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DEV BLOG #7 - Online Battle Design

11K View2023-05-12

Hi wobblers!

It's been a while since our last discussion in the dev blog #6 where we introduced the online matchmaking and friends system on mobile. When both player has joined the battle room, it’s time to build your armies and take some fun moves! So in today’s article, we’ll talk about how multiplayer unit placement and battle interactions could work in TABS Mobile.

[Pre-battle Preparation]

To cater to communication needs of mobile players, we add a [chat bubble] button on the left side of the screen in the current in-dev version, which now can support text chat in online lobby and your own room.

You can invite online players from the lobby chat to join your match, or discuss map choices in room chat, creating all sorts of creative battles with your buddie.

When both sides start deploying units on the map, their respective deployment statuses will be synchronously updated to the other side in real-time, just like in the PC original version:

The tag under player’s avatar shows your placement status from [BUILDING ARMY] to [READY] after your army formation is well-prepared and the battle button is clicked, and a thrilling fight will begin when your opponent is ready too.

[When Fight Begins…]

As this is a real-time online match, neither side can pause or control the speed of battle, but you can still drag the virtual joystick as well as slide and click on mobile to adjust your spectator's perspective flexibly.

Considering the factors of mobile devices’ performance and the network environment, the smoothness of graphics and performance of large-scale battles are among the main challenges we need to overcome during our multiplayer development process. For the current in-dev mobile version, we didn’t set a strict cap for the number of units possible to place on each side, and we tried keeping the single unit possession feature in multiplayer mode. These functions still require continuous testing, adjustment and optimization, but we hope that the final pocket version will provide players with as much freedom as possible in multiplayer controls while ensuring stable online connectivity.

Also, you may have noticed there’s a little red wobbler icon on the right side in multiplayer — that’s the report button. If you catch your opponent cheating or acting toxic in room chat, you may report by simply clicking the red button with a screenshot snatched.

With this newly-added feature in place, we hope to create an environment of fair play and friendly competition for all TABS Mobile players - just leave the fierce conflicts and rule-breaking "accidents" to the wobblers on battlefields!

[Modify Room Settings]

If you've grown tired of playing on the same map, either player can change it at any time after each battle by clicking the map settings button in the upper right corner. In the current mobile version, we have combined game rules settings and map settings into this single menu.

This menu allows players to select the map, change the budget and the maximum number of units, or change the turnstyle from normal to the blindmode with more uncertainty and excitement:

Compared to the PC version, we tried adding in the current mobile room settings a [Banned Units] feature where you can set limits on unit and faction types — similar to the TABS campaign mode, with limited unit categories and budgets available, players have to think twice on build and come up with more diverse strategies to win.

Once you've made all the necessary setting changes, your opponent will receive your request, and if they accept, you can jump right back into battle in a fresh new battle scenario!

That’s all for today’s blog on multiplayer mode. In addition to chat, report and new designs that are mentioned in the blog, we are still working on adjusting and optimizing the overall multiplayer experience. Feel free to leave a comment here if you have any suggestions, or join our official Discord server for more discussions!

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Comments

Denchik Fantik

looking forward to the release

2023-05-12

Präzise

I've been waiting for an year now. Thank the Lord I'm a patient person but ik how hard it is so yeah, pls get it to mobile as soon as possible Mammof 🦣

2023-05-14