Avernum 6 Released for Windows
The final chapter of the Avernum Series is now out for Windows.

Grab it while supplies last!

Avernum 6 for Windows. (Or for Mac if you haven't already.)

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:23 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Eschalon: Book II Trailer
The trailer for Eschalon: Book II, the sequel for the best-selling indie RPG (wait for it...) Eschalon Book I, is now available:

Eschalon: Book 2 Trailer

The new game continues the storyline and setting of the original, but with an all-new adventure - and some new graphics - which includes:

* The ability to play as either a male or female character this time
* Higher-resolution graphics
* Weather effects - which have an impact on the game (not just for eye candy)
* More skills, and better skill balance from the first game
* Improved UI
* Equipment presets
* Multiple difficulty modes

Eschalon: Book 1 won high praise for managing to capture a lot of the "old school" flavor of the games many of us loved back in the 80s and 90s, but combined it with nicer graphics and the niceties of the modern user experience. I expect to see the sequel take that winning combination and push it even further.

I am looking forward to this one!

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:51 AM (Permalink) 4 comments links to this post

 
Czech Adventure / RPG "Legie" Now In the Coyote's Den
You know, just a few weeks ago I was thinking to myself, "Self, you know what we need? We need more indie Adventure/RPGs where you have to clean up vomit!*"

And then, appearing as if by summons, comes Legie. Legie, meaning "Legion," is a Czech adventure / RPG that starts out with you as an innkeeper's assistant, serving beer and - yes - cleaning up vomit. Most RPGs start you out at the bottom, but Legie has to stoop a little lower, as everybody in this game is already in pretty sad shape. Plague is ravaging the land, the economy is dying, and people are giving up hope. Instead, they seek solace in their alcohol and the local pub - which means you.

And then you run out of beer.

Ah! Quest time! A quest that will take you deep into the neighboring mines, battling enemies, and consuming alcohol. What's not to like?

Legie eschews the trappings of traditional fantasy to tell a story set in the medieval Czech town of Jilemnice. There are no elves, dragons, wizards, or so forth. Or save-the-world quests.

The movement system takes a little getting used to - you move in ten-foot steps in spite of the environment being "true" 3D. The demo, in particular, is all adventure-game style, though it has some RPG elements later on. It is probably not a game that will appeal to brute-force hack-and-slashers. But I have a soft spot for the strange, quirky, and different, and all three seem to apply pretty well to Legie. Plus, it's a 3D, first-person perspective game (and not cute-anime style, WCG!), which also makes it stand out amongst most other indie RPGs these days.

So I've added Legie to the (rapidly expanding!) collection of RPGs for sale at Rampant Games.

As always, give the free demo a try and see what you think:

Download Legie here

* Okay, no, I didn't, but I should have!

Labels: Adventure Games, Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:47 AM (Permalink) 5 comments links to this post

 
Cute Knight Kingdom. 'N Stuff
Yeah. I'm a Cute Knight fan. Yeah, that sounds kinda awkward admission, doesn't it? But there it is. The game really does rock. It's a melding of an old-school dungeon-crawler with a life "sim" done in a cute anime style. With a zillion or so endings and huge replayability. While it's specifically designed to appeal to girls, I have to admit that I really enjoyed it, too. It was a fun, quirky melding of ideas into a very fun whole.

The sequel - Cute Knight Kingdom - is now available. And I expect it to be just as fun. Even though the inventory screen to the right here is a little over-the-top. I have not played it yet, as Hanako managed to release it when I am TOTALLY SWAMPED. She did that to taunt me, I am sure. I've only been bugging her about the sequel for like three years.

What are you doing still reading this? Cute. Knight. Kingdom. Don't make her get all medieval on you. She can out-cook, out-clean, AND out-fight you, you know!

Unfortunately, the current version is only available for Windows. But I expect, like the original, we should see Mac and Linux versions soon.

Speaking of the original (well, the Deluxe version of the original), Hanako has decided to reduce the price to a mere $9.95 for it. And making me change the price on my website first thing in the friggin' morning (durn British indies!). If that's what you have been waiting for, you can pick up Cute Knight Deluxe here.

Well - I've been waiting for this one for a while.

Cute Knight Kingdom Demo (Windows Only)

Labels: Cute Knight, Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 5:30 AM (Permalink) 8 comments links to this post

 
A Kingdom for Keflings Coming to PC
NinjaBee announces: A Kingdom for Keflings Coming to PC

Beta testers needed! Score the game for free for your labors!

My total work on this title consisted of maybe a week working on the dynamic music system which may not actually still be in the code. But the really cool thing as an indie - besides it being an awesome indie title by some friends of mine - is that it originated (kinda) as a "Game in a Day" experiment called "Rome" back in 2005 or so. I wrote up a bit about Steve Taylor's talk on successful Game-In-A-Day-ing in my report on the Fall 2009 Utah Indie Night.

See? Those Game-In-A-Day "experiments" can really bear fruit!

I hope it does well on the PC. If you want to check out some other NinjaBee PC titles, take a look at Outpost Kaloki and Band of Bugs. Neither of which I really had much to do with, either. Except for kibitzing.

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 3:15 PM (Permalink) 1 comments links to this post

 
New At Rampant Games: The Three Musketeers
Hey! Look! A new indie RPG that is not in the 16-bit jRPG style! Huzzah! (And I have another one coming up in a couple of days). And - get this - it's for the Mac as well as PC! See, it does happen once in a while...

Dingo Games has released The Three Musketeers: The Game, now available in the Rampant Games Store. That's right, a game inspired by the famous candy bar! Now you too can enjoy chocolaty goodness in a role-playing game...

Er, oops. No, sorry, that's not right.

No, this is a game based on the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas, which has gone on to spawn countless movies, stage performances, TV shows, and other incarnations. It is the original master prototype of all swashbuckling tales of adventure. I'm fairly partial to buckling a few swashes myself, and became an immediate fan of the book when I read it in the sixth grade. While not the first game based on the novel, it IS the first computer RPG.

You play young d'Artagnon, off to seek his fortune and join the Musketeers. The game has you covering quite a bit of territory in 17th century France, though fortunately travel by horseback is fairly speedy. The game consists (as far as I've played) of a linear arrangement of quests. A path of yellow footprints are provided by default (I think you can turn off this option) to help you find the next quest So you won't get lost. While that feels a little like being led by the nose (and it is), the game also encourages you to go off the path and explore. By doing this, I found one subquest (which I didn't yet qualify to undertake), and I found some thieves, ruffians, and men being very impolite to women who needed to have their ways adjusted by the tip of my blade and / or a gunshot.

Man, it's like being Batman, but with a fancy plumed hat.

The game does have unavoidable "cut scenes" in the form of comic pages. One thing I liked about these scenes is that you can mouse-over the speakers to find out their names, just to make sure you keep the characters all straight. If they haven't been identified yet, they may only be referred to as the "Man from Meung" or something like that.

While I'd rather see these scenes play out in-game, there's just a lot of cases where it just isn't feasible. Especially on an indie budget. They work. That's the important part.

