I’ve made no secret about my love of action RPG’s.  I’ve carried – ahem – a torch for Torchlight since before its release, but I love pretty much anything that lets me hit loot pinatas and collect shiny trinkets; Titan’s Quest, Sacred, Icewind Dale, Divine Divinity, Dungeon Siege… I even played Revenant.  (Look it up.)  And when Diablo 3 comes out, forget it.  I may just disappear.

But the game development world isn’t just sitting around waiting for Blizzard to bring out the next installment of their juggernaut, and indie developers in particular have been busy innovating in a genre that hasn’t seen many high-profile entries in the last few years.  The aforementioned Torchlight got a lot of media attention (thanks in part to not just an excellent game but Runic’s staff of ex-Blizzard employees), but Steven Peeler has been making action RPG’s with a twist and selling them online for the last several years.

His latest, Din’s Curse, was discussed briefly in a previous Immortal Machines episode – it’s an action RPG where you take a wandering hero through a string of randomly generated towns and attached dungeons… a little like Torchlight might be if the town of Ember was different every time you started a game, and was in actual peril.  The world in Din’s Curse, you see, doesn’t wait for you to get around to saving it – waste too much time, and those monsters will get stronger, and the town you’re trying to save may end up overrun.

We were lucky enough to be joined by developer Steven Peeler on this episode, to talk about his company Soldak Entertainment, Din’s Curse, their previous releases, and what he hopes to work on next.  It’s always great to get a little insight into how the games we love are made, and I hope you’ll enjoy listening to Steven as much as we enjoyed talking with him in our latest IndieCast.

Want to talk about it?  Come join the discussion over at Colony of Gamers.

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