Microsoft has long since abandoned their attempts to bring Halo 3’s multiplayer experience to PC via the Russian only free to play title Halo Online. Although almost two years have passed since the game’s official closure in August of 2016, a dedicated group of community developers have kept the game going with semi-regular updates thanks to a leaked Russian build of the Halo Online client.
Here are just some of the improvements and highlights that the Eldewrito team is promising for the upcoming 0.6 release:
The original Halo experience brought to PC (for free).
Dual wielding and deployable equipment implemented (from Halo 3).
Improvements to the Forge Mode which include new material types, new tools and new items.
Advanced map control: Weather, skyboxes and lighting.
Inclusion of an auto-updater to keep everyone on the same version. (not in the trailer but confirmed on the game’s reddit.)
I’ve had a lot of fun with Halo Online in the past couple of years and have blogged about it a handful of times. Version 0.6 is a longtime coming and brings a lot of requested features that fans have been hoping for – dual wielding and workable equipment. It is even more impressive when you consider that these passionate community devs don’t have access to the game’s source code or development tools. All of these improvements and features have been fixed or implemented with only an outdated leaked build of the client.
Once the full patch notes and download are made available on April 20th I’ll be sure to make another post.
The next major update to Final Fantasy XIV Online: Stormblood will come out in late May Producer / Director Naoki Yoshida confirmed during a regularly held community live stream known as Letter From The Producer LIVE. Patch 4.3 brings a number of brand new features to the game – the conclusion of the Doma main story questline, a brand new raid, a new “deep dungeon” leveling experience and so much more!
In terms of in-game content adventurers will be able to take part in the second of the Ivalice themed 24 person raids, The Ridorana Lighthouse. Smaller parties will be able to take on a brand new secret trial (Zeno extreme as rumored by players? The next of the Four Lords series perhaps?) as well as journey through a brand new dungeon called the “Swallow’s Compass”. Crafters and Gatherers who have jobs at least level 60 can start to befriend the fish-like Namazu.
Players who have completed the Stormblood MSQ might remember a Jinga-like structure that received prominent placement in a cut-scene during the Ruby Seas ark. Well it turns out that the structure is actually called “Heaven On High” – similar to Heavensward’s “Palace of the Dead” – a self contained leveling experience where adventurers start at level 1 and rapidly progress through their profession’s abilities. After completing a set number of floors in “Heaven On High” it is expected that players will receive at least 1/4th of a level out of the tower upon completing 10 floors. Unlike Palace of the Dead, the total number of floors is only 100 floors vs the 200 of Palace of the dead. In HoH floors 30+ will be challenging content.
Here is a breakdown of all of the in-game content coming in FFXIV 4.3 – some of these descriptions are obviously just little tidbits:
New Main Scenario Quests – The story of Stormblood continues.
New Alliance Raid – The Ridorana Lighthouse.
New Trial
New Dungeon – The Swallow’s Compass.
New Beast Tribe Quests – The Namazu.
New Sidequests – The Four Lords, Doman Reconstruction and Further Hildibrand Adventures.
New Deep Dungeon – 100-Floor Heaven-on-High.
The Forbidden Land, Eureka Expansion – Pagos Expedition.
New Ultimate Difficulty Raid – Ultima Weapon.
Updates to jobs, PvP, glamour system, housing, performance actions, new more powerful gear and more.
Coming at some point later will be an official FFXIV Companion App that will enable all users to chat with friends as well as message the Free Company chat channel. Organizing inventory, purchasing and placing items for sale on the in-game market boards will also be supported. A paid for premium plan allows subscribers to double their chocobo Saddle Bag storage, sell up to 2 items per day using Kuppo Nuts (vs 1 with the free plans) and have an extra retainer. We don’t have an official price for the premium tier just yet.
Here’s a breakdown of the companion app that Square Enix provided:
ll players that download the app will be able to enjoy benefits such as the following:
Chat with friends and free company members
Organize events with the scheduler
Organize inventory and armoury chest
Peruse the Market Board
Put items up for sale and purchase items
Register an additional favored destination Aetheryte
An optional, Premium Plan is also available, which unlocks the following features for a monthly fee:
If ever the phrase “Problematic Fave” was to mean something, it would be to describe Sega’s Yakuza series. The acclaimed series of intense action, crimes, and large men being lumpy and glowering at each other is riddled with tropes that can range from irritating to uncomfortable, yet the care and thought that went into its writing can generally shine through.
Yakuza 6, due out worldwide later this month, continues this tradition by quickly fridging Haruka Sawamura to motivate the long-running protagonist Kazuma Kiryu back into the world of large angry men being large angry men at each other. Again. Next verse, same as the first.
Still, I wouldn’t have referred to it as a “Fave” if I didn’t think this sort of thing was worth it. Because it is very much Yakuza, for all the bad and especially all the good things about it. Older, slightly wrinklier, ostensibly wiser, Kiryu is still a great character to assume the role of. In this installment, you will take the Dragon of Dojima through his old stomping grounds of Kamurocho to look for his lost daughter-figure, the recently-retired idol Haruka.
He’s Also A “Kickman”! (Image Provided By SEGA)
Being a Yakuza game, this will involve less searching as much as it does punching people very hard, kicking people very hard, throwing people very hard, and hitting people with nearby objects very hard. Which, in a way, provides some insight into what makes Kiryu so compelling even though he inhabits a series that contains so many cringeworthy tropes.
Kiryu is, for all his compassion and well-spoken mannerisms, not the most capable problem solver in the world. He can only truly address situations in three ways – violence, crimes, and violent crimes. Yet he keeps encountering situations that he cannot reasonably handle in these ways. And that’s how what could easily be a “boring punchman” protagonist becomes someone you want to follow for seven games of punching mans.
Surprising no one, Kiryu finds out that Haruka’s disappearance may involve some form of treachery and deception and just maybe, crimes. Thus, he heads off to the fishing town of Onomichi, in the Hiroshima prefecture. Not to give away too many spoilers, but in Onomichi, Kiryu may have to punch some people. He may also wind up wearing a mascot costume with a bowl of ramen for a hat. And then punching people.
(Editor’s Note: If you’re going to punch people VERY hard always make sure to do it in a mascot costume!)
We’re now six months post launch for Destiny 2 and it is quite clear that the game doesn’t have the same staying power that the original possessed. With Curse of Osiris firmly in the rearview mirror and the next expansion, Warmind, on the horizon – Bungie has to make good on their previous promises of listening to player feedback if they hope to keep guardians engaged beyond the initial content offering.
Destiny 2’s “Go Fast” update is also now behind us and while player feedback on the crucible changes -specifically the 6 Vs. 6 rumble mode in crucible has been strong – Bungie will have to really deliver future updates that are also in line with what the community wants if their goal is to retain hardcore players.
In the opposite direction – if the developers chose to implement a crafting material grind for end game weapons, like in D1, then they’re going to have to easily explain to more casual players how they can still stay relevant without in terms of gear level without investing hundreds of hours. “Casual vs Hardcore” gear balance isn’t something that Destiny 2 has particularly excelled at.
Here is a point by point breakdown of everything that Bungie has promised on their latest developer roadmap:
May 6th Update (Warmind Launch)
Seasonal Crucible Rankings
Private Match Support
Vault Space Increase
Multi-Emote
Exotic Weapon Masterwork
Seasonal Vender Progression
Exotic Weapon Sandbox Changes
Heroic Strike Modifiers
Nightfall Challenge Cards
Summer Update
New Seasonal Event
Faction Rally Improvements
PC Clan Chat
Bounties
Exotic Armor Sandbox Changes
September Release
Gear Collections
Weapon Slot Changes
Weapon Randomization
Certainly Heroic Strike Modifiers, Exotic Weapon Masterworks and most importantly whatever the Weapon Slot Changes entail will bring some new reasons to log back in to Destiny 2 for even mid-core players. Honestly stuff like Seasonal Rankings and Vendor progression probably should have been in the game at launch and the same goes with Clan Chat Support on PC – these feel like obvious must haves and adding them almost a full year into the game’s lifecycle is still kind of baffling. Also of concern is how little detail we have on what could be some of the more major changes to the game. Bungie says they want to make Weapon Slots more flexible to allow Guardians to use weapon types that aren’t very popular at this moment. How that will be achieved has yet to be revealed and that is something that worries me – what if Bungie’s goals align with what their players want but the execution ends up being way off the mark?
To close this post off I’d like to post a small list compiled by the folks over at r/DestinyTheGame of features that have appeared on previous Bungie development roadmaps but do not appear on this current one.
They include:
Improvements to Lost Sectors
Scoring for Strike missions
Improvements to the Shader System (last seen in the January update roadmap)
Any possible changes to the Sandbox experience before the September update. Sandboxes have seen little in the way of updates compared with the PVP experience.
Will Bungie be able to turn Destiny 2 around from the Cash Shop focused micro-transaction festival that the game was a launch? Will all of these Quality of Life improvements like the introduction of Heroic modifiers and Master Worked Exotics be enough to satisfy the hardcore who want to see complete random perks come from Destiny 1? Will all of these QOL improvements lead to a better experience for casual players like myself?
Time will tell… Destiny 2: Warmind launches on May 8th.
Andrew Groen’s Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of EVE Online – a compendium that chronicles the ever changing alliances, wars and political intrigue as told by the players involved throughout the game’s 15 year history – will be receiving a second volume in May 2019.
Empires of EVE: Volume II is a non-fiction book that covers the player run corporations and alliances that govern the volatile Null Sec region of New Eden. By interviewing the people behind the in-game capulseers, Groen is able to paint a complete as possible picture of the major battles, betrayals and shifting ownership of Null Sec region that the game has become known for. Volume I covered the events up until the end of 2008, with the alliance Band of Brothers finally collapsing. Volume II picks up at the end of Volume I and covers the events from 2009 through 2016.
Volume II is intended to be a standalone edition, meaning readers won’t have to read the first volume to understand the nuance and gravity of the events depicted. It will include a “full and concise crash course” of EVE Online’s gameplay mechanics and broad history so that non-players can dive in and enjoy the modern era of EVE Online intrigue.
Empires of Eve Volume II comes in a few different tiers as available on the KickStarter page:
$10 USD provides a digital e-book copy (PDF, e-pub etc)
$25 USD provides a soft cover physical copy and digital e-book.
$50 USD provides a hardcover physical copy and digital e-book.
$80 UD provides hardcover copies of both Volume I and Volume II as well as e-book versions of both.
Having personally read through Volume I with my wife, I can attest that Empires of EVE is a fascinating and captivating look into one of the most complex and intricate long running MMORPGs. Full Disclosure: I immediately backed the $50 USD tier on KickStarter because there was no way I was going to pass up the chance at a hardcover copy of Volume II.
Bethesda and Sabre Interactive has released a brief tease about future content coming to Quake Champions. Future patches will that bring forward a classic Quake enemy – the baddies of Quake II, The Strogg – as a playable champion. Also introduced in this latest patch is a brand new map called Awoken – this ruinous labyrinth is sure to be home to many bloodbaths when it is finally released.
Here is the official description of the upcoming champion the Strogg and its drone companion, Peeker:
Half metal, half decaying flesh, and 100% ready to rage, the primary enemy of Quake II and Quake 4 is back as Strogg fights to be freed from the Dreamlands and reestablish contact with his ruthless warlord, Makron.
Players will also be able to take control and fight as Strogg’s drone sidekick, Peeker, who can fly around the battlefield, shoot at enemies and deal damage with its explosive self-destruct attack. Enemy kills are turned into a nutritional paste called Stroyent that provides 25HP, but players need to act fast – other Strogg players can steal your Stroyent!
New Weapon: The Plasma Cannon
Quake III’s face melting Plasma Cannon will finally find its way into Quake Champions in a future update. For many Q3A Veterans the lack of a proper Plasma Canon has made the available arsenal feel a bit bare.
Here’s the official description:
A blast from the past, the Plasma Gun from Quake III Arena finds its new home in Quake Champions! This high-powered cannon melts unwitting foes with bursts of pure energy and is sure to shake things up when it joins the Quake Champions arsenal later this month!
