#and ive just been having fun playing casual.... for the most part. and also customizing my guys

[skeletalheartattack]

@ those tf2 server related tags: the lazypurple silly servers still exist. and if you want a silly-adjacent server that still has killing/pvp enabled then they also have a "TDM" server where objectives are disabled so you really just get to dick around

i figured his servers would still be around, although i don't think i ever had personally played on his servers before. i think i've seen some videos of them in the past though.

the two servers i use to hang around in through 2012-2016 were mostly just... hang-out servers? the term i refer to them as is "hub servers", similar to like... hub levels in platformers. one was a big city server where i met a good ammount of my friends on, the other was a server with maps the server owner created, which is also the server that hosted one of my maps. they had some sourcemods in common like the jetpack plugin.

im not sure if i could personally experience the vibes of those servers in the same way these days. granted anytime i play tf2 these days, it's usually to play casual, haven't touched any community servers in a long time.

[stiffyck]

what's your fav thing abt gw2? (i wanna play it but i dont like going into games completely blind so i'd love to hear why in particular you like it-)

theres a lot of stuff that i like and its gonna be a longer post skjdhfsk so im putting it under the cut:

the mounts. theyre so fun. i absolutely love all the mounts. i have all of them rn and hhhhh i love them.

the raptor is good for long jumps, great for just running around random maps. the springer is good for vertical jumps when you need to get somewhere higher up. the skimmer is a water and underwater mount for getting over water (and quicksand which otherwise kills you) fast. the jackal can teleport and jump through sand portals. the griffon is a gliding mount thats best used when youre up high. just jump down, gain some speed and just soar through the map with high speed. its the most fun mount in my opinion. not very well shown in my quick video sdkjfhs. the skyscale is basically just a dragon. it can fly, shoot fire and latch onto walls. a very universal mount. the hardest one to get. the siege turtle is for two players! the person who controls the turtle can stomp with it and just run around (it can go underwater) and the person in the back can shoot the canons on the side of the turtle! the siege turtle is good for, well, sieges. if you need to break a wall the turtle is great for that. the warclaw! you wont use that one very often in the open world. the warclaw is the only mount that can be used in wvw. it can jump, give others players around you a speed boost, it can tear down doors to castles etc.. the roller beetle is a fast racing mount. usually peoeple will use the beetle for races that happen around the world or you can use them for traversing big open planes and maps! fast and fun to use!

next! casual lgbtq+ rep. characters who use they/them pronouns, npcs in same sex relationships, etc. its all just very casual and not a big deal. also every year theres an official pride parade where people dye their armor and their mounts in the colors of their flags! its always very colorful and fun!

customization. you can do quite a lot when it comes to character customization. not only the character itself but also tons of cool armor skins you can collect. sylvari for example can have basically any color skin you can think of. theyre literally plants. you can have a pink sylvari, yellow, green, blue, etc. they also glow in the dark and you can pick the color of that glow too! its so fun to just create cool looking characters and then running around with them. fashion wars is a thing. theres a LOT of cosmetics you can get.

most armor also can be dyed any color you have unlocked! and theres a LOT of dyes!

another thing i really enjoy is the combat style! you dont just stand in one place while you cast a spell or whatever. most attacks and skills let you move while youre casting them. its very flowy and very satisfying to play with. also a lot of variety when it comes to different builds. most classes can also do basically all 3 of the main roles you need for content like strikes, raids, etc. which is a healer, boon dps and dps. a healer with always also provide some boons and boon dps should fill the boons the healer cannot provide.

i personally love playing qdps (dps providing quickness which makes your skill animation and casting faster) and aheal (alacrity heal. alacrity makes the cooldowns go faster.)

the story is also fun! the commander needs to get therapy in the next story part or i swear to god-

theres much more i could find but i feel like ive been rambling for long enough-

[zeldauniverse]

Diablo is a series that needs very little introduction, but, despite being one of the most famous video game series for PC, it has never been available on a Nintendo platform until now.  Diablo III was recently released for Nintendo Switch, and even though I have played many other Blizzard games, I had never played Diablo for more than a few minutes, at least until now. I quickly learned that I had been missing out on something quite fun.

Full disclosure Activision-Blizzard graciously provided a review copy for the Switch.

