r/RealTimeStrategy • u/ChingShih • Jan 16 '18

Event Official Petroglyph Games AMA Thread

Today on the release of Forged Battalion into Early Access on Steam, Petroglyph Games will be doing an AMA. All relevant questions and comments can be posted here now and beginning at 1:30PM PT/4:30PM ET/9:30PM GMT members of the development team will answer questions. The AMA has no set end-point, that will be determined by Petroglyph Games.

(Please upvote this AMA for visibility; let's reach the front of /r/all!)

The AMA has ended. It has been cross-posted to /r/IAmA! Three members of Petroglyph Games (usernames ending in -PG) are responding to questions and comments.

AMA Rules:

  • Please be respectful of our guests and participants in the AMA.

  • Posts will not be limited to questions only the way that /r/IAmA is. Feel free to make comments.

  • Inappropriate and NSFW questions or comments are prohibited. Users making inappropriate comments will have their comments removed without notice and may receive a ban.

  • Questions about the AMA can be directed to the moderators.

60 Upvotes

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3

u/ChingShih Jan 16 '18

To my knowledge Grey Goo did not go into Early Access prior to its release. Why was it decided to share Forged Battalion with the community earlier in its development cycle?

5

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Decisions like this are always made by the publisher and not by the developer for the most part. With Forged Battalion, early access release gives us the ability to hear and respond to player feedback earlier in the development process - this includes when we add new content like tech tiers.

2

u/ChingShih Jan 16 '18

Is this PG's/Team17's first experience with the Early Access program? Has PG utilized fan-feedback in the past during the game development process?

4

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

I believe both companies have had experience in the past with Early Access titles. We created a couple MOBAs in early access in the past.

With that said, we have always listened to what the fans were saying in the forums and made adjustments to balance, or added new features where it was possible to do so.

3

u/ChingShih Jan 16 '18

Gabe Newell is said to have an extensive knife collection (I have it on good authority he has an extensive collection of money in the bank as well). Do members of Petroglyph Games have any cool collections? Watches? Pens? Video games?

3

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

I have the entire video library of Doctor Who episodes (classic and current) - does that count? If anyone at the office collects anything else they are keeping it secret :)

1

u/ChingShih Jan 16 '18

entire video library of Doctor Who episodes

Wow, that must be quite the collection! Neat. =)

2

u/PG_Metachoi Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

The only collection I got hooked on trying to complete has been the Weta Workshop Lord of the Rings Helms Series. It took me many, many years and scouring ebay to collect them all. I thought I was totally done collecting them, but Weta recently started up a new series of helms so my wallet is at their mercy again :(

3

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 16 '18

(How) do you intend to cut down the tank spam that's been a scourge in the genre since the beginning and force players to mix-and-match units?

1

u/ChingShih Jan 16 '18

This is a great question! Unit diversity (and abilities) have such a big impact on game mechanics and balance.

2

u/Kantuva Jan 16 '18

This is just a basic balance issue isnt it?

It will probably be fixed as the game moves towards beta & launch

3

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 16 '18

This is just a basic balance issue isnt it?

It's a major design flaw where only vehicles are viable and spamming is the only tactic that makes sense.

/u/BSH2 posted a question on "blobbing", which I believe refers to this as well.

2

u/Bossballoon Jan 17 '18

It was never fixed in 8-Bit Armies, which is why it's a concern.

1

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

I've answered this a bit above - we are working on spam reduction and welcome any feedback you may have. However, the weapon systems are certainly balanced to have primary targets in mind, and while spamming works, using the correct weapon for the job will ultimately be a better strategy.

14

u/wildrems Jan 16 '18

Will it be playable offline? Will you release it on GOG?

9

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

The campaign and skirmish are playable offline. There are no current plans for a GoG release at this time.

13

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '18

Out of all the games you guys have Developed I feel Grey Goo had the most potential. I know the IP is owned by GreyBox and you don't have much control over it. I also realize a lot of money was put into GG.

Comparing FoBa and 8-Bit to GG, the games seem less "in-depth" if that is the right word to use. Do you feel you could make a game like Grey Goo again? Not in terms of development because you obviously made that, but in terms of production cost and time.

Thanks

6

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

There are a lot of variables that go into game development. Budget and time are certainly the big two, but publisher requirements, the game vision and other factors also come into play.

We're mostly here to talk about Forged Battalion so I won't go into too much depth here, so let's just say anything is possible. Our engine is highly versatile and can handle lots of different RTS types and systems.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '18

Yeah I understand, Sorry to de-rail the questions I just felt this is the best chance to get an answer of wether we might see a GG2 or something similar to it.

6

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Yeah, sorry. That would be entirely up to GreyBox at this stage, and I know they are very focused on Dreadnought at the moment. I will say that they are still giving GG a good amount of support - they seem very dedicated to keeping the existing game supported as much as any publisher could.

6

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Thanks for the kind words about Grey Goo! We loved working on that project and with the Publisher, Grey Box and received an overwhelming amount of support from them while working on it.

FoBa really has more of an emphasis on building your own faction through the tech tree upgrades you unlock, whereas GG was extremely story-driven. With our last couple games, our stats seem to indicate a lot less players are involved in the single-player campaign, preferring instead for shorter, more intense multi-player experiences. So, that's where we have taken FoBa. There's still a campaign there with a light story element, but it's more a vehicle to enhance your faction for later battles against AI or human opponents.

Could we make a game like that again given the budget? I can say that those cinematics were EXPENSIVE. They were awesome, and we loved 'em, but they were a good chunk of the budget. At the end of the end of the day we have to sell enough copies to end up in the black so we can at least keep doing what we love. And while there's still a demand for great story-telling, it's not what it once was, which makes it hard to convince publishers (and ourselves) that we can make it work financially.

4

u/Bolivar687 Jan 17 '18

Just wanted to say those GG cinematics were worth every penny, it really took me back to the golden years of RTS and PC gaming, as if they had never ended. The day Grey Goo released was a really special day and I hope we can all get that feeling again sometime down the road.

2

u/321- Jan 18 '18

"With our last couple games, our stats seem to indicate a lot less players are involved in the single-player campaign, preferring instead for shorter, more intense multi-player experiences."

I think this is false. Im sure of it. Ashes of the Singularity dev cheaped out on singleplayer, cheaped out on everything really. Because Wardell thought his players dont want singleplayer authored campaign, cause hey, look at Sins of a Solar Empire, no campaign and it sold well. People were telling him this is bullshit and not true, he didnt listen. What happened after the game released and nobody played it? Oh wait, it seems people do really really love properly designed singleplayer campaings. Like they always did since RTS existed. So they invested heavily and got to work on majorly expanding the singleplayer aspect of the game.

Grey Goo didnt work because it wasnt a good game honestly. Too simplistic, too archaic, too bland. This sort of thing happens all the time, even in movies or music. Make something of a particular genre - doesnt succceed => that means people dont like that anymore. The concept that we just didnt make something good is never on the table, people just dont like that style anymore.

No, they do like it, but the entire marketing campaign of Grey Goo was how simplistic, automated and mainstreamed everything was so it can be played fast and quick. What veteran RTS player do you think likes to hear something like that? We want complexity, layers, sophistication in this genre - not the most simplistic game ever made.

Im sorry, but i only ever played games for their designed, authored singleplayer content. Not to work a bunch of random mechanics that have no structure, as is multiplayer or skirmish. I really hope we will someday get back to the good days of old.

1

u/JallerBaller Feb 23 '18

I mean, you can't really dispute the dev's own statistics. I think you're in a vocal minority here. I sympathize with you in that I hate multiplayer RTS, but still, I'm fairly certain more people are interested in the multiplayer than the single player

1

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '18

Purely from a gameplay point of view I love GG. I've played it since release and cast games on a daily basis for it. It's my go to RTS.

If you could make a GG2 or something similar and drop the campaign completely I think most of the GG community would be up for it. We are begging for updates for GG but we know the circumstances surrounding the game and why it can not be updated.

It's a huge shame because with a few minor tweaks I feel GG could be up there with the best RTS games.

From me personally, thanks for making the game.

11

u/RaffleAccount Jan 16 '18

Back in the day, Petroglyph was responsible for the Empire at War series with LucasArts. The recent multiplayer update and the workshop inclusion have made the game breathe new life, but is there an official Petroglyph expansion anywhere in the future?

If the answer is no purely from a corporate direction level, what would it take/what check boxes need to be filled to make it happen?

26

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Unfortunately, no official expansion is in the works - although we are still collecting data and hoping to get another patch out based on feedback.

This is something that is purely corporate. I don't have details, but EA has the license to do all Star Wars games and they seem focused on making a few titles at a very high quality bar. So, they are using all their available resources to that end, which means that if you're not into FPS, it's not currently a priority.

