The Story

The Demons had been defeated … the heroes were lost … Greed and resentment led to war. The seal was broken and the evil returned … only one hope remained: the prophecy. Be the chosen one, unite the people and banish evil once and for all!
Races and Classes

Join the Humans, Elves, Viridis or Pandas and face the challenge as a Warrior, Hunter, Druid, Mage or Fighter.
Pets and Mounts

Raise your own pets, train them to be mighty mounts and ride in style.
Epic Battles

Choose a faction and test your mettle amongst hundreds of players on massive battlefields.
A New World

Discover an enormous world, explore countless gloomy instances and face powerful boss monsters in tactical battles.

Via Eligium – The Chosen One: Register here!

Popularity: 1% [?]

I’ve been playing a couple text-based games recently. Both of these are ChoiceScript games, available for the iPhone or for the web browser.

Choice of Romance is a new text-based PC and iPhone game by Heather Albano and Adam Strong-Morse, using the same ChoiceScript code and choose-your-own-adventure style as Choice of Dragon. You play as a young mage, from a noble but impoverished family, looking for love in a Spanish-influenced magical kingdom.

The royal court bore striking resemblances to Henry VIII and Catharine of Aragon: The king and his politically-advantageous wife have one sickly child, while the king’s wandering eye has led to an illegitimate son. One time I played through, I went after the king, and was soon receiving gifts, stringing the king alone and deposing the rightful queen, just like a magic-using Anne Boleyn. I don’t know if this was the intention, or if maybe I should lay off the historical novels for a while.

Via Simpson’s Paradox: Choice of Romance

I checked out Choice of Dragon, a free text-based adventure game  for a web browser or iToy.  The multiple-choice interaction gave me the opened-ended storyline I loved in text games, without the turn-key-in-lock frustrations of a game that parses text entry. (Hey, I wasn’t THAT nostalgic) You play as a dragon in a generic fantasy land, full of princesses to capture (or princes, your dragon can be an equal-opportunity kidnapper), adventuring parties to torment, and treasure to steal.

CoD is a solid IF game. Engaging descriptions of scenes and character never become long-winded. The story uses fun fantasy stereotypes, without going into the complete parody in Fantasy University or Kingdom of Loathing, and uses light sarcasm, but never takes on the unhelpful DM’s tone from Zork or Adventure. The game is fairly short, but reading the game is such a delight, it’s practically impossible not to play through a few times for different stories.

Via Simpson’s Paradox: Choice of Dragon

Popularity: 4% [?]

Immediately after launching Coconut Dodge, UK studio FuturLab is asking for your help naming their next game. The new game is “a futuristic shoot ‘em up that features a unique teleport mechanic”.

FuturLab’s Managing Director, James Marsden said: “Coconut Dodge has been scoring very well with reviewers and gamers, with many people considering it the best example of what the minis platform can offer. However, with only a tiny budget for marketing we’ve found it very difficult to get traction with a larger audience. So, this time we thought of a way to get as much attention as possible!”

John Griffin, FuturLab’s New Projects Director added: “The puzzle was a creative way to grab people’s attention, and this competition is a great way to invite fans of Coconut Dodge and the wider gaming community to take part in our next production. People can suggest names for the game in addition to the lead character, and we can’t wait to see what people come up with!”

Go here to name the game!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Games are about the relationships between objects in space. Many games involve objects bonking into each other, shooting each other (with other objects), avoiding each other, and simply milling around. While you’re writing a game, you usually think about objects, their characteristics, and how they interact with the player as well as with each other.
Games need to react to the player. The player should manipulate a virtual presence, and the game should react accordingly. Some games are turn based, and some are in real time, but all require more immediate feedback than traditional types of programs.

Macromedia Flash is a very good environment for learning basic game programming
ideas. Here are a number of reasons for starting with Flash:
1. Flash offers robust multimedia support.
Flash, which was designed to support animation on the Web, supports various kinds of images easily. (Think JPEG images and custom drawings.) See how to use the drawing
features of Flash in Chapter 9. Flash also has great support for various kinds of audio files, such as MP3 and WAV formats. You incorporate audio into your games in Chapter 8.
2. ActionScript is related to the influential C language.
The ActionScript programming language built into Flash is closely related to JavaScript
and ECMAScript, which are two extremely common programming languages. All these languages are based on the C programming language, so the coding conventions you’ll master are much like those in other languages.
3. Flash is designed for the Web.
By working in Flash, you have a ready distribution network. Because Flash was designed for the Web, all your games can be easily published on the Web, and anybody with a Web
browser and a Flash plug-in can enjoy your games. And you won’t have to worry about what operating system your users use. (All the programs in this book have been tested in Windows XP and Fedora Core Linux, but they should work in any OS with a Flash plug-in.)

If you want to know a good flash games like what, Just Visit this Site. If you are looking for free games to play online you are in the right place. You can find hundreds of free online games for free.
Free Online Games
There is a lot of free flash online games in there. You can play what you want to play every time and every where. Just Click on the Logo to play.

A good game has a good story, and it also has some form of user interaction.
In Flash, the player uses the mouse and keyboard as primary input devices.
Although these devices might seem limiting (compared with a more sophisticated
joystick or driving console), you can do many things with these basic
forms of input. For Example Like Bunny Grab which the game is about Help the Nesquik Bunny grab as abounding glasses as he can afore the time runs out.

