Tank Game WIP

[RobMonty1987]

Hello all. A bunch of my fellow players and I have been playing an online tank-shooter for about 13 years now, and it just recently went under (finally). We are all pretty depressed, so we decided to make our own tank-shooter! There is actually 3 projects underway. The games range from ‘exact clone’ to full blown sequel.

I have zero 3D modeling experience prior to 06-11-10, so this has been an interesting road for me. I am pretty much crashcourse learning everything that is Blender. (EDIT: Check out what I can do now!)

Let’s start out by me just showing you what this old 1996 game was like. Here are some of the tanks. (Low-Poly would be an understatement).

Vanguard (Well-rounded)

Magrider (Hover)

Lightning (Fast)

Devastator (Heavy Armor)

Chameleon (Stealthy)

And here is some actual video of the game itself:
Player-made game trailer
A battle of lasers
Some ballistic battles

I will be working with my fellow players/programmers to recreate both a clone, sequel, and variant of this game.

---

Speaking in terms of the sequel, gameplay will consist of many types of modes, with the most common being… well… it doesn’t really have a name. Let’s call it “Regular”. It consists of a blend of CTF, Territories, and Deathmatch.

One arena. Four teams. Five players per team. Twenty players total. Each team has its own base. Bases are considered a safe-zone due to their many defensive guns and team-feed (which drains enemy battery life). However, bases can be raided by properly outfitted rival players/teams for limited time, due to the spawn point of tanks being in their own base (eventually the raiders will be overwhelmed and killed). There are 5 classes of tanks, each with different armor, speed, maneuverability, and # of equipment slots (called bays). Players will then equip a wide variety of weapons, defense, and equipment (called modules), and roll out as a team to fight against enemy teams. Modules can range from equipment to preserve battery life, rocket boosters, fake smoke, lasers, ballistic shells, energy weapons, shields, doppler radar, stealth, cloak, etc.

Inside each base is that teams flag. Flags can be stolen by players and relayed back to their base (usually requiring alot of teamwork) and captured to kill all 5 members of the enemy players on the captured flag’s team at once. Flags are positioned by friendlies into spots that make it more difficult for raiding enemies to grab it. The main game mode is NOT capture-the-flag, but this is merely an alternative if your team is outmatched in skill by another.

Positioned around the map/arena are pads called ‘recon-stations’. These are basically repair/reload/refuel/equip centers for tanks to resupply on ammo, charge battery, equip different items, and repair their armor. However, once a tank has entered a recon-station, they are completely vulnerable as their shields go down while they have it activated. Due to this, recon-stations are usually placed inside of moderately-defendable positions with adequate cover, making it possible for enemies to storm the recon, but also giving the advantage to whoever holds the recon position. Another thing to note is that recon-stations can be taken over and controlled by different teams (like territories from Halo, or conquest from Battlefield BC). Once a team takes over a recon, it is theirs to use alone until another team takes it over. Recons are a vital part of the game, considering they also emit positive feed to recharge battery for friendlies, and negative feed to drain the battery of enemies. Controlling more recons means giving the enemy less areas to regroup and recover, eventually pushing them back to their immediate surrounding area of their base, unofficially defeating them for the time being. Also, the increase of feed produced by friendly recon-stations means that friendlies can free up some slots for different equipment that was previous devoted to battery life.

Even though fighting over recon-stations and stealing and capturing flags is a constant battle, the main focus of the game, however, is pure deathmatch. Teams go around the arena/map sneaking, searching, and flanking enemies, trying to corral a few straggling tanks or setting up an ambush for patrols. This could mean laying some mines over a hill and deploying fake smoke to trick someone into chasing you into your trap. Or pretending to run out of battery life (which renders your tank slow and useless) and pulling an enemy chasing you into a group of your friends who wait patiently for the ambush. Or cycling tactics in a heated battle, which consist of 1-2 players out front, taking all the damage, then switching positions with the players behind them while they recover and get ready to switch again. Or spying on enemy tanks, causing a distraction so they leave base, and then sneaking in stealthily (or plowing) and stealing their flag. Tactics are so deep in this game I cannot begin to describe in words how and what they are. Long story short, you work as a team, or you die.

