98 replies to this topic

[bitComposer_Michael]

Pressrelease:

- The standalone add-on will appear in German-speaking countries in the Summer of 2012 -

bitComposer Games and Kalypso announce the first add-on to the successful strategy game Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. The standalone add-on, Jagged Alliance: Crossfire will be available in German-speaking countries in the Summer of 2012, and can be purchased in stores or via Steam. Jagged Alliance: Crossfire, such as Back in Action, is developed by the Coreplay Studio in Munich.

Jagged Alliance: Crossfire offers a large map made up of ten sectors. Also in the add-on, you will find that the M.E.R.C. mercenaries are once again in on the action. In this round, the players are transported to Khanpaa, a peaceful country suffering under the brutal attacks of mercenary troops. To deliver his country from these bloody massacres, Ambassador Behnam Atiqullahs has no other choice but to hire his own mercenary troop to get to the bottom of these inexplicable and bloodthirsty attacks and to put an end to Khanpaa’s agony.

* Unique mix of tactics, RTS, RPG and economic simulation
* “Plan & Go” once more combines RTS and turn-based strategy
* Optional line of sight mode included
* The first new comprehensive story in the Jagged Alliance universe for years
* Fictitious asian country Khanpaa as a new location
* New enemies, new weapons, new threats!
* Ten new M.E.R.C. mercenaries, bringing the roster up to 50 mercs
* 20 new achievements

First Screenshots:

[Indrid]

Hurrah. Looking forward to it.

[RegisTraiter]

Is Coreplay too poor to upload promo screenshots to its own hosting servers instead of some free image host that obscures half the image with the EXCITING OFFER TO INSTALL SOME WONDERFUL SPYWARE ON MY COMPUTER?

I take it gameplay mechanics will not be changed, since they weren't in your blurb? I'm not talking about getting rid of Plan and Go, I'm talking about fixing glaring issues like armor falling apart and RPM being the be-all end-all stat.

We don't need more mercs. We need FIXES.

[bitComposer_Michael]

Uhm first of all that would be our servers. Second thing is: Official website will get a workover soon. I posted the screenshots here in the forums just to have them here too.

[RegisTraiter]

Abldoad.de belongs to Coreplay? Because that's where you stuck your images.

At least put them on Tinypic or some other site that has the decency not to have transparent pop-overs that spawn a separate browser window when you click anywhere on the screen.

[bitComposer_Michael]

Erm. Read my post again. Thanks. I used a free hoster cause the official page is being reworked and therefore won't be updated with the new screenshots until the overhaul has been done. And again: We are not Coreplay.

[RegisTraiter]

Whatever, man. My point stands: you could do better choosing a free hoster.

[general solomon]

the site where all the images are on the link sucks. i get jumped with pop ups and ads. you may want to warn us next time so i dont get any maleware on my system.

[bitComposer_Michael]

Hmhm. Never had any problems with abload before...
However you find the screens now all over the net (here for example: http://www.bluesnews.com/screenshots/games/jaggedalliancecrossfire/20120613/)

[mcdonis]

I am confused... Does any of this content play out on the main story line. In other words does this add in MERC on the main story or just this side standalone mission?

[sbobovyc]

I am confused... Does any of this content play out on the main story line. In other words does this add in MERC on the main story or just this side standalone mission?

Sounds like you get MERC just for this expansion. Though I image it would not be too hard to mod MERC into the original

[scope112]

I am becoming highly pessimistic regarding Coreplay/BitComposers' intentions. This expansion and the upcoming & already released DLCs have caused this pessimism. It seems that Coreplay/BitComposer is currently not willing to further improve the core gameplay, which still has a lot of flaws as can be seen in the extensive community wishlist.
I would rather see a complete new and improved game instead of to keep adding content to an broken game.

As big as a fan I am of the Jagged Alliance franchise, I am afraid that my commitment to be willing to support this franchise is becoming slim. And well, that must say something, since I have been very active, trying to get an line of communication between the community and the developer.

With that being said, I hope that I will be pleasantly surprised and that fundamental improvements have been made.

[zero]

I am becoming highly pessimistic regarding Coreplay/BitComposers' intentions. This expansion and the upcoming & already released DLCs have caused this pessimism. It seems that Coreplay/BitComposer is currently not willing to further improve the core gameplay, which still has a lot of flaws as can be seen in the extensive community wishlist.
I would rather see a complete new and improved game instead of to keep adding content to an broken game.

As big as a fan I am of the Jagged Alliance franchise, I am afraid that my commitment to be willing to support this franchise is becoming slim. And well, that must say something, since I have been very active, trying to get an line of communication between the community and the developer.

With that being said, I hope that I will be pleasantly surprised and that fundamental improvements have been made.

i dont see any improvements coming our way gameplay wise and if - against all odds - there were to be any gameplay improvements in the standalone addon they surly wont make its way into bia.

i see the recently released and scheduled dlcs/addons as a way for bc to make some more money using the current engine framework before moving on to a possible sequel which surely would entail massive modification to the engine.

its an understandable move on their part from a buisness perspective but being charged lets say 20 bucks for an addon rougly a quarter in size phewww...

not my cup of tea

[Disposable]

I am becoming highly pessimistic regarding Coreplay/BitComposers' intentions. This expansion and the upcoming & already released DLCs have caused this pessimism. It seems that Coreplay/BitComposer is currently not willing to further improve the core gameplay, which still has a lot of flaws as can be seen in the extensive community wishlist.
I would rather see a complete new and improved game instead of to keep adding content to an broken game.

