Is it worth playing? Or is it basically a Veeky Forums meme?

Character creation was more fun than the game

But user, isn't that true for every system?

Yes

I'd say I've had more fun playing a 2e Exalted character than making them.

But user, 2e Exalted isn't a game you play, it's a type of mental disorder you try to slowly recover from.

I mean when I wasn't playing rocket tag with buckets of dice I had a lot of fun. I liked being able to be a dickass thief with supernaturally good stealing powers. Stealing the poison out of a guy in order to save his life is still one of my favorite moments in a Veeky Forums game.

I couldn't imagine running the game though, especially since the GM was allowing all the Exalt types. Sounded like my least favorite parts of running Shadowrun 5e on steroids.

Viral made the game, he's from Veeky Forums though and some people from Veeky Forums playtested it but it is undoubtedly Viral's baby.

I haven't seen him around in awhile though, he must be off leading the insurrection in Viralzuela he's been planning with the kickstarter money.

>Is viral a dude? I thought it was the group from Veeky Forums that developed it

Viral's definitely a dude as I have had many an online conversation with him while I wrote my parts for Engine Heart. Veeky Forums had a lot of input, playtested, came up with iconography even, but I would still say that Engine Heart is Viral's baby and he should be a proud poppa.

Viral's also behind Modempunk, Joints and Jivers, and several other quick and dirty RPGs. Though my favorite will always be WETSUIT because we spent a thread trying to convince people that it was actually a TV show.

1d4chan.org/wiki/Category:Viral_Games

suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/19986383/

I've noticed that dismissing people's opinions with "just a meme" has become a pretty virulent meme lately.
People don't like Myfarog? That's just a meme! People don't like D&D? That's just a meme! People do like D&D? That's just a meme 2: electric boogaloo!
It's getting ridiculous.

>F Zero

God bless Viral.

It's your basic /v/-/tv/ infection. It's pretty common on Veeky Forums.

>Yet another way to dismiss something out of hand for literally no reason came from /v/
Wow, who'd have thought?

It's good. Only problem is that multiple campaigns end up feeling the same.

All sterotypes are based on a nugget of truth.
This just happens to be a pretty big nugget.

>They were then tasked with throwing a birthday party for a ten year old.

Please user, share the story of how did it go.

It's a Veeky Forums meme worth playing.

If anyone is interested, I'm still very slowly forcing this vidya into existence.

The graphics haven't changed much, but I had a very significant scripting breakthrough last night with regards to the orange bot on the left. Now that I've got all the lines in the proper order they've got routines that they can follow unless you bother them.

Go Viral, go. If the Viralzuelans will not work in the pixel mines, cut their rations in half.

I'd like to hear about this

I wish I'd backed it high enough to get the dice...

>People don't like Myfarog? That's just a meme!
I thought it was Myfarog shilling was a meme. Since it's pretty widely accepted that the game is boring as drywood.

>and before GameScience went out of business

In the last Myfarog shilling thread, its defenders kept claiming that nobody had valid criticisms of the system or fluff or anything, they were just "repeating memes."
It was as stupid as it sounds.

Looks like a more polished Earthbound

I've seen people unironically (as far as I could tell) defending it, blaming the negative reception on "SJWs" and claiming everything was fixed in the 2nd edition, or just straight up claiming it's nearly perfect and anyone who complains is just a sheeple as said. Some /pol/lacks really can't accept their husbando put out a dry, crusty turd of a system

I would love to play the finished product. Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks, that means a lot.

It's probably going to take twice as long because all the graphics are hand-made.

Sorry for the late reply.

It was definitely one of my favorite sessions of any game I played. Here's a few highlights in no real order.

