Tiny Combat Arena News

Hello, I'm in the middle of releasing the next patch, but before it comes out I want to let everybody know about the tester's branch that is available.

Before pushing patches to the live branch for everybody, I usually test them out on the tester's branch. If you want to play with new features/content ASAP and prefer your builds with extra bugs and jank, this one's for you.

I want to emphasize that this branch exists mainly to help find bugs. If you find bugs while on the tester's branch in a tester's build, considering posting about it in the Bug Reporting forum about it, or preferably, join the MicroProse Discord and talk about it in the #tca-bug-reports channel. I'm more active on Discord, and it's easier to debug issues that way.

[h3]Switching to the Testers branch[/h3]
In Steam, right click on the game, then click on Properties.

In the Properties window, click the Betas tab, in the beta's dropdown select testers.


[h3]0.8.3 is currently in testing[/h3]

Patch 0.8.3 is currently active on the tester's branch. When it's released proper, there will be a post about it as usual. As mentioned above, if you want to check it out early, consider leaving feedback on the forums or on the MicroProse Discord.

Hello everybody! Tiny Combat Arena released into Early Access about a month ago. The first month post-release development was focused on addressing the biggest playability issues that the game faced, and to stabilize the build. This culminated in the 0.8.6 patch, which has gone over well.

What comes next is "the rest of the game." The following list are a sample of the features that I feel the game absolutely must have before I feel the game can be considered 1.0, and move out of Early Access. This work focuses on Arena and features to support Arena, and is the space with which I am most interested in hearing feedback throughout development. While the implementation details of all of these points might change, these are the high level features that I feel are essential to the Arena experience.

While I haven't specifically outlined much in the way of content, be aware that content will necessarily have to be built out to support these features.

[h3]Important Disclaimer![/h3]
This is not everything I feel the game needs. It covers things that I not only feel the game absolutely needs to be complete, but are also things that at this point in development I'm confident in talking about them. Plans change all the time during development due to new ideas or unexpected issues. Based on post-launch feedback, I've already made some adjustments.

[h3]Expanded Arena Map UI[/h3]

The current Arena UI is barebones. It's my intention that the Arena UI, seen between sorties, can be used to get an accurate strategic picture of what's happening so that you can plan your next sortie accordingly. There is a lot of missing information, and I think the game benefits from its mechanics being as transparent as possible.

[h3]Campaigns[/h3]

The "Arena Demo" mission is a single Arena mission. In the final game, these missions will be strung together to make an "Arena Campaign", with each mission focusing on some specific area of the map.

The final game will have two campaigns. The first will take place on the "Sand Island" map, and is meant to be very short and introductory. A second campaign will take place on a larger map, with its own string of missions. Details on that second campaign, as well as its associated map, will come later.

[h3]Finished Sand Island Map[/h3]

The Sand Island map started as a simple test environment with one small island an airfield. However, it has since been repurposed into a sort of "tutorial" map. Only one of the islands in the chain is fully filled out. The rest are in various states of development. Some have "forests" and buildings, while others are completely barren.

[h3]Air Defense and Defensive Structures/Units[/h3]

At the moment, Strategic Targets in Arena are always undefended. Bases must have the ability to defend themselves against incoming vehicles, and some Strategic Targets might be focused on air defense entirely. The game has a lot of interesting radar and combat mechanics that I feel are being underutilized without stronger opposition and map locations to take advantage of them.

[h3]Improved Offensive and Defensive Missile Combat[/h3]

The fundamentals for all the missile related combat are in the game, but are missing details. For example, chaff and radar guided missiles are underdeveloped. However the biggest of these is how missiles relate to the AI. The game cannot be complete until the AI start firing missiles at the player and each other.

[h3]Custom Loadouts[/h3]

One of my favorite features in combat flight sims is tweaking the loadouts. At present, the player can select from a series of presets, but custom loadouts is a feature the game absolutely must have. Being able to specifically customize your loadout to your mission and play style should be cornerstone of the game.

