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What are those ladies and gentlemen in Stompy Bot and MekTek up to?

Entering into the last 20 days of its Kickstarter, the gentlemen of Stompy Bot held a feedback group in which they answered questions from backers about the Free-to-Play status of the game, and also have updated their site talking about how individuals can customize their Gears while in combat.

As it stands, the men and women of Stompy Bot and MekTek have been honest about their goals and desires for the game, and, as I understand it, have listened to the fans as best that they can. If you would like to look into everything, please follow the link:


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stompybot/heavy-gear-assault-0


For those who wish to talk to MekTek (who apparently has received quite a lot of complaints) go here:

http://www.mektek.net/forums/forum/234-hga-discussion/


They also have multiple posts and updates from the developers, including that Heavy Gear Assault is now going to include single-player missions as well as multiplayer deathmatches, races, and more.

For those who would like to read up on an exclusive interview, here is another link recently released:

http://jacehallshow.com/news/gaming/preview/20130523/exclusive-heavy-gear-assault/

Furthermore, here is the list of updates that the site has put up:

Single Player Episodes Announced: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stompybot/heavy-gear-assault-0/posts/490704

On this subject, one of the devs from Studio MekTek posted this:

"To clarify a bit for everyone here, the idea was to build a multiplayer base on arena combat to then further develop a north vs. south world war game (bringing in coop and AI at that point) then build a singleplayer campaign while all that was up and running - never to "Not build singleplayer" or "focus on multiplayer". The stuff at the high stretch goals was to reflect what it'd cost to have all that done by the date indicated on kickstarter, not to say "we won't do this unless you give us this much", that probably should've been clarified sooner.

It's a shame some people don't want to try to understand that even if we did have unlimited resources - we need to build a game with movement, combat systems, balanced weapons, test damage, customisation and all that stuff first - that's most of the way to a multiplayer arena game. "Focusing on a singleplayer game" would still start with that, only rather than have a game to play when those systems were ready, you'd have to wait for the singleplayer campaign to be done too. I'm not sure why anyone would want launch 6 months to a year later unless they weren't playing anything but singleplayer, and then it seems unfair on the people who do want to play multiplayer (potentially much later multiplayer if the game hadn't been designed for multiplayer underneath from the beginning to save a little more time).

By doing episodic missions we can release more stuff to play sooner, it's more work with not a lot of resources which may be more difficult but certainly not impossible to do that way so that's the way we'll work if that's what people want. Ignoring the fans and failing would mean that the industry would from now on likely never bother with singleplayer or even moderately complex mech games, having their suspicions "confirmed" that people just want stuff like MWO or Hawken (it could still be done in a different kickstarter maybe, but it's a horrible thought to me that we might be stuck with this new kind of simplified mech game for good. I want to at least be able to say I did everything I could)."


Due to comments posted on this thread: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/05/25/heavy-gear-assault-now-promises-single-player/


Gear-A-Friend: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stompybot/heavy-gear-assault-0/posts/490850

Oculus Rift Support: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stompybot/heavy-gear-assault-0/posts/491432

Gametypes: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stompybot/heavy-gear-assault-0/posts/491432

Supporting Linux: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stompybot/heavy-gear-assault-0/posts/492404

Premier Elite Intel Partnership Announced: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stompybot/heavy-gear-assault-0/posts/492404



God bless, all.

-Brandon F.

Well it isn't going to be the MW4 project they took on and summarily abandoned. I assume that whatever this project is will get identical treatment. Good for a few months and then no answers as all the downloads go missing.

This has already been discussed over on the MekTek forums. Another individual made the same comment.

But this is Heavy Gear. Not Mechwarrior.

MekTek dropped the MW4 project due to circumstances dealing with copyrights, I believe. As for 'downloads', that's not what they were discussing with Heavy Gear Assault.

So what happened to your game, while unfortunate, is the way of things. Move over Mechs.

-Brandon F.

BrandonKF wrote:
This has already been discussed over on the MekTek forums. Another individual made the same comment.

But this is Heavy Gear. Not Mechwarrior.

MekTek dropped the MW4 project due to circumstances dealing with copyrights, I believe. As for 'downloads', that's not what they were discussing with Heavy Gear Assault.

So what happened to your game, while unfortunate, is the way of things. Move over Mechs.

-Brandon F.

Actually it goes to MekTeks ability to see a project through.

MekTek dropped MW4 due to them not wanting to bother hosting the files and game servers anymore. So they tried to palm the license off on another group and let them deal with it. Except the business landscape has changed since they originally got the license, and now the license cannot be transferred easily. Their download page still doesn't work.

So just because the name has changed, doesn't mean they will bother supporting it for more than 6 months.

Buyer Beware.

That's your warning. Not mine.

https://www.facebook.com/HeavyGearAssault

Anyone want to check this out, feel free. 1,000 likes is a starting target. God bless, all.

