The Enthusiastic Urchin's New Survey

I eventually went with the exploration game simply because it’s the most different from what we have already, but I want to note here that it was a dead tie with graphic novel.

[quote=Joy Phillip]The Zee game is sounding more and more like Taipan.[/quote]The micromanagement conquest games like Empire of Ages run along a similar vein. Subconsciously, I can’t help comparing all trade-cum-exploration games to Oregon Trail, the graphic 90’s versions. They blew my mind when I was 9. XD

In one form or another, I’ve played many management and exploration games over the years. There must be millions of games where you can pilot a vehicle, navigate treacherous terrain, trade items, control cities, and loot towns. (I’ve probably played the underlying mechanics thousands of times.) Millions of mechanical clones but each game has its individual story, art and music.

I distinctly recall Tradewinds Legends because I had such a fun time playing through its humorous and quirky storylines (you could play as 5 unique characters). I also loved the character and ship art. Nice little audio ditties, too. The mechanics, though? They might have bored or annoyed me if it were a lesser story. Truthfully, I’ll put up with a lot of mechanical nonsense in a game if there’s an interesting story to keep me engaged. (&quotInteresting&quot is highly subjective, but let’s pretend it’s objective here.)

I don’t want another trading/exploration game which just happens to tell a tale of the Neath. I want a tale of the Neath which just happens to be told on a different gaming platform; narrative cohesion and enjoyment are my top priorities followed by the mechanical stuff as a juicy afterthought. I would also welcome a classic interactive fiction game with little or no art and typing game commands to progress the story. I’ll play anything, but I usually only remember the better stories. (Sometimes I also unwittingly memorize the bloody awful ones, but no one should aim for that…)

EDIT: Realized my third paragraph was ambiguous so I revised it.
edited by Zeedee on 7/6/2013

These ideas are all very good, but I wonder why they are mutually exclusive. Like you could combine most of these options into a single work. For example, a zee adventure game could easily contain a collection of short stories as collectable book items found/bought/won in various ways throughout the adventure. You get the item and it unlocks a new short story in the game menu, your inventory or quarters, or however the interface would work. Replay areas to find and collect all the stories to fill your bookshelf. A digital card game would make a good minigame to play against NPCs (such as when you zail too far North and need your cardsharp to help save your life ;) ). And you could probably fit a short graphic novel in, much the same way as some games reward you with unlocked concept art. Win pages/chapters on an achievement system and replay lots of games learn the entire story :V

I tease of course. Doing all of the above is probably way more work than focusing on one specific thing. Its just hard to choose with so many great options.
edited by NiteBrite on 6/30/2013

I was rather surprised when a dripping wet urchin suddenly showed up in my Zubmarine but was delighted with the question posed.

I voted for the top-down Elite game; this one just sounds perfect.

But I have to say I was a little sad to see that a pen & paper RPG was not one of the options to be picked. I hope there is still a chance to see this happening; and as I have stated before, even a book with just background info would be great. RPG systems are easy enough to create/borrow for a rules-light RPG that I envision the Fallen London RPG to be.

All the other options are fun too; I’m hoping for lots of backstory about the Neath in whatever will be picked eventually.

And yes, a tie-in with Fallen London would be great though I’m sure FBG has already thought of this (said looking at my beloved Saker Falcon).

A point-and-click adventure game as suggested by a number of people here would certainly be fun (Broken Sword: Murder in the Neath?) but would probably be hard to create by the FBG team. Sorry Alexis, couldn’t help but put my developer hat on.

Unfortunately, Pen and Paper RPGs are going the way of the dodo. I know of only one group in my area still doing it, and while that’s not relevant, the fact that back in the 90’s I could name you 12 in the area is.

Plus there are already several games with a Victorian flavor, Call of Cuthulu is just one I can remember off the top of my head, and GURPS would allow you to have ALL of SN’s content in a proven platform. And when you consider how little magic, death and combat you have in this world, and Pen and papers tend to be all about that, well, I don’t see it happening for FL.

Deadlands is another - and would, I daresay, also translate well to a Fallen London setting. I know a couple of groups have been working on Fallen London GURPS games - my brother’s been whipping one up in his off hours.

I suspect the reason that it’s not on the list of options is because the license was purchased quite some time ago and hasn’t, that I recall, gone anywhere. Development Hell, as it were, seems to be the resting place of the tabletop RPG. Knife & Candle, A Game for Delicious Friends

Indeed. Prominent indie game designer Vincent Baker, I’ve discovered, was working on it along with others, but it didn’t pull together. The little scraps that are there, however, are quite intriguing. (You can make the most sense of them if you’re already familiar with the Apocalypse World family of RPGs.)[li][/li][li]
edited by Playersideblog on 7/2/2013[/li][li]
edited by Playersideblog on 7/2/2013

As a random thought - and I know FB don’t want to get into merchandise - but I’d totally buy 1-3 good quality prints (or other medium, depending on price). The gas lamp tentacle image, depending on the rest of the picture, for example. For me, of an area (and there are some I like more than others) rather than a character, as I’m in love with un-fallen London, and it would work better in my un-fallen abode.

But done in such a way (numbered or whatever) that they meant more than just printing an image off.

No ideas what other media Paul works with - but were such an idea developed, I’d totally fork out for a creepy painting.

I myself would settle for an officially-merchandised real-live L.B.

I went for trading game though card game was a close second. I was tempted by graphic novel or short-story collection but they struck me as riskier options. The short version is that I know FB can make good games that are fun to play, and there are less good games than there are good things to read.

Also, sadly, there was no &quotmake Below be finished&quot option :)[li]
edited by Ambrose Smith on 7/5/2013

[color=#009900]Below is no longer a Failbetter project - when the Kickstarter didn’t get funded, the very talented Mr Gardiner wanted to make it live on his own, and we signed over the embryonic IP to him.[/color]

[li]

Apologies if my comment looked at all snarky or anything. I was just mentioning Below because I spotted an exploitable excuse to do so.[li]
edited by Ambrose Smith on 7/5/2013

[quote=Ambrose Smith]Apologies if my comment looked at all snarky or anything. I was just mentioning Below because I spotted an exploitable excuse to do so.[li]

[color=#009900]Not at all! Thanks for the enthusiasm. I just wanted to make it clear that Chris, not Failbetter, is where should be sending your life savings to.[/color]

For Below at least. I’ll still send FB my life-savings for an Underzee exploration game.

[li]
[color=#009900]Hold that thought. :-)[/color]

[li]If you didn’t find the link in the comic, Alexis has tweeted it so I’m assuming it’s fair game: http://sunlessseagame.com/[li]

If you did, there’s some new information as of a few days ago. :)

Megabump. It seems that there’s a new Survey for:

*A game about rats
*A game about stars
*A Fallen London lorebook and tabletop RPG
*A digital card game (I chose this one :) )

Slightly disappointed that it’s just about games now. Too bad nothing came of the Graphic Novel and Short Story options in the original survey…

Edit: Oooops I just got it. Well this is embarrassing.

I have not seen the card. Is something wrong or is the card not guaranteed and I’m just unlucky?
edited by thanroshi on 6/7/2016