RPGWatch Feature - Colony Ship Interview

Myrthos

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Pladio had the opportunity to ask Vince of Iron Tower Studio a few questions about their Colony Ship game.

RPGWatch: Hello Vince, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions. Now that your new game, Colony Ship RPG is out for Early Access, can you start by introducing the game? What type of game is it and can you introduce the setting?

Vince: Like our first game, it's a turn-based isometric RPG with plenty of dialogues, skill-checks, branching storyline, and multiple solutions. It takes place on a generation ship - a giant colony ship traveling at sub-light speed, so the journey will take centuries. Many generations will be born on the ship and will die on the ship before she reaches her destination. Your character is one of the Shipborn, chained to a fate chosen by one of your distant ancestors.


RPGWatch: Will the ship ever reach its destination?


Vince: In the tentative sequel.


RPGWatch: For people who know Iron Tower Studio, your previous games, the Age of Decadence and Dungeon Rats, had a vastly different setting to this one. What made you depart from the post-apocalyptic Roman world to a space faring setting?

Vince: We want to tell different stories and I'm sure our audience wants to 'visit' different worlds. Hopefully they'll enjoy visiting this one.
More information.
 
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Thanks Pladio this was interesting… I'm pretty surprised to hear they're considering a sequel. And it sounds much better than a Dungeon Rats style tactical spinoff.

Reminds me that I still need to buy it soon even though I'm going to try very hard to not actually play it until it's out of EA.
 
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Thanks @Pladio;! Interesting questions and interesting answers. It's good to see they're interested in feedback, even though they could do with the extra funding too, from their last answer. And they do listen, it's easy to see in their Steam forums. The setting is a good idea IMO, it seems they thought about it.

How do you feel about combat, now that you have played a few runs? How hard is it in the EA?
 
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How much content is there in its current state?
The first chapter out of 3.5 (3 full chapters plus endgame); the first 3 locations out of 12, the next location will be added in June.
 
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Thanks @Pladio;! Interesting questions and interesting answers. It's good to see they're interested in feedback, even though they could do with the extra funding too, from their last answer. And they do listen, it's easy to see in their Steam forums. The setting is a good idea IMO, it seems they thought about it.

How do you feel about combat, now that you have played a few runs? How hard is it in the EA?

I played through Age of Decadence and Dungeon Rats a lot so I may not be the right person to ask, but I feel that it is much easier than in Age of Decadence.

If I could easily compare it, I would say it's probably on par with medium difficulty on Dungeon Rats. Probably too difficult for the average player, but certainly doable with a bit of practice.

Unlike DR, you can complete the game very easily without even fighting once and they've added a stealth/assassin system in the game too which can be used to complete some quests. Currently the stealth system is just the first iteration, so it needs some work, but I find it a lot of fun.
 
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Thanks for the interview - why are major gaming sites ingnoring these kind of games?
 
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Thanks for the interview - why are major gaming sites ingnoring these kind of games?
Maybe they put the priority on games that are more likely to appeal to a wider audience?
I have the impression that CPRG games are more of a niche, and indie CRPGs even further from the spotlight. If they talk about games that are more difficult and may put off many of their fans, perhaps they could lose a part of their viewers in favour of more streamlined sites? And at the same time that's fewer resources for the other types of games they were known for.

Just speculating here.
 
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Great interview and nice to read more about this.
 
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Maybe they put the priority on games that are more likely to appeal to a wider audience?
I have the impression that CPRG games are more of a niche, and indie CRPGs even further from the spotlight. If they talk about games that are more difficult and may put off many of their fans, perhaps they could lose a part of their viewers in favour of more streamlined sites? And at the same time that's fewer resources for the other types of games they were known for.

Just speculating here.
Mainstream sites are geared towards huge console blockbusters. It's been that way for the last twenty years. Smaller sites dedicated to niche games is where you need to look.

Anyway thanks for the interview @Pladio;.
 
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Mainstream sites are geared towards huge console blockbusters. It's been that way for the last twenty years. Smaller sites dedicated to niche games is where you need to look.

Anyway thanks for the interview @Pladio;.
Like this one :)

Thanks Myrthos for posting.
 
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Great interview, Pladio! I expect a solid game!
 
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Mainstream sites are geared towards huge console blockbusters. It's been that way for the last twenty years. Smaller sites dedicated to niche games is where you need to look.@Pladio;.
The question was why, but it's a rhetorical one probably. Some sites like Rock Paper Shotgun or PC Invasion (in its previous incarnation, forgot the name) did not hesitate to review / preview indie games and hidden gems in their early days. It was refreshing, now it seems to be mainstream only, I'm not following them anymore. I can understand they don't have the time, there are lot of indies/new devs/Kickstarters and only a few are interesting, it takes a specialized site like the Watch and nuts like us to spot and appreciate those hidden gems ;)
 
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I guess they make more money attracting people by posting about high profile games. More people means more income from ads.
We don't have that incentive, so we just post about whatever comes to our attention and seams relevant, and publish articles whenever someone is willing to invest time and doing the legwork for that article.
That also means we only have articles about games that the one arranging it is interested in. I mean, why would anybody spent their free time on a game they have no interest in? That makes no sense.
Furthermore as nobody really wants to get a review key to play a game and have the review ready by the time it releases, we don't very often have reviews for the high profile games, as by the time someone has finished that game, there are already a shitload of reviews available, so one could think there isn't a point (although we will still publish it if someone put in the effort to do one).
 
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Mainstream sites are geared towards huge console blockbusters. It's been that way for the last twenty years. Smaller sites dedicated to niche games is where you need to look.

Anyway thanks for the interview @Pladio;.
I'd argue that even for huge blockbusters, mainstream gaming media is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
People barely read those magazines anymore due to various reasons and get their information from other sources more and more. You just need to track website stats for larger magazines to confirm this.

But for more indie and niche titles, this has been abundantly clear for a very long time.
Influencers and "specialized" communities (such as this one) are where you have to peddle your wares as an indie dev.
 
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we don't very often have reviews for the high profile games, as by the time someone has finished that game, there are already a shitload of reviews available, so one could think there isn't a point (although we will still publish it if someone put in the effort to do one).

I'd argue that even for huge blockbusters, mainstream gaming media is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
People barely read those magazines anymore due to various reasons and get their information from other sources more and more. You just need to track website stats for larger magazines to confirm this.
Those early review strike me as being very low quality. We saw that with Cyberpunk, people rushed through and did not sleep just to get the review early, some played only a part and extrapolate. And generally, known sites are cautious in criticizing the bugs, it wouldn't surprise me if they were afraid not to receive early access anymore otherwise. So by using that strategy they make themselves less relevant.

There's probably an interest for honest reviews that come later, we see some of that, like for ex. the "100% reviews". But I doubt it's comparable in number of viewers: seeing the sales of AAA titles, many people buy early, and all the info they can get are those early reviews or previews (granted, part of those early birds pre-order, so based on trust).

I'm perfectly happy to wait and read the impressions of fans of the Watch on worthy games. I don't need to get a game as soon as it's released, and here I know what people value and that they give a reliable opinion :)
 
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Yeah don't forget Twitch, YouTube, and discord. That's where I get most of my gaming news nowadays. Heck most publishers/developers don't even have forums anymore.
 
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I use discord to keep in touch with some novel/gaming fans, and you-tube to watch old concerts, yet these forums is where I get at least ninety percent of my gaming news, if not more. I'd be lost without it.
 
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Once you know which ones to follow, those are good sources. Twitter works too, even if I don't like it very much - noisy, messy, shallow. But many are active there. Or on FB, which I find even more ludicrous. Yeah, I'm old-fashioned :p

But if you don't have the time to scan sites to know those sources, it's not easy. Before I used to rely on those game sites, but not anymore.
 
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