Radiator Blog

MAY 5, 2021

and my notes are obviously going to spoil some of the game's structure, but all these spoilers are pretty vague and anyway I don't name any names. This is a business model I've always wondered about -- make a big complicated game, but then earn revenue from selling ads on the wiki for your own game? Anyway, here's my notes.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

JULY 31, 2021

If you've been keeping up with our dev blogs already, you know that they're pretty hefty when it comes to content. Well, we've been carefully and strategically saving some of our best content in anticipation of finally launching the official Kristala Patreon campaign. Why, you might ask? BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Concept Art.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

AUGUST 31, 2021

You just left reality and fell into a portal to the fantasy world of Ailur, the fictional planet that serves as the setting for 3D Dark Fantasy ARPG Kristala—an indie game developed by women-owned independent game studio, Astral Clocktower Studios (hey, that's us!). Kristala at Play NYC 2021. We can't wait to go back again next year!

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

The last time we met, we were right in the thick of preparing an early, pre-demo build of Kristala for unveiling at the PlayNYC virtual convention. Because of their importance to both the story and the game, it was important to us to make sure the models for the six Sacred Crystals were not only unique, but beautiful and enchanting too.

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The Bottom Feeder

MAY 11, 2022

It's such a big, unique, popular game that not picking it apart a bit is game-writer malpractice. Even if you hate From Software games, and many do, if you care about game design as an art, it's worth a good look. The retention rate for this game is incredibly good. Yes, I am going back to this well one more time.

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Game Global

JULY 12, 2021

Do you want to make people laugh at the silly things the game’s troops say if you click on them enough times? If so, you probably want to be a game writer. You should concentrate on building up your writing portfolio and getting regular game writing work. And that’s valid! What technical pitfalls await the unwary?

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

JUNE 29, 2021

This is the place where we bring you a monthly peek into the development process for 3D dark fantasy ARPG Kristala, an indie game developed using Unreal Engine 4 by women-lead Astral Clocktower Studios. Astral Clocktower Studios x Game Raven Review. You can listen to our episode of the Game Raven Review podcast right meow!

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Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

I've written previously about murder in Skyrim , epic Skyrim fan game Enderal , and a very bushy Skyrim mod called The Forgotten City. From a game dev perspective, it's been fascinating to play. The game plays with this a little: there's a treasure door that opens only during the fail state. (A The Forgotten City (2021).

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Raph Koster

SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

I just watched a couple of videos about sandbox vs themepark games (in particular one by NerdSlayer and another by Josh “Strife” Hayes )… One thing that struck me about the ways players often talk about this (because at this point the history is so old) is that people think of sandbox as the older version of MMOs, and themeparks as newer.

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Deconstructor of Fun

MAY 15, 2022

This post is written by the fantastic Game Bakery substack team of Chase, Zixuan, Haiyin, Caitou, Fish, Amy, Chow, Jing, Wanzi and edited by Caitou, Rob. When we talk about MMO, many may relegate this game category to “old-school” or “niche.” Amazon Games has finally made its name after the tough launch of New World.

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Radiator Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

This is similar to my tactics games writeup and Enderal (huge Skyrim mod) writeup where I spoil some interesting game designer / systems design things. I don't discuss much of the game narrative. I assume general game design knowledge but minimal Deathloop-specific knowledge. Not that you should ever talk to a game dev.

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Keith Burgun

JULY 29, 2022

Over the years, I have loved games in all of these categories. This is a huge one, and arguably it’s important to many kinds of games, and other forms of art as well. That kind of thing sets the brain going: what else is this game keeping track of that I don’t realize? Sense of wonder.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

MAY 27, 2021

While you can probably make some assumptions as to what roles each Pit will play in the game based on their names, we're keeping the exact details under wraps for the time being. One of the magic staves James designed below was created for a super important Kota character that we'll be revealing in our upcoming Patreon content.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

MARCH 23, 2022

You're currently tuned in to the official Kristala Dev Blog, a monthly compilation of all the development done on our first game, Kristala: a Dark Fantasy ARPG created by women-owned indie game studio, Astral Clocktower Studios (hey, that's us!). Since we last met, things have legit been poppin' off over here. Concept Art.

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Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

A 10-year gaming industry veteran, leading game development teams focused on free-to-play titles across mobile and PC. Summary Warcraft Rumble is an action-strategy game akin to Clash Royale but with a focus on single-player tower offense. Written by Christopher Brousseau. The Arclight Booster pack, available for $19.99

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Deconstructor of Fun

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

A 10-year gaming industry veteran, leading game development teams focussed on free-to-play titles across mobile and PC. Summary Warcraft Rumble, is an action-strategy game akin to Clash Royale but with a focus on single-player tower offense. Written by Christopher Brousseau. The Arclight Booster pack, available for $19.99

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Radiator Blog

JUNE 30, 2022

Zugzwang by Robert Yang This post details my process and intent for making my new release Zugzwang (pronounced in German like /ts'OOK-ts'VAHng/ ) a tactical sex dungeon roguelike cum ritual game. SPOILER ALERT: This post spoils what happens in the game. CONTENT WARNING 1: I mention a suicide from a century ago.

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