24 January 2011

Sneak Preview: Game Center Achievements

iOS 4.1 added Game Center, which supports the concept of achievements. These are game-specific accomplishments or events. Right now I’ve got about 40 different ones planned, though that may change. They include obvious things such as winning the game, winning as Queen of Dragon Pass, or winning as a Peace Clan. Spectacular ways to lose are also achievements, such as the Beastfolk Apocalypse.

Note that Game Center supports hiding of achievements — until the Beastfolk trash your clan, this doesn’t appear in the list. This helps prevent spoiling certain story lines.

I’ve entered 11 via Apple’s web site, though not all are hooked up yet. Here’s what it currently looks like in the Game Center app.

Let us know if there’s something you think should be an achievement.

13 comments:

  1. How about "Master Explorer" for revealing the entire map? seems like a classic OCD achievement :)

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    1. i dont think its possible, as i dont know any way to explore the skyfall lake.

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    2. It should be possible.

      The actual achievement does not require each and every pixel to be revealed (implementation details of exploration would make such an achievement almost impossible to earn, which is not the point)

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  2. That was on our list, though I like your name better…

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  3. Seems to me that taking the ducks as thralls, and then incorporating thralls as full citizens of you clan ought to have some weird duck-o-phile achievement :P

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  4. I think breadth-based achievements are interesting- maybe win a game with all 3 primary gods, or winning once with each type of clan (war/peace/balanced) throughout the entire game..

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  5. "Collect The Set" - for accumulating treasures.
    "You've Got To Be Kidding" - always have a Trickster on the Ring
    "Tastes Like Chicken" - 1000 dead while Earthblood is active
    "Nobody Expects..." - raid in every season
    "Early Retirement" - after Craigspider has already eaten one emissary, send a Ring member to be eaten
    "Turtle" - build all defenses
    "Zerg" - attack for 5 consecutive seasons
    An Apocalypse for all of the insta-kills.

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  6. Screwing up a heroquest (such that you meet the guy at his forge, I forget the name) and still getting out alive
    Striking a blow against the Elves (when you have an event with one of those advisors who are really anti-Elf)
    Making another clan pack up and move
    Raising the Earthshakers as war mounts or for the fields

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  7. Victorious Vegetarian - win without ever slaughtering cows or sheep for food (is slaughtering still possible?)

    Hardcore Carnivore - Never plant crops, win and subsist solely on slaughtered livestock (was this ever possible?!)

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  8. Thanks for all the suggestions.

    Some of these are things I can do. Some are trickier (like multi-game achievements), though I might be able to do some. And I doubt it's possible to survive with no crops.

    As for "Collect the Set," I wonder if just collecting 10 or so would work?

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  9. "And I doubt it's possible to survive with no crops."

    You've just given me a new reason to re-install the game. wonder if I can even get past the first 2 years.

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  10. *whew* up to 45 achievements! (Not all are visible at the start.)

    A note on philosophy: achievements shouldn't really be for things that don't make sense (like playing with no crops, or never making an alliance).

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  11. Thank you for that note on your achievement philosophy.

    I guess some game designers are afraid that when we lose a game, we lose interest, so they throw us these "attaboy" achievements for peculiar failures. There are times when I find this insulting (Civ V, I'm lookin' at you).

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