Category: General

A bit ago when I was talking about sandbox as interactions, instead of sandbox as mechanics, with regard to the eternal MMO war between sandbox and themepark games, Telwyn had a really interesting comment. Basically Telwyn brought up the desire to have a sandbox PvE MMO that did not “devolve into open world PvP”. Bhagpuss also commented on that post, and I instantly thought of Everquest because of him. A sandbox PvE MMO without the huge PvP aspects (combat or economical) found in sandbox MMOs (like EVE Online) I felt could just revert to something like Everquest. Continue reading State of Sandbox PvE (and Zombies)

Does this thing get better?

I played through the first segment of Quantum Conundrum, another one of those FPS puzzle games. The game this time involves changing the physics as they apply to objects. In the first segment, you get low gravity and high density. Slow and reverse gravity are coming. So far, it is mostly about moving boxes around rooms.

So far, the puzzles and writing are mostly uninspired, and the internet tells me it will turn into platformer Hell involving jumping with dodgy physics, precise timing, and invisible feet. And heck, I had heard that before giving it a shot, but I’m a MMO player and therefore willing to drag myself through broken glass in search of a bit of good sport. I am not even to the broken glass yet, and I’m overwhelmed with “meh.”

Checking Steam’s global achievements, I don’t feel alone: 92.7% of owners have at least tried it, 59.4% finished the first segment, 30.2% finished the second, and 25.1% finished the third. About two-thirds of players met the game half-way, and half of them bailed. Most folks who finished 2/3 were pleased or determined enough to finish the game.

So I ask you, the reader: anyone played further and care to comment on Quantum Conundrum?
: Zubon

After having played through Orcs Must Die! 2, I echo my first impressions: more of the same with some improvements. If you enjoyed the original Orcs Must Die!, you will like Orcs Must Die! 2 more. It is good action defense.

Difficulty is moderate. Returning players will beat most maps on the first try but not with a five-skull score. You are not playing for the story, so you unlock the next level to have access to the new map, not to see what happens next. You can always dial the difficulty down; once you have beat all the maps, you can dial it up.

As I said, there is a grind for “character advancement”: upgrading traps, weapons, and trinkets. The grind is short, past which you are just adding options. You can respec costlessly at any time, so you only need enough skulls to top off 10 things, and you only need 10 fully advanced if you are competing for high scores. I am in the 250-skull range, and I capped my favorite traps while getting a small array of options without needing to respec between them. (Easy grind: a “perfect” Nightmare level nets at least 9 skulls for every repetition, and there are a few quick and easy Nightmare levels.)

I like the Sorceress. Her base weapon comes with a charm spell, and nothing quite slows the multi-ogre rush like making them hit each other. It is perhaps too easy to clear the game with the tricks you learned in the first game rather than using the new toys. I like the trinkets: convert that trap slot you don’t need into a passive bonus and occasional active ability like “make more money” or “reset all traps” (or hit both at once). The addition of endless mode gives you a way to stay on your favorite map longer and keep building more traps.

Co-op is the great new feature I have yet to try. My friends list is not full of OMD2 players. You definitely can beat the game solo, even when a map has eight entrances to watch, but several of the maps would be much more reasonable with a second wand or shotgun. Then again, several of the classic maps would be much more reasonable with a second wand or shotgun.

: Zubon

Orcs Must Die! 2 has the often-condemned “DLC in the box” … of sorts. 10 levels from the original game have been re-done for the new game, which means you can play them co-op, use your OMD2 character with all its upgrades, etc. How do you get this? Own the original game. This makes it a bonus for returning players and an incentive for new players to try the first game (which can be under $5 with all DLC when on sale).

If you’re going to put DLC in the box, the polite option is to give it away to most of your target audience.

: Zubon

I was pleasantly surprised last night to realize that Orcs Must Die! 2 (OMD2) had been released. I had not realized it was being made until there was a pre-order sale, and that seems to have been on the cusp of release. I enjoyed the first one and found it contrasted with the competition by having higher quality content but fewer hours of it: better gameplay, no grind. I stayed up too late sampling OMD2.

OMD2 is a much broader experience. It has three modes (story, classic, endless), three difficulty levels, cooperative play, and a chance to play as the villain of the first game. Levels are recycled within those options.

Character progression has been added. In the first game, you could upgrade a trap once, ever, done. There was also a within-map tech tree for enhancing traps and abilities. In the sequel, you earn skulls and spend them to unlock and upgrade things, in addition to what you unlock for completing levels. A trap might have five possible upgrades, and the total cost to cap everything must be in the thousands of skulls. I do not know how grindy this will feel in the long run; I did not use all the traps in the first game, so I don’t feel a need to unlock and upgrade everything. There will be the question of how many upgrades the game is balanced around.

I remain a fan of scaling difficulty by number and type of monster, not having monsters scale. Don’t give me a 80,000hp orc. Give me some ogres or 80,000hp worth of orcs. OMD2 continues saying that an orc you can one-shot on the first map is an orc you can one-shot on the last map. To give some options between orcs and ogres, orcs come in light, medium, and heavy, and they can again have shields or crossbows.

