•   Improved AI with 3 different personality types (Normal, Hostile, Cunning)

•   Random AI setting, so you don’t know which you’re playing against until after the game is over

•   A few minor optimizations within the code

•   Small visual enhancements

We’re really happy with this latest update.  Since we don’t have multiplayer implemented yet, we’re trying to make the AI a little more fun to play with.  I have a lot more fun playing as teams now that the AI is a little smarter (although not perfect.)  We hope you like what we’ve done, please send us your thoughts on the forums.

About the AI.  We’ve had some really great ideas come from the forums and we’ve decided to implement a new AI, well, actually a few new AIs.  You get to choose between NORMAL, HOSTILE or CUNNING.

Normal—updated AI we’ve been using, which is a balanced AI…it now plays better as a team member.

Hostile—Attack, attack, attack…it doesn’t really want power squares, only to kill everyone on your team.

Cunning—This AI is very strategic and likes to win by power squares and strategy.

Each new AI has Novice, Skilled, Expert and Insane settings which are now labeled L1, L2, L3, and L4 respectively (we had to do that for space limitations on our screens.)  These new features, along with bug fixes will be available as an update to version 1.1.2 soon.

We’re getting ready for E3 now…we’ll be going and showing our latest version of the game to press and portals…so hopefully we’ll have many more sites that will distribute our little game.  Most of our sales and business has been from word of mouth—our happy customers keep talking about the game and sharing with friends…so keep it up community!  We appreciate all the support we’ve been given.

REACT GAMES RELEASES ARCHON:CLASSIC FOR THE PC

Salt Lake City, UT: April 9^th, 2010

Archon:Classic, which is a faithful remake of the 1983 classic game, “Archon” has finally made its way to the PC again thanks to React! Games. This remake first appeared on the iPhone in June 2010 to great success, climbing to number 3 in Strategy Games on the App Store within 10 days of release.

“We’ve learned a lot from the success of the iPhone version, which has helped us optimize the PC design to be even better.” says Chad Lee, owner of React! Games.

Archon combines the strategy of chess with the action of a shooter. Players take turns moving pieces on a checkered board then when pieces are challenged, they are teleported to a combat arena where they must fight in real-time battle. The winner of that battle claims the square.

“The allure of Archon is that even a lowly Pawn, in the right hands, can take out a Queen. It perfectly combines Strategy and heart-pumping action. It is the original Battle Chess, only you control the pieces doing the fighting.” says Lee.

Archon:Classic for the PC supports 4 players, Team or Free-For-All modes, Various different boards, Pieces that level-up, Power-Ups, Secondary Abilities and is optimized to even play on older machines and netbooks. One of the major additions is what is called “Conquest” mode, which is a one player campaign that features over 60 quests and many puzzle elements.

“Our Pre-Sale community has been really enthusiastic about the addition of Conquest. Some players reported spending over 16 hours before finishing all the quests, then found themselves going back again to beat old hi-scores. It adds a great value to the franchise.” reports Brad Moss, Lead Designer, when asked about the reception of this new addition.

Archon:Classic is available now for $14.99 on the company’s website and various portals around the world such as Impulse, Gamer’s Gate, Xgames and others.

React Games is a privately owned company.

For more information, visit React! Games at www.reactgames.com and the official Archon:Classic website at www.archonclassic.com

This version features 4 player, Teams, Free-for-all, 4 AI settings, 3 different modes, Conquest (full version) and many more things…too long to list.  It feels like a big weight has been taken off our shoulders with the release of the game…we’ve spent every last effort and penny to make this game the best it could be.  We’re really proud of it!

We made the game conform and play just like the 1983 classic, thus the name, “Classic.”  You have 8 directions to fire, we used sprites and all the rules from that era.  With that said, we also added new things to the game, which would appeal to the modern gamer and bring the game up to speed.  The things we’ve added were meant to add depth to the already fantastic game, not change it or take away from the core of what makes the game fun.

I hope you enjoy the game as much as we do.  We’ll still support it with new updates and enhancements as they come along…it’s far from over, as we love this title and would like to see many more versions in this franchise.

The game is available for purchase on our site, also GamersGate, Impulse, Xgames and soon to be on Greenhouse and hopefully D2D and Steam (we’re still working on them.)

We ran into an acquaintance…can’t really call him a friend, because I barely know him, but he’s a friend of the Archon community.  We gave him a t-shirt a while ago and he promised to get a picture with it on!  Those who know who he is (far right) please comment and enlighten those who don’t know.  :)

We ended the day with a great feeling.  There are many opportunities on the horizon not only for us at React! Games, but for our great game of Archon.  We’ll keep you posted on things as they unfold.

