BrokenFiction
Member
If you'll stop me first.
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Harebrained (Shadowrun, DragonFall) bringing back BattleTech to PCs
- Thread starter BrokenFiction
- Start date
- Status
If you'll stop me first.
Poodlestrike
Banned
The one downside of this is that it makes it unlikely that MS' mysterious strategy game is a new MechCommander, but I suppose that was always fairly unlikely.
Still... Harebrained, Battletech, Turn-based strategy.
Worth it!
We're all on the same page - I can't wait to see what the Kickstarter looks like and what kind of state the game is in at this point.
His Majesty
Banned
This is amazing news.
FrontalMonk
Banned
Oh man, I remember playing a little bit of Crescent Hawk's Inception and a LOT of Crescent Hawk's Revenge back in the day. This is SO backed.
Yup this is the important part. No way can I turn down a KS for this.
Looking at the art, the Federated Suns banners really stand out. This would date the setting to a period when the Federated Commonwealth wasn't extant. So that would put it either before the end of the Fourth Succession War or after the Great Refusal. So unless they decide to set this game during the FedCom Civil War, it will be a new conflict that hasn't been covered in a narrative-based video game before. It'd be really awesome to see a 3rd/4th Succession War game, but one with all the Jihad-era craziness would be great as well. Given that Jordan Wiesman is the main creative force behind this game, I suspect that it will be the former.
For folks wanting to get some mech commander action on, they were both released as Freeware back in the day.
http://web.archive.org/web/20060614023910/http:/www.mechcommander.org/downloads.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060614023910/http:/www.mechcommander.org/downloads.html
Poodlestrike
Banned
Adding on to this, MechCommander 1, Gold, and 2 have the added benefit of being freeware, if you can track down a download that's still up.
EDIT: Beaten, lol.
Urge to download... rising...
Imperfected
Member
I have to give kudos to their producer, mostly. They have done an excellent job of scoping their games to actually be able to deliver on their intentions in a timely fashion.
They're actually a really good model for responsible/sustainable crowd-funded games, in comparison to the hugely-ambitious dream projects.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Agreed. The Hong Kong kickstarter was the best run I've ever seen. They've got good business sense, which is definitely to be commended.
irfaanator
Banned
I'm hype
They learned their lesson when they almost bankrupted themselves doing Shadowrun Returns.
alexandros
Banned
I wouldn't go that far. PC gaming has room for everything but I also kind of agree because I am a huge fan of more traditional PC games. X-Com (the original) is my favorite game of all time and turn-based strategy and cRPGs are my favorite genres.
ColonelSkills
Member
I recently got back in to tabletop after a decade haitus and let me tell you, it's not a cheap hobby.
There's a rabbit hole about a mile deep you can fall into. If you value your wallet, steer clear.
Starlord 84
Banned
Isn't the producer the main guy behind the 90s Shadowrun games? Seems like he would have tons of experience and expertise by now especially coming from the golden age of gaming.
Jordan Weisman co-founded Fasa back in the '80s, and Fasa was responsible for creating Battletech, Shadowrun, Renegade Legion and Earthdawn. However, it should be noted that the golden age of gaming, as far as it pertains to game design in board and role-playing games, is right now. Back in the day, games used to have all sorts of clunky game mechanics and poor balance.
Imperfected
Member
FASA was (arguably) not very well-managed, much like TSR and the other classic companies. To be honest, he probably learned more about responsible small project management from the "indie" turn that RPGs have taken since FASA ceased to exist.
There is some transferability of skills between being a small-scale tabletop designer and an indie developer: they both tend to be labors of love, and they're both prone to massively over-scoping the available resources if the designers aren't careful and conservative. A lot of tabletop games are actually experimenting with Kickstarter as a model these days, even.
Starlord 84
Banned
Doesn't Golden Age refer to the first big era? Wouldn't this be like the Silver Age or Modern Age or something?
