Hey everyone,
A few weeks ago, we announced the next title in the Circle Empires series: Circle Empires 2! We were thrilled by your enthusiasm, but we also saw some questions that popped up over and over again. So we figured it would make sense to address all of your burning questions in a Steam blog. So without further ado: welcome to the very first FAQ blog for Circle Empires 2!
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Wait? RIVALS is not CE2!?
Yep, this is Circle Empires 2 – says it right on the tin!
What will be different (in a nutshell)?
With Circle Empires 2, the goal is to create a concentrated experience. Less stuff, but more meaningful variation. You now have to study less and experiment more. Big changes to core systems like unit & terrain interactions, and unit behaviour will completely upset how the game feels. Many new systems just weren’t possible in the old engine and we had to completely rewrite things from scratch.
You now have granular control over terrain and building placements. You can balance the maze-like defensive plans of the circle with optimal economic layouts. Units can push each other, leading to group vs. group struggles in key areas, which you can manipulate with your defensive layouts, magic units, and positioning. Any unit can ride any other unit that is large enough. Want to employ the dragon as a mount for a worker? Can do. Just lots of cool stuff that wasn't possible before.
What’s your favourite unit and why?
I like the pike man, because he lets you easily hold your position and, with sufficient numbers, keep enemies at bay.
Also: FOR SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Are there any single-player game modes?
Yeah you SP lovers, we got you. No worries. Though we’re still actively considering which game modes will be brought over, there will be an active single player mode. So, let us know which ones you like the most so we can make sure that those are considered!
Will it have multiplayer?
MP lovers, of course we’ve got your backs too. CE2 will have multiplayer from the get-go, and we’ll be actively testing the multiplayer mode until launch. So if you want to get an early taste, wishlist the game and keep an eye on Playtest sign-up becoming available!
This is CIRCLE Empires! Why are the platforms not circles!?
The landscape in CE2 is now built from grids, which, indeed, makes it less… well, circular.
But they’re still very much circles! They’re just made from squares. I guess Square-Circle Empires just didn’t have the same ring to it!
However, this new grid layout allows us to do the following two things:
- Players can create terrain layouts in their circles using water, desert, grass, and other terrain types to optimize their defense and economy. There is often a tradeoff between what is best economically versus what makes the circle easy to defend.
- Having circles made of grids allows us to create more variation in circle layouts. In the future, it may be possible to extend that further if modding becomes a thing.
Why the new unit design?
We totally recognize that the art style in previous Circle Empires games has its own charm and many people will miss that. I will also miss parts of it.
From a game dev standpoint, however, the new, more blob-like characters can be easily assembled from several pieces, giving us a lot more flexibility.
For example, the sword-and-shield guy has body, face, shield, and sword. Each of these can function separately:
- The body can be knocked over so they are on the ground (downed)
- The face is more expressive. The character can be surprised when attacked, angry when looking for a fight, and happy after winning or completing a task.
- The sword and shield are flung off when the unit dies.
This modularity allows us to experiment with unit types, because individual parts can be swapped around. For example, we could make a unit with spear and shield, by switching out the sword for a spear. This component-based system opens up new visual effects and mechanics.
The animations are also a looooot smoother. The old sprites were animated frame-by-frame making them a bit choppy from time to time. It's perhaps not super clear from the videos, but the animations in CE2 are much smoother at high frame rates. It's also easier for us to add different animations. For example, when you win a battle, all units will have a cheering animation where they wave their weapons around and smile. It would be very hard to hand-draw that for every unit type. Streamlining allows us to spend the more time on other cool stuff.
Facial Expressions?!?!?!
Facial expressions.
Q: Favourite circular food?
It’s round, it’s sweet, and always steals the spotlight—until you bite into the pit and it fights back. Cherries are the best.
Will I be able to make crazy mods?
There probably won’t be official mod support at launch, but we might implement it at a later stage. At this point, we can’t guarantee modding, but we’ll keep it in mind!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3093020/Circle_Empires_2/