Tuesday, December 21, 2010

updates

Well my semester is finally over, and my hair is just starting to de-gray itself. This was one crazy semester, and I'm not kidding when I say that I am still having nightmares about due dates and things.

But now it is all over and I have all sorts of time to muck about with my code! Kind of.

First I need to detox for a few days. Nothing but a steady diet of my favorite games and sleep. I've been playing coop Dawn of War II with my bro, coop Halo: Reach with a buddy of mine, the incredibly simple and charming Killing Floor (one of my favorite mindless shooters of all time), and a little Battle For Middle Earth (1) for nostalgia.

I got the urge to write a bit after playing the latter again. Battle for Middle Earth (BFME) is such a bold and unique RTS, I am amazed it came out of EA (by the team that used to be Westwood). There are so many cool design decisions, I don't know where to start.

I guess I'll start with this: To be fair, the game is flawed. The balance is pretty wonky, with archers, for some reason, being the end-all-be-all unit of warfare perfection. It is jarring, even maddening, to see your incredibly expensive yet deliciously menacing and massive Mummakil get put down in 5 seconds flat by two units of upgraded archers. Eww.

But I don't want to talk about that. I want to praise this game, after all. So I'll talk about how this game is so different from any RTS you've played. Mainly, this game is a siege centric RTS, like Stronghold but without any of the medieval simulation bits and instead focusing exclusively on fighting. The siege theme really makes sense when you think of it. I mean, think of the coolest, most video game worthy moments from the films. What were they? The sieges of Helms Deep and Minas Tirith, naturally. And the game does a pretty decent job of bring those epic film quality sieges to the player.

The game also does something else that I've never seen, before or since, in an RTS. It gave the AI natural emotions and behaviors. This impacts the game on both a cosmetic and gameplay level.

Cosmetically, these AI behaviors mean that your little army dudes will never just be standing around looking stiff and silly like in any other RTS. For example, if you leave your orks alone for a while they will form a ring and two of them will start sparring at the center of it. Your trolls will push and shove eachother around. If your men see a regular sized enemy from across the battlefield they will start clanging their weapons together and cheering, psyching up for the coming battle. It does a lot to make the game feel more alive.

On the gameplay side of things, units having realistic behavior can have quite an impact. Put your soldiers up against a rampaging troll and they will act afraid, and won't fight very well. Your men always do end up following your orders, but if your order is a clear suicide march then they will be a little sluggish in following your command. Set an ent on fire and he will freak out and run around to find water to put himself out in. Set a Mummakil on fire and he will go on a rampage, trying to shake off the flaming archer tent on his back.

All in all, the game is really something unique, and the design would have been worth exploring. Unfortunately, they decided that the design wasn't worth exploring at all when they made the sequel. In BFME II gone are the sieges, the behavioral AI, the everything that made BFME I fun except for the Lord of the Rings theme. BFME only got decent but not great reviews, maybe that is what prompted the developers to make BFME II a more conventional RTS in every way. Whatever the reason, if you are looking to buy the better game of the series then buy the first.

By the bye, on the code side of things: I will have an update on my Dating Sim very soon. I'm also not done with Quake - I just can't quit it.