-Brandon F.

Anyone ever played that game? I only ask because while I've seen mini's once, I've never seen it played, in any store, ever. There are three distinct Battletech groups at the local store. It attracts new players regularly. You can dis 'mechs if you want, but without them that game would probably not exist, and they are still far more popular despite being badly handled by every company that has had the rights so far.

DP9 is from my area, I believe. I've heard of some people really like HGB, but never witnessed anyone playing it. It's all Snarks and Grumpkins, methinks.

I really like Heavy Gear Blitz. My local area picked it up, and we have some 14 regular players.

It's honestly a very good game, despite some (historically) poor company support. Things are getting a lot more cleaned up with basically 'new codexes'.

It plays to me at least, like what Battletech ought to be when you go beyond 4 mechs per side. Maneuver is way more important than better weapons, since a crappy gun with a good setup is more powerful than a super cannon just standing there and plinking at enemies in cover.

Killionaire wrote:
I really like Heavy Gear Blitz. My local area picked it up, and we have some 14 regular players.

It's honestly a very good game, despite some (historically) poor company support. Things are getting a lot more cleaned up with basically 'new codexes'.

It plays to me at least, like what Battletech ought to be when you go beyond 4 mechs per side. Maneuver is way more important than better weapons, since a crappy gun with a good setup is more powerful than a super cannon just standing there and plinking at enemies in cover.

Yeah, Battletech isn't the only mech game that has been historically mismanaged. HG hit the scene in the mid-90's and quickly became very popular with Activision licensing two video games and Sony snapping up the rights to the cartoon but then the company just kept making serious mistake after serious mistake. Edition flip flops every 2-3 years for a decade, a switch in scale of the minis coinciding with the first premature edition swap making everyone's entire collections obsolete, and DP9 even taking a break for a few years to focus on television and movie production (not kidding unfortunately) with no RPG books coming out during that time. I really like the art style and core ruleset but definitely not the history of squandering consumer good will. They've been focusing on the right things for a few years now and trying to fight their way back but it's obviously an uphill battle. The minis though look very nice since the introduction of the blitz variant of the game and people do play it (but unfortuantely not in my area). Hopefully the reintroduction of a video game (consoles and PC supposedly according to a gencon video) will help increase the visibility of the game.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
DP9 is from my area, I believe. I've heard of some people really like HGB, but never witnessed anyone playing it. It's all Snarks and Grumpkins, methinks.

We are from the same area.
The game is dead around Montreal. It used to have a small community, which died because of DP9's incapacity to improve or think more than 5 seconds.
I saw it happens twice in 5 years, as a matter of fact.
To put it simply: after a few years following DP9, I'm impressed by the professionalism of every other game company.
DP9 shows how much we take for granted in other companies!

@warboss: No, they don't focus on the right things. They focus on the superficial, easy things that they feel like doing, without addressing the core issues, like having coherent rules, answering the questions arising from incoherent rules, or game balance.
In fact, they seem actively hostile to game balance.

mrondeau: Ever heard of Defiance Game? I think they could lower the bar nicely for you.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
mrondeau: Ever heard of Defiance Game? I think they could lower the bar nicely for you.

I'm not familiar with them, but lower than DP9? That would place them in "cannot breath without being reminded" territory.

Loved the first Heavy gear game, but this looks like its going to be arena type of game...
If it is il pass.
If not, color me interested.

Justyn wrote:You can dis 'mechs if you want, but without them that game would probably not exist, and they are still far more popular despite being badly handled by every company that has had the rights so far.

I apologize if I offended, Justyn. I've never played the boardgame myself, only the video games. I appreciate it for what it is. But I like Heavy Gear's storyline, and the universe that they've created. If you want to, feel free to drop by over by the Dream Pod 9 forums and discuss with the rest of the players. Then browse the quick start rules and the rest, and see how it shapes up for you.

mrondeau wrote:

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
DP9 is from my area, I believe. I've heard of some people really like HGB, but never witnessed anyone playing it. It's all Snarks and Grumpkins, methinks.

We are from the same area.
The game is dead around Montreal. It used to have a small community, which died because of DP9's incapacity to improve or think more than 5 seconds.
I saw it happens twice in 5 years, as a matter of fact.
To put it simply: after a few years following DP9, I'm impressed by the professionalism of every other game company.
DP9 shows how much we take for granted in other companies!

@warboss: No, they don't focus on the right things. They focus on the superficial, easy things that they feel like doing, without addressing the core issues, like having coherent rules, answering the questions arising from incoherent rules, or game balance.
In fact, they seem actively hostile to game balance.

As for game balance, it's actually better now with the newer army lists from both NuCoal and the South, in my humble opinion, mrondeau. Several players I've written with outside of the DP9 forums have been giving it rather great reviews.

