Game Input

[Skyydragonn]

Where to start, where to start?!
There is so much I could say about a game based on warmachine. So many ideas right now however I'm just going to mirror my sentiments to ATC's email.

Stay true to Privateers vision for the iron kingdoms and Warmachine, Don't fall into the "lets slap a bunch of silly gimmicks into every aspect of the game"
Bring the game world to life!!! Don't just leave it some static completely immeroable fantasy realm (like the billions of others already out there) it's the details that will count, as your biggest fans are going to be your worst critics as well and we know the world/setting and game inside out and seven ways to backwards!

*I will post moe actualy in depth suggestions on specific idea's/systems as soon as I have the time to type them up coherently. Right now its just a bunch of random thoughts flittering about waiting to be hammered into a glorious wall of steam belching Iron text :)

[Skyydragonn]

a few key points that i feel MUST be stressed considering todays gaming market and todays gamer these points invariably make or break games.

1) production value: yes every developer wants to add tons of cool features and new ideas to thier title, its part and parcel with the job. that being said i've seen dozens and dozens of games where there was far too much emphasis on new ideas and gimicks that the production quality of the title overall was poor. With a licence like warmachine the production value MUST be top notch or your going to end up suffering the wrath of many an angry Privateer press fan. Whatever functions, features, ideas, mechanics you implement be sure they are ...
a) Well implemented
b) Enjoyable to experience
3) Intuitive, responsive controls.
These three points are fairly synonymous with one another a well implemented feature by rights should be enjoyable to the playere whereas a poorly implemented function can ruin the feel of the game for players. Additionally too many new features or gameplay mechanics and the game feels "gimicky" and leaves players feeling like the game was just an attempted cash cow based on a popular licence. (see movie to video game sales for examples and then play the games, they're almost all terrible)

2) Expressing the Iron kingdoms: This subject is a litle trickier as no one has every seen the Iron kingdoms visualized in a 3D envoirnement but there is enough source material around that people will instantly see something that doesn't "fit" with the rest of the universe. For soemthing like WARMACHINE, theme and envoirnement is almost as crucial as having massive steam powered machines pummeling one another willy-nilly. It adds more to the game than most non-tabletop gamers realize.

2a) Sound is soemthing that I feel absolutely must be done right, jacks should rumble with an impressive level of "impact" without drowning out background sounds like troops marching nearby, or the sound of a nearby stream.

more on this later i'm being interupted by a my 3 yr old atm...

[Skyydragonn]

Checking out the company of heroes online beta now and man there are some very good implementations of RTS elements that could be made to work very well for warmachine.

[computertrucker]

ive heard that company of heroes is very similiar to Dawn of War 2... If so.. I couldnt agree more. 8) however proper focus Manipulation is a must... and curious to see how they manage feats... Once per game ability? or long cooldown time ability?