#full dive rpg

[lintheotaku]

Anime Watch

Anime:  Full Dive: The Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life! Plot: “... The first time Hiroshi plays the game, he marvels at the realism it offers. However, his astonishment is short-lived as he sets off a series of misfortunes, quickly realizing that the game is even worse than his already stressful life. Nevertheless, Hiroshi still finds himself logging on again despite his growing contempt for the game. With no do-overs in his current disadvantageous situation, Hiroshi only has one goal—clearing the game!“

Overall Thoughts: Holy Moley, I didn’t expect to find myself diving into this one. Much like the MC experiencing all of this, this one is a rollercoaster of ‘how can things get worse.’ The final episode is very satisfactory. And the development of the Fruit Slicer had me rolling. Rate: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ [5/5]

[anime-cafeteria]

[irritable-bowel-showdown]

ROUND 1: PART 4

Hiroshi Yuuki (Full Dive: This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life!) vs Rung (Transformers)

[mat2modblog]

So I just found out Kojima wanted to make a game where the disc blows up when you die. That reminded me of something...

Honestly it's already a terrible idea on paper but the protag-kun of this anime even bought a second copy when his first one exploded, which just makes it a worse idea because buying another copy and/or making a new account 100% defeats the point.

[art]

Creator Spotlight: GDBee Art (@prinnay)

Geneva Bowers is inspired by the wonders of the natural world around us, and enjoys manipulating colors to create art full of mood and feelings.

Check out our interview with Geneva below!

How did you get started with art? Did you originally have a background in art?

I’m going to say yes because that’s all I’ve known how to do. It started because I wanted to draw better horses than my sister, and it just spiraled from there. People started asking me to draw things because they saw me drawing horses. I was like, well, I can draw things that aren’t horses, and then it was just kind of all I did. 

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

I have one right now! Honestly, with time, and I also collect art books; I think I have a couple hundred. If I really want to draw something, then I just flip through those and try to steal some ideas.

Which three famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

I mean, of course Van Gogh…I’m really inspired by Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, so I would invite Van Gogh, Monet, and Julie Dillon to a dinner party.

Have you ever wanted to dive into another medium before?

Yeah, actually, I currently am! I’m trying to do more traditional painting. I used to do a lot of acrylics, but I haven’t done it in years, and now I’m kind of bad at it. I’m trying to get into actual impressionistic art with oils and oil pastels. I’m like failing, but you know, you get there. Just fail until it looks presentable. 

If there is one thing you want your audience to remember about your work, what would it be?

I guess it’s more of a feeling. I create art because I’m inspired by things around me, like certain video games. For example, I have been inspired by a Japanese RPG called Chrono Cross on PlayStation 1. They make me feel a certain type of inspiration to create something, so that’s kind of like what I’m hoping to leave behind. 

Have any of your projects surprised you with their outcome?

Yeah! I did this Weapon Faerie series where I took three prompts: a weapon, a winged insect, and an herb, which I combined to make different characters. So, a faerie with a spiked club or a butterfly faerie with a katana. I made 13 of those, and they kind of took off! I wasn’t expecting that at all.

What is the hardest part of your process?

My whole art style is coloring, like the way it’s colored… but I hate the coloring process, haha. I like doing the color combos, but I don’t like the blending and shading. That takes like one-trillion years. It’s the part where I’m most likely to give up. You know how art kind of looks ugly before it looks good? I’m trying to trust that process. 

What do you wish you knew when you started creating art that you know now?

I guess one big thing would be knowing how to use lights and darks. When I do color, it is definitely colorful, but when you switch it to black and white, you see that everything’s the same tone of gray. I’ve learned that if you just use some brighter colors and some darker shades, you create a bigger impact in the end. So, now, when I paint something digital, I make it black and white for a moment to see where all the hues are, and if something is weirdly dark or not dark enough, I can change it.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

Oh, @feefal definitely inspires me. She does a lot of spooky art.

[macguffinandco]

Hi - we're on Tumblr now!

I'm sorry, who are you?

We're @sashasienna​ and @jonnywaistcoat​, and we make tabletop RPGs as MacGuffin & Co.!

Tabletop what-nows?

Immersive storytelling games where you and your friends can dive into weird worlds, play fascinating characters and have harrowing adventures!

What, like Dungeons & Dragons?

*sigh* Yeah. Like Dungeons & Dragons

Ok, so what have you made?

Well, we've got a collection of system neutral micro-settings called Odd Jobs - it's eleven small and fascinating worlds to play games in, each with a campaign you can play through in a month. They're not designed for any particular system, so you can play them with whatever game you like!

Oh, and it won the 2022 UK Games Expo award for Best Adventure and was nominated for Ennie Product of the Year. Just sayin'.

We've just released a tarot-themed magical river game called Upriver, Downriver with our dear friend Ella Watts, in which you play the crew of a ship sailing the Great River, either travelling upriver to the mythical Source with it's magic and revelation; or downriver towards the unending Sea with it's freedom and horizon.

