a random gnome's random lair

Decker's Delight Links (22.Aug.10)

Published on 2010-08-22 03:17:00

It's only two weeks since the latest Decker's Delight Links post appeared on Gnome's Lair, but I thought that another collection of some of the most interesting sights and reads around would keep you quality company while Gnome's Lair takes a proper vacation. A 10-days long one. On an island. With nothing that can go online around. See you September! The Artful Gamer, that lovable bundle of wisdom, has managed to interview Christy Marx, who, besides sporting a fantastic name, also designed Conqu

Gaming shows: la crème de la crème

Published on 2010-08-19 06:30:00

Watching videos online has always (well, relatively speaking) been a pleasant and deeply unproductive way to spend ones time, but, let's face it, not all of them are worthy of our delicate attention and keen eyesight, whereas only a few of them come with the consistency of a show, that will guarantee regular breaks from work. This, dear friends and comrades, is why I can't help but suggest you follow, watch and enjoy these, uhm, following gaming shows. They are the ones I'm currently into, and t

Not a review: Starcraft II

Published on 2010-08-17 08:25:00

With Starcraft II: The Wings of Liberty being the popular behemoth all semi-popular behemoths would aspire to become and with this humblest of blogs being rather lackluster in its coverage of mainstream gaming, I really wouldn't suggest expecting this particular post to tell you whether you have to buy Starcraft II or not. I am, after all, far from the greatest admirer of real-time-strategy games you'll find online. And I'm not particularly good at them either.Anyway. Thing is, I managed to rath

A session of Chill

Published on 2010-08-16 07:17:00

I hadn't played a proper roleplaying game for so long, I had almost forgotten what it feels like, which is kind of a shame as it feels pretty much brilliant; a fact of life I was reminded of a couple of days ago when I, the lady of the lair and my best friend went over to another friend's place for a few hours of Chill. A few hours that turned out to be, well, quite a bit more than a few and were even enjoyed by said lady who had -interestingly- never experienced an RPG before.After all, we did

10 minutes with the Mafia II demo

Published on 2010-08-11 06:27:00

I can't for the life of me remember whether I finished the original Mafia or not, but I can still be sure I absolutely loved this game. It oozed atmosphere, looked brilliant and sported a plot that was on a par with a decent mob film. Mafia may not have been the Godfather of video games, but it was both interesting and great fun to play through. Also, it was way better than any GTA you'd care to mention, and now it's about to get a sequel; the aptly named Mafia II, the demo of which I just finis

XII Games: Infinity Bit

Published on 2010-08-09 04:10:00

Vince Twelve of xii games has always been fond (also, capable) of weird, innovative and simultaneously excellent games like Anna and the impeccably named What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed. He's also developed a taste for what can roughly be described as point-and-click adventures, just like his upcoming, extremely promising and simply beautiful Resonance, and that is the reason why his latest creation, Infinity Bit, came as quite a surprise. It most obviously is not an adventure.

Decker's Delight Links (6.Aug.10)

Published on 2010-08-06 03:56:00

Ever since I've discovered the joys of Twitter and Facebook in spreading quality links them Decker's Delight Links have been mostly dormant. Well, not anymore dear readers, as here's a fine selection of some excellent and not necessarily new gaming related links to click on like maniacs. As for me, I'll be off to the lovely island of Hydra for a couple days.So, what should I start with? Well, this Gamasutra article on horror game design should be of interest to gaming's intellectuals. People who

Zombie Cow Studios' Privates

Published on 2010-08-05 12:49:00

Venereal diseases are definitely not funny, though -admittedly- Privates, despite being a game about said nasty diseases, is absolutely hilarious. And educational too in a really interesting and possibly successful way, that should appeal to the young (and older) people who its audience. Anyway, I wont tire you anymore. Just grab it now for it is free and created by the brilliant team of the Zombie Cow Studios.And no, in case you were wondering, Privates is actually not a point-and-click adventu

Eye^Game^Candy: Dracula the Undead

Published on 2010-08-04 07:43:00

Dracula - The Undead (1992, Handmade Software) for the Atari Lynx was a truly unique game, as it was both the only proper graphic adventure released for the handheld and a game that wasn't afraid to use stylish monochromatic graphics. Shockingly, it remains unique to this day.

