The Nuclear Dawn trailer, at long last, is ready, released, and live.

Don't be afraid, press the big play button at the top of the Nuclear Dawn home page - it's going to make the wait and anticipation worth it, as we finally release a full look at the game's tactical combat, vehicles, RTS interface and control schemes... the works.

For more information and media, as ever, visit out blogs section - or drop us a line on the Steampowered.com forums. We're waiting!

With the trailer preparations and raw footage shoots done, we can finally resume our scheduled transmissions. Let’s take things up a notch, as we reveal one of Nuclear Dawn’s most treacherous maps.

Every map in Nuclear Dawn is inspired, and often outright copied, by and from real life locations. The launch map pack will cover a wide spread of real world cities and points of interest. The first one we'll talk about in detail hails from the former republic that was on the other side of a cold war a long, long time ago.

There are certain subjects that one expects to discuss in the rarefied echelon of game production. Player models. Weapons. Particle effects and complex shaders. Lofty, technical, intricate issues – humble props would not normally be featured in such glorified company.

However, as it happens, props are probably the single most important element of any level. Sure, each Nuclear Dawn stage is loaded with effects, scripts, particles and animations – but underneath it all, supporting the illusions of prettiness, are good old props.

In game-making terms, just as in movies, a prop is a supporting model: the lonely table in the corner of the room, the broken-down vehicle just out of your sight, the humble empty bottle of water on the floor. A few well designed and expertly conceived props can make or break the sense of immersion and realism of any scene or level.

So, Nuclear Dawn is going to blend RTS and FPS in titillating ways that no game has pulled off before. It's set in post-apocalyptic real-world cities, and it features a carefully balanced class-based combat system that will rain fiery strategy on the spawn campers and tea-baggers out there.

It takes more than awesome to make a game, however, so here's a more detailed look at some of Nuclear Dawn's other features:

• Achievements: with a tiered achievements system that unlocks new weapons and abilities on completion of specific objectives, it will be a while before players unlock their favourite classes' full potential, and even longer before every secret, power-up and hidden weapon is in their greedy, murderous hands.
  

In Nuclear Dawn, commanders are elected players whose task it is to manage and develop their faction’s war machine, from the home base to the outposts that guard important strategic elements, down to the supply routes that deliver key equipment to the troops in the field.

In order to carry out their tasks efficiently, they have at their disposal a wide range of different building types and structures, each of which can be upgraded in various ways, or powered up with special annexes that extend base functionality, to better bring pain to their enemies. For peace, of course.

Without a doubt, the most important building in a faction’s base is the Bunker. Heavily armoured and connected with flying nano cameras that give the a floating bird’s eye view of the battlefield, the Bunker is the one building that cannot be replaced or built anywhere else, which makes it the primary goal of every Nuclear Dawn battle.

During the design and pre-production phases of Nuclear Dawn, a lot of care went into distilling the essence of strategy games, the real time kind, and ensuring that we would be presenting players with an experience that would allow them to focus on the tactical possibilities of building outposts and bases, without getting lost in the impulse of dumping a billion building options on them.

In the frantic, merciless warfare that is every Nuclear Dawn game, commanders need to be able to make snap decisions on how to best protect their troops and assets, without being mired down in pointless technical choices.