Project Haven - dystopian tactical RPG where you lead mercenary company striving for survival

[re.var]

Awesome! Thanks for the additional feedback. We're still considering adding Lean back yah, just wanted to test out with just the side step and see if that clear up any issues.

 

[udm]

Yea the sidestep is a welcome addition and adds more granularity. I thought it might be too easily exploitable when I played around with it (it allows you to change your field of vision and move at the same time), but there are tradeoffs to balance it out vis-a-vis manually looking and/or moving, so it's all good.

 

[Infinitron]

A very requested quality of life improvement - using middle mouse for better camera control - was implemented for this new demo build!
Did you had the opportunity to give it a spin?

 

[udm]

Anyone know when the next demo build is coming out? I didn't realise the Steam one was taken down already.

 

[re.var]

Anyone know when the next demo build is coming out? I didn't realise the Steam one was taken down already.

During Gamescom, end of this month.

 

[udm]

Thanks! Any new features/fixes that are going to be implemented besides middle-mouse button map rotation?

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/443190/view/2985309617765026874

Big Tactics by a Tiny Team​

We invite you to join us at the Yogscast Tiny Teams Festival, running from the 7th to 14th of August.

Greetings Steel Dragons!

We’re just days past our last big show appearance at Dreamhack Beyond, and we’re already diving straight into another - The Yogscast Tiny Teams festival! Can anything stop us? The answer is obviously no. We’ll be part of the Yogscast celebrations from August 7th -14th, and you’ll be able to see the game in their opening ceremony stream at 5pm BST on Twitch.

Not all of you have been following us and the game since the start, though, so we’re here to introduce ourselves for anyone who might have found us through Tiny Teams, but first answer a frequent question:

Where’s my demo!?
Well, that’s what a lot of you are asking. It’s a reasonable assumption, as we’ve rolled out new demo builds for our last two show appearances. Sadly, we won’t be deploying yet another build for the Tiny Teams showcase for one simple reason - we need time to finish our biggest and best public release yet, and need a little more time to prepare. You’ll see the fruits of our labor at Gamescom later this month (starting August 25th), and we’re sure it’ll be worth the wait.

For those who did check out our Dreamhack demo build, we hope you had a great time playing with our enhanced cover system and clashing with our less accident-prone AI. We’ll be making further refinements to both plus some fresh challenges for you to tackle later this month.

I’m new. Who are you, and just how tiny are we talking?
First up, if you’re new here, or curious about the people making this game, welcome to the party, and thanks! We’re Code Three Fifty One, a very small indie team based in Portugal. We used to be a downright tiny outfit of just two (strategy and story loving couple Joana Dimas and Sérgio Gil), initially collaborating with Edwin McRae for the narrative design, and recently adding a new member to the team, Jason Woronicz, to help us with the level design. So, three people at present now - small enough to fit into an elevator, which is good enough for Tiny Teams.

Okay, that’s pretty small. Why, and how, are you tackling this genre?
Because we love squad tactics games! Specifically, the Jagged Alliance series from the dark and forgotten nineties. If you’re familiar with that series, you can see the (extended) family resemblance; larger-than-life mercs, deep ballistic modelling and a focus on making money through efficient violence. One thing that Jagged Alliance 2 and its mods couldn’t offer us was co-op play.

Fun as it is to look over someone’s shoulder and criticize their every move, we wanted something we could play together, and that other dynamic duos could too - or up to four players we don’t judge. The end result is Project Haven. A deep combat engine fully playable with a friend or three, all wrapped up in an involved (yet grounded) dystopian story.

That’s cool! What’s on the roadmap for Project Haven, then?
As mentioned above, we’re going to be participating in the Yogscast Tiny Teams festival. Running from August 7th to the 14th, it’s a celebration of indie innovation from tiny development crews just like ours. You can see the Yogscast crew streaming a preview build of our game in their opening ceremony stream at 5pm BST on Twitch. Make sure you tune in!

