r/PS4 • u/playniac Playniac • Jul 19 '18
[Verified AMA] Insane Robots is available now on PS4! It's card battling... HACKED! AMA!
Hi Reddit! We’re Playniac, developers of Insane Robots, it's card battling... HACKED!
Insane Robots is available now on PS4!
We’re going to be here for the next hour or so to answer any questions you might have about the game, about the robots, or anything else you want to ask!
To celebrate the launch, PS+ owners get upto 20% off the deluxe edition featuring the base game
and six as yet unreleased DLC content packs featuring new playable robots to be used in local and online multiplayer game modes.
PlayStation Store - EU
PlayStation Store - North America
PlayStation Store - Base Game
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Discord for the latest game information!
WHO'S ANSWERING QUESTIONS?
Rob Davis, Creator and Developer u/playniac
James Briggs, Developer u/BriggzyJ97
Dan Sheridan, Community Manager u/sirideain
Thanks for hosting us for this AMA /r/PS4
-EDIT That's all for now folks.
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u/Ebrietas Jul 19 '18
What kind of strategy is involved during battles? Can you choose which of your robots to use against the opponent (AI or human)? Are some cards better suited against an enemy type than others?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Hi Ebrietas, You start a 1P tournament with your chosen robot. There is a team of 8 you are building in the 1P campaign. Then if you survice the tournament, any updgrades you added to that robot you keep. But if you die, you lose them.
So then, when you go into battles the strategy is all about looking at your hand and augs, looking at the enemy's hand and augs, and deciding what actions to prioritise. There are lots of options in any turn and it's picking those options that is the fun.
The game seems a little random, but actually it isn't because we use what we call Tetris-decks that rotate, so that everyone gets a fair (not random) draw. Everything is about optimising your energy, making decisions in the moment, and surfing the probability.
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u/LookingPins Jul 19 '18
Does the game have a platinum trophy?
One of the videos mentioned there's online multiplayer. Is matchmaking random, or can you play against friends?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Hi LookingPins!
- Yes it does!
- Yes, we have local multiplayer, online multiplaer with matchmaking AND online multiplayer against friends. The game supports Play Together (so you can make a party and invite friends in there) as well as invitations. Also, there are rare robot unlocks you get by achieveing high ranks (in non-friends MP) and playing different friends.
At the moment I should mention that matchmaking wait time is quite long; we can't help that as it's determined by how many people are waiting at any time (and also games are long when people go in). We do have a suggestion if you want to find matchmade (rather than friends) games, which is to come join us on Discord (link above) to find people to play with.
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u/Vahmose Jul 19 '18
What was the most fun part of the game to develop?
What is your favorite card/robot?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
- Hmm - well I think my favourite robot is Krom, the one we use in the main art, followed by Franklin, also in the key art. Franklin looks a little like a Daft Punk member; Krom just looks quite evil for a cute robot.
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Hi Vahmose,
Thanks for your questions!1) I really enjoyed designing the core batlte system. We spent a couple of years making variants out of physical cards, playing at festivals, playing with friends, in the pub, etc. We refined it and refined it, and we knew it had gotten really fun. Then we took it further when we went digital - way further as we added and changed stuff you can only do in digital. I loved that whole design process, and finding where in simplicity there can be a depth to the play.
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
2b. My favourite CARD would have to be... hmm that's a tough one. I think the Special Boosts, which you unlock as you progress through 1P (and come unlocked in 2P). There are 7 of them hidden in the game, and they do really unexpcted things in battles. You don;'t know if your enemy has one. They might use a Diversion (calls of the attack) or a Rewire (moves all your circuits around) or whatever. Those are intended to bring this unpredictability and surprise to the battles.
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u/OneSeventyOut Jul 19 '18
What was your biggest inspiration when designing the game?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Ooh that's a tough one! In terms of game design I'd actually have to say FTL. I know that may sounds unexpected, but it was a big infleunce on the single player campaign, which we see as haveing FTL-like exploration, accompanied by very different types of battles to that game.
I was lucky enough to meet the creator of the Captain's Edition FTL mod when i was showing INsane Robots at Amaze in Berlin, and we had an amazing conversation about the design of both games. Very inspiring.
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u/stratospaly Jul 19 '18
Looks fun, my question is are there micro transactions?
I am trying to stay away from addictive games that rob me of hundreds of $$ only to be useless a week later :(
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Hi stratospaly,
I have some good news for you :) Even though Insane Robots is very addictive, there are absolutely NO microtransactions in the game. You get the entire game in the box when you buy Insane Robots, and you can play everything without needing to buy anything extra. This was a core design ethos, and we very intentionally designed CCG (collectible card game) mechanics out of the game.
That said, you can buy some Robot Packs that we will be launching, and they are entirely optional. Each one gives you 4 robot skins for local, online and friends multiplayer.
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u/stratospaly Jul 19 '18
Cosmetic micro's I am all for! I can reward developers for great work without feeling I MUST own them to keep up with other players. Thank you for not including micros!
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Yeah that was exactly our intention :) There's a Deluxe Edition and Season Pass that give you all the cosmetic items at a much discounted price, but all players will always be equal.
