Still this isn't supposed to be a what if... or I would like to... It is about the other games that I play on my free time and recently I have been playing almost non stop Torchlight.
Torchlight is an ARPG(action role playing game) created by runic games. Runic games was formed after the fall of Flagship studios and on their team they have people that worked on games such as Mythos,Hellgate London, Fate and the most popular Diablo and Diablo II.
Development
Pre-production on Torchlight began in August 2008, shortly after the dissolution of Flagship Studios. Runic Games was founded by Travis Baldree (lead developer of Fate and Mythos) and veterans of Blizzard North and Flagship: Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer and Peter Hu. The "entire Flagship Seattle team" consisting of 14 people (the branch of Flagship which created the original Mythos) signed on to Runic Games at the time of its formation. Having lost the rights to Mythos, the Runic team saw the development of a new game as a way to "finish what [they] started," although they would have to start over with none of the code or art assets from Mythos. The company's founders decided to "go back to [their] roots" with a smaller game that they could refine and polish within a relatively short production cycle. Full production on the game started around November 2008, giving the entire project a development period of approximately 11 months. As of July 2009, 25 team members were working at Runic Games.
In a feature article on Gamasutra, art director Jason Beck explained that Torchlight's art style was inspired by comic books and classic film animation, using stylized character designs combined with painterly background textures. The developers have described the game's look as inspired by "Dragon’s Lair meets The Incredibles."The team chose to give the game world a lighter fantasy tone to make it more inviting, rather than utilizing a "dark and gritty" style.
The game uses the OGRE open source 3D graphics engine, although the rest of the game engine was built by Runic. The game was designed to run on a wide range of systems and does not require shaders.
Gameplay
Let's start with a gameplay preview for each of the three classes that Torchlight has:- The Vanquisher
- The Alchemist
- The Destroyer
If those video previews won't tell you how good this game is I don't know what will. What will however turn off the players is the fact that it does not have multiplayer. Still they are planning an MMO version and if the wikipedia article about torchlight is correct then
Runic plans to release an MMORPG set in the Torchlight game world 18 months to two years after the release of the single player game. Max Schaefer, Runic Games CEO and former Mythos executive producer, explained the reasoning behind releasing both a single player game and an MMO. The single player game is intended to introduce the Torchlight game world to the public ahead of the MMO. Further, it would allow the team to get a released game under their belts sooner than if they had immediately started on the MMO. Also, while the Torchlight MMO will be a separate game, it will share the same action RPG gameplay and some of the art assets developed for the single player game.
The MMO will feature some different game mechanics and a wider variety of environments, including a shared "over-world." Runic has entered into a partnership with Chinese online game developer and operator Perfect World Co., Ltd. to publish the MMO worldwide.
Because the MMO is planned to be free-to-play, it can be seen as a "free MMO upgrade" to the single-player Torchlight game.
Very good news since the game is at a very low cost of $20.
The camera view is mostly fixed with the only mobility being the option to zoom in and out of the character. The game play of Torchlight definitely follows the Diablo style which its team had originated. It offers a third person over the top view and allows players to adjust the screen as needed. The art style is a little more cartoony than the gritty Diablo styles and was described during the demo as “The Incredibles.” This style keeps a fun approach to the game and is similar to Mythos. But don’t let the graphics full you, the game play is fast paced and brutal just like the Diablo series. The map is randomly generated like in Diablo II to increase the re-playability of the game and it also includes infinite dungeons(yes!!! I kid you not, they are really infinite!!!). Another interesting addition to the game is your pet that grows in strength(level) with you. What is really interesting is the fact that you can send your pet to town to sell items for you so you don't have to stop the awesome entertainment that the game provides.
Let's talk about the loot system and how good it is. While items still require the use of a mouse click to pick them up the gold does not, it simply goes in you inventory once you get near it. While white items still drop the set, unique, rare and magic items still drop a lot(I'm being showered with good loot) and each boss you kill there is a chance that you will find those better weapons/armors of pure pwnage that you always wanted and the best part is the shared stash that you could use so your destroyer gets that unique axe that he always wanted but only your alchemist got it.
So you finished the game and would like to start at a harder difficulty? Why not retire you old character and send your new one an item that will have its qualities increased and its requirements lowered? Yes it is nice way to get that staff to a power level over 9000.
Just play the demo and you'll see what I mean.
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