Category: News

“We have to deal with the issue of people being conditioned by other games and how the industry works. The conditioning is: if you don’t get all the content, the thing is broken, you’re missing out on something. Which is not true in our games.“

– Paradox Interactive’s VP of business development Shams Jorjani on improving the presentation of DLC for Crusader Kings 2. 

Paradox is looking at revising how it packages and prices DLC in response to feedback about Crusader Kings 2.

Released back in 2012, the game now has 24 DLC packs available that provide a variety of expansions and customization features for players, which all together total to about $300 if bought alongside the original game. 

Being one of Paradox’s most popular strategy game, Crusader Kings 2’s long-term DLC strategy could possibly overwhelm prospective players — after all, that’s a lot of money. But it’s money well spent, which goes directly into the development of more content.

“We’re not going to be able to do that if we can’t charge something for the development of the games. That’s the base of it,” explains CEO of Paradox Ebba Ljungerud. “For us, it’s not so strange that we actually charge people for content and better improvements of the game.”

“With Crusader Kings 2, you could say, yeah, it’s a lot of money over the years—but it’s also a game with a lot of hours and a lot of gameplay within it. So, I can’t say that I think it’s wrong for charging for the development of the games,” he adds. 

Be sure to check out the entire piece over at PC Gamer, where VP of business development Shams Jorjani goes into detail about how the industry conditions players to react to DLC. It’s well worth the read. 

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: Atlanta, Georgia

Kaneva is building a unique game platform for enabling social casino games on mobile, web and VR. Our Atlanta, GA based team includes industry veterans as well as recent college graduates that share a passion for building one of the most innovative game platforms in the world. Download and play CasinoLife Poker, our highly rated game on IOS, Android or Facebook.

Kaneva is looking for an exceptionally skilled and enthusiastic Software Engineer to be part of a dynamic software development team. The ideal candidate is an outstanding software engineer with a track record in working on building games in an MMO/FPS/RPG type of game platform. You have a knowledge of game and human factors design theory and tools, possess strong leadership skills, production-sensibilities, and the talent to produce and implement the highest quality work. You are open to working on interesting projects ranging from game development to cryptocurrency implementations that span various technology stacks.

You should be able to work independently and be comfortable with taking direction and critique on your code and designs. You’ll be sharing your hard-earned knowledge while working within a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary team of designers, artists, game producers, product managers and programmers as you continue to develop your skill set by learning from your teammates. 

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Game Producer and executive team to develop features for the game platform.
• Work directly with our Studio lead on tuning and improving the game system user experience
• Work with all areas of product engineering, as well as game feature development goals and execution.
• Create documentation to clearly communicate ideas and goals to team.
• Spearhead and deliver work on time within a schedule.
• Develop data-gathering methods for user experience enhancements and tuning through split testing then implement changes based on the data.

Basic Qualifications

• 2 – 5 years of experience as software engineer.
• Experience with Unity and C#.
• Experience with developing software in a Test Driven Development (TDD) environment.
• Strong methodology and problem-solving ability, with focus on technical design
• Understanding and passion for the competitive, multiplayer game landscape.
• Strong communications skills to work with and across teams
• Undergraduate or graduate degree in Computer Science or Computation Media is preferred

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a fast-paced Agile software delivery environment

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.

Among the array of Battle Royale games populating the landscape right now, Darwin Project has stuck out on platforms like Twitch even while Fortnite and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds dominate the popular conversation. Though still in Early Access, Darwin Project has proved worth watching because, per its developer, it’s a game that’s literally designed to be watched. 

With a cap of 10 players, a ‘game director’ actively participating in each game, and XP rewards for the number of people who watch your performance, Darwin Project does a sufficient job distinguishing itself not only from other Battle Royale titles but other multiplayer games as well. 

Because of Darwin Project’s unique flavor, we were interested in talking to developer Scavenger Studio about their development process for making these unique mechanics work in an Early Access game over on the Gamasutra Twitch channel. For your viewing pleasure, we’ve archived that conversation with lead developers Simon Deveau and Keane Tan for watching up above. 

If you’re interested in learning about making game design that’s fun to watch, not just play, surviving Early Access, and building Director Modes, be sure to watch! And while you’re at it, you can follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel for more developer interviews, editor roundtables, and gameplay commentary. 
 

Gamelynx has raised $1.2 million toward its goal of creating team-based competitive games on mobile platforms in an effort to make esports more accessible and global.

Among the company’s main investors are Riot Games, Y Combinator, Skycatcher Fund, and M Ventures.

Other investors include Leaf Ventures, Everblue Esports Ventures, and Lyle Fong, co-founder of mobile games studio Hobo Labs, Lithium, and Gamers.com. 

As reported by VentureBeat, Gamelynx hopes to use the accessibility of mobile platforms to diversifying the offerings for competitive players, where mobile esports are currently oversaturated by smaller-scale MOBAs similar to what already exist on PC. 

