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p. 40
Smashing through Act V with the
new Crusader class
DIABLO 3: REAPEROF SOULS
C POWERPLAY
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5
FRONTEND
13 Release Schedule
14 Big Pic
16 Digital Curtain
18 Godus
22 Incognita
28 10 to Watch32 PCPP Interview:
Worlds of Magic
OPINION
34 Source Code
36 JAM
38 Generation XX
FEATURES
40 Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls
46 World of Warcraft:
Warlords of Draenor
47 Heroes of the Storm
TECH
52 PSU Roundup
58 GeForce GTX 780 Ti
60 Hotware
61 My PC
62 SteelSeries Rival
Tesoro Colada
64 NVIDIA Shield
65 Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Corsair Voyager Air
67 Metabox Prime W230ST
68 Cooler Master Nepton 140XL
69 Leap Motion
Sapphire Toxic
Radeon R9 280X
THE BUNKER
72 PSU Roundup: 1,000W74 ASRock M8
REVIEWS
78 Assassins Creed 4:
Black Flag
80 XCOM: Enemy Within
84 X Rebirth
86 Battlefield 4
90 Call of Duty: Ghosts
91 Master Reboot
92 SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow
93 Bioshock Infinite:
Burial at Sea
STATE OF PLAY
99 Deus inExperienced
102Baldurs Gate 2:
Enhanced Edition
104 Extended Memory:
Diablo Clones
REGULARS
08 Inbox
94 Subscriptions
106Next Month
XCOM: ENEMYWITHIN
p. 80
Enemy Unknowns
expansion reviewed: its
hard as hell
PSU ROUNDUPp. 52
Plug in to over 14
power supplies juiced
and tested
GODUSp. 18
Weve played and judged
Peter Molyneuxs new
god game
DEUSINEXPERIENCEDp. 99
James OConnors Deus
Ex playthrough comes
to an end
GIGABYTE GTX780 TI
p. 58
Could this be the most
powerful GTX 780 yet?
INCOGNITAp. 22
Stealthy turn-
based strategy and
corporate heists
PC POWERPLAY
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7PC POWERPLAY
EDITORIAL
EDITOR Daniel Hindes
GROUP ART DIRECTOR Malcolm Campbell
DESIGNER Oliver Barles
[email protected] EDITOR Bennett Ring
INTERN Zac Naoum
CONTRIBUTORSNathan Cocks, James Cottee, Anthony Fordham, Terrence
Jarrad, Rowan Kaiser, Patrick Lum, James OConnor, Meghann
ONeill, David C. Simon, Daniel Wilks, Theo, Deckard Cain
ADVERTISING
GROUP NATIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER -
GAMING
Cameron [email protected] 9901 6348
M: 0405 356 419
ADVERTISING TRAFFIC
Alison [email protected]
02 9901 6346
PRODUCTION MANAGER Alison Begg
CIRCULATION DIRECTORCarole Jones
SUBSCRIPTIONSwww.mymagazines.com.au
TOLL FREE 1300 361 146Locked Bag 3355, St Leonards NSW 1590
COVER DISC ENQUIRIES:[email protected]
02 9901 6100
Building A, Level 6
207 Pacific Highway
St Leonards, NSW 2065
Locked Bag 5555,
St Leonards, NSW 1590
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
David Gardiner
COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR
Bruce Duncan
PC PowerPlay is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805
970, Building A, Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW
2065 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may
be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission
of the publisher. Printed by Webstar Sydney, Distributed in
Australia by Network Services. ISSN 1326-5644. The publisher
will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of
information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material
submitted is at the owners risk and, while every care will be
taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage.
Privacy Policy
We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide
personal information through your participation in any competitions,
surveys or offers featured in this issue of PC PowerPlay, this will be
used to provide the products or services that you have requested
and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may
be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the
event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers,
we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may
use the information you provide us to inform you of other products,
services and events our company has to offer. We may also give
your information to other organisations which may use it to inform
you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not
to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold
about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be
contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590
Molyduped
My fingers hurt. Ive been playing a lot of Godus, Peter
Molyneuxs new god game - a promised reviltalising of
the genre Molyneux himself spawned. But this is a Molyneux
promise were talking about, here, and weve learned our
lesson many times over. So when my fingers started to hurt
after a half hour of sculpting primitive land and demolishing
rocks and trees, it was surprising that I felt I had, once again,
been had.
There is something about a PC game that is secretly
a mobile and tablet game in disguise that I find acts as
a natural repellant. Its the sheer amount of clicking (or
tapping, if youre prodding a mobile device directly with
your greasy fingers) involved in manipulating the game itself
that arises from the limitations of a touch-aware interface.
Beyond that, theres an insidious mindset that seems
to drive mobile game design - tapping on things equals
fulfilment. Tap to access your dopamine reserves. It doesnt
matter what the task you accomplish by tapping is - its the
action that will get you over the finish line.So thats how I started of f with Godus. Tapping (clicking,
in my case) felt good. Id click a couple of times on a boulder
that dared to sit in the way of my planned housing zone.
Those couple of clicks produced something of a dull, stone
thud through the speakers. The third click, and the boulder
shattered, the accompanying audio perfectly designed to
contrast the prior dull thuds with an intensely satisfying
crumble worthy of any car toon quarry. Trees suffered the
same fate, being chopped down in a frenzy of deforestation
because it just felt good to do so.
Soon, it became clear that this clicking would never end.
Every boulder needed to go. Every tree needed to die. Every
worker would need to be woken up from their slumber by
clicking on their doors, setting them off on a days hardwork. I felt like I was playing Plants vs Zombies, but if there
was a constant rain of sun tokens all over the screen. Click
everything. Click everywhere. Dont stop clicking. No wonder
my fingers are hurting.
There is no method to this madness. No reason for you
to click in a certain fashion. Objects in Godus exist to be
clicked. They pop up with interface bubbles to remind you of
that. Once theyve been clicked, you wait until theyre ready
to be clicked again. It is a design that comes f rom the mobile
space, unfit for, and unbecoming of, what a PC game is
capable of. And what Peter Molyneux is capable of.
When he left Microsoft and founded 22 Cans, I believed
Molyneuxs newfound agility and smaller scale would allow
his child-like passion to come to the fore. Something seems
to have happened, however; it has filtered through a layer of
cynicism, or perhaps a desperation to conform to free-to-play
mobile tropes. For more, check out our preview on p.18 - but
for now, its safe to say that youre better off saving the hurt y-
fingers for the amount of clicking youll need to do in Diablo
3s expansion pack.
Daniel Hindes
Editor
@dhindes
Thats a load-
bearing PSPdebug.
Your mums gotno lower body.
Lets hope
eggsoft stopsfrying eggs.
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CPOWERPLA Y
FRO
N
TEN
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LETTER OF THE MONTH
Is it just me or is this fascination
- obsession even - with small
technology (and getting smaller
all the time) incredibly annoying?
I mean, for me its about
performance; if I want to have a
machine that plays games, I want
it to do it properly, and I dont careabout the size. Sure, I have a big
table and the case sits underneath
comfortably, but all this concern
about monster video cards, huge
cases, big fans... well, great! It
doesnt bother me in the least - so
long as it gets the job done, I really
could care less. In fact it warms
up the room rather nicely in the
cooler months (err.. but lets not
mention the hotter days though,
for now). But for me, all these
tiny little device things where your
single index finger cannot fail to
press three buttons at once.. I just
dont see the point. They might be
ok for kids I guess, but for me no
way Champ, big is beautiful : big
chunky ol videocard? Fine, the
meatier the better! Massive quadro
hi-fi supersonic Soundblaster card?
Great, looks extremely impressive!
Sniper PC case that looks like a
tank used in the latest US military
conflict? Fantastic, itll at least fit in
the latest humungous motherboard
I plan to squeeze into it, wonderful!
I dunno, perhaps its just me,
perhaps its my old-school wayof thinking, perhaps its even my
eyesight dimming as I get older, but
I personally have never liked the
miniaturisation of technology, Im
not into carrying expensive things
around on buses and whatnot
anyway (certainly not around these
parts anyway), so I just dont see
the point. Give me big. Give me
bold. Let me put a dish outside
the front of my beast of a PC, I justdont care - as long as it does the
job, and does it well, and uh.. as
long as it doesnt need TOO much
liquid nitrogen to cool it down...
