What’s wrong with Matt Chat?

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imagesSince my last post, I’ve been thinking more and more about what I’ve been doing “wrong” with Matt Chat, at least in terms of building an audience. Many folks have pointed out, and I think correctly, that with the caliber of guests I have on the show–and I’ve been maintaining that for years now–the show should be doing much better. There are countless guys out there doing simple reviews and let’s play type videos who are simply obliterating my views and subscriber lists.

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2014: New Year Rezzed Delusions

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Growth. It happens when the kid in the caveman costume stops hitting his big sis and starts crying because she slapped him back too hard. That’s a sister’s job, really. And a good thing, too. The only thing more pathetic than a crying little boy is an insufferable, prizewinning, highly successful asshole who never got smacked to tears with his own stupid foam club.

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My CRPG History

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One of the favorite things I like to ask my guests on Matt Chat is about their gaming history. What games did you play that sealed your fate as a lifelong gamer? I could talk about that for awhile, actually–because some designers admit to (really) not liking games very much anymore. My guess is that they’re into it mostly for the technical challenge of making them or the economic challenge of selling them. But anyway, on to my own CRPG History!

The earliest memory I have of CRPGs is a cassette tape my dad had labeled “Dungeons & Dragons.” I believe it was a game for the VIC-20 we had at the time. I asked him about it, but received only the mysterious response, “It’s too complicated for you now. You’ll need to be older to play it.” There are few things you can tell a 6 year old that will stimulate a lifelong interest better than that. However, sadly, I never played whatever that game was.

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Matt Chat 222: Seth Robinson on LORD

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Seth returns this week to talk about his epic BBS door game, Legend of the Red Dragon. We then chat about his take on Tradewars, another door game called Planets. We end with a discussion of LORD II, an ambitious sequel that failed to make the impact of the original.

You can play LORD for free at Nuklear LORD. You can play Planets at Mortal BBS.

Download the mp4 of this episode here.

Matt Chat 220: Wizardry 8

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I finally got around this week to playing a true CRPG classic from Sir-Tech and Brenda Brathwaite: Wizardry 8! This is an awesome game that I would love to see more of today: full 6-party character creation, strategic combat (you get a choice between “phase” and “continuous”), and of course, an epic storyline.

You can download the mp4 here.
If you want to buy the game, use my affiliate link from GOG.com. At $5, this is a real steal, especially when a boxed copy might set you back $60 or more.

 

Turn-Based Combat Making a Comeback?: About Damn Time

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Torment-Tides-of-NumeneraYou may have heard that inXile’s Torment: Tides of Numenera project recently held an election among its Kickstarter supporters. The purpose was to help them decide whether their game should feature turn-based or real-time with pause (RTwP) combat. The results were very close, but they ended up (hooray!) going with turn-based combat. They also published a lengthy update on their Kickstarter page explaining their decision and why they think their version of turn-based will not be boring, slow, or repetitive.

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Matt’s Guide to Kickstarter Success

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Deathfire-FeaturedWhat is the secret formula for Kickstarter success? Well, I haven’t done one myself, but as you know, I’ve interviewed plenty of folks who have–and tried my best to support the ones I felt passionately about.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Guido Henkel’s Deathfire Kickstarter failed to meet its $390,000 goal, coming in at only $204,344. You probably also know that this was Guido’s second attempt at a Kickstarter; his earlier Thorvalla project raised only $47,074 of its $1,000,000 goal. Guido did much better this time, but it’s sad to see what I thought was a remarkably promising CRPG fail to raise a modest sum for such an ambitious project. He’s since gone to “Plan B,” which amounts to re-thinking the project as a series of episodes and accepting donations through PayPal (the reward structure is similar to the one on Kickstarter).

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Matt Chat 219: Guido Henkel on PS:T

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I’m back this week for one last segment with Guido Henkel. After discussing why Guido prefers the second Realms of Arkania, we get into his move to Interplay and his work on Planescape: Torment. We also discuss other projects, including his unreleased superhero MMO.

Sadly, Deathfire did not meet its Kickstarter goal. However, Guido has set up a “Plan B” that you should check out. Don’t forget, too, that you can get Realms of Arkania 1-3 and Planescape: Torment from GOG using my affiliate link . There’s no extra cost to you, but the show gets a kickback!

 

Download the mp4.

Matt Chat 218: Guido Henkel on Books, Manuals, and Arkania

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Guido returns this week to chat about game manuals, his Jason Dark books, and the first two Realms of Arkania games. I think you’ll particularly his discussion of the manuals, which he thinks (and I agree) contributes more to a gaming experience than most modern publishers and designers seem to think. We also chat about the first two Realms of Arkania games. By the way, you can get them all from GOG using my affiliate link. I highly recommend their packages, which include not just the game (already setup for you), but also the soundtrack, manuals, and even the official cluebooks.

Support Guido’s Deathfire kickstarter here.

Download the mp4 of this video here.