Endless Tactics · published · build 23780291
Yeah yeah, I'm late once again... But this time I have a damn good reason for it. As Steam Next Fest 2026 goes on, I figured now would be a good time to unveil it...
Remember the pre-alpha-looking Upgrades Menu? It's gone.
We've reworked it from scratch - every little thing about it (art by Merly23 once again). From the worst menu in the game by far to, modestly, the best-looking one... or at least tied with the new Main Menu for the #1 spot.
Also, minor detail: the whole game has now been (finally) upgraded to Godot 4.4!
Might not mean much to you, but thanks to it, it's now MUCH easier for me to work on the game - no random crashes, infinite project reloads, and so on... It even allowed me to make a few improvements that were technically impossible before. Not to mention the MANY optimizations, especially regarding load times, which were severely inflated due to an engine bug.
Don't even get me started on how annoying the upgrade was (it literally broke the game's entire color mapping), though fair to say it was absolutely worth it in the end.
And yes, I chose 4.4 because it's more than stable enough, thankfully... while 4.5 and 4.6 managed to break like 3x as much stuff. Maybe 4.7 will be the next go-to version though, who knows...
Reworked UPGRADES MENU from scratch! New Art (Background, Icons, Panels, Buttons), new branching lines (which are now FFC-like cables, with electricity flowing through them), new animations (shine, highlights, buy/reset/toggle animations, and more!), input overhaul (much better navigation, camera controls, etc.), and countless new QOL improvements as well!
MAJOR Rework to ALL Cameras: Reworked scrolling (board-scrolling, WASD/Right-Stick scrolling, cursor-scrolling), eliminated stuttering, MUCH better camera drag, smoother lock-in, and more!
In-Game ZOOM! Yes, the long-requested feature I was previously unsure about implementing is finally here! Took a lot of work to get right, but you can now zoom in and out on every Operation/Map (which allows for a fixed-camera mode even during High-RISK scenarios). A new "Zoom Auto-Lock" option has been added as well, allowing the game to automatically preserve readability while zoomed, or simply get out of the way and let you play the entire game fully zoomed-in/out. All zoom-related improvements are also present in the Upgrades Menu camera, btw ;)
Performance Mode! Replaced the old useless "Compatibility Mode" launch option (as even ancient 2010s laptops could launch the game normally with no issues, as tested) with the much more relevant Performance Mode! It'll swap the game's rendering mode to the more lightweight Mobile Renderer. A slight loss in color fidelity (much less than Compatibility Mode, tho), and no Glow... but a 30-50% FPS gain in most scenarios! It'll also automatically disable several graphics options (which can still be manually re-enabled) for you. Meant for VERY old systems.
New DYNAMIC SPEED Option! Works just like Normal Game Speed, although it'll dynamically fast-forward overly long Nest Surge and/or Unit Spawn sequences! All neatly interpolated and proportional to the sequence's length.
Absolutely HUGE Optimizations! Everywhere... Multithreading, Enemy AI, Pathfinding, Floodfilling, Shaders, general game-board math, and more. Expect up to a 50% average FPS gain overall! Not to mention loading-time reductions, which are also roughly around 50%, especially when loading Operations (which now load even faster the second time around). The game's total size has been further reduced to just under 490 MB, btw!
MAJOR Improvements to Enemy AI! When unable to reach your Stations, enemies will now be much smarter when it comes to attacking Units blocking their path (for Standard AI Mode, of course)... They're also now capable of dynamically destroying Objects in their way as a last resort! Enemy Units should never idle out anymore unless they REALLY are out of options. Expect Apex Enemies especially to be MUCH more of a threat because of this.
Major Visual Improvements to the Artifacts, Options, and Missions Menus!
Reworked Unit Walk-Animation Skip: It now acts as a dynamic fast-forward system; simply hold Interact Confirm to accelerate walking animations. Greater usability, less prone to accidents, and much smoother overall!
Major Tooltip Improvements.
MAJOR V-Sync Improvements: The game now makes use of Mailbox V-Sync whenever possible (smoother animations, camera movement, etc. on high refresh-rate displays), while also dynamically locking Max FPS to avoid wasting CPU resources (it could previously reach 1000+ FPS in some places... lol).
FINALLY Eliminated Any and All Tilemap "Gap" Lines in Operations.
Reworked HP Bar Visuals: Much more consistent, clean, and readable!
Countless Controller & Keyboard Navigation QOL Improvements and Fixes.
A Shit Ton of Fixes. (Don't wanna make this list longer than the Bible, so trust me on that... or just go through them one by one over on our Discord server.)
Major Improvements to Japanese & Chinese Fonts!
We should be soon releasing our Prologue (Endless Tactics: Trial Run) btw! So keep an eye for that...
Launch, once again, should be soon(tm). Just waiting for the localization and for the best timing market-wise. Meanwhile, I'll keep improving upon the game as always ;)
From my github - as you can see, literally THE busiest month working on the game for over a year!
As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit.
Discord Server (Dev Updates)
- the_procrastinator