Tooth and tail

The action of the game Tooth and Tail takes place in the 19th century in a society where anthropomorphic animals face a chronic shortage of food ^[1] . Many animals, with the exception of pigs, decided to eat meat to overcome the shortage, and this helped for a while. The clergy, led by Archimedes, created a lottery system that ultimately decided who should be eaten. This decision caused outrage throughout the country, as the aristocracy was at the top of the food chain, and ordinary people did not like the idea of ​​being eaten, nor the high cost of food. The son of the wealthy merchant Bellafid was chosen by the lottery to be eaten, and, in turn, Bellafid was indignant and rebelled, intending to change the product selection system to one based on some version of meritocracy . Ordinary people also revolted, led by Hopper, who wanted to introduce a voting system to replace the lottery. Hopper and Bellafid joined forces to overthrow the Clergy, despite the difference in their ideals.

The clergy got involved in the struggle to maintain their own power and status quo. Although the revolution plunged the government into chaos, individual military elements remained organized. The quartermaster, the pragmatic head of the secret police of the late Queen, seized control of the military and supported Archimedes and the clergy.

By the end of the game, the pigs - which had died out due to the war - individually informed all four armies that they had transmitted false information to three others. All four armies were deceived by this, and gathered in one place. While the armies are fighting each other to death, the pigs revolt, revealing that they themselves had a plan to overthrow the Queen and revenge for slavery and eating their kind. A horde of pigs attacks the last surviving armies and destroys it, but the fate of the commanders and other meat-eating animals remains unclear.

Tooth and Tail is a real-time strategy , the gameplay of which is optimized for both gamepads and keyboard and mouse ^{[2] [3]} . The game contains both single and multiplayer modes ^[4] . In single-player mode, the player advances through the story, passing levels of increasing difficulty. Each level has goals with varying difficulty depending on how advanced the player is. The main tasks must be completed to complete the level, while the “heroic” ones are optional and usually more complex ^[4] . Multiuser mode can be used either through the online selection of players, or using a split screen ^[4] . Up to four players can participate in the game, individually or in teams of two ^[3] .

Before the start of the match, players must choose for themselves a commander from four different factions, and then choose six units from a pool of twenty that will be used during the match ^[2] . Fifteen of these units are attacking, and are divided by rank depending on their strength and cost. The other five are defensive. All selections are final and other units cannot be unlocked during the match. After each player selects his units, they get under the control of the army commander, and must build structures such as farms in order to obtain the required resources. Most buildings can only be built next to flour mills , which prevents players from building buildings near the enemy during reconnaissance or espionage. At any time, the player can send the commander back to the base by burying ^[2] . Units are produced in specialized buildings, provided that the player has enough food for their appeal ^[4] . Depending on the level, some units are more expensive than others ^[3] . Food is a limited resource, which means that the player needs to plan his attack in advance ^[2] . Also, from the structures there are camp fires ( English campfires ), which combine the properties of mills and farms, and allow you to build buildings next to them, at the same time producing food. To win, the player must destroy the mills and bonfires of the enemy ^{[2] [5]} . The map is generated procedurally , which implies that in different matches different players will have different tactical advantages and vulnerabilities ^[3] .

After the success of the 2013 Monaco: Whats Yours Is Mine game, Pocketwatch Games announced the development of Tooth and Tail in March 2014 ^[6] . Similar to the Monaco development, many prototypes with similar mechanics were created. Andy Schatz, founder of Pocketwatch Games, told Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Jim Rossignol about Dino Drop , a game he developed during his college days and described it as a “split-screen strategy game with autonomous units” ^[7] . This version of the game was developed by Schatz and co-designer Andy Nguyen near the end of Monaco development ^[8] . Originally developed under the "code name" Armada - stylized as [ARMADA] - the game was described as a real-time strategy (RTS) without all the necessary microcontrol , and not requiring a high number of actions per minute; with the problem he attributed to the Starcraft series. Starcraft and Command & Conquer were mentioned as having an impact on Tooth and Tail ^[7] .

Armada was developed not only to attract players who usually did not play games of the RTS genre, but also to provide an opportunity to "play the game at a deep level" ^[7] . It was planned that the game should have convenient control from the gamepad , and the PC Gamer observer noted that there were no “good” games in the RTS genre that used the gamepad ^[9] . Schatz compared Armada with Monaco , saying that “I want to do the same with the RTS genre as we did with Monaco and the stealth genre, and this is a limitation of control sets so that the final interaction with the game is easy and clear enough without compromising depth the game itself ” ^[10] . Schatz discussed the idea with approximately forty participants at the Game Developers Conference , and received positive feedback ^[10] . At that time, there was no clearly defined time frame for development ^{[11] [12]} , and the name, theme and style of the game were not specifically defined ^[10] .

Later, in August 2014, the name of the game was changed to Lead to Fire , stylized as LEADtoFIRE ^{[13] [14]} . At these stages, developers demonstrated progress on the Twitch.tv streaming platform, which was described as a “miniature PAX, ” a way to demonstrate development and allow fans to test the game ^[15] . At that stage of development, the game took inspiration from Hearthstone , a card game in which players collect decks and compete with others. Schatz noted that there should have been about thirty combat units and structures to choose from, and despite the fact that the final number has not yet been approved, it was estimated that players would be able to choose from six to eight of them per match. An article in the Polygon publication said the game was scheduled for release in 2015 ^[15] .

