All Quiet in the Trenches - WW1 narrative squad management - now available on Early Access

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://totallynotaliens.com/aqitt

Spoiler

ABOUT THIS GAME​

1915, World War I, Western Front. As a German Unteroffizier, you are responsible for a group of soldiers. Whether they will survive the war is in your hands. Welcome to the trenches, Herr Unteroffizier!

The time in the camp is marked by heavy labor with an insecure supply situation. Is there enough time for the men to rest? Can they process the horrors they have experienced and mourn the fallen?

Your decisions between the needs of the soldiers and the demands of the superiors result in a unique story each time. But your choices don't change the war. They change the life of your soldiers.

The chaos of war threatens the physical and mental well-being of the soldiers. Again and again you have to make decisions in an attempt to face the fatal coincidences of the battlefield.

Devblog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/863500/view/3738608243796408084

Dev Diary #002
Our last few months have been all about our All Quiet in the Trenches demo for Steam Next Fest, which takes place next week from 9/10/2023 to 16/10/2023. Feel free to visit us here during this period and get the free demo.


July
In July, we completely revised the game's starting point. Instead of starting with a troop that has already been at war for some time, the game now starts in May 1915 with the arrival of your troop in the trenches. This game entry will also be the content of our demo.

August
August was mainly a time of fine-tuning for us, called polishing in game development. Outdated icons were revised, bugs were fixed, texts were adjusted, placeholder graphics were replaced and we checked everything again to see if anything was missing or outdated over the years of development and no longer fitted in with the rest of the game.

September
This polishing phase extended into September. In addition, we added a tutorial to the game in September and optimised the performance of the game in various places so that the demo hopefully runs smoothly on as many devices as possible. In the course of this, we also added graphics settings for older hardware.

We are very excited to see how you like the demo. This is the first time that we have a publicly available demo of the game. Please let us hear your feedback on what you liked, what you didn't like, where there were bugs and what you would like to see in Early Access. Send us your feedback preferably via Discord or the Steam forum . Have fun with the demo!

Demo gameplay:

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://steamcommunity.com/app/863500/discussions/0/3877093932385343741/

I can really relate so I won't go into details. And yes, Early Access isn't for everyone. It's perfectly fine to wait for the final release. Our process in the Early Access will be to approach the in-game time in yearly increments: At the start of our Early Access phase you can play roughly the first year of the game, from spring 1915 to spring 1916. This version will then be expanded year by year over time to include the remaining years of the war until its end in November 1918.

autosave:
there won't be manually saving in the full release, but the autosave steps will become much shorter. It's plannend that there will a an autosave after each turn.

epiloques:
Yes, we're planning to have a summary for each of your soldiers at the end of the game and how their lives have gone since the war, which will be included in the final game. You're right, there are so many interesting stories to tell, and it also helps to understand the course of history.

hitch in the walk animation:
I'd love to see into this. Which walk animation do you mean exactly? There are 2 different ones in camp (a more chilled and a stiffer one), one with the weapon over the shoulder in trench and a walk and a run in battle that blend into each other

missions completion steps:
Yes, this should be addressed. Our game is also meant for players who are not that much into fighting and you aren't the first one who struggles with finding out what to do when the lieutenant tells you to cross the river. We'll look into this to make it more intuitive

thanks to all of you for your kind words

troop size: your troop size will stay 6 most of the time. Sometimes it can be less (at the beginning of the game and if someone dies or gets injured enough to be sent home and you haven't got a replacement yet). We might increase it to 7 or 8 late in the game, but we're not sure yet.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

This is actually pretty interesting tbh fam. Sort of a FOB/barracks/trench simulator with a lot of storyfaggotry/relationship management and a little bit of tactical combat. You manage a small squad of soldiers on the front line of WWI, but - as in reality - combat is a very small part of what you do. Most of the time you are tasked with various jobs in the camp (guard duty, shifting supplies etc) while trying to keep your commander from shitting on you and your men too much. There are quite a few characters that you need to maintain relations with, such as the nurse from the field hospital, the quortermaster, cook, local frenchie villigers etc, all of whom can offer you "subquests."

I will definitely keep an eye on this - there arent many things of this sort. I would compare this to A Legionary´s Life, though you manage a whole squad instead of a single character.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[BruceVC]

https://totallynotaliens.com/aqitt

ABOUT THIS GAME​

1915, World War I, Western Front. As a German Unteroffizier, you are responsible for a group of soldiers. Whether they will survive the war is in your hands. Welcome to the trenches, Herr Unteroffizier!