We have KER-SPLAT! - a high-chaos, full nonsense cartoon RPG we wrote with Ross Barlow, where the players can't die and the GM can't stop them in a hilarious cascade of silly jokes. Also, not to brag, but this is the funniest RPG rulebook you'll ever read.

We also have smaller games, such as Zero Void - a no-prep one-shot zine game, where you play a bunch of desperate space criminals trying to escape a space station before the law arrives.

Is there any way to keep up with what you do?

Well, following our Tumblr is a great start. We also have a monthly mailing list you can sign up to from our website that will keep you updated on what we do.

We also have a Patreon.

What was that? You're mumbling!

Yeah, like all creators trying to eke out a living, we have a Patreon. If you sign up you get behind -the-scenes updates, small or prototype games, RPG resources, new micro-settings and our monthly TTRPG Gamesmasterclass, where we use our 35(!) combined years of GMing experience to help you run the best games ever.

But what if I want to see your faces?

Then I have great news! We stream boardgames and RPGs every Sunday at twitch.tv/macguffinandco! Jonny also streams videogames every Friday at twitch.tv/jonnywaistcoat, and Sasha steams their Jane Austen Bookclub every Monday at twitch.tv/sashasienna

Sounds cool - where can I find out more?

macguffinandcompany.com, baby!

Wait, so why are you on Tumblr?

Because social media is a nightmare hellscape and it's weirdly the chillest one left. We are on other social sites as well - you can follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook - but this is our favourite.

[felassan]

Game Informer "Hub" archive

This post was like their index/contents page of links to every article.

(Please note that in some cases article titles were updated at some point after first being published, e.g. the "A Deep Dive Into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Expansive Character Creator" article is the same article as "Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Character Creator Is BioWare's Most Robust Yet".)

"Dragon Age: The Veilguard Exclusive Coverage [note: the inclusion of the listing for GI's final piece of coverage on DA:TV - the art book announcement - was not captured in time by the Wayback Machine from what I can see, and so while the article itself is still available to read, it does not appear in this record of the Hub. it would have appeared here first before the listing for the article on Bellara, which is below]"

"Everything We Know About Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Bellara Lutara We spoke to BioWare about Bellara Lutara, the first companion players will recruit in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 22, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

"Here's The Main Voice Cast For Dragon Age: The Veilguard The protagonist, Rook, will have four options to choose from. by Charles Harte on Jul 22, 2024 at 11:24 AM"

"BioWare Leads Discuss The Making Of Dragon Age: The Veilguard Corinne Busche, John Epler, and Mark Darrah dive into BioWare's long-awaited RPG. by Alex Van Aken on Jul 19, 2024 at 02:43 PM"

"Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is 'Respectful And Referential' To Previous Games Without Making Them Mandatory Game director Corinne Busche tells Game Informer it's about managing assumptions. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 17, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

"A Deep Dive Into BioWare's Companion Design Philosophy In Dragon Age: The Veilguard BioWare says these companions are the series' best yet. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 15, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

"Yes, Dragon Age: The Veilguard Has Nudity, And I've Seen It And we're not talking implied nudity here. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 10, 2024 at 01:00 PM"

"Companions Can Romance And Form Relationships With Each Other In Dragon Age: The Veilguard Giving a cold shoulder to a companion might nudge them into the warm shoulder of someone else. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 08, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

"Dragon Age: The Veilguard Will Feature A ‘Robust’ Transmog System At Launch You won't need to compromise fashion for function in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 04, 2024 at 04:00 PM"

"Here’s How Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s ‘Unbound’ Option Lets You Customize Difficulty And More Using the Unbound difficulty option, you can customize parry timing, enemy health, and more. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 01, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

"Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Character Creator Is BioWare’s Most Robust Yet We spent nearly 40 minutes crafting a Rook in BioWare's best character creator yet – here's what we learned. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 27, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

"Dragon Age Cover Story And Shadow of the Erdtree Review | GI Show Our flagship gaming podcast covers Dragon Age: The Veilguard, our Elden Ring DLC review, Concord, Supervive, and more. by Alex Van Aken on Jun 27, 2024 at 01:57 PM"

"Breaking Down Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Classes And Factions There are three classes and six factions to choose from for your Rook. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 25, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

"Ahead Of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, The Entire Series Is On Sale For $10 You should at least give Dragon Age: Inquisition a go ahead of The Veilguard this fall. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 21, 2024 at 08:20 AM"

"Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Leads On The Name Change And Solas’ Role In The Story Though Solas name isn't a part of the game's title anymore, he still plays a major role in The Veilguard. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 20, 2024 at 03:00 PM"

"A Deep Dive Into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Combat, Abilities, Skill Tree, And More With Veilguard, Dragon Age has completed its long shift from real-time strategy combat to full action, and we spoke to BioWare about that transition. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 18, 2024 at 02:10 PM"

"The Dragon Age: The Veilguard Digital Issue Is Now Live! If you subscribe to the digital edition of Game Informer, you can now read all about our trip to BioWare for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. by Kyle Hilliard on Jun 18, 2024 at 12:30 PM"

"Get Your First Look At Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Real-Time Action Combat In First Gameplay Trailer More than 20 minutes of flashy Veilguard action, coming right up. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 11, 2024 at 10:21 AM"

"Cover Reveal – Dragon Age: The Veilguard The latest issue of Game Informer features an exclusive, in-depth feature on BioWare's return to the Dragon Age series, 10 years in the making. by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 09, 2024 at 02:00 PM"

[source]

[peregrine-coast]

Milk Bar: my sci-fi RPG set in a post-Soviet Poland is now live on Kickstarter!

