BattleTech - Interview @ Polygon

Polygon talked to Jordan Weisman, Mitch Gitelman and Mike McCain about Battletech, of which the results can be found in this article of last week.

Turn-based strategy games, such as XCOM and Shadowrun Returns task players with efficient movement, positioning and firing of units. Use of cover is generally an essential element in keeping units alive. However, the use of giant machines means that cover is a far less important tactical device in this game.

"A lot of other turn-based games, like our Shadowrun series, are very cover-focused," says co-director Mike McCain. "But mechs stomp on cover. They don't hide behind it. Philosophically our goal is to take the same approach to BattleTech as we did with Shadowrun, which is to adopt the spirit of the source material experience, but not the literal rule set."

Necessarily, all BattleTech games need to demonstrate scale. Mechs are larger than life. They tower above their surroundings. Thus, hiding behind crumbling walls or neatly placed trucks is not really an option. Also, in a top-down isometric view, it can be difficult to impress the player with large objects.

"One of the key things in art directing any BattleTech game is to constantly reinforce the scale of the mechs," says Weisman. "We have this top down-ish perspective. It can be hard to reinforce the scale of the mechs when you're in that perspective. But I'm excited about some of the things Mike and the team have been doing in pre-production that still manage to demonstrate the size and strength of the mechs."

Thanks Eye.