The future of PC gaming - 2009 edition

[DrSpike]

Also, with that 30 second response I'm going to have to ask you to stop cyberstalking me Asher. I've already told you I don't share your feelings.

[El_Cid]

Possibly most of you know about the FFH2 mod for CivIV. If not i'm here to point PC game lovers in its direction:

http://kael.civfanatics.net/index.shtml

I'm not particularly a fan of high fantasy themes, but this free mod has snuck up on me and it's all i'm currently playing....did a 3 in the morning session last night

Anyway as this is one area where the PC really excels(mods/creativity for all/free access) this is worth checking out. Maybe the best CivIV mod i've played, even if it is a little unfinished here and there(it's getting regular patches). It's hard, slightly weird, pretty dark and full of surprises - mostly nasty ones. It will breath new life into your CivIV game

You need BTS expansion(plus 3.17patch) to get the best from it. Just follow the links in the 'Downloads' section of the link above - happy/scary gaming.

[DrSpike]

It's really good (or at least the first one was, and I'm sure this is even better).

Interesting that consoles are trying to get into the creativity game as well; live now has really cheap user made games, some of which are pretty good.

[Asher]

Yep. PC is kind of mods (it's what lightweight game designers do). What's more interesting to me is the console is now the place to be for young indy devs, not PCs.

If you don't have much (or any) money, there's really no better place to put your game than on XNA. It beats the **** out of any way to distribute your game on the PC, and the infrastructure and ease of use is beyond reproach.

[lord of the mark]

Yep. PC is kind of mods (it's what lightweight game designers do). What's more interesting to me is the console is now the place to be for young indy devs,

As opposed to old indy devs? Huh?

[Asher]

Yes. Old people, like you, tend to eschew consoles for something they're more familiar with.

[DrSpike]

Evidence?

[Asher]

Look at technological adoption rates by age.

[DrSpike]

One would presume, though, that indy devs wouldn't necessarily follow the same distribution as the general population.

[Asher]

Evidence?

[El_Cid]

I played pretty much non-stop for 2 weeks (I remember having a cold and being home over a holiday to boot). The bad part was, that even after that amount of time, space combat was a pain, and you are always using up your credits for repairs.

You can only do so much trading and fed ex missions before that gets bland, good luck remembering where the pimp equipment was that you were saving for.

Eventually you are supposed to take on the bad guys, but even then with lots of upgrades, you run into the same problem. You'll run out of money trying to fight as there are no spoils from that.

I can't say what exactly made me not go back, maybe I burned it too quick by overplaying it.

That being said, some of the little mini missions, text games, and whatnot were refreshing. They are not all fedex missions. OTOH, some of the mini mission, text games, and whatnot could be annoyingly difficult to finish.

ok thanks for the details

Yeah it may be a game you are best going in with low expectations? I know it kind of caught a lot of people by surprise at the Qt3 forums, and became a bit of a hit with many of them there, in the same way Dominions can do.

For ages I thought it was a 3D space game, and that is what kept me away. But 2D turnbased(kind of) - well that is right in my zone so i'm going to have to get it at some point. I hope they carry on improving the game(the new update/expansion would suggest so). Although it seems they have now made the RTS missions(the weakest part of the mix from what i understand) very, very hard. You still have the option to not do these misssions. Anyway thanks for giving me some info on this game

[DrSpike]

Evidence?

Look up presume.

[Asher]

Just so we're clear that you're talking bull****.

[DarkCloud]

I was of the understanding that creative people mainly produce between ages 17-50, therefore you probably won't see many developers for either platform older than 50. Heavens, even the venerable Sid Meier hasn't come out with much new since he got older. It seems only young'uns can create innovative concepts... odd.

[Jon Miller]

In theoretical physics and mathematics the over the hill age is 40.

JM