In the game of Splendor, what is the fewest number of turns you could take to get 15 points?
برچسب: game
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Valheim publisher launches deckbuilder and strategy game hybrid As We Descend
It’s a bit surprising that we haven’t seen more projects that put together two genres as massively popular as deckbuilders and strategy games. The former style of design has given us everything from Monster Train 2 to Slay the Spire while the latter includes Against the Storm, Total War: Pharaoh, Age of Empires 4, and so much more. As We Descend takes notes from both types of game, blending them into something new that you can now check out for yourself with its Early Access launch on Steam today.
As We Descend has been on our radar for a while now thanks to its clever mash-up of the strategy, roguelike, and card game genres. It looks a lot like a traditional strategy game, with an emphasis placed on assembling armies from different unit types and deploying them to fight enemies in tactical combat.
These battles, though, are played out with cards, the units assembled as a carefully constructed deck. It’s also a roguelike, where various elements, like the resources needed to upgrade or recruit units, can change from one run to the next.
In its current Early Access version, players can get a good sample of what the full game will entail. At launch, two of the three player origins are available and, per the game’s Steam page, “the structure and core mechanics of the game are already present now.”
As We Descend is out in Early Access on Steam now, with a 17% discount that brings its price down to $24.89 USD / £22.40. Grab a copy right here.
Otherwise, you might want to check out some other choices like As We Descend through our lists of the best strategy games and best roguelike games on PC.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
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How to Find & Hire a Fulfillment Provider for your Board Game Kickstarter or Gamefound — Pine Island Games
They will be able to provide shipping rates by geography – like this shipping estimate for Sigil from Fulfillrite. Most will break down their picking fees, the cost of packaging, and postage costs.
Key Considerations
Price isn’t the most important consideration when finding your fulfillment partner.
Reputation: Reputation and surety that they will get the job done smoothly, and without undue product damage, is far more important than a dollar or two savings on picking and packing. I recommend asking around in game design and publishing forums for peoples’ experiences with your with your most competitive.
Ease of Communication: You’ll need a good relationship with your sales rep to smooth the freight delivery process, and address any hiccups that come up during fulfillment. Make sure your sales rep is responsive and can help you workshop your fulfillment options.
Technology: My favorite thing about Fulfillrite is their tech platform. They have a dashboard where I can manage inventory, upload shipping details, and best of all, it automatically ties into our Shopify storefront.
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MindsEye is a GTA/Cyberpunk-ish game about shooting AI robots, and its co-ceo claims there’s “concerted effort” involving evil bots to make people think it’s rubbish
Yesterday, Build A Rocket Boy – the studio helmed by Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies – showed off some gameplay from the GTA-ish, Cyberpunk-ish, FarCry map editor-ish action thriller MindsEye, which is set to let you shoot a bunch of evil AI robots. Now, BARB’s co-ceo has claimed that there’s a real life “concerted effort to trash the game and the studio” going on, involving evil bots.
Yep, he seemingly just suggested these things were the case via some responses to players on the game’s Discord server, as you’d expect an exec to casually do.
Mark Gerhard, the co-ceo in question, goes by the handle MMG in the server, and was asked during a bit of back and forth about the game with fans: “Do you think that all the people who reacted negatively were financed by someone?” He responded: “100%”
Naturally, folks were a bit taken aback by an exec at a studio seemingly suggesting negative reception for a game had been paid for in some fashion, but Gerhard went on to add: “doesn’t take much to guess who”. A user in the server was quick to comment: “a co-CEO for a studio implying another studio is paying previewers to talk negatively about your game is an absolutely wild comment to make in a public environment in any situation”, to which the exec replied: “Not wild when it’s true…..”
Image credit: VG247 
Image credit: VG247 Fans and content creators in the server who’d expressed criticism of MindsEye or Build A Rocket Boy then started to question whether Gerhard might be talking about them, leading the co-ceo to respond to such questions being asked about a user with the handle Cyber Boi.
“Folks I never said Cyber Boi was being paid by anyone,” Gerhard wrote, “I just said that there is a concerted effort by some people that don’t want to see Leslie or Build A Rocket Boy to be successful that are making a concerted effort to trash the game and the studio. Its pretty easy to see the bots and the repeated replies to any content that we put out.”
GTA YouTuber GameRoll then asked him directly: “So just to clarify – you believe that individuals, be it content creators or otherwise, have been paid off to criticise Mindseye?” “No I never said that,” Gerhard responded, “I do KNOW that there are bot farms posting negative comments and dislikes.”
VG247 has reached out to Build A Rocket Boy and MindsEye publisher IO Interactive for comment.
Are you keen to give MindsEye a go when it arrives on June 10? Let us know below!
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The Board Game Content Ecosystem — Pine Island Games
Paid Versus Unpaid
It’s important to note the difference between paid and unpaid content. Most review content and round ups is unpaid, while a lot of preview content is paid. Whether content is paid or unpaid will also depend on the individual creator, and the size of the channel’s audience.
For instance, a smaller channel will likely create preview content for free (to help build its audience and have novel content), while larger established channels will charge a fee for content.
Not all paid content is created equal, and it’s important to partner with creators whose tastes and audiences align with your design. Even when content is paid, you can tell how enthusiastic content creators are about the game they are covering.
Getting Coverage
There are two main kinds of coverage – coverage before your game is released or crowdfunded, and coverage after your game is published.
I wrote up an article on how to reach out to content creators: How to Query Content Creators.
It’s worth noting that the process of reaching out to content creators is relatively similar in each case. However, once your game is published you will get a higher proportion of inquiries for coverage, as well as unprompted coverage.
Once a game is published, unless you are paying for specific content (like a how to play video), the vast majority of coverage will be unpaid (although you may send a review copy of your game).
Where to Find Content Creators
Most readers will have their own favorite board game content creators. Those are a great place to start when looking for reviewers and previewers for your game. But, it’s always worth expanding your playlists. Here are a few places to look for content creators for your game:
Who are your favorite under the radar board game content creators?
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What a Journey – A Board Game 15 Years in the Making — Pine Island Games
But, Sigil didn’t start with me. It wasn’t my brain child, and while I helped tighten the game up around the edges, the design fully belongs to Andy Voellmer.
15 Years in the Making
If you were near Montreal’s Parc LaFontaine in summer 2009, you might have seen a couple of college aged kids playing a game with maple leaf pennies.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of those first plays – and I’m not sure that those first iterations would even be recognizable to someone introduced to the game as it stands today. The rules were a bit different, spells weren’t even modular, and that’s not even getting into how the game looks.
But, the spark of it was there.
That spark stayed with Andy through a PHD, from Canada to California, and to New York City where we met.
While I don’t have pictures of those first plays, I do have a picture of one of my early plays with Andy.
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Tips for Running a Great Board Game Demo — Pine Island Games
Go With the Flow
No two demos are going to be the same, so it’s important to make sure everyone knows your games inside and out, and to stay flexible in a teach.
Some gamers like to skip around and ask a bunch of questions, some gamers are hands on with components, some are content to let you monologue.
And all those approaches are ok.
Converting a Sale
The ultimate goal of demoing at a convention is to show off your games and get them into the hands of people who will love and play them.
This means that you need a call to action to convert those would be fans into consumers. At Gen Con we ran a special price on Nut Hunt (since we didn’t have to pay for shipping). This was a strong incentive to buy the game now, rather than wait and mull it over, and maybe let it slip their mind on their flight home.
Sigil was a harder sale since we don’t have physical copies to sell (we wrapped up the Kickstarter in June and were taking late pledges at the con).
What I found worked for Sigil was to be frank about where in the process we were, and to appeal to consumers who the game really clicked with.
This is roughly the closing script I settled on by the end of the weekend.
“Sigil is our second game. It’s not even out yet. For context, we Kickstarted Nut Hunt last June and delivered it over two months ahead of schedule in January. We Kickstarted Sigil this June, and like Nut Hunt are targeting a March delivery. We can’t promise it will be early because obviously some things are out of our hands, but from our perspective we are on schedule.
“So, what we’re asking people to do today is to go on our website and join the mailing list, and you’ll get notified when we open it up to late pledges next month.
“And, what’s been pretty incredible is that a lot of people know they want the game today. They either demo it or sit down and play it. And, this is one of those games where if this is in your genre – if you like GO, Hive, Onitama – if this is your kind of game, then once you play this you’ll love it.
“If you know already that you want the game, then what we can do today is ring you up and charge you for the base game, and we’ll get your email and when we open up the pledge manager next month you’ll already be in there with all of the Kickstarter backers and have access to the add-ons and all the Kickstarter components.
I think the script I settled on did a couple of things really well.
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It gave context around where we are in the process and set expectations.
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It didn’t pressure people to buy now – but gave them a few ways to engage with us.
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It normalized late pledging in person at the convention.
