Hi Everyone,

It's been a full week since the store page went live on Steam, and I'm super excited by all the wishlists and feedback so far! I wanted to give everyone an update on the game's progress: what I've been working on and what's next.

What I've been working on the last week: Explosion ground deformation

Before this update, ground explosions vanished the instant they went off and left no trace. Now, bombs form craters when they hit the ground, and if the crater is big enough, your infantry can use it as cover.

Building destruction now also uses physics to blow off props like water towers and air conditioning units as buildings take damage. I've also added debris that piles up around the base of destroyed buildings.

A new mission type: Escort

Your job is to escort an elder into a town where a meeting is planned. The enemy is hell-bent on stopping that meeting from happening. You'll need to get the elder to the meeting safely and then defend the meeting site from attack. You're rewarded twice during this mission: once when he arrives at the meeting, and again when the meeting is completed.

A new Map type: Strait

This map type is still very early in development. It's the most distinctive of the procedurally generated maps I've built so far, so I'm holding off on talking about its unique gameplay elements, since many of them will change as I playtest. The Strait features two land masses split down the middle by a large body of water, and I'm adding new watercraft for both the player and the enemy. I've been working on the water textures and will soon start on the 3D modeling for the watercraft I have planned.

What's next

Playtest:

My top priority is getting a playtest build into players' hands so I can gather feedback. I want to make sure things feel fun and balanced, and of course squash some bugs while we're at it. The build should be ready in the next day or two. After that, I'll submit it to Steam for review, and I'm hoping to open the playtest sometime next week, though that depends largely on Steam's approval process.

For the playtest, I've disabled most of the procedural generation features so we can focus on gameplay and bugs. That said, you'll be able to change the difficulty, use every vehicle except the watercraft, and play co-op. I'll likely start with a small group and expand from there as we verify everything works.