Category: Game Releases

New game releases.

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This is the Police spin-off ‘Rebel Cops’ is coming to mobile

By Joe Robinson 19 Nov 2019

Admittedly, we weren’t the biggest fans of This is the Police. While the management/tactical strategy series had potential, a lot of it was wasted on terrible characters and a questionable premise, which is something that wasn’t really addressed in the sequel either (despite other improvements).

One thing that always worked well though, regardless of everything around it, were the tactical battles. Perhaps the developers realised this too because in September this year they released Rebel Cops, a spin-off to This is the Police that focuses purely on the tactical strategy elements. To summarize from the official blurb:

Lead a ragtag squad of cops in rebellion against their town’s new criminal power to see how long you can hold out when you’re constantly short on supplies and a single shot can cost a cop their life.

It still sounds like it’s trying to be edgy, but you can forgive a lot with an engaging tactical layer, so on paper this still has potential. As the headline states, this is now coming to mobile, which is why we care:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0E0D4Uy2CA?controls=0]

There’s no release window, other than “soon”, sadly, but we do know that it’ll contain roughly 15 hours of gameplay, will be a premium title, and won’t contain ads or micro-transactions (and it’s not going to Apple Arcade). We’ll let you know more as it comes in.

Keep an eye out for when Rebel Cops releases on iOS and Android.

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OGMO Level Editor

OGMO is a free and open source level editor, written in Haxe by Matt Makes Games the makers of Celeste among other games.  The level editor is available on GitHub under the MIT open source license.  OGMO 3.1(.1) was just released.

Details of the new release from the changelog:

  • 3.1.1
    • Added entity image to entity palette
    • Move broken levels to trash instead of deleting them permanently
    • Fix image previews leaking out of the popup
    • Fix a typo in the popup box-shadow
    • Don’t show the “delete” option for image popups
    • Added .ogmo file association metadata
  • 3.1.0 
    • Improved non-json file handling in the level manager panel
    • Added the ability to use an image for Entities

If you are interested in checking out OGMO, be sure to check the documentation, which also includes instructions on how to build the Haxe code yourself.  If you would like to see OGMO in action, be sure to check out the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saHB6iYx1N8&w=853&h=480]

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Path of Exile is coming to mobile

There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to announce a game. Not just mobile games – any game, really. The context of the game, and the events around the game is important. We won’t rehash the exact hilarity around the Diablo: Immortals announcement last year, but that was definitely the ‘wrong’ way to announce a game (despite all reports indicating Immortals is quite good, for what it is).

Last Friday, Path of Exile developer Grinding Gears Games announced a mobile version of their flagship title. In case you’re not familiar with what that is (it’s not one I’ve played myself either) Path of Exile is a Diablo-like free-to-play Action RPG that was first released in PC in 2013, and was later brought to PS4 and Xbox One. 

It was (and still is) unusual because there is no in-game currency, instead there is a barter-like system that uses ‘currency items’ to pay for things. The business model also bases itself on so-called “ethical” micro-transactions. Largely cosmetic-based, but here are certain late-game quality of life features (like automatic trading) and things like custom serves that are gated behind a paywall. Here’s the video that announced that sequel:

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

It’s quite on the nose, and definitely a commentary on how Blizzard announced Immortals. Path of Exile itself is well known to have taken a lot of inspiration from Diablo II, so the comparison is an easy one to make. Path of Exile Mobile is also being made by GGG themselves, and not someone else, and the company seek to bring their same ‘ethical’ business mentality that they brought to the free-to-play Browser/PC space in 2013 when PoE originally launched.

You could argue that the strength of this announcement wouldn’t have been as powerful had Blizzard not botched their own announcement, but then GGG also announced Path of Exile 2, AND continued support for Path of Exile 1, in the same stroke as announcing the mobile version.

Although they do use the word “Bull****” twice in the video when talking about mobile gaming. That’s a little bit harsh.

There was no release window or confirmed platforms given for Path of Exile Mobile, so we’ll keep you posted.

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The Weekender: Very Bare Edition

You know what I tried for the first time the other week? Fortnite. I know, right? Since I have a phone that can actually run it now, I thought I’d take it for a spin. It’s ok… I mean I’ve always known the format was quite interesting. I played the original PUBG game back when it was still a mod for ArmA 3.

