RX-3 Spaceship – Rescue Where No Man Has Rescued Before
Christian Müller & Krzysztof Mikolajczyk , the two-man indie game development team that go by the name of Apol3d, recently contacted me on Twitter about their game, RX-3 Spaceship , which was recently released on GameJolt to be enjoyed for free.
, which was recently released on GameJolt to be enjoyed for free. Who am I to deny our readers free indie game entertainment?
RX-3 Spaceship places gamers in the cockpit of a petite spaceship, given the important mission of rescuing humans from hostile environments on alien planets. To do this, gamers must carefully use their spaceship’s thrusters to navigate around the perils of each level, paying attention to the amount of fuel left, the location of the refuelling pads, and where the humans are that need saving. Oh, and don’t forget the hazards of alien creatures that work their way around the levels, causing damage and even death when coming into contact with your vessel.
To complete a level, gamers must save as many of the humans as they can with the limited fuel and lives they are given, and then land on the pad at the end of the level. The developers say that their game brings quite a challenge, and recommend playing with a gamepad where possible.
If you want to play RX-3 Spaceship for a bit of free spaceship-flying, human-rescuing fun – and why wouldn’t you? – you can find the game here. For more information on this game and Apol3d, follow them on Twitter, or head to the website.
Indie Links Round-Up: All Dressed Up
“Indie hit Antichamber is already a mind-bending monster, but now add some Oculus Rift and you’ve got a “trapped on the holodeck” episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Antichamber on the Oculus Rift, Incredipede on Linux (for free) and more on today’s Indie Links.
Antichamber trips the Oculus Rift(Joystiq)
“Indie hit Antichamber is already a mind-bending monster, but now add some Oculus Rift and you’ve got a “trapped on the holodeck” episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That’s what computer science student Vaecon has done in this VR conversion of the game.”
Democracy 3: Everybody Wants To Ruin The World(RPS)
“I really did want to make Britain a better, happier place for everyone. Trouble is, no-one else agreed. I compromised my own values and I punished people who were just like me, I scrimped and I saved and I took desperate actions. I tried to think long-term, but I also fought seemingly endless short-term fires. The middle-class hated me, the rich abused every tax loophole they could find, the poor took to alcohol abuse and crime. The socialists and greens cheered me, sure, but that didn’t matter a jot as the nation’s money haemorrhaged its last, and the public understandably voted for the other guy. I tried to help them all, and they all hated me for it.”
Indie Pleas: Indie game crowd funding roundup for June 14, 2013(IndiePub)
“There is nothing more fun (in my opinion) than playing games with friends. The theme this week is multiplayer, and you can team up with friends and other gamers to play games like Town of Salem, Fire With Fire and Skara – The Blade Remains.”
Garry of Garry’s Mod makes something else (Rust)(PCGamesN)
“That dude Garry, who made Garry’s Mod that we all know and love, has now put his team’s new open world multiplayer survival game Rust up for alpha testing on his site. It is currently about zombies but HANG ON COME BACK it might be good.”
Incredipede now free on Linux(Polygon)
“Northway Games’ Incredipede is on sale for half price on Steam for the next week, and the Linux version is now free on the game’s website, the studio announced today.”
IndieCade faves from E3: Spaceteam, Towerfall, 7 Grand Steps, Perfection, Voronoid, Soundodger(Shacknews)
“While IndieCade’s E3 booth may not be as boisterous as others at the show, its impact cannot be denied. IndieCade has been home to games such as Braid, Dear Esther, and Skulls of the Shogun long before they were on anyone’s radar and this year looks to continue that trend. Here are some of the more notable games I got to check out.”
A Quake-Engine FPS Roguelike That Channels Binding of Isaac? Nice(Kotaku)
“Check out this video demonstration of Tower of Guns, one of the coolest surprises at the Indiecade booth during E3.”
Cube World Dev Talks DDoS Attack, Incoming Fix(Kotaku)
“Cube World’s alpha launch has been a rocky one—eager fans waiting to get their hands on the immensely charming voxel RPG likely haven’t been able to buy the game yet, even though the developers have been trying to sell it for days now. At first, it seemed like it was just immense demand that was breaking the servers. In actuality, it’s an intentional distributed denial of service attack, which disables the servers with high traffic.”
Sanam’ Raises Money For A Food Fighting Platformer
‘Sanam’ Raises Money For A Food Fighting Platformer
Have you ever wanted to fight with your food?
Have you ever wanted to fight with your food? Well grab your carrot-sword and plum-shield because Sanam is aiming to bring you action-packed gameplay…with food.
Sanam is a side-scrolling platformer by Team Food Fighter that is inspired by the four developer’s childhood favorites ( Prince of Persia Viewtiful Joe and Zelda) and built with urban myths and hidden secrets, just like all of our favorite retro titles.
Enter Filjeh, a radish monk and weapon specialist. As he is meditating and searching for inner peace, ancient fallen gods awaken and begin a great war that devastates the land. With his meditation interrupted and his anger flaring, Filjeh vows revenge and sets off across the land with his trusty broccoli sword.
Complete with two single-player modes and two multiplayer modes, Team Food Fighter is wanting to make Sanam as big of a package as possible. The story mode is planned to contain five chapters with five levels and a boss fight in each and the challenge mode is sure to add some replayability. The multiplayer will come in two flavors: a versus mode and co-operative play.
Your character will also have a skill tree that is shared between multiplayer and single-player game modes, so any improvements you make to Filjeh will carry over into the other modes.
Team Food Fighter has just over a month left in their IndieGoGo campaign and wants your help in making Sanam the best it can be. You can jump over to their crowdfunding pageand upvote them on Steam Greenlight to give them your support.
GI Show 159: Fuse and Anamanaguchi
In this episode of the Game Informer Show, we weigh in on the new IP from Insomniac called Fuse before exploring the music of Anamanaguchi.
With Matt Helgeson busy once again with top-secret business, video producer Ben Hanson is guest-hosting another episode. In the first segment we are joined by Dan Ryckert, Tim Turi, Andrew Reiner to talk about the co-op third-person shooter from the acclaimed developer Insomniac. While the game is a departure from Insomniac franchises like Ratchet and Clank and Resistance, it can be a lot of fun when playing with friends. Read Dan's reviewto get a better idea of what to expect from Fuse. In the second segment, Tim Turi hosts the chiptune band Anamanaguchito talk about their music, gaming histories, and their new album Endless Fantasy . If you like what you hear, you can check out their Kickstarterto expand on the concept of the album by sending pizza into spaceor something. Enjoy the show!
Jason Rohrer Discusses Sleep Is Death
Jason Rohrer Discusses Sleep Is Death Despite the incredible advances in artificial intelligence over the years, it’s the things that seem simplest that are most difficult to reproduce. Sure, a game knows how to effectively flank an opponent, but could it mimic a human engaged in polite conversation over the dinner table? Certainly not, and it’s why we’ve had so few games that attempt to replicate
Let Chris Crawford teach you to program Atari's 8-bit computers
Back in the 1980s, Chris Crawford was at Atari, and he produced a series of how-to videos for enthusiasts of its 400 and 800 computers on how to program them.
Back in the 1980s, Chris Crawford was at Atari, and he produced a series of how-to videos for enthusiasts of its 400 and 800 computers on how to program them. These videos have been preserved on YouTube, and offer fascinating perspectives on not just how an enthusiastic company employee inventively promoted his company's PC platform to its fans, but also how programming was both taught and structured during the 1980s home computing boom.
Part 1 is embedded above, but you can watch Part 2 hereand Part 3here.
Gamasutra spoke to Crawfordlast year about his (very lage) ambitions for games, and his current work: "We're establishing what is fundamentally a new entertainment medium; it's going to be slow going. "But that's the way it was 35 years ago; I've done this before, and I'll do it again," he said.
Editor’s Notebook: ‘Shelter’ or How I Am A Horrible Badger-Dad
The night is punctuated by a guttural growl and then a high-pitched squeal.
The night is punctuated by a guttural growl and then a high-pitched squeal. My brain goes into overdrive. I curse myself for letting my attention drift as my hands flick my mouse and spin my badger dad around to face the terror of the night. While the camera spins to face the unseen predator I’m also tallying up my badger children in an emergency roll call. There’s Burger, Dart, Splotch, …where’s Gnat? “Where is Gnat,” I practically shout at my monitor at one in the morning. I recklessly dash my badger into the darkness looking for the lost cub, and then hesitate, remembering I still have the other three to worry about. As I wait for my remaining three little ones to catch up, I give one last glance around into the nightmarish darkness, before turning back and resuming my night trek through the valley. Gnat, much like his brother, Zorro, is just another casualty of Shelter.
Turns out, I’m a horrible badger father. By the end of my hour-ish playtime with the preview build of Shelter, I had lost the majority of my badger babies to the dangers of the wild.
Shelter is an upcoming game from Might & Delight , the developer behind 2012’s stylish platformer,In Shelter , a game artistically and mechanically much different from Pid, players take on the role of the badger-parent of a small clan of badger babies, and the game revolves around the slow migration of this badger family through the wilderness, scavenging for food, and just attempting to stay alive. The babies follow the player around automatically, while being completely dependent on the player for survival.
