Room Escape Games and Micro-RPGs

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 10, 2010

Classic graphic adventure gaming has had a bit of a casual resurgence lately with the appearance of “Room Escape” games. If you haven’t played any yet (and I’ve only played a couple), they are basically tiny adventure games, usually written in Flash, that have gained quite a bit of popularity.

They take place in a single location – a room that you are somehow trapped inside – though the multiple views of the rooms could be argued as being separate locations. The stories are rarely any deeper than the stories of vintage early 80’s arcade games. But they have most of the trappings of a good ol’ fashioned graphic adventure game, including inventory.  At least in those I’ve tried.

So basically, they are “micro” graphic adventure games. I won’t complain. I like the idea of these kinds of games that don’t require a huge commitment.

This made me wonder if the same kind of idea could be applied to computer Role-Playing Games.

RPGs are traditionally pretty huge beasts. And kind of intimidating to new and veteran players, especially for grown-up gamers who probably can’t finish the tutorial of your average RPG in the time they have available for a game session.  So I’d not be so interested in it appealing to “casual” players so much allowing it to be played “casually.” Could a “micro-RPG” be possible …  sort of an analog to the room escape games for the RPG genre?

The trick, I guess, is that RPGs traditionally include so many different mechanics and moving parts above and beyond what you’d see in an adventure game. What can you cut out and have it still remain an RPG?  What would a “Micro-RPG” look like?

I think Desktop Dungeons is one approach that comes pretty close, but it’s more of a puzzle game than true RPG fare.  Sort of a love-child between Minesweeper and a graphical roguelike. Still, it’s one idea. Pawleyscape’s .NET-based Fastcrawl is another idea. It is less puzzle-based and more like a ‘real’ RPG, at least. But it’s still both more and less of what I’d look for in that kind of game.

I’d like to see games based on a pretty simple, straightforward game system that is easily understood (and imitated, but not necessarily identical). I’d say the ability to level up – and to make a choices on character progression (maybe a single attribute increase per level) – would be necessary. I’d like to see hand-crafted dungeons and challenges, not a randomized roguelike. Maybe something like my original plan for Hackenslash, sort of a streamlined and modernized Temple of Apshai inspired game, before I had to pare it down so far to fit my 40-hour development limit.

But what aspects of RPGs to keep, and which to toss?

If I were to tackle it, it might look like this: The inventory system could be restricted to just a few items of equipment (weapon, armor, and a ring?), and “quest items” which are more-or-less adventure game style items or reward items. I’d borrow my Hackenslash mechanic of converting any piece of equipment that you don’t immediately equip into its gold “trade-in value” (based on your character’s charisma?).  Some monsters might be willing to be bribed (a use for that gold) or even trade, rather than fight. A couple of adventure-game style puzzles. The game would end when you defeat the level boss, and you get a final score based on your total experience points, gold, and trade-in gold value of your equipment. That would give the game some replay value to try and improve your score through subsequent play-throughs using different strategies.

That would still be considerably more complex than a room escape game, though.  So I may be barking up the wrong tree and complicating things a lot more than I should. I know from hard experience that I tend to do that.

But I really do like the idea of “lite” RPGs, Micro-RPGs, that could be fully playable inside of twenty minutes, fun and accessible for new players, yet still amusing to veteran RPG fans. What would your vision of this kind of game be? What other games are already out there that might fill the bill?

Filed Under: Adventure Games, Casual Games, Design - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Indie RPG News Roundup, 9 Sep 2010

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 9, 2010

So here’s a little bit I’ve heard lately via the scuttlebutt network about current and future indie role-playing games. Please add other tidbits you are aware of in the comments or on the forums. We wanna know!

Din’s Curse

The official 1.07 patch for the excellent action-dungeon crawler Din’s Curse is now available. Check it out here. According to Steven Peeler, ”
tThis patch improves a bunch of effects, improves unique items, added some new options like Hide Crappy Items, Don’t Click on Pets, and Very Slow Pace, and fixed/balanced/polished several things.”

Winter Voices

This is a seven-part episodic RPG in development from French startup Beyondthepillars. It is actually supposed to be a preview (and source of funding?) for an MMO they also have in development… sorta like what Torchlight was supposed to be, I guess.  And it features turn-based combat, which is kinda unique nowadays. Anyway, it’s worth a look.

Winter Voices Website

Knights of the Chalice

RPG Codex has posted a review of  Knights of the Chalice. It doesn’t pull punches, but it is still a pretty positive review.  Check it out here.

Recettear

An unusual independent release from Japan, Recettear is an RPG about… running an item shop in an RPG world.  Fortunately for adventurous players, one of the ways to obtain new stock is to go dungeon delving.  It’s very cute, very JRPG-ish, but also pretty dang unique. It goes on general sale tomorrow via Steam, GamersGate, and Impulse. But you can grab the demo from their official website today.

(And thanks to Katy on the forums for making sure this game didn’t slip through the rather large cracks in my own attention).

