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“One cannot measure progress by lines on a map.”

General William C. Westmoreland

The Slush Force started out 3 years ago as a pandemic-era project to pass time and learn programming. Initial prototypes of this game were a 2-D platformer type of thing (think along the lines of “Super Mario clone”).

This video was from 2 years ago, and it seems quite hard to believe that even in the first year of development, so much evolution occurred!

In those 3 years, there have been plenty of ups and downs and even moments where the project was almost aborted.

But thankfully, it still remains standing.

Learning to design and program this game has spanned much of my college, graduate school, and post-graduation career.

I guess progress indeed cannot be measured by lines on a map…

Stay turned for what happens tomorrow (22 December).

What is Planned for at Release

At this point in time, the core mechanics of

The Slush Force are completed, and a good part of the campaign is ready with a sizeable remainder still in development (balancing, playtesting, und so weiter).

The first and second campaigns will be available at release, along with a corresponding set of Steam achievements.

The missions in the first campaign covers the initial contacts with, and apparent victory over, alien forces.

Unfortunately, the threat posed by the apparently incompetent alien invasion is overlooked. Shortly thereafter, they return in force…

The second campaign deals with larger scale combat against this much stronger invasion, including tank combat, airstrikes, artillery, and grinding urban combat.

But even then, you seem to have a strange asymmetrical advantage that the aliens do not…

Roadmap for the Future

Next year will be an exciting year for The Slush Force, with major updates planned that will bring the game into its final state.

The first major update for the game will be planned to release at the end of January or beginning of February. This will contain the third campaign, which will introduce significant amounts of new fire support options and a very different way of playing the game.

The second major update is anticipated for the end of February or beginning of March, containing the fourth campaign, which will bring the story to a potentially explosive conclusion.

Any bugfixes may be included in each major update, or any number of small hotfixes.

Please feel free to report any bugs that you find by contacting the support email.

One (or more) sequel(s) is (are) also in the works, potentially focused on (i) air combat and/or (ii) exploration of the alien teleportation portals. Stay tuned for more news on those sometime next year…

In the meantime, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all who have followed this project, whether you have been around for years or just came across this page today.

Happy hunting!

In the previous update, we talked about the use of combat aviation to help win difficult fights. Now, it is time to switch gears and talk about less obvious factors that impact combat readiness.

There is a saying that “all battles are won in the mind”. In The Slush Force, this is not entirely true.

However, we cannot ignore the reality that morale and psychological factors are indeed very important for combat effectiveness.

Morale Damage

Obviously, it is stressful to be shot at! All weapons in The Slush Force deal some amount of suppression. Near-misses are somewhat damaging to morale, but direct hits cause extreme panic.

Generally, vehicle-mounted weapons, as well as explosives (such as those you see on tanks and planes) are the most effective at suppression. Alien weapons are also quite intimidating.

The Effects of Stress

As you probably guessed, stress is not the best factor for high performance!

The speed at which soldiers become stressed out is determined by various factors, including their training, their own bravery, and their brothers-in-arms.

Seeing death and destruction is good for the mind, and your troops’ performance will get worse under these stressful conditions. For instance, they might miss more frequently, find it harder to reload, may refuse to advance forwards, or in extreme cases could even run from the battlefield.

Tactical Implications

Artillery, vehicles, or aircraft can all be used tactically to suppress a very powerful enemy unit and harm their fighting ability. More numerous enemy units could also be suppressed so that you can defeat them in detail. Not every round needs to hit the target to leave an impact!

That’s all for now, stay tuned for more coming soon!

Development is continuing, with more vehicles in the process of being added. Here is a short segment of combat footage from an early morning ambush. The vehicle mounted machine gun is apparently quite a powerful tool.

More features will be coming soon, stay tuned!

[CONFIDENTIAL – NOT APPROVED FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE]

ATTN: ALL DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL DEFENSE UNIT COMMANDERS

This footage was recorded in an engagement between soldiers from 17th Reserve Division and an extraterrestrial element of unclear composition. The aliens exhibit aggressive behavior. Squad received significant casualties during the encounter, but were able to neutralize the threat.

This is a notice that the extraterrestrials are hostile and should not be dealt with lightly. More directives to follow.

[END TRANSMISSION]

Fighting against aliens is tough work. But it is even harder if you lack the proper weapons!

Today I would like to show you the design of the armory. Here is where you can view and study your soldier’s loadouts. In the near future, you will be able to change their weapons as well, based on what you have access to in your inventory.

Be sure to like and subscribe to the Youtube channel to keep up to date!

Welcome! The site is currently under construction, we will provide more updates shortly.