Shelter ushers players through the zones by implementing a necessity to feed the baby badgers (who can starve to death if you neglect to feed them, as I found out with Zorro). Uprooting onions or headbutting trees to knock down fruit will be how players acquire the majority of their sustenance, but there are the occasional frogs or gophers that players can attempt to run down, as well. Survival comes into play when larger predators make an appearance, notably an eagle that will try to snatch up the babies if players stay out in the open for too long, —hectic dashing from cover to cover is required to stay alive.
From my time with Shelter, it feels like Shelter is more of an experience, rather than a game. Which isn’t a bad thing, but it just seems like to go from a very exciting platformer like Pid, to a game that is essentially a slow-paced Mother Nature simulator, is a bit of a tone down. With that said, there will certainly be people who disliked Pid, but will find entertainment and joy (and a bit of morbid reality) within Shelter.
“The idea came to us, soon after Pid,” explains Johannes Wadin, Might & Delight creative director, in a developer diary video. “We knew we wanted to do something quite different, and we decided fairly early that it would be something like a fable, or that animals will have a crucial role. Once we decided on the mother protecting her cubs that’s when it all happened, when we decided we would focus on creating a game with a slower tempo…a more emotionally absorbing game.”
With that objective in mind, I would feel comfortable saying that Might & Delight has met that goal; Shelter presents an engaging and unique experience that is sure to change the way players view wild animals.
Shelter was recently approved through the Greenlight system on Steam, and will launch at $9.99, later this year.
Visit the game’s official website, and follow the developer on Twitter.
Video: Crafting procedurally-generated levels for Shattered Planet
Thankfully, Tanya Short of Kitfox Games shared some advice on procedurally generating levels as part of her GDC 2015 Game Design Case Study on Kitfox's spacefaring survival roguelike Shattered Planet.
More and more developers are learning to love procedural generation techniquesand integrate them into their production pipelines, which often entails solving a whole new set of problems.
As part of that talk she spoke at length about the trials and tribulations Kitfox faced in procedurally generating tile-based levels, offering some unique insight and advice for pulling it off without driving your team crazy.
Short also offered suggestions on how you might design a procedural level generation system that doesn't do frustrating things like place rooms with no doors, or keys with no matching locks, or design layouts that look more like M.C. Escher paintings than levels.
If you missed it in person, you can now watch her succinct, info-rich talk for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel .
About the GDC Vault
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vaultand its new YouTube channeloffers 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.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech
Nintendo eyeing up free-to-play - just not with Mario
In a candid interview with Japan's Nikkei, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata admitted that the company is finally conceding to the free-to-play business model -- although he was keen to note that Nintendo's established franchises won't be affected any time soon.
As translated byNeoGAF, Iwata said that the video games industry is changing, and that it now makes sense for Nintendo to apply its creativity to the space.
"We [as an industry] can now do distribution by digital means as well as micro-transactions, and the ways to obtain money through supporting entertainment have increased," he noted. "It's a change in our landscape; competing in game-quality, and working on how money is obtained, I think both are things that require creativity."
"Therefore, I have no intention of denying the free-to-play model," he continued, adding, "If we were to talk about if Nintendo were to do that, however, I am not so much inclined to do that with Nintendo's established well-known products, where people trust their interesting-ness. For example, for people who are used to Mario games costing 4,800 or 5,800 yen, we will not have a proverbial door to full enjoyment that can only be unlocked via payment."
He noted that Nintendo is still interested in releasing extra downloadable content for these titles, however, as they allow people who want more stages to continue playing -- as it did with New Super Mario Bros. 2 . When it comes to free-to-play, Nintendo is instead looking at new IP.
"For new titles with no established base, if, in the process of development, we found it to suit the free-to-play model, we might follow that route, or we might do something like 'Cheap-to-play'," he said. "Our sales methods have been freed up and I have no desire to extinguish that freedom. If we were to release something like that, it is not a betrayal but the birth of an interesting idea through our new found freedom, that's all."
He stressed, "I am not talking about changing how we sell Mario or Pokemon ."
It's notable that in 2011, Iwata said that he had "no intention"of delving into the free-to-play gaming boom, as he believed Nintendo should "try to maintain the overall value of video games." This isn't the first time Nintendo has gone back on its word, however, as it had previously said that it would not delve into DLC.
Animal Crossing 3DS gets help from smartphonesElsewhere, Iwata discussed sales of Animal Crossing for the Nintendo 3DS, which launched in Japan last November. He admitted that he had been left "dumbfounded" by the range of players picking up the game.
"If we look at the first three weeks of Animal Crossing sales to the end of November, the highest group [registering the game] is 19 to 24 year-old women," he said. "This is an age-range that is typically found in fewer numbers for Nintendo. I've never seen anything like it; a game that sells like this on a Nintendo hardware."
He added, "If we look at the male-female ratio [for the 3DS] as a whole, it divides into 69 percent males, 31 percent female, but if we limit it to just those customers that purchased the hardware at the same time as Animal Crossing , the percentages become 44 percent male and 56 percent female."
This, says Iwata, shows that the arguments against dedicated handheld consoles are not strictly correct.
"The common argument going on right now is that since smartphones exist, there's no need for specialised game machines anymore, right? But, these 19 to 24 year old women are the 'smartphone people'. We often say that casual female users do not need specialised gaming machines, but here we see them reconfirming the value of those systems," he explained.
Iwata believes, in fact, that smartphones have actually helped to sell the game. "The ability we added to create furniture with interesting designs and share it through various means, coupled with our customers' creativity created an amplification of sorts. It was really interesting. What really helped to spread this around was social media, and smartphones. What really sold Animal Crossing to women this time was, without question, smartphones."
CLANNAD: Now Killing You Sweetly in English
I hate CLANNAD .
. I hate it so much that I break down crying whenever I think about it. In all seriousness, there is something about CLANNAD — the odd visual novel game turned anime turned manga (talk about backwards) — that breaks my heart into a million pieces every time I watch it. And yes, I have watched it more than once. Don’t judge me.
But I’ve never gotten to play the original visual novel, primarily because I only speak two languages, and neither of them is Japanese. Luckily, my own laziness is now no longer an issue! The team at Sekai Project recently launched a Kickstarter to bring the original CLANNAD to English. which, in its final day, is sitting pretty at almost 500 thousand dollars, out of an asked for 140 thousand. Excellent work, my brethren.
For those who have no idea what the heck CLANNAD is, it’s… hard to explain. The premise is simple enough: You play Tomoya (not to be confused with Tomoyo), a student at a local high school who lost his mother in an accident and constantly has to deal with his alcoholic father. On the way to school one day, he meets Nagisa, a very odd girl who had been out of school due to illness. You can guess where the story goes from there (hint: It’s adorable).
No word on what systems CLANNAD will be released on, but it is going through Steam, so it will be on Windows at least, and likely on Mac as well. You can support it on its Kickstarter pageif you hurry, or merely gaze longingly at screenshots if you miss being able to support it.
Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron review
Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron review Making a Transformers game should be the exact opposite of making a superhero game. While trying to balance naturally unbalanced characters has made cape-wearing games notoriously tough to get right, it seems like it should be incredibly simple to get the concept of robots that can turn into vehicles to work in videogame form. But ever since the incomprehensible
Top 5 Worst Iron Man Videogames
Top 5 Worst Iron Man Videogames Captain America and the Avengers Year: 1991 Format: Arcade, Mega Drive, SNES One of the most enticing cabinets vying for attention in Nineties arcades, Captain American and the Avengers, if anything, certainly looked the part. Iron Man was one of the Avengers assembled for this dross side-scrolling beat-’em-up (alongside Captain America, Vision and Hawkeye), but the
Punch Quest’ Review – Punching The Lights Out
‘Punch Quest’ Review – Punching The Lights Out
Where should I start with Punch Quest ?
? Maybe with the control scheme that’s as simple as simple can be yet has an underlying depth like nothing else. Or the visuals that reminisce on old times spent at the arcades playing Ghosts ‘N Goblins and the ilk.
Or I could just go on for ages about riding a dinosaur that shoots lasers out of its mouth, which in itself has to be hands down my favourite gaming moment of the year right now. Then, of course, there’s the in-app purchase program…
My appreciation for Punch Quest could go on for some time, despite the dark cloud that sat over it during its first few months. If you haven’t played it so far, all you need to know is that you run along from left to right, punching and uppercutting a steady stream of ghosts, demons, mages and skeletons in order to reach the highest score possible. But that’s just scratching the surface.
There’s only two buttons, punch forward or uppercut, yet the dynamics of the game world allow for a host of different results. Combos come into play, bouncing dead skeleton heads into other creatures or jumping over platforms to reach power ups and branching paths. Speaking of, there’s a number extra items and upgrades to choose from and it won’t take long before you have a few powerful options in your arsenal. Most are all about surviving longer and dishing out more punishment upon the many villains and critters that litter the runway, while a few will help tick over your coin collection or add a little splash of humour to the proceedings.
I actually delayed this review just to see what would happen to the in-game purchasing system. Originally you would have to purchase upgrades and extras if you wanted them before unlocking by using real life cash. That freemium design, if you’ve been keeping up with the news, became a crutch that held back its success since launch, despite the amount of unique downloads. The result is a paid app with the same content, though with a lack of emphasis on in-game purchases this time around.
