It’s once again been around a month since my last devlog and so here I am with the next one. Which is 0.33.0 in this case.

What’s New?

As I mentioned before the main aim for this update was to create the final link between the three different game modes of the campaign map, space battles and ground battles. While you could already trigger and fight space battles on the campaign map the same could not be said for ground battles which were only available from the custom battles screen accessed on the main menu. With this update however this is no longer the case and ground battles just like those set in space can now be triggered on the campaign map and either fought manually or left to the auto resolve system.

In keeping with the work done with regards to ground battles the ground maps have seen some visual improvements in the form of new map props. Specifically 2 trees, 1 bush and 1 rock have been added which I’ve spread throughout the existing ground battle maps. In a future update I’ll hopefully expand the number of these available as well as make some with more unique colours. This is a sci-fi game after all and having some trees or bushes with blue or purple leaves should help to make you feel as though you are indeed on another world.

In addition to the above this update also contains some improvements to ground units themselves such as the fact that the reinforcement animation used to call said units into the battle now uses a real transport unit instead of a fake one. As a result it is now also possible to destroy the transport before it has finished deploying the unit, thereby preventing the unit from ever being deployed onto the battle map. Furthermore ground units now also have a set power level allowing for auto resolving battles on the campaign map, while squad based ground units have had their images updated on the campaign map to reflect the actual unit they are instead of them all just using the same generic one.

Lastly this update also includes the usual slew of miscellaneous bug fixes, the highlights of which include. A fix to the save system not including information on the new squad based units, a fix to the camera controller colliding with planets on the campaign map as well as continuing to follow fleets or armies even after they had become hidden. Additionally there is also a selection of fixes with regards to the battle map AI only attempting to capture a single building, only giving a single move order to squad based units for the entire duration of the fight and the recruitment pool being limited to just squad based units despite other options being available.

Update 0.34.0

As always I wasn’t able to get everything I wanted implemented in time for this update and so for 0.34.0 I already have a selection of additions and changes in mind. To start off with now that the core functionality for ground battles is mostly complete it’s time I think to expand the roster of available units a bit. As such for 0.34.0 each faction will get at least 2 new units, one new squad based one aimed at dealing with vehicle based units and one unique one which plays to the strength of the faction it belongs to. In the same way that the shield booster and laser focusing ships do in space battles for both the Astel and the Kessoni.

In addition to new units I’ll also be adding at least two new buildings to ground battle maps in the form of a mine you can capture to increase your income, like you currently can in space battles. While the other will be a defence point which can also currently be found in space battles and just like in space battles once captured it will allow you to build one from a selection of subsystems to help aid you in defending the area around it.

The last area of focus for ground battles with regards to the 0.34.0 update will be the battle map AI. The plan for now is to update the AI so it’s at least comparable to the AI used in space battles, meaning it will gain the ability to move units around the map to search for the enemy planetary outpost. As well as the ability to find and capture the above buildings to both increase its income and boost its defence. Along with the knowledge of when its own planetary outpost is being attacked and by extension when it should call units back to help defend it.

Finally, in addition to the above updates which mainly focus on the ground battles, 0.34.0 will also include some work with regards to space battles. To be more specific I want to see if I can’t go about improving some of the visual effects such as when a unit or building shield is destroyed, the look of the laser beam ammo type and maybe seeing if I can make use of some fog effects to have the battle map look a little more cinematic. Depending on time constraints I’d also like to try and make some improvements to how squad based units move as in their current implementation it’s relatively easy for units to become separated while moving, something I hope I’ll be able to rectify in the 0.34.0 update.

Closing Thoughts

Something of a wrapping up update this time and one which in a way I’d been working towards since the start of the year, so it feels nice to finally have it completed. It also means that while I still think I’m a long way off version 1.0 I’d say that something like 85% of what I consider the core features that I wanted to have implemented before the release of version 1.0 have now been added. With that in mind I’m keeping my fingers crossed that before this year is out Stellar Odyssey: Galaxy at War will be in a state where I’m both happy to start advertising it more directly and to start more seriously thinking about what the 1.0 version looks like.

For such things to happen though there are a myriad of items that still need to be completed, tweaked and changed. So with that said I’ll end this devlog here and get to work on the next update, that being 0.34.0 which much like this update should serve to further round out and complete already implemented features when it hopefully releases in around a month's time.

As always if you have any questions or queries then don’t hesitate to ask and similarly if you have any feedback for existing systems. Or indeed if you have any ideas, features or changes you would like to see implemented then also don’t hesitate to let me know.