Last month’s March Update also brought a number of new modes and enhancements to Quake Champions, which unfortunately I did not have time to write about at the time of release. That patch saw the implementation of the much requested insta-gib mode where players are killed in a single hit as well as a brand new 2 Vs. 2 Ranked Mode.
Here’s the official description from those two features from last month’s patch:
NEW GAMEPLAY – Everyone, meet Instagib – The fast-moving, gib-tastic classic will finally make its way to Quake Champions, introducing a fun, fast and casual game where every shot is a one-hit kill. Players will start each match with the only weapons available – the Rail Gun and the Gauntlet – and there will not be weapon, health, armor, or power-up pickups. Champions will still be able to use active and passive abilities, and cool-down hourglasses will spawn on the map.
NEW RANKS – Introducing 2v2 TDM Ranked Mode – In addition to the head-to-head intensity of Duel mode, players will be able to grab a buddy and face off against teams from around the world in deadly 2v2 showdowns. Finding the right Champion and ability combinations will make the difference in the fight for the top spot on the leaderboard.
With less than two months until the retail release of Dark Souls: Remastered a whole pile of off-screen footage has found its way onto YouTube and other channels. Footage has ranged from direct-feed captures of the PlayStation 4 Pro version in 4K to extended looks at Dark Souls: Remastered running in handheld mode fimed off of the Nintendo Switch’s 7 inch 720p screen.
5 Minutes off-screen Docked on Nintendo Switch (From GameXplain)
20 Minutes of off-screen on Nintendo Switch In Handheld Mode (Also From GameXplain)
20+ Minutes of PlayStation Pro Footage in 4K (From PlayStation Underground)
Dark Souls: Remastered will be out on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (or PRO), Xbox One and Windows PC on May 25th. Are you prepared to die (again)? Let us know in the comments section.
Fans of 2016’s Final Fantasy XV got confirmation at the Penny Arcade Expo that a season 2 of downloadable content is upcoming alongside the unexpected news that the multiplayer focused expansion, titled Comrades, will be receiving a major update this summer and a stand-alone release.
We’ve known for a while now – since the release and confirmation of March’s FFXV: Royal Edition – that brand new episodic DLC episodes could be a possibility.
Thanks to ResetERA User Reyes, who provided high quality copies of slides presented during the Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future panel that the next season of FFXV DLC will include:
Episode Ardyn: “The Conflict of the Sages”
Episode Aranea: “The Beginning of the End”
Episode Lunafreya: “The Choice of Freedom”
Episode Noctis: “The Final Strike”
All four of Season 2’s episodes will be directed by the same director as Season 1’s Episode: Ignis. An alternate ending to the game will be presented in Episode III: Notics – “The Final Strike”, Season 2 of DLC is set to begin at the end of this year and continue into the summer of 2019.
Comrades, an add-on expansion from Season 1 which allows players to create their custom avatar and take them during Chapter 13 of the story will receive multiple updates as well as a standalone version that can be played without the base game.
Here’s the full DLC schedule as presented at the panel:
I’m glad the rumoured (and honestly absurd) Final Fantasy XV: Versus episode ended up being nothing more than fan speculation. With almost two years of post-release content, now multiple Season Passes and a collection of free updates, FFXV has improved markedly from the initial release. I know fans wanted the development team to embrace Nomura’s original script and ideas – but I think expanding the characters and world of XV is a much better choice.
Spike Chunsoft has revealed their full 2018 slate of games coming out for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC. New entries in the Fire Pro Wrestling franchise, Pixeljunk Monsters series and the acclaimed visual novel 428: Shibuya scramble are all coming soon.
First up is a new entry in the Pixel Junk Monsters series:
Pixeljunk Monsters 2 Platform PlayStation 4 Release Summer 2018
Features:
Local & Online Play – Maximize the fun by playing with your friends on the couch or online!
Close Encounters – Multiply the suspense by toggling your POV from top-down to an in-your-face view!
3D Stop Motion Graphics – Immerse yourself in Gati Gati Island like never before as the animation takes full advantage of the power of the PS4™!
