The words “gaming” and “wireless” have been two entities that, until only recently, been nothing more than strange bedfellows. While modern consoles have been integrating Bluetooth technology to maintain reliable connections, PC hardware has been playing catch up, dawdling in the distance with 2.4 Ghz wireless. In todays hardware review, we will be taking a closer look at the MadCatz R.A.T. M Wireless Gaming Mouse, a product bearing those previously dissonant phrases. Featuring selling points such as Bluetooth and 6400 DPI, it appears to be a forerunner on the wireless scene, but some issues may keep it from achieving the figurative crown.

Build Quality & Aesthetics

The R.A.T. M looks like something straight out of a science fiction novel written in the 90’s: small, sleek and full of sharp edges. At first glance, the mouse appears to be built so that it fits the curvature of a childs hand with an initial setup that was no larger than my palm. The small shell situated at its back end is an extendible palm rest with three different lengths, allowing comfort and customizability for individual users. A small wing extending from the lower left of the device was exceptionally comfortable when being used for long periods of time doing continuous sweeping motions in Photoshop. The overall ergonomics allows for prolonged gaming sessions with minimal fatigue due to how your hand is cradled so well.

The mouse wheel reminds me much of the floating wheel seen on a Ducati 848 EVO motorcycle –  it appears to be suspended in mid-air upon first glance. The deep grooves of the wheel provide ample grip, assisting the very responsive and satisfying scrolling motion with just the right amount of feedback. Below the wheel resides the DPI cycle button, recessed into the mouse so that it cannot be struck by accident. It required a deliberate depression to engage the next mode in the cycle – a good design choice to those whose hands get a bit crazy in serious matches.

What allows the R.A.T. M to claim such a high DPI (6400 stated) is the “Twin Eye” laser which was designed for serious gaming-level applications. Such a high degree of scanning allows for incredibly quick and precise motions depending on user preference. I took the unit for a spin at 6400 DPI on a hard wooden desk with no mousepad and was pleasantly surprised how accurate the cursor was. In previous tests with mice that stated high DPI, the laser compromised accuracy at high speeds which resulted in the cursor hopping around the screen in an attempt to keep up. The R.A.T. M takes wired mice to task with the silky-smooth movement while not overstating its capabilities.

Functionality:

Boasting a bevy of customizable buttons, the R.A.T. M is no slouch when it comes to pre-programming specific tasks. Software that is obtained through their website provides a relatively simple interface which includes 44 common browsing actions, from forwarding emails to accessing various Windows 8 features. Other software features allow for setting different DPI cycles, sleep timers, and other battery saving utilities.

The mouse features a total a six buttons, one of which can be manipulated in multiple directions. This small, quad-directional button residing above the wing extension is a bit of a misnomer – it requires the user to press upwards with no comfortable way to do so. While pressing down, left or back remained very simple, I was forced to stabilize my thumb on the wing to gain a bit of grip in order to press upwards. This problem may solely reside in the size and shape of my hand, but it ultimately disappointing as I found myself avoiding the button altogether.

If you, like myself, have no integrated Bluetooth support via your motherboard, the M features a small compartment on the underside which hides a USB Bluetooth adapter. Popping the minuscule dongle into a front-side USB 3.0 slot yielded no results, so it was installed on the backside USB 2.0 of the test system. After installing the drivers and software, as the device is not a plug and play system, I took it for a spin on a variety of surfaces. With the front of the package boasting the versatility of the device, I used it on the most common surfaces someone would be using in a mobile (i.e. laptop) setting: bedsheets, notepads, regular mousepads, hardwood, and glass. Surprisingly, the M does remarkably well in almost every setting, barring a bit of discrepancy on the hardwood. It can be attributed the the wood grain throwing the laser off due to the intricacy of its pattern, but it was hardly noticeable.

Testing the unit in a desktop setup yielded some undesirable results due to a lack of direct line of sight from device to dongle. Severe lag issues cropped up when returning to the device after it has gone into sleep mode. Upon waking, I would find my cursor jumping 50% of the post-sleep state where the only resolution was to turn it off and on. Other lag instances were purely random, with no discernible cause. I attempted to decrease the distance of the mouse to the dongle, which sometimes resolved the issue, but not consistently. I do need to reiterate that line of sight may have been slightly obscured, but the fact remains that I was able to reproduce these issues with the mouse less than 3 feet from the receiver.

