First! (in awhile)

I've been busy.  Hm, no, that's not right.  Apathetic.  No one reads this and I didn't feel like keeping up with this when I'm the only one that will ever see it.  I've played a few new games since last post, but nothing awesome enough that really impels me to write something.

I recently participated in a Corona Blitz where the task was to try to create a game in 4 hours.  My entry wasn't fancy but it was fun all the same.  Doing that inspired me to do some more experimentation. I dug up an old proof of concept I made last year and decided to push forward and make it into a game.  Perhaps I'll post some tidbits here as I make progress.

I've also embarked on learning JavaScript - not the "look at some tutorials, hack together code, and pretend I know JS" type of learning.  I got me a 3" thick book, blew through the courses on Code Academy, and I'm learning the nuts and bolts.  This endeavor serves two purposes for me: 1) build some nifty apps in nodeJS that will facilitate my sysadmin duties at work, and 2) be able to jump right into scripting in Unity.

Indie Games Are My Bag, Baby

I find myself playing far more indie games these days than big-budget "AAA" titles.  Some people complain to the effect that indie games are "stupid" and are money-grabbing attempts to cash in on retro games.  They're supposedly too short and aren't worth the money.

Well here's where I disagree.  I don't get much time to play games.  I manage to sample a wide variety of them, but when it comes down to it, I'm not spending 30 hours a week playing games.  If I get an hour or two every couple of nights that's a good week.  This is why I dig a lot of indie games.  Rather than spend $60 on a huge game that I know I'll NEVER complete, I can drop $5-$10 on a pretty decent indie game that gives me just as much (or more) enjoyment.  I like a game that I can play for a short time, drop, and come back later for another 20 minute session.  Many indie games also run on multiple platforms.  So when I'm dabbling in linux I still have some things to keep me entertained without having to reboot Windows.

I've put a game out there.  I've seen Indie Game.  There are some REALLY great indie games out there.  I know that many of the little guys need (and deserve) the support far more than MegaPublishers who put out DRM-infested garbage.  There are still a few "mainstream" games that get me excited, and I'm not an indie fanboy for the sake of being one.  I just find myself connecting to indie games more easily and more frequently than the EA/Activision/Cryware shooter of the month.

Neverwinter Open Beta Impressions

Neverwinter is open beta now so I’m back in there.  The first day it opened at noon and I got right in.  By 3:00 there was so much lag that it was unplayable.  I tried to log in later that night and I was 7,000-something in the queue.  The next day they patched and made a huge fix to the networking which expanded capacity and stability.  It's now 99% buttery smooth and I haven't encountered a queue since.

When I first tried NW in closed beta I was largely unimpressed and almost dismissed it as “just another mmo”.  Over the second beta weekend I started to get into it a little and was starting to come around.  Now that I’ve been in it for a few days solid and have a feel for most of the mechanics and nuances, I’m hooked.

Professions: There doesn't seem to be a traditional crafting system. Instead, you train workers for each trade skill profession and then you assign them to jobs (gathering materials, refining, crafting.)  Each job has different rewards/durations.  Initially there is only one job slot so even if you have multiple workers, you can only do one thing at a time.  But, more slots unlock as you level up the professions.  They even have a web app that lets you login and manage your professions when you’re away from the game.  

Companions: Think "pets", but MOAR. You get to choose one of the main classes or a dog as your starter companion.  You summon him and he follows you around like a pet.  But the cool thing is he gains xp while he fights with you and you train him when he levels up to increase his stats. You start with 3 active companion slots to toggle between and more can be purchased. Ideally, you might have one of each type and summon the appropriate companion as needed for different situations.

There’s a prayer mechanic where you can “invoke” at an altar once an hour to get a buff, possibly an item, and for the first few times each day that you do it, you get astral diamonds.  The diamonds are the secondary currency that can be traded for cash shop currency.  Diamonds are also used in the broker/auction which I thought was odd at first, but I like it.  "Regular" money is almost completely useless to me so far at level 21. You also get two different types of tokens when you invoke.  The first type is accumulated every time you do it and you can spend them on buffs and such.  The second type accumulates with each consecutive day that you’ve invoked (up to a max of 7) that can be used to claim rewards at various tiers.

The f2p scheme feels very unrestricted so far.  They don’t do that “sorry, you can’t equip this item or go to that location because you didn’t pay” BS *cough, SOE*.  They give you 2 character slots to start so you could buy more of those.  You can buy mounts, additional bag/bank space, companion slots, profession components, etc.  Nothing that seems pay-to-win, but things that people would be compelled to buy to keep some money flowing to devs.

I've also had a chance to play a few rounds of PvP - the few matches I played were of a "control" nature but maybe there are others. I generally am NOT a PvP type of guy, but I had no complaints. 

The game is more fun that I expected after the first impressions. Unless there's something I'm missing, I think it's safe to say I'll be playing this for quite some time.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

I've come to terms with having 3 game outlets installed on my system.  There is of course Steam.  But a couple of months ago I was compelled to install the Gamestop app when I purchased the uber-mega-ultra D&D Interplay pack.  They occasionally have Steam-esque deals and yesterday was one such occasion that led to the installation of EA's Origin app.  It seems most of the games sold through the Gamestop app actually just provide keys to either Steam or Origin.  I saw Kingdoms of Amalur for $6 and picked it up.  THIS is why I don't buy games at release.  I can pay pennies on the dollar if I give it a few months or a year.  I'm already seeing Borderlands 2 creep down to the $30 mark...  Anyway, I was dubious about installing EA's app because generally speaking, I just don't trust EA's policies or their product quality.  But for $6 I figured I could take the risk.  I can't fault anything with Origin so far.  Installing it and redeeming my Amalur key was painless and the download speed was equivalent to what I get with Steam.  To my surprise it also noticed that my email address had Battlfield: Bad Company 2 attached to it and added it to my Origin account automatically.  Cool beans.

