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[Commander Rad]

Hi all, I'm here to post my game, Bombs and Bullets, a 2D RTS inspired by the Command and Conquer series. Crafted with LÖVE and care.

It's been in development for a while now and the current version is 0.06. You can download and play it here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

Anyhow, the project is still in the works. There's only one faction, several maps, soon to be a lot more, a simple swarming AI and a real AI two more versions down the road, Multiplayer with LAN is available, and the current maps supports up to 4 players, although technically all the way up to 16 is possible. New features and content should be rolling out fairly regularly.



It's out, its fresh, and it's ready to rumble. So feel free to try out the game, any feedback is highly appreciated, especially for bugs. Do tell if you've got any questions about the project.

I will be posting progress here, so do check this thread out on occasion for updates.

If this project strikes your fancy, like, follow, share, etc.

Cheers, Commander Rad

Link Dump:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
Itch: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNBYy5LcJiu5ywcUGVwaxw/featured
Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/commanderrad
Soundtrack:

[Commander Rad]

Here's the playlist to the unit creation process for our game:




Here's a peak at our game's current day / night cycle:




I don't know how to embed these, would someone kindly tell me how?  

Edit: Nevermind, it's automatic. 

[Ramos]

WOW! splendid job!

The visuals are very attractive for an old RTS fan like me.

I also enjoy the fact that it brings red alert and other classic RTS vibes and in addition also got a fresh feel to it.

Keep em` updates coming Commander  !

[Commander Rad]

Hey all, every week around this time I will post a little weekly update. Here's what happened last week:

Weekly progress ::
+ Started updating buildings
+ Added two more turrets



+ Finished the HIMARS asset creation video:




+ Adding a lot of quality of life improvements
+ Multiplayer functionality revived
- Buggy as heck
+ Fixing a lot of bugs
+ Pathfinding zig-zag bug as has been fixed
- A G-RAM usage problem looms, especially in multiplayer. Because the player with the crappiest G-card will bring down the whole game.
- Thinking about reducing number of directions for vehicles from 32 to 16.
- A couple of large G-RAM related optimization plans are in the docket, ready to be executed for the next version after 0.03.
- We have a lot of optimization to do in future. RAM usage is also a problem, although not as immediate as G-RAM.
+ Going back to one post per week, because I'd rather be making progress.
+ Version 0.03 with multiplayer might release next week.

That's all for this week. Join us next week, might be launching 0.03 then.

Cheers, Commander Rad

Link Dump:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
Itch: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/commander_rad
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNBYy5LcJiu5ywcUGVwaxw
Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/commanderrad
Soundtrack: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

WOW! splendid job!

The visuals are very attractive for an old RTS fan like me.

I also enjoy the fact that it brings red alert and other classic RTS vibes and in addition also got a fresh feel to it.

Keep em` updates coming Commander  !

Thanks mate.

I think in the very beginning of the master design doc, it stipulates: "The game should look like RA2 and play like CnC Generals."

Multiplayer is coming back soon, so that should be good, but there's still a long way for development before it can be considered 'gameplay complete'.

Regardless, the updates and versions should be increasing in frequency in the future. Took like 4 months between version 0.01 and 0.02, but in future major updates will be more frequent, and we'll also have minor content-only updates.

[Commander Rad]

Version 0.03 has been released. Multiplayer support has been restored and lots of quality of life improvements have been implemented.



You can play either on your local wifi network or with your friends online via Hamachi. There is a single map right now that can support up to 4 players, with a mix of whatever teams you like. Technically, there are no limits to the amount of players that can play on a single map, you can make a map with 20 player if you want / dare.



There is a heightmap and tile map importer that makes it easy to create nice maps in a short period of time using advanced software like MS paint.

There is a functioning map editor with a small tile set, but very few objects other than the default faction's military assets. More will be added in the future.



The content in 0.03 version is fairly bare bones, but we're working on a lot of new features, maps and assets that will be added in the near future.



Here's some of the remaining building icons added recently. Currently, I'm not too pleased with the icons, yet I can't spend too much time on each one. I think I will be tweaking the lighting, camera positions, and zoom in on all icons to increase variation and readability. If they don't turn out to be satisfactory, I will be replacing them with clean renders on very simple backgrounds.



