Lots of interesting and encouraging comments on the post I wrote about the upcoming Dwarf King’s Hold 4. Thank you for those. Agree, disagree or otherwise, it’s always good to have the feedback.
As a folllow-on to that article, I’m part-way through writing a post about pure co-op gaming and why it is not my favourite style. It’s a topic worthy of separate discussion, I think. Despite my personal reservations, it will be included in DKH4 as one of the main styles of play. Sort of. It all depends on exactly what you mean by “pure co-op” I suppose, and I think that my reasons for not liking it stem from a difference in approach and definitions rather than anything else. As I said though – too long a debate to do in passing.
Unfortunately I’ve run out of week sooner than expected, so this co-op post won’t be finished till monday. Today is a mad rush and I’m at the UK Game Expo for the weekend. The rest of the family will just have to cope with our menagerie on their own: I’ve got gamers to herd 😉
If you’re at the show do pop along and say hi!
Quirkworthy 
Interesting stuff on the Co-op Jake. I’ve become quite a fan over the last few years, games like Pandemic, Shadows over Camelot, Flashpoint, Sentinels of the Multiverse that I’ve been playing are hugely popular, and expansions allow for an element of in group competition. There’s also the option to do something like what Flying Frog have done with Fortune and Glory and giving players options as to playing against the AI/Game or against each other…?
DKH4 has always been planned as a game where several players can be on the same side. As I said above, I think it’s a matter of definition as to what, exactly, this means in terms of co-op.
Yeah you’re dead right. Munchkin could be considered a co-op for example- but I hate that game!
When I used to be running the first DKH games before the multi-player bits people were so disappointed that it was only 2p! So I suppose you and Mantic will have to do a lot of looking at where co-op meets multiplayer meets other things! 😀 One element I’ve found from playing a LOT of Super Dungeon Explore is to make it as easy to play the dungeon boss as the heros. And as rewarding. It is a tough balance issue I guess. Few of our group were ever willing to consul in SDE because it is so damn hard, challenging, and ultimately stacked against them!
The “stacked against them” thing keeps coming up. I’m trying to avoid that. Of course, with a number of models to manage rather than just one or two heroes, it’s always going to be very different playing as the bad guy – but what self-respecting bad guy would go to battle without their minions?
😉
Is it true that Mantic is planning to start the Kickstarter already this year?
Yup. End of July/August was the last date I heard.
Thanks for the info again mate, much appreciated, I’m soaking all this stuff up like a sponge 🙂 I’m also looking forward to your article on Co-Op. I think you’re right when you talk about there being a difference between peoples definition of Co-Op. Certainly you can have 3 or 4 players working “Co-Op” against another player…or it could be all players working together against a Monster AI mechanic. I usually default to the latter definition, however I understand that the former is also a perfectly valid definition of Co-Op as well.
Speaking for myself, I would like to see a game where I could play in both of these modes. I feel the latter form of Co-Op I describe above is very popular, and becoming more so in recent times across a number of games, not just Dungeon Crawlers.
In any case, I’ll definitely be supporting this Kickstarter and will be pushing it on my local internet haunt, I love this kind of stuff and get very excited about it all 🙂
Thanks Danny. Hope to upload the article today or tomorrow. Currently clearing the mess from being away from a computer for 3 days.
Jake, I hope that co-op also means that the game will be solo – for those of us who can’t get to a club or find opponents as often as we’d like to play!
Err – replace(“solo”, “soloable”)
It’s on the (long) list of game modes I’d like to do.
95% of my gaming is either solo or with the missus, so coop is an awesome option to have! Conversely, I don’t end up playing a lot of back-stabby games as they’re not as enjoyable for the two of us 🙂
Back-stabbing can conflict with the whole marital bliss thing 😉
Enjoy the posts and the games you’ve been a part of especially deadzone. I’m over in the US in Florida and looking for such expos… Any pointers on some expos over this way? They sound like a blast and I would love to hit one that manic is at. I’m relatively new to war gaming but love it as well as my mates! Look forward to hearing more about your trip and the unboxings. 🙂
Oh also never played the coop style game but have wanted to. I know my friends and I are extremely excited about the deadzone zombie game play. I plan to back this kickstarter as well. I also backed Mars attacks and am super stoked to see that game play as well. Thanks again for making suh enjoyable games!