Longsword Tabletop Tactics

[zer0sum]

Hi fellas.

For the past couple of years I have been working on a Tabletop Tactics game for the PC. The idea is to meld some of my favorite concepts like the Hex Board from Heroscape, Action Point-oriented combat from all different kinds of games, and the collectible elements of tabletop games. The result is:

So I'm doing a round of crowd-funding at the moment and invite you to come check out the Kickstarter page and the video. Let me know if you have any questions!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1319847883/longsword-tabletop-tactics?ref=user_menu

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Well, backed for now. Good luck.

 

[zer0sum]

Thanks man! I'm really looking forward to filling the game up with players.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So here's a few questions while we're at it-
I take it a Champion refers to whatever character the player can field on the table? So, a peasant or a knight both are champions?
How moddable do you expect to make this? From what I see, there's scope to create our own scenarios, overworld to connect them etc.? What about our own factions and champions, say for singleplayer use only.

In case of an overworld game, will persistency of champions be a thing? Like wounds and character death carrying over from one scenario to the next? What about management and strategy within the overworld?

Will there be more varied objectives than destroy enemy nexus? Will there be the option to have varied objectives in singleplayer?

Seeing that there's height variation on the field, will the player be able to use that to his advantage? What about stuff like pushing enemies into waterbodies etc.?

Might have more questions later.

 

[pointcache]

So here's a few questions while we're at it-
I take it a Champion refers to whatever character the player can field on the table? So, a peasant or a knight both are champions?
How moddable do you expect to make this? From what I see, there's scope to create our own scenarios, overworld to connect them etc.? What about our own factions and champions, say for singleplayer use only.

In case of an overworld game, will persistency of champions be a thing? Like wounds and character death carrying over from one scenario to the next? What about management and strategy within the overworld?

Will there be more varied objectives than destroy enemy nexus? Will there be the option to have varied objectives in singleplayer?

Seeing that there's height variation on the field, will the player be able to use that to his advantage? What about stuff like pushing enemies into waterbodies etc.?

Might have more questions later.

Hey there, i help zero with art for the game and i can shed light on some questions.
For now champions are all the moving figures on the field, we also have structures, spells, items you can give to champions, but the quality of the card varies.
I can't say about modability much, apart from in game map editor, but zero approaches the game as a framework for tabletop games, it's called Tabletop Tactics and it will be a series of differently themed games.
That may give a hint about modding, but i don't know.
Height already affects damage and walking cost, going uphill is always costly for ground units. As for water, we had a funny game where i used a necro unit with a hook to keep zero's dwarf in the river while he was
trying to run away to protect the nexus. There is repositioning and landscape matters. Answered what i'm aware of, to the best of my knowledge.

 

[zer0sum]

Yeah Modding has been on my mind. Basically I'm 100% into supporting it, but my number one focus is going to be on providing what you want anyway in terms of fresh content. I have to be careful with what we can do modding-wise because a lot of the game data lives "in the cloud" so it's not super easy to just add new stuff on the client side.

On the overworld, basically the persistence is from your "deck". If you lose a champion in battle, it gets removed from your deck for the duration of the campaign. You can get all kinds of new stuff though. I'm expecting people to lose a lot of champions.

Height, positioning, all that - it's super important. You can knock people into lava or water, off of cliffs. You can blow up bridges underneath people.

 

[Zanzoken]

If cards and deck-building are integral to winning, and the plan is to be F2P with funding via sales of card packs, aren't you encouraging a pay-to-win environment?

 

[zer0sum]

Paying to buy cards gives you quicker access to stuff but it doesn't make you smarter. In magic, where having a killer deck is a direct result of how much money you spend, people still can be outplayed. But here the tactical layer is the real equalizer. I expect that top-tier players will have both killer decks and killer skills, but I think that the playerbase will naturally segregate a bit into people who are really serious about it and to people who are casual and want to just play for free.

 

[thesheeep]

I think Faeria is a good example here.
You can definitely outplay people who have an objectively better deck by simply playing better (within limits, of course). That possibility is really barely present in MTG, for example - your opponent would really have to suck despite having a better deck in order for you to be able to still win reliably, and I say that from many years of playing both MTGO and offline.

Honestly, after playing Faeria and other CCG games that have an additional tactical layer (I miss Scrolls ), I'm having a hard time getting back into MTG and others that don't have that. The time and/or money investment in those just to be somewhat competitive is just more than I'm willing to spend at this point.

Also zer0sum , I think it would have been a better idea to raise some flags before starting the campaign.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Yo, you planning on adding updates to the kickstarter campaign man?

 

[zer0sum]

Yeah I am going to post a features video today

 

[zer0sum]

I'll be doing a stream tomorrow 1030 am PST at twitch.com/zer0sumgames

 

[Infinitron]

DarkUnderlord Gib devtag to zer0sum (Zero Sum Games)

 

[ArchAngel]

Paying to buy cards gives you quicker access to stuff but it doesn't make you smarter. In magic, where having a killer deck is a direct result of how much money you spend, people still can be outplayed. But here the tactical layer is the real equalizer. I expect that top-tier players will have both killer decks and killer skills, but I think that the playerbase will naturally segregate a bit into people who are really serious about it and to people who are casual and want to just play for free.

You just basically confirmed it will be p2w.
Casual players are non competitive. So to be competitive you will need to buy decks....
Better if this was pay up front kind of game.

 

[zer0sum]

That's not really my point. I think a great example is Pox Nora, which is very similar to this, and that game is absolutely not P2W. I have an amazing set of cards and I am constantly getting wrecked by superior players.

 

[Aothan]

looks splendid, definitely interested in seeing this come to fruition

 

[ERYFKRAD]

looks splendid, definitely interested in seeing this come to fruition

Gonna need a boatload more eyeballs upon it.

 

[zer0sum]

Yessir, got an article on Rock Paper Shotgun today, that will definitely help. Jumped a whole bunch today. So that should have a lingering effect. I'm trying to get some folks at PC Gamer to give it a look but so far its radio silence. Wargamer will be running a story as well. So, we'll see. Tell your friends, and if you're interested in getting involved in the pre-Alpha then now is as good a time as any.

 

[Galdred]

Heroscape on PC sounds awesome, and you captured the vibe pretty well!
But I am burnt out with collectible (F2P or not) stuff.
What will the acquisition model be like?
Will it work like Hearthstone (purchase boosters, or grind individual cards that can be turned into components to get the cards you want)?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Tell your friends

Dude, we're on the Codex.

 

[Trash]

Wasn't there a skirmish game in the works that looked very much like this one? With the whole painted figurines schtick going on and everything?

Btw, this is from the guy who did Stardrive 1 and 2. Both games he dropped. Fuck this.

 

[Bester]

Btw, this is from the guy who did Stardrive 1 and 2. Both games he dropped. Fuck this.

Dude, he got 17k on kickstarter to pay for art and then finished the entire game on that budget, except multiplayer. You sound like an asshole.

 

[Galdred]

Wasn't there a skirmish game in the works that looked very much like this one? With the whole painted figurines schtick going on and everything?

warbands: Bushido? Wartile?
Wartile looks really similar, but is real time (which is one of the weirdest design decision I have ever seen).
Warbands has a similar focus, but on static battlefields, and is limited to Japan (and the game is not F2P, at least, for now).

 

[zer0sum]

Hey there's a demo up on Steam now. Bring some friends and check it out:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/428610/Longsword__Tabletop_Tactics/

 

[Aothan]

I've played the demo briefly and from what I've seen the game's potential is certainly promising, there are a few obvious limits to what features can be accessed (e.g. some of the settings options) but presumably that is to be expected for a pre-alpha demo. Archers seem very strong early game, is there any tactical way to prevent their aim on units further back or limit their accuracy or action points, such as with having a melee unit move into an adjacent hex (etc) ?