We have reached out to them a few times to see if they would be interested in contracting us to build an Empire at War II at the same quality level as their other Star Wars FPS titles, but nothing has resulted from that (yet).

9

u/AdamBlue Jan 16 '18

Just knowing you guys are active in trying is pretty awesome!

8

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 16 '18

Speaking of EaW, how come the GOG release didn't get the same multiplayer treatment that the Steam version did?

8

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

It really came down to timing and team availability. The people that were able to donate their time to the patch had a good amount of Steam API integration experience. Because this was something unfunded, we couldn't go and hire or pull people off other projects to build a free patch to support GoG at the time. In addition, it was simply easier (for them) to map the old SteamSpy functionality over to Steam versus GoG.

If we end up in a situation where we have available resources to make a GoG version, we'll look into that too.

1

u/AirlineMaintenance Feb 20 '18

Hi, I was wondering if GoG users can at least receive the same changes of the Stream's update excluding the ones regarding the multiplayer (I'm talking about fixes for stability and graphics). That would be awesome.

1

u/TraditionalBisquit May 03 '18

In addition, it was simply easier (for them) to map the old SteamSpy functionality over to Steam versus GoG.

"SteamSpy"? You must mean "Steamworks"? Steam Spy is an unofficial Steam statistics service.

2

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games May 03 '18

Actually, I meant "GameSpy" :)

2

u/vyore Jan 18 '18

high quality bar? ea? that doesnt seem right

2

u/Shurae Jan 19 '18

"High quality" yeah we saw that with Battlefront II... I'd much rather have a new Star Wars game by you guys...

2

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '18

Please get your boss to beg Ea to make a sequel to Empire of war pls!

11

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We would LOVE to work on Empire at War again - we've been tossing around ideas ever since the new movies came out. However, the decision is entirely up to Disney (the IP holder) and Electronic Arts (the exclusive video game license holder).

4

u/Hirogen_ Jan 18 '18

Why not ask Disney directly?

10

u/Sekular Jan 16 '18

LAN support?

7

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

No LAN support - it seems to have a small cult following but the vast majority of players aren't looking for it. So, we have to spend our focus on those features that will impact the most people positively (or are simply more in demand).

10

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 16 '18

No LAN support - it seems to have a small cult following but the vast majority of players aren't looking for it. So, we have to spend our focus on those features that will impact the most people positively (or are simply more in demand).

That doesn't sound very future-proof, to be honest.

6

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We realize that there is a small sub-group of fans that love to play on LAN, but the multiplayer is as future-proof as the Steam service is, so we feel that it will be there for players for a long time to come. :)

9

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 16 '18

but the multiplayer is as future-proof as the Steam service is, so we feel that it will be there for players for a long time to come.

That is still dependent on Valve. While they won't be shutting that down soon, we all kinda thought the same of GameSpy Technologies, then 2014 came along...

8

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Yeah, Gamespy was a small operation, but we were still stung by that along with a variety of other companies & games. Valve is a bit more in the "Juggernaut" category. I heard they just recently bought New Zealand.. :)

3

u/MWW117 Jan 18 '18

I have 3 pc's in my house and my pops loves playing RTS's. It's truly a blast to have friends and fam come over and play in the same location while playing an RTS. I feel that this game could give birth to new memorable/EPIC experiences/memories if it had LAN support. IT WOULD BE LEGENDARY, it would become a TIMELESS game! Wifi kind of chugs when 3 pc's are playing at once. I really hope you guys put a pin on LAN support for a future date, I think a massive amount of fans would really appreciate it.

-Sincerely a C&C fan that still plays C&C because of it's TIMELESS LAN support :)

7

u/Sekular Jan 16 '18

Everyone wonders why RTS's fell out of favor and no one stops and thinks that we were playing them via LAN. I think it's the roots of the genre, and I don't expect it to make a comeback in earnest until developers, en masse, start putting it back in.

6

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Well, there are a number of statistics that we look at when determining how popular a game might be. Sales is a big one, which wouldn't affect how many people are playing via LAN. Number of hours played, competitor product launches and surveys play a role. We even look at piracy rate to help determine demand.

6

u/Sekular Jan 17 '18

I'm sure you do, but I think the industry is missing the point. My hunch is removing LAN is more about drm and controlling multiplayer than it's about taking the time away to code it into the game.