Hey folks!!

Milk Bar is a sci-fi tabletop roleplaying game set in an alternate-timeline, post-Soviet Poland. After the Soviets grew in power, their ultimate clash with Capital left your city in ruin. All you can do now is gather your fellow Communards, salvage whatever you can, and build your Milk Bar.

Based on RPGs like Cairn, Mausritter, and Mothership, and video games like Disco Elysium and Control, Milk Bar is a game about the post-collapse and rebuilding.

A 100-page book featuring:

Quick, simplified rules in the old school tradition

A toolkit for generating a retro-futuristic, alternate-timeline post-Soviet Communist Poland

Funnel Rules which have your group of upstart Communards find and take back a Milk Bar from the grasp of Capital. Start at level 0 and Cut Your Milk Teeth. 

Unique progression system tied to basebuilding. Want to stitch up those wounds? You better build an Infirmary and find a Doctor

Abandoned Soviet Superstructures containing reality-bending Future Tech deep within

A Bestiary melding Polish and Slavic mythology with classic science fiction

Solo Rules. Become the Biggest Communism Builder of the year '24!

Gorgeous production values: high-quality, uncoated paper and an exposed, yellow thread binding. Full of graphic design work from Eryk Sawicki (me!) and art from SADGHOBLIN

Pierogi

[jennamoran]

The Far Roofs

So today I want to talk a bit about what this game wants to be. In particular, I'm going to go over its key technical and artistic goals.

The Far Roofs focuses on immersive hidden world fantasy adventure. It's intended to offer the experience of a grounded, emotionally real base world attached to an idealized, fantastic "hidden world" setting.

One might say, the streets and buildings and houses of the game's world are basically our own. Above us, though, is a stranger, more idealized, and more fantastic place. It's hard to get to. It's dangerous. It's less grounded. It's full of wonder.

Those are the Far Roofs.

This divide exists to make the game feel as real as possible, if you want to go that way. That's part of what hidden world fantasy is about, after all---the idea that magic is here. That it's not in some distant alien land or mythic future or past.

It's here, if you want to reach for it.

(Now, the game is flexible enough that you can play "protagonist" types instead of realer people, and many traditional gaming groups will probably prefer that, but that'll mean getting less of that immersive effect.)

The mood the game is interested in is that feeling you get when you take a huge risk---move to a new place; try a new thing. The feeling you get in those times in your life when everything is alienated and wondrous and terrifying but there's also so much more *hope* than there was in the still times before.

It's a mood of being swept up and called forward.

This is, among other things, meant to be a game for people who've been beaten down or exhausted by the ... everything ... to feel that sensation of moving forward again.

To remember what it's like, why it's worth it, how to reach for it again.

It's meant---and I do understand that I am finite and flawed and this can only go so far---as a tonic and refreshment to the soul.

--

Rules

The Far Roofs uses a 5d6-based dice pool system for day-to-day task resolution. It's relatively traditional and optimized for fast, fun dice reading. There's a loose consensus I've seen in RPG design circles that dice are for when outcomes are uncertain and both options are interesting, and I don't disagree ... but there's also this thing where rolling dice to decide is intrinsically interesting and fun, where it's fuel for a certain part of the brain.

This game tries to get as much out of that side of dice as it can.

You'll also collect letter tiles and cards over the course of the game. This is for bigger-picture stuff:

To answer big questions and to complete big projects, you'll either assemble representative words out of those tiles, or, play a poker hand built out of those cards. Word and their nuances express ideas and shape how outcomes play out; poker hands, conversely, just give a qualitative measure of how much work you do or how well things will go.

In keeping with this, the campaign is represented principally in the form of questions or issues your words and hands can address. Player/GM-created campaigns would be the same.

--

Physical and Electronic Product

I wanted to put the print version within the range of as many people who might need that tonic as possible. That means that for this particular game, I wanted to cover the full territory that I'd normally cover in a two or three volume set (core rules, setting, and campaign) in a single 200-250-page volume.

In practice this means there's a guide and examples for constructing the setting, rather than a deep dive into a fully-detailed world; that there's a bit less in the way of whimsical digression and flourish than in the writing I'm known for; that there's minimal "flavor" text on abilities; and that the campaign presentation is pretty fast-paced.

Conversely, it means that the game should be easy to absorb and to share with other possible players, and, that the game and campaign in this one relatively small volume should provide enough content for five or six years of play.

The book will be 8.5"x11" with grayscale art, available in a limited hardcover print run and a print-on-demand softcover form.

--

On the Rats

You'll see a lot of talk from me and others about the talking rats in this game. They're one of the jewels of the experience, and I think they're probably a significant draw just for being talking rats that are core to the game.