“As the line between mobile and PC/console continues to blur, the portability and accessibility of mobile creates an even brighter future for competitive gaming and esports,” writes Alexander Mistakidis, CEO of Gamelynx and former developer at Riot Games.  

The studio is reportedly working on its first competitive multiplayer game, with launch details coming later on this year. 

Microsoft announced yesterday that its next game in the Halo franchise will not be released on a traditional console, but is an arcade cabinet light-gun shooter titled Halo: Fireteam Raven. 

According to Microsoft’s announcement, Halo: Fireteam Raven is a collaboration between Raw Thrills, one of the few remaining arcade-game producers in the United States, and Play Mechanix “in close collaboration with 343 Industries.” 

The coin-operated cabinet is quite large, housing a 130 inch ultra-wide, 4K-resolution monitor which includes four seated-turret controllers and is launching exclusively to Dave & Busters arcades in the United States and Canada sometime this summer. 

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: Mountain View, California​

Game Closure is on the hunt for Game Engineers to help us build the social games that guide the development of our mobile game engine. We are a 60 ­strong and growing team with offices in Mountain View, California; Eugene, Oregon, and Tokyo, Japan. If you want to join us to make great games on our cutting­ edge technology and truly make an impact, then we want to talk to you! 

The Role: 

• Be responsible for designing, developing and deploying major game features.  
• Own game feature areas from end-­to­-end. 
• Be the champion for the user! Insist on the highest standards and create functional and engaging features that will delight our users. 
• Be part of a tight game development team looking to iterate fast on a fun concept and then building it out. 
• Have real input on the end-user product. 
• Be a key member of a high performing software engineering team. 
• Collaborate with design, engineering and production teams to devise optimal engineering solutions to game requirements. 
• Hands­ on architect and coder for sophisticated client/server systems for mobile gaming. 
• Innovate and iterate on process, systems, and technology to deliver world­-class social games. 
• Be a leader; Identify and articulate technical and production risks and obstacles, as well as generate solutions!

Desired Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience, working on cross-functional teams.
• Proven effectiveness in directing or delivering production software for high-quality games with at least one shipped game product of which you were a primary contributor (self­ published titles are acceptable).
• Capable of JavaScript + HTML5 to create custom, interactive, user experiences that are enjoyable on all HTML5 browsers.
• We expect you to be good at using script debuggers like Chrome Debugger.
• You must be pretty knowledgeable with what jQuery can do, and what functionality you are better off custom coding.
• Strong Computer Science fundamentals in object­ oriented design, algorithms, and data structures.
• Advanced software engineering skills, including the ability to write maintainable and robust code in a popular object-oriented language.
• Solid familiarity with 3rd party SDKs, analytics, and A/B testing in mobile games
• Familiarity with git, svn or other VCS.
• Self ­starter, analytical and creative
• Strong team player with a positive attitude.
• Good communication skills and the ability to work effectively on shared projects with designers, artists, testers, product managers and other developers.
• Check out Everwing on Facebook Instant Games in Messenger. Can you build this game?

Bonus:

• Canvas animation work
• 2+ years of game development experience with multiple shipped titles
• Both Android and iOS game development experience
• Specialized skills in a particular area of game development (for example: UI, Physics, graphics, multiplayer, game logic, etc.)

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.

Newsbrief: The Oculus Mobile Store now allows developers to launch new downloadable content for games and apps already live on the platform.

The beta release allows developers to introduce two kinds of DLC to games on the Oculus Mobile Store, sellable and implementation-detail, that can either be purchased or downloaded as a player progresses through a game.

The company notes that introducing DLC to its storefront should provide developers on the platform with a way to both expand the offerings of their existing games and increase the money they earn from the platform. 

Right now, DLC is only available for platforms like the Oculus Go and Gear VR that use the Oculus Mobile Store, but the company says that a similar update for the Oculus Rift’s store is “coming soon”. More details on how developers can implement the changes into their own projects can be found on the Oculus Blog. 

Following the completion of its first game jam last year, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center for Technology and Society team (CTS) is collaborating with the Global Game Jam and NYU’s Game Center to mobilize games to fight hate and bias. 

In an effort to collaborate more directly with the development community, the CTS is partnering with the Global Game Jam to expand its game jam from 2017, where over 20 games were created to embody anti-bias and anti-bullying themes. Another game jam will be held this year, although no dates have been released yet. 

Adding to its mission statement, The CTS is also collaborating with NYU’s Game Center to create a semester-long course in Fall 2018, which will incorporate ADL’s work into new game related media designed for impact.

The ADL will also be working with the International Game Developer’s Association (IGDA) to create new, developer focused programming to fight hate and bias in the game community as well. 

With these new partnerships in place it seems the ADL hopes to see an improvement against the continuous problems with hate and harassment seen within the games community after GamerGate, citing a desire to make games better use them as a method to reduce hate and bias.

For more information about the ADL’s mission statement, click here.