ArcenGames.com has been
overhauled, and as part of that we've pulled both of our blogs (our News
blog and our Games By Design blog) into the main site itself.
Please
update your bookmarks, or your RSS feeds (although RSS subscribers from
Games By Design should already find themselves repointed thanks to
feedburner).
The new blog itself is on the main ArcenGames.com website, and combines the content from both prior blogs. The RSS feeds are a bit better set up now, too:
If
you want to get absolutely EVERYTHING (the equivalent of previously
subscribing to both blogs), then here's your link for that RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGames. That's a new url, so if you want that you'll need to subscribe to it fresh.
If
you want just the main newsworthy stuff, not all the smaller product
updates and minor sales and such, then the following is the RSS for you:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGamesNewsworthy.
Note that all previous subscribers to the Games By Design blog automatically are now getting the equivalent of the http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGamesNewsworthy feed, but under the name http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChristopherMPark-Blog,
since that's what that particular RSS feed has been called since 2007.
You can either switch to the ArcenGamesNewsworthy feed or stay on
ChristopherMPark-Blog, they are both the same and will both remain live.
Also,
another cool feature! If you want to subscribe to a particular
category -- any category you see on our site -- you can now do so. For
instance:
- For this category: http://arcengames.com/category/aiwar/
-- There is this feed: http://arcengames.com/category/aiwar/feed/
- And this category: http://arcengames.com/category/gamedesign/
-- Has this feed: http://arcengames.com/category/gamedesign/feed/
And so on. Pretty handy!
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
This blog has moved!
ArcenGames.com has been overhauled, and as part of that we've pulled both of our blogs (our News blog and our Games By Design blog) into the main site itself.
Please update your bookmarks, or your RSS feeds (although RSS subscribers from Games By Design should already find themselves repointed thanks to feedburner).
The new blog itself is on the main ArcenGames.com website, and combines the content from both prior blogs. The RSS feeds are a bit better set up now, too:
If you want to get absolutely EVERYTHING (the equivalent of previously subscribing to both blogs), then here's your link for that RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGames. That's a new url, so if you want that you'll need to subscribe to it fresh.
If you want just the main newsworthy stuff, not all the smaller product updates and minor sales and such, then the following is the RSS for you: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGamesNewsworthy.
Note that all previous subscribers to the Games By Design blog automatically are now getting the equivalent of the http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGamesNewsworthy feed, but under the name http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChristopherMPark-Blog, since that's what that particular RSS feed has been called since 2007. You can either switch to the ArcenGamesNewsworthy feed or stay on ChristopherMPark-Blog, they are both the same and will both remain live.
Also, another cool feature! If you want to subscribe to a particular category -- any category you see on our site -- you can now do so. For instance:
- For this category: http://arcengames.com/category/aiwar/
-- There is this feed: http://arcengames.com/category/aiwar/feed/
- And this category: http://arcengames.com/category/gamedesign/
-- Has this feed: http://arcengames.com/category/gamedesign/feed/
And so on. Pretty handy!
Please update your bookmarks, or your RSS feeds (although RSS subscribers from Games By Design should already find themselves repointed thanks to feedburner).
The new blog itself is on the main ArcenGames.com website, and combines the content from both prior blogs. The RSS feeds are a bit better set up now, too:
If you want to get absolutely EVERYTHING (the equivalent of previously subscribing to both blogs), then here's your link for that RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGames. That's a new url, so if you want that you'll need to subscribe to it fresh.
If you want just the main newsworthy stuff, not all the smaller product updates and minor sales and such, then the following is the RSS for you: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGamesNewsworthy.
Note that all previous subscribers to the Games By Design blog automatically are now getting the equivalent of the http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcenGamesNewsworthy feed, but under the name http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChristopherMPark-Blog, since that's what that particular RSS feed has been called since 2007. You can either switch to the ArcenGamesNewsworthy feed or stay on ChristopherMPark-Blog, they are both the same and will both remain live.
Also, another cool feature! If you want to subscribe to a particular category -- any category you see on our site -- you can now do so. For instance:
- For this category: http://arcengames.com/category/aiwar/
-- There is this feed: http://arcengames.com/category/aiwar/feed/
- And this category: http://arcengames.com/category/gamedesign/
-- Has this feed: http://arcengames.com/category/gamedesign/feed/
And so on. Pretty handy!
