Lancer Tactics

[livid fractal]

Hey! I’m extremely stoked for this game! The demo was a ton of fun - wanted to check though: does the demo currently have Core Powers working sans the Everest? I can only seem to figure out how to trigger that one 🤔

[alpine sorrel]

Everest and Monarch are the only two!

[balmy sparrow]

just tested it, that was nice, i wish we get some procedural map and fight because its only 2 missions, and i want more xd

also there is something i dont get, do you get more point to edit a mech loadout? dont seems to save when you quit the game so didnt tested much this part

((monarch+swallowtail with missile rack = OP, just the berserker that are annoying but nelson is here for that))

[severe otter]

I believe as of right now it's just a demo so there probably isn't any crazy stuff going on beyond the basics

[raw thunder]

Tried the game today

I cannot thank the team enough for asking something I've only dreamed about happen

[livid fractal]

I’m having so much fun with the demo. I’m hoping I can figure out how to mod it for the final release to further customize whatever.

[flint idol]

The game is still very very early in development, (Olive is actually pretty much rebuilding the whole thing from scratch as we speak), so expect some rough edges 🙂

Thank you all for checking it out, I'm glad everyone is enjoying it so much!

[alpine sorrel]

Haha, "that was great, I want more" is about the best thing to hear in the wake of a kickstarter demo. Thanks for being understanding about the rough edges 🙏 😁

[tepid temple]

1500 backers!

[balmy sparrow]

its not 78K/20K, its actually 78$/20$ 🐒

[alpine sorrel]

we're getting so tantalizingly close to $80k 👁️

[nova nebula]

I do love the ¢.69 that's been there for a while

[alpine sorrel]

Nice, someone else mentioned that too — where are you seeing it? I don't see cents reported anywhere

[tepid temple]

I'd also be surprised if that survived currency conversions with people donating what're flat rates in their money but not in USD

[radiant spade]

goblin reactive code seems to softlock the game in the demo

also please tell me BB is gonna get the range 5 grapple in the full release 🥺

[shut horizon]

iirc, the softlock is known, and mentioned right below the demo

[radiant spade]

the goblin is meta and simply crashes the game itself when you try to hack it

[frigid shale]

[it was in this way I taught the world not to touch hack me]

[untold prairie]

Chiming in to say thank you to the itch.io demo for teaching me the joy of puppeting a Berserker next to its friend and then popping its aggro.

It is sweet as wine.

[fickle pecan]

The softlock is fixed in the download version :)

[alpine sorrel]

It's so fun. Extra good is if its friend then hits back and they're both shredded

[nova nebula]

Right there

[alpine sorrel]

Ah I see!

[livid fractal]

Guess I’m booting the demo up - again.

[alpine sorrel]

Hell yea boiiiiii let's go

This number has not started being real to me yet, it's a figment of spreadsheets

[tepid temple]

That's better than a case of the Number Go Up disease

[final onyx]

Think of it like this, once split up the number is never larger than 9

Although maybe tell your bank or something

[sweet zinc]

and get ready to file a 1098

[alpine sorrel]

yeah I've talked to an accountant, we're ready. gonna pay contractors so much this year to have it be business expenses

[glossy pawn]

found this today and let me tell you, it's much nicer than opening foundry vtt alone and just running games by myself. absolutely loving this

[alpine sorrel]

yay! I'm glad

[glossy pawn]

I hope you both reach 150k to get that final stretch goal and also I hope you get to nap and not work yourself into the dirt trying to deliver on this lololollolol

[alpine sorrel]

"you can be healthy and happy and still do everything" has always been a line that I keep coming back to during kickstarters in an attempt to remind myself to touch grass, I've gotten OK at it

[glossy pawn]

o7 godspeed you have a self control i could never know

playing the demo of this game I want to jailbreak a crystal gba it and put it on it

I know it wouldn't run that's not how games work

but the asthetics just speak to me

[alpine sorrel]

I've come to appreciate how economical the gameboy fire emblem UI is. Small lists of actions aren't much to look at but they fit on small screens, unlike the big fancy action ring

mark and I are in the process of trying to weigh the utility of throwing everything you could possibly do in a single filterable list vs. being a lil fancy by breaking them out into categories like the ring does

[glossy pawn]

I do like the ring, I think legibility wise it makes sense. It also makes it feel more modern? But I think that's just a by product of mobile game design instead of handheld design

[sweet zinc]

I prefer the ring, b/c it seperates everything in a neat way so you don't overload

[fickle pecan]

the ring is very fun

[flat steppe]

I would prefer a square where every possible action is arranged as a cell in a grid, or even better a three dimension cube made of those grids, but otherwise I think the ring is preferable

[worldly mountain]

Ui that is a movement optimization puzzle

[flat steppe]

rotate upwards, 2 down 1 right, press space

[little jetty]

Game design is just parasocial GMing

[flint idol]

Maybe not GBA, but Steam Deck/AYN/Retroid, maybe? Some day? One can hope :p

[glad lotus]

Someone up the thread said they played it on a Steam Deck and it just worked. 😉

[flint idol]

Yeah there are plenty of linux-based retro handhelds, so if controller support gets added I could definitely see that happening!

[pastel flax]

Much easier with controller support i suppose

[next rock]

it already has controller/support, Goblin is right there

[little juniper]

I am so stoked for Lancer Tactics!

[alpine sorrel]

Oh man I just had a meeting with mark and I am so excited for the direction of the next iteration of UI & aesthetics of the game

[tepid temple]

Anything to tantalize us with? 👀

[alpine sorrel]

color-wise, we're looking to base things off of our favorite image in the book

ui-wise, mark found a way to clean up some of the problems with the current ring (it can get in the way of seeing what's going on, hard to fit very many options into)

I'm hoping that we'll be able to put together a devlog update about it before the end of the campaign

[crisp pelican]

So it's always going to be late afternoon? Sick

[flint portal]

excellent taste

[crisp pelican]

(what's going on with the perspective of the dudes on the right? Is that a guy in a size 1/2 suit?)

[final onyx]

Probably

[ripe radish]

Nah, size 1 human

Raised in low Gs. Very weak bones

[flat steppe]

that suit is a just a person shaped pool

they're like a whale, if you take them out of the water their body will start to collapse.

[alpine sorrel]

alright, friends, help sanity-check me here. Is this shitpost of a design something that's worth putting up as one of the stickers? or is it too obscure a meme?

i could not stop giggling as we were making it, but that could just be me

[tepid temple]

Hmmmmm

Well it's not too obscure of a meme, I can tell you that!

[orchid pendant]

I feel like it's definitely a... to taste thing. Because I can speak for myself that it's admittedly a bit of an uncomfy meme to focus on, given how... weird people can get with it.

[alpine sorrel]

mm mmhmm, is that the vibe I want to send out into the world

I'm running into a similar problem with a "stress is a resource" design; when out of context, it sounds like some kind of weird hustle culture thing

[frigid shale]

“Your reactor is a resource” could work maybe

[flint portal]

"heat is a ressource" maybe ?

[alpine sorrel]

oh namedropping reactor is good

"reactor stress is a resource" maybe

[flint portal]

yeah !

that works

[mild jay]

Captures the mechanics and flavor

[copper tangle]

STICKER:STICKER

[frigid shale]

That or you can make it clearer like:

Your Reactor
[ example unstable reactor image ]
Is Just Another Resource

To convey the intent

[radiant spade]

It's funny but I would NOT like to receive that as a sticker

[radiant spade]

there needs to be a sticker for each manufacturer imo

we've got the trans dabbing gobbo, we've got SSC toes

now we need HA and IPS-N

[alpine sorrel]

The vibe I've picked up is that I should probably tweak or find something else for the toes one

stress is a resource could be HA

[radiant spade]

absolutely

putting the HA logo instead of the stress symbol would be awesome

[flint idol]

Comp/Con is my copilot

[radiant spade]

my other ride is your monarch

[alpine sorrel]

my current potential sticker list

[tepid temple]

There could be one calling out SSC clients for being weebs

[alpine sorrel]

I might make a google sheet for ideas

to gather

[narrow crest]

This sticker is my motto

Also if there's a Lancaster, Mechs are a resource

[nova nebula]

I will say, I personally want the toes one as a sticker. But I can firmly understand why it wouldn't be a top pick lol.

[shut horizon]

The toes one is hilarious, but do not want as a sticker...

That said half my Lancer group now wants me to add it as a discord emote.

[void hearth]

The way my table usually phrases "stress is a resource" is "that reactor was ablative"

Which may work slightly better out of context

[crisp pelican]

Reactor stress is a resource should absolutely be the HA thing

[ripe radish]

I think the SSC one should just be “dodge this [insert Reliable 2 copied strait from the CRB]”

[glad lotus]

Could also do a "parry this" variation with Terashima

"Keep Calm and Castigate On"? Much as I think the castigate meme is a little overdone, Manticore is fun and iconic. 😉

Or "drink deep and descend" as an alternate Horus idea.

[void hearth]

Always Be Castigating

also there should be a sticker for the SSC Complimentary Coffee Machine

[prisma dust]

How would NHPs be handled in Game?

[tepid temple]

What about them would be difficult to implement? Cascading?

[sweet zinc]

that design is great

for the IPS-N I'm just thinking "it's only piracy if you get caught" tho

[alpine sorrel]

a problem we're running into is that there are too many good H0RUS ideas

[little jetty]

"Built different" for HA?

[alpine sorrel]

I think I just finished a solid design for the HA // reactor stress is a resource, I'll post an update tomorrow morning. a teaser:

Here's a spreadsheet if anyone wants to drop their ideas in // vote on ones you like. I can't promise to do any of them, this is just an organizational tool / gauge of interest

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EA7ZYYpbxHnsXm6Y4segJNjTeLt-0HNVRChgLK60w5Q/edit#gid=0

[alpine sorrel]

in what sense?

[void hearth]

I must admit kinda surprised you put this on edit mode instead of comment

[severe otter]

Very trusting

[void hearth]

not even that, I just find that comments make it easier to keep track of over raw edits

like if I have a suggestion do I just slap it in there?

[alpine sorrel]

Yep!

