Shadows of War [RTS | Greenlit]

0 favourites
From the Asset Store
10 isometric and animated Strategy Game Buildings in two Colors.
  • This is my current(First) project, im working on together with a friend.

    A few stats (C2 Relevant)

    02.02.14:

    12.02.14:

    16.03.14:

    29.03.14:

    22.04.14:

    13.07.14:

    10.09.14:

    Also, it is currently on Steam

    Shadows of War is a 2D Real-Time Strategy sidescroller game.

    Classical RTS elements combined with new one, into a 2D game.

    Fight in massive battlefields against your worst foe!

    Challenge your friends in a 1v1 battle, show them who is in control.

    Some maps also have unique elements, that requires you to change your tactics. The bigger the map, the harder it will be. You always need to have an eye on every section of the map. Be fast to take counter measures of the enemy's attacks!

    The game also offers the Hardcore mode, for old-school gamers that needs a challenge.

    You are low on money, which means you can order less units onto the battlefield.

    Support strikes will be rarely used, since they're costing too much.

    Keep track of your tickets, you can't lose a single one!

    You really need to do everything to prevent the enemy from marching into your land.

    Always do your best! Else, loosing can't be prevented.

    Remember the good old days, where games hadn't got any XP system?

    You only played for fun, not for unlocks or that stuff? Like that?

    Then SoW is the perfect game for you, no DLC, no XP, no Micro-Transactions.

    1944, a German Science project, was sealed and hidden.

    It was never meant to be found. But in 2013, a new Federal Chancellor was elected.

    Then, old research projects were activated again, this is where everything began...

    One of the projects, were a bomb, not a casual one.

    They built the bomb after the blueprints they've found.

    Then they tested it, the bomb detonated successfully, with a devastating effect.

    A world was left, that were pushed into the shadows, no hope, no life as it is known.

    Nations in despair, began to wage war. The world, at the brink of total destruction.

    Now we are here. No alliances, all fighting for survival.

    Russia, now facing Germany again, on the battlefields of Europe.

    • A 2D RTS Sidescroller Multiplayer game.
    • Multiple Modes: Conquest, Rush, Classic Skirmish.
    • 20 different unit types including: Dropship, MBTs, Helicopters.
    • Over 5 support strikes: Artillery, Tomahawk Missile, Harrier strike.
    • Big and unique maps.
    • Intense Online multiplayer battlesCompetitive (1v1) multiplayer modes.

    Screenshots:

    Social Media and usefull sites.

    Facebook

    Twitter

    IndieDB

    Homepage

    IndieGameStand

    Desura

    Thank you for reading, be sure to checkout our Twitter & Facebook, to get the recent news about SoW and other projects

    • Conti
  • Try Construct 3

    Develop games in your browser. Powerful, performant & highly capable.

    Try Now Construct 3 users don't see these ads
  • *Reserved*

  • Looks nice but the description sounds just too enthusiastic for what it currently is (an alpha version)... :/

  • looks better than ever!, seems like a long while ago (and a couple of avatar changes) <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> you first pitched this, well done for persevering with development all this time...

  • Stiivais , im trying my best, is there anything you think i could change?

    pixel perfick , yeah, i tried before, and failed. But this time, i wont bow under the masses of the internet <img src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

    Thanks for the kind words. Im trying to listen to the people, since feedback is the most important thing, about making a game better (at least i think so). With time, im constantly improving everything and adding new things and so on, based on feedback ;)

  • Hows the Multiplayer working out for you with Construct 2?

  • Looks great! <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

  • <strike>//written on a phone, so know what to expect formatting-wise, guys</strike>

    Got home to my pc, updated the post to make more sense, rephrased a couple of sentences.

    I'm glad you asked, since there are quite a few things i'd change about this project of yours, if i were in your place, unless i wanted for it to fail at meeting my expectations.

    Now, you should keep in mind that i am just some grumpy guy from the internet and that my advice isn't flawless, but i've had some experience with C2 and would like to warn you about bad design choices or just general hardware limitations that are present in current-day technology. Of course, you might perceive me to be too critical at times, but just read until the end of the post, as some of these suggestions are bound to come in handy sometime.

    Performance & Compatibility.

