General game developing news and updates.
Luna is Now Available on Steam!
Luna is an interactive PC and VR fairytale. Solve puzzles in stardust and grow magical gardens in musical terrariums. Re-awaken shadowy forests and sparkling lakes, discover hidden creatures. Reunite the fragmented Moon so Bird can find its way home.
LittleBigPlanet 3, Snake Pass, and Crackdown 3 developer Sumo Digital is preparing to go public in an IPO (initial public offering) worth nearly $200 million.
As reported by The Times, the developer-publisher is getting ready for a ‘£150 million ($198 million) float,’ with sources claiming Zeus Capital has been hired to advise on a listing in London.
If the IPO goes ahead, co-founders Carl Cavers and Paul Porter will apparently retain sizeable minority stakes in the studio.
Sumo was founded in 2003 and is currently headquartered in Sheffield. The company runs three development studios: Sumo Digital Nottingham and Sumo Digital Sheffield in the UK, and Sumo Digital Pune in India.
The firm creates and publishes games for most platforms, and has worked on major franchises including Forza, Dead Space, Hitman, and Disney Infinity.
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
Written by Max Röhrbein-Kling and Johannes Kuhlmann
Having frequently posted here on Gamasutra over the past couple of weeks, we have now reached part four of our series of blogs about our experience with bringing Galaxy on Fire 3 – Manticore to Vulkan.
Our posts follow this structure:
In case you have not read our previous posts yet, here is our disclaimer once more: When we started working on the Android version of our game we decided to use Vulkan for rendering (there is also an OpenGL ES version, but that is not of interest here). This series is about our own experiences with implementing a Vulkan renderer and getting it to work on different devices, in particular on Android devices. So, we are mainly going to talk about the interesting aspects of our implementation and then dive into what we learned along the way.
First and foremost, the focus of our Vulkan renderer was to ship a game. That means it is more pragmatic than perfect and we have mainly done what has worked for us. We are not using any fancy stuff like custom allocators, parallel command generation, reusing command buffers, etc., etc. We do believe, though, that our implementation is still reasonably versatile and well done.
This fourth post covers the problems we encountered that are specific to Vulkan on Android.
While proper Vulkan support was only added in Android 7 (or Android N, or Nougat, or API level 24), there are a few devices out there that already had Vulkan support on Android 6 (or Android M, or Marshmallow, or API level 23). Some of these devices are, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S7 (Edge) and Nvidia Shield Tablet.
It is possible to support such devices with a bit of extra effort. The problem is that you cannot depend on the Vulkan header and library being part of the Android SDK/NDK. Instead, you have to provide your own header file and load the library dynamically at runtime. Google’s Vulkan samples have a convenient wrapper for this that spares you all the typing.
Note, however, that just because a given device can support Vulkan on Android 6, that does not mean all devices of that type support Vulkan on Android 6. The Vulkan support can vary with minor updates and even the extend of the support may vary. For example, we have found one implementation reporting its API version as being 0.0.1 and not supporting the swapchain extension or validation layers at all. Another device told us it did not want to work with us by reporting the VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER error.
So, make sure to check that the Vulkan implementation that a device provides is actually one you can work with and that it supports all the features you need. Otherwise, fail gracefully.
A challenge that is rather unique to Android is that you have to handle the case when your application is sent to the background. The player can pause and resume the application at pretty much any time by pressing the home button, for example. You have to handle this on the CPU side in order to not eat up all CPU cycles in the background. This would annoy the user by slowing down the phone and draining the battery.
Unfortunately, we could not find any documentation on what you have to do for Vulkan when this happens. Therefore, we had to figure this out ourselves by experimenting. We already knew that with OpenGL ES you have to be careful to not destroy your complete context (which means you will have to recreate all your textures and buffers, and so on). If you are careful, you can get away with only having your surface destroyed and recreated.
It is actually the same case with Vulkan. When the application is paused, your surface is destroyed. When it is resumed, you get a new surface which you will have to render into from then on. This is all a bit tricky as you have to be careful with synchronization and timing. Do not destroy the surface while still rendering into it, for example.
Destroying and recreating the surface also means that you will have to recreate your swapchain and its framebuffers. When all of that is done, you should have a smooth and quick pause and resume cycle.
Note, however, that you cannot pass in the old swapchain into vkCreateSwapchainKHR(). You have to destroy it independently and create a completely new one. We assume this is due to the old swapchain already being invalid because the surface was destroyed.
We started with implementing the Vulkan renderer on Windows. There, RenderDoc had our back when our rendered frames looked wrong and the validation layers did not provide enough insights.
For Android development, there are various tools aiming to satisfy your Vulkan debugging needs. RenderDoc also supports capturing from an Android app. But it is harder to set up. The major GPU vendors also provide their own tools:
Google is currently working on extracting the graphics debugger from Android Studio into a standalone tool.
Sadly, when we really wanted a frame capture, it almost always was on a device where the validation layers were not working. And all of the tools we tried require you to load a special validation layer for the capture. As a result, none of these tools provided a great deal of help. We therefore either tried to reproduce the problem on Windows or took a more manual approach by selectively disabling certain kinds of draw calls to track down the problem.
Implementing a Vulkan renderer is already a complex undertaking in itself. But from our point view, there are even more pitfalls on Android. This is mainly caused by two factors: First, the absence of simple-to-use tools. And second, the presence of additional difficulties such as the application lifecycle and different versions of Android.
Interestingly, different GPUs from the same vendor often have the same manifestations of bugs. So, if you want to reproduce a problem, make sure to use a device with the exact same GPU or at least with one from the same vendor. This can be difficult in some cases as, for example, Samsung likes to ship different GPUs in different regions of the world.
In the next (and final) post, we will talk about select statistics and numbers that we collected from our Vulkan implementation.
Rogue Trooper Redux is Now Available on Steam!
A pioneering tactical shooter and landmark comic book adaptation, Rogue Trooper is back, remastered and revitalised in true high definition. Experience acclaimed third-person action in this BAFTA-nominated tale of betrayal and revenge at the far reaches of the galaxy!
Chinese firm Leyou Technologies has acquired a 20 percent stake in Austin-based developer Certain Affinity for $10 million.
Established by a group of former Bungie employees back in 2006, Certain Affinity has co-developed a number of popular titles including Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Doom.
Leyou was at one time best known as a poultry supplier, but recently made inroads into the games industry after acquiring Dirty Bomb creator Splash Damage and Warframe developer Digital Extremes.
The chicken peddler turned games mogul now hopes to work with Certain Affinity to create an “ambitious and exciting” new title.
As part of the agreement, Leyou also has the option to snap up Certain Affinity’s remaining shares in 2021 for a valuation based on an agreed formula. If that deal goes ahead, it could cost Leyou up to $150 million.
“With its proven track record producing high-quality video games, Certain Affinity possesses the technical capability and talent to create highly successful titles, which in turn will assist Leyou in further diversifying its video game portfolio and enhancing its revenue streams,” said Leyou CEO, Alex Xu.
“This strategic investment into Certain Affinity is consistent with the growth strategy of our company as we continue to look for opportunities to invest and increase our market share in the video gaming industry.”
Overgrowth is Now Available on Steam and is 30% off!*
Feel like the star of a martial arts film in Overgrowth, as you jump, kick, throw, and slash your way to victory. Free the rabbits from their evil overlords in the main story, then play through the prequel story, and finally, try out nine years of mods developed by the community, or create your own!
*Offer ends October 23 at 10AM Pacific Time
If you have a great pitch for a session that would be a good fit for one of the many Tutorials and Bootcamps offered at Game Developers Conference 2018, organizers want to hear it — the sooner, the better!
