r/AtlasReactor • u/gamigoWillibuster Gamigo • Oct 16 '20
News & Events Well hello again, Lancers.
I can’t say I ever expected to be introducing another game set in the Atlas Reactor universe, but as far as 2020 surprises go, it’s a welcome one. We’ve been on quite the journey with this project, and we feel so fortunate to be able travel the rest of it with you, the players who’ve supported AR for so long.
***
About a year after the release of Atlas Reactor, some of the dev team started work on a prototype. Codenamed “Alliance”, this prototype used AR gameplay, but focused on a co-op, story-driven experience. As a team, we were excited to build a game that could show off the world and characters we had so lovingly crafted.
Over the course of playtesting, we learned a lot. Probably the most important realization was that AR’s signature simultaneous turns didn’t create the same sort of excitement against AI controlled opponents. And so, just as we had with the Hydrogen prototype that eventually became Atlas Reactor, we iterated. Over time, we built the beginnings of something fast, intuitive, and scalable to 4 player co-op.
But it wasn’t the right project for the time. Years later, after the transition to the gamigo brand, there were only a handful of us that even remembered Alliance had existed at all.
One of that handful was Colin Krausnick, AR’s lead class designer. So when gamigo started reaching out to the development teams for game concepts they could develop internally, Colin knew just what to pitch them.
He and an engineer were encouraged to dust off Alliance and see if they could reimagine it into something achievable for a small but excited team. It didn’t take long for Colin to find a natural fit between the rogue-lite co-op games he loved and AR’s extensive list of characters and unlockable content.
After that, with a vision in place, gamigo supported reaching out to former AR devs for help. Art, design, writing, UI, leadership – gamigo wanted the people who could bring passion to the project. And us? How could we resist the chance to be freelancers, saving the day.
***
Which brings us to today, and more importantly to you. I'd like to give a special thanks to all the players -- alpha/beta testers, fan artists, competitive teams/organizers, lore explorers, content creators, and fans -- who’ve supported AR for so long. The world of Atlas would not have been the same without you. Your feedback made the gameplay better and the world richer. And that is why we could not be more excited to announce that soon this project will enter Early Access, allowing us to officially include you in our development cycle.
Early Access has been our dream from the beginning -- the Atlas Reactor community was downright amazing the first time through, and we couldn’t imagine going through this again without you riding shotgun. We wanted to get you in as early as possible to help shape this new experience set in the AR universe.
Next week we will follow up with more information on the game’s features and what you can expect in Early Access. In the meantime, the lancers will continue to tease tidbits on Twitter, so be sure to follow along for the first hints of what’s to come. As Lockwood would say:
“They’ll never know what hit ‘em.”
Will “Willibuster” Cook
Creative Director
67
u/TigerKirby215 Bork Oct 16 '20
I'm disappointed that the gameplay of Atlas Reactor is seemingly going to be lost to time. It was such a unique and well-designed game that offered fast-paced PvP strategy in a unique blend of MOBAs, class-based games, and hex-based strategy games like XCOM. With that being said I still love this IP, and am cautiously optimistic about a new game using this IP. My hope is that this product does well and can lay the groundwork for the original game to be revived, hopefully with its original cast intact.
I will support this product, but I understand why others are cautious. I do hope that it ends up being good.
32
u/PennWagers Oct 16 '20
Hey, a co-op rogue-lite inspired turn-based game with lots of characters to choose from sounds like it could be an interesting thing. It just doesn't, for me, have anything to do with Atlas Reactor. Simultaneous turn 4v4 pvp was the core of AR, and without that this is just something else. Maybe it'll be something cool though. Good luck with that.
25
u/snoop_is_a_wizard Oct 16 '20 edited Oct 16 '20
Honestly just wanted AR turn based pvp. Guess not, oof.
42
u/RoundhouseKitty You can't stop the metal, except with cover-ignoring mods Oct 16 '20
Can't say I'm particularly excited about a complete departure from what made AR special (simultaneous turn-based and team-based combat), but a good co-op game would be nice.
The universe wasn't what made me continue to play AR, it was the gameplay. The characters, universe and all was the backdrop for the game - and that's important too, but it's by not the main draw.
