The Feud: Wild West Tactics
Feud Launch Update
Now we are back with the news that Feud is coming soon! Soon means in the next few months. Not next year, not late this year, “sooner” than that.
In our quiet time away, we’ve been busy balancing, bug fixing and adding a couple of major elements. The last changes were some significant ones to the AI in Saga mode and a host of new enemy abilities to help mix up the opponents you’ll face and the strategies you’ll need to use to beat them.
We know a lot of people wanted us to go early access or run a Kickstarter. We thought about it a lot, even shot footage for a Kickstarter. However, in the back of our heads we really wanted to give something to everyone that was as solid and complete as it could be before asking for your hard-earned dollars. All too often games are thrown into early access and left to rot or drag on and never deliver. We didn’t want to see Feud debut before it was ready.
Adding a little more excitement to the mix, we’re also making a rare public appearance at Dreamhack in Anaheim, CA on Feb. 21-23. Feud will be there with its own booth and you’ll be able to see us on stream giving some details and playing the game. It’s our first step in preparing for launch.
We’d like to say thank you to everyone who has been with us on this crazy ride. Thanks for keeping the faith and being excited about the game we’ve spent so much time on. We’re about ready to “Skin that smokewagon and see what happens!”
The saloon door creaks. Was it someone passing by, or just the wind?
Perks and Quirks
Each hired gun has a potential for Perks (good thing like a special ability or stat bonus) and Quirks (bad things like being a drunkard or having, being overconfident or having a bad knee). These elements help define how a hired gun plays and add some character during fights. A drunkard may whip out a bottle and decided he’d rather pound down a little whisky instead of taking an action while a quick draw specialist may have some surprises for anyone who takes a shot at him.
The rarity of hired guns affects how many quirks they have. Low rarity means you’ll be dealing with potentially more than one Quirk while a legendary hired gun may have some amazing ability Perks and few Quirks. Like many of the systems in Feud, hired guns are assigned these benefits and shortcomings randomly so in Saga mode you should always keep your eye out for surprisingly good or bad recruits.
In play modes like Skirmish you can make life rough on yourself by trying out an oddball team of randomly created hired guns to see if you can take them through a fight with as few casualties as possible. It can be fun working within a handicapped posses’ limitation and pulling off a victory.
Choose your posse wisely!
Until next time,
The Feud Team
Characters and Themes
With each character or group of characters we create we consider who they may and may not appeal to from an archetype standpoint. With someone like Jim Vance he allowed us to have a representative of a rugged mountain man in game. Jim’s abilities include brutal attacks and traps bringing the mountain man part of him out. He’s also generally tougher and an be customized with items and leveling to be one of the toughest characters to take down. Rita, on the other hand is an agile knife fighter, another type of character that isn’t uncommon in western films. Her goal is to close in and do as much damage as possible and her move set is both artful and deadly.
One of the great things about the western setting is it s filled with so many great characters out of history and myth. We already have a long list of characters and historical figures we’re eager to explore post launch, but we’re certain our community has some ideas as well. Feel free to comment here or on the forums if there are character types you’d like to see in the future.
Keep your powder dry until next time,
The Feud Team
Building a Better Six Gun
Some of the things you can dramatically affect are hired guns, weapons, resources and map visibility. You can research a line of weapons like Long Rifles or Pistols to add extra benefits to having those weapons. If you want to specialize in tougher hired guns that panic less and don’t die as often you can invest in posse improvements.
One of the most interesting categories is Strategy which allows you to unlock map abilities. This includes things like protection for resources and being able to delay or distract enemy posses. However, one of the most exciting is enabling bank robberies which lets you to deploy a rough and tumble group of hired guns to attempt to rob some resources from your enemy which is played out on the strategic map.
Overall, we wanted lots of choices and a variety of different things for you to try each time you play Western Saga. In one game you could go with full resource production while in another focus on strengthening your posse or find a split of research between the categories that gives you a unique advantage.
We’ll explore more of the aspects of Feud in future updates. This week we’re researching how to get the most out of a thanksgiving turkey.