Im happy for it to resemble the
Chevrolet Belair 68 my dad used
to have. Which indeed took up 3/4
of the driveway.. but thats fine -
absolutely fine by me.
Robert Roemer
With the Steam Machines on the
horizon, it will be interesting to see
where Valve decides to place its boxes
as far as size goes will they go
for form factor, or sacrifice looks for
power? Whatever the case, theyd do
well to remember that its not the size
that counts.
APPLYING COMMON SENSE
I enjoyed reading your article on
warranties in PCPP#220. It was
very informative and it is good to
understand our rights under the
Consumer Guarantee legislation.
But I feel you missed discussing
circumstances were we are not
covered by either a suppliers/manufacturers warranty or the
No sticks? What is
this MADNESS?
legislation.
Generally speaking as PC
gamers we love to mod, tinker
with and push our hardware
often past normal operating
conditions so that we can
enjoy the best possible gaming
experiences. (Noted how many
hardware mod and overclocking
articles you have been publishing
lately PCPP. BTW keep these up
they are a great read.)
Tried fitting an aftermarket
water cooling block to your
expensive video card and
shorted it? Thrown your gamepad against the wall in a fit of
frustration and broken it after
dying for the 50th time trying to
defeat a boss in Dark Souls?
Run your CPU at a high overclock
over a marathon gaming session
only to be rewarded with that
familiar sharp smell of electrical
burning followed shortly after by
a blank screen?
Consumer Guarantee or not, in
these circumstances it is unfair
to make a warranty claim against
the supplier or manufacturer andexpect them to foot the cost of
our, err enthusiasm. We have
to take responsibility for how we
use our hardware and apply a
bit of common sense logic to
what we are or are not entitled
to under warranty if something
goes wrong.
On another note your lifespan
guide to gaming kit seems out of
whack. 1-2 years for a keyboard
or mouse? You cant be serious!
Id expect at least 5 years; my
logitech G5 mouse is still going
strong 5 years on. 2-3 years for
a solid state drive. Err really?
That makes me nervous. Mental
note to self: back up SSD data
and game saves now!
Simon Lenz
Bennett: You raise an excellent
point, and I can only say that it
didnt occur to me when writing
the article. It should have though,
and I apologise for not including it.
Hopefully it should be pretty clear to
readers that if they alter a product,
they lose any consumer guarantee
protection, but thanks again for
pointing it out.
LETTER OF THEMONTH WINS!
Write in to PCPP with
your rants, considered
opinions, and endless
run-on sentences of pure
awesome. The address
is letters@pcpowerplay.
com.au. Each letter read by
hand! This months winner
scores themselves a
mesmerising Kisai Optical
Illusion LED Watch, thanks
to Tokyoflash!
8/13/2019 PC Powerplay 2014-1
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Alienware recommends Windows.
JUST THE RIGHT SIZE FOR
HUGE VICTORIES.
Alienware and the Alienware head logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Alienware Corporation. Intel, the Intel Logo,Intel Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Copyright: 2013Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
Selected Alienware 17
includes 4th gen
IntelCore i7 processors.
Introducing the Alienware 17, our most powerful 17-inch notebook ever.
With desktop grade performance, incredible graphics, and an ultra realistic
visual experience, its a portable powerhouse.
Alienware.com.au/17
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C POWERPLAY
Welcome to the PCPP competitions page! With the office
positively overflowing in PC gaming goodies, its become so
difficult to do our ridiculously awesome jobs that we decided to
pass the savings onto you. And by savings, we mean free stuff.
Games, collectibles, swag, and all kinds of media that screams PC
gaming. Or perhaps those are the screams of the intern trapped
under the boxes of giveaways. Only one way to save them:
Head to www.pcpowerplay.com.au to enter!
To find the competitions, simply mouse over the Community
tab in the main menu at the top of the homepage, and click on
Competitions. Click through to each individual competition
page, fill out the form (be sure to agree to the terms and
conditions) and youll be in the running to win! Keep an eye
out for this page in future issues of PCPP, as we roll out new
competitions every month!
Paradox CollectionThis insane compilation pack contains over $900worth of Paradox games and DLC! This Collectionsdownload code includes:
TO ENTER:
Head to www.pcpowerplay.com.au
In 25 words or less, answer the following question:
Tell us your ingenious way for creating enough time to play all of these Paradox games
5DIGITAL COPIES
TO WIN!
WINCOMPS
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r "STFOBM PG %FNPDSBDZ
r $JUJFT JO .PUJPO
r $JUJFT JO .PUJPO
'PSVN 3FHJTUSBUJPO ,FZ
r $JUJFT JO .PUJPO
r $PNNBOEFS $PORVFTU
PG UIF "NFSJDBT
r $SVTBEFS ,JOHT $PNQMFUF
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*7 $POWFSUFS
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r %FGFOEFST PG "SEBOJB
r %VOHFPOMBOE
r &VSPQB 6OJWFSTBMJT ***
r &VSPQB 6OJWFSTBMJT *** %JWJOF 8JOE
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)FJS UP UIF 5ISPOF
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3PNF (PME &EJUJPO
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r 'PS 5IF (MPSZ
r )FBSUT PG *SPO ** $PNQMFUF
r )FBSUT PG *SPO ***
r *NQJSF
r ,JOH "SUIVS ** 5IF 3PMFQMBZJOH 8BSHBNF
r ,OJHIUT PG 1FO BOE 1BQFS
r -FBE BOE (PME
(BOHT PG UIF 8JME 8FTU
r -FWJBUIBO 8BSTIJQT
r .BHJDLB
r .BKFTUZ $PMMFDUJPO
r .BKFTUZ (PME )%
r .BSDI PG UIF &BHMFT
r .PVOU #MBEF
r .PVOU #MBEF 8BSCBOE
r .PVOU #MBEF
8JUI 'JSF BOE 4XPSE
r /BWBM 8BS "SDUJD $JSDMF
r 1JSBUFT PG #MBDL $PWF
r 4FOHPLV
r 4IJQ 4JNVMBUPS &YUSFNFT
r 4UBSWPJE
r 4VQSFNF 3VMFS $PME 8BSr 4XPSE PG UIF 4UBST
Complete Collection
r 5FMFHMJUDI %JF .PSF &EJUJPO
r 5IF ,JOHT $SVTBEF
r 5IF 4IPXEPXO &GGFDU
r 7JDUPSJB **
r 8BS PG UIF 3PTFT
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r 8BSMPDL .BTUFS PG UIF "SDBOF
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ASRock M8Designed by BMW, the ASRock M8 barebones PC is the ultimatein style, without sacrificing power. Weve got one to give away!
TO ENTER:
Head to www.pcpowerplay.com.au
In 25 words or less, answer the following question:
What PC component would you like to see BMW design next?
1BAREBONES PC
TO WIN!
WIN
TERMS AND CONDITIONS:1. Entry is open to residents of Australia and New Zealand except employees and immediate families of nextmedia Pty Ltd and the agencies associated with any promotion. 2. Entrants under the age of
18 must obtain the prior consent of a parent or legal guardian to enter. 3. Only entries completed with these terms and conditions will be eligible. 4. Entry is by fulfilling criteria noted with the competition. Competitions are gamesof skill and chance plays no part in determining winners. 5. Competition begins at 19.12.13. Entries close at 23.01.14. In determining eligibility the judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 6. Judgingwill take place on 24.01.14 at nextmedia Pty Ltd. 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, NSW 2065. 7. Prizes must be taken as offered and are not redeemable for cash. 8. The promoter is not responsible for misdirected or lostmail. 9. The winners of prizes over $100 will be published online at www.pcpowerplay.com.au. Allow four to six weeks for delivery of prizes from time of print. 10. Comps are as follows: PARADOX COLLECTION: Total prize value
is $4,736. Five winners with receive 1x copy of the Paradox Collection from Paradox. ASROCK M8: Total prize value is $749. One winner will receive 1 x ASRock M8 barebones PC from ASRock. 11. By entering entrants agree torelease, discharge and hold harmless nextmedia Pty Ltd., participating promoters and their affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotional agencies and prize suppliers from all claims and damages arising out of entrantsparticipations in this sweepstakes and/or acceptance of any prize. 12. The promoter is nextmedia Pty Ltd ABN 84 128 805 970 of Level 6, Building A, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065.PRIVACY NOTICE: We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of PC PowerPlay this will be used
to provide the products or ser vices that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizesor offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also give yourinformation to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touchwith our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590.
HEAD TO
WWW.PCPOWERPLAY.COM.AU
TO ENTER!
11PC POWERPLAY
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C POWERPLAY
1 2
THIS MONTH...
DANIEL HINDES
pressed all the buttonsin the lift@dhindes
MALCOLM CAMPBELL
drew his epic hammerand sickle
FR
ON
TE
N
D
ANTHONY FORDHAM
learned you can nevergo back to space again@popsciau
BENNETT RING
injected 1.21 jiggawatts@bennettring
MEGHANN ONEILL
wants to welcomeyou to the world oftomorrow@firkraags
OLIVER BARLES
added shoulder padsto his shoulder pads
18Godus
Hands-on with Peter Molyneuxs next god game
22Incognita
The creators of Mark of the Ninja on making turn-based stealth
32PCPP
Interview
The Kickstarted return of
Master of Magic
34Source
Code
Writing Star Wars: The Old
Republic
JAMES COTTEE
became the master ofmany things@j_cottee
NATHAN COCKS
cast his GOTY votefrom atop a mountain@elprezau
TERRENCE JARRAD
went back to sea, andthere wasnt even aburial@hailtonothing
JAMES OCONNOR
finally finished DeusEx, were all so proud ofthe little scamp@jickle
CAMERON FERRIS
hooked 14 PSUs to hisnipples@pcpowerplay
ROWAN KAISER
is holier than thou@rowankaiser
DANIEL WILKS
plundered some booty@drwilkenstein
PATRICK LUM
stopped all the baseattacks@patricklum
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13PC POWERPLAY
T H E R E L E A S E S C H E D U L ELooking ahead to the upcoming PC game releases
FRO
N
TEN
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LEGEND: Good Old Games Download RetailSteam Origin uPlay
Q4
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DIVINITYORIGINAL SINLARIAN, $TBA
THE BATTLES OFKING ARTHUREXCALIBUR,$TBA
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TITANFALL
RESPAWN, $89.95
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14PC POWERPLAY
1 4
FRO
N
TEN
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Thief DEVELOPER EIDOS MONTREAL
PUBLISHER SQUARE ENIX
DUE FEB 28
www.th iefgame.com
Garrett explores the Citys hub world between
jobs as he makes his way to Bassos place for
word on an upcoming mission. Along the way,
he can traverse the rooftops like a cat, sneak
past guards on ground level, and steal any
valuables that havent been locked down. All
of that loot goes to purchasing equipment and
upgrades for the next heist.
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15PC POWERPLAY
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FR
O
N
TEN
D
V E R T I G I N O U S G O L F
WHY VERTIGINOUS GOLFFREAKS ME OUT- I almost had a handle on it until I saw the
mechanical hummingbird
- The golf balls look like priceless artefacts on
loan from the Hermitage
- Did you hear something? That hummingbird...
I think it follows me...
- Who is going to wash all those carpets, thats
what I want to know.
CHOICE QUOTESEdward had to create a separate set of
plots for use by the workers. This eventually
developed into a golf like game high above the
clouds for the workers to experience during
their leisure time.
Free roaming camera/mechanical
hummingbird to explore and route plan. A full
9 hole course with lots more to come in the
future. Watch this space!
Electric golf balls and wind-up hummingbirds ate my brain!
DEVELOPERKINELCO & LONE ELK CREATIVEORIGIN TH E I NT ER NE T. SO TH E I NT ER NE T.
www.vert i -gol f . com
From the creators of Drift Cats andInvasion of the Deranged Snow Freaksfrom the Nth Dimension comes this: the
Bioshock Infinite minigame you never
knew existed. No seriously, Vertiginous
Golf is the answer to the question I didnt
even realise the cosmos was screaming
inside my head this past twelve months:
what if Bioshock Infinite was really
supposed to be a golf game?
I guess its possible that, in true
Bioshock Infinite style, Ive fallen through
a tear in reality to an alternate dimension
where Bioshock Infinite always IS a golf
game, and this is it. The game even has
a detailed backstory which is something
a lot of other golf games should think
about. It goes like this: alternate industrial
history eternal smog and rain on
Earths surface invention of levitation
system plots of land in the sky the
exclusive domain of the rich working
class denied physical access inventionof remote connection device for virtual
access to sky rich deny working class
even virtual access to their mansions
special zone for workers golf.
You think Im making this up? This
is Digital Curtain! Here, twisted visions
think up YOU!
Early beta video of this game shows
a detailed storefront where you walk in,
FPS-style, and sit in a Bioshock Infinite
chair and then youre up in the sky.
Theres a mechanical hummingbird. The
golf ball appears to be Faberge for some
reason. Also, it trails electricity. Then its
down to elaborate minigolf with spinning
things, tubes, flingers, bouncers,
blockers and the rest of it. Lots of
expensive looking carpets hanging
around up there, too.
If the three most important things
in your life are Bioshock Infinite, Tiger
Woods and gone-but-not-forgotten 80s
classic Marble Madness, then this could
well be your game of 2013. Buy it now,for just $5 and your sanity.
C POWERPLAY
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Who doesnt enjoy being a capricious deity,
reshaping the world to fit its own needs and gainpower? Certainly not ROWAN KAISER, who always
dreamed of growing up to be a demiurge.
Take over the world in the worst way possible -by turning it into America
Re o tLos g
GODUS
DEVELOPER 22 CANSDUE 2014
www.22cans.com
And the lord Godus looked upon the Earth, and he saw that
it was lush with verdant trees, varied with rolling hills and
steep valleys and shining coastlines, and possessed of
elegant, dangerous wildlife. The lord Godus saw all this and
frowned. This should be a suburb, quoth the lord, and thus
he set to work. With a flick of his wristseveral thousand
flicks of his wristthe lord Godus cut the trees, smoothed
the hills, massacred the wolves, and filled the oceans with
sand. And for this act the lord Godus was given nothing but
love and belief from his now-bountiful followers.
Heres the core mechanic of Peter Molyneuxs Godus: you makethe land flat and smooth. Parcels of flat land, without any trees or
rocks intruding upon them, form housing plots that the people in the
game will want to build on. The more flat land there is, the larger
and more plentiful the houses built on it become. The larger the
population, the more technology can be unlocked, as well as the
more belief becomes available for spending on more geo-engineering.
The core loop of flatten-expand-flatten is a simple and effective
one, although it can be taxingwith constant double left and
right clicks to raise and lower land, Godus can turn into a physical
chore. It is satisfying, however. Getting the terrain just right,
watching civilization grow, and reaping the rewards works really
well. Understandably so, since the core mechanic, introduced in
Molyneuxs classic Populous, is over two decades old.
But take a step back from the moment-to-moment act of playing
Godus, and it loses its appeal. This is partially thematic.
Theres no shortage of games built around the concept
of exploring maps, then exploiting resources to build
technology and population. Godus simply assumes that
this process is good, and sufficient motivation. Most other
games get around this feeling by putting survival at stake:
in Civilization, a rival will destroy a players nation if it never
expands; in Fallen Enchantress, the post-apocalyptic world
needs to be cleansed; even Populous is framed as a battle
between two rival gods who will mess up each others terrain and
make it actually interesting instead of all flat.
The constant expansion of believers
spreading across the increasingly
flat, boring map feels less like a
triumph of humanity and more like
a plague of locusts, devouring
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all in its path. This affects the aesthetics as
well. Instead of rewarding effective play visually
with beautiful terrain, Godus makes itself look
less pleasant as well. Trees, wolves, hills - all
get in the way of progress and add no benefit,all need to be eliminated in order to achieve
glorious progress. Its downright American in its
pragmatic cynicism.
That cynicism pervades the game itself.
Theres a huge clue in how belief is collected
from followers: after enough time, a bubble
fills above their house, which adds belief when
clicked on. Its a mechanic used primarily in
Ville-style Facebook games, which in and of
itself isnt necessarily a problem. It just points
at the other simple psychological loops the
game uses. Technology is improved by finding
various items scattered around the game
map, but other than sometimes allowing for
believers to build bigger houses, it doesnt
actually do anything. Congratulations on
clicking on things, youre now in the Age Of
Conquest. Have a biscuit. Then click on more
things. The scorched earth approach to
success in playing Godus also seems to have
been the design philosophy of the game itself:
keep people playing by the simplest and most
efficient ways possible, even if it s ugly and
ultimately unsatisfying.
One of the more bizarre connections Godus
has to social games is a faux-multiplayer
component. Once played long enough, believers
will take control of an altar that allows the
player to fight against other deities. But first it
goes into a chat room, filled with pre-scripted
Trees, wolves, hills
- all get in the way of
progress and add no
benefit, all need to be
eliminated
Shut your doors,the flood is coming!
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conversations involving people from the real
world. One teenagers dad is unemployed;an older woman tells the girl to be careful of
getting too friendly with men online, etc. This is
the closest thing Godus has to an embedded
narrative, and its simply bizarre. One minute
the game is about finding an altar to unlock
more of the map, the next its about the
continuing learning process of x AmY x as
she tries to play when her dads not home.
The multiplayer itself is, mechanically, a
good addition to the game. Its played in short
matches of 5-10 minutes, where the player
races to defeat an opponent in building the
highest population, mining the most gems,
or winning the war that starts when the timerruns out. Because of the short amount of
time and the constant pressure, the worst
aspects of Godus are generally eliminated
theres now a reason to make as much flat as
quickly as possible, and twisting the terrain to
slow an opponent is a good, and aesthetically
pleasing, decision. If the ability to fight real
people instead of just the AI is added,
thisll be a fun game mode that
adds a good amount of variety.
To be fair to Godus, it isnt a complete
game yet. Its being sold on Steams Early
Access program, but according to the games
loading screen, its only 40% done. Thats plenty
of room for developers 22 Cans to attempt
to give their game personality that allows it
to transcend its stripped-down strategy
feedback loops. Right now Godus is a
game about religion, but before it gets
released, it needs to find a soul.
o TeaMtThe 40% of Godus thatscurrently available is
compulsively playable,
sure. But its also deeply
unsatisfying both thematically
and aesthetically. If its going
to get better than being a
cynical clickfest, it needs a jolt
of personality in that last 60%.
Surely someone can borrow
Molyneux for a minute...
Can you turn that off?Im trying to sleep
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With trench coat tightened
and gadget briefcase ready,
DANIEL HINDESascends the
elevator to the 20th floor of
Klei Entertainments secure
headquarters, aware that cameras,
lasers and gun-toting guards will
be the least of his problems.
Committingcorporateespionageturn-by-turnwith Incognita
INCOGNITA
DEVELOPERKLEI ENTERTAINMENTPUBLISHER KLEI ENTERTAINMENTDUE 2014
www.incognitagame.com
Klei Entertainment damn near
revolutionised the stealth genre with2012s Mark of the Ninja. With its
influence stemming from Thief through to
Metal Gear Solid, the game took existing
stealth tropes and presented them as a
platforming game, but with a clarity and style
never seen before. Mark of the Ninja made
stealth accessible, with a visual language
that conveyed more abstract dangers enemy
lines of sight, the range of your footstep
sounds and the predicted path of guard
movements.
Incognita is Kleis next crack at stealth, but
the developer is now taking on is the hardcore,
thinking-gamers clutch: top-down tactics.
The kernel that started it all was memories
of Syndicate, says Jason Dreger, Designer and
Programmer on Incognita. The original X-COM
has had some influence, as well as roguelike
games such as Spelunky and FTL.
The high-level progression sees you
select a team of agents who sneak through
randomly-generated floors of a high-security
data storage facility. Where roguelikes have
you descend into danger, Incognita is about
ascending away from it. Along the way, you
acquire as many items, credits and valuable
data disks as possible.
The look and feel of the game made asignificant change at one point, Dreger adds.
HighRiseHeist
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worth the risk of the buildings alarm system
gradually closing in on their position.
The alarm was designed, maybe
unsurprisingly, to add pressure, Dreger
confirms. The hope is that every action made
becomes a more significant choice. Weve
exposed where the end goal on each level is to
the player, so they can make the choice of how
much of that time resource they want to spend
on the path to the exit or for exploration. The
exploration brings up moments of reactive play
which adds excitement and tension. All the
information we allow the player to get, moves
the game back into intentional play again.
Players of Shadowrun Returns will find
Incognitas next main mechanic familiar: a
mainframe overlay that allows players to
manipulate things in the digital world, the
effects of which flow on to the real world.
Pressing Spacebar at any time brings up
SPY HARDJason Dreger on Incognitas
unique art style
PCPP: Incognitas
characters already
have striking and
expressive artwork.How do you convey
their uniqueness as
characters, through
mechanics and
other opportunities
to display
personality?
Dreger: Artistic
influences have been
spy movie poster
art and design from
the 50s and 60s
as well as art by
Kevin Dart. But we
are still working on
how to bring out the
characters and againwe are looking to
use the procedural
systems to help
us. Besides giving
them each a unique
area of expertise
through abilities,
they each have their
own backstory and
end story(ies). The
back stories come
out in the character
description but also
in their in-game
response dialogue.
The end stories are
shaped by what
happens in each play
session. For example,
finishing the game
with agents Smith
and Jones could
produce a different
ending for Mr Smith
then if he had ended
the game just by
himself.
Giving more absolute
information moves the game
from reacting to planning
It was originally set more in an alternate 1920s or 1930s and ended
up feeling like gangster management than spy management. It looked
cool, but not what we wanted this time.
The games grid-based movement system is highly reminiscent of the
original X-COM, with line of sight being calculated per-tile. Sound plays
a role in movement, too; agents can opt to run further, but generate
noise in a radius around them, or sneak silently but consume more
movement points per turn. The manner in which Incognita communicates
this is a lesson Klei learned from Mark of the Ninja, and has gone a long
way toward so far successfully translating stealth into turn-based tactics.
A rule of thumb we picked up from Mark of the Ninja was showing
information that might normally be left hidden to the player makes
stealth more fun, says Dreger. That moves the game from reacting
to things that you couldnt have predicted, to planning how to bypass
something and then putting your plan to the test. But exposing that
information means a lot of things to display: lines of sight, movement
paths and possibilities, sense ranges. Balancing between sufficient but
not overloading information has been a challenge.
This extends to the visualisation of enemy patrol paths as literal
arrows which appear on the ground. The turn-based nature of the game
means that traditional stealth elements, like sitting and observingpatrol paths, arent as pertinent as positioning, sound, and line of
sight. Through this, a new type of planning phase arises one that
begins with the player almost fully-informed.
Giving more absolute information to the player instead of soft
information moves the game from reacting to planning, says Dreger.
If you see a guard patrolling, but are not sure when he will turn around
and begin patrolling back, it might be a gamble to run up behind him.
But if you can see his patrol path and know where he will turn, you can
make a plan accordingly.
This doesnt entirely eliminate the thrill of reactive play, however.
As players advance room-by-room, taking care to peek around corners
(giving them a quick, free glance and what lies beyond), theyll reveal
situations that demand ingenuity and expediency to slink past. Part
of what creates that demand is an omnipresent, automated alarm
system. As each turn ends, an alarm counter ticks up by one. When
it hits 20, an incredibly dangerous enemy strike team spawns at the
entrance to the current floor and begins to sweep for your presence.
This prevents players from not only turtling, but from thoroughly
exploring every nook and cranny of an individual floor. Instead, theyll
have to take on a more opportunistic approach, constantly evaluatingwhether or not the time it takes to locate and crack an extra safe is
Our stealthy agent,
Michael, has just cracked
into the two nearby
safes and has drawn hisdart gun and gone into
Overwatch. This allows
him to tranquilise any
guard that enters his line
of sight on their move
turn, completely silently.
Some firewalls regenerate each turn,requiring constant hacking to break
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SOUND THE ALARM
Our robotic character,
Cavil, can wirelessly
hack consoles from a
short distance. Currently,
however, hes hiding
behind a corner, because
the guard in the top right
is getting very close.
Like many roguelikes,
stores can be found in
the randomly-generated
levels. Spend all your
money here, as youll
need the items!
Red tiles show enemy
line of sight, from
both cameras and
guards. Stepping on
them during your turn
will send that guard
into alert mode.
The exit, where were
trying to get to. Once
we deal with these
last two guards.
As Michael cracks more safes, hebegins earning more cash from them
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a cheesey cyberspace overlay, and allows
players to use hacked consoles as resources
to disable alarms, lasers, cameras and more.
Originally we tried a more hand-crafted
network system where specific computers
were connected to specific devices, Dreger
recalls. Interacting with the mainframe
was like a puzzle. But we shifted from
crafted to procedurally generated maps.
To accommodate the change, we made it
more like an RTS economy where you gather
resources at one place to spend at another.
The alarm-induced turn limit makes how you
spend your resources more critical. It becomes
more important what you do with it each turn.
Players can also acquire mainframe
programs over the course of their heists, such
as an aural ping to distract guards and an
overload program that blows up a mainframe
object, incapacitating nearby enemies. The
acquisition of items and abilities continuesthrough to the real world, too, with the
opportunity to find cloaking devices, personal
shields, tasers, EMP bombs and more. This is
key, as in the current alpha version difficulty
progressively rises with each new floor of the
building. Fewer mainframe consoles become
available, so players must eventually rely on
obtained items and pure guile to make it to the
next exit. Of course, being in its current alpha
state, such progression is subject to change.
We have not got to massaging the difficulty
curve yet, Dreger admits. I will say that players
can expect to see things that thwarted them in
the past come back to thwart them further, andthats actually one of the areas of strategy in the
game. The player will have some control in what
they will be facing later in the game.
Incognita isnt an entirely procedural,
systems-driven experience. A narrative will run
through the course of the heist, but it wont be
delivered in a traditional manner.
Because the game is procedural and
intended to be played from the start several
times, we didnt want the story to be stale
and skipped at every opportunity, says
Dreger. There will be events that come
up during gameplay that will be about
gameplay decisions, but also add background
information and narrative. In any one
playthrough, you wont see them all. They
will give the taste of what is going in the
corporations and world at large. With repeated
play, you may begin to see how they connect
into larger events happening.
Playing Incognita feels a bit like a more
strategic interpretation of any number of hostile
compound infiltrations in Deus Ex. It is highly
resource-dependant, with a constant cycle of
observation, planning and execution. Its a
high-concept interpretation of the high-tech
heist scenario, with tension that arises despite
the games highly informative and abstracted
visualisations. Its the turn-based stealth gameyou never realised you needed, until now.
ALPHAPROTOCOLJason Dreger on continuing
Kleis successful alpha-
funding
PCPP: How valuable
has the paid alpha
access been to youas developers?
What has some of
the most useful
feedback from
players been?
Dreger: Its been
both excellent in
gameplay feedback
and enthusiasm. The
discussions on the
alarm and peeking
system has given
us a good look into
how people are using
those systems and
how they would like
to use them. Some ofthe posters must be
designers themselves
because theyve often
explained the current
system states better
than I would have. And
its always super great
to hear about people
playing and enjoying
the game. If just feeds
us to want to build
more interesting and
great additions to
Incognita.
After 20 turns, the alarmlights pulse an aggressive red
As development continues, morestarter teams will be unlocked
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LIFE IS FEUDAL
DEVELOPER BITBOX
PUBLISHER BITBOX
DUE 2015
www.l i fe i sfeudal .com
Were in the business of puns, so we respect
someone when they not only come up with a
zinger, but commit to making it the title of their
game. Life is Feudal is a sandbox massively
multiplayer game that focuses on building and
survival. Essentially, its a medieval Minecraft, but
with a focus on player alignment when it comes
to combat and death. Killing a player who yieldsbefore a final blow is struck marks you as evil in
the world. And also a cheapskate.
THE OLD REPUBLIC:
GALACTICSTARFIGHTER
DEVELOPER BIOWARE
PUBLISHER EA
DUE FEBRUARY
www.swtor.com
The Old Republic is introducing what everybody
wanted in the first place: SPACE DOGFIGHTS!
Players can upgrade and customise their various
starfighter classes and take the fight to zero-G as
they battle for rewards which can then be applied
to their character on the ground. Further linking
the MMO portion is the ability to assign a co-
pilot. Shotgun Chewies great-great-grandad!
GALACTICCIVILIZATIONS 3
DEVELOPER STARDOCK
PUBLISHER STARDOCK
DUE TB A
www.galc iv3.com
Say goodbye to whatever small part of your
life wont be consumed by the FTL expansion,because Stardock has announced GalCiv
3. Shockingly, this sequel is being designed
exclusively for 64-bit PCs, because its a PC-only
game and Stardock can do that if they want to.
This means the developer can make a much
bigger game, which is great because they
felt GalCiv 2 was too small. Also, the ship
designer is now basically Lego, which your puny
32-bit PC wont be able to handle.
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FTL: ADVANCEDEDITION
DEVELOPER SUBSET GAMES
PUBLISHER SUBSET GAMES
DUE 2014
www.f t lgame.com
Hooray! FTL is getting an expansion
pack! Finally, the perfect excuse to go
back and play NOTHING BUT FTL for
three months. Mind-control baddies!
Hack enemy subsystems! Fire new guns
with overcharge shots, stun shots, and
area-of-effect damage! Meet a brand new
species and fly through a new sector
which is, for some reason, being written
by CHRIS AVELLONE! Were not sure
where hes finding the time between
Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity but hey,
were not complaining.
AIRSCAPE: THEFALL OF GRAVITY
DEVELOPER CROSS PRODUCT
PUBLISHER CROSS PRODUCT
DUE TB A
www.airscapegame.com
Heres a cute-looking platformer from
a worldwide team of students that sees
control gravity to flip and fling themselves
around the 2D level. Rather than flipping
the character themself, the entire levelspins and rotates to accommodate
the change in gravity, which allows for
a seamless integration of swimming
mechanics, too. Which is good, because
the main character is an octopus. Who
probably isnt a dad. We think. Anyway,
gravity is way cool. Where would we be
without it?
MIDDLE-EARTH:SHADOWS OFMORDOR
DEVELOPER MONOLITH
PUBLISHER WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE
DUE TB A
www.shadowsofmordor.com
Oh, hey, Monolith (the four-letter-
acronym-lovers behind NOLF and FEAR) are
working on a Lord of the Rings game. Only,
to their great sadness, it doesnt use the
LOTR title, because its set before all that
business, but after The Hobbit. You play as
a Ranger who ventures deep into Mordor to
likely discover that some bad stuff is about
to go down. Every enemy will apparently
be a named character, who will grow and
become more dangerous as you do.
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WARGAME:RED DRAGON
DEVELOPER EUGEN SYSTEMS
PUBLISHER FOCUS HOME INTERACTIVE
DUE TB A
www.wargame-ab.com
The creators of what will probably wind
up being this years most under-appreciated
strategy game are back with Wargame Red
Dragon. Like Airland Battle and European
Escalation before it, this new instalment
of the Wargame series focuses on broader
strategy during the Cold War. However, the
theatre moves to East Asia and introduces
new factions: China, Japan, North and South
Korea, and the ANZACs (yay!). The time period
has also moved forward to the 1980s.
Naval strategy will be given a new focus,
with three boat classes that should expandyour operations in the seas. Destroyers are
naval command boats which can capture
naval zones. Corvettes roughly half the size
of Destroyers fulfil the role of ship-to-ship
combat. Patrol boats can skim between the
larger ships and move inland up rivers to
support ground troops.
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C POWERPLAY
Like countless other PC gamers
around the world, Aaron
Ethridge was captivated by the
unique 4X formula of Master of
Magic when it was first released
on PC back in 94. After hed
played it to death, he patiently
waited for the sequel he knew
just had to be hot on its heels.
It just seemed that was
inevitable. We had similar
games in the genre. Not fantasygames, but you got Master of
Orion, Master of Orion 2. And
then later, of course, Master
of Orion 3. Which was, ah, not
everybodys favourite. Sid
Meiers Civilization and its ilk
got sequel after sequel, and
kept pace with the times. But
for whatever reason, a certain
strategic gem from Microprose
never got the same love. That
never happened with Master of
Magic. It led to a cul-de-sac, and
never went anywhere.
Close to 20 years passed,
I was wanting to get into game
development. Started looking
around, you know - whats
missing? What hasnt really
been touched in the video game
world? And Master of Magic
stood out. Granted, there had
been the odd game like Fallen
Enchantress that explored
similar territory. But it just wasnt
the same. I didnt feel that
they were real successors. They
didnt fill my personal desire for
a sequel to Master of Magic. And
so I decided to follow it up.
Ethridges toil on a 2D
prototype caught the eye of
Wastelands Interactive, and after
a brisk exchange of emails the
Polish publisher agreed to lend
the South Carolina indie the
resources he needed to make
a more polished product and
soon Ethridge commanded a
small army of coders.
In 2014, Master of Magic will
have its long-awaited spiritual
successor: Worlds of Magic.
But what sets this particular
flavour of 4X apart? As in Civ,
you explore the map, build cities,
and field armies but you dont
advance your technology.
Whats going to evolve
is your characters power, as
you increase your magical
power, researching new spells,
increasing your skills. And its
your characters growth in power
that really changes the battlefield
dynamic, in the way that
technology might in Civilization.
Its a very different feel. You
dont have that stair-step feel.
You can focus on a particular
school of magic, where youre
basically ignoring the others,
trying to get very, very powerful
spells very quickly. You can have
a much wider base of much
lower power spells, dependingon diversity to give you strength.
But unlike Civs predictable tech
tree, you cant meticulously plan
out how youll advance thanks to
a a semi-random spell list. That
list is going to change from game
to game. Just because you take
in, say, five circles of Fire in one
game, doesnt mean youre going
to get the exact same Fire Spell
line-up in the next game.
Beyond this sense of cosmic
uncertainty, theres a great
deal of leeway for customising
your playstyle. For instance,
Fire is tied to confusion spells.
Chaotic spells. Then we have our
Effects Circles, which quantify
spells according to their effect:
Destruction, Summoning, et
cetera. What this allows a player
to do is to focus on a single
element, like Fire, focus on a
single effect, like Destruction, or
spread things out, and build up
a research pool where theyre
going to get spells from several
different schools so they can
use a scalpel on the battlefield,
and cast the exact spell that
they need. As you can imagine
this is a relatively complex
magical system, and its what
makes things feel magical. This
isnt something where you can
just go: Okay,
Im going to do A, and then Im
going to do B, then Im going to
do C, because theres a certain
amount of randomness.For gameplay aspects that
arent random, Ethridge plans
to implement extensively
customisable build queues
so that end-game empire
management neednt become
a chore. Its still important
to build each one of your
towns up, but youre not really
focussing on research for
your entire civilisation. This is
a personal quest for power.
Your Sorcerer Lord is trying to
overthrow the universe. Andit feels very different when
you play it, as contrasted to
something like Civilization.
A trademark feature of Master
of Magic was the dual game
maps; two contrasting planes
of existence to conquer. Worlds
of Magic ups the plane count to
seven a sprawling multiverse
linked by mystic wormholes, with
each elemental realm offering
unique bonuses to their rulers.
As with Civ, it will be possible to
customise the size of the world
maps. If you want to spend
a week playing a single game,
youll be able to do that. In a
game grounded more in science,
managing such a sprawling
campaign might become a
mind-boggling chore so its
just as well that youre a wizard.
You will be able to cast spells
to transport units from one
plane to another, and by late
game there are a lot of ways to
travel between the planes, so it
doesnt become tedious.
Some classics get sequel after sequel and some
fall through the cracks. When AARON ETHRIDGE
noticed that the PC gaming scene had gone 20
years without a follow-up to Master of Magic, hedecided to take matters into his own hands...
Its your characters growth
in power that really changes
the battlefield dynamic
THE PCPP INTERVIEW
WH OAARON ETHRIDGEWHEREWASTELANDS INTERACTIVEWH YWORLDS OF MAGIC
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One of the endgame
problems is moving massive
numbers of units around to
where you want them to be for
your next front of conquest.
Were looking at things like rally
points, where cities will be able
to create units and then send
them to a specific area of the
the map, and notify you when
theyre there.
Should you feel confident in
the overwhelming power of your
armies, it will be possible to
click on the Auto-Calc button to
instantly resolve any skirmish
without moving units around
individually on the Tactical
Battle Board.
Another callback to Master
of Magic is the Spell of
Domination. If you get so farahead of your enemies, where
this is just tedious, repetitive
clicking, again and again, youll
be able to cast the spell and
wrap the game up.
Many of the ideas for Worlds
of Magic have come from the
games Kickstarter backers; fans
whose obsession exceeds even
that of its creator. We have got
guys that were playing Master
of Magic since Day One, have
been playing it on and off for
close to 20 years. They have alot of ideas. They have a lot of
experience playing these types of
games. As do we. But the point
is it really is a case of the more,
the merrier. We take that input,
we look at it, we look at whats
feasible, and say: Okay, what
can we do speed up endgame?
To make it where its still very
fulfilling, where you feel like:
Okay! I conquered the universe!
But not where youre going:
Okay, Ive got 200 cities I have
to click through every turn. This
game is never going to end!
Worlds of Magic is in a
curious position, in that its had
not one, but two Kickstarters
to supplement its publisher
funding. It wasnt an easy
decision to launch the second
crowd-funding blitz, but as
the game grew and evolved
in the months since the first
Kickstarter, Ethridge noticed
a glaring shortcoming. To be
honest I wasnt satisfied with
our artistic image. I didnt think
that we were doing the game
justice. A lot of people may
condemn me for that, because
with a game like this its really
about being strategically
sound. Is the game fun to play?
Gameplay is what matters. And I
agree with that.
However, to get in new blood,
to bring in interest, to bring
people to the genre, youve got
to have a little bit of eye candy.
And I felt we were falling short.
Our vision has changed. And we
need a little bit more to live up
to our new expectations.
To help make Worlds of Magic
a true spiritual successor to the
game that inspired it, Ethridge
has hired a Master of Magic
veteran, George Edward Purdy.
Primarily a concept artist, Purdywill also help to sculpt the games
lore, and will help weave the back-
stories of the AI Sorcerer Lords
players wills strive to vanquish.
He actually just happened to
see us! We had not contacted
him. He happened to see us
on Kickstarter with our first
campaign, and contacted
us, and told us he was very
impressed at what wed done, it
looked like we truly were making
a real successor. And would we
be interested in having him onour team? Needless to say, we
leaped at the chance. We have
the utmost respect for Master
of Magic, and the team that
put that together, and having
someone that was part of that
team help us shape
this game its
an incredible
experience.
JAMES
COTTEE
MAGIC DEATH!
MAGIC HORSEMEN!
And MAGIC GRASS!
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CPOWERPLA Y
OPINION/
SOURCEC
ODE
Writing is hard.
Sure, putting words on a page is easy
enough for most people, but shaping those
words into something good? Thats hard.
Whether youre writing a novel, a news story,
or trying to explain a complex idea via Twitter,
writing is an exhausting discipline. Many
people are competent writers, but very few
are genuinely good.
But heres something I learned while
working at BioWare Austin: Writing for gamesis even harder.
EA flew me to Texas in 2011 to join the
team writing content for Star Wars: The Old
Republic. I was elated and terrified. I had
landed my dream job at one of the biggest
game studios in the world, working on one
of the biggest franchises in the world. It was
the realisation of a decade-old dream, but
my years as a self-employed web cartoonist
couldnt really prepare me for such a radical
change in environment and scope.
The writers pit at BioWare Austin was
a large, open space, dominated by a long
conference table so that each of the dozen
or so writers could easily turn around from
their individual booths and go face-to-face for
our daily meetings. My fellow writers ran the
gamut of experience, from BioWare veterans,
to a New York Times bestselling author, to
a guy who only started just a few months
before I showed up. It was daunting, but each
and every one of them went out of their way
to make me feel like a welcome and valued
member of the team.
That didnt mean that I started working on
the game right away, though. BioWare takes
its writing so seriously that new writers dont
get to contribute to real projects until theyve
undergone months of training.Thats right, months of training, at EAs
expense, for people who were already
experienced writers. Why so much training?
Because no amount of experience can
really prepare you for writing for players in a
BioWare game.
Good roleplaying games prioritise the
players ability to define their characters to
roleplay. This means that when the players
character speaks, the player shouldnt think I
never would have said that. The difficulty is
anticipating what any given player may want tosay in any given situation. Without an infinite
number of writers and an infinite amount of
time, theres no way to be sure that every
player is covered.
This becomes even harder in the context
of a massively multiplayer roleplaying game,
where the type of story you can tell is severely
restricted. When the environment is shared by
a thousand players, its hard to find ways for
player choices to have a lasting impact on the
world. You cant put the player in prison, and
dont even consider taking the players gear
away from them, or subtracting a stat point.
My months of training were not spent
learning how to string words together, but
how to make the player still feel powerful and
influential despite these limitations.
Then there are the players who dont care
about roleplaying; they just want to pick up
the quest so they can go kill things and get
their rewards. This players thumb is always
hovering over the all-powerful spacebar, ready
to skip any line of dialogue that comes acrossas dull or redundant. Yet you still need to
convey critical quest information.
The result was that I could spend an entire
day rewriting the same four lines of dialogue
over and over again, and end up convinced
that Im the worst writer in the world.
More daunting still is the knowledge that
seemingly small decisions made in the writers
pit could have huge ramifications for people
further down the production chain in such a
massive project. Modellers, animators, voice
actors, combat designers, world designers...a veritable army of people will spend months
even years working on the content that we
dreamed up around that conference table. The
content I worked on in early 2012 hasnt even
been announced yet.
The upside of working in
a huge studio, however, is
that there is a great deal
of support available to you,
and hundreds of people
who have a vested interested in helping you
do the best job possible. I was surrounded
by some of the best writers in the world and
I knew I was always free to ask for help. The
studio layoffs of 2012 were devastating, not
just for my own sake, but because it was
painful to see so many immensely talented
people suddenly unemployed.
Im glad to see, however, that most of my
former colleagues are still in the industry.
Writing for games is hard, but it can also be
tremendous fun and extremely rewarding.
Never estimate the uplifting power of seeing
your name scroll by in that blue Star Wars
credits font.
I could spend an entire day
rewriting the same four lines
of dialogue
THE SARLACC PITBehind the collaborative writing process of Star Wars: The Old Republic
DAVID C. SIMONis a freelance writer who
previously worked at BioWare Austin on Star
Wars: The Old Republic. He still misses TexanBBQ and Chili Dogs.
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CPOWERPLA Y
OPINION/JAM
The painstaking tactics
and sadistic difficulty of
Rainbow Six was legendary
Children of the 1980s have now lived longenough to see the world turned upsidedown. A new Cold War rages, only this time
it looks like the Russians may actually be
the good guys. Consider current events: a
Yankee spook has defected to Moscow with
proof that the US has been spying on the
entire internet. World leaders are incensed,
and the figurehead of the so-called Free
World is doing nothing to assuage them. Or
us the PR snaps of the American president
always capture him gobbling down hot dogsin the most unflattering ways. Meanwhile, the
Russian president makes a point of routinely
getting photographed with his shirt off.
As the video tapes that archive the glory
of 80s action heroes fade, demagnetise, and
rot, it becomes agonisingly clear who has
lost the arms race and who has won the
Gun Show. Putin winks, and tumblr swoons.
All Obama can offer in return are free shrugs.
Western Civilisation is the weakest its ever
been. And naturally, I blame the French.
The French Government has done its fair
share of damage, driving taxes up so high
that millionaire actor Grard Depardieu,
the only Frenchman fat enough to play
Obelix, has moved to Russia to save a few
centimes. But what concerns us more is the
Froggy private sector, and what it did to the
legacy of Tom Clancy.
Whatever his shortcomings as a writer,
Clancy succeeded in capturing the mood
of the zeitgeist. Within his house bricks of
pulp he spun together strands of fact into
plausible near-future scenarios of a world at
war. In the early 80s, Ronald Reagan found
Red Storm Rising such a compelling read
that he couldnt get any work done. In the
late 80s, the PC adaptation made staring
at sonar readings and nebulous maps ofdots just about the most compelling gaming
experience available. Nothing compared to
tooling around the Norwegian Sea Theatre
at the helm of a Los Angeles Class nuclear
attack sub, lobbing Tomahawks at commie
carrier battle groups, and torpedoing any
suspicious-sounding whales.
Some of Clancys later gaming projects
were equally satisfying the painstaking
tactics and sadistic difficulty of the original
Rainbow Six was legendary. Millennial
gamers could see for themselves if they
were bad enough dudes to save theSydney Olympics from bio-terrorists. The
Guillemot brothers bought into Red Storm
Entertainment, and soon game store shelves
were buckling under the weight of branded
milsim warez. Tom Clancys HAWX. Tom
Clancys EndWar. Tom Clancys Extreme
Beach Bocce Ball. But something was a little
off about the new wave of Clancy content.
Something was missing. What made
his early work so readily digestible was its
plausibility. The events of his books might
never happen... but they could. In the 80s,
it seemed likely that Russian tanks could
soon roll into Western Europe... that at any
moment, terrorists could precipitate global
war by committing just the right dastardly
deeds. But by concocting fictitious foes and
implausible outcomes, the games that bore
the Clancy name lost their edge. There was
no connective tissue between the events you
controlled and what you saw on the news.
You didnt really feel like you were saving the
world. You were just another guy with a gun.Near the end of Tom Clancys life, Ubisoft
bought the rights to use his name on any
number of future games for an undisclosed,
but presumably colossal sum. A baffling
move, considering that the name wasnt the
part of his products that really mattered.
Meanwhile, on the book store shelves, Ol
Tom had farmed out the writing duties for
his cyber-punk Net Force novel series so
he could devote more time to indulge his
passion for meticulously researching WWII
Eastern Front tank battles.
Considering how things have panned outin the the online gaming space, one can
only wonder how many garlicy tears the
Guillemots have cried into their croissants
over that missed opportunity. Obsessed with
DRM, they let a free-to-play juggernaut roll
right on by. One hears such
tales about the staff parties at
World of Tanks headquarters...
of T-34s carved from ice, with
cranberry vodka gushing from
their barrels. In a Clancy-
esque hypothetical alternate present day
those could well have been Leclercs spurting
cognac, but twas not to be. Cest la vie.
There will never be another Tom Clancy.
His era is over. For in a world where a PC
maker hired the star of Dude: Wheres My
Car? as a design consultant, the present
has become too stupid to comprehend. The
future: To horrific to contemplate.
Ubisoft is honouring Clancys legacy
by creating a new Rainbow Six where you
protect the US government and Wall Street
from a rag-tag band of patriots. Very timely.
But they may sell a few more copies if those
roles are reversed...
RAID OVER MOSCOWIn an ideal world, Tom Clancy wouldve made you his cyka...
JAMES COTTEEis the bear, the dragon,
the tiger and the rabbit when he needsto be. His favourite colour is the rainbow.
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CPOWERPLA Y
OPINION/
GENXX
What? Im fine. Why are you asking?
Get your hand off my shoulder,
complained me, last week, fending off my
caring-but-non-gamer-for-a-spouse, again. Why
was he worrying this time? Just a sticky note
on my desktop reading, I Have No Mouth and I
Must Scream. OK, it probably did come across
like a (very quiet) cry for help. That repressed
howl is what attracted me to the such-named,
vintage point-and-click adventure, when I was
pennilessly perusing GOG last week, obviously.
The title is a story unto itself; darkdesperation, captured perfectly and succinctly.
It commands attention more effectively than
any marketing you could dream up for it, like
when I shrugged my shoulders at A.I. Artificial
Intelligence, the Kubrick/ Spielberg film, not
yet realising that it was based on Brian Aldiss
Super-Toys Last All Summer Long. Now theres
a title! Whats a super-toy? What happens
when summer is over? If its so super, why
doesnt anyone expect it to last longer?
I like compelling titles. I also like the ones
that deliver what they promise. For example,
what is The Secret of Monkey Island? Great
game, but where is my secret? Its been many
years. Just whisper it to me, I wont tell. I do
know what The Curse of Monkey Island is
though, thankfully. Also, by contrast, Leisure
Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several
Wrong Places) at least afforded a certain kind
of literal satisfaction, upon finishing it.
Then, other titles deliver on their promise,
but leave you wanting more in their portrayal
of the action, like Fez. Yes, the guy had
an enchanted fez, but it could have been
any kind of hat, couldnt it? The Sims 3:
University Life. Yes, the sims did go to
university in that expansion, its true. The
Cave. Yes, it was. Lemmings. Yes, they were,
although that one word does capture boththe story and its essence quite well, I do
admit. Dont Starve. OK, Ill try not to. (Im
teasing now, thats a great title.)
Finding the right name for your game may
also depend on whether the overriding intent is
game, or story, or a combination. Is there much
point in renaming Lemmings to something
like A Macabre March of Minuscule Men when
Christmas Lemmings nailed it? (And, yes, I
am aware this is the third time Ive referenced
Christmas Lemmings in Generation XX, its an
example for everything.) Audiosurf. How would
you rename that? Its already perfect, but onlybecause it is what it says it is.
