into this, but I love mentioning it. It's the silent work that doesn't make for a good headline or update note, but really improves the quality of the game as a whole.
[ 2017-12-17 17:18:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
Long time no see! It's time for an update and it's a pretty big one with lots of changes across the board. We're calling this 'beta' because it has all the content in we want for the game and what's left is balances, fixes and polish. This update will go live today.
Where have we been?
It's not an excuse, but the reason the updates have stopped is because of our small team, I was the one doing updates. At the start of the year I got really really ill and spent a good half of the year dealing with it, including numerous trips to the hospital and an unpleasant procedure. Despite this work did not stop on the game at all. But we don't like to put out updates with half finished work and loads of my work went half touched. Now that I'm back we've been busting the past few months to bring all of the year's work together into an update. All I can do is apologise for the lack of updates and poor communication at this point, and hope you can forgive me. Okay so, on to the update!
Campaign 04
Campaign 04's remaining missions have been released, this is 4-2, 4-3 and 4-4. This campaign culminates in the epic Battle of Changping which set the State of Qin up for total dominance over the rest of the Warring States of China.
New Multiplayer Map - Confluence Crossing
This large map has you battling over a 4-way crossing of rivers interlocked with bridges. Suited for 4 players, but can be played with 2 as well.
New Multiplayer Map - Stone Forest
This medium map promotes a game of cat and mouse with numerous bridges, forests and hills to gain an advantage over your opponent, prepare ambushes and launch a counter attack after throwing back their attack.
Multiplayer Map Balance
We have done a pass over all multiplayer maps and their modes for balance. Siege levels now have clear capture points within the forts to end the battle as well as much larger deploy areas around the forts giving the attacker more choice, and less time is spent running up to the walls on the larger maps.
Mission Balance Pass
Every single mission has been tweaked, reworked, balanced and adjusted to feel a steady progression of unit availability, difficulty and flow. Some missions have had major adjustments done to get this to work better (for example 2-1 with new ambush mechanics from the AI).
AI Improvements
AI can now use Special Attacks! Previously they did Reinforce but that was about it. Be careful though, because they can really mess you up now with clever AOE attacks and displacements when you weren't expecting it before. This is a small change on the list, but probably one of the biggest impacts to the game when playing against AI. We have also done some significant overhauls of the AI that make them much more aware of tactically important tiles and how to manipulate Special Attacks to their advantage. For example, if you're standing on a capture point the AI will now use displacement attacks to push you off of it.
New Special Attack - Arrow Salvo
We have added a cheaper and smaller ranged special attack, Salvo. This hits all enemies in a direct line, but you have to make sure they line up! Use this when Arrow Eclipse is just too much. This attack is also available on lower tier units, where Arrow Eclipse is not.
Combat Improvements
There have been a few fundamental improvements to combat as we balanced every aspect of the game.
Line of Sight
This is a big one. We've introduced Line of Sight to ranged attacks. Not all buildings block it, but the obvious ones do. This primarily came about as we felt it was weird that defending a castle meant having archers on the ground behind the walls, trading shots with archers outside the walls. Now walls and towers will block Line of Sight and force you to rethink your approach, defending or attacking.
Morale
Morale was behaving a bit incoherently. We had a lot of hidden mechanics like if you were low health, you could take multiple morale hits at the same time. This made it feel like you could break really easy for no reason when this 'rolled' against you. Additionally ranged attacks were too good at causing morale tests and breaking enemy units, which goes against how we feel combat should work. We've removed these spikes and made it totally transparent. Now you cannot cause morale tests with ranged attacks unless a unit is significantly low strength already. We've also reduced the impact of the Under Fire debuff and introduced some new ones to compensate. Now we have added the Flanked and Charged/Cavalry Charged debuff that happens when (as you can guess) you Flank or Charge a unit. This puts a one-turn but significant Leadership debuff on the unit. This also makes it feel more plausible that you're flanking and crashing cavalry into a unit, causing real terror.
These new debuffs plus the removal of multiple morale level losses in one have really smoothed out the way morale is lost in fights and should feel far more predictable. It also rewards good tactical behaviour more directly.
Unit Costs and Stats
Unit costs have been totally redone across the board and now much more closely represent their power. If a unit costs more, in general, it should be better barring specific tactical situations. We have also done a major pass on unit values to ensure each type of unit at each tier had a purpose and style, as well as making sure the tiers battling each other were well balanced.
Tactics Points and Special Attacks
We have done a pass balancing the cost of special attacks, their damage and how quickly you earn Tactics Points. There should be a steady feeling of always being able to spend tactics points and not being forced to conserve them. You now gain a small amount of Tactics Points per turn. We have also added numerous additional tactics points sources:
- Destroyed an Enemy Unit
- Attacked a Broken Unit
- Defended a Narrow Gap (low combat width tile)
- Defended an Outpost
- Defended on a Hill
- Capturing an Enemy Outpost
- Attacking a Charged Unit
- Attacking a Flanked Unit
Reinforce
Reinforce has been tweaked to now only give 25% of your maximum strength, but the cost has been reduced to compensate. This should stop it being the unstoppable tanking action and also make it so you can spread the value of your Tactics Points across your army.
Raise Morale/Rally
Previously, you could use the Rally action to try to raise the Morale of a unit that wasn't broken, but this actually used the Leadership stat and had a chance of failure, just like a Rally. This felt unfair to waste an entire unit's turn on, so now we have split it into a new action that replaces Rally when a unit is not broken. Raise Morale always succeeds and always raises your morale a level.
Charges
Charging is fun and as part of the balancing we have made it much cheaper to do.
Unused Deploy Points
Unused/Leftover Deploy Points are now converted to starting Tactics Points at the beginning of a mission. So you no longer feel sad that you just couldn't quite spend those 50 remaining points.
Quality of Life
We have been fixing minor things across the game in terms of HUD, UI and input. Here are a few of them:
Right-Click Actions
Previously, the default action of a unit could execute with Right-Click (move, attack) but when you selected an action directly you had to finish with Left-Click. In the end this felt unneccessary and clunky so we've changed it to all be Right-Click for consistency.
Flag Selection
You can now select units by clicking on their flag. The tooltips used to work on the flags as well, so why not selecting? Done!
Deploy Multiple Units
When deploying it now keeps your previous selection so if you want 3 Light Archers just keep clicking on the map to keep deploying them.
Options Tooltips
The Options menu now has tooltips explaining what the unclear options do specifically.
Animation Speed Toggle
This is a favourite of mine...you can now toggle the speed of animations between 1x and 2x speed. You can even set it to always be 2x in the options! The toggle is Spacebar by default, but is of course rebindable in the options.
Unit Performance Option
You can not set the maximum number of characters in a unit for performance. We know many of you play on lower end machines or laptops with very hot CPUs when running a game, and this is for you. Along with strict frame limiting options and the ability to limit the number of characters in a unit, the game should be quite playable on a low-end machine.
Optimisation
A ton of optimisation work has gone on to reduce frame spikes and overall cost of frames. One example is when lots of units moved at once in a cutscene there was some serious hit to the performance. A big rewrite of our underlying coroutine usage here has wiped this specific spike totally out.
Bug Fixes
More bug fixes than we can even count have gone into this, but I love mentioning it. It's the silent work that doesn't make for a good headline or update note, but really improves the quality of the game as a whole.
[ 2017-12-17 17:18:44 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 20 - New Multiplayer Maps
We've added 4 new Multiplayer/Battle Maps (2 small, 2 medium). There is an additional large map coming next week, but we didn't want to delay the update.
Two sides battle to claim the island for their own. Positioning will be crucial to overcoming your enemy.
Two armies fight with only a small river seperating them. Control of the only two bridges will be the key to success.
Two armies face each other head on along this winding path. Position ranged units carefully along the banks and out of reach from melee attacks
Two scouting parties discover a clearing amidst the stone forest. Use the paths to travel quickly around the sides or venture into the forests near the center
This update includes numerous bug fixes (especially related to AI) and additional gameplay balancing.
[ 2016-11-27 01:27:50 CET ] [ Original post ]
New Multiplayer Maps
We've added 4 new Multiplayer/Battle Maps (2 small, 2 medium). There is an additional large map coming next week, but we didn't want to delay the update.
Small - South Sea Island
Two sides battle to claim the island for their own. Positioning will be crucial to overcoming your enemy.
Small - Bridge Control
Two armies fight with only a small river seperating them. Control of the only two bridges will be the key to success.
Medium - Hidden Paradise
Two armies face each other head on along this winding path. Position ranged units carefully along the banks and out of reach from melee attacks
Medium - Serpents Way
Two scouting parties discover a clearing amidst the stone forest. Use the paths to travel quickly around the sides or venture into the forests near the center
Bugfixes
This update includes numerous bug fixes (especially related to AI) and additional gameplay balancing.
[ 2016-11-27 01:27:50 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 20 - New Multiplayer Maps
We've added 4 new Multiplayer/Battle Maps (2 small, 2 medium). There is an additional large map coming next week, but we didn't want to delay the update.
Two sides battle to claim the island for their own. Positioning will be crucial to overcoming your enemy.
Two armies fight with only a small river seperating them. Control of the only two bridges will be the key to success.
Two armies face each other head on along this winding path. Position ranged units carefully along the banks and out of reach from melee attacks
Two scouting parties discover a clearing amidst the stone forest. Use the paths to travel quickly around the sides or venture into the forests near the center
This update includes numerous bug fixes (especially related to AI) and additional gameplay balancing.
[ 2016-11-27 01:27:50 CET ] [ Original post ]
New Multiplayer Maps
We've added 4 new Multiplayer/Battle Maps (2 small, 2 medium). There is an additional large map coming next week, but we didn't want to delay the update.
Small - South Sea Island
Two sides battle to claim the island for their own. Positioning will be crucial to overcoming your enemy.
Small - Bridge Control
Two armies fight with only a small river seperating them. Control of the only two bridges will be the key to success.
Medium - Hidden Paradise
Two armies face each other head on along this winding path. Position ranged units carefully along the banks and out of reach from melee attacks
Medium - Serpents Way
Two scouting parties discover a clearing amidst the stone forest. Use the paths to travel quickly around the sides or venture into the forests near the center
Bugfixes
This update includes numerous bug fixes (especially related to AI) and additional gameplay balancing.
[ 2016-11-27 01:27:50 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 19 - In Game Guide
We've added an in-game guide to explain some of the key concepts of gameplay. You can access it with the ? button in the top right by the minimap.
It covers a variety of topics which you can view in an index. If you can think of any topics we're missing, do e-mail us and we will take it into account.
The text for each entry isn't too wordy. We've tried to keep it concise but clear with images to reinforce it. The images are mostly placeholder as we intend a beauty pass in the next update, but we wanted to get the text out there for people to comment on.
A big part of this update is behind the scenes. One of the changes is to the font rendering. A big gripe in Unity3D games is their loading times, and a lot of this is down to the font handling. We did a big pass to optimise our font usage for loading, which has cut fresh game loading times down by about 30% on our test cases.
We've added Steam invites allowing you to invite friends directly to your game lobby to play. They work in-game and out of game (causing it to launch and join the lobby).
We have ongoing balance changes going into updates from now on. Siege weapons have been adjusted heavily to do a lot more damage, which fits with their new ammunition system. There has also been a pass on deploy costs, which will impact Singleplayer levels, but we will adjust them in subsequent updates.
We've fixed almost a hundred bugs for this update. Our internal bug list is shrinking rapidly for release.
The next update is a lot closer than you'd come to expect from us. We will be doubling the number of available Multiplayer maps, releasing Chapter 4 and bringing a whole host of balance changes very soon.
[ 2016-11-15 23:45:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Smaller update content-wise but with a lot of bug fixes.
Gameplay Guide
We've added an in-game guide to explain some of the key concepts of gameplay. You can access it with the ? button in the top right by the minimap.
It covers a variety of topics which you can view in an index. If you can think of any topics we're missing, do e-mail us and we will take it into account.