The time in the camp is marked by heavy labor with an insecure supply situation. Is there enough time for the men to rest? Can they process the horrors they have experienced and mourn the fallen?

Your decisions between the needs of the soldiers and the demands of the superiors result in a unique story each time. But your choices don't change the war. They change the life of your soldiers.

The chaos of war threatens the physical and mental well-being of the soldiers. Again and again you have to make decisions in an attempt to face the fatal coincidences of the battlefield.

Devblog:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/863500/view/3738608243796408084

Dev Diary #002
Our last few months have been all about our All Quiet in the Trenches demo for Steam Next Fest, which takes place next week from 9/10/2023 to 16/10/2023. Feel free to visit us here during this period and get the free demo.


July
In July, we completely revised the game's starting point. Instead of starting with a troop that has already been at war for some time, the game now starts in May 1915 with the arrival of your troop in the trenches. This game entry will also be the content of our demo.

August
August was mainly a time of fine-tuning for us, called polishing in game development. Outdated icons were revised, bugs were fixed, texts were adjusted, placeholder graphics were replaced and we checked everything again to see if anything was missing or outdated over the years of development and no longer fitted in with the rest of the game.

September
This polishing phase extended into September. In addition, we added a tutorial to the game in September and optimised the performance of the game in various places so that the demo hopefully runs smoothly on as many devices as possible. In the course of this, we also added graphics settings for older hardware.

We are very excited to see how you like the demo. This is the first time that we have a publicly available demo of the game. Please let us hear your feedback on what you liked, what you didn't like, where there were bugs and what you would like to see in Early Access. Send us your feedback preferably via Discord or the Steam forum . Have fun with the demo!

Demo gameplay:

Thanks for sharing, I didnt know about this and I love the history of WW1....it was the most significant war of all time

Keep us updated about what its like when its released because Im very interested

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/863500/view/3906374309666413132

Dev Diary #003
After the demo, we have spent the last few months focussing fully on the Early Access of our game All Quiet in the Trenches.


October
The Steam Next Fest took place at the beginning of October and it was a very exciting experience for us. Over 6000 people played our demo and we received a lot of good feedback and encouragement from you. A big thank you for that! Over the next few weeks, we fixed a few bugs based on all the feedback from the demo and have already been able to implement some of the feedback, like the most frequently mentioned too small settings menu or the option to change the cursor size so that our game can also be played comfortably on the Steam Deck.

November
Some missing features were added to the game in November, such as hand grenades and the surrender of soldiers. We also expanded the areas on our battlefield to ensure a larger playable map. We plan to further develop these during Early Access. We have also added more projects to the trench phase.

December
Based on the expanded battle areas, during December we implemented various scenarios that can occur randomly after the introductory battles. The missing season Winter has been added and the pool of possible soldiers has been expanded by two more: Linnecke and Mayel. In addition, an FAQ section has been added to the All Quiet in the Trenches homepage. Feel free to have a look!

We are very much looking forward to our Early Access release on 17 January 2024 and are eagerly awaiting your feedback. Early Access will cover the first year of the game - roughly from spring 1915 to spring 1916. In the course of further development, we plan to add the following years (until the end of the war in November 1918), minor adjustments and additional content to the game.

We have also made a new Early Access trailer. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch it here:

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://totallynotaliens.com/aqitt#roadmap

ROADMAP​

• 0.5 Early Access Release​

  17 January 2024​

  This version covers the first year of the game, from Spring 1915 to Spring 1916, and focuses on the core content of the game. It contains all the different phases of the game (trench, battle and camp), a pool of 12 soldiers, around 70 projects, 80 different stories that can be triggered in the journal, a story-driven intro scenario, 15 randomly selected levels afterwards and a variety of dynamic events and dialogues that can occur throughout the game.

• 0.6 Battle Update​

  For this, we plan to add machine guns, enhance the battle map, include new offensive and defensive levels and polish the battle phase in general. Several extreme play styles are planned to be considered, such as very cautious or very aggressive, very soldier-friendly or very prestige-oriented.

• 0.7 Soldiers Update​

  We're planning to introduce a soldier skill system with new traits and unique skills that they can learn as they go through the war. We also plan to add more character attributes, two more soldiers and additional projects. Circumstances such as the death of soldiers will be dealt with in more detail.

• 0.8 Gas Update​

  In this update, we plan to extend the game to cover the period up to Spring 1917. Stories of historical events will be added, and the Gas War will be addressed and incorporated into the trench and battle phases.

