It’s been a while since any word has leaked about the PC version. Does anyone know if it’s still on track?
Now that the movies are so big, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.
-Tom
No I meant…Oh, I see what you did there.
Latest real news that I’ve seen was this video:
Posted 3-4 months ago. GMT hasn’t posted any real news about it since then.
— Alan
So is Chris Crawford doing a Kickstarter or something? This has Balance of Power or Bravo Romeo Delta written all over it.
This game has nothing to do with Chris Crawford.
— Alan
As penance for making a stupid Twilight joke, here’s what I’m really looking forward to from GMT: Andean Abyss, which Bruce Geryk turned me on to. It’s basically that same card-based recreation of a historical situation that made Twilight Struggle great, but with the asymmetry of Labyrinth, and with four factions instead of two. Whoa.
-TomYeah it looks like five loads of fun. Definitely looking forward to it. I dig Labyrinth a lot, and there’s also 1989 and Navajo Wars coming down the pipe as well.
— Alan
News from GMT yesterday was that Twilight Struggle PC was about to hit their P500 list (which is a pre-order method that they basically started and, if you’re not familiar with it, is extremely Kickstarter-like). There’s also some iOS games that could work really well (Dominant Species, Fields of Fire, Commands & Colors).
They also mentioned in passing that TS was their #1 selling game of all time, which is fairly surprising considering the early era popularity of SPQR (which was their #1 for ever and ever).
— Alan
Having bought and played a few games of Labyrinth since the sale that was highlighted on one of the threads over the holidays, I’m also eagerly awaiting Andean Abyss. I’ve only played Labyrinth two players so far, but in order to prepare for Andean Abyss I’m wanting to learn the solitaire rules and flowcharts as well, since I’ve heard that if you have 2 or 3 players for AA the unused factions will run similar to Labyrinth solitaire.
I worry about the P500 model for digital software. More accurately, I worry that GMT is applying their success in physical goods to digital goods. There’s no news of platforms, DRM, or any other topics that publishers/developers talk about today. I suppose my concern is proportional to how much they’re going to charge as well, which is another concern: I bought the physical game but don’t have anybody around here to play it with. Are they going to be selling the digital game at the same price point as the physical? Or are they going to view the digital version as a gateway to the physical and accordingly make the price attractive? This is their first foray into digital gaming and I’d hate to see their attitude become soured after selling the game for $50 and offering it with always-on DRM, for instance – there’s a lot of their catalog that I’d want to play digitally, but not according to those terms. But GMT is a niche publisher: I want to see them becoming Vic Davis, not Illwinter.
Yeah, it’s always a bit scary when a company you love takes its first step into a new medium. I share you concerns, Alan, although you really should move somewhere that has a healthy population of Qt3ers who will play Twilight Struggle, Labyrinth, and Andean Abyss with you. I recommend LA.
BTW, I watched a really good movie last night with the unfortunate title of Elite Squad: Enemy Within. It’s about Brazil’s interplay of the left wing and right wing, law and crime, militias and mafias, the drug trade and social services. It was a cross between a thriller, a political drama, and an action movie. I can imagine no better commercial for Andean Abyss (Columbia is a province in Brazil, right?) than watching that movie!
-Tom
Maybe you should watch Under Fire or Proof of Life instead :)
— Alan
And we’re back…
This game has been hitting my radar recently. Are there any QT3r’s hitting wargameroom for Twilight Struggle lately? That seems to be the best way to play online(currently). When I was last there TS seemed to be the most popular game so it didn’t seem to be to hard to find a pick up game. I was just curious how much crossover our communities have.
Tom M
I’ve played TS once or twice, I don’t remember the rules that well but I liked it. Recommended.
If I have time sometime I could play a game with anyone who was willing to sit through me re-learning the thing and also probably leaving myself open to being beat early in the game.
The thing I remember about wargameroom is that it was pretty easy to get a game but the process was rather Darwinian. My skill hasn’t ever been outstandingly great and is get smashed pretty consistently. I would be able to drag it out but victory for my opponent was pretty inevitable. I’ve seen this frustration come up in other new players and see them complaining about the mechanics. It’s really easy to throw actions away on operations that are either likely to fail or don’t actually help you that much. A master’s skill is pretty subtle. It just seems like the world works against you and you miss your opponents gentle pushes at just the right moments.
Tom M
The first time I ever heard of wargameroom was in a post here from you. I generally don’t have the time to commit to a game in one sitting, and don’t really enjoy playing long game with strangers, so I have never tried. Although since I’m on vacation, I may give it one shot …
I’m really hoping we get a friendlier interface in an online TS game. The screenshots from the GMT backed game look nice enough. It will be interesting to see how that works in practice. It is hard to imagine it being worse than Wargameroom. I want to make it clear that I still appreciate all the work that one guy has been doing, but one man teams can only do so much at a time, also it’s gratis so of course I am greatfull we have anything at all.
I also have a problem with devoting whole 2 hour, or so, chunks to sitting in front of the game. There is a save function but I don’t think it is ever really used much. It can also be easily exploited if you had players that were inclined to cheat. I really would love to see an asynchronous iOS implementation would be ideal for me. Unfortunately I don’t think that’s on the horizon. But GMT does seem to have an interest in increasing its mobile presence so here’s hoping.
Tom M
Love TS!
I’m also a tester on the new online version from GMT, though under NDA at the moment. Anyhow, I tried Wargame Room once, and found it more trouble than it was worth. To me Vassal is a better option today, but of course it automates almost nothing.
If you’re in to this type of game, the Game Table Online implementation of 1960 is amazingly good.
Email from the company tonight states that PC version is canceled. They might be looking at a tablet version but no guarantees. Boo, GMT!