Deathtrap Review: An RPG Tower Defense Game with Variety
By Patrick Lathan
Deathtrap is a top-down tower defense game with action-RPG elements. Your hero is one of three classes – sorceress, mercenary, or marksman – who are each left alone to defend the world against creatures emanating from “chaos portals.” The portals are opening for the first time in thousands of years (et cetera, et cetera), unless you’re playing co-op, in which case you have some company.
Interview: Castle Story's Dwindling Grace & Unrelenting Delays
By Steve Burke Published March 08, 2015 at 2:50 pm
We first discovered Castle Story in March of 2012, during an explosive period of indie game development and crowd-funding. 2012 was a somewhat magical year in this regard: Star Citizen began its initial push, Cube World gained traction, and Castle Story – an RTS/builder hybrid made by new graduates – raked-in three-quarters of a million dollars.
Shroud of the Avatar's Impressive Stability & Beautification - Richard Garriott Interview
By Steve Burke Published March 08, 2015 at 11:23 am
Richard Garriott is one of the industry's most experienced designers, and that's doubly so for RPGS, a genre he's managed to remain in for nearly the entirety of his career. Having started the Ultima series after inspiration from tabletop D&D games, Garriott is now focusing on Shroud of the Avatar under Kickstarted developer Portalarium. The team, which is independently publishing, has managed to sustain 24/7 uptime since November. That's an impressive feat.
The variety of games at PAX East’s Indie Megabooth supporting local multiplayer or cooperative gameplay always impresses. Not only is Kitfox Games’ action-RPG Moon Hunters a cooperative title for up to four players, but it also offers a unique setting far from generic fantasy or generic sci-fi.
Chris Roberts on Instancing, Zoning, Player Counts, & Technological Hurdles
By Steve Burke Published March 07, 2015 at 9:08 am
We always manage to include the site's technology-driven coverage spectrum in conversations with Star Citizen visionary Chris Roberts. This has been true since the very beginning of our Star Citizen coverage, which heavily [focused on the technology] of the colossal space sim. Our hardware content greatly benefits from these conversations with game systems engineers, too: Such discussions lend a basic understanding of engine architecture, assisting in the development of GPU, I/O, and CPU test methodology as it pertains to real-world gaming use cases.
In this case, the CIG CEO joined us for an extensive discussion on Star Citizen's great engineering challenges, to include the recently-discussed zone system and instancing mechanics.
PAX East Trove Preview - Voxel MMO in Sea & Sky
By Nick Pinkerton Published March 07, 2015 at 7:30 am
Trion’s voxel MMO Trove has been on our radar since last year’s Game Developers Conference, largely because of its vibrant presentation inside a cooperatively-driven game. For followers of our Cube World coverage, this would be the most comparable title. Our very own Keegan Gallick and I caught up with Project Lead Andrew Krausnick to learn about some of the newest features and what to expect in the months leading up to Trove’s late 2015 release.
Overwatch First Impressions & Preview - Fluid, but Not Novel
By Steve Burke Published March 06, 2015 at 11:51 pm
The rush to play Overwatch began early – promptly at 9AM, Eastern, today at PAX East. Blizzard’s first publicly playable demonstration of its team shooter pitted rows of faced-off gamers against one another, resulting in 6v6 cross-aisle combat.
The Open Development Experience – Q&A with Fractured Space Dev James Brooksby
By Nick Pinkerton Published March 06, 2015 at 10:00 am
Multiplayer titles have become so complex and content-packed that gamers can no longer expect a perfect multiplayer without intensive user testing, alphas & betas, patches, and downloadable content. Perhaps that’s one reason why many multiplayer-only titles have gone free-to-play: they’re always a work in progress, no matter how enjoyable they are at a given point. British studio Edge Case Games is coming off its space combat game, Strike Suit Zero, and is now venturing into 5v5 multiplayer with Fractured Space. Players take control of one of several ship classes and work together to secure resources and ultimately destroy the opponents’ base.
Aaru’s Awakening Stands Brilliantly Alone in the Platformer Genre
By Nick Pinkerton
The platformer genre is one that initially stood out as challenging, with titles like Metroid, Contra, and Pitfall. Eventually, it expanded to larger 3d worlds that developers enriched to offer more than just jumping from platform-to-platform. After that grew repetitive, the number of platformers in the AAA market began to dwindle. Fortunately, many 2D platformers have emerged from independent developers and are putting their unique twists on the genre.
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