Comic Book Resources interviewed Executive Producer Gabe Brown and Senior Producer William Schmidt from Marvel’s Avengers Alliance Tactics. This new Facebook game from Disney’s Playdom is a spinoff of the popular Avengers Alliance game. Avengers Alliance has been a bright spot for Playdom which has struggled due to a shift away from social gaming which has resulted in the shutting down of games and layoffs. Here is a selection from the interview:
Gabe, William — what is “Avengers Alliance Tactics” and how does it build on the foundation of the original “Avengers Alliance” game?
Gabe Brown: “Avengers Alliance Tactics” is really an extension of the gameplay and the story you see in “Avengers Alliance.” We wanted to bring “Tactics” to Facebook and bring tactics to “Avengers Alliance” as a gameplay genre because it’s a natural extension of RPGs to introduce additional depth. Movement is a great way to do that. We also really wanted to keep the great storytelling, the great events and the episodic content of “Avengers Alliance” and bring it to “Tactics.” The most important thing was to do this in a wrapper that was accessible. Tactics is typically a much more hardcore genre, and we wanted to do what we did with “Avengers Alliance”: make it an approachable genre, and make it easy for anybody to get on and play.
Turn-based tactics games traditionally have had many RPG elements — “Final Fantasy Tactics” and “Shining Force” are two strong examples that come to mind. How does “Avengers Alliance Tactics” follow in this tradition while still maintaining that kind of accessibility?
Brown: We took a lot of inspiration from titles like “XCOM” and “Disgaea.” Just about everyone on the team has had their favorite flavor of tactics games, and yet, they’ve all had movement in that space. We still keep the core element that make a tactics game a tactics game: turn-based movement and turn-based action within combat. What we do differently is we streamline the ability to move within the environment, streamline the ability to make attacks, and make some smart assumptions for players about the most viable target. We make it really easy to see the target. We reduce the time it takes to complete combat. If you’ve ever played the original “XCOM,” you can be in a single fight for 2-3 hours. In “Tactics,” you’re looking at about 5-7 minutes.
William Schmidt: Yeah, we target about 3-7 minute range for our combats. We do so by creating nice templates for you to follow. When you select somebody, a blue aura appears around them. That’s their movement range. When you actually finish your movement, you select your attack, and then a red aura appears. That’s your attack range. We make it really simple by templating movement and actions in a very understandable way.
Brown: We make it really easy to discover and understand what’s happening and how to move, which is typically not seen in the tactics genre.
Schmidt: I think another way to think about this is not only about the tactical genre, but adding more elements of what people like about “Avengers Alliance.” You have the strategic thinking of who’s on your team, who you’re bringing into combat, which character you’re leveling up and upgrading — but now, it’s a question of how you take it and move them across the board to decide who we’re battling against.
Brown: Something you’ll recognize in “Tactics” from “Avengers Alliance” is the class system. Not only does your position within the environment matter, but who’s in what position. Iron Man is a blaster, so you want to make sure you match him up against someone who’s weak against his class. The depth of “Avengers Alliance” can be explored in new and interesting ways, particularly in movement and positioning, which is really fun. I actually do that in my head when playing “Avengers Alliance.” It’s pretty fun.