Author Topic: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam  (Read 2241 times)

Offline cupogoodness

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http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2011/02/ai-war-50-and-light-of-spire-expansion.html

Hey everyone, wanted to cross post this from the Arcen blog. It's pretty much the same info from the original launch press release, but with all the relevant Steam and sale info included. We've caught the "waiting for the Steam version" comment a significant number of times (though not too much here on the forums), so pass the word along to anyone you know who's been waiting for this particular release.

Also, Steam users who purchased Light of the Spire via our store should only have to enter the key under the "activate a product on Steam.." option in the games menu.

- Erik

The Light of the Spire Expansion
Arcen Games is proud to announce AI War: Light of the  Spire, the game's biggest expansion ever, is out now for PC and Mac on Steam.  To celebrate, the base game will go for 50% off and the new add-on 10%  off on Valve's digital distribution platform until February 21 at 10 AM  PST: http://store.steampowered.com/app/40400/

The expansion is packed full of new additions. The "Fallen  Spire" campaign brings in-game linear story elements to the title for the first  time, and culminates in a whole new way to win. Players  with minutes instead of hours should take to the new  Defender Mode, offering bite-sized timed games against crazy AI aggression.

Light of the Spire also brings 180 new ships, including the powerful "Spirecraft" vessel class which stands as the second largest unit class in the game.  New music from composer Pablo Vega, new AI types, map types, bonus ship  classes, minor factions and quite a bit more packs the expansion to the brim. Prepare for a new war!

Light of the Spire is available now for $10 through  ArcenGames.com and most major digital distributors. More information and a trailer can  be found here, along with a comprehensive feature list: http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/aiwar-spire

AI War 5.0
Arriving alongside the LotS expansion is AI War 5.0, a massive update free to owners of the base game on Steam. Version 5.0 refines the title by taking the best of all past versions and blending them into the definitive AI War experience. While the game will continue to grow and evolve, 5.0 now serves as the foundation for the future.

With this update, nearly every combat ship in the game has been rebalanced in an effort to integrate all the new units added over the past year. Golems have been completely revamped and the AI have received major intelligence upgrades such as more proactive  retreats, a network of core shield generators, and the new "stalking" mechanic where it lies in wait until the player is at their most  vulnerable.

Players should also be pleased with significant adjustments to overall difficulty and the shortening of the early part of the game -- allowing you to "get to the good part" faster. Not to mention tons of performance improvements, as well as more of a general accessibility regardless of what level of player you are.

Steam users who own AI War simply can load up the game to automatically download the new update. Interested parties can read all the additions, improvements and changes in massive detail here: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_5.000_Release

Updated Demos
The PC demo on AI War: Fleet Command's Steam page now reflects the latest update. PC and Mac Demos of both AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire can be downloaded here: http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/aiwar-downloads
« Last Edit: February 14, 2011, 09:04:56 pm by cupogoodness »

Offline TechSY730

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2011, 09:09:22 pm »
Does this mean the "Steam still pushing out 4.021" thing was fixed?

Offline cupogoodness

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2011, 09:17:21 pm »
I'm sure Chris will drop in with some more info soon, but as far as I know the v5.0 update was to arrive alongside the expansion's release today on Steam. Whether they held up that end of the bargain isn't clear, but if the client isn't automatically downloading it and you own the base game then it's probably not on there yet. If that's the case, we'll get in contact with them and see what's going on.

Offline TechSY730

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2011, 09:32:55 pm »
Keith was on it earlier, but couldn't get very far with it. I guess it is up to the high lama-rama* himself to take care of it.

*That is a compliment, not an insult.

Offline Spikey00

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2011, 11:06:07 pm »
Wait.  Arcen has a PR?
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Offline cupogoodness

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2011, 11:51:33 pm »
Hi! Posted this over in the AVWW area a bit back:

Quote
I might as well quickly introduce myself. Name's Erik, I joined Arcen last month, and will focus primarily on taking the PR load off of the rest of the team as a whole--letting them do what they do best.

Nice to meet everyone! I'm genuinely ecstatic about what we're working on for AVWW, our two released titles and everything else beyond that. Look forward to talking to/working with many of you going forward.

- Erik Johnson

Offline KingIsaacLinksr

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2011, 02:49:37 am »
Wait.  Arcen has a PR?

I was kinda curious why they didn't have one by now (until I saw that post a couple weeks back).  I mean, geez, Chris is CEO, artist and forum moderator + a whole bunch of other stuff.  Insane.  And with so many social media networks now, that job is much harder.  Good luck Erik :)

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Offline Spikey00

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2011, 05:34:16 pm »
Welcome to the community then, Erik! 

(Heh, although it makes me feel a bit obsolete.  :p)
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Offline x4000

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2011, 05:39:12 pm »
We're certainly still very grateful for you, Spikey -- Erik is mostly focused in a completely different sort of area.  That said, if you're worn out on volunteering, by no means should you feel obligated.  As with those who help with the wiki, we really appreciate everything you all do, and we'd never want to you get into a state where you feel obligated to keep contributing and leave.  We're grateful for whatever folks give of their time while they have the time!
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Offline Spikey00

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2011, 12:58:18 am »
I'm perfectly fine with it--it's the least I can do.  I assume Erik is tasked with responding to customer queries (email, Arcen/Steam forums), maybe article writing? 

Does it mean that Arcen is in a good financial position now?
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Offline x4000

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2011, 10:37:20 am »
Erik is more focused on the press, and getting us more visibility in new places. With AVWW, he's also fielding various questions from gamers on other sites. Keith and I are still the main ones on customer service and support.

Arcen is doing much better for the time being, but we'll run into trouble in the middle of this year if we don't get AVWW off and running good. Part of our strategy for that involves Erik -- you have to spend money to make money, etc. What we were doing before was leaving us far too invisible to the larger gaming community.
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Offline Spikey00

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2011, 12:21:46 am »
Ah, makes sense, especially seeing you in previous times outreaching to some far-away forum to persuade people in joining the crusade against benevolence (unless you would be the one still in "charge" of that).  :p

So I guess the bottom line means that AVWW has to do better than Tidalis?  Speaking of Tidalis, has the sales of that title taken off yet, or is it still in slumber?
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Offline x4000

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2011, 12:38:49 am »
It's still in slumber. AVWW needs to do vastly better than Tidalis, or we're in trouble.  AI War has outsold Tidalis literally 10:1, so there's a pretty big gap (in our favor) there between what we need and what we've done before with AI War.
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Offline BobTheJanitor

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2011, 01:05:16 am »
Hey did you ever try to get Tidalis lite posted up on jayisgames.com? More publicity could never hurt.

Offline x4000

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Re: AI War 5.0 and Light of the Spire Expansion Now Available on Steam
« Reply #14 on: February 18, 2011, 02:07:03 am »
I think we did... I can't recall.  Tidalis is going to be coming back into our main sights for PR as soon as this latest batch of AI War stuff dies down, though. :)
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