Although Flash doesn’t directly support joystick input, users can easily use
modern joysticks with the games you can write in Flash. Most joysticks now
come with programs that allow the user to map keystrokes to keyboard commands.
In effect, by allowing keyboard input, you also allow rudimentary joystick
input. A game should also look good and sound good, but these things don’t matter if the game isn’t fun. Some of the best games ever have incredibly limited graphics and sound.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Wild Games Studio Inc just announced the development of a new open-ended adventure game, a third-person RPG called ‘Dhaila’s Adventures’ . This game tells the story of a nature fairy, Dhaila, going on sandbox missions in a gorgeous gameworld. From the press release:

Featuring Dhaila, a young fairy whose powers are bound to nature, the game will rely on gameplay taking place in an open world where the player will update the origins of Dhaila and help fulfill her destiny. In addition to the main quest, Dhaila could fill hundreds of side quests depending on the choices and actions proposed. Puzzles and large dungeons filled with traps and monsters will be part of her adventure to enhance the gameplay. Furthermore, Dhaila will be accompanied with a friend that can be controlled by another player to help Dhaila during certain puzzles through teamwork.

Not a lot of details yet, but I’m definitely interested in seeing how this one turns out.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’ve been wondering why the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels and the Scott Pilgrim game seemed so appealing, but the trailer and ads for the actual movie were kind of ho-hum. But the guys at Gamers With Jobs pinpointed it:

On a whim, I picked up one of the comics and fell in love with the contrast between a coming of age story and a fantastic romp through video game clichés. Watching the ads for the movie, I realized it was very difficult to capture just what Scott Pilgrim was about in a 30 second teaser. Part of the problem is that the movie and source comic are a bit off kilter, while the trailer is, at heart, still a movie trailer. It presents beats, glimpses of the game-inspired world, but isn’t edited with that in mind.

(Emphasis mine)

I guess the answer is that I thought the story made a great comic and game, but I really just don’t get movies.

Via Scott Pilgrim and the Lackluster Box Office | Gamers With Jobs.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Swedish indie devs, The Bearded Ladies, are announce the launch of their retro-inspired helicopter-adventure game Landit Bandit. The game promises co-op or duel mode, sexy girls and killer penguins.

The feel-good digital game of the summer has finally landed. Literally. Join eccentric characters Marley and Lander, as well as hot island babes and Tommy Gun-wielding penguins in Landit Bandit: a retro-looking, 3D casual-physics-based-helicopter game now available on the PlayStation®3 Network priced at a mouth-watering 12.99 Euros.

Landit Bandit has the depth of a cool-blue ocean and offers gameplay to suit a universal audience. Players can compete for the high-score on the global leaderboard – as well as battle head-to-head in 6 unique duels – or work co-operatively across a 20-level campaign against the backdrop of gorgeous 3D levels ranging from the picturesque desert islands to the cool, ice-filled tundra, each packed with enough humour to keep you laughing out loud from one level to the next.

David Skarin, CTO of The Bearded Ladies is elated at the release, “To have our game on the PlayStation®3 Network is great. Its a testimony to the hard work and raw talent of our small independent studio. We’ve defeated a string of self-imposed, gruelling milestones and overcome technical challenges akin to the cerebral workout being offered in the game that would leave any bearded lady weeping. The release brings joy to our hearts, although the real excitement is going to come in monitoring the reaction of the players”.

CEO/Producer, Haraldur Thormundsson added, “We have fulfilled our dreams with the release of Landit Bandit on the Sony PlayStation store. Its been one of the most rewarding expeditions I’ve been part of to date. To have shared the milestone with such a talented – not to mention eccentric group of creatives – is also very special. We’re all confident that players will enjoy the retro-goodness and LOL just as much as we did during the development”.

The North American gaming community can expect to get their hands on the controls of Landit Bandit from July 13^th.

Popularity: 4% [?]

TERA already won my love with their gorgeous concept art. (A larger version of the picture above is my laptop’s wallpaper — and that’s saying something, considering I get new game assets in the mail every day) I’m really excited to see their new MMO at E3

En Masse Entertainment, a new breed of game publisher focused on delivering highly anticipated online video games to Western audiences, announced today that it will present the first hands-on demo of its flagship Action MMO title, TERA™, at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 in Los Angeles. The hands-on demo will focus on TERA’s groundbreaking action combat system, which allows players to step into a world where their actions, teamwork, and combat expertise—not statistics—give them a chance to become true heroes in the face of danger.

“At E3, people will have the chance to experience firsthand what makes TERA‘s gameplay so exciting,” said En Masse CEO Dr. Jae-Heon Yang. “Select media will form a party with varied roles and venture forth to experience their first battle using our innovative action/adventure style combat system. During the show, players will see how TERA is changing the rules of MMO combat.”

TERA is an innovative Action MMORPG with rich graphics and animations where players fully control their characters through the game’s dynamic battle system. Player actions in TERA can change the balance of power in a world threatened by dark powers as six allied races work together to protect their world. The game, which is currently in development for PC, will launch in North America and Europe in 2011.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Just released at E3. iGUGU‘s new Gamecore systems promises to bring3.5D gaming into homes with an affordable wireless controller:

LOS ANGELES – June 14, 2010 – iGUGU®, a global manufacturer of innovative entertainment technology products for consumers and business, will introduce the arrival of 3.5D gaming enabled by its innovative iGUGU Gamecore system at E3 Expo 2010 .

