This one is our first true post-release update, and it includes all of the main requests from new (post-alpha) players.
Probably my favorite thing is the ability to see what former building sites were by hovering over them or holding the Ctrl key. Actually, holding the Ctrl key in general is super useful for telling at a glance whether you have the buildings you want in a town -- when you're zoomed out or a unit is standing in the way of a tile, it can otherwise be hard to tell very quickly.
There have also been a number of mostly-minor balance changes, with the exception of the Minotaurs, which were rebalanced pretty heavily. These dudes still hit like a ton of bricks, but they do it with a hammer rather than ranged fireballs now. And they have both more health and lower regen, which makes them a little more tank-like in an interesting way. Overall they should be less OP now.
Which brings me to an interesting point, really: the fact that the Minotaurs were OP before wasn't really causing game-breaking easy strategies. In fact, kind of the opposite -- players would play a Labyrinth (which spawns minotaurs) and it would soon be game over if they weren't careful. Not to say that Minotaurs weren't also an occasional "get out of jail free" card, but it's just interesting how the balance concerns here are the opposite of most games -- our goal is actually to unbalance the game, not balance it. But it always has to be in a fun way, where it's not frustrating trying to bring balance to their own games. Bit of a different design challenge from, say, AI War -- which is a fun change of pace. :)
There were also a couple of multiplayer glitches that have been fixed, and a couple of typos. Oh! And the finished goods on the sidebar should be way less confusing for new players now. That was another big thing off the "top feedback" list.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Skyward Collapse Now Available For PC/Mac
PRESS RELEASE
Skyward Collapse Now Available For PC/Mac
10% Off During Launch Week
Arcen Games is proud to announce the release of its turn-based strategy god game Skyward Collapse – out now for Windows PC and Mac OS X on Steam, GamersGate, Green Man Gaming and the Arcen Store.
To celebrate, the game is 10% off during its first week. The discount takes the $4.99 title down to just $4.49 through next Thursday, May 30th.
On top of that, Nick Trujillo (of Penny Arcade’s Strip Search) has completed and released his five-page comic based on the title and its cast. The collection in full can be viewed here.
Check out Skyward Collapse’s official website for more information, along with the game’s launch trailer and a batch of screenshots. Those interested in regular updates and discussion can follow the game on its Forums, IndieDB, Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.
Press and/or video channel owners interested in a Steam key for the game, please email: ArcenGames[at]gmail.com.
About Skyward Collapse
How do you balance -- and indeed encourage -- a war between factions without letting either side obliterate the other? How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you? How do you build a landscape of villages when bandits and mythology are conspiring to tear it down? Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way. Brought to you by the developer of the modern strategy classic AI War: Fleet Command, Arcen's second full strategy title is equally unique (but far easier to learn): a turn-based 4x strategic god-game.
Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith. You create -- but cannot control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology. The power you wield with these is immense: Heimdall's horn causes everyone outdoors to drop dead, for crying out loud. Your task is to keep both factions alive and fighting until The Master calls you home -- but this is harder than it sounds. Bandit Keeps pop up periodically, as do Woes such as floods, serial killers, guild strikes, and vegetarian uprisings. Every game plays out differently, and you'll need even the craziest of your powers in order to survive what lies in store for you.
Available May 23rd on Steam, our site, and other distributors!
Game Features
Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year saw the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first two full expansions for AI War; as well as Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth.
AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, with the rest of the company's focus being devoted to their most massive project yet: A Valley Without Wind, which released in 2012. The end of 2012/start of 2013 has been another busy time for the team, with AI War's fourth expansion Ancient Shadows launching, A Valley Without Wind 2 hitting 1.0, and Shattered Haven's releasing as well. The studio is currently working on its latest title, Skyward Collapse, for release in May.
Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. The team is also proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Child’s Play charity. For all the latest news, coverage and other musings, visit us on our Website, Forums, Twitter and Facebook; as well as Arcen founder Chris Park's Games By Design blog.
Skyward Collapse Now Available For PC/Mac
10% Off During Launch Week
To celebrate, the game is 10% off during its first week. The discount takes the $4.99 title down to just $4.49 through next Thursday, May 30th.
On top of that, Nick Trujillo (of Penny Arcade’s Strip Search) has completed and released his five-page comic based on the title and its cast. The collection in full can be viewed here.
Check out Skyward Collapse’s official website for more information, along with the game’s launch trailer and a batch of screenshots. Those interested in regular updates and discussion can follow the game on its Forums, IndieDB, Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.
Press and/or video channel owners interested in a Steam key for the game, please email: ArcenGames[at]gmail.com.
About Skyward Collapse
How do you balance -- and indeed encourage -- a war between factions without letting either side obliterate the other? How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you? How do you build a landscape of villages when bandits and mythology are conspiring to tear it down? Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way. Brought to you by the developer of the modern strategy classic AI War: Fleet Command, Arcen's second full strategy title is equally unique (but far easier to learn): a turn-based 4x strategic god-game.
Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith. You create -- but cannot control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology. The power you wield with these is immense: Heimdall's horn causes everyone outdoors to drop dead, for crying out loud. Your task is to keep both factions alive and fighting until The Master calls you home -- but this is harder than it sounds. Bandit Keeps pop up periodically, as do Woes such as floods, serial killers, guild strikes, and vegetarian uprisings. Every game plays out differently, and you'll need even the craziest of your powers in order to survive what lies in store for you.
Available May 23rd on Steam, our site, and other distributors!
Game Features
- A turn-based strategic god-game where you control neither faction, but instead strive to maintain the balance of power.
- Make towns and war as the boardgame-like floating continent continues to construct itself around you.
- Persuade your minions into doing what you want by controlling the circumstances of their (brief) lives.
- 16 gods, each with unique passive abilities and three active powers, help you further your goals as you pass into the Age of Monsters.
- Level up your player profile by winning games. Twelve unlockable buildings in all!
- Straightforward controls paired with an intuitive and helpful interface make this an easy title to pick up... but the strategy runs deep.
- Multiple difficulty levels let you play a very relaxed game up to a nail-bitingly difficult one. There's no one best way to win!
- Co-op multiplayer for up to 8 players.
Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year saw the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first two full expansions for AI War; as well as Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth.
AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, with the rest of the company's focus being devoted to their most massive project yet: A Valley Without Wind, which released in 2012. The end of 2012/start of 2013 has been another busy time for the team, with AI War's fourth expansion Ancient Shadows launching, A Valley Without Wind 2 hitting 1.0, and Shattered Haven's releasing as well. The studio is currently working on its latest title, Skyward Collapse, for release in May.
Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. The team is also proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Child’s Play charity. For all the latest news, coverage and other musings, visit us on our Website, Forums, Twitter and Facebook; as well as Arcen founder Chris Park's Games By Design blog.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
AI War Beta 6.032 "Tumbleweeds In The Stars" Released!
This one is the first non-hotfix release we've done since starting the private alpha of the upcoming Vengeance of the Machine expansion.
The release has a number of non-expansion changes that we hope help (we're particularly curious to hear how that target sorting performance improvement works out), but the main addition is the new "Showdown Devices" minor faction for the expansion.
Won't spoil the details on the faction for now, but we will mention the ultimate point of the faction: provide another alternate way to win, and an ultimate stalemate-breaker :)
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
The release has a number of non-expansion changes that we hope help (we're particularly curious to hear how that target sorting performance improvement works out), but the main addition is the new "Showdown Devices" minor faction for the expansion.
