Author Topic: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...  (Read 14116 times)

Offline x4000

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #30 on: May 01, 2013, 09:20:08 am »
I may have some more comments tomorrow.  That artifact thing is really impressive, actually.  I'll try and think of a way to condense it down.

Always appreciated, and thanks for the kind words. :)

Something occurred to me that you may want to think about.  Whenever I'm describing AI War to people, the part I always talk about is the attack on the AI Home Fortress: my fleet of thousands upon thousands of ships, firing everything they've got at this massive, impenetrable shield while the AI's gigantic guns hammer back.  Dozens or hundreds of ships dying with every blast of the fortress's cannons.  That, for me, is the defining moment of that game: the experience it offers that no other game does.

Is there a similar defining moment for Skyward Collapse, and if so, what is it?

It's hard to say, honestly.  Even with AI War, it's hard to say to some extent -- that's the defining moment for you when it comes to AI War, but to me that's just kind of the last formality.  It's not that victory at the end of a long game is a formality, as you know (unlike other RTS games), but what I mean is that it's just not that exciting for me.  What I love most is split between the early and middle game: a) I really love the expansion into nearby planets, and the sense of that "gold rush" to set up an early empire based on what I find before the AI can really react; and b) I absolutely love the back-and-forth in the middle of the game, when I am overreaching myself a bit and the AI and I are trading control (militarily speaking) of a central planet or two while I look for further targets to jump off to.

In other words, I think that the defining aspect of the AI War experience is that it makes you feel like an awesome space commander, based on what most people have said and how I myself feel.  But what evokes that feeling most varies from person to person.  I think that some people get that feeling most just from the mere fact of playing 10/10 games and being in a constant struggle with the AI.  So in other words, I think that the defining feature is more of an emotion, more of an abstract feeling, rather than a specific event -- when you're talking about general people, not a specific individual.

Speaking of Skyward itself... I think that the emotion (to me) boils down to a few things:

1. Building a really pretty and satisfyingly functional landscape.

2. Having the godlike power to really smash up anything I feel like.  If bandits are really giving me problems, I have some pretty huge things I can use against them if I've played it smart up until that point.  In other words, really feeling somewhat all-powerful despite the challenges and constraints that are put on you.

3. Figuring out ways to kick myself in the teeth as hard as I can, and then get back up and use that as an actual advantage.  Most of the god powers, in some senses, are a kick in the teeth.  Josh has actually been a bit worried that people won't use the more powerful ones, some of which I detailed above.  Those things are devastating to whatever you were doing.  But the thing is, if you want to win and win well, there's so much cleverness you can exercise with those god powers.  Which gods you choose matters, and which god powers you activate when matters, and how you set up your towns prior, during, and after that matters.  You can do all sorts of (for lack of a better term) combos with those pieces, to get desired effects.  To me this sort of thing is fun, because I'm setting the bar higher and higher for myself, and then struggling to reach it.  The edicts and so forth set minimum bars, and the challenges cause you added troubles if you reach for too many at once, but there's also a certain "what awesomeness can I pull off today" aspect to the game, which gets expressed as a high score.  Normally I'm not the sort to care about scores, but I think it's more interesting here.

4. Speaking of emotions, this game is mostly pretty chill.  Like Sim City or Pharaoh or Civilization, I find all those games pretty relaxed.  They are turn-based, the music isn't trying to freak you out, and the pace and scale is such that you can understand things from the starting small scale and then all along as the scale grows.  It's really different from AI War where it's hugely intimidating from the start, both in terms of complexity (as a new player) and in terms of the scenario (in terms of your odds of winning even if you are extremely experienced).  That is in no way saying that Skyward is an easy game (heck, SimCity and Civilization are both extremely difficult, or can be), but I think that being fairly chill is common to most simulation games and god games.  Sure there are times when you are ripping your hair out or screaming at the screen, but it's different from being on a clock or being David vs Goliath.  I don't think I expressed myself very well on this point, but hopefully that makes some semblance of sense. ;)


I think that the key phrase "landscape of villages" that was just added in the last post really gets at #1 and #4 off my list, there.  For #2 and #3... I'm not sure how well those are coming across at all.  I think so far the pitch is "come for the fun," whereas it might should be "come for the fun, stay for the pain." ;)
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Offline x4000

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #31 on: May 01, 2013, 09:21:17 am »
Archiving the current version, before I make some potentially substantial edits:

Current Version Before Changes:

Game Description
How do you balance -- and indeed encourage -- a war between towns without letting either side win?  How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you?  How do you build a thriving landscape of villages against the threat of bandits and mythological powers?  Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way.  Brought to you by the developer of the modern strategy classic AI War: Fleet Command, Arcen's second full strategy title is equally unique (but far easier to learn): a turn-based 4x strategic god-game.

Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith.  Greek and Norse gods, creatures, and men are yours to create... but not control.  In His infinite wisdom, your celestial Master gave your minions free will.  Luminith is a world of warring factions and roaming bandits, and your assignment includes maximizing warfare without wiping out either side -- while meeting additional requirements that The Master has set forth.  The Master assures you that all of this is in service to some larger end that you don't understand, noting only that the "butterfly effect" is involved.

Game Features
* A turn-based strategic god-game where you control neither faction, but instead strive to encourage conflict while maintaining the balance of power.
* Make towns, trade, diplomacy, and war as the boardgame-like floating continent continues to construct itself around you.
* Persuade your minions into doing what you want through incentives as well as controlling what buildings and resources they have access to.
* Choose from among 16 gods, each with unique passive abilities and active powers, to further your goals as the game develops.
* Level up your player profile by completing up to 100 side challenges as you play. 10 related unlockable buildings in all!
* Straightforward controls paired with an intuitive and helpful interface make this an easy title to pick up... but the strategy runs deep.
* 41 Edicts (extra victory requirements) in three difficulty tiers help keep the game fresh every time you play.  There's no one best way to win!
* Co-op multiplayer planned for 1.0 (but not available from the start of beta).
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Offline x4000

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #32 on: May 01, 2013, 09:31:20 am »
All right, this isn't perfect but the second paragraph is a lot more interesting now (the first paragraph is unchanged from the prior post).  The second para was too repetitive and off-topic in the original version, anyhow.  I kind of buried the lead.  I think this one gets at the core essence better, although it's probably too wordy among other problems.  I just wrote it, though, so I need a bit of distance before I'll be able to personally see my way through many edits on it.


Game Description
How do you balance -- and indeed encourage -- a war between towns without letting either side win?  How do you rule over gods, creatures, and men who refuse to obey you?  How do you build a thriving landscape of villages against the threat of bandits and mythological powers?  Skyward Collapse places you into the role of The Creator, and frees you to tackle these problems your own way.  Brought to you by the developer of the modern strategy classic AI War: Fleet Command, Arcen's second full strategy title is equally unique (but far easier to learn): a turn-based 4x strategic god-game.

Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith.  At your disposal are many of the gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology.  The power you wield with these is immense.  We're not kidding: as one example, Gjallarhorn causes everyone standing outside to drop dead.  Your task is not undirected, though you have great freedom in how you go about it: you have various Edicts that you must fulfill in order to win, as well as many tempting Challenges that unlock more buildings and units.  Wielding your powers to their utmost takes skill and planning both in terms of how you use and deploy your mortals and your gods.  Your choice to use the most powerful abilities makes your core goals harder, not easier; but with the proper planning, they can also launch you to new stratospheres of success.

EDIT: Okay, I lied, I already made a bunch of updates to this in the OP.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2013, 09:38:33 am by x4000 »
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Offline Pepisolo

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #33 on: May 01, 2013, 10:37:00 am »
Here are my thoughts as I read through the latest draft.

First paragraph look very good now.


"Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith."

Just to clarify. Are you actually building the continent? Or are you just building on it? From reading this line I keep thinking that you're actually directly constructing an island. Not sure whether that is the case or not. If so, then this line is fine.


"At your disposal are many of the gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology."

This is pretty good, although the old "Create, but not control" was a nice line. Skyward Collapse: To Create yet not Control.


"We're not kidding: as one example, Gjallarhorn causes everyone standing outside to drop dead."

Don't like this. Breaks up the flow of the text and seems like a quirky aside from the developer.


"Your task is not undirected, though you have great freedom in how you go about it: you have various Edicts (set down by the Master?) that you must fulfill in order to win, as well as many tempting Challenges that unlock more buildings and units."

Seems fine. You could mention the Master here, I suppose. Not sure whether you'd want to, though.


"Wielding your powers to their utmost takes skill and planning both in terms of how you use and deploy your mortals and your gods."

Good. I guess you do control your mortals and gods then?


"Your choice to use the most powerful abilities makes your core goals harder, not easier; but with the proper planning, they can also launch you to new stratospheres of success."

I like this, I think. It's a bit head-scratchy, but in the good intriguing way.

Offline x4000

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #34 on: May 01, 2013, 01:09:52 pm »
"Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith."

Just to clarify. Are you actually building the continent? Or are you just building on it? From reading this line I keep thinking that you're actually directly constructing an island. Not sure whether that is the case or not. If so, then this line is fine.

Yes, you are building the continent itself.  You can't place buildings on existing land, for instance.  Instead, you place pieces of land that have buildings on them, making the continent bigger.  You can also directly place land pieces yourself, or smite them and replace them (which sometimes you want or do not want a mountain range, or want to use some marshes to your advantage, or whatever).


"At your disposal are many of the gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology."

This is pretty good, although the old "Create, but not control" was a nice line. Skyward Collapse: To Create yet not Control.

True, that was a good line.  I've worked that back in, though I'm not sure if the way I did it is ideal just yet.

"We're not kidding: as one example, Gjallarhorn causes everyone standing outside to drop dead."

Don't like this. Breaks up the flow of the text and seems like a quirky aside from the developer.

That's actually why I did that -- as an aside from the developer.  I agree it's a big tone shift, and I'm not sure it's appropriate, but it's something I wanted to experiment with.  Having some degree of connection with the developer, and having a sense of actual authorship of the work, is a big part of why a lot of people like indie games, I think.  Even the larger indie teams with 15-20 people start to feel kind of impersonal from a customer side, I think.

I also really think it's important to give a very specific and interesting example of a god token that is crazy, because speaking in specifics rather than generalities is a good thing.  So keeping that part of the idea is something I'm likely to stick to in some form.  As for the aside from the developer... that I'm not sure on.

"Your task is not undirected, though you have great freedom in how you go about it: you have various Edicts (set down by the Master?) that you must fulfill in order to win, as well as many tempting Challenges that unlock more buildings and units."

Seems fine. You could mention the Master here, I suppose. Not sure whether you'd want to, though.

I think mentioning The Master doesn't really serve a purpose anymore, aside from making the explanation more complicated.  I'm trying to drive at the core points and ignore everything else as much I can, this time around.

"Wielding your powers to their utmost takes skill and planning both in terms of how you use and deploy your mortals and your gods."

Good. I guess you do control your mortals and gods then?

Not directly, no.  I explained that in painstaking detail a few posts back up on exactly how that works.  But basically you bribe them or trick them, more or less.  Or restrict what they CAN do so that they do what you want.

"Your choice to use the most powerful abilities makes your core goals harder, not easier; but with the proper planning, they can also launch you to new stratospheres of success."

I like this, I think. It's a bit head-scratchy, but in the good intriguing way.

Well, that's good. :)  I reworded it some in the OP, but just for flow and clarity.  I think it's good with a game like this to end on a "What? How does THAT work?" sort of note.  We're trading on the idea of uniqueness here as the main selling point, as with all Arcen titles, I think.  And fun obviously.  But there's lots of non-unique fun things out there, and the non-uniqueness starts to make them less fun.
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Offline tigersfan

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #35 on: May 01, 2013, 01:21:42 pm »
"Your task is not undirected, though you have great freedom in how you go about it: you have various Edicts (set down by the Master?) that you must fulfill in order to win, as well as many tempting Challenges that unlock more buildings and units."

Seems fine. You could mention the Master here, I suppose. Not sure whether you'd want to, though.

I think mentioning The Master doesn't really serve a purpose anymore, aside from making the explanation more complicated.  I'm trying to drive at the core points and ignore everything else as much I can, this time around.

Totally agreed with you here, Chris. Let's let the "other" thing you've been hinting about talk about the Master, not the store copy. :)

Offline Pepisolo

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #36 on: May 01, 2013, 02:57:14 pm »
Quote
True, that was a good line.  I've worked that back in, though I'm not sure if the way I did it is ideal just yet.

