Three Moves Ahead

Troy, Bruce and Julian deal with a few questioners listeners brought to the panel. Can noobs and experts play together? What is the place of AI in current game design? Why do we keep doing this? And where is Tom? Thanks for your questions, and keep them coming. We might do this again some time soon. Bruce Geryk on MOO3Julian on PopulousRob Zacny on Black & WhiteSolium Infernum Live Blogging

Another guest this week as Ntronium Studios lead Bob Smith talks to Troy and Tom about the imminent release of Armada 2526. Bob is a veteran of Creative Assembly and has been making games for over a quarter century. Is there room for another 4x sci-fi game? And how do you differentiate one title from another?Armada 2526 at Ntronium Studios One week left to send in questions to the TMA crew at troy DOT goodfellow AT gmail.com

This week’s show begins with a business chat as we talk about the changing revenue models in all gaming as downloadable content begins to supplant or supplement the traditional retail expansion pack. Be sure to stay tuned for Bruce’s Nietzsche moment in which he declares that gameplay is dead. The last half of the show is spent celebrating expansions that were good, denigrating those that were bad and mourning those that never happened. Lots of Big Huge love – kind of standard operating procedure.

Chris Park from Arcen Games joins us this week to talk about independent game development and how his sci-fi RTS AI War: Fleet Command saw the light of day. Park talks about the design process, the challenge of modeling risk and reward and the difficult part of difficulty levels. It’s also one of our longest podcasts ever. Arcen Games Tom’s column on AI War: Fleet Command Feature Series: The Decade Quarter to Three, where you can find Tom’s movie podcast Send your questions for Episode 40 to troy.goodfellow AT gmail.com

We try to make up some ground this week with a little chat about Panzer General: Allied Assault (via Julian), Eufloria (via Tom) and, our main topic, Tropico 3 (via me). When is a remake enough? Am I trust too critical of a game that I actually like parts of? Can you cautiously recommend a game with major gameplay problems? Eufloria Tom’s Dragon Age diaries Troy’s Tropico 3 review (link to come)

Skip a night and the inmates take over the asylum. Tom and Julian decide to talk about Brutal Legend, especially its strategy components. Why is BL Tom’s favorite game of the year? Are there different strategies for the RTS component? Is it an RTS at all? Also, Bruce makes a cameo appearance in the intro.

Ubisoft’s Michael de Plater joins us for a fanboy grilling from Tom Chick. Why EndWar worked, its relative success and why Bruce never got to actually play EndWar for very long. Apologies in advance for Michael’s sound. His plug-in mic was not working for some reason so he talked to his laptop. Through a tin can. From the distant future. While in a submarine. Fighting robots. He’s that good. Michael de Plater’s rap sheet Tom’s great EndWar column Tom’s review of Brutal Legend – yet another game he thinks is an RTS

Sometimes Bruce misses a show he really needs to be on – like the one where we pronounced the death of the Dominions 3 game. This week, Dr. Geryk won’t give up and he makes a compelling argument along the way. Bruce admits to a new way of thinking about games, we talk about reviving our board game blogging (but we need help!) and we talk about wargames we like and don’t like. We both say mean things that we should take back. Our Twilight Struggle game Republic of Rome Rulebook 1805: Sea of Glory

So what do you do when your guest doesn't show and your schedule for the rest of the week is shot to hell? You go ahead, press record and make it up as you go along.A beloved friend of the show is on his deathbed and no doctor is in sight to save it. Tom calls Section 8 "the shooter from the Kohan guys" and fights with Julian over whether or not the game is very good or just good.

Majesty 2 becomes the starting point about the pluses and minuses of surrendering control. Troy, Tom and Bruce talk about the origins of Majesty, other games with the detached czar motif and whether or not the game is repetitive. Listen as Bruce schools Tom on the subtleties of his new favorite game and find out which game Tom thinks is about sex and death. Also, listen to the worst contest ever. Bruce Geryk’s original Majesty review Erik Wolpaw’s rebuttal Troy’s Majesty 2 review Tom’s Majesty 2 review Dwarf Fortress Tom on Halo 3:ODST’s Campaign and on the firefight mode.