Game News Wartile - Tabletop simulation Strategy on Kickstarter

[Zed]

Tags: Playwood Projects; Wartile

I got a nice e-mail about medieval fantasy strategy game Wartile, so I figured I'd post about it somewhere. Looks cool, but not quite RPG-y enough for the Codex. Here's the run-down:

In the Viking Conquest campaign, players will get their first taste of the charming medieval fantasy universe we’ve been working on for years now. Collect and lead a group of Viking warriors through a series of battle boards forged by the Viking king’s desire to rule Scandinavia and England to write his place in history in blood.

KEY FEATURES

Take control of a band of miniature figurines as they come to life.

Engage in battles on gorgeous battle board dioramas with a true tabletop feel.

Play Godly and Tactical cards and change the course of the battle.

Experience a novel twist on the real time strategy genre!

Customize your units with weapons, armor & new abilities found throughout the game

Expand your collection of figurines & widen your palette of possibilities

Venture into the Viking Campaign rich on Mythology, story and lore

Play against friends in quest oriented multiplayer matches or go full competitive​

The creators, Plywood Projects, is currently running a campaign for the game on Kickstarter.

 

[CryptRat]

Too bad it is not turn-based...

 

[Davaris]

Been wanting to do something like this for a long time, but no motivation.

 

[Jaklon]

Looks great but sounds not so great. Why even make a strategy game like this that is not turn based?

 

[Davaris]

Looks great but sounds not so great. Why even make a strategy game like this that is not turn based?

Yeah, mechanic appears to be move and play cards. Art looks nice. Would love it if it was a TB RPG.

They just dropped a lets play video:

 

[thesheeep]

Yeah, a game like this in realtime really is not attractive IMO.

 

[sser]

You can see a major flaw in the design at around 3:27. He moves his guy and so does the enemy, and because it's a quasi we-go system in real-time, they just move right past each other. Nevermind the total lack of Zone of Control as he appears able to just shift dudes around the enemies and "Focus Fire" them down. So you have two real-time strategy things going on - lack of bodyblocking and focus fire - you just put them behind a mire of this new system. If the enemy AI was mobile enough, I'm sure that would lead to some serious "dancing" bullshit, but I'm going to go ahead and guess they'll make sure the AI doesn't move too much. It also appears you gotta click everything constantly -- never stop clicking! Just seems like an app store game with pretty graphics.

 

[Excidium II]

Wartile sounds like a pokemon name.

RT eh? At least it uses hexes.

 

[Helly]

Hexes and RT? What the fuck were they smoking? They have a game that'd be a perfectly good looking TB game FFS

 

[Jaklon]

Yeah, mechanic appears to be move and play cards. Art looks nice. Would love it if it was a TB RPG.

They just dropped a lets play video:

Especially with a hex grid. Hex grid without TB? Talk about cargo cult game design....

 

[Roqua]

What is the deal with trading card games? I've never played one. Are they actually good or are the moronic and lite? When I was a kid we collected sports cards and Garbage Pale Kids cards so I have zero experience. It seems to me like basing games on card games is a cheap way to make a lite game with little actual strategy if card games are most popular among little kids and can be completely and fully understood by little kids.

Am I missing something? Are these games actually good? Like Thea the Awakening and other ones? I usually immediately skip if I see anything about cards.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

The RT seems a really strange design decision but it is an interesting pitch nonetheless. Doesn't really look like they're able to make their goal though.

Lets see how this turns out, seems like its at least something new & fresh. Gonna give them the benefit of the doubt. Backed.

edit: there is a playable demo by the way, in case anyone missed that.

the historical setting is to my liking - first mission: loot the monastery. also you can 'free relics', meaning turning crosses on the map into runestones. nice touch.

its strange that some of the elements seem to be designed with touchpad in mind (eg. if you loot a chest, destroy a barrier or free a relic, instead of actually just getting the bonus, you have to quickly tap/click the things) when the game is developed just for PC and MAC.

about the RT combat, enemies only seem to 'activate' when you get close to them, which means that you have downtime to check up on your guys (health etc), look at the map, your cards etc. When things get hectic you can also activate a five second slow-motion mode in which you can play cards and such.

The map is fairly interesting, with possibilities to take enemies from the rear, take the highground etc., things to explore off the main path, and surprises, such as ambushes.

 

[thesheeep]

All of that doesn't sound too bad, but it also sounds as if it simply should have been turn-based to begin with.
Though I do like mixed approaches that only turn TB when something is actually happening, as it makes the "just walking" part faster.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

These guys seem to have no publicity whatsoever, they had like 15 to 20 backers for the last few days. Bummer.

