Sometimes, you just have to suck it up and improvise when things don’t go as planned, or when the seemingly bottomless money pit is finite. Just ask Singapore studio BattleBrew Productions.

The original idea for its BattleSky Brigade game was going to be a meaty real-time strategy title with its own three playable races. However, the team mentioned to Channel News Asia that they couldn’t secure enough funds. Their investors were looking for other types of games. But thanks to some suggestions at a Taipei games expo, they made the hard choice and create a clicker game based on the BattleSky Brigade IP.

With the brain-dead simplicity of tapping the screen for stuff to happen for that neanderthal-level gratification, combined with BattleSky Brigade‘s cute aesthetics, the game was downloaded “more than 300,000” times according to Battlebrew CEO Shawn Toh.

“It was tough times and that was a huge reality check. [Luckily, ]Tap Tap saved our lives.  Nothing beats the feeling of seeing people playing what you’ve all made and they’re enjoying it.

I’ve seen it on the bus, on the train. I think that’s what makes this whole thing worthwhile.”

At the very least, the spin-off train of thought at least made the company also create a 2D shmup spin-off BattleSky Brigade: Harpooner, which is as nifty as you can get to satiate your simplified mobile-tailored top-down shooting jollies.

Is The RTS Dream Dead?

For those hoping to see that version of BattleSky Brigade, that’s still a work in progress though now it’s under the moniker BattleSky Brigade: Tribes. Here’s the original idea & concept…

…and here’s their latest reiteration, now in (possibly) mobile RTS gaming form.

Original ideas that turn out kinda different isn’t an entirely new concept in video games development. Some games turned out better while others turned out a shell of its former self. *coughBioShockInfinite*

I do hope BattleSky Brigade’s RTS dream becomes the former, though this anecdote does serve as a reminder that game development is not cheap. Even if you’re an indie studio.