BattleCommand (Indie Tanksim)

[Sung]

Hi there,

i'm working on a own tanksim. It has not professional graphics like TvT and the physics are not very accurate at the moment (but it works).
You see in the picture only a old dummy model of a leopard 1a5. The reason is the game models are not ready textured.

The game will be play during the WW II in the operation "Barbarossa". I would like to make scenries in Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania etc.. You can play old models like Panzer III.




Greetings Sung
:-)

[frinik]

Kudos Sung it's a major undertaking! The more tanks sims the better for all of us.Are you thinking of making a paying one or would it be a freebie?

Your landscapes don't look bad at all.The Leopard is - unfortunately for the Wehrmacht - 70 years too early. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

Cheers

[Chucky]

Always nice to see a new Tank sim,I will watch this with interest.

[Sung]

Originally Posted by frinik

Are you thinking of making a paying one or would it be a freebie?

@ frinik & chuky - Thx for the nice words.

I don't think that anyone will pay a cent for this old technique. I work with my mate Nicdel just for fun on it. We belive it will be a freebie.

[frinik]

Best of Luck Sung and Nicdel and we will be watching with interest as your game unfolds.Please keep us posted so we can in turn inform others about your project and end game.I'll definitely give it a stab!

Regards

[frinik]

Sung your landscapes remind me of those of the SIM T72 Balkans on fire!

Did you draft them yourself?

[Sung]

Thanks frinik.

Somthing about the technique of the game (BattleCommand) .
The landscape is a mesh terrain generated from a painted heightmap with milkshape. I rendered the colormap with terragen. Over the colormap i took a layer from google-earth (ukraine satellite photo) to get more naturally colors. After that, the enviroment is placed with another map (1color pixel for each house, plant eg..) so its more easy to build up the landscape. The skybox is also rendered in terragen. The mountains are painted in the sky texture. We try to make it flexible for modding if someone wants to do that later. There is no leveleditor and we don't plan to write one.

We need round about 3 weeks for the map with all the enviroment without programming (i can only work 2h a day in the evening). The map is now 94.000 tris big. On my old PC 3 Ghz single core with a ATI XT1600 i have about 51 FPS (60 Frames limited) with 1280x1024 32bit. Nicdel had on his notebook without frame limitation 200 FPS. I plan for the game models not more than 2000 poly, so i hope that it will run fine on older machines.

What you can do acutally in the game? You can drive the tank (3rd person) and change to gunner position (first person). You can shoot and there is collision between the shoot and other tanks/ landscape. But you see only a dummy explosion. It is a really early version of a "game".

Sung

[frinik]

Sung it sounds very promising and I think it might attract modders who will help you add new tanks, vehicles and missions too.Are you planning on something SP or MP or both?What would be nice guys would be to make or create an easy misison editor so we could all modify games and tailor them to our tastes and then share them with all.

In any event my hat´s off to you and your friend for this wonderful initiative.

AS Chucky said a new tank sim is always welcome!

[Sung]

Originally Posted by frinik

Sung it sounds very promising and I think it might attract modders who will help you add new tanks, vehicles and missions too.Are you planning on something SP or MP or both?What would be nice guys would be to make or create an easy misison editor so we could all modify games and tailor them to our tastes and then share them with all.

In any event my hat´s off to you and your friend for this wonderful initiative.

AS Chucky said a new tank sim is always welcome!

frinik i think a mission builder is not a big problem. Maybe it will be more textbased, because that is easier for us. First of all it will be Single Player. MP can be fun but if none plays the game because the MP is worse it will be boring. Actually we will go on with small steps.

[Sledgehammer427]

I'll be watching this closely, I like the idea Sung!

[frinik]

Hi Sung, any idea when you new tank sim will be ready to test/play?

My advice would be to start with just 2 models one German(either Panzer III or IVE) one Soviet( T34/76 or KV1) to test the game and see how it goes.One thing is sure the toughest part of making a good to outstanding sims are:

1) a decent AI that gives you the feeling that you are fighting not just shooting and killing inanimate targets( the SP missions of Red Orchestra come to mind)

2) realistic ballistics and special effects( explosions/sound/damage) that give realism and life to a tank sim.

Anyway you can count on us to test your game and give you positive( no bashing ,no bitching) feedbakc on what needs to be improved and what's really well.

Cheers

[Sung]

Hello Frinik,

I have no idea when it will be finish. But i think a techdemo will be no problem.
You are right with that points. But i'm afraid that we are not able to make a outstandig simulation. A.I., physics, realistic ballistics and effects are very difficult and komplex. It depends on knowledege, the game engine and time. That all is limited.

cya

[frinik]

Sung, it doesn't matter whether the ballistics/AI and special effects are up to TvsT or SF standards.Whatever you'll do I'll try and play it with pleasure...

Best of luck,

[Sung]

The first tank a panzer III L is going well. Did you know if the 5cm barrel had enough power for T-34 and KV-1? I think about to make for the first steps russian tanks like bt-7 or or t-60

[frinik]

Sung when I play the Panzer III L in Steel Fury I can destroy KVs and T34/76 without major problems but as long as they are less than 600 metres.The 50 mm is pwowrful enough but I have to aim for the engine or try to take the turret (loader) if I strike the front armour of either tank unless Iam less tahn 300 metres thenit s no go.

Hope the date helps.

Do you play Steel Fury?

Very interesting sim.So is the new TvsT with ZW at the helm.

Cheers