Bombs and Bullets - a 2D RTS inspired by Command and Conquer

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Photoshop, Illustrator, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Flow map work is done moving on to bug fixing phase
+ Options and credits screens added.
+ Options currently has volume and full screen controls
+ Temp fix for text being too small by upping the size of all four standard fonts.
- This will create some UI glitches, we'll fix em' later.
+ Decals can now override a tile's terrain stat
- means a road decal placed on a dirt tile can be overridden to have asphalt terrain instead of dirt
+ Tiles now have a 'cleared' feature, where a tile's props, usually vegetation, can be cleared.
+ Added a music playlist function. Different environments can play from specific playlists.
+ All songs changed from wav to mp3s to save space.
+ Added M113 Medivac unit
+ Completely overhauled vehicular pricing, health, armor type, chassis type, and tags.
+ World map can now be browsed seamlessly at each level. (see vid)
- Next week, we'll be adding some features that is going to make map creation very fast and automatable.
- Every little square in that vid could be a map.
+ Just gonna keep hammering out these units and buildings
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.07 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
- For those that would like to use the AGDG recap, its here: http://recap.agdg.io/

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Seamless world map had custom-sized multi-grid square maps restored
+ World map images reduced from retardedly large 3200x1600 to quite small 800x400, lag while scrolling eliminated
+ Terrain smoothing for building placement has been expanded (see vid)
+ Terrain smoothing now properly deletes water, although the opposite is not true
- This is not really a problem, since water tiles by default at level zero. Might be something we need to fix in future though
+ Building force place and force smooth options added to the entity import function
- Force place ignores terrain and clips buildings into terrain
- Force smooth forces the building to be placed and smooths the terrain without limits
+ This will improve map generation efficiency a lot since most of my map-making work is placing buildings that failed to get placed
+ Tweaks to tile prop and water cleaning rulesets
+ UI problems from font adjustment fixed.
+ Map generation macro for QGIS streamlined, is now at least x3 faster
+ Map generation ruleset and accuracy improved
+ Added M1064 Mortar Carrier
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.07 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Added a quicker map-creation mode that skips going into the game-world and just generates and saves out the map directly
- This is a precursor to batch map generation, but that will come later
+ Put all the map related functions in their own menu
+ Hitting the 'back' button in the game lobby will either return the player to the map list, or the world map in the correct position depending on where the player originated
+ prerequisites and building info switched to a dedicated tag system
+ now all entities have a 'nation' tag which is linked to the 'nation' the player selects in the game lobby. Additional nations can now be added
+ The option to have buildings clear a tile of props has been added
+ Placing buildings in-game, in the editor, or via generation will now clear tiles (vid)
+ Units can now switch between different loadouts in the field. The M113, M-ATV and Stryker vehicle can switch between MGs and Grenade launchers (below)
+ Updated all icons again so that the color tinting no longer causes small white dots
+ Added a bunker defense with fireport nodes, laying the groundwork for infantry using fireports next week (below)
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.07 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Conversion function has been added, that allows vehicles with the same chassis to convert with each other. This function requires a armor recovery vehicle
- The similar loadout function doesn't need the recovery vehicle, but is only used for switching small weapons, generally MGs and grenade launchers
+ Conversions require flat ground to initiate
+ A bug where the world map images and grid were off by 1 row was fixed
+ Restoration of multiplayer functions have begun
- Redoing the navigation basically broke multiplayer syncing a while back
+ In the meantime, the multiplayer option has been hidden
+ Added Stryker ATGM unit
+ Started making various assets for flag poles, buoys, and waving flags for a node capturing mechanic
+ Downloaded some royalty-free national flags, shrunk them to a uniform 160px height. Will be used later for faction selection and choosing what nations to invade
+ Making the flags pixel-perfect, lots could be converted automatically or with little effort. Some need to be hand-crafted though.
+ Generated 317 polar maps just to test out how fast map gen is now and how accurate the world map is. So far so good
- I don't have good visuals for this weeks update, so enjoy the M113 box squad (vid)
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.07 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
- Got Covid, updates will hopefully continue
+ Started to heavily focus on multiplayer syncing issues. ID bugs, creating new tools to ID bugs, going down the list killing bugs
+ We added a functional replay feature to help ID bugs
- This was very much out of left field and I thought would be monumentally difficult, but according to the coder, 'it was easy because our game only syncs player inputs'
- Hope that's not red flag or anything
+ Flags of 6 core factions, as well as 3 nations with odd flag ratios rendered out (see vid)
+ Will hang these on the construction yards of each player. Maybe some other custom buildings
+ Added flagpoles, flagbuoys as well an exit sign and exit buoy for various node types on a map
- The flag ones will be capturable and will be the core of the fights on the more barren maps
- Exits will be used in farther in the future once single-map gameplay is more solid
- AI functions will also hang off of these nodes. It will help them move, attack, defend, etc on the map
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.07 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

[Smooth Sailing]

Version 0.08 has been released!