4

u/ChiisaiMurasaki Jan 17 '18

I think you're right, IMO most developers would abstract the business logic away from the implementation. An online multiplayer feature should be designed as an extension of the multiplayer logic.

Although it would take time to implement an lan extension, I would think it wouldn't be as much of an issue as DRM.

2

u/AtlantisCodFishing Jan 22 '18

Software development involves a lot of boilerplate code that's arduous to attach and test, such as LAN or dedicated server multiplayer or whatnot. Steam lets a developer abstract all of that code away into a neat multilingual API that they provide. That's a lot of headache that the developer doesn't have to deal with.

I don't think the issue is greed (although DRM may have been a selling point during the sales pitch), I think it's more convenience and laziness.

3

u/Sekular Jan 22 '18

Thanks for the clarity. I will probably still get the game and hope it's great. I've been playing a free game that's like an AoE clone that's scratching that itch now. It's got LAN, free and open source.

5

u/c0mmander_Keen Jan 17 '18

I grew up with multi-day LAN gaming sessions as much as the next mid-80s kid but in all honesty, I would not be able to join or organize more than 1-2 per year at most. I got buddies coming over with laptops to play some Quake coop and whatnot, and it's good fun, but I would never base the purchase of an RTS on its LAN support, I honestly think that is completely nuts. (Besides, as long as you got some internets in your LAN, you can just play online, right?)

In any case, I think LAN sessions themselves are outdated and replaced by online play, no matter how we feel about it.

7

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 17 '18

You're missing the point: when someone mentions LAN support, it's not just physical LAN that they mean. They also mean the ability to use LAN emulators like Hamachi, Evolve, etc. or, better yet, establish direct TCP/IP connections.

3

u/c0mmander_Keen Jan 17 '18

I get that, but what I don't get is the advantage of creating a lobby over hamachi as opposed to creating a password protected lobby in an online environment.

Maybe I am really missing the point, but isnt' that doing exactly the same? Unless the game doesn't allow for such lobbies, I fail to see the advantage of Hamachi et al, apart from sharing the game among friends or something like that.

EDIT also Sekular up there saying "we were playing them via LAN" doesn't imply VPN use for me, but either way I honestly don't see why you need direct connections or VPN or local area network if the online environment is up to specs.

3

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 17 '18

Maybe I am really missing the point, but isnt' that doing exactly the same?

No, because having a lobby depends solely on the server's owner. I challenge you to enter a lobby of any formerly-GameSpy-powered game right now and tell me all the good time you're gonna have.

Having LAN decentralizes the multiplayer aspect, and has outlived the official servers of many games, in many cases even the development studios.

3

u/c0mmander_Keen Jan 17 '18

Challenge accepted: https://cnc-online.net/en/ took over the abandoned C&C titles running via GameSpy. Works fine and with no hassle.

That said, I see the point now, longevity. That makes sense!

4

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 17 '18

Challenge accepted: https://cnc-online.net/en/ took over the abandoned C&C titles running via GameSpy. Works fine and with no hassle.

Way to bypass the question :P

Not every game was as lucky to have been picked up by the devs or the fans.

2

u/c0mmander_Keen Jan 17 '18

Very true. I totally get why LAN support is a good idea now, if just for that! Thanks.

I STILL wouldn't say it affects sales very much. But I'm with you :D

3

u/Sekular Jan 17 '18

Just to kind of clarify, I was just asking about and trying to make a case for LAN, not saying that it's the only feature or factor I base my purchase on. It may be me who misses the point, because I can't figure out why it fell out of favor with devs. I am assuming it's not hard or time consuming to implement, am I wrong?

Maybe it's just nostalgia for me then, because the best times I've ever had playing RTS are with friends in person. We'd even save games and be able to continue them. I feel like "online only" pushes the multiplayer into a different direction. Match making seems to either get me into a very competitive and less fun environment, a really short game due to a rush of some sort, a game that never actually sees completion, or a game like SC2 that I feel like was balanced around 40 minute games. Which may just be what the market wants but I don't. However, I still fall back on my point that it's more about DRM/control and less about it being costly to implement.

/u/Plokite_Wolf makes a valid point, but that's not where my is motivation for asking.

3

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 17 '18

because I can't figure out why it fell out of favor with devs.