>Robots attempt to bake a cake with no hands, fuck up, and break the sink. Drillbot drills for well water to make up for broken sink.
>Sphere bot gets frustrated and hijacks a bank robot to steal money for party supplies.
>Robots hijack a semi and end up ripping out most of it to fit the driller robot. Drive headfirst into traffic and lose one of the drones to the grill of an oncoming car.
>Lifting robot goes apeshit in the store and starts lifting everything in sight.
>Robots try to cludge together a gift out of shit they bought at the store since they have no concept of human customs. Sphere bot is the only one that doesn't think humans are just weird models of robot.
>Liftbot and drillerbot lift cat from tree. Cat gets conscripted as gift. Liftbot can't stop lifting it.

All things considered the kid had a good birthday.

>Engine Heart thread, on my Veeky Forums?
Where Bee-Bot at? They usually show up.

That look pretty. How far along is it? Estimated completion or at least demo?

I... user, now I badly want to try this game out. I have exactly the right party for it - we tried RP before, but we all were interested in story and character development rather than murderhoboing things. Everyone got bored of combating stuff really quickly and wanted to goof around in town with NPCs instead.

Now, I'm a huge Ray Bradbury fan, and I know just the right short story to base a campaign on... Question is, how to end that story, straight out burning everyone seems dickish.

Well, it's not necessarily stupid. I don't know the specifics of Myfarog, but a lot of games here can't be discussed past the two or three bits of baseless criticism that get repeated by people who haven't been near that game ever and just want to stir shit up. That's perfectly fine to call a meme.

"Our house burned down, now what?" is the Engine Heart version of everyone meeting in a tavern.

"There Will Come Soft Rains" is one of the many inspirations for Engine Heart. It was even used in the Kickstarter.

Makes sense - that story fits this RPG like a glove)

Heh, I've thought of an evil plan - all of my planned players 100% haven't read TWCSR by Bradbury, so I could narrate a one-go session where they are trying to make a birthday cake for little Johan while instructed by house keeper AI, only to be asked to put 56 candles on top of it in the end. And then discover burnt silhouettes of Johan's family in the backyard.

I never knew they made a comic adaptation of this.

marswillsendnomore.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/ec-comics-ray-bradbury-there-will-come-soft-rains/

It will probably get finished shortly after Veeky Forums shuts down.
nobody should take this seriously

I'm still working out the bugs concerning the behaviors of NPC robots, and only made enough graphics for the demo suburb and eight NPC bot types, so maybe 5%? After more testing, it turns out the problem with NPC routines that I thought I fixed is only partially fixed.

>mfw when I have a hardcore soft spot for robots in fiction
>mfw I'll likely not find anyone who'd play this with me

This. I made about fifty little robots. Never played a tabletop RPG in my life, never have and probably never will.

At least you can go through the Inspirations page and check to see if there's anything you haven't read

What are some of your favorites?

I had to dig these up from an archive of a copy of a dropbox folder full of notes from an iphone app.

A heavily modified pursuit and surveillance model, the U-Bot's powerful servomotors propel him along at high speed.

-INTELLIGENCE-
Reality Comprehension: 3
Human Comprehension: 2
Digital Control: 1
Mechanical Control: 1
-CHASSIS-
Dexterity: 2
Mobility: 5
Perception: 4
Reflexes: 5
Strength: 4

-CRUX-
Durability: 1
Size: 3
Buffer: 2
Power: 2

-FEATURES-
• Manipulative Limb (Standard)
• Enhanced Cameras (1)
• Rechargeable Battery
• Speaker/Receiver
• Turbo
• Pneumatic

-DEFECTS-
• Rare Model
• Plastic Casing (1)
• Weak Chassis
• Lightweight (2)

Interaction pool: 7
Projectile pool: 8
TN to be struck: 10
Damage from strike: 3
Initiative: 1d10+5
Speed: 20
OS Threshold: 3 (TN 7)
Damage Threshold: 3
Repair pool: 3

-NOTES-
Game role: The U-bot's most obvious ability is his blazing speed, making him an excellent high-velocity scout - his high perception and enhanced camerasmake him perfect for the task. It combat, the U-bot relies on avoiding enemy attacks before walloping them with his powerful strike attack.

90% of MYFAROG threads turn into shitposting about Varg. The game doesn't seem anything special, other than that it seems old school D&D inspired - nothing to shit on, but nothing award winning.

