In this latest post funding Kickstarter update for Project Eternity designer Bobby Null talks about the design of the creatures in the game.

One of my responsibilities has been creating the bestiary for Project Eternity. I'll admit, it's been a lot of work, but it's also been a lot fun. Like most of the things we do here at Obsidian, the process has been very collaborative. We have a few high-level goals regarding this process on Project Eternity.

• Creature Variety - The goal is to have a large library of creatures to use for the final game. Thus far, we're on track to meet this goal. The concept artists, modelers and animators have been tearing through the bestiary and delivering quality assets at a rapid pace.

• Recognizable is Good - We don't want to try to reinvent the wheel with every single monster. As we've shown in an earlier update, we feel some classic monsters, like the ogre, are essential to capture the adventuring feel we are aiming for. Moving forward, we are committed to including monsters that we feel fans will appreciate, while giving the beasties flavor appropriate to the world of Project Eternity.

• Different if Cool - We've already shown one of the unique creatures for Project Eternity in an earlier update, the skuldr. We will continue to create other unique, and often times bizarre, creatures to populate our world, but unique doesn't always need to feel bizarre. Different because it's cool is the goal.

So now that I've briefly discussed our high level goals, let's talk about a new creature: The Cean Gúla (KEN GOO-lah, "Blood Woman", Glanfathan), and the pipeline we use to get it through the concept phase.

Crate Entertainment announces on their kickstarter that the Alpha of Grim Dawn will be released tomorrow.

And so it was on the 1385th day of development that a messenger of the Lord appeared to Crate Entertainment and said unto them, “You hath labored well and faithfully and now, at long last, thou shalt releaseth thy Grim Dawn Alpha upon the world, if it is good”. And so then did Crate know that alpha should be released, for the alpha seemed good to the. And thus they issued forth emails to the people of Humble Store and to the people of Valve saying unto them “Lo, I doth beseech you now to make good all preparations in accordance that Grim Dawn Alpha may be released with due haste!”

So yeah, it has been a long time coming but the release of Grim Dawn Alpha is nearly upon us! Let us rejoice in its coming and give thanks to the many supporters, both fans and volunteers, who made this possible. We have labored hard these last few weeks to resolve critical issues so that your first experience in Grim Dawn is not overly marred by bugs and stability issues; though certainly there will still be some less common crashes, various oddities and numerous smaller issues.

Please remember that this is an indie title developed by a tiny start-up studio with a fraction of the developers and funding of major ARPG productions. We are not really trying to compete with the big boys, at least not yet, and our small budget means we do not need to sell a large number of copies for this to be successful. There are some limitations on what we can achieve in terms of features and polish, but we have poured our hearts and years of our lives into creating Grim Dawn and feel that we have created an enjoyable experience for those interested.

I know what you are thinking now: “cut to the chase and give us the release date already”. We expect the Alpha download to go live tomorrow, May 15th. Short notice I know, but we were not screwing around when we said we planned to release it without further delay once we felt it was ready. We debated releasing next Monday to be safe but we know how eager you all are to get your hands on alpha and we are a fly by the seat of our pants kind of studio, so… here we go!

Update number 17 of the Jagged Alliance: Flashback kickstater is now available. Not to much new info this time except more tier changes, and a new addition to the team.

Today we’d like to announce that additional modders have joined the modding team! Modders Stan “sbobovyc” Bobovych and bugmonster.

Stan “sbobovyc” Bobovych, the creator of the modtools for Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. Stan cracked open the code and created tools enabling users to modify Back in Action.

bugmonster from the Russian community, author of the JA2'005 modification for Jagged Alliance 2 who also did some interesting things with 1.13. He will also be one of the first people from the Russian community who’ll be able to confirm that we indeed are not going to discriminate Russians as the evil ones in Flashback ;-)

New Tiers & Tier Changes

We’ve decided to add a new Top Tier and a special unique Tier as well as making a change to the $1200 Tier.

