PCGamer’s Dan Stapleton joins Troy, Rob and Bruce to talk about what made 1994’s X-Com one of the best strategy/tactics games ever made. Tension, atmosphere, UI, level blending, real time v turn baed and indie efforts to bring the magic back. Listen here. RSS here. Subscribe on iTunes. Hideous UK Box Art Xenonauts UFO: […]
Entries Tagged as 'Design'
Three Moves Ahead Episode 92: Classic Game Analysis – X-Com
November 23rd, 2010 · 23 Comments · Design, Podcast, Three Moves Ahead
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The American National Character
November 8th, 2010 · 19 Comments · Design, Feature:Nations, History
What this is about. There is always a group of people who resist the idea of putting “Americans” in a game as a race/nation/faction. Though you can certainly argue that there is a unique American history that predates independence by a good century, the United States of America is a relatively young nation whose imprint […]
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National Characters
November 5th, 2010 · 31 Comments · Design, Feature:Nations, History
If this blog has a recurring motif, it is how history and strategy games are uneasy partners. Despite our tendency to look to the past for analogies and lessons, history is a mess that refuses to conform to rule sets and is constantly under reinterpretation and understanding. Even if “making history come alive” is a […]
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Guest Blog: Storytelling in Dominions 3
November 1st, 2010 · 11 Comments · Design, Guest Blog, Indie Games
With my life falling apart around me, it’s a good thing that people keep sending in guest blogs. Long time reader Peter Sahui (aka Mind Elemental) has travelled through worlds of wonder as diverse as the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the blasted Capital Wasteland, the Roman Senate, and the spaceship Bebop. When not adventuring, he […]
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Lionheart: King’s Crusade – The Politics of War
October 27th, 2010 · 6 Comments · Design, Medieval
I am still in the early moments of Lionheart: King’s Crusade. I am reviewing it for Gameshark, so I’ll leave any expansive comments on its quality for there once I am sure how I feel about it. Like Neocore’s last game, King Arthur: The Role Playing Wargame, it makes some interesting design decisions in the […]
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Three Moves Ahead Episode 86: Logistics, Supply and News
October 14th, 2010 · 11 Comments · Design, Podcast, Three Moves Ahead, Wargames
Troy and Rob start the show with a talk about what Derek Paxton’s move to Stardock means for Elemental and the future of Stardock. They then segue into a discussion about logistics and supply rules constrain the player in interesting ways. Rob tells another wargame anecdote, we debate whether an AI really understands supply […]
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