I have a bunch backed up to an external notepad so if it went bad, nothing lost

I did something similar to gather full repair messages for witchdice once and it worked fine

[sand goblet]

because I would probably slap stickers on a laptop I vote for "INSTINCT inside" like the old Intel logo

[void hearth]

oh that's a good one

[prisma dust]

Cascading NHPs

[void hearth]

The real reason I went for the coin:

[tepid temple]

I imagine something like Ralf's cascade table from Dustgrave will be the case

[alpine sorrel]

I hadn't thought about it too much yet but yeah that's exactly my first impulse too

[void hearth]

it's a pity the actual table in dustgrave lost the funny little names for each possible option

like "Higher vantage point spotted!" for the one that makes you climb the nearest building

those seem like they would be cute to have the NHP say in the game

[alpine sorrel]

Another idea: cascading hooks it up to a forever-running twitch stream and it becomes twitch plays lancer

[magic cave]

oh god

[void hearth]

that would be funny

probably not a great idea for the poor back end people tho

have mercy on Olive, Olive!

[alpine sorrel]

Yeah it's not realistic, I would have done that cross out text format thing if I knew how

[void hearth]

~~

[magic cave]

you do it like this ~~words~~

[void hearth]

spoilers are ||words|| ftr

[alpine sorrel]

Ah there we go, thx

[void hearth]

👍

[magic cave]

I don't actually like the Dustgrave Cascade Table™️ because it feels like it misrepresents what cascade like... is? But that's besides the point.

[flat steppe]

W.W.RA.D.? What would RA do?

The answer is castigate.

[magic cave]

I don't think RA
I don't know if it'd do that

[flat steppe]

You should think RA

It's good

[alpine sorrel]

Yeah the other option I can think of is have each nhp have a ai routine where it picks an objective and then pursues it

[tepid temple]

~~This is indeed how you do crossout text~~

[alpine sorrel]

I wonder if Legionnaire will have any resources on this front...?

[magic cave]

Probably. Legionnaire goes hard (I don't think it's out yet though)

[flat steppe]

Soon

[sand goblet]

It will, there's a whole chapter on GMing cascade

but it may not translate easily into a digital format in the same way as Ralf's random table would

[alpine sorrel]

Sweet! If I end up doing some kind of custom AI thing I bet I'll draw heavily on that.

[radiant spade]

I like get a damn drink for IPS-N

[unreal hatch]

Ralf has a random table for cascades?

[timid karma]

it's in dustgrave

[unreal hatch]

ah shit i gotta look at the Dustgrave PDF, then

only ever payed attention to the LCP lol

[timid karma]

I've honestly not given it a very good look myself

kinda just waiting on the official release

[void hearth]

I mostly remember seeing an early version in one of the (many) dustgrave discussion threads, then seeing the mostly-final version in the PDF and being saddened that the funny quotes were gone

like I get it, it makes it feel more professional and such, but it lost some personality

[flat steppe]

@alpine sorrel just wondering, but for the sake of asking, would an abandoned nuclear reactor be valid? What about home made?

Also for any federal agents of any kind, I am not currently constructing nor have I constructed a nuclear reactor functional or otherwise as of the time of posting this discord message.

[alpine sorrel]

that's almost funnier tbh, absolutely

and it's more likely than you might think, the college I went to had an operational reactor so like Tom from down the dormroom hall would have been able to take me up on that

[void hearth]

valid for what?

[alpine sorrel]

(for context, I just announced this next sticker and offered to give a pack of them for free to anyone who works in a nuclear reactor and wants to put them on something)

[void hearth]

ooooh

[alpine sorrel]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickworks/lancer-tactics/posts/3755368

[flat steppe]

Like, legally and physically you probably aren't able to put it on the actual reactor, but those buildings are huge and you could probably hide it away somewhere.

Abandoned ones though

That's totally viable.

[alpine sorrel]

I'd even accept "put it on a laptop that I use in the control room and post a picture of that"

don't know if it's legal to post pictures of control rooms now that I think about it actually

or anything else in there

hmm

oops

[flat steppe]

Ehhhhhhhhhh

It's finnnnne

[tepid temple]

This offer does not expire (until I run out, I guess).
Missed opportunity to say "Offer valid while supplies last"

[radiant spade]

oh I've got one for IPS-N

"why can't I hold all of these repairs?"

wait were there 2 votes for "it's only piracy if you get caught" already?

I wanted to add one but ended up deleting it by accident

so I retyped and added one for myself

[alpine sorrel]

someone on the kickstarter suggested replacing the number greebles with names of the HA frames, which I love. I then started putting nhps as the center four (they happen to line up with their nearest frame! very satisfying) but don't have anything solid for the lower-right.

Options: TBLK for trueblack, HATT for harrison armory think tank, OLIV to be vain and sign it. Thoughts?

[tepid temple]

NKDU for Enkidu?

[radiant spade]

Goes hard

[alpine sorrel]

oh heck I forgot about enkidu lol

wait no that's just toku

hm

[tepid temple]

A frame's a frame! Right next to Lucifer too

[radiant spade]

What about GNGS

Nvm

Didn't see it

[tepid temple]

They have to share

[radiant spade]

Where's JCH3

[alpine sorrel]

oh that's a thought

[unreal hatch]

why not just put ASRA for bottom right one

[alpine sorrel]

...........

I completely forgot about asura

[unreal hatch]

BRUJ HOW

[alpine sorrel]

does HA have four nhps????

that's so many!!

[radiant spade]

Because NHPs are cool

[tepid temple]

Boy I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder

[unreal hatch]

it's shockingly tied with HORUS in terms of NHP-count

you'd expect HORUS to have the most, but nop.

(although HA probably stole one of those from HORUS, knowing them)

...wait it gets worse. HORUS only has 4 if you count Long Rim. So in the base game HA has the most NHPs

crazy

[alpine sorrel]

I think I have asura so strongly associated with everest I forget that it actually comes from the sherman license. Cool cool, that's a wrap. Four center NHPs. Perfect.

[alpine sky]

SKDR?

[alpine sorrel]

iskander

[alpine sky]

ah

[unreal hatch]

friend of mine pointed it out and i have to share it

||BRBR is YOU||
||BRBR have APOC||
||APOC is KILL||

[crisp pelican]

Can you put like, JCH for John Creighton Harrison?

[neat wolf]

what about JCCH for John Creighton-Cruz Harrison to fit the 4 letter scheme

[alpine sorrel]

with the 8 frames and 4 nhps, we're outta slots

[livid fractal]

Sticker meme ideas:
I originally posted this in the spreadsheet and realized that might not be a place for brainstorming ideas (vs here) but two ISPN concepts:

The infinity drill is obvious ISPN meme potential - unsure if better to make a TTGL reference, or just keep it Lancer specific with something like "Infinite damage, Infinite heat" or something like that

As for the second, please excuse the absolute slapdash visual aid, but I have no photoshop This may be too specific but I would love like... a circle with the words "Sekhmet Approved" around it (the words are straight in my example but they'd probably look better written along the outside circle or whatever) with a pip-boy style cartoony thrumbs up, but the tip of the thumb should be black as a reference to the Black Thumb Rodeo - as the Sekhmet Black Thumb Rodeo gambit is truly hilarious

The latter may be too... specific. I don't know if it would have broad appel

[void hearth]

SSC is the tricky one

Most of the SSC memes I know are uh... Not suited to stickers

Also all the really killer quotes for SSC are too long

[frigid shale]

I thought of the "no catgirls" meme for SSC but there's no need to bring that negativity to a sticker imo

[alpine sorrel]

Lol that one crossed my mind too

I think I've narrowed in on a good one for ipsn. I spent like five hours on it yesterday but realized this morning it gets some pretty big lore details that the design depends on wrong.

[neat wolf]

perhaps "SSC Exotic Materials Division" with a picture of something like a black hole or ferrofluid

[alpine sorrel]

👍 yeah could just be like a cool design instead of a meme

DNA and moths have potential

[pastel flax]

SCC - Evolved Design.

[alpine sorrel]

I guess we also don't have to 100% the manufacturers. If we can't find a worthwhile ssc design, c'est la vie, maybe next time.

[neat wolf]

bit too close to "Superior By Design" imo

[pastel flax]

oh! oh!

what about a tourist sticker for your planet?

[glad lotus]

Could do the SSC Lux logo from that Monarch cutaway in the core book?

It's not memey, but it's very SSC, haha.

From this piece: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/BmDdJ8

[void hearth]

SSC: Cat Ears Sold Separately

[alpine sorrel]

I'm trying hard not to lean on art from the book too much because I don't want to commercialize other people's work without express permission. And I have a lot of anxiety about asking for help/permission 😅

[glad lotus]

That's very fair, haha. (I would too, tbh.)

[nova nebula]

For SSC I would imagine something resembling a university slogan

[little jetty]

Why not the manufacturer taglines? I think SSC one was something like "you only need one"

[crisp pelican]

“You already contain perfection. Welcome to the future
of humanity: You, by Smith-Shimano.”
– SSC background copy, subaural broadcast loop
from the core book. Idk if this works. IMO SSC is weird since in-universe their mechs are just a side-business, with their main focus being stuff outside the scope of the game

[little jetty]

Or maybe some very anime quote but lancerfied, which is not entirely accurate representation of ssc but that's the ssc memes

[crisp pelican]

still think you should do the toes one

[little jetty]

While you were firing HMG
I studied the blade

[crisp pelican]

oh DUH, put a SSC anime mech-girl. I forget the source but that canonically exists, right?

or wait, is it Harrison Armory who does that?

[livid fractal]

Oh yeah, luxury WMDs are our side-project. We focus primarily on Eugenics

• The Weebs™️

[alpine sorrel]

funny number

[narrow crest]

Noice

[shrewd anvil]

Nice

[rain cipher]

There's this table I wrote up that might work as a seed if you do it this way https://lancer-rules.carrd.co/#cascading-nhp

[alpine sorrel]

Ohh I knew I'd seen a table like this somewhere! Rad, yeah, exactly something like that!

[alpine sorrel]

YOOOOOO

[fickle pecan]

!!!!!!!

[alpine sorrel]

I'm like is this real? did somebody pledge it as a troll and won't follow through? who is this????

