This is not really metal-related, but still... For the past 2 years me and my brother have been working on a game - we decided to combine the most exciting parts of Risk and Civilization, plus throw a bunch of our own ideas on top. Now we feel it's finally ready for a test run. If you're interested, join us this week, Wed-Fri, after 18:00 GMT (20:00 EET).

What you need: a browser with installed Silverlight (the new Flash-type platform). It will be suggested for installation automatically, once you attempt to enter the game. That's it.

You can register on the site (http://afterwind.com) - just fill your name and password, no e-mail required. Or you can register in just one click with Facebook Connect (upper left corner).

You can already give it a try now, but it's not really intended for playing alone - all neutral troops are static.

Anyway, hope to see some of you there tonight (or perhaps, tomorrow or after tomorrow). It's a big thing for us, so we're very excited.

More details on
AFTERWIND.COM

Wow, i really love both Risk and Civilization ... i hope this game is does a good job in combining both.

installing silverlight now

Seems pretty cool! I'm installing Silverlight now, so pretty curious to see the game.

I would change the registerscreen though; when you fill out your password, it's in text, not passworddots.

I like the site design and the game looks pretty fun. I wish there was a solo mode maybe down the line...

Simple looking, but wonderful and so catchy...i think many of my hours are reserved for this

Written by Veertje on 06.10.2010 at 20:49

Seems pretty cool! I'm installing Silverlight now, so pretty curious to see the game.

I would change the registerscreen though; when you fill out your password, it's in text, not passworddots.

It's done so that you can see what you're typing - since there's no second password field to check it (for simplicity).

@Fade: solo mode (or simply active neutral troops) is definitely something we're looking to implement in the future.

@Ellrohir: glad you enjoyed it, you kicked ass there.

@Everyone who participated: thanks a lot, hope you had good time. Please join us on Thursday and Friday as well!

@ Ivan: i noticed a little bug in the game; when in the "buying" mode in the very begginning of the game, if u accidently (or willingly) buy a country twice.. you just waste your money..
shouldnt a player be 'not able' to buy the same country twice as not to waste his/her money?

also, another bug... sometimes when all players press 'next turn' or 'ready' the counter still counts and you have to wait till the 10 minutes are over .. making it useless to wait for the countdown timer even though all players are ready

Written by Zombie on 07.10.2010 at 03:40

@ Ivan: i noticed a little bug in the game; when in the "buying" mode in the very begginning of the game, if u accidently (or willingly) buy a country twice.. you just waste your money..
shouldnt a player be 'not able' to buy the same country twice as not to waste his/her money?

also, another bug... sometimes when all players press 'next turn' or 'ready' the counter still counts and you have to wait till the 10 minutes are over .. making it useless to wait for the countdown timer even though all players are ready

Wrote down, thanks. Will try to fix.

So, more feedback
i hope u don't think i'm criticizing the game or something, i fucking LOVE it that is why i'm mentioning everything notice to make it perfect

so, this is more of a wondering than a complaint... what are the criteria that makes you win or lose a battle, a roll of a dice ? or calculated stats and attributes of each military unit? .. coz i kinda feel its more risk-style lucky than civilization-style logical..

last night i would use like 4 bombers to attack a city defended by 2 infantry and i'd still lose the battle... so, if its a pure luck dice thing.. why would i waste my money buying expensive bombers (200) while i could just buy infantry (40 i guess) ?

or maybe i'm mistaken and my opponent somehow upgrded his infantry that's why they're so powerful and became able to shoot down my bombers ?

a last note ... how about making minimal animation... during the battle phase (or after it ends) .. i mean.. not neccissarily making an animated combat (red alert style) .. but more of a civilization style .. the city shakes for example after being bombarded .. or you could make like a fireworks effect above the city after victory.. or anything of that kind.. it'll make the game more 'dynamic' than static.. and would be visually appealing

i'll try the game again tonight and give you more feedback.


UPDATE: more feedback...
when i chose the target (victory condition) to be: world domination.. but my map is set to "africa" or "europe"...etc i'm unable to win then... i tried a little experiment, i played as middle east.. and got myself alot of money.. bought all countries except one.. and when the game started i invaded that country.. so, i'm this way dominating all territory possible.. yet i didnt 'win' or anything and i kept playing against myself.
so, you might wanna adjust that victory condition thing to take into consideration the map choice

UPDATE 2: even more feedback
so, i did another experiment to verify the previous experiment's results 8) .. and it turns out even if i dominate the whole world (not just europe or anything) still nothing happens.. isn't there some kind of a winning-detection thing ? ... or do i know that i won when everyone else leaves the game?
the thing i did now was start a new game, lots of funds, with the whole world map... i bought all countries except for two .. and i conquered them by armies..
and nothing happened ! lol

also, there's the 'singapore' (which i dont know if its a city or a country) but its almost invisible, you cant notice it unless u zoom to the max. same with 'fiji' island near australia .. i'd reccomend a 'turn on/off' feature of the city names (the circle/star thing) so be able to see beneath them as there are such tiny countries they dont appear coz of their cities "circle/star" thing

i'm off to resume testing

Damn, I wish more people were playing this... I've just been playing by myself trying to learn everything. Still don't know how to use the transporter though...