Laxius Force III

The final installment of the Laxius Force trilogy is now available. It features  (get this!) 42 playable characters and over 150 quests.  This game will take more than a single weekend to play. Playing through Laxius Force 1 or Laxius Force 2: The Queen of Adretana (or the Prequel, 3 Stars of Destiny) is not required to enjoy this game.  However, you can import your characters from Laxius Force 2 for this third adventure.

Check out Laxius Force III

Millennium 3

Also coming from Aldorlea Games next month is the third game of the Millennium series.

Planet Stronghold

Word from studio founder Celso Riva of Winter Wolves Computer Games  is that Planet Stronghold, intended as a more “casual” sci-fi RPG, is slowly morphing into a somewhat more hardcore RPG.  The poor guy just can’t be satisfied with simplistic gameplay, apparently, and has added more combat options and an “action point” mechanic. It is still planned as a casual-friendly, accessible title with an emphasis on storytelling, but I know that I will appreciate more interesting combat decisions.

In spite of the changes, Winter Wolves is anticipating a release around the end of December, but notes that it’s far from definite.

Spirited Heart – Flash Version

Speaking of Winter Wolves, their somewhat RPG-ish fantasy life-sim game Spirited Heart is now available as a (somewhat stripped down) Flash Version on Kongregate.

Play Spirited Heart Flash Version

Magical Diary

From Hanako Games, developer of Cute Knight and Cute Knight Kingdom and many other titles, comes a game where you can get your Harriet Potter on.  Entitled Magical Diary, it includes a life-sim aspect in a magical school, as well as some good ol’ first-person dungeon delving similar to Cute Knight. In fact, as a fan of Cute Knight, I can’t help but note the serious CK vibes off of what info Hanako has provided thus far, which makes me excited.

I expect she’ll be happy to provide more information as she can. She’s already posted a few more tidbits in this forum post.

Frayed Knights

Not much to report here. Most of the effort this last month has involved scripting out a single (but large and critical) dungeon. Lots of dialogs, and I’m being overwhelmed with the necessity of creating some more tools to speed development of future titles (and maybe to assist in the polishing / bug-fixing stages of the first one).

Avadon: The Black Fortress

Jeff Vogel’s latest design diary on Avadon: The Black Fortress is up.

Avadon Design Diary #3 – Character Classes and Kicking Butt

Among other things, Avadon is eschewing the heavy skill-based system of Spiderweb’s previous RPGs, and going with a pretty heavy class-based system.  Also interestingly, your party will be limited to your player character and two other characters. With four classes available in the game, this means you will always go without one class. He also notes he’s going to be dialing back a bit on the difficulty.

I’m looking forward to this one.

Filed Under: News - Comments: Read the First Comment

The Seven Stages of Retro-Gaming

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 8, 2010

So you’ve decided to take a stab at “retrogaming”… playing one of those old video games from six, eight, ten, maybe even twenty or more years in the past. I have a little bit of an advantage as I remember when most of the games were hot and new. But still, it’s not all smooth sailing when I start playing my newest acquisition from GOG.COM, Steam, XBLA, or the back of the rack at the used game store.

But if you are like me, you may go through most or all of these stages of emotion as you play.

Stage 1: Anticipation

Could this game be as awesome as you remember, or you have heard about? It’s considered a classic by most gaming journalists – a wonder of its era. Better than many games of today, some say.  Why, this antique game may be the best thing you’ve installed on your system this year! You can hardly wait…

Stage 2: Confusion

What’s EMS memory? What Soundblaster IRQ settings to use? How do you get DOSBOX to work with this? Okay, now that it’s installed, how do you freaking play it? Hadn’t they heard of tooltips back than? How do you leave the freaking inn? They commands are all over the keyboard! Argh! This is impossible. How did people play these games back then.

Wait, the manual you have to read to be able to play is HOW BIG?

Stage 3:  Disappointment

Umm… you know, as much as you try to look past the old graphics, they really are… rough. What is that object really supposed to be? It’s either a sword or a person… Oh, it’s a house. The gameplay is a little more simplistic (in spite of its obtuse interface) than you expected, and there are a lot of things they are doing here that really have been done far better by more modern games. And did we mention ugly graphics?

Stage 4: Acceptance

Hmmm – okay, once you have read the manual and spent an hour or two playing,  you kinda get into the rhythm of things. And it’s maybe not that bad. Sure, the graphics are primitive, but after a while you can look past that. But now, at last, you are finally playing, really playing the game. You begin to see the game as they must have seen it back when it was new.  It’s not so much of a chore now, at least.

Stage 5: Enthusiasm

Now you are a few hours into it, and things are humming now. By now, most modern games would be half-over, but you are firing on all cylinders.

And you are having fun.

And you are impressed by small things that they’ve done. Things that maybe haven’t been imitated to death in modern games. They weren’t necessarily features or ideas that hit the ball out over the fences, but they are different. And cool. And fun. You are enjoying the game, warts and all.

Stage 6: Respect

If you get to this stage, everything changes.

You haven’t transcended or anything like that.  But you have managed to take a trip back into time, without the need of a modified DeLorean. You’ve experienced a game of yesteryear much as gamers of an earlier time had. You’ve come to realize that “fun” wasn’t suddenly invented three years ago, and been inspired by what could be done with a game on a system that had little more computing power than your microwave.

