Morbus
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
More than a month after the last one, we're at it again talking about Age of Decadence, which you all should know as the upcoming indie RPG from Iron Tower Studio, with Choices&Consequences™, turn based meaningful combat, multiple non-violent ways of solving quests, and stuff like that.
Remember the Ruins of Zamedi? Well, GameBanshee has an article (full of screenshots) about it.<blockquote>Welcome to the ruins of Zamedi. It used to be a large city, but that was before it was hit by three 1D4+1 magic missiles in a row during a decade-long war. So, nothing survived but this tower. It's rumored that such towers had wondrous machines that channeled power from other planes and used it in many different and creative ways, including but not limited to raising protective shields when under attacks.
The tower's machines didn't fail, but the hellfire unleashed by the enemy's magi consumed the city and the army defending it. House Aurelian claimed the tower after the war and being weary of what they couldn't understand and control, sealed it to make sure that the knowledge and the power contained within would die there.</blockquote><center>
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Speaking of ruins, there's also a new thread in their forums about the Maadoran ruins, with three new screenshots.<blockquote>Here are several shots of one of the Maadoran concepts I'm playing with. We have tall pre-war buildings (they really don't build like that anymore) and the new ones added during the last hundred years or so. While Teron was a small "frontier" town, Maadoran should show you what the Empire cities looked like, what was lost when the Empire fell, and the contrast between new and old "towns". As usual, suggestions are welcome.</blockquote><center>
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The Portuguese gaming site No Continues interviewed Vince D. Weller about Age of Decadence. It's a long, 14 question interview with no new screenshots but a few insightful answers about the development of Age of Decadence and of RPGs in general.<blockquote>No Continues: How has been the experience of handling your own community and having your creations subject to criticism, as opposed to working on someone else’s community while openly criticising other studios’ videogames and design methods – as you did during your tenure at RPG Codex, known for its open criticism of major titles and trends in the genre? I know you’re still enthusiastic and opinionated as ever, but has anything changed about how you perceive what it means to be a gamer and a designer?
Vince D. Weller: Nothing has changed. Working on AoD for several years didn’t make me appreciate Space Siege or Oblivion design more. My criticism was never based on some impossible to achieve fantasies. It was based on a simple fact that games like XCOM, Darklands, Fallout, Ultima Underworld, Daggerfall, Planescape, etc. were a lot deeper and better designed that 99% of games you see on shelves today. Sadly, trading design depth for better graphics and all the bloom my eyes can handle didn’t really work out for me.
As for the incoming criticism, I have absolutely no problem with someone saying “hey, this thing sucks, how about…” Sure, not every suggestion is brilliant and worth looking into, but we’ve got so many truly great suggestions from people who are interested in AoD that discussing everything with our fans has become an important and integrate part of game development for us.
I’ve seen our game being torn to pieces on some forums. It doesn’t bother me, to be honest. Some people like certain games, some people hate certain games, and AoD is not one of those “let’s hope everyone will like it” sort of games, so…</blockquote>On other news, there's a video on YouTube showcasing many screenshots from Age of Decadence. None of them are new, but it's still a nice thing for those of you who haven't seen them:
<center>[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOVH609fL9Q[/youtube]</center>
Remember the Ruins of Zamedi? Well, GameBanshee has an article (full of screenshots) about it.<blockquote>Welcome to the ruins of Zamedi. It used to be a large city, but that was before it was hit by three 1D4+1 magic missiles in a row during a decade-long war. So, nothing survived but this tower. It's rumored that such towers had wondrous machines that channeled power from other planes and used it in many different and creative ways, including but not limited to raising protective shields when under attacks.
The tower's machines didn't fail, but the hellfire unleashed by the enemy's magi consumed the city and the army defending it. House Aurelian claimed the tower after the war and being weary of what they couldn't understand and control, sealed it to make sure that the knowledge and the power contained within would die there.</blockquote><center>
Speaking of ruins, there's also a new thread in their forums about the Maadoran ruins, with three new screenshots.<blockquote>Here are several shots of one of the Maadoran concepts I'm playing with. We have tall pre-war buildings (they really don't build like that anymore) and the new ones added during the last hundred years or so. While Teron was a small "frontier" town, Maadoran should show you what the Empire cities looked like, what was lost when the Empire fell, and the contrast between new and old "towns". As usual, suggestions are welcome.</blockquote><center>
The Portuguese gaming site No Continues interviewed Vince D. Weller about Age of Decadence. It's a long, 14 question interview with no new screenshots but a few insightful answers about the development of Age of Decadence and of RPGs in general.<blockquote>No Continues: How has been the experience of handling your own community and having your creations subject to criticism, as opposed to working on someone else’s community while openly criticising other studios’ videogames and design methods – as you did during your tenure at RPG Codex, known for its open criticism of major titles and trends in the genre? I know you’re still enthusiastic and opinionated as ever, but has anything changed about how you perceive what it means to be a gamer and a designer?
Vince D. Weller: Nothing has changed. Working on AoD for several years didn’t make me appreciate Space Siege or Oblivion design more. My criticism was never based on some impossible to achieve fantasies. It was based on a simple fact that games like XCOM, Darklands, Fallout, Ultima Underworld, Daggerfall, Planescape, etc. were a lot deeper and better designed that 99% of games you see on shelves today. Sadly, trading design depth for better graphics and all the bloom my eyes can handle didn’t really work out for me.
As for the incoming criticism, I have absolutely no problem with someone saying “hey, this thing sucks, how about…” Sure, not every suggestion is brilliant and worth looking into, but we’ve got so many truly great suggestions from people who are interested in AoD that discussing everything with our fans has become an important and integrate part of game development for us.
I’ve seen our game being torn to pieces on some forums. It doesn’t bother me, to be honest. Some people like certain games, some people hate certain games, and AoD is not one of those “let’s hope everyone will like it” sort of games, so…</blockquote>On other news, there's a video on YouTube showcasing many screenshots from Age of Decadence. None of them are new, but it's still a nice thing for those of you who haven't seen them:
<center>[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOVH609fL9Q[/youtube]</center>