Once that’s wrapped up. The big thing on the horizon is Gamecom! From August 25th to 29th, we’ll be part of the Indie Arena Booth, where we’ll have a tasty platter of announcements to make and an updated demo. For more details closer to the time, follow Project Haven on Steam (and add it to your wishlist if you haven’t already), join our community Discord server and sign up for our email newsletter to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

That’s all we’ve got for today! Thanks for your time, and we hope you’ll tune in on Saturday at 5pm BST.

 

[re.var]

Thanks! Any new features/fixes that are going to be implemented besides middle-mouse button map rotation?

There will be a new mission! Along with more fixes, mostly to AI.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Infinitron]

New demo and trailer for Gamescom: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/443190/view/2975177715965830547

Project Haven infiltrates the Indie Arena Booth at gamescom 2021

Greetings Steel Dragons!

It’s showtime again! This time we’re bringing Project Haven to Germany (and beyond - it’s a largely digital event) at gamescom as a featured title in their surprisingly exclusive Indie Arena Booth. It’s not just show-and-tell time, either. We’ll have a spot on gamescom’s digital show-floor for you to visit, a fresh new trailer and (most importantly) an updated demo featuring an all-new mission.

Join us at gamescom!
From August 25h to the 29th, all you aspiring mercenary commanders will be able to visit our digital home-away-from-home in the Indie Arena Booth. Check out the Power Plant zone and make sure to swing by our familiar little corner in the South-east corner of it.

We hope you’ll all have a great time there. Hang out, take some photos (screenshots?), and say hello to our booth attendant NPC - they’ve got a few interesting things to say about the game.

There’s a demo this time, right?
Indeed there is! Starting on August 25th there’ll be a new demo build to download here on Steam. Not only will you get to check out our latest improvements to the UI and cover system, but a whole new mission. Rather than extend the demo and risk padding it out too far, we’ve swapped out the third mission for a new one to give you a fresh experience to tackle.

Let your friends know, challenge them to a round of PvP or bring them along for the ride in co-op. Don’t forget that as with previous releases, the Skirmish mode will provide near-endless new combat scenarios once you’re done with the campaign missions.

The new demo will be available for a while after the show, but not forever, so dive in while it’s still fresh out the oven.

And what’s this about a new trailer?
Ah, you’ll just have to be a little more patient there. Later in the week on August 27th, keep your eyes fixed on gamescom studio at around 11am PT/8pm CET for our latest trailer. We’ve been keeping a tight lid on our boss battles so far, but we reckon it’s about time we give you a peek at one of the campaign’s earlier climactic battles. Just to get your imaginations running, we’ll say that it features an interestingly improvised armored vehicle - deadly, if lacking in glamour.

Thanks for checking in! Remember to wishlist the game (if you haven’t already), join our official Discord channel and introduce yourself to our ever-expanding community of tactical experts.

 

[udm]

Thanks tronbro. Gonna download the demo once it's released. Would have missed it if I hadn't seen this post, what with work and all

 

[Infinitron]

 

[udm]

Get a load of these morons lmao.

Spoiler

I've been playing the latest demo on Impossible and I'm really happy to say that the game is kicking my ass after the second mission. Popamole tactics are sure to get your team wiped; you can't camp in the way that a lot of new new-age turn-based tactics games allow you to. The enemy flanks hard. I got JA2 1.13 Drassen counterattack flashbacks.

re.var I hope you're still reading this thread, as I have more feedback:
- You already know my thoughts on the UI . Adding on to what has already been said in my previous posts, I would also suggest allowing players to change fire modes via the bottom UI.
- Game really needs hotkeys/buttons to lower/raise walls and floor levels. Right now, it's very confusing. This might have been less of a problem in the old 2D games because there was clearer demarcation as to where a floor would start and end, but in a game with more advanced 3D graphics like Project Haven, it can get very chaotic.
- I still don't see the benefit of having snap-to-cover, but I guess I can live with it. However, in situations where you are behind cover that is between, say, a window on the left and a window on the right, that gets quite messy. I can think of two solutions: one is to get rid of snap-to-cover completely, the other is to allow players to change facing orientation when behind such "covers".