Stage 7: Freedom

After going through these stages a few times (and I go through ’em every time, though with some games I never get past the disappointment stage), a peculiar feeling of freedom sets in. You are no longer in the thrall of the current release schedules. You no longer are constrained by what’s “current.” Inexpensive back-catalog offerings, used games, and indie games in the style of the old classics now offer nearly as much excitement (and a heck of a lot more bang-for-the-buck) than the latest releases.

Welcome to retrogaming. It won’t be “cool,” but hey — most of us remember when there was absolutely nothing cool about playing video games, anyway. But it will be fun, and that’s the point, isn’t it?

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 14 Comments to Read

How Government Regulation Exterminated Indie Gaming

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 7, 2010

Time for a rant!

South Korea’s evidently decided to levy mandatory game ratings on all games, even free downloadable titles. Their mandatory government board, the GRB, has taken to enforcing its fees – a tax on all game-makers, big, small, commercial, or free.

The end result? The hobbyist / beginner / non-commercial indie market has been pretty much wiped out. Even listing links to “unrated” games is illegal. Low-end developers can’t afford the fees (which are still a lot cheaper than, say, ESRB fees here in the U.S.).

You can read more here:

Indie Game Making Scene Got Fatal Blow By Game Rating Board

(More discussion of it on the TIGsource forums)

Think it can’t happen in the United States? Think again. It already has and does happen in some industries. Oftentimes it is apparent nanny-statism in the name of “protecting the consumer” (or the overused, “protecting the children!”), but it is often done to protect a consortium of major players in an industry from any new competition.

And, of course, revenue-starved government bodies in this economic environment are pretty quick to bleed any untapped source of taxes or fees they can get their hands on.

Fortunately, in the games biz, I haven’t heard of the major players being openly hostile towards the indies — maybe sneering and disdainful, but often helpful and supportive. And as long as video games are considered protected free speech (a contention that has held up in spite of being under assault by many lawmakers), we’ve got a pretty good shot at keeping indie games open and full of opportunity.

And in other countries? I’m afraid I’m too ignorant to really know how things are in many other places, but I doubt the threat is limited to Korea.

Tip o’ the top-hat to Bad Sector for the tip.

Filed Under: Politics - Comments: 6 Comments to Read

Special Utah “Get Lamp” Presentation

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 6, 2010

This is from Mike Rubin, developer of “Vespers 3D.” I’m just passing along the info:

Utah Gamers:

I thought I would let you know about a special film screening that will be taking place in SLC next weekend, since it is related to the computer games industry.

Many of you know the first computer games probably originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and were entirely based on text input and output. One of the first games was Colossal Cave, also known as ADVENT or Adventure — a game designed by Will Crowther (and later expanded by Don Woods) to reproduce the experience of exploring the Bedquilt portion of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. The game is recognized as the first computer adventure game, and laid the foundation for an entire industry of adventure games, including well-known (to us old people, at least) games like Zork and others from Infocom — perhaps the best and most successful commerical text adventure game company in the 1980s. These games, it could be argued, helped spawn the entire computer games industry as we know it.

Some of you may know Jason Scott; he is a digital historian and archivist who specializes in early computer history, particularly the old dial-up bulletin board systems. He is also a documentary filmmaker, who previously made a film on the history of those old BBS systems. This past month he finally released his latest work, GET LAMP, a documentary film about those old text adventure games and the people who made them. As he describes it:

“Rising from side projects at universities and engineering companies, adventure games would describe a place, and then ask what to do next. They presented puzzles, tricks and traps to be overcome. They were filled with suspense, humor and sadness. And they offered a unique type of joy as players discovered how to negotiate the obstacles and think their way to victory. These players have carried their memories of these text adventures to the modern day, and a whole new generation of authors have taken up the torch to present a new set of places to explore. GET LAMP is a documentary that will tell the story of the creation of these incredible games, in the words of the people who made them.”

I have invited Jason to come to SLC for a special in-person screening of the movie, with commentary and Q&A to follow. The screening will take place at Brewvies in downtown SLC (677 South 200 West) on Sunday, September 12th at 7:30PM. It will be open to the public, and admission is FREE. Brewvies has a capacity of 160, so there should be plenty of seats. However, keep in mind that because Brewvies serves beer, only those 21 and over are allowed in.

Please come and support the event! Jason is a fascinating and entertaining person, and knows a heck of a lot about computers, computer history, filmmaking, the demoscene, and much more, and is just a very cool person to listen to.

There is a Facebook page for the event at <http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144306705605385>.  The official web site for the movie is at <http://www.getlamp.com>. Check it out, and let me know if you think you will be able to make it. Hope to see you there!

Filed Under: Adventure Games - Comments: Read the First Comment

The Fall of a Major Independent Game Studio

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

Note: “Independent” in this context means not owned by a publisher. Not “indie.”

Sensory Sweep Studio was, by studio head Dave Rushton’s calculation, the largest independent video game studio in North America at one point (after Bioware was bought out by EA). I’m not exactly sure of it’s size, but when I was working there it was around 200 employees, maybe a little north of there at one point. The new facilities that were finished shortly after I got there were pretty cool – they had the tiles of the break room arranged like the pixels of a Space Invaders game. I seriously do believe that Dave intended for it to be a great place to work, a place for people who loved making games to be happy.

