Tank Squad News

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 26th Development Status. You can see on what we were working the last two weeks.

Roads

When it comes to our progress in the environment, we’re still working on trenches, yet we’ve made some progress on roads. We've begun with the more complex setting, which is a muddy road with some puddles. We would like our roads to look realistic and impressive with tire tracks, puddles, rocks, etc.


Signs

Another aspect of working on an environment that we’ve focused on lately are signs. We’ve gathered references for signs and some german and Cyrillic fonts. We are going to prepare many signs that will give useful information to the players. Signs will be placed on the repair station to guide player and also on battle levels as part of the environment.



Code

Tanks:

• We fixed a bug that caused the tank to slide slightly.
  
• Now hitting tanks works a bit differently, the tank after penetration will take damage depending on its penetration power.
  

AI:
In the aspect of artificial intelligence, we’ve done great progress:

• Improvements in infantry covers (including trenches), infantry takes a correct position (standing, crouching, crawling) depending on the cover
  
• Improvements in marking units on the map.
  
• Totally rewrite logic for giving orders to friendly infantry.
  
• Now AI both tanks and infantry uses a new Commands system that allows us to easily change their behavior depending on circumstances
  
• Improvements in AI infantry weapon selection, they choose weapons accordingly to the situation.
  
• AI infantry multiplayer synchronization was totally rewritten and is now more optimized.
  
• We fixed and simplified math for tank AI turning its cannon and turret to aim at the enemy.
  
• Start implementing a system of behaviors for AI that will allow us to have different types of AI units, by only changing settings in inspector - almost a visual scripting
  

Multiplayer:
In multiplayer, we changed the way of synchronizing many things that give us more fps:

• Optimization of tank’s physics: Tanks have physically simulated wheels and tracks which make their movement look realistically.
  
• As mentioned above, AI infantry multiplayer synchronization was totally rewritten and is now more optimized:
  

- Now the run of the AI ​​soldier by the tank is also synchronized
- Now AI ​​soldier changing poses is also synchronized
- Now throwing grenades by AI solider is also synchronized

Checkpoint

We’ve added some checkpoint with a barrier and some guard. The animation of the character in the video below has been made with motion capture technology.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 25th Development Status. We present you what we have accomplished in the last two weeks.

Wounded soldier
Having seen in many references soldiers with bandages and slings, we’ve decided to add them to our game. Here are some concepts of what we want to do.



F-22 76mm
The 76-mm divisional gun M1936 (F-22) was a Soviet divisional semi-universal gun, adopted for Red Army service in 1936. This gun was used in conflicts between the USSR and Japan in the Far East, in the Winter War, and World War II. Many F-22s were captured by the Wehrmacht, modernized by the Germans, and used against Soviet forces. The F-22 was a semi-universal gun that combined the capabilities of a divisional gun and - to some extent - of an anti-aircraft gun. Around 2,932 of those were made by the Soviet Union.


Level Design
We are working on the Prokhorovka level, which is 5 km x 5 km. There will be 4 spawns on it. We focus on the appropriate escalation of difficulty. Different colored arrows correspond to different levels of difficulty. From each starting point, players will need to defeat 3-4 major objectives. In each match, the main objectives will be randomized each time, so players will play different scenarios on the same map. Thanks to the randomness, battle levels will not be repetitive and will allow players to experience the map in a different way. We plan for one level of battle to last approximately one hour.




Feldgendarmerie animation
We continue to work on animations. This time Feldgendarmerie animations, using Rokoko motion capture of course!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Thank you and have a good weekend!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 24th Development Status. We are back after Christmas and New Year break. Check out what we already did in 2022!

Feldgendarmerie

Do you remember our Feldgendarmerie model from previous Development Status? He has picked up some color since last time and looks definitely better in our opinion!



Trenches

We have also created several trench models that we will be able to combine with each other. This will greatly speed up our work and make each trench system look different.



Post process and lighting

We’re working on post processes, lighting, sky and fog. We’ve done some basic post processes earlier, now we’re improving on them. Our post process combine settings like:

• Ambient Occlusion
  
• Auto Exposure
  
• Bloom
  
• Motion Blur
  
• Depth of field
  
• Lens distortion (in gunner’s view)
  

Animation

Both animations have been recorded at shooting range using motion capture technology.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 23rd Development Status. Check out our two weeks of work.

New Character Face

We’ve been working on new characters. So far you’ve seen new uniforms. We’ve begun to focus more on creating new character faces. Those faces have the same topology as previous ones, which allows for facial animations.



Character Controller

We’ve added a shooting mechanism to the character controller. New code includes weapon configuration which contains:

• Weapon animation
  
• Weapon sounds
  
• Weapon VFX
  
• First person animation
  
• Inventory spot
  
• Weapon characteristics (ammo, fire range, damage etc.)
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Feldgendarmerie
Feldgendarmerie was the military police of Nazi Germany. In 1933 they were reintroduced to the Wehrmacht. They received full infantry training and possessed extensive police powers. They were usually given occupation duties in territories controlled by the Wehrmacht. In Tank Squad, you will be able to find them in our repair station, where they will direct the traffic and show you the direction of departure for the next mission.



Repair Station

We’re redesigning our repair station. From our last internal tests, we’ve concluded that our current repair station is too small. We’ve decided to separate the repair station into different sections and place them in the correct order to facilitate vehicle repairs.