[ripe radish]

It was Tom lancer himself

His homebrew frame is the ISP-N tortuga

[mild jay]

The main way I’ve heard of troll backing happening is things that are barely getting to their base goal having a big-ticket pledge withdrawn within hours before the campaign ends

You’re well past the base goal though

[alpine sorrel]

I think it might be real??

Awestruck

current mood: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[worldly mountain]

!!!

Lets hope their license choice has already been balanced

[alpine sky]

the HA Big Spider

[weak hemlock]

https://tenor.com/view/the-one-he-is-the-one-gif-14744864

Amazing

Congrats on getting that tier taken! I wouldn't even be able to have the words

[alpine sorrel]

I'll post more after I've spoken to them!

[severe otter]

Wait hold crap it was actually backed!!

Impressive! That's exciting

[torn kite]

oh, wow.

That's incredible

[livid fractal]

https://tenor.com/view/what-surprised-gif-25739412

[ripe radish]

But think of it this way, what if it actually is Tom and this is how he announces the next playtest

[alpine sorrel]

I'll say right now that it's not

[ripe radish]

Dang it lol

[tepid temple]

Miguel circumventing his anti-compete and showing he too has design chops

[ripe radish]

Miguel actually coverts a battlegroup ship into a mech

It is size 50

[flat steppe]

100% fatality rate against both enemy and ally

[final onyx]

I hope it's legit, exciting 🙂

[pastel flax]

Holy moly

[naive yacht]

its mr beast

[livid fractal]

I’m not sure what’s funnier: the implication that the secret donator is Mr Beast or that the home brew mech will be Mr. Beast.

[naive yacht]

Excellent addition lol

[ripe radish]

“I bought the highest tier of every game on kickstarter. Now I need to figure out what a lancer is so I can make a mech for it”

[severe otter]

🤣

[flat steppe]

9000 years in the future MRBEAST is a monist entity

[little jetty]

Next MrBeast video: I give $3333 to an indie game development team!

[alpine sorrel]

Ok gonna be honest I have no idea who that is

[ripe radish]

YouTuber who does a bunch of expensive stunts and charity things

He recently cured like 10,000 people of blindness

[smoky glacier]

(I.e. he paid for a bunch of peoples' corrective eye surgeries)

[alpine sorrel]

Ah rich youtube Jesus, I see

[ripe radish]

Which to me at least shows just how bad American healthcare is that 10,000 people had to smile in front of the camera to get a relatively easy and medically necessary procedure done, but that’s not really a problem with him

[ancient karma]

His name is literally Beast

[flat steppe]

People unironically think he's the anti-Christ.

[crisp pelican]

Healing the sick? Specifically curing the blind? Yep that sounds like the antichrist alright

[flat steppe]

I mean that is sort of one of the things the anti-Christ is supposed to do

[crisp pelican]

Based

[little jetty]

Damn it would be cool as fuck if the antichrist wanted to make a mech
Can you imagine the antichrist going in like "yes I will corrupt the youth by making lucifer look cool in this game" and LUCIFER-class NHP is already cool

[flat steppe]

The antichrist is supposed to be friends with a bunch of giant monsters anyway, so it makes sense.

[crisp pelican]

and a sex worker from Iraq

[alpine sorrel]

ok so if the next 4 people pledge exactly $384.25 each, we'll get the numbers to line up perfectly

[pine anchor]

Also: if y'all need like dedicated Testers, I am a QA Engineer by profession (I worked at Blizzard, Bethesda, BioWare, and now a VR company), I'm happy to volunteer some time.

[severe otter]

wait that's sick

[pine anchor]

Ahhh, thank you! I am kind of an accidental big deal in the Industry because I helped lead the Activision-Blizzard unionization, converted their contractors to FTE, and testified against them for the DEFH in the current lawsuit.

It's been a weird rollercoaster.

[alpine sorrel]

absolutely incredible. I'll send you a DM!

[alpine sorrel]

(alas, the curse is not lifted, looks like we will be cast back into the cycle of death and rebirth for another ten thousand years 😔)

[flat steppe]

I think samsara is poggers actually.

We should wander through a cyclical existence more.

[fathom saffron]

Wait hold up

If Lancer Tactics was able to be hosted on your own PC, and you could invite friends to the game… you could run a whole Lancer session with the game, 0 bother with the rules excepting homebrew

[sweet zinc]

no multiplayer planned at this time

[fathom saffron]

I don’t think it should even be a thought until the full thing is completed and cleaned of bugs and whatnot

Just noting the idea

[alpine sorrel]

Yeah that would be rad! It's on the maybe-someday list. 👍

[fathom saffron]

Actually, is it possible to just… control all the mechs yourself?

[little jetty]

like including NPCs?

[fathom saffron]

Correct

With that 1 function, you could simply livestream the game or put it onto a display screen

[little jetty]

idk since the game is gonna do automatic dice rolling for you, and I feel like that's a pretty important part of RPG experience, even if it's fully virtual on things like roll20 or foundry

[fathom saffron]

ah, fair point

[alpine sorrel]

that's... not a bad idea though. I think it would be almost trivial to do, I've already hacked together a mode for the opposite where the AI controls everything as part of our work putting together the trailer (to get a shot of stuff fighting without having to click things)

definitely worth looking into as a cheat code // accessibility option // dev tool if nothing else

[fathom saffron]

even then, couldnt that help a dm create more balanced/interesting scenarios, correct?

[alpine sorrel]

the npc equipment might look funky since we're not gonna polish up their (absent) player-facing descriptions

I'll add this to the list of things to think about

[little jetty]

how do you mean? like by modifying an existing scenario?

[fathom saffron]

we have this, so I think, you could simply just, make a sitrep, and run it as a solo game, so you could experiment with like... "oh, this npc combo is too strong, what if i used this isntead", or "hmmm.... what if I tried this dude instead", or "what about this kind of tactics?"

[fathom saffron]

[little jetty]

Oooh so you can just test out a sitrep pretty quickly! That sounds really cool

[fathom saffron]

yes, thats my idea

I should back this game and get some stickers

[worldly mountain]

Even if multiplayer doesnt get added i know me and my friends will be adapting "xcommunicationless" for this, each controlling a character and not telling the rest of the team what we are going to be doing on our turn

[final onyx]

I am less of a big deal but also have game QA experience

So happy to help out testing some stuff

[alpine sorrel]

Ace! I've put you on a list (I love lists) and will lyk 🙂

In other news eyyyyy we passed $100k last night, absolutely bonkers.

[frigid shale]

Come so far in 15 days haha

[void hearth]

I have no idea how one even gets into QC for video games

[final onyx]

You fail to find a dev job after your Computer Science degree /s

But nah there's often positions for it going

I wouldn't recommend it much thou

Especially depending on your countries employee protection laws

[pine anchor]

QA in gaming over all is treated very poorly, despite being essential to game production.

[final onyx]

Fun fact, we couldn't get our pensions because the pay cut it would of taken would of put us under the national minimum wage

[pine anchor]

Most are kept as contractors, with zero job protection, benefits, or HR. Often go through intense crunch periods where 12-16 hour days are encouraged, and then laid off after production.

Then they go into a cool down period of 30 days to a year, to prevent them from being able to claimed Full Employee benefits.

They aren't allowed to work for the company again until that period is up.

[final onyx]

That's how EA does it in the USA for sure

[void hearth]

Ouch

[pine anchor]

And Blizzard had been doing this to some people for over ten years. He was an essential employee, but not enough to pay a living wage or benefits to.

[naive yacht]

its common practice to have all your QA be contractors, and run RIGHT UP against hte 11 month mark so that the company is never obligated to provide benefits

[pine anchor]

Most are also criminally underpaid.

Bethesda Is still 11$ an hour in Austin. Blizzard was 13$ until the lawsuit broke out.
Arenanet is also 11$ an hour in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

[final onyx]

It's a little better here in the UK, I've had work with codies for 2 years + now with no interrupts but I've never had my contract renewed until right before the deadline, one time it was hours away

[pine anchor]

I went from Games to the Tech Industry, and was making 105k in the same position

[narrow crest]

Wow that is criminally low

[naive yacht]

Its not good at all

I think all the big tech's do it. My big bro worked for Microsoft and they essentially did that; he's now third party working for Verizon i think

[narrow crest]

As a software engineer, qa is important for larger projects

[pine anchor]

It is incredibly important. We're your first line of defense.

[naive yacht]

My bro is senior on his team and apparently spends most of his time fixing the write ups for test cases that come in now

[pine anchor]

Yep.

[final onyx]

If QA taught me anything it's that everyone is bad at their jobs except for us (slight /s)

[pine anchor]

I live in test cases

I am a Sr Analyst at my company.

So I mostly correct tickets, help our Associates, and collaborate on Testing Plans and Accessibility features.

[narrow crest]

I am bad at my job I've got deadlines and clients who want the stars (frontend dev)

I don't have time to make it good

[final onyx]

Yup

[pine anchor]

I had to teach our engineers how to write Tickets for our testers. That was a fun afternoon

Like please, testing notes, for the love of all that is unholy

[naive yacht]

hmm, I need to tell my bro to ask for a raise or an official promotion to do something similar!

[final onyx]

I love when they give us a bunch of automated crash reports and no ones bother to translate them into a repo

[naive yacht]

rn hes thinking he'll try to get hired directly by one of the companies he tests for

instead of through an agency

oh, sry, im realizing this is no longer lancer tactics talk

but its very interesting

[final onyx]

Ye we should probs move elsewhere

[narrow crest]

Is this why recruiters ask me if I know how to use JIRA, it seems so simple as a end user

[glad lotus]

What, you can't work off of "It's borken, plz fix"?

[pine anchor]

That's not the hard part. Some developers have no idea how to write instructions that someone brand new to the game/testing can follow.

[glad lotus]

(Slight /s, but getting detailed troubleshooting info can be like pulling teeth)

[pine anchor]

My rule is: write like you're teaching someone on their first day.

Most indie projects aren't made by folks that have had the benefit of AAA corporate machine training. It is really good, and I teach people to do it as part of my job.

[narrow crest]

RIP that's me, I've never worked at a place with large QA so I'm used to other devs just reading through my comments

[pine anchor]

Yep. It's super common.