The text for each entry isn't too wordy. We've tried to keep it concise but clear with images to reinforce it. The images are mostly placeholder as we intend a beauty pass in the next update, but we wanted to get the text out there for people to comment on.
Font Rendering Optimisation
A big part of this update is behind the scenes. One of the changes is to the font rendering. A big gripe in Unity3D games is their loading times, and a lot of this is down to the font handling. We did a big pass to optimise our font usage for loading, which has cut fresh game loading times down by about 30% on our test cases.
Steam Invites
We've added Steam invites allowing you to invite friends directly to your game lobby to play. They work in-game and out of game (causing it to launch and join the lobby).
Balance Changes
We have ongoing balance changes going into updates from now on. Siege weapons have been adjusted heavily to do a lot more damage, which fits with their new ammunition system. There has also been a pass on deploy costs, which will impact Singleplayer levels, but we will adjust them in subsequent updates.
Bugslayers
We've fixed almost a hundred bugs for this update. Our internal bug list is shrinking rapidly for release.
Upcoming
The next update is a lot closer than you'd come to expect from us. We will be doubling the number of available Multiplayer maps, releasing Chapter 4 and bringing a whole host of balance changes very soon.
[ 2016-11-15 23:45:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 19 - In Game Guide
We've added an in-game guide to explain some of the key concepts of gameplay. You can access it with the ? button in the top right by the minimap.
It covers a variety of topics which you can view in an index. If you can think of any topics we're missing, do e-mail us and we will take it into account.
The text for each entry isn't too wordy. We've tried to keep it concise but clear with images to reinforce it. The images are mostly placeholder as we intend a beauty pass in the next update, but we wanted to get the text out there for people to comment on.
A big part of this update is behind the scenes. One of the changes is to the font rendering. A big gripe in Unity3D games is their loading times, and a lot of this is down to the font handling. We did a big pass to optimise our font usage for loading, which has cut fresh game loading times down by about 30% on our test cases.
We've added Steam invites allowing you to invite friends directly to your game lobby to play. They work in-game and out of game (causing it to launch and join the lobby).
We have ongoing balance changes going into updates from now on. Siege weapons have been adjusted heavily to do a lot more damage, which fits with their new ammunition system. There has also been a pass on deploy costs, which will impact Singleplayer levels, but we will adjust them in subsequent updates.
We've fixed almost a hundred bugs for this update. Our internal bug list is shrinking rapidly for release.
The next update is a lot closer than you'd come to expect from us. We will be doubling the number of available Multiplayer maps, releasing Chapter 4 and bringing a whole host of balance changes very soon.
[ 2016-11-15 23:45:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Smaller update content-wise but with a lot of bug fixes.
Gameplay Guide
We've added an in-game guide to explain some of the key concepts of gameplay. You can access it with the ? button in the top right by the minimap.
It covers a variety of topics which you can view in an index. If you can think of any topics we're missing, do e-mail us and we will take it into account.
The text for each entry isn't too wordy. We've tried to keep it concise but clear with images to reinforce it. The images are mostly placeholder as we intend a beauty pass in the next update, but we wanted to get the text out there for people to comment on.
Font Rendering Optimisation
A big part of this update is behind the scenes. One of the changes is to the font rendering. A big gripe in Unity3D games is their loading times, and a lot of this is down to the font handling. We did a big pass to optimise our font usage for loading, which has cut fresh game loading times down by about 30% on our test cases.
Steam Invites
We've added Steam invites allowing you to invite friends directly to your game lobby to play. They work in-game and out of game (causing it to launch and join the lobby).
Balance Changes
We have ongoing balance changes going into updates from now on. Siege weapons have been adjusted heavily to do a lot more damage, which fits with their new ammunition system. There has also been a pass on deploy costs, which will impact Singleplayer levels, but we will adjust them in subsequent updates.
Bugslayers
We've fixed almost a hundred bugs for this update. Our internal bug list is shrinking rapidly for release.
Upcoming
The next update is a lot closer than you'd come to expect from us. We will be doubling the number of available Multiplayer maps, releasing Chapter 4 and bringing a whole host of balance changes very soon.
[ 2016-11-15 23:45:21 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 18
Sometimes you really want to move your unit a very specific way, but the pathing is forcing you down a specific route. Now you can use waypoints (hold shift + right click) to define the path you take. Avoid that scary forest you *know* has an ambush waiting.
The previous unit flags had some needless information and we're very clear. We've cleaned them up and also made them change size depending on your zoom level (which is adjustable in the options under Flag Zoom Threshold). Unit information is now more direct and clear and it should be easier to identify units while zoomed out.
A commonly requested feature - we've added a framerate limiter to the options. If you're running on a low spec laptop this lets you slow the game down and keep it from blasting your battery or boosting your CPU and melting your poor legs.
We've done some really thorough cleaning of the special attack code and fixed tons of softlocks and special case oddities (eg charging along roads not giving a speed benefit). Along with this we added a few features to some of the specials. One example is the Heavy Thrust attacks - when the tile you're attempting to push them into is occupied, it instead damages both units (if an enemy).
The tile highlight code got a serious rework and testing done - the result should be really clear and consistent highlighting for Zone of Control, limits, enemies and so forth.
When siegeing you can now capture gates and towers, making an entire assault via siege tower possible. This also takes over their auto-firing and they will turn on their former owners. Along with this - we've cleaned up the tower shooting phase (lovingly called the Upkeep Phase) and the towers now shoot more like archers with continuous fire.
We've hammered out more bugs than I care to recall. There should be no more soft-locks in the game and if one happens, there is now code to recover it and continue the game. Additionally we've updated our error reporting system to always catch the first error and not spam with any additional errors.
A lot of you (one user in particular) has been quizing us about our final release. Obviously we've blown way past our original plans but we keep wanting to polish the game as much as we can. The project has grown quite large for our team size - so our estimates have been a bit poor. Despite that, we're now approaching what we see as a releasable game. We have more bug fixing to do, a lot of balance and AI tweaking and localisation. Our release plan depends on getting Chapter 4 out so we can get the final text localised by a third-party. From that point we will nail down an actual release date. Going forward from here we will probably be doing regular updates with minor fixes and stability improvements (as well as Chapter 4 asap). We will also be taking the game off Early Access sale in the near future. It doesn't mean the game will be "Out of Early Access" just simply not purchaseable. We don't need any new Early Access users at this point to help out with feedback and testing, and we'd like to have some time off sale to prepare for the final release version. So if you want to get it at the lower EA price now is the last chance.
[ 2016-09-19 12:54:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
New update rolling out as this message is posted. I had hoped to get Chapter 4 in the update but we found an issue at the last minute with the missions and rather than postpone the update any further I wanted to get it out - since it included a ton of bug fixes.
Waypoint Movement
Sometimes you really want to move your unit a very specific way, but the pathing is forcing you down a specific route. Now you can use waypoints (hold shift + right click) to define the path you take. Avoid that scary forest you *know* has an ambush waiting.
New Unit Flags
The previous unit flags had some needless information and we're very clear. We've cleaned them up and also made them change size depending on your zoom level (which is adjustable in the options under Flag Zoom Threshold). Unit information is now more direct and clear and it should be easier to identify units while zoomed out.
Framerate Limiter
A commonly requested feature - we've added a framerate limiter to the options. If you're running on a low spec laptop this lets you slow the game down and keep it from blasting your battery or boosting your CPU and melting your poor legs.
Special Attack Improvements
We've done some really thorough cleaning of the special attack code and fixed tons of softlocks and special case oddities (eg charging along roads not giving a speed benefit). Along with this we added a few features to some of the specials. One example is the Heavy Thrust attacks - when the tile you're attempting to push them into is occupied, it instead damages both units (if an enemy).
Tile Highlighting Improvements
The tile highlight code got a serious rework and testing done - the result should be really clear and consistent highlighting for Zone of Control, limits, enemies and so forth.
Gates and Towers Capturable
When siegeing you can now capture gates and towers, making an entire assault via siege tower possible. This also takes over their auto-firing and they will turn on their former owners. Along with this - we've cleaned up the tower shooting phase (lovingly called the Upkeep Phase) and the towers now shoot more like archers with continuous fire.
Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
We've hammered out more bugs than I care to recall. There should be no more soft-locks in the game and if one happens, there is now code to recover it and continue the game. Additionally we've updated our error reporting system to always catch the first error and not spam with any additional errors.
Release Plans
A lot of you (one user in particular) has been quizing us about our final release. Obviously we've blown way past our original plans but we keep wanting to polish the game as much as we can. The project has grown quite large for our team size - so our estimates have been a bit poor. Despite that, we're now approaching what we see as a releasable game. We have more bug fixing to do, a lot of balance and AI tweaking and localisation. Our release plan depends on getting Chapter 4 out so we can get the final text localised by a third-party. From that point we will nail down an actual release date. Going forward from here we will probably be doing regular updates with minor fixes and stability improvements (as well as Chapter 4 asap). We will also be taking the game off Early Access sale in the near future. It doesn't mean the game will be "Out of Early Access" just simply not purchaseable. We don't need any new Early Access users at this point to help out with feedback and testing, and we'd like to have some time off sale to prepare for the final release version. So if you want to get it at the lower EA price now is the last chance.
[ 2016-09-19 12:54:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 18
Sometimes you really want to move your unit a very specific way, but the pathing is forcing you down a specific route. Now you can use waypoints (hold shift + right click) to define the path you take. Avoid that scary forest you *know* has an ambush waiting.
The previous unit flags had some needless information and we're very clear. We've cleaned them up and also made them change size depending on your zoom level (which is adjustable in the options under Flag Zoom Threshold). Unit information is now more direct and clear and it should be easier to identify units while zoomed out.
A commonly requested feature - we've added a framerate limiter to the options. If you're running on a low spec laptop this lets you slow the game down and keep it from blasting your battery or boosting your CPU and melting your poor legs.
We've done some really thorough cleaning of the special attack code and fixed tons of softlocks and special case oddities (eg charging along roads not giving a speed benefit). Along with this we added a few features to some of the specials. One example is the Heavy Thrust attacks - when the tile you're attempting to push them into is occupied, it instead damages both units (if an enemy).
The tile highlight code got a serious rework and testing done - the result should be really clear and consistent highlighting for Zone of Control, limits, enemies and so forth.
When siegeing you can now capture gates and towers, making an entire assault via siege tower possible. This also takes over their auto-firing and they will turn on their former owners. Along with this - we've cleaned up the tower shooting phase (lovingly called the Upkeep Phase) and the towers now shoot more like archers with continuous fire.
We've hammered out more bugs than I care to recall. There should be no more soft-locks in the game and if one happens, there is now code to recover it and continue the game. Additionally we've updated our error reporting system to always catch the first error and not spam with any additional errors.
A lot of you (one user in particular) has been quizing us about our final release. Obviously we've blown way past our original plans but we keep wanting to polish the game as much as we can. The project has grown quite large for our team size - so our estimates have been a bit poor. Despite that, we're now approaching what we see as a releasable game. We have more bug fixing to do, a lot of balance and AI tweaking and localisation. Our release plan depends on getting Chapter 4 out so we can get the final text localised by a third-party. From that point we will nail down an actual release date. Going forward from here we will probably be doing regular updates with minor fixes and stability improvements (as well as Chapter 4 asap). We will also be taking the game off Early Access sale in the near future. It doesn't mean the game will be "Out of Early Access" just simply not purchaseable. We don't need any new Early Access users at this point to help out with feedback and testing, and we'd like to have some time off sale to prepare for the final release version. So if you want to get it at the lower EA price now is the last chance.
[ 2016-09-19 12:54:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
New update rolling out as this message is posted. I had hoped to get Chapter 4 in the update but we found an issue at the last minute with the missions and rather than postpone the update any further I wanted to get it out - since it included a ton of bug fixes.
