foxgamereviews-blog

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #36: Banner Saga

Game Title: Banner Saga Genre: Turn-based strategy game Target Demographic: Turn-based strategy fans, lovers of vikings/Norse mythology Monetization: Paid app

Banner Saga is a turn-based strategy game, a port of a PC game. Turn-based games are a great fit for mobile platforms, as they can be put down at a moment's notice and resumed without a hitch. This game is no different, and makes the jump from PC to mobile flawlessly. I really enjoyed this game because it changes the way that units engage in combat, and it forces the player to reevaluate how they play these types of games.

Each unit in the game has two main attributes (in addition to a few minor ones) that affect their effectiveness in combat: armor and strength. Armor predictably reduces the damage that a character takes, while strength is not only a measure of how much damage a character can deal but also how much damage they can take. When a character's strength drops, not only is he (or she) closer to getting knocked out of the fight, but their capacity to deal damage is reduced as well. This makes sense from a logical point of view, as someone beaten to within an inch of their life is not going to be much of a threat to others. In game terms, however, this means that units have to be supported by their teammates. A single character cannot take on a team of enemy units alone, as a few good hits will quickly sap their ability to fight.

Also, the way armor is implemented makes for some interesting choices in the game, specifically in how characters can reduce the armor of an opponent. Each character also has an armor-breaking attribute, which determines how effective they are at chipping away at a foe's defenses. This armor-breaking ability can be used instead of a normal attack, and the way damage gets calculated this is a much more effective choice when faced with heavily armored enemies. I really like the way that tough, armored enemies FEEL tough. It's not just that they have additional hit points, it's that your regular attacks can literally do nothing to them unless you wear down their defenses. This is a big departure from games that feature hit points as the primary indicator of how tough a unit is.

The theme and story are very well done in this game as well. The player follows the stories of several groups of people, some of which are human, and some of which are varl, a race of long-lived, horned giants. It's a good story, though perpetually sad and tragic, as the entire world seems to be on the verge of destruction at the hands of a race of creatures known as the Dredge. The player controls different groups of human/varl combinations as they journey across the land, running from the Dredge and perpetually running low on food, supplies, and able-bodied warriors. The story drives the player forward, but it is a tale of woe. Going into battle was a refreshing change of pace against the bleakness of the world as it exists outside the battlefield, but all in all it was well-crafted.

This also serves several aspects of gameplay as well. Because the characters are always running low on resources, the player has to decide how best to utilized what little is there. Should the player pay to level up a character, or perhaps buy a useful item to equip in battle? Or should the player spend resources on buying food/supplies for the caravan that is crossing the country, giving a much needed morale boost (and subsequently a combat bonus to all friendly units)? There are always trade-offs, often a case of two bad choices to make, and the player has to carefully consider each one. This is something to strive to include in my own projects.

I think that's the best thing to take from this particular game. Interesting choices. Great games are made up of interesting choices, and I think Banner Saga has them aplenty. From tactical choices to choices on how to allocate resources across a band of wandering refugees, this game is all about choices. Often the player has to choose the lesser of two evils, and there are no obviously "right" decisions to make. It's up to the player to do what they think is best, and then live with the consequences of those actions.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #35: Autumn Dynasty

Game Title: Autumn Dynasty Genre: Real-time strategy Target Demographic: Strategy fans, people with a decent amount of manual dexterity Monetization: Paid app

Real-time strategy games on any platform other than a PC are typically a bust. The controls on a console or a hand-held device typically aren't effective at selecting groups of units and then directing them to the appropriate location in a timely fashion. Developers typically have to make some sort of concession to the platform and make significant changes to a game (in the case of a port) or design it to be simpler from the ground up.

Autumn Dynasty is a real-time strategy game that falls into the latter category, but it works surprisingly well, if not perfectly. The control mechanism here is the real star of the show, as is the art style. First, the quick and dirty overview. The game has a decent enough story to drive the player's interest across an array of scenarios, and the way the player builds up their real-time army works well for a simplified interface. Each map has a series of camp locations, and the player can build only at these locations. The buildings can provide resources, or act as recruiting centers for more units. As the player pushes forward across a map, they can set up new bases and slowly advance toward the goal of each level.

The units that they can recruit are standard fare, with things like archers and swordsman, cavalry and the like. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, and must be used in particular ways if the player hopes to succeed. There are also special abilities that can be used, such as setting a section of the map on fire, which damage enemies or create a buffer for give your own troops a moment to reorganize.

The control system works very well for this game. Units can be selected by simply drawing a circle around them, an easy feat on a touch-screen device. Once selected, they are moved by simply drawing a line from the group to wherever the player wants to move them. That's it. Units then set off in that direction, and if they encounter any enemies along the way they will start fighting, as one would expect from this type of game. The selection process is not perfect, however. There would be occasions where the system would not recognize a particular gesture, and units would not move, or worse, move in the wrong direction. Other times the selection would have to be made a second or a third time, as a unit may have been missed during the selection process through no fault of the player. While not perfect, it is the best I've ever seen in a non-PC game.

The other great thing about the game is the art style. Each level map and all of the terrain features (mountains, trees, etc) are create to resemble a watercolor painting, or perhaps a traditional ink painting. For a game that has most of the details on a smaller scale, essentially resembling icons on a map, this style works incredibly well. It gives the game a great deal of character. While most real-time strategy games have the player acting as some sort of general or other commanding unit, this game really feels like that's the case. So for me, the main take away from this game would be great controls (if a bit flakey on occasion), and a killer art style.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #34: Up Hill Racing

Game Title: Up Hill Racing Genre: Physics-based side-scroller Target Demographic: Fans of physics-based games, people who like grinding Monetization: Free app, in-app purchases, advertisements

A simple game, a simple premise:  choose a vehicle, and drive, bounce, jump and crash your way over a series of different types of terrains to earn money to purchase upgrades for that vehicle, and ultimately more vehicles and more terrain.  That's Up Hill Racing in a nutshell, a physics based driving game that has the player pilot a vehicle over unbelievably bumpy terrain in order to collect coins.  There's not much more to it, really.

Sure, there are upgrades the player can purchase for each vehicle, such as extra horsepower for the engine, improvements to the suspension, and so on.  But these just let the player travel a bit further in each level, and collect a few more coins in each run.  Each run is still about getting coins, traveling as far as possible, and then doing it all over again.  A decent premise, and one that many games have followed across many different platforms.  This particular games just doesn't do it particularly well.

Overall the game needs a bit of polish.  The appearance of some of the menus or interface elements are a little rough, essentially refined programmer art.  For a free game, they're not so terrible.  Also, there are some elements which require at least a tiny bit of explanation.  For instance, the player can control their vehicle in mid-air by tilting the device left and right, but this was never pointed out anywhere.  Only because one of the vehicle upgrades mentioned more control while in the air did I even think it was possible.  Also, the primary controls for the game are a gas pedal on the right, and a brake pedal on the left.  Anyone who has ever driven a card would assume what these two buttons would do, and they would almost certainly be wrong about the brake pedal.  The brake pedal does not function as a brake, but instead acts as a reverse-accelerator.  The gas pedal moves the car to the right, and the brake pedal moves the car to the left.  If you're going to use an image of a pedal, and call it a brake, it should function like a typical brake pedal (insert something about a duck here).

That's the big take away from this game for me: explain elements that are present in the game.  Don't assume players know something, or try to imagine player expectations (like their thoughts on brake pedals), and then clarify if you are deviating from those assumptions.  Also, polish, polish, and polish some more.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #33: Robot Academy

Game Title: Robot Academy Genre: Puzzleish, Assembly-lineish Target Demographic: People who like robots, time-based puzzles, Cooking-Mama style games Monetization: Free app, in-app purchases

Robot Academy is a simple game with a simple premise.  You run an academy for robots, and every day you have to train the robots as quickly as possible to earn as much money as possible.  You do this by directing robots to different stations where they can receive training in ranged or melee combat, defense, and green plus symbols.  That last one may be support or healing abilities, if video games have taught me anything.  The unknown nature of various symbols in this game is one of its flaws, but I'll cover that in more depth later.

When a robot wants to go to learn about a particular thing, an icon will appear over its head.  You tap-drag that robot to the appropriate station, and then tap that station to send one of your helper drones to activate that station.  After a second or two (the exact time is random for each robot), the robot will be finished at that station, and may want to go somewhere else to learn something new, or it could be finished, in which case it wants to check out.  Send a drone to the checkout station, collect some money from the robot, and you're all set.  While this is all happening there will be other robots who want to learn things as well, and each one needs to be dragged around to the various stations, which only have a limited capacity initially.  If there are only two slots at a station and four robots want to go there, two will be stuck in the waiting chairs near the entrance to this facility.  If more robots wander in and the waiting chairs are occupied, they will eventually leave.  And so the game is really about moving robots to the various stations, trying to manage this ever-growing queue of robots who need to be trained.

As far as I can tell, that's all the game has to offer.  Some robots only want to learn one thing, but some "boss" robots need to learn three or four different things before leaving.  Other than that, it's the same process.  Drag robot to red station, send to checkout.  Drag robot to green station, then drag to purple station, then to checkout.  After each round, the player gets the chance to spend money on upgrades for the various stations, to either increase the number of slots for robots, or reduce the time each robot has to spend there.  The player can also buy more helper drones, and these seem to have some difference, but I can't tell how.  This is a recurring issue with the game, as there are no explanations of any of the various symbols in the game.  The player is left to figure these out on their own, which is both a bad thing and an unimportant thing.

On the one hand, it's bad because I don't think information in games should be left to player assumptions.  If a symbol is already established (such as a dollar sign for money), then I think it's okay to use.  It's common enough that players will understand what it means.  But if you are showing a player that a unit or helper drone or whatever has several attributes, each with a bar of varying lengths next to it, the player will wonder what is the significance of those bars and attribute icons.  If they aren't explained, the player will not understand what they mean.  If the player doesn't understand what the mean, the player is not going to care.  In this particular game, though, I don't think it really matters much, because the game doesn't have much in the way of variety.  It's the same game from one round to another, and if you've played for 30 seconds you've seen it all.

Two important things can be taken away from this game.  The first, is an explanation of important game elements.  Don't leave it up to the player to figure out everything on their own.  Some things can be left for player exploration, certainly, but basic elements of an interface or simple icons should not be left unexplained.  The other important thing would be to have some purpose for the game, some end goal to work toward, or at least meaningful choices to make.  In this game there are no meaningful choices.  You either send the right robot to the right station, or you don't.  There is no reason not to, so the game is not about interesting decisions to make.  Interesting choices will keep players engaged.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #32: Alphabear

Game Title: Alphabear Genre: Word puzzle Target Demographic: Puzzle fans, Scrabble fans of any age Monetization: Free app, in-app purchases

The developer Spryfox tends to make games that are simple in premise, but feature an interesting game mechanic or two, combined with some adorable artwork. Their word-building puzzle game Alphabear is no exception. The essence of each level is that you are given an assortment of letters with which to build words. Every letter has a number on it, which acts as a turn counter for that letter. Spell a word, and all remaining letters have their turn counter drop down by one. When that counter reaches zero, the letter turns into a rock. What's the significance of this? Well, as the player builds words, the letters they used turn into cute little bears. When bears are created next to other bears, they merge together into bigger and bigger bears, stretching vertically or horizontally across the board. Eventually the player will use every letter, or run out of words to build, or run out of time in some levels--though most are not timed. At this point, the level ends, the player gets a final score including any bonuses, and if their score is high enough they get an egg! Which then hatches, rewarding the player with... a bear. It makes perfect sense if you don't think about it.

Each bear has some sort of modifier for the player should they choose to "equip" that bear during a round of play. Some bears award bonus points at the end of the match, while others may provide the player with more if a specific letter during a round. Others offer bonus points every time a particular letter is used, or extra points for words of a certain length. The player can equip three of these each round, and each bear will "take a nap" for some amount of time afterward, preventing the player from using certain bears over and over again. They can wake those bears up if they want, but this will cost some amount of coins, which can be obtained via playing or with in-app purchases.

The one thing I didn't like about the game was its in-app purchase system. There are two types of currency in the game, coins and honey. Honey is spent in order to play a round, and a single game might cost 50 or 60 honey to play. Honey is restored slowly over time, at a rate of about one honey every 90 seconds. Once you've run out, you're going to be waiting a long time to play another game. To get around this, you can purchase infinite honey for the price of $4.99. The game essentially is a time-locked demo, and you can the five dollars to unlock it permanently. I normally don't have a problem with this type of in-app purchase, but I feel like the developers put this honey system in place to annoy players into buying the infinite honey item. In-app purchases designed that way are irritating to me, as it feels coercive.

Other than that, there is a lot to like about the game. The artwork is top notch. Each bear is cute and different in style, whether it's an athletic bear in a work-out getup or a fancy gentleman (gentlebear?) in a suit, seeing your letters turn into these characters is a treat. Watching them stretch out to fill the various spaces, possibly culminating in an enormous bear covering the entire screen made me smile every time. Getting different bears turns into a Pokemon-like process of trying to catch them all over the course of many, many play sessions. It gives the player something to work for and a reason to keep playing. The interface is also very well done also; it stays out the way and only pops up when it's necessary. I don't typically spend much time playing these types of games, but for a fan of the genre, this one is a winner.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #31: Fantasy Kingdom Defense HD

Game Title: Fantasy Kingdom Defense HD Genre: Tower Defense Target Demographic: Tower defense / strategy fans, younger audiences, newer players Monetization: Free app, advertisements, in-app purchases

The premise of Fantasy Kingdom Defense HD is simple: recruits adventures to help you defend a castle against monsters invading from a magical portal which spawned conveniently close to said castle.  It follows typical tower defense mechanics as far as balancing towers and enemies are concerned.  The towers themselves are characters instead of structures, so you might recruit a warrior instead of a cannon tower, a bow-firing archer instead of a... bow-firing tower, and so on.

Playing this game was difficult because of the interface and the layout.  While the artwork was nice, the layout of various interface elements made it difficult to navigate the menus and level selection screen.  It seems like the interface may have been programmed with a single resolution in mind for some elements, and resolution-independent setup for other elements.  Background images are often drawn in the center of the screen with an enormous border around them, and sometimes they are in the top corner of a screen instead.  Buttons like confirm and cancel, on the other hand, are in the lower corners of the screen every time, but are so small and so far away from the other visual elements that it becomes a chore moving from the center of the screen to the corner every other interaction.  As a work-in-progress interface, this would be fine, with some obvious bugs to squash.  As a finished product released on the store, this is unacceptable.

That's the main take away from this title: have a solid interface.  When the player doesn't even know what button does what, or where to find a particular piece of information, they will give up and uninstall the title rather quickly.  With so many titles out there, it is very easy for a player to be discerning and only accept the very best.  Test, test often, and test on multiple devices with multiple resolutions.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #30: Total War Battles

Game Title: Total War Battles Genre: Real-time strategy(ish), Puzzle(ish), Turn-based strategy(ish) Target Demographic: Fans of turn-based strategy games, Total War fans Monetization: Paid app, in-app purchases

The Total War series of games is designed around truly massive battles, battles which feature dozens of units/squads/divisions of troops, each of which may contain a hundred individual soldiers or more. Total War Battles, a mobile game, has none of that epic scale at all, but is still an enjoyable game in its own right.

Instead of a sprawling 3D map which lets you control a vast army, you instead are presented with a side-view of a hexagonal map, and it is here that you will build and issues commands to the various units the game offers. The map is a side-scrolling affair, with longer levels featuring maps that are many screens wide, while still only several hexagonal rows high. This can increase the scope of a battle while still keeping it manageable on a mobile screen. On each level the player is tasked with an objective that often involves defeating some enemy on the right side of the map. Sometimes this includes a time limit, or a restriction on keeping a certain unit alive, but typically the objectives are just to defeat the enemy team. The player can build units, and then issue orders to direct those units around the map.

The game has several interesting elements that turn it into something of a puzzle game for the player. For starters, the game limits the movement of your units: they can only move right from their current hex. This restriction includes moving up one row and down one row, but otherwise units can only move forward, never backward. This can create some interesting scenarios in which the player must decide how they want to use a unit: use it for defense, to engage enemy units, or advance and try to take out the enemy team's production buildings or main general. Also, whenever units encounter another enemy unit adjacent to them, they become engaged in melee combat with unit and will fight until one side loses. This also includes ranged units like archers and musket soldiers, so the player must be careful to keep these fragile units out of melee range.

Speaking of ranged units, there are a variety of units to choose from, each with different costs, strengths and weaknesses. There are basic swordsman, cavalry units, spearmen, sneaky ninja, etc. Knowing when to build which units in any given situation is important, as resources are limited and the player cannot simply build dozens of each unit.

The player progresses through the game by the way of a map of Japan, and there is a narrative involving a clan's struggle to gain power. Perhaps it was because the story was very simplistic, or perhaps because of the amount of writing for each level, the narrative didn't really interest me at all. Especially when each level typically could be reduced to "kill all of the bad guys" it was difficult to care about the purpose. Still, each level along the path across the country is a nice way to keep the player motivated. Also, many paths on the map branched off into optional missions which were more puzzle-oriented in their objectives, and the player could complete these to gain additional experience points. These experience points could be used to improve the abilities of different units, or to reduce the costs of various abilities.

On the topic of experience points, there was not enough to go around by the end of the game, though many abilities or cost reductions were simply not needed to complete every mission. Even still, there are in-app purchases so a player can obtain some more experience points to get an extra edge if they need it. I don't care for this type of in-app purchase, so my perception of the game drops a little bit in light of that.

One thing I didn't care for about the game: when two units are engaged, it's not really clear how a winner is determined. I'm sure there is a formula operating behind the scenes, but not knowing exactly how well a unit will fare against its opponent is a little frustrating. I've had the weakest unit hold its own against a group of armored samurai for quite some time, and in other instances I've had a powerful unit of my own cut down in seconds by what appeared to be a weaker unit. If the combat mechanics come down to a roll of some sort, it's possible that luck plays a role one way or another, but the point remains: hiding those elements from the player can make for a frustrating experience for the player (or a confusing one at the very least). The extreme situations tended to be rare, but I would rather they weren't present at all.

Overall the game is just... okay. It's not super exciting, and the animations and movement speed of units (except for cavalry) is fairly slow. There is typically little surprise in enemy tactics or level objectives, so the game largely felt like the same things level after level. However, the artwork is very nice to look at, with the units possessing a fair amount of detail even with their small size on screen. The controls are very good, and the way the player orders units around is effective for how the game is designed. While it retains none of the scale of the PC Total War games, by any other name it would have been just as good. Overall it was a mostly enjoyable experience, with only a few small quirks and some useful ideas to take away for use in my own projects.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #29: Galaxy Trucker

Game Title: Galaxy Trucker Genre: Board game, spaceship builder/exploder, puzzleish Target Demographic: Board game lovers, space/sci-fi fans, Oregon Trail fans Monetization: Paid app

Galaxy Trucker is a game that requires its players to laugh at misfortune, whether their own or another player's. A digital version of a physical board game, the main goal for the player here is to cobble together a spaceship from a large collection of parts in within a certain amount of time, and then send that ship across space in the hopes that it makes the journey without being blown up by asteroids, space pirates, or other random encounters. At the end of the trip players earn money based on how much of their ship is left intact, how fast they were able to complete the journey, how much cargo they successfully carried, and so on.

All of the core elements that made the board game great are present here. The ship-building process is still as fun as ever. Players are given a ship template, a series of grid spaces that must be filled with tiles representing ship components like engines, cargo bays, weapons, etc. The caveat here is that each component must be connected correctly to each other tile surrounding it. It's entirely possible to block off part of the ship template with the wrong combination of parts or to create a section of the ship that has connections open to the void of space. But building the ship in this haphazard manner is part of the fun, as the random encounters can often wreak havoc on a player's ship, much to the enjoyment of everyone else. Also, building your ship quickly, even if you are a bit sloppy, can be advantageous for the player because they will start the journey in first place. This gives them first dibs during encounters on whether or not to explore an abandoned space station, or getting the first pick of the most valuable cargo on a planetary landing.

During the actual trip across space, the random encounters are where the fun happens. Random asteroids or space pirates will put the players' ships on the defensive, putting their ship-building skills to the test. If a player was unable to put enough guns or shields on their ship (or perhaps not enough batteries to power some of these systems), they may suffer some damage to their delicate vessels. Damage in this case means destruction of a tile that gets hit, and that tile then flies off the ship. Losing a single tile can possibly be disastrous, as a single tile can sometimes be all that holds a section of the ship together. Lose that bridging piece, and all the others fall off with it. All is not lost, however, as even a small, mostly-destroyed ship can still limp its way to the end of the journey and earn the player some money. As an added bonus, sometimes small, battered vessels can escape more damage because they are simply too small of a target to hit. Whether a player in that situation agrees that their demolished ship is a blessing in disguise is up for debate...

A great addition to the mobile version of this board game is a campaign mode of sorts, in which players can hop to different planets or space stations and receive missions from the different characters that reside in these locations. Each mission is essentially another round of the game (build a ship, travel through space, etc), but with some sort of restriction or goal attached. One example is having to cross a section of space with a certain amount of cargo intact. The player starts the ship-building process with a cargo bay already installed, and the items in that part of the ship must make it to the end of the line, otherwise the player has to try again. These mini-objectives for the player may not seem like much on the surface, but I think they add a lot to the game. The base game itself is enjoyable, and all of that is here in a perfect translation from board game to digital game. The campaign mode adds some more depth to the game, and gives the player a bit of a backdrop, a reason to play another round of an already great game.

Like many other games that I've reviewed here, the presentation of everything in this game is very solid. Everything works very well, with a minimal amount of fuss for the player. There are not complex controls or cameras to deal with (it is a board game, after all), so the player can focus on what is fun about the game. I like that the player can get hit in this game and still keep going. Unless a player did a very (VERY) poor job of building their ship at the beginning, their ship can take a beating and still manage to limp to the end of the journey. And even if they did build a lackluster ship, they can easily learn from their mistakes and try again. A mission is typically over in just a few minutes (or they can exit it early if they hit a string of bad luck), and they can retry with new lessons learned. Because a player can get hit a few times, each one carries with it a bit of tension (no one likes to have parts of their vehicle fall off), but not an overwhelming sense of dread.

As I've mentioned already, the campaign map is also a great addition. It lets the player move around as they choose within the game, and doesn't force them into any particular path. They can choose the harder missions if they want, or travel through a less dangerous part of space if they just want to go on a bit of a joyride. These types of options are what can separate a good game from a great one, and it's something to very strongly consider adding to my own capstone project.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #28: Hitman GO

Game Title: Hitman GO Genre: Puzzle, strategy Target Demographic: Puzzle/strategy fans, fans of previous Hitman titles Monetization: Paid app, in-app purchases

The Hitman franchise has been around for quite some time, and the basic premise is largely the same in each title: roam around a level (which could be quite large), find your target, and plan the best way to kill him/her/them and escape without being caught. The open-ended nature of the games are typically what garners the most praise, but here in the mobile space something different is happening.

Hitman GO puts the player in the role of the titular assassin, but the levels are not so open-ended anymore. In fact, the levels play out as turn-based affairs, and the player is limited to moving along predefined paths, essentially spaces on a game board. This might initially sound like a terrible idea, like some designer went a bit crazy, but the reality is the game works surprisingly well. Each level is a puzzle for the player to solve.

When the player is viewing a level, nothing moves. Every character in the scene rests in a fixed position, until the player decides to move. If the player moves one space, so does everyone else in the level. The challenge for the player is deciding where to move and when. Sometimes the player might have to double-back on a previous path in order to let a guard walk an extra space or two out of the way. Managing the paths of multiple guards while remaining a safe distance away is very reminiscent of the PC version, something I would not have thought possible in a turn-based environment. The player can eliminate other characters by walking up behind them, which makes the level a little bit easier with each takedown. If a guard approaches the character, however, then it is the player who gets knocked out, and must restart the level.

The design and pacing of the levels is very well done, offering a gradual increase in difficulty for the player. Early levels only feature a single guard or two, or very obviously safe or dangerous paths. Later levels have multiple guards who may be on intersecting paths, and these levels can turn into quite the brain-teaser for the player. All in all, though, every possible feels very solid and well-designed, and never unfair or overly difficult--though some are quite challenging and require a lot of trial and error.

There are also additional, optional challenges a player can complete after they make it through the level. These challenges can require the player to do things like complete a level within a certain number of steps--the equivalent of a timer in a real-time version of the game--or perhaps completing the level without killing anyone. These offer a good bit of replayability for the player who wants to be challenged further by the game.

The game is also very pretty to look at. Each character is modeled as if they were a miniature in a board game, with the figure resting on a small circular base to keep them from falling over. If a character gets knocked out, they clatter about with a satisfying sound, the same way a player might knock over an opponent's chess piece after capturing it with one of their own. The character-figures themselves are nice to look at as well, and are often modeled as a single pose of some sort of action. A person who moves around the board might appear as if they were walking or running, which is a nice little touch to hint at how that character might be seen in a non-mobile version of the game. The game even recognizes that it looks like a board game, showing the player a virtual box full of pieces and cards on certain menu screens. Top notch visual presentation all around.

One thing I really liked about this was the addition of extra challenges. Replaying a level with an additional twist or two adds to the value players can get out of the game, especially in the case of a puzzle game like this. Challenging players to not only solve the puzzle, but solve it within particular constraints, is a good addition. The second thing I would take away from this is presentation. The interface was easy and minimal, and the player focuses on the core element, which is moving the Hitman around. No fussing about with menus or a complex interface, just simple controls and solving interesting puzzles.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #27: Anomaly Warzone Earth HD

Game Title: Anomaly Warzone Earth HD Genre: Tower Defense Target Demographic: Tower defense fans, strategy game fans Monetization: Paid app

Tower defense games often follow a fairly typical formula: build some towers along a predefined path (or build the towers to create a path) and kill some monsters/bandits/bad guys from leaving the map once they've entered. Change the towers a little, tweak the enemies a bit, and you can end with a fair amount of variety within that simple format. Anomaly Warzone Earth HD takes this formula and flips it: the player is no longer the one building the towers, but instead in control of a convoy of vehicles who must traverse a road guarded by alien towers bent on destroying the player's vehicles before they can reach the end of each level.

Instead of building towers, the player instead builds vehicles to add to the convoy. Some vehicles have more durability, while others offer more firepower. The tougher vehicles should be in the lead, with the more fragile ones sitting behind. There are also some support vehicles which can offer shields or repair capabilities to the rest of the convoy, and the player has to manage these effectively in order to make it through the level. Also, as the convoy moves around the player can get a satellite-view of the map, and choose different paths to take which may result in avoiding certain deadly pockets of alien towers, or pick up some bonus resources.

I really enjoyed the way this game flipped the genre around. Taking the role of the characters trying to survive the attacks of tower after tower was an interesting and novel idea, and the developers did a good job of giving the player a variety of vehicles to build, each with their own strengths and weakness (much like the various enemies found in traditional tower defense games). There was a variety of levels present, and each had their own challenges to test the player's abilities.

I think the main notion I could take away from this for use in my own project is the idea of challenging existing game mechanics. This is something that I'm already planning for my capstone project, in which I'm trying to find new ways to explore elements that seem to be commonplace in some games. This particular game was not over the top with its visuals, nor did it have any technically impressive feature like procedurally generated content, destructible terrain, etc. Its design ideas were novel (and well implemented, to boot), and that is often more impressive to me than technically advanced features.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #26: Little Inferno

Game Title: Little Inferno Genre: Puzzle...ish?  Fireplace simulator?  Burning things simulator? Target Demographic: People who like puzzle games, but really who like to burn things Monetization: Paid app

Little Inferno is an odd little game.  For starters, the game takes place in a fireplace.  A gigantic fireplace, specifically a Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace, which acts as a safe haven from the outside world, which is freezing for some unknown reasons.  The player then gets to light dozens upon dozens of objects on fire inside this fireplace, gradually unlocking new objects and combinations of objects to burn.

That's the majority of the game.  You burn objects, which often come with their own interesting animations or reactions to being set ablaze, and then burn more objects.  There is some sort of odd narrative running alongside the player's pyromaniacal behavior, but personally I didn't find it very interesting or compelling.  This narrative continues to the point where the player finally leaves their house and can move around their frozen town a bit, but I never made it that far in the game, as I didn't really have much desire to continue playing for that long.

As a mobile game the presentation of everything is very well-done, and the interface for everything is as good as anything else out there.  The fire effects are very nice, and for a few minutes at least watching the various objects bounce around the first places as they burn and turn to ash was entertaining.  I personally don't have much interest in "quintessentially mobile" games, but I can appreciate some of their qualities well enough.  As a time-waster game, something meant to fill an idle moment or two, this can be just as enjoyable as any other game out there.  If the player really enjoys lighting things on fire (or at least the thought of doing so), then this can be a perfect fit.

The main thing to take from this game for my own capstone project would be the nice presentation; everything here is smooth and responsive.  There were never any issues with setting something on fire, nor was I ever uncertain what my input actually did.  Also, I feel like this game knows exactly what it's about, and never tried to be anything else.  It didn't include elements of other games, or constantly poke at the player to do share his experiences on social media, or buy more in-game gems or other typical mobile irritations.  It is what it is, and though I didn't particularly care for it, I can appreciate it for standing on its own.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #25: Carcassonne

Game Title: Carcassonne Genre: Board game Target Demographic: Board game fans Monetization: Paid app

Carcassonne is a digital version of the board game of the same name. The basic premise has players building a kingdom, one tile at a time, and placing worker pieces in strategic locations in order to gain points as the kingdom develops. While it may sound simple, there is a surprising amount of depth and strategy to this particular game.

When a player draws a tile, it is up to them to decide where to place it. The artwork on the tile dictates how a tile can be placed, as there could be a road, or a piece of a city that has to align properly with every adjacent tile--you can't have a road which dead-ends into the side of a city, for example. After a player puts their tile down, they can place one of their worker pieces (if they have any left) onto that tile in order to claim some part of it. Here's where the strategy gets interesting.

If a player claims a spot, they don't get their worker back until that spot gets scored. That might not happen until several turns later, until the end of the game, or in some cases not at all, if certain conditions are not met. For example, if a player claims a the city portion of a tile, the city doesn't get scored until it is completed, and that means more tiles are necessary to complete it. Other players might try to expand the city and claim part of it for themselves, or place a tile which expands the city to impossibly large sizes, preventing a player from scoring any points from the enormous (and incomplete) metropolis. If a player tries to claim a road, that road could keep extending further and further and further... until it gets completed by some sort of end point, the player will get no points for it, and have a worker tied up for the rest of the game. There are plenty of good moments to be had when players draw either just the right tile they need for themselves, or just the right tile to thwart their opponents. The randomization of the tiles ensures the game is interesting and different every round.

Like other digital versions of board games, I really appreciate the streamlined nature of this one. The logistics of shuffling pieces, tallying up points, etc are all handled by the application. Placing tiles is faster as well, as the game indicates valid spaces for the player, and will not allow an invalid move. When it comes to placing workers, there are a few rules about where you can and cannot place them. Again, the application handles this flawlessly, indicating to the player where the valid spaces are located. Overall the interface is slick, and with these types of improvements the player could play two or three games in the same amount of time it would take to play just one with the physical version.

That's the main point I can take away from this game for my capstone project: a clean and slick interface. There are no issues with selecting any of the game elements, and everything is quick and responsive. People don't want to have to fuss with an interface, especially not on a mobile device. The interface needs to "just work" and if not, people will seek out games and applications that do.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #24: Star Realms

Game Title: Star Realms Genre: Deck-building card game Target Demographic: Fans of deck-building games, card or strategy games Monetization: Free app, in-app purchases to unlock new chapters of content

Star Realms is a digital version of a physical card game of the same name. The game is a deck-builder, and follows the basic premise of that style of game: players start with a small deck of not-so powerful cards, and they use what meager resources they have to purchase more powerful cards from a random lineup. These purchased cards are sent to the player's discard pile, eventually getting shuffled into their deck and drawn into their hands.

What I really like about Star Realms is the interaction between players. In may deck-building games, the focus is on obtaining some sort of points, of which each card is worth some amount. Amass the most points, and be declared the winner. In Star Realms, the goal is to defeat the other player. Players begin the game with 50 Authority points, the equivalent of health or hit points in any other game. Each card a player plays has some amount of trade or combat points (possibly both) that are accumulated and lost on a turn-by-turn basis. Trade points are used to purchase new cards, and combat points are used to attack the other player's Authority.

I really like the theme of the game and the cards reinforce that very well. First off is the naming of a player's health pool as Authority. This represents the player's influence throughout the galaxy, and so attacking that slowly reduces their power as an entity in the galaxy, instead of a single person, ship or station. An irrelevant change as far as game mechanics go, but a nice touch nonetheless. In addition, there are four different factions that make up the cards players can purchase. Similar to the colors of magic in Magic: the Gathering, these factions each have a different feel to them and offer different mechanics for players to incorporate into their decks.

The Trade Federation ships tend to focus more on increasing a player's trade points and Authority, and offer the only cards in the game which allow a player to "heal" themselves if their Authority drops too low. They also have some powerful ships and can include some card-drawing abilities as well. The Blobs, an alien race, tend to be very damage-focused, while the Star Empire faction relies on drawing cards and forcing your opponent to discard cards of their own. Lastly, there is the Machine Cult, whose cards focus largely on optimizing a deck by allowing the player to "scrap" a card, permanently removing it from their deck.

Each faction has its own strengths, and a player deck will typically include a card or two of every faction. Specialization is often key, however. Many cards have bonuses on them that will only activate if the player has played another card of that same faction that turn. Bonuses can range from drawing additional cards to dealing additional damage. Some of the more powerful abilities will let players gain cards for free or destroy enemy cards without having to spend any combat points on them.

Another really great mechanic of the game is the concept of star bases and outposts. Some cards have their art printed along the length of the card, so that they are played sideways in front of the player. These cards are star bases, and they stay in play each turn unless destroyed by the opposing player. These bases allow for bonuses that can be used every turn, and a smart player will destroy their opponent's bases as quickly as possible. Some of these bases are outposts, and these provided an additional layer of benefit. If a player has any outposts in play, those must be attacked first. Given the strong theme of the game, this makes sense. If someone were invading someone else's space, they would have to attack the outer perimeter first (yes, space is vast, but conceptually this idea works). If a player does not have enough combat points to defeat an outpost, then all combat points are wasted for that turn. Even a small outpost with 4 hit points (the lowest in the game) could potentially protect a player from a dozen points of damage over the course of the game.

Unsurprisingly, given that this is a digital version of a board game, the game plays very quickly. I love board games, but oftentimes handling the logistics of each card or game piece can turn a game into a very lengthy experience. In this case, turns are fast and fluid, and there are number of other conveniences. For example, there is a Play All button to play of the cards currently in your hand, so the player doesn't have to drag each one out individually. Also, if there are cards that will need the player's attention due to some choice on the card (choosing a target of some sort, choosing between two options), that card will not be played. Instead, the game will tell you to play that one first before hitting the Play All button.

The game also let's the player know if they forgot something. You build up combat strength and money, and if you have any leftover that could be used for something else, the game lets you know. Forgot to attack the enemy with your 1 combat power that came from some card you already had on the board and forgot about? The game prompts you to use it before ending the turn. The game also prompts you if you forgot to use an ability on a card. I personally overlook my star bases from time to time, but luckily for me the game keeps track of this. It's like having a personal assistant sitting next to you while you play the physical version of the game. All of these little bits and pieces let the player focus on the best part of the game: making interesting choices about which cards to get for their deck.

The pricing model of the game is well done as well. There is a free-to-play section, a free chapter that includes 10 or so encounters and a boss battle. This allows players get a good introduction to the game and decide whether or not they like it. After that they can pay a few dollars to unlock some additional single-layer chapters, as well as online capabilities. The online multiplayer is well done, a streamlined, asynchronous system that lets a player have multiple active games with different opponents.

Several things about this game I would take for my final project: the speed of the interface and all interactions with this game are quick and responsive. There is never a sluggish moment, or a time when I feel like the game isn't responding quickly to my inputs. Next up would be the theme of all the elements in place. Everything feels like it makes sense, and nothing seems like it's there just because. Lastly, the pricing model. I don't care for advertisements in games, nor do I like in-game currency that can be obtained with real money. Give me a free demo of your game, and I'm happy with it I will gladly pay for additional content. If your game is good, it will sell itself, no additional advertisement or shady pay-walls necessary.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #23: Sproggiwood

Game Title: Sproggiwood Genre: Rogue-like, RPG light Target Demographic: Rogue-like fans, younger audiences Monetization: Paid app

Sproggiwood is a rogue-like game, a genre typically defined by randomized levels, often punishing difficulty level, and a lot of replayability. Sproggiwood has a few elements of that in it, but overall it feels like it falls short on some others. Many rogue-like games offer little in the way of story elements, but in Sproggiwood there is a consistent narrative from one level to the next. There is a story present involving some sort of forest spirit and his quest to rebuild his home, and he needs the help of the player, who controls a person or a group of people known as Clogheads. Through a series of levels, the Clogheads will uncover more information about the threat to Sproggiwood and see if they can help the forest sprite restore the land.

Even though it's got elements of a rogue-like game in there, there are also some RPG elements present as well. The player can start out with only a single class available to them, but as they progress through the levels new classes get unlocked. Equipment is also unlocked over the course of play. Initially a character only has default equipment, but once they discover an item in a chest or other location in a level, it becomes available for purchase, and made a permanent choice when the player chooses items before a level.

One thing I liked about the game was the town-building aspects. Between levels the player can visit a small town that is being built up and place buildings and scenery objects (such as trees, rocks and such). Most of these are cosmetic, but as players unlock new classes, those classes get a unique building (such a blacksmith hut for the warrior class). Placing buildings and other objects was a bit clumsy, but given the touch screen controls and the small areas which needed to be selected or touched, it's a bit understandable. In any case, seeing a town grow from practically nothing to a wide range of buildings and inhabitants is a nice touch. It gives the player a good sense of progression, seeing how the town has been built up over the levels. I have considered something similar for my own capstone game, as I think it gives a game a nice feel for a more involved world. The game Bastion did this as well, and let the player converse with NPCs encountered along the way.

I also enjoyed the artwork in the game. The individual character classes and enemies are very cute and brightly-colored, giving the game a very whimsical feel, though this feels somewhat at odds with the actual events that are happening (i.e. killing lots and lots of enemies). It's okay though, because the enemies are just slimes and angry satyrs, so the player shouldn't feel too terrible about it.

One thing I didn't like very much was the enemy variety. A lot of the enemies in the early levels are cube-shaped blobs of different colors. The colors indicate something about the enemies and how they behave, but overall there isn't much variety visually. There are other enemies like spiders and giant, charging satyrs, but I felt a little tired of seeing the same thing before too long.

For a rogue-like game, it didn't feel very difficult for me. Even though early levels are typically easy in any game, I rarely felt like the game was going to make me earn a victory over a boss or group of enemies. By thinking about a situation even briefly it was usually pretty obvious how to funnel enemies into a tight corridor or how best to use a special ability to make it through without a scratch.

Also, the levels were relatively uninteresting. The story drives the player forward a bit, but each level (aside from some swapping of colors or tiles) didn't feel very different. Each one was essentially the same thing. What was there wasn't bad, just not terribly interesting to me. The same could be said for the classes. Each one had its own group of abilities that separated it from others, but I never got a great impression from any of them. I could play equally well with any of them, but I couldn't tell you why I would choose one or the other. If I played an archer versus a fighter, I didn't notice much difference in the overall experience. Kill a few enemies, pick up some coins, move on to the next encounter.

Things to learn from this game: If there is any sort of base-building, make sure the control system is a good one. What they did here was okay, but not great. It was kind of neat to build up a small village, but the way it was done was a little clunky, and not really that engaging.

Create distinct enemies. Even though the various colors of slimes behaved differently, they all looked the same (albeit with different colors).

The price. For a mostly okay experience, this game was priced very high at $9.99. For mobile games, that sort of price point is typically reserved for ports of larger console or PC games, like XCOM or some of the Final Fantasy titles ported from consoles or handheld systems.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #22: Warhammer Quest

Game Title: Warhammer Quest Genre: Turn-based strategy Target Demographic: RPG fans, strategy/tactics fans Monetization: Paid app, in-app purchases

Warhammer Quest is based on a board game of the same name, and the premise of both is the same: explore dungeons with a party of adventures to find loot and slay monsters (not necessarily in that order). Players start in a city with a group of four heroes--a warrior, a dwarf, an elf, and a wizard--and set off in search of adventure. Adventure in this case means basically running through the same set of dungeons over and over and over again, killing the same monsters over and over and over again.

Cities are where players can purchase equipment for their characters as well as consumable items like potions and scrolls, and even level up their hero if he or she has acquired enough experience. Once properly equipped, the player sets out to explore some dungeons. The dungeons in the game are randomly generated, though the designs are not especially interesting. They are each made up of a series of rooms, each with a random chance of containing enemies, nothing at all, or perhaps some sort of "flavor" encounter like finding a random adventurer who gives your party a small boost.

When the party finally encounters a group of monsters, combat begins. Turns alternate between the player using all of the units in the party, and then the AI group doing the same. Units can move, cast a spell, perform a ranged or a melee attack (possibly multiple attacks, if they are high enough level).

One thing I found interesting was that units could move any number of squares (up to their movement speed), and could perform any sort of actions in between moves. However, once they attacked they could no longer move, unless that particular hero had some sort of special ability that allowed them to do so. Some games only allow a single move, regardless of how far, per turn. This was sometimes useful as a character could move out of the way to let another friendly character pass by. Also, units in a square block all units, even friendly ones. This could sometimes cause an issue if the player isn't taking this into account, and a weaker character could be stuck next to a powerful enemy by his own party members.

Initially I found this game somewhat interesting, as the genre and theme of the game appeal to me. Very quickly, however, I grew bored with the game. The dungeon layouts, though randomized, where never interesting. Each room was one of a small number of possible shapes, so within five minutes or so you've seen all the level detail there is to see. Enemies were similarly boring. The basic orc and spider enemies remained pretty much the same throughout, even as their attributes increased for extra difficulty.

The game was very sluggish as well. The speed of the characters moving around the board, and the speed of the animations all seemed very slow to me. There was an option to speed up combat during the AI turn, and that helped somewhat, but the animations of the hero characters were slow and repetitive. I think that's the best word for this particular game: repetitive. Not much variety, and just the same thing over, and over, and over again.

Also, the characters the player can use (at least the free starting characters) seemed fairly bland, and in some cases very underpowered. For example, one of my melee characters had a chance to berserk if there were a certain number of enemies on screen. If he did, he would gain additional attacks and do more damage. This happened in nearly every battle, and his damage output eclipsed everyone else in the party. Furthermore, a melee character can increase the damage he deals by increasing his strength, whether through a potion, scroll, or equipping a magic ring or other artifact. A character using ranged weapons, however, cannot increase the damage he deals unless he gets a more powerful weapon. Considering the berserk character can attack as many as five or six times in a round, getting this strength boost is far more powerful than a character who can only attack two or three times with no damage increase. Likewise, the wizard character could receive no damage increase for his spells, which he could only use sparingly as his magical energy was limited each turn.