Ok that's the negative part of my feedback. On the positives:
+ AI is great, as mentioned earlier. Enemy units flank and respond to my characters' positions accordingly.
+ Gun play is still a lot of fun. Unlike many XCOM-inspired games, I feel like in PH, I'm constantly challenged to keep moving even from 'optimal' locations. It's not just to increase my chance-to-hit, but to also draw enemies away, ambush them from around a corner unseen, etc. There's no one-size-fits-all winning strategy, and it really just comes down to managing AP, positioning, interrupts and to-hit odds, while closely monitoring the enemy's position. Enemies' and player characters' stats are pretty well-balanced.
+ I was surprised to see minor destructible terrain. For example, vehicles can be destroyed. That's neat.

By the way, one quick question: how varied will environments be in the final game? So far it's been very urban, close-quarter layouts with some variations in spaces, but the aesthetics are rather samey. Will the final game have more unique prefabs/aesthetics?

EDIT: I observed a glitch with the AI. In the second mission, towards the marketplace area, the enemy spotter (the guy that's on the higher floor) won't react if you shoot at him from an area that he can't see.

 

[udm]

Oh yea just to add on, middle mouse map rotation is a godsend but there's still a lot of fighting with the map angles lol, mainly because of the walls on higher floors.

One more thing: I appreciate the fact that many terrain objects are spaced apart irregularly. It makes combat feel less puzzle-ish (a problem that I felt nuXCOM and Wasteland 2 had).

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[udm]

Had some time to sit down for another play of the demo yesterday, only to realise the demo's gone. Curses!

 

[re.var]

Had some time to sit down for another play of the demo yesterday, only to realise the demo's gone. Curses!

I put it up again just for you
We're doing a small lowkey playtest session due to an event that's going on, we're not even announcing it., but we put it back up today.

By the way, one quick question: how varied will environments be in the final game? So far it's been very urban, close-quarter layouts with some variations in spaces, but the aesthetics are rather samey. Will the final game have more unique prefabs/aesthetics?

Yah, though the game takes place in the city, so it'll always be fairly urban, but there will be quite varied scenarios in terms of art and engagement distances.
Appreciate the additional feedback!

 

[udm]

Thank you my man!

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[udm]

Finally completed all the demo missions on Insane. Third mission was fun! Managed to kill almost all of the enemies and got some nice loot out of it.

Feedback (mostly from third mission):
- You can change your character's stance (stand/crouch/prone) during the Interrupt phase via the hotkeys. You can also sidestep. Not sure if this was intentional, but it seems exploitable if the purpose of Interrupt is to just have your character be able to fire but not move.
- I think some of the AP values need to be tweaked, as it makes the game feel too easy. For instance, picking up items and going full auto -- these need to have slightly higher AP consumption values IMO.
- Rifles seem to dominate the game, particularly Assault Rifles. Don't know how you guys are going to balance it though, maybe through the Skill Tree perks? Then again in almost every tactical game I can think of, rifles tend to dominate.
- I have an issue with windows and Interrupt, specifically the fact that when an enemy shows up while your character has set up an Interrupt cone behind a higher-floor window, the enemy might trigger an Interrupt but you won't be able to shoot him due to your aim/gun being blocked by the window ledge.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Zombra]

Wow, procedural missions, cool! Now what classic game does that remind me of ... ?

re.var, any chance this could expand into a full-blown procedural campaign mode with retained experience and income, as in Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games? Or even mission/campaign editors? Maybe after initial release?

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[udm]

If there's any developer I would trust to do a decent Jagged Alliance 3, it's these guys. Not the clowns at Haemimont.