While it’s a shame that Rocketcat Games had to make that change, in reality there’s so many coins available during play that most of the upgrades you can unlock easily enough. Or you could simply play without, it won’t hinder your enjoyment no matter what you decide to do. If that wasn’t the case, perhaps this review would have been in a slightly more negative light on said freemium content.
Honestly though, Punch Quest isn’t original. You could bring it down a peg or two for being one of many, many indie games with the same retro stylings that’s quickly becoming a bit common of late. You could also argue that the ‘runner that never stops’ genre has also been done to death on iOS. But the combination of simple yet engaging controls, a wonderful visual appeal and a rousing musical score combines into a well rounded and addictive little package despite all that familiarity.
As for the update to a paid app, there’s so much content and fun to be had that paying such a small fee shouldn’t put you off one bit. In game purchases are null and void now, which should act as a lesson to other devs looking to employ a similar business model. But in the end that doesn’t dent the quality of a game that’s sole purpose was to have fun whilst remembering the good old days. 99 cents is also a more than reasonable price given the quality on offer.
So if you’re late to the party or were hesitant to pick it up before, I implore you to purchase Punch Quest and play it through as much as you can. It’s a deserved contender for one of the best titles of 2012 and certainly a highlight of the ever crowded iOS scene.
[review pros=”Smooth retro visuals, wonderful musical score, simple but highly enjoyable gameplay” cons=”paid content is now null and void, can get a little repetitive after a while” score=88]
Catacomb Kids Preview – Hardcore Roguelikes Have a New Name
If you read the name Catacomb Kids expecting something easy or casual, you’ve already fallen for the first of many traps this deadly game presents.
A brutal experience with few comparisons (the recent AAA title Bloodborne comes to mind), FourbitFriday is aiming to take hardcore 2D roguelikes to the next level. The premise is familiar to those who (slightly masochistically?) enjoy the genre: Each play session, a randomly generated character enters the catacombs, always restarting from the beginning. Those play sessions will initially last anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes, and it will be a while before you can progress any substantial amount.
The kids are heroes of different classes, with six in total (though only two are available in the current build), further splitting into five people to choose as the next “victim.” Each differs by statistics, like STR, SPD, INT, equipment, and special traits. The traits seem irreverent, but they can have a huge impact on a playthrough. Playing with a Kid who’s Loud and Clumsy probably won’t help much with sneaking by some of the tougher enemies, but he may have magical armor or some item at the start. There’s a ton of strategy with just the initial choices, and playstyles are sure to further multiply when more classes become available.
Despite the typical appearance of a 2D pixel RPG, the game has a greater depth to controls than most. Playing on the keyboard didn’t seem very practical, so I hastily switched to a pad. It was difficult to manage on the keyboard because there are different buttons for picking up objects, stowing them into a “carry slot,” and using them, not to mention options to roll, use spells, and so on. There’s a heft of additional commands, like sprinting (double-tapping direction), rolling, high jumping, and special attacks that become available with certain weapons and abilities.
The progression goals in Catacomb Kids smartly support its randomly-generated levels. To advance to the next level, you need to find a door, usually quite a good distance from your starting location. Nothing stops you from charging straight to it, though you may easily die from the numerous traps before then. Though the game has a strong RPG skeleton, there’s a nontraditional approach to leveling up; it’s not by killing enemies. Each stage contains an Orb of Leveling that empowers the character, giving two stat choices and one learning point for skills. Putting a point in DEF seems like a passive idea, but behind every stat there’s a number of skills. Raising DEF allows picking Parry or Extra Tough, and increasing STR will let you pick up boulders and use charge attacks. Adaptability and synergy play key roles here, and despite picking Poet (the mage-user class), I would often combo healing magic and pouring points into DEF and SPD rather than MAG or INT, to increase precious survivability even further.
One of the most amazing design qualities of Catacomb Kids is the fact that the smallest, most innocuous things matter immensely. Simple rocks and skulls turn out to be amazing scouts and can set off all the traps in their wake, alerting you to their existence. A thrown torch is even better, since it lights the area. The traits also play big roles, and as mentioned above, a Loud character inadvertently alerts a group of Grumbuls, or a clumsy hero may trip over a rock to their misfortune. Similarly, the many potions scattered throughout the dungeon provide entertainingly risky choices . That’s because, until drank or used, they are unidentified. For all you know, you might be drinking a Fire Potion that bursts you into flames or poison, or something life-saving like Regeneration or Health. Holding the flasks over time gives interesting hints, such as “the potion is cool to the touch” or “smelly,” and it helps to have high INT. They have different colors, but their properties switch with every game. Truth be told, that murky-looking potion starts looking like an option when your health is low.
In essence, Catacomb Kids is about figuring out clever solutions to bypass traps and use those against enemies. This is often tough to pull off (partially also to my relative inexperience). Random generation doesn’t always provide deadly tools in vicinity to enemies, or you might just lack options to set up an ambush. Often, enemies are on shorter ledges, and it’s difficult to make them follow you, because their AI tracks your position horizontally, meaning, they’ll stand right above or below you and not be able to figure out how to walk around this unless you move. Often, it’s easier to just stand at a ledge and keep swiping and hoping the enemy will run into it. Despite this, the enemy AI is otherwise surprisingly good: They roll around you to attack from the other side, keep a good distance if they have a spear or halberd, and often retreat to drink their potions.
I can’t wait for more updates from FourbitFriday. Catacomb Kids already has an excellent foundation and bugs are scarce. I’d like to see the hitbox adjusted around the crushing traps and boulders, because sometimes touching them killed me when they were barely in motion. One issue for me that may not be for others is that the game feels just a bit too fast. Combat is lightning-quick, and it’s often hard to pull off anything clever; the Haste spell doesn’t seem as useful, because a large increase in speed led me to easily walking into traps. But even still, it will be exciting to see new content and the four remaining classes roll out, one of which surely will be some kind of assassin class, as the game already has a solid base for sneaking.
Playing this is an incredibly brutal, merciless experience, requiring lots of patience, skill, and gradual build up of knowledge, mainly from self-discoveries. More skills, spells, weapons, and enemy types will keep each playthrough more and more distinct, especially for those (like me) who spend most of their time on floors one and two, where it gets a bit stale seeing familiar layouts and the same enemy types. I’m also looking forward to the addition of cooperative play and the prospect of dying together with a friend.
Catacomb Kids is available via Early Access on Steamnow .
iOS7 From An Indie Gamers Perspective
Out of all the E3 hype, there was another big conference that was catching everyone’s attention, within an arena that they’ve made their name for.
Out of all the E3 hype, there was another big conference that was catching everyone’s attention, within an arena that they’ve made their name for. Yes, Apple took to the stage one more to introduce us to iOS7, but how much of an impact will this latest software update have on mobile gaming and its many number of indie developers and their fans?
Right now, arguably not a huge amount, certainly nothing groundbreaking or game changing. Though there’s no new hardware to speak of (at least not yet), iOS7 does sport plenty of new key features and functions, most of which are tailored for the general and business user. For gamers, though, there are two important updates.
Game Center itself has been redesigned, gone are the poker table like menu backgrounds and achievement lists. The replacements are in line with the overall iOS7 refresh, a much cleaner and crisper display and certainly more colourful. In terms of the refresh itself, the new iOS backgrounds and icons are brighter and more vivid than ever before, so that should make staring at your iPhone all those hours checking Facebook a more enjoyable experience.
By cleaning up the interface, hopefully that will entice users to check out Game Center more often, making it a more worthwhile app than how it currently stands. I, for one, rarely take much notice of the system during my time, but it will be interesting to see the response from both users and developers alike.
One thing of note is the new Sprite Kit framework, allowing creators to build and animate sprites, particle systems and simulate physics. There’s also the promise of greater support for leaderboards and high score uploads. More importantly Apple have added further support for MFi game controllers, providing developers a greater level of choice and refinement when choosing which controllers to design for. Hopefully that’s a positive step forward for all the indie hardware devs out there looking to expand their user base. There’s plenty of them, so it’s good to see the support from up on high is there.
We will have more on iOS7 in the near future before its release this Fall, but why not share your thoughts on our forums? Do you think it will have an impact? Is it all just pretty images and no substance? Let us know.
Outside of fans of obscure Japanese games, Virtue's Last Reward gets short shrift. It's a shame, because
its writing and game design are extremely nuanced. Virtue's Last Reward does an incredible job of intertwining gameplay and story together into a whole, exposing the strength of the Japanese visual novel genre. Some say visual novels -- stories told via text and images -- aren't really games, but in director Kotaro Uchikoshi's view, this view of "game" is too narrow.
How gameplay and story intertwine in Virtue's Last Reward
"A game is something with selectivity, is what I think. To be more specific, something where the selection made by the player's decision changes the history of events or outcome that takes place within a given set of rules," he said at this year's Game Developers Conference.
By that token, "a visual novel is a game, similar to how darts and fishing are sports."
Virtue's Last Reward is just as compelling as The Walking Dead , but takes a completely different tact, game-design wise. Telltale received a lot of plaudits for forcing the player to make hard choices; Uchikoshi, instead, sets up "discomforting" scenarios, to use his term, and then forces the player to get to the bottom of them.