Waypoint Movement
Sometimes you really want to move your unit a very specific way, but the pathing is forcing you down a specific route. Now you can use waypoints (hold shift + right click) to define the path you take. Avoid that scary forest you *know* has an ambush waiting.
New Unit Flags
The previous unit flags had some needless information and we're very clear. We've cleaned them up and also made them change size depending on your zoom level (which is adjustable in the options under Flag Zoom Threshold). Unit information is now more direct and clear and it should be easier to identify units while zoomed out.
Framerate Limiter
A commonly requested feature - we've added a framerate limiter to the options. If you're running on a low spec laptop this lets you slow the game down and keep it from blasting your battery or boosting your CPU and melting your poor legs.
Special Attack Improvements
We've done some really thorough cleaning of the special attack code and fixed tons of softlocks and special case oddities (eg charging along roads not giving a speed benefit). Along with this we added a few features to some of the specials. One example is the Heavy Thrust attacks - when the tile you're attempting to push them into is occupied, it instead damages both units (if an enemy).
Tile Highlighting Improvements
The tile highlight code got a serious rework and testing done - the result should be really clear and consistent highlighting for Zone of Control, limits, enemies and so forth.
Gates and Towers Capturable
When siegeing you can now capture gates and towers, making an entire assault via siege tower possible. This also takes over their auto-firing and they will turn on their former owners. Along with this - we've cleaned up the tower shooting phase (lovingly called the Upkeep Phase) and the towers now shoot more like archers with continuous fire.
Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
We've hammered out more bugs than I care to recall. There should be no more soft-locks in the game and if one happens, there is now code to recover it and continue the game. Additionally we've updated our error reporting system to always catch the first error and not spam with any additional errors.
Release Plans
A lot of you (one user in particular) has been quizing us about our final release. Obviously we've blown way past our original plans but we keep wanting to polish the game as much as we can. The project has grown quite large for our team size - so our estimates have been a bit poor. Despite that, we're now approaching what we see as a releasable game. We have more bug fixing to do, a lot of balance and AI tweaking and localisation. Our release plan depends on getting Chapter 4 out so we can get the final text localised by a third-party. From that point we will nail down an actual release date. Going forward from here we will probably be doing regular updates with minor fixes and stability improvements (as well as Chapter 4 asap). We will also be taking the game off Early Access sale in the near future. It doesn't mean the game will be "Out of Early Access" just simply not purchaseable. We don't need any new Early Access users at this point to help out with feedback and testing, and we'd like to have some time off sale to prepare for the final release version. So if you want to get it at the lower EA price now is the last chance.
[ 2016-09-19 12:54:59 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 17 - Big One
For combat we had a couple major issues we wanted to address. The first was clarity. We really wanted it to be clear how your choices of terrain and positioning impacted combat. For this to work, we had to expand on the combat system a bit, adding some depth that actually simplified interaction. Combat Engagement
All units now have a concept called engaged. If two units that aren't engaged fight in melee combat, they become engaged to each other. This means that while the engage is active, they can only target each other. This represents the idea that the units are actively fighting each other in a battle line. You can break engage by moving away, but your movement is limited and if you don't cover the retreat, you can easily be re-engaged. Engaged Units and Flanking Flanking as a concept is now when you attack an already engaged unit (and you are not engaged). This unit is occupied battling their engage target, so you truly are flanking them when you attack. An engaged unit you attack also cannot attack back, making the choices of flanking and engaging a part of the tactical decision making. Special Actions and Engage Each action indicates in the tooltip how it interacts with engagement. Some actions function like standard melee attacks and begin an engage, while others will give you the ability to displace units and break engagements, allowing you to free up the previously engaged unit (ie Archers) so they can escape or pick new targets. Combat Width
Another new concept for clarify of combat is "Combat Width". So that terrain and positioning decisions could have a larger impact on combat outcomes, we now calculate a combat width for a tile where combat occurs. The tile considered is always the tile being attacked. Combat Width represents the literal width of a front line, so that chokepoints can be represented as more easily defended areas. As standard, the width is always 100% and various terrain factors reduce it. Width will reduce the total number of men in a unit that can fight, making it harder to dislodge defenders. Additionally the path to a target is considered in width calculations, meaning if you're defending a narrow gap in a wall, or a single land bridge between water, you have reduced width. Information on the width is shown in the tooltip at all times.
Since we expanded on the core combat systems, we found that the Special Actions we had weren't giving enough choice. So we added about twice as many specials that interact with the core combat in interesting ways. One of these new actions is a Flaming Arrow attack, which leaves tiles burning for 3 turns forcing units to avoid them, or take damage. Both the Archers and Horse Archers have this attack.
Another is the Charge attack, which is now applied across all melee capable units. You can also see here the new Action tooltips, with a lot more info and clarity of interaction. Additionally all actions now have a damage multiplier to the basic attack. Previously actions did no more or less than a normal attack, and only their function made them special. Now there is more variation in their value (some weaker, some stronger).
We really wanted siege weapons to feel impactful, but they also have to balance with the fact they can sit and fire indefinitely from range. To solve this, we've added an Ammo system to the Ballista and Catapult. For now, Archers and Crossbowmen have unlimited ammo, but we may find in future it offers a good balance option for them.
There is a new action that lets you reload a siege weapon at the cost of tactics points.
One confusing aspect of the previous combat was the idea of height. Our terrain has built in height, but it didn't make it clear if you were "on a hill" or not. We tried to go for a more general terrain approach, but with tiles it gets confusing. Now, a tile is either a Hill or not and you can see how it's rendered in game in the screenshot. Additionally we've clarified the terrain on the tooltip for each tile. Whether it's forest, road, hill or water you can see the terrain type and the impact it has on speed and combat width.
With the update to Unity 5.3 and the new lighting system, we really wanted to take advantage of it some more, so we've added night maps to the game. In the story mode, there are numerous maps specifically set at night which fit the narrative.
We've also added the option to play any Battle or Multiplayer map in Day or Night.
While we liked having an animated background, we felt like the original main menu background looked a bit like a tablet game. Since we already have this great looking game, we decided use that!
We did a big pass on the tooltips in game to make them prettier on the eye, and clearer on information. Less to say, more to show. New Grapple Attack
Trait Tooltips
More Detailed Unit and Terrain Tooltips
We made some minor changes to the HUD to simplify access to information. There is no longer a combat window, and instead you have a second Unit panel on the right, which shows the current unit under the mouse. This panel updates with combat specific traits if you are about to engage a target. Additionally the end turn has been moved to the top left turn frame.
With all of these new features and mechanics going in, balance will have taken a dive. We wanted to get the features out there for feedback, while we continue ongoing balancing ourselves. Action costs, action damage and what units have actions are all subject to change.
We've done some heavy optimisation on textures this build, which should help people on lower end integrated cards. If you've had trouble loading the game before, let us know how it goes.
We've recompiled our Lua library with a new runtime. There seemed to be issues with Steam and the VC2015 runtime which has caused a few people this error. Let us know after this update if it's still happening.
[ 2016-06-11 14:18:10 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey everyone! It's been a while since our last update. The reason for this is primarily because we were doing a big overhaul of the combat system, which required poking everything in the game in terms of art, animation, code and design. With just four of us, you can imagine that takes a while. Thanks for your patience!
Combat Update
For combat we had a couple major issues we wanted to address. The first was clarity. We really wanted it to be clear how your choices of terrain and positioning impacted combat. For this to work, we had to expand on the combat system a bit, adding some depth that actually simplified interaction. Combat Engagement
All units now have a concept called engaged. If two units that aren't engaged fight in melee combat, they become engaged to each other. This means that while the engage is active, they can only target each other. This represents the idea that the units are actively fighting each other in a battle line. You can break engage by moving away, but your movement is limited and if you don't cover the retreat, you can easily be re-engaged. Engaged Units and Flanking Flanking as a concept is now when you attack an already engaged unit (and you are not engaged). This unit is occupied battling their engage target, so you truly are flanking them when you attack. An engaged unit you attack also cannot attack back, making the choices of flanking and engaging a part of the tactical decision making. Special Actions and Engage Each action indicates in the tooltip how it interacts with engagement. Some actions function like standard melee attacks and begin an engage, while others will give you the ability to displace units and break engagements, allowing you to free up the previously engaged unit (ie Archers) so they can escape or pick new targets. Combat Width
Another new concept for clarify of combat is "Combat Width". So that terrain and positioning decisions could have a larger impact on combat outcomes, we now calculate a combat width for a tile where combat occurs. The tile considered is always the tile being attacked. Combat Width represents the literal width of a front line, so that chokepoints can be represented as more easily defended areas. As standard, the width is always 100% and various terrain factors reduce it. Width will reduce the total number of men in a unit that can fight, making it harder to dislodge defenders. Additionally the path to a target is considered in width calculations, meaning if you're defending a narrow gap in a wall, or a single land bridge between water, you have reduced width. Information on the width is shown in the tooltip at all times.
New Actions
Since we expanded on the core combat systems, we found that the Special Actions we had weren't giving enough choice. So we added about twice as many specials that interact with the core combat in interesting ways. One of these new actions is a Flaming Arrow attack, which leaves tiles burning for 3 turns forcing units to avoid them, or take damage. Both the Archers and Horse Archers have this attack.
Another is the Charge attack, which is now applied across all melee capable units. You can also see here the new Action tooltips, with a lot more info and clarity of interaction. Additionally all actions now have a damage multiplier to the basic attack. Previously actions did no more or less than a normal attack, and only their function made them special. Now there is more variation in their value (some weaker, some stronger).
Siege Weapon Ammo
We really wanted siege weapons to feel impactful, but they also have to balance with the fact they can sit and fire indefinitely from range. To solve this, we've added an Ammo system to the Ballista and Catapult. For now, Archers and Crossbowmen have unlimited ammo, but we may find in future it offers a good balance option for them.
There is a new action that lets you reload a siege weapon at the cost of tactics points.
Hills and Terrain
One confusing aspect of the previous combat was the idea of height. Our terrain has built in height, but it didn't make it clear if you were "on a hill" or not. We tried to go for a more general terrain approach, but with tiles it gets confusing. Now, a tile is either a Hill or not and you can see how it's rendered in game in the screenshot. Additionally we've clarified the terrain on the tooltip for each tile. Whether it's forest, road, hill or water you can see the terrain type and the impact it has on speed and combat width.
Night Maps
With the update to Unity 5.3 and the new lighting system, we really wanted to take advantage of it some more, so we've added night maps to the game. In the story mode, there are numerous maps specifically set at night which fit the narrative.
We've also added the option to play any Battle or Multiplayer map in Day or Night.
Main Menu Background
While we liked having an animated background, we felt like the original main menu background looked a bit like a tablet game. Since we already have this great looking game, we decided use that!
Updated Tooltips
We did a big pass on the tooltips in game to make them prettier on the eye, and clearer on information. Less to say, more to show. New Grapple Attack
Trait Tooltips
More Detailed Unit and Terrain Tooltips
HUD Changes
We made some minor changes to the HUD to simplify access to information. There is no longer a combat window, and instead you have a second Unit panel on the right, which shows the current unit under the mouse. This panel updates with combat specific traits if you are about to engage a target. Additionally the end turn has been moved to the top left turn frame.
Balance
With all of these new features and mechanics going in, balance will have taken a dive. We wanted to get the features out there for feedback, while we continue ongoing balancing ourselves. Action costs, action damage and what units have actions are all subject to change.
Optimisation
We've done some heavy optimisation on textures this build, which should help people on lower end integrated cards. If you've had trouble loading the game before, let us know how it goes.
Lua DLL error
We've recompiled our Lua library with a new runtime. There seemed to be issues with Steam and the VC2015 runtime which has caused a few people this error. Let us know after this update if it's still happening.
