Because Death Stranding is making me weep I thought I’d try some Epic freebies. Crying Suns! It’s ace (so far) - the opposite of filler. Everything you do is a cool little Star Trek action. Loving it.
Matt_W
5067
You can build silos to gather stuff from the edges, then build other silos closer to the water to gather those silos, and so on, until you’re within reach of the loading docks on the canals.
My Terra Nil demo playthrough kind of petered out. I had I think established the three biomes - they all had little ticks - and I expected some prompt on what to do next, but nothing happened. So I gave up.
Ah. I guess that makes sense, but it seems like a workaround. Perhaps there should be some kind of efficiency rating on top of this (like a carbon budget) so if you’re having to build several silos to reach things inland then you’re adding to overall pollution. Or maybe I’m just overcomplicating things.
I think I read on the forums that this is a known bug. It should trigger the cleanup phase we’re all talking about (ie. the best bit!).
Matt_W
5070
Yeah, I’m actually curious how they’re going to gamify and expand the thing. At present, it’s really just a (very satisfying and gorgeous) toy. There’s no challenge to it except figuring out how it all works, and you can’t fail (unless the game bugs out.) I’ve got my eye on it to see what they do with it. I really enjoyed the 20-30 minutes that the demo offered.
Yes, it’s a nice experience and I’ll probably end up getting it, but really I want something with the depth of a city builder but applied to ecosystems, a rewilding game for example. You could start off with a blank planet and have to establish a functional ecosystem on that planet, so a lot more depth and control over different ecological systems. It’s too long since I dabbled with Sim Earth so perhaps I’m just asking for a modern version of that. Either that, or just creating the most eco-friendly / sustainable city you possibly can, where pollution and overexploitation doesn’t just diminish a store of resources, but affects the entire regenerative system that produces them, leading to ecosystem and planetary changes if taken too far. Something that doesn’t just consider your city to exist in a bubble. There’s a good midway point there I’m sure.
geggis
5072
Oh you can totally fail if you run out of resources before you meet the stage requirements. You get one undo so if you do too many actions before realising you’ve messed up, you could be stuck and have to restart. It’s pretty gentle in my eyes but a fail state is still there. I came close several times but was just able to avoid it, as in: I saw the restart screen but was able to course-correct with one undo.
My guess is the full game will add environmental complications so the economy of dealing with each area is tighter and you have to be a lot more careful. This will probably involve more structures. There’s also that environmental ‘balance’ target display in the bottom right that the demo doesn’t really cover which deals with things like temperature and humidity–as well as weather manipulation.
Ah, that makes more sense. From the description it seems that it stores a portion of the scrap so daisy chaining silos isn’t lossless.
@krayzkrok different kind of game and certainly not one to play solo (although there may be a mode for that, I’m not sure), but have you checked out Eco? I know some Qt3 folks jumped on it in Early Access but that was years ago and it’s come a long way since then. I’d be curious whether there would be much interest in picking it back up when it fully releases. It’s not simultaneous/parallel multiplayer, it’s async so everyone jumps in and does their bit when they can. I think it sounds very cool, and it goes deep into simulation, but you ideally need people…
Yeah, it does that sometimes. ;)
This is what I’ve always wanted from a terraforming game. SimEarth could use some updating for sure.
geggis
5076
I saw the Lego Builder’s Journey game last week for the first time and it look so realistic and tactile. It appears to be in the vein of Monument Valley maybe? Either way, very cute.
I’ve torn myself away from Caster of Magic long enough to give Spellcaster University a try. Strange game.
Lots of humor, a mixture of silly and sardonic.
Very deep and challenging with an incredible number of factors to consider.
Seemingly a fair amount of variety from run to run, during a campaign (which is 7 runs).
But lots of moments in the game when you have to make a decision, and you do not have access to the relevant facts. (I’ve earned a contact in town, but I need to simply remember what deals the Inquisition or Merchant will offer. I need to choose a card, but I need to remember whether I have the sub-school of magic that would make this card worthwhile. Etc.)
And a fair number of UI mysteries. These timers for upcoming offers… am I supposed to be able to click on them to see what they involve ahead of time? Or is this a memory game where I am supposed to learn a whole bunch of icons in order to do well? Why do students sometimes move easily between houses, and sometimes not?
Overall, it’s an intriguing game, but I am having significant frustrations. On the other hand, I am slow to pick up icons and UI’s, so maybe other people will have a different reactions.
Ooof. Someone’s not going to be happy that you’ve scooped their review of Spellcaster University.
I posted about that in the Steam forum, but my post quickly dropped off the first page and I never got a reply.
Heh, I don’t think there’s going to be anything special about my S.U. review. It’s a cool design that stumbled on the way to becoming a playable game. What’s holding me up is that I want to see what happens at the end of the campaign, and I’ve still got two scenarios to go. Plus, I just stumbled onto something that totally knocked my socks off, and I’m kind of obsessed with it and I’m writing that up now, so S.U. has to wait a bit.
-Tom
You’re going to tell us that and not even give us a hint of what it is? That’s just cruel, Tom!
Just tell yourself it’s another Agents of Mayhem. Should keep the interest level down a bit. :D
I liked Agents of Mayhem. :)
Thinking about it, though, it may well be Slipways. He hasn’t written that one up, right? And considering the avatar…
God damn it I am so close to completely ignoring this sale but the one game I keep thinking about (which isn’t even on sale but the sale is making my trigger finger itchy) is Slipways. It just looks like it’s right up my alley.
Chiiiiicccckkkkkkkk!