He also uses a neat design trick to do it.
His foundational game is Chunsoft's Kamaitachi no Yoru , a 1994 Japan-only release for the SNES. In most visual novels, players can't progress until they achieve a goal the programming code is designed to recognize and a flag is set. Kamaitachi no Yoru does not have this; instead, players simply play the story and learn information, and eventually are asked to input the solution to the game's central mystery.
"How were they able to create branching storylines without losing consistency?" asks Uchikoshi. "Using the player's brain as the computer's memory -- this is what's unique about Kamaitachi no Yoru and what differentiates it from games that came after it."
How Kamaitachi no Yoru works: a slide from Uchikoshi's GDC talk
Uchikoshi used the same technique for Virtue's Last Reward . But unlike the simple murder mystery he was influenced by, it has an incredibly ambitious structure with a huge number of branches and a reality-jumping storyline that forces the player to hop between parallel story streams.
It turns out that using the player's brain as the computer isn't just a clever trick for game design -- it also lets the story get under your skin. What's elegant about it is that the main character understands the world in tandem with the player -- and together, you can progress.
To learn more, Gamasutra spoke to Uchikoshi about developing Virtue's Last Reward .
Virtue's Last Reward's branching pathways
Do you conceive of storytelling as gameplay? Turning storytelling into gameplay? There's a divide, according to many developers.
Kotaro Uchikoshi: In terms of "storytelling equals gameplay" -- yes, I do think that. The visual novel is really special in the way that the storytelling is the gameplay. For example, another game where you have a mission to go and shoot someone, the story is there to enhance it, but the main gameplay is to shoot. But what's special about a visual novel is that the narrative is the game. I do think that storytelling should be gameplay.
How do you go about that -- how do you conceive of gameplay that can be story?
KU: It's really hard to explain, but the visual novel is unique on its own -- it's hard to relate it in terms of, say, manga or anime. It's original -- it's its own thing. By creating a visual novel it's automatically gameplay. The formatting behind the whole visual novel genre is just that unique -- and it's probably because it was originated in Japan.
I'm not sure about the U.S., but in Japan it has its own style and it has pretty much evolved on its own. I'm pretty much going on with how the predecessors formatted it. It's hard to explain, but the visual novel genre allows me to write in that way.
Your game forces you to choose to ally with or betray other characters. The first time I had to do this, I betrayed my opponent and she did not betray me. The second time around, I did not betray her, yet she betrayed me! I expected her not to, and I got pissed off. Was that deliberate on your part?
KU: Let's say in the first one you chose "betray," and in the next one you didn't. In the next one, you would expect it's going to be the same. As a general rule, in games, you're not allowed to backtrack and change your decisions.
But that's a general rule of video games. If I took that and used that as a tool and I made it be what you can't do, that creates some emotion behind it -- you're going to be thinking "WTF? It's not supposed to happen!" That was the goal. The goal was to get a reaction out of you as a player. The reason being was so I could connect it to the theme of Schrodinger's Cat. That's why I did it on purpose.
In our prior interviewyou referenced Western TV shows a lot. Are they a big influence on how you create drama?
KU: In a way, yes, I guess you can say that they have influenced me. In terms of how, since the series is long -- you have to keep putting turns and twists and pushing the story forward. In that sense, I was influenced.
Video: Crowdsourcing the localization of Gone Home
Tailoring your game to meet the needs of players in far-flung regions can give you a meaningful edge in the market, especially if you're an indie developer.
Unfortunately, the cost of localization can be especially burdensome for small indie teams.
Of course, the award-winning Gone Home was an indie title developed by four people with almost no budget. So how did it get localized to more than ten languages, from Czech to Esperanto?
At GDC 2014, Gone Home progr ammer Johnnemann Nordhagen revealed how the dev team enabled, supported, and encouraged fan-made translations for the game.
"Crowdsourcing the Localization of Gone Home " (embedded above) proved to be an excellent, informative talk, and now you can watch it right herefor 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.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech
Threes tips
If you’re anything like us, then the clever new puzzle game Threes , by Puzzlejuice developer Asher Vollmer, already has you hooked.
developer Asher Vollmer, already has you hooked. If you haven’t tried it yet, Threes is currently the number one paid app in the AppStore, and is 33.33% off during launch. If you’re on the fence, make sure to check out our review.
Threes is not easy, and we know that wildly sliding numbers can only get you so far. To help you out, we’ve compiled not three, but six tips for you to get a high score in Threes. It’ll take some patience and practice, but these tips will have you reaching the thousands in every game.
1. Don’t get too crazy!
Threes doesn’t have a time-limit; you can close the app, and pick up exactly where you left off, so games don’t have to be finished in 30 seconds. You can get a couple hundred points by sliding randomly at the beginning, but the real fun comes from thinking your way out of a tough situations—like any puzzle game should. If you just love swiping franticly at the screen, then try doing it just until the board is down to its last row, and then take it slow from there.
2. Look into the future
Make use of this feature! By holding, but not releasing, a move, you will be able to see how cards will align, and where gaps on the board are going to be. When 3s are bunched up together, it can get confusing as to which are going to combine and where gaps will be left. There’s often at least two ways to combine the same set of 3s (or other bunched numbers), so check to see which will make the new number end up near its twin and prevent low numbers from getting lost in the middle of much larger numbers. Using this feature can also help predict where your next card will come in.
3. Know your next card
At the end of every move, a new card will come in, and a preview of it is shown at the top of the screen in the ‘next’ box. Pink represents a 2, blue a 1, and white usually represents a 3. The new card comes behind one of the rows or columns in the direction they moved during your turn. If the same row/column is moved during your next turn, and no others move, the new card will come behind the initial one again. If that row/column is then obstructed by a wall however, and there is another row that is not yet stuck, the new card will enter behind that one instead. By using this knowledge, you can predict where the next card will enter and prepare for it.
4. Strategize your 1s and 2s
1s and 2s are stone-cold game killers: They prance around like they own the place, clumping together and preventing you from making combos, and they don’t even give you their number at the end! Getting rid of these low numerals as soon as possible should be your number one priority. If you see one coming next, make sure it will end up next to or near its pair. If there are no other 1s or 2s already on the board, make sure the new one remains near the edge, and preferably near a 3 as well. Also, avoid putting two 1s or two 2s together, as it will just cause chaos for you later on.
5. Prepare for the unexpected
One of the most important things to take into consideration as the game gets tense, is the randomness. It becomes difficult to predict which row/column the next card will come in on once the board gets full. Moreover, if you see a white card in the ‘next’ area, don’t anticipate a 3—it has the chance of being a 6 or even higher. I’ve seen it come in as a 48, and it sure threw me for a loop. You can prepare for this by forcing the card into an ideal spot. If you see a white card coming, make your move so that it closes any gaps and leaves open an area that has the most variety of adjacent multiples. Every so often you’ll get unlucky, and the number won’t be what you hoped it would be, or it won’t enter where you wanted it to, but that just adds to the fun.
6. Don’t give up
No matter how hopeless a situation looks, there’s almost always a way out. Once you’re down to one or two spaces open on the grid, make sure you slow down and really start to think about your moves. Take a look into the future to see how to combine the most numbers in a single turn, or align a series of combinations in successive turns. At the same time, consider what the next card will be and whether or not your move will put that card into a hopeless spot. If it’s a 1 or a 2 coming, your first priority should be to put it near its pair. If you remember these tips and use them all in conjunction, you’ll be able to slide out of tough situations every time, and meet Capt. Triad on the daily.
Think you’ve got Threes Mastered? Comment your tips for the game and Tweet your high score to @indiegamemag. Ours is!
IGM Forum Find: Pirates vs. Robots
A single-player action game for PC and Mac, Pirates vs.
Pirates vs. Robots is a free game developed by the student developers at Foxtrot Productions. A pirate named Captain Steelshin (so named for the cannon he has as a substitute for a peg-leg) is on a mission to vanquish Bronzefist, an engineer, and his legion of robots. Steelshin and Bronzefist were best friends until Bronzefist tried to steal the Captain’s ship. There was a fight, Bronzefist scarpered, and now Captain Steelshin is on a mission to find him, and destroy the army of robots that are threatening the population.
Captain Steelshin
Built in Unity, Pirates vs. Robots is very close to an ARPG, and features ascending difficulty in enemies, as well as ragdoll physics in battle. Armed with only a sword, a basic pistol, and the namesake cannon-leg, the player must fight their way through an ever-increasing wave of robots to reach their goal of defeating Bronzefist.
Pirates vs. Robots is free to download, either on the developer’s website, or on IndieDB. You can follow the game’s progress on Facebook, and, of course in the original forum post.
Have an Indie Game you’d like to share? Join the Indie Game Mag Forumsand Tell Us About Your Indie Game! You can also sign up to interact with other devs and gamers, and keep folks updated about your projects. You could even be featured in a future Forum Find !
Kinskii Helps Loved Ones Connect Through Long-distance Playtime
Technology plays a big role in helping distanced families connect via internet communication.
Technology plays a big role in helping distanced families connect via internet communication. We see traveling and working parents, those serving in the military, and living 0n different continents using video chat services to talk to each other. But it’s harder to engage with very young children, who might prefer to play with their parent, and Kinskii aims to help make that happen.
