Happy New Year to all of you. Best Way team wishes you in this upcoming year more reasons for joy (we will try to provide a couple), a lot of kindness (here you need to work too) and a couple of good old wonders (we leave this for Santa Claus). See you in 2018.
DevDiaries #53: Last Christmas... Feedback
Hi, friends.
Last time this year we gave feedback about the job done until that time. And this is the last diary, the same for this year. And some last screenshots. The year is coming to an end, you know. But the next one is coming, in which there will be new diaries, videos, occasions to flame and the release of Early Access. 2018 promises to be important and interesting in the life of our modest game company and its friendly community. (firecrackers)
Within the battle, besides the explosion of landmines, the cries of the wounded and machine-gun bursts, the roar of aircraft engines are a new arrival to the not-so-philharmonic battle orchestra. Still relying on old models and in several basic support functions, but the struggle for air superiority has already begun! How did it all start? We decided that once again we should listen to the requests of the community and make sure that the paratroopers did not fall out of of nowhere in the sky. Now after your spawn them, there will be a plane aspiring from your edge of the map to the place where brave paratroopers will hit the silk, armed to the teeth to grant delightful gifts to the enemy. But, the reconnaissance is not slumbering and at the same time the flying plane is displayed on the map, and the chat starts grumbling: ‘Beware. The enemy aircraft is approaching’. As soon as the first birds appeared in the sky, we had to give the appropriate slingshots to the units. So we gave anti-aircraft guns the air-defense mode, when enabled, the gun get a bonus to the range of aircraft detection and perceives them as priority targets. We still had to adjust the healthbars of aircraft and set some damage dependencies. So some of the paratroopers can die if the plane is fired upon and the number of the paratroopers will depend directly on the hp of the aircraft at the time of the airdrop. The battlefield with broken planes gives one hundred points on the epic scale to the usual battlefield. In general, it worth to add them, at least for the sake of entertainment. Entertainment and airdrops, yes .... and reconnaissance! No doubt, reconnaissance aircraft would be useful to you, my friend. So we added them. So they fly, they recon. They show enemy artillery, destroy the clever attack plans, and point the caches of the Third Reich with treasures. Useful, you know.
The work on the commanders continues and we added a few new ones: the commander of a heavy assault tank regiment (available only for the USSR), specializing in artillery tanks such as BT-7a and KV-2, and one commander of each class without any obvious specialization. This latter ones will be useful to those players that do not like to limit themselves in the choice of means and believe that it is better to have a modest SPG, a quiet AT-gun and a small howitzer instead of all sorts of big and loud howitzers. Almost all units within the class are available to these commanders, except top specialization units. We also added a separate slot for supportive units to artillery commanders, where only miners, engineers, doctors, etc. can be placed. Now they do not need to compete with anyone for the right to be in the pack to save and strengthen. In addition, commanders have acquired modifiers that affect the cost of units of their specialization and when creating a roster, the profile units look even more attractive now.
And here's another things we worked on:
Players' ratings with winrate and detailed statistics on the outcome of the battle.
The interface for metagame (all that you will see outside of the game session), which, we hope, will soon be able to show.
A new screen for perks of the unit was prepared so we can start our work in that field and soon you can customize your soldiers.
Changed and adjusted the accrual of points on the map to increase the chance of comeback in the second half of the game and victory by kills. Now it is more profitable to organize a deep breakthrough to the rear, and not to butt over a small but long piece along the front line, and the game of defense now makes more sense.
Added the ability to install heavy machine guns in rifle cells of trenches, so you can proudly demonstrate ‘no pasarán’.
Made the button "Do not stick out of the hatch without a command" at the request of the community, which prohibits curious tankmen to get hold of an anti-aircraft machine gun and die one by one from malicious snipers and even angry explosions.
We taught bots and AI some useful tricks, among which is the correct choice of targets. When firing at a trench or house, the unit will aim at the nearest part of it to the enemy unit, and when firing with small arms they aim at cannon crew, but not the cannon itself. Now they are aware that it is much more effective.
As always, new vehicle models were added (T-40 with large-caliber machine gun DShK, Marder 3, BT-7, etc.), animations, special effects and textures.
