Hi all,
As promised, I've updated the roadmap to reflect the missed and premature goals:
Text Version
These are ETA goals for major features, to get an idea of the progression. Actual times may differ substantially.
Per quarter goals:
- 2 new scenarios
- 5+ player-suggested vehicle parts
2022-Q1:- Pike-nose hulls
- Round turrets
- Multi-turrets
- More flexible hull/turret design
- Custom decals and camo
- Vehicle and part descriptions
Q2:
- Multiple cannons
- Custom battles
- AI & Scenario reworks
- Multi-language support
- Design sharing (Steam Workshop)
Q3:
- Shell designer
- Mod support
Q4:
- Campaign. Features vehicle and resource management. Adds many more concerns when designing.
2023-Q1:
- Multiplayer. Small-scale, no matchmaking.
- Quad (or more?) tracks. OBJ-279/T95 style.
- Wheels
Q2:
- Auto-cannons
- Functioning machine guns
- Auto-loaders
- Oscillating turrets
- Open turrets and hulls
Q3
- AI aircraft + Anti-aircraft scenarios
- Extra gamemodes
- Strv103 suspension
- Steam Achievements
- Mac & Linux support
Q4: Full release
Next Focus
Multi-cannons and custom battles are the next in line, which is a tricky one to prioritize. Multi-cannons will unlock the use of multi-turrets while custom battles will help the sorely lacking purpose for your designs.
After a poll on the Discord server came up with ~75% preferring multi-cannons over custom battles as the next major focus, I think it's worth a compromise. Custom battles can be split in half, with a quick, basic implementation. Then multi-cannons. Then full custom battles with more control over unit placement and defences.
A few more smaller updates until work starts on these.
Campaign
One of the first changes you might notice, this is an expansion on "Vehicle & resource management" on the roadmap V1.
Quite a ways off, but still worth thinking about now.
It has pushed back multiplayer, which I'm sure isn't great news to many of you. Hopefully you'll see the appeal.
Logistics and ergonomics are two quite major design concerns in tank design, both poorly simulated in-game. The campaign will be the fix to that, adding the challenge of designing tanks to be war winners, not just battle winners.
The idea is to get a massive grand strategy, then cut away at it until only the essentials are left and it's possible to do in a reasonable time-frame.
The campaign will follow a section of a war front as it pushes into enemy territory, progressing through several eras while managing a tank battalion under constant resource constraints. Tech will advance, leaving your current vehicles outdated. You'll be in a constant battle between up-to-date designs, mass production and production quality. You'll start picking 4 man crews over 5. You'll pick lighter, more fuel efficient engines, sacrificing some acceleration. I'll go into more detail once it's a little closer but you get the idea.
Exciting stuff, all to come.
- Hamish