Tank Squad News

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 59th Development Status. Lets take a look what happend during Next Fest demo festival!

[h3]Demo Summary[/h3]

First of all, we would like to thank everyone who took part in the Nest Fest festival of demos on Steam and had the chance to play our game! We received a lot of feedback, suggestions and reports that we are still reviewing (because there are so many) and learning from.

Thank you for the conversations, questions and discussions for the whole community on our Discord, Steam Forum etc... Thank you also for the videos/streams of our game on Twitch or YouTube.



Releasing a playable version, in this case a demo version, was very important to us. We are aware of bugs, things that are still broken or the amount of content. Our goal was for you to be able to give you something that we are still working on with some missions and tanks. We are very happy that we have managed to deliver a playable game and show you almost 3 years of progress.

The overall feedback we have received from you can be summarized into few most important issues:

• focus on adding multiple-player crews in single vehicle
  
• focus on better optimization, so the game runs smoother
  
• focus on tank controls and physics
  
• focus on ballistics and penetration simulation
  
• focus on improving AI vehicles and infantry behaviour
  

[h3]Whats next?[/h3]

At the moment we plan to keep the demo available. If we decide to take it down, we will let you know well in advance.

We are planning to run playtests on Steam in the near future to test new things and suggestions from the community. Initially around December. We will let you know - for sure! :)

[h3]Beutepanzer[/h3]

One of the things that was possible in the demo was to capture and repair wrecks after completing missions in the campaign with Soviet tanks, i.e. KV-1 and T-34/76. However, we did not have time to introduce fully functional tank customisation. Nevertheless, below is an example of what you will be able to do with a captured tank in the game - in this case a T-34/76, i.e. a PzKpfw T-34 747(r).



The Germans, who introduced the units into their army, designated the T-34 as the Panzerkampfwagen 747(r). According to the literature, the acquired T-34s took part in Operation Citadel in 1943, and Das Reich units had a dozen of them in stock. Would you like them to be available at the start of the campaign? Let us know what you think in the comments.



The KV-1 heavy tank was also used under the designation Pz.Kpfw. KW I 756(r). More about this probably in the next development status.

In addition to the most important things, there will certainly be more content, more missions, even if you're not just playing as Germans, etc. etc.

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Our first demo update is out! Check the changelog below for more info:

Demo Update #1

Fixed:

• Fixed error with trying to leave turretless vehicle on repair section
  
• Pz IIIM and PZ IVH visualizations of engine and turret
  
• Adding queue to tree damage synchronization
  
• An error while loading main menu and game detected that there is no settings.cfg file
  
• Minimap position of markers to match minimap texture
  
• Sounds for Pz IIIM and Pz IVH engines should now not only play idle sound
  
• Battle Progress GUI Item
  
• Vector Aiming setting
  
• Assigned missing DamageableData to all damageables
  
• Footsteps volumes (added limiter)
  

Added:

• Invert Y axis for FPP (when walking as character, when in interior mode (vehicle) or in commander mode)
  
• New sound to T-34 engine
  
• New sound to KV-1 engine
  
• Two version outskirts of morton
  
• Morton Defence, endless infantry squad that support the tanks
  
• Morton Outskirts, Added additional spawning slots and rotated the spawn
  

Improved:

• Outskirts of Morton, added second main objective
  
• Infantry, AA, AT, Static MG indicators
  
• Aim movement smooth for Tiger I in max zoom / fov setting
  

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

We would like to invite you for Steam Next Fest broadcast of Tank Squad, which will take place tomorrow (13.10.2023) at 10:00 AM (CEST) on our Steampage.

We can't wait to see you there!

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

[h2]The long-awaited Tank Squad demo is now available![/h2]



We decided to make it available a few days before Steam Next Fest. A tutorial, campaign and skirmish mode are available to you. You can see the full contents of the demo in the list below:

Game modes:

• Campaign (single player and cooperative)
  
• Skirmish missions (single player and in cooperative)
  

German Demo Campaign including, 3 missions:

• Battle of Steppes
  
• Outskirts of Morton
  
• Morton Defense
  

All these missions can be played as a campaign and skirmish scenarios in single player or can be hosted as a session and be played with your friends in cooperative mode.

Tutorial, 2 missions

• Repairs
  
• Battle
  

Vehicles

• PzKpfw VI Ausf. H1 "Tiger I"
  
• PzKpfw IV Ausf. H
  
• PzKpfw III Ausf. M
  
• KV-1 (only playable when you take it over after a battle in campaign mode)
  
• T34-76 (only playable when you take it over after a battle in campaign mode)
  

We look forward to your feedback. Check out our discord where you can share your suggestions and find other players willing to play co-op!

Link to the discord below

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 58th Development Status. You can see what we were working on in three weeks!

[h3]Headquarters[/h3]


We are updating the UI for the Repair section of the game. The most important place to go is the HQ. This is where you start your next mission. You will be able to start the mission at any time*, but the game will remind you to prepare properly before the mission starts. So, repair what you can, choose appropriate ammo presets, etc.



*The only exception is when you do not have a single combat ready vehicle. This is the only mission blocker at this moment.


[h3]Quartermaster[/h3]


Next very important place is the Quartermaster. Here you can get new replacements for your lost vehicles or replenish infantry squads. This is the place to manage both owned and reserved force pool.

[h3]Force Pool[/h3]


For vehicles, this is the place on the Repair Station where you can spawn a vehicle. You can also use this menu to check which vehicles are ready and which need to be repaired. Captured and wrecked vehicles are also listed here.

[h3]Fries Kran 16t - crane controls[/h3]


The next screen is when we control the crane. A simple theme, several buttons telling you what pressing which one will do what.


[h3]Performance issues[/h3]


Performance and network issues have been the main focus of the last month. These are mainly for HDD users, as they only prevent the player from joining or creating a session the first time (in single player). SSD works fine. In order to play correctly, they simply need to close and restart the game.

We have started to trace the problem. It seems that at some point during loading, the game freezes for more than 10 seconds. 10 seconds is the maximum time that our multiplayer engine will allow to be disconnected from its cloud.

So this is a struggle to reduce load times and look for bottlenecks. So the freeze has to be spread out over more seconds of load time.

It is hard, but we have to solve these problems first. Even if we want to add more gameplay features or more vehicles. We simply cannot afford to ignore these issues.

[h3]Environment update on C1M2[/h3]


Work on the visual aspect of the map, which was divided into two missions, has been completed. The map has been carefully developed and designed to provide the player with a rich and realistic environment that captures the context of World War II on the Eastern Front.


The first mission focuses on capturing the fortified village of Luchki. The topography of the village, its defense system and key strategic points have been precisely mapped on the map, allowing the player to plan and strategize effectively.


The second mission focuses on moving tanks towards the airport in Luchki. The routes and obstacles on their way have been marked appropriately, and the mission target - the airport - is clearly marked on the map.



[h3]Notepad[/h3]


The last item to be swapped is the notebook, where we have handy access to information about units, vehicles and their crews. For example, we can use the notebook to order repairs at the repair station.


At this point, a new notebook model has been implemented in the game. The next stage is to design the interface visible on it - lettering, font, buttons. So that the whole thing is consistent with each other.


In the last picture the current state, don't get used to this layout, it will be different. If you have any ideas on how you would see it, let us know in the comments what you think, we'd love to read and get into a discussion.



Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals