BattleForge
A card-based RTS revived by a volunteer project.
BattleForge, a 2009 online real-time strategy title blending card gameplay, was created by EA Phenomic and published by Electronic Arts. The game was discontinued when its servers went offline on October 31, 2013. An unofficial revival project, Skylords Reborn, launched on December 18, 2020.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- EA Phenomic
- Publisher
- Electronic Arts
- Released
- March 24, 2009 (NA)
- March 26, 2009 (PAL)
- March 27, 2009 Revival: December 18, 2020 (UK)
- Genre
- Real-time strategy
- Modes
- Multiplayer
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows
Facts from the source article.
History
BattleForge was developed by EA Phenomic and published by Electronic Arts, releasing on Windows in March 2009 alongside a demo. On May 26, 2009, it became a Play 4 Free game. EA announced the game's retirement via email to registered players on September 4, 2013, effective October 31, 2013. In June 2015, a group began reverse engineering the game code to create a server emulator called Skylords Reborn. The revival is free-to-play without micro-transactions, funded by donations. Closed beta testing was underway by early 2017, and open stress tests began in September 2018. The remake fully launched with all features, including 12-player maps, on December 18, 2020. The economy was overhauled to remove the ability to buy BattleForge points with money. New faction boosters, a promo card (Snapjaws), and achievements were added. As of February 2, 2021, the game had 90,160 registered accounts and a peak of about 5,000 concurrent players. Multiple balance patches have been applied, and volunteer teams continue creating new cards and features.
Gameplay
At initial release, the game involved trading, buying, and winning cards through micro-transactions, though these were not required for playing, only for acquiring new cards. When BattleForge became a Play 4 Free title, players started with 32 cards and no points; the retail version included all starter decks (64 cards, one per element) and 3,000 BattleForge points. Virtual currency was distributed at 2 points per day to players who played at least 15 minutes, making all micro-transactions available but slow without purchasing the retail version or currency. There were 383 cards, nearly evenly split among fire, frost, nature, and shadow. Later updates introduced combinations of shadow/fire, frost/nature, frost/shadow, and fire/nature, plus legendary cards. Players could buy and sell cards at an in-game auction house using BattleForge Points, or conduct direct trades. The game offered PvE and PvP modes. PvE missions could be played by 1, 2, 4, or 12 players, with standard, advanced, and expert modes; completing standard mode unlocked the higher difficulties. Rewards included gold, card upgrades, and PvE experience points that increased a player's PvE level. PvP had ranked and unranked options; unranked gave no rewards, while ranked awarded gold, Elo points, and tokens. Gold and tokens could be traded for card upgrades, and Elo points raised a player's PvP level. BattleForge supported DirectX 11 hardware tessellation on compatible systems.
Card editions
The Twilight edition was the first card set, containing 200 unique cards with 50 for each elemental faction: fire, frost, nature, and shadow. The Renegade Edition expanded the set with legendary units and monumental buildings from the Southern Wastes region of Nyn, adding 60 new units and buildings. The Lost Souls Edition, released on February 9, 2010, introduced 60 brand new units. The Amii Edition was released incrementally across patches, with about 4 cards per patch; its full release on April 26, 2012 added the final 2 cards, bringing 32 new cards total. It was the smallest edition but took the longest to release, using Sneak Preview Decks for two years prior. The Rebirth Edition contains new cards created for the Skylords Reborn revival, including Promo Snapjaws, Promo Mana Wing, Amii Palladins, Coat of Protection, and new bandit cards such as Banzai Lord, Wasteland Terror, Minefield, and Bandit Sniper. New cards continue to be added to this edition.
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