Featuring an innovative compact wireless controller that incorporates a trackball, direction pad, joystick, programmable action buttons, and a full QWERTY keyboard, iGUGU Gamecore enables users to play PC-based games on a large screen television without the need to use a computer keyboard and mouse.  The controller is equipped with six accelerometers, enabling users to intuitively play games using natural motions to do activities such as steer a race care or fly an aircraft.

iGUGU Gamecore, which enables gamers to access and play virtually any of the more than 27,000 game titles available for the PC and through the Internet on a television, greatly enhances the experience of playing PC games by allowing gamers to control their games through natural, intuitive body movements.

When using iGUGU Gamecore to play games on a 3D television, the gamers’ experience is taken beyond 3D as a new level of realism is added by intuitive game control providing gamers with the sense of actually driving a race car, flying a fighter jet or going on patrol in a war game.  iGUGU calls this extraordinary virtual experience, 3.5D.

According to Isaac Calderon, president of iGUGU, Gamecore will forever change the way that people experience computer gaming.  “With the extensive processing, memory and storage characteristics of even the most basic computer systems, the PC is truly the most powerful videogame console available on the market today, but until now computer gaming has been limited to relatively small desktop or laptop screens.  With iGUGU Gamecore, gamers can have the best of both worlds with the ability to enjoy their PC-based games on a large screen television in the home theater.  With our wireless controller, the experience is further enhanced because not only can gamers search for and access games stored on their computer or on the Internet, but they play these games using intuitive body motions to add a new level of realism.”

Popularity: 2% [?]

Chinese iPhone devs Mo-Star release Princess Fury:

Inventive developers Mo-Star today announced the release of their new fantasy battle game for iPhone, Princess Fury. This gorgeously illustrated action game boasts a combination of classic arcade action style and a creative, real-time strategic battle system.

As Princess Fury, players strike down enemies with the combined power of servants and soldiers. With stunning swordplay and magic, players can combat over 100 enemies at once in epic battles that rely on collaboration with friendly forces as much as one’s own competence and courage.

“Most of our developers grew up playing arcade and console games, so our goal with Princess Fury was to provide a console quality gaming experience, suited to the mobile player,” said Qin Yi, general manager at Mo-Star. “We spent lots of time making the controls sharp, the battles fun and exciting, and fine-tuning the sound and graphics effects; and now we have created a game that we enjoy playing, and we hope fans will enjoy it too.”

A princess-y RTP with Chinese characteristics? Sounds great to me. Can’t wait to check it out!

Popularity: 2% [?]

I’ve posted about Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box and about The Game Composer’s Blog before, and today’s post over at the Game Composer’s Blog was just awesome. Sayre’s latest post transcribes a podcast he did about Tiger Eye, with an alien, Bigfoot and Frankenstein’s monster.

ALIEN: Welcome back, humans. One of your kind is now with us. Behold Matt Sayre!

MATT: Thank you, Alien. I’m happy to be here.

BIGFOOT: (English accent) Welcome, Mr. Sayre.

FRANKENSTEIN: Urrrgh!!

MATT: Hi, Bigfoot and Frankenstein’s monster.

BIGFOOT: Oh, go ahead and call him “Frankenstein”. He’s grown accustomed to that particular appellation.

MATT: Great. I will, thanks.

FRANKENSTEIN: Gyee.

ALIEN: Begin this interrogation by giving us the history of your project and the human faction that has created it.

MATT: Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box is a new hidden object puzzle adventure game based on the paranormal romance novel Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu. The game basically covers the first half of the book. You play as Dela Reese, a young woman traveling in China. She finds a mysterious riddle box and once she opens it she discovers an ancient warrior, Hari, who has been trapped within for centuries. He is cursed to serve as a slave to whomever possesses the box. You try to rid him of the curse and deal with the Magi, the antagonist who is responsible for the curse and who wants his riddle box back.

Our team, PassionFruit Games, was formed specifically to make this game and, we hope, all its sequels. Tiger Eye is the first in the Dirk & Steele (the psychic detective group Dela belongs to) series of books and it’s an exciting series, perfect for video games. The members of PassionFruit Games previously worked at Her Interactive (I did contract work for them, the rest were full-time), where they worked on the Nancy Drew Dossier series. Unfortunately, the Dossier series did not pan out (even though Resorting to Danger won Yahoo’s 2009 Hidden Object Game of the Year award) so the team was laid off. The day after being laid off, however, we were already planning this new venture. And last month we shipped TE: CotRB!

I kind of want to quote the whole thing, actually. And also I want to subscribe to the Alien, Bigfoot and Frankenstein podcast.

Via Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box Postnatal « The Game Composer’s Blog

Popularity: 4% [?]

Facebook and Zynga have just signed a new 5-year agreement. Rumor had it, there’d been some tension about Facebook microtransactions, but I guess there’s enough money in Farmville to go around:

There’s been much talk about social games leader Zynga diversifying itself away from Facebook, and Zynga and other social developers didn’t seem too pleased when Facebook announced it would be taking a 30% cut of revenues from Facebook Credits transactions, but now it would appear Zynga and Facebook have patched up their relationship.

The two companies today announced a five-year “strategic” partnership, which “increases their shared commitment to social gaming on Facebook and expands use of Facebook Credits in Zynga’s games. The agreement provides a solid foundation for both companies to continue to work together to provide millions of people with a compelling user experience for social games.”

Via Industry Gamers

Popularity: 2% [?]

Hull, UK / TQ Digital have confirmed that their anticipated MMO, Heroes of Might and Magic Online, licensed by renowned publishers Ubisoft, will be entering it’s Asia area closed beta on May 7^th.

Fans of Heroes of Might & Magic, one of the most loved PC-franchises of the last 15 years, can finally take their adventure to the MMO space on May 7^th with Heroes of Might and Magic Online, developed under the careful study of established china-based online games developer, TQ Digital.

With millions of players already habiting their other titles, including such well known names as Eudemons Online and Conqueror Online, TQ Digital have had a wealth of expertise to call on while crafting a playing experience based around the wants and needs of the series’ loyal fans.

Licensed by Ubisoft – who boast a host of mega-franchises, including The Settlers and Assassins Creed – Heroes of Might and Magic (HoMM) Online will take players back to the classic gameplay elements of HoMM III, mixing it with the stunning updated graphics of HoMM V in a 2.5D turn-based massively multiplayer environment.

Though Ubisoft introduced a new universe to the series for HoMM V, their first title after acquiring the franchise from 3DO Company, TQ Digital are finally bringing the popular fantasy setting of Erathia back, which debuted in 1999 releases, HoMM III and Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor.

Gameplay in Heroes of Might and Magic Online is as varied as it is beautiful, with gorgeous graphics complementing your epic quest to prove your valiant leadership.

Chose from a variety of 8 unique factions, develop elaborate castles that dominate the skyline of bustling metropolis Harmondale – epicenter of trade in the sweeping Antagarichean continent – plunder resources in exhilarating missions and fortify your armies against the inevitable wars of domination that lie ahead as you carve out your own legacy like the legions of plucky adventurers before you.

Experience magic based on an innovative in-game star system. Cast a new spell to increase your proficiency or perfect spells through a dynamic online training center.

Randomly generated combat maps, designed with strategic gameplay in mind, ensure you will need to think studiously about unit formations and tactics, while the hundreds of unique campaigns, each with deep storylines and goals, including 10 chapters of battlefield missions, are guaranteed to keep play refreshing throughout.

Develop towns of different races with the unique Town Prestige System, form guilds, gather resources, and prove your worth in the bloody-thirsty Challenging Arena. TQ Digital will be hosting a slew of PK events with HoMM Online: Team PK and Extreme PK are only the tip of the iceberg, with these events providing opportunities to gain priceless honor points and increase faction reputation.

Summary of HoMM Online game features:
• First Persistent World Turn-Based Strategy MMO
• 8 towns, 16 classes and 56 creatures
• Hundreds of campaigns with epic storylines
• Unique Anima and Dragon Scale Forge System
• Glorious Guild Building & Exciting Guild Wars
• Challenging Arena and PK Tournaments
• Heroes can build towns of different factions

The Asia area closed beta for HoMM Online launches on May 7^th. For more information on the game and a chance to register for beta access, visit the game’s official website today: http://homm.91.com/

Popularity: 4% [?]

So I heard a bit of a rumor that Merscom was changing their focus, moving away from hidden object games (like Shutter Island, Wisegal and National Geographic’s Mystery of Cleopatra) and into social games. I didn’t realize that meant they’d soon be acquired by Playdom.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire/ — Playdom, a leading social gaming company, announced today the continuation of its roll-up of talented social gaming development teams with the acquisition of Merscom, LLC. Privately held Merscom develops online and social games for third parties with nationally recognized brands. Merscom is currently developing games for Sea World, Purina, National Geographic and NBC Universal. Merscom is based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Playdom plans to leverage Mercom’s expertise in working with IP owners as Playdom moves to develop partnerships with powerful global brands. Playdom also plans to use the acquisition to leverage the talented North Carolina game development community. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Via Playdom Announces Acquisition of Social Game Developer Merscom, LLC — MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 26 /PRNewswire/ –

It’s interesting to see Merscom described as a social and online games company, since I associate them with hidden object games and HO/adventure games.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sign up before May17th to get into the Land of Chaos beta! From the press release:

burda:ic, a leading publisher of online games worldwide, today announced the start of registration for the Closed Beta Test of strategic action MMO LOCO – Land of Chaos Online. Interested players have until Monday, May 17 to sign up for their chance to participate in the CBT, and full registration details can be found at: www.loco.alaplaya.net/closedbeta

The Closed Beta Test will feature 12 heroes from LOCO’s 30-character roster, including Octavian, Atin, Foxlady, RandyRozz, and more. Three maps will be available for use in both the Annihilation and Battle Modes: the “Forest of Chaos,” the “Crimson Plains,” and the “Lair of the Ancient Dragons.” The CBT will also feature a first look at LOCO’s Guild and Enchantment systems, so sign up today if you want to be one of the first players to explore the Land of Chaos!

