"MY MINIONS HAVE FAILED ME. YOUR DOOM AWAITS IN MY CHAMBER!"
April 22, 2011 10:41 AM Subscribe
Friday Flash Fun: Realm of the Mad God is a co-op MMORPG shooter with cute 8-bit graphics. Death is permanent, play addictive.
RPG aficionados will be familiar with the concepts of character classes and stats, levelling and equipment of varying effectiveness. In a Roguelike-like twist, death is permanent. So especially if you're a new player, expect to die a lot. However, it's relatively quick to reach the maximum level 20 (again) if you join a "swarm" or "train" of players, as experience points are shared with those nearby.
Pew-pew the various monsters, and stay away from the Godlands, a loose term for the (mostly white and dark grey) areas where the "gods", the game's stronger creatures, reside. (The dreaded Medusa is a challenge even for stronger players.) When death looms, bail out to the safe Nexus area (the "lobby") by pressing F5.
When all of a realm's minions are disposed of, the titular Mad God Oryx will summon all players to his chamber for a "final" battle. Oryx is the strongest monster in the game and drops some of the best loot.
When you've reached level 20, you can refine your character by amassing better equipment or farming the gods for "stat pots", potions which permanently increase your character's stats. Until its death, at least.
RotMG is free to play, but "Realm Gold" can be purchased to exchange for extra character slots, space to store loot, and some vanity items like custom-coloured clothing.
Tips:
• Rare and/or higher-tier items such as top equipment and stat pots are often traded between players, often in quieter areas of the Nexus. As there is (yet) no formal trading system, a trade simply consists of players dropping and picking up the item(s) to be traded. As a result, there is a risk of the other player "scamming" or not following through on their part of a deal, or a third party "ninja" player rushing in and looting the item(s). Lower-tier items are also sometimes traded, but more experienced players will often give them away in the Nexus. Recently a "vault" feature was introduced to allow players to store items.
• It is often faster to pick up loot by swapping an item you already have. Some players keep relatively worthless items in their inventory for this purpose. Consumable items such as stat pots, the red hitpoint and blue magic point pots (which only work temporarily), and the more frivolous ones can be consumed by shift-clicking the item on the ground. This can be quicker than picking it up first.
• Teleportation is your friend. You can move quickly into the action by clicking a dot on the top-right minimap. But beware: teleporting into a swarm of Medusas is an efficient way to die. You can lock onto other players as well, ensuring their names stay on-screen in the lower right even when they are not nearby.
• Every class has a special ability. Exercise it by shift-clicking or pressing the space bar. Aimed abilities are directed toward the mouse pointer. Priests and Paladins can heal: players often ask for healing in the Nexus. Be sure to say thanks!
• If you are experiencing lag, reload the page. Press F to see memory usage.
Bonus links:
Wiki
FAQ
Glossary
Forum
Leaderboard
Subreddit
Load the SWF directly for full-screen mode (this will work temporarily, the SWF url is changed periodically)
---------
Realm of the Mad God was originally developed by Wild Shadow Studios for the TIGSource Assemblee competition, where games are developed around submitted art and sound.
RPG aficionados will be familiar with the concepts of character classes and stats, levelling and equipment of varying effectiveness. In a Roguelike-like twist, death is permanent. So especially if you're a new player, expect to die a lot. However, it's relatively quick to reach the maximum level 20 (again) if you join a "swarm" or "train" of players, as experience points are shared with those nearby.
Pew-pew the various monsters, and stay away from the Godlands, a loose term for the (mostly white and dark grey) areas where the "gods", the game's stronger creatures, reside. (The dreaded Medusa is a challenge even for stronger players.) When death looms, bail out to the safe Nexus area (the "lobby") by pressing F5.
When all of a realm's minions are disposed of, the titular Mad God Oryx will summon all players to his chamber for a "final" battle. Oryx is the strongest monster in the game and drops some of the best loot.
When you've reached level 20, you can refine your character by amassing better equipment or farming the gods for "stat pots", potions which permanently increase your character's stats. Until its death, at least.
RotMG is free to play, but "Realm Gold" can be purchased to exchange for extra character slots, space to store loot, and some vanity items like custom-coloured clothing.