And then… well, this happened.

It didn’t happen all at once. Fortunately, I’d been through the “Dot Com Crash” circa 2000 – 2001, and already knew the warning signs of a company teetering on the brink. I started job hunting in earnest with the first bounced paycheck (which was replaced with a new paycheck – which also bounced. Third time, fortunately, was the charm).  They paychecks continued to become more erratic. I was torn between a professional desire and obligation to my team, and a desire to escape while the getting was good. Eventually, as my morale dropped through the floor of the basement, my self-preservation instinct in high gear, and a good job offer landed in my pocket, the latter won out.

Which means I’m one of the lucky ones. Another six weeks, and I would have been one of the stiffed employees this article was talking about.

I do not understand enough about running a business of that size, and I was (fortunately) not privy at all to what was going on behind the closed doors there. So I can’t really offer any kind of specific opinion on what should have been done differently.  But while we do talk of companies laying off developers for one reason or another, this is a reminder of what happens to a company that DOESN’T do that.

The other point here is that this really scares me if I ever get to the point where Rampant Games goes full time and actually has employees.  I’m a long way from worrying about that, but still…  A business owner who is “smoking hopium” too long and plays too many accounting games just to avoid making hard decisions for too long can find themselves in this kind of disaster. A kind of disaster that could lead to jail time and never being able to work in the industry again.

Sobering stuff.

Filed Under: Biz - Comments: Comments are off for this article

Brad Wardell Offers a “Mea Culpa” Over Elemental’s Release

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 3, 2010

Brad Wardell is an indie. A big indie, in charge of a part-business-app and part-gaming company, Stardock. He’s one of the good guys. He wrote up the “Gamer’s Bill of Rights.” He makes the kinds of games the mainstream guys don’t make any more. His solution to piracy is (in part) to make games for the customers, not the pirates.

And, I should note, the complete version of Stardock’s Galactic Civilizations 2 with both expansions is pretty much awesome with a side of awesome smothered with awesome sauce.

Earlier this week I shared that ancient little note from Richard Garriott where he offered an explanation – and almost an apology – for Ultima VIII. There were comments (including from me) about how devs today don’t take that kind of ownership and responsibility. Except the indies, usually.

Well, Wardell – the indie – has now done just that. I’ve not played Stardock’s newly-released Elemental: War of Magic. But apparently, the launch hasn’t gone so well. And Wardell owned up to it, took responsibility, and… well. I dunno. As a developer,  I can’t read his public apology and not feel sympathetic pains. That could be me… with any game I make.

He makes some painful – if vague – admissions of what went wrong. Though when I read, “I don’t think people yet fully realize the completeness of Stardock’s fail on Elemental’s launch,” I wonder if he’s beating himself up a tad much. He’s used to releasing games that receive rave reviews. I don’t know. But it sounds like he’s going to be pulling out all the stops to salvage things on what sounded like a promising concept. I hope they succeed.

Filed Under: Biz - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

The Episode Problem

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 2, 2010

When Robert Jordan was still alive and his Wheel of Time series was The Hot Thing in fantasy (I guess that was a while ago, huh?), I deliberately avoided it. My wife finally coerced me into listening to the first book on tape when I had a long commute a few years ago, but I am still holding with the first book. When asked, I simply responded that I was afraid the author would die before the series was concluded – a concern that was completely justified, in retrospect, although now my friends are more excited about Brandon Sanderson’s conclusion to the series than the last few books Jordan penned himself.

It took me a while to finally take the plunge and start reading the Harry Dresden series, too. Again, it was partly the same concern, about jumping into a planned series that didn’t have a conclusion yet. However, I was finally convinced, and read through the entire series, JUST in time to be stuck with the massive, horrible cliffhanger / shocker in the latest novel of the series, Changes. D’oh! I knew my mistrust was not misplaced!

Anyway, I don’t know if my paranoia about incomplete series is entirely unique. Maybe it has been bred by seeing too many promising TV series unceremoniously canceled, or playing too many video games that end in loose threads with the expectation of a follow-on that never happened.

Or maybe because, as a follower of the indie / hobbyist scene, I’ve been overwhelmed with promises of trilogies that only saw one or two releases.

Maybe it was the childhood trauma of having to wait three years to find out what happened to Han Solo.

Whatever the case – I find myself paranoid about unfinished stories. Intellectually, I realize the silliness of this problem. I have voluntarily abandoned many stories (especially with games and TV shows), and not always out of a lack of interest. My response is probably not a rational one. When dealing with “episodes” – parts of a greater story – if they don’t stand on their own well enough, it probably indicates a poor story in the first place.

But the end result is that I find myself resistant to playing what is advertised as the  first game of a planned series. My immediate thought is “unfinished!” Unless I somehow find reason to trust the developer, I will often wait until at least the second game proves the developer’s intent and ability to make good on their promise.

With the “Orbs of Magic” sub-series, starting with Aveyond: Lord of Twilight, Amaranth Games had already proven itself with previous game releases. While the other Aveyond games did make up something of a series (especially if you include the free “prequel,” Ahriman’s Prophecy), they weren’t advertised as being a part of anything. They stood alone quite well.

I don’t know how then-newcomer Basilisk Games convinced me that all was well with Eschalon: Book 1. That’s pretty much the textbook case for the sort of titles / series I would avoid (if only the game wasn’t so good…). Right away, it sends a signal that it is only part of the larger series, and might not stand on its own very well (but probably better than the second or third book…). Fortunately, I played it anyway.

And it’s really more of a perception problem anyway, as in many cases the second or third “parts” of the game series stand alone just fine, providing plenty of background for new players to get into the thing.

And a s a side note, does anybody remember how “The Bard’s Tale” was originally supposed to be part of a series, ‘Tales of the Unknown“? It was volume 1. The series just became “The Bard’s Tale.” It’s a good thing that my friends didn’t refer to it by its full title back in the day when they got me interested in it.

One advantage to making a game appear to be an integral part of a series is that each new release can encourage players to go back and play earlier games in the series. You don’t get that with more “loose” series – the release of Madden NFL 2010 probably doesn’t trigger a surge of buying Madden NFL 2009. But this benefit is probably overshadowed by the number of people who won’t buy the sequel until they’ve finished the original.

Of course, here I am doing pretty much the same thing with Frayed Knights, which is probably why I’m obsessing over this little problem right now. Are many gamers like me in this respect? Is it really a problem? And if so, what can be done to overcome it?

Filed Under: Production - Comments: 16 Comments to Read

Historical Note: Lord British Half-Apologizes for Ultima VIII

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 1, 2010

A long time ago, I bought Ultima VIII: Pagan on CD, but never actually ended up playing more than a few minutes of it. Didn’t quite get into it. And some of the grumblings I heard from other players and critics made me a little less than optimistic to “power through” the beginning of the game in hopes of finding great rewards of fun at the end.

(Kinda like how / why I never finished Final Fantasy XII, come to think of it…)

Stumbling across the CD a couple of weeks ago, I decided to install it again just to reacquaint myself with it. Now, this was a re-release of the game, which originally shipped on floppy discs in 1994 for DOS. The re-release came fully patched and at a discounted price (IIRC). Anyway, as I was figuring out how to install it (in DOSBox), I came across a text file to fans by Richard “Lord British” Garriott that kinda surprised me. Here’s the full text of the message:

Dear Ultima Fans,

With each Ultima we have created, we have made massive changes in technology, interface and approach.  This pattern was started with the first few Ultimas.  Back in those days we were just learning how to make games.  By the time one was finished it was clear that there was a much better way, so the best plan was usually to start over from scratch.  Interestingly, it had another effect as well.  Since each game was really, measurably, noticeably better than its predecessor, it also sold better.  Whereas, most of Ultima’s competitors, were cranking out sequels in the same old engine and selling to a subset of their initial market.  So our pattern of innovation and experimentation that began as a learning experience became a powerful tool to insure success.

With each new game it is always the interface and play style experiments that cause the most debate.   With each product it is interesting to note how changes we have made are received.  I remember how much debate there was about converting from keyboard control to mouse control, a decision I am very pleased with now.  There is still an ongoing debate about ‘mono scale maps’ like we have had in the last few Ultimas.  In fact it appears that for Ultima IX we are going to have two scales, town scale and outdoor travel scale.  This will allow more interesting travel by horses, ships, dragons and such.  I’m sure these debates will continue.  Probably the most debated play style changes, though, came in Ultima VIII.

In Ultima VIII, we worked very hard to reach a lofty goal of audio visual impact.  We wanted the Avatar to be seen in greatly  detailed animation.  We wanted it to feel like you were really there.  In addition we were concerned by the fact that Ultimas had become so big, that only hard core gamers were willing to play them. They were especially daunting to new, non-Ultima-playing gamers.  So we decided to really focus on the scope and pace of the game to try to reach some of this ‘new’ audience.  To a large degree, we succeeded at many of our goals.  Ultima VIII is easily the most beautiful Ultima to date; the animation is smooth and detailed.  This  helped draw new players to the product who had never bothered to look before, especially in Europe.  This did, however, come at some cost.

Many aspects of what people had grown accustomed to in an Ultima were less emphasized, and some new aspects felt a bit out of place. And, overall, there was so much change that I think we had not yet mastered the new style.  Like they say, hindsight is 20/20…

We have studied and examined Ultima VIII, considered customer feedback, and debated new directions for Ultima IX.  We have come up with a plan that, we believe, will retain the strong advancements we made in Ultima VIII and really give people the epic game that will be worthy of the last game in the trilogy of trilogies!

Origin has always prided itself on strong customer interaction.  Customer feedback consistently mentioned issues with the implementation of jumping, the arcade feel, a frustrating user interface, holes in the storyline, and low interactivity. The design of Ultima IX (which is still in progress) relies heavily on this feedback and has resulted in a dramatic turnaround back toward classic role playing. Even better, it has resulted in a classic Britannian Ultima.