As usual, though, I digress. How did
choosing a game based on the grippingness
of its title turn out? Well, Ken is currently at
work, which is kind of a shame because I
could quite use a hug right now. I Have No
Mouth and I Must Scream is based on a
short story by Harlan Ellison. According to
it, the bad endings I found so easily were
the correct endings, shudder. With an online
walkthrough, I pursued the good ending. This
isnt something I generally do, but theres no
way could I allow it to finish like that. No way.
Probably the most distressing thing about
I Have No Mouth was that I was picturing
pre-internet players, in 1995, not grasping
the actual lack of relevance of the doll you
made for a child, out of his mothers head, in
defeating the insane computers superego.
(Its not real ly a spoiler. Or is it? You dont
know, do you? Do you?!?) Then, theyd have
been stuck forever, like the five beautifully
illustrated characters, trapped within thebelly of the Earth were, were destined to be,
deserved to be? Ahahahaha.
Dont worry, Im fine. Theres frank
content in there that defies 2013, thats
all. Somehow, where 1967s short story
feels timeless, this is firmly stamped with
1995, in guileless, narrative game terms.
Also, despite there being some quite
poorly designed, do this multiple times,
moments, otherwise clever conventions run
through gameplay, like ambiguous choices
influencing potential transcendence, even
the starving half-monkey-half-man whorefuses to pick up any item but food.
Though I Have No Mouth was extremely
satisfying, because I chose it for its title,
what overarching point am I making? That
Space Quest: The Sarien
Encounter should have
been called The Janitors
Heart is Ever Unsoiled?
No, mostly because thats
terrible. Simply, that
when youre naming your game consider it
carefully, make a deliverable promise and
maybe even add a few words, like you might
for a short story. Scrolling down a list of
2013s games shows that the majority are
named with three words, or less.
As further proof, I havent yet played
Thomas Was Alone, Amnesia: A Machine
for Pigs or The Wolf Among Us, but there
is a reason why they are also noted on my
desktop right now. Theyll likely worry my long
suffering husband over a potential descent
into paranoia/delusion and thats definitely
why I like them. Current or retro, AAA or indie,
interestingly named games make for easy
choices when life is busy, too.
This is firmly stamped with
1995, in guileless, narrative
game terms
MEGHANN ONEILLimagines her special hell
involves a shelf of 90s adventures, on disk,and no drive to stick them in.
THE SWEETER SMELLING ROSEWhy games with engaging names rarely disappoint
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C
O
VERF
EATU
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In 1996, Blizzard entertainment
released a game that popularised and
set the template for an entire genre.
DANIEL WILKSdiscovers that 17 years
and two sequels later, the developers
of the first Diablo 3 expansion are
looking to bring the series back in
line with the fundamentals that made
Diablo so popular to begin with - heroiccharacters and the promise of epic loot.
Diablo 3: Reaper of Soulsis on itsway and we begin our finger exercises
STAY AWHILE &LISTEN
If you cant have Diablo as a villain, I think
Malthael makes a fantastic villain, and
he also really allowed us to amp up the
dark and gothic atmosphere that I think
is so important, says Josh Mosqueira, game
director for the upcoming Diablo 3 expansion,
Reaper of Souls. In a lot of ways I think
Reaper of Souls is a ghost story turned action
game. Its definitely a dark and stormy night in
Westmarch when the player first gets there.
For the first time in the Diablo series, the new
expansion takes players to Westmarch, a city
that plays a major role in a good deal of the
lore of Diablo as well as in the fiction created
around the world of Sanctuary. Not only does
the city represent a very important milestone
in the Diablo story - heading back to the place
where a lot of the ongoing tale kind of began,
it also represents both a new challenge an
milestone for the developments team.
Westmarch has been described as dark
and gothic - a theme that the developmentteam are definitely keen on playing up given
the number of times the nature of the city is
alluded to in my interview with Mosqueira, as
well as the number of times that the phrase
was dropped during the Blizzcon panels -
as well as being very Eastern European,
caught somewhere between the decadence
of an empire and the austere seriousness of
a military and religious capital. Westmarch
has the potential to be a truly striking setting
for the opening
chapters of Reaper
of Souls but it also
offers some otherbenefits. Its not
just the visuals
that really excited us about Westmarch, it
was also the fact that this would allow us,
for the first time, to figure out how to do a
fully randomised urban environment, says
Mosqueira. Theres a lot of wins you get from
using a city - there are a lot of alleyways, you
have indoor and outdoor transitions. There
are things that will allow us to try out some
new tech that will make Westmarch feel like a
real place. We really wanted to celebrate the
dark and gothic heart that is so important to a
game like Diablo.
The location also clearly pinpointed the
ideal villain, one who fit with the gothic
architecture and tone of Westmarch. We
decided to bring back Malthael says
Mosqueira. He was the angel of wisdom who
took a sabbatical from the eternal conflict
but has now returned as the angel of death.
He has the noblest of intentions, to end
the eternal conflict, but that also means
destroying all the humans in the world of
Sanctuary, a situation that is not what you
would call ideal for the player.
According to Mosqueira, Westmarch really
fits into what he termed a class/villain/
location trinity - a thematic approach thatgives the story, characters and places a
DIABLO II I : REAPER OF SOULS
DEVELOPER BLIZZARDDUE 2014
http://sea.battle.net/d3
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became obvious that the way to express that
in a darker, more gothic Diablo setting was a
knight in battle-scarred armour, the idea that
this is an elite warrior driven by wrath and
that desire to smite the demons and carry on
the crusade. After coming up with the initial
concept, things started falling into place but
other conundrums arose - with his armour and
shield, the Crusader definitely falls into the
tank subclass of the holy RPG trinity (tank,
DPS and healer), but Diablo 3 already had two
melee classes and the developers didnt want
to simply add a third. The class had to have its
own unique hook and personality.
We were happy how we evolved the
Crusader from the Paladin but we really
started exploring how we could make a melee
that is also quite comfortable at ranged
combat, says Mosqueira. Thats where the
whole idea of melee with ranged came up. It
seemed to fit really well with the fantasy of the
Crusader. Youre one half tank, one half cleric
or caster. Once this concept was developed,
the real eureka moment came when a concept
animation for one of the Crusaders new skills,
Fist of the Heavens was shown. The ability
sees the Crusader striking the ground and
calling down a massive bolt of heavenly wraththat both strikes the enemy and fires out a
number of smaller bolts that crawl across
the ground. This skill typified the concept
the team was working towards so well
that unlike any of the other skills for the
crusader, or indeed any other class,
Fist of the Heavens wasnt iterated on
and should make it to the final game
unchanged from when it was first
conceived. The other skills have been
iterated on but fit in this framework
of a holy warrior full of righteous
sense of cohesion, but it wasnt the first
thing the team thought about when planning
the expansion. Towards the last year of
development they started thinking about
what they wanted to do with the expansion,
and I think the very first question that got
asked was, whats the new class, explains
Mosqueira. In a lot of ways the new class
is the poster-boy for the expansion and right
from the start everybody was really excited
about riffing off of the Paladin and coming
up with a class that really lived up to that
fantasy of the medieval knight, the knight in
battle scarred armour. Although the concept
of the new class was decided upon early in
the proceedings, there was a still a lot of
decisions to be made, core among them being
the fantasy behind the character. As Josh
Mosqueira explains, The class needs to start
with a really strong fantasy behind it. If you
look at the Barbarian or the Demon Hunter you
can definitely understand the fantasy of the
character right away. Who doesnt want to be
Conan the Barbarian, the strong mountain man
full of rage and able to wield an axe in one
hand, a hammer in the other and crush your
foes to smithereens?
So where do you start developing thisfantasy for a new character? According to
the team you go back to basics and look at
fantasy archetypes. It became apparent to the
Reaper of Souls team that when you look at
the classic pantheon of fantasy characters, the
key one that hadnt been addressed in Diablo
3 was the knight in shining armour. Of course
a symbol of chivalry and upstanding virtue
doesnt really fit in the world of Sanctuary,
a place in which the heroes often seem as
murderous as the villains. We really loved
that idea, says Mosqueira, but it quickly
Who doesnt want to be the strong
mountain man full of rage and able to wield
an axe in one hand, a hammer in the other
PARAGONThe Paragon end game leveling system is
also up for a tweak with unlimited Paragon
leveling (to a maximum of 250 to each
attribute) as well as account wide
Paragon levels, paradoxically
meaning that you dont have
to grind l
