Starting this year, experienced RTS designer and competitive shoutcaster Balint “Nakamura RTS” Marczin and myself decided to join forces to create a new podcast discussing the RTS industry and RTS gaming in the modern era. We (somewhat tongue in cheek) are calling the show “RTS Masterminds.”
Balint and I have been observing the state of the RTS industry both from inside and outside, as it were, for more than a decade. That is, we have a perspective both as game designers working on games and as commentators and players of these same games: we’re both customer and creator, and feel like that gives us something of a unique perspective when it comes to discussing the industry as well as the practical aspects of putting together a real time strategy game.
The topic of the state of the RTS industry is something that Balint and myself are… somewhat passionate about. We both do professional game design – Balint has worked on games like Age of Mythology, Halo Wars 2, and Total War: Warhammer 2 and 3, as well as working on an ARPG for Grimlore Games, while I am the lead game designer on Tempest Rising and have done consulting since 2016, including on Aven Colony, Crossfire: Legion, NeuroSlicers, and Warpaws.
We are also both intensely interested in actually playing these games, and creating content around them as well: Balint is the creator of the Meta Plays esports organization which hosts tournaments for a variety of RTS titles and I have, well, this blog. We both also have YouTube channels (mine is more of a hobby, while Balint’s channels keep growing by leaps and bounds).
What does that mean? It means we are really invested in this genre, and we really want to see games made within it do themselves justice. Our entire first episode is dedicated to the topic of RTS games being scoped for success and finding ways to meet player expectations on a smaller budget rather than chasing down the dream of being the next StarCraft, Age of Empires 2, et cetera. There’s a wide array of definitions for “success” for games, and there are great examples of RTS and other similar (I tend to call these “RTesque”) games doing really well for themselves without trying to throw the kitchen sink of features into the mix.
Anyway, this is just the beginning for us. We really want to advocate for RTS being the best they can be, and doing our part to try to put forward better discourse about the genre and forward ideas and patterns that will help developers, players, designers, modders, and generally everyone interested in playing or making strategy games have the best time they can. I hope you join us!
You can find the playlist of our episodes (3 so far as of this writing) at the bottom of this article.
- Our first episode addresses the business side of creating RTS games, and what developers tend to do wrong and right when scoping their projects.
- Our second episode is about Company of Heroes 3 and its ups and downs as it navigates its launch, store, and progression forward as a game.
- Our third episode is part one of a 2-part series on Stormgate. How the reveal went and our thoughts about the future of this promising game.
In episodes 4 and 5, we are planning on talking about the recently announced Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin as well as a second episode about Stormgate.
You can find links to our show on YouTube and Spotify here:
Wayward Strategy 