Going Down Under, Vagabond Style

At the end of this month, the Vagabond Dog pilgrimage will be departing for PAX AUS in Melbourne, Australia.

The convention runs Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 and we'll be there featuring the latest build of Sometimes Always Monsters, some prototype projects, and our various physical wares.

This will be the farthest from home our journey together will have taken us, and we are excited to meet those of you on the other side of the world who have written us.

It's mind blowing to see all the different places your Project Continuity submissions have come from. We will continue looking for more opportunities to interact with those of you all around the world. It's a small pleasure knowing how many of you are out there.

If you're attending the convention and plan on visiting our booth, we'll be in the International Indie Pavillion.

Should you feel inclined to commemorate the experience with a t-shirt, you can order one now through our store and select the Free Convention Pick-Up shipping option.

Vegemite, kangaroo, koala. Sorry, we've got it out of our system. We'll see you soon, Australia.

Media Contact: Gypsy Malkin - gypsy@vagabonddog.com

Witness Our PAX Pitch With Ifinite Lives

Rarely do we get the opportunity to fully explain our games. Conventions often afford us the time to interface with people one-on-one and talk at length, but even that can be insufficient.

Thankfully, the crew from the Infinite Lives Podcast came by our booth at PAX Prime with a camera and all the right questions.

While there is no substitute for the Vagabond Dog booth experience in real life, we hope this video will satisfy.

Sometimes Always Monsters is an ambitious game, and we sincerely appreciate you taking the time to understand.

It Rained Less Than They Thought It Would

With our backs still aching from the return flight home, we leave PAX Prime 2015 behind us with new memories had. Thank you all for making this a fantastic show, and a wonderful return to Seattle.

It has been two years since Vagabond Dog was last in the city, and it was only by the surprised remarks of those who recognized our return that we realized how much we have grown since our first outing. To those who remember us so fondly, we appreciate your attention.

Seeing all our friends, rivals, partners, and associates in one place reminded us how large this industry can be. What we felt though was a community that reciprocated the love we showed it. To those who shared our burdens, you continue to inspire us.

Finally, the general sense of goodwill that allows a convention like this to exist is the lasting thing we steal from the show. Without the generous in time, money, energy, or all three, there would be no greater whole to be part of. To those who gave anything, our gratitude is not enough.

We are currently planning the next stop on the Vagabond Dog pilgrimage, but we are not ready to leave the warm and fuzzy feeling of PAX Prime behind just yet. If you met a vagabond or played Sometimes Always Monsters at the show, leave us a comment or e-mail pax@vagabonddog.com.

It's hard to keep track of so many friends, so let's make it easier by talking lots.

Vagabond Dog Pilgrimages To Pax Prime 2015

Yes, the rumours are true. Vagabond Dog will be attending PAX Prime 2015, and we'll be bringing our public build of Sometimes Always Monsters for you all to play.

To make things a little more exciting, we've decided to pre-load each of our demo stations with save files sent to us through Project Continuity.

This means that each player will have the option to see how Sometimes Always Monsters begins by starting as a brand new player, or by stepping into the shoes of an existing character.

The differences in experience are interesting to note.

We'll also be selling the same shirts you can get at store.vagabonddog.com, but they're on sale right now.

We've also enabled a free convention pick-up shipping option for all orders. If you're planning on buying a shirt from us in person, you can save a few bucks and make sure we've got your size in advance.

It's really exciting to get another opportunity to see you all. It feels like forever since we've last talked.

You'll find us somewhere inside the Indie Megabooth.

More specifically Booth 869.

What's Sometimes Always In A Name?

There's this very old concept that naming something gives it power. Once given a name, we take shape and form ourselves. Identity starts with a name, the wonder at what that label means.

Sometimes Always Monsters is not an easy name. Neither was Always Sometimes Monsters, but it's what the game had to be called. Artistic expression is driven by the absolute necessity of creation. In many ways a game like this makes itself, we just put the pieces in place.

We spent a long time considering alternatives. Adding a number to the end didn't make sense because this game doesn't feel like a progression forward. It's more like a reflection.

