Jagged Alliance 3 from Haemimont Games

[zapotec]

It's not Jagged alliance successor btw

 

[Fedora Master]

How often did they try to recapture the quality and feel of JA2? How often did they fail?

Right.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

This game clearly isn't trying to recapture the quality and fell of JA2, though? I seriously hope no one here is thick enough to assume that.

 

[Zombra]

It's not Jagged alliance successor btw

Finally, a self-declared authority on what is and is not JA. Looking forward to your next low-effort proclamation.

HMMM i smell classes and feats

What tipped you off? The part where they said there are no classes in the game and any character can develop any skill?

 

[zapotec]

It's not Jagged alliance successor btw

Finally, a self-declared authority on what is and is not JA. Looking forward to your next low-effort proclamation.

HMMM i smell classes and feats

What tipped you off? The part where they said there are no classes in the game and any character can develop any skill?

Just look a the screenshots, it's nu-Xcom 3 in the jungle, just one hit points bar, no energy management. The bottom menu bar is the same of xcom with "special gun moves", i can't even see an inventory icon .
So it's not jagged alliance 3.

 

[zapotec]

I mean you must be retarded, after looking at the screenshots, thinking "oh this is jagged alliance 3 for sure"

 

[Khor1255]

What game are they actually trying to pull off here and why are they calling it Jagged Alliance? It might confuse people who don't remember what Jagged Alliance was.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Can I press "T" to disable the tree tops? I can't see shit through this jungle.

 

[anvi]

You can press Alt F4.

 

[Serus]

I want RPGCodex posters as characters in a JA game. Histrionic ivory tower commies, brain-fogged perennialists, the guy that shows his asshole to all the other mercs to try to prove a point or something, etc.

Do that, but only add RPGCodex posters who have JA portraits as their avatar. Although, that might not result in a lot of active posters now that I think of it.

Does having a quote from JA2 counts?

 

[Ghulgothas]

Dev Diary 2 - Legacy and Writing

Legacy and Writing

Hey everyone, my name is Ian Currie and I’m happy to welcome you to another Jagged Alliance 3 DevDiary. I am one of the original creators of the Jagged Alliance series and have been working with THQ Nordic and Haemimont on Jagged Alliance 3 for a couple of years now. I’m excited to share some of my thoughts with you!

The original Jagged Alliance games

Jagged Alliance dates back to the latter half of the 1990s where the first game was released somewhat under the radar but was considered a critical success. It was quite ambitious—a strategy game with tactical combat, a large cast of colorful characters, role-playing elements, and a storyline with multiple outcomes. It was unique in allowing players to form a party of characters but using pre-existing individuals who had distinct personalities who had both strengths and weaknesses. It was further unique in that these individuals didn’t always get along with each other and could sometimes, to the surprise of players, act out. Like a lot of entertainment, it also sprinkled in a good dose of humor.



While it was followed by a small mission-based sequel that introduced multi-player gameplay (titled ‘Deadly Games’), the original game was preferred for its more open-world feel. This, along with many other aspects, was expanded upon in what became a more appropriate sequel to Jagged Alliance.

And that brings me to Jagged Alliance 2, which was certainly one of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever worked on and a true labor of love for myself and the team that developed it. It expanded upon the first Jagged Alliance in almost every aspect. Players could employ multiple squads and create their own merc, experience side-quests along with a variable storyline, taunt the main antagonist by sending them flowers.
They generally experienced a game that played out differently each time, including more in-depth tactical combat and many easter eggs that we delighted in creating. Many of the characters that players grew to love from the previous games returned along with many new characters. One of the goals of the Jagged Alliance series was to create tension between the attachment to characters and the need to acquire more skilled team members.



While Jagged Alliance 2 was very successful, the owners of the development studio decided to focus on other business opportunities and the studio closed down. The intellectual property was sold and my teammates and I all moved on to other gaming studios.

Jagged Alliance 3

A couple of years ago I was contacted by THQ Nordic to see if I’d be interested in helping a team of developers to create a new Jagged Alliance game. I was initially skeptical as there had been some Jagged Alliance games released over the years and none of them impressed me. Making something I could call a ‘true’ Jagged Alliance game would be a complex and daunting task. THQ Nordic assured me that they were going to take their time and ‘do it right’. I was told that they were boldly calling it Jagged Alliance 3 as it is intended to be the true spiritual successor to Jagged Alliance 2.

To be honest, while I loved the idea of working on a ‘true’ Jagged Alliance game, I didn’t want to let myself get too excited. It wasn’t until THQ Nordic showed me an early prototype and I read the design documentation that I allowed myself to become somewhat optimistic. Then I met with the design and production team and was impressed. OK, I was interested; what did they need me to help with?

The answer was creative writing: the story, the quests, the characters, the mercs, the dialog etc. While I had certainly contributed to the writing, the person who really owned all that work on Jagged Alliance was my partner and good friend, Shaun Lyng, who was no longer available. Hmmm, could I do it? I decided to reach out to a former colleague, Dan McClure, who is a game industry veteran and published author. Luckily, Dan agreed to sign on and the two of us became very good partners.



Working with Haemimont Games

We quickly got to know the developers at Haemimont Games and started working with them on the story and timeline for the game. It was so much fun! It wasn’t long until we were throwing around ideas for quests, discussing which mercs would be ‘back’ and of course, the new mercs – which is always exciting. Many of these personalities are like old friends that I’ve truly missed.



One of my favorite features of the game is the conversation system – the part of the game that allows players to interact with various NPCs (non-player characters) in the world. In Jagged Alliance 2, this feature was very limited – you could only choose a general ‘approach’ (e.g. friendly, direct, threatening).
Jagged Alliance 3 introduces a robust conversation system that allows for a much more engaging role-playing experience and will often include participation from some of your mercs. This can range from simple comments to more helpful observations and plays out differently depending on the situation, adding to the game’s replay-ability. We iterated on the design until we were all happy with it and seeing it all come together was immensely satisfying. I’m very proud of what we’ve done here as it allows for so much more interaction between the player, the NPCs and the mercs, and allows us to tell a much deeper story than in any previous Jagged Alliance game.



Working with Haemimont has been very rewarding. They’re not only a team that has worked together for a long time, but their expertise is evident in everything they do. Watching the game take shape over the past couple of years has been amazing.
Graphically there is so much detail in the game, from how all the mercs in the game have custom avatars, to the carefully crafted environments and of course the combat system is equally rich and rewarding. Jagged Alliance 3 truly is bigger and better. Sometimes it’s just so hard to believe that after all this time, I’m working on another Jagged Alliance game. I consider myself very lucky and can’t wait for you to experience the game.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Strange Fellow]

Now they've got Ian Currie? Don't do this to me, man

 

[Ghulgothas]

Do you remember Jagged Alliance?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Dev Diary 2 - Legacy and Writing

Legacy and Writing

Hey everyone, my name is Ian Currie and I’m happy to welcome you to another Jagged Alliance 3 DevDiary. I am one of the original creators of the Jagged Alliance series and have been working with THQ Nordic and Haemimont on Jagged Alliance 3 for a couple of years now. I’m excited to share some of my thoughts with you!

The original Jagged Alliance games

Jagged Alliance dates back to the latter half of the 1990s where the first game was released somewhat under the radar but was considered a critical success. It was quite ambitious—a strategy game with tactical combat, a large cast of colorful characters, role-playing elements, and a storyline with multiple outcomes. It was unique in allowing players to form a party of characters but using pre-existing individuals who had distinct personalities who had both strengths and weaknesses. It was further unique in that these individuals didn’t always get along with each other and could sometimes, to the surprise of players, act out. Like a lot of entertainment, it also sprinkled in a good dose of humor.



While it was followed by a small mission-based sequel that introduced multi-player gameplay (titled ‘Deadly Games’), the original game was preferred for its more open-world feel. This, along with many other aspects, was expanded upon in what became a more appropriate sequel to Jagged Alliance.

