Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy, Indie
Rank: Warmaster
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates October 11, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for October 11th, 2022, the first October newsletter. This update is a smaller update, mostly focusing on Steam multiplayer integration, and getting steam achievements working. And as usual, there are more bug fixes and cleaning.
Quality of Life The Steam Overlay now is fully implemented in Rank: Warmaster. For the longest time, the steam overlay only partially worked and honestly was unresponsive. This lead to having to implement a lot of what the overlay did within the game itself. What was working based on the last release, it was far from ideal. However, with some experimentation, we are proud to announce that we have the full overlay working and you no longer get trapped in the overlay. The invite system now is able to invite someone even if they aren't running the game, to make joining a game far easier.
Steam Achievements are now active in the system. The first achievement is now actually achievable. There is a list of other achievements that are due to be added in the following releases. Look for more updates with this!
Short-term RoadMap
With achievements now working, we just need to add the other achievements to steam itself. We plan to add the new achievements and their triggers very soon.
AI development was delay because of steam integration priorities and the death of a team member. We will be getting things going back on the AI ASAP.
That's all for this update, stay tuned for more news next time! If you'd like to give Rank: Warmaster a try for yourself, pick up a copy on Steam and begin your conquest of Mars!
Steam Overlay now fully operational. (ie. Shift-Tab)
Invites via the Steam Overlay works even if they don't have te game started yet.
Steam Achievements are now implemented. Only one achievable, but more are coming.
Fixed issue with game reset and there are missiles or pulses, it cleans them up properly.
Updated Credits
Various Fixes
Patch notes for Alpha 0.8.11.4047
Joining via Steam Invites now works.
Achievements now work! (Go to the campaign, and get to the second dialog to get one!)
Patch Notes for Version Alpha 0.8.11.4038
Invites now work if the client is already at the title/splash screen. So the server invites, and the client accepts, and they join!
Invite Window now allows for external port entry when automatic configuration is not possible with a player's router.
Preliminary Steam Achievements added. (More to come)
Joining a multiplayer game works again.
Fixed issue with Nav Screen friendly ships not accepting orders.
Updated Credits
Various Fixes
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates September 13, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for September 13th, 2022, the first September newsletter. This update is a smaller update, mostly focusing on Steam multiplayer integration, better building information, and the turrets are now useful. And as usual, there are more bug fixes and cleaning.
Quality of Life Joining a multiplayer game would normally be difficult unless you were familiar with IP addresses, port forwarding and the difference between internal addresses and external ones. This can get complicated for the average user. We have mostly completed the multiplayer wrapper for Steam, that allows players to host a game on their machine. Now a player can startup a server without the server worrying about their IP address or ports. The steam Invite mechanism currently only partially works and we couldn't get it done for this release, however it's 90% there. Once it is, you will be able to just join a friend's game easily via the steam interface or get invites from the server directly. The invites from the server do work in the sense of being able to send invites to friends.
The Navigation screen has always been confusing around the buildings. It can be hard to understand how much longer a building needs before it's completed, or even what it is doing. Some buildings have been updated with more information in the popup information box. For a turret, it will list what weapon it has, and who is it's target if any. Turrets have also been made more powerful and actually effective. This will likely go through a lot more balancing, but the ranges have greatly been increased, as well as damage. Because of the internal changes, expect more diverse set of ground turrets coming.
Artistic Update
Just some turrets firing because they finally have range to hit something.
AI Update
Some minor fixes with the quick designer for the AIs. Mostly fixing issues with ship hull selection and preventing crashes if a required part for a role type hasn't been researched yet.
Short-term RoadMap
The steam wrapper for the integration is mostly complete, at least for the multiplayer. Right now, it is a matter of fixing what happens when an invite reaches the client. The data is good, but there is some minor issues that need to be correct for it to fully work on the client end. The invite integration does work fine, and a lot of effort was put into getting a server seamlessly available to incoming players. We hope that achievements can be added soon.
On the AI front, it was noticed that sometimes AI players would just stop and not finish their base. That has been corrected. The steam integration and turrets no really working sidetracked the AI progress, but since both are solved, AI progress will resume.
That's all for this update, stay tuned for more news next time! If you'd like to give Rank: Warmaster a try for yourself, pick up a copy on Steam and begin your conquest of Mars!
Added Game Port forwarding for servers. Invites for clients kinda works but not really. Still WIP for client machines.
Turrets have been unnerfed and actually work. More diverse ground turrets coming soon.
Added Better information in Nav Screen for buildings
Fixed crash in autodesign of a ships when required items were missing for a specific ship role.
Some fixes on reload of game save if missiles were in the air.
