Urban Strife - turn-based zombie survival RPG - now available on Early Access

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/710230/view/4474984202298722445

Autumn 2024 Dev Blog: It's been a long time coming...
The big news is here, folks! Urban Strife will be released on December 10th in Early Access!
Yes, it's been a long journey. But we came far and it was worth it. For those wandering how long this game was in development and how it looked back then, we've prepared a few before/after shots, a short comparison between our first ever public demo (2017) and the current game.

We are aware some of you expected a full release, considering how long it took us to reach this point. But we felt we had to own up to the “TBS Survival RPG” tag we have chosen to define our game. So when we had the turn-based strategy part dialed in, we looked at our RPG and felt it needed more. We added dialogue skill checks, character development and perks and we rewrote the story to give the player as much agency as possible. As soon as we had a good Strategy RPG, the survival part was crying for attention.

We came up with a modular base map, a barter economy with factional preferences and even a complex health system that goes from self-healing scratches to crippling injuries! Wounds can vary in their impact to your crew, with some requiring hospitalization or booster drugs that can even leave you with a bad hangover! Even more additions have been brought to the game, from backpacks, industrial crafting and much much more.

Each layer, taken separately, would’ve made a good game, but our ambition was to weave a unique combo of all three. And we believe we’re onto something really, really good. But it’s up to you, the players, to judge this. Yes, it’s Early Access. Yes, there are still nuts and bolts to tighten. But those wanting more from their games, those feeling the good old times of game development are gone - this game is for you. We dare you to join us for the final part of this exciting journey and put the finishing touches on a game we hope will become a classic.

Here’s a short glimpse of what is coming in Urban Strife Early Access:

• An American town in the deep south that is full of intrigue and territorial in-fighting amongst survivor groups, with the looming danger of an incoming zombie wave that destroyed Atlanta
• AI controlled enemies that dynamically adjust their tactics and weapon of choice based on your visible movements and group positioning.
• AI enemies capable of advanced and varied roles: snipers, flankers, grenadiers, medics, even zombie controlling herders.
• Special zombie AI that moves the horde in one turn, while preserving the individual sensors for each zombie (so you can split large groups if needed)
• Firearms ballistics simulation, from weapon characteristics to bullet specifics determining the chance to hit.
• Real material cover with five levels of penetration and three levels of body armor to go with it.
• A unique adaptation of classic tile-based, isometric and action points systems in Unreal Engine, combining the very best of both worlds.
• Full 24hr time passage with beautiful and immersive night/day progression that alters the schedules of the NPCs populating the world.
• Your own zombie survival vehicles, starting with a beat-up sheriff cruiser or, depending on your choice of allies and friends, an iconic RV, a zombie-proof 4x4 truck or a military Humvee.
• A base that you need to keep supplied with food, health and morale items in order to get a survival industry going and prepare for the incoming zombie siege.
• A barter system, so you can trade your surplus supplies with other survivor groups and procure whatever you need.
• Workshop and backpack crafting recipes, so you can fabricate items from scrap and looted resources, be those weapons, armor, medicine or even artisanal grenades
• Secret FBI files with hidden backstories of the faction warlords that will unlock different endings to the game.
• Slightly deranged recruits that you need to try and keep in harmony in your group by balancing their beliefs and friendship/adversities.
• And finally, a personal story you carve through the hordes of undead, in order to discover your own special place in the world of Urban.

For those willing to get involved with the game development even more, we’ll have a beta branch ready on Steam with the features that are in the pipeline. If you’re curious what’s coming next, this branch enables you to find out for yourself.

 

[The Wall]

Knock it off with 50/50 male/female survivor groups. Feels so fucking fake. Feels so fucking forced. Feels so fucking dishonest about any scenario in which we should believe. 90% of women would suck cock and cry during any apocalypse and that's a fact. Manyyy male cowards. But our species' physical and psychological anatomy is such that 8/10 fighters should be always male. Maybe 7/10. And that's called being liberal. Anything approaching 50/50 split or worse is called anime

Biggest sin of modern entertainment is that it's not believable. Maybe it's just promo shots. I remember scavangers being 50% housewives that club you to death with kitchen utencils. C'mon. I can't wait until I found my own gaming studio and publishing house

 

[Ryzer]

Not to mention that women in apocalypse are a rarity, so sending them to fight is downright suicidal. Only women can give birth.

 

[The Wall]

Not to mention that women in apocalypse are a rarity, so sending them to fight is downright suicidal. Only women can give birth.