To leaf through the Book of Heroes and learn more about the warriors from LOCO’s two factions, the Army of Hell and the Forces of Nature, visit http://loco.alaplaya.net/chronicles

For more information about Land of Chaos Online and the upcoming Closed Beta Test, head to http://www.loco.alaplaya.net

Popularity: 2% [?]

Head over to DigimonBattle.com to sign up for the open beta!

From the press release:

WeMade Entertainment, a leading online games developer and publisher, today announced the start of open beta testing for the first-ever online Digimon game, Digimon Battle. Based on the popular Digimon anime series, Digimon Battle allows players to become a gifted Tamer and partner with a good Digimon in the battle to save both Earth and Digital World from the rampaging evil Digimon. Aspiring Tamers can sign up for the open beta and start playing when the servers open at 5:00pm PDT, here: www.digimonbattle.com

The story of Digimon Battle is based on the original animated TV Series, Seasons 1 – 4 (“Digimon Adventure,” “Digimon Adventure 02,” “Digimon Tamers” and “Digimon Frontier”). The classic anime characters are brought to life in the online game as players select a Tamer character, either Takato Matsuki, Henry Wong, Rika Nonaka, or Jeri Katou, and set off with their Digimon and human friends, using the Digivolution system to help their Digimon companions grown stronger. There are three types of Digimon Partners and seven types of Captured Digimon for players to find and tame in the world. Players and their Digimon level up by winning battles, and players can progress from a Rookie Tamer to the powerful Brave Grade. During the open beta, only the Normal Digivolution system, where players strengthen their Digimon partners by leveling up, will be available. In addition, the maximum level will be limited to 50.

“Digimon fans have been waiting for a game that provides exciting, interactive hands-on battling and we are proud to deliver,” said Kevin Seo, CEO of WeMade. “The beta is only the beginning. We will have many new content updates in the coming months that will add new Digivolution systems, Digimon classes, maps and the action-packed Battle Mode where players can battle each other to determine the best fighters.”

To commemorate the launch of the Digimon Battle open beta, WeMade is hosting a Triple Play Event Bundle, which includes three individual events running from March 17 to April 7. Now is the time for players to get in the game and get a head start! The first event called “Mega Mission” is where players are encouraged to “digivolute” their partners to the Mega Stage for a chance to win up to 500 WeCash, plus Gold Drills, Excalibur Swords and one week of Deva Aura! In the second event called “Check In and Cash In,” players are encouraged to check in to the game every day in order to achieve a 100% attendance record and cash in for the Mysterious DigiEgg! In the final event called “DB Happy Hour,” players can receive 30% EXP Buff for free when they log in on March 20 and 21 from 11:00am – 2:00pm Server Time.

For more information about Digimon Battle and to join the open beta, please visit www.digimonbattle.com

Popularity: 5% [?]

New development studio Passionfruit Games plans to release a casual adventure game Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, based on the paramornal romance novel Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu. Romance games are a wildly popular genre in Asia, but in the US, they’re hard to find and usually pretty second-rate games.  (Did I mention how bad My Boyfriend was?) We have high hopes for this one because new Passionfruit is made up of many HER Interactive veterans — the game team who put together Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! and NDD: Resorting To Danger.  The game is currently in beta.

From the Passionfruit press release:

Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box also officially marks the launch of PassionFruit Games and represents a unique moment in the history of gaming.  Although a market for romance themed video games has existed abroad for years, these games are essentially unknown in the U.S.  Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box will be one of the first romance casual games to hit the U.S. market when it goes on-sale in April 2010.

In discussing PassionFruit Games’ decision to launch their company with Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box, Melissa Heidrich, Studio Director, expressed her enthusiasm for reaching out to romance readers: “The majority of casual gamers are women aged 25-65, who report they play casual games mainly to escape.  Interestingly, those same attributes apply to romance novel readers – so it’s surprising that there are currently so few romance casual games on the market.  That’s why we’re excited to bring Tiger Eye to life as interactive entertainment.”

For Marjorie M. Liu’s fans, it will be a great chance for them to experience a game written by, designed by, and created for women. Mari Tokuda, one of the designers translating Marjorie’s novel into game form, says: ““There just aren’t many romance games in today’s market.  And, for many women, romance novels are not interactive enough.  That’s where we come in – we are giving players a chance to experience the romance through fun gameplay and sensual cut scenes that further the relationship.  This game will really appeal to players who want a storyline and those who want to BE the smart, down-to-earth romance novel heroine.  And of course, we’ll have a sexy leading man heavily featured in the game.  A game like Tiger Eye is one of the most engaging ways for readers to experience characters’ relationships.”

Fans will also be able to experience things that weren’t in the book and to search for hidden objects, play minigames, listen to a film quality soundtrack, and solve puzzles, all the while following the storyline as the main characters’ relationship deepens emotionally and grows in intimacy, though there will not be explicit sex scenes.

PassionFruit Games acknowledges the challenges of turning a popular book into digital entertainment and of adhering closely to the book’s storyline.  In their quest to stay true to the novel,  all members of the team—from artist to programmer—read Tiger Eye, as well as other novels in the Dirk & Steele universe, to get a feel for the “essence” of the game.  The producer and lead designer held regular video conferences with Marjorie to go over the latest design ideas and Marjorie herself wrote the script for the game and is involved with the game every step of the way,  giving input on scene art, character design, and voice actor selection.

