Indie RPG News Roundup, July 23 '08
Mainstream computer & console RPG fans have some exciting news to crow about. There's Final Fantasy XIII, newly announced to be released on the XBox 360 as well as the expected PS3. Fallout 3 has received an immense amount of hype, which I certainly hope will be warranted. Diablo 3 looks... tasty! There's Dragon Age, the spy-thriller RPG-esque Alpha Protocol, an expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2 called Storm of the Zehir, Space Siege, an expanded edition of The Witcher, The Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3, Too Human for the PS3, and the upcoming MMORPG Champions Online, based on one of my all-time favorite pen-and-paper RPGs.

Those of us who don't mind prowling off the beaten path for some excellent and unique role-playing games are finding a bit to be excited about, too. While indie RPG releases and news don't revolve around the Christmas buying season, news has started to trickle out lately after being quiet for several weeks. So here's what I've been able to dig up lately:

Cute Knight Kingdom
The long-awaited sequel to the award winning casual sim-RPG Cute Knight is finally in development. Entitled Cute Knight Kingdom, its biggest addition is a larger world to explore, rather than a single town. According to developer Hanako Games (read: Georgina), "you'll now be walking around on a map and able to visit different locations within a kingdom instead of just sitting in one town all the time. Which also means that travel time can cut into your stat-raising plans, especially if you're wandering all over the place looking for the secret charm cards."

In addition, there is an option to be more active in how you are performing jobs, relying upon some skill rather than just luck & stats for your performance.

Fate Undiscovered Realms
This sequel / expansion / enhancement to the indie RPG Fate was released fairly quietly, in my opinion, by Wild Tangent. It is a Diablo-style RPG done "cute", but still offers a meaty action-RPG experience with lots of questing, dungeon-delving, and loot-accumulation. Fate Undiscovered Realms offers the ability to import your character from the previous game, a level cap of 199, and a new difficulty level called "hardcore" mode (which is not to be confused with Diablo II's perma-death hardcore mode). Fate: Undiscovered Realms is ad-supported for free play, or you can pay for the ad-free premium version.

Download Fate: Undiscovered Realms

Eschalon: Book 2
At the end of every week, Basilisk Games is answering a "question of the week" about their upcoming RPG, Eschalon: Book 2. The sequel to last year's much-lauded Eschalon: Book 1, the next game in the series features a number of new features, many of which have been requested by players of the original (like being able to play a character of either gender).

Questions covered so far include: We all saw the thirst and hunger bars on the screenshots, Could you elaborate on them? Features like these are usually tedious*, so how will you be implementing them? Will B2 be available in other languages, or will you offer fans the possibility to translate or create mods? Will we be able to ride horses to move faster and add a charge attack? Do you have an estimated gameplay hours for this one? The lack of a time penalty for switching between ranged and melee weapons seemed a bit like an exploit. Will that change for Book 2?

Check out Basilisk's answers to these questions and more about Eschalon: Book 2.

Aveyond 3
Aveyond 3 is the next in the Aveyond series, a jRPG-esque game series I am personally quite fond of. Amanda of Amaranth Games has announced that it will begin development next month, and is expected to be released in spring 2009. Details are sketchy, but as she announced on her blog, "Main roles belong to Mel, a thief girl who picks the wrong pocket, Te'ijal our wickedly funny vampress, Galahad, our reluctant knight in shining armor, and a really evil vampire mage who wants to enslave the 'weakling' sun walkers."

Depths of Peril
Steven Peeler has noted that Mac sales of Depths of Peril have been going strong - strong enough that he is going to make Mac versions of all future PC products a priority. There's also a new beta patch 1.012 for Depths of Peril, which should be made official in a few days.

DragonSpires
Okay - this is hardly a new title, but I'd never heard of it before. This is an isometric "massively" multiplayer online RPG written in Java, based on an old DOS game. One of its features includes the ability for players to upload custom maps for play. It's been around for several years, but has begun receiving some updates recently.

DragonSpires Home Page

Dwarf Fortress
Hoo-boy. The big mutha of a roguelike strategy / rpg/ world simulator Dwarf Fortress. Now, it is officially entitled Slaves to Amok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress --- who comes up with these names? Anyway, it has a new version out, v0.28.181.39d. Yeah, don't ask me, I didn't come up with the numbering system either! The big changes from previous versions (not including patches to fix patches) involve the already really humongous world-generation system. The new system includes massive world events, and the ability to customize the world-creation process. Kinda.

Download the latest version of Dwarf Fortress

What is remarkable to me is the incredible, unbelievable amount of detail and simulation packed into this ASCII-art game. I guess it goes to show how much you can do if graphics and ease-of-play (come on, admit it) are not a concern. However, if you are a gamer who really, really likes to see something prettier than alphanumerics on the screen, there is hope.

In addition, there's the first of a three-part interview with Tarn Adams of Bay 12 Games, developers of Dwarf Fortress, who admits (among other things) that Dwarf Fortress has become his full-time job. A job where he keeps rather unusual hours - explaining that "at around ten or eleven [at night], give or take, I can start by programming for the day. That usually runs until around seven AM, often later." Fascinating reading!

Wanderlust
This is a cooperative multiplayer RPG currently in beta, created with Game Maker. Interestingly enough, the game is only barely playable (currently) in single-player... it practically demands a partner (or up to three)! Rather than go into any detail about it here, I'll direct you to the straight scoop at TIGSource, which has a fairly extensive review / preview.

Or you can just visit the very musical homepage for Wanderlust and play the beta demo of Wanderlust it yourself.

Mount & Blade
Freddy Lim has posted a preview of the upcoming horse-heavy RPG Mount & Blade at Gametunnel.com. There's another preview at Jolt. This game is making its way to the finish line (though people who pre-ordered have already been playing it), as beta 0.96 was just released last month. This is the last beta version prior to final release. It's been a long road for these indies, and it looks like it is finally coming to a hopefully glorious end.


And that's it for now. My brain is full. That's a lot of games! Maybe I should do this more often or something. I hear rumor from Jason Compton that we should expect a minor setting update in the near future for The Broken Hourglass, and I hope to see more progress on that one soon. Aside from that, if you know of anything cooking on the indie RPG front, let me know here, or via email (jayb. at rampantgames dot com) or in the forums!

Check out Independent RPGs and Adventures at Rampant Games. Or not.

Labels: Indie RPG News

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