A typical RPG setup

Diablo III is an action RPG dungeon crawler. When you begin, you create a character and choose a character class. I like playing long-range magic-casting types, so I primarily played as a wizard. Other classes include barbarian, monk, necromancer, and others.

You unlock new skills and modifications for those skills as you level up.

In typical RPG fashion, you will gain levels and learn new abilities as you progress. Diablo keeps the gameplay fresh by regularly giving you new abilities and only allowing you to keep a handful selected as a time. When you reach higher levels, you also unlock the ability to add secondary effects to abilities you already know. A simple example, the wizard’s force-push spell can be augmented to reflect enemy projectiles.

Your character is further improved with new equipment and passive skills that you unlock as you increase your level.

All of this is pretty standard fare for an action RPG. Diablo III provides a great amount of variety to keep the gameplay interesting. There is nothing extraordinary about the game systems, but they are well-made.

Fast-paced and customizable

Diablo III‘s campaign is separated into five acts; the first four acts tell the main story and the fifth act is the expansion pack, Reaper of Souls, that continues shortly after the end of the main story. Each act tells a portion of the story and generally has a single theme. Act One is mostly graveyards and crypts while Act Three is mostly desert and desert caves and so on. The acts are a decent length, but they end before you get too tired of seeing the same kinds of areas.

The enemy visuals are similarly varied, and I always seemed to be encountering something new. Even so, I generally felt overpowered for a good part of the game. It was hard to appreciate the visuals when the enemies were just constantly exploding in waves. Diablo III sends a lot of enemies at you, and it was always satisfying when I won.

The action is fast paced with very little downtime in the middle of an act. I was generally happy with this approach, but it did mean that the story objectives remained very simple. More often than not, your objective is just to travel from point A to point B and kill whatever you find at the end. Occasionally I was tasked with defending something from waves of enemies. However, the gameplay is fun enough and the story doesn’t last long enough for it to feel repetitive. Furthermore, you always have the option to change your skills or play a different character class to add more variety to the gameplay.

You are frequently surrounded by enemies. These battles are fast-paced, chaotic, and absolutely the most fun you will have while playing.

The variety and customization available are what makes Diablo III stand out for me. The amount of customization available means that your character can be made your own. You can select your class, spells, augment those spells, select secondary abilities, and select the gear that best fits your play style. It’s unlikely that someone else would have the same character as you, and that gives the game a less cookie-cutter feel than some other games. I’m sure there’s a “best way” to play that gives the best results if you really want to look it up, but, for a casual player just looking to have fun, I found that I was able to make whatever changes I wanted without ruining the experience.

An endless adventure

Playing through the story is almost always my favorite part of a video game, and the same is true of Diablo III. However, once the campaign is over, you can still play “Adventure Mode” and experience an endless number of procedurally-generated levels called “rifts.” You can create new characters to try all the different classes, adjust your skills repeatedly, and continue battling to acquire new equipment for each character. It’s a style of gameplay that I find enjoyable, but it’s not for everyone. If you do enjoy a loot-grind, there’s tons of content to explore.

Diablo III adds additional replay value by including both local and online multiplayer modes, so you can experience the same rifts with a team.

When you look at all of the content combined, Diablo III has the potential to provide a nearly endless amount of play time. I tend to move on from one game to the next fairly quickly, so I have not taken a deep dive into everything the game has to offer, but I enjoyed my time with the game and fully expect to revisit it in the future.

About those special Zelda items…

I really enjoyed playing Diablo III; The entire experience was just a lot of fun throughout. However, there was one Switch exclusive feature that definitely did not live up to my expectations: the exclusive Legend of Zelda crossover items. On one hand, all of Zelda crossover items are given to you near the very beginning of the game for free, and that is very nice. On the other hand, anyone who, like me, is dreaming of playing through the entire game dressed as Ganondorf will be severely disappointed.

The major Zelda item is the Ganondorf outfit, and it is very cool. The outfit is a “transmog” set. Transmogrification is a game mechanic that lets you change the visual appearance of a piece of equipment to look like another piece of equipment. The appearance is tied to a specific piece of equipment, so when you replace your pants with a better pair, you have to speak to an NPC in town again to reapply the appearance. Diablo throws new gear at your left and right, so this would get annoying pretty quick on its own if you just want to look like Ganondorf all the time. Unfortunately, there is a bigger problem that prevents the Ganondorf dream from happening at all: applying appearances to gear costs in-game gold. It’s not cheap either: 20,000 gold per piece. You need well over 100,000 gold to look like Ganondorf one time.