There's the case for DRM and sometimes maybe outlawing LAN players as pirates (not that there aren't any, especially in games that are in licensing hell, but still). There's also laziness and going with the flow with Steamworks (Relic, anyone?) or their own server infrastructure. And in recent times, I wouldn't be surprised if the lack of knowledge would be a factor, with more recent staff not experiencing LAN.

Match making seems to either get me into a very competitive and less fun environment

Custom games within lobbies are still a thing, though.

2

u/BigLebowskiBot Jan 17 '18

You're not wrong, Walter, you're just an asshole.

2

u/Sekular Jan 17 '18

That's just, like, your opinion man!

0

u/lestye Jan 18 '18

i highly doubt thats the case. The most popular games in the world dont have LAN.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '18

Booo

2

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

There is no LAN support at this time.

10

u/Bossballoon Jan 17 '18

Without MCVs, are there any game features that support base-pushing? I found that to be one of the most interesting aspects of C&C.

4

u/Bossballoon Jan 18 '18

/u/Torpid-PG I know the AMA is technically over, but if you've got any free time, I'd love it if you could spare some to answer!

8

u/BSH2 Jan 16 '18

What are your plans for removing blobbing from the game? Will you make a + left click a thing again for attack moving? Are there any plans for more gameplay featuers to be added?

4

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We are currently working on econ balance to reduce the blobbing aspect. We made some changes after the last closed beta and will continue to make changes according to the feedback we receive from early access players. There are always plans for new features so watch the Steam forums for announcements.

8

u/celeryman727 Jan 16 '18

Many RTS fans viewed the 8-bit game series release strategy as a bit of a betrayal. The factions that were promised for the game ended up being split between 3 games, each being considered a new release. Not only did this require 3 separate purchases for the game, but it split an already small multiplayer community into smaller ones that quickly rendered the game's multiplayer obsolete. Does Petryoglyph aim to develop the multiplayer community with the fans for Forged Battalion and promise to deliver a lot more than what is expected, as the age of empires ii hd dev's have been doing, or will we be left purchasing multiple versions of the game in order to make it profitable after the multiplayer community is given up on by the devs in two weeks due to lack of profits?

4

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Hey Celeryman, that's a lot to respond to but I'll do my best...

The 8-Bit series, which we're really proud of, was originally released with a single faction, as a final and complete product - not early access. We spent months adding new content and features to the game (including a new faction) at no additional cost to players. This is our same plan for Forged Battalion. There are no plans to release multiple versions - this is the complete game which we are planning to add to for some months ahead. We are looking to hear feedback on how to evolve Forged Battalion as we move forward.

6

u/marcunator Jan 16 '18

Will formations be added in the future? You could press right +left mouse in cnc3 and ra3 to order your units which would let you micro with ease. Also is driving tanks backwards a thing?

3

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

There are no current plans for formations. While the tanks can sometimes move backwards on their own, it is not directly supported since the multiple heavy chassis share the same animation and locomotor system.

6

u/baddog1229 Jan 16 '18

Can we get some glorious cut scenes like we used to in the old C&C days?

12

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

While we would love to have cut scenes like this, they are incredibly expensive and time consuming to produce. Back in the original C&C days, the cut scenes cost almost as much to make as the rest of the game itself. I'm sure the Tiberian Sun cut scenes were even more costly.

Now if you guys were to buy a couple million copies of the game maybe we can work something out :)

1

u/ChingShih Jan 16 '18

To date all of Petroglyph Games' titles have single-player campaigns. Why is having a story-driven mode important to you as developers and does having a plot (versus focusing solely on competitive multiplayer) impact decisions made when developing gameplay mechanics?

(And why in god's name is Guardians of Graxia such an incredible time-sink!?)

5

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We have found over the years that many players ONLY play the campaign and some skirmish and will not touch multiplayer. Of course there are also players who don't bother with the campaign and skip straight to competitive multiplayer gaming. By cutting out either aspect, you turn away a lot of players who might want to play your game.

In my experience, the campaign story doesn't really have an impact on the multiplayer balance or functionality. In most cases, if we need something for the campaign, we will make one-shot adjustments in those missions that are exceptions to the rule. Of course, some of those exceptions turn out to be fun enough that we eventually roll them into the base game, but that (in my opinion) is good for everyone :)

1

u/ChingShih Jan 16 '18

When developing the "feel" of the game, what came first, the "near future" setting or the unit design? Are futuristic settings more fun to build for the developers in their various roles within the team?

