Zane: Let me start the formal interview process by thanking you for taking the time to have this chat. I really appreciate it.

Joe: I definitely appreciate your time.

Zane: Founding a studio and creating a game of this scope aren’t small tasks by any means. What made you decide to become an indie developer, and found your studio?

Joe: Well I basically learned to write code about 19 years ago or so and started with writing BBS door games and moving on from there. I’ve worked at a few studios here in Toronto and in San Diego but eventually found myself working in other industries. The core game and ideas for Empyrios is actually a design I’ve been toying with for probably 4-5 years before the actual start of development and something that I’ve wanted to build for a long time.

Zane: Ah! Admittedly, I was curious which came first: Empyrios, or Creoterra.

Joe: Creoterra was really born in order to focus attention on building the types of games that we really wanted to play, to be honest. The core ideas and gameplay definitely predate us striking out and founding the studio, and we had a lot of world design and gameplay mechanics to start with. Once we found Jove—our artist—and he came on board with the project, is when things really started to come together from both a design and aesthetic point of view

Zane: Your aesthetic does have that old-school fantasy game feel. There are a number of areas where you’re doing things differently. For instance, I notice you’re not going with the traditional fantasy races. Even the dvergar as ‘dark dwarves’ in concept are very rarely seen compared to, say, dark elves.

Joe: Well that was one thing that we really spent a lot of time on because we really wanted to create a new world for the game to take place in. We do have a human race, the Aduro, and then the Dvergar as you mentioned, but we really wanted to have a fresh feel rather than sticking with ‘old proven’ so we’ve tried to come up with a lot of different concepts. Jove was also a big part of this and we worked very well going between art and design. One example would be the ‘Shade’ race, which our original design had more as a traditional type of undead. Jove wanted to try something new and he took the backstory of them being outcast for refusing to stop playing with necromancy and other dark arts, and tied it into the overall race. So now instead of having, say, the usual skeletal minions you might see elsewhere, the shade are basically a humanoid spirit, but with various parts of different types of living beings kind of moulded together.

Zane: Even the Aduro have a unique feel compared to the tried-and-tested staple of Humans. It’s great to see all these unique options. I can’t resist, though: are there any races that are developer favourites?

Joe: We’ve really tried to give all races, and the entire world for that matter, a really unique feel both through art style and ability design. Regarding favourites I can say that the Lithos are quite popular and we usually feature the Brute character out of game, but beyond that everyone seems to have their own favourite to play. I play a lot of the Caelum (avian race) myself and would definitely say they’re one of my personal favourites. Some people like sticking mainly with one race in their team composition, but a lot of people actually like to select from various races in whichever faction they’re playing.

Zane: I’m glad that you came to the topic of factions. You probably get this question a lot, but what is the Prophecy of Flame, and how does it relate to the two factions and their agenda?

Joe: Well the Prophecy of Flame actually stems from the Aduro race but has ramifications across the world. The human race in this part of the world started to have visits from very strange humans from other lands. They spoke of Pyrios, the god of flame, and began to recruit others into their religion and follow their beliefs. This had huge ramifications as once the Aduro Nation became the largest sect, they went from a passive view to being more aggressive, and banning and outlawing various forms of magic. This is what led to the Shade, as they are actually exiled Aduro who wanted to continue their research and practice into the darker arts. Whether that was a good idea or not is yet to be seen. I can’t go into the actual prophecy itself, as I don’t want to spoil the plot of either campaign, but it encompasses the entire world and story.

Zane: No worries! We wouldn’t want to spoil any surprises. The two factions, the Mystic Covenant and the Shadowlord Pact, they’re then centred around the Aduro and Shade, and their positions regarding Pyrios and his word?

