Shouting Out for Patreons One More Time

Ah, esteemed reader, how are things? How's the family? Played anything interesting lately? Did you perhaps notice just how drastically my output of indie gaming focused words increased? Should I once again remind you of the existence of my Patreon or should I just thank you one more time for your crucial support?

I know; I'll give another shout out to the three lovely entities who've generously joined the ranks of my supporters instead:

Eclectically geeky indie dev Melissa Avery-Weir (@averymd) of Future Proof Games and (creepy, satirical, unique, brilliant) Ossuary fame.

Author Tony Scavone whose book Dardenfall: West of the Earthvein I still can't buy and read due to those blasted capital controls, but will do so as soon as its allowed.

Infamous Quests: the amazing adventure game developers who have already given us excellent point and clicker Quest for Infamy and are working on three new games. 

IGS, RPS, Earthling Priorities and that RPG

It seems that after another most substantial break I am back with yet another update. Why? Well, because I've been incredibly busy with all sorts of things and you'd most probably like to know what said things are. They interest you, dear reader, for they are all about games.

Let me start with IndieGameStand then, for this is the indie focused place I've started working with in order to provide people with a shiny new freeware gaming place (soon to be revealed) and some excellent, pay-what-you-want deals. The first one is already live and let's you grab Daedalic's Journey of the Roach and Night of the Rabbit adventures for less than $2. Not bad, eh?

Well, to move on to some not exactly brilliant news, my freeware column on the lovely Rock Paper Shotgun, Freeware Garden, is no more. It ran its course, showcased over a hundred of the best freebies available and has been put to rest, though chances are more of my words should be appearing on this excellent site. Also, you can still find my writing on indie things over at Indiegames.com and Warp Door.

Hopefully on a new still super-secret site too...

What's more, both that rather huge and decidedly unique RPG I've been working on with a most amazing team of people is progressing along slowly yet surely. Earthling Priorities, on the other hand, that short sci-fi adventure, should finally be finished in the following months. Weeks even.

But, enough about me. How are you, oh reader? 

Patreons Shout Out The Second

Well, cuddly reader, following an okay-ish summer and an already nasty autumn I'm delighted to announce my return to my humble and beloved Gnome's Lair. Yes, it's been a long time and things have happened, but we'll have time for everything only right after I give another shout out to more of the wonderful souls that have supported my Patreon campaign:

Ofer Rubinstein (twitter): developer of Afternoon Hero who keeps a devlog here and a YouTube channel here.

Ludicrously talented Robb Sherwin (twitter) whose site you can find here and who has created some of the best written interactive fiction this side of the Great Underground Empire.

Talha Kaya; an indie dev who has been creating absolutely bonkers games as part of the (super) Kayabros. Find them on twitter.

The great (and very dear) Erik Zaring of the exquisite Dream Machine. You can follow his handcrafted adventure gaming antics on twitter and facebook.

Also, a great big thanks to Rob, Anatoly, Alan, Francisco, Marcos, Dan, Ivo, Ben, Tim, John, Richard, Kurt, Delyth, Georgios, Dagda and Daniel. You people are just amazing!

A Short Summer Break and a short game on smoking

Having completely missed last summer and having endured what has without doubt been the worse six months ever, the time has come for my humble tired self to go on vacation; take a couple (or maybe three) weeks off. Have a bit of fun. Attempt to relax. Catch my breath.

This, of course, also means I'll be able to return and be properly refreshed in order to do all sorts of creative/indie things... You know, finish the Earthling Priorities freeware point-and-clicker (everybody else's work is mostly done), properly edit Workers In Progress, revamp this very blog, write more on indie and other sorts of games over at IndieGames.com, Warp Door, Retro Treasures and some other --to be announced and rather exciting-- places.

Oh, and did I mention I'm working on a dream project of mine with some absolutely brilliant people? Well, I am, but can't say much more besides admitting it's a RPG of sorts.

