Tactical Breach Wizards - tacticool spellcaster combat from Gunpoint dev

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https://www.pcgamer.com/tactical-breach-wizards-interview/

XCOM 2’s problems inspired a whole other tactics game
Tactical Breach Wizards was built from complaints about the Firaxis sequel.

When games journalists outline the problems with a game, they're often met with a familiar retort, "Why don't you make one then, if you're so clever?” And of course, most of us aren't. But for Tom Francis, a former staff writer at PC Gamer for nine years, that's become a foolproof method of development.

"I think my process is to play a game, articulate what I wish was different, and make a game that does it that way,” he says. For Tactical Breach Wizards, the starting point was one of Francis' favourites: XCOM 2. "I love it, and I've played it for hundreds of hours, and yet I could talk forever about what's wrong with it... big, serious problems.”

Francis vented his frustrations in a design document. XCOM 2 battles could be much clearer, he argued, if they took place in simple, flat combat spaces. That way you could eliminate line of sight issues, and prevent extra groups of enemies showing up arbitrarily. What's more, by stripping out the metagame, you could prevent the unfairness of campaigns doomed by early mistakes, and counter any remaining problems with a free rewind button.

By the end, he had the makings of something new. But you can't release a game called Problems I Had With XCOM 2, and so Francis needed a theme. Then he remembered a ridiculous conversation the PC Gamer team once had about Call of Duty except with wizards: kevlar robes, silenced wands and self-serious military lingo. With the approval of former colleagues who, it has to be said, mostly didn't remember making the joke in the first place, Francis moved ahead with his vision for a SWAT team made up of spell-casting wizards.

Francis has always liked his magic the way he likes his tactics: consistent and rules-driven, "I love Magicka. It treats magic like a volatile, complicated science, where the most powerful effects are found by combining elements, but you're just as likely to electrocute yourself by forgetting your robe is wet when you try to mix lightning with steam.”

For Tactical Breach Wizards, though, a shared magical ruleset risked making abilities too samey. "Each character has their own brand of magic that works differently, so any universal logic that united them would probably just make them less distinct,” Francis says.

Swat's up
For the SWAT side, Francis drew on Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, a series highlight, as well as the bombast and jingoism of Call of Duty campaigns. "All of their seriousness becomes funny in our wizardy context, I think,” he says. Yet Tactical Breach Wizards is also anti-COD, wary of glamourising intervention as simple problem-solving. Its story concerns operatives who've become disillusioned with their masters, and are looking for clear actions to take in a messy world.

Like Gunpoint before it, the game is glued together by Francis' dialogue, which is daft, quick and true to its characters. It's a reflection of his principal writerly inspiration, Douglas Adams.

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy could go absolutely anywhere, because he was making it up based largely on whatever seemed funny,” Francis says. "That's definitely what I aspire to now: make the player laugh enough, early enough, that they start to trust that whatever comes next, they're in for a treat.”

Two years after Francis and his team started work on Tactical Breach Wizards, it suddenly became apparent they weren't the only ones determined to fix some of XCOM 2's problems. Firaxis announced Chimera Squad, a standalone XCOM game which ditched the global view in favour of simple levels and breach and clear tactics.

The similarities to Tactical Breach Wizards came as a shock. But, since Chimera Squad surprise launched just weeks after its announcement, it's served as even further inspiration for Francis. "It's so much in our wheelhouse that naturally we're looking at what worked and didn't in their approach, and where we might want to go bigger on some of the things that differentiate us,” Francis says.

After all: Chimera Squad certainly doesn't have free rewinds or a character-driven story. It certainly doesn't have riot-gear Gandalf. Put that in your pipe and blow a smoke-ship with it.

 

[LESS T_T]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1043810/view/3056231728247903796

Sign up for the Tactical Breach Wizards Act One beta
Just click a button on our store page

We have a new beta ready for testing, and this time it should be extra-easy to sign up and get playing. We're using Steam's new Playtest feature, where you just click a button on our store page to tell us you're up for it, and when we're ready we click a button to let a random selection of you in.

The beta's ready now and we plan to let a small batch in first, to make sure our analytics stuff is working OK, then we'll open it up to about 1,000 testers.

If you fancy it, head to our store page now and click 'Request Access'. When we start letting people in, Steam will choose folks randomly and notify them. You won't need a Steam key, it'll just pop up in your games library if you get in.

If you're on the fence, here's a new trailer! If you've already decided you want in, you might want to skip it - we don't spoil any story, but we play through some puzzles you'll face.



As mentioned, we're looking for a composer - here are the details if you're interested.

When does the beta end?
In about 3 weeks' time!

I haven't heard anything, did I not get in?
We'll be letting people in in several waves, so if the beta hasn't ended yet, you still might!

Will it work on Mac or Linux?
Windows only I'm afraid.

I was on a previous beta, do I need to sign up again?
Yes, if you want in! This is separate.

Is Jen not a cop anymore?
That's right, she's a private investigator now. Jen's the one we previously referred to as 'Witch Cop', though she was an ex-cop from the moment the game began. There's never been a version of the game where your team are working for any kind of enforcement organisation, but the name and look of that character were making it hard to get that across.

The cop version of her story had other problems: if her issues with her department had no bearing on real world ones, it felt evasive and uncritical. If they
did
relate to real world issues, it became an unpleasantly real reminder of traumatic stuff that felt out of place with the lighter elements of the game.

So in the latest draft of the story, she's a PI who's never worked for the police, and she has a new backstory about how she got into that line of work. The job change affects a few things about where she is emotionally at the start of the game, but aside from that she's the same character: the one you don't know or love because we never actually showed any story stuff before now.

Obviously there's been a million other changes, but since this one relates to something visible, we thought it was worth giving the full context for it.