Blizzard never promised that I would be able to look like Ganondorf all the time, and the other armor sets are nice enough. It was just a bummer at the beginning when I realized that I couldn’t really be the King of Evil for the entire game.

The other Zelda inspired pieces are less impressive. There are a set of wings, which are purely cosmetic. They look cool and are supposedly Majora’s Mask themed, but I have no idea what makes them Zelda-related. They’re just some nifty looking wings. Next is a Cucco companion who follows you around. It doesn’t do anything; it just follows you around. It’s cute, I guess. Last, there’s a Triforce-themed character portrait border.

These are all nice-to-have exclusive additions to the Nintendo Switch version of the game, but if you’re a Zelda fan who is only interested in Diablo III because of the Zelda items, you will be disappointed.

A great starting point

Diablo III is a fantastic game; it is one of the best I have played in the last year. The Nintendo Switch version is a port that has little to offer that wasn’t already available on PC, and that can make it difficult to recommend to anyone who played it before. The new features are the Zelda-inspired items, local multiplayer, and the portability that comes with being a Switch game.

But if you haven’t played Diablo III before, the Switch release is a great opportunity to finally give it a shot. This was my first real experience with Diablo, and when the campaign was over I immediately joined the fans waiting for Diablo IV and an HD remake of Diablo II. The Switch has a growing library of excellent games, both new and old, that are constantly shifting our attention te whatever is new this week, but Diablo III deserves more time in the spotlight.

Score Similarity to other Zeldas 8.5/10 Tri Force Heroes – ▲▲▲△△ Four Swords – ▲▲△△△ Breath of the Wild – ▲▲△△△

  Score: 8.5

Similarity to Zelda:

Four Swords: 2/5

Breath of the Wild 2/5

Tri Force Heroes 3/5

  Review: Diablo III is a great RPG dungeon grinder, but the Zelda extras aren’t worth it Diablo is a series that needs very little introduction, but, despite being one of the most famous video game series for PC, it has never been available on a Nintendo platform until now. 

[why485]

Battlefield V Open Beta has finally hit. Here’s my hot take after a few hours.

It’s surprisingly good and close to what I actually wanted, but I wish this good game was inside of a better game.

Combat has slowed down from Battlefield 1. I hated how fast Battlefield 1 got. So much of BF1 felt like a step in the wrong direction from what I want in a Battlefield game, but BFV from a pure gameplay perspective is a course correction. It makes some really surprising choices that I just know are going to be unpopular to the people who want that hyper fast paced Call of Duty instant-respawn 100% action, 100% of the time, gameplay.

Some examples of the new gameplay slower-downers mechanics that I absolutely love: Ammo is very limited (you spawn with only 2 magazines) and you must go to an ammo box or ask a support to get more ammo. Ammo boxes and medical stations are littered around the map like they were in BF1942 so that you can get more health and ammo. Health auto-regens only up to 40 points. To heal fully you need to either use a medkit you carry (you can only carry one), find a health box, or find a medic. Vehicles have limited ammo and so cannot fight indefinitely. They need to find ammo boxes to re-arm. All the revive animations take a second and aren’t instant.

Speaking of Call of Duty, the guns in Battlefield V feel great. Ironically, it’s because they’re basically just Call of Duty guns now. In BFV, guns are now perfectly accurate when aimed down sights. The inaccuracy from firing ADS now comes only from the recoil, which is bigger than it’s ever been in a Battlefield game. It’s still not that much recoil, but it makes the guns very predictable and when you miss it doesn’t feel so much like unlucky RNG from random spread. This works a lot better than I was expecting because the recoil is enough that you can’t just spray at 100m and get a kill. Personally though, I would rather the recoil on all guns be doubled because I don’t think it’s enough. I would also be in favor of the damage being reduced just a hair (by one bullet for automatic weapons?) to make the time to kill just a bit longer. I also wish the reload animations weren’t so fast in order slow the gunplay down just a bit.

