Broken Arrow News

We’re well aware of the huge anticipation surrounding Broken Arrow.

Dozens of thousands of fans have been patiently waiting for the beta. It was originally meant to start a few months ago, but we decided to wait a couple of extra months. You can never be too careful.

Well, the wait is (almost) over. The beta of Broken Arrow will begin in ten days, on November 16.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Can everyone get in?

For now the beta will be a closed beta, meaning that everyone can apply for the beta but we reserve ourselves the right to handpick those who will be given access.

How do I get in, then?

It’s simple, you can apply here. You will need to register a Slitherine account (which is free) and fill the form. Due to the sudden influx of traffic, the website might temporarily be unavailable. If it happens please bear with us, it will be back online soon. If you are having technical issues with signing up for the beta, please reach out to our customer service at [email protected]

How do I know if I am chosen?

Slitherine’s producers will reach out to you by e-mail, the same e-mail address you used for registering your Slitherine account. The e-mail you receive will contain all the information you need to access the beta version of the game and on how to provide feedback on it. Furthermore, you might be selected even after November 16, as our team will look into adding more and more testers as the beta progresses.

Can I stream the beta?

Absolutely not. Everyone who gets in the beta is automatically under NDA. We’ll have options for making versions of the game available to all (players and reviewers alike) at a later date.

We’re back from WASD x IGN where we were able to showcase the latest version of the game with a playable mission. We were delighted to meet some of the Broken Arrow fans, as well as to introduce the game to many new players.



We have some big news today!

First off, as promised, here is a new trailer featuring Deck Customization!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Let us know what you think in the comments section.

Furthermore, we just updated the screenshots on the store page, so let us know if you spot the new ones!

We also have a message directly from the devs, who want to give you an update on how development is going and what we can expect in the next couple of months.

Greetings Friends!

It's been a while since we brought you news about Broken Arrow, but rest assured radio silence is a sure sign that the team is working tirelessly, at least in our case. 😁

We are working on a beta version. The closed beta will start in the next couple of months and will feature multiplayer, unlike the demo released in February. The ability to play single player mode will also remain.

You will be able to sign up for the closed beta a little later.

We want to create a complete and polished gaming experience from the very beginning, so we are currently holding an internal testing, finalizing some details and of course creating a server infrastructure to handle many thousands of players simultaneously. Testing is designed to help us balance the game so that players feel they have a certain role and are not overwhelmed. It is planned to try out several game modes, from time-tested to truly bold and innovative.

Let us remind you that we set the task of creating matchmaking to be as fast and efficient as possible, so we are introducing one main multiplayer game mode and several secondary ones available in user lobbies.

Since the February demo we have improved the interface, made huge strides in optimization and stability, especially in 5v5 online matches with a large number of units, carried out balancing and improved ergonomics incl. airstrikes and aviation.

We initially distributed our efforts in such a way that in our game there was no bias in any direction and there was a balance between the popular single player and multiplayer. For the lion's share of players who avoid multiplayer we have prepared several ways to have fun, from full-fledged atmospheric single player campaigns to cooperative modes with high replay value.

The first two campaigns for the USA and Russia will be available on an initial release and will take place in the Baltic states. The list of campaigns will expand.
The Scenario Editor, which we use to create cutscenes and campaigns, will be available to players so they can create and share their own videos, scenarios, and campaigns.

Additional campaigns are planned as DLC and will come with new nations (and specializations for existing nations) and maps.

Regarding the release we think that we’ll get the clearest picture from the results of closed beta testing. Of course, we want to release it as soon as possible, but primarily do it in such a way that 4 years of our efforts are not in vain and the game reveals all its potential.

Thank you for your support and see you soon on the battlefields!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1604270/Broken_Arrow/

Will you be anywhere around London between September 14th to 16th? Then you might want to mark this on your calendar.

Slitherine is coming to WASD, bringing two of its most anticipated real-time strategy games: Broken Arrow and Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance. You will have the chance to experience the games first hand, meet our staff and offer your valuable feedback.

Broken Arrow is the highly anticipated real-time strategy game pinning the United States against Russia in a fictional conflict set in the contemporary era.

At WASD you will get the chance to play the latest version of the game in an exciting single player mission.



Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance is a gritty RTS that puts you in the middle of the Future Wars between humanity and Legion's synthetic intelligent machine network.

You'll have the chance to play through a few missions from the early stages of the single-player campaign at WASD.



📅 WASD X IGN 2023

Date: 14th - 16th September 2023
Location: Truman Brewery London
More information on the games:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1604270/Broken_Arrow/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839950/Terminator_Dark_Fate__Defiance/

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since we gave news about Broken Arrow, but rest assured, the team has been working hard. 

You're probably wondering what the current development status is: the team is working on the version that will become the beta; this version of the game will also contain multiplayer, unlike the demo back in February. We want to provide a polished and refined experience from the get go, so currently we're doing a lot of internal testing, ironing out a few details and, obviously, putting together the server infrastructure to accomodate many thousands of players at the same time.

Communication wise, we decided to break silence by releasing this interview to Félix Habert, Creative Director at Steel Balalaika, who will talk of the design choices behind Broken Arrow. The interview is accompanied by new screenshots: they were previously released privately to Patreon members and those will be new to everyone else.

We're looking forward to a very heated autumn, there will be tons of Broken Arrow news coming, so stay tuned, and enjoy the interview.

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Steel Balalaika as a new team is working on their first new game. Could you tell us  why you decided to make Broken Arrow? How was that decision taken and why?

Félix Habert: Broken Arrow is born from our love of strategy games and Steel Balalaika from the dream to make our own game and make it our job instead of being simple consumers.

This is a dream of freedom: creative freedom, economic freedom, freedom to work when we want and not like assembly-line workers.

Of course, with freedom come responsibilities and “when we want” rapidly becomes “all the time” but we believe that our efforts will not be in vain and that they will be rewarded in the end. That’s why our motivation never failed and is even reinforced by the very positive feedback we have received after the Steam Next Fest's demo.



What are the goals you aim to accomplish with Broken Arrow?

Félix Habert: Our first goal is to make sure at 100% that we deliver the game in the end. It sounds unambitious but this is our first game as a team, which means we cannot afford a failure.

Our second goal is more ambitious: create a new reference.

World in Conflict released 16 years ago in 2007 is a big inspiration in terms of atmosphere for us. We have the feeling that no game since WiC has managed to reach that level of immersion without sacrificing the scale of the battle.

But World in Conflict's gameplay was too simplistic in our view with its limited number of units and clear counters. We wanted something different that would feel more like a wargame with a huge number of units with statistics inspired by their real-life characteristics and the gameplay adapted around this constraint and not the other way around.

Another downside of World in Conflict was that the size of the battlefield that was too small to make planes controllable. The size of our battlefield was dictated by the fact we wanted controllable aircrafts.

In summary Broken Arrow is this: a mix between World in Conflict and a wargame.



What has been the hardest obstacle while developing Broken Arrow so far?

Félix Habert: This is the first game of the studio so we started from nothing, everything has to be made so it’s not the kind of obstacle like a cliff that you can blow up with dynamite or avoid, it is rather a very long and smooth slope that you must continue to climb every day for multiple years.

Was there a specific feature you definitely wanted in Broken Arrow?

Félix Habert: There are definitely 3 main things we wanted:

1) We want to include all the most impressive military equipment and techniques in existance or that are being developed. The logic we follow is “if it’s cool, we want it!”.

So you name it: airdrop, helicopter heavy lift, swarms of cruise and ballistic missiles, heavy bombers, all types of bombs and missiles including nuclear, AC-130 gunships, A-10 making gun runs…

2) Customization of the equipment. We wanted players to select which missiles and bombs they want for their planes, then we extended the principle to all units. Vehicles have armor upgrades, different weapon packages, infantry weapons can be swapped.

3) Give tools to the players to create and share content. Since we had to create everything from scratch including our own tools to create missions, we have decided to hit two birds with one stone and develop these tools as part of the game instead of a separate software. That way players will be able to create their own scenarios with dialogues, music, cinematics etc.



Once the game is released, do you envision expanding the game with new factions, maps and campaigns?

Félix Habert: Yes, of course! We have started with USA and Russia because they are the most documented armies providing obvious opponents for the game but we intend to add more factions to the game.

We also intend to add new maps with new biomes and new solo campaigns.

We also intend to develop new game mechanics and provide more tools for the players like the ability to create their own campaigns.

Welcome back to another Dev Blog for Broken Arrow.

This time we’re going to focus a bit on what the team has been working on recently. Steel Balalaika is currently hard at work on implementing new units and allowing for various degrees of cosmetic customization to them. Plus, you can now automatize things such as flares.

In the meantime, work is also continuing towards preparing a build for the multiplayer beta. As usual, stay tuned, and enjoy the read.

Customize the appearance of your units

A new type of customization is available in the game. Grab your favorite brush and a big paint can because you will be able to customize the livery of your units.
We’ve been teasing that for quite some time now by showing you vehicles with different color patterns in our screenshots and it is now fully functional: the appearance of your vehicle will be memorized in the deck and will be visible by other players in multiplayer.

More units added to the game

The demo contained around 160 units accessible in the hangar. Some people thought that this would be the total amount of units that will be present at release. Far from it, this represents about only half of it. At release the game will contain more than 300 units.
For those who were disappointed not to be able to ogle the generous curves of the top tier American tanks we’re sorry but they were not ready at the time of the demo but now they are.
Meet the M1A2 SEPv3 with TUSK 2 upgrade and Trophy active protection system in action:





Quality of life improved, micromanagement reduced.
As announced we are making efforts to reduce the micromanagement required to play the game and let players who prefer to focus on planning do so by giving the possibility to let the AI manage things like flares and smoke dispensers for them.
There will still be the possibility to deactivate the automatic mode with a simple right click on the button to manually trigger the ability with a left click when you need it.