And that brings me to Jagged Alliance 2, which was certainly one of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever worked on and a true labor of love for myself and the team that developed it. It expanded upon the first Jagged Alliance in almost every aspect. Players could employ multiple squads and create their own merc, experience side-quests along with a variable storyline, taunt the main antagonist by sending them flowers.
They generally experienced a game that played out differently each time, including more in-depth tactical combat and many easter eggs that we delighted in creating. Many of the characters that players grew to love from the previous games returned along with many new characters. One of the goals of the Jagged Alliance series was to create tension between the attachment to characters and the need to acquire more skilled team members.



While Jagged Alliance 2 was very successful, the owners of the development studio decided to focus on other business opportunities and the studio closed down. The intellectual property was sold and my teammates and I all moved on to other gaming studios.

Jagged Alliance 3

A couple of years ago I was contacted by THQ Nordic to see if I’d be interested in helping a team of developers to create a new Jagged Alliance game. I was initially skeptical as there had been some Jagged Alliance games released over the years and none of them impressed me. Making something I could call a ‘true’ Jagged Alliance game would be a complex and daunting task. THQ Nordic assured me that they were going to take their time and ‘do it right’. I was told that they were boldly calling it Jagged Alliance 3 as it is intended to be the true spiritual successor to Jagged Alliance 2.

To be honest, while I loved the idea of working on a ‘true’ Jagged Alliance game, I didn’t want to let myself get too excited. It wasn’t until THQ Nordic showed me an early prototype and I read the design documentation that I allowed myself to become somewhat optimistic. Then I met with the design and production team and was impressed. OK, I was interested; what did they need me to help with?

The answer was creative writing: the story, the quests, the characters, the mercs, the dialog etc. While I had certainly contributed to the writing, the person who really owned all that work on Jagged Alliance was my partner and good friend, Shaun Lyng, who was no longer available. Hmmm, could I do it? I decided to reach out to a former colleague, Dan McClure, who is a game industry veteran and published author. Luckily, Dan agreed to sign on and the two of us became very good partners.



Working with Haemimont Games

We quickly got to know the developers at Haemimont Games and started working with them on the story and timeline for the game. It was so much fun! It wasn’t long until we were throwing around ideas for quests, discussing which mercs would be ‘back’ and of course, the new mercs – which is always exciting. Many of these personalities are like old friends that I’ve truly missed.



One of my favorite features of the game is the conversation system – the part of the game that allows players to interact with various NPCs (non-player characters) in the world. In Jagged Alliance 2, this feature was very limited – you could only choose a general ‘approach’ (e.g. friendly, direct, threatening).
Jagged Alliance 3 introduces a robust conversation system that allows for a much more engaging role-playing experience and will often include participation from some of your mercs. This can range from simple comments to more helpful observations and plays out differently depending on the situation, adding to the game’s replay-ability. We iterated on the design until we were all happy with it and seeing it all come together was immensely satisfying. I’m very proud of what we’ve done here as it allows for so much more interaction between the player, the NPCs and the mercs, and allows us to tell a much deeper story than in any previous Jagged Alliance game.



Working with Haemimont has been very rewarding. They’re not only a team that has worked together for a long time, but their expertise is evident in everything they do. Watching the game take shape over the past couple of years has been amazing.
Graphically there is so much detail in the game, from how all the mercs in the game have custom avatars, to the carefully crafted environments and of course the combat system is equally rich and rewarding. Jagged Alliance 3 truly is bigger and better. Sometimes it’s just so hard to believe that after all this time, I’m working on another Jagged Alliance game. I consider myself very lucky and can’t wait for you to experience the game.

Thanks for reading!

Please tell me it's possible to permakill your own mercs.

 

[ArchAngel]

Dev Diary 2 - Legacy and Writing

Legacy and Writing

Hey everyone, my name is Ian Currie and I’m happy to welcome you to another Jagged Alliance 3 DevDiary. I am one of the original creators of the Jagged Alliance series and have been working with THQ Nordic and Haemimont on Jagged Alliance 3 for a couple of years now. I’m excited to share some of my thoughts with you!