Teammates have been bizarrely helpful with passing around ammo and health kits. I’ve rarely ever run out of ammo because people keep giving me more. I’ve also been revived many times. Sticking together and supporting each other pays off so much more in this game than in most recent BF games because of how limited your resources are if you’re alone. Even a medic can’t heal themselves indefinitely and must pick up self-heal kits like everybody else.

The Rotterdam map is actually pretty good. It’s an urban map that’s actually much more open than I was expecting. There’s plenty of long sight lines, and room for vehicles to maneuver and a good tanker to dominate.

I played the snowy map first but I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t really enjoy myself. If I played it now, I think I would like it more.

I never got to drive a tank, but seeing them in action was awesome. Battlefield graphics have always been great, and watching a Churchill, Panzer IV, or Tiger move down the street with bow machinegun blazing and cannon firing is awesome. In a Battlefield 1942 dream come true, you can now jump onto the back of the tanks and ride them like you used to in 1942, but without all the weird jank and lag. It’s a fun way to get around.

There is zero faction identity and this is my least favorite part of the game right now. When I see a Churchill or Tiger, every single time I’m asking myself what side I’m on because there’s really no difference at all between the sides from the infantry perspective. The uniforms are all diverse enough that I generally find out if somebody is friendly or not by just shooting them (since friendly fire has been disabled in BF games since Bad Company). In a match today, I kept thinking I was British and ignored an enemy Churchill Gun Carrier because I was running around with a Sten. I really, really, really, wish that all guns were faction unique and the character customization was significantly toned down. 

As I said when I played COD WWII, it doesn’t really feel like a World War II game. It feels like a bunch of modern day friends getting together to play a casual Airsoft version of WWII where they dress up like superheroes. While German uniforms tend to be gray, and UK uniforms tend to be brown, there’s very little uniformity aside from the color. That everybody is always using whatever weapons they want also contributes a lot to this feeling.

The main menu has this really great somber and respectful atmosphere (ignoring the comic book characters anyway), and I would absolutely love if that reflected the actual tone of the game, because the gameplay I’ve always wanted Battlefield to return to is actually kind of there.

The weapon and vehicle unlock/upgrade progression makes me very nervous because unlike BF4 (the only BF game I think that did weapon/vehicle customization right), all of these upgrades are pure upgrades. There is no loss in capability or trade off and you have to unlock all these things. These are also individual to the vehicle/weapon so there will be a lot to grind for in order to make your gun objectively better than a new player’s gun. This is also a very obvious avenue for monetization, so expect people to be able to buy a fully upgraded StG44 that will be better than yours until you sink hours into grinding yours.

Overall, it’s the core gameplay and new mechanics are shockingly inline with what I had hoped a new Battlefield game would do, and also what I thought they would never do because they risk angering the very large portion (majority?) of the audience that wants Call of Duty but thinks they’re too cool for COD. Unfortunately, this is still a AAA Battlefield game made in 2018, so there’s a lot about the game that makes me nervous, and a lot of the historical stuff that I think could easily push the game from good to great that will simply never happen because that’s just not how you make a shooter today.

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK]

It took me all night to stop feeling embarrassed about the scene Knives caused. Maybe deep down, I really did feel flattered that she cared this much, but it was buried under so much shame and annoyance that I couldn't even feel it accurately. Where did she get off inserting herself into my life as some weird kind of protector? Especially since I didn't need any protecting. At all. That was just some random crap I made up to make it clear that I wasn't interested in her hanging around and making me feel better. Not my fault she was too dense to realise.

A few days later, I saw her again. Just enough time to forget that the whole incident happened before I was freshly reminded because she came barging back into my life. Great.

"Are you stalking me?"

"What?" Knives asked, trying to casually drop down from the tree branch. She landed with a quiet tmp against the little patch of grass around the trunk, a would-be innocent smile playing across her lips. "Noooo… not at all."

"Because it feels like you're stalking me. And what's with that?"

"Nothing!" Her hand whipped to one side, throwing the binoculars so hard that they disappeared into the sky with a brief gleam. "Nobody was watching you since you left the house this morning, don't be silly!"

Sighing, I continued walking down the pavement. She kept pace with me; now that I'd found her out, apparently she had decided there was no point in keeping a low profile anymore. My hands clenched into fists in my hoodie pockets. "Fine. What do you want?"

"Well… I'm trying to do surveillance."