[ 2016-06-11 14:18:10 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 17 - Big One
For combat we had a couple major issues we wanted to address. The first was clarity. We really wanted it to be clear how your choices of terrain and positioning impacted combat. For this to work, we had to expand on the combat system a bit, adding some depth that actually simplified interaction. Combat Engagement
All units now have a concept called engaged. If two units that aren't engaged fight in melee combat, they become engaged to each other. This means that while the engage is active, they can only target each other. This represents the idea that the units are actively fighting each other in a battle line. You can break engage by moving away, but your movement is limited and if you don't cover the retreat, you can easily be re-engaged. Engaged Units and Flanking Flanking as a concept is now when you attack an already engaged unit (and you are not engaged). This unit is occupied battling their engage target, so you truly are flanking them when you attack. An engaged unit you attack also cannot attack back, making the choices of flanking and engaging a part of the tactical decision making. Special Actions and Engage Each action indicates in the tooltip how it interacts with engagement. Some actions function like standard melee attacks and begin an engage, while others will give you the ability to displace units and break engagements, allowing you to free up the previously engaged unit (ie Archers) so they can escape or pick new targets. Combat Width
Another new concept for clarify of combat is "Combat Width". So that terrain and positioning decisions could have a larger impact on combat outcomes, we now calculate a combat width for a tile where combat occurs. The tile considered is always the tile being attacked. Combat Width represents the literal width of a front line, so that chokepoints can be represented as more easily defended areas. As standard, the width is always 100% and various terrain factors reduce it. Width will reduce the total number of men in a unit that can fight, making it harder to dislodge defenders. Additionally the path to a target is considered in width calculations, meaning if you're defending a narrow gap in a wall, or a single land bridge between water, you have reduced width. Information on the width is shown in the tooltip at all times.
Since we expanded on the core combat systems, we found that the Special Actions we had weren't giving enough choice. So we added about twice as many specials that interact with the core combat in interesting ways. One of these new actions is a Flaming Arrow attack, which leaves tiles burning for 3 turns forcing units to avoid them, or take damage. Both the Archers and Horse Archers have this attack.
Another is the Charge attack, which is now applied across all melee capable units. You can also see here the new Action tooltips, with a lot more info and clarity of interaction. Additionally all actions now have a damage multiplier to the basic attack. Previously actions did no more or less than a normal attack, and only their function made them special. Now there is more variation in their value (some weaker, some stronger).
We really wanted siege weapons to feel impactful, but they also have to balance with the fact they can sit and fire indefinitely from range. To solve this, we've added an Ammo system to the Ballista and Catapult. For now, Archers and Crossbowmen have unlimited ammo, but we may find in future it offers a good balance option for them.
There is a new action that lets you reload a siege weapon at the cost of tactics points.
One confusing aspect of the previous combat was the idea of height. Our terrain has built in height, but it didn't make it clear if you were "on a hill" or not. We tried to go for a more general terrain approach, but with tiles it gets confusing. Now, a tile is either a Hill or not and you can see how it's rendered in game in the screenshot. Additionally we've clarified the terrain on the tooltip for each tile. Whether it's forest, road, hill or water you can see the terrain type and the impact it has on speed and combat width.
With the update to Unity 5.3 and the new lighting system, we really wanted to take advantage of it some more, so we've added night maps to the game. In the story mode, there are numerous maps specifically set at night which fit the narrative.
We've also added the option to play any Battle or Multiplayer map in Day or Night.
While we liked having an animated background, we felt like the original main menu background looked a bit like a tablet game. Since we already have this great looking game, we decided use that!
We did a big pass on the tooltips in game to make them prettier on the eye, and clearer on information. Less to say, more to show. New Grapple Attack
Trait Tooltips
More Detailed Unit and Terrain Tooltips
We made some minor changes to the HUD to simplify access to information. There is no longer a combat window, and instead you have a second Unit panel on the right, which shows the current unit under the mouse. This panel updates with combat specific traits if you are about to engage a target. Additionally the end turn has been moved to the top left turn frame.
With all of these new features and mechanics going in, balance will have taken a dive. We wanted to get the features out there for feedback, while we continue ongoing balancing ourselves. Action costs, action damage and what units have actions are all subject to change.
We've done some heavy optimisation on textures this build, which should help people on lower end integrated cards. If you've had trouble loading the game before, let us know how it goes.
We've recompiled our Lua library with a new runtime. There seemed to be issues with Steam and the VC2015 runtime which has caused a few people this error. Let us know after this update if it's still happening.
[ 2016-06-11 14:18:10 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey everyone! It's been a while since our last update. The reason for this is primarily because we were doing a big overhaul of the combat system, which required poking everything in the game in terms of art, animation, code and design. With just four of us, you can imagine that takes a while. Thanks for your patience!
Combat Update
For combat we had a couple major issues we wanted to address. The first was clarity. We really wanted it to be clear how your choices of terrain and positioning impacted combat. For this to work, we had to expand on the combat system a bit, adding some depth that actually simplified interaction. Combat Engagement
All units now have a concept called engaged. If two units that aren't engaged fight in melee combat, they become engaged to each other. This means that while the engage is active, they can only target each other. This represents the idea that the units are actively fighting each other in a battle line. You can break engage by moving away, but your movement is limited and if you don't cover the retreat, you can easily be re-engaged. Engaged Units and Flanking Flanking as a concept is now when you attack an already engaged unit (and you are not engaged). This unit is occupied battling their engage target, so you truly are flanking them when you attack. An engaged unit you attack also cannot attack back, making the choices of flanking and engaging a part of the tactical decision making. Special Actions and Engage Each action indicates in the tooltip how it interacts with engagement. Some actions function like standard melee attacks and begin an engage, while others will give you the ability to displace units and break engagements, allowing you to free up the previously engaged unit (ie Archers) so they can escape or pick new targets. Combat Width
Another new concept for clarify of combat is "Combat Width". So that terrain and positioning decisions could have a larger impact on combat outcomes, we now calculate a combat width for a tile where combat occurs. The tile considered is always the tile being attacked. Combat Width represents the literal width of a front line, so that chokepoints can be represented as more easily defended areas. As standard, the width is always 100% and various terrain factors reduce it. Width will reduce the total number of men in a unit that can fight, making it harder to dislodge defenders. Additionally the path to a target is considered in width calculations, meaning if you're defending a narrow gap in a wall, or a single land bridge between water, you have reduced width. Information on the width is shown in the tooltip at all times.
New Actions
Since we expanded on the core combat systems, we found that the Special Actions we had weren't giving enough choice. So we added about twice as many specials that interact with the core combat in interesting ways. One of these new actions is a Flaming Arrow attack, which leaves tiles burning for 3 turns forcing units to avoid them, or take damage. Both the Archers and Horse Archers have this attack.
Another is the Charge attack, which is now applied across all melee capable units. You can also see here the new Action tooltips, with a lot more info and clarity of interaction. Additionally all actions now have a damage multiplier to the basic attack. Previously actions did no more or less than a normal attack, and only their function made them special. Now there is more variation in their value (some weaker, some stronger).
Siege Weapon Ammo
We really wanted siege weapons to feel impactful, but they also have to balance with the fact they can sit and fire indefinitely from range. To solve this, we've added an Ammo system to the Ballista and Catapult. For now, Archers and Crossbowmen have unlimited ammo, but we may find in future it offers a good balance option for them.
There is a new action that lets you reload a siege weapon at the cost of tactics points.
Hills and Terrain
One confusing aspect of the previous combat was the idea of height. Our terrain has built in height, but it didn't make it clear if you were "on a hill" or not. We tried to go for a more general terrain approach, but with tiles it gets confusing. Now, a tile is either a Hill or not and you can see how it's rendered in game in the screenshot. Additionally we've clarified the terrain on the tooltip for each tile. Whether it's forest, road, hill or water you can see the terrain type and the impact it has on speed and combat width.
Night Maps
With the update to Unity 5.3 and the new lighting system, we really wanted to take advantage of it some more, so we've added night maps to the game. In the story mode, there are numerous maps specifically set at night which fit the narrative.
We've also added the option to play any Battle or Multiplayer map in Day or Night.
Main Menu Background
While we liked having an animated background, we felt like the original main menu background looked a bit like a tablet game. Since we already have this great looking game, we decided use that!
Updated Tooltips
We did a big pass on the tooltips in game to make them prettier on the eye, and clearer on information. Less to say, more to show. New Grapple Attack
Trait Tooltips
More Detailed Unit and Terrain Tooltips
HUD Changes
We made some minor changes to the HUD to simplify access to information. There is no longer a combat window, and instead you have a second Unit panel on the right, which shows the current unit under the mouse. This panel updates with combat specific traits if you are about to engage a target. Additionally the end turn has been moved to the top left turn frame.
Balance
With all of these new features and mechanics going in, balance will have taken a dive. We wanted to get the features out there for feedback, while we continue ongoing balancing ourselves. Action costs, action damage and what units have actions are all subject to change.
Optimisation
We've done some heavy optimisation on textures this build, which should help people on lower end integrated cards. If you've had trouble loading the game before, let us know how it goes.
Lua DLL error
We've recompiled our Lua library with a new runtime. There seemed to be issues with Steam and the VC2015 runtime which has caused a few people this error. Let us know after this update if it's still happening.
[ 2016-06-11 14:18:10 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 16 - Achievements and more
They've been very commonly requested, and we were always going to do them, but it was never a huge priority at the start when we had a lot of a game to finish. Now as we're approaching our end goals we've managed to get them in. A few achievements are disabled (namely Rank related achievements) since these scores aren't finalised.
No PC game is complete without custom keybindings. This also helps our players with international keyboards where the default setup doesn't work well for them. We may adjust the default before final release and I'd also like to look into predefined defaults for specific international keyboards.
We've done a pass on all capture-able buildings to ensure they had clear ownership flags.
We've exposed more options for quality settings in Video to help with lower end machines. Additionally we've added numerous reset options at the bottom of the General tab. Included is the option to unlock all missions. This does not grant any achievements and is simply to allow you to bypass the progression blocks to play any mission you like. You still need to beat the levels for achievements!
We've updated Warring States to use Unity 5.3. Up to this point we've been on 4.6, which is quite old by now. We get a lot of gains with this move that directly benefit the game (eg performance). Another benefit of 5.3 is the new lighting system which has allowed us to do a nice pass on the post-process effects in the game. Here is a side-by-side example of 4.6 and 5.3 with the lighting changes.
Besides improvements to what you see, the new lighting gives us more options for future. So look forward to some new stuff :)
We've been slow getting final missions in, as we keep jumping back to fixes or gameplay improvements, but they are slowly coming! Up next is Mission 3-1, the missing initial mission for the invasion of Chu chapter.
Besides these updates, we've added numerous little fixes and changes.
[ 2016-02-23 15:57:16 CET ] [ Original post ]
Our last update was just before Christmas, so this update is a bigger one. There have been a lot of behind the scenes changes (Unity 5 the biggest among them) but also a lot of new useful stuff for players.
Achievements, Trading Cards, Badges and Emoticons
They've been very commonly requested, and we were always going to do them, but it was never a huge priority at the start when we had a lot of a game to finish. Now as we're approaching our end goals we've managed to get them in. A few achievements are disabled (namely Rank related achievements) since these scores aren't finalised.
Custom Keybindings
No PC game is complete without custom keybindings. This also helps our players with international keyboards where the default setup doesn't work well for them. We may adjust the default before final release and I'd also like to look into predefined defaults for specific international keyboards.
Building Flags
We've done a pass on all capture-able buildings to ensure they had clear ownership flags.
More Options
We've exposed more options for quality settings in Video to help with lower end machines. Additionally we've added numerous reset options at the bottom of the General tab. Included is the option to unlock all missions. This does not grant any achievements and is simply to allow you to bypass the progression blocks to play any mission you like. You still need to beat the levels for achievements!
Unity 5
We've updated Warring States to use Unity 5.3. Up to this point we've been on 4.6, which is quite old by now. We get a lot of gains with this move that directly benefit the game (eg performance). Another benefit of 5.3 is the new lighting system which has allowed us to do a nice pass on the post-process effects in the game. Here is a side-by-side example of 4.6 and 5.3 with the lighting changes.