And now, dear reader, I bid you goodbye! I expect to be back before you know it (i.e. 14 days or so) and here's a lovely little something to keep you occupied: The Smoking Simulator. It's silly and good looking and quite a bit of fun and, well, it also is a freeware offering.

So, uhm, see you!

The thankful Patreon Shout Out!

Time to put on the Patreon face, remind you of the fact that you can still support me and my work on indie gaming, and publicly thank some of the wonderfully generous people who have done so already. Mind you, those are not all my benevolent patrons, but just the ones who have provided me with the links and info for this shout out (hopefully more will follow).

Here's to some of the kind souls that have helped me then!

Christos “acer7” Tountas (twitter, facebook); a good friend and supporter of every game-related thing I have ever done.

Adventure developers and masters of all things black and white Expression Studios (twitter, web, email).

My friend, master pixel artist and indie developer Gionathan Pesaresi (twitter) of Neutronized.

The great producer of C64 cartridges James Monkman (twitter) of RGCD fame.

The kind Stéphane.

My ridiculously (multi-)talented friend Eriq Chang (twitter, web).

And my dear, close friend Agustin Cordes (twitter) of Senscape; the creator of the best horror adventures ever and a staunch supporter for years.

Also, a huge thanks to Rob, Tim, Alan, Dan, Ben, Tam, Richard, John, Eric, Kurt, Ofer, Delyth, Dagda, Georgios and Daniel, who, I hope, will very soon get their proper shout out too (psst, just drop me a line)!

Busy Gnomes need Patr(e)ons to make Words and Games!

Writing for games does not pay; even if you've been doing it for the better part of a decade. Then again, crafting freeware and indie games doesn't really pay much either and thus, dear reader, the time has come for me to search for patrons who'll help me keep on with my indie game supporting/discovering/writing/crafting work. People who think that what I've been doing is worth their help and are willing to provide me with the monthly equivalent of a cup of coffee.

Yes, I have setup a Patreon page for my humble self where you can donate and even get something back for it, all the while allowing me to do more than ever and --finally-- properly and fully revive Gnome's Lair!

Thank you,

the guy whose monocled face you can see above 

Moleman 2: Demoscene - The Art of the Algorithms

Now that you've spent the last 90 minutes watching the video above and have enjoyed an almost cathartic explosion of algorithmically produced art, you already know you love what the demoscene is doing and I frankly can blame you. Better show your appreciation the IndieGoGo way then.

The Summer of the Gnomes

The first Bundle In A Box is over, I took a few (tiring yet wonderful) days off and now I'm joyfully returning to my dear and humble Gnome's Lair. And do I have things piled up for you to enjoy dear and most loyal of readers! First of all there will be reviews; reviews of games I love and am taking my time with.

Reviews of such generally brilliant offerings as The Sea Will Claim Everything, Resonance, A Valley Without Wind, Dark Scavenger, Unity of Command, The Journey Down and maybe a few more. I will though change the way I review or write about stuff as I frankly don't really feel like judging games as products; not that I ever did, but I sure feel like it sometimes felt like I did.

What's more, I'm thinking of writing a few articles on older games, designing games and other less news-oriented stuff, which I'm mostly keeping for my delightful job over at the IndieGames Blog.

Oh, and as I am actually working on a couple of games with Kyttaro Games and our next bundles, I'll try and see whether I can finally release a small, personal game during this very summer. Not particularly optimistic on this front, but, well, one can always hope.

That's all for now I suppose. Cheers reader!

Gnomes sighted at the Indie Games Blog

I know you don't always follow my twitter feed, oh not-so-faithful reader, for you would have otherwise noticed I've also started blogging over at the venerable (and most excellent) IndieGames.com. No, really. I've already written about Twine, The Sea Will Claim Everything and Delaware St. John 4, see? And I do hope to follow this up with more than a few interviews, previews, reviews and news bits. Oh, and a semi-regular thing about game creation tools, so, uhm, have a look will you? Who knows? I might even attempt something more retro-focused too...

Fight against SOPA and PIPA!

Remember Remember the 6th of December

Three years ago, on the 6th of December 2008 the police, without provocation, murdered a 15 year old boy in the streets of Athens leading to mass outrage, grief and the greatest and most dynamic demonstrations in years. Athens burned, the government almost collapsed, the police trembled and the people, having just rediscovered their power, seemed to be preparing for the battles ahead. Well, those battles are here and what better way to commemorate the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos than taking part in today's demonstrations? None really, but as the vast majority of the readers of this blog are not in fact residents of Greece I'll suggest something else: support the heroically striking steel workers.

Following drastic pay cuts, mass lay-offs and hundreds of workplace "accidents", they have entered their second month of strike and though the support among Greek society is indeed huge, you have to understand that said society is actually collapsing. People are living on the streets, youth unemployment has exceeded 40%, taxes are rising, shops are closing, pensions are vanishing, nobody gets properly paid and, well, though we have so far managed to support the striking workers, I really can't see how much longer we can last. People from around the world have to help by spreading the solidarity and donating as much as they can via this bank account: 

IBAN: GR 40 0110 2000 0000 2006 2330 152

Every donation counts; the bank account belongs to the workers union. And do remember that these workers aren't just striking for themselves. They are striking for the people of the world. They will win.

Oh, and hadn't Alexandros been shot down he would only be 18 years old now...

So, what's going on inside Gnome's Lair?

I know that posting hasn't been as frequent as you cuddly reader have come to expect and that you might -quite justifiably- feel robbed of your daily gnomic dose. Well, you are right, I'm sorry, but as even gnomes have to eventually eat, sometimes my blogging time is severely limited, though -to my defense- both the twitter and the facebook page of Gnome's Lair remain as active as ever. So, on to what I have been up to, shall we?

• Well, on the blogging front, I'm currently working on a pretty huge three-part feature on AGD Interactive, that will cover all of their most excellent adventure remakes, their future plans, their unreleased projects, Himalaya Studios and more than a few peeks behind the creative scenes. Problem is I already have a ton of info (thank you so much AGDI!), which I have to transform into something readable and that apparently does take some time. Also I wouldn't want them three parts of the feature appearing farther than a few days from each other. Obviously more gaming and game related writing is also happening behind the scenes, while a variety of other blogs are also maintained.

• Then, there's always that Wikileaks Stories game I've been constantly redesigning for the past few months. Good news is I've settled on a final desing and started actually crafting the thing; bad news is there's a lot of work to be done and my lack of Inform experience isn't really helping. Still, I'm rather optimistic on this one, though, truth be said, basing something on a true story can be quite challenging and things will necessarily progress slowly. As for that ancient mystery gaming project of mine, it might have been left unattended for a while, but I'm still doing minor adjustments to it.

• What's more those are not the only game design projects I'm involved with. I have also started working with a rather small indie developer and am currently coming up with game ideas, stories, themes, design documents and even prototypes. It might be incredibly fun mind, but it's time consuming as hell too.

• On the more personal/professional side of things, I'm also swamped with work for the publishing house a friend and I have started (the first book will be out in less than a month), while preparing a paper for a conference in Istanbul, working on a ridiculously underpaid but very interesting research project, planning another, preparing some stuff for a couple of scientific journals, and joyfully engaging in the fierce political battles inside Greece. Hooray!

2011 mostly gaming, definitely gnomic promises

It does seem 2011 is finally here and the world -as prophesied by a rather obscure Etruscan game designer- isn't doing particularly well. Gnome's Lair on the other hand hopes to enter its sixth year (time does indeed fly) with high hopes and quite a few promises, that will probably bring a smile to the tired face of its fanatic, yet sadly only, reader. So, what is it you should expect from this humblest of Lairs? 

First of all, expect my game for the Wikileaks Stories project. As promised, it will be a text adventure (a.k.a. a piece of interactive fiction) and my very first game, which should explain why it's not ready yet. I frankly am doing the best I can, but as I want this to be actually good, I simply cannot rush things too much or be afraid to re-desing. Rest assured though; a lot of work has already been done and things do look pretty good.

Following this -still publicly untitled- game, I sincerely hope I'll be doing one more Wikileaks Stories game, this time going for a more comedic/satyric result. Provided this one also gets made, I'll try and finish that ancient gaming project of mine too...

As for Gnome's Lair itself and following the recent re-design of the blog, a couple at least of new, uhm, features will be introduced - hopefully very soon. Added to those and beside a more or less scheduled variety of posts on retro stuff (at least two of them ZX Spectrum focused), opinion pieces, Wikileaks Stories coverage, indie gaming articles, that toy train thing, more than a few bits on board games and the usual assortment of Lair posts, you should also expect the following, mainly adventure and indie, reviews:

VVVVVV, Delve Deeper, Scratches, World of Goo, Space Giraffe, Totally Tiny Arcade, Super Laser Racer, Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine, Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time, Iron Grip: Warlord, A Vampyre Story, Revolution Under Siege, Defcon, Gray Matter and The Dream Machine.

And a very happy 2011!

This humble and newly renovated blog wishes to wish you all a very happy, exceedingly healthy and truly hopeful 2011. So, uhm, happy 2011 everyone! As for Gnome's Lair itself, well, I suggest you expect more than a few new indie game reviews, the belated conclusion pictures of that toy train, many retro articles, more new features and adventure gaming articles, dollops of ZX Spectrum love, and of course quite a few Wikileaks Stories games. Maybe a few slightly less expected offerings too.

See you all next year!

Testing and updating...

Expect a variety of random and unexpected changes thought today's trip. As soon as Gnome's Lair settles on a design, I'll let you luvs know.

[UPDATE]: Well, most of the changes have been implemented and I'm quite happy with how the blog looks and the fact that those currently reading, playing etc bits make it more personal. There are a few ideas that haven't been realized just yet, but I'm pretty sure you'll see them before the end of next week, along with a minor few corrections and an overall lick of paint. So, uhm, any other suggestions? Like the way the thing looks?

Cheers!

The Lairs They Are a-Changin'

Hello dear reader! How are you then? Hope the lady (or the mister, excuse me, but I do keep forgetting your gender and/or sexual preferences) is doing fine. As you might have noticed things have been pretty slow here at your favourite Gnome's Lair. As you also might have noticed all the ads are gone too, in what can only be described as a first step in revamping this particular (mostly) gaming blog.

Now, don't get me wrong. I really don't have anything against people making a little extra for their online contributions, but I just don't feel that roughly two euros a day are worth cluttering the design of the Lair and possibly distracting from the content. Removing them ads is after all just the first part of the blog redesign I've been postponing for quite some time now, but which will piece-by-piece soon be more apparent. After all I am a bit too busy right now and I've decided that crisis or not, advertising isn't the way to solve problems.

Anyway. Free time can be quite a problem too. Academic work -though either severely underpaid or even unpaid- can't take the backseat and I'm currently swamped with stuff that simply needs to be done, while a new blog (in Greek), a perpetually under development new site, a few game ideas and a ton of other things have more than reduced my time available for Gnome's Lair. And let's not forget the international political situation which I really feel I have absolutely no right to ignore.

So, does this mean Gnome's Lair will be ignored instead? Definitely not. It will simply have to change a bit in order to be more satisfying to me (and hopefully you). And I'm not only talking about the design... Hopefully you'll very soon start seeing what I have in mind, though I will of course remain open to suggestions. Actually, I'd really love suggestions. And ideas.

Oh, and look at the lovely picture at the top of the post. Fantastic, eh?

How to drive traffic to your (quality, of course) gaming blog, site or even game

Admittedly Gnome's Lair isn't the biggest blog around as most of you may have noticed, but it does get some decent amounts of traffic, provided of course we all understand the importance of twelve individuals in their glorious and beautiful uniqueness. Anyway, thing is, I thought I might share a few of the ways I use to promote this very blog in order to help friends, fellow bloggers, game creators, dark collaborators and all sorts of lovely creative people drive more traffic to their gaming blogs, projects and/or games. Here goes:

First of all and besides google, I can't help but use twitter and facebook, which -to my shocked disgust- are actually fun little things in themselves. They also both make sure every time I post something someone will have a look and are also places where incredibly silly discussions can take place.

Then there's Stumble Upon. A handy link sharing web application that's incredibly easy to use and can at times herd the gaming masses to this humblest of lairs. And now for a tip: never just promote your stuff. Use Stumble Upon to share the links that you generally like and neither become nor behave like a spamer.

Same thing applies to Digg, which will either drive thousands of visitors to your site/blog/whatever or, well, two. Oh, and do ignore its obnoxious, mostly retarded community of adolescents.

As for N4G, this is a site that really demands you to invest time and actually contribute to it, but should one of your submitted stories get approved, you can expect a few hundred people clicking on your link. Besides, it's a great -if mostly mainstream- source of gaming news too.

Submitting stuff to delicious can also be helpful, as can be the more traditional techniques of guest-blogging and link exchanging, but those you know. Uhm, that's all really... Good luck everyone!

(Not) related @ Gnome's Lair:

• How to upgrade Planescape Torment
• The (beautiful) Dream Machine
• A look back at Red Baron
• The Book of Graphic Adventures

Enter the Chamber of Horrors

Some of you have already discovered it, but I'm pretty sure most of my dear Gnome's Lair readers (btw, whatever happened to them groupies, eh?) have not visited the Chamber of Horrors just yet. Well, you should. Really. It's all about the different aspects and genres of horror -yes, games too- and is being run by yours truly and a friend that apparently shares a few of my more morbid and disturbing obsessions; or not. Oh, and spreading the word a bit would be nice too.

Addressing Certain Disturbing Recordings

It's amazing what kind of letters a gaming blog will receive these dark days. Even mental institutes fell they have to contact us. Here's what I got today:

Dear Sirs,

I am writing this public letter on behalf of the Hanwell Mental Institute, in the hope that it will clarify a distressing and misleading situation that came to light at the beginning of June. A person by the name of "Leonard Huntings" has been offering a series of video recordings and attempting to pass them as actual archive material from the institute. The Internet website in question that I am referring to is located at http://www.youtube.com/user/lhuntings

We claim absolutely no connection to these outrageous videos. More so, we suspect this "Leonard Huntings" is a nickname used by the perpetrator, who has not the courage to use his real name. We never admitted patients by the names of Leonard Huntings or Bertrand Laroche, who seems to be subject of the videos. Thus, we are dismissing this stunt as nothing else than juvenile efforts to tarnish the good image of our institute. Authorities have been alerted and I trust the aforementioned Internet website will be disabled shortly.

I sincerely thank you for your time and I'm truly sorry to see you being bothered by this childish event.

Yours Truly,







Dr. Andrew H. Miller
Head Director
http://www.Hanwell.org

And so I'm back (from outer space)

Well, my dissertation is over, the army is over and I thought I might just try and spend some time on my dear Gnome's Lair. You know, some quality gaming time, that should probably translate into quite a few reviews, retrospectives and articles, and most probably some games. After all, the time has come to actually try and finish that game I promised you aeons ago, and start working on the next one.

Oh, and if I were you, I would expect some more surprises. Possibly even a whole new site (no, not a blog). And a revival of Retro Treasures, Gaming on the Go and Walls of Gaming, though I really should finish my articles for the excellent Retroaction magazine first. So, uhm, exciting, eh?

PS. Don't forget that more Gnome (in tiny well-shaped quantities) is available via Twitter and Facebook.