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[Failosipher]

Hello everyone and welcome to the Salt the Earth devlog. I'll be posting here as often as I do on the website, and on the IndieDB page. Lets start by explaining what this game is and how its played. Salt the Earth is an RTS except:

• There are no buildings to construct.
• There are no resources to gather.
• There is no world map or campaign mode.

Salt the Earth takes place in a fantasy setting. A place where the different races of the world battle against each other for supremacy. Currently there are five races (Humans, Orcs, Undead, Demons, and Dwarfs) with 41 playable units, and 114 unique abilities. The only game mode is a multi-round deathmatch mode where players customize their units, select their units in loadout mode, and then fight to the death in a best of 3 rounds match.

Features

STE also lists some other interesting features:

• An auto-balance system: players vote on unit balance (more on this later).
• Dedicated server hosting. No P2P nonsense.
• No same-race match-ups EVER (not even in 2v2).
• Loadout mode will always be draft mode (giving players a chance to respond to picks).
• Hard caps on units to prevent cheese and unit spamming.
• No in-game monetization . The game model is premium, with a flat cost.
• Ranked gameplay on day 1 of launch.
• Seasonal ladder competition.

Technical Info

I've been working on this game (as of this post) for 801 days. I do pretty much everything on my own, with the exception of some freelance artists, and my girlfriend (who helps me with marketing and outreach). The game is built in Unity (5.5.5) and uses UNet for its networking.

Road Map

The goal is to release the game for a flat price on Steam, in late 2019. After release, I'd like to continue developing the game and releasing DLC race packs (at a very low cost) for another 2 to 3 years after launch. That post-launch period will also give me time to adjust the auto balance system. Let me explain.

The Auto-Balance System


For as long as I've been playing multiplayer games, I've been upset with balance. I've been bothered by out-of-touch developers making huge changes to core game elements on a weekly basis, and playing whack-a-mole with the nerf-hammer.

My solution is to let the players balance the game. What I want is for every player to be able to cast their vote on which units should be nerfed/buffed at the end of every match. This feedback is scaled by the players rank, so that those players who perform best will have a higher impact on game balance than those who are newer and less experienced. I expect some of this will need additional clarification, and I look forward to your questions.

More Info About the Game


A complete breakdown of all units and all abilities with up-to-date stats can be found over on the website on the game page. Here's a preview of what you'll find:

Social Media


This is my least favorite part (marketing), but you know how it is...

• YouTube
• Twitter
• Reddit
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Discord
• IndieDB

The Future of This Devlog

I'll updating this devlog with new content whenever I have anything to show, as well as when I make big posts on the website or IndieDB. I'll be checking this thread daily (often hourly) to answer to any questions anyone has (pertaining to the game, or the technical stuff its made of). I'll also be participating in other threads here on TIG. I know I have a lot to share, but I also hope that I can learn some new things here as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this introductory post, and I look forward to reading your comments and questions. If you have a game project of your own, I wish you all the success and luck. Just take it day by day, that's what I do.

 

 

   

[Failosipher]

I wanted to share the two major maps that I've completed for the project. There's been quite a few others, but the format has changed a few times, and these are the only two I'm confident will make it into production (so far). I'm always planning to make more maps though.

If you've noticed the golem near the top of the first map, yes, he does actively engage players and will fight either player. I plan to incentivize players to kill him to receive a buff.

Also, I recently added a new unit to the game; The Necrotitan. It was really fun making this one because I did all the animations for it myself, in Maya. I wrote a big post over on IndieDB: https://www.indiedb.com/games/salt-the-earth/news/new-unit-the-necrotitan

For now, I just wanted to share with you some of its cool abilities.

   

   

[Failosipher]

I've been busy working on a big code-rewrite that deals with attacks and abilities, but I had some time to add a few new abilities to one of my older units, the Hellcaster. Just wanted to share some of the ability gifs with you all, I think they're neat. More detailed info can be found here: http://salt-the-earth.com/new-hellcaster-spells/

   

 

[LunaticDancer]

Man, this is incredible!

The idea itself sounds fun, and the art direction straight from early 2000's games but with better textures is right up my alley. I'm sold!

[Failosipher]

@LunaticDancer

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you so much for your kind words. I can't say I was aiming for that early 2000's look, but I will definitely take it as a compliment

Recently I've been working updating a ton of scripts. I essentially broke 117 scripts, and now I'm working my way through all the abilities, updating them and fixing them as I go. Just got done updating the human mage, and I wanted to share some of new stuff. You can read more about it here: https://www.indiedb.com/games/salt-the-earth/news/mage-update

 

 

I'll try to keep updating more often. I've been too deep in the code recently, but the next few weeks look packed with visual updates and new abilities. I'm kind of excited

[Failosipher]

Just a quick bump with some new images. Still working on re-writing all my ability scripts. I've had a lot of fun working with this new distortion shader; I used it for the sun effect as well as the blue shield on the golem.

Finally got most of the kinks figured out in my code. Progress should be a bit quicker now. Hopefully I can crush the remaining scripts and get this project onto a production server so I can start public testing early next year.

 

 

[Failosipher]

Finally got a ton of changes done to the Undead units. This is roughly half of them, I'll be working on the Necromancer, Lich King, and Necro-Titan next. More info can be found here: https://www.indiedb.com/games/salt-the-earth/news/undead-armies-update

I love posting pics here and watching the view count rise, but I'd love to answer any questions (gameplay, technical, design, etc) that anyone has.

 

 

[Failosipher]

Just finished another series of updates for the Lich King and Undead Necromancer. Those two units had a rediculous amount of abilities between them. Despite some real-life setbacks, I'm happy to say I got it done. More info can be found here: https://www.indiedb.com/games/salt-the-earth/news/undead-mages-update#articlesform

Next week I hope to have some gameplay footage with narration ready for viewing. Its been a long time.

 

 

[Failosipher]

Its been way too long since I've updated this thread. Here's a post explaining why: http://salt-the-earth.com/life-update/

One of the challenges I've had with this game is showing people what the game looks like. So, after many hours of work, here's a complete match in Salt the Earth: