Source of Madness is a side-scrolling dark action roguelike game set in a twisted Lovecraftian inspired world, and powered by procedural generation and AI machine learning. Basically, each time you enter a run inside the gaming world, you will find a completely new scenario with new monsters, challenges, treasures, and achievements. Even the creatures are always changing in Source of Madness; if you play it a thousand times, you will probably find a thousand different types of enemies.
Have a look into the Source of Madness's mood and esthetics below:
I think I played very few games with a somber atmosphere like this one. The dark scenario with a disturbing soundscape made of monsters screams offers an experience that few platform games of this category can present.
This game touched my gamer heart in a special way: it received a lot of negative reviews because of the chaotic gameplay and interface, but, for me, it's the big feature from the game. This roguelike is unique in its composition and programming. But the use of AI machine learning and procedural generation is nothing without the storytelling component. The uniqueness of the game comes from a perfect balance between the gaming architecture and the obscure Lovecraftian narrative full of mysterious (and bizarre) cutscenes and the direct references to the ancient ones from Mr. Howard Philips's mind.
Source of madness is a great example of good use of technology to create an immersive experience. However, it's a great example, too, of how to blend the narrative layer with good mechanics that comes from the gaming code.
This game is in my top 3 from this year. Another indie game. One more for my list.
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Peter Dimitrov has entered two 3D environments into the @TheRookiesCO competition. One depicts feudal Japan, the other one is a cyberpunk theme. Check out the work and give it a high five!
I've been holding on for too long to report this one, but now it seems to be the right time. Tobu Tobu Girl is a wonderful thing. Developed by the nice folks at Tangram Games (who previously brought us the equally libre titles Mr. Rescue and Duck Marines), this arcade platformer is very likely the first Game Boy title to be developed in a 100% libre environment, and that goes for both code and assets.
Originally released in 2017, the game was published as a Game Boy rom made available gratis, and it also got a limited physical cartridge release after a successful Kickstarter campaign.
Now, following yet another Kickstarter, the developers are back with a deluxe version, boasting Gameboy Color and Super Gameboy support, and a previously unincluded survival mode. A new batch of physical copies for the deluxe version are also already available for preorder, and the new rom will be once again distributed gratis to the public sometime in July.
The game's pixel art is simple, yet charming.
As for the game itself, do not be eluded by its cute appearance: Tobu Tobu Girl is not for the faint of heart! The game requires quick thinking and lightning fast reflexes. Players missing a single landing spot will meet immediate failure and taken back to the beginning of the level.
Quality-wise the game's controls are sharp, responsive and intuitive. The graphics are simple, but crafted with love, and the chiptune soundtrack, created by Potato-tan, is delightfully fitting.
So for now, while waiting for the deluxe release, you can still download and enjoy the regular Game Boy version here. As expected, you need a Game Boy emulator to play it. Don't forget to leave a word of appreciation to the creators for loving and supporting Free Software!
Once our local Scrum (month long Steamroller) has finished, I kind of got sucked into Guild Ball again. This is a fairly odd development, partially because I haven't played the game in roughly 7 months. Back in July of last year I had to stop all miniature gaming to help my wife through the end of the pregnancy and then birth of my youngest daughter, but before that happened I was a bit upset at the way Guild Ball was played because of how imbalanced things were.
Of course when I stopped gaming, Steamforged released an Errata in July that largely fixed a lot of the problems, and while I was raring to get back into Trolls as soon as I could start gaming again, a few things pulled me into playing Guild Ball and I've really been loving the game all over again. I figure I'll go through what that was, as well as some of the things I really like about the game in general.
Pulling Me Back In
During the same month of our Warmachine Scrum, a Guild Ball Scrum was also being run, with some playing in both games. This was handled as promotional event that would allow players who played to get a Lucky model. Since my first team was Brewers and my friend Brian has no intention of playing Masons or Brewers, he was kind enough to give me the model.
Lucky is my first PVC model and Steamforged is making all new teams come in very cheap $50 boxes with 6 PVC models that require no assembly, plus some extra terrain. They also recently changed the Official Play Document to say that you can now use unpainted PVC models in their tournaments. While I'm pretty good at modeling, it's not really my favorite thing to do, so this kind of setup seems great to me, it's also a great value for starting a new guild.
Another old friend of mine, Kevin plays mini games off and on, but he's not a modeler or painter, so this PVC setup is perfect for him. After talking about it and him watching us play at the local shop Kevin ended up buying the Kick Off set which has to be one of the best values in miniature gaming at the moment.
Since he was free to come over on Friday's when my wife would get a girls night out, I could strap my youngest to my chest, have my oldest help roll dice, and get some extra games in each week! I effectively became Kevin's unofficial Pundit, teaching him the game.