Says Marjorie, who is well known for her New York Times bestselling Dirk & Steele and Hunter Kiss series and for co-authoring the hugely popular Dark Wolverine Marvel comic book series, about playing the game’s early build: “I was amazed by the beautiful cinematic cut scenes and the way players could actually experience things my characters had done.  It’s an incredible feeling to not only see favorite characters brought to life but to experience life through their eyes as you progress through the game.”

The Tiger Eye novel, which Publishers Weekly praised as a “first-rate debut” and “a striking paranormal romance,” tells the story of Dela, a woman with psychic abilities who buys a riddle box in Beijing’s Dirt Market and opens it to find an ancient warrior, Hari, bound to serve as a slave to the person who has opened the box.  The action moves between China and the U.S. and PassionFruit Games will mirror this international scope through two games, the first to take place in China and the second in the U.S.  PassionFruit games also plans to involve readers in the release of Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box with the chance for a select few fans to be Beta testers and with fan voting on looks for the character, Long Nu.

More on Passionfruit Games and Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box from Simpson’s Paradox.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Subscribe to ThumbGods by email:

(This is a Feedburner subscription, and yes, even if you subscribed before via SubScribe2, you’ll have to subscribe again.)

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Guest author Lexton “Lunarhound” Collins discusses the upcoming Guild Wars 2, believable NPC drama, heroic errand-running, and shares his perspective on what makes a good MMO great.

Most gamers, both fans and detractors, would agree that MMO’s need shaking up. It’s happened before, when City of Heroes and, shortly afterward, World of Warcraft made camp grinding a thing of the past and brought quest-based advancement to the mainstream. Suddenly, characters had purpose-driven lives. Other games followed suit, and life was good in cyberland.

Now, several years later, gamers are growing weary of the new grind. It’s tough to ensure that every single one of the hundreds of quests necessary to keep an MMO going are interesting, and players are growing weary of the endless variations on “kill ten rats and bring me their tails”. Mini dramas acted out by NPC’s cease to feel immersive when sticking around for a minute afterward lets you watch the world reset before your eyes so that the next players in line can ride. Collecting exclamation marks and running errands for people too lazy to deliver their own letters or fight their own battles feels less like an adventure and more like checking off a list of chores. Few want to go back to the way things were, but developers, and many players, seem to be finding it difficult to see a way forward.

There have been efforts to do something different but they’ve gone largely unnoticed. Guild Wars came hot on the heels of World of Warcraft, and attempted to remedy many of the ‘theme park’ issues that came with a static world that had to reset each quest for the next player by making heavy use of instancing. Players see each other in towns, but once outside, you and your party had your own private copy of the world. This allowed them to change things permanently based on your actions. Unfortunately, this lead to many players not considering it a real MMO and, despite its commercial success, it didn’t inspire many imitators. Additional problems came from the fact that players could not jump, climb or swim and the world was full of invisible walls that forced strict adherence to the current mission path. Dungeons & Dragons Online came along a few years later with a similar world structure coupled with much better implementation of the mission-based game play and a great new action combat system, but the facts that it couldn’t (at the time) effectively be played solo and it required a monthly fee, it also ended up being relegated to niche status.

Now, Guild Wars has a sequel on the way. ArenaNet was very secretive about it for quite some time after its announcement, and even now information is limited, but what is beginning to emerge paints an interesting picture of a title that is trying to shake up the genre all over again. With the inclusion of open world areas and much greater mobility (players will be able to jump, swim and climb as they can in most other MMO’s), as well as new attitudes toward creative use of instancing, they might actually succeed this time.

In a preview at Eurogamer, back in August, lead designer Eric Flannum states that “I think I can safely say that you won’t see a single exclamation mark floating above a character’s head in Guild Wars 2.” This one little sentence makes for a pretty bold statement considering the direction of MMO’s for the past few years and, luckily, he elaborates:

“We actually don’t have a traditional RPG/MMO quest system… Instead what we’ve got are Events. Think of them as group-orientated activities. This is one of the many things that will encourage the player to explore the world – you can wander through and never quite know what you’re going to see. You might come across a fortress that’s being attacked by centaurs, or it might be that the centaurs attacked half an hour before you got there and they hold it now. You might start walking along a road you’ve walked a hundred times and suddenly there’s a caravan traveling along that road that you may not have seen, and you can go help that caravan out.”

Supposedly, these events will form a complex web within any given public area, spawning new ones and phasing out old ones based on cause and effect. An older example given is that of a dragon attacking a bridge. Players can band together to defeat the dragon, which might open up a new chain of events that can be participated in. Alternately, they might fail, choose not to help, or simply not be there when the dragon attacks, which would result in the bridge being destroyed and a completely different chain of events opening up, revolving around repairing the bridge. The difference between this and something like Warhammer Online’s public quests is that they will not simply reset repeatedly so that players can do them over again. The assertion that there will not be a traditional quest system seems to indicate that public areas will consist of countless such events and, rather than wandering around looking for someone with an exclamation mark to tell them what to do, players will spend their time looking for something actually happening. The potential of such a system to change the way questing is seen in online games is staggering.

