There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to developers, the Humble Level Up Your Python Bundle.  This one is an eclectic mix of Python related content including subscriptions to JetBrain’s PyCharm Python IDE, access to training courses, videos and books.  As always Humble Bundles are organized into tiers, with each tier giving complete access to all the tiers below it.  In this case however it is slightly different, in that subscription duration replace those from the lower tiers with a longer duration and are not cumulative.

Tiers of this bundle consist of:

1$ Tier

• PyCharm IDE Pro Subscription 2 Months
• MongoDB for Developers Video
• PyBites Code Challenge 20
• Python Tricks The Book
• Illustrated Guide to Python 3

14$ Tier

• PyCharm 4 Months
• Async Techniques and Examples in Python Video
• Pytbites Code Challenge 40
• Python  Basics
• Learning the Panda Library

20$ Tier

• Building Data Driven Web Apps with Flask and SQLAlchemy Video
• Pybites 60
• Managing Python Dependencies with Pip and Virtual Video
• Effective PyCharm
• PyCharm IDE 6 Month Subscription
• Python Morsels: Weekly Practice 6 Month Subscription

Please be aware that many of these items need to be redeemed before the end of 2019 or they will expire.  As always with Humble you can choose how your money is allocated between the publisher, humble, charity or if you choose (and thanks if you do!) GFS.  If you are interested in learning Python for Game Development, check out the following Python Game Engine resource.

GameDev News

While it’s always a good idea to ask for help when you feel like you might need it, it doesn’t always benefit you in the long run. This is something the team behind Daemon X Machina may end up learning when the game releases this week. After developer Marvelous released a demo way back in February and explained that it wanted feedback on how to improve the game, a number of players instead interpreted it as a product that was close to completion, and so decided that because it was a bit on the shonky side they weren’t going to buy it.

Fast forward seven months and it’s fair to say that Marvelous was absolutely right: Daemon X Machina has certainly improved in numerous ways thanks to user feedback. It does throw up two questions, though: exactly how much has it improved, and is it too late to get back those who were disillusioned by that extremely early demo? We can’t answer the latter – only time and the charts will tell – but we can at least confirm that the finished game is a solid piece of work, even if it isn’t quite an absolutely essential one.

Playing as an unnamed rookie mercenary who specialises in piloting giant mechs, your job is to take on a series of paid missions to do your bit in the war against artificial intelligence, which turned against the human race after a colliding moon sent some strange radiation across the planet. It isn’t all bad news: this radiation also increased your own abilities, meaning your fully customisable avatar has more to offer than your typical civilian. Accompanying you on your quests are mercenaries from other factions, who turn up and drop out depending on whether they fancy a piece of each mission.

This whole idea of characters popping in and out can make it difficult to get a grasp of the plot early on, and as the storyline develops and you start getting a load of conspiracy theories and “can you trust this faction, can you trust that one, can we even trust the company we’re working for” shenanigans, it can continue to be a little tricky to stay on top of things. That isn’t the fault of the voice acting (which is generally of high quality) or even of the dialogue itself, which is well written. There are just far too many active components in play here: it’s like playing chess and having the pieces swapped out for new ones every few turns. The fact that many of the cutscenes between missions simply involve different characters turning up to stand practically motionless in a room and talk to each other does nothing to help matters: even if what they’re saying is of interest, the set-up is dull as dishwater and it can be hard to keep focused.

Games like this do their talking on the battlefield, of course, and it’s here where Daemon X Machina shines for the most part. Mech games can be a bit of a slog to control but that isn’t the case here at all: your Arsenal (which is what the game’s mechs are called) is a breeze to commandeer, and while the hefty command list can initially seem quite daunting, it only really takes a couple of missions before you’re swooping around with all the grace of… well, a 50-foot robot. A graceful one, though.