... but I'm going to hold off for now, because, to be clear, this is not a game of playing talking rats. It's just a game where talking rats and probably one of the top three most important setting elements.

I couldn't get that feeling I wanted of ... the base world being grounded realism; of the hidden world pulling you up and out and into a world full of magic ... with your playing rats, with your playing something so distant from the typical player.

So this is not a game of playing them.

They're just ... I like rats, and so I made the rats in this game with love. They're great ... whatever the equivalent is to "psychopomps" is for a magical world instead of for death ... and a way of talking about how in the face of the world, we're all pretty small.

--

I'm really excited about this game; the playtest was lovely.

I hope you'll enjoy it as well!

[dreamsandcozygames]

My Favorite Time Loop Games

I've been playing a lot of games involving time loops lately, so I thought I'd recommend some of my favorites!

(The descriptions are from Steam.)

I Was A Teenage Exocolonist:

Spend your teenage years on an alien planet in this narrative RPG with card-based battles. Explore, grow up, and fall in love. The choices you make and skills you master over ten years will determine the course of your life and the survival of your colony.

The Choices You Make, Make You

Growing up in humanity’s first extrasolar space colony means navigating a new world full of wonder, danger, and beauty. Explore the wilderness, study, fall in love, discover strange creatures, and deal with the consequences of your actions. Your choices will directly affect the lives of your friends and the fate of the colony. What kind of world will you help make? Will you survive to enjoy it? Why do you remember doing this before?

Growing Up on an Alien Planet

You have your whole life ahead of you. Will you spend it studying in school, or diving into the intriguing flora and fauna of this new world? Will you introduce space-age technology, or live in harmony with nature? Will you battle massive beasts, or nurture future generations? Realized in brilliant watercolor, the world of Vertumna is yours to explore.

Your Pasts and Your Futures Matter

Everything you learn and experience will make you and your colony stronger. You will thrive and you will make mistakes. These formative moments - your memories, decisions, and friendships - become collectible cards you carry with you. Each season brings new obstacles on Vertumna. The battle cards you earn from your experiences give you new options for overcoming these challenges, whether that is navigating relationships, learning new skills, exploring the planet, or staying alive. Every decision counts, during this life and the next.

How Many Lives Will YOU Live?

The cosmos is full of incredible mysteries, and your ability to remember your past lives is one of them. There are dozens of different endings to your story. How many lives will it take to save both your colony and the planet? Are you ready to wake up again?

Features:

Use memories of past lives to explore 800+ story events.

Discover more than 250 battle cards as you grow up on an alien planet.

Play your best hand in challenge encounters to ace your math test or escape from a wild snapbladder.

Make friends, fight with your parents, go on dates, fall in love, and save the colony.

29 wildly different endings based on the choices you make each month.

Pick from 25 colony jobs, like goofing off as a depot clerk, or surveying the valley.

Grow into 15 skills, including bravery, toughness, organization, and empathy.

Get to know 10 dateable characters, including dog-boys, aliens, hot politicians and stone cold killers.

In Stars and Time:

Live with the ever-present burden of being trapped in a time loop only you can know about in this turn-based RPG. Create a better future for you and your friends. Find hope where there is none left. Pray to the stars and free yourself from time.

What would you do if you were forced to relive your failures over and over again?

In Stars and Time tells the story of Siffrin and their adventurer friends—a found family bound together by fate in order to end the tyrannical reign of an evil king. But as victory is just within the party’s grasp, a tragedy occurs, the clock resets, and they have to do it all again.

As Siffrin’s the only one who notices this loop, each new start wears away at his cheerful veneer, yet he keeps going in hopes he can end this temporal tragedy once and for all.

In Stars and Time is a time-looping RPG adventure. With each loop, Siffrin gains a new perspective on the world around them, opening up new solutions to puzzles and allowing them to make better choices in conversation. Equip memories as armor, pray to the Change God to improve your team’s capabilities each loop, and challenge deadly foes to Rock, Paper, Scissors as Siffrin seeks the truth.

Our Adventurers:

Siffrin (he/they): Stressed, depressed, and under duress. (Don’t worry about it. They’re doing fine.) The punmaster protagonist of our neverending tale.

Mirabelle (she/her): A caring and nervous housemaiden mysteriously blessed by the god she so ardently follows.

Isabeau (he/him): Defender with a heart of gold. Cares dearly for his people and his friends.

Odile (she/her): The mature and nonsensical researcher studying…something. (No, she will not tell you what it is.)

Bonnie (they/them): Wait a minute, who brought this kid along???

Features:

Save the world through the power of Rock, Paper, Scissors in strategic turn-based RPG combat encounters.

Ignore the limits of time and space to fix your past mistakes by repeating the same two days over and over again.

Equip the memories you have of your friends to make your party stronger in combat.

Watch the fate of this world unfold as you escape the twists and turns of this endless(???) loop.

Eat samossas with your friends!

Get heckled by a cheeky ethereal being of infinite starlight.

Pray to a god for good luck in your travels. You’re gonna need it.

Slay the Princess:

You're on a path in the woods, and at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a Princess.

