Oddball
2021-05-05 08:57:57
One area of concern with any RTS game in the current market is the barrier-of-entry. Compared to a game like Fornite that you can start enjoying minutes into playing—Brood War requires at least a two-week bootcamp to have any semblance of knowing what you’re doing. One focus SunSpear has is creating accessibility without sacrificing complexity.
IMMORTAL has the potential to introduce new gamers to a StarCraft-like game. It isn’t just a ripoff, though. SunSpear looks to other industry standouts as well. “At low level Starcraft there is a big issue with how scary the game feels. You're in your base, the rest of the map is shrouded in darkness, stepping out could mean death and you are cooped up scared to move out. Scouting with workers isn't an immediately intuitive concept.
Our Towers and map objectives that help solve this are rooted in two games. We take inspiration from moba's ability to help loosely guide the player to going out on the map and completing objectives. From games like Company of Heroes and Dawn of War for their feeling of conquering the map in a soft fashion. Our towers provide elements of both.
From Age of Empires, having a some very obvious scouting units to go look around the map with does wonders. You've got an extra unit not doing anything while building your initial base, why as well go send them out on the map.
Lastly we take inspiration from Command and Conquer Generals, and other games with similar sub faction systems for how our Immortal grant access to unique unit replacements, global spells fueled by our third resource, and other global perks to the faction.”
SunSpear appears fully committed to the title as well—seeking to release a multitude of expansions and spin-off titles. “Right now, we're 100% committed to IMMORTAL: Gates of Pyre. We see IMMORTAL having 10+ years of expansion. However, the enormous universe of IMMORTAL fits nicely in other places. One example is IMMORTAL as a tabletop RPG. We created a one-shot based on one of the starting Factions, Jora, to help us promote our Kickstarter. It was insanely popular, which obviously got us thinking of where we can take this, but we quickly shifted back into IMMORTAL: Gates of Pyre gear.”
Obviously one big question is how the game will cater to the esports market. There has been virtually no major RTS events (especially in the west) for years now. Though SunSpear can’t immediately put a large investment to creating a strong esports scene, the do have it in their sights. “The first and most important thing you need if you want to have an esport is a fun game that can support a big enough player base. So when you ask "what does esports mean to the success of the game" I think of it more like, what does the success of the game mean for esports. We have tested the gameplay for years in mods and the feedback was clear: this is a fun game that can support a big player base.
So we expect that esports will begin to arise whether we facilitate it or not! In preparation for this eventuality, we have been talking to esports industry veterans for over a year developing how we're going to approach esports. Our primary goal is to create an ecosystem where each role is taken care of: that's players, coaches, teams, sponsors, viewers, TOs, us, publishers, venue owners... the list goes on. There will be more specifics on these advisors announced soon! As for specific esports plans, we're focused on the game for now. When it's time to make those decisions we'll talk more specifics.”
Overall, sullen RTS fans can be cautiously optimistic with IMMORTAL. The Kickstarter was very successful, exceeding its initial goal almost five times over—raising more than $150,000. The team is composed of RTS veterans that have actively listened to industry legends and the community. More than anything, a spiritual-successor to the StarCraft franchise has been desperately needed in the current game market, and IMMORTAL just may fill that void.