Our Daily Beard
I got the lamp!
Now I can read in bed again!
I’ve been looking at Son of Nor.
This is a game being funded by Kickstarter, the newest, most exciting way to get stuff done without having any money.
Indie game devs are all upon Kickstarter like Mogwai on a 24/7 buffet. Yeah, I know there’s no such thing as a 24/7 buffet, but a man can dream.
One such dev is Stillalive Studios, who are making the very interesting Son of Nor. This is a third person action game where you wield magic in a desert world. I know- it sounds more like it should be set in Yorkshire!
He has a boner! sigh.
A précis of the setting:
“(The story is set at) ‘The Edge’, the last refuge of the human race; located in the northern mountains of the desert world, Noshrac and home to mankind after their defeat in ‘The Great War’ against the reptilian Sarahul Empire.
With the intention of exterminating the human race, the refuge is soon discovered by the Sarahul Empire whose armies are being readied for the attack.
As a Son of Nor, a human blessed by the moon goddess, you possess the power of telekinesis and the ability to terraform. Your purpose is to protect what’s left of your race and to save it from almost certain extinction.”
So, there we have it. You live in fantasytowne, under attack by the monstyrbaddyz, and Only You Can Save Mankind.
Aha! Lizard folk are weak against urns.
What looks cool about Son o’ Nor is the magic system. Telekinesis is nothing new in games- since HL2, we’re been throwing stuff around like mad. However, they do seem to have mastered the realism of object weight and behaviour- the cool preview vids demonstrate that. The really interesting thing is the terraforming, in other words, shaping the environment. This can be used as a weapon, or to access hidden locations. A few games have tried this, but this is the first fantasy that I can think of. The video looks very promising and I think it’s a testament to smaller developers that they can produce quality physics programming (is that the word?) on par with that of the big studios.
On that note, how good does the game look? Some will no doubt say that the graphics are dated, but those of us who were raised on 8 and 16 bit must give massive props to any smaller studio who can produce pretty 3D environments.
Give it a nosey. I’m considering funding- I’m a Kickstarter virgin though and wary of anything where my money goes away. But I do like buying cool games…
Check out the terraforming, kinesis and elemental magic on this vid.
See you tomorrow!
[sociable]