The original Jagged Alliance games

Jagged Alliance dates back to the latter half of the 1990s where the first game was released somewhat under the radar but was considered a critical success. It was quite ambitious—a strategy game with tactical combat, a large cast of colorful characters, role-playing elements, and a storyline with multiple outcomes. It was unique in allowing players to form a party of characters but using pre-existing individuals who had distinct personalities who had both strengths and weaknesses. It was further unique in that these individuals didn’t always get along with each other and could sometimes, to the surprise of players, act out. Like a lot of entertainment, it also sprinkled in a good dose of humor.



While it was followed by a small mission-based sequel that introduced multi-player gameplay (titled ‘Deadly Games’), the original game was preferred for its more open-world feel. This, along with many other aspects, was expanded upon in what became a more appropriate sequel to Jagged Alliance.

And that brings me to Jagged Alliance 2, which was certainly one of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever worked on and a true labor of love for myself and the team that developed it. It expanded upon the first Jagged Alliance in almost every aspect. Players could employ multiple squads and create their own merc, experience side-quests along with a variable storyline, taunt the main antagonist by sending them flowers.
They generally experienced a game that played out differently each time, including more in-depth tactical combat and many easter eggs that we delighted in creating. Many of the characters that players grew to love from the previous games returned along with many new characters. One of the goals of the Jagged Alliance series was to create tension between the attachment to characters and the need to acquire more skilled team members.



While Jagged Alliance 2 was very successful, the owners of the development studio decided to focus on other business opportunities and the studio closed down. The intellectual property was sold and my teammates and I all moved on to other gaming studios.

Jagged Alliance 3

A couple of years ago I was contacted by THQ Nordic to see if I’d be interested in helping a team of developers to create a new Jagged Alliance game. I was initially skeptical as there had been some Jagged Alliance games released over the years and none of them impressed me. Making something I could call a ‘true’ Jagged Alliance game would be a complex and daunting task. THQ Nordic assured me that they were going to take their time and ‘do it right’. I was told that they were boldly calling it Jagged Alliance 3 as it is intended to be the true spiritual successor to Jagged Alliance 2.

To be honest, while I loved the idea of working on a ‘true’ Jagged Alliance game, I didn’t want to let myself get too excited. It wasn’t until THQ Nordic showed me an early prototype and I read the design documentation that I allowed myself to become somewhat optimistic. Then I met with the design and production team and was impressed. OK, I was interested; what did they need me to help with?

The answer was creative writing: the story, the quests, the characters, the mercs, the dialog etc. While I had certainly contributed to the writing, the person who really owned all that work on Jagged Alliance was my partner and good friend, Shaun Lyng, who was no longer available. Hmmm, could I do it? I decided to reach out to a former colleague, Dan McClure, who is a game industry veteran and published author. Luckily, Dan agreed to sign on and the two of us became very good partners.



Working with Haemimont Games

We quickly got to know the developers at Haemimont Games and started working with them on the story and timeline for the game. It was so much fun! It wasn’t long until we were throwing around ideas for quests, discussing which mercs would be ‘back’ and of course, the new mercs – which is always exciting. Many of these personalities are like old friends that I’ve truly missed.



One of my favorite features of the game is the conversation system – the part of the game that allows players to interact with various NPCs (non-player characters) in the world. In Jagged Alliance 2, this feature was very limited – you could only choose a general ‘approach’ (e.g. friendly, direct, threatening).
Jagged Alliance 3 introduces a robust conversation system that allows for a much more engaging role-playing experience and will often include participation from some of your mercs. This can range from simple comments to more helpful observations and plays out differently depending on the situation, adding to the game’s replay-ability. We iterated on the design until we were all happy with it and seeing it all come together was immensely satisfying. I’m very proud of what we’ve done here as it allows for so much more interaction between the player, the NPCs and the mercs, and allows us to tell a much deeper story than in any previous Jagged Alliance game.