Tips:
• Rare and/or higher-tier items such as top equipment and stat pots are often traded between players, often in quieter areas of the Nexus. As there is (yet) no formal trading system, a trade simply consists of players dropping and picking up the item(s) to be traded. As a result, there is a risk of the other player "scamming" or not following through on their part of a deal, or a third party "ninja" player rushing in and looting the item(s). Lower-tier items are also sometimes traded, but more experienced players will often give them away in the Nexus. Recently a "vault" feature was introduced to allow players to store items.
• It is often faster to pick up loot by swapping an item you already have. Some players keep relatively worthless items in their inventory for this purpose. Consumable items such as stat pots, the red hitpoint and blue magic point pots (which only work temporarily), and the more frivolous ones can be consumed by shift-clicking the item on the ground. This can be quicker than picking it up first.
• Teleportation is your friend. You can move quickly into the action by clicking a dot on the top-right minimap. But beware: teleporting into a swarm of Medusas is an efficient way to die. You can lock onto other players as well, ensuring their names stay on-screen in the lower right even when they are not nearby.
• Every class has a special ability. Exercise it by shift-clicking or pressing the space bar. Aimed abilities are directed toward the mouse pointer. Priests and Paladins can heal: players often ask for healing in the Nexus. Be sure to say thanks!
• If you are experiencing lag, reload the page. Press F to see memory usage.
Bonus links:
Wiki
FAQ
Glossary
Forum
Leaderboard
Subreddit
Load the SWF directly for full-screen mode (this will work temporarily, the SWF url is changed periodically)
---------
Realm of the Mad God was originally developed by Wild Shadow Studios for the TIGSource Assemblee competition, where games are developed around submitted art and sound.
The Q/E map rotation threatens to nauseate me. Is there no other way?
posted by AugieAugustus at 10:56 AM on April 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by AugieAugustus at 10:56 AM on April 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
This reminds me of a game I used to play on my cpc 6128 called "druid". The amount of times it called me a halfwit probably helped brace me for the internet.
posted by gronkpan at 11:04 AM on April 22, 2011
posted by gronkpan at 11:04 AM on April 22, 2011
Oh god, I was first introduced to this via /v/ when they used to have huge swarms of players on at a time... I can quite happily recommend the game, as it is a fun, if surprisingly time consuming game. To date I've yet to hit level 20 with any character despite my best efforts, but RotMG remains fun.
A couple of extra points - if anyone on chat says they're opening portals, try and find your way to them. There used to be a chat commend to warp to players, and I'm not sure if the keys have been removed, but they used to open up to enemy specific dungeons where extra equipment would be dropped. Pirate dungeons are a nice way to grind away lower levels, and are a source of weaponry for lower level warriors and thieves. Sorting out the map with Q/E is essential, otherwise you'll be moving on a diagonal for the duration of your life, which is more of a pain than you'd realise. Finally, there's no shame in shadowing other players; like goodnewsfortheinsane said, XP is shared equally among players so following a group while killing your fair share of enemies is a safe way to survive. This isn't to say you can't survive on your own (I have a habit of wandering from the spawn point to map the world) but it's far easier with others.
posted by Inner Universe at 11:04 AM on April 22, 2011
A couple of extra points - if anyone on chat says they're opening portals, try and find your way to them. There used to be a chat commend to warp to players, and I'm not sure if the keys have been removed, but they used to open up to enemy specific dungeons where extra equipment would be dropped. Pirate dungeons are a nice way to grind away lower levels, and are a source of weaponry for lower level warriors and thieves. Sorting out the map with Q/E is essential, otherwise you'll be moving on a diagonal for the duration of your life, which is more of a pain than you'd realise. Finally, there's no shame in shadowing other players; like goodnewsfortheinsane said, XP is shared equally among players so following a group while killing your fair share of enemies is a safe way to survive. This isn't to say you can't survive on your own (I have a habit of wandering from the spawn point to map the world) but it's far easier with others.
posted by Inner Universe at 11:04 AM on April 22, 2011
Ahh, I'm amazed that this hasn't been posted here yet! goodnewsfortheinsane, this is an excellent introduction to the game. I am not too big on MMORPGs, even really minimalistic ones, but my partner plays it whenever he needs a break from work stuff. (Right this minute I can hear the telltale popcorn sound of monsters dying drifting in from the other room.)
posted by bewilderbeast at 11:09 AM on April 22, 2011
posted by bewilderbeast at 11:09 AM on April 22, 2011
These guys have been working on and polishing this game for quite awhile now, it's quite impressive. Fun game. If you checked it out back at Assemblee and haven't tried it in recently, lots of new stuff.
posted by Nelson at 11:31 AM on April 22, 2011
posted by Nelson at 11:31 AM on April 22, 2011
So, I started playing for a few minutes and apparently killed the Ent God. I just stand way off screen so he can't see me, and start firing arrows like a madman :)
posted by lemuring at 12:09 PM on April 22, 2011
posted by lemuring at 12:09 PM on April 22, 2011
i've been tussling with Mad Gods since Tarjan. this looks awesome.
posted by radiosilents at 12:13 PM on April 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by radiosilents at 12:13 PM on April 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
Inner Universe: "There used to be a chat commend to warp to players, and I'm not sure if the keys have been removed, but they used to open up to enemy specific dungeons where extra equipment would be dropped."
Dungeon entrances now have a chance to drop when you kill certain monsters (Pirate Cave for Pirates, etc.). Dungeon keys also still exist (or rather were reintroduced) but are now only available for purchase in the Nexus.
radiosilents: "i've been tussling with Mad Gods since Tarjan. this looks awesome."
Heh, Oryx is probably the first Mad God I've tussled with *since* The Bard's Tale. That's probably part of why I like RotMG so much.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:16 PM on April 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
Dungeon entrances now have a chance to drop when you kill certain monsters (Pirate Cave for Pirates, etc.). Dungeon keys also still exist (or rather were reintroduced) but are now only available for purchase in the Nexus.
radiosilents: "i've been tussling with Mad Gods since Tarjan. this looks awesome."
Heh, Oryx is probably the first Mad God I've tussled with *since* The Bard's Tale. That's probably part of why I like RotMG so much.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 12:16 PM on April 22, 2011 [2 favorites]
This game is great! Somewhat awkward to play on a laptop trackpad, but that's how I used to play WOW so I'll get used to it. Thanks for the post
posted by meta87 at 12:43 PM on April 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by meta87 at 12:43 PM on April 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
I've been trying to connect to a server for a while now but keep getting "Security Error #2048." Forums say this may be because of a firewall, but I'm at home and not blocking any ports.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 12:54 PM on April 22, 2011
posted by Thoughtcrime at 12:54 PM on April 22, 2011
Pro-tip for trackpad: pressing T turns on autofire. And you can play entirely without Q/E map rotation, just use WASD to move.
posted by Nelson at 1:02 PM on April 22, 2011
posted by Nelson at 1:02 PM on April 22, 2011
I got to level 20 and died. Many adventures were had, but alas, life is short.
...annnnd I think I'll stop playing this game while I still can.
posted by lemuring at 1:14 PM on April 22, 2011
...annnnd I think I'll stop playing this game while I still can.
posted by lemuring at 1:14 PM on April 22, 2011
I've been trying to connect to a server for a while now but keep getting "Security Error #2048." Forums say this may be because of a firewall, but I'm at home and not blocking any ports.
Alright, got it to work in Firefox, but it won't run for me in Safari.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 4:43 PM on April 22, 2011
Alright, got it to work in Firefox, but it won't run for me in Safari.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 4:43 PM on April 22, 2011
Hello, long weekend. Good by, long weekend.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:26 PM on April 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:26 PM on April 22, 2011 [1 favorite]
I tried to run it on my laptop. Got a weird error about my video drives, a blue screen, and then the computer restarted. Not going to touch it now.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:48 PM on April 22, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:48 PM on April 22, 2011
I like the changes they've made to this. The best thing about it is dropping all your tier 3 loot (after you hit level 20, so you can unlock all the characters) in front of some just spawned level one avatar and watching them wreak havoc.
posted by Peztopiary at 2:01 AM on April 23, 2011
posted by Peztopiary at 2:01 AM on April 23, 2011
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Hope you enjoy it, and death to Oryx! Stay away from the pirate rum!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:41 AM on April 22, 2011