Development Status #87

[h2]Dear Tankers![/h2]Welcome to our 87th Development Status.
In this status update, we continue the saga of UI changes, but we also describe new features related to modding. We have enabled and are testing mods on the Steam workshop.

[h3]Modding[/h3]
The last two weeks have also seen the development of tools for the Workshop. We have developed a tool for Tank Squad to support the creation and uploading of mods to Steam. We have also written a PDF with documentation.

As we mentioned earlier, and as stated in the roadmap, we are starting modestly by adding only a few options, including decals/unit/division emblems, camouflage, and side numbers. Over time, we want to add more features, and our dream is to include a mission/scenario editor. Time will tell.

[h3]Further UI changes[/h3]

Battle map changes & map selection

Since the changes to the Battle Map described in the previous Development Status #86 were mostly received with enthusiasm, we have added a few more extras to the Battle Map. A new element for selecting units to spawn, similar to the units at the bottom, but showing larger icons/pictures of the tanks that are in that unit.

We have added a larger range of movement on the map. We noticed that if mission objectives or respawn points are close to the edge of the map, it is difficult to zoom in or move the map so that you can see them clearly. The larger range helps you move the map further, so that you can easily move things on the edges to the center of the screen.

Another thing is that when you click on a task in the list, the map will automatically move to the location of the marker. The same thing happens when you click on a respawn point – the map will move there and gain focus.

Widescreen support

After receiving your reports about the UI not working on widescreen displays, we checked our code and the logic that was supposed to detect the set resolution and switch the UI scale in the game. Unfortunately, it turned out that the methods were not being called—they may have worked in the editor, but not in the game.

UI scale match option in game settings

We restored their functionality in the game, and this week was marked by UI fixes to prevent the interface from stretching on large widescreen resolutions. It takes a bit of gymnastics to get everything to work together, but we are well on our way to preventing menu and in-game elements from stretching.

In addition, we also support resolutions on Steam Deck devices, because we want to finally add support and pass verification. Thanks to continuous optimization changes, we managed to reduce the game's RAM consumption even further.

We have added a slider to the game options that allows you to scale or, more accurately, adjust the aspect ratio of the interface. For example, the default value in the editor is 0.5 for a resolution of 1920x1080. With UI sizes such as 5120x1440, this value must be 1.0 so that the UI elements are not proportionally large. Setting the value to 0.0 for a resolution of 1280x800 (Steam Deck) will ensure that the interface is displayed correctly.

Main menu

At the time of writing this status update, the “scaling” modifications and corrections already cover the main menu, including the Settings screen. The settings screen in our game is common to both the main menu UI and the game itself, which are two different “ecosystems” in our case.

Headquarters
Yesterday, I started reworking the in-game elements, including the HQ panel.

The next panels are waiting in line, and I hope that we won't see any more dramas like the one in the picture below in the game. And if, by some miracle, it still happens, let me know and I'll fix it.

[h3]Optimization and bug fixes progress[/h3]
We’ve found another few places where the game could run better and already fixed them. They were connected to how the game handled physics and terrain shaders.

We still have infantry animators to optimize and some netcode bandwidth to fix but we won’t make it on time next week - it will be optimized and added in a patch after 20.02.

The game runs much better than it had a few weeks ago and after fixing the topics above we are coming to a wall - to optimize the game further we are going to need much more time and probably a new engine version - which must wait.

[h3]Unstable branch update[/h3]
We’ve uploaded the current build to an unstable branch, check the link above for instructions on how to access it and what is the changelog ;)

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1498130/discussions/0/601910715107996635/

[h3]When we can expect new patch 1.2.0?[/h3]

We plan to release the update 1.2.0 on February 20th. This will be the sixth anniversary of the release of our first game on Steam. But to do that we still need to make a finalization of the 2025 roadmap.
One last big thing left is to add Steam Workshop support and give you tools as a "starter pack". Starter pack will include possibilities to add mods like decals, camos + damage taken in battle (visuals) visible in the repair section.
Next big thing is solid optimization step up. We removed some unused meshes from memory there should be again less RAM usage.
And at the end mentioned mentioned above - UI overhaul for main menu and few other menus like Battle Summary.
UI fixes and changes, especially support for widescreen displays
QoL fixes to Battle Maps

Thank you and have a good weekend!
DeGenerals