Search results for "rpg"
Getting Started
By: Derek Yu
On: March 19th, 2012
Double Fine’s adventure game Kickstarter (ended) and inXile’s Wasteland 2 Kickstarter (ongoing) have both been huge successes, raising nearly five million dollars between the two of them (congratulations!). On the heels of these high-profile campaigns, I’d like to mention a few smaller ‘starters that sound interesting to me.
CraftStudio – Described as a “game to make games”, CraftStudio is a collaborative design environment that will let you build your own games and movies using a number of intuitive, built-in editors. You can then freely distribute or sell your creations, through CraftStudio’s online store or however else you like. (TIGForums DevLog)
Ao Oni
By: Derek Yu
On: March 17th, 2012
A group of teenagers enter an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town to see if it’s haunted… an unimaginative set up for a horror tale, but thankfully it’s not indicative of the rest of the game. Released in 2009 by the Japanese developer noprops, Ao Oni has since gained a cult reputation for its inventive scares and challenging puzzles. Given that it’s made in RPGMaker XP, the game’s not Amnesia-levels of scary, but it squeezes a lot out of the aging engine to provide a suitably creepy backdrop for the puzzle-solving.
Everything you need to play Ao Oni is available at its homepage, including the RPGMaker XP runtime. There are Japanese, English, and Italian language editions of the game – just download your preferred translation, unzip, and run (after installing the runtime, of course). Keep in mind that different versions of Ao Oni vary greatly in terms of plot and design… older versions are available from other websites if you’re interested (but beware of spoilers).
TIGdb: Entry for Ao Oni
Pre-Alpha Video: Grim Dawn
By: Derek Yu
On: March 16th, 2012
Grim Dawn is an upcoming action RPG from Crate Entertainment, a small studio founded by ex-members of Iron Lore Entertainment. The game is being built on Iron Lore’s Titan Quest engine.
In this August 2011 interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Crate’s Arthur Bruno spoke quite candidly about the demise of Iron Lore and how the Grim Dawn team is planning to please “the hardcore gaming audience” on a smaller budget.
Alientrap Announces Next Game: Apotheon
By: Alehkhs
On: February 23rd, 2012
Alientrap, the two-man team behind last year’s Capsized, has just announced its next project: Apotheon. As an “an open world, action/stealth, 2D sci-fi sidescoller game,” Apotheon sports a unique art style that mimics classical Greek pottery and promises to “have both a sprawling, open-world singleplayer campaign where you climb your way to the top of Mount Olympus, gaining divine power and deadly enemies along the way, and online multiplayer battles with tactical bronze-age combat (spears and arrows!).”
Alientrap has only revealed two screenshots at this point as well as the game’s synopsis:
“Apotheon is a 2D platform action-rpg set on the rich stage of ancient Greek mythology. Hera, the queen of Olympus, has overthrown her husband Zeus, and taken his throne as ruler of the Gods. Bitter and scornful towards the race of mortals, she launches a murderous campaign to scour them from the earth. As humanity’s last champion, you must pass through the land of the dead, infiltrate Mount Olympus, and end the wrath of the Gods. With sword, spear, and shield in hand, you will sneak, conspire, loot, and battle your way through majestic palaces and chthonic depths as you climb towards godhood. Only by stripping the old gods of their powers, and taking control of the elements as your own, can humanity hope to survive the coming oblivion.”
Coming to Steam: Realm of the Mad God
By: Alehkhs
On: February 18th, 2012
Realm of the Mad God, the free-to-play, bullet-hell MMORPG will soon arrive on Steam.
Originally an entry in the TIGSource Assemblee Competition, Realm of the Mad God has continued to gain popularity for the past two years, and was announced as a Main Competition finalist for the 2012 Independent Games Festival. The game’s move to Steam, early next week, shows just how popular it has become and will introduce achievements to the game as well as a stand-alone client (though players will still be able to play in their browsers, if they so wish). The game will continue to be free to play, and it’s almost certain that the team intends to add new content throughout the foreseeable future as the player base continues to grow.
Congratulations, Wild Shadow Studios!
