Dogs Of War Vu

Sim/Strategy/War => Flight Simulation => Topic started by: Frankie on January 11, 2020, 05:32:38 PM

Title: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Frankie on January 11, 2020, 05:32:38 PM
Tiny Combat Arena
A sim-lite flying game with customizable loadouts by Why485

Tiny Combat Arena (TCA) is a flight sim game with lots of potential and nice funky and crisp retro graphics. The visuals run silky smooth on my old 2014 Dell Latitude 3440 laptop. The polygon-shaded graphics of the game remind me of Graphsim's F/A-18, Parsoft's A-10 Attack! and A-10 Cuba! and Eagle Dynamics' 1995 Flanker 1.0/1.5. Such classics! Maybe also a bit of Skyfighters 1945. Imagine if Digital Integration had actually developed Tornado 2.0 with the graphics of TCA.

(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/619050538901700618/663888340847689728/Arena-2020-01-06-16-02-47.png)
This flight sim can only get better with time. I am looking forward to it!"

The sense of speed of Tiny Combat Areana is great, and there is more than enough depth-cueing thanks to a more than liberal dose of shadows, and polygon trees and bushes at ground level. The animations of missiles streaking towards their targets, mid-air explosions and flare releasing are impressive. This is work in progress. Demo Day 30 Release v0.4.0 was released on Monday 6th January 2020 and has since been updated to version 0.4.1. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the size of the download. A mere 27Mb! I have three words to say about Why485's project - WATCH THIS SPACE! (Frankie Kam)

In Why485's words, TCA "is a mechanics heavy playground for fixed wing aircraft from a different time. There are many weapons to find and experiment with, and planes to discover. The weapons and flight modeling are at a sim-lite level, inspired by real life, but not meant to be a 1:1 recreation of it.

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2NTAzMzAucG5n/original/Tq%2FllP.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI4NDY5MzcucG5n/original/fKHZfE.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDIxNTkyLzI2NTA1MTEucG5n/original/3pa0Iu.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDIxNTkyLzI0NjY5MjUuZ2lm/347x500/XasmOq.gif)


"It is realistic enough that the real mechanics and tactics are in play, such as the concept of running a missile out of energy, but streamlined such that it's a more accessible and fun experience than a hardcore flight simulator."

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2NTAxNDIucG5n/original/iPAuYF.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI0NjcxOTEucG5n/original/UtlgpL.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2NTA1NzgucG5n/original/s1b7r9.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDIxNTkyLzI0NjY5MzEuZ2lm/347x500/wqfMl6.gif)


"This is still in a very early stage. Many mechanics, such as the flight model, weapons, menus, and methods for unlocking remain to be done. It's currently in a state where the foundation is being built out. I intend to keep this page updated as major updates are made available."

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI0NjcxOTgucG5n/original/jPt5VF.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2NTAzNDkucG5n/original/WxKzcB.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2NTAxMzgucG5n/original/ToAb4O.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDIxNTkyLzI0NjY5MzcuZ2lm/347x500/5wydDb.gif)


Rapid fire Q&A
"Campaign: No campaign in the sense there won't be a story with connected missions
Scenarios: I have thoughts, but I don't feel comfortable commenting beyond that
First person: HUD only first person view will happen, no cockpits
Release date: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
G effects: Definitely"


(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2NTA0NjcucG5n/original/Tjtqbz.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2NTAzMDYucG5n/original/WUhs6J.png)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDIxNTkyLzI2NTA0OTQuZ2lm/347x500/cL14%2F0.gif)


Links 
Main Website and Game Demo Download (Demo Day 30 Build - v0.4.1- only 27Mb!) (https://why485.itch.io/tiny-combat-arena)
FAQ (https://why485.itch.io/tiny-combat-arena/devlog/101314/frequently-asked-questions)
Devlog (https://why485.itch.io/tiny-combat-arena/devlog)
Comments (https://why485.itch.io/tiny-combat-arena#comments)
Discord Channel (https://discordapp.com/invite/zPg5rYr)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNDIxNTkyLzI0NjcyNjAuZ2lm/347x500/qfZI9P.gif)

(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/619050538901700618/663636085611560961/2020-01-06-01-52-27.gif)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI0NjcxNjguZ2lm/original/yk6h3m.gif)


Youtube Playlist
Youtube Playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdjDhgESYQQYOQGuret6PuKJith9FDRha)


Credits
Images and text by Why486 from https://why485.itch.io/tiny-combat-arena


Change Log
For more details see https://why485.itch.io/tiny-combat-arena

0.4.1 - Demo Day 30 Hotfix 1

Bugfix
- AI should be less likely to stall themselves and fall out of the sky when out of combat
- Jaguar spawns should be more likely (MiGs were spawning in place of them)
- AI protecting areas (e.g. airfield defense fighters) return to the airfield if led away
- Persistent aircraft no longer fly around in 3D when the player is not on a sortie

0.4.0 - Demo Day 30 Release

New Features
- Camera can be zoomed in with a toggle button on Z or D-Pad up on the gamepad
- Airfields and aircraft groups appear on the map
- Visual on map for which airbase is selected as home base
- Group system for dynamically spawning aircraft formations and drawing them on map
    - Groups can spawn based on parent airfield
    - Groups can be manually placed and persistently destroyed
    - Area spawners for groups will dynamically create groups every sortie
    - Aircraft outside of "player bubble" are aggregated and abstracted
    - Aircraft will loiter around anchor point (e.g. airfield they are protecting)
- New CAPTURABLE airfield on the island
- Destroying the priority targets around the airfield changes airfield to yours
- Cannot sortie from or re-arm on hostile airfields
- Capturing Hori Airfield will provide several defensive fighters
- Updated Rewired to 1.1.29.U2019
- Updated Unity to 2019.2.15f
- Added AGM-65 Maverick (single rail) to F-20
- Several buildings added
- Fuel tank building is destructable

Improvements
- Total rework of map rendering visuals
- Moved sun so that it would move east/west if it moved instead of north/south
- Beefed up defense for Ibis to be 2 planes + Reimu
- AS30 missile can be carried on Jaguar centerline hardpoint for 3 total A-G missiles
- Message ticker easier to read while in flight
- F-20 hardpoints slightly spaced out to prevent clipping of weapons
- Renamed "MiG-21F-13" to "MiG-21"
- Longer wing trails

Bug Fixes
- Missile lock warning should not play after death
- Removed obsolete Label message when K is pressed

0.3.0 - Demo Day 29 Release

New Features
- Brand new, much larger, island map with mountainous terrain
- Added F-20, meant to represent the capabilities of the best fighters in the game
- Aircraft sensors
    - Situational Awareness: Anything within a certain range gets a marker placed on top of it
    - Basic Air Radar: Used on MiG-21 and F-20, detects aircraft at long range
    - Targeting of objects to get more information of them
    - Different sensors have different rules for detection/tracking
- Omniscient IMGUI labels replaced with markers generated by the Situational Awareness sensor
- AI fighters along with very basic (read: prototype) dogfighting ability with guns and missiles
- Heat signature and IR seeker system
    - Aircraft generate heat
    - Apparent temperature depends on distance and aspect angle
    - Missiles now use IR seekers to detect and track targets
    - Each missile has unique parameters for its seeker
- Flares (for player and AI) to spoof IR missiles by creating bright heat sources
- Ability to cage/uncage missiles to see exactly what the seeker is tracking
- Flyby sound effects
- Material system affecting how well planes can move off-road
    - E.g. Jaguar can easily roll and take off without a runway
- "Scatter" system to provide map clutter such as trees and grass
- Right mouse button can be used to pan the map by clicking and dragging
- Missile warning when a missile is fired at the player
- Pedals should automatically bind to yaw

Improvements
- Banked planes will induce a yawing moment to the ground
- Sound effects for bullet impacts
- Rolling when using Mouse Flight is more precise and should not overshoot anymore
- Visibility dots easier to see and applied to more units
- Replaced AIM-9M with AIM-9L
- All AIM-9 models recolored
- Double rail AIM-9 launcher for F-20
- Landing gear touchdown effects
- Effects for when taxiing off-road
- Built in 32 bit for slightly broader compatibility
- Panning around the map screen significantly smoother
- Photo mode camera and MouseFlight camera no longer clip through terrain

Bug Fixes
- Super Gunboat turrets no longer fire after being destroyed
- MouseFlight camera initializes in the same direction as the aircraft
- Flight controls now inactive while the game is paused (e.g. fire a missile while paused)
- Mouse sensitivity for MouseFlight should no longer be sensitive to framerate
- Map cannot be scrolled while flying

0.2.0 - Demo Day 28 Release

Features

- Brand new art style built from the ground up
    - New models, effects, and shaders
- New flyable aircraft: MiG-21 and Jaguar
- New weapons
    - Jaguar: AIM-9L, AIM-9M, AS30
    - MiG-21: R-3S, R-60, Kh-66
- New Wake Island inspired map with runway and airbase buildings
- Map screen to select where to start your sortie and what plane to sortie with
- Escape menu to pause the game, access photo mode, and end the sortie
- Enemy turrets can now fire on and kill the player
- Collision damage proportional to speed
- Player hitpoints percentage shown on HUD
- Animated airbrakes for all flyable aircraft
- Turrets become more accurate the longer they fire on the target
- Rudimentary support for gamepad and joysticks, each using a new camera system optimized for direct control of the aircraft
- All weapons are always available (disbled inventory tracking)
- Support for 4k and ultrawide resolutions

0.1.1 - Demo Day 27 Patch 1

Features
- Hold R key to reset the plane if it gets stuck on the ground
- Ground handling should be smoother and more responsive
- When landing gear are raised, there are no more invisible wheels under the plane
- Landing gear cannot be lowered if there is no clearance

Bug Fixes
- Boats now turn and stay in their spawn area instead of sailing off into the ocean
- Corvettes near spawn no longer sail under Sabre Island
- Wake effect on some Gunboats no longer renders above the boat

0.1.0 - Demo Day 27 Release

Features
- Initial release
- Island demo map
- Three aircraft
- Customizable loadouts
- Inventory system

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on January 14, 2020, 03:06:47 PM
I have seen this before. It is very interesting.

The developer is very passionate about it. It also has a high level of fidelity. I am looking forward to this.

Thanks for posting this Frankie  :thumbsup
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Frankie on March 28, 2021, 07:52:20 AM
One year later and the developer has done so much more stuff. It will be released on Steam...when it is released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnI-ZVTm3bM
Blackout/Redout from G forces - 26 Mar 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ_p854ZFjE
An extremely poor quality video of a ground battle (recorded on a smartphone) - 24 Mar 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZITn0oyJM0
Vehicles in Instant Action Missions - 20 Mar 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-vKDTUS-5I
Vehicle Armor System - 20 Mar 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jktnl1kLAns
Simple Formation Battle - 9 Mar 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJunghe8XEg
Full 32 Aircraft Dogfight (Instant Action) - 7 Feb 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi828kNy5m8
4v4 Instant Action Dogfight - 28 Jan 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5eO83Km80
More Instant Action UI work - 20 Jan 2021


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jTstiw6drM
Fishbed AI Aircraft Development - 4 Dec 2020


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cndNYJcbiNI
SAM Installation Prototyping - 16 Nov 2020


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=847dczVaYKk
Getting shot at by Shilkas - 22 Oct 2020


All videos here https://www.youtube.com/user/Why485/videos?view=0&sort=dd&flow=grid

The developer drew inspiration from A-10 Cuba! and many other flight simuators of the past. Single player. No plans for multiplayer. Instant action. Badly needs a dynamic campaign. Stay tuned.
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Frankie on June 18, 2021, 02:57:09 AM
TINY COMBAT ARENA TRAILER
ANNOUNCEMENT 17 JUNE 2021

PUBLISHER - MICROPROSE



https://youtu.be/Bi-9YJXzzJo


https://twitter.com/micro_prose/status/1405570937462874120


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1347550/Tiny_Combat_Arena/

Focuses on 1970s-1990s era dog-fighting.

Myriad of planes, tanks, AAA and SAM vehicles. Nice retro, but fluid and detailed, A-10 Cuba! (1996, Parsoft Interactive & Activision)  and F/A-18 Korea (1997, Graphic Simulations)-type graphics. Hope it comes with a Dynamic Campaign. That would be the icing on the cake.

Cheers
Frankie Kam
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Frankie on February 22, 2022, 03:19:03 PM
Released on Steam today! 22/2/22.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1347550/Tiny_Combat_Arena/
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on August 30, 2022, 01:34:36 AM
0.9.0.4 is on the Tester's branch!
Tue, 30 August 2022

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40742388/a9358ea56ce4ca783e9974d9289128a7e5c3e659.png)

I deleted ~3700 lines of old vehicle code and it felt great

Hello! The patch notes for this one are short, but there were some substantial under the hood changes.

Instant Action functionality has been restored. In particular, the Strike mode. The new vehicle code changed some pretty fundamental assumptions on how vehicles should work, so the Strike code needed to be adapted to work with these new systems. From a feature level, it should be identical, though the vehicles will pathfind a bit now, as opposed to before where they drove in a straight line to the target.

With this patch, the new vehicles are now on par with, or exceed all the features of the old vehicle code! If testing of this build goes well, it'll be pushed to live soon.

Changelog:

New Features:
- Instant Action is functional again

Improvements:
- In instant action, groups of vehicles are spawned in based on the faction defined formations
- Removed ~3700 lines of old vehicle and vehicle adjacent code (no game change, but I'm really happy about it)
- When a strategic target has negative MaxSupply, the UI will not show supply at all

Bugfixes:
- Fixed group icon sometimes appearing at the origin for vehicles marked important (i.e. AAA)

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on September 03, 2022, 02:03:46 AM
Version 0.9.0.5 is available on the Tester's Branch!
Fri, 2 September 2022

Targeting algorithms are really hard!

Hello! The finished version of the old prototype targeting work is finally in. I wanted to get this into the patch before it goes live, since the difficulty in targeting high threat targets is one of the game's most common criticisms.


The new Targeting

https://youtu.be/JM699kBrI54


As you move the targeting crosshair around (hidden when looking forwards), a selection of 6 targets will be specially highlighted. Pressing the target button, the radar will cycle between these targets. Most importantly, this selection is prioritized by threat, so AAA like Shilkas will be targeted before a tank that is not a threat.

