Comments on: Three Moves Ahead Episode 29 – Getting Started

By: The Best Videogame Podcasts: a Primer | RedKingsDream

The Best Videogame Podcasts: a Primer | RedKingsDream — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:27:29 +0000

[...] Highlight: Episode 29 – Getting Started [...]

By: Erez

Erez — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:40:54 +0000

Only half way through, but Bruce Geryk is 100% (I would’ve said 150%, but he’d be offended, being the person he is) on the spot.
Think Bridge, for once. You can play Poker, or solitaire or whatever game of cards you fancy, but you will never “get” into bridge unless you sit with 3 other guys (or girls), go over the rules, and play for ages until you make it through. So you should just a: pick a game you want to play either cause you fancy the premise (WWII, space fights, fantasy, the ancient world, medieval times, or what have you), or cause you heard its good, play the tutorial and start playing the game. Tom Chick’s crash course (linked above) is a must-have for RTS, but even with broader strategy games, there’s no other way.
Any “gateway-drug” will always cut you short. Advance wars doesn’t prepare you for the base-building, resources-gathering, fast-action or RTS’. Dawn of War II doesn’t have the huge, sprawling tech-trees of 4X games. Homeworld (which used to be my suggestions) doesn’t have base-building, and you also master a technique (3-d battles) that you don’t need anywhere else.

And, finally, like with everything else, the number-one-most-important-problem with strategy games is: You Will Need to Read a Guide. 90% of the quarter-to-three, or any “I can’t get into strategy game X” posts can told to go and read the manual, or a web guide (cue again Geryk’s comments), or follow a long tutorial. This is what Strategy gamers consider “fun”. Julian Murdock mentioned that he loves spending a few nights with the rulebook before launching a board game. That is what you need to get ahead of a strategy game, which *is* the farthest end of the spectrum from Nintendo games, or Portal where all you “need” to know is how to hold a controller and start the game.

Finally, (not really, but I don’t want to make it into a spelk-long rant), Troy, the URL that Bruce mentions wrt Dwarf Fortress was a bit lost in the hullabaloo, could you post it again?

By: Tom Grant

Tom Grant — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:24:47 +0000

While I think the recommendations of gateway games was useful, it may not really answer the original question (at least, not fully). Neither chess nor Dwarf Fortress is going to help solve problems specific to particular strategy games. For example, in an RTS like Starcraft, how long should you build up before attacking? Or in Demigod, do you need to respond to every threat to a flag you just took?

By: Paris N

Paris N — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:25:46 +0000

Great podcast. Gotta recommend Montjoie! http://www.montjoiegame.com/en_downloads.php

It plays quickly, and is pretty simple but very fun. The only possible stumbling block would be the 100-Years War setting.

By: Johan K

Johan K — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:47:20 +0000

Just wanted to say that I enjoy your podcasts. And this episode’s rap music was unexpetedly good ;)

By: Black Dawn

Black Dawn — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:14:50 +0000

I’m in the camp that believes it is a good to introduce people to game-play concepts relevant to strategy game rather that finding them games with subject matter they like.

One of the barriers to entry to strategy games that my friends mention and which you guys did not are the low-quality graphics in many turn-based games. Many of the genre’s deepest games have extremely poor graphics. Dominions is a case in point, it looks like someone used MS Paint to create the units.

The way that I have successfully gotten friends past this hurdle is to introduce them to Collectible Card Games. You may think CCGs are not related to strategy games, but you’d be wrong. In Magic, for example, each player manages resources (mana) and armies (creatures), while keeping track of global effects (Enchantments and artifacts). Many of the same game-play concepts are used in strategy games, and your friends will get used to the idea of graphics as additions to fun, rather than requirements for fun.