When you’re in the air movement is a simple case of looking in the direction you want to go and heading that way, while more extreme altitude changes can be controlled with either the ‘B’ button (to quickly boost upwards) or pressing in the left stick (to kill your jets and drop quickly downwards). A useful dash button assigned to ‘R’ is an essential piece of kit, especially as the game progresses and you find yourself in increasingly larger firing lines. When on the ground, you’re also able to exit your mech and run around on foot, though this is rarely useful: technically it lets you continue to get involved in the action while you wait for a partner to repair your downed mech, but you’re so vulnerable in this state that it almost always results in death, at least in the early stages of the game.

Combat, meanwhile, is similarly satisfying. There’s a generous aim assist in play here, meaning as long as you look in the general direction of an enemy you’ll lock onto them and start firing at them with decent accuracy. Some of the self-appointed ‘hardcore’ may object to this but it does make sense: many of the game’s standard enemies are also airborne and it would be a bit odd if your extremely expensive, technically impressive giant mech struggled to accurate take down a basic flying foe. There’s something very gratifying about taking on a group of five or six enemies and picking them off one at a time with relative ease.

This aiming assist also goes some way to make up for the awkward feel of twin-stick controls you typically get when playing the Switch in handheld mode: since there’s no need to be absolutely spot on with your aiming, it’s far less frustrating. You have an option to switch to motion-controlled aiming should you so desire but we were happy enough with the standard settings that we didn’t feel the need to swap over. If you’ve been put off by mech games in the past because of their apparent complexity, this is the approachable one you may have been looking for.

Customisation is the main order of the day here, though. As well as the extensive options available to you when creating the look of both your pilot and your mech, there’s a wealth of weaponry that can be unlocked as you progress: some by simply clearing the main and side missions, others by looting the wreckage of downed enemies. While your mech starts off with a basic combination of an assault rifle in one hand and a shield in the other, before long your hangar will be stocked with swords, laser guns, sniper rifles and the like, giving you plenty of options.

Naturally, you can’t take all your guns into battle with you, but the game’s at least generous to an extent in that regard: it’s possible to enter a mission with a weapon allocated to your left arm (which is fired with the ‘ZL’ button), one allocated to your right (‘ZR’), a missile launcher on your shoulder (‘L’), an ‘auxiliary weapon’ like grenades or mines (‘Y’) and two more spare weapons that you can attach to pylons above you and swap out for your main ones whenever the situation requires. This means lengthy battles – and they can get very lengthy, especially when fighting bosses – can at least stay entertaining as you make the most of all the weaponry at your disposal.

At its core it’s an enjoyable mech game, then, but Daemon X Machina is not without its faults. Despite taking on user feedback and tweaking the game accordingly, elements of the game can still be pretty overwhelming, especially to beginners. Your HUD consists of no fewer than 21 elements, ranging from three different gauges to all your weapons’ ammo counters to a whole array of icons showing the health of each element of your mech (head, body, legs and each arm). The detailed options menu lets you turn off any of these as you see fit, but they’re all useful to an extent so we don’t necessarily recommend that: you just have to get through that initial adaptation period.

It also gets repetitive after a while. The majority of the game really is just a case of ‘do a mission, get paid, watch a cut-scene, do the next mission’ and as the plot gets more complex and your inventory gets progressively larger (though you can sell some of it off) you do start to get the sense that it’s just a rinse and repeat situation. Although there’s some variation to the missions – one minute you’re defending buildings, the next you’re taking on other rogue mercenaries – there’s still no escaping what is a fairly rigid structure.

If you get bored of the single-player missions there’s also the option to take part in some co-op ones, be that online or locally, with up to three other players. These are generally quite meaty (you’ll be fighting giant bosses, scrapping with groups of powerful enemy mechs, that sort of thing) and give decent cash rewards for completion, even though in the grand scheme of things they’re still more of the same sort of stuff. If you detest the idea of other humans you can take these on solo, and as you play through the main story you also unlock AI partners to recruit and fight alongside you (though they’re often as useful as a chocolate teapot).