One of the more interesting points of the game that I want to explore more is the concept of honor. You have four major stats (besides health) - your attack skills with firearms and sword, your defense ability, and "honor." Honor comes by leveling, and also by your equipment. While a new, fancy collar might only give you a minor defensive benefit over a cheap, dirty one, it may grant you a significant bonus to your honor. I'm not sure all what honor is used for, but I do know that you need a minimum level of honor to qualify for undertaking a subquest. People in Paris do not just let ANYBODY run their fed-ex quests... no, they need someone who looks professional and has a good reputation.

And really, there is some sense to that. It's just kinda nifty to me that your clothing and gear is important beyond combat. This was also the case in Cute Knight, where I found I had to maintain two separate outfits - one for social occasions, and one for exploring the dungeons. Hey, at least this time I get to play a guy when I do that...

And when I play Tennis. Yeah, there's a tennis mini-game in this thing. The game of French nobility.

Combat is ... well, I hesitate to call it an "action RPG," because it's not the traditional click-fest. But it does happen in real-time, and you have to time your usage of healing ointments or timing a click on an opponent during the brief moments in which he is most vulnerable. But otherwise you click to start the combat and watch them go at it, trying to time other actions when necessary. It won't tax your tactical skills or anything, but it does take some active participation and skill.

Guns take time to reload, dependent upon the type of firearm you own. They reload even slower if you are busy doing something else. So normally you open a combat with a pistol or musket shot, and then go at it with swords.

I've had fun playing it so far, and I encourage you to check it out if it looks anything like your cup of tea. Actually, I encourage you to buy it from Rampant Games to help me support my indie game habit. But only if you like it.

How do you know if you'll like it? Why, by playing the free demo, of course! It gives you enough time to get into a lot of trouble, fight a bunch of duels, and become buds with Athos, Porthos, Aramis (after your duel to the death with them is so rudely interrupted by the Cardinal's guards...)

Download The Three Musketeers: The Game at Rampant Games
Available for Windows and Mac.

Have you tried it? What did you think? Did I miss anything cool or clumsy? Let me know here, or in the forums!

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:06 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Archon Classic Preview
At the Utah Indie Game Night, I got the chance to play the upcoming title from React Games, Archon Classic. It is still unfinished, but quite playable.

I'm old enough to remember playing the original. *Sigh*. I was excited about the chance to play this new version. We ended up having a four-player team game which lasted a half-hour or so. And after having played it, I can only say that I'm even MORE excited about this game now. I had that much fun.

And it's that faithful to the original. So faithful you'll want to play this one with a gamepad. So faithfulthat you can choose to play with old-school graphics from the original 8-bit game and capture some nostalgia if you are old enough to have it about the original game.

If you do not remember the original, it was one of the original action-strategy games. The game is played on a gridded board. At first blush, it looks a little like chess. Some squares are light, some dark, some neutral, and some change color between light and dark over time. Each piece has a different range of movement and some other movement restrictions. Two of the figures on the board can cast spells to do things like reverse the color cycling of tiles, resurrect defeated pieces, and so forth.

The goal of the game is to possess all five special squares on the game board, or to be the last man standing. (As one of the developers told me, it's amazing how often it comes down to the latter in the new game)

The big difference between Archon and chess is what happens when a piece lands on an square occupied by an opponent. In Archon, it's not an automatic victory. It means a action-based battle must take place. One side may get an advantage if the square color favors their army (the dark army gets bonuses on darker squares, etc), or they have bonuses obtained from possessing goal squares.

The health lost by the piece in battle remains lost, however (except for the shapeshifter) - which means it is possible to "wear down" a tough piece with weaker pieces over the course of a couple of fights.

This old-school gameplay is faithfully re-created by the new game. It's everything the old game was, but better. These guys were clearly fans of the original, and have taken great care to keep the original game intact.

But then they've added upon it with additional options and gameplay modes. There are quite a few variations, of which I think the original designers would approve. The boards have some different layouts. You can have power-ups that appear randomly on the battlefield that may give your piece health, spread-shot fire, and so forth. Another mode allows your pieces to level-up by defeating enemies - which counters the weaker health they normally. You can choose from several different game boards.

You can have up to four players in either a team mode (each player controls half an army) or in a free-for all. In team mode, you can "double up" pieces on a square. Battles don't begin until everybody has moved for the turn, so you can end up with a 2-on-2 battle over a particular square. I did not play free-for-all, but with each player taking a "corner" and a half-sized army, it should be interesting.

I personally feel the introduction of pick-ups in the game mode we played did wonders for the action sequences, which I always felt was somewhat lacking in depth in the original game. I did not play it against the AI, so I cannot vouch for the AI's ability in either strategy or action mode.

We ran into a few little bugs, but the game is still a couple of weeks from going beta.

As it is a hybrid game, it may not appeal to action gamers who hate strategy / tactics, or strategy gamers who hate real-time action. But if you don't mind a mix of gameplay styles, it's a pretty dang fun game. A good strategy can cover for less-than-stellar gaming reflexes or vice versa. Hey, I'd pretty much lost the game last night, but still managed to take on all comers with my remaining unicorn until the final battle against the sole remaining dark piece, so I feel good about how I did!

It looks like React Games has done a very nice job with the classic license. Go indie! I really look forward to playing the final version.

Labels: Game Announcements, retro

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:13 AM (Permalink) 6 comments links to this post

 
Game Announcement: Dark Souls 2
The only thing that really annoys me about RPG Maker is how it makes me look bad. Folks can use this advanced system come out with a game AND its sequel while I'm still working on the same title. What's up with that?

Sigh. I think I need a Frayed Knights Development Kit. Somebody get on that, will you?

Anyway, Warfare Studios recently released Dark Souls 2. The sequel to their freshman effort, Dark Souls, which was released earlier this year.

The strength of the original game was in the characters and story, and from what I've seen so far, the sequel follows in the same tradition. Dark Souls 2 follows the story of Galahar and Kara, a couple who have been searching for their kidnapped daughter for the last ten years. They've become accomplished adventurers in that time, but the game opens on a somber note, as Galahar seems to have just about given up hope. The trails have all gone cold. He believes she is still alive, but has no idea where to search anymore.

So he and Kara return back to their home town, after ten years of fruitless searching.

And that's when things get interesting.

I understand Galahar ends up becoming a swordmaster, helping people defeat the monsters called "Anomalies" that are threatening civilization, and it all ends up tying into his search for his missing daughter. But I haven't gotten that far yet.

But I keep asking for something "different." The main character here is not an angsty teenager who is somehow the world's biggest badass or anything like that. The game doesn't begin with him getting out of bed because his mother is calling him to make preparations for the town festival. It's not Shakespeare, but it's different and interesting.

Dark Souls 2 is available for Windows systems. You can play the first hour of the game for free to decide whether or not you want to spring for the full version.

Download Dark Souls 2 here!

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:18 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
New Indie Space Combat Game: Naumachia
Three Italian indies have come up with what - at first blush - looks to be a pretty cool space combat game. With "realistic physics" even.

More Info At the Website



Yum.

(Tip o' the Brain Bucket to RPS for the heads-up)

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 10:14 AM (Permalink) 8 comments links to this post

 
Telepath Psy Arena 2 Now Available At Rampant Games
I got to spend a lot of time this weekend playing some new indie games that have just been released. Yeah, it's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.

The third of the trio of games that acted like vampires with a thirst for my spare time was Telepath Psy Arena 2. This is a turn-based tactics game dipped in some heavy RPG-style elements. Still, I'm calling it a strategy game rather than an RPG for the purpose of categorization. But if you are a turn-based RPG fan, you should give this one a look.

Telepath Psy Arena 1 is a free flash game available at the Sinister Design website. The sequel is a premium title, and really expands on the basic gameplay of the original. In particular, it's added a persistent team and campaign and some RPG elements to the core tactical-arena game.

You now manage a team that can level up between battles. You can trade them out or replace fallen members at the "meat market." The early battles are almost trivial (if you have a full team), but ramp up in difficulty such that you will need a team of complimentary, leveled-up veterans and some skilled play to win. There are eighty hand-created battles to participate in, so it will keep you busy for a wile.

There is no randomness in the mechanics or hidden surprises in this game (so far as I've seen) - like a game of Chess or Go (or Slay, for that matter). Combatants always hit their targets, always doing the same amount of damage. It's a game of pure tactical choices, not risk management.

Craig Stern, the guy who is Sinister Design, was also the author of the bizzarro side-scrolling RPG-in-a-weekend project "Ham Sandwich RPG."

Since Telepath Psy Arena 2 may appeal to strategy-RPG fans, I've made it available at Rampant Games. You can check it out here. The free demo includes a very liberal helping of levels for your enjoyment:

Try Telepath Psy Arena 2

Whew.

You guys gave fun!

Labels: Game Announcements, strategy games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:31 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Dawn's Light Now Available at Rampant Games
This was a busy weekend. I could blame it on vacation preparation, but that really wasn't it. There was just a lot to do. Among them was adding two new games to the Rampant Games store.

Of course, that meant playing them, too. Yeah, my job sucks, doesn't it? :) I already blogged about Eternal Twilight.

But now I want to talk about Dawn's Light.

Obviously, it's a game in the 16-bit console jRPG tradition, using RPG Maker. You can tell that from the screenshot. And I have to say it - it has a boring, generic title. "Dawn's Light." I haven't played far enough into it to know how the light of dawn factors into anything. Maybe it's perfectly appropriate, but the title sure doesn't grab me or anything. Maybe because I'm a night owl, and so "Dawn's Light" to me means, "I should be in bed asleep."

And then the plot sounded pretty generic. Some guy named Harvey has lost everything and is out for revenge. How many B-grade action movies have I seen with that plot? Okay, some of 'em were pretty good. Well, okay, one of them that I can think of off the top of my head - Mad Max. But the concept didn't send thrills down my spine as inspired or anything. To elaborate a bit on the plot set-up: A bad guy - Mordecai - is hunting the good guy - Harvey - since he was a kid. Mordecai already nabbed his brother for some power in their blood when they were both children, and has systematically killed a bunch of the people Harvey cares about. So Harvey's out to avenge his loved ones. Sounds all angsty and trite, right?

Next: The game and storyline turned out to be hella fun with a substantial amount of tongue-in-cheek humor. Really fun and enjoyable.

I'll bet you didn't see that coming, did ya?

Me neither.

The level of enthusiasm Harvey displays when trying to fill his brand new quest journal with accomplishments, to his frustration trying to rescue sheep who are perfectly content to stay where they are, to the general snark and amusing comments characters make explaining the rationale for certain game behaviors, are all humorously presented. The game has an emphasis on fun, and isn't above a bit of goofiness to maintain it.

This has some drawbacks. What might have been intended as a serious death scene early in the game lacks much emotional punch. Of course, the fact that you have only barely met the guy you were supposed to have known for seven years has something to do with it.

Some indie RPGs (even ones I grew to enjoy) really have a tough time getting started with the "fun." You may not even get to the one-hour demo limit before quitting and not feeling compelled to come back to them. Dawn's Light isn't one of them. I found myself immediately enjoying the game, having fun, and being surprised at how much time had passed as I played.

Dang it. I was supposed to get other things done, too....

While I can't say I'm attached to the main character or anything yet, or even invested in the storyline, the charm and attitude of the game has sold me on it. Hopefully it won't turn into a crushing disappointment later on. The game has plenty of other selling points, including an emphasis on puzzle-solving and other non-combat activities to avoid the tendency too many RPG Maker games have of padding out the plot and dialog with endless streams of combat.

Dawn's Light was a pleasant surprise.

Check it out for yourself:

Download Dawn's Light from Rampant Games

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:13 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Eternal Twilight Now Available at Rampant Games
Eternal Twilight is an RPGMaker-created title from newcomer Oliveair Games (and, specifically, game maker James Fox). Boasting approximately twenty hours of gameplay, eight playable characters (plus two "bonus" playable characters hidden in the game), and a storyline about the redemption of a formerly-heartless mercenary - and of course, an evil power threatening the entire world - it is now available at the Rampant Games Store.

If offers a free hour of play, so you can check it out and see if it is to your liking.

I haven't played too far into this one yet, myself (opinions, anyone?) But one thing that was pretty different from the get-go was playing a pretty evil character. Your first mission is to eliminate a disgraced army general - the punishment for his failure. Your target doesn't seem to be the picture of innocence himself, and you do give him a fair fight to defend himself. Even so, you are a guy who kills for cash. It is not (for me) a comfortable role to play.

Fortunately, the game lets you off the hook early on. Something snaps in your second mission. Something weird has happened, and Torch has an attack of conscience and feelings that he'd never experienced before. And he's finding himself defending a girl who, only moments ago, he was about to kidnap. And squaring off against a world-spanning evil organization that will now hunt him relentlessly for his betrayal.

Sucks to suddenly grow a soul like that, doesn't it? Hopefully the rest of the story will not disappoint after setting up a little mystery with a bad-guy-turned-good-guy arc.

Anyway - you can download it here and check it out for yourself here:

Download Eternal Twilight

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 10:47 PM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Game Announcement: Aveyond - Gates of Night
The newest installment in the hit "casual" RPG series, Aveyond: Gates of Night, is now out and available at the Rampant Games store.

Unlike other games in the series, this one is a "true" sequel in this sub-series entitled "The Orbs of Magic." The story is a direct continuation of the storyline begun in Aveyond: Lord of Twilight. You don't need to have played Lord of Twilight to enjoy this game - Amaranth has done an admirable job of getting the player up to speed in a hurry, with the events of the previous game becoming backstory for this one.

However, all things being equal, I'd recommend starting with Lord of Twilight.

And I just have to add that as lush and beautiful the title screen was for Aveyond: Ean's Quest, I think this one is my favorite. First of all, I'm partial to stories about rogues / thieves, and this one has Mel front-and-center. Well, front-and-to-the-right, but that's beside the point. But the whole standoff-in-hiding between her and the mysterious cloaked figure (most likely a vampire...) is just cool.

Anyway, check it out - give the free demo a try. Or Lord of Twilight. Or something. :)

Download Aveyond: Gates of Night

Labels: Aveyond, Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:56 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Game Announcement: Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana
The sequel to the popular indie RPG, Laxius Force, is out. Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana is out and now available at Rampant Games.

Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana

I'm still not entirely sure how French indie game developer Indinera of Aldorlea Games manages to produce these massive games so quickly. I mean, sure - there's a lot of re-used content between them, as it's all the same world, time frame, and have a fairly common set of core characters. But yeesh. These games are pretty massive in scale, and they all mesh together like somebody's ginormous D&D campaign for multiple parties of players. At least the games are a lot cheaper than your share of the pizza bill would be if this was the case...

Because this game is a true sequel to Laxius Force, the developer kindly added a utility to import the saved game file from the previous game - so you can keep all of your character progression and items that you have collected in your previous 40-80 hours. However, you don't need to have completed the earlier game to enjoy this one - you can start a new game easily enough, and even dial down the difficulty to compensate. The plot threads are pretty simple to pick up and run with.

And like the latest games in the Aveyond series, Laxius Force II has mouse support. I've gotten pretty used to driving these games with only the keyboard, but I know this drives some gamers crazy. There's a mouse if you want it, and you can disable it if you grow weary of it.

The story starts with the half-goddess Luciana receiving a letter from her former adventuring companion Sarah (veterans of other games in this series will find this all familiar). As seems to be typical in the Laxius Force world, "retirement" for adventurers is more of an "extended vacation" which inevitably results in them leaving their peaceful existence and donning the mantle of world-saving hero yet again. And this is what happens.

It seems the nefarious Order is active once again in the city of Adretana, half a world away from Luciana's remote island paradise, but there's badness afoot and it's gonna turn into a lot of war and bloodshed and earth-shakingly ugly stuff if the Order and their boss - the stranglely-named Grand Commandanter - aren't taken care of. The king of Adretana needs help.

By the time all is said and done, you may find over twenty playable characters, and "countless" quests and encounters. Like I said - massive. A full-on exploration of the twisty subquests and everything promises up to 80 hours of gameplay. And no, I haven't gotten that far, so I can't verify that claim.

While sharing the RPG Maker engine used by many indie RPGs over the last three years, Aldorlea's games have a very distinctive style that sets them apart from its peers by other studios like Amaranth Games and Blossomsoft. For one thing, they tend to be larger, sprawling, and more open-ended. They also don't shy from the use of somewhat more adult language and situations, so they may not be appropriate for young children (in spite of having the cute characters) without supervision. Personally, I don't find the games quite as polished as, say, the Aveyond series --- but it makes up for it in sheer breadth.

Anyway - as usual, you can download the game for free and try it on for size through the first hour at no cost or risk. Enjoy!

Download Laxius Force II - The Queen of Adretana

And don't forget to check out the rest of the Adventure & Roleplaying section of Rampant Games for other games you may want to explore. Yes, I know, it's getting a bit unwieldy and in need of an overhaul soon. And with it's current lineup, it should be called the "Roleplaying and Fatal Hearts" section. Ah, well, I've got more work to do, but I'm still callin' that a good thing.

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:47 AM (Permalink) 1 comments links to this post

 
Deadly Sin
Deadly Sin is an indie RPG from the aptly-named newcomer indie Deadly Sin Studios. It's a jRPG-style indie game with a fantastic soundtrack (which isn't afraid to mix a little rock-and-roll with the traditional epic orchestral stuff). Deadly Sin is billed as being inspired by or reminiscent of the "golden age" of console RPGs, but it doesn't stop there. It really does some interesting things with it's basic framework, the RPG Maker engine.

In Deadly Sin, you play Lorelai, a young woman who has been living far from the escalating tension and violence growing in the nearly all-powerful Dondoran Republic, where the ruthless Empress Ardelia using an iron first to smash down the growing tide of rebellion. However, Lorelai quickly gets pulled into events, as she discovers that she is none other than the princess and heir to the empire living in exile.

And of course, this being the kind of game it is, her voyage of discovery and growth involves a good deal of getting together with friends, engaging in cute and melodramatic dialog, searching through ancient ruins, and kicking a lot of monster butt.

Naturally, this is just the way I like it.

I haven't gotten too far into the story yet, but I have played enough to be intrigued by some of the more interesting mechanics. First of all is the character progression system. In addition to gaining general measures of awesomeness when you level up (you know, hit points, magic points, chance to hit or whatever), you gain a number of "skill points" with every encounter. These skill points can be spent at any time (well, outside of combat) to buy additional abilities to improve your characters . This allows some customization and progress in-between major levels. Wanna focus on Lorelai's healing power at the expense of her combat abilities? Go for it. How about making Glade more of a damage-dealer than a sneak-thief? You can do that too.

And it makes much more sense than some of the systems offered by recent major Final Fantasy releases.

Another thing Deadly Sin does that changes the gameplay a bit is what they call the threat system. MMORPG veterans will recognize the concept immediately as a variation on aggro management. The AI targets party members based on their "threat level" - a factor visible from the combat screen. Players can use party actions to manipulate the threat level and thus protect weaker characters from attack.

In lieu of actual tactical formations and real combat positioning, this is one more way to add some tactical tools to the player's arsenal. So far it hasn't made a huge difference in my game, and I worry I could end up with the major spell-slinger getting turned into everybody's punching bag after unleashing a big ol' fireball in round one. Which is pretty much how these things usually work out, anyway.

So far I've been enjoying the game a lot. Which is dangerous to my productivity. Dang it. I'll report back when I've played some more. Or you can. You can check out the game yourself (free hour-long demo, cheap full version for 30 hours of enjoyment, etc... you know how it works) here:

Play Deadly Sin

Deadly Sin is only available for Windows platforms.

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:20 AM (Permalink) 12 comments links to this post

 
Aveyond - Lord of Twilight
Amaranth Games recently released Aveyond: Lord of Twilight. I got to spend some time with it this weekend (and put it up on the Rampant Games Store). While there are many enjoyable RPGs that are build on the RPGMaker engine, the Aveyond series consistently demonstrates a higher level of polish, attention to detail, and masterful storytelling. The latest game - at least so far as I've played it, several hours in - continues the trend.

The game opens on a dark scene from two hundred years in the past - a prophecy seemingly foiled. It is pretty obvious that the self-sacrificing hero has neglected a pretty crucial little possibility. and at the last moment his wife opts to not clue him in.

Then we flash forward to Mel, an orphan living on the streets of Harburg who has enjoyed a pretty successful career of thievery in her young age. Mysterious cloaked characters have sought her out, specifically, for a heist at a ruined tower - the same tower that appeared in the introduction.

Yeah. What's the chance of this little job snowballing out of control?

Soon, the game alternates between Mel's story and that of the vampire Te'ijal - a not-so-nice vampire who nonetheless finds herself protecting Mel to thwart the machinations of her brother. Amusingly, the two "parties" share the same items and bank account in spite of being separated by geography and not being entirely synchronized in time.

While I've always been thrilled by the solid storytelling and polish of the Aveyond series, this latest title shows some definite improvement and refinement over even Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest, which I previously considered the high-water mark for games using the RPG Maker engine. Amanda Fitch and Amaranth Games are doing some interesting things with this one.

Aveyond: Lord of Twilight is the first of the "Orbs of Magic" series taking place in the Aveyond universe. These games are a bit smaller than the previous Aveyond installments, and are selling for half-price. This and the upcoming Aveyond: Gates of Night will make up what could be considered "Aveyond 3." I have my suspicions as to why Amaranth Games did that, but aside from some curiousity as to how the transitions will work between the two chapters, I don't have a problem with it. Lord of Twilight doesn't seem to be skimping in the hours-of-play department, so I hope I will be able to finish it before the next release.

As usual, the game provides you with an hour of free play to check it out before deciding whether or not it is your kind of game. The time flew by for me, but your mileage may vary. The download is 61 megs - but well worth your time to give it a try!

Download Aveyond: Lord of Twilight at Rampant Games

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 12:31 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Recklessly Disregarding Gravity
AaaAaaAaaa - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity (and I know I didn't use the right number of 'A's there, nor do I care) is an upcoming title from Dejobaan games. There's a pre-release available now with a few demo levels.

Get This Game.

It is one of the coolest, weirdest, most innovative yet FUN indie titles I've seen this year. Full of attitude and goofiness and really colorful 3D graphics. It's a game about - umm... jumping. Or falling. For miles. Through cities in the sky. And flipping off protesters on your way down - my favorite part.

And trying not to die.

While it may be a few months out yet from final release, if you order now you get $10 off the eventual full price of $25, plus they'll send you a 30-level version to tide you over in the meantime.

Labels: Game Announcements, Indie Evangelism

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 2:00 AM (Permalink) 4 comments links to this post

 
Science Girls Available at Rampant Games
If you haven't picked it up already (or at least tried the demo), Science Girls! is now available at the Rampant Games website.

Science Girls!

I'm still playing it. I'm currently lost in an alien dimension chased by monsters, with my party all around level 7 and 8. The game does throw a few puzzles at you to break up the fighting. So far, nothing has been too difficult or frustrating, but I do have to remember where I was going when I am only playing in short 10- or 20- minute segments.

(Yay for save-anywhere!)

Science Girls! features some cute, almost throw-away dialog which has endeared me to the game a bit. I was particularly amused by their little in-game discussion of how the media and others tend to confuse correlation and causation. Like the Nethack gag, you pretty much have to be a geek yourself to "get it," which makes me wonder a little bit about the actual intended audience. But hey, if one person playing this game suddenly decides to give Nethack a try, or begins to understand how the media twists the facts, it'll be awesome.

We recently had a server migration here at Rampant Games - if ya blinked, ya mighta missed it. This is the first addition to affiliate games I've made since the switch, and while there were a couple of bumps in the road, everything seems to have gone off without a hitch. Next up will be making some changes to existing titles. And making some fixes to the site, which apparently isn't displaying properly on Firefox under Linux (I use Firefox myself, but only on Windows). There's a lot of site maintenance to be done, and I've been putting it off until after the server move. Now that this is done, I don't have any excuse.

Dang it.

And then there's figuring out how to deal with the 17 hojillion RPGs and adventure games on the RPG / Adventure section. The current system - which randomly orders all the games within a category - worked great when I only had a dozen or so games there. But with the rate of Indie RPGs have been getting released lately, I'm going to have to figure something else out.

Which will, no doubt, cut into my limited playing-games time. *Sigh.*

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 1:43 AM (Permalink) 2 comments links to this post

 
Game Announcement: Science Girls!
Science Girls! (the explanation point is part of the title, I think) is a new RPG from Spikey Caterpiller and Hanako Games (the force behind Cute Knight Deluxe and Fatal Hearts).

This cute, anime-style RPG takes place in a girls' school, which has suddenly inexplicably come under attack by alien plant-monsters. Or rather, they LOOK like plants, but they really probably aren't, according to Jennifer - the biology fan of the team - pointing out that they probably do not have a cell wall, which means that they violate the definition of plant-hood.

Oh, yeah, the science thing.

You are a member of the school's science club, and it's up to the science club to save the school. And maybe the world. I haven't gotten that far yet. Because you are all scientifically-minded, you have some special powers that give you an edge in combat (and something to do besides punching your enemies). For example, the main character - a psychology buff - has an early power to hypnotize and confuse enemies. Jennifer the biology student has the ability to apply first aid, and later (as pictured) to provide a nerve pinch. Just like Mr. Spock.

Nobody said it was realistic. Silly, cute, and fun, sure.

Combat is turn-based, and uses a menu system popular with many jRPGs. I was a little thrown off by the demo for a bit. It took a little while for me to get it through my head that the way to regenerate "special points" to power your abilities was in combat. Every round you regenerate special power points, at a rate of one per round. Coincidentally, punching costs one point, so pummeling an enemy leaves your remaining special powers points unchanged.

I was pleased to find that the monsters very early on often have special powers that require some strategy to counter. Sure, battling the simpler enemies does take a little bit of thought to "optimize" the fighting, but early on you'll be facing enemies that will swallow party members whole (ick!), spawn minions, or create illusionary hologram decoys of themselves.

One of the more amusing aspects of the game is the "Defend" command. The character "hides behind her hands" in a very ... uh, girly way. But, amazingly, it works. The monsters hit less often and for less damage. This also increases the special point regeneration - especially when all three of the front-row members go defensive. This creates a phalanx formation, and gives the other two girls on the front row a bonus special point for each character that defends and contributes to the phalanx.

The strategy here seems reminiscent of Final Fantasy VIII's ability to pull magic out of enemies. I'd delay killing the last of a weaker group of monsters so I could take a couple of rounds pulling magic out of them. Here, I do the same thing - I usually end up fighting the monster down to a point where I think 1-3 hits might finish them off, and then spend some rounds defending and having Jennifer cast healing spells. Er, I mean, exercising First Aid ability.

A character who is knocked to zero hit points is only out of the game until healed, or until the next combat (where they will come back with a single hit point). However, a character who ends a fight knocked down will not get experience points for that combat.

Your party can consist of up to six members of the club, but only the front three can actively participate in a fight. The rest hang out on the back rank, and regenerate special points. They can only be hit by area effect attacks, but they can receive first aid from a front-rank ally. At any point, you can swap them in for someone on the front rank - very handy when one character is getting pummeled badly and is running low on special points.

While so far I am still confined to the school, I have it on good authority (and the screenshot to the side to prove it) that this isn't the limit of the game's environments.

After a certain experience point thresholds are reached, your characters gain a level and gain a bonus point you can spend enhanncing the characters attributes. There are no "classes," exactly, but each character gets her own set of unique special abilities as she gains experience. And, fortunately, the game allows you to save anywhere.

So far, I have not encountered any equipment (though I have had to run back up a few floors to pick up items to get a member of the club to join my party), and precious little by way of quests. There are some items which can be used in or out of combat, which have effects like healing a small number of hit points and recovering some special power points.

