I just released “The Day” on ArmorGames.com. It’s a game about birthdays, trading cards, and war.
It’s Tia’s birthday, and she’s looking forward to beating all of her friends with the new card her dad gave her! Beat the other kids by choosing the right cards, and earn more cards until you’re the best of them all!
And don’t go into the woods, or the guards will kill you.
The game is an experiment in orthogonal goals.
I’ve finished up a little game that’s partially a test for a conversation engine I cooked up. It’s called “Narthex.”
After a long journey, you will reach the Narthex, the waiting place before the oracle. There you must wait until your time. Then you will be given the answer to a single question. This game has two endings. The second is not worth getting.
Play “Narthex” at Ludus Novus.
I’ve written another short story. This one’s called “The Latest Death of Morim,” and it’s about life, death, and music.
Morim woke up with his lungs burning. His whole body was cold. His joints were stiff, so stiff that he couldn’t move. He struggled to remember, to somehow grasp with his mind where he had just been, to hold on to some detail. But there was nothing.
“That one was the hardest yet,” a voice said. “You almost stayed dead this time.”
Spinach is making a documentary about indie video game developers.
At that link above, you can see footage of an interview he did with me, Anna Anthropy, Daphny, and Amon26. Spinach is a cool guy and he’s trying to get some exposure for a bunch of folks who I’m really interested in learning more about. He needs your help to do it, so go and pledge to donate on his Kickstarter page.
The 2009 XYZZY Awards are in their first round of voting, which is basically a nomination round. This is the major annual award show for works of interactive fiction (text adventures). If you liked The Bryant Collection or “Backup,” voting for them in this round might be something you want to do.
Of course, there have been several other awesome IF pieces released this year. I need to play more of them myself before I can make a proper decision.
And it’s out! My December 2009 game is up at Newgrounds. Babies Dream of Dead Worlds is a game about family.
Before we have memory, before we know what this world is, we dream. Babies dream of what came before, of universes that are no longer there. Babies dream of dead worlds.
Play Babies Dream of Dead Worlds on Newgrounds.
This game is a sort of surreal platformer, I suppose? It’s a bit hard to describe. It’s developed using Flixel, and tells the story of three siblings at the end of a world very unlike this one.
Last year, I resolved to create a game a month. That went quite well for me, but I think I want to be freer with my development goals this year. I still needed a new year’s resolution, though. Since I often neglected Ludus Novus in the wake of my game development, I chose a goal that should keep the content here flowing smoothly.
I resolve to post at least once each week on this blog. Posts could be game discussions, tabletop RPG summaries, podcast episodes (that’s right, I have a podcast!), or something else. If I’m especially busy, they could just be one or three preview screenshots of what I’m working on. Note that The Absolute Sum of All Evil comics do not count for this resolution. They’re weekly, but I drew the comics years ago, so that would be cheating.
If all goes according to plan, I should have over 100 new posts this year, including comics. Wish me luck!
My final game of the year is done, and boy did I delay it to the last minute. “Procrastination” is an abstract experimental game, my attempt to communicate purely through game mechanics. It’s my tribute to Rod Humble, if you must.
Play “Procrastination” at Ludus Novus.
Astute fans will notice that I have only released eleven games this year, despite my resolution to do a game a month. Fear not; the twelfth game is done, but “Babies Dream of Dead Worlds” will wait until it is sponsored before it gets released. Does it still count? Sure it does. I set the rules for this thing.
My other work-in-progress, the procedurally generated metroidvania with the working title of “Millions of Space Stations,” will be released in early 2010.
I’ve written a short story.
In the process of creating a fantasy setting for my roleplaying system LORE, I’ve been playing with a lot of world-building elements: cosmology, racial influences on culture, magic, spirits, and the like. A great way for me to get a feel for these elements and how they fit together is to write a story about them.
This story is called “Brea’s Crossing,” and it’s about the dangers of caravan travel, dueling, and leylines. Let me know what you think in the comments to this post. I’ll likely be releasing more stories in the future.
I’ve put together a game! I guess this is my November game, as the space station game would be October’s, and it’s still under construction. “Backup” is an Interactive System Failure about killing.
The Prosperity Commission transportation facilities are designed for the utmost safety and reliability. They are equipped with weapon dampening fields, highly-trained security forces, and four redundant computer cores. You are the third backup computer core for a facility under construction. You should never have to wake up. Something is wrong.
Download “Backup” from Ludus Novus.
To play the .zblorb file, you will need a Z-machine interpreter, which is like a media player for interactive fiction. If you use Windows, I recommend Gargoyle. If you use Mac OS X, I recommend Zoom. If you use Linux, I recommend the Linux version of Zoom.
This game is heavily inspired by Gun Mute. It is a (potentially) violent piece of interactive fiction with multiple endings set in a science fiction world of robots, plasma swords, and intergalactic finance. I’ve attempted to create something that rarely occurs in interactive fiction: a game that requires tactical thought as a challenge rather than puzzle-solving. In-game instructions and hints are available by typing HELP in-game. “Backup” is written in Inform 7. Let me know what you think in the comments!