So far, we’ve had a great response to our game from the people who have bought and played it.  We have also showed it to many industry professionals and the response was equally positive.  Who knows what GDC will bring?!  We’ll see.

If anyone is in San Fran and would like to play against us, just let us know and we’ll see if we can arrange something.  Oh yeah, we’re having lunch with Paul Reiche III on Friday….he’s invited us to his studio for lunch and a quick tour…and hopefully a quick game of Archon.  :)

Secondary Abilities…which means each piece has another fire/ability unique to it. For example, one of the pieces that has previously been pretty weak is now VERY vital on the strategy board. The BANSHEE’s secondary ability is to suck 1 health point per turn from every opponent directly around her on the Strategy Board. Conversely, the VALKYRIE’s ability is to HEAL everyone around her on the Strategy Board…so she’s like a moving Power Square and very important now in the overall strategy of the game. These are the only two that have this ability on the Strategy board…everyone else has something that affects their fighting in the Combat Arena.

For example, the Wizard clones himself (there is a possibility of an 8 vs. 8 Combat, but it gets REALLY crazy!) The Sorceress calls down lightning bolts that fry everyone in it’s path. The Basilisk calls forth little snakes to aid it and the Knight has a reflective shield that works on all projectiles, sending them back to their originator. All abilities are very unique to the piece and pretty balanced. We are really excited to hear what everyone thinks about this new mode, which can be turned on and off. Also, there is a switch to turn on and off FRIENDLY FIRE.

Play it. It’s well worth the $15 bucks. We’ve been playing for over 6 months (at least 1 game a day) and still don’t get sick of it.

We are now diving headfirst into the multiplayer portion of the game, we’ve been doing portions and planning for it…so now it is time to really hit it. I’m hoping it goes as smoothly as everything else in the game.

We are at build 3617.1860…it would be a great Christmas gift for anyone! (shameless plug) I’ll try and keep the DEVblog updated every week, I know I say that every time, but this time I mean it.

BigDownload

I should have everything done tonight…For those who’ve bought the game already, a few more hours of patience and you’ll be playing the greatest game ever created! So buy some controllers, if you haven’t got any, and hold on to your seats!

New Golem character

We’re still on target for getting a build out and into the hands of the faithful fans next week.  I can’t wait to get feedback on everything.  We had our little tournament the other week and learned a lot about how people are playing the game and navigating the menus.  We’ve used this data to sharpen the Strategy elements and include other things to make the game easier to get into (for the new player) yet satisfy the Archon buff.  We also have something really cool planned for next week (something besides the Beta.)

Congrats to Jake Dinkins and Justin Barlow for beating out all the other teams to become our first EVER Archon champions.  They got T-shirts for their win.  They played through several different boards in our TEAM mode 2 vs. 2.  They caught on early to the strategies of doubling up characters and attacking on opposite colored square.  It wasn’t an easy victory, but it sure was fun to watch.

We learned many things through this event, it was like a test market/focus group event for us.  We payed close attention to how they played, what was unclear, where they tripped up and what we could to better.  Thankfully, most of the issues were in the front end design…navigation is a bit unclear in some places and it was good to see that when people got into the game, it was virtually bug free (with very few exceptions.)

Thanks again to NinjaBee and Greg Squire to letting us hold our little tournament.  It allowed us to see our game in the real-world and see people’s reactions.  We had a good mix of new and old school gamers.  About half heard of Archon and remember playing it on the C64 or Atari at one point.  We’ll take our observations and start changing things around to make it better.

We’ve updated our CONTROLS on the Combat board, so it plays very smoothly!  All the complaints concerning the controls have been addressed and now we have one of the best virtual dpads on the iPhone market.

Archon:Conquest has a leaderboard system powered by “Plus+.”  NGMOCO came out with their Plus+ technology to provide a platform that would be similar to an XBLA experience on the iPhone and they did a great job.  It adds a whole new depth to our games, as you can see where you actually rank worldwide.

Conquest fits perfectly on the iPhone and will keep you busy for hours.  Once you complete a quest, you unlock INSANE difficulty!  There are many Awards to get for you people who like that, and the leaderboard system is really nice.  Our beta testers (these are good players) have reported it takes them about 4 hours to complete each Campaign, when they really hunker down and try to get the best scores they can (you’re rewarded medals based on your performance — they’ve gotten all golds.)  So, you could spend over 12 hours getting through these quests…or you can go through them as fast as you can.

I can’t say enough of Conquest…except go buy it, you won’t be disappointed!

