Category: News

Lenovo has opened up orders for its Google Daydream-powered VR headset the Mirage Solo. 

Priced at $399.99, the standalone VR headset runs without the assistance of a smartphone or PC and is notably the first to use Google’s WorldSense positional tracking technology. Thanks to that tech, the Mirage Solo is able to offer inside-out tracking and track a range of movement without the need for any kind of external sensor. 

The sudden availability of the Mirage Solo notably falls just days after VR rival Oculus launched its own standalone VR headset, the Oculus Go, for about half the price of Lenovo’s latest offering. Both of the soon-to-ship head-mounted displays offer virtual reality without a PC or smartphone connection, but the Oculus Go doesn’t offer the level of positional tracking boasted by the Mirage Solo. 

Google notes that Lenovo’s headset has access to the over 350 games, apps, and experiences already in the Daydream library at launch and that at least 70 of those titles, including Blade Runner: Revelations and Rez Infinite, offer additional enhancements or features that make use of the WorldSense positional tracking tech. 

The headset itself weighs about a pound and a half, lasts 2.5 hours on a single battery charge, and houses a Qualcomm 835 chipset, 4 GB of RAM, and a 2560 x 1440 LCD screen. 

Additionally, Lenovo has launched a VR camera alongside the headset that allows for the capture of video and images with a 180-degree field of view, then viewable from within the Mirage Solo. Orders for the $299 Mirage Camera are now open as well.

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I started looking into RPG Maker MV to update some of my VX Ace scripting panels and posts, and… it’s different. If you’ve read some of those posts, here’s a few things that might help with the transition.

JavaScript all the way down

Where RPG Maker VX Ace uses Ruby, MV uses JavaScript, and it’s more than just swapping out a scripting engine.

For example, if you build your project for web, the index.html file is literally just a list of the code files in your project:

RPG Maker MV web build index.html file

This seems like a smart move, because it makes it easier to support multiple platforms. There’s at least one way to run HTML5 on every platform.

It also means you have access to all of the code in your project. For someone who’s comfortable digging into the inner workings of the engine, that’s huge. It allows for a lot of flexibility, but it means you also have to be careful. (Regular backups or source control are, again, crucial.)

… which is a double-edged sword.

VX Ace’s Ruby code seemed to use fairly standard object-oriented programming practices. This made it easier to explain–classes are templates for things that can exist, methods are actions those things can take, properties define the details of those things, etc.

JavaScript is not exactly a traditional object-oriented language. It’s not that it doesn’t have those concepts, but they’re not exactly first-class concepts.

In JavaScript, classes are functions. Class methods are defined by assigning properties to the “prototype” property of the class. It’s all sort of backwards if you’re just learning. Rather than writing code, you’re often writing code that (more or less) writes the code you’re going to use later.

(To make things more confusing, MV tends to throw multiple classes into the same file, whereas VX Ace’s script editor had a well-organized list of classes.)

But it’s not actually bad. You can do some powerful things if you know what you’re doing. It’s probably not where you want to start programming, though.

This plugin included in the default MV project changes where the Title Screen menu is shown by replacing the methods on the Window_TitleCommand class responsible for positioning.

I’m not sure you can just wing it as easily as you can in VX Ace. If you’re interested in programming MV, I would suggest some good JavaScript tutorials first–specifically, ones that focus on the language, not simply its use on the web. JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford is a good resource and a fairly quick read.

Built for real development tools

One of the most frustrating things about working with VX Ace as a developer is everything is stuck in a binary file. Code was only editable through the RPG Maker application. Collaborating through source control was a pain, because there was simply no way to merge changes.

In MV, it’s all text. All of the code is JavaScript and all of the data is JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). That means it’s possible to merge changes from multiple users (although it’s still possible to create conflicts that require manual resolution).

A map file in RPG Maker MV

(Interestingly enough, it’s really the same pattern. VX Ace uses built-in Ruby serialization to store this data, where MV uses built-in JavaScript serialization. It’s just that built-in JavaScript serialization is text.)

One side effect is that you can bring your own editor rather than using an in-application scripting editor. I use Visual Studio Code, but there are lots of IDEs that support JavaScript out there. The benefit is, you get syntax highlighting and, in some cases, code completion and navigation. (Since JavaScript is a dynamic language, the information needed to make these features work isn’t guaranteed to be there, unlike strongly typed languages like C#.)

