A Byte War is a real time strategy game where you lead a race of block-based machines against a machine threat from another dimension. Build your base up from blocks, form patterns and construct buildings to cover your needs: resource harvesting, unit spawning, influence spreading and more. Find your own path in missions that allow for various endings, from conquering the enemy, expanding your influence to conquer the map or stand your ground and don't allow the enemy to breach your defenses.
A Byte war provides you with the ability to build your basic building block: a block. Build it up into patterns on a tile-based grid and form buildings with a specific shape and functionalities. Use their specific shapes to position them like puzzle pieces and form your own base as you imagine.
Each building is controlled by controls on top of it. For example:
- HQ, your main building with controls for specific active skills.
- Resource harvester with controls for spawning and automatic harvesting.
- Unit spawner with a control to send your units to a specific destination
Constructing these essential buildings requires arranging blocks into specific patterns. Unlock new patterns and building capabilities as you progress through challenging missions, each introducing unique functionalities that enhance your strategic options.
Expanding your influence is one of the crucial mechanics to take over the area around you. Your influence starts with your HQ, which generates a permanent spot of influence, to continue extending your reach strategically place influence spreaders, amplifying your control over the surrounding area.
Areas under your influence come with significant advantages:
- Keep your base up and running
- Heal your damaged units.
- Weaponize it to disable enemy buildings and damage enemy units
- Generate new resource deposits
- Convert existing ones on the map
Watch out however, as your enemy can use their influence to counter yours.
Choose your own path with every mission that shapes your unique journey and outcome.
The game offers a variety of mission types, each presenting distinct challenges and strategic objectives. You'll find yourself running away from overwhelming enemy forces, holding off relentless invasions to survive, conquering enemy territories through sheer force, or expanding your influence to dominate the landscape.
Each mission type branches into subsequent missions, leading you down different paths that culminate in specific endings.
Changelog
Free play
added a UI with generation options
[/*]these are: seed, map size, biome, decoration amount, clearings amount & size
[/*]there's also a "???" option for a completely random choice
[/*]biomes & map sizes are limited in the demo
[/*]
Cutscenes
cutscenes have been completely redesigned
[/*]they can now be triggered on any completed mission if you'd like to see them again, they are now placed as buttons in the mission select screen next to arrows leading to new missions
[/*]each cutscene has been shortened and represented visually
[/*]
Improvements
Added a small visual panel that's shown when a mission you've selected is completed
[/*]Added wave arrows to missions so you can visually see where the waves will come from
[/*]Added timeout to dialogues
[/*]Added a lot of small SFXs throughout the game
[/*]improved performance of influence overlap detection
[/*]
Fixes
Fixed transition effect not covering UI
[/*]Fixed that the list of available buildings stays when a block is destroyed
[/*]Fixed Tooltip background image not spreading with the text
[/*]Fixed that you weren't able to build new harvesters if they were destroyed
[/*]Fixed mission 2 raids sometimes not reacting to player win condition
[/*]
[h2]Steam Next Fest!
[/h2]
Besides this, I'd also like to announce that A Byte War will participate in the Steam Next Fest in October, for this occasion I will release another update before it featuring 2 new missions!
Another demo update
Hey everyone! This demo update has no new features this time, the focus was mainly on bugfixes, improvements and the balance. I know the missions weren't really forgiving so far!
Changes
Redesigns
Harvester building is redesigned, set area & auto harvest controls are removed. Auto harvesting is now the default state. Each successive harvester will now cost one more resource block. New directions added: east, west, north
[/*]Balance
[/*]Rebalanced Mission Z8 Raids for all difficulties: easy, normal, hard & supreme
[/*]Rebalanced Mission D3 Salvage for all difficulties: easy, normal, hard & supreme
[/*]Rebalanced Mission D2 Final line for all difficulties: easy, normal, hard & supreme
[/*]Mission D2 dominate objective lowered from 65% to 62%
[/*]Enemy HQ health is now the same as your HQ health
[/*]Block launcher extended vision by 1
[/*]Healing over your own influence is 50% stronger
[/*]Damaging over enemy influence is 20% stronger
[/*]Introduced a hard cap on overall resources that can be on the map at the same time.
