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Official Stormgate Early Access AMA Thread with Frost Giant Studios


Original Post — Direct link

Hi r/Stormgate!

It's been a big week for Stormgate!

We’ve finally shared a first look at our third faction, the Celestial Armada, with the public.

We’ve also announced that Stormgate Early Access will begin on August 13. We’re even kicking things off on July 30 as a show of our appreciation to our Kickstarter backers, playtesters, and new Steam supporters.

With all this new information, we're here to answer your questions about everything Stormgate!

We’re gathering members of the Frost Giant Studio team to drop in here tomorrow, Friday, June 14, to answer your questions.

The AMA will begin at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 7PM CET.

Post your questions in the thread here in advance, and we'll answer as many questions as we can for an hour.

Frost Giant . . . Assemble! (Name - Title - Reddit username)

We look forward to answering as many of your questions as we can!

Want to support Stormgate further? Pre-Purchase the Early Access DLC on Steam and Wishlist Stormgate on Steam!

  • The Frost Giant Team
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4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by WhatsIsMyName

Will players have the option to buy each "chapter" individually, or will it be more of a season pass type thing, where you get access to "season 1"

You can purchase individual chapters (each containing 3 or more missions, and playable solo and co-op (in the future)), which we currently have priced at $10 USD (not accounting for any possible regional pricing.)

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by GeluFlamma

It is an impressive corporate speech, but the actual answer about the reasons for the chosen art direction would be nice.

What do you think about player reaction? It is neutral to negative everywhere. On Reddit, Twitch, YouTube, Steam, everywhere where gamers are hanging out. Very few people actually like this style and it's implementation. Don't you think it might negatively affect the game's sales?

It's incorrect to say that very few people like this style and implementation.

For example, a recent community poll had playtesters rate the game from 1-10 in many areas, including Graphics, and the majority expressed that they like the art with the most frequent ratings being 6 and 8. Art is subjective, and the majority of players tell us they like the art (acknowledging of course that key areas like our map terrain have not been "artified" as we've been focused on gameplay testing).

The nature of online discussion is that players who don't like what they see are more likely to post a critique because they'd like to see change. (Someone who likes something will just give it a thumbs up and move on without making a post.)

We made the decision to bring the community along with us through the development process, and the unfortunate side effect is that players who don't understand game development are comparing our work-in-progress to finished or near-final products from other studios who haven't been "showing their work" since pre-alpha.

That said, we absolutely are listening to the feedback -- Tim mentioned that reading some of the harsher criticism makes us sad. But we have a style that we like and we expect the game to make a much better impression once we have the upcoming lighting changes and effort is put into the maps beyond the bare minimum needed to facilitate playtesting. You'll see some of this in Early Access and we'll continue to polish and improve the visuals on the road to 1.0 and beyond.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Falorado

Hi, I am interested in the campaign content. Are you going to sell the campaign missions separately in the future for a lower price (compared to the EA packs)?

How much playtime can we expect the missions to be? Currently sitting at 25€ for three missions seems a little bit steep for me personally.

Thanks for asking -- please allow me to clarify. It's not 25€ for three missions.

The $25 USD Early Access pack includes the first paid chapter of the Vanguard campaign (3 missions) plus additional content like the Amara Hero and the Vanguard gold army accent. You will also be able to purchase all three Vanguard campaign chapters (containing at least 9 story missions) for $25 in the in-game store.

As for expected playtime, this will vary widely from person to person--if you're a first-timer, for example, it might take you significantly longer to complete the missions vs. an RTS pro. You may also replay the missions cooperatively (we are adding co-op to campaign later in Early Access), or want to come back and tackle them again several times at different difficulties. We are planning to include easter eggs and other fun reasons to explore these missions.

Our goal is for the campaign missions to be fun, first and foremost, and for them to feel worthwhile to the players who purchase them. We recommend that you play through the free prologue missions first if you want to take a "wait-and-see" approach, then pick up the bundle if you had a good experience. Please note that the campaign missions we release on day one of Early Access are not finished products--these will be polished and improved as we continue working on the game on the road to 1.0. We'll also be going back and adding co-op functionality to these missions so that you can play (and replay) them with friends.

