BattleTech - Development Update

Harebrained Schemes released a new kickstarter update which outlined where in development Battletech is right now and showcased classic Battletech artist Duane Loose and what he is bringing to the project.

Development Update
So, what's the team been up to since GenCon? In a word, EVERYTHING. Seriously. Not only did we get right back to work on the combat experience - finishing up features like melee, MechWarrior abilities, airstrikes, and more - but we've been busy spinning up on ‘Mech production, environment art production, map design, multiplayer, story development, and last but not least, breaking ground on development on the "simulation game" (which is our internal term to describe all the fun aspects of managing your Mercenary outfit in-between combat missions).

Whew!

Our spring and summer summer were all about two things: 1) Turning our early combat prototype into a complete, fun, and robust combat experience, and 2) Getting all of our systems, pipelines and architecture in place for full content production on the game. Objective #1 was proven out by the #SuperPreAlpha (thanks again to everyone who watched the Backer video or was able to play it at GenCon and PAX!) Objective #2 has taken a little bit longer to solidify, but I'm pleased to report that we're also turning that corner this month into content production in all areas of the game. This is one of the great challenges of game development - sometimes one team is furiously trying to finish building the car while other teams are simultaneously trying to paint and test drive it.

To continue with the weird car analogy, I really couldn't be more proud of this team and feel like everyone is really firing on all cylinders. Jordan and Mitch and I would like to give a particular shoutout here to our engineering team though, they have been absolutely crushing it in their efforts to get a huge amount of features into the game quickly while maintaining a quality, scalable codebase.

We expect to be back with one more Kickstarter update towards the end of 2016 including another progress update and some Kickstarter Beta details. After that, expect our KS updates to slow down a bit as production ramps WAY up.

Until then!
Mike

[...]

When Mike asked me to write about what it's like to be able to rework some of the units I'd designed so long ago, my initial answer and feeling was "It's Awesome and very gratifying!" Especially being a part of Mike's team and making another contribution to a universe worthy of devotion.

As designers we live with our work forever. What we create, especially in the internet age, lives on, often unexpectedly, to our credit and our critique. To have my name associated with Battletech has always been a blessing for which I am grateful. This association has created many opportunities to connect with designers and artists who grew up playing Battletech and enjoying the art from so many of my amazing Battletech artist colleagues. They inspired me then, as they do today.

I often tell my students that drawing 100 ‘mechs and machines, in three months, for the first technical readout, is where I really learned how to draw. The experience working in the Battletech universe paved the way for my career as an art director and production designer in game development and animated film production. I still look at many of the drawings of mechs I've done and think of them as some of the best work in my career. The Atlas for example ­and definitely the Hatchetman ­my first ‘Mech.