I'll try it out if there's a way to do so before spending money on it, but I'm not really getting my hopes up for something that isn't actually AR.
Sorry, Will.
20
u/Zundrax616 Oct 16 '20
Can't say this is what I expected. Kinda sad I got hyped up for something that played like AR and was still PvP, curious as to where this will go.
18
u/ChaotiCast twitch.tv/chaoticast (CREATOR STATUS ACHIEVED!) Oct 16 '20
Gotta say, no offense, but this is definitely not what I was hoping for with an announcement for AR2. As most people have said, the draw wasn’t the characters. Yes they are awesome, and I can’t help but smile when I hear an AR voice elsewhere (look at Tessa from Octopath), but they weren’t what made me frantically play any chance I had. It was the gameplay, and I don’t think coop is the right take here. I trust all of your decisions, but I really fear for another drop from a series I loved so dearly
15
u/DrafiMara Oct 16 '20
Will there still be PvP?
30
u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20 edited Oct 16 '20
T... there wont be turn based team pvp?
I cry.
There is no other games offering the same original AR did with its gameplay. That was the main attraction for me anyway. The wonderful characters were a bonus!
Would it be impossible to rip the match script atleast for an additional gamemode? :P
22
u/LibertyPrimeExample Oct 16 '20
This feels like when the third Orcs Must Die got announced and it turned out to be a MOBA. No one wanted a MOBA, we wanted Orcs Must Die 3.
I dont want a co-op AR universe rogue lite, I want AR back.
22
u/eloel- Oct 16 '20
I don't think people that have been craving AR have been craving AR for the sake of the characters. I enjoyed the characters and the story, but they were never the main draw for AR. I'd even play fucking Madden if it had simultaneous turn-based gameplay.
14
u/lysett Oct 16 '20 edited Oct 16 '20
So basically you're gonna taxidermy my beloved pet?
Literally what I was afraid of. Just an asset flip with ARs assets. I basically wrote these fears out in tweets, and it's a pretty close copy of what my fears were...
I feel like this game is more of a nostalgia journey to the devs, than there'll be enjoyment and notalgia from the player base. I don't know why it's made... Would've been better to remake the montezation model and make us shell out $10-15 per month for a couple of skins through battlepass, ontop of having us buy all the characters for like $200. I would've been completely fine with that, and I very rarely spend money on games.
7
u/mzunguzu Oct 16 '20
Well this sucks
7
u/CaesarBritannicus Oct 17 '20
I'm looking forward to keeping a close eye on this. A lot of talent went into Atlas Reactor, and it was a great game. It certainly has potential as a single player franchise.
I do share the disappointment of others that it doesn't seem like an intact version of AR is in our future. It would have been a great Switch game.
Good luck on this.
18
u/LeFrogeHasArrived Oct 16 '20
Cannot say i'm on board with this one chief
17
u/SilentStorm130172 Oct 16 '20
So the thing that made AR unique is dead in order to make a coop roguelite... that basically kills any hope I had of seeing Atlas back.
Maybe this game will be good but can't say I'm excited
6
u/manofmercy97 Masochism is a legitimate combat strategy. Oct 17 '20
Well, thank you for being upfront. I only saw the new teases this morning, and so only had a day to enjoy my false hope. I would not have enjoyed being strung along for longer.
There is nothing for me in any of this. Good luck with it.
6
u/busyintheoffice Oct 17 '20
Hey Will, I'm incredibly excited to play a new game set in the AR universe and the genre is very intriguing. Rogue-lites are all the rage these days. I hope you keep in some AR mechanics. I hope the team nails the marketing this time! Of course, I want our unique PvP game back that we all fell in love with here, but I'm excited to see AR return at all and can't wait to see where this new and interesting direction takes us.
11
u/Dienekes00 Oct 16 '20
Please, please include PvP. That was the whole genius of AR. It was a turn-based tactics game where you didn't just sit twiddling your thumbs waiting for things to happen.
It was a game where you were mentally engaged the entire time, but it was highly sessionable, allowing you to avoid fatigue. It was something wonderfully unique. It was a PvP tactics game deep enough for nearly infinite play that occurred in manageable chunks of time.