If you’re still on the fence about Daemon X Machina, our advice is simple: download the free prologue demo that’s currently available on the Switch eShop. This gives you the first few missions and, should you like them and decide to buy the full game, you can carry your save file over. While a lot of other demos are too short to really get across the full picture of the game they’re representing, the fact that Daemon X Machina is such a formulaic experience means that by the time you reach the end of the Prologue you’ll have a pretty good idea of how most of the rest of the game is structured. By that point, if you want more of the same, you can feel safe in the knowledge that if you buy the full game you’ll be getting exactly that.

This week at Bungie, we released our Director’s Cut.

Usually, you find the majority of Destiny-related news within a This Week at Bungie blog post, dropping each Thursday around 3 PM Pacific. This week, we’ve done something different. We won’t be picking each of these apart here in the TWAB, but rather directing your attention to where this information lives. Here’s the rundown:

Luke explores the learnings of Destiny 2 Year 2 and the Annual Pass: what went well, what didn’t, and what we’ve learned. This is a bit of a read, so make sure to have some snacks before you start.

This morning, Luke went a bit deeper on what the live stream covered, providing additional context for how you will transition from the armor you wear now to Armor 2.0 in the Fall. Additionally, he covered how the ways you acquire Power will change and how New Light will introduce players to the Power system in October.

(Coming Soon) Director’s Cut: Part 3 – Combat: The Inevitable Collision of Action and RPG

Tomorrow, we take a hard look at damage. Shadowkeep will bring many changes to buffs, debuffs, stacking, Supers, and more.

We’re sure you have questions—and that you’ll have even more after tomorrow’s final entry to the Director’s Cut series. We’ll be looking to answer as many as possible as we approach October 1. Sound off with what you’d like to hear more about, and feel free to ask about any of the finer details.

Dresstiny

While Luke was burning up the keyboard, DeeJ took to the streams to host members of the development team in exploring new elements of customization coming with Armor 2.0 in Shadowkeep. Stats, mods, appearance, and more were discussed throughout the stream.

There are a lot of reasons to be excited for Shadowkeep. Quality-of-life updates, overhauls to investment systems, and new ways to fine-tune your monster-killing machine. Of all the customization options coming with Armor 2.0, I’m most excited to rock my favorite Titan gauntlets once more, decked out with various mods to complement my playstyle. Shaxx always tells me to throw more grenades, but I sure do love shoulder charging people into oblivion.

Discipline, strength, and resilience are on my mind. Intellect? Bah. I don’t need the help. I’ll make my own Supers with my knee. That said, efficiency is only half the battle. Destiny is also about fashion. Some even call it Dresstiny from time to time. Starting in Shadowkeep, we’ll be celebrating those among you with a keen eye for style with a new Community emblem.

The Levante Prize  

The most prestigious fashion prize. Awarded in honor of the original Guardian Outfitter, Eva Levante.

“When I was young, the Last City would celebrate looking fashionable for a whole week. Seeing that tradition come back brings me such joy. It’s my honor to grant you the first Levante prize of a new fashionable era.” —Eva Levante   

Each month, we’ll host a fashion show of sorts, and winners will earn this sweet emblem. I personally can’t wait to see how you all customize your guardians, mixing and matching various sets with an assortment of shaders. Stay tuned for more details!

Prepare to Cross Save

This is their report.

Safeguarding Your Steam Account

Next Tuesday, August 20, Steam linking is scheduled to go live for all players on Bungie.net.

Steam linking is the first step for PC players to migrate their Destiny 2 accounts from Battle.net later this year and is required before players with linked PC accounts can activate cross save.

Because account security is vital, we strongly encourage players to setup Steam Guard two-factor authentication. For a comprehensive guide on setting up Steam Guard on your mobile device, please visit Steam’s support page.

Cross Save: August vs. October

Next Wednesday, August 21, cross save is scheduled to become available for all Destiny 2 players on Bungie.net.