428: Shibuya Scramble Platform PS4 | Windows PC Release 2008 (originally), Summer 2018 (N.A / Europe localization)
Originally released in 2008 this murder mystery is finally being localized for North America & Europe. Tasking players with investigating the lives of 5 unique protagonists during a 10 hour time-frame this intriguing title boasts over 5 different endings a weird mix of live-action video, text and still image narration.
Features
A Mosaic of Mediums – Unlike traditional visual novels, the narrative is presented with a palette of different mediums, combining text, live action stills, and video sequences.
Non-linear Storytelling – Five Protagonists. 10 Hours. Decisions made in one character’s story can affect the story of another character in unforeseen ways, culminating in a total of up to 50 different endings!
Famitsu Fresh – One of the very few titles to ever receive a perfect score (40/40) from Japanese video game magazine Famitsu Weekly!
Fire Pro Wrestling World Platform PlayStation 4 Release Summer 2018
Last on our tour of Spike Chunsoft’s 2018 line-up is another entry in the decades old Fire Pro Wrestling series of games. Fire Pro Wrestling World is set to feature a story mode that will allow players to customize every facet of their matches. Different sets of rules will also be available ranging from deathmatch, to steel cage matches to even a set based upon the popular MMA style of fighting.
Features:
Play Online – Organize exhibition matches, tournaments, leagues, championship bouts and battle royals with players from around the world.
Mix Up the Rules – Modes include Deathmatch (steel cage, barbed wire or landmines), MMA rules and no-holds barred Gruesome Fighting.
Unlimited Customization – Create your dream wrestler from over a thousand devastating moves and even more body parts to battle for custom championship belts. Personalize the ring, mat logos and even the referee!
Realistic Simulation – Give your creations personalities with a robust CPU logic system that defines their every action. Does your wrestler play to the crowd, or play dirty? You provide actors for the ringside drama.
Niantic Labs rolled out an update to Pokemon Go today that brings a very special retro feature to the highly successful mobile game. All you have to do is take a look at your Pokedex index screen or list of available monsters to see that their usual 3D models have been replaced with adorable “twice the quality of 4K” sprites.
Here’s the full pop-up text as it appeared in Pokemon Go today:
“Experience Pokemon GO Like NEVER BEFORE with Brand-New Graphics!
Trainers, we always want to bring you the most immersive graphics experience possible, and were excited to share our latest breakthrough with millions of Pokemon GO Trainers around the world. Experience Pokemon GO like never before with cutting-edge 8-BIT GRAPHICS! Registering approximately twice the amount of definition of 4K, the chunky squares of each pixel provide realistic detail and unbelievable definition. Your Pokedex will feel lifelike in ways previously unimagined on any handheld device ever created. Enjoy it now!”
Also the Pokedex screen changes as well with the new “4K Sprites”, sadly only the index with all of your entries, when you click on an individual monster the usual 3D model will load. Here is a look:
I’ve been playing a lot more Pokemon GO this past week than I have in the past few months – solely thanks to the addition of Daily Quests and the chance to get the elusive Mew. If they made these retro sprites a toggle like the AR/Grass mode, I’d use them all the time!
What do you think? Let me know in the comments section.
A mobile only entry in the long running Tale of series, Tale of the Rays, will see the “Worldwide” version (read: international editions outside of Japan) end service just 15 months after launch. Originally released in February 2017 on iOS and Android, Tales of the Rays stars two brand new playable characters – Ix and Mileena – who must discover their true potential and the mystery behind Chiral Particles.
Billed by Bandai Namco as a “console quality experience”, Tales of the Rays allowed players to well known Tales of characters from across the franchises’ 23 year history. In practice, the game looked the part of a polished JRPG complete with voice acting and cinematic but the limitations of touch screen controls and up to 5 different forms of micro-transaction currency (!!) didn’t do the game any favors.
As announced on the official North American Tales of the Rays Facebook, service for the game will end on May 29th, 2018:
[Important] Tales of the Rays is Shutting Down
We regret to announce the closure of Tales of the Rays. Thank you all for your support and we hope you enjoyed playing. We will be keeping the servers open until 20:00 PDT May 29, 2018, so please continue to enjoy Tales of the Rays until the very end.
