You Win!
Most Monday nights I get together with Matt, Josh, and Joe online and we play some game or other. When all of us are available we tend to play AI War: Fleet Command, a strategy game in space. It’s a fairly complex game and full games tend to take upwards of 20 hours to complete. I think I’ve won about 4 games during the two and a half-years I’ve been playing. The following screenshot took us about half a year to achieve.
22 weeks to get here
Turn Based Strategy
Recently I have had some opportunities to play some Turn Based Strategy games again. Not board games, although, those count. Most TBS games aren’t actually turned based these days, but more of a RTS with decidedly turn like rules, and the ability to pause (making “turns” last as long as you need).
Recently, I’ve been playing a lot of Heroes of Might and Magic III and AI War. HoMMIII is a true turn-based game, and one that I have been playing for over 10 years. You think I would be better at it having played it for so many years. It’s a great game, and playing multiplayer hotseat has been a staple activity for me and my friends this last decade. You can pick up a copy at GoG.com. Recently we have discovered a new game called AI War. It’s a coop RTS with TBS-style play. The game supports up to 8-players, who play against a hostile AI. It’s filled a nice niche in our multiplayer gaming. It’s also a good example of how games do not need sumer amazing 3d ultra graphics to be good games, you just need solid gameplay.
More companies need to take a look at these games and figure how to adapt and improve.