Universal Sorcery! - (by inkle)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by Sanuku, May 1, 2013.

  1. BeefJerky

    BeefJerky Well-Known Member

    Jun 4, 2009
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    I had completely forgotten about those until I followed your link and saw the covers. I had the first one - Battlepits of Krarth. If I remember correctly, it was really good.

    Others I remember include Tunnels & Trolls and the Cretan Chronicles (I remember these being excellent in particular).
     
  2. Ravenblack

    Ravenblack Well-Known Member

    Feb 24, 2009
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    There was one other feature about Blood Sword that I remember now, is that you could take up to four character on an adventure. Or one could have three friends join in, with one being appointed the reader.

    I remember Cretan Chronicles vaguely. I didn't own them but saw them at an older cousin's. I remember he had a lot of cool gamebooks, some of which I couldn't then understand because more complex rules -- leaning towards D&D systems iirc.
     
  3. Appletini

    Appletini Well-Known Member

    Jan 8, 2011
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    #243 Appletini, May 8, 2013
    Last edited: May 8, 2013
    One series that would probably work even better in digital form than it did on paper would be Joe Dever's Combat Heroes books; given their nature, they'd probably work best if both the Black Baron and White Warlord books were included in the same app for multiplayer purposes (same again for the paired Emerald Enchanter and Scarlet Sorcerer).

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Basically, the first pair of books formed a largely textless Dungeon Master-esque affair that included both a basic solo adventure which had you trying to escape a trap-filled dungeon, and also what is very literally a two-person FPS deathmatch in that same dungeon, with each person playing the title character of their respective book.

    Solo on the left, multiplayer on the right:

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    The idea in the multiplayer game was that you'd both choose an action and cross-reference the page number with ones your opponent called out, and your relative positions in the labyrinth would show in your respective following pages. Thus, if you were running around a corner while being chased, your opponent might just see your legs sticking out, or if you ran at each other head-on (as in the above picture), that's exactly what you'd see. Each of you had a health stat, as well as ranged and melee weapons, and the ultimate goal was basically what you'd expect.

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    These paired books that made up the sequel revolved around a dogfight in magical "skyships", but worked largely to the same format.

    [​IMG]

    The biggest issue with all of these books was the sheer amount of busywork involved in checking, cross-referencing, and physically flipping back and forth through the books, all of which would be alleviated in digital format. They're not particularly deep experiences by any means, but I'd like to see what could potentially be done to expand them, inkle-style.
     
  4. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
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    I think I did play those, along with Lost Worlds. They were very cool, there were also Dragon dogfighting and WWI plane dogfighting ones that were a similar system but can't remember the names offhand.
     
  5. Appletini

    Appletini Well-Known Member

    Jan 8, 2011
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    Ankh-Morpork
    Ace of Aces was the WWI game.
     
  6. BeefJerky

    BeefJerky Well-Known Member

    Jun 4, 2009
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    I had never seen those Joe Dever books before. At least, the covers don't look remotely familiar although there is something sparking in my memory about the internal pics - most likely just saw a similar type of thing or possible work by the same illustrator in another book.

    On my third playthrough of this Sorcery app now and I have just been to an area I have never been to before, not even when I played it in book form back in the day. A real treat to find something I missed after all these years.

    I love that the map gives a real sense of place - that's a wonderful addition.
     
  7. Appletini

    Appletini Well-Known Member

    Jan 8, 2011
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    Mm-hmm, I've recommended from the start that people don't just complete the book once and consider it finished; there are so many alternate and mutually-exclusive paths, characters, events and items to discover, and when you consider that many of those have the potential to influence events in later books, it really does illustrate the expansiveness of the overall work.

    The best part about the map, other than tying the book together, is that looking for "holes" in your travel is a good way to figure out where alternate paths might lie when replaying the game. In many text-only gamebooks without such a frame of reference it is very easy to for there to be passages that somebody might conceivably never notice. The difference such a map would make when exploring Port Blacksand in City of Thieves, for example, should become obvious when we reach Kharé in the next Sorcery! book.
     
  8. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
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    Ah yeah cheers, there's like this black void of games and books I bought that just vanished. So much cool stuff around that period.

    A friend and I were actually going to redo something similar to the Lost World books with MP on iOS. Was a nice dream while it lasted.
     
  9. BeefJerky

    BeefJerky Well-Known Member

    Jun 4, 2009
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    Is there any one path from start to finish that gives you the best for the next adventure? I have gone through it three times with varying results and had done it several times as a kid but I'm still not sure about an optimum path. Things I'm wondering played through this that some of you might have answers to... (big spoilers in here obviously!)