Starfarer 0.5a
By: Derek Yu
On: February 14th, 2012
Starfarer is a promising real-time tactics RPG that’s currently in development. The latest pre-order build, 0.5a, was released today, bringing the game one step closer to the open-world space opera that its developers have planned. Previous iterations of Starfarer have let you choose from a number of scripted missions, but in 0.5a you can finally tackle a basic campaign map that lets you expand your fleet (through purchase or capture) and level up your crew. No matter how large your fleet is, though, you’ll always control a single character and ship, directing your allies through a detailed tactical map.
The game already offers quite a bit in the way of customization to your fleet, from types of ships (large capital ships to tiny fighters) to weapons and armor, down to even the personality and experience of the crew. The final release, though, sounds like it will be a dream for fans of space combat and trading games like Escape Velocity Nova – whether you want to be an ace pilot, the admiral of a large fleet, or something in-between, there will be plenty of ways to make your (permanent, meaningful) mark on the galaxy. On top of that, Starfarer’s devs seem committed to making the game friendly for modders, with fans already creating their own ships and missions.
The final price of the game is set at $20, but you can pre-order it right now for $10 and receive the current build as well as all future updates.
Driftmoon Demo Released
By: Derek Yu
On: February 10th, 2012
Anne and Ville Mönkkönen have released a demo for their upcoming RPG Driftmoon, which is nearing completion (a “few months”, according to the website). Previously, the game was only playable as a preorder.
The demo of Driftmoon comes with a full-featured editor and all of the currently available mods. If you enjoy it, you can still preorder for access to the alpha.
A Few Good iGames
By: Derek Yu
On: January 19th, 2012
I’m not too in touch with the mobile market (see what I unintentionally did there?), but here are a handful of recent iOS releases that caught my eye:
Super Crate Box iOS – Vlambeer’s popular action game has made its way to iDevices. I’m pretty impressed with how they handled the controls, especially after the 1.1 update. It treats the buttons almost like they’re sliders, and once you get used to it, 90% of the deaths feel like your fault. The screen even scrolls to let you see crates that might be hiding under your fingers.
Fingle – An IGF Best Mobile Game finalist, Fingle plays kind of like Twister for your phalanges. A neat idea that should make for some steamy family gatherings!
Puzzlejuice – Asher Vollmer’s new puzzle game combines Tetris with match-3 and Boggle, and apparently those pieces fit together quite well (I swear I’m not doing this on purpose). Creating rows will turn the squares into letters, which can then be connected into words to make the blocks disappear. Multipliers are granted for spelling, but can also be extended by matching colors and making more letters.
A cool concept in and of itself, but the execution is what drives it home. A slick magnifying window pops up as you’re spelling words and overall, the interface feels very polished. Art direction by Greg Wohlwend (Solipskier) is as good as expected. (EDIT: You should also check out the soundtrack, by Jimmy Hinson. Had my audio turned down, so I didn’t realize how nice it is.)
Swift Stitch
By: Paul Eres
On: January 11th, 2012
[This is a guest article by Offal, a review/analysis of Sophie Houlden’s Swift Stitch. She’s also the developer of The Linear RPG, BOXGAME, and many others.]
Dissecting Swift☆Stitch
You might be forgiven if at first glance you were to confuse Sophie Houlden’s recently released Swift Stitch for a video game out of another decade. Utilizing the Unity3D game engine, Sophie has created an ostensibly 2D game, though one that hews closer artistically to the legacy of early vector displays than the more prolific blocky bitmap art that followed. The slick mathematical aesthetic, the palette of black, white, and bright flickering neons, and the bare-minimum control method may seem otherworldly amongst today’s fare. On deeper examination however, you may discover that Swift Stitch is a game firmly rooted in the present, taking a unique approach in addressing several modern game design paradigms.
In play, Swift Stitch bears significant resemblance to the bit Generations (or more recently, ArtStyle) games. Roughly similar to various entries in the arty Skip Ltd. developed series, Swift Stitch presents the player with minimal visual and aural feedback, tightening the gap between stimulus and player reaction. When successful, this kind of game induces a unique head-space that makes every lesson learned by failure and every small triumph feel sublime.
Read the rest of this entry »
Gameplay Video: Cube World
By: Derek Yu
On: January 2nd, 2012
Here’s a video showing off some of the early quests in wollay’s Cube World, a voxel-based action RPG that’s currently in development. There’s also a feedback thread for the game on TIGForums.
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