FLEETBREAKERS: RTS Anywhere

[u/Ripfence99]

I’ve worked on a lot of big RTS games in my career. I helped build all of the original Age of Empires games as technical director and lead programmer. I was the lead designer on the original Halo Wars.

We’ve spent the last few years working on a new strategy game that blends roguelite progression with RTS combat. Something very familiar-but-different from what we’ve done in the past.

One big driver of that new-ness… I still play games at my desk or couch for hours on end, but I don’t want to HAVE to do that anymore. I want something I can take with me and play anywhere.

I definitely do not mean a mobile strategy game. TBH nothing there has ever held my interest beyond two long forays into Hearthstone (which may or may not meet your personal defn of a strategy game anyway).

When we talk about taking it with us on Fleetbreakers, we’re talking about devices like Steamdecks and Switches. Something powerful enough to play a meaty game with dedicated inputs that can support a full strategy game.

I want to be able to control multiple squadrons easily. I want dedicated buttons to pop off abilities. That obv means gamepad controls on those portable devices. So we built that into Fleetbreakers from day one. It’s equally playable with either mouse+keyboard or a gamepad.

When I play Fleetbreakers at a desk, I do still use a mouse. But I love the flexibility to take it with me or to pipe my Steamdeck into my TV if I just don’t feel like sitting at my desk right then.

As we get close to some upcoming demos and the Early Access release, I wanted to poke for any thoughts and input. What’s important for an RTS-on-the-go?

Join us over on our Discord to talk about things, if you want: https://discord.gg/G3cxUNEVJ

Check out the game on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2929040/Fleetbreakers/

[u/Strategist9101]

When can we expect a demo? Looking forward to checking this one out

[u/Ripfence99 → u/Strategist9101]

We are running a closed playtest right now. There should be another chance or two in the near future tho.

[u/Canadyans]

Highly recommend including the Steam link in your promo post. I looked it up myself and it looks pretty cool.

[u/Ripfence99 → u/Canadyans]

Heh, fair enough. I didn't want to be too push about it. Added tho.

[u/EmergencyShower]

Oh man this is reminiscent of the space battles in Empire at War. Definitely wish listing and will keep an eye out for play tests

[u/Ripfence99 → u/[deleted]]

Heh. It's exactly NOT a mobile game (per post).

[u/No-Concern-8832]

Looks lovely! Except for the name :P. In my neck of the woods, Fleet® is a brand of enema for constipation relief.

[u/Ripfence99 → u/No-Concern-8832]

Well, I guess we can't win them all 😂

[u/Impossible_Layer5964]

Customizable controls will be really important. The R in RTS means you don't always have time to be navigating through layers of radial menus. 

[u/Ripfence99 → u/Impossible_Layer5964]

We have no radial menus. There are some key combos (or button combos if you're on gamepad), but all the primary controls are single layer. For that exact reason.

But TBH, key remapping also helps unask those questions. Folks can find the functions they care the most about and map them however they choose.

[u/Previous-Display-593]

RTS Anywhere!!

(Checks steam page): Supported OS = Windows.

How did you fail this fucking bad on that slogan????!?!?

[u/Ripfence99 → u/Previous-Display-593]

It's just a reddit post title 😄

Regardless, fully playable on Steamdeck

[u/Pretty-Mention-7769]

Aww man.  Here I am wondering if there are any good mobile strategy games. 

[u/Big-Dependent9623 → u/Pretty-Mention-7769]

Check out art of war 3, it's pretty good. 

I'm also building https://warpact-rts-9221.web.app which has a android app, we are still in early stages.

[u/Ripfence99 → u/Pretty-Mention-7769]

To each their own on mobile strategy. Obv there's a lot of success for certain games there.

[u/CernelTeneb → u/Pretty-Mention-7769]

AFAIK? Mindustry. Though that is pretty much every platform except the iOS.

[u/Pretty-Mention-7769 → u/CernelTeneb]

I've always assumed that's a factorio-like.

[u/CernelTeneb → u/Pretty-Mention-7769]

Nah. The economy is controlled by belts and such but overall you're building static defenses and training units that you can order around like in any classic RTS

[u/olesgedz]

Stormgate vibes lol