Armored Brigade - Tactical wargame

[Veitikka]

Focus of Armored Brigade is in combined arms warfare. It has two settings, WW2 and Cold War. Maybe the best description would be something between Steel Panthers and Close Combat.

Current graphics are temporary and so far completely done by me but when I get my artist working things should start looking prettier.

I have used Clanlib 0.78 so far, if I remember right :) Is it possible to get 0.8 working with Visual Studio 6.0? I think I had some compiling problems when I tried it right after 0.8 was released, haven't tried since...

Also, I use FMOD for sound (to get 3D with doppler FX).

You can find small project page with development screenshots here:

http://www.armoredbrigade.com

[sphair]

Hey, that looks pretty advanced! Looking forward to a download :)

Not sure if we support VC6 anymore, none of the developers use it :) Why don't you post your errors on the help section - maybe someone can help you out. Or, try the free Visual Studio Express, ClanLib is supposedly working fine with that.

[LaDoncella]

you can always use MinGW32 :rolleyes:

promising game ^^

[stodge]

Nice!

Is it hex based? It doesn't look like it.

[Veitikka]

Maybe I should try Visual Studio Express... Is there something missing in Express edition?

This game is grid based, I don't like hexes so much. There are not so many real-time games using hexes anyway?

[sphair]

The Express version contains everything you need, as far as I know. The only things missing are advanced IDE things.

"How are Express Editions different from the rest of the Visual Studio and SQL Server Editions?

Express Edition products are designed for hobbyists, students, and novice developers. As such, they lack the full breadth of features found in higher-end Visual Studio and SQL Server Editions. They are designed specifically for scenarios common to the hobbyist, student, and novice developer. Each Express Edition includes targeted documentation that will help the beginning programmer quickly learn the concepts required to build more advanced applications. The user interfaces are significantly streamlined to ensure that extraneous features do not interfere with the learning process. If you later decide that you do need additional features available in the higher-end editions of Visual Studio and SQL Server, you can seamlessly upgrade your code and skills."

[Chambers]

I recently had the chance to try the Professional edition as well, and I must say... the Express Edition seems to run much more slowly. I have no idea why.

[Viscos]

Hey m8.

i like the looks of your game ALOT.

im wondering if you need more people to your team. im not the best coder, but i got som 3d skills and a decent paint/photoshop artist.

or if any i would altleast try to become somekinda beta tester.

im currently working on a simular project with my friend from work and when i saw your project i was amazed.. and i would like to show you our idea and see if we could help out..

Best wishes Visco

[Veitikka]

Sure, I definitely could use some help with graphics, but I guess you know that already.. ;)

[Veitikka]

If anybody is interested to do some beta testing, drop me email at REMOVED(at)REMOVED

[Veitikka]

The first beta is available now :cool:

[Veitikka]

v0.670 is out!

http://www.armoredbrigade.com/download.html

[Mister Brooks]

Nice. I haven't downloaded it, but I checked out the screenshots and it reminded me of a game I used to play called F2C2. It's one of those games for "armchair generals" using the FCS system. In fact, the interface was based on a version of FBCB2/BFT. Yours seems similar, if a simplified imitation of the system. The game didn't go on for long, since the original company that made it for the U.S. Army pulled it, and the Army also got rid of the part on its FCS pages.

Though it's gone, you may still have luck finding a way to download it from mirrors and such if you use Google. Don't be disappointed if there's only a few missions, because it can be challenging, and you can practice different strategies, and with experience, you have foresight in what will happen during battle. Not only is there a 2D map, but there is a 3D view in the first person perspective in each unit. So you can employ a variety of assets from the UAV and have eyes on the sky to see what it sees, to the Soldier on foot who is traversing the land.

[Mister Brooks]

I thought I'd give it a try. There's no training mission, so it was almost immediately confusing as to how the game worked, but I got a taste of what it does.

