Updates from the Forge 43: Autumn 2021

[Leafly]

Issue 43: Autumn 2021

EDITORIAL

It's Autumn, and it's time for the Harvest, Halloween, Bonfire Night (depending on where you are, lots more) and

Whatever you've got planned, the experience, dedication and creativity of our game developers will keep you captivated for hours. So, if you are vacation-ing or stay-cationing, it doesn't matter. Grab your tech and install these games as soon as you can! You don't want to miss this! If you've got any developments that you would like to celebrate, please post on the Exilian site! It could be game development, arts and crafts, or anything that makes your day more eventful that you would like others to know about too. It's a great way to build the community here, and we're sure that you'll have a nice time! There's even digital meetings where you can talk about your interests with others here!

Always, make sure you: 'Enjoy your stay!' and tell others about it too!


CONTENTS:

• Editorial
  
• Game Development
  
  
  
  • Innkeep! - Serve Ale. Collect Rumors. Make Coin.
  • Updates from Olympus with Rbuxton
  • Guild Hall Adventures [ARPG]
  • [Dev Log] Tourney: The medieval tournament sim
  • Savage Skies: October at Utherwald Press
• Arts & Writing
  
  
  
  • War of Marfur-Nirari (the greatest war in the Infinitas universe)
  • Just As An Aside: An Attempt At Comedy
  • Jubal's Fantasy/Character Drawings
• Miscellany
  
  
  
  • More free images from Eric Matyas
  • Worldbuilding Magazine
  • Wildlife and wholesomeness

GAME DEV

Innkeep! - Serve Ale. Collect Rumors. Make Coin.

The upcoming CRPG game has released the latest development, to show you how far they've come! It has lots of interesting crossover themes from a modern day-by-day narrative survival sim like This War of Mine, with thematic ideas taken from Les Misérables.

Here's a bit about how it works: the idea I had was to have a game set in that classic RPG location, the humble inn, where you are the one wearing the apron, and the people of the world come to you. You serve them food and drink. You tell them about recent rumours, and maybe share a joke or two. Furthermore, you hire bards to play music and keep everybody having a good time until late. - That sounds like a nice game, doesn't it...

And then you rob them. In their sleep. A little bit...

Find out more by checking out the thread below for the latest update from BeerDrinkingBurke including the above Innkeep Trailer for Realms Deep 2021, and the start of a new series of bite-sized one minute dev diaries which will give some fresh insights into the processes behind the game!

Innkeep! - Serve Ale. Collect Rumors. Make Coin. (Exilian Thread)

Updates from Olympus with Rbuxton

Rbuxton's dev diaries on his boardgaming projects have long been a feature of Exilian's game dev landscape, charting his progress through the choppy waters of boardgame design and development. His latest instalment returns to his game project Master of Olympus, a grand strategy classic in the making that he's recently had a new turn at playtesting, with some exciting outcomes - but also some tricky design questions to be answered.

Besides some of the practicalities of revisiting an old project, from congealed rubber bands to missing action tokens, there's a lot to be discussed after a game of unfolding blockades, objective denial, and the back and forth between a naval power with a wide range of options and a stubbornly dug in opponent with some big stompy monsters to hand. The problem of simultaneous versus turn-based play turns out, perhaps, to have been the real monster all along: is it better to provide a fast, simultaneous play experience despite the risk of conflicts over who did what when that the system might struggle to handle? Or is a turn-based system with complete clarity over what order actions should happen in the way forward, despite the much slower gameplay that may result? Might there be a third way to square the circle, and what would that do to the overall flow of the game?

Find out about this key boardgame design problem, and more about the project, by checking out Rbuxton's dev diaries and discussing them here on the forum!

Rbuxton's Dev Diaries (Exilian Thread)

Guild Hall Adventures [ARPG]

Exlian have so many creative developers working on projects, to keep you captivated this Autumn and if you like the games, you can even replay them the game developers would be thrilled if you did. Exilian's Obsessive Games says: it's an action-packed RPG story, Hack n' Slash all monsters in your wake!

Build a town from scratch and research while gathering resources and levelling up by killing monsters in the area. Don't forget to delve into the dungeons and defend your created town from the Hordes of Monsters coming to destroy it. You can be any class with 1 character and level up each class to gain passives that can be used for other classes. Here's a trailer of what you can look forward to!

Guild Hall Adventures [ARPG](Exilian Thread)

[Dev Log] Tourney: The medieval tournament sim

With the weather getting cooler, you could like some warmer graphics to look at, and what better way than to check out the latest developments Tourney has to offer! Picture a place of flowers, looking very idyllic...but you do not have to because we have a preview for you brought to you by Tusky!

Cool coloured water, palm trees and careful detailing on buildings and surrounding features, everything is looking brilliant. But why not look at what Tourney has to offer today? You'll like this if you enjoy a fun filled plot, brilliant gameplay! If there's any more information you'd like to know, Tusky would be a great person to get in a conversation with. Add your comments in the post below! Game development can go farther if you let your developers know how they're doing as well, show your support and tell someone you know about it today!

