Draft:The Bazaar (video game)

  • Comment: I'd say it is highly likely to be non-notable. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ () 14:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Large parts are unsourced, the majority of the citations comes from primary sources, and there have been little changes since the last decline. IceWelder [] 18:41, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

The Bazaar
File:The bazaar.png
Developer(s)Tempo Games
Publisher(s)Tempo Games
Platform(s)
Release
  • Windows, macOS
  • October, 30th
  • Android, iOS
  • 2025
Genre(s)Auto battler, Strategy, Hero-builder
Mode(s)Multiplayer

The Bazaar is a free-to-play, live-service strategy video game, developed and published by game developer Tempo. The Bazaar was first announced on April 6th, 2018, by Tempo founder and CEO Reynad. The game monetizes itself with cosmetics such as animated cards, hero and board skins, and more, with a planned in-game marketplace where players can buy, sell and trade their cosmetics with other players. The game released as a paid Closed Beta on October 30th, 2024[1]; in January 2025, the game will enter its free-to-play Open Beta, with its official launch in early 2025[2]. Closed Beta access can be gained by purchasing one of the limited-time Founder's packs; users who backed the game in the past also get access to the Closed Beta. The Bazaar is available for Microsoft Windows and macOS, with Android and iOS releases planned for 2025.

The Bazaar features several Heroes with unique items and playstyles. Players face a series of deck-building decisions and PvE threats followed by PvP face-offs with asynchronous matchmaking[3]. The game draws inspiration from the auto-battler, deck builder, and digital card game genres.

Gameplay

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Before each run of The Bazaar, players must first choose a hero to play[4]. Each hero has their own set of around 100 items, and when players unlock that hero, they unlock every item in their pool. The Bazaar has many playable heroes planned, each with distinct playstyles[5]. The Closed Beta features three heroes: Pygmalien, Vanessa, and Dooley. Each hero features different mechanics and offers different win conditions; players have Vanessa unlocked by default. Other heroes can be unlocked through the in-game currency, Gems, or purchased via microtransactions.

A Bazaar run is structured through "Days" and "Hours". At the start of each day, you gain gold equal to your income. The default income is 5, and players can increase this amount through various methods, such as by using items and taking part in special events. Players must reach 10 PvP wins before losing all their "Prestige"; a run starts with 20 Prestige, and players lose some equal to the "Day" count when defeated in a PvP battle.

Each Day features 6 hours. The 3rd hour is guaranteed to give you an option between 3 PvE fights with various difficulty levels and rewards, and the 6th hour features a PvP battle. The other hours can feature a variety of different encounters, such as Merchants who sell you items, Skill Trainers who sell Hero Skills[6], free items, or special events.

Throughout a game, players can buy items and Hero Skills for their board, and players can move items around their board freely while out of combat, as they often have positional effects. Items have rarity tiers—Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond—that affect how powerful they are as well as when they show up in a run. When you find the same tier of an item, you can fuse it to upgrade the item. Not every item has each tier, and some items can start at the Diamond tier.

In The Bazaar, a player's board has a total of 10 slots; each item takes up 1, 2, or 3 slots, depending on their power level. Players start a run with 4 slots unlocked, with the rest progressively unlocked via the "Level" system: players unlock 2 slots at Levels 2, 3 and 4. Every level-up provides you with extra maximum health and an added benefit, such as free items/skills, item upgrades, or item buffs. To level up, you must gain 8 XP; you get 1 XP at the end of each hour, and can earn additional XP from PvE battles, random events, and level-up rewards.

Players also have access to a "Stash" with 10 slots for stored items. Items do not activate inside the stash during battles; however, non-combat passive effects work even while in the Stash.

Battles in The Bazaar do not require player input; instead, items on both boards trigger automatically after an item-specific cooldown timer[7]. Players each have a health pool, and the PvP battle ends when the opposing player's health is reduced to or below 0. If the battle continues long enough without a winner, a sandstorm appears that damages both players; this sandstorm deals increasing amounts of damage until one of the players loses.

