Rock, Paper, Shotgun

By the time I’ve finished writing this paragraph, I expect Arcen Games to have written, coded and released 17 games, with additional DLC and ports. They’ve already released procedurally generated platform RPG A Valley Without Wind 2 and disappointing environmental puzzle game Shattered Haven this year, while turfing out hefty patches in preparation for an AI War expansion pack. And now I’m told turn-based 4x strategic god-game Skyward Collapse is out before the end of May. Guys, slow down! I can’t write that fast.
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Chris Park has revealed that the next game from Arcen (AI War, A Valley Without Wind) will be called Skyward Collapse. So what is it? Well, “it’s a turn-based 4x simulation god-game.” He explains: “Set high in the sky atop a floating landmass that you are actively constructing as the game progresses, you oversee two warring factions (Greeks and Norse). Via solo play or co-op, you play as “The Creator,” helping both sides of the conflict — granting each side buildings, resources, and even new citizens.” It’s a game about balancing conflict, as Park writes: “your goal is to balance this conflict as best you can so that neither side gets wiped out. You win by having the most points generated (read: most carnage) without either side committing genocide.”

There’s a bunch more information through the link. They’re aiming for a beta this month, with the first version of the game appearing in May.

I saw the screenshots for Arcen’s newly-released horror game Shattered Haven and immediately cleared a gap in my schedule to play it. Previously, I was going to spend the time making broth or forcing people to listen to Aphex Twin’s early ambient works, but a spot of top-down terror takes precedence over all things. Slight disappointment crept in when I watched the trailer and realised that my imagination had run away with me somewhat, assuming the game to be turn-based and tactical. Silly imagination. It’s actually a lo-fi, environmental puzzler, with killing, traps and optional co-op. I’ll still try it but I’ll be making broth and siphoning Green Calx into peoples’ ears before I sit down to play.

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Oh, huh. So remember the part where Arcen Games was making a sequel to A Valley Without Wind, in which I very much hope they managed to add wind this time around? Well, it’s out. You can buy it and play it right this very second. Not just one or the other. Both! Unless you purchased the original version of the (perhaps too) tremendously ambitious sidescrolling platformer procedural role-playing co-op adventure – in which case, A Valley Without Wind 2 is completely free. Alternatively, if AVWW 1 (which my brain desperately wants to read as “Alien vs Wind Waker,” because I’ve been doing this job for far too long) flew under your radar, tossing a few of your coins into the sequel’s clinking cup will nab you a free copy of the original. I can’t say for sure yet whether or not AVWW 2′s everything its predecessor wanted to be, but I have to admit that all this generosity’s pretty darn cool.

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I usually hesitate to simply post sales news, because that’s what LewiePs are for. But in the case of RPS space-strategy favourite AI War I will make an exception. It’s 75% off with all the expansions included on Steam. That makes it $4.24 or £2.99 or €4.24, and that’s a fine price for such a huge slab of spaceshipular cleverness. A chunk of the money raised will be given to charity Child’s Play.

To discover why this bundle should be so appealing go here (and lament the unfinishedness), and also check the most recent trailer, below.
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Back in the mists of October we mentioned that procedurally-generated platform-adventure A Valley Without Wind would be getting a sequel, and that it would be free to people who purchased the original game. Now Arcen have begun to reveal a little of what they’ve been working on for that important follow-up, and you can see that below. There are glimpses of many of the things that make this a fresh take on the concept, rather than a rehash, include the isometric world map, which should give a little more context to the world you are exploring. It’s still pretty early, but there’s a lot of commentary in there to make it clear what’s going on (or not, given some of the audio issues.)
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In the dark, distant future, when the universe has suffered heat death, all that will remain will be Arcen Games, stubbornly releasing new patches for their epic space startegy, AI War. The next patch is due tomorrow, it’s called 6.0, and as I understand the patch coincides with a new expansion: Ancient Shadows. That’s been available in beta for a bit, I think, but tomorrow should the full roll-out. They’ve been expanding and patching this beast constantly since 2009 and they show no signs of stopping. Needless to say, the expansion has tonnes of new features, including: “A whole new kind of human player. It’s possible to control champions alongside your main fleet, or to have a friend or family member control just one single massive ship.”

Trailer below. (And there’s sixty-five thousand words worth of release notes here.)
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Arcen Games’ side-scrolling random-o-action game A Valley Without Wind continues to divide opinion, mostly due to its unusual appearance, but perhaps the warring tribes of Like and Don’t Like may be united by the sequel. It sports a new look, a bunch of new features such as building and it’s going to cost the princely sum of no-pennies to anywho who bought AVWW The First.
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It’s fair to say that Arcen fell of the pace a little with A Valley Without Wind, but then AI War was one of the most accomplished debuts any studio could hope for. If A Valley Without Wind had a stumbling gait, AI War was striding along like the coolest cat in town. It doesn’t have the nattiest threads and but none of that matters once you sit down and play. Ancient Shadows is a new expansion coming for the game, which pits emerging intelligences against players in conflicts that feel as much chess as tower defense or RTS. That’s a new expansion three years after release and it looks like a significant one. The beta is available now for pre-orderers. Details below.

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Before A Valley Without Wind was released I excitedly emailed Jim to demand we discuss the game verdict-style after he’d told everyone wot he thought. I was bewitched by the idea of exploring the worlds it built and was even determined to be that guy, the one who actually liked the graphics. Once I read Jim’s words and played for a while myself I realised that we were of similar mind so a verdict would involve us nodding sagely at one another over a decanter of port, occasionally ‘harrumphing’. I couldn’t even make myself like the way it looked, even as an exercise in contrarian lunacy. Version 1.1 promises significant changes though and Arcen might just be on to something.

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