Vic Davis rides back into town to talk about Six Gun Saga, his new solitaire card-based strategy game. Julian is mighty fond of it, but wants to play with the rest of his posse. Rob is curious how Vic’s Armageddon Empires and Solium Infernum fans have greeted this unusual game, and where Vic is headed next
I’ve really enjoyed Six Gun Saga, (and Vic Davis’ stuff in general), and I very much agree with the claim that it’s a potato chip game (“bet you can’t play just one round”, and all that).
However, I’ve had a number of frustrating moments, especially in 4-player games, when I’ve been slammed by forced discards etc. for turns at a time, such that I’m stuck spinning my wheels while one of the AI’s coasts into victory.
I’m aware that this is a perfectly valid strategy is standard card-type games, but since it’s a computer opponent, rather than a smirking jerk across the table, it somehow feels less “fair”, especially since you have to read the turn-logs to see that the AI’s are, in fact, hitting each other, and not just you. Just another reason why multiplayer would be a lovely addition…
I seem to recall a similar issue plaguing Vic in terms of Armageddon Empires, particularly when people were accusing the AI of being too passive when the reality of the affair was that it was concentrating on fighting the other opponents.
I’m really enjoying Six Gun Saga. At first, I really wasn’t too impressed, mainly I think because I was expecting something a little more epic. Now that I’ve had some time with it, it really picked up in my mind and I don’t necessarily mind blowing half an hour at a time for a complete experience.
I’m just a bit saddened that it doesn’t really feel very hard. When I first picked it up, the AI was brutal. I don’t know if it was the .04 patch that did it in for me but it feels more passive. Either that or I’m some kind of savant, but it takes almost no effort to throw up a killer stack that the other players just cannot deal with.
Still a blast though.
Enjoyed the podcast very much, especially hearing from Vic and his development cycle. Interesting stuff.
I’d bought the pre-order, and tried jumping straight in – fresh – as it were. I couldn’t quite grasp the basic concepts to be honest. I think the whole flow of the game is quite elusive, unless you’ve spent some time trying to learn it.
Anyway, after listening to the podcast, I decided to give it a bit more of a go, and the podcast really helped me get a hook onto the game and how it plays out. So I played it a bit more, taking baby steps in a simple game, and it opened right up for me.
I decided to do a Beginners AAR of a very simple 1 vs 1 game and document the process and the decisions that are made during play.
So, thanks to Vic for knocking out quite a deep strategy card game, that is more approachable and slick in terms of presentation. As always, Vic’s game design skills are second to none. Thanks to the TMA team for doing the show and opening the door into the game much more clearly than me spending hours picking over the game manual (even though its quite a small lightweight manual).
I urge all folks who have a liking of strategy games to give it a go, its good for short bursts, its got a recognisable atmosphere, and has you thinking on your feet as events play out, but also its not a monster that will take a massive amount of time investment to enjoy.
Big thumbs up from me, and its still only in beta!
Great podcast. I just finished listening to it. I had never heard of Vic so it was nice to listen to you guys talk about a developer and a game I had never heard of. I appreciate that Rob and the panel will go outside of what matrix and the other strategy focused publishers are putting out to find games like Six Gun.
Please do a test/talk about Battlefield Academy.
Also, I am looking forward to when you guys talk about Frozen Synapse! What an outstanding game!