OHR News: March 2008

In this section, you'll find the latest game releases, contest announcements, and information regarding the OHR engine. If you have any news to submit, send it to bobsurlaw@yahoo.com!

Latest releases:
Escape from Darkavern by TwinHamster
Fatal Maze by Rya Reisender
The Game without a Name by No Shot
Gauntlets of the Dragon by Scython Reaper
The Grim by Scython Reaper
Negative Blood Shot by Nexty

Contests

• The February installment of the OHR Scene Art contest is complete, with Fortis' Knight vs. Slime King taking first place, Ken H.'s Frumpy McFrump taking second, and Fenrir's Styrge Vs Niggurath coming in third. View more detailed results here and participate in March's contest!

Some Words from the Community

Every month, we'll spotlight some comments from the readers regarding the previous month's issues.

"I love the cover art!" -James Paiger, OHR founder, Castle Paradox Forums 

"I never liked the comics. I thought they were well drawn each month, but could never figure out why they were funny, or supposed to be funny. The ones this round were better than usual, granted, but still I thought they were trying too hard.

All in all I think I'm tired of seeing personal assaults on people, which the comics are notorious for. I'd rather see monthly installments of a unique character, or if asking for originality is too much, monthly installments of Bob the Hamster doing crazy things. As it stands, though, monthly commentaries on talking dogs resembling OHR users that lead nowhere (or to a punchline I have to sift the writer's mind and a bunch of forum threads for) leave me wondering "Am I getting stupider as I get older, or does this just naturally not make any sense?" Either way, I don't think they're clever, and comics need to be clever. Or at least serialized so that they lead to something clever.

Again, the comics this round went further in the wit department than usual, but they haven't found that balance between being too vague and being too spelled out for the reader. I'd recommend reading Calvin and Hobbes to get an idea how the balance should be made." -Pepsi Ranger, Slime Salad Forums

"I read all of Pepsi in one sitting. I felt that the newer articles were more well-written, but on the negative side, I didn't like the constant interruptions anticipating reader responses. What I did like was the overall "don't be lazy" message, although it seemed awfully one-sided dealing with presentation almost exclusively (visuals, sound, the concept of 'showing' a story). For such a long article, I would have appreciated some more nods to avoiding laziness in terms of map design, and gameplay balancing, especially while discussing playtesters.

I thought Surlaw's article on making bad games was pretty good, although it is not a particularly interesting topic to me. Still, the overall message hit home well about avoiding boredom." -MSW, Slime Salad Forums