Category: Game Releases

New game releases.

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Phaser 3.19 Released

Phaser, the popular open source 2D HTML 5 game framework, just released version 3.19.  Phaser 3.19 brings several new features and improvements Phaser319including a new Spine (learn more about this bone based 2D animation system here) plugin offering greater performance in a smaller package, a complete new Tweening system and several other new features.

Details from the Phaser blog:

This version will properly batch Spine skeletons where possible, potentially saving hundreds of draw calls. The plugin is fully documented and exports both debug and minified files, suitable for ES6 ‘importing’ or ES5 plugin inclusion. The whole plugin is just 68KB in size (min+gz), or a paltry 57KB if you only need the Canvas renderer! That’s a really tiny payload for such a massive feature-set. You can find out more about Spine from the Esoteric Software website.

3.19 also introduces a huge overhaul to the Tween system. Tweens now have 100% documentation and we’ve extended their capabilities significantly. There are lots of new Tween Events to listen for, such as ‘COMPLETE’ or ‘REPEAT’ to allow you to trigger actions without needing to create callbacks. Tweens can now tween both ‘from’ and ‘to’ a value, with the ability to set a starting value for any tweened property. There are lots of new handy methods and properties, such as Tween.hasStarted and a rewrite of the Tween seeking function, so it now allows you to seek to any point in time across a tween.

Finally, we’ve added in the great new ‘StaggerBuilder’. This allows you to easily add staggered offsets to a bunch of tween targets, including all kinds of options such as staggering across a grid layout, stagger directions, starting values and a lot more. Please see the docs and examples for more details.

Be sure to check the Phaser blog for complete details of this release.  Check the change log for an even more in-depth description of what is new and changed in the 3.19 release.  You can get an introduction and overview of Phaser 3 in our slightly dated Introduction To Phaser 3 video available here.

GameDev News

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The Weekender: Nobody Explode Edition

I’ve been away on annual leave this week so Ian’s been watching the shop – you’ll have noticed a bit more news-type things as a result. Next week will be back on track, and we’ll be kicking things off with our Beholder 2 review as well as our monthly check-in with what to look forward to in 2019.

Meanwhile, in the world of mobile games…

Out Now

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (iOS & Android)

The hit co-op game about defusing bombs and the art of concise conversation has finally landed on our mobile devices. KTBE tasks one person with defusing a bomb, except they don’t know how because they don’t have the manually – luckily their friends brought theirs with them, and so must talk the defuser through the process. But the defuser must also help the Experts by describing what the bomb looks like so they provide the right information.

This is social-orientated party game where only one person needs a copy to play – the ‘Experts’ only need the manual, which is available free online. There is no online support as it’s meant to be a face-to-face affair, which is fair enough. A little on the pricey side all things considered, but boats several challenges and game-modes to keep things fresh.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ba34RcTmt0?controls=0]

Rogue Legacy: Wanderer Edition (iOS)

2013’s Rogue Legacy was a high-mark in the rising indie gaming scene, offering a retro-inspired 2D platformer experience coupled with a ‘rogue-LITE’ mechanic of every hero being succeeded by their child, with variable traits and abilities. Now this classic gaming experience has released on iOS.

The Wanderer Edition has been re-designed from the ground up for iOS, sporting the base game and all content released since then, but also a bunch of other new features and a bespoke control scheme. Further details can be found on the YouTube video page.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkK07at3ojI?controls=0]

It’s also worth noting that another classic indie title, Journey, has also released on iOS. Must be the season for it or something.

Updates

Steam Link App

The Android Steam Link app has officially left Beta, although we’re not sure what state the iOS version (which wasn’t released until after) is in. The Android app supports over 200 devices, as well as Xbox One and Steam controllers (although other controllers are rumoured to work too, they’re just not officially supported).

It’s recommended you use the app with a 5Ghz Router, with bother the computer and the mobile device being paired being on the same band. There’s a handy FAQ and Troubleshooting Guide made by Valve, if you need more help.

steam link app

Battleheart Legacy has also finally received the long-rumoured update that adds support for modern iOS devices, including the iPhone X. The update note doesn’t really expand, but suffice to say modern iPhones and Tablets should be able to display the game full-screen without issue now.

Sales

There’s only two sales of note worth looking at this week:

First off – Star Traders: Frontiers. This excellent sci-fi sandbox RPG was released earlier in the year on mobile and its easily one of our favourite games of 2019. It’s only been discounted once before so far, and now it’s discounted again down to $4.99. It’s worth it even at full price, but if you’ve yet to give it a go we hope this discount entices you. Sadly, this sale doesn’t extend to Android.

