Author: Jasper

After more than four months, it is finally there: Update 0.13!

I’m happy to tell you that the long wait has not been for nothing. This is the biggest update yet!

Without further ado, have a look at the change log, and be sure to give this version a spin. Enjoy!

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Change Log

The visible

• New ship designs!
• Emp
• Environment ship capture
• Chat
• Increased ship speeds
• Event hud
• No more buildqueue (simplyfied the base hud)
• Multiple waypoints
• Waypoint visualisation
• Base waypoints
• Group visualisation
• Players visible
• Ingame tips
• Enemy health bars are visible when you hit them
• Own health bars are only visible when ships are damaged

The less visible

• Game loads on startup (no more loading before matches)
• Increased frame rate
• Improved formation forming

The invisible

• Performance improvements
• Menu improvements
• Network game improvements
• Increased framerate

As part of a performance test, I ran the game with 10,000 ships at the same time. After doing some minor optimizations, It actually ran quite smoothly!

The game automatically shuts down particle effects at a certain threshold. The lack of enemy ships (and thus lack of collision checking) also helps a little. Regardless, I am quite happy with the performance and thought it looked very cool. Enjoy!

No new version yet, but there is a big update coming soon. New ship designs, interface improvements and much more!

Until then, enjoy this preview of the ship path visualization that will be available in the next version:

During another test session, I created a recording and took some screenshots. They include a sneak preview to the new ship design (not yet available).

Have a look here: http://strategicrps.com/#impression

After some games with a friend of mine, I have changed the base interface to only allow the creation of one type of ship at the time. This makes the rps game play more pronounced and also forces players to make more use of ship types during the game.

Download to try:

strategicrps V0.12.x windows

Change log:

• Simplified base hud
• Simplified selection (no more filters on ships that are protecting an instance)
• Only showing health bars on selected ships

Yesterday I mainly worked on implementing the feedback I got from the play test last week.

Download to try:

strategicrps V0.11.x windows

Change log:

• Added splash/loading screen
• Easier to see which meteors are yours (and from the other player if you fly too close)
• Made selecting easier (bit more margin around selection area. Clicking detection range is larger)
• Re balanced meteors
• Increased speed in fighters and meteors
• Base distance increased
• Fixed numerous bugs (including a collision bug if you go out too far)

The first play test is a fact!

I gathered three of my colleagues and let them try out the game. Amazingly, we were actually able to play! (only one or two crashes ;))

After the session, I’ve let them all fill in a questionnaire. Some very good feedback I’ll be working on this Wednesday.

Download to try:

strategicrps V0.10.x windows

Change log:

• Startup animation
• Relative camera orientation
• Minor bugfixes in meteor
• Camera hotkeys

Exciting times! User testing will commence soon.

Download to try:

strategicrps V0.9.x windows

Change log:

• Added hotkeys
• Fixed bug in spaceship movement
• Added performance improvements

Since strategic RPS has a command based networking protocol, all game states should run identical. Even though the game was set up to do this, some bugs are bound to sneak in while focusing on other parts of the game. I’ve spend the last few weeks on fixing those bugs. Multiplayer game play is now solid as a rock!

Download to try:

strategicrps V0.8.x windows.7z

Change log:

• Fixed multiplayer sync bugs
• Solved bug when going into comet
• Comet attack now hurts