Hello Little Bears,
It’s been 10 months since my last post here. WOW. I don’t need to mention how dreadful 2020 is to all of us (but I will). We socialize even less than usual, our favorite live events get cancelled (rip anime & gaming cons T^T) and we’re all learning how to live remotely.
As for me, I took part in a pride-themed Touhou game jam, tried to start over with my old project called Neettown, did some pixel art, Blender renders and got stuck at my parents’ house for 20 days with my old college laptop because of covid quarantine. My mom was tested positive and soon after that I had started feeling sick too but we’re all good now.
And that takes us to the most exciting part of my year. I have started a completely new project called…
PANZERLIFE
What is Panzerlife? It’s an anime VR tank simulator based on rules of anime and the art of war. It is set in a fantasy world based on the late 1930s Europe. Our job will be to command a tank from the proper commander’s seat. It’s going to focus more on tactics than aiming and agility, although I do not want to disappoint people who would like to aim manually.
I am passionate about the project so it will be released when it’s ready but right now I’m aiming for early access on Steam in 2021. Q3 or Q4 if you want me to be more specific. Keep in mind that I’m a solo developer with a full-time job so it is going to take a lot of time. ;w;
Crumbs of lore
I told you it will be based on 1930s Europe. In my vision of Panzerlife, there is a militarized nation of Germania which is just about to invade Lechia in 1939. It’s based more on the German Empire than the Third Reich because the latter just disgusts me. They’re not pure evil or hateful to the point of madness. Germanic people are still wrong about their ideas but they need to see consequences of their actions first. Important points about their nation: excellent designs, well-trained and loyal soldiers, clear chain of command, good communication and of course, air support.
In the same way, Lechia is based on the “imperial” Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Lechic (Lechian?) people have big ambitions but their country is vulnerable because of internal conflicts which have been going on for decades. Their technology is effective and smart but their tanks and planes are few in numbers. Lecha is just too poor to compete with Germania at global level. All of that is a tribute to wz. 35 anti-tank rifle, 7 TP and TKS 20 mm tanks, licensed 37mm AT Bofors gun and Polish planes (which were pretty good in early 1930s but then Bf-109s took aeronautics to whole new level). While Polish soldiers in 1939 didn’t succeed so much in killing German soldiers, they destroyed a noteworthy chunk of German equipment: 236 tanks, 800 vehicles and 246 aircraft which was ~10% of what was deployed in case of tanks and planes. All of that was done in just few days of organized defense and one Polish counter-offensive.
One major thing that I’m still not sure of is whether the game should have a multiplayer mode or not. With my abilities, I’m really sceptical about going full pvp but I’d love to see at least small hangout mode. I’d love to meet actual players with a voice chat, meme, drive tanks around and shoot at each other. But that is a distant past.
Btw, I was already working on a mobile tank game long time ago. It’s super exciting to go back to tanks with skills and experience that I have now.
In the meantime, please follow Panzerlife’s twitter.
Until next time, my comrades!
Kuma 