What’s that? Wargroove 2 has been out for a whole year, already!? We’re here to give a big thank you for all the joy and enthusiasm you’ve given Wargroove 2 this year. You’ve followed us through new language releases, bug fixes and balancing tweaks, a fancy Wargroove 1 + 2 Physical launch, Mod support, Groove of War tournaments and most recently our big launch on Xbox consoles!
To celebrate, you can currently grab the Wargroove series on sale! We also have an exciting update about the Wargroove 2 soundtrack on vinyl, check it out at the end of this post!
The Robotality team have now moved on to support the rest of the Chucklefish development team with ✨Witchbrook✨ (but this isn’t the end of the road for Wargroove 2 👀👀)! As with all anniversaries, we’ve been left feeling nostalgic about the last year, and the beloved time and effort we spent bringing Wargroove 2 to life. So, take a walk down memory lane with the development team and their fondest anecdotes about creating Wargroove 2:
Stefan - Lead Game Designer & Programmer
Just a short story I remember from when I was in Germany one time. Simon and I went to have cake at the bakery across the street one of the last days I was there. Whilst we’re eating their amazing cherry cake we began talking about an idea of giving the factions in Wargroove 2 permanent territories instead of a fixed campaign. We were already deep into the campaign at this point, so there was just no way we could make a structural change like that. But, this did lead us to the idea of having permanent armies and shortly after the concept of conquest mode was born. The name “conquest mode” really is just a reminder of that original idea of having permanent territories to fight over. Either way, we ended up prototyping the idea and quickly knew there was something to this. The rest is history. Moral of the story: Eat more cherry cake. Another favourite memory of mine was when we were showing Wargroove 2 at Pax East. We had these 2 boys that were maybe 8-9 years old trying out the game. They needed a little bit of guidance but soon understood the concept and were having a good time. A few hours later they were back for another round. And then the next morning, they showed up again. I don’t remember how many times they came by, but they were clearly loving playing the game together and played it as much as they possibly could.
Simon - Art Director & Game Designer
One of my fondest memories is right after Hassan joined the team, he and I sat down together for multiple days in a row and just had chats about how we want to structure the world and the story. It was such an interesting time when everything was possible. Interestingly, a lot of what we had ideas back then actually made it into the game, like the 3 chapters in parallel, the different teams of commanders etc. It was a fun time. 🙂
Caoimhe - Senior Producer
My favourite aspect of working on Wargroove 2 was having the opportunity to bring together a team of exceptionally talented developers. Not only did we get to combine talent who had worked across different Chucklefish projects into a single title, we also discovered new developers to join us and finally worked with those I had only admired from afar. Together, we all became one big dream team! A highlight for me was finally meeting most of the team at the Wargroove 2 launch party. It had been a long few years full of various lockdowns and we all worked across different timezones, so meeting in person was so rewarding and heartfelt!
Hassan - Narrative Designer
My favorite time during the project was early 2022. The team had just gotten back from holidays, everyone was feeling refreshed and energetic, and it seemed we were hitting a stride not only with the project, but also in working with one another. One of the artists might show off a cool animation that would give me an idea for a character that would give the level designers an idea for a mission that would give me an idea for a scene that would need some more art, and so on and so on. We were also in a golden part of the process where just enough work was done that we could be proud of ourselves -- but release was still some faraway-sounding date. Anything could happen before then! We were in the middle of a beautiful dream, except for Caoimhe who kept waking up to check on the alarm clock (🙏)
Daniel - Programmer
We made the trip to London for the Wargroove 2 release party and I had a lovely time visiting the Chucklefish office. We saw the London sights, ate a lot of great food, and discovered the questionable shape of the shadows cast on the Westminster Bridge at a certain time of day (don't deny it, I got pictures!).
And of course the party itself was amazing! We didn't just meet the rest of the team, but also many of Wargroove 2's talented voice actors.
Midio - Lead Artist
There were so many memorable aspects of development I could be talking about! But I do remember the fear- and excitement- we felt when presenting the mice faction to the team and eventually to the community, pondering how they would accept it! I'm a big fan of rodents, I've had many pet rats myself and I think they're awesome and completely misunderstood. Seeing them become "alive" slowly though the writing and seeing the depth Hassan was able to imprint on them was quite amazing! Also, seeing my loved ones slowly fall in love with the game filled me so much gratitude and happiness!
Marion - Art & Animation
During the whole production, I made a point to not check the story WIP channels, where Hassan and the others were making up the actual plot. I knew just enough to convey the characters' personalities into their acting and actions, but I didn't want to spoil myself anything. So when the game got finally released, and I got to discover the final version, what a ride! It was worth the wait, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. At some point, when a character died, I got up from my armchair and dashed to my PC and I yelled at them on the chat : "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!!" they rightfully answered : "well, you could have been there to prevent us from doing it" but that was exactly the kind of emotion I wanted to feel while playing it. I got so invested, at some point I even was like "Hey, this is pretty!...Wait a second…I remember! It's me! I have done this!" After release, I even got to chat with fellow game fans, as we discovered the story and maps together, some of them asked me questions like : "You're a dev, don't you have the answer?" and I was like "Hell no, right now I'm a simple fan girl just like you!"
It was really great to bond with everybody over this.
Dadvar - by Marion
Lisa Marie - Junior Art & Animation
I joined the team and Wargroove 2's development as an intern while I was still at university, and have been with Robotality ever since. I don't think I've ever been as nervous as I was during that initial interview... The game was my first step into the industry, many of the units in it are where I learned things for the first time. It feels a bit like we grew up together! Especially with you, pirate wagon, my beloved brother.
At the start, we had a set time on Mondays for interns to present the work they had done and get feedback. Oh, how I yearned for and dreaded that first Monday! I was scared to show my work, because everyone around me was amazing at what they were doing and I, in my little heart, was intimidated and scared to disappoint. But as I was struggling to properly stream my Aseprite window and the feedback came in, lovely encouragement and smart improvements in equal measure, I realized that I had met a truly special and incredible group of people. I decided in that same moment I would try and do my very best for the game they had worked so hard on and poured so much of their own hearts into.
When I play it now I still hear the jokes we made, the struggles we had, feel the fun and the exhaustion. Just the love, I guess. Too soppy? Don't care!
Dale - Composer
My fondest memory of working on Wargroove 2 was right at the very beginning of the work, at my first submission of music to the team. You never know how these things are going to go, and in this case the entire team and everyone involved would listen to and weigh in on the work. No matter how much you've done this work, this is always nerve-wracking. I wanted to really stick the landing, but it's always a bit of guesswork and instinct to try to come in at just the right level to meet everyone's expectations. Add to that everyone's eagerness to hear what I'd do, and I found myself almost trying to reduce others' expectations up until that first delivery day. When that day finally came, it was fantastic: kind words came from every direction. I could feel the consideration and encouragement from everyone. People told me how many times they looped it, or how they shared it with family and family members danced to it. Extended teams got to hear that first piece and all the energy coming back was extremely positive. I got a bit emotional. I've been writing music for games for a good while now, but I can't think of too many times when I just felt this accepted and encouraged. This day really set the pace for the rest of the work.
Wargroove 2 Vinyl - now available for Pre-Order!
"We're thrilled to finally get this album out to our fans. As many are now aware, our former physical product partner, Ship to Shore, closed its doors earlier this year, so it took us additional time to complete production. We were committed to making it happen, though, and we're pleased that it all came together in time for the game's one-year anniversary. We hope fans enjoy as they relive their favorite Wargroove 2 memories and perhaps dive back into the game itself!" - Jayson Napolitano, Scarlett Moon