Looks pretty good to me.

Quote
Wielding your powers to their utmost takes skill and planning in how you use and deploy both your mortals and gods.

I see this has been cleaned up a little (placement of the word both). However, is this sentence meant to read that you can use and deploy both mortals and gods? This is how it reads to me. Or should it be more specific, possibly saying "how you use your mortals and how you deploy your gods". Are mortals deployable?

Quote
That's actually why I did that -- as an aside from the developer.

As a deliberate aside, I think it'd work better in parentheses. Mingled into the main text it just seems jarring.

Much improved marketing copy, overall, though. Good job everyone.




Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #37 on: May 01, 2013, 03:16:44 pm »
Quote
That's actually why I did that -- as an aside from the developer.

As a deliberate aside, I think it'd work better in parentheses. Mingled into the main text it just seems jarring.

Much improved marketing copy, overall, though. Good job everyone.
Agreed. This is kind of the same thing as with the AI:War texts where you put in an "oh, and the AI commanders..." instead of "The AI commanders..." It just made the whole thing sound snarky, rather than funny.
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Offline mrhanman

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #38 on: May 01, 2013, 03:21:36 pm »
Quote from: x4000
We're not kidding: as one example, Gjallarhorn causes everyone standing outside to drop dead.

While I don't think mentioning a specific god and its powers is a bad thing, I would prefer it be one more easily pronounced.  I'm not sure why, but this is really sticking in my craw (might be related to this).  Other than that, it sounds great!  I think it would entice me to buy the game even if I knew nothing about it.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2013, 03:25:26 pm by mrhanman »

Offline x4000

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #39 on: May 01, 2013, 04:03:10 pm »
Okay, the current:

Quote
Your task is to build and populate the floating continent of Luminith.  You can create -- but not control -- gods, creatures, and artifacts from both Greek and Norse mythology.  The power you wield with these is immense.  (As one example, Heimdall's horn causes everyone standing outside to drop dead.)  Your task is not undirected, though you have great freedom in how you go about it: Edicts of varying difficulty set extra requirements for your victory, and you can simultaneously pursue Challenges that unlock more buildings and units.  Wielding your powers to their utmost takes skill and planning in how you influence both your mortals and gods.  Your choice to use the most powerful abilities makes your core goals harder, not easier; but with the proper strategy, they can also launch you to new heights of success.

I see what you mean on Gjallarhorn, although we didn't make that name up (or indeed any of the names up, other than Xiphos, which is the literal word for "sword" in Greek).  But I do see what you mean.
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Offline Teal_Blue

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #40 on: May 01, 2013, 06:50:38 pm »
Just wanted to say that what you have up there on the first page now is just about perfect!  :)  I really, really like how it is worded and seems very clear and interesting! Am impatiently waiting to play the game! 

-Teal


Offline x4000

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #41 on: May 01, 2013, 07:04:29 pm »
Thank you!
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Offline PokerChen

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #42 on: May 02, 2013, 04:10:29 am »
Looking much better.

At the moment, I don't quite see how the replayability will be extended beyond the number of edicts I choose to take and the units I can set loose. It reads to me that the creator controls almost every variable in the eponymous creation of the island. In this regard, the blurb does not the reveal potential sources of randomisation:

- When I create the island, do I play a game of Carcassone with all the tiles in my hand? Or do I play whatever is available to me at the time so I can't easily do things like place village on hill -> make killzone with marsh -> stock archers -> village become invincible to melee units.

- I can bring into being any god in every game?

- Does there exist drand() in the creatures' decision algorithms? (Is it is just irand() or no rand() at all?)

 The blurb seems to me as a more of a bloodied-zen exercise in discovering best moves. After I find satisfaction, I will stop playing (that's not actually a bad thing). Essentially, my primary fear is 100% player-driven optimisation. While it's true that the game is highly complex, it will not take long before a small set of seemingly-optimal strategies are found - such as chess. The key decision for freshness is when to step off the grid, there is no pRNG to push you. Whereas in AIWar much of the fun was in the pRNG - nothing like discovering teleport raider+battlestations (although not really viable for high-difficulty), or Zombard+TDL, to decidedly change your options.

= = =

I can see where this may end up going - a strategically masochistic 4X-god game. One can only hope the tokens implemented will play off each other and produce desired outcomes. I foresee complaints along the lines of "I buffed the Greek archers with invincibility, but they didn't go on the attack!".

