Crossfire: Legion News

DevBlog 10: Early Access Delayed

Greetings Commanders,
In game development not everything always goes to plan but we have communicated with you the freshest news every step of the way. This continues here as we announce the delay of our Early Access to May 24th.

Delayed, but don’t be dismayed, there are good reasons for this.

This is a tough call, but we have had such a wealth of feedback from players during our Technical Test and Demo that we can now more comfortably implement these changes. This ranges from squashing bugs to optimising graphical performance.

Unfortunately, we must cancel the free play test (originally planned for April 21st) so that we can continue to focus on all the players feedback. And so while our current priority is getting the game ready for Early Access, once that’s released we can assess the possibility of a platform for free tests afterwards.

If you are unsure of the game, you will find many great Let’s Play videos on Youtube.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We also now have more time to refine the game based on our work with the community council. As always we’re listening to all feedback because the game is ultimately shaped and driven by the players. This makes us open to suggestions; game development is an ongoing process and content updates post launch are the norm for most titles.

Like many of you, we are also looking forward to getting to grips with Dune: Spice Wars and Galactic Civilisation 4, which were also due to enter Early Access on the same day. My, what a good time to be a strategy game player. In the meantime we can now all enjoy more RTS :)

Here is our revised Road to Early Access:

DevBlog 11, April 28th
We take an exclusive look at the brains behind Crossfire: Legion with an interview with our lead game designer and senior narrative designer. We’ll learn more about their vision for the game.

DevBlog 12, May 5th.
We’ll introduce you to the ins and outs of PayLoad, our new game mode that’ll get you thinking about your RTS plans in a new way.

DevBlog 13, May 12th
Here we’ll detail the new units and commanders that you’ll be able to play with and experiment within your strategies upon Early Access release.

DevBlog 14, May 17th.
It’ll be only 7 days until Early Access releases. We’ll detail the release time zones, new content, price, tournaments and info about localization.

DevBlog 15, May 24th.
Early Access will be live and we’ll be taking you through all that’s new and what’s still to come.

We also have a Fan Kit available with artwork, unit cards, logos and all you content creators need here: https://static.kochmedia.com/yac_sites/crossfire/cfl_fankit.zip

Maintain your communication and surveillance networks by joining us here on:

DevBlog 09: Ranked Mode

Greetings Commanders,

Last week we talked about our single play campaign, now we reveal our plans for Multiplayer and our Ranked ladder that we know you’re eager to climb.

Ranked Leaderboards for 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 games can be viewed and sorted by region as well as faction. Although the details may change, it’ll look similar to this:

Firstly, only games completed via our auto-match function will affect your rank.
Upon Launch of Early Access, and also subject to change based on your feedback, the ranked matchmaker will work as follows.

Players click “auto-match”.
Players set up a game choosing their faction, loadout and 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3.
Player’s MMR is added to the pool of available players.
Stage 1 looks for players within a range of 150 of each other and pairs them up.
If no match is found within 30 seconds, Stage 2 increases the range to 500.
If no match is found within 30 seconds, Stage 3 increases the range to 700.
If no match is found within 30 seconds, Stage 3 repeats.
On completing a match the amount of MMR a player gains or loses depends on the relative difference in ELO (skill level) between them.

In Crossfire Legion, your RTS skills will be put to the test and as your MMR increases you’ll climb through 10 different rank stages.

To view your competitive stats in game you only need to click on your player profile in the top left of the menu screen and your MMR and rank will be displayed bottom right. Also bear in mind that while your player profile will rise in level as you gain experience points from other game modes, this is no reflection on the ranked skill of a player.

We know that you competitive types will be thinking about your ladder placement and the current status of the multiplayer game while in “Real Life”. Therefore, on our website we’ve put together the most important stats that you can check at any time. Here’s a draft of how it might look.

Moving forward, we plan to listen closely to the players and work with our community council to ensure a fair ranked system and respond to imbalances.

Still lots to look forward to, and so we'll be seeing you on the battlfield and ladder.
- Your Crossfire: Legion Team

DevBlog 08: Single Player Campaign

Greetings Commanders,

In addition to enjoying a good old fashioned comp stomp vs. A.I. in skirmish mode or the madness of a multiplayer match, we also know many of you also love immersing yourself in a narrative driven single-player RTS campaign. While a largely multiplayer focused game, we at Blackbird Interactive are proud of our history with campaigns and wanted to ensure that Crossfire: Legion also includes an engaging single-player campaign.

