Jun 11, 2023

Tiny Combat Arena - Why485

Check out this link for the full news post detailing the changes.

Changelog

New Features: - Hardcoded escape button to escape on keyboard - Additional bindable "escape" key is now bound to "Start" on the gamepad by default - Player can now eject + Pilots are now a viewable object (only when ownship ejects) + Fixed pilot rotations to face forwards + Option to trigger eitehr by hold or triple press + When ejecting during Arena missions, pilot is not lost, only aircraft - Added SA-9 IR guided surface to air missile (SAM) vehicle + Vehicle launchers can have a finite or infinite number of reloads - (JSON) Vehicle turret "Type" property no longer used - (JSON) Vehicle missile turrets require "LauncherMounts" in the "Model" of the turret - Completely redone HUD designed for customization and more universal usability - HUD "Instrument" (TWD and Radar) design changes + TWD shows incoming missiles and incoming missile type + Can be configured to 4:3, 16:9, or screen edge + Three different display styles : Borders, Transparent, Clear - RWR Codes system to different aircraft can display different RWR symbology labels - Radar shows lock target type and altitude - Tape added to the heading indicator - Pitch ladder (optional) + Reacts automatically to field of view (Thanks Vazgriz!) - Waterline and flight path marker (optional) - VTOL HUD mode automatically activated when nozzle angle >30 and ground speed <200 knots + If in NAV mode, NAV will switch to say VTOL + Flight path marker symbology switches to lose the top mark + Pitch ladder caged and used as vertical velocity indicator (1 degree = 100 feet/min) - Input debugger is now part of the HUD (optional) - Fuel gauge (optional) which displays both internal and external fuel separately - New HUD is now (optionally) available in the Chase (F3 by default) view + When in third person, the HUD takes on a wider format - Radar and IR missile symbology adjusted and now shows target aspect - Target boxes have a SHOOT cue that coincides with seeker lock - DLZ added with very questionable calculations (WIP) - Time to impact shown on DLZ for previously launched munitions - Ground targets on the radar appear as indistinct blobs (AAA still has a unique symbol) - Important ground targets will always be bright and highlighted - Gunsight shows current range to target, or slant range to ground, along with gun max range - Added fixed gun cross which situationally appears + If no target or A-G, fixed gun cross is replaced by gun piper when aimed at the ground + If A-A target is selected, fixed gun cross is always visible - Blinking incoming missile text on the HUD, coincides with audio beep - Missile warning ducks the constant lock tone - Working PAPI lights added to several airfields on the Island map - Added physics props affected by explosions and aircraft engines + Traffic cones placed around several airfields - Added cheat "coneposting" - Friendly airfields can be rearmed/refueled at in Free Flight, Dogfight, and Strike - Sand Island and Expeditionary airfields are now proper (though unused) strategic targets Improvements: - Missile seeker diamond now tries to move towards locked target instead of moving only when target has entered seeker angle - Cockpit SFX slider defaults to 50% - Flak smoke lingers for longer - Pitch ladder graphics and text made thinner - Changes to how "ExplodeOnImpact" JSON property is handled by bullets + Explosion damage is now done IN ADDITION to impact damage + Explosion effect is now triggered only when a bullet times out with "ExplodeOnTimeout" set to true - Tightened requirements for VTOL HUD mode (<100 knots, >55 degrees nozzle) - Added LOD to the PAPI light enclosures - Rearm/refuel message now appears at any throttle setting Bugfixes: - Chase/external no longer centered on the viewable's position last frame - Aircraft control surface animations no longer play after ejection - Target lists no longer getting clogged with invalid references every level load - When Harrier engine is off, it reads ambient temperature instead of 0 - Fixed NRE caused by attempting to view vehicles when there are no vehicles - Thrust to weight ratio on STOVL MFD page reads correctly again - Nozzle (and thrust too probably) should no longer read negative or strange values - Stick and rudder input no longer persists through player respawn in Arena (very old bug, finally fixed!) - Fixed uncommanded ejection on respawn if eject was mashed after player had already ejected - HUD elements should no longer appear behind the player aircraft - Removed the effective radar range dotted line (was appearing in strange places, may rework this later) - Radar symbology should no longer clip out of the radar display - Gun cross no longer appears behind jet - Gun and munititions can no longer be fired after ejection - Store attachment points correctly account for non-uniform scaling - Version/Steam connection status text on bottom left now get spaced correctly at 1600x1200 - Restored the HUD rearm/refuel message when landed on a friendly base - Fixed errors caused by despawning an aircraft with physics props in its engine wash - Enabled extra padding on all HUD text so it renders correctly at low scale values Balance: - GAU-12 muzzle velocity reduced 1600 -> 1300 - GAU-12 time to live reduced 1.5 -> 1.3 - Normalized the bullet diameter for AI aircraft guns + Gsh-23 reduced greatly 10.0 -> 2.5 + M61/M39 increased 1.0 -> 2.5 - All dumb bombs now have penetration, allowing them to do full damage to tanks on a direct hit - AV8B countermeasure fire rate doubled (0.2 -> 0.1 delay) - SA9 tweaks + 9M31 MaxRange lowered 8000 -> 5000 + 9M31 EffectiveRange lowered 6000 -> 4500 + Turret MaxRange lowered 6000 -> 5000 + Turret FireDelay raised 10 -> 15 - ZSU-57-2 range increased 5000 -> 6000 - Added SA-9 to several bases in the Arena Demo mission - AV8B radar ranges increased slightly + EffectiveRange 8000 -> 9200 + MaxRange 10000 -> 14500 - GAU-12 now does 67% of its damage through explosive splash damage + Impact damage reduced 15 -> 5 + ImpactForce reduced 50 -> 5 + ExplodeOnImpact false -> true + BlastRadius 5 -> 10 + SplashDamage 0 -> 10 - Gsh-23/M39/M61 now do 80% of their damage through explosive splash damage + ImpactDamage 10 -> 2 + ImpactForce 50 -> 5 + ExplodeOnImpact false -> true + SplashDamage 0 -> 8 - The above changes make aircraft guns slightly less effective against armor - However they will damage unarmored vehicles (e.g. aircraft and APCs) more easily