    The caves at the beach near the very start (were these even in the original book? I don't remember them) - all we seem to get from that is a spell. Does that play a role later? Is that better than buying stuff in the first town? Or is there a way of getting to both the caves and the town?

    I have recollections of a key needed for Khare that you get in this from an old man of a beggar (my memory is hazy!) but on three playthroughs, I couldn't find it and I can't for the life of me remember where it is. Any ideas? It's possible it's not here as I think a few things are slightly different.

    Any other essentials that really shouldn't be missed? Inkle tweeted about a way of avoiding the Manticore. I don't remember if I ever did that as a kid but certainly didn't do it here. Has anyone managed it?

    Thanks for any suggestions!
     
  10. timmis6010

    timmis6010 Well-Known Member

    Jul 3, 2012
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    I don't remember the beach portion from the books either. From what I gather, the biggest benefit to it is getting the mystery lady with the boat's hint about how to find the manticore when the time comes and the spell is just a way to get you back up the cliff. I could totes be wrong tho.

    The key you are speaking of is given to you by the beggar if you give him a gold coin and are nice to him and is useful in Khare if captured by city guards. He is on the path between the buildings after Kristanti (the right path).

    I have not found a way to finish without facing the manticore.

    Hope that helps :)
     
  11. BeefJerky

    BeefJerky Well-Known Member

    Jun 4, 2009
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    Thanks! That definitely helps.
     
  12. ludka33

    ludka33 Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2013
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    Is there anyway to help the townsfolk of Dhumpus with their goblin raid? They always say they'll use my help at midnight, but no option appears.
     
  13. BeefJerky

    BeefJerky Well-Known Member

    Jun 4, 2009
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    I haven't found any way to do that yet. It does sound like there should be a way though.

    Finished my fourth playthrough and I think I used a good route this time. Finished with quite a bit of gold and a large amount of magical ingredients and a couple of goodies I know will carry over to the next game.

    I still feel there is loads to find, like the answer to the above question. I suspect I found the route to avoid the manticore but, as I was on a specific mission and had collected good stuff, I wanted to finish it using a path I was sure about to get that ending saved to the cloud. I may need to go for a fifth!

    What I would love, personally, is a way of putting notes on the map and having them carry over just for when people get to the stage I am at - completed it a few times and now want to explore and see the different things. Not in any way an essential feature though so I imagine it would be very, very low down on anyone's priority list.

    Amazing how many routes there are in this one given that it really wasn't all that big a book. Really hope it's doing well for Inkle.
     
  14. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
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    Agreed, I want a whole library of Inkle gamebooks. It makes the paper and digital versions feel very different
     
  15. Zenfar

    Zenfar Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2010
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    Would have like it to be longer, will play through again. Great game and concepts.
     
  16. Montanx

    Montanx Well-Known Member

    Mar 3, 2012
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    So basically the other chapters are never coming out, right? I mean just be honest, it's not happening.
     
  17. Appletini

    Appletini Well-Known Member

    Jan 8, 2011
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    Don't know what you're talking about; the rest of us have been playing the second book for a while now. Guess you've just been blacklisted.

    In reality, though, the developers posted an update just last week confirming that work is still underway, and have said that book two is currently slated to arrive in late Autumn.
     
  18. thevagrant

    thevagrant Well-Known Member

    Jun 8, 2009
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    Good one, I was already on the appstore while finishing to read your post!

    Seriously INkle, take all the time you need as long as the adventure through Khare is as wonderful as the first volume lets us hope. (and please, I want Crown of Kings before September)
     
  19. inkle

    inkle Well-Known Member

    Hey there! Here at inkle, we're pretty confident it's happening! There's a 300,000 word script file, with 6,659 paragraphs and 5,139 options (and climbing) - there's a *gorgeous*, super-detailed map of Kharé by Mike Schley - there's thirty new fight sequences - and a few new surprises moving from prototype to final game code as we speak - oh, and a slated release date, but that's secret for the moment: we don't like to make promises we can't keep.

    Seriously, though; each Sorcery! app is hand-crafted, which means a lot of writing, drawing, tweaking and a lot of testing. Takes a bit longer, but that's the only way to get the quality. We hope it'll be worth the wait.

    (If you want to keep up to date, you should sign up to the mailing list (www.inklestudios.com/sorcery) - we never spam and only write when we have something you want to hear. Our last update announced that the game is coming to Android; the next will probably contain the release date and sneak-preview art.)
     
  20. oooooomonkey

    oooooomonkey Well-Known Member

    Jan 15, 2011
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    Nice thanks for the info. There's always some disbelievers :rolleyes:
     

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