Flash of Steel

Done With Blood Bowl Solo

Troy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:35:09 +0000

If strategy games are about understanding and then defeating a system, then Blood Bowl has been thoroughly understood and defeated, at least at the single player level. Time to find my league opponent and beat his brains in. Bill Abner has done a better job analyzing the AI than I ever could, but I figured I [...]

Command and Conquer 4

Troy — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:18:37 +0000

Not official yet, but an announcement is on the way. This is why people have to use their Twitter with caution.

Three Moves Ahead Episode 20

Troy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:10:09 +0000

The panel returns to game design territory with a discussion of the problem of runaway winners in strategy games. Can you design around it? Should you? How do you keep a game interesting for everyone? Also, a progress report on our Dominions 3 game. Listen here. RSS here. Subscribe on iTunes.

Civ Con 09

Troy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:52:56 +0000

The second ever Civilization fan convention is now open for registration. Assuming I can work out travel without having to drive to Hunt Valley, I’ll be reporting on the event. The first one (called Apolycon back in 2006) was sparsely attended, but was still interesting.

Happy Independence Day

Troy — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:07:01 +0000

Or as we said in Canada, “Splitters!” Celebrate with Sid Meier’s Colonization, Liberty! and Birth of America. Or maybe just some hot dogs and fireworks.

Blood Bowl Early Moments

Troy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:28:28 +0000

Bill Abner has noticed a lot of AI blunders in Cyanide’s Blood Bowl which shows just how much more he knows about the game than I do. My solo campaign Elf team is getting hammered, mostly because I’m still getting used to how differently all of the teams play. Though it looks like a sports game, [...]

Three Moves Ahead Episode 19 — Looking back, looking forward 2009

Troy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:20:53 +0000

Troy, Tom and Julian look at the year so far and look ahead to see what games they liked and what they are anticipating. Detours into diving, naval warfare and whether Starcraft 2 will appeal to the masses. Stay tuned to the end for a look at who chose which race for their Dominions 3 multiplayer [...]

Why Facebook Games May Matter

Troy — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:14:07 +0000

When Brian Reynolds gets hired by the biggest social gaming company in America, either he’s selling out to the one part of the game business that is rapidly expanding or Social Games are about to get a lot more interesting. Here’s hoping it’s the latter. What the press release doesn’t say is that the new Zynga studio [...]

Grigsby’s War in the East

Troy — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:21:07 +0000

Yeah, it will take forever to finish a game, but still looking forward to it.

Strategy Games of the Half Year – 2009 Edition

Troy — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:53:49 +0000

Six months in and 2009 already has some strong contenders for best strategy game of the year. In all, it’s been a strong half year with a few surprises. But, with the caveat that I have not played a final buld Blood Bowl yet, I still had no trouble coming up with the three best [...]