Panzer Strategy News

Hello!

Christmas holidays are in full swing and it is high time to look back and summarize everything we have done throughout 2021.



This is a special Christmas Wallpapers for the Strategic Mind series. Subscribe to Starni Games newsletter to get this wallpaper for your desktop and other cool stuff. Please check your promotion emails not to miss the letter from us.

[h3]👉 Subscribe to Starni Games newsletter and get the special wallpapers[/h3]



Early into the year, we finalized our plans for the next game in the Strategic Mind series - we did niche games before, but now we dared to start working on a niche game with a niche setting. We really hope that you guys will like the project and support it.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1381850/announcements/detail/3059604354539711195


In April we have finally set the exact release date for Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom and shared a Story trailer for the upcoming release.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


In may we have successfully released the Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom. You can check out the game and its Cinematic trailer following the link below:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/3059611965013023855
Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom is the newest and definitely most well-polished game across the series. We can only hope and work very hard to make sure that the Spirit of Liberty would be able to set the bar even higher.



We have decided to experiment a bit and release a free Prologue app this time that will have several operations from the upcoming Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty for everyone to explore for free. And if you like the game you could purchase the full version and keep playing from the same point using save files from the Prologue.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1683420/Strategic_Mind_Spirit_of_Liberty__Prologue_1939/


It is becoming a good tradition to travel to Odessa in July for the annual Games Gathering Odessa event. Here is our report from the conference:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/2999942440533300991


Due to the pandemics, many big gaming events moved online and it allowed us to participate in this year’s Gamescom, even if only online. Here is the report:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/2981933839796696500


We have carried out a survey to figure out the most important game mechanics and aspects of the game. We are very grateful to everyone who participated in the survey. Here are the results:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/3030351253187933324


As always we produce all our trailers and promo materials in-house, meaning that on one hand, it is not done by some fancy trailer-guru team, but on the other hand, it is done by the dev team that is very passionate about the project and tries their best to present it to the player’s community. Check out the trailer if you have not seen it yet:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


This award came to us as a pleasant surprise - we often participate in various events and competitions to showcase the game and are used to keep our expectations low, as our games are very niche and hardcore - so they rarely get lots of attention, as experts usually say something like “well, seems like a really cool game, but not something I would play after I have put in a hard day’s work”.



This year we have decided that the best way to summarise the year is to answer your questions and record them on video so that everyone can have a look:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We plan to hold the next session like that at the end of February - so if you want your questions answered, you can already send them here: https://forms.gle/1A9Hir4srxXfq2QU6



The biggest announcement of the year - our new game Headquarters: World War II that will be published by Slitherine. We have been working on this project for quite a while, so we are very happy to finally share it with you and will keep updating you on our progress. Here is more information:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/3141821682386771299
Make sure to check out Headquarters: World War II on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840800/Headquarters_World_War_II/


The report about our team visiting a large game conference in our hometown - learn more about the team:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/3141821139273830515


A holiday present from Starni - the largest historical track in the series - the legendary Jean Sibeliuses’ Finlandia Op. 26 - recorded by Daraba studio for your listening pleasure:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/5447664788864657474
This year was full of events, and the next one is bound to be even more acton-packed. We are thankful to everyone for your support and wish all the Strategic Mind series’ community happy holidays and the best of luck in the upcoming year 2022. See you next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Starni Games team

Hello, guys!

Today we reveal the first historical track from the Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty, recorded by Daraba studio. Finlandia Op. 26 is by far the longest and most epic of all the tracks we asked Daraba studio to create for the Strategic Mind series so far. I guess every Fin would know it, but for the rest of the audience here are a few facts from the historical perspective:

"Finlandia, Op. 26, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire.
In order to avoid Russian censorship, Finlandia had to be performed under alternative names at various musical concerts. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous and often confusing —famous examples include "Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring", and "A Scandinavian Choral March"."

