Codicier
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Posts posted by Codicier
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I do wonder if sports management games hit a point of information overload about 7-8 years ago (I'm a brit so my poison was champ manager/football manager not OOTP). I know having all the stats was part of what drew me to this type of game originally, but it feels like it passed the stage where getting meaningful information was easy. I think its almost got to the point where even a great UI is going to struggle.
To me the endlessly growing databases of modern sports games feels analogous to the search for photo-realism in FPS games. They are gratuitous statistics. Window dressing that often doesn't add anything.
I've heard Bill talk in the past about accuracy in sports sims being essential, but iv'e begun to wonder recently if the search for authenticity in sports games in order to fulfill the fan fantasy of a "real experience" has been at the cost of gameplay(and also usability).
The one thing i didn't hear covered in the podcast is that the very drama that draws fans to sports can be problematic to the logic that drives any game, because as any proper fan knows sports are often utterly and totally illogical.
Here in the UK we have had a near unbelievably dramatic football season, full of controversy, drama and last minute reversals.
The unexpected's existence is part of what makes sport so vibrant, for every uplifting victory there is a heart wrenching defeat.
Creating a game where the results are believable but where upsets can still occur must be a incredibly difficult task. Thinking back to the Crusader Kings show, i can think of no other genre where the temptation to reload when something goes wrong is as strong as it is in sports games.
Anyway, as always a great show. Even if i didn't agree with it all.
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My love for 1960: Making of a President is only matched by the total apathy towards the subject most of my close friends exhibit.
It does still get some use, but the play time and the fact its only 2 player restricts it significantly.
I really need to pluck up the courage and get on gametableonline and play a few games over the net, but i'm painfully aware that with any strict 1v1 game like 1960 the quality of a opponent can make a big difference to if someone enjoys a particular game(and at the moment i may a very poor opponent).
I probably don't help myself much in some respects, since i find the idea of reading up about tactics online before i play a game a bit distasteful. I think that feeling took root in my mind back in the days where i played a lot of Magic The Gathering, i hated the concept of "net decks". It has always felt cheap to me that someone could win a game with a tactic that came from a forum, and not from their own understanding of the games mechanics.
I'm resigned to this being pretty much par for the course now for any strategy game played online, but still something in my heart of hearts doesn't want it to be that way.
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Next on my list are Titan and Neuroshima Hex thanks to TMA's recommendations.
If your interested in NH i'd really recommend you grab Neuroshima Hex Puzzle 1st.
It does a great job of teaching you the different that NH's units interact, so you can approach the full game without fear.Plus it's just a very enjoyable series of brain teasers in its own right. If i remember correctly Chris Remo mentioned something very similar has been done in the MTG duels of the planeswalker game's in the recent thumbs progresscast
Speaking of MTG. Are people looking forward to a iOS version of it? or has Ascension's smooth implementation and far less aggressive sales model won over hearts and minds?
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Yeah i think i get what you mean. Something where the aim is tweaking the climate in order to favor your civilization/nation/tribe etc. Then watching how your changes could produce un-looked for consequences?
Eg: Adding a mountain range could leave one area getting far more rain, but turn another in to a desert.
That said because climate is such a chaotic thing generally.If Nasa can't model climate change easily its a lot to ask from a game
I think perhaps even just trying to get a playable system out of such chaos might end up producing something that felt pretty contrived
Speaking of which have you tired out Fate of the World at all?
FoTW is probably the closest thing we have to teraforming game atm. Its has what at first seemed to me pretty gamey card based mechanic, but after a while I realized the line between success and failure was pretty brutal and it had a lot more depth than I'd assume at first glance.
You should perhaps keep a eye out for it on the steam midweek/wkend sales, it might be worth picking up at a nice discount if you like the concept.
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@RoutineMachine
Thinking back to some of the stuff which was said about the Molyjam, if you switch from a sci-fi to mythical explanation for the mechanics the resulting game would end up not far off from Populous or Black and White.
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Its probably a testament to the good work they have done in the last year or two that after listing to the podcast the 1st place I checked to try & find a copy of Imperialism was GoG.com.
I wasn't entirely surprised to find no sign of it (given what was said in the show) but I thought rather than abandon my search at this somewhat disappointing conclusion that now might be a good time to mention GoG's "community wishlist".
Basically if you have a GoG account you can vote for what games you want them to try & get hold of next.
Currently Imperialism 1 & 2 stand at around a grand total of 300 votes
(to put it in context the top requested games typically have 10k +)
Now it was nice to hear Troy talking about how he feels there is a bigger demand for strategy games than publishers perceive. But here you have a supposed classic of the genre seemingly not gaining much traction.
So basically what I'm saying is... go and vote for Imperialism!
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I think KoDP like CK is another of those games that sits teetering on the fence between strategy and rpgs.
In some ways both it CK (& of more so Dwaft Fortress) feel to me to almost be as close to roguelikes as they are to many traditional strategy games.
I mean wikipedia says “The*roguelike*is a sub-genre of role-playing video games, characterized by level randomization, permanent death, and turn-based movement “ and most of those elements seem to be present in one form or another, because as much as you may care about them at this moment there always remains something very 'throwaway' about individuals in CK & KoDP.
“thank God I have the paper manual from the PC version. So much I have forgotten “Troy I'd be interested to know what info the KoDP printedmanuals provides, because the iOS version is incredibly secretive about the actual mechanics behind the game.
Despite being initially frustrating this feels right for the setting for me. Making sacrifices to the gods wouldn't feel quite the same if I knew 'exactly' how many cattle had to be slaughtered etc.
All that said, boy it occasionally can be seriously unforgiving. What looks like a minor random event can often come bite you hard in the ass a year or so down the line . One day I'm telling a couple a ragged band of Centaurs and Minotaurs led by a Howard the Duck lookalike to get lost, secure in the power of my thanes and strength of my fortifications.
Next year this happens...
and as a extra little kick in the teeth I see a little popup
“Game Centre Achievement Unlocked: Beastfolk Apocalypse”
I'd love to see some more long form strategy games pop up on iOS, it just feels right to be able to put 10 minutes here & 30 minutes there into a game you know is going to pass that big 10-20 hour mark. That said, it makes the 'just one more turn' problem even worse when you can sit in bed playing something.
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If you get any drop outs I'd be interested in giving it a go.
I've been putting a new lick of paint to my team of pointy eared tree huggers recently, and giving their digital equivalent a run around would probably be a great way to blow some of the cobwebs out of my brain.
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Generally one of the worst things that can in any game is death. From a mechanical viewpoint it's one of the harshest punishments a designer can give to a player, and as a player it's often the one event that can drag you out of immersion in a game. I think this applies just as much in strategy games as in other genre's. One moment I'm the absolute ruler of an empire spanning half a continent, the next I'm a guy sitting in seat looking at a 'game over' screen. Now that all fine and dandy if my loss feels fair, but what if it doesn't?
I think long form game that brings a high amount of randomness to the table can risk frustrating its players. Its not a pleasant feeling to play for 10+ hours and then a random event comes along and totally and utterly screws me over, leaving my plans in ruins.
At this point I’ll normally react in one of three ways:
1.I hit 'reload saved game'.
2.I quit.
3.I feel like banging my head repeatedly against the nearest wall, while screaming in incoherent rage. Before swearing a solemn oath to track down the SoB who put that in the game.
Needless to say, none of these are desirable outcomes.
I think it is telling that Rob says that he wasn't often tempted to reload a CK2 game when something went wrong, and that the only time he did choose to reload was when he had already seen a near ideal scenario play out.
For me the games I enjoy which have random events always have two things in common, they contextualise the events in a believable way, and they give me the opportunity to respond to them.
“everyone understands inherently that family’s are messed up & irrational”
I think Rob’s spot on here, in terms of a explanation for crazy stuff happening I think most people are hard wired to understand the 'crazy family' dynamic, and accept it.
Equally importantly when the shit does hit the fan, even when your character dies in CK its not the end of the world. To nick a phrase from European royalty themselves:
The King is dead, Long live the King.
Once a smart man said a thing about video games, and that thing feels relevant here so I’ll throw it in here:
“The point is that kicking the player out of the execution phase is trivially easy… but making sure he falls back into the composition phase instead of into a load screen is something else.”
I think CK does a excellent job of this allowing all my plots to come crashing down, but ensuring that when it does my instinct is not to hit quit or reload, but to start plotting all over again.
On a side note: has anyone ever played King of Dragon Pass? It's been my iOS crack of the moment and feels like it shares some qualities with CK
Three Moves Ahead Episode 170: Classic Game Analysis - Kohan
in Three Moves Ahead Episodes
Posted
another game added to my steam wishlist. It was nice that they didn't get just talk about why the game deserves its place in the strategy game canon, but covered why someone would still want to play it.
Just browsing the wiki & the publicity surrounding Kohan, It does seem like there is a distinctly Arabian flavor to the world. It may have not done it much good at the time but it sure does make me keen to give it a whirl.
Side Note: Slaan v Slann
Kohans Slaan seem very similar to the Warhammer race of lizard men the Slann....
If there is a common myth both franchises are taking inspiration from i'm not having much luck finding it atm, and it feels strange that in a otherwise very original IP you have such seemingly blatant copying.