[pastel flax]

I applied for a position with the sunless sea guys

The lady in charge is apparantly a real good qa boss

[little jetty]

I just got a Facebook ad for Lancer Tactics!

[alpine sorrel]

The targeting, it's working! I don't like engaging with that analytics ecosystem BUT I think it's also helping to protect me by not serving the ads to chuds who will just cause problems

I'm trying to write a devlog update about it

[little jetty]

I think having a giant trans flag in the ad would probably keep the chuds away haha

And a baller mech choice too

Well that part isn't related to chuds

[naive yacht]

ive been getting them too

i forgot that i should be sharing

them

i did the social media thing and just kept scrolling after going "neat"

[weak hemlock]

I’ve shared both ads, and I love that you used the 🏳️‍⚧️ for one of the ads

[little jetty]

Ooh what does the other one look like? I've only seen the trans flag baller

[alpine sorrel]

There's ten total I think, trans balor is doing the best

nope just seven, here they are ordered by pledges they've garnered

Also, just dropped a big hint for what the Xiaoli tier homebrew mech will look like! (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickworks/lancer-tactics/posts/3758205)

[frigid shale]

Oh boy, Zoids mech??

[ripe radish]

nah, the hint is clearly the blue sky background

the mechs are a distraction

[frigid shale]

The update was heavy on the “Z” alliteration haha

[ripe radish]

exactly. Blue Zky

[stuck falcon]

clearly they are Zords

[weak hemlock]

I wonder if its the doggo mech on retrograde i cant spell of the top of my head

Mataphos or something like that

[ripe radish]

The Mat Pat mech

[weak hemlock]

Dis one

[tepid temple]

Matapocos? You'd hope a war machine would mata mucho!

[flat steppe]

https://tenor.com/view/armstrong-kicks-blade-wolf-gif-26061523

[frigid shale]

I for one welcome a potential zoid-like mech; not a lot of those in official Lancer!

[alpine sorrel]

It's funny, they didn't make it into the pitch but robodogs have been an element of our world building for Viridian for forever.

Just has lined up very nicely.

[deft ingot]

why did sharanga damage go from 3 to 2?

[alpine sorrel]

Because the one time I've used sharangas in an irl game it was against an enemy with armor so I made a typo

It'll be fixed once we do them properly

[deft ingot]

Ah hahah, makes sense.

I must say, I thought the aux implementation was very clever, given that's it an early build.

(the demo was very fun, thank you for making this)

[alpine sorrel]

Tangent from general, but I'm looking forward to doing a devlog at some point about how LT handles reactions. Everything that occurs on the game board goes through an event system, and every event checks every piece of gear for reactions before it starts or ends (things like OW are hidden gear that all mechs have).

[mild jay]

That’d be really cool to get some insight on

[neat wolf]

i assumed sharanga was just bad

last i played they were straight up worse than missile rack, being 2 vs 1d3+1

[worldly mountain]

I mean extra range and being able to attack two targets within it, 3 damage, and no loading is definitely a powerful trade for less aoe and potentially less damage

[narrow crest]

6 damage on 2 hits without any talents or bonuses is pretty nice for a main weapon that has no restrictions, good range, and arcing

[little jetty]

While I mostly agree, I think having to split damage and potentially getting the damage reduced twice from armor is a restriction in itself.
But overall I'd say it's a sidegrade, since it's especially good against grunts

[alpine sorrel]

It also pairs so so nicely with walking armory

[worldly mountain]

Its definitely not just bad is the big thing

[pastel flax]

So you don't end up using signals?

[fathom saffron]

Signals?

[alpine sorrel]

Oh we do! Signals rule as a solution for children not having to know things higher-up

(https://docs.godotengine.org/en/latest/getting_started/step_by_step/signals.html)

And we use them to queue up the events in the first place, but once an event is queued it's handled by an events manager that has enough information to go through the units/gear as it processes the next event.

I am considering using groups instead of having that events manager do that scan, but so far it's a cheap enough scan that it's fine to do it the thorough way

Plus groups wig me out because they're basically institutionalized globals

[pastel flax]

Wait

So you have an event and then the manager scans all equipment on the board?

Am i getting that right?

[alpine sorrel]

yeah, and equipment can have reactions attached to them so if a reaction exists, it checks if the event is something that it cares about

if so, it usually queues up its own event

[pastel flax]

could you attach that information to the event?

[alpine sorrel]

oh yeah loads, there's a whole data structure for event context

So it might look like "EventTakeDamage" with the source unit and affected unit passed along as context. A gorgon's reaction would be listening for EventTakeDamage and then when it sees one also check to make sure the involved units are allied/enemies appropriately (and if the gorgon has a rxn available). If so, then it might activate and asks the user if they want to use that reaction and queue up its own event before or after the TakeDamage event as appropriate

[pastel flax]

I see

[alpine sorrel]

Anything that reacts to other things uses this system, even if it's not a reaction in game terms; mines are units with equipment that have a reaction that listens for movement events

[pastel flax]

hah

[mild jay]

This is where we take a moment to appreciate how good brains are at understanding ttrpg rules. Computers need every little thing spelled out

If you have trouble, you’re still doing way better than computers

[pastel flax]

Worlds smartest idiots

[alpine sorrel]

When I've dipped my toes into tabletop design, I had such a trip: "you mean I can just say what the new rule is and that's all it takes for it to exist??"

[mild jay]

It’s wild

[final onyx]

You have the power of gods

You speak reality into existence

[flat steppe]

Well I mean the basic problem is that for all the abstraction of high level languages you aren't actually teaching a computer how to make a game, you're defining how to move bits so that a person interacting with the computer experiences a game.

[naive yacht]

GM power trip, raw power to speak and let it be so

[gaunt shuttle]

holy shit over 100k

[void hornet]

a week late but
You wouldn't extrude a car

[flat steppe]

I am currently doing so actually

Lesser men will say that you can't sweat molten metal with that level of precision, or that you can't sweat molten metal at all.

I am going to hit sick drifts upon the graves of these men.

[alpine sorrel]

Ooo I wonder if that would work for ssc. They're the ones all worked up about terishima print codes.

[neat wolf]

"If lost, pilots must submit an apology and request in writing explaining the circumstances of the loss in order to receive another code." - shock knife fluff text, my beloved

[flint idol]

ok we need exactly $122 to make the number 111,111 😄

[pastel flax]

Thanks for sharing the results there olive

[alpine sorrel]

I was about to say, I feel like I just published a minature paper

[pastel flax]

You kinda did

[alpine sorrel]

(context: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickworks/lancer-tactics/posts/3759869)

[pastel flax]

I hadn't seen that sealion comic

[alpine sorrel]

it's wild how a random comic like that can become shorthand for a bad-faith common pattern across the whole internet

[tepid temple]

"± [our entire initial goal]" is kinda funny ngl

[pastel flax]

Milkshake Duck

[tepid temple]

'Yeah our margin of error is only all the money you ever asked for and were afraid you weren't even gonna reach'

[alpine sorrel]

I was never really worried about hitting 100%, $20k is well within the bounds of other people's lancer-related kickstarters

but as you can tell from how the stretch goals were spaced, I wasn't sure about anything past that

[pastel flax]

Zoom

[final onyx]

Really great post Olive

[forest obsidian]

Is there somewhere I can see the balor be gay do giant robot crimes image? I actually have not seen any advertisements for this game at all, probably because I don't do social media.

[forest obsidian]

That's rad

Thank you

[alpine sorrel]

Blobertson's art is so rad here

[neat wolf]

could do a version with gobby or kobold that says "do tiny robot crimes" instead

[forest obsidian]

Twice the robot crimes, in half size packages!

[alpine sorrel]

I might actually try that, that's very funny

[radiant spade]

Balor in game confirmed?

[ripe radish]

I mean, it should be easy to program (I think I don’t know how to program)

[frigid shale]

I’ll let Olive be the judge of that

[ripe radish]

But “heal 1/4 of your hp” should be easy if they implement other ways to regain HP, and “deal damage to characters in a certain area (adjacent to you)” is used in a bunch of things

[frigid shale]

Sometimes something that sounds easy is actually stupid hard

For reasons that only the devs know

Because they’re in the trenches haha

< Source: is software dev by day

[alpine sorrel]

I think the main difficulty there would be adding the "...unless you've been structured within the last turn"; then you gotta have state and memory and reset it appropriately

[ripe radish]

Ah yea, that part would be difficult

[alpine sorrel]

And more widely, lots of the individual mechanics might be relatively straightforward, but they ALL have little variations and difficulties like that

so we need to build a system that's flexible enough to allow for those

[ripe radish]

just get rid of it and give it 8 hp instead of 12

[alpine sorrel]

and also is not a nightmare to maintain and update everything when we change stuff

like even adding the GMS weapons, just stuff with different numbers, made other things harder in the current demo because I could no longer change what a weapon looked like without updating ~20 different files

[tepid temple]

Adapting a ttrpg into a crpg honestly seems like a good way of gaining an appreciation for the human mind

[alpine sorrel]

which incidentally is part of the reason I haven't updated the demo since the campaign started, it's kind of in this situation

"alright folks, we learned a lot from that, let's get a new ship that'll be a lot better than the last one"

[flat steppe]

Holy shit you're at 111k already

[nova nebula]

Re: the update:: ❤️

[pine anchor]

Yaaaaas! Congrats

[livid fractal]

That update was truly great. Thank you, Olive, for being so open not just about your team’s progress, but also your team’s limitations and the guts that make up the entirety of this project. If all the kickstarters I’ve backed, you easily one of the top hosts I’ve experienced 🙌

[alpine sorrel]

❤️ thanks, that is really affirming to hear. We'll work hard to keep it up & not disappoint.

[obtuse aurora]

are NHPs being considered?

giving Granny a Sekhmet would be metal as hell

[alpine sorrel]

working on some new ads this morning

[crisp pelican]

So is this ad meant to be served to people whose metadata shows they already know about Lancer?

As opposed to the other ads which are “it’s queer” and “it’s a tactical game?”

Thanks for posting about the advertising and marketing strats btw it’s really interesting

[little jetty]

This gives cryptocurrency vibes which may or may not be what you're going for

[ripe radish]

“Lancer tactics, not a crypto game”

[alpine sorrel]

Oh no, I didn't consider that D:

[pine anchor]

HM.

[sand goblet]

the stickers are cool though

[mild jay]

Could just swap the stickers in the ad with other sticker designs that have a different vibe than the techy look

[alpine sorrel]

yeah, here's the other one

the thought with these is that we've already shown the last set of ads to most people in our fb+insta audience, so these are more about bringing more of those people in than introducing the game from scratch

[next shale]

Hi all! I saw an ad for this and backed it within 30 seconds, this looks RIGHT up my alley! So nice to meet you all 💕

[next rock]

Oh no... HORUSCoin...

[pine anchor]

Please. The SSC would have done it first. For the clout.

[little jetty]

SSC licenses are basically NFTs

[pine anchor]

YEP

[little jetty]

"value of Terashima Blades, unlike Manna, is static, and that's why it's more valuable"
-some weeb nerd, probably

[void hearth]

Shock blades are literally NFTs

Not even joking

[pine anchor]

As someone who played three successive pilots that all mained SSC.. XD

[little jetty]

actually an important LT questions: will we be able to read flavor texts of equipment

[sand goblet]

welcome, you have excellent taste

[next shale]

damn right I do

[flat steppe]

Crypto currency but when you try to transfer it it causes your computer to set itself on fire.

[obtuse aurora]

if the last stretch goal is met, is it just going to be the core rulebook?

I ask since Kobold is Long Rim

[shut horizon]

Just Core Book, but other things may get included if they're easy enough to implement

[obtuse aurora]

nods

no hope for lich v.v

[shut horizon]

Yeah Lich is almost certainly not making it

[obtuse aurora]

doesn't play lich

I just hope we get Balor

[shut horizon]

I'm hopeful for Balor too. It seems like it should be easy enough, but there was talk the other day about it losing Regen for a turn after structuring might be a bit of work

[obtuse aurora]

I don't know how godot works but that should be as simple as setting an if/then boolean

[shut horizon]

I could be misremembering, not something I know anything about.

[obtuse aurora]

Like... I dunno, the most I can think of is if it's like, you structure off burn or something

just, whenever balor gets structured, hasStructured = true, then just have an if/else at the end of his turn that checks if that's true or not. If it is, set it to false, if not, heal 1/4th

I guess since it also happens on stress, maybe canHeal is a better name

[little jetty]

It's probably easier to keep track of regenerationEnabled and set it to false when it gets structured/stressed, and set it to true at every round end after healing

Are there any other effects that care about whether you got structured/stressed recently?

[obtuse aurora]

not in the crb I don't think

honestly probably not even in any of the dlc either

just homebrew comes to mind

[sand goblet]

this is kind of the issue with trying to codify Lancer's ruleset though, most mechs have one, sometimes multiple unique mechanics that hook deeply into the flow of the game and have lots of edge-case interactions

[obtuse aurora]

I think Balor's healing is probably one of the easier things to codify here. What isn't, though, is probably going to be something like Sekhmet

[sand goblet]

when I was writing something similar I fully gave up once I realised how complicated it would be to implement everything

[forest obsidian]

Hell, I started working on a battlegroup discord bot and then ran into all the special rules and gave up.

[obtuse aurora]

I have a game soon so I can't sketch some visual aids, but one thing with sekhmet is like, does he look at absolute distance (literally the number of tiles away, terrain be damned), or how much distance he actually has to move

[forest obsidian]

Like, yea base system is fairly easy and straight forward. But there's a bunch of specials that only apply to one frame

[sand goblet]

you might want #rules-questions but to answer your question, Sekhmet cares about the closest visible character in terms of absolute distance, though how she moves towards the enemy is up to you as long as you're moving directly, and using all available actions/movement

[obtuse aurora]

That's why I wanted to draw a visual aid because like, it's not too hard to put Sekhmet in a situation where he'll decide to not attack at all under that interpretation when he could attack someone

my gm I know cares more about what allows Sekhmet to commit more violence sooner, rather than what enemy is technically the closest if you can't actually reach that enemy

but RAW or other gms might disagree with that

and that's one of the parts I can see being just throw your hands up in frustration

[little jetty]

Oh yeah that sounds difficult to code

[obtuse aurora]

ok people are late so I'll try to draw an example

I'm using a square grid, sue me

[little jetty]

pshh LT uses square grid anyway

[sand goblet]

honestly the smart way to handle that is probably just to take control away from the player and have a specific AI that handles Sekhmet, it's not RAW but it'd be about fifty billion times easier than having to implement player control restricted to the flowchart

[obtuse aurora]

While yes, that still means it falls to olive to actually code the flowchart

[sand goblet]

Yeah, it's not ideal

though presumably you could use it to pull double duty for Sekhmet's AI if she cascades

[obtuse aurora]

so like, in a situation like this, Sekhmet would waste his turn moving around the wall to reach the "closer" enemy to the right, rather than go after the enemy he could hit to the north. Just, assume the black line isn't somewhere you can stand but you can look through/over, and sekhmet is only using threat 1

[alpine sorrel]

We're also 100% willing to change mechanics if it makes things easier to implement and they're stylistically or functionally similar

[obtuse aurora]

understandable

[little jetty]

RAW sekhmet should attempt to attack the one on the right I think, but also as we all agree (I think?) that is a bit silly

[alpine sorrel]

so just throwing control over to an AI probably with a melee-only restriction would probably be the way we'd do it

[sand goblet]

I wouldn't agree, personally, but that's just because I run Sekhmet and I'm used to how she works

[little jetty]

Also, I'm pretty sure the pathfinding code is already written for NPCs, who probably behaves similarly

[ripe radish]

Sekhmet should definitely have some player control so you can turn it off

[sand goblet]

right but that's just a protocol so you only need to ask the player at the start of the turn

[obtuse aurora]

There's also the equidistant case. Technically RAW doesn't say what happens if enemies are equidistant, but everyone I've ever spoken to about it says player gets to decide

[ripe radish]

No. Tom gets to decide

[obtuse aurora]

oh

[little jetty]

"You retain enough control to Overcharge as usual" idk how to handle this

[ripe radish]

However it is rude to DM him, so we just use ouija board

[obtuse aurora]

The way I'd handle it, personally, is you still get to select actions as normal, but you have limited, if any control over movement. Like you can only select tiles the pathfinding AI would want to move to

[little jetty]

what about when activating the sekhmet protocol, you can target an enemy then let sekhmet take action towards it? You can only target closest enemy, and if equidistant you can pick any of the closest ones

[ripe radish]

There’s also the question of things like blade master dice and when you use them

[obtuse aurora]

last I checked that is, and will always be, an ongoing debate

[sand goblet]

blademaster dice is a good point tbf

[obtuse aurora]

some people say you can't spend a blade master dice because spending a blade master dice isn't an attack. Others say you have to because spending it results in an attack, and others still treat it like overcharge and you just do it if you want

[little jetty]

there's so many choices even while limited to small pool of actions huh

[sand goblet]

I feel like both of those people are wrong for different reasons

[obtuse aurora]

I listed 3 people

and they're all wrong for different reasons

that's how wonderfully badly written sekhmet is raw

[little jetty]

if you go by flavor text, you can feed your actions to a ML algorithm and let that handle it

[obtuse aurora]

the ways I can think of you can handle duelist sekhmet:

1. You can't do it. Spending a blademaster die is not an attack
   2: You HAVE to spend it as soon as possible, as it results in an attack
   3: You can only spend it after you have used all available weapon attacks, meaning it can only be used if your last attack hits
   4: Just treat it like OC, you can use it whenever if you want, or just bank the die

[ripe radish]

There’s also the fact that grapple builds will prefer using main weapons for blade master dice, while damage dealers will prefer your heavy weapon. An AI can not accommodate both playstyles without making at least two separate AIs

[obtuse aurora]

That goes into the issue of "Sekhmet doesn't say what weapon it has to use"

[sand goblet]

1 is wrong, Sekhmet doesn't restrict you from taking actions (aside from any action that includes a ranged attack)
2 is wrong, since it's not an available action until you spend the die
3 is wrong per 1
4 is the only interpretation that works given the context of the rules as written

[obtuse aurora]

I always do chain axe > nanocarbon because of duelist, but an AI might do Nanocarbon > chain axe

[little jetty]

implementing sisyphus raw sounds not difficult, but super annoying to play with

[obtuse aurora]

that's just sisyphus normally

[little jetty]

true lol

[alpine sorrel]

Hey let's move nitty gritty rules discussion to the rules channel please. Like I said, we're not bound to simulating it RAW so it's kind of a moot point.

I think I need to figure out where my line is for backseat programming/design. I deffo want to hear people's thoughts (we had a good discussion about how to do brace in general the other day) but I'm not interested in hearing pseudocode or rules lawyering

[obtuse aurora]

fair enough

[shrewd anvil]

Something to consider is the HBS Battletech video game compared to the Battletech tabletop. The video game changed the rules somewhat to account to the different format while preserving the feel of the tabletop

The rules are less important than the feel

[naive yacht]

Just conversationally,
From a design principles perspective I feel like that's actually always true. The rules are a mechanism to try and generate a feel rather than the other way around. Feels are always, of course, difficult to pin down with any specificity; but the target is always rules in service of the a goal feel rather than a feel in service to the rules.

[little jetty]

Any medium that gets adapted to a different medium needs to decide in what ways it'll try to be faithful to the original, and it what ways it won't. I think LT has a good direction in regards to this

[pine anchor]

So I think my favorite transfer from TTRPG to game is Baldur's Gate 3. Still fundamentally a video game, but with subsystems that call back to DND.

[naive yacht]

Same people who made Divinity 2 right?

