General game developing news and updates.
Moss is Now Available on Steam!
Moss™ is a single-player action-adventure puzzle game and new IP from Polyarc tailor-made for the VR platform. It takes classic components of a great game—such as compelling characters, gripping combat, and captivating world exploration—and combines them with the exciting opportunities of virtual reality.
Recently there’s been a bunch of community discussion around what kind of games we’re allowing onto the Steam Store. As is often the case, the discussion caused us to spend some time examining what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and how we could be doing it better. Decision making in this space is particularly challenging, and one that we’ve really struggled with. Contrary to many assumptions, this isn’t a space we’ve automated – humans at Valve are very involved, with groups of people looking at the contents of every controversial title submitted to us. Similarly, people have falsely assumed these decisions are heavily affected by our payment processors, or outside interest groups. Nope, it’s just us grappling with a really hard problem.
Unfortunately, our struggling has resulted in a bunch of confusion among our customers, developer partners, and even our own employees. So we’ve spent some time thinking about where we want to be on this, and we’d like to talk about it now. But we also think it’s critical to talk about how we’ve arrived at our position, so you can understand the trade-offs we’re making.
The challenge is that this problem is not simply about whether or not the Steam Store should contain games with adult or violent content. Instead, it’s about whether the Store contains games within an entire range of controversial topics – politics, sexuality, racism, gender, violence, identity, and so on. In addition, there are controversial topics that are particular to games – like what even constitutes a “game”, or what level of quality is appropriate before something can be released.
Common questions we ask ourselves when trying to make decisions didn’t help in this space. What do players wish we would do? What would make them most happy? What’s considered acceptable discussion / behavior / imagery varies significantly around the world, socially and legally. Even when we pick a single country or state, the legal definitions around these topics can be too broad or vague to allow us to avoid making subjective and interpretive decisions. The harsh reality of this space, that lies at the root of our dilemma, is that there is absolutely no way we can navigate it without making some of our players really mad.
In addition, Valve is not a small company – we’re not a homogeneous group. The online debates around these topics play out inside Valve as well. We don’t all agree on what deserves to be on the Store. So when we say there’s no way to avoid making a bunch of people mad when making decisions in this space, we’re including our own employees, their families and their communities in that.
So we ended up going back to one of the principles in the forefront of our minds when we started Steam, and more recently as we worked on Steam Direct to open up the Store to many more developers: Valve shouldn’t be the ones deciding this. If you’re a player, we shouldn’t be choosing for you what content you can or can’t buy. If you’re a developer, we shouldn’t be choosing what content you’re allowed to create. Those choices should be yours to make. Our role should be to provide systems and tools to support your efforts to make these choices for yourself, and to help you do it in a way that makes you feel comfortable.
With that principle in mind, we’ve decided that the right approach is to allow everything onto the Steam Store, except for things that we decide are illegal, or straight up trolling. Taking this approach allows us to focus less on trying to police what should be on Steam, and more on building those tools to give people control over what kinds of content they see. We already have some tools, but they’re too hidden and not nearly comprehensive enough. We are going to enable you to override our recommendation algorithms and hide games containing the topics you’re not interested in. So if you don’t want to see anime games on your Store, you’ll be able to make that choice. If you want more options to control exactly what kinds of games your kids see when they browse the Store, you’ll be able to do that. And it’s not just players that need better tools either – developers who build controversial content shouldn’t have to deal with harassment because their game exists, and we’ll be building tools and options to support them too.
As we mentioned earlier, laws vary around the world, so we’re going to need to handle this on a case-by-case basis. As a result, we will almost certainly continue to struggle with this one for a while. Our current thinking is that we’re going to push developers to further disclose any potentially problematic content in their games during the submission process, and cease doing business with any of them that refuse to do so honestly. We’ll still continue to perform technical evaluations of submissions, rejecting games that don’t pass until their issues have been resolved.
So what does this mean? It means that the Steam Store is going to contain something that you hate, and don’t think should exist. Unless you don’t have any opinions, that’s guaranteed to happen. But you’re also going to see something on the Store that you believe should be there, and some other people will hate it and want it not to exist.
