When Australian indie dev Jarrad Woods (a.k.a. Farbs) first released Captain Forever back in 2009
, it was just the start of a long and winding phase of experimentation. In 2014, we'll be seeing more results of that experimentation. For those who missed the boat, the Captain series sees players floating around space, attacking enemy ships, then plucking parts from the wreckages and attaching them to your own vessel, eventually building your own behemoth battlestar.
Remixes and solitude - The future of Captain Forever
Earlier this month, Farbs announced not only that he was working on a brand new game based around the original Captain Forever concept, but that his old Irrational Games buddy Dean Tate is working on Captain Forever Remix , a re-envisioning of the original release.
" Card Hunter was fun and all, but I never intended for it to eat up three and a half years of my life," Farbs tells me. "It's good to be back."
Let's talk about the Remix first. When artist Dean Tate and designer Brian Chan, both triple-A industry veterans, decided to join up and start Pixelsaurus Games, they had plenty of risk to deal with from the get-go.
"Dean and I had worked together at Irrational, so I know that Dean is great, and that I can trust him with my game," says Farbs. "We got to talking, and we realized that this project would be way more fun as a remix rather than a bland HD remake."
"Brian and I approached him about making this remix for a couple main reasons," adds Tate. "To let us stretch out and develop some new skills (art for me, code for Brian, though we both have light backgrounds in those areas) and also because it makes a lot of sense given my history with and love of the game. I played the crap out of Forever and Successor when they came out, so I'm really psyched that Farbs liked the idea."
" Card Hunter was fun and all, but I never intended for it to eat up three and a half years of my life. It's good to be back." Captain Forever Remix came from the idea of remixing songs. Tate and Chan asked themselves, if music can do it, why can't games? And thus the idea of taking work from a peet and remixing it with their own designs was born, along with a soundtrack from Super Meat Boy 's Danny Baranowsky.
"You can see already from Dean's art that they're having fun and taking this in their own direction," Farbs says. "I'm really excited to see how it evolves."
More information on Captain Forever Remix can be found on the official blog -- but what of Farbs' own efforts? Having finished up on Card Hunter , Woods is now putting all his efforts into making his own next step for the Captain series.
Back in 2011, Farbs released the first alpha build of Captain Jameson -- an RPG take on the original Captain Forever . He's now picked up the concept again, giving it a new lease of life as The Dawn Star .
This new approach once again explores space after the fall of civilization -- however this time around, you're the last person alive, and it's an experience based around exploration and solitude.
"Previously it was called Captain Jameson , and it didn't really know what it wanted to be," he says. "As the name suggests I started out trying to make 'Elite-In-Captain-Forever,' but the world always felt empty, and that felt right."
When Farbs came back to the Captain series after his time with Card Hunter , the Captain Forever legacy was weighing down on him -- so he decided to start anew, and make this new project its own game.
"It'll be set in the Captain Forever universe," he notes, "but unlike the other games it'll be a downloadable title, it'll use detailed 3D models rather than neon wireframe abstraction, and it'll break some of the rules about acknowledging that it is in fact a video game."
For Farbs, this latest development is the realization of a work he started nearly five years ago -- the coming of age of the Captain Forever concept.
"I rarely know what I'm building when I start to make something, and the Captain Forever series is no different," he laughs. "I always felt there was some larger game that ought to fit around Captain Forever , and Captain Jameson was my first attempt to find it."
"I tried a lot of things in Captain Jameson , followed many false epiphanies about how to magically fix the game, and eventually found something that I like but which doesn't fit my preconceptions about what the game would be. The Dawn Star is Captain Jameson remade this new gameplay and the feelings it evokes. I can't say I'm sure that this is the true path for the game, but it seems like a good idea right now."
If you're a Captain Forever supporter, you already have access to weekly builds and dev videos for The Dawn Star . You can find more information on the official website.
Kinect will be on Oprah and Ellen, set your Tivos
Here's something we don't really say that often: set your DVRs to record Oprah today. The #1 talk show host in the country will take a day off giving people makeovers or answering questions about sex. Instead, the queen of talk will help Microsoft peddle the upcoming Xbox 360 peripheral Kinect. We don't really imagine Oprah's typical viewership as the standard gamer audience. But that's kind of the
Bringing Rally To Next-Gen – Paolo Bertoni on Seb Loeb Rally Evo
Bringing Rally To Next-Gen – Paolo Bertoni on Seb Loeb Rally Evo The World Rally Championship games – though constant – needed a change; for the hardcore audience, the series was a yearly purchase, without a doubt. But, if the sales figures are to be believed, something was going wrong, and slowly but surely, the games were getting less attractive to new customers. So rebranding the game to Sébastien
PayPal punts buyer protection for crowdfunding payments
If you plan on backing a game with PayPal on Indiegogo or any other crowdfunding site, be advised that the online payment service won't have your back if the project takes a wrong turn and fails to deliver on any promises made.
PayPal sent an email to registered users announcing plans to end Purchase Protection coverage for "payments on crowdfunding platforms." In addition, it's ending protection for "anything purchased from or an amount paid to a government agency" as well as "gambling, gaming and/or any other activity with an entry fee and a prize." Thegoes into effect on June 25, 2016.
It's not clear what exactly prompted PayPal's change in terms, whether it was a past incident (or incidents) or if it's simply looking to avoid being in the middle of crowdfunding disputes.
In a study posted on Kickstarter's own website, it was revealed that 9 percent of of Kickstarter projects fail to deliver rewards. The study also stated that 8 percent of dollars pledged went to failed projects, and that 7 percent of backers failed to receive their chosen reward.
"Project backers should expect a failure rate of around 1 in 10 projects, and to receive a refund 13 percent of the time," Professor Ethan Mollick from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania commented about the study. "Since failure can happen to anyone, creators need to consider, and plan for, the ways in which they will work with backers in the event a project fails, keeping lines of communication open and explaining how the money was spent."
Professor Mollick also said there doesn't appear to be a systematic problem of failure associated with Kickstarter as "the vast majority of projects do seem to deliver." Nevertheless, PayPal doesn't seem interested in assuming any risk associated with crowdfunded projects, even if the stats appear less risky on sites that feature PayPal integration (Kickstarter does not).
Despite the change in policy, the appeal of crowdfunding at large is likely to remain strong. It's becoming popular in gaming over the past several years, and while there have been some failures, there have also been some pretty big successes, such as the Oculus Rift.
The Long Dark Story Mode trailer is very dark indeed
The post-geomagnetic disaster game The Long Dark is all about surviving the worst that Mother Nature can throw at you.
is all about surviving the worst that Mother Nature can throw at you. Which, to be clear, is quite a lot, and all of it pretty awful; I don't think you can really appreciate just how badly this planet wants to kill everyone on it until you strip away the veneer of civilization that keeps us warm, sheltered, and conveniently fed. But soon that freeform fight to stay alive will take a turn into the realm of the narrative, where the name of the game is to survive... as someone else!
Two someone elses, actually, they being bush pilot Will Mackenzie, who may be the most Canadian video game character ever created, and doctor Astrid Greenwood. Their struggle to maintain the flame of life will be documented in an episodic Story Mode in which players will alternate between the two of them, viewing the story from both perspectives. Story Mode gameplay is "derived from" the Sandbox mode, developer Hinterland Games explained, but will be modified to accommodate narrative-based gameplay, with a progress-based save system in place of the current permadeath setup.
The release of Story Mode won't mean the end of The Long Dark Sandbox, though. "Our original plan with Sandbox was to use it solely as a gameplay test-bed for Story Mode, and shut it down at launch," studio founder Raphael van Lierop said. "We’ve discovered that Sandbox offers a completely different experience, highly beloved by our players, and it deserves to continue to exist in its own right. So we plan to continue updating Sandbox with more features and content, expanding the foundation of our core exploration-survival experience, in parallel with our work on Story Mode."
The first episode of the first season of The Long Dark Story Mode will be out in the spring, with two to three more episodes expected to release over the course of 2016, totaling an estimated 10-12 hours of gameplay. When Story Mode launches (which will also mark The Long Dark's exit from Early Access) the current $20 price will be increased "to reflect the game’s enhanced content value after more than a year of polish and content updates, plus the addition of Season One Story Mode content." What it will go up to wasn't announced. All Kickstarter backers and Early Accesspurchasers will receive the first season automatically, at no extra charge.
Blazin’ Aces – 2D Retro-Aerial Dogfighting Game
Later this week, Red Dot Lab will be releasing their first game, titled Blazin’ Aces .
. This game is a re-development of a free game released in 2010 for PC and browser in order to enhance the visuals of the game, and import the game to smartphones.