You're here to slay her. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

She will do everything in her power to stop you. She'll charm, and she'll lie, and she'll promise you the world, and if you let her, she'll kill you a dozen times over. You can't let that happen. Don't forget, the fate of the world rests on your shoulders.

You're not going to listen to him, are you? We're supposed to save princesses, not slay them...

Features:

Fully voice-acted by the impeccable Jonathan Sims and Nichole Goodnight.

Hand-penciled art - every background and sprite is drawn traditionally with pencil and paper by Ignatz-winning graphic novelist Abby Howard.

A princess. She's very bad and you have to get rid of her for all our sakes.

No, the Princess isn't a “cosmic horror,” whatever that is supposed to mean. She's just an ordinary human Princess, and you can definitely slay her as long as you put your mind to it.

Don't even think about trying to romance her. It won't end well for you.

Hopefully you won't die. But if you do, you'll die a lot. Be careful and stay focused on the task at hand!

A branching narrative where what you say and what you believe determines both who you are and how the story unfolds. Though I wouldn’t recommend taking any paths outside of the one I lay before you.

A new roleplaying experience from the creators of Scarlet Hollow.

[hymnism]

release the list

(i feel like i should mention these are all games ive personally played so if any of these make you go "why isn't [GAME] on here it's probably cuz i haven't played it. anyway)

(obligatory mention to hades/disco elysium/omori since they're some of my favorite games but im sure everyone already knows about them. they are lovely games and you should play them 👍)

darkest dungeon ($25) - turn based roguelike where you recruit mercenaries and send them on dungeon explorations and make sure they don't die of stress or starvation alongside the regular monster attacks. notoriously difficult. imagine bloodborne but turn based

ftl: faster than light ($10)- real time roguelike where you control a small crew and pilot a spaceship on the run from a rebel fleet. manage power and weapons on your own ship while targeting critical systems on the enemy

loop hero ($15)- a roguelike where your character will automatically walk in a loop while you use cards to add terrain with different effects such as spawning monsters to give you loot or increasing your healing. very unique with a beautiful pixel artstyle and banger soundtrack

moonlighter ($20)- a roguelike rpg where you go dungeon diving and try to bring back as much loot as you can so that you can sell it in your shop

shadows of doubt ($20)- early access. a first person sandbox detective simulator where each case is procedurally generated. randomly generates a town with npcs that all have names and addresses and relationships. put together clues from a crime scene and try to catch a killer before they strike again. work odd jobs between cases to keep yourself fed and housed

ultrakill ($25) fast paced first person shooter with a style system ala devil may cry. you play as a robot fighting through the layers of hell. mankind is dead. blood is fuel. hell is full

crypt of the necrodancer ($15)- a rhythm based roguelike dungeon crawler where you and your enemies are only allowed to move on beat. banger soundtrack goes without saying

everhood ($10)- a rhythm based rpg where you play as a red doll who had their arm stolen and is trying to get it back. battles involve moving between 5 lanes to avoid enemy attacks. if you like undertale you'll like this

spiritfarer ($30)- management and adventure game where you play as a spiritfarer who needs to care for spirits on her boat before leading them into the afterlife. incredibly charming and touching game. you will cry

let's school ($20)- management sim where you build and manage a school and help students graduate by setting up different courses. addicting and has a very cute artstyle

let's build a zoo ($20)- management sim where you. well where you build a zoo. a very silly game that includes a morality system where you can choose to be eco friendly and help repopulate endangered species or you can exploit your animals for their meat and produce. also has an animal splicing mechanic. haven't you ever wanted to make a giraffe with a duck head

the wandering village ($25)- early access. a city builder with the twist that you live on the back of a giant wandering beast named onbu. you help care for onbu as he wanders though different biomes that force you to adjust your resource production as some things become unavailable (such as water in a desert)

frostpunk ($30) a survival city builder where you build around a central core and try to prevent everyone from freezing to death in progressively colder temperatures

monster sanctuary ($20)- a metroidvania style creature collector with a unique combo meter that will continue to build and increase your damage based on the number of "hits" you can perform (healing buffs and shields also count as hits) and each monster has different skill trees that you can upgrade and customize

coral island ($30)- farming life sim with a unique underwater area where you can live and farm and raise aquatic plants and animals. you work to help restore the island after and oil spill ruined the surrounding ocean. i should mention that although this game is technically not in early access it is still unfinished and missing large chunks of gameplay/interactions/story. however there is still a healthy amount of content and is still a fun game as it is

apico ($20)- a beekeeping sim where you keep bees to make and sell honey while also breeding and releasing them to help restore their numbers in the wild

spirittea ($20)- a management and life sim where you manage a bathhouse for ghosts and help the townsfolk who think they're haunted (they're right). basically a cross between stardew valley and spirited away

cloud meadow ($20)- early access. this is a porn game ⚠️ a farming sim where instead of regular animals you have anthro characters and you can breed them either yourself or with each other and have them help in combat or on your farm. very cute artstyle and amazing animation work

[theresattrpgforthat]

Okay! So, is there an RPG that's more rural, like farms and fields, windmills and carts, swamps and forests, but also still like big monsters and magic? Vibes wise, something akin to Amphibia the show, or Atomicrops the game. I'm sure one could just repurpose any regular RPG to make a world like that, but I'm curious :3c

THEME: Farming Plus

Hello friend, so I have a few games here that feel at least slightly fantastical, as well as a game that definitely works as a post-apocalyptic kind of game, although I don’t think any of the games listed here have the cartoonish-ness of either Apmhibia or Atomicrops. My main goal was to find games that felt like they communicated a slice-of-life style of game, while making room for a setting that feels outside of our normal experience. I hope you still find something that works for you!