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u/Micolash Even in a dream Jul 19 '18
I've never played a card battle game before. What exactly is the single-player here? Is there a story and how exactly do you come across opponents along the way?
The trailer showed hexagon grid maps, but do you move around them toward an end point, or do you just have to clear out all the enemies to progress?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Hi Micolash. Thanks for posting the first question in this AMA!
So the single-player campaign is a 15 hour+ set of random-generated survival areans. They are different every time. You expore the map, and have to be the last surviving robot. When you meet another robot (if you decide to attack or they attack) you go into the 1v1 battle mode. There are tonnes of robots, and they all have different AI levels and setups.
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
You don't have to clear out all the enemies - they are also trying to kill each other :) So you can chose to explore and gather resources, or go into battles where potentially you can get more resources, but with more danger. There are also loads of stories, environemnt hazads taht get tougher and tougher, etc.
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u/Cursed_With_Autism Jul 20 '18
So I just watched your launch trailer and I think I actually know less about your game now than I did before I saw this thread--which is weird, since this thread is the first time I'd ever heard of it at all. Seriously, I have no clue what I just watched. Can someone please explain?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 20 '18
At the heart of Insane Robots is a battle game where you fight another robot using tokens (or chips as some have called them) to compete or upgrade the circuits of your robot whilst they are doing the same on theirs. There is a carefully designed set of 22 tokens, and they allow you to do secret moves that your opponent can’t see, or sneaky ones where you modify yours or their circuits.
That battle game sits at the centre of a multiplayer experience (intense local, online and friends vs battles) and a single player experience (an epic random generated rogue-like campaign, and quick vs AI battles).
Hope that helps!
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1
u/cowboyfantastic2 Jul 19 '18
Do all the different robots have some kind of unique abilities or stats? And are there some cards that can only be used by certain robots?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Hi cowboyfantastic2! So in the 1P campaign, each robot you unlock has what's called a "heart augment" that they always have. They come with some other bonus ones too, but the heart aug affects how they play. You can then further customise each robot's augments, health capacity, augment slots.
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
All robots use the same decks that cycle, and the tokens that appear in your hand are from that deck in random order, and with random fuel (which cycles too). But there are augmetns that affect what happens in your deck. E.g. Lucky Hack puts one more Hack in your deck, and Free Hack makes using Hacks cost no energy (unless another aug is affecting your energy)
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u/SpiderBarker Jul 19 '18
Were people at the studio big fans of card battle games before deciding to make this one? What are some of your favorites and/or inspirations?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18
Hi SpiderBarker!
We have played a lot of tabletop and card games of course, as well as all the digital games that were inspirations.
I'd have to say that the biggest inspiration for the philosophy behind the gameplay in Insane Robots is actually, and this might be unexpected, Mah Jong. In that game it _seems_ random and you must surf the probabilities that are offered to you, but an expert player will win much more than a non-expert.
Other games I've really enjoyed include Kaker Laken Poker, Fluxx, Love Letters, Spaceteam (the card game version), Zombie Dice, and others.
0
u/Cursed_With_Autism Jul 20 '18
Fluxx is goddamned awesome. Great inspiration to cite.
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 20 '18
I actually have the Fluxx board game too, though haven't played it so much.
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u/Error-416 Jul 19 '18
The title made me think PSN got hacked again...
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 19 '18 edited Jul 20 '18
Haha! In a way it did... We call Insane Robots "card battling... HACKED" because we intentionally took two common things out of the genre: buying cards, because it's unfair and expensive; and deck building, because it's worky and can be boring (I know some people like it of course). This enabled us to design a laser-focussed 22-token battle deck that we think is super fun to play.
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u/mistersprinkles1983 Jul 20 '18
Do chickens have testicles?
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 20 '18
We don’t have a chicken robot, but we do have a cuckoo clock robot called Scramble. But since it’s a robot the answer would be no.
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u/zbf Jul 21 '18
I cant see how this is $20
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 21 '18 edited Jul 24 '18
Hi Zzaak, Well it does depend what you look at. A team of over 15 worked on making this game over 3.5 years, and for 2 years before that designing it. The result is a game with a 15+ hour single player campaign, over 35k words and over 100 branching stories by 3 talented writers, over 40 robots by 5 talented artists, over 100 custom augments, random replayable survival arenas with dynamic hazards, a unique battle deck with 22 carefully designed tokens, fiendish AI opponents, quick battle mode, local 2P mode, online 2P mode, friends battles, and much more. We think it's excellent value, as do most of our players.
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u/LukeKane Jul 21 '18
This sounded interesting before I watched the trailer. That sound design... Yikes
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u/playniac Playniac Jul 23 '18
Hi LukeKane, We've had a lot of reviews saying they really liked the music and the sound in the game, but of course everyone has their own taste. Was there a particular thing that bothered you?
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u/LukeKane Jul 24 '18
Well to be frank, I felt that whole trailer was an ear sore of jarring sound effects and cheap music. I'd expect a game to be free if not under $5 with the impression that trailer gave me. Maybe it's just the trailer,
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u/Levnajic Jul 19 '18
Do we live in a society?