Blazin’ Aces is a two-dimensional retro-aerial dogfighting game where the story seems to be set in World War II. The game is being developed with an orchestral soundtrack and better quality graphics, on top of other elements in this reiteration. Blazin’ Aces features both a single player campaign mode and a customizable skirmish mode. Players will have the opportunity to find and use special weapons in combat. Red Dot Lab considers their gameplay to be easy to pick up and hard to master. The simple game’s original form received several good reviews and positive feedback, leading to Red Dot Lab’s decision to create this version.
The trailer for the game shows planes flying circles in a 2D sky. There’s enough room on the game screen to allow players to chase after enemies, and maneuver around them during a dogfight. Players will also need to avoid a few obstacles during flight, such as blimps.
Blazin’ Aces for the iOS and Windows smartphones was showcased at rAge 2013, and will be released this Friday, May 9 th. Look forward to a review of the game, released on launch day.
Outer Wilds investments close at $50K, continues crowdfunding
In a note to potential investors today, newly minted crowdfunding-slash-investment website Fig announced that it has closed investment opportunities for Outer Wilds .
. That basically means people looking to invest in Outer Wilds with a view to one day profiting from it can no longer do so, but the conventional crowdfunding campaign is still open.
"The investor interest was overwhelming and much more than we anticipated -- in just the first two days, we received investment interest exceeding 10x the maximum limit on this opportunity," the email reads. "Unfortunately, [that] means this investment opportunity is closed."
At the time of writing, the game has attracted $74,465 of its $125,000 goal. The project attracted $50,000 worth of investment, and an impressive $500,000 worth of expressed interest. With 28 days to go in its campaign, Outer Wilds needs to attract around $50,000 in crowdfunding if it wants to be successful.
Interested but unsuccessful investors were advised that they'll get advance notification of Fig's next project. But, y'know, investment isn't for everyone: you need to earn more than $200,000 a year to be an "accredited investor", or have a net worth of over a million dollars.
The Long Dark update adds new region and improved (but no less lethal) weather
The latest update to the first-person survival game The Long Dark makes a number of big changes to the game, including the addition of a brand-new region called Desolation Point—which also happens to be the name of the update.
makes a number of big changes to the game, including the addition of a brand-new region called Desolation Point—which also happens to be the name of the update. Described as "a stretch of coastal highway pockmarked with the abandoned remnants of a formerly thriving whaling industry," Desolation Point can be found somewhere beyond the end of the Coastal Highway, past the Commuter's Lament. That'd put it somewhere up around Conception Bay, right?
Other big changes include the ability to properly place items in the world rather than just dropping it all on the ground, and a new "metal forging" option that enables the creation of a few simple tools. Icons have replaced text on the HUD, and in place of the Survival Panel there's now a new Status screen, which provides access to the Backpack, First Aid, Bedroll, and Fire-Starting.
The weather system has also been overhauled to provide smoother transitions in and out of different weather states, and to offer more consistent visual clues for incoming bad weather, making it possible to better predict and prepare for inclement conditions. "These weather patterns are different from region to region as well, so play close attention to the weather around you, as learning to predict when a blizzard might spool up could save your life," Raphael Van Lierop, creative director at The Long Dark developer Hinterland, explains in the trailer.
The update also includes the addition of multiple sandbox game slots—five in total, although each still only has a single save slot—as well as new wind sounds, gear sounds, better support for controllers, and a number of fixes and tweaks. Fortunately, despite all the changes, the developers said the new version of the game (v264, if you're keeping track) should be compatible with saves from previous versions. The complete list of changes can be found on Steam.
Palm Kingdoms 3 Provides Rest for Weary Travelers
Today we’re going on a tropical getaway to Palm Kingdom.
Today we’re going on a tropical getaway to Palm Kingdom. It’s like a medieval-era vacation time complete with palm trees and beaches. Palm Kingdoms 3 is a strategy RPG that draws influence from the old Heroes of Might & Magic (HOMM) where players trek through an involving story that incorporates a point and click movement style with an encounter system that takes the game to a hex-grid arena for combat. The isometric, pixel art style takes gamers back to the days where titles like Baldur’s Gate and Diablo were fresh off the press and drawing in those with a hunger for fantasy adventure. Keeping their spirit alive, developer iosoftware is taking the elements they love about past RPG’s and grafting them together into a hybrid magnum opus for mobile devices.
Palm Kingdoms 3 offers rich landscapes to explore, castles to conquer, and plenty of opposition to take down. Through this conquest, players will employ several options available to aid them, such as collecting resources, fortifying their strongholds, and forging alliances with other parties. Currently, this turn-based spiritual successor to Heroes of Might & Magic is near the end of its campaign on Indiegogo, through which iosoftware is funding the expansive project. They aim to add many more characters and features to the game, which also strengthens the multiplayer aspect that’s being developed as well. This title has been Greenlit, and updates on the project can be found on their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Youtube! Those interested in pledging to the project can visit the Indiegogo page, or check out the Royal Bounty HD Beta by pre-ordering it for $2 here.
Fig is a new games-only crowdfunding platform that allows for real investment
Tim Schafer, Brian Fargo, and Feargus Urquhart have all done very well for themselves and their studios—Double Fine, inXile, and Obsidian—on Kickstarter , and now they make up the advisory board of an all-new crowdfunding outfit founded by former Double Fine Chief Operating Officer Justin Bailey.
, and now they make up the advisory board of an all-new crowdfunding outfit founded by former Double Fine Chief Operating Officer Justin Bailey. Called Fig, it's different from other platforms in a few significant ways: It's only for games, for one thing, and it offers actual investment opportunities alongside conventional backer rewards.
For now, equity investment will be limited to "accredited investors," defined by the SECas anyone who earned more than $200,000 per year over the past two years and "reasonably expects" to do so again this year, or has a net worth of over $1 million, not including the value of his or her primary residence. Put more succinctly, it means "other people," although the plan is to open up investment financing to everyone once the process is approved by the SEC.
Another significant difference is that Fig will be tightly curated, with just one campaign running at a time. The plan is to alternate between "iii games" from studios like Osbidian, inXile, and Double Fine—"iii is a new term and is the indie equivalent of AAA games from a big publisher," Fig said in its announcement, which is something I'm sure we'll talk about later—and projects being created by new, "up-and-coming" developers.
Fig's first gig is Outer Wilds, a space exploration game we looked atin July. It has a goal of $125,000, and like Kickstarter, there are various backer tiers, in this case ranging from $20 to $10,000, each with its own reward package; the total must be raised within 31 days, or else the project gets nothing. Unlike Kickstarter, however, $34,000 of the $50,000 it's raised so far has come from investors rather than conventional backers.
"This investment opportunity is a great way to show your support for the game and share in the net revenue of potential game sales on certain PC platforms, pursuant to the full terms of the offering, which we can share with Accredited Investors," the 'Learn More' button reveals. "To participate as an investor: You must be an Accredited Investor and be able to provide information to verify your status [and] you must invest a minimum of $1,000 USD."
Schafer told Polygonthat he wanted to offer equity to backers of his first crowdfunding effort, which took place in the early days of 2012, but was prevented from doing so by US law. Changes to the law brought about by the cleverly-named 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act (I told you it was clever) are what will eventually allow Fig to open its investing doors to everyone. "If [ Outer Wilds ] turns into the next billion-dollar game, the people who helped to make it happen should be able to participate in that," he said.
That's fair, but is it enough to make Fig notably more attractive than other options? Kickstarter, for all its flaws and clutter, has the benefit of being familiar and proven, and I wonder if gamers will be hesitant to funnel their support through other platforms. I also wonder about the risks it could expose potential investors to: when the accredited investor requirement is lifted, people who are especially enthusiastic about a project but not well-informed about investing could find themselves in over their heads, without even a decent art book or downloadable soundtrack to show for it. It'll be quite awhile yet before we can really judge how Fig will affect the crowdfunding scene, but for now, the question is simple: Are you interested?
Video: How Save the Date wins hearts through nonlinear narrative
Drawing your players into empathizing with the plight of characters in your game is a significant challenge for any developer, and it's one that doesn't get much easier to solve no matter how much time, money or people you throw at it.
In fact, having limited resources might actually make it a more straightforward problem to tackle. For example, Paper Dino Software's Save the Date employed a simple nonlinear story structure and clever writing to create a surprisingly emotional experience, netting it a nomination for the 2014 IGF Awards.
As part of the GDC 2014 Independent Games Summit, designer Chris Cornell spoke at length about the specific techniques and that went into crafting that experience and offered his fellow developers a few suggestions for creating more games that use player agency to foster emotional investment.
It's an excellent, forthright talk on narrative design, and the free video (embedded above) of 'Lessons in Building Player Investment: Paper Dino's Save the Date ' is now available to watch hereon the GDC Vault.