The game is pretty light (and lighthearted) fare. In spite of a cameo appearance by Nethack (which gave me a good chuckle), it may not provide much appeal for those seeking a hardcore, deep RPG experience. But those of us who tend to play games in 10-15 minute snatches and don't mind a solid dose of cute (or the other "c" word, "casual") should find much to enjoy here. I certainly have.

As usual for indie games, however, you can download a copy of the demo and give it a test run first. Conveniently, it is not time-limited, but only the top two floors of the school building are playable. The full game is only $9.95, and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

And so, without further ado, here's the demo:

Download the Science Girls! demo here and check it out (Windows Version)

Science Girls! Demo (Mac version)

Science Girls! Demo (Linux version)

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:24 AM (Permalink) 4 comments links to this post

 
Arcengine / Dungeon Eye - Version 0.1 release
Remember the "pseudo 3D" dungeon-delving RPGs like The Bard's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, Dungeon Master, Wizardry, and others?

Well, someone out there is laboring on an engine capable of making those kinds of games. While not as focused (or as cool) as the now-apparently-dead "Dungeon Maker" project, they developers have been making a remake of the Eye of the Beholder games within the engine. Entitled "Dungeon Eye," it's open source, and the source code is freely available. The documentation is practically non-existent currently, so it'll only be valuable to the technically savvy.

Now, I'm not 100% sure why you'd want to use this engine instead of something more mature like GameMaker (which would probably be quite up to this kind of task as well), but I'd be interested in seeing if anybody picks up the ol' torch on this one and does something cool and original with it.

Arcengine / Dungeon Eye

Labels: Game Announcements, programming

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:36 PM (Permalink) 5 comments links to this post

 
Eternal Eden
Indie is all about power to the people. Not in some kind of ranty Marxist way, but in a good ol' fashioned, free-market, homegrown kind of way. Indie is about lowering the barriers to entry so that anybody can get out there, do their thing, and try to find their audience, charge (or not charge) whatever they want. It means that anybody who believes they have an idea and talent can get out there and make it happen, rather than relying upon some middleman or bureaucrat gatekeeper to give them the go-ahead and dubious promises.

RPG Maker is one of several game creation toolsets that empower indie developers. It is hardly simple to use, nor does it unload the important creative burdens from a user's shoulders. But it's accessible for non-programmers and even non-artists (thanks to existing art, of sometimes questionable legality) to create full-fledged games, so long as they resemble 16-bit jRPGs. The advantage over other commercial products with similar capabilities (like Neverwinter Nights) is that game makers can distribute the complete game freely (without requiring other users to own the toolset), even commercially. And the toolset is cheap enough that even my daughter was able to buy a license with her allowance.

The consequence of this power and freedom is, unfortunately, a landscape littered with lame, incomplete, unoriginal, and ill-conceived games. When you get rid of the barriers, you also get rid of the filters. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

But the advantage is that there are some real rough diamonds out there, as well as some real gems of games to be found from very creative, talented people that we'd otherwise never have heard of, let alone enjoyed their creations.

Eternal Eden is definitely in the latter category - a polished indie gem. The custom artwork is exceptional (the creator also did some of the sprite work for the Aveyond games), and the gameplay and storytelling is very tight (at least from how far I have played, which is several hours in).

The basic storyline may ring somewhat familiar to folks who have attended Sunday School. The world of the principle characters, Noah and Downey, is a land of eternal youth, beauty, and plenty. A world without death. All their needs are provided for by the mysterious "Eden Tower." There is but one law that all the inhabitants must follow, left by their father who established this land: Do not eat the fruit of the tree at the top of the tower.

Can you guess what happens next?

You see, there's this friendly pie-making competition to win the favor of the Princess, who is about as old as Yoda but way prettier. And Downey really, really wants to win. And there's some fruit the Princess is sure to be surprised by...

Yeah. It doesn't end well.

But that's only the beginning. Now that disaster has struck, the princess is a monster, and the heroes find themselves in a parallel world to their own full of nastiness, it is up to them (and you) to fix things.

Eternal Eden is thick with storyline, as you can imagine. It also relies heavily upon puzzle and problem solving. These aren't Pathstorm-style brain-melters, but they do can prove pretty challenging. If you really hate games with lever puzzles and moving-objects-around puzzles, then you should probably stay away. But if you enjoy them, Eternal Eden has them in spades.

Another rare approach Eternal Eden adopts is to have a fixed set of encounters. While you can't be certain of exactly what you will encounter when you choose to enter combat, once you win an encounter, the enemy is gone. So far, I've not encountered any respawning. So the combats are fewer and further between, but usually pretty challenging.

You will want to explore every nook and cranny in the game world of Eternal Eden, because it is packed with hidden objects. I'm talking literally - almost every tucked-away corner or alcove has something hidden you can find and pick up. Usually it's a potion of some sort, which comes in very handy in the challenging combat encounters.

Unfortunately, there's no customization in leveling up, and the save-game points are scattered across the landscape, making you never quite sure of when and if you should push forward or retreat. Since monsters are finite and non-respawning, backtracking isn't very time-consuming or dangerous, but in some of the dungeons it can make it easy to forget where you were last.

The game is tightly balanced, very well polished, and very pretty. It exudes professionalism and attention to detail. And, most importantly, it is a lot of fun. If you are a fan of indie RPGs in the old 16-bit jRPG style, I must recommend downloading and at least giving it a go through the free trial period.

You can download it here at Rampant Games, if you feel so inclined. Or not, if you aren't.

Download Eternal Eden Free at Rampant Games

As usual - please post here if you've tried it and let us know what you thought. Just try not to post major spoilers (be vague if you have to). Or I may cry. And you really don't want to see a grown man cry, do you?

Labels: Game Announcements, Indie Evangelism, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 2:41 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Dragon Tavern
Thomas Rice wrote me yesterday to note that there's another RPG-esque web game out that the new Legends of Zork more closely resembles than Kingdom of Loathing. It is entitled Dragon Tavern, and has been around for about a year. You can check it out here:

Dragon Tavern

Yes, that's me. Shamelessly promoting other people's games. If you've tried it out and feel like reporting on it (or Legends of Zork), please post here in the comments or on the handy-dandy forums.

Update: LazerFX also notes the style of game was popularized by the Legend of the Red Dragon BBS Door game - man, I actually remember those - which now lives on in various incarnations, including the Legend of the Green Dragon.

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:11 AM (Permalink) 5 comments links to this post

 
3 Stars of Destiny Now Available from Rampant Games
3 Stars of Destiny is the latest RPG from veteran indie developer Indinera Falls of Aldorlea Games. It's a prequel of sorts to the Laxius series (culminating - at least so far - with Aldorlea's previous game, Laxius Force). It takes place before Random, Sarah, and the other (massive) list of characters from the earlier games have met.

An evil god has discovered that three young mortal souls possess a divine energy which, if brought together, could provide him with sustenance. Gods have these appetites, you know? Unfortunately, there's something of a "no trespassing" sign around the mortal world, preventing the god from just swooping in, grabbing the three youths, and chowing down. Instead, he has to use subtle manipulation to bring them together to a place where they will be vulnerable.

