Hey everyone!

TLDR: I have a StarCraft 2 Arcade map that I’m hoping to get some patient playtesters to try out. I’m running a tournament in August to offer some incentive to do so ($70 first place, top 3 get money).

If you want to play, search “SCRAP - Scavenge” in the Arcade to find the SCRAP Public Alpha.

My name is wayward, and I’ve spent the past couple of years noodling around with a full conversion RTS Arcade map that I call SCRAP (Scavenge, Collect, Reclaim, Attack, Prevail) - one of my twitter friends came up with the acronym.

Anyway, a couple of years ago I teamed up with an awesome group of people and we were going to run a tournament for the mod. That all fell apart (mostly, let’s be clear, due to me) but things have come a long way since then and I’m feeling a lot more confident about everything, but I’ve had a really difficult time attracting playtesters.

First off, what is SCRAP?
It’s a 1v1 RTS with custom rules, systems, and factions. At a high level, it has stuff you might recognize from other games like Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, and WarCraft 3 just to name a few.

[image loading]

First off, there are 7 pre-defined base locations on the map. Bases in SCRAP are kind of similar to Power nodes from Dawn of War 2, or similar to bases from Halo Wars: you capture it (in this case by putting a command center on it) and then you can build structures on the attach points.

Owning those bases has a number of effects. First off, there’s the access to build slots. Each player needs about 6 build slots to get access to all their tech, so you need to own at least 2 bases in order to unlock all of your units and abilities.

Additionally, base command centers act like Moonwells, recharging unit energy. Units in SCRAP use Energy for abilities, but many also use it for ammo for their weapons, performing worse or being unable to attack when out of Energy, and they don’t generate it themselves. So, bases are pretty important.

Also, if you own more bases than your opponent, they start losing Victory Points (called Data in the game). Whoever hits 0 VPS first loses. It’s kind of an edge case win condition: most matches end with the ‘kill your opponent’ win condition, but it definitely encourages people to get a move on and not play passively.

SCRAP is pretty tactical: most things, even economic units, can have a combat purpose. I also tried to create systems where players can do little things to get a leg up on their opponent: there’s lots of little ways to put your opponent off their game or to be slightly better in combat. I think the feel is kind of… WarCraft 3 meets Red Alert 3? If I can be that bold to make the comparison.

The Limitations, and the Incentive
Sorry if I took a minute to toot my own horn a bit. I’d like to think I created something that’s pretty fun to play. But that brings us to the current state of the game.

It’s definitely still being worked on. There are bugs and balance issues. I have a tutorial and tips system in the works but I’m still feeling all that out since I’ve not built those things before. But I do think it’s complete enough that people can play it and have fun, if they have the patience to learn the systems vs the AI (really just waves of spawned units that try to take bases).

To that end, I have started trying to produce some commentated replays of the better games so I can show how the current testers are interacting with it (examples below)

I only have 2 videos right now, but I’m doing more as we play. They’re definitely… a bit rough, like the game itself (I’m VERY rusty when it comes to commentary, sorry!) but I think they aren’t a TERRIBLE introduction to the game’s core concepts even if they’re not great videos.

And lastly:, I am formally announcing a SCRAP Tournament. Starting in August 2020, the SCRAP Tournament will have a $110 USD prize pool ($70 to first place, $30 to second place and $10 to 3rd place winner). In the SCRAP Tournament, players will play best-of-3 matches in a double-elimination format. Quite frankly, I want to get players and I'm hoping that offering prize money is a good way to get people to get into the mod and give it a chance.

If you're interested in trying SCRAP out (I should point out that in addition to competitive 1v1, SCRAP contains 2-player co-op against an AI opponent, as well as solo play vs AI) or participating in the tournament, please join the Wayward Strategy Discord here: https://discord.gg/EUMGEsR

Some concept art and gameplay screenshots:
[image loading]

Vision_

877 Posts

June 08 2020 12:04 GMT

Cool <3 first..

Did you use 3D models from others game ?

I mean, it would be so cool to have the giant spider of Supreme Commander

PS : i thought a lot to a redesign of sc2 and the choice of resize units and slow them is natural.. I couldn t imagine such a good result

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

June 08 2020 12:42 GMT

Hey Vision!

I actually commissioned concept artists and a 3d modeler to custom make the units for me. My hope is to eventually have everything entirely custom.

The Absorber tank model I grabbed with permission from another kitbasher from SC2Mapster. I might use this more for some other units (it's gotten expensive to pay for the concept art and 3d models).

SCRAP is definitely slower than StarCraft but I tried to retain some micro potential. I wanted to go with something more on the scale of WarCraft 3 or Company of Heroes, with fewer units. I am trying to find time to cast some better replays from the community. I hope to be able to post some better examples of decent gameplay this week.

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

June 10 2020 02:37 GMT

Just did a stream where I played against my co designer. I think this illustrates the gameplay PRETTY well. I will cast some of these as VODs on YouTube

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/646374547

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

June 10 2020 18:21 GMT

This is a POV of me playing my co-designer (exported from the twitch stream I posted above)

I am working on casting some of these, but I think this highlights how the game is played a bit better than the commentaries I posted in my original post:

Husyelt

United States839 Posts

June 12 2020 00:10 GMT

Holy hell this is really impressive, I might give it a go this weekend

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

June 12 2020 11:26 GMT

Awesome! I hope you enjoy it!

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

June 12 2020 15:29 GMT

another video. This one, the Fabricators win. This one has a LOT of back and forth in it

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

June 24 2020 18:02 GMT

The SCRAP Tournament will start on August 1, assuming that I'm able to find at least 4 players

It is planned to be double elimination with prizes for first ($70) second ($30) and third ($10) place

I am hoping to have some more players jump in to learn the game in the weeks leading up to the tournament and help address any outstanding balance issues before it starts

https://challonge.com/tournaments/signup/5sTJVDnMaT#/signup/nz37b0el37l

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

June 27 2020 02:57 GMT

#10

Concept art by Mike Doscher for a new unit model going into the mod soon [image loading]

Aunvilgodess

954 Posts

June 29 2020 11:27 GMT

#11

looks nice

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

July 07 2020 23:21 GMT

#12

New model in the game: the Dendrite faction's command center. It's called the Axon

waywardstrategy

United States64 Posts

September 03 2020 02:42 GMT

#13

some new models in the game:

Dendrite Terminal
[image loading]

Dendrite Shock Drone
[image loading]

WombaT

Northern Ireland27410 Posts

September 06 2020 13:38 GMT

#14

Looks an exciting project if I can find some time and someone to try it out with.

Aside from the effort you’ve put in on the meat and potatoes, even the small UI tweak to have the minimap and wireframes under the resource tab is a nice change that I think makes a lot of sense.