Jun 11, 2023

0.11.1.4: IR SAMs, New HUD, Ejection, and much more!

Tiny Combat Arena - Why485

Changelog

I'm doing the patch notes a little differently this time and splitting up the news post and changelog.

The full changelog can be found here!

IR Guided SAMs, the SA-9 Strela

The SA-9 is a BRDM adapted to carry and fire the 9M31 "Strela" infrared guided missile. This is the first AI operated missile in the game, and is absolutely devastating to fighters if not flared against right away. It's maybe a little too strong right now, but its performance will be re-evaluated as more SAMs get added to the game.

In Tiny Combat Arena, infrared SAMs are short ranged ambush weapons. Since they don't require a radar lock, there is no warning before they are launched. However if you're prepared and quick on the flare countermeasures they can be effectively countered and gunned down before they reload.

For the moment, the SA-9 is found only as a selectable enemy in the Strike Instant Action mode, and in the "Arena Demo" Arena mission.

Player Ejection

It's exactly what it sounds like! By default this requires three taps in quick succession, but can also be configured for a hold for a couple seconds instead. When the ejecting in Arena, this means the pilot is not lost, only the plane. Future Arena missions and mechanics will be built with this mechanic in mind.

The New "Game" HUD

Adding missiles meant that there needed to be HUD symbology to make the player aware of them and counter them. This means missile symbology on the TWD and HUD, and associated audio. I needed to add missile warnings, but the HUD had been drawn in such an experimental (and spaghetti) way that adding anything to it felt like it would cause the whole thing to collapse. The HUD was always the bottleneck for adding SAMs, not the SAMs or missiles themselves.

Beyond just that, many HUD features that I had been wanting to add, such as expanded weapons symbology were beginning to pile up. By this point, it really was holding back too many new features, and the missiles were the last straw. I finally had enough and decided to pull the trigger on the total HUD rewrite I had been planning for quite some time.

The new HUD has nearly complete feature parity with the old one, but with things tweaks and additions:

Can be used from the "Chase" third person view (optional)
The TWD and Radar are now "instruments" on the HUD
Instruments have three configurable styles: borders, transparent, clear
Instrument placement can be set to 4:3, 16:9, or Screen Edge
Radar lock shows target type and altitude on radar screen
Heading tape
Pitch ladder (optional) that automatically reacts to FOV changes
Waterline and flight path markers (optional)
VTOL HUD mode automatically activated based on flight and input parameters
VTOL HUD mode switches FPM, pitch ladder caged, and pitch ladder used as a vertical velocity indicator
Input debugger is now part of the HUD (optional)
Fuel gauge to display both internal and external fuel (optional)
Target boxes have a SHOOT cue that coincides with seeker lock
Dynamic Launch Zone (DLZ) indicator added with some very questionable and WIP math
Time to impact show shown for previously launched munitions
Ground targets on radar appear as indistinct blobs (important targets like AAA still use unique symbols)
Gunsight shows current range and max range
Fixed gun cross which situationally appears
Incoming missile warnings and audio on both HUD and Threat Warning Display (TWD)

The HUD is already in a good place, but there are still aspects of it that I'd like to improve upon, and features I'd like to add.