While these occurrences are all expected faults in wireless technology, the issue I hold is that this mouse of branded a gaming mouse. If I am playing a round of hardcore mode in Path Of Exile, or trying to advance my team in DOTA, suddenly losing my cursor for an indeterminate amount of time, or even worse, experiencing skipping, can result in heavy losses. In my opinion, placing the term, “gaming” on a product means that it will perform at the same level as wired mice within the same price point. I could be taking the term gaming in a “hardcore” direction with my argument, but is that not the audience MadCatz is targeting their product towards?

Is It Worth Your Money?

Wireless Gaming still seems like a non sequitur for most serious gamers as it can be a bit unnerving to place control into a non-analog device. MadCatz brings build quality, sturdiness, and functionality to the table, but its versatility is ultimately hindered. Sitting high in the pricing scale at $129.99, the R.A.T. M is one of the priciest mice out there, making it a tough buy from the word go. While the issues that were experienced during to testing were infrequent, the frustration of dealing with it was duly noted. As a gaming device, it is very hard to recommend due to lag being an unacceptable fault. If anything, the R.A.T. M gives a legitimate excuse to those who blame lag on losing a match.

Phil Cordaro, Mike Bezek and Adam Ames take an in-depth look at the world of Columbia in the latest edition of TPG Cast.

Download MP3Download Mirror

When I was first asked about evaluating Combat Pilot, I was torn between excitement and anxiety. Online gaming, especially MMO’s, isn’t really my bag. Neither are highly choreographed combat missions. I have Falcon 4.0 and I wasn’t exactly Top Gun. (I was shot down more than I landed) Now, if you ask me to take a plane, especially a very large one, and fly it from point A to point B I can do that without an issue. That said, I’m always up for a good challenge. I decided to give it a go, and test my mettle.

After installing the game, along with the massive (1 hour download) patch, I signed in and decided on a career path. I chose that of a United States Air Force aviator, with an eye set firmly on flying the CP-U-2 out of Beale AFB, California. After some consideration, I chose to be a Command Pilot. What’s the difference between Command and Squadron pilots? Command pilots can promote above Major and are ‘trained’ Instrument pilots. Once the career track was completed, I selected my push-to-talk and weapon release buttons in the control menu.

First, you select the server you want to fly in. Once that’s done, you select the mission you want to fly. The game will then, based on mission builder, load your aircraft at the training airport, “cold and dark.”  You then start your aircraft, complete the mission, taxi back to your line, and shut down.  If you pass the mission within acceptable standards, you will get a message in game and after you leave the mission that says “Mission success.” If you fail, a similar fail message will show.

The first mission, called “FAM 1” was simply learning how to use the communication module, the knee board, taxiing the aircraft to the active runway and then bringing it back. Piece of cake.  Once that practice mission was done, I took the check ride and passed.  I should note that the check rides are identical to the practice missions. So if you can pass one, you should pass the other.  At least, that’s the theory.

In order to pass this series of training, or “Familiarization” as it’s called, you must pass all check rides and have about 40 hours of in-game flight time. I don’t know about you, but I have a job, a family, and a social life. Flying 40 hours in trainers just so I can go shoot something in the next phase of training.. er.. familiarization.. is a little over the top, in my opinion.

Nevertheless, I continued on right up until basic formation flying. Now, even though I have been participating with flight simulators for about 20 years, I have never flown formation before. Even in Falcon 4.0, I just loaded up quick missions and got into the fight, same with IL2:Sturmovic.  I was hoping that there would be some training, tips or pointers given in game that would help me learn this skill. I was disappointed. Perhaps I’m old school, but I think if you are going through training, there needs to be actual instruction. In the case here, there was none. You just have to figure it out on your own.

After three failed attempts, I got frustrated and stopped. Before take off, you are told the altitudes and speed your flight lead will take, and the kneeboard shows the route he will fly. He did neither of these. There was no constant speed or altitude and the flight plan on the kneeboard was only loosely followed.  I understand it is a programmed feature, but it was programmed wrong. It simply does not match. I checked all of this several times.  I did finally figure out how to formation fly in FSX and I have passed that mission, but it took the help of a fighter pilot friend teaching me what to do and hours of chasing AI airliners.