(https://i.imgur.com/WuzIJUr.png)

Anti-aircraft vehicles also now have a unique targeting icon to make it easier to pick them out.

(https://i.imgur.com/3Z70dmQ.png)

It's worth mentioning again that the targeting is based around the screen center, allowing you to target by looking at something. When off-boresight, a small crosshair will appear in the center of the screen to give you a reference point to aim with.

Changelog:

New Features:
- Added key (Shift-H by default) to toggle visibility of Arena symbology while flying

Improvements:
- Targeting logic creates a group of selectable objects
- Target button cycles between this group of objects
- Selectable objects are prioritized by type so that threats are targeted first

Bugfixes:
- Fixed bug where errors could be thrown by bullets when leaving Arena mode
- Strela classified as SAM instead of vehicle
 
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on September 07, 2022, 12:56:56 AM
0.9.0.6 is available on the tester's branch!
Tue, September 6, 2022

Hello! This is a small patch to get ready for the public release.

Changelog:

New Features:
- AAA vehicles won't (purposefully) put themselves between the base they're defending and a hostile base

Improvements:
- Vehicles defending a base with adjacent hostile base no longer clump up in one spot
- Strategic Targets don't read "(Idle)" anymore when not building, the idle is implied

Bugfixes:
- Removed some log spam related to vehicle AI
- After a strategic target is disabled, the supply from units in production is also lost
- Disabled bases can no longer build vehicles
- Group counts are accurate now (e.g. no longer shows 8/2 groups)
- Fixed NRE caused by Strategic Targets not correctly keeping track of their spawned units

Balance:
- Murasa Shilka build time increased 15s -> 30s
- Toramaru Shilka build time increased 15s -> 45s

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on September 13, 2022, 02:19:59 AM
0.9.0.7 - Vehicles, Pathfinding, and Supplies!
Fri, 9 September 2022

Putting this post together took so long.

Hello! The 9.0.X patches are now public. This is the biggest patch the game has had in a while. In late June, I started working on IR SAMs. However, I quickly ran into many snags with regards to the performance and inflexibility of the current code. The bad news is that IR SAMs still aren't in. The good news is that the game has made some major strides forwards and cleared the worst roadblocks that used to keep me up at night.

For the moment, the Arena UI is really busy. I've added a shortcut to disable it, defaulting to Shift-H, while in flight, but this is all subject to change very soon.


Vehicle Overhaul

https://youtu.be/ouo7LSYxKbw


The central feature of this patch are the new vehicle mechanics and optimizations. The previous vehicle code struggled to scale any larger than what was presented in the Arena Demo mission. They also could not pathfind around obstacles, nor were they aware of terrain beyond that it existed below them. This critically lead to many limitations in the map design. For example, vehicles would be completely unaware of water, roads, mountains or bridges. The old vehicle code was also fundamentally quite performance intensive, even with many hacked on optimizations that made the code harder to understand and work on, to the point where I was simply not comfortable having more than ~100 active vehicles.


Pathfinding and its Implications

https://i.imgur.com/b9k6xGl.png


About 1800 lines of code later (and ~3700 deleted lines!), the vehicles have been massively overhauled, based on a proper pathfinding solution. It's hard to overstate how important this is to the game. From the beginning, I've wanted Tiny Combat Arena to be about strategically applying your own plane and weapons to influence a simulated battle on the ground. Your flights should be in service of a larger goal and mission, about more than just dogfighting in a context-less void. With this change, that goal feels totally within reach.

Vehicle behaviors are much more advanced now. They follow roads (and speed up when on them). They can travel through cities and around buildings. They will even try (try!) to avoid runways and drive around wreckages of other vehicles. This adds so much more depth to flexibility to how maps can be designed. The new code has been tested with hills, roads, canyons, and even tunnels. Vehicles will drive around bodies of water, and drive over bridges when available. Expect more interesting terrain soon!

If you'd like more detailed information, check out this news post about the vehicles.


Bullet, Gun, Turret, and Targeting Optimizations

(https://i.imgur.com/U9gQOoX.png)

In addition to all of this, the new code features greatly optimized code for bullets, guns, and turrets. The algorithms are efficient to the point where all vehicles can now compensate correctly for bullet drop, the targeting is much more accurate, and they can fire off many more shots than before without lagging the game. Vehicles can even support multiple turrets now (a forward looking feature). To show off this feature, the M60A1 is now able to use the commander's cupola machinegun.

This rewrite also gave me an opportunity to expose the bullet code to moddable JSON. Previously, guns could be edited, but the bullet definitions were hardcoded, optimized for the old gun system. The new guns were designed and optimized from the ground up to function with loaded data. However, be aware that these optimizations apply only to ground vehicles. Aircraft are still using the old gun/bullet system, but will converted soon enough.


Groups and Supplies

(https://i.imgur.com/DyU9N9j.png)

Vehicles are now spawned in groups
rather than the gigantic and cumbersome formations. This gives more flexibility to how they move around the battlefield, and helps to spread the units out a bit more. Battles are a lot cooler to watch now!

Strategic Targets now have supplies
and scenario defined group limits
. Each base can support a certain number of groups of certain vehicle types. Strategic targets will automatically "build" new groups to hit their unit cap, and will replace groups that have been destroyed. Building is not instantaneous, though for the moment it is very quick.

Building vehicle groups costs supplies!
Each group has a cost associated with it and if the strategic target expends all of its supplies it can no longer build units. Destroying units matters way more now that bases have supplies. If you destroy enough of their vehicles to run it out of supplies, those vehicles are gone forever. It makes vehicles much more valuable than before.

This system is something that will be expanded in due time, but for the moment, be aware that when a base is captured, it is automatically replenished up to 30 Supply. This is a feature I'm really excited about because it opens up many new avenues for mission design!


Revised View System

https://youtu.be/BmB9xp6VL10


In order to expand the things that the camera can look at, there's been a slight rework on how views are selected.

External (F2), Chase (F3), Flyby (F4), and Weapon (F6) now only function to select cameras on the currently viewed object. Pressing F1 will always take you back to the cockpit of your plane and reset the viewed object to yourself.

Meanwhile, Vehicle (F7) and Aircraft (F8) can be used to cycle between all active vehicles and aircraft, setting them as the new viewed object. All the external cameras work on anything viewable, though the Weapon camera applies only to aircraft.

You can do the flyby camera on vehicles too, even if it looks a little silly.


Improved Targeting

https://youtu.be/JM699kBrI54


The difficulty in targeting high threat targets is one of the game's most common criticisms, and something that's finally been addressed with this patch.

(https://i.imgur.com/WuzIJUr.png)

As you move the targeting crosshair around (hidden when looking forwards), a selection of 6 targets will be specially highlighted. Pressing the target button, the radar will cycle between these targets. Most importantly, this selection is prioritized by threat, so AAA like Shilkas will be targeted before a tank that is not a threat.

(https://i.imgur.com/3Z70dmQ.png)

The targeting is based around the screen center, allowing you to target by looking at something. When off-boresight, a small crosshair will appear in the center of the screen to give you a reference point to aim with.


Flying Below Radar

https://youtu.be/19ULTymEqNg


Surprise new feature: you can fly below the radars of the Shilkas to avoid fire. This is probably temporary for this specific Shilka variant, since they are supposed to be horribly scary to try and kill at close range, but this is now a feature that can be applied to anything with radar. Keep in mind though that for the time being, this feature is only in use on the AAA radars. A pass on air to air combat, which will include refinement of the radar mechanics (and missiles), is still upcoming.


Closing Thoughts

(https://i.imgur.com/rrr1DpF.png)

What started as "I'm going to get SAMs working" ended up exposing the worst technical debt the game had. What's come out of the work, is a far more robust vehicle system and ground game that clears what was the biggest road block I feared. Maps are no longer extremely restrictive in design, vehicles are no longer the dramatic bottleneck of the game, and all the new mechanics create the building blocks that Arena needed to capture the feeling I was looking for.

Next up

Changelog

New Features:
- New navmesh driven vehicles
- Vehicles will prefer roads when out of Combat
- Vehicles can navigate around fixed obstacles such as buildings
- Completely new turret code for vehicles
- Vehicles can now have multiple turrets
- Completely new bullet code (used only by vehicles at the moment)
- Bullets created and loaded through JSON data, exposing them for editing
- Bullet constants file defines pools for different types of bullets and effects
- Bullets and their visual effects pooled in a new, less disruptive way
- Sensors are added to the vehicle, not the turret
- Individual turrets can now be linked to specific sensors on the vehicle
- Added error messages when spawning vehicles with invalid weapon or bullet names
- Added error messages for invalid barrel and firepoint subparts, or turrets with no barrels
- Navmesh support for "Sand Island" map
- Buildings have built in "no go" navmesh option
- Bridges default to "road" navmesh
- Vehicles now operate in "Groups" instead of massive formations
- Strategic Targets can support a scenario defined number of Groups
- Groups are "built" one at a time, and require supplies to build
- Strategic Target icons show group and "construction" related information
- Strategic Targets can be run out of supplies to prevent spawning of new vehicles
- When a strategic target is destroyed, its supplies are destroyed with it
- If a Strategic Target has <5 supply on capture, it will get 5 supplies for free
- Vehicle groups in combat will slow down to fire on the move and try to avoid roads
- Vehicles further from camera run at reduced tick rates to allow for higher vehicle counts
- "IsImportant" flag used on vehicles that require full fidelity regardless of distance (e.g. AAA)
- Vehicles can be viewed using F7 and Shift-F7 (See Improvements)
- Vehicles will avoid and drive around wreckages
- Small cross is visible in view center to help with targeting
- The next object to be targeted has its target box enlarged
- Minimum altitude mechanic under which a radar cannot detect a target, or will lose a lock
- Shilka/M163 have a minimum detection altitude of 50 meters/~150 feet AGL
- Added defensive mission for vehicles
- Defensive vehicles will position themselves between an adjacent hostile strategic target and their own
- Support for named vehicle groups
- Added key (Shift-H by default) to toggle visibility of Arena symbology while flying

Improvements:
- Vehicle movement has been significantly optimized
- Vehicles no longer clip into and overlap each other
- Bullets and their visual effects should no longer produce intermittent stuttering
- JSON: Renamed TurretBase->TurretAzimuth and Barrels->TurretElevation
- JSON: Explicitly defined Barrel data now required for turrets
- Significantly optimized targeting calculations allow for all vehicles to use bullets with gravity
- Tank cannons now named after their real cannons
- New visual effects for all machinegun impact types (Hit, Penetrate, Water, Grass, Explode)
- Crater counts adjusted (Small 175->100, Medium 75->150)
- Machineguns can not be heard from as far away
- Cannons can be heard from further away
- Bullet flyby SFX completely redone
- Longer tracers
- Targeting priorities are now specified on the turret level
- Max range and targeting priorities of a vehicle moved to the turrets in the Database
- Dust trail effect tweaked for performance
- JSON: BurstLength now refers to how many shots per burst rather than a time interval
- Vehicles wiggle a bit when off-road to simulate suspension
- Aircraft guns use new impact SFX
- Garbage collection optimizations for the old style bullets (still in use by aircraft)
- Capturing of Strategic Targets now happens in smooth "real time" versus one second "ticks"
- Experimental incremental garbage collection enabled
- Vehicles will avoid airports a little more (but will still drive over them if they think its quicker)
- Default cockpit horizontal FOV is now 75 degrees at 16:9
- Vehicles are more spread out and will try not to clump up as tightly
- View system redesign to allow for more robust cycling between objects
- External, Chase, Flyby, and Weapon are view types and do NOT cycle between viewables
- Next/Previous Vehicle (F7/Shift-F7) cycles the viewed object between vehicles
- Next/Previous Aircraft (F8/Shift-F8) cycles the viewed object between aircraft
- Removed bindings for Previous Externa/Chase (Shift-F2/Shift-F3)
- External/Chase camera can't look under vehicles
- Database shows statistics for multiple turrets (see M60A1) in a nicer format
- Bullets are initialized only once on game startup
- Drastically improved performance in the main menu
- In instant action, groups of vehicles are spawned in based on the faction defined formations
- Removed ~3700 lines of old vehicle and vehicle adjacent code (no game change, but I'm really happy about it)
- When a strategic target has negative MaxSupply, the UI will not show supply at all
- Targeting logic creates a group of selectable objects
- Target button cycles between this group of objects
- Selectable objects are prioritized by type so that threats are targeted first

Balance:
- Fixed scaling options not applied to wreckages
- M60A1 has a functional machinegun turret on top of its main turret
- Machineguns no longer use thick bullets
- Tank shell velocity more closely matches their real stats (1500-1700 m/s depending on gun)
- M68 mounted on M1 is more accurate than the standard one mounted on the M60
- T80B has its own more powerful gun and projectile (2A46-2, 125mm)
- M163/Shilka max range reduced 4km -> 3km
- M60s from Kogasa and T80s from Ichirin are now defensive
- Murasa Shilka groups reduced to 1 and now defend the base
- Added 2 groups of defensive Shilkas so Toramaru

Bugfixes:
- Planar shadows render correctly for scaled buildings (i.e. bridges)
- Bullets fired from AAA will no longer disappear when the vehicle is destroyed
- Looping gun audio works correctly for vehicles (affected M163 and Shilka)
- Ocean shader uses same depth offset as terrain
- M1A1 has a proper barrel submesh for recoiling barrel animation
- Potential fix for the elusive CAP null reference error that would shut down a flight of jets
- F2 camera no longer cycles to ground vehicles
- Fixed invalid vehicle spawn after Kogasa Arms Fort was captured by USSR
- Vehicles ride rougher when off-road and smoothly when on-road (logic was reversed)
- Groups of 1 no longer get stuck and unable to issue commands
- Target location for vehicles when moving will be in the correct formation
- Armored units will move to a new location when their target base has been captured
- Armored units should no longer cluster around the center of the target base
- Vehicles no longer change target every second
- Vehicles correctly prioritize targets again (e.g. tanks targeting tanks)
- Added missing barrel to M1A1 that was preventing it from spawning
- Missile turreted vehicles don't error check for barrels
- SA-9 and SA-2 can spawn without errors again
- Performance no longer sharply degrades after every level load
- Bullet effects no longer play a SFX at the origin on game start
- Fixed group icon sometimes appearing at the origin for vehicles marked important (i.e. AAA)
- Fixed bug where errors could be thrown by bullets when leaving Arena mode
- Strela classified as SAM instead of vehicle

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on September 25, 2022, 12:35:37 AM
0.9.1.1 Now Available! Features updated fire/smoke effects and bugfixes.
Fri, 23 September 2022

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40742388/48ecffb286704606584c5f6ddb9c3853b112ce04.png)


Just small stuff because I didn't want to start something huge so soon

Hello! This patch was mainly for fixing bugs, but there's a few notable new features.


