The new terrain is getting integrated into the game. In its early status, it'll be missing features and still needs development, but I'm excited to finally share it. Terrain has long been a really difficult problem for the game. I had a very specific style in mind, and terrain tools simply moved in a totally different direction from that. A few months ago, [url=https://twitter.com/aynik_co]a new tech artist[/url] was brought on board to specifically help with this and the work they've done has been stellar. The tools that I always said would have to be created in order to get this terrain, have been created, along with many new graphics features I didn't have the time or ability to do myself. [h2]The new map is now available on the Tester's branch![/h2] [img]https://i.imgur.com/MM7n4Of.png[/img] The new map has been made available on [url=https://steamcommunity.com/games/1347550/announcements/detail/3190247426139829126]the Tester's branch[/url] of the game while the kinks are still being worked out. It's not fully featured yet, and most significantly does not have any Arena missions for it yet, but they are coming soon. This small(ish) island is where the game's set of small and straightforward tutorial missions will take place, each introducing the different mechanics that are at play in Arena. The final game will feature an additional map on which the Arena missions will be set. Here's the highlights of what's available in [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1347550/eventcomments/3810658214744783395/]the 0.12.1.2 Tester's patch[/url]! [list] [*]New island terrain featuring hills, rivers, bridges, and a tunnel [*]New line rendering used on roads, runway markings, and scenery objects [*]New buildings featuring LODs to maintain consistent detail density [*]LODs updated for many existing buildings [*]New fog rendering [*]Bases moved around [*]Murasa is now a large airbase [*]New scatter system using pre-defined scatter positions (Still EXPERIMENTAL!) [/list] [h2]A New Line Renderer[/h2] [img]https://i.imgur.com/SRe9UWn.png[/img] This is one of the features I was most excited about, so much so that I want to specifically highlight it. A stylistic trick of older flight sims was to directly draw lines in order to convey detail, but also to keep things readable. For example, [url=https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1634450/ss_c6bdcbd01de4473938fc7a4a5526ed2c396ae598.1920x1080.jpg?t=1662976665]in B-17 Flying Fortress roads were drawn using these lines[/url]. They can also be used to add detail to models up close, a trick that [url=https://i.imgur.com/xRnzW3b.png]Flanker 1.0 was extremely fond of[/url]. In Tiny Combat Arena these lines are now part of the model and terrain import process. Roads and runway markings are now drawn with them, so that a distance they don't flicker and alias in a way that makes them unreadable. Various scenery objects around the map such as the bridges also use them to add details like railings and doors when seen from up close. This is a very old fashioned trick from when every triangle mattered, and drawing lines was cheap. Ironically, today, drawing lines and incorporating them into models is a very non-trivial manner! However with the new tooling it only requires a specially named object made of lines, then a custom importer takes care of the rest.