What's Coming Up For AI War?

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2011/02/whats-coming-up-for-ai-war.html

Version 5.0 is out most places (not yet Steam, but that's coming) along with the latest massive expansion, Light of the Spire.  This is a big milestone!  And you might notice that the next expansion isn't due until late this year at the earliest.  So what happens in the meantime?

Well, our take on the core community is that they are currently pretty worn out on reinvention.  We've had a nonstop flurry of changes to the game all the way from version 4.0 and the Children of Neinzul expansion in the September, up through 5.0 and the LotS expansion in late January.  At some point the game has to stop changing massively and kind of "settle."

That's the phase that we're entering now, and it's something that a number of players have hinted to us that they'd like.  "Letting the game settle" does not mean just forgetting about it.  Rather, it bespeaks a different way of continuing to work with it.  Those who were around for the eight-month span between 3.0 and 4.0 know what I'm referring to.

It boils down to refining what we already have in place, tweaking where tweaking needs to happen, and adding little extra features that enhance the overall process of the game rather than reinventing it wholesale.  During this period, we're going to be paying special attention to the Vote Tallies section of our mantis idea tracker.  New features that rank high in the vote tallies are a lot more likely to get implemented in our ongoing free DLC releases, alongside the various bugfixes and general tweaks that will be going into the game on an ongoing basis.

All in all: it's a great time to be playing AI War.  You can learn the current rules and functionality with the security that it isn't going to be changing on you every week.  And yet the game isn't going to get stagnant, it's going to be gradually changing into the best possible version of itself.  A lot of people remember the post-3.0 time period with special fondness, despite the fact that our attention was so hugely on making Tidalis, and I think that's why.  It's no secret that our focus coming up is going to be hugely on making A Valley Without Wind, but at the same time that leaves plenty of room for continuing AI War's evolution.

It's definitely a great time to be playing AI War!

[Echo35]

I can finally start a game I can play for more than a few hours without something changing drastically in that time

[Arcain_One]

Will the weekly polls also return? [perhaps they don't always have to be about the suggestions]

[x4000]

Will the weekly polls also return? [perhaps they don't always have to be about the suggestions]

Probably not.  There's not really any reason to do a weekly poll, as we figure that most desires aren't weekly in nature.  As in, if you want feature X, you want it next week, too.  That's why the Vote Tallies thing works a lot better for those purposes, you can register what you want without having to worry that it's later going to be a case where you have to vote again or your opinion doesn't count if it doesn't win that week.

Plus, with the vote tallies you can vote for as much stuff as you want.  Since we're looking for what is, in aggregate, most important to folks, it doesn't matter if there is one issue important to you, or 50, it's all about how that shakes out with the list with everyone's votes.

Hope that makes sense!

[chemical_art]

This reassurance that the game will still be loved and still receive attention is very nice. I know of plenty *little* things that can be done, but as a whole I am happy with the current package. The fact that updates work on these little things is exactly what I think is needed. Thanks for the continued support!

[x4000]

Oh, and of course -- next expansion, it's reinvention time again.  Players (and developers) just need a quieter period every so often, it seems.

[Zeba]

Oh, and of course -- next expansion, it's reinvention time again.  Players (and developers) just need a quieter period every so often, it seems.

I will add that what fun is reinvention when you don't have time to enjoy what was reinvented before it gets reinvented again. 

[x4000]

Oh, and of course -- next expansion, it's reinvention time again.  Players (and developers) just need a quieter period every so often, it seems.

I will add that what fun is reinvention when you don't have time to enjoy what was reinvented before it gets reinvented again. 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[zoutzakje]

I for one am very looking forward to AVWW. the moment it will appear on steam, it will be mine. So actually no diference from LoTS then (hurry up steam lol).
really looking forward to playing LoTS and I'm absolutely sure I'm far from done with it by the time you guys bring out the next expansion. Got over 110 hours of AI war playtime so far and I'm still enjoying it to the fullest. no doubt I'll be playing this game much longer than I played left 4 dead for example (350 hours and I'm getting pretty sick of it by now lol).

[TechSY730]

I hate to bump this somewhat old thread, but here I go.

If you have been keeping up with some of the discussions raging on right now, you will have noticed some people still a little sour about the whole game altering changes that were VERY frequent in both the first unity version -> 4.0 beta cycle and the 4.0 -> 5.0 beta cycle.
(Changes such as reinvention, re-purposing, changes to what units counter what, invalidation of old strategies, new mechanics to learn, changes in how games are seeded, etc, etc.)

Do you guys really promise to take it easy on that kind of stuff for this beta cycle? I think it will settle a lot of players' nerves if they know that their existing save games, play-styles, and understanding of the game can decently survive this beta cycle.

[x4000]

Yes.  We don't have time or inclination to reinvent the game again anytime soon.  Frankly, a lot of the 4.0-and-onwards reinvention was to address complaints and such that had been around since 1.0 of AI War.  We may not see such a global reinvention of the game ever again, honestly.  I'd be happier just to expand it and refine it, rather than constantly reinventing the core.  That sort of core reinvention was only ever intended to be a one-time sort of deal, taking the game and making sort of an in-place sequel all at one go.

To have an analogy, I look at it like the move from Windows 9X to Windows 2000.  That was huge, and broke a lot of stuff.  But then XP came after, and it was just the best possible version of the 2000 codebase, refining it considerably.  The problem came when they then moved to Vista, which was a terrible idea.  We don't have any such plans, our next version would be more like Windows XP 2 in that analogy, which is what I'd hoped Microsoft would make in the first place.

Note that while I do use Windows 7, it's still not the "Windows XP 2" that I wanted.  But that's really getting off-topic.

[TechSY730]

Yes.  We don't have time or inclination to reinvent the game again anytime soon.  Frankly, a lot of the 4.0-and-onwards reinvention was to address complaints and such that had been around since 1.0 of AI War.  We may not see such a global reinvention of the game ever again, honestly.  I'd be happier just to expand it and refine it, rather than constantly reinventing the core.  That sort of core reinvention was only ever intended to be a one-time sort of deal, taking the game and making sort of an in-place sequel all at one go.

To have an analogy, I look at it like the move from Windows 9X to Windows 2000.  That was huge, and broke a lot of stuff.  But then XP came after, and it was just the best possible version of the 2000 codebase, refining it considerably.  The problem came when they then moved to Vista, which was a terrible idea.  We don't have any such plans, our next version would be more like Windows XP 2 in that analogy, which is what I'd hoped Microsoft would make in the first place.

Note that while I do use Windows 7, it's still not the "Windows XP 2" that I wanted.  But that's really getting off-topic.

Good to hear, and that is pretty reassuring. I was planning to not beta test this cycle because I feared more of these types of shifts, but after you made this post, I changed my mind. I will still be a (mostly) happy beta tester for you guys.

I look forward to your "polishing and refining" of the good 5.0 base you guys have now.



And yes, analogies and metaphors, no matter how relevant or good they are, have this nasty tendency to derail forum topics. 

[x4000]

That's why I've not been in favor of some of the stuff suggested so far in Mantis -- too massive of a shift for the moment.

[TechSY730]

That's why I've not been in favor of some of the stuff suggested so far in Mantis -- too massive of a shift for the moment.

So I guess that means I shouldn't bother posting my suggestion to reverse the role of fleet ships and starships? 

[x4000]

Pretty much, yeah.

But yes, the reason we packed so much in to the 5.0 time period was specifically so that the game would be in a really good state where we could mostly leave it alone in the grand sense, with smaller refinements and additions on a regular basis.  The last couple of weeks have been crazy enough that we haven't done even that yet, but those are coming.