"Build Speed" lowers with the HP of strategic targets

(https://i.imgur.com/rSvAdlq.png)

This one was a suggestion that I think was pretty good. A base goes from 100% effectiveness to 0% effectiveness when it's destroyed, with nothing in between. This kind of binary state of a base made it feel like you weren't doing anything when you damaged a base, and further discouraged players from damaging a base if it was a target of opportunity. As before, a base has its critical structures restored when captured.

This goes both ways! Preventing your own bases from being damaged will make them harder to capture by virtue of being able to replace units quicker.


Visual refresh on smoke plumes in the battlefield

(https://i.imgur.com/Q6vHVER.png)


Another important change is the visual language for the smoke plumes. The original fire/smoke plume from damaged vehicles was a holdover from when much less of them were around. However, with the new and much more numerous vehicles, this old effect was causing huge smokestacks all over the map, often over inconsequential wreckages. Spammed like that, the effect lost its significance.

(https://i.imgur.com/VctPNt1.png)

Now, big fire/smoke plume are reserved for damaged bases. It's a visual cue that a base is safer to attack, tells you exactly where the base is without needing any UI elements, and can't be confused for vehicles. Skirmishes between vehicles will still create smoke/fire, but it's more "smoldering field of wreckage" than "oil fire".


Changelog

New Features:
- When structures are near destruction, they sometimes get set on fire
- When a vehicle is destroyed, it enters a critical state before being fully destroyed
- How long the vehicle is in the critical state depends on how much damage was done to it
- After a vehicle has been critical for a short time, it will explode into a semi-permanent wreck

Improvements:
- Strategic Target critical damage affects production rate of new groups down to a minimum of 10%
- Vehicles have a new set of smaller fire/smoke effects when destroyed
- GAU-12 fire sound (also used by Shilka and M163) has a more seamless loop
- Shilka empty shells now in world space (won't turn with the turret)
- Added chihirobelmo credit to the credits.txt for the smart scaling algorithm
- Vehicles will defend closer to base radius (should prevent vehicles from driving to random beaches)

Bugfixes:
- Many changes to FMOD audio stealing logic to prevent audio overlap and cutting out
- Firing sound no longer persists after a Shilka stopped firing
- Fixed bug where there was exactly a 1% chance that a vehicle could fail to spawn a wreck effect and NRE
- Multi-barreled guns no longer create multiple unused audio sources
- Friendly AV8Bs no longer error and get their logic stuck when encountering a Shilka
- Running ther weapons camera on a munition which self-destructs no longer creates an error

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on October 25, 2022, 01:17:03 AM
0.9.2.2 is now available on the tester's branch!
Tue, 25 October 2022

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40742388/48ecffb286704606584c5f6ddb9c3853b112ce04.png)

These navmesh bugs are very difficult to track down.

Hello! This one is a simple one, and contains mostly bugfixes to the reported problems with the previous tester's patch. However, I do want to talk about a feature that was recently (re)implemented.

For those that were seeing errors related to vehicle spawning, I'm most interested in hearing how it's working now. The vehicle spawn bugs were something I wasn't able to reproduce, but I do
think that the changes I've made have improved it, hopefully enough to have fixed the problem.

Vehicle Inaccuracy

(https://i.imgur.com/fmNnNUs.png)

While mentioned in the patch notes, I forgot to call out that the vehicles have their "error" parameters reimplemented. In 0.9.1, following the vehicle rework, all vehicles became perfectly accurate regardless of what their accuracy was set to in the files.

(https://i.imgur.com/Ib9ibzp.png)

This resulted in APCs and machineguns taking more than just pot-shots at passing planes, and anti-aircraft fire being dead on if you didn't jink or change speed. With this feature back in, only dedicated anti-aircraft weapons are accurate, and even those are no longer perfect unless you get close to them.

When taking fire from AAA, you should have a short warning to react to it before the distance is closed to the turret's effective range. This is back to how it was originally intended to work, and can be used to further differentiate different vehicles of the same type. E.g. a newer Shilka can be more accurate than a manually aimed older one.

For reference, this is how the system works:

    Leading:
    Affects how far ahead or behind the AI can lead a target. Turrets which lack fire control software (e.g. machinegun turrets) will lag behind a moving target.
    Effective Range:
    The range at which the turret will fire accurately onto a target. At ranges beyond this, accuracy falls off, and the turret will have some error applied to its targeting solution simulating an inaccurate solution.
    Falloff Range/Error:
    At a certain range, the maximum amount of error that can be applied to a target. E.g. if set to 500m error at 1500m, this means that the most the targeting calculation will be off is by 500 meters when the target is 1500m away.
    Min Height:
    Used mainly to prevent vehicles from firing into the ground when aiming at aircraft. For most vehicles this is irrelevant, but the ZSU-57-2 uses this to create the "flak floor" effect which prevents it from (purposefully) detonating flak too close to the ground.


Changelog

Improvements:
- Tweaked empty shell color
- More responsive radar/threat warning display auto ranging
- Added 2 and 8 mile ranges for the displays

Bugfixes:
- Delayed sounds waiitng to be played after scene has changed no longer crash
- Fxied rare crash caused by bullet exploding the vehicle it was fired from if it impacts on its first frame
- NavMeshAgent enabled only after initialization (should reduce log spam and make for cleaner vehicle spawning)
- Simplified NavMesh spawning, and it now checks through a wider radius (hopefully reduces errors from spawning...)
- Vehicles now avoid disabled/destroyed vehicles in addition to wrecks

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on December 24, 2022, 11:31:35 PM
0.10.1.1 Is Now Available on the tester's branch!
Sat, 24 December 2022

onlytheharrierisflyable
Hello! This update has taken a lot longer than I planned. In hindsight, I should have released a new build after finishing the map controls, as that build would have included a couple nice features on its own such as the pre-flight loadout menu in Arena. However once I got started on the campaign UI, one thing led to another, and now the game has the full campaign framework the 1.0 final game will need.


Campaign

(https://i.imgur.com/g2ivJXM.png)

The "Arena Demo" button has been replaced with the proper "Arena Campaigns" menu option.

Campaigns are a string of missions, each with their own objectives. Missions are unlocked as you progress through the campaign, either by completing a previous mission, or achieving a total number of stars across the campaign. Stars are awarded by completing objectives, with secondary objectives awarding bonus stars. As mentioned in the roadmap post, campaigns are one of the big features required before the game can be considered 1.0.

(https://i.imgur.com/yXjlhOL.png)

At the moment, the only campaign available is a quick one I threw together to test that the progression and saving functionality works. This is a very critical function that is difficult to debug or fix once it goes live.

I've done a lot of testing myself on the system. Finding and fixing errors that could put the persistent progress into a weird state has been where a lot of the delay and development time went. However, I didn't want to push this build to main branch until enough people have had time to bang on it that I can be reasonably sure it'll work. If all else fails, I've added a button to clear the persistent data in the syste settings.

(https://i.imgur.com/ECsysFG.png)

The old Arena Demo mission can still be found under a separate campaign. It may still get used for testing future features in isolation, but will be removed eventually. A pseudo-tutorial/introductory campaign will be the first released, and will be released in parts.


Map Camera

https://youtu.be/lKa_Xtp5uAw

Also on the roadmap post is improvements to the Arena map screen. The first step of this is a proper RTS style camera, the camera type that was always intended for this screen. WASD can be used to pan the camera, or the mouse can be dragged while the right mouse button is held. This is only the first of many improvements to the map screen.


Selectable Loadouts for Instant Action

https://youtu.be/4FiRSk_TFwM

A small change, but a welcome one. Loadouts are now selectable before a flight in both the Arena map screen, and the instant action screen. This allows for more intuitive loadout selection in Arena, and the ability to use the loadouts you want in Instant Action rather than the ones hardcoded to the mission type. I frequently use this to test and practice with different weapon types.


Missile Lofting

https://youtu.be/pn3Cjr1N7so

After getting pretty burned out by the campaign work, I wanted to do something quick and fun that I had been meaning to get around to for a while. A new navigation mode for missiles has been added, currently in use by the anti-tank missile AGM-65D. After launch, the missile will try to gain a little bit of altitude before coming down on the target. This extends the range slightly, and also gives a higher trajectory to help fly over terrain and other obstacles.


Cheat Codes

(https://i.imgur.com/mFWUT2w.png)

A couple cheat codes have been added to the game. Cheat codes are meant for easier debugging of issues. Typical video game cheat codes like unlimited ammo and invincibility are simply gameplay options, and have been available for some time.

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//40742388/7f55a7a0691b9c203cb7359b7768caa572a02ec1.gif)

One of the cheat codes allows for all AI aircraft to be selectable through the updated loadout dialogs. This is not
an officially supported feature. As the name applies, AI aircraft were not meant to be flyable by the player so they will be janky and/or strange. Flying the AI planes is something I often did to test various features of the game, and this was one of the most commonly modded features of the game, so I figure I can get two birds with one stone by making this easily accessible for those that are looking for it.


Changelog

New Features:
- Aim time variation added (again)
  + Vehicles will take a minimum amount of time looking at the target before they can fire (typically ~1 second)
  + This value has a spread (e.g. 1-3 seconds) so that vehicles don't all fire synchronously at a target
- Loadout screen can be accessed in the Arena map
- Mouse driven camera for the map view
  + WASD by default to pan camera
  + Hold right mouse button to pan camera
  + Scroll wheel and QE can be used to zoom the camera in/out
  + Bindings can be adjusted in the bindings screen
- Pre-flight loadout screen now supports selection of aircraft if >1 aircraft is defined as playable
- Loadout info now displays selected aircraft
- When an aircraft has no cockpit, the camera near clip plane adjusts to show third person cockpit
- "Arena Demo" replaced with "Arena Campaigns"
  + Mission selector for arena campaigns
  + Dynamic text for start time, pilots, and selectable aircraft shown in mission description
  + Campaigns are a string of Arena missions
  + Completion of a mission + clearing objective earns stars
  + Arena missions unlocked throughout a campaign through either unlocking missions or earning stars
  + Locked missions show their pre-requisites when selected
  + Campaign progress persistently saved on Steam Cloud
- Added button to clear campaign save data to system settings (nuclear debug option...)
- Map category added to input binding screen
- Lofting navigation type for missiles (currently used by AGM-65D)
- Loadout screen now available in the arena map menu, and in the instant action menu
- In instant action, player spawns with the loadout specified by the loadout dialog
- Added cheat code system
  + "onlytheharrier" : Allows all AI aircraft to be selectable in the loadout dialogs
  + "surrenderbelisarius" : Unlocked all missions in all campaigns for the current play session

Improvements:
- Decreased muzzle velocity variation to decrease longitudinal spread of flak
- Mouse sensitivity slider range changed from (0.1-0.8) -> (1-32) to work better at higher resolutions
- Continuous mouse mode sensitivity now defaults to 10 (equivalent to old 1.0)
- Clouds are hidden when in map view
- Strategic info billboards when in map view instead of facing the camera (prevents awkward rotations)
- Whether tickets are used as a mechanic or not is set by scenario (defaults to off)
- Initial camera position in Arena is now defined by the scenario
- Updated UI borders to be more consistent with each other
- More verbose logging for Steam Cloud functionality
- Main menu buttons are reactive in size
- Modal dialog is a bit wider
- Updated Rewired 1.1.38.3 -> 1.1.44.U2020
- Tweaks to the quick mission builder visuals
- Campaign/mission loader will check subfolders of their respective directories

Bugfixes:
- When non-aircraft are destroyed mysterious, they are now "destroyed" rather than "crashed"
- Selecting previous weapon on the map screen no longer causes NRE
- Adjusted spawn offsets/rotations for all AI aircraft
- Fixed mission and map loaders not correctly reporting as loaded
- Button sounds can no longer be heard if the player is not in control of an aircraft (e.g. menus)
- Removed legacy press build stuff (no visible changes)
- Pre-flight loadout menu (e.g. as seen on map) shows correct store counts

Balance:
- AV8B roll rate increased 100 -> 140
- AV8B slightly more responsive to input (AngularDrag 120k -> 150k)
- MiG-23/F-4 are more durable 120 -> 200 usable HP
- MiG-21/F-5 are slightly less durable 175 -> 150 usable HP
- Destroyable aircraft part HPs generally made tougher to ensure loss of essential parts (e.g. entire wing) results in loss of plane
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on January 11, 2023, 11:23:22 PM
0.10.2.1 is now live on the Tester's branch!
Wed, 11 January 2023

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40742388/48ecffb286704606584c5f6ddb9c3853b112ce04.png)

The loadout/stores/fire control is more spaghetti than I want to admit.

Hello, this is a small patch that if it goes well in the next couple days will be pushed to live. Compared to the last patch, the only major feature is the addition of the new munition options. However, these new options touched some pretty low level code that could have effects in unintended areas, so I want to be sure it runs fine before it goes live.


X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited Munition Counts

https://youtu.be/0Rz1Pag-bwU


A new option for adjusting the munitions carried on the plane has been added. X1 is the default, and uses the loadouts as they currently work. Unlimited, as it sounds, makes it so that you never run out of bombs or missiles. The middle options, X3 and X5, allow you to carry an exaggerated, but still limited, number of munitions. For some peoples' play styles, especially since there aren't wingmen, I think this will hit a good middle ground.

Worth mentioning too is that spamming cluster bombs like crazy caused the volume to get so loud that it was just totally unacceptable. The game's audio now has a compressor built into its final mix so that if something ever gets so loud that it would blow out the game's volume (and your eardrums) the volume gets reduced to safe levels.

