All BlogsPage 1 Of 3   Next


Tears of Solaris Preview

Posted On 2008-02-07 , 8:56 AM

I just got a newsletter in my inbox from one of the biggest MUD developers, Iron Realms Entertainment.
Looks like they are are creating a new MUD set in a Sci-Fi universe and it is supposed to be huge, with over 5 billion "rooms" as space, not including all of the planets.  I'm going to be watching the progress on this really closely, as it is stated to be released sometime this year.

Here's the link to the forums, as there is still no official website yet, and a synopsis of what you can expect to see:
 
"Unaccountably, I can only seem to remember the indignity of my last voyage across the galaxy once I am already committed to another."
- Theron Parr, The Trackless Void

Humanity has left its cradle. After centuries of standing on tiptoes and reaching for the stars, it has finally sailed across the galaxy, unfettered by the demands of its planet.

And in the process, they learned that they were not alone.

And while there is no inherent reason for enmity between species, tensions arise. Humanity spread, the great banner of earth taken forward by pilgrims, pioneers and pariahs. And in the process, enemies are made, wars break out, and liberty is compromised for security.

Pitched battles and piracy, great lines of ships and small skirmishes, a complicated political dialogue is written in blood across the galaxy. And in a moment of desperation, an entire fleet sacrifices itself to strike at the very heart of Humanity.

Earth, Humanity's cradle, is no more.

Centuries later, Humans are ever and again pilgrims, pioneers, and pariahs. Between spacers with no attachments, refugee descendants carrying keepsakes of old earth, and lawless corsairs, Humanity has carved a place for itself in the galaxy. And so have the seven other sentient species that share space in the galaxy.


Travel the star-lit pathways of space - explore, exploit, and conquer the innumerable worlds in Polaris's ever-growing universe of possibilities. A galaxy living an uneasy era of devious intrigue and violent warfare, meticulous discovery and careless exploration. Populated by eight varied species of sentient beings, and under the rule of three distrustful stellar empires, the galaxy is both large enough for every man's dream, and too small to fit all its competing factions - Be it the greedy Bileath Corporation, the frenzied expansionism of the Trekat Empire, the prescient politics of the Jezira nation, or the entheogenic technological revelry of the Singularity Church.

Discover the furthest reaches of space, the secret treasures of multiple worlds, the technological breakthroughs that change life in the galaxy, or the very secrets of the gods themselves.

Trade in goods, information, or blood - Purchase a ship and work as a merchant freelancer - and if times are tough, one can always turn to piracy. Or invest in a corporation and reap dividends - as long as business is well taken care of. Or even trade in souls, bringing religion to those who need it - for a price.

Conquer whole planets to reap their resources, or convert them to expand the influence of your church.

Rule over a massive star-empire, a powerful corporation, a secretive conspiracy, or a pious religion.

And ultimately, Become an influential force in the Galaxy. Use wealth or intrigue to influence the politics of known space; defeat your enemies in combat through physical prowess, magical abilities, technological superiority, or Divine aid. Buy your way to success, or take it from the cold dead hands of your rivals. Talk others into following you, or enslave whole planets into your service. Serve a higher purpose, or benefit yourself - The stars are full of riches, and the manifold choices of known space create unlimited possibilities.



comment


Microlite20

Posted On 2008-02-01 , 2:55 PM

When I was a kid, I spent many an afternoon playing the Milton Bradley game, "Hero Quest" with my school friends (I had one of those moms that thought Dungeons & Dragons was evil). Now, many years later, I had a bad case of RPG nostalgia so I went out and bought the D&D core 3.5e rulebooks.

Now I was expecting something more complicated than Hero Quest, but not to the point where I was spending 98% of my gaming session flipping pages to find a rule about what happens when you sleep with your armor on. I have to tell you that I have only played about 3 times with other friends/family that have never played either. Because every time we got going on an adventure we would be so bogged down in rules that we just got bored out of our minds before we could even start having fun.