As with all of my updates a full list of the changes made can be found in game, with the changes and additions pertaining to this update listed below:

• Added a new setting to the settings menu to disable the sky shader in ground or space battles to help improve performance
• Added a new model for use by the shield booster subsystem
• Added a new campaign ground battle map for use in campaign map ground battles
• Added a new set of starting armies to planets on the campaign map
• Added a new prop, tree_001 for use on some ground battle maps
• Added a new prop, tree_002 for use on some ground battle maps
• Added a new prop, bush_001 for use on some ground battle maps
• Added a new prop, rock_001 for use on some ground battle maps
• Added support for triggering ground battles on the campaign map
• Added support for auto resolving ground battles on the campaign map
• Added support for loading ground battles triggered on the campaign map
• Updated the ground battles to support unit pooling to prevent lag spikes
• Updated the ground battles triggered on the campaign map to spawn a planetary outpost if there is one
• Updated the ground battles reinforcement animation to use real transport ship units instead of a placeholder mesh
• Updated the ground battles reinforcement animation to allow the transport to be destroyed along with the unit it's carrying
• Updated the ground battles AI to support calling units into the battle for battles triggered on the campaign map
• Updated the transport units for each faction to have a shield generator subsystem which can be destroyed to disable their shields
• Updated the shield level for units and buildings to be set to 0 if their last shield generator has been destroyed
• Updated the starting health of the shield generator subsystem to be 200 instead of 100 as shields are now disabled when they are destroyed
• Updated the defence point in space battles to have a shield booster as a build option instead of a shield generator
• Updated the units belonging to either the enemy or allies to also show their selection circle when they are under the mouse to make them easier to see
• Updated the units in ground battles to have a set power level which can be used for auto resolving battles
• Updated the campaign variants of character based squad units to have the correct unit image
• Updated the save date displayed when a save is selected to be correctly formatted
• Updated the planets on the campaign map to make use of the new campaign ground battle map
• Updated the attacking army on the campaign map to be able to retreat to a nearby planet provided there are no hostile fleets in orbit
• Removed the shield from the test space station as it didn't have a shield generator subsystem and so wasn't needed
• Fixed a bug where the game would throw an error when targeting a squad based unit with a regular unit
• Fixed a bug where the game would throw an error when trying to create a new save
• Fixed a bug where the game would have terrible performance on the campaign map until the game window size was changed
• Fixed a bug where the camera controller on the campaign map would collide with planets
• Fixed a bug where the camera controller on the campaign map would continue to follow a fleet or army despite it becoming hidden
• Fixed a bug where the camera still displayed a star background when in a ground battle
• Fixed a bug where the maximum shield level for all space units had been reset to 0
• Fixed a bug where the ground units wouldn't face a final rotation upon reaching their destination if they were part of a group move
• Fixed a bug where the debug GUI remained visible if it was enabled when the battle GUI was hidden for a different camera view
• Fixed a bug where the move command would still be sent to units if the mouse was moved onto the GUI and then moved back onto the map
• Fixed a bug where the squad based units in space battles no longer orbited around a building when trying to capture it like in previous versions
• Fixed a bug where the squad based units in space battles wouldn't be highlighted when the mouse was placed over the squad if they didn't belong to the player
• Fixed a bug where the squad based units in space battles would attempt to update the health bar of all its sub units despite the sub units not having a health bar
• Fixed a bug where the mining outpost would try to attack all units if it hadn't yet been captured by a team
• Fixed a bug where the defence point in space battles would also target the units of the team that captured it
• Fixed a bug where the tabs used for fleets, armies and buildings on the campaign map could gain focus which would result in the tabs being switched when moving the camera to the left or the right
• Fixed a bug where the AI in space battles would continue to give new orders to squad based units despite them not reaching their original destination
• Fixed a bug where the AI in space battles would only attempt to capture a single building despite more being avaliable
• Fixed a bug where the AI in space battles would only recruit squad based units
• Fixed a bug where the model used for armies on the campaign map displayed the incorrect faction colour
• Fixed a bug where the space stations on the campaign map displayed an empty health bar despite having full health
• Fixed a bug where the map preview shown before a battle on the campaign map was visible by default
• Fixed a bug where the damage subsystem label would remain visible after a battle had ended if the debug setting was currently enabled
• Fixed a bug where the damage shield debug option selected a unit or building when they were clicked on instead of damaging said unit or buildings shield
• Fixed a bug where the shield destroyed animation was played at the start of a battle for any building that had shields on the battle map