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4 Jun 04
Welcome to Friday and highlights again. Today's game is Sacrifice (Shiny site) from Shiny Entertainment. I'd link to the official site, but Interplay doesn't seem to be up any more. Sacrifice was a bold attempt to break away from the cookie cutter RTS. Perhaps most impressive was they did this in a game released in 2000 before people really even started complaining about the problem.
While some may find this as much a fault as a highlight, the radical design of Sacrifice made it a memorable title. You only had two resources in Sacrifice, mana and souls. How you got both set Sacrifice apart especially in a time when people were scrambling to add more and more resources to the features lists.
Perhaps I should go back a little further first. In Sacrifice, you play a wizard. You're so powerful that gods ask you to do things for them. You've just escaped the destruction of your own world so you need all the friends you can get. Each of the game's campaign missions are tasks from a certain god. There are five gods and they bicker among one another. If you do too many missions for one, other gods will turn away from you. Since it's impossible to please all of them, you have to take sides eventually. Each mission you take gives you access to certain units from that god's arsenal as well access to some of the spells of that god. So with different choices you get different units, spells and missions greatly enhancing replayability. See I snuck an extra highlight in there.
Back to resources. To cast the spells you gain you need mana. Mana shoots up out of the ground in certain spots, but if you want to mine it, you must summon a building. This building means that only you can access the mana from that spot. In addition, you can summon conduit units that automatically transfer mana from your building to you as you need it. This assumes that you keep the conduit units close enough to you. Essentially with enough mines and conduit units you could keep casting spell after spell only waiting for the recharge. The problem is that your enemy is the same way so you each try to destroy the other's conduit units and destroy their mines to replace with your own. Since you can tether units to a mine and have them draw power from it, the mana game strongly encourages combat.
As I mentioned, the other resource is souls. You usually start out with some, but not nearly enough to win a map. So you either have to explore and capture neutral souls on the map or go defeat some enemies and steal the souls of the units you defeat. While you can just grab neutral or friendly souls, you have to cast a spell to steal enemy souls. Once the spell is complete, a special unit appears, grabs the soul, revives the unit (contained in its magic), and takes it back to your altar to be purified. This gives your opponent many opportunities to mess up your plans. He can run up and grab the souls before you can complete your spell. He can kill the unit dragging the creature to the altar (this has the added bonus of giving him a revived creature without having to summon it again). Or he can attack your altar. If it falls, you lose. Notice again that all these things encourage combat as well. There's no way to passively sit back and build up a unstoppable force. You have to be aggressive all the time.
This is getting a bit long, so I'll just sum up the other obvious highlights. Impressive 3D engine with deformable terrain. Great art design including the characters and the creatures. Fun story involving squabbling gods. Superb voice acting. A powerful level editor. And Gibs in the bloodiest sense of the word.
Jason
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3 Jun 04
Howdy, I wanted to tell everyone that I've changed the poll settings on the news section. Now you can vote if you're not a registered member. Of course if you want to use the other features such as customization, you still need to register. It's still free and only takes a few minutes. Why not go do it now?
As you probably know Full Spectrum Warrior was just released (for the Xbox, PC is coming later in the year). There's been some good buzz about the game. The early reviews have been quite favorable. It's also clear that not everyone knows what to make of this new type of gameplay.
What I wonder is if FSW is successful what impact will that have on future games? I must admit that I didn't have a clue as to how much of an impact Grand Theft Auto 3 would have on game design before hand. But perhaps more impressive is the sheer number of ways it's been implemented into other games. In fact, Electronic Gaming Monthly just had an article on six more games that are influenced by GTA 3. Even the next Spiderman game has GTA elements in it.
So if FSW did as well what would be the impact? Well, the primary difference between FSW and other tactical games is that you don't directly control anyone, nor do you directly fire bullets. So how would you take a another game and make it FSW like? Let's take a similar game to start. How about Mechcommander? The Mechcommander games are tactical games where you order a small team of Mechs in combat from an RTS perspective. To add FSW elements, you'd have to move the camera in much closer. The AI of your pilots would have to be improved. A FSW style fog of war would certainly make battles feel more intense. You might give commands with a more holographic type map. Data might come in directly from the sensors of the individual mechs.
