The latest version of the awesome cavalry/siege sim Mount and Blade has been released, offering a slew of improvements, including new character models and animations, new towns and cities, new quests (with rehauled dialogue and descriptions), better AI, and more video options. The developers are claiming that v0.950 contains most of the features they want to add for v1.0, which will be published by Paradox Interactive later this year.
For a more complete list of changes (which is being compiled by players), click here. For more gorgeous screenshots, click here!
As before, you can still buy and play the game now for $25, which will also grant you access to the $39 full version when it comes out.
Stalin Vs. Martians is being developed by no less than THREE Russian game studios – that could only be a good thing or a bad thing. Set in the 1942 Soviet Union, you must lead the Red Army to repel hordes of Martian invaders. Toward the end of the game, you may even be able to control Stalin himself – a “huge colossus, five times higher than any other creature.”
Other than the fairly entertaining premise, SVM promises to deliver a very simple, action-based RTS experience. The only resources you’ll need to worry about are the various power-ups, dropped by defeated Martians. These power-ups can be collected to bring in reinforcements or upgrade your troops. But no city-building or technology trees.
So! I like the “zany” storyline and the idea of a simple RTS. The screenshots look just okay, however. We’ll see if they can pull this one off by Fall (the planned release time)!
For the last two months or so, Interactive Fiction veteran Emily Short has been running a cover art drive. The basic idea is that attaching something visual, like a cover, to various works of Interactive Fiction would make it easier for sites (like ours, I guess) to promote the brilliant and very overlooked interactive fiction scene to a wider audience. It’s gone pretty well – including alternates, there are currently 98 submitted covers in the photostream (some examples are included in the side image), but there are still quite a few games outstanding.
I know there are officially only a few days left, but after seeing all the artistic talent on display in tonight’s iScribble session I figured that there are probably quite a few people reading this that could help out with a final push! To take part, all you have to do is create a cover like the ones on the side for any interactive fiction game and send it to Emily. A good place to start would be this post on her blog which lists a few games which have requested cover art but haven’t gotten any yet. Even if you’re not familiar with those games (or any interactive fiction), I’m sure someone on the forums would be more than happy to give you a synopsis or describe a scene. Full details about the project (including detailed clarifications) are collected here. As of right now, here are the games still looking for cover art:
Posted by Jordan Magnuson
Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:46:00 GMT
One of my all time favorite “Click” games. You play the White Wizard, residing in a medieval fantasy fortress where you create and unleash hordes of minions onto a 2D battlefield with one goal in mind: defeat the warlord across the way. If you ever played Three-Sixty Pacific’s Armor Alley, you’ll find that the premise is similar, but this game might just be better than its classic counterpart.
The mechanics are fairly simple: use the keyboard to move blocks of resources around to form combinations which produce troops, then unleash those troops to the battlefield where they fight automatically as best they can. The game blends strategy, tactics, and dexterity in a really interesting way.
On the strategic level you will have to decide which Warlord to play (each has their strengths and weaknesses), and what your general plan of unit production is going to be: a cheap mix of foot soldiers and archers, with an occasional battering ram thrown in? Or perhaps you will rely on more advanced technology and an air based assault? Or how about trying to infect your opponent’s troops with the Black Plague?
On the tactics level you’ve got to respond to the situation at hand, both in terms of the resources you have in front of you, and the current state of the battlefield.
Finally, on the dexterity level… well, the game is played in freakin’ realtime, and you better get good at moving those blocks of resources around!
Siege has a couple of flaws, like its tiny 320×200 resolution and some imbalances that I’ll let you discover, but these small detriments are small next to the fun of madly mixing resources and watching your miniature troops fight it out to the death in front of you, with your arch-nemesis pounding away on the keyboard beside you.
The game supports human vs. computer and human vs. human play. I don’t have to tell you which is better.
P.S. You may need to run the game in Windows 95 compatibility mode; and remember to copy cncs32.dll to your system32 directory if the game doesn’t work.
Tonight is Games Night. Come join us in #tigIRC around 8pm GMT! Game of the night: iScribble! We’ll also be playing Jet Set Willy Online, TrackMania, Zap, and anything else anybody might want to play. Check out BlademasterBobo’s thread on the forums for more info.
