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New updates for Ardra (the RTS mini-game on Unity) - August 17, 2026

Hello everyone. It's me Antony, back with a new blog in 2026. We are now on August 16 - past the half of 2026.

For this Blog, I'm going to talk about the RTS mini-game that I've been working a long time ago and share you new images. I made some major updates for the RTS mini-game, highlighting the training buildings (Barracks, Priory, Lesser Demon Portal, Warriors Hut and Graveyard), the main buildings (Town Hall, Necropolis and later the Clans Hall) and the HUD.






As you can see, the Town Hall, Barracks and Priory can now train their respective units. Since I'm using XML files for Ardra's data library for the units and buildings - later the resource nodes (Gold Deposit, Stone Deposit, Tree and Crystal Formation), it's easier for the building to read its information by the assigned ID, including the option of training units; as well the workers being capable of building structures and units being capable of casting spells / abilities and attacking other units and structures.







Same thing for the Orc buildings (Warriors Hut), the Chaos buildings (Lesser Demon Portal and Hall of Temptations) and the Nekrul buildings (Necropolis and Graveyard). They are also presenting the information for training their units.

For the main structures, I had to add a second C# script - the TrainingBuilding.cs, to complement the StorageBuilding.cs. The idea is: since they fill the role of receiving the gathered resources and training units, they will use these two scripts that inherit information from StaticUnit.cs - which, in turn, inherits from BaseUnit.cs.

At first, I thought of creating a script that could inherit from TrainingBuilding.cs and StorageBuilding.cs, but it would be a bit tricky. Instead, I had to go for the two scripts into one prefab.

Another change is the Justicar and a move indicator.


Just like my other Human units, I made the animations for the Justicar. You can see her praying on her kneel while using her mace as support. Minor changes included a texture for their shields, as well for the Soldier.

For the move indicator (similar to the WarCraft 3, StarCraft 2 and other RTS games), I created an arrow in Gimp and imported it to Unity as an UI / Sprite. Using the Animation tools, the arrows move to the center where the tips are pointed. I tried to make them to bent in a curve, but it didn't work as I expected since it is a 2D image.

Although I didn't take any screenshot after this one, I made some animations for the Orc Laborer - especially the gathering, building / repairing, moving and in-idle (both with and without carrying resources). I also made its tools with a rustic / primitive design in contrast to the human ones. I plan to share its renders here in the future.

I plan to continue working on the animations for the other units before the combat system is ready.

Speaking on the Orcs, I finally concluded the Clans Hall.




Looks good, right? I added some details in the Bump texture - mainly the leather coating, tusks, stones and wood. The design was inspired a little on the Orc Great Hall from WarCraft 3 and the Omnivore Hut from Spore during the Tribal Stage. This is going to be the third Orc building after the Hut.

Other units I made are:

Landsknecht:




Mage:

Celestial:




Devourer:




Lacerator:




Minion:




Pretty cool, right? I decided to make more units to the Humans and Chaos factions. The idea for the Minion is to be the main work-force while the Cultist would be the builder. Unlike my other Minecraft-style units, the Minion is the only one with an assymetrical design - a big right arm, a stretched left tentacle, a small right leg and a large left foot.

Similar to the concept.

The Lacerator reminded me the Zerg Hydralisk by its tail and bladed arms, with a small difference being the head; and the Devourer was inspired on the Cacodemon from Doom with some minor changes.

The Celestial was a bit tricky to make - mainly its angelic wings. But I enjoyed making him and his sword. I plan to include him as the Champion unit for the Human faction. (yeah, Heroes of Might and Magic vibes)

Before concluding this Blog, I'll share you the recent screenshots from the game project in test.
















































Alright. What I got is: I finally got the HUD working back to load the informations from the selected unit / building / resource node. And yes, I made an XML file dedicated to the resources. The only node missing are the trees since I didn't assigned an ID for it. Still, it's looking great.

The major drawback was the main structures (Town Hall, Clans Hall and Necropolis). Man, it was a pain in my back while trying to solve the problem of not loading its Icon, Name and HP (Hit Point) values.

A similar situation was trying to understand why it wasn't allowing the GUI button to train workers (Town Hall - Villager, Necropolis - Carrion Beetle, Clans Hall - Laborer). As I would say in Portuguese: "Vai ser aquela novela. / Vai ser daqueles partos difíceis." (something similar to: This is going to be a pain.) Yet, I finally solve it after many attempts,

The most bizarre mistake was the selected unit not showing the HP (initally set as 00 / 00), but when selecting the Sister, Chaplain, Lich, Banshee or Succubus, it was showing 150 / 150. And I was like: What the...? Trying to solve what was going on, then I learned I duplicated the line from the XMLParser.cs where it reads the HP values - adjusting the copy to read the MP (Magic Points), but forgeting to change Hp to Mp. :P

At last, the HUD is working nice.
HUD 1.0

Comparing the first version to the new one, the name is colored in yellow and it's showing the HP (green bar) and MP (light blue bar). Personally I didn't enjoy the design for the bar, which was later changed.

Another change was the addition of the selection by Shift + Mouse 1 for adding another unit while one is being selected and Ctrl + Mouse 1 for adding the units by its type.

Corrections and new additions are giving some interesting things to the mini-game. I know there's more to be done. What I need to do is:

* Adding the attack, defense and speed values to the HUD while the unit / building / resource node (in this case, the resources left to gather from that node + resource icon) is being selected by the player.
Concept for the info panel and the different types of attack and defense.

Concept for the HUD based in some RTS games.

Concept for the HUD according to the factions.

* Adding the icons for commanding actions (Stop, Move, Attack, Hold Position, Patrol, Cancel Order, Harvest, Deliver Resource, Repair, Build Construction and the skills).
Concept for the HUD buttons.

* Animating the buildings in order to make the building sequence, destruction and training.
* Adding the combat system, HP (hit point or simply health point), MP (magic point = Mana point), attack and its types (melee, ranged, siege, magical and heroic), defense and its types (unarmored, light, medium, heavy, heroic and fortified) and magical elements (fire, water, earth, wind, light and dark).
* Adding new particle systems for fire, blood, spells and others (although some spells, buffs and debuffs can be made with UI / Sprites).
* Adding more units and buildings to the other factions and the current ones.
* Adding the Multiplayer option for other players to join the match.

Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoy it. I'll be back with more Blogs in this year - if nothing change in order to make me occupied like job, studies and civil service exams. I plan to share more artworks and other things I did in my time. Until the time comes, you will be surprised to see it. See you next time.


Note: Don't you dare to download these images and re-share it without my permission. If you do, please, leave the original author name.
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