Monday, August 10, 2009
Indie RPG News Roundup, August 09
Wow. The last couple of weeks have been kinda exciting in the indie RPG realm. Here's a round-up of the kinda stuff happenin' right now:
Knights of the ChaliceThis is an old-schooler's old-school RPG. Sporting a low-resolution (but surprisingly attractive) look, steeped in the flavor of original Dungeons & Dragons, based on the "3.5" Open Gaming License, built with hand-crafted dungeons, and tossing no bones to the action-RPG crowd, this game looks like it came right out of 1989 or so.
Hardcore. But worthy of taking a look at it. Especially if you like fun, feature-rich, tactical combat. Early reports are pretty positive, but you can find out for yourself by checking out the free demo at their website:
Knights of the Chalice at HeroicFantasyGames.com
Aveyond: Gates of NightThe next chapter in the very popular Aveyond series is out now. A direct sequel to Aveyond: Lord of Twilight, this installment picks the story up in the Orbs of Magic arc. Before his untimely death two hundred years ago, the evil sorcerer, Mordred Darkthrop, created two opposing magical orbs - the Orb of Darkness, and the Orb of Light.
Unwittingly stolen by Mel, a young thief, and placed into the hands of Gyendal, a vampire who calls himself the Lord of Twilight, the Orb of Darkness is about to be used to plunge mankind into eternal night and slavery. Mel, a descendant of Darkthrop, is the only one who can activate the orb.
Maybe.
Now a trainee spy, Mel and her unusual band of companions are racing to find the Orb of Light to counter Gyendal's plans before it is too late.
Download Aveyond: Gates of Knight
The Three Musketeers
Dingo Games is a husband-and-wife team who have put their love of fencing and swordplay into a swashbuckling epic based on the classic novel by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers. It is scheduled to be released later this month.
The video looks awesome. I wonder how much opportunity you have to fire cannons like that at enemies?
Blade Thrust TacticsInspired by games like Jagged Alliance and Fallout Tactics, Blade Thrust Tactics is an isometric tactical RPG in development by new indie developer developer Edy Kaijang of Malaysia.
It is now in beta, and is interesting to me in that it is going after a hardcore niche. Unlike the games that were its inspiration, Blade Thrust Tactics has chosen to use real-time combat rather than turn-based.
A novel based in the game-world is also being written, and two additional games in the series are currently planned.
Blade Thrust Tactics Website
Geneforge
Now that the series is complete, the entire Geneforge Saga from Spiderweb Software is now available on one CD for the discount price of $75.
The Geneforge Saga
"Zombie RPG"
Recently announced as a new game in development under the Iron Tower Studios collective, the details of this apocalyptic "survival RPG" can be found on the Iron Tower Forums. I normally don't post anything about games so early in development (there's too high of a failure rate), but new developer Doublebear Productions consists of two industry veterans with RPG credits that include Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir - Brian Mitsoda and Annie Carlson.
Mmmm.... Brains.....
And that's what I have for now. Have fun!
Labels: Indie RPG News
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:50 AM (Permalink)
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Eventually you get used to the font and such for Knights of the Chalice...eventually...
That said the developer IS taking suggestions as to determine feasibility for upcoming patching and whatnot so you'd do well to drop him a line.
The Blade game is intriguing...is there a website someplace that has eluded me or is it living along in that forum post that google turned up?
That said the developer IS taking suggestions as to determine feasibility for upcoming patching and whatnot so you'd do well to drop him a line.
The Blade game is intriguing...is there a website someplace that has eluded me or is it living along in that forum post that google turned up?
I downloaded the demo of Knights of the Chalice and almost gave up immediately. The text is really hard to read! And I kept having the wizard move up front, where he'd immediately get stomped whenever we encountered foes. The game really didn't look like much, at first.
But by time I finished the demo, I no longer noticed the poor text. And, you know, there's a lot to like in the game. At least, there's a lot to the strategy of creating a party and to the tactics of fighting battles (I don't know if there's any more to the game than that). I ended up rather impressed, and I think I'll go ahead and buy it.
Regarding The Three Musketeers, GamesRadar had that video as part of their Trailer Trash 14, "craptacular awfulness guaranteed to make you give up your favorite hobby. ... This trailer only manages to impale you with boredom." It didn't look so bad to me,... and you say it's awesome! Heh, heh. Well, different strokes, huh?
And I wonder how Blade Thrust Tactics can be inspired by Jagged Alliance, when it's real-time? The X-Com style combat was the whole point of Jagged Alliance, wasn't it? (Though I have to say that neither Jagged Alliance game could hold a candle to X-Com: UFO Defense. Just no comparison!)
But by time I finished the demo, I no longer noticed the poor text. And, you know, there's a lot to like in the game. At least, there's a lot to the strategy of creating a party and to the tactics of fighting battles (I don't know if there's any more to the game than that). I ended up rather impressed, and I think I'll go ahead and buy it.
Regarding The Three Musketeers, GamesRadar had that video as part of their Trailer Trash 14, "craptacular awfulness guaranteed to make you give up your favorite hobby. ... This trailer only manages to impale you with boredom." It didn't look so bad to me,... and you say it's awesome! Heh, heh. Well, different strokes, huh?