Before this feature goes live, we’d like to set expectations on how the cross save experience will evolve following the launches of New Light and Shadowkeep on October 1.

Expansion Destinations and Activities

When cross save launches on August 21, cross-save-enabled players will not be able to access expansion destinations or activities from platforms where they do not own that expansion license until the corresponding expansion is purchased on that platform.

For example: A cross-save-enabled player who owns Forsaken on their Xbox One account, but not on PlayStation 4, will not be able to launch into the Dreaming City on PlayStation 4 when cross saving their Xbox One characters.

With the arrival of New Light on October 1, we’re changing how players access destinations and activities for content that they do not own. For more information on New Light, please see our New Light page.

Powerful Rewards

When cross save launches on August 21, cross-save-enabled players who earn gear on platforms where they do not own Forsaken will receive that gear at below-Forsaken Power levels until Forsaken is purchased on that platform.

For example: A cross-save-enabled player on a 750 Power character who owns Forsaken on their Xbox One account, but not on PlayStation 4, will receive all powerful gear drops at 380 Power when earned on PlayStation 4 while cross saving their Xbox One characters.

These Power restrictions will be removed in Update 2.6.0 with the launches of New Light and Shadowkeep later this year.

It’s…

This week, our winners will not be assisting you on how to recognize different types of Guardians from quite a long way away. They’ll be referencing some cheeky jokes, new and old. Hopefully this week, we have content for the whole family—even those pesky kids who keep telling me to “Yeet this Wheat.”

Movie of the Week: The Round(ish) Table

Honorable Mention: Get Ready to Drop

That’s a wrap! Well, sort of. We’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning for Part 3 of the Director’s Cut. Seeing as though I just got a Crucible tattoo, I’m excited to hear your thoughts on the details that Luke will be sharing. Until next time, I’ll be finishing up my Solstice sets.

Cheers,

Dmg04

The combat update from 1.9 has been a controversial topic for many. Some loved the changes, while others hated it and refused to move on from 1.8.

Mojang has been hard at work trying to make it the best experience possible to the needs of PC players while also making sure those that play on phones or tablets have a good experience.

To this end, jeb has posted on Reddit a new custom snapshot which contains several large changes to combat.

This is a summary of those changes, as explained by jeb:

This “manually installed Java snapshot” is the first experiment of the new direction of combat mechanics. It’s based upon the current Java Edition system, but with the following major changes:

• Overall much faster attacks

• Attacks only happen when fully charged, even if you spam click

• You can hold to attack

• Weapons have different reach (attack range)

• When you stop attacking, the attack timer will continue charging to 200%

• At 200% you can perform special attacks (crits, sweeping, knockback) and these attacks have longer reach

• Sweeping only occurs on swords with the Sweeping enchantment

• Critical attacks (jump attacks) bypass shields

• Shields have no warm-up delay

• Shields also activate when crouching/sneaking

• If you hit something, the target’s “invulnerability timer” will be shorter if you have a quick weapon

Installation instructions:

Finding the Minecraft application folder:

• Windows: Press Ctrl+R and type %appdata%/.minecraft and press Ok

• Mac OS X: In Finder, in the Go menu, select “Go to Folder” and enter ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft

• Linux: ~/.minecraft or /home/<your username>/.minecraft/

Once you have the launcher set up you can download the server files from there as well.

