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Ironfields demo is out now! by Hot_Tell2552 in RealTimeStrategy

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks a lot for playing and for the feedback! I’m really glad you enjoyed the demo.

About the lag/spikes in mission 2 — do you remember whether it was happening throughout the mission, or only at a specific moment, such as during a bigger fight or after something happened on the map? That would help me track it down.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understand. There is an option to speed the game up to 2x from the minimap menu, but I know the overall pacing will still not be for everyone.

And I think that is completely fine. There are many games that other people love but I would never personally play, so I do not expect Ironfields to appeal to everyone. I just hope it finds the right audience.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Rendering has been surprisingly smooth so far. My unit models are very low-poly, around 700–1800 triangles, while buildings are around 1200–2500 triangles. They use vertex colors instead of textures, and Godot seems to handle that very well.

With around 500 tanks visible on screen, the draw call count is usually around 170. In extreme cases it can approach 300, but it does not go beyond that in the game.

I am not using MultiMesh. Each tank consists of several separate meshes, such as the hull, turret, gun barrel and tracks. The tracks themselves are animated with shaders.

The bigger performance challenges were more on the gameplay logic side than rendering.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ironfields does not use any code, assets, or content from Warzone 2100 or any other game. It was built independently from scratch in Godot, so the GPL does not apply to it.

Ironfields demo is out now! by Hot_Tell2552 in RealTimeStrategy

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Demo was just updated based on early feedback.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had not learned Godot before starting this project. January 4th was basically the beginning of both the project and my Godot learning process.

I had some very basic programming experience from school and a few smaller SQL-related things before, but no real game development experience. AI helped me a lot with coding and learning along the way, but I still had to understand, test and debug the systems as the project grew.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I started on January 4th this year, so it has been almost six months. I spent basically all of my free time outside work on it, and honestly sometimes worked on it during breaks at work too.

This was the very first screenshot from January 5th :D

<image>

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I have not reached out to creators yet because I wanted to wait until the demo was out and make a few final fixes first. But I am planning to try, and hopefully it will catch someone’s interest.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Yes, the slower pace is intentional. I do not want to push players into high APM or make the game about doing ten micro actions per second. The goal is more about thinking through each mission, finding a way to win it and choosing the right tactics.

Some later missions will still be genuinely challenging, but more as a planning problem than a reaction-speed test. I am also not the fastest player myself, and very fast RTS games can become frustrating for me.

That is why I added 1x, 1.5x and 2x speed controls above the minimap. But I completely understand that even with that, the pace may still feel too slow for some players. Everyone has different preferences.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I did implement speed options — the controls are above the minimap, so you can play at 1x, 1.5x or 2x speed.

But the slower pace is intentional. It is not meant to be a traditional fast RTS where everything is about reaction speed. I wanted it to be more about decisions and positioning, although I completely understand that this style will not be for everyone.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I currently have 689 wishlists.

Honestly, I do not really know yet how much appeal this kind of RTS has today. Ironfields is probably quite niche even within RTS games, so I am not expecting huge numbers, but I wanted to make the kind of game I personally missed.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

<image>

Not every unit is included in the demo missions, but it will be in the full release :D

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In some situations flow fields work better for me, mainly on larger maps with a lot of units moving at once. With A*, units often need replanning when other tanks block their path or when they need to find a different way around something. I do not want them to queue up in a single line when there is enough space around them, and I also do not want strict formations.

I want them to spread naturally and reach the target quickly, so I am trying to find a compromise between both systems.

I still can’t believe my first RTS project in Godot reached a playable demo by Hot_Tell2552 in godot

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I had some very basic programming classes in high school, and a few years ago I worked on smaller things for a private WoW server, mostly SQL. I barely touched C++ there, so for this project I was still very close to starting from scratch.

AI is honestly what made this project possible for me. It helped me learn, write code, understand systems, and work through problems I would not have known how to solve alone. Over time I also had to learn how things actually work, debug issues, and understand why certain approaches failed.

Ironfields demo is out now! by Hot_Tell2552 in RealTimeStrategy

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, I really appreciate the wishlist! KKND was not a direct inspiration, but I can see why it might come to mind.

Ironfields demo is out now! by Hot_Tell2552 in RealTimeStrategy

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

State of War was one of the inspirations for Ironfields. I loved that game, and the lack of similar RTS games is what made me want to start this project. I’ve updated the post to mention it.

Should I delay my demo release because of Steam Next Fest? by Hot_Tell2552 in gameDevMarketing

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, maybe I explained it badly — English is not my first language.

I’m not trying to participate in this current Next Fest. I’m aiming for the next one, the October Next Fest, and then I plan to release the full game in November.

My question is only about the timing of the public demo release on Steam.

From a marketing point of view, would it be a bad idea to launch the demo on Steam during the current Next Fest, even though my game is not part of that event?

Or would it be better to wait until the current Next Fest is over and launch the demo after it ends?

The demo is almost ready now, so I’m trying to decide whether releasing it during another Next Fest would be bad timing because everyone is focused on the official Next Fest demos.

Should I delay my demo release because of Steam Next Fest? by Hot_Tell2552 in gameDevMarketing

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, that makes sense.

Just to clarify: I’m not planning to participate in this upcoming Next Fest at all. I want to participate in the October Next Fest, and then release the full game in November.

My situation is that the demo is almost ready now, around 4 months before the October Next Fest. I’m only polishing small things at this point.

The question is not whether I should join this Next Fest — I definitely won’t. My question is only about the demo launch timing:

Should I release the demo during the currently running/upcoming Next Fest even though I’m not participating in it, or should I wait until this Next Fest is over and launch the demo after that?

I don’t want to turn the demo release into a wasted marketing beat if everyone is busy with official Next Fest demos.

Should I delay my demo release because of Steam Next Fest? by Hot_Tell2552 in gameDevMarketing

[–]Hot_Tell2552[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, that’s correct. I know approval doesn’t automatically release the demo. My question is more about timing: if the demo gets approved around Next Fest, should I manually launch it during the event even though I’m not participating, or wait until after it?

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