- PBR (Physical Based rendering) with emisive (glow) now supported directly by the Engine. Only the Factory, Builder Bot, and 2 ship hulls have been updated so far.
- The PBR models now also allow for color coding based on the corporation's selected colors (Primary/Secondary/Emissive).
- New Game is now perminantly available.
- Reloading and saving at anytime should now work. This includes starting a new game even when one has been started.
- Music defaultly lowered to allow voice overs not to be drowned out.
- Removing of ships from a Factory Queue
- Prologue 1 fully updated to work with the new load/save.
- Selected Corporate Logo shows up in the Asset Screen.
- Signature Technologies (selected from the Corporation screen) are now granted to the player.
- Added easier Feedback methods (Send email, join discord, etc.) on Title screen.
- Changed font in the Credits and Notes. (Experimental. Tell us if you like the new font or prefer the old way!)
- Various Fixes
Rank: Warmaster
Patch Notes for Version Alpha 0.8.11.3708
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates March 15, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for March 15, 2022, the second March newsletter. There are a lot of updates. The biggest one is implementing PBR and emissives IN the custom engine itself. Stability and utility has greatly improved as well. The ability to customize a game is progressing.
Quality of Life
In the progression of being able to reload, the first tutorial should now be able to be loaded and saved at anytime and anywhere. You can also start a new game at anytime now. This has greatly increased the playability and stability of the game.
Easier ways to provide feedback has been placed in the Title screen (including a discord link). More customizations such as picking a corporate logo is now implemented, as well as signature starting technologies now being granted for use.
More quality of life is coming with some AI updates. More on that in the future.
Artistic Update
At this point 3 ships, as well as the factory building has been updated to the new texturing methods known as PBR (Physical Based Rendering) with Emissives (glowing) is now in engine and game (as seen above). There are now identifying patches/strips on the newer ships that will be the colors that were selected for the corporation in question. This is a work in progress to dial in what the final look will be, and converting and retexturing all the remaining buildings and ship hulls. Watch for those updated over the next month or so.
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!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1422270/Rank_Warmaster/
Patch Notes for Version Alpha 0.8.11.3676
- Ability to load and save in the tutorials.
- Some minor updates to Corporation screen to keep the names synced with the rest of the game.
- Better handling of Corporation data.
- Can no longer possess Buildings or Resource boxes.
- PNG image support added seamlessly.
- Various Fixes
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates March 1, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for March 1, 2022, the first March newsletter. Most of what to report is updates on what is already known. The ability to customize a game is progressing.
Quality of Life
The ability to load and reload from story heavy scenarios has been added. Before, the progress the player made during the tutorials couldn’t be saved correctly. Now it can be. While nothing is ever perfect, it is finally stable enough to be released.
Artistic Update
As a work in progress, we have a first look of our conversion to a PBR (Physical Based Rendering) to give the buildings and ships a better and more sci-fi look to them. Below is a work in progress screenshot of an example we are working with. This isn’t in engine, but we hope to have it look as good if not better in engine itself.
One of the main reasons for the change is that before, all the ships and buildings, no matter the side, would all look the same. The ships and buildings are being retextured in such a way, that the color you select for your corporation will be reflected on the ships and buildings you have. So every side’s forces will be unique to them. There will be more on this in the coming weeks.
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!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1422270/Rank_Warmaster/
Patch Notes for Version Alpha 0.8.10.3653
- New Campaign Game Mode with the ability to select how many enemies.
- Ability to reload a game without exiting the program.
- Holding Targeting key (default T) will select ship under center of the screen reticle.
- Navigation points now show up on the Radar.
- Internal Campaign Engine expanded
- Fixed issue where the production release couldn't find Single Player save games
- Various Fixes
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates February 15, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for February 15, 2022, the second February newsletter. Exciting news today as the game hits a new major milestone. As of today's release there will now be a limited form of the actual campaign available to be played. More on that below, we also have an artistic update from Paul this week.
New Campaign Mode
For the longest time the only playable options in the game were a few quick modes we were able to throw together that simply showcased some of the game's technical ability. As of today, players will actually be able to start a new game and use the Corporation Screen Matt has been working on for months to customize both the game settings as well as their corporation's bonuses, signature technology, name, and icon. To access this mode, simply select New Game from the main menu, then select Campaign. Use the Corporation Screen to select your starting options and once you click Done you will be dropped into a game. Ares will explain the rest from there.
The campaign will continue to evolve from this starting state as we add more features to the game and we'll keep you posted here as it takes on new and even better forms. We hope you like it!
Artistic Update
On another note, we have new ship models which Paul has been working hard to bring up to the current visual standard. The meshes for the ships are ready but they need improved normal maps and glow maps. For the less technically inclined, and those just interested in how this stuff works, normal maps are a way of adding details to an object without increasing the poly count. They include things like scratches, scuffed paint, and other extra details that would be a bit of a nightmare to add as part of the main mesh. There are three new models currently being worked on and we'll let you know more about that when they make it into the public release.
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!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1422270/Rank_Warmaster/
Patch Notes for Version Alpha 0.8.10.3612
- Cargo Now properly reported from salvaging.
- Fixed Starting position in single player and two Enemies
- Fixed issues with Multiplayer screen and Corporation screen
- Fixed message issues in Asset screen
- Various Fixes
Rank: Warmaster News and Updates February 1, 2022
Greetings, Warmasters and Candidates! This is the newsletter for February 1, 2022, the first February newsletter. Most of the updates today are more back-end changes which help the game to run a little smoother or make the task of creating content for the game easier.
The Campaign Engine
The most notable of these adjustments is the implementation of new variables to the campaign engine. The point of this is to allow for the scenarios to be more vaguely defined. This allows us to, for example, have a scenario be physically placed during gameplay relative to a random player border city and spawning all the needed set pieces in unexplored territory, rather than based on strict, pre-defined coordinates. Systems like this are critical to maintaining the illusion that these set pieces where always there, without them having to actually be. We're hoping to have these systems complete soon, and that will allow for the implementation of our first true scenarios to the game.
Misc. News
- Matt continues to develop the Corporation Screen, particularly the behind-the-scenes connections needed to make the screen meaningful
- Jorden has finished the written draft for "Isolation", one of our most complex scenarios to date, and completed an editing pass, this means that the next step is implementing the scenario in Articy
- Adam has been working on the techweb adjustments to allow corporations to have their signature technologies, as well as hidden technologies which would be used by certain scenarios
That's all for this update. We understand that much of these changes have little or no visibility for our players, but we wanted to keep you informed as to our current tasks nonetheless. If you'd like to give Rank: Warmaster a try for yourself, pick up a copy on Steam and begin your conquest of Mars!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1422270/Rank_Warmaster/