About the GDC VaultIn addition to this presentation, the GDC Vaultoffers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
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AI hiding among AI: Chris Hecker on SpyParty's devious single-player
No matter which way you look at it, SpyParty is an odd game.
is an odd game. One player moves through a formal cocktail party, schmoozing it up Bond-style -- making small talk and drinking expensive liquor while planting bugs, hiding microfilm, and swapping statues. Meanwhile, the other player sits far away from the party, a high-caliber rifle and a pair of binoculars next to them.
They need to find (and neutralize) the spy; the spy needs to make sure they're not seen, blending into the crowd, as just another innocuous attendee, when the sniper's laser-sight swings over them, and getting business done when the sniper's attention is elsewhere.
It's a game that's fundamentally about the interaction between two players, which makes it especially odd that Chris Hecker, the game's designer and creator, told me that he was developing an offline version of the game, where players square off against an AI spy or an AI sniper. With SpyParty focused on fooling the sniper into thinking that you are an AI, the fundamental idea seems like it wouldn't quite work as a single-player game.
Hecker is evidently finding problems making it work entertaining enough to pursue a proper single-player mode. I talked to him about the counterintuitive nature of single-player SpyParty , as well as how he's planning on overcoming the hurdles it presents.
First of all, why do you want to make a single-player mode for SpyParty ? Is it purely to cater to the kind of player who doesn’t want to go online?
I guess there’s two reasons; first, yes, it’s partly a realization/fear that a multiplayer-only game, even if it's one-vs-one, is fraught with peril. So that certainly gets you thinking about it. But then, it’s actually interesting to me from a design standpoint, and that’s what gives it legs. I’m not sure I would have done it out of fear only. Maybe I would. Who knows? But I actually started thinking about it and realized that there were interesting aspects to it from a design standpoint.
For example, imagine integrating it with a tutorial. Right now, the game has no tutorial. You’re supposed to read a manual. The user experience is totally terrible in SpyParty . I’ve just been focusing 100 percent on depth. Eventually I’m going to have to focus on the new user experience, and single player is a great way to get people comfortable playing a game.
Right now your choice is to go online and get creamed/mentored by experienced players. A lot of people don’t realize, since most multiplayer communities aren’t as nice as SpyParty’s , that mentoring is even an option. They log into a lobby and their stats are zero wins and zero losses, and they see someone with three thousand of each, so they just log back off.
John, my art director, was telling me about his Hearthstone experience: He was just playing the AI, and he kept playing it until he got to the level where the AI was using cards he didn’t have, so he bought a few, and then finally he could beat the AI on Expert. It eased him in really well, to the point where he decided to go online and see what happened.
And because the matchmaker wasn’t prepared for someone who could beat the AI on Expert, he crushed everyone for a while, which gave him confidence. All of these things, single-player enabled. And when you have a game as complicated as a card game like Hearthstone , or SpyParty -- which is very new and unique -- single-player is a really great way to let people make mistakes against the computer, as opposed to fumbling around against an opponent.
"Singleplayer is a really great way to let people make mistakes against the computer, as opposed to fumbling around against an opponent."
So I think it’s important from that standpoint, and I think it’s really interesting, too. I was really inspired by the Spelunky Daily Challenge, where every day there’s a newly generated map that is identical for everyone, and you all play it and see how far you can get. You could imagine a kind of SpyParty Daily Challenge where -- assuming I have AI and I can tweak it -- I can randomly generate maps and situations, and now I’ve got a thing where everyone can join in and see how they do. All of these things open a lot of doors to tutorials, and community events, and it all increases the amount of entertainment of the game.
If I pitched to you right now the idea of being the sniper as a player, you’re looking at the party just as you do in a normal SpyParty game, and you’re trying to figure out who the spy is. That is still interesting even when it’s a computer trying to accomplish missions. The core of the game, which is that someone is there doing stuff and you’re trying to figure out who it is, it’s still there, single-player or not. I think the flipside is the challenging one; how do you make it feel fair as a spy when you get shot by an AI sniper.
I was about to say: There’s two sides to this. One is that, as the sniper, a lot of the spy's objectives are to trick you into thinking it's an AI. So if the spy itself is an AI, how do you create an AI that doesn’t behave like an AI?
Yeah, exactly! The joke answer I have to that is that I clearly have to have a programmer friend "clean-room" develop the AI spy. On the Space Shuttle, they had five different algorithms which would vote on the best course of action. They were all developed separately, and for any given decision, they would vote. This has the same sort of idea, where you want this separately developed thing.
I mean, maybe I should have the ability to allow mods, so anyone can develop a spy AI, and then we find out whose AI is best against player snipers, etc. It’s kind of an inverse-inverse Turing test. We’re just joking about it, but we’ve got a few ideas here, so you can see it’s got legs.
When I’m doing game design, I look for things that you can make jokes about, and discuss, where you can pull on the thread; Jon Blow and I have this thing about where, with an idea, you can pull on a thread and you can feel that if you keep pulling on it the whole sweater is going to come apart, or instead it might just be a little piece that comes right out. So with this I feel like there’s a lot of thread back there.
The other side is that I was trying to figure out how to make it feel ok to get shot by the AI sniper, and that’s the harder one to develop. Chess Master 2000 does this thing where, when you set the AI difficulty level, it asks you if you want to play a monkey, or Kasparov-- all of these personifications that anthropomorphize the AI. I could easily do that. It could be that badass guy from Enemy at the Gates, or it’s a teenager with a popgun. You can imagine trying to soften the blow, because you don’t want to feel like the AI is cheating. And you want to be able to deceive the sniper AI, and the way to allow that is to, when developing the sniper AI, make it create all these models of suspicion.
"You want to be able to deceive the sniper AI, and the way to allow that is to make it create all these models of suspicion."
One thing we talk about when people are playing SpyParty is this idea of "tunnelling," which comes from tunnel vision. So you say to yourself that you’re pretty sure the spy is, say, a woman in an orange dress, and so you can’t take your eyes off her. But now everything she does starts to look suspicious. So if it actually is Orange Dress, then you’re in a great position, because you’re going to notice them do something that gives them away. But if it’s not? You’re screwed, because you’re not paying attention to the rest of the party; you’ve tunnelled on her.
So you could imagine when you’re developing an AI so that it builds confidence models in each character it's looking at, and then spends more time looking at the ones its confident on. And if you’re not one of those then you’re in luck, because you’ve fooled it long enough that its dismissed you as a suspect and its tunnelling on someone else.
You can imagine designing it that way, and there are some new mechanics coming in this year to do with framing other characters that are really going to open that up. You could imagine not having to design a human-level AI to facilitate all this, but you do have to consider it all and include it. It has to have a model that can be wrong.
You already have the players are engaging with these models, with players highlighting and lowlighting characters in the party based on their own suspicion, right?
There's no gameplay associated with that, but it’s a bookkeeping thing for the sniper. And you’d imagine a sniper AI would have a similar thing going on as it plays. Maybe even highlights and lowlights, so that they show up in the log after. Because that’s one thing: There’s the whole personification of the sniper AI, but there’s also the idea that if it can explain why it shot you, and that makes sense, then a) you learn, and b) you don’t feel like it was cheating.
And also I think that’s a key part of SpyParty in general; you want to find out what their thought-process was as you sat there sweating, trying to figure out if you’re being suspicious or not.
That’s exactly true, and you hear this even in elite player streams, where they each have 500 hours in the game, where it’s like, “Oh man, he totally knows it’s me,” where meanwhile the other player doesn’t have a clue. Players have simultaneously streamed so you can see both sides at once, and I had the audio on for both, and while one was certain he was caught, the other was dismissing him. It’s a complete opposite mental model.
W ell, that means the game’s working, right?
Exactly. That’s what I’m going for. And that’s what I want the AI to do. I want it to be fallible, in a way that isn’t how you normally deal with AI in games. AI is fallible all the time, but in the way that it gets caught on stairs, or stuck in a loop; here, you want their mental model to be wrong, so it has to have this probablity model that isn’t certain at any point. The highlighting and lowlighting has to be in the code as well.
I remember playing a game called AI War a while back. It’s a single-player or co-op RTS where you’re building from nothing in space, where the AI is huge and almost omnipotent, so that the objective, at least at first, is to just not draw attention to yourself.
But as you take strategic objectives, the AI starts to wake up and pay attention. One of things you could do, though, when setting up a game, was to choose a "personality" for the AI, so that it might be really vindictive, or hyper-aggressive, or take a long time to get going, but once it did it was relentless. I could see the same thing working here, where some AI is really indecisive, others are very trigger-happy -- that sort of thing.
We have this phrase in high-level SpyParty called "shooting to be cool," where, as the sniper, you shoot someone before they think you should know who they are, and you really rattle them. If you’re wrong, then you look a little too trigger-happy, and give them an easy win -- but if you’re right, you spook them, and it’s a very effective strategy. You’re saying that you’re more competent than you really are.
Are you worried that certain mechanics would be redundant? More from the spy perspective -- for example, something that might trick a human player but an AI can’t, or doesn’t, notice?
"There could be an NPC that just rushes all the missions and you still wouldn’t find it for your first ten games."
The first thing I’m going to do when I implement it is to design a spy AI that just does the missions directly, with no attempt to hide it. Because for new players, there’s so much going on that they’re snowed under anyway, so there could be an NPC that just rushes all the missions, and you still wouldn’t find it for your first ten games.
I want to see how that plays first, because my guess is that that’s going to work better than I think it’s going to, or better than it has any right to. Attention is such a core resource in the game that the sniper is playing against themselves, in some sense. All of the missions are going to have to be achievable by the AI, definitely, but everyone on top of that.
Those are the real mechanics of the game, and the rest of the stuff such as pathing, I don’t know if I’m going to have to code in pathing mistakes. For example, if it’s a really poor spy, but I think as long as it can express what it was doing, and as long as its got a model that it’s following, and it's varying between those, it’ll be okay. I’m more worried that it’ll teach people poorly.
So you’re not really intending to slip an AI into a tournament and see how it does?
That would be funny, but we’ll see how it goes. My assumption -- and this is true of any really hardcore game -- the AI sucks compared to real players, because it just can’t react in any way. There’s very little chance that I can do some sort of hidden Markov modelbetween games, where I figure out that the sniper is lowlighting this behavior early; that’s crazy-talk AI. I’m not aiming for that. I’m aiming for something that, once you’re kicking its butt, you go online.
Wadjet Eye Porting ‘Gemini Rue’ To iOS
If you’re as big of an old school point and click adventure fan as I am than you’ve probably heard of Gemini Rue , the neo-noir science fiction tale from the fine folks at Wadjet Eye Games .
. The highly entertaining game certainly turned heads when it was first released on PC not too long ago, and next year it is set to do so again on an entirely new platform.
Whilst the development team has been hard at work on the recently released Primordia on PC, it hasn’t stopped them from working on working towards porting Gemini Rue to iOS supported devices, with an expected launch some time in the next few months.
Set in the year 2228, the story follows Azriel Odin , an ex-assassin turned law enforcer who is on a mission to rescue his brother from an unknown facility called ‘Center 7’. Meanwhile, Delta Six is a captive of the facility with no memory of his past. Surrounded by strangers who seem to know him well, he must discover the truth about himself and the faceless boss known only as ‘The Director’.
Whilst little information has been confirmed as to what, if any, updates or additions will be made to the port, no doubt the touch screen will be used to replace the point and click nature of the original version. A recent twitter post also asked for beta testers, to ensure the game is up to scratch before its eventual release. You might be able to sneak into the testing phase if you email the studio here.
We’ll have more on Gemini Rue’s iOS edition as the news comes to light. In the meantime, click on through to Wadjet Eye’s websitefor updates on the many adventures the US studio has up its talented sleeves. You can also purchase the original Gemini Rue directly from there, if you haven’t already.
Next Car Game blows past crowdfunding goal, 50,000 demo downloads reported
The holidays were good to Next Car Game and its particular vision of motorized mayhem.
and its particular vision of motorized mayhem. After Bugbear Entertainment's Kickstarterto fund its latestracing game fell shortof its goal in November, the developer asked for support through the project's website. Backers there have contributed more than $490,000, well clear of its original crowdfunding goal.
With a scheduled release window of "early spring," the studio released a playable, early-access version of the game to right before Christmas to its supporters. A separate free "technology demo" has also been availablefrom Bugbear if you sign up for the developer's newsletter, with more than 50,000 downloads already taking place, according to VG247.
"Since it was the first time we were going to show the game to everyone for real, we were very anxious to hear the feedback, but we really couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present: the response has been great!" reports Bugbear on Facebook. "Although our game is still at a pretty early stage, and as such, contains missing features and numerous bugs, you have been loving most [of] what we've got. We've also received a plenty of smart suggestions for future improvements, some of which will find their way into the final game."
For more on Next Car Game, check out our recent hands-on reporton the kind of wreckage you can expect to see. If nothing else you can take a look at just how much carnage you can cause with Bugbear's game engine, which is also demonstrated by the developer in the video below.
Activision: Kinect is too expensive
In the same revealing EDGE interview in which he implied that thesacked Infinity Ward execs were criminals , Activision CEO Bobby Kotick expressed concern over the price of Microsoft's controllerless motion controls. He does think 3D gamesaretotally radical though. "I think that 3D is super-compelling," he said. "The push has come from film but, personally, I find that live action in 3D is disruptive
Tribes: Ascend is live on Steam
All you reluctant jetpackers no longer have an excuse to play our current favorite multiplayer FPS: Tribes: Ascend is now available on Steamas a free-to-play game.
Offered with the release is the Steam Starter Pack, a $10 DLC package (on sale from $20 until July 4) that includes a lifetime 50% XP Boost (VIP status, in other words), four bonus Weapons for base classes, two class unlocks, four Perks, and 800 Tribes Gold (about $8 worth of in-game currency).
DOOM multiplayer closed alpha is starting this weekend
The first DOOM multiplayer closed alpha will take place this weekend, the game's official Twitter account announced today .
. It kicks off at 12:01am ET on October 23 and runs until 11:59 ET on October 25.
That's awesome news, but who's eligible? If you pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order or purchased it before May 26 last year, then you're guaranteed entry. The alpha will take place on one map, entitled Heatwave, which is described as an "industrial-themed map" taking place in "narrow corridors, walkways and small chambers" linking to an open area. Sounds like DOOM, then.
The mode is limited to 6v6 Team Deathmatch, and will feature six weapons and two equipment items, which you can read about in detail over here. You'll be able to transform into a Revenant during the alpha, and there's a "power weapon" available in the form of the Gauss Cannon, which can see through walls and is ideal against the aforementioned Revenants.
So there you go: it's happening! DOOM is a playable thing! If you're not eligible to get into the alpha, check out Chris Livingston's hands-on impressions from QuakeConearlier this month. DOOM releases in the first half of next year.
New Xbox 360 Kinect dashboard appears on YouTube
A leaked video showing an early look at the new Xbox 360 dashboard has just appeared on YouTube. The video shows how the new interface will work once the menus are updated to work with Kinect. The look of the dashboard seems to have been streamlined and sharpened to make way for Kinect, which will allow users to swipe through the options with hand gestures and make selections with voice commands. Above: First look at the new Xbox 360 dashboard menu Sep 13, 2010 Topics Racing Children's Family Kinect Joy Ride Kinect Sports Kinectimals Kinect Adventures We recommend By Zergnet Load Comments
Tribes Ascend preview
Hello?
Hello? Oh, hello The Past. How are you? What's that, all of your games would like to come back, with reboots or sequels, only free? Alrighty then.
The Tribes series has had a ridiculously checkered history, but its best incarnation – as a fast, team-based multiplayer shooter – all but ended with Tribes 2 and the dissolution of its creators, Dynamix. So to play Tribes: Ascend is to take a wild ride back in time to 2001, shortly after Tribes 2 was released, to relive the game's skiing, jetpacks, spinfusors, flags and huge battlefields. Only better, and with a free-to-play payment model.
The joy of Tribes: Ascend is that, like those previous games, it provides a toybox and then rewards player skill with those toys. You don't ever win by having a better weapon, or by luckily firing first, but by becoming a master of your chosen class. Dedicated Tribes fans – each destined to be a professional player when the game inevitably becomes an e-sport – show an absurd amount of finesse. YouTube is already filling with Tribes: Ascend trick reels, like player Irreversible's absurd flag captures.
Every part of Tribes allows for similar expert trickery. Even its basic weapon is the Spinfusor, which fires slow-moving projectile discs at enemies who normally soar through the air at 150kmph.
For those of us who lack supernatural skill, which includes everyone at PC Gamer except Chris – who is a ghost – there's still great fun to be had pootling around in the shallows. That's because the basic unit of fun in Tribes isn't shooting or killing, it's movement. Any Tribes class can hit [Space] to ski down hills, and right-click to jetpack on the up slopes. Do this well and you reach ridiculous arcs, vaulting the length of entire battlefields in a single bound. Do it badly and you're still a kid sledding down a park slope, giggling. It's never not fun. Why doesn't every game make movement this pleasurable?
If you do fancy being useful, rather than just slipping about like Torvill and Dean, there's still plenty of options for those inept with the Spinfusor. Where Tribes 2 gave players customisable loadouts based on three armour weights, Ascend solidifies the same options in to nine classes.
As the Soldier, you swap the Spinfusor for a machine gun. Pick the Juggernaut and you become a slow-moving tank with a long-distance mortar. Along with the light, fast Pathfinder, these three form the game's freely available classes, and each is instantly effective even without megaskills.
