We have reached the point where the amount of error correction and polishing of existing features outweighs the introduction of new game mechanics. So Episode 5 of Developer Diaries will deal with the testing department’s work and the highest priority key issues to be addressed in upcoming versions. Our future episodes will focus on the game’s appearance by its release date.
How It Works
Many people believe that a tester’s work is an endless boring series of checking the same game components over and over again—and they are probably right. Except that it’s not so boring. What’s more, occasionally testers not only make changes in the game to fix bugs but introduce some functional mini-features. For example, if you have played for a hundred hours and faced one and the same annoying control issue, you can suggest an effective way to solve it. We can recall one such case during the development of Blitzkrieg: previously, double right-clicking selected all units of a certain type on the map. Now they are only selected in the screen area, which allows you to control your forces on two fronts, even with “temporary” squads not assigned to hotkeys.
Especially Evil Errors
The true art of catching errors manifests itself in especially sophisticated situations. For example, we encountered an error that could take down the whole cluster. The cause was not obvious, although players regularly managed to disturb us in our sleep with the issue. It turned out in the end that the error was caused by a specific type of unit collision. If two infantry squads were in a narrow passage that was not wider than a tank and a tank tried to go through them, the infantrymen clipped into each other and brought down the server.
What We Are Working On Right Now
We are constantly fixing many errors and improving existing functions, so we would like to tell you what we are working on right now. It may not be true that we will fix these in the next version (besides, our list of issues is constantly changing), but right now the following set of tasks is at the highest priority:
- A command to attack a target should not be cancelled by a command to move
- Improving the matchmaking situation for everyone
- Solving the issue when an enemy is attacked in a narrow passage by several vehicle units
- Allowing howitzers and mortars to fire at a point and not just a target
- Fixing attack target priorities for all units
- Fixing uncontrolled infantry crawling
- Making the Generals interface more informative and comfortable (from the levelling-up process displayed in the General’s file to XP received based on battle results)
- Player rankings should be displayed in battle
- The type of battle (synchronous or asynchronous) should be clearly shown to players
- Fixing the display of the game version in the main menu
Bugs come in different kinds, and they are fixed by different people (Vitaly, Lead Artist)
Our bugs are boring when compared to those that our testing department encounters. As a rule, we usually have to redraw something. Right now we are getting a lot of routine work like this. I’d like to show you something in particular, but I’m afraid it wouldn't be very interesting. For example, we finished working on Wojtek. Unlike the comic Fool’s Day version, he is now more realistic. Without his anthropomorphic features, he has become an ordinary bear. We are also getting the self-propelled Karl-Gerät mortar ready, but we’ll have to show that a bit later. So, this week the funny GIF image is mine. :)
An Interface Worthy of Generals (Sergey, Interface Designer)
The current implementation of the Generals interfaces could very well be called temporary. The mechanics of obtaining Generals, together with all of the tooltips and skill descriptions, will be greatly improved in next to no time, improved until they’re “dressed to kill.” We will also introduce a user-friendly system for levelling up a General’s skills. :)
The “green frame” currently shows what skill will be upgraded when reaching the next General’s level. We are not planning to remove it. Unavailable skills will become black and white, and explanatory tooltips will contain info like the name of a skill, its strength, upgrade requirements, and its description.
Maps are not without bugs, either (Andrey, Lead Map Designer)
We have worked an awful lot on our battlefields, but there is still a good amount to be done. In addition to our upcoming wayfinding improvement, we have widened passages to make units behave more satisfactory. By the way, some completely unexpected factors have sometimes resulted in extremely strange behaviour on the maps. For example, a sense of beauty previously made one of the map designers (especially when we were working on the Swamp map, everyone’s “favourite”) use a lot of small items, even those sometimes barely visible. So, for example, a small stone in the centre of the road could turn into an insurmountable obstacle when in the path of a battle vehicle, causing the whole crew to fall in a fit.
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