Tier Changes

$1200 Tier will now be:

$1200 So You’re a Bad Guy Tier: For the right price you may just play along, so you get:
All previous rewards + Help co-design an enemy in the game, who can be recruited to your team if persuaded in the right way. (Appearance, Nationality, Gender, Name) (ONLY THIS TIER) Limited (5)

New Special Tiers

$600 Woody Woodpecker Tier: You just can’t enough of all that wood, so you get:
All previous DIGITAL REWARDS + Become a manic woodcutter (Help co-design the woodcutter + co-write 3 responses) Limited (1)

$10000 Oily Business Tier: It’s messy but you’re swimming in black gold, you get:
All previous rewards + Become the Oil Baron of the island (Story NPC) and have your very own small oasis with a deluxe Bedouin Tent, surrounded by oil fields (ONLY THIS TIER) + Have a in-game statue or monument made in your honor and to your likeness + Become an honorary member of the development team and be credited as such with a framed certificate and thank you picture (PHYSICAL) + A very special Thank you in the game credits + 50 extra digital copies of the game. + Top tier forum Badge for the official JAF forum + Gift bag of unique items + Meet and greet, enjoy a day with developers, before the day of the official launch party (which you’re invited to as well (accommodation paid, transport not included)) Limited (1)

On a final note we’ll be making it possible for the ALL DIGITAL $600-$650 Reward Tiers to add the physical add-ons if they please.

A Kickstarter campaign is now live for Shadow of the Eternals in addition to the campaign being run directly on the games website.

It was reported that the game was not using Kickstarter because developer Precursor Games is based in Canada. That has now changed. So just to recap here is what the game is all about:

Darkness Has Returned

When Detective Paul Becker is called to one of the bloodiest gang massacres in Louisiana state history, only two survivors remain from a brutal conflict between two rival cults. As Becker begins his interrogations of the suspects, their combined recollections will uncover the truth about the ‘Eternals’.

Shadow of the Eternals is a psychological horror game made by the creators of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Reqiuem, a spiritual successor to the cult classic. Featuring an ensemble cast of heroes and villains, Shadow of the Eternals will span over 2500 years of history throughout Egypt, England, Hungary, and the United States. Players will question the perception of reality as they try to balance the mechanics of combat, magick, and sanity events to progress through the adventure.

Shadow of the Eternals will take players on a memorable journey throughout time; weaving historical fact with disturbing fiction to create an experience unlike any other

Snowbird Games announces update 1.0.7 is now available for download. As usual Steam will update the game, and you can use the auto update for all non-steam versions.

Patch notes:

• Added a button at the center of the quarter wheel in the city screen. When pressed, it’ll position the camera on general city view.
  

Fixed:

• A bug that caused essential for progressing provinces appear on shards with standard conditions.
• Archmage’s inability to use two spells in his first turn.
• ‘Parry’ and ‘Forced March’ skills weren’t working properly in the first turn.
• Game’s freeze after diplomatic capture of a province.
• Event spam after hiring gargoyles.
• Wrong color of information display when a province is 100% explored.
• ‘Unrest’ icon will no longer be shown on the map if inhabitant’s attitude to player’s reign is positive.
• An exploit involving an exchange between heroes and hiring units in besieged enemy capital’s garrison.
• A bug that allowed learning spells during enemy capital’s siege.
• A bug that allowed learning spells from scrolls if the Library isn’t constructed.
• Health indicator display at 1 HP for dragon and hydra units.
• A bug that allowed summoning creatures from eggs and keeping the eggs at the same time.

GamerEuphoria has a new article discussing morality systems, and how they need to be improved. The article refers to The Witcher 2, Fallout 3, BioShock, Fable, and Mass Effect as examples.

‘Black and white’ decisions are the bane of morality systems. The choices are normally between doing an utterly selfless deed that is absolutely morally correct, or doing something that is straight up 100% evil; there is rarely middle ground. The problem with this is that these decisions then become a little detached from the dramatic effect that most of these games are aiming for.

ShowMeTheGames is hosting it's summer sale, and for the next seven days 32 Indie PC games will be on sale. There are a few RPG's, and other titles in the sale.

The sales on the site are made directly though the websites of the developers so showmethesales.com won't be getting any money from this. All the money goes to the developers so this is a good way to show your support for Indie game companies.

GameSkinny has an article about Grim Dawn called "A Potential Successor to Titan Quest."

Something on the horizon...

The reason I want to bring this to light is because, after the Immortal Throne came out, the publisher (THQ) ceased the series and refused to create another game. Well that was a huge disappointment for anyone who played the game; it meant that the could-have-been epic series would not be completed and there really was no substitute for the amazing, mythology-steeped, dungeon crawler.

However, there is truly light on the horizon as a Kickstarter project titled Grim Dawn was recently funded and several of the old developers of Titan Quest decided to break away from Iron Lore Studios and create the unofficial successor to Titan Quest. The new development firm is called Crate Entertainment and it's headed up by Arthur Bruno, the previous head designer at Iron Lore.