This version focuses on the underlying pathfinding, better world map, more fleshed out tech tree and additional units.

Due to the massive changes in the underlying pathing, multiplayer restoration is still underway. We'll likely release a version 0.085 just for that.

Let's go through some of the core features of this update!



The pathfinding has been improved markedly, allowing masses of units to execute maneuvers seamlessly and realistically.



Complex groups of units are able to arrive at their destination in formation, with slower units bringing up the rear.



Small aesthetic changes like buildings being able to clear the grass underneath the built site have also been added.



World map is now seamless and spans the globe. Each little square could represent a future map.

Our current map count is only 317 though and entirely arctic. An absolutely pithy amount that will be remedied in future.



We added some vehicles that have MGs by default but can switch their loadout to grenade launchers in the field.

They're mostly APCs, here they are:



We also updated nearly all the icons to this new look. These are tinted the faction and camo color in-game.



We have also added a significant amount of music tracks into the game and randomized the play list. Here's the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkLOldI

Future Plans:
The very first item is restoration of the multiplayer functionality. I had wanted to have this included in this update, but we ran out of time and I wanted to release something before the end of the year.

The next major goal after that is the addition of AI. We're already rounding out the faction and adding in capture points on the maps to help out with this. Infantry garrison functions are also around the corner to support this.

Aside from that, it's just pumping out more assets in order to increase the number of factions, biomes and civilian structures. I've been very heavily effected by Covid and various life disruptions as of late, but that's in the rear-view mirror now. Hopefully things will increase in speed come 2023.

Keep watching this space for more updates. Bombs and Bullets marches into 2023,full throttle!

Cheers,

Commander Rad.

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Multiplayer seems basically restored, gonna put that work aside for now
+ Added unit conversion ability, which allows some modular units to convert with the help of converter units
- Traffic cones spawn when a unit is chosen to be converted, some other tools spawn when the converter unit arrives
+ pre and post animation functionality now works (vid)
+ Starting to add in fireport functionality for infantry
+ Fireport nodes and accompanying direction and attack cone data added
+ Extracted all maps from 85 N to 75 N, which amounts to 2733 maps.
- Not all of these will be valid battle maps since it can't support 2 spawn points, but they will function as peripheral maps.
+ We're streamlining and adding some data to these maps so that in future you can highlight specific areas, like specific provinces or islands, on the world map.
+ We will add an automatic map generator for this in future. The amount of maps generated will be beyond human capabilities of being processed.
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.08 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Basic fireport functionality added (vid)
+ Each fireport node has an angle and attack cone value to define it
+ World map concept as a whole overhauled
+ Generic maps concept details hammered out, datasheets created
- No longer pursuing 'A map in each grid square' concept
- Even with generic maps, which could appear on the world map en masse, the problem is that at the current scale, there would be too many data points to look up
+ Transitioning and exploring a Europa Universalis 4 / Hearts of Iron type province system, where a set of maps would be tied to each province
+ Already defined provinces for all of Finland, Norway, Sweden and the northern parts of Russia, Canada as well as Alaska
- Just need to select maps from the world map grid and fill them up with maps now
+ This will also result in a much more reasonable amount of both generic and unique maps
+ It'll still be at least a thousand unique maps though, so more effort needs to be put into map generation
+ Finished flags for all nations and some territories
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.08 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Added svg display support
+ Adding in new provincial system to the world map
- This will basically be similar to EU4 and HoI4
- Hopefully, this will not take as long as it might take. No estimate on number of provinces yet
+ Added a system to select and highlight specific provinces (see vid)
+ Outputting svgs of various provinces, gonna do the northern few countries first
+ Going to start to make makes and tie them to specfic provinces soon
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.08 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

[Smooth Sailing]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Blender, Spine, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, Zeplin, QGIS
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ svg display further improved
+ province selection system
+ provinces are centered when selected
+ added a system to search for provinces
+ All provinces in Canada, Greenland, Russia, Iceland as well as Alaska, Svalbard, created and outputted to world map
+ Going to start to make maps and tie them to specfic provinces soon
+ YouTube channel soundtrack playlist is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_pcpkL ... 77eo8PSN1w
+ Version 0.08 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets