Oct 19, 2017

Forts - [DEV] Blammo

G'day Forts Fans! We're pleased to finally be able to bring you our new free multiplayer update, Tons of Guns! Over the last few months we've been hard at work adding new tech buildings, weapons, game mods and AI forts. The biggest update we've done so far, Tons of Guns expands the strategic possibilities for Fort commanders, and battle modes.

We’re also excited to be welcoming Chinese players to the ranks, as Forts has undergone deep localisation. We are looking forward to receiving some dents from this giant pool of potential commanders.

New Tech Buildings

Armoury - This vertical tier 2 tech building is buildable straight from the reactor, and allows the construction of the Flak and EMP launcher, which can both be upgraded to Shotgun and Rocket launcher, respectively. It also unlocks the Factory and Munitions Plant.
Munitions Plant - A vertical structure, this tier 3 building runs parallel in the tech tree to the Factory, and unlocks the ability to build the new 20mm Cannon and the classic Cannon.

New Weapons

Flak - This Anti-air weapon is great for clearing the skies of enemy projectiles. As well as the ability to auto-fire, the range can also be set manually to take out hidden weapons, such as clearing mortar pits.
Shotgun - Upgraded from the Flak, the Shotgun is great for punishing the enemy for building weapons in the open. Primarily an offensive weapon, it lacks the auto-fire feature of the Flak, but the spread of projectiles can be dictated by the distance the cursor is from the weapon in the fire arc, meaning it is great for defending attacks from above, in a pinch.
EMP - Releasing an electromagnetic pulse on impact, this weapon can disable enemy tech, halting resource production, paralysing weapons and stalling construction. Great for powering down troublesome weapons or interrupting building of the enemy base.
Rocket - Exchanging the subtleties of the EMP for pure destructive power, the Rocket launcher releases two explosive projectiles, doubling the chance of impact. Grouped up, a salvo of rockets can turn the tide of a battle.
20mm - Coming in at around half the price of the classic cannon, the 20mm fires a burst of destructive shells, great for taking out multiple enemy targets and softening up the oppositions fort. Use in a battery, it's effects can be devastating, while staggering fire from multiple 20mm means the enemy receives a seemingly unending stream of projectiles.
Firebeam - The Factory has been repurposed in Tons of Guns. With the classic Cannon now being built in the Munitions Plant, the Factory now produces not only the classic Plasma Laser, but also the new Firebeam. This incendiary weapon can be used to bypass enemy armour and ignite anything that lies behind it. It can also be used to set fire to projectiles, increasing their potency and granting them incendiary qualities while shortening their lifespan. Skillful use means that it can be used to defend from enemy weapons, including cannons, or igniting friendly projectiles shortly before impact for increased firey carnage!

To see these weapons in action, check out the trailer below:
https://youtu.be/i6SAuyIDVCw

Mod Selection

Players can now select from a host of new mods, either in isolation or in combination, allowing for a diversity of game modes, a selection of which can be seen below. We’ll be adding mod support for the Steam Workshop in the near future.
Truce - Many players have expressed a wish to be able to build up their fort in peace before hostilities start. Game hosts can now set the truce mode to 3, 6 or 9 minutes, before the first shots are fired.
Zero Gravity - Tired of pesky gravity holding you down? Now you can battle without it with the Zero Gravity mod, and watch as projectiles fly into the enemy fort exactly where you aim them, with no dip, and see parts of their fort float away.
Rapid Fire - Speed up the ferocity of destruction by reducing reload times to a minimum. All that’s holding you back is your resources (unless you use the Unlimited Resources mod at the same time :)

AI Forts

We have updated our existing roster of From Scratch maps with Tons of Guns enabled Forts, for you to try all the new weapons out on, as well as some Pre-built maps. Just look for the gold Tons of Guns icon for maps with the new weapons. For those who yearn for the purity of the original tech tree, simply deselect the Tons of Guns mod in the mod selections screen.

Fire!

We’ve added a new alarm sound that triggers when your base is on fire, to make it easier to hear in the thick of battle.

We hope you enjoy the new content, and thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

Change list build 2017-10-20a

Add: Simplified Chinese language and deep localisation
Add: Flak, Shotgun, EMP, Rocket, Firebeam and 20mm Cannon weapons in Tons of Guns mod
Add: Technology tab when Tons of Guns active, combined with Devices tab in editor to save space
Add: Armoury and Munitions Plant to technology tab to build Flak/EMP and 20mm Cannon/Cannon
Add: gold icon to indicate which maps have AI scripts for Tons of Guns
Add: "Classic" and "Tons of Guns" icons to server list
Add: built-in mod selection in Skirmish, Multiplayer, Sandbox and Editor modes
Add: 3, 6 and 9 minute truce mods
Add: mod to hide forts during truce
Add: zero gravity mod
Add: fire alarm sound, starts several seconds after fire detected
Add: flaming projectiles ignite material even when hitting armour
Add: mods can require AI fort specialisation, AI forts mark dependence on such mods
Add: maps can reference AI scripts in another folder by adding the path to the FortGroups table entries, including in mod folders
Add: \import console command to paste a particular standard fort (e.g. \import ai/forts/vanilla)
Add: language mods can apply to the intro movie
Add: prefer language selection using Steam's game language setting
Add: AntiAirHitpoints and AntiAirDamage to projectiles, default to 1 and ProjectileDamage respectively
Add: video capture continues in background when game isn't in focus
Add: mod.lua flag to apply mods late (ApplyLate)
Add: weapons added in a mod can have faction variants
Add: FireEndEffect triggers for all weapons
Add: 1 minute warning and 5 second countdown to truce
Add: use Steam's language only for initial selection and when change detected
Add: legend key to describe what gold icon means in map select screens
Add: Firebird rockets get incendiary trail when active
Add: gold icon added to Tons of Guns mod item
Add: don't show items if their prerequisites are disabled (outside of campaign)
Add: neutral/detached (debris) structures expire with effects
Add: SparksEffect gravity is adjusted based on current world gravity
Add: increase available meshprojectiles to handle rapid fire mod
Add: separate map foldernames from display names to allow non-ANSI characters in map name
Add: created maps are now called "playermap[x]" where [x] is an auto incremented number
Add: workshop icon added to editor menu file select
Add: lobby supports multiline chat messages
Add: MP workshop map display names read from displaynames.lua (for localisation) or Steam if not found
Add: display names for mods with optional "displayname.lua" file
Add: the ability to mark map mods as selectable in their mod.lua
Add: Tons of Guns enabled for Skirmish, Sandbox, Editor and MP by default
Add: console errors for failed Workshop Creation and Updates

Balance: Armourdillo can see enemy armour and shields during active
Balance: Warhead takes two hits, more erratic & dark smoke after first hit
Balance: reduce damage reactor takes from fire to 50% when Tons of Guns is active
Balance: commander updates for Tons of Guns
- Eagle Eye - explosive shotgun rounds
- Firebird - flak, shotgun, and cannon20mm are incendiary. Firebeam longer & wider.
- Warthog - 20mm damage increase
Balance: about 25% damage or splash damage bonus to flaming projectiles
Balance: Swarm missile incendiary to a radius to ignite background bracing, even when hitting armour
Balance: Firebird active mortars, cannons, missiles ignores armour
Balance: Laser has splash damage on destruction
Balance: Cannon round takes two rockets or a few swarm missiles to destroy
Balance: fast build mod reduces material build/scrap times

Fix: desync when refiring a damaged weapon then repair area
Fix: Desync if a weapon about to fire is repaired
Fix: crash on host when a client times out during instant replay
Fix: crash when map doesn't have weapons added from a mod (replaced with machine guns)
Fix: crash with replays containing mod names >= 20 chars long
Fix: if a player disconnects while using refire, the weapon can't be used by others
Fix: Spook does not gain resources on theft in TDM
Fix: Armourdillo doesn't instant repair entire base when activated in TDM
Fix: Anti-air not working with zero gravity
Fix: door doesn't close when refiring as door shuts
Fix: Reactor explodes consistently when falling out of world
Fix: Prevent laser destroying light arms fire
Fix: when a weapon refires but is unable to afford to fire it can leave a door open and remain associated with the door
Fix: when a weapon tries to fire and must open a door, if the door is already associated with the weapon the command to open it is never sent
Fix: Increase the size and quality of map preview images, now set in constants.lua
Fix: weapons open doors when blocked by structure/device
Fix: Apply skirmish mod before map mods
Fix: Shield strut is visible and fully opaque while disabled and warming up
Fix: 'Key' string in Options -> Input tab not translated
Fix: prevent observer showing HUD using F2
Fix: prevent construction of disabled materials (solar panel exploit)
Fix: factions mod a single sprite called gunner in order to customise falling troops
Fix: random sprites shown when hiding early ground blocks with edges
Fix: Cursor snaps to disabled ground blocks
Fix: activate commander message sent by HUD if not fully charged
Fix: ActivateCommander can work if not fully charged
Fix: classic Cannon and Laser only specify Factory as their requirement
Fix: Resave map previews in higher quality and fix cameras of all included maps
Fix: devices and links highlighted when taking preview screenshots
Fix: potential string copy overflow issue with map names
Fix: missile clearance slightly too far

Remove: 'Unlimited Resources in Sandbox' option (now handled by mod)

Oct 19, 2017

Tons of Guns - Free Multiplayer Update

Forts - [DEV] Blammo

New Tech Buildings

New Weapons

Mod Selection

AI Forts

Fire!

Change list build 2017-10-20a

Oct 6, 2017

How 2D RTS Forts sold 120,000 copies completely under the radar

Forts

There’s an intuitive rhythm to cooldowns in real-time strategy games. It’s that niggling apprehension you feel moments before your opponent launches missiles, an impatient sense that your cannon is almost constructed and ready to use. Your conscious attention is occupied elsewhere, so it becomes like breathing. Inhale, anticipate damage, plan a response. Exhale, firm up your resolve in those last few moments before you can act.

In Forts a single shot can turn the tables on an adversary. They can't paint a target for their missile if you've correctly identified, and hit, their sniper. You have to get the trajectory and power exactly right, but in a way that becomes more reliable with practice. It's an exciting game to watch because the underdog really can win, and it feels fair when it happens.

Despite the odds being stacked against it—it was Earthwork Games’ first release and didn't receive much coverage in the press—Forts has sold around 120,000 copies since its April release. Designer/programmer Tim Auld (who created Forts alongside artist/designer Nick Smith, and composer/sound designer Jeff van Dyck) was hopeful that success wouldn’t be a long shot, based on deliberate decisions and supportive structures made during development, but sales still exceeded his expectations.

Base building

I was captivated by an early iteration of Forts at PAX Australia in 2015, mostly because of the many childhood hours I misspent playing Wendell Hicken’s Scorched Earth, a turn-based game of exchanged artillery fire from 1991. Unlike Scorched Earth, or Worms (which it also superficially resembles), Forts is real-time. Players compete to construct bases, stock them with troops and weapons, and then demolish each other. It was a blast. But just because I enjoy a game doesn't mean I know how it's going to sell. I’m not sure anyone does.

It s difficult to get sales from YouTube. The statistics are that for every thousand views, you ll get one sale.
Designer Tim Auld

Of course, most experienced developers will say that marketing is incredibly important, and EarthWork Games began working with a company called Stride PR early, realizing this was an area of expertise the team of three lacked. They found that dedicated PR was still hit and miss, however. Their initial press release accidentally coincided with the release of Pokemon Go, and when it came to reviews Forts was consistently overlooked.

They focused on streamers instead, sending out a preview build that was picked up by several popular YouTubers and Twitch streamers. "Big influencers streamed it, getting hundreds of thousands of views," Auld says. "This approach was suggested by Stride and it worked because the game is so watchable and intuitive. You can see weapons being installed and damage being taken, especially when the forts start swaying around. Unlike in most RTS games, where a bird’s eye view doesn’t give you much context, you can see exactly what’s happening."

So, does Auld attribute the game’s success to its being widely viewed online? Not really. "It’s difficult to get sales from YouTube. The statistics are that for every thousand views, you’ll get one sale." Fans of the most popular streamers are there for the personalities, not the games. He believes word of mouth played a more significant role, saying, "Once people get on board, they talk to their friends and it grows organically from there."

Social sieges

Certainly, I’ve played Forts with friends. As fun as it is to smash structures, my favorite approach is delegating the building, offensive, and defensive tasks co-operatively within a shared fort. Auld believes there are around 2,000 multiplayer matches still occurring per day, many within a community-created tournament, with players mostly in France, Germany, and the United States. Players can also create and share maps or scenarios.

