Laurion Studio - Innovative Fantasy Role-Playing Games in the Faerie World of Parhedros!

News About: The Parhedros Fantasy Role-Playing Games

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We invite you to use this News Page to keep up-to-date and informed about developments concerning Laurion Studio and our series of innovative fantasy role-playing games.

Recent News and Headlines

  1. Patch Released for Parhedros: The Tunnels of Sethir
  2. Video-Gamers Vote! Campaign Ends
  3. Game Developer Gets Out The Vote With Game Give-Away
  4. New Computer Game Gets Into Character Using Artificial Intelligence Story-Telling


Patch Released for Parhedros: The Tunnels of Sethir

LITTLE FALLS, New York, Nov 10, 2007. Independent developer Laurion Studio announces the release of the 1.0.1 patch for its recent fantasy-themed RPG-Adventure, Parhedros: the Tunnels of Sethir. The patch fixes a crash-to-desk top bug, significantly improves the AI of ranged and spell-casting units in combat, and allows unregistered players to explore twice as many levels in the dungeons.

Parhedros is a full 3D dungeon-crawling adventure featuring demanding tactical combat, convincingly life-like NPC interactions using a natural language interface, a unique hyperfictional approach to story-delivery, and a fresh assortment of playable fantasy-themed races, such as satyrs, centaurs and spider-folk.

The Patch can be downloaded (file size: 820 KB) from the Parhedros web-site, at www.parhedros.com/parhedros_patch1.html

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Video-Gamers Vote! Campaign Ends

Nov. 7, 2007. Well, Election Day has come and gone now, so now it’s time to end our Video-Gamers Vote! Campaign. We were absolutely delighted with the response, and we hope that all of the e-mails sent to your congressmen may help convince them to stop using video-games as a cheap bully pulpit. I must admit that I was very surprised that about half of the registrations last week were from people living outside of the USA. We are going to have to sit down and figure out what, exactly, that means for us, as we seek to make our games easily available to everyone who wants to play them. In particular, we are happy with PayPal as a payment service, given its track record in the US. But is it a barrier to people living elsewhere?


Game Developer Gets Out The Vote With Game Give-Away

NewswireToday - LITTLE FALLS, New York, Oct. 31, 2007. Are some politicians alienating a neglected voter-bloc when it comes to the recent controversies over content in video-games? Independent game developer Laurion Studio thinks so, and wants to prove it by giving away a free computer-game in a voter awareness campaign aimed at the getting out the vote among the game-playing populace.

Laurion announced that during November through Election Day it is giving away a free, fully registered copy of its new 3D fantasy role-playing game Parhedros: The Tunnels of Sethir on its web-site (www.parhedros.com) to everyone over the age of 18 who agrees to write to their congressperson with the simple message that “Video-Gamers Vote!” The game normally sells for $22.95 on-line.

“We hear so much about protecting kids from games,” explained Laurion spokesman David Van Meter, “But how often do we hear that the average video-gamer is actually 33 years-old, and that a whopping 72% of all gamers are over the age of 18, according to studies by the Entertainment Software Association? Video-gamers are also voters, and I think it’s time to let politicians know that we are tired of being treated like children when it comes to free speech in our games.”

Laurion's game Parhedros itself affords an example of the sort of “free-thinking” games that are quietly being published only on the internet by mostly small, independent developers for this so-called “mature majority” of gamers. Despite being a role-playing game that focuses mostly on exploring dungeons and battling fantasy monsters, the story also touches upon such mature themes as alcoholism and crises of sexual identity, and some of the characters may do “nude scenes”. Needless to say, you won’t find games like this coming soon to a major retail store anywhere near you.

“From our viewpoint, games will only reach their full potential as an artistic medium when they can freely tackle the same sorts of subjects that novelists and film-makers have treated for decades,” said Van Meter. “But the political hand-wringing over game content and ratings has left the major studios and retailers afraid to touch games that intellectually challenge adults as works of fiction. It will stay that way, too, until video-gamers speak up and assert their political voice.”

For more information on Laurion Studio and its offer of a free copy of Parhedros for concerned game-playing voters, visit www.parhedros.com.

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New Computer Game Gets Into Character Using Artificial Intelligence Story-Telling

NewswireToday - LITTLE FALLS, New York, Oct. 26, 2007. Fancy a computer game where the Non-Player Characters seem to think they’re real, and that their lives and stories matter too? Independent developer Laurion Studio has announced the release of its new Parhedros fantasy role-playing game for the PC, which uses advanced AI techniques, as well as literary techniques drawn from posthumanist theory and hyperfiction, to drive dialog and story-line development.

“We’re very excited about this game, since it gave us a chance to experiment with some styles of gameplay that you just don’t see in commercial computer games,” said developer David Van Meter. “In particular, we wanted to really push the envelope with the Non-Player Characters. We wanted characters that you can really befriend, or grow to loathe; characters who love to tell their own stories and thus subtly nudge the player’s story in new directions. We’re proud of the fact that a lot of our testers told us they got totally immersed in the dialog, to the point where several forgot at times they weren’t talking on-line to a real person.”

Laurion bills Parhedros as a single-player, 3D dungeon-crawl that looks and feels more than a little rogue-like. Besides its novel dialog and story-advancement interface, the game features random dungeons so that no two games are the same, a magic system that emphasizes the summoning of familiars as allies, and a tactical combat system that stresses good maneuver and sound unit mixes. Players can play as a number of fairy-themed races, ranging from Satyrs and Glaistigs to Centaurs and Spider-Folk, and even as Valkyrja. Laurion has released Parhedros as shareware, and the game can be downloaded for free at the company’s website at parhedros.com.

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