Making of Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Famous artist Joe Madureira (Astonishing X-Men, Ultimates 3) is a renowned name to the fans of Marvel Comics as they know how he impacted the longest running Uncanny X-Men series with his manga-styled artwork over the 90's era. Usually go by the name Joe Mad, he was also responsible for creating the action role-playing hack and slash video game Darksiders. Then THQ gone bankrupt and Joe formed his very own Airship Syndicate.
As they were looking for a project to work on which will have the vibe and feel of Japanese themed RPG games, someone pointed out that Battle Chasers, his decade old creation for Image Comics would probably be a perfect fit for the game they are willing to make and so, the team begins working on the title to turn it into a modern RPG classic.
A popular comic-book artist turned professional game creator, Maduriera himself is a huge RPG fan and his work on the Battle Chasers series perfectly reflects that. He probably jumped for the creator-owned series in the first place because the '90s superhero comic-books have failed to deliver him the traction he hoped that he would get. To pursue other goals, he eventually had to abandon the series in a cliffhanger on 2001.
At one hand, he always wanted to create something fresh and new, and on the other hand he always felt that call of unfinished project for years. Then he chose the path of side-scroller like Metroidvania but that was cancelled and his crew decided to make an RPG. So, he had to come back to his unfinished project 15 years afterwards.
As the members of the team started working on the game, they realize that the world of Battle Chasers has a lot of cool stuff in it which they were looking for and it fits perfectly into the genre they are working with. So, when the game is finished, people who never heard of Battle Chasers will find it cool and fans who loved the series will surely love trying it. This eventually turned out to be true. The tie to the series definitely helped the game a lot during their 2015's Kickstarter campaign.
At first they thought about approaching a publisher with their RPG project but since that isn't deemed cool these days, the team approached towards Kickstarter. Because, they needed some financial backup as they pour their heart and soul in it and if fans loved their concept then there was a chance that this game could ever see the light. He pointed out that there are many small time side-scrollers which probably won't rock the market but they sure are doing a great job satisfying the fans.
In between the career shifts, Maduriera entered the vivid world of video games from the amazing comic-book industry to create his own place. He did that with former stuffs of Vigil Games after THQ went out of business.
In a small housed studio, Airship Syndicate started flying with a team of twelve stuffs and another dozen of freelancers. This actually progressed their work flow and since each and everyone could see what they all are doing over their monitor, they don't have to wait for another weekly meeting. Creative inputs to the game also came in frequently. They marched towards with one simple goal; to make the game as awesome as possible.
Any input given by anyone is implemented if it sounded good enough to the rest of the crew. This way, everyone feels connected to the project and can contribute to the growth of the game. Plus, the crowd-funding campaign of Kickstarter always kept them on the clock and worked as a constant reminder that they should get the game out as soon as they can. It keeps the accountability of the team in check at all times.
Initially, the game was destined to release on summer 2017 and they already built up the primary system to run the game on. The design of the game gives you the sense of the era you are playing in. Had it been released 20 years earlier, people would have surely called it a blend of Diablo and Final Fantasy meshed into a turn-based battle game. Maduriera admits, that somewhere in there they were influenced by these games and it is still very possible that the vibe remained within.
These facts still doesn't let the game down as each battle you take part in is always in a randomly-generated dungeon. You can alter the difficulties a bit if you want but dungeon layout will still change, your enemy attack pattern will vary and treasure chests will be falling out of nowhere. If you can play up to the certain mark, you will get to face certain bosses.
From a roster of six characters, you can pick only three and craft weapons for them. There are unlockable character skins and Easter Eggs hidden inside the game that you will probably discover as you make progresses onwards. The story begins right from the point where Maduriera left it years ago and the whole event of the game is set in an island full of undead creatures, delivering the fantasy-horror feeling from the original media.
Following the release of the game, he wishes to complete his unfinished work on the remaining three issues of the comic series. The game on the other hand will continue to branch out its plot if ever there is a sequel to it. Otherwise the story of the comics and the game won't tie to each other.
RELATED: Battle Chasers: Nightwar Artwork Released
In a modern day fashion, the turn-based fighting system of Battle Chasers: Nightwar promises to deliver classic flavor or the Final Fantasy-esque RPG lovers. Since the creator of the source material Joe Mad himself is tied to the project, he is sure to bring his fictional characters to life and give them enough character depth through the development process. You will be playing as Calibretto, Garrison, Knolan, Red Monika or any other favorite character that you have from the books.
