There has been no updates for the last month or so on the progress of Genesys. The reason is because there is a lot of work being done on race creation, the armories (weapon creation), and psychic powers. These are getting closer to releasing to a few play-tester with a full racial build. The first racial build will allow testers to create Humanoid Races. These variants include but are not limited to the Fay'rie, Feral, Dwarf, and Giant. In Genesys these can be your primary species, or they can be just a part of it. You can even have a species that is a mix of two, like Feral Giants for instance. (I personally like the Feral Giants, huge bestial monsters).
Creating your race and your army is rather simple, but takes some time in Genesys. Creating your species of Elf, Giant, Human, or some other mix or variant in between is a large part of the game, and a lot of fun for people that like to list build.
Race
You create your species by selecting traits that will be a part of it. Primary Traits unlock Secondary traits in each evolutionary branch that you select. Some of these increase your base characteristics (stats), and others give you abilities that can directly effect the battlefield, offer new weapon upgrades and types, or even lessen the costs of equipment. Each trait adds a point value to your species.
When creating your race, the first thing testers have been discovering is that you can't have it all. You can go very generic, and have your unit classes (later) be more specialized, or jump in right away to become a very advanced race. The difference is just how far you can get in the traits, where a more specialized race will be able to reach much farther into the traits, and have very powerful models, their point costs will be high. Creating your race is selecting 4-8 traits. Some races are very advanced, and others not so much.
Unit Classes
Once you do this you now have your army wide rules. Now it's time to create your individual Unit Classes. From your Race, you create classes of units that will fill out your army lists. This is done in a very similar way to creating your race. Point costs are added to as you select traits that define the unit. In some cases with elite, or leader units, special or advanced traits can be selected, that can give access to new advanced weaponry, abilities, and other equipment.
Armory
Next your armory becomes an important feature. This is where you advance your races weapons, define what will be accessible to your race and unit classes. A model may be equipped with any weapon or equipment that it has access to.
While this does seem like a lot, racial creation need only be done once (or more if you want to adjust it), or not even at all as there are pre-made races for people select.
Since any 28mm scale models can be used in Genesys, you can create your race to match existing armies you own, or create your own fantastic race that no one has yet to see.
This is just a very brief overview of what you do when make your race in Genesys. The Humanoids which are on the cusp of being released to playtesters, is but one of 5 races. The other 4 are very non-human like races. So Elves, Dwarves, Giants, Orcs, and all the builds in-between, are all contained within a single Humanoid build, each hybridization allowing access to unique traits.
Once your race is created, its done and playing a game operates like many other systems. Simply pick a point level, create an army list, and hit the tables.
Next I think we will talk about vehicles, and non-living Units. Later in the week, I will do a walk through on racial creation.