Welcome to the first Archangel Announcements of 2019! Thank you to all our players who've supported us on Steam since 2018, and especially to everyone who's stuck with us for longer than that!
Without any further ado, here we go!
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Upcoming Feature : Mission Generator
One of our primary goals this 2019 is the completion of the Single-player Campaign we discussed in previous announcements and media. In this game mode, the player takes the role of a mercenary on the war-torn planet of Baja Secunda. Various factions and corporations have taken an interest in the conflict, and pursue their agenda in the many battlefields.
Central to that single-player campaign is a procedural mission generation system. Each 'turn', the different factions post missions, from among which the player can choose. Such missions can vary in objective and scope, from sabotage, assassination, VIP defense, area control, target tests and much more.
After then, it is up to the player's skill, archangel and luck to complete these missions.
Successful completion of these missions provides the player with monetary rewards and faction rating. Faction rating represents the value, respect and/or rank the mercenary has achieved within a faction. It unlocks several benefits, such as parts, weapons, upgrades and cosmetics unique to each faction or corporation.
But beware; Every mission affects another faction negatively. Clients will always have rivals and enemies who will remember your actions. Hostile actions against such factions will lower your faction rating with them. A low enough faction rating might mean a ban from acquiring certain goods. Unlucky players may even be attacked by that faction's armed forces while in the middle of another mission!
The mission generator represents the basic game 'flow' of the planned campaign, and we aim to release it for public testing by next month. It will have the mission generation system, the faction rating system, and even the faction threat system. We hope players enjoy this preview of what's to come.
Shops, upgrades, unlocks, narrative content and the other progression systems described above will follow. We will make sure to update everyone and discuss them in future statements.
Visual Updates : HUD and Animation
Some animation updates can be expected in the following weeks. They particularly involve held weapons and shields, to make them feel more organic. We applied an animation layering system we currently use for our idle walking and moving animations, differentiating flight from grounded movement as well as varying movement speeds.
With the development of the single-player mode, we're also adding new elements to the HUD, such as ally and enemy indicator pips for combatants not in your lock-on reticule. This will help players differentiate allies and enemies with one glance during messy skirmishes.
Another minor addition to the HUD is a lead pip, which basically predicts the position and movement direction of the locked-on target. This was mostly a debug feature for us to test our projectiles' tracking and predictive capabilities, but it may assist players who appreciate additional information! (Also it looks cool and adds to the immersion, according to Paolore.)
We hope these visual changes prepare players for the challenges of the new game mode, since multiple enemies and allies will be more common.
New Preset : Uusha Jajanka
The winner of the Cosmic Clash Season 2 Finale, Uusha Jajanka, has been added to the roster.
It is the first competitive build to win after the massive mechanics overhaul on stability and boost - this monster boasts very high armor, stability and deflection, and obliterates the competition with its Dominus and Dragoon!
Community Contest Policy Update : Character Roster and Ghosts
Ever since 2017, we've worked closely with our community and have added many of our player's creations to the game. After 2 years of development, our Character Roster has grown to a whopping 32 Archangels, with more than half of them (17) being champions and contest winners!
Sadly, due to this large number, we've decided to limit community contest additions to the roster from now on. This change will particularly affect our recurring tournaments, such as Cosmic Clash. We will still have specific tournaments that feature roster addition as a prize, but only if we explicitly state it as part of the rewards.
However, do not fret! Due to the developments toward the single-player content, we've actually opened new avenues for community submission content. The one we'll discuss here are the Ghosts.
Ghosts are Archangels that cannot be selected by players in Custom Game. They will only appear randomly in the single-player campaign missions and horde mode.
The Characters represent well-known Archangel pilots in the Archangel Tournament League (ATL), the immensely popular arena sport throughout the Solar Empire. They are basically sport celebrities. The arcade mode of the game represents the player fighting their way up through the ATL. With the exception of horde mode, everything we've shown so far in the game is the perspective of the Archangel Athlete fighting for glory in the Arena.
However, the ATL with all its rules and safety regulations, do not represent the true military capabilities of the Archangel. It is, first and foremost, a weapon of war - which is what the campaign mode will focus on. Therefore, Ghosts are the pilots you find on the battlefield. Most of them don't have a name to give you, and frankly, couldn't care less. They're most likely mercenaries, just like you, or faction agents who simply need to complete a mission.
The Ghost system allows us to hold grunt and faction officer creation contests, which is one of the community activities requested of us. We also found that a lot of narrative suggestions from our community collaborators could be better put in the context of the battlefield rather than the arena. This means that we may move around existing characters to become ghosts or have characters who also appear in the single-player campaign.
Community Contest : DEADLY DUETS
The first community contest is made by our longtime supporter, Robofights! Watch the video here!
It is the first 2v2 online AI tournament of its kind! To join, simply pair up with a friend and send your Archangels over via this form.
If you're flying solo, don't worry! We'll get you a blind date from among the other solo submissions.
The winning pair stand to each win 10$ steam giftcards, and the option to add their Archangels to the character roster. Due to their synergy, they may also be included in the single-player campaign and horde mode as a pair encounter!
DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES
2018 was a good year for our debut on Steam, and we definitely look forward to working with everyone this 2019! Please do join our Discord channel and our social media pages so you can work with us in developing Garrison: Archangel to be the definitive custom mecha game for PC.
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As usual, make sure to like/follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates!
We also have a YouTube channel where we post videos of our game's development.
You can also visit our Discord and talk with the devs and players of the game!