Category: Game Releases

New game releases.

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What the Golf’s Snowtime update brings a white – and weird – Christmas

For anyone who hasn’t played What the Golf, it’s a parody golf game which gives the words “crazy golf” a whole new meaning. Each level presents a course with club, ball, and hole – like any golf game – but after that, who knows what will happen?

Perhaps your ball has a mind of its own (literally) or your club turns into a sheep. There is seriously no way to predict what each level will bring, and it’s your job to figure out how to get the ball (or sheep, or tree) into the hole (or mountain, or car). If you’re beginning to think that you’ve figured out the meta vibes of What the Golf: you’d be dead wrong.

Every update for the game has brought new, inventive levels and nothing feels old. The developers have a seemingly bottomless brain-pit filled with physics-based puzzles and quirky alternatives for golf clubs. And the Snowtime update, which went live on the App Store and Apple Arcade yesterday, looks to be more of the same.

For What the Golf’s non-denominational winter celebration, the developers have recruited frozen peas, frozen pizzas, and a frozen landscape for Snowtime fun – after all, there’s Snowtime like the present, right?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UaWxylfEMk?modestbranding=1&rel=0&feature=oembed]

There will also be some snowman-related challenges, perfect in case we don’t get an actual White Christmas (which seems unlikely, given we literally never do). Here’s everything included in the Snowtime update (if you can decipher it):

  • Fetch the pizza quest
  • Yes now with snow
  • Pizzas
  • Extra COOL levels
  • Frozen peas, pizzas, and popsicles
  • A moose – NOT frozen!
  • A snowman trying to keep a snow profile
  • Did we mention pizza?
  • Even more chilly physics!

As well as a penchant for puns and pizza, the Snowtime update is sure to bring more inventive levels, dubious humour, and exciting changes to everyone’s favourite parody golf game.

If you like the sound of What the Golf, make sure to also check out the best mobile puzzle games. They might not carry the same irreverent humour, but definitely offer a great challenge. Alternatively, check out our roundup of all the Apple Arcade games to make sure you get the most bang for your buck!

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Facebook Joins Blender as Corporate Sponsor

Today Blender announced that Facebook would be joining the Blender Development Fund as a Corporate Sponsor. A corporate sponsor is the highest tier of sponsorship and means at least 120K euro per year in financial support, which generally gets translated as two full time developers on the project. Facebook will be joining the likes of Unity, Epic Games, AMD and NVIDIA in the corporate supporter tier.

Details from the Blender announcement:

To support these artists and the countless other animators, researchers, engineers, designers and content creators who depend on open source tools, Facebook wishes to contribute to the development of Blender. Which is why we’re proud to announce that Facebook will join the Blender Foundation’s Development Fund as a Corporate Patron as of Q4, 2020.  

We at Blender see this as another important signal of the industry’s willingness to migrate to open source, and contribute to open source’s continual improvement.

Ton Roosendaal,
Chairman Blender Foundation

Facebook currently use Blender in their AR product Spark AR Studio in addition to their ownership of Oculus. If you are worried about the corporate influence on Blender, don’t worry about it, for reasons described in this video. If you want to learn more about Facebooks support for Blender be sure to check out the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aNzkxQs-K4?feature=oembed&w=1500&h=844]
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The BIG Royalty Free Music Bundle

Humble are running another bundle of interest to game developers, this one is the BIG Royalty-Free Music Bundle, a collection of “albums” containing game ready music in WAV and MP3 formats. The music is licensed in a way that enables you to distribute the music in your games, commercially or otherwise. As with all Humbles, this one is organized into tiers:

1$

  • Dark skies and other disasters
  • Haunted
  • The vanishing of Elisabeth Rose
  • Chronicles of the illusion world
  • Archives vol 1: the dark side

15$

  • Chuck kick ass
  • Shadows guild
  • The monster that lies within
  • Cult
  • Mindhunter
  • Forever and a day
  • Imagine
  • Archives vol 2: the love

25$

  • Chaos logic chaos the butterfly effect
  • The 29th planet
  • Black sails
  • Darkventures
  • Jotun
  • Pandemonium
  • Once upon a nightmare
  • Witchcraft
  • Slasher
  • The Lab
  • Dreamagination
  • Pixel: faster stronger harder
  • Superheroes

As with all Humble Bundles, you decide how the money is allocated, between Humble, Charity, the publisher and if you so choose (and thanks if you do!) to support GFS by purchasing with this link. You can learn more about the bundle in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrN3zg8rQyA?feature=oembed&w=1500&h=844]
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Win a free copy of dungeon-crawling shop-management game, Moonlighter!

