"Legion Arena" is a role playing strategy game created on a massive scale, providing gamers with more than just the pure taste of battle. Set during the period of the Roman Republic, players take command of a band of simple peasant warriors and train them into a formidable fighting force. With each victorious battle, gamers can reap the rewards of fame, money and experience along with the opportunity to 'level up' their units. Troops will learn hundreds of new talents through their field experience, and will progressively upgrade their skills with each new combat they face. Gamers can play as the Roman Empire and Celtic Clans through over a hundred scenarios and must use calculated strategies in an attempt to crush their Roman enemies on the front line-Fighting for the pride and glory of the battlefield!Legion Arena uses a totally new engine, but we won't bore you with the details. It's enough to say that it allows fully 3D battles with thousands of guys. 3D engines are a dime a dozen, so we want to focus on the gameplay and not try and wow you with how many poly's we can push around the screen. You can judge that for yourselves when you see the screenshots.
The player's army starts small...really small! In fact to start with it only includes the player's general character. The player also starts with a small treasury and can choose which units to recruit into their fledgling army. Initially you wont be able to afford too many troops & the higher quality units like Legionaries & Praetorians will be well out of reach. As the player fights and wins battles, their men gain experience & honours. These can be used to buy skills for the squad, ranging from improved weapons handling to the ability to hold a new formation.
Players will be able to personalise their armies by changing the names of each unit, tweaking the colours and even changing the textures. Over time you'll become really attached to your men and they to you, as long as you treat them well! If your men suffer high casualties their loyalty may suffer and they may ask for more money before they will fight for you.
Each battle will have specific criteria & conditions. For example, some scenarios will limit you to only 8 units, while others will let you bring your whole army along. To win one scenario you'll have to defeat the enemy, but for another the objective may be to survive until reinforcements arrive. Which units you bring to the battle are you to you, but each will have their strengths and weaknesses so it's important to have a balanced army where you can select the right tool for the job.
Before a battle the player deploys their troops, but after much feedback we've decided this is not where the control should end. Players will be able to direct their troops once the battle has begun. The number of orders the player can issue is limited by the experience of the general in charge. The idea is to allow the player enough control so that they can swing the course of a battle, but without turning it into a frantic click fest. We think the order system we're developing does this perfectly. Just to clarify - you can select a unit during a battle and tell it where to march, as well as who to attack, but how often you can do this depends on the quality of your general.
After each battle the results will be uploaded to a dedicated server and any cash awards added to you treasury. You will then be able to reviewing you ranking in a number of areas. Armies are ranked in all sorts of ways such as casualties inflicted, battles won & fastest victory, so you have a good chance of being the best at something - even if it's only the fastest defeat. On top of this you can view the ranking of each unit individually versus all other units, or only against units of the same type. There are more than enough stats to keep the hardcore players happy.
Legion Arena will be downloadable for free! That's right, you can play for free! Players can sign up and get their free user account and play the game as soon as we launch. Each day the player will be able to fight a number of battles (number to be decided during beta test) and the idea is that you will only spend around 15-30 minutes a day playing the game. Legion Arena is designed to fit into the busy schedule that many of us have today & does not require the time commitment that many other games do.
After a number of weeks, players will be asked if they wish to continue to control their army. If they do, they will then have to start to pay a small subscription charge. If they choose not to, their army will be put on hold until they decide to sign up. One of the reasons for signing up is that each month new material will be released. There will be new units, new maps, updated gameplay features and more. We'll even be introducing new sides & the player will be able to start a new army with these new sides. The first side that will be added is Celtic, giving the player the chance to control the fearsome Celtic Warband and their powerful cavalry.
Legion Arena is due to be completed in a couple of months. This week the live server was delivered and a fat pipe was installed into Slitherine's Canadian office. Although there is still a lot of tweaking to be done, one of the major remaining tasks is to get the remaining animations motion captured. The team will be at the motion capture studio next week to finish this off. Once that's in, the game will be entering a closed beta & soon afterwards we'll be ready to go live.
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