Tanks: The Crusades
Tanks has GONE 3D! (Tanks v1.5.3)
I'm proud to announce that Tanks has gone 3D! A new update is now available for all of you to play, where you can explore the third dimension.
To get started, just jump with space! You'll fly up a bit, letting you walk on top of walls or land on other tanks to stomp them to oblivion!
Plus, enjoy some more realistic bullet physics! Bullets will now add your velocity, so if you're moving forward, you'll shoot an extra speedy bullet. Additionally, you will now get your bullet's velocity added to yourself too because why not.
There are several other minor improvements for you to enjoy, relating to the sound engine, and a user interface refresh.
Enjoy!
What's new in Tanks v1.5.3:
- Tanks has gone 3D!
- Added jumping. Jump with 'space'.
- You can jump onto other tanks or walls
- Adjusted bullet physics to be more realistic
- Slightly adjusted boost panels and ice
- Made Arcade mode rampages more exciting
- Adjusted sound bitrate for optimal performance
- Made the user interface a bit more engaging
- Bug fixes and other minor improvements
Try out Player Tank Builds, Steam Workshop, and more in the second 1.6 beta!
It's time for a new beta with some of the biggest and most awaited features from Tanks v1.6: Custom player tank configurations (player builds) and the Steam Workshop! This beta also adds the ability to add fake players to parties for lonely people like me, along with a new player rankings screen for versus levels.
To play the beta, select the "Pre-release" beta from [Gear icon] -> Properties -> Betas.
What's new in Tanks v1.6.c:
- Added configurable player tank builds
- Added Steam Workshop support
- Added public Steam parties
- New crusade editor
- Added option to add bot players to parties
- Added best run display option for speedrunning
- Added new versus mode rankings screen
- Bug fixes and other minor improvements
Player builds are accessible from the level editor's object menu (the second icon on the top right of the editor), inside the player tab. From there, you can edit the weapons and behaviors of the player tank just like with a custom tank. You can also add more builds to let players decide between different options for what they want to use.
To support the new builds, the crusade editor has been redesigned to be a single list with everything (levels, builds, and items), instead of separate lists. I think that this new layout makes it a bit easier to understand what unlocks when, and to move things around, but if you have any feedback on it, feel free to let me know.
New social features are also available now! Parties can be made public with the click of a button:
And you can browse all the current public parties from the "Join a party" screen:
You can also now share your creations with others from the new Steam Workshop section:
Here, you can browse, download, play, and vote on creations others have made or upload your own.
Note: at the moment, the workshop is set to "unlisted," meaning that you'll only be able to access workshop creations from the game itself until 1.6's full release - not from the Steam community hub webpage. This means that the "View in Steam" button on creation pages in Tanks will give an error currently - but the content is still there for others to enjoy.
The player bots setting is accessible in party host options. You must make a party first, and then you can add up to 999 fake players to it. It's a lot of fun to watch hundreds of bot players shoot each other down, but you might want to be careful if you're using headphones :).
The names of these bots so far are randomly selected from submissions by members of the Tanks Discord community. I am still going to be adding new names to the list in future pre-releases, so if you'd like to suggest some of your own names for bots to potentially use, feel free to submit them in the following form. Your name could be immortalized as a bot in Tanks!
The new versus results screen shows the order in which player tanks were destroyed:
Please report any bugs you may find, as well as ideas or suggestions you may have, either as comments here or in the Tanks Discord.
Enjoy, and see you in the next pre-release build!
Try out the Tanks 1.6 beta!
Hello everyone,
A new beta version of Tanks is available for you all to test out! This has a lot of the features I've been working on over the last year or so - mainly an entirely reworked bullet and item system that is much more customizable than that from before. You will get a lot more options like knockback and stun duration on bullets now, and previous bullet types can now be combined (you can now have a single bullet that is homing, artillery, stunning, and exploding!). There are also a few new things like the block bullet which places a block.
To play the beta, select the "Pre-release" beta from [Gear icon] -> Properties -> Betas.
Please report any bugs you may find, either as comments here or in the Tanks Discord.
Enjoy!
What's new in Tanks v1.6.b:
- Added an enormous number of new bullet options
- Improved item editor
- Improved the tank editor for spawned and transformed tanks
- Level editor menu UI improvements
- Added beat blocks
- Made fireworks prettier and more performant
- Updated music
- Added third color for players
- Added block bullets
- Added beat arcade mode minigame
- Added new editor tools
- Added buttons to open file directories
- Bug fixes and other minor improvements
Tanks v1.5.2 is now (finally) out!
The primary new feature in this update is the updated Tank AI. There are several new options related to dodging bullets and approaching the player on line of sight included, which the default tanks now use. There are also miscellaneous improvements to tank AI that hopefully results in fewer silly moments like tanks shooting bullets toward nowhere repeatedly.
What's new in Tanks v1.5.2:
- Improved and adjusted tank AI
- Added new 'Bullet avoid type' to tank customization
- Added 'Sidewind' and 'Backwind' sight behavior
- Bug fixes and other minor improvements
The new bullet avoidance types are the following:
- Intersect - this is the old AI. The tank will move away from the intersection of a bullet's path with a box around the tank. It is used by more primitive tanks. This is less good than the others at keeping the tank alive and is thus used for the more primitive tanks.
- Back off - the tank will move away from bullets, and may back into corners. This is used by black tanks.