Some of the new design features were tested in the Ultima VIII engine. The jumping was improved by removing the fixed distance and allow a ‘targeted’ jump. The user interface was also improved.  Ultima VIII game play was enhanced so much that Origin decided to publish a patch.  As long as a patch was going to be published, some members of the Ultima VIII team got together and fixed other parts of the game: interface, story, and even some map details. In all, nearly 100 different modifications and enhancements were made.

I am confident that if you try out this patch, you will be very pleased.

Lord British

I imagine this is only of interest to geeks like me who are as fascinated by the history of video games as the games themselves. I know there’s a few of you.

While the awesomeness that was supposed to be Ultima IX didn’t quite materialize as planned (but then Ultima Online came out and changed everything), this was a surprisingly frank note to the fans from Garriott explaining why they made the decisions they did, and asking the players to give the game another chance with the patch – and to not give up faith in the next Ultima. And it acknowledged, it seems, the fan’s misgivings about having yet another Ultima set in a different world from the one they loved (as much as I’m sure the designers were sick of it).

I don’t know if this was the right PR move for Origin, to have the founder and originator of the series issue this semi-apology, but I think it reflects a level of integrity, accountability, and personal ownership in the game that gets lost in the modern mainstream games biz today, with the designers and developers shielded by layers of middlemen and lost in committees. One more reason I’m more and more into indie games these days.

I think it also demonstrates the difficulty and risks taking a “hardcore” game series and trying to make it more accessible to a new audience.  It’s a good goal, certainly, but there is a chance you can lose the vets and not pick up the newbies. Fundamentally altering the style of gameplay – in this case, providing more arcade-style feel and mechanics – is probably a mistake. It seems here that they smelled money (or were pushed that way by their new owners, EA) in the more console-style world and made a hybrid that wasn’t appreciated by either side very much. They patched it to eliminate the more aggravating aspects for their core audience – but was it too late?

(Personally, I doubt it was… I think the real problem was that Ultima IX was too late, but that’s just an uninformed opinion).

Anyway, there are undoubtedly some more lessons to be gleaned from this for RPG makers. As indies generally have to learn everything for themselves, without a support network of experienced vets to guide them, it’s helpful to devour whatever lessons history provides us.

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Orcs and Elves are Mainstream Now?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 31, 2010

It’s kinda weird. Back when I was a young’un playing Dungeons & Dragons, elves were Santa’s helpers, and almost nobody outside of the geek set had a clue what we meant when we talked about orcs.

Nowadays, principally due to the the success of the Lord of the Rings movies and World of Warcraft, elves and orcs have permeated the geek membrane to enter mainstream understanding. Maybe not  immediate recognition, but in the same way that a casual listener might understand references about a “727” to be “some kind of jet airliner.”

I guess in some ways this is a geek victory that I always wanted to see when I was a kid – when our joy of Tolkien and fantasy RPGs might catch on within the greater culture. But it also feels a little weird when I overhear people in the movie theater talking about their Night Elf or their guild raid. It’s like the raw, untamed wilderness once explored as a youth turned into an amusement park.

And in the world of video games, a game involving a Tolkienesque fantasy world is kind of a “safe, familiar” setting. Particularly for “core” gamers. A game set in Victorian England? Or at the height of the Mayan civilization? Or the American West? Now that’s weird and risky!

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 16 Comments to Read

“We Sold One and a Half Million Copies of a Dying Genre on a Dying Platform”

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 30, 2010

Here’s a fun little interview with Tomasz Gop about The Witcher 2 at Gamasutra:

Working in ‘a Dying Genre on a Dying Platform’

The quote that makes the title of this article is their favorite joke – their way of sticking it to the publishers and pundits that still predict doom if you make PC-only games, or especially a hardcore RPG. There’s no market for either anymore, right?

Shyeah. Right.

Granted, I kinda considered The Witcher to be more of an action-RPG, and the video preview I’ve seen of the sequel looks very… well, even more action-gamey. Tomasz protests the action-RPG label in this interview: “The most important thing that we know is that people still believe good hardcore RPGs are playable. People want to play these. There’s one misconception many people have… This is not ‘action RPG,’ this is not ‘slasher RPG.’ We’re trying to really make a solid RPG.”

And I will have to concur. I mean, I love my turn-based RPGs. But I don’t think that the action-y aspect precludes it from being a hardcore RPG.  Din’s Curse, Ultima VII, and Baldur’s Gate are all pretty action-oriented and few would argue that they aren’t hardcore RPGs. Not that I have a great working definition for “hardcore RPG” in the first place.

Really,  I just love these guys’ attitude – from their work on RPGs to the awesomeness that is GOG.COM, they seem to be kindred spirits. Now I feel an urge to finally finish The Witcher. Just… need… more… time…

Filed Under: Biz, Interviews - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

Making a Game – On Fast Forward

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could make a game this fast?

But no – this is a time-lapse look at Markus “Minecraft” Persson’s Ludum Dare 18 entry – a “game in a weekend” competition. As with many of the competitors, it’s dang impressive what was accomplished in only 48 hours of development time.