We also plan to make it so that anyone who purchases our campaign content will be able to invite friends who haven't purchased them to enjoy together. So, for example, I plan to play through the campaign with two of my kids, but the current plan is that I'd only have to purchase the content once and they'd be able to play with me for free. Compared to other games where all players need to purchase the content to participate, we believe this will be a popular way to enjoy our story for lots of friends and families.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Frost_TimC

I think these are great questions, but in all transparency we're still working out the details of 3v3 so its hard to give definitive answers... That's not going to stop me from trying though!

Heroes will be free for all players to play with up to Level 5, similar to the StarCraft 2 model for Coop Commanders. You'll only need to buy a Hero once - once you have one, you can use it in any mode that it is allowed in.

At Early Access, when you buy a Hero, you will be able to advance up to Level 15. We view Levels 1-10 as "linear growth" that advances the character to their full power and full supporting kit, while Levels 11+ open up options for customization through our Gear system.

After Early Access, we will be further increasing the level range and significantly expanding the Gear system to give players an improved ability to customize the capabilities of their Heroes.

Hopefully this answers many of your questions - we'll be sharing more info about our Heroes and their progression systems as we move forward!

To clarify: We are serious about competitive integrity so our 3v3 mode (which we're still figuring out the exact details) is not currently slated to use the Gear system at all because we don't want it to impact fairness or competitive play. We're still iterating (as focus on 3v3 will come later in development), but that's the lens through which we're looking at the mode.

You'll still "own" the Hero for 3v3 and 3P co-op, but it will work quite differently in 3v3 as we want that mode to feel fair. Not pay to win.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by kaup

  1. If i remember correctly i heard that there was a ranking system planned that shows you rank as Regional -> National -> World like Trackmania? Is that correct and still planned? Is it live on EA?

  2. How are you gonna combat Smurfs? Game is F2P but is there a way to prevent it on high level or whats the plan for lower levels?

Edit: 3. Do you have a plan to make COOP also more rewarding for higher level players? Unfortunately i feel like it can get abit boring after some time if the only thing you do is unlock some Hero abilities and thats it? I would like to have a bigger goal you want to grind towards, more risk behind missions, stuff you loot that you can use outside of the missions for something silly like a outside hubworld game? (Browsergame like?)

This response comes from the folks involved in our leaderboard system:

"Yes, we do have goals to show where you stand on the leaderboard by Nation, World Region, World. For Early Access, the Leaderboard will only support World. This is a topic we'd love some feedback on. How would you like us to determine the nation you represent? We've discussed options from auto-detection to having players self-identify, each has its pros and cons.

We have several internal plans for addressing smurfing, but most of this will come only after we launch Early Access. No explicit details to share yet."

Gerald here again: I'll add a funny side note, but I used to work alongside the guy at Blizzard who first popularized the term "Smurfing". Ha!

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by DrBurn-

Thanks for your work Frost Giant! Greatly looking forward to early access.

  1. What is your guess on the cadence of co-op heroes and co-op map releases after the launch of early access. How often do you expect or plan for there to be something new for us co-opers to consume?
  2. Are you willing to reveal your price for each hero at this time?
  3. Do any of your devs play in the co-op pub queue and can I play with them during early access?

thanks guys!

  1. We plan to release content in "seasons", a few times a year, and the road map will share some details on the number of heroes and maps we are aiming for in the year ahead.

  2. Heroes will be $10 USD (not accounting for any potential regional pricing adjustments).

  3. Based on how our previous playtests have gone, I think it's safe to expect many of our developers to be playing in the public co-op queues during Early Access. Some may be using their official Frost Giant accounts, but others may want to be playing on their private accounts to preserve some anonymity. They may just want to play to relax and not feel that they need to answer non-stop questions about when a certain faction is going to be balanced. Please be kind to your co-op partners!

