It’s been a long time since we’ve had an update on the next Choice of… game. I know developers don’t want to pin themselves down to a deadline they can’t guarantee, but are we talking 3-6 months, a year, what?
Any guesses as to why no one has recently submitted an independently-written title to be hosted with Choice of Games? I know Zebulon was entered in Jay is Games’ recent competition, but I guess they chose not to have it hosted on the CoG site. Any other new titles out there we should know of?
Romance II is well on its way to being finished. As you say, we don’t want to be pinned down by deadlines, but I expect that it will be out by the end of March. Mind you, I’m not working on it myself, so take my estimation with a grain of salt.
In the past week or so, we’ve put four or five Hosted games up in beta. After some testing, we’ll push those live.
Vampire is getting short shrift at the moment. I started a new job, and COG duties other than writing take precedence over the writing. So it’s slow going.
Well, there goes my plan of getting my games in early so they get more expoure!!
Just kidding, this is amazing news, finally some more community goodness to indulge in! It’ll be interesting to see what fellow indie guys and gals have come up with!
Great to hear that you guys are still doing this!! Lol for a short time I thought u guys stop making updates for sure…anyways I’m still gonna donate maybe 15-25$? Once I get a chance to… but I’m kinda sad about the vampire one… but!!! I understand… everyone has a life…
annnyyywaaays… any idea what CoG I should donate to??? Choice of ??? suggestions&opinions appreciated!!!
@Moua
Choice of Broadsides 2 please. Choice of Dragon was good and all, but what really hooked me indefinitely into CoG was Broadsides. The level of detail that I saw on Broadsides was just amazing. I was impressed.
It’s your money though.
Is there some way to play the betas? Should I apply somewhere?
I am genuinely interested. I have finished all the choice of games several times, then bought them on the apple appstore, and finished them some more (on a side note, too many of them are free!). Furthermore, I am just as much interested in the technicality involved as I am in the story (I am a coder).
I am dying for some text-based choices here.
In case background matters for a beta tester, here is mine:
And if I can’t, do you recommend some competitors?
I am playing IF games, and there is a large selection of good ones, but getting stuck because you don’t know which word the author intended you to use is just not as fun as letting yourself be guided by choices.
Have you tried Nord and Bert Couldn’t Make Head or Tail of It? The linearity in that one is more obvious as the puzzles are all based around different types of wordplay.
If you are willing to shell out some money, Academagia is a pretty good choice - it is really deep. The insane pacing and the complexity might drive players off though,
@Crayshen: Thanks for the suggestion. It seems interesting, and I will surely play it, but I am looking for something close to a novel, something that takes you into its universe. Yeah I know I am very specific.
In fact, old-school Choose Your Own Adventure would perfectly do, but problem is, most of them are really geared towards Tolkienesque universes, and take themselves very seriously. Very few of them are intended for a mature, or even mixed audience. I used to love GrailQuest (with Excalibur Junior and the Vampire Carrot!) which today reminds me of Terry Pratchet books. Anyway. So if anyone has a recommendation of something of the sort… @laytona: Academagia seems really nice. I would like to play it, even if just to satisfy my curiosity. These people seem to have taken IF where EA has taken racing games. Not sure I am a fan (I am more for little indie/experimental projects) but it is extremely interesting. This said, it costs 24$! I am not used to pay this much for games
Academagia can literally drown you in options. It’s a fun universe, but it takes multiple, multiple playthroughs to get a grasp of what’s going on, what you can do etc. In terms of the novel-ish setting you were looking for it’s actually fairly up to the task- It doesn’t take itself too seriously, (though the writers’ first language is not English and it shows, so that may account for some of it), but it still manages to make your ‘own’ story out of the experience. Worth the 24 dollars? Eh. Depends on how much you’ll be playing it in the end. I’d hold off until at least second year is out though, while the constant updates and tweaks to the game are definitely good, it feels like I’m playing a beta sometimes.
As for gamebooks, that’s a tad trickier. Most of the ones that feel irreverent are usually for a younger audience and the darker ones like Lone Wolf (while EXTREMELY fun to play mind you) don’t necessarily break new ground.
‘Pretty Little Mistakes’ sounds interesting though. I’ll have to shell out for that one and see if it lives up to the hype as an ‘mature’ gamebook.
(Mild note- Meant for a younger audience, but I found the Narnia Solo Adventures to be well in tone with the spirit Lewis imbued into the storyline. They’re lighthearted but still take themselves semi-seriously, so it does feel a bit like you’re messing around in Narnia.)
@xananax: Actually, I pirated the game before paying for an official copy. Well, I did pay in the end, so my conscience isn’t mad with me xD
Academagia do have the promise of new contents though. The game keep receiving new DLCs and patches, plus there will be three more school years to come, and there is a community that also provide mods.
On the other hand, if you own an iPhone or an iPod, you can also try Surviving High School and Cause Of Death. They are a tad more linear, but their on-going episodic content means you have something new every week. It might be costly if you want to catch up on pass storylines on Surviving High School though.
sad about the vampire one… but!!! I understand… everyone has a life…