OMD2 starts faster than OMD1, presumably assuming you played the first one. The backstory is only briefly explained, and our Bruce Campbell protagonist continues his impudent dialogue. The first level of OMD2 is much more complex than the first of 1, and it ramps up more quickly. So far, the maps have been fair challenges: you can beat them on the first try, but getting a five-skull score will probably require a replay. I had a blast spending an evening mostly in story mode, and I will be back after having played more.

: Zubon

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has an excellent article by Jim Rossignol about the stumbling of Star Wars The Old Republic (SWTOR) away from the pure subscription-based model. His vehicle for most of the discussion is EVE Online, a posterboy for subscription model MMO success. He also discusses the value of sandbox and themepark:

And so perhaps what we want to pay for is something we find a specific sort of value in. We want to pay for something that rewards us not with more quests, or more numbers, but with fresh modes of interaction. And, perhaps because of the surplus of quest-based MMO experiences out there, we value the rare and special service that the sandbox provides.

I like Jim’s thinking, and had much the same thoughts using different words and synapses in response to a Guild Wars 2 blog post. The knee-jerk response to sandbox vs. theme park seems to be whether the content is developer-driven or not.  One could argue that W-space is EVE’s theme park because a lot of the content is created from developers. What really matters is the interactions that take place.

In my view, successful MMOs are successful because they offer a lot of fun interactions. It is not about freshness of content, whether it’s contested sleeper sites, a rift burning through the transdimensional atmosphere, or skritt stealing cannonballs from a firing range. The criticality of MMOs is whether that content allows for various degrees of positive interaction.

I felt bad for SWTOR since the start because the producers never seemed to realize that. The interactions were either hyper-personal with personal story or forced with a variation on the trinity. There is nothing wrong with theme park style design, but creating community is what is going to pay the rent. Community can only be created by interactions.

Tonight I plan on playing another few rounds of Doomsday on Team Fortress 2. I haven’t really played any other map since Pyromania. I am sure I will experience a fresh interaction (hopefully another crocket on the launch pad).

–Ravious

The epic Steam Sales have a weird effect on me. I put lots of games in my wishlist, and when it goes on sale for what feels like pennies, I am pressed to the point of buy or don’t buy. I don’t know whether it is the coming Guild Wars 2 launch or summer doldrums, but I didn’t buy that many games off my wishlist. I did stumble on Space Pirates and Zombies (“SPAZ”), a game made by the 2-man Minmax Games. It had never been on my wishlist.

The game is a lot of fun. Steam tells me I’ve put in a dozen hours, and I feel like I have tons of game left to go. Read on for more thoughts and discussion about their take on death penalty. Continue reading Space Pirates and Zombies

Did you ever play The Addams Family pinball machine? I recall it as probably the best I’ve ever played. It was the highest selling pinball game ever with 20,270 units. Read that number again. Best selling ever. 20,270.

Standards of success vary across industries. Also, the modern market for pinball machines seems small.

: Zubon

Wikipedia calls it “the best selling pinball machine since the 1930s” (emphasis added), but the pinball machines of the 1930s were early pachinko machines, not what you would think of as pinball. The first pinball machine with flippers was made in 1947, so the early pinball machines were pure gambling games of chance. The Roger Sharpe‘s demonstration of pinball as a game of skill is a lovely comedy of errors that reached the right result by mostly luck. (The previous version I read said they switched machines due to technical problems, not suspicion of cheating.)

Stacking is an easy, family-friendly puzzle game themed around stacking dolls. Each doll has an ability, and you use those to solve the puzzles. It comes from the fine people at Double Fine. A 100% playthrough is in the 8-12 hour range; if you go straight through without fiddling with the optional content, probably half of that. This includes the DLC that is included with the PC version on Steam.

The puzzles are simple. You can usually solve them with a doll immediately at hand. They are also well designed in that they have multiple solutions and some of those solutions have multiple options. The introductory challenge has three ways to get past it, and one of those ways can be implemented in at least two ways. I solved some puzzles accidentally just by seeing what the various dolls in the rooms could do. If you are having trouble, the game has a built-in hint system with increasingly explicit instructions as you ask for more hints. You will likely need it for a 100% completion. Some of the solutions exhibit a bit of adventure game logic, and sometimes you might not guess which variations count as one or more solutions. For example, in the DLC, two ways of fighting off the ghouls count as the same solution, but another way is a separate one; there are several soup- and disease-involved ways to make a guard sick, and they count as three solutions. Also good luck guessing how to get some of the “hi jinks”; the common problem of “right idea, slightly off” arises.

The story involves saving Charlie’s family, which has been forced into child labor by the dastardly baron. It has a Victorian tone and takes a lighthearted approach to child labor, indentured servitude, industrial pollution, homelessness, and poverty. Seriously, it’s really cheerful despite the setting, kind of the opposite of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Stiff upper lip, no worries, our can-do spirit will see us through!

You will be spending a lot of time in cut scenes. It takes a while for there to be much gameplay, rather than a series of introductory stories. Every scene changes has a cut scene or two. They are done as silent films: dolls emoting while instrumental music plays in the background, and then a card with their dialogue. It is timed for a low grade level’s reading speed.

Fun, flexible, and silly. Largely worth the time, if you enjoy this sort of thing. Your price point may be below the $15 retail; I got it on a Steam sale. If you do not have any Double Fine games, there are frequent sales on the three-pack, and their next game is ever in the works.

: Zubon