While also telling an immersive story, we hope this will be the best way to familiarize yourself with the game and units before diving into the other game modes.
The story of Crossfire: Legion will be told over four Acts, the first three being dedicated to each of the Crossfire: Legion factions; Black List, Global Risk & New Horizon.

Act I will be available on early access, consisting of four missions (2.5hours) that focus on Black List’s ongoing struggle against Global Risk.

These missions will train newer players in the RTS to experience, teaching them how to navigate levels, fight units, and use commander abilities. Players will also learn how to interact with scripted events within the game. Overall, the hope is that once players complete the first act they will understand how to use commander abilities, units in formation and have a solid understanding of the factions taking part in the narrative as well as the motivations of the commanders leading their factions.

If you want an exclusive first look at these campaign missions, join GameStars Stream with Monsters and Explosions (In German only) here: https://www.twitch.tv/monstersandexplosions

We’re excited to be edging closer to Early Access and to hear your feedback on April 26th, starting with our Free Play Test on April 21th.

DevBlog 07: Road to Early Access

Greetings Commanders,

It’s only a month away! We’re pleased to announce that Crossfire: Legion will hit Early Access on April 26th!

Check out our roadmap of how we’re getting from here to there.

Lots to look forward to, and here are some key details about what you can expect.

DevBlog 08, April 7th.

We know many of you, as well as enjoying a good comp stomp vs. A.I. in skirmish mode, also enjoy immersing yourself in a narrative driven single player campaign. While Crossfire: Legion is mainly a multiplayer focused game, we at Blackbird Interactive have a good history with campaigns. We hope this will be the best way to familiarize yourself with the game and units before diving into the other game modes.
The story of Crossfire: Legion will be told over four Acts, with the first being released with early access and will focus on Black list’s struggle against Global Risk.

DevBlog 09, April 14th.

We’ll highlight our vision for the game and detail how our Ranked Mode will work for your competitive players. We’ll also detail our plans for tournaments.

DevBlog 10, April 19th.

Here we’ll discuss in detail what new is coming to the game and we’ll start you thinking about your battle plans.

DevBlog 11, April 21st.

We’ll be beginning with a free play test so you can familiarise yourself with all the new content before paying to join the Early Access. We’ll be gathering players' data once more and using your feedback to further polish the game. FYI: The play-test will only be in English, but more lanaguages will be supported with Early Access.

DevBlog 12, We’ll have arrived! April 26th, Early Access will begin.

Many more units, maps and game modes will be at your disposal and it’ll cost:

In Europe: 29.99 €
In the UK: £ 23.99
In the USA: ＄29.99
In Korea: 31000 ₩

So that’s the plan for the month to come. We’re very excited to see you all in Early Access and to hear your feedback.

DevBlog 06: Our Card System

Greetings Commanders,

We will be releasing many more units for each faction. So many, in fact, you will need to make choices before entering the battlefield.

[h3]Introducing Our Card System[/h3]

Bring to battle the right tools for the right challenge.
Before entering a game, players will have a roster with eight slots. Each slot represents a different type and category of unit. Before entering battle, players can switch up units and commanders in this roster by selecting different cards. Different army compositions will work better for the different game modes we will introduce.

Only one card can be selected per slot and these cards are unlocked by ingame currency earned from completing daily operations (varying game related missions) and winning games in ranked matches.

With this card system we want to add a deck-building experience to Crossfire: Legion. By constraining what units a player can bring to each round, players will hopefully also spend time away from the game devising what their optimal loadout will be for their play-style. Experimenting with your army will be key to victory.

Crossfire: Legion needs you!
We’re happy to announce application to join that our Discord community council are now open:

Apply by completing the form here: https://bit.ly/commcouncil

Deadline is Monday the 28th of March

Community Council Commanders will get:

Direct access to the developers and private test builds
A chance to play with us on streams
A unique Discord role
1000 internet points with our eternal gratitude

You will commit to:

Providing detailed feedback, e.g. helping with balance
Signing an NDA
Moderation responsibilities
Being a pillar of the Crossfire: Legion community

And here is a reminder of our development progress.

As you can see, we're ploughing on ahead and taking your feedback into consideration and we polish the game before release. Stay tuned for next week when we reveal our plans towards Early Access.