Or to take a different kind of example, imagine a Splinter Cell game where you play as Lambert. You provide data, objectives. You might even tell Sam where and how to move, but he'll execute on his own. In fact, it might be better if you were training a new recruit and not running Sam at all. Or maybe Sam could show up as an adversary in some training missions. The point is that the plans and tactics are yours, but the execution is up to the AI. It could be interesting.
Today's game might not have FSW features, but it does give you a feeling of power, super power that is. Yes, it's Superpower 2 (official site) from GolemLabs. It's a political game of domination. You have complete control of your nation politically, militarily and economically. Upgrades from the original include a new 3D engine and improve AI. It should be available in the last quarter of the year.
Jason
Comments?
2 Jun 04
Ok. I briefly wanted to follow up on my suggestion from yesterday. My point was that the problem was not the existence of violent games or that they had anti heroes instead of noble heroes. The problem as I see it was the same one that got the tobacco industry in trouble. You can't take an adult product and market it to kids. You can't do it overtly or covertly. It's irresponsible behavior that lets the censorship police threaten you.
If you recall, the only reason we ended up with an ESRB and a ratings system was a series of direct threats from Congress basically saying, if you don't regulate yourself now, we'll do it for you. The industry knew that however harsh they'd be on themselves, they had much better prospects for future growth without a government bureaucracy looking over their shoulder. Now the entire industry touts the comprehensive rating system and points to it with pride, especially when attacked for being irresponsible.
To me the logical next step is review of advertising for age appropriateness. Congress has already shown a willingness to crack down on advertising; just look at campaign finance reform and the tobacco settlement. If the industry acts soon, they can keep pressure off themselves and once again show leadership in the media realm.
To work, the system would need at least two things. First, there must be the ability to fine for violation of guidelines. I don't think anyone wants to give an organization veto power over ads. Industry censorship is still repressive, but there must be consequences for violating the agreed to guidelines. Monetary fines seem to provide good balance between free expression and limiting inappropriate behavior. There would have to be some sort of appeals process, but a scalable fine system would give the agency the power to enforce their rulings.
Second, there must be a public track record for publishers based on their advertising and its review. People need to be able to see that action is being taken when adult games are being peddled to kids. Parents also need to be able to find which companies have problems with their advertising on a consistent basis and where they they tend to advertise. That will help parents steer their kids away from both the games from those companies and the advertisements themselves.
I don't know if the games industry has any interest in taking these steps forward. I do know if they want to keep the heat off themselves, they're going to have to choose between making clean games or doing a better job in targeting their advertising to appropriate markets. To me that seems like an easy decision. Some people like the heat however. They truly believe there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Today's game might not have been advertised enough. It's Ghost Master (official site) from Sick Puppies. You lead a team of haunters trying to rid houses of the annoying living. You have to find each person weakness and exploit the talents of the different spectres at your command. Strategic haunting is available now.
Jason
Comments?
1 Jun 04
First, thank you to everyone who entered our first contest. I can now announce the winner. It's JMDiller. Congratulations. You get Railroad Tycoon 3 plus the honor of being the first contest winner ever at Talk Strategy. I'm sure he'll be telling his grandkids about that someday.
I wanted to talk about this article on the Adrenaline Vault. I'm always happy when people take chances in gaming journalism even if I don't always agree with them. It's an interesting article with good writing. Unfortunately, I don't think the author made his point. I'm not really one to complain about a bunch of thought thrown together and called an article, but as a call for action, I think it fall short.
Let's look at the main points. First he phrases his argument as an opinion, something needs to be done about violent video games. While there's nothing wrong with having that opinion, it's not really more valid than the converse that nothing needs to be done. Next he points out that there are very violent games and there are more coming. I don't think anyone disputes this. Then he claims that developers have a responsibility to do better. Finally, he says the solution is restore gaming to the province of the the noble hero and get rid of the anti hero.
Those last two points are the ones I'd like to look at. Do developers have a responsibility to do better? I don't think this is a well developed argument in the article. Just looking at it on its own merits give some insight. I would argue that a developer's first responsibility is to gamers. They should make a game that's enjoyable and something that gamers want. I think a developers next responsibility is to itself and to its publisher to make the game profitable. This usually means it meets the above criteria plus gamers have to know about it and feel like its a good purchase. Those two responsibilities have given us the high quality gaming environment we have today. I can't see how adding a responsibility to aim for a shifting morality/age/realism/violence target will help overall. I don't know that I'd be willing to risk it.
I've previously argued that freedom in gameplay is still the grail of game design. I'd expound on that to say that a great game would give you the freedom to be either the hero or anti hero. I don't know that having a hero hip deep in gore fighting demons is any less violent than a 'Punisher' type character blasting through the criminal underworld. Clearly, I'd also have a problem with arbitrarily preventing a character from performing an action because it's not purely heroic. It's fine to penalize such behavior, but making it impossible is the opposite of freedom.
So Mr. Critical, what's your solution? Well, I'm glad you asked. It's pretty simple. I'd empower someone, say for argument's sake the ESRB, to have the authority to fine publishers for targeting advertising to an inappropriate age group for the rated content of the game. Questionable ads with their proposed venues could be submitted the same way that games are for review. Since being fined for peddling inappropriate material to children will not create any positive buzz for the game, publishers would have multiple incentives to clean up their ad campaigns. It would be a bold move by the industry, and I'd applaud them for doing it.
Today's game is Pax Romana (official site) from Galilea. It is a strategic and political game placing you in the sandals of a Roman Senatorial family from 275 BC to 44 BC. You have to ensure the empire survives until you can be crowned Augustus. Pax Romana is available now.
Jason
Comments?
31 May 04
Just a short update tonight. As a reminder you have until 11:59 CDT tonight if you want to get in the contest. I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow. I spent a good chunk of the day working out in the yard. In the heat and humidity of Houston, that can just about kill a computer jockey. I hope everyone had a chance to think of those who have fought and died in the struggle for freedom around the world.
I wanted to go a little far a field today. I was in a brand spanking new Barnes and Noble monstrosity this weekend. It sparkled. It was full of books and magazines and CD's. It had a coffee bar. It really reminded me how much I miss the old used book stores.
Unfortunately the south and southwest US are the greatest places for them. A good used book store has to be in a deceptively sized building. It can look small from the outside, but it must go up or back or down or in seemingly forever. A good used book store also must be only sort of organized. There are sections and the books are usually in the correct section, but they can't be perfectly placed in alphabetical order by author's last name. Some of them should be, but others must be a little off. Still others must be in a pile in the section. This makes every trip to the store an adventure. The thrill of the hunt doesn't go away.
Good used book stores must be totally unfamiliar with the concept of line of sight. You must constantly be twisting and turning if you want to get any where. Usually there's a choke point near the exit so you can't just walk out without paying, but that should be the only point where you have to see people if you're feeling antisocial.
They must also have muted noises. You can't have blaring muzak in a good used book store. It must be more like a museum. Not necessarily a museum to the books, but perhaps to bookstores themselves. It's a living museum with displays and items coming and going all the time. It's got to be the type of quiet that makes it clear that loud conversations don't belong there and yelling into your cell phone will get you ejected.
I guess I've always thought that would be a good retirement. Open a used bookstore. A good one. I'll let you know if it ever happens.
I thought I go with something off the wall for a game today as well. So we proudly present New Zealand Paintball Online Games (official site). Yes these are paintball games from paintball players. They include a paintball RTS and a paintball manager simulator. The shareware versions are available to check them out. Gotta love the kiwis.
Jason
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