Regiments News

"If you can be seen, you can be hit. If you can be hit, you can be killed."

Cold War-era weapons are precise, deadly, and long-ranged. Even the toughest armor doesn't provide safety. Staying concealed is extremely important and concealment starts with the paint.

During the late Cold War, sides had different approaches to concealing the vehicles. NATO forces relied on various camouflage patterns to better blend with the German countryside in their assigned sectors. Most Warsaw Pact forces used single-color paint, which made moving vehicles harder to identify over long ranges and was cheaper and easier to apply.



It was far from being totally standardized by 1989, though. While NATO pushed to adopt a standard 3-tone CARC camo pattern, a number of units retained older schemes - like single-color Gelboliv in Bundeswehr or MERDC camo pattern in US Army. Warsaw Pact was experimenting with vehicle camouflage at that time too.

It's a perfect fit for the game - most regiments will feature distinct camo patterns. A Bundeswehr kampfgruppe composed of home guard units and outfitted with older equipment will have an outdated paint scheme to match. A Soviet guards tank regiment with modern T-80U will feature an experimental camo pattern.



We've also started to prototype the vehicle tactical markings system.
National insignia will show the country and/or armed forces branch the unit belongs to. A Regimental/Brigade tactical sign will make it even easier to identify the unit's parent formation. And last but not least, each unit will be assigned a unique tactical number.



The last few news were all about the visuals, so the next dev update will focus on gameplay elements for a change. Take care, stay healthy!

Best Regards,
Bird's Eye Games

Hi!
A lot of work has been done since the September teaser release. Regiments continue to receive incremental visual upgrades. One of the areas we've recently iterated upon is infantry, the sprites from the demo replaced with fine 3D models.
(You can also notice several new updated vehicle models - BMP-1, BTR-70, T-64BV, and Mi-24)




Infantry has been a staple of armed conflicts for millennia and retains its importance on the Cold War battlefields. Missiles and tank guns may reign over the open fields. But it's the same old infantryman who controls the close-quarter terrain of forests and towns.




Regiments strives to capture the key aspect of Cold War infantry tactics - mechanization. Nearly every rifle squad has an armored transport, which gives them unprecedented flexibility. One moment, a mechanized infantry platoon is dismounted with all infantry outside the carriers, engaging the enemy with their entire firepower, and using the surrounding cover. As soon as the immediate threat is neutralized, the platoon can quickly remount, ready to dash to the next objective area.



This is the first step of infantry visual rework. At some point in the future, we'll take another look at the infantry - demonstrating NATO soldiers, heavy weapons, and a bigger variety of animations.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for further news. The next dev update will come in early November.
Take care, stay healthy!

Best Regards,
Bird's Eye Games

Cold War-gone-hot RTS hopeful Regiments is something that I've been meaning to pay more attention to for a while, but keep forgetting about. It feels like the Wargame successor we've been waiting for, and doesn't have a legally troublesome game that would get it taken off Steam.

Win/Win, and now developer Bird's Eye Games' prospects are even better as it has been revealed to be the latest game to be picked up by the resurgent MicroProse.

This is the second signing the re-launched wargames label has announced since officially revealing itself back in May. It already had three titles in its stable: Second Front, Task Force Admiral and Sea Power, all of which were projects we already knew about.

In June the publisher announced they were entering the FPS arena when they signed two games by Drakeling; Warfare 1944 and Operation Harsh Doorstep. Along with the announcement of a B-17 Flying Fortress successor, adding Regiments brings the MicroProse squad up to seven (that we know about), which sets them up nicely to dominate the scene in 2021.

Read the rest of the story...

RELATED LINKS:


The Game of War: A Retrospective on The Wargame Franchise

The End of All Things - Cold War Megagame AAR (Part 3)

The End of All Things – Cold War Megagame AAR (Part 1)

[h3]Publishing Agreement[/h3]

About a month earlier, Regiments partnered with MicroProse Software in a publishing agreement. Those are important news by themselves. Developing an RTS single-handedly can be challenging and the help was very much welcome.
But much more importantly, I want to show what the cooperation already resulted in.

[h3]Visual Upgrade[/h3]

Summer Festival demo showed that while the gameplay was solid and fresh, the graphics quality of the game wasn't wholly up to 2020 standards, especially in such a key aspect of the game as vehicle models. A tough issue for an indie developer.

Here's where the MicroProse support makes a difference. Together with their dedicated and talented art team, we've been working hard on improving this particular side of Regiments.

[h3]Teaser[/h3]

So here's a short teaser showing our progress so far. It's still going to be improved across the board - but I think it's already clear what a difference the partnership makes.

I'm looking forward to bring you not only the solid gameplay but also the stunning visuals.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Steam Summer Festival has concluded, but I've decided to make the demo available for a few more days. New players still learn about the game through various channels and come in to try it out.

More than 2800 players have played the demo, providing a wealth of feedback.
Regiments were reviewed by several Youtube channels, generating more than 100.000 views.
I consider that to be a pretty solid result for something that had no pre-Festival visibility.

The gameplay feedback was very positive. Players noted a blend of new and familiar elements that provide a fresh, engaging experience. I'm genuinely happy that a lot of novel design decisions - like the platoon system, mech infantry being tied with their transports and, of course, the task force system - were well-received. This core gameplay loop should form a solid base for an eventual dynamic campaign, which will provide long-term replayability.

Visual presentation and UI, on the other hand, received mixed reactions. In the coming months, a lot of work will be done on addressing various UI issues and improving the graphics. Early Access date will likely shift right from late August to autumn - which is a better season for releases in any case.

Overall, Steam Summer Festival was an amazing experience. The audience had a chance to get acquainted with Regiments, and Regiments got to know the players' reactions. Valuable contacts were established and some interesting opportunities are on the horizon.

Thank you all for participating!