Iron Assault Remake (Demo Update 2.5)

[Project Shadowcat]

New post because it's been a short while and I just remembered it.

When an NPC Frog is very close to a wall (I haven't used one myself, was simply partial to the defensive capabilities of the Delta 7 until the Mosquito and Mar became available), weapons mounted on an arm inside the wall will hit that wall instead of fly towards their intended target. I've not noticed this with any other unit.

[Hor1zon Str1der]

Just beat it last night. This is one of the best TCs I've played. I don't have much more to say on it.

[ReformedJoe]

New post because it's been a short while and I just remembered it.

When an NPC Frog is very close to a wall (I haven't used one myself, was simply partial to the defensive capabilities of the Delta 7 until the Mosquito and Mar became available), weapons mounted on an arm inside the wall will hit that wall instead of fly towards their intended target. I've not noticed this with any other unit.

If you load up the FROG with enough ROTAKs you can 1 or 2 shot kill pretty much everything you see. It's probably a bit OP lol. The NPC version is an outlier due to how wide it is. I'll increase its movement collision box, hopefully that'll stop its arms from clipping into walls so much (FWIW an NPC dumping a shot inside a wall used to cause a crash ).

Just beat it last night. This is one of the best TCs I've played. I don't have much more to say on it.

Thanks, I appreciate that.

[SamVision]

I think it would be really cool if the crosshair changes to something unique when youre in the middle of a mission.

[SamVision]

Is the pilot saving feature supposed to also save the mechs? If so, it doesnt unless I did something wrong.

[ReformedJoe]

Is the pilot saving feature supposed to also save the mechs? If so, it doesnt unless I did something wrong.

It'll save your unlocked missions, mechs, weapons and equipment. It will not save your actual mech loadouts. It's only intended to safely port progress between updates which break save games.

[SamVision]

Is the pilot saving feature supposed to also save the mechs? If so, it doesnt unless I did something wrong.

It'll save your unlocked missions, mechs, weapons and equipment. It will not save your actual mech loadouts. It's only intended to safely port progress between updates which break save games.

Alright I understand. Just wondering, any potential for future completed versions to be standalone?

[ReformedJoe]

News!



New video. Shows off the first of the heavy mechs, the HPAC and HPLAS weapons, and the first part of O3M1 which is set in a desert environment.

I started to run into performance issues with this fight due to the sheer number of explosions and tracers flying around. This required some changes to be made. You'll probably notice some of them if you've followed the project for a while. Almost all alpha transparency has been removed from sprites. Smoke is most noticeable as it has been replaced with a nice retro dithered look. Explosions and other effects have been tweaked as well, previously they used transparency and additive blending to boost brightness but this was causing issues in larger fights like the one in the video, so that too has been changed. Additionally most props and effects now have distance culling so distant objects are less of a burden.

The fight in the video used to dip down into 50fps, but now stays up around 60 fairly consistently. There is more to do, but I'll save it until it becomes necessary. These changes also bring the project back into line with my original intent (visually). I think I went too far in a lo-fi "realism" direction with the effects and these changes make the project look more retro.

ght I understand. Just wondering, any potential for future completed versions to be standalone?

With the full release, it's possible. Not sure yet.

[Cherno]

The stipple transparency looks great, always loved that look. I assume it is a shader-based solution?
I might have mentioned it before, but the NPC mechs (and all other vehicles) would really benefit from smooth movement. If you would like to take a look at one way to achieve it, feel free to join the ZDoom discord.

[Captain J]

Badass map yo!

[ReformedJoe]

Badass map yo!

Thx m8

The stipple transparency looks great, always loved that look. I assume it is a shader-based solution?
I might have mentioned it before, but the NPC mechs (and all other vehicles) would really benefit from smooth movement. If you would like to take a look at one way to achieve it, feel free to join the ZDoom discord.

The dithering is done by hand, and yeah I think it looks better than the old FX (within the context of this project anyway).
Unless there's a drop in, hassle free replacement for A_Chase I'm not interested in messing with movement at this point.

I think it would be really cool if the crosshair changes to something unique when youre in the middle of a mission.

I meant to address this before, but it slipped my mind. Better late than never. I am definitely planning on adding a specialized crosshair to the mod.

[ReformedJoe]

Go behind the spoiler for another update.

---

Here's a nice family portrait of every unit in the game so far.

In the back row you can see all the new heavies. These are fully functional for both the player and as NPC enemies or allies and also have appropriate infobase entries. The heavy tank has been buffed with more armor and a more powerful weapon. You won't start to encounter them until O2 now.

Enemy NPCs can now actually see Friendly NPCs thanks to a super cool flag that was recently added to the engine (to whatever dev added this flag: you are an absolute King/Queen). Battles feel a lot more chaotic now.

For equipment, there are now medium and heavy versions of the melee weapons. ECM modules have been buffed, there's now a chance that missiles seeking a target with ECM will lose tracking.

In the campaign O3M1 is complete and is also available in sim mode. Still needs a balance pass. The mission might be a little too spicy, we'll see.

Otherwise most of the work has been tweaking and fixing stuff. There were a lot of built up issues, the most substantial changes are:
-Target checking and weapon convergence now use the proper height offset. Previously this used an approximation that was good enough, but was obviously broken once you start piloting heavy mechs. Along with this weapon firing points are now synced to your view and take bobbing into account.
-Normalized what left and right are between all player mechs. This was inconsistent from mech to mech. Left and right are now always from the perspective of the pilot (so it's reversed in the loadout editor. Don't worry. there are helpful new labels to remind you ). Each mech has had its hardpoint offsets adjusted and has been (again) normalized with it's NPC counterpart.
-Changed some internal stuff with weapon groups. The result is that the previous/next weapon keys will now properly cycle between groups. The lowest numbered group will now be selected at mission start.
-The HUD weapon display is now sorted by location (eg, Torso, Left Arm, Right Arm).

I'm going to put a bow on these changes and release an updated demo soon-ish.
Until next time.

[Captain J]

Those are lot of mechs and tanks. They're still a sight to behold and just look how detailed and anime-accurate they are!

And i think something's missing in that showcase pic. Where's that buffed up Sherman? No, i'm not talking about the small tanks and a big one on the middile. Pretty sure i saw the sherman in previous showcase.

[ReformedJoe]

...
And i think something's missing in that showcase pic. Where's that buffed up Sherman? No, i'm not talking about the small tanks and a big one on the middile. Pretty sure i saw the sherman in previous showcase.

This guy?


He's not done yet. I have some special plans for him.

[Captain J]

Since it has dual cannons on its shoulder and Artillery is not really common in this TC... Yeah i think i know what kind of purpose it'll get.