Battle Of The Sands - New Game From the Maker of Knights of the Chalice

Couchpotato

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Heroic Fantasy Games the maker of Knights of the Chalice sends word of a new game called Battle of the Sands. You can download a demo of the game to try it out.

Prologue
The future. Fossil fuels have been completely exhausted on Earth. Yet they remain essential for numerous human activities. Fortunately, vast resource deposits have been discovered on a desert planet in a colonised system. Six mega corporations are vying for control of these resources.

As Director of Production of one of the six companies, it is your duty to repel the enemy factions and ascertain your monopoly. Should you be successful in this endeavour, you will be in an excellent position to claim the Megacorp Vice Presidency. Should you fail, your career will end abruptly, with consequences so disastrous they do not bear thinking about…

Features
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2D real-time combat similar to that found in the old game Dune 2000. Not all combat situations require you to destroy the enemy. In some missions, you must defend yourself a certain amount of time.
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Not your average RTS: Each mission has been carefully designed to be challenging. Do not expect to breeze through the game. There are 12 campaign missions and 13 stand-alone maps.
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Big picture engine: Rather than a set of tiles, each map that comes with the game uses as a backdrop a beautiful big picture drawn by the game's artist.
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User-friendly interface. Tell the computer to start producing tanks and it will not stop until you tell it to. The interface warns you if your next building would create a power shortage. Single left click to tell a group of units to assemble and move in formation to the clicked destination. Right click and drag to scroll the map easily.
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A well-developed artificial intelligence. The enemy factions do not attack recklessly with a small group of units. Allied factions coordinate their attacks and the computer does not cheat.
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Watch the computer: You have the option to watch the AI factions fight each other. Watch the computer build its base, prepare its army and launch joint attacks.
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In-game help files. As in Knights of the Chalice, the in-game help allows you to jump from one topic to the next using hyperlinks. A right click on many buttons and controls opens the help file and displays the appropriate help entry.
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Map and Campaign Editor. Use the integrated editor to create new maps and scenarios easily. Create new campaigns by assembling a number of stand-alone maps.
More information.
 
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The "purchasing this game supports the development of KOTA 2" part made this an instabuy for me...
 
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Yeah, if I got this right, his rationale was that this game allowed him to work on the engine that he'll be able to reuse for Knights of the Chalice 2. But real time ? Pfff.
 
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I've tried the demo. Not a game for me. Uninstalled soon after.

And I won't be moved by blackmail: I won't buy a game I don't like in the hopes that it will help KotC2's production.
 
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Yeah, loved kotc and looking forward to part 2, but can't get excited about this. Not my kinda thing.
 
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Man, I just might have to buy this. KotC is a top 10 game for me and I have been playing games for over 30 years. I hate real time games but I think I will have to help him out. I think he should Kick Start KotC 2. Would rather give him cash this way.
 
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I have zero interest in this product.
Also, I wonder why many independent developers don't get it: you don't try to compete in genres where there are high-quality, high-budget productions, like RTS, because you will get destroyed in comparison.
 
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I have zero interest in this product.
Also, I wonder why many independent developers don't get it: you don't try to compete in genres where there are high-quality, high-budget productions, like RTS, because you will get destroyed in comparison.

I think your disinterest in the genre in question clouds your judgement a bit here, since this argument is a bit like saying that Knights of the Chalice shouldn't have been created because Bioware released Dragon Age.

Just like with RPGs, there's a lot of room for variety in the RTS genre and the mechanics of Battle of the Sands clearly distinguish the game from "competitors" such as Starcraft 2, Command & Conquer 4, Company of Heroes and DOTA 2. BotS takes a decidedly old school framework (Dune 2-era aesthetics etc.) and cuts out much of the micromanagement which characterizes the AAA releases in the genre. There's a structural purity and tactical focus in BotS which you won't find in your average big budget RTS, and that's of course very similar to what KotC did within the RPG sphere.
 
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If this guy hits KS to make KoTC 2, I'll be first in line to throw a bucket of cash at him. The first KoTCH was simply one of the best games I've played in 20 yrs.


-Carn
 
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I think your disinterest in the genre in question clouds your judgement a bit here, since this argument is a bit like saying that Knights of the Chalice shouldn't have been created because Bioware released Dragon Age.

