Brabatos

About this game

Latest news

• Announcements·2 Aug 2026Official

  Brabatos is part of IDA Online!

  We’re proud to be taking part in this week’s IDA Online, organized by Indie Dev Argentina.To celebrate, we’ve opened the Brabatos playtest for the entire week, so you can easily jump in and see what we’ve been working on. https://store.steampowered.com/sale/IndieDevArgentina2026 Be sure to also check out all the other great games being created by Argentine developers!
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• Announcements·2 May 2026Official

  Join our playtest!

  Playtest is live!Want to help shape the game—or just see if it’s a good fit for you?Jump in, give it a try, and push as far as you can. Every bit of feedback helps improve the experience.Join now!
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• Patch Notes·29 Dec 2025Official

  Devlog Update #4

  We wanted to take a moment to recap the project from the start.This all began in 2023 with a simple question: what if we made a football game where, instead of kicking the ball, you throw the players?That was the initial concept—and yeah, it looked rough. Here’s a short (and pretty awful) clip from the very first prototype. About a month later, things started to click. The visuals improved, and we added some basic AI, which finally made the game feel interesting to play. Fast forward to 2024. The core concept was locked in, and while learning the skills needed to pull it off, we ended up with a playable experience and a cast of characters we really like. We’re a two-person team, working at our own pace, and we’re very happy with how far the project has come so far. Our goal is to make something that’s as fun to play as it is to work on.Here’s where the game stands today. For 2026We’re fairly advanced on the campaign implementation. Right now, we’re rounding off the rough edges and adding content for the first stages.Alongside that, we’re making visual improvements and continuing to polish the gameplay experience.We’re also planning some limited playtests before March 2026. If you’re interested, you can join our Discord for updates.Happy New Year — and thanks for following the project.
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• Patch Notes·14 Sept 2025Official

  Devlog Update #3

  September 2025Another month goes by we dedicated most of the time to finalizing the first iteration of the Campaign mechanics. At the same time we are updating our marketing material to boost visibility the following months. That said, let's talk about some specifics of the development process.Asset PackSo far, we’ve modeled and textured over 400 assets that populate the different environments of the game world: from mountains, dense forests, bustling markets, villages, ancient temples, and all kinds of constructions, to the smallest props and ornaments. Combined, they give each location a unique and easily recognizable identity.From the start, our policy has been to prioritize performance above everything else. That means keeping assets low-poly and consolidating textures into just a handful of atlases. This approach not only ensures the game runs smoothly on lower hardware, but also allows us to focus development time on gameplay dynamics without creating optimization headaches down the road.AudienceKeeping with our mandate of supporting low hardware specs, we set out to build an audience system that was both performant and visually engaging. Many games settle for cardboard cutouts, billboard sprites, or generic looping animations — but that didn’t fit our vision. We wanted the crowd to feel alive: reactive, dynamic, and unmistakably part of the game rather than just background dressing.From a technical standpoint, we combined VAT (Vertex Animation Textures) with multiple atlases and color-replacement techniques to efficiently generate variety across the crowd. This let us render the entire audience in just a handful of draw calls. The process was surprisingly smooth thanks to the wealth of existing material on VATs.On the logic side, every audience member can be controlled individually. Their behavior adapts to match context: they cheer, boo, grow restless, and — at higher levels of discontent — even throw objects onto the field.We’re very happy with how it’s sha...
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• Patch Notes·1 Aug 2025Official

  Devlog Update #2

  August 2025We're still deep in development on the campaign system and character design. The full game is finally taking shape, and it's satisfying to see ideas we mapped out over a year ago coming together at last. Of course, being this our first game, there are a lot of hiccups here and there but every week brings us closer to something that feels cohesive and true to our original idea. As promised last month, let’s talk about the characters.The Characters There will be hundreds of characters in the game, so we built internal tools to streamline their creation. Given our goal of supporting a wide range of hardware, we kept character models low in both polygon count and bone complexity.Each character was designed based on the fantasy culture they belong to, their unique abilities, and their backstory within the world. We also created a variety of armor sets, organized into different tiers, to provide each character with the level of protection needed to withstand the constant collisions of this brutal sport—from simple headbands and hats to heavy, over-the-top helmets. Player characters will evolve throughout the campaign, improving their social status, unlocking better equipment, and enhancing their attributes as they climb the ranks of this unforgiving league. The AIWe experimented with several approaches to AI. At first, it was just random actions. Surprisingly, this worked well enough for an MVP—it gave the illusion that the computer was “alive.” But as the project progressed, that obviously wasn’t enough. The AI needed to play well—and win.We initially tried behavior trees, even implemented our own version. But for a fast-paced action game, they were overkill. Too complex, too clunky. Not worth it.Eventually, we went with a Utility AI model—very bare-bones. No need for fancy class hierarchies, nodes, or abstract structures. Just a clean set of well-organized script files.How It WorksEach player on a team has their own AI agent. Every AI cycle, the agent ranks a...
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