Following the recent updates, today brings only a few quick, minor bugfixes: Bugfixes The calculation for the Homing Missile's targeting has been further refined to account for gravity over the remainder of the flight path. In Big Picture Mode, the Steam keyboard could sometimes
Following the recent updates, today brings only a few quick, minor bugfixes:
Bugfixes
The calculation for the Homing Missile's targeting has been further refined to account for gravity over the remainder of the flight path.
In Big Picture Mode, the Steam keyboard could sometimes reopen immediately after being closed if the mouse cursor was positioned over the respective text input field and the Right Trigger (RT) on the gamepad was still pressed. This issue should now be resolved.
Today's update brings a few quality-of-life improvements for added convenience, specifically zoom and auto-scroll, along with a few other things. Before we get to the heart of the matter, a brief word on the thematic background: For nostalgic reasons, the game tries to emulate a
Today's update brings a few quality-of-life improvements for added convenience, specifically zoom and auto-scroll, along with a few other things.
Before we get to the heart of the matter, a brief word on the thematic background: For nostalgic reasons, the game tries to emulate a vertical height of 200 pixels from the old 320x200 VGA resolution, so-called "Mode 13h". Even though we know that not everyone likes this, all of this was and remains intended. For matches on large maps, there is a (manual) scroll function to shift the view sideways. Admittedly, that was more of a hassle than anything else.
Feature updates
We have gone ahead and now added a zoom feature for matches where the game world exceeds the screen size. In doing so, we’re also addressing community requests again, at least between the lines. We remain of the opinion that the huge virtual pixels on your screens are not an argument for this, no, that pixelated look is still intentional. But we ourselves certainly agree that it can be sensible and convenient to be able to grasp the world in its full expanse at a single glance.
However, the virtual resolution remains limited to multiples of whole physical pixels. Consequently, there is no continuous zoom, but the world can be zoomed out in whole pixel-size steps. Rendering pixelated graphics on a subpixel-filtered level would be blurry und look like crap.
In addition to the manual scrolling and new zoom capability, we have added another quality-of-life feature: automatic scrolling.
In matches played on large maps, especially in simultaneous and real-time modes, it can be stressful trying to locate your own tank or keep track of the action with all the projectiles and explosions. While the zoom feature has kind of solved this issue, there is now also an auto-scroll function that keeps the focus on your tank, bombs, and "booms".
Players can still grab the view themselves as usual, auto-scroll is then deactivated for a certain amount of time.
On a completely different note, we have switched from legacy DirectInput to Steam Input. Since Steam tended to intercept game controller inputs anyway, controller functionality may have been somewhat impaired recently, aside from Steam's own built-in mouse emulation. This change should resolve those issues and make gamepad controls more "complete" and feel a bit more "native" again now.
Visual updates
We have also added input hints and controller glyphs here and there for use with game controllers. For now, we have limited this to Xbox glyphs. Other controller types will work, but the glyphs might not yet match perfectly (e.g., PlayStation controllers). Glyph support for these will be added later. Steam input devices are essentially a superset of the Xbox layout, so their glyphs should already match anyway.
As part of the improved scrolling, we incorporated parallax effects for the firmament and celestial bodies, as well as perspective-based water movement, rather than simply shifting the entire finished scene left and right in a crude manner.
To make it even clearer which tank is yours, we have also introduced a bouncing arrow that briefly indicates the active tank at the start of each turn.
It’s hardly worth mentioning, but we’ve made some very minor visual tweaks to the Settings menu in a few places.
Do you remember what we said in our last minor updates some weeks ago, that we still have quite some possibilities for further development in the pipeline? Well, party people, here we are now with a few feature updates, in order of increasing dramatic intensity: Feature updates V
Do you remember what we said in our last minor updates some weeks ago, that we still have quite some possibilities for further development in the pipeline? Well, party people, here we are now with a few feature updates, in order of increasing dramatic intensity:
Feature updates
Vertical Rocket has been renamed and is now called Vertical Strike or simply V-Strike. That’s all there is to say about this.
The Homing Missile no longer drags your shell towards the target like a gravity well, it now actually steers it. The guidance turns the missile instead of accelerating it, so it corrects your aim without whipping the shell around the target at the last moment.
The correction is strongest early in the flight, while there is still time to act, and fades out as the missile closes in. That makes the missile do what it always promised: it takes a shot that is slightly off and puts it on target, saving you the turn you would otherwise spend zeroing in. A shot that is way off still misses, but it now misses for reasons you can see.
Terrain still blocks the guidance a bit, so you can keep lobbing missiles out of a valley and over a ridge without them diving into the slope, they pick the target back up once they crest it.
The price is unchanged. It now buys something you can plan around.
Previously, the Goo Shot caused an affected tank's barrel to become "sticky", meaning it couldn't be moved for the very next turn. That has now changed: it’s no longer just one turn, but ... Hold your breath! ... two turns. Ba-dum tss!
Seriously: The idea behind this weapon is awesome, but tactically it didn't offer much value, despite its relatively low price, so it rarely was used at all so far. One turn just isn't enough to create quite a meaningful tactical impact that would make it preferable to, say, a simple "ping" from the free Incinerator or whatever. Nope. In addition, you can almost always find a way to bridge a single turn, whether by using a weapon that doesn't require pivoting the barrel (like an Airstrike), using weapon add-ons for assisted targeting (Homing Missile, V-Strike), or simply by offering a draw. Plus, it’s not uncommon to simply repeat your last shot effectively. There you go!
It’s a different story when you have to bridge two turns, though: You can't offer a second draw. Airstrikes, Homing Missiles, and V-Strikes aren't exactly cheap; using two of them just to bypass a "sticky" cannon is costly and really kinda hurts your purse. And while repeating the last shot might work once, the odds of pulling off a third nearly identical shot are significantly lower. And so on. Sure, you could combine these approaches to bridge two turns, maybe, but the goal is not to leave no way out at all. It's simply to make the Goo Shot a bit more viable and attractive. I hope that makes sense.
Whether two turns are truly "enough" remains to be seen, and also, what the general balancing looks like, because, on the other hand, we hope the weapon hasn't been over-boosted as a result now. Thus, the price has been raised from 100 to 300 because the weapon is no longer just a gimmick for trolling, but now has genuine tactical value. And to further emphasize that tactical aspect, the damage per goo clod has been reduced from a range of 1–2 to a fixed 1. Have fun "gooing"!
Now! Napalm Bomb and Atomic Nuke are finally getting a damage-over-time effect! Why did it take so long? Seriously, a Napalm Bomb without fire? Who came up with that? Some game designer who isn't actually a game designer, presumably.
But during one of our recent sessions, a friend who wasn't yet very familiar with the game wondered why the Napalm Bomb didn't deal damage over time (DoT). And right he was! In fact, this was something we had always intended to address. Now we have.
The Napalm Bomb is also one of those weapons that hadn't seen much use so far. Perhaps that will change now that a tactical effect has been added. We’ll have to see how the balancing plays out.
Based on our research, we tried to structure the split between direct damage and damage over time so that it doesn't significantly impact the balancing regarding expected average damage, allowing players to focus more on the tactical effect instead. That’s also why we haven't changed the price for the time being.
It all sounds simple enough at first, but there is so much more to say about it: It highlights other weapons and items that tend to be (tactical) outliers as well, such as the Dirt Ball/Blast for (temporarily) "extinguishing" a fire now (despite the potential side effects of being "buried"), or a Teleporter (ideally combined with a Parachute) for simply making a quick escape (since a DoT effect is tied to the terrain, not to a tank that was hit).
Since we really love the DoT concept, we felt it would be a shame to limit it to just the Napalm Bomb. So, we took the Atomic Nuke and gave it a DoT effect as well, even though it was already a frequently used weapon. With the Atomic Nuke, of course, it’s not about blazing fire, but ionizing radiation. Awesome! We left the Hydrogen Nuke unchanged, however, because we wanted it to remain a potential one-shot kill weapon, provided the circumstances are right. Besides, thermonuclear fusion bombs actually produce significantly less radiation than nuclear fission bombs, even though they are triggered by a fission reaction. Not that I want to start a technical physics debate here. Ultimately, this is a video game, so it’s not about realism, but about what makes sense for gameplay and is fun.
For the visual effects, we once again tried to walk a tightrope between pixelated old-school graphics and more modern-ish effects, just as we did in the rest of the game. We think it turned out quite well.
Visual updates
Lighting effects now feature a bit more local variation.
Bugfixes
There was some potential "vector subscript out of range" error hidden somewhere when counting weapons in a player's arsenal. But actually, this error only existed in the debug build, not the release build. So it’s not really worth mentioning, but let’s pat ourselves on the back anyway.
We are so excited! As always, please let us know if you find any bugs. And right now, please also get in touch if anything about the game balancing bothers you. The changes weren't actually supposed to be all that drastic. However, we realize that we may well have introduced some instability into the game's balancing as a result. Unfortunately, given our limited resources of such a small hobby project, we can't play thousands of matches to perfectly fine-tune the balancing. Even having AI players run through many rounds in "fast-forward" mode yields only limited information. We rely on Steam statistics (these are non-personalized, no worries), though they don't tell us much beyond which weapons are used and how often, or more importantly, on your feedback. Thank you! And have fun!
Here’s another quick update. If you wanted to be uncharitable, you could call it a bugfix, but we’d rather frame it as a feature update because that sounds more positive. Feature updates To avoid melting your graphics cards, which would be a real shame, especially for a game with
Here’s another quick update. If you wanted to be uncharitable, you could call it a bugfix, but we’d rather frame it as a feature update because that sounds more positive.
Feature updates
To avoid melting your graphics cards, which would be a real shame, especially for a game with such modest requirements, we’ve finally enabled VSync. Once again, many thanks to the community here as well! Bottoms up!
And do you remember what we said in our last minor update a few weeks ago, that the game was nearly feature-complete? Yes, but we also mentioned, however, that we still have quite some possibilities for further development in the pipeline. Well, that’s exactly what we’re working on right now. Don't worry, the changes won't be too drastic. But, as we know, it's the little things that bring joy to life. So, stay tuned!
If you thought this game was dead, you were mistaken. It’s just that we consider it to be nearly feature-complete. Of course, we still have plenty of possibilities for further development in the pipeline, and good ideas sometimes come from the community as well. But we always hav
If you thought this game was dead, you were mistaken. It’s just that we consider it to be nearly feature-complete. Of course, we still have plenty of possibilities for further development in the pipeline, and good ideas sometimes come from the community as well. But we always have to consider how new features might impact existing elements, and, being a hobby project, limited resources are another factor to contend with.
Anyway, last week we played another internal round and ran into a bug. Of course, that had to be fixed with priority. So, here we are:
Bugfixes
For stability reasons, projectile speed is capped at a specific rate, specifically 1,000 pixels per tick. Previously, this was achieved by limiting the magnitude of the velocity vector whenever the speed would have otherwise exceeded the limit. However, this could result in the vertical velocity component having almost no influence anymore if the horizontal velocity was many times higher, for instance, due to "bouncy" walls or strong winds. To rectify this, only the horizontal velocity component is now capped (since gravity normally handles the vertical velocity anyway, and we shouldn't interfere with that).
So much for that, in all “brevity”. As always: if you find any bugs, please let us know! We would be very grateful. We will try to reproduce them and, once confirmed, fix them as quickly as possible.
After a long time there is finally an update with some minor adjustments and fixes: Feature updates AI players now "fake" some thinking time to avoid shooting too fast in real-time matches. The thinking time depends on the skill level of the respective AI player. After "faking" s
After a long time there is finally an update with some minor adjustments and fixes:
Feature updates
AI players now "fake" some thinking time to avoid shooting too fast in real-time matches. The thinking time depends on the skill level of the respective AI player.
After "faking" some thinking time and before an AI player finally fires his/her shot, it is briefly checked whether the selected alternative is still valid/meaningful. If not, a new shot is calculated.
The AI trait "Jelly Monkey" primarily considers the victory count and secondarily the difference between kills and deaths (not just the number of kills alone) when selecting the "best" shot.
A tank now earns money for winning a round with less than 10 energy left.
Napalm Bomb cost reduced from $ 475 to $ 450.
Tesla Bomb cost reduced from $ 1.500 to $ 999 and damage radius increased from 3 pixels to 4 pixels.
Goo Shot blast power increased from 7 to 11. This is the power with which fragments are flung away from a detonation (usually dirt clods, but in the case of a Goo Shot, those sticky clods that can glue a tank's cannon).
Visual updates
The "white flag" of a draw offer now waves more or less quickly depending on the current wind strength.
Bugfixes
When a tank dies an out-of-control death, newly spawned bombs are now selected correctly depending on the tank's current arsenal (previously the indices were partially mixed up).
