A Simple but Complete RTS Game

We are hoping to include some basic RTS in Unity 2017 and the Multiplayer. Which minimal feature set would you like to see in these minigames?

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keeping in my mind that, it is aimed at beginners, and that, it can not be too long, since it is not the only game in the course.

with these two things in my mind here is what i think :

the core thing you need to focus on is that , you just need to satisfy the loop of any RTS game: (well, really when making any type of game, you need to keep this in your mind i guess).

and recently, we at the discord chat, ended up with this loop after some hour long discussion about the core loop of an RTS game.

Resource collection>>Production>>Execution.

Details on the coore loop (basically a wall of text :smiley: more like a rough technical design doc):

for resource collection: you can make it a time ticker, where you gain more resource per second or something similar.
for production,

production: i think, that, production needs to have these features:
0.One Single Core/HQ that can make units, and you can not make other Cores/HQs
1.the ability to build 2 different unit types from the HQ.
2.the payment model of units should be prepaid (basically, you pay the entire cost of the unit, before it starts getting constructed).
3.the ability to cancel and already underconstruction unit, and gain the entire cost of it back.

Execution:

1.winning condition is destroying your enemyā€™s HQ or Entire field (HQ and units). shouldnā€™t make much difference.
2.we should have basic player functionality (ordered by importance on the game, and not limited to what i have mentioned).

A.moving camera through sticking it to the border or edge of screen.
B.seeing resources
B.ability to select units {if they can be selected through a box like in most RTS games, that would be brilliant}.
C.ability to deselect units
D.ability to move a unit
E.ability to attack with a unit
F.ability to attack move with A Unit
G.Seeing Health bars of units/the one building.

3.anything that allows the player to actually make a plan example: (no need to include all of those, just as much as possible, due to their big difficulty).
A.having the 2 units different from each other
B.Line Of Sight for units (not fog of for, just line of sight, for example if there is a building between your unit and the enemy unit, the projectile of your unit, when you command it to attack, should hit the building, and not go straight into the enemy unit).
C.Terrrain advantages/Disadvantages can be things like, terrain that gives more speed, terrain that is high ground, which gives units extra range.
D.anything better than this that you can think of, unit abilities, player abilities i dont know :smiley:

the long wall of text about the core loop is done

with these elements, i believe you have completed the basic core loop of an RTS game.
honestly, even with this amount of reduction of things i really think an RTS is just too large to be included. even like this, i think it can be 1.5 the length of glitch garden at the very least. {and people where complaining about glitch garden being too long{.

i mean, you ā€œcanā€ cheat your way through a lot of things. and no need for them to be structured in the way i mentioned in my above comment. (simulation/logic separation and what not). and you can still use a lot of unity powers to get such basic game done quickly.

but i still fear an RTS might a bit too much for such course. though, with proper design, and planning, im sure you guys can handle it.
especially if you want to make this mini RTS game into some multiplayer section.

just my opinion.
just a note, i think it can be done, since, i saw on lynda another course that makes an RTS in 3 hours.
of course, as i said it can be done, just difficult.
(though, in order to complete it in 3 hours, the instructor inthat course, really did cheat his way through a bunch of things, and decided to throw down a lot of player functionality, and did not explain a lot of things thoroughly just to keep it in the scope of 3 hours).

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Iā€™d like to see a MOBA on the order of Clash of Clans or Game of War done in Unity. Have been searching for a course like that for a long time. Would love to see how to make a game like those.

Hereā€™s a suggestion from my ā€œfantasy Unity 2017 Course Listā€ posted in Discord:

Insectoid Invasion
2D, overhead view.
Each player controls a Hive from where they can build worker drones and convert workers into warriors. Workers can be sent to collect resources. Warriors can be used to attack other warriors, workers, and enemy Hives. The more resources you collect, the more workers/warriors you can make. Eventually, the game ends when one playerā€™s Hive is destroyed.

I have started working on my own version of a mini RTS framework, and had to research a lot of it from scratch. In this experiment, I simply wanted to make something like the Ore Collectors from C&C. I really like this resource collection model and would like to see it in more games, whether its an RTS, tower defense, base manager, whateverā€¦ so I decided to start with that. I created an environment that produced geysers of resource cubes, and had flying drones collect them and bring them back to an HQ for conversion into money.