Since you can build for the browser, you can also debug your code using your browser’s built-in developer tools. This is good, because the playtesting mode error display doesn’t seem to be as robust as it is in VX Ace. You’ll get the exception type and error message, but not the filename and line number.

Plugin architecture

While you can find a number of “plugins” for VX Ace out there on the internet, they often just involve dropping code into a blank page of the script editor. That is, you structured them the same way you would any other additional code.

MV has a plugin system not unlike WordPress’s. Each plugin is stored in a separate JavaScript file, which contains various metadata (name, description, author, etc.) in the comments. You can add them to your project, enable/disable them, and set configurable parameters.

RPG Maker MV Plugin Manager

Plugins execute as soon as they’re loaded, so they can create, add to, and replace functionality. (Remember what I said about JavaScript code that writes code you use later?) You can enable and disable plugins through the RPG Maker application.

Plus, the plugin system seems fairly well documented in RPG Maker help, along with the default JavaScript library.

Plugins seem like a good, modular way to structure your code, rather than scatter it throughout the default RPG Maker MV code base.

What’s next?

I’ve already worked through my previous “gold window” example in MV, and I found it a little trickier. (Again, playtesting mode doesn’t give you as much information about unhandled errors.)

The good news is, I could build the same thing in the plugin system in only a few lines of code, simply by replacing a method. To me, that’s a win, but I’m not sure what the newbie-friendly blog post for MV scripting looks like.

This post originally appeared on my personal blog, dylanwolf.com.

After over a decade with Electronic Arts, Madden NFL creative director Rex Dickson has departed both Madden NFL dev EA Tiburon and EA itself.

Dickson made his departure official in a statement delivered over Twitter, noting that the decision was made after he and other studio leaders decided it “was the best path forward for everyone involved” and will allow the Madden franchise a chance to move in a “new direction.”

Dickson spent the past six years as creative director on the Madden NFL franchise, and all-together has spent 12 years at EA working on games in the Madden and Medal of Honor series.  Outside of his Electronic Arts years, Dickson has also served in design roles at THQ, The Collective, and Acclaim.

“I leave behind a team that includes player-first advocates like Clint Oldenburg, RG, Jake Stein, John White, Kraelo, and many others. A community that includes leaders like Problem, Mr. GoldenSports, Zan, Litez, and iMav (to name just a few),” wrote Dickson.

“I am filled with hope when I think about the passion of those who will pick up the flag and fight on for the future of the Madden franchise. Working on the Madden NFL franchise was a lifelong dream realized. It has truly been an honor.”

While he doesn’t make note of his next steps in his statement, Dickson has since joined up with Backflip Studios as the developer’s design manager. 

“An illusion!? What are you hiding?”

For anyone who’s played World of Warcraft at max level for at least a few days, those words and the exact intonation with which they’re spoken by both male and female Nightborne guards are burned into their memories. Like so many unwitting memes in video games, it captured the kind of furious audience ambivalence that points to a genuinely successful product. This is a bold claim, but I’ll try to explain.

The phrase comes from Suramar, one of the max-level zones on the Broken Isles, where WoW’s Legion expansion takes place. The province is the home of the Nightborne, descendants of the Night Elves who drank deep of arcane energy, transforming themselves in the process. Their vast capital city is the heart of the zone. It’s occupied by the Burning Legion–think, glowy green demon army–who’ve been permitted to march on the city by leaders who felt it was the only way to save the Nightborne from destruction. This fell alliance produces a fascinating questing area.

WoW and many other MMOs have no shortage of occupied, burning cities where you run around and fight the occupiers. Secret World Legends has Tokyo, Star Wars: The Old Republic has Coronet City, and so on.

“Suramar is a…reminder that you can tell a story about tragedy, diminishment, and the brutality of war without appearing wanton or childish.”

What sets Suramar apart is that Blizzard actually did a better job of demonstrating what an actual occupation looks like. Life goes on, civilians go about their business, the elite host their soirees–and there are demons patrolling the streets, harassing people and snuffing out any embers of rebellion. You can walk through it all without attracting much attention, doing quests that are not necessarily centered on killing mobs, with the help of… an illusion. A spell, cast on you by the resistance, that makes you appear as one of the willowy Nightborne, allowing you to blend in.

And thus we come to the mechanic that gave us one of WoW’s most immortal phrases. Certain guards can break your spell if you linger near them for more than a couple of seconds. They utter the line (and other, less memorable ones) when you come too close. It’s meant to keep you on your toes and always put you at risk of being descended on by a dozen guards, and it’s also a source of frustration for players who prefer a more direct approach to things.