The game's other six classes are unlocked using XP earned by playing, or with gold bought using real money. Those classes aren't tougher than those you start with, but they let you specialise. Unlock the Infiltrator and you can wield a submachine gun, sticky mines and the power to turn invisible. Or you could choose to be your team's sniper, the Sentinel, or a turret-dropping, base-repairing Technician.
Each of these has its charms but, played with strangers on public servers, it can be a challenge with the extra classes to find your place or feel useful. As a Technician, you can spend ten minutes repairing every item in your base, and upgrade your generator and turrets at the same time, only to discover you're bottom of your team and no one has noticed your hard work. It definitely is helpful, but it's not rewarding.
As the Brute and the Raider, meanwhile, you have powerful weaponry and shields, but it's hard to know where you're best placed on a battlefield, as there are better classes for both attacking and defending.
Where the game clearly shines, though, is in coordinated teamwork. Great players are capable of virtuoso displays of skill, but a lot of these toys are designed to work together. In one of my matches, an Infiltrator snuck in to the enemy base and blew up their generator, disabling the defensive turrets. Meanwhile a Juggernaut had positioned himself on a hill outside the base and was peppering it with artillery, killing defenders and destroying those turrets in case the generator was restored.
I moved across the map with a small group of Pathfinders and Soldiers, providing cover for one another in case of an ambush. We reached the base, I grabbed the flag, and I leapt from its platform just in time for a friend to pull up on a Gravcycle. We swapped places and I sped off, flag in hand, gunning it up a cliffside towards home. I didn't make it in the end, and it was a complete fluke of timing, but moves like this are the tip of the possible iceberg with proper planning.
Those vehicles are the saddest absence from Ascend's current closed beta. Shrikes, Gravcycles and Beowulf tanks can be bought using match credits from an in-game terminal, but they're expensive, rare and easily destroyed. There's also no map that's large enough to make them essential yet. Tribes 2's most sublime moments always involved a battlefield dense with Shrike fire, bombing runs, and mobile spawn points, and hopefully these will come to Ascend in time.
This article was originally published in Issue 238 of PC Gamer UK. Tribes: Ascend is now open to all.
Evolve Big Alpha key giveaway - get access to the Evolve alpha here
Evolve was originally meant to come out this month , you might recall, before it was delayed to February 10, 2015 .
. Turtle Rock is using some of that spare time to run an invitation-only alpha this weekend, from October 31 to November 2 on PC (Xbox One owners get to start a day early, those lucky cats). In advance of the alpha running this weekend, 2K gave us a key and referral code that grants 50,000 uses.
This key doesn't guarantee alpha access, but it will give you a big advantage. 2K tells me that our key grants "priority access," meaning that you'll be second in line for alpha access only after pre-orderers and friends and family of Turtle Rock and 2K.
How to redeem Go to the Evolve Big Alpha entry form For referral code , enter PCGamer4v1 For character code , enter this magical series of numbers: 66124-00509-64155 Make sure you've entered a valid email address before you submit the form, because that's where your Steam key is headed. Read the Big Alpha FAQ
We'll also have some fresh Evolve coverage going up on Friday, so stay tuned for that.
The Long Dark's new update changes nearly everything
I'm no stickler for realism in video games, but it did annoy me that I couldn't destroy and burn furniture in The Long Dark .
. In a game that prizes improvisation under duress, I didn't understand why I couldn't just burn everything in the name of staying warm. Well, now I can. The game's majorintroduces sweeping changes to almost every aspect of the game, and burning furniture is one of them. Hurray.
That's really quite minor in the wide scheme of things, because most aspects of the game have been tweaked with v.256. Foraging has been overhauled, and you can now harvest fuel directly from objects in the game world. Running has been simplified too, in the sense that you can't do it anymore: walking has been sped up slightly, and sprinting incurs both stamina and fatigue penalties.
Full update notes can be seen on the Steam page, or you could watch the video below, which conveniently demonstrates all of the major changes in-game.
Brawhalla Moves to Open Beta on Steam
Blue Mammoth Games has a new 2D fighting project, Brawlhalla , that has recently made its way to open beta.
, that has recently made its way to open beta. The title features an expanding assortment of warriors, all of whom desire to become the greatest fighter in history.
Matches can be played online or locally by up to eight people in numerous game modes. According to the developer, “We’ve designed Brawlhalla from the ground up to play smoothly online. We’ve also streamlined mechanics from other platform fighters to make it easy to pick up and to change main characters. We’re constantly adjusting balance and slowly adding new mechanics to the game to raise the competitive ceiling.”
Brawlhalla moved to open beta on November 3, after spending approximately one year in closed beta; that time was spent further developing the project with the help of Steam Early Access backers. The developer says that the closed beta stage was crucial in making the game what it is today.
The Early Access version of Brawlhalla is now free to play on Steamfor Windows and Mac users. The developer plans on releasing biweekly updates, stating, “We’ll continue expanding Brawlhalla by adding new legends, weapons, maps, and game modes for as long as players want to keep brawling.”
For additional information, check out Brawlhalla on the official website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Tribes: Ascend closed beta kicks off November 4. Pre-order and get a "VIP Starter Kit"
There are three ways to get in the beta.
As reported on Eurogamer, a Tribes Ascend closed beta is due to kick off on November 4. You can sign up for the beta on the official Tribes Ascend site.
The info came from Cyberlink's interview with COO at Hi-Rez Studios, Todd Harris.
There are three ways to get in the beta. Apply on the website and wait for a code, keep an eye on the Hi-Rez Facebookand twitterpages or pre-order. That'll give you access to the VIP Starter Kit, which includes beta access, a 33% cost saving, and some bonus VIP features. We'll update as soon as you're able to lay down the cash.
Todd highlights that the VIP Starter Kit won't be a "buy one get everything pack" but "a way to get VIP status in the game which will put you in a more elite set of queues." Players will also get a bunch of in-game gold and some form of booster. "It gives you a pretty compelling starter experience," he says.
For more, read our Tribes: Ascend preview. Will you be pre-ordering?
Prison Architect bangs up 100,000 players, no word on the number of shankings
Despite still being in alpha, Introversion's Prison Architect has managed to shave, de-louse and lock up over 100,000 players, raising (according to the website) a not-too-shabby $3,256,895 for its creators.
has managed to shave, de-louse and lock up over 100,000 players, raising (according to the website) a not-too-shabby $3,256,895 for its creators. It seems crime does pay after all - just not for the criminals.
We last checked up on Prison Architect around two weeks ago, detailing alpha version 10, which among other things added Steam Workshop and Linux support. You can now alpha-fund PA via Steam's recently introduced Early Accesssection, which may have had something to do with that 100,000 figure.
The Alpha 10 trailer is below.
Microsoft: Kinect will start casual, but we're not leaving hardcore games behind
Microsoft is not "stepping away" from core games, according to Chris Lewis, Microsoft's VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business in Europe. He does admit, however, that Kinect's launch games will be designed to appeal to a wide audience (read: casual). "Certainly over the launch phase and this Christmas in particular I think you'll see very much pure Kinect for 360 experiences that will appeal
WIN one of 100 Tribes: Ascend closed beta keys!
Shaz-to-the-bot.
Shaz-to-the-bot. That's the proper response when you've just been admitted to the highly-anticipated Tribes: Ascend beta from Hi-Rez Studios. We're giving away a whopping 100 keys to our lucky fans so you can get the jump on the competition and find the best flag-snatching routes and sniping spots in the premier jetpack FPS. Want to know how to win early-access to the Spinfusor battleground of your dreams? You're only a click away.
How to (maybe) win: Buy Episode 5 of PC Gamer Digital. It is filled with wonder.* Go to https://store.steampowered.com/account/ Click on "Store Transactions." Take a screenshot that shows your purchase of Episode 5. Something like this: Email that image to contests@pcgamer.com with the subject line "Tribes Beta."
We'll randomly select 100 lucky winners (from anywhere in the world—the beta keys aren't region-locked) to join us in the Tribes beta, so we can collectively weep glorious nostalgia-tears while mid-air fragging left and right. We'll be picking and notifying the new recruits this Friday, October 28, so get to it! Those blue plasma-discs won't launch themselves, you know.
*May not contain actual wonder. There is a sharp Tribes: Ascend GameViewof the map Drydock that you can explore, though.
DayZ players propose a Christmas ceasefire
Echoing the Christmas truces that took place along the 1914 Western Front during World War I, some DayZ players on Reddit want to spend the day with their baseball bats shouldered and their guns tucked away.
with their baseball bats shouldered and their guns tucked away. Since the game often acts as a sort of laboratory for human behavior, any proposed ceasefire in the DayZ Modor Standalone alpha will take place as a simple—but maybe revealing—experiment.
With its releaseMonday, the DayZ alpha has seen a massive influxof players and it's a time of year when people might have an hour or two to sit down with a hot beverage and explore DayZ's gorgeous, nightmarish landscape. Since so many of the survival sim's most terrifying moments usually involve encounters with other human beingsrather than the game's zombie antagonists, a Christmas truce seems like the perfect way to see what the mood is like among DayZ's alpha community.
