Tank Squad News

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 28th Development Status. Check out our two weeks of work.

Motion Capture
We’ve rented a large room to record animations using motion capture technology. On the floor, we’ve stuck a tape in 8 directions every 45 degrees, which is long enough to make 3 steps. We’ve bought some ASG replicas of Luger, MP40, and Kar98k.

- Walking
- Walking with weapon

• Pistol
  
• Pistol while aiming
  
• Submachine gun
  
• Submachine gun while aiming
  
• Rifle
  
• Rifle while aiming

- Crouching
- Crouching with weapon

• Pistol
  
• Pistol while aiming
  
• Submachine gun
  
• Submachine gun while aiming
  
• Rifle
  
• Rifle while aiming

- Crawling
- Throwing grenade

• Stand
  
• Crouch
  
• Crawl

- Melee combat

• Pistol
  
• Submachine gun
  
• Rifle
  
• Kick

- Fall
- Hand Signals

• Attention
  
• Turn on/off engine
  
• Come to me
  
• Go right/left
  
• Slow down
  
• Stop
  
• Move back

And others,

Overall we’ve recorded over 200 animations.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


New programmer
Two weeks ago our team joined Robert Biały, a new programmer who is responsible for the configuration of vehicles, which includes:

• Assigning correct model parts to its functions (hull, turret, wheels, tracks, engine, etc.)
  
• Assigning collisions
  
• Optimization
  
• Armor system
  
• Penetration of armor depending on the bullet, distance, and angle
  
• Crew slots
  
• Shooting system
  
• Driving system
  
• Configuration of interactive parts
  
• Customizable parts
  
• UI integration
  
• Assigning sounds
  
• Assigning VFX
  
• Configuration of shaders and materials
  
• and much more…
  

Configuration of vehicles for Tank Squad is complicated and it requires a lot of work and skill. Simultaneously we’re working on a vehicle template that will make configuration easier and also we automate some configuration processes.



Stielhandgranate
Stielhandgranate was a German hand grenade easily recognizable by its distinct wooden handle. It was a standard grenade for the German Empire during World War I, and Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II. Its unique appearance led to it being called a "stick grenade", or "potato masher" in British Army slang, and it remains one of the most easily recognized infantry weapons of the 20th century.




VFX inside the tank
The life of the tank's crew it's not always a bed of roses. Here are a few VFX from the gunner's point of view on not very pleasant situations: hitting tank by AP bullet and bullet shot through his visor.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[h2]Dear Tankers,[/h2]

Welcome to our 27th Development Status. You can see what we have been working on for the last two weeks.


DT machine gun

The DT is an extensively modified version of the DP machine gun, intended for tank use. The changes mostly included dimension ones, so that the weapon will fit in the more or less universal gun mounts. The magazine was reduced in width, but made slightly higher, making it accommodate 60 rounds, more than in a standard DP pan magazine. The stock was made collapsible and a pistol grip was added, instead of a wooden fixed stock. Lastly, the barrel shroud and flame suppressor were removed and a ring for the tank mount was added. One feature of the gun is if needed, the gun could be quickly dismounted from the tank, the bipod could be mounted and the stock extended, making the gun usable for infantry purposes.



Data Base

We’ve created a database for the content of the game. It contains the most important information about the campaign, mission, and units. It will improve and optimize workflow and allow us to configure quicker content for the game. For example, now we can set what kind of units with what specific characteristics should spawn. For example, an infantry squad that contains riflemen, AT, leaders, etc.

Trenches

This week we have also continued our work on modular trenches. As you can see on the screenshots below, we have used additional assets such as wooden planks and sandbags to make them look more realistic and attractive to the players.



Animations

We have prepared new animations for PPSH and MP40
[previewyoutube]https://youtu.be/hNneuZI0OJE[/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube]https://youtu.be/uwo5nRwg87s[/previewyoutube]

Impacts
There are some effects of impacts of infantry weapons on different surfaces like concrete, bricks, wood, dry and wet sand, mud and water. VFX artist is currently working on effects of other surfaces like trees, bushes, metals, fabrics and more complex ones, like truck's windows and lights and house's windows.

[previewyoutube]https://youtu.be/F1htIWyiXKc[/previewyoutube]

Thank you and have a good one!
DeGenerals

[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