Changelog

New Features:
- Added X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited munitions option to the gameplay settings
- Gun has new 3X ammo option in gameplay settings

Improvements:
- Floating origin generates less garbage
- Added sound compressor to game so the game volume won't clip like crazy when lots of loud SFX happen at the same time
- Lofting calculation adjusted for less aggressive lofting when the missile has just launched

Balance:
- AGM-65D tweaked for more predictable performance at close ranges
  + Motor delay reduced (0.5 -> 0.25)
  + Seeker delay reduced (1.0 -> 0.5)
  + Loft angle slightly reduced (15 -> 12)


Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on January 18, 2023, 12:02:08 AM
0.10.2.3 is now available!
Mon, 16 January 2023

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40742388/a9358ea56ce4ca783e9974d9289128a7e5c3e659.png)

onlytheharrier

Hello! This update has taken a lot longer than I planned. In hindsight, I should have released a new build after finishing the map controls, as that build would have included a couple nice features on its own such as the pre-flight loadout menu in Arena. However once I got started on the campaign UI, one thing led to another, and now the game has the full campaign framework the 1.0 final game will need.


Campaign

(https://i.imgur.com/g2ivJXM.png)

The "Arena Demo" button has been replaced with the proper "Arena Campaigns" menu option.

Campaigns are a string of missions, each with their own objectives. Missions are unlocked as you progress through the campaign, either by completing a previous mission, or achieving a total number of stars across the campaign. Stars are awarded by completing objectives, with secondary objectives awarding bonus stars. As mentioned in the roadmap post https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1347550/view/5032215335985456872 , campaigns are one of the big features required before the game can be considered 1.0.

(https://i.imgur.com/yXjlhOL.png)

At the moment, the only campaign available is a quick one I threw together to test that the progression and saving functionality works. This is a very critical function that is difficult to debug or fix once it goes live, but results on the tester's branch have been very promising with no issues reported. However, if something catastrophic happens to campaign save data (and for my own testing purposes), I've added a button to clear the persistent data in the syste settings.

(https://i.imgur.com/ECsysFG.png)

The old Arena Demo mission can still be found under a separate campaign. It may still get used for testing future features in isolation, but will be removed eventually. A pseudo-tutorial/introductory campaign will be the first released, and will be released in parts.


Map Camera

https://youtu.be/lKa_Xtp5uAw


Also on the roadmap post is improvements to the Arena map screen. The first step of this is a proper RTS style camera, the camera type that was always intended for this screen. WASD can be used to pan the camera, or the mouse can be dragged while the right mouse button is held. This is only the first of many improvements to the map screen.


Selectable Loadouts for Instant Action

https://youtu.be/4FiRSk_TFwM


A small change, but a welcome one. Loadouts are now selectable before a flight in both the Arena map screen, and the instant action screen. This allows for more intuitive loadout selection in Arena, and the ability to use the loadouts you want in Instant Action rather than the ones hardcoded to the mission type. I frequently use this to test and practice with different weapon types.


Missile Lofting

https://youtu.be/pn3Cjr1N7so


After getting pretty burned out by the campaign work, I wanted to do something quick and fun that I had been meaning to get around to for a while. A new navigation mode for missiles has been added, currently in use by the anti-tank missile AGM-65D. After launch, the missile will try to gain a little bit of altitude before coming down on the target. This extends the range slightly, and also gives a higher trajectory to help fly over terrain and other obstacles.


X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited Munition Counts

https://youtu.be/0Rz1Pag-bwU


A new option for adjusting the munitions carried on the plane has been added. X1 is the default, and uses the loadouts as they currently work. Unlimited, as it sounds, makes it so that you never run out of bombs or missiles. The middle options, X3 and X5, allow you to carry an exaggerated, but still limited, number of munitions. For some peoples' play styles, especially since there aren't wingmen, I think this will hit a good middle ground.

Worth mentioning too is that spamming cluster bombs like crazy caused the volume to get so loud that it was just totally unacceptable. The game's audio now has a compressor built into its final mix so that if something ever gets so loud that it would blow out the game's volume (and your eardrums) the volume gets reduced to safe levels.


Cheat Codes

(https://i.imgur.com/mFWUT2w.png)

A couple cheat codes have been added to the game. Cheat codes are meant for easier debugging of issues. Typical video game cheat codes like unlimited ammo and invincibility are simply gameplay options in Tiny Combat Arena, and have been available for some time.

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//40742388/7f55a7a0691b9c203cb7359b7768caa572a02ec1.gif)

One of the cheat codes allows for all AI aircraft to be selectable through the updated loadout dialogs. This is not
an officially supported feature. As the name applies, AI aircraft were not meant to be flyable by the player so they will be janky and/or strange. Flying the AI planes is something I often did using my own somewhat awkward to maintain dev tools to test various aspects of the game, and this was one of the most commonly modded features of the game, so I figured I could get two birds with one stone by making this more accessible.


Changelog

New Features:
- Aim time variation added (again)
  + Vehicles will take a minimum amount of time looking at the target before they can fire (typically ~1 second)
  + This value has a spread (e.g. 1-3 seconds) so that vehicles don't all fire synchronously at a target
- Loadout screen can be accessed in the Arena map
- Mouse driven camera for the map view
  + WASD by default to pan camera
  + Hold right mouse button to pan camera
  + Scroll wheel and QE can be used to zoom the camera in/out
  + Bindings can be adjusted in the bindings screen
- Pre-flight loadout screen now supports selection of aircraft if >1 aircraft is defined as playable
- Loadout info now displays selected aircraft
- When an aircraft has no cockpit, the camera near clip plane adjusts to show third person cockpit
- "Arena Demo" replaced with "Arena Campaigns"
  + Mission selector for arena campaigns
  + Dynamic text for start time, pilots, and selectable aircraft shown in mission description
  + Campaigns are a string of Arena missions
  + Completion of a mission + clearing objective earns stars
  + Arena missions unlocked throughout a campaign through either unlocking missions or earning stars
  + Locked missions show their pre-requisites when selected
  + Campaign progress persistently saved on Steam Cloud
- Added button to clear campaign save data to system settings (nuclear debug option...)
- Map category added to input binding screen
- Lofting navigation type for missiles (currently used by AGM-65D)
- Loadout screen now available in the arena map menu, and in the instant action menu
- In instant action, player spawns with the loadout specified by the loadout dialog
- Added cheat code system
  + "onlytheharrier" : Allows all AI aircraft to be selectable in the loadout dialogs
  + "surrenderbelisarius" : Unlocked all missions in all campaigns for the current play session
- Added X1, X3, X5, and Unlimited munitions option to the gameplay settings
- Gun has new 3X ammo option in gameplay settings

Improvements:
- Decreased muzzle velocity variation to decrease longitudinal spread of flak
- Mouse sensitivity slider range changed from (0.1-0.8) -> (1-32) to work better at higher resolutions
- Continuous mouse mode sensitivity now defaults to 10 (equivalent to old 1.0)
- Clouds are hidden when in map view
- Strategic info billboards when in map view instead of facing the camera (prevents awkward rotations)
- Whether tickets are used as a mechanic or not is set by scenario (defaults to off)
- Initial camera position in Arena is now defined by the scenario
- Updated UI borders to be more consistent with each other
- More verbose logging for Steam Cloud functionality
- Main menu buttons are reactive in size
- Modal dialog is a bit wider
- Updated Rewired 1.1.38.3 -> 1.1.44.U2020
- Tweaks to the quick mission builder visuals
- Campaign/mission loader will check subfolders of their respective directories
- Moved the version number to bottom left screen so it won't get covered by "Development Build"
- Floating origin generates less garbage
- Added sound compressor to game so the game volume won't clip like crazy when lots of loud SFX happen at the same time

Bugfixes:
- When non-aircraft are destroyed mysterious, they are now "destroyed" rather than "crashed"
- Selecting previous weapon on the map screen no longer causes NRE
- Adjusted spawn offsets/rotations for all AI aircraft
- Fixed mission and map loaders not correctly reporting as loaded
- Button sounds can no longer be heard if the player is not in control of an aircraft (e.g. menus)
- Removed legacy press build stuff (no visible changes)
- Pre-flight loadout menu (e.g. as seen on map) shows correct store counts
- Changed rounding to prevent "100% Damaged" on a strategic target
- Increased FMOD virtual channels (256 -> 512)
- Launchers automatically sets ownship on its munitions
- Fixed typo in Mk82 Snakeyes description

Balance:
- AV8B roll rate increased 100 -> 140
- AV8B slightly more responsive to input (AngularDrag 120k -> 150k)
- MiG-23/F-4 are more durable 120 -> 200 usable HP
- MiG-21/F-5 are slightly less durable 175 -> 150 usable HP
- Destroyable aircraft part HPs generally made tougher to ensure loss of essential parts (e.g. entire wing) results in loss of plane
- AGM-65D tweaked for more predictable performance at close ranges
  + Motor delay reduced (0.5 -> 0.25)
  + Seeker delay reduced (1.0 -> 0.5)
  + Loft angle slightly reduced (15 -> 12)
- Increased FMOD virtual channels (256 -> 512)
- Launcher automatically sets ownship on its munitions


Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on February 11, 2023, 12:13:06 AM
0.10.3.1 is now available. Features an updated camera and bugfixes.
Fri, 10 February 2023

(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40742388/48ecffb286704606584c5f6ddb9c3853b112ce04.png)

Remember to version control your projects.
This is a small patch to keep up the tempo while larger features are being worked on. Expect an update very soon about terrain in particular! I have some exciting news to announce.


(https://i.imgur.com/gR8M0os.png)


Updated External Camera Motion

https://youtu.be/ixiakqKkAH0


Basically it uses acceleration to convey the motion of the jet. It feels really good, and is adjustable. This is on almost max settings. 0% setting would be how the camera used to be. The funny part is that this is based on how the camera used to work in some of the earliest pre-release builds before the game was announced, but it was lost at some point during a camera rework. The camera in those ancient builds was actually awesome and I've been meaning to bring it back for a while.

Another minor issue that's been fixed is that the camera changes its distance depending on the object. I.e. the camera isn't too close now when looking at bigger planes like the F-4 and MiG-23.

Handling of "orphaned" launchers by aircraft
A long-running issue in the game is that when an aircraft lost wings that contained stores, the fire control didn't know how to handle that. This was the source of many
different bugs. I'd been putting off fixing it, because usually by the time any bug happens you won't live long enough for it to matter much, but the pile was getting too big. This item on Trello lists some of the resultant reported bugs https://trello.com/c/MdQMJXdh/257-handle-weapons-lost-from-the-plane-through-damage

Now though, the fire control and stores management reacts to lost weapons and removes them from the plane. This should fix all of the resultant bugs, and also some minor ones that weren't reported like lost stores still counting towards a plane's weight.


Changelog:

New Features:
- Added setting for external camera motion in the camera settings tab
- Added countermeasure firing sound

Improvements:
- External/Chase came adjusts distance based on the viewed object
- New external/chase camera motion that better conveys movement through air
- Terrain scatter colors adjusted
- Terrain scatters (e.g. grass) can align to terrain
- All engines are a little less high pitched

Bugfixes:
- Aircraft no longer report a reversed acceleration to cameras
- More robust spawning rules to prevent failed ground unit spawns
- Tweaked FMOD logging rules to prevent inconsequential error reported when audio devices are removed/added
- External/chase camera transition removed because it was buggy
- "Orphaned" launchers and stores are removed from a plane's fire control when they fall off a plane
  + Should fix a ton of bugs related to what happens to planes after they take damage
 
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on February 26, 2023, 09:55:29 PM
One Year of Early Access
Fri, February 24, 2023

(https://i.imgur.com/uFRAW4R.png)

Hello! I can't believe it's already been a year! Tiny Combat Arena's reception and sales, even in its Early Access state, has wildly exceeded my expectations. I can't say thank you enough to you and the people who made this happen behind the scenes.

When I posted the Early Access description over a year ago, I had planned for the Early Access period to last for 12-18 months. We're now at the start of that window. I'm further behind that I'd like to be, but the pace of work has picked up recently for several reasons.

1. Vehicle AI uses real and extremely performant pathfinding
Vehicle AI pathfinding now has a proper and high performance solution. With this in mind, vehicles are free to move around when before any kind of vehicle movement was buggy and performance intensive. The new AI pathfinding also allows for maps to be much more interesting, since a practically infinite flat plane is no longer a requirement, and they can follow/avoid terrain features such as roads or forests.

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//40742388/a21f4fb2d5c05affaaf5fbbde663d8d3501e0bd1.gif)


2. New terrain and terrain tools in development
This is a really big one. In the past couple weeks, I've brought on a technical artist with experience and a love for retro games, to help with terrain generation and map creation.

Terrains have been, across every
version of Tiny Combat that has ever existed, a nightmare that would keep me up at night. While I was making steady progress on a new terrain, I hit a wall where I realized that I just don't have the time to do this myself. I used to say that tooling for terrains had just evolved in a different direction from what I needed, and that to make the terrains I wanted I'd literally have to make new tools from scratch. That's where they come in! In the past couple weeks, new tools have been developed for Blender to create terrain in ways that I could only fantasize about before.

Below are some very early WIP images of a redo of the largest island on the Sand Island map using the new technology. I'm really excited for what this means for future map development.

Parametrically drawn features such as flat areas on which bases, towns, and buildings can be drawn.
(https://i.imgur.com/kdGegsu.png)

Parametrically and non-destructively cutting unique features such as canyons into the terrain.
(https://i.imgur.com/XqGq7pQ.png)


3. The campaign framework is in place
Long overdue considering that this was meant to be a core aspect of the game. My vision for Arena had been for smaller individual Arena missions to be stringed together across a larger campaign map. With the terrain being taken care of, this lets me focus on the Arena mechanics, their missions, UI, and filling in the missing gameplay features.

(https://i.imgur.com/RDmpdMm.png)


What's coming?
The old roadmap post is still relevant, so I recommend checking that out. Almost all aspects of it are in progress to some degree, with a lot of tangential work such as the new user experience, control tweaks, and many other changes immediately post-release to address the most pressing problems, and bugs having been completed in the last year.

An update on everything on the roadmap:

    Expanded Arena Map UI - The Arena map now has a proper camera, but the UI for drawing bases and other strategic information is still in need of a rather large overhaul.
    Campaigns - The functionality is done. The only thing missing is content.
    Finished Sand Island Map - See above. A new developer has been brought on to create terrain tools, finish the map, and create new maps.
    Air defense and Defensive Structures/Units - Internally, these have been called "tactical targets" and are in progress right now.
    Improved Offensive and Defensive Missile Combat - No work has specifically been done on this since then, but is in progress right now. Flares will get some tweaking, chaff will become functional, new UI has to be created to give the player information to dodge missiles, and finally all the necessary AI to make this fun. Missiles are a very multi-faceted issue.
    Custom Loadouts - Custom loadouts are already completely possible and supported within the game, it's only lacking UI. Since then, it's now possible to select loadouts in instant action and before flights in Arena, but a dedicated UI for creating new loadouts is still to come.