Listen to the "Finlandia Op. 26" track on our YouTube channel:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We want to thank everyone, who purchased Strategic Mind Franchise Soundtrack - your support really helped us get more historical tracks added into the game. We are also very grateful to everyone who participated in the community votes and helped us choose the best tracks. Here is the result of the combined efforts of the community and our team. All Spirit of Liberty tracks will be added to the Strategic Mind Franchise Soundtrack at the game's release.

If you want to get access to the whole Strategic Mind series soundtrack with all the high-quality recordings - feel free to check out our Franchise soundtrack on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358280/Strategic_Mind_Franchise_Soundtrack/
Have a good day!
Starni Games team

Steam Winter Sale has already started! Don't miss your chance to get Panzer Strategy at 85% off! The offer ends on January 5:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/769950/Panzer_Strategy/

[h2]Strategic Mind Franchise on Steam Winter Sale 2021[/h2]

[h3]

• Save 40% on The Pacific

[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/991810/Strategic_Mind_The_Pacific/

[h3]

• Save 35% on Blitzkrieg

[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1200330/Strategic_Mind_Blitzkrieg/

[h3]

• Save 30% on Spectre of Communism

[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1341170/Strategic_Mind_Spectre_of_Communism/

[h3]

• Save 25% on Fight for Freedom

[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1381850/Strategic_Mind_Fight_for_Freedom/

[h3]Save up an additional 20% on top of the discounts above if you get Strategic Mind Complete Collection bundle:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16499/Strategic_Mind_Complete_Collection/

Hello, guys!

On December 4-5th our team went to one of the biggest annual Games Conferences in Eastern Europe, which was conveniently held in our hometown - Kyiv. We bought tickets for all team members who wanted to come - that means everyone really. Fortunately, we also got a few tickets for free as speakers and Indie Blast participants.

It was a truly massive event for Game industry specialists with some 2800 people attending offline and extra 600 online. It was a great opportunity to talk to colleagues, discuss all the latest news, share experiences and just chill with like-minded people.


Large conference hall


Wargaming brought the real T-34-85 tank to their booth and made a lottery winning which granted a free ride in the T-34-85 tank. Quite thematic I would say.


The insides of the T-34-58 tank. Although refitted with these fancy modern LEDs to increase combat capabilities, this new equipment provides +99 style and -50 spotting.


Now, closer to our team’s involvement in the event. It is our good tradition to present our Strategic Mind titles in the Indie Blast competition that allows us to have a small booth sponsored by Epic Games for developers working on Unreal Engine 4. So, this time was no different and we presented our upcoming title - Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty.


Starni Games booth at the event


Starni team - everyone hides from the camera (they seem to have a very high camouflage parameter and are shown as "?")


Visitors trying out the game. They obviously failed - one cannot just play our game at a conference successfully. It requires some more time to really get into it. :)


This time we set a record of all 14-people-team attendance. Here are some photos that were taken by our team during the event:


Kate Bovkun - the one and only 2D artist in our team :) Now she has finally found herself a teammate ;)


Alex Marchenko - our Lead Level Designer, ... at least that is what it says on the badge.


Valentine Kolesnikov - our Level Design Guru (also known for the best memes), even the famous David Mullich himself has asked to take a photo with Valentine. ;) (not really)


Kate Bovkun and Alexander Shevchuk are enjoying themselves at the luxurious booth of some big gaming company that makes Hidden Object games.


Valentine Kolesnikov and Alex Marchenko taking some photos together to strengthen team spirit. No, just kidding - they made those photos to get free lollipops.


Our marketing and community manager Katya Globa is taking photos with her sister, oops it's not her sister, it is Lerika Mallayeva the CEO & Founder of DevGAMM events (big game dev conferences similar to this one).