Keep in mind I know the term from comics and animation so maybe Golden Age has a different definition with everything else
MichaelFassbender
Member
Hatebrained are the right team for this job. I have absolute faith that they can pull this off with style.
Traditionally a Golden Age is an age of prosperity, progress and achievement like the Islamic Golden Age. So in that sense he is correct. Tabletop gaming has never been better.
Imperfected
Member
Outside of comics, "Golden Age" is a fairly common term for "historical nostalgia"; ie, most cultures speak of a Golden Age at some point in their history where they were at the height of their power and influence before an inevitable collapse. (You know, like some kind of Clan War or something.)
As opposed to a discrete era, as in comics, people rarely agree about historical Golden Ages. (That is, was the Golden Age of Europe the height of the Greek Classical period, or the furthest expansion of the Roman Empire? Was the Golden Age of Japan the Tokugawa Shogunate, or the Meiji Restoration, or the semi-mythical pre-Sengoku Emprie? Is America currently in a Golden Age, or was America's Golden Age the 1950's and 1960's?) As a result, it's often dismissed entirely as being a fabrication of nostalgia, or used in a purely figurative sense as "the period at which things were at their best they ever would be".
As opposed to a discrete era, as in comics, people rarely agree about historical Golden Ages. (That is, was the Golden Age of Europe the height of the Greek Classical period, or the furthest expansion of the Roman Empire? Was the Golden Age of Japan the Tokugawa Shogunate, or the Meiji Restoration, or the semi-mythical pre-Sengoku Emprie? Is America currently in a Golden Age, or was America's Golden Age the 1950's and 1960's?) As a result, it's often dismissed entirely as being a fabrication of nostalgia, or used in a purely figurative sense as "the period at which things were at their best they ever would be".
Backed-
For a second I thought there was a Robotech episode I missed. Gotta love all those legal shenanigans with mech/mecha usage.
Femmeworth
Banned
Turn based mecha action? Yes please.
Fixed.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Damn straight.
Harebrained has absolutely earned some goodwill. One of the few Kickstarter-based studios that consistently knock their projects out of the park. They have managed to accomplish so much with so little. Part of me wonders what they could do with a publisher and a real budget, but then the other part of me worries that they would implode if the game wasn't a hit.
BrokenFiction
Member
I agree with both statements here. I want them to succeed on their own terms as much as humanly possible (and I'm not sure things wouldn't get bungled with a big publisher). They're earned an enormous amount of cache from me with their game quality, communication successes and management - and I'll fund this with big dollars.
I played years worth of tabletop BT and this is getting funded by hook or crook.
Damn. This is all over my face material.
The only other checkbox I'd like to see that is almost completely impossible in this circumstance (although it shouldn't be) is VR support.
Yes, I want to see little mech miniatures running across a virtual table top. That'd be... the ultimate.
The only other checkbox I'd like to see that is almost completely impossible in this circumstance (although it shouldn't be) is VR support.
Yes, I want to see little mech miniatures running across a virtual table top. That'd be... the ultimate.
Passive Assassin
Member
ooh ooh ooooho
exmachina64
Banned
HBS keeps knocking it out of the park, they have my money.
pantsonhead
Member
God dammit, just when I get out, these fuckers are pulling me back in. Gonna back it when the time comes.
Imperfected
Member
This isn't MechWarior, though. It's BattleTech!
Stiler
Member
Dang, was hoping for a real time mech game.
Seems such a shame that we really haven't got a good modern real time mechwarrior style game that actually makes use of physics and environmental destruction (Imagine a Battlefield BC2 style environment and giant mechs).
Still hope this game turns out well.
Seems such a shame that we really haven't got a good modern real time mechwarrior style game that actually makes use of physics and environmental destruction (Imagine a Battlefield BC2 style environment and giant mechs).
Still hope this game turns out well.
Cameron122
Member
OH LORT
MulderYuffie
Member
I need this
Doomedfool
Member
And now we are so happy we do the dance of joy!
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