Joe: Well their battle is one component, but every race actually has their own goals in mind, and they the factions are alliances of purpose and convenience. One example is how during their exile a high mage of the Shade actually created the Lithos race through necromancy and spirit magic. This impacts the Dvergar as you now have these wild destructive creations born in the mountains who start attacking the mines and trade routes. On the other hand, you have the Caelum who have forged a pact with the Sylvan to protect the wooded lands, and by making it seem as if the Reptilis attacked them first they’ve drawn the Sylvan into their battle. The Prophecy of Flame also foretold of the ‘beasts from the desert’ which later emerge as the Az’Modai, something the story goes into in more detail. So really the factions are actually created out of necessity, trickery, or something in between. They are much looser than say a conventional alliance where different races are friends for no reason, and it’s always been that way.

Zane: Wow. Suffice to say, there’s been a lot of preparation and fore-thought. All of this no doubt creates a rich back-story to set the current campaign’s events against.

Joe: Each faction’s campaign story isn’t actually just a linear point A to point B narrative. Sometimes you might have 2-3 options open to you on the map and you have to make a decision. Do you help the Dvergar town or the Aduro town, or do you ignore both to support the Sylvan on the front lines in the forest? Each campaign is different depending on the choices you make and the outcomes of the battle.

Zane: Strategizing well is clearly a big part of the game, and using your environment to your advantage is a core component thereof. What are some of the key elements of Empyrios’ tactical combat?

Joe: Well you hit on one key component which is trying to take tactical advantage by using the environment. Some units can set traps or alter the environment in small ways. To that effect. map control and positioning is pretty big. Another is that each unit has a set of 3 skills that vary in power cost, so you have to decide on whether you want to use ability X now, or wait and use something that costs less until you can get into a better position for a larger ability. Ouside of the battles the units in your army gain levels, have a skill mastery tree, and even one additional customization system that we’re still working on. So just because an enemy is using a Lithos Brute, you can’t be sure if he’s using it as a traditional ‘tanky’ type build, crowd control, or focussing on raw damage. And of course setting up team synergy and combos and planning your strategy is something that gives a nice edge.

Zane: Wow. Multiple campaigns with non-linear story-lines and player controlled outcomes, and then full control in a tactical environment with a myriad of options…have to say, you guys have put a lot of thought, effort and passion into this project.

Joe: Yeah it’s actually been quite the undertaking! As I mentioned early the core game concept and ideas were coming together for years before development started (actually using HeroQuest miniatures on a cardboard map), and we’ve been in full production for quite an insane amount of time.

Zane: What have been some of the major challenges of going Indie and working on Empyrios?

Joe: Well the biggest challenge for me has been the switch over to production. I spent the majority of my career, both in and out of games, in software engineering and technical direction. So while I worked hand in hand with producers, artists, and designers, I was still heavily tech focused. I had a million and one things to learn, and a lot of mistakes to make, but having someone like Jove on the project was absolutely huge as he took care of the aesthetic direction and really helped bring this idea and story on paper to life. Also, scope was a huge issue as the amount of work was pretty staggering on all fronts, whether it be code, design, art, anything! Although on a positive note we knew going into the project that it wasn’t something we would be building quickly and that we were in for the long haul project… so it wasn’t like we were surprised or hammered by scope creep.

Zane: I can imagine with something like an RPG, where you have to cater for every individual player contingency, as well as test to ensure the combinations are compatible, that it’s a huge undertaking.

Joe: The testing is actually a major part, especially with the team composition and customization. I build a lot of in-house tools and we’ve basically had bots playing the game 24/7 against each other for over a year constantly collecting data. It was quite fun, actually, because the bots were building teams and combos based on statistical analysis. Quite a few times the AI created some monster teams where we immediately knew we had to go in and fine-tune some abilities. The bots came up with a few team compositions that we never would have dreamed of using… but if the AI found them, players definitely would have at some point.

Zane: In that case, mental note to self: only play against other humans. You mention a variety of game modes, including the campaign and multiplayer. What are the modes on offer for the release?

Joe: We have the campaign mode, which is has a full non-linear campaign for each faction individual faction. Then there’s online multiplayer, local multiplayer, and practice. With online games we have a full infrastructure and matchmaking system so you can play ‘ranked’ games or just friendly games against friends. There are even unlockables and achievements. Local multiplayer is just what it sounds like: multiple friends against each other, playing on the same device. Practice mode is essentially local multiplayer versus bots.

Zane: Whom we’ve just established might be much nastier than your friends, depending on your difficulty level (and friends).

Joe: Hehehe very true.

Zane: I know this is probably your least favourite question as a developer, but the journalist code of honour dictates that I ask. Without us forcing you to commit to it, do you have a rough release date in mind?

Joe: Well our target is Q4 this year, but depending on development we may run into Q1 of next year. We’re actually 100% art complete at this stage (and we’re working on the first update actually), and majority code complete. Right now a lot of the work is in continuing to work on unit balancing, story/campaign, and heavy polishing across the board. Of course no promises with time as we want to make sure everything is extremely polished and as perfect as we can build it in our view.

Zane: That’s exciting news! Is there any way our readers can help show their support or keep up to speed with the latest progress reports and news?

Joe: Well we always massively appreciate support on Twitter and Facebook which we’ll be updating with news much more often. We’ve been ‘working in a dark cave’ for the last about 5 weeks while trying to get our latest alpha build ready and in testing so we haven’t had the stream of updates I’d like to see but there will be a lot more in the coming weeks. Also we’re hoping to have both the empyrios.com website and steam green light page online within the next 3-4 weeks or so. And of course players can check our company site where there is more information on the game and will be continually updated

Zane: Thank you very much, Joe. Do you have any final words of advice or inspiration you’d like to share with any aspiring indie devs who might be reading?

Joe: Well for me I think the biggest thing is that if you have a great game idea that you’d like to realize, you have to build it. In some cases, like with Empyrios, the design morphed from tabletop gameplay builds over the years, and writing the backstory as a hobby, into building out the entire game in production. Just be very mindful that if you haven’t produced a AAA or indie title in the past, you are going to learn a million new things, your time estimates will be derailed, and you’ll probably hit a host of unforeseen problems. As we’re wrapping up development on Empyrios I am definitely really happy with the overall process and what we’ll have achieved in the end, and I hope that players will feel the same way.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The game will have a strong focus on story, focusing on compelling plot, a rich world, and mature overtones for the band of misfit characters that the player will follow. Piecing together information from around the world will allow the players to track down powerful treasures guarded by behemoths as part of the game’s ‘Legend System’.

The developers intend to build a multi-layered combat system, allowing strategic players to use various mechanics that play off of each other to let them take down seemingly impossible odds. Characters also have non-linear progression, allowing players to build them to their preferred style, and bonus battle goals offer optional challenges for additional rewards, such as resources, rare items, and additional side-story.

Punchbag have yet to launch their campaign, but anyone interested can keep up through their website and via Twitter @PunchbagEnt.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Greetings and welcome back fellow strategists and gunners. Hope you have kept your wits sharp and your trigger-finger ready to go, because we are going back into Interplanetary for some more planet-bombardment action. The folks at Team Jolly Roger Games have made many improvements to the game since we last looked at it, including graphical fixes, network improvements, more weapons of mass destruction, a tech tree and research mechanic, a working spying mechanic, and other improvements and goodies. I have been purposefully keeping myself in the dark about the game’s development, so that way each iteration can become more of a surprise for my next skirmish. Boy I must say, they really have made some great strides since my initial preview, which you can read here if you haven’t already.

The first topic I wish to talk about is possibly the biggest and most influential of them all, the spying mechanic. Previously you could view your opponent’s planet and see where all cities and developments have been placed, allowing precision-based weapons to take a huge advantage and dominate the weapon selections. With the recent changes, you no longer have all that info readily available. In order to view possible enemy weak points, you must construct buildings which will allow you to view planet infrastructure. Depending on your planet’s level of intelligence – the number of spy buildings you have – the possible targets available range from a couple low-value locales up to the entire planet. To keep away prying eyes, you can counter by building “cloaking” or counter-intelligence buildings in order to hide your planet’s infrastructure. This feature alone adds much more strategic gameplay and flow to the system, as players are no longer just racing to get the biggest and best guns. Priority is now split between getting your planet ready for conflict and keeping your cities and important structures hidden, creating both an arms and intelligence race.

Along with intelligence comes the research aspect of the game. You now need to research technology in order to access the bigger and more advanced weaponry. No longer are you able to build missiles and laser weapons right from the get go. Now you must allocate time in order for research to be done. This is done via a simple tech tree, where various tech and bonuses can be researched and applied to your advantage. Techs include giving permanent boosts such as more power production or spying levels as well as the ability to manufacture one of the two new weapons of massive destruction.

Now we are getting to the juicy parts of the new additions, the new weaponry. A new laser and artillery weapon have been added in the form of the ‘Solar Laser’ and the ‘Asteroid Diversion’ respectively. Once I noticed these weapons in the tech tree, I just HAD to acquire them and give them a shot (pun intended).

FIRE THE LASER!

The Solar Laser is a satellite parked in the sun’s orbit which focuses the sun’s power into a giant solar death ray, obliterating anything you set its deadly sights on with pinpoint precision. I couldn’t help but feel like an evil genius, pinky to mouth, when I set loose the focused wrath of the sun onto my enemy.

As cool as the Solar Laser is, I felt that the Asteroid Diversion was more “in tune” with the sci-fi nature of the game. As the name implies, the Asteroid Diversion weapon takes an asteroid from the local asteroid belt and diverts it to a course of your bidding, into say perhaps a nearby planet that you dislike. Nothing beats the sight of an asteroid hurtling out of space at full speed and slamming right into your enemy’s precious home planet. Numerous blockbusters and B-movies have been made on that premise, and now it is in your hands to unleash upon your foes. So set an asteroid loose on that pesky planet and whip out some popcorn for the show (3D glasses not included).

Recreate a B-movie disaster film on your enemy’s home planet

While all these additions are great, I have merely touched upon a few of the major updates to the game. Many other improvements have been made to the game such as improved multiplayer networking and graphical fixes, all showing that Team Jolly Roger have been putting a lot of effort and love into this project. I was blown away by my first look into the game many versions ago, and the current build they have on offer is no exception to that statement. I look forward to the next iteration of the game. If the additions they have made so far are any indication of the future trajectory of the game, we are in for an Earth-shattering (pun intended) release once the full game is out.
You can check out Interplanetary on Steam Early Access for those interested in some tactical fun. Let’s get those guns primed and lasers flying!

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

In Turf Raiders, you play as the leader of a horde of blue kitty commandos (they look more like squirrel…bear…things to me, but hey! Still cute!) on a mission to collect energy cubes known as gluons which power your defenses against the diabolical red dog hoards. In order to do this, you and your enemy take turns playing cards that have a variety of abilities, such as summoning units to the grid-like field, moving your own or your opponent’s units, or even getting rid of your opponent’s units! Each part of the grid yields certain items, such as gluons or cash which is essential to being able to play cards at all. In essence, Turf Raiders is a tactical area control game in a vein similar to the classic board game Risk.

Despite its strategic leanings, Turf Raiders is simple and easy to learn. After a few tutorial levels, the player is thrown right into over forty different missions which all feature different field layouts and enemies that get increasingly aggressive. While it’s a free game, there is an in-app currency that allows you to buy ‘Perks’: one-use items such as extra cash or cards to give you an edge over your opponent. I found that I usually had enough of the currency available that I didn’t really need to opt for actually buying more.

Turf Raiders feels like a game that appears simple but actually hides complex and engaging strategy beneath the surface. If only this were true. The game is awkward, teetering on the edge between something casual and light and something deeper, something that I need to sit down and consider. There are elements which are annoyingly slow, such as having to touch the screen every time both my opponent and I draw a new hand.  The cash as the beginning of my turn takes way too long to auto-gather to me. I end up just touching on the little sprites myself to have them available faster. These are, admittedly, minor grievances, but the constant touching for aspects that should be automatic wore down on me. It was tough to continue in this war of attrition, having to convince myself to play the next mission and deal with the weird slowness of it all.

I like cute games with adorable characters, but maybe Turf Raiders was also a little too cute for me. The bouncy music became repetitive, speeding up to a stressful crescendo at odd intervals, leading me to eventually turning it off. Overall, I was saddened that Turf Raiders became an unpleasant, tedious experience for me. Perhaps some tightening up of certain mechanics and a little more variation in music and animations would improve the experience, but for now this is a game I’d rather skip.

Turf Raiders Card Battle is free and available in the Google Play Store. You can find more information on the developer’s website.

Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

What does this score mean?

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

It’s not all about surviving, though, as the game will present players with an opportunity to maintain and improve the colony’s base. Construction/upgrade of base modules, delegating tasks to individual workers, and of course exploration make up just a few of the player’s responsibilities as they battle the harsh, life-or-death conditions. It reminds me a bit of the old Sierra game, Outpost, which I played extensively, so naturally I’m curious to see how this compares.

Construct, maintain, and upgrade your Mars colony to survive and thrive.

A few weeks ago, TBA Games created a Kickstarter campaign to help fund PeriAreion‘s development. With weeks left in the campaign, the studio met its initial $3000 goal back in mid-March, followed soon after by hitting the first stretch goal: expanded artwork. There are still a few  stretch goals remaining including a new game map, custom base placement, and improved animations. With just over a week left, it’s not too late for backers to get on the bandwagon, and there are plenty of tiered rewards left including copies of the game, stickers, posters, and the chance to be turned into a playable character.

For more information on PeriAreion and to stay on top of updates, be sure to check out the game’s official website.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

So the story goes, an organization of scientists, in an effort to expand their knowledge, creates the “Chronova Device”, a tool that would enable them to unlock the universal ‘real-time’ and introduce it to their turn-based world. But, as these experiments often do, everything goes wrong, and a vortex sweeps them up from their world. Now it’s up to you, in your little orange “Nova-111″ starship, to rescue the crew.  Will your harmless research vessel be up to the task?

The player will be faced with a series of obstacles, such as alien enemies and puzzles. Your vessel won’t be completely helpless, as collectible upgrades and abilities will allow it to defend itself and fight back. As you advance, the world will slowly shift from turn-based decisions to making the player react in real-time environments. And gosh, what environments they are. If you’re not already interested, the visuals should definitely hook you. The game simply looks splendid, and the character portraits are to die for, really. The mix of pixel and painterly styles makes the levels truly shine. And the music ain’t too shabby either, apparently being dynamic and suiting itself to your individual play style.

Though no set date has been announced, Nova-111 is supposed to be released some time later this year for Windows, Linux, and Mac. To find out more, visit Funktronic Labs’ website for the game. You can also follow the developers on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Ever wonder if there is other life out there in the cosmos? Perhaps some civilizations are exploring the vast reaches of space, or even at war with one another. What if, during such a war, an errant shot from a planet’s defences missed its target and hurled itself out into space? Perhaps that very shot is coming into our own solar system, hurtling towards Earth, with us unaware of our impending danger. At least, that is what I was thinking when I made a huge miscalculation while playing the pre-alpha build of Interplanetary by Finnish based studio Team Jolly Roger Games.

Bombardment!!

Interplanetary is a hard science fiction, turn-based strategy game where you use artillery weapons from your own planet in order to blow up a rival planet. If you have ever played Tanks or Scorched Earth back in the day, it is very much like that, but on a much larger and complex scale. In this game, you must first build up your forces before you are able to begin chucking warheads across the solar system. There is strategy involved as you must manage a multitude of things such as building material, power, planet defences, planet armaments, and of course, your population. Your “life” comes in the form of cities; you must protect them at all costs while at the same time attempting to bombard your opponent’s cities into a smouldering crater. Do that, and you win. Simple right? Nope!

While attempting to destroy that one pesky planet, you must account for things such as planetary orbit, gravity wells, travel time, and other planets and planetoids as well as their respective orbits and gravity. While you do get a guide showing you how your shot will travel, it only takes into account the current state of the system. You must predict how your aim will be affected by other planets and the gravity of the local sun in order to get a shot to land perfectly. Science! Ballistics! Math! …My head hurts.

With skills you can make curved shots around the sun.

The pre-alpha version only comes with multiplayer at the moment, and AI opponents are not integrated yet to my knowledge, but it is planned for a future release. I loaded up the hot seat multiplayer and began playing a solo game. Although LAN and online support is there, I have yet to try them out.

Build up your planet.

Playing both planets did little to stifle my “strategy” since fired rounds may behave in unpredictable ways due to planetary influences. So due to this, playing both sides on a solo game still made things a little challenging. Before I knew it, hours had flown by, and I was still in the midst of a great war, firing shells, missiles, and even laser beams. This reminded me a lot of Scorched Earth where my aim, or lack thereof, can make games last quite a long time.

I am extremely impressed with this, considering it is only a pre-alpha build; it has quite a lot of gameplay and core mechanics already down pat. It is already a strong build in its current state – more than enough to convince any fans of artillery-type games or science fiction buffs. Team Jolly Roger have many plans for the future of Interplanetary, and I for one am looking forward to future builds and releases. Definitely keep an eye on this title in the future, and one in the sky for one of my off-the-mark artillery shots.

I may not be able to hit the planet next to me, but I guarantee the neighbouring solar systems have fear in their hearts whenever they hear my name.

Check out the Interplanetary website
Team Jolly Roger’s Website

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Released on Steam as an ‘Early Access’ build last month, Maia started as a Kickstarter and Indiegogo project. Developed by Simon Roth, who previously worked in AAA game development and on Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV, Maia is a colony-building and management sim set on a hostile, but habitable planet located about twelve light years away from Earth. Taking inspiration from games like Dungeon Keeper, Dwarf Fortress, and The Sims, the player must work to ensure the colonists survive in their harsh new environment. Build shelters, construct power sources, regulate food production, keep a careful eye on the mental and physical health of your colonists–everything you would expect from a good simulation is there. What’s also neat is that, being on a volatile planet, the colonists are not only subjected to the more routine aspects of survival, but also foreign toxins, alien flora and fauna, dangerous geological events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and extraplanetary hazards such as solar radiation and meteors of a much more violent nature and frequency than that experienced on Earth.

While the construction of the facilities in which the colonists will live initially starts underground, the player will be able to explore the planet’s surface and conduct research and experiments which will expand their knowledge of the planet and their colonists’ chances of survival. Robots and a first-person mode seem like it’ll make this facet of the game extra interesting, especially considering the look of that mode. Despite the fact that I normally don’t care for first-person perspective in games, I’m actually pretty excited to try this mode out when it’s added to the game. The visual style of it is a total blast and I hope Roth introduces more elements which will emphasize its uniqueness.

Speaking of style, there’s more that will make certain sci-fi fans–me included–salivate at the mouth: Maia also takes a lot of influence from the aesthetic and functionality of 70s science fiction. The technology in the game will be reminiscent of the era in many ways, and the look and music will surely bring folks back to their favourite 70s sci-fi movie. I know when I first heard the haunting sounds of the Kickstarter trailer I was flung back to when I first watched Alien.

Anyway, Maia looks to be a highly ambitious game. The map will be 2km x 2km and procedurally generated. The colonists you manage will all have distinct personalities and skills which you’ll have to pay close attention to in order for the colony to thrive. Like any good game that even mentions terraforming, the player will be able to change the environment and change certain settings which will influence the difficulty and direction of the game. But everything will have its trade-off. Want more minerals? You’ll have to contend with increased geological activity which will put your colonists at risk. Playing around with the amount of light that reaches the planet from its star? Plants will grow faster, sure, but that might also attract more wildlife, and where the prey is, there are predators. This attention to detail is incredibly enticing, and I sincerely hope Roth is able to pull off everything he hopes for in this game. Simulation games are great for creating unique stories, and a story about colonists hashing it out on a hostile planet is too good to pass up.

As mentioned previously, Maia is available on Steam as an ‘Early Access’ title, which means you’ll be able to follow its development first-hand and receive future updates to the game directly through the client. A word of warning, though: Maia is still in very early Alpha, so it’s still got a hardy amount of bugs and is far from polished and feature-full. The developer seems to be consistently putting out updates, however, so if you’re interested in seeing the game grow as you play it, check it out on its Steam page. You can pre-order the game on its official website as well as find out more information about it on there and on its Facebook and Twitter accounts.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Hive is a board game like chess, but with colorful insects in place of the the traditional pieces. Published by Blue Line Game Studios, it’s available on Xbox Live and Steam, with Macintosh and Linux releases planned for the future.

As the title indicates, you’re building an insect hive not unlike a colony of bees, with a single queen supported by many workers. This structure leads to a number of logical rules: Your queen must be placed in the first four turns; no piece can be moved until the queen is in play; when placing a piece, it must be next to one of yours and cannot be next to the opposing team’s pieces; pieces must move in a sliding motion and can not move into a space where it wouldn’t naturally fit; and no piece may break the Hive, which means a piece may not move if it connects two or more other pieces. The rules aren’t too cumbersome making it easy to pick up, but a challenge to master.

Hive is played on a dynamic hex map, and each game creates a unique board as pieces are placed. Once you learn the rules, play proceeds naturally and quickly.

Like the king in chess, the queen is the weakest piece and moves only one space at a time. The objective of the game is to surround the opposing player’s queen using any pieces, yours or your opponent’s. One move by the queen can turn the tide of the game.

Other pieces have their strengths and weaknesses. The ant is powerful because it can move anywhere, but frequently gets in the way of your own strategy as well as your opponent’s. The beetle can move in three dimensions to occupy a hex over other pieces, but only one space at a time. The grasshopper can move any distance through any other piece, but only in a straight line. And the spider, like the knight in chess, must move in a specific pattern over a specific number of spaces. An upcoming expansion will introduce a mysterious new pill bug piece to add more strategic options.

The Steam version AI has four different difficulty levels, and provides a satisfying challenge. When playing I started off with a very aggressive tactic, going straight for the opposing queen. Over time I learned that I had to also protect my own queen in order to be successful at higher difficulties. I enjoyed the level of depth that can be applied once you master the basics.

My only complaint is that playing the AI can get dull after a while. Blue Line Game Studios plans to release their multiplayer patch soon. Player vs player is where I know this game will shine, so I was a bit sad that I didn’t get to experience that since the human factor is really a key element to games like these.

All in all Hive is both interesting and challenging, and will appeal to people who enjoy games like chess, checkers or other classic board games. You can get early access to the Steam version here.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using a PC copy provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Fortify: Special Edition puts players in charge of defending a castle from marauding monsters commanded by a an evil overlord. Enemies approach in waves from all directions of the top-down map, and units can be placed within or outside the castle’s walls to stop its destruction. The campaign mode requires the player to keep the castle standing for the in-game duration of a couple of weeks before finally facing the big, bad, boss man himself. Two additional game modes, Arcade and Multiplayer, extend the playability. Arcade mode ramps the difficulty up to the highest setting to see how many rounds the player can last. Multiplayer (LAN-only) tasks each player with attacking the other player’s castle while still defending their own.

The player’s combat units are represented by various soldier types – including ranged and melee – with different abilities for range, attack power, skills, etc. They are purchased using gold earned by defeating enemies as well as with resources collected on the map (more on that later). Because enemies approach from different directions and each unit has a limited field of view, they must be moved either individually or as a group. This is where a lot of time is spent in the early part of the game, and it is a source of frustration as combat units are fairly dumb. Units will only attack if the enemy is within their f.o.v, even if the enemy is standing right next to them. It eventually becomes less of a problem once enough soldiers are purchased for maximum coverage in all directions.

As with many tower defense games, there’s a decision to made between trying to overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers versus using valuable resources to purchase upgrades. What helps separate Fortify from lesser games in the genre are the vast number and types of upgrades available. On the lower end of the scale, players can boost the castle’s defenses and add towers to improve offensive stats. Perform enough of these upgrades and that unlocks the ability to move the game – and castle – to newer ages of technological advancement. With those evolutionary changes come new soldier types, new player-executed attack options (i.e. catapult, oil slick), and buildings that open up even more upgrade paths.

Advanced upgrade options will leave foes feeling the heat.

One of my favorite twists on the genre turns the game into a bit more of an RTS. There are three outposts that are located on the map. Each outpost is associated with a different resource – lumber, iron, and stone – and can be mined for that resource with the proper care and attention. A building must first be built on the location, and then workers must be purchased and sent there. Resources are mined incrementally over time as long as there are one or more workers at that location. This all sounds well and good, but it’s not as easy as it seems. These outputs are typically fragile, and since they’re outside the castle’s confines they are open to attack. Workers caught inside when the walls fall are killed. As with the castle, outposts can be upgraded with tougher walls, stronger defense measures, and increased capacity for workers.  So with all of the other issues for the player to contend with, they must also repeatedly decide whether to dump valuable resources – as well as the player’s attention – into the main castle or these outposts.

This factors into the game’s biggest weakness:  the pacing of the difficulty. I’m normally a default-to-Normal kinda guy, but I highly recommend starting at the easiest difficulty setting to get a handle on how the game plays. The early game tends to be the hardest part because the need to constantly adjust the combat units can keep the player from making much – if any – progress towards the longer-term objectives. Some of the individual combat units have special skills or stances that the player can activate, but I found I never had time to use them while they were still useful. There’s simply too much to micromanage, not enough time to assess, and it can lead to frustrating failures. The player can pause the game anytime to get a better look at the battleground and read all of the upgrade options, but that goes against the natural flow of playing an action game. On the flip side, if the player can manage to survive the early onslaught, build and maintain some outposts, and start mining resources, the game pretty much plays itself during the last few days. This problem is nothing new to the genre since the goal of most tower defense games involves creating an undefeatable juggernaut.

Sit back, player. We’ve got this.

Fortify: Special Edition is one of those games where I quickly thought I had my mind made up about it. During the first couple of times I attempted the campaign, I lost and was left with a sour taste in my mouth. It’s easy to become overwhelmed, especially when overestimating one’s own ability to take on a new game in a genre they’re well acquainted with. After easing myself in at a lower difficulty, learning how and when to work towards the long-term goals, and generally just figuring out how to actually play the game, I came away much more satisfied with the experience. I don’t know that this is a game that I’ll keep coming back to once I’ve conquered the harder difficulties, but it’s a solid tower defense game in spite of some issues with the difficulty pacing.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using a PC copy provided by the developer for that purpose. Version 1.02 was used in this review. It is available for PC and Mac through Desura, GamersGate, and IndieGameStand. The original Fortify is available as a free download from Holgersson Entertainment.

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