Visuals update, performance gains, and evolving map concepts

I'll try to condense everything as I want to keep these short.  We're moving fast, and things improve by the hour.  We're averaging 12 "big" commits in git per day which do any number of things like features, visuals, performance, animations, UI, etc. 

I'll break it into 3 sections from the title:

• Visuals
• Performance
• Map concepts & the future

Visuals:

All projectiles received improvements to their trails, particles, shaders, and various after-effects. 

Explosions & Lasers had similar updates.

 

Then there's the Dropship.  That thing gets me so excited for where this game is heading, and what you all will do with it.  This is just one of the Dropships, there will be several, with unique designs toward their Faction.  It plays an important role in Command Heroes as your base of operations (and transportation).  You can swap your character's equipment and configure match settings like online/local play, and campaign/custom match parameters.  (You can also warp to other systems or hop in a ride down to the surface of a planet).  Anyway, it looks cool.

Next is the map & terrain which brings us to:
Performance:

We had been planning a large overhaul in the realm of marching squares or just array-based terrain management in general, and I'm super stoked to say it's fully implemented and the old system is gone.  Our initial terrain system was just a proof of concept.  The performance gains on the new system have been ridiculous and allow more dynamic environment interactions.  In testing, no matter how much I've thrown at a scene at once I'm keeping a steady 60 fps, so I'm just over the moon to have yet another step towards being production-ready out of the way.

It has also brought back the gameplay experience that had me so excited about this project in the beginning (because I've been able to 8x the map size with no performance impact).  Highly dynamic battles taking place above & below ground.  Fighting, defending, & managing your team in full 360 degrees.

In this example, we can see indicated by numbers where 1) I discovered an enemy and set up a forward base to fight green team at 2.  I noticed a little cavern, decided to explore and discovered that another team 3) was digging underground and had been attacking team 2 from underneath!  A big 3-way fight for control over the resources in this area ensued. 

Map concepts & the future:

We envision Command Heroes as a game for both fun-seeking, casual players - whether doing a solo run at the campaign or playing with local/online friends, and as a game that easily lends itself to the competitive crowd.  In that vein, we're adding contested "points of interest" throughout the map (ruins, artifacts, shrines) - 1 per every 2 teams.  Teams will fight for possession of these, which grant passive bonuses, or new abilities & units you can activate from the Requisition (Build) menu.  The plan is not that "you captured it, now you easily win", but letting an opponent get them will make for a tougher time.

I'd be happy to start discussing more of the specifics like how we accomplish things if people would be interested in that.  Such as what technology did we use, how did we make that thing do what it does, and so on.  One thing I'm pretty proud of is how each step of the way, we've created "systems" for a solution, rather than the quick straight path.  It pays off every time you want to adjust something, or introduce new features -- which is a lot of times and frankly I don't see how you could successfully launch if you aren't.