Kinskii is a new communication platform that combines gaming with long-distance chatting. The game’s theory is that since many children ages 2-7 have very low attention spans and may find traditional video chat uninteresting, Kinskii can provide a number of games to provide a more meaningful, engaging time between adults and the children in their lives. The service plans to offer its own selection of educational games aimed at kids looking to play games with their long-distance family. Each will incorporate some aspect commonly taught to children, such as simple geometry, numbers, and colors.
The app is mainly intended to be a subscription service with monthly payments and additional physical components. Subscribers receive a Kinskii box with a selection of goodies: Snapshots that the users took while playing, figurines of in-game characters, stickers, story cards about the Kinskii monsters, and suggestions for physical activities, like cookie molds with recipes. (The developers mainly have the kids in mind with the physical additions.)
Parents, game designers, artists, and an education expert compose the team behind Kinskii . Many of them have experienced the weight that distance puts on their connections with children.
“I moved to Texas from Taiwan when I was little and communication was a huge problem,” cites the bio for Helen Tien, co-founder and marketing director. “I remembered always wanting to play with my grandparents, aunts and uncles and especially my dad but that just wasn’t possible. Now, I am a proud aunt to two adorable kiddos. I don’t want them to have to go through the same struggles as I did with a family that was thousands of miles apart.”
Kinskii is currently campaigning for support on Kickstarter. One of the major needs is bigger bandwith to support the service, with higher tiered pledges including gifts like t-shirts and figures. The product’s websitealso includes more information.
Does Kinskii look like something you would use to connect with a younger, long-distance family member? Let us know in the comments below!
PSA: Far Cry 3 servers currently down
While Ubisoft have dropped their previous always-online DRM requirement, the Uplay launcher will still default to booting the game in online mode.
Oh dear. Rock, Paper, Shotgunreport that Far Cry 3's servers are currently down. We've had a quick look ourselves and yes, it looks like Uplay's throwing a tantrum.
While Ubisoft have dropped their previous always-online DRM requirement, the Uplay launcher will still default to booting the game in online mode. If you launch without a connection, there's no in-game prompt to switch over to offline mode, causing menus to load blank and your character to become stuck to his current spot.
The trick is to tell the Uplay launcher to go offline before you start the game, at which point it will load with all the features you'd expect. Like movement.
To reiterate: oh dear. Uplay hasn't exactly enamoured itself to PC gamers, for years acting as the poster child for a needlessly punishing DRM system that would pause your game whenever your connection dropped. While Far Cry 3 is still playable, the fact that there's no easy way to swap between the modes in-game means that for many, their first experience will be, once again, Uplay acting as a restrictive obstacle between them and the game they bought.
Ubi are aware of the problem, and have tweeted to say: "We're very sorry for the server issues affecting Far Cry 3 on PC and are working as fast as possible to restore the service."
Tom Francis rather enjoyed his time turning wild game into fetching backpacks in our Far Cry 3 review. Admittedly that was back before the servers were being hammered by players excitedly loading their launch day purchase.
Sumoboy is a Lot More Than Just an Anti-bullying Game
When Christopher Laurent sent me a tweet to tell me about his upcoming Kickstarter for Sumoboy , I thought, “why me?” I’m no big-name games journalist.
, I thought, “why me?” I’m no big-name games journalist. But, when I clicked into the link and began to read about his project, I realized it didn’t matter why, because Sumoboy is a game that everyone should play no matter their size.
Sumoboy is touted as an “anti-bullying” game—one of the first of its kind—and the story follows Oji, a young, overweight boy who is (unfortunately) inevitably bullied by a group of older kids. Oji recedes into a parallel fantasy world that’s been overrun by the menacing shape-shifter, Kurai Kami, a villain whose name translates from the Japanese to ‘darkness’ and ‘ignorance.’ Sumoboy’ s fantasy world, Seishin, is so fleshed out by thoughtful design (thoroughly built around a Japanese aesthetic) that it blurs the line between fantasy and reality, as it must for poor Oji himself. With Sumoboy, development studio TAPRR hopes to shape an epic allegory on the impact of bullying without it feeling heavy handed—the game is not a public service announcement, it’s a full-fledged adventure nearing the scope of games like Bastion and Child of Light .
Early in the game, the Princess of the Elements is captured by Kami and forced to abandon her young son—Leaving Oji orphaned. After inheriting his mother’s blade, Hitoshii, the key to unlocking the elements, Oji decides to take a stand against Kami, not only to rescue his mother, but to save the world. Along the way, Oji learns more about his lost father, a legendary sumo wrestler known as the Man Mountain, and makes the acquaintance of a mysterious female ally. Throughout the battle to liberate the Seishin realm, there will be gregarious sumo combat; there will also be riddles, puzzles, and sidequests; and your heartstrings will be pulled like a shamisen.
Hitoshii is almost a character all to itself.
Hitoshii is not only an integral story piece, but also a compelling gameplay mechanic that helps distinguish and stylize Sumoboy’ s combat. First, clearing an elemental realm of Kami’s control will allow Oji’s sumo moves to become upgraded with said element. Unlocking the fire element, for example, will allow Oji to sheath himself in a cloak of flames. Second, the sword itself has a combat system. There are two ‘modes’ to the Hitoshii: One allows for attacks with agility and accuracy—a representation of the powers of love and compassion, while the other makes Oji burly with the power of aggression. Both ‘modes’ can then be switched instantaneously to form combos that feel both intricate and organic. Even the game’s mechanics explore the thematic polarity of emotions.
Early in development, TAPRR got in touch with Shane Koyczan, a well-known Canadian poet popular for his piece on bullying titled “ To This Day.” Koyczan followed up by writing and performing the tanka poemheard in the Sumoboy trailer, and, pending a successful Kickstarter, Koyczan will supply some further narration to the game. But the game won’t be relying entirely on Koyczan’s voice.
“[In Final Fantasy VII ] there is a scene,” TAPRR says, “regarded almost universally as the most touching scene in any video game ever… There is no dialogue, just a haunting melody. We took those kinds of scenes to heart with the power of simple things like body language and music.”
The game isn’t just about the bullied, however, but sometimes just the opposite. TAPRR describes a scene that resembles a parable, in which a giant catfish spirit is terrorizing a town, so the townsfolk want Oji to kill it. As the level progresses, it’s learned that Kami’s henchman have overrun the catfish’s home and chased it away. With so much depth to its allegory, it’s almost misleading to just call Sumoboy an “anti-bullying game.”
Crowded inside with great doubt—doubt is the villain.
In October last year, TAPRR launched and failed an Indiegogo for Sumoboy, and more recently were affected by their Australian government’s decision to cut funding to the video game sector.
“It [the cut] didn’t affect us financially, but emotionally it did, because we have been working our butts off trying to get love from the Australian gaming community and industry… not just to promote our game, but to promote gaming in Australia.”
At the time of the Indiegogo, the game was barely beyond concept. In the nearly-eight months since then however, TAPRR have been working tirelessly to reinvent their game, as well as their development team, in order to truly prepare to stare down the barrel of crowdfunding, again.
But TAPRR is on a mission, and no failed crowdfunding or budget cuts will get in their way.
“The entire team has sacrificed so much to get this far, and we won’t stop until we get our game into peoples’ hands.”
For more info on Sumoboy, including gameplay and development info, check out our interview with the developers here.
Revolution 60 Heading to PC Soon
Giant Spacekat brought its Game-of-the-Year winning game, Revolution 60 , to Steam Greenlight a few days ago, smashing their way through enough votes to get Greenlit in only a few days.
, to Steam Greenlight a few days ago, smashing their way through enough votes to get Greenlit in only a few days. Now well on its way to a March 2015 release date, players who don’t have an iOS device will soon be able to set out on their own secret missions as the tough ladies of Chessboard, immersing themselves in assassination missions and a unique retro sci-fi aesthetic.
Revolution 60 ‘s gameplay and interface were all specifically designed with touch in mind for the game’s original release on iOS, and while that can work with a mouse, the developers at Giant Spacekat have made some changes to make the experience more intuitive on PC. The game has, oddly enough, taken inspiration from The Typing of the Dead for its port, asking the player to type out key words to enact specific commands in the game. Should a character find themselves betrayed or have to spinkick someone’s face off, your typing skills will be put to the test. The developers have also improved textures and lighting, making the strange 60’s/sci-fi mixture look even better than the original version of the game did.
Telling a complex story interwoven with quick-time events and a unique combat style (you can find out more on the iOS version’s combat in our PAX East impressionfrom last April), Giant Spacekat is promising a narrative-heavy, branching plot filled with spies and betrayal for PC players this March.
Revolution 60 is currently available on the App Storefor $6.99. For more information on Revolution 60 and Giant Spacekat, you can head to their websiteor follow them on Facebookand Twitter.
Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3 not available on UK Steam store
It's happening again.
PCGamesNreport that Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3 are not available on the Steam store in the UK, mirroring the fate of a number of EA gamesin the last year or so.
“We've been in discussions with Valve about Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3, but for the time being the games are not available via Steam in the UK,” Ubisoft told PCGN. “In the meantime, UK customers wishing to purchase either of these games can do so by visiting the Uplay store, our retail partners or other digital distributors. Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 3 are available on Steam in other regions outside the UK.”
