GR - Oh, it's my monstrous fish neighbor. Hello, neighbor!
Interesting, quirky games dominate GDC these days. Lots of your favorite blockbuster developers flock to the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve brought along their new Assassin’s Creed for hands-on meetings with the press. Naughty Dog’s developers might have been in attendance to give a panel on level design in The Last of Us, but that doesn’t mean they’ll say anything about a potential sequel. In a way, that’s an especially welcome trend as indie gaming rises up to capture the hearts and minds of consumers everywhere.
Still, to capture attention at any conference you need a hook. Something has to be really intriguing and interesting about your game in order to get exhausted cynics like myself to show up and follow through with a preview. Thankfully, I found that in a hotel a few blocks away from GDC. There, Gaslamp Games introduced me to the awkward and esoteric Clockwork Empires which will probably scratch an itch for the nerdiest of gamers out there.
Tom Chick - "If I was to make a game that I didn’t want anyone to actually play, it would look a lot like Clockwork Empires. A torturous interface with lots of busy little buttons and information spilled across various mutually exclusive screens. Basic tasks that require about two too many steps. Lots of waiting among the various stages of any process, so when you went off to do something else, you might forget the first thing you were doing. One way doors into unrecoverable economic death spirals that you don’t know you’re in until it’s far too late.
Also, it would crash a lot."
Gather your colonists! You will need great wits to get your steampunk colony up and running without facing the wrath of the Occult in Clockwork Empires!
Clockwork Empires feels like a flawed gem. Gamers looking for an accessible colony simulator will certainly find a lot to love here, but frequent crashes and numerous AI issues spoil the experience.
This game looks AWESOME!