Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

33 thoughts on Gratuitous Tank Battles Announced

  1. “The year is 2114 AD and the Great War continues into it’s two hundredth year”
    “Rock Paper Shotgun has it’s take on it:”

    Both these “it’s” should be “its”.

  3. Also, it looks* interesting. I like the TD approach, the campaign mode in-built, and the customisation features. Though I hope you’ll improve upon GSB in the balance department, where the most insane builds (missile frigs, running away at top speed? Only fighters plus a single carrier hiding in the corner…) were the best.

    *Except for the art style: It’s too brown/grey. One of the strengths of GSB was its incredibly rich colour palette. I really do not like this part one bit.

  4. The colors of each layer of the units are entirely player-chosen. You can have bright pink tanks with orange turrets and yellow guns if you like. Ditto the infantry, the turrets, the mechs…

  6. It’s not Gratuitous Taxation Bureaucracy? Awwww…

    Seriously though, looks interesting. I look forward to seeing a little more. Will you be doing what you did with GSB with selling the beta and those that buy it get the full version free? I’d be interested in that.

  9. If you haven’t considered this already, there is probably an enormous market for a historical version of this game. That is, set up equipment that at least parallels WWI and WWII technology, and let the historical gamers go wild.

  10. For years I’ve been looking for a natural successor to warzone 2100, this could be just what I’ve been waiting for.

  11. It sounds good, but as others have said in its current state it looks far too brown. I would also suggest that battling through cities and towns (with exploding buildings, etc..) would be more interesting than battling through trenches and somme like landscape.

  14. yeah some hi res Eye candy pweety please.

    I LIKE the greys and browns, Modding this I can see a certain universe will fit this to a T.

    40K anyone?

    If the engine is good sell it to em Mr Cliffski

  16. Well, I figure I should put the first feature request

    Factions:

    Germany
    Austria-Hungary
    Ottomans
    Japan
    Russia
    England
    France
    Italy

    no Americans please, even though I am one. They’d be overused. Just say the Alien Space Bats got em.

    if needbe have one side, either Italy or Japan, switch to the Central Powers.

  17. This looks good! On the mailing list.

    But as one person mentioned above, please make the pics clickable to higher resolution versions! As a person who blogs about indie marketing then this should be a no brainer :)

  18. I suspect the images on the site are low resolution so that when Cliff gets in touch with press sites like RPS, he can give them an ‘exclusive’ with the high resolution images. It’s always a good idea to have something special for the press sites as an added incentive for them to cover your game.

  19. I’m slightly concerned that this will end up being Gratuitous Space Battles, except on the ground. However, I don’t know ANYTHING about this game except for the title. I gather that as new information is released, my opinion will change. I did enjoy Gratuitous Space Battles, because I like the ability to sit back and watch the battle unfold with my own customized hardware. Hopefully this will be interesting!

  20. Joshua, there’s more info at both of the links in the post. It looks very interesting, and is definitely looking substantially different to GSB. I personally really like the idea of the asymmetrical sides and tackling the tower defense thing from both ends.

  21. Congratulations! It looks really promising, and I personally like the graphics and gritty look.

    Can’t wait to play.

  22. So we’re really not going with Gorgeous Teen Bobsledders? Damn.

    On the other hand, this is looking nice :-)

  24. My burning question as of whenever it became obvious what GTB meant:

    “Real” tanks are generally disabled or destroyed by a single hit; “Real” tanks likewise can take many hits which bounce off, leaving them unharmed; hits from the very same weapon may destroy the tank or bounce off depending on where they impact.

    “Game” tanks almost always suffer incremental damage from practically every weapon which hits them, and suffer little loss of function until some hit point limit is reached, at which point they explode.

    //
    Now I’ve looked at the pictures, it’s clearly the latter. Oh well.

  27. COOOOL!!!! I’ve to try this out as soon as you start a beta. I’m digging this alternate history WWI scenario. Reminds me of Iron Storm (cool French Alternate History WW1-shooter).

  28. “Estimated Release date: Q4 2011”

    Please make that “Christmas 2011” :-)

  29. But surely that would mean it wouldn’t come out until 2015, Wouter? :P And no-one wants that.

  30. ££££££ You really must make a historically accuratish version of this game. It equals £££££’s. ££££££

    Just look at the ‘Close Combat’ series of games. It went on for years and years.

  31. It looks like a very cool game! I am not sure if you want/need feedback on the art direction, but here goes.

    1) Pillow shading: There is quite some pillow shading on the objects. I understand that you need this sort of shading on rotating objects so it does not look weird, But you could do some angled lighting on the bunkers, trenches, etc. If done correctly it should still look good. I also think some of the graphics lack sharpness and shape, especially the tank blockades look a bit like blobs.

    2) Infantry: Look a bit like robots, maybe give them faces and some details on the accessoires.

    3) Turrets are very big, personally I would make them like a battleship. So with one big gun, multibarreled and some smaller manned guns around it.

    4) The logo is awesome!

    5) The tanks are awesome!

    6) I like the mechs

    7) Nightscenes look very interesting, but might be a bit hard to follow, not sure…

  32. There are a lot of lighting options for nighttime, including nightvision, or highlighting the routes. If you do none of that, it looks very moody and cool, but the player can always select a unit and highlight their range indicator, which illuminates stuff a lot.

  33. This is very interesting concept. You be I’m going to buy this game as soon as it comes out.

Comments are currently closed.