Aaaand finally, Alex Marchenko is taking photos with his new buddy David Mullich and talking about the development of Heroes of Might and Magic VIII. (not really)


Our CEO Ihor Tymoshenko and COO Oleksandr Sienin had a 1-hour talk about Developer-Publisher relations: how to look for the right publisher, what things to have in mind during the negotiations, and other such things. The key takeaway would be that you have to look for a very specific publisher that fits your company and project the best and the one you can build a long-term relationship with mutual trust and respect. You should be partners, not “the boss and the subordinate”.


Left to right: Ihor Tymoshenko and Oleksandr Sienin just started with the talk. Must be really hard to give a talk with your mouth closed. ;)


The talk has not progressed much since the photo above, as could be seen from the slides.


One of the most famous guests of the conference was undoubtedly David Mullich - the Producer of the Heroes of Might and Magic series (HoMM 3 and HoMM 4), Vampires the Masquerade Bloodlines, and many other famous titles. It was a pleasant surprise when David came to our small booth as he was visiting the Indie zone. We told him about the Strategic Mind series, and he said that really liked how the cinematic trailer for the Strategic Mind: Fight for Freedom was directed (footage cut and overall visuals) - it was shown on the screen at our booth as we spoke. We could not miss the chance and took a couple of photos with David.


David Mullich and Oleksandr Sienin at Starni Games booth. Yay!

The next day David Mullich taught a lecture about the development of the HoMM series and his path in game development. It was very interesting since the guys on the team could really sympathize and reflect on many things he spoke about - since we often face the same problems.


One of the slides from the David Mullich talk at the event explains the UI visual style that the HoMM3 dev team has very fittingly dubbed "the fecal brush". Did not stop them from creating an immortal game though. :)


Interesting thing was that since the conference was before the 14th December - when Slitherine had officially announced our new joint project Headquarters: World War II - we could not really talk about it, and kept talking about “some unannounced project". Fortunately, now the announcement has come and we finally can talk about it more or less freely. We invite you to check out the store page for and wishlist + follow to keep an eye on the development.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840800/Headquarters_World_War_II/

Have a good day!
Starni Games team

General!

We have updated all the Strategic Mind series titles recently, with various minor issues being fixed, and with Strategic Mind: The Pacific getting a full Korean text localization. We plan to add more improvements and fixes closer to the Strategic Mind: Spirit of Liberty release next year.



Headquarters: World War II is our first project with a publisher, and not just any publisher, but the number one publisher for niche strategy games - Slitherine. We are very happy with how the cooperation is going so far and we think that this project has everything it needs to become a very interesting and fun game for you guys to play.

Watch live announcement during the Home of Wargamers Live event:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
More information about Headquarters: World War II here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/3141821682386771299


Our Lead game designer Oleksandr recorded a Q&A video and answered all of the questions we received. Here are some of them:
- Will you continue adding games to the SM franchise? Are you planning a SM2 with upgraded graphics and mechanics in the feature?
- Do you have a release date for spirit of liberty?
- When the Strategic Mind project ends with the last battlefield in Finland, what kind of project do you have in mind? Thinking of a new strategy game other than WWII?

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
If you want your questions answered in the next Q&A session that will be held in February 2022 - feel free to follow the link below and ask us everything you want to know about our games and team:
https://forms.gle/sXq4vh1FNqkgyGFN6



This week we got new awesome community-made screenshots from the Strategic Mind series! Check them out and consider sharing your own playthrough with the community.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1381850/view/3141820505017496046





Night Phoenix faces arguably the largest and longest land operation in the entire series - the Battle of Moscow (German side):

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWc1xlGZUzc
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZUgvKXHsx8
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c81tk2kbduc
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTA4NGAKnkc
Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu7EAECaQdU
Part 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uie6OhcEXIc
Part 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEECIfgGn5w
Part 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA-hNOPfNdk

We hope you like this epic battle being played on Challenging difficulty.

Consider wishlisting and following our new project Headquarters: World War II to keep an eye on it:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1840800/Headquarters_World_War_II/