We love a good dungeon-crawler, hacking and slashing our way through room after room packed with horrifying monsters. But it’s nice to have a break, too, and sit back with something a little more homely. We’re talking games like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley that have a warm, comforting simplicity. Well, what if we told you there’s a game that has the best of both worlds? And what if we told you we were running a giveaway for that game this week…

Moonlighter is a dungeon-crawler/shop-keeping game where you play as Will, a merchant-turned-hero trying to keep his grandfather’s shop alive. In the game, you delve the dungeon, killing monsters and bosses, and then sell the loot you find in your shop, using the money to revitalise your hometown of Rynoka. It’s a really fantastic formula – read our Moonlighter review for more details!

The game originally launched on PC to much critical acclaim, and is coming to iOS on November 19. Lucky for you, we’ve got some copies for this week’s giveaway, so sign up down below if this sounds like you.

In order to enter, simply fill out the box below, though please have a look at our terms and conditions first.

ios

Moonlighter iOS giveaway

If you can’t wait to play Moonlighter for yourself, you can purchase the game on the App Store from tomorrow. We’ll send the codes out to the lucky winners next Thursday, so keep an eye on your inbox!

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Unity Super Sale On Now Until Dec 4th

Unity are running their annual Super Sale just in time for Black Friday, with 700+ assets 50% off as well as daily specials that are 70%+ off. Additionally if you purchase Unity pro or Unity Enterprise, you currently get an additional license, such as Unity Build, MARS, ArtEngine, Reflect or Pixyz, a heck of a deal if you were going to get a pro subscription anyways!

The daily deals are as follows:

The above items are only for sale on the date listed, so if you click a link on any other day you will see regular pricing. All of the above links contain an affiliate code that pays GFS a small commission if used (and thanks if you do!). You can learn more about the sale in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLcCN9IpRH4?feature=oembed&w=1500&h=844]
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Applied Math & Statistics Book Bundle

The Applied Math & Statistics Toolkit by Morgan & Claypool bundle is now live on Humble. While not directly books about game development math, they are more on math fundamentals and that is the underpinning of game development. As with all Humble Bundles it is organized into tiers:

1$ Tier

  • Essentials of Game Theory
  • Matrices in Engineering Problems
  • Statistics is Easy 2nd Edition

8$ Tier

  • Introduction to Logic 3rd Edition
  • An Introduction to Proofs with Set Theory
  • Discrete Distributions in Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • Analytical Performance Modeling for Computer Systems
  • Probability and Statistics for STEM

15$ Tier

  • An Introduction to Multivariable Mathematics
  • C Programming and Numerical Analysis
  • Essentials of Applied Math for Engineers and Scientists 2nd Edition
  • Fast Start Advanced Calculus
  • Fast Start Differential Calculus
  • Fast Start Integral Calculus
  • Introduction to Statistics Using R
  • An Introduction to Partial Differential Equations
  • An Introduction to Numerical Methods for Physical Sciences

As with all Humble Bundles, you decide how your funds are allocated, between the publisher, charity, Humble and if you so choose (and thanks if you do) to support GFS using this link. You can learn more about the bundle in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbcjGYTXLf8?feature=oembed&w=1500&h=844]
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Zynga launches new studio to work on its upcoming Star Wars mobile game

Zynga has announced that it’s opening a new mobile games studio, based in Austin, Texas, to work on its upcoming IP set in the Star Wars universe. The studio is on the lookout for 25 employees, and is headed by industry veterans, Jeff Hickman and Matthew Hemby. Though unnamed as of yet, the studio is also set to collaborate closely with Brighton-based BossAlien, who will also work on the Star Wars game.

“As a longtime Austin-ite, I know firsthand the immense level of talent and creativity that resides in this beautiful city,” says Jeff Hickman, Senior Vice President at Zynga. “We believe that the Austin talent market is highly compatible with our mission of bringing AAA console visuals and deep, compelling gameplay to mobile platforms.”

