Arcen's Upcoming Puzzle Game Gets Official Name, New Alpha-Version Screenshots

Arcen's currently-inwork puzzle game now has an official name: Tidalis.  The teaser preview for the game has been updated to show the game's new logo, as well as a lot of the game's current art.  Please bear in mind that most of the middle-ground sprites are currently missing from the shown backgrounds, and that the look of the HUD is quite temporary.  The new screenshots are from the actual game  -- not concept art -- and so should give a better glimpse of what is coming.



In other Arcen news, the tower defense game A Valley Without Wind (AVWW) has been pushed back to 2011.  In place of that title, the completion of Arcen's zombie puzzle-based adventure game, Alden Ridge, will be the next priority for the company after Tidalis.  Alden Ridge is already about 70% complete (though filled with temporary art and music), and now that the last design roadblocks have been resolved with this game, it should fit better with Arcen's 2010 lineup.  Most specifically, completion of this game in place of AVWW will allow adequate time for the second expansion to AI War to also be completed in the fourth quarter.  Currently, development of AVWW is expected to be Arcen's primary focus for the first 6-8 months of 2011, or more if needed.  It's a big game (as is Alden Ridge, but Alden Ridge already has 80 completed levels, a finished engine, a complete level editor, and so on).

We at Arcen are quite excited to share all of our upcoming work with you -- much more information to come about Tidalis in particular in another 2-3 weeks, along with public pre-release versions for demo or for full access to via preorder.  Stay tuned!

HellBored: Chris Park Interviewed About AI War and The Zenith Remnant

HellBored recently conducted an interview with Chris Park about AI War, the reception of The Zenith Remnant, developing games as an individual versus as part of a team, and why developing capable RTS AI is such a challenge for the industry.

Read The Interview

Metacritic: AI War 40th Best PC Game of 2009

All the way back in December, Metacritic released their annual list of the year's best-reviewed games on each platform. Things have been so busy here at Arcen that somehow we missed posting a news item about this, but we thought it was pretty cool to say the least. For a game that started out as a one-man project with no budget, it's pretty amazing to see that wind up at the #40 slot out of all the great indie and AAA titles that were released during the year.

Read The Article At Metacritic