Similarly, this game is intended to showcase an almost opposite side of life. You're married, you're successful, everything is going well. The game begins with an awareness that the troubles you face are by your design more so than by the natural harshness of life. When you become a monster this time, there will be no surprise it's your doing.

With all of that in mind, the concept of always running into situations where we would sometimes choose to be villains provides too much absolution. Instead, we are now examining the notion of sometimes running into situations where you must always become a monster. As confusing as the difference between these may seem, it is a critical one in discussing morality.

It's easy to understand if you think about it like ASM is the slow climb up the ladder, and SAM is the quick ride down the slide. They are opposites in direction, acceleration, and sensation but both exist in pursuit of something greater. One cannot exist without the other. The theme of interrelation is something core to the concept of both games. 

In the end, we could have chosen something else. Almost anything else would probably have been easier to explain.

However, the game's called Sometimes Always Monsters and we'll be waiting patiently until we understand exactly what that means.

Vagabond Dog Announces Sometimes Always Monsters

Vagabond Dog is proud to announce their second title, Sometimes Always Monsters, is coming to PC in 2016.

Sometimes Always Monsters is an atypical role-playing game about our life choices, the circumstances that drive us to them, and their inevitable consequences.

Set in the modern world, players take control of a newly married author struggling to find the inspiration needed to write their second novel. With pressure to provide for your household mounting, you set out on a cross-country promotional tour with a band of like-minded scribes.

Along the journey, players will encounter those who have been changed by their words. For better or for worse, the role you play in their lives will echo through the story. As you decide your place in a world that would seek to idolize or destroy you, responsibility is what you make of it when we're Sometimes Always Monsters.

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"I like to think of it more like an antithesis than a sequel," boasts Creative Director Justin Amirkhani. "Where ASM was largely about the gruelling struggle to go from nothing to something, Sometimes Always Monsters is about the thrilling free fall from something to nothing."

While Sometimes Always Monsters will support save file imports from Always Sometimes Monsters, this new game focuses on a different story with fluid ties to the original. Decisions made in ASM will impact the world of SAM in unexpected fashion. As the journey continues on, regardless of how the story ended, you will come to new understandings as you scrutinize the decisions of your former self.

To aid our efforts in preserving the unique canon of every player's experience, and to help with our cross-compatibility testing, we are asking fans of ASM to send their save files to continuity@vagabonddog.com

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Sometimes Always Monsters will be playable at PAX Prime booth 869 inside the Indie Megabooth. Media are asked to send appointment requests to gypsy@vagabonddog.com soon.

Sometimes Always Monsters will be available in 2016. Fans can follow development at blog.vagabonddog.com or via @VagabondDog on Twitter.

A Good Continuity Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

Although it is not required, Sometimes Always Monsters will allow you to import your completed save file from Always Sometimes Monsters. Doing this will alter key factors about the narrative, as well as retain characters and continuity across both stories.

We'd like you to send us your completed ASM save files.

That little universe you cultivated with your decisions is important to us, and we'd like to make sure the most important parts of it are preserved as we develop SAM.

Having access to real player data will help us better understand how you interacted with the game, help our testing process, and inform our design going forward.

Just e-mail a copy of it to continuity@vagabonddog.com

You can find it in your ASM install directory on your PC.

If helping us make better games is not enough, we also offer your world some permanence as it will be carried on the Vagabond Dog pilgrimage to PAX Prime 2015 and beyond.

The chosen few will receive free swag from the show.

Don't worry if you haven't finished yet. There's still plenty of time before Sometimes Always Monsters releases.

It's not like we're judging you anyway, right?

Official Vagabond Dog Crap Now For Sale

Over the past year since we released Always Sometimes Monsters we have received a surprising number of requests for clothing, posters, and other random merchandise.

Today we are finally ready to accept the idea that some soul out there might like us enough to buy more than just a game. So, store.vagabonddog.com is here to serve you.

Starting today, you can order Vagabond Dog T-shirts in black, brown, or grey. We've also got a customizable option for those who refuse to fit in with the rest.

We are also offering pre-orders for our upcoming game, Sometimes Always Monsters through the store. 

Worldwide shipping is available for all our products, and for those attending PAX Prime 2015 we have enabled a free convention pick-up option if you can stand meeting us. 

