Battle Match: Samurai Wars

I've been posting short development planning and sprint review notes on the community forum. So far those notes don't have many views, and may have been too brief and cryptic to make much sense to anyone but myself. It's been I while since I posted any substantial development updates, and as I'm getting questions and feature request it's time for a longer dev-log post.First, a few words about my background:I grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, and have always been interested in games and computers. Learning programming early on, I enjoyed writing small simple games that I could play myself or try out on my friends. I started working on a real game (Mission Starlight) with a friend while studing Computer Science at Stockholm University.This was in the ancient pre-internet era, so we had to send out paper-based emails (aka letters) and physical demo disks to publishers in order to get it released commersially. Although retaining my interest in game development, I've been working professionaly as a software developer and architect on many different kinds of non-game related projects. But now I'm back to games again, working full time on the Battle Match - Samurai Wars project. Being a strong believer in lifelong learning, I've also gone back being a part-time student of mathematics at the university. In addition to the fascinating beauty of mathematics, I find it very useful for game development: Linear algebra and analytic geometry for 3D graphics, calculus, numerical analysis, and statistics for battle simulations, graph theory for network programming, game theory for balancing, the list goes on.Having played all sorts of games, I eventually developed a taste for games where there is a clear rock-scissor-paper (RSP) relationship between the pieces and where intelligence and tactical decisions matter. Where a relative simple set of rules produce a complex and rich game play. There are many abstract games in this category, chess being one of the most popular. Then there are ...

While the Early Access release is still several months away, I can now announce that the mobile versions will be released at the same time as the Steam release. However, as I'm eager to get feedback on the game, I've decided to run a pre-release playtest. If you don't mind some missing features and are happy to report any strange issues, you are most welcome to join. July is vacation month, so the development pace will be slower, and no new features. I will try to adress any issues with the functionality implemented so far that might pop up during the pre-release testing. The battle mechanics are not yet fully implemented in detail, but the basics of the sandbox is working so please test and give feedback the camera and command gestures. The online lobby is unfortunelty still missing, but is planned to go live in August.Join the Playtest on Steam!

I’m very pleased to announce that the server infrastructure that I’ve been working on for the last couple of months is nearing completion, and that the sandbox can now be played online in multiplayer mode. This is now working: Go to https://battlematch.io and click the Sandbox button to launch a new sandbox. Each sandbox is assigned a unique web address (url), and anyone can visit that sandbox by entering the address in any browser. There’s no lobby yet, so currently you have to invite other players by sharing the sandbox link. Online play requires that you are logged in and have Battle Pass for hosting the battle online. During pre-release, you can get one by adding the game to your wishlist. Note: You need to set the Game details in you profile to Public. After changing the profile settings in Steam, you need to logout and login again by clicking your avatar in the top left corner of the Battle Match page. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45219796/f43fe49d3ef95f30aa9cf3c5657b5348c0722605.png It’s possible to deploy blue and red units, issue move and target commands, and have the units walk around and fight each other. If you squint your eyes, this might start looking like a game :) The community forum is now open: https://community.battlematch.io. This will be the main channel for feedback and bug reports. Here you’ll also find details about new releases and what is being planned and worked on during the current two-week sprint. You are most welcome to join the discussion. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45219796/28ba73cce9c90edbb9bd393d234495243acdf4f4.png What is not working (yet): This is list of things needed for the Early Access release on Steam (in rough to-do order). The netcode is up and running, but needs some further work to ensure that it runs smoothly and uninterruped. The battle simulation has up to now been a more of a prototype (enough to be able to test the netcode), and the mechanics need major work to implement all the relevant aspects of battle: movement of individal and ...