While still not "strategically" important, I've started working on all the missile related items needed to get AI, both ground and air based, firing missiles. I know it's a year late, but it was one of those things that as a developer
just isn't really wasn't that important to where I was in the game to have them done. However, between player feedback and hitting the point where mission design is going to become relevant very soon, it's time.


(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans//40742388/a622744118adaea0d07900d49cae1f17ef72f877.gif)

It's nice too that this stuff is really fun and motivating to work on.

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on May 22, 2023, 10:55:19 PM
0.11.1.1 Patch Notes (Testers branch)
Mon, May 22, 2023

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/40742388/48ecffb286704606584c5f6ddb9c3853b112ce04.png)

New Features:
- Hardcoded escape button to escape on keyboard
- Additional bindable "escape" key is now bound to "Start" on the gamepad by default
- Player can now eject
  + Pilots are now a viewable object (only when ownship ejects)
  + Fixed pilot rotations to face forwards
  + Option to trigger either by hold or triple press
  + When ejecting during Arena missions, pilot is not lost, only aircraft
- Added SA-9 IR guided surface to air missile (SAM) vehicle
  + Vehicle launchers can have a finite or infinite number of reloads
- (JSON) Vehicle turret "Type" property no longer used
- (JSON) Vehicle missile turrets require "LauncherMounts" in the "Model" of the turret
- Completely redone HUD designed for customization and more universal usability
- HUD "Instrument" (TWD and Radar) design changes
  + TWD shows incoming missiles and incoming missile type
  + Can be configured to 4:3, 16:9, or screen edge
  + Three different display styles : Borders, Transparent, Clear
- RWR Codes system to different aircraft can display different RWR symbology labels
- Radar shows lock target type and altitude
- Tape added to the heading indicator
- Pitch ladder (optional)
  + Reacts automatically to field of view (Thanks Vazgriz!)
- Waterline and flight path marker (optional)
- VTOL HUD mode automatically activated when nozzle angle >30 and ground speed <200 knots
  + If in NAV mode, NAV will switch to say VTOL
  + Flight path marker symbology switches to lose the top mark
  + Pitch ladder caged and used as vertical velocity indicator (1 degree = 100 feet/min)
- Input debugger is now part of the HUD (optional)
- Fuel gauge (optional) which displays both internal and external fuel separately
- New HUD is now (optionally) available in the Chase (F3 by default) view
  + When in third person, the HUD takes on a wider format
- Radar and IR missile symbology adjusted and now shows target aspect
- Target boxes have a SHOOT cue that coincides with seeker lock
- DLZ added with very questionable calculations (WIP)
- Time to impact shown on DLZ for previously launched munitions
- Ground targets on the radar appear as indistinct blobs (AAA still has a unique symbol)
- Important ground targets will always be bright and highlighted
- Gunsight shows current range to target, or slant range to ground, along with gun max range
- Added fixed gun cross which situationally appears
  + If no target or A-G, fixed gun cross is replaced by gun piper when aimed at the ground
  + If A-A target is selected, fixed gun cross is always visible
- Blinking incoming missile text on the HUD, coincides with audio beep
- Missile warning ducks the constant lock tone

Improvements:
- Missile seeker diamond now tries to move towards locked target instead of moving only when target has entered seeker angle
- Cockpit SFX slider defaults to 50%
- Flak smoke lingers for longer

Bugfixes:
- Chase/external no longer centered on the viewable's position last frame
- Aircraft control surface animations no longer play after ejection
- Target lists no longer getting clogged with invalid references every level load
- When Harrier engine is off, it reads ambient temperature instead of 0
- Fixed NRE caused by attempting to view vehicles when there are no vehicles

Balance:
- GAU-12 muzzle velocity reduced 1600 -> 1300
- GAU-12 time to live reduced 1.5 -> 1.3
- Normalized the bullet diameter for AI aircraft guns
  + Gsh-23 reduced greatly 10.0 -> 2.5
  + M61/M39 increased 1.0 -> 2.5
- All dumb bombs now have penetration, allowing them to do full damage to tanks on a direct hit
- AV8B countermeasure fire rate doubled (0.2 -> 0.1 delay)
- SA9 tweaks
  + 9M31 MaxRange lowered 8000 -> 5000
  + 9M31 EffectiveRange lowered 6000 -> 4500
  + Turret MaxRange lowered 6000 -> 5000
  + Turret FireDelay raised 10 -> 15
- ZSU-57-2 range increased 5000 -> 6000
- Added SA-9 to several bases in the Arena Demo mission

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on May 30, 2023, 11:47:22 PM
0.11.1.2 Testers Branch Changelog
Thu, May 25, 2023


Improvements:
- Pitch ladder graphics and text made thinner

Bugfixes:
- Thrust to weight ratio on STOVL MFD page reads correctly again
- Nozzle (and thrust too probably) should no longer read negative or strange values
- Stick and rudder input no longer persists through player respawn in Arena (very old bug, finally fixed!)
- Fixed uncommanded ejection on respawn if eject was mashed after player had already ejected
- HUD elements should no longer appear behind the player aircraft
- Removed the effective radar range dotted line (was appearing in strange places, may rework this later)
- Radar symbology should no longer clip out of the radar display

Balance:
- AV8B radar ranges increased slightly
  + EffectiveRange 8000 -> 9200
  + MaxRange 10000 -> 14500
 
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on June 05, 2023, 12:21:58 AM
0.11.1.3 Testers Build
Sun, June 4, 2023


Changelog

New Features:
- Working PAPI lights added to several airfields on the Island map
- Added physics props affected by explosions and aircraft engines
  + Traffic cones placed around several airfields
- Added cheat "coneposting"

Improvements:
- Changes to how "ExplodeOnImpact" JSON property is handled by bullets
  + Explosion damage is now done IN ADDITION to impact damage
  + Explosion effect is now triggered only when a bullet times out with "ExplodeOnTimeout" set to true
- Tightened requirements for VTOL HUD mode (<100 knots, >55 degrees nozzle)
- Added LOD to the PAPI light enclosures

Bugfixes:
- Gun cross no longer appears behind jet
- Gun and munititions can no longer be fired after ejection
- Store attachment points correctly account for non-uniform scaling
- Version/Steam connection status text on bottom left now get spaced correctly at 1600x1200

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on June 13, 2023, 01:20:05 AM
0.11.1.4 Changelog
Mon, 12 June 2023

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/e446e28b00341020bcb8c237604e99de38733705.png)

Check out this link for the full news post detailing the changes.

Changelog

New Features:
- Hardcoded escape button to escape on keyboard
- Additional bindable "escape" key is now bound to "Start" on the gamepad by default
- Player can now eject
  + Pilots are now a viewable object (only when ownship ejects)
  + Fixed pilot rotations to face forwards
  + Option to trigger eitehr by hold or triple press
  + When ejecting during Arena missions, pilot is not lost, only aircraft
- Added SA-9 IR guided surface to air missile (SAM) vehicle
  + Vehicle launchers can have a finite or infinite number of reloads
- (JSON) Vehicle turret "Type" property no longer used
- (JSON) Vehicle missile turrets require "LauncherMounts" in the "Model" of the turret
- Completely redone HUD designed for customization and more universal usability
- HUD "Instrument" (TWD and Radar) design changes
  + TWD shows incoming missiles and incoming missile type
  + Can be configured to 4:3, 16:9, or screen edge
  + Three different display styles : Borders, Transparent, Clear
- RWR Codes system to different aircraft can display different RWR symbology labels
- Radar shows lock target type and altitude
- Tape added to the heading indicator
- Pitch ladder (optional)
  + Reacts automatically to field of view (Thanks Vazgriz!)
- Waterline and flight path marker (optional)
- VTOL HUD mode automatically activated when nozzle angle >30 and ground speed <200 knots
  + If in NAV mode, NAV will switch to say VTOL
  + Flight path marker symbology switches to lose the top mark
  + Pitch ladder caged and used as vertical velocity indicator (1 degree = 100 feet/min)
- Input debugger is now part of the HUD (optional)
- Fuel gauge (optional) which displays both internal and external fuel separately
- New HUD is now (optionally) available in the Chase (F3 by default) view
  + When in third person, the HUD takes on a wider format
- Radar and IR missile symbology adjusted and now shows target aspect
- Target boxes have a SHOOT cue that coincides with seeker lock
- DLZ added with very questionable calculations (WIP)
- Time to impact shown on DLZ for previously launched munitions
- Ground targets on the radar appear as indistinct blobs (AAA still has a unique symbol)
- Important ground targets will always be bright and highlighted
- Gunsight shows current range to target, or slant range to ground, along with gun max range
- Added fixed gun cross which situationally appears
  + If no target or A-G, fixed gun cross is replaced by gun piper when aimed at the ground
  + If A-A target is selected, fixed gun cross is always visible
- Blinking incoming missile text on the HUD, coincides with audio beep
- Missile warning ducks the constant lock tone
- Working PAPI lights added to several airfields on the Island map
- Added physics props affected by explosions and aircraft engines
  + Traffic cones placed around several airfields
- Added cheat "coneposting"
- Friendly airfields can be rearmed/refueled at in Free Flight, Dogfight, and Strike
- Sand Island and Expeditionary airfields are now proper (though unused) strategic targets

Improvements:
- Missile seeker diamond now tries to move towards locked target instead of moving only when target has entered seeker angle
- Cockpit SFX slider defaults to 50%
- Flak smoke lingers for longer
- Pitch ladder graphics and text made thinner
- Changes to how "ExplodeOnImpact" JSON property is handled by bullets
  + Explosion damage is now done IN ADDITION to impact damage
  + Explosion effect is now triggered only when a bullet times out with "ExplodeOnTimeout" set to true
- Tightened requirements for VTOL HUD mode (<100 knots, >55 degrees nozzle)
- Added LOD to the PAPI light enclosures
- Rearm/refuel message now appears at any throttle setting

Bugfixes:
- Chase/external no longer centered on the viewable's position last frame
- Aircraft control surface animations no longer play after ejection
- Target lists no longer getting clogged with invalid references every level load
- When Harrier engine is off, it reads ambient temperature instead of 0
- Fixed NRE caused by attempting to view vehicles when there are no vehicles
- Thrust to weight ratio on STOVL MFD page reads correctly again
- Nozzle (and thrust too probably) should no longer read negative or strange values
- Stick and rudder input no longer persists through player respawn in Arena (very old bug, finally fixed!)
- Fixed uncommanded ejection on respawn if eject was mashed after player had already ejected
- HUD elements should no longer appear behind the player aircraft
- Removed the effective radar range dotted line (was appearing in strange places, may rework this later)
- Radar symbology should no longer clip out of the radar display
- Gun cross no longer appears behind jet
- Gun and munititions can no longer be fired after ejection
- Store attachment points correctly account for non-uniform scaling
- Version/Steam connection status text on bottom left now get spaced correctly at 1600x1200
- Restored the HUD rearm/refuel message when landed on a friendly base
- Fixed errors caused by despawning an aircraft with physics props in its engine wash
- Enabled extra padding on all HUD text so it renders correctly at low scale values

Balance:
- GAU-12 muzzle velocity reduced 1600 -> 1300
- GAU-12 time to live reduced 1.5 -> 1.3
- Normalized the bullet diameter for AI aircraft guns
  + Gsh-23 reduced greatly 10.0 -> 2.5
  + M61/M39 increased 1.0 -> 2.5
- All dumb bombs now have penetration, allowing them to do full damage to tanks on a direct hit
- AV8B countermeasure fire rate doubled (0.2 -> 0.1 delay)
- SA9 tweaks
  + 9M31 MaxRange lowered 8000 -> 5000
  + 9M31 EffectiveRange lowered 6000 -> 4500
  + Turret MaxRange lowered 6000 -> 5000
  + Turret FireDelay raised 10 -> 15
- ZSU-57-2 range increased 5000 -> 6000
- Added SA-9 to several bases in the Arena Demo mission
- AV8B radar ranges increased slightly
  + EffectiveRange 8000 -> 9200
  + MaxRange 10000 -> 14500
- GAU-12 now does 67% of its damage through explosive splash damage
  + Impact damage reduced 15 -> 5
  + ImpactForce reduced 50 -> 5
  + ExplodeOnImpact false -> true
  + BlastRadius 5 -> 10
  + SplashDamage 0 -> 10
- Gsh-23/M39/M61 now do 80% of their damage through explosive splash damage
  + ImpactDamage 10 -> 2
  + ImpactForce 50 -> 5
  + ExplodeOnImpact false -> true
  + SplashDamage 0 -> 8
- The above changes make aircraft guns slightly less effective against armor
- However they will damage unarmored vehicles (e.g. aircraft and APCs) more easily
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on June 20, 2023, 10:10:23 PM
0.11.2.1 Bugfixes Patch
Tue, June 20, 2023

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/48ecffb286704606584c5f6ddb9c3853b112ce04.png)

SUBTITLE (Max 120 characters. Appears on top of event or announcement detail page)

Hello! This is a small patch to address some lingering concerns from the new HUD.


Changelog

Improvements:
- Bomb prediction now goes out to 30 seconds from 10 seconds
- DLZ time to impact now reads a max value of 30 seconds from 10 seconds

Bugfixes:
- Third person camera UI no longer appears in chase when HUD is active
- Instruments always draw on top of the HUD
- Mission fail text no longer persists between Arena missions
- Bomb CCIP X has returned

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on July 05, 2023, 12:07:04 AM
0.11.3.2 Customizable HUD Colors
Tue, 4 July 2023

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/a9358ea56ce4ca783e9974d9289128a7e5c3e659.png)

RGB HUD

Hello, this is a smaller patch to finish the customizable HUD colors and clean up some lingering issues with the HUD. When I started the HUD rework, it was my intention to support color customization, so most of the work involved here was the UI and making sure everything set colors correctly.

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/9bdd543fbf7f9659a329d5285535857a0cd31dc7.gif)

Options are split between the HUD and instruments. These are different enough, especially if the border option is used on the instruments, that it felt better to be able to use different colors between the HUD and instruments.

