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In a post from last year, we wrote about how Stellar Jockeys began as a company and what eventually led to Brigador. This time lets look at concepts for a prototype of the game that dates from around late 2013 to early 2014. At this stage in development, the ability to make 2D sprites with dynamic lighting had been established, but the overall gameplay loop and plot had not yet been settled on.
An early prototype of Brigador was inspired by the gameplay of a very old game called Choplifter! for the Apple II from 1982. The idea was the player and their units would emerge from a space elevator and attack a central station somewhere on a map.
The menu flow for this prototype was mocked up like this.
[Ed: Matador was the original early title before being renamed to Brigador]
Before launching into a mission, the player would go through loadout selection. One variant of this was also mocked up. Players who know what the loadout screens for Campaign and Freelance mode look like may notice some similarities.
The prototypes idea would be that crew choices would affect aspects of the vehicle such as how accurate certain weapon types are, reload speeds, vehicle turning speed and so on. Had we gone down this route, once you loaded into a level you would be presented with a scene like this.
The pips around the selected captain for the vehicle in the lower left were in the style of Wing Commanders shield/hull integrity readout, which would show you from what direction you had taken damage.
[previewyoutube=mfRvCSBD4q0;full][/previewyoutube]
This crew system and hull UI didnt survive past concepting but directional damage did. In Brigador, damage to the side or rear of a vehicle in most cases is much more effective than hitting the front.
Anyone who has played World of Tanks might be raising their hand right now ultimately Brigador does not seek to be a simulative experience. Instead it was made to be something youd want to get straight into and play rather than fret over your choices in a menu. The loadout screen for Freelance mode was eventually pared down to the following:
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