"Yeah, I got that."

"For the challenges? You know… see if I can tell from the outside anything more about what I'll face on the inside. So far, nothing obvious. But I wanna be ready!"

"For the imaginary challenges? Wow, quelle surprise."

"Are they imaginary though?" she breathed with a slight squinting of her eyes.

"Dude… you are so weird." For some reason, that made her grin at me, and I rolled my eyes. Didn't seem to be any point in trying to get rid of her anymore, so I just said, "I'm going to work. You won't have anything to do there but watch me watch old movies."

"I love old movies! Like, like… the first Harry Potter!"

Inwardly, I died a little.

                                                      ~ o ~

This manic chick actually came with me to the video rental store. I shouldn't have to tell you that in this millennium, especially after the first decade of it, there's really no point in even having a video rental store anymore, so we had no customers. It was literally hours of sitting around and watching movie after movie, while maybe one guy came in and asked where 'the good stuff' was kept. My glare sent him packing.

"So was it that bad wherever you went for uni that you ended up slumming it back here again?"

"Not bad," Knives told me as she sat on the counter, spinning the orange she had gotten from a convenience store on the way in her hands. It was the last thing either of us had to eat after we made our way through some cheesy Nineties rom-com. "Just not home. Toronto is just, you know? Like… everything's so cool here."

"Yeah, it's freezing."

"Not right now. Summer in Toronto is like, the best. Plus my friend Tamara lives here, I was hoping I'd see her."

There was something about how genuine Knives was that reminded me of Scott when we first met. That could probably play a role in why they were attracted to each other in the first place, and I might be more certain of that if I were some kind of TV pop-psychologist. As in, Scott saw something of his younger self in Knives, the way he was before he broke my heart and Envy broke his in turn. Yadda yadda.

Maybe that's why I hadn't thrown her out yet. Nostalgia.

"Kim?"

"What?" I snapped, since I had been snapped out of my stupor.

"The movie's over."

"Oh…" Ducking my head, I reached over to pull the DVD of 'The Mystical Head' out of the player. "Shit…"

Head tilted to one side, Knives asked me, "What would you be watching if you had to pick? Right now?"

"Zombie Corpse Mutilator IV: The Zombining."

"Really? Is it any good? I don't watch very many scary movies…"

With a long sigh, I stood up and stretched my arms over my head. Knives tried to balance the orange on the bridge of her nose, failed, and caught it before it fell very far. "You probably just want me to put on some drivel like 'Let's Hope There's A Heaven,' don't you?"

"No," she laughed easily. "What about… 'Seven Shaolin Masters'? I like action, but not like, just a bunch of stuff blowing up. And I heard that one's supposed to be pretty authentic, it was done by a Chinese director."

The way she looked all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed reminded me of a squirrel spotting a nut it hadn't cracked yet. Maybe I was the nut. Who knows? But for some reason, her excitement and complete disregard of whether or not I crapped all over her good mood was getting past my defenses. So much so that I said…

"Sure. Think we have a few copies."

We watched it. Not a bad flick. I guess I like it about as much as I like anything, really. Not high praise, but you get the picture. Knives was eating it up. Really… the weirdest part is that she never complained about having to sit there on the counter, just hopped down once in a while to stretch her legs and lean against it instead. Like we had been doing this for years: her coming to hang out with me while I 'worked'. Felt like the plot of some low-budget indie film, shot in black-and-white to be 'ironic'.

About halfway through, she did go to the lavatory, and when she came back she stayed behind the counter. I started to tell her she wasn't allowed, but decided I didn't care enough. Maybe I'm getting soft at the ripe old age of twenty-four.

"Hey," I suddenly asked, during a boring part in which the main character was meditating.

"Hm?"

"What are you doing?"

"Watching a movie."

"No… I mean like, going to uni. What's your whole deal?" I cringed; that was a pretty crappy way to ask the question. But, as usual, Knives didn't seem to mind.

"Not really sure. Just want to figure out what I'm doing. My mom wants me to be a doctor, but that is so not happening. Like… I kinda want to found a martial arts school. Super cliché, but I've never really been good at anything else, except fangirling. Which isn't really a 'job' I can get."

"Sure you could. Rent yourself out as a professional fangirl."