[/*]Missions will no longer start on dialogue end, but the first block you place, this will also remove the confusion of where to place the first block
[/*]
Improvements
Added Paused text in the middle of the screen when pause is active
[/*]Added a screen overlay & cursor icon for each mode: build, pattern select and deconstruct
[/*]Updated intro cutscene UI and speed of elements leaving the screen
[/*]Updated intro cutscene panel to stay a bit longer so its easier to read
[/*]Dialogue auto advance option and feature has been removed
[/*]Dialogue will always advance on click or through a timeout if youre ignoring it for too long
[/*]Info screen pattern list items wont list new directions for buildings, but will instead be contained in the single building item
[/*]Improved performance of the resource spawn/spread system
[/*]
Fixes
Fixed game remaining paused if you paused the game when leaving through winning/losing
[/*]Fixed player data/enemy data/how to play tabs not showing correct state upon opening, and weird behaviours when clicking them
[/*]Fixed tutorial interface opening over dialogue
[/*]Fixed keybind when hovering over controls is now fixed and should work
[/*]Fixed special action button had no tooltip
[/*]Fixed cracks and fires were not removed from buildings when they healed
[/*]
Hello everyone!
It's been almost 2 months since the last update and I think it's time to update the demo and give out some info in regards to the development of the full game.
Demo update
What's this demo all about?
QoL, polish, sound effects and localisation!
Let me list a few of the main changes here, and you'll find the whole changelog at the end of this post:
- Added a tactical pause, with spacebar you'll now be able to pause the game at any time to reposition and think about your next moves
- Lots of tiny and bigger bug fixes, some that impact the demo & unit behaviour
- SFX!!! I cannot stress this enough, the game was "silent", but now a whole bunch of SFX have been made and added for most of the game parts visible in the demo
- Continuing my efforts to support more languages, the demo will now be available in Chinese Simplified & Traditional. I'm not sure what languages will be in the full game from the start, but I'll definitely add them later.
Development update
I'd like to thank everyone for the feedback I've received so far about the game, and suggestions you have in ways I can improve it. I've already implemented some of the suggestions and feedback and I'll continue to do so if I think it fits the vision of the game.
What about the future of the demo and the content that will be in?
The content that will be in the demo is already mostly in. 4 missions, I might add another one if I feel it's needed but no promises there.
There will be one more major update with the free play -> random map content, with more control over the generation, but other than that the demo is already mostly done content-wise. There will be updates with QoL, polish and bugfixes as I continue developing and finding things.
I will also continue adding new languages that I have translators for, there are already several in the queue.
Full changelog
New features
- Added tactical pause, you can press space bar or click on the pause/play button to pause or unpause the game
- Added Chinese simplified and traditional languages
Improvements
- Added an intro cutscene when starting a new game to give more information about the setting
- Improved unit targeting system, they should behave better now when deciding where to shoot from
- Added Sfx when a building is built
- Added Sfx when a building is deconstructed
- Added Sfx when the auto spawn is toggled on a fabricator
- Added Sfx when the unit target selection is active on a fabricator
- Added Sfx when the unit type is switched on a fabricator
- Added Sfx for the text typing (cutscenes and communication inside a mission)
- Added Sfx for building destruction
- Added Sfx for the HQ transformation
- Added Sfx for the allied mining base transformation
- Added Sfx for the allied mining base flight
- Replaced Sfx when the player tower shoots
- Replaced Sfx for the alarm in the tutorial
- Replaced Sfx for the space shattering in the tutorial
- Replaced ambient Sfx of the mobile HQ unit
- Replaced Sfx of the enemy laser tower
- Replaced Sfx of the player laser bot
- Replaced Sfx of the enemy laser bot
Fixes
- Fixed keybind not removed when a fabricator is deconstructed
- Fixed keybind not triggering when a tool was active (build, pattern detect, deconstruct)
- Fixed keybind trigger not firing when hovering over any building
- Fixed tooltips not appearing when hovering over UI buttons
- Fixed all building explosions to spread out and last more
- Fixed quick clicking on keybinding buttons to break camera
- Fix free play random, you didn't have to build the HQ first to build other buildings
- Fixed conversion art issue with a biome
- Fixed enemy basic block damage artwork wasn't appearing
- Fixed weird cutscene behaviour that required 2 clicks to continue
- Fixed player data screen to show correct data in free play mode
- Marko from STELLAR
Contact
Discord - Join here
Hello everyone!
