"Tank Game" is (currently) a 2-player turn-based action-strategy game, where each player builds vehicles, collects gold and captures objectives, in order to win the other in one of the game modes.
The game is currently only playable offline, with two human players. Online multiplayer will be looked into in further releases!
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-No specifics, but nothing too ancient CPU wise.
-HardWare Accelerated, so requires a modern enough GFX card for some features to work. (eg. custom player colours require support for pixel shader 2.0, which basically means DirectX9)
-Minimum resolution: 800x600, recommended 1024x768 or higher. Interface scales and aligns according to window size, so the bigger the resolution, the more stuff you'll see at once.
BRIEF EXPLANATIONS ON FEATURES (Read the included Readme file for more in-depth descriptions)
GOLD
Players collect gold from gold mines (capturing) and gold tiles (destroying, then picking up the ore), then spend them to unlock or build units or weapons.
ENERGY
Every unit has a limited amount of energy to use each turn (amount varies depending on selected game mode). Every action, moving, firing and building eat energy. Note: All units have the capability of flying, but most units require a lot of energy to do so. Heavy Tanks can barely fly at all, while Gyro Scouts and Gunships can move great distances in air in a single turn.
GOAL
There are a few selectable victory conditions. Destroy Reactor requires destroying opponent's reactor. Flag Control requires holding special control flags for your team on the map. You can have either or both enabled. Last Man Standing is a battle with only starting gold enabled. First to lose all units loses.
GAME MODES
There are two modes. Tactical is the default, but many people will probably find it slow. In this mode units regain only a portion of energy per turn. In Arcade mode units move faster and spend more energy, but also regain full energy every turn.
MAPS
The game comes with seven maps to choose from.
CAPTURING
To capture capturable objectives, like gold mines or bonus buildings, park a unit in front of it, and keep it there until your next turn, to capture the building.
WEAPONS
There are a variety of weapons, from machineguns to artillery, so experiment with each to see what you can do with them. Some weapons' shooting velocity can be adjusted when shooting, by holding down mouse button (these are marked with 'Adjustable velocity' trait), similar to bazookas/grenades in games like Worms.
UNLOCKING
Most things are initially locked, and you need to spend gold to unlock them, before you can build or use them. For more action-oriented gameplay, consider checking the option in main menu that unlocks all units by default. Extra weapons are always locked, but often very effective.
BUILD CAPS
There's a limit to how many you can have things in use at once. Mobile units have a limit you can set in the main menu, from 1 to 14. Each Engineer allows maintaining one turret, and each APC or captured Barracks allows deploying one infantry sentry. Keep an eye on build caps as you progress to ensure you can build what you need, when you need.
CRATES
Gamble pickups. Mostly good, sometimes bad. Usually worth the risk.
TREES
Trees have a chance to block projectiles. The slower the projectile, the bigger the chance. Especially handy, but not failproof cover against missiles and ballistic weapons.
PARTIALLY DESTRUCTIBLE ENVIRONMENT
Some tiles in the maps are destructible, allowing creating cover spots, shortcuts, or generally to slightly adjust the landscape according to needs. Indestructible tiles are recognizable from their rocky look, and always cover the core layout, including edges of the map.
AVAILABLE UNITS
You start with a Factory, which is both your base and the source of new units. The Factory can build the following (provided they're unlocked):
*Mining Drone - Primarily for mining gold ore or capturing buildings.
*Engineer - Repairs units, lays mines and builds turrets.
*Gyro Scout - Excels at vertical movement, lightly armored and armed.
*Combat Tank - Jack of all trades, but master of none. Basic battle unit.
*APC - Can deploy infantry sentries and excels at close combat.
*Artillery - Long-range specialist for open maps, slow and lightly armored.
*Gunship - Primary airborne unit, can move great distances in one turn.
*Launcher - Shoots rockets and guidable missiles, great against gunships.
*Heavy Tank - Heavily armored and very slow, but has some nice weapons to unlock.
*Bomber - Heavy air unit that can drop bombs, napalm and mines.
Engineers can build:
*Turret - Shoots at enemy units and missiles during the opponent's turn.