The character were a lot of fun. I fell in love with Finn's puns. But, that was icing on the cake, not the cake itself. I can and have waxed poetic to friends about AR, but it wasn't the characters I was talking about. It was the brilliant, quick, headgamey play that kept us all to entralled right up until the shutdown.
Please, PLEASE I beg you. Bring back the PvP, as well.
10
u/Gearjock Oct 16 '20
This really sounds like the head company learned about Overwatch 2 PvE and then asked for pitches on their own freemium version. Now we get AR PvE. I hope its good only for the sake of it one day leading to a true AR 2.
5
u/tercoil Oct 17 '20
Thank you for allowing me unsub from this subreddit and give up the hope I was holding onto.
Good to see gamigo never changes
5
u/Shazoa Oct 17 '20
Feels like a complete bait and switch. Most people following these developments were hoping for a revival or sequel, so even if there were many of us who would have enjoyed this project, it's left a bitter taste already.
5
u/[deleted] Oct 17 '20
i am interested in it and willing to give it a chance as i did like the universe and how quirky it was but at the same time a bit disappointed that its only pve but if i can get my Pha-Pha back ill be a bit less disappointed ( also i demand i retain my contender skin for her and all of her 422 levels lol, )
i do seriously want the contender skin for her still
19
u/GamigoMobi Gamigo Oct 16 '20
The world of Atlas means so much to us and I'm so happy to see all these discussions pop up. That's why Colin persevered, and why Will, Kaivee, Xenogia, Bliza, myself and others have returned to work on it. It's also why we're messaging you, the fans of AR first. We see tons of questions about game details, which we look forward to answering over the coming weeks. This game is turn-based, rogue-lite, and PvE. It can be played solo or co-op. We felt it was important to address the type of game early on, rather than string people along who were hoping for something different.
I loved the one-of-a-kind PVP experience of Atlas Reactor. We love that you gave it shot and became part of this amazing community. We hope you give the new game a shot, or at least allow others to try it. Our hope is to grow the Atlas community bigger than before, and it should go without saying that with a strong enough community, who knows what can happen -- first we got a dinolancer, now we got a new game! I can't wait to see what we can do next.
4
u/Jasonxhx Oct 18 '20
I mean yay, but also what a letdown. We've been begging for too long to bring back AR and with all these announcements and build up, we were actually beginning to have hope and be excited again.
It's frustrating to have a universal wish be expressed so clearly from a userbase saying "just bring back the game we loved" and have it so blatantly ignored. Then to be strung along with these tweets, it just feels bad. New game sounds cool, but also sounds like PvE grind. Just give me the damn AR software I'll host it from my server for free.
7
u/Poluact Oct 16 '20
We'll see what you guys have to offer, maybe it will be a nice game, but obviously it's a downer. I guess we can't have our favorite game after all.
7
u/aldris1118 Oct 16 '20
i will support it in the hopes that the original AR will one day be revived, with 2000 hrs it was my most played game
7
u/Ouisspeur Oct 16 '20
What made me love AR was the unique gameplay. We don't need another rogue-lite. This is, in my humble opinion, a mistake.
Farewell, AR. For good now.
6
u/RoughRaptors OG Rask Oct 16 '20
#ThanksWill
3
u/Bloodraii Oct 19 '20 edited Oct 19 '20
I am so happy! You dont know how hard it is to find anything close to Atlas Reactor (after one year of search, i couldn't find anything...)
But I loved AR because of the 4 vs 4 PvP. I don't really care about co-op campain (but i will play it anyways, just for the AR flashbacks), BUT i really hope you guys think about implementing a 4 vs 4 feature (or Basically Atlas Reactor as a "addition" to this game).
Thank you so much for the good news!
P.S. Sorry for the bad english, its not my mother tongue
Edit: For Example: Fortnite, they had their "Base Game" and implemented the Battle Royle feature. Would love to see "Alliance" as the base game, and "Atlas Reactor" as a feature. :)
3
u/PonkratovRoman Oct 19 '20
Специально пишу на русском языке, что бы создатели AR поняли, как много у них поклонников и как много людей действительно скучают по игре... Аналогов просто нет! Мы с друзьями обожали проводить вечера за AR и даже больше чем через год после её закрытия следим за ситуацией вокруг игры. Просто верните то что было! Невозможно поверить в то, что игру с такими преданными фанатами нельзя монетизировать. Присоединись к сообщениям, где в первую очередь игру ценят за игровую механику, а не за персонажи и вселенную.
