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5 Mar 04

I think the reason I like turn based tactical games is that teammate AI is so useless to me. There are some scripting that keeps teammates from doing stupid things, but it's pretty rare for me to be impressed with how well the AI works with me.

Of course, the best solution right now is to make the game playable in a cooperative online multiplayer environment. Amazingly even a clueless player who's never seen the game before will be a better teammate than most of the AI out there. There are some things I like to see in a teammate.

1. Work together. I don't care how we decide who's in charge, but once they are we do what they say or convince them to change their mind. Don't go running off on your own. Sure you might have mad Rambo skills, but you're ruining the experience for everyone else. In most tactical games, a lesser team that works well together can beat better individual players who don't.

2. Communicate. With Teamspeak (official site) and the online consoles supporting voice, let's talk to each other. Hand signals are fine if the games supports them and all players know them. We need to know what's going on with each other. Are you in trouble? Have you spotted an enemy that's drawing a bead on us? Let everyone know. Oh, yeah, don't swear. The occasional random exclamation is ok, but really try to talk like your mother was listening. There might be kids playing or people who are easily offended. Please respect them.

3. Keep in mind the goal is to have fun. Don't worry about individual kill numbers or who gets credit for the flag. If you're trying to have fun, winning is less important. Then you can appreciate a great spinning kill even if it was against you. They're games; they're meant to be enjoyed.

Maybe I'm too demanding, but I know I have more fun when people play like that. Let me know what you think.

Today's game is one of the few games with teammate AI that did impress me. Operation Flashpoint (official site) plus it's expansions came out of nowhere to shoot to the best in field. It's hard to describe beyond saying that it's a battlefield simulator. It's first person, but you drive vehicles up to and including tanks. The controls and interface take some getting used to but you really feel like you're on a battlefield. You really want to keep your head down. You can pick up the game of the year edition that includes both expansions for pretty cheap now. The Xbox version is expected soon.

Jason

4 Mar 04

Just a reminder, if your looking for an old rant that's fallen off the front page, just scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on the archive list. I won't go into any philosophical ponderings as to why you'd want to.

Raydude has finished up his AAR from the Korsun Pocket expansion. You can read the whole thing in the forum. I'm sure he'd like some feedback. He had me fooled. His desperate retreats and the flanking maneuvers by the Germans convinced me he was in trouble. Then he consolidates positions and rolls on to a stunning victory. So perhaps you can tell me if he was in stronger position than he lead on. Discuss away in the forum. Thanks Raydude.

I like wargames, but I've noticed I really enjoy the tighter focus of smaller scale. I suppose the ultimate wargame is out there like a holy grail. You'd have individual soldiers in small teams through a Ghost Recon type interface. They might be commanded by an officer or NCO using a Full Spectrum Warrior type interface. Armor platoons and Air wings could have their own interface. There could be local commanders with a RTS type interface. Then the grand strategist wargamers could face off at top level. If we had that, maybe then everyone could be happy. I'd love to see some stories from that.

I thought I'd give you a value update and a game in one today. Gamestop is now selling Freedom Fighters (official site) for only $10. This is a fun oriented 3rd person tactical action game. It's not overly realistic, but it's fun. You play a plumber who get swept up in the conflict of a Soviet invasion of America. You start of with just a wrench by yourself, but soon you've got heavy weapons and a team. The tactical controls aren't too advanced, but since it's not hard to rescue teammates they provide a great deal of help. If you're looking for a fun diversion cheap, check it out.

Jason

3 Mar 04

Decisions, decisions. Some developers seem to think that strategy games are just collections of more and more decisions. It's true that you can get very complex strategy games by just adding layers upon layers of decisions. The point of a game is to abstract part of an event to make it fun. Needless complication doesn't make something fun. For instance a sports game could have drug problems and player arrests. You could arrange rehab programs and find good lawyers. These are "realistic" issues that come up running a team. There's a reason you never see them in a sports game. They're no fun.

Fun is somewhat nebulous, but it's always worth asking, "is this step fun?" If not, perhaps they should look at how necessary that step is. Clearly I'm not discussion strategic mistakes or sacrificial moves. There are consequences for those and no guarantee that they will be fun. As an example, selecting the gunpowder for your country's rifles could have an impact on lethality, troop visibility and weapon wear, but it's so far removed from your goals that it's not really fun.

Of course, scope also plays a big factor in determining the number of decisions. The king of country will have more and broader decisions to make than the commander of a battalion. There's probably a sweet spot for every level of command. I wonder if some developers even search for it.

Today's game lends itself toward the simple side to emphasize fun. It also seems to be a local favorite in the forums. It's Moonbase Commander (official site). You start out with a simple hub and some energy. You expand your web of operations by shooting units worms style around the map. I say web because each unit is linked back to you by your energy grid. Since your energy lines can't overlap, you have to plan your layout. There are various weapons and units you can use to achieve your goal, but your opponents have the same tools to stop you. You can't argue that it's overly complex, but it is almost addictively fun. It can also be found for cheap. Check it out.

