Line War News

We are extremely excited to announce that LINE WAR is now released here on Steam!



It has been a 3 year-long journey that started back in 2019 as the two of us set out to create a new type of multiplayer strategy game.

Today is a proud (and dare we say somewhat nerve-wracking) time in our lives when we release the game to the public on Steam. We set out to create a new type of game. Something that we believed would be fun to play and that did not conform to other games on the market. There were many design decisions to be made and over 11000 hours of development. Throughout the development process, we have played more than 600 matches ourselves and we feel that Line War has a lot to offer in terms of strategic game-play and replayability.

We understand that many players would like to have single-player campaigns or AI skirmishes, but as a small 2-person development team we must work in manageable iterations and gradually build the game. We have decided to launch Line War now with the 1v1 mode (and the sandbox) to maximize the chances that people of equal skills are matched against each other. If we were to include many different multiplayer team modes at launch we would risk fragmenting the player pool. Playing against someone with roughly equal skill is so important for the enjoyment factor.

Our development journey continues long after this initial release milestone. If you are interested to see our roadmap, it has been published and will be maintained on the official Line War website.

We hope that you join us and enjoy playing Line War for a long time to come!

Welcome to this first FAQ post that will focus on questions about the release of the game.

[h3]When will Line War be released?[/h3]
5 May 2022 at 09:00 AM PDT / 18:00 CEST / 16:00 GMT

[h3]How much will Line War cost?[/h3]
The initial release price is $19.99 with a 25% discount during the first week. Regional pricing may result in slight price differences around the world. As we continue to develop Line War and add more features and content, the price will likely increase for new customers.

[h3]Is there a roadmap for Line War?[/h3]
Yes, the roadmap is published on the official Line War website.

[h3]Does Line War have single-player modes?[/h3]
There is an offline sandbox where you can toggle between two players and do a lot of testing and playing around to see how the command system works, how the units behave, and improve their skills. There are, however, no other forms of campaigns or AI skirmishes at this point. This may be the most common question we get and we understand the desire for single-player modes. Here is why any form of single-player modes have not yet been implemented:

• Line War is primarily designed to be a competitive multiplayer game - we jokingly often refer to the experience as being similar to a board game or a tennis match which is best enjoyed with someone to play against :)
  
• We are still adding features, such as technologies, to the game and we want to ensure that the game requires a minimal amount of changes before we add AI logic that can mimic the playing style of humans or story-driven campaigns.
  
• We do not want to implement a mediocre single-player mode that would disappoint players - we plan to implement it when the time is right and we can invest the necessary time and resources to do it properly.
  
• The current price point reflects that Line War has no other forms of single-player modes except the sandbox. When we implement the campaigns or other forms of single-player experiences, the price for new players will likely be raised as a consequence.
  

[h3]Can you play more than two players or team games?[/h3]
Not yet. Due to popular demand in our feedback requests the single most requested feature to add next is team and FFA modes. Check out the Line War roadmap to find out more as we are working to add 2v2, 3v3, and FFA modes.

[h3]Do you have plans to add different factions with different buildings, units, or mechanics?[/h3]
No, we currently have no such plans or ideas. Line War will instead focus on "in-game" customization of your army, primarily through the research of technologies. Technologies would add abilities to your existing units and/or structures so you can leverage different technologies depending on your playing style or circumstances in a match. We do have some thoughts for the future about unit customization both visually in terms of skins, and mechanically through in-game research in addition to the technologies. Nothing has been decided on this front and it would be carefully evaluated and described in the roadmap before implementation.

[h3]Why did you release Line War before it was fully finished, and why not Early Access?[/h3]
We decided to release Line War as a "normal" release (instead of Early Access) because the multiplayer experience has been tested and more than 35000 matches have been played with strong indications that balancing, reliability, and match duration are according to our initial goals. We want to maximize Line War's chances of success by opening the doors to everyone who is looking for a multiplayer RTS and we hope that players can enjoy playing the game against each other as we continue to add features. The current price of Line War reflects that not all intended features have been implemented yet. The price will likely rise in the future as the level of content and features increases.

[h3]Can you save and view replays?[/h3]
Yes, after a match you have the option to download a replay that you can load in an off-line mode at any point. When watching the replay you can toggle between player views, accelerate and decelerate time, and toggle fog-of-war.



[h3]Why are there no interactive tutorials in the game?[/h3]
For the time being, we have decided to implement in-game video tutorials where we can add educational content from beginner to advanced levels. We understand that interactive tutorials are desirable, but being a multiplayer game - the current state of the game does not implement logic to draw up and replay scenarios, validate tutorial criteria, and the necessary UI capabilities to guide a player through an interactive experience. Many of the features that we need for interactive tutorials are shared with that of single-player modes so when most of the technologies and other game-mechanic changes have been implemented we should be able to build up interactive tutorials.

[h3]Will the game be available on mobile?[/h3]
No. The input system and UI would not work on small displays, but iPad or other tablet-sized devices could be considered.

[h3]Will the game be released for Mac or Linux[/h3]
We have the capability to compile the game for both Mac and Linux and we plan to officially add that support at a later stage. No date has been set for this yet.

[h3]How do the asymmetrical maps affect game balance?[/h3]
Each match is started with what's called a "picking phase" where you get to pick the location where you would like to start. Your opponent has the same capability and if you both pick the same territory or a territory nearby, that region is banned and the picking phase continues until there is no conflict. It's an important part of the game to learn and understand good starting locations.

