Parallel Turn Strategy???
July 7, 2010 12:51 PM Subscribe
Does anybody know of a computer game that is what I would call "Parallel Strategy"? That is, it's not realtime in the sense that there are discrete turns, but it's not turn based, because plays are not sequential, but played in parallel (that is, all players make their moves in the alloted time for the turn/round). When the time is over for that round, conflict resolution rules happen...
Any play-by-email/FTP game of days gone by was necessarily like this -- one example would be the inimitable Stars!.
posted by j.edwards at 1:13 PM on July 7, 2010
posted by j.edwards at 1:13 PM on July 7, 2010
Civilization IV
Maybe the whole series actually. I only have experience with the one game.
posted by 256 at 1:19 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Maybe the whole series actually. I only have experience with the one game.
posted by 256 at 1:19 PM on July 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you play Risk II on the computer, there is a "Same Time" variant that works like this. You can only play against the computer, but it's still a lot of fun.
posted by chrisamiller at 1:25 PM on July 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by chrisamiller at 1:25 PM on July 7, 2010 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I don't know the game you're thinking of, but the common name for this is simultaneous action selection, which is very common in board games, so any number of computer adaptations of board games might fit, as well as games original to the digital medium.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:27 PM on July 7, 2010
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:27 PM on July 7, 2010
My new favorite game, Frozen Synapse, is just like this.
Here's a youtube clip
posted by teabag at 1:36 PM on July 7, 2010
Here's a youtube clip
posted by teabag at 1:36 PM on July 7, 2010
Back in the 1990's, I worked (Q/A) on a game by Maxis called RoboSport that used that system. It was arena-based robot combat with up to 4 AI/Human players and could be played over a LAN.
Players would pre-program move/shoot sequences for their robots, then the computer would munge them all together and create a "turn" movie.
The game really was a lot of fun and I managed to find it a few months ago on some abandonware site, it was written for Windows 95, but works fine under XP. There's also Amiga and Mac versions.
posted by StickyC at 1:40 PM on July 7, 2010
Players would pre-program move/shoot sequences for their robots, then the computer would munge them all together and create a "turn" movie.
The game really was a lot of fun and I managed to find it a few months ago on some abandonware site, it was written for Windows 95, but works fine under XP. There's also Amiga and Mac versions.
posted by StickyC at 1:40 PM on July 7, 2010
i was coming in to say Risk 2 as well. Sametime mode is exactly what you've described. it's also beautiful and very well-executed. the game also includes multiple rules variations (extra territories, card functionality, etc) for further customization. i've actively played it for years and years now, and it continues to be fun.
posted by radiosilents at 1:51 PM on July 7, 2010
posted by radiosilents at 1:51 PM on July 7, 2010
Toribash.
I can't find any good videos of it, but on-line multiplayer matches involve giving both players some time to set what they want their fighter to do, and then that gets applied. Lather, rinse, repeat.
posted by ymendel at 2:26 PM on July 7, 2010
I can't find any good videos of it, but on-line multiplayer matches involve giving both players some time to set what they want their fighter to do, and then that gets applied. Lather, rinse, repeat.
posted by ymendel at 2:26 PM on July 7, 2010
Civilization IV
Maybe the whole series actually. I only have experience with the one game.
Eh? Civilization IV is pure turn-based. Turns are fully sequential.
OP: The gaming term you're looking for is WeGo as opposed to IgoUgo or Real-Time. Comrade_robot's example of the Combat Mission series is exactly what you're asking for. Both sides plot out their moves at the same time and hit Execute, and the forces try to execute those orders at the same time.
posted by Justinian at 2:56 PM on July 7, 2010
Maybe the whole series actually. I only have experience with the one game.
Eh? Civilization IV is pure turn-based. Turns are fully sequential.
OP: The gaming term you're looking for is WeGo as opposed to IgoUgo or Real-Time. Comrade_robot's example of the Combat Mission series is exactly what you're asking for. Both sides plot out their moves at the same time and hit Execute, and the forces try to execute those orders at the same time.
posted by Justinian at 2:56 PM on July 7, 2010
Solium Infernum has simultaneous turns, and a lot of the gameplay is built around players guessing what the other players will do and preparing for it (to often very entertaining results, as you can see from the playthroughs in that link).
Eh? Civilization IV is pure turn-based. Turns are fully sequential.
I've never played Civ 4 but I'm pretty sure it has simultaneous turns as an option for multiplayer. Here's a google search, anyway.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:24 PM on July 7, 2010
Eh? Civilization IV is pure turn-based. Turns are fully sequential.
I've never played Civ 4 but I'm pretty sure it has simultaneous turns as an option for multiplayer. Here's a google search, anyway.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:24 PM on July 7, 2010
Ah. Yeah, there are some games which include a similar setup as a kludge for multiplayer. Civ 4 is perhaps the epitome of the single-player game, though, so I'm not sure counting it is kosher. The vast, vast, vast majority of people who have played Civ 4 only played in single-player. Hell, I've probably got a couple thousand hours of Civ 4 playtime in and I've never played it multiplayer.
posted by Justinian at 3:33 PM on July 7, 2010
posted by Justinian at 3:33 PM on July 7, 2010
It's a game within a game, but the Battle Navigation puzzle in Puzzle Pirates works that way. It's cribbed heavily from RoboRally.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:58 PM on July 7, 2010
posted by jacquilynne at 3:58 PM on July 7, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers :) I wasn't necessarily thinking of any particular game, just curious if it existed (and preferentially as a computer game, not a board game adaptation). Didn't know Civ IV had such a mode.
posted by symbioid at 4:13 PM on July 7, 2010
posted by symbioid at 4:13 PM on July 7, 2010
Seconding Toribash, it's like martial arts on a micro level. To expand on what ymendel said, it's a third-person, one on one, fighting game, but instead of pushing "A" to punch, you command individual muscles to contract, extend, relax, or hold the current position. There is a turn of about 15 seconds where you issue commands to control your character and then your commands are issued and the fight advances 5 seconds or so. It's hilarious fun. In order to throw a punch you must twist the torso, contract the elbow, rotate the shoulder, etc. And then on the next turn you would rotate the shoulder in the opposite direction, twist the torso, and extend the elbow, etc. Invariably you contract or extend the wrong thing, or forget to worry about your footing and fall over or your arm falls off because you've done something physically impossible.
posted by clockwork at 5:59 PM on July 8, 2010
posted by clockwork at 5:59 PM on July 8, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by vacapinta at 12:54 PM on July 7, 2010