The repair station is going to contain those interactive stands:

• Rearm
  
• Refuel
  
• Spare parts
  
• Tank Graveyard
  
• Paint stand
  
• HQ
  
• Quartermaster
  
• HR
  

Trenches
We continue to work on trenches, here you can see some work in progress. The next step will be to add objects like wood planks, barbed wire, sandbags, etc. to make trenches look more realistic and to build some specific trenches modules like MG post, PTRD post, anti-tank post, etc. We are simultaneously preparing trenches for gameplay testing by adding infantry to them and placing them in the battle level in strategic places.



Motion Capture Animation
Since we’ve begun to work with the Rokoko Motion Capture suit, we’ve been making new character animations. One of those animations is surrender. In Tank Squad, some soldiers under specific circumstances will surrender.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

And the most important…
We would like to wish you all the best for Christmas and the coming new year! Thank you for being with us this year, and that we could count on your suggestions and support.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 22nd Development Status. Check out our two weeks of work.

Milestone

Currently, a machine park in which players can repair tanks and battle levels are separated from each other. Our biggest task at this moment is to transfer damages that the player’s tank has taken from battle level to machine park and also transfer repaired tank state to the next battle level with its customization and settings. Once we will have that done we will continue to work on the next campaign missions. Right now we are working on two battle levels simultaneously and on the repair station level. All those levels are being tested on regular basis. We are very strict with testing to find out any bugs and to improve gameplay.

For us testing is based on few things:

• Optimization - If the game runs smoothly on our computers.
  
• Pacing - How much time it would take for a player to finish certain objectives.
  
• Balance - How does difficulty escalate, game can’t be too difficult at the beginning and too easy at the end. Also, it can’t be too boring or too intense.
  
• Gameplay - If the game is just fun.
  
• UI - If it is easy to find what to do, how to interact with objects around if we guide intuitively player through the game.
  
• Integrity - How does each gameplay part correlate with other aspects of the game.
  
• Visual - Since the beginning of the production of the game we’ve been focusing mostly on functionality, features, and gameplay design. As we are more confident after all those gameplay tests that our game is fun, we begin to focus more on the visual aspect of the game.
  

Sounds
We’ve finished work on some sounds in the last 2 months.

Weapons:

- Soviet

• SVT-40 Rifle
  
• PPSh41 submachine gun
  
• M1895 Pistol
  
• Maxim MachineGun
  
• DP28 MachineGun
  

- German

• MP40 submachine gun
  
• MauserC96 Pistol
  
• Karabiner98k Rifle
  
• Schmeisser Bergmann MP18 submachine gun
  
• Luger P08 Pistol
  
• PZB Panzerbüchse 39 anti-tank rifle
  

Explosives

• M1A1 Bazooka
  
• Panzerfaust
  
• Hafthohlladung Panzerknacker
  
• Tellermine 42
  
• Springmine 35
  
• TM-35 Mine
  

Vehicles

- T-34/76

• Engine
  
• Cannon shot
  
• DT Machine Gun shots
  

Character Controller

• Walking
  
• Running
  
• Jumping
  
• Aiming
  
• Getting in vehicles through hatches
  
• Picking up objects
  
• Placing objects on vehicles
  
• Taking off objects from vehicles
  
• Basic Inventory
  
• Interaction with crane
  
• Simple character customization
  
• Basic sounds effects
  

Interactive Notebook
In repair station player will have a notebook to manage his tank, squad, resources, etc. It’s still a work in progress and the notebook’s content may vary in the game from what we’re presenting now. Its current content is:

- Tank Status
- To Do list
- Machine Park Info
- Equipment

• Ammo
  
• Fuel
  
• Tools

- Customize Vehicle

• Paint camouflage
  
• Paint Emblem
  
• Paint Numbers
  
• Paint Text

- Next Mission Info
- Tank Squad

• Vehicles
  
• Infantry
  
• Support
  
• Recon
  

Gameplay Repair Tests

- Redesign a machine park

• We are going to make it larger
  
• More space, wider roads
  
• Parking for at least 6 tanks
  
• Fuel Station
  
• Ammo Station
  
• Repair Station
  
• Headquarters
  
• Make enough space for players
  
• Train station
  
• Trucks
  
• Interactive NPC units
  
• Tank parts
  
• New Character: Feldgendarmerie
  

- Improvements in environment

• New vegetation
  
• New props
  
• Fixed collisions
  
• Optimized props
  
• New NPCs with new animations
  

- Sounds

• Footsteps
  
• Crane
  
• Ambient
  

- UI

• Interactive Notebook
  
• Colorful outlines for interactive objects
  
• Ghost objects to show player where to place objects
  
• Changes in key binding
  
• Changes in 2D UI
  

Environment

• Terrain
  
• Terrain materials
  
• Trees
  
• Bushes
  
• Optimization
  

In previous development statuses, we’ve been showing you trees, bushes, and optimization (LODs). This time we’ll focus on terrain materials such as grass, ground, mud, sand, etc. Those materials come from Substance Source Library and we are going to modify them to fit better our environments.



Wallpapers
Recently we’ve been asked by our community members to share our concept arts as wallpapers. You can download high quality Tank Squad wallpapers in our discord. Invitation link below! :)



Thank you and have a good weekend!
DeGenerals