Indie RPG News Roundup, October 10
Wow. If you are a computer RPG fan, and are looking for something a little off the beaten path, there's plenty of great news and interesting tidbits this week.

Depths of Peril
There's a new version of the Depths of Peril demo now available. There's also an interview with Steven Peeler, and six new screenshots at the Soldak website. Finally (!), there's a beta version of the mod SDK for Depths of Peril available as well, for players who want to try their hand at expanding and tweaking this stellar RPG. And by "Stellar" I mean "dangerously addictive." I need to get back and play this one some more, but it consumed FAR too many of my productive hours a couple of weeks back. I'd complete one world / campaign, and didn't even pause before starting a new one. It's got that, "Just one more mission" compulsion for me.

But that's a good thing. :)

Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest
I guess we're getting into the home stretch. Aveyond 2 reportedly began alpha testing two days ago, with a closed group of community members. How close is it to release? Will it make the projected November ship date? Will lightning strike twice and Amaranth Games have another hit "casual" RPG on its hands? I can only hope that the answer is "yes" to both of those questions. Aveyond and its prequel were not, to my understanding, designed specifically for the "casual audience." It just happened to capture enough of the designer's personality and sensibilities to appeal to that group, even though it sounds as though it was designed with more hardcore RPG fans in mind. Hopefully the sequel will be much the same, only richer for Amanda's increased skill and experience.

Eschalon: Book 1
Basilisk Games recently put out a call for beta testers, of which they received several hundred applications. There are a lot of people interested in this game, including yours truly. It sounds like it is approaching the home stretch as well.

I'm torn on this one. On the one hand, I want it done NOW so I can enjoy some awesome, turn-based, old-school RPG glory done up in a groovy modern new-techn indie style. On the other hand - like Depths of Peril, I suspect this game may also do really awful things to my productivity when I do get my hands on it.

The Broken Hourglass
Just in from Planewalker Games: "Although The Broken Hourglass takes place entirely within the city walls of Mal Nassrin, from time to time we like to offer you a glimpse into the rest of the Tolmiran Empire. This month features a side trip to Mashiz, the former smuggler's paradise strategically located between the trade routes of Mal Nassrin and the mountain wastes beyond the Imperial borders. Why is Mashiz unique among Imperial provinces, and why is it widely considered to be the most likely home to the next anti-Imperial uprising?"

Find out at Planewalker Games! I don't know if the information contained here is actually going to be of any use in the game itself, but it's nice to have some more background on the world.

Heart Forth, Alicia
This upcoming "platform RPG" is focused on creative puzzles. According to the author, "You're a small wizard kid that grows to hate everyone in the village and ultimately takes revenge upon them--in a nutshell. There's interesting puzzles, an involving story, an experience point system, variable damage, lots of melee power ups and magical spells, eerie music, nice graphics, a realtime day/night cycle system with (kind of) lighting effects."

The website, with a video of gameplay in its alpha state, is available here: Heart Forth, Alicia Website

Age of Decadence
There's a "Scenic Tour" of Age of Decadence available at RPGWatch. Which means lots of screenshots and a very amusing commentary. As Vince D. Weller states, "When we started designing our locations, we decided to avoid over-the-top fantasy elements and look elsewhere for inspiration. Architectural wonders like the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens and the Abu Simbel monuments can easily dwarf anything that a fantasy artist can come up with." While "Architectural Variety" doesn't top my most-wanted list for fantasy RPGs, its certainly welcome. My only concern, going through this article, is that the game looks really... really... brown. Someone should give these guys some paint.

Esenthel
This game was announced in May, but I missed it. This is a 3D RPG is participating in the 2008 Indie Games Festival, and has a playable demo at its website. It's currently intended to be an indoor-only game (shades of Ultima Underworld, anybody?), and while there are not any NPCs in the current demo, they should be there eventually but probably without selectable conversation options, according to the forums. We seem to be talking a pretty straightforward hack-and-slash experience here. Which, I gotta admit, is just what the doctor ordered sometimes.

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Indie RPG News, Roleplaying Games

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