Won't spoil the details on the faction for now, but we will mention the ultimate point of the faction: provide another alternate way to win, and an ultimate stalemate-breaker :)
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Skyward Collapse Official Website Live
PRESS RELEASE
Skyward Collapse Official Website Live
Launch Trailer And Screenshots Out Ahead of May 23 Release
Arcen Games has launched the official site for upcoming indie turn-based strategy god game Skyward Collapse, ahead of the game’s release later this week.
The official Skyward Collapse page includes the game’s description and feature list, along with the game’s launch trailer and a fresh batch of new screenshots. The landing will also serve as one of the storefronts for the title, alongside Steam and other select digital distributors.
Skyward Collapse releases this Thursday, May 23rd on Windows PC and Mac OS X. Members of the press and video channel owners interested in a copy of the game, please contact: ArcenGames[at]gmail.com.
About Skyward Collapse
How do you balance -- and indeed encourage -- a war between factions without letting either side obliterate the other? How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you? How do you build a landscape of villages when bandits and mythology are conspiring to tear it down? Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way. Brought to you by the developer of the modern strategy classic AI War: Fleet Command, Arcen's second full strategy title is equally unique (but far easier to learn): a turn-based 4x strategic god-game.
Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith. You create -- but cannot control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology. The power you wield with these is immense: Heimdall's horn causes everyone outdoors to drop dead, for crying out loud. Your task is to keep both factions alive and fighting until The Master calls you home -- but this is harder than it sounds. Bandit Keeps pop up periodically, as do Woes such as floods, serial killers, guild strikes, and vegetarian uprisings. Every game plays out differently, and you'll need even the craziest of your powers in order to survive what lies in store for you.
Game Features
* A turn-based strategic god-game where you control neither faction, but instead strive to maintain the balance of power.
* Make towns and war as the boardgame-like floating continent continues to construct itself around you.
* Persuade your minions into doing what you want by controlling the circumstances of their (brief) lives.
* 16 gods, each with unique passive abilities and three active powers, help you further your goals as you pass into the Age of Monsters.
* Level up your player profile by winning games. Twelve unlockable buildings in all!
* Straightforward controls paired with an intuitive and helpful interface make this an easy title to pick up... but the strategy runs deep.
* Multiple difficulty levels let you play a very relaxed game up to a nail-bitingly difficult one. There's no one best way to win!
* Co-op multiplayer for up to 8 players.
About Arcen Games
Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year saw the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first two full expansions for AI War; as well as Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth.
AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, with the rest of the company's focus being devoted to their most massive project yet: A Valley Without Wind, which released in 2012. The end of 2012/start of 2013 has been another busy time for the team, with AI War's fourth expansion Ancient Shadows launching, A Valley Without Wind 2 hitting 1.0, and Shattered Haven's releasing as well. The studio is currently working on its latest title, Skyward Collapse, for release in May.
Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. The team is also proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Child’s Play charity. For all the latest news, coverage and other musings, visit us on our Website, Forums, Twitter and Facebook; as well as Arcen founder Chris Park's Games By Design blog.
Skyward Collapse Official Website Live
Launch Trailer And Screenshots Out Ahead of May 23 Release
Arcen Games has launched the official site for upcoming indie turn-based strategy god game Skyward Collapse, ahead of the game’s release later this week.
The official Skyward Collapse page includes the game’s description and feature list, along with the game’s launch trailer and a fresh batch of new screenshots. The landing will also serve as one of the storefronts for the title, alongside Steam and other select digital distributors.
Skyward Collapse releases this Thursday, May 23rd on Windows PC and Mac OS X. Members of the press and video channel owners interested in a copy of the game, please contact: ArcenGames[at]gmail.com.
About Skyward Collapse
How do you balance -- and indeed encourage -- a war between factions without letting either side obliterate the other? How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you? How do you build a landscape of villages when bandits and mythology are conspiring to tear it down? Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way. Brought to you by the developer of the modern strategy classic AI War: Fleet Command, Arcen's second full strategy title is equally unique (but far easier to learn): a turn-based 4x strategic god-game.
Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith. You create -- but cannot control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology. The power you wield with these is immense: Heimdall's horn causes everyone outdoors to drop dead, for crying out loud. Your task is to keep both factions alive and fighting until The Master calls you home -- but this is harder than it sounds. Bandit Keeps pop up periodically, as do Woes such as floods, serial killers, guild strikes, and vegetarian uprisings. Every game plays out differently, and you'll need even the craziest of your powers in order to survive what lies in store for you.
Game Features
* A turn-based strategic god-game where you control neither faction, but instead strive to maintain the balance of power.
* Make towns and war as the boardgame-like floating continent continues to construct itself around you.
* Persuade your minions into doing what you want by controlling the circumstances of their (brief) lives.
* 16 gods, each with unique passive abilities and three active powers, help you further your goals as you pass into the Age of Monsters.
* Level up your player profile by winning games. Twelve unlockable buildings in all!
* Straightforward controls paired with an intuitive and helpful interface make this an easy title to pick up... but the strategy runs deep.
* Multiple difficulty levels let you play a very relaxed game up to a nail-bitingly difficult one. There's no one best way to win!
* Co-op multiplayer for up to 8 players.
About Arcen Games
Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year saw the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first two full expansions for AI War; as well as Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth.
AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, with the rest of the company's focus being devoted to their most massive project yet: A Valley Without Wind, which released in 2012. The end of 2012/start of 2013 has been another busy time for the team, with AI War's fourth expansion Ancient Shadows launching, A Valley Without Wind 2 hitting 1.0, and Shattered Haven's releasing as well. The studio is currently working on its latest title, Skyward Collapse, for release in May.
Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. The team is also proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Child’s Play charity. For all the latest news, coverage and other musings, visit us on our Website, Forums, Twitter and Facebook; as well as Arcen founder Chris Park's Games By Design blog.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Skyward Collapse Launches May 23rd for PC and Mac
PRESS RELEASE
Skyward Collapse Launches May 23
Unique turn-based god game to be priced at $4.99 for Windows PC and Mac OS X
Arcen Games is pleased to announce its turn-based god game Skyward Collapse is set to launch on Steam next Thursday, May 23rd.
How do you balance a war between towns without letting either side obliterate the other? How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you? How do you build a thriving landscape of villages against the threat of bandits and mythological powers? Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way.
Create -- but not control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology. The power you wield with these is immense. Your task is to keep both factions alive until The Master calls you home -- but this is harder than it sounds. Bandits, along with periodic Woes add to the variety of challenges that you'll face in any given game. Every game plays out completely differently, and you'll need even the craziest of your powers in order to survive what lies in store.
A short trailer for the game can be viewed now, showcasing both sides of the fight. Additionally, Nick Trujillo of Penny Arcade’s Strip Search has created a series of web comics based on Skyward Collapse – the first of which is out now.
The Skyward Collapse OST was also just recently completed by composer Pablo Vega, and is now available for purchase through Arcen Games BandCamp page – where the entire soundtrack can be previewed online.
Along with the Steam launch, Skyward Collapse will also be made available directly through Arcen’s online store. If you’re a member of the press and are interested in a copy of the game, please contact: arcengames[at]gmail.com.
About Arcen Games
Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year saw the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first two full expansions for AI War; as well as Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth.
AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, with the rest of the company's focus being devoted to their most massive project yet: A Valley Without Wind, which released in 2012. The end of 2012/start of 2013 has been another busy time for the team, with AI War's fourth expansion Ancient Shadows launching, A Valley Without Wind 2 hitting 1.0, and Shattered Haven's releasing as well. The studio is currently working on its latest title, Skyward Collapse, for release in May.
Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. The team is also proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Child’s Play charity. For all the latest news, coverage and other musings, visit us on our website, Twitter and Facebook; as well as Arcen founder Chris Park's Games By Design blog.
Skyward Collapse Launches May 23
Unique turn-based god game to be priced at $4.99 for Windows PC and Mac OS X
Arcen Games is pleased to announce its turn-based god game Skyward Collapse is set to launch on Steam next Thursday, May 23rd.
How do you balance a war between towns without letting either side obliterate the other? How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you? How do you build a thriving landscape of villages against the threat of bandits and mythological powers? Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way.
Create -- but not control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology. The power you wield with these is immense. Your task is to keep both factions alive until The Master calls you home -- but this is harder than it sounds. Bandits, along with periodic Woes add to the variety of challenges that you'll face in any given game. Every game plays out completely differently, and you'll need even the craziest of your powers in order to survive what lies in store.
A short trailer for the game can be viewed now, showcasing both sides of the fight. Additionally, Nick Trujillo of Penny Arcade’s Strip Search has created a series of web comics based on Skyward Collapse – the first of which is out now.
The Skyward Collapse OST was also just recently completed by composer Pablo Vega, and is now available for purchase through Arcen Games BandCamp page – where the entire soundtrack can be previewed online.
Along with the Steam launch, Skyward Collapse will also be made available directly through Arcen’s online store. If you’re a member of the press and are interested in a copy of the game, please contact: arcengames[at]gmail.com.
About Arcen Games
Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year saw the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first two full expansions for AI War; as well as Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth.
AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, with the rest of the company's focus being devoted to their most massive project yet: A Valley Without Wind, which released in 2012. The end of 2012/start of 2013 has been another busy time for the team, with AI War's fourth expansion Ancient Shadows launching, A Valley Without Wind 2 hitting 1.0, and Shattered Haven's releasing as well. The studio is currently working on its latest title, Skyward Collapse, for release in May.
Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles. The team is also proud to be a platinum sponsor of the Child’s Play charity. For all the latest news, coverage and other musings, visit us on our website, Twitter and Facebook; as well as Arcen founder Chris Park's Games By Design blog.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
AI War Beta 6.028-6.031 "So I Rewired It" Released!
This one contains a huge chunk of the "base game" (not part of the expansion) work going into 7.0. Following the expansion's theme we've just put a lot of work into updating the AI itself to better deal with the many additions and changes made to the game over the last few years, and also take advantage of new things we've learned in that time.
So fair WARNING: this release has some significant "foundational upheavel", mostly in the AI code, and may have some very strange and wonderful bugs (more strange than wonderful). That said, we've put many hours into testing it both in unit tests and just playing the game and it's been stable, smooth, and fun so I think it's ready for beta release. If/when you run into issues, please let us know! :) And please give us your feedback (positive or negative) on the changes in general. You may not even notice them very much depending on the situation, depending on how much time you spend actually looking at what the AI units are doing.
Anyway, a few highlights on the AI changes:
- The AI thread itself now runs much faster and thus the AI is now able to respond to changes in the situation more quickly.
- The AI's normal "threat" (as opposed to the "threatfleet") is now better at finding targets it both wants to reach and can reach and is now more responsive to changes in the situation.
- The AI's "wait" behavior (when it's sending units through a wormhole but realizes it shouldn't send them in yet or they'll just die) has been significantly improved to not wait right on the wormhole, to have a better understanding of the actual balance of power (and thus when to go through or not go through), and to "cut bait" if it's waiting too long and a better opportunity is available somewhere else.
- The AI's individual ship targeting priorities have been improved in several ways, including making some of its heavier combatants more serious about taking out the main human threats on the battlefield and making its units less concerned about secondary targets (and thus more concerned about primary targets) in major fleet actions.
- Various strange bugs and oddities that crept in over the years have been excised. There's almost certainly still some hiding out, and others introduced in what we've just done, but now we're in a better position to actually find and fix them. Notably, there are several new debug commands available to players who want to help us find out what's going on when they see some strange AI behavior (particularly those that we can't reproduce from a saved game).
And some other highlights of this release:
- Guardian seeding in a game's initial map generation is now much less painful because each planet won't start at full population, and guardian populations in general will be lower and less dependent on map type (because guardians will no longer spawn for Wormhole Guard Posts). But remember that alerting a planet will (as before) allow it to gradually reinforce up to maximum guardian population. That can be painful ;)
- Cross Planet Attacks now always deploy as carriers, and carriers auto-deploy much more readily in most combat conditions (and can now partially deploy, in those conditions). Also, we undid the recent change that made CPA ships start as threatfleet instead of normal threat, because the AI improvements have made normal threat much more immediately dangerous. Oh, CPAs can also syncrhonize with exos on higher difficulties under certain conditions now. That won't hurt a bit, really.
- Fixed a recent bug that was causing _way_ too many counterattack guard posts to seed during initial map generation.
Update: 6.029 hotfix for a bug from a few versions ago where auto-loading with the ships in a control group with the new "control group always group moves" toggle would cause unhandled errors. Also fixed a bug (probably from the last version, not 100% sure) where threat could get stuck on a planet where the only human unit was a captured core warhead interceptor.
Update: 6.030 hotfix to fix a number of issues found in the recently started private alpha of the expansion.
Update: 6.031 hotfix to fix some more issues discovered by the alpha, as well as some non-expansion-related bugs.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
So fair WARNING: this release has some significant "foundational upheavel", mostly in the AI code, and may have some very strange and wonderful bugs (more strange than wonderful). That said, we've put many hours into testing it both in unit tests and just playing the game and it's been stable, smooth, and fun so I think it's ready for beta release. If/when you run into issues, please let us know! :) And please give us your feedback (positive or negative) on the changes in general. You may not even notice them very much depending on the situation, depending on how much time you spend actually looking at what the AI units are doing.
Anyway, a few highlights on the AI changes:
- The AI thread itself now runs much faster and thus the AI is now able to respond to changes in the situation more quickly.
- The AI's normal "threat" (as opposed to the "threatfleet") is now better at finding targets it both wants to reach and can reach and is now more responsive to changes in the situation.
- The AI's "wait" behavior (when it's sending units through a wormhole but realizes it shouldn't send them in yet or they'll just die) has been significantly improved to not wait right on the wormhole, to have a better understanding of the actual balance of power (and thus when to go through or not go through), and to "cut bait" if it's waiting too long and a better opportunity is available somewhere else.
- The AI's individual ship targeting priorities have been improved in several ways, including making some of its heavier combatants more serious about taking out the main human threats on the battlefield and making its units less concerned about secondary targets (and thus more concerned about primary targets) in major fleet actions.
- Various strange bugs and oddities that crept in over the years have been excised. There's almost certainly still some hiding out, and others introduced in what we've just done, but now we're in a better position to actually find and fix them. Notably, there are several new debug commands available to players who want to help us find out what's going on when they see some strange AI behavior (particularly those that we can't reproduce from a saved game).
And some other highlights of this release:
- Guardian seeding in a game's initial map generation is now much less painful because each planet won't start at full population, and guardian populations in general will be lower and less dependent on map type (because guardians will no longer spawn for Wormhole Guard Posts). But remember that alerting a planet will (as before) allow it to gradually reinforce up to maximum guardian population. That can be painful ;)
- Cross Planet Attacks now always deploy as carriers, and carriers auto-deploy much more readily in most combat conditions (and can now partially deploy, in those conditions). Also, we undid the recent change that made CPA ships start as threatfleet instead of normal threat, because the AI improvements have made normal threat much more immediately dangerous. Oh, CPAs can also syncrhonize with exos on higher difficulties under certain conditions now. That won't hurt a bit, really.
