A few weeks back I wrote a post about my attempt to build a game around being a higher level commander who has to work from limited and sometimes erroneous information from his subordinate officers. In that post I also described some big problems with the game as it was, along with some thoughts about possible improvements. I actually made these changes earlier, but haven't got round to writing about them until now.

To briefly sum up the previous post, the player was too disconnected from the outcome and their role was unsatisfying, the enemy force and distribution of their units was random and too much to deal with, and the combat system was poor. I came up with three changes I hoped would improve things.

The competition ended last weekend. I hoped to have something done since I managed to produce stuff I was fairly happy with for the last two I entered, but this time it just didn't happen. I think the biggest reason was just a lack of motivation - I just wasn't feeling the contest this time round. That said, I think I also made some mistakes in terms of my ideas.

The information we receive in strategy games about the enemy and our own units tends towards a very limited set of different states in most cases. The fog of war is usually present as a binary state where we either have no information about an area or perfect information, based on the sight ranges of our units or the utilization of special powers which will clear the fog of war. Sometimes there will be units with 'stealth', rendering them invisible until they attack, get too close to enemies, or within the range of certain detector units which can uncover them. These units tend to be fairly rare though, and still only occupy either a completely hidden state or a completely known one.

I've spent a lot of my time playing Alien: Isolation in situations like this. I really like how you duck extra low to fit under desks and tables, just naturally as you move in. I feel safer being so close to the ground. Lockers and cabinets are fine hiding places too, but I never liked the crash and bang as you leap in and out, or the fact there's that moment of lost control as you step out - you're committed the moment you decide to leave. It doesn't make too much difference, but I feel like under a desk I might notice a threat as I'm moving out in time to turn back. And so, that tail has been very prominent in my experience of the alien.