EA have previously explained that a desire to retain full control of the patching and updating process motivated their split with Steam. "We take direct responsibility for providing patches, updates, additional content and other services to our players. You are connecting to our servers, and we want to establish on ongoing relationship with you" wrote Origin head, David DeMartini on the Origin blogback in July 2011.
Ubisoft have rebooted their Uplay servicerecently, and its verification procedures and achievements are built into FC3 and AC3. It's odd that they'd disappear from the UK store and remain available in the US. Hopefully they'll re-appear, as Brinkeventually did.
Imagine Publishing enters eBook market with world first
Imagine Publishing enters eBook market with world first Spurred by the intense popularity of its digital magazine editions, Imagine Publishing has joined at the forefront of the surging eBook market with a title to amaze, inform and delight its readers. The How It Works Book of Amazing Answers to Curious Questions delivers a titanic treasure trove of knowledge across a broad range of subjects, including
Video: Using plot devices to create gameplay
"I wanted the simulation of the game to be predictable so players can feel they are in control of the story." In this free GDC Vault video from GDC Next 2013, Today I Die and I Wish I Were the Moon developer Daniel Benmergui demos his upcoming game extensively to illustrate its instantaneous and simple story-building mechanics, in the talk "Using Plot Devices to Create Gameplay in Storyteller
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.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech
Ubisoft looking to join digital distribution battle with third-party game sales on Uplay
In an interview with MCV , Ubisoft's Stephanie Perotti discusses the potential to sell more than just Ubisoft games on the newly relaunched Uplay store.
, Ubisoft's Stephanie Perotti discusses the potential to sell more than just Ubisoft games on the newly relaunched Uplay store. The new store includes social features, the ability to purchase DLC content by completing Achievements, and everything else you'd expect - and unlike most of Ubisoft's recent work, it doesn't take a month to get to the PC shelves.
But would you want to make it your shop of choice?
At the moment, there's not much to separate it from Steam - some prices are lower, but browsing around, most seem to be about the same. Uplay is integrated into the games themselves. The most notable part is that while Steam and Origin are both primarily desktop based, Ubisoft is going for a wider service - 'rewards' and 'actions' combining across games and devices.
This actually has some interesting potential, especially for third parties. Open up the the Driver San Francisco page for instance and you can see things you can do to earn Uplay points, and things to spend them on wherever you are. On the PC, you might earn 10 points for starting Assassin's Creed 2, which can then be spent to buy a new car in the Xbox 360 version of Driver: San Francisco or add them to points elsewhere for a bonus mission in Anno 2070. That's fine when it's Ubisoft's games, but imagine opening it up. Finish a demo to get enough points to unlock something in a game you're already playing? The only thing stopping that being a definition of win/win is that there's three sides involved.
That said, Ubisoft doesn't exactly have the greatest reputation on the PC right now, even after dropping its controversial (to be clear, this is the polite way of saying 'hideous, abhorrent, worthless and crap') always-on DRM, and it's not as though the other heavy hitters aren't invested in their own stores. No doubt they'd be willing to let Ubisoft sell their non-premium games, much as they do with Steam. Wrapping those games up into services that would integrate Ubisoft into the experience and make Uplay something other than another basically identical window to buy games from... that's a trickier sell.
We'll find out more about Ubisoft's plans soon enough, which will hopefully be a bit more than 'really, really hope people want to buy Watch Dogs from us', but there's no arguing they don't have an uphill struggle ahead if they want to make this work out and get their customers on board. Which, presumably, they do. The alternative would be pretty odd, all things considered.
Guardians of Middle-Earth review
Guardians of Middle-Earth review Despite the rather grandiose license, Guardians Of Middle Earth isn’t remotely ashamed of what it’s actually trying to be. This is a by-the-numbers, generic-by-definition MOBA, designed purely to give console gamers the kind of experience that has until now been the realm of the PC. This is League Of Legends or DOTA 2 for console. The license simply exists to lend the
Quibbles: gotta trap ’em all!
Quibbles by ootii games is a simplistic Android puzzler geared towards the more casual gamer.
games is a simplistic Android puzzler geared towards the more casual gamer. The game revolves around eccentric Professor Rocker-Schmocker and his quest to capture his mischievous monsters called Quibbles before they run off forever. Aside from extremely cutesy names, the game features some friendly cartoonish visuals and some simple gameplay. So we can sort of tell that the game wears it’s ‘kid friendly’ branding on its sleeve but it promises fun for adults and kids alike.
The game will have you distracting the titular Quibbles whilst the Professor sets up a trap in order to bag ‘em and tag ‘em. The gameplay revolves around utilising the Quibbles’ short attention span by building mazes, tempting them with candy or using tools to keep the Quibbles busy until the trap is set. After each level the game rates your performance out of three stars, a scoring system similar to other casual games like Cut the Rope or Angry Birds . The game features over 50 brain teasing levels to get your head around with six unique zones, and also includes power ups which you can collect on your journey.
Overall, Quibbles looks to be a decent little pick-up-and-play puzzler for all ages. Also, with the promise of free updates, there could be the possibility for more levels in the future. Quibbles is available on the Google Play store here.
Ubisoft challenge Steam and Origin with Uplay, From Dust and Driver: San Francisco are £1
Ubisoft have launched a new online store called Uplay , bringing another contender into the increasingly crowded digital distribution race.
, bringing another contender into the increasingly crowded digital distribution race. The downloadable client can be used to buy and launch Ubisoft games, and has a range of community features like Xbox Live style avatars and achievements designed to "strengthen your gaming relationship with your friends." There are better rewards than points on offer on the store front right now. Daily deals are offering a small selection of titles for £1 each.
Ubisoft are hosting From Dust, Silent Hunter 5, HAWX 2 and Driver San Francisco for a pound, and are running discounts of up to 75% on Anno 2070, the Assassin's Creed series, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands, Might and Magic Heroes VI and more. The £1 deals are set to change daily, so it might be worth checking back tomorrow if you don't fancy today's collection, though £1 for From Dust strikes me as a worthwhile punt.
The new-look Uplay replaces Ubisoft's old system (also called Uplay) which gave each game its own separate launcher. There was some controversy recently when a security risk was discovered in the Uplay browser pluginthat offered hackers a backdoor entrance to users' PCs. Hopefully the new Uplay client is a bit more secure. EA have leveraged their huge catalogue to drive buyers to Origin. Does Ubisoft have the lineup to achieve similar success?
It already feels like there are too many separate clients cluttering up my desktop, though those £1 deals sure are tempting. Will you be downloading Uplay?
Indie Intermission – ‘Hamal’ A Frustratingly Fun Game About Miscommunication
To round off the week I bring you tidings of an interesting puzzler that follows very much along the lines of the classic game Simon .
Hamal has been created for The Escapist Indie Speed Run by Pixels In Trouble and proves to be a rather frustrating puzzle game.
In Hamal you have been trapped with a deranged arcade machine who wants to play with you. In Hamal you are presented with an array of ever more complex patterns from the machine, that forces you to decypher them.
It’s quite an interesting game that is fun in equal parts to it being frustrating and is one reason Hamal is for more hardened puzzle fans. The overall premise and aesthetic of the game are great and do really add this feeling of you trying to communicate with a machine from a whole other era.
After several frustrating attempts you will start to see patterns emerging and overtime should figure out the solutions to Hamal , even if this is quite the frustrating process.
Average play time – 10 minutes
Hamal is a fun and different puzzler that will have you thinking long and hard about which button you should next press. Hamal can be played on the Indie Speed Run siteand is well worth it.
If you are a developer with A fun indie game that can be played over a coffee break, we want to hear from you! Private message us on twitter @IndieGameMag or shoot us an email at editors@indiegamemag.com with the subject “Indie Intermission” and you could be our indie intermission pick of the day!
IGM Radio – January 15th, 2013
This week’s show features an interview with Eron Rauch, a professional photographer who has spent a lot of time comparing the landscapes of World of Warcraft to the photos of the old American West.
to the photos of the old American West. Rauch explains how exploring a videogame world is a lot like walking around on a Rodin sculpture–or a guided tour of Disneyland. We also hear from composer AJ Lornie about how he combines shredding electric guitar with sounds from old appliances to create the soundtrack to Earth Alliance . Producer Dan Cox talks with Ben Rivers, developer of the pixel-horror-adventure game Home about GameMaker and the creative boom in indie games.
You can find Eron Rauch’s work here.
For more on Home , see this site.
AJ Lorniecan wail on guitar for your game too!
Road to the IGF: Speelbaars' Lumini
Speelbaars' Lumini is a relaxing and meditative experience that casts players as a swarm of alien creatures that must be navigated through a hostile environment, in a manner somewhat reminiscent of Flower .
This interview is part of our Road to the IGF series. You can find the rest by clicking here.
The rich audio design plays a key role in making the alien game world memorable. In addition to the dynamic musical score, the swarm and the obstacles and enemies that players encounter all emit noises that track with the emotions players are experiencing, which deepens the immersion immeasurably. The game has been nominated for an IGF award in the Excellence in Audio category.