[h3]With More to Come[/h3]

As mentioned before, this is not a comprehensive list, but it is a list of the items that I feel are both most important and least likely to change throughout development. There's still a lot of work to be done and I'm excited to be back to working on new stuff for the game after a month of bugfixes and planning.

As always, thank you everybody for the support! Please remember that you can also follow the game's development using the Trello board, which I use myself. Or, you can follow me on Twitter or my YouTube where I often post updates on what I'm working on.

Hello everybody, I'm happy to announce that 0.8.2 is out of testing onto the main branch. This patch is meant to address and stabilize the often reported camera and control issues that many have had since the game was released.

Before, we started though, I recommend that everybody re-run the Quick Setup from the System Settings, and reset their bindings to defaults. A lot of settings change changed, and keybinds moved around. While nothing should 🤞 break if you don't, you might have some weird, conflicting, or confusing control inputs.

Onto the patch! Here's some of the highlights:

[h2]Mixed Mouse and Joystick/Keyboard[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
A quirk of the way the old virtual joystick system worked made it so that pitch/roll inputs coming from the bindings screen (e.g. keyboard binds and joystick axes) were mutually exclusive with using mouse flight controls. This has been rectified, so now a combination of control schemes can be used.

For example, a control scheme many had requested was to be able to use the mouse for fine-tuning aim, while making large stick movements using keyboard keys. This is now possible, and so mouse joystick is enabled by default in all control schemes now.

There's also been tweaks to how input from the mouse gets registered, so mouse joystick controls should match the responsiveness of gamepad/joystick controls. When using momentary control modes, it should also make sustained turns easier.

[h2]Mouse-Driven Free Look[/h2]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Another highly requested feature was some kind of mouse-driven free look. There several ways to configure this, but the default should be similar to how you might have seen other games do it. When you hold (by default) Left-Alt, the mouse can be used to freely pan around the cockpit, or in external views. Important to note: while you are using free look, the virtual joystick input is locked, so that you can continue to turn while glancing in a direction.

Another new feature is that both the cockpit and external cameras now have an adjustable field of view. The default FOVs can be setup in the new camera settings tab, but you can also adjust the FOV in real time using the normal zoom in/out keys, as well as by binding zoom to an axis. There is even a new "quick zoom" toggle (or hold, if you prefer) which will instantly set the FOV to some preset (and configurable) zoom level to get a quick close look at something out the window.

[h2]Camera Options[/h2]

An entire new camera page has been added to the settings menu. There's enough new options that this page actually needed a scroll bar! Please experiment with the new control and camera options to see what you like. I've tried to accommodate as many of the out-there configurations for how people like to fly. Different combinations of settings can produce pretty different results.

[h2]What happens now?[/h2]

With 0.8.2, I feel the game has stabilized. All the major known crashes should be taken care of, and the game feels like it's at a good baseline when it comes to camera and controls so that hopefully it meets peoples' expectations a little better.

This also means, that I should have more time to focus on the game itself. There are many things I need and want to do to make Arena feel like a more complete experience. Much (though not all) of this is visible on the game's Trello board.

I'm sorry for not being able to get a roadmap post out as soon as I wanted 🙏 I've been very busy trying to address crashes, bugs, control, and camera issues as soon as they came up because these were major problems that were preventing people from playing the game. If the worst problems the game has are a lack of content or Arena being too simple, that's a good place to be, a great place to grow from. I prefer working from a solid foundation.

Thanks again for supporting me and this game! I promise there will be a roadmap to 1.0 post, Now that everything isn't on fire anymore, I should be able to breathe a little and find the time to write it.

And finally, for completeness, here is the entire changelog. It's a big one!