The cool thing about this video, though, is the insight it can give new developers into the process of developing the game. I haven’t really dissected the video in detail, but you can see the stages that take place from the early conceptual prototype with squares of color to the final game. Persson knows what he’s doing – probably better than I do.

You can play the final game here:

Metagun

I’m pretty impressed with the game. It’s — well, not exactly a shooter. More of a puzzle game. Involving shooting.

Have fun!

(Hat tip to gamr src for the link!)

Filed Under: Free Games, Game Development - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

Reinventing the RPG Genre?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 27, 2010

When I read some smarmy designer-turned-marketing guy brag in the press about how they are making an RPG that is “reinventing the genre” (or effectively making such a statement, using only slightly more humble terminology), I generally read this as code for, “We’re making it more like God of War or some other action-game.”

And, sadly, I’m almost always right. The experiment-averse mainstream video game industry unfortunately keeps chasing last year’s hits, “evolving” towards one lowest-common-denominator monogame that is sure to be enjoyable to everybody (but truly loved by very few).  Yeah. I’ve gotten cynical.

And then I see hints of something that very well may pull off what these blowhards claim. I’m inevitably disappointed by the final result striking short of the mark, but it’s enough of a success for me to quiet my inner cynic and experience the joy that I felt when I first discovered video games.

But that kind of experience isn’t coming from the usual sources these days.  Nowadays, more often than not, it comes from the indies. Sure, many of them play it safe as well, but there’s a big enough pool of risk-takers to yield interesting and successful results now. So rare that you get both at the same time…

I had something like that happen a few years ago when Soldak released Depths of Peril. I was expecting Yet Another Diablo Clone. But while it was far from perfect, and some of its more experimental elements probably interfered with the “fun” factor for many players, it was an experiment that pushed the boundaries of what an RPG could be. It was an amazingly fresh experience for me. While it of course didn’t represent the New Direction All RPGs Must Travel, it certainly blazed a trail into some new territory.

That’s what I expect from a game “reinventing” a genre. (And yeah, Cute Knight Deluxe did it for me, too. ) I keep talking about evolution not being a single a linear path to a single ultimate destination, but rather a variety of specialist offshoots that take the genre in new and different directions, some of which don’t work and die off, but others that find a way to survive in a particular ecological niche. I want to see more of this. For me, “reinventing the genre” isn’t necessarily blazing a trail for ALL to follow, but some to follow and then improve on.

I have hopes of seeing this again. Soon. But apparently not in 2010. But there’s a particular indie RPG I’ve now got my eye on.

I’ve mentioned “Zombie RPG” here a few times. It is now officially titled, Dead State.

The design updates have continually caught my interest. With the publishing of an interview at RPS with Brian Mitsoda, I have officially gone from being merely intrigued to out-and-out enthusiastic.

If these guys pull it off – and as veteran mainstream devs I give them far better odds than most first-time indies – then I think this game really could “reinvent the genre.” They are forging off into uncharted territory with a hell of a lot of cool ideas, and most of them have nothing to do with zombies.

I became a fan of RPGs because of the potential for just these kinds of new experiences. Sure, I can enjoy some plain-ol’ (but well-designed) traditional RPG experience with a fun storyline and some interesting mechanics. I mean, I’m making a game like that. But really, I became a fan because I saw the potential to experience not just epic battles and cool locations but also the kind of tough, meaninful choices and human drama found in gripping novels and movies. And we get that, sometimes, in dice-and-paper RPGs. Just not so much in the cRPG analog.

Doublebear seems to have an idea of one way to explore these neglected aspects of the genre. While its success may be limited to only the veteran players of the genre, I think it could do a lot more to “reinvent” things than anything Molyneux or Bioware has pulled off recently.

So – to the Mitsodas and everyone else working with Doublebear on Dead State – please don’t screw this up. 🙂

Filed Under: Indie Evangelism - Comments: 3 Comments to Read

At Least Some Things Don’t Change

Posted by Rampant Coyote on

We bought a minivan (also known in Utah as a “Mormon Assault Vehicle”). Not that we have enough kids to justify it – we only have the two. But see, my youngest daughter entered junior high school this week.  And the ladies in the neighborhood carpool to school and other activities, and to participate in some of the carpools one needs to have enough room for more than four kids. Yeah. She’s now a (gasp!) “soccer mom.” And then there’s the fact that most “wagons” nowadays don’t have trunk space to handle camping gear & farmers market sales stuff & trips to visit the in-laws at Christmas time with all the presents…

That means our crappy old wagon with the hatch that no longer opens goes to the older daughter, who is taking driver’s ed now and will be eligible for a license in December.

Last week, I hurt my back. Again. Not too badly, this time – I took care of it immediately. It’s due to a cracked vertebrae I got when I was approximately seventeen years old. Whether from gymnastics or all that running around in chain mail hitting people and being hit by fake swords, I’m not sure which.

The sex-symbols of my youth – those who didn’t die of drug overdose – are starting to look… *gasp* … old.

I have eyebrow hairs that are turning gray.

I just have one question:

HOW THE FREAK DID THIS HAPPEN?

