PC Gamer UK Review of AI War

AI War breaks most of the genre’s rules. Which is precisely why it’s incredible... This out-of-the-blue one-man passion project is one of this year’s finest strategy games.
- PC Gamer UK Review, November 2009

Designing Emergent AI, Part 5: Don't Squeeze a Handful of Sand

ABSTRACT
Transcript of a discussion from these forums, in which Chris explains in greater detail the desirability of slightly-nonideal emergent decisions versus too-predictable "perfect" decisions.

Designing Emergent AI, Part 5: Don't Squeeze a Handful of Sand

AI War 1.301 (Co-Op Enhancements, UDP Networking, Supply)

Arcen Games is pleased to announce the release of AI War: Fleet Command version 1.301. You can download a trial version of the game, as well as purchase a license key to unlock the full version. If you already have the game or demo installed, just hit "Check For Updates" inside the game to get the latest patch.  
Many Updates:
- 4 new ships: Decloaker, and three levels of a new Gravitational Turret.
- Major visual improvements -- the HUD, the galaxy map, menus, and ship icons have all been revamped.  We have updated our screenshots, which gives a nice before/after contrast.
- Co-op Enhancements -- players can drop in and out of games if needed, and all ships can be swapped around between players much better now.
- New "Supply" game mechanic augments the military importance of captured planets.
- Several AI improvements to add better tactical intelligence in a number of different scenarios.
- New UDP-based network code performs vastly better in high-latency or high-packet-loss environments.
- New render caching performance improvement reduces GPU load in large battles by 1/2 to 2/3.
- More updated battle sound effects, and an updated battle sound effect engine, makes the sounds of battles much better.
- Resizable minimap -- helpful in particular for larger monitors, there are now 3 minimap sizes.
- Force Fields controlled by players are now damaged by shots fired out from under them, but FFs can all now be moved and repaired.
- Many other balance tweaks, ship logic improvements, and other enhancements and bugfixes.
The above list is just a sampling, however, so be sure to check out the full release notes to see everything (all 4,800 words worth included in the next post in this topic). This DLC release is not quite as large as the last one (which took a full month to make), but the visual improvements alone make this version feel almost like a whole new game.  Expect our next DLC release within a month or less, but the exact timing is going to be dependent on how much testing is ultimately needed for new features -- the next release is going to be the highly anticipated 2.0 version!  You can always get the latest public prerelease beta versions from our forums if you'd like to see what's coming down the pike.  Lots more exciting updates are on the way!

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As an added note, if you are a player who is is unable to install patches for whatever reason (this is usually a windows issue), you can download the patch files through the following link: http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1000To1301.zip

Then unzip it into your game folder (usually C:\Program Files\Arcen Games\AI War\ unless you specified something else).  Please make sure that your unzip process keeps the folder structure from the zip file, rather than just unpacking all of the files into the base target directory.  This is a cumulative update, so as long as you have at least version 1.000 of the game installed, this will update you to the latest version (1.301) without any issues.

This update also now available for Impulse customers.

For existing GamersGate customers, you can always upgrade your copy from the "Check For Updates" link in the game just like customers from our direct site can.  The latest version of the installer will also be coming to GamersGate, but that will affect new customers only.

Monday Depression In A Job You Love

ABSTRACT
Like most people, game designer Chris Park is not immune to the effects of the Monday morning blues.  What gives?  If you love your job, shouldn't this not happen to you?  He posits this is some sort of nearly-universal human process that occurs in most people no matter how much they love their job.  The trick is to find ways to move past it quickly and not let it interfere with productivity, since few companies can afford to lose 1/5 of the work week to something like this.

Monday Depression In A Job You Love

Why Rebalance A Released Game?

ABSTRACT
AI War has seen more than its fair share of rebalancing compared to most other RTS games.  Why is this?  Is this indicative of some sort of overall failing of the core design, or is this indicative of a doggedly hobbyist attitude on the part of the creators?  The creators would like to think neither of the above is true, but rather that they are laying the groundwork for an exceptional new long-form type of RTS (via expansions), rather than your typical quickly-forgotten entry that spawns a lot of sequels.

Why Rebalance A Released Game?

Preparation and Luck: Marketing Your Indie Game

ABSTRACT
Discussion of lessons learned from marketing AI War.  Nothing overly surprising, but useful for those who wish to enter the indie market but don't know much about what to expect.  Short answer:  expect to do a lot of work.

Preparation and Luck: Marketing Your Indie Game

On Writing For Games

ABSTRACT
Originally starting as a post on these forums, this post details my thoughts on writing for games, and why I believe that sometimes Less is More.  AI War has exactly 15 lines of story, and that's something you wouldn't expect from someone like me, who is also an aspiring novelist.  Was this sloth?  Oversight?  This article explains why it was an intentional design decision.

On Writing For Games

AI War 1.201 (Major Economic, AI, and Graphical update with 16 new ship types)

Arcen Games is pleased to announce the release of AI War: Fleet Command version 1.201. You can download a trial version of the game, as well as purchase a license key to unlock the full version. If you already have the game or demo installed, just hit "Check For Updates" inside the game to get the latest patch.  
Huge Updates:
- 16 new ships: 1 new energy reactor, 3 new starships, 8 new turrets, new mercenary space dock with 3 new mercenary ships.
- Major visual improvements -- planets and backgrounds, some effects, parts of the HUD, and a few ship classes.
- Massively updated economy that is easier to manage and which scales better to very long games.
- New Energy model that provides more incentive for expansion while also fitting within the updated economy.
- Faster Starts:  The repetitive activities from the first 5 or so minutes of a new campaign have now been automated to let players get right to the real game.
- Several major AI improvements: tactical retreats, better aggression against key targets, better tactical intelligence in a number of different scenarios.
- Revamped cross-planet attacks that are better balanced for players.
- A good number of performance improvements make giant battles perform better than ever.
- Network latency settings allow players to tune their game for high-latency networks.
- Improvements to the interface in general, most notably the planetary summary upgrades and the addition of the Threat Meter at the top of the screen.
- Drag-building of ships is now possible, and placement is even easier with Ctrl and Alt hotkeys while placing ships.
- Some updated battle sound effects.
- New "Energy Storm" music track replaces older "Thor" track.
- Many smaller balance tweaks, ship logic improvements, and other minor enhancements and bugfixes.
The above list is just a sampling, however, so be sure to check out the full release notes to see everything (included in the next post in this topic). This DLC release was so massive that it was a month in the making.  Expect our next DLC release to come sooner than that, but the exact timing is going to be dependent on how much testing is ultimately needed for new features.  You can always get the latest public prerelease beta versions from our forums if you'd like to see what's coming down the pike.  Lots more exciting updates are on the way!

---

As an added note, if you are a player who is is unable to install patches for whatever reason (this is usually a windows issue), you can download the patch files through the following link: http://www.arcengames.com/share/AIWar1000To1201.zip

Then unzip it into your game folder (usually C:\Program Files\Arcen Games\AI War\ unless you specified something else).  Please make sure that your unzip process keeps the folder structure from the zip file, rather than just unpacking all of the files into the base target directory.  This is a cumulative update, so as long as you have at least version 1.000 of the game installed, this will update you to the latest version (1.201) without any issues.

This update is also available directly through Stardock's Impulse for customers purchasing the game through that platform.

For existing GamersGate customers, you can always upgrade your copy from the "Check For Updates" link in the game just like customers from our direct site can.  The latest version of the installer will also be coming to GamersGate, but that will affect new customers only.