I've been working on Steel Rain since 2014. At the begining I didn't even planned for this project to be game, yet alone complex real time strategy.
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changedI've been working on Steel Rain since 2014. At the begining I didn't even planned for this project to be game, yet alone complex real time strategy. It was just prototype/personal challange to recreate simulation of tank armor penetration, with precise calculations of hitting spot, angle etc. Project went on nicely and with time it growed organically: tank aiming logic, many tanks shooting each other, some basic ai logic... and soon the idea to make rts of it came to me naturally, as I was always big fan of strategy games, especially those embedded in the realities of the Second World War.
changedIn the next few years of development a lot has changed - game direction, vision for it's future, plans, my daily job, I even moved few times during that period; game started as single player, then I implemented multiplayer, which went surprisingly smoothly; the biggest change in game and challenge at the same time was modding support refactor - this one 'feature' took more than half of whole development time! and I knew it won't be easy, but it was something that had to be done for the vision I had for this project; refactor was enormous because virtually everything had to be reimplemented: how game files are handled, whole assets loading pipeline, also modding tools themselves took a lot of time(map/mission editor, asset editor). To put this into perspective - it's like if you would build three floors of four floor building and then realize you need to completely redo foundations. After this 'refactor' it felt like I basically re-made game from the ground up and it looked and worked kinda worse than at the beginning of refactor :) ( this is related to the fact that completely different technology had to be used for terrain and foliage rendering)
addedDespite those hardships, I believe final effect was worth the effort - game loads basically all it's assets dynamically from hdd, player can design own maps and missions, and change or add own assets easily and in literally few minutes. Some vehicles are too fast? no problem, just change one value in asset editor, wanna add passengers on tanks? No pro... You get the idea, and the idea is to have future-proof foundations.
changedIn the meantime, I came to the conclusion that there's no chance I will be able to make full blown, complex WWII real time strategy by my own, at least not in the scope I was hoping for. It was just too ambitious project to realise without whole dev team working full-time. Solution wasn't hard to figure out: do as much as possible with available resources: make MVP demo of game, with very little content, and focus only on the very core/necessary gameplay features, but to make them as polished as possible.
Steel Rain changes
changedI've been working on Steel Rain since 2014. At the begining I didn't even planned for this project to be game, yet alone complex real time strategy. It was just prototype/personal challange to recreate simulation of tank armor penetration, with precise calculations of hitting spot, angle etc. Project went on nicely and with time it growed organically: tank aiming logic, many tanks shooting each other, some basic ai logic... and soon the idea to make rts of it came to me naturally, as I was always big fan of strategy games, especially those embedded in the realities of the Second World War.
changedIn the next few years of development a lot has changed - game direction, vision for it's future, plans, my daily job, I even moved few times during that period; game started as single player, then I implemented multiplayer, which went surprisingly smoothly; the biggest change in game and challenge at the same time was modding support refactor - this one 'feature' took more than half of whole development time! and I knew it won't be easy, but it was something that had to be done for the vision I had for this project; refactor was enormous because virtually everything had to be reimplemented: how game files are handled, whole assets loading pipeline, also modding tools themselves took a lot of time(map/mission editor, asset editor). To put this into perspective - it's like if you would build three floors of four floor building and then realize you need to completely redo foundations. After this 'refactor' it felt like I basically re-made game from the ground up and it looked and worked kinda worse than at the beginning of refactor :) ( this is related to the fact that completely different technology had to be used for terrain and foliage rendering)
addedDespite those hardships, I believe final effect was worth the effort - game loads basically all it's assets dynamically from hdd, player can design own maps and missions, and change or add own assets easily and in literally few minutes. Some vehicles are too fast? no problem, just change one value in asset editor, wanna add passengers on tanks? No pro... You get the idea, and the idea is to have future-proof foundations.
changedIn the meantime, I came to the conclusion that there's no chance I will be able to make full blown, complex WWII real time strategy by my own, at least not in the scope I was hoping for. It was just too ambitious project to realise without whole dev team working full-time. Solution wasn't hard to figure out: do as much as possible with available resources: make MVP demo of game, with very little content, and focus only on the very core/necessary gameplay features, but to make them as polished as possible.
I've been working on Steel Rain since 2014. At the begining I didn't even planned for this project to be game, yet alone complex real time strategy. It was just prototype/personal challange to recreate simulation of tank armor penetration, with precise calculations of hitting spot, angle etc. Project went on nicely and with time it growed organically: tank aiming logic, many tanks shooting each other, some basic ai logic... and soon the idea to make rts of it came to me naturally, as I was always big fan of strategy games, especially those embedded in the realities of the Second World War.
In the next few years of development a lot has changed - game direction, vision for it's future, plans, my daily job, I even moved few times during that period; game started as single player, then I implemented multiplayer, which went surprisingly smoothly; the biggest change in game and challenge at the same time was modding support refactor - this one 'feature' took more than half of whole development time! and I knew it won't be easy, but it was something that had to be done for the vision I had for this project; refactor was enormous because virtually everything had to be reimplemented: how game files are handled, whole assets loading pipeline, also modding tools themselves took a lot of time(map/mission editor, asset editor). To put this into perspective - it's like if you would build three floors of four floor building and then realize you need to completely redo foundations. After this 'refactor' it felt like I basically re-made game from the ground up and it looked and worked kinda worse than at the beginning of refactor :) ( this is related to the fact that completely different technology had to be used for terrain and foliage rendering)
Despite those hardships, I believe final effect was worth the effort - game loads basically all it's assets dynamically from hdd, player can design own maps and missions, and change or add own assets easily and in literally few minutes. Some vehicles are too fast? no problem, just change one value in asset editor, wanna add passengers on tanks? No pro... You get the idea, and the idea is to have future-proof foundations.
In the meantime, I came to the conclusion that there's no chance I will be able to make full blown, complex WWII real time strategy by my own, at least not in the scope I was hoping for. It was just too ambitious project to realise without whole dev team working full-time. Solution wasn't hard to figure out: do as much as possible with available resources: make MVP demo of game, with very little content, and focus only on the very core/necessary gameplay features, but to make them as polished as possible.
Demo released just before the end of year 2019 is there to download for free on discussion boards. Why don't you try it for yourself and tell me what you think about it? :) I'd like to point out that this demo is just 'taste' of what is the vision, idea for THE WWII strategy, and to show the potential of what Steel Rain could really be. I hope the release of this demo won't be the end of Steel Rain but just the beginning!
If you're interested in learning more about Steel Rain, plans for it's development and current status checkout our public Trello board.
