Author: matt
Current work…writing scripts
For the last few months, on top of travelling and attending a bazillion courses, I’ve been writing. I’ve written five short scripts in the world of THE 23RD LETTER. I’ve written two more in the world of STATUS: REFUGEE. I’ve written one horror script. And I’m looking at writing some scripts based on FRONTIER and…
Where and back again…
It’s been a while since I updated anything here. Partially because of “situation” but also partly because the blog got infected with some malware (the curse of WordPress) and I needed to shut it down. But it’s back now and I’m going to update it a bit more. Lategaming started out as a game journal…
The One Ring
I was really surprised to see this arrive: The One Ring This is the latest game based around The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The art is simply amazing and the only reservation I have is around the binding, which may be fine but, equally, might be a pain in the butt for…
It is September in the Year of Our Lord, Twelve Hundred and Nineteen
Having met The Greek, Paul Akritas, at the agreed location in the city of Praha, Tangui ex Bonisagus and his loyal servant, Godfroi, start out on their journey towards Budapest. They are joined on the road by a Redcap named Jacques who hails from the Languedoc of France. While these are not strictly countrymen, there…
Games Development Seminar – Belfast, 14th Sept
Last chance to register for a games technology development seminar here in Belfast. Wed, 14 September from 10:00 to 12:00 at Radisson Blu, Gasworks, Belfast The speaker is Paul Durrant, Abertay University’s Director of Business Development. He has been instrumental in developing a range of projects to support digital media IP generation, business start-up, incubation,…
And the result is…
The answer to my last message was a resounding “Ars Magica”. I’m happy about this because I had some of my best fun with Ars Magica back in the 90s. The campaign of Y Draig Goch, a Covenant in the Stonehenge Tribunal, dominated by the Tremere magus, Callistratus, and a rag-tag group of junior Magi,…
Email sent to gaming group
The plan is to have a Plan B game to turn to. I’m happy to run one though you’d have to choose between: Ars Magica (campaigns over years, trouple play, multiple characters – what’s not to like?) Smallville (I’d love to try this out with the Batman legend or maybe Traveller (No ideas here but…
Game Prototype development quote needed
I’m looking for a prototype of a RTS game on iOS developed. Just a single level, basic graphics. 2D sprites on 3D isometric plane. Happy for it to be done in Unity and/or another rapid development environment. Would be nice for combat (ranged and melee) and some pathfinding for units. Can be SP, MP or…
God Willt
Another book arrived in the post that I’d forgotten about. Deus Vult by Mongoose Publishing is essentially playing the bad guys from The Da Vinci Code but back in the Middle Ages. It’s like Ars Magica re-told from the point of view of the Church. It uses a variant of BRP which will please some…
New Haul: from Cromwell to Cthulhu via Mirkwood
Today I got a new haul of stuff. Some of these were PDF bundles so at some point the dead tree version of the book will arrive in the post. These are: Clockwork and Chivalry – clockwork and alchemy in Cromwells England The One Ring – the latest in a long line of RPGs set…
Indies on the Mac
From the Oddlabs blog: Many game developers, indie or not, view the Mac as a freak that no one cares for or wants to be associated with. They look at statistics that show only 5% of desktop machines are Macs and say: “Why waste a lot of time and money for only 5% of the…
Although they are developed in software, games are not software
The title of this post is from this article: You Need $100,000. Users relate to them differently. Immersion matters. Balance matters. Drawing people into the world of the game in a way that doesn’t break their attention every few seconds matters. Any successful game weaves a web of illusion around the player to engage them…
Skirmish MP
Following on from my last post, I would posit that there is something missing from MP RTS (Multi Player Real Time Strategy) games and that would be the lack of a feeling that success has an impact. Left 4 Dead is my favourite FPS game because it encourages teamwork between players on both sides and…
Most RTS single player modes suck…
Josh Bycer writes: Honestly, most RTS single player modes… suck. The reason is that designers try to use it to teach the player about multiplayer which doesn’t work, as an AI is not a good substitute for a player … Over the years, the structure of mission design has changed and can be broken down…
Back again
I’ve been on a holiday-and-work-fueled hiatus. Two weeks driving in France and Spain and then two weeks spent helping people access seed funding for new ventures in “digital” as part of the CIIF programme. The latter has been frustrating because essentially as I am part of the process, I am unable to apply for any…
It’s full of stars
Ocean Sky from Alex Cherney on Vimeo. Absolutely breathtaking. And if we ever got some decent weather (and I had a decent camera), I’d like to do some more time-lapse photography. I’ve meddled with it in the past as you can see.
Gliese 581
Of course, this is not the first time we have seen Gliese 581 (HO Librae). In 2214, we’ll send a Seedship.
QABAL: INTENT vs IMPLEMENTATION
This thread on rpg.net asks why secret magical settings in games tend to be dumb. My problem is, it’s never made any sense to me on an absolutely fundamental. The idea in most of these settings is that humans not only don’t believe in the supernatural, they’ll even go so far as to doubt their…
Smallvillification
I’m a fan of the Smallville series (so much so that the collected series is on my Amazon wishlist for October when it’s released). I’ve not watched all of it – only about 20 or so episodes across all of the series. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a “no tights, no capes” story…