System Requirements (for now):

RAM: 8G or more
VRAM: 4G or more
CPU: At least 1
Hard Drive: Yes

Our current game is somewhat unoptimized and requires ludicrous amounts of RAM and VRAM, of which, the second one is more scarce. Just make sure you close RAM-hogging programs (like Chrome) before starting a match, or the game will politely crash itself.

The upcoming 0.04 Optimization update will solve this problem. Hopefully, by then, the game will be able to run on less powerful computers.

More features, units, maps, factions, and just content in general to come in future. You can keep track of progress here or follow us on Twitter, which is our most active platform. Link dump below.

Cheers,
Commander Rad

Follow us: https://twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
Download: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/commander_rad
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNBYy5LcJiu5ywcUGVwaxw
Support: https://ko-fi.com/commanderrad
Soundtrack: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Ramos]

Hello Commander(I love your nickname)

May I ask why don't you have a Discord room for your game?
Considering that you aim for multiplayer, Discord can be a solid asset in your Journey Commander.

There are also a couple of Discord rooms for people who still play RA, Tiberian sun, old Dune, and other RTS`s that I am sure they would be happy to hear about your project and you can find plenty of support there

Good day Commander

[Commander Rad]

Hello Commander(I love your nickname)

May I ask why don't you have a Discord room for your game?
Considering that you aim for multiplayer, Discord can be a solid asset in your Journey Commander.

There are also a couple of Discord rooms for people who still play RA, Tiberian sun, old Dune, and other RTS`s that I am sure they would be happy to hear about your project and you can find plenty of support there

Good day Commander

I'll set one up soon, probably after 0.04. I just haven't really used Discord before so I'm getting used to it.

I'll get to spamming and shilling my game properly as it develops. I just don't think its good enough yet to really put out there. I don't have a complete faction yet, nor a particle system, nor proper weapons visuals, nor juice, nor balance, nor optimization. It currently requires pretty beefy computers to play due to lack of optimization.

It's why I'm just posting on game dev forums and platforms for now.

[Ramos]

I understand Commander, looking forward to your game evolution
 

[Commander Rad]

I understand Commander, looking forward to your game evolution
 

Thanks mate. I'll definitely drop the link here and in other places when it's gets to the point of playability.

I only just started organizing regular internal play-testing with testers last week.

It chugs along.

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::

dev :: Commander Rad

tools :: Love2D, Maya, Spine, Photoshop,

web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast

progress ::

+ Optimization begins

+ preliminary png to dds conversion workflow completed

- now I just need to reoutput all assets and convert from png to dds

- its about an 80% reduction in VRAM usage for a 300% increase in filesize, not ideal but a sizable improvement

+ adjusting the layers of images, made some of them optional to save space on some assets

+ numerous png and dds conversion issues, like color artifacts, the alpha layer disappearing, and other bugs fixed or workarounds found

- still haven't pulled the trigger on reducing from 32 to 16 directions. need to see how the rest of optimization pans out before I make that call

- ideally, we'll use 16 directions only on smaller vehicles like sedans, small UGVs, and tuk-tuks

+ Version 0.031, which is a small optimization patch, will release some time this week. Filesize will increase considerably, but it will run much better.

+ Added a AH-1 Cobra and a patrol boat in preparations for testing new forms of unit movement

+ Version 0.03 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

+ I do dev streams here regularly: https://twitch.tv/commander_rad

+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

Version 0.04 has been released. The purpose of this was very simple: optimization. In short, we spent 2 weeks making this number:



into this number:



Noice. By the way, that's the VRAM usage when all structures, vehicles, and infantry are built. A solid 70.8% decrease.

Additionally, due to entirely inexplicable and potentially incomprehensible reasons. We decided to up-rez everything by 50% and also decrease the number of directions on vehicles from 32 to 16.



The result is that everything looks much crisper at negligible cost in file size because the frame count on the most numerous units, vehicles, were reduced by half.

We also reworked our whole rendering workflow, tweaked output settings, switched to using dds file format and made custom image slicing and pixel-checking tools to maximize sprite packing efficiency. Here's the old and new sprite sheets:



The new sprite sheets are much more tightly packed, irregular, and the image height and width are powers of 2. They are also converted from png to dds image format before being put into the game.

The other stuff can't really be shown but the results are as follows:

Resolution: +50%
Frames: -50% (vehicles only)
Filesize: +446% (yeah...)
VRAM usage: -77% (noice)

Take note that that's the uncompressed file size, the file downloaded is actually slightly smaller than the previous version.

