Monday, April 23, 2007
Indie RPG News
Some little tidbits from your friendly neighborhood garage game developers (note that's game developers figuratively running a studio out of their garage, not those working at / for GarageGames, not that there's anything wrong with that...)
* Planewalker Games has an article discussing the nuts and bolts of leveling up using their multiple-progression-path system described last week for The Broken Hourglass. In addition, Jason Compton wrote a Development Diary article for RPGWatch last week entitled, "The Dangers of What You Asked For." In it, he discusses the pitfalls of being an indie game producer.
* Soldak Entertainment has posted the first half of a new short story entitled, "Inheritance, Part I," taking place in the world of Depths of Peril. They've also added a section to the website describing the backgrounds of the "Historical Heroes" of the world.
* Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software has posted the long-awaited second part of his rant on why he now hates RPGs. It is entitled, coincidentally enough, "Why I Hate Fantasy RPGs - Part Two." Now, after reading the article, it really sounds to me that he's ranting against "filler" combat encounters. You will get those in any genre, not just RPGs. How many "filler" encounters have I waded through in First Person Shooters? Its just that they are so forgettable you don't think about them later when you are talking about the game, unless they were so common and repetitive they really ruined the game for you.
But talking specifically of RPGs, I've kinda weighed in on this subject before, and suggested one possible solution. And I'll probably make the exact same mistakes with the new game. What is interesting to me about this article is that it sounds like Jeff is making a commitment to stop the practice in his own games. He says, "speaking as a designer, this goes just as much for me, for all the times I've had failures of creativity in my designs. I've stopped putting up with it, and you should do the same."
* Crosscut Games has released a new version of the Runesword 2 Open-Source RPG and game engine. The game and engine are completely free, though I haven't looked at the licensing limitations for the RS2 engine yet. Crosscut is also developing a fast-playing RPG entitled, "Dungeon Delvers," which looks like it will be an interesting competitor for last year's Indie RPG of the Year, FastCrawl.
* Indie / Homebrew Games Coming to the PS3? Gamasutra is reporting on Phil Harrison's Q&A session on Slashdot, and notes his interest in allowing "homebrew" titles to be developed on Sony game consoles --- if they can still clamp down on piracy while doing this. Thus saith Harrison: “I fully support the notion of game development at home using powerful tools available to anyone. We were one of the first companies to recognize this in 1996 with Net Yaroze on PS one. It's a vital, crucial aspect of the future growth of our industry... If we can make certain aspects of PS3 open to the independent game development community, we will do our industry a service by providing opportunities for the next generation of creative and technical talent.” Of course, Microsoft has already gone there with XNA, so Sony may only be playing catch-up at this point. Now, this isn't news, just philosophical intention, but it is still interesting to hear. (And no, this isn't RPG-specific, but it was a fun bit of information).
(Vaguely) related randomness:
* Why Does Jeff Vogel Hate RPGs?
* Jeff Vogel Gives Innovation Another Chance, Plans Nethergate Remake
* Beyond the Gate: Jason Compton on the Making of "The Broken Hourglass"
* Depths of Peril Preview
.
Labels: Indie Evangelism, Indie RPG News, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:00 AM (Permalink)
Comments:
Links to this post:
<< Home
I like your summary posts, thanks for that.
If the Escapist doesn't feel my comments about that Phil Harrison Q&A are appropriate to their tone, then it'll appear (in a slightly more spicy fashion) on my blog tomorrow. Suffice it to say that the post title is Phil Harrison Talks Through His Hat
If the Escapist doesn't feel my comments about that Phil Harrison Q&A are appropriate to their tone, then it'll appear (in a slightly more spicy fashion) on my blog tomorrow. Suffice it to say that the post title is Phil Harrison Talks Through His Hat
I'll be interested in reading your ... uh, analysis of the situation, Corvis :)
Yeah, Sony just doesn't seem to be the one leading the pack anymore, does it?
Yeah, Sony just doesn't seem to be the one leading the pack anymore, does it?
About Vogels views :
The way I look at it, its all a matter of pacing. Pacing a game well, of any genre, is like pacing music well. Now, I'm not up on my music terminology, but almost all music has a crescendo, a point that it builds up to, then comes down from, then maybe goes up to again, etc. Same with movies and books. There are the calmer bits, there are more exciting bits, and then there is the build up between them.