And we are testing the matchmaker. It’s currently in the lobby for now, but not with the auto-search (haven’t got enough players for now, and servers aren’t ready), but its appearance has become quite a blessing already. At the click of a button, the overlord of the lobby mixes teams based on the personal ranking, the chosen commander, the maximum level of units in the deck, and so on. It so happened that in the test we had a much more often winning team A. No one really likes to lose, right? So the best players tried to stay together and quickly took their places. In Team B there were those who are less worried about the victory and those who recently joined the test and did not know that the outcome of the fight is predetermined in advance. With the appearance of the matchmaker, the shadow schemes of the testers came to an end, and now at the push of a button the soulless machine gives an equal number of seasoned players and beginners to each team. Thus came the end of the games ‘on one-way street’ and the era of competitive games began. So the happiness came to the narrator's house, which often took an artillery commander and joined the B team, cause he believed that the easy way is not the best.
This is all for today. You can wait for the next diary on the eleventh of January (everyone needs a small New Year break) and you can easily order a topic in the comments, since we aren’t thinking about anything specific. In the meantime, Merry Christmas, my friends. We in Best Way wish you all the best. Enjoy the snow, be happy, and most importantly healthy (we still need you in Soldiers: Arena next year). Spend some time with your family, call your mother, store your money in a jam box, what else can we wish? See you.
Changing the DevDiary date
Hi, friends.
We did not have time to prepare a diary by Thursday, so we had to shift the date of publication. Wait for it on Monday the 25th.
DevDiaries #52: SPG
Hi, friends.
It's strange that haven’t talked about mobile artillery for so long. After all, it’s the only thing that unites the realms of tankmen and artillerymen. They both recognize SPG as their own, and even the infantry has to admit that there is something in mobile artillery.
Pimp my cannon
The history of self-propelled artillery originates during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, and according to some sources even during the Hundred Years War in the 15th century. But they used to call it Horse artillery those days. But there was an evident problem that had to be solved- insufficient mobility for artillery. This could be approached by installing the gun on a movable base, whether it is the chassis of a tank, a cart or a camel’s back - it follows the same principle.
As you can see from the photo with the Zamburak (and his rider), artillerymen of those different times did not like to sit on the ground in anticipation of a counterstrike and tried their best to keep up with the advancing allies. The main role of an SPG is to provide direct fire support for tanks and infantry in the battle, and they have enough equipment for this job, because the self-propelled guns picked the best bits from artillery and tanks. The majority of SPGs have a gun more powerful than an equivalent main battle tank’s one, due to the longer barrel and more sophisticated targeting and sighting equipment, and it’s also able to perform indirect fire, while tanks are forced to restrict themselves to direct fire only. Unlike towed artillery, SPGs are able to accompany allied forces during deep breakthroughs of the enemy defenses, and can also quickly retreat from the firing positions before the enemy can detect it. Thus, mobile artillery are much more effective in the artillery offensive actions, for which the “Infantry tactical manual of the Red Army (1942 edition)” defines: ‘The artillery offense consists in the continuous support of the infantry with a massive artillery and mortar fire during the entire period of the offensive. Artillery and mortar fire must lead the infantry and tanks in the attack from one object of defense to another.’
These qualities can often become decisive when choosing a favorite commander. However, one must also remember the disadvantages: support for the allies in the offensive does not mean an offensive solely on your own, your armour doesn’t stack up against a similar tank’s one, but the cost is no longer the cost of artillery.
An artilleryman who doesn't want to be a self-propelled artilleryman is a bad artilleryman.