Anyhow, that's it for this version. There is, aside from slightly crisper graphics, no appreciable difference from the previous version. However, the workload, and the amount of files that needed to be processed, was tremendous.

Future updates will now gear more towards adding new features and expanding content, which, while much more noticeable, is much easier and more engaging work.

That's all.

Cheers,

Commander Rad

Follow us: https://twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
Download: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/commander_rad
Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiNBYy5LcJiu5ywcUGVwaxw
Support: https://ko-fi.com/commanderrad
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/balancedbreakfast
Soundtrack: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

link to larger image
:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Maya, Spine, Photoshop,
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Optimization complete
+ Beginning to flesh out movement-related features. Adding unit classes like VTOL / helicopters, amphibious units, and boats (see below)
+ Added AH-1 Cobra, a helipad and a patrol boat (see below)
+ Added the concept of tile cost back into the game. A tile has 4 cells and can have 4 different types of tile cost on a single tile.
+ Tile cost will only affect pathing for now, but in future I would like it to affect top-speed of entities crossing the tiles.
- Would like to add a movement system where a single-click yields path of least cost, and a double-click yields most direct path.
+ Added production timer for vehicles alongside the buildings
+ Infantry name ethnicities will now drawn from multiple different lists instead of just one.
- No more Yumiko Nyugan or Qiang Fujimori. East Asian will now draw from separate Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, etc, name lists, both male and female.
+ New infantry portraits are being worked on and will be more varied and in-depth in future. (see pic)
- Didn't start on the portraits for the ladies but will soon since the male portraits are nearly finalized.
+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
+ I do dev streams here regularly: https://twitch.tv/commander_rad
+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Maya, Spine, Photoshop,
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Basic VTOL functions are in (see vid)
+ Tile costs added to all tiles, only affects pathing for now, but will affect vehicle top speed in future.
+ With tile cost, comes the ability to have land, water, and amphibious vehicles.
- Gonna be focused on VTOL craft and boats for a while, lots to do.
+ Went through the stream backlog and edited up some asset creation vids:
- Helipad:


- AH-1 Cobra:


- UH-60 Black Hawk: https://youtu.be/uP3EbiIvNkY
- Turret base: https://youtu.be/y7w7bHVa-gw
- I don't think I'll do this for literally everything, but it is fairly low-effort content I can make before my game looks good enough to put out regular in-game vids.
+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
+ I do dev streams here regularly: https://twitch.tv/commander_rad
+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost
+ Finally, here's the icon and render for the UH-60 Black Hawk

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::

dev :: Commander Rad

tools :: Love2D, Maya, Spine, Photoshop,

web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast

progress ::

+ VTOL aircraft now tilt forward depending on the ratio between desired speed and top speed.

+ VTOL aircraft now bank when turning

+ The whole tilting system was rejigged for VTOL aircraft

+ VTOL aircraft are able to recognize if they are over flat land in order to land.

+ VTOL aircraft spin and crash to the ground when destroyed

+ Attack helicopter added to Swarm AI, which will start spawning them after 6 minutes

+ AH-1 Cobra now has a functioning turret

+ UH-60 Black Hawk can now carry 10 troops

+ Units that can deploy and retract can now be set to only do so on flat land

+ Tile costs are in, and vehicles favor pathing on roads and away from rougher terrain, like sand

+ Vehicles no longer instantly pivot in place and now pivot according to a pivot speed

+ Now that aircraft are in, AA guns now have a function.

+ Male soldier portraits updated with new style

+ Female soldier portraits are in progress and should be in-game by next week.

+ Names for East Asians now have sub-categories for Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and Chinese

- This is a test for sub-categories for soldier names, which will be expanded upon significantly when the faction split happens

+ Some hilarious bugs, like buildings just floating away fixed.

+ New music is being made.