Now despite having been announced nearly three years ago, there isn't a great deal known about Grim Dawn, even as it nears Alpha testing, but looking at the screenshots and listening to the videos available makes a fan like me think that Grim Dawn will be everything we hope it to be. The screens and videos seem to show a wonderfully similar art style with beefed up graphics despite Titan Quest (for its age) having very formidable graphics. Additionally, the creators have kept the true gem of the game that is the unique class customization that was so loved in Titan Quest. And, although the somewhat light and colorful mythological environment seems to be gone, it's been replaced with a darker, more haunting environment that really adds to the game's setting.

I don't know how many people were more or less disappointed by Diablo 3, but I count myself in that crowd for reasons I won't go into. It seemed that the dungeon crawler world I'd been such a fan of was in decline, but now, as Grim Dawn nears its completion, I can rest easy knowing that all is not lost, and perhaps the best is yet to come. Please go and check out their website. It may be a little bare-boned, but at the end of the day, the game is really what matters.

GOG has released a classic RPG called Anvil of Dawn. The game is avaiable for $5.99.

What's cool about it:

• A tough, but accessible to newer players, classic RPG with a vast world to explore!
• Features a "learn by doing" skill system without the need to collect and grind for experience points.
• Customize your character as you see fit as there are plenty of character stats to fine-tune to your liking.

Overview:

The world of Tempest is in need of a champion! You have been summoned to embark on a noble journey to save all of humanity from an evil fate. You must keep your wits about you, your sword must stay sharp and ready, and your spells charged as you forge through Tempest's massive landscape. Descend into the maws of many a dark and and dangerous dungeon in search of your quest's end.

You'll have at your disposal more than 25 spells and items of great power, each drawing upon one of the elemental forces such as earth, wind, fire, and lightning. Whether you prefer a more tactical approach or attack all-swords-swinging, Anvil of Dawn features a hybrid of real-time and turn-based combat to satisfy your needs. Remember, your choices and actions affect the ebb and flow of combat so think, and act, wisely. Are you prepared to pay the ultimate price, to steal away the gift of a dark god, and journey to the Anvil of Dawn.

Forbes has a new opinion article on the topic of Mass Effect prequels.

I’m going to go ahead and declare the Mass Effect trilogy done for good now that the Citadel DLC arrived and finally gave (almost) everyone the ending they wanted for the series. But it’s a big universe, and just because Shepard’s arc is over, that doesn’t mean the universe will dissipate. Rather, it’s likely only just getting started.

Going backwards is cheating. It’s the easy way out when you don’t want to innovate and move your story forward in any meaningful way. You already have the ending written, and have probably established some of the pieces along the way. Making a prequel, you simply have to fill in the blanks, and people fail to realize that sometimes it’s a lot more interesting to leave blanks blank. Just ask Boba Fett.

I like some of these ideas. I think Mass Effect 4 starring Liara or Garrus (or both!) would be a pretty cool  idea, though honestly I’d love an entirely new series where you once again got to create your own character. Maybe you could even choose your alien race this time?

Perhaps such a game will exist at some point, but until it does, I do imagine we’ll see at least a handful of Mass Effect spin-off prequel titles like the ones mentioned. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe they could be great, but I think like so many other series Mass Effect would be better moving forward than looking backward.

Guido Henkel has written a new blog post, which this time is about items and weapons in Deathfire.

For the past few days I’ve been working on some exciting things in Deathfire, that have propelled the game forward quite a bit in my mind. Items. Sounds trivial, I know, but items are the salt and pepper of any role-playing game.

It started when I decided to make a weapons list for the game. We have been working on parts of the user interface for the past two weeks or so, and it got to the point that I wanted to see some weapon icons in the respective slots. In order for Marian to begin drawing some icons, we began making a weapons list. It started out quite innocuously, but once I got into it, the list grew very rapidly, and at the end of the day we had a list of over 150 weapons for the game. And that is just the first go at it, not including any quest items and not including any unique, named weapons, which we plan to feature prominently in the game.

Adding all those will easily double the number of weapons in Deathfire, and I have no doubt that on top of that I probably forgot a good number of cool weapons that we will want to include in the game as we go along. All things said, in the end, I would estimate that we will have somewhere between 300 and 400 weapons. Just to give you a comparison, Shadows over Riva, the third of the Realms of Arkania games had less that 100 weapons. In fact, looking over the game’s source code showed me that the entire game contained a mere 480 items. So, in essence, it looks as if we will have nearly as many weapons as Shadows over Riva had items. Nice!

Last week RPGFan did a hands-on preview of Underrail based on the available alpha build and were positively impressed with the state it is in.

"They don't make 'em like they used to." We hear it all the time, but when it comes to video games, I say nonsense to the old adage. Maybe the triple A companies don't make 'em like they used to, but there are so many independent game designers out there now catering to an old school audience that these days; they definitely DO make 'em like they used to. So much so that the way they "used to" could just become the way they are making 'em.

Unlike a lot of previews you'll read on RPGFan, we did not have any kind of exclusive access to the game. Anybody can go online right now and purchase the alpha of Underrail, which includes a copy of the beta, the full game, and future updates. In playing the game itself, I initially found it quite challenging compared to more contemporary games, getting smoked by the first pair of rats I came across. This was entirely due to carelessness on my part, but I asked Dejan what he thought of the difficulty of the alpha.

"In my opinion, the game is only hard if you're careless or just very unlucky. But obviously I'm not qualified to measure the difficulty, since I know the game mechanics inside out."

Consider me appropriately chided. But I agree with this assessment — the more I realized the encounters require planning and caution, the less trouble I had staying alive. This game is difficult in the best possible meaning of the word. That said, I wonder if gamers who are unfamiliar with that style of gaming will have trouble with this. Dejan was ambivalent on that point in a compelling way, speaking to his game design philosophy.

In the recent days four updates were added to the Indiegogo campaign for Ghost of a Tale, which just requires a little of 10 KEuro more to reach its goal of 45 KEuro in the next 7 days. The updates are about the steps that are required to create a crab from scratch.

For those of you interested in the more technical aspects of the game’s development I thought I would present the method I used to create the crab model. As a side note, I’ll have to spread that presentation over several updates, as Indiegogo only allows for one picture per update.

Before starting to work on the model, I always surround myself with visual references (photographs, paintings) and make mental notes of aspects I will emphasize in order to end up with a model that’ll be interesting enough.

It all starts with a simple cube (within Maya), followed by other cubes to roughly represent all the body parts and get a feel for the overall volume of the limbs. As you can see, it’s all very blocky and I do not worry about details at this stage. It’s best to check that everything looks as expected now (in terms of overall morphology), as it will become more difficult to change things further down the line.

Then I start to work on the body parts in Zbrush (bottom picture), simply refining the broad shapes. Again, not caring too much about details yet; just roughing in the main volumes. Note that at this stage I already know I’ll have to open the arms of the creature so I can get a better look while sculpting. But starting with the arms folded ensured that the crab would eventually be able to get into that pose later on.

 

And the result is this:

Gamebanshee posted a five page review for Eador: Master of the Broken World.

If you are in any way a fan of strategy-RPG games, ranging from Heroes of Might & Magic to Age of Wonders, or even if you enjoy turn-based strategy games such as Civilization, then I think Eador: Masters of the Broken World is just about the perfect game for you. While it is slower-paced than some of these games, and the initial difficulty level is fairly high, the amount of depth all aspects of the game makes it a contender for one of the most interesting and fun strategy games or RPGs that I have played. The game's creator originally made Eador: Genesis as a love letter to his favorite games, and he really did succeed at making a game that combines some of the best aspects of all of them together.

However, the fact of the matter is that the game is still very buggy. It's getting better with every patch the developers release, and I have a feeling in a few months I'll be able to wholeheartedly recommend the game - but as of now, you'll have to make a decision as to whether it is worth putting up with some major bugs and glitches, some of them literally game-breaking, in order to have fun. At only $20 USD, Eador: MotBW is very affordable, and that might be the tipping point for you - but it's also worth considering that the original Eador: Genesis is nearly the same game, lacking only a few additions, balance tweaks, and of course, the updated graphics. It simply might be the better buy for you if you don't mind searching the Internet for fixes on how to get it running smoothly on your new quad-core system.

At the end of the day, Eador: Masters of the Broken World stands as a strong and highly enjoyable strategy-RPG which can easily go toe-to-toe with the best in the genre, provided you are not opposed to spending a large number of hours getting familiar with the game. With lots of replay value, an extensive campaign with multiple endings, and some very well balanced and challenging combat and strategy, Eador is the best of many worlds. It's just a shame it released in the state it did, and I can only recommend the game right now for those who have faith the bugs will be squashed in the coming months, or those who simply don't mind putting up with them.

Dsogaming has an article bringing news that Sonic Augmentation a Deus Ex album is now available to everyone for free. So if you loved playing Deus Ex, and loved the music give it a listen.

“This EP arranges music from Deus Ex, released in 2000 for Windows, and also contains nods to both sequels, Invisible War and Human Revolution. The album features 8 songs from 10 artists that re-envision the original compositions of Alexander Brandon, Michiel van den Bos and Michael McCann in a wide variety of styles and genres while channeling the moods, sounds and imagery of the world of Deus Ex. The album also includes two tracks featuring original series’ composer Alexander Brandon collaborating with BAFTA-nominated composer Jimmy Hinson.”

Take-Two annouced their sale figures.  Borderlands 2 is shaping up to be 2K's best selling title with close to six million shipped and sold.

Borderlands 2 is sneaking up on the 6 million mark for units shipped, and well on the way to exploding 2K Games' sales records. Speaking in yesterday's financials call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the rambunctious shooter was the company's biggest earner in terms of digital sales across the fiscal year.

"Building on its extraordinary launch in September, Borderlands 2 continues to expand its audience and remains on pace to become the highest-selling title in 2K's history," said Zelnick. "It has also been the largest contributor to our digitally delivered revenue this year, driven both by strong sales of full game downloads, and high attach rates for the title's add-on content, especially the Borderlands 2 Season Pass."

The Gearbox-developed sequel had shipped over 5 million back in October 2012. While shipments aren't the same as sales, it's worth noting the original Borderlands sold 4.5 million copies as of August 2011.

D+PAD talks about and looks back on the entire Mass Effect Saga.

The first time I played through Mass Effect 2 I was nonplussed; it seemed to have less of the rough and experimental charm of the first game, which seemed to be a haphazard evolution of Knights of the Old Republic into an attempt to create the definitive, ne plus ultra, science-fiction RPG which would encompass everything the genre had to offer. It had aliens, and a planet-hopping plot, and exploration of uncharted worlds, and xenophilia if you liked, and upgradeable weapons with dozens of options. The result was uneven, and often clumsy, but it was quite unlike most games in its attempted scope and as a result I defended it quite vehemently as a good game. The second, by contrast, was more elegant and simplistic – all of the aspects of Mass Effect were present but in a form which worked without any inconsistencies or awkwardness – and as a result at first seemed too clinical and perfunctory.

Disregarding this sleight of hand and playing the games long after the arguments have died down, long after their value and nature have been discussed – their real merits show through. What remains, beneath the promises and the shortcomings, are a series of games that tell a story and allow the player to alter the fine details – the memorable ones. The actual story missions of both of the first two games are quite unremarkable. What I remember of my most recent playthrough are things like my character failing to resolve a row between Tali and Legion just before the final mission, and so I made the decision to keep the one I agreed with by my side and let the other take their chances (with tragic results). Or that my constant pangs of conscience and attempts to do the best for friends while being disdainful of others resulted in my character being neither forceful enough nor conciliatory enough to successfully press their viewpoint in big arguments and having to rely instead on threats and bluster to muddle through.

In conclusion I think replaying the first two Mass Effect games taught me two things about the series. The first is that neither is, on a fundamental level, a mechanically sound game. The first game is over-ambitious in its attempt to be comprehensive and ends up feeling like awkward busywork. The second is far too pared-back and focused on story-telling over providing mechanical choice and so feels superficial. This is where the third succeeded; it found the missing mid-point on a fundamental, behind-the-scenes level and was probably the best game. Yet here is where my second point comes in. Properly seeing where Mass Effect shines relies on understanding what it is – and that it is not what it was described as. The amount of agency that the player has the illusion of was ultimately unsustainable across three games and so the continued claims that it existed ultimately fell through. The result is a story with fixed start and end points and a procession of known events in the meantime – not an open-world RPG with divergent or emergent stories. And this, ultimately, is where the first two entries – mechanically unsound as they are – succeed far more than the third. The illusion of agency is far better presented, the superficial choices far more memorable. The third game overreached in trying to exceed this foundation and as a result the failures in suspension of disbelief – a constant shortcoming around which the early games skirted – became too great.