In the game, we try to reflect the entire diversity of the SPGs of WW2 and their strengths and weaknesses. The gun of the mobile artillery has greater effective range of fire compared to a similar tank’s one. Some of the units in this category also have very good armor. No doubt, the SU-152 or Jagdpanther, even from afar, do not resemble a ‘day-off’ car with an open top. While the crew of a cannon has to go guns blazing upon the sight of enemy infantry to make sure they can deal as much damage as they can, while they can, the SPG crew can retreat or respond with fire themselves (although it is still more reliable to retreat). The self-propelled guns do not depend on tractors for towing, and the time of their combat deployment is much lower, plus they do not start to be visible after the first shot, like tanks. So if you have all the advantages of artillery invisibility and tank armor, you can destroy tanks with armor-piercing shells, and enemy howitzers with HE-shells, while being relatively safe. And you can be greedy, shooting in plain sight and hoping for luck, which smiles much more often to mobile artillery than to the rest. Most likely you will manage to survive most of the high-explosive shells and some armor-piercing, and with a high probability you will win in a counterbattery duel. But do not consider the SPG as the solution of all problems. Armor of the majority of these units (except for the late-war and especially expensive ones) are only sufficient to stop rifle-caliber bullets, and the open-top does may not even be able to stand up to that. And no matter how good you are at killing the enemy, it is unlikely you will go much deeper into his territory. Attacking without the support of an ally-infantryman is plain suicide. The grenade launchers will very quickly lecture you on why advancing head-on is a bad idea, especially so since you have disappointing circular viewports and often lacking machine guns. And indeed we can say that the thickness of your armor really is not a matter of concern for those geeses.
Every unit in the game has it’s own role, and if you are given tracks and invisibility - use both of them! The rest of the artillery commanders emphasize strengthening their positions, but the SPG commander needs to be mobile and constantly change location. You found a target, made several shots, began to spawn circles - step back. You saw that there is an incoming plane with paratroopers - step back. You saw that you almost got into the enemy's viewport - step back immediately! The choice of targets is no less important than the choice of position, and the commander of self-propelled guns can be created in different ways. You can focus on the AT-SPG and have the ability to fire 'from the fog' and destroy even the heaviest, expensive and seemingly invincible enemy tank. Or focus on assault SPGs and be a worst nightmare of infantry and artillery. Or take a little bit of everything and ... well, at least you can ride some. However, who knows? Soldiers: Arena is still a team game and such a universal commander can be the right addition for your clan super-duper strategy. Sometimes it happens that a couple of destroyed machine guns and AT-cannons far beyond the front line can help the ally to a larger extent than killing the most expensive enemy unit. In the end, what can such clumsy tanks do when surrounded?
Earlier we already wrote that we are not trying to mirror the units, and we are doing our best to make the game for one commander very different depending on from the chosen faction. We believe that this will be both more realistic and interesting. For example, Soviet mobile artillery are almost always an assault or direct support cannon, with the most powerful frontal armor, and an gun more powerful than that of an enemy of the same class, but almost always without machine guns. While almost every SPG of the Allies is equipped with a 50-caliber machine gun and has a rotating but open-top tower. In addition, playing for the Allies in the early game you don't need to be afraid of the counterstrike of artillery and howitzers, thanks to the M8 Scott’s armor. And Germany has a self-propelled gun of any weight and form for almost every task, in the early game you can rely on Sturmpanzer and Wespe, and in late on Jagdtiger and Sturmtiger assault gun.
This is all for today. As always, do not hesitate to write in the comments, which units from the category under discussion you are waiting for. It may be that they will appear in the game. Still wish you all the best of luck!
DevDiaries #51: Development Tree
Hi, friends.
You asked us to tell about the development tree, about the difference between common and premium units, and how many grinds and level-ups you need to make every day to make your fighters strong, smart and with ruddy cheeks. All of these questions already have answers, because most of the mechanics are implemented. At the same time, the system is still being improved, so your wishes and comments will be welcome. The whole concept of the player's development is difficult to explain in one diary, so today we will talk mainly about the development tree, types and groups of units, commanders - the metagame in general.
Commanders and experience
At the very beginning, you can play with three starter commanders: an artilleryman, a tankman, an infantryman. Each with a small number of base units that will help you get acquainted with the game and understand which class is best for you. After playing several games with the base commanders and having completed the training, you will already have enough experience to open a couple of new units and several commanders with an explicit specialization. Commanders were created to emphasize the unique gameplay of different kinds of troops, which each have their advantages and disadvantages and their priority goals on the battlefield. For example, a sapper battalion is good at building defenses and strengthening positions, and a heavy tank commander is indispensable in breaking through this defense, while howitzer battalions will erase any fortifications to dust. The trouble is that as long as these guys will break through and erase to dust, sabotage-reconnaissance or motorized battalions will already be in their rear to destroy the artillery. This plan would be torn down of course, If only medium tank battalions were ready at hand to stop them on the approach to the front line... and so on.
