Indie RPG News Round-Up: July 2011

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 15, 2011

I note that as FK development heats up, I have fewer opportunities to peek out from my foxhole to see what else is coming. Thanks to readers for emailing me tips and news – keep ’em coming! Many of today’s items in the world of indie computer RPGs are simply reminders of what has already been posted here, but here’s a quick list of updates:

Magical Diary

It’s out now, for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Try it out if you haven’t already.  You can read my little “quick take” with the demo links here.

Depths of Peril

Yes, Depths of Peril – Soldak’s first game (and for some, their best, though I think I slightly prefer Din’s Curse).  If you haven’t gotten the game yet, you can grab the demo at the above link, which should already be patched. Otherwise, you can upgrade it by visiting the game’s Patch Page for the 1.018 update.  This is the first official patch since 1.015, so there are a lot of included updates, including graphics improvements and some balance tweaks.

Dungeons of Dredmor

It’s out, and on Steam, and even on sale from it’s ridiculously-l0w-price of $5. While I do lament the availability of non-Steam options (I would rather have given them my money directly), I didn’t want to wait to grab my copy until other options became available. Thus I fed the Valve monopoly. I sold my soul for the opportunity to whack Diggles. And so can you. More information here on Steam.

Cthulhu Saves the World / Breath of Death VII Double-Pack

$3. Actually, it’s 10% off of $2.99, so that is $2.69. Even if you are only remotely interested, this is a good deal. I have Cthulhu Saves the World on the X-Box (if I’d have known it would be out for PC, I would have waited. Heck, maybe I’ll just buy it again, at that price.)  These games are goofy little send-ups of the JRPG genre. They are actually competent if not particularly amazing JRPG style games on their own, but the humor is really the reason to get them. As a fan of Lovecraft’s stories, I love Cthulhu as a very reluctant hero in this game.  You can get more information on the Steam site.

There’s also an interesting article on GamePro about these games and Dungeons of Dredmor, and their successful release on Steam earlier this week.  A great quote about the difference between console indie gamers and their PC kin came from BoD VII / CStW developer Robert Boyd via Twitter:

“Gotta love the different reactions to our $3 price tag,” Boyd continued on Twitter. “PC = ‘$3?! That’s awesome! How do these guys make money?’ XBLIG = ‘$3?! What a rip off!'”

Maybe it is the maturity level of PC gamers – and I’m talking from a financial standpoint, not an emotional one.  But that’s a conversation for another post…

Darklight Dungeon Eternity

Jesse Zoeller sent me a link to his YouTube video of the latest alpha build of Darklight Dungeon Eternity – mainly showing off the principle elements in general, what’s available in town and in the UI, etc. It’s not an exciting trailer-type video, but it does give you an idea of what’s in store…

Age of Decadence

The latest word from the Iron Tower Studios folks is pretty exciting. The July update is up, and according to a recent tweet, they expect the demo to be out by November, with the full game coming six to twelve months later.

Frayed Knights

Beta is progressing quite well, though the difficulty level is proving daunting for a few testers. The big problems are becoming fewer and further between, though there remains plenty of small issues, areas needing polish, balance problems, and hard-to-reproduce bugs. This morning, Brian “Skavenhorde” Critser emailed me to announce he’s now the first person to beat the game (without cheating) TWICE, though his second play-through, with the higher difficulty, clocked in closer to 30 hours… even with him knowing where everything was, and skipping an optional dungeon where a game bug prevented entrance.

Telepath RPG: Servants of God

Craig Stern of Sinister Design reports that a new beta of Telepath RPG: Servants of God, with a MAJOR overhaul to optimize the entire game (not to mention streamlining further development considerably) is imminent.  Those who have pre-ordered and have access to the beta will be able to enjoy the update soon.  This looks like a game that should please those who love tactical RPGs, so I’m excited that progress has been able to make a decent lurch forward.

Planet Stronghold

It sounds like the turn-based, story-heavy, sci-fi RPG Planet Stronghold has enjoyed enough success to warrant an expansion (or add-on, as developer Celso Riva calls it on Twitter). I need to bug him for details – or get him to comment here for more.

UPDATE: I asked, and he delivered. From the comments:

“Planet Stronghold will have an expansion called “Warzone“, which I think will become more like a stand-alone game (I’m not sure yet, depends if I can work on a fun strategic gameplay). This because I plan to add a strategic map to the game where you can build/conquer sectors of the planet, and then fight as usual with normal JRPG battles like in the regular game.”

The Legend of Grimrock

(H/t to Craig Stern’s IndieRPGs.com for this one.) This is a first-person dungeon crawler Finnish indie team Almost Human. They’ve released a tiny teaser of the game in development, The Legend of Grimrock, already looking quite beautiful and exciting. And – dare I say it? – Old-School!

Fated Heaven, Chapter One

I haven’t played this JRPG-style game, so I can’t say much about it, other than that you can check it out here.

Timelapse Vertigo

Styg has posted an update in the RG forums of his sci-fi RPG in development, Timelapse Vertigo.

 

Okay, I know I’m missing some newsworthy items, but that’s where you come in. What’s been happening the last four to eight weeks in the world of indie computer RPGs?

 

 

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