All items can be used until the last day, so if you have any items or Mirrogems in your account, please use them before May 29, 2018. Also, from today, we are disabling the purchase of Mirrogems.
For more information, please check in-game announcements.
*The exact time service will no longer be available may vary depending on your region.
Despite its use of “gacha” forms of microtransaction for random weapon drops, Tales of the Rays, did build quite a fan following across the globe in the short time it has been out. Players took to twitter to vent their frustrations about the game’s closure – including some who posted Change.ORG petitions to plead with Namco Bandai to keep the game open.
Tales fans: At least we still have Tales of the Rays.
Square Enix never seems to shy away from cross over promotions – although, most of them involve another creator’s work appearing in games like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius or their MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. This is however not the case with Final Fantasy XV protagonist Nocts Lucis Caelum’s appearance in Namco Bandai’s Tekken 7.
Over GDC week Noctis was released as part of a $20CDN add-on pack for all versions of Tekken 7. With the majority of GDC related work I finally got the chance to check him out. For this brief 10 minute gameplay video I did a single run of arcade mode with Noctis completely blind. So, yes, this means for the most part I’m button mashing until I got the hang of some of his moves – like the signature Warp Strike. Namco did a commendable job adapting Noctis’ flowing combat style to the world of Tekken without completely breaking the combo-heavy grounded combat despite the fact they’ve introduced an RPG protagonist known for his love of heights.
Also included in the Noctis DLC pack was a stage based upon Hammerhead Junction from Final Fantasy XV but it’s not included in the embedded video.
The 2018 edition of the Games Developer Conference has come to a close but there is still a lot more for us to show including gameplay videos, developer interviews and exclusive hands-on with several AAA and indie titles.
In this post I’d like to take a quick jaunt through some of the cooler booths on display at this year’s show. By “cooler” I don’t necessarily mean “elaborate” or “expensive” but visually impressive or booths that offered attendees a unique experience.
Epic Games Booth
A booth with a ride-able Fortnite llama in place of the traditional riding bull is a win in my book. This tough looking llama was a draw for the entire conference, sadly I didn’t get a chance to go for a ride.
Above said conquerable llama was a large screen that showcased the Fortnite live-stream that Epic had going during the entirety of show-floor hour.
Folks check out the PlayStation 4 Pro version of Fortnite Battle Royale.
Not to be left out, the mobile version of Fortnite was fully playable on a large TV.
Day of the Devs
Double Fine’s indie focused Day of the Devs event took place off-site as per usual but this elaborate skull themed display greeted attendees when taking the escalator down from the South Hall. In addition to playable demo stations you could also catch some of the developers behind featured games like Exo One, Minit and Knights & Bikes.
IGF Pavilion
The 2018 Independent Games Festival awards took place alongside the Game Developer Choice Awards on the Wednesday of GDC week. Throughout the show-floor days (Wednesday – Friday) all of the nominees could be played at a single station in this circular configuration. Games like Night in The Woods, Baba is You, Cuphead and Shenzen I/O were playable by attendees. In years past it wasn’t uncommon to actually meet the developers behind these games while playing them at the IGF booth – sadly I didn’t get to meet anyone from the excellent Night In The Woods team this year ☹.
Train Jam 2018 Booth
Over 80 independently created games & experiments were playable over at the Train Jam booth. I was lucky enough to take part in this year’s 52 hour game jam and our game Emotional Support Cat Girl was also playable at this booth as well. Creators from the Train Jam are also GDC Attendees for the most part so it wasn’t uncommon for creators to hang out at the booth and walk folks through their creations.
I didn’t have much time to go 1 on 1 with folks to show them Emotional Support Catgirl in person but I will have an exhaustive blog post outlining our amazing cross-America journey later on in the week.
Microsoft Azure Services Booth
A large Azure Services booth greeted attendees when taking one of the two main elevators down to the expo show-floor. Microsoft had a large floor presence this year aimed squarely at game developers and the cloud based development services that can help devs collaborate, test and deploy their upcoming projects.
Services like Azure Application Monitoring– which gives developers real-time reports on the use of their games and applications, Visual Studio Enterprise – Microsoft’s premium integrated development environment and the Xbox Live Creators program – which allows independent developers to publish on the Xbox One platform – were all on display.
By visiting four of the available demo stations developers were able to score both $2500 USD worth of Azure Credits for virtual machine testing and a free Xbox One controller. Disclosure: as a member of the Microsoft Developer Network and Bizspark Program I was not the intended audience for these workshops, I already have access to all of these services. The free controller will definitely be useful for my development work, however.
Google Booth
Google uses its presence in the mobile space with Android and its real-world presence in Silicon Valley to attract Android developers to GDC. Not only do they host a keynote focused on the future of their mobile platform but also full day workshops for developers on pre-launch and post-launch support of their mobile games.
Aside from the giant G logo and familiar Google Employees in blue shirts there wasn’t much on display at their booth to speak of. At GDC Google did announce the interesting “instant app” addition to the Play Store which allows customers to download a small 10MB trial version of a game and play it within seconds without needing to install anything on their device. Given the size of some Android Games 10MB could be as small as a 30 second sample of the gameplay, while other smaller games have the chance to offer players a much more feature complete experience within those confines.
PlayStation Booth
Sony always has a huge display at conventions like PAX East, E3 and PAX West but did the development focus of GDC stop them from bringing some of the latest creation on their platform? Of course not!
Playable games at the PlayStation Booth included the recently released Shadow of the Colossus remake, Monster Hunter: World, Gran Turismo Sport and Ni No Kuni: Revenant Kingdom.
Sony also held a number of developer talks and workshops across the five days of GDC focusing on the visual arts achievements that Sony has made on the PlayStation 4, how devs can help fight fraud in an online gaming space and a Final Fantasy Collaboration focused workshop.
Unity
Unity has quickly become the darling of indie creators and the engine that powers some of the most notable AAA releases as well. Upcoming titles like Escape From Tarkov, In the Valley of the Gods, Praey For the Gods and Hollow Knight all use the suite of tools made available for free by Unity Technologies.
While Unity might not offer the complete beginner friendly experience of something like Game Maker or Clickteam Fusion but it does offer a great gateway to full fledged game development. Alongside a whole range of professional grade 3D, 2D and lighting tools – developers also get access to some of the most exhaustive documentation systems around. Also the Unity community has probably answered almost every question asked about the engine at this point.
I’m not trying to come off as a paid Unity shill or that this section of the post is an advertisement – it’s not. But I’ve been personally making games in Unity for the past 2 years as my full time gig and it has been such a rewarding experience. What you lose in easy prototype-ability you gain in coding experience, game making fundamentals and probably the most beneficial to me personally – learning how to properly debug a game from conception through to post launch support.
In terms of what was on offer for newly budding developers and experienced veterans – Unity offered a quiet lounge space for Unity devs to hang out, grab a coke and just relax from the high stress environment. This space wasn’t entirely ultrisitic however – staffers from the engine developer were also on hand to inform visitors about upcoming Unity focused events like their Rendering Bootcamp, Keynote, Work Flow workshop and also to recruit for Unity Europe. Also on the floor of the West Hall (where most GDC panels take place) was a large “Made With Unity 3D” booth which gave folks the chance to check out multiple games made in Unity 5.
Ark: Survival Evolved Mobile
Lastly I’d like to highlight something I spotted at Unreal’s massive booth. Sandwiched in-between all of the Fortnite chaos, live engine demonstrations and AAA games was the mobile version of ARK Survival Evolved that had just been announced days prior. I didn’t get a chance to snag any off-screen video of the game running (tho I wish I had) but I did manage to snag a few interesting stills that I’ll post in the coming days. Suffice to say that the upcoming mobile conversion for ARK looks and plays rather faithful to the original – oh and there’s also the upcoming Nintendo Switch port of ARK, which was not on the show floor.
Bonus Level Entertainment’s retro 16-bit inspired platformer Fox n’ Forest will be hitting Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC this bring. To help drum up some hype for the release of this beautiful pixel creation publisher Eurovideo sent out a press release today highlighting a brand new in-game video – featuring level 1:2 titled “Gorgeous George”.
