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Hoard |OT| A Game about Dragons, Greed and... Economics?

V

V_Ben

Banned
header.jpg


Hoard: The Official Thread
Platform: PSN (PC/Mac/PSP later)
Price: $14.99
Release Date: Out Now (US) Soon (EU)
The Trailer


What Is Hoard?

The Developers describe it like this;
YOU are the Dragon:
- Burn Villages!
- Kidnap princesses!
- Collect treasure!
- Roast pesky knights!
- Compete with other Dragons in epic multiplayer battles!

In classic medieval fables, knights would travel the kingdom in search of dragons to slay and treasure to take. What a mean thing to do!

HOARD is a game that puts you in control of the real hero of the tales...the DRAGON!

Around you, a new kingdom of humans is threatening to put you out of your hoard and take what you have. The only way to maintain your quality of life is to make sure that kingdom doesn't succeed!

If you can steal enough gold from the kingdom, the people will be bound to pack up shop and find some easier place to settle. Attack their wagons! Raid their food carts! Burn down houses! Make them think twice about ever waking you from your peaceful, centuries-long slumber!

Of course, burning everything in sight doesn't get you as much gold as you'd like. Really, you need to let those towns and crops grow just enough to crank out out some real treasure. Then take it!

And if you get lonely, capture a fair maiden and bring her back to your hoard for conversation. Kings will pay good gold to get them back. Just watch out for those pesky knights!
Click to expand...

I think of it in a slightly different way. Think of it as a strategy game, where you manage the gold of nearby kingdoms, before destroying them, and taking all the gold for yourself (just be careful that an enemy dragon doesn't get to it first!) However, the strategy comes in when you destroy said kingdoms. Do you attack them when they are weak, and take all the gold for yourself? Or do you let them grow, and attempt to attack them when they have more gold, but more defenses to get through too? Such is Hoard.

Ok, anything else?

The game also has a multiplayer component, where 1-4 players can compete in one of 3 modes, Treasure Hoard, Princess Rush, and Survival, over a variety of maps. There is also a campaign, so you can sharpen your skills before heading online (or offline, the game has both!)

It is worth mentioning that the game is a part of Sony's pub fund, so take that as you will.

So, where are the reviews?

Right here!

http://www.psnstores.com/2010/11/review-%E2%80%93-hoard/ (5/5)

Tom Chick's Review

Platform Nation: http://www.platformnation.com/2010/11/08/hoard-review-ps3/ (Buy)

PSXExtreme: http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-reviews/421.html (8.2 / 10)

IGN: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/113/1133041p1.html (8.0 / 10)

M2G: http://www.made2game.com/2010/11/08/m2g-review-hoard/ (7 / 10)

Screens and other such media;

77_685_385_90.jpg


42_685_385_90.jpg


22_685_385_90.jpg

(Dragon Upgrade Mechanic)

122_685_385_90.jpg


The Trailer
 
R

Ranger X

Member
The building / economics side of this game is interesting but I don't care about the multiplayer aspect so I need a demo in order to see if the single player really pleases me.

:(
 
V

V_Ben

Banned
Ranger X said:
The building / economics side of this game is interesting but I don't care about the multiplayer aspect so I need a demo in order to see if the single player really pleases me.

:(
Click to expand...

Yeah, the lack of a demo is a bit silly. There is one coming though, so hopefully you can find solace in that :)
 
E

Edgeward

Member
Hope the demo is released soon as well, looks good and nice to see online multiplayer implemented but I need to know for sure.
 
S

Shurs

Member
I got a review code yesterday, though it'll be a few days until I can get some hands on time with it. I'll be sure to post some impressions here.

I know that Tom Chick reviewed the game and liked it, though I've forgotten who he reviewed it for. I'm on my phone or else I'd look it up.
 
V

V_Ben

Banned
Shurs said:
I got a review code yesterday, though it'll be a few days until I can get some hands on time with it. I'll be sure to post some impressions here.

I know that Tom Chick reviewed the game and liked it, though I've forgotten who he reviewed it for. I'm on my phone or else I'd look it up.
Click to expand...

