Squad Level Tactial Games - Ideas/Criticisms

[pleb]

Hi everyone,

I’m part of a small design team and we’ve been discussing the idea of a squad level tactical game. We wanted to come to players like yourselves, who have a ton of experience in the genre and learn from you. To that end, we came up with a few questions. It would be great to hear your thoughts on these questions:

What was your favorite tactical squad game and why?

What were the features of your favorite game that you would most want to see in any future tactical game - e.g. the setting, level of role playing, research tree, combat mechanics, graphics (although less likely nowadays)

What were the features of successor games to your favorite game that you didn’t like or other reasons why you don’t believe that successor games have matched your favorite game to date?

What are additional features that you would like to see in future squad level tactical games? Or what features would you love to borrow from existing squad level tactical games that you believe would make your favorite game even better?

Could you recommend any games besides the Silent Storm, X-Com and Jagged Alliance series that you think we should try and get our hands on and play through.

Do you know of any examples of modern games that just get this genre ‘right’? If not, where did they go wrong?

We know it's a lot of questions, but there is so much to discuss! We look forward to your responses. Also, if you prefer, feel free to get in touch with us via PM.

[Golani]

Originally Posted by pleb

I’m part of a small design team and we’ve been discussing the idea of a squad level tactical game. We wanted to come to players like yourselves, who have a ton of experience in the genre and learn from you. To that end, we came up with a few questions. It would be great to hear your thoughts on these questions:

Always a pleasure when game designers try to tailor their game to the target audience, thumbs up!

I'll try my best to help- but before hand I need to understand exactly what you mean by "squad level tactical".

Are we talking about a player that's leading a squad (or is part of a squad) in FPV/3PV (say something along the lines of OFP-ARMA-R6) or above-view tactical RTS/TB (say Close Combat/Combat Mission)?

[pleb]

Hi thanks a lot for responding!

I think we needed to be clearer in our original post about what we definitely knew we wanted the game to be like:

Squad level - i.e. the player controls 1 to 12 individual troops against an unspecified number of enemies.
Turn-based - one side goes, than the other side goes (or potentially a Frozen Synapse system where turns are resolved simultaneously, but these favors multiplayer play, which we do not believe we will be including in our game)
Isometric view - just because we like it, and for good old times. Plus our current project is full isometric hex based TBS, so our artists and programmer have enough experience with it.
Single player.

So examples of this would include the UFO Enemy Unknown and Jagged Alliance 2. Look forward to hearing your feedback!