Two members of the Lumini development team at Speelbaars, lead designer Steven Honders and audio designer Gijs Driesenaar, shared the backstory on the making of the game with Gamasutra.
What's your background in making games?
Steven: We started out as students at HKU, doing some projects together before starting Speelbaars and developing Lumini. Some of us chose to attend the HKU with the idea of finding like-minded people that we could start a company with and develop our own games.
Before the HKU, not many of us have a real history within the games industry. Just a hobby and passion for developing games. But in the end that's all you really need to start making games. Lumini was our first big project that was developed with the aim to actually release it.
Gijs: I studied composition and sound design for adaptive systems. During that study, I started collaborating with Speelbaars. Before I worked on games, I made linear music for other media. But since I got in touch with interactive music and games I was sure that that is where my passion lies. What I like about games is the interactive part, and creating a dimension for a world that comes alive when you play it.
What development tools did you use to build Lumini ?
Gijs: I composed the music and designed the sounds in Logic Pro. I used FMOD Studio to implement the sound and music in the game. This way I was able to create the desired interactivity and have full control of the final mix and how the sounds work in game. Thanks to FMOD, I was able to handle a lot of tasks that a programmer would normally have to do. In FMOD I created systems that only had to be linked to a game parameter or triggers to work. I had a lot of flexibility and I could easily go my way without the constant need of a programmer. Together with Niels, we implemented the FMOD events in Unity.
How much time have you spent working on the game?
Steven: We started in September 2013. In the 3 months following, we made a first demo of Lumini with the aim to release it and see if people actually enjoyed the game. The demo release was successful enough for us to plan ahead towards a full version of the game. However, we still had to do a mandatory internship in the meantime. So after the demo release, development didn't really progress until the summer of 2014. From July 2014 until 3 September 2015 (when Lumini released) we worked full time on the game with a team of 9 people. HKU provided us with the freedom and space to run our project as an independent development studio.
So we spent 2 years from start till finish, but less on actually developing the game.
How did you come up with the concept?
Steven: As mentioned earlier. HKU provided us with a chance to pitch a game concept, and if it was deemed good enough, the time and space to develop the concept into a full game. We did however, get little time to come up with a concept. We were notified on a Friday that the pitch was a possibility, and had to present the concept on the Thursday following the announcement. So we had less than a week to gather a team which covered all the production roles and come up with a concept good enough to pitch.
We needed two evenings filled with pizza, bad jokes and lots of brainstorming to come up with an idea. It started with a game developed by Yhorik Aarsen, that made it fun and easier to quickly come up with lots of different and weird game concepts, without limiting yourself beforehand. It plays a bit like Wordfeud , but with game mechanics, art styles and themes.
Anyway, after playing the game for a bit, we were left with a concept based on a entire group of bunnies trying to frantically escape a death labyrinth. That idea obviously didn't make it, but the idea of controlling an entire group of creatures instead of just one character stuck. After bouncing back and forth with a couple of ideas we went with a swarm of flying creatures.
The mechanics all came from the question, "What could a player do with a swarm of characters that they couldn't with a single character?"
In earlier projects, Niels and Steven already worked together with Gijs as an audio designer. Being big fans of great audio in games, making Gijs part of the team and process from the start was very important. The whole relaxing vibe and experience that Lumini gives the player was organically formed by combining the strengths of the team with the vision that the experience in a game is the most important part of making something memorable. That's something we wanted to do, make it memorable.
Is the game's soundtrack fully dynamic as relates to the action on-screen? How did you approach and accomplish making it dynamic?
Gijs: Yes, the soundtrack is fully dynamic. I wanted the music to really follow the Lumini creatures on their journey. So the music is different in each environment, it changes when the Lumini are in danger, it tells stories at interesting areas and it triggers emotions during all events that happen. Since there are no loading times or cutscenes in the game, the music had to be one flow from the beginning to the end. My aim for the music was to avoid fading out 'Track A' and fading in 'Track B'. I wanted to create a seamless interactive soundtrack that has a film soundtrack feel.
To accomplish this, I first wrote linear music for each environment, that fits the environment itself and all the interesting areas and events. Then I chopped up the whole composition, added layers and added combat music that matched the music from that environment. The combat music is different in each environment as well. I created a lot of different transitions using different techniques, to make sure the music feels and sounds like one piece of music.
Technically, this was a big challenge. I used different techniques and created complex systems in FMOD Studio. The music is build up with over 300 sound files. Including short pieces, layers and transitions.
Creating music for a game that considers itself an "experience" is quite different to creating background music that just plays along behind the action. Can you talk about this creative challenge?
Gijs: In my opinion, music and sound has a huge impact on the experience of a game. When you watch a movie without sound, you miss a lot and nothing really moves you. So for Lumini, the music has a very important role. Since there is no storytelling through words and there are no cutscenes, the music had to tell the story and carry all the emotions.
Immersion is another important part of an "experience" game. I’ve put a lot of detail and interaction in the sound. For example: the Lumini creatures interact with events or enemy behaviors by making noises, crying, laughing or singing. Or when you shoot the sonic attack, all the birds and small animals from your surroundings go silent, so you really feel the impact. Those details, combined with rich ambiences, add a lot of life and immersion to the game.
Many times audio team members aren't integrated as directly into production and thus audio becomes 'separate.' How did you handle this aspect of developing Lumini , knowing audio was critical to the experience?
Steven: Gijs was part of the team from the beginning. He was part of making the concept and part of the decision making regarding the creative routes we wanted to take with Lumini . He was not 'just the audio guy'. Because it's not 'just audio' that should be part of a game. Audio is a big part of how players experience certain events and how they interpret the situations that they're confronted with.
By giving Gijs a vote in not just audio, he had a chance to mold certain events in the game to accommodate the audio better. Making it a complete package. Try playing the game without audio, it would just not be the same.
Have you played any of the other IGF finalists? Any games you've particularly enjoyed?
Steven: I haven't had much time to play a lot of games lately. I've played The Beginner's Guide, w hich was an interesting experience. And heard a lot about That Dragon, Cancer, that sounded like something I still need to play.
Don't forget check out the rest of our Road to the IGF series right here.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective’ Has Been Ported Once Again – This Time Onto iOS
‘Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective’ Has Been Ported Once Again – This Time Onto iOS
Some of us may remember the full motion video game Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective , which was based on a book-based board game of the same name and later became a computer game that was ported to DOS, CD Rom and Sega CD.
CD. If you are too young to remember that, you might just recall it being rereleased as a dvd game in 1999. If you don’t remember that either, fear not because Zojoi Inc . has brought it back once again: and this time it’s on iOS.
The video has been updated and the controls altered for touch screen, however, judging by the stills, the developers have retained much of the game’s original feel:
The original Sherlock Holmes had 3 interactive mysteries to be solved, as did its two sequels. Currently Zojoi has only released the three mysteries from the first game: The Case of the Mummy’s Curse , The Case of the Tin Soldier and The Case of the Mystified Murders . However, ports of the remaining 6 will be released over months to come. Each of these can be purchased for $2.99 in the Appstore ( here, hereand here) and are available on the iPad 2 and 3. You can check out Zojoi Inc on their webpage, as well as on Facebookand Twitter.
Download Burnout Paradise for free on Origin
You'll need to install and open the Origin client, do a search for Burnout Paradise, add it to your basket, check out and then enter the word "PARADISE" (in caps) as the Promo Code.
Those clever folks over at HotUkDealshave figured out how to get open world racer Burnout Paradise for nowt via EA's Origin service - in the UK, at least.
You'll need to install and open the Origin client, do a search for Burnout Paradise, add it to your basket, check out and then enter the word "PARADISE" (in caps) as the Promo Code. Et voila, free Burnout. It's worth noting that if you choose to pay by PayPal you won't have to enter any credit card details during the checkout process. We have no idea how long the offer will last, so get it while it's hot!
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Our Verdict
Hardly the drive of your life, but easily one of the most memorable and a great one-time gimmick done well.
Deep in a coma dream, Tanner floors his imaginary gas pedal and begins the chase. The suspect in the red SUV desperately weaves in and out of traffic, but if he's hoping the risk of civilian casualties will keep him safe, he's in the wrong car chase.
Tanner may not yet realise he's lying in a hospital bed, but that doesn't stop reality being his subconscious's bitch. As the suspect hits the freeway, Tanner becomes a floating, ethereal spirit, possesses a truck driver coming the other way, and turns his truck into a high-speed battering ram.
And later, things get a bit odd.
Driver: San Francisco is one of the weirdest driving games ever, in the best possible way. It's Life on Mars turned into a wheelman's wet dream. Tanner's ability to shift between cars at will takes what was previously a straightlaced series and makes it constantly fun, funny and chaotic. In the main story missions, it's treated as a superpower that only Tanner and his partner are initially aware of. In side-missions, it's cheerfully abused to hand out such objectives as coming first and second in the same race, helping a femme-fatale evade the cops and turning dangerous driving into a televised artform.
Tanner's enthusiasm for all of these is infectious, and the fact that he's temporarily possessing drivers instead of simply their cars makes for great in-game chatter from other terrified passengers. For instance, to convince his partner, Tanner torments a boy-racer by leaping into him and forcing him to smash into cops and leap off moving car transporters. Another couple of missions are about scaring people to the point of heart-attack through high-speed insanity. If all this wasn't openly presented as a dream, Tanner would be the biggest dick this side of Saints Row 2. Instead, you can enjoy the ride, guilt-free.