Just like with RPGs, there's a lot of room for variety in the RTS genre and the mechanics of Battle of the Sands clearly distinguish the game from "competitors" such as Starcraft 2, Command & Conquer 4, Company of Heroes and DOTA 2. BotS takes a decidedly old school framework (Dune 2-era aesthetics etc.) and cuts out much of the micromanagement which characterizes the AAA releases in the genre. There's a structural purity and tactical focus in BotS which you won't find in your average big budget RTS, and that's of course very similar to what KotC did within the RPG sphere.

I have to go with Tuco on this one.Unlike RPGs higher budget RTS(and strategies in general) don't lack variety or complexity it's lot harder for small project to gain enough buyers to be profitable.
 
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I have to go with Tuco on this one.Unlike RPGs higher budget RTS(and strategies in general) don't lack variety or complexity it's lot harder for small project to gain enough buyers to be profitable.

I don't know whether there's actually an audience for a game like Battle of the Sands, but the general principle by which the RTS genre is singled out as somehow mysteriously hostile to indie incursions still seems very arbitrary to me.

To continue my analogy, Dragon Age and Fable are examples of mainstream titles with very different interpretations of what "complexity" and "depth" in an RPG experience should be all about (customization and social features in Fable versus small-scale combat dynamics and role-playing character interaction in Dragon Age). However, it goes without saying that neither of these games are very similar to an old school RPG like Avernum (turn-based combat, more stats/skills etc) - which is designed around a decidedly more traditional interpretation of concepts such as complexity, depth and variety. Likewise, BotS may not be more "complex" than most mainstream RTSs, but the interpretation of complexity is radically different.
 
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To continue my analogy, Dragon Age and Fable are examples of mainstream titles with very different interpretations of what "complexity" and "depth" in an RPG experience should be all about (customization and social features in Fable versus small-scale combat dynamics and role-playing character interaction in Dragon Age). However, it goes without saying that neither of these games are very similar to an old school RPG like Avernum (turn-based combat, more stats/skills etc) - which is designed around a decidedly more traditional interpretation of concepts such as complexity, depth and variety. Likewise, BotS may not be more "complex" than most mainstream RTSs, but the interpretation of complexity is radically different.

Both of Fable and DA like most AAA RPGs lack any real complexity from gameplay standspoint that is why spiderweb games are successful.Unlike in RTS where both twitch RTS(Starcraft,DotA,LoL) and tactical RTS(Sins of the solar empire, Wargame, Achtung panzer) have really good and complex games,I am not saying BotS can't find audience I am saying it will be lot harder since most of market is covered, they going to have to work very hard to make very good game and that might not be enough.I really want to see KotC 2, I don't want them to go down because of bad decision, if game is good enough I will buy it but I am not sure enough people will.
 
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I think he should Kick Start KotC 2. Would rather give him cash this way.

Heh yeah I'd chuck my wallet at him. The additional choices for races and classes that he's planning sound like great additions, really hoping he gets it finished. To be honest, if he just did a short game using the existing kotc engine or an extension for high level characters I'd still bite his hand off.
 
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He developed this game so he could try out some ideas he wanted to use for KOTA 2...not sure why that is a bad thing.
 
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I think you all are probably over thinking this, at least more than the dev is. From what I recall reading some time ago (and admittedly it wasn't very much), I got the impression he was a fan of the Dune strategy game, and that was primarily it. The guy never seemed to be too interested in cashing in, even with KotC, but more interested in following his personal interests.
 
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Woah, talk about spoiled brats… Hostages, blackmail, whatever else, just because the guy points out the obvious, in that any money he receives ever does in a way help his future projects, which happen to include his next RPG. Yikes.

Anyway, I'm not much into RTS but definitely don't think it makes any sense to try and exclude indies from doing any genre big publishers deal in. Big publishers do just about everything, they just do it differently, obviously.

If you like their RTS/TBS but don't like their RPG doesn't mean you can proclaim indies should do RPG but not RTS/TBS. There surely are others who feel differently. People liked Eador and Battle for Wesnoth even if they liked Civilization and Might & Magic Heroes.

I'm personally looking forward to Telepath Tactics as well, for the TBS side, enjoying Fire Emblem and Tactics Ogre also doesn't change my anticipation.
 
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Well, we're all pretty eager to see KotC2. There's no debate about that. Now that Kickstarter is available in England, I sincerely hope he goes for it.
 
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KotC was my favorite game in the last 5 years, but I have no interest in RTS games.
 
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