Wow. Best game review ever! I can’t imagine any higher praise. I was talking to Mike the other day via email. I asked him how he liked our Pirate game. He said he hated it. 🙁 Oh really? What didn’t you like?
“It’s too realistic. It’s not a game where you can just have fun and play pirates. The tension is palpable. As you approach another ship, you don’t know who they are, what they have or what their intent is. It is very stressful. This game made me feel sick to my stomach. I actually feel nauseous every time we start.”
How’s that for an accurate and realistic model for a simulation?! It doesn’t get any better than that! For us, realism isn’t tracking tons of numbers like an accountant, 1 micro step turn at a time. Our definition of realism is that you only have control over the kinds of things you could have controlled. You have knowledge only about the kinds of things you could have known. A good game puts you in the captain’s chair. If focuses on you making command decisions. Not totaling combat factors and tracking damage points.
So be forewarned. You’re gonna need Alka-Seltzer to play this game. Rum works good too. =)
In a way, Pirates! is kind of misnamed. If you are looking for a pirate game where you can run around and live out a Disney fantasy of pirate life, steal a ship, find some treasures, fight off some sea monsters, then make it back port for some rum and a dance with the governor’s daughter, this is not for you. It’s not that kind of a game.
What does it do then? It was actually based off Star Trek II, the Wrath of Kahn. A tense battle of wits for survival against an unknown enemy. That is the spirit we captured.
It’s about naval combat in the age of sail. Piecing together the whole picture off of just a few clues. Assessing risk. Anticipating what the enemy will do next. Asking the right questions. Making command decisions. Knowing when to push it and when to cut your losses and run.
This game trains you to think like a Captain, not an accountant.
Can a game be too realistic? Well, you might need Alka-Seltzer to play it, but nobody has gotten scurvy or been hanged yet. So that sounds like a perfect mix. =)
Nice! This kind of ‘realism’ is most appealing to me for a wargame. I hope it applies too to your other products, especially pub battles. Personally I’m a bit of a world war 2 nerd, so I’d have to inquire if there are any updates on the Bulge game? Is it stuck in development hell? The ACW command game seems cool too.
Yeah me too, really. Our biggest trouble with the Bulge is deciding what kind of game to make. Should it be miniature based or should it have hexes? Regular counters or wooden blocks? What scale? Divisions, Brigades, Regiments? What do people want? What will sell the best? We keep going around on questions like this. :/
I see, those are some tough questions. Personally I feel the wargame market now (especially for ww2) is pretty much over-saturated with counter and hex type games, which feel more like an advanced game of chess than a simulation of battle. The kriegsspiel/miniature style pub battles seem to have worked out pretty nice for you guys, but of course I can’t image what new issues come in once you try and apply it to modern warfare. How would fuel concerns and air support play out?
By the way, there’s an online wargame-type video game coming out which I thought you guys might be interested in: https://linesofbattle.net/
WHERE IS BULGE. YALL HAVE BEEN ‘PLANNING’ IT FOR 2 YEARS AT LEAST ALREADY. I WANT MY WW2 PUB-BATTLES/KRIEGSSPIEL WARGAME!!!!
We’ve been having trouble agreeing on what this game should be. Hexes n counters or blocks n mini style movement? 2 mile hexes with regiments or bigger 6 mile hexes with divisions? Is it a Pub Battle?
Modern warfare: Hexes.
Command Post Games: Wooden blocks.
Scale?… In case of doubt, the middle ground: brigades
What will sell the best?: Waterloo Campaign brigade scale. (Bulge can wait, the Emperor can not)
I could “play” the YouTube demo runned by Mr. Barrington, and… I LOVED IT.
I do understand Mike’s thoughts. It’s deliciously stressful
I’m thinking about how I could play it solo, which is my reality…
I don’t think there’s a way to capture all the realism of uncertainty, but if I come up with something that at least comes close…
This game has to be on my table.
I can play it solo but it is harder with simultaneous movement.
You can move by random chit pull, just like Pub Battles. We started with that system during design. It works well.