Well, when you're playing it, and I'm online, shoot me a message so we can try the multiplayer out.. Didn't know that Tom Chick had reviewed it, i'll try and look for that too.
 
S

Shurs

Member
V_Ben said:
Well, when you're playing it, and I'm online, shoot me a message so we can try the multiplayer out.. Didn't know that Tom Chick had reviewed it, i'll try and look for that too.
Click to expand...
Will do.
 
M

Man

Member
Love the genuine tabletop setup.

When is this releasing in Europe? I will * with the force of a thousand suns.
 
R

rocksolidaudio

Member
Tom Chick's review is here.

easily one of my favorite multiplayer games in recent memory, which is why i pushed for it to be part of SCEA's Pub Fund program (also has co-op and any 4-player combo of local/online players). it's just a really brilliant set of mechanics made by guys who obviously love board games and tight design, and is pretty much instant fun within a minute of playing it.

Ken Levine also had a nice Tweet about it: "Me likey Hoard. It feels like an Apple II game, but in a really good way."
 
V

V_Ben

Banned
rocksolidaudio said:
Tom Chick's review is here.

easily one of my favorite multiplayer games in recent memory, which is why i pushed for it to be part of SCEA's Pub Fund program (also has co-op and any 4-player combo of local/online players). it's just a really brilliant set of mechanics made by guys who obviously love board games and tight design, and is pretty much instant fun within a minute of playing it.

Ken Levine also had a nice Tweet about it: "Me likey Hoard. It feels like an Apple II game, but in a really good way."
Click to expand...

I admit, I was waiting for you to turn up :p
 
M

Man

Member
GDJustin said:
Waiting on the reviews.
Click to expand...
rocksolidaudio said:
Tom Chick's review is here.

easily one of my favorite multiplayer games in recent memory, which is why i pushed for it to be part of SCEA's Pub Fund program (also has co-op and any 4-player combo of local/online players). it's just a really brilliant set of mechanics made by guys who obviously love board games and tight design, and is pretty much instant fun within a minute of playing it.

Ken Levine also had a nice Tweet about it: "Me likey Hoard. It feels like an Apple II game, but in a really good way."
Click to expand...
;)
 
C

Crazymoogle

Member
I played an early prototype of Hoard this year, and it was a lot fun then. It's a great sort of real-time action/management game. It definitely brings to mind various board games even though it's not one itself. You really gotta watch a video to see what it's about, though; screenshots do not do the concept justice.

Downloading the real deal tonight when I get home.
 
E

Enk

makes good threads.
Enjoying this a lot. Kinda wish it was a tad deeper but at the moment it hits that quick strategic/action game spot just nicely. Mulitplayer in this is really fun, though it's pretty hard to find matches right now. If anyone has this and is looking for some matches at some point send me an invite: PSN- Elecman
 
J

jonabbey

Member
I've been looking forward to this for a while, just picked it up.

It looks and feels great, but the on-screen font for the tutorials, etc., is way too small to read comfortably at 1080p. Calibrating the screen doesn't seem to have any effect on that. I'm thinking I'm going to have to set my PS3 up to only run in 720p mode when I play this game. ;-(
 
V

V_Ben

Banned
Bumpity Bump;

My review went live on sunday, so here I am on tuesday, posting it here! Feel free to tear me apart, or agree. Either, way, i'm open to any and all discussion.

http://www.psnstores.com/2010/11/review-%E2%80%93-hoard/


(Also, we discussed the game on this week's podcast. If you feel like hearing my impressions after a bit of time with the game, feel free to listen in.)
http://www.psnstores.com/2010/11/psnstores-podcast-%E2%80%93-110510/


Yeah, the text is somewhat of a pain, but it's not game breaking, so to speak. Just annoying.
 
H

hitlerat

Member
HOARD: Upcoming Patch Detailed, Free New Level

The patch will include:

Eye Strain Begone — We’ll be increasing tutorial and badge text size for less squintyness. 20/10 vision no longer required!

Lasting Friendship — The multiplayer lobby will now be persistent. After finishing a game, you’ll return to the game setup lobby so you can easily play again with the same people. If you want to back out and de-friend them, that’s now on your conscience!

