As some of you know, we have been working with Good Old Games to re-release Battle Realms for current gen PC’s. Well, it’s here and the guys over at GOG have done a great job getting this out.
Congratulations to them. All their hard work has paid off.
As many of you know, Battle Realms has always held a very special place in my heart. It was some of the most innovative and creative work that I’ve done and the creation of that universe was all consuming in those days. In many ways, I still think that it’s one of the best RTS’s that money can buy. More than a decade later, there are still very cool things in BR that no one has attempted.
For the price or $9.99 you get not only the original Battle Realms game, but the glorious expansion, Winter of the Wolf. Tell your friends and buy yourself a copy, or ten. Think of it as a Kickstarter where you get the game up front.
All the proceeds that we get from the sales of BR will be used to make more awesome games in the Battle Realms universe.
With your support we can dedicate more and more of the company to making cool Battle Realms RTS’s and stuff.
Ed Del Castillo – Pres./Founder
28 Responses to …And just like that, You can buy Battle Realms again! :)
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What if you already have both does it make any difference? Cause I miss playing online.
well i’ll be, i’ll buy it tomorrow.
I wanna know; what’s your opinion on game with really good editors?
o yea… and dare i say
FIRST!!!!!!!!!
before i log off, you could make some “mappacks” i would buy them to if it was for the next battle realms game (aka the one with the all powerful editor that i talked about in that email.)
Dear Ed Sir,
Greetings
I have few questions in mind
1) Does this GOG Edition copy is fully compatible with WINDOWS 7 32bit & 64 Bit
with Quade Core Processors?
2) Is there any additonal Resolutions avilable other then max 1024X768 which was
highest in Old Battle Realms. i think 1280X720 would be great if its there and it
really won’t be that hard to port from 1024X768 but that will surely look ok if you
go full screen on full HD monitors.
3) Does this Edition have any texture improvements for Larger monitors? like when i
was playing BR back in 2002 i had 17″ Monitor which was having max 1024X768
now i own 23″ LG D2342P 3D LED and low resolutions look awful on this if you go
full screen
Rest i loved MOJO of game and like to buy a copy again!
Thanks
All good questions.
What we’ve done for the GoG version is simply update the game to run on current gen machines. We have more revisions planned in the future if there is enough interest with larger monitor support and better textures.
We’re doing this all out of our own pockets so help us out by buying Paper Galaxy and we’ll keep chugging away.
there’s no saved games folder… so you can’t save unless u add it in.
other than that cool.
Glad to see that Battle Realms is again avaliable to buy and the money goes directly to the BR franchise (I’m happy I held myself from buying a second hand copy).
Is the game with all patches that were released back?
The only sad part about this news is that I would prefer to have it on sale on Steam because my game collection is all there and be able to talk to friends while in-game. I guess it’s an exclusive title to Good Old Games. (I’m not taking any merit from GOG, they really deserve for making avaliable the game. It’s just a matter of preference.)
Well, if Steam won’t have Battle Realms, I will right now because I was eager to get my digital hands on it. My finances are going red but for a good cause
P.S – I dare you to make a MMORPG of Battle Realms, I will lose my soul!
All have it this amazing GAME . yEAH
)
wE Cant download it again
Nice one! Bought it immediately to support you guys.
Unfortunately this release suffers from the same framerate issues on some (or many?) graphic cards as the original. It’s still unplayable for me
the battle realms wont work on some video card :/
I’ve forwarded your contact info to GoG with the problem. They should be contacting you soon to help you out.
Holy crap ?! This is amazing news ive been waiting for a new BR game for 10 years, ive spent well more than 300 hours into the first one, never got to play Wotw cause no store seemed to have it in stock. So thank you for making my day with not only the news but the fact that i will be spending tonight playing Wotw
Hey at first I think its a great idea to re-release Battle Realms, especially since it still is my favourite rts game by far.
However I wanted to ask if this new Version does support widescreen monitors? Im running my pc at 1920×1080 and I always had trouble with my original BR copy because the screen simply got stretched so I stopped playing it
I’m afraid that the first update won’t bring that to the table. We’re trying to update and improve BR as much as possible but we’re totally self funded at the moment. Hang on though. We’re not through yet and we’ll continue to pour our blood into the game.
I have the original game but I bought the game on gog again
That’s the spirit! It’s the best way to support the cause short of writing us a check directly or having your super rich uncle invest in us to make the game.
I genuinely hope you walk the line between fleshing out your universe, and not bloating it in an attempt to get enough funds for a true sequel. The main reason people still like Battle Realms is because of the game itself; a gameplay that is so tight and balanced it’s held up a decade later, and a cool and unique approach to player factions that interest hardcore to casual players with a ton of color. Just look at how Relic took your ideas and ran with it in Dawn of War (unique factions, melee/tying up system where ranged units cannot fire, cover/environment, aggressive pacing) and even ideas before their time such as your kill syncs idea you had brought up on the old Liquid site years ago. Many of us are still waiting for a return to a fast and tight gameplay style that values metagame over mouse skill. It’s a rare RTS that can be over in 15 mins yet all the players felt like they had fun. I know I’m grabbing a couple copies for some friends this Christmas. I just wish you guys would release a balance patch or maps or something just to build some hype about BR and BRG.
