Battle Aces was born from a rejected StarCraft 2 expansion pitch

The fast-paced real-time strategy (RTS) crippled Battle Aces was inspired by an thought that crippled head David Kim had while moving connected StarCraft 2 astatine Blizzard Entertainment.

“Why can’t location beryllium an RTS crippled that gets free of each these tedious clicks and focuses connected nan nosy factors?” Kim recalled thinking. “There was a constituent during Legacy of nan Void’s improvement wherever we earnestly considered cleaning up each of those things and made an RTS crippled that’s really focused connected nan fun. But nan conclusion was that we should not move up what StarCraft 2 is connected nan past description of nan game.”

Legacy of nan Void was very religious to nan halfway tenets of StarCraft 2 and is beloved because of that, but Kim hoped to return to that thought for a early Blizzard RTS game. Kim says he prototyped a caller RTS crippled astatine Blizzard for astir six months aft Legacy of nan Void, but that it was canceled “due to institution goals,” joining a myriad of canceled Blizzard Entertainment projects.

Kim has ever wanted to return to nan RTS abstraction to reply his lingering mobility astir nan RTS genre, truthful he yet near Blizzard, like galore different developers. Now, Kim is starring nan improvement of Battle Aces astatine Uncapped Games. Revealed astatine Summer Game Fest earlier this year, it boils down nan halfway concepts of competitory RTS into 10-minute, bite-sized matches. And without each that Blizzard-related baggage and relation pinch nan StarCraft IP restraining them, Battle Aces could beryllium 1 of nan astir approachable RTS games ever.

Removing what’s not fun

As my Summer Game Fest preview of Battle Aces pointed out, this RTS does a awesome occupation of stripping nan RTS look backmost to its basics. The crippled intelligibly lays retired each action disposable to players, making building and commanding units snappy and quick. While Kim says StarCraft 2 is still his favourite game, he admits that parts of nan accepted RTS look apt aren’t anyone’s favourite facet of nan genre and could beryllium removed to create a much nosy experience.

Upon person investigation, Kim believes that group don’t emotion playing RTS games because they person to perpetually retrieve to negociate proviso depots, click a build worker button, aliases negociate their magnitude of accumulation buildings successful bid to not autumn down and lose. Kim calls those kinds of things “tedious clicks” and stripped them retired of Battle Aces. In Battle Aces, players don’t person to interest astir building workers, accumulation buildings, aliases proviso depots. They person to support an oculus connected nan resources they are automatically generating and walk them decently connected units they tin past beryllium violative with.

Uncapped Games

Kim says nan eventual extremity of Battle Aces is to create nan “most nosy RTS” that’s available. This intends Battle Aces isn’t arsenic hardcore arsenic thing for illustration StarCraft 2 aliases Stormgate, but that gives it a pick-up-and-play quality that I don’t usually spot from RTS games. If you’ve ne'er played an RTS before, Battle Aces will beryllium a bully on-ramp arsenic a free-to-play, simplified title successful nan space.

Building connected nan fun

While Battle Aces removes immoderate complexities of nan RTS genre, Kim did want to accent that Uncapped Games worked difficult to clasp what worked truthful good successful games for illustration StarCraft 2. Kim wants to meet nan barroom StarCraft 2 group connected things for illustration combat feel, which is why Battle Aces is truthful snappy and responsive and still keeps a spot of multitasking successful position of really players must determine wherever to nonstop their units aliases what benignant of units to use.

In Battle Aces, players person to build a platform of units to bring into nan battle. These units are now separated into 4 different types that each person advantages complete 1 another. Anti-Big units antagonistic Big units, Big units person an advantage complete Splash units, Splash units tin hit Small units, and Small units are effective against Anti-Big units. That quadrate of portion counters is simply a halfway portion of Battle Aces’ strategy, arsenic an effective portion platform build and commanding nan correct benignant of portion astatine nan correct clip are keys to victory. Battle Aces mightiness not beryllium arsenic analyzable arsenic StarCraft 2, but it’s not arsenic elemental arsenic Warcraft Rumble.

Kim has had an thought for an RTS crippled for illustration this for complete a decade, and it shows. Many unrecorded work games person touted themselves arsenic nan long-awaited approachable introduction constituent to nan genre. None of those efforts person panned out, but Battle Aces could because of really aggressively it focuses connected stripping distant immoderate facet of RTS gameplay that isn’t fun. It would person been absorbing to spot that effort cookware retired pinch Legacy of nan Void, but now is amended than never.

The adjacent closed beta for Battle Aces begins for PC connected November 7.