As for Kingdoms of Amalur - I'm not very far into it, but I think I'm far enough to have a grip on the basic mechanics and gist of the game.  DEFINITELY worth $6.  The gameplay and overall feel reminds me of Fable in some ways.  My character is apparently a reborn cadaver that has had its soul re-inserted.  In this second life I'm unbound by fate and I'm able to meddle in the threads of fate itself.  Pretty neat premise to start off with.  We'll see where the story takes me.

The Room

There are two HumbleBundles running this week.  I've contributed to both and I'm already writing a post about one of the games they gave me.  The Room was part of an android-only bundle.  Usually the android bundles also include PC versions, but I'm not complaining.

I dig puzzles and The Room is one of the coolest and most satisfying puzzle games I've ever played.  If you're the type that can derive even a shred of joy from a puzzle, I suggest you immediately go get the bundle before it expires (if you're on Android) or go throw $2 at these people on the App Store if you're on iOS.  The game isn't on the Google Play store yet and as far as I can see, there's not even any mention of an Android version existing on their website.  I think us HumbleBundlers have some top-secret build or something...

The Room challenges you with opening a safe that has a bunch of intricate mechanics, hidden compartments, and even extra-dimensional attributes that require the use of a monocle of sorts to see.  This safe opens, evolves, and unfolds as you manipulate it.  The control scheme is very natural and intuitive and the puzzles are challenging but not so complicated or obscure to be frustrating.  I was constantly wondering "what's THIS do?"  I got through the whole game in an estimated 2 hours or so of total play time.  They're going to release another level in an update this summer and The Room 2 is mentioned as a fall release.  To that I say "shut up and take my money."

Hawken

Several months ago I saw a page in a game magazine that told me to keep an eye on Hawken.  When I got accepted into the beta not long afterwards, I was turned off to it for some reason.  I don't even remember what it was - maybe the servers were having problems and I couldn't actually get into any games. That seems familiar...

Anyway, I got an email the other day telling me they're giving out 5000... credits(?) of some kind to use in-game.  I took them up on it and gave the game another shot.  It's still technically in beta, but it feels pretty well tuned.  The graphics are great.  It's fast-paced and controls well...with one complaint - pressing shift and any direction zooms you off in that direction.  Any direction EXCEPT reverse.  Pressing shift+back makes your mech pull a 180.  Instead of putting distance between you and the guy charging you, you're suddenly wondering what the hell you're looking at.  By the time you figure out what happened, you're toast.  Aside from that nitpick, the game is all kinds of fun.

I just hope I'm not suddenly required to drop $20 on a new mech at some point.  It appears everything can be attained just by playing the game and earning money (even if it would take some time.)  There's also RMT currency to help speed things up if you'd rather just pay.  For now I'm pretty happy driving around and shooting things in my TV-on-legs.  Plus, it's an indie operation which pleases me.

Neverwinter Beta

I've put a lot more time into Neverwinter this weekend than I did in the previous beta event.  I think I got a good feel for the game and how their free-to-play model will be structured.  As far as I've seen, the core game is there to play without much restriction and there is of course a cash shop to keep some money coming in.  There are three tiers of "Founder's Packs" for sale, and the cash shop seems pretty tame - consumables, mounts, appearance stuff, character slots.  One thing that's really nice in Neverwinter's sibling, Star Trek Online, is the ability to exchange the cash shop currency (called "Zen") for "dilithium" with other players.  From what I gather, "astral diamonds" are Neverwinter's equivalent of dilithium.  I've heard that things like identify scrolls and other special items might be purchased with astral diamonds.  On the surface that might sound like they want to milk you for real money in some way to get astral diamonds to play the game right.  If it's anything like the dilithium system in STO, there's little to fear.  There should be plenty of opportunity to earn the currency without spending a dime.

Something I noticed yesterday when I hopped in NW - I was seeing chat from the fleet channels we use in STO!  So I was able to chat with my fleet in STO while I was testing NW.  Very cool stuff.

Neverwinter isn't TOO different from any other mmo, with one exception - The Foundry.  This is actually something that was developed for NW but was back-ported to STO since they use the same engine.  The Foundry lets players create their own quests/missions/campaigns then let the rest of the community run through and rate them.  I toyed with the Foundry a little in STO and it's pretty spiffy if you're the type that has time to do that sort of thing.  The control system is more or less the same as TERA or Guild Wars 2.  Instead of click-to-target then repeat a series of number key presses until the mob dies, you control the camera like a shooter and attack/dodge.  I had fun working through the quests and fighting my way to the boss of the first main quest line (which took me up to level 8 or so.)  The final encounter was fun and challenging.  At the end of the beta weekend I at least felt like I had played through a campaign with a goal and a story rather than just being sent out to kill wildlife over and over.  It's not going to completely pull me away from TERA, but it's definitely something I'll be playing on the side.