And I wonder how Blade Thrust Tactics can be inspired by Jagged Alliance, when it's real-time? The X-Com style combat was the whole point of Jagged Alliance, wasn't it? (Though I have to say that neither Jagged Alliance game could hold a candle to X-Com: UFO Defense. Just no comparison!)
Re: The Three Musketeers
I don't really care how some snotty-nosed "games journalist" tries to please the ego-shooter-crowd that just left puberty (after all that's what he gets paid for) but the first impression to "graphics lovers" will probably be:
- Tile-based graphics anno 1990 with "Japanese perspective" and no real specialties, too angular in places
- some poor graphic design choices (the water!)
- the characters and their surroundings look reasonably detailed but the scale is somewhat off in places (some of the rooms are too big for the characters, the bridge too narrow for its complexity)
- stuttering scrolling which I hope is due to the video
On the other hand the trailer also shows:
- A nice, consistent historic (literaric) setting with no obvious unfitting elements
- well done animations (horses, fencing) and sound
- an uncluttered interface
- interesting group mechanics - the ambush (scripted or not)
- realistically looking fights and battles
- irregular RPG stuff like the dancing and tennis adding variety (even if only decorative)
All in all it really seems like a labor of love and I commend these "guys" for realizing their ideas.
And I admit being jealous: Creating an epic "dream-RPG" with your own wife - it can't really get much better than this!
I don't really care how some snotty-nosed "games journalist" tries to please the ego-shooter-crowd that just left puberty (after all that's what he gets paid for) but the first impression to "graphics lovers" will probably be:
- Tile-based graphics anno 1990 with "Japanese perspective" and no real specialties, too angular in places
- some poor graphic design choices (the water!)
- the characters and their surroundings look reasonably detailed but the scale is somewhat off in places (some of the rooms are too big for the characters, the bridge too narrow for its complexity)
- stuttering scrolling which I hope is due to the video
On the other hand the trailer also shows:
- A nice, consistent historic (literaric) setting with no obvious unfitting elements
- well done animations (horses, fencing) and sound
- an uncluttered interface
- interesting group mechanics - the ambush (scripted or not)
- realistically looking fights and battles
- irregular RPG stuff like the dancing and tennis adding variety (even if only decorative)
All in all it really seems like a labor of love and I commend these "guys" for realizing their ideas.
And I admit being jealous: Creating an epic "dream-RPG" with your own wife - it can't really get much better than this!
I'm very pleased that you mentioned Knights of the Chalice. Although I agree with other commentators that the choice of F-O-N-T was unfortunate, it's just one of those things you get used to after a while. The core gameplay is incredibly fun and also remarkably intuitive (despite the sometimes information-heavy interface), and it shouldn't take any RPG fan more than a few minutes to get a hang of the basic gameplay and get involved in some really cool battles. As always with D&D you start out really weak, but it only takes a few level-ups before your party can withstand the onslaught of a whole band of lizardmen or orcs (provided that some reasonably solid tactics are employed).
Also, the in-game help system is probably one of the most comprehensive I've ever seen in an RPG. You can right-click on almost anything and get clear (if not always concise) descriptions on how the relevant D&D rules work. During character creation and level-ups there are even suggestions on what spells and feats would be good choices; effectively allowing users to bypass some of the character micro-management if they're not interested in that.
Finally, no comment on Knights of the Chalice would be complete without mentioning the lovely MID tunes (by Serbian composer Nino Rajacic) that accompany you on your adventures and plays an important role in creating and sustaining the game's endearingly stereotypical high fantasy atmosphere.
Have only played the full game for a few hours yet, but I haven't had as much fun with a roleplaying game in a long, long time.
Also, the in-game help system is probably one of the most comprehensive I've ever seen in an RPG. You can right-click on almost anything and get clear (if not always concise) descriptions on how the relevant D&D rules work. During character creation and level-ups there are even suggestions on what spells and feats would be good choices; effectively allowing users to bypass some of the character micro-management if they're not interested in that.
Finally, no comment on Knights of the Chalice would be complete without mentioning the lovely MID tunes (by Serbian composer Nino Rajacic) that accompany you on your adventures and plays an important role in creating and sustaining the game's endearingly stereotypical high fantasy atmosphere.
Have only played the full game for a few hours yet, but I haven't had as much fun with a roleplaying game in a long, long time.
Oooh, ooh, Annie & Brian making an indie RPG... WOAH!
Anyone got a time machine, I can't wait...
Anyone got a time machine, I can't wait...
# posted by 
: August 11, 2009 4:53 AM
: August 11, 2009 4:53 AM
Blade Trust Tactics looks interesting for me as an old Jagged Alliance geek! looking forward to this title!
FYI, I did buy Knights of the Chalice, and I haven't been able to stop playing. If you can get past the font, it's really an impressive game.
It's all combat, so far, and some of it is pretty challenging combat (I had to leave the cave with the giant spiders and come back later), but I'm having a LOT of fun.
I recommend that you give this one a good try. Yeah, the text is terrible - I mean really, really bad. But stick with it, and you'll find that it's just a minor annoyance. I hope the font doesn't keep this game from getting the attention it deserves.
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It's all combat, so far, and some of it is pretty challenging combat (I had to leave the cave with the giant spiders and come back later), but I'm having a LOT of fun.
I recommend that you give this one a good try. Yeah, the text is terrible - I mean really, really bad. But stick with it, and you'll find that it's just a minor annoyance. I hope the font doesn't keep this game from getting the attention it deserves.
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