Bandai-Namco had their new 2v2 battle game on the show room floor at Evolution 2014. As they walked me through the game mechanics, I was also treated to an opportunity to battle the games producer Michael Murray and then have a conversation after about the title. “Rise of the Incarnates” is a free-to-play online battle game that will release on Steam when it’s ready.
The game draws inspiration from first and third person shooters as well as the Gundam Extreme Vs. series that is wildly popular in japan. The idea behind the game is to give the player control of a character that can either summon, or transform into an incarnate. These characters have a life value dependent upon their strength. The stronger they are, the more life your team loses when they die. Conversely if they are a weaker character they won’t be as detrimental to lose, but may not be able to destroy enemies as quickly.
The game will launch initially with 6 playable characters each with a specific role and various abilities. The focus of the game is to keep controls identical from character to character and instead change the strategy behind how you utilize them. You can check out the trailer below and stay up to date with more info by checking RiseOfIncarnates.com and of course, checking back here at BSR! The Interview is after the trailer.
BSR!: Where did you get the inspiration for Rise of the Incarnates?
MURRAY: The genre is 2 on 2, and is something that a lot of Western gamers aren’t familiar with. It is huge in Japan, especially with Gundam Extreme Vs. 2 in arcades. The Gundam license isn’t as strong in America and we thought, the game is so fun, how can we bring that over? We have been working on so many titles like Tekken and Soul Calibur, which have such a huge following, and decided to do this with Rise of the Incarnates. So, with the game you have 2 players per team, hence 2 v 2, and the characters have projectile weapons and melee attacks as well. Each of the characters can either summon or transform into deities or incarnates. The game is free-to-play on Steam, and it isn’t stamina based. You can play as much as you want, as long as you want. The monetization is coming from customization of your character; so visual customization is where the monetization comes from. Most of the customization options that are extremely powered up or cool looking may cost, but you will also unlock new skill sets through gameplay.
We’ve taken the emphasis off of the controller and moved it to the gameplay and the character, instead of button inputs.
BSR!: What strength’s does the 2 on 2 genre lend to the competitive scene.
MURRAY: This is where I use a lot of my experience. Since I’m used to Tekken, people are very into it but it’s been around a long time. It is easy to learn at first, but to play at the tournament level you have to learn a lot and pick up frame data. Which is why we put in fight lab. With “Rise of Incarnates” we wanted a low barrier-to-entry, which is why the controls are all universal, you have melee, ranged, you can hold a direction to change melee, and each character is a bit different. So the barrier to entry is low, but it requires time to master it. It is similar to an FPS in that you have to learn the stage and distance. We’ve taken the emphasis off of the controller and moved it to the gameplay and the character, instead of button inputs. Which is what makes this 2v2 genre different, we’re blending fighting games and shooters. It is quite new to Western players but at EVO, we’re seeing people are getting it after three rounds and then they’re hooked.
The game is free-to-play on Steam, and it isn’t stamina based. You can play as much as you want, as long as you want.
BSR!: You can dash-cancel any move correct? Does this lend to unique combinations?
Right, this is where differences in characters come in. In general your neutral melee is a stand-alone combo that can chain into dash cancelling. Another important thing is if your opponent is near by and your partner is paying attention you can forward attack and launch them into a tag-combo. You can also cancel into forward melee or attack melee. You can also string shot-attacks; there is a lot of freedom there.
BSR!: It feels like the game is better played from a controller?
Yeah, you can play anyway you want, but with the build we wanted a consistent control scheme, and the controller seems to be the easiest. With Gundam people are playing with controllers or even arcade sticks, but you can play this with anything you’d like. Most of the players on the team are using controllers.
BSR!: You just finished your Alpha weekend, correct?
Yeah, we had our alpha weekend at the end of May, and are planning a closed beta sometime next month. We haven’t set a date, but will be announcing the date around SDCC. Hopefully we’ll be able to get out a lot more codes to test more heavily.
BSR!: You’re showing off four characters right now, how many characters are you planning?
Well, this is the alpha build, which has 4 right now, but at E3 we announced 2 new characters. Brumhilda is on a bike, which gives her a lot of movement and Odin who is mainly firepower. He’s an old guy in a tank, which is pretty cool. He has a huge laser attack that destroys the arc-de-triumph, which is an actual in game attack. So 6 so far, all of which will be playable in the upcoming beta. This gives us time to work on balancing, but gives everyone a chance to practice with the core characters.
BSR!: How did you get your start in gaming?
I started with Namco in 2001 in localization, working on Ace Combat, Soul Calibur, some of our biggest franchise. I then made the jump to game design in the Tekken series and have been doing that since. I did the fight lab mode on Tekken Tag 2, but now I’m with Harada where I focus on the direction of the series. Now I’m producing “rise o the Incarnates” with Daisuke, he’s more of a development manager and I’m covering direction and visual appeal as well as where we’ll be showing the game. I still have side duties on Tekken, not day-to-day, but more overall direction work. Kind of doing double duty there.
With every demo people are impressed with the quality of the game we’re making as a free-to-play.
BSR!: How do you feel free-to-play has changed gaming?
You know, a lot of gamers are used to the console method, and free-to-play often is associated with inferior. With every demo people are impressed with the quality of the game we’re making as a free-to-play. Looking at Riot and DOTA they have a really solid game with the same model, they’re in the lead with that market and we’re obviously taking some queues from them. I see the free-to-play heading this direction vs being a browser or mobile game with stamina. It’s quickly changing and nobody can tell exactly where it will end, but we’re definitely new and different in the free-to-play arena.