[Dev Log] Tourney: The medieval tournament sim (Exilian Thread)

Savage Skies: October at Utherwald Press

The latest blogpost update from Utherwald Press details the full air combat rules from the Frozen Skies setting, which pits RPG players against the frozen lands of Aleyska in a dieselpunk setting of ice-filled wastelands, mysterious ancient technology, and scattered settlements whose lifelines are trade and travel via the air. You can get a copy of the full Frozen Skies setting guide from DriveThruRPG here.

In Frozen Skies, air combat takes a much more tactical approach than in the original Savage Worlds rulebook, moving to use a hex grid for a more wargame-like feel. Unlike a lot of hex wargame systems, combat in the cold air is fast by definition: aeroplanes have to keep moving at least half their speed per turn in order to avoid potential penalties, and initiating too large a turn in any given round can require rolls at a penalty.

With this system, braving the air becomes a desperate mix of fast-moving combat and desperate strategy - pushing your luck may get your guns in place, but may also lead to your aircraft spinning out of control and at the mercy of your enemies and the savage skies themselves...

October 2021: Savage Skies (Exilian Thread)

ARTS AND WRITING

War of Marfur-Nirari (the greatest war in the Infinitas universe)

Or maybe there's some mythical arts and crafts that interests you? It has long been thought that there are myths and ideologies of particular mysterious entities and what their appearances are. Take a look at this image, who do you think this is?

This is the estimated guise of Marfur-Nirari (in elfurr male form), the whole thread is dedicated to looking in to a demigod who can change their appearance and so many other fantastical mythical creatures. Other cool facts include that his origin is completely unknown, but Marfur-Nirari is known in almost every legend.

It can be a fantastic historical trip to check out this thread, you might even be able to recognise some entities and how they cross over into games you've played or legends you have heard of. Why not grab a mug of your favourite drink and take a read, there are probably some less known facts or frightening ones if you're not sure what to expect...so you may need to leave a light on while you read this! But what we can tell you is that the images that BagaturKhan has added here are thought-provoking and have so much in them that make the article even more impressive.

[Dev Log] War of Marfur-Nirari (the greatest war in the Infinitas universe)(Exilian Thread)

Just As An Aside: An Attempt At Comedy

Dragon Age humour, by Jubal! You can find out the tricks and puns, but you'll likely need to have some knowledge about this to help find the fun in it. But even if you do not have this, Jubals's acting is excellent, and you'll be sure to enjoy this.

Just As An Aside: An Attempt At Comedy (Exilian Thread)

Jubal's Fantasy/Character Drawings

Staying with Jubal! We'll leave the newsletter this quarter with a really artistic drawing, with vivid colours and a lot of character. It might even be the moment that you grab those art supplies and draw some on your own. We think it is a super drawing and for all you D&D fans out there, you're going to really like this one!
And how nice is the polecat?

Jubal's Fantasy/Character Drawings (Exilian Thread)

MISCELLANY

More free images from Eric Matyas

Eric Matyas has for uyears been producing an incredible library of textures and music for games and other creative projects, all of which are available from his SoundImage website. Recent additions to his texture library include new Carpet, Organic, Artistic Stone, Bark, Brick, Concrete, and Metal textures, and that's just from September! The full SoundImage library includes thousands of images and tracks, all of which are freely available for both commercial and non-commercial works! Do drop by the thread to say hi, and check out the vast array of material available next time you've a project on the go!

Building a Free Library of Images for Everyone(Exilian Thread)

Visit SoundImage

Worldbuilding Magazine

Dubsartur recently decided to alert us to the existence of Worldbuilding Magazine, a digital magazine of world-building topics. Their issues vary across a number of thematic areas including cosmology, transportation, and justice in recent issues. For those of you who do worldbuilding, they also have applications available for showcasing your work in their issues which could be a valuable show point for writers, TTRPG makers, and game developers who want to get some more coverage for their creations. Worth checking out!

Worldbuilding Magazine (Exilian Thread)

Visit the Magazine

Wildlife and wholesomeness

It's been a tiring year for many of us already - it's hard to imagine that it's somehow October. If you're feeling like you need a pick-me-up, or a reminder that the world isn't all grey and dreary, our Cute and Wholesome picture thread is here to help. With sweet cartoons and big dumps of wildlife photography from members, there's lots to browse through and see, such as these very sweet hamsters from Vienna, Austria, but also wall lizards, tiny godzilla knocking blocks over, butterflies, pond tortoises, and a kobold with a really big hat. Take a look - you might not even know yourself how much you needed something cute to see today.

Visit Exilian's Cute and Wholesome Picture Thread

It's been a rollercoaster of a few months here at Exilian, with our great community bringing you new and exciting content. But we're hoping you enjoyed this read, went on to play some games, took a few minutes of your time to see what we've been working on or just had some good ideas from what you have seen here today. If you would like to join Exilian and become a member, please do, as we'll be more than glad that you're a part of this welcoming team.