Handheld Gaming

With this year's releases of Windows based gaming handhelds, and of course the upcoming launch of the Steam Deck in 2022, I really wanted to see if Drone Warfare could run on these platforms.

Drone Warfare provides gamepad support already (Xbox and PS4/5 controllers) and so should work well on these handhelds which offer similar control inputs.

The big question is if the game can actually offer enough FPS to run optimally on this class of hardware. I've been targeting a GTX 1060 class GPU for the PC version, so optimising the game to run on these devices may prove to be a challenge.

First though I'd need a device to work with and target optimisations at.

I'm hoping for a Steam Deck devkit from Valve at some point, and have a retail one ordered for Q2 2022, but that's going to be a while away.

So I picked up an Aya Neo via their IndieGoGo campaign earlier in the year.

Aya Neo

And it really is a thing of beauty!

I got the lower specced AMD Ryzen 5 4500U version (rather than the Pro which has a Ryzen 7 4800U) and features integrated Radeon Vega graphics and 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM.

The screen is 800p and accepts touch input too, so it's a pretty similar form factor to the Steam Deck, albeit lacking the touchpad inputs as well as the additional GPU horsepower that the Steam Deck has (I believe we're talking > 50% more because of the RDNA2 GPU in the Steam Deck compared to the Vega GPU in the Aya Neo).

Optimising

So how to get Drone Warfare running on the Aya Neo?

The 800p screen of the Neo (and Steam Deck) is actually a great performance provider compared to standard PCs which usually target 1080p or higher resolutions.

The lower resolution allows for low draw distances in scenes, and we can also get away with smaller textures. We can also tweak the LOD (Level Of Detail) of the in game objects as there's no need to see them as clearly when in the background.

Fortunately I'd already implemented a comprehensive selection of graphics options that can be enabled/disabled in game, including AMD's FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) technology.

By trialling different FX options, I've been able to work out a good mix of effects and performance that currently allow the game to run around 30fps on the Neo.

There should be more performance to gain in the future (it's still early days development wise) but I already love playing Drone Warfare on the Aya Neo. It's going to be a great help when iterating through build testing as I can take it anywhere!

"Annnd Action!"

Here's a short clip (GIF) taken from my digicam:

The clip shows the game running with storm conditions enabled which are the most intensive in the game.

You can view a better quality (and longer) version of the above footage on YouTube. Please note that the sound captured by the digicam is pretty tinny so apologies for that!

The Future

It's going to be great seeing how Drone Warfare runs on the Steam Deck. I should hopefully be able to enable more effects AND deliver more performance.

I'll also be implementing touch input for the in game interface which will enable more usability than just the gamepad alone.

I'll post more updates regarding these in the future once further progress has been made. :)

Anyway, this is probably my last update for 2021 so I hope everyone has a safe, joyful, and peaceful Christmas holiday!

I'll catch up with you all again in 2022!

Cheers,

Faster Time Games.

Tactics

I've been looking at introducing tactical elements when attacking enemies that go beyond just unleashing your weapons and avoiding theirs.

By implementing defences for certain enemy types, some forethought is going to be needed when engaging them.

Enemy Classes

All enemies in Drone Warfare take the form of insects you find in nature, although they are usually much, much, larger than real life examples.

The current build of the game only features butterfly enemy types and of these there are 4 base/natural classes which have different stats (health/armour/speed/weapons/threat level) and are easily identifiable by their colours (Blue, Red, Green, and White).

Introducing the Prototypes

If you kill enough of the base/natural enemies then there's a chance that another class of enemies might appear - the prototypes:

Enemy prototypes are earlier versions of the natural looking enemies and have a chrome/metallic appearance to them. They are usually much tougher, and sometimes larger, than their base siblings.

The prototype versions of the butterflies also include missile flare countermeasures which are pretty effective at mis-directing your drone's missiles. Unleashing a full salvo of missiles at a prototype only to find them all wasted because of the countermeasures is pretty annoying to say the least! :)

Insectoid Classes

If the prototypes aren't challenging enough then prepare for the Insectoid classes! Each insect type includes an Insectoid class which is basically a boss level version of that enemy.

Insectoids usually come with special abilities or weapons. In the case of the butterflies, this is an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) defence that generates a spherical wave that quickly expands out from its center.

If the drone is caught in the wave then the HUD disappears and there is a temporary loss of flight control. This is similar to a nearby lightning strike during storm conditions (see the previous post).

The EMP is triggered by a damage limit. If the enemy receives enough damage in a given length of time, then the EMP is launched which disables the drone and any ground turret caught in its wave.

Couple that with a fairly decent health recharge rate, along with missile flares, and these insectoids can be pretty tricky to take down!

Thanks for reading,

Faster Time Games.