    This is the biggest problem that i noticed in your project, judging by the description. I understand that developers these days want to make games with the best graphical quality possible, and that's okay, but by doing this you basically remove a large portion of your potential playerbase, for example laptop users and people with gpu's that don't support WebGL acceleration. Of course, this isn't my decision, but i can guarantee that performance will be a problem if you keep those high resolution images, especially since some graphics cards only support sizes up to 2048x2048 (IIRC). What i would do is cut the background image up in fragments close in width to the screen width and make a scrolling background out of multiple such images, so that there wouldn't be more than 2 screen sized images rendered at any time. I'd likely also consider creating them at a lower resolution and then rescaling them to full size, as this is likely to save you quite a bit of space in download size. I would also look for ways to further optimize the performance and decrease the download size, such as using a solid colored layout background instead of a background image and putting objects on top of it, or at least give the option to do so to users, or using point sampling and making art in n (n mod 2 = 0) times lower resolution, then rescaling it, as this would prevent image distortion. Also, i'd suggest that you don't go over the top with the WebGL shaders, as they can be a big performance hit. Lastly, there is simply no possibility that you need collision detection of such fidelity, even C2 developers don't recommend more than 8-10 points for an object. There's no reason why a game that aims to have good graphical fidelity can't use at least some of these tricks to help it run better. Oh, and you also might want to allow users to switch between different presets for maximum particle amounts and thimgs such as decals, and also offer your game with both renderers (high and low quality). Also, since i can't stop ranting about this, sound can also be a performance hog, so be sure to implement running without it.

    Platform choice.

    This one also bugs me, as making the game available only as a downloadable .exe is likely to decrease the playerbase greatly. If i were you, i'd look forward to putting the game on sites like Newgrounds, Kongregate or others like it, and also advertising it on indie game sites, such as Pixel Prospector, and hosting it on its own website (for free hosting, see 000webhost, they're pretty decent, IMO). However, if you desire to stick to your current plan of distributing the game only on desktop platforms (or Windows, more specifically), you could try to do the project with Construct Classic, the DirectX 9 game maker and the predecessor to C2. Obviously, i realize that you won't switch half-way through the development cycle, i'd just like to point out, for future reference, that the renderer CC uses is still a lot more efficient than what C2 has and therefore bigger projects will have better performance, except that many people often have problems with editing them (its editor wasn't coded as good as C2 is, so there's a couple of memory leaks, which might cause problems down the road). Either way, i'd at least consider other methods of deployment.

    Description & Story.

    As i said previously, IMHO the description sounds a bit too enthusiastic if we compare it to the current screenshots and the progress made. Gamers like humble developers, not the ones who rush ahead of time and make bold claims (not saying that it isn't/won't be a promising game, just that it's not there yet). Furthermore, the story seems a bit generic to me. Why not mix it up a bit, make it seem more logical? For example, make the German project a new type of power plant, which was attacked by a group of radicals, which lead to its detonation and contamination of the environment with a variety of substances, which caused rapid climate change. This, in turn, lead to insufficient food production and possibly an increase in disease, so riots broke out, soon countries plunged into chaos, with some militaries becoming separated from state and private military corporations along with local militia forces were on the raise, as the crime rates skyrocketed. Some countries saw the uncertain future as a possibility to secure more resources and invaded others and hundreds of years of diplomatic progress quickly became irrelevant. Or something. Story as the one given in the example (one that explains the setting and the history behind it a bit more) would make the events seem more logical, as otherwise it makes no sense for Russia to be fighting Germany. Of course, this is just a tip, i have no idea how far you guys are with this project, it's just that the description isn't all that descriptive. Also, a couple of grammatical errors should be fixed.

    Development goals.

    Now, i don't know how far you are along with the project, but i'd like to give you the following quote: "When you are writing the GDD, you are not making a game. When you are creating art, you are not making a game. Even when you are working on the sound effects and music, you are not making a game. Why? Because at the end of these activities you don't have a functioning game." Well, i'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea. It's the result that counts and to achieve it you need to actually create something that's playable. Because of this, you should put gameplay mechanics in front of the content generation and refine those first, before making more maps, units etc. I am just saying this because otherwise frustration will set in quicker, e.g. if you try to make 10 unit types in a row without working on something else. If this is your first project, i'd recommend this approach, and i would even suggest that you save the more advanced features, such as the multiplayer, for later.

    Multiplayer.

    In regards to this, i'd recommend that you use something like PeerJS, unless you or your buddy know how to write a server (which would then also have to be distributed with the game). Also, a server browser is likely to take some time to be developed. As for the netcode, seeing the current state of C2 development in this regard (not working all that well for real-time games), i'd suggest that you only give commands to the a.i. (these would be sent over network), letting the movements and position updates to be done locally, and synchronise positions between the games only occasionally (except for things like unit states, e.g. which is dead, which is alive and so on).

    Another thing that i'd recommend outside of these categories, is saving the game as a .caproj (Project), as this saves time when opening and saving the project, thus allows you to work more efficiently.

    Lastly, if the download is this big, you really should consider making a detailed loader layout, which shows the estimated loading time and data left etc.

    If you require any assistance with any of the points above (except for servers), i'm willing to help you in exchange for absolutely nothing (as i'm just curious to see the source). I'd like to join a development team of some sort one of these days, so i have a place where i can be grumpy and collaborate towards something at the same time. :3

    Of course, i won't rush ahead of time... Good luck with your project.

  • , well, it works ok, with Socket.IO, but ill change most of it, when the official multiplayer comes out.