[h3]Where is the Line War Leaderboard?[/h3]
The leaderboard is published on the official Line War website.



[h3]Why do I keep disconnecting from the server?[/h3]
If you are experiencing a lot of "irrecoverable disconnects" that eventually time out, you might be able to recover by resetting your connection whilst leaving the game running.

You do this in Windows by:

• Disconnecting and reconnecting to the WiFi
  
• Disconnecting and reconnecting the network cable
  
• Disable/enable the network card in Windows settings
  

We are working hard to resolve this problem that seems to affect some players with non-fiber connections. Line War is able to recover from the most violent of disturbances on the network, such as shutting down the connection itself and when using network disturbance tools such as "Clumsy" to drop/corrupt/delay packets, and more.

We are taking action and migrating to Unity's new net code stack called "Unity Transport", which will hopefully resolve this issue. Our apologies for any inconvenience in the meantime!

We are very happy to announce that Line War will be released on 5 May 2022 at 09:00 am PDT.

It has been a very exciting journey so far, and this is only the beginning!

Three years ago, the two of us set out to create a new type of multiplayer RTS game. We come from a background of playing games like Command & Conquer, Red Alert, and StarCraft 1 and 2 to name a few, and our idea, albeit somewhat risky, was to create a new experience. Line War is designed to reduce the need for micro-management so you can focus on strategy. A new visual command system was created so you can draw commands that units will follow rather than having to direct individuals or groups of units manually.

The Line War Demo was released during Steam Next Fest and since then thousands of players have enjoyed playing more than 30000 matches.

We have plenty of more ideas and we will continue to develop Line War over the coming years, but we have decided to release the game without Early Access. One of the reasons for this decision is that Line War is a 100% playable game at the time of release and we want to maximize the chances of an active player base that can enjoy competitive matches against each other.

This being said, we will continue to add more multiplayer modes (like 2v2, 3v3, FFA), technologies, audiovisual content, infrastructure, and intelligence, to improve the game while players can enjoy what has already been implemented.

The demo will still be available for a couple of weeks and then it will be removed before we officially launch Line War on 5 May!

A couple of weeks ago, we released the free LINE WAR demo and participated in Steam Next Fest. It was a very exciting week as we saw thousands of new players coming to play the game that we, as two independent developers, have spent nearly three years developing.

During the Steam Next Fest week, our demo was downloaded 9151 times. We had an average of 1042 daily users, with a peak of 1577 players in one day.



LINE WAR is at this point a multiplayer-only game (unless, of course, you count the Sandbox as a single-player experience), so we have different numbers to analyze in addition to the number of players who are simply just running the game or idling in the start menu.

2711 players successfully played a match against another player and there were a total of 5371 multiplayer matches during the Next Fest Week alone. To put this into perspective, we have had a closed alpha tester community, including us developers, that had played 1400 matches prior to the Steam Next Fest week. So in one week, 4 times the amount of matches recorded over a year was played during this week.

A design goal of Line War has been to keep matches around the 30-minute mark on average. We want LINE WAR to become an e-sport friendly competitive strategy game, and even though there are rare cases of matches lasting over an hour, we hit an average of 26 minutes per match on average. A very promising number!

[h2]Some more numbers for the nerdy[/h2]

2.2 million LINE WAR units were produced during the Steam Next Fest period, and 1.4 million of those were destroyed in action. LINE WAR maps have between 150-300 territories and no less than 432000 territories were conquered. We can't wait to start logging the nitty-gritty details not only to get the analytical capability for game balancing but also for number lovers who like to top the leader board charts in niche categories such as becoming the player with the world's highest number of rockets shot down by infantry which, by the way, is possible but extremely difficult ːsteamhappyː

[h2]The free demo is still available - hurry up![/h2]

We have kept the demo live and available even after Steam Next Fest, leading up to the release. More than 14800 matches have been played, Two people have played over 200 matches, 16 people have played over 100 matches, and 1250+ people have played 5 or more matches. A total of 6.3 million units have been produced of which 4 million were destroyed. Just in case anyone was wondering =)

After the Steam Next Fest, and following up until today, we have made good use of the match data and implemented a new skill-based matchmaking system. LINE WAR is best enjoyed when playing against an evenly skilled opponent and we use this data to pair players of equal skills together. A nice bonus is the leader board for those who are interested in trying to reach the top of that!



[h2]What to do next?[/h2]
If you have played the LINE WAR demo - please consider helping us by providing feedback using this basic form. We will give 5 random feedback providers a free Steam Key when the game is released.

LINE WAR Demo Feedback Form - it'll only take 5-10 minutes to complete.

Join our LINE WAR Discord Server - players are talking about the game, discussing strategies, and hanging out. We usually stream matches there too.

Thanks for reading, and if you haven't already, consider adding LINE WAR to your Steam Wishlist :)

We're over halfway through the Next Fest, and we're heading back to the frontline with renewed forces for our Line War Live Stream.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
The livestream play session of the game will be held on Saturday, February 26th at 11:00pm CET / 10:00pm BST

As always, we'll be be on hand to answer your burning questions, share our tips and tricks and give you an insight into all that Line War has to offer.

Studio Centurion

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1309610/Line_War/