King Art Games, the team behind the upcoming real time strategy Iron Harvest, have decided to explain in detail how the in-game cover works, as well as give us an insight into the mech designing process, from mecha-start to mecha-finish.
Before we dig into King Art's creative process, we should point out that Iron Harvest's development is coming along well, with playable alpha version scheduled for first half of August 2018. The dev wanted to change things up for this dev update though, which is why they opted to explain the design process a bit closer.
Iron Harvest's cover system, on which the dev insisted from the beginning, is a result of insistence on a realistic tactical approach, where strategy and planning are much more important than lighting fast reflexes. Naturally, not all Iron Harvest units can use cover, perhaps most notably the large mechs, whereas some like engineers can actually build it on demand.
King Art ensured that most stuff you see on the screen can be blown into smithereens but what's left may still be used as cover for infantry. Moreover, both active and destroyed mechs can be used as cover for Iron Harvest's infantry. This is sure to add yet another tactical nuance to an already promising strategy, since a choice of your mech's burial ground may actually prove beneficial, if not decisive, in further, ahem, peace negotiations.
Ultimately, Iron Harvest's cover system is actually far more than a mere gimmick, providing means to gain advantage over your enemy or level the playing field, both figuratively and literally. In practice, it means no two battles will be identical, something which has sorely been lacking from the majority or real time strategies up to date.
We've borrowed some gifs from Iron Harvests post, which you can see below.
King Art Games
King Art Games
As for the mech design process, King Art's first sentence is just pure gold. "We are Germans, so we start out with a plan." Seems legit. Iron Harvest's 3D requirements made it somewhat time consuming to start with 2D models, which is why they skip right to the 3D.
King Art Games
King Art then block out the functional and visual details, much like 2D artists would when doing sketches, refining them as they go. Which only leaves rigging, concept art, modelling, texturing, skinning animating and integrating left. Just kidding it's a nowhere nearly as tedious a read as my very dry list here would suggest.
You can find Iron Harvest's dev update post . If you're interested to learn more about Iron Harvest, you can find our full coverage or just check out the gallery below.
