Descent

Game: Descent
Platform: DOS (PC)
Developer: Parallax Software
Release Year: 1995
Impact on my life: 3/10
Impact on the world: 5/10 (because of the use of 3D meshes)
Objective rating: 4/10

Basic Plot

A computer virus has infected mining robots who are gathering minerals throughout the solar system. The player is hired to travel outwards through the solar system eliminating the infected robots. The game takes the player right through the solar system to Pluto's satellite Charon. At the end of the game the player is informed that he cannot return to Earth; as their is a risk his own ship has contracted the virus.

Gameplay

Descent is a first person shooter in which the player controls a small mobile space ship.

Each level involves traversing a winding mine somewhere in the solar system, destroying infected robots along the way. The player must reach the centre of each mine and set off the reactor core, and escape before detonation. 

An optional objective was to pick up human miners who have been captured by the infected robots.

What makes this game unique is that the player has six degrees of freedom within a zero gravity environment. This means the player can move forward and backwards, turn left and right, bank left and right, and travel up and down. Here is an image which summarises the options for movement:

Six degrees of freedom; the movement in Descent involved all these axes.

This was a big change in comparison to other first person shooters of the time (for example DOOM). It meant the player had to consciously keep track of their position in the world (it was easy to get dis-orientated) and it also caused widespread motion sickness for a lot of players.

The game included 30 levels (3 of which are secret), additionally there was competitive multi-player support for up to 8 players over LAN.

Comparisons

This was one of the first games to render a fully 3D environment made up of meshes (as opposed to binary space partition which was used in DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D). It was a step up in terms of technology but it had a somewhat similar aesthetic to DOOM. Power ups and hostages were still rendered using sprites. The 3D technology was the same used for Quake a year later.

Relevance

Descent wanted to take the next logical step in the development of 3D graphics; to give the player complete freedom of movement in a real 3D environment. It was, however, a failed experiment. It turns out a player doesn't want *that* much freedom in a game as it makes keeping track of player position and navigation needlessly complex and difficult.

Positives

It was unique, something new, pushed the boundaries of what games could do at the time.

Negatives

The six degrees of freedom made the entire game dis-orientating and very difficult to play. I found it entirely un-enjoyable from the moment I first played until the moment I quit out of the game and vowed never to play it again.

Weak story.

Memorable Moments

None.

Squadron Tower Defense

Game: Squadron Tower Defense 
Platform Played: PC (Custom map for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty)
Developer: Tsjnsn 
Release Year: 2011 
Impact on my life: 8/10
Impact on the world: 7/10
Objective rating: 7/10

I'm sad to say that the days of Squadron Tower Defence (Squad TD) may be over. After being easily the most successful custom map on Starcraft II for well over a year, Tsjnsn has handed of the reigns of development to Swentz and Eigonvalue, who have promptly started making major changes to the balance of the game and introduced a series of *really* bad bugs which have made the game unplayable. I've been playing Squad TD for ages for a reason, I don't want them to make all these changes, and in an act of defiance, I am going to go play something else :P

Also; someone messaged me about wanting some advice on their blog. I didn't catch your contact details! If you're still interested, e-mail me at: stownshend@gmail.com

Basic Plot 

There is no plot. The scenario is that there are two teams of four protecting their defence system (SS) from incoming waves of enemies. The teams interact by sending additional enemies to the other team.

Gameplay 

Squadron Tower Defence is a blend between a "tug of war" and a "tower defence" game. It is fairly complicated, so I'll go through each game mechanic step by step to build up a picture of how the game plays out.

• Players are split in to two teams of four. Each team is responsible for defending a defence system located at the bottom of their side of the map (this is a Thor/Odin model). Each player has their own lane to defend, and all the lanes join up and lead to the defence system (SS).
• The game is broken up (currently) into 31 waves of creeps. The creeps spawn at the start of the combat phase and will attempt to travel to the SS and attack it. After each combat phase is a build phase in which the player adds additional units to their squad.
• Players attempt to stop the creeps from doing this by purchasing "towers" (which are actually units) who engage creeps during the combat phase and try to kill them. The combat phase is completely automated; the player has no control over their units.
• Players pick a "race" at the start of each game. Each race has a different set of units they can build, and also different abilities. Some examples include; Beast, Elemental, Ghost, Shadow, Ancient, Celestial, Mechanical, Nature, and Automaton. Players can also pick "Random" to get a random race, and more recently there are various incarnations of "Chaos" in which players receive a random race each round. Later on players can unlock the "custom" builder in which they can pick and choose units from any race (within limits, based on a points system).
• Each player controls a single builder unit for the majority of the game. Builders can build six different kinds of initial unit which are categorised into "tiers". The lower the tier, the cheaper the unit is, but the less powerful it is. It's not quite that simple; as a good unit composition will contain a balance of melee/tank units as well as long range damage dealers.
• Units cost supply, and players need to spend some minerals and gas to extend their maximum supply.
• Units can be upgraded, sometimes in to various different forms. For example; a Bone Warrior (from the Shadow race) can be upgraded into a Dark Priest, a Fire Archer, or a Skeletor.
• Players have both mineral and gas income:
• Gas is gathered by gatherers who travel between your command centre and a gas geyser throughout the game. Gas can only be spent on sends which are additional units which will be sent to the enemy team on the next round. Every send you do increases your mineral income for all subsequent rounds; so getting a high gas income is also the secret to having a high mineral income.
• Minerals are used to purchase all units, as well as upgrades, and additional gatherers. There is a careful balance between investing in additional workers (which will increase your income in the long term) or purchasing more units to defend. The ideal situation is to *just* buy enough units to survive each round, and purchase additional gatherers with the remainder. Players can obtain a maximum of 30 gatherers and can upgrade their speed as well to a maximum of 5 times. Minerals are obtained at the end of each round based on the "income" of the player (defined by what sends they've done) as well as directly by killing creeps and enemy sends. Sends range from a Zergling which costs 20 gas, to a Thor which costs 600.
• Not all sends give the same income! Some sends give less mineral income per gas spent, but often have special abilities which make them more likely to make an enemy player "leak" their creeps.
• The game ends when one team's SS is destroyed or the enemy team has no remaining units. The SS itself can be upgraded to have additional defence and attack (as it can engage enemies which try to attack it). Any unit killed by your SS gives the other team extra minerals, so you don't want to leak creeps. The SS can be micro managed by a player on the team to focus on weaker/important units.
• When a player's units finish destroying a wave of creeps, they walk into a teleporter at the back of the lane and appear in front of the SS ready to defend it in-case another team member "leaked".
• Additionally, if creeps escape your immediate lane, they get a +2 armour bonus meaning they're harder for team-mates to clean up at the SS.
• If no-one wins by Round 31, it will turn to sudden death and the wave will repeat itself infinitely until one team is eliminated (and players cannot re-built between waves).

