GameStudio A8 engine

Hello everyone,

Today I have some new updates for you on my real-time tactics game Tactics of World War One. So far, the game has taken more than six years to develop. Of course, after gathering experience with level design, programming and level art for so long, the first levels I created for the game couldn't keep up with the later ones. Now that the game is nearing completion, I've overhauled all 10 levels of the game to create a more coherent gameplay experience. Some levels I even had to replace with completely new ones. So I thought it was time to show you some levels from the game's two campaigns. The German campaign, which spans from 1914 to 1917, and the British campaign, which starts after the end of the German campaign until the last days of the war at the end of 1918.

German and British campaigns

The German campaign revolves around the "Stormtroopers" and their special tactic of breaking into enemy trenches in small groups supported by heavy weapons. In my last update, I introduced you to the gameplay aspects of this specialized infantry and showed you the night game mechanics of level 4.

This time I'd like to show you a screenshot from level 5, the finale of the German campaign. To end the campaign on a high note, the mission ends with the task of defending newly captured trenches against a British tank attack.

In the British campaign, you can use the British Mark IV tanks against the Germans. In level 9, you have to defend the British trenches against a major German offensive during Operation Michael, the German Empire's last attempt to turn the tide of the war. Operation Michael saw also the first use of the German Sturmpanzer A7V. After defending your sector against a combined infantry and tank attack, you take the initiative and drive the Germans out of their trenches.

Polish

Having reworked all levels of the game, I'm now polishing it as much as possible so that it can shine when it's released at the end of the year. Unsurprisingly, most of the polish for a strategy game is AI related. For example, I've updated the pathfinding algorithm so that groups are now more likely to stay together when moving around obstacles.

The first unit in the group acts as a trailblazer for the others and marks a viable corridor for the other units (marked with "1"s on the picture below). The following units have to find their way within that corridor. This change also improves the performance of the algorithm, as the following units do not have to search the entire grid.

I hope you enjoyed this short insight and as always: Any feedback is greatly appreciated.