Battle for Dune: War of Assassins - June Update - A New Chapter

[TeamWolf]

Hello and welcome to a June update (if we don't put an update out in the month that sounds like the theme of the game, what are we even doing?)! It's time to talk about what we've been up to and what we've got planned next!!

Infantry Release Recap

Cast your minds back to the end of August, last year. After almost a decade and a half, Battle for Dune: War of Assassins finally released! But in true W3D Engine fashion, we pushed out an Infantry Only release (because Tiberian Sun: Reborn is our cool, older brother).

What did we achieve with this release?

We were the first brand new released game from W3D Hub, breaking that long running stream of updates, big and small, from Red Alert: A Path Beyond, Expansive Civilian Warfare, Tiberian Sun: Reborn, and Interim Apex.

We were the first W3D Hub title to release with new Gloss and Specular textures and shaders, full infantry inertia movement, First Person only, fully Aim Down Sights gunplay and to show off the wide range of flexible modernized weapon features.

We went with a different approach to traditional W3D titles in terms of game modes, which was Conquest (Capture Point based objective gameplay) instead of focusing on Base vs Base. We released with 6 maps in total, 4 Conquest, 1 Base vs Base and 1 Hybrid (Conquest with Bases), with all the intention to follow up on that map count, but alas that hasn't happened yet.

Ultimately, we achieved what we set out to do. We had every intention of sticking to a healthy post-release support plan, but getting Battle for Dune out the door took it's toll on us and we were left pretty burnt out.
We've managed to get some Quality of Life and bug fix updates out, but none of the maps that were being worked on which were in high demand by you guys. We still do have plans to get some new maps out and a few more QoL improvements pushed out for the Infantry Release, but it's not currently where our biggest motivation lies...

What does this mean, TeamWolf?

Vehicle Release Development

As the title suggests, we've entered development on the next Chapter of Battle for Dune, but I hear you asking...

Why are we deciding to do this now?

It's pretty much self explanatory at this point, that our lack of motivation largely comes from wanting to work on the full version of the game - Battle for Dune's Vehicle Release! It's the most requested thing we get when asking what you guys want to see next, and we're no different.

With the 1 year anniversary of our game's launch 2 months away, we felt that we should be getting on with the next installment and bring the full Battle for Dune: War of Assassins experience to you all ASAP!

High Level Plan

Currently we're looking to add new Base Structures, Infantry, Weapons, Vehicle maps and a wide range of audio! More on these will be shown off and explained in future updates!

We're looking at reworking some areas of the game, such as general damage lethality, Shields, Infantry Classes, and a few more. We're also going to be expanding on existing features, such as Capturable Objectives, Weapon handling, and potentially economy.

For now, allow me to introduce the backbone of the Imperium's massive drug addiction and what fuels your Great House's economy, the Spice Harvester!

Concept art by squidempire.

The Spice Harvester is a huge, hulking machine that is designed to operate and withstand the harsh desert environment of Arrakis. These behemoths work in tandem with Carryalls, being ferried to Spice patches on the open sands and back to the base's Refinery.

Spice Harvester model by Romanov.

Signing Off

We hope you enjoyed the update and let us know if you liked what you've seen so far of our New Chapter in Battle for Dune, we'll be showing off more progress as we go.

Remember, stay Spicy![blurb][/blurb]

[orca234]

Really nice work. I was on this Battle for Dune yesterday and the first thing I noticed was how good the textures, lighting and graphics are.  You mentioned above about new types of textures and shaders; from what I saw I think this game seems to have higher quality textures than APB and Interim Apex.

I'm also impressed about the added aiming function you've added which is missing in Renegade and all the other W3D games.

I didn't realise this was a decade and a half long project, which you finally managed to push out of the door last year.

As this version is infantry only with a planned full version with vehicles, you already have the core assets of this game going, with the engine, graphics, lighting, art design, models, etc. It's a working version up and running.

Edited August 15 by orca234