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Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 5:45 pm
by Lorini
http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/skyward-features" target="_blank

There's a demo as well. It's on sale for $4.49 at the site and on Steam as well. No DRM unless you install on Steam of course.

This time you are in control of two factions and you are trying to keep both factions alive while they fight each other.

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:15 pm
by Butterknife
I'll give the demo a try before deciding, then report back. Only even looking at this because it is turn-based, I liked AI War, and it's a god game. But the gameplay video looked awful and explained nothing.

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:50 pm
by Butterknife
I only gave the demo about 30 minutes. I guess the main point of the game, trying to balance two different factions, just doesn't interest me at all. The game appears to have some depth, but the lack of unit control combined with a lack of attachment to the cities you build, some functionality issues (slow scrolling, automated fighting that takes too long, etc.) and so on just makes me want to play something else. It may be worth it anyway if you are interested, since it is pretty cheap and I really didn't give it much of a chance.

On the plus side, I thought the music was nice.

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:54 pm
by Lorini
I bought the whole thing. So far I'm liking it better then Reus, which I actually like but have a lot of trouble playing. This is more accessible but less depth which is fine with me.

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 12:21 am
by Grifman
What makes it "clearly" a week? :)

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 7:50 pm
by Bluddy
This is Arcen's best game since AI War (IMO). It's very very good, and at $5, a real steal.

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 7:59 pm
by IceBear
Bluddy wrote:This is Arcen's best game since AI War (IMO). It's very very good, and at $5, a real steal.
Curious, was there another game?

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 8:20 pm
by Butterknife
Bluddy wrote:This is Arcen's best game since AI War (IMO). It's very very good, and at $5, a real steal.
You registered 5 years ago, and are finally breaking your silence to post this? :) You must feel strongly about it -- tell me, what did you like about the game?

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 11:05 pm
by Grifman
Butterknife wrote:
Bluddy wrote:This is Arcen's best game since AI War (IMO). It's very very good, and at $5, a real steal.
You registered 5 years ago, and are finally breaking your silence to post this? :) You must feel strongly about it -- tell me, what did you like about the game?
Hey, he's just really shy! :)

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Sat May 25, 2013 2:29 am
by Fretmute
Butterknife wrote:
Bluddy wrote:This is Arcen's best game since AI War (IMO). It's very very good, and at $5, a real steal.
You registered 5 years ago, and are finally breaking your silence to post this? :) You must feel strongly about it -- tell me, what did you like about the game?
He's clearly a deep cover astroturfer. ;)

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 12:13 pm
by Bluddy
Butterknife wrote:
Bluddy wrote:This is Arcen's best game since AI War (IMO). It's very very good, and at $5, a real steal.
You registered 5 years ago, and are finally breaking your silence to post this? :) You must feel strongly about it -- tell me, what did you like about the game?
Well, this board is kinda slow, and I'm not a very prolific poster to begin with. I do check this board once in a (long) while, and when I saw SC mentioned, I thought it was worth stating my opinion.

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 12:49 pm
by Bluddy
There were several other games. I became an Arcen fan during A Valley Without Wind. That game had a feel to it that I loved, but unfortunately it was very experimental and eventually headed in a direction that I feel wasn't entirely successful. Arcen tried to improve that game with a graphic upgrade and ended up creating the second Valley Without Wind game, which is much more focused and pretty good IMO. The next game they came out with was Shattered Haven, a top-down Zelda style adventure-puzzle game about zombies, and that game had some interesting spins on zombie lore. I wasn't interested in SH when it came out, but I've recently picked it up in a sale and it's quite enjoyable, though it's not going to win any awards (except for the music -- Arcen has some of the best music).

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 12:59 pm
by Bluddy
Wow. The spam detection on this forum is the worst I've ever seen. I wrote up what I think is special about Skyward collapse, but it decided that my post 'looks too spammy'. Not going to jump through hoops just to post it, so you can find my post on the QT3 forum here. (edit: can't post off-site urls either, so you'll just have to find it if you're interested.)

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 1:18 pm
by IceBear
I never realized they did A Valley Without Wind. Thanks for educating me

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 9:22 pm
by Butterknife
Bluddy wrote:Wow. The spam detection on this forum is the worst I've ever seen. I wrote up what I think is special about Skyward collapse, but it decided that my post 'looks too spammy'. Not going to jump through hoops just to post it, so you can find my post on the QT3 forum here. (edit: can't post off-site urls either, so you'll just have to find it if you're interested.)
I hope you don't mind, I thought your post was interesting and worth quoting here. The spam detection is probably because you haven't posted here enough.
Bluddy wrote:Here's a post I wrote on another forum when I was asked why I like Skyward Collapse. Much of this is a repeat of what's been said here, but it might still be useful to some people.

The features that IMO make Skyward Collapse stand out are:
- A landmass suspended in space. As a god, you drop tiles onto this landmass, remove other tiles, change tiles etc. Some game events cause tiles to collapse. This kind of setup - having the land tiles be completely dynamic and for you to build and collapse at will - is rare. The only similar game I can think of is Greed Corp.
- The concept of not directly controlling troops. This is a tradition inherited from Populous, and it just happens to be that it's one of my favorite game mechanics. I'm thinking specifically of Dungeon Keeper and Majesty -- 2 of my favorite games of all time.
- The unique concept of balancing two factions fighting each other while preventing the extinction of either one of them. I've never seen this in a game before. It's a very clever idea, because as anyone who played Dungeon Keeper knows, the biggest problem of god games is the enemy AI. In fact, all strategy enemy AI is flawed and can be gamed by discerning players. It's one of the things that turned me off of the strategy genre. However, in SC the AI manages the units while you try to prevent the factions from killing each other. You therefore play both sides, leaving the AI with a minor role that can be played quite easily and effectively by the computer. In the meantime, the game throws stuff at you: bandits, random disasters ('woes') etc.
- It's a turn based take on the god genre, which in itself is rare. I think they've handled the turn-based approach rather nicely. One of the perks of the computer (rather than you) managing the individual game units is that the game doesn't get bogged down as more and more units enter the field.
- The graphics for the buildings are beautiful and evoke a detailed, Settlers-like vibe. The units are attractive (IMO) but don't animate. However, for a turn-based game, that's not a big issue.
- The music is spectacular, as is often the case for Arcen.

This game is innovative and fun, and is a great deal for 5 bucks. Best of all, Arcen has a history of supporting and embellishing their games post-release for a very long time. The game just needs enough of a player base to warrant expansions and added content (like AI War). I'm really hoping that's going to be the case for Skyward Collapse.
You're making me re-think my opinion. Of course, I didn't care for AI War the first couple of times I tried to play it, either ... then something just clicked.

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 1:25 pm
by Lorini
I second everything Bluddy said ! :)

Re: Clearly it's the week of the god game (Skyward Collapse)

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2013 11:27 am
by spelk
Penned some thoughts on Skyward Collapse...

http://sugarfreegamer.com/?p=83433" target="_blank

Overall its a big thumbs up from me!