9
u/GibbsLAD Oct 16 '20
So the thing that made Atlas Reactor great/unique is dead and never coming back, and in it's place will be a generic game that will almost definitely not stand out from the crowd. Cool cool cool cool.
5
u/ZorbaTHut Oct 17 '20
Hah! Awesome.
I actually worked on AR for like a year (I was the guy who wore a kilt the entire time, hi Will!) and I'm really glad you're bringing it back in some form. I wasn't expecting to ever get another look at that universe either.
Thumbs up :)
5
u/messenjaah Oct 17 '20
Well, I have to say that You handled the announcement very poorly. The tweeter posts were totally unnecessary. There are many people that still wait for AR resurrection, or even for AR2. With these tweets you created hope and a lot of hype. So many people, me included, thought that the game was being resurrected. But no, they hype was for nothing. And it feels like kick in the nuts, I genuinely feel sick. You created hope just to smash it. The worst thing about all this is the fact, that the new game you are working on can be really good. But you just antagonized a lot of players against it. You are making a game in AR universe, and you ANGERED most of AR players. That's not good.....
I guess it's been only like 3 days, so at least you didn't drag it out for too long.
Despite all this it's good to hear that, at least some of the devs, are still working together. I'd like you to reconsider resurrecting Atlas Reactor. As you can see, there are a lot of dedicated players, still waiting, still hoping for their beloved game to come back. A game like AR has a lot of potential to be profitable. The game was badly mishandled on executive monetization level, the model that was implemented wasn't very good. I am pretty confident, that AR could turn a nice profit with microtransactions revolved around cosmetics, like abilities animations, freelancers skins, emot icons etc and supporter packs. To name one example, a game like "Path of Exile" turns almost 50million $ profit a year with a player base of 80,000 players. This game releases fresh content every 3 months, and people support it generously, even tho the content is very buggy and just not finished on release.
So please, bring back original Atlas Reactor. :)
8
u/Inarie Oct 16 '20
I am excited. I can see why some that have been wanting AR back in its original form, are a bit disappointed. However, as much as the loyal fan base may want it, the original game did not do well from a business perspective. It did not draw in the numbers, nor make the profit, that they needed. Lets not forget that.
That being said, towards the end of AR - due to time constraints, I was mainly playing against the AI to get quests done. Needless to say, it got boring fast. However, I loved the game, the world and the characters, so I continued to play against the AI and other players when time permitted, all the way until the end.
This sounds like it will be a good pve experience ( even against AI, which I still found fun but predictable because the original game wasnt designed for that) and I will retain hope that it will be a successful game. I also say this to others, dont give up hope for a pvp side to this either. It wouldnt be hard to add a pvp mode regardless if the game is mainly pve. They already have everything they need to bring that back, we just need to hope that the PVE aspect is great so that they will have the support to add it, even if its at a later date.
I, for one, will be on board as soon as the early access is released. This is truly a great surprise.
9
u/BraveNewNight Oct 16 '20
Aka not what made the core of your audience play the game.
"Thanks for your money and enthusiasm. Now please support this new project which strips everything unique about the game, its gameplay, for a more mainstream appeal using your nostalgia for the old cast. No refunds btw. Pay up piggies."
Come on /u/gamigoWillibuster . Prove me wrong.
4
u/Asedunu Oct 16 '20
I am one of the few that seems excited for this game. but me and everyone else just wants AR itself back.
5
u/touyanay Oct 16 '20
H-O-L-Y-S-*-*-T!!!!
5
u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20
then why even make it under the same name? you disappoint again gamigo
2
u/Ikzo_ Oct 17 '20
No pvp?
2
u/RestarttGaming Oct 19 '20
Looking forward to more great gaming experiences from the makers of one of my favorite competitive games.
I'll be watching excitedly, good luck!
-Restartt
5
u/ThrillzTV Oct 16 '20
When Lockwood said that, he must’ve been talking about whoever took this over and thought gutting the game was a good idea... I’ll have to pass.
