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Blog: The design pillars of Eco
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
Our game Eco’s design mission is to have players “Solve the Tragedy of the Commons”, taking place among real people. That means creating conflicts among people with the same end goals, where a collection of self-interests is not enough to succeed, you need some representation of collective interest.
To implement that, the game exists within the intersection of the game’s design pillars: Economy, Ecology and Government.
The role of these pillars in the game is as follows:
Economy
Encompasses the efforts and progress of humans. Manufacturing, creating infrastructure, building, harvesting, performing research, specialization, trade. Collaboration and competition is a big goal of this pillar, to connect players together in productive (as well as adversarial) creation. The features of the economy should be grown to support these features, as well as influences from the other two pillars. Key goals of this pillar are:
Asynchronicity, allowing players to collaborate across time and space,
Discoverability, making it easy for players to find the information they need about how to participate in the economy.
Involvement, incentivizing players to work together, especially between different levels of experience.
Organization, allowing players to organize labor seamlessly through the interests of many parties, with lots of data on progress and economy state.
Ecology
The substrate of the player experience, this is the ‘reality’ that they are forced to contend with. It is both the source of their solutions and problems. Our emphasis when building the Ecology simulation is a feature-set that both affects and is affected by human actions. That is, resources that are useful to the economy, and systems that are vulnerable to pollution and over-harvesting.
Beyond that, the ecology is a goal in itself, and the beauty of the ecosystem has natural value in the game outside of any human purpose.
Key goals of this pillar are:
Visibility, players should be granted powerful tools (the stats system) to understand how the ecology system works and how players are influencing it.
Impact, simulated features are highly reactive to the actions of players.
Diversity, promoting the usage or more far-spread regions of the world, increasing needs for transport and collaboration, and allowing for myriad complex effects from different biomes.
ExistentialThreat, the ecology needs to be capable of dying and creating a losing world for players due to their actions.
Government
Government in Eco serves as a tool to manage and dictate the relationship between players in the economy, and between the economy and the environment. It needs to be powerful and flexible enough to express a rich variety of governmental structures, and still easy and fun to understand and build (I see these two goals as supportive of each other rather than opposites). Government must be necessary to win the game, allowing players to dictate the interactions that happen with the environment.
Key goals of this pillar are:
Ease of use. All players should be capable of understanding and using the system.
Power. Many different and deep structures of government should be possible with the system.
Created by Players. Government should be both run and constructed by players, allowing them to form it as a solution to their problems in the economy and in interactions with the ecosystem.
Meta-Game Support. Promotes the positive interaction of players in the meta game (active players coming and going, property arrangements, etc). Serves to handle problems that occur not just in the game but in the meta-game.
Transparent. The workings of government should be available and in fact highlighted for all players to see and participate in.
Iterative. The government should be expected to change throughout gameplay, not simply be created once and run forever that way.
Community
The second mission of Eco is to build meaningful community, and some features may apply to this even if they don’t directly promote the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ goal. Examples of such features include:
Meta-features for finding, hosting, and joining servers.
Organization of server works among players
Avatar creation and customization of appearance, custom animations for interactions
Decorations and cosmetic buildings and clothes.
As we start to roll out our performance update for 8.2, we’re tasking out more features for 9.0, and we’ll be using this guide to flesh out the features and content we want to target. We’ll be putting it into a nice ‘Eco Tree’ that shows those parts visually and conceptually as they grow. The community’s feedback will factor in a lot to these decisions, so do share your feedback on our Discord, in our Suggestions Github Database, and via email.
The Top 5 Features of Madden NFL 20’s New Face of the Franchise: QB1
Have you always dreamed of taking the journey of an NFL superstar? The release date for the next iteration of the greatest NFL game on the planet isn’t many months away, and while there are many fantastic new modes and updates to favorite modes, one of the most exciting additions to Madden NFL 20 lets you take that journey. Let me introduce you to Face of the Franchise: QB1, where your choices matter on the path to stardom.
Face of the Franchise: QB1 is Madden NFL 20‘s new addition to the popular Franchise mode. This customizable Career Campaign is all about you, with personalized playable scenarios, events, and dynamic challenges. You’ll find gridiron glory and each decision you make matters on your path to NFL stardom. Let’s hit the field with the five most important features the new Career Campaign has to offer.
Choose your College
Your story begins by selecting from a series of NCAA Division 1 schools. Choose your future alma mater and where you can become the big man on campus and go for wins in the College Football Playoff.