VG247 has an interview with Harebrained Schemes founder Jordan Weisman to learn more about Shadowrun Returns

“The plot is based on secrets and mysteries, so it’s hard to talk too much about it without giving away something,” he began. “You’ve been hired by a woman to find out who killed her brother and ‘deal’ with them. Along the way, you’ll have to navigate corrupt cops, mega-corporations, body part peddlers, and ancient … OK that’s enough.”

The game’s futuristic Seattle of 2054 is going to be teeming with plot strands, dangers lurking in every alley and an assortment of enemies waiting to be engaged in combat. There will be much to consider, but Weisman stressed the game still won’t hold your hand. This is meant to be a tough experience for dedicated players.

“Call it respect for the audience or call it old-school gamer mentality but we’re honestly not hand-holding people through a bunch of training on the mechanics,” he said. “Once upon a time, there was fun in exploring and experimenting. We hope to give players enough info to get them rolling and understanding the basics.”

Watching the team’s alpha gameplay demo made it clear that combat will take an open-ended approach. There is great scope to adapt to threats the way you feel is best. Do you take a frontal assault approach and stick your team to cover, or do you try hacking and using alternate routes to gain the upper hand?

The possibilities are vast, and Weisman explained that by combining skills and character types you can really hit your enemies hard, “Our mindset is that you don’t need to balance your team’s skills but there are certainly benefits in doing so. For example, a Street Samurai might have a decent chance of hitting an enemy but if the enemy were slowed by a spell, he would be at a greater advantage.

Well seems we have more reviews for Mars War Logs.

Nzgamer- 6.0/10

The annoying thing about Mars: WL is that Spiders have tried to do everything at once instead of delivering a smaller, more polished game. Everything feels half done. Environments look as though they were made at the start of the 360's life cycle, NPCs stand about in what seems like suspended animation, one of the main voices just wasn’t cast well, and the combat system is so clumsy and unresponsive that restarts and frustration are all but guaranteed. What makes all this so annoying is that the game has so much promise, and if there had been a bigger budget, or a smaller concept, it could have been something quite fantastic.

GamesReviews- 6.5/10

War Logs is very close to being a game that’s worthwhile, and a lot about it does work. The $20 price point certainly makes it more approachable, but the up-and-down storytelling, boring voice-acting and cluttered gameplay make it less appealing. It’s a good effort, though, and I’m more than interested in Spiders’ future projects.

ZTGD- 6.0/10

Mars: War Logs is one of the most confusing names for a game in recent memory. I don’t know how many times I have said it wrong. I mention this because it is a tell-tale description for the game. War Logs is a sci-fi RPG that never seems to get its feet on the ground in any area, but still retains enough good ideas to keep it afloat. This ten hour adventure is full of excellent concepts and the occasional moment of brilliance, all locked behind its mediocre exterior. It is the kind of game I wanted to love, the more I played it.

GamepPlanet- 4.5/10

It’s unfair to compare a small downloadable title with similar triple-A productions, but what can be said is that perhaps in crafting such an ambitious title, Spiders Studio simply bit off more than it could chew. While some aspects of Mars: War Logs are outstanding by any measure, it stumbles on the finer points of storytelling, character development, and overall polish. Perhaps more time or a larger budget would have made the difference here.

Mars: War Logs has big ambitions, but it feels like it was rushed out the door – perhaps due to budgetary constraints. The makings of an impressive game are here, unfortunately it just doesn't hold together particularly well.

Ups 

Excellent graphics, sound, and score. Meaningful decisions and dialogue lead to distinct endings.

Downs

There are camera issues, glitches, and a general lack of polish. The voice acting is terrible and the story predictable. Combat becomes frustrating quickly.

Cryptic Studios' Rob Overmeyer has written a new developer journal for MMORPG.com on Neverwinter.

There are very few limitations when it comes to the content an author can make in the Foundry. Whether it is a quick rescue of a drunken dwarf in the Chasm, or a deep delve into the history and lore of the Forgotten Realms, authors can create an array of different quests. We support this creativity with tools that allow you to customize the look and feel of everything, from friendly contacts to the critters players will fight. Our costume editor allows for nearly endless customization of every person or thing you’ll come across in a quest. Within the quests you can really tune the experience for players by having elements of your quest be special for players with specific skills. And this is just the start; there is so much more that can be done with the Foundry.

