Battle Aces did a lot right, but I think at the end of the day there was not enough depth. RTS is a niche and when you remove base building you exclude a significant amount of those players. To compensate, you have to draw in outside players, which is where Uncapped fell short. Also, I think their thematic scope was too narrow. I mean mechs are fine but I don't think it should have been all mechs. There is not broad enough appeal for that. I would have loved more fantasy or sci-fi elements.
Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread - Page 52
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CicadaSC
United States1865 Posts
Battle Aces did a lot right, but I think at the end of the day there was not enough depth. RTS is a niche and when you remove base building you exclude a significant amount of those players. To compensate, you have to draw in outside players, which is where Uncapped fell short. Also, I think their thematic scope was too narrow. I mean mechs are fine but I don't think it should have been all mechs. There is not broad enough appeal for that. I would have loved more fantasy or sci-fi elements. | ||
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Hider
Denmark9431 Posts
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Hider
Denmark9431 Posts
As someone who’ll happily just grind marine split micro maps for a while, for me Battle Aces had a nice niche. I wanna play short games and micro my arse off, it did that pretty well. Yet vast majority of games I watched last beta round consisted of simple armies a-moving into each other. I think you are right though. If the game truly had awesome microable and skillful interactions it could have worked as a niche game. But imo their vision on unit design was 180 degree off. Trying to make simple units to cater to a larger audience never had a chance of working. | ||
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Latham
9568 Posts
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SoleSteeler
Canada5458 Posts
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Agh
United States1037 Posts
Only gripe was that it never felt like a true standalone game. Someone could port the latest version into a sc2 custom map and almost nothing would be lost (other than the streamlined matchmaking, which is kind of necessary for a game like this) | ||
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Harris1st
Germany7088 Posts
I was sure the game would find it's niche and monetizing this did not seem so difficult. They made it way more complicated than it should have been. I only played about 10-15 games but those were decent fun, albeit I found I rather play SC2 after all is said and done | ||
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Waxangel
United States33559 Posts
New website for a company called A-move Games that shows a very Crab-like wireframe on it. David Kim & two other former Uncapped employees are attached to the company on Linkedin. Unofficial successor/resumption of the Battle Aces project? | ||
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RogerChillingworth
Chad3116 Posts
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Hider
Denmark9431 Posts
At this point I have no hope for David Kim as a game designer - I think he fundamentally doesn't understand how you actually create a game that's interesting for a wider audience. Boring a move units is not it. | ||
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ScoutWBF
Germany635 Posts
Doubt Battles Aces 2.0 will sell well, if they keep the no base building, micro only gameplay. | ||
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada17267 Posts
On January 21 2026 06:16 Hider wrote: I thought it was good for David Kim's brand that the plug got pulled early on Battle Aces. As opposed to Frostgiant where it was clear a long time ago that the game had no chance. At this point I have no hope for David Kim as a game designer - I think he fundamentally doesn't understand how you actually create a game that's interesting for a wider audience. Boring a move units is not it. David Kim is a very smart, multitalented guy who has been peter principled into a management role. He needs to work under a guy like Bobby Kotick or Vince Zampella. Within the proper structure I think DK can be brilliant. | ||
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CicadaSC
United States1865 Posts
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CicadaSC
United States1865 Posts
Did some looking, remember that teaser day9 posted about amovegames with the crab on the site? I notice David Kim is working there via his LinkedIn so it's all but confirmed at this point they are bringing it back. Will it be different? Probably! I'm sure they have a lot of lessons learned. But still, I'm excited. If they really bought the rights for the engine/assets it shouldn't be long before we get to see what they're cooking... It was pretty polished. Longer we wait, the more different we can expect this version to be I would presume! In my opinion, if the budget is there I think a great middle ground could be the different game modes. You can keep the automated resource gathering if you really like it and want a game mode for more casual RTS fans, then have another game mode where it's more traditional with base construction and harvesting. Both can exist so you can please all players. No one says it has to be one or the other. AND, if one version is pretty much done, like it seemed to be when we played it, they can focus virtually all development on this new game mode. It's not like you have to start from scratch building either. I'm optimistic. | ||
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Harris1st
Germany7088 Posts
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Parser
Italy88 Posts
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Waxangel
United States33559 Posts
On January 28 2026 21:45 CicadaSC wrote: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kim-90b45a6 Did some looking, remember that teaser day9 posted about amovegames with the crab on the site? I notice David Kim is working there via his LinkedIn so it's all but confirmed at this point they are bringing it back. Will it be different? Probably! I'm sure they have a lot of lessons learned. But still, I'm excited. If they really bought the rights for the engine/assets it shouldn't be long before we get to see what they're cooking... It was pretty polished. Longer we wait, the more different we can expect this version to be I would presume! In my opinion, if the budget is there I think a great middle ground could be the different game modes. You can keep the automated resource gathering if you really like it and want a game mode for more casual RTS fans, then have another game mode where it's more traditional with base construction and harvesting. Both can exist so you can please all players. No one says it has to be one or the other. AND, if one version is pretty much done, like it seemed to be when we played it, they can focus virtually all development on this new game mode. It's not like you have to start from scratch building either. I'm optimistic. please, please read other posts before posting (this advice will be lost on you as it has been dozens of times before) ![]() | ||
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zelevin
United States311 Posts
On January 28 2026 21:45 CicadaSC wrote: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kim-90b45a6 Did some looking, remember that teaser day9 posted about amovegames with the crab on the site? I notice David Kim is working there via his LinkedIn so it's all but confirmed at this point they are bringing it back. Will it be different? Probably! I'm sure they have a lot of lessons learned. But still, I'm excited. If they really bought the rights for the engine/assets it shouldn't be long before we get to see what they're cooking... It was pretty polished. Longer we wait, the more different we can expect this version to be I would presume! In my opinion, if the budget is there I think a great middle ground could be the different game modes. You can keep the automated resource gathering if you really like it and want a game mode for more casual RTS fans, then have another game mode where it's more traditional with base construction and harvesting. Both can exist so you can please all players. No one says it has to be one or the other. AND, if one version is pretty much done, like it seemed to be when we played it, they can focus virtually all development on this new game mode. It's not like you have to start from scratch building either. I'm optimistic. Not a bad idea to have a game mode where you can focus on unit composition and control to practice for the real game. I just hope they make it so the game isn't so rapidly decided | ||
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KobraKay
Portugal4252 Posts
On January 30 2026 09:07 Waxangel wrote: please, please read other posts before posting (this advice will be lost on you as it has been dozens of times before) ![]() It is specially funny considering they had even already replied to the thread after it was revived a few days before 😂 | ||
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CicadaSC
United States1865 Posts
On February 01 2026 22:39 KobraKay wrote: It is specially funny considering they had even already replied to the thread after it was revived a few days before 😂 i'll try my best to read posts (and i supposed even remember my own ) before bumping a thread. I don't know, to explain myself I just will be going about my day, and have a thought about a subject and want to share it. I don't do it on purpose and will try to be more careful. | ||
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![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/47EX24O.jpeg)

) before bumping a thread. I don't know, to explain myself I just will be going about my day, and have a thought about a subject and want to share it. I don't do it on purpose and will try to be more careful.