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/2c95ec4c689aefb2b5ca8b433847b5d28d202cf5.png)


Changelog

New Features:
- Customizable HUD and Instrument colors

Improvements:
- Ground target "bricks" on radar made wider

Bugfixes:
- Bomb CCIP affected by HUD color
- When FPM disabled, bomb CCIP should no longer display the fall line going to nowhere
- HUD/instruments fade out during blackout/redout
- Third person camera UI no longer appears in chase when HUD is active (for real this time)

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on July 14, 2023, 01:19:35 AM
0.12.1.2 Changelog
Thu, July 13, 2023

A full Steam new post regarding progress on the island and upcoming updates will be coming soon.


Changelog

New features:
- New island terrain featuring hills, rivers, bridges, and a tunnel
- New line rendering used on roads, runway markings, landmarks, and scenery objects
- New buildings featuring LODs to maintain consistent detail density
- LODs updated for many existing buildings
- New fog rendering
- Bases moved around
- Murasa is now a large airbase
- New scatter system using pre-defined scatter positions (Still EXPERIMENTAL!)
- Faux "HDR" when looking at the sun darkens objects
- Lit windows at night time

Improvements:
- Building shadows made optional
- Map selector handles longer names better
- Arena runs in its own independent scene (back end dev change but hopefully doesn't cause bugs)
- When in arena map, fog is disabled

Bugfixes:
- Fixed typo on instant action Strike not allowed button

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on July 15, 2023, 12:25:45 AM
Island Terrain Progress Update: Playable on Tester's Branch
Fri, 14 July 2023

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/f36a3b2028b39517506ee8c5128a5bb97f8cdf0e.png)

The new terrain is getting integrated into the game. In its early status, it'll be missing features and still needs development, but I'm excited to finally share it. Terrain has long been a really difficult problem for the game. I had a very specific style in mind, and terrain tools simply moved in a totally different direction from that.

A few months ago, a new tech artist was brought on board to specifically help with this and the work they've done has been stellar. The tools that I always said would have to be created in order to get this terrain, have been created, along with many new graphics features I didn't have the time or ability to do myself.

The new map is now available on the Tester's branch!

(https://i.imgur.com/MM7n4Of.png)

The new map has been made available on the Tester's branch of the game while the kinks are still being worked out. It's not fully featured yet, and most significantly does not have any Arena missions for it yet, but they are coming soon.

This small(ish) island is where the game's set of small and straightforward tutorial missions will take place, each introducing the different mechanics that are at play in Arena. The final game will feature an additional map on which the Arena missions will be set.

Here's the highlights of what's available in the 0.12.1.2 Tester's patch!

    New island terrain featuring hills, rivers, bridges, and a tunnel
    New line rendering used on roads, runway markings, and scenery objects
    New buildings featuring LODs to maintain consistent detail density
    LODs updated for many existing buildings
    New fog rendering
    Bases moved around
    Murasa is now a large airbase
    New scatter system using pre-defined scatter positions (Still EXPERIMENTAL!)


A New Line Renderer

(https://i.imgur.com/SRe9UWn.png)

This is one of the features I was most excited about, so much so that I want to specifically highlight it.

A stylistic trick of older flight sims was to directly draw lines in order to convey detail, but also to keep things readable. For example, in B-17 Flying Fortress roads were drawn using these lines. They can also be used to add detail to models up close, a trick that Flanker 1.0 was extremely fond of.

In Tiny Combat Arena these lines are now part of the model and terrain import process. Roads and runway markings are now drawn with them, so that a distance they don't flicker and alias in a way that makes them unreadable. Various scenery objects around the map such as the bridges also use them to add details like railings and doors when seen from up close.

This is a very old fashioned trick from when every triangle mattered, and drawing lines was cheap. Ironically, today, drawing lines and incorporating them into models is a very non-trivial manner! However with the new tooling it only requires a specially named object made of lines, then a custom importer takes care of the rest.
Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on August 13, 2023, 12:32:02 AM
0.12.2.1 Now available on the Tester's branch
Sat, 12 August 2023

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/f36a3b2028b39517506ee8c5128a5bb97f8cdf0e.png)

Strange reflections of natural light and no cause for alarm.
Collision handling with water and the VFX have been vastly improved. Airburst variant of the Mk82 and dud munitions have been added. New evening lighting effects!

(https://i.imgur.com/39L05TZ.png)


Changelog

New features:
- Effects when aircraft "slide" on water
- Engine wash effects for water
- Flyover effects over land
- Effecs for fuselage collisions with water
- Debris hitting water splahes and gets destroyed
- Water applies damage over time
- Air and water explosion effects for use by vehicles and weapons
- When killed by water, camera is closer and looks at impact
- "Dud" munitions when weapons impact something before their ArmTime
  + Dud munitions play collision impact effects on impact
  + Duds create Rigibdody impulse proportional to kinetic energy of impact
  + Duds do impact damage proportional to the kinetic energy of the impact
- Effects for when a munition airbursts low over ground or water
- Effects for when munitions explode from airburst/proximity fuzes
- Effects for when munitions impact water
- Buildings have meshes for lights at night time
- Mk82 Airburst
  + Mk82 with increased splash radius and 30m airburst fuze
- "Convoy Attack" loadout which uses the new Mk82 Airburst
- Streetlights added to main roads with lights visible from a distance
- Modular helipad models created and populated around the island

Improvements:
- Water made "slippery"
- Flyover effects triggered by airspeed rather than throttle setting
- Flyover effect handled per-airframe rather than per engine nozzle
- Optimizations to Flyover and engine wash effects
- All collision impact effects (hard, soft, dirt, ground impact, and impact explode) tweaked
- Debris hitting the water
- Bright water splash effects for weapons
- Fence shadows added to Kogasa
- Inroads for Kogasa/Nazrin
- Buildings baked into navmesh
- Terrain colliders centered terrain meshes to improve physics precision (fixes wrong material detected for weapons/collisions)
- Removed base offset from vehicles now that navmesh is way more accurate
- Grass colors tweaked
- Old islands color palette tweaked to match new islands
- Wire roads added to old islands
- Old island buildings use new prefabs
- "Evening" time of day made late enough that lights are on
- Added buildings to populate the small islands

Bugfixes:
- Landing gear non-functional on water
- Navmesh for big island continuously connects roads and bridges
- Fixed misaligned navmesh areas
- Terrain sorting prioritizes grass over water
- Improved terrain material detection
- Multi-select dialog wouldn't show second page under certain circumstances
- Flexible select dialog doesn't change size when going between pages
- All strategic targets have correctly assigned airfields again (fixes rearming in instant action)

JSON:
- Renamed "Mk82Snakeye" to "Mk82SE"
- Added SplashWater", "SplashHard", and "SplashSoft" to "WeaponEffectProperties, used for dud impacts

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on August 25, 2023, 12:10:02 AM
0.12.2.5 New Island terrain, water improvements, and munition fuzes!
Thu, August 24, 2023

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/f36a3b2028b39517506ee8c5128a5bb97f8cdf0e.png)

Tools for building terrain didn't evolve in this direction so new old tools had to be remade.

Hello, the new island is finally available on the tester's branch. Keep in mind, that it's still a work in progress, so not all features are in yet. Most notably, the new island map cannot be used in the Arena as there's some pending Arena work to handle the more varied terrain.


New Island Terrain

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/04d4dc966dcc01197355b99e063d771f3057ea87.png)

The biggest addition in this patch is the new island terrain. This is the culmination of months of new work using new tools specifically designed for making terrain like this. I've already previously written about this, so check out the original news post for more details.

Once again, the new map is currently not usable in Arena, but this is where the next major's patch's focus will be. This is to support the first campaign, which will essentially act as a tutorial to show off all of the mechanics available for Arena missions.


Improved Water Collisions

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/3f3d27c9d25d6c828d9f10f39750dccc47720969.gif)

As the mechanics of the game are getting closer to finalized, many loose ends are getting tied up. One such example was how the game treats water.

Previously, it was simply recolored terrain, and only some specific weapon-related effects really cared about them. From the aircraft's perspective, water was basically identical to terrain. For a plane that spends a lot of time near water, this isn't acceptable for the final game.

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/780b745e60348869f03b71b318399f38519146cc.gif)

Water now damages aircraft, and when planes smack into water you it's a splash instead of a thud with dirt. In addition, a plethora of new water related effects for collisions and weapons have been added to the game to round out its depiction.


Airburst and Proximity Fuze Improvements

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/0c7ceb9e50763af72b6eed6cf41105950fe3a960.gif)

While the game did have airburst fuzes, they were only really supported for cluster bomb canisters. They didn't really quite work correctly with normal dumb bombs, and even when they did, the resulting visual effects could be confusing. Variations of most of the explosion effects in the game have been added to support both air bursting and splashing against water. There are even new interactions with explosions that happen low above the ground (or water!) and the terrain below it.

Munitions now respect arming time. For most bombs and missiles you probably won't notice this, but in the event that a weapon hits something before being armed it won't explode. However, it can still cause damage through the raw kinetic energy of the impact!

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/0d4eb259375eff8286acb2e895b6754a8a692004.gif)

An Mk82 variant with an airburst fuze has been added to the game under the "Convoy Attack" loadout in preparation for a future feature. Airburst bombs trade off penetration damage for a much wider area effect of splash damage. This makes them perfect for attacking unarmored targets such as APCs and soon to be in the game trucks.

I wasn't planning on doing this yet, but it resulted from the above water material changes. This is a long, but interesting, story. If you missed it the first time, check out this post for how it all came together!


Night Preview

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/04d4dc966dcc01197355b99e063d771f3057ea87.png)

Before the 1.0 release, the plan was to support night time. The game has had a working time of day system since practically its inception, but because of a lack of night lighting, it's never been enabled for the game. The PAPI lights were only the beginning. Work on night time lighting has been happening in parallel with the terrain development, night time building lights, and now street lights.

While the game isn't yet ready for a full night time setting, the Evening time preset in instant action has been changed to just late enough that city and street lights start to turn on so you can check out where this is going! The plan is not just for night, but for something that works best under the cover of dark.

Changelog

New features:
- New island terrain featuring hills, rivers, bridges, and a tunnel
- New line rendering used on roads, runway markings, landmarks, and scenery objects
- New buildings featuring LODs to maintain consistent detail density
- LODs updated for many existing buildings
- New fog rendering
- Bases moved around
- Murasa is now a large airbase
- New scatter system using pre-defined scatter positions (Still EXPERIMENTAL!)
- Faux "HDR" when looking at the sun darkens objects
- Lit windows at night time
- Effects when aircraft "slide" on water
- Engine wash effects for water
- Flyover effects over land
- Effecs for fuselage collisions with water
- Debris hitting water splahes and gets destroyed
- Water applies damage over time
- Air and water explosion effects for use by vehicles and weapons
- When killed by water, camera is closer and looks at impact
- "Dud" munitions when weapons impact something before their ArmTime
  + Dud munitions play collision impact effects on impact
  + JSON: "SplashWater", "SplashHard", and "SplashSoft" added to "WeaponEffectProperties, used for dud impacts
  + Duds create Rigibdody impulse proportional to kinetic energy of impact
  + Duds do impact damage proportional to the kinetic energy of the impact
- Effects for when a munition airbursts low over ground or water
- Effects for when munitions explode from airburst/proximity fuzes
- Effects for when munitions impact water
- Buildings have meshes for lights at night time
- Mk82 Airburst
  + Mk82 with increased splash radius and 30m airburst fuze
- "Convoy Attack" loadout which uses the new Mk82 Airburst
- Streetlights added to main roads with lights visible from a distance
- Modular helipad models created and populated around the island

Improvements:
- Building shadows made optional
- Map selector handles longer names better
- Arena runs in its own independent scene (back end dev change but hopefully doesn't cause bugs)
- When in arena map, fog is disabled
- Scattering code 50% faster
- Water made "slippery"
- Flyover effects triggered by airspeed rather than throttle setting
- Flyover effect handled per-airframe rather than per engine nozzle
- Optimizations to Flyover and engine wash effects
- All collision impact effects (hard, soft, dirt, ground impact, and impact explode) tweaked
- Debris hitting the water
- Bright water splash effects for weapons
- Fence shadows added to Kogasa
- Inroads for Kogasa/Nazrin
- Buildings baked into navmesh
- Terrain colliders centered terrain meshes to improve physics precision (fixes wrong material detected for weapons/collisions)
- Removed base offset from vehicles now that navmesh is way more accurate
- Grass colors tweaked
- Old islands color palette tweaked to match new islands
- Wire roads added to old islands
- Old island buildings use new prefabs
- "Evening" time of day made late enough that lights are on
- Added buildings to populate the small islands
- Larger new version dialog

Bugfixes:
- Fixed typo on instant action Strike not allowed button
- Removed the random debug M113 groups spawning on the old island map
- Ocean has collision again.
- Removed ocean ghost trees
- Landing gear non-functional on water
- Navmesh for big island continuously connects roads and bridges
- Fixed misaligned navmesh areas
- Terrain sorting prioritizes grass over water
- Improved terrain material detection
- Multi-select dialog wouldn't show second page under certain circumstances
- Flexible select dialog doesn't change size when going between pages
- All strategic targets have correctly assigned airfields again (fixes rearming in instant action)
- Fixed NRE from explosions near buildings
- Fixed NRE from proximity explosions on large terrain objects
- Airburst explosion damage now centered on explosion instead of ground splash
- More accurate raycasting, fixes airbursts sometimes having the wrong effect
- Ejecting pilots have collision disabled for just long enough to clear the plane
  + Prevents ejected pilots from instantly dying when ejecting from grounded planes
- Fixed "Middle Bridge" having its collisions ignored
- Fixed tail/fuselage slime lights on right side of F-4E not rendering correctly

JSON:
- Renamed "Mk82Snakeye" to "Mk82SE"
- Added SplashWater", "SplashHard", and "SplashSoft" to "WeaponEffectProperties, used for dud impacts


Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on October 07, 2023, 12:31:59 AM
September, Loaders, and Mod Tools?
Thu, October 5, 2023

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/48ecffb286704606584c5f6ddb9c3853b112ce04.png)

Hand pumps can be used to clear pools of water from things that shouldn't have pools of water.

Hello! Between being out of town, getting sick when I got back, then a water heater related crisis, I've had precious little time to work on the game these past few weeks. However, that doesn't mean nothing exciting has happened!

