Virtual Miniatures is developing a turn-based strategy game with a table-top aesthetic. The game has been developed from the ground up to be played on a PC but is designed to closely mirror a table-top experience.
With a futuristic sci-fi setting, the player will be tasked with commanding their units (or miniatures) through various actions to wage war upon their opponent using a myriad of weapons capable of inflicting damage at range or in melee contests.
In-Game Background Story
In the year 2,199 the Earth stood ravaged by the consequences of mans continuous failings.
Where once fertile valleys lay like green highways to the horizon now only dust and ruins remained.
The once inviting blue skies, now a grey dark warning to those who dare to venture into the outdoors;
oceans that once teemed with life sit lifeless. Humanity’s indiscretions; plundering of the earths
resources, an unquenchable need to for conquest and of course war had led to only one fatal result;
the Earth had died. Now all that was left was for humanity to die along with it.
In this time of desperation the human race found unity like never before. In its quest for survival,
those with the means bound together to build giant galactic transports that would carry them far out
into the galaxy in search of a new home. Their last act on Earth was not without its sacrifices; giant
though these transports were, they could not carry everyone. The strongest, smartest, most powerful,
and of course most wealthy took to the stars whilst the remainder were left to die on the
decomposing rock left behind.
The human race’s second chapter in the stars was meant to be a new beginning. “Man-kind” had
found a bond in survival that had out weighed their petty differences. Bound together as one people
they pledged to build a great society of the human race, and to always remember those who were
sacrificed for this second beginning. Forever leaving their indiscretions behind.
But as it turns out the universe is not an empty place, and many other civilizations had ventured to
the stars before the humans. First contact with other species started harmoniously enough, but the
humans could not escape their past, and soon WAR!
Pushed back by their new rivals the humans fled enemy space, falling back to their own solar system
and the dying planet they had left behind. But the year was now 30,000, and the long thought dead
planet now sat like a blue pearl in the darkness of space. “Man-kind” had found their new home in
the rebirth of their old it seemed.
Still, the earth had one more surprise in store. Not only had the planet survived, but so to the
fragment of humanity left behind. These humans had adapted and overcome the perils of the planet
that had remained their home for the last 800 years. Still human, but now different. Twisted and
distorted by the world they’d been forced to live on; a new species, the next evolution of man, and
these inhabitants of earth were not so willing to welcome back their brethren.
To make matters worse, the humans troubled exploits in space were not behind them, and now other
species gazed upon the earth with envious eyes.
The year was 30,000 A.D. and the GALACTIC WAR for Earth had begun!
Gameplay
The game is played in a 3 dimensional environment designed to resemble a table-top miniatures battlefield.
Players will command their battle group through a series of rounds split into phases that allow them to move, and attack.
Although the game is a 100% turn based video game, it has been designed to closely replicate a table-top experience. The difference being that in this experience your miniatures come to life as they respond to your commands.
Key features
- Table-top miniatures aesthetic.
- 3 different factions to command at launch.
- 5 different game boards at launch.
- 4 different mission objective types at launch.
- Numerous weapon/equipment combinations to allow you to customize your battlegroup for combat.
- Single-player story-driven campaign.
- Online multiplayer with both real-time and correspondence support. (In correspondence mode a game can be played over many days. With each player being alerted when the opponent has taken their turn. Sign-on review your opponents turn and play your own).
About the developer
Virtual Miniatures is an indie studio consisting primarily of one person; me. I have 20 years of professional software development experience building business, media and gaming applications.
As a lover of turn based strategy both table-top and digital, I have set out to design and build a turn based strategy game that I can play. My hope is that others will also be interested in what is being developed and that I may find a wider audience.
I am joined by a professional 3D artist who will help create visual consistency in the project, and other passionate strategy gamer’s who lend their time to play-test and contribute ideas to the project.
Official website: http://www.virtualminiatures.com
Release date & platforms
Currently, Virtual Miniatures has a working early alpha and is offering people the opportunity to join an open beta list. If this offer is met with enough interest they’ll push to release this beta in July.
The initial beta release will only be offered on Windows 10.
