Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Indie RPG News Round-Up, Aug 19 2010

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 19, 2010

Some Indie RPG Goodness that has been happening lately…

Road Gangs

This is a vehicle based RPG set in a post-apocalyptic United States by new game-maker Blackwater Games. Your gang must find a number of nuclear scientists hidden in cities all over the country and use them to disable a certain number of nuclear silos before it’s too late. Vehicle combat is real time, there are 23 vehicle types in Road Gangs and all vehicles have over a dozen upgrade options available.

Road Gangs is currently available for the PC, with a Mac version planned “soon.”

Check out Road Gangs

Darkwind: War on Wheels

Keeping with the vehicular combat theme, Olena Korskii of Psychic Software emailed me to let me know that Darkwind: War On Wheels is still going strong.  It’s not really an RPG – it’s an online persistent world turn-based 3D wargame. But it’s cool enough to be worth mentioning here.  Again. I look at this video, and I think, “Holy crap, it’s like Car Wars.”

You can check out the game at the Darkwind: War On Wheels website.

Timelapse Vertigo

This has been chatted about in the forums, and it’s really starting to look like it’s coming together in a cool way. Timelapse Vertigo is an indie RPG set in the far future. Life on the Earth’s surface has long since been made impossible and the remnants of humanity now dwell in the Underrail, a vast system of metro station-states that, it seems, are the last bastions of a fading race.

Bizarre, huh? Yeah, and it looks cool. Here’s another video (two cool vids in a row…), provided by StygSoft:

Check out more information here: Timelapse Vertigo

Alpha Kimori

Alpha Kimori is, according to the website, “a cute, bright, and colorful Japanese Anime inspired episodic casual 2D Role Playing Game (RPG) which features an intricate action-adventure epic story with a delightful mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements.”

Check out the Alpha Kimori website for more info.

Din’s Curse

Din’s Curse is up to a beta patch 1.006.  It looks like it’s mainly some enhancements / fixes on the beta patch 1.005. If you haven’t tried Din’s Curse in a while, check it out with the latest changes. It still feels like the same game (which is GOOD), but it looks much better. Just when I thought I was over the game, the new patch got me sucked back into it.

Planet Stronghold

Planet Stronghold is an upcoming sci-fi RPG from veteran indie game-maker Winter Wolves Games. It promises to be a story-heavy RPG with turn-based combat a little like many older console RPGs.

If you want to try the public alpha – to get a feel for it and provide feedback – the public al is now available. You can check it out here.

Age of Decadence

As previously reported, the game has hit what I’d call the “alpha” stage. Now is the long, grueling stage of fixing, cleaning, tweaking, changing, improving, re-doing, and so forth.  There’s no ETA, but I’m becoming hopeful that it won’t be too many more months before Age of Decadence becomes available.

RPGDX Game-in-a-Week Competition

RPGDX finished its RPG-in-a-week competition, with the theme of “alternate history.” You can check out the final results here (just follow the [Alternate History] tags).

Konsoolo RPG Editor

The Konsoolo RPG Editor, an indie-created Flash-based alternative to RPG Maker, is under development. There’s a new video out showing the the “auto tile layering” technique being incorporated into the editor. If this thing flies, it may soon be far easier to create web-based RPGs.  Though I don’t know how well it can be adapted to making something that’s not so jRPG-like.

But here’s a video demoing this part of the editor:

Frayed Knights

Did I mention this awesome RPG in development called, “Frayed Knights?” Once or twice, probably.  Anyway – progress continues. I’ll have an update tomorrow. Short version: Progress is speeding up again, and the very last dungeon is now built, textured, and awaiting final touches and filling with adventure.  This doesn’t mean the game is close to release or anything, just that “principal development” is finally drawing to a close. For the first game, at least…

Aaaaand….. that’s all for now, folks. I’m sure I’m missing a ton of stuff. If you have an announcement and I’m not being too lazy, email it to me so I can include it here.