Now I have tried to go back to Hero Quest again, but that's about as fun as going from Disneyland to the county fair. Without the cool skill system, spell choices and leveling options, it's just not fun anymore. So I ask myself, "can't I have I have the cake and eat it too?". A few days ago, I found out that the answer is, "YES!" I found Microlite20.

Designed by a guy who calls himself, "Greywulf", Microlite20 (or M20) is the ultimate 'lite' version of D&D. The core rules fit on 1 page, rolling a character takes less than 10 minutes, and all of the spells, equipment, and monsters can be pulled directly from the SRD and implemented in just a few moment. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't strip out any rules, it just shaves all the fluff from off the top, leaving you to implement anything from the D20 SRD and still be able to call it true D&D. This is what the introductory D&D boxed-set should have been.

Now I have a game that can be played as easily as (or easier than) Hero Quest, but with all of the great options that Dungeons and Dragons has to offer. If you haven't tried it or are thinking of getting into D&D gaming, avoid the fluff and have fun instead.


Get Microlite20, free, here:





comment


My top 5 games

Posted On 2008-01-31 , 2:02 PM

Since I haven't written in a while I just thought I would post my top 5 favorite video games.  Now this is subject to change, but I've looked long and hard, played many, many games and these are the ones I just keep coming back to again and again.

1. Dwarf Fortress

I can safely say that this game is the deepest, most complicated game ever made in existence.  This isn't just my opinion or a bias - it's a fact.  To even begin to describe the possibilities in this cross between Sim Earth/Ant/City, The Sims, Nethack, D&D, Lord of the Rings, Dungeon Keeper would fill a novel.

To get an idea of what this game is all about, think of being placed in a massive, completely random world full of it's own histories of war, religion cities, races and creatures.  Every piece of history is told through it's inhabitants and seen through it's locations.  It's like JR.R. Tolkiens Novels on your computer monitor and you are the hero.

Not only is it massive in scope, it is almost completely moddable.  You can add in your own graphics, change world seed options and adapt your own races and items.

You are a fool if you don't play this game.


2. Noctis

There are few games that come close to invoking the wonder and imagination of this brilliant piece of work.  You are essentially a space traveler with your own ship among literally, billions of stars and planets.  I've never felt like I was truly in another world in a video game, until I played Noctis.  Being able to land on many different, completely exotic, worlds where you will never know what to expect is truly exhilerating.  There's never a "I've seen it all" moment, as there is always another place to explore.

3. UFO: Enemy Unknown

The greatest strategy of all time, and it's nearly fifteen years old.  Otherwise known as "XCom: UFO Defense" in the USA, this game is truly a legend among strategy enthusiasts.  It has probably more official and non-official remakes than of any other game (except for Mario), all of which have failed miserably in comparison to the original.

The premise is pretty simple.  Because of a recent surge in UFO sightings, you have been put in charge of the world's most advanced team of soldiers, scientists, and engineers to try to make sense, and if necessary defend against the mysterious extraterrestrials.

From random encounters, maps and space-ships, no game is ever the same.  The music is brilliantly eerie, and the great level design will keep you hooked for hours at a time.

4. Cantr II

When thinking of the definition of a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG, Cantr II probably won't come to mind.  Completely browser-based, and only designed to be played a few minutes a day, this game is a Role-Player's dream come true.  You won't find endless hordes of monsters to kill, or people who say, "plix gim-e phat l00t", or even pretty graphics.  You will find another world like no other.

Think of Cantr II as a world like 'Myst' - the part with all of the maps and cryptic writing mixed with real people writing them.  The world of Cantr II has no official 'manual' or backstory or even a name.  It is just a world filled with many locations, forests, valleys, mountains and oceans and the people there to make sense of it.  Towns and items are built by players using natural resources and politics are born and die with the players.  There simply is no other place like it.

5. Tibia

Now you might be asking yourself, "after all the exotic, never-heard-of-before games listed above, why 'Tibia'?".  The answer is, is that it just works.  I've put many hours into the other mainstream MMORPG's, including World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Ultima Online, and many other of the lesser knowns, but I always find myself returning to Tibia. 

