Jagged Alliance: Flashback Kickstarter Update #1, $68,496 and Counting
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Strategic Level Design - Base Building, Squads, Map Mechanics
The strategic level in Flashback will in its core work similarly to Jagged Alliance 2 with added base building.
You have a chessboard like grid on top of the world map, you direct squads of mercenaries freely around on the map and each grid corresponds to an individual level on the tactical side of the game.
The size of the chessboard is going to be determined by budget of the game. This is where we scale up with stretch goals. More pledges means more environment art means more levels in the grid.
You have to move troops around the map on foot, and if we reach stretch goals we also add the good old transportation options of jeeps, trucks, helicopters, boats and planes to make movement faster as well as unlock new parts of the map. We really want to do this part! As an example it would matter to liberate the port city, so that you can grab a boat to a neighbouring small island.
So if you liked the system used in Jagged Alliance 2, then you will love this one as it's basically the same :-)
A new feature we want to add to the strategic layer is base management. You will start out with a small landing zone and expand your base of operations as you gain access to funds. New additions to your base will add various levels of support options to your squads. From fortifying your base that help against enemy attacks to helicopter pads and recruiting a gunsmith will allow you to repair weapons and research new attachments that increase weapon effectiveness.
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If we had to make a classic publisher work-for-hire deal, bitComposer would have paid the development, owned it all and they would control the development and which features go in.
Since we are licensing instead, we do not get a single $ from them or others. We have to finance the development ourselves, define the game features and story (together with you), produce it and get it into your hands by the way we think is best.
bitComposer still has a say in terms of us not destroying their brand by turning Ivan into a ballerina in a pink shirt and make the game into an endless runner in iOS. But as long as we stay within the defined boundaries of the license agreement, we are free to make the game to our ideas. We are pretty much free to do whatever we want, as long as it stays in the tactical genre however.
This also means, that we can use bitComposer and other 3rd party companies as resources if it helps us. For example if we want to reach out to existing Back in Action fans on the bitComposer Facebook page, we can ask bitComposer to do that. If we want to send out press releases, we can use our own press agents instead of bitComposers PR guys - so that's what we've done - used our own. If we want to do physical boxes we can ask bitComposer to broker a deal for us (since they already have contacts) or go with our own if we want. Or find another partner. And so on.
Being independent simply means that WE have a choice of who to ask for help. And sometimes the most wise choice is to seek partnership and help rather than doing things yourself.
