Author Topic: Updates from the Forge 18: October 2017  (Read 3173 times)

Jubal

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Updates from the Forge 18: October 2017
« on: November 01, 2017, 11:21:00 PM »
Issue 18: October 2017

EDITORIAL
This issue of Updates was going to be on time... and then an accident with a power outage, a witch and some herbal tea got in the way, and the imaginary llama on the editorial team failed to cover for me. Nonetheless here we are with your regular editor/writer, and six (six!) exciting stories. It's been an interesting month all round for Exilian, with us helping along the successful Frozen Skies Kickstarter campaign, and seeing the releases of the massive epic mod project that is Narnia: Total War and of Koobazaur's game of fake news, Headliner. November will have a lot to do if it's going to top this run - let's see what happens!

As for this month's updates - appropriately for the day after Hallowe'en we start and finish with stories involving monsters, from James Holloway's new podcast about classic AD&D monsters to Jubal's new Monster Manual for Bigosaur's game Son of a Witch. Besides that, we have a new miniatures game about superheroes, a cyberpunk metropolis, and a dying queen... excited? Then read on!

CONTENTS:

  • Listen & Learn From... The Monster Man!
  • Cogito Colony!
  • Back into the Undergrowth
  • Heroes of the Tabletop
  • Epicinium
  • Son of a Witch: Cyclops Bosses & New Monster Manual


Listen & Learn From... The Monster Man!

ExiliCon 2016 co-organiser and all round top tabletop miniatures guru James Holloway has returned with a new podcast, Monster Man!


The only question: which one is the monster?

The premise of Monster Man is that James goes through the 1st edition AD&D rulebook, and discusses the monsters within it - and it becomes apparent from just a ten-minute episode or two that there are few better guides to the world of monsters and myth that one could wish for. Combining the hats of experienced dungeon master, knowledgeable historian, wise mythology buff, human being who doesn't actually find crayfish scary, and more, James' insights into these creatures and their design and use are not to be missed, not only for dungeon masters but for players, writers, game developers and more.

As well as the podcast episodes, Monster Man is running a competition! You can check out more of the details for that on James' Exilian thread, linked below.




Cogito Colony!

New Exilian user Thalanor brings us Cogito Colony, a new in-development metroidvania game. In a world described as having "a hearty amount of cyber with a decent bit of punk", cybernetically augmented protagonist Lynn must explore a mysterious non-linear sidescrolling city on another world, defeating enemies in fast-paced combat and discovering the truth about what happened to the colony...


Dramatic lighting? Check. Dramatic pose? Check. Dramatic cliff? Needs work.

The game is set to feature a wide array of zones, innovative mechanics, and a huge array of original soundtracks and themes, with different ares of the colony getting their own epic soundtracks specially made by the developer. Cogito colony definitely looks like one to watch, and we're looking forward to seeing more devlog updates!



Back into the Undergrowth

We've had some amazing new updates from the Empires of the Undergrowth team, whose strategy game about ant colonies is looking better and better! With day/night cycles added, an "arachnophobia mode" with hats for the spiders, and great new music and cinematics, there are some interesting things going on - take a look at the epic new death video when your colony finally loses its queen:


Empires of the Undergrowth looks set to have some brilliantly well researched creatures and mechanics, with both the ants and the enemies playing as close to the real creatures as possible - you command the ants via a scent trail system, and the various terrifying enemies you find around the undergrowth have abilities based on those of their real counterparts. Check out the Empires of the Undergrowth thread to discover more:



Heroes of the Tabletop

Our very own Colossus has recently started development on a new superheroes tabletop game! Using a simple 2d6 based ruleset, this mini skirmish-style combat game will let your characters use psychic, combat, and other epic abilities as they attempt to secure objectives around the gameboard. Flying will be a major part of the rules, with several layers of verticality to allow characters to swoop and glide around the board The game is still in early development stages with plenty of room for ideas and feedback, so do head on over, get discussing and get involved!



Epicinium


Epicinium, from new Exilian member SLiV, is a strategy game with a twist - the twist being that total war is useless if you can't occupy the territory afterwards. Epicinium promises a strategy game that scores winners for environmental damage - your win is bigger and better if you can win whilst keeping more of the map green. This brings a whole new turn to classic strategy mechanics, as players must balance the desperate need to win the war against the likely damage caused by extreme methods such as heavy carpet-bombing and shells. This looks set to be a fun and thought provoking take on the genre, and will no doubt be well worth a watch for the future!

If you win by having your enemy's half of the map ravaged by firestorm, did you really win at all?




Son of a Witch: Cyclops Bosses & New Monster Manual

There have been some great new updates on Bigosaur's Son of a Witch this month, including a long-jump competition in the forest, a mysterious spin-the-wheel gambling game, and the final forest bosses, Ogh and Ugh - two cyclopes with magical eyeballs, big clubs, and no great love of adventurers...


If Ogh and Ugh invite you clubbing, it's best to politely turn them down.

Also, on twitter some pictures from the frozen north have recently been seen as preparations for the deadly sixth level, set in the cold northlands, have begun behind the scenes at Bigosaur HQ!

And there's more - our own Jubal has been starting to write some new manuals for Son of a Witch, in a three-part series that includes the "Son of a Witch as a Roguelike" players' guide, the Unofficial Equipment Guide, and - already useably close to completion - the Unofficial Monster Manual! Listing every enemy type and every regular boss in the game, the monster manual includes useful tips from one of Son of a Witch's most reliably successful players worldwide to help you dodge and counter the different abilities your enemies have. You can find all Bigosaur's latest updates and all of Jubal's guides at Exilian's Bigosaur forum!





And that - starting from one monster manual and ending with another - your October issue! Hope you enjoyed these six project spotlights - this has been a really nice diverse one to write, and I hope we'll have as good a range of projects for you when it comes to the November updates in a few weeks' time! As always, comments and feedback are very welcome and appreciated, as of course is sharing this newsletter to your friends. The more people see this, the better we can support the brilliant independent creators who make all this stuff!

But for now - take care, watch out for monsters, and hope to see you for November's Updates from the Forge!
« Last Edit: November 02, 2017, 12:06:01 PM by Jubal »
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