Various Fixes
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates August 30, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for August 30th, 2022, the third August newsletter. This update more concentrates on the RTS side of the game in the Navigation (Nav) Screen. There have also been some audio voice over alerts added. And as usual, there are more bug fixes and clean.
Quality of Life There have been several significant additions to the Nav Screen. First, is the ability to use the empty space to the right of the screen. This was, up to this point, walled out to be usefully clicked on because there were hidden controls there. Now those controls no longer affect or stop the player's actions, which eliminates a lot of confusion. The second major thing is control groups, which is standard in RTS games, but until now, was unimplemented in Rank: Warmaster. Basically, any group of objects you have selected can now be put onto a hot key group by pressing CTRL and the hot key. As an example CTRL-1. Now if you simply press 1 from now on, it will automatically select the objects that were in that group. Double pressing the key will center on those objects. Do note that since the game doesn't allow objects that are selected to be off screen, it will automatically zoom out to display the objects selected. This is likely to change in the future for a smoother transition. The last major thing that was added by request was being able to use the left-click to place a building. Normally one would select the build command for the builder bot, then the category of building and then the building itself. Placement would normally by done with the right mouse button as execute (which still works). However, many people felt that the left click should also be available for this use, so now it is.
Artistic Update
As you can see, the building's glow can easily change based on the selected colors that they player or AI chooses. More work is being done to enhance the individual ship hulls. Watch for that soon!
AI Update
The enemy AI (and the player) now uses the same methods of designing a ship. Which means the AI players' designs are more robust. Also, the "default" button in the quick designer no longer creates a bare bones design, but a fleshed out one that can still be modified, of course. This helps to stop really bad designs to be fielded by accident, especially for newer players who don't know what to modify yet. One still has to pay attention to what is being created, however.
Short-term RoadMap
The steam integration has hit a snag which is forcing us to reinvent the wheel in certain parts. What this ends up meaning is that certain features will be in-game rather than in the Steam Overlay itself. Achievements and other integration will be coming at some point, but the multiplayer joining/invite of a game is the highest priority. We do, however, have a list of achievements finally, but they have yet to be implemented. Now that the Design AI is in place for the Warmaster, work on the Admiral AI will begin, along with some tweaks to the Mayor AI. Once the Admirals know about scouting, the enemy can finally be pushed back to more far away nodes, so the player will have to search for the enemy (as will the enemy search for the player).
That's all for this update, stay tuned for more news next time! If you'd like to give Rank: Warmaster a try for yourself, pick up a copy on Steam and begin your conquest of Mars!
Added Groups to Nav Screen (CTRL-number key sets a group, number key selects the group, and double press centers on the objects in the group)
Player can now use empty space in Nav Screen for affecting objects and terrain. Major Quality of Life Update!
Left Mouse button can now place buildings as well as the right mouse button. (Playtester request)
Fixed Alt-Tab issue in Nav Screen where it would lose monitoring the mouse button.
Added Ares voice over for when the player reaches a Nav Point
Updated Design Defaults for Enemy AI and Player to be more robust. (Enemy ships will be more well rounded than before)
Nav Screen now starts with a 25 degree down angle for easier start viewing.
Various Fixes
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates August 16, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for August 16th, 2022, the second August newsletter. This is a more minor update to prepare for a more major one. Voice overs have been added when a player piloting his own ship disables or destroys a ship. Some quality of life updates like objectives flashing into existence for the tutorials and a few crash fixes. Of course there are the bug fixes, polish and clean up.
Quality of Life When piloting a ship and you disable or destroy a ship, Ares will announce as much. It is common to disable a ship without destroying it, so the sound notification helps to know when to switch targets to be the most effective. Dialog positions have been updated to be more polished in the flight tutorial, as well as fixing the factory screen positions for the dialogs. Research points are now shown at the top of the details listing instead of the bottom, making it far easier to find.
Artistic Update As suggested by the playtesters, the objectives now "Flash" into existence rather than just appearing. This makes it far easier to notice when an objective has been updated or even exists.
Short-term RoadMap
Two major things are being worked on. First, steam multiplayer integration. This will allow a player to far more easily find other players hosting a game and connect. Achievements and other integration will be coming at some point, but the multiplayer finding is the highest priority. The designing AI for the Warmaster (and the player) is now in testing, and will bring it up to a more modern standard, opening the way for the other needed updates. It's hard for an admiral to be told to scout an area if it doesn't know how to make a scout.
That's all for this update, stay tuned for more news next time! If you'd like to give Rank: Warmaster a try for yourself, pick up a copy on Steam and begin your conquest of Mars!
