Mechs and Code news

Welcome back to the devlog for my real-time strategy game! This week has been focused on fixing various issues, but I've also made some progress.
One of the main things I've been working on is introducing mechs into the game as an alternative to infantry.

Introduction to Mechs in Assembly RTS

I had originally planned to include infantry, but I found that they were too small in comparison to other elements in the game.

Many RTS games solve this by making the infantry larger than they would be in real life

However, this makes them look comically large when next to a building or vehicle.

That's why I decided to go with mechs instead. They add more variety to the game and feel more grounded than the hovercraft vehicles.

Modeling and Animating Mechs in Blender

I don't have much experience with character modeling or rigging, so this was a new challenge for me.

However, I was pleasantly surprised at how straightforward the rigging process was.

AI also had fun animating a run cycle in Blender.
I imagine the animations for the beginning and ending of the walk cycle will be more difficult, but I'm excited to continue learning and improving.

Implementing Mech Animations in Unity with Mecanim and GPU-Based Solutions

After completing the animations, I imported the mech into Unity and experimented with the Mecanim animation system for the first time. Unfortunately, I found that Mecanim does not perform well when handling multiple skinned mesh renderers simultaneously. That's why I decided to switch to a GPU-based animation solution, which turned out to be less complicated than I expected.

Conclusion and Next Steps

In this devlog, we covered the process of introducing mechs as an alternative to infantry in my real-time strategy game. We also looked at the challenges and successes of modeling and animating mechs in Blender, and implementing the animations in Unity using Mecanim and GPU-based solutions.

As the game is still in the early stages of development, every bit of feedback helps me continue improving and shaping the direction of the game. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Moving forward, I plan to continue working on the mechs and refining the animation process. I'll also be looking at other ways to improve the gameplay and overall experience for players. Thank you for following along and for your support. I'm excited to share more updates with you in the future.