Baz, thanks for the heartfelt post. I feel you. I love Battle Realms so much I feel soulbound to it. There are so many things in Battle Realms that I have yet to see in other RTS’s mainly because they are really difficult to balance and few people can keep all the variables in their head at once.
I would love nothing more than to just remake the original (Battle Realms redux) and update the unit art, support higher resolutions and multiple monitors, and tweak some balance issues that have bothered me for years and have been mentioned by some fans. I just wish that I knew a super rich guy that was willing to fund that. Publishers and the VC we’ve talked to won’t touch it because they think it’s an old game and they think RTS is “dead”. Idiots. They don’t see the intense fan loyalty and IP value. We do.
Maybe we’ll try a Kickstarter after BRG…
Put it on Steam Greenlight!
There we go! Just bought it. Hoping for a battle realms 2 soon!
I’m sorry about this, I’m just worried that you might miss my post on one of the previous article. I absolutely love this game so I hope I had a bit of voice in the development. So, here’s a copy/paste with minor changes:
First of all I wanted to say, wow. How did I miss this piece of news? If I wasn’t so curious this dead early in the morning about you guys (after looking through GOG and saw BR), I would have NEVER found out about this. I LOVE the Battle Realms gameplay because there was SO much depth in it! Been playing BR since 2002!
What to maintain/improve:
1. Real-time calculation of projectile hit-boxes.
THIS is one of the most unique feature I’ve noticed amongst the masses of video games at that time. All other RTS games (especially you Warcraft, especially you) always had a predetermined chance of hitting the target or not. Battle Realms BLEW this concept out of the water by applying hit-boxes to the projectile itself. Just imagined my surprise when I saw a Warlock missed my Kabuki by throwing his lightning bolt upwards, only to have the bolt hit my one of my building further behind!!! Please, keep this.
2. Increase the sights and range capabilities of all units.
This is important, because I noticed an aspect that has not yet been exploited in this game due to the low range of the units. That aspect is altitude battle. I made a world where there is a 90 to 90 degree cliff with 2 opposing range units standing on their sides of the plane. The unit with the lower elevation seems to more likely hit the cliff, and if he does the damage isn’t quite effective. The range unit on the higher elevation is a deadlier opponent! Sadly this fact is rarely used in-game because most maps don’t feature such small cliffs and that sight and attacking range are ridiculously small.
3. Graphical user interface OVERHAUL.
It’s 2012-2013 now. I bet some members of the team probably played R.U.S.E. or Wargame: European Escalation or even (better still!) Sins of a Solar Empire. Did you guys noticed what’s different? The clean and minimalistic, yet much more effective user interface. This is the future, where the hardware is powerful enough that you don’t have to emulate a primitive minimap on the GUI. Want a minimap? Just zoom all the way out to show a simplified minimap. Want to see more detail and give precise orders? Zoom in. I suggest taking cues from the current RTS games (especially Sins of a Solar Empire) and make the GUI even more refined than theirs. Not to mention, the new GUIs are more user-friendly for touch-screen based controls!
Assuming that touch-screens are the future, then those minimalistic UIs are the way to go.
4. Huge, randomly generated worlds.
You guys have to admit that making a map with refined details for *balanced* gameplay purposes is really hard. It takes lots of time and commitment to approve a qualified *arena* map.
Those small and controlled maps, they need to stop. Now. Small maps can be quite boring as you know what will come next. Big maps are (usually) fun because there’s so much more that can happen, yet this can be taxing for development. So I suggest taking a cue from Minecraft by having a set of terrains and geological features, and carefully attach them to a series of algorithms for a refined randomisation of terrain.
5. More in-depth customisations with every units.
First of all, I’m not saying that a unit should be able to do lots of abilities by itself, I think it should remain to one ability per unit. I’m thinking more on the lines of material upgrades, like a Dragon Warrior being sent to a blacksmith, coming out with some sort of a more badass giant Kris, or even give him a sort of scaled, flexible armor that resembles quite distinctly to a dragon scale. The unit abilities should be increased in variance too, like a DW meditating in a shrine for 30 seconds gives him *awesome power*, but meditating for 90 seconds gives him a more badass version of *awesome power* or even *different awesome power*. Now before we get out of hand with this one, I want to tell you guys that letting all units have multiple upgrades can be confusing and game-breaking even.
All I’m saying is: allow units have many varieties of upgrades, but a unit must only have single/limited passive and active ability/upgrade.
