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mrimer
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Hello, fellow DRODers!

Good news -- we are wrapping up work on the new Smitemasters Selection this week. I would expect we send the CD off to print by the time the next newsletter is out. Also, here's some news about the June forum contest. And some news about new stuff, and even some news about old stuff.

Make your own Riddle of the Bar

Based on Tahnan's winning creative writing entry in the May Contest, DiMono has set up a new official contest for June. Now, it's your turn to create a hold based on his story, which has been dubbed "The Riddle of the Bar". Participants have until June 23rd to submit their hold, which must contain something like 3 levels and .14159 rooms. Yeah. Something like that.

http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=31845

Gemcraft Labyrinth

This Flash game, the third offering in the Gemcraft tower defense series, receives the "Oh, my! Where did the time go?" award for this month. For anyone who likes tower defense games, this one features a DROD-like level map of the overworld with 13x13 rooms where each leads into the next ones. Besides all the rooms, there are mighty Challenges to conquer in specific rooms and a series of "knobs" you can twist to create customizable challenge modes for each level to make this a game you can play for hours and hours.

The Big N's Next Big Project

Just a couple months after Nintendo released the 3DS with glasses-free 3D, Nintendo revealed its "Next Big Project" at E3. U got it. I've got two assignments for you. First, share what type of game mechanics you'd like to see on the "Wii U" system, either in new titles or within existing franchises. Second, it's up to you to judge -- game-changing innovations or ultimately just gimmicks? Now: Fight!

Where have all the old-timers gone?

For those wondering "where have all the flowers gone", you might be interested in this forum thread:

http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=31807

Can you believe the online DROD community, in its various incarnations, is now around ten years old. In Internet years, that's a lifetime or more. So, some of the veterans on the forum are no longer just veterans -- they're feeling really old.

If you're a Forum Old-timer, or even just a veteran, or maybe still a whipper-snapper, come stop on by here to say "hi" and sit a spell. You'll even find some tidbits on the newest DROD news. So new, it hasn't even happened yet!

Besides that, here's a shout-out to Schik for being one of the oldest of the Old, and working tirelessly to make the Caravel community such an awesome place. I say he should consider giving some of the fogeys that are still around official Underground Empire-like titles such as "5th Forumite", according to the order that they signed up, to show alongside their posts. Old people deserve their respect.

The way-back machine -- forum fairy tales

If you're not feeling old just yet, then I've gotta tell ya, just reading through the old threads on the forum can provide you a healthy dose of nostalgia. I'm giving gamer_extreme_101 a Don't Ask Award for this forum fairy tale -- if he can still scoot on over here with that walker of his -- that was posted almost six years ago, to the day:

http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=6675&page=1#68313

Till next time!

-- Mike

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06-12-2011 at 01:48 AM
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west.logan
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who has had "Where have all the flowers gone" running through my head the last few days...

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06-12-2011 at 02:09 AM
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NiroZ
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Just to save people a google: Gemcraft.

Personally I think Defence Grid: Awakenings is by far is the ultimate tower defence game. It isn't particularly innovative, but my god it is polished. Having said that, I've only played the first gemcraft to the point where it got too mindless.

Regarding the WiiU, it really doesn't matter how good, fancy or mindblowing the controller is, until they improve their 3rd party developer support, I'm not really interested in what they have to offer.
06-12-2011 at 04:06 AM
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Jatopian
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"WiiU"? Why don't they just stick an "ab" in the middle there; that's the only group who'll like such a name anyway.

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06-12-2011 at 09:22 AM
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Briareos
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Jatopian wrote:
"WiiU"?
My first thought upon reading that name: "No U"...

np: Kode9 & The Spaceape - Nine (Memories Of The Future)

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06-12-2011 at 11:43 AM
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west.logan
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NiroZ wrote:
Regarding the WiiU, it really doesn't matter how good, fancy or mindblowing the controller is, until they improve their 3rd party developer support, I'm not really interested in what they have to offer.

I agree about 3rd party support. The controller has a lot of potential for various things. One to move item selection and various controls off the screen to give a more immersive experience. Second, did anyone else ever play Zelda: Four Swords for the GameCube? You hooked up GBAs to it and when one player went underground or in a cave to look for treasure, the action for the other three would still be on the screen and his screen would move to the GBA. The same could be applied to games like The New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii (currently, if one person goes down a pipe, all end up going down a pipe).

Or how about first person shooters? You wouldn't have others peaking at your opponents screen while the main TV might have a map or stats.

So there is potential, and I'm happy to see a lot of gaming companies and industry giants (like John Romero) say they are excited about it, but we'll see when the games start coming out. Hey, at least it's 1080p now! :)

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[Last edited by west.logan at 06-14-2011 03:23 PM]
06-14-2011 at 03:23 PM
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gamer_extreme_101
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Heh, I always shudder when I read some of my old writing. At that time, I would have been 16 at the time - it feels so long ago!

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06-17-2011 at 09:39 PM
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Rat Man
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mrimer wrote:
First, share what type of game mechanics you'd like to see on the "Wii U" system, either in new titles or within existing franchises.
I think it's unsaveable -- nothing good can come from that new controller, unless you count catering to all the mindless Big N fan-boys!
Second, it's up to you to judge -- game-changing innovations or ultimately just gimmicks? Now: Fight!
the new controller is the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time. Higher-tech doesn't necessarily equal better, as Nintendo is doing an exquisite job of demonstrating. I'm really annoyed with them right now.

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06-17-2011 at 10:43 PM
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west.logan
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Let's not be too quick to judge. Lots of people thought the DS was gimmicky but it's turned out to be a rather nicely made system.

Lots of people thought the N64 controller looked stupid when it first came out, turns out it's still one of my favourites.

The Gamecube controller looked like a couple of bananas to me when it first came out, until I put my hands on it, and really fell in love.

Now out comes this new controller. It could be extremely innovative. Nintendo has done a lot of things right that no one thought would work, let it be released a few months before bashing it. Satoru Iwata is a genius when it comes to hardware. Let's not forget that.

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06-17-2011 at 10:50 PM
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Rat Man
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I guess... but this time I really don't see how that could ever work! Let's just hope the Nintento Effect applies here.

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06-17-2011 at 10:54 PM
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Tim
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icon Re: Something old, something new (+2)  
For anyone who has missed the (semi-) hidden announcements, two screenshots are available of the soon-to-be-released Smitemaster Selection.

One of them can be found in this post. As for the other, you might have to do some work to get it.


Edit: There's also a new bar game.

Edit2: Well done! You've found a third screenshot! Picture uploaded with permission from Caravel. This one is a bit smaller for those with lesser bandwidth.

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[Last edited by Tim at 07-23-2011 11:22 AM]
07-18-2011 at 12:38 AM
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Casebier
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I was wondering what that screenshot was from. Something tells me I may not enjoy that room, also seems to be a potion missing.

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07-18-2011 at 09:21 PM
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CuriousShyRabbit
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That room is solvable with the potions shown. Not saying if there's another potion for the faint of heart... :P

But seriously, to be fair to the architect, the puzzle shown in the screenshot is atypical of the puzzles in this hold. If you enjoyed Terrakept Resonant and Imperial Wandering, but were hoping for something easier, you'll love the puzzles in the upcoming SmS! :D
07-18-2011 at 09:37 PM
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Casebier
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Yeah, I saw how it could be solved with only three potion. Of course, that could be in the Master Area and one with four potions could be in the main game. :-)

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07-20-2011 at 10:04 PM
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Casebier
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NiroZ wrote:
Just to save people a google: Gemcraft.

Personally I think Defence Grid: Awakenings is by far is the ultimate tower defence game. It isn't particularly innovative, but my god it is polished. Having said that, I've only played the first gemcraft to the point where it got too mindless.
There is a VERY similiar game to Defense Grid: Awakenings for the Android phones called Tower Raiders. Flames and Lasers work differently in Tower Raiders, so I was a little confused when I started playing Defense Grid.

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07-20-2011 at 10:06 PM
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Casebier
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Do we have an ETA yet on the new SmS? Also wondering if the CD from helping will arrive before the electronic version becomes available.

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07-23-2011 at 05:29 PM
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Tim
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Casebier wrote:
Also wondering if the CD from helping will arrive before the electronic version becomes available.
There's little point of sending out CDs before the electronic version.

The CD will contain a _stable_ version of the SmS, because no one wants a CD that is obsolete the moment you receive it. ;)

To offset that, there will also be other stuff on the CD, some of which you might have seen before.

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[Last edited by Tim at 07-25-2011 11:23 PM]
07-25-2011 at 11:22 PM
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Casebier
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But for those of us that like challenges, wouldn't an unstable version be more challenging? :D

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07-26-2011 at 12:28 AM
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Tim
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My personal opinion on this new Wii U thing is that it will fail catastrophically.

Their new gimmick is a touchscreen like the iPad, but instead of multitouch it will have buttons.

Games that want to make use of this gimmick will therefore end up like inferior iPad games.

However, it still has enough possibilities to support a game like DROD though.
(That doesn't mean I'm advocating it, I'd probably like to see it on the iPad first.)

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07-29-2011 at 08:48 PM
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