Next steps
Subterfuge is, of course, out! It has been getting positive feedback, although the general consensus is that it’s a big short and some unit upgrades would extend the gameplay. I agree with both points, and will integrate these (and other!) ideas in the sequel. It’s gotten around half a million plays so far — which, funnily enough, is about equal to the number of copies my last AAA boxed title sold. The difference is that the flash game didn’t cost $25 million to make.
Next up is a concept I’ve always wanted to do - make my own CCG. I played quite a lot of Magic: The Gathering during my college years, and was constantly amazed at its depth of gameplay. I’m going to revisit some of its core concepts (such as “land”, which adds too much of a random luck element), and take it in a more sci-fi/mystical direction. It won’t technically be CCG, since it’s not “collectible”, but who cares. At the moment I’m trying to generalize card and effect structures so that the card database can be completely expressed in XML. Hopefully I should be able to get to a beta state sometime around the end of the month.