I have to admit, this is the point that I stopped. Life and frustration got in my way. I found myself using FSX to decompress and relieve stress from my work day. The thought of having to go back and fly that trainer in some arbitrary mission with no instruction was nothing short of maddening. Just seeing the icon on my desktop stressed me out.  Worse yet, it seems my entire FSX install was affected by Combat Pilot. For example, when you press escape, it’s supposed to ask if you want to end your flight. Now, it brings up the Combat Pilot “Do you want to exit?”, as if you want to end the mission. Depending on what aircraft I am flying, it could also bring up an instrument. It appears “Escape” has the same function as Shift+7.

I can also no longer open doors on any aircraft. I get the “Main exit opening” tag, and then immediately get the “Main exit closing” message. Flight physics for all of my planes have changed, and not for the better. They all seem to go into an aerodynamic stall at a 45 degree bank, regardless of speed. I get wing buffet at angles of attack and speeds that I shouldn’t, and I have had a high rate of system crash since the install.  In a nutshell, Combat Pilot completely takes over your entire FSX install.

However, I do want to give some credit where it is due. I communicated with the developers about a problem I found. Essentially, Combat Pilot had erased all of my key assignments. I would reset them, but as soon as I started Combat Pilot, it would set them all back to default and I would have to go and set them where I wanted them. To their credit, they created a patch and it fixed that particular issue.

That said, I think the fact that Combat Pilot takes over like it does is a flaw and a major drawback. I use the simulator for more than just combat. I participate with a virtual airline, fly on private servers with friends, and just have leisure flights when I want to relax. I shouldn’t have to deal with the effects of a combat add-on when I make a non-combat style flight. I shouldn’t have to deal with all of my planes being subject to the flight dynamics they want projected.

If you enjoy the DCS or Lock On series, participate with a virtual military organization, or just really love military style flying, you will probably like Combat Pilot. The problems I see are the time it takes just to get through your basic ‘familiarization’- forget shooting things or going on missions. Even when you do get through it, I can’t think of too much that Combat Pilot provides that you cannot find flying for a virtual military organization. Sure, you get custom scenery, special airplanes that will let you shoot missiles, drop bombs and fire guns. Yes, there is some realism from the time it takes to go through “Familiarization”, but so what? Most new combat planes in FSX let you do that anyway. Most virtual military organizations also have custom aircraft and scenery as well- and they’re free!

I have no doubt that as time goes by, the technical issues of Combat Pilot will be resolved, just like any other piece of new software. However, I don’t know that it matters.  Despite my personal shortcomings with the game, I really did take a hard objective look at this project.  Yes, the aircraft and scenery were great, but you can buy commercially available add-ons (from the people who helped make Combat Pilot- re: Iris Flight Simulations and A2A) that are better and also allow you to shoot and bomb. Yes, you’ll have a virtual unit to fly with, but there are hundreds of free options to get the same thing with a simple internet search.  Yes, I believe they succeeded in making FSX a true combat capable environment.

Is It Worth The Money?

The basic package is $49.99.  There are also aircraft specific packages for the A-10 Thunderbolt, AV-8B Harrier and F-14 Tomcat that give you those respective aircraft, a “founding member” medal, a certain amount of experience points and 90 days worth of membership, etc. that run $99.99. After that, membership is about $12.00/month, regardless of what package you start out with.  However, there is a free demo that can be downloaded, so you can honestly “try it before you buy it.”

The main issues I have with combat pilot are:  Familiarization instead of instruction.  The length of time it takes to get out of said  Familiarization.  You can’t use the weapons outside of Combat Pilot.  The fact that it completely takes over your install and the subscription fees.   If these things were fixed, I could get behind this project. Right now, I think the flaws are too substantial. Might I suggest the subscription fees be the first thing to go?

Once again, Amazon is showing off its PC gaming sales might with quite an interesting promotion.  Within the current Digital Games Mayhem, you will find hundreds of titles available running through May 31st.  Some of those being discounted upwards of 80% off.  Below is just a small sample of the games on sale.

