General game developing news and updates.
Save 40% on Farming Simulator 17 as part of this week’s Weekend Deal*!
Take on the role of a modern farmer in Farming Simulator 17! Explore farming possibilities in a new North American environment. Drive over 250 farming vehicles and equipment from over 75 manufacturers, including new brands such as Challenger, Fendt, Valtra or Massey Ferguson.
*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time
In this GDC 2018 talk, PUBG Corp’s Brendan “PLAYERUNKNOWN” Greene shares his history in games, mod making, and the path he took to become creative director at PUBG Corp.
Greene discusses his humble beginnings starting with making a mod for the Arma series to developing the huge success of his game-mode in H1Z1.
He also goes over the lessons learned during his transition from being a person who makes things to a person who directs people after joining the PUBG development team, and some of the recent lessons after the launch of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
It’s an informative talk that’s definitely worth watching, so developers shouldn’t miss the opportunity to do so now that it’s freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers 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 or VRDC 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 Americas.
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
[embedded content]
Now that the heavily invested and reviewed Magic Leap developers kit is getting released, I think it’s an opportune time to talk about future computing and put some of the industry developments in perspective.
It was only a few short years ago that the world went nuts when Oculus got acquired by Facebook for $2 billion dollars ($3 billion all things considered).
On one hand, the acquisition was a much-needed shot in the arm and woke everyone’s collective imaginations. Facebook rang the dinner bell for pocket burning cash to chase a specialized and almost non-existent virtual reality industry.
In the other hand was something the bean counters knew all along. Be it a limit in graphics processing power or the challenge of not enough content or even the debilitating fear of messing one’s hair, it seemed very improbable that Facebook could recoup their VR investment in a manner that reflected the urgency of the acquisition.
[embedded content]
Now we’ve got Magic Leap with their first developers kit. Hyping itself up with whales crashing in gymnasiums or elephants in the palm of our hands, it too raised a quarry of billions of dollars from such companies as Alphabet (Google) and AT&T. People are a bit more hesitant to believe in the pink elephants than they were with Facebook and Oculus, yet the investment money still flows.
The question we are left with is why? Why spend these seemingly endless amounts of money for technologies and deliverables that simply don’t yet exist? The reasons are these behemoth companies are the only ones who can, and they are burdened by the limits of the current economy.
Traditionally, when an angel investor or a venture capitalist makes an investment, it’s a hindrance. There is the pain of paying, the ventures have financial risks, and the investments are structured with an exit in mind – going public, for example.
Everything is about getting the money back with a high rate of return because it doesn’t grow on trees and there is another hungry entrepreneur in the winds. In a scenario like this, the Oculus and Magic Leap deals would make no sense because there aren’t any meaningful revenues to demonstrate growth, the hype diminishes with time, and there is no exit strategy for X billion dollars in something that has yet to be truly realized.
SOURCE: The Simpsons, Fox
However, what if money did grow on trees? Despite recently losing $120 billion dollars of stock value in a day (comedian John Oliver equated this to the whole concept of Cheese), Facebook’s first 2018 quarter earned them nearly $5 billion in profit. Not revenue – PROFIT. Impressive? First quarter profit for Alphabet (Google) amounted to nearly $9.5 billion dollars. To put this in perspective the combined annual sales of Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia amounted to $12.2 billion — sales, not profit – for a whole year; and they are successful market-leading companies.
So what do you do with all that money? There is only so much you can stockpile before the shareholders get restless (this was a problem for Nintendo a few years back), charities aren’t the amazing write-offs they are cracked up to be, and there are only so many acquisitions that will really make a positive dent in your bottom line when speaking of behemoths like Facebook and Alphabet.
The remaining option is future computing; the practice of building what’s next with computers and computer media. It’s a careful balance of the three pillars which include compute performance and platforms (cloud, PC, mobile, console, AI, ML), immersive technology (AR, VR, MR, 3D, etc.), and innovative content and applications. Each pillar can stand on its own, though they are often interrelated.
The future computing deliverable for Magic Leap is the ultimate mixed reality experience. For Facebook, it’s Star Trek holodeck virtual reality. For Nvidia, it’s the self-driving car. For Alphabet, it’s all the above. These are just examples of big technological dreams that will not realize short term ROI beyond hype and maybe prospective stock prices. However, just imagine how these innovations can change the world and the endless revenue opportunities they can (will?) introduce!
Of course, I’m only talking about the super wealthy here; the most extreme dreams and examples. There are other, equally valuable ways of practicing future computing that may seem commonplace.
