What was the last new RTS? I wouldn't be surprised that a fanbase that trends very hardcore is extremely hungry for a new game in the genre from experienced devs
this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2024
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Yeah, big studios have largely abandoned rts because micro transactions and season passes destroy the genre. Milking the players is just too hard.
It got abandoned way before the monetization issues. It's an extremely difficult genre from a technical perspective. Networking and keeping in sync is far more difficult for an rts than any other type of game. Then path finding is also a difficult problem, too poor and units fail to move through choke points, too perfect and you can reveal unknown information, do different speed units march together or not, if units March together how far away do they try to group up vs going to the destination.
Before you even get to design of the game there's a ton of technical hurdles that other styles don't have.
Networking and keeping in sync is far more difficult for an rts than any other type of game.
How so? Wouldn't a game where thousands of people on a map require syncing, while the movements of CPUs would be more deterministic?
Rts requires each player to see exactly the same state at exactly the same time. Fps games can compensate more and minor lag isn't as big of a problem.
I see… but isn't virtually all of the pathfinding deterministic based on the seed + inputs of up to 4 people? How would it be more difficult than fighting game rollback, where you have 2-4 players that need to have sub 2frame accuracy?
While a command might be deterministic, new commands can be issued at any time. A client that is behind could miss a command to move units that then leaves them visible or in range to an opponent. In an fps a client that's behind they might shoot someone who isn't really there, but shooting someone is the main focus. Most shooting games have some level of window where if a client thinks there's a hit it happens even if the person wasn't there.
I was talking about other frame important games, not FPS. I'm talking about games with rollback and no more than a frame or 2 difference.
All solved problems with well known solutions.
Networking is solved by processing commands in lock step (quake actually pioneered this).
Pathfinding has well known solutions like A*. That's really integrated with fog of war. In fact, it's easier to do today because computers are faster
Unit formation can be added but does not need to be. If you are doing high cps like in games like StarCraft, it's even preferable to the gameplay that you don't solve that problem.
And let's not forget the for these big studios, the solutions to these problems already exist in previous titles. They aren't starting from square one.
These problems are so well known that Indy game devs routinely solve them solo (see, games like factorio). Heck, the fact that you know to cite them speaks to how well known they are.
What's blocking new rtses by AAA companies is nothing technical, it's financial. Creating the assets, levels, and story are almost certainly a bigger blocker than any technical problem.
Meh, it can't be too hard! Just retexture Dune2! It worked for Command and Conquer: Tiberian Something....
Warhammer Total War sure seems to have that solved - rip off prices for DLC but they know Warhammer fans love it and will pay.
AoE 4 maybe?
Halo Wars 2 is my bet.
(Command & Conquer Remastered if rereleases count)
Petroglyph had Grey Goo and the 8-Bit family, but those are decently old now. They've been pretty much the only game in town for quite a while, sadly.
Company of heroes 3 released last year
That is really bad according to reviews.
Yeah it was a disappointing release. I haven't played since launch so I'm not sure if that has changed or not.
AoE4 just had a huge expansion
I hope they focus on the fun. With that pedigree of devs, I think they'll get the balance good and have good maps, but that illusive fun factor needs to be there. (Like what the Torchlight devs did after some left the Diablo teams.)
Give me a decent storyline and coop play and you've got me
I believe they got you already if those are what you're looking for
For some reason I never looked into co-op RTS games, are there any great ones out already?
StarCraft 2 has a coop mode which is a ton of fun imo, around 18 different commanders which range from "small spin on an existing race" to "essentially 5 hero characters and no units". You play with a friend or queue up with a random other player and play from a pool of amped up campaign missions.
No other game comes to mind, but Stormgate also promises a 3vAI mode, which will be playable next week on Steam Next Fest.
Starcraft 2 pretty much pioneered it AFAIK. It's free to play, so you can try it out without giving blizzard your money if you want
I’m kinda pissed that I just hear about that after the kickstarter ended :(
try BAR - beyond all reason
Gave it a look previously. Doesn't have story campaign or coop though, which is what I'm after
Yes please. It's been sooo long since a good rts.
I only just got the link between Warcraft and Starcraft.
Starcraft is like Warcraft in space.
They should make a World of StarCraft game too lol
Eh I would go with Starcraft Universe or Galaxy of StarCraft.
StarCraft would be boring if it were just a single world.
Actually world of Warcraft isn't even a single world, it's more like worlds of Warcraft now.
Give me lan support and im in.
I tried the demo this morning - tons of fun! I only played one match, but it played extremely well. Very StarCraft + warcraft 3.