We now have a new home.

Please note that we have moved the blog to our new site at: www.infinitetacticsgame.com and we will no longer be posting updates on this site.

This move will allow us to centralize our resources to our main server as we prepare to go live.
Come take a look :)

www.infinitetacticsgame.com down?

The URL www.infinitetacticsgame.com was not working because Godaddy was down. The blog is hosted by Blogger, so it has been running all this time, only the forward was broken.

More details here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/10/godaddy-outage-takes-down-millions-of-sites/.

Main menu art

It's been a challenging week for Jessica on the art side, with everyone giving her feedback on her upcoming main menu art, which we will also use to promote the game. She was patient with us and really paid a lot of attention to detail so these issues could be addressed. The result is really inspiring for us all. I sure will be looking at that image to get going on the soundtrack, over which I've been procrastinating for a month now. Something along the lines of Two Steps from Hell probably.

We'll share that poster with you soon so you can let us know what you think. Also, we'll be doing a feature on Jessica and her work with us next week. We have seen her really grow as an artist during her stay at Rebelius, and it will interesting to get her side of the story.

Stay tuned!

Quick Design update towards launch

For the last few weeks, we've worked on the special effects for the Guardians, gameplay objects as well and set our sights on the first 3 combat arenas for Alpha. We've had a hot and humid summer in Montreal (especially on the second floor of the house where the studio is) so we also did some build reviews in the backyard on a laptop.

The biggest change we did was to allow for players to spawn in combat any class they like, at any time.  This brings deeper variations to the game, but it also makes the game more complex to balance. At this point, we still think it is a good idea to do it, but we'll be listening to what open Alpha players will have to say this fall about that. We'll be starting to post the design for the game and the different factions very soon as we gear up for our first open Alpha. We still have some spots available if you're not already registered, simply click on the link on the top of this page!

Rebelius Stickers!

Here, Seb F. proudly displays his fashion taste with his very own Rebelius bike helmet sticker. Here's to a true rebel :)

As some of you already know, our first faction in the game will be the Protectors, which defend humans at all costs. They are a well balanced lot with some strong defensive skills. But we also are hard at work creating the second faction in the game, the Executors. More details will follow soon, but know that they are not as nice to humans, and their powers will be geared towards aggression!

Here, Seb "Cookie" and Jessica are looking at some art concepts that she produced for these baddies.

Alpha test places now available!

The time has come. We are now opening applications for the Closed Alpha test which will occur sometime in September. Help us make the best turn-by-turn multi-platform tactical combat game ever and we will reward you with Rebelius points that you'll be able to spend on upgrades and game enhancements, a "Founding member" community status and your name in the credits!

To play, you will need a browser with an Internet connection.

* Please note that places are limited for this test. You will be confirmed as an Alpha tester by email with relevant details prior to the event.

Apply now: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDJFaEVxdXBYNGJJeFJPY0hoUW9id1E6MQ

See you on the battlefield!

First version of game logo

So we juggled a little bit with the concept of multiplayer battle as well as the depth of strategy that will be offered by the game.

The infinite sign on the shield felt like a good idea, but you tell us!

Mock-up screen with sample HUD for iOS

This screen update shows most of the functionalities of the interface: step undo, move and skill select, end turn, options, the info bar and quick items. Can you tell which ones they are just by looking at the visuals?

First mock-up screen

We have integrated most of the principal elements (except the HUD) and are now working on harmonizing visuals for Heroes and environments. For now, the environment is super tiny, but expect far larger maps with diverse gameplay objects and special effects etc...

Tell us what you think!

The Rebelius Team

If you're just too anxious to find out who will be the geniuses behind Infinite Tactics, this post is for you :) Rebelius Studio inc. is a Montreal indie game studio founded in the beginning of 2012 by two foolhardy game developpers with loads of games industry experience but little in entrepreneurship. Our office is in the east of Montreal, near the stadium on a residential second floor converted into a studio. It's nice, super cheap, quiet and we have a backyard terasse when we can chill during the summer. We also have 2 cats roaming about so the first question we ask potential team members is about allergies!

In 2011, we worked on a first project for XBLIG named "Last Dragon Standing" but at that time I did a lot of the programming (I'm a designer by profession) so I had my good friend programmer who I had known while working for a larger company drop by, clean up my code and help me ship the project. He deserves a medal for that, especially when you consider the fact that he crunched while having a broken collarbone. So, feeling like warriors, we decided by the end of Summer 2011 to push onward, start our own game studio and make our own games. That is not to say that we won't do some odd jobs on the side occasionally but our primary focus is definitely on our own games from now on. If you want to help us on our quest, just tell your friends about our upcoming game or post on a forum that you go to or make a t-shirt with the name of the game (send us a picture if you do).

Starting early 2012, another buddy of ours joined in our merry band, also a programmer. He's our combat specialist as well, he can spend hours talking about the make of armor and weapons across ages... seriously! He also plays a mean Bocce.

We also have the privilege of counting in our ranks three padawans from a multi-media University in Montreal (UQAT) who are helping out with the level design and art for the game.

What is Infinite Tactics?

If you've found your way here, there's a good chance that you've gathered that it's a strategic fighting game. Indeed, Infinite Tactics is an arena combat game loaded with levels in which players will be able to compete and cooperate with their teams of Heroes across different platforms, be it on PC, Facebook, iOS or Android. The game will be played on a turn by turn asynchronous basis, which will allow for more strategy and the ability for each player to play at his/her own pace.

Turn based combat is a genre that a lot of people consider old fashioned since nowadays there are huge games where people can fight each other in real-time either in first or third person perspective. But we feel going on a turn by turn basis allows people to think and plan out their actions better while remaining flexible enough so they can move around and do other stuff. Moreover, we think that fans of the genre deserve a richer gaming experience that fits into their busy mobile lifestyle. We also think that these same fans, once in a while, will sit down for a more engaged play session, and the game should support this as well. That being said, we do hope that we can attract some players new to the genre too!

This is actually our second game. This first one was a release on Xbox Live Indie named "Last Dragon Standing". Back then, we were 3 guys who left the game industy to try out something new. For our first title, we wanted to create a simple arcade game that up to four players could play on the same screen. We started with a 4 player Pong and Breakout inspired concept, but gradually paddles became Dragons and blocks became helpless villagers that dropped power-ups when destroyed. We introduced a multi-player campaign mode and ended up being finalists in Microsoft's Dream.Build.Play 2011, which was pretty cool. We now have expanded the team to 6 people and are moving on to other platforms.

So. Infinite Tactics is a multi-platform, asynchronous tactical combat game. It will be influenced by oldschool tactic games but will rely on current technologies to ensure that players have access to their team of heroes anytime and anywhere. It will look great, have loads of atmosphere, sound good and play well. We won't be making any promises during the development since things will often change down the line, but those aforementioned parameters I can pretty much guarantee.

This game embodies the essence of the types of games we plan to create at Rebelius: unique experiences that work on any device or platform, including tablets, smartphones and the web, that empower gamers to compete, cooperate and create. We believe that the next generation of mobile gaming will be built on real-time and asynchronous multiplayer interraction and user generated content. And we hope many of you will help us make Infinite Tactics the game that lives up to your expectations.