I was thinking about Starsiege, Heavy Gear and Mechwarrior earlier this week and lamenting the fact that mecha games have gone a little the way of the dodo. So it’s good to see that Harebrained Schemes, makers of Shadowrun series, have a different view. And so do gamers.
It’s called BATTLETECH. Yes, it’s all in capitals. And yes, it’s a Kickstarter campaign.
But here’s the good news: it’s bringing the BattleTech universe back to life. The campaign has already raised nearly US$700,000 in its first day, smashing its US$250,000 goal.
“ALPHA STRIKE A SUCCESS,” the developers wrote in their first update. “FUNDED IN 53 MINUTES. MAINTAIN SUPPRESSION FIRE.”
The project, which is targeting a May 2017 release, is being lead by the MechWarrior and BattleTech creator Jordan Weisman. It’s a single-player turn-based game, although the notes say “the game may also include PvP multiplayer” if funding surpasses US$2.5 million.
Curiously, while the game was only asking for US$250,000, the developers said a full story campaign wouldn’t be included unless funding reaches US$1 million — although at the insane rate of donations, that’s not an issue.
BATTLETECH, which is being built in Unity 5, will also be entirely in 3D. “We’ll be building an all-new codebase in Unity 5 to deliver a ‘Mech command experience that can fully do justice to the awesome scale and depth of the BattleTech Universe,” Harebrained writes.
The minimum tier to grab a digital copy of BATTLETECH will set you back US$25, while the US$35 tier comes with the soundtrack and BATTLETECH concept art.
Over 9,300 backers have already jumped on board, which isn’t much of a surprise: it’s not like there are a surplus of mecha games (that people are universally happy with, emotions not attributable to MechWarrior Online and HAWKEN).
Comments
8 responses to “Shadowrun Devs Fund New Mecha Game In 53 Minutes”
Noting that mechwarrior is technically in the battletech universe.
I just want another Chromehounds… 🙁
Man i remember playing in the battletech pods at intensity, they were awesome 😀
I hardly think that mecha games have gone the way of the dodo (TitanFall, Hawken, Mechwarrior Online just to name a few), they have just moved to more 1st person experiences.
But i would like to see some top down mecha action, especially in the mech commander squad based format
It’s not that there’s been mech games released, it’s that basically none of them cater to “single player strategy/tactical with story”, like the “golden age” of mech games had. I’m thinking of MechWarrior (and sequels), Heavy Gear, Mech Commander, Cyberstorm etc.
All the modern ones are action games with heavy/exclusive focus on PvP.
With their great track record and their ability to deliver their games, it’s hardly a surprise that the project get funded this fast.
Out of those three, MWO is practically the only actual mech game that currently exists. Titan Fall is definitely more an FPS than a mech game, and Hawken is dead. I would certainly not say that mech games are a healthy market.
Weird, I was trying to reply to @matt1234
The mech art is coming from the Mechwarrior Online game, which is good news because their mech designs are outstanding.
I can’t see that they are far along in development considering the game isn’t slated for release until May 2017. I just can’t get amped enough to buy a game that shows nothing of gameplay style or graphical style to commit to anymore kickstarter games 🙁