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Battletech |KS| Turn-based tactical mech combat, Harebrained Schemes, Summer 2017

Lucifon

Junior Member
I don't usually back Kickstarters...but I happily backed Shadowrun Hong Kong and will more than comfortably support these guys making this. I feel confident they can pull it off. I loved Mechwarrior back in the day.
 
Please have tanks and VTOL and infantry and orbital bombardment and jumpships and and and and support vehicles and..... pleasepleaseplaseplasepleaseplaese...:!!!
 

deleted

Member
I'm slightly worried about the combat mechanics in this one.
It was the weakest link in the Shadowrun games, but it didn't really matter, because everything else was so good.
Here it seems to be the core element and they are not sure yet how to tackle it yet.
I love me some turn based combat though and I love what Harebrained did with their last games and how they improved. I backed this at the entry level.

Heartwarming to see the success of it so far. A solid Multiplayer would be amazing. Seems like HS have their second pillar now. Crimson Skies next? ;)

I'd love for the game to have the painted concept art look in the game too. Maybe that's possible, even with a full 3D build?
 
Can you ask about destructible environments? Not terrain, but buildings and structures. Would be cool if a falling mech would crash though a building or city blocks would be leveled by missile barrages, stuff like that

IIRC, they already confirmed that they're doing that?

These are the mechs they plan to include so far



Here's the MW:O art by Flying Debris that HBS are going to use:

Light mechs mentioned:


Medium mechs mentioned (no Wolverine):

Ah, good old reliable Raven.
 

Wedge7

Member
Backed!

Agree with pretty much everyone else that the real game starts once they manage to hit $1,850,000. May increase the pledge later depending if they add some more backer rewards as time passes.
 

Sijil

Member
These are the mechs they plan to include so far



Here's the MW:O art by Flying Debris that HBS are going to use:

Light mechs mentioned:


Medium mechs mentioned (no Wolverine):

As a primarily Assault/Heavy pilot those light mech send shivers down my spine, little bastards just won't get hit.
 
Backed!

Agree with pretty much everyone else that the real game starts once they manage to hit $1,850,000. May increase the pledge later depending if they add some more backer rewards as time passes.
If that's the true goal, then they're 50% funded in less than 24 hours. I think we'll reach that

And once we reach the story campaign goal (likely today), the smaller sub-goals are going to be things like legendary Mechwarriors/mech
 

epmode

Member
Yeah, but the KS was first, right? Didn't SC dev site crowdfunding come after the Kickstarter finished? I wasn't into Kickstarter back then

KS came several days after the main campaign started. The original site couldn't handle the traffic + CIG wanted to reach the people that refused to back on anything but KS.

edit: Oh, someone else got it.
 
These are the mechs they plan to include so far



Here's the MW:O art by Flying Debris that HBS are going to use:

Light mechs mentioned:


Medium mechs mentioned (no Wolverine):
Those mech designs looks so cool. I love the more grounded weathered look over the over-the-top Gundam style
 

nubbe

Member
Updating old 80's designs is a good thing
Would you really put fingers on a war machine instead of a big fucking gun? :p
 

Lime

Member
No UE4. Le sigh.

I completely understand this objection from a technical and visual perspective, but considering that HBS already has much more experience with Unity from the Shadowrun games, I imagine we will have better and perhaps more polished gameplay features with Unity than with Unreal. Switching to Unreal would probably mean that they would have to use more time and resources on getting to know the engine and its tools. Those resources and that time might have been spent better on improving the game rather than getting the fundamentals right.

So I agree that UE4 would have been preferable from a technical and visual standpoint, but maybe Unity 5 will have its own advantages (besides the lack of a 5% royaltee fee that UE4 has)
 
These are the mechs they plan to include so far



Here's the MW:O art by Flying Debris that HBS are going to use:

Light mechs mentioned:


Medium mechs mentioned (no Wolverine):

God I love Flying Debris art... the dude just 'gets it'.

I'd really like if they found some way to get a Thug into the game...
 
So who's betting on $1 million by 1 pm EST?

the trending is up to 16 million from 13 million
so the 1,8 goal looks rather hoptimistic
Trending is completely inaccurate during the early days of any campaign. It's completely skewed by the early momentum. You need to watch at least a week for a more accurate trending estimation
 

Llyranor

Member
Battletech is a pretty niche game. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up very frontloaded. That being said, it might gain momentum as it crosses past the 1 mill mark by incenting fencesitters to bring it to the 1.85
 
Battletech is a pretty niche game. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up very frontloaded. That being said, it might gain momentum as it crosses past the 1 mill mark by incenting fencesitters to bring it to the 1.85
Battletech may be pretty niche, but turn-based tactical games and Harebrained Schemes are less so. I think that's the draw for those outside the fanbase.

I had zero interest and knowledge about Battletech before the KS announcement and I never back campaigns that only have concept art, but I trust Harebrained to deliver. Their involvement was enough for me to pledge

That + mechs are awesome
 
Battletech is a pretty niche game. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up very frontloaded. That being said, it might gain momentum as it crosses past the 1 mill mark by incenting fencesitters to bring it to the 1.85

It may be niche, but it's also had about 30 years in that niche... even with your standard audience turnover that's a lot of people.
Then you have the people that read the books, or played the MechWarrior video games.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Battletech is a pretty niche game. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up very frontloaded. That being said, it might gain momentum as it crosses past the 1 mill mark by incenting fencesitters to bring it to the 1.85

30 years across multiple mediums, including over 100 novels and a TV series.

It ain't that niche man.
 

Weebos

Banned
Speaking of the books, are any of them good?

I have no familiarity with the franchise, but I'm always looking for more audiobooks.
 

Lime

Member
You can also take a look at HBS' job openings to see what they lack so far. They apparently need a technical art director familiar with Unity and who is proficient with translating concept art into 3D.

TECHNICAL ART DIRECTOR, BATTLETECH

Harebrained Schemes seeks a versatile Technical Art Director to lead our art production team in bringing the BattleTech universe to life in Unity 5. The ideal candidate has shipped multiple Unity-based titles as a Technical Art Lead, has a proven history of cross-discipline collaboration across art, engineering and design, and a firm grasp of both character and environment art production pipelines. If this sounds like you, please review the job description below and get in touch. Help us make an amazing BattleTech game!

This is a full-time, on-site position at Harebrained Schemes’ offices in Kirkland, Washington.

What You’ll Do

  • Collaborate with the Creative Director, Engineering Lead and art team to fully realize the game’s visual target within Unity.
  • Lead the design and implementation of all necessary 3D art pipelines and workflow.
  • Troubleshoot and solve technical art production issues.
  • Work with our engineering team to develop tools, scripts, and plugins as needed to streamline art workflows, and to source off-the shelf solutions when appropriate.
  • During pre-production, participate heavily in design, art, and engineering planning to determine and address any technical design requirements and issues.
  • During production, manage and train a team of 3D production artists, adding to their skills if necessary to effectively execute the game’s art pipeline.
  • Strive to maximize art production performance and predictability.
Required XP

  • You have 5+ years professional experience in the game industry with several shipped 3D titles (and at least two years using Unity to ship one or more titles).
  • You’re fluent in interpreting concept art and understand how to interpret and bring an art style to life in a real-time environment.
  • Extensive knowledge and experience in game rendering – lighting, effects, atmospherics, post-processing, physically-based rendering, etc.
  • You know how to budget and design for performant art without sacrificing overall visual quality.
  • You’re comfortable setting up an animation and effects sequence pipeline.
  • You’re comfortable scripting in Unity and Maya.
  • You know all the stuff we’d expect you to know about art: color, value, lighting, composition, creating focus, atmospheric perspective, and so on.
  • You know how to lead – people, processes, and thinking. You’re positive, proactive, organized, and comfortable determining the tasks and priorities of others and yourself without a lot of hand-holding.
  • You can give clear, actionable verbal and written art feedback that adds real value.
  • Nobody else has a good answer? You say, “Challenge accepted.”
  • You love working with others – ‘cause you’ll be stuck working with us, and we’re a highly-collaborative bunch.

Bonus XP

  • You’re a longtime BattleTech fan!
  • Experience developing a character art pipeline involving highly modular character components.
  • Concept art skills.
I hope they get someone good and talented.
 

matmanx1

Member
Backed at the $25 tier. I'm a fan of the books and lore but have very little experience with the actual games. $25 is a comfortable spot to support the KS but not so much to lose if it turns out that I don't care for the game when it actually arrives.
 
30 years across multiple mediums, including over 100 novels and a TV series.

It ain't that niche man.

It's interesting to me, because outside of the tabletop scene, nobody (other than me) that I know has even _heard_ of the name Battletech, but everyone knows the Mechwarrior name. I'll say "Battletech" and get a quizzical look, and say "you know, the game Mechwarrior was based on" and get that spark of recognition.
 

4Tran

Member
30 years across multiple mediums, including over 100 novels and a TV series.

It ain't that niche man.
Heck, the name "Mech" itself was first coined in Battletech. The main reason why anyone would think that Battletech is niche would be that they had been using the "Mechwarrior" label for most of their branding.
 

Gothos

Member
Can't wait for this but I don't intend to back it. I fear that as with Shadworun Returns this game will be quite bad/medicore at best and just like Returns it will serve more like a foundation for further Battletech titles.

Hopefuly I'll be proven wrong :)
 

Akronis

Member
Put in for $275. I wanna see Battletech revived. MW:O was kind of shit and maybe this will spur some more main-line Mechwarrior titles.
 

Effect

Member
From the USGamer article

You have to respect devs who have that restraint. All too often, you see devs pile on goals, bloating the scope. Being able to keep the scale manageable and not adding new goals for the sake of adding new goals, and staying true to the scope of your original vision, is good to
see

Knowing this makes me feel even better. Having restraint is important as well as knowing what you can realistically do at any given time.


Above $931,000 now. Could hit a million by this afternoon at this rate.
 

Lime

Member
Can't wait for this but I don't intend to back it. I fear that as with Shadworun Returns this game will be quite bad/medicore at best and just like Returns it will serve more like a foundation for further Battletech titles.

Hopefuly I'll be proven wrong :)

Damn you should check out Dragonfall and Hong Kong, because those should dispel your worries. Returns was a huge disappointment in comparison.
 

Palehorse

Member
This has got me seriously jonesing for some Mech Commander 2.

I hope they get to the 1.85M goal and I hope that my rose tinted glasses aren't shattered when I load up MC2 later today.
 

Effect

Member
So has anyone played Mechwarrior Online? Any good and worth playing? Still being updated, etc? I created an account a while ago but didn't download it for some reason at the time.
 
So has anyone played Mechwarrior Online? Any good and worth playing? Still being updated, etc? I created an account a while ago but didn't download it for some reason at the time.

The meta's ridiculously silly and unbalanced, and there's a lot of very valid complaints about the pricing structure for premium items, but the core movement and combat is solid. It's the systems built upon that core that are by far the most unfortunate bits.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
How fast to $1 million is Battletech compared to other big name Kickstarter games?

- Took 4 days for Divinity 2
- Torment broke a million on day 1
- Shenmue 3 broke a million shortly into day 2
- Pillars of Eternity hit a million shortly into day 2
- Bloodstained broke a million day 1
 

Llyranor

Member
The meta's ridiculously silly and unbalanced, and there's a lot of very valid complaints about the pricing structure for premium items, but the core movement and combat is solid. It's the systems built upon that core that are by far the most unfortunate bits.
I'd agree with this assessment, though it's been many months (a year?) since I last played. Guess they still didn't get it right during that time.
 

Dennis

Banned
- Took 4 days for Divinity 2
- Torment broke a million on day 1
- Shenmue 3 broke a million shortly into day 2
- Pillars of Eternity hit a million shortly into day 2
- Bloodstained broke a million day 1

So it is definitely in the big leagues, that is good to see.
 
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