Zynga is well-known for games such as CSR Racing, Empires and Puzzles, Merge Dragons, and Words With Friends, and its games are playable in over 150 countries. Zynga also recently acquired Istanbul-based studio, Rollic, the maker of popular titles like Repair Master 3D, which sees the company dipping its toes further into the hyper-casual games market.

If you want to see a recent Zynga adaptation of a popular franchise, check out the trailer for Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ayjtNjiB1Q?modestbranding=1&rel=0&feature=oembed]

Though we don’t know the name of the Star Wars game yet, or when it might release, it’s exciting to hear that Zynga is soon to be working on an IP in the popular sci-fi setting.

If you want to try a Zynga game for yourself, Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells is available on Google Play and the App Store. We also have a handy Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells guide to help you get started!

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Blockbench 3D Modelling Application Review

BlockBench is a free 3d modelling, texturing and animation application for creating Minecraft style models. Blockbench is available on Windows, Mac and Linux, as well online.

Blockbench features include:

  • Blockbench is an all in one 3D Editor and Animator for Minecraft and other games and applications
  • Blockbench comes with a powerful animation editor. Animations can later be exported to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, rendered in Blender or Maya, or shared on Sketchfab.
  • Customize Blockbench with the built-in plugin store. Or create your own plugin and add a new feature or new format.
  • Collaborate with your friends on models, textures and animations – in real time, over the internet!
  • Blockbench is available in 12 languages, and the number is growing.
  • Create, edit and paint texture right inside the program. Create or import palettes, paint, draw shapes or automatically create templates.

You can learn more about Blockbench and see it in action in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emhdpVv0Gx8?feature=oembed&w=1500&h=844]
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Epic Games Invest in Houdini Maker SideFX Software

Epic Games have just made an investment in SideFX Software, the maker of the procedural graphics powerhouse software Houdini.

Details of the investment from the SideFX blog:

We’re happy to share an exciting update: Epic Games is now a minority investor in SideFX. In Epic, SideFX gains a strong partner whose passion for the industry closely aligns with ours.

Kim Davidson remains the majority owner of SideFX, as well as President and CEO. He continues his strong, unwavering commitment to SideFX’s staff, customers, and partners.

SideFX and Epic are both committed to SideFX continuing its work with other industry partners – including all other content creation applications and game engines. This new development will have no impact at all on the Houdini development roadmap, as SideFX will continue to define its own path as an industry-leading procedural 3D platform for the film, TV, advertising and games sectors.

Dollar values of the investment were not disclosed. From the announcement it appears the investment should have minimal impact on neither Houdini or Unreal Engine. Epic Games have been making more and more investments of late including their $15M investment in Manticore Games.

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New update to Black Desert Mobile introduces the Grand Desert region

If you’re hankering for some more stuff to do in Black Desert Mobile, then it’s time to steel your blade, ready your bow, charge your magic, or feed your panthers. The next expansion to Black Desert Mobile is adding a new region called the Grand Desert.

Grand Desert is filled to the brim with mysterious temples and tons of treasure to discover. It’s also said that a Black Spirit lives there, but we’re not sure if Pearl Abyss means the stony goliath that’s featured quite heavily in the trailer. Still, at least the oasis towns look pretty!

Black Desert Mobile’s first anniversary event is also coming very soon. In an upcoming update, you’ll be able to participate in a special in-game event titled ‘Black Spirit Complete Guide’. This event will give players “special quests to level up quickly and unlock endgame content” according to the press release. If you’d rather do it yourself and not have everything spoon fed to you, you can check out our Black Desert Mobile guide to get started.

While these two features are the biggest, there are a few more things coming to Black Desert Mobile in the near future:

  • Crystal of Dimensions: A new attack and defence boost item. You can craft this at the alchemy workshop and is said to provide “players with a new form of character progression”.
  • Carriage Upgrade: Carriages now allow players to carry more goods.
  • Merchantry upgrade: A new SS rank for Merchantry will also be available. This makes it so that you get more resources in a single run.
  • Returning User-care System: A quest line has been created for returning players, which aims to get players who have lapsed up to the same levels as those who have played continuously, allowing them to access the new stuff sooner. These quests are apparently tied to silver rewards.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN-bfYMkjxM?modestbranding=1&rel=0&feature=oembed]

While there is no date for when the Grand Desert expansion update will drop, but the first anniversary update will begin appearing on December 8.