Why so specific goals? Are we dreaming of pulling this off? No. This is exactly what the original version of the game was like, and it is tried and true, and VERY addictive. We have a formula to go by. As long as we create that formula the same way it was, we have the freedom of adding or changing things so long as we don’t break that formula. We have no doubt in our mind that once our game is completed it will bring in hundreds, if not thousands of players. We have already purchased a $900 multiplayer license to prove so. In fact, we already have a few hundred players awaiting the games launch. We have a very small, very skilled dev team in the categories they work in. I realize alot of games fail in what they set out to be, but of the many anomalies in these types of projects tend to experience, I can literally assure anyone of the following:

- This game WILL be consistently worked on and WILL be completed.

• We WILL NOT fall short of our goals, which we set very high.
• NOTHING will be ‘half-assed’ or ‘unfinished’. We intend to make this game a polished one.

And so that is our game and those are our plans. I hope you enjoyed the read :]

[RobMonty1987]

Here is an example of what I’m talking about. This is the first tank I am working on, The Vanguard:

It’s not complete yet. Treads still need some work, but you get the idea.

[RobMonty1987]

Progress on the new Chameleon

[Brados33]

Looking good so far! can you tell us a bit about the actual gameplay?

[RobMonty1987]

The game is actually modeled after the game we used to play. I am not 100% sure on how ours will turn out, but I can at least tell you what the game we played was like since it will be designed after it:

Basically it wil be a futuristic sci-fi tank shooter. Enter the game into a main lobby, chat with players in this lobby. Browse the arenas (maps tend to have an arena-design as opposed to a natural-world design, but we hope to change this. Choose 1, enter an ongoing battle of 5v5v5v5 (4 teams of 5). Choose from 1 of 5 tanks (each with different traits). Each tank comes with different armor, speed, turret radius, etc. They also come with a different amount of slots, which are called ‘bays’. You then select your equipment (shields, lasers, cannon, missiles, turbo boost, etc) and you roll out with your team. The arena has strategically placed territories called ‘recons’ that can be captured and controlled by teams. Once a recon is aquired, It can be used to change your equipment instead of doing it only in your base. Also, once you capture a recon it emits positive feed for the friendlies, and negative to the enemies. Feed effects battery charge rate, and since tanks run on batteries, these territories are vital, however there are tons of equipment that can counter this, but having the recons in your control means less slots taken up on battery and more for weapons, defense, etc. Bases are the main defensive position. A safe haven for repairing and whatnot. Recons are a little more risky, as an enemy can rush in, but once you take them over they are slightly defended. The goal is to strategically flank, kill, and tactically outwit the enemy players in battle, although there is an option to raid an enemy base (very hard) while they are out patrolling and steal and capture their flag for a 5 kill bonus. There is a bounty system, so anyone doing really well will build up a bounty on their heads, making killing them worth more points. This is a team-game. You cooperate with your team, or die. It is truly the only one of its kind and has been since 1997. I have not seen another game with so much weight on teamplay. This is why we aim to remake it so badly.

If you are genuinely interested, I can hook you up with a download. There is actually 3 games in progress, 1 of which I am mainly working on (early in development, but close to a closed beta. This will actually be a direct remake, ripping off all the BMPs and WAVs and models to the pixel, since the copyright ended. Also there will be a sequel to go along with it), and another which I am helping with here and there (also early in development. Can drive around and shoot, but no actual gameplay yet). The third is near-complete, but having network issues.These games should all be finished within a year, some maybe a few months.

If you want some actual footage of the game we are remaking, just look up “Tanarus” on youtube.

[Jorzi (Jörzi)]

Your tanks are looking really nice and well-modeled, but you might want to think more about what to put in textures and what should be actual geometry (although modern graphics cards can handle pretty high polycounts so it’s not a huge problem)

Are you going to make a hi-poly to bake details and normal map from?

[RobMonty1987]

Well thanks for the positive feedback! To be honest I have only been 3D modeling since June 11th. Before that I knew nothing of graphic design. That is the day our game went under, and the same day I became determined to help make a new one. It was a combination of watching tutorials and experimenting with the interface. I learn things pretty fast, but I am still not an experienced 3D modeler like so many of you, so I am sure there are tricks to the trade I am missing that can only be attained with experience.

