Making Of: Laser Squad Nemesis at Rock, Paper, Shotgun

[Slaughter]

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a nice little interview up with Julian Gollop. They discuss everything from the difficulties of being a small indie developer today, to the importance of a great community. You can read the full thing over here.

 

RPS: If you could change any previous decision, what would it be?

 

Gollop: If I could change any previous decision, it would probably be to have added a single player component to the game much earlier. This is mainly because many people who play computer games still prefer to play alone. However, we have now completed a single player version of the game which will be launched very soon.

You can read more about LSN and download the demo at the official Laser Squad Nemesis site.

 

Spotted at Tacticular Cancer

[FullAuto]

RPS: Looking back at LSN in its current state what are you pleased with? What aren

[baby arm]

Hey, does anyone know what the Gollops are up to? Nothing came of Laser Squad 3D and Rebelstar 2 (as far as I know), but they must be working on something. Ivy Mike asked at TCancer and it got me thinking that they've been very quiet.

[Space Voyager]

I love conspiracy theories. Keep us posted!

[LordFu]

Hopefully, they're working on Rebelstar DS. I wish, at least.

[Slaughter]

Hey, does anyone know what the Gollops are up to? Nothing came of Laser Squad 3D and Rebelstar 2 (as far as I know), but they must be working on something. Ivy Mike asked at TCancer and it got me thinking that they've been very quiet.

No idea. I've had little luck getting anything out of Julian in the past. I believe I read some interview where he mentioned something like another Rebelstar for the DS, but I'm not sure the first one did well enough to warrant it. I hope they are working with Irrational on X-COM!

 

@LordFu: Like this?

 

@FullAuto: Hehe, yeah, e-mail games has them really exited

[LordFu]

Yeah, I've got the GBA game. It's one of the few GBA games I still play. I'd just like a DS version that makes use of the DS's touch screen and wifi.

 

For that matter, why doesn't THQ do a quick and dirty port of the first two X-Com games, to DS? That would be sweet, too. Seems like money in the bank, but what do I know?

 

It'd be nice if they were busy collaborating with Irrational on the full-fledged sequel.

 

It's a shame we probably won't ever see a Jagged Alliance DS, but that's another topic.

[illegal youth]

an XCOM DS homebrew project was in the works, but it's been inactive for nearly 3 months now....

 

THQ has squad command coming out in about a month or so. i'm not sure that they'd have the rights to do an XCOM DS port.

 

oh, if you're looking for a game of a similar genre for the DS, front mission was finally released in the US. if you're unfamiliar with front mission, it's bascially a squad-level, turned-based game that uses "wanzers" (i.e. mechs) instead of foot soldiers.

[baby arm]

Front Mission is a fantastic game that absorbed many hours of my life. I'm talking about the SNES version of course, but the DS one is basically an enhanced version of the SNES one. Definitely recommended to any DS owner who digs either the Japanese tactical RPGs (FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre) or mech games. There's something very satisfying about blowing off your opponent's wanzer limbs one by one.

[FullAuto]

It's a shame we probably won't ever see a Jagged Alliance DS, but that's another topic.

 

I thought there was one planned?

 

Front Mission is a fantastic game that absorbed many hours of my life. I'm talking about the SNES version of course, but the DS one is basically an enhanced version of the SNES one. Definitely recommended to any DS owner who digs either the Japanese tactical RPGs (FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre) or mech games. There's something very satisfying about blowing off your opponent's wanzer limbs one by one.

 

Agreed, Front Mission is well worth the money. Yet to play a bad game in the series, though they only make it to Europe in dribs and drabs.

 

@FullAuto: Hehe, yeah, e-mail games has them really exited

 

Ah, oh, er, yeah. Forgot it was PBEM.

[illegal youth]

since we're still on a front mission kick, i thought i'd mention that another front mission has been annouced for the DS -- front mission 2089: border of madness.

 

no one knows anything about the game except that it shares the name of mobile front mission games for cell phones (front mission 2089 and front mission 2089-II). it could be something new or a port of the mobile games to the DS.

 

as far as i know, only front mission 3 has been released in europe, which is arguably the best in the series. in the states, we'd only had front mission 3 and 4 until recently, when front mission DS was released back on october.

 

ok, i'll end my thread hijack here, heh. to get this back to the gollops, i was looking through the rock, paper, shotgun website and came across this link in another post on UFO: ET.

 

a very interesting discussion about whether or not another XCOM is even possible, given today's gaming industry.

[LordFu]

I've got Front Mission for the DS, and it's good. The graphics aren't impressive in the least, but the gameplay is tight. I got hooked on the series when FM3 came out for PSX. I hope we see an English language release of FM 2089 that's been announced for the DS in Japan.

 

I do plan on picking up the Warhammer tactics game for DS. THQ has really done well with that license, in general. I wish they'd show some DS specific screenshots or videos. Since it looks a little better on the PSP, it seems that they're only using the PSP graphics in their marketing. Annoying, but not a big deal.

 

Strategy First had announced Jagged Alliance DS, along with a Warlords and a Disciples game for DS, but they've all been "unofficially" canned. They are all three canceled, AFAIK, which is a shame, as the DS is a platform where those types of strategy games really shine, IMO. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt I am. The small company they'd chosen to handle all three of those games just wasn't capable of completing the projects to SF's expectations, from what I can tell.

 

I don't have anything nice to say about Strategy First, in general. They churn out some of the worst garbage, and the few really good properties they have, they can't seem to manage in any constructive way. That's why they're in trouble financially, IMO. I'll forgive them if I can just have my JA3. Disciples 3 is looking sharp, too. If they can successfully market those two, they should be back in decent fiscal shape, I think.

[illegal youth]

regarding squad command, if you click the link i provided above, there are DS screen shots available.

[FullAuto]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy...ire_of_the_Rift - sounds like it could be FFT for the DS.

[baby arm]

I thought there was one planned?

Just found out that it was cancelled by SFI a couple months ago. Disciples DS and Warlords DS were also cancelled, but Infinite Interactive is apparently looking for another publisher for the Warlords one.