Bubbalicious, I am not sure whether it will be an Arena or Blitz! version, yet.

If anyone wants to take the game for a quick spin around their local gaming stores, a lot of folks would probably enjoy it a great deal. The game's start-up costs run around $150-200 for a full army list, but that depends on which faction you choose to go into (and what vehicles you want to buy). With upgrades and skills, you could easily make a Black Talon team of five stealth Gears (costing around $50 American) and have it fill 800-1,000 TV. It all depends on how you want to play it.

It's not exactly Mechwarrior, since Heavy Gears are nowhere near as big. Think AT VOTOMs (the inspiration for it came from there). Also, the combined arms aspect of Heavy Gear is very good. Gears don't occupy the top spot, they're more like one-man infantry fighting vehicles designed for rough terrain. So the amount of cover and concealment you need to bring can't be as thin as Warhammer (say, what, 15-30 percent of the table?), but not nearly as thick as Infinity.

God bless, all.

-Brandon F.

(For the record, I end just about all of my posts with God bless, because I believe in blessing someone rather than cursing them out or making fun of them. If I do poke fun at Mechs, it's razzing and in good humor. I don't want hostility, but I won't back down on my faith. Thanks. And peace to you all.)

BrandonKF wrote:

With upgrades and skills, you could easily make a Black Talon team of five stealth Gears (costing around $50 American) and have it fill 800-1,000 TV. It all depends on how you want to play it.

Just be careful, it's easy to lose friends while playing Black Talons.

If I count anyone a friend, losing to them should be fun.

-Brandon F.

Hudson, MRondeau and Brandon all on the same thread? Outside the protective DP9 walls?

Hold on, I'm making popcorn.

Okay, continue.

Some people play Heavy Gear Blitz in the San Diego area, it's quite a fun game and the core rules are really nice, despite having some issues with costing between individual units/variants/factions, though the new books they're putting out are slowly fixing that.

It's relatively cheap to get into, $115 gets you a starter set with enough mini's to play a standard game, dice, tape measure, and a rulebook. You could built larger-than-average sized armies of 3-4 factions for the price of a single 1850pt 40k army if you wanted to.

The game isn't hugely widespread, but have its hotspots.

 IceRaptor wrote:
Hudson, MRondeau and Brandon all on the same thread? Outside the protective DP9 walls?

Indeed! Its nice to see some familiar names (including yours) outside the walls of dp9forum's Woodbury and the prison of a single rpg.net thread. And, yes, I just finished watching the Walking Dead.

I should have known when I de-lurked I might get tagged by a bunch of snipers... LOL!

Vakthati isn't wrong, though. The Pod Squad out of San Diego has a really nice group, even got their own Facebook page, "The Infamous Pod Squad". Las Vegas' gaming group is, to put it mildly, very active. There's a few other hotspots, as mentioned, but really it's all up to individuals to build interest in their local communities. As V has pointed out, it really doesn't cost you too much, and with these new books coming out, there's an ability to choose which army list you would like to go into, and then have that single army - with all its relevant fluff and background and army-building - in one handy book. They've only covered the New Coalition, Port Arthur Korps, and the South so far, but the other factions will come in good time.

Also, if you get them over on DriveThruRPG, it's no trouble getting the copies with the free Field Manual rules. Oh, and the original rulebook, Locked and Loaded, is also free over on the DriveThruRPG site.

For those curious for some artwork, here:

http://charroart.blogspot.com.es/2013/02/new-illustrations-for-heavy-gear-blitz.html

There's some of the newest artwork that was included into the Southern book, Forged in Fire.

..... and what's a Woodbury? God bless!

-Brandon F.

BrandonKF wrote:


..... and what's a Woodbury? God bless!

It's a small southern town in the TV show I referenced (Walking Dead). It's filled with a bunch of people trying to live "normal" pre-zombie lives oblivious to the dangers of the zombie apocalypse; they're surrounded by guarded walls that keep them physically safe from the dangers outside but also keep them involuntarily locked in as well except for a chosen militant few. Think Mayberry mixed in with the Alamo led by a mid-war Stalin. The prison is the other setting currently in the season.

See, now I know why I don't watch that show... well, outside from the fact that I don't have a television. -_____-

Give me NCIS or Burn Notice before I have to stare at zombies.

-Brandon F.

IceRaptor wrote:Hudson, MRondeau and Brandon all on the same thread? Outside the protective DP9 walls?

Hold on, I'm making popcorn.

Okay, continue.

warboss wrote:
Indeed! Its nice to see some familiar names (including yours) outside the walls of dp9forum's Woodbury and the prison of a single rpg.net thread. And, yes, I just finished watching the Walking Dead.

Oh, don't mind me.
I just passed by to confirm the absence of HG groups in Montreal, and the prevalent attitude towards the game and DP9.
Well, when it's not ignorance of its existence.