Now "total silence" for the start of the next player's turn also accounts for falling tanks (not just detonations, flying bombs, etc.).
Hello everyone, Exactly four years ago today, the groundbreaking ceremony for the game's development took place. And this day we have now used to leave Early Access. We are of the opinion that there is no longer need for fundamental changes. However, this does not mean that we wi
Hello everyone,
Exactly four years ago today, the groundbreaking ceremony for the game's development took place. And this day we have now used to leave Early Access.
We are of the opinion that there is no longer need for fundamental changes. However, this does not mean that we will not continue to care. If we see the need to change certain things or even add new features, we will of course do so. We will also be happy if you tell us about any bugs or other problems so that we can hopefully address them as soon as possible.
Good news, everyone: Tank Wars: Anniversary Edition is now "COVID-ready"! Better late than never: Feature updates In addition to LAN mode, we have implemented another networked multiplayer mode based on Steam Networking that allows you to play with your friends over the Internet.
Good news, everyone: Tank Wars: Anniversary Edition is now "COVID-ready"! Better late than never:
Feature updates
In addition to LAN mode, we have implemented another networked multiplayer mode based on Steam Networking that allows you to play with your friends over the Internet.
It was a deliberate decision to limit this mode to players who you are friends with on Steam. There are many reasons for this, but the two most relevant are the following:
Tank Wars: Anniversary Edition is still best played as a hotseat match on a Saturday evening with some friends. The main intentions for networked multiplayer mode(s) at all were to enable simultaneous mode and real-time mode against each other and to address unfavorable room situations with regard to input and output devices with several players. While the first is more of a "gimmick", the second aspect is becoming more important with spatial separation in the COVID-19 situation, which increases the need specifically for an Internet-based mode. However, the friend aspect remains: One of the main factors for maximum fun is playing off different human characters against each other. This is not really possible with unknown counterparties. When in doubt, this decision should be left to the players themselves, but then it comes to the second reason:
Tank Wars: Anniversary Edition is a niche product and not very popular. Finding unknown playmates could be quite frustrating. Using various channels to find interested friends instead should be more promising. To finally close the circle again: the Internet mode is mainly intended to overcome the COVID-related spatial separation of friends in a preferably classic (turn-based) match.
We didn't want to delay the Internet mode even more, but still: if you notice bugs or other problems, please let us know. Have fun!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The Christkind has granted us two new game options: Feature updates "Keep weapons/items on death": If this option is not activated, a tank will lose one copy per weapon/item when it dies. (Tanks which did not get a turn at all are spared.) "W
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The Christkind has granted us two new game options:
Feature updates
"Keep weapons/items on death": If this option is not activated, a tank will lose one copy per weapon/item when it dies. (Tanks which did not get a turn at all are spared.)
"Weapons/items can be sold": If this option is not activated, purchased weapons/items can no longer be sold.
Today there is a quick little update: Feature updates Steam achievements have been added and enabled, a whole bunch of them. Bugfixes A bug where the Tesla Bomb did not cause any damage has been fixed.
Today there is a quick little update:
Feature updates
Steam achievements have been added and enabled, a whole bunch of them.
Bugfixes
A bug where the Tesla Bomb did not cause any damage has been fixed.
First of all, I am sorry that the update has been a long time coming. But we did a major revision and, for example, completely renewed the AI system. And extensive activities are not so easy for a private hobby project with a full-time job and family in mind. However, we have tri
First of all, I am sorry that the update has been a long time coming. But we did a major revision and, for example, completely renewed the AI system. And extensive activities are not so easy for a private hobby project with a full-time job and family in mind. However, we have tried to respond to community wishes as much as possible, provided that they did not conflict with our own opinion (for example, we already implemented game options for making the initial money and the per-round earnings configurable per player, but then took that out again because we felt it would negatively affect armory development during a match). This is what we've been doing for the past few months:
Feature updates
The AI system has been completely renewed. Not only can the basic skill level be set for each AI player as before, but now also different character traits. We hope that this will address some community requests for the "old" AI features, but also that the AI behavior has become more meaningful in principle: for example, AI players would now upgrade their tanks and buy and use more strategic weapons (i.e., Airstrike) and items (i.e., Defense System).