That’s because many of them have put out a public call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables, panels, and tutorials. The deadline for submissions to each Bootcamp and Tutorial may vary based on the organizer, but they all close no later than Friday, November 3rd!
The Bootcamps and Tutorials scheduled during the first two days of GDC 2018 (Monday and Tuesday, March 19-20) are designed to offer attendees the chance to focus on the critical components of game development, providing them with a full day to take a deep dive into a single topic.
The organizers of these day-long workshops are constantly working to ensure they encompass the most interesting, informative, and cutting-edge sessions. With that in mind, the following Tutorials and Bootcamps are currently seeking great talk submissions:
GDC 2018 will take place March 19-23 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California, and will again play host to thousands of game developers from all around the world for a week of learning, networking and inspiration.
This will be the 32nd edition of GDC, the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, and it promises to be an exciting week of conversations and knowledge-sharing.
For more details on the submission process or GDC 2018 in general visit the show’s official website, and subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
By Adolfo Gómez-Urda and Laura Gutiérrez IGDA Localization SIG Vice-Chairs
That Magic Character Only French Translators Use
Automatic line-wrapping in video games is the source of numerous localization bugs that can only be seen by the Localization QA team. In the normal workflow, translators localize texts but don’t have access to the game itself, so they have no visibility over the size of the text box where their translation will be displayed and what it will look like on the screen once integrated into the localized version of the game. If a translation doesn’t fit into one single line within the text box where it’s used, it will be automatically split into different lines of text. Automatic line-splitting is an excellent and necessary feature, but it can introduce many localization bugs due to inappropriate line-wrapping or orphaned words.
There is one “magical” character that can help alleviate these issues, but translators are not often aware of its existence. We are of course talking about the non-breaking space (aka no-break space, non-breakable space, hard space, or fixed space), which can be typed by using the ALT+0160 key combination. Although it looks like a regular space when typed, it will behave as a very special space that will allow us to keep two or more different pieces of text together. French translators are the only ones who normally use them, due to a French punctuation rule that states that a space should be left before certain punctuation symbols, such as question marks, interrogation marks, colons, and semi-colons.
Automatic line-wrapping when a regular space is used instead of a non-breaking space
This character is very powerful and, if used properly by the translators, it can reduce dramatically the number of localization bugs found by LQA.
In order for translators to freely use this character, the development team should ensure it is properly supported by the game fonts. Most modern fonts support this character, but some development teams may create their own custom-fonts and omit this character or intentionally reduce the number of characters supported by the game to save memory. As a senior localization project manager, it is my responsibility to always analyze the game fonts to ensure they support all the necessary characters for all the supported languages. This character is always included in my analysis and, if not supported, I flag it as a necessary character for localization as important as any other accented character.
Some examples of the correct usage of the non-breaking space in French.
Asking if the non-breaking space is supported should be one of the first questions translators ask developers as it will avoid lots of hassle and firefighting after LQA is done.
Here are some examples of translations where this space should be used instead of the normal space (of course, only if you are supposed to use a space to follow your language’s punctuation rules):
In French, before the question/exclamation marks, colon, and semi-colon:
In German, before the ellipsis character: Warten auf Benachrichtigungen …
Between numeric values and units: 20 km, 30 MB, 100 %
Between a numeric value and the following word: 5 coins
Between the words “press”, “hold”, “tap”, “swipe” and button variables: To continue, please press [START_BUTTON]
English is no different, of course, and it would be great if the development teams started to use this character more often when writing the English texts and dialogues, since this would force the translators to use it and benefit from it more often.
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
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| It’s weird to see over four years of my life just sitting there in a lump. |
I’ve been making my little indie games for a living for 23 years. Being a greybeard in such a weird and young industry comes with special privileges.
For example, while some of my peers are getting around to remastering their old games, I am remastering our most popular game, Avernum 3: Ruined World, for the SECOND time. It is only when you rewrite the same material twice that you really test your discipline and integrity.
