Swords & Soldiers
Encyclopedia
Swords & Soldiers is a 2D
sidescrolling real-time strategy
game for WiiWare
by Ronimo Games
. It was released in Europe on May 15, 2009, and in North America on June 8, 2009. Versions for both Windows and Mac have also been released.
s, the Viking
s and the Imperial Chinese) are fighting each other to gain the powers of the gods. The game boasts both a single player campaign for all three factions and a skirmish mode, as well as competitive split-screen multiplayer and several other modes and minigames players can unlock by progressing through the game.
The single player campaign features 10 missions for each faction, with objectives ranging from conquering the enemy's base on the other side of the play area to surviving a full out assault from the enemy or infiltrating their defenses with a limited number of troops. Players collect gold and mana which is used to purchase units and spells respectively. After being built units automatically begin marching towards the enemies base, and players cast spells to either strengthen their own units or directly attack their enemies. Players must make strategic decisions on what units to build and when to send them out.
acquired the rights to its first game de Blob
. While it was originally intended to be a flash game, the developers saw potential in the title and moved it to the WiiWare
service. Because they had never released a video game commercially, the development took three times longer than they estimated. The development team was initially made up by seven developers and a "varying amount of interns", and the team used the offices of Dutch Game Garden to develop the game. After a few months, the development moved to a separate building. Swords & Soldiers began as simply a split-screen multiplayer game featuring only the Aztec
s and the Viking
s. The developers validated this decision using arguments such as them not being sure how well WiiWare
games sell, that the project was mostly to show that they could develop a game from point A to point Z, that the multiplayer component was one of the strongest features of the game, and that beginning with multiplayer allows the developers to balance the game right away. The single player mode was added after the developers implemented a single player tutorial, which they found fun. While they intended to only put a small amount of single player content, they ended up adding 30 campaign levels, additional challenge modes, achievements, and other features. They used extensive play testing to ensure that the game, especially the single player mode, had a proper difficulty curve and that the gameplay is not complicated. They attempted to utilize it to test the game's balance, but found that testers took too long with strategies to use it accurately with testing factions' strengths. The developers cited the play testers for helping them make it as good as it is and for creating a fan following on the Internet. Several features of the game were implemented late in the development process, including the ability to change the game's pace. A major addition was added balance, which they realized was necessary after discovering that the balance was very poor in spite of believing it to be much better initially. As a result, some levels became too difficult while others became too easy, requiring them to fix this as well.
The developers were focused on the idea they had for the game from the beginning. The visual style and gameplay were established early in the development, motivating the developers in how simply the development process progressed. In the first months of its development, the developers had created a tool chain and approximately 90% of the gameplay functionality. Two features of the game were unclear to the developers during development; a "troop manipulation" mechanic, a common feature found in other real-time strategy video games that allows players to control the movements of their units, was a feature that the developers wanted to include. They attempted to include it by allowing players to drag units backwards or stop them by clicking on them, but felt that such a feature took away from tactical decisions and put too much emphasis on micromanagement and twitch gameplay. The developers added menus to the main gameplay late in the game. The final version was described by them as a "very polished version" of the vision they had of what they wanted.
The audio of Swords & Soldiers was created as a collaboration between the developers and an external audio studio called Sonic Picnic, which was located near their offices, making it very accessible to them. The developers found Sonic Picnic to be helpful, receiving an audio experience from them that matched with their vision. Due to a low budget, the developers offered Sonic Picnic royalties, which Sonic Picnic accepted due to being impressed by the prototype. Developers stated that this process kept them motivated to finish the game. The voice samples for the characters and units were created by recording the various developers and putting their voices in the game.
The developers cited the real-time strategy game StarCraft
as a strong inspiration, citing in particular its use of factions as something that made it particularly more inspiring than other games in the genre. They add that the quality of StarCrafts factions comes from both the gameplay and their visual appearances. This caused them to focus on having three different factions that played differently from each other. They intended to make sure that every unit and spell was unique as well as different abilities for each faction such as how each one collects mana. The first faction, the Vikings, simply have to buy an upgrade, intending to make the Vikings the most accessible class. The Aztecs sacrifice a unit to turn its health into mana, which the developers state they did so to add "playful cruelty" to this faction. The Chinese faction has to build a Buddha
statue, which generates mana until it's destroyed, requiring players to protect it. The developers intended to make the Chinese faction more complex than the other two. They intended on making each faction's miners different in how they collect gold, but found that this was too difficult to balance. The Chinese faction was originally not included in the game. The developers originally only revealed two factions - the Vikings and the Aztecs. On April Fools' Day
, 2009, Ronimo jokingly announced that the yet to be revealed faction would be the Space Marine
s; however on April 22, 2009 it was confirmed that the third faction will be the Chinese Empire.