Well, those days are over.  We’ve spend the last several months working and reworking the pieces per team and have reached a perfect balance.  The Phoenix will now strike fear in the hearts of opposing forces and takes it rightful place beside the Wizard, opposite the Dragon.  She (I think the Phoenix has to be a “her”) is an awesome creature to behold, especially when she reaches a “level 3″ on boards that allow leveling.

We’ve been play testing both the iPhone and PC for a while now and have taken all the comments from the forums, emails and App store into consideration and have made a perfect mix.  This, I believe, is the ultimate Archon experience…which has been long awaited by fans the world over.  I’m not just saying this because I’m the owner of the studio making the game…but because I am one of the biggest fans of this game, and have been since the day I loaded it up on my Atari 800 (it was from a 5 1/4 floppy.)

The work is hard, but fun and well worth it.  Our 4 player games last about an hour because we have to really think about strategy now (I’m playing against one of the best Archon players in the world.)  We all get beat by Brad (our lead designer), but most of the time, we are ganging up on him during combat.  Tomorrow Pre-sales will go live and we have a special treat for those who buy early.  I’ll have that announcement later today.

We have the players name along with a nifty (huge) recharge indicator.  We’ve need to really make this big, because you need a quick read when you’re battling 3 other people.  It gets really hectic during combat…especially when you accidently kill your teammate and have to go it alone!  We’ve also put in a faint “recharge” timer so you know how long before you’ll be able to fire (it fills up with a subtle grey, then pops to Green.)

I’ll have more to show as I get it finished.

Image being the Djinni, and you’re entering battle with a level 3 Dragon (he has triple shot), a Troll and a Wizard.  I found myself trying to hide in a corner and letting them duke it out, until I hear “HE’S HIDING!  GET HIM!”  Then all three of them turn on me.  For those who’ve played the board game “RISK”, there can be a lot of similarities as far as truces and alliances being formed during gameplay.

I also found myself in a battle with 2 knights…I was a Dragon and thought, “Hah, 2 Knights on a grey square…easy!”  That was before they expertly herded me into a corner and hacked me to death….Oohhh the fun of 4 player games.  We have “Teams” or “Free for All”, along with AI…so if there are only 3 people playing, 2 can be on a team and the leftover player simply grabs an AI for his teammate (and selecting INSANE for his setting.)

There are many other surprises in store for the PC, such as various new boards, new abilities, etc.  I don’t have any screenshots yet, mainly because the TEMP art is so ugly…but that will change soon.

We’ve decided to start pre-sales from our site OCT 15th, so tell everyone you know to buy the game so you can play against each other.

Archon, which was first released in 1983 by Free Fall Associates, now makes its way to the PC, after more than 25 years.  The remake from React Games first made its appearance on the iPhone in June of this year to critical acclaim.

“It reached the top 20 best selling games worldwide within 2 weeks of its release on the App store and still maintains a 4.5 out of 5 star rating” says Chad Lee, owner of React Games.

For the PC version, React unveils new multiplayer game modes featuring up to 4 players in “teams” and “versus” battles.  Also choose between classic 8-bit or new artwork, online leader boards, achievements, HD resolution and, of course Multiplayer on a local machine or across the internet.  Additional enhancements include a variety of board layouts, character leveling up, power-ups and enhanced AI.  Archon for the PC will be released during the holiday season 2009 and pre-sales will start on October 15, 2009 through their website at www.archonclassic.com

“In bringing Archon to the PC we’ve really focused on maintaining the classic feel of the original game.  That said, there were aspects of the title that needed updating for the modern audience.  For example, the addition of 4 players was never in the original, but it adds so much fun it feels like it always belonged there.” says Brad Moss, Design Lead at React Games.

Also announced is Archon:Conquest, a single player game based on the Archon franchise created for the iPhone.

“We knew the iPhone version of Archon needed a single player experience, so we included a ‘Conquest Mode’ at no extra cost in the 1.9 Archon update (coming soon.)  In order to freely expand the single player idea without affecting the Classic version of Archon, we decided to create a separate App called Archon:Conquest.  This new App will include several additional campaigns and quests.” says Lee of the new App.

Archon:Conquest was submitted to the App store earlier this month and will be available soon.  Conquest features a total of 4 campaigns, 60 quests, various board layouts, unique character abilities and enemies to conquer.  Awards and the new Leader Board system is powered by Plus+.

“We are excited to be part of the Plus+ family.  They have many quality games in their library and their technology is sound…a perfect fit for what we are doing.” says Lee of ngmoco’s new Plus+ technology for the iPhone.

React! Games is a privately owned company.

For more information, visit React Games at www.reactgames.com and the Official Archon website at www.archonclassic.com