Are you like the person in the motorcycle helmet who challenged me to a pointless fistfight on a lonely hilltop the other day, or are you more apt to give a hungry survivor a cold soda and a can of beans after a long trek through the woods? I guess we'll find out. And that's sort of the strange and interesting point of DayZ for me anyway—the not knowing. What would you do?
Peter Molyneux: Kinect will not cause "the death of standard controllers"
Whether he's promising that a digital dog will revolutionize the industry, or insisting that all of his previous games are complete rubbish, Lionhead designer and Microsoft Europe creative director Peter Molyneux always has something interesting – and extremely quote worthy – to say. Today, he's given a lengthy interview to Develop in which he has surprising points to make on everything from iPhone
Join Hans on a Fantasy Horror Adventure
Once upon a time, a boy named Hans lived near the woods with his mother.
Once upon a time, a boy named Hans lived near the woods with his mother. It was his birthday, but they were so poor that he did not receive any gifts. Upset, Hans left home to find adventure, taking only his grandfather’s cane, a bit of cheese, and three pieces of gold. Come nightfall, Hans wanted nothing more than to be at home. While trying to find his way back, he crossed paths with a kobold (a spirit of German mythology), and was tempted into following it back to Tenebre castle, where he was told he could become rich. All he had to do was guess the name of the kobold. In The Count Lucanor , a fantasy-horror adventure being developed by Baroque Decay, gamers will join Hans in his journey through this castle, as he tries to uncover the truth.
Inside Tenebre castle, players can expect visuals that the studio describes as “halfway between 8 and 16-bit style,” and gameplay inspired by games like The Legend of Zelda , Silent Hill and Dark Souls . Hans can place candles on the ground for light, talk to characters for clues, collect items to solve puzzles and even hide under tables or behind curtains in order to escape danger. All of the above will lead to one of a few possible endings, and will feature a chiptune soundtrack from composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Count Lucanor does not yet have a release date, but the studio is aiming for the first quarter of 2016. At launch, the game will be available on PC, Mac and Linux in English, French and Spanish, with more platforms and languages possible if the game is successful. The studio also hinted that it is almost ready to move onto the Beta stage of testing, and will be on the lookout for Beta testers.
More information on Baroque Decay’s horror adventure can be found on the website, the Steam page, or by following the studio on Twitter.
Tribes: Ascend model will be "something new for a shooter"
Hi-Rez Studio's Todd Harris has been talking exclusively to PC Gamer about Tribes: Ascend.
Hi-Rez Studio's Todd Harris has been talking exclusively to PC Gamer about Tribes: Ascend. The upcoming shooter will be taking influence from Riot Game's hugely successful business plan for League of Legends. It's probably a viable tactic - we hear those guys are doing well.
According to Todd, "The monetisation scheme that we're looking at has some analogies with League of Legends in that it's fairly horizontal by design." He says the approach is “Something new for a shooter, but we think - for a very team based game like Tribes where there are specialist roles - all the loadouts will be viable and fun.”
However, Todd was keen to emphasise that players wouldn't be able to buy an in-game advantage: “If they're gameplay elements our stance is that they'll be able to earn them by playing the game.” If you're looking for cosmetic items, you'll likely need to dig your wallets out, basically. Todd says: “We will also almost certainly have some sort of cosmetic only or prestige elements that might be payment only. Players generally understand that. Players that choose to optionally purchase them for their own enjoyment get to subsidise other people's play so it's win-win.”
Todd went on to explain how Global Agenda's success has been encouraging. “We've got our own recent case study with Global Agenda where we can see that it worked well. That I guess just shows that it can work for players and it can work financially for us.”
Todd had previously told us that the free to play model allows games to stand up and succeedbased on their merits rather than marketing campaigns.
Prison Architect alpha 10 update brings Steam Workshop, riots, and a penguin
With every update to Introversion's Prison Architect, the lives of its incarcerated 'guests' become that little more harrowing.
With every update to Introversion's Prison Architect, the lives of its incarcerated 'guests' become that little more harrowing. The alpha 10 patch is only slightly different - it instead gives your prisoners a way to express their increasing displeasure. Unfortunately, rather than anger management sessions, or rehabilitative education, their new means of release is good old fashioned rioting.
A new "thermometer" system has been introduced, which combines the collected annoyances of your prisoners, measuring them against each inmate's breaking point. When the anger level rises too high, a riot breaks out, with prisoners capturing buildings throughout your complex. To deal with this, two emergency services have been added: paramedics and riot police. Or you could try not pissing them off in the first place.
Alpha 10 also brings Workshop support to the Steam build of the game, letting you share your best prison architecture with the community. "We are continuously blown away by some of the prisons our community build," Introversion say. "Layouts that we'd never considered, or packing an entire jail into 12x12 squares, or nightmarish concrete hellholes. Now you can share your best prisons with the rest of the world via the Steam Workshop. From the main menu in game you can access our workshop integration, and from there you can publish your prison, or play other peoples prisons at the click of a button."
Finally, Introversion have ported the game to Linux. While they've targeted Ubuntu 12.04 as the starting point, they say it should be widely compatible across a variety of distributions.
To see the full Alpha 10 changelist, see, or watch the update video below.
GamesRadar's Trailer Trash Theatre - Episode 7
It's GamesRadar's Trailer Trash Theatre Thursday... Thuper! Feast your eyes on Episode 7 as Executive Editor Brett Elston makes a comeback for some trailer-bashing goodness. This week, Kinect Sports gives us more reasons to make fun of motion controls, and we bring in a PSP Minis trailer that's "buzz"-worthy in a different way. We also cover two PC game trailers. Which games, you ask? Well, you'll
Battalion 1944 seeks funding to return the FPS to WW2
Doing things on a shoestring, going back to basics, taking on a challenge with spunk, skill and a dash of new tech—that's the traditional telling of the British war effort, so it's fitting that a team from Derby, UK, is stripping down the FPS and taking it back to 1944 .
. Bulkhead Interactive is seeking £100,000 to complete Battalion 1944, a throwback to Medal of Honor and Call of Duty 2.
Battalion pledges historic locations such as Carentan and Bastogne in addition to the hallmark weaponry of the second world war. I do love an M1 Garand, and for all that Insurgency's Day of Infamy modis impressive, Battalion is looking considerably prettier thanks to Unreal Engine 4 and mo-capped animation, although I do plan on dragging that motion blur slider so far down it falls off the bar.
The emphasis is on skill-based play, with no unlocks beyond the cosmetic. Competitive play is intended to be a pillar of the experience too—a 'global competition system' and stat tracking will be implemented from the get-go.
The announcement trailer is nothing if not thorough, and the team speak with the same misty-eyed reverence I get when yakking about shooters of yore, so if you think Battalion 1944 is worth a punt, you can contribute to the war effort here.
Ur Not A Hero, but you are a badass in this cover-based 2D action shooter
I have high hopes for Ur Not A Hero , a 2D action shooter that developers Peanut Butter Fingers describe as a mix of Elevator Action and Gears of War, but I think leans closer towards Stranglehold or Vanquish - i.e. insanely stylish, and with lots and lots of sliding around on the floor.
describe as a mix of Elevator Action and Gears of War, but I think leans closer towards Stranglehold or Vanquish - i.e. insanely stylish, and with lots and lots of sliding around on the floor. (There's also a hint of Hotline Miami, I feel.) Picking from a bunch of guys with different abilities (Suit Guy dual-wields pistols, for example, while the dude dressed as a superhero is a dab hand at the old punch-slide combo), your job is to clear a building of hostiles, while defusing bombs, rescuing hostages, or assassinating a key target. There's a brilliant video below, and a playable, early alpha version to whet your appetite.
This is obviously a rough draft, but the fundamentals appear to be in place: quick, stylish, satisfying combat, with superb animation, and a killer hook in the form of the slide move. (Sliding into cover feels so wonderfully fresh in a 2D game.) With some form of multiplayer in the game - co-op or versus, but hopefully both - I could see this really taking off. However, even in it's current, rough form I can't see myself deleting Ur Not A Hero from my hard drive any time soon. Make sure you give it a go. But not before watching this tremendous video:
Thanks, IndieGames.
GamesRadar's Trailer Trash Theatre - Episode 7
It's GamesRadar's Trailer Trash Theatre Thursday... Thuper! Feast your eyes on Episode 7 as Executive Editor Brett Elston makes a comeback for some trailer-bashing goodness. This week, Kinect Sports gives us more reasons to make fun of motion controls, and we bring in a PSP Minis trailer that's "buzz"-worthy in a different way. We also cover two PC game trailers. Which games, you ask? Well, you'll
Classroom Aquatic: Dolphins and Underwater Stealth Trivia
Classroom Aquatic is described as the world’s first underwater stealth trivia game, and puts you in the shoes of a foreign exchange student who attends a school that includes dolphins, cheating on tests, and sabotage in general.
the world’s first underwater stealth trivia game, and puts you in the shoes of a foreign exchange student who attends a school that includes dolphins, cheating on tests, and sabotage in general. After a successful Kickstarter campaignearlier this year, it was also Greenlit on Steam and has a demo currently availablefor those eager to try it out. The game throws players into the deep end, presenting them with an entire semester of work they aren’t prepared for. The only way to survive in Classroom Aquatic is to manipulate your way through classes and extra-curricular activities, and one up your fellow dolphin classmates in order to get to the top ranks of the school. As a human, you experience a variety of activities in a unique and whimsical underwater world:
Run for class president Surf ive P.E Win the science fair And take that someone special to the Enchantment over the Land dancePlayers will get to experience the full effects of deep-sea diving in March 2015 on PC, Mac, Linux, and Oculus Rift. In the meantime, make sure to visit the official Classroom Aquatic Facebook page, and follow the game on Twitter. What are your thoughts on Classroom Aquatic ? Was The Simpsons right when it suggested dolphins possessed superior intelligence and would eventually take over the human race? Let us know in the comments below.
Get Ready To Play In Reverse As “Retro/Grade” Releases Next Week
Next week will see the latest release from 24 Caret Games as Retro/Grade heads to the PC platform after its debut on PSN.
Retro/Grade is a whole new take on rhyme games as 24 caret Games puts the classic shoot ‘em up in reverse with Retro/Grade .
It really is a unique idea that takes one game design puts it completely on its head and manages to come out with a whole new game using rhyme. The game plays in a reverse manner as you must move to catch the fired shots in time to the rhyme in this complete crazy space game.
Retro/Grade will even have full controller support and if that was not good enough it will also support the guitar accessory you have had lying around for several years gather dust. Finally you have a new game to jam to albeit a tad different to what you may of first expected.
There is ten worlds to explore 130 challenges and six difficulties providing you with enough variety to keep you busy for a long time. There are even leaderboards for those who are hyper competitive and will not be happy until they are crowned world champion.
Retro/Grade is a fantastic new twist on two very different concepts and from the looks of things it seems to have been pulled off admirably here. Retro/Grade will be released on March 20 thand is available via Steam.
Consortium opens a rift to an alternate future of peacekeeping jumbo jets
Consortium , a new sci-fi adventure from Interdimensional Games, imagines a future of giant space planes running on clean energy.
, a new sci-fi adventure from Interdimensional Games, imagines a future of giant space planes running on clean energy. But the idiosyncratic starting point of this narrative involves the fictional launching of a satellite by the game developer that lets it communicate through a portal with an alternate reality. It's through this “rift” that players inhabit the role of Bishop Six, a member of the Consortium crew.
Taking place in the year 2042, the game plays out on board an advanced jumbo jet that serves as the staging point for confrontations with mercenaries and the uncovering of an apparent murder mystery. The crew, a kind of paramilitary peacekeeping force, operates in a world still emerging from years of terrible wars over dwindling resources. And it's an open question, according to Interdimensional Games, whether or not the Consortium crew is a force for good in the world.
While there are definitely FPS elements built into the game, some of which you can see in the trailer below, the developer also promises the ability to make an entirely non-lethal playthrough. This should depend on how players negotiate Consortium's branching story and dialogue system. The trailer also offers up a preview of the soundtrack written by Jeremy Soule, whose workyou have likely come across in The Elder Scrolls series, among many others.
Much of the developer's official websiteis itself a window into the game's backstory and its unusual world. It's worth checking out just to get a sense of the personalities behind the indie studio. Originally beginning as a Steam Greenlight project, Consortium was moved up in December for release this week. It's currently on salefor $18 on Steam.
A Valley Without Wind 2 alpha footage emerges
AI War/Tidalis/A Valley Without Wind developer Arcen Games has shown off the first footage of AVWW2, the sequel/do-over to their divisive procedurally generated platformer.
has shown off the first footage of AVWW2, the sequel/do-over to their divisive procedurally generated platformer. You might remember us telling youthat owners of the original game will be given this for free, but now you can finally see what your non-money will be getting you (well, if you already bought the first game).
A Valley Without Wind 2: A Valley Still Without Wind (Has Anyone Thought of Building a Wind Turbine?)'s new features include much less awful artwork, an isometric world map, and a weird sort of ghillie-monster firing laser-balls. There's a possibly that last one isn't new, but it's certainly unsettling all the same.
This is the alpha version, so of course it's still unfinished, but Arcen founder Christopher M. Park reveals on his blogthat the public beta may begin as early as Monday or Tuesday next week. From there, it's a short walk to the game's release in - blimey - January.
The Long Dark update expands map and scares off wolves
Next time you're wandering the Coastal Highway in The Long Dark , you may stumble upon a new region you haven't explored before.
, you may stumble upon a new region you haven't explored before. Pleasant Valley is a new 10 square kilometre stretch of "rural mountain valley" land, added to the survival sandbox since the its most recent v.192 update. You'll find "abandoned fields, farms and caves". Sounds lovely.
Lovely, except you'll probably get attacked by wolves, right? So it's lucky that you can now brandish torches to scare them away, also thanks to the new update. Meanwhile, the update adds harvestable plants and a new inventory interface.
That's not all: among a large list of updates and bug-fixescomes the news that studio Hinterland Games is hearing our pleas for a better-optimized experience, though we may not see significant improvements until Unity 5 releases. In the meantime, they warn that CPU speed is a bigger factor in the game's performance than the GPU.
"We've seen quite a few notes about people with high-end systems experiencing lower than expected performance in the game," the post reads. "We're continuing to work on optimizing the game world, but unfortunately some of the issues are related to how our core engine -- Unity -- was built, and how it utilizes multiple CPU cores for physics objects."
Unsure what the game's about? Here's Tyler giving it a go:
Consortium: The Tower has been funded on Fig
Consortium: The Tower did not fare very well when it took its act to Kickstarter earlier this year, but the crowdfunding campaign on Fig is an entirely different story.
did not fare very well when it took its act to Kickstarter earlier this year, but the crowdfunding campaign on Fig is an entirely different story. It only got underway a week ago, and yet it's already hit its $300,000 goal.
That's a little bit less than what it was aiming for on Kickstarter, but the difference isn't as great as it might appear. The original $450,000 target was in Canadian dollars, and that works out to a little over $350,000 US, while the Fig fig is in US funds right from the get-go. More interesting is the breakdown between Fig investors, who have provided the bulk of the support, and conventional backers, who account for only $79,000 in pledges, not much more than half what the Kickstarter finished with.
But there's still a lot of time left in the Fig, 28 days in all, and developer Interdimensional Games said it will sweeten the pot with stretch goals that will be revealed over the next few weeks. One such goal, at $350,000, was unveiled a few days ago, as the campaign neared its goal: Equipment Engineering, which will give players the ability to break down items into three types of materials—Elements, Compounds, and Exotics—and then use them to upgrade equipment.
Consortium: The Tower is a “first-person sci-fi immersive simulation” with echoes of Deus Ex, in which you play as an officer in an international peacekeeping force in the year 2042. Shooting is an option, and may even become necessary now and then, but too much gunplay is a no-no. In fact, if you prove too bloodthirsty during your missions, the Consortium may even declare you rogue and send another agent to take you down.
The original Consortium, which came out in early 2014, was set entirely within the team's massive C-3800D command plane, while The Tower, the second of a planned trilogy, takes place within the Churchill Tower during a hostage crisis. Interdimensional said that in many ways, it's working to realize the " One City Block" idea put forth a few years ago by Warren Spector, in which a relatively small area of play is simulated to a far greater depth and detail than what's normally seen.
The Consortium Fig campaignis now at $303,000 and change, and runs until May 11.
Underrail - Arcanum meets Metro 2033 - is available to alpha-buy now
Underrail is an isometric, post-apocalyptic roleplaying game inspired by Fallout, Arcanum and even System Shock 2, which is almost the perfect sentence until you add the part that it's set in a series of underground train tunnels, which pretty much makes it Metro 2033: the isometric RPG.
Now it's the perfect sentence, and - to my tastes - probably the most enticing game summary I've come across lately, so I'm just going to let that sink in while I download the alpha demo of the game.
