D. Brad Talton Jr. is a busy guy. As head of Level 99 Games, he oversees the publishing of board games from a number of designers. He is also a designer himself, having made games such as the BattleCON series and my new favorite Millennium Blades. Talton talked to Player.One at the first ever PAX Unplugged, and detailed what 2018 has in store for Level 99.
“We are working on two big releases for next year,” Talton said. “The designer of Argent: The Consortium has designed a new game called Empyreal: Spells & Steam, and that is a game about rail building in the same fantasy world that BattleCON and Argent take place in. You are rail companies trying to build trains to connect resources and cities, upgrade your lines and technology and connect the world.”
Empyreal will go the crowdfunding route, and Talton expects to launch a Kickstarter campaign somewhere in March or April.
Talton is also working on a new four player co-op game, called Seventh Cross. A monster hunting game, Talton thinks it could appeal to the Dark Souls and Bloodborne fans looking for a new board game to play.
“You are a group of monster hunters working for a mysterious society called The Church. You go through these Metroidvania-style castles fighting bosses and upgrading your character,” said Talton. “There’s a mystery to unravel and legacy mechanics. There’s campaign style play with drop-in-drop-out rules for the player count so you don’t have to have the same group. Players can also change characters if they want. It should be pretty flexible and a treat for people who are into legacy games and cooperative games.”
Similar to his previous release, Talton thinks Seventh Cross will stand out as a unique experience. “I think like Millennium Blades, it’ll be unlike anything you’ve seen before,” he said. Having played Millennium Blades, I can confirm it’s unlike any other board game I’ve played, so this isn’t some generic, hype-building buzz. If you want to follow along with the development of Seventh Cross, be sure to check out the blog at the Level 99 Games website.
Talton also revealed more information about the digital future of some Level 99 games. BattleCON is already in development. There is a free open alpha for BattleCON Online, so go sign up and give it a try.
“We have about 12 characters in right now. We’re going to add more characters every month until we get into beta,” said Talton. “It shouldn’t be too long now, maybe a year or so until we’re in beta.”
Level 99 game Pixel Tactics will also get an online equivalent. “Pixel Tactics Online will be coming next year,” Talton said, meaning 2018. “It is going to be campaign-based, so you purchase worlds online, and each world is going to unlock new cards. It’s kind of like Hearthstone adventures.”
For both BattleCON Online and Pixel Tactics Online, Talton says PC and Mac via Steam are locked in, and he would like to see a release for iOS and Android devices as well.
Our interview was then cut short as Jerry Holkins, one of the creators of webcomic Penny Arcade, came over to check out the box art for Automata NOIR. I took their photo.
So what do you think? Are you looking forward to any of the new games coming from Level 99? Are you interested in playing BattleCON online with friends? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
