Observations

[WilliePete1]

I played the demo all weekend and I am very impressed! Combat gameplay is very addictive. It’s simple to play, but keeps you thinking. The combination of unique art and strategy make this game a real winner. I’m so happy to see that there will be a strategic layer(world map) which will provide even more depth to gameplay. I have a few questions/observation:

1) Larger battles. Will there be an option to control more than just 12 battle brothers? I really hope so, even if it’s 14 or 16 max would make a big difference. Bigger the battles the bigger the fun ;)

2) Battlefield types. As the game progresses and the player travels to ruins, will we be able to go and fight inside dungeons for example? Will there be any fighting done indoors at all? Might be a nice change of pace!

3) Release date. A big portion of the game is already done, about when can we expect to see the final game? I can’t wait! Any opportunities to beta test the full game?

4) More attention to detail. What I really like about Battle Brothers is all the little things, all the attention to detail. There are lots of little things going on, to look at and do. Things such as the different stages of battle damage, arrows sticking in the ground, howling wolf, ect. Please add more! I have one idea that that might make things more interesting. During a battle the battle brothers are quiet, while different enemies growl or howl, ect. I’d like to see Battle Brothers yell out things at different times during battle. Maybe when a Battle Brother kills an enemy with one blow of his two handed sword he gives a victor yell! Maybe another can call out “charge” or some other words of encouragement to motivate the others. Different yells or screams when seriously injured during a battle can spice things up. Remember, attention to detail!

[Rap]

Thanks for the kind words. I am impressed the demo kept you entertained all weekend – now that is encouraging for us to hear

WilliePete1 wrote:

1) Larger battles. Will there be an option to control more than just 12 battle brothers? I really hope so, even if it’s 14 or 16 max would make a big difference. Bigger the battles the bigger the fun

The current limit is set at 12 per battle because at some point managing more people could really strain the player’s ability to keep track of everything, not to mention rounds taking forever. That number is not set in stone, though, and we’ll see how it plays for a while and whether we should keep it like this.

WilliePete1 wrote:

2) Battlefield types. As the game progresses and the player travels to ruins, will we be able to go and fight inside dungeons for example? Will there be any fighting done indoors at all? Might be a nice change of pace!

Definately! Once we have all the basics in place we’ll add more terrain types for tactical maps, including indoor terrain (dungeons, caves, etc).

WilliePete1 wrote:

3) Release date. A big portion of the game is already done, about when can we expect to see the final game? I can’t wait! Any opportunities to beta test the full game?

The release date at this point depends heavily on when and how we can secure funding to go into full production. We’re aiming for a finished game in about a year from now. However, in all likelihood we’ll have an early access version quite some time before that which will allow you to play the game with most features in place and some content still left to add.

WilliePete1 wrote:

4) I have one idea that that might make things more interesting. During a battle the battle brothers are quiet, while different enemies growl or howl, ect. I’d like to see Battle Brothers yell out things at different times during battle. Maybe when a Battle Brother kills an enemy with one blow of his two handed sword he gives a victor yell! Maybe another can call out “charge” or some other words of encouragement to motivate the others. Different yells or screams when seriously injured during a battle can spice things up.

I think that’s a great idea. It has actually come up in our internal discussions before, but would obviously require a substantial amount of additional sounds. It’s not a high priority for us but something we’d like to do as we progress further on in development. A rich soundscape like that, imo, is important to have the battles feel lively especially in light of us having only very limited animations.

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[WilliePete1]

With so many games to choose from these days I feel some games just don’t get a chance to make it. Battle Brothers is a neat little game, and I’m sure once the word gets out it will see success like FTL. I’m surprised there isn’t more traffic in the forums.

This game should get attention from strategy/war game gamers as well as the RPG crowd. I’ll do my part and try to spread the word!

I’ve played the Demo 50-60 times now and can’t wait to see something new. If you need a dedicated play tester for the rest of the game, please consider me! I have the time and motivation. I love this little gem and would like to help in any way I can.

[Triandin]

Hi, if you need some support I’m available too. Everything here reminds me of my youth. It’s like an old pen and paper medieval RPG.

[Rap]

Great! What would help us the most right now is if you could help spread the word about the game and get people to give it a try. Like you said, there is not a lot of traffic here and few people seem to even know the game exists.

As a token of my appreciation, here is a work-in-progress preview of two new ways for Battle Brothers to die. Losing your favorite veteran guy should feel even more devastating this way. Decapitations can occur with some weapons on a killing blow to the head, and will prevent the poor guy from being raised again by a necromancer. This applies to many enemies as well.

Thank you guys!

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[WilliePete1]

Love the decapitations! Keep it coming! Rap, have you considered the strategy game publishers Matrix Games/Slitherine? I’m a bit ignorant when it comes to the business side of games, but it seems they sure can get the word out. I’ve bought several games from them in the past, they have a large community.

[Rap]

Yup, we have contacted them and several other publishers.

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[Triandin]

Moonstone on Amiga :)

[Rap]

Now that you mention it :D
I played that game a lot on my Amiga 600 when I was young. Couldn’t ever beat it. But it certainly left an impression on my young mind with its gruesome deaths.

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[Drustos]

Hey, just registered an account to say I think this game looks awesome and I’ve had a lot of fun with the combat demo so far. As a big fan of X-com and medieval RPGs, I’m really looking forward to further updates and am hopeful for the eventual release.

One thing I’ve noticed during the game is that, due to near constant distance issues and the way LOS and LOS blocking works, ranged weapons seem to almost always have a significantly lower to-hit rate than their melee counterparts – especially swords and spears – which doesn’t seem fair when they seem to do so little damage in comparison, and leave the archer so vulnerable without a shield, and having to switch weapons and eat up their AP when they are engaged.

And a question I wanted to ask: Since there are necromancers in the game, will the player ever be able to command a magic-user of their own?

[Rap]

That’s great to hear, welcome aboard!

I think the perception of ranged weapon damage at least might be somewhat skewed by the fact that the demo so prominently features skeletons as enemies who have a high resistance against ranged attacks (they only take 20% of the damage), even though they’re pretty fragile in melee (they take the full 100%, like all other enemies). Ranged weapons should work reasonably well against necromancers and the other non-skeleton enemies in the demo, also because none of them wear shields. A hit to the head will usually outright kill a necromancer and the weaker zombies.

Regarding ranged weapon accuracy, for the demo we just went with the same slightly above average value as the ranged skill for every Batle Brother. In the full game you’ll be able to specialize your Battle Brothers upon levelup by increasing their ranged skill and selecting from perks that synergize with their role and thereby increase their effectiveness in ranged combat. That said, being able to attack an opponent without him being able to retaliate can obviously be a huge advantage, one most melee weapons don’t have. The mechanics of a blocked line of fire then are also a way to keep it balanced and reward the player for good positioning.

The player won’t be able to command a magic-user in the sense of a wizard or similar. However, since we will have some magic items, and some of them will come with active skills, a Battle Brother could be specialized to be a magic-user this way. In general we want to keep the player side relatively down-to-earth powerwise. They’ll always be a bunch of regular mercenaries and adventurers – a few of which might just happen to carry magic artifacts. Magic aside, we’ll also keep expanding the player’s tactical options by adding more specialized weapons. This week we’ve added the Warhammer, which excels against armored opponents with two new and mechanically unique skills.

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[jesseerdmann]

Nothing really to say other than I am super excited for the full game and wanted to let you know you have another lurker. You know, so it feels less like shouting into a vacuum. Also, code faster or something. :)

[Rap]

=)

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