Besides improvements to what you see, the new lighting gives us more options for future. So look forward to some new stuff :)
Mission 3-1 Added
We've been slow getting final missions in, as we keep jumping back to fixes or gameplay improvements, but they are slowly coming! Up next is Mission 3-1, the missing initial mission for the invasion of Chu chapter.
More Changes
Besides these updates, we've added numerous little fixes and changes.
Changelist
- Added more sound effects across numerous game actions.
- Added Steam name to faction names when in MP game.
- Campaign progress is now saved properly.
- Added portrait for Rally action.
- Changed Game Icon to look less like upcoming Total War game ;)
- Added more prominent flags to MP capture-able forts.
- Changed unit outline renderer to much better system, now with transitions on enable/disable. (Also looks better on siege weapons)
- Added confirmation menus on various buttons.
- Added loading screen quotes.
- Fixed texture seams throughout various maps.
- Fixed some walls without end pieces.
- Fixed effects on Stone and Wood Tower firing.
- Fixed particles on buildings.
- Added grey button for non-purchasable units.
- Fixed some units missing faction colours.
- Fixed Special action banner sequences having alpha issues.
- Fixed collision on bridges.
- Improved animation transitions significantly, speeding up numerous in-game actions.
- Fixed unit selection sound played when removing deployed units.
- Fixed music being played as a 3D sound.
- Fixed siege towers remaining highlighted after deploy.
- Fixed various spelling mistakes.
- Fixed Reinforcement ignoring No Anims option.
- Fixed special banners appearing multiple times.
- Fixed Spearman special icon always being 'on'.
- Fixed hidden units being briefly selectable in forests.
- Fixed deploying on walls showing multiple options.
- Fixed buildings ignoring No Anims option.
- Fixed save menu not working if you typed in an option.
- Improved save menu performance significantly.
- Improved usability of save menu to work more as expected.
- Fixed error in Minimap panel.
- Fixed randomised mountain heights.
- Fixed loading save files where Siege Towers had already been deployed.
- Updated Steamworks library version.
- Fixed alignment in deploy message.
- Fixed Cavalry charge occasionally getting stuck on hills.
- Fixed siege tower showing multiple options on deploy.
- Added colour to Start Turn text.
- Fixed bugs related to cavalry moving over bridges.
- Fixed soft-lock related to bridges.
- Improved performance significantly on levels with a lot of units.
- Fixed bug in MP related to pausing while the other player deploys.
- Improved MP game creation to default to valid game settings.
[ 2016-02-23 15:57:16 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 16 - Achievements and more
They've been very commonly requested, and we were always going to do them, but it was never a huge priority at the start when we had a lot of a game to finish. Now as we're approaching our end goals we've managed to get them in. A few achievements are disabled (namely Rank related achievements) since these scores aren't finalised.
No PC game is complete without custom keybindings. This also helps our players with international keyboards where the default setup doesn't work well for them. We may adjust the default before final release and I'd also like to look into predefined defaults for specific international keyboards.
We've done a pass on all capture-able buildings to ensure they had clear ownership flags.
We've exposed more options for quality settings in Video to help with lower end machines. Additionally we've added numerous reset options at the bottom of the General tab. Included is the option to unlock all missions. This does not grant any achievements and is simply to allow you to bypass the progression blocks to play any mission you like. You still need to beat the levels for achievements!
We've updated Warring States to use Unity 5.3. Up to this point we've been on 4.6, which is quite old by now. We get a lot of gains with this move that directly benefit the game (eg performance). Another benefit of 5.3 is the new lighting system which has allowed us to do a nice pass on the post-process effects in the game. Here is a side-by-side example of 4.6 and 5.3 with the lighting changes.
Besides improvements to what you see, the new lighting gives us more options for future. So look forward to some new stuff :)
We've been slow getting final missions in, as we keep jumping back to fixes or gameplay improvements, but they are slowly coming! Up next is Mission 3-1, the missing initial mission for the invasion of Chu chapter.
Besides these updates, we've added numerous little fixes and changes.
[ 2016-02-23 15:57:16 CET ] [ Original post ]
Our last update was just before Christmas, so this update is a bigger one. There have been a lot of behind the scenes changes (Unity 5 the biggest among them) but also a lot of new useful stuff for players.
Achievements, Trading Cards, Badges and Emoticons
They've been very commonly requested, and we were always going to do them, but it was never a huge priority at the start when we had a lot of a game to finish. Now as we're approaching our end goals we've managed to get them in. A few achievements are disabled (namely Rank related achievements) since these scores aren't finalised.
Custom Keybindings
No PC game is complete without custom keybindings. This also helps our players with international keyboards where the default setup doesn't work well for them. We may adjust the default before final release and I'd also like to look into predefined defaults for specific international keyboards.
Building Flags
We've done a pass on all capture-able buildings to ensure they had clear ownership flags.
More Options
We've exposed more options for quality settings in Video to help with lower end machines. Additionally we've added numerous reset options at the bottom of the General tab. Included is the option to unlock all missions. This does not grant any achievements and is simply to allow you to bypass the progression blocks to play any mission you like. You still need to beat the levels for achievements!
Unity 5
We've updated Warring States to use Unity 5.3. Up to this point we've been on 4.6, which is quite old by now. We get a lot of gains with this move that directly benefit the game (eg performance). Another benefit of 5.3 is the new lighting system which has allowed us to do a nice pass on the post-process effects in the game. Here is a side-by-side example of 4.6 and 5.3 with the lighting changes.
Besides improvements to what you see, the new lighting gives us more options for future. So look forward to some new stuff :)
Mission 3-1 Added
We've been slow getting final missions in, as we keep jumping back to fixes or gameplay improvements, but they are slowly coming! Up next is Mission 3-1, the missing initial mission for the invasion of Chu chapter.
More Changes
Besides these updates, we've added numerous little fixes and changes.
Changelist
- Added more sound effects across numerous game actions.
- Added Steam name to faction names when in MP game.
- Campaign progress is now saved properly.
- Added portrait for Rally action.
- Changed Game Icon to look less like upcoming Total War game ;)
- Added more prominent flags to MP capture-able forts.
- Changed unit outline renderer to much better system, now with transitions on enable/disable. (Also looks better on siege weapons)
- Added confirmation menus on various buttons.
- Added loading screen quotes.
- Fixed texture seams throughout various maps.
- Fixed some walls without end pieces.
- Fixed effects on Stone and Wood Tower firing.
- Fixed particles on buildings.
- Added grey button for non-purchasable units.
- Fixed some units missing faction colours.
- Fixed Special action banner sequences having alpha issues.
- Fixed collision on bridges.
- Improved animation transitions significantly, speeding up numerous in-game actions.
- Fixed unit selection sound played when removing deployed units.
- Fixed music being played as a 3D sound.
- Fixed siege towers remaining highlighted after deploy.
- Fixed various spelling mistakes.
- Fixed Reinforcement ignoring No Anims option.
- Fixed special banners appearing multiple times.
- Fixed Spearman special icon always being 'on'.
- Fixed hidden units being briefly selectable in forests.
- Fixed deploying on walls showing multiple options.
- Fixed buildings ignoring No Anims option.
- Fixed save menu not working if you typed in an option.
- Improved save menu performance significantly.
- Improved usability of save menu to work more as expected.
- Fixed error in Minimap panel.
- Fixed randomised mountain heights.
- Fixed loading save files where Siege Towers had already been deployed.
- Updated Steamworks library version.
- Fixed alignment in deploy message.
- Fixed Cavalry charge occasionally getting stuck on hills.
- Fixed siege tower showing multiple options on deploy.
- Added colour to Start Turn text.
- Fixed bugs related to cavalry moving over bridges.
- Fixed soft-lock related to bridges.
- Improved performance significantly on levels with a lot of units.
- Fixed bug in MP related to pausing while the other player deploys.
- Improved MP game creation to default to valid game settings.
[ 2016-02-23 15:57:16 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 15
We've added a morale indicator to the floating unit info, which corresponds in color to the morale level on the unit panel. This gives you morale info of numerous units at a glance.
We've gone through and made sure the Team and Steam Player names were communicated well throughout the multiplayer screens. In game there is a HUD element indicating players, as well as an improved game results screen.
Multiplayer games exited the same as single player. This was rather poor, and we always intended a more complete results screen.
We've finished all of the mission intro maps and even updated the originals to bring them all up to the same standard.
[ 2015-12-07 21:12:38 CET ] [ Original post ]
Time for another update! Lots of little things have gone into this update along with a bunch of bug fixes.
Updated Floating Unit Info
We've added a morale indicator to the floating unit info, which corresponds in color to the morale level on the unit panel. This gives you morale info of numerous units at a glance.
Multiplayer Team Info
We've gone through and made sure the Team and Steam Player names were communicated well throughout the multiplayer screens. In game there is a HUD element indicating players, as well as an improved game results screen.
Multiplayer Results Screen
Multiplayer games exited the same as single player. This was rather poor, and we always intended a more complete results screen.
Mission Intro Maps
We've finished all of the mission intro maps and even updated the originals to bring them all up to the same standard.
Changelist
- Multiplayer Results Screens (local and online)
- Multiplayer names and roles indicated in game
- Updated Singleplayer Results Screen
- Updated Singleplayer Game Over Screen
- Added Morale indicator to floating unit info
- Improved readability of combat text
- Added all mission briefing maps
- Updated existing mission briefing maps
- Added mission rank indicators
- Increased timeout for loading into a multiplayer game
- Fixed issue with loading saved games
- Fixed bugs that appear when playing a campaign mission after a battle mission
- Fixed various issues with the HUD radar/map
- Fixed errors in the objective panel on the HUD
- Fixed unassigned flags in Capture the Flag Battles
- Fixed floating combat text causing mouse clicks to block
- Fixed a soft lock that occurred when a unit retreated while another action blocks its path
- Fixed a bug related to the change of Windows locale preventing the game from launching
- Fixed issues with fog of war updating when a unit dies or is removed from deployment
- Fixed the representation of supplies on the HUD map
- Fixed supply buildings not having an icon or name when selected
- Fixed Tower and Gate height collision
- Fixed Unit spread on Tower and Gate
- Fixed Team Frame to fit multiple elements
[ 2015-12-07 21:12:38 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 15
We've added a morale indicator to the floating unit info, which corresponds in color to the morale level on the unit panel. This gives you morale info of numerous units at a glance.
We've gone through and made sure the Team and Steam Player names were communicated well throughout the multiplayer screens. In game there is a HUD element indicating players, as well as an improved game results screen.
Multiplayer games exited the same as single player. This was rather poor, and we always intended a more complete results screen.
We've finished all of the mission intro maps and even updated the originals to bring them all up to the same standard.
[ 2015-12-07 21:12:38 CET ] [ Original post ]
Time for another update! Lots of little things have gone into this update along with a bunch of bug fixes.
Updated Floating Unit Info
We've added a morale indicator to the floating unit info, which corresponds in color to the morale level on the unit panel. This gives you morale info of numerous units at a glance.
Multiplayer Team Info
We've gone through and made sure the Team and Steam Player names were communicated well throughout the multiplayer screens. In game there is a HUD element indicating players, as well as an improved game results screen.
Multiplayer Results Screen
Multiplayer games exited the same as single player. This was rather poor, and we always intended a more complete results screen.
Mission Intro Maps
We've finished all of the mission intro maps and even updated the originals to bring them all up to the same standard.