The Feud Team
It’s a Big World Out There
As much as we loved the variation from the classic western, we didn’t want to leave the desert out. In the middle of the project we opted to add a special storyline that takes some of our characters way out of their own territory and into the dusty desert. In this way we got to add that classic feel into the game without taking away from representing the actual feud locales.
In the future, post launch, we’re excited about jumping into more classic venues as the Feud spreads out to encompass all of the themes people love in western history and films.
May your own travels go well,
The Feud Team
Ghouls and Ghosts….or Not
Happy Halloween from the Feud team.
Today’s update is about all the things that bump in the night and the lack of them in Feud. When we sat down to make Feud we threw around a lot of ideas on how far to take certain aspects of the game. Of course, how much supernatural stuff to include and if we did what kind was one of the larger items.
After going back and forth we went with focusing on the real world as much as possible. Character’s may have special attacks, but a vast majority are grounded with a couple of exceptions.
At the end of the day we opted for a very minimalist approach on the supernatural. We have one event where you can get “cursed” on the world map in saga and Preacher has some divinely inspired abilities and that’s about it.
When Feud comes out it’s set in reality and our plans for a lot of the content going forward match that desire and focus. Included is a shot of a gunfight in a swamp, which is a bit spooky along with Preacher using his condemn abiliy.
See you all next week…if you survive the ghosts flowing out of Boot Hill!
The Feud Team
Hats off to the Other Guys
As for Feud we’re still bug chasing. It’s painstaking but every day we get a little closer. Most of the character abilities have been gone over repeatedly and been touched up, made more intuitive and checked for odd combinations.
We’ll be back next week to explore some of the other features you can look forward to in Feud.
Hope everyone has a good weekend riding the range.
The Feud Team
You are the Destroyer!
Dynamite is capable of destroying trees, parts of buildings, wagons and most small objects. Some story missions present you with opportunities to get it while you can research some perks in Saga mode to occasionally being fights with dynamite. Dynamite is tricky and can often bounce around a bit so throwing at someone or something right next to you can provide you with a nail-biting moment or could save the day.
Getting hit by the blast from a stick can outright kill a person. If it doesn’t kill them it’ll at least knock them down and perhaps even render them unconscious allowing you to follow up when they are vulnerable.
Some characters, like Randall McCoy, have optional abilities that are specifically tuned to destroy objects and can open up new strategies if cleverly used.
In the shot included you can see a shootout between your posse and some men holed up in a general store. While you can pick away at each other…you could also sneak around to the side, retrieve some dynamite and make your own entrance!
Think before you throw, but don’t think too long, the fuse is burning!
Until next time,
The Feud Team
Get Some Cover
Previous posts have gone over updates on how things are going and new features. This week we’re going to do something a little different and talk about the cover system in Feud and get into the guts of how it works.
In Feud there are five different situations you can be in for cover. The first is completely exposed with no cover. The other four are 25% Cover (think of it as light cover), 50% Cover (standard good cover), 75% Better than Average Cover (more sturdy objects, solid rock areas) 100% Extremely Good Cover (dense rock formations etc.) We use a “badge” to indicate cover, how full the badge is represents how good the cover is.
Cover benefits include making you harder to hit and giving you a better chance to take less damage when hit. Basically, they boost your dodge and toughness checks.
You can see in the shot some of your characters are in 50% and 75% cover while Bad Frank Phillips has made the bold move of standing on a rock. He’s in the open but gets some benefits from being up there. The red, shattered badge let you know not only does he have no cover, but he is exposed and in range of enemy attacks. You might wonder what the silver badges are, they are a challenging type of enemy that is invulnerable when in cover. You to maneuver to expose them to stand a chance!
A big part of the gunfights in Feud is finding and moving to the best cover you can strategically. There are times where a 50% cover position is better than a 100% cover one. There are levels where you’ll be constantly moving and being faced with choices on where and how to set up your posse as they move into a potentially dangerous situation. Add on top of this that some cover can be destroyed by loose gunfire and, of course, dynamite which is prone to bouncing around a little before exploding and you’ll find choosing the right cover an important and essential part of making it out of combat with a hole through your hat instead of through your heart.
Keep your powder dry and guns loaded until next week!
The Feud Team