• 0.9 Hospital Update​

  War-related illnesses, as well as injuries and mental suffering, are planned to be taken into account in this update.

• 0.10 French Update​

  This update will focus on the French soldiers and add more interactions with the French village.

• 1.0 End of War Update (Full Release)​

  For this update we plan to add the last phase of the war up to 11 November 1918. It's planned to feature a wide range of content in general, including historical stories from this period.

• Further Support & Bugfixing​

 

[luj1]

"narrative" buzzword = ez pass

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Will be getting this for sure, I like the concept and demo was p. solid tbh fam.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/863500/view/3964924274911796582

Recap and outlook
It's now been a week since we released All Quiet in the Trenches in Early Access. We'd like to briefly look back at how things went for us and look ahead at what's to come.

In the last 7 days, almost 3500 people have bought the game and 90% of your ratings were positive. This is a great acchievement for us, especially since we are a very small indie studio - without a publisher and marketing budget. Thank you very much for your support and trust! It is not a given to buy a game in Early Access.

Your constructive feedback also helps us a lot. It allows us to identify what is already working well and what we can potentially improve.

We have created a roadmap in advance to help you assess what content we want to add to the game during Early Access: https://totallynotaliens.com/aqitt#roadmap

This roadmap has deliberately been kept short so that we can hopefully implement everything in it, regardless of the game's future success. Based on current developments, it looks like we will be able to add a few additional points to the roadmap. We are very happy about that. So be prepared that a section may be added to the roadmap every now and then and that the order of other sections may therefore change. This should never result in something being cancelled, but only happen if it means more content can be added to the game.

We are currently working on a small patch to version 0.5.5, after which we will focus on developing the first major update. This will take a few weeks. We will try to keep you regularly updated on our development. Until then, we hope you continue to have a good time with All Quiet in the Trenches and thank you for your support!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://tallyhocorner.com/2024/02/t...ts-on-early-access-all-quiet-in-the-trenches/

...
One of the reasons the 1929 novel referenced in the title of Totally Not Aliens’ debut was so distasteful to warmongers like Hitler, and still has the capacity to shock today, is that it pulls zero punches. All Quiet on the Western Front transports the reader into the man-made hell that was WWI trench warfare then forces them to gaze upon the myriad horrors found there.

“Anti-war”AQITT, in contrast, makes for the same destination only to pussyfoot and veil on arrival. Yes, the individually taskable men in your squad can ‘suffer’ and ‘die’ during the course of a typical 3-4 hour playthrough*, but almost always the graphics, writing, and gameplay unwittingly conspire to make the suffering and deaths as palatable as possible.

* Currently the campaign only runs for one year.

Playing this “narrative turn-based strategy RPG” don’t expect to encounter soldiers (all the following quotes are from AQOTWF) “without mouths, without jaws, without faces”… footless warriors staggering onwards on “splintered stumps”… people “living with their skulls blown open”. In AQITT no-one goes to a dressing station with hands clasped over bulging intestines, or holds “the artery of his arm in his teeth for two hours in order not to bleed to death”....

 

[Infinitron]

Hey, wait a minute! https://steamdb.info/app/863500/history/?changeid=U:43849692

Change U:43849692 2 months ago · 22 December 2023 – 17:00:30 UTC

• Changed Store Description – All Quiet in the Trenches is a narrative turn-based strategy gameRPG set in World War I. Get to know your soldiers, take care of their needs and lead them in battle, trying to strike a precarious balance between the ambitions of your superiors and the survival of your men.

Moving thread.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/863500/view/6098509125451879521

Pre-announcement Major Update 0.6: Trench Update
Two months have passed since our early access release version 0.5. Today we are happy to announce the next major update: Version 0.6 will be the "Trench Update" and will focus on the Trench Phase.

Attentive observers will know that this update was not previously included in the roadmap on our homepage. As indicated in our last post, the positive response to the game allows us to add further updates in addition to those already announced. We are very happy about this. The Trench Update is one of them!

What will be included in the Trench Update?

• Building/repairing selected defences, barbed wire, ladders, bridges
• Longer Trench phases with new tasks, projects and additional features
• New trench areas and new defensive and offensive battles
• New stories inside and outside the Trench
• Expansion of the map
• General revision and improvement of existing content

What about the Battle Update?
The Battle Update is moving down one position and is currently planned as the next major update. You can see the adjusted order on our homepage:

https://totallynotaliens.com/aqitt#roadmap

For the following reasons, we thought it made more sense to start with the Trench update:

The Trench phase has received the least attention in our development so far. We have realised that there is still a lot of potential here.