[h3]New Features:[/h3]

• Loadouts save between sorties
  
• Default loadout defined in Arena scenario definition
  
• Added option in system settings to enable/disable TrackIR loading
  
• One-time dialog to ask if the player is using head tracking
  
• Mouse controls can be used in combination with stick inputs from the binding menu
  
• Mouse-specific curve added for use by continuous mode axes
  
• Sensitivity settings are now specific to momentary and continuous modes
  
• Running quick setup dialog will also reset to default control settings (does not affect bindings)
  
• Mouse horizontal axis acts as nosewheel steering when on the ground
  
• New default sensitivty values for both mouse axes and input modes
  
• Renamed many control options for clarity
  
• Simplified descriptions for some of the control settings
  
• Fixed many typos and missing settings descriptions
  
• Double tapping throttle up/down keys will set throttle max/missing
  
• New hotkeys added for min/max throttle (unbound by default)
  
• When weight on wheels, and auto flaps set to both, toggling gear will only toggle flaps
  
• New camera page on settings screen
  
• Default FOV for the cockpit and external cameras can be set
  
• FOV for cockpit, external, and chase can be adjusted ingame in real time with zoom keys
  
• Momentary flight inputs don't reset immediately to zero
  
• Mouse driven free look added to the cockpit, external, and chase views
  
• Free look key restored to bindings menu with default of Left Alt
  
• Cockpit and chase views can be set to automatically recenter themselves
  
• Mouse look mode options: None, Hold, Toggle, Always
  
• Mouse look blocks mouse input, but not joystick input
  
• Options to invert pitch of mouse look
  
• Mouse look sensitivity slider
  
• New "quick zoom" behavior which when activated will override current FOV with a preset FOV
  
• Quick zoom preset FOV can be adjusted in camera settings
  
• Camera zoom has smoothing applied to it
  
• Camera smoothing options can be adjusted or disabled entirely
  
• Moved camera options that previously existed on the gameplay tab to the camera tab
  
• Throttle sensitivity setting added to change how quickly the throttle moves
  
• Throttle shortcut setting added to enable/disable the throttle shortcuts
  
• Option to hold virtual joystick pitch while free look is enabled (on by default)
  

[h3]Improvements[/h3]

• Flat turns by AI should result in less lost altitude
  
• Rookie AI is a bit more competent and less likely to spiral to the floor
  
• All AI will try to fight in the vertical sometimes
  
• When low on energy, AI should try a shallow drive to gain speed
  
• New "Light Attack" loadout is new Arena default to make taking off easier
  
• M163 uses identical bullet to Shilka
  
• AAA shells self-destruct earlier
  
• Pressing padlock key while in padlock mode will reset cockpit to looking forwards
  
• Padlock locks forward when there is no target
  
• Engine spools down faster than spooling up for increased responsiveness
  
• Harrier "RCS" system requiers engine thrust to operate
  
• Text rendered slightly cleaner in cockpit
  
• Mouse controls now enabled on all quick setup presets
  
• Moved default keybind for chaff to 'C' to make room for new camera controls
  
• "First time setup" renamed to "Quick Setup" and moved to the System tab on settings
  
• MKB preset in quick setup now sets autocenter for cockpit and chase cameras
  
• Re-ordered realism settings so that more realistic options are to the right
  
• New version popup appears before any other startup popups
  
• M163 and Shilka accurate out to a longer distance
  
• M163 and Shilka max range increased
  
• 1 M163/Shilka added to M60/T-62 units
  
• 2 M163/Shilka added to M1/T80 units
  
• M163/Shilka units now contain 4 of each instead of 2.
  

[h3]Bugfixes[/h3]

• Attacker aircraft (AV8B) no longer ignore fighter aircraft
  
• Locking a ground target with radar guided missiles no longer freezes HUD
  
• Afterburner key bind hidden since it's non-functional
  
• Base damage percents shouldn't round to >100% anymore
  
• "Being Captured by Enemy" should no longer appear for a split second after capturing a base
  
• Starting a new Arena mission resets the "Mission Complete" text
  
• Centered mission messages (e.g. X has been captured)
  