Ukraine. Contemporary, real life, right now, ongoning for 2+ years, involving 50+ million test subjects scientific experiment testing gender roles in times of war and danger. Men? Killed like pigs and dogs, killing like beasts, shredded and vaporized by high tech military weapons. Women? Filming tik-tok dances in Germany and Poland while sucking newly found cocks, 1000+ miles away from frontline. Harsh, undistilled, 100% reality juice

 

[The Wall]

It's easier to believe in dancing zombie michael jacksons then in entire post-apocalyptic world being experienced and fought through by crew from Jaguar or Coca Cola commercial. Left 4 Dead had very diverse team of survivors BUT! they were exception in believable world. Group of distinct and diverse individuals who BY ACCIDENT found each other and had to work with their differences. US army wasn't 41% tranny and 59% lesbian, US president wasn't gay muslim, SWAT team of house wives with tactical rolling pins didn't drop in to save civilians from helicopters piloted by catgirl who's doing twitch livestream while doing rescue mission. C'MON! COME THE FUCK ON! People are tired of this BS where we collectively pretend HR training videos are reality

Not saying your world is 100% Dragon Age Veilguard lvl of WOKE. But you have no reason to be WOKE anymore. And those killer housewife raiders with rolling pins of death from DEMO were your attempts to score few WOKE points. Not having A SINGLE screenshot with all male team or majority male team in your last 6months+ promo material is, by all intents and purposes, unless one wants to gaslight himself because he finds your game promising, your attempt to score few more WOKE points. Not calling you dangerhair cucks, that you obviously aint. But your creativitiy is definitely inside woke cuck cage. Release it

 

[The Wall]

Ah, look...Do whatever the fuck you want. I just can't wait for my gaming publishing house to start releasing games. I will destroy you all WOKE and WOKE kneeling idiots. With gameplay, with art, with story, with characters, with innovation, with release scheduals. And yes, there will be tits, blood, money, ass, laughter, tears, guns, love and deep thinking. Most importantly IMMERSION & FUN! You know what ain't fun? Waiting for 7 years for game to come out, Devs smugly saying how they need no Early Access, then sign deal with publisher and secretly with their eyes lowered out of shame entering early access. Maybe better project planning, less re-designing of entire game systems 7 times? At least you got STRONK bimbos on your game's cover. BRAVE! Yet, zero trannies. 10 BARVES NOW!

Trump won, having dick is legal once more. You can be men again

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

1. Kaylee Adams
   1. Sniper (a rich spoiled "southern belle")
2. Lucy Li
   1. Combat Medic (Chinese, ex-military, too good at stealth killing for a nurse)
3. Reginald Owen
   1. Mechanic (Black dude, married to a stripper who dumped him)
4. Billy Bo Hicks
   1. Redneck Sheriff (loves to takes the piss out of the rich kids)
5. Bubba Gimme
   1. Redneck Smuggler (village idiot, but loyal)
6. Brother Joseph
   1. Hand 2 hand (zombie Cult Monk)
7. Benny Ramm
   1. National Guard Soldier (heir of one of the rich local families)
8. Mary Saint
   1. ex-Zombie Herder (and substance abuser)
9. John Adams
   1. ret. Army Captain (with PTSD, killed his zombie wife)
10. Bear Novak
    1. Heavy Melee (Polish athlete, former inmate)
11. Jake Poppi
    1. Ex-FBI, Electronics (Nerd but has unique talents)
12. Miguel Cordoba
    1. Assassin (Latino ex-DEA Agent)

This is the roster of recruits. Our model was Jagged Alliance 2 pool of mercenaries (on a smaller scale).
PS: Civilians are mostly refugees (non-combatant coward AI). LIke 99% of them, except a handful of slaves forced to fight in the suburbs. The factions have way more dangerous combatants than a couple of housewives with rolling pins. Of course, you still can find them as zombies, but that's another story.

FYI, the word "woke" in its current meaning has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017. Urban Strife started development in 2016.

 

[The Wall]

One way or another, I wish you luck. My desire for return to around Fallout New Vegas levels of liberalism has very little to do with my chaotic or anyone's well estalished political ideology or political leanings of makers of Fallout New Vegas at that time. It has to do with immersion, with portrayal of reality and in terms of video games - portrayal of human nature put inside fantastical or speculative what if scenarios. Fallout New Vegas hit sweet spot there. People who leave their bedrooms and roam this world, people who are familiar with History of Humanity and multiple aspects of reality could believe in world of Fallout New Vegas. Human Nature is VERY WELL KNOWN variable. Fun and immersion come from putting that variable with all its sub-variables, including whole array of different female pesonas inside and few exceptions outside cluster of possible female personas, inside that new environment, in this case that would be zombie post-apocalypse in American south circa 2009.