Hereā€™s what I worked out in this experiment:

  • Click on a unit to select them. The entire game understands which unit is the ā€œselected unitā€ or ā€œselected building.ā€
  • Units can detect objects in their world and respond accordingly. They can prioritize one task over another, based on type and range.
  • Units do not interfere in the actions of other units.
  • Units have predetermined ā€œdefault behaviorsā€, but these behaviors are overridden by player commands.

Stuff I still havenā€™t done, donā€™t know how to do yet, or am still learning about:

  • Have some way of selecting multiple units (like a selection box).
  • Assign selected units (or groups of selected units) to selectable groups.
  • I still need to work out a lot of the unit behaviors, such as avoiding running into each other or lining up to deliver resources at the HQ one-at-a-time.
  • Using cars and vehicles that are limited in how they can move.
  • Have a ā€œcontrol radiusā€ around your HQ, where you can build additional buildings.
  • Provide for error correction on the procedurally generated resource geysers so they donā€™t end up in ridiculous places or inside of each other.
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I completely disagree. RTS games are still alive. Supreme Commander is still widely played by lots of people, their scene is actually pretty big and organized. Check https://www.faforever.com/ which is a fan made expansion for Supreme Commander and for Forge Alliance. I grew up with RTS games like Red Alert 2, Yuriā€™s Revenge, Generals and the classic Age of empires. Iā€™d love to learn how to make one of these, even if it for fun purposes. The practicality of this project could translate into other genres because RTS games are the hardest games to plan and code. I think we all would benefit from this project as an RTS and not as a MOBA.

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C++, unreal. Please?

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You know MOBA is a subset of Real Time Strategy, donā€™t you? MOBA is helping keep RTS alive (along with the new RTS games currently coming out), while server processing comes down in price. Later, the basic online arena (an easy thing to setup for multiplaying and AI) will be replaced as thousands of online RTS MMOs with planet/world sized spaces to replace the tiny arenas. Sure, the worlds may then keep the MOBA alive with, say, a battle arena space for each Colosseum, jousting lists or sports stadium in the game world. The result would be that the worlds would contain many types of play styles without you being required to master them all. There is huge potential here, which I doubt the triple-A guys would dare to risk until the Indy guys have broken the ice.

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+1 to an RTS game. Iā€™d definitely be interested if this is Unreal and C++. I have no intention of using Unity though.

And more specifically. I would prefer it to be a true RTS and not just a mod like a MOBA.

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+1 to this. RTS AI is a ā€œHardā€ subject thats locked behind a lot of academic papers so learning how this sort of thing works seems to me like it would be a winner, and the kind of knowledge would translate well into MOBAs or whatever else the flavor of the week is.

Plus RTS games are awesome :stuck_out_tongue:

And seconding Unreal/C++

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+1 too. I would definitely be interested in this.

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+1 Iā€™d love this! hopefully in Unreal

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Would definitely buy/preorder/kickstart/etc this! :smiley:

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Smite is a pretty awesome MOBA which is made by an ā€œindieā€ studio.

Hi guys. Iā€™m trying to get the backers together for my strategy game Oblivion Gate. Itā€™s not an RTS but it is a turn-based strategy game.

If you guys thnk the game has potential then please pledge. If not then I would love to hear your feedback. Thanks guys.

Intermediate / Advance course (The Internet is filled with the basic courses but lacks quality intermediate/advanced course) on making complete RTS Game in Unreal Engine. It can be the next thing you guys do after multiplayer games in the Unreal course.

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+1 vote for me
Iā€™d love an RTS game too, and it should be able to do everything Command and Conquer can do.
Iā€™m not bothered about multiplayer, Iā€™d prefer to play them singleplayer.
Things Iā€™d like to learn to create are:
Fog of War.
A* pathfinding (or whatever pathfinding is more effecient for this type of game).
Good AI that is fair and not a resource hog. Can use tactics.
Minimap.
Cut scenes between levels.
Line of sight.

They are the main points. Iā€™d love to be able to make a game like C&C.

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I love RTS games.
I prefer Unreal rather than Unity because it is open source.
Have you considered Amazon Lumberyard engine ?

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