DevLog 3-2

We're continuing our monthly progress report. Let's go over the remaining items.

5.New weapon - Micro Missile Array

This back mounted missile launcher fires a swarm of small missiles that can tear apart anything in any quantity. It's a kill-all button, but it has a very long reload time, so you need to carefully choose the location and moment to launch it to avoid wasting its ammo.

This may be our most controversial weapon right now, and we'll likely continue to tweak its mechanics and role in the future, but for now, this will do.

In total, we already have seven different weapons. This isn't enough for a full-fledged mech sim, but we've only just begun. The project is only three or four months old, in fact, when we talk about full-fledged development and there's still a lot to come.

You can see how it works in the video below:

1. Medium Transport Copter

An aircraft for delivering heavy equipment and large cargo to the battlezone. It can operate in both unmanned and manned modes. Four powerful generators provide enough power to rotate eight propellers, allowing it to lift loads weighing up to 200 tons (though only briefly). This versatile vehicle, with four double grapples, allows it to transport and quickly drop almost any unit except the largest, in any combination. In addition, it is very durable and protected by an autocannon and two side machine guns, and also has anti-missile and anti-drone systems.

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A fairly classic layout, reminiscent of the transport copters from Front Mission, Supreme Commander, and Helldivers 2.

1. Transport copters drop system

The transports in the screenshots above aren't just models; they're already flying and doing their job, as shown in the video:

However, the video itself isn't really important; the mechanics written by my partner are important.

Transports work as part of the unit spawn system. This system will have multiple ways for units to appear, depending on the unit type and the mission circumstances. The main thing is that no unit will ever appear out of thin air (well, landing with a drop pod is practically a spawn out of thin air, but at least it's justified and looks cool).

Transports are almost the same units as tanks and helicopters. The game's AI director orders as many transports as needed to transport the desired number of units. After loading the units, the transports then transport these units to the location, and along the way, they can be shot down upon arriving at the desired location. Transports determine a favorable drop point; they won't drop units on top of other units. Once they find a free spot, the transports fly there, drop units, and eventually fly off to the rally point.

Each unit has its own slot size and transport has 8 slots, which are filled in order. So, before takeoff, the transport and the AI ​​director play Tetris, trying to optimally fill the transport with units.

In addition, transport has a damage model; its turrets can be destroyed, and each engine can be damaged separately. Heavy damage to the engines will lead to the vehicle crashing even if its hull is not yet destroyed.

1. Enemy Wave Spawn System

My partner wrote the system that spawns enemy waves and everything necessary for it to work, including wave setup, spawners, and unit team selection and much more. For demonstration purposes, I recorded uncut gameplay, collecting in it everything we have at this system:

Enemy Wave Spawn System is the first iteration of our AI director, which controls the entire mission, whether procedural or pre-scripted. We based it on a similar system from Space Marine 2, where it works effectively in single-player, PvE missions, and Horde mode.

Currently, the system is capable of generating enemy waves consisting of microwaves. Each microwave is a group of units that spawn at their own time, so the enemies in a wave don't all appear at once, but in small batches in different locations.

Units have a strength value measured in points, and the system is capable of generating waves of specific units or creating waves of a certain strength, randomly selecting their composition from available units, which allows for a completely customizable system. Controlled gameplay for a story mission and something random like Helldivers 2.

The system generates a wave of units and assigns them a team. There's the player's team, and several other teams with different relationships to each other. Some teams can be allies, some enemies, and even teams hostile to both the player and each other can fight each other.

In addition to generating the wave, the system selects spawners. Each unit has its own permitted spawning methods. For example, helicopters fly in from beyond the map, just like transports, small drones can be dropped in capsules or transports, and tanks can only arrive in transports. The system places units in spawners and gives the spawners orders to deploy units in a specific area. The spawners then choose the point in the area where to deploy troops and how. The system also monitors the progress of the battle and reacts to changes.

We'll continue to improve and complicate this system, adding options and new spawners, targets for specific units, and so on.

This is an important milestone for us.

Because now our game isn't just a collection of individual assets called from the console; it now has gameplay, and you can actually play it. (Speaking of which, we still want to work on it before letting people play)

1. New player mech

A small teaser of what else I've been working on this month. A mech simulator is impossible without different mech models, and it's time to expand the garage.

The model isn't finished yet, so this is just an announcement. When it's finished, I'll show you all the details. I can say right away that it'll be a little strange, but I didn't promise our mechs would be harmonious and sci-fi-like like in Gundam

That concludes this monthly report.

Thanks for reading this trove of text.

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