Development Status #74

Welcome to our 74th Development Status.

[h2]Campaign is finished[/h2]



Since we last published the development status, we have been working on the final missions in the campaign. We made improvements to the terrains due to changes on the mission design. After deeper analysis during testing, some of the tasks did not make sense or the distances between them were too long leading to nothing happening on the mission.

For each mission we have added an intro, minimaps, a series of text descriptions and voice-overs explaining what there is to do and perform on the mission and what to look out for.



[h3]C1M7 - Attack on Starozhevoye[/h3]
We managed to finalise the seventh mission, the Attack on Starozhevoye. We recorded a video of this mission, which is available a bit below in this post. In a nutshell, the mission consists of breaking the blockade in the forest. This is followed by the destruction of enemy supplies. Additionally, before the final assault on the village of Starozhevoye, the enemy convoy got bogged down on the main road.



[h3]C1M8 - Road to Prokhorovka[/h3]
Eighth mission. During this scenario we have to secure the left and right flanks. Then break through along the road towards Prokhorovka, which may not be so easy as the foreground is guarded by enemy howitzers. Finally, there is a village waiting and a headquarters to be captured.



[h3]C1M9 - Prokhorovka outskirts[/h3]
The penultimate mission in the campaign. We start not far from where we finished the previous scenario. Our task is to break through the Soviet defence lines, then seize the Oktyabrsky farms. The final task is to capture hill 252.2.



[h3]C1M10 - Siege of hill 252[/h3]
The last mission in the campaign. At the beginning of the scenario we have to help the infantry defend the hill from the advancing enemy units. The longer we hold off the counterattack the better our forces will organise a second line of defence.

[h2]Hardcore gameplay with limited UI[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the video below is a snippet of our gameplay from the seventh mission from the campaign, the Attack on Starozhevoye. During this streaming at some point we disabled a significant part of the interface including: minimap, battle log, kill feed, compass, markers of the marked enemy as well as our allies.

We wanted to show in this way that it is possible to change the face of the game in an accessible way. When there is a lack of information on the screen, we look for it ourselves and thus play more cautiously, more prudently. We invite you to watch the material.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Further game optimization[/h2]
We have replaced the next batch of special effects with newer and more optimised ones in order to simultaneously make the gameplay more visually interesting, as well as reducing memory consumption.

One of the most important parts of the game to improve is optimization. After playtesting the campaign we found few issues, mostly with memory management and too high CPU and GPU usage.

This is an ongoing process that won’t have a definitive finish. Before we release the game we’ve set ourselves few points to fix and optimize:

• vehicle physics - the amount of vehicles present at the scene and physics required to simulate their suspension is going to require a rework. This is the biggest issue that the profiling tools are highlighting as CPU problem
  
• network synchronization - amount of networked objects and synchronized values can also be a problem when a lot is happening. Not only because the game visually has synchronization issues (example - vehicles movement is jerky for clients) but also the CPU requires much more time each frame to pack all the data and then to unpack it
  
• AI combat - AI units and their behaviour, looking for enemies, shooting at them etc. has been already optimized in the past. But now, after playtesting we see that just having too many units at once on a big scene, that previous work is still not enough to have good CPU usage for AI units.
  
• RAM usage - we’re working to reduce the amount of memory that the games require - as well as fix any memory leaks. Our minimum requirement of system RAM we would like to set to 16 GB. Right now the game can take up to 15-17 GB of RAM, and we just need to get it lower.
  

[h2]Game balance[/h2]

After playtesting the campaign we have ran into balancing issues:

• player team could buy everything after mission 2-3
  
• player team had no other way to obtain their faction vehicles as replacements after buying out all reserves from quartermaster
  
• ammo and fuel resources were missing most of the time, as repairing captured vehicles and converting them requires both of them
  
• some campaign missions resulted in the player team losing from 10-20 vehicles. The limit of gathered wrecks after battle was 8.
  

To mitigate these problems, we have:

• added an option to obtain more recovery vehicles, that enhance the number of gathered vehicles after battle
  
• added ability to buy totally damaged (but repairable) random wrecks (max 3 per repair scene section, resets after next battle)
  
• added two new tools, a canister and ammo box. Both can be filled for free on repair section and can be used directly on any vehicle to rearm or refuel
  
• modified some squads/units from reserves to not be available immediately at quartermaster, but become available later in the campaign
  

[h2]Other changes[/h2]

[h3]Contract system (new game+) on repair station[/h3]
During the campaign and after finishing all missions from the campaign, players can continue to play on repair stations alone or with friends/other players in cooperation. In fulfilling the tasks from HQ like repairing tanks from other panzer divisions etc. By completing these contracts, players will receive additional resources.

[h3]Side missions on repair station[/h3]
In addition to the main missions, the staff will also be able to carry out side missions. For completed missions, players will also receive resources including additional offmap support.

[h3]Economy including exchange rate[/h3]
At the quartermaster's, it will now be possible to exchange resources. We used to have this option but it was disabled. It has been possible to exchange again for some time.

[h3]Missing voice overs for Soviet side[/h3]
We have finished recording Russian voice overs. This was necessary to enable playing in some skirmish missions and also will serve as a solid foundation for future Soviet campaigns.

[h3]New smoke VFX for tanks main guns and new mud VFX for tank tracks[/h3]
We have changed the appearance of every cannon aftershot smoke. We wanted to have it more visible to the players, for easier spotting of hidden enemy armor. They are also more realistic than previous ones.

[h3]Flares VFX when offmap support is called[/h3]
Now offmap support on the enemy side will be red, and on the allied side blue, for easier recognition of possible friendly fire.

[h3]New animations & possibility to open hatches and take over[/h3]
We’re extending the player control over vehicle hatches and allowing the use of roof MGs. The ability to take a look out the hatch will be divided into several steps. Closed, Low Stance, Standard, High Stance. If a player has binoculars in their inventory they can use them at any stance. The transition between stances would be triggered by the mouse wheel.

[h3]StuG with MG operated as a player[/h3]
After playtesting the campaign we found that StuGs are really vulnerable to enemy infantry - although we have the roof mg shield modelled. We’ve decided to add ability both for player and AI to control the roof mg to at least give the player an option to defend against enemy infantry.

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals