http://achrongame.com Hazardous Software's Achron, meta-time strategy game: a real-time strategy game with freeform time travel, where players and units can jump to and play at different times simultaneously and independently. en-us 720 http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Thu, 15 Dec 2011 This release improves balance and fixes a number of minor bugs in Achron and Resequence Engine. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Tues, 14 Nov 2011 The public Achron demo is finally out! We're dropping the price of Achron to $19.99, and with your purchase you get a code to give a full copy of Achron to a friend. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 6 Nov 2011 This release includes a prehosting multiplayer chat, ability to change game and replay speed, a performance improvement for long games, and numerous bug fixes and balance improvements. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 3 Oct 2011 We've released the 3D models, image files, etc. for all the units, terrain objects, and weapon effects in Achron, as well as a simple game mod template. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 26 Sep 2011 This release significantly improves pathfinding performance and improves a few balance and usability issues. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 18 Sep 2011 This free DLC includes all the source code for Achron unit AI scripts as well as the source code for the original 5 demo tutorial levels and the user interface skins. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 18 Sep 2011 This free DLC includes all the source code for Achron unit AI scripts as well as the source code for the original 5 demo tutorial levels and the user interface skins. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 5 Sep 2011 This release improves pathfinding considerably, contains numerous improvements to the single-player campaign, and fixes many bugs. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 29 Aug 2011 Achron Released! http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 21 Aug 2011 This release fixes some bugs and adds some minor features to the Resequence Engine. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 14 Aug 2011 This release contains rendering improvements, numerous bug fixes, and improvements to single-player campaigns. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#datepaxanach Tue, 9 Aug 2011 Achron will be released August 29th, Chris Hazard will be speaking at PAX, and new anachronism posted. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#datepaxanach http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 7 Aug 2011 This release contains campaign 3, bug fixes, decreased jostling during group pathfinding, unit-specific chronoportation costs, and increased range for anti-air units. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#julytourney Sun, 31 Jul 2011 The Achron Beta Tournament was a success and a lot of fun. The champion was Kytin, but there were many fascinating strategies employed. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#julytourney http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 31 Jul 2011 This release contains a number of unit behavioral improvements, improvements to the single-player campaigns, numerous bug fixes, and new Resequence Engine functions. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Fri, 22 Jul 2011 This release fixes a few important bugs from the 0.9.3.0 release. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Thu, 21 Jul 2011 This release contains campaign 2, as well as numerous bug fixes, improvements to campaign 1, and balance improvements. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Wed, 13 Jul 2011 This release contains a beta version of campaign 1 of single player, improved sound effects, balance improvements, bug fixing, and improved fog of war rendering. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Thu, 30 Jun 2011 This release contains bug fixes and balance improvements, as well as new terrains. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 19 Jun 2011 This release contains some important bug fixes, balance improvements, general polish, core functionality for in-game scripting, and skin sources. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Fri, 27 May 2011 This release contains some important balance improvements, as well as a couple minor rendering and visual improvements. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Wed, 25 May 2011 This release contains some important bug fixes, balance improvements, and other unit functionality improvements. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 23 May 2011 Want to participate in our Beta Tournament? Sign up now! http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 16 May 2011 This is a patch release that fixes a balance issue for the Vecgir species. It also contains new models for the Human factory and macrofab, and other minor fixes. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Fri, 13 May 2011 This is release is primarily to fix balance issues, but also includes a number of bug fixes, the ability to override a command without resetting a command queue, improved unit visible distinguishability with team color pseudo-outlining, and added two new tile sets. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#balancefixes Tues, 10 May 2011 We've really appreciated all the feedback we've gotten on balancing since the 0.8.3.0 release. Because balance is such an important part of the game, we're planning on releasing a new build, v0.8.4.0, in the next couple days with these balance fixes. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#balancefixes http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 24 Apr 2011 This release contains performance improvements, numerous bug fixes, balancing tweaks, and additional terrains. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Wed, 13 Apr 2011 The Escapist has a story on my talk this morning at the East Coast Game Conference on trust as a game mechanic: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109247-Games-Can-Make-You-Trust. I'm giving another talk tomorrow on serious games. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#aprilfool Fri, 1 Apr 2011 Neither Mike nor I are big fans of April Fool's Day on the Internet. It makes the Internet unusable. So, instead of going all out and changing everything or making some big announcement, we've added three subtle but amusing April Fool's Day pranks to our website that were not there before today. See if you can find them all. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#aprilfool http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Fri, 25 Mar 2011 This release introduces the explosive large Q-Plasma container, unit hierarchy improvements, numerous bug fixes and balance improvements. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sat, 12 Mar 2011 This release includes numerous bug fixes, unit behavior and balance improvements, game replay improvements, and minor visual indicator improvements. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#rltimetravel Thu, 10 Mar 2011 On April 8th and 9th, I'll be part of a small conference on the philosophy of time travel at North Carolina State University. I also ask a question for our forums: what real-life experiences have you had that are like time travel in some way? http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#rltimetravel http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Thu, 17 Feb 2011 This release denotes official "beta" status of Achron. This release includes many new polish improvements, visual effects, replays, and more! http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Tue, 11 Jan 2011 This release contains a polish art pass over all 3 species' unit models, numerous bug fixes, some balance improvements, and improved loading time when opening up a second level. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 19 Dec 2010 This release includes the full set of first-pass textures for the Vecgir, several important bug fixes, improved edge cases in path planning, and reduced critical VRAM footprint. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#paymentcards Thu, 16 Dec 2010 The Durbin amendment, coupled with recent regulations from the Fed could drastically change how games are purchased. Sellers will be allowed to price-discriminate between payment methods, which could have serious impacts, especially for casual games. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#paymentcards http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 13 Dec 2010 This release includes 3D model updates to the Vecgir, animation updates, zoom-to-cursor, pathfinding improvements, Newport terrain textures and many bug fixes. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#modhosting Thu, 9 Dec 2010 Today we are very excited to open up to our community a mod repository system that will facilitate the development (co-operative even) of mods and maps for Achron. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#modhosting http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#spcampaignprogress Fri, 3 Dec 2010 It's quite amazing how much of an improvement the new single-player levels are to the demo levels we've had in the releases since last January. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#spcampaignprogress http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sat, 13 Nov 2010 This is primarily a bug fix and polish release. This release features a pass on unit balancing, enhanced performance stability under heavy CPU loads, and many control improvements. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#factionspecies Mon, 1 Nov 2010 Most modern RTS games have a number of groups, of which the player can control one at a time. Usually, these groups are called "factions" or "races", but both of those terms are problematic. In Achron, we call these primary groups "species". http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#factionspecies http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 18 Oct 2010 This release features revised heads-up display graphics, improved loading time, and many bug fixes and improvements to the Vecgir and Grekim alien species. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#storyandstory Wed, 13 Oct 2010 Video games are a unique storytelling medium specifically because any game that claims to have a story actually has (at least) two: the narrative told through the cut scenes and dialog, and the narrative constructed by the player moment to moment as they play the game -- or, the Cinematic Narrative and the Gameplay Narrative... http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#storyandstory http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 11 Oct 2010 This release includes both the Vecgir and Grekim for the first time (as a separate download), as well as many improvements to unit art assets. It also includes numerous bug fixes, some improvements to pathfinding and CPU performance, and balancing improvements for the Humans. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#specialcircumstances Thu, 30 Sep 2010 One of the most difficult parts of running a small business is that when an important business meeting occurs requiring the president of the company, it also requires the producer and engine programmer to go to the same meeting. As of Monday afternoon, Mike and I were feeling really good about the release that was planned for today with the Grekim and Vecgir. We had about one day left of work to finish the release and then were going to test it. As of Monday evening, we suddenly had an urgent business meeting opportunity come up which was so potentially important to Achron (in a good way) that it required we drop everything else in preparation. We're re-planning the next release for next week, probably Friday or Saturday after I return from the meeting. This delay will not affect art production, so there's a good chance that we'll be able to include more good stuff in the next release than we anticipated. Voice acting for the single-player campaigns is also moving along nicely. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#specialcircumstances http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#endofallthingstrack Sun, 26 Sep 2010 I am not sure what to say about this particular track, except maybe that it is the energetic opposite of Frozen Over. Perhaps these two are the North and South Poles of our concept for the musical content in Achron. I have learned in the last few days that it is possible to become carried away, and that sometimes it is worthwhile, though not always expedient to go down that road. I hope it rocks your socks off. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#endofallthingstrack http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#soundengineering Fri, 17 Sep 2010 In music production, it is fairly common to end up with a case of "good music, poor engineering". While you may not be able to put your finger on so-so engineering, the engineer is sort of the secret member of the band, whose part fully determines whether or not a track is worthy of professional use. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#soundengineering http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 8 Sep 2010 This is a bug fix and unit usability polish release. Units behave more intelligently and game server performance is improved slightly in some cases. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 26 Aug 2010 Version 0.5.0.0 is a nice big round number. And with nice big round numbers comes lots of under-the-hood improvements. For starters, this release has a new rendering model, which is more accurate with respect to lighting. It also has support for custom keybindings, a clone brush in the level editor, a new major balancing pass, as well as the usual bug fixes. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#balancebug Sat, 14 Aug 2010 Mike and I are working on another balancing pass in Achron, and we found and fixed a major balancing bug. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#balancebug http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#perfreplay Fri, 6 Aug 2010 Performance is important in game development. Building a performance test suite which aims for broad coverage of use cases and gameplay can greatly help profiling efforts. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#perfreplay http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 2 Aug 2010 Today's release fixes a number of long-standing control issues with units, and also many bug fixes. Build menus are now accessible without using chronoenergy and units' objectives are shown via arrows. Objective arrows may be enabled on the settings page in the menu. This release also contains some performance improvements to the gameplay and improvements to terrain elevation controls in the level editor. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#indievsgoliath Tue, 20 Jul 2010 With Starcraft 2 coming out in a week, how could an upcoming indie RTS possibly stand a chance to remain relevant? How can indies compete with big-budget games in general? The answer: Make sure your game is on the Pareto frontier. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#indievsgoliath http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#clones Wed, 7 Jul 2010 The past week has been quite an active week on the Achron forums, partly due to a newcomer named Kron who came in and stirred up a lot of old discussions with new ideas. One of the active threads, titled "If you were a soldier from Achron...", examines what it would be like in the game if you weren't an achron yourself, and knew that someone could be changing the past on you. How far does the concept of "you" extend? http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#clones http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Thu, 1 Jul 2010 We made another big release today. One of the main features is the terrain; the terrain can be much more variable than before (large mountains and valleys), and units have limitations on how steep of terrain they can move, making the terrain far more strategic (the editor has tools to aid with level design for this). We also released our XML compiler (Windows only for now - Linux and Mac forthcoming), which means that we've now released all the tools required for someone to make a completely different game than Achron. This release includes a large number of minor internal tweaks that allow for significantly more flexibility, such as allowing air units to fly within canyons instead of just above them. The level editor also has a few improvements, units now have helpful descriptions in their info boxes, and path finding and CPU performance are both improved. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#militarycomm Thu, 24 Jun 2010 In addition to my work on Achron, I also do research as part of a large Army initiative on the science of "quality of information". Our meeting today here in Cambridge, Massachusetts had a point that I thought was particularly relevant to discuss. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#militarycomm http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#wikilaunch Thu, 17 Jun 2010 We just opened our wiki for Achron today! Because Achron opens up so many new strategies with time travel and people have many ideas to create mods, we thought a wiki would be a great repository for all of that information, in addition to details about Achron itself. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#wikilaunch http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#pathupdate Sat, 12 Jun 2010 Path planning, that is, figuring out how a unit should move to arrive at its destination quickly, is a very tough problem in making RTS games. One of the major results from this last week is that we've made some progress on improving path planning in Achron. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#pathupdate http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sun, 6 Jun 2010 Today's point release fixes a number of bugs from our major release last week for the Mac and the level editor. This release has some scripting additions for mods involving time wave manipulation. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Mon, 31 May 2010 Today we've made quite a major release. The two biggest components of this release are our new level editor and experimental Mac support. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#spikemusic Sat, 29 May 2010 I've been thinking a lot lately about where the "Big Hollywood Sound" comes from. We like our games full of this sound, because it has almost a chemical familiarity to it, and it's really only in the last 10 years that such a thing has really been a possibility. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#spikemusic http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tooldevupdate Thu, 27 May 2010 These last couple weeks have been quite crazy with regard to Achron development. Coding up a level editor from scratch is no small feat, but it's been moving along nicely. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tooldevupdate http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#symviolations Tue, 18 May 2010 As we're creating a game around the idea of time travel, we like to keep up to date with what's going on in physics. Some interesting results have been coming out of Fermilab recently that could offer a little bit more explanation to one of the big questions in physics: why are we made out of matter and why is there so little antimatter in the universe? http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#symviolations http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#lveditor Fri, 14 May 2010 We have an old level editor that we've been using internally, but it desperately needs to be revamped. This past week I've spent quite a bit of time working on the new editor, which we're aiming to be released in a couple weeks. Why does our old level editor not get much love you may wonder? http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#lveditor http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Sat, 8 May 2010 We made a new Achron release today. This release includes the RescriptXMLCompiler, along with the functionality to generate .til files which specify the tile set for a level which includes the graphics and objects. An example .til.xml file is included in levels/tile_sets along with an example Perl script that will compile all the .til.xml files within the directory. The XML schema is listed in doc/til.xsd. This release also includes a number of bug fixes, minor improvements, and internal code refactoring to prepare for upcoming features. The IcedTactics level now recharges chronoenergy constantly regardless of when the player is; this is a trial, and we are planning on expanding this to all of the levels as long as the gameplay effects are as we expect. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php#v0.2.4.0 http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#calendarupdate Sat, 1 May 2010 So far things have been mostly on track for Achron. I updated the calendar for what we're aiming to accomplish at the end of the next two months. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#calendarupdate http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#prodhier Wed, 27 Apr 2010 Earlier in Achron's development, one of our developers really wanted factories to automatically put units in hierarchies based on their production order. We see that this feature does not live up to our expectations of usefulness, and are planning to remove it. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#prodhier http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#cerecharge Sun, 25 Apr 2010 An interesting point regarding chronoenergy and micromanagement has been brewing on the forums for quite some time that we have been meaning to address. The point is that, based on the current chrononenergy (CE) recharge rates, viewing the past is technically not "free" because CE recharges at a slower rate than it does at the present. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#cerecharge http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#wolfireguest Wed, 21 Apr 2010 Guest blog post on Wolfire Games' blog on feedback in game design: http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/04/Feedback-In-Game-Design http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#wolfireguest http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Fri, 16 Apr 2010 We made a new Achron release today. This release contains a number of unit AI and interaction improvements, as well as some internal changes in preperation for the upcoming support of in-engine level editing. This release also includes the blackbird unit. April has proven to be an even busier month than we were anticipating, but the level editor rewrite is moving along and should be ready in a few weeks. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php#v0.2.3.0 http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tgc10 Tue, 13 Apr 2010 The Triangle Game Conference was a good time last week. I've also posted the slides of my talk on my personal website. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tgc10 http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#idleattack Thu, 8 Apr 2010 Last week I posted about working on improving units' attack logic. Actively attacking enemies is one core functionality, and being defensive while the unit has not been assigned an objective is also an important aspect of attack behavior. A stationary unit that is waiting for orders is idle and is essentially on defense since it should attack any enemy targets that may show up, even if this unit happens to be idling inside an enemy base. We don't want idling units simply engaging any enemy that's just appeared on the edge of their vision because it's possible that this enemy unit is a lure that will set you up for an ambush. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#idleattack http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#physreverse Sun, 4 Apr 2010 I'm giving a talk tomorrow for North Carolina State University's philosophy department on time travel in games, particularly as they pertain to Achron. In addition to the various time travel mechanisms in Achron and games as a whole, I'll briefly be touching on some of the dynamics of time travel from a computational perspective, which spills over into the realm of physics. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#physreverse http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#handstance Wed, 31 Mar 2010 How you use the keyboard is a very important part of playing many PC games. When you type, most peoples' fingers usually hover on or near the home row. When you play a game, your hand may hover above the WASD keys (AOE. keys for us Dvorak users), over the arrow keys, or elsewhere depending on the game. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#handstance http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#apriltalks Sat, 27 Mar 2010 I'm giving two talks in the upcoming weeks related to Achron and game development, one at NCSU on April 5th on time travel and another at the Triangle Game Conference (April 7-8) on game theory in game design. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#apriltalks http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#attackbehavior Tue, 24 Mar 2010 This past week I have been working on the logic of idling units, specifically how they decide to attack enemies, trying to improve the existing heuristic. Our current strategy that seems to work well (and some people have really liked) is that units first look for attack-capable enemies and target those easiest to destroy first. Units automatically team up on those weaker targets for faster reduction of total enemy numbers in order to reduce the total damage per second your opponent is producing. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#attackbehavior http://achrongame.com/site/news.php Tue, 23 Mar 2010 We have made a new minor version release available for download. This release fixes a consistency bug on both Windows and Linux, and also contains a couple other minor fixes and improvements to the Resequence engine. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php#v0.2.2.1 http://www.achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#portlinux Fri, 19 Mar 2010 What's the best way to develop software when people won't start using it for at least 7 years? This was the question I asked myself back when I started working on Achron. When it came time to port to Linux, most of my coding-for-the-future thankfully paid off. http://www.achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#portlinux http://www.achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#v0.2.2.0 Our current build (0.2.2.0) of Achron is our first official release that has experimental Linux support. Currently the release is for 64-bit Linux, with 32-bit Linux support planned for the future. We knew we wanted to only support one architecture for Linux for now (just like we're only supporting 32-bit architecture for Windows for now), because each platform adds many more hours to our build and testing process; because we're such a small team, this time takes its toll. Eventually, we may set up a first round of testers if there's interest, which would ease this process a little. The decision to initially only support 64-bit instead of 32-bit basically came down to the following main points: http://www.achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#v0.2.2.0 http://achrongame.com/site/news.php We are excited to announce that we have a new release, version 0.2.2.0 available for download. This release includes the Rescript compiler for making custom level scripts, experimental 64-bit Linux support, as well as many bug fixes. More control and integration for Rescript will be coming in future releases. http://achrongame.com/site/news.php#v0.2.2.0 http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#v0.2.1.0 A new release, version 0.2.1.0 is available. This release consists primarily of bug fixes and end-game usability improvements. It also contains a few rearrangements of unit capabilities which are part of a master plan to improve balance and unit identity that is still in progress. In this release, we can now verify wins and losses with our multiplayer matching system. Now we can start Achron tournaments. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#v0.2.1.0 http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#multiplayer The new multiplayer release is now ready for download. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#multiplayer http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#contribs Achron is the fruit of many years of hard work by the founders of Hazardous Software and has been entirely self-funded. Not only do we want to share Achron with the world and let people watch its development first-hand, but we want to give people a chance to contribute as well. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#contribs http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#v0.1.1.0 A new build of Achron is available, which includes the ability to create 3D models that can be imported into Achron. We'll also be opening up our community contribution program today on the forums and website. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#v0.1.1.0 http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#preorder Achron is available for preorder! Enjoy, and feel free to discuss on our forums. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#preorder http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#calfaq We've updated a few pages on our website in preparation for our upcoming preorder and alpha demo release combo. In particular, check out our tentative release calendar and our updated FAQ. Things are moving along smoothly now (had a few technical issues with website stuff earlier in the week), but as long as no other issues arise, there's a 75% chance we'll launch on January 1st, most likely later in the day. We'll keep you posted on this, and again, we'll make the announcement first via Twitter. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#calfaq http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#bigannounce Fresh from the future, Achron is currently targeted to be available for pre-order January 1st. Those who pre-order will be a part of a pre-release community, receiving early builds of the game and immediate hands-on experience with time travel. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#bigannounce http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#latestdev This week was another busy week in development. Here I outline a few of the things that have been going on. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#latestdev http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#absreltime Do you think in absolute or relative time? We discuss how Mike and I think of time differently in Achron. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#absreltime http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#devtools I discuss the various mod tools we're planning on releasing with Achron. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#devtools http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#hierarchydemo We've received a number of questions about how the hierarchy works in Achron, so we decided to make a video showing how it works. We go over various ways that an advanced player can use the hierarchy. Most of the main hierarchy functionality is covered except for auto-healing and auto-response to attacks. We're also working on some big plans for Achron early next year. We'll let you know when the plans are finalized. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#hierarchydemo http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tacticsvideos We recorded and uploaded some new videos last night to our Youtube Channel of some actual games as we were testing some of our new balancing and behavior changes. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tacticsvideos http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#balanceandrendering I discuss our work on beginning to improve the rendering algorithms and go into detail on balancing techniques. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#balanceandrendering http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#music Because the story begins from the human perspective and much of the story involves being somewhat achronal, we mixed themes of bravado, arrogance, regret, and loss, which accompanies a people who are, for all intents and purposes, lost in space that they had previously conquered. At the same time, these people still have something to lose which is worth fighting for, so that sense of urgency and non-hopelessness has to be inherent. The following clip is currently slated as our title screen and interface track, though it is subject to change. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#music http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#artdir Creating and conceptualizing the fictional world of Achron is an extremely challenging and rewarding venture. In this initial character concept art you can see how scale and proportions come into play. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#artdir http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#performance It's good to be back working on Achron after being vacation in eastern Africa for a couple of weeks. In this post, I'll talk about more day-to-day development activities, performance in particular. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#performance http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#smartidle One useful feature of Achron's gameplay is called smart-idle. Smart-idle means that units will do smart things on their own while idle, which is useful when you are not then or are just too busy to manage every detail. When smart-idle is enabled, units automatically perform many minor tasks such as request repairs when damaged, reload weaponry, and request backup against specific opponent threats. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#smartidle http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#sparkcon I had a fun time hanging out at GamingSPARK during SPARKcon where a selection of locally created video games were showcased. Several casual, mobile, student-made and serious/simulation games were featured, including Achron and DARTT. Some players there knew of Achron and were itching to try it, while some had never heard of it but were intrigued by the concept and gameplay. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#sparkcon http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#gspark We've recently put together a serious gaming mod of Achron called DARTT. Both DARTT and four intro Achron levels will be available to play at GamingSPARK in Raleigh, NC next week. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#gspark http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#teleport Teleportation has an interesting history within Achron's development. I discuss teleportation capabilities of Humans, Vecgir, and Grekim. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#teleport http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#story1 We're going to be unveiling some short stories over the following months that paint the Achron universe with a little bit more depth. You can find them by following the link to the story page, and looking for links within the story. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#story1 http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#lgtactics Mike and I have been recording some new videos of Achron for the upcoming August 25th episode of The Escapist Show. One of the videos we recorded for them is a large battle. Mike and I each had about 150 units at our disposal, consisting of laser tanks, mechs, and lancers. In the games we typically play, it's quite rare to have such large armies facing off head-to-head all at once. This post discusses some observations of tactics in larger games. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#lgtactics http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#ncsutalk The talk I gave at North Carolina State University (where I'm finishing my PhD) back in June for the Digital Games Research Center is now online, and we've posted a revised version of the first Achron demo video. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#ncsutalk http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#everydaydev For a slight change of pace for the blog, this post will be more detail than usual about what sort of day-to-day things I've been working on for Achron. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#everydaydev http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#newstrategies We've been making some good progress on a number of fronts: chronoenergy model, timeline UI, concept art, etc. This post discusses some strategies listed on the chronofrag forums in detail. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#newstrategies http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#siteupdate We uploaded some updates to the website today with a little bit of new information. The new navigation buttons up top are in the style of Achron's menus. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#siteupdate http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#gamescripting All is moving along well on development. We've been working on improving the in-game scripting API to add all sorts of features to levels, especially those where we teach the player to use various aspects of time travel. It's particularly interesting developing this, as there are really multiple times going on, while the player is only watching one at the same time. If an event occurs 2 minutes ago in a tutorial, you have to consider whether the player should be notified in the present. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#gamescripting http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#advhierarchy In creating our hierarchy controls for Achron, we built a 'priority' dispatch to give the player exact control over which orders units execute. A hierarchy can be setup manually by the player, or the player can enable Auto-Hierarchy, a mode where units will automatically create hierarchy groups. This post also has info regarding a forum and a link to Chris's talk on Time Travel Gameplay from the Triangle Game Conference as well. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#advhierarchy http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#newui We've posted a new video showing our revamped user interface. In the video, we also show how a player can pause time to issue precise commands. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#newui http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#bizhudai We're still making good progress on the new user interface. We're planning to post another video in the next week or so to show the new user interface (among other things). Another project we're working on is an improved AI with respect to automated healing, repairing, and recovering. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#bizhudai http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#seriousgames Not too long after I first started working on Achron, Mike and I began discussions about practical applications of this technology beyond time travel in video games. Since we've unveiled Achron, we've received significant interest in using some of our technology for serious games such as military and corporate applications. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#seriousgames http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#chronofrag Many games utilize the concept of tele-fragging or spawn-fragging someone, where you destroy your opponent by spawning or teleporting to the same location as them. In Achron, a Chronofrag is when a unit travels through time but winds up occupying the same space as another unit. The weaker of the two units will be destroyed, while the stronger will immediately incur the appropriate amount of damage as they cannot both occupy the same space at the same time. An analogy for fans of the Terminator series would be the timetravel sphere of destruction that burns everything in its space, except in Achron the time traveler is not protected. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#chronofrag http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tgctalk The first day of the Triangle Game Conference was a lot of fun. My talk went well, and the Escapist Magazine has some coverage of it. Also, the talk was videotaped, so I should be able to post portions of it sometime in the next few weeks once they get the DVDs ready. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#tgctalk http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#attractors When playing Achron, you don't need to worry much about temporal mechanics as the game engine will figure them all out for you. You can see changes on the timeline and the gameplay is simplified because you can react to them. However, it can be fun to think through some interesting cases. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#attractors http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#alliances I've talked with the conference organizers and they said that I have permission to post portions of my talk online. A subtle point about time travel is that alliances between players don't necessarily need to be permanent. We currently have a mode in Achron where players can create and break alliances during the game. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#alliances http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#multiplayerpov One of the more common questions we have encountered is regarding how multiplayer works and exactly what your opponents see on their screens, so we updated the FAQ to better explain time waves and what players see in multiplayer matches. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#multiplayerpov http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2009/04/14/achron-interview-your-head-will-explode/ Bit-tech just published a 4-page interview with Chris Hazard about Achron. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#bittech http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#usingfuture We've posted two new videos! One is a demonstration of using the future to see upcoming battles. The second demo video is of the grandfather paradox, and can be found on our new paradox page. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#usingfuture http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#hierarchy Due to the mechanics of time travel gameplay we wanted to add something to the game that would assist the player with managing their units. One of the aspects we added for this purpose was the command hierarchy. A hierarchy is created when the player directs units to report to another unit, turning that chosen unit into a commander. The player can then direct commanders to report to other units, creating a command hierarchy tree. Read the rest of this post on the website. http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#hierarchy http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#triconfdetails The Triangle Game Conference in Raleigh, NC is coming up, and they've posted the schedule>. I'll be talking on Wednesday, April 29th from 2:45-3:45pm. I've started putting together the details of my talk. I'll be revealing some of the subtle gameplay mechanisms that we've put in place throughout the development of Achron. In particular, I'll be discussing some of the ways we addressed various gameplay exploits (unintended dominant strategies, also known as "griefs") that come along with time travel and trade offs in helping the player navigate the timeline. I'll also touch on some resolutions to the technical challenges of implementing time travel and how building a game with advanced time manipulation outwardly affects the general development process. While time manipulation transforms gameplay mechanisms, it does not necessarily change them into something unrecognizable. Some gameplay mechanisms that are fun without time travel become fun with time travel and vice versa. I'll discuss how time travel affects the complexity of puzzles, briefly touching on complexity classes from computer science from a conceptual level (without any of the hard math). http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#triconfdetails http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#grandfatherparadox By popular demand on Twitter, our next video will depict the classic grandfather paradox, showing how Achron cycles between the different possible states, eventually settling into one state. Even though this particular scenario is not commonplace and is not generally a desirable strategy in actual gameplay, we think it will help some people see the flexibility of the engine and see the possibilities of what can be done in the game. We hope to have this video posted sometime within the next week or two. While the engine has successfully handled every mind-bending multilayered paradoxical scenario we've thrown at it, these paradoxes do not typically occur in a game unless the player sets them up explicitly (such as in a match between expert players). http://achrongame.com/site/blog-main.php#grandfatherparadox