HUD Features Still to Come:

First of all is another optimization pass, as ironically the HUD is the most expensive to render thing in the entire game. By some measures, it's actually 2.5 times more expensive than rendering all of the 3D in the game. (This is reduced from 4 times as much in the initial implementation) I already have ideas for how to further optimize it, but they are large enough that I didn't want to delay the patch for them.

This HUD was also designed with customization in mind, which is why many of the new features above are optional. Examples of more options to come are are customizable colors, and being able to set the units displayed on the HUD between metric and Imperial.

The biggest planned feature set for the HUD revolves around the currently unused Navigation mode, which can currently be triggered manually through a keybind (default ~), or by holding down the select next weapon key for a couple seconds. This mode will in the future the take the place of the very crowded, cluttered, and distracting Arena symbology that is currently being drawn while in flight, and can be (for now) toggled by default with Shift-H.

If you have more ideas for features and options the HUD should have, please leave comments below. This is one of the most important aspects of the game, so I want it to be as easy to use and informative as possible.

"Game HUD" vs "Aircraft HUD"

The naming here is very intentional. The Game HUD is meant to be universal and work regardless of if the aircraft has a modeled cockpit or not. The Game HUD should support every game mechanic the game has to offer, and should be built with the game's mechanics in mind, rather than the other way around.

The HUD has long been a source of design "deadlock" for me. Oftentimes I felt limited by what features I could add to the game because I couldn't figure out how to fit them onto an AV8B HUD or cockpit. This is partially why the game features the AV8B in the first place, as opposed to an older model (e.g. AV8C), as its large HUD and MFDs in theory could allow for more "fudge factor" in capabilities.

For a long time now I've been wanting to remove this very tight coupling between the game's features and a specific aircraft cockpit. The solution I've settled on is a bit of a "have your cake and eat it too", and it will require almost double the workload for when a new cockpit gets added, but it's something I feel very strongly about.

To solve this, I'd like to have a separate, aircraft specific HUD mode which gives more authentically styled HUD symbology, and displays correctly in the HUD glass. The game's mechanics will still be mapped onto the aircraft-specific HUD, so it's more like it'd be a more tailored and flavored version of the HUD, but it also gives each plane a bit more character because some HUDs and cockpits might not have a way to show every mechanic the game has. Others meanwhile might even show something extra that isn't readily available in other planes. The Game HUD will always be a fallback, more informative, the default, and more reliable for players who choose to play this way. The game will also still be designed with the Game HUD in mind.

Keep in mind that this is a long term idea. The Game HUD is more important, and more versatile. This is a feature that I'd like to attack in bits and pieces over time, and goes hand in hand with the various cockpit enhancements that are on the Trello board.

PAPI Lights

A fun little addition that was mainly for prototyping out future light related features. They scale such that they're always clearly visible regardless of distance, but look normal inside their housings up close.

PAPI lights are designed to help airplanes land on runways by indicating when they are on the correct glidescope. If you see two white lights, and two red lights, you are on the prescribed glideslope, typically of 3 degrees. None of this really matters to the Harrier, but it's still a fun and forward looking addition.

Physics Props

Another quick and fun little addition I wrote as a palate cleanser after the grueling HUD rework. Physics props, in the form of traffic cones, have been scattered around most airfields. They don't do anything, but they're fun to blow around with guns and engine wash!

What's next?

I've been very, very happy with the development that's been happening with the terrain. The updated main island will be the central feature of the next big patch, along with updates to Arena mode and its UI to support the new terrain. On the back end, some things were written assuming a flat map, but the new map is very clearly not flat anymore! Spawning rules, UI, and various other gameplay features will need to be shuffled around a bit to accommodate, and new features such as "tactical targets" are to come.

Following this will be an air to air focused patch, as the ground game will by then be near completion. This will bring missile based air to air combat, an expanded role for aircraft in Arena missions, and a large pass on their AI and tactics.

Thank you again everybody for sticking with the development of this game! As always, if you have feedback or comments, the best places to get in contact with me is on the Tiny Combat channels of the official MicroProse Discord, or here on the Steam discussion forums.

Jun 11, 2023

Introducing 0.5.3 Massive Update: Progress System, Tutorial, Graphics

ST World - ST Official

The journey of creativity and innovation continues as we unveil the highly-anticipated 0.5.3 update for the Spatial Terminal Engine. With more than 120 collective hours poured into the development process just within last three days, this monumental update represents our unwavering commitment to create an unparalleled gaming experience for our ever-expanding community. As we embark on this exciting new phase, we are thrilled to share the fruits of our labor with you.