- Fixed a recent bug that was causing _way_ too many counterattack guard posts to seed during initial map generation.
Update: 6.029 hotfix for a bug from a few versions ago where auto-loading with the ships in a control group with the new "control group always group moves" toggle would cause unhandled errors. Also fixed a bug (probably from the last version, not 100% sure) where threat could get stuck on a planet where the only human unit was a captured core warhead interceptor.
Update: 6.030 hotfix to fix a number of issues found in the recently started private alpha of the expansion.
Update: 6.031 hotfix to fix some more issues discovered by the alpha, as well as some non-expansion-related bugs.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Monday, May 6, 2013
AI War Beta 6.026-6.027 "The Guard Before The Storm" Released!
This one contains many visible changes but mainly a lot of behind-the-scenes changes in preparation for the upcoming "Vengeance of the Machine" expansion (more details to come on that fairly soon).
Some of those changes are peeking out from behind the curtain: the AI's Guardians are now becoming another source of variety between games (i.e. Replay Value). So we're revising the existing guardians to be more notable so that you'll care whether the AI rolled Laser Guardians or Artillery Guardians or Special Forces Guardians (or all three) or whatever. Right now there are only 19 guardian types to choose from (Tachyon Guardians are separate) so there's something like a 40% chance in any given game that one guardian type will be in the initial 3 picks for both fo the AI players. That's not too bad, as far as variety goes, but one goal of the expansion is to add substantially to that guardian variety. We'll see!
Other notable changes include some significant follow-up buffs to the Enclave after its recent re-imagination, fixes for some longstanding (mainly edge-case) AI behavior quirks, and an increase in the number of rolls of tissue paper used to armor Advanced Factories.
Update: 6.027 hotfix to get some for-next-expansion stuff back behind the scenes (sounds of something being hit with a cane). "Shoo! Shoo!"
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Some of those changes are peeking out from behind the curtain: the AI's Guardians are now becoming another source of variety between games (i.e. Replay Value). So we're revising the existing guardians to be more notable so that you'll care whether the AI rolled Laser Guardians or Artillery Guardians or Special Forces Guardians (or all three) or whatever. Right now there are only 19 guardian types to choose from (Tachyon Guardians are separate) so there's something like a 40% chance in any given game that one guardian type will be in the initial 3 picks for both fo the AI players. That's not too bad, as far as variety goes, but one goal of the expansion is to add substantially to that guardian variety. We'll see!
Other notable changes include some significant follow-up buffs to the Enclave after its recent re-imagination, fixes for some longstanding (mainly edge-case) AI behavior quirks, and an increase in the number of rolls of tissue paper used to armor Advanced Factories.
Update: 6.027 hotfix to get some for-next-expansion stuff back behind the scenes (sounds of something being hit with a cane). "Shoo! Shoo!"
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Monday, April 29, 2013
AI War Beta 6.024-6.025 "The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Buff (or Nerf)" Released!
This one ... does a lot.
In this release we're mainly we're answering a recent community poll by making its top results more attractive places to spend Knowledge (though the Raid Starship actually got its treatment for this in 6.023). Specifically:
1) Turrets in general. The combat stats are something of a sidegrade, though on the buff side of that line. The main thing here is bringing their K costs down (as well as making them more regular across different turret types).
2) Command station upgrades (like the MkII Economic Command Station, etc) now also provide a hefty bonus to your homeworld in the form of a foldout that provides the same benefit as the unlocked station. These are cumulative, so unlocking mkII and mkIII military command stations and mkII logistical command stations will put both a mkII military, mkIII military, and mkII logistics foldout on your homeworld. Incidentally, that gives everything on the planet a +100% to firepower and completely negates AI cloaking on that planet (both from the mil III) as well as slowing down enemies (from the log II) so that might not be a bad idea. If it didn't cost an arm and a leg in Knowledge, that is.
3) The Mobile Repair Station has taken over the Enclave Starship's role of fleetship production in the field (which incidentally makes that a base-game ability now, for the two of you who don't have CoN), been officially renamed the Mobile Space Dock, and come down from 4000 to 3000 Knowledge.
4) Speaking of the Enclave Starship, it needs to stop winning these polls ;) So it's been reinvented a bit. As mentioned above it no longer builds fleet ships in the field. It also no longer builds its unique-to-the-Enclave drones in the normal fashion, but instead generates them automatically much like a Spire Blade Spawner or Tackle Drone Launcher. The result is something much easier to use for just getting stuff dead and something much closer to the original "carrier" inspiration behind the Enclave Starship. K costs have also been adjusted to match most of the other starships.
5) The MkII Transport is now the Assault Transport. Basically the MkI Transport does such an exemplary job in the "Ship Bus" role that there wasn't much reason to spend 4000 Knowledge on a better transport. So the Assault Transport now provides several new tactical options through: cloaking, guns (that get stronger the more ships are loaded in the transport), instantaneous unload, more durability, and not delaying the first shot of unloaded ships as long as the MkI does. We'd also toyed with the idea of it dropping a shortlived forcefield on death, but that seemed a bit too gimmicky and a bit too easy to cheese (without still more gimmicks to prevent the cheese). Knowledge cost is now 3000.
A pretty good haul of buffs for the human side, eh?
Well the AI isn't happy. Not a bit.
A few key improvements to carrier/cpa logic should help make those more "interesting", and the AI's response to Knowledge Hacking has been... augmented, you could say. You won't notice much difference in the first K hack, and maybe a minor difference in the second hack, but from there on it can get considerably more dicey. None of this "9 Knowledge Hacks on Diff 10" shenaniga-tomfoolery, to use an example which is obviously hypothetical and not at all related to a recent AAR win.
Also we've tuned the recent Starship buffs back a bit as they were very much getting into the territory of overshadowing fleet ships despite the lower "total" available. This set of changes is relatively mild and some people think more tuning back is necessary, but some don't, so we'll see.
Based on a lot of thought and player feedback that the game was simply being too nice on this one point, Advanced Research Stations no longer grant mkII of their bonus type for free. Instead they give 500 bonus Knowledge immediately upon capture. Also, though not for strictly-related reasons (having more to do with not saddling mkIII price balance with the adv-factory question) mkIII fleet ship cost has come down from 6000 to 4000. The result is that if you normally unlock mkIII of every ARS bonus type you'll see absolutely no difference in total K expenditure (-500 + 2500 + 4000 vs 6000), but that if you don't it's something of a nerf.
The release contains a few other changes as well, notably the addition of a couple control toggles that should make life more pleasant for people wanting to "automatically dump any resources over 1.5M metal+crystal into mercenary production (or building that fort or trader toy, or whatever)" or "don't let cloaked or immobile AI units prevent automatic harvester rebuilding".
Update: 6.025 hotfix to fix a bug preventing most foldouts from spawning in multiplayer.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
In this release we're mainly we're answering a recent community poll by making its top results more attractive places to spend Knowledge (though the Raid Starship actually got its treatment for this in 6.023). Specifically:
1) Turrets in general. The combat stats are something of a sidegrade, though on the buff side of that line. The main thing here is bringing their K costs down (as well as making them more regular across different turret types).
2) Command station upgrades (like the MkII Economic Command Station, etc) now also provide a hefty bonus to your homeworld in the form of a foldout that provides the same benefit as the unlocked station. These are cumulative, so unlocking mkII and mkIII military command stations and mkII logistical command stations will put both a mkII military, mkIII military, and mkII logistics foldout on your homeworld. Incidentally, that gives everything on the planet a +100% to firepower and completely negates AI cloaking on that planet (both from the mil III) as well as slowing down enemies (from the log II) so that might not be a bad idea. If it didn't cost an arm and a leg in Knowledge, that is.
3) The Mobile Repair Station has taken over the Enclave Starship's role of fleetship production in the field (which incidentally makes that a base-game ability now, for the two of you who don't have CoN), been officially renamed the Mobile Space Dock, and come down from 4000 to 3000 Knowledge.
4) Speaking of the Enclave Starship, it needs to stop winning these polls ;) So it's been reinvented a bit. As mentioned above it no longer builds fleet ships in the field. It also no longer builds its unique-to-the-Enclave drones in the normal fashion, but instead generates them automatically much like a Spire Blade Spawner or Tackle Drone Launcher. The result is something much easier to use for just getting stuff dead and something much closer to the original "carrier" inspiration behind the Enclave Starship. K costs have also been adjusted to match most of the other starships.
5) The MkII Transport is now the Assault Transport. Basically the MkI Transport does such an exemplary job in the "Ship Bus" role that there wasn't much reason to spend 4000 Knowledge on a better transport. So the Assault Transport now provides several new tactical options through: cloaking, guns (that get stronger the more ships are loaded in the transport), instantaneous unload, more durability, and not delaying the first shot of unloaded ships as long as the MkI does. We'd also toyed with the idea of it dropping a shortlived forcefield on death, but that seemed a bit too gimmicky and a bit too easy to cheese (without still more gimmicks to prevent the cheese). Knowledge cost is now 3000.
A pretty good haul of buffs for the human side, eh?
Well the AI isn't happy. Not a bit.
A few key improvements to carrier/cpa logic should help make those more "interesting", and the AI's response to Knowledge Hacking has been... augmented, you could say. You won't notice much difference in the first K hack, and maybe a minor difference in the second hack, but from there on it can get considerably more dicey. None of this "9 Knowledge Hacks on Diff 10" shenaniga-tomfoolery, to use an example which is obviously hypothetical and not at all related to a recent AAR win.
Also we've tuned the recent Starship buffs back a bit as they were very much getting into the territory of overshadowing fleet ships despite the lower "total" available. This set of changes is relatively mild and some people think more tuning back is necessary, but some don't, so we'll see.
Based on a lot of thought and player feedback that the game was simply being too nice on this one point, Advanced Research Stations no longer grant mkII of their bonus type for free. Instead they give 500 bonus Knowledge immediately upon capture. Also, though not for strictly-related reasons (having more to do with not saddling mkIII price balance with the adv-factory question) mkIII fleet ship cost has come down from 6000 to 4000. The result is that if you normally unlock mkIII of every ARS bonus type you'll see absolutely no difference in total K expenditure (-500 + 2500 + 4000 vs 6000), but that if you don't it's something of a nerf.
The release contains a few other changes as well, notably the addition of a couple control toggles that should make life more pleasant for people wanting to "automatically dump any resources over 1.5M metal+crystal into mercenary production (or building that fort or trader toy, or whatever)" or "don't let cloaked or immobile AI units prevent automatic harvester rebuilding".
Update: 6.025 hotfix to fix a bug preventing most foldouts from spawning in multiplayer.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
AI War Beta 6.022-6.023 "Honored Bugs" Released!
This one congratulates the 4 winners of our recent "bug of the year" poll by... well, exterminating them. Sometimes it's tough being the winner.
#1 was a longstanding-but-not-really-noticed-until-recently problem in the mapgen logic causing all Advanced Research Stations, Fabricators, and various other (though not all) capturables to seed only on planets controlled by the first AI player. Normally this didn't matter a whole lot, but if the first AI happened to be a really annoying type (Scorched Earth, notably) the pain was... noticeable. Anyway, several bugs were involved but mapgen is now more equitable in that regard.
#2 was another longstanding problem with how the preferred-target rules (where stuff you give a direct attack order to should prefer to shoot things similar to the designated target) worked when attacking Hybrids. It turns out that the problem basically applied to anything with a modular forcefield and there were also some problems with focus-fire and preferred-targeting in the general case. Normally I wouldn't have spent hours chasing something like this down because I perceive other things as being more important to the community, but the poll was helpful in correcting that perception. So this stuff is quite a bit tidier now. Not a great time to be a Hybrid, I suppose.
#3 turned out to not even be a bug: complaints that nothing was happening to go with the "Defensive Hybrids Are Mobilizing" message that can show up when you have Advanced Hybrids on and a CPA or exo or such happens. In the test case I saw the defensive hybrids were indeed switching to offensive types, but they still didn't have enough firepower to think they had a chance so they continued not-attacking. That's by design, as otherwise they just all charge to their deaths (more than usual, I mean). Nonetheless, this "mobilization" mechanic has been beefed up to be more noticeable. Maybe not such a bad time to be a Hybrid, I suppose.
#4 was updating the turret types to work nicely with ultra-low caps by changing them to have base caps divisible by 8. Rounding up all the stats for those into the newer more cap-oriented model took time, but it's done now. Which is good, as there's noises being made about rebalancing turrets in other ways. We'll see.
There are several other bugfixes and balance changes in this release. Notably, the exponential scaling of wave size with AIP on Diff 8+ has been removed after several months of feedback on it, and balance iteration continues on the nebula scenarios.
Update: 6.023 hotfix to fix an unhandled-errors bug in the last version with auto-load.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
#1 was a longstanding-but-not-really-noticed-until-recently problem in the mapgen logic causing all Advanced Research Stations, Fabricators, and various other (though not all) capturables to seed only on planets controlled by the first AI player. Normally this didn't matter a whole lot, but if the first AI happened to be a really annoying type (Scorched Earth, notably) the pain was... noticeable. Anyway, several bugs were involved but mapgen is now more equitable in that regard.
#2 was another longstanding problem with how the preferred-target rules (where stuff you give a direct attack order to should prefer to shoot things similar to the designated target) worked when attacking Hybrids. It turns out that the problem basically applied to anything with a modular forcefield and there were also some problems with focus-fire and preferred-targeting in the general case. Normally I wouldn't have spent hours chasing something like this down because I perceive other things as being more important to the community, but the poll was helpful in correcting that perception. So this stuff is quite a bit tidier now. Not a great time to be a Hybrid, I suppose.
#3 turned out to not even be a bug: complaints that nothing was happening to go with the "Defensive Hybrids Are Mobilizing" message that can show up when you have Advanced Hybrids on and a CPA or exo or such happens. In the test case I saw the defensive hybrids were indeed switching to offensive types, but they still didn't have enough firepower to think they had a chance so they continued not-attacking. That's by design, as otherwise they just all charge to their deaths (more than usual, I mean). Nonetheless, this "mobilization" mechanic has been beefed up to be more noticeable. Maybe not such a bad time to be a Hybrid, I suppose.
#4 was updating the turret types to work nicely with ultra-low caps by changing them to have base caps divisible by 8. Rounding up all the stats for those into the newer more cap-oriented model took time, but it's done now. Which is good, as there's noises being made about rebalancing turrets in other ways. We'll see.
There are several other bugfixes and balance changes in this release. Notably, the exponential scaling of wave size with AIP on Diff 8+ has been removed after several months of feedback on it, and balance iteration continues on the nebula scenarios.
Update: 6.023 hotfix to fix an unhandled-errors bug in the last version with auto-load.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Last Call for Steam Savings and IndieFort Bundle
Just a quick reminder that both the AI-war featured IndieFort Spring Bundle and the major Steam discounts on our full library of titles are available for just a few more hours, so act quick if you haven't already!
