After the Fall - Dark Urban Roleplay with the Riot Combat System

The Riot Combat System - a new game system which allows players to level up by in-game credits - has its first roleplay sim for interactive "Dark Urban Roleplay" called "After The Fall" (AFT).

The first location that the exploratoin quest HUD wanted me to find: the hospital

After The Fall (AFT) has been launched in May 2013. The settings have been created by the newest graphical and SL performance standards. New players can immerse into the roleplay world easily since the background story is presented in a comic book way - it's a great idea to get into a new roleplay setting without a steep learning curve. You just need to wear the comic book HUD from the welcome pack in-world. There is even a Youtube video version of the comic (below).

Another nice idea to introduce newcomers to ATF quickly and to give them some tasks that they can do on their own is an exploration quest HUD that gives the player little exercises such as "visit the following locations on the sim". After playing the quests, you'll be familiar with the sim, the community rules and the roleplay aims. This is really the best introduction to a roleplay community that I have ever seen!

The Quests of the exploration HUD

Last but not least the roleplayers on the AFT sim can use the exciting new Riot Combat System for their fights. If I had more time for roleplay, this would be a place I'd definately explore it further.

After The Fall

On the verge of economic collapse, with the world in a very vulnerable place, astronomers predicted frequent and disastrous meteor showers. But they couldn't predict what came next... Dark and gibbering creatures emerged from the impact craters, decimating everything in their sight. As a human, how will you survive? As an alien, what's your next move? After the Fall has an elaborate interactive grungy urban city, aliens, and adult-themed role play. See the graphic novels at http://youtu.be/NUnlCeH2n6k.

Visit in Second Life

My wishlist for a real "Bashable Combat System" in Second Life

This post refers to my enthusiastic review of Loki's Bashables System 4.0 a few weeks ago.

Dear Loki, 

I know that you have just finished your bashables system version 4 and the result is awesome. 
I have been lately looking at some other systems, namely the Grim Combat System and the Riot combat system and I think that your system plays pretty much in the same league.

The Bashables system is now getting close to a real combat system - maybe even better than many existing combat systems on the market. I know that you are very busy and that "life is not a music request programme", but I'd like to share my ideas how to make the Bashables system even better - most of them are inspired by what I saw with the Grim Combat System.

1) Bashables need a "Player versus Player" option
I think that your bashable system is really fun, because it is - for SL standards - fairly simple to control the avatar and the attacks. It would be totally great if we could use this system to duel other players. A PvP option - that can be switched on and off - ensures that we fight with each others permission. (Do you remember the "Separatist Goony" roleplay? How exciting could a bashing fight have been that day...)

Riot Combat System - Level-up with in-game credits

Second Life isn't a game and doesn't provide game mechanics out of the box. But it is a platform that offers the opportunity to develop in-world games. One of the most vivid game categories in Second Life are shooter games which can take place in combat areas or in a roleplay setting. With the variety of existing combat systems, newcomers need special features in order to draw interest from the community. 

The Riot Combat System stands out of the crowd as a combat system which offers in-game credits and even Linden cash prizes. Moreover there are regular exciting bounty hunter events. 
For Riot in-game credits, players need to kill an enemy during a fight. Credits can be used at the Riot shop for buying more advanced armor or damage guns. More kills equals more credits. The game developer claims that some kills bring even random LS cash prizes.

The Grim Combat System - A game construction kit for Second Life region owners

Back in February I reviewed a zombie fighting sim called "Axis of Evil". I was amazed by the game mechanics and the density of NPC monsters on the sim. I also mentioned in the post that the shooter is based upon a system called Grim Combat System (GCS).

The GCS creators claim that their combat system is the fastest growing combat system in Second Life and their region list shows that about 80 regions are offering shooter game experiences based on their system. The GCS approach is different to other Second Life combat systems. GCS does not only provide weapons and a meter that measures the players health. They provide a whole game construction kit for region owners. The GCS system includes - amongst many other items - all kind of monster spawners; exploding cars, barrels and dumpsters; low lag city building kits; scoreboards; recovery systems; fog machines; breakable glas; quest items and even quest NPCs (non playing characters).

Loki's "Bashables" 4.0 and NPC melee fights

When opening his Escapades sim in September 2010, Loki also introduced a 'Bashables' game where you can smash things up using a stick. This system allows you to activate a stick or other weapons to bash things on the island with one click on a bash button of a HUD (heads up display) . When hitting a bashable object, it will dissapear. Sometimes a gift is found when the object is destroyed or the player gets "a monstrous surprise": some of the bashable objects have different monsters that appear when being hit.

Loki has enhanced his Bashables game over the years and with his "Rabbid Rabbits" game and the Bashables 4.0 update, he has added a health status and a "game over" feature. Players without life energy get teleported to a "lost point" on the island.