- Update #10 - 9 August 2020
A new update has been added to the beta branch. It's been a while since my last update, as I'm quite busy with other things these days. I actually made these changes back in December, but have only now got around to releasing them. This update is all about the team AI, which coordinates all the soldiers on a team by giving them strategic objectives. The update fixes two problems: If you follow orders, you typically spend a good deal of the game running between blue spawn points, which isn't all that exciting, and isn't a very efficient use of what is probably the team's best soldier. Soldiers often pass each other, going in opposite directions between friendly spawn points. That is a waste of resources, as in theory the two soldiers could have saved time and energy by simply swapping orders. Furthermore, the more time soldiers spend moving between friendly spawn points, the less time th…
- Update #9 - 15 November 2019
An ongoing issue with Bot War is that games tend to end up in a stalemate, and then drag on for ages. To fix this, I've made the following changes, which are now in the beta release. The team AI now attempts to surround its enemies in order to prevent them from breaking out. Players will now find that they are often ordered through a series of blue spawn points. What the AI is doing is manoeuvring you to a particular gap in the front line that it wants you to fill. The bots on the blue team are now generally more skilled (quicker reactions and more accurate) than on the other teams. This causes the blue team to steadily make headway. On the higher difficulty levels, the difference in skill is less, and so the player plays a more pivotal role. So, if you find the game too easy, increase the difficulty level to give the blue team less of an advantage. Note also that there are now five dif…
- Controls Tutorial Added - 3 October 2019
I don't know how well players have been getting on with the controls in Bot War, as they're quite different from normal. I've been trying to create a tutorial video to explain how it all works for ages, and I've finally managed to create one that I'm happy with. The tutorial video is on the Bot War store page, but I've also uploaded it to YouTube.
- Update #8 - 30 September 2019
A new update is now on the beta branch. You're now more likely to be sent to an enemy spawn point that's on the edge of blue territory, rather than one that's well into either of the other two teams' territories. I also noticed that enemy bots had a tendency to spawn in front of you and then immediately turn around and run off. This has now been fixed. So, if an enemy bot spawns in front of you now, then as long as he sees you, he'll turn around and start shooting at you. The colour of the light now varies between slightly yellow and slightly blue in order to give the impression of warm and cold temperature. It's a subtle but effective visual improvement that makes the nights and the polar regions seem colder, and the day and the sandy middle regions seem hotter.
- Update #7 - 16 September 2019
The beta branch has been updated. The player and the bots now get awarded ranks. There are four ranks, although the number of positions available at each rank is limited. The more enemy soldiers you kill, and the more spawn points you capture, the greater your chances of being promoted. Your current rank is shown in the bottom-right corner of the screen, and the ranks of other soldiers are shown above their heads.
- Patch #6 - 2 September 2019
I've added a new patch to the beta branch. There are various minor tweaks and bug fixes, but the main change is that the easy level is now even easier, as my dad reckoned it was still too difficult.
- Patch #5 - 5 August 2019
A new patch is finally on the beta branch. Most of my time has been spent making the controls (how you move and look around using the keyboard and mouse) smoother and more versatile. A few bugs where you would end up walking on the spot have been fixed too. The other thing is that you can now set the difficulty level of the bots to easy, medium, or hard. The difficulty level covers two aspects of bots: reaction time and accuracy. On hard level, bots react instantly, and shoot with absolute accuracy (assuming the speed and direction of the target remains unchanged). On easy level, bots are relatively slow to react, and not particularly accurate at long range. Medium level is what bots have been on up until now. The default difficulty is easy.
- Patch #4 - 10 June 2019
Patch #4 is now on the beta branch. This patch mainly focuses on the AI. There are a few bug fixes and improvements, but the main ones are: Fixed a bug where bots would judder for a moment as they went from running to walking. Fixed a bug where bots would often walk back and forth, typically just outside spawn points, and never actually go anywhere. One thing that was quite annoying was that the AI would keep on changing your orders. This is now fixed, so your orders now only get changed if it's really necessary.
- Patch #3 - 27 May 2019
A new patch is now on the beta branch. There are two changes. The first is that you can now reconfigure the keys in the menu. The second is that the nights are now shorter and brighter, so it's easier to see what's happening at night. Feel free to let me know what you think, or if something's not working properly.
- Patch #2 - 15 April 2019
Sorry for the lack of upgrades for a while. I've been working on tracking down and fixing a load of memory leaks, and this turned out to be quite a massive task. I've now put this work onto the beta branch. Players should now find that the performance remains stable no matter how long they play the game. Please let me know if I've broken anything.
- Patch #1 - 7 March 2019
Thanks to everyone who's bought the game so far. Since release, I've been working on a raft of bug fixes. I've now added these to the beta branch, so, if anyone wants to test the next version, please switch to the beta branch, and let me know if I've broken anything. The bugs fixed are as follows: From the second game onwards, sounds (such as your gun firing) would sometimes not play. You had to click on the New Game button twice in order to start a new game. The game would sometimes crash (often after clicking the New Game button). I've made a few cosmetic improvements as well, chief of which is that the HUD markers for dead bodies are now much fainter, making it easier to tell living and dead soldiers apart on the HUD. One of the key things I want to add to the game as soon as possible, is the ability to change your keys. The default keys are fairly standard, but in case anyone's havi…
- Bot War is Released - 25 February 2019
It's taken more than three years to develop, but my first game, Bot War, is finally out there. I hope everyone who plays it, enjoys it. If anyone has any feedback, or questions, or issues, please let me know. ːsteamhappyː
