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City of Steam's blind-as-a-bat race
While their name might sound like something a cat hacked up in your sock drawer, the Draug are actually the latest revealed race in City of Steam. Boasting a line of noble Elfish blood dating back to whenever, the Draug eschewed adapting and instead became a reclusive society living off the remnants of its former glory. Interestingly enough, the Draug have incredibly poor eyesight, which probably should make them terrible adventurers. But in another clever City of Steam twist, the race compensate for their bad vision with bursts of sonar to "see" around them. That's right: The Draug are bat-men. And bat-women. A dev journal on the Draug talks about how this echolocation works both for and against these batfolk. While they have an advantage in low-visibility situations over normal folks, they're more blind than usual if there's a lot of noise nearby.
City of Steam dev diary embraces Goblins
City of Steam is a strange world indeed, filled with the bizarre as well as unexpected twists on familiar fantasy tropes. The team penned a dev diary to talk about why City of Steam's Goblins are far more interesting than the cannon fodder you dispatch in other MMOs. As one of the nine playable races in this upcoming game, Goblins are attempting to make their way in the civilized world, but they suffer from discrimination by those who hate all greenskin races. They are, however, far more refined and savvy than their Orc relatives and have garnered a positive reputation for being able to repair almost anything. Goblins have large families, are almost fatally curious about the world, and can eat almost anything. Goblins are best wielded as either Arcanists or Gunners and have the manic energy to back either of those professions. Because Goblin families are so important, the devs have put a large emphasis on family in the race's questline. The player will begin her experience as Goblins by traveling to the city to help her recently widowed uncle in a variety of tasks.
City of Steam goes into alpha testing this July
City of Steam's been building up some strong word-of-mouth in the community, and we've been quite eager to get our hands on this steampunk MMO. The good news is that we just may have that chance come July, when City of Steam enters alpha testing. Mechanist Games recently announced that work on the game is progressing to the point that it's ready to undergo player testing. While there isn't an exact date yet, it's certainly enough to know that July will be a special month. "We're actually quite pleased that quite a few of those who participated in the sneak peek test told us that the game was already looking like an alpha build," the team writes. "Thanks and we would like to say we're quite proud of that fact."
City of Steam fashions a pressurized skill tree
Many MMOs have skill or talent trees, but when you're doing a steampunk game, why not take a bland staple of the genre and turn it into something awesome? That's what City of Steam's Lead Designer Dave Winking is promoting when he shows off the team's ideas for turning the mundane into the fantastical. After taking feedback from previous generic builds, City of Steam's dev team revamped the skill tree's visuals and mechanics to entice a "whoa!" out of its players. The concept is that the tree is now a maze of pipes, boilers, and valves. Players will build up "pressure" over time, pressure that can be vented into different pipes. The more pressure in a pipe, the higher a skill goes, and once a skill hits 100% pressure, it's usable by the player. Winking says that players have more options than just filling up a pipe; they can also over-pressurize pipes to achieve higher skill ranks and take multiple paths to achieve better skills. There's even a mystery skill that Winking says will "make your character explode into pieces of bread with cat's heads stuck through them." Of course, he then says he's probably teasing about the last thing.
The gates hiss open for a peek at City of Steam
The steampunk genre is loved by a lot of gamers, but it has yet to see a surfeit of titles. The good news for fans is that City of Steam is on the horizon, and it's promising a free-to-play browser-based experience for anyone who wants to take part in exploring ancient mechanical ruins. Of course, the question then becomes whether or not the game is worth the investment of time... something that can be solved by taking part in the game's currently running sneak peek event. The sneak peek is available only to players who already snagged a code for access, meaning that players just coming into the game will be out of luck. It's certainly an encouraging sign that the game is moving toward its full release, which should make fans of clockwork automatons and arcane science quite happy. And if you're one of the players taking part in the sneak peek... well, all the better, right?
City of Steam browser title features unique steampunk world
Steampunk continues to be a source of fascination for both game geeks and game developers, and the latest example of the phenomenon in MMO circles is a new title called City of Steam. An interview at Light Speed Gaming spills the beans on the browser-based title, which is being developed by a Chinese firm called Mechanist Games. If you've ever wanted to play a mechanical dwarf, or explore a world that is literally a giant machine, City of Steam may be your game. The setting is borrowed from a series of RPG books and incorporates all the elements of fantastical steampunk (plus a few novel twists) that fans of the genre have come to expect. "The world itself is a giant machine, and is, in fact flat. The elemental planes aren't found by mystical methods -- you can literally walk across the teeth of the world to reach them. The sun and stars are actually tethered to the world, orbiting as gyroscopic pieces of the superstructure of existence," according to the designers. Head to Light Speed Gaming for more on the setting and the game mechanics, and don't forget to view the video embed after the break. [Thanks to Soren for the tip!]
