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Battletech |KS| Turn-based tactical mech combat, Harebrained Schemes, Summer 2017
- Thread starter Lime
- Start date
inorite
Maybe they could do cheapo 1080p60 remasters of MechAssault 1/2. Or bring back Mechwarrior 4/mercs at least.
Yeah, I was quite impressed when they mentioned that. That's some pretty HQ asset sharing there.
KyanMehwulfe
Member
awesome to see everything get funded, congrats HBS
Maybe they could do cheapo 1080p60 remasters of MechAssault 1/2. Or bring back Mechwarrior 4/mercs at least.
I'm sorry, but Mechassault 1 and 2 are at the lowest bottom of priorities in terms of resurrecting the old games. They had almost nothing to do with Battletech, but was more of an excuse to do a purely arcade-action game with robots and force shields.
MechAssault 2 was frigging fun game.
Would love to play it again. On PC, if possible, with higher resolution at very least.
Sure, it wasn't really Battletech but man the 'mech unit models were good and it made weight classes nicely different.
And the Battle Armor was really fun to use.
Speaking of Battle Armor, does Mechwarrior: Living Legends still have players?
EDIT At times, it feels like i'm the only hardcore Battletech fan who actually like Mech Assault (at least the second one, never got to play the first one).
ColonelSkills
Member
There are dozens of you. Dozens!
I'm not one of them, though. The balance in that game is hilariously awful. One of the first games I played on XBL, and all I can remember is how OP mechjacking was.
The first game is even more simple than the second. Less variety but the same point and shoot mechanics.
FrontalMonk
Banned
All I really remember about MA2 was playing multiplayer, mechjacking someone, and that one singular act being enough to make me go "yep, this game is great."
I'm sure that it had horrible balance, and probably wasn't even a very good game, but damn it was fun.
Mechassault 1 had decent balance, the arcadey feel of it was great. Every mech had a niche and you could pick your mech at the start of a multiplayer match. It was a lot of fun, and it was one of the first xbox live games too. One of the better selling OG Xbox games, to boot. Campaign was fun even if the story was nonsense(I remember it had something to do with the word of blake?).
Mechassault 2 brought some decent ideas to the table(Vtols, supply drops using vtols, and tanks) but it was, indeed, a mess balance-wise. From what I understand it sold worse than mechassault 1, which is probably what prompted microsoft to abandon the IP the way they did despite the fact that 1 sold well and hooked people into xbox live subs.
Neither of them have the sim elements, battletech lore, and sandbox of mechwarrior, which is why most mechwarrior fans seem to hate them. Personally, Mechwarrior Online is the only battletech game I outright hate.
Sure, but it'd be relatively easy to do in practically all ways. Can't say that about the earlier titles, which you're well aware of. Basically, the low hanging fruit, and at least feasible for a low budget.
Mech4/mercs might even be easier.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the Mech 2 series, but all the shit they have to deal with to get them back just makes it a drek load less likely to happen than the titles directly developed under Microsoft.
It's not about priority, just what's practical/feasible.
Backer Kit is up for the people who missed out on donating
Looks like they raised 23K just from Backerkit - I assume that's on top of the Kickstarter campaign
Looks like they raised 23K just from Backerkit - I assume that's on top of the Kickstarter campaign
So as it turned out Night Dive did look into the classic FASA stuff at one point and hit the exact same walls HBS did.
Really? You got a source for that?
I do, the source is me, I'll DM it to you.
Not a problem and thanks for helping pass the news along.
dancrane212
Member
Is it an impassible wall or something that could get eventually sorted out?
Well, for starters you have to get Microsoft and Topps to play nice on the legacy stuff and further back you have the likes of Activision as well and the sense that has been gotten is that it is not worth the time and effort.
Night Dive managed to get the nightmare scenario of System Shock sorted out and gave up on this. This is knowing that Mechwarrior 2 sold several orders of magnitudes more copies then both system shocks combined ever did (and thus a rerelease would do very well).
That should tell you everything you need to know.
EDIT: I believe it was on Matt Chat that Weiseman said that to this day, Mechwarrior 2 has sold more units then any other game in Activision's history. So yea, if Night Dive gave up on that, then it must be an impossible situation.
I went through that interview that Shard hosts and while it's a really good show, unfortunately their talk doesn't bring much to light other than the fact that Night Dive Studios once at some point in time looked into getting the Mechwarrior 2 series released in some form, but as far as the dude could recall, it was complicated because of the involvement between 3 companies: Microsoft, Activision, and a 3rd company he couldn't remember. The host assumes the third company is Topps, but I think this is incorrect, since Topps only own the physical (non-digital) rights to Battletech, not the digital / video game rights. Why would they have anything to do with something that isn't part of their rigths / legal domain?
Unfortunately that's the only thing that's mentioned or talked about in regards to getting the Mechwarrior 2 games released digitally, not the rest of the series. I would have loved to hear more about their work into getting MW2 (presumably?) but the guy seemed to have trouble recalling what happened and didn't comment much on it because the discussion turned into who Michael Eisner was.
In the interview, Night Dive Studios didn't comment on Mechcommander (which is straightforward legally) or Mechwarrior 3 or 4 (where the latter is also straight forward). So I don't think this particular thing has been properly addressed or cleared up completely.
