Developer Blog 9 - Musicians! Pomp and circumstance news - Holdfast: Nations At War

Drum roll, please. You heard me! Make wood hit leather because today we are taking a look at the musician class. This time around, we also coupled it with some in-game footage to give this class the proper attention it deserves.

Play me some tunes! How does it work?

The music system is designed with cooperation in mind. A team-mate playing a tune in your vicinity can be joined at any point in the tune. Tracks are selected from a list that are colour coded to show which songs are being played around you (yellow) as well as which song you are currently playing (green).

The current selection

We have selected a list of music associated with the era from upbeat tunes like Rule Britannia to slower ballads such as Over The Hills and Far Away. Each tune has an accompanying percussive element to it for joint play. The idea was to represent many iconic sounds and to have players share this experience with each other.

The British Grenadiers

Lilliburlero

Men of Harlech

Rule Britannia

Over The Hills and Far Away

Hearts of Oak

Spanish Ladies

La Victoire est à Nous

Pas Cadencé

Auprès de ma Blonde

Le Chant de L'Oignon

Cadet Rouselle

Trois Jeunes Tambours

A drum roll

A selection of tunes by Bach for the violins.

Fifer

Role: Support

It takes powerful lungs and a constitution of stone to play a fife into battle. This class supports nearby allied troops with bonuses.

Traits

Musician - Inspiring presence. You increase firearm reloading speed of nearby allies when playing music.

Resilient - A strong sense of duty. This trait slightly increases the HP of the fifer to give him a better chance of survival in battle.

Weaponry

Pistol - Single-shot muzzle loaded firearm limited by its short range. Pistols can be reloaded more quickly when compared to other firearms. A solid defensive choice for a front-line support unit.

Sword & Sabre Briquet - The French musicians come equipped with a sabre briquet while the British have a sword available at their disposal. Sometimes the fighting gets uncomfortably close, even for a musician.

Equipment

Fife - There is a reason that a high pitched mouth instrument was used on the battlefield; you can hear the higher notes playing across the field of battle despite the deeper sounds of fierce conflict. Pierce the orchestra of war with your tunes.

Drummer

Role: Support

An old favourite; Drums are the percussion of war, inspiring warriors with their thudding tempo since man first learned to kill. Like the fifer, nearby allied troops are supported with bonuses.

Traits

Musician - Inspiring presence. You increase firearm reloading speed of nearby allies when playing music.

Resilient - A strong sense of duty. This trait slightly increases the HP of the drummer to give him a better chance of survival in battle.

Weaponry

Pistol - Single-shot muzzle loaded firearm limited by its short range. Pistols can be reloaded more quickly when compared to other firearms. A solid defensive choice for a front-line support unit.

Sword & Sabre Briquet - The French musicians come equipped with a sabre briquet while the British have a sword available at their disposal. Sometimes the fighting gets uncomfortably close, even for a musician.

Equipment

Drums - Thud, bang, crash and WAR! You know that chaos is around the corner when the war drums start to beat the percussion of battle.

Violinist

Role: Support

The violinist isn’t just for jaunty dancing tunes in small taverns, ship crews need their morale regular kept high by their ship’s musician prancing around the deck. We have a variety of deckhand outfits which the violinist will use. Keep the ship moving!

Traits

Musician - Inspiring presence. You increase firearm reloading speed of nearby allies when playing music. Violins make infantry more accurate, everyone knows it!

Resilient - A strong sense of duty. This trait slightly increases the HP of the violinist to give him a better chance of survival in battle.

Weaponry

Pistol - Single-shot muzzle loaded firearm limited by its short range. Pistols can be reloaded more quickly when compared to other firearms. A solid defensive choice for a front-line support unit.

Cutlass - A brutal slashing weapon primarily associated with naval troops. A scary choice for a close encounter, stay away from the violinist’s sword arm.

Equipment

Violin - A slender neck, gracefully curved body and smooth finish. In the hands of a master, it sings like the haunting Siren’s call. In the hands of an unskilled layman, it screeches like chalk on a wall.

Piano

Here’s a little extra something! You can find these scattered across a variety of maps, find them and become a master pianist in the midst of the chaos of war.

This was a brief glimpse into a selection of different musician classes that we have currently in the game. We have plans to increase this roster as the game progresses. On top of that our hope is to expand the music available to play by hiring professional musicians to introduce later in the game’s development. Our priority at the moment is creating a stable, cohesive build for an early access release.

Currently, our thoughts for the benefits musicians give to players is that when a group plays together, a further bonus to friendly player’s reload experience will be applied. We are keen to hear feedback on this system and others like it from our early access adopters. Feel free to head over to our forums here to join in the discussion.

Once again thank you for taking the time to read this and know that it brings us one week closer to getting the game into your hands!

May good health be yours.

Once again thank you for all of your support from all of us on the Holdfast: NaW team,

- Peter, Andrew, Julian, Andreas, Cameron & Tassilo

Anvil Game Studios