Why?  I am not really sure myself.  It may have something to do with the super-easy, simple interface that can be picked up and played for 5 minutes on any PC anytime, anywhere.  It may be the brightly colored, makes-you-feel-good graphics and graphical style.  It probably also has something to do with how much I love the dungeons in this game.  The lighting works great, the caves feel maze-like and a little creepy and it's always fun when you forget your rope and get stuck in some pit in the belly of the earth.  The housing/shop system is great fun and simple to use.  It's just a fun, tight little package that even a 'n00b' can get into in a matter of minutes.

Final thoughts

You can probably tell that I am a pretty casual gamer - this is not by choice, but by necessity.  As a husband, father of two and a demanding web-development career I just don't have the time anymore for spending hours at a time gaming.
You may also have noticed that the games I have chosen are really non-mainstream.  I think that the greatest stuff being made these days are coming from independent developers, and smaller groups who are creating the stuff we always dreamed about as kids. 
If I'm preaching to the choir, then that's fine, but if you are one of those who will live and die by the games whose posters are glued to the glass at your local video-game store, then I would suggest you take a break from it and see what else is out there.  Because there really is a lot of great stuff, and this is just a taste of the new ideas being thrown around by non-commercialized entities.



comment


Cantr II

Posted On 2007-09-25 , 4:43 PM

Through the Dwarf Fortress discussion forums I stumbled upon a little game called Cantr.  Honestly, I've been looking for a game like this for a very long time.  First of all, it's not really a 'game' as much as it is a simulation about real-life .  It's all text-based, but runs in a web browser so theres is no need to download a special client or program as in a MUD or other online games. 

This game is very different from others of its kind, at first glance the website looks like it was done by amateurs, the help files are sparse (about that in a minute) and there are no screenshots!  Don't be fooled by the meager appearance, however, as sometimes the greatest 'diamonds' are found only in the 'rough'.  Initially, when you sign-up, you give your character a name, which you can change later if you get married or get a title (like Sir, or King...).  Upon starting, you are randomly placed into a town or village which you know nothing about.  At first, nobody knows your name, and you don't know theirs.  Everyone, initially, only sees your name as, "a man in his twenties".  Just as in the real world, you will need to introduce yourself through communication.

The only maps are ones people made in the game - the 'Capital Rule' of Cantr clearly states that players are not allowed to discuss, post or chat about in-game events, outside the game. So there are no online descriptions of maps or many help files at all other than game mechanics like the interface- this makes it much more realistic.  To learn about the world you have entered, you must explore it yourself.  You will find items in your starting location, such as rules of laws, maps and other messages describing the environment.  As a character in this wide world, you will have to discover it's secrets by your own free will - not by spoilers on some website.

All of the other people in the game are REAL.  There are no boring NPC's to give you a hard-coded welcome or sell you items.  Other than the wild and tame animals that roam the countryside, all of your friends and enemies are real people with real thoughts, desires and aspirations.  Also every town, building, and item is made by a real person, you have to mine for ore, hunt animals for food, sow thread to make clothes, etc.  So in a town, everyone has to help work together to create industry and produce an end product.  Each character is spawned into the world with randomly inherited 'genes' from other existing characters, local to your starting point.  This means that societies can begin to specialize in a certain skill based on their location.  A village by the sea, that harvests fish will begin to spawn offspring that are also good at fishing.  Seeing the need for another resource, like wood, the villagers may need to trade fish to a nearby, forest-dwelling, society.  Since nothing is 'hard-coded'.  Nothing can be taken for granted.  If you don't eat, you will die and therefore must work together as a team in your society to make sure everyone survives.

Everything occurs in real-time, and when you log-out, your character is still there doing what he was doing when you left him.  Making a bow, for example, will take a couple days and you will need all the necessary parts.  As there are no 'monetary' units in the game, if you are great at building furniture, you may want to trade it for a weapon from someone who does that well.  Having a real-time system also means that traveling from a village to another city or even crossing an ocean is a large endeavor.  You may need to bring plenty of food, maps and even a friend for the voyage - many have died trying.