Writing indie games has become miserably competitive lately. Most new games, even promising ones with a lot of work in them, are sinking without a trace. Yet, thanks to the grinding tedium of rewriting the same game again and again, I have a fighting chance of my business surviving enough to write cool new stuff.
So I’ll tell the story or Exile 3: Ruined World/Avernum 3/Avernum 3: Ruined World. (Also on Steam.) There are things to learn here for any young person who thinks, “I wanna’ make cool things (not just video games), and make a living doing it.”
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| Don’t laugh. It sold like crazy. |
In A Previous Millenium, I Wrote A Hit
In 1997, I’d been making games full-time for a couple years. I wrote (and still write) retro, turn-based, low-budget indie RPGs with fun systems, interesting stories, and mediocre graphics.
Happily, I got started at a time when there were very few good RPGs out in the market. I got a nice computer, wanted to play a good RPG, and couldn’t find one. So I wrote one. It sold, because no competition. This is a key example of my most important business strategy: Get Very Lucky.
My first games, Exile: Escape From the Pit and Exile 2: Crystal Souls, were designed on a simple principle: I would go back to all the RPGs Iloved as a kid and steal the best idea from each one. I then carefully combined all my quality stolen ideas into a coherent whole. This is called being a game designer.
For our third game, I had a better idea. I spent months playing all the new RPGs that had come out over the previous 2-3 years. Then I stole the best idea from each one of those. Thus, I transitioned from stealing ideas from old games to stealing ideas from new games. This is how you evolve as a game designer.
I ended up with Exile 3: Ruined World, which has been our biggest success. It features a gigantic world, that is easy to get lost in. As time passed, the game world evolved. If you didn’t fight the monsters off, they would ruin towns and kill the townsfolk. (Though, no matter how slow you play, you can always still win the game.) If you didn’t want to follow the story, you could be a bounty hunter or merchant. You could buy a house.
(If you want to try it out, it’s available as freeware here. Warning: It probably won’t run on your computer. That’s one of the reasons we had to remaster it.)
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| Exile 3 came out so long ago that most new computers then looked exactly like this. |
It Was The Right Title At The Right Time
In 1997, it was what people wanted. It was a legit shareware hit. Now, having a hit indie game in 1997 (when the world wide web was basically nothing and most of my sales came from AOL) was different from having one in 2017.
These days, the sales of a hit indie game will buy you a mansion made of yachts. Back then, it bought me a modest house and made my parents slightly less ashamed to say what I did for a living.
I won awards, to the extent there were game awards back then. I got attention from the traditional games media, which was really worth something then. And it established me in the business for good.
But even then, I knew that the real prize was not the praise (which I don’t care about) or the money (which is nice, but then you spend it and it’s gone). What was really valuable was that I owned the game. It was mine. I could do with it whatever I wanted. Forever.
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| TREMBLE BEFORE MY MIGHTY 800×600 PIXELS! |
Five Years Later, I Rewrote It For the First Time
We rewrote Exile 3 as Avernum 3 in 2002. Five years is a really short time to wait before rewriting a game, but I have a good excuse. When I started Exile 3, I’d only been making games for money for two years, and I wasn’t very good. There were a ton of ways in which the story, interface and graphics should have been improved, and I didn’t know to do it.
I spent well over a year writing Exile 3, and my wife and I spent another year turning it into Avernum 3. We went over every single location, line of dialogue, and bit of code, improving and expanding it to the best of our improved abilities. The revised version didn’t sell as well as the original, but it still made a lot of money. (Again, by early indie game standards. It was a lot of money for lone artists, but not big-shot money.)
(If you want to try it out, you can buy it super-cheap here. Warning: It probably won’t run well on your computer. That’s one of the reasons we had to remaster it.)