Free-will is a fickle thing.

Offline x4000

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #43 on: May 02, 2013, 09:11:57 am »
Looking much better.

At the moment, I don't quite see how the replayability will be extended beyond the number of edicts I choose to take and the units I can set loose. It reads to me that the creator controls almost every variable in the eponymous creation of the island. In this regard, the blurb does not the reveal potential sources of randomisation:

In terms of controlling every variable: no, you don't.  Most of the land tiles that pop up are not by your choosing, and the bandits popping in are also not by your choosing.  We also have some other stuff that we probably won't introduce before profiles reach a few levels in (to give players a bit of breathing room at the start).  Josh and I have talked about a "suggestions" mechanic from The Master, but lately I've been thinking a "propositions" (not in that sense) mechanic from units themselves might be more interesting.

There's also randomization in a very butterfly-effect sort of fashion.  In other words, just having a few tiles different, or a guy making a random roll slightly differently, means that the outcomes are different.  For instance, I had a scenario that I was testing just last night to make sure something worked: Adamantine, a mythological token.  It gives the one dude who picks it up 100x his normal health and attack -- holy heck, right!?  But it also spawns 20 bandits at the end of that turn.  In one outing of this, he killed all the bandits within a few turns and had 65% of his health remaining.  In another 14/20 of the bandits were remaining after he died.  The difference there was both in which bandits appeared, and where.

Anyhow, there are already a triumvirate of goals in any game as it stands:
1. Make it to the end without failing your edicts or having genocide.
2. Make the highest score possible... because, come on, it shows you're awesome. ;)
3. Work on the 100 challenges, which unlock new stuff, and which are not something you'll blow through in a couple of hours.

In other words, for $5 the replay value is completely off the hook.  I wouldn't say that it has AI War levels of replayability by any stretch, but neither did AI War when AI War first came out.  If Skyward takes off, I hope to do with this what we've done with AI War, in terms of the combination of free DLC and paid DLC to keep it growing for a long time.  Of course, I've said that with every game since AI War and that's never happened -- but we've never broken even, let alone made a profit, on any game but AI War either.

Anyhow, I get what you're getting at above, but I'm not yet sure how to really address that beyond what is already stated.  It already talks about the challenges in the bullet points, it makes a big deal about both bandits and free will, and it implies heavily that figuring out an optimal strategy is super hard.  All those things, when I read them, say "replayability."  I don't mean that in a snarky way: different things pique different people, so I'm just genuinely not sure what is the missing element for you and am trying to find out.

- When I create the island, do I play a game of Carcassone with all the tiles in my hand?

It's funny you mention the randomization of what you can place in Carcassone-like fashion.  That's exactly how this game started and was conceived.  And oh MAN was it not fun.

Or do I play whatever is available to me at the time so I can't easily do things like place village on hill -> make killzone with marsh -> stock archers -> village become invincible to melee units.

Bear in mind that everything costs resources, and you are pursuing multiple objectives at once.  If you had no secondary objectives, then sure you could just set up a stalemate in various ways and everyone would be safe and happy.  However, if you don't create military units then your cities crumble into crime.  And your military units won't stay still if they have access to enemy towns or enemies in general: they will run off and attack.  So that archery stronghold you mentioned would instead be a breeding ground for archers running around the map, not staying where you wanted them to.  If those archers prove TOO effective, you're going to be struggling against yourself on the other side to fix what you just wrought.

On the other hand, if you block off your archers so that they can't reach the enemies directly but can just shoot at them, that actually would work... for a little while, until you die. ;)  See, the military units won't actually move unless they have an enemy in their sight range or an enemy town center that they can path to.  So if you make the enemy fortifications perfect, you'll get a backup blockage of guys in your "perfectly safe" town.  That sounds fine, until you learn that more than one unit can't stand on a tile.  And that military production facilities can't produce units while someone is standing on them.  And then you remember the crime factor, and in a dozen or so turns that perfectly safe town belongs to the bandits from forces within. :)

The whole "do I do whatever I want" sort of argument is kind of like saying the same thing in any any strategy game.  And I know the next argument in that: "but you're playing against a (human or AI) opponent there, rather than playing both sides."  Which is true, but here you are playing against an equally challenging... let's call it "environmental situation."  If you just doodle around, the game kills you. :)

- I can bring into being any god in every game?

