Moonbreaker blends Warhammer, Brandon Sanderson lore and radio drama

Developers behind the new game SubnauticaIt is not an isolated, perilous pilgrimage across hostile waters on an alien planet. Instead, this strategy game is designed to allow you to work together. WarhammerMiniatures of a fantasy world, reimagined from Mistborn author Brandon Sanderson.

MoonbreakerThe unexpected pivot of Unknown Worlds, ‘, which is available in early access for Mac and Windows PC via Steam now, can be found here.

“My pitch was always like, we’re making a digital miniatures game, full stop,” Unknown Worlds co-founder Charlie Cleveland told me during an interview for MoonbreakerGamescom 2022. “Think about it: Painting? Yes. Digital miniatures lore? Yes. Turn-based strategy? Yes. Sharing paint jobs… It just seems so obvious. But it’s not until people see the painting that it starts to click.”

Moonbreaker For five years, it has been under wraps. It and Subnautica below Zero Cleveland was the only one who worked simultaneously on both Unknown Worlds and Cleveland’s. Moonbreaker.

“I needed to switch away from Subnautica,” he said. “I’d been working on it for five years, as intensely as I have been working on Moonbreaker For five years. However, this is the one that I’d like to work on for the rest of my life. This is what I love. SubnauticaHowever, those five years were extremely difficult.

“Some of the team dynamics were tougher on Subnautica, because we had so many people and we didn’t know what the game was going to be for so long. I wanted this open-world, challenging game that wasn’t going to hold your hand, and other people wanted it to be a little more guided. We found a good middle ground, and it was really enjoyable. It was exhausting. It was just so draining. Moonbreaker… I feel like a lot of the time, we didn’t know it was gonna be a good game.”

The team knew that there was a clear, shared vision of what they wanted. Moonbreaker It should. This game was partially inspired by WarhammerIt’s not only because it has miniatures. Unknown Worlds didn’t just want to let you paint your minis but also to create a rich world filled with fascinating lore where each part contributes to the overall gestalt.

As mentioned previously, this was achieved with the help of a particularly well-renowned author who happened to have played — and loved — Subnautica A few years ago.

It was also a reason. Moonbreaker was kept secret for so long: You can’t just announce Brandon Sanderson is writing your game without being absolutely sure that said game is as good as it can be.

“Brandon is extremely prolific, super creative, and he’s basically a game designer,” Cleveland said. “He thinks about his magic systems very mechanically, in a systems-oriented fashion with integrity and rules. He’ll create a magic system like in MistbornThe characters basically eat various metals in the game. The characters ingest and burn the metals in their bodies. Each metal gives them a different power. Each metal has a unique ability and can only be used by certain people. It’s a very systems-level approach, [which is why]It was a simple decision for him. We loved his work already, and then talking to him is so natural, because he understands we’re making a game. The universe he created is systemically ideal for a game.

“[The systems]They are already gamified. I can just tell him, ‘Hey, we need this substance that we can use as an energy source, and it can give someone powers.’ And he comes up with this idea of Cinder, this magical rock. He’s figured out exactly how it works in the universe and why it’s there, where it lives, how people get it, what happens when they get it, what happens after people get it, what happens after second order, third order, fourth order. It’s a lot easier to work with someone like that — a traditional author, I guess.”

Lore is one component of the lore. MoonbreakerIt still includes a strategy, painting, and audio dramas. It’s worth delving into all three of these streams, especially given Cleveland’s earlier nod to WarhammerFor more information on how to get involved, click here Moonbreaker hopes to launch in a scene where “digital miniatures strategy game” still sounds pretty niche, if not completely unheard of.

This core game is inspired not only by contemporary strategy games but also many TTRPGs, and CCGs. Cleveland often mentions CCGs in relation to the former. The Gathering: Magic and the GatheringHe’s a big fan of the. But he’s also inspired by other offshoots of Magic — namely, Hearthstone — and, perhaps more importantly, the influence of Magic itself: Cosmic Encounter2. Magic Richard Garfield is a famous creator who has made many speeches about it.

Cleveland stated that Unknown Worlds, in particular is trying to portray the absurdity Cosmic Encounter’s Ability in unit effects is partially due to how difficult the devs try to ensure Moonbreaker doesn’t develop a de facto meta.

“I mean, there always will be some form of meta, but we don’t want a stale meta,” Cleveland said. “Richard Garfield actually talks about this too. Every new unit you add to your game adds more depth. But often, it actually makes the game less balanced, because each is an opportunity for imbalance.”

This is a fundamental tenet Moonbreaker’s The match’s beginning has each player given three options, known as ship aids. These are always randomized, meaning there’s a cap on how much planning you can do before entering the fray.

Unknown Worlds’ methods of achieving randomness were much stricter. Up until about six months ago, players weren’t even able to build their own rosters — instead, the game provided you with a new, procedurally generated squad based on units you already owned once every 24 hours. This meant that if one person was fortunate enough to have an OP roster they could not be duplicated by others until the other player is gifted them.

This was, however, in line with the overall concept of Moonbreaker. Not only did it introduce imbalance — it actively fought with the core of the game: collectibility.