Here is a little gameplay video to get some better impressions:

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Aaaand its dead, Jim.

A Momentary Farewell

First, we’d like to thank each and every one of you who have backed WARTILE, who have believed in the project and supported us on this Journey. Sadly, we regret to announce that we will be closing down the KICKSTARTER effective today. The reception of WARTILE have been overwhelming positive, from you guys and gals, the media, Let’s Plays and from more than 6400 players who have downloaded our Pre-Alpha build on Steam (or as a standalone download).

Unfortunately, we are today in a situation where we have to consider and realize the harsh truth that it’s very unlikely that we will reach the campaign’s main goal. There’s much to consider and there’s many reasons as to why this may be the case and we have already learned a lot, both about our community and about how WARTILE is seen by those who didn’t back the project.

Over the next few weeks we will step back, reflect and investigate our different options to keep developing WARTILE in an effort make the game as good, polished and fun as it can possibly be. Over the last two years, we have been working hard every single day to get WARTILE to the current state that it’s at today, driven by the motivation to make something new, different and unique, fueled by the creative passion and love of a project very dear to us.

We would love to stay in contact, so please - we urge you – give us 2 minutes of your time to visit Newsletter and sign up, since the Newsletter is where we will regularly post updates on our development and future plans. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter, where we also will be sure to keep everyone updated on what is going on at our small office in Copenhagen, as well as on what Viking or Battle Board we are working on next. Furthermore, if you have any comments on what we have done really well, or what we could have done differently, please help enlighten us by sending a short email over to Contact@playwoodgames and we will use your feedback in our post mortem moving forward. We would also encourage everyone playing the Pre-Alpha to ask questions about WARTILE on the Steam discussions, as we are closely monitoring the discussions there and are ready to answer all of your questions.

Before pressing the big red button, we would like to send a huge thank you to the press and media, to YouTubers, Let’s Players, Twitchers and, most of all, to all the backers who have helped us raise awareness on WARTILE. None of this would have been possible without your help and we are incredibly grateful for your time and effort. Looking at our overall achievements, we have done incredibly well, minus hitting our initial goal of our campaign.

Again we are sad and incredibly sorry to disappoint all of you backers, and everyone else who believed in us, but going forward, we take with us a lot of knowledge about ourselves as developers and of WARTILE as a game. Be sure that we will rise again, stronger and better as we aim at the future.

Until we meet again, do keep spreading the love for cool projects.

Kind regards

Michael Rud Jakobsen on behalf of Playwood Project ApS

 

[Mangoose]

How the fuck do you simulate a tabletop game with real-time gameplay?

 

[mutonizer]

How the fuck do you simulate a tabletop game with real-time gameplay?

Check the steam demo/prototype for it to see how it plays out.
It's a bit odd at first but you soon get how it's played out. I kinda liked the concept personally and the art suits my style as well.

 

[Mangoose]

How the fuck do you simulate a tabletop game with real-time gameplay?

Check the steam demo/prototype for it to see how it plays out.
It's a bit odd at first but you soon get how it's played out. I kinda liked the concept personally and the art suits my style as well.

Lol so just because they look like tabletop miniatures it's a tabletop simulation?

"True tabletop feel"??

Lol. Absolutely nothing like any tabletop game I've played.

 

[Galdred]

There is a KS for a turn based similar game, Warbands Bushido, live there :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788569824/warbands-bushido
But they have no demo, just pretty effects on their pitch, so it is harder to form an opinion (but being TB makes a lot more sense in the first place, when you are trying to appeal to tabletop players).

 

[sser]

There is a KS for a turn based similar game, Warbands Bushido, live there :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788569824/warbands-bushido
But they have no demo, just pretty effects on their pitch, so it is harder to form an opinion (but being TB makes a lot more sense in the first place, when you are trying to appeal to tabletop players).

That looks a lot better than Wartiles. I didn't like how they were talking about other projects, though. I "get it" that they want to expand the brand or whatever, but it might have been best to just focus in on the one game. Kickstarters are already notorious for not even achieving goals for one title, much less shit that's not even announced.

 

[Galdred]

There is a KS for a turn based similar game, Warbands Bushido, live there :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788569824/warbands-bushido
But they have no demo, just pretty effects on their pitch, so it is harder to form an opinion (but being TB makes a lot more sense in the first place, when you are trying to appeal to tabletop players).