If you have any comments, issues, or other criticisms, then leave a comment over on Reddit so that jeb will see it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/c5mqwv/a_custom_java_edition_snapshot_to_test_new_combat/

Signups now open for college esports tournaments featuring Blizzard Entertainment’s Heroes of the Storm®, Hearthstone®, and StarCraft® II

This year’s programs offer more opportunities—and scholarships—for college gamers across U.S. and Canada than ever before

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Student gamers everywhere can now matriculate in a full schedule of college esports programs, as Tespa, Blizzard Entertainment’s college esports network, has revealed its lineup of tournaments and events for this year, including the fourth edition of Heroes of the Dorm™. With programs for Hearthstone® and StarCraft® II in addition to Heroes of the Storm®, Tespa will award more than $1 million in scholarships and prizing by the end of the 2017-18 academic year.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180122006267/en/

Now in its fourth year, Heroes of the Dorm is introducing regional play. More than $500,000 in scholarships and prizes are up for grabs in this premier collegiate esports competition. Regional winners and other top teams on the national leaderboard will be seeded into the 64-team National Championship bracket. The battle for the Heroes of the Dorm National Championship—and for the scholarship money each player receives for the remainder of their college careers—will be fierce. Fans can watch all the action on both www.twitch.tv/blizzheroes and www.mlg.com.

In a one-of-a-kind broadcast partnership with Raycom Sports, Heroes of the Dorm will have a dedicated, nationally-syndicated program during a five-week period of competition. Raycom will produce the weekly, one-hour Heroes of the Dorm program, featuring schools competing in the tournament’s Atlantic Coast Region. The original series, which will cover competition as well as spotlight player and team stories, will be broadcast across Raycom Sports’ syndicated network of affiliates in more than 50 markets in the United States.

“With intense student competition and an epic tournament bracket featuring schools across the United States and Canada, Heroes of the Dorm showcases the kind of excitement that can only come from college esports,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to cheering on all of the talented players who will be competing in Heroes of the Storm, as well as Hearthstone and StarCraft II, for their share of Tespa’s biggest scholarship prize pool ever.”

Starting today, eligible college gamers in the United States and Canada can sign up to compete in Heroes of the Dorm at www.heroesofthedorm.com. See the full schedule below:

Hearthstone Collegiate Championship

Teams vying for the 2018 Hearthstone Collegiate Championship will have their hands full as they battle for their share of $150,000 in scholarship prizing. Each team of three will have to battle through a seven-week regular season and the regional playoffs to make it to the single-elimination championship bracket. Fans can watch the tournament live on www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone.

Eligible college gamers in the United States and Canada can sign up to compete in the Hearthstone Collegiate Championship at compete.tespa.org starting today. See the full schedule below:

Tespa Collegiate Series—StarCraft

The first ever Tespa Collegiate Series—StarCraft will award $35,000 in total scholarship prizing to the top performers in the 16-team league. Teams of three players will battle it out in StarCraft II twice a week during the eight-week regular season, with four teams joining the tournament via the open qualifiers. Matches will be broadcast on www.twitch.tv/starcraft and www.mlg.com. Eligible college gamers in the United States and Canada can sign up for qualifiers at compete.tespa.org starting today. See the full schedule below:

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Overwatch®, the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises, and the multi-franchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes twenty-one #1 games* and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online-gaming service, Blizzard Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

*Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.

About Tespa

Tespa is the premier college gaming network in North America, dedicated to creating a home for gamers on every campus. Recognized as the leader in college esports, Tespa cultivates student communities that host epic gaming events on campuses in the United States and Canada, and plans to distribute more than $1 million in scholarship prizing in 2018 through intercollegiate leagues. Tespa has had more than 5000 teams from more than 1400 universities compete in its college tournaments and has empowered student leaders to become entrepreneurs in the gaming industry.

About Raycom Sports

Charlotte, N.C.-based Raycom Sports is a leader for compelling storytelling, production, and content distribution across all platforms. With an award-winning production team, Raycom creates original feature programming such as Football Saturdays. Raycom is the syndicated rightsholder of Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball and football since 1982, and manages live television broadcasting, original programming, archival footage, mobile applications, social media, the official ACC website and the ACC Official Corporate Champions program. Raycom also serves as the digital content, marketing, video and broadcast production partner of The Basketball Tournament (TBT). Raycom manages client activations and hospitality at ACC FanFest at the ACC Football Championship and ACC Basketball Tournaments.