It also means that the games we allow onto the Store will not be a reflection of Valve’s values, beyond a simple belief that you all have the right to create & consume the content you choose. The two points above apply to all of us at Valve as well. If you see something on Steam that you think should not exist, it’s almost certain that someone at Valve is right there with you.
To be explicit about that – if we allow your game onto the Store, it does not mean we approve or agree with anything you’re trying to say with it. If you’re a developer of offensive games, this isn’t us siding with you against all the people you’re offending. There will be people throughout the Steam community who hate your games, and hope you fail to find an audience, and there will be people here at Valve who feel exactly the same way. However, offending someone shouldn’t take away your game’s voice. We believe you should be able to express yourself like everyone else, and to find others who want to play your game. But that’s it.
In the short term, we won’t be making significant changes to what’s arriving on Steam until we’ve finished some of the tools we’ve described in this post. As we’ve hopefully managed to convey, navigating these issues is messy and complicated. Countries and societies change their laws and cultural norms over time. We’ll be working on this for the foreseeable future, both in terms of what products we’re allowing, what guidelines we communicate, and the tools we’re providing to developers and players.
7.17:
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* Eul’s Scepter of Divinity: Bonus movement speed reduced from +40 to +30
* Moon Shard: Night vision increased from 300/150 (base/consumed) to 400/200
* Refresher: Recipe cost reduced from 1800 to 1700
* Talisman of Evasion: Evasion reduced from 20% to 15%
* Talisman of Evasion: Cost reduced from 1450 to 1400
* Solar Crest: Base evasion reduced from 20% to 15% (active application is still 20%)
* Abaddon: Level 10 Talent increased from +20% XP to +25%
* Abaddon: Level 15 Talent increased from +60 Mist Coil Heal/Damage to +75
* Abaddon: Level 15 Talent increased from +6 Armor to +8
* Alchemist: Chemical Rage now applies a basic dispel on cast
* Ancient Apparition: Level 10 Talent increased from +60 Gold/Min to +90
* Anti-Mage: Base damage increased by 2
* Bane: Base damage reduced by 2
* Bane: Brain Sap manacost increased from 70/100/130/160 to 90/115/140/165
* Beastmaster: Base armor reduced by 2
* Bristleback: Viscous Nasal Goo now has a -2 base armor reduction
* Clinkz: Base armor increased by 1
* Clinkz: Strafe dodge now works against non-player units
* Clinkz: Strafe attack speed increased from 80/140/200/260 to 110/160/210/260
* Clockwerk: Base damage reduced by 4
* Crystal Maiden: Crystal Nova cooldown reduced from 12/11/10/9 to 11/10/9/8
* Crystal Maiden: Level 15 Talent increased from +120 Gold/Min to +150
* Dark Willow: Bramble Maze cooldown reduced from 40/35/30/25 to 34/31/28/25
* Dark Willow: Level 10 Talent increased from +20 Damage to +30
* Death Prophet: Exorcism spirit spawn interval increased from 0.3 to 0.35
* Disruptor: Thunder Strike cooldown increased from 15/13/11/9 to 18/15/12/9
* Earthshaker: Echo Slam now has 100 Initial Damage
* Enchantress: Nature’s Attendants cooldown reduced from 45 to 35
* Enchantress: Enchant slow rescaled from 3/4/5/6 to 3.75/4.5/5.25/6
* Enigma: Demonic Conversion manacost reduced from 170 to 140/150/160/170
* Enigma: Demonic Conversion Eidolon HP regen increased from 0.25 to 4
* Gyrocopter: Level 15 Talent changed from +3 Flak Cannon Attacks to +0.5s Homing Missile Stun Duration
* Gyrocopter: Level 20 Talent reduced from +45 Movement Speed to +40
* Huskar: Level 25 Talent changed from 0 Inner Vitality Cooldown to Burning Spears Pure and Pierces Immunity
* Huskar: Level 25 Talent increased from +125 Attack Range to +150
* Invoker: Catacylsm max spread distance reduced from 220 to 200
* Io: Spirits damage reduced from 25/50/75/100 to 20/40/60/80