Additional supportive statement!

(Autocorrect changed that to ascii at first. Huh)

This one references a system for weapons I made. It was supposed to be a miniboss for hypothetical PCs. tXi labs designs its robots by pitting them against each other in an accelerated "evolutionary arena". This results in odd-looking eccentric, highly-specialised robots.

-DESIGNATION-
Manufacturer: tXi Evolutionary Labs
Model: Iteration 23 Ratcatcher-type
Purpose: Catch and dispose of sewer vermin

A stealthy, brutal hunter, the Ratcatcher is the terror of the Underside. It stalks the tunnels in search of prey; once rats, now small, vulnerable robots. Its victims suffer a terrible fate: pinned to the wall with an iron stake, then slowly harvested for parts and coolant. The Ratcatcher uses its innate advantages in its hunt for victims. It can see clearly in darkness; hear the clanking of prey from hundreds of meters away; walk on walls and ceilings; even hide in wait underwater. It prefers to spring from hiding, dealing a swift blow before retreating into the darkness.

-INTELLIGENCE-
Reality Comprehension: 3
Human Comprehension: 2
Digital Control: 3
Mechanical Control: 2

-CHASSIS-
Dexterity: 4
Mobility: 4
Perception: 5
Reflexes: 4
Strength: 2

-CRUX-
Durability: 2
Size: 3
Buffer: 2
Power: 2

-FEATURES-
• Manipulative Limb (Standard)
• Enhanced Cameras (1)
• Rechargeable Battery
• Speaker/Enhanced Microphone (1)
• Attendant Swarm (1)
• Magnetised
• Submersible (1)
• Power Leech

-DEFECTS-
• Lightweight (2)
• Major Overriding Directive (3)
• Environmentally Attuned (Darkness)
• Mute
• Slow Charger (1)
• High Maintenance

Interaction pool: 8
Projectile pool: 7
TN to be struck: 8
Damage from strike: 1 (2+)*
Initiative: 1d10+4
Speed: 8
OS Threshold: 5 (TN 10)
Damage Threshold: 5
Repair pool: 6

-NOTES-
• The Ratcatcher is armed with a spear fashioned from an rusty iron rod.
*Rusty Spear
Smashing, Piercing
• The Ratcatcher's overriding directive compels it to trap and dispose of vermin in the sewers.

youtube.com/watch?v=e1IxOS4VzKM

This locale isn't really a town, just a series of lots with different shit on them for graphics testing.

IN THEORY I have enough graphics for a gated community (street signs, chain link fences, brick walls, houses, etc.) but I want to get all the coding out of the way before I really get going on the graphics. There are going to be a few different locations that I have planned but haven't drawn yet. Ignore the 9 in the corner, it's just for testing a route.

It was dark by the time I got over here by these transformers.

The only GUI is the battery meter in the corner. The only controls are the talk/interact button and the overdrive button. Overdrive lets you run really fast while you smoke, but it kills your battery.

Bump-E

>their sensory clusters when the final task is to carry the cake into the backyard for the birthday party

I made this as a joke when I first started working on the vidya

I am loving all of this. Btw
Over a year ago I was working on a drawing I called "Veeky Forums plays Engine Heart" the scan was on a computer that died.
This is making me want to dig it out and give it another try.

He Viral, I happen to be a programmer and an artist/animator myself. If you happen to need any help on your project just say so.

Engine Hearts thread sweet.

I'd repost the writefaggorty I did inspired by the game, but my computer bricked and I have to hope it can be recovered.

If not I'll search it up on suptg

I remember what Veeky Forums was like when we made EH.
Good times.

Viral made Engine Heart, a few people helped, but it's Viral's game.

That's pretty sweet user

Email is viralgames at programmer dot net but I can't promise anything resembling diligence in checking it.

Story that inspired my Engine Heart game, Humans were missing, no one knew why as they slowly grew sapience and went looking for the last humans on earth

Your computer bricked your fanfic about small robots... Do you think your computer might be trying to tell you something?