*Concrete Block - A block of concrete that can be used as cover or to traverse on.
APC's can deploy:
*Machinegun sentry - Weaker version of the Turret, basically.
*Bazooka Bunker - Shoots rockets at medium range, but can't fire at extreme angles.
"TANK GAME"'S FUTURE (update: 06/09/10)
I plan to continue developing the game, with polished gameplay and online multiplayer being desireable objectives. A publicly available map editor is considered also, but currently not a priority.
Providing feedback helps me stay focused, so please do let me know what you think of the game, what could be improved, what could be added, and what would make it more fun or interesting.
I recommend playing with a friend for now. Kicking a pal's butt is much more satisfying than playing against yourself... which isn't all that bad either though. (Good practice.)
I hope you enjoy "Tank Game"!
BRIEF CHANGELOG
(read the changelog file that comes with the game for finer details)
v0.47 -> v0.47.1
* Bug Fixes
** Unit caps should count properly
** Units should fire correctly from off-screen
** Weather Icon placement should no longer be off in Flag Control
** 'Looping unit engine sound' shouldn't happen anymore, though the solution remains untested due to the issue's rarity.
v0.42 -> v0.47
This update is rather big. For a full changelog, read the changelog file included with the download.
Here's a summary:
* New unit: Bomber (droppable air-to-ground weapons)
* New building: Reactor (victory objective)
* New weapons: Bombs, Napalm (Bomber)
* New skill: Concrete Block (Engineer)
* New Victory Condition: Destroy Reactor (replaces the old buggy Factory Capture)
* New map theme: Lava , includes new background graphics and hazardous lava pit tiles.
* Variable Wind: Classic artillery game element. Wind affects ballistic weapons' trajectories and unit movement slightly. (Optional feature)
* Weather Effects: Instead of constant sunshine, you can now have dark clouds, rain and even thunderstorms. Lightning bolts may strike units and trees at high altitudes during storms. (Optional feature)
* One new tree type
* Customizable crate content ratios
* Customizable gold mine income and fixed income
* Option to limit player turns in 1 minute steps from 1 to 5. Default is 'no limit'.
* Four new maps, including two lava-themed maps
* Most menu options are now saved for future sessions
* Options to reduce or remove some effects, to improve performance on slow computers.
* Some tiny general performance tweaks.
* Half a dozen bugfixes
* Bunch of unit and weapon balance tweaks, such as improved cluster shells for artillery.
v0.40 -> v0.42
*Corrected Mining Drone's Gold Finder skill's unlock cost.
*Fixed a bug where the game graphics went nuts when minimizing game window with Win+D shortcut.
*Fixed a bug with building units right at the start of a turn, which allowed building twice the allowed amount per turn.
*Balance Tweaks
*Fixed a 'glitch' with stuff (tiles, velocity bar, etc) briefly flickering when loading map.
*New Skill for Artillery: Spotting Round.
*Increased playability support for older GFX cards that don't support pixel shader 2.0 (in which case player colours are now red for player 1 and green for player 2 by default).
*New Victory Condition: Last Man Standing.
think i've possibly found a bug. when shooting over distance with a mining drone the camera follows the ball as it should but if i shoot again before the camera goes back to the drone the camera doesn't follow any subsequent shots.
I played this a few times against my brother - one of the finest 2-player games i've ever played. And it's cracking fun just messing around on your own too. Though it's not perfect in that there is no single-player or online multiplayer (yet!), i couldn't possibly rate this below 5-stars; it has a great balance to the different tanks/vehicles, the destructable scenery is a blessing, the size of the games and their length is something i would describe as epic and the overall spit 'n' polish leaves most other games in the dirt.
Thanks for all the compliments and feedback so far! I was expecting more problem reports, since the camera and some things, like the turrets/infantry still have some glitches occasionally.
Don't hesitate to mention any improvement or addition -worthy stuff, or any bug reports, obviously. This is hopefully just the first step towards an even finer product.
Also, if anyone has time to make a quick video of the gameplay, maybe post it on YouTube, I'd really appreciate it. I'm no good with that stuff yet.
Other Creations
"TANK GAME" v0.47
Review This Download
Favourite