Has this been discussed before? Maybe.. I dont read the forums too often. Too lazy to search. I wonder.. if Human Resources ("HR") doesn't get the funding it needs, are we going to see any of the content they seem to have already developed ported or redeveloped into PA? It's hard to say what stage HR is at in terms of development. Id guess they've done some preliminary design and artwork - enough to create a very polished Kickstarter trailer (which to be honest was brilliantly done, I'd love to play that game). Anyway it's pretty clear that the machine race in HR is pretty similar to to what we already see in PA with the obvious difference that HR has various kinds of mega "experimental" size units that we have seen previously in SupCom 1 and 2. Uber consistently said that Mega bots weren't part of the immediate design plan for PA, but now I wonder if they were deliberately omitted to be used as a defining feature of HR. More to the point, if HR doesnt get funded, will this open the door for some of their interesting designs to find a home in the PA universe? Frankly I hope so. The HR kickstarter had some real personality, the animation is beautiful and the weapons were novel. These things don't spring from nothing, it's clear someone somewhere spent a good amount of time developing concept art to be turned into a pre-rendered cinematic - it would be a shame if all that work died with HR when I think it could easily fit into the PA universe with a few tweaks. That's what PA needs I think. More "epic" moments will generate more interest in the game (though obviously this isnt a substitute for solid gameplay and balance). When PA went gold, people wanted to see the planetary laser because it looked cool. PA really needs more of that, and HR looks like it is set to deliver it in spades.
The pretty obvious flaw in your argument is that Uber almost certainly can't support their full dev team just on PA clean-up. The way I see it three possible things could happen it If HR doesn't get funded. 1. they'll have to scramble to either get some pitch out that will get funded (via kickstarter or through a separate publisher) 2. Make another mobile game to at least try to get some extra revenue flowing. 3. Reduce staff None of which would magically devote more resources to PA. A second PA kickstarter would've almost certainly done absolutely terribly. I'm also not sure kickstarter would even allow for a kickstarter for a currently released game.
Yeah I'm not really interested in discussing Uber and their funding or other projects, I'm talking specifically about whether or not it is plausible we will see concepts or features from HR adapted to work in PA - specifically mega bots and mega interplanetary units. (In the event of HR not being funded)
Maybe-possibly. From what I've been able to tell "experimentals" in general have been something that they've been fairly hesitant about in PA. The implementation they have suggested for HR wouldn't really work for balance for PA, especially since PA already has so many game-ending super weapons, what would adding another somewhat more limited super-weapon add to the current PA dynamics?
Well, they could circumvent the inability of the game engine to currently support multiple unit transports. Imagine launching an attack on a fortified planet with a single or a couple if experimental bots to gain a foothold. Sounds kind of cool actually but maybe its just me. They dont have to be game ending anyway - in Supcom 2 they were intended to be used much more frequently, and were much more easily dealt with than in Supcom 1. They dont have to be a ridiculously large step up from the current tier of units in terms of hit points or weapon damage. Also it would be good for sim and client performance to reduce unit count in favour of smaller numbers of more powerful units in the late game.
There's nothing preventing mega units from being in PA. It's just not part of the balance they imagined. What new features HR has that might be relevant to PA are destructibility and flat landscapes. But keep in mind that's just from the Kickstarter trailer. There are still features in PA's kickstarter trailer (asteroids being blown apart by nukes, fancy dropship delivery, one-way orbital landing craft) that aren't in PA. Some of the features you see in Human Resources' trailer probably won't end up being in Human Resources.
The nukes hitting asteroids was actually just a fancy way to show how futile it is to attempt to defend.
HR failing will mean less of everything for PA, If Uber start to have too much financial trouble, their only option will be to abandon PA updates to move on to a new revenue source completely. HR succeeding can only be good for PA, and HR failing can only really be bad.
I do not see anything wrong with pa ever having experimentals..the experimentals in sup com added to the gameplay and made things fun. With planet smash and the laser experimentals can't ever be over powered. I wish I was interested in hr if it means the death of pa by it not being funded...with sup com,starcraft 2, now pa I'm getting a bit tired of futuristic rts games..I hope one day we get a fantasy rts with strat zoom would fund that in a heart beat