Her eyes went round. "You can do that?!" But for once, she seemed to get that I was teasing and smiled. "Aww, silly Kim. But… actually I wonder if there'd be any interest in it… maybe I could start a whole new thing!"

"Weirdo."

"What about you?"

That caught me off guard. "Huh? I'm a drummer."

"Yeah, but you aren't really in a band right now, right? You said you and Neil's sister are just kind of trying stuff."

"It's none of your-" But I cut myself off. This wasn't an interrogation, and Knives wasn't trying to pry. Wasn't trying to. "I just… am trying to figure that out. My life got kicked in the butt by a few events and I need a rebuilding year."

"But it's already been a year since your last band-"

"Knives…"

She fell silent, turning away to finish the movie. She looked guilty, which wasn't really what I wanted; I just wanted her to take the hint that it's not the most fun subject to bring up for me right now. But I didn't know how to tell her that without getting all sappy and feelsy, so I didn't try.

When Comeau came in to relieve me, we split, and she followed along behind like a good puppy. A good stray puppy. One I never wanted, but for some reason, I didn't mind her there. We did start getting along toward the end of Sex Bob-omb's career, I guess.

"You wanna get some food? It's about dinner time. Or you probably have plans, huh?"

Shrugging, I managed to mutter, "Eh." I didn't have any plans. I never had many plans anymore; met up with Stephen once a week, or less. Steph wasn't so much a friend as a colleague… which I guess was where both of them stood with me. Where did everybody go?

"Cool. Wanna get Sneaky Dee's?"

"Ugh… too noisy. Not in the mood."

"Poutine? Sushi?"

I started to make a very vaguely racist joke about sushi being the wrong food for her, but decided it would be more hurtful than funny. Especially to Knives, who only seemed to get the most obvious jokes. "Poutine works. I could use some gravy-laden goodness."

"Cool. Let's do it!"

She skipped off down the path, hair bouncing on the breeze. I didn't notice before that she was still keeping it short, I was so focused on the fact that she stopped dyeing it in the front. Kind of a compromise between who she had been before Scott and who she was after, maybe.

Not that I knew why I was noticing now. I must really have been bored. "Wait up, you dumbass," I grumbled under my breath as I trudged after her.

                                                      ~ o ~

Somehow, grabbing dinner with this almost-a-stranger was fine. She gushed about college life, about some group of friends she found online and really connected with or whatever. I was only half paying attention while I chewed. Between bites she was drinking a ginger ale, and kept setting it down so hard that a few droplets would fly up and land on the table, or even on her face. That annoyed me, but it was also kind of… cute somehow. Maybe I needed therapy.

Once we finished up, we walked to the bus stop that would take her back in the direction of her house. It was awkward. There was no real reason for it to be awkward but it was; she looked down at her boots, rocking back and forth with her hands in the small of her back.

"U-um… do you mind if I drop by more? You seemed kind of unhappy to see me at first. If you really want me to leave you alone forever…"

"Yes. I do."

"Okay. S-sorry, Kim."

Now I felt like I was kicking a puppy. She wasn't really that bad; I just hated being forced to endure the company of anyone besides myself and my inner demons. "Ugh… just don't make a big deal about it, and shut up if we get too busy, alright? God."

Her mopey face turned into a wide smile over the course of the following five seconds. "YAY!" No seriously, she said 'yay'. And meant it. What the fuck was she even? Her arms sprang forward, and before I could tell what was about to happen, she had me caught in a crushing hug.

"Let GO. Dude, seriously! Off!"

"I'll see you tomorrow! Oh man, this is gonna be a great summer!" Without any further ado, she pranced over to the bus stop, walking backward so she could wave at me the entire time. Anybody could have predicted that she would trip over the old man's dachshund, but she picked herself up right away with a light giggle, apologising to both of them before waving again.

Our definitions of "great summer" don't have much overlap.

                                                       To Be Continued…

[extraupdate-blog]

Good RPG Games inside the Pen and Paper Genre

New Post has been published on https://extraupdate.com/good-rpg-games-inside-the-pen-and-paper-genre/

Good RPG Games inside the Pen and Paper Genre

There are many suitable RPG games inside the pen and paper genre. Pen and paper roleplaying video games had been round for 3 decades. In that time, a number of the older RPGs have tailored and advanced at the same time as other more recent RPGs have been advanced. Here is a list of several excellent RPG games that are pen and paper tabletop roleplaying video games.

