I'm a big Red Alert fan, that's how I got into RTS games back in 1996. But in all the RTS games I've played I never really saw soldiers use cover properly. It was always the same garrison buildings, or standing near a wall so the game counts it as cover.

So Defilade started out really simple, just soldiers using real cover, and it's grown a lot since then. Now it's a full RTS with base building, supply lines, tanks, helicopters and drones. It's heavily inspired by Red Alert 1 and Sudden Strike 2 , and I've always loved that 2D isometric look, so that's what I went for.

THE SOLDIERS

The soldiers in this game think for themselves. They take cover, lean around corners, save the wounded and much more!

Any wall, crate, car, wreck, trench or window works as cover, because they actually check the shapes around them. Behind a low wall they crouch and pop up to shoot, but if the wall is too tall they'll move to the corner and lean out instead.

Near misses keep their heads down and pin them in place, and when something explodes close by they flinch. Ammo runs out too, so a position that's running low starts firing single shots until it stops completely. Soldiers will also grab ammo off the bodies they walk past.

WOUNDED AND MEDICS

When a soldier gets hit badly he goes down screaming for a medic and starts bleeding out. If he's still got the strength he'll crawl to cover.

His squad puts down covering fire, then someone runs out and drags him back by the shoulders while another soldier walks backwards next to them shooting. The wounded guy even keeps firing his pistol while he's being dragged, that's one of my favourite things in the game. They also sometimes use smoke grenades to conceal their rescue attempt.

Once he's safe someone patches him up (medics are twice as fast) and he gets back up to fight. He gets weaker each time he goes down though, so he can't do it forever.

If you build a medic tent , stretcher bearers will run out and bring your soldiers back, even the ones who died. Two of them carry the stretcher, and if one gets shot the other one drags it the rest of the way. After a bit in the tent they limp back to base and they're ready to fight again.

PRISONERS

Soldiers can surrender, but it's rare. If a soldier is cut off and under fire and his whole squad is down, he might throw his rifle away and put his hands up.

When the Rebels capture one of your soldiers, they walk him into their tunnel system and interrogate him, and he'll give them actual live intel about your base, which you can see in a little chat dialog. Your side can take prisoners too, and they'll give up intel on the march back.

THE SMALL DETAILS

• Throw a grenade at a soldier and sometimes he'll pick it up and throw it straight back

• Explosions send soldiers flying, and some get back up all dazed and stumble around for a bit

• They vault walls, slide into cover, dive away from grenades and fight hand to hand up close

• Tanks smash right through walls and rounds bounce off the armour. If a track gets blown off the tank is stuck.

• FPV operators fly kamikaze drones into your soldiers and tanks. Your men can hear them coming and will try to shoot them down or dive out of the way at the last second

• Speech bubbles pop up when they shout orders or call for a medic

BASE BUILDING AND SUPPLY

Buildings don't just pop out of the ground here. You place one and your units have to walk over and build it by hand, even in the middle of a fight.

Your FOB (forward operating base) is the most important thing you've got. Your troops can fight from it and they run back to it for ammo. Finishing a new one raises your unit cap, and if you lose your last one it's game over.

Each FOB you finish lays its own road back to your lines and supply trucks start driving it. Supply pays for your units and buildings, so if the enemy ambushes your trucks or cuts the road, the FOBs past that point stop getting supplies. I personally haven't seen a supply system done like this in an RTS before.

You can build barracks, factories, research buildings, helipads and medic tents, and dig in with trenches, concrete walls, wire, mines, tank traps, MG nests and watchtowers. The Rebels can even build complex tunnel systems.

All of it can be shot to pieces and repaired, and any FOB can be captured by whoever walks in and holds it. The AI plays by the same rules as you, and it will come after your FOBs.

MULTIPLAYER

And yes, multiplayer is coming and it's already working! You can play co-op with a friend against the AI, or against each other.

WHAT'S COMING

The main focus is still single player though. The big goal is a grand campaign on one huge fictional map set in modern times, blue vs red, with two superpowers fighting proxy wars to take over a big country. Your soldiers will level up and carry over from mission to mission, and if one of them dies he's gone for good, so you get really attached to your guys.

I'm also a musician and producer, so I'm making the soundtrack myself.

I post new stuff on the Discord all the time, so come hang out there. And if you like what you see, a wishlist really helps me out. Thanks for checking it out!