En bref. WDS a mis en ligne il y a peu une vidéo de gameplay permettant de voir les avancées concernant la refonte de la série Squad Battles. Qui donc devrait comme les autres séries de John Tiller bénéficier cette année d’une très importante mise à jour technique et graphique du moteur de jeu.
Cette vidéo est dénuée de commentaire, il s’agit de gameplay à l’état brut, ce que les connaisseurs de la série apprécieront plus que ceux qui la découvrent. L’accent étant mis ici sur l’amélioration de l’ambiance sonore et des animations.
Notez aussi que comme souvent cet aperçu montre le résultat des travaux en cours (chantier entamé au moins depuis l’an dernier), mais pas le résultat final. Quoiqu’il en soit voilà une future évolution bienvenue pour la quinzaine de wargames estampillés Squad Battles.
Pour un peu plus apprécier les améliorations à venir, voyez également les trois nouvelles captures d’écrans ci-après.
En théorie la première importante mise à jour des wargames Squad Battles devrait arriver ultérieurement cette année. En commençant vraisemblablement par un premier patch majeur, suivi de petits patchs mineurs en renfort après. Ce a priori jeu par jeu, et non tous d’un seul coup.
A lire au sujet de cette série les articles suivants :
- Squad Battles – World War One : la Grande Guerre au plus près des hexagones
- Squad Battles – Winter War : la guerre russo-finlandaise
- Squad Battles – Red Victory : l’Armée rouge prend sa revanche
- Test de Squad Battles : Dien Bien Phu
- Squad Battles – Soviet-Afghan War : quand l’URSS s’enlisa dans le bourbier afghan
Au passage sachez aussi qu’une partie de l’équipe de WDS travaille sur de nouveaux moteurs de jeux, ce qui permettra à l’avenir la création de nouveaux wargames. Il est toutefois encore trop tôt pour que le studio évoque plus de détails à ce propos. Patience…
Communiqué
Squad Battles Work in Process
Squad Battles was one of three game series (the other two were Naval Campaigns and Modern Air Power) that was not refreshed when WDS opened its own store in November 2021. That work has now begun, and we have chosen Advance of the Reich to be our prototype for the series. Several community Squad Battles veterans have joined the WDS team to both suggest and do the work required to improve the series. There is a range of programming, data and graphical improvements being implemented in the test build. The list is long enough that we will probably do a series of patches over time, but the first upgrade will be substantial.
To give just a flavour of what is changing, a range of bugs have been squashed, including invulnerable vehicles in assaults. Programming to allow better representation of units including dynamic facing is now underway. All the included orders of battle have been reviewed and with many more unit images, a wider selection of representations is available. There is also on counter indications of the type or status of a unit.
Graphically, we have been using the tactical graphics from the pre-20th century titles as a base and adjusting from there. This definitely works for 2D and maybe the choice for 3D where applicable. Here are a few example shots in game of both 2D and 3D. Like any prototype, everything being shown is subject to change.
We have also been experimenting with explosion, fire and other animations and you can watch a video of a range of actions here. Please note that the video is a little longer at just under eleven minutes – do make certain you watch it in full screen and HD if possible:
We are also looking to possibly provide the ability to print out and save order of battles using a tool built by Xerxes77, one of our contributors. You can see some early examples of OOBs in both horizontal and Vertical format below. Please note all vehicular and gun images are yet to be reworked.
A lot has been achieved in the last couple of months, but with sixteen Squad Battles titles, it will take us a while to review and update them all. There are several additional features that we hope can be included in the first patch, but resourcing will be the limiting factor. We plan to release updates as each title is completed, rather than wait until all are ready.