Not necessarily. The complication is intermediating between 3 different companies and NDS have accomplished this before (see System Shock 2). Based on the fact that the NDS dude couldn't recall it properly, I don't think they have been actively pursuing it other than trying to clear up the legal status. If it was a higher priority with them, just like NOLF was, the pursuit might gain some traction at NDS.
Unfortunately that's the only thing that's mentioned or talked about in regards to getting the Mechwarrior 2 games released digitally, not the rest of the series. I would have loved to hear more about their work into getting MW2 (presumably?) but the guy seemed to have trouble recalling what happened and didn't comment much on it because the discussion turned into who Michael Eisner was.
In the interview, Night Dive Studios didn't comment on Mechcommander (which is straightforward legally) or Mechwarrior 3 or 4 (where the latter is also straight forward). So I don't think this particular thing has been properly addressed or cleared up completely.
Not necessarily. The complication is intermediating between 3 different companies and NDS have accomplished this before (see System Shock 2). Based on the fact that the NDS dude couldn't recall it properly, I don't think they have been actively pursuing it other than trying to clear up the legal status. If it was a higher priority with them, just like NOLF was, the pursuit might gain some traction at NDS.
Given that Mechwarrior 2 would be by far the biggest thing Night Dive has resurrected, I'd assume it would be a priority if it were possible.
Thanks so much for doing that interview, Shard. I think you misunderstood what Jordan Weisman meant when he said that Topps was a complication when doing the Kickstarter for Battletech. It wasn't that Topps have any influence on the video game (Microsoft is responsible for that), but that Topps needed to approve every single physical Battletech product related to the Kickstarter.
That is why this Kickstarter had so few if any physical rewards (a flight jacket and some banners are seriously the only fucking thing, which is quite laughable considering other Kickstarter rewards).
So Topps doesn't have anything to do with the re-releases of Mechwarrior 2 or any other games, unless someone wants to make a physical product related to it or Battletech in general. At least that's my understanding based on what I've read and heard in different interviews.
The guy seemed pretty care-free and unspecific about it, and he seemed to have a hard time recalling the case as if it wasn't important or prioritized. Besides, NDS already went ahead with doing work on NOLF despite having 3 companies to juggle with until Warner Bros fucked it all up. But I'm probably overreading that little statement by the guy from NDS. I would have loved to hear more about it in detail.
dancrane212
Member
The MechAssault hate is misplaced. It was a BattleTech game for the Arcade genre. Was it MechWarrior? No, but it wasn't meant to be, just as MechCommander wasn't meant to be MechWarrior. If you've never given it a fair chance yourself, try it out. It may surprise you. The time frame is a bit out there in terms of lore, but the story's solid, and the gameplay's fun.
crazyrabbits
Banned
Ended up jumping in for the second-chance $85 tier. Looking forward to the finished product.
afternoon delight
Member
Yeah, can't wait for the "3 schema PDFs for 20$" to be sent out so my walls can be pritty.
There should be tour of the Harebrained Schemes studio later today via Periscope. There was a test of the app last night where it was announced. Here is the link to that.
https://www.periscope.tv/w/aW2rnDFv...HTNls0mSMQCDfrDEj9EN384DwDS-qCM_mFM-I0Q7COLtN
Assuming when they go live later it should be announced on their twitter. https://twitter.com/WeBeHarebrained
https://www.periscope.tv/w/aW2rnDFv...HTNls0mSMQCDfrDEj9EN384DwDS-qCM_mFM-I0Q7COLtN
Assuming when they go live later it should be announced on their twitter. https://twitter.com/WeBeHarebrained
Poodlestrike
Banned
I love it, but this stuck out to me:
That's actually pretty small for something described as "cavernous." ~50 x 50 x 10.
And 20 is tiny.
That's actually pretty small for something described as "cavernous." ~50 x 50 x 10.
And 20 is tiny.
This is going to be a long wait. Trying to find something similar to play until then but not having any luck. I don't want to dig out my original Xbox to play Mechassult and MechWarrior Online is kinda eh being nothing but pure PvP. Being tossed into the deep end isn't really encouraging.
I would also temper the expectations - I have a hard time believing the game will be launch-ready in May a year from now. A year is a long time, sure, but making a game from scratch with a new Unity toolset can't be accomplished this fast, I imagine.
Fall 2017 is my personal expectation, but we'll see.
True it might be longer then expected.
This was posted up on youtube a little while ago. A previsualization of the BATTLETECH Argo-Class DropShip. No sound but good look at what things would look like. It's on the kickstarter page in the latest update but figured I'd post the link directly to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5OdR033_MI
This was posted up on youtube a little while ago. A previsualization of the BATTLETECH Argo-Class DropShip. No sound but good look at what things would look like. It's on the kickstarter page in the latest update but figured I'd post the link directly to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5OdR033_MI
BrokenFiction
Member
oh my fucking god at that concept art and dropship description
Damn, this was so worth backing.
<3 Harebrained <3
oh my god oh my god.
Okay, I need to go dark on this game - I'm getting too hyped and spoiled about this game.
TC McQueen
Member
The thing that actually has me hyped more is the fact that the books are coming to ePub. It's about fucking time someone brought the things back in a more accessible format.
I think it's all a matter of perspective. If you're used to 25000 m3 cargo bays then that's probably not going to seem that large but if they're mostly 20 m3 then yeah that's gonna seem pretty cavernous.
Also these may be meant to act discreet shipping containers and that 20m3 is roughly the same size as shipping containers we use today.
Or the person who wrote the thing may have just been plain wrong lol