Our Latest Developer Meeting: Updates to Features, 2.5D Map, & a Challenging AI

Each weekend our team gets together over Zoom to discuss development progress on the game. This weekend we discussed the new features we are implementing in 0.4.0 and how they are to work. The first one was Responsive Fire. If you're not familiar with this function, it's when it’s the AI's turn and they move their units into combat range of your forces that are in Line Formation. Each time an enemy unit moves, no matter the distance, 25 yards or 100 yards, your units will fire on that unit. Now this might be very useful if the unit is retreating, inflicting heavy casualties on key enemy units, but useless if it’s an outpost of 50 men at 100 yards encouraging your entire Brigade to fire at every moment, wasting the precious ammo your brigades contain. So when you reach the British or Hessian Regular Regiments, you're low on ammo.

Steam post image So we countered this by allowing you to turn off Responsive Fire at the Company, Regiment, Brigade, and even Division & Army Commander levels. We wanted to alleviate the player from having to go to every unit in a Division or Brigade and their subsequent companies to turn off Responsive Fire. Just click the Division Commander, turn off Responsive Fire, and you won't have to go on a click fest. This feature is now fully implemented.

Next up on the list was adding the Division Leader. We found portraits for both General Nathaniel Greene and General John Sullivan that we will utilize for the Division Commanders during the Battle of Trenton & Princeton. We decided their rally capability will be slightly less effective than George Washington’s, mainly because of our belief that if soldiers see the Army Commander rallying the troops, it goes much further than when you see your Division Commander. Reflecting on my own military experience, when the Full Bird Colonel gave a speech, everyone understood the importance of having such a high-ranking officer address the unit than a lower ranking officer giving the same brief.

Another portion of the meeting revolved around how to overcome unforeseen situations when, let’s say, your brigade moves in front of a building, hill, or mountain. How would you know next turn where they are? It may be possible some players would forget about the unit, so we implemented a plan where if a unit is behind these objects, the hexes (building, hill, mountain) would be transparent and have a blue (American) or red (British) indicator to ensure that the player doesn't miss seeing these units.

Ben, our junior programmer, has been on a roll finding bugs in the demo. One example is if your American units do make it to town before the Hessians are alerted, they can be charged and overwhelmed without alerting the rest of the units in different parts of the town, ensuring that complete surprise that happened on that day.

In regards to the Trenton map’s conversion to 2.5D, we are about 98% finished. The only items that need to be added are placing the houses and homes, as well as the bridge we have for Trenton, placed per the historical map drawn in 1776. Once that's inserted into the engine, we will be showcasing new footage on social media with this new map. We can't wait to showcase it to you. Our incredible artist, Sophia, is already working on the Princeton map. After that she has another map she will be working on, which will be an amazing surprise to you when we release the game into Early Access. One tip: I’m a huge fan of last-stand fights, and that's all I'll say.

Our lead programmer, James, will be taking on the monumental task of developing a complex and innovative AI opponent. We discussed this huge addition to the game at length because it's very crucial. We want a AI that can challenge the best strategy gamer. And based on all that I know of American Revolution War Generals From Greene to Cornwallis, knowledge gained through books, documentaries, historian commentaries, etc., I tried to put myself into the shoes of these innovative commanders and how they would act in certain scenarios. So we are basing our AI on the most proper and effective tactics these Generals would employ. Now, of course, down the road as we release different scenarios, we will adjust the AI to fit how different commanders would react based on their strategic abilities. But suffice it to say, we settled on the main factors of what a capable 18th-century general would execute against an enemy on the field of battle.

On my end, I’ve been doing a lot of research, going through numerous books, references, documentaries, etc., to address weapon accuracy of the numerous weapons we plan to have in the game, from the Brown Bess Musket, Hesse-Kassel Musket, as well as the Jaeger Rifle, American Long Rifle, etc., and how the accuracy of those weapons would interact with the health, morale, and organization stats of each unit’s soldiers. Our ultimate goal is to have the most perfect formula to simulate the closest, most exact casualties inflicted by a unit with X weapon, X health, X organization, and X morale with at X Distance and X Terrain. We are planning to reach out to some highly accredited American Revolution authors and get their feedback on our formulas and whether they embody the exact historical accuracy you expect in an American Revolution strategy game.

Another area we have been devoting our time is collecting the names of all the Officers that were present during each battle, as in a future release we plan to add a very exciting feature we think you'll love.

Also, I’m sure if you played the demo, you’re tired of the same old sound effects when American and Hessian units fire on one another. Don’t worry, we are rolling out many more sound effects for firing, but also including a wealth of new ones for charging, sound effects for when soldiers are fighting in a melee, panic commands for retreating & routing situations, as well as commander rally sound effects so you get that bit of immersion when George Washington shouts, “Rally to me!”

Now some of you might be asking, it’s been months since the demo came out and there's no news on the game's release. Well, I know many game developers would say, “It’ll be done when it’s done,” but what I’ll say is you won’t have to wait too much longer. There are a few feature items we still need to tackle, such as adding artillery to the game and going deeper into historical research of British units during the Battle of Trenton and another battle, going into finer detail of what American, Hessian, British morale, organization, and overall health status were during a set moment in the battle. But we're making a great deal of progress. Just give us a bit more time, and we'll give you an American Revolution game to remember. Once we launch, expect repeated updates, new units, new scenarios, etc., on a frequent basis.

Oh and if you are a Patreon Continental General Tier member or higher, you are able to attend these developer meetings live, provide your own feedback or watch the recorded sessions afterward to follow the game’s progress in depth. Click Here To Visit Our Patreon For More Glorious Cause News.