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This is Audio EXP for May 10th, and the episode title is “Aliens and mimics”.
[The following is a transcript of Audio EXP: #286]
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FGG Games won the RPG Publisher Spotlight this month.
I’m in touch, and the first wave of questions has been emailed. This is a relief as May is a busy and short month due to conventions. There’s not much scope for delay.
However, Bronwen wrote about a delay that seemed to please people. Rockstar has said that GTA 6 will be delayed until 2026.
Take Two, which owns Rockstar, supports the delay, and I’ve been nothing but understanding online. People seem to know how bad the crunch can be for game programmers, and we’re all experienced with the bugs that a rushed game can have. No one wants those.
Bronwen, who has a VR set up at her pad, also blogged about Alien: Rogue Incursion getting a flat edition. The VR game will be translated for a flat-screen experience and will be available on Steam and PS5. We’re betting on it getting wider distribution in time.
A game which Bronwen is not so keen on is my Spot the Mimic. I don’t blame her, as it’s nothing more than a fancy version of trying to roll the same number again and again on a dice to improve your score and then challenge a friend.
However, it’s not the difficulty of spotting the mimic that makes this game the worst thing I’ve ever done, according to Bronwen, it is that there’s no skill to it. It’s just luck. But, isn’t that what a game of chance is? I’ve seen photographic evidence of someone spotting six mimics in a row.
I advise playing quickly, challenging a friend, and then legging it.
Since we’re talking about chance, we can mention Egg Embry’s interview with Botch Dice.
Isn’t that a good name for the company?
These dice are noteworthy because they’re larger than your usual gamer dice, and they’re being made in the States. Botch’s decision to do this came many months before tariffs were even a consideration in the States.
That said, getting these dice made in the USA clearly isn’t easy, and Botch is trailblazing. It shows that switching to manufacturing doesn’t happen overnight.
If you’re a bit cautious about getting into making games or accessories, then there’s good news at GameFound.
GameFound have teamed up with DriveThruRPG, Magpie Games, Chaosium and Loot Tavern for an RPG Party.
If you’ve not tried to crowdfund a project before then you can submit to this program and, if successful, you might win both financial and management support for it.
The goal is to make it easier for people to get into making RPGs themselves, and I imagine GameFound, which is pretty established with board games, wants more RPG makers to consider it as a crowdfunding platform.
It’s clearly not easy making RPGs, and even successful publishers encounter fresh new problems every month. This week, Rowan, Rook and Decard, who make games like Spire and Heart, announced that they would not be at GenCon this year.
Why not? It’s not safe.
It’s about entering the United States of America when horrible things are happening to people there, whether they’re American or not. It’s also about the risk of strange and dramatic new business rules being brought about at short notice.
However, Rowan, Rook & Decard will have friends at GenCon and will be going to UK Games Expo later this month here in the UK.
It’s also bad news from Silver Fox Productions and RAFM Miniatures.
Canada’s biggest miniatures maker is closing down and has built up quite a lot of fees in doing so.
The hope is that by reactivating some digital products in the short term, and if people buy them, some of those costs can be paid off. The company is also fighting for other sales channels for their digital downloads. If they succeed, even if RAFM is no longer making physical models, some of their decades of hard work will live on.
A publisher who has had all sorts of battles, including one with Netflix, is Evil Genius. They’ll be looking to put that behind them with the upcoming crowdfunding campaign for Return of the Living Dead.
Geek Native has an interview with lead designer Nick Lowe and some art from the game on the blog. I think it’s worth checking out, especially if you don’t know how much of a change Return of the Living Dead is from Night of the Living Dead.
We’ve also previously discussed the battles and competition in the virtual tabletop space. This week, Roll20 has announced some $120 free content if you pre-order Eberron: Forge of the Artificer quickly.
That’s better than Wizards of the Coast’s own deal, but if you hang around, then your pre-order bonus goes down.
There are some other bundle deals without diminishing returns to look at in just a bit, but first let’s mention Holmes & Co..
That’s a new TTRPG coming from the Italian publisher Nevola Lab, and the Kickstarter coming, the quickstarter is out now and free.
There’s an investigation with pre-made characters in that free download that’s set here in Edinburgh. Of course, it is here that the Sherlock Holmes series was written.
The first of three bundles to mention and one of two at the Bundle of Holding that I’ve written is up is Against the Darkmaster. Inspired by MERP, this OSR-style game begins with a randomly created villain for your world.
The other is Free Trader Beowulf which is a sci-fi classic in its own right.
The third bundle is at Humble and is Paizo Publishing’s Asian fantasy-themed Pathfinder offer. They’ve the Lost Omens series, which this deal gets into and at the top tier, there are hardback editions of the pencil sketch cover of Pathfinder to unlock. I’ve never seen those on shop shelves here in the UK.
Lastly, and not related to Geek Native, but a competition for British book buyers. The indie Bookshop.org are on today and tomorrow only, that’s the 10th and 11th of May, entering everyone who buys a book or a gift card into a competition to win £250. As someone who likes to have a £10 book voucher ready as an emergency last-minute gift to give, this is essentially a free chance to win £250. The only catch, a bit like Roll20’s pre-order deal, is that it’s time-sensitive and you have to pounce almost as quickly as I recommend you click the mouse playing the Spot the Mimic game.
On that note, spot the mimic, and see you next week.