Yes, but for purposes of challenges and otherwise you're encouraged to choose different ones at different times.  Also, depending on the map or on other circumstances (ie what else you are trying to accomplish in a specific game), you'll find that some gods are way better suited for some things than others.  Lots of bandits around?  Yeah, you're going to pick Ares most likely.  Working on lots of trade?  Foolish not to pick Pan.

But the thing is, you're rarely doing just ONE thing at a time if you're playing at an advanced level... so the choices aren't so obvious.  Or even if the choice of a god is obvious, choosing when and how to use his/her powers certainly is not.

- Does there exist drand() in the creatures' decision algorithms? (Is it is just irand() or no rand() at all?)

I'm not familiar with drand vs irand, so I'm not sure what you mean.  But there's a fair bit of randomization, yes.  The units can be somewhat predicted if you made a spreadsheet and looked at the exact board state at the moment.  Or just have an intuitive sense for the game from long playtime.  But the thing is, the circumstances are so ever-changing and the board state grows and changes after every turn in nontrivial ways, that there is a lot of "oh man now that just happened" stuff thrown your way, heh.

The blurb seems to me as a more of a bloodied-zen exercise in discovering best moves. After I find satisfaction, I will stop playing (that's not actually a bad thing). Essentially, my primary fear is 100% player-driven optimisation. While it's true that the game is highly complex, it will not take long before a small set of seemingly-optimal strategies are found - such as chess. The key decision for freshness is when to step off the grid, there is no pRNG to push you. Whereas in AIWar much of the fun was in the pRNG - nothing like discovering teleport raider+battlestations (although not really viable for high-difficulty), or Zombard+TDL, to decidedly change your options.

Well, the text specifically mentions that there are no optimal strategies.  The edicts themselves also have WAY more influence here than the AI types do in AI War, I should add.  And the challenges really are going to throw monkey wrenches into your usual strategies for a good couple of dozen hours or so.  Beyond a couple of dozen hours, Josh and I are aware that players could fall into something of a rut (once all challenges are complete, basically).  That's where our thinking on either suggestions or propositions come in, as those will add basically a fourth layer of randomization to this (bandits, map growth, and unit AI being the first three).

The reason that the situation in AI War is so interesting isn't because of some singularly brilliant AI algorithm -- what you would need for grandmaster-level Chess.  Rather, it's because of all the layers on layers on layers of AI and randomization and so forth.  Skyward is turn-based and so some different things apply, but rest assured we are thinking about ways (prior to 1.0) to address the "I've played this to 'completion' in terms of challenges and am now done with it" effect.  The effect, which I might add, is what eventually has driven me away from every RTS or TBS I played, even the ones I loved.  Usually took between 0.5 and 2 years for that to sink in, but it always did.

Another key thing with AI War has been that the game has actually been constantly changing over 4 years.  All those expansions and free DLC... well, I don't think people would still be playing the game without those.  Presuming enough interest in Skyward, that's again what I want to do here.

I can see where this may end up going - a strategically masochistic 4X-god game. One can only hope the tokens implemented will play off each other and produce desired outcomes. I foresee complaints along the lines of "I buffed the Greek archers with invincibility, but they didn't go on the attack!".

Free-will is a fickle thing.

Your archers will never just sit around if they have any route to enemies.  If they are sitting around, it's your fault.  The complaints would come in the form of "argh, you made small decision X instead of Y, and now my larger schemes need some adjusting."  That's part of what Josh and I both were adamant the game needed: somewhat predictable AI in the units.  If you have archers, and they have somewhere to go, you can be 100% sure they will start heading out.  Which exact place they go, or who they meet and how they fight along the way... that's a different matter.  But since this plays out over turns, you can kind of see how things are developing and airdrop minotaurs or whatever where needed. ;)

The free will here isn't terribly fickle: it's where the rand() you're looking for comes from.
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Offline mrhanman

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Re: Working on Skyward Collapse marketing copy...
« Reply #44 on: May 02, 2013, 09:26:38 am »
The AI is sounding a lot like Dwarf Fortress'.  The potential for carnage is unlimited!

 

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