For quite some time now, I've been on and off investigating and working on how to expand mod support. I've been really excited to see modders pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible, even up to creating their own tools and pipelines for importing new models. I originally came from a modding background (Battlefield and Freelancer mostly, but not exclusively) so I love to see it.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/945712988688633917/1154640997477781585/image.png)

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/945712988688633917/1150514071637086218/image.png)

Screenshots courtesy of nuclearstonk and giantenemycrab from the MPS and TCA Modding Discords

Between being inspired by the work the modding community has been doing, and the work I happened to be doing at the time, things had lined up in such a way that I could do something about the most difficult part of modding TCA: importing new assets.


The Problem of Loading Data Files

(https://i.imgur.com/mW6FLhE.png)

This is a very back-end problem, but it's important to mention because it gives context to the fun part. In the beginning of September I began work on expanding the mission scripting and trigger system to build out the first campaign, and remove the placeholder dev-test one currently in the game. This was going to require some edits and likely additional data files.

The way in which the game loads data files (JSON files, to be exact) is bespoke and unique across basically every single object type that uses it. This was mostly a product of me learning as I went, since I was unfamiliar at the time with how best to structure this all. Since then, the process has solidified, and in game jam style side-projects, I'd come up with a generic solution worked best.

In TCA's current system, whenever I needed to load a new set of data, it requires a bespoke loader. The past 4-5 of these (most recently weapon related) have basically been completely copy/pastes of each other, further strengthening the argument for the unifying them. Redoing the loaders probably wouldn't take that long, since most of the data is already pretty uniform, but I had other motives for this well, relating to improving mod support and future developments.

For the record, rewriting and unifying all the loaders took only about a week.


The Mod Loader

(https://i.imgur.com/tV7VMjp.png)

With all the game's loaders and data now conveniently consolidated, putting together a mod system in which the base game's content is now a "mod" for the game that is simply hardcoded to load by default was fairly straightforward. Additional mods, with their own content and data, can be loaded on top from a new Mods folder. This means that instead of player created mods requiring overwriting of the game's own data files (which will always be wiped on an update as well), mods can coexist in their own folders.

(https://i.imgur.com/y88vM7v.png)

A mod for TCA uses the following:

-    Mod.json used to define some metadata about the mod
-    Data folder with all of its JSON data in a directory structure matching the base game
-    Asset file(s) used to add new content (e.g. models and textures) to the game


Any new data entries get added to the game on top of the Core data. If a conflicting entry is spotted, it will overwrite the Core's (or a previously loaded mod's) data, making it so that changes to base content are still possible.

There not currently any UI for this mod loading process, but some will be added soon.


The Bundle Exporter

(https://i.imgur.com/gP7yWAv.png)

While the data for the game has always been exposed, the "missing link" for being able to truly add content to the game has always been a method to add new assets: models, textures, and animations. This was always going to be the trickier part, since Unity's model importers are only available at edit-time, and even in the best of cases imports will usually involve some fiddling with the model to map materials and animations post-export regardless.

The solution: asset bundles, a shockingly under-documented Unity feature that is critical for many games to deliver live content, that can similarly be used to pack content for mods. Sky Rogue's ancient post documents this method and it's been living in my head rent free for many years. Earlier this week I finished up a custom asset bundle tool designed specifically for Tiny Combat and the new mod system. This method of building models for the game has several big advantages:

-    Since this runs in Unity, with Tiny Combat's own shaders, you can preview exactly what the model will look in any lighting conditions.
-    Tiny Combat requires that that the axes for transforms and objects are aligned correctly such that Z is forward, X is right, and Y is up. Being able to preview the model natively allows you to be sure of their alignment and debug any issues in the import process.
-    Animations can be created using the same pipeline as the game, meaning support the game's built in animations (only landing gear at the moment, but this will be expanded in the future as needed)

(https://i.imgur.com/eFUT1v8.png)

The project still needs to be cleaned up, but it will be uploaded to GitHub has a self-contained Unity project for 2019.3.30 LTS (the version the game is built on). I've been testing the workflow using the A-10 model that I've been sitting on. It still needs work before it's game ready, but that's exactly why it's been such a good guinea pig.


The Next Patch

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1070353410043420702/1154530119134740680/Arena-20230921-162609.png)

Very soon, a new patch to the game will be released on the tester's branch. While this will have the mod loaders, the main purpose is to make sure that the game still functions normally. The loader changes were pretty low level, and while it should
just work, you can never tell with these things, especially because Steam adds another layer of unknowns to this.

I plan on writing a more detailed article (perhaps in the Guides section of the game) for how to create mods. It's a very straightforward thing to do, so it shouldn't be too complicated. The asset bundle tool however will be much more involved, and its own separate guide. As stated above, the bundle tool still needs some cleaning up before it's ready for public release, and may take some time to write up the documentation necessary.

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on November 02, 2023, 01:41:21 AM
0.13.2.1 is now Live! Featuring basic mod support, Night, and Updated Island.
Wed, 1 November 2023

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/162a8722f4cb7bd46a5494a4d1c20981fd4f0b0d.png)

Work on the second cockpit has begun.

Hello! This one is a long time coming and the culmination of a lot of behind the scenes work and also what was effectively a weekend side project for a while.


Tiny Combat Tools

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/725a69cd4700f3ad369ee692423bbec6875fc961.png)

The Tiny Combat Tools have been released on GitHub. The game has always been built with modding in mind. The game's JSON data files were meant to be edited, and with the new mod loader from last patch, no longer required overwriting the game's native files. Unfortunately adding new content is a lot more complicated, which is where the TCA Bundler comes in.

Using the new tools and TCA Bundler, you can import models and preview them exactly as they would appear in the game, using the same materials and shaders as the real game. This finally allows for the addition of new content by mods.

Check out the GitHub page for more details, along with instructions on how to import models.

Please keep in mind that there isn't a UI yet to show mods that are loaded and any errors, so if you plan on modding the game it's recommended to stick with the tester's branch in the meantime since it will print error logs to the screen.

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/cc3d495134e9f4baecfa92281ca2d9fe7599d908.gif)
Yak-141 by nuclearstonk and giantenemycrab


Night

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/494757a905390d561477d56dd210a7bb6a4f8fca.png)

The progress on night time is both ahead of schedule and close enough that night is now selectable in the game! The time of day system has support night for a long time, waiting only on an implementation of night lighting such as streetlights, runway lights, and beacon lights. All of these are now in the game and thanks to the tech artist look fantastic! The distant point light rendering saw another revision and now looks great at all resolutions and all distances, as well added support for blinking beacon lights.


Finalized Sand Island Map

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1070353410043420702/1164669999022100602/Arena-20231019-154339.png)

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1070353410043420702/1164670168400666834/Arena-20231019-154442.png)

With a couple new bases and other redesigned ones, the Sand Island map is approaching finished. Only gameplay related work remains, which means updating the Strike Instant Action missions along with the Arena UI improvements necessary to build out the first campaign.


Changelog

New features:
- New mod loading system
- Mods can be loaded on top of each other
- Core game is now a hardcoded "mod" that gets loaded first
- Many new buildings and props placed around the updated Sand Island map
- Lights rendered as pseudo-sprites for pixel perfect point light goodness
- Night is selectable in Instant Action
- Automatic HUD dimming at night time

Improvements:
- Unified loaders for all JSON data
- Text adjusted to work better at low (800x600) resolutions
- Better runway lighting
- Updated many buildings to use the new point lights
- Added PAPI lights to Murasa

Bugfixes:
- Added quotes around the names of duplicate/overwritten data error/log messages
- Bad campaign data no longer corrupts the persistent Arena save file
- Bad campaign data no longer breaks the Arena selection UI
- MapList.json now loaded on a per-mod basis
- Vehicles initialized through the mod system
- Fixed gun display name not showing correctly
- Fixed markings not appearing correctly on Expeditionary field

Balance:
- AV8B roll rate increased 140 -> 180

JSON:
- In Loadout definitions, "Aircraft" renamed to "Name"
- In Loadout definitions, "Loadout" renamed to "Loadouts"
- "Store" in the Store definition has been removed and made part of the Store definition itself

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on November 17, 2023, 12:06:04 AM
0.13.3.1 now available on the Tester's Branch
Thu, 16 November 2023

(https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/f36a3b2028b39517506ee8c5128a5bb97f8cdf0e.png)

This patch touched the two scariest and most difficult to work on aspects of the game: AI and UI.

Hello! This patch adds IR missile launching for the AI aircraft, new Random and Waves options for instant action, and the building out of the NAV mode HUD. As was mentioned in a previous post, there are two parallel tracks of development happening in order to finish off the game's features.

Arena UI and Mechanics:
Mechanically, Arena is close to completion. There are still some features remaining, most notably tactical targets and convoys, but most visible of the remaining work is actually in the UI. The way information is presented on the Arena map, particularly for strategic targets, is still essentially "debug" information. For 1.0, the Arena map is going to get a lot easier to use, and more interactive. Included in this work, is how the information gets presented during a flight, which will be through the NAV mode detailed below.

Air Combat:
As was mentioned in previous posts the air combat is still missing a couple features, the most obvious being missile combat with the AI, and AI against AI. Beyond just this, how aircraft fit into the Arena campaign. Initially I was planning on doing this after a lot of the Arena work, but they go hand in hand pretty well, so I've started working on both in parallel.

AI Firing IR Guided Missiles

(https://i.imgur.com/22ltmJ8.png)

This is will be an area of ongoing work that will have pretty sweeping effects on most parts of the game. As such, this is only the first part of a much larger revision to air combat, which will eventually include radar guided missiles and new tactics by the AI.

The skill level of the AI dictates how ready they are to part with their own missiles. Rookies will rarely fire missiles, only if they are tailing a target for a good amount of time. Aces on the other hard will fire basically as soon as they have a good lock.

For the time being, the AI is restricted only to firing IR guided missiles. Until chaff is functional (which will come with radar guided SAMs) I wasn't comfortable with allowing the AI to fire radar guided missiles since there'd wouldn't be much in the way of counterplay yet.


NAV Mode

(https://i.imgur.com/cfaLerb.png)

The Arena map symbology isn't meant to be overlaid while flying, but it was a convenient hack at the time. NAV mode is meant to clean up and declutter the HUD, and to give a non-combat "strategic" view of the map while flying on it. This update is just the first part of this

Shoutout to Mors on the Steam forums for planting the seed for this!


Changelog

New Features:
- NAV Marker system to replace Arena symbology for bases while in flight (NAV mode is WIP feature)
  + When in NAV mode, strategic targets have faction-colored HUD elements with their names
  + Arena symbology (big wall of text) is no longer shown while in flight
- AI have the ability to fire IR guided missiles
  + How often missiles are fired depends on skill level (Rookies rarely fire, Aces will spam missiles)
- Wave system added to dogfight instant action
  + When waves >1 all aircraft of a faction respawn when shot down
  + Endless waves option added
  + New incoming waves spawn randomly within a 10 mile radius of their mission defined spawn
- Added "Random" option for aircraft type in Dogfight

Improvements:
- Tweaks to text rendering to make it more reliable at lower resolutions
- Optimized show/hide code for vehicle group icons
- Proximity fuzing ignores friendlies
- Dogfight lowest starting altitude raised to 3000ft
- Wings in Instant Action Dogfight/Strike spawn at 3000ft AGL or MSL, whichever is higher

Bugfixes:
- Lines no longer draw between strategic targets when not in Arena
- Fixed NRE caused by AI running out of missiles
- Missile launch notification no longer appears for AI fired missiles

JSON:
- In Arena definitions, StrategicTargets can have a "HudName" for NAV mode display


Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on November 30, 2023, 12:28:05 AM
0.13.3.2 is avaiable on the tester's branch
Wed, 29 November 2023


These changes caused a lot of subtle issues that were difficult to fix.

Changelog
Improvements:
- Instant action dogfight respawned waves now appear relative to the player
  + They also respawn in the original specified configuration, with some random offsets

Bugfixes:
- Incoming wave message time reduced 600s -> 15s
- Fixed instant action dogfight friendly waves not respawning
- Fixed bug where mission failed when instant action dogfight allied planes (but not player) were destoryed
- Fixed bug where respawned waves could appear only at 1800m AGL


Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on December 23, 2023, 12:03:30 AM
0.13.4.1 is now available on the main branch!
Fri, December 22, 2023

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/f36a3b2028b39517506ee8c5128a5bb97f8cdf0e.png)

The 3D model for the second cockpit is complete.

Hello! All the major features from 0.13 are now available on the public branch, along with a couple extra features.

New to this patch!

Nav Lighting

https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/8b9130d4a2bfa4d24d3df61f907989c06336d9cd.gif

The final feature that was needed for night time environments was the lighting on the aircraft themselves. This is a feature that I've been iterating on behind the scenes for quite some time, with this final version being by far the best. It re-uses the scaling and display tech created by the tech artist for the street lights and various other environment lights. Features include:

When viewed up close, they are little "bulbs"
When viewed from afar, they turn into small point lights that are always visible (prevents flickering)
The lights are directional, so the correct nav lights are seen from the correct aspects
Blinking is supported
Each light can be configured individually for each aircraft (no presets required)

Even better, all these features are built right into the shader, which means that they have essentially no CPU-side cost. On TCA, the CPU is basically always going to be the bottleneck, so being able to move computations off to the GPU when possible is always a win.

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/f0f8addeb5c29312b68712d61c85dac655f8e1c3.gif)

Nav lights are toggle on/off by whether or not the HUD is in NAV mode. Basically, when out of combat, they are on, when in combat, they are off. Most important, this applies to the AI as well. Especially at night time, AI aircraft can be visible from quite some ways away while "idle" and out of combat. However once they enter combat, the lights go out and it's all business. I really like how this gives a clear "out the window" tell for whether or not you've drawn the AI's attention. Expect mechanics like this to play an important part in the future!


M48 Infrared SAM

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images//40742388/e1ff9ebe8fe54dfeb83d6eb2b0ed7a86d6a94c2d.png)

A minor addition, but one that was a long time coming. Replacing, the placeholder US SA-9 is the M48, an M113 descendant adapted to fire AIM-9 missiles from a very "Mech" looking quad rail launcher. The M48 can be found in the dev test Arena mission, as well as a selectable formation in the Strike test.


