A crucial part of any game development is playtesting. Does the new stuff feel good to play? Is it balanced, however we’re defining that — and acknowledging that a game’s balance will change as more content is introduced? Does it function properly? Are there typos? Playtesting is important.
That’s why I’m opening up this post as a sort of news segment, sort of public house for comments. Occasionally, I’ll provide some material for public playtesting, for… some amount of time. The length of time will probably vary, at least for a long while as I figure out my work flow and see what your playtest reports are telling me. We’ll see!
The link provided here takes you to my public playtest Itch page. The content that’s available for download should slot right into COMP/CON. If you’re not familiar with C/C, uh, welcome to Lancer! It’s pretty danged cool, daggummit and such.
This content will change, and I’ll try to alert y’all here when there’s a change. This will be an evolving process, expect some bumps in the road. Assume that, at a minimum, art assets will change as my work continues. I caution you to expect more changes beyond that.
Happy playtesting! PLEASE provide some reports for the stuff! Lemme know what works, what feels off, etc. I’m going to leave this with a quote from the song, “House of Capricorn” by The Company Band.
"Your opinion means so much to us Please let us know How you feel we've been doing What you've enjoyed, what you don't understand, And what needs improving Participation! We believe is the corner stone Of any community spirit Rumor, gossip, or general suspicion We'd really love to hear it"
HORUS_HB.exe
The first batch of playtest material is a pair of Horus mechs, the Pixie (Striker) and the Devil (Controller/Support). First, the Devil.
I’ve been interested in seeing just what can be done with a hacker-centric, heat-forward setup that has no interest in doing physical damage to its targets. The Devil is extremely focused on heat; it is always in the Danger Zone, can’t clear heat via Stabilize, and its ecosystem is focused on delivering heat damage across the field.
Devils have a powerful ability in their core passive, which provides a supra-Hidden status that costs heat to use. Pilots will have to carefully balance their internal heat levels to avoid stressing themselves back into Hades.
The Devil’s ecosystem provides a new NHP, the AGRIPPA-class, which gives access to what I think is the cornerstone invasion option provided by this set: Possessor. Possessor forces the target to make a Systems save in order to successfully identify you and your allies as its opponents for its attack. Fail the save, and the attack cannot target your allies or yourself.
The second member of the playtest team this go-round is the Pixie. I wanted to play around with flight and with using counters to track mech abilities. Everything about the Pixie is meant to emphasize mobility and knives everywhere. I think of it as a D&D rogue stylistically, within the context of a flight-capable mech.
The Pixie’s ecosystem is full of goodies that it can access via its Fae Counters. These extra parts care a lot about being in the Danger Zone or having Fae Counters, either holding them (like a reserve of energy) or spending them (using that stored energy).
Before I close this up and slap the send button, a note. I’ve chosen to work in a different sort of space stylistically compared to the core books. For Horus mechs, that involves making heavy use of the forum post style that you might have seen in my Everclimb Initiative material. I’m hoping that this in-universe view on the material will present something cool and fun for you to read.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for playtesting. Enjoy, y’all, and report back what you think about it here.
