Letter from the Producer #9: Changing Elements with Equipment and How it Started (Part 9)
Hello there, I'm Masaru Saito, the producer of Brigandine Abyss.
I forgot to say one thing about elements in my previous letter. Certain weapons and armor can bestow elements on the wearer. Equip such an item on a non-elemental unit to make it elemental. Or how about giving your favorite character an advantage in the next battle so that they survive? This kind of strategizing is one of the joys of simulation games, I think.
Now, let's continue from where we left off with "The Start of Brigandine Abyss."
Saito had a reason for wanting to handle the development of a new Brigandine game. As he's mentioned in numerous interviews, he had left Happinet once and then rejoined the company. During his first stint, he was a part of the development team and worked on Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia.
That’s why he wished so badly to participate in the new Brigandine project. To actualize that wish, he labored in secret and leapt at the chance to take charge. Although he's done all kinds of game-related work for other companies in his career, there have only been a few instances of such extensive secret labors.
Check out the next letter for more.
Letter from the Producer #10: Elevation & How it Started (Part 10)
Hello there. I'm Masaru Saito, the producer of Brigandine Abyss.
The battlefields in Brigandine Abyss have an elevation system.
This elevation system will have various gameplay effects, such as Ground units like humans being unable to reach higher areas, while winged Flying units remain unaffected by elevation differences.
Part of the strategy when a battle starts will be identifying areas with jumps in elevation and searching for advantageous spots to make use of.
Now, let's continue from where we left off with "Brigandine Abyss: How it Started".
Based on my past experiences, I was very eager to get involved with a new Brigandine project, but I was stuck in the promotion department.
When the topic came up of who would be the producer of this new Brigandine game, I came out and said:
"I'll do it myself. I'll be the producer, and I'll also handle my work on the promotion side!"
I was very insistent and managed to convince the managers. After all, I had prepared so much, they couldn't possibly tell me no.
My direct supervisor was quite worried, though, since handling these two responsibilities simultaneously would be both mentally and physically taxing.
But it's what I wanted to do, so I chose to work as the producer while continuing my work in the promotion department!
(To be continued in the next letter.)
Letter from the Producer #11: Rallying & How it Started (Part 11)
Hello there. I'm Masaru Saito, the producer of Brigandine Abyss.
This time I'll be talking about the Rally mechanic, which I'm hoping to touch on in future letters as well.
There was no Rally mechanic in previous Brigandine games, so this is a brand-new feature.
In Brigandine, you fight using troops comprised of monsters led by a leader unit. If a leader uses the "Rally" command to call one of the monsters in their troop, they can team up (or maybe it would be more accurate to say temporarily combine?) with them.
By using Rally, the leader will gain the Rally Trait of the chosen monster.
It might be easier to understand if you take a look at this page.
Different monsters have different Rally Traits. I'm hoping to talk more about those in future producer letters.
Now, let's continue from where we left off with "Brigandine Abyss: How it Started".
I had taken on the responsibility of being Brigandine's producer in addition to my work in the promotion department, and now I had to find a developer who could handle making the actual game.
I put together a list including developers we had worked with previously, my personal contacts in the gaming industry, and even some people I hadn't spoken to in a while but who I thought might be able to help.
Then, I started looking into whether anyone on the list had experience with war strategy games or strategy RPGs. If they already had experience with games similar to Brigandine, it would be easier to approach them.
What I learned is that very few developers have made war strategy games or strategy RPGs!
After finding a few developers who had experience, I met with them in person to see if they were interested. But each company told me they didn't have the resources to take on a new project...
I was stumped...
(To be continued in the next letter.)
Letter from the Producer #12: Rallying (Part 2) & How it Started (Part 12)
Hello there. I'm Masaru Saito, the producer of Brigandine Abyss.
I'd like to talk more about Brigandine Abyss' new Rally mechanic, which I brought up in the previous letter.
When a leader teams up with a monster in their troop using Rally, the leader will gain that monster's Rally Trait.
I'd like to use these letters to introduce Rally Traits a little at a time.
Today I'd like to talk about the Unicorn Rally Trait. Unicorns are a type of monster unit that possesses recovery skills. When a leader teams up with a Unicorn, the leader will gain a "Regenerate Ally HP" trait.
This trait allows the leader to restore 5% HP to all adjacent allies at the start of each turn.
For example, if a leader is a backline unit such as an Enchantress, giving them a Unicorn's Rally Trait would allow them to heal adjacent frontline units a little each turn while simultaneously being protected by those units.
This could be a useful tactic when you're struggling to get the upper hand in a battle.
Now, let's continue from where we left off with "Brigandine Abyss: How it Started".
I was looking for a company that could handle the development of Brigandine, but everyone I was familiar with told me they were too busy with other projects.
I couldn't wait around forever, so I decided to start looking for potential developers online.
I began messaging companies using whatever contact information they had on their sites, regardless of if they had experience with war strategy games/strategy RPGs or not.
Despite the fact that I was messaging them out of the blue, I was touched by how every company responded very kindly.
...Almost every company, that is. I'm not going to name names, but there was one company that got on my nerves!
I won't go into detail, but basically I sent them a message saying, "I would love the chance to talk to you about a new project."
And they sent me a response along the lines of, "We have absolutely no interest in working with your company. Please never contact us again."
I hadn't even explained the project to them yet. Was my message rude?
You really can never know what to expect when dealing with people, or companies.
(To be continued in the next letter.)