All Welcome To Krakkenhol Public Playtest

This evening at Bento Miso (862 Richmons St. West), Vagabond Dog will be bringing an early build of Krakkenhol for a public playtest. Starting at 6:30, all are welcome to feel the tension rise as bombs and gold litter the stage for the ultimate clash between deception and deduction begins.

Bring friends, blow them up, and rob them blind. Challenge the developers at their own game, and reduce them to quivering jellyfish as the Krakken sinks their dreams at your command. Feel the fear of uncertain memory in a world where every decision will bring you death, or a slim chance of claiming your one true desire - all the gold in the world.

Follow @Krakkenhol for updates.

High Seas Adventures Await Your Party In Krakkenhol

Over this past weekend our creative director, Justin Amirkhani, was invited to attend the Winnipeg Game Jam as both a speaker and a participant. With the theme of "Land & Sea", attendees were tasked with creating a unique game within just 3 days. Today we are happy to release the byproduct of this grueling process. 

Krakkenhol is a multiplayer deception-based party game in which players take on the role of pirate ship captains with a lust for all the gold in the world. In turns, players will steer their ships, bury their treasures, and avoid booby traps planted by other players, all while avoiding the deadly tentacles of the ravenous Krakken.

We've uploaded the game to Itch.io for now in it's incomplete form. While we do have ambitions to make it a more polished product, we feel this is the sort of game that's made better with feedback from our players. If you're interested in trying the game, visit Krakkenhol.com to download the latest version for free and leave us feedback via krakkenhol@vagabonddog.com so that we can continue to improve it.

Over the next few months, as we find time away from our primary projects, Krakkenhol will be updated with new features and fixes. As it stands now, the project is playable but not perfect - an example of what can be accomplished within the constraints of a game jam. We hope you enjoy it regardless, it's fast become a favorite around the Vagabond headquarters.

Android & iOS Take Always Sometimes Monsters On The Go

If you've ever been outside in the real world and wished you had a pocket-sized artistic representation of said reality to distract yourself with, Always Sometimes Monsters is now available for your enjoyment on iOS / Android tablets and smartphones.

The game includes all the content from the PC version, formatted to fit the tiny screen you've permanently affixed to your life.  We believe this version is the most digestible edition of Always Sometimes Monsters to-date, and it's also our cheapest; currently priced at only $1.99 for a limited time!

Always Sometimes Monsters Now Available On Mac & Linux

Finally we can be united as Always Sometimes Monsters is finally available for Mac and Linux, as well as Windows machines. It has been an interesting road porting the game, but it’s something we really wanted to do after receiving so many requests.

If you’ve had friends on the fence about sharing the experience with you, or they’ve just been unable due to their OS, now’s the time to buy them a copy and shove it down their throat!

ASM Inspired Asset Pack Now Available For RPG Maker VX Ace

Today we are happy to announce our partnership with Degica and the RPG Maker for the release of our own asset pack for RPG Maker VX Ace.

Environments From and Inspired by “Always Sometimes Monsters” is a collection of tilesets reformated to fit the RPG Maker VX Ace engine and any project looking to replicate the urban jungle of Always Sometimes Monsters.

Complete with everything you’ll need to create city streets, parks, homes, offices, dirty back alleys, and more!The pack is currently available on the RPG Maker VX Ace Asset Store for $19.99.

Vagabonds Steal Two Canadian Videogame Awards

Last night Always Sometimes Monsters took home awards for both Best Writing and Best Indie Game from the 2014 Canadian Videogame Awards. In addition to the awards won, Always Sometimes Monsters was also nominated for Best Original Music, and Best Downloadable Game.

Fellow nominees included excellent Canadian-made games like Super Time Force, The Long Dark, The Fall, Mercenary Kings, Child of Light, and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. 

It was an insane night for all of us and a total surprise to hear our name called at all, nevermind twice. As it always does, seeing friends and peers from the Canadian game industry reminded us how fortunate we are to live in a country that supports and lavishes such attention on its creative talent. We are truly honoured to be a Canadian game studio and part of Toronto's independent game development community.