Jason

2 Mar 04

I think the parts of game design that intrigue me most are artificial intelligence and user interface. AI and UI. AI is important because we've put up with dumb enemies and allies for so long. Right now we have a lot of simulated AI. Real AI would look at the information available to the unit and then weight all possible actions to try to come to the best decision. It's a lot easier to just work around that. Some AI is pure scripted action. Some AI is random action weighted by the programmer to look more realistic. Or you could have triggered state switching (i.e. from passive to alert or searching). The interesting thing is that by combining these techniques you can create opponents that appear to think. The downside is that once you find an exploit, it will probably always be there.

User interfaces are some of the most interesting design decisions that impact the player. Today I'm just going to look at information flow. In any game there's always a minimum amount of information that a player needs to play the game. That information must be displayed in an easy to identify manner. Then there's the information that needs to be somewhere, but not all the time. Finally there's the information that merely adds flavor to the game.

Games have been steadily moving from a simple visual medium to an immersive one. You now can have surround sound and rumble or force feedback response. Still, the most important information is usually the visual. For instance, health is often displayed on the screen. Whether it's a bar or an orb or a limp the player must know how they're doing. Many "can I do that?" decision rest on that information. Then you have things like weapons, ammunition, fuel, magic, stealth level and posture. Most of these are things your avatar would "just know" if you were really them. The hard part of these decisions is that there's not really a right way to do it, but there are many wrong ways.

Then you have the supplemental information such as spells, spare weapons and armor, inventory and quest or mission lists. This is information the player needs to progress in the game, but doesn't need to see all the time. Often the organization of this information is more important than just having it. I want to be able to quickly find that spell I'm looking for or see the name of the object that clerk had me looking for. The more time I'm digging through menus, the less time I'm enjoying the game.

So what is flavor? Well, does the sword of fire actually burst into flames when you draw it? Are you told about the clerk's sick daughter who can only be healed by the scarf of Ioripes? Does the screen shake when you're hit? Does the controller rumble? Can you hear the bullets whizzing by you? Cut scenes or narration can do wonders to pull you deeper into the story. In fact, that's the point of flavor. It makes the virtual world seem more real.

Ok. I'm digging deep into the recesses of my game collection for today's game. It's Shadow Company: Left for Dead (official site). I was happy there's still an official site to find. This game didn't exactly explode on to the scene when it came out (around the same time as Ground Control and Homeworld). Reviews ranged from great to awful. It's a real time tactical strategy game in full 3D. Pretty impressive for the time.

You are a mercenary sent on a mission, but betrayed by your employer and (you guessed it) left for dead. After you escape the remnants of the trap, you start your organization up again working for a new employer with hopes of finding a chance for revenge. You can recruit more mercenaries, buy equipment and select custom teams to execute the missions. It's a surprisingly flexible game. You have primary and secondary weapons, binoculars, night vision, sniper mode, photography mode, and you can do things like cut through fences to sneak into areas. You can even drive vehicles up to and including tanks.

There are some drawbacks. Mission maps are huge and often have long lists of objections. You won't find a five minute mission here. There's not really an option to run and gun either. Good tactics are really the only way to win firefights. It's a love it or hate it kind of game, but there is a demo around if you're interested.

Jason

1 Mar 04

I played some Steel Battalion and Line of Contact over the weekend. I'm still impressed. The depth and complexity of the game is truly refreshing. The LOC launch was buggy. The Capcom servers were having problems and a lot of players were getting dropped. The situation did improve over the weekend and Capcom is working on the problem. I'll report back when some of the problems are resolved.

I haven't gotten any passionate feedback on the idea of affiliate programs. I'm assuming that means that no one will be too upset if some ads start appearing. The first way I'd like you to support the site is merely to spread the word. The second way is to join the forum. You don't have to be an incredibly active participant, but if you put up your games list, you might be surprised that someone is interested in seeing your strategies. Remember, thanks to the private message feature of the forums, you don't even have to make your email public to get or send challenges.

The final way to support the site would be using the affiliate links and clicking on the ads. Don't feel obligated, the site's not going anywhere, but if you'd like to see things like contests or story tournaments with prizes, that'll probably be the best way to make it happen. There's still time to stop me from this insanity, so drop me a line with your objections.

I thought I'd throw an off the wall game out there for you today. I supposed some you remember Rockstar's failed attempt at a riot simulator. Well, Activision value has responded with the recently released Riot Police (official site, Activision site). As you might imagine, Riot Police has you coordinating efforts to stop out of control riots. You have such tools as mounted cops, police tanks with water cannons, beanbag guns, rubber bullets and, of course, tear gas.

One the one hand, this game seems tasteless, but I can't give you a good reason why. Maybe we're spoiled by so many years of peaceful protests here in America that we violent riots that need to be put down are the exception rather than the rule. I guess the only risk is that the game might glorify the beating down of protestors who are acting within the law or at least nonviolently.

It does seem to present some interesting tactical challenges. Check it out if you're interested. According to Zono, it's in stores now.

Jason

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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