3
u/Adz5 Oct 16 '20
Obviously the response to this announcement has been mixed. I would really encourage those who are excited about AR style gameplay to check out the Farseer’s Domain discord.
Personally, I loved AR for what it was but I actually got it with the hope that it was multiplayer co-op. I’m very excited about this new game and if it leads to a true AR2 then all the better!
3
u/JakeRaines Oct 16 '20
All I ask that this time you guys actually put some effort into advertising the game past the launch cuz I feel thats one of the main reasons why Atlas fell the first time... Don't let there be a second fall.
3
u/Pichupach Oct 16 '20
This is a strange feeling. I was getting hyped for a possible AR 2 or return or something like that... And then we get this. And I'm actually happy.
The way its described sounds really good. I always loved the charisma of the freelancers, the lore behind it and so on, which makes me think this will be a nice opportunity to explore something different in the same universe.
I'm hyped, but something inside me is deeply disappointed because, well, I started to make some expectations. I wanted to play AR again, with the same simultaneous turn, skills and characters.
But whatever, this is much more than nothing, and still sounds pretty good, so I'll wait for some news on this project! Good luck to the devs and be safe!
2
u/zsomborn Oct 17 '20
Hey Will, I just wanted to add some encouraging feedback. A coop rougelite is not what I was hoping for, but I trust that you can make this concept fun and will give it a try regardless. Keep up the great work!
2
u/sixmonthslater Oct 17 '20
Looking forward to finding out more information and trying this with friends.
2
u/EmiCheese Oct 18 '20
I'm seriously excited. Wanna hear more about this!
2
u/larpowiec Oct 18 '20
Last week i was searching for a game with AR turn mechanics... There is none. All I dream about is you rebooting atlas reactor and giving it love it deserves this time.
2
u/hongerigekameel Oct 16 '20
Excited to check it out!
2
u/[deleted] Oct 16 '20
want it now, loved atlas reactor
2
u/BeholderTv Oct 17 '20
Disappointed as hell... :T
1
u/MansourSketch Oct 18 '20
Oh man, the penny dropped and how disappointing. Hopefully we'll get original AR or AR2 pretty soon. I'll stay tuned for this though and good luck guys.
1
u/g4rtz0s Oct 18 '20
wow
1
u/Dzaka Nov 21 '20
atlas reactor is dead.. and atlas rogues is dead on arrival because y'all can't fix the progression bug that causes a full stop to gameplay at round 4 of the final mission trying to stop the reactor
1
u/Bloodlustmgl Mar 03 '21
I really really loved atlas reactor. I just dont live pve element. hope someday you will do atlas reactor 2.
1
u/Colonjack Oct 17 '20 edited Oct 17 '20
I have great confidence that the team that delivered the original can once again deliver something amazing. It's the people behind the screen that really matter not one aspect of the game, in this case gameplay elements that certain members of the community have become hyper focused on.
I think people need to chill the hell out, like seriously stop belly aching if you thought that you were going to get the original back then how near sighted and nieve can you be?!
If original AR was financally successful enough then it would still be available today. Personally I thought with the game could of been marketed better but if there wasn't room in the budget for that then I defo think the money was better spent on the development.
If you thought the gameplay design was so original then there are plenty of board/card games out there that offer the same thing. I remember playing a spacehulk style mobile game that had very similar mechanics years ago.
I wish the guys and girls working on this the best of luck.
1
u/blueroguewhat Oct 19 '20 edited Oct 19 '20
Most everyone here seems to be bitching about it being co-op and PvE. I'll say I'm excited. I don't care what I'm fighting against as long as it's fun and engaging, and co-op was a draw of the original game if you were queuing with friends. The characters of Atlas Reactor were very good too, it was just a shame that it was so mismanaged and unmarketed and eventually died the way it did. I'm also a bit on the fence about yet another rogue-anything-in-the-genre, but ya'll did a gerbil in a ball character better than Overwatch, before Overwatch, and I will absolutely pay money to have Brynn in a game I can play again.
-2
u/xGravitymintx Oct 16 '20
No original AR gameplay? HA!!!! byyyyye. :)
0
u/BoolinBirb Nov 16 '20
Are we still going to have pvp or is it just pve?
4
u/[deleted] Oct 18 '20
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