It can be a bumpy one though, especially on PC. This isn't a great port, starting with the fact that it quite obviously is one. Graphically, it's unimpressive, and with no real options beyond switching antialiasing on or off. The biggest annoyance, however, is that the controls are designed for a controller with analogue sticks, and trying to play with keyboard and mouse is a recipe for insanity. You're also stuck with Ubisoft's DRM, which demands an online check when you fire the game up, though at least it lets you play offline after that.
Even with a controller, the actual driving is usually mediocre, with poor handling in most vehicles, and very rubber-banded races. Rarely do you come across a particularly difficult mission. This keeps the story humming along, but makes the occasional spikes all the more noticeable when they do show up.
Without its shifting element, Driver: San Francisco would be enjoyable enough mediocrity, but nothing special next to other driving games. With shifting, it's one of the most enjoyable racing games in a very long time. Gimmicky or not, there's a gleeful purity to Driver's action, from its lack of gun battles and on-foot action, to the way it soon convinces you that magically weaponising oncoming traffic can be as natural as a handbrake turn. That especially is a hell of a trick.
The Verdict
Driver: San Francisco
Hardly the drive of your life, but easily one of the most memorable and a great one-time gimmick done well.
We recommend By Zergnet
Indie Links Round-Up: Block Party
“The game is called Papers, Please and it follows the daily grind of an immigration inspector working in a fictional communist country in the early 1980s.
Indie Linkshas several pleasant surprises today, including 7 Grand Steps and Energy Hook.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Papers, Please(Joystiq)
“The game is called Papers, Please and it follows the daily grind of an immigration inspector working in a fictional communist country in the early 1980s. The gameplay is based around detecting discrepancies in the documents provided by entrants. Using the limited resources provided by the Ministry of Admission, you have to sort spies, terrorists, smugglers and criminals from the flow of hopeful immigrants.”
Untitled(Kotaku)
“Luke Schneider of RadianGames makes great mobile games but they haven’t been available on Android. Until now. Schneider’s bringing his excellent Tetris-alike Slydristo Google Play, with other games like the very good Bombcats and Inferno+ to follow. He’ll be bringing some of the RadianGames catalog to Ouya, too.”
Preview: Energy Hook by swing-master Jamie Fristrom(IndieGames.com)
“Energy Hook, by Jamie Fristrom of Happion Laboratories, who worked on such AAA games as Die By The Sword, Spider-Man 2, and Schizoid, loves to swing. From ropes, that is. Each of these games featured a swinging player movement mechanic, and the one in Spider-Man 2 is generally considered the best of any game in the series.”
Gunpoint(Indie Gamer Chick)
“Gunpoint is a game that I’ve had a keen eye on for a few years now. Longtime PC Gamer scribe Tom Francis and his small team of five others, have been hard at work on this labor of video gaming love for three years. The videos and screenshots that have trickled out to the internet over those long years were tantalizing to say the least. The game footage itself reminded me of a mishmash of two old-school games that I was rather fond of: Epyx’s Impossible Mission and Mindscape’s Deja-Vu and, most of all, that footage left me in a frenzied state, as if I was a tubby knuckle-dragger with an empty sack of Cheetos…the scant footage left me wanting more, more, MORE!”
The Swapper(TIGSource)
“I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan of puzzle platformers (or even puzzle games, to be honest), but when they’re good, they’re good. With The Swapper, Finnish studio Facepalm Games has not only uncovered a fun new mechanic but also crafted an extremely intriguing science fiction tale around it. Though the central themes may not be completely original to sci-fi, the way they come into focus as you solve puzzles and explore the beautiful claymation world is deftly executed. This is a great example of how to tell a story with a challenging game.”
Acttil will help indie devs break into new markets, focus on Japanese localization(Polygon)
“Last month a group of former employees from Nippon Ichi Software’s North American branch founded publishing company Acttil, which will focus on guiding indie studios through the publication process and help foreign developers break into the U.S. market.”
Review: 7 Grand Steps(Indie Game Reviewer)
“Despite the simple mechanics, the game features a staggering amount of depth. Strategy (and the odd dose of good luck) will determine if your lineage fades into obscurity, or becomes instrumental in shaping an emerging culture. This less-than-apparent complexity is endearing and greatly compelling.”
Reprisal Universe Review: Just One More Game(Indie Game Insider)
“Reprisal Universe is a real-time strategy game from creator John Kaplan of Electrolyte Studios. Reprisal Universe puts you in the position of a god that has to help a tribe ‘”reprise” the land that was taken from them. You do this by helping these people expand their settlement, increase their population, and enter a surprisingly intense battle.”
Square Enix's Rad Racer could be the 3DS's next 3D Classic
Square Enix's Rad Racer could be the 3DS's next 3D Classic games™ recently interviewed Square Enix veteran Takashi Tokita on the making of Final Fantasy IV for a feature that will appear in a future issue of the magazine. But the groundbreaking Super Nintendo RPG wasn’t the only topic of discussion that day. Part of the conversation trailed into lots of other games that Tokita worked on in the early
Opinion: Ubisoft, piracy, and the death of reason
Last week, Eurogamer examined PC piracy in an attempt to discover how much it actually harms companies, and the effects of different approaches to DRM.
examined PC piracy in an attempt to discover how much it actually harms companies, and the effects of different approaches to DRM. Unfortunately, as the PC Gaming Alliance's Christian Svennson admitted up-front, you can't really quantify the problem or the efficacy of its remedies "because you end up having to do a set of cascading assumptions that you have no real ability to validate in any meaningful away."
However, Ubisoft provides a test-case. We are almost two years into its aggressive attack on PC piracy. Recently, Ubisoft called its "always-on" DRM a success, claiming "a clear reduction in piracy.”
In terms of actual sales, however, the results seem decidedly mixed. Michael Pachter told Eurogamer that Ubisoft's "PC game sales are down 90% without a corresponding lift in console sales."
Pachter framed the problem in terms of piracy, as I'm sure Ubisoft frames the problem, but a 90% decline in PC sales is a catastrophic number. If piracy were the problem, then their "successful" DRM policy should have prevented such a free-fall.
Instead, PC gamers have stopped buying Ubisoft games. In fact, the decline of sales even calls into question the decline in piracy rates. All we know for sure is that Ubisoft have stopped people from playing their games. Full stop.
Ubisoft is committed to blaming piracy. It's become an emotional issue. Here's what the developer of Ubisoft's Driver: San Francisco saidbefore the game came out: "It's difficult to get away from the fact that as a developer, as somebody who puts their blood, sweat and tears into this thing... And from the publisher's point of view, which invests tens and tens and tens of millions into a product - by the time you've got marketing, a hundred million - that piracy on the PC is utterly unbelievable."
I understand the outrage. It's frustrating to see people enjoying your work without compensating you for it. But outrage can't drive policy. The important question is, "Why aren't more people buying my product?"
For answers, let's look at Rock, Paper, Shotgun's enthusiastic reviewof Driver: San Francisco. Alec Meer liked the game quite a bit: "It's Quantum Leap meets Deadman, with more than a touch of Life On Mars, but... what's important is that the game declares it is essentially one man's fantasy up front, which means whatever it decides to do is absolutely inarguable. Moreover, that one man believes he is the greatest wheelman in history, so the fantasy panders to that and builds its rules around it."
Sounds great! Except before I get to that amazing pitch, I encounter the following observations:
Lousy graphics options, requiring adjusting videocard settings No support for 16:10 monitors "The net result on a high-res PC screen is a bland and outdated-looking game..." "There's no sense that love has gone into Driver 5 on PC, just a game that's been uncaringly dragged over..."The review goes on to give me a dozen reasons why I should buy it, but it's also given me a half-dozen reasons not to . It ends with a reminder that the DRM has an unreliable offline mode, and I need a connection to launch it. Not a major problem for me, but it raises the likelihood of annoyance down the road.
I'll buy Driver: San Francisco. But not now. I'll wait until it's heavily discounted next year. My gaming budget isn't so generous that I can afford to pay full-fare for bad ports, and bad ports, delayed releases, and harassing DRM are what define Ubisoft's approach to the PC.
Pachter told Eurogamer, ""[There's] no public data to suggest that DRM works, but the fact that more companies are imposing it strongly suggests that they believe it works." Nobody can estimate how many sales are lost due to piracy. The studies that do exist show that pirates tend to be steady customers. But despite the lack of solid evidence, the problem has to be piracy. Because the alternative is to acknowledge that Ubisoft has badly damaged its PC business and completely failed to convert pirates into paying customers.
Perhaps DRM does have a place, but Ubisoft has tried harder than any other publisher to solve this problem, and business has suffered. It may well be that piracy is not what ails them, and the secret to selling PC games is to make quality PC versions of multi-platform titles. But you don't hear that from Ubisoft. What you hear is that they have the right to protect the products that they worked so hard to produce.
And they do have that right. But PC gamers work hard for their money, too, and they deserve full-featured games that let them have the best experiences possible on their chosen platform. They deserve a publisher that cares more about its customers than its resentments.