Announcing: IW2’s Prototype
Recently, Agent Coyle and JasonOCE sat down to discuss the IW2 prototype, giving you more information on what to expect, and how to get involved.
You can see their full video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ7a8vObiTk
There’s some points that bare reiterating, and one or two things that were skipped in the video, so remember to read on here after you’ve finished the video above.
Purpose, Access, Timing, Value, Infection, and Communication.
Firstly, purpose.
The main purpose is to give the prototype to IW’s veteran players to get involved in, so they can give feedback on early development core systems, while also giving a refreshing experience to indulge in while Infinity Wars is suspended. We do want to innovate on systems that we liked in IW to make them feel even better, but we need your help making sure we’re getting the balance right, and that the features we’re implementing are improvements, and good for the core of what we want in our games.
Secondly, access.
The prototype will be instantly given for free to all of our backers on kickstarter and indiegogo, as well as all of the people who have purchased Infinity Heroes on Steam, as a thankyou for being one of our early supporters, as well as council members for Infinity Heroes. IW1 Council members can reach out and discuss things with community coordinator Jason if they’re interested in the project. As for everyone else, they can purchase the pre-order for the Prototype directly through Infinity Heroes for $5 ( 66% off ). This price will be active for the first 200 people who gain access, before going up to $10. It will require access to Infinity Heroes, but will come with it’s own perks, appropriate to the total price you pay. ( See: Value )
Third, Timing.
We have an internal timeframe we’re working towards, but with changes to how we work ( and the entire world in the outbreak ) we’re less comfortable committing to these overtly. We’re sharing our roadmap at the bottom of this post to give you an idea on what we want to get done before we release to you all, but please keep in mind that we’ll be doing a lot to make sure that things are released slowly, when they are ready, to avoid overly pressuring the dev team, and putting strain on ourselves in a VERY sensitive year of our existence. ( See: Infection )
Fourth, Value.
The value associated with the purchase needs to be worthwhile as a thankyou. There’s a large series of benefits for getting into Infinity Heroes beta which you can find on the Steam Page, but let’s talk about IW2’s prototype specifically. Number one is impact, being able to give feedback on the core systems directly to the dev team and influence development of the game we ALL want to play. Number two is access to IW2, and a timed exclusive volcanic play area in both IW2 and IH to keep forever. We’re not taking to crowdfunding IW2 any time soon, and this will be acting in it’s place for people who want to support the project financially early on, and get access to the full game when it releases. Important note, IW2’s monetisation is still not yet finalized, and we’re not sure if it will be free to play or not, but in the instance of IW2 being a pay to play title, all prototype build players will be acting as preorders to the game itself. Number three, is just giving our core IW players something to do during the world’s downtime, and seeing how the game shapes up over the coming months. It won’t be a replacement for Infinity Wars for some time, but hopefully you enjoy what it becomes.
Fifth, Infection.
Our team is spread over both our studios in two different states, so transitioning to working from home hasn’t been overly difficult, with very few communication and production issues arising so far, but as a studio we’ve been doing what we can to help our team do what they can to stay safe, and we’re looking to do more as a company. So, we’ll be donating a portion of all our sales and proceeds during all of April to supporting the Covid-19 relief effort. Our current plan is to donate directly to the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 Response fund. Alongside this, we have plans for charity events and live streams in the future when we work out the details. Keep an eye out on Facebook and Discord for information on when they come about.
And finally, Communication.
Due to lockdowns and our team’s safety, we’re placing the InfinityCast onto an indefinite hiatus, and in it’s place, we’ll be having sit down interview style chats between Jason and Coyle, as we did with the original video. The rest of the dev team has a lot to focus on with IH and IW2, so we’ll be seeing a bit less of them in video form, but we might find fun ways to bring them in and include their input from the safety of their own homes, while not impacting development efforts. Most of our updates towards IW2 will be taking place on Youtube and Facebook, as well as the Discord. Updates via Steam news will be infrequent, only giving you the most important bits, so if you want to follow updates actively, check out the social media links in this post, or at the bottom below the roadmap.
Roadmap
(Subject to change)
0.1
Base account features, premade decks for basic games.
Concepts: Card Cycling & Commander system
May/June 2020
0.15
Test mode: 2v2 Co-op vs AI, barebones Deckbuilder
0.2
Concepts: Purity System, Card Classes, Card Types, War Abilities
We've got so much more planned, you'll just have to stay tuned to hear more as the game evolves. You can find our information for social media channels below, thankyou for reading. We're super excited to see how IW2 will be shaping up over the next few months, and we hope to see you and your friends join us on this journey!
Elphie AgentCoyle & JasonOCE!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/infinitywarsgame
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/lightmarestudios
Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/NqJ7ZQf
Infinity Heroes: https://store.steampowered.com/app/892310/Infinity_Heroes/