As big as a fan I am of the Jagged Alliance franchise, I am afraid that my commitment to be willing to support this franchise is becoming slim. And well, that must say something, since I have been very active, trying to get an line of communication between the community and the developer.

Well, all I can tell you: You are not alone. You have posted my very thoughts.

With that being said, I hope that I will be pleasantly surprised and that fundamental improvements have been made.

Today, Michael has warned on the German forum not to expect any substantial changes to the gameplay. So do not be too optimistic.

The flawed BiA does not have any replay value for me, so I guess it will be a long time until I will touch that game again. It is sad to see a game with such a great potential in a state like this, but my humble guess is that BitComposer does not care about the community's thoughts anyway.

With today's announcement, I have been losing all interest in BitComposer's releases, their DLCs are a bad joke anyway.

[mcdonis]

I really dont get all the anger towards bitcomposer. Did they release a AAA title no not really, but the game is enjoyable and fun. The only bone I would pick with them is the DLC is too light in content, I have a hard time justifying to myself to spend 5 bucks to play 1 extra hour.


Perhaps others will find it enjoyable, I just dont think its for me.


Past that I think its great they have made adjustments we arent entitled to get anything frankly. We purchased a game not a lifelong commitment from Bitcomposer to modify the game every time we throw a temper fit. If you dont like the fact they arent making more changes, then download a mod. If that doesnt please you then perhaps you should go play something else.

Sorry

Just getting tired of reading all these posts crying for changes and with an attitude.

[oopl]

When will the English version be available?

[Apache]

I really dont get all the anger towards bitcomposer. Did they release a AAA title no not really, but the game is enjoyable and fun. The only bone I would pick with them is the DLC is too light in content, I have a hard time justifying to myself to spend 5 bucks to play 1 extra hour.


Perhaps others will find it enjoyable, I just dont think its for me.


Past that I think its great they have made adjustments we arent entitled to get anything frankly. We purchased a game not a lifelong commitment from Bitcomposer to modify the game every time we throw a temper fit. If you dont like the fact they arent making more changes, then download a mod. If that doesnt please you then perhaps you should go play something else.

Sorry

Just getting tired of reading all these posts crying for changes and with an attitude.

I usually side with developers on this kind of thing. Fans nerd-rage and have a sense of entitlement around getting the game exactly the way that they personally want it.

However.

JA:BiA is a different case. It was released in a state that was quite obviously unfinished and not ready for public consumption, and so far it appears that the developers efforts are focused on pumping out DLC rather than sitting down and fixing some of the problems reported by the community.

I think the game has huge potential, although I really doubt that potential will be realised with the current approach by the developer. I had a look around the web at some of the other games that came from this group, and if past behaviour is any indicator I don't think we should be hopeful of much.

I truly feel ripped off by the devs. I pre-ordered to support their venture, but I didn't get my money's worth and it pretty much seems like they don't want to hear about it unless it means another few dollars.

What I do see as the way ahead however is for the community to get behind modders and give them as much assistance as possible, as I expect they will be the ones making improvements.

I hope I'm proven wrong, but I'd be very surprised.

[sbobovyc]

For additions to gameplay or gameplay fixes we will probably have to wait till the next engine/sequel. That does not mean that we can't enjoy additional content for JABIA. Can you image a Jagged Alliance built with DirectX 11 and new gameplay elements? This will take time and money, but I would like to see it.

[Thai Bao Zinx]

That one mean nothing more core change just some map, and some MERC for only that map, if i understand right. So nothing to care about that thing, MODs is even better, it is FREE

[Glitch]

Uhm, 3 days later there's no fix for a CTD issue in an essential [and early] part of the game but we're getting ravings about the next addon and the DLCs that are obviously the reason why the modding tools weren't released. And the community wishlist stands there with pressing issues like unbalanced melee, retarded AI, SEVERE performance issues, not working core game mechanics (and that's just the VERY IMPORTANT part of the list). This is NOT good management if you ask me...

The first release of JA BiA already got lots of bad reviews, if this is the state of the game after all these months I don't imagine the next release from the publisher will be welcomed/trusted as much (or at all). I mean really, leaving game-breaking bugs for days in a game is hardly a proof of seriousness/commitment. Not to mention the "patch" that took over 1 month to add 2 scroll bars, a 1 pixel gap and change some stuff in a localization. Given the source code, a single modder would have probably done that over night and for free.

I know that this is a money-driven business and not a charity case, but nobody is asking for charity here, they're asking for fixing of what they were promised, support is implied by default in such cases until the product is polished to the advertised/promised state. On the long run you're making more money if you have your client's confidence than... what you have now, a quick grab for a 5 bucks worth from DLCs. After all, you'll turn to roughly the same clients to buy the next releases, clients that you're now ignoring/misleading (and I took the euphemismic approach here, despite what I initially had in mind).

I really hope that this should change, because it would be a shame to see the franchise failing yet again, this time due to bad marketing decisions.