The article explores the distinction between Real-Time Tactics (RTT) and Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games, highlighting that RTT focuses primarily on troop positioning and immediate engagements, while RTS emphasizes economic growth and broader strategic planning. It examines RTT games like Wargame and World in Conflict to illustrate these differences and discusses potential lessons RTS might learn…
Greetings commanders, I hope 2026 finds you well! Between the scorching heat of the summer of the southern hemisphere and sudden deluges in my hometown, I’m making the most of my holidays playing ranked matches in Company of Heroes 3. Last year I talked about how the design of the Company of Heroes 3 Deutsches […]
RNG discussions suck. Let's get away from the framing of "RNG vs Skill" and explore the design space.
Happy 2025 everyone! Let’s kick it off with an article! I decided to go back to Company of Heroes 3 after the last major update in last November and I was quite pleased by the leaps in quality of the presentation as well as the new gameplay and quality of life changes, all of which […]
War Wind is a somewhat lesser-known RTS game which released in 1996. Developed by DreamForge Entertainment and pubished by SSI, this game played a huge role in my formative years, and I was delighted when it was brought back onto GOG in 2016 and Steam in 2021 (I believe it is permanently free on both […]
Balint Marczin (also known as Nakamura RTS) and I have a podcast called RTS Masterminds as a passion project between the 2 of us. RTS Masterminds as a name is somewhat tongue in cheek, but we are both working game designers in senior positions (I’m the lead designer on Tempest Rising, and Balint is lead […]
Hello there, Commanders, and welcome back to Wayward Strategy. A topic I’ve had come up a lot lately both professionally and in my personal gaming time is the concept of “status effects” in real time strategy games. Buffs and debuffs, if you will. Perhaps there’s more to it than that, though: status effects are a […]
If you’ve ever played Age of Empires 2, you know how deeply satisfying it is to use the Trebuchet… the firing sound, the arcing rock/fireball about to lay waste to your opponent’s castle. That moment of dread your opponent must feel as they see your siege weapons unpacking just outside of where their castle can […]
Eaerlier this year, NakamuraRTS (Balint Marczin) and myself started a podcast called RTS Masterminds, which I announced in this blog: Introducing the RTS Masterminds Podcast. Our goal, and what we think is the unique niche we occupy, is offering the perspective of professional game designers working on strategy games (and related genres), on the state of […]
The Realms of Ruin beta test delivers a pretty and clever, but often stodgy, tactical combat experience that is inherently enjoyable but has some work ahead to deliver a best-in-class RTS experience.
Introducing the RTS Masterminds Podcast: a monthly show where 2 professional RTS game designers who also happen to be avid RTS players and content creators talk about topics related to the gaming industry and real time strategy gaming. Welcome to the battlefield.
Earlier this year, I did an interview with a Russian-speaking game magazine about Tempest Rising and the RTS landscape in 2023. I wanted to re-share that interview here for posterity.
An exploration of how RTS are won, why the default win condition is so hard to top, and how some games try to solve the problem of what it means to win and lose.
Welcome guest writer Johaggis to the blog! Here’s hoping I can convince him to come back with more RTS design articles. Thanks for reading – Wayward It’s no secret that people love stealth mechanics. From dedicated stealth games like Dishonored and Desperados 3 to awkward, forced stealth mechanics in The Witcher 2, stealth is all […]
Note from Wayward: thanks so much to Felipe Arganaras for once again lending his analytical mind to the blog. Hopefully we can look forward to many more guest appearances! Last year I was invited to co-cast one of the days of the fourth Coach of Empires tournament. This was an Age of Empires IV 1v1 […]