Speedy Delivery - 08-03-2008

From the mouth of Patrick:

I'm going to make a pretty bold prediction right now: Within the next ten years, commercial physical media (as we know it) will no longer be available for purchase. No longer will we go to the nearest electronic store and browse the latest Blu-Ray movies that came out, nor will we have stacks of DVDs that our favorite games were bought on.

Instead, we'll be buying and downloading all our content from the safety of our home.

Until recently, physical media have always been the most efficient way of distributing data in the highest quality possible and in the most legal way possible. Thankfully, we've had two companies who have given birth to, in my opinion, the best thing that could happen for the technological age: Apple and Valve.

To quickly touch base on Apple, they introduced the iTunes Store in 2003, and just this year became the number one music retailer (Physical and downloadable) in the United States. Currently, they're rolling out downloadable movies, movie rentals, and television shows as well in various countries, and they're greatly picking up steam (which leads me to...)

In terms of PC gaming, the greatest thing in the past five years is the introduction of Steam. What Steam did for PC gaming was take the best things that console gamers had and add the benefits of what you can do with the PC platform. Things like friends, chat, instant friend game joining and, alas, a way to store and play games without the need for a physical medium. Gametap has created a similar service as well focusing more on independent and older games, and a new service based just on retro gameplay is launching within the next couple of months.

However, there are still a couple of hurdles that hide themselves. If you read the Steam contract for any game you buy, you'll see that if Steam goes down, then all of your legally purchased games are unplayable. As well, these gaming services tend to have poor offline modes that do at some point require online verification. Still, the day where electronic stores are filled simply with hardware and all software and multimedia is off the disc will be a very happy day in my mind.

And then maybe I'll be able to clear enough room off my desk to add a second monitor. Except for all the cool stuff I like to collect. Which brings me to...

DROD: The City Beneath Limited Edition Deluxe Boxed Set

The collector in me is pleased to announce that Caravel Games is finally taking pre-orders for the deluxe CD version of The City Beneath! This limited edition boxed set will be crammed with more features than you can imagine, including a physical poster map of Dugandy (helpful for those tourists who are looking for a nice vacation spot or maybe have a hankering for a roachburger), and other surprise bonus goodies on the CD.

For all those of you who've bought the downloadable version of DROD:TCB previously, you can get the boxed set for an easy $16 by emailing your previous order information to Mike at Caravel (miker [at] caravelgames [dot] com) and asking for a coupon code. Better hurry, only 200 copies are going to be available and a substantial portion have already been spoken for as of this moment!

http://www.caravelgames.com/buyTCB.html (Buy CD Link)
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22247 (Discussion)

Devilishly Dangerous Dungeons of Doom

Yes, it may have been over a year in the making, but the brand-new Smitemaster's Selection is out, authored by Roger Barnett, prominent forum figure Calamarain! This episode takes place shortly after the end of The City Beneath. In it, Beethro's out to tell people the secret he learned at Lowest Point, but something's blocking him from reaching the one person that could actually help him out. Let the raucous romp of alliterative allegory melt into your mind! Anyone with existing credits can grab the SS through the Purchase tab in their forum Profile, or they can pick up some extra credits via the link below.

Caravel is taking final pre-orders for this SmS on CD. If you have a CD credit in your Caravel user account, you'll get this issue sent to you as soon as it's printed. If not, and you want this new SmS on CD, then you'd better act fast and order one!

http://www.caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/SS.html

Ask almost anything about DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale

You may have heard through the grapevine that Caravel's releasing a new game in the not-too-distant future. You may have even heard that it stars a character other than Beethro. Heck, you may have even heard that it will be like a role-playing game as opposed to a straight puzzle game. But what if your main concern was the color of this new character's hair? This is the topic to ask all about it!