With the map editor, you can build both exterior and interior maps. Exterior maps come in a few varieties with lots of options to choose from. There are several sizes of detailed and prepopulated maps that are ready to be filled with content and some final details that support your story. There are also “canvas” maps that allow authors to customize every rock, tree, magic portal to Neverdeath, and blade of grass. The interior map editor allows for room-by-room customization of an instanced or interior map. You can build that unique tavern that has a secret door to the sewer that leads to a cave network that attaches to an ancient crypt that is under a castle and leads to the…well, you get the idea! There’s a lot you can build with the interior map editor, and you can add any detail pieces that you prefer, to make your quest feel areas exactly how you like them. In the map editor, you can also set the look of various background elements, like changing the sky or adding fog. You can even select the perfect ambient sounds for your maps to further customize your quest. There is so much you can do to make your world come alive and tell your story.

Every story needs a beginning, middle, and end. In video games, those points are often marked by encountering a contact, someone you might meet on your journey that changes your path. Our dialog editor allows for some truly amazing customization in this storytelling process. If you like, you can build a pretty straightforward dialog, but if you prefer something more complex, you can build an entire game within the contact dialog editor. Even better, this dialog can be ascribed to many more objects than simply a person or monster. You can place your dialog on any object available in the editor and turn your complex dialog into, say, a puzzle or riddle, that could potentially open a secret door. There is a lot of power in the contact dialog editor and we are eager to see what you do with it.

Eidos contributor Adam Badke has a brief interview with Game Director Nic Cantin.

Hey Nic‚ tell us: is Thief a 1st or 3rd person game?

1st person!

Are there any 3rd person elements?

Yes‚ we do have some 3rd person elements – but they’re really kept to a
minimum‚ we don’t have a lot. 3rd person is used to improve your
awareness of your surroundings – for example‚ during vertical
navigation. We’re really taking particular care to make sure that we’re
not jarring players back-and-forth between cameras.

How would you describe the pace of the game?

We want to give the player a choice about pacing. It’s really up to the
player to decide how to use the tools at their disposal to define their
own pace.

Will fighting/combat ever be the best choice to take?

If you do choose to take that kind of approach you’ll be challenged by
both the guards and the environment/level design – people are certainly
going to react to your behavior!

Would you say Garrett is a Superhero/Ninja/Action hero?

(laughs) No. Garrett is Garrett. He’s a thief. He’s THE Master Thief.

Does Garrett’s updated look reflect anything specific in gameplay?

Yeah‚ Garrett is a capable guy and I definitely think that’s reflected
in his costume. But if you look at the old Garrett I don’t think we’ve
changed him that much. He’s still that same dark guy‚ but with more
elements to reflect his new abilities.

What are the “action moves” that have been discussed in past coverage?
How do they work and are you able to fight without using them?

Yes – I think fans will be happy to hear that old school style melee
combat is still there like the classic Thief games‚ and it’s just as
challenging. We’ve also added an extra layer on top of that to empower
the player‚ Garrett has the option to use his Focus ability to give him
a temporary advantage if players choose – but it comes at a cost.

So you’re saying classic melee combat is still in the game?

Yeah – and the blackjack’s back as well!

You read the title right if you ever thought your character needed more colors your in luck. Bioware released a preview video of the dye modules that will be available in the customization update.

Update number 16 of the Jagged Alliance: Flashback Kickstarter ($185K out of an asked $350K) brings us news on stretch goals and a preview of the Diorama scene.

$ 375,000 Mountains, Mines and Pits

The first stretch goal will be an additional themed zone bringing the mines back into the game. We would like to add 10 sectors with mountainous region and at least 2 mines. Each with their own mining town.

We will create an art set themed for mountainous regions where locals have been digging for materials for decades. Riches lie beneath the earth in form of coal, iron and even precious metals.

Several small mining towns exist in the different mountain regions and can be controlled by the player or the enemy factions. So they serve as an income source as well as give interesting opportunities for fighting in the dark pits.

Mountain regions have also been known to have hostile animals like bears and hamsters!

$ 400,000 Map Editor

Keeping in line with wishes for additional modding options we’ve decided to go for the map editor as one of the first stretch goals.

We want to build a level editor that scales with the costs needed, therefore we're starting out with a high level editor (for those of you accustomed to halo's forge editor this is something along those lines). You will be able to pick between different preset terrains where you can start placing buildings and props.

Additionally you will have control of spawn points for NPC’s, hooks for dialogue scripts, triggers that can be linked to e.g. alarms or the faction loyalty system.

And here is video showing the tile editor.