* Io: Tether movement speed reduced from 7/10/13/16 to 5/8/11/14%
* Io: Level 10 Talent reduced from +60 Damage to +45
* Io: Level 20 Talent reduced from +20 Health Regen to +15
* Juggernaut: Base armor increased by 1
* Keeper of the Light: Chakra Magic no longer has a 25/35/45/55 manacost
* Leshrac: Lightning Storm cast range reduced from 650/700/750/800 to 650
* Lich: Frost Blast attack slow increased from -20 to -30
* Lich: Frost Blast cooldown reduced from 8 to 7
* Lich: Level 10 Talent increased from +175 Health to +200
* Lycan: Feral Impulse damage reduced from 15/26/37/48% to 12/24/36/48%
* Magnus: Base strength increased by 1
* Magnus: Skewer slow increased from 2.5/2.75/3/3.25 to 3.25
* Magnus: Shockwave damage increased from 75/150/225/300 to 90/160/230/300
* Meepo: Base armor increased by 2
* Mirana: Level 25 Talent reduced from -80s Moonlight Shadow Cooldown to -75s
* Naga Siren: Song of the Siren manacost increased from 100/150/200 to 150/175/200
* Necrophos: Level 15 Talent increased from +16% Ghost Shroud Slow to +20%
* Necrophos: Level 25 Talent increased from -1.5s Death Pulse Cooldown to -2.5s
* Necrophos: Level 25 Talent increased from +0.6 heartstopper Aura to +0.8
* Night Stalker: Crippling Fear cooldown increased from 12 to 24/20/16/12
* Night Stalker: Void cooldown increased from 8 to 11/10/9/8
* Oracle: Fortune’s End is no longer disjointable
* Oracle: Level 15 Talent increased from +90 Gold/Min to +120
* Pangolier: Fixed Rolling Thunder having no effect on units like Primal Split Brewlings and Ancients neutrals (still doesn’t affect roshan)
* Phantom Assassin: Stifling Dagger slow rescaled from 1/2/3/4 seconds to 1.75/2.5/3.25/4
* Phantom Assassin: Level 20 Talent improved from Double Strike Stifling Dagger to Triple Strike Stifling Dagger
* Phoenix: Supernova stun duration from 1.5/2/2.5 to 2/2.5/3.0
* Puck: Waning Rift silence duration increased from 0.75/1.5/2.25/3 to 1.5/2/2.5/3
* Pudge: Level 10 Talent changed from +5 Armor to +30% XP
* Pudge: Level 15 Talent changed from +75 Damage to +12% Rot Slow
* Riki: Base armor increased by 1
* Riki: Base damage increased by 4
* Sand King: Base damage reduced by 3
* Sand King: Caustic Finale slow reduced from 21/24/27/30% to 15/20/25/30%
* Shadow Shaman: Base intelligence increased by 2
* Shadow Shaman: Hex manacost reduced from 110/140/170/200 to 70/110/150/190
* Shadow Shaman: Level 15 Talent increased from -4s Hex Cooldown to -5s
* Shadow Shaman: Level 25 Talent reduced from +60 Wards Attack Damage to +50
* Silencer: Arcane Curse penalty duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds
* Sniper: Assassinate cast range increased from 2000/2500/3000 to 3000
* Sniper: Level 10 Talent changed from +15% Cooldown Reduction to +25%
* Spectre: Level 15 Talent increased from -8s Spectral Dagger Cooldown to -10s
* Spirit Breaker: Greater Bash disable duration increased from 1/1.2/1.4/1.6 to 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8
* Spirit Breaker: Nether Strike damage reduced from 150/250/350 to 150/200/250
* Spirit Breaker: Level 10 Talent increased from +400 Night Vision to +600
* Sven: Storm Hammer Manacost reduced from 140 to 110/120/130/140
* Terrorblade: Agility gain increased from 3.2 to 3.7
* Tiny: Base movement speed increased from 280 to 285
* Tiny: Tree Throw splash damage increased from 130% to 150%
* Tiny: Grow Status Resistance increased from 20/30/40% to 30/40/50%
* Ursa: Overpower duration increased from 15 to 20
* Ursa: Level 20 Talent changed from +1s Enrage Duration to +1.5s
* Winter Wyvern: Base Intelligence increased by 2
* Wraith King: Mortal Strike skeletons now have 30% Magic Resistance
* Wraith King: Level 15 Talent increased from +25 Skeletons Attack Damage to +35
* Zeus: Lightning Bolt manacost increased from 75/95/115/135 to 90/105/120/135
07 Jun 2018
Granted, we’re not really ones for Nintendo Switch coverage here at Pocket Tactics, but I think you’d agree that Asmodee Digital are a company worth keeping an eye on.