Friday, June 20, 2014
Steam Summer Sale 2014: Arcen Titles 25-80% Off (Ends June 30th)
- The Last Federation -- 25% off
- AI War Collection, base game and all expansions -- 60% off
- Bionic Dues -- 50% off
- Skyward Collapse and Nihon no Mura expansion -- 60% off
- Shattered Haven -- 80% off
- A Valley Without Wind Dual Pack (1 & 2) and Four Pack -- 75% off
- Tidalis -- 80% off
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Announcing AI War: Destroyer of Worlds
When in doubt, use bigger warheads.
AI War: Destroyer of Worlds, the sixth expansion pack for AI War: Fleet Command, focuses on two new optional features:
Nomad Planets introduces dynamic topology to AI War for the first time, giving the player new challenges and opportunities beyond the previously-static wormhole network. One of the Nomads also holds a secret weapon of truly dire power (that gives the expansion its title, hint hint).
The Exodian Blade is a powerful alternate way-to-win, but getting there is a multi-stage journey with a great deal of desperate fighting once things get going.
Beyond those two key features, this expansion also adds:
* 8 new AI types, from the humorous/annoying "Kite Flier" and "Cowardly" to the monomaniacal "Starship Fanatic" to the aptly named "Brutal". There's also "Mime". Never trust mimes.
* A new "Encapsulated" map style (screenshot).
* 4 new Bonus Ship Types, including the Neinzul Combat Carrier (with Beam Drones, Rail Drones, Spider Drones, and Grav Drones) and the Maw-gone-mad Powerslaver.
* 2 new AI Guardian types, including the Combat Carrier Guardian (so humans don't get to have all the ludicrous-drone fun).
* A new "Preemption" optional AI Plot that lets the AI start taking more direct action against you from the start.
* More awesome music from Pablo Vega! (that's still being worked on, but will be added for the official release)
A more in-depth look at the expansion can be found here.
AI War: Destroyer of Worlds is slated for official release in August 2014, and we'll be running a closed beta until then. If you're interested in testing and providing feedback on the expansion during the closed beta, please send me (keith.lamothe) a PM on our forums.
We'll be contacting the first wave of testers that have already signed up later this afternoon.
In other news, we've also added Steam Trading Cards for AI War. Enjoy!
AI War: Destroyer of Worlds, the sixth expansion pack for AI War: Fleet Command, focuses on two new optional features:
Nomad Planets introduces dynamic topology to AI War for the first time, giving the player new challenges and opportunities beyond the previously-static wormhole network. One of the Nomads also holds a secret weapon of truly dire power (that gives the expansion its title, hint hint).
The Exodian Blade is a powerful alternate way-to-win, but getting there is a multi-stage journey with a great deal of desperate fighting once things get going.
Beyond those two key features, this expansion also adds:
* 8 new AI types, from the humorous/annoying "Kite Flier" and "Cowardly" to the monomaniacal "Starship Fanatic" to the aptly named "Brutal". There's also "Mime". Never trust mimes.
* A new "Encapsulated" map style (screenshot).
* 4 new Bonus Ship Types, including the Neinzul Combat Carrier (with Beam Drones, Rail Drones, Spider Drones, and Grav Drones) and the Maw-gone-mad Powerslaver.
* 2 new AI Guardian types, including the Combat Carrier Guardian (so humans don't get to have all the ludicrous-drone fun).
* A new "Preemption" optional AI Plot that lets the AI start taking more direct action against you from the start.
* More awesome music from Pablo Vega! (that's still being worked on, but will be added for the official release)
A more in-depth look at the expansion can be found here.
AI War: Destroyer of Worlds is slated for official release in August 2014, and we'll be running a closed beta until then. If you're interested in testing and providing feedback on the expansion during the closed beta, please send me (keith.lamothe) a PM on our forums.
We'll be contacting the first wave of testers that have already signed up later this afternoon.
In other news, we've also added Steam Trading Cards for AI War. Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
AI War Beta 7.036-7.040 "Sanding Before The Storm" Released!
This one is more bugfixes and balance work. Important stuff, especially the metal/energy-related changes, but just polish.
What's more than polish is the upcoming expansion, which we'll announce with actual details tomorrow (Thursday, probably noonish eastern time).
We'll be doing a closed beta that will run until the expansion's official release (alongside the 8.0 offficial release) in early August. If you're interested in being part of the beta please PM me (keith.lamothe) on the forums.
Update: 7.037 is out with some text updates specific to the new expansion.
Update: 7.038 is out to hotfix some problems with unlocking the mkII/III versions of the bonus ship types from the new expansion.
Update: 7.039 is out to fix several bugs discovered early in the new expansion's beta, so the testers can proceed without them in the way.
Update: 7.040 is out with another batch of fixes for the new expansion's beta.
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.
What's more than polish is the upcoming expansion, which we'll announce with actual details tomorrow (Thursday, probably noonish eastern time).
We'll be doing a closed beta that will run until the expansion's official release (alongside the 8.0 offficial release) in early August. If you're interested in being part of the beta please PM me (keith.lamothe) on the forums.
Update: 7.037 is out with some text updates specific to the new expansion.
Update: 7.038 is out to hotfix some problems with unlocking the mkII/III versions of the bonus ship types from the new expansion.
Update: 7.039 is out to fix several bugs discovered early in the new expansion's beta, so the testers can proceed without them in the way.
Update: 7.040 is out with another batch of fixes for the new expansion's beta.
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.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
AI War Beta 7.034-7.035 "When Cities Attack!" Released!
This one is mainly an iteration on recently-in-progress stuff:
- Hacking used to scale just with your hacking balance, but this could lead to hacks not getting more dangerous). Then it was changed to scale just with hacking-spent, but that got uncontrollably dangerous past a certain point no matter your hacking balance). So now it's something of a middle ground, with the balance reducing the response again but with a minimum response that increases with hacking-spent. Long story short you shouldn't be stuck with large hacking balances that you can't spend without the sky falling, but the response should also never be anemic. We'll see; more feedback is of course welcome (and needed).
- Spire Cities are now much more fearsome, to correct for years of numeric creep among non-superweapon units. This is one of those changes made easier by the recent global stat-downscaling. The AI looks pretty unhappy about this.
- Champion Alt-Progress is now much more streamlined in how you get new module/hull/mod-fort/etc unlocks: it just all comes through gaining levels now (which is done entirely through gaining knowledge), rather than needing to capture/hack certain things. This is a more passive approach, but ultimately the normal-progress approach of nebula scenarios to gain XP and unlocks is the "active" option, and alt-progress is just for folks who'd like to have their champion toys without having to go radically out of their way to get them. So we'll see how that goes. For any of you interested in the alt-progress approach to champions, please do let us know how it feels.
And there's a bunch of various bugfixes and smaller balance changes, etc, including fixing some bugs preventing the loading of some older saves (from 3.x or earlier days).
Update: 7.035 is out to hotfix a null-exception bug in last version's attempt to fix thing with exo ships with cloaked targets camping the cloaked target.
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.
- Hacking used to scale just with your hacking balance, but this could lead to hacks not getting more dangerous). Then it was changed to scale just with hacking-spent, but that got uncontrollably dangerous past a certain point no matter your hacking balance). So now it's something of a middle ground, with the balance reducing the response again but with a minimum response that increases with hacking-spent. Long story short you shouldn't be stuck with large hacking balances that you can't spend without the sky falling, but the response should also never be anemic. We'll see; more feedback is of course welcome (and needed).
- Spire Cities are now much more fearsome, to correct for years of numeric creep among non-superweapon units. This is one of those changes made easier by the recent global stat-downscaling. The AI looks pretty unhappy about this.
- Champion Alt-Progress is now much more streamlined in how you get new module/hull/mod-fort/etc unlocks: it just all comes through gaining levels now (which is done entirely through gaining knowledge), rather than needing to capture/hack certain things. This is a more passive approach, but ultimately the normal-progress approach of nebula scenarios to gain XP and unlocks is the "active" option, and alt-progress is just for folks who'd like to have their champion toys without having to go radically out of their way to get them. So we'll see how that goes. For any of you interested in the alt-progress approach to champions, please do let us know how it feels.
And there's a bunch of various bugfixes and smaller balance changes, etc, including fixing some bugs preventing the loading of some older saves (from 3.x or earlier days).
Update: 7.035 is out to hotfix a null-exception bug in last version's attempt to fix thing with exo ships with cloaked targets camping the cloaked target.
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.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
TLF Version 1.024-1.025 Released (Disease Resistance)
Version 1.024 is out, and while it is small it does have some really notable balance shifts in there. Specifically:
- The way that research and property development dispatches are handled, and the way goons are used up with them, is now daily rather than monthly. This makes it a lot more fair to you when you stop at any given time (if you don't complete the research all in one go).
- You can't farm the AFA missions for Credit anymore, at least not to the degree you previously could.
- Selling prisoners and free return of prisoners now work properly in all cases, which is a pretty big deal in your favor.
- Races now do their ship upgrade research in a secondary tech line, making it so that they don't get bogged down that anymore. This will put a lot more pressure on you, incidentally, on higher difficulties later in the game.