[alpine sorrel]

Icymi, great thread on this: https://twitter.com/Orbitaldropkick/status/1632835867294277633

ABBADON (@Orbitaldropkick)

I've been thinking about the marriage of fantasy and mechanic in rules heavy ttrpgs recently. It often goes from fantasy (the idea of something) > mechanic (how to represent that idea in game). As I've done more and more game design though I think it's a way more mutual process

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1237

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140

Twitter · Mar 6, 2023, 8:09 PM

[naive yacht]

I think, ultimately, my perspective is informed from design principles through the lens of graphic and advertisement design; in that you often are looking to illicit an intangible in order to get a tangible result. An extreme version of this being, say, perfume/cologne advertisement; where the design goal is to appeal to the life-style that is tied to the product rather than to appeal the product itself. You use design convention, ad psychology, artisitc license etc (the Rules) towards creating a response from the end-consumer of your product (the Feeling), if that makes sense

so ironically, I think my thoughts might be in line with the thread?

[pine anchor]

Yep

[pine anchor]

This is a great thread.

[frigid shale]

(that thread makes me wonder if Tom has been keeping up with MCDM's recent TTRPG design work)

[naive yacht]

mcdm?

[frigid shale]

(Matt Colville's TTRPG company)

[final onyx]

I don't want to go on a whole tangent but it's really interesting to compare to how little changes something like Wrath of the Rightious made with pf1e

[tepid temple]

I know he's aware of it

[sand goblet]

It's nice that more mainstream game designers are paying attention to ludonarrative dissonance/harmony and it's not just getting stuck in academia

though I get the impression Tom got there independently

I definitely share his frustration with the cargo cult attitude to design in certain parts of the indie tabletop scene

[alpine sorrel]

A scary thought is that sometimes, even as a designer, you don't really even have enough control to not cargo-cult something; the audience and their expectations have a momentum that can't always be ignored. I was listening to a podcast last week and they called how the huge list of inventory items in 5e are a holdover from dungeon-delving in early editions. They tried dropping it in 4e but that fed into the "this isn't dnd anymore" cries so they had to backpedal and add it back in to 5e.

I've seen something similar almost happening with Andor where people are like "where are the jedi and lightsabers? this doesn't feel like star wars to me"

(podcast in question: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aaron-king2/episodes/RTFM-Wet-Grandpa-e20de7f)

[livid fractal]

OH I have a whole rant about 4e, my beloved. The TL;DR is they had a beautiful engine with the 4 class types and should have just had those 4 types as the four classes and then built a bunch of interesting class abilities and let players pick and choose what they decided made "a paladin" or "a wizard." Instead, they had a check list of classes they had to have, so you ended up with a bunch of different classes that all feel the same with very minor, pointless differences, but removing "fighters" and "wizards" from D&D and replacing it with "Defender" and "controller" etc would have made everyone riot even more

[alpine sorrel]

Yes, exactly!

And it's easy in these examples to poo-poo the audience expectations because they're causing the system to cling to outdated baggage, but they can also be a really powerful tool. Imo the hardest problem in any game design is teaching people how to play your game, and leaning on people's expectations + previous experience can be one of your most powerful tools to solve that problem.

Like we all know what hit points do, we all know that the A button jumps

[sand goblet]

tutorialising will forever be the hardest part of game design

[alpine sorrel]

forever

[naive yacht]

Ironically on the subject of Andor, I walked away from it feeling like it was one of the most "star wars" shows to come out of the franchise in forever lol. A lot comes down to the layers of expectations around what defines an existing IP to people I suppose

[little jetty]

This is so real
I'm struggling to read gubat banwa because it tries to rename almost everything. There's certainly benefits, but it's a trade off and a pretty important decision imo.

On a related note, I think a lot of new lancer players play really cautiously because they only have 10 hp and 4 heat cap (more or less), which in many other games, normally means you're out of the fight once that bar goes down.

I actually really like the sniper in the second mission in LT demo that instantly structures something at round 1, because it teaches players that it's okay to lose all your HP! You have more HP bars.

[tepid temple]

I like how there's game design discussions going on in here and #icon-general that have circled around to gubat banwa

[alpine sorrel]

I've heard great things, I should really check it out

[little jetty]

it's part of the florida trans itch.io bundle 👀

[sand goblet]

speaking of gubat banwa and wording, this thread was interesting:
https://twitter.com/makapatag/status/1636964733122379777

waks 👹 (@makapatag)

gubat banwa is filled with nonconventional wording, and it's a common sticking point for many people. "why not just use turns and rounds?" instead of "fulminations" and "strikes?" and that's perfectly valid: it's a layer of learning, but its one i consciously took

Likes

384

Twitter · Mar 18, 2023, 5:36 AM

[naive yacht]

theres always a level maximalism vs minimalism and the artistic/utilitarian benefits of either or

[pine anchor]

The real trick to making a tutorial is having experienced QA. Because QA has to literally write out testing steps, we're generally the first drafters of tutorials.

Because being able to write steps to use in a game for bug reproduction is almost exactly the same as guiding a new player through an introduction.

And one of the rules of writing successful Bugs/Testing Plans: treat the document like you're writing for a user that has never touched the product before.

[naive yacht]

Only tangentially related, but i feel like that touches on the split between coders between those who utilize good line breaks and code notes vs indecipherable code goblins

[pine anchor]

I work with so many code goblins

[mild jay]

Gotta make code look pretty cause it’s just a matter of time before you’re looking at it again

[livid fractal]

As a fellow QA TAE, I’m not sure I 100% agree. I do a lot of training on my company’s software as well and the info I give a developer on how to reproduce a step and the info I give when onboarding a new user arent the same - the former has one purpose: clearly and concisely explain the exact steps that cause an issue. The latter has to play double duty of how to do something, but also why to do something, otherwise the user is likely to forget it.

I do agree QA needs to be in the room, but describing tutorials as simply “steps to perform a process* looses some artistry of tutorials. It’s how we can tutorials that are clear and instructive, while being bland and forgettable - and lead to bad practices such as skipping tutorials whole-cloth.

[alpine sorrel]

oo that's a good point

[livid fractal]

In one of my previous jobs I was voluntold to revamp the entire training material so I basically constructed how I would teach someone to beat a raid boss:
We want to kick this guys butt. We do that by breaking his shields. We do that by doing these two or three things. We do one of those three things by doing xyz.

So at any point someone is like "but like... why am I pressing this swtich" I can backtrack them to how it means butt kicking~ I find by contextually why were doing this (and more importantly, why it's exciting for the end user) it helps drive the user through learning.

It makes me think of the difference between in-game tool tips and when games used to come with thick, well themed manuals that immerse you in the world as much as it does teach you how to equip potions to your belt.

I'm getting way off track at this point, but bringing it back - it's how I learned the complications of Lancer: how do I hit a dude with the biggest sword possible as many times as possible? And then dissecting each mechanic around that exciting thing.

[forest obsidian]

Look if it works it works. What does it matter if I forget literally how everything works 5 minutes after I close the file?

[pine anchor]

That's another thing that QA exists for. So many forget that we also give important feedback on if a product is actually legitimately fun.

It also depends on how you're testing: if you're in a small team working directly with developers, it wouldn't need to be as simplistic as a new user experience.

But I've been in teams where I've been the ONLY QA Engineer, to being on a team of over 300.

Where most were associates that had never touched the game before, and needed us to have very clear and easy instruction.

[livid fractal]

lol, fair. I've never done QA on games so I guess I'm on a different page than you. I've only ever QA'd/taught... whatevr you call boring business software 😅

[pine anchor]

But even with small teams; you need to have New Hire friendly processes, because not all QA experience is equal.

For example, my studio hired a Data QA Analyst. He's never worked on anything Games related. I had to rewrite all our documents for him.

I feel you on business software QA. I used to do it for Medicare

[nova nebula]

The how to make a peanut butter sandwich video trend comes to mind now

[pine anchor]

Look, I originally went to college to be a forensic specialist. Half the class failed a procedure exam because they didn't have "take the body to morgue" in their steps.

It's a universal problem.

[alpine sorrel]

I could use some eyes on the wip IPSN sticker design, I've been staring at it too long. It's based on the guidestone from Homeworld and is supposed to be a spiral galaxy that evokes a whirlpool/ocean with nautical map on top. The logo is positioned at space-north to reinforce its Northstar theme. I originally was thinking it could represent blinkgates, but then realized that the universe is entirely contained in the Orion arm and we can't have a galaxy-spanning subway, so I guess it's just a navigational aid.

The rightside design is the original; it has the IPSN tagline in a vaguely NASA font (worm edition). I'm second-guessing whether or not to include the text because it doesn't make, like a lot of sense out of context? I ask myself: which one of these would I be more likely to put on my laptop? I think the design is strong enough to stand on its own; the text is a distraction. But the other two stickers have text! Weird that this one would be the odd one out.

So I could use some public feedback as to which you'd prefer to see as a sticker design! Left or right? (emoji vote-react)

[frigid shale]

I like the slogan a lot

[shrewd anvil]

I feel like the slogan adds a lot

[void hearth]

Definitely the one with text

[forest obsidian]

I like the non-text one better

[weak hemlock]

The main 'line', which I kinda wanna call a lollipop stick, looks ever so slightly no straight

I do like the colors tho

[alpine sorrel]

ha, you're right! I wonder how it got tilted. thx for catching that

[pine anchor]

Yeah, the text is good

[little jetty]

I also want to add it's so cool how it feels both galactic and nautical at the same time

[pine anchor]

It does.

[pastel flax]

I like it with text

but i think perhaps i dislike the positioning of the logo in it

[alpine sorrel]

I had an older version that had the logo centered, but it felt unbalanced with that much empty space up top

[pastel flax]

I was thinking you blow it up and make it a little transparent behind the text

but is that backseating

[alpine sorrel]

Thx for asking 🙂 I'm specifically looking for input on this one right now so you're good!

[pine anchor]

I do like it centered better, honestly.

Things don't need to be symmetrical to be good!

(looking at you, Benedict Cucumbatch)

[alpine sorrel]

hrm

[pine anchor]

Okay, I REALLY dig that.

[alpine sorrel]

I'm getting hung up on the awkward lack of an up direction from the lollipop stick

[pine anchor]

Something you can do to make the text pop a little better, if using Photoshop, is the blend option to add a 'Stroke' to the text. It is a small outline. Can do a thin black one or complimentary color (blue) to make it a bit readable for some folks

[alpine sorrel]

Oh yeah, it'd definitely need a legibility pass (using affinity designer, can do something similar here)

haha I was so sure those two were close to finals, but the drawing board now beckons once again

[pine anchor]

Hey, at least you have an honest test group?