During the battle, each unit that takes part in it earns a certain amount of devtree experience. As soon as the riflemen recruits get enough, you can open snipers or sappers. It is only possible to open new troops successively. To get stormtroopers your machine gunner vets need to work hard first. Of course, the more effective the unit was in combat, and the more you used it, the more it will earn experience. All as in the proverb - ‘As the days grow longer, the Nebelwerfer comes closer’. In addition to the devtree experience, after the battle, some amount of free experience will be available to you, which can be used to open any conventional unit (the rule of successive opening is preserved). A free experience can be added to open a unit for which there is not enough devtree experience or a unit in a branch that you don’t play often. For example, you are a tankman to the core, but would like to have a pair of infantry squads for reconnaissance and assistance in breaking the front line. In that case, when running along with feeble basic infantry below your own dignity - use free experience. Also, experience will be required to open perks for squads, which we will discuss next time. In a nutshell - it's an opportunity to rearm and customize the units for your playing gaming style.
Development tree and unit types
Part of the development tree, as it is presented above, are not final or even currently in-game, but an example was created to show the available German infantry squads. The development tree is common to all commanders, but this doesn’t mean that you will be able to pick all the tanks using your sapper battalion, hoping to surprise the enemy. The inscription and the number on the bottom of the unit plate are its type and level. They must match the type of slot in which you want to put it and its maximum level so that the commander can use it. The game now features such types of units as: support, artillery, firing point, special firing point, support, basic, special and heavy infantry, independent infantry units, armored cars, light, medium and heavy tanks, SPG and AT-SPG. In addition, the units are divided into: common, premium and collector. The overwhelming majority are common units which you can open with devtree experience. Premium (yellow background), as it happens to be, opens with real money and gives the opportunity to start in a new branch not from the very beginning (as you might have noticed in the tree they have a connection with common units). Prem-units are not super cool, but represent some modified versions of usual ones and introduce variety into the gameplay. In case you are bored with Nashorn and Jagdtiger, you can try new tactics with premium Ferdinand. However, without premium you still have more than fifty units for each faction. Collector’s units are not represented in the tree at all and can not be opened. So we want to put some rare units into the game, which would be very strange to see in every fight and make their presence realistic. Among them are Luchs, Willys with a Maxim machine gun, KV-1 with a ZIS-5 gun and so on. The player will receive a reward for every fight played, in which there may be common or premium units from those not yet open, and rarely collector’s units. It is worth noting that this will not unblock the unit forever, but only grant the possibility of using it in several battles. So far this is the only way to get collector’s units, but as you remember, the system is still changing.
Early access and threatening letters
There is one more important point that we would like to dwell on. A couple of months ago we updated the information on the Steam page, but most likely many people did not pay attention to it. This is not unusual, because who will re-read the description of the game? Among other things, we indicated there that we plan to sell the Early access version. We did not abandon the f2p model and after the full release the game will be free. Early Access is aimed towards the community that is tired of only reading about Soldiers: Arena and requires the opportunity to play. In this version of the game, bugs and work-in-progress elements will be unavoidable, its development will continue at full speed. In general, it will not be for everyone. So we want to invite more people from the community to participate in the creation of the game, but to slightly limit the number of those who are not quite aware of what we have been doing all this time. In addition, we would not like to go completely to support and fixing balance and bugs, but have time to add new features, models and other content, which, with our small team and a large number of players, could become an impossible task. So Early access for us is the ability to continue to develop the game in a relatively narrow circle of ‘bro’, stopping by to receive letters from you with threats such as ‘Either you filthy scumbag release the game and let me play with my friends, or I’ll buy a train ticket and a baseball bat. And believe me, I do not aim to practice good passes and home runs.’ Seriously, guys, stop it. For you, Early Access is an opportunity to play before others and in fact to be among those who created the game.
This is all for today. Write your suggestions in the comments, fill all the space under this post with your polite and respectful holy wars and we wish you all the best. And we have a pleasant surprise for connoisseurs of our games and the GEM engine.
