-"I have made it! I have finally made it! I have created my dreamt fantasy world!", exclaimed the kid. "Hey, let's play my game!", the kid encouraged his friend. "What game?", replied his friend. "Let's play Tabletop Fantasy War!", said the kid proudly. "Uhm... not the most creative name. What is it about?", asked the friend a bit hesitant. "Just come here! The less you know the better. I can only tell you that this game will bring you somewhere far from here... deep in your imagination where...", the kid was explaining. "Cut it now! It is okay. I have nothing better to do. I'll be there in a minute!".
Shortly after the friend arrived, both of them started playing the game. But non of them was aware of what was about to happen. They played for hours... they played for days... Somewhere, not here, not there, a kid's voice sounded with struggle. "Where are you?... I.. I just cannot stop... my body feels strange. Heavy. I cannot control myself anymore and... and I feel exhausted. But... I need to find the energy source or we wilI not survive. I cannot stop now", someone else, another kid said unsure. "I have to prepare myself for the big battle. I won't let them steal our resources... What am I saying?... where am I?". Nothing more. Just silence.
Are you ready to unleash yourself and let your imagination take full control? Are you ready to explore the kid's fantasy world and find out what is going on there? Then, you are very welcome to Tabletop Fantasy War!
About us
Even though this is mostly a solo project, you are never developing "solo". Us is me, who is mainly a programmer by professional experience, that has worked in the game industry for over two years at Vertigo Games, developing VR games, and that has been developing games for more than eight years as a side activity. And well, had always loved reading novels and wrote small stories at a young age.
Us is also my brother who is helping me with incredibly useful gameplay tips. We have played a lot when we were young and I think this game partially reflects that side of me. Besides, many other friends that have been playtesting and giving me extremely useful feedback.
And there is more! I got a very talented musician who is making a great job getting the vibe of the game with great fantasy/medieval songs and last but not least, I am getting a lot of feedback on the art side from a professional conceptual artist.
What to expect from Tabletop Fantasy War
"We" are a very small team, with only me as the main developer, but with a lot of passion on getting a enjoyable experience out of this game. "We" are aware of our limitations. As a professional programmer, I have decided to focus on the gameplay mechanics, where my strength is, to create an interesting, fun and complete turn-based experience. "We" want the players to be creative on their strategies, to make every decision meaningul and to make every skirmish unique. On the other hand, the graphics, animations and visual effects are designed in a more minimalistic way: simple but capturing the vibe of a tabletop game. Because this game is very much inspired by tabletop games, like Warhammer 40k and we want the players to experience such an amazying atmosphere... And that being said, let's dive into the game... what to expect from Tabletop Fantasy War?
The game will have different modalities. There will be a single player campaign mode (only available in the full game release), where you will explore the vast fantasy world created by that "kid" and play matches in different battlegrounds with different objectives and rewards.
On the other hand, there will be multiplayer mode, both local against other human players and/or computer-controlled players and online against other human players. The multiplayer local mode will be available in the demo. The online mode is still under consideration and the decision will be announced closer to the release date. In multiplayer you play skirmish in battlegrounds 2v2 or 3v3 with different victory modes. For the demo, there will be different maps available and "defeat all opponents" as the default victory mode, but other victory modes such as "king of the hill", where you have to conquer and maintain bases for a certain number of turns, might be available.
Gameplay features (demo)
Let's dive in the core loop of the game and the most important features and game mechanics that will be available in the demo.
All starts in the Units HUB, Before starting any match, you are required to form different groups of units that will be available for deployment in the battleground. Each unit has different stats that influence the hit chance in combat and some special units grant immunities and have abilities to use in the battleground. Forming unique groups by combining different units is one of the key features of the game.
Next to the Units HUB, there is the Combat Simulator room. You can simulate combat between different units groups in any terrain and at any combat distance. It is a very useful tool to design your units groups to counter enemy groups or aid ally groups and test your strategies.