Have a block buster movie? Can you produce the sequel with more advanced effects for half the price? Can you get the same level of quality on the small screen for a weekly series? Future computing. Creating a new method of play for a VR or MR game for devices that haven’t arrived on store shelves yet? Future computing. Coming up with innovative ways to deliver processing power to drive our dreams? Future computing. This is all about building what’s next, and there are many equally important interlocking parts at all ends of the spectrum to make that happen.
[embedded content]
In the future computing world, a single product is not the end result. A realized dream is the end result. In VR, the vision that people connected with was the Star Trek holodeck. For others, it was the crashing whale, or maybe it was David Hasselhoff driving his talking Trans Am! Nobody thinks about a product that delivers this, they just want the dream to happen. It’s when we associate the vision with a fixed early curve product that we run into stifling disappointments and the dream looks more like fantasy. Fantasy is a bad thing in the future computing world because it means the dream has become an impossibility, or worse – a lie.
So the next time you see some wildly crazy investment that makes no sense, see past the product and look at the dream. Is it a worthwhile dream? If enough minds and money could be placed on the problem, is it feasible for the dream to be realized? Could the success positively impact our day to day and the way we live our lives? Is there an opportunity to grow the economy beyond what already exists?
This is what future computing is about, and step by step and sometimes outlandish investments are needed to make such dreams possible. Of course, we need to find viability along the way in smaller palatable bites – and that is doable as long as we remain realistic. We have to avoid that point of fantasy, remember!
So keep dreaming and doing!
The International Future Computing Association will be holding its next voting membership meeting November 7, 2018 at the Ontario Science Centre ahead of Immersed 2018 in Toronto, Canada. See you there fellow dreamers!
Riot Games’ relationship with parent company Tencent Holdings is reportedly on thin ice over declining profits and differences over mobile gaming.
According to a report published by news platform The Information, there are interviews with “more than 40 people close to Riot and Tencent,” including current and former employees.
While the report mostly covers Tencent’s full acquisition of Riot in 2011, it does provide details around Riot’s dwindling playerbase and Tencent’s interests in pursuing mobile gaming, which has supposedly been a source of stress for both companies.
The strained relationship seemed to come to a head after Tencent apparently approached Riot about turning League of Legends into a mobile game, to which they declined. Tencent responded by creating Wangzhe Rongyao, localized for the West as Honor of Kings (a mobile 5v5 MOBA) in 2015.
After early screenshots of Honor of Kings were discovered by Riot, employees were upset over the similarities the mobile game had with League. “They were blatantly ripping off our intellectual property,” a former employee reported to The Information.
Riot had brought these concerns to Tencent, but Tencent instead changed the game enough to sell as a standalone product with no similarities to League and became the most popular smartphone game in China by the end of 2017.
The relationship grew even more strained after Tencent began focusing less on League (with its reportedly declining playerbase and profits) and more on its stake in Bluehole and Epic Games, which are riding the current wave of interest in battle royale games.”
A spokesperson from Riot reached out to Dot Esports with an official statement regarding The Information’s report, saying that “League numbers are down from their peak, but it’s still one of the most-played games in the world and we’re very happy with the numbers.”
And as for the Honor of Kings and League debacle? It seems Riot is trying to put that to rest.
“The relationship with Tencent is the best it’s ever been. We talked to Rioters about it a fair amount back in February and while the Arena of Valor situation wasn’t great, we worked through it and leadership’s take that it made the partnership stronger.”
2018 is well underway. Over half-way, in fact, and there’s still plenty more awesome titles expected to arrive between now and December 31st. Below is an up-to-date list of all of the best new mobile games due out before the end of the year. Some of these are more wishful than others, so don’t be surprised if you see some games turn up on 2019’s list as well. Let us know if you spot any others!
Bad North is a real-time tactics game where you’ll defend your kingdom from waves of Viking invaders. Between fights for the very survival of your realm you’ll have to gather precious resources and negotiate the aid of your nobles and commoners to stay in the fight. The game looks beautiful, is clearly a potential game-of-the-year contender and is one of the games I’m most looking forward to this year. There’s no firm release date but Bad North is coming to mobile (and we may have to consider knocking it off this list), but it’s due out on PC via Discord’s new game store later this year.
Fans were stunned, awed and a little concerned when Rivals showed its face as the next entry of the classic series. Right now details are a little scarce, aside from the promise to see some familiar faces and engage in whirlwind base-building and battle. The visuals are already incredibly polished, and while its nerve-wracking seeing a legacy series carried forward, this game has the potential to be a killer distillation of the iconic C&C experience.
