Forgotten Lore

No.

The concept is one that should never be forgotten by a good systems analyst. Barbara Tuchman’s classic is an examination of the process of how organizations can relentlessly pursue policies that act against their own best interests. The utility analysis of best interests can be a bit subjective but the concept that Tuchman illustrates with her case studies is very useful.

If just a bit of what you read here at Broken Toys (the best summation I’ve found) is true then my guess is that the book could use a new chapter.

Wait that’s not right. Anyway, there is a neat article on British One Man Indies that is a nice read and features Cliffski of Gratuitous Space Battles fame. I found myself nodding in agreement through most of it. I especially agree with this sentiment “But I get to spend all day every day doing what I love, and there’s no real price to be put on that.” That’s doubly so when you are in the fun design stage of a project like I am right now with Rogue Expedition.

So I finally caught up on my Flash of Steel Podcast for the week and boy was I surprised. The podcast banter from the ensemble cast is excellent as always and a special bonus is Soren Johnson as the guest. I also was floored to get some mentions and even an undeserved rating as one of their previous favorite guests…especially since my Skype connection was frankly an embarrassment (I live in a really rural area) and the group covered for my stammering and lame jokes so well.

The podcast is a must listen if you are into strategy gaming and want to hear a great discussion of where strategy gaming might be heading. The question was asked whether Armageddon Empires could be done on the IPod touch? My answer is not while I still draw breath and have the will to fight the good fight. It occurred to me Soren is absolutely right that I’m a lifestyle designer/entrepreneur. Dinosaur is probably a great description as well. I game on my PC and I’m not running off to buy an Ipod touch anytime soon. My kids have them and they love to use them to make fart sounds and pour beer and milk but I’m committed to designing complex games that you sit down in your leather man cave chair with a monitor directly in front of you….that’s a lifestyle that I just can’t imagine giving up. I’m conditioned to go into receive mode on the couch in front of the TV and I laugh at the idea of looking at a tiny screen to “strategize.”

Soren struck a lot of notes that resonated with me especially his desire to work in 2D and the easy prototyping freedom that it offers. On the question of browser based strategy games I’m enthusiastic but I won’t be charging into that breach ahead of the Forlorn Hope. It does offer a nice anti Piracy aspect and the more I see AE pirated the more attractive something like that gets. I’m looking forward to whatever Soren announces down the road with the browser based initiative that he seems to be working on.

I’ve long had a love hate relationship with Real Time Strategy games…where I play the abused spouse role in so many ways. I’ve also got a big soft spot for Age of Empires and can still see those gazelles being cut up into large juicy meat chunks to feed your burgeoning village….and can still hear that sound that your stone age villagers made. It wasn’t Yub Yub but it was something close.

Anyway, don’t miss the Crispy Gamer piece by Troy Goodfellow on the hidden history of Ensemble. It’s a great retrospective on one of the best studios that ever was. I’m still mystified as to why Microsoft would close this creative powerhouse down. Despite my generally positive attitude on the non-dom3dness of PC gaming, this type of thing scares me since my living is directly coupled to the PC’s success as a gaming platform. But like a great philosopher once said “Never despair! But if you do despair, move forward in despair.”

the fact that my eyesight went from 20/18 to 20/25 when I turned 18 would probably not have precluded me from being a pilot in the military. Ironically my lack of hand eye coordination and hating to bunny hop or camp would have done me in. The age of the video game warriors is dawning. This is a really interesting read on lewt skillz and the modern battlefield.

CROWS at the Strategy Page

But come the Great Robot Wars I’m going to get an Adrianne Barbeau Bot body…..because I freaking love harmony! So watch out. Who knows if I live long enough my head in a jar might be able to pilot an RPV with a Firefox hook up. Zapuck.

I caught this interesting news bite over at Tom Chick’s Fidget. It seems that using The Inferno as a thematic setting is getting some serious consideration from the giants of the industry. With M rated games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 doing so well though it’s not surprising that designers might venture below. The nice thing about my niche though is that nobody is building a turn based strategy game down there. Sure Brad Wardell and Co. at Stardock are working on Elemental but that’s a different league and I need TBS’s to play like the next guy so no worries there. Seeing Stardock continue to pursue the TBS genre gives me hope that my niche won’t become a nichette.

Solium Infernum is PG-13 by the way. This is probably the most “mature” image in the game. Meet the Queen of the Damned. I’ve just recently added her to the game because “feature creep” is my middle name. She is one of four Champions of Pandemonium that you can challenge with your Praetors (heroes) in single combat to win some prestige. A word of caution though: She’s a killer. Dynamite with dual scimitars.

I-Luv-Games is an indie-centric website devoted to covering a wide range of indie genres. They have a nice review of Armageddon Empires up now. If you are looking for some other indie strategy games then you can find a nice list here as well.

Life is all about making plans and looking forward to things…or maybe it’s what happens in between doing those things. Anyway, besides my kids’ next soccer games and the next episode of Top Chef, I’ve been looking forward to these three things.

1. The Mutant Chronicles collectible miniatures game by Fantasy Flight Games. Yes, I know it has the dreaded collectible word in it. I’m not going to be coveting a complete set. Just not going to do it. I am going to probably buy a starter box and some boosters and play around with it. It’s designed by one of my favorite designers Eric Lang and the mechanics look very interesting. I do have a bad feeling about this venture’s prospects. Both FFG’s card games went to their new “Living Game Format” and I think this game could either wind up there or canceled. Not that it won’t be an excellent game but the market environment doesn’t look good for a new successful collectibles game at this point in time if it isn’t centered around some iconic property.

2. Age of Conan Board Game also being published by Fantasy Flight Games (and Nexus) but the design team is Marco Maggi, Francesco Nepitello and Roberto Di Meglio… the wonder team that brought us War of the Ring. I long to wear a crown upon a troubled brow…. this one can’t get here quickly enough.

5. B.P.R.D #8 and HellBoy Movie 2
If you are not familiar with the B.P.R.D. comics you should check them out. They are set in the present but they have a Adventure Noir flavor to them and the art is fantastic. HellBoy is a big favorite of mine as well so I’m cautiously looking forward to the upcoming movie. I went into the first one with an open mind. I’m easy to please so I generally enjoyed it and I expect I will enjoy HellBoy 2 as well but I thought Transformers was a decent Summer popcorn flick so be warned about my tastes in movies

“Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”

– Morpheus, The Matrix (1999)

So for the last couple of months I have been watching the World Poker Tour on first the Travel Channel and then The Game Show Network…funny places for a poker show but whatever. They play Texas No Limit Hold’Em and it’s really a fascinating show to watch. You get to see the players’ down cards (in the hole) via a camera either at table top or through glass under the table. You watch some of the best players in the world and soon you start to believe that it’s really pretty easy because you forget that only you can see everybody’s cards. It’s like being god… or a permanent Monday morning quarterback.

Then you get the opportunity to play in a friendly boys’ night poker game. The buy in is just $20 and the cost of your own beer. You haven’t really played poker in many years…for money at least… games against your 10 year old son do not count. The boys all sit down and you can’t be bothered with figuring the big blind/small blind routine so you just decide on $0.25 ante for everybody and take it from there. That’s when it all goes horribly wrong. Sure you win some hands but slowly your stack gets whittled down and you are wondering how you can suck so badly. You have one crazy guy at the table who seems to play like a drunk cowboy on meth with visions from masters on other worlds but when you go to call his obvious bluff he shows you four Jacks that trounce your full house. Soon you end up all in at 11:00 pm with an hour still to go. Next you write IOU’s for $4.00 so you can stay in for the next hour and manage to turn that into $4.20 when the clock strikes midnight…enough to pay off the IOU’s and keep Rocko from breaking your legs.

You thought the big winner was the wild man but it turns out after talking to the wild man he only walked away with $4 in winnings. The quiet guy who always had such a modest stack of coins in front of him ends up the big winner. The whole time he was putting excess coins in a money bag he kept under his chair. He played tight and then finished up the last 2 hours aggressive and over the top of everybody and even the wild man took a beating. You wake up the next morning realizing you not only didn’t walk the path but your not even sure where the hell it is now.

Lot’s of work to do until next month’s path walking.