Be there or be a four equally sided shape with 90 degree angles.
I worried that we might not be seeing any more of nenad’s excellent looking shooter Ablation X, but thankfully that’s not the case. Fantastic! A couple of days ago he updated his blog at 16×16.org with some information about its progress, as well as this video:
He’s teamed up with a musician called Aesqe, who also posted a bit about the game on his blog here. As well as recording the video above, Aesqe has added a soundtrack to the original trailer, which you can check out after the jump…
Oh, man, this game is fun! Trials 2 Second Edition is a physics-based motorbike game that’s reminiscent of the classic Elasto Mania. The series began with two Flash games, Trial Bike (and variants) and Trials 2. Trials 2 SE, however, is a downloadable commercial title with really nice 3d graphics and many more options (although the 2d gameplay remains more or less unchanged).
The goal of each track is to make your way from one end to the other. In between, you’ll be jumping gaps, popping wheelies, doing loop-de-loops… and probably smashing your poor rider into every surface along the way. Have you ever fallen face-first into a tire fire? I’ll bet even Travis Pastrana hasn’t.
Thankfully, this is another game where losing can be as entertaining as winning (hurray for 3d ragdoll physics!). Also, checkpoints are placed liberally, and restarting is as easy as hitting a button. Trials 2 Second Edition is surprisingly frustration free.
The full version of the game is $19.90 USD, and gives you 40 tracks, 3 game modes, 25 achievements, and the ability to maintain a profile and compete with other players for online ranking. One of the coolest features of T2SE is that, when comparing scores, you can click an icon next to a player’s name to either watch a replay of their best run (complete with key presses), or to race with their “ghost.” You can also create and join teams and compete as or within a group. (Which reminds me, team “TigerSauce” is looking for members! The password is herebeowls.)
Tim W., editor of the almighty IndieGames.com blog, has compiled a list of his awesome indie developer interviews, including one with the notorious MDickie.
His latest interview, with Tommy Refenes (shown above), is not currently in the list, but must be read at all costs. Tommy’s multiplayer action/strategy game Goo! was an IGF finalist this year. A public PC demo of the game is available from his website.
P.S. Tim, I still want to do an interview with you. Please return my calls! :-*
Auntie Pixelante (aka “dessgeega”) has been peppering her blog with thoughtful commentary about Super Mario Bros. ROM hacks. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of NES ROM hacks, I usually imagine something like this (which, I have to admit, is amusing in its own terrible way). But what Auntie P. shows us is that, at least with a game as ubiquitous as Super Mario Bros., there are some more interesting and… er, subtle remixes out there.
Enigmario replaces Koji Kondo’s music with chiptune versions of Enigma’s MCMXC a.D., a concept album from the early 90’s. It gives the game a very different feel. (Auntie’s Analysis)
Super Greyscale Brothers presents a monochrome version of SMB. There’s not too much more to say about it than that, but it’s an interesting effect.
Last but not least, The Pixel Kingdom changes every sprite in the game into a single-colored rectangle. This, and Silhouette Mario, I think, really show off how iconic and well-understood the graphics in Mario are.
In conclusion: hacks can be delightful, and Super Mario Bros. 1 remains one of the most interesting conceptual playgrounds in video games (and probably elsewhere).
To play these, you need an emulator, an ips patcher, and, for The Pixel Kingdom, Super Greyscale Brothers, and Enigmario, a clean copy of the Super Mario 1 ROM, which you may or may not find if you hunt around in this thread.
...comes a whole new experience that is guaranteed to change the face of electronic entertainment forever. During a private unveiling of the game in San Francisco this past weekend, reknowned movie critic Roger Ebert purportedly took his hands off the keyboard after just 10 seconds of play and said+, quietly and to no one in particular:
I’ve heard many arguments for why games are art. This is best one. I am convinced. My hat is off to you, Romeopie.
He then proceeded to cry real tears of joy which, he claimed, “had not touched my cheeks in over 75 years. Since the Great War.” It is not understood exactly which war to which Mr. Ebert was referring, or how he could have cried before he was born, in 1942. However, those in attendance were compelled to believe that he was being genuine with his emotions.
Image by Vanemuine, via the TaleWorlds forums.