A new game option has been added: "out-of-control deaths". This is to address a community request, and we ourselves think the new feature is absolutely awesome: if a tank receives enough "pressure", it not just smokes and explodes, but it might go "furious" and, as an unwanted last act in life, release a whole bunch of dangerous bomb shells to the environment.
A new game option has been added: "wall type unknown until evident". This goes hand in hand with the fulfillment of a community wish that the wall type should be recognizable: additional information has been added to the statistics window (Tab key), including the wall type (depending on the wall settings and the new option being set or not).
We got rid of the somehow annoying "cash money" sound (this was also a community request) and replaced the sound for earning EP. Actually, the EP sound is more of a tank-died sound now, as the new sound doesn't play when EP is earned but when a tank dies. Some other sounds have been slightly revised.
The Defense System has been tuned a bit and a fabulous sound has been added for it.
The in-game chat has been slightly improved (networked multiplayer mode).
Bugfixes
A bug in the XML component has been fixed where double and single quotes might have bothered each other in savegames.
Some bugs in the AI logic have been fixed. But the entire AI system has been redesigned, so whatever.
The networked multiplayer mode has been slightly improved in general. However, in wild situations it can still be a bit choppy. The game shouldn't be a network game at first, so it's a bit tricky to integrate this functionality in retrospect. But it works, kind of.
Some "minor" bugs have been fixed that caused null-pointer exceptions or invalid memory accesses in certain situations. We recently let 8 AI players play against each other for several hours and we didn't find any more errors, and they also eagerly bought and used weapons and upgraded their tanks etc.
It is not yet certain what we will do next. We still look forward to feedback and suggestions for improvement of any kind. And if you find bugs, please let us know so that we can track them down and fix them. Perhaps we will expand the networked multiplayer mode in accordance with Corona so that Internet games are also possible. This is not a promise, just a possible direction we could take. It remains exciting.
Every now and then we come to a few improvements: Feature updates A first draft of the in-game chat has been added. Bugfixes Networked multiplayer mode (LAN) has been improved (but still beta).
Every now and then we come to a few improvements:
Feature updates
A first draft of the in-game chat has been added.
Bugfixes
Networked multiplayer mode (LAN) has been improved (but still beta).
We just deployed a first beta version of the LAN mode. Feature updates Networked multiplayer mode (LAN) is in beta now: It could still be a bit jerky. And the in-game chat is not implemented yet.
We just deployed a first beta version of the LAN mode.
Feature updates
Networked multiplayer mode (LAN) is in beta now: It could still be a bit jerky. And the in-game chat is not implemented yet.
Happy New Year everybody! We are still working on the networked multiplayer mode. In the meantime, we deployed some minor changes and fixes: Feature updates The Plasma Melter is slightly bigger now. The Sequence Bomb doesn't come with overlapping sounds and lights anymore. For re
Happy New Year everybody!
We are still working on the networked multiplayer mode. In the meantime, we deployed some minor changes and fixes:
Feature updates
The Plasma Melter is slightly bigger now.
The Sequence Bomb doesn't come with overlapping sounds and lights anymore.
For real-time matches, an optional "action cooldown" has been introduced that can be used alternatively to or together with round/turn timers.
For classic (turn-based) matches, the turn order of the players has been improved.
The "intelligence" of AI players has been worsened.
The lights of the tanks changed from point lights to spot lights.
The calculation for the total ambient illumination intensity has been updated.
Water reflections have been updated.
Bugfixes
A bug where the match wouldn't proceed to the next round has been fixed.
Happy New Year everybody! We are still working on the networked multiplayer mode. In the meantime, we deployed some minor changes and fixes: Feature updates The Plasma Melter is slightly bigger now. The Sequence Bomb doesn't come with overlapping sounds and lights anymore. For re
Happy New Year everybody!
We are still working on the networked multiplayer mode. In the meantime, we deployed some minor changes and fixes:
Feature updates
The Plasma Melter is slightly bigger now.
The Sequence Bomb doesn't come with overlapping sounds and lights anymore.
For real-time matches, an optional "action cooldown" has been introduced that can be used alternatively to or together with round/turn timers.
For classic (turn-based) matches, the turn order of the players has been improved.
The "intelligence" of AI players has been worsened.
The lights of the tanks changed from point lights to spot lights.
The calculation for the total ambient illumination intensity has been updated.
Water reflections have been updated.
Bugfixes
A bug where the match wouldn't proceed to the next round has been fixed.