New demo update is live!
What's new
New features
- Bot fabricator keybinding, you can now keybind any fabricator when hovering over it and pressing a number on the keyboard. Pressing the same number afterwards will let you set the unit target for the fabricator. This is also explained in more detail in the how to play info screen.- New Mission D2 Final Line added to the demo (after the salvage mining bases mission)
Improvements
- Added a tooltip to all spawn controls that show the resource cost per unit- Added a tip in the tutorial explaining what to do if the HQ unit gets stuck
- Added a tip in the missions after the tutorial explaining the new keybinding feature
- Improved overall performance of the game by switching to il2cpp for builds
- Improved defensive tower targeting (they'll target closest units now)
Fixes
- Fixed possibility of double clicking on start mission and breaking the game- Fixed the ability to open pause menu when the mission was done and therefore break the game if you restart from there
- Fixed font style not changing on save slot names
- Fixed font style not changing on mission title
- Fixed font style not changing on campaign sidebar title, description and difficulty
- Fixed font style not changing on info screens
- Fixed sync for wall visual animations
- Fixed issues where resources spawner beneath or above allied buildings
- Fixed background coloring when in a different "biome" (this affected the mission Z8 Raids)
- Fixed layering issues between buildings and env rocks
- Fixed layering issues betwen building controls and "air" units (mining base when it transforms)
- Fixed logic for some units (like the harvester) so they should behave better in general
Balance
- Reduced tower shooting range for both the player and enemy for 5%- Increased timers in the Salvage mining bases mission to give more time to the player
Hello everyone!
I'm excited to give you a new update to the demo with new content!
New mission
It's called "Salvage mining bases" and branches out from the tutorial if you took the different choice. Since this is a demo, the choice won't affect what missions you get to play so you can enjoy them all :)
Improvements & fixes
Here's a list of changes brought to you with this update:
- New campaign mission "Salvage mining bases"
- Added a resource cap, the cap will be able to be increased with a building
- In tutorial, if your HQ building is destroyed you will now lose
- Improved enemy targeting, now they'll start shooting from the closest position instead of going all around the building
- Fixed pixel perfect camera - changed the way pixel perfect camera works so there shouldn't be anymore issues
- Fixed shortcuts still worked in the bug reporting form
- Fixed Rare bug where you were able to build a block on top of an existing one
- Fixed a fog of war issue where it wasn't updating correctly
- Fixed issue where navigation wasn't updating on building deconstruct/destroy
- Fixed health bar positioning on various buildings
- Fixed issue where the health bar remained when a building was deconstructed
- Fixed wrong font usage in various places
- Changed so dialogue auto advance default value is now false
- Fixed a tutorial soft lock if you left the info screen by a shortcut
- Fixed unlock screen text positioning
There were more minor fixes but those were not noteworthy enough to make the list. Hope you all enjoy the new mission!
- Marko from STELLAR
Contact
Discord - Join here
A Byte War Demo
First, I'd like to thank everyone that participated in the playtest! And thank everyone for the feedback and bug reports!
Now for the big news: A Byte War Demo is released!
This is the first version of the demo, the only difference from the playtest is that most of the bugs discovered were fixed. If you come across a bug while playing you can always use the in-game form to directly send the report to me, or if you can contact me directly as it will be easier to figure out the bug that way.
Localization
I'll start adding other languages now that the text inside is stable.
If you'd like to help out with localization, the best way is to join our Discord and contact me there!
What's next?
My first priority will be to gather feedback and remove any game-breaking or annoying bugs that are found.
After that I'll be focusing on two main things: more missions in the demo and a better free play AI.
Hopefully you liked the demo so far, so stay tuned for more updates!