I have made a few lower poly tanks to practice with and have textured them, but they aren’t pretty (I have no experience in photoshop, and I’m not very artsy). Up until this point I have been building temporary models using borrowed skins for other tanks (I never intended to actually use them in the game). I guess my plan is to texture them and see if I really need the detailed indentations and concave designs on the tank, or if I can achieve the same look without adding polys and texturing smartly. I am still learning, so the designs may change accordingly. However right now the tanks are low enough on triangles to go straight into the game. I was given a 2-4k range, and my tanks have roughly a 3k and 2k triangle count.

If you would like to see an archive of some videos of Tanarus and my progress in learning Blender 3D (as well as any other crappy models I’ve made haha) you can go to my youtube profile http://www.youtube.com/user/robmonty1987 I am still looking for creative concept art for any of these tanks for a sequel. It seems I work alot better when I have a drawing to go by.

[Jorzi (Jörzi)]

You learn fast
I’ve also been doing quite a lot of low-poly modeling recently, joined a group effort to remake the graphics in warzone2100 (a 3d scifi rts from 1999, with emphasis on tanks)

[kram1032]

I’m not a fan of panzer-games but what you describe there sounds like a lot of fun
Also, your modelling looks great! Incredible that you started at the 11th

[RobMonty1987]

Thanks guys. I have been pounding away at it so I’m glad its paying off.

Jorzi, I’ve never heard of that game but looking at some screencaps, it reminds me of my Tanarus! It is good to see someone shares a passion for old skool games and is working on a similar project. It would be fun to keep in touch and compare progress with you for ideas, possibly, if you are game. Curious, when you say you are remaking the games graphics, do you have a plan in-mind to create a map editor? Or did you guys simply never have an editor? Ours did, but so far I have just been recreating maps in Blender until I find some genius programmer to turn my templates of pieces and structures into an actual editor. For the sequel, however, we are planning on a whole new kind of level-design, and we are still looking for a new way to build our arenas/maps. Tanarus has always been simple blocks and ramps for its maps, sort of like dull legos. We are looking to create levels more like Wulfram or what you show there.

And Kram, this game was extremely fun. There is really no way to describe how unique it is. The game survived for 13 years with zero code support, patches, or updates. It even survived a horrible pay-2-play period that we were given. Right up until the day the servers closed we had a playerbase of 200 people, which was impressive for how beaten and abused the game had been from its owners. We are nearing the date in which we will have a very simple closed beta (if not alpha) to launch and do some testing. Chances are it will have some bugs, a single tank, a single weapon, etc. But you guys are more than welcome to join us. I will post more information here later on since I have at least both of your interests.

[kram1032]

Rob: I quickly checked through your YouTube channel and saw that, while you have quite a nice workflow already, a lot of what you do could be improved by just slightly altering things.

For instance, if you want to change the view to front, left or up, just hit Num- 1,3 or 7 respectively. That’s way faster than searching that view in the Menu.
Also, if you want to go to the opposite views, just hit Ctrl+1,3,7 to go to back- right- or bottom view

You already know the most basic transforms like G_rab, S_cale, R_otate and E_xtrude.
less obvious and not well known but very useful is V - ripping. With that, you can split a single edge or vertex from the rest of the mesh.
Also nice in certain situations is Alt+S, which is Shrink/Fatten - you scale along the normals. I’m not sure, how useful it is for such a sharp-edged style but it can help a lot in some situations

I saw you once used an array modifier to get a line of four blocks.
Then you copied those blocklines to get a plane of boxes.
In that case, you also could add another array modifier. - That modifier is really powerful, especially if you use it more than once.
If you use three of them in a row, you could make a huge block from small blocks

Just a few hints, I hope you’ll find useful.