Raycom Sports’ parent company Raycom Media, owns and/or provides services for 65 television stations and 2 radio stations located in 20 states covering 16% of U.S. television households.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Blizzard Entertainment’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the dates and features of Heroes of the Dorm 2018, the Tespa Collegiate Series—StarCraft, and the Hearthstone Collegiate Championship, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Blizzard Entertainment’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Blizzard Entertainment nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Blizzard Entertainment or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180122006267/en/

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Christy Um
Director, Esports Communications
949.955.1380 x61251
christy.um@blizzard.com
or
David Gordon
Global PR Manager, Esports
949.955.1380 x13506
dgordon@blizzard.com
or
Sara Zaidi
Global PR Manager
949.955.1380 x61091
szaidi@blizzard.com

Source: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

Children of Morta is Now Available on Steam!

Children of Morta is a story-driven action RPG game about an extraordinary family of heroes. Lead the Bergsons, with all their flaws and virtues, against the forthcoming Corruption. Will you be able to sacrifice everything to save the ones you care for?

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 Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Delighted you’re here!  I’m video game music composer Winifred Phillips.  Welcome back to our four part discussion of how game music can enhance presence in virtual reality video games! These articles are based on the presentation I gave at this year’s gathering of the famous Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco.  My talk was entitled How Music Enhances Virtual Presence (I’ve included the official description of my talk at this end of this article). If you haven’t read the previous two articles, you’ll find them here:

In my GDC talk, I discussed Virtual Presence in connection with seven of the virtual reality games and experiences that I’ve scored, which have either released within the past year or will be released within the coming months.  These include Audioshield (Audiosurf LLC), Bebylon Battle Royale (Kite & Lightning), Fail Factory (Armature Studio), The Haunted Graveyard (Holospark), Life Hutch VR (Next Stop Willoughby), Scraper: First Strike (Labrodex Inc), and Shattered State (Supermassive Games).  Using examples from these games, I discussed a model for how gamers develop the psychological attachment necessary to most effectively achieve Virtual Presence. The psychological model consists of three stages:

In the previous two articles of this series, we discussed the roles of engagement and engrossment, so now let’s look at the third and final stage:

Empathy

As we all know, when we feel empathy we’re experiencing compassion towards other people. However, according to the researchers from University College London, when we’ve achieved empathy as a component of Virtual Presence, we’re not feeling compassion for other characters – but rather, for ourselves.

As the main character in our own virtual adventure, we feel empathy for our own in-game situation, and for the character that we currently inhabit. Once we’ve achieved that fullest expression of personal empathy, we’ve reached the final stage that enables Virtual Presence. As game music composers and game audio experts, how can we best help players achieve this specific form of personal empathy?

Music is great at triggering and stoking this emotion in some tried-and-true ways. We simply have to get players to root for themselves. We have to build them up, and make them feel emotionally invested in their own success. Let’s take a look at a couple of simple but effective examples.

First, let’s take a look at Fail Factory, developed by Armature Studio and released for the Oculus Go and the Samsung Gear VR. In Fail Factory, players assume high-stress jobs in a giant robot factory. Keeping up with the rapidly accelerating assembly lines and conveyor belts is a constant challenge, resulting in lots of wacky failures. While the pandemonium is a big part of the game’s appeal, it’s still important to keep players motivated to succeed. Players need to empathize with their own character’s accomplishments. Since this kind of emotional investment enhances Virtual Presence, it becomes very important to boost player assurance and self-esteem.

As composers, one way we can uplift player confidence is by musically reinforcing moments of success. In Fail Factory, I encouraged players to root for themselves by composing some overtly-confident music for those times in which players receive their gameplay results and view their scores. While the music still conveys the silliness we’ve come to expect from the musical score I composed for the rest of the game, the music I composed for gameplay results places the emphasis on confidence and swagger. Let’s see what that was like:

As another example of affirming music, let’s check out some gameplay from one of my other VR projects – the upcoming Bebylon Battle Royale game, currently in development by Kite & Lightning for VR.