Take Root, by katykoop.

You've achieved the dream! You have a farm, in a cool place full of forests and the mysterious dungeon keep, and there is the promise of glory-- with a festival at the very end of the year. Play against several farmers, with a world master controlling it all, to win by having the most points in your farm display. 

Each season is condensed into 9 days,  with harvest on the 4th and the 8th. Unlock cool items through random events with NPC's, buy livestock, and traverse the dungeons of Dungeon Keep. 

This is take root. 

Take Root is a very procedural game, with each player responsible for their own farm, which they are tasked with caring for until harvest and the bringing of your fruits to market. The phases of the game are (predictably) sorted into 4 seasons with 9 days in each season, with two market days per quarter of the year. Different seasons have different basic crops, and certain items are more valuable than others.

However, you’re not just farming in Take Root - you’re also venturing into dungeons, and trying to romance select NPC’s. Diving into the Dungeon Keep is dangerous, but could have you coming away with rare items that give you money for seeds or items that allow you to fulfill mini quests - such as wooing the love of your choice, for example. The end of the game results in a winner - the player with the highest accumulated points, acquired through selling items, adventuring, and romancing NPCs.

All in all, Take Root is streamlined and simple, and yet manages to combine both dungeon delving and farming into one neat little brochure.

Farmtasy Simulator, by Guanaco Games.

The goal of this game is to build up your farm by managing resources, while dealing with threats both mundane and fantastic. Using cards for the encounters and dice to determine the outcome of actions taken, the player will gain resources and try to figure out how best to use them to continue building their farm. This game is meant to be played with one player and a GM. Farmtasy Simulator can be used as a supplemental mini-game for an on-going fantasy campaign, or as a standalone to enjoy some agricultural fantasy hijinks.

This is meant to be a two-player game, with one player and one GM. The character has dice and five stats with varying modifiers, while the GM has a deck of cards that they will pull from over the course of each year, used to generate encounters that will make the farming difficult. Farmtasy Simulator appears to be primarily designed as an add-on to another game, incorporating farming mechanics into a larger story. I think it might be a neat way to watch time pass for one character who’s trying to settle down and start a farm - perhaps each player takes their turn running through the simulator with the GM, or the GM use this as a mini-session with the only other player available to build their backstory before they went adventuring.

What’s So Hard About Farming?, by K.Petker.

This is a game about working on a farm and dealing with the triumphs and hardships of such a life.  It might not be any kind of farm or farmers you’re familiar with, but the connection to the growing green and the earth is still there.  Regardless of the season, there’s work to be done.  And things might get a little weird.

I don’t own this game, but my experience with What’s So Cool About…..? games is one of light rules and plenty of freedom to let you take those rules where you like. What I expect from this game is just enough rules to give you a reason to roll dice, and the rest of the world is up to you.

On the plus side, this means that if you want to farm in a swamp, or in a post-apocalypse… well, you can do that! On the downside, the experience won’t fundamentally change according to to the setting unless you decide to do a bit of game design yourself, which is a delightful challenge for some, and an unnecessary amount of labour for others, so take from that what you will!

Mectors, by Harper Jay.

After the war, thousands upon thousands of bipedal mechanized fighting vehicles (or “Bimechs”) were left scattered across the land. Many were brought back to the capital cities to be repaired or scrapped, but the majority of them were too damaged to be easily transported. With the war won, the victors simply left their mechanical refuse in the battlefields to rust and wither. 

In Mectors, players take on the role of a farmer, miner, fisher, carpenter, or some other worker in a labor intensive field. Mector Owners come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some own a Mector that’s been in their family for generations. Others came across theirs recently, through purchase or luck. And a rare few have managed to piece their own together using scraps from decommissioned Mectors, but this is even harder than it sounds. No matter how they got it, they now have a powerful tool with a long history.

I’ve recommended Mectors before for a similar request, and I think it definitely holds up as a great option for a fresh take on the slice-of-life farming sim - because it involves mechs! The setting is post-war, in a country that has learned to beat their technological swords into highly efficient plowshares - and the troubles that plague your settlements are less sinister and just the problems of a small community, such as the mushroom fungus spirit who is willing to guide lost travellers out of the cave, but also can’t seem to stop herself from feeding them mushrooms that also leech away their memories. If you want to tell stories about people solving everyday problems, set in an agricultural setting that’s wholly divorced from our own, I recommend Mectors.

Weeds in the Waste, by Megan Cross.

