Good news for Fading Suns fans: Bill Bridges has the first in a monthly series of design diaries about the new edition of Fading Suns now up at the Ulisses NA site. Check it out: http://www.ulisses-us.com/fading-suns-designer-diary-november-2017/
There’s also a link there letting you download a free PDF of the latest Town Criers Guild report, with news, gossip, and agora notices from across the Known Worlds in the year 5017. Don’t be left behind — go now!
There’s Fading Suns stuff going on at Gen Con this year! Check out Bill Bridges’ latest post for all the links and booth info.
Andrew’s article about livestreaming games during development is now live on Gamasutra!
Here’s an excerpt:
For years we developers had it drummed into our heads to never allow public scrutiny of a game until it was ready for prime time. The (warranted) fear is that negative previews can haunt a game long after it launches, no matter how good it becomes.
Livestreaming has a similar dictum – if you want to build an audience, play the best games, not buggy piles of cow flop. Most game livestreamers are fans of the products we develop. They want to livestream because they enjoy playing these games and want to share the fun with their friends. Why would anyone want to livestream an unfinished game, much less one that might be horribly broken?
We should want this thankless role. By we, I mean the ones making the game – the developers and testers who have to hunt down all those wonderful bugs about which people like to make snarky YouTube videos. After fans began livestreaming their games, developers followed suit, finding this an excellent way to build a community and spread the word. We also began finding other advantages to livestreaming.
One of the newest, and still least recognized, plusses to livestreaming is the role it can have in quality assurance. For those of you who don’t know, quality assurance is the fancy term for hunting down and squashing software bugs. Most developers and playtesters work in quiet environments, focusing on gameplay, creating hypotheses of what should and shouldn’t work, testing these hypotheses, and screaming in frustration when the game refuses to cooperate. Okay, we only rarely scream then. More often, we scramble to pick up pad and pen, jot down some notes, and begin detailing the bugs in our spiffy bug database.
Wait — there’s more! Read the full article.
Fading Suns: Noble Armada, HDI’s digital version of its Noble Armada starship combat game, is now looking to get Greenlit on Steam, and we need your vote!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=220478303
This real-time strategy game allows you to command ships for one of the five royal houses of the Fading Suns as you battle barbarians, heretics and, worst of all, other nobles! Recreate classic battles, recover lost worlds and reunite humanity. Take part in unique campaigns, set your own battles in skirmish mode, and experience the Fading Suns in a whole new way. Vote for it now, and get ready to experience it this Fall!
ATLANTA – NOVEMBER 1, 2016 – Holistic Design Inc. (HDI) announced today that German game company Ulisses Spiele GmbH has taken over publishing the award-winning Fading Suns roleplaying game. Fading Suns, first published by HDI in 1996, has gone through numerous editions and been translated into 6 languages.
“We at HDI are excited to announce that the 20-year-old wonder that is Fading Suns is about to be re-born! Ulisses Spiele will now be creating a brand new direction for the product line,” said HDI President Chris Wiese. “It is a tremendous business relationship opportunity. HDI will continue to own and develop the Noble Armada miniature and software games in conjunction with Ulisses Spiele’s new Fading Suns line.”
Andrew Greenberg, HDI’s Chief Creative Officer, said, “Fading Suns fans deserve the game getting more attention and resources than HDI has recently been able to provide. All of us at HDI look forward to seeing what Ulisses does with this classic game.”
Ross Babcock, Chairman and CFO of FASA Games Inc. said, “While it is sad that FASA Games will no longer continue as a Fading Suns licensee, we know that the property is going to a great company that will do great things for Fading Suns.” Babcock also said, “FASA Games will continue to produce products and miniatures for Noble Armada under license with Holistic Design Inc., and we look forward to working with Ulisses Spiele in the telling of the Fading Suns story. Look for the release of the new edition of Noble Armada, previewed at this year’s Gen Con, in the coming months.”
ABOUT HOLISTIC DESIGN INC.
Holistic Design is an Atlanta-based game design company. Since 1995, Holistic Design has developed, produced, licensed and sold IP related to roleplaying game products such as Fading Suns and Real Life Roleplaying; tabletop miniature games such as Noble Armada and Carnage; computer games such as Emperor of the Fading Suns, Mall Tycoon and Warhammer 40K Final Liberation; and is currently developing cross-platform video games. Holistic Design was originally founded as Several Dudes Holistic Gaming in 1992.
ABOUT ULISES SPIELE GmbH.
Ulisses Medien & Spiel Distribution GmbH is based in Waldems (Germany) and was founded in 1997. Originally a distributor in the Hobby Games market, Ulisses started with its own publishing department in 2005 and acquired the rights for Germanys biggest RPG IP “Das Schwarze Auge” in 2010. Since then the company established itself as the premiere publisher of RPGs in the German market. 2016 saw the release of the English version of “The Dark Eye” and with TORG in 2017, more English RPG lines are about follow.
FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM HOLISTIC DESIGN INC. CONTACT:
Chris Wiese, president, Holistic Design Inc., hdi@holistic-design.com, 770-592-1718
FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM ULISSES SPIELE GmbH. CONTACT:
Markus Plotz, General Manager, Ulisses Spiele GmbH, feed@ulisses-spiele.de, 0049 (0) 60 87 / 9 88 70 0
FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM FASA GAMES INC. CONTACT:
Ross Babcock, Chairman and CFO of FASA Games Inc. ross@fasagames.com, 503-593-6458