Changelist
- Multiplayer Results Screens (local and online)
- Multiplayer names and roles indicated in game
- Updated Singleplayer Results Screen
- Updated Singleplayer Game Over Screen
- Added Morale indicator to floating unit info
- Improved readability of combat text
- Added all mission briefing maps
- Updated existing mission briefing maps
- Added mission rank indicators
- Increased timeout for loading into a multiplayer game
- Fixed issue with loading saved games
- Fixed bugs that appear when playing a campaign mission after a battle mission
- Fixed various issues with the HUD radar/map
- Fixed errors in the objective panel on the HUD
- Fixed unassigned flags in Capture the Flag Battles
- Fixed floating combat text causing mouse clicks to block
- Fixed a soft lock that occurred when a unit retreated while another action blocks its path
- Fixed a bug related to the change of Windows locale preventing the game from launching
- Fixed issues with fog of war updating when a unit dies or is removed from deployment
- Fixed the representation of supplies on the HUD map
- Fixed supply buildings not having an icon or name when selected
- Fixed Tower and Gate height collision
- Fixed Unit spread on Tower and Gate
- Fixed Team Frame to fit multiple elements
[ 2015-12-07 21:12:38 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 14
To be honest, this hasn't been a very requested feature. Despite that, we really feel it helps on the larger maps and it looks pretty too! You can zoom for more detail, scroll the map, drag the camera view. It also shows objective icons on specific maps such as Capture the Flag or Campaign marker objectives.
All controllable buildings in game now have flags identifying the owner. Previously you had to rely on tooltips or selection to make it clear. This informs the player better, and just looks cooler!
Since the HUD and UI update, we've been upgrading the quality of icons to match the new style. Here you can see them in action, including a new icon to make Horse units more readable.
Towers on walls behaved a little tricky in that they allowed access to the walls, but you couldn't occupy them. We've reworked the code a fair bit to make them actually work properly. This fixes an awkward situation where you could block the top of the tower access, but no melee unit could engage you. We have some visual improvements to come for this, but mechanically it's there.
[ 2015-11-12 02:07:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey everyone! This week we have had quite a few bug fixes go in, but also a couple cool features. In the past we've slipped bug fixes in with occasional ninja updates during the week, but we've been prompted by a few asking what are in these updates. We don't really want to post a Steam announcement for that, so instead we'll keep the forum post updated with any additions.
Tactical Map
To be honest, this hasn't been a very requested feature. Despite that, we really feel it helps on the larger maps and it looks pretty too! You can zoom for more detail, scroll the map, drag the camera view. It also shows objective icons on specific maps such as Capture the Flag or Campaign marker objectives.
Faction Colors on Buildings
All controllable buildings in game now have flags identifying the owner. Previously you had to rely on tooltips or selection to make it clear. This informs the player better, and just looks cooler!
Improved Icons
Since the HUD and UI update, we've been upgrading the quality of icons to match the new style. Here you can see them in action, including a new icon to make Horse units more readable.
Occupiable Towers
Towers on walls behaved a little tricky in that they allowed access to the walls, but you couldn't occupy them. We've reworked the code a fair bit to make them actually work properly. This fixes an awkward situation where you could block the top of the tower access, but no melee unit could engage you. We have some visual improvements to come for this, but mechanically it's there.
[ 2015-11-12 02:07:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 14
To be honest, this hasn't been a very requested feature. Despite that, we really feel it helps on the larger maps and it looks pretty too! You can zoom for more detail, scroll the map, drag the camera view. It also shows objective icons on specific maps such as Capture the Flag or Campaign marker objectives.
All controllable buildings in game now have flags identifying the owner. Previously you had to rely on tooltips or selection to make it clear. This informs the player better, and just looks cooler!
Since the HUD and UI update, we've been upgrading the quality of icons to match the new style. Here you can see them in action, including a new icon to make Horse units more readable.
Towers on walls behaved a little tricky in that they allowed access to the walls, but you couldn't occupy them. We've reworked the code a fair bit to make them actually work properly. This fixes an awkward situation where you could block the top of the tower access, but no melee unit could engage you. We have some visual improvements to come for this, but mechanically it's there.
[ 2015-11-12 02:07:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey everyone! This week we have had quite a few bug fixes go in, but also a couple cool features. In the past we've slipped bug fixes in with occasional ninja updates during the week, but we've been prompted by a few asking what are in these updates. We don't really want to post a Steam announcement for that, so instead we'll keep the forum post updated with any additions.
Tactical Map
To be honest, this hasn't been a very requested feature. Despite that, we really feel it helps on the larger maps and it looks pretty too! You can zoom for more detail, scroll the map, drag the camera view. It also shows objective icons on specific maps such as Capture the Flag or Campaign marker objectives.
Faction Colors on Buildings
All controllable buildings in game now have flags identifying the owner. Previously you had to rely on tooltips or selection to make it clear. This informs the player better, and just looks cooler!
Improved Icons
Since the HUD and UI update, we've been upgrading the quality of icons to match the new style. Here you can see them in action, including a new icon to make Horse units more readable.
Occupiable Towers
Towers on walls behaved a little tricky in that they allowed access to the walls, but you couldn't occupy them. We've reworked the code a fair bit to make them actually work properly. This fixes an awkward situation where you could block the top of the tower access, but no melee unit could engage you. We have some visual improvements to come for this, but mechanically it's there.
[ 2015-11-12 02:07:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 13
We've added a few different modes and options to play besides the original battle. There was a lack of win conditions previously, or limits which meant you could find yourself in a stand-off where neither side wanted to advance. You can still have this if you want, but now you can break this up with the following options:
Since we've added up to 4-players now for multiplayer; we felt it was prudent to include teams. This makes the primary ally and opponent based on your team number, rather than faction. You can have any combination of teams 4-players allows. Only Attacker vs Defender is limited to 2 teams for obvious reasons.
4-Player can be best played on larger maps, so we've added a larger desert-tiled map to give you more room for battles.
We've updated the unit display on the HUD to make quick-glance info more readable and changed the stat values and traits panel entirely optional. Whatever state you leave these panels in will be saved, so no need to keep re-opening them if you like to see them. We have further work to come on the Combat Window element.
[ 2015-10-21 15:46:28 CET ] [ Original post ]
This week we're adding the previously mentioned Multiplayer modes that were in development and held up by our front-end update. Along with these modes includes new maps and we've expanded the number of players up to 4.
Multiplayer Modes
We've added a few different modes and options to play besides the original battle. There was a lack of win conditions previously, or limits which meant you could find yourself in a stand-off where neither side wanted to advance. You can still have this if you want, but now you can break this up with the following options:
- Attacker VS Defender - The defender wins if he holds out for a specific amount of turns, while the attacker wins if the defender is defeated or routed from the map. In this mode, you can specific the deployment points of each team independently.
- Capture of the Flag - Capturable flag points are scattered around the map to be taken and held. You may set the number of flags to be taken, requiring either the whole map worth, or only some to win.
- Turn Limits - You can specify turn limits for your game, to create a sense of urgency between players or allowing one player in the lead to go on the defensive and hold out for victory.
- Siege Maps - Attacker VS Defender has the option to have siege battles, adding a map specific fortress to be fought over.
4-Players with Teams
Since we've added up to 4-players now for multiplayer; we felt it was prudent to include teams. This makes the primary ally and opponent based on your team number, rather than faction. You can have any combination of teams 4-players allows. Only Attacker vs Defender is limited to 2 teams for obvious reasons.
New Large Map
4-Player can be best played on larger maps, so we've added a larger desert-tiled map to give you more room for battles.
New Unit UI and Combat Window
We've updated the unit display on the HUD to make quick-glance info more readable and changed the stat values and traits panel entirely optional. Whatever state you leave these panels in will be saved, so no need to keep re-opening them if you like to see them. We have further work to come on the Combat Window element.
[ 2015-10-21 15:46:28 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 13
We've added a few different modes and options to play besides the original battle. There was a lack of win conditions previously, or limits which meant you could find yourself in a stand-off where neither side wanted to advance. You can still have this if you want, but now you can break this up with the following options:
Since we've added up to 4-players now for multiplayer; we felt it was prudent to include teams. This makes the primary ally and opponent based on your team number, rather than faction. You can have any combination of teams 4-players allows. Only Attacker vs Defender is limited to 2 teams for obvious reasons.
4-Player can be best played on larger maps, so we've added a larger desert-tiled map to give you more room for battles.
We've updated the unit display on the HUD to make quick-glance info more readable and changed the stat values and traits panel entirely optional. Whatever state you leave these panels in will be saved, so no need to keep re-opening them if you like to see them. We have further work to come on the Combat Window element.
[ 2015-10-21 15:46:28 CET ] [ Original post ]
This week we're adding the previously mentioned Multiplayer modes that were in development and held up by our front-end update. Along with these modes includes new maps and we've expanded the number of players up to 4.
Multiplayer Modes
We've added a few different modes and options to play besides the original battle. There was a lack of win conditions previously, or limits which meant you could find yourself in a stand-off where neither side wanted to advance. You can still have this if you want, but now you can break this up with the following options:
- Attacker VS Defender - The defender wins if he holds out for a specific amount of turns, while the attacker wins if the defender is defeated or routed from the map. In this mode, you can specific the deployment points of each team independently.
- Capture of the Flag - Capturable flag points are scattered around the map to be taken and held. You may set the number of flags to be taken, requiring either the whole map worth, or only some to win.
- Turn Limits - You can specify turn limits for your game, to create a sense of urgency between players or allowing one player in the lead to go on the defensive and hold out for victory.
- Siege Maps - Attacker VS Defender has the option to have siege battles, adding a map specific fortress to be fought over.
4-Players with Teams
Since we've added up to 4-players now for multiplayer; we felt it was prudent to include teams. This makes the primary ally and opponent based on your team number, rather than faction. You can have any combination of teams 4-players allows. Only Attacker vs Defender is limited to 2 teams for obvious reasons.
New Large Map
4-Player can be best played on larger maps, so we've added a larger desert-tiled map to give you more room for battles.
New Unit UI and Combat Window
We've updated the unit display on the HUD to make quick-glance info more readable and changed the stat values and traits panel entirely optional. Whatever state you leave these panels in will be saved, so no need to keep re-opening them if you like to see them. We have further work to come on the Combat Window element.
[ 2015-10-21 15:46:28 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 12 - New UI
We've completely re-done the style of the menus as it was a great opportunity to do so while we were gutting the menu code. Here is an example below (yes the background animates!)
We now have more cutscene backgrounds to match the scenario and add some variety. These include all seasonal variations. I hope I wasn't the only one sick of grassy river for every cutscene!
While we have more improvements to the front-end coming in incremental changes, we also have some big improvements to the HUD. Now we present less information at first, with optional details available to users. This helps get the HUD out of the way and let you focus on the game in front of it.
The code is ready for the new Multiplayer modes and 4-player, and we're just working on adding the UI flow to allow this. Stay tuned for the next update.
We're looking into the possibility of a Unity 5 update, now that we're using their new UI system. If we can do the upgrade, it will allow us to transfer all the performance improvements and fixes from the new engine version directly to our game.
We have the remaining single-player missions completed, and intend to release them in a future update once we've completed some testing on them. After this point we will be 100% focused on polishing the game, testing, addressing major requests and concerns etc.
We've hit some big outstanding bugs, such as the Lua DLL issue a few users have had, and others during the time we were updating the UI. They are frankly too numerous to list (and I didn't write them down as we went!) but you should see generally less game stopping issues. As always, your reports help immensely. Updates will return to more regular (bi-weekly) releases.
[ 2015-10-05 14:52:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi everyone! It's been a while since the last update as we've been hammering away at replacing our entire UI code with the new Unity UI system. I outlined the reasons in the previous update, but needless to say it had to be done. Unfortunately it took longer than we hoped, so we have a lot of updates pending with features we also developed in the mean time. This update actually went out last week but I wanted to hold off an announcement until we squashed some major bugs that came up from it. Thanks to everyone reporting in and working with us by e-mail to solve them, was a great help.
New Front-end Look
We've completely re-done the style of the menus as it was a great opportunity to do so while we were gutting the menu code. Here is an example below (yes the background animates!)
More Cutscene Backgrouns
We now have more cutscene backgrounds to match the scenario and add some variety. These include all seasonal variations. I hope I wasn't the only one sick of grassy river for every cutscene!
