Scars of War - Joins with Iron Tower Studios

Corwin

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According to Gareth's latest Blog, Scars of War will be coming under the banner of Iron Tower Studios, the developer of the eagerly awaited RPG Age of Decadence. He argues that this move will help both himself and potentially other Indies in the key area of getting noticed. Here's a small section from the blog:
Vince and his team have a vision. They see ITS as not simply a development house but as a sort of indie RPG label or brand. Not a publisher, in the traditional sense, but a way to offer indie devs some of the things that traditional publishers offer mainstream devs, but structured around the idea of a community effort, a pooling of resources and a meeting of equals rather than the traditional master/servant roles that publisher-developer relationships encourage. Strength in numbers, to put it simply.
Check it out, it's a well reasoned explanation.
More information.
 
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Excellent news! I've long thought that the indie game market could do with some kind of team effort when it comes to marketing, and it sounds like ITS is coming up with a very sensible way of doing it without compromising anything that makes indie games so worthwhile.

I'd be interested to see whether any of the other studios choose to get involved as well, it's hard enough for small niche products to develop active forums and maintain community interest, I fully agree with Gareth's arguments that they'd all fare better when the forums get updates from a number of different sources rather than requiring constant input from each developer.
 
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I agree, it should help to gain attention and some weight with review sites, etc. and hopefully, by pooling resources and know-how, will eventually also result in better games and faster development times.
 
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I agree, it should help to gain attention and some weight with review sites, etc. and hopefully, by pooling resources and know-how, will eventually also result in better games and faster development times.

Fingers crossed it might even mean more viable digital distribution managed by the indies themselves.
 
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Bad move for Iron Tower Studios, associating itself with Gareth, IMO. I like the sound of their vision, but theirs shouldn't be a completely open door either.
 
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What's wrong with Gareth? I read his blog and he posts here regularly as well. So far I haven't seen any issues with him, or his game.
 
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I'm more impressed with Iron Tower than I am with Gareth, and I base that solely on things I've read on forums like these (just my opinion). Admittedly, I haven't read his blog.
 
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Trust me, VD has upset far more people on forums than Gareth ever has. I think there are pros and cons to this but supporting Scars of War isn't going to hurt AoD.
 
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What's wrong with Gareth? I read his blog and he posts here regularly as well. So far I haven't seen any issues with him, or his game.

Squeek had a big argument with him on a thread a while back, talking about the possibilities of generating extra content as an incentive to avoid piracy I think.

I agree Gareth speaks his mind and as a result can get a bit snarky (even with potential future customers), but he clearly thinks a lot about what he does & why he might do certain things which in my opinion there's all too little of these days.
 
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Assessing businesses and individuals is sort of an old habit with me since that was what I pretty much did for a living before I retired. Speaking up is one thing; what you have to say is another.

Gareth tends to be dismissive, which is his prerogative. But look at the conversations he sometimes has here and at other places. Whatever his motives, he's just not someone I would ever hire or pursue as a business partner.

I'll lay even odds that he and Iron Tower part ways within a year.
 
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I'll lay even odds that he and Iron Tower part ways within a year.

Heh, Vince just showed me a link to this thread, I hadn't been aware that my name was being publicly besmirched! He asked me if it was true...

...and I was forced to admit it that it was. I am, indeed, a truly horrible person. Generally I wear a monocle and top hat, and I spend my weekends kidnapping women for amusement, who I then tie to railway tracks while twirling my fine, tapered mustache.

I'll lay even odds that he and Iron Tower part ways within a year.

A year? The minute I have all their bank account details I'm SO out of there, I hope to be chillin' in Vegas within six months. This whole "RPG development" thing is just a useful smokescreen. :D
 
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Gareth tends to be dismissive, which is his prerogative.

My memory of the thread was that he spent several pages arguing with you about it in really lengthy, detailed posts which isn't particularly dismissive, near the end I think he lost patience with the argument but he certainly wasn't dismissive out of hand.
 
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I'm happy you guys joined forces. A good newsbit for us and the chance to post many more if you have a dirty, public divorce. ;)
 
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Gareth tends to be dismissive, which is his prerogative. But look at the conversations he sometimes has here and at other places. Whatever his motives, he's just not someone I would ever hire or pursue as a business partner.

These kinds of personal attacks are not a good style.

He had a different opionion than you in some threads and he had the better arguments, so you were pissed off, thats all.
 
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For those that are interested, Gareth's been putting a lot of detail up on the ITS forums.

Even more excited about the game now, I'd always loved his ideas for handling magic in the game but he's being just as innovative with combat it seems, thank god for indies :)
 
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How about posting a link or two!!
 
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It'd be kind of nice to have another Gathering of Developers again.
 
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I've had an argument with him too (about Buddhism, if I recall correctly), and he certainly didn't strike me as dismissive. Opinionated, stubborn, impatient, argumentative, yes, but not dismissive. I certainly wouldn't have any qualms partnering up with him for a project based on that experience.

(Come to think of it, for some inexplicable reason my wife tells me that *I'm* opinionated, stubborn, impatient, and argumentative, from time to time. Can you believe it?)
 
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I've had an argument with him too (about Buddhism, if I recall correctly), and he certainly didn't strike me as dismissive. Opinionated, stubborn, impatient, argumentative, yes, but not dismissive. I certainly wouldn't have any qualms partnering up with him for a project based on that experience.

(Come to think of it, for some inexplicable reason my wife tells me that *I'm* opinionated, stubborn, impatient, and argumentative, from time to time. Can you believe it?)

Don't think about it - It's a genetic trait in wives :)
 
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How about posting a link or two!!

this is the thread with most of the stuff in it, some long posts that can't be taken in their entirety and are probably worth reading if one's interested.

Key concepts:

  • Hitpoints are stupid, fighters end up being invulnerable to death from falling etc, all very silly. Damage reduction skills are the key & will be appropriate & realistic.
  • As a result multiple opponents become much more of an issue as can't be blocked & dodged completely, more strategy needed to deal with that
  • fewer, more significant loot upgrades
  • Combat is more about finding a weakness & opening to score a killing blow than it is about chipping away at each others hit points. Series of action chains each of which can possibly open up a weakness but also leave the player vulnerable, can make series of small wounds that accumulate over a combat etc.
  • Different weapons have genuinely different traits & playstyles to fit with the action chains, e.g. hammers better at knocking people back but leave player unbalanced more, daggers have crap reach etc
  • Melee starts out as a single skill for a few levels so people can try stuff out before they begin to specialise
  • Specialisation in attacking with a weapon type also means player understands how he might be attacked with that weapon & gets defence bonuses
  • Mages have whole different gameplay, very powerful but attract unwelcome attention from entities in the spirit world so have other issues to deal with
  • Power & control are issues for mages so spells can go wrong

I think those are the salient points, all sounds really interesting IMO. Nice to see someone challenging gaming conventions, I hope he makes it work.
 
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