Monetization

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The game features two forms of in-game currency: Gems and Ranked Tickets. Gems can be used to purchase Heroes or an entry into the Ranked mode. The Ranked mode requires one Ranked Ticket or 100 gems[8]. Every 24-hour day, players receive one free Ranked Ticket. To earn more tickets, users can play the free normal mode and achieve 10 wins in a run to earn 1 Ranked Ticket[8].

The Bazaar Closed Beta requires paid access in the form of limited-time Founders Packs, which grant Closed Beta access, exclusive collectables, in-game Gems, and physical goods, depending on the tier purchased. Once The Bazaar enters Open Beta in early 2025, the game will enter free-to-play permanently. The game will monetize mainly from selling cosmetics in the form of Boards that change up the environment, Hero skins that alter what your chosen hero looks like, Stash skins which change up what the chest looks like, Bank skins that change the gold pile, Rugs that your items lay on top of, Playlists that change the music you hear in-game, and card backs. In addition, there are also titles that appear under your username.

Development and release

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Development of The Bazaar was first made public through an Indiegogo campaign,[9] from which the game raised $115,000 toward production. Soon after, developer Tempo Storm—a former competitive esports organization—formally announced a company division dedicated towards the production of The Bazaar: Tempo Games. In 2019, the game was made publicly available for pre-order which granted the user early access and the amount they paid as in-game currency, doubled. Pre-orders were closed September 16th, 2021.

On February 20th, 2020, Tempo Storm announced they received a $3.3 million investment led by technology investor Galaxy Interactive.[10] On March 5th, 2021, Tempo launched their open investment campaign on Republic and successfully funded and closed on August 10th, 2021, with $700,734.[11]

Throughout the development of The Bazaar, the team uploaded update videos showcasing the progress of the game in all areas of the game development such as art, music, design and gameplay. Video updates stopped after February 7th, 2022 so the team could focus on finishing the game.

The Bazaar was officially announced at the OTK Games Expo on June 4th, 2024. Alongside this announcement, the Closed Beta date was revealed to take place in October. This date also commenced the return of weekly videos, this time focusing on finalized topics (instead of the previous in-development videos) such as gameplay reveals, art spotlights and music previews.[12]

Tempo Games outsources N-iX, a European software development company. They are responsible for many art pieces players see in The Bazaar.[13]

Plot

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The Bazaar is set in an intergalactic marketplace where a variety of different technologies, cultures, species, and people come together to trade and barter.

References

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  1. ^ "Reynad confirms The Bazaar closed beta release date: "So many people have touched this game over its five years of development and put a bit of their soul into it."". esports.gg. October 19, 2024. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  2. ^ Duwe, Scott (November 8, 2024). "The Bazaar release window: Open beta, full launch, and more". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  3. ^ Switzer, Eric (November 12, 2024). "The Bazaar Is Secretly This Year's Best Co-Op Game". TheGamer. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  4. ^ "What is The Bazaar? - Tempo Storm Reynad's Long-Awaited Game". Mobalytics. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  5. ^ Duwe, Scott (November 8, 2024). "The Bazaar release window: Open beta, full launch, and more". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  6. ^ Heath, Rachel Samples, Jerome (November 14, 2024). "All skills in The Bazaar and their effects". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 10, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Passion, But with No One to Discuss His; Instead, He Writes (November 14, 2024). "How to download and play The Bazaar". InvenGlobal. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  9. ^ "Reynad talks about Tempo Storm's multi-million dollar investment for The Bazaar". invenglobal.com. March 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  10. ^ "Tempo storm secures $3.3m investment to enter interactive media and game design". February 20, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  11. ^ "Tempo". republic.com. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  12. ^ The Bazaar - Official Trailer | OTK Games Expo 2024 - IGN. June 5, 2024. Retrieved October 26, 2024 – via www.ign.com.
  13. ^ "Art Outsourcing - N-iX Game & VR Studio". Retrieved November 7, 2022.
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Category:Android (operating system) games Category:Strategy video games Category:Auto battler video games Category:Esports games Category:Free-to-play video games Category:IOS games Category:2021 video games Category:MacOS games Category:Windows games