His pedigree shone through, as he managed his units with the finesse of a seasoned Warcraft veteran.Īs I said, Dropzone is an anomaly. Yaws demonstrated this during the ESL invitational in Cologne. This elegant little twist has huge implications for the way Dropzone plays. Progressive levels unlock new mechanoid skills, giving competitors access to more abilities and directly affecting a team’s respawn timer. Instead of gathering minerals, players acquire experience as a pooled resource and distribute it between their units accordingly.
Although resource management has been removed from the map, it has been resolved into the levelling system. Dropzone’s small team size, obvious objectives and simple scoring system allows any calibre of player to easily follow a match.ĭespite these innovations, at its core Dropzone still relies on great strategy. It also makes the game incredible to watch. Sparkypant’s decision to move to a fifteen-minute window eliminates this barrier, allowing it to compete with other MOBA titles.
Learning complex systems can feel critical and the time required to significantly improve can be off-putting. Protracted matches, complex build systems, layered micromanagement, and a significant time investment can all act as a major disincentive to the more casual audience. For the uninitiated, RTS can seem incredibly intimidating. This makes Dropzone incredibly tempting to pick up and play. In stark contrast, other RTS matches can have a much more considered pace before the shooting war begins. Like many MOBAs, the relatively short length of matches forces action along at an unrelenting pace. Only fifteen minutes stand between competitors and defeat. When battle finally does commence, Dropzone is far from sedate. This mix of flesh and metal gives real depth to Dropzone’s turn-based drafts, another feature borrowed from MOBAs. A unique set of passive skills and ultimate ability are available to every pilot, with Cortex and Recon proving particularly popular during the ESL showcase. Each of the six heroes has a distinct personality, and their designs bring a very particular flavour to the fight. Various equipment combinations unlock a corresponding set of skills for each of these mechanical powerhouses.Įvery mech needs a good pilot and, like many MOBAs, these heroes are an intrinsic part of Dropzone. The Gunner, Mechanic, and Tank all carry a variety of equipment that can be fitted prior to a match. These units align the classic RTS build tree towards a MOBA class-based system, falling into familiar support, DPS, and tanking roles. Squads of mechs can be found thundering across this moon, eradicating a particularly aggressive alien infestation. Dropzone matches take place in an assortment of arenas dotted across Europa. The team at Sparkypants Studios intend to change all that by breaking the mould and dragging the RTS into the modern era. Recent entrants, such as the deceased Age of Empires Online, have struggled to innovate and retain an audience in the same way that competitors such as League of Legends, Heroes of the Storm, and even Clash Royale have. Outside of StarCraft, a giant that simply looms over the rest of the genre, RTS games have become a dwindling market. Massively Multiplayer Online games have become more accepting of a casual market, emphasising the social experience, business models have adapted to allow time-poor players to remain competitive, and the concrete lines between genres have started to dissolve. As gaming habits have evolved, the genre’s rigid adherence to existing norms has been in stark contrast to the rest of the industry. From Westwood Studio’s seminal Command & Conquer series, to the Total War franchise and the phenomenal StarCraft, RTS titles have remained fundamentally unchanged over the decades. RTS games are a long-standing feature of the gaming landscape.
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