Confidence is a running theme in Bebylon Battle Royale. That’s because the characters in the world of Bebylon are coping with a pretty humiliating fact-of-life – they’re babies. Immortal babies in the future, trying to assert their dominance, and become the epitome of cool. When composing the music for Bebylon Battle Royale, I focused on musical styles that emphasize self-assurance and swagger. Here’s some video that Kite & Lightning released of one of their baby characters getting his groove on to music I composed for Bebylon Battle Royale:

So now we’ve considered how empathy can contribute to the psychological attachment necessary to achieving Virtual Presence.  In our next article, we’ll consider the role of game music in regulating and attenuating mood in order to create the right psychological circumstances for Virtual Presence to take hold of the players’ consciousness.  Thanks for reading!

How Music Enhances Virtual Presence

(Game Developers Conference Session Description)

Virtual Presence is defined as a state in which gamers fully accept the virtual world around them and their existence within it. This talk, “How Music Enhances Virtual Presence,” will explore how highly effective game music can enhance the sensation of Virtual Presence in VR gaming.

The talk will begin with an exploration of both the Flow Theory of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and the research of Dr. Paul Cairns on psychological engagement in video gaming. By understanding how the mental activity of players interacts with the way a game is designed, composers can create music intended to induce psychological states conducive with the formation of Virtual Presence.

The talk will include a discussion of techniques aimed at drawing attention to mission objectives, facilitating effective concentration, enhancing emotional empathy and intensifying player focus. The discussion will also include an exploration of some inherent drawbacks to Virtual Presence, including its fragility when exposed to negative emotional states, and its possible susceptibility to inducing the “event boundary” phenomenon. Musical solutions to these problems will be explored.

Phillips’ talk will offer techniques for composers and audio directors who seek to employ music as a tool to enhance Virtual Presence for their players.

Takeaway

Using examples from several games, Phillips will explore how music can influence the mental states of players through specific effects documented in scientific research. Study data will be discussed in regards to the interaction between music and cognition. Phillips will offer strategies and tips for composers seeking to use their music to influence the player’s mental state, thus facilitating the formation of Virtual Presence.

Intended Audience

This session is intended to inspire and stimulate composers seeking to employ their music towards enhancing player engagement and enjoyment, with a particular emphasis on VR games. Includes overview of Flow Theory and the psychological components of Virtual Presence, which may be useful to other disciplines within game development. Talk will be approachable for all levels (advanced composers may better appreciate the specific composition techniques discussed).

Popular music from composer Winifred Phillips’ award-winning Assassin’s Creed Liberation score is currently being performed live by a top 80-piece orchestra and choir as part of the Assassin’s Creed Symphony World Tour, which kicked off in June 2019 with its Paris premiere. As an accomplished video game composer, Phillips is best known for composing music for games in five of the most famous and popular franchises in gaming: Assassin’s Creed, LittleBigPlanet, Total War, God of War, and The Sims.  Phillips’ other notable projects include the triple-A first person shooter Homefront: The Revolution, and numerous virtual reality games, including Sports Scramble, Audioshield, Scraper: First Strike, Dragon Front, and many more.  She is the author of the award-winning bestseller A COMPOSER’S GUIDE TO GAME MUSIC, published by the MIT Press. As a VR game music expert, she writes frequently on the future of music in virtual reality games. Phillips’ is a sought-after public speaker, and she has been invited to speak about her work as a game composer at the Library of Congress, the Game Developers Conference, the Audio Engineering Society, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, and many more.

Follow her on Twitter @winphillips.

GreedFall is Now Available on Steam!

Engage in a core roleplaying experience, and forge the destiny of a new world seeping with magic, and filled with riches, lost secrets, and fantastic creatures. With diplomacy, deception and force, become part of a living, evolving world – influence its course and shape your story.