Not content with owning or publishing as many digital boardgames as it can get its hands on, the company is now setting its sights on new frontiers. Starting with Carcassonne in the winter, Asmodee will be bringing their digital catalogue to Nintendo Switch.
“Carcassonne is the first Asmodee Digital title of many to follow on Nintendo’s platforms,” says Pierre Ortolan CEO of Asmodee Digital. “This partnership is based on Nintendo’s need for new user experiences, and Asmodee Digital’s continued goal of bringing great board game IPs to new platforms.”
Now, granted, I’m sure we’d rather see Asmodee Digital’s 2017 remake of Carcassonne come to iOS instead (we suspect TheCodingMonkeys have that store locked down with their version), but at the very least those of us with iPad and iPhones who also happen to own a Switch can now get in on the action.
No word yet on which titles may be following Carcassonne – in-development titles like Scythe or Terraforming Mars are likely to be out before the medieval tile-placement game makes its move, so last-minute Switch versions seem unlikely.
07 Jun 2018
Announcing hot on the heels of Battle Royale heavyweights Fortnite & PUBG, the makes of ARK: Survival Evolved also revealed that their dino-themed survival game would be coming to mobile devices.
As the poster-child for the PC survival-game genre as well as Steam Early Access in general, ARK‘s blend of gritty survivalism and, well, Dinosaurs, has pushed it head and shoulders above other similar projects, many of which are still floundering in Early Access (we’re looking at you, DayZ).
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If you’ve been waiting patiently for more news on this game rejoice – the wait is over.
Auralux developers War Drum and Studio Wildcard have announced that ARK mobile will be hitting both iOS and Android next week on June 14th. It will be free-to-play, which we knew, but we’ve also now been given some details as to ‘how’ it plans to present the often-controversial business model:
A new subscription service, called Primal Pass, gives survivors access to an ad-free experience with reserved server slots, free gifts, and more. Additionally, survivors can acquire optional upgrades using Ancient Amber, a new material found throughout the island that allows players to obtain certain buffs for extended periods of time, build unique crafting structures and even resurrect your favourite pet dinosaur back from the dead!
No word yet on how much this subscription service will cost, nor how the free experience will compare, but rest assured we’ll get you more information as soon as we can.
As well as a bespoke interface to keep the game accessible, ARK mobile is touting the following features set:
Will you be trying ARK out on mobile when it drops next week?
Rafael Nadal has competed against some of the best tennis players in the world, but does he have the skills to take on one of the best players from the Mushroom Kingdom? In a newly released trailer for the Mario Tennis Aces game, launching exclusively for the Nintendo Switch system on June 22, Rafael Nadal takes on Mario in a tennis showdown for the ages. Who will come out on top? Check out the new trailer to find out!
In Mario Tennis Aces, you can unleash an arsenal of shots and strategies in tennis battles with friends, family and fan-favorite Mushroom Kingdom characters, including some characters that have never been playable in a tennis game before, like Chain Chomp. Whether playing with others locally* or online**, a variety of competitive game modes await that can be played anytime, anywhere!
With Swing Mode, players can work up a sweat with intuitive motion controls to play a variety of different shots across the court, or enjoy more traditional control set-ups in a variety of other modes. Not happy with the umpire’s call? Contest the decision with the new Challenge feature, exclusive to Swing Mode, to see a replay of the shot and see if it was in or out.
For the first time in years, a single-player story mode returns to a Mario Tennis game. In Adventure mode, help Mario save Luigi from the evil legendary racket by embarking on a journey filled with challenging missions and boss battles. This mode is a great way to learn and practice new tennis techniques, including the new Zone Shot, a super-fast move that can be aimed in first person.
Mario Tennis Aces launches for Nintendo Switch on June 22 at a suggested retail price of $59.99. For more information about the game, visit http://mariotennis.nintendo.com/aces/.