The developers discussed the low points of the development, first citing their underestimation of development difficulties. As they started with only a multiplayer mode, the game became playable in only two months. Despite having no experience with making a campaign mode, they estimated that it would only take three to four weeks to complete. However, it ended up taking about three to four months to finish and polish, having to hire an intern to help design and test it. They also cited the process of polishing the game as one of the developmental low points, stating that because they went to game design school they thought they knew how to design games. However, in this school, they were required to create a game in 90 days and were evaluated, which caused them to never have finished any games, though they still got good grades for their projects. In the case of Swords & Soldiers, the developers found the latter 10% of the game's development to be a lot more difficult and time consuming than they had expected. Another hurdle was the level development process, which they did through Notepad, a program used for a variety of other functions. This proved very time consuming for the team, requiring them to start the level creation over between each change of a version. They expressed regret for having used Notepad instead of taking the time to create a visual level editor, stating that the advantages would have outweighed the disadvantages. The AI routines were created using a logic tree editor. Developers found it buggy, but found it to be an improvement over using Notepad.
The developers' marketing plan began as merely releasing screenshots and videos of the game on the Internet. However, they found that this was not adequate to create buzz. Because the deadline was pushed back a half of a year, the marketing started with the original release date in mind, the developers had to fill in the space between its announcement and release with enough marketing material to maintain interest in it. They had to get a full-time artist to create videos, screenshots, logos, and high resolution materials to release, also receiving assistance from Nintendo
to promote the game. The developers stated that they would use this experience to ensure that they do not make the same mistake again with their next project. According to Ronimo's Joost van Dongen, the art style for Swords & Soldiers was inspired by the credits of a video called Super Moin, and from the ability of an artist in the team.
, and 84% at GameRankings.
IGN
gave the game its Editor's Choice award, calling it "one of the best console real-time strategy games ever" while praising the production values and personality of the game, as well as its unique approach to the genre. Nintendo Life called the game an essential download, praising the visuals, music and depth of the gameplay and noting the plethora of modes for players. Edge
called it a "a riot of colour and imagination" that "towers above everything else WiiWare currently has to offer". Official Nintendo Magazine called it "a colourful, vibrant and frankly brilliant console strategy title".
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
sidescrolling real-time strategy
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game for WiiWare
WiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
by Ronimo Games
Ronimo Games
Ronimo Games is a Dutch video game developer founded in 2007 by former students of the Utrecht School of the Arts.-History:The team that later formed Ronimo Games initially came together under the name of Banana Games, and created the original freeware PC version of de Blob...
. It was released in Europe on May 15, 2009, and in North America on June 8, 2009. Versions for both Windows and Mac have also been released.
Gameplay
In Swords & Soldiers, three factions (the AztecAztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s, the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
s and the Imperial Chinese) are fighting each other to gain the powers of the gods. The game boasts both a single player campaign for all three factions and a skirmish mode, as well as competitive split-screen multiplayer and several other modes and minigames players can unlock by progressing through the game.
The single player campaign features 10 missions for each faction, with objectives ranging from conquering the enemy's base on the other side of the play area to surviving a full out assault from the enemy or infiltrating their defenses with a limited number of troops. Players collect gold and mana which is used to purchase units and spells respectively. After being built units automatically begin marching towards the enemies base, and players cast spells to either strengthen their own units or directly attack their enemies. Players must make strategic decisions on what units to build and when to send them out.
Development
Swords & Soldiers began development after THQTHQ
THQ Inc. is an American developer and publisher of video games. Founded in 1989 in the United States, the company develops products for video game consoles, handheld game systems, as well as for personal computers and wireless devices...
acquired the rights to its first game de Blob
De Blob
de Blob, known as Blob: Colorful na Kibou in Japan, is a platform-puzzle video game that allows players to explore and liberate an alien city from the evil, monochromatic INKT Corporation that has taken over the city and outlawed all color and fun from daily life...
. While it was originally intended to be a flash game, the developers saw potential in the title and moved it to the WiiWare
WiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
service. Because they had never released a video game commercially, the development took three times longer than they estimated. The development team was initially made up by seven developers and a "varying amount of interns", and the team used the offices of Dutch Game Garden to develop the game. After a few months, the development moved to a separate building. Swords & Soldiers began as simply a split-screen multiplayer game featuring only the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s and the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
s. The developers validated this decision using arguments such as them not being sure how well WiiWare
WiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
games sell, that the project was mostly to show that they could develop a game from point A to point Z, that the multiplayer component was one of the strongest features of the game, and that beginning with multiplayer allows the developers to balance the game right away. The single player mode was added after the developers implemented a single player tutorial, which they found fun. While they intended to only put a small amount of single player content, they ended up adding 30 campaign levels, additional challenge modes, achievements, and other features. They used extensive play testing to ensure that the game, especially the single player mode, had a proper difficulty curve and that the gameplay is not complicated. They attempted to utilize it to test the game's balance, but found that testers took too long with strategies to use it accurately with testing factions' strengths. The developers cited the play testers for helping them make it as good as it is and for creating a fan following on the Internet. Several features of the game were implemented late in the development process, including the ability to change the game's pace. A major addition was added balance, which they realized was necessary after discovering that the balance was very poor in spite of believing it to be much better initially. As a result, some levels became too difficult while others became too easy, requiring them to fix this as well.
