Chris Park of Arcen Games has announced a Kickstarter campaign for his upcoming title AI War II. It is the sequel to the award-winning 2009 title AI War Fleet Command. Park is hoping to gain a total funding of $299,400 for the development of the game.
What is AI Wars II?
AI Wars II is a strategy game, and sequel to AI Wars. It takes place 353 years after the events of the original game. Despite humanity’s best efforts, an AI is fighting the entire galaxy. You control one of the last remaining fighting forces in the Milky Way.
It won’t take long before the AI focuses its full attention on you. They have weak points and are vulnerable. You will have to use theses advantages in order to survive and have a chance at destroying them once and for all. Do you have what it takes to outsmart the AI?
AI War II is set to enter Private Alpha in January 2017. In May 2017, Park intends to release the game on Steam Early Access for $30. Park has the full release scheduled for October 2017. The full release will be available on Steam and other services for $20.
What are the features of the game?
Park is aiming for AI War II to be bigger and better than its predecessor, with new and improved game mechanics. The features for the game include:
- Focus on strategy over tactics, the ability to granularly customize your campaign, massive space battles, and an AI that can surprise you.
- Over one hundred types of ships ranging from fighters to capital ships to massive superweapons.
- Expanding the AI’s toolbox of tricks and strategies — the AI will recapture lost ground and press the advantage when your losses mount up.
- Letting you decide your army’s strengths and capabilities via a new Science system.
- Expanding battlefields from individual single planets to entire solar systems.
- Replacing the original game’s ship triangle with more nuanced categories.
- Letting you play as humans, the incredibly powerful Spire, or the long dead but mysteriously revived Zenith.
Judging from the features, Park is intending on keeping exactly what players loved about the original. At the same time, he is attempting to refine and expand it also.
Rising from defeat
Arcen Games is rising from the ashes of a defeat back in August with their Early Access title In Case of Emergency Release Raptor — a game that just simply wasn’t taking off and quickly became a financial risk.
While many developers would give up, Arcen is showing determination. They seem confident in the development of AI War II. In such a competitive industry, such belief is needed.