In August 2015, the game was given the official name, Tooth and Tail . The change was due to the fact that LEADtoFIRE was not very popular with the developers ^[16] , who also considered that no one knew how to pronounce it correctly ^[17] . The new name contained a reference to the ratio of teeth to tail , and the graphic style was revealed at the same time as the new name. Schatz wrote that, like SpyParty , “The game should look completely shit until it becomes absolutely amazing” ^[16] . Graphic style was described as an updated version of the pixel art of the 90s ^[16] . After the publication of the official graphic art, the development process became more public, and the development team believed that the game would be released in 2016, with the possibility of using the early access platform on Steam . Schatz said in an interview with GameSpot in March 2016 that the release should take place “later this year” ^[18] .

Composer Austin Wintori, who worked on Monaco , was also hired to work on the game's soundtrack ^[4] . Sound design was performed by PowerUp Audio, a team working on Crypt of the NecroDancer and Darkest Dungeon . Game characters speak a language invented by Kevin Reheimi from PowerUp Audio, and which is based on Russian . Schatz told Louis Bierley of Heavy Mag that game language can be translated into English ^[19] . In July 2017, the release date for the game on PlayStation 4 , Microsoft Windows , macOS , and Linux was announced on September 12 ^[20] . Along with this announcement, a trailer for the game was released ^[21] .

Before Edition

The game before the release received significant coverage in the gaming media due to the fact that the development process was publicly available ^[32] , as well as due to the publication of alpha versions of the game ^[33] . Many observers compared Tooth and Tail with the novels Animal Farm and Redwall ^{[33] [34] [35] [36]} . Commentators, including Adam Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun , Kyle Leklair of Hardcore Gamer , and Tom Marx of PC Gamer praised the game for reworking the concept of the real-time strategy genre ^{[33] [35] [36]} . In March 2017, Marx described a single player campaign similar to the “piece-sized StarCraft campaign” ^[33] . The graphic style was also praised ^{[33] [34]} .

After publication

After the publication, Tooth and Tail received positive reviews from critics, according to the aggregator ratings Metacritic ^{[22] [23]} .

The appeal of the game for both beginners in the real-time strategy genre and for veterans was highly appreciated by critics. Because of this, IGN listed the game on its September list of “games you might have missed” ^[37] . David Pessach from Eurogamer Italy recommended the game to everyone, because, in his opinion, this is “hours of fun” ^[25] . Destructoid 's Patrick Hancock called Tooth and Tail his personal “Game of the Year," saying he recommends it to everyone, including those who don't like real-time strategy ^[38] . Eric Van Allen, a writer at Kotaku , wrote that the game is attractive to beginners in the strategy genre, calling it “a fresh look at the genre that is always open to interpretation” ^[39] . However, some critics found the learning curve of the game too steep. Charlie Hall, author of Polygon , compared the game to StarCraft and wrote that “the initial learning curve is too steep for most players right now” ^[40] . Brendan Caldwell of Rock, Paper, Shotgun agreed, saying that “a difficult mission can come and bite off a piece of your pleasure” ^[41] .

The game mechanics of multiplayer matches received positive reviews. Hall wrote that despite the fact that single-player mode can be poorly balanced, the game shines in multi-user mode ^[40] . In the list of "games of the year" Hancock, he noted that she would have appeared in it purely due to the single-player mode, and multi-player became a "cherry on top" ^[38] . Hall mentioned that due to the fact that matches take place for about ten minutes, he caught himself saying that “another [match]” ^[40] . He suggested that although management is good for beginners, he has the potential to scare away veterans, since they have no ability to control specific combat units ^[40] .

The graphic style, soundtrack and sound design of Tooth and Tail received positive reviews from critics ^[42] . Chloe Rad from IGN mentioned that due to the combination of all these elements for him it was “an arcade-like gaming experience like no other this year” ^[37] . Alex Walker from Kotaku praised Pocketwatch Games for their ability to create “truly beautiful” works without spending “millions of dollars on a team of artists” ^[43] . Costa Andreadis from AusGamers found that the graphics, although not impressive for 2017, were pleasant in their appearance, and praised the animation for its ability to change its intensity depending on the environment. He also commented on the sound design, which in his opinion, he complements the experience of the game ^[26] . Hancock noted the similarities between the soundtracks of Monaco and Tooth and Tail , both of which were written by Austin Wintory. The main similarity, he noted, was the use of fast tracks during military operations, and the use of slower tracks in quiet time in order to create a “revolutionary feeling” ^[4] .

Rewards

Tooth and Tail won “Best Character Design” at Intel Level Up 2016 ^[30] , and shared “Guest Choice” with Giant Cop on Media Indie Exchange ^[31] . The game was nominated for the Best Strategic Game Award three times: at The Game Awards 2017 ^[44] , at the 2017 Game of the Year Awards of Once at PC Gamer magazine ^[45] , and at the Best of 2017 Awards by IGN ^[46] . PC Gamer included Tooth and Tail in the list of best gaming music of 2017 ^[47] . The game was nominated by the 2018 Independent Games Festival for the Excellence in Narrative Award ^[48] .

• - official site of Tooth and Tail