Monthly Archives: October 2008

The Winner: Frayed Knights

By Rubes | Published: October 9, 2008

A few of the scattered individuals who stop by here every now and then might not be aware, but there was a year-long competition sponsored by MyDreamRPG.com, a group dedicated to developing tools to help indie developers create RPG games, including MMORPG games. The contest started in April 2007 and, I would assume, finished in April 2008, with the goal of creating the best CRPG game based on one of the Torque Game Engines. First prize was an impressive $10,000, and a number of groups entered.

I say that I assume it finished in April 2008 only because I never heard anything about a winner, and had completely forgotten about it. I do know that Jay Barnson of The Rampant Coyote had entered, and [More...] Read the rest

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IFComp: Screening Capture

By Rubes | Published: October 7, 2008

Forging onward with the next batch of IFComp entries, as I review my initial impressions of each game’s opening (introduction, “About” screens, and the first location), summarized by the Capture Score from 1 (intriguing; a definite play) to 4 (dreadful and forgettable). Just a reminder, no spoilers here, just early impressions.

Games covered here include “A Date With Death”, “When Machines Attack”, and “Berrost’s Challenge”.


“A Date With Death”, by David Whyld

Whyld’s game, subtitled “being the further adventures of the king who wished to die but whose subjects just weren’t ready to let him go”, is the third game in a series that began in 2004 with “Back to Life… Unfortunately” and continued in 2007 with “The Reluctant Resurrectee” [More...] Read the rest

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IFComp: Capture Quest

By Rubes | Published: October 6, 2008

After a brief intro yesterday, my filtering of this year’s IFComp entries shifts into gear as I continue to walk down my randomly generated list of games. No spoilers here, just some initial impressions of each game’s opening, which includes any introduction, “About” screens, and the first location, summarized by the Capture Score. The range is from 1 (intriguing; a definite play) to 4 (dreadful and forgettable).

Bear in mind that my intention is not to judge the the complete piece, only to report my first impressions of the entries to see which ones engage me enough to pull me in for more. I’ll play the ones that do to see if the experience matches the anticipation, and afterward if any games that I [More...] Read the rest

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And In Other News, Generalissimo Francisco Franco Is Still Dead

By Rubes | Published: October 5, 2008

With October comes once again the start of the annual IFComp, this being the 14th competition. It’s hardly breaking news at this point, of course, what with the bevy of blogs and websites reporting it to the world and already posting early game reviews. We’re not even a week into October and I feel like I need to catch up.

Comp time is a sweet time, though, because once it arrives we get a huge bolus of new IF games to play, and who knows what we might discover in the collection. The IFComp is where we got Vespers, and some really fantastic games have won over the years. But unless you keep up with it you can miss some really entertaining games [More...] Read the rest

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