KalNet Message Board

Hey folks,

I just picked up the indie game "Frozen Synapse" on Steam.

A couple years ago I was talking to a friend about an idea for a game where you have a couple of AI units breaching a room that you only partially knew what was on the other side of the door... You've have them stack up and bust in, then take positions, the round would then play out based on your strategy of using the AI's.

I was interested when I saw Frozen Synapse, then hooked when I learned a little more.

Frozen Synapse is a top down, turn based, tactical game.

Each turn has a setup phase, the actual turn takes place in about five seconds. I've had setup phases run as long as fifteen minutes while I'm simulating the best possible set of commands to give my AI's. Sometimes even that level of micromanagement (you can micromanage down to the 1/10th of a second) doesn't work if the situation just can't be salvaged.

You see the map from a bird's eye view, friendly and enemy units are visible (though I don't think they are in multiplayer). There are half height blocks that can be used as cover (duck behind them for total cover or shoot from behind them for advantage in firefight). If you have rocket launcher or grenade units, the walls are destructible. During your setup, you can test your waypoint routes for multiple units to see how the situation will work (a simulation is only as good as your coding of possible enemy movements).

But wait, there's more... Right now on Steam the game is $20, but it comes with a giftable copy for a friend.

That sounds really cool. I like turn based stuff like this so I can take my time & think.

yah that does sound really cool am going to check it out

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQQt4qc79Q

I`m a big fan of the soundtrack. I could be in for this. I emailed the development company a while back and got this response:

On 07/05/2011 16:54,
Form details below.
Full Name: Jaccen Steinberg
Telephone:
Message: Hello,

Would turn-based games via email (ala Space Bucks) be possible? Ie. Player 1 calcs their moves, an email is sent to Player 2, they calc their moves, both moves are played out, Player 1 calcs their moves, and so on. A game could take 5 minutes or 5 days this way. It would allow the game to meet people's schedules.

Cheers,

J

Hi Jaccen,

The game effectively functions as PBEM anyway - turns are stored on a central server and games can be played asynchronously in exactly the way you describe.

Thanks,

Paul

Mode 7

Nice, that would be pretty cool, especially compared to playing in real time with a perfectionist...

Part of an indie bundle where part of it goes to charity:

http://www.humblebundle.com/

I bought the last 2 humble bundles. There's usually at least 1 or 2 gems in there.