Plenty of new coverage to share as well, including some in-depth interviews Chris took part in last week:
Co-Optimus: Indie-Ana Co-Op - Q and A with Arcen Games, Part 1 -- Part 2
Sortiv: The next strategy game from “A.I. War” Developer Arcen Games: Skyward Collapse
IndieGames.com: Arcen announces two new games, 75% off library until tomorrow
OMGeek: Two Uniquely Thematic Titles From Arcen Games Coming This Year
BeefJack: Arcen Games Introduces Skyward Collapse
6AMING: Skyward Collapse Announced
TechnologyTell: Shattered Haven Review (4/5)
Sale Coverage
Invision Community: Arcen Games Catalog Steam Sale and IndieFort Spring Bundle
VG247: Shattered Haven, AI War, Tidalis and more on sale
Z-Giochi: Arcen Games Library Discounted for a Week (Italian)
Joystiq: IndieFort Spring Bundle on GamersGate; Arcen's library 75% off on Steam
Plenty of new coverage to share as well, including some in-depth interviews Chris took part in last week:
Co-Optimus: Indie-Ana Co-Op - Q and A with Arcen Games, Part 1 -- Part 2
Sortiv: The next strategy game from “A.I. War” Developer Arcen Games: Skyward Collapse
IndieGames.com: Arcen announces two new games, 75% off library until tomorrow
OMGeek: Two Uniquely Thematic Titles From Arcen Games Coming This Year
BeefJack: Arcen Games Introduces Skyward Collapse
6AMING: Skyward Collapse Announced
TechnologyTell: Shattered Haven Review (4/5)
Sale Coverage
Invision Community: Arcen Games Catalog Steam Sale and IndieFort Spring Bundle
VG247: Shattered Haven, AI War, Tidalis and more on sale
Z-Giochi: Arcen Games Library Discounted for a Week (Italian)
Joystiq: IndieFort Spring Bundle on GamersGate; Arcen's library 75% off on Steam
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Valley 2 Official 1.004 "Endless Lightning" Released!
This one addresses two minor issues, and a third issue that could make the end of the game excessively hard to complete under certain circumstances (on higher difficulties in particular).
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game. If you have the beta on Steam, it will automatically update for you. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have the standalone game, you can download that here. If you already own the first game, just use your existing license key to unlock the sequel for free!
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game. If you have the beta on Steam, it will automatically update for you. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have the standalone game, you can download that here. If you already own the first game, just use your existing license key to unlock the sequel for free!
Shattered Haven 1.010-1.011 "Squid Anomaly" Released!
This one is just a couple of minor tweaks, as well as a fix for a more important bug that only affected people with really unusual framerates (so very much an edge case).
UPDATE: 1.011 fixes a bug that was introduced in 1.010.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game. When you launch the game, hit the big "Play" button and then you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.
UPDATE: 1.011 fixes a bug that was introduced in 1.010.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have any version of the game. When you launch the game, hit the big "Play" button and then you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Arcen Catalog Steam Sale, IndieFort Spring Bundle, and Full Indie Summit
What a busy month it's been! (Alright, year). Upcoming Game reveals aside, we have several new developments to share during this week alone:
Steam Sale: Entire Arcen Catalog 75% Off
Steam's put the whole lot on sale this time, and I mean everything. For the next week, you'll find the entire Arcen library slashed down to very low prices. Sale ends April 22nd.
IndieFort Spring Bundle
Looking for something a little less Arcen-centric? AI War is in the latest deeply discounted GamersGate bundle, teamed with Sanctum, Zigfrak, Fortune Winds: Ancient Trader, and Underrail (currently in alpha). The offer is available now through April 21st, and will add bonus content as such as AI War and Sanctum DLC if specific sales milestones are reached.
Full Indie Summit
I'll be spewing my nonsense at the Full Indie Summit in Vancouver, BC this Saturday (April 20th). More specifically, I'll be giving a talk on indie game marketing plans. If you're local to the area and are interested in checking it out, definitely stop by and make sure to say hello. The event goes from 10 AM - 4 PM, and admittance is dirt cheap ($10 Canadian) -- plus I hear there's a mixer or two going on afterwards. Should be good fun!
New Game Page Landings
I've set-up a host of new fan pages for Shattered Haven, Exodus of the Machine, and Skyward Collapse -- for those interested in receiving game updates on sites like Twitter, Reddit, and others of the sort.
Shattered Haven
@ShatteredHaven
/r/ShatteredHaven
On Facebook
On IndieDB
Exodus of the Machine
@ExodusOTMachine
/r/ExodusOfTheMachine
On Facebook
On IndieDB
Skyward Collapse
@SkywardGame
/r/SkywardCollapse
On Facebook
On IndieDB
Press and Video Coverage
Plenty to share with the teasing of our two new titles, along with coverage still coming in hot from our recent releases as well.
Skyward Collapse
PC Gamer: AI War developer announces Skyward Collapse, a turn-based 4X god game
Indie Retro News: Developers of AI War announce Skyward Collapse : turn-based 4x simulation god-game
PCGamersN: Skyward Collapse is a turn-based, 4x peacekeeping mission from AI Wars’ Arcen Games
VG247: Skyward Collapse is a turn-based 4X god-sim in the works at Arcen Games
RPS: Arcen’s Next Game Is Skyward Collapse
Strategy Core: A Godly Conundrum
Games.on.net: Arcen Games’ Skyward Collapse combines 4X, god sim and diplomacy
GamersBook: Another new title from Arcen Games
Gamer.no: Unique god game from AI War-makers (Norwegian)
Riot Pixels: AI War developer will release an unusual "simulator of God" (Russian)
Playground.ru: Arcen Games has announced turn-based god sim Skyward Collapse (Russian)
GameLand.ru: Skyward Collapse - another project from the developers of AI War and A Valley Without Wind (Russian)
Gry-Online: Skyward Collapse - creators of AI War announced (Polish)
Tyrant & Ogre: Arcen Games Announces New Game, Skyward Collapse
GamePlanet: A Valley Without Wind studio announces turn-based god game
Exodus of the Machine
Polygon: Arcen Games new title Exodus Of The Machine is coming this year
GameConnect: Arcen Games announces Exodus Of The Machine
GamersBook: Exodus of the Machine announced
Shattered Haven
TierraGamer: Exclusive Interview with Arcen Games - Creators of Haven Shattered (Spanish)
Gert Lush Gaming: Shattered Haven Review
Broken Analog: Shattered Haven Review (9/10)
Co-Optimus: Shattered Haven Co-Op Review (3.5/5)
Game Debate: Shattered Haven Review (7/10)
Edge Online: Shattered Haven review (6/10)
Z-Giochi: Shattered Haven Review (6/10) (Italian)
GameSpot: Shattered Haven Review (5/10)
Hooked Gamers: Shattered Haven Review (7/10)
IndieGameMag: Shattered Haven Review (65/100)
IndeeGames.cz: Shattered Haven Review (4/10) (Czech)
Game4Me: Shattered Haven PC Review (74/100) (Dutch)
IndieGameReviewer: Shattered Haven Review (2/5)
JustPressStart: Shattered Haven Review
Cross Platform Gamers: Shattered Haven Review
Technology Tell: Shattered Haven launches for Mac/PC
InsideMacGames: Enter A Shattered Haven at MGS
Northernlion: Let's Look At: Shattered Haven! (Video)
AtherGames: This Can't Be Real! - First Look at Shattered Haven (Video)
TekkorGJC: Shattered Haven - Quicklook (Video)
KingIsaacLinksr: King's Shattered Haven (Video Series)
MrAmnesiaGameplay: Shattered Haven (Video)
Scheele Plays Shattered Haven (Video)
TheCometCE: Indie Spotlight - A Valley Without Wind (Video)
Psenci: Testing Testing - Episode 50 - Shattered Haven (Video) (Spanish)
NewGames357: Shattered Haven (Video) (Russian)
Valley Series
Gamasutra: Design Debate: Risky Rewards or Rewarding Risk?