Other indies notable for significant sales, like Nuclear Throne and RimWorld for example, have cultivated positive buzz among communities by inviting them to play early in development. Although eschewing Early Access "to prevent diffusing the news and hype value of the actual launch," as Auld explains, Forts ran a closed beta which firmed up a community of around 650 people. Although Auld says that most players’ interest faded quickly, "It was useful to get feedback on bug fixing, balancing and design flaws."

Despite this, he describes his confidence before launch modestly, as merely "an inkling" of success. "Nothing prepares you for having tens of thousands of people playing with different configurations and internet. It was a tough launch. We’re still supporting the game, fixing problems and adding new features. We spent so many years on it, it feels like the right thing to do."

Auld originally started devising Forts in 2003, influenced by the physics-based play of Bridge Builder by Chronic Logic, and later Poly Bridge. "I sat down, brainstormed and made some sketches," he says. "The second idea was to pop weapons into boxes. It was an epiphany because you can easily model structures and have them collapse under fire." I ask Auld if he remembered Scorched Earth, but he cites explosive banana-throwing game Gorillas as an influence instead.

Although the team only started working again in earnest in 2013, there’s often great strength to ideas that evolve over time. Auld has spent a lot of time thinking about what RTS games need and, in addition to the visual drama Forts provides, he mentions that "the length of the matches helps to focus attention, too. We aimed for 15 to 20 minutes, so the balancing of the weapons and strength of the materials reflects that. A quick turnover gives people a chance to get revenge."

We were running out of money and had to borrow from our family just to get by. The pressure is off financially, but it s on regarding supporting the community.
Tim Auld

Personally, I find it difficult not to rush building the actual structure of my fort. I tend to experience sudden collapse, like in World of Goo when I’ve foolishly stretched a little too far. This is especially true in the campaign, where terrain may be asymmetrical and balanced against you. Variety forces experimentation, keeping things interesting when you believe you’ve mastered optimal approaches to weapon use and build order.

"It’s always fun to see things exploding or falling down, and people pulling their fort back from the brink of collapse," Auld says. Despite Forts having an international setting, I see this kind of destructive, ramshackle humor as uniquely Australian. Earthwork Games are based in Queensland, a state that leant its name to a type of house perched on stilts to allow for greater airflow in hot weather. You could totally take one out with a laser strike down low.

Cultural influences are surely a welcome addition in indie games, yet some of the Australian developers I meet express the worry that their games will be ignored by international press, as appears to have been the case with Forts. I’m not convinced that there is a prevailing stigma, but it is true that larger publications usually aren’t represented at Australian conventions, possibly due to travel costs being prohibitive.

Forts did invest in traveling to PAX West, East, and EGX, before finally being featured on PAX Australia's indie showcase this year. I certainly hope that, as more Australian games demonstrate success, both with sales and innovative ideas, developers can collectively benefit from more attention. It seems a shame to see games fail to connect with the players who would love them.

Forts sales make a compelling case for thoughtfully matching marketing strategies to a game's features, not just to online content creators but more generally to people interested in talking about games.

Ultimately, what does 120,000 sales mean for EarthWork Games? "We’ve already hired a part-time programmer to help with my load and we're allocating funds to support our next title," Auld says, "as well as considering a DLC for Forts. We don't have to worry about expenses and living now, either. We were running out of money and had to borrow from our family just to get by. The pressure is off financially, but it’s on regarding supporting the community."

Attracting significant numbers of players also attracts criticism. In Forts’ case this often boils down to people wanting more weapons and features to interact with, which EarthWork have been providing incrementally.

Given the vast quantity of independent games releasing right now, successfully marketing your game can be tough. Auld’s explanation for Forts’ sales makes a compelling case for thoughtfully matching marketing strategies to a game's features, not just to online content creators but more generally to people interested in talking about games. In Forts' case, it was watchable and generated positive buzz based on innovative RTS mechanics and community structures.

"You don’t know how well the game’s going to sell at the outset, but you have to do everything you can to maximize your chances for success," Auld says. "We had some luck, we had a good idea, we had all the technical skills and we persevered. I feel happy about the whole process."

While no one really knows which games will sell, the care you’ve taken with your infrastructure might be the difference between a near miss and an incredible victory, both in Forts and as an indie game developer. Just like when you innately feel your opponent’s cannon must be nearing completion out there in the fog of war, you can certainly hope the time is right to try for a desperate, fort-smashing, lucky shot.

