Tag: asynchronous

#oneaday Day 727: Together Apart

You know what it’s like. You want to play with friends but they all live on the other side of the world to you, so you can never find a convenient time to play together, and as such, you never get the chance to take each other on.

Not so if you happen to have a smartphone or tablet. There’s a bunch of asynchronous multiplayer games out there for you to play, meaning that you can take it in turns to play together when it’s convenient for each of you. While it’s not quite the same as playing live, it’s the next best thing.

But what are these games? Well, focusing on iOS, here’s a few:

…With Friends

Whatever you may think of Zynga the company, it publishes some of the most popular multiplayer titles in the iOS library: Chess, Words, Hanging and Scramble With Friends.

Of these four games, Scramble is my favourite because it’s quick and easy to play, and impossible to cheat at. Words is far too open to abuse (there are tons of “cheat” apps on the App Store), Hanging is a bit boring and, well, I suck at Chess.

The fact that, at the time of writing, I am unbeaten at Scramble certainly helps!

Disc Drivin’

If you’ve ever flicked a coin around a makeshift course or played that racing game where you flick wooden discs around a racetrack, Disc Drivin’ is for you. Offering a bunch of courses, some powerups and the ability to play with up to three friends, this is a fun one for a while, though lacks depth.

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a brilliant entry-level board game, and its iOS version, while relatively expensive, is an excellent port. Offering not only a great port of the base game but also a fun solitaire puzzle mode, this is a personal favourite.

Ascension: Wrath of the Godslayer

A great card game, as discussed the other night. Ascension lends itself well to the asynchronous format because players compete with one another for points, but turns are pretty self-contained. What little direct interaction there is between players is easily resolved at the start of the next player’s turn. The only thing this one is missing is a chat facility — you just play.

Starbase Orion

I admit I haven’t spent a huge amount of time with this yet, but it’s probably the deepest game on this list. Playing out like Master of Orion (or sort of Civ in space, if you like), this is a lengthy, complex game that strategy buffs will have a blast with in either single or multiplayer.

Hero Academy

The newest title on this list, Hero Academy from Orcs Must Die! developer Robot Entertainment is a turn-based combat strategy game that combines elements of DOTA, tower defense, Final Fantasy Tactics and, err, Scrabble. (Yes, really.) Providing players with a “rack” of units and abilities to use each turn, then allowing five actions per turn, this is a simple to understand but tough to master game with a lot of potential for awesome development in the future — new teams, maps and other possibilities are all in the works.

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So there we go. If you have an iOS device and you’re looking for some multiplayer action you can fit around your life rather than having to set aside hours at a time, the above are a great place to start.

Do you have any recommendations to add? Let me know in the comments!

#oneaday Day 521: It’s Your Turn Now

I’ve discovered the most terrifying thing in the universe: the man who very politely, but incredibly loudly, tells you “It’s your turn now!” on the iPhone version of Carcassonne. It’s terrifying because hearing someone’s voice when you’re not expecting to — such as, say, when you’re trying to get to sleep — is a frightening thing. Quite why a murderer or rapist would say “It’s your turn now!” is… no, hang on, that sort of works, doesn’t it? Shit.

But anyway. The terrifyingness of Carcassonne is not what I wanted to talk about — at least not directly, anyway. I wanted to take a moment to talk about asynchronous games, how awesome they are and where they can go from here.

The iPhone (and, presumably, Android) is home to a wide range of excellent asynchronous-play games, allowing people to play at their own pace at a time to suit them. The upside to this is that people even in wildly disparate time zones can play games against each other. The downside is that it’s easy to forget what games you’re playing, particularly if your push notifications decide not to work properly.

But that downside isn’t sufficient to dampen the awesomeness that is the ability to play Carcassonne with someone across the other side of the world. The “…with Friends” series (Chess, Words and Hanging) are all excellent examples of How To Do It Correctly, too, providing a simple, intuitive interface to games that most people know how to play. The quirky and entertaining Disc Drivin’, too, offers a fun experience, even if whoever goes first has a clear advantage over everyone else. (That’s my excuse, anyway.)

Certain social games are taking steps to incorporate asynchronous features, too. Dragon Age Legends, for example, allows players to recruit their friends’ characters — complete with equipment and abilities — into their party for combat. This allows people to play with their friends without their friends actually being there — defeating the object of a multiplayer game, you might think, but actually making the best of the fact that it’s pretty rare for you and all your friends to be online at the same time.

Consider this taken to the next level, though. Why haven’t we seen an asynchronous MMORPG yet, where players can party up with AI-controlled characters based on their friends’ equipment and ability lists? It works in Dragon Age Legends, though admittedly that’s a very simple turn-based game. But most MMORPGs have AI built in for enemy and ally characters anyway, so why shouldn’t there be a way for players to “play” even when they’re not actively logged in to the game? I think that’d be kind of cool, actually — and it would certainly get around my biggest bugbear with MMORPGs, which is the fact that a good 90% of my friends live in a completely different and mostly incompatible timezone to me.

On a related note, then, if you live in Europe and want to play Champions Online, Spiral Knights or anything else you’d care to suggest (preferably of the free to play variety) do please get in touch!