You probably already heard of that site but just in case:
http://www.blendercookie.com/ this has some awesome tutorials. Every single one of them is worth a look and probably most of them are even useful in your case. While the greatest part of the modelling tutorials deals with rather round or generally more complex meshes, that also are highpoly, they repeat the used keys over and over again, so it’s likely that you learn new techniques that might simplify your workflow
If you have the time, also read the comments below the tutorials. Often, you can find very useful tips there, as well

[Jorzi (Jörzi)]

It’s a great old game and the best thing is, its source was released by eidos in 2004. Now you can download the game including the original cutscenes for free and it even made its way into ubuntu’s official packet repository;)
If you’re interested in my work I usually post it on the wz forums under the name Jorzi.
http://forums.wz2100.net/

Lately, I’ve been remaking turrets for the tanks.

[RobMonty1987]

Thanks alot Kram, those are the kind of quicky shortcuts I could use. I actually am on a laptop most of the time, so I don’t have a numpad but I’ve learned some more things like converting to mesh and separation of faces. That site will be incredibly useful, so thanks a ton.

And Jorzi, I checked up on your progress (mostly skimmed the nearly 30 pages) and that is some good stuff. I am used to playing in much lower poly tanks than that , so I can definitely appreciate the work you are doing. How large is your dev team and do you plan on just an exact recreation? Or sort of a ‘1.5’ version?

[Jorzi (Jörzi)]

Well our goal is to remake the old models so that they look basically the same, but with more details, which leaves room for interpretation. We’re four active artists in the team right now.

Btw if you can get a separate numpad, it’s really the best accessory for blender on a laptop (you can propably get an USB-numpad for around 10-15€)
Otherwise there’s also the “emulate numpad” option, which allows you to use the row of numbers for changing the view instead of changing the layers.

[RobMonty1987]

I saw your details. I don’t know what the game is, but by comparison to the original meshes I see you are doing an awesome job.

Meh, thanks, but I’m ok without the numpad. If I really cared enough I would just resource edit blender and change the hotkeys myself. I probably will once I get around to it. Thanks anyway.

[kram1032]

That’s the next thing
Resource editing to change hotkeys…
Blender 2.50 has a whole keymap inside. It’s a huge map but you can search it. - There you can change every single hotkey to your preferences.

The Problem with 2.50 in its current form is, that it’s not totally stable, so if you are going to use it, save often.
However, at least to me, it crashes hardly ever…
Even if you don’t want to use Blender 2.50 for this project, it might be worth to have a look for the future. Many things are highly improved. Most of the features are back. There also are new features

[RobMonty1987]

Yeah, I’ve worked with buggy crashy software before, I know the drill. Sounds intriguing though. Right now I am still on 2.49. I will do some googling to see what is improved exactly. Honestly I would say I’m still in ‘newbie’ range, so it might not be anything I need, but I will check, thanks.

Anyway, did some scaling and tweaking on the 2 tanks I have so far:

The Vanguard (without treads atm)

And the Chameleon

(Sorry about image scale… I have no idea why they are all different sizes…)

Might not be noticeable differences. Just small tweaks for better overall appearance. The first one I realized was too fat and short. The second didn’t have the stealthy look of its predecessor. Next I am building a recon gun. It is basically a hovering, spinning, somewhat circular gun that can shoot in all any direction. Gonna go look up some inspiration, but feel free to post it here.

[david_1000a]

nice !!!

[kram1032]

http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-250/ look there for the development stuff of 2.50
I’m not sure how up to date this is. Noone uses the Alpha 2 Version anymore.
The builds you can find here: http://www.graphicall.org/builds/ are way more stable
Don’t be confused by the titles. Usually, the newest build you get for your system is fine. (Just look at the revision number) You’ll see that there are optimized builds on the right side too. Not quite what you’ll need though, as, if I understood this project correctly, no actual rendering work will be done in Blender.

The main issue I can see, you might have, is that many of the importers and exporters aren’t ported yet. That’ll probably be an issue for this project in particular. .obj import and export is there. But many others are missing.

[RobMonty1987]

Hmm thanks for the update. I will check them out this weekend. For the time being I am a little busy with work. As far as export format I require 3ds and .mesh (Ogre). Import would be 3ds only. I assume the same files created in a newer version of Blender can be loaded into an older one? Say for example if I have 2.49 on my laptop and 2.5something on my desktop? I could simply send the file to my desktop and export from there, correct? By the way, thanks for all the useful information.