*Additional accessories may be required for multiplayer mode and are sold separately.
**Nintendo Account is required. Online services and features, including online play, are free until the paid Nintendo Switch Online Service launches in September.
Mild Cartoon Violence
“There will be one more console generation and then after that, we will be streaming, all of us.”
– Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, speaking to Variety.
Video game consoles don’t have long on this Earth, if Yves Guillemot has anything to say about it.
Specifically, the Ubisoft cofounder and chief recently told Variety that he sees the future of the game industry in streaming libraries of games accessible on multiple different devices, from consoles to smartphones to TVs.
He’s not the first or (probably) the last person in games to envision an end to consoles as we know them, but it’s interesting to see that he thinks such a future would bring a broader audience to big-budget games — if the work is put in to make them easily accessible.
“It is going to help the AAA game industry grow much faster,” Guillemot said. “We have to work on the accessibility of those games, to make sure they can be played on any device, but the fact that we will be able to stream those games on mobile phones and television screens without a console is going to change a lot of the industry.”
Of course, a world in which streaming game services are broadly and easily accessible is a world in which physical game sales matter even less than they do now, and pirating games is much harder. While Guillemot acknowledges the challenges of trying to deliver reliably enjoyable game streaming to people around the world, he seems confident that it will be possible within a few years.
“There are quite a few people that are working on streaming, like Nvidia,” he told Variety. “So, we think it’s a trend and that it will continue to evolve. Eventually, the technology will improve dramatically, which will allow us to have a very smooth experience in the big cities of the world.”
This sort of optimistic futurism makes more sense when you consider that Ubisoft just had a record-setting fiscal year, thanks in large part to “player recurring income” (read: microtransactions) in games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Far Cry 5, and Rainbow Six Siege. As part of the earnings report, Guillemot told investors that Ubisoft is now investing heavily in PC/mobile games and in game streaming tech.
“Our potential in the PC and mobile markets is massive, notably in China,” he said in March. “Over the longer term, new forms of gaming, enabled notably by streaming, will allow our brands to reach a much wider audience. Consequently, we are investing in our online services platform – which boasted 88 million unique active players – as well as in artificial intelligence in order to better tailor the game experience to each player’s profile and therefore offer them ever-richer experiences.”
Devs curious to read the rest of Guillemot’s more recent comments can do so by checking out the full Variety article.
In this GDC 2018 session, Hinterland Games’ Raphael van Lierop shares hard-won lessons about the community-informed development of The Long Dark, discussing what principles define a successful sandbox gameplay experience.
Van Lierop also goes into the challenges of wrapping a story mode around the core of a popular survival sandbox game, seeking to answer if it’s possible to successfully marry a linear, authored narrative experience to a sandbox open-world game.
Developers interested in how Van Lierop worked with the community to attach a narrative to The Long Dark may appreciate that they can now watch the talk for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new 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, GDC Europe, and GDC Next 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
Last week, British game development cottage Weather Factory released Cultist Simulator onto Steam, opening the minds of thousands of Steam users to the glory of possibilities that await beyond the edge of our reality.
We’ve been curious about how well a card-based simulation could perform in 2018, but between borrowing some clicker logic and a genuinely compelling UI scheme, Cultist Simultor seems to already be a…cult classic. Thankfully, Weather Factory co-founders Alexis Kennedy & Lottie Bevan were kind enough to join us today on the Gamasutra Twitch channel to talk about the game’s success, chatting about everything from the occult inspirations behind the game to the business strategy for getting the game out the door.
It was an…enlightening chat, which may or may not include some descent into utter darkness on the part of our stream hosts. As always, you can watch the full conversation up above, and be sure to follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel for more developer interviews, editor roundtables and gameplay commentary.
Play Forts Multiplayer for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pick up the game at 40% off the regular price!*
If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Forts. If you don’t have Steam, you can download it here.
Forts is a physics-based RTS where foes design and build custom bases, arm them to the teeth and blast their opponent’s creations to rubble.
Build an armoured fort in real-time and arm it to the teeth. Collect resources, develop your tech-tree, unlock advanced weapons to target your opponent’s weak points, and feel the satisfaction as their fort comes crashing down.
*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time
