Hey everyone,
We're a week away from the start of Stratagem Lost's Kickstarter campaign! This is going to be a sneak peak of the campaign that begins on 10/14/24—we can't reveal everything yet, but we'd like to talk briefly about some parts of it.
Professional Mercenaries
The Kickstarter campaign is going to include some common backer rewards like the game, soundtrack, artbook, etc. However, there are going to be a lot of creative rewards! One of the most interesting ones is getting to make your own Professional Mercenaries—these are assistants you can hire to bolster your units. They will be fully unique, with custom animations, visual designs, voice acting, and skills—all of which will be influenced by backers.
To give a small window into the process, let's take a look at one of Professional Mercenaries that has already been put into the game—Archbishop Magdalene.
Magdalene is essentially the game's poster child for Professional Mercenaries. She actually originated from a manga I made in college. Though she was only on two pages, I loved her concept so much that I didn't want to leave her behind.
In the transition to Stratagem Lost, she became considerably larger. Primal fear is synonymous with her—a giant build feels natural. Her design and colors also changed, but she still has the same brutal, savage authority. We're encouraging creativity with Professional Mercenaries, so don't feel afraid to make some truly bizarre characters.
One of these characters is a Professional Mercenary. See if you can guess which one it is.
In addition, there are going to be some other options for backers, like designing enemies, NPCs, and equipment sets. There will be some more information about these at the campaign's launch!
Development Builds
We've mentioned players being able to try the game ahead of time in the past. What we're opting to do is to allow backers to play pre-release builds! We're wanting to release the game in chunks for backers, with each chunk containing new units, more story content, etc. Players can simply wait for the full game to be finished, but backers will be able to play it in advance and give feedback to improve the game.
A common trend with this campaign is placing emphasis on community feedback and involvement. This is a game that benefits heavily from communication between the developers and players. Once the campaign starts, we're going to be making announcements primarily on both Steam and our Kickstarter page. We'll also be making some fun little asides here and there like character showcases on our social medias!
Side note, we're going to have fun little goodies in the campaign too, like stickers! This one is my favorite—it really captures the character's personality.
As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to us on our Discord, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. We hope too see you at our Kickstarter's launch! Remember—it's a week from now, on the 14th!
Thank you for your time,
-Smithy, Hybrid Fiction Games