Secondly, Rogue Legacy, mentioned above, is enjoying a launch discount until Sunday 11th of August. It’s RRP is $3.99 but it’s currently down to $0.99 – that’s actually a pretty good discount and there’s no telling when it’ll ever be that low again so if you’re even remotely interested, now’s the time.

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!

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EVE Online’s mobile spinoff Echoes will start a closed alpha this month

By Ian Boudreau 08 Aug 2019

EVE: Echoes was announced late last year and it’s the mobile version of CCP’s gargantuan space trading MMO. Like its older, PC-based sibling, Echoes is set to be a persistent universe that players can inhabit and change, while exploring, harvesting resources to sell and trade, and fighting others who want to hijack your haul.

CCP has announced that it’s holding a closed alpha test of Echoes, which will run August 26 – September 20. While anyone can sign up for a chance at being invited into the alpha test, word on the street is that this initial test will be limited to select regions: Australia, New Zealand, and the Nordic countries are the only folks who get to go hands on this time around.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8o8bQxBFlQ]

CCP is developing EVE: Echoes in partnership with Chinese games giant NetEase, who you may recall are Blizzard’s partners on the upcoming Diablo: Immortal. CCP announced their partnership with NetEase Games about a year ago, and the companies have worked together on building EVE Online China, which NetEase is operating.

To sign up for the alpha test, head to the official EVE: Echoes site and fill in some information about where you live and the device you’re using. They’ll also ask a little about your familiarity with the EVE franchise.

EVE is a lot of things, so it’ll be interesting to see which aspects of the game wind up taking prominence in the mobile adaptation, or whether Echoes winds up interfacing at all with the existing EVE Online universe. Phone battery life being what it is, I’m not sure the platform lends itself to traditional models of interstellar space exploration, so it’s a fair bet that this experience will be distinct from EVE Online in some key ways.

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Now Available on Steam – Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure, 10% off!

Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!*

Crazy cultists. Cthulhu. A talking cat. Gibbous takes you on an expansive, traditionally animated, hand-painted adventure. Play as three protagonists and explore a lushly rendered Lovecraft-inspired world, unraveling ancient conspiracies. A comedy cosmic horror adventure made in Transylvania!

*Offer ends August 14 at 10AM Pacific Time

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Tencent expands its autobattler offerings

Keeping track of how many games Chinese publishing giant Tencent is involved in can be tricky, but what’s clear is that the company is leaning into this year’s autobattler craze in a big way. First, it’s adding an autobattler mode to its MOBA, which is titled Arena of Valor in western markets and Honor of Kings in China.

As our friends at PCGamesN note, Honor of Kings is the most profitable mobile game in the world, which makes the addition of an Auto Chess-style mode a natural choice. The game will also receive a map editor, and both updates are due to roll out sometime this month.

Meanwhile, Tencent is also updating its purpose-built autobattler, Chess Rush. That game now has a co-op mode that pits four teams of two players against each other, with a four-player co-op mode due to roll out August 15, according to Pocket Gamer.

Chess Rush is also starting up its first “season” tomorrow, so expect to be able to purchase a Fortnite-style battle pass in order to earn rewards for playing. This month, Chess Rush will also add two new characters to its roster, the Undead Assassin and Undead Thief.

There are a ton of autobattlers to choose from, and at this point it looks as though most if not all are angling for the lucrative mobile market. It’s a space that’s likely to get even more crowded before the year’s out.

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Universal Sprite Sheet Character Creator

Today we are checking out the web based tool, the Universal LPC Sprite Sheet Character Generator, a free tool that enables you to quickly and easily create multi angle animated character sprite sheets.  The LPC in the name stands for Liberated Pixel Cup a contest/organization on OpenGameArt for creating open source 2D pixel art in a consistent style.  You can browse the entire content of LPC assets right here.  The assets on LPC and generated by this tool are available under split open source licenses, the CC BY-SA 3.0 and GPLv3.

The Sprite Sheet Generator enables you to quickly compose characters by selecting a male or female base sprite, then customizing dozens of attributes and accessories, such as eyes, hair style, clothing and weapons.  While the UI isn’t amazing, the process is remarkably straight forward, as shown in the following video.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBbJ6qDY8o&w=853&h=480]

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