Development Status #88

[h2]Dear Tankers![/h2]Welcome to our 88th Development Status.

[h3]Patch 1.2.0 summary[/h3]
First, a brief summary following the release of patch 1.2.0, which finalizes the latest roadmap.

To correspond with the patch, we launched a 7-day sale offering a 25% discount. We received a record number of wishlist entries. In the history of both Tank Squad and Tank Mechanic Simulator, we cannot remember ever experiencing such a significant increase in registrations in one go. Could it be that people are waiting to buy because they see potential? Ultimately, we surpassed the peak number of players from the Tank Squad launch. We are extremely happy that you appreciate our work and our efforts to improve the quality and performance of the game.

[h3]Roadmap 2026[/h3]


As far as this year's roadmap is concerned, the plans are as follows. Regarding the next major update (1.3.0), we intend to release procedural missions and implement AI fixes.

The bigger topic this year will then be the release of DLC with a new Ponyri campaign, which will differ slightly from the current one. As we mentioned in the previous dev status, the map itself will be huge, so we want to create a view of the operational map.

Why DLC? As you may or may not be aware, we aim to keep you informed about our activities and plans, and we always write openly and honestly. Since the release, we have constantly released updates, fixes and new content, which we as players appreciate from other developers.

This is what we did with our previous game, Tank Mechanic Simulator. Before releasing two DLCs featuring tanks, we introduced several new tanks through updates. Unfortunately, Tank Squad is not selling very well. The launch was underwhelming, and we failed to deliver a good game on time. It was also a mistake to release the game as a full release rather than via Early Access.

For those who are not familiar with the situation, here's why we released the game in May in its current state:

Originally posted by author

Last April, we (DeGenerals) split with PlayWay. PlayWay took full IP rights to TMS and we took Tank Squad. We had to release Tank Squad as it was in order to survive as a company.

Despite the difficulties, we took up the fight for survival. We managed to improve the game's ratings, changing them from 'Mostly Negative' to 'Mostly Positive', which is now 'Mixed'. Now, about 20–40 people play the game every day.

We accomplished almost all of the goals set out in the previous roadmap, and we are already formulating a new one. We are trying to attract more players, but we need your support. This is why we have decided that the new campaign will be DLC.

One issue is what to do with Ferdinand: should he be added as part of the DLC or released in a free update? Another idea was to make Ferdinand a vehicle himself in the DLC. Following lengthy discussions within the team, we have decided that Ferdinand will be included in the add-on. The remaining question is whether someone without the DLC who joins a session will be able to drive or spawn Ferdinand. This is probably not possible, but we will continue to consider how to resolve this issue.

In terms of new vehicles, one thing we know for certain is that we want to incorporate the option of creating your own Force Pool into the game. This would open up possibilities such as adding any vehicles to missions/campaigns, including those that did not exist in a given time period.

In the meantime, between the release of major patches (1.3.0) and DLC, we plan to release smaller updates containing fixes and new features. There will also be discounts.

We are considering switching to the new Unity 6 engine, which would allow us to make significant visual improvements to the game.

Unfortunately, if we fail to attract more players, it may be difficult to implement some of our plans outside the roadmap, such as adding a mission/scenario editor.


[h3]Sd.Kfz 251[/h3]
I have just started working on Ferdinand, but I took a break to prepare the SdKfz 251 model for use in Tank Squad. Robert has been waiting a long time for this vehicle, so now is the perfect opportunity to include it.



While we're at it, we'll try something new: tanks and vehicles with a suspension system don't use dice, which is a good way to make the suspension behaviour of vehicles such as the Sd.Kfz 251 or Opel Blitz more realistic.



Firstly, we will create a base vehicle and then proceed to add further variants.

• Sd.Kfz.251/1 Ausf.D standard version with two MG42s;
  
• Sd.Kfz.251/2 Ausf.C Schützenpanzerwagen (Granatwerfer) with an 81 mm mortar and MG42;
  
• Sd.Kfz.251/3 Ausf.C version with a radio that could be used as a command vehicle in the game.
  

Creating the Sd.Kfz 251 for the next update is also a good approach for the Ferdinand tank. I want to make some changes to the material structure and texture appearance of both vehicles to improve their quality and overall appearance in the game. Time will tell.




Thank you and have a good weekend!
DeGenerals