5. NO MORE *CLICK TO CAST ABILITY*.
It’s a hassle. It really is. I want this game to be very strategic-centric, not action and tactical-centric. I want to be able to think clearly in this game, not having to worry about making a unit do the most obvious thing he should do in a fight. I want the units to be able to auto-cast every single active ability in a variety of situations. For example: in a battle a Kabuki Warrior with Stardust ability noticed that his team are getting peppered by arrows, what’s the most obvious thing he should do?
Exactly. I don’t want my units to be a complete puppet. They had style, character and depth, but they were too over-reliant on me making them do the most obvious of things.
5… wait, I mean 6! Create in-depth animations for the buildings.
Most of the comments keep on asking for better graphics. THAT’S FINE, REALLY IT IS. But it should be a minor thing. Ever wonder what struck me the most about BR? The characters felt alive. You wont make it more alive by making them photo-realistic oh no… You can make them alive by making the SURROUNDINGS more alive. Dojos should have some sort of old-man-master meditating in them and some young students practicing on the open field! Archery ranges should have people practicing in them and then some guy had to take the unfortunate job of getting back all the arrows, hoping he won’t be shot! Peasant houses should show the peasant’s wife and kids looking out through the windows once in a while! Make those buildings ALIVE!!
7. KEEP the stereotype accents.
Really, you should. It may sound racist, but its not much of a bother most. I don’t mean to be racist here, but some themes just have to have their own accents to keep their magic. Ever played Morrowind? Felt magical the first time I played it. Ever played Skyrim? Yeah, after a few days of playing the magic was gone, quickly. Why? An Argonian spoke to me in an American accent. A Breton spoke to me in an American accent. An Orc spoke to me in an American accent. A Dark Elf spoke to me in an American accent. Back in Morrowind it was more guttural and surreal. The American accent suits more (stereotypically) in a *realistic* environment, so if it is in this game, limit it. I seriously hope I didn’t offended guys of that last point, it was just a consideration I thought after playing video games for so long.
Now, for my final point.
8. No uber-demanding graphics.
I think I can summarise this quickly. Good graphics are fine. Good graphics that turns a PC into a thermo-nuclear heater before transforming into flying, flaming debris, Is NOT fine.
Phew! That was a long post!
Holy Moly this is awesome! Thanks for posting it and we’ll add your comments to the Master List.
Awesome! Is it a GoG exclusive? Personally I my digital game distribution service of preference is STEAM. Any chance you guys are working on getting up up over there too?
Right now we’re exclusive to GoG but maybe we’ll put it up on Steam in 2013.
Thanks for the re release Ed! So excited to LAN with my friends again in BR its gonna be awesome.
I’m also looking forward to the future installments liquid has to offer seriously, you guys are geniuses.
I’d also like to add something for the next BR Rts if possible it would be nice to have more interaction with the world, like the wolves and horses, maybe something revolutionarily realistic to do with the world around the player in the BR universe that would make Battle realms as unique and new as the first one
Hello everyone,
I enjoy Battle Realms since it released back on 2001 and I’m playing it now for over 11 years; it is one of my favorite games of all time. The sad thing is that when I’m telling people about Battle Realms and how I love the game and its mechanics they shrug of their shoulders, simply because they don’t know it what is very regrettable. I think when it was released everyone focused too much on Empire Earth (which is a great game, though, even when EE 2 and 3 were a shame in relation to the first one) and left out Battle Realms.
However, I think releasing it on GOG was some kind of revival and it lightens my heart strong. I’m dreaming of a sequel since many years, but a re-release, maybe with improved balance, lesser bugs and HD graphics, would be very, very awesome, too!
BUT PLEASE, Liquid: Release it on Steam. Steam helped many indie games to a great success and I’m convinced that Battle Realms (with WotW!) would possibly experience an great revival. Despite of having the original game (with Expansion, though I lost the CD :/), I would immediately buy it again! And with improvements I listed before it would much more better!
And if you earn the money for that, I hope a sequel will be announced. We, the community, will help you with ideas. It has been always a dream of mine helping to develop a Battle Realms 2 or something like that.
Keep the work going and PLEASE, release it on Steam.
Greetings.
Liquid, this was one of the games I grew up with (got the retail from a local gaming magazine), and has a lot of unique mechanics to it bringing some memories like the first time playing it, I couldn’t figure how to build an army, not knowing I have to train my workers into soldiers.
A few days ago I saw a discussion on Steam about what games should be put there. I immediately thought of Battle Realms, because it clearly benefits by the Online DRM Service that Steam offers for the Multiplayer part, connectivity, easy updates, and some Achievements also would be a treat if possible to work on. I’ve went to search this on google and got disappointed to see it’s on gog, when Steam is a bigger platform. Please release this there, I’m sure a lot of players would remember it and go ahead to purchase after the release is announced on the Steam Store.
Thanks!
This may be in our future…