I've been sitting on some external links for a while. Normally, I'd try posting them in the forum (and get the first response months later), but I'll try listing them here instead.
- Over at Motherboard, Sid Meier gave an Oral History Of Gaming.
- Troy Goodfellow has begun a new column on GameSetWatch called Gods At Play. The focus is on design issues and player experiences in strategy games. The first column talks about distributing responsibilities.
- Also on GameSetWatch, Rob Zacny's latest column of Keys to the Kingdom focused on the Diplomacy expansion for Ironclad Game's Sins of a Solar Empire.
Zxcvdnm confirmed that DDT's Wiz-War homage, Last Robot Standing, is having graphical issues. I have to admit that I have not joined a match in progress to witness the problem myself, but we've been down this road before. I'm removing game from the featured list. If it happens to get fixed then I don't mind putting it back, but I'm not going to drag the process out. It's old and the developers are gone.
...Goody. It's right above Abra's defense game, Castle. Maybe the old farts will duke it out and weaken their nostalgia so that more active projects can take the spotlight. I can dream.
Ranting aside, Last Robot Standing is probably a game that BYOND Casual should list as well. We can't submit it so do it manually, Tiberath.
Acebloke has posted the results of March and April's AceMedalTable. Little has changed. On the bright side, he announced that new medals are planned and he should eventually release a bugfix for his economic/military sim, Wargames. Meanwhile, he will be working on his tactical RPG, Joshtan1, for the Get Something Done Challenge.
I've been playing a lot of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City lately, so Geldonyetich's first progress report on his Get Something Done Challenge entry (unfairly) reminds me of Jeremy Robard. However, his second reveals that Project Shock now has a design document, a preliminary interface and a random map generator... Honestly, the game has been through so many redesigns that I'm not even sure how much strategy is involved anymore, but I've grown used to referencing his posts just so we can nag him. Tee hee.
Hey, you know that Get Something Done Challenge I keep mentioning? Here's a friendly reminder that tomorrow is the last day to send IainPeregrine your initial entry. The official rules can be found here and further details can be discussed in the forum. For now, only a short description of the project (or old source code) is required. Completed projects will be expected by June 1st. A list of the current entrants has been posted.
I should have released a version of my mining card battle, Grim Prospects, ages ago, but at least I'm making progress. All of the phases have been implemented, I found/patched a bug in my hidden Multiple Game Rooms library and I've made a few interface changes that are not displayed in the screenshot. I still need to add the timer options, make the AI less random, display final scores and play some complete matches. I created a music loop over a month ago, but I don't know if I'll have sound effects added before I start testing.
I have a lot of videos bookmarked, but this one includes a time-sensitive offer. Those who preorder Frozen Synapse with the coupon code "WELLHUNG" before 1PM UK time tomorrow will get 20% off.
Got news? The Brainy Gamer podcast is back!
Equally fair to suggest that "project shock" has been through a terrifying amount of redesigns. Looking at the top of some of these source code files, they read "Project Xenoverse." The last time I mentioned that project was the day before New Years, 2009! It's been so heavily tweaked since that project, I think that the comment headers were the only thing that was left of the old Xenoverse source code. (And I removed that as of my GSDC '10 project.)
However, I have at least accomplished one thing since I registered in August of 2008 on BYOND. (Aside from my pathing library.) That being that I got a lot of practice under my belt. Here's hoping that what I deliver for GSDC 10 will knock their socks off. (Oh, and the GSDC 10 project is going to be a lot like Lode Wars: an action game, but not without a definite element of strategy!)