It's finally here, after so long... part of the reason the update took so much time was because of the codebase overhaul, but mostly it's because I don't really know what kind of progression system the game needs as well as which direction the game should head towards and ended up putting off the project for months. Unfortunately, the storymode I was promising to add is actually a rushed decision and just doesn't fit well with the rest of the game, there wasn't a single moment during my whole process of implementing and making contents for the mode where it feels right, and I'm afraid that is not what the game actually needs, the finished story snippets and illustrations that made it to the game are locked away as I need more time to reconsider other ways to do progression and world exploration. In terms of content, there's only a new map and a new soundtrack along with a few rebalancing. I know there isn't a lot for an update that takes 7 months, I'm simply don't really know what the game needs right now and kinda delayed everything, but atleast it's out now so yeah, hope you enjoy this little update.

The halted Storymode

I'm very sorry for promising to do something multiple times in previous updates and even in a progress report just to not do it in the very end, but I had to. Although parts of the mode and some stories and lore have been finished and added to the game, I've decided to not yet make it available because I need more time to think about it more carefully since the whole time I was writing the story and drawing illustrations I felt very uncomfortable doing it and kept having doubts and wondering if I should continue, after all this time I still don't know for sure if the game really needs a storymode like I though it would or am I trying too hard forcing something that doesn't really fit in. If I want to add a sense of progression there're definitely other ways to do it I haven't considered, if I want to explore the worldbuilding I also don't neccessarily need to do it through lore, a storymode might help accomplish both at the same time but it doesn't mean it is the solution. Sure, I love drawing and I may like to reveal some lore and little stories here and there, but the whole storymode thingy I have been doing for the past weeks just doesn't feel right, it felt unnatural, like the game just... refuses it, so it is halted for now.

The stories might come back, possibly in another form, or might not, progression is probably needed, I will think of some ways to add it (and no, I don't want to lock any of the tank customizations behind progression walls, everything has to be fully available off the bat as it should be and has been since the beginning). I should have thought about this sooner and considered more possibilities before deciding on something so hastily and end up making empty promises even I myself don't know how I can keep.

The codebase overhaul

The game went through a massive codebase overhaul to help with stability and scalability so I can have an easier time maintaining and adding new stuff to the game in the future. Due to the scale of the overhaul a lot of bugs spawned that I've tried to find and fix as much as I can and it is possible some of them have not been spotted but they shouldn't be too big of a deal since I've extensively tested important parts of the game and fix all the major issues (hopefully <( ._.)>). In terms of performance it should stay the same although there are many areas that can benefit a lot from optimizations that I haven't got the time to do in this update and had to be delayed, but the game still runs fine on my potato alongside a game engine and an IDE with extremely minor 'mini lags' here and there, so things should be ok ( ._.)b

This also means that all of the data from the last update (tanks, weapons, settings, gameplay stats) will unable to be read from this version onward due to the major differences in the new saving system and are practically "wiped" so I apologize for the inconviences especially if you've got a lot of stuff saved. The data will still exist on the device so they can still be read by older versions of the game if you still have one.

New mechanic: Mending

Similar to repairing but instead of increasing the tank's current HP, Mending reduces the unrepairable damage (represented by the grey part on the HP bar), allowing the tank to be repaired further. Because this mechanic kind of "breaks the rule" of permanent damage - the idea that tanks can never fully repair all damage they take and will eventually get destroyed, it will be made rather exclusive, particularly to support abilities that provide repairing (and also to the new map), to hopefully help those abilites be more useful and stand out more.

New map: Ruined Ruins

A brand new map that occasionally provides tanks with unparalelled repairing & mending, a bit of shielding, and special damage buffs that can go beyond the damage cap, helping you in battle (or is it?)

Check out the map's soundtrack here if you haven't.

Balancing changes

• Tank stats configuration:
  • Max Damage 350 -> 400
  • Max Speed 60 -> 80
  • Max Armor 50 -> 80
  • Max Piercing 80 -> 75
  • Max Repair Rate 3 -> 5
  • Max Resistance 60 -> 90
  • The max value of the tank stats in the config screen will now also be their capped value (except for HP), no amount of buffs can get the stats pass that
• Phantom: Speed increase: 20% -> 15
• TNTank: Speed increase: 25% -> 16
• Recharger: Added mending rate: 1 %HP/s
• ICBM:
  • Explosion damage: 8 -> 3
  • The missile now deal an extra 5 damage to the opponent it directly hits
  • Slow duration: 2s -> 3s
• Teleporter: Speed increase: 25% -> 16
• Annihilator:
  • Speed increase: 10% -> 10
  • Now also deal 0.1 damage every 0.75s
• Stubborn: Speed bonus: 30% -> 20
• Shattering: Resistance reduction: -40 -> -45
• Adaptive: Damage gained: 30 -> 100
• Hardened: Max HP bonus: 5% per stack -> 3.5% per stack
• Active Abilities will be in half way cooled down state when the tank spawns instead of being fully available (e.g. abilities with 10s cooldown will have 5s before being available, abilities with 3 charges will have 1 charge available with the 2nd one being 50% charged up, etc.)
• The damage penalty will be capped at 400% (which will be reached after taking damage for 10s) instead of scaling infinitely
• Damage to Shields will no longer get affected by the damage penalty
• Revert the 'speed-dependent item collecting time' mechanic from the last update, all tanks will take 5s to collect an item regardless of it's speed stat
• Bots are heavily nerfed since they overperformed with the stats adjustments from the last update

Bug fixes

• The tank inventory now shows the currently selected tank instead of hiding it just to avoid a tank duplication visual bug when the tanks have to be shown across multiple pages. It still forbits deleting and re-selecting the current tank though