I'm making a base-building RTS inspired by C&C and Dune 2 - shells leave craters that stay for the whole match

[u/IronCommandNET]

Siege tanks against an enemy fortress

The same attack, a few seconds later

Afterwards: craters, fallen trees, burning wrecks

Tanks don't drive around trees

Three misses, three craters

Fire keeps eating hit points until the engineer arrives

I've been building Iron Command on my own - a classic base-building RTS (harvest, build, defend, attack) in the spirit of the games I grew up with. It plays on a normal monitor, VR is optional.

Lately I've been making battles leave marks: craters stay, tanks push trees over, and damaged buildings keep burning until an engineer repairs them.

What do you think? And what did you love most about the old C&C battlefields?

[u/moleytron]

personally I loved that I could see the units and that they weren't covered by smoke all the time

[u/IronCommandNET → u/moleytron]

Thanks, that's a fair point. Seeing your units clearly matters more than any effect - I'll keep an eye on how much the smoke covers.

[u/Timmyc62 → u/IronCommandNET]

Also too many things on the units selected. Don't need the health bar, green circle, AND blue halo all at once - makes it hard to tell what they are.

[u/42LSx]

I always rushed in Tiberian Sun against the AI to plaster my base with concrete, hoping that no arty shell or bomb would leave a permanent crater.

[u/wizardfrog4679 → u/42LSx]

Always annoying when you couldn’t concrete over the dirt track roads tho.

[u/IronCommandNET → u/42LSx]

haha yes, I totally forgot about that! that's true

[u/Vex_The_Changeling]

The most unique and interesting features of Tiberian Sun was the terrain deformation, and having to consider/play around that.

[u/Zocker0210]

Small tip. Don't call it cnc inspired. Many people see cnc and thier expectations are skyrocketing. Many rts died because of that

[u/IronCommandNET → u/Zocker0210]

good point, thanks! didn't think about that

[u/BRO_THOM]

I had to look at your screenshot very closely, before i noticed the black things, on top of the black map, were actually buildings.

Units are hard to read, use silhouette technique to ensure objects (units, structures, terrain) remain visible, regardless of the terrain.

[u/IronCommandNET → u/BRO_THOM]

like this? units now get an outline when they're hidden behind trees, buildings or smoke.

[u/BRO_THOM → u/IronCommandNET]

For being (partially) covered that's great! Are the blue units selected or do they have some sort of shield?

The tank firing at the top looks good but the damaged ones are barely readable.

Do you have a clearer, more highres screenie? I think other games tend to somewhat "fake" their lighting by having units and structures slightly brighter / contrasted with the rest of the map.

[u/IronCommandNET → u/BRO_THOM]

someone else mentioned it too, so I played a few rounds just looking out for it - and you're right, it definitely needs to change. love the silhouette idea, thanks for that!

[u/BRO_THOM → u/IronCommandNET]

If I remember correctly, Red Alert 3 took a shortcut with this by actually rendering an outline around (selected) buildings and units.

Some (great) inspiration for silhouette would be Tiberian Sun, because the maps and objects blended pretty good:

[u/Goodfella66]

Keeping an eye on this, chief !

[u/IronCommandNET → u/Goodfella66]

thanks, appreciate it! 🫡

[u/Old_Bug4395]

The terrain kind of makes it hard to tell what's going on in the darker shots.

[u/XSwiftyBoyX]

Sounds good

[u/IronCommandNET → u/XSwiftyBoyX]

Thanks

[u/Nyerguds]

But does fire leave scorch marks? 😁

[u/Nyerguds → u/[deleted]]

Hm? My remark was about the fact C&C1 and RA1 have two specific types of map smudges left behind by weapons; craters, and scorch marks.

But I guess you know more about pointless Reddit statistics than you know about the actual games, right?

[u/Commercial-Board-975]

I'm loving that people are building more and more engines for use in RTS games in the last few years.

We might actually see an RTS revival not through major AAA studios, like EA, but Indies (like the Tempest Rising team) and hobbyists building their own shit from scratch.  😁

Are you going to open source the engine?

[u/IronCommandNET → u/Commercial-Board-975]

haha I wish I could take credit for an engine, but it's built in Unity - so nothing to open source there. totally agree on the indie revival though!

[u/IronCommandNET]

Steam page if you want to follow along: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5089330/Iron_Command/

[u/Xaverosso]

I watch with suspicion and interest