That looks a lot better than Wartiles. I didn't like how they were talking about other projects, though. I "get it" that they want to expand the brand or whatever, but it might have been best to just focus in on the one game. Kickstarters are already notorious for not even achieving goals for one title, much less shit that's not even announced.

Indeed, especially if the other projects are not compatible at all with the first one (I mean, they cannot do a tank game, and a samurai skirmish game using the same scale or mechanics).
As I said on their comment section, I would find it interesting only if we end up swith a silly Heroscape mode with samurai battling robots, knights, and paratroopers.

 

[Galdred]

Funding is canceled

Update #9

Apr 26 2016

Update and final rewards.

Thank you for your support once again! But seems like we're a bit too far from our goal, and almost out of time. Kickstarter updates, changes and promo work take an incredible amount of time, and there's still a lot of work to be done with our actual game.

So we decided to finish our campaign and get back to work. It was very inspiring experience for us, with all your positive reviews and attention. All these will help us make our project even better and release it no matter what. So as a sign of our gratitude, we've got something for you too:

As soon as we'll be ready to start our Beta, we'll send your invitations and access codes via kickstarter messages. And right after release, some more reward codes and Special reward codes.

For all our news and updates follow us on twitter, join our facebook and subscribe to our newsletter on warbandsbushido.com And if you still haven't, please, support Warbands: Bushido on Steam Greenlight.


Best Regards, and hope we'll see you in Warbands beta soon enough,

Red Unit Studios crew.

Previous update

It was to be expected, but it looks like they still plan to carry through with the game. They don't mention another KS campaign.

 

[Bustamonte]

Aww, how cute!

Inspired by the success story of Underrail, I have found their contact info and emailed them. at contact@playwoodgames.com.

Hi guys, I heard of your game via a thread on rpgcodex.net, which is a site that deals not only with RPGs but also many tactical games.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...op-simulation-strategy-on-kickstarter.107352/

It's unfortunate your kickstarter did not immediately take off, but I know your game concept would get much more support from the kind of gamers who enjoy such games if it included turn-based gameplay instead of realtime. This is an underserved and devoted market segment.

Previously another developer was making a game and got lukewarm initial interest. Then the developer was convinced to switch to turn-based gameplay and it quickly took off in popularity. That game, Underrail, has now garnered a surprising amount of support on Steam and has become a favorite of the Codex and many other gaming communities.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and good luck to your team whatever direction you take things!

Sincerely,
Bustamonte

I think this game could be truly great if they go in the right direction. I would definitely back this if it were turn-based!

 

[Bustamonte]

Hello Dr. Bachmann

Thanks for writing us.

We have been quite busy lately but thought I would just get back to you.

We often hear that Wartile should be a turn based game I think mostly because it flirts with the turn/based game mechanics and even having tiles.

I don't know if you have tried the Demo on Steam, but if you have, I am quite sure that you would agree that Wartile offers the player a whole new game-play experience that you have not seen in any other game. While we can still make many things better, we have a game mechanic that creates a new space in the RTS genre and I see no reason why we should not pursue and optimize this unique opportunity.

We have received very positive feedback from our users and it would be sad to turn the game into a turn-based game knowing that there are already hundreds of really good turn-based games out there to be played.

We want to give you a game experience that are good but also different, and we have learned as you mention, that this is something that will take some time to convince the core gaming communities about.

Kind regards

Michael Rud Jakobsen

 

[J1M]

Hello Dr. Bachmann

Thanks for writing us.

We have been quite busy lately but thought I would just get back to you.

We often hear that Wartile should be a turn based game I think mostly because it flirts with the turn/based game mechanics and even having tiles.

I don't know if you have tried the Demo on Steam, but if you have, I am quite sure that you would agree that Wartile offers the player a whole new game-play experience that you have not seen in any other game. While we can still make many things better, we have a game mechanic that creates a new space in the RTS genre and I see no reason why we should not pursue and optimize this unique opportunity.

We have received very positive feedback from our users and it would be sad to turn the game into a turn-based game knowing that there are already hundreds of really good turn-based games out there to be played.

We want to give you a game experience that are good but also different, and we have learned as you mention, that this is something that will take some time to convince the core gaming communities about.

Kind regards

Michael Rud Jakobsen

It's cute that he thinks a real-time game would be unique. I assume this is just a language deficiency and he meant "annoying to play".

Bustamonte, having directly contacted a developer with a question that potential customers wanted an answer to, you have now completed more actual journalism than professional game journalists complete in a year. I hope you weren't interested in working at Gamespot, as you are now overqualified.