So X-Com: Enemy Unknown comes out tomorrow, and I have already pre-loaded all 12 gigs of it. The reviews are out everywhere that review copies were available, and many former podcasts guests have weighed in with their glowing impressions. Evan Lahti at PCGamer. Dan Stapleton at Gamespy. Rowan Kaiser at GameRanx. And, of course, my […]
Entries Tagged as 'Design'
Three Moves Ahead Episode 178: Unit Customization and Game Design
July 23rd, 2012 · Comments Off on Three Moves Ahead Episode 178: Unit Customization and Game Design · Design, Indie Games, Sci Fi, Three Moves Ahead
Sixth Beatle Soren Johnson returns along with new guest, Cliff Harris from Positech – designer of Gratuitous Space Battles and the new Gratuitous Tank Battles. This week, how does the idea of unit customization fit with general design principles? At what point is this mechanic an intrusion into good 4x game design? Where do designer […]
Tags:
Crusader Kings 2: Sword of Islam – Family Matters
July 16th, 2012 · 3 Comments · Design, Paradox, Religion
I’ll add the usual disclaimer that Paradox is a client of Evolve PR, though no one can really call into question my serious love for many of the studio’s design ambitions. The Sword of Islam expansion is something that fans of the Crusader Kings franchise have been calling for ever since the first game in […]
Tags:
Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord
July 6th, 2012 · 3 Comments · Design, Firaxis
Religion is the big new system in Civilization V: Gods and Kings and we talked quite a bit about it on last week’s podcast. To recap the basics, you now accumulate “faith” as a resource, similar to culture, and can use this resource to create prophets, missionaries and religious buildings. It also lets you spawn […]
Tags:
Three Moves Ahead Episode 170: Classic Game Analysis – Kohan
May 26th, 2012 · 20 Comments · Design, Podcast, RTS, Three Moves Ahead, Timegate
Tom Chick comes back to the show to join Rob and Troy for a look back at one of the great real time strategy series – Timegate’s Kohan games. What made Kohan unique and what games, if any, have followed on its original ideas? Is Kohan 2: Kings of War really an inferior sequel? Cities […]
Tags:
Should You Choose To Accept It
May 18th, 2012 · 7 Comments · Design
General Chernyayev has taken Tashkent. We do not know why. – Russian Minister of the Interior, Pyotr Valuev, 1865 Strategy games are, at their core, about greed and ambition. Yes, almost every game is a power fantasy, but strategy games properly understood are about gaining the most while spending the least. Since most strategy games […]
Tags: