Dear Tankers!
Welcome to our 92th Development Status.
First and foremost, we’d like to thank you for your support and kind words. We weren’t expecting such a response, so it’s given us a real boost of motivation and sparked a glimmer of hope.
Ponyri 1943 - progress
As we mentioned, following the release of patch 1.3.0, we’ve got back to work. We’ve got a few technical challenges to tackle, which we’re currently working on. First and foremost, how to tackle such a large area, and how to divide it into sectors and missions.
Sectors
As you may recall, all the areas together cover an area of 24 by 24 kilometres. This consists of 64 areas, each measuring 3 by 3 kilometres.
For now, we’ve divided the map into 21 sectors for testing purposes – that is, 21 scenarios/missions that will be playable in campaign mode. As for the procedural mission mode, we don’t yet know whether these will be the same sectors/missions or whether we’ll divide them differently.
Let’s recap the main objectives for the campaign at Ponyri:
- Missions for both Germany and Soviets
- Missions on different times of day, with dynamic weather
- Possible convoy missions at night
- The map will be split into logical sectors (one sector is built from one or more chunks)
- Mission will be played in given sector
- Dynamic theater of war with counteroffensives
- Possible multiple HQ positions as bases of operations
We are currently at the stage of testing the areas and putting them together into a coherent whole. We are also testing performance and capabilities. It is worth recalling and illustrating the scale of these areas.
Sector 16 consists of 4 areas, each measuring 3x3 km, giving a total area of 6 by 6 km. In the sketch above, each square represents 1 by 1 km.
In the bottom right-hand corner, we can see the areas from Outskirts of Morton, where the map consists of 9 areas, each measuring 256x256m, giving us a game area of 1.5 by 1.5 km.
On the left, we have a marked-out area covering 5 by 5 km. It consists of 16 areas, each measuring 1.25 by 1.25 km. The dark strip on the right comprises 4 areas that form the core of the final three missions in the first campaign. Can you see the scale of the whole project?
Yes, Ponyri is quite large.
New enviro sky presets + new post processes
We decided to take another look at the weather effects and how they appear in the game. The problem was that at certain times of day the lighting was poor or, for example, the fog was too thick, which could make the game look a bit odd. The weather effects were too similar to one another; for instance, when the sky was overcast, the game should generally not have any clouds.
We’ve made some changes to the system. Now, when selecting the time of day and weather in the game, you can choose specific times such as 08:00, 12:00, 16:30, 19:00 or 12:00. We can choose random weather, clear skies, cloudy, foggy, or post-rain conditions.
For example, here’s what a mission on the steppes might look like under different weather conditions and times of day.
UI - progress
Changes have also been made to the game’s UI. Starting with what we might call experimental changes to the in-game interface, through to the addition of the Ballistics Lab. Work on what we might call a revolutionary update to the main menu is slowly coming to an end. It is now time for improvements to the in-game interface.
In-game
The changes visible at a glance are the redesign of the panels at the bottom left and right. I’ve improved the texture quality, increased their resolution, and redrawn the icons. The layout of the modules has changed; they are now in a different order. A new icon from the cannon base (the one in the bottom right corner) will be added. It will indicate damage to the cannon base and its shields. This is a new feature and is still awaiting implementation by Robert.
We plan to add further changes to show which units are currently in the squad and the ability to switch between them – this is already in the game but not everyone is aware of it.
The bottom right corner features the tachometer, fuel level icons and an icon indicating whether the engine is on or off – this remains as it was, but in the new version it will be of better quality. The driving modes/gear bar has been changed
Ballistics Lab
Originally designed as a developer tool to test the functionality of tank armour. We decided to expand on this, and together with Robert, we recently added the visual design and improved the functionality.
Here, you’ll be able to check every vehicle available in the game, fire at it or beside it wherever you like, using any available weapon and ammunition. We also display information in an X-ray view, including what type of armour it is, what class it belongs to, and its thickness. To quote a classic – something for the nerds.
You can currently access this from the main menu; the only way to go back is to return to the menu from this screen. Damage and destruction have no effect on the game’s health pool, just to be clear.
We’ll likely expand the panel itself into something like the Overview from TMS.
Gunsights
We’ve had a few suggestions to add some effects whilst aiming and firing. Whilst working on fixes for post-processes and weather presets, we’ve added a post-process that simulates looking through glass or a lens. On top of that, the camera shakes slightly when firing, say, a machine gun; this provides a sense of feedback that something is actually happening, rather than just firing an airsoft replica.
Zoom → FOV
Another suggestion was to change the ‘zoom’ label displayed, which was actually misleading regarding the magnification level. It is, in fact, a change in the field of view rather than a zoom per se. We’ve changed this in the game. Don’t worry, it’s a cosmetic change; tanks still retain this simplification, meaning we adjust the ‘zoom’ by changing the camera’s field of view. We have 25x, 15x, 10x and 5x. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to realistically model the gunner’s optics whilst maintaining the correct parameters. The second issue is that such optics, for example in the Tiger – the T.Z.F. 9c – had a magnification of only 2.5x and a field of view of 25°. It may well be that in the game, it will simply be difficult to shoot at a fixed magnification. On the other hand, the setting would be calculated just once for a single field of view and magnification, rather than as it is now, for example, in the T-70, where the optics interface adjusts to the projectile’s ballistics based on distance and the camera’s field of view. The matter isn’t settled; I’m just mentioning it as a point of interest.
AI Commander/Procedural Missions improvements
We had suggestions from you to allow the friendly AI Commander to spawn units and help the player. This will be added in next patch, although very simple for now - later the player or players will be able to give waypoints to the AICommander, control him with more depth.
Another suggestion was to decrease/limit the AICommander ability to call in off-map support and airstrikes. This will be also added in the upcoming patch.
When new patch?
We plan to release all these changes and new features in patch 1.3.1. Of course, we’re not talking about Ponyri here – that’ll be a separate topic, a big one.
Thank you for your support, we are working. See you next time!
DeGenerals