A scant fifteen years ago (er, I guess almost sixteen, now) I was a fresh-faced kid right outta college who was the youngest employee at a newly-funded game company called SingleTrac. Employee #16. I was “the kid.” Surrounded by “old guys” in their mid-30’s to pushing 50. Yeah, even then we recognized that the employees at SingleTrac were WAY-WAY older than the median in the games biz. Still – I was self-conscious about being the “kid.”

Things change.

When I was in school, I assumed that once I got married, had kids, etc. I’d have to give up the gaming lifestyle and burning the midnight oil. I’d eventually outgrow all that silly gaming stuff.

Fortunately, I married a (moderate) gamer. We still get together with friends weekly to play D&D or some other RPG – many of the same folks we’ve been playing with since college.  We’ve sporting a few more pounds and a few more gray hairs than we did back then, but we’re still the same bunch of gamers.  Our kids are playing now, too… though they don’t get to play in the “grown-up” games except in one-shots on Thanksgiving or whatnot. We’re embarrassed enough by what they overhear in our regular weekly gaming sessions. Yes, mommy and daddy sometimes make jokes about wild gnome sex.

And I’m still playing video games. Sometimes the same games I was playing twenty years ago. And I’m still staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning either making or playing games. People keep telling me how they used to do it but found they couldn’t do it anymore as they got older. How old? Oh, about thirty or so, they say.

Hah. Wusses.

So maybe this is some indication that my mental and emotional progression is completely stunted while my physical age, unfortunately, marches on.  It’s no fair when life decides to keep going when you decide you are happy where you are at. But I’m really glad that some things don’t change.

Viva la games!

Filed Under: Geek Life - Comments: 4 Comments to Read

The Dungeons & Dragons Effect

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 26, 2010

Jason Wilson explores the influence of the original dice-and-paper RPG, Dungeons & Dragons, on the video game industry — from the early days until today. The article includes comments from Brenda Brathwaite (Wizardry series, among other games), Thomasz Gop of CD Projekt (The Witcher), and Tony Evans of Obsidian  (Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir, and others) and now Bioware.

Gamespy: The Dungeons & Dragons Effect

Evans in particular takes the “RPGs are dead, long live the RPG” attitude. He notes that while many gamers view RPG as a “badge of honor,” for most gamers it is a “dirty word,” and believes that attitude needs to shift. One assumes that means making RPGs more accessible, something which Bioware seems intent on doing.

Which of course, we old-school hard-core RPGers see as a code-word for “dumbed down.” But when selling to the masses, they ain’t got much choice anymore.

Filed Under: Retro - Comments: 12 Comments to Read

Are JRPGs “True” RPGs?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 25, 2010

Kombo.com makes the assertion, “An RPG is not an RPG when it’s a JRPG.”

I wanted to get all up in their grill with that and whip out Persona as the counterpoint, but they already made that exception themselves.  D’oh. So instead, as a fan of (some) jRPGs, I still feel a desire to defend them against this accusation – particularly with all the RPGs I have of that style that I promote on the Rampant Games website.

But I gotta admit that they do have a point.

Not that I agree wholeheartedly with the point, or that I’m about to replace Final Fantasy VI with Elite on my personal list of RPGs. There are folks who claim that no computer RPG is a “true” RPG who also have a point.

I have a somewhat broad definition of RPGs, so I do take a bit of an issue with something that excludes around half the games in the market (more, if in terms of sales) but ensures Mass Effect 2 is on the accepted list. That sounds a little arbitrary to me.

Open-ended, sandbox-y worlds with lots of player freedom is certainly a preference of mine. It’s how I roll.  But it’s not a completely exclusionary principle for me, especially with so many shades of that freedom available in both western and eastern RPG design styles. I mean, when the Final Fantasy games open up character development and finally give you an airship or equivalent to allow you to travel just about anywhere in the world (although most of it has already been visited), is that really that far from something like Knights of the Old Republic, with it’s pre-generated party members (your own character had somewhat fixed development path and, it turns out, an established pre-game history as well).

Or was KotOR not a ‘true’ RPG either?

I won’t call the argument a straw man, but it does seem to place the extremes of the jRPG design approach as a more typical or generic case. And as I really haven’t played THAT many “true” jRPGs (meaning console RPGs coming out of Japan) – so many don’t even make it officially to the U.S. shores  –  I can’t really claim with any authority that they aren’t a typical case. But based on my experience, I just don’t feel I can draw a clear line along such a wide, fuzzy border.

I have a tough enough time explaining why I don’t feel X-Com was an RPG. If you were to place it side-by-side with Mass Effect, Titan Quest, and Fable II, and ask, “Which one isn’t a REAL RPG, and why?”, it might not be the one I pick.

So sure – you can probably point at some extreme cases in the jRPG genre and make a case for rejecting them as “true” RPGs. The RPG genre has been one of the most borrowed-from, mashed, and played with that there are lots out outliers which are really arguable. That’s cool.  Those are fun, if sometimes heated, debates.

But rejecting the entire design style outright (even with exceptions) as members of a genre seems more a case of defending a style preference than adding clarity to the discussion.

Hat tip to GameBanshee for the link!

Filed Under: Design - Comments: 7 Comments to Read



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