Hi everyone,
ironic news posts aside, development has been really slow for the last few years. The sad reality is that developing a mod has a massive time cost and it doesn't pay the bills!
Things are a bit more positive now though, I should have enough time to get things into a releasable state and a stable enough real life to make a viable push for release over the next few months. I'll get some screenshots of progress as things get done but right now there's four main priorities:
Fix the art:
Units look bad by modern standards. I don't mean AAA quality graphics but I'm better at art than I was in the past and I can make the units look a lot better now.
This also applies to the buildings. The designs aren't great and the quality is inconsistent. I can improve the look of them quite a bit.
The great scythe:
The mod is pretty unfocussed. I can't even remember what the current public build was like to play but the design was already getting a bit out of hand and our internal build was even worse. Good news is I'm also a lot better at game design these days and it can be tightened up a lot.
Right now you need to be a history nerd to understand the garbled tech tree. Factories are divided by manufacturer name rather than what they build. There are dozens of unit types and sub-varients, tanks like the T-34/76 has multiple varients! The thing is a mess!
The fixes are several: One is to just remove a lot of units all together. The tech tree now starts in mid 1940 so the really goofy early war units are just cut completely, as are rare units like the Brummbaer, Sturmtiger etc. The other is to add upgrades into the tech tree so that upgrading to new tank models will remove the obsolete ones from the tree. That way you know the option you can build is always the best and most advanced type.
The industrial system will be tightened up too. Manufacturers will be replaced with light/medium and heavy factories and a "national building" will research new tank models and upgrades.
The tech tree will also be extended into 1946 to give access to some of the hypothetical units like Allied jets, the German E-series, the British Centurion and Soviet T-54 tanks.
Faction differentiation:
Right now the factions are mostly different because of their unit list. They generate income in the same way and win in the same way. This is a missed opportunity and a poor design.
The factions will play differently now thanks to a unique economy system for each.
The Axis:
Initially they will lack a way to generate much income in their base and will have to take and hold large parts of the map to generate funds. Axis infantry will be able to capture classic ZH style oil derricks that will give the bulk of their income. These will be enhanced by GLA hole tech so that they are very hard to fully destroy. Axis players will get access to mass paradrops at the start of the game to help them grab territory and consolidate map control.
Enemies of Axis players will have to work at clearing them off these key positions and destroy the derricks to deny their income to their enemy. Once they're dead they can't be rebuilt so the Axis will gradually lose income. To offset this they can gear up for total war around 1943/4 to generate late game income directly from their base.
The Soviets:
Soviet players will have access to "offensives". Building these will give huge one-off dumps of cash for the player to spend as they wish. This will help to create a see-saw effect for Soviet players. You will be pushed back and need to dig in, but then can swing back hard with huge waves of units.
New offensives will unlock every couple of tech levels so careful management of cash is important for Soviet victory. Attrition will be a major factor and their ability to sustain these types of offensives will reduce in 1945 and end in 1946, although, like the Axis, they will get some base upgrades to generate income directly (but at a reduced rate).
The Allies:
The Allies' great strength is the huge resources of the USA. US intervention will be an early upgrade giving the classic income generation to the CC. They are the most noobie friendly side with a strong economy and great air power. This lets them target the German economy without having to actually take and hold areas of the map.
They are a defensive and technological faction who gain the tools for powerful offensives in the late game. They have the best economy in 1945/6 and can mix conventional attacks with the most powerful air force and big airborne drops.
Air Power and Putting On A Show:
I want to dial up the spectacle of the game, especially for aircraft. I've found some neat tricks to turn the old type of bombing raid into something more like the mass raids you see in films and newsreel footage. In the past we've had bomber wings of 3-6 planes. The new system sends in swarms of 20-30!
Obviously there is a bias here towards cinematics over reality but so what? - it's cool!
This also applies to paradrops. A handful of planes sucks - I want operation Varsity!
Issues with Windows 10:
The well known sociopath who goes by the name "Windows 10" has been causing issues for a lot of people trying to run the mod.
I don't have a great solution to this for now but I'm hoping that the open source SAGE projects out there might bear fruit in the future. If they ever get to a workable state we will be porting Blitz to them for sure! This will fix compatibility issues and will give us ways to expand the scope of the mod in some really cool ways in the future.
