Open world top-down tactical shooter for PC/Windows/Linux

Hey there!

The year’s off to a great start now, we’ve got RWR 0.77 out with a nice set of improvements! We’ve got the style revamp in with a refined palette, thicker grass, terrain layer outline details, selective wall texturing as I like to call it, slightly shaded character models and much better looking water. The rendering techniques went through a slew of optimizations that make the game utilize GPU’s better, but we’ve still got plenty of those and CPU side improvements coming over the following releases.

On the gameplay side we’ve got diving, spawn point selection through map, hand brakes for vehicles – also makes AI to ignore them, great for preventing your fellows from stealing your carefully placed spawn point truck – and the usual balance tweaks.

Insular Complex, the PvP map, is taking a break this release, we need to work on it a bit to make it suitable for AI too. A completely new map is also in the making and it’s looking refreshing indeed!

It’s going to be exciting to see what kind of changes we’ll see in RWR this year. While the single battles the game is built around are great, we are heading towards a system that will allow playing a longer campaign spanning several map battles in an epic war, and we want to do this also in an online setting. This will of course need a lot of new maps, glad we got plenty of improvements on the map making process already, but we’ve got lot of ideas about other features to add that such a campaign mode would greatly benefit from.

On another note, RWR made it to PCGamer’s list of 25 games to vote in Steam Greenlight, check it out! Don’t forget to vote!

Also, should you be interested in the AI tech in RWR, tune in for the interview at AiGameDev.com the coming Sunday. I’ll be chatting about what kind of things the AI has been eating lately.

Hey there!

Purchasing RWR in Desura will now get you access to both Windows and Linux releases. If the Desura client version is not yet available, please use the standalone package available on Desura website instead for the time being!

Beta 0.76 mostly concentrates on revamping the resource system, with support for multiple uniforms, map-specific factions and weapons. The actual content work has already gotten to start with the winter map featuring soldiers with ushankas and winter jackets and in the summer some soldiers prefer to have their sleeves rolled up. Expecting more uniform variations coming in the following weeks.

Other than that, map2 has gone through a big renewal with new details and weapons have been slightly altered for better balance; check out the full change log. Next we’ll start working on a new map and certain sabotage targets you can go take out using stealth to hinder the enemy performance!

Also, thanks to all of you who voted us in the IndieDB Indie Of The Year 2012! RWR made it to phase 2, which means it’s in top 100, and the voting is still on:

Click on the image above, click TOP 100 OF 2012 / VOTE FOR THIS GAME, and you’ll find RWR at the bottom of the alphabetical list in TACTICAL SHOOTER category. Thanks for your votes!

And of course, Steam Greenlight too:

Hey there!

Yeah, you read right the first time, I’m back from the dark dungeons of porting, presenting you the Linux demo build! The full Linux build will follow soon available in Desura, just matter of getting it authorized by Desura staff now.

Porting itself went fine, thank you, but getting up a closed source binary package with most of dependent libs included compatible with multiple distros was something rather unknown to me, only time and testing will tell how well the first attempt at it went Looking forward to get some feedback about how well the package holds together!

The demo includes the renewed map2, with vehicles and online gameplay disabled, you know the drill. Also, the Windows demo build has been updated to 0.76 now too.

Don’t forget all the voting that’s taking place at the moment! RWR is now in top 100 games of 2012 Indie of the Year Awards and phase 2 is on – continue voting by clicking the image below!

And of course, Steam Greenlight too:

Indie DB is having their 3rd annual Indie of the Year awards., and phase 1 is now open! Help us get RUNNING WITH RIFLES into phase 2 during the next 6 days by casting your votes and spreading the word!

Phase 1 was a success, big thanks to all of you who voted! RWR is now in top 100 games of 2012 and phase 2 is on – keep on voting by clicking the image below!

9 days to go!

Hey there!

Beta 0.75 is out with the first iteration of AI driving! This alone changes the gameplay hugely, you’ll notice ending up fighting in new spots with temporary cover provided by the vehicles themselves. The work continues to perfect the feature, you’ll notice that the AI is at times both clumsy and reckless, but enjoy the added comic aspect of it while it lasts!

Make sure you got your video recording software ready for the funny moments — don’t hesitate to post them in YouTube and share them on the forum!

Other than that, AI has gone through some strategic changes, server browser showing blank for some people is fixed now, and a few other minor bugs have been taken care of: see the detailed change log.

Attention!

Beta 0.74 mostly brings further improvements on the vehicle gameplay. The turret functions now fine on non-even ground as well, the AI is now able to handle the gunner role in APC, armored vehicles take more than one explosive hit to break down, and, there are now new models for broken vehicles!

AI behavior with bazookas has been improved a lot, they are now more effective in stopping vehicles rather than getting just themselves killed The commander AI has also gone through some strategic changes, so you should experience even more flanking maneuvers and more widely spread attack and defense forces when playing on higher soldier counts.

See this forum post for the detailed change log.

The next update will be all about the AI driving finally, can’t wait to see the outcome of that!

Hey there!

As some of you know, RWR is now in Steam Greenlight waiting for upvotes to get in Steam. Those who have already joined the beta and pre-purchased RWR will get an additional Steam key to activate RWR in Steam, if RWR gets greenlit. Start voting!

Also, after quite a break, I made a new trailer video showing what kind of game RWR is in general these days. The video is also being used in RWR’s entry in IGF 2013.

Wow, that’s a pleasant surprise. That must be the first Youtube RWR video thumbnail which actually has colors that make sense.

0.73 is now out with plenty of improvements! Most importantly, a trophy panel is now shown in the menu, where you can view your total stats and badges you’ve earned. The new winter map has been pretty much finalized now, mostly the end bases went through bigger changes.

Vehicle steering has been improved, the sliding mechanics work again a lot better, and APC with a 40mm machine gun has been added in the vehicle set. Besides the driver, the vehicle features a gunner seat and 6 seats at the back for transporting a squad. For now, the vehicle makes most impact for online gaming, as the AI still lacks the ability to drive or use vehicle weapons. That, however, will be my next top priority in features to add, I’m sure I’m gonna have fun implementing it!

A few AI bugs has been located and fixed, most notably the “deserter” bug where occasionally even a somewhat big squad of soldiers decided to leave out to the edge of the map and just stay there, disabling them from the battle – thanks to Ivan for the savegames to investigate this one. AI balancing settings have been again touched, in hopes of making the last base battles less time consuming.

I’ve been working on porting the graphical side of RWR to Linux the past few days, and results are starting to surface now!

Ogre OpenGL renderer seems very functional, albeit all Cg shaders still fail to load as evident in the image above (outlines missing, shadows work only partially, etc..), likely just a configuration error on my end. I’ve also found few little somethings in the code that caused severe issues on Linux but surprisingly Windows didn’t mind those at all.

After I’m done with the graphics side, next up on the porting to-do is the sound system (made by Prodigium Game Studios for Floorball League, to be correct) using OpenAL. Again, it shouldn’t take more than a few full days to get the stuff in order, OpenAL is after all cross-platform and all.

I can’t say yet exactly when RWR for Linux is good to go for release, after audio I still need to check a fair amount of things and study a bunch of things about distributing Linux apps without sources. I’m fairly sure beta 0.73 will be out before that — 0.73 to be out next week by the way — but I promise to make haste.

Hey there!

0.72 is out now, the highlight of the release being map4 – a cold snow filled winter map with a few fortified bases, camps and trenches! This map studies the subject of having the territories in mostly a linear formation, making it very easy to follow and suitable for player-vs-player action too.

Beside the usual bug fixes, weapon and AI balancing efforts, this version marks the point when player stats will be stored in a persistent way – you won’t see them yet (except in the log), 0.73 coming soon shall then reveal how well you had been doing once the trophy view has been implemented. See the full change log on the forum.

Also, achievement badges are starting to roll in now. A few badges have been added already — feedback whether you feel they are too hard / easy is always welcome!