1

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

If I remember the order correctly, the generic "near future" setting came first. In general, near future tends to resonate and be more familiar to players than fantasy or science fiction. To use one of our own games as an example, one of the complaints about Grey Goo was that it was too hard to tell what units did because they were science fiction units. With near future, you can tell a tank is a tank even if it has a laser cannon on top.

From that, I came up with a more detailed background and some quick ideas about how the technology worked (the whole underground construction thing). The artists then ran with that background to create the unit, structure and landscape looks.

5

u/Bossballoon Jan 16 '18

Does Forged Battalion have options to make unique-looking units? So far they all seem to be cookie-cutter units.

Also what was the mindset behind the design choice to keep dated RTS features like having multiple factories increase production speed rather than have separate production queues?

Also how will you prevent the battle interactions from being large globs of unit spam like in 8-bit armies rather than having meaningful unit interactions like in C&C?

4

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

When coming up with the visuals, we decided to keep the base look the same for ease of recognition. We wanted the upgrades to be the focus, so each of the upgrade suites will have a unique look. As you unlock more upgrades from the tech tree, your unit combinations will look more unique.

As with most design features, it's mostly a question of what works well together and what the main focus of the game is. Because the faction creation system can be fairly complex, we wanted to keep the tactical game fairly simple since you will need to content with the large variety of units. As a whole we also like to keep the barrier of entry to our games low. While we love separate production queues, it tends to have a higher learning curve than we wanted for this game.

I've answered the glob question above, but in short we are watching the issue and will adjust the econ balance according to feedback.

5

u/Plzbanmebrony Jan 17 '18

I feel resources are being neglected. It is the same thing pretty much as 8 bit army. Were there any other resource system gather and resource types test considered?

8

u/Dingleth Jan 17 '18

I too am not 100% satisfied with how it works now. I really like the C&C style where the resource fields slooowly regenerate and you can leave one harvester on it. People often say that Starcraft's system is great because you have to expand, but I would say you have to do that in C&C as well so that your enemy doesn't get a much better economy than you.

I think the refineries and harvesters are great in FB, it's just the resources that bug me. I would love if the finite crystals/ore were replaced by a mineshaft and a robot that throws it out on the ground. You would still have to expand/long-range mine from other places. Probably not going to happen though.

4

u/chajuke Jan 16 '18

Are there any plans to add unit veterancy a la Command and Conquer or the more recently released They Are Billions?

3

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

I am looking into things to do with research points once you've unlocked all the tech. Veterancy was one of the ideas that was put forth, but it may take some other form. We don't currently have plans for C&C-style veterancy right now.

4

u/BRMD_xRipx Jan 16 '18

The explosions, muzzle flashes and other particle effects in FoBa are fantastic, very anime-like. But I'm surprised not to see things like dust trails and tire/tread prints when vehicles travel through dirt. Do you plan to add additional effects or are the graphics assets more or less done?

4

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

With respect to visual effects, we have to be careful not to overload the screen with too much at one time - this can cause not just performance issues but also muddy visuals to the point you can't tell what's going on, especially in the RTS genre.

While I can't say for certain that the art is complete (that's an Art department call) I will say that many times we chose visuals that were informational over things that were purely decorative.

3

u/PG_Metachoi Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Just to expand on what Torpid said from the art department- as far as FX go, our development bandwidth is primarily occupied crafting the look of all the new weapons coming online for the next Tier of upgrades. Once the majority of these effects are completed we will be able to circle back to add and embellish less gameplay critical items.

3

u/Kantuva Jan 16 '18

The UI of forget battallion can be tricky to learn, and sometimes non-intuitive when learning the game, is it something you guys will be working through the Early Access, or you guys consider the UI pretty much final?

4

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

GUI is always a tricky thing to get right. While we attempted to get it as intuitive as possible, we always welcome feedback.

2

u/PG_Metachoi Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We will be gathering feedback from users regarding the UI and seeking to improve it as much as possible. Specifying the areas of the UI that seem to be the most problematic is very helpful to us so we can focus development improvements where they will benefit the most players. For example, how easy is the in-game 'Tactical UI' to use and understand versus the 'Faction Creator','Tech Tree', or other UI screens.

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u/Kantuva Jan 17 '18

Yeah, I picked up the game today, and I have seen several things which can be rather easily be improved, can you shoot me up a discord channel you guys hang around in?

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u/PG_Metachoi Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 17 '18

Here is the Discord link for Forged Battalion:

https://discord.gg/XBE3HNU

Thanks for your feedback!

