Slipgate Tactics Demo

[Dreikblack]

Slipgate Tactics is turn based tactics game about Slipgate marines squad in Quake 1 settings.

Demo can be downloaded here:  https://dreikblack.itch.io/slipgate-tactics

Features:

• No randomness for actions
• Dedicated Movement Points for flanking or dodging damage from a front
• 4 Action Points can be used for few actions, blocking damage or as Movement Points 
• Gibbing enemies gives Will Points which can be used for extra Action Points
• Special actions for all weapons like nailing an enemy to the floor
• Pushing enemy to an obstacles to do extra damage
• Relatively low health and armor values
• Enemies do their turn simultaneously
• Marines also can move simultaneously
• Couple tricky secrets to find on the main demo level

Demo level is not canon and shows how Quake 1 looks like in another genre.

Made with Ultra Engine.

Quake model animations are not supported yet by the engine so Marines are always looking holding axes in their hands for now

Turn based tactics in Quake 1 settings.

 

ORIGINAL POST:

Quake Tactics (early 2D prototype).

Made this with Ultra App Kit. Will swtich to Ultra Engine as soon as it will be possible for me to buy the subscription.

Quake Tactics is my fan uncommercial game about Slipgate marines squad before Quake 1 events.

In terms of gameplay my goal is to make something between such games as Into the Breach and XCOM.

[Dreikblack]

I remade it in Ultra + main menu with settings.

 

[havenphillip]

This is rad this is the kind of game I want to make.

[Thirsty Panther]

Now I understand what the outline  posts have been about.

Nice work.

[Josh]

How did you make the settings UI?

[Dreikblack]

19 minutes ago, Josh said:

How did you make the settings UI?

What exactly? My whole UI made of custom widgets of my own. Basic ones mostly same as default but having listeners that attach when i create them, plus some few things as scaling from parameter, localization, fix for vertical text offset in 3D UI etc.

For settings i have a singleton manager that reads parameters from a json when it's first called before creating main menu window to define sizes and fullscreen mode.

If something was changed in settings menu after hitting OK button a settings manager updates parameter members and settings config file, and a window and UI are recreates with new parameters if something that requires it was changed.

For localization i have another manager that reads a text file of current language and keep it in a strings map.

[Dreikblack]

I mostly finished basic core gameplay and GUI.

- Changed available tiles look from outline to square unlit brushes

- Added a nailgun that can shoot through armor multiply times at once with new number field next to Ok button.

- Added an action properties row in an action dialog (action point cost, damage, distance etc.)

- Added knockback for shotguns at close distance

- Added spread for shotgun - multiply enemies can be shot

- Added block and dodge system - action points (yellow) wastes at point blank distance for blocking and movement (blue) uses for dodges.

- After death units became corpses

- Corpses and alive units can be gibbed (to free tile) if enough damage was dealt to them

- How much health, armor, action or movement points will be wasted after or shot or move now shows by blinking in unit bars (above units)

- Yellow lines shows which targets in lines of sights for current weapon

- Inventory - for equipping weapon, armor etc. from marine common inventory

- Marine bars at left side with their status and ability to select one those marines

- Added obstacles that can be used as covers and can be destroyed

idk why sound is broken in the video, game sounds normal while playing.

 

[Dreikblack]

Working again on Quake Tactics since Steam release.

Changes i did before beta sub ended:

- Reworked Unit panel with new stats icons and added character icon that changes when marine getting a hit.

- Added hot keys. Space and enter to confirm actions and ESC with RMB to cancel.

- Icons for weapons and backpack from Quake. Have no idea why yellow armor is blue now after Steam release

Changes after Steam release:

- Remade a font so only capital letters are now like Quake font.

- New cursor.

- Sounds now tied to unit positions.

- Switched to editor map except units due problem with Quake models so i keep spawning units via game code with coords from json file.