And no, we don't know the release date yet, but it will be soon!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22016

Winners Galore

Many puzzles were created in our June contest, but we could only have three winners. Techant took bronze with her DROD rendition of Sudoku (and personally, I'm a big fan of Sukodu thanks to long lunch hours), DanielFishman took second for a fun puzzle for watchdogs, and brian_s received First Place for his Laryngitis puzzle (please collect the item of your choice from the Prize Pile!). All of the puzzles were well crafted, and an excellent way to sharpen the ol' noggin!

http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21953 (Puzzles)
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22143 (Results)

DROD: Not-so-realtime RTS

In an effort to gain more market share, August's contest is all about simulating a strategy version of our favorite game. Participants are given a ten-roach army, and turns will be occurring three times a week. Sadly, it's too late to enter this contest, but that doesn't mean you can't observe the fun! This should certainly be an interesting contest to say the least!

http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22216

Topic Picks for July

Our good friend Robobob3000 has stepped up to the microphone to start reporting about the wonderful events that happen in the forum. I wanted to try and get him to go to QuakeCON, but it was apparently outside my budget.

Speedy Cheese
This poll doesn't just ask the burning question we've all been wondering about. It also represents an astonishing breakthrough in verbal efficiency: Cheese good? Take care when participating - there is such a thing as a wrong answer in this poll.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22235

Guess the Screenshot
This little forum game has been burning up the board for approximately 82 pages now and shows no sign of stopping any time soon. I mean, look at it! That topic icon is literally on fire! Come take a look and marvel at how ugly games used to be. Show off some of your own obscure favorites!

http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=10851

Hawks: Also Known for Their Speed
The_Red_Hawk, best known for his colossal Deep Hold, has returned to our corner of the internet from the searing brightness of the outside world to give us Lightning, a short hold based around (wait for it...) speed potions! Let's help an old forum vet out with some testing, what do you say?
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22186

Flash! (Not to be confused with The Flash, of course)
How do you attract the masses to harsh puzzle hacking and slashing? Simple! Flash-based gameplay! If you've got a knack for the ol' ActionScript, give this community project a look over. Be forewarned: A DROD-themed gem-swapper is entirely unacceptable.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=22196

Barleytown, Dungeon Master, Secret Santa Compilation, Outposts, Album 2, An Eye View, Castle Steele
These are all the holds that have been released in the past month. Be sure to give them a shot, as a couple of them were made by experienced architects!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/holds.php

Have a great month everyone!

-Patrick

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Achievements are a Crutch - 07-09-2008

Hello everyone! The name's Patrick Fisher (pay no attention to the mrimer icon behind the curtain), and I'm the guy temporarily responsible for Caravel Games' monthly newsletter in order to alleviate some of Mike's workload. For those of you who don't know me, I'm known as "gamer_extreme_101" on the forums. I've been around since early 2004, and have been responsible for such things as the hold "Delver's Demise", the redesign of the Drod.net website, and pretty much any support request since March.

When the Orange Box came out for the PC last year, I was initially in love with the concept of achievements. Maybe it's the little bit of OCD in my personality, or maybe it's the ability to be able to show off online that you beat a gigantic robot up a hill, it just gives you reason to throw a little extra effort into a game. And believe me, if you can squeeze an extra hour or two into a game, it's usually worth it (as most games nowadays are too short to begin with).

But as time went on, and additional updates brought new achievements, I started to see the downside to the whole achievement phenomenon. Achievements are a cheap way to tack on extra time and extra content to a game that clearly cannot be expanded onto any other way. Yes, killing every single creature in a game with a broken chair leg might be entertaining for the first fifteen minutes, but after an hour you'd be ready to gnaw your arm off!

This is what makes DROD such a wonderful game. We don't need achievements to lengthen the game or enhance the gameplay in any form. We have over 320 additional level sets, and the amount of rooms that can be constructed in the engine are almost infinite. Who needs achievements when you can spend a lifetime creating and playtesting the various additional levels that can be made in the editor.

But achievements aren't always bad. This whole newsletter is intended to show appreciation to all the people in our community who go out of their way to make the extra difference. So, I bring you the following achievements that should be handed out this month.

Achievement: Be the new Voice of Beethro

By his excellent audition, unanimously acclaimed by forum-goers who responded, our dynamic Snacko has been chosen to be the new voice of Beethro Budkin, fifth generation smitemaster. You'll hear him in the upcoming Smitemaster's Selection by Calamarain called "Devilishly Dangerous Dungeons of Doom".

Achievement: Start beta testing of DROD RPG: Tendry's Tale

Yes, that's right. Mike and the rest of the Caravel team put the final smack-down on level design, voice recording, selected some beta testers and started slashing all those bugs hiding inside the game's code. Are you one of them? Well, you would would most certainly know if you were? Odds are high you may not need to wait that long, as at the time of posting, we're sitting at 94.5% completion. (Have you heard the song yet?)
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21722

Achievement: Publish a hold without ripping your hair out

In June, we had four holds released: Door Master, Desert Plateau, 39th Guard -1- Silent Cliff, and Floor 33. Right now, three out of four of those holds are rated over 8.4, so give them a look!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/holds.php

Achievement: Bite and claw your way to a contest victory

I kid, really, but the voting for June's contest, Frankenstein's Wanderer, ended today. Of the six entries that were submitted, Rheb's entry took the gold! He was followed up closely by mxvladi and VIPCOOL, respectively. Congratulations to the three of you! As well, congrats to techant, hyperme, and eb0ny for submitting entries. At the very least, they're adding on to their eight-timer prize!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21867

July's contest, Puzzles Galore, has been released, and it's about showing off your own cool puzzle. Read about it here:
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21952

Jatopian's Topic Picks

Once again, our brave forum reporter spent day and night, braving the elements, scouring the forum for the best topics worthy of this newsletter.

Cartographical Theory
A discussion with fine points and examples of fantastical and strange map-making.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21811

Philosophical Smokescreens
We answer the unanswerable.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21346

Snake Tangle
A simple puzzle for your enjoyment.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21504

Subforum report: Quest for Yrolg
Crystal Shard releases its novel new adventure game, in which you play the force of evil attempting to bring the adventurers to their demise.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21891

Thanks, Jatopian!

And on that note, have a wonderful July! Enjoy the warm weather by installing DROD onto your laptop and playing it on your patio in the blissful summer heat. If you're in the southern hemisphere, come on up and join us!

-Patrick

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And now, without further ado... - 06-07-2008

Without further ado -- or without any ado, really, for those with a pedantic streak (but, seriously, who likes the aforementioned "ado", anyway?!) -- I bring you the latest and greatest news for Caravel Games and the Forum:

TCB Trailer

A TCB trailer video has been released for DROD: The City Beneath. It's excellent, if I do say so myself. A big thanks to forum member slimm tom for helping with the video recording. You may view it from the Caravel Games TCB page here:

http://www.caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/TCB.html

JtRH is in 3.2

Danforth Strout, in the constant pursuit of bringing greater value to the DROD fanbase, made the following promotional announcement this month:

The official DROD:Journey to Rooted Hold hold has been updated to work in the 3.2 game engine. Registered JtRH owners logged into CaravelNet may now download JtRH into their DROD:TCB installation from the game's Hold Management Screen. That is, you must be using the 3.2 game engine or newer and have registered your copy of DROD:JtRH to your CaravelNet user account for this option to be available.

As a bonus, purely stylistic changes have been made here and there in the hold to take advantage of the three new room styles featured in 3.0 and the new weather and lighting effects. (If you are using the TCB demo and not the full version, then the hold will appear in the default City style, as usual.)

The New Voice of Beethro Could Be You

Ever wanted to be the next James Bond? How about the next Batman? Well, maybe it's not quite the same, but now there's an opening for you to audition to be the next voice of Beethro Budkin, Smitemaster Extraordinare, in upcoming DROD games! See all the yummy details for a chance at stardom at
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21552

Upcoming Smitemaster's Selection

We are beginning voice recording for the next Smitemaster's Selection, "Devilishly Dangerous Dungeons of Doom", architected by forum member Calamarain. Expect to see it available soon on CaravelNet!