Dungeon Warfare is my pick for the best tower-defense game on mobile. If you haven’t tried it and enjoy the genre, you really ought to remedy that, if for no other reason than to get ready for the sequel. Dungeon Warfare 2 has been in development for some time and will be released to Steam this year. Hopefully, we’ll see a mobile release as well as was the case with the first Dungeon Warfare. Dungeon Warfare 2 will include over 60 maps, 12 unit types, 6 traps, and 3 different skill trees.
If Seinfeld is a show about nothing, Donut County is a game about nothing. The ‘hero’ is literally a hole lurking and swimming across the surface of L.A., land of fantastic donuts and pending seismic disaster. The ‘whole’ game ‘circles’ around swallowing various objects, growing larger and holey-er and solving puzzles by interacting with the environment. The novelty of its central mechanic (here as elsewhere described as a Katamari Damacy in reverse) is strong. Its irreverent, off-the-cuff tone as delivered by a raccoon narrator and soft-poly aesthetic point to a wonderful game.
White Wizard Games has become a competitive-card-game behemoth. So much so that they only have to hint at a Kickstarter and it is instantly fully backed. Well, not quite, but pretty close. Their digital version of Epic Card Game has been in alpha testing for a few months and is on track for a 2018 release to both iOS and Android. Like their previous titles, Epic is a buy once and have all the cards you need for sealed, draft, and constructed for up to four players. There are even preconstructed decks to start with and modify.
Nowhere Prophet one is a doozy and a little secretive. The dark horse of this race, if you will. In the game, post-apocalyptic leaders trek across a scabrous landscape to gather supporters and supplies, occasionally clashing with foes or environmental dangers. This card game has grid-based combat as well procedurally generated encounters. It’s a card-battler roguelike, essentially, with a unique setting and what seems to be a robust battle system. It’s due to hit steam in Q3 this year, although no word on when the mobile versions are due out.
Evolution is a bit of a strange beast. It isn’t quite directly competitive but at time the kinds of nature and ecosystems it simulates can be punishing and downright hostile. Eating the last scrap of food or eating your opponents, it certainly embodies survival of the fittest. If the devblog is any indication, the digital version should be as lovely and clearly presented as the original. They’ve taken their time perfecting the interface, and now Evolution is ready for its next form, to be released next month.
Inkle (of 80 Days interactive fiction fame) has been teasing their mechanically ambitious Heaven’s Vault for some time now. An archeologist-slash-xenolinguist explores the dusty remains of an alien civilization on an unknown planet, with a vivid backdrop of sienna sand and celestial blue. There’s some pretty nifty procedural tricks behind the code-breaking and translation, and while its approach to storytelling is a little less handcrafted, it has the potential to have even more surprises and replayability than the globe-trotting 80 Days.
Fantasy Flight Interactive is working on a Lord of the Rings living-card game. It is coming to Early Access on Steam sometime in Q3 with a full release to follow later this year. Lord of the Rings: The Living Card Game will be free-to-play with in-app purchases of non-random packs to add more cards with which to play. Mobile releases haven’t been officially announced, but there are Apple and Android logos in the video reveal, so we know they are coming. 2018 may be a longshot though.
In Night in the Woods, an anxious young critter comes home to a town, down in the dumps and feeling like a fresh failure. Sometimes just relating to others who care about you is an effort, or your childhood town strange as much as comforting. Oh, and there’s something dark and sinister afoot in the woods. Animal characters with human struggles, empathetic storylines and moving dialogue combine to create one of the best indie games of the past few years. It’s conversation-based gameplay and touch-and-go interactions.
It’s a deck builder. It’s a roguelike. It’s one of the best games of 2017. Monster Slayers is heavily influenced by Dream Quest and, for my money, is a better game. It’s coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PS Vita this spring and the developer has confirmed mobile is on the docket. Whether we can get our hands on it yet in 2018 is TBD.
The game that launched a million spreadsheets, space-based MMO Eve Online, is getting a mobile spinoff. Formerly known as ‘Project Aurora’, Ascension will be based in the same universe as EVE but will not be integrated into the existing game. CCP have partnered up with Kongregate to publish the game, and you can glean some insights as to how the project will be made here. While it’s supposed to have the same open world, player-driven gameplay as the PC game, it’s being specifically designed for a wider audience. It is expected to release to both iOS and Android later this year, although it has already soft-launched in the Phillipines.
Slowly but surely all of the most-popular tabletop games are making their way to digital, and Scythe is on that list. The game is set in the alternate-history 1920+ universe where mechs and other mechanicals exist side-by-side with agrarian society. Each player acts as a leader of a faction seeking to bring it to glory and success. Asmodee Digital is at the helm of this port, and a mobile port is expected sometime this year. It’s already in Steam’s Early Access program.