Shh user, don't be a fag, I'd give it a chance.

I'm going to have this song in my head all day

I love EH.

The hype may decline, but the relevance remains pressing. We are setting up to have our doctors, lawyers, and politicians guided by machine learning while the fallacies of cybernetics are blatantly obvious in our security apparatus, polling, and investment strategies.

Humans is getting a second season, and Netflix picked up Black Mirror. This shit is happening!

>Netflix picked up Black Mirror
Fuck, now I don't have any more excuses

Yay EH.

Never did get to play it... or ModemPunk/J&J ... but loved watching them grow.

... Ffffffffuuuuuuuuck.

Not knowing an awful lot about Engine Heart, could the system be used to play a game set in a post-apocalyptic world (as discussed in thread ) where automated war machines continue fighting their masters' war long after their masters' deaths? The PCs would be a collection of more self-aware bots trying to end the war once and for all.

Engine Heart really assumes a more domestic type of robot, but it's not impossible. It's just that most of the Features and Defects are the sort of thing you'd find on consumer-grade or industrial-grade robots, rather than military ones. You'll find the combat a little weak, though, if you're hoping for robot-fighting-robot action.

It could, but there's better.

EH isn't a combat game. It is possible to destroy or hack another unit, but usually the extend of battle is pushing another chassis out of the way. Machines aren't vengeful. And the game mechanics are fluffy, yet not strictly limited to a lighter tone.

You don't need eternal terminator war to make EH bleak. It's charming, rarely violent, and still bitter and cruel. It's Wall-E forever stacking the garbage of an abandoned earth without any real impact on the poison chaos mankind left behind.

More self aware is just a question of the right stats. You can build a Turing proof android with the EH chargen. But it will be superficial, they won't feel, only mimic. And it will be especially pointless since there are no organics to interact with. It's an interface without a user.

If you want robo combat play Battletech, Brick Wars, or build your own maybe from ORE Mecha. You can be a battlebot in EH, but you won't be using your weapons for battle.

I wasn't imagining that the game would be very combat heavy. The PCs might primarily be civilian service droids, industrial robots or very low-powered military units, and would primarily be exploring the world while trying to stay out of harm's way as they looked for the means to make the war machines realize that the war is over.

Definitely. If you want to stat out some warbots, just give them 200-400 points instead of the regular 100, and use the projectile rules. You might also waive the requirements and limitations for the Giant feature.

It gave me a year's worth of online campaign play around 300 hours of entertainment.

The game was streamed and got crazy with players dropping in and out but the one constant was the audience's own multi-core user-bot.

Had a betting mechanic where if you guessed the correct amount of successes in a roll you got a point to put towards lowering the difficulty in a future roll. So some players banked their plot points to have appropriately heartwarming action movie physics for their mass produced protagonists.

Was going to use the adventures of the cutebots as the prologue to an Eclipse Phase game that never got off the ground. But in the end the day was saved when Anonymous Prime, an upgraded user-Bot, managed to defeat the Memetroller clickbait AI long enough for the party and any survivors they picked up to escape Earth.

youtu.be/A52--FKUQgU

So much bigger than an Obrez of truth.

/r/ing that one story from an Engine Heart game that worked like Mega Man, where OP was a vending machine.

That's because the vocal critics just repeat the the points metal sucks wrote in their article which are outdated and not even from an RPG publication.

Nobody ever said "that's just a meme", but I've tried to set the record straight every time it comes up.

The game's just okay, but if you're going to pan it you should know what the fuck you're talking about and not rely on repeating misconceptions.

>not even from an RPG publication.

So you're gonna say pic related wasn't actually a page from Myfarog's first edition? I gotta say that's a creative tactic. Not a convincing one, but it's pretty original.

>Nobody ever said "that's just a meme"

Yes, they did. Not worded precisely like that, but
there were several people who dismissed criticisms as being just "memes."

never mind, wasn't engine heart, but reminiscent.

pic related, worth a read.