If you are interested in auditioning for other DROD voice roles in upcoming official titles in addition to Beethro Budkin, you may read about it at
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21551

Don't Ask Award

I'd like to extend Calamarian a Don't Ask Award for being an upstanding member of the community in so many ways, including excellent fan-art and being a leading figure in advancing general architectural quality on the forum. Calamarain, please choose a prize from the Prize Pile.

May Contest Results

A contest about running mini-contests! Lots of love went into these creative endeavors, which you may read about on the Contests board. As reported by NiroZ:

First prize goes to Noma. I think you deserved 1st place, given the level of care shown towards entrants, as well as the overall quality of the contest ("Puzzle Rally Race").

Second place goes to TripleM, who I felt was a very close runner up to Noma. He paid close attention to his entrants, and had a well thought out contest ("Rare / Common answers"). Unfortunately, he fell into the teacher paradox, where people only consider the time actually in front of them. Having run many a contest, I know how much work is often put into the background of these contests in order to make them run smoothly, and that data analysis was superb, and must of taken up quite a bit of time.

Third place by her own choice is Techant, who presented a well thought out, carefully executed contest ("Spin Me A Yarn").

May Holds

A slew of great new holds (without further ado) have come your way, as reported by NiroZ:

Candy for Gramps

Why you should be bringing your grandpa candy is beyond me. But I know that bringing the elderly exorbitant amounts of sugar isn’t the main reason you’re playing this hold. No, it’s the masochistic urge in all of us that drives us bald with insanity. As such, this is a nice, relatively short, hold which features an allotment of puzzles, the majority of which focus on the aumtlich. While it doesn’t feature a perfectly smooth difficulty curve, I found it rather rewarding as it gave you motivation to persevere onwards.

not dr0d 2: DROD Tower

Hate lynchpins? Loathe the hack and slash? Still haven’t been able to pass the Infohut? Then this hold is for you. Seamlessly implementing word puzzles into DROD, this hold does injustice to its description, perhaps indicating the perfectionism of the author which has paid off in spades. Oh, and check out the treasure room!

Symphony

Who thought that DROD could be a musical masterpiece? Admittedly, as someone pointed out, this isn’t a symphony in the strictest sense, with its loose definition of some of the musical terms, but hey, it’s the concept that counts.

Pathways of Witherwood
This is the final entry in the excellent Witherwood series, with voice-acted storyline running throughout and a post-mastery surprise.

89-th Slayer
A hold about 89th Slayer, with some puzzles and quests.

Imperial palace
55th Slayer is, purportedly, the best Slayer, but the Imperial council decided to trick him and give him the worst work of his life.

DROD Tester One
A series of tests of increasing difficulty.

Get all these brain goodies at
http://forum.caravelgames.com/holds.php

Now leave me alone while I go fetch some candy for Beethro's gramps.

Topic Picks

Thanks to Jatopian for compiling these:

Zen
This ongoing Architecture project ports the game engine of Zen Puzzle Garden into DROD, mixing in DROD elements for previously unseen puzzles.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=18872

The Quiet Game
...
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21116

Snacko Reviews Games
Every so often forum member Snacko makes an incredibly insightful post about a game he's played. We keep telling him to start a blog like other high-quality reviewers, but he seems to prefer our forum.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=17189
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21616
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=21592

Wonderquest Website
Gustavo Duarte's complex stepping game now has its own website.
http://www.wonderquest.org/


Now, without further ado, this concludes the June Illumination.

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I Own a Time Machine - 05-10-2008

I Own a Time Machine

The Caravel headquarters has many things stored in its basement. There are vaults housing all manner of documental archives, blueprints, and devices. One of these devices is a fickle time machine. This week, I was able to activate it and go back in time -- about two months, that is. However, there's a catch. I can't physically go back in time. My conscious mind is sent back, and while there, I am only able to perceive events that were somehow connected to the workings of Caravel itself.

This is what I saw...