[pastel flax]

it might just be that your focus isn't being drawn right olive

"your"

the viewer

[alpine sorrel]

oh?

[pastel flax]

I think the nodes on the lines might be dragging the eye funny - but i have no idea how to prove or backup this claim

[weak hemlock]

There's also 3 lines gpung right

And only two left

[livid fractal]

For what it’s worth, I agree with the crowed: this is an excellent design if the details can be shaken into place.

I’d hate for it to be lost. (Also prefer with-text)

[weak hemlock]

Thus it has heavy balance to the right

Is there any reason why the lines need to be in the 2/3 balance?

[sweet zinc]

I prefered the textless version more, but the current edition has all the right bits, it just needs some adjusting

[weak hemlock]

Honestly if i wanted to keep the lines, I'd definitely try to blow up the star logo to fill the background, have the center point in the center with the double line centered through the south point of the star and have 4 lines radianting out of the NE, NW, SE, SW of the logo

I wish i was at home to mock it up but I'm not 😦

Itd balance the main points of the sticker and you can keep the subtle background as a nod to a 'real' star map

[alpine sorrel]

The asymmetry is important for giving it

a map-like feel, I think

The heavens aren't always symmetrical, and the current cross-shape is some designer at ipsn trying to map their logo onto the heavens by emphasizing certain relationships between stars

it also places Cradle at the center of the "galaxy" because everything is in relation to it, subtle cultural warfare

KTB does not approve

[weak hemlock]

Hm perhaps making the background star map a touch lighter so it pops as a map a little more?

Took me a couple looks to realize its maping out on top of stars

[pine anchor]

I think maybe giving the Nodes a Star shape might help imply that more?

[weak hemlock]

Ohh yes that would definitely help

Rather than looking like a metro map it like 'this is an important star!'

Also gove a small callback to the ipsn logo as well

'We reach everyone!' Vibes

[pine anchor]

Yep

[forest obsidian]

Oh, I thought you were just asking specifically for A vs B. I'd say I personally prefered the textless version just because the text one didn't have an IPS-N on it.

I'm also apparently hugely in the minority. 😄

[flint idol]

I'm in the minority in that I prefer the non-text version 😛

What if you put the dotted lines and faded circles across the entire background? That might help with the empty/off balance feeling you're getting. May be busy though

[alpine sorrel]

ok........ I think I'm finally done with this bugbear of a design. I'm gonna resist the urge to ask for more opinions on it because then people will give me opinions and I'll have to work on it more. it's good enough!! gonna try and get an update post together for it tomorrow!

(I'm saying this here to get myself to put it down)

[little jetty]

Good enough is good enough! Seeking perfection is the enemy of actually getting shit done

[little jetty]

More cool stuff on my timeline

[alpine sorrel]

Dang someone suggested doing sew/iron-on patches for the sticker designs and now the idea is stuck in my head.

Like I know the right answer is "that's too complicated for us to do bc it makes shipping harder" but I love the idea of like putting the ipsn logo on work overalls

[final onyx]

Nothing stopping you from making and selling them later on

[frigid shale]

Could be a neat add on for a future KS if Lancer still runs in your veins after this one haha

[livid fractal]

The patch idea is very exciting

but also yes - you've done well with maintaining your scope. A post-release could be really awesome if you decide it's not within the current project outline.

[ripe radish]

If you don't meet the $150,000 goal, sell them to make up for it

[crisp pelican]

I already have like, 2 Twin Peaks patches on my patch jacket, so a Drink Deep And Descend one would go nicely

[alpine sorrel]

Final IPSN design!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickworks/lancer-tactics/posts/3764404

[frigid shale]

Looks fantastic haha

I do like how the IPSN logo is the “North Star” here

As I’m sure others have noted

[torn kite]

me want

[frigid shale]

And the mix of blues is just lovely and rich

[alpine sorrel]

here's what my design file ended up looking like lol

[frigid shale]

Moving the motto to the bottom rim was inspired haha

[alpine sorrel]

your idea to turn the circles into stars here was great, it looks so much better imo

[livid fractal]

I was just about to post how wonderful the final design is~ I can’t wait to sport it

[alpine sorrel]

thank youuu I'm proud of it

[mild jay]

I thought that was a board game for a second before I remembered what channel I was in

[pine anchor]

It does look 100% better. LIKE NOW I WANT IT AS A IRON ON PATCH

Text on the border was also a good compositional call

[torn kite]

again: me wanty

[forest obsidian]

That's rad

[little jetty]

Are the positions of the stars a certain constellation? Just curious

[flint idol]

there was a hiccup as fb finally took issue with us encouraging people to do crime
Incredible

[alpine sorrel]

This chart has not been evaluated by the Union Office of Cartography and Universal Positioning. This product is not intended to navigate, orient, or wayfind for any travel destination.

I was planning on having the bottom-left be the dawnline shore and the dotted lines through the dark bits be the long rim, but it all being in the Orion belt scuppered that. Top-right off-line medium star was gonna be the Aun.

Other than that the only real positions is Sol in the orion arm in the center and the ipsn logo hanging out on the center-of-galaxy supermassive black hole.

everything else is for visual interest and balance, since any constellations that we're familiar with would look different from this perspective

[pastel flax]

Looks lovely

and you took it in a great direction

[shrewd anvil]

don't overwhelm yourself. save that for later

[tepid temple]

Ah, yes, the Super Deep Lancer Lore

[glad lotus]

Inb4 Olive's Etsy launch 😉

[livid fractal]

Me: I’m just so impressed by not just her talent and dedication to the project, but also just the level of thought put in the stickers!
My husband: especially the toes!

[little jetty]

Tfw no toe meme stickers
(Totally understandable why not, of course)

[alpine sorrel]

Daww, thanks. I spent most of today too exhausted to do much more than lay on the carpet and watch youtube, but there are better days.

[tepid temple]

Hope you're doing good!

[worldly mountain]

sometimes you just need a break thats completely fair

[little jetty]

Full Repair time

[severe otter]

Oh shoot we're at 120k! That's pretty cool

I didn't realize it had been 22 days already, time flies

[minor trench]

Damn, 30k to go huh.

I want that to happen so badly. 😔

[little jetty]

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/040/043/777/cad640d901f579bbaa84475859ca1af1_original.gif?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&w=680&fit=max&v=1677203219&gif-q=50&q=92&s=730adf5d9ab6576f3f6179aacb38b353
this gif is so funny to me

Actual Goblin, taking blackbeard 1 for the chain axe with system +4 ❤️

[feral holly]

Just backed! I was interested when I first saw indie pixel art Battletech, but I became invested when I found out that it's trans-inclusive anti-colonial pixel art Battletech. lol

[flint idol]

I may have just missed us hitting 123456 if someone pledged $20 😅

[alpine sorrel]

Aw so close lol

[flint idol]

Hey if you're here, thanks whoever was posting about this on Reddit today 😁

[sweet zinc]

@alpine sorrel advertising be working

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2023/03/lancer-tactics-brings-the-mecha-game-crunch-to-your-ttrpg.html

[topaz agate]

Hi! I found out about Lancer Tactics a while ago while browsing Kickstarter. I'm a massive sucker for pixel art and giant mechs, so this sucked me right in. This may very well end up being my gateway drug to the TTRPG 😄

It's also great to see that the game will effectively be DRM-free on itch.io!

(also nice to see the creator active on Mastodon)

[frigid shale]

1 day and 8 hours later, up by another $6k:

[wanton willow]

Gettin’ there! I think we’ll hit it if we keep up this pace

[alpine sorrel]

Yo I legit have no idea how the pace suddenly tripled.

Was it the reddit posts that someone did?

Was it that article? (They reached out two weeks ago for an interview but it ended up in spam, I discovered last night 😬)

[wanton willow]

I mean, it’s closing in on the end of the kickstarter, so that usually involves a bit of a bump

[frigid shale]

It looks like Backerkit’s estimations will be accurate (even if they weren’t very “precise” i.e. smaller window of uncertainty)

[void hearth]

While the story generated by the roleplaying elements gives those tactics context and meaning that would otherwise just be a boring turn-based slog. Because Lancer combat is often slow. And not just like a typical turn of D&D slow. But the slow of a child waiting for books to arrive from the Scholastic book fair.Slander

Lancer combat is practically zippy by D&D standards

article is otherwise cool, but that bit makes me all >:|

[forest obsidian]

I mean...i've only played lancer so far. But it takes about 3 hours to do a 6 or 8 round mission in my playing group.

I've dmd dnd for decades and i've never seen a dnd round take nearly that long. Like not even close.

[worldly mountain]

Still new so maybe itll speed up but lancer has been taking longer than d&d when ive played, didbt feel as long because combat felt a lot more meaningful and impactful, but still long

[void hearth]

(it really depends on what edition of D&D you're playing)

[alpine sorrel]

I feel like whenever I see someone give an estimate of how long turns take in their games, someone else is always surprised at how dramatically different it is from their own experience

*lancer games

It can go v fast if you know the rules, have good crosstalk management, and philosophically are down with not being optimal

If you're missing any of those the length can spiral out very quickly

Ime at least

[mild jay]

Most lancer combats I’ve played fall around two hours, which is fast to me

[flint portal]

Time to run games can be very different yeah

I think its one of those things where the reason its longer for new people is actually because the initiative system causes people to get tripped up a fair bit

if you know exactly when you go in a round, its not a decision you need to take, but in lancer even deciding who goes and when is a decision in itself

which can take time to get adjusted to

[flint idol]

I'd be interested in seeing some examples of faster combat, ours our about 3ish hours? But there is a lot of back chatter and we try to make the most optimal turn possible (I think partly because it takes so long for a turn to come around)

[alpine sorrel]

getting closer

[final onyx]

[minor trench]

I hope you get there, even though it'll probably mean more work for you. 😅

It's going to be nailbiter.

[frigid shale]

I hope that it exceeds expectations and hits at least $170k so you all recoup your ad costs and can breathe more easily

[tepid temple]

Wouldn't be a nailbiter if we all did our part and donated $3,000

[flint portal]

I think the kickstarter can make it

[frigid shale]

not all of us can be as based as Xiong Xiaoli

[pine anchor]

Look I almost got the top tier.

