Plan for Josh Williams

As you heard in Pat's .plan and in the forums, the RTS Starter Kit is coming very soon! I'm very excited. :)

I love Real-Time Strategy games. Ever since I snuck Dune II onto the computers in seventh-grade, the genre has held a special place in my heart. Later on, my complete and utter addiction to Total Annihilation and StarCraft when they each released would cause me to stay up way too late playing way too often... I think I made it to maybe 4 or 5 first-period classes in the entirety of my senior year of high school. These games provide a lot of nostalgia for me and my fate as a lifelong, diehard RTS fan was sealed long ago.

I'd love to make an RTS one day, probably more than any other kind of game. Much as I love the old-school RTS games though, I've gotten really tired of how dependent the vast majority of the genre is on the gameplay mechanics defined in the early days. That's why I'm so excited that this RTS Starter Kit is just about to be released... it's time to introduce some indie-freshness to the genre, and I can't wait to see what kinds of games get under way here.

This pack, of course, won't magically create your game for you, but it provides a big leg-up on development by providing a bunch of features and technologies tailored for RTS gameplay. Check it out:

• There's a custom camera system and it rocks. It provides "god-view"-style behavior and lets players control the position, zoom, and pitch of the camera. It's also really flexible and easy to customize. The camera can, optionally, smoothly follow terrain heights, moving up and down with the terrain. The camera system's networking routines are optimized for RTS-style scenarios, offering smooth client-side control no matter how busy the server (yet, without sacrificing security).

I can't think of an RTS on the market that can create such awesome vistas and views.



• We made a custom mini-map system which draws an overview of the mission area and displays tactical information (building and unit locations, known positions of enemies, etc). The mini-map can be used to control the camera, and can display event alerts and teammate pings.

Sweet.



• We created a specialized RTSUnit class and a highly optimized networking scheme for it so that efficiently managing large numbers of units is easy. The RTSUnit's simplified physics help make it easier to process large numbers of units. Its customizable shadow rendering choices allow you to balance looks versus the number of on-screen characters. The RTSUnit also uses a customizable Datablock and Modifier system, which make it really easy to define new types of units quickly (based on Datablock values), but without sacrificing the ability for individual units to have buffs, debuffs, etc.

Efficient networking means you won't be constrained by bandwidth when it comes to unit counts.

Fight!



• We created an RTSBuilding class so players can place DTS buildings in real-time, complete with build, idle, and destruction animations, as well as the ability to preview building placement. The RTSBuilding's simple script interface allows buildings to receive commands, and scripted behavior can easily be hooked-in.

RTSBuildings make it easy to allow players to place buildings in real-time



• We worked a lot on getting an example selection system in place. The one we have in the demo is pretty impressive. Combined with some group management optimizations, the RTS Starter Kit lets players click- or drag-select units, group them, bind groups to hotkeys, and rapidly issue commands. The selection GUI feedback system is easy to customize and makes it simple for players to see what units they have selected. You can tweak and customize the way the selectin system works to suite your particular game design pretty easily.

The selection system is pretty sweet, and the source-code is well documented, so it's easy to see how to customize it to suit your game design.


• There's a simple multiplayer Lobby that defines a simple, customizable system to allow players to gather, chat, and prepare before starting their game, just like you find in most RTSs.


• Wes, Chris and Ben spent a lot of time working on documenting all this stuff, and the pack comes with some pretty kickass docs. The docs explain each of the systems in the Starter Kit, and the simple example mission the pack ships with has well-documented source-code to demonstrate how to use the systems in the pack in a hands-on fashion.


• Also, the RTS Starter Kit of course has full-on support for and integration with Torque. The RTS Starter Kit is built on top of Torque, so you get all its power to play with. For example, you could easily create intense precipitation and atmospheric effects to set the mood for an epic battle.

Again, the Starter Kit is just that... something to help you get started. It doesn't give you everything you need to make a complete RTS game, but it provides a solid foundation to build from, and would provide a big jump-start for any game that will use these technologies.

So, I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone does with this pack. Hopefully we'll see some fresh game designs. After all, "Real-Time Strategy" literally just implies that players make strategic decisions in real-time. That basic description holds lots of potential, and nothing about it dictates that such games need to rely on the standard, old-hat gameplay mechanics we've all become so accustomed to. It has been encouraging this year to see games like Rome: Total War, Axis and Allies, Perimeter, Ground Control 2, Dawn of War, the lesser-known Arena Wars, and soon the Battle for Middle Earth stepping a little outside the usual RTS bounds and innovating a bit. It'd be awesome to see us indies keep the ball rolling and really start seeing some fresh in the next year.

Of course, if you want to create a game that plays just like StarCraft or Total Annihilation, don't let me discourage you. Heck, truth be told, I'd love to play a modern TA-homage. You can certainly use this pack to create a game like that. And even if you're not after an RTS specifically, any design that requires a god-view camera, or a mini-map, or easy object selection, or efficient networking that allows players to control hordes of minions, would benefit from this pack when it's released.

Alright, thanks for reading. I'm excited to see what everyone does with this thing. It's very cool to to see more and more tools, technology packs, and content coming out for indies and Torque. This community is rocking and it feels great to see so many people trying to make it easier and easier for each other to make whatever kind of game they want to. It's what I love about this place, and I think this coming year is going to be awesome

Before I sign-off, let me make some special thanks. First up, thanks to Chemeleon, Craig Fortune, Tim Aste, and Will Harrison for donating the art you'll see in the demo mission for this Starter Kit. Also, thanks to our interns Wes and Chris for all their hard-work over the summer. Finally, I'd like to thank Pat and Ben for getting this sucker wrapped-up in the last couple weeks. For a while there, with IGC coming and a bunch of high-priority projects on our plates, we all got too busy to move this project along, so it's awesome to see it finally being wrapped up.

Finally, thanks to everyone who's expressed interest in this pack in the last few months. It's been very encouraging to see all the enthusiasm surrounding the RTS Starter Kit. Can't wait to get it out the door and start seeing some games built on it. :)