Threads20 NOVEMBER - AGGROBLAKH
Hi all,
Relatively minor update this week, as most of the work I've done is under the hood. I was hoping to include destructible terrain this week, but it's not quite ready to roll out yet. The reason I'm releasing an update anyways is because I've made a few changes to the way the game runs through each game tick.
Previously, the game timer would interrupt the game and cause issues with using the interface, as well as essentially locking up the game for a few milliseconds while it processed each game tick. Now I've moved things around in code so that the majority of the game tick runs in a separate thread. It seems like an obvious thing to include even before releasing in Early Access, but in my mind performance comes secondary to correctness ie. I was initially more concerned with making sure everything worked and was fun rather than how quickly it ran (as long as it was playable, of course).
Using the UI should now feel a lot more responsive even while the game timer is running, and I'm hoping things run a lot smoother in general. Let me know if you run into any issues - if any of you have done programming yourselves, you'll probably be more than aware that multi-threaded/concurrent programming occupies its own special place in Hell. Nevertheless, I'm hoping this improves the game experience for a lot of you.
Bugfixes/Changes: Made game tick concurrent.
Prevented the HQ and Aerodrome from refreshing every game tick, which should make those screens more easily useable while the game timer is running.
Added the ability to use the WASD keys to scroll.
Reduced the number of subscreen refreshes, which should make things less "choppy"
Drag-selecting entire groups of units and issuing orders to them will now ignore HQ units if HQ units are unable to perform those orders (build orders, wiring, etc)
Selecting HQ units will now highlight their subordinate units as well.
Added weapon names in the Order of Battle subscreen.
Updated the tutorials so that they are no longer broken versions of the main map. This also means that the bug in which the map toggles in the upper right corner of the screen now work in the tutorials.
Changed the game icon to something other than the default Godot icon.
Soon to Come: Destructible Terrain - I have one house type completed, as well as the underlying logic for any type of terrain in general. I probably won't release this feature until I have at least a few different building types, otherwise it's going to look really weird.
The ability to schedule attack orders using the Scheduled Order screen.
A Retreat button once you send units over the top.
Better UI for managing subordinates/superiors. Right now it takes several clicks to, say, select a company within a brigade, and then to select all platoons in that company. I'm probably just going to steal the interface from HOI3, but it will take me a few days to implement, and I wanted to get an update out today.
Artillery gun-pits. Some of you have suggested this, but until now I couldn't think of a gameplay-related reason to include them. Since artillery can't enter blockhouses, I'm thinking these will basically be blockhouses for artillery. They take longer to build, and it takes artillery units a long time to settle into them or leave them. However, artillery will be protected from counterbattery fire and aerial observation (signals units can still spot them, though). Let me know if this sounds good!
Thanks for playing!