After forming your groups you are ready to start a match! Select the faction you want to play with and the deployment gold. The gold is used to deploy your units groups. Similar to tabletop wargames, where the units has a cost in "points", here your groups has a cost in gold that depends on the units in it. You can deploy as many groups as the gold allows you. And this brings us to the so-called deployment phase.
When you start a skimirsh, you are required to deploy units groups around your main base. Groups are not unique, unless they have unique units in it, meaning that you can deploy multiple times the same group. The deployment phase is a "blind"phase in multiplayer online, where you only know the other players deployments after you are ready with your deployment. In local multiplayer, it is a "semi-blind" phase, where you only see "where" and "how many units" the other players deployed, but not what type of units.
After every player is ready the match starts. It is a turn-based game, meaning that you perform as many turn actions as you can with all your units group and whenever you are satisfied, you can end your turn. In every turn you can change the formation, move, cast abilities and attack with all your units groups. Attacking is the only definitive action, meaning that your remaining turn actions for that group are lost, so you must consider attacking the last thing.
When attacking or better known as entering in combat, there are two phases: the direct attack or the attack your group perform against the enemy group and the counter-attack of the enemy group, if and when the group has units left and the units have enough attack range. For example, attacking with ranged groups to a fully melee group at a distance greater than one hex, results in just a direct attack of the ranged group.
But there is an interesting deviation when more than one enemy group is at one hex of distance to the group that is about to attack. Both enemy groups, will be able to counter-attack!
In the battleground there are neutral bases that you can conquer with your units groups. Conquered bases will give you some benefits and terrain control that can be used to deploy faction-specific structures. Besides, some victory modes require you to conquer bases and keep them for a specific number of turns.
Terrains
Every hex in the battleground is a different terrain. Terrains can have important stat modifiers for the units groups standing on them. For example, the hill grants the group with more accuracy but adds a penalty on courage. Terrains and other elements in the battleground have different height. Units in higher terrains might gain an increased attack range. Besides, higher terrains block the visibility and can be used to protected your units from being attacked.
Group formation
Every turn you can change the formation of your units groups. Every formation has its own stat modifiers and, in particular, the Guard formation has a special behaviour that will be explained further below in the proximity attack section.
Engaging
When moving a group of units close to an enemy group (at one hex of distance). The enemy group enters in the so-called engaged state depicted with two crossed swords. When you are engaged, you can perform turn actions normally, but if you move your group away from the enemy group, your group will lose all remaining turn actions.
Proximity attack
As mentioned before, the Guard formation brings some special behaviour to your units. You can set your group of units in Guard formation and decide the direction in which they are going to "watch". Whenever an enemy group crosses their range of view (depicted with red eyes), they will get automatically attacked by your group. Note that, this formation is mostly interesting when ranged units are in the group, so that you can attack at distance.
Incapacitation
There is a specific ability that can incapacitate a units group. Any group incapacitated will not be able to perform any turn action in the next turn.
Factions, research and abilities
There are two available factions for the demo, Aarbar and Corx. Each faction has slight variations in the common units stats and three unique special units. Special units can grant immunities to the group they belong to, i.e. immunity to be engaged or incapacitated. Besides, they can use abilities.
Abilities have a cast range and can be offensive or supportive, meaning that you can cast them on enemy groups or ally groups. They have a number of cooldown turns after being used and each group it limited to cast one ability per turn.
Every faction has different researches to permanently upgrade your units, i.e. by granting benefits on the stats. Each research takes a number of turns to be completed and during that time you cannot start other researches. Here, the strategy comes on planning wisely what to research first!
FInally, there are special and unique structures that can be deployed in terrains around your bases. These structures create a range effect providing downgrades or upgrades for the units group standing nearby.
Demo release date
"We" are aiming to release the demo sometime in September or beginning of October (before the Steam October Fest). The core features are ready but we want to deliver something solid and as much bug-free as possible. We want to release a demo that you can enjoy playing and that gives you the right idea of what is this game about.
Last words...
Just wanted to thank you all for your support, every comment and every question we receive from you can be very encouraging to keep us motivated developing the game. From my side, well, I am just enjoying a lot the making of this game. I hope you will also enjoy playing it!
From the developer,
Alberto