Not wholly convinced about playing it on a phone… might just download it on PS4 or something and play it that way instead. Still, it’s a pretty interesting phenomenon and now that they’ve released a Stormtrooper skin for it I can completely understand why it’s earned so much money. Like, I want to buy that skin. If I end up playing the game more, I might just.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away…

New App Releases

Minecraft Earth (iOS & Android)

Bit of a cheat this one as it’s only to say that the Early Access has now finally rolled out to people in the US. So if you’re American and you’ve been waiting to try out the Minecraft-meets-Pokemon GO hybrid, now you can!

Hearthstone Battlegrounds (iOS & Android)

I know, I know, another cheat. In case you didn’t spot this, Hearthstone Battlegrounds is now available for everyone to play via the Hearthstone client, not just those who pre-ordered the new Dragon card set for the main game. I’ve written some initial thoughts along with some tactics & tips here.

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And… that’s it? Again? They’ll probably be more Apple Arcade games dropping today but we usually don’t find out what those are till quite late, so I’ll update the master list again on Monday. Lots of other free-to-play games have dropped that other sites have mentioned might be special, but I’ll leave those to you guys to decide.

Oh, there’s Star Titan, which is a side-scrolling run-and-gun game with mechs on both iOS and Android that costs $1.99. Not our usual fare, but there’s precious little else to talk about this week. Here’s a trailer:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3HP2Io0ZZg?controls=0]

It’s been a bit of a dire couple of weeks in terms of premium releases, all things considered.

App Updates & News

Pacific Fire

One of the only decent mobile wargames to come out this year, Pacific Fire has just been updated again with new scenarios that allow you to play from the Japanese perspective, including a mega-campaign that covers the entire war as the IJN. It’s also now available on the Amazon App Store, if that’s a game-changer for you.

I asked about an iOS version, and developer said they’re working on it. Potentially by the end of the year, but either way it’s definitely on its way.

Stardew Valley

Farming/Life Simulator Stardew Valley is getting a huge update soon in the form of the 1.4 update. It essentially tackles a wide range of issues and it’s main aim is to ‘Polish’ the experience and really improve the quality of life for all. Bug fixes, extra end-game content… you name it, it’s probably being done. PC Players will be getting the update on November 26th, but Mobile and Console players will be following soon afterwards, so we’ll let you know when it drops. You can read more details here.

stardew valley 1.4 update

Also if you’ve been looking forward to the mobile release of Black Desert Online, the global launch date has been set to December 11th, 2019. You can still pre-register at the official website. 

App Sales, Deals & Discounts

Just to sum up what’s been a bit of a lazy week in mobile-land, there aren’t even that many sales going around either. I imagine everyone’s saving up their Big Sale Energy for Black Friday at the end of the month.

  • Mystic Vale is on sale at $2.99 for only the second time since launch. It’s another deck-building port in digital format, and it’s interesting although not really stand-out.
  • Bridge Constructor Portal is down to $1.99 in celebration of its DLC launch. I think I got it wrong last week when I mentioned the new DLC, it might have released this week.
  • Dimension of Dreams was one of the many, many strategy/card game/rogue-lite releases we got earlier in the year. It was pretty good, and now that the base game is free you can see for yourself. It’s got a fair few pricey IAPs though.

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

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Tiled 1.3 Released

Tiled, the open source map editor, the open source map editor just released version 1.3, the first major release in almost a year.  Details of the 1.3 release from the release notes:

Scripted Extensions

The biggest change in this release is the introduction of the scripting API, which allows you to extend the functionality of Tiled with JavaScript. Scripts can implement custom actions, custom editing tools and add support for additional map or tileset formats.

Almost everything that can be modified through the UI can be changed through a script as well. Scripts can also connect to certain events to automate actions, for example on loading or saving an asset. Any changes made by scripts automatically create appropriate undo commands, which can be grouped together using the Asset.macro function.

Scripts can be grouped in folders to make it easier to share them with others, for example by cloning a git repository into the extensions folder. Tiled automatically reloads the scripts when it detects a change to any loaded script file.

Issues View

A new “Issues” view was added, where reported warnings and errors are displayed persistently and can be searched. Many of the issues reported here can also be double-clicked to jump to the relevant location for fixing the issue. The error and warning counts are displayed on the status bar to make sure they don’t go unnoticed.

While Tiled may encounter many issues of itself, for example when AutoMapping or exporting to certain formats, issues can also be reported through the scripting API. This could be used to add sanity checks to make sure your map won’t trigger an error in your game.