Dungeons & Dragons – Currently in its fourth edition, Dungeons & Dragons is the most broadly recognizable pen and paper roleplaying recreation ever. It was one of the first RPGs ever advanced and nowadays stays the most popular around the sector, outselling all different games in its class.

Shadowrun – A fusion of cyberpunk, close to-future, and fantasy, Shadowrun blends every of these factors into a notable roleplaying sport. Like D&D, it’s miles presently on its fourth version. There have been many other video games created for this placing, such as video games, PC video games, and a primary-person shooter. There are even rumors of a Shadowrun movie subsequently popping out.

Star Wars – Perhaps the maximum popular area opera roleplaying game, Star Wars is a putting created by way of George Lucas inside the late 70’s and early 80’s. The Star Wars Saga Edition roleplaying recreation was created by Wizards of the Coast because of the ultra-modern advent of Star Wars RPGs. Prior to this, Star Wars noticed first rate popularity underneath the West End Games logo with the D6 device.

World of Darkness – White Wolf created several games and combined them into a system they called the World of Darkness. These games encompass but aren’t restrained to, Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Changeling, Wraith, and much more. White Wolf and its World of Darkness video games are presently the variety two in income round the arena, simply at the back of Dungeons & Dragons.

Call of Cthulhu – An extremely popular roleplaying recreation primarily based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft. There are many exceptional publishers and game structures that have created games for the Call of Cthulhu placing. Most frequently the gamers take the role of people or investigators which are concerned with abnormal occurrences and the occult. They discover extraterrestrial beings, monsters, and demons which are popular in the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

Rifts – A kitchen-sink sports Palladium Books, Rifts has it all. The sport takes location on an altered version of Earth wherein exceptional factions have taken over. It consists of cyborgs, extraterrestrial beings, magical creatures, psychics, magical spell casters, and many extra unusual creatures. There are also rifts that make travel to and from different dimensions feasible, making the opportunities for the game endless.

These are just a few top RPG games which can be to be had out there. There are a number of many extra first-rate pen and paper roleplaying video games available. Roleplaying video games are persevering with to adapt and evolve with technology and this outstanding hobby continues to innovate and develop.

  Attract More Visitors and Generate Revenue by using Using Flash Games

  For adults, it is a high-quality manner to loosen up and take their mind off the day to day problems. Many of the people gambling on-line video games are adults 25-30 years vintage and a maximum of them have already been gambling pc games as youngsters. They simply convey their passion for video games to adulthood along with them.

In the early days, on-line net video games were once slow loading and that they have been closely restricted via the Internet connection velocity. Nowadays although, increasingly humans have switched to broadband Internet connection, plus many on-line games are now made the use of the Adobe Flash generation — which can be a great deal smaller in length whilst at the equal time maintaining the excessive excellent.

Flash is a multimedia platform from Adobe that is used to create vector based totally computer graphics and animations. Online video games made in Flash are regularly desirable to human beings of all ages. Most flash video games are very small and easy to play, no person manual wanted. And some games are simply new variations of the conventional arcade video games, there may be no gaining knowledge of curve at all. That’s why many human beings now call these flash games ‘casual games’.

Flash video games are signs everywhere on the internet, and lots of webmasters are taking advantage of the fact that humans like gambling video games. Flash games on websites can appeal to traffic, and also hold them on their website online longer. If your site visitors find the flash video games for your internet site a laugh to paly, they could regularly refer their pals to visit your internet site. This ought to in flip increase your internet site traffic and vacationer loyalty.

You also can use Flash video games as a manner to market it your provider, or maybe generate ad revenue. People are very weary of clicking on ads and plenty of consciously avoid doing this. To get round this — many on-line commercials in current years are available shape of an interactive, playable flash sport banner. Advertisements are often display to traffic at some point of the outlet of the game as part of the loading method, or at the give up of every recreation degree, as a way to less intrude the player, while additionally get their attention on the sponsor advertisements. The CTR (click-via-ratio) of on line ads embed inner flash games are typically two hundred%-three hundred% better than a web banner ad.