Desert to Sea Bundle - $9.99

Bioshock
Bioshock 2
Spec Ops: The Line

Need for Speed Ultimate Digital Collection - $7.49

Need For Speed – Shift
Need For Speed: ProStreet
Need for Speed: Undercover
Shift 2 – Unleashed

Firaxis Complete Pack - $19.99

Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Gold Edition
Sid Meiers Civilization IV: The Complete Edition
XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Batman Arkham GOTY Pack – $11.49

Batman Arkham Asylum
Batman Arkham City

Mass Effect 3 Digital Deluxe Version - $8.99

Bastion – $3.74

The Walking Dead - $8.99

For those of you interested in point-and-click adventures or HOGs, Amazon has a great sales listing with titles starting at $2.99.

Jakke Elonen, Ozhan Sen and Yoshifumi Ishii from Fruitbat Factory talk with TPG about their (localized) upcoming medieval Japanese lore inspired title, 99 Spirits.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your role with the development of 99 Spirits.

Jakke: Hello and thanks for having us. I’m Jakke Elonen, co-founder and project lead for Fruitbat Factory. As for my role in the development, I edit all the content from raw translation to what you see in game and do most of the initial playtesting and debugging. And generally try to keep things together somehow. I’ll be answering the questions together with Ozhan.

Ozhan: Hi, I’m Ozhan Sen, co-founder, graphics and marketing lead. I edit graphics into English and produce all art assets for a variety of purposes. With the latest 99 Spirits IndieGoGo campaign I got also put in charge of producing the physical goods since I had previous experience in arts and crafts. While it seems I am also handling our general marketing and public relations, we actually do that together as partners. As a three person company, we do everything by ourselves, so each of us are testers as well as probably a dozen other things.

Jakke: Together with Yoshifumi Ishii, our translator and Japanese relations coordinator, we are Fruitbat Factory, an independent localization team focused on bringing interesting Japanese PC games to English-speaking players worldwide.

How did you get started in developing PC games?

Ozhan: We are avid gamers, and as particular fans of Japanese games we eventually ended up doing freelance localization work. We met each other during those projects and after working together long enough, one day we just decided to strike it out on our own.

Where did the idea to localize 99 Spirits come from?

Jakke:  When our first release, War of the Human Tanks, was approaching the finishing line, we were looking for the next title to work on, and happened to see the Japanese trailer for 99 Spirits. Frankly, we couldn’t really tell what the game is about from the trailer, but it looked interestingly “different” and the art was really pretty, so we looked into it more closely.

What are some of the successes and failures you learned from in developing 99 Spirits?

Jakke: Our own, really. We’ve been doing our own thing by trial and error mostly, I’d say. It’s been a learning experience.

Ozhan: We keep learning tons of new things everyday, not just while working on 99 Spirits or Human Tanks, but while interacting with other developers, distributors, gamers and minding our day to day company business. We learned so much in this last year that you could write a book about it. Funny thing is, they are mostly things that you hear about but don’t realize the importance of until you run into the situation yourself.

In its current form, how close is 99 Spirits to your initial vision?

Jakke: I’d say we’ve managed to meet the initial vision well in most regards, and it’s gone somewhat beyond that – we’ve added lots of small features you might not even pay attention to but that will make the game better to play, and initially we didn’t even consider something like adding dual audio to the game. We’ve had the benefit of seeing a lot of comments regarding what people want, especially on Steam Greenlight and IndieGoGo – some features are obviously going to be impossible, but when we see a new question/request/feedback our first thought is “can we do that, and should we?”

Some devs admitted their games were too hard upon release because they became experts as they developed the game.  Talk about setting the difficulty levels for 99 Spirits and if you faced a similar challenge.

Jakke: The main challenge in setting the difficulty level in 99 Spirits is the fact it revolves around word puzzles. When that’s your starting point, there are always going to be people for whom it’s simply not suited, but we’ve tried to keep the puzzles as accessible as we could think of. We’ve changed the hint systems in the game around a lot as the code has been changed to balance out various factors.

We’re pretty happy with their current status, which is somewhat harder (but fairer) than in an earlier version – there’s a mechanism in place to protect against getting several of the same hint in a row which would be frustrating, but as we ended up balancing the number of hints their total number decreased and this mechanism became too powerful so we had to tone it down. There are a lot of moving parts.  Otherwise, the game itself has a difficulty setting which I confess takes away some pressure from balance worries.

Were there any challenges you faced in ensuring 99 Spirits would run on the various PC system configurations?

