Homicide: Life on the Blog

As promised, back to the tabletop for some RPG goodness. I've been toying with the Mythic GM Emulator off and on for several years as a tool for solo play, a mechanic for throwing curve balls at players during play, and as a creative aid for world-building. I've decided to run a solo game here both to demonstrate how Mythic works, and to scratch an itch to play a solo game. This is the setup post.

Torchlight 2 - A Wrap

A final post concerning the Torchlight 2 beta experience. There's nothing new here, just a wrap-up with all the links in the right order for easy reference:

• My first impressions
• A review of the beta
• Final thoughts

That's it! Now that the beta is over I can fixate on something else, at least for now.

Final Impressions: Torchlight 2 Beta

The Torchlight 2 beta winds down today at 4 PM Pacific time. I've been spending too much time playing, so it's probably a good thing it's over. I've already wrote a couple things about the game:

• First Impressions
• Beta Review

Here are a few more thoughts based on the last couple days of play.

Torchlight 2 - Beta Review

This is a more detailed look at the Torchlight 2 beta experience. I've already posted a brief first impression, but now I've spent more time with the game. I've completed the beta with the Outlander and the Engineer, and have spent some time with both the Berserker and Embermage.

Island Forge: An Update

Nyhm, the developer of Island Forge, was kind enough to give me a heads up on a change to core game he's pushed out today.

Torchlight 2 Beta - First Impression

This game wins. I knew it within the first few minutes, but after a couple hours, I can confirm it. Even though I'm trying to judge Torchlight 2 based on its own merits, it's hard to avoid comparison to Diablo 3, a game I was less than impressed with. Here's why Torchlight 2 is better than Diablo 3:

Island Forge: Island Forging

Island Forge is an indie developed MMO adventure game / editor. I've already written an article focused on initial impressions and the game side of things, this time I'm going to talk more about the editor. After logging in to Island Forge, one of your options is the Islands tab. Through this interface you can create an island of your own and start the editor. The initial editor window looks like this:

Basic editor - click to embiggen