The thing is, none of those parts really work without the others. You can't have a song that is all "peaks". Likewise, a song that doesn't build up to anything, that sits in the "valleys" is often boring. Its the whole "without evil, good is meaningless" concept, without the less exciting parts, you can't actually have "peaks". The one defines the other.
The problem comes in when RPG makers try to meet some type of predefined length for their game. They have a certain number of peaks and a certain number of valleys, but together they still don't have enough material to meet their target game length. So they add in more valleys. More lows. Because they are easier to create than the peaks. But it has the same effect as it would on a music track. It ruins the pacing, throws off the balance.
Jeff is a bit silly to use this argument in relation to RPGs, because any game can suffer from this problem. I suppose its just because the RPG genre has some of the worst culprits?
The way I look at it, its all a matter of pacing. Pacing a game well, of any genre, is like pacing music well. Now, I'm not up on my music terminology, but almost all music has a crescendo, a point that it builds up to, then comes down from, then maybe goes up to again, etc. Same with movies and books. There are the calmer bits, there are more exciting bits, and then there is the build up between them.
The thing is, none of those parts really work without the others. You can't have a song that is all "peaks". Likewise, a song that doesn't build up to anything, that sits in the "valleys" is often boring. Its the whole "without evil, good is meaningless" concept, without the less exciting parts, you can't actually have "peaks". The one defines the other.
The problem comes in when RPG makers try to meet some type of predefined length for their game. They have a certain number of peaks and a certain number of valleys, but together they still don't have enough material to meet their target game length. So they add in more valleys. More lows. Because they are easier to create than the peaks. But it has the same effect as it would on a music track. It ruins the pacing, throws off the balance.
Jeff is a bit silly to use this argument in relation to RPGs, because any game can suffer from this problem. I suppose its just because the RPG genre has some of the worst culprits?
I think you are right about pacing, though in my mind I combined his comments with his previous rant, where he specifically mentioned killing the "same wolf" hundreds of times. So I agree with him as far as talking about filler and repetetive content.
Naturally, you get some variation. I mean, when I fight the second wolf, I'm at (gasp!) 16 fewer hit points than when I killed the first one. Then after a few more wolves I have to go back to the save point, rest and heal, and then I come back to find... uhoh ... the wolves have all re-spawned. And now I'm facing the first wolf again, with exactly the same hitpoints and stats, and not many options to exploit to actually make the combat end up any differently.
In fact, in Final Fantasy XII (the game that was apparently the last straw for him), there's a very good chance I'll end the combat at exactly 16 hitpoints down moving to the second wolf again. Particularly in the early game, when you are soloing or running around with only one other character with few abilities.
On the other hand, I don't remember it being quite so grievious in other games. Battling a generic group of six orcs can be incredibly different if you are freshly rested and wandering to a new town, versus if you are about to face a boss and they are acting as a "speed bump," versus if you are nearly dead and depleted of most resources and spells.
So while I don't think of it as being quite the genre-damning problem that he sees it, I do agree with his point. But I also don't see it being unique to RPGs. I have played some first-person shooters that felt a lot like that as well.
Post a Comment
Naturally, you get some variation. I mean, when I fight the second wolf, I'm at (gasp!) 16 fewer hit points than when I killed the first one. Then after a few more wolves I have to go back to the save point, rest and heal, and then I come back to find... uhoh ... the wolves have all re-spawned. And now I'm facing the first wolf again, with exactly the same hitpoints and stats, and not many options to exploit to actually make the combat end up any differently.
In fact, in Final Fantasy XII (the game that was apparently the last straw for him), there's a very good chance I'll end the combat at exactly 16 hitpoints down moving to the second wolf again. Particularly in the early game, when you are soloing or running around with only one other character with few abilities.
On the other hand, I don't remember it being quite so grievious in other games. Battling a generic group of six orcs can be incredibly different if you are freshly rested and wandering to a new town, versus if you are about to face a boss and they are acting as a "speed bump," versus if you are nearly dead and depleted of most resources and spells.
So while I don't think of it as being quite the genre-damning problem that he sees it, I do agree with his point. But I also don't see it being unique to RPGs. I have played some first-person shooters that felt a lot like that as well.
Links to this post:
<< Home
