Out of Eight writes: "Most real time strategy games involve an inordinate amount of waiting for something to happen: waiting for resources, waiting for units to move, waiting, waiting, waiting. What if we did away with all ancillary material and got straight to the killing? It's like if all NASCAR races were just crashes! Well, I guess they have that already, but still, point taken! Developer Positech Games has heard your cries for violence and released the appropriately-titled Gratuitous Space Battles. In this strategy game, you design the ship fleets and set orders, and watch as the AI pilots carry out your commands and the carnage ensues. Does this more streamlined approach work?"
GSB and GSB II are real-time strategy games that you don’t play in real-time. That is to say, all the strategy (and player involvement) comes before the battle is joined and the death-rays leap across the void to destroy the enemy. Acting as a sort of grand admiral of a space armada, you design the individual classes of ships, determine the composition and formation of your fleet and issue general orders that affect your ships’ behavior in combat. Then, you sit back and watch the show, hoping your planning was good and your AI commanders know what they’re doing. “I wanted to design a game where having no control was actually the main mechanic…” Harris says.
So yup, GSB2 is now taking pre-orders direct from my site, and this gives you access to the beta. You can grab it right now from
the developers site.
Note that this is a proper beta, not some super-early-access proof of concept thing where most of it doesn’t work. In other words, most stuff works! it’s playable. Hopefully its fun! It’s PC-only and English only for now, but that will change come-release. There will of course be bugs, and myriad balance issues. And I will be adding some extra voiceover and a few other bits and pieces. But hopefully this is something you can play and enjoy right now. You get a download link, an online serial (for challenges, if you want to use them), and a steam code for its eventual steam release (the code obviously isn’t working yet).
This week, the Humble Sale has gone back to selling video games, with the titles up for grabs coming from strategy developer Positech Games.