When's the game out?
Dunno! Make sure you've got it wishlisted, then you can be as chill as we are about the towering cloud of uncertainty looming over our working lives.

 

[AgentFransis]

Druidstone has the rewind mechanic too, but you have to waste an ability slot on it and you only get to use it once per mission. That's not bad. But free rewinds every single turn is something you should only do as part of an easy mode.

Field of Glory 2 has a good rewind mechanic. You can rewind the last unit movement so long as it didn't reveal any hidden units or actually attacked something. Removes frustration from misclicks or movement miscalculations like your unit ending up facing an awkward direction, but once you're committed that's that.

 

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https://www.pcgamer.com/traffic-war...ew-of-my-problems-in-tactical-breach-wizards/

Traffic Warlocks and the Druid mafia are just a few of my problems in Tactical Breach Wizards
Guns locked and spell slots loaded.

I boot up the beta build of Tactical Breach Wizards and am suddenly dropped into a high stakes special forces operation. My partner and I are scoping out a mafia cargo ship with the mission of extracting a hostage. All that stands between us and success is a gang of angry druids armed to the teeth with guns, ammo, and nasty spells.

We breeze through the first string of cabins with no problem, but after bursting into the main cargo hold and immobilizing the first couple of targets, I'm left with a difficult choice. Take out the Elder Shrublord with an M4 aimed at the hostage we're supposed to be securing, or save my Chronomancer teammate who's face-to-face with a terrifying spider monster? My wizard has the ability to see into the future and the outcomes of both decisions look dire. No matter what actions I make, it's impossible to save both. Analysis paralysis takes over and I have no idea what to do. Who decided to give guns to all these wizards anyway?

That would be Suspicious Developments, the creators of turn-based strategy game Tactical Breach Wizards (and, previously, Gunpoint and Heat Signature). In this world, wizards have replaced their robes and magical staffs with modern-day tactical gear. Armed with guns, gadgets, and powerful spells, it's your job to clear rooms filled with supernatural enforcers.

I'm intrigued by Tactical Breach Wizard's particular fusion of fantasy. The first set of missions introduces you to Jen, a storm witch who doubles as a private investigator and has the ability to control electricity. And Zan, a retired time-traveling Navy Seer who has the ability to see into the future.

I love the design details of these two characters, like Jen's collapsible broomstick that she carries on her back and the magician's wand she has stuffed in the band of her witch's hat. With Zan, there's something funny about seeing an old wizard decked out with a rifle and camo gear, like Gandalf reincarnated in the SAS. He even has some tiny hourglasses tied to his belt for when he has to see into the future.

The duo join forces when they realise their investigatory interests overlap. Zan is looking for an ex-special forces colleague who has ties to a case Jen is investigating. The two are old friends but their reunion is not a time for celebration. The station is being raided by special black ops forces and the two get caught up in the fray, leading to a string of levels where you have to take out the whole squadron with your arcane abilities.

Blasting away the first couple of coppers is an easy enough job, but there are much beefier enemies equipped with riot gear waiting later down the line. Controlling the space with some strategic spellcasting is key. Instead of brute-forcing your way through levels, there's an emphasis on trying to move each target around the space to take them out as efficiently as possible.

Zan has a handy 'predictive bolt' ability that lets him set a deadly magical tripwire across the floor which Jen can push enemies into with her spell blasts, making for some great teamwork. If all else fails, you can always just blast an enemy through a window with some dramatic flair.

You can switch between characters during your turn, and also undo moves and mistakes, letting you try out different combinations of moves. The game is pretty flexible in that regard and makes learning spells and combinations easier since you can test strategies out before committing to them.

Having the ability to rewind removes a lot of the challenge, which is exactly the point. Developer Tom Francis has said that he understands the ability to undo your action makes the game easier, but ultimately wants more focus on the story than the action. In a development video, Francis elaborates explaining, "you're free to just play around and try stuff. And I actually don't want the game to be very difficult to complete because it's going to be a story-driven experience."

That doesn't mean things are devoid of strategy. The challenge is working out how to clear these rooms as efficiently as possible rather than increasing the number of disgruntled enemies thrown at you. It's more of a puzzle game akin to something like Fights in Tight Spaces in that respect.

It's still early in development, and so rough around the edges, but Tactical Breach Wizards is already an intriguing take on turn-based strategy. The world design and story hit the mark, and we'll see how Suspicious Developments spruces up the combat (the game releases "when it's ready.") I can already sense how Zan's future sight will lead to more dramatic decision making and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more characters. In the hour or so I played, I came face to face with the devious traffic warlock who, as unthreatening as that sounds, would not stop throwing phantasmal cars and highway traffic at my team.

If you want to try blasting coppers through windows for yourself, Tactical Breach Wizards is using Steam's new Playtest feature, meaning players can get involved with the game's beta. You'll just need to go to the game's Steam page and hit the "Request Access" button. Better be quick though, as the closed beta ends May 25.

 

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https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1043810/view/4123679966407119876

New beta underway, still time to get in
Our top chronomancers have successfully redefined February.

We've just sent out the first 500 keys for the increasingly inaccurately named February Beta!

If you're not on our mailing list or haven't opted in yet, there's still time. We plan to send out 2,500 more keys, in batches, over the next month or so.

Just sign up and make sure to check the relevant boxes. If you're already on there, we won't add you twice.

The full game is ready to test now, but we're doing things a little differently this time. If you get an invite, you'll first get access to the first 75% of the campaign. We'll then wait to see who fills in their feedback forms on what they've played, and periodically invite those folks into a beta that includes the game's final act.

Most testers don't give feedback, so we just wanna make sure we don't give the full game to too many people without getting what we need in return.

Cheers!

Tom

 

[Fedora Master]

Lol this thing still exists?