    Jayjay thanks :)

    Stiivais , it doesnt matter if youre a grumpy guy from the internet or a nice guy. Everything that matters is teh feedback :)

    And hell, that is some, youve posted there, thanks for it, ill glady answer everything, send me a PM with your skype/steam name, you seem to have some great points, and i surely would love to discuss the game a bit more with you ;)

    Performance & Compatibility.

    The game is big, and uses much graphical performance due to the high resolution. I only use WebGL effect for the flags (wave).

    65% (Based on Steam Hardware Survey) uses a gpu that can run the game with 60fps. Since an A10-(somethinghere) runs the game smoothly with 60fps and only a few dropdowns, when using snow/rain (2000+ sprites).

    Im sure it can be optimised further, and every build im looking at where a possibility is. Im also working on implementing some kind of lower-performance-costs mode, it sets resolution to HD ready. Uses 50% less performance. Ill look into tweaking particles with that mode(Low Quality/High quality already included).

    And well, i could tweak the game (if im slicing the map into many, many pieces) to use less than the told 110 Collision Polygons.

    But currently: It runs perfect. 2-20% CPU performance costs from the physics. I will improve everything, but currently it runs smooth.

    Note: im not using asm.js :)

    Platform choice.

    The game is too big for a normal browser too handle. It runs with ca. 40 fps in opera, so platforms like: Mobile Devices, Browser will not get the game. (I wont publish/optimise the game for it)

    Limiting the platform, maybe decrease the playerbase, but i more likely want a Good Looking, Good Running game, rather then an not good loooking, not good running, piece-of-chunk. :)

    Im not saying i wont make games for these platforms, but SoW isnt inteded to be such a game, and i dont want it to pretend to be, what it isnt.

    Description & Story.

    You got some good ideas, i would love talking some more about it with you (skype/steam/somethingelse).

    Development goals.

    Same as the above ;)

    Multiplayer.

    I wrote a Socket.IO tutorial, and thats what im primarily using, it hast most/best functions of all Multiplayer Plugins Currently available.

    The game works o.k. with it, but not good. So i've chosen, to work on features/balancing while waiting for the official plugin to come out.

    Then ill use Socket.IO as a Matchmaking server, that way i dont use a high-performance server, and WebRTC for the actual game handling.

  • SgtConti Well, you really seem to have thought this thing through, haven't you? :)

    What you say of the performance is... interesting? I'd love to see how well the game performs (even if i am currently stuck with an "antique" laptop and probably will only have my desktop available sometime next week), because with those image resolutions and sprite quantities you either must have a pretty good computer or have done some clever optimizations, although i have to admit that Webkit really seems to be more memory efficient compared to running the game in browser (around a 100-150MB RAM usage difference between it and chrome). Either way, i wouldn't want to spam your thread, so i pm'ed you my contact details.

  • Looks great, information layed out well :)

    Great to see someone with set goals.

    And I wouldnt worry the slightest about performance.

    You made a choice for desktop systems, which, with modern recent hardware, should generally be able to handle a game ten times your load.

    Seriously, your game is relatively small, < 50mb , and your imagery is not heavily detailed (lots of black stuff), it should run fine on most modern mobile devices too.

    Love the theme / coloring approach

  • You do realize that the download size is pretty much irrelevant (at least if we speak just of the performance), right? Because all of the images are decompressed into the memory, which leads to the >300 MB of memory usage the project currently has...

    Of course, almost anything categorized as a "gaming rig" these days should be able to run the game decently, but many of the more "casual" desktop platforms will have problems, and i won't even mention how bad would mobile platforms fare with this game.

    Either way, the dev stated that his goal is to optimize only for desktop platforms, which is probably a smart thing to do, assuming that Moore's law holds true (development takes time, yo).

    *sigh* Kids these days with their Sandy Bridges and their Titans and whatnot, i think that i'll just re-make the game in CC (one of the devs said that this could be done, but is not the primary goal, atm - i have way too much time to waste anyways), just for the lulz. Also, get off my lawn!

  • lennaert thanks for the kind words.

    We'll have to see how things turn out in the end about the performance. But i at least can assure that a Tegra 3 Tablet wont be able to run the game as it is currently.

    Stiivais youre right about the download size, the Ram use of Node-Webkit currently is about 800MB and VRam (Crossfire system, may be relevant) ca. 400MB.

    The game may could be redone in CC, but i actually after some research think, it wouldnt bring a performance increase. A comparison between CC R1.2 and C2 R45: 82% as fast as Classic.

    Based on all the optimisations made by now, i think that C2 is even faster than CC.

    So remaking it in CC probably wont bring any gain.

  • Perhaps chop some of those large images up in smaller pieces.

    Reducing polygons per image too.

    ^_^

  • lennaert , that would be an option, ill think about it ;)

    Ill test my tablet with again, as soon as i completed the work on my low-performance mode, it may work then <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Jump to:
Active Users
There are 1 visitors browsing this topic (0 users and 1 guests)