- Dodge - the tank will move away from bullets at an angle. This is more accurate, and used by dark green, light pink, mimic, purple, and white tanks.
- Aggressive dodge - the tank will move toward incoming bullets at an angle. This is used by orange and angry light pink tanks.
A new option to seek open spaces has also been added to tanks. This makes tanks try to navigate towards open spaces when threatened by a farther away bullet. Black, light pink (not angry), mimic, orange, purple, and white tanks use this.
The new on-sight behaviors of tanks are as follows:
- Sidewind - the tank will zig-zag in towards the player, used by angry light pink tanks
- Backwind - the tank will zig-zag away from the player, used by salmon tanks
This update also has some major behind the scenes improvements to rendering that I've been working on in the last year, which may improve performance in some levels.
"Tanks" for sticking around and enjoying the game! The next big updates should bring more customization towards bullets, items, and the player tank.
Enjoy!
Important Update Regarding Sound Assets
Unfortunately, we received a cease-and-desist notice from Garage Software, inc. for using sound assets from their 'Band' software without their permission. Thus, in this update, we have hastily replaced all the musical instruments in the game's soundtrack with versions that the developer and some of his friends hastily recorded at 4 am.
We apologize for this sudden change, and will be working to further refine the music and sounds of Tanks in the coming weeks. For more information about this change, please check out our blog post here: https://tanks-thecrusades.com/tanks-sounds-updates
Update: this was an April Fools joke, and the sounds are back to normal. But if you liked the sounds, you can still use them! Download the sound pack here and extract the contents to the ~/.tanks/resources folder, such that the "music" and "sound" folders are in there. If the resources folder doesn't exist, make it yourself!
Making Tanks: The Crusades more inclusive for people with color-blindness
For more information, check out this link: https://tinyurl.com/inclusivetanks
Linux is now officially supported!
Please let me know if you run into any trouble.
Tanks v1.5.0 is now out! And happy 5th anniversary of Tanks!
'Tanks' for sticking for so long, it's been a fun journey developing this game.
What's new in Tanks v1.5.0:
New arcade mode minigame:
- Point system based on tank kills
- Continuously spawning enemy tank waves
- Respawn if you die
- Time limit of 2 minutes and 12 seconds
- A rampage system for destroying tanks in a row
- Tanks drop items that you can use to your advantage
- Frenzy mode: destroy all you can when time runs out!
- Point bonuses judging your performance at the end
Crusades:
- Font is now varied across statistics for readability
- Added crusade descriptions for built-in crusades
- Built-in crusades now track your best completion time, which you can see directly from the crusade screen
- Completed crusade runs can be compared to your best run
Options:
- Reorganized options screens
- Added new profile customization section to options
- You can now use a custom tank color in singleplayer
- Added option to show bullets under terrain
- Added 30 FPS deterministic mode
More:
- Updated menu music
- Added item switching indicator on tank
- Updated tutorial to be more exciting
- Removed laser from versus mode
- Tanks will not explode on death if killed right after spawning
- Changed fireworks appearance
- Bug fixes and other minor improvements
The game has come a long way from when it started as a small Java Swing game, growing to over 83,000 lines of code as of version v1.5. Last year for this occasion, I made a video covering the history of the game, which you can find here:
Since then, the game has gained a powerful tank editor in v1.4 along with the new arcade mode in v1.5. Here's to another few years of Tanks! (And don't worry, there are still more updates coming!).
Tanks 1.5 Second Public Steam Beta!
Like with the last announcement, I've pushed another beta build of Tanks v1.5 for all of you to test. This is very close to the final version, so if you want to see what 1.5 will be like, check it out!
To check out the beta, go to the game page in the library tab, click the settings icon, go to betas, and select "pre-release."
If you find any bugs or have feedback, leave it either as a reply to this post, or join the Tanks Discord!
I'm sorry the update has been taking so long. It's been because I am unfortunately very busy with university classes this semester and have not had time to work on the game. Hopefully I'll be able to get it out in not too much time.
Here's what's new from the previous version:
- Updated tutorial to be more exciting
- Added descriptions for minigames
- You can now see your records directly from the crusade screen
- Reorganized options screens
- Added 30 FPS deterministic mode
- Added short invulnerability on respawning in arcade mode
- Removed laser from versus mode
- Tanks will not explode on death if killed right after spawning
- A secret easter egg is more interesting now...
- A ton of bug fixes and other minor improvements
Keep destroying those tanks!
Tanks 1.5 Public Steam Beta!
You can now try out everything I've been working on in the last few months, including the all new arcade mode! To check out the beta, go to the game page in the library tab, click the settings icon, go to betas, and select "pre-release."
If you find any bugs or have feedback, leave it either as a reply to this post, or join the Tanks Discord!
Here's what's new:
- New arcade mode, with time limit, infinite lives, bonuses, and dropped items!
- Improved statistics screen at the end of crusades for better readability. For built-in crusades, your best runs will be logged and you can your times compare against them via the star button in the "Battles" tab.
- You can now change your player tank color in singleplayer
- Added item indicator on your tank when switching items
- Updated menu music
- Bullets now display through terrain
- A TON of other behind-the-scenes changes and bug fixes, especially regarding multiplayer and bandwidth usage.
Since so much changed behind the scenes with this update, you will probably find bugs. Please report them - one of the purposes of this beta is to catch bugs before the full release!
If all goes well, the full update should come out in about a week.
Keep destroying those tanks!