Filed Under: News - Comments: 11 Comments to Read



  • Babaoriley said,

    Laxius Force 3 in 8 days no?

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    Oh! I didn’t realize it was due so soon. I’ll have to run another of these next week then, huh?

  • Brian 'Psychochild' Green said,

    Did I mention this awesome RPG in development called, “Frayed Knights?”

    Pfft. Vaporware. 😉

  • Koen Witters said,

    Hi, it’s the developer of the Koonsolo RPG Editor here :). Our first release will definitely be focused on jRPG’s, because I want to bring something out as soon as possible. Limiting my features to the jRPG system allows me release quicker, and get feedback sooner.

    But being a true game developer, the structure of my editor and game engine will allow me to extend it easily in the future, with for example, isometric tilesets, etc.

    Also remark that you will have total control over the game source code, so you will be able to extend anything you want. If you want to know more or have questions, you can always mail me at koen@koonsolo.com :).

  • screeg said,

    I love these indie round-ups you write, but I wish you would say up front in each blurb what type of combat is represented in each game.

    Timelapse Vertigo looks very promising in a lot of ways, but you have to watch five minutes of video before he finally shows the combat, real-time, but still doesn’t seem to actually spell that fact out.

  • Xenovore said,

    @Brian: LOL! Frayed Knights Forever! =D

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    Man, I keep wondering at what point they’ll make me return my indie card ‘cuz I haven’t released the game yet.

  • Waltorious said,

    @screeg:

    From the Timelapse Vertigo site I have confirmed that combat is real-time-with-pause, Baldur’s Gate style. But you are right, this info was hard to find and I was hoping for turn-based. I can deal with real-time-with-pause though, if it’s done well. Worth keeping an eye on this game.

  • UDM said,

    I’m a fan of Darkwind, and have been playing it on and off over the years, so it’s good to see it getting more publicity. Probably the only one of its kind out there. Too bad that, as an indie, it’s not getting the same attention that the other dudes are getting.

    Timelapse looks pretty cool. Hopefully in time to come, the placeholders will be removed and we’ll see the game in all its glory.

  • Market Troll said,

    The indie scene really is a saving grace for RPG fans these days. Most of us old schoolers stopped caring about graphics a while ago and we have new converts daily. Great seeing the scene’s best developers acknowledging each other and banding together! Heck, you guys should form a League of some sort! (Like a League of Extraordinary Gentlepeople!) Think of it, all you need is a group of dedicated people to pass information around. Strength in numbers I say.

  • AlphaKimori said,

    Hi,

    Just wanted to inform you guys that Alpha Kimori has just been published by Big Fish Games today, 24th March 2011.

    Alpha Kimori Episode One http://www.AlphaKimori.com is a cute, bright, and colorful Japanese Anime inspired episodic casual 2D Role Playing Game, which feature an intricate action-adventure epic story with a delightful mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements.

    Alpha Kimori is developed by Sherman3D http://www.Sherman3D.com and published by Big Fish Games http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/11702/alpha-kimori/index.html

    Key features:
    1) Cute Japanese anime inspired graphics.
    2) Engaging sci-fi cum fantasy interactive novel storyline with lots
    of twists and turns.
    3) Player is never lost with quest journal.
    4) Classic Japanese RPG Turn Based Battle gives player time for strategy.
    5) Ki Skill animation and battle elemental special effects.
    6) Conquer loneliness with party members following the switchable leader.
    7) Avoidable combat with visible enemies.
    8) Theme song sung by the popular Vocaloid character, Hatsune Miku ( composed by http://www.Studio-Misty.com ).

    Supported languages: English

    Minimum System Requirements:
    * OS: Windows MicrosoftR WindowsR XP/Vista/7
    * Processor: 600 Mhz
    * Memory: 128 MB
    * Graphics: DirectX 6.0 compatible
    * Hard Drive: 50MB free HDD space
    * Sound: DirectSound compatible

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