Tester's Build Highlights
Check out this past news post on 13.3.1.1 for more information. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1347550/view/5940872360627653802


AI Firing IR Guided Missiles

(https://i.imgur.com/22ltmJ8.png)

This is will be an area of ongoing work that will have pretty sweeping effects on most parts of the game. As such, this is only the first part of a much larger revision to air combat, which will eventually include radar guided missiles and new tactics by the AI.

For the time being, the AI is restricted only to firing IR guided missiles. Until chaff is functional (which will come with radar guided SAMs) I wasn't comfortable with allowing the AI to fire radar guided missiles since there'd wouldn't be much in the way of counterplay yet.

NAV Mode

(https://i.imgur.com/cfaLerb.png)

The Arena map symbology isn't meant to be overlaid while flying, but it was a convenient hack at the time. NAV mode is meant to clean up and declutter the HUD, and to give a non-combat "strategic" view of the map while flying on it. This update is just the first part of this


Changelog

New Features:
- NAV Marker system to replace Arena symbology for bases while in flight (NAV mode is WIP feature)
  + When in NAV mode, strategic targets have faction-colored HUD elements with their names
  + Arena symbology (big wall of text) is no longer shown while in flight
- AI have the ability to fire IR guided missiles
  + How often missiles are fired depends on skill level (Rookies rarely fire, Aces will spam missiles)
- Wave system added to dogfight instant action
  + When waves >1 all aircraft of a faction respawn when shot down
  + Endless waves option added
  + New incoming waves spawn randomly within a 10 mile radius of their mission defined spawn
- Added "Random" option for aircraft type in Dogfight
- Added 1x, 3x, and Unlimited countermeasures gameplay setting
- Nav lights added to all aircraft
- Nav light state tied to whether or not aircraft is in Nav mode
- AI will enter/leave nav mode based on what they're currently doing
- Added M48 and MIM-72C
- M48 can be selected as part of US instant action strike formations

Improvements:
- Tweaks to text rendering to make it more reliable at lower resolutions
- Optimized show/hide code for vehicle group icons
- Proximity fuzing ignores friendlies
- Dogfight lowest starting altitude raised to 3000ft
- Wings in Instant Action Dogfight/Strike spawn at 3000ft AGL or MSL, whichever is higher
- Instant action dogfight respawned waves now appear relative to the player
  + They also respawn in the original specified configuration, with some random offsets
- F-5E model has added fuselage lights
- Renamed "Vulcan" in Strike formation selector to "AAA - M163"
- Added Tactics text to the SA-9 database entry
- US SA-9 in the dev test mission has been replaced with M48

Bugfixes:
- Lines no longer draw between strategic targets when not in Arena
- Fixed NRE caused by AI running out of missiles
- Missile launch notification no longer appears for AI fired missiles
- Incoming wave message time reduced 600s -> 15s
- Fixed instant action dogfight friendly waves not respawning
- Fixed bug where mission failed when instant action dogfight allied planes (but not player) were destroyed
- Fixed bug where respawned waves could appear only at 1800m AGL
- Selected loadout preserved between instant action missions
- Animated parts stop updating if their parts become null
- Missile trails and wing trails no longer glow at night
- Objects hidden on destroy are null checked before attempting to hide them

Balance:
- 9M31 (Strela) increased CountermeasureRate 1.0 -> 1.2

JSON:
- In Arena definitions, StrategicTargets can have a "HudName" for NAV mode display
- "Flyables.json" file added to root of mod directory
  + Defines which aircraft are flyable (should allow mod aircraft to be flyable without cheat)
- Renamed "CountermeasureResistance" to "CountermeasureRate" to reflect its actual usage


Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on January 09, 2024, 11:14:35 PM
0.13.4.3 New Years Bugfixes
Tue, 9 January 2024

The Blender file for the island map is 233 MB.

Glad to be back into things after the holidays! There are lots of things that I'm really excited about in the coming months.

(https://i.imgur.com/Cw10Gtb.png)

Changelog

Improvements:
- Start button on gamepad is rebindable
- Pressing the keyboard escape key, or the "Escape Menu" bind, will close the escape menu while open

Bugfixes:
- Restored the hills to the east of Nazrin
- Fixed select previous weapon logic

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on January 25, 2024, 12:04:22 AM
0.13.5.1 Available on Tester's Branch
Wed, 24 January 2024

Hello! This past month I've been knocking out bugfixes along with continuing pre-production work on the next map. This includes more work towards moving all the Arena missions to the updated Sand Island terrain. Most of the bugfixes included are small, but there are two very important changes with not so obvious effects and hopefully (crossing my fingers!) no side effects.


Revised cockpit rendering

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/882914594128011274/1194881755069546536/Unity-2024-01-11-00-49-37.gif)

Now that I've been working on cockpits again, I finally did a long-overdue change to how cockpit rendering works since. It doesn't look much different from the player's perspective, but the plane exterior is no longer duplicated in the cockpit model. Instead, when in first person view, JSON specified meshes get hidden. E.g. the third person canopy frame is hidden, because the cockpit model contains its own version of that geometry. Previously, the hiding third person geometry was done through a pushed out near clip plane, cutting off the third person model geometry near to the camera, but this is a very inflexible way to handle the problem and doesn't always line up the way you'd like it to.

To compensate for things not always lining up correctly, the whole front of the plane was included in the cockpit model, which caused some annoying issues and visual glitches, and it was annoying to keep the two models perfectly in sync whenever something minor changed.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/882914594128011274/1194882498958733372/blender-2024-01-11-00-55-13.png)

This is all gone now. The intended workflow is now much more straightforward and robust. Simply model the cockpit, and just the cockpit. This cockpit model is always drawn on top of the third person geometry. Then, on the third person model, mark objects to be hidden while in first person that would look strange since the cockpit model includes a high res version of them. Things like the third person instrument cluster, canopy bows, etc.

The pilot model is now automatically hidden while in first person as well. For modded planes, this should make cockpit rendering a little nicer and more convenient.


Vertical floating origin

(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/882914594128011274/1197946338613153832/image.png)

For very legacy reasons, the game's floating origin worked only in the horizontal. If I recall correctly it was a quick hack to get over something related to either spawning or ground handling. Over time, as systems have been reworked, they've been written with a vertical floating origin in mind, to the point where I think it's feasible to finally make the jump. This should solve all the jittering that was visible as planes got higher in altitude, particularly in the cockpit.

The AI in particular had to be gone over with a fine tooth comb and while I think I got everything, if you notice any oddities with altitude reporting or the AI acting strange (more so than usual) then please let me know either here or on the MicroProse Discord server.


Changelog

Improvements:
- Cockpit design changed so that ONLY the cockpit is in the cockpit model, no more duplicated geometry (e.g. fuselage in both models)
  + "Third person" parts of the model such as the canopy bow are hidden when in first person
  + First pilot automatically hidden when in first person
  + Cockpitless planes no longer require special h andling regarding camera clip planes
- AV8B model updated for new cockpit modeling workflow and removed unused vertex colors
- AV8B no longer uses unique shader
- Near clip plane for ALL cameras is now 0.05 (most were 1.0)
- Far clip plane for ALL cameras is now 100k
- When escape menu modal dialogs are open, escape will close it
- Floating origin now applies in the vertical

Bugfixes:
- Page selectors on database mode now work
- Instant action wing selector pages should work correctly when multiple pages are visible
- Pressing escape during the pause menu while settings or bindings are open won't continue game
- Fog and clouds no longer disappear when loading Instant Action after Arena
- AI aircraft flying in formation automatically switch back to nav mode
- Cockpit no longer shakes at higher altitude
- "Investigate" AI behavior correctly accounts for floating origin
- "Idle Orbit" AI behavior correctly accounts for floating origin
- "Climb" AI behavior correctly accounts for floating origin
- Arena icons no longer appear for a single frame near origin when a unit spawns
- Camera text correctly accounts for the floating origin

JSON:
- Warning shown in log when collider is missing
- Added "HideInFirstPerson" list to aircraft definition (see AV8B JSON for example)

Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on February 08, 2024, 12:18:15 AM
0.13.5.4 is now available!
Wed, February 7, 2024

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/e446e28b00341020bcb8c237604e99de38733705.png)

When terrain isn't an island, you have to do something at the map boundaries.

Hello! This patch cycle is once again focused on bugfixes, as a lot of dev attention has been on the next terrain, the new challenges it's creating, and other behind the scenes work.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFqWVw_WAAEmXzM?format=png&name=900x900)

The major changes this patch, with links to the posts in which they are discussed, are:

-    Revised cockpit rendering
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1347550/view/3950287576122204269

-    Vertical floating origin
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1347550/view/3950287576122204269

-    New audio sliders and adjustments to the audio mix
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1347550/view/4047115602009198492


Changelog

New Features:
- Added real (64 by default) and virtual (256 by default) audio channels to audio settings tab
- Minimum airspeed that can be read by an aircraft is now configurable on a per-aircraft basis

Improvements:
- Cockpit design changed so that ONLY the cockpit is in the cockpit model, no more duplicated geometry (e.g. fuselage in both models)
  + "Third person" parts of the model such as the canopy bow are hidden when in first person
  + First pilot automatically hidden when in first person
  + Cockpitless planes no longer require special h andling regarding camera clip planes
- AV8B model updated for new cockpit modeling workflow and removed unused vertex colors
- AV8B no longer uses unique shader
- Near clip plane for ALL cameras is now 0.05 (most were 1.0)
- Far clip plane for ALL cameras is now 100k
- When escape menu modal dialogs are open, escape will close it
- Floating origin now applies in the vertical

Bugfixes:
- Page selectors on database mode now work
- Instant action wing selector pages should work correctly when multiple pages are visible
- Pressing escape during the pause menu while settings or bindings are open won't continue game
- Fog and clouds no longer disappear when loading Instant Action after Arena
- AI aircraft flying in formation automatically switch back to nav mode
- Cockpit no longer shakes at higher altitude
- "Investigate" AI behavior correctly accounts for floating origin
- "Idle Orbit" AI behavior correctly accounts for floating origin
- "Climb" AI behavior correctly accounts for floating origin
- Arena icons no longer appear for a single frame near origin when a unit spawns
- Camera text correctly accounts for the floating origin
- Radar altimeter and shadows should be handled better when flying "out of bounds"
- Paging for the wing selector and database selector should work correctly for edge cases
- When vehicles fall off the navmesh, they instead report (with error messages) that they did, but also shouldn't call any invalid NavMeshAgents
- Optimized how stores weight is calculated (was an unexpected bottleneck)
- Changes to audio mix to hopefully reduce missing engine sounds
- Afterburner thrust value no longer affects aircraft if no afterburner is available
- AV8B MFD Cruise page minimum speed IAS/TAS now matches the Game HUD minimum speed
- Landing gear can no longer be raised/lower post-ejection
- Terrain raycasting better accounts for vertical floating origin
- Aircraft no longer spawns underground in Arena if a new sortie

JSON:
- Warning shown in log when collider is missing
- Added "HideInFirstPerson" list to aircraft definition (see AV8B JSON for example)
- Added "Avionics" property to aircraft with sub-property "MinDisplayedAirspeedMPS"


Title: Re: Tiny Combat Arena, a simulation-lite, yet fun polygon-shaded flight simulator
Post by: Asid on March 02, 2024, 04:15:00 AM
0.13.6.3 has been released, official TrackIR support and Steam screenshots!
Sat, March 2, 2024

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/40742388/f36a3b2028b39517506ee8c5128a5bb97f8cdf0e.png)

I've been living with an AMD64 compiler issue from that ancient TIR plugin for years and it's finally gone.


Almost everything I've been working on lately has been back end to support the upcoming training campaign, which will introduce each of the mechanics of Arena one by one and take place on the new island map. The Arena mission handling got refactored a bit, along with a global event system, to handle the basic scripting necessary for the Arena training missions.

(https://i.imgur.com/dfpxbLH.png)

In the parallel to this, one of the things that has been on the backlog for a while has been updating the TrackIR plugin and fixing a couple head tracking related bugs.


Official TrackIR Plugin

(https://i.imgur.com/VVGJ0os.png)

The absolutely ancient TrackIR plugin I've been using for almost 10 years has finally been updated to the latest, which brings native support for the game in the TrackIR software. The unusual pitch ladder movements when head tracking was used have also been addressed.


Steam Screenshots

(https://i.imgur.com/YpMTXjA.png)

Another small line item that was on the backlog for a long time was having photo mode actually take Steam screenshots. This works as would expect, with the default behavior being to take a Steam screenshot if the game is currently being run through Steam. Two new settings have been added to the game to force the old behavior of locally saved screenshots, or disable Steam screenshots entirely.


Behind the Scenes

The new map is quite large, with the base geometry for it now being down. Expect mountains and valleys to fly through. It's still extremely WIP, so keep that in mind with this very WIP preview image.

(https://i.imgur.com/2ueMvcI.png)

The first campaign mission is very simple, just taking off and landing in a couple airbases around the island map, but since the game right now only has events for purely "Strategic" stuff like base capture, this has caused some coding fun to expand the event system to make for more robust mission objectives.

The bulk of the remaining work on the game will be on building out the Arena and Arena missions. The training campaign is still subject to re-organization but this is the rough outline of not just the campaign but also Arena's feature-set.

(https://i.imgur.com/z2GPrNI.png)


Changelog

Improvements:
- Strategic Target visuals no longer Z-Test
- Updated TrackIR plugin to the latest over the original 10 year old plugin
- Game will be recognized as "Tiny Combat Arena" in the TrackIR software
- Photo mode automatically takes Steam screenshots
- Added setting for local screenshots to be saved only when Steam is not in use, or always
- Added setting to enable/disable Steam screenshots
- Shutter effect in photo mode happens only after a photo has been successfully saved

Bugfixes:
- Occasional freeze caused by TIR on startup no longer happens
- "Use head tracking" setting works as expected
- "Use head tracking" setting can enable/disable TrackIR mid-flight
- TrackIR no longer resets every time settings window is opened
- "Reload TrackIR" keybind works as expected

Balance:
- AltitudeEfficiency set to the following values to make dedicated fighters better at high altitude
  + AV8B: 1.0
  + F-5/MiG-21: 1.2
  + F-5/MiG-23: 1.5

JSON:
- Added "AltitudeEfficiency" parameter to the engine definition for aircraft
  + Value of 1 is normal, >1 mean engine suffers less engine degradation with altitude