BATTLETECH KICKSTARTER!

[DarkSpade]

$10 gets you an exclusive firestarter and a real world dog tag at random from a merc outfit. $50 gets you the game, the firestarter, all the dog tags, and whatever you'd get from pledging $50 in the kickstarter. No idea what's so special about the firestarter

Missing out on the dog tags is nothing to worry about. They're kinda lame and cheap.

[Cache]

Missing out on the dog tags is nothing to worry about. They're kinda lame and cheap.

Collecting is collecting.  I hadn't planned to have someone purchase exclusives for me.  I'm a little sad that I may not be able to get this.

[ColBosch]

The kickstarter is supposed to open in the autumn sometime. So we can probably expect a release date of next year sometime (at the earliest).

I think that's a fair guesstimate. Shadowrun: Hong Kong's campaign ended in February and it's releasing August, but that was using a proven game engine. Not sure if this'll use a modified version of that engine or what.

$10 gets you an exclusive firestarter and a real world dog tag at random from a merc outfit. $50 gets you the game, the firestarter, all the dog tags, and whatever you'd get from pledging $50 in the kickstarter. No idea what's so special about the firestarter

Missing out on the dog tags is nothing to worry about. They're kinda lame and cheap.

Seriously. It's just some little promo nonsense. That's $10 to $50 you can spend on something worthwhile, instead of advertisements.

[Cache]

Seriously. It's just some little promo nonsense. That's $10 to $50 you can spend on something worthwhile, instead of advertisements.

Or a bunch more free stuff that I could get with my $50 towards the kickstarter that I may not be able to get later.

[DarkSpade]

Seriously. It's just some little promo nonsense. That's $10 to $50 you can spend on something worthwhile, instead of advertisements.

a full version of the game is promo nonsense?

[Rebel Yell]

The fact that it's 3025 makes me happy beyond belief.  Hope they don't screw this up.

[ColBosch]

a full version of the game is promo nonsense?

Paying extra for advertisements is promo nonsense.

[TheOldDragoon]

I wanted to break this out of the general upcoming releases thread, partially because it's not a Catalyst upcoming release and partially because it deserves its own thread.

Here's an interview http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/9942/page/1 done with Hare-Brained Schemes with some more background on what they want to do.

Frankly, it sound a lot like what I'd love to see.  MechWarriors managed separately from 'Mechs, a contract and campaign system, stressing the MechWarriors-as-Knights feel of the old Battletech releases and the late Succession Wars.  So far, they're speaking to my Battletech soul.

[martian]

Thanks for the link.

Sounds so ... 3025-ish.    O0

(By the way, have you noticed how JW skillfully avoided the question if the Unseens will be in the game?)

[Vampire_Seraphin]

So buying in early gets you bonus mechs. I really hope that does not mean they are going down the LOL Mechs as Heroes path that MWO went down. Tinkering and experimenting are some of the best parts of the old franchise. I hope they don't nerf that again.

[IAMCLANWOLF]

Frankly, it sound a lot like what I'd love to see.  MechWarriors managed separately from 'Mechs, a contract and campaign system, stressing the MechWarriors-as-Knights feel of the old Battletech releases and the late Succession Wars.  So far, they're speaking to my Battletech soul.

Agreed. This all sounds awesome.

[Luriael]

I wanted to break this out of the general upcoming releases thread, partially because it's not a Catalyst upcoming release and partially because it deserves its own thread.

Here's an interview http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/9942/page/1 done with Hare-Brained Schemes with some more background on what they want to do.

Frankly, it sound a lot like what I'd love to see.  MechWarriors managed separately from 'Mechs, a contract and campaign system, stressing the MechWarriors-as-Knights feel of the old Battletech releases and the late Succession Wars.  So far, they're speaking to my Battletech soul.

they took the interview down? :( the link doesn't work...

[martian]

they took the interview down? :( the link doesn't work...

Try this:
BATTLETECH: New Kickstarter from Harebrained Schemes

[Luriael]

thanks for the link! Brand new codes, so they really are building it from scratch (and maybe some left over from MW:T but... meh) and there really isn't any money yet so Kickstarter will co-found the whole game

[Maingunnery]

I wanted to break this out of the general upcoming releases thread, partially because it's not a Catalyst upcoming release and partially because it deserves its own thread.

Here's an interview http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/9942/page/1 done with Hare-Brained Schemes with some more background on what they want to do.

Frankly, it sound a lot like what I'd love to see.  MechWarriors managed separately from 'Mechs, a contract and campaign system, stressing the MechWarriors-as-Knights feel of the old Battletech releases and the late Succession Wars.  So far, they're speaking to my Battletech soul.

Sounds a bit like MW2: Mercs.... which is a good thing, but I am sad that we won't have any Clans.

[Cyc]

Sounds a bit like MW2: Mercs.... which is a good thing, but I am sad that we won't have any Clans.

At launch. I'm pretty certain they will follow the Shadowrun Returns model of expansion packs, partly Kickstarter funded, for this game too.

[rkhigdon]

I asked about that on their Facebook page.  Given past experience with them, I hope to get an answer.  I'll post the response if they do.

Posted on Facebook by Harebrained Schemes;

"Sorry, it's just for GenCon attendees. There will be plenty of great ways for you to help the project this Fall."

[Cyc]

Here's hoping only the dogtags and not the unique variants are GenCon 2015 only.

[Jayof9s]

Here's hoping only the dogtags and not the unique variants are GenCon 2015 only.

I am curious what 'unique variants' will mean, that could mean no customization and we're stuck with the chassis/variants in the game OR something along the lines of MWO with hardpoints that make each variant slightly unique from the others.

Either option is a bit disappointing to me. I understand MWO wanted another way to balance the game (whether it worked or not is another topic entirely) but you don't need to worry about balance quite as much in a singleplayer game and I love tinkering with 'Mechs. It's also especially helpful not to have 'locked' designs so that if they only give you a single 50 ton chassis, you can freely modify it to match any other 50 ton chassis that you might want to reproduce.

Hopefully it's a 3rd option that it just means you start with a special 'Mech and can modify things normally from there all around.

[Cyc]

I assume they will like MWO Founder 'Mechs, really just exclusive cosmetic.

[Deadborder]

HBS: Whatever controversy there was regarding images from Southern Cross and Macross was settled over a decade ago, so there will be no impact on our art team.

This one is just bizzare. Off the top of my head I can think of only two examples of Southern Cross Mecha in Battletech, and both are so marginal as to be barely worth thinking of

[Wrangler]

This one is just bizzare. Off the top of my head I can think of only two examples of Southern Cross Mecha in Battletech, and both are so marginal as to be barely worth thinking of

They only appeared ONCE in a Battletech product,  Wolf and the Spider Graphic Novel/Scenario book (By the way..i'd love see something like that again..)  There ambush, you have one emerging from ground.  I can't remember if they were calling it a Excalibur or a Lancelot, I think the later.   Just because were keeping score, a Alpha Fighter in battlaliod mode is also used as a Hornet.

[Deadborder]

They only appeared ONCE in a Battletech product,  Wolf and the Spider Graphic Novel/Scenario book (By the way..i'd love see something like that again..)  There ambush, you have one emerging from ground.  I can't remember if they were calling it a Excalibur or a Lancelot, I think the later.   Just because were keeping score, a Alpha Fighter in battlaliod mode is also used as a Hornet.

There's also what looks like a TC Salamander Battloid in Periphery 1st Ed

[DarkSpade]

Something I missed my first time through the booth.  While $10 gets you a firestarter, $50 will get you an atlas.   I did ask what made it special and the guy at the table said they didn't know what that would be just yet.  Over all most of my questions were answered with a deer in the headlights look so I have a hunch I was asking the wrong guy.  On the other hand, the guy I was talking to about Shadowrun the day before actively went hunting for answers he didn't have.

Always have to take what you hear on the con floor with a grain of salt.  Sometimes you're talking to anyone from the dev team or even companie's owner, but it's just as possible you're talking to some guy from the warehouse that was just after some overtime.


Also, one of my dog tags was horribly misspunched.  Collector's item!?   :D

[rkhigdon]

One thing that I just realized is that Harebrained Schemes are also the folks who make Golem Arcana.  How cool would it be if one day we could get the hybrid Miniatures/App combination for a Battletech game.  Say something like a Solaris VII type setup, for example.

[Cherno]

One thing that I just realized is that Harebrained Schemes are also the folks who make Golem Arcana.  How cool would it be if one day we could get the hybrid Miniatures/App combination for a Battletech game.  Say something like a Solaris VII type setup, for example.

I remember playing BattleTech with a computer set up just for keeping track of damage :D

[ArkRoyalRavager]

Hopefully we get to explore the 4th Succession War. That's never happened in a PC game before

[Rebel Yell]

Hopefully we get to explore the 4th Succession War. That's never happened in a PC game before

+1 to that

[Shin Yodama]

Person Interviewed: Mike McCaine, Creative director HBS. Co-directing battletech game with Jordan Weisman.

Relation to MWO?: For the most part we are using the same mech models. Like Shadowrun its a single player game. Its a mercenary style game where you manage a mercenary outfit. You upgrade your mechwarriors and your battlemechs. It's a turn based game.

Turn based tactical combat, you will control a lance of 4 battlemechs.

We are looking at multiplayer as a stretchgoal. We would like to have PVP arenas on the planet of Solaris.

Is the game using the same graphics/engine as Shadowrun?:

-No, we are building something completely new in Unity 5. It will be a fully 3D title.

Will your characters die like in Shadowrun?:

-Where as Shadowrun is an RPG with turn based Tactical Combat, Battletech will be a turn based Tactical Combat game, with RPG elements. While Shadowrun was focused on personal stories this game will be more focused on the story of the world and the great houses.

When does this game take place?:

-3025 post 3rd succession war. In the slow boil period leading up to the 4th succession war. A time of "Peace" but with a lot of stuff going on under the table. A perfect setting for a mercenary team to secretly work for the great houses, while they publicly deny any actions against each other.

How long have you been working on this?:

-We've been talking about it for a few months. We're early in prototyping still. Still fleshing out the look and feel of the world, gearing up for the kickstarter over the next few months.

What do you mean that this will be a PC game?:

-We will be focused on the PC, that of course also means Mac, and most likely Linux as well.

Who is the target audience?:

Same as Shadowrun we want to make sure that we do the franchise and the setting justice. We want to make this game for Hardcore Battletech fans. While also trying to freshen the look of battlech and get back to the feudal roots of the story. We want the game to appeal to anyone that is a fan of turn-based tactical battles as well as giant robots.

[IAMCLANWOLF]

Link?