Upcoming HUD
While we have more improvements to the front-end coming in incremental changes, we also have some big improvements to the HUD. Now we present less information at first, with optional details available to users. This helps get the HUD out of the way and let you focus on the game in front of it.
Upcoming Multiplayer Modes and 4-player
The code is ready for the new Multiplayer modes and 4-player, and we're just working on adding the UI flow to allow this. Stay tuned for the next update.
Unity 5
We're looking into the possibility of a Unity 5 update, now that we're using their new UI system. If we can do the upgrade, it will allow us to transfer all the performance improvements and fixes from the new engine version directly to our game.
Remaining Singleplayer Missions
We have the remaining single-player missions completed, and intend to release them in a future update once we've completed some testing on them. After this point we will be 100% focused on polishing the game, testing, addressing major requests and concerns etc.
Major Bugs Squashed
We've hit some big outstanding bugs, such as the Lua DLL issue a few users have had, and others during the time we were updating the UI. They are frankly too numerous to list (and I didn't write them down as we went!) but you should see generally less game stopping issues. As always, your reports help immensely. Updates will return to more regular (bi-weekly) releases.
[ 2015-10-05 14:52:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 11 - Hotfix #3
[ 2015-07-06 14:28:20 CET ] [ Original post ]
Pushing out another hotfix that addresses a serious memory leak. We believe this memory leak was causing the crashes a few of you were getting. Thanks to some of our players our there for working closely with us on hunting down the cause. Please email us or post on the forums if you get crashes or freezes after this update.
- Fixed memory leak caused by materials
- Fixed Zone of Control not applying when moving OUT of ZoC
- Fixed Fog of War error when loading older save files
- Fixed build date display - now correctly shows the build date
[ 2015-07-06 14:28:20 CET ] [ Original post ]
Upcoming Changes
The current frontend is something we put together to get the game accessible, but was never done with much love. On top of this, it was built with a third-party UI library in Unity which has since been abandoned. Thankfully, the latest versions of the Unity engine have a new official UI system which is far better supported and should lead to performance improvements generally across the board. Since we're switching UI systems (which is a hefty task) its a great opportunity for us to rethink the look of the Frontend. We're quite happy with the fundamental look of the HUD and it will stay the same. I like to post screenshots, so here are a couple Work in Progress examples of the kind of direction we're going in for the new Frontend.
It's often requested that there are more goals/options for Multiplayer. We've gone through and added a variety of win conditions and battle types to add some nice variety of objectives rather than just kill each other. Unfortunately while these features are done, they are currently held up by the new Frontend as we need to get these options available to you somehow. Since we can't give them to you, I thought I'd detail what we're adding:
[ 2015-07-01 12:57:51 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey all. We've been working on a few changes that we're not quite ready to push out yet, so I thought I'd do an update showing off a couple of them. Additionally I've done a bug fix update addressing some of the issues we've been getting reports about, thanks for your efforts!
New Frontend/Menus
The current frontend is something we put together to get the game accessible, but was never done with much love. On top of this, it was built with a third-party UI library in Unity which has since been abandoned. Thankfully, the latest versions of the Unity engine have a new official UI system which is far better supported and should lead to performance improvements generally across the board. Since we're switching UI systems (which is a hefty task) its a great opportunity for us to rethink the look of the Frontend. We're quite happy with the fundamental look of the HUD and it will stay the same. I like to post screenshots, so here are a couple Work in Progress examples of the kind of direction we're going in for the new Frontend.
Multiplayer Features
It's often requested that there are more goals/options for Multiplayer. We've gone through and added a variety of win conditions and battle types to add some nice variety of objectives rather than just kill each other. Unfortunately while these features are done, they are currently held up by the new Frontend as we need to get these options available to you somehow. Since we can't give them to you, I thought I'd detail what we're adding:
- 4-Player support added (2 teams of 2, or 4 teams of 1)
- Turn-limit (optional for all modes)
- Pitched Battle - This is the current mode, but now you must specify who is attacking and who is defending. In the case of a Turn-limit the Attacker loses if the Defender is alive when the Turn-limit is reached.
- Fortress Battle - Similar to a pitched battle, but the Defender is always defending a castle or fort and they lose if it is taken by the Attacker.
- Conquest - Fight over capturable points on the map. Either capture them all to win, or the team holding the most points in the event of a Turn-limit wins.
- Removed rogue wall in Mission 2-1
- Fixed Spearmen getting out of position after their special attack
- Fixed bug in general Unit movement that could cause units to get stuck. Let us know if you see this again.
- Fixed Unit flag icons not showing correctly after a load
- Fixed a memory leak when selecting lots of different units
[ 2015-07-01 12:57:51 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 11 Hotfix #1
[ 2015-05-31 23:30:29 CET ] [ Original post ]
A small fix has gone out to address the issue with Lua errors between turns and when trying to save. Additionally we've fixed the server hosting the bug reporting system, which means you can report bugs again. Thanks to everyone that emailed us about this or posted on the forums.
[ 2015-05-31 23:30:29 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 11
Big chunk of new audio has gone in. Here is a short list:
On missions with multiple deployments, the camera would move to the average between the points when selecting a unit. This was...confusing. Now it selects the first deploy area, and you can press Tab to cycle between them. Additionally, it no longer resets the camera every time you select a unit to deploy.
We've put in keybindings for ability actions, and display them on a slightly re-worked action panel (the bar on the right) for the selected unit. You can see the keybinding set on the abilities, and the cost has been moved to a little frame on the side.
We've done a visual pass on the tooltips to make them more readable. They now also display information about a building a unit occupies beneath it. Previously this was not viewable without a unit moving away. Next up will be exposing more information to the tooltips.
This was a commonly requested feature. The unit type is now displayed with an icon above the unit, including the quality of the unit. This is mirrored by the deployment symbols.
We've added more graphics customisation options based on what we can expose from the engine. Additionally we've added a graphics preset option, as you'd expect from most games.
[ 2015-05-27 11:52:47 CET ] [ Original post ]
This update went out yesterday, but there wasn't time to get this written up. No new content (should be coming next update) but lots of little improvements. We're also beginning work on Multiplayer improvements to add more options and rules for Multiplayer games.
Audio
Big chunk of new audio has gone in. Here is a short list:
- Siege Equipment Movement
- Ballista Firing
- Catapult Firing
- Ram ...er Ramming
- Cavalry Movement (old one was so bad, happy about this)
Deployment Camera
On missions with multiple deployments, the camera would move to the average between the points when selecting a unit. This was...confusing. Now it selects the first deploy area, and you can press Tab to cycle between them. Additionally, it no longer resets the camera every time you select a unit to deploy.
Keybindings and Unit Actions
We've put in keybindings for ability actions, and display them on a slightly re-worked action panel (the bar on the right) for the selected unit. You can see the keybinding set on the abilities, and the cost has been moved to a little frame on the side.
Improved Tooltips
We've done a visual pass on the tooltips to make them more readable. They now also display information about a building a unit occupies beneath it. Previously this was not viewable without a unit moving away. Next up will be exposing more information to the tooltips.
Unit Type Icon
This was a commonly requested feature. The unit type is now displayed with an icon above the unit, including the quality of the unit. This is mirrored by the deployment symbols.
Graphics Options
We've added more graphics customisation options based on what we can expose from the engine. Additionally we've added a graphics preset option, as you'd expect from most games.
Changes
- Additional new audio
- Exposed more graphics options (Shadows, Antialiasing, Anisotropic, Texture Quality)
- Added Graphics Preset options
- Added Keybindings to Unit Actions
- Reworked Deployment Camera centering
- Added cycling deployment areas
- Updated visuals of tooltips icons/formatting
- Builds now display on tooltips when occupied
- Fixed audio delay on wood impacts (attacking wood buildings)
- Removed annoying twang sound for menu clicks, using less annoying placeholder for now
- Fixed wooden walls sometimes being walkable
- Fixed wooden walls in non-summer seasons
- Fixed AI on fog of war levels, where they could ignore it when they shouldn't
- Removed rogue wall appearing in Mission 1-2
- Added unit icon for Axe units
[ 2015-05-27 11:52:47 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 10
Over the next few updates we'll be integrating sound effects to replace the placeholder we've had up to this point. So far it's just ranged attacks, but the difference is already obvious we think and more will be coming.
While putting in proper audio we've been cleaning up unit animations to desyncronise them much like movement already is. For example archers no longer draw and fire in perfect unison.
[ 2015-04-30 13:12:04 CET ] [ Original post ]
This update includes various AI improvements and our first pass of a professional audio pass.
Audio
Over the next few updates we'll be integrating sound effects to replace the placeholder we've had up to this point. So far it's just ranged attacks, but the difference is already obvious we think and more will be coming.
Animation Desyncing
While putting in proper audio we've been cleaning up unit animations to desyncronise them much like movement already is. For example archers no longer draw and fire in perfect unison.
Changes
- AI will now attack stone and wooden watchtowers that threaten them. Previously they only attacked them to clear a path to their goal
- AI pathing has been improved. Previously the AI would sometimes get clogged up on paths trying to reach a target (such as approaching a castle to attack). Now they should spread out and attack as a wider line, rather than queuing up for the front-gate.
- AI now respects attack ranges. Previously ranged AI units were moving too close, or moving when they didn't need to. Ranged units should be a little tougher to deal with in missions against the AI now. More in line with how a player would behave. We'll keep an eye on the difficulty impact.
- Fixed the Linux depot being empty on Steam.
- Fixed Heavy Spear and Halberd units being unable to attack buildings with Axes.
[ 2015-04-30 13:12:04 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 9 Bugfixes
[ 2015-04-15 11:42:11 CET ] [ Original post ]
Just a small update with some bug fixes and debug hooks to track issues. So far we've had no issues with Mac and Linux builds so if you're having any please do report it for us!
Notable Fixes
- Fixed saving error about Prefabs some were getting
- Removed Too Many Pairs and Input errors as they're internal to Unity and don't stop play. A future Engine update will resolve these.
- Added missing Campaign 1 map images, they were added in a previous update but a bug stopped them displaying correctly
- Fixed a crash in the SpecialBowVolley action
- Fixed major slowdown happening in some missions due to mission scripts being poorly optimised. If you see slowdown in a mission please report it or post on the forums :)
[ 2015-04-15 11:42:11 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 9 - Mac and Linux
Sadly no pretty picture, but still cool :). The multi-player is crossplatform, which is pretty cool for us because it's our first game made with crossplatform MP! Hopefully not bugs, but let's be real you may find them in these versions. Warring States is cross play, so if you own it on Windows, you should own it on Mac and Linux. The Mac and Linux versions are 32-bit like the Windows version. We'll explore 64-bit versions closer to release.
Couple more portraits have gone in from our busy art slaves...
Hey guys. It's been a while since a larger update. We had some people on holiday, some work going on behind the scenes, some stuff not ready yet. Today we're pushing out the Mac and Linux versions!
Mac and Linux
Sadly no pretty picture, but still cool :). The multi-player is crossplatform, which is pretty cool for us because it's our first game made with crossplatform MP! Hopefully not bugs, but let's be real you may find them in these versions. Warring States is cross play, so if you own it on Windows, you should own it on Mac and Linux. The Mac and Linux versions are 32-bit like the Windows version. We'll explore 64-bit versions closer to release.
More Portraits
Couple more portraits have gone in from our busy art slaves...
Many Bug Fixes
- Fixed visual artifacts on ink lines
- Skip dialogue message always visible (a lot of people asked to be able to skip cutscenes...which they could always do. So we made this *really* obvious.)
- Fixed error when the player hovered over the position where a unit is running away to.
- Stopped the game from crashing when the save files are corrupted.
- Added more debug info to catch bugs related with the locking/unlocking of resources.
- Make actions to wait until the buildings are destroyed (if they are getting destroyed). This was causing many errors (null pointer, unit not found, ...)