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Sep 21, 2017

Steam Workshop - Phase 1.1

Forts - [DEV] Blammo

G'day Forts fans! We hope you've been enjoying using the Map Editor along with the Steam Workshop integration. Judging by the number of new maps in the workshop, it seems to be a success.

This week we've added some new features to the editor and workshop to help smooth creative flow and sharing, including selecting, copying and mirroring multiple ground blocks, renaming maps and making maps more identifiable in the map select list. The full changelist can be seen below.

Map Spotlight

In the coming updates we'll be shining a spotlight on the best maps created by the community, in an effort to raise the bar of quality on what is already a decent standard. Selected maps will be highlighted in our update announcements, and the author will receive a Forts t-shirt.

Ways to increase the chances of your map being selected include providing AI fort scripts, map description and camera positions. We’ll be doing another update in a couple of weeks, and will select the winning map then, at our discretion.

Barriers

Between two opposing forts lie a series of barriers. Blast your way through these obstacles to get at the enemy, toppling the explosive barrel laden structures as you go, while ensuring not to topple them on yourself. Barriers is available to download from the workshop:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1139739159&searchtext=

Build Changelist 2017-09-22a

Add: save terrain clipboard to file to allow copying between maps
Add: multi-select, copy, move & mirror ground blocks
- Hold Ctrl and right click to add (or remove single)
- Hold Alt to remove
- Hold Shift and left-drag a marquee to add multiple
- Hold Alt and left-drag a marquee to remove multiple
Add: a subscribe button to the left of the map button in the lobby
Add: "name" edit field to upload dialog
Add: Workshop item author added to map select screen (friends’ maps only)
Add: localised map names support (mission script DisplayName can be a table with language keys, see Vanilla for example)
Add: Prevent selection of joints and struts while holding Ctrl/Shift
Balance: no energy is consumed by repair
Balance: mortar aiming arcs are as if on a flat platform to plug flat trajectory exploit
Balance: laser can be fired without sufficient energy for entire duration
Balance: machine gun costs no metal to fire to aide rebounds
Fix: sniper shot takes out multiple swarm missiles
Fix: fire temperature not clamped in some circumstance, creating huge flames
Fix: machine gun bullets don't expire on freefall
Fix: obsolete audio files in effects/media folder
Fix: crash when restoring weapon groups in editor after undo/redo (clear groups)
Fix: ground block extents not updated after mirroring
Fix: Steam overlay pauses game in multiplayer
Fix: "<player> has joined the game on team" notification doesn't show the team number
Fix: sweep_blocks not deleting two node blocks
Fix: allow console close during paged output
Fix: warhead doesn't make large explosion when it hits a shield
Fix: laser fire cost incorrect (3333, should be 5000)
Fix: when laser fires at full strength cost shows as 4933, not 5000
Fix: beam not drawn when shot out of map and parent structure not visible
Fix: inverted missiles are not translated on spook's most recent enemy build readout
Fix: crash when exiting a multiplayer game when host has disconnected
Fix: crash in TDM when map does not have a fort for a side
Fix: workshop upload faulty if it includes non-ansi characters
Fix: hide -template- and All Or Nothing maps from editable list
Fix: don't show subscribe text in chat notification for non-workshop maps
Fix: added higher res subscribe icons
Fix: increase map name length to 19 characters and truncate when setting map name in editor for map uploads
Fix: replace workshop prefix with an icon
Fix: sort all maps in player tab as one list: this will alphabetically sort all file select lists
Fix: prevent maps being copied if the target directory already exists
Fix: prevent maps being uploaded if the name is "NewMap"
Fix: prevent maps being uploaded if the name is a dupe of a map the player is already subscribed to

Pro-tip - Multi-block Selection

One of the new Map Editor features added in this update is the ability to select multiple ground blocks. This is achieved by holding down Shift and left-click dragging a marquee out around the blocks you want to select. Ctrl and right mouse will add a single block to the selection. You can then drag them all around, copy & paste them, or flip then horizontally (H) or vertically (V). If you want to amend your selection, hold down Alt and drag the marquee around the block you want to remove from the selection. Alternatively, hold down Ctrl and press right mouse button on the block you wish to remove.

Note that if you only have one block selected then these controls operate on nodes within the block, as before. Right-click in space to deselect it if you want to select additional blocks.

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG