What is Wargroove?
Wargroove is a turn-based strategy game for up to 4 players, in which each player takes control of an army and its commander unit to wage war on their enemies! Wargroove is extremely easy to pick up, with accessibility at the forefront of its design, and very difficult to master, with deep gameplay mechanics that complement strategic play.
So it’s basically like Advance Wars?
Kinda, but it’s more complicated than that! Wargroove aims to recreate the charm and accessibility of the titles that inspired it while bringing modern technology into the formula. This modern focus allows for higher resolution pixel art, robust online play and deep modding capability, ultimately creating the most complete experience for Advance Wars and TBS fans.
We’ve also got quite a few new-to-the-genre features in the works — but we’ll tell you about those later.
Who’s developing Wargroove?
Wargroove is being developed by Chucklefish!
When is it coming out?
2017!
Where can I go for more information?
We’ll be posting frequent developer blogs, and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Chucklefish on Wargroove's ambitious branching narratives and mod support
When Evan caught up with Wargroove at PAX last month, Chucklefish's community manager Tom Katkus outlined how branching narratives will affect individual playthroughs. After visiting the developer at its London headquarters, Samuel discovered how player-created mods will affect the game's outcomes further still.
Despite being a little rough around the edges, Chucklefish's Finn Brice told us that Wargroove's campaign editor is now "almost completely functional"—and is now "on par" with Starcraft in that there are a number of flexible parts, the sum of which allows players to "basically plan a whole new game mode within a map".
"So—there are so many things you can do with that, but you can have entirely branching storylines, you can have things where if you lose a map you go one way, if you win a map you go another or even if you kill a particular unit on a map you go a different ways," says Brice. Brice also affirms that if, say, a player kills or spares a specific character, the game will change and adapt based on said decisions.
He continues: "The feature set is pretty much set in stone, but even just sitting down for ten minutes and sort of thinking up things you can do and you can go in all sorts of crazy directions, it’s really exciting, it’s very, very flexible. I think it’s fair to say we’re almost making a tool as much as we’re making a game, and that’s always exciting."
To this end, artist Jay Bayliss suggests the game's entire campaign could be assigned to one single map, in turn mirroring a choose-your-own-adventure-type scenario. Bayliss admits that while it's been exciting designing such a malleable tool, the idea of intuitive and inventive players creating their own masterpieces with mods is even more appealing.
Brice feels the same. "The distinction is that all this stuff we’re discussing can be done just in the game, so you don’t need to mod, you just do it in the game and share it online and we’re aiming to make that incredibly easy. And then you can go that one step further, right, and you can start modding it, and the conjunction of those two is really interesting because... this is what I was getting at earlier.
"So you get, for example, a lot of artist modders who want to, say, put new skins in the game—maybe they want to build a Game of Thrones mod or something, who knows—but with most games, that’s kind of where they stop—you get a bunch of new skins and then you plug them into the game. Or maybe you have a programmer modder who has a new feature that you plug into the game.
"With this, the artists will be able to make their new skins, new characters, but then they’ll go into the Campaign Editor which doesn’t require any programming or anything else and make a whole campaign and branching stories and even their own mechanics to some extent around their mod, so it can really go without much programming work in any sort of direction, and that’s really, really exciting."
Wargroove is due at some stage in the first half of 2018. Until then, read some new information on Chucklefish's other ambitious and intriguing project about a magic school RPG.
Command an army, customize battlefields, and challenge your friends, in this richly detailed return to retro turn-based combat!
When war breaks out in the Kingdom of Cherrystone, the young Queen Mercia must flee her home. Pursued by her foes, the only way to save her kingdom is to travel to new lands in search of allies. But who will she meet along the way, and what sinister challenges will she face?
Choose Your Commander!
- A vibrant cast of 12+ characters! - Commanders are at the heart of Wargroove - each with their own distinct personalities and motivations.
- Four warring factions! - Take up arms with the Cherrystone Kingdom, Heavensong Empire, Felheim Legion, and Floran Tribes.
- Campaign Mode! - Follow the story of a fresh-faced and inexperienced young Queen on a quest against unworldly forces. Told through animated pixel art cut-scenes and dynamic battles.
Get into the groove!
- Unique ultimate moves! - Commanders can use a special move called a ‘Groove’, activated only when their Groove meter is filled to 100%.
- Dynamic Gameplay! - Every Groove is unique to each Commander and changes up the battlefield in an entirely different way.
Create your own adventure!
- Craft custom maps, cutscenes and campaigns! - Make the game your own using in-game editors.
- Advanced editing tools! - The possibilities are endless; from creating your own story-driven missions with sub-quests, plot twists, ambushes, and hidden secrets, to easily changing the rules of the game without any mods or external tools.
- Share your creations online! - Share your own maps and campaigns or download content built by other players!
- Online Play!
Send your units to victory in both local and online multiplayer skirmish battles, with competitive and co-op play, as well as complete rule customisation.- Arcade Mode!
Learn more about each character you encounter through a trial of boisterous bouts in Arcade mode, where you’ll fight 5 different opponents in quick succession.- Puzzle Mode!
Outwit the enemy in Puzzle mode, using all of the strategic skills in your arsenal. Take on a series of tricky challenges where the goal is to win in just ONE turn.- Secrets and Unlockables!
Earn stars to unlock special content. You might even stumble across some hidden game features - old school style!
what really disgusted me of advance wars was the puzzle approach, there was no strategy involved, only figuring out which was the optimal sequence of attacks. people keep comparing this with advance wars: does it suffer that same retarded structure?
there was no strategy involved, only figuring out which was the optimal sequence of attacks.
what really disgusted me of advance wars was the puzzle approach, there was no strategy involved, only figuring out which was the optimal sequence of attacks. people keep comparing this with advance wars: does it suffer that same retarded structure?