- Diseases are no longer so ridiculously insta-devastating to certain populations. They can still be really harsh, and further tuning may be needed there, but this is at least a very big step in the right direction. Diseases should be meaningful, but not quite so overdramatic as they were.
UPDATE: 1.025 is now out with some bugfixes, both from this past version and some prior ones.
--------------- What's With The Shift In Schedule This Week? ---------------
This week has been a bit crazy for me. My sister got married this past weekend, and I've had some things related to that that I've been working on while she is on her honeymoon. I'd rather not say what, as it's a semi-surprise. Anyway, that has sucked up a huge amount of my time, and I've been taking some time off to help work on that. It's not a long-term thing, obviously, but it's something that I wanted to take some time and do for my sister since there's nothing direly important in terms of short-term schedule right now (for once).
Also I've been working on design work this week for both the remaining parts of the first TLF expansion (measure twice, cut once), and for the upcoming 4x that we are (at least for the moment) calling Spectral Empire, to come out next April.
There's also just been some general boring business-related stuff that had stacked up that I have been getting taken care of, too. So it's been kind of an off week for me, but that won't be the case next week. Thanks for understanding!
--------------- Ongoing Updates ---------------
The support of the community, and the growth of it, remain amazing to me. It's been about a month and a half since launch, and it's clear we definitely have a winner here. We're continuing to expand the improve the game via bugfixes, balance updates, and new content, and plan to do so for the foreseeable future.
It won't always be on a consistent schedule, but if you're familiar with our post-release support for AI War: Fleet Command over the past 5 years, that's basically the arc that we are currently expecting here unless something unexpectedly changes.
At present we are also working on expansions for both AI War and TLF (TLF: Betrayed Hope). The expansion for TLF is expected to be available for preorder through our site in early June, with access to the current beta of the expansion. The actual full release of the expansion is expected to be in early July, on all the existing distributors that carry the base game.
More to come soon. Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater, or if you have Steam it will automatically update it for you. To force Steam to download it faster, just restart Steam and it will do so.
- The way that research and property development dispatches are handled, and the way goons are used up with them, is now daily rather than monthly. This makes it a lot more fair to you when you stop at any given time (if you don't complete the research all in one go).
- You can't farm the AFA missions for Credit anymore, at least not to the degree you previously could.
- Selling prisoners and free return of prisoners now work properly in all cases, which is a pretty big deal in your favor.
- Races now do their ship upgrade research in a secondary tech line, making it so that they don't get bogged down that anymore. This will put a lot more pressure on you, incidentally, on higher difficulties later in the game.
- Diseases are no longer so ridiculously insta-devastating to certain populations. They can still be really harsh, and further tuning may be needed there, but this is at least a very big step in the right direction. Diseases should be meaningful, but not quite so overdramatic as they were.
UPDATE: 1.025 is now out with some bugfixes, both from this past version and some prior ones.
--------------- What's With The Shift In Schedule This Week? ---------------
This week has been a bit crazy for me. My sister got married this past weekend, and I've had some things related to that that I've been working on while she is on her honeymoon. I'd rather not say what, as it's a semi-surprise. Anyway, that has sucked up a huge amount of my time, and I've been taking some time off to help work on that. It's not a long-term thing, obviously, but it's something that I wanted to take some time and do for my sister since there's nothing direly important in terms of short-term schedule right now (for once).
Also I've been working on design work this week for both the remaining parts of the first TLF expansion (measure twice, cut once), and for the upcoming 4x that we are (at least for the moment) calling Spectral Empire, to come out next April.
There's also just been some general boring business-related stuff that had stacked up that I have been getting taken care of, too. So it's been kind of an off week for me, but that won't be the case next week. Thanks for understanding!
--------------- Ongoing Updates ---------------
The support of the community, and the growth of it, remain amazing to me. It's been about a month and a half since launch, and it's clear we definitely have a winner here. We're continuing to expand the improve the game via bugfixes, balance updates, and new content, and plan to do so for the foreseeable future.
It won't always be on a consistent schedule, but if you're familiar with our post-release support for AI War: Fleet Command over the past 5 years, that's basically the arc that we are currently expecting here unless something unexpectedly changes.
At present we are also working on expansions for both AI War and TLF (TLF: Betrayed Hope). The expansion for TLF is expected to be available for preorder through our site in early June, with access to the current beta of the expansion. The actual full release of the expansion is expected to be in early July, on all the existing distributors that carry the base game.
More to come soon. Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater, or if you have Steam it will automatically update it for you. To force Steam to download it faster, just restart Steam and it will do so.