There are definitely some things to take away from this game for my own projects. First, increase the speed. No one likes to sit through long animations multiple times, even they are interesting. If they are bland to begin with, this becomes especially true. Speed up the animations, or get rid of them completely. Second, make interesting characters and choices throughout the game. There were no interesting choices to make here. The best weapon was the one with the highest damage numbers, and that was it. It didn't matter if it was a hammer, a sword, or an axe, all that mattered was the numbers. Also, have interesting artwork. The visuals in this game were, like everything else, bland and repetitive. What this game had worked well enough, but overall it was just uninteresting.

Lastly, if I create game with in-app purchases, this game is a great example of what not to do.  Aside from the four free characters, there are half a dozen or so additional characters for purchase, each a few dollars apiece.  Then, there are additional creature content packs you can purchase, to add more creature variety to your dungeon exploration.  These are several dollars as well.  Then there are items that can be purchased for a dollar or two each, and then a few new regions to explore, and each of these is around five dollars.  All in all, there looks to be around sixty dollars of in-app purchases, for a three dollar game.  I don't believe there is much value in any of that content, unless you are a diehard fan of blandness.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #21: Kingdom Rush Origins

Game Title: Kingdom Rush Origins Genre: Tower Defense Target Demographic: Tower defense fans, casual strategy fans Monetization: Paid app, in-app purchases

My third and final Kingdom Rush review (unless Ironhide Studios release any more, please and thank you!) is covering Kingdom Rush Origins, the latest, but perhaps not greatest, game in the series. The overall idea is still the same as before: build some towers and barracks to stop enemies from reaching the end of each level. There are still the same type of upgrades, and the same type of towers, though the specifics of each building have change a bit. The artwork is still fantastic, and the level of polish is all around identical to the previous titles. What's here is still great, though compared to its predecessor it's not as much as a leap forward as Frontiers was compared to the original.

With that being said, there are still some great things to say about this version. The level designs are still top notch. Enemies march along on a variety of paths, some obvious, some not-so-obvious. Levels still have dynamic elements in place that can cause a particular strategy to fall flat if a player isn't careful. Level hazards still exist, and many levels include boss fights of some sort. There are loads of new and interesting enemies to defend against, each with their own interesting designs and challenges.

Heroes this time around are the same sort of thing from the previous game, without much change really. There are a few free heroes, and then a large number of really expensive ones, the highest being $9.99. Considering the base price of the game is $2.99, paying triple the price of the game for one in-app purchase seems a bit odd to me. They all seem to have interesting designs, and again I think it will largely come down to personal preference for any given person.

The enthusiasm I have while writing this particular review is far less than the previous two. The game is still very good, without a doubt. If someone is a fan of the first two, and still plans on playing a game or two at some point in their lifetime, I will whole-heartedly recommend Kingdom Rush Origins. Playing it was just as enjoyable as anything else I've played in the series. It just comes down to not having much else to say about the game that I haven't already covered. It's gorgeous, the interface is fantastic, the level designs are top notch, and if my own project only turns out half as impressive as this, I'll call that a win.

[foxgamereviews-blog]

Game Review #20: Kingdom Rush Frontiers

Game Title: Kingdom Rush Frontiers Genre: Tower Defense Target Demographic: Tower defense fans, casual strategy fans Monetization: Paid app, in-app purchases

Kingdom Rush Frontiers is a follow-up to the excellent Kingdom Rush. The basic premise is the same: defend each level against wave after wave of enemies by building towers and barracks manned by cute little soldiers who dutifully do their best to stop the enemy hordes. Overall the premise is the same, but the heroes and towers change just enough to add some interesting variety. My favorite addition to the game is the unique level quirks.

The level designs in tower defense games are largely static affairs, if there is even a design to begin with. Some games in this genre opt for open arenas, in which the player must build towers in strategic locations to form a labyrinth of sorts to keep monsters in firing range of the towers for as long as possible so as to maximize the damage they take. Kingdom Rush opted for carefully crafted levels with interesting curves and turns, including the occasional twist such as a mine with several entrances, one at the beginning of the path and two more further down. Enemies enter at the beginning, and pop out somewhere closer to the end, possibly bypassing a large portion of the player's defenses.

Kingdom Rush Frontiers follows those same level design ideas, but throws a few new ideas into the mix. First, there are dynamic levels. What might appear to be only two forks in a road might, as the level progresses, turn into a third path as an enemy forcefully knocks over some trees to create a new road for his comrades. The player must then adjust their strategy to cover this new avenue of attack. Other levels include environmental hazards, such as a giant sand worm which can erupt out of the ground, devouring enemies and friendly soldiers alike, and which bears no resemblance whatsoever to a certain worm from a certain science fiction universe.

The heroes have also received a bit of an upgrade. Their basic functionality remains the same: they're mobile towers that can be used for damage or defense, depending on their abilities, and they can help turn a difficult level into one that is much more manageable. Heroes also retain experience from previous levels, as opposed to dropping back down to newbie status at the start of each level. In addition, as they level up they receive skill points which a player can use to unlock new skills and ultimately increase their power. The powers of each hero range from different types of melee attacks, to summoning several other units to act as temporary blockades, to casting lightning bolts and teleporting around the battlefield. Like before, there are some free heroes and some seemingly overpriced heroes, but the overall design of each is as top-notch as before.

I think the artwork in Frontiers is a nice upgrade from its predecessor as well. Levels are still as gorgeous as ever, and the individual elements, whether buildings, roads, or the units themselves seem to have received some extra detail in their sprites. All in all, it's a fantastic upgrade to an already wonderful game. The lessons I can learn from this game are the same as its predecessor, really. Polish the heck out of every element in the game until it shines, and then polish it some more. One thing I didn't mention about the previous one is the inclusion of an encyclopedia, which contains entries for all of the units in the game. While many players may simply ignore this, I find these types of details fascinating in games, and greatly appreciate their inclusion. Time permitting, if I'm creating a game that could benefit from adding a feature like this, I will definitely do so.