With all the things we had originally planned for the Battle Update, the additional features we wanted to implement and the feedback we received, the Battle Update has also become very large. We didn't want to run the risk of needing half a year for the first update in the worst case, which is why it was logical for us to spread the update out.

A not insignificant part, especially in terms of map design, but also a few features, is therefore already included in the Trench update

What are we planning for further development?
We have also swapped the Gas Update with the Soldiers Update in our roadmap. On the one hand, because we want to ensure that the period up to 1917 is playable earlier. Secondly, we realised that it simply makes more sense: when soldiers acquire new characteristics and abilities during the course of the war, you also want to see their effects over a longer period of time.

We very much hope that these adjustments are in your interest and will enrich your gaming experience. In the future, the roadmap may continue to change depending on current circumstances or feedback, for example by adding new points, swapping updates or splitting them into several parts. As previously announced, this should never lead to something being cancelled, but only happen if it means more content can be added to the game.

We also estimated the development period in Early Access to be 1-2 years before release. Now that we are able to build additional content for the game, we are changing the time frame to ~2 years.

When will the Trench update be released?
We can't give a firm date yet, but we are planning for an early April release. Most of it is already implemented. We want to add a few more things and then take some time for bugfixing and polishing.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/863500/view/4141695629554720651

Dev Diary #004 - Constructions
In today's Dev Diary, we would like to take a closer look at the "Construction" feature that will be coming with Trench Update 0.6.

An important aspect that we would like to expand in the gameplay is the ability to complete optional tasks that not only have a direct impact, but also a potential long-term change. In our initial release version in the tutorial, there was already an option to rebuild a destroyed position. A feature that we did not take up again afterwards... Until now!

"Constructions" are individual areas in the trench, such as defences, barbed wire or ladders. During the trench phase, certain positions may be destroyed by artillery. This may mean that defensive positions in the battle can no longer be manned, that certain routes in the trench become impassable or that the enemy has an opening into the trenches. These areas can then be repaired by your troops.

In addition, some new, defined areas of the trench can be optionally extended. Ladders enable further retreat options, barbed wire directly in front of the trench prevents rapid infiltration. If sufficient capacity is available, new positions can even be built.

We have therefore decided to install new camera zones in the trench phase. This provides a better overview of the trench. The optional projects can be added from there in the left-hand bar.

We first want to see how this feature is received. With the release of 0.6 there will therefore be 35 "Constructions" for the time being.

We have also added 2 new trench levels. These are not only a visual component, but also have an influence on which "constructions" are possible. They also change the starting positions in the event of an enemy attack.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/863500/view/4204746659271487360

Dev Diary #005 - Improving the Trench Phase
Hello again,

in today's Dev Diary, we would like to take a closer look at the additional changes that will be coming with the next update.

Artillery fire
We thought about how we could make artillery fire in the trench phase more interesting. Until now, the probability of being injured during a bombardment was higher. We wanted to make it so that you have to carefully weigh up whether to fulfil a task or not. If we had simply made artillery fire even more dangerous, this would not have had the desired effect.

With the new update, all soldiers are now locked during heavy artillery fire in the "Hole up in the bunker" project. If a soldier has to fulfil a task because, for example, food or ammunition supplies are running low, you have to deal with him... and, if necessary, force him to leave the safety of the bunker. Of course, this has personal consequences...

Longer phases
With the additional content, we have decided to tweak the balancing a little and at the same time ensure a slightly longer game experience. On average, the troops will be sent to the trenches more often and a turn in the camp will now only last 10 days instead of the previous 12 days (which means there are more game turns overall). A battle will also last a little longer until one side is ordered to retreat. In addition, the phases in the trenches are slightly longer on average. Sometimes longer than expected...

Send to camp
Spending more time in the trenches? Have we then reduced the general exhaustion of the soldiers? No! On the contrary, new circumstances have been added that can put even more strain on the soldiers... In addition, it is now also possible for them to collapse from exhaustion during the trench phase.

However, it will be possible to send exhausted soldiers back to the camp. There they can recover a little and come back after a few days. In the meantime, they will not be able to perform any other tasks, and if the enemy launches an attack, they will of course not be available...

What more is there?
The old user interface for the reputation with superiors / mood of the soldiers was not understandable for some. We decided to make it a little simpler in order and emphasise the most important elements.

We have implemented an additional dialogue option if a character has several "!" at once. This makes it quicker to collect the countless orders when your trust in Lieutenant von Karrsbruck is on the line.