It's also such cloudy and rainy in our hearts, cause we did not have time to prepare a diary and need to postpone its publication to next Thursday. What would you like to know from it? Which of the veils of secrecy have to be opened? Dilute your resentment with wishes.
Wish you all the best of luck!
DevDiaries #50: Armored car - proudly living to it's name!
Hi, friends.
Today is a jubilee, fiftieth diary. This much all over again - and we can start the Early Access :) When speaking seriously, we look with pleasant surprise at the work done for this time, we think with joy about the perspectives and with thrill about the opportunity to show the game to you. And, of course, we hope that, like us, players will rejoice at victories, feel harshly because of defeats and work hardly on creating the ideal setup for your very best commander. And today, as you already guessed from the title and BA-20 render, we'll talk about the place of armored vehicles in Soldiers: Arena and the commander of a motorized infantry battalion, which may be the best choice for those who feel an apparent lack of mobility when playing infantry.
Armored car isn’t subtank.
In comparison with other types of armored vehicles, armored cars had weak armament and inferior protection, but they were much cheaper to manufacture, easier to service, and in speed they were superior to light tanks. Without armored personnel carriers, which were intended primarily for the transport and evacuation of personnel, any offensive operation could be overwhelmed. In Soldiers: Arena emphasis is placed on the cheapness, speed and multifunctionality of armored cars. Further on the text, we will talk about armored cars as a group of units, which in fact includes APCs, some cars, self-propelled units based on armored cars, etc. Almost any commander can use these units, but they will be most useful in supporting the infantry, compensating its main disadvantages: speed and low survival rate. Considering that infantry commanders can’t use tanks in the battle, armored cars can become a very important reinforcement. However, it would be a wrong move to perceive them as a budget-friendly substitute for light tanks, because the range of their use is much broader. And how can you transport a squad of riflemen with your tank in one ride, uh? If you want to have at least some kind of armor while playing with the infantry and the ability to transfer detachments quickly to the other end of the battlefield - the motorized battalion is the right choice.
The main advantages of armored cars in the game are: mobility, low cost and a good line of sight. Using them correctly you can stop infantry rushes, and with a good roll of the dice you may win the fight with the light and some medium enemy tanks, carry out reconnaissance, find weaknesses in the opponents’ defense, and send sabotage squads there to capture the territory and neutralize the firing points. But most importantly, you can support your own and allied infantry in almost any fight. A wide selection of cars will help with that, starting with the self-propelled mortar Sd. Kfz.251/2, and ending with an always reliable Willys with two bazookas. The game focusing on armored cars is a game with a high risk share, given their weak protection, but also a big share of fun. What could be more pleasant than exchanging a expensive enemy unit for a cheap one? Quickly reduce the distance to some sluggish heavy tank, drop an infantry squad from your APC, send a pair of AT-grenades and prove that no one is large enough to frighten your men. Victory is built from such moments, isn’t it? Or capture the building in the rear, breaking through the front line and spoiling the enemy blood for a good half of the game, bringing the enemy out of balance and force him to make mistakes. And if on the way back you can capture and hijack an enemy cannon, we can assume that the day is not for nothing. You turn on your PC for such moments, my friend, don’t you?
There is a task - there is an instrument.
Each of the game factions, in addition to similar has its own unique units. This means that the game for the same commander will be seriously different depending on the chosen side of the conflict. Balancing and correctly picking up units is quite difficult, but damn interesting. For example, when introducing the above-mentioned Willys, we are not trying to attach bazookas to GAZ-67 or add flamethrowers to BA-20. Each side has its own advantages, and they will be shown in the game. Self-propelled flamethrower Sd. Kfz. 251/16 is especially useful because the Allies and USSR does not have it, which creates interesting situations on the battlefield and the variability of the gameplay. Speaking about Sd. Kfz.251... Let's look at the German armored cars and some units based on them that are already in the game.