Aaaand we're back. The headline news here is that Underrail(not the most evocative of names) has just been released on Desura, for the dukely sum of £6.49. And by released, I of course mean 'you can fund continued development by buying the alpha version' - there's no such thing as 'released' anymore. If you prefer to try before you buy, there's a couple-of-months-old demo available here. Developers Stygian Software have handily summarised what's been added to the main release since then:
Huge new urban zone consisting of 8 areas Big new 'dungeon' consisting of 6 areas (twice as much as the last one) A couple of 'mini-dungeons' New quests New feats Traps skill Some updated game mechanics Re-balanced economy Food More weapons and armors Updated crossbows (feats, special bolts, damage boost) Various other smaller stuffI'm particularly excited about "various other smaller stuff", although that "huge new urban zone" sounds pretty appealing too. I'm mightily enjoying what I've played of the demo so far - it's reminiscent of Spiderweb Software'sstuff, but with a bigger focus on usability, and with a soundtrack. It's also far more polished than its alpha status would lead you to believe, though admittedly I'm not very far in.
Underrail, once again, is available here. Long-ish gameplay video below.
[Ta, IndieGames]
The Long Dark director: "don't put players in the driver seat"
While you don’t have to click far online to notice growing discontent with Early Access and Kickstarter, it’s harder to gauge how developers are reacting to it.
with Early Access and Kickstarter, it’s harder to gauge how developers are reacting to it. In a GDC talk today, Hinterland Studio founder and creative director Raphael van Lieropchatted about the studio’s community-informed approach to The Long Dark, which has its feet in both camps: it was a successful Kickstarter campaign which made the transition to Early Access.
“The risk [with Early Access] is that you’re living with other people’s mistakes, as well as your own,” van Lierop said. “One of the eye-opening experiences on Early Access is how much hostility there is towards it on Steam community.
“[The attitude is] that they’ve been burned so many times, and you’re probably going to burn them too, and sometimes they haven’t even played the game – they’ve come to reinforce their anger about other Early Access projects. You’re inheriting all of that when you move to the platform.”
The Long Dark is among the most polished and fully-featured Early Access games, and that’s in part thanks to Hinterland’s approach to community feedback. While the very model depends on this feedback, van Lierop said the studio seeks “guidance, not direction” from funders and Early Access participants.
“The community doesn’t belong in the driver seat,” van Lierop said. “[The community] is a tool, a data point, a voice to listen to, but they haven’t spent years of their lives doing this job. I know it’s an unpopular way of approaching it, but my opinion is that if you do [allow the community in the driver seat], you’re not going to have as strong an expression of your creative vision. We’re getting a lot of benefit from the community and we’re not about ignoring the community, you just incorporate the ideas.
“It’s not our job to make the game the community wants. It is our job to make our community want what we have made.”
It's important for a studio not to take online feedback to heart, and to maintain an internal consultative approach. “There can be so much feedback that at some point you think ‘I don’t know what to do there are so many people talking to me’," van Lierop said.
"Sometimes the community’s feedback can start to sway your team, because they’re reading the forums too, and if they see something in the forums about their particular area of the game, they might be really influenced by that and want to change it. But it’s important to talk about it and not be pulled back and forth by one or ten forum comments."
Van Lierop also confirmed that when The Long Dark launches proper later this year, the story-driven game mode will launch alongside it.
Frozen Synapse 2 announced
Frozen Synapse is the exquisite game of pre-planning, replanning and committing to a tactical assault onan enemy doing the same thing asynchronously, not the American-football-with-robots one by the same devs that I keep confusing it with.
by the same devs that I keep confusing it with. Tom Francis gave Frozen Synapse 89in our review, so let's all take a moment to nod appreciatively at the announcement of Frozen Synapse 2.
Where the first Frozen Synapse took place in procedurally generated office blocks, this time the devs are seeking more of a challenge. Details are exceedingly thin on the ground but it appears that Frozen Synapse 2 will take place in an open world. How asynchronous plotting, rewinding and tweaking of multiple teams of gunmen in an open world is at all possible is beyond me, but we're told to expect more details in the coming weeks. It's aiming for release this year.
If you like Frozen Synapse enough to sign up to its mailing list, you get a free track by FS2 composer, nervous_testpilot, which sounds like a good deal.
Riot Games acquires Radiant Entertainment, Rising Thunder no more
Radiant Entertainment announced today that it has been acquired by League of Legends studio Riot Games.
that it has been acquired by League of Legends studio Riot Games. The studio also teased "a new game that we’re incredibly excited about," but on a less happy note, said that the alpha test for the free-to-play fighting game Rising Thunderis coming to an end.
“We wish we could say more now, but rest assured you’ll hear more when the time is right. For now, we will be closing the Rising Thunder Alpha on March 18th. Thanks to everyone who participated in the test!” Radiant wrote. As for its other project, the block-based building game Stonehearth, Radiant said work will continue “full speed ahead,” and that the delivery of alpha builds will be maintained at its current pace.
“To everyone who has helped support us by playing Stonehearth and Rising Thunder, backing our Kickstarter, telling your friends, and giving us your feedback: Thank you for helping us make these games as good as they can be,” the studio said. “You have been a consistent source of motivation and inspiration for us, and we look forward to continuing to talk and work with you in the future.”
The announcement isn't entirely clear on the fate of Rising Thunder, but according to Gamasutra, Radiant said that development has been halted as a result of the acquisition—which is unfortunate, because it sounded rather promising in our preview. We're awaiting further confirmation from Radiant on our end and will update when we hear back.
For now, the acquisition is one of the biggest surprises of the year. Riot is one of the biggest studios in the world in terms of personnel, but it has made no such acquisitions during its 10-year history. Riot has hintedthat it's working on a game other than League of Legends, but it's unclear whether this acquisition feeds into that unannounced project or will represent something completely new.
Riot has confirmed in an email that the Rising Thunder alpha will come to an end on March 18. The statement on the Radiant website has also been changed to indicate that the game is being "permanently closed."
The Long Dark trailer is a stark reminder that there are bears outside
The Long Dark is coming to the Xbox One!
is coming to the Xbox One! And no, that's not the sort of news we would normally take much interest in, but it comes complete with a new E3 2015trailer, and so here we are.
The trailer doesn't show off any actual gameplay—for that, you should have a look at our Early Access impressionsfrom October 2014—unless you count the underlying first-person snippets that actually tell the day-by-day tale of this journey as it's traced across the map. There's not a lot of "practical value" here, in other words, but I quite like how the story is so effectively told. It's bad, it's really bad, it's a little better, it's coming up Milhouse, and then this happens. This is basically the narrative arc of every survival game I've ever played.
The Long Dark is available now on Steam Early Access, and is half price for the next couple of days as part of the Steam Summer Sale.
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Jump to Section: Best Price Comments Pros it's high calibre of writing It's all about experimentation every mindset is a uniquely funny and original platforming environment. Cons edge detection is slightly broken can be incredibly frustrating endless repetition of the tricky platform bits If someone were to make a Games Developers' Hall of Fame, I would have one and only one nomination: Tim Schafer
Julian Gollop confirmed for the PC Gamer Weekender
SPECIAL GUEST
We're delighted to announce that the revered designer Julian Gollop will be attending the PC Gamer Weekender in March to share wisdom from his 30+ year career in game development.
Julian Gollop has been designing games since 1982, and has worked on Chaos, Rebelstar, Laser Squad, and much more.
The designer of Laser Squad, UFO: Enemy Unknown and Chaos Reborn will appear on our developer stages at the Old Truman Brewery as part of our two-day live event. What does he think of the evolution of XCOM since UFO? What has it been like founding Snapshot and building Chaos Reborn in the Kickstarter era, and what's next for the veteran designer? Find out from the man himself.
Julian joins Paradox and loads of soon-to-be-announced guests. Expect demonstrations of exciting upcoming games and insight into the game development process from the talented individuals behind the games we love.
We hope our stages will be a fun way to bring players and developers together, but there's lots more to enjoy at the Weekender, including a gaming zone full of dozens of new and upcoming games to play. We're also running PC workshops in our hardware zone, and drop-in tournaments where you can test your skills and win prizes.
Join us! For more information check out the PC Gamer Weekender site, and book now to save money on the door price. See you there!
Video: There and Dad Again, an Octodad: Dadliest Catch
After the surprise success of their student game Octodad , a group of recent college graduates were crazy enough to try to make a commercial sequel.
, a group of recent college graduates were crazy enough to try to make a commercial sequel. Three years later, Octodad: Dadliest Catch became the debut release from their independent studio Young Horses and earned enough to fund a seven-person team full-time.
At GDC Next 2014, Young Horses cofounders Phil Tibitoski and John Murphy discussed the methods they used to create a successful [joke] game, work better as a team, and learn to love again.
Murphy and Tibitoski break down how a young studio can create development processes and studio culture by drawing on old-school industry mentors, indie pals and the team's communal-gut instincts.
It's a good talk that clearly details a small team's production methods and studio culture can be positively informed by each other as they develop. We've taken the liberty of embeddin g the vide o of " There and Dad Again - The Octodad: Dadliest Catch Postmortem " above, but yo u can also watch it here for free on the GDC Vault.
About the GDC Vault
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vaultoffers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
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