Jakke: 99 Spirits was already released in Japan last Autumn, so it’s had time to get rid of the rough edges.  Our specific challenge has been making the game run under English OS environment – which like most Japanese PC games, it by default doesn’t do. That’s been a lengthy process but we have enough experience with it to more or less know what to expect when we started.

Resources for testing are always a challenge. We don’t have a dedicated computer lab with dozens of different setups to run the game on, so we do what we can but the final stress test will unavoidably be left to the general public – the demo has been out for a while now and we haven’t seen anyone having any technical issues, so I should think we’re doing OK.

Please talk about developing the art style, level design and music for 99 Spirits.

Jakke: 99 Spirits has a distinct and unique look – not the usual “moe” or super deformed style you see in many Japanese games. If you don’t watch anime you can ignore this following comment, but my first thought was that it reminds me of the anime Katanagatari, which also had an unusual art style, and when I told that to Tomo Hoshino (TORaIKI’s project lead and artist) she said she’s actually a big fan of Katanagatari’s artist, so maybe I wasn’t just seeing things.

Ozhan: We loved the medieval Asian feel of the game’s art and did our best to keep it on all our changes, including all the English texts, fonts, buttons, physical goods, everywhere.

Jakke: The music is very atmospheric. To meet the spirit of the era, TORaIKI wanted to mix in as many different traditional Japanese instruments as possible, such as the shakuhachi, shamisen, hichiriki, sho and koto.

Outside of creating the game itself, what is the toughest aspect of being an indie developer?

Jakke: The ‘indie’ label itself is a broad one, but from the perspective of a markedly small indie developer it’s really difficult to get publicity. Getting mentioned in mainstream media is a lucky break, not a rule. We have to rely heavily on word of mouth, and as a freshly starting out team it can be quite hard to get the ball rolling. We’ve entered our first release War of the Human Tanks into several bundles just to ‘get it out there’ and it’s gradually bearing a little fruit, but I still daresay most gamers, even fans of Japanese games, haven’t ever even heard of us and our games.

How did you go about funding 99 Spirits and did you receive financial or emotional support from friends and family?

Jakke: We are essentially self-financing all our projects with other jobs, but for 99 Spirits we tried our hand at crowdfunding for the first time, with very promising results. The 99 Spirits campaign on IndieGoGo raised 252% of the goal we set out – still a modest sum, but I can say it’s helped us out hugely.

All of us are in a similar position in that our relatives don’t particularly understand any of what we’re doing, or see the point in it, but we have friends who are a great help. It’s always good to have people to talk to.

Tell us about the process of submitting 99 Spirits to the various digital distribution platforms and if you encountered resistance in doing so.

Jakke: We already ‘fought the good fight’ with War of the Human Tanks, so as this is our second release the process has been a lot easier. Our submission to GOG.com is still pending, but otherwise we’re OK’d or already set up with all the distributors we’ve approached (Ozhan: with the exception of Big Fish Games, where we submitted 99 Spirits, it being a puzzle-RPG, on the basis that they stock almost entirely puzzle games, and got a generic rejection mail almost instantly, saying the game appeals to a younger demographic than their current audience… Oh well.).

On the first time you need to go through more hoops, but for the second title it usually goes more like “we have this new game coming out, would you like to sell it too?” “Sure, just send us the assets”.  We don’t just publish on one or two distributors and leave it at that, but are also happy to sell on smaller distributors that might have just started up, provided the process isn’t too distracting. It’s always good publicity even if we don’t get sales through them.

Ozhan: Then there’s Steam… both of our titles have Steam Greenlight entries and we are always working new angles to help improve our chances, but well, Greenlight is a hard playground.

Jakke: I’ll give a special mention to Desura and GamersGate as good places for new developers to approach, as they’re in our experience very welcoming towards indies.

Did you research similar titles when trying to come up with the launch price?

Jakke: Of course, but since this is a somewhat niche genre within which prices vary wildly, in the end our main price factors are the price of the game in Japan, and our previous experience in pricing.

Our regular version is priced at $15 now, which is a pretty neutral price for the game and we’re confident no one will at least call it overpriced.  We made a Deluxe edition of our first game that includes the OST, and after seeing how popular it was we decided to do the same with 99 Spirits – and as a preorder bonus players will get the Deluxe edition for the price of the regular one until release.

Can you tell us why you chose to release a demo for 99 Spirits?

Jakke: A sage once told us that a demo for a good game can increase sales by a half. The only reason we can see not to release a demo is if you don’t want to give people the chance to see the game before they pay for it (I wonder if there’s any reason anyone would want that…?).

We love seeing player feedback for the games, and the response to the demo has been overwhelmingly positive so far.

How important is it to get instant feedback about 99 Spirits from users through online message boards and other social networking sites?

Jakke: It’s crucial. If there’s a critical problem with the game, the best time to learn about it is before we released the build, but the second best time is at the moment someone encounters it. Most suggestions for improvements are also from social media or message boards. So we’re keeping a close eye on them.

How much value do you place on the opinions of those who review 99 Spirits professionally?

Ozhan: We try not to take negative reviews too much to heart. Our company focuses on a small niche, Japanese games that require extensive translation work to be playable by English speaking audiences, and it’s normal for a journalist to be unfamiliar with these types of games or simply dislike them. If such an article goes into detail about what the journalist didn’t like in the game, it might still be valuable to us in the future with regard to making the games more approachable,  but if the only reason for negativity is dislike for “anime-like” games, that’s not very useful to us.

One example we encountered earlier is that some journalist complained about War of the Human Tanks having a story. Not the length or the quality of it, but the mere existence of it. It wasn’t what they expected in a game, and that in turn was a surprise to us.

Jakke: When we get a review from someone who obviously liked the game and was enthusiastic about it, they are very heartwarming to read, and these are the reviews we especially want to remember. It’ll be interesting to see the reception for 99 Spirits – it’s a bit of a leap in the dark for us as there’s to my knowledge no other game like it on the market, gameplay wise.

How do you feel about the various indie bundle promotions and the “Pay What You Want” pricing methodology? Would you be interested in contributing to a project like that in the future?

Jakke: We’re very pragmatic about bundles. If you’re not on Steam, there’s basically no way you can ever saturate your entire ‘potential customer base’, so you don’t really need to worry about “missed sales” when it comes to a bundle – most who get the bundles wouldn’t have gotten the game otherwise. It’s the same with pretty much all different pricing models – they’re an opportunity to reach new users. We’ve kept an open mind about all kinds of promotions.

We do have some worries though that in the grand scale of things, the bundles as a phenomenon are going to be pushing the prices (and profits) of PC games lower and lower. Bundles used to be the way for small and relatively unknown indie games to get visibility and sales, but you can already see AAA games in ‘bundles’ as well so now even in a bundle you have to “compete” with those. I do worry for the future.

What are your thoughts on how the PC gaming industry as a whole are dealing with the problem of intrusive DRM and piracy?

Jakke: It’s not something we actively think about. Even if 90% of people pirate the game, DRM won’t change that, if anything it will annoy the paying customers. I can see why big companies use them, though, because I know that delaying the release of a pirated version by even a day can increase their sales a lot. That’s why I’m not sure DRM will ever go away completely.

Our games are DRM free, unless the distributor uses a capsule type release system and adds DRM at their end.

How do you feel about individuals posting videos of 99 Spirits?

Ozhan: We love watching them. If anyone makes one or have any plans to do so, we encourage them to tell us about it too.

How do you feel about DLC and its current implementation in the PC gaming industry?

Jakke: Neutral. DLCs are mostly annoying – you already bought the game, but you need to get this and that to get the ‘full experience’? It’s good if they give more content to a game the studio would otherwise brush aside as soon as it’s released though.

Ozhan: I like DLCs that are like the expansions of old times, an additional campaign to a game I loved, or a new chapter/sidequest in the story… But I don’t like DLCs that are just a weapon/costume/car…

How do you feel about the online modding community in general and specifically if mods were created for 99 Spirits?

Ozhan: We would love to see what people might come up on that regard, there are fan made mods of some of the games I play that I consider a must, to be honest.

Jakke: Someone was asking us what we think about a fan translation to another language. I think that’s really cool and as long as such things aren’t just released as standalone ‘pirate’ copies, why would we have any objections?

What advice would you give up-and-coming indie PC developers who are trying to break into the business?

Jakke: I think the most important thing is to not get into the scene with unrealistic expectations. Have a plan – a good plan. Find ways to operate with low expenses. Don’t leave your day job before you have achieved results.