+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets

+ I do dev streams here regularly: https://twitch.tv/commander_rad

+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Maya, Spine, Photoshop,
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ VTOL aircraft spin and crash to the ground when destroyed (vid)
+An additional area that isn't part of the collision box but part of the build area can be added to structures.
- This will make it possible to add empty areas around production and supply buildings.
+ Vehicles will now slow down when going uphill and speed up going downhill.
+ Terrain cost now affects pivot speed.
- This will make vehicles turn fastest on tiles like roads and slowest on tiles like sand.
+ Fixed various VTOL aircraft bugs
+ Fixed some other bugs.
+ Simplified the collision system
- This means I need to re-check and center all visual to the exact center of the collision boxes. Requires some re-rendering of assets.
+ A Dock and Patrol Boat was added.
- Patrol boat just rolls on the bottom of the ocean, so that needs to be fixed in future.
- Updated all the female infantry portraits as well.
+ New music is being made.
+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Maya, Blender, Spine, Photoshop,
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ supply trucks will now use entry and exit points when gathering and delivering supplies
- this will likely not solve traffic problem, we will have to add in rvo object avoidance to solve that problem
+ added feature to repair / heal, can be limited to certain types of units, can have a price set, etc.
+ vtol aircraft movement now supports having way points.
+ now immobile entities will check for terrain, for vehicles deploying and for building structures.
- this is added to prevent helicopters from landing into water.
+ the empty additional areas in front of production buildings will now also check terrain before being placed.
+ the empty additional areas in front of production buildings will now prevent buildings from being placed.
+ added ability for certain nodes to check the terrain
- for instance, the production point on the dockyards can check if the tile is in water
+ added the ability to sell structures, price returned is the original cost * whatever % of HP remains.
+ added sell icon as mouse pointer when the sell mode is activate
- in future, we will add custom animated mouse pointers
+ switching the modeling and UV portion of asset creation over to Blender
- going to gradually transition each step in the pipeline over to Blender
- this will take time, especially for rendering as well as anything to do with infantry since that needs animation retargeting.
+ New music is being made.
+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Maya, Blender, Spine, Photoshop,
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+M8 Buford light tank is now in-game
+ M8 Buford asset creation vid here:


+ New music in the asset creation vid is faction-specific music for the US faction
+ Additional areas in front of buildings now check terrain which will affect if the building is placeable
+ For instance, a dockyard will check for water in the additional area, while a vehicle depot will check for land
+ Building collapse animation fixed
+ Shadows enhanced
+ In the map editor, placing a building will now flatten terrain underneath if the terrain area is all +- 1 for terrain height
- this feature will be horizontally shifted over in-game where dozers will have minor automatic terrain-editing abilities
- this will allow players to build on uneven terrain, which is vital for larger buildings like an airfield
+ fences will be used to mark an area where a building has been placed prior to the arrival of a dozer unit
+ Two pieces of music for the US faction have been made, we will add it to the playlist shortly
+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost
- For those that would like to use the AGDG recap, its here: http://recap.agdg.io/

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Maya, Blender, Spine, Photoshop,
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Added custom cursors into the game
+ Current cursors are the default cursor, hover, drag select and sell. We'll be gradually adding more
+ Thanks to the cursors, it's now possible for the player to tell when they're in 'sell mode'
+ A MQ-9 Predator drone asset was prepared
+ Airfield building has begun
+ Various plans for airplane, takeoff, landing, taxiing and other functionalities planned out.
- Implementation of the fixed-wing aircraft will be much more complicated than helicopters, but hopefully it will go well
+ Terrain flattening for placing buildings in the map editor has been added
+ Terrain flattening for building buildings in the game has been added
- Substantial amount of additional functionality needs to be added, to ensure that its not surrounded by cliffs for instance.
+ Three new music tracks have been made
+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost

[Commander Rad]

:: BnB ::
dev :: Commander Rad
tools :: Love2D, Maya, Blender, Spine, Photoshop,
web :: twitter.com/GamesBreakfast
progress ::
+ Dozer will now flatten uneven terrain tile by tile after placing a structure. (vid)
- Structures are limited to placing on terrain only if all terrain is +- 1 the average terrain height.
- This feature is vital for construction of larger buildings like the airfield, which is basically complete.
+ Terrain flattening costs both money and time, so players are incentivizes to seek flatter terrain.
+ The terrain flattening feature is also present in the map editor
- Hopefully work on fixed-wing aircraft can start next week, although I doubt it.
+ Four new music tracks have been made
+ Version 0.04 released and is available here: https://balancedbreakfast.itch.io/bombs-and-bullets
+ Here is the current music playlist for anyone that wants a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-255042164/sets/b-b-ost