That isn’t to say that all adventuring will be completely directionless. Each player will have a personal quest chain to play through that reflects his or her own character. From an interview with MMORPG.com in December:

“When a player creates a character in Guild Wars 2, they will be able to answer many questions about their personal character history. These answers will help determine your personal story in the game. As many fans have theorized, one of the first things you choose is a ‘subdivision’ of your race, which provides a more personal feel to your character’s history. For the humans, that means their ancestry–Elonan, Krytan, Ascalonian and Canthan–and also their social status as gentry or commoners of the city of Divinity’s Reach. For charr, it primarily means their legion, whether Blood, Ash, or Iron. The asura choose between the three most respected colleges of learning; Synergetics, Dynamics, and Statics. The sylvari follow the path of their seasonal cycle, or the time of day in which they awakened, being Dawn, Day, Twilight or Night. The norn choose their personal totem, and may choose to walk in the path of bear, snow leopard, raven or wolf. From these and other initial determinations, a wealth of personalized storylines develop, so that each player in the game experiences a story that is individually tailored to their character.”

According to ArenaNet, these choices, though part of character creation, will not affect class or power in any way. Their sole impact is on the player’s own personal narrative. This sounds tantalizingly like the Origins system in Dragon Age: Origins, and is an exciting thought when considered in the context of an MMORPG.

There’s no telling, of course, how much of an impact any of this will have or how well it will be received until the game is available to the public in some form. And if these claims were being made by a smaller developer without the experience or budget to back them up, they might be only a faint cause for hope at best. But ArenaNet has the budget and the talent to back up its big ideas, and it has already proven with one successful series that it knows what it’s doing.

Most seem to believe that the ultimate feat for an MMORPG would be to topple World of Warcraft. I’m not so sure. I think the ultimate measure of success is moving the genre as a whole forward. With a new approach to quest content, a strong focus on providing the player with a personal storyline, and the lack of any sort of monthly fee, Guild Wars 2 stands poised to do exactly that. Will it topple World of Warcraft? I doubt it. But it may force Blizzard to change in order to compete, which would almost certainly lead to other games following suit. Now that would be an accomplishment.

Popularity: 3% [?]

I have a new review of Cake Mania 3 up over at Casual Gamer Chick.

Cake Mania 3 is an adorable time-management game for the Nintendo DS. Jill, our heroine from Sandlot Games’ PC versions of the Cake Mania imprint, is cheerfully preparing for her wedding day when she accidentally breaks a time-bender (I suppose it was wedding decor), and sends herself and her loved ones off through space and time, only to be saved through extensive cake baking! Jill must rescue her displaced friends and family, repair the time-bender and make it back for her wedding – all by making and decorating cakes.

Once Jill lands in a new location and sets up her bakery (“Oh look,“ Jill notices, “My oven works in ancient China! That’s not weird at all!”), the top screen is used for progress stats, like time spent and money earned, and icons of waiting customers. The bottom screen is Jill’s bakery. Players send Jill rushing from oven to customer with a tap of the stylus. A checkmark appears over the future actions in Jill’s queue so you can easily keep track of what she’s doing. Tap the checkmark to remove a planned action from Jill’s to-do list.

Read the rest of my Cake Mania 3 review over on Casual Gamer Chick.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Are you playing EQ2? Want to try out the new Sentinel’s Fate expansion?

We’d like to take the opportunity to invite everyone to register to participate in the beta program for the EverQuest II expansion: Sentinel’s Fate.

Please remember that registering for the beta program does not guarantee admittance. It only puts you into the pool from which we will randomly select participants. Also, in order to participate, you must agree to our Non-Disclosure Agreement (we send ninja monkeys after you if you leak info before the NDA is lifted) and have an account in good standing.

Click here to go to the registration page and accept the terms of the NDA.

We will send you an email letting you know if you’ve been selected with all the information you need to get set up and ready to go. There will also be a link to the beta forums for you to give us your feedback.

Via EverQuest II Players – News – Article 3364

Popularity: 8% [?]

James Patterson’s Women’s Murder club has been a successful series of novels, a TV show and a series of casual mystery PC games before coming to the DS. The new Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion seems designed for a casual DS gamer to tuck her into her purse, instead of a Patterson mystery novel. Most of WMC is played with the DS turned sideways, using the read-only screen to display a list of objects to find, instructions, or images to accompany the action in the interactive screen, which creates a book-like format for more of an interactive novel feel.

WMC follows the usual pattern of story cutscenes, hidden objects and minigames. The hidden objects casual adventure game is a pretty crowded genre, so it’s hard for a new game to really stand out. Probably the most unique characteristic was the James Patterson characters.  Players solve crimes and meet with the WMC ladies as Patterson’s detective Lindsay Boxer, and supporting characters with solid personalities made this more that just a reskinned HO game.

The story progresses via cutscenes and dialogue options. Players have some choices for what to say, but it was more of a quiz on recent plot events. Believable banter makes the cutscenes worth reading, and the linear storyline makes it feel like reading a novel, not being hemmed

Random side note: The mysterious Chinese markings found on the victim actually do say bu zhong, Not Loyal. My Chinese  literacy is just good enough to be completely thrilled with the developers for using real words when dramatic red scribbles would have acceptable. (It always cracks me up when I see upside-down characters or random other words.) Good work, THQ.