Ozhan: There are a lot of steps from the concept of a game to a game selling on various digital distributors, and I mean selling well. All of those steps require people with the right skills and experience. So you might need to hire people to do some of those tasks for you. It is going to take a lot of time, effort and patience.  Having skilled friends is great and you shouldn’t hesitate to lean on them if need be.  Try to meet and learn from others in the business at every opportunity, there is so much to learn and the clock is always ticking…

Jakke: On that subject, it’s also a good idea to keep a flexible schedule and not set any deadlines you’ll ‘easily make if everything goes exactly according to plan’ – it never does. – End

We would like to thank everyone at Fruitbat Factory and wish them nothing but success with 99 Spirits.  You can pre-order now or download the demo via the official site.  In addition, be sure to vote for 99 Spirits on Steam Greenlight.

Show Me The Sales offers up a cornucopia of titles with 100% of proceeds going directly to the developers involved.  Discounts range from 33% to 75% off.  You only have a little under two days left on this sale so make sure to snatch up your favorite indie before time runs out.

A few notables are below:

• Moonchild
• Space Pirates and Zombies
• Frayed Knights
• Defcon
• Defenders Quest
• Beat Hazard Ultra
• Evochron Mercenary

Nancy Drew’s 28th adventure takes her to the abandoned Thornton estate, as she searches for Jessalyn Thornton, who disappeared while hunting for ghosts on the premises. It’s standard Myst-style point-and-click fare. You’ll explore the world through Nancy’s eyes, traveling around pre-rendered environments and interacting with a click of a mouse. There’s people to talk to, things to pick up, and puzzles to solve, all of which will hopefully enable you to figure out the mystery behind Jessalyn’s disappearance.

The stars of this show are the characters you meet. Everyone has secrets, which get revealed over time and unveil the fascinating interpersonal drama involving the members of the Thornton clan. I’ve always been intrigued by family politics, and the story here sees Nancy getting caught up in the middle of a pretty engaging situation. It’s interesting from an artistic standpoint as well because the haunted Thornton estate serves as a metaphor for the haunted pasts all of the characters have.

The Nancy Drew games are known for great puzzles, and The Ghost of Thornton Hall is no exception. Keeping a sharp mind and paying attention to details is the most important thing. A passage in a book or an errant piece of dialogue might seem inconsequential, but actually end up being important hints for future puzzles. There were several times when I slapped myself because I didn’t pay attention to what a character said, but ended up needing that information later on.

There are some real stumpers here too, which will take some time and brainwork to solve. One puzzle involving clocks required some patience and meticulous experimentation to get right. Another, which required placing red and blue pieces on a board according to specific rules, was a wonderful logic challenge that was immensely satisfying to solve. If anything gets too tough, you can always use the built-in hint system, but only if you play on the Amateur Sleuth difficulty. Players who opt for Master Sleuth will have to solve things on their own, and are faced with more challenging logic puzzles to boot. For example, one puzzle has you piecing together fragments of a stained glass window, with the condition that similar colors must be adjacent to each other. This puzzle has an extra color in Amateur Sleuth mode, which makes solving it much easier than in Master Sleuth.

The game looks and sounds wonderful. The artists did a great job of capturing the feel of exploring a spooky, run-down environment, both visually and aurally. There were many times when I became creeped out while playing, even though the sun was shining brightly into my room. The characters you meet are rendered and animated in the high-quality stylised fashion one would expect from the series. The voiceovers that accompany the conversations are similarly well-done, without any awkward or stilted lines to pull one out of the experience.

*Minor Spoilers Below*

Surprisingly, there are multiple endings in this installment, depending on choices you make during the finale. These endings aren’t fully-rendered cutscenes, but simply Nancy’s narration of what happened after she solved the mystery. They’re still worth experiencing, because the writing and acting is at its strongest here. The emotional tenor of these wrap-ups are powerful and satisfying with the “worst” ending providing suitable motivation to go back and do better.

Conclusion—Is It Worth The Money?

I have nothing bad to say about Nancy Drew: The Ghost of Thornton Hall. It’s yet another solid adventure game in a series that has always been among the best the genre has to offer. I have no idea how Her Interactive manages to keep their level of quality so high in such a consistent manner, but whatever they’re doing, it works. It is definitely worth the $20 price tag.