• Loading an empty setup file won't freeze the game on startup
  
• Fixed typo in R-24T database description
  
• FPS counter won't error if frames take an inordinate amount of time
  
• Engine cannot throttle up while spooling up
  
• Cockpit view can now be panned while the game is paused
  
• Cockpit and external cameras cannot be controlled while escape menu is open
  
• Scroll wheel functions correctly in settings menu
  
• Fixed many typos in the settings descriptions
  
• Disabling invert pitch no longer inverts horizontal mouse axis
  
• External/chase camera correctly respond to zoom axis input
  
• Free/photo camera zoom are not blocked by zoom axis input (they shouldn't be affected by it at all)
  
• Fixes to various typos in the settings descriptions
  
• Fixed "Block Free Cam Input" selector not syncing up correctly with the setting
  
• Fixed Arena bug where plane would revert to Clean loadout on second sortie if player never changes their loadout
  
• Default for mouse look is now mouse button 4 (moved off of nonsensical RMB)
  
• Default for chaff/flares is now mouse button 5 (off from mouse button 4)
  

Version 0.8.1.5 Hotfix is now live!

This fixes the most critical and game-breaking bugs I could fix in a short timespan. The more complicated issues (e.g. mouse look) will have to be in a larger update since those are essentially new features, or otherwise more difficult to fix.

From a usability perspective, the bindings screen should work a lot better, and a lot more consistently now. I'm able to easily bind axes that I had a lot of trouble with, e.g. pitch.

I don't plan on making big announcement posts for hotfixes like this, but this is a special one that should take care of some of the biggest issues that the game released with. I think it was important enough to call it out.

New features:
- Added unused smokeless variants of all three motors (E.g. SmallSmokeless)

Improvements:
- Renamed Toramaru hangars to simply "Hangar"
- Selected cockpit view while already in cockpit view recenters the camera
- Early access warning appears only when there's a new patch
- Bigger "no solution" X on CCIP bomb sight
- Brake indicator now based on input rather than brake state

Bugfixes:
- Fixed typo in dogfight quick mission description
- Joystick X/Y axis no longer navigates control bindings screen
- Negative brake axis no longer results in feedback loop of forward thrust
- Removed debug key to launch flares on every aircraft all at once
- Throttle/Brake/Nozzle angle no longer zero when game window loses focus
- Fixed bug where shooting then pausing the game could cause the gun to keep shooting when unpaused
- Formations should no longer stop short of a base they are trying to capture
- No more "ghost drag" when afterburner is commanded on AV8B

[h2]What a day![/h2]
Hello, everybody! I am the main developer of Tiny Combat Arena. Thank you all so much for the amazing support you've all shown. I really am humbled at the response. There's far more than the 5 or 6 people I originally expected to be into the game!

This has been a crazy day. It started with last night, where I accidentally had the wrong build set to go live, so the for the first ~6 hours of the game's release was running an older pre-release build (0.8.1.1) with a bunch of really important crash fixes missing. Oops. It was a bit of a shock to wake up to bug reports on things I know I definitely had fixed. 😅



[h2]Stabilizing the Game[/h2]
I've spent all day closely monitoring and responding to people across Twitter, the Steam Forums, and the MicroProse Discord to see what the most outstanding issues are. The development Trello board, which I use to keep track of what needs doing has been updated with everything actionable.

For the very near future I will be prioritizing these particular bug fixes and pain points so that I can once again shift development back towards the game and expanding its features and content. I want to have a strong base to build from, and avoid trying to add a haphazard pile to a shaky foundation. 🙏

Currently my highest priorities are:

• Mouse free look controls
  
• Refining keyboard/mouse controls
  
• Smoothing out the rebinding screen experience
  
• Game breaking bugs like infinite speed and Arena capturing being spotty
  

I want to remind everybody again of the development Trello board. This is what I use to keep myself organized. In the interest of transparency, especially for something like Early Access where trust between the developers and community is critical, I keep it open to the public.

[h2]The Future[/h2]
Very soon, I'd like to put out a Roadmap listing the features and content that I feel the game needs before I can in good conscious call it a 1.0 and move it out of Early Access. To set expectations: it will be very conservative and list only the essentials, as plans can and always will change in game development, but I think there should be some exciting stuff in there.

- Why485