>the vocal critics just repeat the the points metal sucks wrote in their article
No, it couldn't possibly be that we saw scans of the rulebook and came to the same conclusion they did. There's zero chance most people who actually bought the book said the same thing. It's just that one review and we're all just mindlessly repeating what it said.
>not even from an RPG publication
Wow, you're right user! That totally destroys that author's credibility. Everyone knows there's no overlap whatsoever between metalheads and RPG players.
>which are outdated
Fine, I'll grant you that, while I haven't read either book cover to cover, it does appear the system went from boring and terrible to boring and mediocre.
>Nobody ever said "that's just a meme"
...Except all the people in every Myfarog thread who used the exact phrase "just a meme"
>The game's just okay
Then why defend it? It's not good. It's not one of those flawed-but-interesting systems that get unfairly ignored due to their lack of polish. It's just an uninspired retroclone that no one would have noticed if it weren't for the author. Even the racism was insipid. The metalsucks review keeps getting spread around because hardly anyone else bothered to review the turd. If they fixed the font and the racism in 2e that just means there's even less to talk about. So why bother?

>why defend it?
Because it offers something that I like (simultaneous combat declaration) on top of a solid framework. It's a competent RPG, just not for everyone's taste

>no one bothered to review it
plenty people have and they get ignored. Just look up "Myfarog Review" and you'll find at least a dozen more recent and in depth than the metalsucks trash.

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be offensive to Jews or Muslims or both, but "Meleh Ha-Mashiach" sounds a hell of a lot like the Hebrew phrase "Melekh Mashiach," lit. "anointed King," the etymological origin of the modern word "Messiah." So are they taking the piss out of Christians for believing in such a Messiah?

I'm just lost here, this is my first exposure to the thing, aside from encounters with it on the catalog. I'm certainly not opposed to getting inspiration from the Bible, in fact it's actually a great source, but this just seems... lazy. The most offensive thing I can make full sense of here is the font, which brooks no excuses.

>simultaneous combat declaration
That does sound pretty cool.

>plenty people have and they get ignored. Just look up "Myfarog Review" and you'll find at least a dozen more recent and in depth than the metalsucks trash.
I already did, just to make sure none had been written since I last checked. There's a couple Youtubers, a couple written reviews that aren't anywhere near as in depth as metalsucks', a few forum posts, and not much else. I literally cannot find a single written review of the 2nd edition.

So, were you too lazy to check for yourself, or are you so deep in denial you just assumed there'd be dozens of professional reviews out there praising it?

>So are they taking the piss out of Christians for believing in such a Messiah?
You realize the guy burned down a church, right?

The longest lasting of all Veeky Forums memes, the meme meme, has finally become a meme.

anything that covers mechanics is more in depth than metalsucks; I'll concede that's not a very high bar. Mostly I was referring to the YouTube reviews.

>simultaneous combat declaration

It's pretty common in older wargames. Some of the Classic Traveller combat rules modules use simultaneous turn resolution.
That said, it's not hard to houserule that into other games, so it's not like that justifies the other shit.

Well, no, I had no idea. I did say that this was my first time knowing anything about this. The "crude drawing of a fish" bit really should have tipped me off a little more, though. I'm kicking myself for not putting two and two together.
That's pretty fucked up. The author did this?

I was thinking the exact same thing, honestly.
Right, back to lurking: I imagine this thing has gotten enough press already, here and elsewhere. I'd rather let the Engine Hearts people have their nice thread back.

>available at sears
Fucking lost it

Sounds AMAZING.
Are there any records? Videos, notes, char sheets etc.?

Well, I found the script/command combination that made everything fall in line that I've been struggling with for the last three or four weeks. This was a pretty decent hill (at least I hope it was) and I'm feeling slightly less apprehensive about the other movement stuff now that I know a tiny bit about the game engine.

anyone got the Golden Sky Stories hack of it? engine sky or whatever it was called?

>anyone got the Golden Sky Stories hack of it? engine sky or whatever it was called?

And just for fun