Another month+ has gone by, and now I have all kinds of juicy little tidbits for you!
Evolution RTS v1.8
All things considered, this was a very minor release, but it fixed a pretty giant bug (giant bug imo, however it was actually very small) that had gone for many weeks unseen. Due to a mistake in the cover gadget, units tagged with stealth, weren’t actually getting it, unless they were hiding in trees. Unfortunately, testing for things like this is really hard, because it’s somewhat obscure, and you don’t see every tech used in every game. Still, i am glad to see it fixed and to all your amphibious enthusiasts out there, I am sorry.
New Map! Altored Divide:
Originally made by Caydr, then remade by Nixa, and now remade by me (using much of Nixa’s assets) for Evolution RTS. It is set up for anywhere from 1v1 all the way up to 5v5 play. Large hills in the center make it harder for hovers and amphibs to maneuver, however, all terrains are susceptible to arcing ballistics and missile fire with nowhere to hide. The vast majority of the metal spots are in the center, along with 5 geothermal vents, making the center of the map worth dying for… literally.
As you may have noticed… I’ve been trying to bring you a new map every month. In fact, I was going to have a lava map for you, but unfortunately, it isn’t finished yet.
SASI
SASI (Pronounced Saw-ze) is a semi new project by Koshi, much brought around due to my continual complaints about the lobby (but it’s not all my fault! :-)). It is designed to be a proper frontend for a game. You will be able to edit your settings inside of it, launch singleplayer games, missions, and join multiplayer servers and even a quickmatch button! I wish to god it was already here but unfortunately it isn’t quite ready. I do have a treat for you though, koshi made a short video showing off some aspects of SASI. Unfortunately youtube ate the first 12 seconds, but after uploading it twice, I concluded that the problem was not on my end. I cannot give you an accurate timeframe of when it will be ready. There is still a lot of small details that need polishing and unfortunately, it’s only Koshi who is doing the work on it (my C++ foo, isn’t).
So, without further ado, I bring you, SASI:
Update: Figured out how to embed videos that I have added here on Desura. The quality isn't quite as good, but the first 12 seconds are there.
Community
Ok, the last bit I wanted to discuss was the community, or, more accurately, the lack of it.
Assuming that my stats are more or less correct, somewhere in the area of 2000+ people have Evolution RTS installed. As the sole dedicated developer of this game, I am flattered! Unfortunately, I am by myself. I’m not exactly the type who is great at starting online communities. Especially one where I have such overwhelming bias.
I have been reading up on how to build online communities from nothing. The first thing it says to do is to identify who the community is for. Well… That one is easy. It’s for everyone who likes this game! I love this game. I eat sleep live and breathe this game. I work very hard and even into the very early hours of the morning on it for no other reason than that I love it, and I want you to enjoy it as well. I can tell you that while I love playing it, I love watching others play it more. Seeing strategies that I never thought of, being able to throw out helpful pointers here and there, and mainly, simply seeing all of you enjoy it. For me, that is where I get the biggest reward.
Next I am told that I should reach out to people. This is me reaching out! :-) I want to talk to all of you (preferably not all at the exact same moment, but you get the idea ;p ). I want to hear what you liked about the game, I want to hear what you hated about the game, and I want to hear your suggestions for how it could be improved! I try very hard to remain as accessible as possible, whether it be via forums, the lobby chat, email, private message, etc, but I still feel like most people think that they are probably dealing with an actual games company that doesn’t care about what you have to say. Well I’m here to tell you that I do care, and I want to hear what you have to say!
So, without going further into boring detail, I would like to invite you to our forums. It’s small and cozy right now, but I would love to hear from you and have the chance to speak to you!
The general discussion forum is here
And the help and bugs forum is here
Please come in and say hi! I am looking forward to speaking with all of you!
That’s it for now, but there will be more later. Hopefully, sooner!
