Patchwork Battles - Post GDC Thread

[jlach]

After some debate here at Patchwork Games, we decided it was time for a new Patchwork Battles thread. The old thread, while serving it's purpose, was so outdated that it wasn't worth updating.

For those of you don't know what Patchwork Battles is, let's get you up to speed...

Patchwork Battles is a game unlike anything you’ve seen before. Enter a world where you control and battle mimics – animated beings made from a patchwork of cloth, tinfoil, and leather.

You are the scion of a celebrated family of Animators, skilled magicians who can breathe life into inanimate puppets called mimics. When you discover and unlock an ancient family artifact, you begin to relive and replay a legendary story of conquest, battle, and self-discovery. As you experience each battle between mimic armies in a winding and rich campaign of quests and adventures, you uncover deep truths about your family history and reveal the hidden power that brings these mimics to life

A moving storyline, unique characters, innovative battle system, and gorgeous graphics make this ambitious game a feast for the eyes and a wonderfully deep experience for the casual and hardcore gamer alike.

With all that marketing hoopla out of the way, let's talk about the game shall we? Patchwork Battles is a strategic RPG that offers up new twists on a lot of traditional formulas. What, exactly, does that mean you ask? Let's find out.

Battle System
Patchwork Battles introduces a new type of battle system we've named the Reactionary Battle System (RBS for short). This system, while heavily influenced by the traditional Active Time Battle (ATB) system, offers up a new twist. Instead of Wait > Act > Repeat, the RBS adds a new element known as Reactions. These Reactions are skills you can use, when certain conditions are met, in reaction to an action another Mimic took. For instance, you can react to an attack by dodging it or react to a buff cast by your Mimic and make it stronger.

With this system, battles become more fluid and more strategic. What action should you react to and which reaction should you use? If you dodge now, and it goes on cooldown, will be you be able to withstand the major attack coming from the boss? The RBS, while enjoyable by casual and hard core fans alike, really shines in the hands of those who have mastered swift reactions and quick decision making.

Character Classes
In most traditional turn-based RPGs you're giving a set of 4-6 character's to play, each with their own unique class. Sometimes you can even change these classes. But never can you make your own class. This is where Patchwork Battles comes in. You're given 8 Mimic Types to work with: The Knight, The Monk, The Bard, The Rogue, The Druid, The Priest, The Wizard, and The Mentalist (names may change!). With these 8 types, and mimic body parts, you're given complete freedom to create any combination you want. Want to rock our a Mimic in full Knight parts? Go for it. Want to sport a Rogue/Wizard mix? Do it up my friend. The combinations are boundless and the possibilities endless.

Features

• Graphics that look hand-crafted from real-world materials: Enjoy a visual showcase of moving
  kinetic background art and characters that look made from life-like crafting materials.
  
• Your choices define your class, not the other way around: Want to play a fire-balling slinging rogue
  or a warrior who can heal in a pinch? Create your own classes with a unique customization system that lets
  you mix and match body parts from different classes.
  
• Reactionary Battle System (RBS): Patchwork Battle adds a new phase of reaction-based interrupts to
  the classic “move and act” battle systems of other RPGs. Dodge, counterattack, parry, or counterspell to
  thwart your opponent’s actions. Or apply reactionary buffs to make your allies better.
  
• Item Crafting: Find crafting materials from fallen enemies and use them to create hundreds of items,
  including weapons, armor, patchwork parts, and patches to customize your mimics.
  
• Battle against friends: Patchwork Battles also offers competitive multiplayer, where players can
  challenge others to see whose self-crafted mimics and mastery of the RBS reigns supreme.

Please note that the above two sections were purposefully left vague as we will be releasing more and more information on these subjects at we get closer to release.

Early Alpha (GDC) Trailer? Yeah, we got one of those.

Low bandwidth Version | Pop Up


More Media...
Battle Time! (Early Alpha)



So there we have it: another introduction to Patchwork Battles, but this time we're a heck of a lot of closer to release. Any questions, thoughts, suggestions, ect please do not hesitate to share. We are EXTREMELY interested in what the community has to say and the suggestions they make.

Thanks for reading!

- The Patchwork Battles Team.

[GoofyJmaster.]

Man, I've been waiting for this!

[Brimah]

Really like the art work and the concept. So do you control only one person or is do you have a party? Going to definitly keep my eye on this one!

Edit: just saw in the screen shot there are 2 characters, so assuming party based, which I was hoping for!

[DaGreen1]

Oh god, I'm having flashbacks to Paper Mario, the original N64 version, and I'm liking it.

Actually, it seems like it's Paper Mario meets Final Fantasy + PvP.

[Exact-Psience]

Looking really good so far.

[TIMELESS]

This looks great will be waiting for this game also.

[cubegrinder]

I love the style! Can't wait to play this!

[jlach]

First off, thanks everyone for the interest/kind words.

Originally Posted by GoofyJmaster.

Man, I've been waiting for this!

We know We'll be looking for alpha/beta testers in the next month or so, and you're definitely first on our list, haha.

Originally Posted by Brimah

Really like the art work and the concept. So do you control only one person or is do you have a party? Going to definitly keep my eye on this one!

Edit: just saw in the screen shot there are 2 characters, so assuming party based, which I was hoping for!

Patchwork is party based, with a max size of 4 mimics on the battle field at once. The amount of "reserve" mimics you can have is limited only by the amount of parts you find/craft.

We currently do not have plans to allow reserve mimics to be swapped into battle mid-fight but it's something we've discussed.

Originally Posted by DaGreen1

Oh god, I'm having flashbacks to Paper Mario, the original N64 version, and I'm liking it.

Actually, it seems like it's Paper Mario meets Final Fantasy + PvP.

While we have not borrowed much from Paper Mario, I think the Paper Mario + Final Fantasy is a good comparison. While we do a lot of things different, that genre is really where the idea started

[DaGreen1]

Put me on that list to test this awesome looking game.

[oooooomonkey]

Wow this is looking pretty nice, love the concept. I'll gladly sign up for trsting this in the future.