Versimilitude. Make me belive in your world, its factions, its people. So if you have military faction, it will be made of 80-95% men. Depending on given circustamnces of that world and your own political leanings. Anything below 80%, without good explanation WHY? (zombies killed most men) is leaving the teritorry of conservatism, liberatarianism, liberalism, communism, most strains of socialism and entering COO-COO! HONK-HONK! crazy world of WOKEism. And killing all believiability in this alternate reality

That's really all. That's biggest my and many people's gripe with WOKE. It's an insane lie and evil ideology. Good luck with your Steam Early Access

 

[The Wall]

Don't get me wrong, I truly wish you best. One way or another, your dedication and your video game's identity with its art style and gameplay is really shaping up to be something good. Just wanted to let you know that decade of woke is in its sunset phase. You're free to make choices for you and your game. I might like them or not, who gives a fuck, I have more games to play then ever before. What's impportant - you're free to once again be authentically creative. Use your freedom

 

[filpan]

Cant wait for this game to fully release, I dont play early access games.

@Wall
Jedva čekam da platim i odigram tu igru koju ćeš jednog dana izbaciti.
I said to him that I am impatient to play his game one day eventually.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Fully agree on the freedom part.

All we're saying is that if you want to look for "why" we do certain things, you're better off looking at the games we're using as inspiration rather than modern politics.

 

[itsme]

I remember watching one episode of The Walking Dead. They had to run jumping on roofs of several cars. So there was this fat chick, she wasnt like obese fat but she wasnt fit either. So she was jumping on these roofs and she looked like a cow pretending to be a ballerina. It was so funny and terrible at the same time.

The usual trope in video games is that women are somehow more agile or dexterous than men. And men are stronger than women. While the latter is true the former is a myth invented to facilitated vaginas everywhere.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

The previews have started to trickle in:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/710230/discussions/0/4635988484182514662/

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[HoboForEternity]

The previews have started to trickle in:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/710230/discussions/0/4635988484182514662/

Mortismal's video said you are using AI for the portraits. Is it real or just placeholder? Honeslty i really dont think it's that much of a problem using AI but you already had portraits in the last steam next fest demo so i am wondering why the change?

 

[Jrpgfan]

how many decades until it's out of EA?

 

[Jrpgfan]

The previews have started to trickle in:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/710230/discussions/0/4635988484182514662/

Omfg you guys gave a preview copy to that Neyrean guy?

Dude is a massive shit player. I remember him on the Colony Ship steam forums whining about the game because he couldn't grasp very basic mechanics after hundreds of hours of playing the game.

If he approves your game that means it's piss easy. If it's even mildly challenging, he's gonna give a negative review. Either way you end up losing.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

The previews have started to trickle in:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/710230/discussions/0/4635988484182514662/

Omfg you guys gave a preview copy to that Neyrean guy?

Dude is a massive shit player. I remember him on the Colony Ship steam forums whining about the game because he couldn't grasp very basic mechanics.

If he approves your game that means it's piss easy. If it's even mildly challenging, he's gonna give a negative review. Either way you end up losing.

Sounds like dependable indicator to me.

 

[udm]

Less than two weeks to go boiiiissss!

Spoiler

I won't be able to d1p it as I'll be overseas on vacation

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Yea, we used Midjourney to regenerate the portraits (as the disclaimer says on the store page), starting from the old ones (where they existed). Hand painted portraits are cool but they have one big drawback for a small studio that needs to outsource them: they are expensive and they take time. The production was slow as it was, we just couldn't afford to wait for another delivery que. Of course we knew there will be a backlash but it was either Midjourney or some fugly 3d meshes.

When time and budget will no longer be an issue we'll probably hire our own character artist and chain him or her to the desk until all the 200ish portraits are redone. Whoever says old portraits were better is welcome to buy them as art. We'll even frame them.

PS: This one is a freebie.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Regarding the keys, MPS handed them out but we don't mind critical views. I mean yea it's cool to have people say what you do is amazing, but critics help a lot too. Some are fair, some are not, but are essential.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

As the content creators are wrapping up their early early access runs, we can safely say we have a rough estimate of the hours of gameplay.
At least for hardcore mode there should be about 15 hours of gametime if you're reasonably good/experienced with USG. But you need to play like a bulldozer and basically ignore everything else but combat. If you play at a slow pace, follow the story, keep your team in shape, etc, generally play for fun not for show, then you might get even more out of it.

We plan to do another batch of content update before release (compared to what youtubers got) so this data might improve a bit.

 

[Sibelius]

One of my favourite Youtubers has Early Access to the Early Access. Pretty informative video.

 

[USG_Mucifikatorul]

Oh dear... the old cross-eyed Kaylee...

But the review is quite good and informed. Some great feedback for us there, too.

The only part where he completely missed it was saying "they claim they are inspired by XCOM". Dropped the ball completely there. We moved away from nuxcom current as much as we could. Just the fact that he missed a risky shot doesn't mean it's a 99% XCOM type shot. Proof comes just a few seconds later when he shoots in range and he actually makes an impact.

 

[ArchAngel]

One of my favourite Youtubers has Early Access to the Early Access. Pretty informative video.

That guy has the most irritating accent. I would rather listen to indians butcher English.