I stumbled across this (edit: Takenoko, as @Mirefox’s post is a month back) as well today, while considering buying Y&Y. It’s still rated 2.0 but has acquired two very negative reviews including one “game should not have been released in this state”. Who’d have thought Asmodee would have become so quickly known for half-baked garbage ports of good games?
Kotaku is reporting that Fantasy Flight Interactive is closing next month. I’m guessing that means we won’t be seeing the Lord of the Rings card game on iOS…or digital adaptations of any of FF’s library.
It may just mean they don’t want to do it in-house anymore and believe they can make more money (or easier money) by licensing their stuff out to other devs.
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Good point, and I’d be all for that.
Toucharcade reported the same
Well we know that Asmodee Digital is working on the Game of Thrones Board Game digital adaptation, which is an FFG game (albeit, a licensed one). It’s still possible LOTR LCG might be put onto mobile but then Asmodee Digital seem to be ignoring mobile at the moment with their newer stuff, so who knows.
I would imagine this is a consolidation though - letting AsDigital handle all of the digital stuff.
I’ve also head rumours that the TTRPG business is closing as well though? Didn’t really get a good read on whether those books were doing well or not.
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This looks like it’ll be my jam. I was quite the fan of Spellsword Origins
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Does that mean the steam version is dead?
It has an online component I believe. That would be sad, game is great
I never had a great sense for the pitch for FFG’s RPG stuff. Their Terrinoth setting doesn’t seem like enough of a draw, but I’m not sure what else they were doing to distinguish themselves from D&D. So, while it’s always sad when people lose their jobs, being willing to cut losses on gambles that don’t pan out is part of how you make it possible to justify gambles. These units seem like they were probably sensible targets for it (though I understand the product FFGI put out was well-regarded, their pace of development seems concerning, and I have concerns about the viability of the digital LCG model).
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What I don’t get is that FF seems to be sitting on a goldmine with some of their properties. Their LCGs, in particular, seem very well-suited to the digital landscape. And the non-random way cards are released would lend itself very well to monetization. The LCG model would be great on digital; pay for what you want without worrying about random draws and/or in-game currencies? That’s a dream come true. Is FF afraid of canibalizing their physical games? Would the developments costs really not be recouped? My gut tells me that something like Android: Netrunner would be amazing digitally but maybe I speak out of hope rather than insider understanding.
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I think this is exactly it. The physical games are their core business. And I think a lot of people would balk at paying physical-level prices for the digital versions, which is what they’d have to charge to keep things balanced (IMO).
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It’s not.
Utter generic fantasy. Elves live in woods; dwarves are strong; orcs are many; wizards throw lightning bolts. It might as well be basic D&D, circa 1974.
Come to think of it, though, don’t they also do the Star Wars RPGs? I had heard that those were well-regarded (if dauntingly multiplicitous).
They do. However, I’m willing to bet they only have the physical game rights to Star Wars and the digital rights exist somewhere else. So even if they wanted to release a computer RPG based on their game, negotiating the rights would take forever.
Playdek reporting via Twitter that Labyrinth: WoT coming to Steam early access on February 27, and, “No dates yet for mobile but those platforms will be supported!” Also confirming cross platform play will be available.
The tone of the tweet makes it seem like Switch may be supported as well - @Strangiato, can you confirm?
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Tinytouchtales’ latest game, Maze Machina, came out earlier today:
Played a bunch in the beta and happily plunked down the $2 to play more. This one doesn’t have the progression elements of Card Crawl or Card Thief but is lots of fun despite (maybe because of) the difficulty.
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It is certainly a neat little game, based on the little I’ve played. Art matched Card Crawl/Thief and the game is simple but challenging. My only concern is how long it will hold my interest - I can’t say any of their other games have gotten a ton of play from me, though I’ve enjoyed them.
After seeing this announcement, I’ve started playing Card Thief and ENYO again. I’ve noticed (on a new iPhone XR) that some information is hidden by the notch. Is there any advice about how to deal with it?
I’m guessing that the notch issue has been around long enough that these games will not be updated to deal with it.
TouchArcade reported that the developers of Hero Emblems 2 have released a trailer. The game isn’t ready but is still being worked on. I really hope they keep the micro transactions out of this one again.
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Civ VI base game on iOS is 50% off acc to a notification I just got. Unsure until when or if dlc is also discounted.
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