By Nathan Grayson on August 30th, 2012 at 10:00 am.
We have, in the past, said some very nice things about brainosaurusly brilliant puzzler SpaceChem. For instance, things like “straight up genius.” Also, “brainosaurusly brilliant.” That’s technically the past now. But Zachtronic Industries – booming center of commerce that it/he is – refuses to stick to the straight-and-narrow. Which brings us to Ironclad Tactics, a “real-time, card-based tactics game set in an alternate history Civil War – with steam-powered military robots.” To which I reply by gathering a studio audience, teaching them to cry on command, and then having them give a standing ovation for 45 minutes.
From the sound of things, cards are only part of the equation. The official, sadly vague (for now) line is “a unique gameplay experience, blending the precision of tactics and card games with the spontaneous decision making of a real-time strategy game.” I like pretty much everything about that sentence, but can’t even begin to render a verdict until I see it in action.
A story told by way of a giant in-game graphic novel is also in the cards, as is a “Nemesis” multiplayer mode – which allows you to play as the baddies from the campaign. Beyond that, there’s not much info available at this point. SpaceChem was, however, so consistently brilliant that doubting Zachtronics would be nothing short of an apocalyptic folly, so my hopes are pretty high for this one. Apparently, I’ll be able to see it at PAX, so expect impressions soon-ish. Until then, here’s a trailer taken straight from an alternate history steam-powered Civil-War-era version of YouTube.
30/08/2012 at 10:09 Dan Griliopoulos says:
A bit… Normal for Zachtronics. Unless it’s all about carefully maintaining a head of steam in an ambulatory tank. (Still excited though.)
30/08/2012 at 11:45 senae says:
Well they’ve already done that http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/the-bureau-of-steam-engineering/
31/08/2012 at 16:50 Phasma Felis says:
Yeah, pretty disappointed that this isn’t a proper sequel to Bureau of Steam Engineering. I wanted to lay steam pipes and control valves for combat buzzsaws again, dammit.
30/08/2012 at 10:20 ChainsawCharlie says:
Infiminer – Minecraft
Ironclad Tactics – Scrolls
qe?
30/08/2012 at 13:21 LTK says:
Great minds think alike?
30/08/2012 at 10:23 yandexx says:
There are some screenshots in the PCGamer article: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/08/29/ironclad-tactics-card-based-strategy-from-the-creator-of-spacechem/
The cards look interesting, while the backdrop is kinda ugly, but I’m sure those backgrounds are not final.
30/08/2012 at 10:45 Zeewolf says:
Urk, yeah, it doesn’t look very nice.
Doesn’t really sound like my kind of game, though SpaceChem was so awesome that I’ll have to keep an eye on this regardless.
31/08/2012 at 04:41 Bluefox says:
Interesting. Looks like a steampunk Swords & Stars, or Trouble with Robots.
Could be interesting.
30/08/2012 at 10:23 Gothnak says:
Card Based – Yay
Strategy – Yay
Alternate History Civil War with Robots – Yay
…
Real Time – Bum… :(
30/08/2012 at 10:27 kurtensen says:
Real-time? :’(
30/08/2012 at 10:32 TheTourist314 says:
Will I be able to get an RPS autograph at PAX?
30/08/2012 at 10:51 mrwonko says:
Sounds a little like Battleforge.
30/08/2012 at 10:58 JackShandy says:
A real-time card game? Like… snap?
30/08/2012 at 11:03 Hoaxfish says:
Trying to play through Spacechem right now…
I knew I wasn’t smart enough for the game, since I’ve constantly failed all his other “engineering” games… but I bought it (that pyramid logo kept enticing me), and It’s confirming that I’m not smart enough to play his games.
30/08/2012 at 12:01 Vicho says:
There is no shame in looking at other people solutions online.
Most of the time when I got stuck it was more because I was too narrow in my thinking. Watching some of the elegant solutions people have come up with inspires me to start the puzzle fresh and attack from a completely different tack.
So yeah my advice, get creative! And as we all know half of creating is imitating/stealing ideas.
30/08/2012 at 13:20 drewski says:
Yeah, I’ve had a few “…..ooooooh” moments from looking at solutions online.
I still don’t copy them when I do my solution, but it’s interesting to see what other ideas people have and it makes you change the way you think about your own designs.
30/08/2012 at 11:07 Vorrin says:
Trailer tells me nothing at all about the game, but who cares, I think I’ll buy whatever the creators of Spacechem do, from now ’till infinity.
30/08/2012 at 12:47 MD says:
Same here, but not infinitely. One dud and I’ll start thinking before I buy :)
30/08/2012 at 11:34 Tuco says:
I was sold just when “…with robots” came in.
30/08/2012 at 18:05 picaroon says:
How could the headline not incorporate “Robot E. Lee”?
30/08/2012 at 21:08 Saldek says:
I, Robot E. Lee, do not condone such a frivelous use of my name!
30/08/2012 at 21:20 Dances to Podcasts says:
Androidham Lincoln.
30/08/2012 at 18:30 MythArcana says:
I’m not sure about the real-time part and the redundant cartoon art once again. Gleam kiddies won’t buy it unless it offers cartoons I guess. The devs are pretty clever, so we’ll see where this one ends up…
30/08/2012 at 19:44 niulong says:
http://clxu.eu/Tb3or
30/08/2012 at 22:10 spectone says:
Colour me confused.
31/08/2012 at 10:45 StAUG says:
Has anyone beaten the full game of SpaceChem? I’m a bit over halfway, but Jesus H… it’s an unforgiving mistress.
31/08/2012 at 12:00 GrantNZ says:
Yep. I found the difficulty comes and goes as you learn new skills. You just need that lightbulb moment to get you through another set of stages. Keep at it!
But the last level was so so so hard – I had to walk away and come back to the game a few weeks later with fresh inspiration. Gorram it felt good when I finally beat it! :)
02/09/2012 at 08:07 Twisted says:
I made it to the final level. Holy shit did I feel good, knowing that I could take it on and with only a couple of hours of solid concentration finally complete the game. But it was on my work computer, and lunchtime was simply not enough to get into the mindset required. And then I switched jobs. And lost my savegames *scream of rage*
But it’s ok! I got it on Android a couple of weeks ago and have started going through it again. It is SO GOOD.
I looked at other solutions on youtube just to figure out how in the hell people managed to complete some levels with such fast times/low reactors etc.