In Fox n’ Forest players take on the role of anthropomorphic fox who will utilize a magic crossbow and the ability to change the seasons at will to navigate the stunning worlds of this title. When the seasons change the world around Rick also changes – for example when changing the season to Fall, leaves might become platforms that open up alternate routes to harder enemies, epic loot and brand new puzzles.
Speaking about their approach to level design the game’s director Rupert Ochsner had this to say:
“Level design is one of the most important tasks in game development, All elements need to come together in an entertaining way and it can make or break the game.”
Based in Munich, Germany Bonus Level Entertainment successfully KickStarted 100,000+ Euros to bring their vision for Fox n’ Forest to life during the summer of 2016. Their mission is to reinvent the 16-bit style of gameplay by preserving what made the SNES era so magical while introducing new gameplay mechanics and systems from a more modern perspective.
Microsoft’s ID@Xbox team returned to GDC for another year and brought with them some of the most promising new games coming to their console. Last year, I bemoaned the lack of effort towards securing exclusive titles for the Xbox One, as evidenced by their indie showing at GDC. But now Microsoft appears to be on the road to recovery, starting to cherry-pick several PC darlings as console exclusives. Cuphead, Ooblets, and the Ori series were the big Microsoft-allied indies of past years, so let’s take a look and see what software they have brought to the table in 2018. Welcome to GDC – this is ID@Xbox.
Folks gather around various demo stations during GDC’s ID @ Xbox event.
Starting out, we have My Time at Portia, an ambitious game of many hats that recently launched on Steam Early Access and is now being scouted for an Xbox release. Portia features a stylized visual aesthetic inspired by European animation and some captivatingly peaceful environment design. The main problem with the game at this stage, however, seems to be the opposite of its many early access peers. Portia features such a large number of mechanics and gameplay systems, all fighting for the player’s attention, that I am honestly not sure what the focus of the game is meant to be. At some moments, it feels like a crafting game or Harvest Moon-style farming game, while the combat system’s depth and third-person 3D camera angle suggest a more action RPG approach. We will see how this one develops and if it can find its niche over time.
Next up, there is the PC MMORPG Black Desert Online making its way to Microsoft’s console. The push to get more computer MMOs on consoles has been a long one with mixed results, but it certainly illustrates that there is a market for it. Black Desert Online looks to continue this trend and provide a consistent experience across both PC and Xbox. The team in particular noted Xbox One X compatibility as a major factor in them bringing the game to the platform, as the extra power allowed them to manage the game’s systems at a more reasonable framerate. Overall, this port’s presence was not terribly exciting, but at least should allow existing BDO players more options on how they can play.
Virgo Versus the Zodiac was a welcome presence on the show floor – a turn-based JRPG about mythology with some rather pleasant surprises. The battle system is reminiscent of Paper Mario, with timed button press prompts comprising much of the engagement factor in a fight, as well as some delightful Socialist overtones in the story, with the protagonist Virgo looking to overthrow the corporate greed of her peers. Such themes are more apt now than ever, and VVtZ looks to deliver a one-two punch between that and its solid gameplay inspirations. This is one to watch out for.
Finally on our featured games list, we have Trailmakers, a vehicle-building game reminiscent of contemporaries such as Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Beseiged. Trailmakers banks heavily on its aforementioned vehicle-creation system, hoping to make a tool that allows for radical experimentation within the game’s physics and world constraints. Sadly, while the tool’s open-ended construction system allows for a great deal of freedom, it does a poor job of teaching players the basics of making a functional vehicle. A booth representative acted as a tutorial without my request, while I just wanted to explore the game on my own terms. I have high hopes for Trailmakers, but it needs to implement better tutorial systems before it can meet them.
Microsoft’s GDC showing has certainly improved since last year, but they still have a long way to go before making the Xbox One be the go-to platform for independent developers. Courting them with hardware power doesn’t make much sense in the indie scene – a market full of games that lean more on aesthetic than technical overhead, but at least some developers seem to be finding uses for the Xbox One X’s muscle. Here’s hoping Microsoft can continue to make strides in areas of true significance to indies, such as licensing terms, hardware costs, and generous revenue splits.