Three days ago I wrote about the release of the REDkit mod tools for The Witcher 2, but those tools were unofficially released back then. CD Projekt RED disabled the downloads. Well this time the REDkit is officially released and you can find it here.

REDkit requires a copy of PC version of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, installed on your HDD. The game has to be patched up to version 3.3. Make sure you have downloaded SQLite appropriate for your system or download this one. Right click on the file and run it as an administrator.

Steam copies of the game will be automatically patched to REDkit (Gamers' Edition). Gamers' Edition allows you to play mods created in REDkit, however, it does not include the editor. Do not install the REDkit patches downloaded from this website on your Steam copy of the game.

It is recommended that you have the latest version of graphics drivers installed.

If you're using Windows Vista or 7, you should try disabling UAC. To do it follow these instructions.

Installing the latest updates for your operating system is always a good idea and can also resolve some of your issues. Same thing goes for shutting down or disabling any non-crucial applications running in the background, especially anti-virus software, as they might interfere with your games. Try it and see if it helps.

Known issues!

We are in the open beta phase, meaning that there are still some known issues that we are currently working on. Two biggest ones are:

Cooking – currently, cooking changes to original Witcher 2 story create rather sizable files. We are aware of this issue and are working on it to change cooking process so the files will be smaller.

Lipsync – right now there’s no possibility to create lipsync for written dialogues. However, we’re working on a patch that should resolve this issue pretty soon.

They will be addressed as soon as possible so please keep calm and keep modding. Don’t forget to check the Mod of the Month section as well – this one is pretty self-explanatory.:)

Also here are a few videos from the avaiable mods.

According to themselves TUG is a multiplayer open-world sandbox-RPG using new technology and social sciences to directly involve players in the game’s design. They are currently trying to get $215K at Kickstarter and are currently at 98K with 18 days to go.

TUG sits at the crossroads where survival sandbox and multiplayer RPG’s meet, offering both elegant simplicity and a world of complex secrets for those who desire to seek them out. From freezing snow capped mountains to dark dreary caves, TUG offers a massive procedurally-generated world to explore, full of mystery and danger -- but what makes TUG truly unique is its ability to help us learn what you as players enjoy about the game, and to use your interactions to make an amazing world even better.

The project draws inspiration from fun, accessible games we love such as Minecraft, Fable, Animal Crossing, and Zelda, as well as games that feature deeply complex worlds, including Eve Online, Monster Hunter, and Dwarf Fortress.

What do we think you’ll like about TUG? Some of the things we’re most excited about include:

• Integrated modding support: we won’t just have support for modding tools hooked in from the beginning -- we’ll be sharing our tools with modders. 
• Pets and Companions will join you in your travels and help along the way.
• Entire Civilizations lie hidden for you to uncover... or create new ones to conquer the world! 
• Day, Night, and Seasonal Cycles with perils and opportunities unique to each. 
• Exotic Wild Beasts to tame, hunt, breed, or ride! 
• Logic Engineering, from simple trap triggers to reprogramming your golem! 
• Dark Mysteries to unearth, and ancient powers to unleash! 
• DRM-Free. That includes the servers, which we’ll also be sharing with you.

Apparently Matt Barton had a really long talk with Neal Halford as we are already at part 3 of his interview with him. This time the main topics are the demise of Cavedog and Neal's book Swords and Circuitry.

Related to this is that unfortunately for Neal Halford, his Kickstarter for the Thief of Dreams book he is writing has failed.

Corey Cole provides us with an update on the development of their Hero-U game, which is now heading more to having a Quest for Glory style of gameplay. This results in more puzzles, more story and the removal of the cartoony character style.

Once long ago, in that bygone era we now call 2012, we set out to create a simple game. It would involve turn-based combat in a dungeon-like setting with a simple plotline overlaid upon it. We would use cartoon-like graphics on a tile-based, flat world that would allow us to concentrate upon the story and game-play rather than upon the engine or graphics.

Then we held our Kickstarter and heard from you - our fans - what you actually want to see.

It was clear that what you really wanted was something more like the Quest for Glory series and less like yet another RPG.

As we read your comments, our vision evolved. We put more story and puzzles into the design. We went away from the cartoony look into a more realistic character style like the best Sierra On-Line characters of the 1990's.

Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption evolved from an RPG/Adventure Game into a modern take on Quest for Glory with turn-based, puzzle-oriented combat. We decided to let the players out-think the monsters in the game rather than out-mouse-click them.