Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Lords of Uberdark: 11 days and $14,805 to go

Despite the excitement some folks (myself included) had at seeing the tech-demo for Lords of Uberdark, it looks like this project may not meet its Kickstarter goal. With only eleven days left, only about 1/4th the necessary funds have been collected.

If the goal is met, the development of the game will be (you guessed it) Kickstarted. Anyone who pledges at least $10 will receive a registered copy of the game. As of this blog entry 1481 more people would have to pledge $10 each to meet the goal.

If the goal is not met, it does not mean that development would cease. However if the $20,000.00 project goal is not met, development is likely to be extended and take longer. Why? Independant developers, unless they have a success or two under their belt already, have to work at a normal job while tinkering away at projects like these.

In Aaron Bishop's own words: "Funding will help me to spend less time on work-work and more time on game-work, which will translate into a quicker release and better end product."

Check it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/901026204/lords-of-uberdark-3d-voxel-based-mining-building-g

Friday, July 22, 2011

Lords of Uberdark Update #1: Dwarf Types, Airships & Gore

Click here for the link to the update on the Kickstarter page.

In this first update for Lords of Uberdark, Arron Bishop explains the purpose behind some of the Dwarf sketches we have seen on the official site. Apparently these little dudes are representations of some potential classes in-game, things like Archers, Masons, Mechanics, Blacksmiths and Sailors. As the update is a little vague, it is hard to determine whether these are meant to be player classes, or various types of helpful NPCs.

Personally I hope it is the second of those two possibilities. Helper NPCs would be a lot of fun IMO for both single-player as well as multiplayer. I guess it really depends how populated and large the world is meant to be.

Airships. As a longtime fan of Spelljammer, Skies of Arcadia and other similar games, this is a feature I do want to see. Hopefully when (if) it is implemented it will be done well. I wonder how large ships will be as well. Vessels capable of holding multiple NPCs as well as players would be ideal.

Anyways there is still a lot unknown about this game, as well as a lot of development yet to do. Hopefully the project will be able to make the Kickstarter goal so that Aaron Bishop will be able to dedicate some good time to it sooner rather than later. Support independent developers!

Here are some relevant links.

Official Website: http://www.lordsofuberdark.com
Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/901026204/lords-of-uberdark-3d-voxel-based-mining-building-g
YouTube Account: http://www.youtube.com/user/aaronbishopgames
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/AaronBishopGame

Captain America Movie: Army of One

Caught a showing of the Capitan America movie today. I am very glad that more and more theaters have digital projectors, for the film was really crisp and clear. Didn't want to shill for the cost of a 3D picture, didn't think it would add anything worth the pain of wearing those darn glasses.

The movie is both a good war movie and a good superhero origins story. An excellent mix of action, comedy and teases of romantic tension. Nice to see the main antagonist being entirely Hydra agents, it was a good differentiation from the standard Joes vs. Nazi fair of so many WWII movies & games.

At the end of the movie, there is not only a bit of extra fluff, but also a teaser trailer for the Avengers movie. Good stuff, really looking forward to that one.

All in all a good bit of action, wit and fun. I suspect it was not released earlier in the month (such as around the 4th) so as not to content with Transformers, or Harry Potter. This is one of those rare cases where a movie is better than the trailers lead you to believe, but that is just my opinion.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Help Kickstart Lords of Uberdark: 18 Days Left


Seriously. This game looks like it is going to be awesome. If you have not done so already, check out the following links.

Official Website: http://www.lordsofuberdark.com

First official video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9-lJzFZ72I

Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/901026204/lords-of-uberdark-3d-voxel-based-mining-building-g

As of this post, the Kickstarter effort has reached $3,487 of $20,000.

If 1,652 more people pledge $10 each, the project will meet its goal. There are only 18 days left to try and meet this goal, so check it out!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Lords Of Uberdark: Looks Awesome

A new awesome Indie game is on the horizon named, at least for the moment, Lords Of Uberdark. It is a voxel-based game in a vein similar to Minecraft. Currently in pre-alpha, though there is a nice list of planned features.

The developer,  Aaron Bishop, is using Kickstarter to raise up some initial funding to get the game created. This is a very worthy investment in my opinion for anyone who would like to see the project sooner rather than later.
The Link: click me

There is also a tech-demo grade, pre-alpha video to demonstrate the basic principles behind the game.

   If you like the looks of this project, spread the word. If you have a few bucks to spare, head to the Kickstarter page and pledge! Let's try to make this game happen!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

New X-COM Game a shooter because of people like Christoph Harmann

Read this article at Kotaku: Why Is The New XCOM A Shooter? Because ‘Strategy Games Are Just Not Contemporary’

I bet the fans (and creators) of all the contemporary strategy games like Dawn of War 2, Shogun 2, Civilization and so forth are just overjoyed to hear the president of 2k Games (Christoph Harmann) say something like this. I had no idea that we were all so misguided in enjoying these wonderful recently-released games, because apparently strategy games are just not contemporary.

Time for some fun with words.


Contemporary:
  1. existing, occurring, or living at the same time; belonging to the same time
  2. of about the same age or date
  3. of the present time; modern
  4. belonging to the same age; living or occurring in the same period of time 
  5. existing or occurring at the present time
  6. conforming to modern or current ideas
I don't think Contemporary means what Mr. Harmann seems to think it means.

As a longtime fan of the X-Com series of games, as well as of good strategy games, I am right pissed.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Ironclad: Seven Samurai meets Mount & Blade

Caught a showing of Ironclad today. A very good movie, however I can see why it was not opened in wide release. The appeal for this film is rather narrow, but I really hope it can make up its production costs sooner rather than later. It was a good, enjoyable historical fiction kill-fest.

It could have done without the shakey-cam though. Seriously, this filming technique needs to die a slow painful death. Every time I see it over-used in a film like this, I hate how popular it got due to films like Blair Witch. Even my beloved Lord of the Rings movies suffered from the use of this technique a bit... but I digress.

Someone has read their Seven Samurai. Even if it was not an intentional homage, it was well enough done. Also being an avid fan of the Mount & Blade series of games, I really enjoyed the combat & castle sieging elements. A shame that game series does not natively support siege weaponry or castle destruction better. I would love to see a MMO do this kind of stuff well.

Good movie. If you like what you see in the official trailers for it you will likely enjoy this.