Weeds in the Waste is a solo storytelling game about tending a garden in a post apocalyptic wasteland.

Determine the state of your wasteland, create your gardener, plant your seeds, and tend your garden as you play through the seasons in the wastes. It is a narrative, storytelling game played using 2d6s and a 6x6 grid, as well as a series of prompts. 

As primarily a solo game, much of the tone and pace of Weeds in the Waste is set by you, the singular player. This includes describing how the world ended, and how your garden started, as well as what kind of gardener you are. The game moves through different phases for every season, indicating what parts of your hard work pay off, and what parts are unfruitful.

The end game (and reflection phases) revolve around what withers, and where - which I think is truly reflective of the post-apocalyptic themes in this game. Try as you might, the current conditions of the wasteland can only be so fruitful, and you will have to learn how to live with a drastically reduced yield in comparison to the work that you’ve put in.

There are also rules for multiple players of Weeds in the Waste, so you can also make this a collaborative effort, answering the questions together, and strategically planting your crops as best as you can.

I’d Also Recommend….

My Small Town Farming Recommendation Post (some overlap with this one)

Grandpa’s Farm, by Tyler Crumrine.

Iron Valley, by M.Kirin.

[anime-cafeteria]

如月 玲於奈

究極進化したフルダイブRPGが現実よりもクソゲーだったら EP.01

[noodletheboy]

Well, yall know that thingy ive been talking bout? the big thing? weeeeelllll, HERE IT IS (at least, announced)

SILVER BULLET

Your average Toby Fox inspired RPG, with some new things!

SILVER BULLET is a RPG game being produced by me, and @alias-inkpatch in Turbowarp. In the game you play as Gage (the blonde hair red hoodie person i draw often.), going through a strange, almost dream-like world titled....

Along the way, meeting many new people, such as Peter! (the little white and blue guy down there)

Game features!!

Cool Fights with New Mechanics!

Cool Sprite Art!

Uhhhh

Maybe Date segments?

Uhhhhhh

Walking?

Cutscenes.

Many, Many, Many puzzles!

Alt routes???

Despite having worked on the game for a long time now, i don't have the story figured out, or even an engine made! so it will take a while to make.... But, you can help! From helping me make the full game, to just a simple like or follow, it means a whole lot!

@blasterdude80/Gage95

Creator, Sprite Artist, Developer.

@alias-inkpatch

Sprite Artist

If you have any talent with anything, you could be a big help! If you want to join the team, i will be making a sign up google form. Simply fill it out and i will decide if you are in.

Well, thats SILVER BULLET, if you enjoyed it then thats great! Seeya on the Flipside!

Oh, btw

SILVER BULLET has it's own Blog!!!

[callmearcturus]

As the resident ITA hype person, I want to again say: you should listen to Into The Aether, a Lowkey Video Game Podcast.

I have listened to at this point a hundred media/hobby podcasts and dozens of video game-specific podcasts, and ITA is the best one. It's just the best one! I'm so glad to be the person to tell you this.

The entire conceit of ITA is that: this is a podcast that celebrates games and is built on love of games. The hosts only bring games to the show they enjoyed or found interesting. There is zero "let's talk about how bad this game is for 45 minutes."

HOWEVER, and this is the secret sauce of ITA to me, is a focus on positivity does not mean putting on blinders. Brendon and Stephen are super aware of the troubles of the games industry, of the continued crunch on the developers and creators, and... look, sometimes you enjoy a game and bring it to the show but also you can point out when it does something kinda terrible.

That is half of why I love ITA, that it can accentuate the positive without erasing the negative. And this show is like the standard-bearer for "A 6-out-of-10 game is more interesting than a 10-out-of-10 game." These are the guys.

The other reason I love ITA is their focus is timeless. If there is anything ITA should be Known For, it is they will play anything and don't really care about release calendars. Yeah, they will play the Big Event Games when they come out, like Elden Ring or TOTK or whatever, but they have a MASSIVE focus on older systems and older games.

To that end: their Season Four premiere episode was a full retrospective on the Game Boy Advance and its entire library. Since then, they have continued this tradition, spending months playing through the catalog of a single console and then opening each season with a huge episode focused just on that console. To date, they have done Game Boy Advanced, Nintendo DS, Sega Dreamcast, and today the Nintendo Gamecube.

(They also have a patrons-only retrospective on the Nintendo 3DS which IS worth the price of admissions, I promise.)

There's a lot of other reasons to love ITA.

The hosts are very conscious of burnout and their mental health and have now made it a tradition to take a few weeks off in the summertime before the season premieres. This last Summer Vacation, they did a special set of episodes hosted by their fabulous producer AJ in which they invited people onto the show to discuss different aspects of the games industry and those episodes were FASCINATING and excellent.

Stephen is a hardcore Theatre Kid Soul (who didn't get to do much Theatre, long story) and has the weirdest outbursts and bits that have had me in stitches.

Brendon has, over the course of ITA, gone from a person who doesn't like RPGs into a massive RPG fan, and watching that journey happen is really nice.

They explicitly will give games a second chance; they both bounced off Golden Sun during their GBA Retrospective and have been recently replaying it and enjoying it much more.