Retroaction 4 - The End?

Published on 2010-08-04 02:39:00

It's neither easy nor cheap putting an emag together, but apparently Nreive did it again, and we can all now, in our perpetual state of blissful ignorance, download the excellent fourth issue of retro gaming mag Retroaction. It comes in zip, pdf and issuu formats, looks stunning, is free as always and covers everything the retro scene has to offer with its interviews, news-bits, features, regular columns, and reviews of both classic games and new productions for retro machines. It even sports a

How to drive traffic to your (quality, of course) gaming blog, site or even game

Published on 2010-08-03 12:17:00

Admittedly Gnome's Lair isn't the biggest blog around as most of you may have noticed, but it does get some decent amounts of traffic, provided of course we all understand the importance of twelve individuals in their glorious and beautiful uniqueness. Anyway, thing is, I thought I might share a few of the ways I use to promote this very blog in order to help friends, fellow bloggers, game creators, dark collaborators and all sorts of lovely creative people drive more traffic to their gaming blo

Tidalis Review

Published on 2010-08-03 07:55:00

There really isn't much to say here. Give the Tidalis demo a go and you'll immediately know whether this little indie puzzler is for you. Simple as that, really. I simply don't feel I have to actually provide you with a review of the thing. Wait! Here's the link you'll be needing.After all, were I to review Tidalis, I'd just let you know that it's a puzzle game with obvious arcade elements that requires both a quick mind and quick reflexes. I'd also probably mention that it plays like an inspire

Last chance to win Mr. Smoozles' love

Published on 2010-08-02 01:38:00

After the disappointing results of the first -admittedly demanding- Gnome's Lair competition, I've decided to make things easier for you, and let you win one copy of the excellent indie arcade-adventure Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso without getting exhausted. All you have to do this time is leave a comment on this very post till Thursday (it will be the 5th of August). Simple as that. And you can still find out more about the great game on offer here and of course here, where you can also grab yoursel

The Curfew wants You to stay In

Published on 2010-07-31 11:01:00

The general immaturity of gaming can easily (and pretty simply) be seen by the impressive lack of any kind of political undertones in the vast majority of games released. Politics, let alone radical or progressive ones, in gaming both mainstream and indie are either left alone or are too reactionary and Hollywood-esque to be taken seriously. If you are not killing comically evil terrorists in ways to make even classic imperialists blush, then you are most probably jumping on mushrooms, in a medi

A look back at Red Baron

Published on 2010-07-29 09:26:00

What you're about to read, is an excellent guest post by Bill, who is a blogger for thinkSMART, that came up with some rather intriguing educational DS games and even a little something for the Wii. Bill lives in Hell’s Kitchen, once game-tested for Dynamix, and was eaten by a Grue many, many times. You can read more of his material here. Stomping on turtles? Watching gravity win out against science with the help of fire and lead? Barrel rolls? Spinning hedgehogs doing loop-de-loops?All of the

Fish Fish Bang Bang - The Preview

Published on 2010-07-29 02:10:00

Aha! So, you never expected Rob Fearon would create an arena shooter using only one key... Well, it's quite understandable really, as nobody (ever) expects Rob to create an arena shooter using only one key. His chief weapon is, after all, surprise. Surprise and an incredible ability to create games that are immensely fun, weird and look as psychedelic as a cartoon version of the Yellow Submarine (a truly odd example admittedly, as the Yellow Submarine was quite a bit a cartoon). Oh, well...Impor

Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7

Published on 2010-07-28 04:41:00

Inform, the powerful and freeware interactive fiction design system that has recently made it to its seventh version, is something I've been meaning to learn for quite some time now. Well, for a bit longer than that actually, but it seems the time has finally come, or at least will come as soon as the brilliant-looking Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 book gets released. It will apparently be both a technical and an artistic guide to creating text-adventures and actually thinking in In

Adventure Lantern - August 2010 issue

Published on 2010-07-24 09:25:00

Adventure gamers rejoice and grab the latest Adventure Lantern issue by being cunning and following this very link. Its 27 PDF pages are filled with the latest reviews, including those of Puzzle Agent by your truly, The Whispered World, Eternally Us, Black Mirror II and the newest (latest too; heh) Sam & Max episode. The magazine is -as has always been the case- absolutely free and the next issue is already being prepared for your reading and gaming pleasure. Enjoy and spread the word!

The Book of Graphic Adventures

Published on 2010-07-23 07:40:00

Harnessing the collective powers of Wikipedia, the cunning and adventure-loving Philipp Lenssen created a lovely and extensive book covering point-and-click and parser-based adventure games. It's none other than the aptly named Graphic Adventures - Being a Mostly Correct History Of the Adventure Game Classics By Lucasfilm, Sierra and Others, From the Pages Of Wikipedia. The book covers all major adventures from Loom, Maniac Mansion and Labyrinth to Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Myst in mor

Alien Swarm is enjoyable

Published on 2010-07-23 03:58:00

No, really. And as anyone vaguely interested in games should already know, it's completely free too, making Alien Swarm a perfect opportunity (for me at least) to taste mainstream action gaming. Possibly an opportunity to taste creativity and modding too. Alien Swarm is after all more than a game; it's a modding platform that has already come up with some interesting maps, and the first co-op, online, multiplayer, third-person shooter I got to truly enjoy. How very odd. Must be the fact that it

The (beautiful) Dream Machine

Published on 2010-07-21 16:38:00

I hate cockroaches. I absolutely loathe 'em and feel disgusted by the mere mention of those satanic little helpers of the Zerg. I never even managed to play Bad Mojo, despite the excellent reviews and yet I'm oddly drawn to The Dream Machine, despite it being a Cockroach Inc. production. Even despite that terrifying cockroach on the developer's logo. I mean, really, what's wrong with these people? Couldn't they have used a puppy or a naked elf or something for that?Anyway. The main reason I surp

Gemstone Dragon: a short Review

Published on 2010-07-21 04:53:00

Gemstone Dragon, or The Quest for the Gemstone Dragon to give it its full name, is as traditional a CRPG as one can imagine, provided one imagines something not entirely dissimilar to Baldur's Gate. Actually, Gemstone Dragon is the most Baldur-eque gaming experience I've had for quite sometime, what with its sword and sorcery plot, the traveling around fantasy worlds, the looting of corpses, the quests and side-quests, the real time combat and a plot about some sort of ancient evil rising in the

Enter the Chamber of Horrors

Published on 2010-07-20 07:08:00

Some of you have already discovered it, but I'm pretty sure most of my dear Gnome's Lair readers (btw, whatever happened to them groupies, eh?) have not visited the Chamber of Horrors just yet. Well, you should. Really. It's all about the different aspects and genres of horror -yes, games too- and is being run by yours truly and a friend that apparently shares a few of my more morbid and disturbing obsessions; or not. Oh, and spreading the word a bit would be nice too.

Remix XONG - Create Stuff

Published on 2010-07-20 03:41:00

I haven't played XONG, I have never entered a creative competition and I definitely never remixed anything, but I just can't help entertaining the idea of entering the XONG Remix compo. After all, this is an open-source, freeware, procedurally generated puzzle-combat game, that can be edited and modded and changed and toyed with by non-programmers. And there's a competition without proper prizes attached to it too; a compo to act as our creative incentive. XONG looks very unique too. Oh, come on

(Shock?) Preview: The Clockwork Man - The Hidden World

Published on 2010-07-19 02:55:00

I really don't believe in the strict separation of the casual and the hardcore gamer, but I also am not particularly fond of those games that are explicitly described as casual themselves. As for them hidden object offerings, well, I've tried a couple, enjoyed their generally good art, but never really felt immersed or deeply interested; let alone wildly entertained.I was thus more than skeptical when approaching the preview copy of The Clockwork Man: The Hidden World. It was supposedly a hidden