Really nice one i like it.
And it’s really good we an see the progretion of the game 
Don’t stop Iterate
Gameplay Gyms
While making the design document, we also began setting up Gameplay Gyms, controlled environments where we could test the individual mechanics and try different level patterns.
In some Gyms we take a specific mechanic and test it with different level patterns to verify the different possibilities…. And fun factor.
Setting up these Gyms instead of a fully written design document is in my opinion a much stronger tool when trying to communicate the gameplay systems. They leave little to none room room for interpretation.
Spending time making these Gyms, with no other purpose than to test the boundaries of your game systems and level patterns, will leave you with a lot of inspiration and a wide range of possibilities to make interesting gameplay for the users.
Thanks
Thanks for the positive feedback, it means a lot.
I will during the next days and weeks, reveal more details about the game and not focus so much on our process and things in the past… but be patient, and stick around.
This is looking fantastic. I really like the lighting work you guys have done. Very clean. Can’t wait to see more! Cheers,
J^2
wow very nice, the environment looks great!
This is great, not my particular type of gameplay, but the things you have been sharing are awesome and because of that that game has been growing on me, i will definitively purchase it.
Nice going guys! Keep it up 
the ocean looks sick
Love the concept, and the game is coming together very nicely.
I’m just learning game dev, so seeing your progress is very interesting and inspiring.
Can’t wait to see more.
Animations
Timing & communication before awesomeness.
With WARTILE not being a fast phased RTS, the requirements for animations is bit different. Being partly a action and observation game,
the animations had to look cool, but also communicate the state and outcome of the combat.
What is shown in the video, is prototype iterations.
We have tried out 3 versions -(and sorry for the mugshot of me, in the first sequence, best reference video I could find)
-
The fast phased, with fast blows, hits and deflections, with moving idle. Result was a lively but hectic fell, and hard to read when units where fighting in groups.
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The Matrix inspired slow-mo, with a fast attack and long slow-mo on impact, to emphasize the outcome of the attack. Result was a “at times” cool effect in 1vs1,
but clumsy and unreadable in group fights. -
The fast attack with medium speed, followed by a short pause on impact, and then back to ready stance, made it
easy to read the outcome of the combat and will look good, when animations are done right and the attack variations are added.
Environment Art
Figuring out the look & Feel
So with Chris Whelan joining the team, we where ready to make an effort into nailing the look and feel of the environment art.
Of curse we already had a clear idea of where we where going, but we needed it to be painted on “paper”.
With screenshots from the levels we had made in the engine, Chris was able to make a lot of fast environment pain over iterations, that could inspires us in the right direction.
Environment Art
The Mood board
We where working with the first two of three environment themes at this stage. The coastline and Grass-field. Each theme should give the user a unique experience not only visually, but also in gameplay and level design.
Where the grass field was calm & beautiful with many open spaces, the Coastline would be wild and rough, with more narrow pathways.
We also aimed to make the environments like a small miniature model, a goal we have not yet fully reached.
Character Concepts
A hard hitting Viking
With a good idea of how our character art style should be, we started doing a few character art concepts. Also in a effort to get solid reference material for our 3d character modeller.
One of the campaign themes in Wartile is going to be Vikings, where you take part of their internal conflicts and embark on adventurous raid campaigns across the oceans.
In Wartile there is different classes and types of figures that you as a player control. One of the classes is the “heavy soldier” with high armor/ health and strength, the vikings name him a Brute.
During the game its possible to collect and unlock equipment (Armor) to the characters, that both change the looks and stats of the figure.
3D Character
A miniature model
With character concepts that we believed in, our 3D modeller started creating our first Viking character.
The end result came out really well, with maybe the detail level and poly count being a bit in the high end considering that mostly the characters will be seen from above with some distance.
The goal of catching the miniature model look, was pretty successful, in my opinion. Now keeping this look when importing into the Unreal 4 engine, rigged and with animations without loosing this miniature feel,
was and still is one of the greater challenges.
Environment Art
Taste the sea salt
Hi everyone, it have been some time since last update, but we are more busy then ever.
I have been working on two environment Themes the Hillside and Coastline. Today I will show our progress on the Coastline. (Everything is Work in progress and not final artwork)
The goal is still to create an environment with a miniature model feeling to it. The Coastline is a bit desaturated compared to the Grass-field theme that will have strong and warm colors. The Cross in the background is a holy relic, that the Vikings can convert into a reward.
The Viking brute breaking the knight into pieces. Something I just got in for testing. The characters in WARTILE are supposed to be small miniature figures brought to life, and I thought that if they shatter into pieces when they die… it really fits the concept.
Oh, I’m simply in love with map design. Very unique and cool approach!
Reminds me this stuff, but in 3d and better.
Definitely looking forward to this
Niceee!!! The maps looks amazing!!! Can’t wait to see more!
These are just beautiful. I assume the maps are statically laid out and not procedural in order to get that excellent lighting yes? And are you using a DOF post effect for that blurred background? It all looks very good. Keep it up! Cheers,
Hi everyone
Thanks for the nice words and the link, with the 3D- hex maps.
I remember this tiled board game, and it was an early inspiration (and still is). Today we have the art rule, that everywhere you can go, it will be a defined tile, and if you cant it will be much a much more organic and realistic part of the environment.
The levels are not procedural made, we might leave that for a certain game mode… in the future.
The light setting and post filter will be key elements to create the effect of looking at a miniature landscape.
This looks really cool! Don’t know how to do it, but for the miniature feel, maybe there is a way with post processing effects to put everything out of focus besides the center on the screen. Kind of like when you see photographs of small stuff like the attached image. Might be cool to try.
This is an amazing thread. Very good thought process through the whole project. I love turn based strategy games and can’t wait to try this out. Keep up the amazing work, it is really coming along nicely!