Unfolding Our Game-Changing Progress System

From our previous devlog, Devlog #1 – Transforming Builds into Engaging Experiences, we delved into the concept of Checkpoints and Endpoints, introducing an innovative mechanism that blends creativity with gameplay. Building on that foundation, we are proud to present our latest creation – the Progress System.

The Progress System significantly enhances gameplay by allowing you to trace back up to ten stages of your game state, irrespective of the mode you are in.

For Players

Experience a whole new level of control with the ability to revert progress. Whether you need to respawn after an unexpected demise or rectify a misguided move, the Progress System ensures that your gameplay isn’t hindered by irreversible errors.

For Creators

Unleash your creativity without the fear of irreversible mistakes. Our Auto-saving and cloud-syncing feature allows you to revisit older checkpoints, giving you the liberty to experiment with your designs freely and fearlessly.

Lighting and Atmospheric Improvements

As we push the boundaries of voxel gaming, we’re thrilled to introduce our dynamic lighting system designed to adapt to both indoor and outdoor environments.

Indoor Lighting

Dive deeper into your adventures with our improved lighting simulation designed to enhance your mining and underground building experiences. From candles and torches to hanging lights, choose from a range of low-poly and high-poly lighting assets easily accessible from the Asset Board.

Outdoor Lighting

Experience an immersive weather system with our upgraded fog and light scattering features, making your outdoor adventures all the more realistic and captivating.

Tutorial Enhancements – Introducing Hints and an Upgraded Tutorial Map

In our relentless pursuit to improve user experience, we’ve also dedicated considerable effort to enhancing our tutorial system. We understand the importance of effective learning tools in navigating the vast universe of the Spatial Terminal Engine. Therefore, we’re excited to introduce the following upgrades:

Upgraded Tutorial Map – Beginner Parkour

We’ve also revamped our tutorial map, introducing ‘Beginner Parkour.’ This exciting new upgrade promises not only to be educational but also immensely entertaining, enhancing game plays and delivering a more engaging learning experience.

Hints

We’ve implemented a new ‘Hints’ feature that offers in-depth insights into various functions of our engine. These hints are event-triggered, popping up at critical moments to provide relevant guidance, ensuring you can get the most out of your Spatial Terminal Engine experience.

Our tutorial enhancements are designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to fully harness the potential of the Spatial Terminal Engine. Whether you are a first-time player or an experienced creator, these new features will undoubtedly contribute to a richer and more comprehensive gameplay experience.

Graphics and Assets Upgrades: Experience Unparalleled Visuals

To make your journey through the voxel worlds even more immersive, we’ve undertaken a significant graphics upgrade, accompanied by an expansion of our built-in assets.

Fluid Lava Block

Introducing our latest addition, the fluid lava block. More damaging than its predecessor, the fluid lava block offers a vibrant, slowly moving lava flow, enhancing the realistic essence of our game.

Checkpoint and Endpoint Shaders

We’ve given our checkpoints and endpoints a visual makeover with custom shaders that significantly improve their appearance, adding to the overall visual experience of your gameplay.

Performance Enhancements: Smoother, Faster, Better

Ensuring an optimal gaming experience, we have significantly improved our game’s performance. From faster map chunk loading to reduced memory consumption, we’ve taken several strides to optimize your gameplay. Our diligent frame-drop testing and subsequent fixes ensure a seamless gaming experience, free from frame-freezing hiccups.

Other Improvements: Striving for Perfection

With over thirty minor bug fixes and UI improvements, we’re tirelessly working to perfect every aspect of the Spatial Terminal Engine. From world-building to game creation, our goal is to pivot our engine into a full-fledged game creation powerhouse. As we journey towards achieving this goal, we’re excited to introduce basic game control mechanisms, with plans to add features such as inventory, weapon and chest systems in the coming updates.

Join Our Growing Community!

Our incredible journey has led us to develop a game engine that promises an unparalleled experience for both creators and players alike. As developers, we invite you to join our passionate community, wishlist the Spatial Terminal Engine, and eagerly await our upcoming devlogs.

Join Our Discord Community: https://discord.gg/mdBbtzXdVV

Whether you’re a seasoned gamer, a Minecraft builder, or an amateur game creator, the Spatial Terminal Engine invites you to explore a world of limitless creativity and endless adventures. Unleash your imagination, build your dreams, and experience voxel gaming like never before.