But it’s also at the heart of what makes Suramar work. As irksome as it can be to deal with the illusion mechanic, Suramar is a much more interesting place when it’s not simply a killing field. While far from perfect, the city reveals its tensions and contradictions to the player when they’re able to wander around without having to fight. The constant risk of combat underscores the danger that lurks beneath Suramar’s surface, while making room for other sensations. Mystery, drama, political tension. This is a city where certain quests see you attend masquerade balls, put up propaganda, or help destitute Nightborne get the mana wine they so desperately need to survive. It’s also a city where you can break into a zoo and ride a gigantic dinosaur into the heart of town to feed her demons. It contains multitudes.

***

The larger story–in every sense of the term–is quite interesting. Suramar is distinguished by having one of the best story arcs for a single zone in all of WoW, made all the more remarkable by its contrast to the often overwrought injections of cheap pathos that characterize the cutscene-based beats of the expansion’s main story.

Suramar’s story begins when you’re contacted by an emaciated exile from the city, Suramar’s former High Arcanist Thalyssra, who was exiled for leading the initial rebellion against her sovereign’s choice to allow the Legion free reign on Suramar’s streets. Together, you found a headquarters for a new resistance, made up of everyone the new regime has alienated, hurt, or left behind: an expanding base of operations with its own sidequests and stories that take you all over the province, discovering no small amount of once-esoteric Warcraft lore in the process.

Eventually, you help build this resistance into a force that can retake the city and liberate it from the Legion. With some fleshing out, Suramar’s story could’ve been its own game. In an age where major studios seem to be moving away from the single-player RPG model, it was a refreshing experience to have something so well structured and story-focused. Though its expansive length grated on some players who were sick to death of skulking around Suramar city, I’d argue it was actually tighter and better paced than the rest of the expansion–and thus more involving and rewarding. There were characters you cared about with clear personalities, rather than the fully-animated ciphers that WoW’s marquee characters often are (the less said about Tyrande Whisperwind and the desolation of her personality, the better). I felt more regret at the death of a secondary Suramar character than at the passing of the umpteenth major storyline figure Blizzard killed off.

This is, after all, an expansion where a principal character spoke the words “I am my scars!” without a hint of irony. Before blowing up a Naaru. That happened. And I can never unsee it. Suramar is a desperately needed antidote to those moments, a reminder that you can tell a story about tragedy, diminishment, and the brutality of war without appearing wanton or childish.

From activating hidden leylines at my own pace, to finding hidden merchants in Suramar City, to a fascinatingly detailed strategic minigame where you lead an army of withered mana zombies through ancient ruins, it all felt like a standalone RPG in the best way. For WoW where story always came second to Kill Ten Rats style questing, it was a welcome sign that the game is still able to weave a magical tale. Rather than wallowing in declension, or faint echoes of past glories, in Suramar WoW reinvents itself while being true to its roots. It’s had to do this in every expansion, of course, but Suramar was a particular triumph for its unique take on an important part of Warcraft’s lore and how deeply it mined that lore for good storytelling and questing.

To look at the WoW forums is to see a study in ambivalence about the zone; some players loved it while others vociferously hated it. Its storyline is far longer than that of any other Broken Isles zone, and it was parcelled out on a weekly basis over the course of Legion. Taken as a whole, it can seem rather overwhelming for something that’s ultimately meant to be a gateway to deeper parts of the endgame.

But I hope that the complaints don’t cause Blizzard to turn away from refining the model they created with Suramar; perhaps not gating the content would be a good start? Giving players the ability to binge or take it slow would probably have led to more overall comfort with Suramar when it was fresh.

But the memes about the zone hint at a level of emotional investment that wouldn’t attend a true failure. There is love to be found in the mockery–which Blizzard itself recognized long ago: the “illusion” line is riffed on countless times later in the expansion, and forms the basis of several jokes made by the newly playable Nightborne. WoW’s always done a good job of making fun of itself, of course, but it rarely does so when facing unalloyed disasters. The love/hate relationship players had with Suramar was the result of a productive tension that can be honed to a sharper point. Blizzard’s ludic portrait of a city under occupation was nothing short of brilliant and memorable.

That we got a few in-jokes out of the deal is just a bonus.

Katherine Cross is a Ph.D student in sociology who researches anti-social behavior online, and a gaming critic whose work has appeared in numerous publications.