Configurable Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts of most actions can now be changed from the new Keyboard tab in the Preferences. Shortcut schemes can be imported and exported and potential conflicts are marked in red.

New Update Notifications

Tiled now features a native up-to-date check, which displays an unobtrusive notification in the status bar whenever it detects that a newer version is available. This replaces the previously used 3rd-party solutions Sparkle and WinSparkle. For those who don’t want it, it can be turned off in the Preferences, in which case you can still manually check for a new version by opening the “About Tiled” dialog.

The new system does not automatically download & install the new package. For automatic updates, I recommend installing Tiled through the itch.io app.

Be sure to check the full release notes for an in-depth change log.  You can learn more about this release in the video below.  Additionally we have done a complete tutorial series that will get you up and running with Tiled.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w238pd142c&w=853&h=480]

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Now Available on Steam – STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™

STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™ is Now Available on Steam!

A galaxy-spanning adventure awaits in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a 3rd person action-adventure title from Respawn. An abandoned Padawan must complete his training, develop new powerful Force abilities, and master the art of the lightsaber – all while staying one step ahead of the Empire.

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Dota 2 Update – November 15th, 2019

* Fixed an issue that allowed players to have more available reports than intended. This also had the unintended side effect of some people getting low priority more easily than intended. We have adjusted some players low priority penalties and behavior scores.
* Removed “Intentional Feeding” and “Ability Abuse” report types
* Added “Disruptive Gameplay” report type – for reporting players who ability abuse, intentional feed, go AFK, or similar.
* Added “Cheating or MMR Abuse” report type – for reporting players who are manipulating matchmaking, scripting, hacking or similar.
* Fixed issue that was preventing people from reporting players they had avoided and vice versa
* Added Communication reports to Conduct Summary UI
* Users are now required to choose only one report category when submitting a report
* Enemy Communication reports will no longer be accepted for enemies who did not communicate via all chat
* Ally Communication reports will no longer be accepted if the ally did not use any form of communication during the game.
* Enemies can now be reported for “Cheating or MMR Abuse”. This report will be used in our existing boosting and cheating detection algorithms.
* Updated behavior score adjustments for each report type

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Unity And Oculus Team Up on VR Course–John Carmack Leaves Oculus

Two completely unrelated stories (beyond the Oculus commonality) in one today.  First, Unity and Oculus have teamed up to launch an 11 part, 20+ hour course on all aspects of creating a VR game using the Unity game engine with the Oculus Rift SDK and hardware.

Details from the Unity blog:

We’ve partnered with Oculus, to launch an extensive intermediate level course guiding you through all aspects of building a virtual reality (VR) game. As the VR industry continues to grow and mature, developers are asking more questions about making the switch to VR, and developers who already work in VR want to improve their skills. That’s why we teamed up with the experts at Oculus to build this comprehensive VR course, “Design, Develop, and Deploy for VR”.

In more than 20 hours of hands-on course content, you’ll learn about programming, user experience (UX) considerations for VR, optimization, launching your game and more. Twelve experts from Oculus and Unity give you in-depth lessons to help you build your own vertical slice (think, level of a game) of an escape room game. Plus, after you complete the course, you can submit your vertical slice for feedback from Oculus.

Even though this course is centered around creating a game, the principles and learnings apply to almost any type of VR content, whether you’re building practical business applications or immersive experiences as art or entertainment. You’ll find this course useful even if your interests go beyond making a game. 

The course is hosted on the Unity Learn platform.  You can learn more about Unity learn here.

In additional Oculus news, John Carmack (of id fame) has announced he is stepping down as CIO of Oculus.  His announcement came via Facebook post, excerpt below:

Starting this week, I’m moving to a “Consulting CTO” position with Oculus.

I will still have a voice in the development work, but it will only be consuming a modest slice of my time.

As for what I am going to be doing with the rest of my time: When I think back over everything I have done across games, aerospace, and VR, I have always felt that I had at least a vague “line of sight” to the solutions, even if they were unconventional or unproven. I have sometimes wondered how I would fare with a problem where the solution really isn’t in sight. I decided that I should give it a try before I get too old.

I’m going to work on artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Thankfully John is leaving Facebook before working on artificial intelligence!  You can learn more about both announcements in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Wpig8-6ko&w=853&h=480]

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