In the March development update for Forge of Legends we are informed on the development progress made so far this year. Additional some thoughts on the kind of game Forge of Legends are aired.

My focus so far in 2013 has been twofold: items and abilities. In addition to the basic functions of weapons and armor, an item in Forge of Legends can bestow various magical effects on its wearer, as well as grant abilities (depending on the item). For example, a "ring of protection" or a "wand of summon monster." It was therefore natural that I work on the item and ability features at the same time.

I am happy to report that the majority of the equipment system is now complete, as well as much of the mechanics of "abilities" (more on that later) and "effects."

Something else I've been considering is the proliferation of "old school" RPGs. The Coyote recently blogged about this, if I am not mistaken. When I began Forge of Legends some years ago, I was convinced that the old school RPG niche was vast and under-served. Sadly, as a one-man team, it has taken me years of development, and now I see that the RPG market is... crowded? This is something that is now frequently on my mind. I wonder what members of the RPG-gamer community would have to say about this? Am I now in a bad position because my game has missed the window of opportunity?

If you have some thoughts on this and the other questions put forward, let us know.

In this second installment of developer updates for Forge of Legends, it's developer Jeff Sullins, talks about bringing the different parts of the game together leading towards something playable.

The last few months have been busy for Forge of Legends development.  One of my goals has been to bring together the various pieces of the game into something that is playable.  For nearly a year I've had the core game engine, data, and a few scraps of user interface completed.  I've decided it's time to make a push toward joining these pieces together into something I can show to players and testers. 

While I am still a long way from a beta or a true demo, the creation of something I can give to people and that can be "played" is an important milestone.  If nothing else, it gives me concrete coding goals and helps me stay on track.  To avoid any confusion with my progress being called a "demo," I'm referring to it with the less-exciting name "dev snapshot."

When we can, we provide a place for indie developers to showcase their games. One such  developer is Jeff Sullins who is working on Forge of Legends a classic party RPG with turn-based combat. Jeff will provide us with regular articles on the development of his game with this being the first article, an introduction to Forge of Legends.