As you can see, here are presented the lightest units such as BMW R12 and Kübelwagen, and the eleven-ton Puma with a 50-mm cannon. Here you can see Italian Autoblinda 41 and seven modifications of the most successful armored car of World War II: Sd. Kfz. 251, among which we can highlight the self-propelled anti-aircraft gun Sd. Kfz.251/17 with an anti-aircraft gun Flak 38, and a self-propelled howitzer Sd. Kfz.251/9 with a short-barrel 75-mm gun KwK 37 mounted on it, and an anti-tank version Sd. Kfz.251/22 with a 75 mm Pak 40/1, capable of spoiling the armor of the medium tanks and nerves of tankmen. Most of these units, despite being part of the same group, are used for different tasks. Light and cheap Sd.Kfz.222 and 223 are well suited for reconnaissance, and the flamethrower version of 251st - for the destruction of infantry both in the field and in buildings. Heavy armored cars can withstand light tanks at long ranges and armed with anti-aircraft guns are very good at close ones, where maneuverability and speed plays a decisive role. Mortar and howitzer modifications of the Sd. Kfz.251 are simply created for artillerymen who do not want to wait for the returning fire. We will expand the list of armored cars in the future and now we are thinking about adding a heavy self-propelled MRLS Wurfrahmen 40 based on the same Sd. Kfz.251.
And what armored cars do you personally lack, guys? Feel free to share your thoughts and, quite possibly, will soon see their implementation in Soldiers: Arena. Still wish you the best!
DevDiaries #49: Even More FeedBack
Hi, friends.
The last time we posted feedback diary almost two months ago. During these two months, we have changed a lot in game balance, defeated lots of bugs and introduced several worth saying features that aren’t big enough to write a full diary about. Now Soldiers: Arena is already in the phase when the main functionality is almost ready and some time has been freed up for non-critical, but still important, changes which we want to implement before the start of of Early Access.
We did the context menu of actions for the selected unit and began to configure it. By holding the LMB on a target or surface, you will bring up a menu that shows possible actions for this target / surface. We continue to supplement statistics and information with the outcome of the battle. Now you can see how much damage in the session caused each type of your units, how many opponents he killed, how much experience he got etc. In near future we want to add the win rate for each unit. Added a menu of quick chat phrases, without reference to the point on the map and markers. Pressing Y, you can wish 'Good luck' before the fight, scream 'Help' into the emptiness of you teammate’s hearts, give the ‘Attack’ order which your allies most likely will ignore :) We also changed the loading screen and started creating hints for it. It will show you a screenshot and information about the specifics of use and technical characteristics of units, tactical decisions, features of the game mode, etc. This is how the working version of the new loading screen looks like.
Changed the logic of behavior and movement of the new infantry squads. Now they are moving in the given direction until someone starts to shoot them. Having encountered resistance, they will lie down or crawl into the hideout if there any in close proximity. A few seconds after the cessation of the shelling, the squad will stand up and continue moving. Independent infantry squads began to take into account the forces of the ally and the enemy on the territory closest to them. Having received the order to attack the fortified positions without adequate support, this squad will lay down and will hold the position. In order for them to begin the offensive, you can either eliminate the threat, or bring more forces to the attack zone, or send them to kill themselves in an irretreivably stupid (or brave) attack by using the ‘Charge’ order. Also we have added ‘Entrench’ order, after receiving which, the detachment will begin to dig trenches and dig into the ground.
We also:
Created a new commander with an emphasis on anti-aircraft guns, which is especially good now in countering light tanks and armored vehicles.
Gave the ability to land at any point of the map some paratroopers, including in enemy territory.
Had been working the damage of shells, the chances of one shot kill using the armor-piercing projectiles, the principles of high-explosive and fragmentation action. Now the damage from the high-explosive action on the infantry is considered separately. Damage from high caliber shell also ignores the protection from shelters, trenches, buildings in the epicenter and close range of the explosion.
Added dependence on the position of the fighter when calculating the shell damage. The clever and attentive infantryman had time to lie down and survived the shelling. And his inattentive standing comrade - no.
Removed annoying braking for vehicles overriding the small stumps and fences when using direct control.
Set up the rotation angles and path search for some units so they did not have to deploy the field headquarters and gather a military council to solve the problem of 'bypassing the stone'.
Added new models, including Panzerjäger I from the cover and a five-tower infantry annihilator T35.