In the mean time, if anyone has been able to make the mod work on Windows 10 please share your setup in the comments as there's a lot of people struggling to play it atm.
As ever, thanks for your support of this project. I'm amazed by how many people are still interested in this crazy mod!
More to come!
Korona
I previously managed to play it on Windows 10 but I forgot how even. I remember messing some some startup settings. Played this thing so long ago I forgot all.
BTW, so... does this mean no Starcraft II followup? :|
Hmmm SC2 isn't ruled out but it's a tough square to circle. It means a level of time investment far beyond what's needed for this ZH mod. It also probably would need professional help with the art and sound. We do have some industry contacts who could do it for cheap but that kind of time and financial investment is a bit daunting.
At one point Blizzard were mooting the idea of going a kind of Unreal Engine route with the SC2 engine and allowing studios to licence games via their store. That scenario does justify spending some money as we could sell the game for a few bucks and recoup costs that way.
Right now I don't know if that will ever happen. I guess there is Patreon as a possible solution. I'd love to do a game in SC2, the design is so neat. Maybe if this release goes well we can ask the fans and see if they would be interested in a new version for this more modern engine.
Honestly I Could provide some help with Starcraft 2, if what, the editor is a joy to work with and offers many possibilities for customisation, interface and all. Also currently meddling with Blender .m3 format importer/exporter, sometimes stuff gets glitched which is odd but otherwise ****'s great.
Yeah it's awesome. Post R4 I'll do a detailed design doc and figure out what it would take. It might be possible to compartmentalise the project into smaller chunks that are manageable.
Anyways, looking back at the concepts now that I'm on PC, I got some questions.
Will the Offensives work as some sort of "wonders" as seen in other strategy games, can build only one and completion provides permanent bonus, or will they be researches performed at Stavka building or something? If those will be structures, will they provide other features like Strategy Center-esque global bonuses, or researches? Will their lategame income generation be interspersed to maintain the see-saw effect? You know, have income generation more similar to US supply drop pads than hackers or black markets.
Any chance of lowering ground forces count or improving on unit pathing by shrinking unit "size" used in pathfinding somehow? Currently the mass battles are often bogged down by SAGE's flawed pathfinding which turns all major unit groups into long, bogged down lines, something which even some microing effort may not resolve easily.
Offensives will be like player upgrades that give a one-shot cash dump. Ideally they will also boost production speed for a time.
The cash dump will be really big though, tens of thousands of credits. Playing as the Soviets will be tough as you will have to manage your cash reserves. In the late game they will probably get a black-market style income so they don't auto-lose after they spend through their last offensive.
Path-finding is a complete pain. I'm looking at adjusting the locomotors on tanks so that they turn more easily. ZH tanks are very fluid and it helps to keep units moving and reduces issues where the units get stuck on scenery.
Reducing the unit count might happen, it needs to be tested more. I like the spectacle of big battles but it is a big limitation of the engine. Graphics optimisations have helped with slowdown to an extent and if we ever get to move to an open sage version that would also fix the problem.
"Right now you need to be a history nerd to understand the garbled tech tree. "
I thought that was the point.
You're right, nerdy WW2 trivia is the lifeblood of Blitz2! The problem is more the garbled mess part...
Games like World of Tanks have actually increased wider knowledge of WW2 tank trivia a great deal. I a lot of players these days do know the difference between, say, a T-34 with a L-11 gun and a T-34 with an F-34 gun...
It's all still in the game but there's a lot of UI improvements that make it more intuitive what to build and when.
Damn no more funny early war units :(
Those are kinda unbalanced but in a fun way lol
Holy crap! It's still here!
DS is eternal, this is known...
wHen WIll iT bE REadY
... soon(tm)
good thing its April 1st...
would've been disappointed...
if the factories get replaced with light/medium/heavy factories
But but they make light medium and heavy chassis vehicles!? :P
will it require the 3.01 patch?
It will be a self contained release (V4.0)
>the really goofy early war units are just cut completely, as are rare units like the Brummbaer, Sturmtiger etc.
why not ask the devs for an uncut version of the update?
haha it's way too far for that!
All the factions are getting completely reworked. The models and textures are being updated and the code is either rewritten from scratch or heavily modified.
Alguien Yeah, I know... The KV2 might have survived though... derp derp!