Hell - new TBS game from Matrix/Slitherine

[JudgeDredd]

After posting a little rant on the reskinning of the BA engine. I then went on to buy the fecker! Installing it.

lmao. FAIL  ^-^

[PipFromSlitherine]

To give some context, the STUB engine (Slitherine TUrn Based) is an engine designed (in case you hadn't guessed) for building turn based games.  Beyond that EVERYTHING is scripted, so the internals of the games are entirely different.  BA, Pike&Shot, and Hell are all entirely different games beyond the fact they are turn based strategy games.  The term 'reskinning' implies that the underlying game is the same, which is not the case.

You can in fact build a 'mod' under any of these engines which is en entirely different game (a la Amaris' Naval mod for BA).  Hell uses some very different ZoC and other mechanics that were designed and implemented by the developer specifically for this game.

I wrote the engine specifically to make building these games simpler, hoping that enthusiasts of specific theaters would take advantage of it.  Without it I doubt that a game like Pike&Shot would have seen the light of day if a team had to build all its functionality from the ground up.

Cheers

Pip

[Barthheart]

Thanks for the info Pip!  O0

[spelk]

Yeah I knew I'd have to eat humble pie, even as I was typing my "reskinned rant". You see, knee jerk reactions to games without actually playing them never end well. Especially when a good Cognac is flowing and the title shows up on Steam just as I'm feeling in the mood to try something out.

Having give it a little blast, I must say I'm quite taken with it from the off. I thought the turn based fatigue wouldn't allow me to enjoy it, but in the first main campaign session (after the tutorial) I was finding new ways to combine troops and seeing some of the specials of the enemies kick in being pleasantly surprised. It looks nice, if a bit milky on my tat laptop. The effects are pleasant. The combat is alluring enough, especially when you can position your combined arms in a way that the enemy charge ahead and fall into support/flanking bonuses and are massacred.

So far, enjoyable.

[Anguille]

To give some context, the STUB engine (Slitherine TUrn Based) is an engine designed (in case you hadn't guessed) for building turn based games.  Beyond that EVERYTHING is scripted, so the internals of the games are entirely different.  BA, Pike&Shot, and Hell are all entirely different games beyond the fact they are turn based strategy games.  The term 'reskinning' implies that the underlying game is the same, which is not the case.

You can in fact build a 'mod' under any of these engines which is en entirely different game (a la Amaris' Naval mod for BA).  Hell uses some very different ZoC and other mechanics that were designed and implemented by the developer specifically for this game.

I wrote the engine specifically to make building these games simpler, hoping that enthusiasts of specific theaters would take advantage of it.  Without it I doubt that a game like Pike&Shot would have seen the light of day if a team had to build all its functionality from the ground up.

Cheers

Pip

Very interesting...this game could be fun.

Now, please give us legion 2!

[PipFromSlitherine]

Ahhh,  Legion II.  It's our White Whale!  Trying to build something that really moves it all forward is a pretty huge task :(

That said, I've just put a new set of functionality specifically designed to allow for campaign layers on the current battles out to some developers.  In theory it would allow the building of pretty complex layers that then feed in to either prebuilt or skirmish battles.  I think we'll see some cool stuff built with it.

Cheers

Pip

[Jarhead0331]

Two 10 mission campaigns as sole source of content seems a bit light to me. Think there is any replayability here?

[jomni]

What's the engine called?

Holistic Integrated Terrain Engine?  >:D

STUB = Slitherine TUrnBased Engine
http://www.slitherinebravo.net/GameWiki/doku.php?id=stub_engine

Actually looking at the documentation and starting to mod Pike & Shot, I figured out that it can do very diverse games.
It does not mean that it is limited to the features of BA.  The AI can be scripted differently.  Combat mechanics can be made different.

[JudgeDredd]

What's the engine called?

Holistic Integrated Terrain Engine?  >:D

STUB = Slitherine TUrnBased Engine
http://www.slitherinebravo.net/GameWiki/doku.php?id=stub_engine

Actually looking at the documentation and starting to mod Pike & Shot, I figured out that it can do very diverse games.
It does not mean that it is limited to the features of BA.  The AI can be scripted differently.  Combat mechanics can be made different.

It was a joke  ;)

JH said it had S for Slitherine for the prefix - so I "humorously" guessed the engine what called "Holistic Integrated Terrain Engine?"

? No?

[jomni]

[
JH said it had S for Slitherine for the prefix - so I "humorously" guessed the engine what called "Holistic Integrated Terrain Engine?"

? No?

Now I get it.  ^-^

[JudgeDredd]

For the record, I didn't think Battle Academy was in any way sub par...on the contrary I thought it was a great game. I just ended up thinking it was a wee bit too simplistic for me.

I often like to think I'm cleverer than I am!  :D

[Tpek]

[
JH said it had S for Slitherine for the prefix - so I "humorously" guessed the engine what called "Holistic Integrated Terrain Engine?"

? No?

Now I get it.  ^-^

Easier for Americans to get it if you realize having the word Engine at the end is redundant :P

[JudgeDredd]

lol - yeah I spelt it like a jock would say it ;D

[Anguille]

Ahhh,  Legion II.  It's our White Whale!  Trying to build something that really moves it all forward is a pretty huge task :(

That said, I've just put a new set of functionality specifically designed to allow for campaign layers on the current battles out to some developers.  In theory it would allow the building of pretty complex layers that then feed in to either prebuilt or skirmish battles.  I think we'll see some cool stuff built with it.

Cheers

Pip

I know...been asking since Spartan  ;)

Hope dies last.

Anyway, while i will purchase this game i am sure, it would be nice to see some ancient wargaming with this engine...

[FarAway Sooner]

This looks like a pretty simple, beer & pretzels kind of game, but I LOVE Fantasy TBS titles.  If anybody gets a chance to play this, let me know how it is!

If a demo comes out, I'll be happy to download it and let people know what I think.  (especially if I buy it!)

There sure are a lot of games out there that I want to play right now...  (this, AoW III, Last Federation, Beyond Earth...      )