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I Believe in Imaginary Property - 03-01-2008

I've now written three, friggin' holy-roller essays on the sanctity of intellectual property. It's a subject that's been boring into my soul lately, because I keep running into these nice, normal, should-not-be-in-jail people that view the internet as a giant media freebie spree. It's extremely frustrating for me, because it's like somebody not understanding why they shouldn't stab me in the face. It's pretty obvious to me, after all, but how to explain why to somebody else?

My essays were each intended for this Illumination newsletter, but each basically failed to make a succinct and coherent case for why one ought to be respectful of what another creates. I think I bit off more than I can chew, or at least more than should fit inside of an Illumination post. I suppose we've got books like the Fountainhead for that kind of thing, so I probably shouldn't worry about it.

The problem with philosophy is that it's a terrible red herring. Any honest argument you make about what one ought to do will lead you back to philosophy: definitions of good and bad, right and wrong, and holy jeebus... epistemology. When you back all the way up to epistemology, you know you've hit rock bottom. So I often feel like I very badly want to convince people they ought to do one little thing, like not pirate computer games, for example. But in the end, I have to catch myself, because I know where the twisting arguments lead. Look deeper than all the clever debate scores you can make, and the coin comes up nihilism every time.

So I'll just make a quick little plea: spend two years working on something of your own design--a novel, an opera, a robot, something creative... I don't care. If you still feel like there should not be such a thing as intellectual property, I will respect your disagreement with my position. But often, the people making the case that every scrap of media in the world be free, have never created anything substantial of their own. So they never had the big "Mine" moment, and regrettably, aren't qualified to talk about what can and can't be owned.

I notice that it's the end of the month, the February Illumination hasn't yet been posted, and at least two people's creative output has gone unrespected (vocally, by me, at least). I don't want Jatopian blowing up his compromised topic picks with dynamite, and I don't want Mattcrampy encouraging the brightest members of the forum to relocate to a secret society. So I'd best pay brief mention to their efforts.

Holds Al Dente 2008

We did this contest before, and it was screamingly popular. The idea is that a number of holds (level collections) are put forth for the playing pleasure of the less-determined. Shorter holds, not so hard, and you can finish them in about an hour.

I botched the announcement timing here. You can't enter a new hold as an architect at this point, but you can play and vote for the holds. And this is the popcorn DROD-gaming that lots of people love, so I definitely recommend checking it out.

contest details

Over 29.4 Quintillion Served

Some folks put in vast amounts of effort in creating these ingenious new number systems. They can be used to represent any number between 1 and 29.5 quintillion, and they are particularly good for tattoos or drawing in blood. Math geeks, give it a looksee. You can vote on your favorite number system, if you like.

contest details

Jatopian's Topic Picks

With a Roarkian determination, Jatopian brought forth truth and certainty, caring not how cowardly parasites acted to bring about his destruction. You will benefit from his work, but know this: he did these things for himself alone.

To be a little clearer, these are some topics on the Caravel forum that Jatopian thinks might be interesting to you. Why not take a look?

The Resnakening
A fun official contest involving online serpentine multiplay is resurrected in unofficial form.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=19776

Xmas is over until next September or so...
The answers to the puzzling activities presented over Xmas are revealed. However, one may still find the reward for solving them.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=19915

Please Post Here If You Are Not An Actual Human Being
This topic is self-explanatory. It will clearly revolutionize the War on Spambots.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=19817

Extraordinary Ordinary Thread
Many forums have a thread in which members post links to things. Ours is noteworthy because we have Impeccable Taste.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=3480

Samuel's Tutorial on TCB, Cheap Trick contest compilation, Fireballs, Beethro's Brain, Doctor Beethro
These are all the holds which have been released since the previous Illumination.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/holds.php

Subforum Report: Subterra update & expansions
Crystal Shard's Subterra has been made bigger & better, with several new levels and a Hall of Fame for great players.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=19949

Yes, there will be a separate March Illumination. This one just barely made it for February. Pacific Standard Time, baby!

-Erik

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