Only my partner held me back

ROFL

[alpine sorrel]

Ooo what homebrew frame would you have chosen?

[weak hemlock]

Mood tho

[pine anchor]

That is a difficult question! I have a Fencer unit I designed for my partner's KTB Character.

[nova nebula]

God now I'm thinking of a mech's rocket fist, holding a saber

[flint idol]

ohhh giving me thoughts too. Foil/Epee build with explosive charges in the tip of the weapon? Specialized boosters for lunging and quick parries? sounds dope

@alpine sorrel I could totally see Leo (and Giordan) piloting that thing 😄

[little jetty]

that is such a cool idea for a main/aux mount

[alpine sorrel]

I mean ngl that sounds identical a refluffed nelson

[mild jay]

Sounds a lot like a mourning cloak build I used once. Explosive charge variable sword with power knuckles on the aux slot and a ramjet

[little juniper]

If we can get mod support, I'm gonna have to learn to make sprites in lancer tactics style AND of course, make suldani mechs

[pine anchor]

That was the original base for my Fencer unit. I ended up adapting into an original design.

[alpine sorrel]

oh rad! Tom tweeted the project again!

Last time this happened at the start of the campaign, we got like $45k in 24 hours, the power of tweets from big accounts is mind-boggling

I'm so thankful he's supportive of this

[final onyx]

😄

[mild jay]

“Just five days left to send jovialthunder to hell”

[alpine sorrel]

or as I like to call it, operation Code Six Billion Edge-Cases

[mild jay]

Gotta say though, compared to some other ttrpgs I’ve seen, tom games seem less hellish to adapt

[alpine sorrel]

that's true

there's like a semblance of structure

as compared to the free-for-all of like 5e spells

[mild jay]

Or pf1e and it’s many, many conditional bonuses

[alpine sorrel]

I think I mentioned it before but I keep having this experience of having a problem with organizing the UI, checking other tactics games to see how they handle it, and the answer being "...oh, they just don't have to handle as many potential action options."

easy to make a little 2x2 attack/item/switch/run menu when that's all you can do

[forest obsidian]

I was stoked to see the demo had a similar esque action UI to nebulous: fleet command

[alpine sorrel]

oo I haven't seen that, will take a look

love collecting references

oh sicccck, its style is incredible

readable and unique

[tepid temple]

That probably ties into single-player vs multiplayer design

Lancer pcs have much more options because they're meant to be played by one person, instead of one person managing multiple pcs!

[alpine sorrel]

another milestone

[willow lava]

😌

[alpine sorrel]

ngl I'm pretty proud that our model's projections for backer count vs total funding (which we made back in the first week) are still pretty close to the mark even though it misses the xiaoli tier

according to it, we need about 400 more backers to hit $150k.

[little jetty]

Found another ad!
From Facebook reels, cropped like that so y'all have some context on what it actually looks like on screen

It's not totally illegible but it's kinda hard to read

[alpine sorrel]

Haha weird. I don't know how it decides what to show where

[lone cliff]

im very excite for this

only ~11k left to 150k!

[worldly violet]

Did my part!

[mild jay]

Oh wow, that’s 6k in less than 24 hours. And theres a multiple of 24 hours left

[alpine sorrel]

Yeah I'm feeling pretty good about it!!

[void hornet]

ye i think its pretty likely youre making it over 150k

hopefully more so it gives you a more comfortable budget for a full port

[alpine sorrel]

That's exactly my primary concern at this point, but it'll work out no matter where we end up! My brain just doesn't know how to sustain emotions other than anxiety over a long period of time, so that's what's winning the marathon.

[radiant spade]

every time I check it's gone up by a thousand or so

wow

either lancer fans are suspiciously wealthy or lancer is more popular than I thought

[subtle sandal]

Lancer good

[frigid shale]

tactics games also good, which could be pulling more eyes

[forest obsidian]

Everyone mashing refresh on advance wars reboot desperate for tactics games. 😄

[worldly violet]

nice

[alpine sorrel]

nice

[crisp pelican]

How many days are there left when Kickstarter alerts everyone who requested to be reminded?

[alpine sorrel]

final 48 hours

then again at 8 hours

[final onyx]

We'll be pushing on the discord 24 hours before final to I think?

Least we normally do that

[radiant spade]

the big number just keeps going up

happy to have beta access :3

[void hornet]

we do have close to 28k people here

[void hornet]

yep thats the plan!

[sullen berry]

aaah I gotta get my mons today

[weak hemlock]

Ive been liking and sharing every ad i see. I love them all so much!

[minor trench]

So close already to the core complete

All those edge cases are going to be fun, alright.

[worldly violet]

At least 3k since this morning US est and not done yet

[neon swift]

teehee

[gaunt shuttle]

Goddamn 142k

with enough push it just might make it all the way

[radiant spade]

nearly 143k

[radiant spade]

If I can play the Tortuga in lancer tactics I can die happy

[torn kite]

Well if it makes it to 150k it will be!

[alpine sorrel]

I'd like to do a stream or something for the campaign close on Friday. Anyone have ideas for what they'd like to see?

Thoughts:

• I could stream the game itself (twitch plays style somehow?)
• I could stream a normal lancer game

• could just hang out on stream and chat

[weak hemlock]

A streamed lancer game would be cool if you can swing it

But chilling and chatting. Occasionally plugging the Kickstarter for any last minute donors would be nice too

[alpine sorrel]

That sounds the least stressful tbh

It could be an AMA format?

[sullen berry]

AMA would be super neat 🙂

also backed just in time

[weak hemlock]

Ama with a chill game in the background!

Love myself a chill game

[final onyx]

I think stream of lancer tactics but chill would be good

Would allow you to discuss parts of the game as well

How you did certain things, design considerations etc

[sullen berry]

lol I would totally accept

"So, my design considerations are like, fascists can eat shit, and uh, lancers ARE the shit"

[final onyx]

I meant more like game design wise :p

But sure

[sullen berry]

who said I didn't mean game design wise XD

listen, I'm just being a joker today, i apologize if I offend anyone lol. But they help pull me away from darker thoughts I gotta deal with 🙂

like how this game demo alone brings me joy and how I've played it probably 50 times

[lone cliff]

So having recognizable stuff is important but will there be options to have different variations of the player mech icons for customization?

Like for example a barbarossa orcu (from retrograde minis) as a different barby icon

[radiant spade]

Cannibalism confirmed in lancer tactics????

[alpine sorrel]

We're still figuring out how to handle the mech sprites! They'll be recolorable at minimum.

[lone cliff]

Oh yeah what engine is this running on again?

[worldly mountain]

Godot 4 i believe was the plan?

[radiant spade]

Close to 144k...

Hitting that final stretch goal is becoming more and more plausible

[smoky glacier]

🤘

[weak hemlock]

Me just absolutely spamming interactions on every ad to show the love

[flint idol]

I'm down 😄

[flint idol]

AMA sounds good though 🙂

[neon swift]

I just watched 200 get added holy moly

Inshallah it will hit the goal

[feral holly]

I came here from the Facebook ad campaign, essentially. I had heard of the ttrpg a little bit in the past - but I don't often have time to join in on ttrpgs outside of D&D with some old friends, but Lancer Tactics itself drew me in - and my only exposure for a while were the ads in my Facebook reel.

I hope they don't go away for a while, because they're occupying the space of ads for things I normally hate and never click. 😅

That 150k is coming EASY!

[tepid temple]

My mind did a little double take realizing it's just ~$5000 from the goal

[lone cliff]

if you want I could get you in touch with the artist for Retrograde Minis! I'm sure he'd love to contribute

[weak hemlock]

Welcome!

[weak hemlock]

Hope you enjoy Lancer, its a fun system

[alpine sorrel]

I'm glad that they're a good visual experience! I was so worried they'd be read as obnoxious. Thanks for sharing, and welcome 🙂

[alpine sorrel]

We've chatted a little bit! Mark and I have to do some work hashing out the visual style and direction before we start moving in any direction though — even basics like hex vs square haven't been decided yet.

[lone cliff]

gotcha!

im very excited for the gameplay stuff and also for the world yall are making!

[alpine sorrel]

Me toooooo

[little jetty]

wait, there's a chance that LT is gonna be in hexes?

[lone cliff]

hexes are what feel like lancer more but iirc Tom intended for lancer to be squares, all the hex stuff in the book is just to help people visualize some of the shapes required

lol

[ripe radish]

I think they should use pentagons with some hexagons thrown in like a soccer ball

[fickle pecan]

or is it the other way around

[nova nebula]

Just triangle all the things

Get real Sierpiński with it

[fickle pecan]

1/2 size mechs should be one triangle big

[ripe radish]

Nah, non standard tiles are the way to go

[little jetty]

that pikachu shape is just modified hexes isn't it

like, not in a pedantic way, but like functionally it's the same as hexes

[nova nebula]

(I may or may not have had my players step into a metafold vault(I think???). As an exploration of extra dimensional stuff with some of my fractal art as the backdrop. It was kinda fun)

[flint idol]

Love that

Whole map just turns into an escher drawing

[radiant spade]

Baller

[sullen berry]

Aaaah

My friend just backed at the squad level as a gift

[shrewd anvil]

Squares are probably easier than hexes, plus the game is already reminiscent of fire emblem in a good way. If I had a vote I'd say squares

[tepid temple]

It's hard to tell but yeah, each pikachu is surrounded by six pikachu

[forest obsidian]

Here, use the smith-myers-kaplan-goodman-strauss tile that is tesselating but also aperiodic.

[sullen berry]

I would vote squares for ease as well, but, I wouldnt hate hexes if it was rules accurate. Might even convince me to try and finally learn foundry enough to do hex

[alpine sorrel]

Enough people have asked about hexes that I think it's worth considering, but that's a choice we need to make up top and then close the issue.

Love fractal grids for metavaults

I bet pattern attacks get weird

Do you overlay a cone, or do you try to calculate it by width of tiles at the end?

[minor trench]

I prefer squares, especially for the Super Robot game vibe.

Hexes is pretty meh for me, don't get the love people has for it as an aesthetic