Hello there! I hope everyone is well. I didn’t realize how much had changed since beta 6.0 until I put it all together in the list below. It turns out there are a good many things! Two of the biggest changes, pathfinding and a new dynamic stat system, are not very exciting from a gameplay perspective, but hopefully the many other changes make up for that. One of those smaller changes, the Engineer’s new ability to place sandbags, can have a pretty big effect on the direction of a battle. Similarly, the change to have units face their target/destination when prone makes it a lot easier to hide behind cover when battling vertically, while also making flanking more effective. There are many other additions and enhancements, including a new campaign mission, river segments for the map editor, falling tree damage, new stats, improved AI, and of course, new “Jolly Edition” art assets. See the full list in the changelog below. I’ll also talk briefly about some of the bigger ones.

Jolly Edition

Xmas trees (and cacti), falling snow, snowballs, glitter, and of course that pesky Yeti! Jolly Edition content is enabled automatically for the rest of December, or you can say “humbug” and turn off seasonal content from the Options menu. Here is the game in action:

Discord

That’s right, There Will Be Ink has a Discord server! Come say hi and join in the conversation or just keep up with all the latest. Steam users can even get access to experimental builds to test out the latest features. I’m hoping to get some community submissions for maps and campaigns to include in the game, either built-in or as separate downloads, but more on that later.

Pathfinding

I scrapped the old, cobbled together “freestyle” pathfinding system for a more traditional grid-based system. Tanks aren’t always brilliant, but they’re a lot smarter than before. I’ve also hopefully fixed many of the bugs around the old system. In addition to getting where they need to be, tanks also now make a point of finding clear lines of sight and finding alternate paths (or waiting) when another vehicle is in their way. In other tanks news, turrets are now sometimes blasted off, damaging units where they land. Engineers can also now repair incapacitated tanks, if the damage isn’t too bad.

Prone Units & Sandbag Placement

For a long time it was awkward when battling vertically, as prone units were more exposed than standing units in such situations. No more! Prone units now face their target, so they’re able to hide behind trees and the like regardless of the angle between them and their target. Of course, going prone does still provide more surface area when approaching a unit form the side, and AI has been improved to take advantage of this by spreading out and flanking a lot better than they used to. Further tactical depth has been added with the Engineer’s new ability to place sandbags. As the player you can take control of an Engineer and place cover for your troops where it’s needed, or you can let the AI take care of things and focus on combat. This new ability should help out with those massacre zones that new recruits tend to bravely but foolishly charge forth to.

Dynamic Stats

I spent a lot of time on this, but it’s not really something you see in game. The good thing though is that it makes the stat system much more dynamic, manageable, and scalable, so I can add new units with little trouble and don’t have to worry about the old hardcoded stat info. End-of-battle stats are a little different in this way in that they’ll only reflect units that participated in the battle (which now includes tanks).

Changelog

New Features & Content

• Implemented new pathfinding system for tanks
• New Engineer tool/ability: Sandbags
  • Player can place sandbags as engineer; AI will place based on where comrades are dying if there is not already cover
• New Engineer ability: Mechanics
  • Allows Engineer to repair tanks
• New campaign mission, “All In A Row” (tank-focused, can be difficult)
• Tank turrets now have a chance of being blown off of tank upon destruction, damaging units & settings fires
  •  If turret not blown off, tanks now become incapacitated (but not destroyed) and can be repaired
• Implemented new dynamic stat system (no real in-game effect, but will make adding new units and stats much easier)
• When prone, units now face their target/destination (instead of only left/right)
• Added 6 river segments that can be tiled together for more river varieties
• Added new leg sprites/animation for normal unit movement (ie jogging)
  • Old sprites used for sprinting
• Trees now damage units when falling
  • Added sounds for trees falling and landing
• New stat: Tree Deaths (the number of times a player was killed by falling trees)
• New stats for vehicles incapacitated & vehicles destroyed
• Plugged Tanks into unit stats (eg. shots fired/hit, killed/killed as, unit progress, etc)
• Reworked weapon system to allow for more than 2 weapons
• Added new “Jolly Edition” versions of all trees and cacti

Changes & Enhancements

• AI is now better at spreading out and flanking
  • Units look for more than just 2 cover options
• Going to Barracks from pause menu now saves current unit XP (reworded pause menu items)
• Separated water/rivers into their own group in the Map Editor
• RPG is now much more effective against tanks
• Added more frames to torso animation
• Various adjustments to cover bonus amounts
• Units don’t need to be as close as before to get cover bonus (makes cover more effective for AI)
• Reduced roll speed/distance by 20%
• Reduced cost of Engineer’s Mine Deployment ability to 1 point
• Infantry now flee out of the way of tanks (not just friendly tanks)
• Tanks can no longer run over friendly units
• Friendly fire sound now plays when hitting a friendly unit instead of upon their death
• Tank turrets now tilt at a random angle when destroyed
• Increased Stick Man boss health by 50%
• Performance tweaks for how often units refresh target, updating cover capacity, etc
• Smoke is now emitted from the tank barrel when firing
• Updated bullet collision detection with cover objects to be more precise
• Increased tank bullet friendly fire “safe zone”
• Main menu options no longer respond to click unless the cursor is over them
• Units no longer continue moving to cover if their target is killed or incapacitated
• Added hand-drawn sprite for tank turret
• Added Discord icon & link to main menu
• Boss damage and boss kills now tracked over campaign

Bug Fixes

• Overlapping tanks at mission start now push away from each other instead of hanging things up
• Fixed sandbags to use precise collision detection
• Fixed bug where mission wouldn’t end in countdown missions when all friendly units are lost
• Fixed crash bug when bringing up Steam overlay when battle is over
• Fixed crash bug relating to tanks and vengeance
• Certain stats no longer require that a unit be player controlled at the time of calculation (effectively, stats are more accurate)
• Parachuting/jetpacking units no longer leave footprints
• Fixed bug where animation speeds were sometimes incorrect when prone
• “Time in Battle” stat on Barracks page now shows proper time format
• Game no longer pauses if battle is over and game window is no longer in focus (eg during alt+tab)
• Fixed bug where units sometimes run in the wrong direction when first setting out to approach target
• Fixed bug where cover capacity wasn’t properly being calculated
• Fixed bug where ranked Alt Rifle & Assault infantry would not switch to secondary weapon
• Fixed bug where secondary weapon was not being destroyed on unit death
• Mouse in Map Editor once again shows x/y coords when dragging (GMS2 port issue)
• Fixed bug where Engineers wouldn’t rebuild buildings that are on fire/destroyed (may have been introduced after Beta 6.0)