Y3K Games: A Valley Without Wind 2 Review (Video)
Infognito: A Valley Without Wind (Video Series)
Weatherford Sons: A Valley Without Wind 2 - Let's Play (Video)
Stry's 1000 Game Steam Stream - [A] Valley Without Wind (Video)
AI War
ChthonicOne: Playing AI War with The Irritable Canadian (Video)
Steam Sale: Entire Arcen Catalog 75% Off
Steam's put the whole lot on sale this time, and I mean everything. For the next week, you'll find the entire Arcen library slashed down to very low prices. Sale ends April 22nd.
Looking for something a little less Arcen-centric? AI War is in the latest deeply discounted GamersGate bundle, teamed with Sanctum, Zigfrak, Fortune Winds: Ancient Trader, and Underrail (currently in alpha). The offer is available now through April 21st, and will add bonus content as such as AI War and Sanctum DLC if specific sales milestones are reached.
I'll be spewing my nonsense at the Full Indie Summit in Vancouver, BC this Saturday (April 20th). More specifically, I'll be giving a talk on indie game marketing plans. If you're local to the area and are interested in checking it out, definitely stop by and make sure to say hello. The event goes from 10 AM - 4 PM, and admittance is dirt cheap ($10 Canadian) -- plus I hear there's a mixer or two going on afterwards. Should be good fun!
I've set-up a host of new fan pages for Shattered Haven, Exodus of the Machine, and Skyward Collapse -- for those interested in receiving game updates on sites like Twitter, Reddit, and others of the sort.
Shattered Haven
@ShatteredHaven
/r/ShatteredHaven
On Facebook
On IndieDB
Exodus of the Machine
@ExodusOTMachine
/r/ExodusOfTheMachine
On Facebook
On IndieDB
Skyward Collapse
@SkywardGame
/r/SkywardCollapse
On Facebook
On IndieDB
Press and Video Coverage
Plenty to share with the teasing of our two new titles, along with coverage still coming in hot from our recent releases as well.
Skyward Collapse
PC Gamer: AI War developer announces Skyward Collapse, a turn-based 4X god game
Indie Retro News: Developers of AI War announce Skyward Collapse : turn-based 4x simulation god-game
PCGamersN: Skyward Collapse is a turn-based, 4x peacekeeping mission from AI Wars’ Arcen Games
VG247: Skyward Collapse is a turn-based 4X god-sim in the works at Arcen Games
RPS: Arcen’s Next Game Is Skyward Collapse
Strategy Core: A Godly Conundrum
Games.on.net: Arcen Games’ Skyward Collapse combines 4X, god sim and diplomacy
GamersBook: Another new title from Arcen Games
Gamer.no: Unique god game from AI War-makers (Norwegian)
Riot Pixels: AI War developer will release an unusual "simulator of God" (Russian)
Playground.ru: Arcen Games has announced turn-based god sim Skyward Collapse (Russian)
GameLand.ru: Skyward Collapse - another project from the developers of AI War and A Valley Without Wind (Russian)
Gry-Online: Skyward Collapse - creators of AI War announced (Polish)
Tyrant & Ogre: Arcen Games Announces New Game, Skyward Collapse
GamePlanet: A Valley Without Wind studio announces turn-based god game
Exodus of the Machine
Polygon: Arcen Games new title Exodus Of The Machine is coming this year
GameConnect: Arcen Games announces Exodus Of The Machine
GamersBook: Exodus of the Machine announced
Shattered Haven
TierraGamer: Exclusive Interview with Arcen Games - Creators of Haven Shattered (Spanish)
Gert Lush Gaming: Shattered Haven Review
Broken Analog: Shattered Haven Review (9/10)
Co-Optimus: Shattered Haven Co-Op Review (3.5/5)
Game Debate: Shattered Haven Review (7/10)
Edge Online: Shattered Haven review (6/10)
Z-Giochi: Shattered Haven Review (6/10) (Italian)
GameSpot: Shattered Haven Review (5/10)
Hooked Gamers: Shattered Haven Review (7/10)
IndieGameMag: Shattered Haven Review (65/100)
IndeeGames.cz: Shattered Haven Review (4/10) (Czech)
Game4Me: Shattered Haven PC Review (74/100) (Dutch)
IndieGameReviewer: Shattered Haven Review (2/5)
JustPressStart: Shattered Haven Review
Cross Platform Gamers: Shattered Haven Review
Technology Tell: Shattered Haven launches for Mac/PC
InsideMacGames: Enter A Shattered Haven at MGS
Northernlion: Let's Look At: Shattered Haven! (Video)
AtherGames: This Can't Be Real! - First Look at Shattered Haven (Video)
TekkorGJC: Shattered Haven - Quicklook (Video)
KingIsaacLinksr: King's Shattered Haven (Video Series)
MrAmnesiaGameplay: Shattered Haven (Video)
Scheele Plays Shattered Haven (Video)
TheCometCE: Indie Spotlight - A Valley Without Wind (Video)
Psenci: Testing Testing - Episode 50 - Shattered Haven (Video) (Spanish)
NewGames357: Shattered Haven (Video) (Russian)
Valley Series
Gamasutra: Design Debate: Risky Rewards or Rewarding Risk?
Y3K Games: A Valley Without Wind 2 Review (Video)
Infognito: A Valley Without Wind (Video Series)
Weatherford Sons: A Valley Without Wind 2 - Let's Play (Video)
Stry's 1000 Game Steam Stream - [A] Valley Without Wind (Video)
AI War
ChthonicOne: Playing AI War with The Irritable Canadian (Video)
AI War Beta 6.019-6.021 "Nebulous Diligence" Released!
This one is pretty broad.
Most importantly, the AI will now a one-time launch retaliatory attack when you destroy each core guard post (unless Lazy AI is on). Given that your mobile forces are probably entirely engaged on the AI HW at the time, and that the attack can come from one or more warp gates pretty much anywhere in the galaxy, this could be... uncomfortable ;) You could of course pull your mobile ships back before actually landing the kill shot on a core guard post, but that takes time during which the normal AI response has time to work (and each core guard post you kill increases the AIP floor by 10, so even if you started the assault at low AIP you may find you don't have the luxury of flying back and forth for each core post kill. Or even of waiting for each post's retaliation to be dealt with before killing the next one.
On the other hand, for those wanting a less vigilant AI the Lazy-AI toggle now also disables the "deepstrike" logic which causes threat to spawn constantly while you have military ships several hops deep into purely AI territory. Combined with the other factors this definitely moves the Lazy-AI toggle into the realm of "if you play with this, balance is up to you" in that you'd need to turn up the difficulty in other ways or it's just going to be a lot easier than a "normal" game, but it's there for those of you who like getting your challenge some other way or simply like trying to win with only one your HW or whatever.
Another important change is that now the AI's normal reinforcements stop getting stronger past a certain (difficulty-based) AIP threshold. We may need to add some compensation for this later (intensifying its offensives past the threshold, probably) but for now the idea is that if you cross into the AIP "death zone" it should just kill you via some offensive mechanic rather than stonewalling you with a huge wall of entirely defensive ships that regenerates faster than you can kill it. Stalemates like that have a long and storied history in AIW, and that's not the end of the world, but many people have complained about that over the years and if we can move towards something that's more likely to avoid those (in favor of moving the game towards a conclusion one way or another) then that's probably a good thing.
This release also contains several bugfixes and other balance changes, all mentioned in the notes linked above. Most notable of those is a fix for the longstanding bug with the "AI units should wait at least 30 seconds before retreating" rule not working. Now your chipper shredders will have a little more time to work!
Update: 6.020 hotfix for a bug in recent versions where scouts could not be directly sent through unexplored wormholes when the everything-starts-unexplored toggle was on.
Update: 6.021 hotfix to fix a bug in the AI-retreat-behavior "fix" that was causing errors on the AI thread.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Most importantly, the AI will now a one-time launch retaliatory attack when you destroy each core guard post (unless Lazy AI is on). Given that your mobile forces are probably entirely engaged on the AI HW at the time, and that the attack can come from one or more warp gates pretty much anywhere in the galaxy, this could be... uncomfortable ;) You could of course pull your mobile ships back before actually landing the kill shot on a core guard post, but that takes time during which the normal AI response has time to work (and each core guard post you kill increases the AIP floor by 10, so even if you started the assault at low AIP you may find you don't have the luxury of flying back and forth for each core post kill. Or even of waiting for each post's retaliation to be dealt with before killing the next one.
On the other hand, for those wanting a less vigilant AI the Lazy-AI toggle now also disables the "deepstrike" logic which causes threat to spawn constantly while you have military ships several hops deep into purely AI territory. Combined with the other factors this definitely moves the Lazy-AI toggle into the realm of "if you play with this, balance is up to you" in that you'd need to turn up the difficulty in other ways or it's just going to be a lot easier than a "normal" game, but it's there for those of you who like getting your challenge some other way or simply like trying to win with only one your HW or whatever.
Another important change is that now the AI's normal reinforcements stop getting stronger past a certain (difficulty-based) AIP threshold. We may need to add some compensation for this later (intensifying its offensives past the threshold, probably) but for now the idea is that if you cross into the AIP "death zone" it should just kill you via some offensive mechanic rather than stonewalling you with a huge wall of entirely defensive ships that regenerates faster than you can kill it. Stalemates like that have a long and storied history in AIW, and that's not the end of the world, but many people have complained about that over the years and if we can move towards something that's more likely to avoid those (in favor of moving the game towards a conclusion one way or another) then that's probably a good thing.
This release also contains several bugfixes and other balance changes, all mentioned in the notes linked above. Most notable of those is a fix for the longstanding bug with the "AI units should wait at least 30 seconds before retreating" rule not working. Now your chipper shredders will have a little more time to work!
Update: 6.020 hotfix for a bug in recent versions where scouts could not be directly sent through unexplored wormholes when the everything-starts-unexplored toggle was on.
Update: 6.021 hotfix to fix a bug in the AI-retreat-behavior "fix" that was causing errors on the AI thread.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
AI War Beta 6.017-6.018 "Defending The AI's Front Lawn" Released!
This one makes the AI a little more enthusiastic about its job of, well, not dying.
Previously people have really been encouraged (on high difficulty, at least) to keep AIP absolutely minimally low during the entire game. And it's fine (and encouraged) that you keep it low most of the game, but the AI homeworlds were not causing the kind of effective AIP increase that one might expect when you make a serious bid to, you know, kill the AI. Sure, actually killing an AI Home Command Station used to give a whopping +100 AIP, but most high-difficulty games seem to end with both of those being killed at basically the same time, after the player has been fighting on the AI homeworlds and killing core guard posts for quite a while. Seems like maybe the AI should object a bit more while you stand on its front lawn(s) lining up a double headshot, don't you think?
That said, we didn't want to totally take away the ability to play that way, as there are plenty of other ways players can (and do) make the game harder to compensate.
So we've added a new "Lazy AI" toggle to the AI Modifiers list in the lobby. If this toggle is on, then the new behaviors don't happen. If the new toggle is off by default. And when it is off, the following new rules apply:
1) The strategic reserve (which primarily exists to defend the AI homeworlds) has a static strength equal to what it used to be at 200 AIP. So attacking with less AIP than that won't save you any strategic-reserve-releated grief.
2) Killing a core guard post (one of the guard posts actually on an AI HW) increases the AIP floor by 10. There are 8 posts on each AI HW so your absolute minimal AIP floor when the last one goes down is 170 (due to the starting 10), and in reality you'll have more than that due to normal floor increases. So there won't be much point in starting a homeworld assault with AIP much lower than that.
The combined effect is that you'll generally need more power than you used to to actually punch out an AI HW (due to the strategic reserve), and if you've been playing low AIP through the midgame you'll have "may as well use it" AIP room due to the core-post floor increases. Also, the AI's response will actually ramp up during the homeworld assault phase, instead of staying mostly constant.
So get off the AI's lawn.
Or just turn on the Lazy toggle and it will stop waving the shotgun around as much.
Oh, we also fixed some bugs in this release; mostly from the nominations for our first "bug poll". A poll, incidentally, that I'm not sure I'm going to post because I'm not sure the voting options will make sense to folks, but we'll see.
Update: 6.018 hotfix to fix a bug preventing sending champions into unexplored nebulae.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
Previously people have really been encouraged (on high difficulty, at least) to keep AIP absolutely minimally low during the entire game. And it's fine (and encouraged) that you keep it low most of the game, but the AI homeworlds were not causing the kind of effective AIP increase that one might expect when you make a serious bid to, you know, kill the AI. Sure, actually killing an AI Home Command Station used to give a whopping +100 AIP, but most high-difficulty games seem to end with both of those being killed at basically the same time, after the player has been fighting on the AI homeworlds and killing core guard posts for quite a while. Seems like maybe the AI should object a bit more while you stand on its front lawn(s) lining up a double headshot, don't you think?
That said, we didn't want to totally take away the ability to play that way, as there are plenty of other ways players can (and do) make the game harder to compensate.
So we've added a new "Lazy AI" toggle to the AI Modifiers list in the lobby. If this toggle is on, then the new behaviors don't happen. If the new toggle is off by default. And when it is off, the following new rules apply:
1) The strategic reserve (which primarily exists to defend the AI homeworlds) has a static strength equal to what it used to be at 200 AIP. So attacking with less AIP than that won't save you any strategic-reserve-releated grief.
2) Killing a core guard post (one of the guard posts actually on an AI HW) increases the AIP floor by 10. There are 8 posts on each AI HW so your absolute minimal AIP floor when the last one goes down is 170 (due to the starting 10), and in reality you'll have more than that due to normal floor increases. So there won't be much point in starting a homeworld assault with AIP much lower than that.
The combined effect is that you'll generally need more power than you used to to actually punch out an AI HW (due to the strategic reserve), and if you've been playing low AIP through the midgame you'll have "may as well use it" AIP room due to the core-post floor increases. Also, the AI's response will actually ramp up during the homeworld assault phase, instead of staying mostly constant.
So get off the AI's lawn.
Or just turn on the Lazy toggle and it will stop waving the shotgun around as much.
Oh, we also fixed some bugs in this release; mostly from the nominations for our first "bug poll". A poll, incidentally, that I'm not sure I'm going to post because I'm not sure the voting options will make sense to folks, but we'll see.
Update: 6.018 hotfix to fix a bug preventing sending champions into unexplored nebulae.
Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.
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