 Torchlight, Werit sends in their second of three interviews. This time, programmer Matt Tanwanteng steps up; let's take a grab on modding, since that is topical:.
Torchlight - Review @ Gametrailers
Another high scoring review of Torchlight at Gametrailers.
There's a lot to be gained from going at it in Torchlight's dungeons.
Tuesday - November 10, 2009
Torchlight - 10 Helpful Editor Hints
Popping in to the Torchlight forums, I find the editor is almost ready and they have posted Runic's Top 10 Helpful Hints for Torched. I won't paste a quote but head over if you plan to play with this.
Torchlight - Interview @ Werit's Blog
Werit writes in to let us know he interviewed Wonder Russel, the Minister of Culture at Runic Games, about Torchlight. This is the first interview of three that he will be doing with people from Runic. Here is a snippet from the interview:
Werit: What sets Torchlight apart from other Action RPG's, like Diablo II?
Torchlight has a very different look and feel, the art style is entirely different and very much our own thing. We also have an Enchanter, pets, fishing, save anywhere, an item inventory that does NOT use the Tetris style, and lots of little details like those that to us, make gameplaying more fun!
Werit: The infinite dungeon sounds interesting, how does it work?
It goes on and on, unending! Well it’s infinite in the sense that it will never stop randomly generating tilesets – muahahahaha. We included it for more playability once you finish the storyline quest but still want to gain fame and essentially finish the game at its level cap, which is 100.
Werit: Torchlight is mod-able by the players. How much can a player add to the game? Is it just text files or can they also add art?
They can add literally anything they can think of. Ogre is a graphics engine, and supports 3DMax so they can add their own artwork, and we are providing an incredible amount of raw files. The tools for the mods are literally the tools we wrote to make the game. Nothing is dumbed down, you get it all. Check out these forum posts to stay tuned:
Torchlight - First Impressions @ The Grind
There is a positive first impressions article up at The Grind titled 'Left Clicking for Loot'. It's a positive look at what Torchlight has to offer:
More importantly, it feels good using all that loot. The weapons crackle with every shot thanks to the powerful sound effects, and the bad guys drop in a hurry. It's not hard, but it is satisfying, which is all I ask for my $20.00. If I want a real challenge, I can always crank it up to Very Hard mode for another playthrough.
Like Trine, Torchlight fills a nice little niche populated primarily by downloadable games, in this case as a pleasant diversion for Diablo fans that does not suck up a ton of computer processing power. That last point is particularly important for me, as my poor laptop has basically crapped out after 70 hours of Dragon Age, and it simply refuses to run it at anything resembling a playable framerate. Either that or it always ran that poorly, and I've just been spoiled by Torchlight's ridiculously smooth animation (it even has a netbook mode!)
Consider this post a public service message -- even with only four hours under my belt, I can tell that Torchlight is a fine little game that's bursting with personality. If you doubt me, you can check out the demo, which is reasonably how little I've actually played. But so far, my feeling is that this is the best $20 you'll spend all year.
Friday - November 06, 2009
Torchlight - v1.12 Patch Released
Runic Games has released the expected v1.12 patch for Torchlight (although Blue's notes they forgot to update the title screen, which will still read "v1.11"). This thread at the official forum has all the details, including the status of various vendors - it gets a bit complicated with the different distribution systems, such as Steam, D2D and so on. You must use the correct patch for your vendor.
The patch is actually a full re-install, so save-game backups are recommended.
Source: Blues News
Thursday - November 05, 2009
Torchlight - Reviews @ GameOver, The Hachiko
Another pair of Torchlight reviews courtesy of Blue's. GameOver scores 80% and here's a snip on improvements:
So what exactly did they change from way back in the Diablo days? Not a great deal, but on the whole I do like the little changes that they have made. You now have a permanent companion (either a dog or cat) who attacks with you and gives you more inventory slots. Companions can wear rings and necklaces and cast some spells that you give to them. Oddly you can feed fish that you catch in the dungeon to your companion to give them special skills that last for a short time. Breaking from the action to sit at a fishing hole is peculiar and I don’t understand the motivation for including it. Most conveniently you can send your companion laden with stuff to town to sell it all and return with the money. That is clearly a modification created by someone who, like anyone who had played Diablo, found themselves deep in an interesting piece of dungeon and would have liked to keep exploring but had a full inventory. That’s just a great solution. There are little chips of enchanted gems around that can be set into pieces of weaponry and armor to enhance their skills. I don’t recall Diablo doing that, though Titan Quest did, and it was definitely present in the ill-fated Hellgate: London. Given the large assortment of weapons, both melee and ranged, and the sort of mixing and matching you can do with the gem chips, the overall collection of weapons is truly vast. Finally there is a slight change to the control scheme in that the right mouse button can be reassigned easily to activate many different skills using the F1-F12 keys and that works very well.
...and The Hachiko calls it a "phenomenal" dungeon crawler and awards 4.5/5:
Though there is a story to complete, the main reason you'll find yourself constantly playing the game is to get one step further in the dungeon, kill one more monster, and hopefully find a sweet piece of loot to really deck your character out with and make them ultra powerful. The idea of loot whoring really is the driving force of the game and makes me realize just how shallow I must really be. The desire to find an orange or purple piece of loot is like a drug – you'll constantly kill and crawl, hoping to finally get that drop to happen and equip your sweet new item, whether it's a helm, some gloves, or a new weapon. One of the big pastimes on the game's forums is gathering the best items, taking a screenshot of your character wearing everything you've earned, and then posting them for bragging rights.
Source: Blues News
Torchlight - Retail Release in January
For those wanting to avoid online distribution, Big Download has learned Torchlight will get a retail release (presumably in NA) through Encore in January:
Big.
Torchlight - Reviews
Positive review of Torchlight from Alec Meer at Eurogamer.
So, it's the best Diablolike since Diablo II, and a very real rival to the upcoming (at an unspecified point, God-blinking-dammit) Diablo III. Even though there is nothing new or truly unique about Torchlight, nothing at all, that it so confidently and prettily takes the fight to Blizzard is an enormous compliment about how well put-together this is. Yeah, it gets old pretty fast - but it's also only £15. You'll definitely get your money's worth. And that's even before the MMO stuff turns up. But, by Christ, my hands hurt, and my brain is squealing for stimulation. I've had a whale of a time, largely - but I desperately would not want to put my body through these few days of unblinking kill'n'collect again any time soon.
Another review has surfaced at Incgamers that scores the game a higher 9/10.
While the lack of multiplayer may be a disappointment, Runic has a trick up its sleeve. The developer will soon release editing tools for the game which will mean fans will be able to create their own levels, thus increasing the game’s lifespan, assuming the editor is both accessible and versatile. Torchlight modding may just catch on and keep the game at the forefront of action RPG fan’s minds until the next game in the franchise is released.
Tuesday - November 03, 2009
Torchlight - Patch and Post Release Plans
Travis Baldree has posted on the Runic Games forums about patch plan for Torchlight:
I want this to be a quick way for us to tell you what our current bug priorities are, where we're at with them, and how it's going. I'm hoping that this will make it easier for everyone to understand what's going on with bugs they experience without having to trawl one of the many threads -
We are assembling a patch plan - not all fixes may go out in the same patch, but the more we