“We tried to make a business model that made sense, but it was just so gross that we had to throw the whole thing away,” Cleveland said. “I’m glad we did, because the game actually got a lot better. But what’s interesting is we played it that way for two years — you could not build rosters for two years. So we got used to trying a lot of new units and new unit combinations, and it kind of forced us to play everything and see how they all work.”

The team was able to use this information in order to stop a meta form. Among the measures taken to ensure this were limiting the viability of unit combos, removing players’ ability to use dupes, avoiding aggro decks by not including “+1 to all beasts” buff cards that are typical of modern CCGs, and more. There are subtle synergies, but they usually only become apparent in the moment, and you can’t pull them off without paying attention to the strategy element of the game. It sounds complicated, but when you play it, it’s all very intuitive — I was on the verge of winning my first ever match until I made a misplay that I will not repeat here, because almost two weeks later, I’m still pretty embarrassed about it.

But more so than the mechanical implications of limiting people’s ability to build rosters, it stood in complete opposition to the fact that part of this game revolves around allowing people to get minis from boosters and paint them to be their own. While the painting aspect of the game might seem a bit odd to people who don’t come from a minis background, it really is an enormous part of its appeal. And Unknown Worlds wants to build on it: You can’t share your designs with others just yet, but eventually, either during or after early access, Cleveland said they would be “crazy not to” support that. Given the amount of time that goes into creating the perfect mini, it makes sense.

“The painting is a time-suck, but I feel OK about it,” Cleveland said. “I don’t know how much you followed Subnautica or my position on this stuff. However, we didn’t want extrinsic reward in the game. That is why I worked so hard to get it.

“Because I don’t want to waste people’s time and I don’t want to convince people to play a game that is not worth playing. If we have to put in achievements and junk to make you play the game, I kinda don’t want you playing it. You should do something else. This rule is broken a bit by us. Moonbreaker. There’s a lot more progression here. This painting, however, is pure bliss. I feel good about having time melt away, because it’s so relaxing that it feels worthwhile to me.”

You have now the last piece: the audio dramas. You can find the audio dramas here. Moonbreaker currently has three game modes — PvE, PvP, and a roguelite mode — none of these are story-oriented.

“That wasn’t from a lack of trying,” Cleveland said. “We spent way too much time — probably about a year during COVID — where we tried to make what we called ‘Adventure Mode.’ It was blending the narrative and all the characters with a single-player mode. We wanted it to be replayable — you don’t want to make a Starcraft 2Campaign just for the sake of it.

“We basically gave up, because we ended up with a mediocre single-player mode — because it wasn’t showcasing the units and the versatility, and it wasn’t replayable — and a mediocre story mode because we couldn’t really control the narrative.”

That’s when the idea to tell the story of Moonbreaker via podcasts came into play. They tried this idea initially, but eventually realized they could also listen to podcasts and paint. Moonbreaker This holy trinity might be achieved WarhammerThe integration of minis, gameplay, and lore into one cohesive, compelling unit.

As for the audio dramas themselves, they’re fully voice-acted with music and sound, and the plan is to drop them at regular intervals. Cleveland said the aim is to produce “the best episodes you’ve ever heard.” Meanwhile, playing the game and exhausting each character’s barks will provide you with further context of Moonbreaker’s world.

Moonbreaker While it might seem niche at first, Cleveland’s clear vision is unmistakable after experiencing the game for himself and meeting him. And it’s not uncompromising in that it is resistant to change — on the contrary, it actively desires to become the best version of itself, and will do anything to make that a reality.

Where do we go next? Cleveland has some great ideas.

“I would love it if people painted in real life after they painted in-game,” he said. “Miniatures or anything, it doesn’t matter what. It’s my hope that it inspires people to make art. And I hope they’re moved by the audio drama, and the drama that’s actually within those audio dramas. It took so much time to finish the first episode that I felt a bit ill at the end. But there’s some really nice feels in there.

“And then because the world is so accessible — we haven’t talked about it, but we have a disabled Captain coming, we have a gay Captain, we have tons of people of color, we have tons of women, there are kids in the game. Everyone should feel at home in this world. This is for all. This isn’t about war. It’s about positivity. Also just the whole world itself — it’s not grimdark. It’s not race war, it’s not war at all. Yes, there’s conflicts, but there’s lots of humanity. And you’ll find out the motivations all the captains have for what they’re doing, and they’re human stories.”

Moonbreaker It will cost $29.99 to launch. However, Cleveland indicated that this price would drop when the game is available on other platforms. It’s “going to eventually be practically free, if not free.”

“We want to make a game that’s gonna last a decade or longer,” he said. “Subnautica couldn’t do that, because it just wasn’t designed to be expanded. This time, we’re like, ‘OK, let’s get all of our ducks in a row. If this works, how can we figure out a way to support it forever?’ And so here we are.”

“Ten years is a long time. I don’t think I’ll be working this much on it. Mark Rosewater is chief designer. Magic, and he’s been doing it for 20 years. He’s not slowing down, he’s doing these daily podcasts in his car. We don’t know what the future holds. I could be that guy”

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