One thing that the creator of Battle Chasers: Nightwar loves doing is that to follow his passion and his Airship Syndicate is surely going to leave a mark with Nightwar when it comes out. Hopefully the game will be available on all major platforms like PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
As they were looking for a project to work on which will have the vibe and feel of Japanese themed RPG games, someone pointed out that Battle Chasers, his decade old creation for Image Comics would probably be a perfect fit for the game they are willing to make and so, the team begins working on the title to turn it into a modern RPG classic.
 |
| Making of Battle Chasers: Nightwar |
A popular comic-book artist turned professional game creator, Maduriera himself is a huge RPG fan and his work on the Battle Chasers series perfectly reflects that. He probably jumped for the creator-owned series in the first place because the '90s superhero comic-books have failed to deliver him the traction he hoped that he would get. To pursue other goals, he eventually had to abandon the series in a cliffhanger on 2001.
At one hand, he always wanted to create something fresh and new, and on the other hand he always felt that call of unfinished project for years. Then he chose the path of side-scroller like Metroidvania but that was cancelled and his crew decided to make an RPG. So, he had to come back to his unfinished project 15 years afterwards.
 |
| Classic Modern RPG |
As the members of the team started working on the game, they realize that the world of Battle Chasers has a lot of cool stuff in it which they were looking for and it fits perfectly into the genre they are working with. So, when the game is finished, people who never heard of Battle Chasers will find it cool and fans who loved the series will surely love trying it. This eventually turned out to be true. The tie to the series definitely helped the game a lot during their 2015's Kickstarter campaign.
At first they thought about approaching a publisher with their RPG project but since that isn't deemed cool these days, the team approached towards Kickstarter. Because, they needed some financial backup as they pour their heart and soul in it and if fans loved their concept then there was a chance that this game could ever see the light. He pointed out that there are many small time side-scrollers which probably won't rock the market but they sure are doing a great job satisfying the fans.
In between the career shifts, Maduriera entered the vivid world of video games from the amazing comic-book industry to create his own place. He did that with former stuffs of Vigil Games after THQ went out of business.
 |
| Classic JRPG Setting |
In a small housed studio, Airship Syndicate started flying with a team of twelve stuffs and another dozen of freelancers. This actually progressed their work flow and since each and everyone could see what they all are doing over their monitor, they don't have to wait for another weekly meeting. Creative inputs to the game also came in frequently. They marched towards with one simple goal; to make the game as awesome as possible.
Any input given by anyone is implemented if it sounded good enough to the rest of the crew. This way, everyone feels connected to the project and can contribute to the growth of the game. Plus, the crowd-funding campaign of Kickstarter always kept them on the clock and worked as a constant reminder that they should get the game out as soon as they can. It keeps the accountability of the team in check at all times.
Initially, the game was destined to release on summer 2017 and they already built up the primary system to run the game on. The design of the game gives you the sense of the era you are playing in. Had it been released 20 years earlier, people would have surely called it a blend of Diablo and Final Fantasy meshed into a turn-based battle game. Maduriera admits, that somewhere in there they were influenced by these games and it is still very possible that the vibe remained within.
 |
| Randomly-Generated Dungeons |
These facts still doesn't let the game down as each battle you take part in is always in a randomly-generated dungeon. You can alter the difficulties a bit if you want but dungeon layout will still change, your enemy attack pattern will vary and treasure chests will be falling out of nowhere. If you can play up to the certain mark, you will get to face certain bosses.
From a roster of six characters, you can pick only three and craft weapons for them. There are unlockable character skins and Easter Eggs hidden inside the game that you will probably discover as you make progresses onwards. The story begins right from the point where Maduriera left it years ago and the whole event of the game is set in an island full of undead creatures, delivering the fantasy-horror feeling from the original media.
 |
| Real-Time Combat |
Following the release of the game, he wishes to complete his unfinished work on the remaining three issues of the comic series. The game on the other hand will continue to branch out its plot if ever there is a sequel to it. Otherwise the story of the comics and the game won't tie to each other.
RELATED: Battle Chasers: Nightwar Artwork Released
In a modern day fashion, the turn-based fighting system of Battle Chasers: Nightwar promises to deliver classic flavor or the Final Fantasy-esque RPG lovers. Since the creator of the source material Joe Mad himself is tied to the project, he is sure to bring his fictional characters to life and give them enough character depth through the development process. You will be playing as Calibretto, Garrison, Knolan, Red Monika or any other favorite character that you have from the books.
One thing that the creator of Battle Chasers: Nightwar loves doing is that to follow his passion and his Airship Syndicate is surely going to leave a mark with Nightwar when it comes out. Hopefully the game will be available on all major platforms like PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
An old school RPG game? Count me in
That’s the spirit, mate.