Since I already played Brewers and they're considered a lower tier team, myself and others recommended Kevin start with the Kick Off Masons, which is actually quite a strong team.
Since then I've basically spent the last three weeks playing only Guild Ball with my gaming night out and then again on Friday's while my wife has her girls night out. I've gotten double the games in for nearly a month now!
I'm actually good friends with Paul who runs the My Life With Dice YouTube Channel and you can see me play my first game of Pin Vice ever, and my first engineers game in 6+ Months:
Please note, I'm extremely rusty here - many mistakes were made.
Since then, I've been playing some Brewers, Engineers, and I've purchased the last few models to flesh out my Union - getting something akin to Guild A.D.D.
Hobby One of the nicest thing about Guild Ball is the fact that it's a small model count game that has as much intensity as larger miniature games. Small model counts plus the fact that you're really only ever painting a model once (ie. no units with duplicate models), it's so easy to get a fully painted force. This has triggered a kind of OCD for me to immediately paint my Guild Ball models within a few days of purchase.
I'm not a good painter by a long shot, but I truly enjoy playing with fully painted forces, and that's hardly ever the case when I play Warmachine (or when I played 40k or Fantasy). As such, I really like how achievable it is to play fully painted in Guild Ball.
The game is also nice that you are encouraged to build an optional goal post for your teams that can let you flex your hobby muscles if you wanted. I was excited to finally use my old Bugman's model from Warhammer Fantasy, mostly because it enabled me to put a beautiful Dwarf model I love on the table and actually have it be fun (Dwarfs were miserable to play with and against back in Fantasy). He makes a great Brewers goal post.
My Guilds
The game is also sort of dangerous since it's really not expensive to get into a guild at all, and that was back when everything was metal and starters only came with 3 models. I started with Brewers with a few Union models added slowly over time, then got a very different team in Engineers to play a more goal scoring game, and then it was "only two more models" (Captain and Mascot) to make a fledgling Union team.
Coming back into the game in the last month, I elected to buy the last few models I wanted to flesh out my Union with Grace and Benediction and getting a captain I'm very excited to play in Blackheart. Since Brewers are more of a Take-Out team, and Engineers a more Goal-Scoring Football team, the prospect of playing an all 2" Melee team lead by Blackheart that can adapt to whichever game plan I want, but easily do 2 Goals - 2 Take Outs to win is very appealing to me.
Brewers
Engineers
Union
As it is, every model I own besides Lucky is metal, and after assembling the new Grace and Benediction models, I really am looking forward to when I can just buy PVC models from here on out.
Gaming Nirvana Out of all the options I have to play with in Guild Ball at the moment, I'm spoiled for choice and I'm liking the way things are going. Apparently the game still has some balance issues with Thresher and Farmers, and Corsair Fishermen are still a bugbear in the meta - but supposedly an errata is coming soon. I've not played against either of those things yet though, and I'm not good enough to expect to win against competitive players so I just look forward to playing and learning in the near term.
Plus with my Hooch Hauler finally arriving, and with two local players getting the new God Tear early access/beta set, I've got a LOT of really interesting gaming time coming up in the weeks and months ahead.
I hope to put up some more content for each of the games I'm playing shortly.
Mortal Kombat 11 | Release Date, Trailer Revealed Mortal Kombat has been one of the most popular fighters game in the world for decades. NetherRealm Studios announced Mortal Kombat 11 to the world in an official revealed trailer at The Game Awards 2018. The trailer featured a bit of new look for the series. Mortal Kombat series co-creator Ed Boon revealed the first trailer for his new game today, showing a shocking, bloody battle between Raiden and Scorpion. And after that another Scorpion. The trailer guaranteed a full reveal of the game in January. Mortal Kombat 11 will release on 23 April 2019 for multiple platforms including PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch.
As you can most likely guess after watching, the trailer for Mortal Kombat 11 was typically bloodier. With heads being removed from bodies and blood flowing freely. Also, the trailer seems to feature just how detailed the brutality zoom-ins will be in the new game.
There were also multiple Scorpions. While the first one got taken out by Raiden, the second transformed into a being of fire and flew through Raiden, decimating him. It is unclear what the presence of two Scorpion implies yet, but it could be possible that Mortal Kombat 11 has something multi-universe sort of thing going on. The trailer ended on a rendition of Shao Kahn waiting on a throne, imploring consumers to preorder the title so as to get Shao Kahn and beta access to the new game. Preorders for both console and PC start on December 7, 2018, Although there's no word on when the game's beta access period will start. More more updates, stay in touch with the "Pro-BrosArena"
