The [extra] Casual Gamer: January 2015

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Space Engineers #1 - Introduction

Space Engineers

Now, I know, this kind of game isn't going to appeal to everyone. In fact, I'm not really sure how large the audience is (although over 1 million copies have been sold), but it certainly appeals to me and my interest in astronomy and space. So, if you are interested, check out the website at the link above, but in the meantime, here are some highlights...

Space Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction and maintenance of space works. Players build space ships and space stations of various sizes and utilization (civil and military), pilot ships and perform asteroid mining.

In 2002, Marek Rosa got an idea of making a physics-sandbox game where players construct static and dynamic structures in a grid-like environment, with realistic physics and realistic volumetricity.

This idea was inspired by his childhood days, spent with the popular construction toys of LEGO and LEGO TECHNIC.

This looked pretty cool to me, and as I mentioned in the last post, Steam was having a sale with this game being 50% off ($10). *sigh* I couldn't resist. OMG, what did I get myself into. Of course, I always say that.

So, let's take it from the top.

Currently, the game is available as an 'Early Access Game' (it is still in development) and may be purchased for $19.99 either directly from the developer or from Steam, but note that you will be required to have a Steam account in order to play the game. If you are feeling generous, a 4-pack is available for purchase at $59.99 or 4 for the price of 3. Gift the other copies to friends (this is a multiplayer game after all)! The only platform currently supported is Windows, but Xbox One support at a future date has been announced. This is a one-time purchase with neither subscription nor micro-transactions.

So, let's get started, by taking a look at the trailer...

Now, I'm a little bit anal (which comes as no surprise to those of you that know me), so I tend to visit YouTube and find some tutorial videos on games I am considering for purchase, or those that I have newly purchased. Especially for those games that don't come with a manual as is the case here. So let me point you to a video or two...

Space Engineers Tutorial - Great place to start.
GasBandit Tutorial Series - These are great. Nothing assumed and as always, I prefer clean language.
Also, the company releases videos for each patch and they can be found here.

There are many other great videos out there as well and I suspect that I will probably add a couple to the mix myself! So take some time reviewing a couple of these and next time we'll launch the game and talk about some of the configuration possibilities and what they mean when starting out developing your very own outpost in space!!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

A New Year, A New Post

Well, of course I was correct when I said in my first post that I would start this blog, post for a couple of months and then quit. That's from experience. Whatever. The demands of real life rears its ugly head.

But guess what? It's the start of a New Year! 2015! (Yeah, I know, I kinda missed 2014 in its entirety.) And another new game has struck my fancy. Hey! I heard that groan.

Don't get me wrong, I will get back to Tomb Raider, it's a great game and I really would like to add it to my minuscule list of completed games, but right now I'm playing Dragon Age: Origins simply becuase my daughter got interested in Dragon Age: Inquisition and I thought that since I had the original game that I had started to play (never getting out of the starting area), I would try and get through it and I already owned it, so it was "free"... you get the idea.

But, that is not what this blog will be about. At least for a while.

Steam. In their own words, Steam offers a "Digital game store for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms with forums, update client and store code redemption". That's a bit simplistic and certainly understated. Boy, do they offer a bunch of games. New, old, indie, you name it. By no means all, but a lot. And they have some great sales, so let me warn you up front... oh... you already clicked on the link? Well, sorry about that.

The Indie games available are one of the best things about Steam. Small development shops get the opportunity to put their games out in front of large numbers of players. And there are some real diamonds in the rough out there. A somewhat new paradigm is to open a game currently in development, but playable, to the general gaming public for testing, feedback and of course, income. You will usually pay between $5 and $20 for access to a game that is in open 'Alpha'. The game is purchased 'as is' with no guarantees about feature set, etc. This helps the independent developer get some income flowing in while still developing the game. The greater the interest, the greater the income, the more incentive the developer has to not only finish the game but add more features as requested by the audience.

So, one of these games rather caught my eye after having played a little 'Minecraft' and 'Craft the World'. Can you guess? Well, you'll have to wait until next time to find out. In the meantime, Happy New Year!