Even though this game is not combat oriented, battle can still break out.  What is especially interesting is when two feuding cities or nations go to war.  There are no set 'laws' designed by the game itself, every rule is created by the player.  If something is on the ground that does not belong to you, you can take it, but it may be considered stealing in many places, and citizens will punish you by imprisonment or worse.

Cantr is a very slow-paced game, but so is real-life.  Having a world run on the same time as the real world means that it will feel more epic and much larger than your average MMO.  This also means that you don't have to grind to obtain more valuables and experience.  You can set your character to do a task while you are logged off and he will improve skills all on his own.  This is perfect for the older gamer that just doesn't have as much time anymore to play for hours on end, but still get as much out of the game as someone who plays all day, non-stop.

Some are a little overwhelmed by the high learning curve and the, shockingly, unique game-play when first starting out.  It is important to be patient and to read the beginner documents and rules the first time logging in.  The main thing to remember, when playing, is to imagine it is an extension of real life and you'll be fine.  I believe that this is an example of the potential of what true MMO could be if modern publishers started to think outside of the box.  It is refreshing to play a game that's not all about slaying monsters - and feel as if you are a true part of your world, and not just a set-piece in an online-movie. 

If you like killing thousands of rats for gold, this game may not be for you.  But if you are ready to become a part of something different, a world without boundaries, then Cantr may be just your ticket.

Read the, "Your First Cantr Day" at the wiki site




comment


BatMUD

Posted On 2007-09-17 , 3:40 PM

BatMUD is an incredible Multi-User Dimension (another name for MMORPG).  It features a gigantic world, countless denizens and almost a thousand skills and spells.  There are a total of 44 races, each with their own abilities, strengths and weaknesses. 

When I first created a character I really noticed how unique and interesting the races are, compared to the systems other RPG's use for races.   They re more than just superficial names with minor differences in abilities.  Besides your typical strength, dexterity, intelligent etc, you also get 'size' which determines the size of weapon a creature can carry.  The 'Sprite' class, for example, is so small that they can not carry large weapons like an Ogre or Giant could.  Also each race comes with nice, innate abilities: Elves have empathy, allowing them to know what others are feeling.  Merfolk can breath underwater.  Barsoomians are a race of primates with multiple arms.

The combat system is superb.  There are tons and tons of skills and spells to learn, ranging from 'sneak' to 'tolerate alchohol'.  Weapons come in all shapes and sizes.  They can be wielded with two hands, or one in each hand (in some races this is a lot of hands!), and skills can be learned to improve technique in a specific weapon type.  Because there is no set 'class' to choose from, you can mold your character any way you like.  Want to use a huge two-handed broadsword, but still want to cast lots of magic?  No problem.   "You" can really make up your own class.

What I like most about BatMUD, however, are the nice little details.  The game has a realistic weather and season system.  Weather temperatures drop at night, wind velocities change and seasons pass.  In the winter, snow will fall, and you will hear the 'crunching' sound of your feet upon the snow.  Lighting is a real part of the world, as only those races with excellent vision can see in the dark.  Other races will require torches, lanterns or other light sources to see in caves and at night time.  Non-Player Characters air fairly intelligent as they will notice if you are fighting, or about to fight in their presence.  They also respond to your messages and give helpful hints.

Recently, a new, free client was released that greatly improves the game feel.  It features customizable viewing windows for a "google"-style overworld map, area map, and chat box.  It adds a very nice touch and makes a text-based mud like this much more accessible to the WoW generation.  Give BatMUD a try and support the effort into making this great game

BatMUD


comment


All BlogsPage 1 Of 3   Next


March 2010
SMTWTFS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031   



Recent Entries

Tears of Solaris Preview
Microlite20
My top 5 games
Cantr II
BatMUD

Archives

February 2008
January 2008
September 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007

Categories

ALL
Game Reviews
Other

Links

Dungeon Generator
The Hypertext d20 SRD 3.5e

Friends

Username
Password
Sign Up As Friend
Forgot Your Password?