Link Hi, friends. Thanks for the words of support and feedback on the latest video. Thanks for the constructive (and any other) criticism too. As always, we have read everything and in today's diary we will give feedback on your feedback. Also youll read some about the results of the last months, settings, and bugs that were in the video, but already fixed and other. How naive we were, deciding that the Early Beta footage inscription would save us from kicks into the fps dropdowns, jabs into the work-in-progress interface, and van-dame-like split kicks straight into the T-34-85 dancing on the trench. Okay. Thanks to that we we have stuff to discuss today and can show with examples: wherever we can, we keep our promises. We promised that in Soldiers: Arena it will be possible to play on an average PC and even recorded the video on this kind of PC. Promised to show real gameplay without editing, and showed without editing how slowly Pastorazzi really plays with howitzers. We promised to quickly fix bugs and hear your wishes - so we fix and we hear. Animation bugs. A known problem but we just did not have time to fix it before shooting the video. Notice how smoothly and gently the T-34-85 now rides over the trenches.
Sound. We have already become used to the sounds in the game and, apparently, did not pay attention to how the sounds of small arms brought pain to the ears. German submachine guns and machine guns sounded louder than similar weapons of other nations. Corrected. We customized the models of sound spreading. The main focus is now on big explosions and and big guns. Added the whistling of mortar mines and the sound of the semi-automatic AT-rifle EW.141. In general, it has become much more pleasant, but the work must go on. Interface. Still in work and in some places it will change beyond recognition, Including the icons that we added to the game a couple of days before shooting the video. But you wished to customize the display of interface elements: And we have this already. If information about units and the battlefield is less important to you than realism and cinematic images - you can always turn off almost everything. By the way, opponents of healthbars cant hate us anymore. Cause, technically, these are the health-rhombuses, so ... checkmate! The size of the map seemed too small some of you, guys. The attentive reader knows that the size of the map adjusts to the number of players. This is one of the ways to achieve the perfect balance of epic and realism to deliver maximum impact and read what is happening in the session. Soldiers: Arena is a strategy game about a full-scale ground encounter and fierce battles along the entire front line, and a hidden enemy quest. The width of the optimal map for a 5 vs 5 fight looks like this.
In addition to the usual work on the balance of battalions, fixing bugs, creating new models and special effects, we also did these:

• Realistic projectile flight paths. When changing the type of shell, the gun changes the angle so that the armor-piercing flew along a flat trajectory, and the HE shells flew along the plunging one. HE were less likely to fly past the target and better get into the trenches and buildings, and AP shells from, for example the ML-20, will not be casting steel hail and throwing your tank into rock bottom.
• Fine tuning of shells and caliber dependencies. For example, the larger the HE caliber, the greater the effective range of the fragments and the damage they inflict on the vehicles. The seismic effect was increased for large calibers also, so that 155 mm now obliterates a trench with a single hit. And 100+ mm shells now break vehicles modules from one damaging hit.
• Arty preparation mode has been added. This is a variant of firing a position, but without an aiming buff after each shot and accelerated by 33% reload. Good for playing with an artillery battery, when accuracy is less important than an overwhelming and demoralizing effect. Perfect for clearing the territory before allied infantry advance and stopping the offense. It works only for units intended for this. Scare infantry with armor-piercing volleys from ZIS-2 battery isnt a great idea anyway.
• We test mechanics related to experience, unlocking new units and balance of the techtrees. We corrected the distortions and adjusted the cost in order to have a more or less working model of the development of the player and the technology tree by the start of the EA. Most of us have already managed to form our favorite decks, and those who want to continue to use them have to farm like an ordinary player. Strange feeling.
• Usability and general understanding. Were changing interfaces, icons, tips, hotbars, etc., to simultaneously give the player full information about what is happening on the battlefield and not clutter building up on the screen. This task is not an easy one, given the Arena's hardcore nature and the huge volume of what is happening on the screen, but we have good progress made already.

Fought with bugs. In addition to the units dancing in cyclical animations, there were other fun things. For example, the modified shell trajectories did their deal in providing us with comedy. Armor-piercing shells fired from howitzers continued to apply gravity rules for HE, so they very quickly got tired of fighting the weary air of the International-Standard-Arena and fell half-way to the target. Some units after the concussion refused to follow orders and dig up the trenches, believing that they had suffered enough and were too old for this sh... shovel work. But the most tragicomic was not even a bug, but a flaw in the rules, was when the cannon remained attached to the carrier after the death of the driver. When someone tries to steal your carrier - it is even strange ... why did someone need it? But when someone is hijacking your carrier with a cannon attached to it and a full artillery crew - this is the officially recorded peak of shame for the player in Soldiers: Arena. And, fortunately, you won't be able to endure it.
Link As you can see, the game is constantly changing; and videos, gifs or screenshots show exactly the current state, and not the final one. Therefore, do not despair if something does not please you and keep calm. Wish you all the best.

[ 2019-02-15 20:49:05 CET ] [ Original post ]