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| The new game. I am constantly accused by cranks of never improving my games. Look. I’m not saying this is super-fancy. But I don’t think you can say there’s been no improvement. |
Now, Fifteen Years Later, We’re Doing It Again
Fifteen years is a long time in the tech industry. Our most popular game is now woefully out of date in every way, largely forgotten, and doesn’t even run on new Macs anymore. Now I can rewrite it so it actually works, and an iPad port will fall out of the process in the bargain.
Interfaces and game design have evolved in a million ways. I’m spending 18 months going over every tiny bit of the game again, redoing every single thing from scratch. I’ll release it in January or so, and it will hopefully sell. I think it will. I’ve spent over 20 years building up a loyal fan base.
The Pros and Cons of a Remaster
The good side of remasters is that they can be less work that writing a game from scratch. You can, with luck, get a full new title for 2/3 of the work, and it’s easy to market it because people already like it. (I’m assuming you’re not remastering a game everyone hated.)
The bad side of remasters is that you become the curator for your own work. It can be grinding to go over old material day in and day out. The reason a remaster is successful is because your fans like the original game. You don’t want to crap it up with too many new ideas, no matter how clever. People tend to not like change.
A Lesson For Young Creators
Never underestimate the value of owning your work. There hasn’t been a day since 1997 that I haven’t made money off of Exile 3. The reason is that I own it. It’s mine, to alter, remaster, and distribute. All according to my whims, with all the earnings going to me.
It’s a tough market out there. But suppose you release a new game and nobody ever even hears of it. Wait five years, remaster it and it really will be, as far an anyone is concerned, a new game. You can try selling it again!
And ten years from now, people will be using new consoles, new devices, new sorts of computers. Port your game to them! Each new port is an all new release. A new chance for your game to get noticed and catch on and become a hit!
“But Your Games Are All The Same And Look Like Crap”
I have a follow-up post about the reactions when I announced Avernum 3: Ruined World. It’s pretty funny, but this is already long so I broke it out into its own post.
When Avernum 3: Ruined World comes out (hopefully in January for Windows/Mac and March for iPad), I’ll have spent over four years of my life on it. It’s not a game for everyone. It’s mostly the product of one person, and it’ll show.
Even if you don’t like my work, I hope you take some satisfaction in this: Vidya games are still a place where one weirdo can make weird things for other weirdos and make a living at it. As long as this is possible, there’s hope. Maybe the next weird thing for weirdos will be YOUR perfect game, the Best Game Ever, and it never would have existed in a purely big-budget world.
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If you’re intrigued by the retro-RPG goodness of Avernum 3, you can wishlist it on Steam. News about our work and random musings can be found on our Twitter.
October is upon us, and that means we’ve got spooky games on the brain.
To that end, we asked Bloober Team’s Rafal Basaj to join us as we streamed a bit more of the studio’s latest game, the cyberpunk horror game Observer, on Twitch.
He was kind enough to acquiesce despite the fact that he was joining us from Poland, nine hours in the future. In the course of our hour-long play n’ chat, it became clear that Observer is a deeply Polish game — but Basaj told us that Bloober was quite uncertain about whether or not it should pepper the game with cultural touchstones.
“I remember at one point were discussing whether doing all these references in the game would make it hard to understand, for a Western audience,” said Basaj. “We figured out for a lot of people, it would be aesthetics. They won’t see those things, but it will be different for them. It will feel different.”
Later in our conversation, we dug deeper into what it means to make a horror game and why Bloober pitches Observer specifically as a “hidden horror” experience.
“Hidden horror has two principles to it,” said Basaj. “One, it has to have a subject…for Observer, it was the boundaries of humanity. “
“The other part of hidden horror is something we call ‘catharsis 2.0’,” he continued. “We wanted to not only relieve fears or tensions, but also go into the emotions, and how we as people think about the world. So, catharsis 2.0…[we want to] make the players think about how would they behave in such a situation.”
You can listen to our full conversation with Basaj (and watch our playthrough of the game’s opening hour above). Also, make sure to follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel for more gameplay commentary, developer interviews and editor roundtables.