PS
Oh, and game balance ? Free Blazing Mambas. Doubling the firepower for free is not balanced.

 IceRaptor wrote:
Hudson, MRondeau and Brandon all on the same thread? Outside the protective DP9 walls?

Hold on, I'm making popcorn.

Okay, continue.

Somebody say popcorn?

I seem to remember a heavy gear game that was pretty damn good a little before mechwarrior 3 came out, let you customize the hell out of your mech.

mrondeau wrote:
Oh, don't mind me.
I just passed by to confirm the absence of HG groups in Montreal, and the prevalent attitude towards the game and DP9.
Well, when it's not ignorance of its existence.

PS
Oh, and game balance ? Free Blazing Mambas. Doubling the firepower for free is not balanced.

That would be the prevalent attitude of your gaming group, mrondeau. And I am sorry that it doesn't meet your expectations. It is what it is, in this case, as you desire.

Grundz wrote:I seem to remember a heavy gear game that was pretty damn good a little before mechwarrior 3 came out, let you customize the hell out of your mech.

Heavy Gear 1 came out after Mechwarrior 2, as I recall, and Heavy Gear 2 came out a few months after MW3... I bought both of them. Sadly, the way things ended up, HG2 got rave reviews from critics, but it was limited by mismanagement. I do recall that it the customization was one of the things I enjoyed a great deal (although I admit to being guilty of packing a light railgun onto a Hunter once... okay, maybe twenty times).

Arizona wrote:

 IceRaptor wrote:
Hudson, MRondeau and Brandon all on the same thread? Outside the protective DP9 walls?

Hold on, I'm making popcorn.

Okay, continue.

Somebody say popcorn?

You got any butter there, gentlemen? Long time no see, Arizona. God bless!

-Brandon F.

 warboss wrote:

they're surrounded by guarded walls that keep them physically safe from the dangers outside but also keep them involuntarily locked in as well except for a chosen militant few.

Absolutely brilliant analogy - its extremely apt. It's a large part of the reason I've stopped posting over there, except in isolated cases.

 Arizona wrote:
Somebody say popcorn?

Dude, for you? Popcorn anytime

BrandonKF wrote:

That would be the prevalent attitude of your gaming group, mrondeau. And I am sorry that it doesn't meet your expectations. It is what it is, in this case, as you desire.

I've had many gaming friends that I've developed at Gencon and Origins who loved the system up until the point they played it. It was especially awkward when I introduced it to several long term friends, who ended up hating it. You aren't dismissing isolated cases.

Turning back to the topic at hand - the game looks to be obviously set as a gladiatorial arena style game. If you checkout the image you can see a Hunter versus a Basilisk - both of the concept arts they have released - on the screen just above the exit. The general aesthetic looks to place it outside the badlands (see the trees beyond the arena), though that could just be typical artistic license. The various screen elements signify a jump into a more modern concept for anime developed given all of the holographic displays in place.

Given MekTek's background, First Person seems pretty likely, probably taking an existing engine to extend rather than spinning their own. Stompy Bot's page had lots of very detailed renders - I wouldn't expect that level of detail for a isometeric or turn based game, but anything's possible.

I guess we'll know more in three days.

Yeah, I'm expecting an indie Steam type game along with console arcade downloadable versions as well if the Gencon Video commenting about it is still accurate and it hasn't gone PC only. This is an indie studio with an as yet unknown publisher to my knowledge and not the AAA (for it's time) release done by one of the largest developers/publishers like Heavy Gear 1 and 2 were.

I don't think they've got the funding to do a full on shooter (whether 1st or 3rd person) with a full storyline. I'm completely fine with a smaller scale Rollerball meets Gladiator multiplayer robot shooter. I'd personally prefer a 3rd person viewpoint like Gears of War (the roadie run would be a good SMS mechanic as long as you could shoot in some fashion).

 warboss wrote:
Yeah, I'm expecting an indie Steam type game along with console arcade downloadable versions as well if the Gencon Video commenting about it is still accurate and it hasn't gone PC only.

Very possible. That would likely be much more within their reach. And could be really profitable, since the multi-spectrum launch would give them plenty of options to pickup a wide group of players. I'm hopeful it will be interesting enough to want to play, since I really hope the game goes well.

 IceRaptor wrote:

 warboss wrote:
Yeah, I'm expecting an indie Steam type game along with console arcade downloadable versions as well if the Gencon Video commenting about it is still accurate and it hasn't gone PC only.

Very possible. That would likely be much more within their reach. And could be really profitable, since the multi-spectrum launch would give them plenty of options to pickup a wide group of players. I'm hopeful it will be interesting enough to want to play, since I really hope the game goes well.

I'd be happy with a tabletop game of Heavy Gear that I found enjoyable. I can only squeeze so many "Big Stompy Robots" into an Infinity list. (That number would be one.)