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by GeluFlamma

Thanks for the answer. I agree with your arguments. I am glad that it's a deliberate choice.
My hobby involves models (mostly physical but some 3D too), and I know very well that lighting makes a difference.
I am also certain that you can add some shaders, blood, paint chips, and bullet holes to make things look more cool (even I can do this).
What I don't know is whether you want to do it or you just want to keep things clean.
Either way, I wish you luck. And I wish your game to succeed (It's not a polite way to say things, I mean it), despite any possible complications.

Thanks so much for your support--we hope you'll love playing our game and that you're happy with all the improvements we're planning to introduce during Early Access as we continue our road to 1.0.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by kennysp33

That last line made my sad. I'm sorry Frost Giants. I wish people were more empathetic. You're doing great, the game is the most fun I've had in years!

Thank you for letting us know. It definitely helps to hear from supporters in the community!

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Zeppelin2k

I'm glad you all have a vision for the look and feel of the game. I agree with a lot of folks that the lighting needs some work, and its likely because of this that many units have a "toy soldier" look, but I've seen responses that indicate work is being done here.

I think its totally off base though, when people say say the different factions have no character or identity. They clearly all have a specific feel and design/art direction, and I like it. Keep doing what you're doing, I love what I'm seeing and can't wait to play!

Thanks for the support! <3

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Camping_Panda

Long time RTS fan and love what you guys are creating. Anyhow, long list of questions in random order:

Game-state questions:

  • What is the state of polish we can expect for Early Access? Will there still be placeholder models/audio/camps? What about performance optimization? (this one is big for me, COOP/late game custom slows down FPS a lot)
  • Will there be a way to get skins/campaigns/hero's for free by just playing the game?
  • Will there be an in-game shop with it's own currency/multiple currencies or is everything bought via the Steam store?
  • I didn't see much/any monetization around competitive 1v1, perhaps the golden vanguard flair and the fog of war shaders from the supporter packs. Is there more planned or does FGS want to keep the competitive side clean and simple?

Modding/custom questions:

  • Will the custom games made in the Stormgate editor by the community be the Intellectual property (IP) of Frost Giant Studios or the people that created it? (Wondering because of the Warcraft 3 Reforged where they take all IP of games made in the editor)
  • Will the editor be able to load in my own assets/models/music/etc? Possible issues with copyright?
  • Will there be a way for modders to make money with the custom games they make? Some kind of in-game shop? Or something like Roblox revenue share? Seems like a nice form of income for FGS and the modders if done correctly.
  • Will there be a way to test your custom game with other testers without making it public? Invite/friends only?
  • In the modding videos I haven't seen concrete examples of collaboration on the same custom game, how does that work? Is it simple source/version control? Or can you work with multiple people on the same game simultaneously?
  • In the modding videos it was explained how you could create AI for 1 unit, but it wasn't explained how to create AI for the whole army. Is that possible? Or is it just preset type of AI, like Aggressive, Defensive etc and then you can add triggers?
  • In Frigate I enjoyed Buddybot a lot in COOP/customs, but it's a bit dumb on where it places buildings. (camps are buildings too, so it also builds near them for example) Will it be possible for modders to overwrite the Buddybot AI with their own?

COOP questions:

  • Will there be any meta progression after your COOP hero reaches level 10? Is there anything after that before EA/in EA or after EA?
  • Any daily mutation missions or other long form content planned for COOP? Brutal+ or something similar?
  • How many COOP heroes will there be at launch EA? I read you guys were working on 5 heroes with a few done already, but the ultimate pack states 3 heroes, but did BLOCKADE get removed then?

And last silly question, the Chicken Supporter Pet from the founder/EA packs, what does it do? Does it just wander around? Does it sit on top of your main building?

The chicken supporter pet currently just hangs out in the base--the nature of our game makes it so spending actions / focus on interacting with the pet didn't feel appropriate for our game, at least in our initial core game modes.

Anyone who picks up a pet is supporting Frost Giant directly, and we're super grateful to everyone who does so. I'm looking forward to seeing all the pets out there in screenshots and gameplay videos/streams. We're big fans of pets here at Frost Giant HQ, and we hope players enjoy collecting them and appreciate having a little huggable company in their base while they play!

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Frost_Sabri

Panic. :D

+1

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by socknfoot

Ooh. We already get a second vanguard hero at EA?