Maybe it's me, but there's a few things I noticed:

When you start up the game, you have resolution choices to choose from. Normally, I can pick any of them, but some have pairs of the same resolution setting, so it seems the list should be shorter than that.

On top of that, there's an issue using full screen mode versus the windowed mode. I don't have a problem using windowed mode, but I prefer full screen. However, in using full screen, the resolution seems to have flipped the image upside down. Now, I can force my computer to flip the screen the right side up, but the game shouldn't be forcing me to do this tedious task.

As I said, using the windowed mode shows no issues. It's the full screen that has this weird behavior even when using any of the resolution choices.

Suggestion: Find some way to fix this issue, but you probably already know what it is. I'm no game developer, so I cant tell you where the problem comes from. I can only report the results.

Related to this suggestion - make it an in game feature where the player can go to their settings for the game and set their preferences (and even the ability to change the binds to the key, if you can do that). Include the resolution setting, since most games I know have this.

Otherwise, pretty decent graphics for this kind of game. I hope it will evolve and improve the concept.

[Veitikka]

Thanks for the feedback.

I tried F2C2 back in the day, although I have to admit I didn't quite "get it". The purpose of the software was to demonstrate some future weapon systems, not necessarily my cup of tea, and I was too lazy to learn how it really works. The 3D view was pretty interesting, I wish I could do something similar in AB, but that's beyond my available time and competence. I think I even borrowed some other features from F2C2, like the fading symbols for enemy units, when they remain undetected.

As for AB:

There will be some kind of a tutorial when the scenario editor is done.

In the resolution menu, did you notice that the pairs have different hertz numbers in them, or at least should have?

The upside down screen is a known ClanLib issue, you'll find some discussion about it in this forum. It's probably related to the type of your graphics card.

The in-game settings window and key bindings - could be added some day.

[Mister Brooks]

75, 85, 60 in that order. It continues until the last few which has 800 X 1280 (the sideways one lol), both at 60 Hz.

I tried them all (for some reason, clicking on the second twin is like clicking on the first one - is that it?), and none of them work for full screen.

F2C2 was simple enough for me. I mean, you just set up waypoints, mines if you want, and choose who to deploy. The game takes care of the rest, including the shooting. All you have to do is confirm it (if u chose the option for fire control to be set to permission only). You just have to follow the SITREP to the letter and you'll be closer to your objective. There are training missions to help you get familiar with the controls and measure your response time. AB is like F2C2, with no particular mission, and dynamically set to a random location/mission.

BTW, there are F2C2 files not shown in the game, or have any values set (like people, animals, etc.). I'm assuming that in the engine the game runs in, these values could be turned on, but they set to lock it because there were only missions, but not the kind that AB runs like. I also found a German map of some location in Germany in the files too (WWII era). Odd.

[Veitikka]

I tried them all (for some reason, clicking on the second twin is like clicking on the first one - is that it?), and none of them work for full screen.

I don't know why both of the twins act similarly, the selection has always worked fine on all systems I've tried it. It's been some time since I implemented it, but it detects all screen modes equal or greater than 800x600. Maybe there's some difference with the twins and it mixes them up, and that's why the latter cannot be selected.

Maybe I'll give F2C2 another chance. Too bad it's pretty much forgotten now, it seems like a 2D interface is a turn-off for most people.

[Mister Brooks]

Eh, it's still in use in the Army (an improved version that is). I know that some of the vehicles in game were on hold or dropped altogether over time. I don't think their program has discontinued though, because there is a need for modernization.

Well, all I know is, my system can handle it, but...if I go to the full screen version, they're upside down. So I have to flip my screen (or my head), which i can do. Even 600x800 means I have to be on sideways (vertical screen, which i can't imagine would be common except for those special notebooks with the screen to flip over). My resolution normally is 1280x800 and can play other games as small as 800x600 fine. This one is a bit more of a hassle because I have to go out of game every time I use it to mess with the settings. That was my only beef. I appreciate the ongoing development of this game though, and its basic features work fine as far as I'm concerned so far.