Welcome to my website. This is the place for all things related to my RTS video game project. As we go forward I'll update this with new images, videos, and notes on our progress. For day-to-day details, check out our Wekan Board.
Want to try out the game? A pre-alpha version of the game is avaliable for free on Itch.io. If you've got any comments or criticisms please let us know!
We're a small team of three looking to add some new talent. If you want to contribute we're hiring talented artists, animators, and designers. If that's you, fill out an application here.
The rest of this page is the plan for the game, where it is, and where it is going.
Ambitions and Inspirations
A lot of inspiration for the gameplay we want to achieve is drawn from the Total War games' real time battles, where players control individual units of their army. These games include a robust system of soldiers and units, morale and exhaustion systems, and intuitive click and drag controls, all of which we want to emulate.
But, there are a few things to change. For one, troops in Total War respond instantly to your commands and are remarkably reliable and self-sacrificing. That doesn't quite capture the chaos and complexity of commanding an army in a time without radios.
We are gonna build a battle sim where couriers rather than telepathy will carry your commands and your troops will be autonomous and fear for their lives. At times they will act on their own initiative based on battlefield conditions and a richer morale system.
Units that are winning are going to get aggressive, and even outright cocky. While units that are losing will adjust and shift the a better position, or completely run away. You'll have to consider how a unit is doing and feeling to command them effectively. For example, you'll have a hard time convincing a unit of wounded peasants to even try and hold off a large column of heavy infantry.
With that battle sim in hand, we'll start layering on cool shit like monsters, spellcasting, and encampment building. You'll be able to face Goblins and other fell creatures like ogres and maybe undead. Your troops will need to rest at camp from time to time and we'll add interesting fortification and supply systems. Your army will be able to field wizards who can blast formations with fireballs and summon illusory units to scare enemies away or bait them into traps.
Current State of the Game
Many mechanics of the game have already taken shape. We have basic units, combat, and controls, as well as primitive multiplayer.
Basic soldier types like spearmen, skirmishers, and lancers are implemented and they physically whack, stab, and pelt each other. They're modeled and dressed up with some blood effects, but aren't yet fully animated.
Soldiers are organized into autonomous units which the player can command. When not actively commanded the units respond to nearby enemies and will automatically engage them if their morale is good. As morale worsens, they lose their zeal and try to stick to their allies. When it gets even worse units start to pull back or even scatter and rout.
We also have our orders and couriers system working. When you start issuing orders they fill up a list in the orders menu. There you can tweak and configure orders including whether new orders override existing ones, and whether they should be done immediately or all together. Theres also the option to send several couriers at once to make delivery faster.
Of course, we aren't anywhere near done with this thing. Goblin variants of existing units as well as new types like archers and supply troops are on their way. Check out some of the teaser images and the roadmap below for more!
Roadmap
- Enhanced couriers with signal horns and better pathfinding
- Better menus
- Character animations
- An actual game name!
- Multiplayer matchmaking lobbies and Steam integration
- Music and sound effects
- Archers and Skirmishers
- Goblins and other non-human troops
- Sub commanders to whom the player can delegate large portions of their army
- Day/night cycle
- Fortification building and camping mechanics
- A quartermaster character and supply units
- Wizards and spells. Stuff like fireballs and illusions of units