It’s not often that there’s a genre solely defined by a single series. However, when you think of turn-based tactics, XCOM is what often comes to mind. Nintendo probably has the second biggest name in the genre now, but no one has really approached it in a fantasy setting, until now. We discuss what else will set Fort Triumph apart from other games in the genre, what kind of experience they had with crowdfunding, and much more.
What’s the team’s previous experience in game development?
A few team members have experience working on educational games, others on mobile products, but none of us have worked on a full PC game before Fort Triumph. This is also our first project as indie developers; previously we each worked within larger companies – needless to say this journey has been great so far.
Fort Triumph was successfully funded on Kickstarter. What has been the experience being so involved in the community while developing this? If given the choice, would you choose crowdfunding or traditional publisher?
Kickstarter was an amazing experience, and the community is fantastic – not only our own players which have been supportive and good to us, but fellow indie devs across the globe helped us, gave advice, or boosted our signal. On the other hand, no human can sustain Kickstarter-level intensity for long – we each worked 12-16 hours a day during that time, and made sure to engage every single player interested in our game that we could spot. Soooo I guess my answer would be – ideally? Of course we prefer developing with and for our community, on a budget our players set, but since we want to spend as much time on development as possible and raising community funds is extremely demanding, an investment or a publisher might be our best solution.
With a recent resurgence of love for the genre that XCOM defined, do you think that played into the success of this? After seeing what Nintendo and Ubisoft did with Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, have you changed any mechanics?
It’s an amazing time to be a turn based strategy lover, for sure 🙂 Other than XCOM inspiring us early in development, it’s hard to put a finger on what ideas came from where, we’re constantly iterating and changing things in our search for the perfect formula – but in the end of the day it’s up to our players and their feedback. Just this month we’re starting to send out testing mutators (Think ‘Second Wave’ options that change the game) to our backers to test a few different directions we’re looking into.
Aside from a fantasy setting, how does Fort Triumph stand on its own inside this genre?
I’d say the environmental gameplay and physics definitely stand out in the crowd and completely changes how tactical combat works, as well as our visual style which is pretty different – for some reason devs tend to connect ‘hardcore gameplay’ with realistic, grimdark visual settings. We were happy when the Banner Saga came out (and recently Mario RKB) and challenged that convention somewhat.
What made the team decide on using Unity for development?
Comfort. At the time this was a 2-man project, Unreal was over-complex, and the results weren’t that good (we’re talking 2013ish) while Unity allowed for faster, more stable code. There are more options today, but honestly, we’re happy with Unity and what we’re able to do with it, so I don’t see us changing engines anytime soon.
How rich of a story will this contain? Procedurally generated games like this often have a starting and ending, and the middle is sort of whatever it ends up being. Will that be the case here?
We’re aiming to mix it up a bit. This is still in the works and might change plenty, but we’re aiming for the game to have MULTIPLE campaigns, a bit like D&D modules of sorts, which are all integrated into a single strategic map which allows players to choose their encounters, the story they want to play out, or just explore and reveal some world secrets. In terms of scope, it really depends on how well we do during Early Access or whether we land investment. We’re going to need some extra resources if we want to develop the full scope of story we had in mind.
How many different characters will there be to battle with? What kind of skills can we look forward to?
We’re starting off with four character classes, as introduced in the public demo. There might be some special characters joining in for specific missions, but otherwise that’s it for now. Similar to XCOM, party members die with permadeath and are replaced, and therefore most stories aren’t about the heroes, but the party and how it’s changing the world. In terms of skills, you can expect many additions (we have over 100 being considered and tested) including new physical skills and spells, and ways to change the combat environment – more ways to put out fires or start them, ways to freeze or to use objects in new ways, etc.
The game is scheduled for release in April of 2018. How many hours a day does the team put into the development of Fort Triumph, and is that release date looking feasible?
We are ten team members, working anywhere between 3 to 9 hours a day on the game. We announced to backers a couple of months ago that we are postponing the Early Access period, and it seems likely we will move release up a bit as well to get more development and testing time – however, we have a few closer landmarks to hit, and if we’re happy enough with how the game plays, anything can happen. While we fanatically go back to every promise we made to our community and make sure to follow up on them, release specifically is one thing that we reserve the right to change. If that’s what it takes to put out a much better game – we worked SO hard on this game already, and rushing the last few months can risk it all.
What kind of experience are you hoping for people to get out of this? Is there anything you hope they take away from it?
As for players – HAVE FUN! Most of us are turn based tactics lovers; we know the thrill of combat, the satisfaction of a mission well played, and the wrath of evil RNG gods. If we can create a game that reliably gives players that feeling of tension, accomplishment and triumph (hah!), we’re happy. As for the industry or the genre? I think the biggest change we want to lead is in making levels an integral part of tactics, and to have players enjoy reading the battlefield and leveraging advantages they spot.
What are your top 3 games of all time, and your top 3 from the last 5 years?
Ugh, this is too hard! Well, personally in recent years, I’d say Witcher 3, XCOM 2, Overwatch would have to be my top three, but I also love Total War: Warhammer, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Banner Saga 1+2, Pillars of Eternity… The more I think about it the more great games come up, thank god we live in these times 🙂 The all-time list is even harder and less ‘objective,’ but I think I’d go with Julian Gollop’s original UFO:Enemy Unknown (My first ever CD!) for tactics, World of Warcraft which I still think is one of the best gaming experiences in existence, and The Neverhood for one of the most creative storytelling examples in a time where that was beyond rare.
What would your advice be for someone that has never made a game before, but wants to start?
Please do. With the tools available today, you can absolutely make your own game, at home, even without a team to support you. So just start- choose a tiny game, something simple enough to do in a month or less, and get it done. Sooner or later you’ll stumble upon a bigger concept you cannot resist, and hopefully by that time you’ve made connections, got to know other indies you might partner with, and of course, become much better at development. Another route to go is game jams – events where strangers team up to develop games and is one of the best ways to meet people to team up with AND polish your skills at the same time.
If you could only choose one band/musician to listen to for the rest of your life, who would you choose?
Pain of Salvation, a progressive rock band I’ve been in love with since middle school, I have NO idea how many times I’ve heard each album and I’m not remotely tired of it.
Do you have a favorite rodent?
Anything else we haven’t touched on you’d like the readers to know?
If you are into turn based tactics, get our public demo. We’re updating it today to the newest version and would LOVE your feedback and suggestions in our forums, Steam communities, or directly to me at Shay@forttriumph.com.
We want to thank Shay for taking the time to answer all of our questions regarding the upcoming Fort Triumph. For more about the game, you can visit the official site. You can also follow the team’s updates on their Twitter. And for those that want to see more dedicated gameplay of Fort Triumph, we’ll be streaming it on Twitch in the near future. Stay tuned!