I'm also interested in the mechanics behind the battles as well...

I absolutely sure much more people will play this once it will be out

Good game, I like it , awesome, its time taking game, you can play it hours n hours
War and strategical games rules

Thanks guys, we've been working long and hard on it, and it's amazing to see positive response! Though constructive criticism is welcome too, we need to know what can be improved

Written by Zombie on 07.10.2010 at 11:46

So, more feedback
i hope u don't think i'm criticizing the game or something, i fucking LOVE it that is why i'm mentioning everything notice to make it perfect

Whoa, thanks for taking your time to write all this! Much appreciated.

Quote:

so, this is more of a wondering than a complaint... what are the criteria that makes you win or lose a battle, a roll of a dice ? or calculated stats and attributes of each military unit? .. coz i kinda feel its more risk-style lucky than civilization-style logical..

last night i would use like 4 bombers to attack a city defended by 2 infantry and i'd still lose the battle... so, if its a pure luck dice thing.. why would i waste my money buying expensive bombers (200) while i could just buy infantry (40 i guess) ?

or maybe i'm mistaken and my opponent somehow upgrded his infantry that's why they're so powerful and became able to shoot down my bombers ?

If you hover your mouse on a unit icon in the city, you'll see some basic details. Attack of 6, for example, means that the possible dice roll will be 1-6 when attacking someone. Defence works the same, but you have to be defending. If both units attack each other, they take turns attacking and defending.

There are also certain bonuses to these numbers - for Infantry, it's defending in a city or defence line. Also, there are bonuses for attacking certain units or defending against certain units. Complete details on these numbers will be posted in the FAQ later.

Bombers are pretty weak, actually. They are only good for their range and ability to move on both land and sea. Their attack is 4, against Infantry's defence of 7 (in a capital) - that's why you can easily lose.

Quote:

a last note ... how about making minimal animation... during the battle phase (or after it ends) .. i mean.. not neccissarily making an animated combat (red alert style) .. but more of a civilization style .. the city shakes for example after being bombarded .. or you could make like a fireworks effect above the city after victory.. or anything of that kind.. it'll make the game more 'dynamic' than static.. and would be visually appealing

Yes, we're planning that. At the moment though, polishing the gameplay is much more important for us.

Quote:

when i chose the target (victory condition) to be: world domination.. but my map is set to "africa" or "europe"...etc i'm unable to win then... i tried a little experiment, i played as middle east.. and got myself alot of money.. bought all countries except one.. and when the game started i invaded that country.. so, i'm this way dominating all territory possible.. yet i didnt 'win' or anything and i kept playing against myself.
so, you might wanna adjust that victory condition thing to take into consideration the map choice

This victory condition means you need to destroy all other players. If you play alone, you'll never be able to win. Generally, the game is not intended for solo play (yet!)

Quote:

also, there's the 'singapore' (which i dont know if its a city or a country) but its almost invisible, you cant notice it unless u zoom to the max. same with 'fiji' island near australia .. i'd reccomend a 'turn on/off' feature of the city names (the circle/star thing) so be able to see beneath them as there are such tiny countries they dont appear coz of their cities "circle/star" thing

Can't do that, because it will clog down the performance A LOT. There are almost 500 cities, and showing all of their names would slow the game performance significantly.


Cheers! See you in game tonight, hopefully

Mmm... ok, about the 'tiny countries' thing.. i've got an idea... you could add a 'visibility option' which is to flash for a second all countries you are yet to occupy.. or to make all countries you own much darker .. something like that would make those tiny countries more visually apparent..

if that would make the game slower then an alternate (non-visually appealing solution) would be including a drop down menu (same like the 'cities' one) but with cities you are yet to occupy ... so that a person can access the remaining cities he is yet to dominate through this menu)

Afterwind is finally launching officially today. We've made a lot of improvements since the test run and now doing massive promotion (since playing alone is not fun ). Here's also the new trailer/tutorial video:

The game's been polished pretty nicely