Yet another Asmodee digital title on its way is Terraforming Mars, and it should be a big one. Set 500 years in the future the game is all about the race to colonize Mars and out greed your fellow space-faring corporations. The tabletop game is perhaps the most popular board game still without a digital variant, but not for long. Transforming Mars is coming to iOS, Android, and Steam sometime this year, and will probably hit Steam Early Access first.
Do you dig Solitairica and other cool card/RPG/roguelike hybrids? If so, Void Tyrant is one worth watching for later this year. In Void Tyrant you pick a hero from a number of classes and head out to explore a chaotic galaxy. The graphics look good and combat has an interesting twist where either you or your opponent gets to do damage based on a Black Jack style showdown with special skills and items to monkey with the results. Void Tyrant is coming in Q4 for iOS and Android. It’ll be free-to-play by the developer cites “no annoying timers” so hopefully the monetization will be player friendly.
Seen anything else you’re excited for on the horizon? We’ll be keeping this list updated as the year progresses, so make sure you check back every couple of months!
Save 40% on Farming Simulator 17 as part of this week’s Weekend Deal*!
Take on the role of a modern farmer in Farming Simulator 17! Explore farming possibilities in a new North American environment. Drive over 250 farming vehicles and equipment from over 75 manufacturers, including new brands such as Challenger, Fendt, Valtra or Massey Ferguson.
*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time
Salt and Sanctuary, the 2D Dark Souls-inspired game that launched on Steam and PSN last year, has recently made its way to the Nintendo Switch, joining a slew of other sidescrolling games launching in August 2018. Since then, Ska Studios developers Michelle and James Silva have had a lot of time to reflect on their game’s success, and what it owes to their history making games using XNA for the Xbox Live Arcade platform.
Today on the Gamasutra Twitch channel, we got a chance to talk with the Silvas about that game-making history, and what life has been like since Microsoft announced it wouldn’t be supporting XNA on the Xbox One. It’s a path that shows how much game developers of different stripes make the best out of their respective tools, and when they’re poised for success, they find themselves able to adapt to surprising circumstances and create games that find a huge crowd.
Developers interested to know about what happens when you rely on specific game-making tools to make your own game should definitely watch this chat, which can now be seen up above.
And while you’re at it, be sure to follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel for more developer interviews and editor roundtables.
Whenever a new medium appears, it is flooded with stories, which immediately take the shape best suited for that medium.
In this GDC 2013 session, Schell Games’ Jesse Schell examines the history of how different mediums have shaped and re-shaped storytelling.
Schell culls out the the most useful patterns from storytelling, using them to look forward to the mediums coming next, and making bold predictions about the shape of stories to come.
It was informative talk that’s still definitely worth watching, so developers shouldn’t miss the opportunity to do so now that it’s freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers 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 or VRDC 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 Americas.
The Chinese government instituted a full ban on the release of new South Korea-developed video games last year, and it seems as though South Korean game developers and publishers are still not able to obtain new licenses which would allow them to publish games in the country.
Put into place on March 2017, the ban halts the licensing of yet-unreleased games of a South Korean origin and essentially cuts the country off from one of the largest mobile game markets in the world, making it impossible for South Korean devs to succeed in the market.
The newly formed Chinese regulatory body, the State Administration of Radio and Television, has not granted any new licenses since March 28th for any mobile game by a South Korean dev or publisher.
The ban was initially speculated as a response to a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THADD) missile defense system built in South Korea to protect against potential attacks from North Korea. China, however, saw the missile system, built in partnership with the United States, as a direct security threat.
Pocket Gamer reports that no reason has been given for the suspension, but it comes during a crackdown on rule breakers on Chinese app stores for those suspected to be hosting inappropriate content.
However, Chinese developers have been able to publish their games in South Korea, leading some local devs to see situation as giving Chinese companies an unfair advantage over their South Korean counterparts.
Apparently an official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea explained they had tried to get in contact with the relevant Chinese regulatory bodies, but the government “is not responding”.
The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!
Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.
Location: Irvine, California
Obsidian Entertainment is seeking a skilled, self-motivated Junior Lighting Artist to create visually compelling and imaginative artwork for our next world-class RPG.
Qualified candidates will possess a solid understanding of current AAA-quality art, cinematography, and lighting design techniques, and art pipelines as well as knowing how to work within current console hardware limitations.
If you live to create captivating lighting aesthetics and possess a decidedly developed eye for color and composition, let’s talk!
Responsibilities
Requirements
Pluses
Portfolio Requirements
Portfolio Pluses
Interested? Apply now.
Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.
Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.
Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.