The gentlemen from Indie Royale have introduced the Mayhem Bundle, this time focusing on the action side of indie gaming.  Games include: Burn Zombie Burn, Lucius, Plain Sight, Primal Fears, Alien Shooter 2 Conscription and Droplitz.  At retail, these games would run a total of $60, but the current minimum is resting at $5.50.  About two bucks Less than a McDonald’s value meal.

For detailed information on the development process of Lucius, check out our interview conducted last year.

Really Sick Games has recently updated the demo for their retro space shoot’em up, Retrobooster.   The most distinct change is found in the revamping of Level 4 which will offer players more entertaining challenges.  Others include the correction of graphical bugs, allowing a return to Ion Bolts when default ammo runs out, plus several additional fixes.  Retrobooster is also on Greenlight so please let your voice be heard to make this available via Steam.

The thing I loved most about The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing was the way it handles target acquisition. Most Action-RPGs require you to rapidly click on enemies until they’re all dead. In Van Helsing, as long as you’re holding down the mouse button, you simply need to move the cursor over an enemy and your character will run over and thump it. That alone made fighting the masses of baddies infinitely less painful on the old trigger finger.

The thing I loved second-most was the setting. Van Helsing’s world is inspired by novels such as Dracula and Frankenstein, as well as Eastern European lore and legend. The aesthetics are pulled straight from movies based on the same, so you’ll get to explore lots of misty environments where the supernatural lurks in dark corners. The world lives and breathes thanks to a level of detail rivaling that of Diablo 3, but feels much more believable because it’s rooted in reality, more or less. Additionally, you won’t be battling typical fantasy foes. Instead you’ll encounter rusalkas, vodyanoy, vilas, werewolves, and other creatures lifted from the fevered imaginations of Eastern European country folk. That provides the game with a level of verisimilitude the competition lacks.

Another thing I loved, but more sophisticated players might decry, is the simplicity. There’s only one character/class—the monster hunter Van Helsing. He comes in one gender and has a limited skill set, which comes in at 16 total, split between a melee and a ranged/magic tree. I was able to turn him into the high defense/high DPS melee character I always play, but if you prefer something more summoner-y, you might be out of luck.

I say “might” because there are ways to customize your character outside of the skill trees. Perks are acquired as your fame increases but, more relevantly, there are also Tricks and Auras that can be purchased from NPCs. Tricks are basically spells that need to be activated, while auras are passive and always on. It’s entirely possible that, as the game progresses, you’ll gain a Trick that summons a horde of beasts to fight at your side, but I can’t be sure since the preview copy only offers a limited slice of the adventure. Until that happens, if it ever does, you’ll have to content yourself with Van Helsing’s ghost companion: Lady Katarina.

Katarina is a versatile creature, able to fight alongside you in either melee or ranged capacity. Should you not want the extra help in combat, she can also remain in ghost mode, which provides passive boosts to your stats. She can be set to automatically gather loot and sent back to town to sell all the useless junk you’ve accumulated. What’s more, you can have her bring back health and magic potions if you need to stock up.

I didn’t need potions, however. At least, not on the difficulties I played. The game is nicely balanced so Casual is the cakewalk it should be in every game. I could wade into any battle, even ones against bosses, without fear and without having to use potions. A second playthrough on Easy required me to be a bit more judicious while fighting, but was again well within my ability. I didn’t try Hard or Insane, but I like the direction the curve is heading; those settings should provide a decent challenge to those who crave it.

Is there anything I didn’t like about The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing? Not really. The story is pretty throwaway—monsters, scientists, blah, blah, blah—but one doesn’t really play these kinds of games for the story. Action-RPGs are about two things: killing monsters and collecting loot. The game excels at both. Monsters come in hordes from the get go, and it’s immensely satisfying to wade into a pack of dreadwolves and walk out with some swag in the pocket and a bloody mess on the ground.

The items you find are the usual collection of weapons, armor, and accessories, with some twists to fit the theme—you’ll only ever find swords and guns to wield, and you’ll get hats instead of helmets. Loot drops often, and magic items abound, so be prepared to spend a lot of time staring at your inventory screen, trying to decide if the extra DPS you get from using a newly-acquired weapon is worth losing the bonus HP your current one provides.

Overall, I walked away from the preview copy of The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing with positive emotions. If this were a demo, I would have bought the game right away, which says a whole lot about the quality so far. Hopefully the full game lives up to the expectations the preview sets.