- Resolved an error with the ownership of the walls when a base is captured (UnitProxy error, unit not found).
- Fixed NullReferenceException when pressing Numpad Keys while not selecting a unit
- Fixed units sometimes not dying when on different heights to attackers (like on a building)
[ 2015-04-01 00:19:09 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update delayed until Tomorrow
[ 2015-03-30 21:21:46 CET ] [ Original post ]
We had some last minute things we wanted to get in, and didn't have time for this update. So we will postpone it until tomorrow evening. See you then!
[ 2015-03-30 21:21:46 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 8 - Hotfix 2
[ 2015-03-17 00:01:52 CET ] [ Original post ]
Just a small update this week, as we've not got enough ready to push out to you guys. This update is primarily bug fixes tied to the AI optimisations which we've only been able to nail down thanks to all of your bug reports coming in. Thanks to all of you for that, and next update should have some new content. Checksum: 271120f
[ 2015-03-17 00:01:52 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 8 - Hotfix 1
[ 2015-03-04 16:21:30 CET ] [ Original post ]
A few fixes for the latest build for some of the softlocks people have been getting since Monday. These are tied to the new AI, but thankfully your feedback reports have helped us find them quickly.
Changelist
- Fixed various soft-locks between turns. Additionally in future this specific error should now pop-up with an error report. Pesky Unity was hiding it. This error was also causing instability with play and caused further inconsistent errors to come about.
- Fixed menus not resetting selection to first element (see Mission selection)
- Cleaned up Hosting menu for better formatting and more consistent font usage
- Fixed error sometimes occurring at the end of missions
- Fixed error sometimes occurring related to saving
- Fixed error on the Hotseat Battle mode (Human vs Human) showing an error between turns
[ 2015-03-04 16:21:30 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 8 - AI Xtreme Legends Edition
Two new missions added for Campaign 3. The first mission is still in progress, so we're jumping ahead to Mission 2 and Mission 3. Campaign 3 is about the invasion of Chu, and facing off against Crown Prince Qingxiang and assault the Chu capital of Chen.
Art has been busy updating the portraits of important state generals. Check them out below.
The new environment had to take a back seat, but hopefully we can show it next update. Along with that we still have some Multiplayer objectives to come. There have been some feedback regarding tooltips and UI explanations and I'd like to just say we're aware of them, but are holding off until we have everything in the game we want (MP objectives, all missions) that way we can focus on the little things in context to a content-complete game. Live long and prosper. \//
[ 2015-03-02 22:14:47 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hello all! The AI performance update has finally arrived. Expect to see massive (nay, overpowered) improvements to the AI turn speed...but also maybe bugs :) Always with the bugs...But seriously, we changed a lot of code for the optimisations and there could be some issues so please do submit bugs as you see them.
Campaign 3 Missions
Two new missions added for Campaign 3. The first mission is still in progress, so we're jumping ahead to Mission 2 and Mission 3. Campaign 3 is about the invasion of Chu, and facing off against Crown Prince Qingxiang and assault the Chu capital of Chen.
New Portraits
Art has been busy updating the portraits of important state generals. Check them out below.
Going Forward
The new environment had to take a back seat, but hopefully we can show it next update. Along with that we still have some Multiplayer objectives to come. There have been some feedback regarding tooltips and UI explanations and I'd like to just say we're aware of them, but are holding off until we have everything in the game we want (MP objectives, all missions) that way we can focus on the little things in context to a content-complete game. Live long and prosper. \//
[ 2015-03-02 22:14:47 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 7
The final mission in the war against Han and Wei. Ambush a Han army as it attempts to retreat on the road to Eastern Han...
Since we're short on Campaign missions, we thought we'd add some more Multiplayer maps to battle on with your friends.
We're going to tackle the AI performance problems. This will not just be for the new missions, but hopefully it will provide retroactive improvements on earlier missions. We will keep you up to date on progress with this. Additionally we have some plans to improve the objectives for Multiplayer in order to give you clearer goals for either attacking or defending. Another thing we'd like to get in multiplayer is sieges and castles, rather than the current simpler outposts. We also have another environment type we will be revealing next update. Stay tuned!
[ 2015-02-16 22:06:48 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hi guys and gals! New update time. Was hoping to get Campaign 3 into this update, but we've hit a wall with AI performance. We already know it's an issue at the moment but the new battles are getting larger, and it's reaching an unacceptable level. For this reason Campaign 3 has been held back.
Campaign 2 - Mission 5
The final mission in the war against Han and Wei. Ambush a Han army as it attempts to retreat on the road to Eastern Han...
Two new Multiplayer Maps
Since we're short on Campaign missions, we thought we'd add some more Multiplayer maps to battle on with your friends.
Going Forward
We're going to tackle the AI performance problems. This will not just be for the new missions, but hopefully it will provide retroactive improvements on earlier missions. We will keep you up to date on progress with this. Additionally we have some plans to improve the objectives for Multiplayer in order to give you clearer goals for either attacking or defending. Another thing we'd like to get in multiplayer is sieges and castles, rather than the current simpler outposts. We also have another environment type we will be revealing next update. Stay tuned!
Changelist
- Added Campaign 2 - Mission 5
- Fixed Audio being disabled for everyone
- Added a new Small and Medium Multiplayer map
[ 2015-02-16 22:06:48 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 6 - No update too small...
We're slowly adding some images to add context to the narration of missions. They reinforce the dialogue from the narrator explaining the situations of the war leading to the current mission. Check them out in Campaign 2, gives us your thoughts.
Errors occurring in mission should no longer spam, and will now (typically) only display the first and most relevant error. Please do continue to send these error reports, they are a huge help.
For people on low-end machines trying to play the game, some good news! There were issues with animating units getting stuck, which caused endless turns and the inability to continue. This should never happen again, and if you see it (units moving in circles trying to reach a position) please report it to us!
[ 2015-02-03 02:22:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey everyone. Bit of a small update this time as we've got a lot of stuff in progress we're not ready to get feedback from. We have however addressed a few major bugs that have been causing people problems since the start.
Narration Maps
We're slowly adding some images to add context to the narration of missions. They reinforce the dialogue from the narrator explaining the situations of the war leading to the current mission. Check them out in Campaign 2, gives us your thoughts.
Improved Error Reporting
Errors occurring in mission should no longer spam, and will now (typically) only display the first and most relevant error. Please do continue to send these error reports, they are a huge help.
Low Frame-rate Improvements
For people on low-end machines trying to play the game, some good news! There were issues with animating units getting stuck, which caused endless turns and the inability to continue. This should never happen again, and if you see it (units moving in circles trying to reach a position) please report it to us!
Changelist
- Fixed navigation of some stone walls
- Fixed various bugs in the Gameplay options menu
- Added narrator maps at the start of Missions instead of black screens
- Numerous missing text and localisation fixes in preparation for localisation to foreign languages
- Added system for loading screen tooltips. Hints to come later!
- Fixed units getting stuck attacking walls (and other buildings)
- Fixed corruption of save and load system some users were experiencing
- Fixed rare crash when selecting a unit
- Fixed issue with Wooden walls in Autumn levels
- Battle-mode save files now show information correctly on the load menu
- Auto-save time has been dramatically sped up, which results far more responsive End Turns
- Units no longer get stuck moving at low frame-rates
[ 2015-02-03 02:22:08 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 5 - Winter is coming...
Our maps now have winter seasonal environments. Winter...has come. Check it out on the new Campaign 02 - Mission 02 level. We'll be adding this to some other levels (including MP maps) in future.
Campaign 2 has had 2 more Missions added to it (Mission 2 and Mission 4). Mission 2 includes the new siege weapons and wall mechanics. Give us your thoughts on these.
The old combat window was a mess and really lacked clarity as to what was going on. We've re-designed it and made use of the existing unit card to clean it all up. We feel it's way more obvious to understand the effects impacting your stats in a combat situation now.
We like the special attack animations but we wanted to add something a little more dramatic to it. Introducing the special attack banners! Okay it's not that amazing, but we think it's cool. If you're sick of them, you can disable them in the options as always.
Your save files are now synced to the cloud! Yay! No pretty screenshot though :( booo.
It's obvious to some that we're not going to be releasing this game back in time in 2014. The original date was set, but we didn't know the impact Early Access would have on our schedule. We've been able to address more bugs and issues thanks to it, but at a cost to the date. So we're pushing it back to "Definitely before Summer 2015". Better late than released too early!
[ 2015-01-20 01:02:48 CET ] [ Original post ]
Happy new year! We're back from the holidays with our first 2015 update. We're back on schedule for bi-weekly updates on Mondays, so keep an eye out!
Winter Environments
Our maps now have winter seasonal environments. Winter...has come. Check it out on the new Campaign 02 - Mission 02 level. We'll be adding this to some other levels (including MP maps) in future.
Sieges Incoming
Campaign 2 has had 2 more Missions added to it (Mission 2 and Mission 4). Mission 2 includes the new siege weapons and wall mechanics. Give us your thoughts on these.
New Combat Window
The old combat window was a mess and really lacked clarity as to what was going on. We've re-designed it and made use of the existing unit card to clean it all up. We feel it's way more obvious to understand the effects impacting your stats in a combat situation now.
Special Attack Banners
We like the special attack animations but we wanted to add something a little more dramatic to it. Introducing the special attack banners! Okay it's not that amazing, but we think it's cool. If you're sick of them, you can disable them in the options as always.
Steam Cloud Saving
Your save files are now synced to the cloud! Yay! No pretty screenshot though :( booo.
Release Postponed
It's obvious to some that we're not going to be releasing this game back in time in 2014. The original date was set, but we didn't know the impact Early Access would have on our schedule. We've been able to address more bugs and issues thanks to it, but at a cost to the date. So we're pushing it back to "Definitely before Summer 2015". Better late than released too early!
Changelist
- Rams no longer give flanking bonus
- Wall defensive buff now specific and toned down
- Rams do more damage to structures
- Reduced morale of light units
- Fixed some icons on status effects
- Walls no longer count as nearby friendly units
- Tile highlighting now respects height (for being on buildings)
- Added special attack banners
- Added 2 new missions
- Combat Window reworked
- AI improvements to defending areas and castles (may need some retroactive work in earlier missions to make better use of functionality)
- Added Steam Cloud saving
- Reworked text in C2M3 a bit
- Stone wall gates no longer are totally destroyed, and now enable you to still move from each side wall if they're still standing
[ 2015-01-20 01:02:48 CET ] [ Original post ]
Warring States
polynation games ltd
Developer
polynation games ltd
Publisher
2018-01-29
Release
Game News Posts:
35
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
Mostly Positive
(65 reviews)
The Game includes VR Support
Public Linux Depots:
- Linux Content [1.73 G]
Warring States Tactics is a turn-based battle strategy game set during the Warring States period of Ancient China. The Warring States period is one of turmoil in China, where various feudal states struggle for control of all of China. Lead the forces of Qin through numerous historically-based missions as they challenge the other states for supremacy.
The story is told between missions as dialogue cutscenes using beautifully drawn character portaits; as well as in game dialogue relevant to the battle at hand.
Also included is a fully composed soundtrack, which really helps bring the feeling of Ancient China to the game's atmosphere.
Features
- Single player campaign
- Online and Local Multiplayer: Point-buy battles
- Turn-based (IGOUGO) battles
- Special Moves paid for by tactical points earned for making positive tactical decisions
- Original soundtrack
- Hexagon tiles
- Tactical combat (flanking, spear wall, terrain,...)
- Siege Warfare: Assault castle walls with numerous siege engines
- No Building: Focus entirely on the combat, and tactical choices
MINIMAL SETUP
- OS: Ubuntu 10.10+
- Processor: Dual Core CPU 1.6Ghz
- Graphics: 512Mb VRAM. Minimum 1024x768 resolution. Intel HD 3000 and higher. GeForce 8800 and higher. AMD Radeon X1600 and higher
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