 

[Dreikblack]

Main visible changes in this year so far:

 

FPS limiter;
Settings splitted into categories with custom tabber;
Sounds effect volume setting added. Also for music too but no music in game atm;
Default button added to settings for resetting;
Modal dialog appears if window restart needed (for applying new resolution, localization etc.);
Special hotkeys for weapons added;
Controls can be now customized in settings. Control list can be scrolled with mouse scroll;
Some buttons have tooltips now. It shows what to press to customize an action hotkeys for example;

Camera reworked to have a smooth rotation around a potential target at center of screen instead of 90 degree rotations;
Camera can be moved now with cursor near window borders;
Cursor changes a color above units and tiles;
New in-game menu;
Fixed drag'n'drop for inventory (was not smooth and could be stuck if the cursor was out of window etc.). Also dragged item is now highlighted;
Unit bars reworked into new non-interactive custom sprite UI for improving performance;
Also as sprite were added lines that connect units and their bars;
Fixed positional sounds;

Units now uses movement points to resist being pushed by enemies;
Action points are now being used as movement points for "sprinting", dodging range attacks, push resistance etc.
Now attacks can be blocked or dodged only from a front
Two arcs that look like a circle together under units - their colors show unit team and selection state. Front colors into action or movement color if being targeted by a player from front.
Unit can be rotated by holding Ctrl (by default) into mouse position.
Super Shotgun added - can shoot from both barrels to do double damage and double push. Also push back a shooter. It's only weapon that require manual reload (no indicator for ammo yet)

 

[havenphillip]

You put this on Steam? I looked for it couldn't find it.

[Dreikblack]

No. I doubt it would be possible due legal reasons. Also it probably requires to 100$ and some data to fill in which is probably not possible in my region atm.

Anyway i want to make a demo first and i will probably create a page at itch.io once it's ready.

[Dreikblack]

Most visible changes since the last video:
Loading screen
Icons from Quake for ammo in inventory
Ammo is now spent while shooting, and its quantity is displayed in the inventory and weapons bar
Ammo can be splitted in inventory
Action dialog hides movement squares and shows which targets are visible with yellow lines
Added sounds for the interface from Quake (when you hover over buttons, press them, etc.)
Added sounds to enemies when they are moving and player target them
Added credits, where I list a bunch of studios related to Quake Rerelease and Quake sounds
Added a difficulty selection, which determines the AI and the number of enemies on the map for tests
Reworked the AI of bots. I took GOAP as a basis, but simplified it to a choice of tactics, which choose a next action, and after the action is completed, the tactic is selected again. On hard, bots choose a target with the smallest health and armor and on which the most damage can be dealt, flank targets, retreat a bit after the attack and turn towards the player’s units. On the easy, they simply attack the one closest to them; if there are several at the same distance, then choose the one with the larger health and armor. On normal difficulty, the bot logic is the most plausible without try harding, but also without giveaways.
Before choosing a tactic, bots take the targets that they see or smell and remember the tiles on which the targets are located. I'll add the hearing later. I will improve memory further so that bots remember the enemies they see outside of their turn.

[Dreikblack]

- Changed font to OpenSans with my capital letters that looks Quakish

- Perception system for AI - bots can now see (in 180 degrees at front if they did not detect enemies yet) , smell (in full circle), hear

- When bots spot enemies via this way perception icon appears above unit for a sec

- Spotted enemies bots keep in memory with last known positions. This memory is used if no enemies can be seen

- In such cases ! icon will be visible until bot find enemy

- If no enemies spotted but a bot still active ! icon appears. Crossed eye when becomes passive after 3 rounds

- Using a zip archive now for files that can be loaded in this way atm

Link to last build:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d5QKGvv0ikCDG9Pe1gIS8sg0hhkbybn_?usp=sharing

 

[Dreikblack]

Made own icon for Quake Tactics.exe:

 

 

 

