Updates from the Forge 55: Autumn 2024

Jubal · October 03, 2024, 06:47:25 PM

Issue 55: Autumn 2024

EDITORIAL & COMMUNITY NEWS

Hello and welcome to another issue of Updates from the Forge, your Exilian newsletter of geekery and creativity!

Whilst last season was a news-heavy one, the summer has been a quieter time for site-wide news. We've been happy to welcome two new voting members, Rob_Haines and The Seamstress: our citizens, or voting members, comprise most of the more active members of Exilian, and get a full say in how the site is run including electing our council and being able to vote directly. If that's something that interests you, you can find out more about becoming a citizen here.

We've had one new article in our articles section, Apocalypse Now Or Never: Apocalypse Always, in which Jubal takes a dive into why apocalyptic ideas are so common in modern fantasy fiction and especially modern fantasy gaming. This is the second part in the series: in the first part, he covered the development of apocalypses as we know them in fiction today. Do drop into the comments over there if you have thoughts on the utter destruction of everything in existence!

Our range of topics in this newsletter is as ever packed and varied for your edification and delight, and we've curiously ended up with a theme, for this is the tavern special: two of our games are set in taverns and another one involves a spa, and our other topics can even provide musical accompaniment, pub activities, and online space for you to kick back and put the world to rights. Also there's some spaceships. Without further ado, here's some updates from the forge!

CONTENTS:

Editorial & Community News
Game Development
- Find the hidden art of Innkeeping!
- Melon Head: a game about a guy with a melon for a head
- The less hidden art of... more innkeeping?
- Playtesting with Indiekid
- We've done inns - what about a spa trip?
Arts & Writing
- Meeting Luxorian's Crew with Vicorva
- Rob's Piano Music
- Exoskeletons and elfin aliens in the World of Infinitas
Miscellany
- What have you been modelling and painting?
- Off topic chat in the WBU

GAME DEV

Find the hidden art of Innkeeping!

New Exilian member Sea Phoenix has released The Hidden Art of Innkeeping, a game where you fix up a dilapidated farmhouse in a little fantasy village until it becomes a five star travellers' rest! After your character, an experienced innkeeper, has a terrible stay at a coastal hotel with a monopoly on the area's travellers, a chance meeting leads her to set up a competitor, and eventually to becoming the centre of a regrown community. The whimsical and varied bunch of guests and things to do features seashell collecting, an angry peacock, Homeric references, a grumpy carrot farmer, very amateur archaeology, Jane Austen novels, and a mouse called Branka - there's a lot to discover and explore.

The Hidden Art of Innkeeping is the sequel to Sea Phoenix's previous game, The Lost Art of Innkeeping, and features the same protagonist, Elinor - but can be played entirely stand-alone without knowledge of the previous game and its plot. The game is available on both Itch.io and Steam, where reviewers have been praising its 'hilarious and heartwarming' dialogues and comfy vibe.

If you want to see more for yourself, here's where to find out:

Get The Hidden Art of Innkeeping on Itch

Discuss the game on Exilian

Melon Head: a game about a guy with a melon for a head

Yes, the melon is pink. Look, if you were expecting this to make sense after the title, I don't know what to tell you.

New Exilian member Miggo has arrived with something completely different. Something completely different to what would be a valid question, were it not for the fact that Melon Head is completely different to just about anything one cares to name. A point and click adventure with a world of deeply strange beings and a psychedelic colour scheme, Melon Head developed from an initial isometric plan to a classic point-and-click view as it developed.

In the story itself Melon Head is a sculptor who must produce a great piece of art for the glory of the king. He also has a head shaped like a melon. And a wall-mounted food machine who talks and deals with things by you putting them in its mouth. And that's really just the start, as their hunt for parts for a perfect sculpture leads them to dabble in an alley-man's forbidden romances, discuss wistful romanticism with subway ticket salesmen, and amplify sports game broadcasts - all rendered in the most vivid EGA art style pinks, blues and greens imaginable.

Melon Head has just been released, so you can find your way around this madcap adventure yourself - more info below. Good luck finding your way around the stranger parts of the human - or melon-brained - imagination!

Get Melon Head on Itch

Discuss the game on Exilian

The less hidden art of... more innkeeping?

Yes, if you thought we were done with inns after Elinor's tale above, you are about to be amazed because there is more tavern news to come! This one involves less cutesy pets and a considerable amount more spying on guests and dubious food subsitutions because we've reached the wayside rest of Innkeep, the game where you run a grimy fantasy tavern in full guest-robbery Master of the House style. Whereas Elinor starts her tale with a successful business, a bad queue, and a missed train, the protagonist of Innkeep starts out as a vagrant who is drafted into running his inn after wandering in when the previous owner is in the process of getting decapitated by bandits. No matter where you start from, the desire to build a fine inn is the same - but how you get there might be more than a little different.

The news from the games' dev is very exciting: they now have a new company structure, under the title of Boot Disk Games, and a new publishing arrangement with indie publisher Mythwright to eventually publish the final version. Hopefully these new structures and collaborations will help Innkeep move forward towards our screens - fulfilling our destiny, learning the truth, and cooking a couple of innocent rats along the way. Actual chicken is expensive, guys.

Latest Innkeep news on Exilian
Wishlist the game on Steam

But who could these all be? Indiekid's Yarn Spinning tales post has suggestions.

Playtesting with Indiekid

From our range of fictional resting spots to something that can be done in a real pub: Indiekid has been travelling to test his game projects, not perhaps so far as some of his more wide-ranging adventures through the Americas which he's shared in our articles section this year, but Scotland and northeastern England are probably a little easier to find English language boardgame testing groups in! He's been running tests of Yarn Spinning, a collaborative storytelling card-game that creates some very much madcap situations for players.

There are some really fun anecdotes and useful information sets for those making and testing boardgames, including some thoughts on how to compromise with younger players who find the rules tricky but want to play with a group, notes on the comparative size and organisation of the different events involved, and some details of his preparation and organisation. If you're looking to make and test boardgames, some of this real-world experience might be useful to you in making your own tests happen and ensuring you get the best experience for your playtesters and the most useful outcomes for you. It's always worth remembering that game testing has to happen with real people, not with a sealed-box imagined ideal player, and listening to real experiences is a good way to see how that can work.

Latest Indiekid Updates

We've done inns - what about a spa trip?

The giant tooth-mawed fungus is not how pedicure day was meant to go.

Are you fed up with everyone's stupid requests? Find the cat? Retrieve the magic sword? Kill god? Maybe you need a spa trip - but it will probably end up being to the SPA OF DESTINY, which presumably appears in the title IGNIS UNIVERSIA: THE SPA OF DESTINY, a game in which the Chosen Sisters, having saved the world, are mildly frustrated that their mentor's plans to go on an adventure and save the world again will end up encroaching on their holiday time.

The game offers turn-based combat, a full character roster who remain in the party at all times, 12-13 hours of gameplay, a completely annoyingly generic male protagonist free zone, and if the available GIFs are to be believed possibly a beaver in plaid turning up at some point which we can all agree is very exciting indeed. It's gone through considerable development and a name change since a 2022 kickstarter, and the now available demo should give people a good idea for how the game will look and feel - and just how wrong an attempted holiday can go.

Get the demo on Steam
Read more about the game on Exilian

ARTS AND WRITING

Meeting Luxorian's Crew with Vicorva

Veo Corva's latest novella has been successfully funded on Ko-fi! Entitled Space Dragons: Luxorian's Crew, this space fantasy novella brings readers to a world where dragons and their riders are key to travelling the galaxy, with the rider key as a voice to the crew. For Luxorian, a dragon abandoned by their rider but in need of money, this creates a dilemma: how to run a ship and crew without the rider whose job it was to captain them?

The tale promises spaceships, sneaky robots, horrors from the void of deep space, and working out how to heal when hurt by someone you trusted. V's readers have duly rallied to that promise and we can congratulate them on a 209% funded successful Ko-fi campaign! Using Ko-fi rather than things like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo offers creators a different model: V cited Ko-fi's low processing fees and separation of backer fulfillments costs as reasons for choosing the platform for this campaign, so this may be something other creators might want to look into.

If you want to get yourself a copy, the paperback book is expected to be released for non-backers to buy sometime in the next few months, with ebooks already having gone out to Ko-Fi campaign backers. We look forward to seeing how this draconic adventure through the stars unfolds!

Veo Corva's Ko-fi Page

Crowdfunding thread on Exilian

Rob's Piano Music

Our multi-talented new citizen Rob Haines has been doing piano music and arrangements over in the Artisans' Guilds! In 2019 he picked up the instrument again (presumably non-literally, but we can neither confirm nor deny the possibility of Rob's talents including super-strength) after playing it as a child, and he's been posting some of his pieces. He recently started trying arranging music for the first time, too, with a version of the main theme of Skies of Arcadia posted recently which is lovely to listen to.

If you're thinking of picking up an instrument for the first or second time, or if you never stopped, we'd love to hear what you're up to with it as well - the Artisans' Guilds provide space for all such bardic projects, and bards of all abilities are always very welcome. We hope to see you there, whether as a listener or to delight our audiences, someday soon!

Rob's Piano Music on Exilian

Exoskeletons and elfin aliens in the World of Infinitas

QuoteAfter the removal of Azolinti "Retribution" fleets Elfurr initiated the counter attack. In 2583 AD there was created "Expansion" armada. And king Senuhsert gave an order to continue the conquest till the center of Azolinti Prior Worlds. It was the strongest decision.

Glatlakla who led the Azolinti fleets returned to his homeworld in Azolis-Hmjar and was eaten there by elders. Council of Azolinti didn't like his defeats.

After the creation of "Expansion" fleet, Elfurr by orders of prince-governor Yammra made a massive strike with nuclear warheads. Powerful hyperspace rockets attacked over 500 Azolinti planets and satellites. It was the signal of future invasion.

Admiral User'kaf prepared to finish his mission and capture these 500 worlds for the Elfurr empire. Soon giant fleets of Elfurr reached the Azolinti borders and attacked hundreds of their systems...

In the wide array of writings by BagaturKhan about his huge World of Infinitas setting has come some new entries on the Elfurr - Azolinti Eternal War. The Elfurr, an elfin alien species, and their arthropod-like foes, the Azolinti, fought for over ten thousand years of the setting's history: when Elfurr explorers reached the Taote galaxy and the planetary space owned by the Azolinti clans, existing antipathies and mistrust burst into conflict.

BagaturKhan's extensive notes on the war include details of the Azolinti battlefleet, the Fl'Taa, and the Elfurr special Expansion fleet that opposed them, including the different varieties of warship and commanders, as well as details of some of the most major engagements. It's a really interesting look into the huge but dedicated work of crafting such an extensive setting - do take a look!

Read about the Elfurr-Azolintin Eternal War on Exilian

Visit the World of Infinitas Forum

MISCELLANY

Don't think of the big hammer as crushing your enemies: it's just percussive maintenance of your personal space.

What have you been modelling and painting?

Tabletop gaming has always been a part of Exilian - we've always had a wargames or tabletop games section, and one of our first projects was the Warhammer: Total War mod for Rome: Total War, which brought one of the world's most popular tabletop games into the classic Total War Engine (well before Games Workshop came up with the same plan). One aspect of the tabletop world that our discussions on rules and ideas and settings don't always cover, though, is the physicality of it. Models are cool, and it's worth taking a look and having a think

As such, here's a highlight for our modelling and painting thread in the tabletop games forum. This is your place to let us know what you've been making and painting, and what. This neat little Stormcast Eternal was a recent first foray into painting by Zibbit, which we think turned out pretty well! Creating miniatures and bringing them to life through paint is a long-as-a-piece-of-string hobby where some people have highly professional skills and others get by with a simple bold scheme (and your correspondent writing this piece just makes a mess usually). That makes it especially helpful to be able to share and discuss it in a kind and welcoming space: there's always more to learn and more to think about, but equally it's helpful to get encouragement whatever one's level of ability.

We hope you'll join the discussion in that spirit - have you been painting or modelling anything lately? Please do let us know over in the forum's Game Room!

What have you painted today?

Giant 18th century wigs are, for better or worse, just as optional as the booze.

Off topic chat in the WBU

The Workshop Booze Up thread, Exilian's general off-topic chatter space, has not been as well trodden a path as it used to be in the last couple of years, but in this tavern special it's time to give it a highlight. The WBU has been a feature of Exilian since the beginning - the first post of the first version of the thread was post #2 on the entire forum - and since then we've had 1000 posts per iteration of the thread before starting anew. We're now on the seventh iteration of this undertaking, with day to day life chatter, commemorations of the Glorious 25th of May, and everything in between happening there over the years.

Whilst booze specifically is very much optional, having a place to kick back and discuss how life is going or just throw a silly comment in and say hi to people is something very worth having. As such, we'll take this chance to remind you, dear reader, that all are welcome in the Jolly Boar Inn. If you'd like to tell us you forgot your cup of tea, check in on how everyone's doing, express a strong opinion about bactrian camels, or blink at the glory of a flower, the WBU is your space to do so - and we hope you'll join us there.

News:

Updates from the Forge 55: Autumn 2024

Jubal

Miggo

Jubal

Miggo