The original pitch of the podcast was "Stephen and Brendon try not to talk about The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind." The frequency at which they fail this is amazing.

They are currently trying to get into visual novels/dating sims and are huge fans of Tokimeki Memorial. The confidence with which Brendon can drop "Boku No Natsuyasumi" in conversation is Indicative of something. IYKYK.

Due to the lack of focus on what's Hip And Recent, the episodes have an uncommonly timeless feeling. Diving into the backlog is really fun.

The Season Seven Premiere is over the Nintendo Gamecube. It's a great place to start. I will also just list a few episodes I love off the dome.

Pokémon Crystal Bonus: as someone who has always loved Silver/Gold without having the language for why, this episode helped nailed down why. HUGE fan.

Berethor & NotGimli Are Dead: THE STORY OF THE LOTR GAME IS JUST GREAT.

Pretty Good Statham: FINALLY someone talking about the Playdate, yessss

Pigma's Allegory of the Cave: just an average episode but I remember really loving the Tetris Effect/REZ discussion.

X-Strike Summer 1: Break Glass in Case of Bandicoot: the first of the guest episodes that features a group of people with very different jobs in the games industry and have VERY interesting perspectives. HUGELY rec.

An Introduction to the Sega Dreamcast: Originally a patron-only episode but I was one of many ppl who yelled "PUT IT ON THE MAIN FEED" and you're all welcome! This episode features guest star Chris Plante (Polygon EIC) guiding the boys through the history of the Dreamcast. It's both a fascinating piece of history and also has a Plot Twist that uh. It... made me cry? Yeah.

I could keep scrolling back more but I think you all get the picture. ITA is the best game podcast. Please give it a shot.

[canmom]

<stream> end of NieRRein

So. There's a NieR gacha. I've talked about it now and again on here.

In contrast to other games in the NieR series, which were in narrative structure reasonably traditional action-RPGs, following a small group of characters... NieR: Re[in]carnation is something a bit more like an anthology of short stories, all eventually tied together in an elaborate frame.

Over the course of the story, you are led to explore a vast collection of memories inside something called the Cage, a huge Ico-like stone structure full of gorgeous, moody environments...

...intermittently diving into the most dramatic moments of an impressively varied collection of characters, each portrayed in a cutout theatre style. They're a diverse bunch! Robot cowboys. Mountain climbers. AIs both kind and ruthless. Dark wizard yuri. Arabian Nights pastiche. Chuuni soldier boys. Elegant assassins, living weapons, disposable clones. Some are fantasy, some science fiction; some weave together and others sit apart.

And as you play further, you can unlock further stories, in various forms. All sorts of illustrations, all sorts of prose. The framing stories - the story of the girl Fio and the monster Levania who stole her body, the story of the violently estranged siblings Yuzuki and Hina, the story of the mysterious nature of the Cage, of its collapse, and the desperate bid to escape - all are very rich. The final chapters, where the characters are all finally brought together, are fantastic.

Not to mention - everything is voice acted, and generally very well (in Japanese at any rate, the English is more of a mixed bag). All is accompanied by a huge amount of gorgeous music by Keiichi Okabe et al., wrapping you in that mysterious, layered atmosphere. The UI design is magnificent. On an aesthetic level at least, there is a great deal to recommend here.

However.

As a game, NieR Reincarnation sadly left a lot to be desired. The gameplay is intensely repetitive, the strategy more to do with unlocking the right characters and grinding to level them up. Understandably, a lot of people bounced off it.

And now it's coming to an end.

In just a couple of days, the final chapter of NieR Reincarnation will be released. A month later, the game servers will be shut down for good! Perhaps, years in the future, they will release some kind of remake - but we can't count on it.

But don't imagine you can just jump in and experience it all right now. A great deal of material - the Dark Memories, the Recollections of Dusk - is gated behind a considerable investment of time and a strong team. There's a lot of events you'll simply have missed.

However... I have, perhaps unwisely, sunk the time into unlocking most of what can be unlocked in this game. I think it would be a shame not to get to experience them, and I love getting to share NieR games. These stories take some wild turns, and I think it would be a blast to watch together.

So here's the plan! Starting this weekend, and going on for as long as necessary over the next week, I'll be streaming the entire story of NieR Reincarnation on my twitch. Main story, character stories, EX stories: the whole lot, arranged for narrative flow. All the fun spicy parts and none of the grind, and you get to enjoy it with friends.

If you've been here for previous NieR game streams... well, I hope you had as great a time as I did. I fucking love NieR. For the other games, I would dig into the side material, read out fan translations of the stories, and do everything I can to give you the complete experience of the game. Here, there's not so much in the way of side material, but the game contains a lot on its own - and I want to share it all, the gut-punch parts and the goofy ones alike, because it all adds up.

Think of it kinda like an Animation Night if you want! An anthology series to enjoy together, just like the Animator Expo.

The first stream will begin on Saturday, 6pm UK time. I'll be making recordings and writing a guide to the story of the game too - but there's something special about watching something together, so I'd really love to see you there ^^