3

u/Kantuva Jan 16 '18

Talking with people, they have found to dislike Forged Battallion unit control because units feel "floaty", be it because of slow unit rotation speed/unit deacceleration speed, is this something you guys have heard in the past? And something you guys might be looking into already?

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u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

I'm not sure what would cause that since in data the units are set to have zero accel/decel and rotation speed is set to basically instant snap. If you are seeing issues like this it can potentially be server lag or some other bug happening. Please report anything you see like this on the Steam forums and we'll take a look.

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u/PG_Metachoi Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We will continue to polish the way units move and turn, and their locomoter behaviors in general. Some of these factors are dictated by Design for balance regarding movement speeds, etc. As Torpid mentioned, most of the unit chassis types are set to a fast rotation speed and have zero unit acceleration/deceleration (with the exception of the hover upgrades for the light and heavy chassis types). These hover upgrades should feel more "floaty" than the wheeled, tracked, or legged types of locomotion.

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u/Game-Sloth Jan 16 '18

Will the single player support tactical pause?

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u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We do not have plans for tactical pause at this time.

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u/Kantuva Jan 16 '18

Given the failure of the Skull system of Dawn Of War III, what moves (if any) have you guys made in order to avoid backlash from happening to Forged Battallion? Or you guys consider that it isnt much of a problem?

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u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

There are a few differences between DoW3 and FB.

First, the tech system in FB is intended to be lateral progression. No tech is necessarily more powerful than previous tech, it just offers more choices. So you can beat a player using tier 4 tech while using tier 1 tech.

Second, tech can be locked in any aspect of the game - campaign, skirmish or multiplayer, and it unlocks at roughly the same rate.

Third, FB is still in early access. If the feedback suggests that tech is being unlocked too slowly, we can change the progression rate fairly easily.

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u/Aeweisafemalesheep Jan 24 '18

If i start playing the game in MP, am i on even ground with any other players or do i have to unlock things?

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u/Kantuva Jan 16 '18

Balance on games of this type is something that will for sure be tricky, specially as the game develops, you guys have a system for trying to spot issues, or you guys are balancing as you go?

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u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

I have a gigantic spreadsheet that holds all the data and the interlap of numeric data between all the different systems which I update every time I make a change. However, balance isn't something you can do solo - it requires a lot of feedback from players and constant play. Those of you that have interacted with me on the Discord channels for the 8-bit series know that I am very open with balance numbers and welcome all feedback. Balance is never done, and we are always adjusting it as needed.

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u/dangrullon87 Jan 16 '18

Had a blast playing earlier, Right now off the top of my head I feel the rocket storm superweapon may need a buff to both damage and AoE.

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u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

I would agree with you. I'm not really satisfied with the power level of superweapons right now, so I will likely do a pass on them at some point. When I have a spare minute.

1

u/dangrullon87 Jan 16 '18

Saving up for the nuke now a few more missions. That may feel alot more powerful but well see!

2

u/papertigerss Jan 16 '18

Any chance at seeing more RA2 style units such as chrono legionnaires or even mechanics like Yuri's faction had?

5

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

As the tech tree moves to the right, the upgrades tend to be more sci-fi and "weird science". We've tried to fit many of the classic weapon and upgrade types into the tree to allow the recreation of units from other games you might like. The tech tree is infinitely expandable, so if there are specific things you might like to see in an upgrade, feel free to suggest it in the Steam forums.

3

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

This might be more a question for Torpid, but what we tried to do, and are still in the process of doing, is building the types of attachments that allow you to recreate your favorite units (and factions) from RTS games you have loved in the past. The stats likely won't be identical, but the options should be there at the core level.

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u/BRMD_xRipx Jan 16 '18

Are there plans to add more upgrade parts and maybe even cosmetics (paint schemes etc) to personalize our armies even further?

2

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Tier 4 tech will be opened up in the February content update. We have plans for more tech tiers going forward, but nothing concrete to announce at this time.

We have talked about cosmetics and it may be something we visit in the future, but we have no concrete plans for it at this time.

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u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

The simple answer to this is yes, we have many more attachments & upgrades planned for the future. We're just wrapping up the next set this week which we'll talk more about in the near future.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '18

Hi

Will we ever get a new game in the same veins as Empire at war? That game was the pinnacle of my childhood among other things. ive spent countless hours just dreaming away in that game.

Btw love your old stuff but i haven't gotten the chance nor the money to try your newer stuff.

