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Happy Birthday Combat Mission

February 9th, 2009 · 6 Comments · Battlefront

Battlefront says that it is Combat Mission’s tenth birthday, and who am I to contradict them? The most important part of this post is the one screenshot of the upcoming Combat Mission game, returning to the Western Front of WW2. It’s a couple of Tigers dancing in a meadow of flowers.

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Feature Series: Maps and Game Design

February 7th, 2009 · 20 Comments · Feature:Map

I love maps. I always have. Something about how they impose order on nature. Borders are in bold lines, marking out what belongs to whom. Growing up, we had an old set of American People’s Encyclopedia that had resource maps for every country, so gold and iron and wheat would be indicated with icons. I […]

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Stardock Expansion

February 4th, 2009 · 9 Comments · Industry, Stardock

With so many companies scaling back their operations, and so many layoffs affecting so many people, it’s always nice to read about a company growing. Especially nice when that company is the ever reliable Stardock. Helped in part by generous Michigan tax breaks, developer/publisher Stardock (Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod) is planning a $900,000 […]

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Diplomacy Improved in Empire: Total War

February 4th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Creative Assembly, Preview

Over on Gamespot, Andrew Park has uploaded an interview with Creative Assembly’s James Russell. Key bits include: Deeper diplomatic model: These relationships provide the backdrop to the negotiations that players will be involved with as they strive to develop a network of trade partners and allies, or negotiate military access to enable them to further […]

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Listen to Me on the BoRTcast

February 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment · Blogs, Me

Sunday morning, I joined Corvus Elrod on a podcast devoted to his recent Round Table discussion on the adaptation of literature to a game environment. We had some technical issues, so I hope the editing cleared some of that up. I’m not sure how useful I was, but it was fun and it was a […]

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Ensemble Wake Continues

February 2nd, 2009 · Comments Off on Ensemble Wake Continues · Ensemble, Industry

Over at Gamasutra, N. Evan Van Zelfden has written up an account of his tour of Ensemble Studios as the place packs up. I’ve never been to Ensemble, so I can’t look at the pictures and say “Hey, that was where X”, like I can with, say, Firaxis. Still, there is something about a business […]

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