Leaderboard Glitch No-More — Certain co-op games were not posting leaderboard scores correctly. This sometimes leads to improper scores being posted on the main HOARD Rank leaderboard. That will be fixed, and although the HOARD Rank leaderboard will be reset, you won’t lose any progress—the first time you play a new game of any type, your HOARD Rank will be reposted without delay!

Anti-Royal Bias — This badge wasn’t reliably triggering. We fixed it. Yay!

That One Exploit is Fixed — There was a certain little exploit involving a specific power-up that could be abused by some sneaky people, and it is now fixed! We’re not telling!

Which Map? — During game setup, some people were getting confused about whether their map selection was confirmed or not. We modified to make it more obvious.

A Little This, a Little That — Various tweaks and improvements throughout.

And because we love you, we’re throwing in a couple bonus goodies as well:

Deathspin — A new HOARD map will be included, absolutely free. Try your hand at surviving in a terrible spiral of DOOOOOM! Check out Deathspiral in the video above.

Purple Princesses — Princesses worth 3,000 gold or more will show up in a purple dress (instead of pink), so you can quickly assess which lady you’d like to pursue even in the heat of the battle.

Friendly Competition — Sort leaderboards by your friends list, so you can always make sure you’re a step better than the rest of your social circle.


http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/11/22/hoard-upcoming-patch-detailed-free-new-level/
 
D

dark_preacher

Member
Me and my wife have been playing this quite a bit since it came out.

I would definately recommend it to anyone that is even the slightest bit interested. It's one of the best games on the service.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Oh, good, there's an official thread for this gem.

So I'm just practicing on the first two levels so far. I've almost got a gold medal on the second level, (islands) but on the first level I'm really scratching my head at how to get over 200K. I feel like there must be some other aspects of resource management that I'm not getting.

I thought maybe I needed to beat a city into submission, and get some tribute cash, but I can't seem to get that to trigger. I've gone in and wiped out a city's archers and everything but the middle square (I presume this is what is meant by "city center") and then taken the city center down to nearly no health. But I've never seen the dragon's badge appear on the city, nor seen a tribute get delivered.

Anyone have some tips?

Finally, great game, definitely understand the Apple ][ comment by Levine. It might not have been playable on an old Apple ][ display, but I could easily see this being scaled down to Commodore 64 or perhaps Amiga hardware. (Note: I never saw an Apple ][ in color, so that's my reference frame. We always had green monochrome monitors.)
 
L

Lothars

Member
I just picked this up on the playstation sale and it's alot of fun, I didn't know what to expect but it's better than I thought.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
I should follow up my post above.

You can't get tribute when you're the lone dragon. You must be playing against an opponent (CPU or human).
 
E

Ettie

Member
Just played the demo and I must say I'm impressed. Wife enjoyed it immensely. Next sale I'll be picking it up for sure.
 
N

Nakiro

Member
Just finished all the maps, and got gold on them. I'm not even Rank 13 yet.. and the EXP seems to be going really slow from the wins.
Anyone know if you get more EXP if you play online?
 
H

Hawk SE

Member
I got a review copy of this on Steam and it is incredibly enjoyable, I have yet to try online - but the AI is solid for the singleplayer stuff. I recommend it so far.

I should be able to get a review out by the end of the weekend.
 
E

epmode

Member
Did you ever finish that review? This was just released on Steam and it's looking pretty nifty. No time for the demo until later tonight though!

edit: Whoops, won't release for 6 hours. Still enough time for that 25% off sale!
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Brak said:
Great concept but the controls are totally broken and terrible.
Click to expand...
How so? My main complaint is the small size of the text/icons on a big screen while sitting on the couch. Controls seemed fine to me.
 
R

Reluctant-Hero

Member
I bought a four pack for myself & friends during the Steam summer sale. The game is a lot of fun in co-op/multi and it plays great with a '360 pad.
 
J

jvm

Gamasutra.
Brak said:
Mouse lag makes the game basically unplayable for me.
Click to expand...
Oh. I'm talking about the PS3 version. Also the PSP version. Glad to hear they're getting play on other systems, but if the controls are bad that's not so awesome.
 
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