Victory Game Center

Tyler Wilde wrote: why doesn’t someone make an online-focused, free-to-play fighting game? Something like League of Legends or Hearthstone, but for one-on-one fighters? That’s what [Seth] Killian is making at Radiant, even though its name makes it sound more like a WWII tank sim (I think it's sort of a bad name).

But what's in a name? There are three exciting, core ideas to Rising Thunder: ditch the input barrier for special moves, make it online oriented from the start, and make it free-to-play. They’re all vital to the idea, but the first is the one Killian wants to talk about the most, and arguably the biggest thing to set Rising Thunder apart: it’s a fighting game you can play with a keyboard.

I’ve been playing Rising Thunder for the past couple weeks, with a keyboard, and I’ve even notched a few wins against the developers (they might have been going easy). You could use a controller, or a fightstick, but you don’t need to, as there are no complex inputs. Special moves are activated with one key, and have cooldown timers. The most complex thing you’ll do, input-wise, is jump or double-tap a direction during a move to cancel it for a combo, and be prepared with the correct directional keys and moves to keep it going. It’s like playing a piano, as opposed to Street Fighter’s thumb war.

Seth Killian wrote: When I look at the combination of those keystone principles, you can understand why fighting games are so weird and niche. First you need $60. Now you can start your training regimen for months, which won't be a lot of fun for a lot of that time. After that point you can play. But now you need a bunch of friends nearby who are on the same page, because online is garbage. When I see those three things together, it's more of a question that how did fighting games survive for so long?

Radiant + Riot Games
We are delighted to announce that Radiant Entertainment has been acquired by Riot Games. At Riot, our developers will continue their mission of building incredible games that speak to us personally as players. You’re probably wondering what this means for our games.

First and foremost, Stonehearth will go on, full speed ahead. We’ll continue delivering Alphas at our current pace, with the aim of delivering the final game “when it’s ready.” We’ll continue keeping you up to date on our progress through things like our Twitch streams and Desktop Tuesday blog posts.

As for Rising Thunder, the team will start work on a new game that we’re incredibly excited about. We wish we could say more now, but rest assured you’ll hear more when the time is right. For now, we will be closing the Rising Thunder Alpha on March 18th. Thanks to everyone who participated in the test!

And more broadly, to everyone who has helped support us by playing Stonehearth and Rising Thunder, backing our Kickstarter, telling your friends, and giving us your feedback: Thank you for helping us make these games as good as they can be. You have been a consistent source of motivation and inspiration for us, and we look forward to continuing to talk and work with you in the future.

- Tom & Tony, on behalf of Team Radiant