People like being part of a crowd, and by highlighting that a lot of people were taking the late pledge in person option, I normalized for our con goers that it was a good route to go.
Stay Hydrated
Cons are long, you’ll be talking a lot and your voice will start to go. So, stay hydrated. Take breaks when you need them. Treat yourself well and you’ll keep up that energy to have a successful con full of memorable demos with amazing people.
What are your favorite demo experiences?
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Rapid-fire RTS game Battle Aces is no more as studio ends development
It’s always heart-breaking to see a promising new multiplayer game scrapped, but it’s even sadder still to see one wrap up development before it even fully launches. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happened to Battle Aces – an RTS game aiming to deliver super-fast 1v1 and 2v2 matches while still boasting plenty of strategic depth. Despite its promising premise, and the fact that it has a former Starcraft dev as a game director, Battle Aces has reached the end of its journey.
The debut project from Uncapped Games, Battle Aces certainly generated a lot of initial interest among RTS game lovers. First, it had David Kim at the helm – a Blizzard veteran who served as senior game designer on Starcraft 2 for roughly a decade. Secondly, it aimed to break new ground by offering more accessible, rapid multiplayer matches versus the lengthy slogs you can often become embroiled in. It’s been playable already thanks to some early betas, and it looked to be coming along nicely. However, Uncapped says that it can’t see a successful route forward for its ambitious project.
“Today, with deep regret, we are announcing that development on Battle Aces has come to an end,” a statement posted by Uncapped reads. “Creating Battle Aces has been tremendously rewarding and we are grateful for the passion and support from our community. Unfortunately, the returns from early testing were not strong enough to support continued development.
“This decision was not made lightly. Battle Aces represented a bold vision — our attempt to reimagine real-time strategy for a new generation. We set out to create something fast, tactical, and approachable, while still delivering the depth that makes RTS special. Every step of the way, from internal playtests to closed betas, we were fueled by your enthusiasm, feedback, and support.”
The statement doesn’t mention what the future holds for the studio. My fear is that layoffs may follow if it doesn’t have enough funding to spin up a new project post-Battle Aces. If it does, then maybe we’ll see a new strategy game from Kim and the team in the future.
It is a real shame that Battle Aces won’t even get a shot in early access, but in a world where ambitious, big-budget multiplayer games can quickly nosedive into an unprofitable state after launching, this appears to just be a case of Uncapped cutting its losses and not taking the gamble. However, there are still plenty of great free PC games out there that you can enjoy right now and that have bright futures ahead.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
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The Four Stages of Board Game Prototyping — Pine Island Games
Initially, you’ll mostly use free or stock art in this stage, and although different implementations both prettier physical prototypes along with digital prototypes (I prefer Tabletop Simulator) will allow you to playtest more broadly with other gamers and designers.
This stage of prototype can cover a long period and involves most of the playtesting polishing your game system and mechanisms. This is when you’ll balance your game, make sure the complexity is right, trim the fat, and learn how to onboard players to a smooth experience.
Stage 3: Custom Components
The third stage of prototyping involves sourcing custom components for your game. For many designers this is the final stage before a crowdfunding event and includes assembling review copies. That said, we skipped this stage of prototyping on our most recent project (Sigil), and I expect us to skip this stage altogether going forward.
Since we know we are making manufacture prototypes for reviewers (see Stage 4), it’s more economical for us to source our custom components directly from our manufacturer.
There are a lot of great options for sourcing custom components including print on demand solutions if your goal is to have a modest print run and are willing to accept the high per unit cost.
Some that I’ve used in the past and have had a good experience with are:
Keep in mind that there are some limitations to sourcing custom components – for instance, I found it extremely difficult to source custom wooden meeples in the US.
Stage 4: Manufacturer Prototype
More indie designers should be taking advantage of this option for prototyping. Once your print files are done, you can send them to your manufacturer (see How to Find a Manufacturer) and commission them to print some copies offline (they won’t shut down a full inline printing press).
You can have copies of your game made to your actual specifications – with all of your custom components, and all of the finishes you can expect in your final production run.
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Without breaking the game, how can I fix Memoir 44’s problem with having no cards to order units in a certain section?
I find Memoir 44 very interesting and exciting, but it seems everyone I introduce it to has the same gripe. They (and I) don’t like having a unit getting pummeled by the opposing force without being able to fight back. It doesn’t fit in with the game’s realistic/historical feel, and/or it weakens the game’s element of strategy.
I’m not sure how to fix this issue with a rule modification without undermining some of the basic elements of the game like the luck of the draw.