A lot of the game was hidden objects, whether it was tidying a crime scene or looking for clues, but this was a particularly bad HO. The small DS screen doesn’t really lend itself to searching, and players search a picture that’s larger than the screen, for maximum squinting-at-the-screen annoyance. It was also the Highlights magazine type of hidden objects, instead of the cluttered-room HO. It felt oddly childish to look for giant peace signs and lightning bolts, especially on crime scenes with mysterious dead bodies. The game does mix up the hidden objects a bit by giving players a clue instead of a list of items, but still gives the feel of an activity book more than an adventure game.

The story leads to several minigames, which were much more engaging than the picture find. When I got the Women’s Murder Club press release, I was pretty excited to see the game included a science lab minigame, and the puzzle’s gameplay didn’t disappoint.

One of the minigames was a mah-jong game, which is also accessible under an icon that says China (This character is a different zhong, an object lesson on why I am not so good at Chinese!). I usually consider mah-jong games to be computer solitaire 2.0, but I found something charming in the tiny tiles and stylus interface, and ended up playing this minigame more than I’d expected.

Women’s Murder Club: Crimes of Passion offers a solid storyline and characters from the popular novels to fans of the hidden objects mystery.

Popularity: 15% [?]

I’d been meaning to play the new Monkey Island game since I first heard about the Telltale Games release, but it was the pirate-day free download that finally got me started.

Telltale’s new Monkey Island is not to be confused with the LucasArts updated re-release. No, the Screaming Narwhal is an all-new tale in the saga of Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate. Elaine and LeChuck (and at least one other familiar character!) are back as well, revamped from their grainy 2d incarnations, but following the spirit of the originals.

Goofy dialogue, creative uses for found items and pirate-y silliness are the hallmarks of the Monkey Island games, and the Screaming Narwhal has them all. Guybrush uses his razor-sharp wits to deal with the wacky denizens of Flotsam Island, whether that’s a clever ruse of selling fine leather jacket, an amazing use of misdirection (Look! It’s Louis XIV!) or coming up with a believable excuse on the spot. The dialogue is not a memory test of in-game facts, but a chance for zany interactions.

The freedom of the old Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck’s Revenge options was in stark contrast to the thousand ways to accidentally off the protagonist in the punishing other adventure games I played around the same time. (Getting killed by a passing car when Laura Bow crosses the street still sticks in my memory as the finest example of the I Made This, You Play This, I Hate You mindset.) Guybrush can stick a bomb in his pocket or attempt all sorts of athletic feats without any ill effects.

The Monkey Island games make you wonder What would happen if I…? and then encourage you to try it out! When you try to pair two objects that didn’t belong,  use something in the wrong way, or say something ridiculous, Guybrush makes a joke instead of a beep, an error message, or a score punishment. LucasArts rewarded creativity by offerings zany responses to zany questions and zany actions. The object was not to beat the level, the boss, or the game, but just to see what would happen next!

The Screaming Narwhal contains the old Monkey Island mechanic of an old pirate map for Guybrush to decipher. I don’t want to give away too much, but this isn’t the usual hidden object standard, there isn’t any squinting at the screen to find map pieces. If you’d like to make the puzzles easier or harder, the hint frequency is on a slider in your options menu, so you can adjust how much Guybrush tells you.

When I think about it, the only thing that could possibly be improved is the inventory. Oh, no, not the actual inventory, the U-tube and manatee monocle and breathmints leave no room for improvement. But the way to access the inventory is to mouse over the right hand edge of the screen. This is also the way to walk off the right hand edge of the screen or look at things on the far right of the screen. It is not a game-breaking mechanical failure, but a minor annoyance that came back every time I mean to look at something on the right and opened my inventory.

Go check it out and remember why Monkey Island was such an awesome story.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Just in case there’s someone who’s not yet reading Alice and Kev, go check it out!

RoBurky created Alice and Kev as an experiment in what Sims 3 capabilities and personality traits can do, creating two homeless sims and blogging their actions. RoBurky isn’t cheating by sending her sims out to collect valuable finds, either. Blogging a game character often seems like the worst case of let-me-tell-you-about-my-level-80-paladin ossed with blogging from the pet cat’s point of view,  but it’s an amazingly engaging story on so many levels.

RoBurky created Alice and Kev as an experiment in what Sims 3 capabilities and personality traits can do. The original Sims was more of an exercise in putting out domestic fires — sometimes literally — than actually seeing your sims’ personalities, but in Sims 3 the focus is off keeping your sims from starving to death, and on creating interactions.

I blogged the other day about emotional games, and how the personality traits of Sims 3 could have emotional implications (Watch your significant other manage a Sims couple sometime!). The story of Alice and Kev turns personality algorithms into an alternately hilarious and depressing storyline.

Popularity: 15% [?]

The Secret World is a new, dark modern-day MMO, where all players are members of secret factions. Beta sign-up is a creepy and fun test to see which faction you’d belong to in TSW’s dark future. This is an interesting and fun beta sign-up. After all the secrecy and paranoia, the application sets you up to share your results on Facebook.
Via D A R K   D A Y S   A R E   C O M I N G.

Popularity: 10% [?]