3 Stars of Destiny is another jRPG-style game developed with the popular RPG Maker engine, invoking the look and feel of classic 16-bit console era RPGs. But with nicer graphics. It is the most polished of Aldorlea's games to date. As is typical for their games - and something of a departure from typical jRPGs (Japanese-style RPGs) - the world is large and more open-ended, and the dialog and storyline are comparatively more compact.

You'll spend a lot of your time exploring - which is a big part of design. There are plenty of secrets hidden throughout the game, awaiting discovery. The full version features ten playable characters that can join your party, and over 50 quests. Yes, it's a big game. You'll be busy playing it for a while.

Unfortunately, RPG Maker titles are only (currently) available for Windows systems (we won't talk about the console versions here...) - the Mac isn't currently supported. And there are some idiosynchracies of RPG Maker - based games that take some getting used to - such as lack of mouse support (unless the developer has taken pains to add that support, as with Aveyond 2).

I haven't finished playing this one yet. Be advised that the developer is not a native English speaker, so occasionally the translations come out... well, about like translations of many of the old 16-bit era console RPGs. Also, previous games in the Laxius series have had dialog that is inappropriate for younger players, so parents should be advised not to make assumptions based on cute graphics.

What's funny - for me - is that at heart I'm a western-style computer RPG fan. I pretty much missed the whole 16-bit console jRPG thing - my first exposure to that style of RPG was a Zelda game on a borrowed SNES and Suikoden on the 32-bit Sony Playstation. I'd been snobbish about them up until then. Sure, I heard people talking about the wonders of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, but I was all about the Ultimas and "Gold Box" D&D games, Eye of the Beholder 2, the Wizardry games (not that I ever finished 'em), and so forth. I was amazed to find I actually had a taste for both styles of RPGs. Not everyone does. So I had to go back and make up for lost time.

I'm pleased to see the tradition continuing with games like 3 Stars of Destiny. The style may be old-school, but the creators are new, many of the ideas are new, and they bring their own personality and style to the mix.

You can try it out yourself and see what you think with the free demo:

Download 3 Stars of Destiny at Rampant Games

As always - HAVE FUN!

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:50 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Kivi's Underworld
I've been inundated with games lately.

As far as problems are concerned, this one ranks high on the list of the kinds of problems I like to have. Now if only I could have the "I have too much money," and the "I've lost so much weight I have to buy a whole new wardrobe" problems...

But it does mean I'm a little on the slow side, and I have been missing out.

One gem I played a bit of over the last... er, month.... has been Kivi's Underworld. This game is by Stephen Peeler of Soldak Entertainment, makers of the brilliantly cool (and quite hardcore) strategy-RPG Depths of Peril.

Kivi's Underworld uses a more polished version of the engine that powers Depths of Peril. Like Soldak's flagship title, Kivi's Underworld departs from the traditional even more than it's predecessor - but in a completely opposite direction. Whereas Depths of Peril took the straightforward action RPG and loaded it up with a bunch of extra-juicy additional depth (and, admittedly, complexity) for the benefit of hardcore niche gamers like me who really wanted something more out of a Diablo-esque game, Kivi's Underworld instead simplifies the experience down to its barest, most entertaining essentials.

I had a tough time assigning it a genre. Soldak refers to it as a "casual hack & slash game," only throwing the "RPG" term in with a bunch of additional descriptors. Actually, by my own personal taxonomy, I call it an RPG. Barely. Steven is a bit more of a traditionalist than I am, I guess.

Story-wise, Kivi's Underworld deals with a lumen warrior / miner named - coincidentally - Kivi. Kivi, the sole survivor of a mining accident, has learned of a pending dark-elf invasion into lumen lands. But in spite of the mounting evidence, his people don't believe him, claiming that dark elves and their monstrous allies are but a myth. So it is upon Kivi and his growing band of allies to prove the threat is real, and to find the forgotten city of Defiance, built long ago as a protection should the dark elves attack again.

Kivi's Underworld is fairly linear, broken up into a series of missions with a storyline between them. The missions take about ten to fifteen minutes each to complete, which makes it very easy to play this game in a short period of time. Missions have certain objectives (which can change) that must be fulfilled in order to exit. And, like Las Vegas, what happens in a mission pretty much stays in the mission. Aside from using bonus points gained in the mission to level up faster, all "pickups" (they don't really count as equipment) found during the mission are left behind.

There's very little in the way of inventory management - all you have to do is "use 'em or lose 'em" with your three pickup slots. There are also passive upgrades to your weapons and armor you can pick up. Leveling up characters is easy (but does allow some customization). Every character class has only one special power to worry about, and you can go back through previous missions with other characters as you recruit them.

The best way to describe the gameplay of Kivi's Underworld would be to say, "Kinda like Diablo, only simpler and more casual-friendly." The interface is simple. The game is simple - but that's not the same as "easy." There have been several times I've found my mad action-RPG gamer skillz being tested and bested. Usually because I was stupid, got overly-aggressive, and found myself with a swarm of monsters on one side of me, and a trap on the other, thinking, "I can take 'em."

So I'm actually more of a hardcore RPG fan. I appreciate the idea of having a much simpler, straightforward RPG for newcomers to our favorite game genre. A gateway drug, if I can be so crass. Kivi's Underworld fills the bill nicely - it's pretty, its fun, it's simple - a great little RPG that feels a little less "cutsey" than, say, Fate.

But what does Kivi's Underworld have for a guy like me, a hardcore RPG fan who, rather than doodling during geometry lectures in High School, created mathematically balanced Champions characters using memorized point-values for powers, limitations, and disadvantages? Am I the target audience for Kivi's Underworld? Well, the answer to the latter question is only "maybe," but the answer to the first one is, surprisingly, "plenty."

I enjoy a quick game of Gauntlet Legends or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on my consoles at home, or a few rounds of Kid Mystic. Kivi's Underworld falls somewhere in that same scope (though I think it is a bit more intellectually stimulating than Gauntlet...). It's pared down the RPG formula to its bare essentials, but the essentials are dang fun. For the faithful, it's a "Beer and Pretzels" kinda game. Brian candy. RPG Snack Food. Good fun when you need to scratch the itch.

For the less experienced in the genre, Kivi's Underworld is a solid, entertaining introduction. With some decisions required for leveling up between missions, choice of characters, secrets, trophies, tactical decisions, exploration, some resource management, and so forth, there's plenty of "meat" there to sink one's teeth into, but not so much that the player will get overwhelmed by the details their more experienced peers take for granted.

If you absolutely hate action-RPGs, this game might not be for you. Timing of movements and attacks is critical to success, especially when you've got a trap launching fireballs in a predictable pattern next to you and a swarm of zombies coming at you through the door on the opposite wall. Still, survival and success also depend on your character - taking advantage of his strengths, and managing the random range for chances of hitting and damage-dealing. It is not an arcade game, either.

Now, let's be honest. I really would have preferred a sequel to Depths of Peril, which remains one of my favorite indie RPGs. But that's me. That particular game intimidated the hell outta some people - which I understand (I feel overwhelmed by Dwarf Fortress, personally). But I can't argue with the results. Kivi's Underworld may be more lightweight fare, but I have to admit that I've had a lot of fun playing it. Soldak has once again proven that they can twist the concept of an RPG around and make something very cool out of it.

