Dusk Tactics is a turn based, tactical role playing game being developed for PC, Mac, Linux. It features 2D isometric pixel art, dynamic battle maps with varied terrain and weather, an overworld, and in depth unit management system.
This project is the culmination of everything I’ve ever wanted in an SRPG / turn-based tactics game and it’s come a long way, however there is still much to be done. I’ll have more info on the devlog soon!
You can check out a list of implemented features here.
One of the last features has been implemented: Turrets.
Turrets make up immovable objects that can attack, such as a Ballista. Currently, the idea is to enable units to ‘take over’ a turret that’s on the map, after which it will automatically attack their enemies. The enemy CPU can also do this, so you might wind up on the opposing end of these contraptions.
There’s a lot of different possibilities here, like having them always active (and autonomous) so that they start off attacking any/all units and then can be acquired by either players or the enemy as a means of assisting combat. I could also have them only be active when a unit is next to them, or have them not be able to attack at all, but allow nearby units to use them as a powerful attack during their turn.
They might also not attack at all, instead performing actions when triggered such as pushing adjacent units away from them or giving nearby units buffs or debuffs. Also, their attacks, which are currently projectiles, can be physical or magickal, or not projectiles at all and simply be melee. There’s a lot of potential here!
My main vision for them was a scenario with a bunch of turrets in the middle of the map and as you face off against the CPU, both teams would be trying to keep the majority under their control to do maximum damage to the other team.
Since I can’t show it just yet, here’s a completely unrelated gif that does a good job showing some of the latest additions as well as some minor polish. Basically I like how the unit jumps over their ally to perform a dual attack and then gets countered, something that wasn’t really possible at the start of the year.
The latest updates include a revamped weapon sprite system and the ability to properly dual wield weapons.
When a unit equips a weapon, you’ll actually see it on the character sprite. This goes for both weapons and shields. Each weapon type has a default sprite, which some weapons having their own unique sprite. The update makes it a lot easier to add new sprites to the system and behind the scenes it requires much less memory/overhead.
Dual Attack
When a unit decides to Dual Wield, their Action menu changes and they get a new Dual Attack option. You can read more about combat flow and the Action menu here.
You can perform a normal attack with either the main hand or offhand weapon, or you can use them both in the new Dual Attack!
As seen in the gif below, where we show a Dual Attack using a Pistol and Sabre, the unit attacks twice: once which each weapon. It gets a bit tricky when you start mixing melee and ranged weapons, so the general rule is we limit the attack to the smallest range. So if you are wielding at least one melee weapon, the Dual Attack will require you to be at melee range.
This isn’t a problem if you decide to Dual Wield two ranged weapons, but we’ll still use the Main Hand weapon range for the attack. This is still being worked on, so there may be some changes, but this opens up an entire world of variations.
The only downside is that while Dual Wielding you won’t be able to use the Defend action. Also, the offhand weapon will attack at 50% damage.
The actual attack will use animations, sounds, and visual effects from both weapons, with the main hand weapon attacking first and the offhand second.
At this point, only 1 Handed weapon types can be Dual Wielded, since you need a hand for each one. I did have plans for a passive that allows you to hold 2 Handed weapons in 1 Hand, but I need to see how that’s going to work visually. It may just allow units to equip Shields in the offhand, but if I can, I’d like to maybe add Dual Wielding for even those weapons. That’ll be a long term goal, though.
I remember back in 2018 thinking that I’d have a public release demo out way before 2025. Well it’s 2025 and we’re getting pretty damn close.
There’s way more cleanup going on than I would have ever imagined. So many things to wrap up and take care of, especially as a solo-developer.
Development remains strong as we fine tune the many mechanics found on the battlefield.
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Dusk Tactics is really two projects: a 2D Isometric Tactical Game Engine and a game built on that engine. The engine provides all the necessary tools to build a tactical role playing game. I created an auto-battler type simulation to test out gameplay scenarios and it actually uses orthographic visuals (top-down), so it doesn’t even have to be isometric, however unit movement would need to be adjusted for non-isometric (the simulator has units instantly move from tile to tile, as the emphasis is on speed).
Now that I am several years into the project, my main focus is on an actual playable demo being released. This has been my goal for the last 10 months or so and as expected is taking quite some time.
I’m currently slimming down the project, keeping only what’s necessary for a small demo release. This includes further debugging as well as fine tuning the core gameplay loop. It also includes testing different release packages and methods.
I’ve mentioned it before, but the first release will be aimed at Windows 10 32/64 bit. Dusk Tactics can and will support both Mac and Linux of course, but to make sure I do this right, I’m going to focus on one at a time. There are already closed releases that run on both Mac and Linux (Ubuntu), but the idea is to release something stable-ish.
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No matter what happens, I will do everything in my power to finish Dusk Tactics, one way (release a game), or the other (release a bunch of crappy code in the form of FOSS). Still shooting for the former!
There’s a lot of things that I’d like to add to the game, some are outside of the scope while some are just very difficult or impossible to get working and have them look how I want them to.
One of these things is map rotation. It’s a downside to going to 2D isometric route, as your rotation options are limited, but not impossible.
A small example of one rotation method that has a rotation animation. Ultimately it ends up not looking so good as tiles end up with overlap.
Over the years I’ve kept up to date with other projects using similar systems and how they achieved rotation. The best I could find was something similar to an isometric simulation game that instantly rotates by 90 degrees at a time. This method works, but without the animation (as seen above) it can be a bit disorienting.
This method shows instantaneous rotation. As you can see, all units and even the projectile trail are kept in the proper rotational view.
For now, it’s something supported by the underlying engine and could be a possibility in the future!
As we get closer to a wider alpha demo release of the early version of Dusk Tactics, I will be conducting various tests to see the best methods for handling things like screen resolution.
This is the toughest part because there are so many different resolutions, and then you have OS DPI magnification, etc. Since Dusk Tactics uses pixel art, we really want to make sure the players get the best looking experience possible.
At this point, only 1 Handed weapon types can be Dual Wielded, since you need a hand for each one. I did have plans for a passive that allows you to hold 2 Handed weapons in 1 Hand, but I need to see how that’s going to work visually. It may just allow units to equip Shields in the offhand, but if I can, I’d like to maybe add Dual Wielding for even those weapons. That’ll be a long term goal, though.
There’s a lot of things that I’d like to add to the game, some are outside of the scope while some are just very difficult or impossible to get working and have them look how I want them to. One of these things is map rotation. It’s a downside to going to 2D isometric route, as your rotation options are limited, but not impossible.
As we get closer to a wider alpha demo release of the early version of Dusk Tactics, I will be conducting various tests to see the best methods for handling things like screen resolution.