If you are inquisitive about jumping on the bandwagon in earning money from your flash games, it’s miles very easy to accomplish that. Two of the biggest marketing networks for games are MochiAds and GameJacket. They provide you with the code that you could embed for your video games and share the ad sales with you. You can also use a flash ad rotation gadget for video games, consisting of Ad4Flash that rotates ads for the duration of the game, or presentations the sport sponsor ad as part of the sport intro. The more humans play your recreation, the extra you earn due to the ads which might be displayed to gamers. Earning revenue from flash video games has by no means been less complicated.

If you haven’t heard of those offerings, you have got most truly heard approximately Google and their AdWords program. Google has a model of their AdSense software specifically for flash recreation publishers, so it’s far really worth searching into this as properly. However, Google will simplest receive flash video games which already generate hundreds of thousands of web page perspectives so it’s no longer for personal web sites.

Some human beings are professional flash game programmers; others without a doubt have fun making them. Some want to make cash from the games, but others want to sell and unfold their paintings piece. There are many ways people can utilize flash games for special purposes, which collectively contribute to the developing popularity of line flash games.

  Video Game Industry Lessons For Product Managers

  So I can simplest communicate for myself, but again inside the day I was quite properly at video games – you realize, the massive stand on my own game units that you may only find in arcades. Since then, I’ve attempted to maintain up with the home game consoles, however, I need to confess to having misplaced my capabilities.

These days I must confine myself to an occasional run at Half-Life just to reassure myself that I nonetheless have it. Which brings up an interesting point, wouldn’t be top notch to be a product manger at an online game company?

The Video Game Industry

If you’re the type of individual who is without problems impressed by large numbers, then do that one out for size. The video game Grand Theft Auto IV delivered in over $300M in a single day while it changed into launch. That became double what the maximum current Batman film added within the day that it opened.

The industry and its product managers do have their demanding situations – matters are becoming tougher. The cost and complexity of growing games are growing with each new launch. Oh, and you can consider just how fickle online game customers are – one awful release and your product line can be achieved for.

What Does It Take To Have A Successful Video Game Product?

Success in the online game enterprise relies upon on a combination of solid risk management and savvy studies and improvement. This a part of the enterprise will never alternate. However, the way that video video games are sold and the way they’re being allotted is present process a essential change this is affecting all product managers.

One new version for video game producers entails subscription on-line offerings. In this product supplying, customers can download the game code totally free after which they pay a month-to-month fee to be allowed to connect with servers that generate the game gambling surroundings wherein all subscribers can play at the same time.

One of the biggest online game manufactures, Activision Blizzard, already generates more than $1B in revenue and greater than $500M in profit from its World of Warcraft subscription enterprise. Clearly, this is the wave of the destiny.

Another new awareness is what gaming specialists are calling the “informal” market. This is how video game product managers are trying to amplify their potential customer base – they’re trying to create merchandise that enchantment to game players who don’t have a variety of time to research complicated rules. One of the higher examples of a famous casual sport is Guitar Hero.

Another key decision that online game product managers want to make is to pick out which game console they will expand games for. For example. Video games made for the Nintendo DS may be developed more affordably than those for consoles, manufactures can test far more cheaply in methods that they can’t do for the PlayStation or the Wii.

The Future Of Video Game Products

The video game commercial enterprise is a rough enterprise to be a product manger in. Publishers want to sell approximately one million copies of a recreation at the PS3 or Xbox 360 simply to break even. This steady pressure to achieve success is producing creative new thoughts for product managers.

One new concept that has best simply recently commenced to reveal up in video games is the idea of in-game advertising. Sponsered ads can show up on billboards, on man or woman’s garb, or while shopfronts within the environment. Because so lots of those games are on the line, ads can be modified over the years – nothing is constant.

An additional way to make money that is just starting to be implemented is that the game is unfastened for game enthusiasts to play, but they should pay for added gadgets which include new tools for their players. With certain market sectors, e.G. Youngster girls, this may produce wealthy rewards.

Final Thoughts

Every product manager yearns for the opportunity to be liable for a product this is clearly popular and video games sure appear to fit that description. However, the online game industry is a hard and tumble battlefield that punishes products that fall in the back of and insists on regular innovation.

Even in case you are not working inside the online game industry, you may nonetheless learn from what they’re doing. Moving as a whole lot of your product guide and replace process online to reduce charges and increase patron interaction is one innovation that we can all discover doing.