An example of a squad of units defending a lane. Creeps will spawn from above.

The strategy of the game involves:

• Balancing your income carefully; getting the most workers (gatherers) you can without leaking. Ideally you want to max out your workers as soon as possible, and then focus on building an unstoppable defence.
• Working out unit builds which facilitate the above. Not all units are equal, and there are various combinations of units which can help you get that economic edge. Back in "the day" a good example was "Aqualing" which was the use of Zergling Warriors and Aqua Spirits together.
• Hitting the enemy team when it hurts. This could simply be about knowing which rounds are particularly tough to defend, and getting everyone to send extra units on that wave. It's also about making a decision when it is cost effective to send units which don't give optimal income but will probably cause the enemy to leak.

It sounds complicated, and it is for the first 2-3 games, but then it becomes pretty instinctual.

An SS (defence system) being destroyed.

Players can see their wins/losses including the ratio, there is also an interface for looking at the income of you and your team mates.

Comparisons 

It has some similarities to Colonial Line Wars, another Starcraft II custom map I used to play. It also has some aspects in similar with lane based games like Defence of the Ancients or League of Legends but instead of the focus being around a hero unit, it is on building defence and sending extra creeps to the enemy. Also, it does remind me of Nexus Wars. In saying that, it is different enough to all of these to be a game in its own right; its own genre.

Relevance 

Hard to talk about relevance to the world or even the gaming world here, but this game hit a note with a lot of people. This has been the most popular custom map on Starcraft II for a *very* long time and I wouldn't be surprised if it became a standalone game in the near future (like Dota 2).

Positives 

Addictive, relaxing, enjoyable... it's a really good game. It's the kind of game that anyone can be good at, you just need to watch some replays and find a good race and a few builds which work for you.

Negatives 

It's always been updated a LOT and often is quite buggy. A lot of the players are absolute ass holes. There are some really nice people too, but then there's people who just join the game to troll. I also wish it was 2v2 because it's *very* hard to get matched up with 3 other players who know what to do and/or are not ass holes. I don't even bother playing unless DRTwoadism is on as well. Usually together we can make enough of an impact to win even if our team mates are hopeless.

Memorable Moments

I've played this game hundreds, maybe thousands of times. I've put more hours into it than the vanilla SC2... and I've tried a lot of different builds and strategies from middle building to going eco, or doing crazy builds which rely on a particular ability to trigger in order to win. Regardless of how the map changes now that Tsjnsn is gone... I'll always remember this game fondly.

Hexen: Beyond Heretic

Game: Hexen: Beyond Heretic
Platform Played: PC 
Developer: Raven Software
Release Year: 1995
Stephen's Rank: 7/10

It's been a long time since I last posted! Having a baby plus a lot on at work has meant I've not had the time, but I fully intend to finish my blog and report on every game I've ever played.

Hexen is a first person shooter / role playing game developed by Raven Software.

Basic Plot

Following the events of Heretic the player travels to the realm of Cronos as part of a team of three heroes who seek to defeat the second Serpent Rider, Korax.

Gameplay

Hexen used the Doom engine and so by default was a first person shooter with additional functionality layered over top. The gameplay was similar to Heretic in most respects with some additional features:

• Player character classes to choose from (fighter, cleric, or mage). Each character class had their own array of weapons and different physical characteristics; the fighter being the strongest and fastest but with little long range abilities, the mage being fragile but having powerful long ranged attacks, and the cleric being a blend of the two. The same item held by different classes could also produce different effects.
• Unlike Heretic the game used a series of hub levels which the player would used to access other "side" levels but return to after. This allowed for large scale puzzles which involved interaction with multiple playable areas.

All in all the game was a first person shooter but with the addition of role playing mechanics such as items, abilities, and puzzles.

Comparisons

Of course, being the sequel to Heretic they are very similar to each other. For me, Hexen felt more epic. It took the game engine and twisted it enough so that it didn't feel like a generic first person shooter any more.

I can see some comparisons with Half-Life in the way they took the first person shooter genre but layered story and complex interactions that most other FPS games don't include.

It *almost* reminded me of Ultima Underworld... but had no-where near the depth of story or game mechanics.

Positives

Great music, fun to play, one of the most exciting games to be released at that time.

Negatives

I didn't play enough to find any for myself.

Memorable Moments

None.