Yes, we'll offer 2 Vanguard Heroes, 2 Infernal Heroes, and 1 Celestial Hero at Early Access release.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Aztraeuz

Will you be adding Steam achievements? I keep asking but nobody ever answers. Achievements for missions packs, coop, 1v1, 3v3, whatever. Is this going to happen?

Our plan is to add achievements. We haven't listed them on the Steam Store because it's Valve policy to only add these to the store once they're implemented in the game. That said, this is not in our near-term road map and something we'll get to further down the line.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Ikyashi

Hello, i'm a brazillian player and i wanted to know when we will get ptbr translation for the game

I can manage if it's in english but inviting friends to play is kinda impossible while the game is only english

Our plan is for the game to be text-localized in Brazilian Portuguese for Early Access.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by ImakedamageDK

Hello Frost Giant, generald question regarding cosmetics. When can we see this area of the game fully fledged out? I would love a cat girl celestial skin.

We're just getting started, but the team is excited about the potential for skins and other cosmetics.

We hear you on the cat girls, too, don't worry about that.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Blitzedlegend

Hi frost giant, I remembered you talked about doing battle passes/war chests, any info you can share?

(Ps please don't call them seasons, if I have to see season x one more time I'm going to develop heart problems)

We're doing War Chests! Still too early to share details, but we're planning to have seasonal War Chest events, with our first "mini" War Chest event released later this year.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by NaitDraik

Is there a road-map for offline content? I love how the game looks, but Im scared that I can only play it online.

Thanks. :)

By offline, do you just mean single-player?

We have a plan to make our single-player content playable offline, but that will be coming later on in development.

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by pefcos

Hi guys, thanks for the AMA, love the game! I have minor questions: 1. How many maps are we going to have in Co-Op on EA? 2. What progression options will be available to commanders post max lv in Co-Op on EA launch, ans up to v1.0? 3. Will there be mutations in EA Co-Op? 4. When can we expect to see more T3 units announced for competitive?

  1. 6 co-op vs. AI maps
  2. still too early to go into details, but Tim C touches on Hero progression in other posts in this AMA.
  3. Yes, we will have weekly mutators coming online later this year
  4. Some tier 3 units will launch with Early Access, with more coming online later in development.
4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Johnekaiser

Will there be new factions added in the future? Or will there mainly be an expanded coop with sub factions and such. Personally, I'd would love for more factions, deviate from the starcrafts 3 factions and such

We're releasing to Early Access with 3, but we're not committing one way or the other on whether more factions are coming...

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Mattman2018

What inspired you to make this game?

I'm sure this is different for everyone on the team, but I believe it starts with our shared love for Blizzard-style RTS games and a desire to make something awesome and new in this vein for the RTS community.

It's been far too long!

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by madumlao

I am a starcraft mod maker and have been tinkering with game settingds and maps since i first discovered rules.ini in command and conquer. One of the biggest draws to stormgate in my opinion is an improved modding / mapmaking experiencr through an editor that doesnt suck from people who cared enough to "get the engine right" first.

We are eager to hear news about the editor! Tell us about the initial release, any roadmaps, any wow factors to expect of the editor! Even as a work in progress - Im sure you know how frustrating the sc2 editing experience is for any "advanced work". And for those who dont - it is!

We've released a couple videos recently to show an early look at what's possible in the editor. One was a demo that we ran at the Unreal Engine booth at GDC, the other was a recent demo of our Turf War co-op map that was created internally by one of our developers using our tools.

Links:
GDC Editor demo: https://playstormgate.com/news/first-look-at-the-stormgate-editor-at-gdc
Turf War with Jayborino: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF-zERL4nog

4 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by Virrad

How many campaign missions will be playable on launch?

We'll have 6 available at our early access release. 3 free prologue missions and 3 paid Vanguard campaign missions (chapter 1).

For our 1.0 official launch, it's too early to say, but the number will be substantially higher.

3 months ago - /u/FGS_Gerald - Direct link

Originally posted by WhatsIsMyName

I wish you could embed a discord server in a game lol

About that...

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