• New weapon - Laser rifle. Long range, special piercing shot damage all units in the shot line
• New enemy - Enforcer. Slow but fully armored and has a laser rifle as a long range weapon. Enforcer can be now blew up by attacking his back (orange bar shows HP for backpack)
• Changed area weapon trigger zone shape a bit for better detection
• Bot’s unit can now keep its turn if detect something if bot team turn was not ended yet
• Grunts will shoot if can’t came close enough for point blank
• Now weapon distance is also shown with a circle when action dialog is up
• Arrow under units to show in which way they will be pushed and potential damage in unit bars from bump damage
• Fixed outlines
• A lot of fixes for GUI and controls

 

[wr3kage]

haven't done much, just wanted to report that it appears to work  (it loads the models and looks like your screenshots)

[SpiderPig]

Cool game!  Just downloaded and everything worked as expected.  Packages loaded fine. 

I have multiple screens and the only thing that was an issue for me is when my mouse went over to the next screen the window would no longer pan.

[Dreikblack]

3 minutes ago, SpiderPig said:

an issue for me is when my mouse went over to the next screen the window would no longer pan.

What do you mean by pan? I think i found right translation for this world by i still have no idea what exactly it means in this context

[SpiderPig]

I mean moving the camera around by the mouse being at the edge of the window.

[Dreikblack]

Did you click something on other screen? Panning works only if game window is active which can be made by scroll button or RBM for avoiding doing any actions. btw main way to move camera are WASD (or anything else if you want to change it in settings).

[SpiderPig]

I clicked nothing, just moved the mouse to the edge of the full screen window.  Panning does work if you keep the mouse right near the window border, but leave the window and it won't work anymore.

WASD work well.

[Dreikblack]

16 minutes ago, SpiderPig said:

Panning does work if you keep the mouse right near the window border, but leave the window and it won't work anymore.

Ah thats what you meant. I did it intentionally to be able to do stuff on other windows. btw current full screen in Ultra behaves as borderless window - is there a way to make it true fullscreen? Then mouse would inside window and panning would always work until alt-tab.

[SpiderPig]

Apart from manually keeping the mouse inside the window until it goes out of focus, I'm not too sure.

[Dreikblack]

Changes for last month:

- New special shot for Shotgun - aimed shot (bigger distance and damage but only for single target)
- Now in a first round only a first team have action and movement points
- Outline thickness setting
- Outline optimization which increased FPS a lot
- Different color for LoS lines when target is flanked
- No camera moving by cursor if it’s on GUI or in menu
- Camera movement with RMB and rotation with MMB
- Load Map button to play any map regardless difficulty setting
- Codex with tutorials, weapons and enemies
- Mini Codex with current points for enemy can be opened with MMB on them
- Inventory opening for Marine that under cursor with MMB
- Showing now max action distance with red circle for enemy that under cursor
- Showing potential tiles to go for enemy when cursor on them
- Glowing and sound when targeting a tile
- Which team turn now shown at top
- Current weapon name above weapon bar

 

[Dreikblack]

Made more changes for improving UI/UX. Any feedback on that regard will be useful for further improvements.

Path Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sPg_Wgm__OZURARMKyilFPaRNFzDSxv69Q8B_ngK-qo/edit?usp=sharing

Latest Build: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d5QKGvv0ikCDG9Pe1gIS8sg0hhkbybn_?usp=sharing

[Dreikblack]

• Gamma Setting
• New obstacle Radiactive container - can be destroyed to make explosion
• New Main Menu scene at background
• Stealth mode  - Marines moves silently but slower - 1 extra Movement Point cost
• Stealth mode shows sense zones (red for smelling, blue for hearing and green for sight) for enemies that did not notice Marines yet
• Remade maps and added stealth map
• New HUD element - belt. It shows equipped items like ammo and medkits. Select one to see an available item action
• Ammo have throw action - to put it at next tile
• Ammo can be destroyed to cause an explosion if damage type is right for this ammo type
• Enemies drops a loot after death
• GUI fixes and adjustments