Just... maybe we can have a DoP sequel someday? Pretty-please?

Anyway - in the better late than never category, I've made Kivi's Underworld available from the Rampant Games main website. If you haven't tried it already, here's your chance. Hey, the downloadable demo is free, and it's my belief that it is worthy of your valuable time to try out.

Try Kivi's Underworld

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 4:16 AM (Permalink) 5 comments links to this post

 
Geneforge 5: Released for the Mac
Mac gamer, rejoice. At least once a year you get to lord it over your PC gamer brethren, getting a quality old-school indie RPG months before we do. Enjoy.

This year, it's the final chapter in the Geneforge saga, the indie science fiction RPG series from Spiderweb Software.

Geneforge 5: Overthrow Now Available for Mac

Some of the key features that caught my eye are that it includes several different "paths to victory," including the use of stealth and diplomacy rather than straight-up combat.

It also features "dozens" of different endings. Wow. These days, mainstream game makers like to tout how three whole endings makes them some kind of messiah of open-endedness and replayability. This sounds like Geneforge 5 is trying to give Cute Knight a run for its money.

The PC version of Geneforge 5 is scheduled for a March release.

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 5:14 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Morning's Wrath Now Available From Rampant Games
This one has been out for a while - but if you've never played Morning's Wrath, now's your chance! We've now (finally!) added it to the Rampant Games store.

Morning's Wrath is a great indie RPG that combines the best of Diablo's action-RPG style with an actual compelling storyline (woah!) and some great adventure-game style puzzles.

In Morning's Wrath, you get to play ... the princess, Morning. Yes, the beautiful, sweet, innocent princess of a shining kingdom with wonderful parents and a handsome prince as a suitor. Get over it, guys.

As usually happens in these kinds of stories, our heroine's perfect life is about to get utterly and completely shattered. Sorry if I'm entering spoiler territory here, but come on! You knew it was gonna happen, right? What I really love about Morning's Wrath is how well the storytelling takes things go from almost idyllic to desperate within the first fifteen minutes. They did a good job, here.

So Morning dons her ancestor's armor and sword, and starts hacking and slashing with the best of 'em on a desperate quest to save her kingdom. One can only assume that in her princess lessons for being a good hostess and snappy dresser, they slipped in some combat training. Her quest takes her to the ghosts of her ancestral family (both good and evil), an ancient pool of magic that must be restored from the taint of corruption, and a dozen different maps.

Morning's Wrath uses an isometric view. You don't see so many of those these day. As you walk behind walls, they become translucent. It's a presentation style that seems to be making a comeback with indie RPGs (see Eschalon: Book 1), as there's still plenty of life and possibility left in it. (I actually think that in a lot of ways, true 3D is actually easier to do than isometric viws these days, which might account for some of it's scarcity).

The spell system in Morning's Wrath uses a series of runes which can be combined in different combinations to create spells. There are 24 different runes in all which you can find over the course of your adventuring which you can use for spell construction.

The game isn't perfect, of course. But what game is? The controls need a bit more feedback so they don't feel as unresponsive sometimes (very bad in a game with action-based combat), and the animations could use at least twice as many frames. I could nitpick all day. But that's quibbling. I found Morning's Wrath to have polish in spades, and an outstanding storytelling quality. And the soundtrack is amazing. I think it's a fantastic example of the potential indie game makers can fulfill.

And it is also dirt-cheap at $9.95, which is very easy on the gaming budget - a welcome surprise these days. But hey, give it a try for free, first. It is well worth the download!

Download Morning's Wrath here!

Labels: Game Announcements, Roleplaying Games

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:18 AM (Permalink) 1 comments links to this post

 
Laxius Force Now Available At Rampant Games
In my tireless efforts to pay for my videogame addiction provide more convenience to you, the customer, the indie RPG Laxius Force is now available at the Rampant Games store.

Laxius Force is the newest release in a long-running series of RPGs using the RPG Maker engine. The game engine uses a perspective and game system highly reminiscent of the old 16-bit era console RPGs from Japan. French indie game maker Indinera Falls has been a hobbyist developer for seven years, and has now turned pro with Aldorlea Games. Even though it is a sequel of sorts, and does reference some characters and situations from earlier games, no previous experience playing the previous titles is necessary to enjoy Laxius Force.

Now, I confess - I haven't (yet) finished playing this game myself. It is frickin' huge. Yeah, we're talking at least Aveyond 2 huge. One thing I noticed early on is that this game is a big difference from most jRPG-style games: You are less on rails, and the encounters are not all custom-designed to let you knock them down. Even in the "tutorial" section in the pyramid, I discovered areas that I couldn't get through because the enemies were just too tough. Saving the game as you go is important. Encounter difficulty isn't parceled out strictly by area for your progression convenience.

This is deliberate. And kinda old-school cool. In these kinds of games, getting your butt solidly handed to you like that means one of three things: You need to be more careful with your tactics and resources, you forgot something that would turn the tide in your favor, or you just aren't ready to go there yet. It's a little more challenging, but not overwhelmingly so. I'd still say this is a decent title for first-time players.

Non-linear or open-ended aren't the type of descriptions that normally get applied to this style of RPG, but it was a goal with Indinera - at least, once you get past the introductory segments. And it features a metric buttload of playable characters. Well, okay, 17 playable characters, which is more of an imperial buttload than a metric buttload. But still - that is a lot.

There are some interesting things going on here.

I will suggest that the introductory sequence (the pyramid) is probably not the strongest part of the game - it gets better further along. But at does provide you with a tutorial on how to play, and a taste for the flow of the game. It is just a prologue, and I'm not yet sure exactly how it ties in with the game other than introducing the evil organization that is promising to be the villain throughout the game. But the prologue comes to an end quickly, and you soon get to the "meat" of the story and get introduced to the main character(s), Random and Sarah.

Anyhow - you can find this all out yourself, for free. Give it a test-drive, and see what you think:

Download Laxius Force at Rampant Games

Enjoy!

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:21 AM (Permalink) 0 comments links to this post

 
Soldak Announces Kivi's Underworld
Soldak Entertainment, the developer of the award-winning action/strategy indie RPG Depths of Peril, has announced its next big thing: "Kivi's Underworld."

Steven Peeler (owner of Soldak) describes the game as a "casual hack & slash game." You can play as one of twenty different playable characters as you explore the underworld, battling dark elves, recruiting more allies to your cause, and rebuilding the lost city of Defiance. You can switch characters between any of the thirty adventures, so you aren't stuck playing a single character through an entire campaign. In addition, the website promises the ability to create your own character classes and new adventures, or share those made by other players.

Kivi's Underworld is designed to be played in short, fifteen-to-thirty minute increments, and promises to be very easy to learn. Beyond that, it will offer four different difficulty levels. The game takes place in the same world as Depths of Peril, sharing the same general backstory but new geography.

Kivi's Underworld is scheduled to be released this winter - however, Steven notes that it'll be released "when it's done," so that's only an estimate.

Labels: Game Announcements

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:25 AM (Permalink) 3 comments links to this post