SHARE THIS:

Some high profile Kickstarter games are getting their first expansions, which is very encouraging to see. Out of nowhere comes Titans, the first expansion for Planetary Annihilation, to breathe new life into the game



I’ve been having a lot of fun playing Titans for the past couple of days, building gigantic units and stomping around with them is something I missed from the old Sup Com days. Since Uber released PA, they’ve been working a lot to polish the game and add features that didn’t quite make it into launch and now they’re taking the next steps going beyond the game initial vision, with the new expansion they are adding 21 new units 5 of which are the game ender Titan-class units. We were fortunate enough to ask a couple of questions to John Comes, Design Director for Uber Entertainment.

Jack TGG:

When the game came out it seemed the game enders were the different technologies that allowed players to destroy entire planets, so colossal and unstoppable units were not needed. Why did the team decided to introduce them now with this next expansion and how do you think they will fit in the gameplay?

John Comes Uber entertainment:

It’s not that Titan-style units weren’t needed, it was simply out of scope for the original vision of the game. We originally wanted the game to be about annihilating planets. (go figure) So we didn’t believe they fit into the initial version of the game. After we released, and then updated the game over the course of most of the first year, we felt like we hit most of what we originally pitched. Once we got to that point, then we began discussion on what would the next evolution of Planetary Annihilation look like. We spent weeks pouring through tons of fan feedback and distilled it down into what we put into Titans. The biggest new feature fans wanted were huge, powerful units.



Jack TGG:

For more casual players, Titans might remind them of Experimentals from “Supreme Commander” but Titans seem to be more diverse. Can you tell us what inspired some of their appearance and combat roles?

John Comes Uber entertainment:

When we made the decision to put Titans into the game, we really wanted to make sure they were diverse. We took a look at all the different terrain layers and units of the game and focused on making a Titan for each of those roles. Thus we have a bot, vehicle, air, orbital, and structure Titan. Once we knew we wanted to make a Titan for those different roles, our lead designer Tom Vinita spent time prototyping all kinds of different game play with each to make sure they were all truly diverse. We’re all very happy with how it worked out and we hope you are too. Who knows, maybe there will be more in the future!

What else to expect?

Aside from new units, this standalone expansion also brings new maps, a new game mode, balance changes and also all kickstarter backers are supposed to receive this expansion for free, and everyone that bought the game after the KS campaign ended has 66% discount when buying this expansion, as a timed offer. Not everything has gone perfectly for Uber, they were unable to fund their kickstarter for Human Resources (a giant monsters vs giant robots RTS) and even now they face some complaints from fans who got the game on early access that think a 66% discount is not enough to demonstrate player loyalty.

Controversies aside, the game is a lot more fun with these additions and we hope Uber continues to support it and hopefully adds more units to the game (Naval Titan, anyone?).



Jack Davis

The Gaming Ground

Twitter: @TheGamingGround

SHARE THIS: Twitter

Facebook

Reddit



More by Jack Davis:

Tags: Planetary Annihilation, Planetary Annihilation Titans, Titans, Uber Entertainment, Uber entertainment interview