1.1 Patch

Based on feedback, I put together a quick patch tonight of all the lowest hanging fruit (i.e. easy to fix, big impact) to address the most pressing problems I saw. The majority of changes are just tweaks to various values, but there are a handful of new features. Not everything is as clarified as I'd like it to be, but if this gets developed any further, this is a good start.

Vehicle handling improvements

Both the tank and helicopter have gotten more responsive. In the helicopter's case, the top speed is still the same, but I think the reason a lot of people felt it was "slow" is because it had a lot of inertia to its movement. The helicopter is now more responsive in all axes, and especially so when strafing in a hover. The tank meanwhile, is much more nimble all-around, and its top speed has been increased.

HUD improvements

The biggest change you'll notice with the patch is the little target box in the center of the screen now shows the current target, their hitpoints, and their name. This was the original intent of the little box in the center of the screen, so now with a little extra time it's working as intended. Exactly how aiming works is still probably not as clear as I'd like. You are meant to just put your crosshair (now represented by a circle and cross) on the target, and then let the turret work the rest out.

A health bar has finally been added to the HUD. This was another casualty of how much I was rushing to get the demo out for demo day.

Many balance changes for more consistent and predictable difficulty

Too many to list, see the full changelog below. The broad strokes however are that I wanted the enemy shots to be more "reactable." Enemy shots are slower, but more accurate, making them more predictable. Combined with the increased agility of the tank and helicopter, dodging incoming fire is now much easier. The tank is now more durable if you point your front towards the enemy, though you're still better off using your speed instead to avoid damage altogether.

The jet level was a big sore spot, and had the least development time overall. The AA tanks have been tweaked so that you can "outrun" their fire more easily, and their shots no longer have big hitboxes (they were meant to be flak, but this wasn't communicated well). The jet itself has gained a slight auto-aim on its cannon to make strafing easier, but is otherwise unchanged.

New weapon: TOW missile

A fun last-minute addition to this patch was the TOW missile launcher on the helicopter. I had originally intended for the helicopter to get its own missile, but ran out of time. Unlike the heat seeking missiles on the fighter jet, this missile is wire guided, so it will home into whatever you're looking at, or locked onto. It is not fire and forget. To balance out a dedicated anti-tank missile that can one-shot every tank, I reduced the power of the chin turret pretty dramatically. It's much less effective against tanks, but still easily able to dispatch softer targets.

Honestly the helicopter mission was the easiest and fastest to complete, and that's still the case now, but I didn't want to change the mission too much given how little time I gave myself to work on this patch.

1.1 (November 10 2025)
- Fixed music playing too quietly
- Player tank cannon accuracy greatly increased (1 -> 0.2)
- Player tank speed slightly increased (15 -> 20)
- Player tank acceleration slightly increased (10 -> 12)
- Player tank turning increased (4 -> 6)
- Player tank turret traverse rate greatly increased (45 -> 90)
- Enemy tank cannon projectile velocity reduced (100 -> 75)
- Enemy tank cannon accuracy slightly increased (3 -> 2)
- Enemy tank turret traverse sligtly decreased (45 -> 30)
- Enemy AA tank muzzle velocity greatly reduced (150 -> 75)
- Enemy AA tank accuracy increased (5 -> 2)
- Enemy AA tank turret traverse decreased (45 -> 30)
- Enemy AA tank impact damage removed (10 -> 0) (splash damage of 10 unchanged)
- Added flare to AA tank shell
- Enemy tanks don't wait to be aimed as much (they "walk in fire" more)
- Added slight gimballing to the fighter jet's cannon when aiming at vehicles
- Reduced fighter jet's hitbox size
- Hud aiming box focuses on current target, changes color, and displays health and name
- Spread out the spawns for all tank columns
- Added a new AA tank column on the jet level
- Added new unit type for helicopters
- Added more tanks to the helicopter level
- Tanks will shoot at helicopters, but not jets
- Arrow turns red if pointing at enemy (this is bad for color blindness and a better solution is needed)
- Reduced targeting distance of the helicopter (500 -> 350)
- Added TOW missiles to the helicopter
- Greatly reduced helicopter gun's damage (impact damage 10 -> 0, splash damage 10 -> 5)
- Missile launcher HP greatly reduced (100 -> 25)
- Barracks HP reduced (100 -> 75)
- Vehicles should drive around wrecks
- Greatly Improved player tank frontal armor (damage multiplier 0.75 -> 0.25)
- Damage on tanks gets reduced based on impact angle (more oblique angles reduce damage)
- Added health bar
- Added label for speed
- Speed now reported from all directions instead of just forwards
- Helicopter has gravity when destroyed
- Added unique sound to the flak rounds when they explode