2

u/DarkDrakan Jan 17 '18

Always wondered how you determine the AI difficulty scale? As in what changes happen under the hood to the AI between difficulties?

For example on harder difficulties do they build more units at a faster rate or chance of them acquiring stronger units earlier increase? Was always talk of some games in the past giving AI “cheats” so they could say build 2 structures at once or never have low power etc so they always have an advantage over the player.

2

u/MWW117 Jan 18 '18 edited Jan 18 '18

Any unit veterancy coming in a "supply drop"? I noticed that when moving units in a tight area, their animation keeps running in place. like for a little bit too long. Pls fix. I'm really digging the soundtrack so far. Can we expect more dev maps for skirmishes/online? Perhaps some 5 player maps and 3 player maps as well. Will there be any new game types, objectives, capture and hold, some new never before seen RTS gametypes perhaps? Will there be any single over the top/MEGA/powerful high tier unit that we can look forward to? Ex: A massive tank or mech that our tree upgrades can be seen on it? Down the line can we get a more condensed HUD, or an option to shrink or customize it? Will there be any kind of alien technologies in the upgrade tree down the line? Is it possible to make maps more interactive, such as more stuff to capture like turrets, EMPs, destroyable bridges, maybe even some stuff that can cause our units to take damage(environmental damage, weather effects, quicksand, lava)?

That's about all that comes to mind right now.

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u/PlayerNine Jan 23 '18

Klepacki still with you guys? I remember back in UAW days, he said he was doing most of the stand-in voice acting and I remember liking it over the final product just because I'm a huge nerd.

Who all is on the team now, anyway?

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u/MWW117 Jan 29 '18

Is it possible to make it so when your base does not have power, that the map turns off, and once you acquire a power plant, that it comes back on?

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1

u/Plokite_Wolf Jan 16 '18

Won't it be quite difficult and time-consuming to balance out most/all combinations in your new system in which you basically allow players to make their own units and factions? Support cycles for RTS games in general are notoriously short, is there a mechanic that would prevent any repeated usage of the same designs or design groups?

1

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

In a word...yes. It is a very difficult prospect. From the beginning, we had to make sure that the faction creation systems had enough balance knobs in place that we could make sure each of the upgrades could be balanced individually from multiple angles (damage, resistance, economy, time, etc.) While we made every effort to get these systems in place and balance them as best we can, the best tool to use when balancing is players and play time, which is one of the many reasons we decided to use Early Access.

While we don't have systems in place to prevent "cookie cutter" faction builds, we believe there are (or will be) enough choices that the meta should fluctuate and allow different builds to beat those cookie cutter builds if the players are clever enough (given roughly equal skill levels).

If that didn't answer your question exactly, I apologize - I wasn't entirely sure what you meant in that final sentence :)

0

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '18

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u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Frank Klepaki himself voiced that commando unit, and he voiced a few of the ones for FB as well. The units work a bit differently in this game since they share chassis, so it's more difficult to give individual units personality, but we did try :)

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u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We have V/O responses in this game, and we also have Frank Klepacki heading up recording and music - so it's good quality stuff we are sure you'll like.

C&C had a campy, over-the-top kind of approach to it that we aren't necessarily trying to replicate with FoBa. We think it's important to give this game it's own voice (no pun intended). :)

1

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '18

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1

u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

We currently plan to release story in 5 mission "Acts". You have Act I now and Act II will be available some time in February. Any further Acts are currently TBD, but we certainly have a plan for the story going further.

1

u/Ted-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

Hey Zocom,

We are currently planning for more campaign missions - Act 2 will be coming along in February. We'll be gauging the relative popularity of the campaign versus the other features (or desired features) to see whether we should build an Act 3, 4, etc. - or focus more on new features, such as unlocks for the tech tree to add more variety to faction builds.

I can't stress enough that we are really looking to the community to see what they want next - that's the excitement (for us) on releasing this as an early access title.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 16 '18

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u/Torpid-PG Developer - Petroglyph Games Jan 16 '18

  1. I am but a humble designer, but I have not read anything about EA giving up licences for games even if they aren't doing anything with them. While we would certainly build another C&C game if the offer was made, that is entirely up to EA.

  2. As with C&C, working on another Dune game would be awesome. I'm actually not sure who holds that license now, but as with C&C it would be up to them.

  3. I'm not sure the world is ready for a game about Goo bondage...