As always we fought with bugs. Minesweepers, for example, exploded on mines. The shells, not wanting to restrain themselves with frames, fell outside the circle of dispersion, saying decisive ‘No’ to conformism. Improvements almost always give birth to bugs. For example, after some works on optimization of tanks movement and target selection, the AI became so clever that, having mastered the essential works of humanist writers, refused to fire on most targets, and often did not even turn the barrel toward the enemy, so as not to inflict either physical or even moral trauma. And the blast wave from the explosive action of the projectile, rounded the component of the armor closest to the epicenter of the explosion and inflicted damage through the hatch cover or some other weak point.
Although we have not written about this for a long time, but we are constantly working on replacing effects and animations. The gif below shows special effects from the explosion of the Sturmtiger projectile. New models of vehicles and cannons received animations of interaction with them: climbing to the armor of the tank, animations for additional units in the increased artillery crew. Added animations for infantry, lying down after running with different types of weapons, installation of AT-hedgehogs, barbed wire, barriers from bags, repair techniques, some idle and death animations. Added textures of burning iterations for trees, shrubs, vineyards and much more. Wish you the best as usual!
DevDiaries #48: Polesie
Hi, friends.
Today, we'll talk about working process on a new map that has already been mentioned here. Its working name is Polesie, so you can easily guess which region is taken as a basis for it. We wanted to create another village map, which could be used in the future for cooperative missions about the first months of combat operations in Ukraine during WW2. But stopping at a particular village would mean - putting yourself in a tight frame. First of all, this is a map for a team multiplayer game, which means that it should give the same opportunities for both sides. In life, this happens rarely.
An additional argument in favour of the village map was that some of the resources and models were already completed, so we would not have to make it from scratch. At this stage, this argument can not be ignored, because there are still a decent number of models that are waiting for a replacement in the game. Now we sometimes use old maps like Depo or Bazerville during the tests to slightly change the process and simplify the bugs search, but we can’t fully use them in Soldiers: Arena. Lots of work need to be done before that. Perhaps even more than with creating new ones. The map should not only be atmospheric and beautiful, but still meet the standards that dictate the new gameplay. We have different commanders in the game, so there must be zones on the map for the use of each unit: open areas for tank battles, areas with dense buildings for infantry fighting, bottlenecks for mining and using engineers, etc. Fighting for territory requires the presence of places of increased interest, where you can get a serious advantage if you gain a foothold. In addition, the height map should be easily readable so as not to cause irritation when player’s shell hits an inconspicuous elevation. And everything should be equally balanced for both sides of the conflict. Once we decided the region, we began to discuss its plan. This is how the rough draft version of the map looks. It will be corrected and refined in the process of work, that’s for sure.
A large village in the center of the map, as the subject of the main dispute. Surrounded by fields and wide forest belts, where tanks and artillery can move freely. On the right side you can see the mill and miller's house (with the possibility of strengthening it), which are located on a raised platform. This is the main point of interest on this flank. Infantry can climb to the hill without problems, but the vehicles can only do so through narrow entrances, so that the player who is fortified on this island gets a good advantage in the defense. At the top and bottom of the map you can see abandoned farmsteads (forts on the map), which, like the mill, are on a small hill and have a clearly marked entrance. These locations are particularly interesting for artillery, since the entrances to them can easily be blocked by anti-tank hedgehogs or mined. However, this is not a secret for your enemy so he can shoot you with howitzers, send saboteurs, or simply surround. And there is not much place for maneuver, so artillery will start to unmask faster and faster because of the noise mechanics. The left part of the map is a swamped forest, in which tanks and infantry move slower, and the battle will go over the parts of solid ground. Only on them the player can dig trenches, install mines and barrages, so you always have to choose: advance slowly with the risk of getting into an ambush, or with the usual speed and explode on the minefield. On the left flank of the map we want to realize interesting opportunities for infantry gameplay.
Once we have decided the region and the initial layout of the map, it is time to look for references to convey the atmosphere of the area and show it believable. After all, buildings and entourage are seriously different from region to region. Someone even had to sacrifice a piece of vacation to visit the outdoor Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, look at the huts with his own eyes and collect more information. Here are a couple of examples of implementing these references in the game.
So that’s all for now. Maybe you have favorite maps from past games that you would like to see in Soldiers: Arena? Also, feel free to write your wishes about zoning of Polesie, while work on it is still under way. And as usual we wish you the best!