- Marko from STELLAR
Contact
Discord - Join here
Playtest
I'm glad to announce that the playtest for A Byte War will be available for a whole week!
If you have any feedback or you see a bug, you can always report it to me. There's even an in-game form for that specific reason.
I'll compile all the feedback and bug reports and start preparing for a demo release that will hopefully follow soon after!
Thanks for all the support so far!
Hello everyone!
As before, I'll cover the work done last week, and my future plans for this week. I was travelling this last week so I'm a bit late in posting this. However, you know what they say: better late than never!
So let's get to it!
UI polish
The UI this week just got some finishing touches. Confirmation popups for quitting or exiting to prevent accidental clicks that would effectively end your game. And the main menu screen was redesigned a bit with new buttons and placements for discord & wishlist. You can see this below!
I've also added a warning indicator when allied structures are under attack. That's right, there are now allied structures on missions as well!
Gun & vfx
I've also changed the gun behavior so the turret now rotates 360 degrees to face the enemy and fires a projectile. The projectile also got some love and was updated with vfx. You can see the end result below with allied structures defending themselves!
That's it for the big things! There were a lot of other minor things & tweaks done.
There's still a bit left to do, but the playtest will be sometime soon, so stay tuned!
Hello everyone!
As before, I'll cover the work done until now, and my future plans.
So let's get to it!
UI
So what was still missing? Information screens, dialogue UI and some minor fixes.
The how to play and other information screens that will help any player when he's stuck. It's also a way to provide quick information about the patterns & buildings you can build currently.
As you progress through the missions, the story and characters will appear.
Here's a preview of that:
There were also some fixes for the UI all over the place, but those are not worth mentioning.
Content
I've finalized all the content that will be in the playtest. There will be two missions, one of which is a tutorial, just to give everyone a look at how this plays. I'll just say each mission is unique, so I look forward to hearing some feedback.
I won't spoil the missions, so I'll end this section here :)
Playtest
Now, the long awaited playtest. I'll announce when and for how long it will go as soon as I finish polishing and bugfixing everything I want for it.So, stay tuned!
Hello everyone!
As before, I'll cover some of the more focused work and what's coming next!
So let's get to it!
Localization
It took a while to get the localization system up and running, but now that it's integrated there's only, only, everything to translate to various languages.
Here's a small preview of the language change in action. Of course since there are no translations yet, this is just an example of how it's supposed to work.
Units & VFX
Now, let's talk a bit about units. For now, I'll reveal just one unit, the basic one you'll be able to build. That's this little guy.
He might not seem like much, and he isn't since it's just a basic unit. Unit behavior right now is actually very simple: they'll first prioritize your orders, which will mostly just be movement commands, and then their own programming, which is to attack anything hostile on sight.
Besides that, they also fire lasers, which are no longer just simple lines. now they actually look like a laser.
Future plans
My main priority right now is to finish everything I deem necessary for a playtest. There's not a lot left, but even minor things can take some time.
For now this means some more UI, mostly informative like an infopedia & how to play, finishing the tutorial and the first mission.
That's it for this one, see you next time!
Hello everyone!
In this diary I'll cover some of the more focused work and what's coming next!
Main menu UI
I've reworked the display of save files, so instead of placeholders (that I'll skip showing), I'll show you how the new UI looks like. It displays the last mission name, your total playtime and the last things you've unlocked.
I've also added a discord button to the main menu screens for those that want to join our community.
And I've also added a notice for the players that would playtest or play a demo to know what to expect.
Besides this I've also added a game cursor, it's mostly static except one animation when you click.
Other
I've also done some work on the tutorial and some units, but I'll leave those changes for a different diary where I cover one of these topics.
Future plans
Like I mentioned, I'll give a brief overview of the focus & plans for the near future (next week or next few weeks)
The main goal for me right now is to have a version ready for a playtest so I can announce it.
This means:
- Removing all placeholders on the UI and setting up some missing UI
- Finishing the tutorial
- Polishing some of the unit behavior and some bugfixing
That's it for this dev diary, until next time!
Minimum Setup
- OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
- Processor: Intel Core i3 2100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti / AMD Radeon R7 265
- Storage: 500 MB available space
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