BRIGADOR KILLERS: SECRET ALPHA 1

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAVEAT

When our first game was released - back when it was called Matador - it initially came out in a closed alpha in April 2014 on Steam. This was back when Steam Greenlight still existed, and early access games were still treated as a way for people invested in a game’s development to see the inner workings. It was a period when gameplay looked and sounded like this:

(This was recorded around October 2013)

We show you this old unpolished footage intentionally to give you an idea of what to expect from our first alpha build of Brigador Killers. Access to this build will cost you 25 USD. In exchange you will get:

• The Secret Alpha Program build of Brigador Killers, which will be updated over time
• A copy of SJTiled, a mapmaking tool
• A Steam key later down the line

We detailed the reasons why we’re doing it like this that you can read here and these reasons still stand. The game will be cheaper here on Itch initially, but the price will increase when it comes to Steam. 

Right now Brigador Killers is still very much in development. Most of the maps will feel incomplete, combat is limited, various effects still aren’t in and the mechanics will not have much depth. As of time of writing we’re still dealing with crash bugs. If all of this sounds unappealing, or you are not sure whether you should be buying the game this early, then please don’t. The sort of person who we think should be interested in this should be able to say yes to the following:

• Have been a member of our community for a while
• Know what games in early access tend to be like
• Experienced in modding the original Brigador
• Familiar with the realities of game development

In other words this stage of Brigador Killers’ development is nothing like what you’d expect from an Early Access title on Steam in 2024. If we were to hypothetically compare it to our first game’s development, Early Access “now” for that game would be Brigador circa June 2016, and it still got supported for several years after the fact. By acquiring this build that also means you’ll spoil yourself on various aspects of the game as development goes on. But don’t worry! The game will eventually appear as a “normal” release on Steam at a later date.

Our goal with this introduction is that you understand that what’s on offer as of time of writing is not fully-formed.

WHAT’S IN THE SECRET ALPHA PROGRAM?

From the main menu, STITHOS allows you to choose a starting infantry loadout and spawns your player character in a generic base area called the Fort. This base contains an NPC you can talk to, an interactable and a map exit. Exits are marked by green rectangles which are trigger volumes that players can enter to connect to a named area. There are several areas available in this build:

• Fort – Your base and home to Mendac
• Clayton – Sleepy commercial low rent area connected to the other areas
• Glentoran – Suburban estate with an oversized gas station
• Underground Tunnel – Passages that connect to the other areas

Some of the areas are populated by blockouts that will be replaced with their intended props at a later time. These levels also do not yet persist, which means that if you want to repeatedly blow up the petrol pumps in the Glentoran suburbs over and over again, simply exit and re-enter the level. Experienced Brigador players will recognize re-used music tracks and other assets – these will be replaced at a later time.

WHAT DO I DO?

You control Cavalier Oblique, a member of a hit squad of Solo Nobrean insurgents sent to recon an island off the main archipelago of Mar Nosso. Around this interconnected island you’ll encounter enemies to fight, “brain tapes” to bring back to the NPC in your starting fort, three parts of a carmine suit to collect and vehicles to drive around in. Most of the NPCs outside your fort are likely to be hostile towards you. Some of them might be guarding vehicles that aren’t in your Fort. For instance, try to find the agrav hauler in Glentoran while hunting for tapes. When you find all three carmine suit parts, return to the Fort to find your reward.

WHAT ARE THE CONTROLS?

You can configure the controls at any time by pausing the game by pressing Esc and going to SETTINGS > GENERAL and checking your BINDS as some of them may not be bound by default or you may want to alter some of the currently chosen binds. Be mindful of stacking multiple binds onto the same keypress.

Press WASD on your keyboard to move the player character around.

Press Tab on your keyboard to lock the camera in place over the character. Press it again to detach the camera so that it follows the mouse cursor on screen.

Scrolling the middle mouse button will zoom the camera in and out from a preset range. The zoom level depends on what the player is currently controlling

Depending on your loadout or vehicle, activate your Special Ability by clicking the middle mouse button.

To aim and fire while on foot, hold down RMB and press LMB to fire.

Press Q to Lock Target while the mouse cursor is over a hostile NPC to lock on. Locked-on NPCs will have a spotlight appear over them to indicate the lock-on. Press Q again to unlock.

To level your aiming and be able to shoot over chest high props, press and hold CapsLock.

Press Left Ctrl or C to crouch.

To switch to the alternate weapon on foot press 1. 

Reload your current weapon by pressing R.

To sprint on foot, press Left Shift.

Press Z to go prone whichever direction your mouse cursor is pointed.

To examine items on the ground, press F. To pick up items found on the ground, press E.

To talk to the NPC in your Fort and advance dialog boxes, press E.

To enter and exit a vehicle, press E. Players need to be close to a vehicle to enter and this will be visualized by a vehicle gently flashing white when the player character is adjacent to a vehicle that can be entered.

Some vehicles may have the ability to boost or stomp. This is bound to Space.

Vehicles like the Betka and Rounder will still have dual weapon slots and control in the same manner as in the original Brigador: LMB will fire your primary weapon, RMB will fire your secondary. 

If a vehicle has a horn, press H to activate it.

WHAT’S SJTILED?

SJTiled is the tool we use to make areas for the game. Those of you who made maps in Brigador will be familiar with it and find a lot of new tools to play around with. Modding documentation is currently a work in progress and access to this document can be requested by contacting Benjamin in our discord server. This document covers how to use Tiled for Brigador as well as the new ImGui debug panel in Brigador Killers. Distribution of SJTiled and the associated assets will also initially be conducted via our discord server.

DO YOU HAVE A ROADMAP?

We will have a roadmap once this build is out and into people’s hands. We’ll update this post to better reflect what we intend to change and add to the build.

WHAT ABOUT THE STEAM KEY?

When the Itch build gets to a state that is fit for Steam’s audience, we will bring the game over to Steam Early Access. We make no guarantees on when this will be, but we estimate about twelve months. If you have bought a copy of the game on here first, you will be provided with a Steam key later. Itch even has a feature for this that will allow us to do this. As of time of writing we are unsure about GOG keys and will need to investigate.

WHAT ABOUT STREAMING OR RECORDING GAMEPLAY?

Feel free to share any media you find in this build. Brigador Killers already has a category on YouTube and a listing on IGDB - all we ask is that you tag your videos or VODs with the game to make it easier to find you. Feel free to tag @StellarJockeys on Twitter, or post to the subreddit.

[UPDATED 07/02/2024] THIS BUILD DOESN'T WORK ON WINDOWS!

Since this is the first time brigadorkillers.exe has appeared publicly, Windows may likely warn you that the game is a virus and may even delete the executable from your computer. In order to run Brigador Killers you may need to exclude it from Windows Defender.

Go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection. Under Virus & threat protection settings, select Manage settings, and then under Exclusions, select Add or remove exclusions. Select Add an exclusion, and then select the folder brigadorkillers.exe exists in (this will vary depending on where you have set your download location), and also set an exclusion for the file brigadorkillers.exe. You can read Windows' own instructions on how to add exclusions here.

We have submitted a false positive report to Microsoft, and hopefully it will be added to the exclusions file quickly.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING, GIVE ME A REFUND

Sure! Itch has a refund policy that you can see here. You can also reach out to us by contacting us at team@stellarjockeys.com. If you do request a refund from us, please be sure to provide proof of your Itch purchase in your email.  

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING?

Our discord server has a new dedicated Brigador Killers category. It has a #brigador_killers_news announcement channel that you can follow to get updated on our progress. The channel #bk_bug_reports is specifically for your issues encountered while playing this game. More channels will appear in this category over time.