The developers were focused on the idea they had for the game from the beginning. The visual style and gameplay were established early in the development, motivating the developers in how simply the development process progressed. In the first months of its development, the developers had created a tool chain and approximately 90% of the gameplay functionality. Two features of the game were unclear to the developers during development; a "troop manipulation" mechanic, a common feature found in other real-time strategy video games that allows players to control the movements of their units, was a feature that the developers wanted to include. They attempted to include it by allowing players to drag units backwards or stop them by clicking on them, but felt that such a feature took away from tactical decisions and put too much emphasis on micromanagement and twitch gameplay. The developers added menus to the main gameplay late in the game. The final version was described by them as a "very polished version" of the vision they had of what they wanted.
The audio of Swords & Soldiers was created as a collaboration between the developers and an external audio studio called Sonic Picnic, which was located near their offices, making it very accessible to them. The developers found Sonic Picnic to be helpful, receiving an audio experience from them that matched with their vision. Due to a low budget, the developers offered Sonic Picnic royalties, which Sonic Picnic accepted due to being impressed by the prototype. Developers stated that this process kept them motivated to finish the game. The voice samples for the characters and units were created by recording the various developers and putting their voices in the game.
The developers cited the real-time strategy game StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
as a strong inspiration, citing in particular its use of factions as something that made it particularly more inspiring than other games in the genre. They add that the quality of StarCrafts factions comes from both the gameplay and their visual appearances. This caused them to focus on having three different factions that played differently from each other. They intended to make sure that every unit and spell was unique as well as different abilities for each faction such as how each one collects mana. The first faction, the Vikings, simply have to buy an upgrade, intending to make the Vikings the most accessible class. The Aztecs sacrifice a unit to turn its health into mana, which the developers state they did so to add "playful cruelty" to this faction. The Chinese faction has to build a Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
statue, which generates mana until it's destroyed, requiring players to protect it. The developers intended to make the Chinese faction more complex than the other two. They intended on making each faction's miners different in how they collect gold, but found that this was too difficult to balance. The Chinese faction was originally not included in the game. The developers originally only revealed two factions - the Vikings and the Aztecs. On April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
, 2009, Ronimo jokingly announced that the yet to be revealed faction would be the Space Marine
Space marine
The space marine, an archetype of science fiction, is a soldier that operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill amphibious roles: ship defence, landing parties, and general high-mobility deployments...
s; however on April 22, 2009 it was confirmed that the third faction will be the Chinese Empire.
The developers discussed the low points of the development, first citing their underestimation of development difficulties. As they started with only a multiplayer mode, the game became playable in only two months. Despite having no experience with making a campaign mode, they estimated that it would only take three to four weeks to complete. However, it ended up taking about three to four months to finish and polish, having to hire an intern to help design and test it. They also cited the process of polishing the game as one of the developmental low points, stating that because they went to game design school they thought they knew how to design games. However, in this school, they were required to create a game in 90 days and were evaluated, which caused them to never have finished any games, though they still got good grades for their projects. In the case of Swords & Soldiers, the developers found the latter 10% of the game's development to be a lot more difficult and time consuming than they had expected. Another hurdle was the level development process, which they did through Notepad, a program used for a variety of other functions. This proved very time consuming for the team, requiring them to start the level creation over between each change of a version. They expressed regret for having used Notepad instead of taking the time to create a visual level editor, stating that the advantages would have outweighed the disadvantages. The AI routines were created using a logic tree editor. Developers found it buggy, but found it to be an improvement over using Notepad.
The developers' marketing plan began as merely releasing screenshots and videos of the game on the Internet. However, they found that this was not adequate to create buzz. Because the deadline was pushed back a half of a year, the marketing started with the original release date in mind, the developers had to fill in the space between its announcement and release with enough marketing material to maintain interest in it. They had to get a full-time artist to create videos, screenshots, logos, and high resolution materials to release, also receiving assistance from Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
to promote the game. The developers stated that they would use this experience to ensure that they do not make the same mistake again with their next project. According to Ronimo's Joost van Dongen, the art style for Swords & Soldiers was inspired by the credits of a video called Super Moin, and from the ability of an artist in the team.
Reception
Swords and Soldiers has received a positive reception from critics, garnering a score of 84 at MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, and 84% at GameRankings.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the game its Editor's Choice award, calling it "one of the best console real-time strategy games ever" while praising the production values and personality of the game, as well as its unique approach to the genre. Nintendo Life called the game an essential download, praising the visuals, music and depth of the gameplay and noting the plethora of modes for players. Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
called it a "a riot of colour and imagination" that "towers above everything else WiiWare currently has to offer". Official Nintendo Magazine called it "a colourful, vibrant and frankly brilliant console strategy title".