Indie RPG News Roundup, March 16th
News and rumors from the indie side of computer role-playing games:

Depths of Peril
My favorite RPG of 2007, Depths of Peril won the Best Overall Game 2008 Award from Bytten. Bytten writes:

"This is one of those rare gaming experiences that only come up once in a blue moon for me. Although the appeal of Depths may not have been as universal as some of the other games I have reviewed this year, I must say that it's just about everything that I need in an action/RPG.

"The jewel in the crown is the persistent and dynamic game world where every action has a consequence. But intelligent randomisation, huge boss fights, massive amounts of loot and collectibles, ease of modding, customisation of just about everything in the game, awesome in-game fiction - the list just goes on and on. Pure geek mana from heaven."

Besides this, Soldak has another short story up entitled, "Frozen Crystal."

Scars of War
The Blog of War is now going in full force, and includes some concept art for an Imarathi Mask and General Rheygar. But of particular interest to me is a discussion of the magic system in Scars of War. Gareth writes:

"So I looked at what I’d done with magic and felt shame. I’d done exactly the same thing as those lazy designers. I’d simply gone ahead and made a slightly more polished version of the what has come before. You distribute skill points into schools of magic which lets you buy spells from that school which you can then use to accomplish quests. Bog standard."

"Some people might be thinking `But that is mage gameplay, isn’t it?'. No. In the same way that being able to backstab enemies in combat is not the heart of what the thief experience is/should be about, neither is simply blowing crap up what playing a mage should be about. "

His solution goes pretty far out there, involving - among other things - visiting mystical realms. If this is pulled off, I'm going to personally be very excited.

Age of Decadence
RPGWatch continues the "Let's Play" series, continuing a visual walkthrough of the upcoming RPG Age of Decadence. If you want to get a good feel for how this game will play out, read this article and its predecessor.

Dream Diary (Yume Nikki)
I'm gonna have to refer you to the TIGSource and the Indie Games the Weblog post about this bizarre-but-cool-sounding freeware RPGMaker game. You play a young girl living in a small apartment with little to do but to sleep and explore the dream world.

Avernum V
There's a new version of Avernum V now available for both Mac and Windows. There is also a great interview up at RPG Vault discussing the game's development process and goals - a good read for aspiring indie RPG developers!

And that's all I have for now, folks! As always, please help keep me up-to-date with what's going on in the world of indie RPGs. I'm still hoping for a crazy-busy year like last year!

Labels: Indie RPG News

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