May the 4th: A Star Wars Trilogy, Episode I.

Attack of the Clones.

I purchased my treasured copy of Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds in 2004 as a part of a Movie Collection games package, along with James Bond 007: Nightfire and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. I have no memory of ever installing the Indiana Jones game, and probably played Nightfire a couple of times at most, but Galactic Battlegrounds has been in heavy rotation ever since.

Galactic Battlegrounds is a real time strategy game based on the Age of Empires* game engine, with the obvious substitution of the Rebellion, the Galactic Empire, Trade Federation, Naboo, Wookiees and so on for different historical civilizations. There's a newer version that added more features, but I've always preferred the classic version, to the point where I zealously maintain an older PC running Windows 7 without upgrades pretty much just so that I can play it. It's one of those games that just perfectly suits my playing style and interests, regardless of its age.

I admit to never having completed all of the Galactic Battlegrounds storylines, which are derived from Episodes I, II, IV, V and VI of the movie franchise - I've always just played the single player Standard Game, where you can face off against seven computer opponents. I almost always play as the Rebellion, and I always play against the full range of political groups and alien races - why would I want to play against seven tribes of Gungans? I've played as the other options now and then, but the Rebellion just seems to suit me best (and besides, they're the good guys.)

One of the things that I've noticed again and again is that, win or lose, my casualty rates are almost comically low compared to my digital opponents, as you can see in the above image.** I'm fanatically careful about not losing troops - I assume it affects my score somehow, but it's really just a complete inability to treat my little 16-bit soldiers as cannon fodder. 

I know it's odd, but in my mind, every one of them is this poor doomed Rebellion trooper*** from the boarding scene in A New Hope: how could I let him die again?

- Sid 

 

* Oddly enough, I have never had much success with Age of Empires - funny how the addition of aliens and lightsabers would make me a better player.

** My apologies for quality, it's an actual photo rather than a screen grab.  For whatever reason, Windows 7 can handle the game's 16-bit graphics, but it won't successfully do screen grabs.

*** Whose name, as it turns out, is Pello Scrambas, who knew?  I suppose it's prudent to name as many characters as possible, you never know when you're going to want to put an action figure into production for someone.

And sometimes the bear gets you.

Irish comedian Dara O Briain has commented on the fact that computer games, unique among all other art forms, reward or punish you by restricting your access to the entire game depending on your performance.  As he points out, a book does not demand that you demonstrate an understanding of the major themes of the story in order to be allowed to finish the novel, nor do albums require that you show how good your dancing is before it plays the rest of the songs.

I've run up against this unique problem a couple of times in my gaming career, and unless there's a handy cheat code available, you're kind of stuck.  As much as I enjoy The Long Dark as a game, it was a nuisance that after the mystical bear captured me and dragged me to its cave, I just couldn't for the life of me (no pun intended) figure out how find the magical spear,  use it to kill the bear and finish the level, to the point where I just gave up and played in straight Survival mode.  

However, after recently receiving a poll from game developers Hinterland regarding the conclusion of the game's narrative, I decided to give it another shot. I revisited the bear cave with fresh eyes, found the spear, managed to kill the bear, and completed that chapter and the next one in short order. (To be honest, it makes it a lot easier if you've explored the environment a lot.)  

Following the disturbing final image of the third episode, I'm on hold for the next update, and I'm also eagerly looking forward to whatever Hinterland does next in terms of gaming development.

- Sid

"Meet your new instructor."

I'm pleased and gratified to see that award-winning science fiction author N. K. Jemisin has been tapped to present a Masterclass course in writing science fiction.  Everything I know about Jemisin suggests that she is an excellent choice as an instructor, with a writing technique that combines superb creativity with rigorous research and consistency.

Sadly, though, I don't think I'll sign up.  It would be interesting, but ultimately I feel that the ship has sailed for me in terms of a possible writing career.  On the other hand, I did take that Chris Hadfield course in being an astronaut, so obviously practicality isn't the only consideration for things like this.

- Sid