Working with Haemimont has been very rewarding. They’re not only a team that has worked together for a long time, but their expertise is evident in everything they do. Watching the game take shape over the past couple of years has been amazing.
Graphically there is so much detail in the game, from how all the mercs in the game have custom avatars, to the carefully crafted environments and of course the combat system is equally rich and rewarding. Jagged Alliance 3 truly is bigger and better. Sometimes it’s just so hard to believe that after all this time, I’m working on another Jagged Alliance game. I consider myself very lucky and can’t wait for you to experience the game.

Thanks for reading!

Uh oh.. he said bigger and better. Sounds like famous last words to me.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Current Merc List

Between the 26 vets and 4 (currently known) newcomers, we've already got 3/4ths of this game's initial roster if their statement of 40 playable mercs at launch is still true. Also heard from their proprietary discord that they intend to have 30 returning vets and 10 newbs, only 4 openings left for the classics.

The strict 40 headcount with them all being A.I.M. or the implied RPCs is the biggest indicator that M.E.R.C. (if it comes) will be an expansion.

 

[Asdow]

Now they've got Ian Currie? Don't do this to me, man

Remember how well it turned out with Phoenix Point and Julian Gollop

 

[Zombra]

I'm confused why they used the face of Norm MacDonald in a beard for Fidel. Couldn't they make a Middle Eastern looking guy using computer graphics or something?

 

[GhostCow]

I'm confused why they used the face of Norm MacDonald in a beard for Fidel. Couldn't they made a Middle Eastern guy using computer graphics or something?

View attachment 32648

Justin Trudeau with a beard would have been much more accurate. They should have gone with that

 

[PanteraNera]

Now they've got Ian Currie? Don't do this to me, man

Remember how well it turned out with Phoenix Point and Julian Gollop

tell me about it

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Now they've got Ian Currie? Don't do this to me, man

Remember how well it turned out with Phoenix Point and Julian Gollop

tell me about it

Crowdfunded x-com clone with messy development cycle, ill fitting DLCs and game engine that doesn't quite fit for what it's trying to do.
It's ok.

 

[PanteraNera]

Now they've got Ian Currie? Don't do this to me, man

Remember how well it turned out with Phoenix Point and Julian Gollop

tell me about it

Crowdfunded x-com clone with messy development cycle, ill fitting DLCs and game engine that doesn't quite fit for what it's trying to do.
It's ok.

You are trolling, right?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Now they've got Ian Currie? Don't do this to me, man

Remember how well it turned out with Phoenix Point and Julian Gollop

tell me about it

Crowdfunded x-com clone with messy development cycle, ill fitting DLCs and game engine that doesn't quite fit for what it's trying to do.
It's ok.

You are trolling, right?

Only half-trolling.

 

[PanteraNera]

Now they've got Ian Currie? Don't do this to me, man

Remember how well it turned out with Phoenix Point and Julian Gollop

tell me about it

Crowdfunded x-com clone with messy development cycle, ill fitting DLCs and game engine that doesn't quite fit for what it's trying to do.
It's ok.

You are trolling, right?

Only half-trolling.

I see you haven't changed taka-san!

 

[Victor1234]

I never got into JA series (Russian 7.62 knockoff was more appealing) but I do know that the unique characters and 'conflicts', etc seems to be a big selling point to the game. How does that work out besides nostalgia?

IIRC M&B original/Warband used a companion system that was 'inspired' by JA and it was basically dropped or nerfed into irrelevance in the newest Bannerlord because it was just annoying. You could either experiment yourself and hire companions that you'd have to drop because they'd hate each other no matter what after a time, or you'd get the dudes doing charts online who'd map out the relationships and you would know from the start what companion team you could build to keep the relationship equilibrium from breaking your group, thus allowing you to ignore the relationship mechanism for companions.

Lots of "ooh, we burned a village? I hate when we burn a village, -2 loyalty" and "Ah, I like when we win battles, check out my deep personality, +2 loyalty" filler didn't make it a must have in that game.

The only interesting part was going to places on the world map that triggered memories (this is where I was sold into slavery, here is where my family was butchered, etc).