Compete for a National Championship
Once you make it to the NCAA’s biggest games, compete as one of the final four teams in the College Football Playoff, through up to two games. Good or bad, your performance will impact your draft stock — so it’s not the time for bad choice. Be cool under pressure because your future is calling.
Experience the Combine
Every year, the NFL Combine grows in importance, and in the number of spotlights shown on each step, rep, and move. And when you’re taking part, every decision you make will lead to your stock rising or falling in advance of the NFL Draft in April.
Experience the NFL Draft
You’ve waited your whole life for this moment. Where will your NFL story begin? From the first pick to the last, it’s a day when lives are changed, and careers begin. Get ready to hit the big time.
Leave Your Legacy
Once in the league, it’s all about winning games and leading your franchise to multiple Super Bowl Championships. Every legendary player has their own story — it’s time to have yours. How will you be remembered when all is said and done?
Madden NFL 20 will be available worldwide on August 2 for Xbox One on the Microsoft Store. You can pre-order Madden NFL 20: Ultimate Superstar edition today and choose one of four unique quarterback abilities for your created player in Face of the Franchise: QB1: Steve Young, Kurt Warner, John Elway, or Randall Cunningham.
Plus, you’ll receive 3-day early access, 15 Gold Team Fantasy Packs, your choice of one out of 32 Core Elite Players from your favorite NFL team, one large Training Quicksell Pack in Madden Ultimate Team, one Past and Present Elite Player Pack, one Madden Championship Series Pack in Madden Ultimate Team, and your choice of one unique Legend Superstar Ability for your created player in Face of the Franchise: QB1.
The road to becoming a top NFL QB isn’t always easy, and the choices you make early on will affect how your career pans out. But there’s nothing better than being a star. Are you ready to become the Face of the Franchise?
Planet Nomads is Now Available on Steam and is 20% off!*
There’s a whole planet of diverse biomes waiting for you to explore. Gather enough materials to build a mobile base that will carry everything a Nomad needs on a journey through an unknown land.
During the Activision Blizzard earnings call today, management confirmed that the game will be revealed before the end of the current fiscal quarter, which means it'll be announced before June 30. That makes sense, given new Call of Duty games are typically announced in May before getting shown off further at E3 in June. This year could be different in a way, however. Activision typically showcases the new Call of Duty game during Sony's E3 briefing due to its exclusive content deal, but that won't happen this year because Sony isn't attending E3.
On the earnings call, Activision management says it feels "incredibly good" about how the new Call of Duty title is shaping up, and they're excited to finally reveal it eventually.
Not only that, but Activision boss Coddy Johnson teased that Activision plans to support the game's release with even more content after launch to keep players engaged.
"We need to do even more to maintain the breadth of our Call of Duty player base beyond the launch quarters," he said. "The Call of Duty team is hard at work on that for this fall's big content release, excitement for which is incredibly high around the organisation. We expect that both the launch and the post launch will bring game-changing experiences to our fans."
Activision is able to create more content for this year's Call of Duty game because it's increasing development headcount across the board, including the Call of Duty team. Activision announced it was increasing aggregate headcount for its development teams by about 20 percent following its layoff of 800 people primarily from non-game development roles.
Little is known about the title, but Activision previously said the game will feature a campaign mode. That's notable because 2018's Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 did not include a campaign but instead added a battle royale mode called Blackout.
Additionally, it was confirmed that the Call of Duty series has sold more than 300 million copies since it premiered back in 2003.
Also on the call, Activision said interest in the new Call of Duty mobile game from Tencent is high; the game has more than 10 million pre-registrations on Google Play.
Aegis Defenders Receiving A Limited Run Games Physical Release
Limited Run Games is partnering with the team at Humble Bundle to release a physical copy of the 2D wonder Aegis Defenders on the Switch and PlayStation 4. The title originally debuted on eShop in February 2018.
Pre-orders for the hard copy will be available on 10th May at 10 am EST. There’ll also be a two-week timed pre-order for the Switch version and Limited Run has confirmed there won’t be a collector’s edition for this one.
Explore ancient ruins, defend against waves of enemies, and experience an epic story through the eyes of four heroes in @AegisDefenders!
Aegis Defenders started out life as a Kickstarter project in 2014 and combines platforming action and exploration with tower defense. It also supports a two player drop in/drop out co-op mode. In our review we said it was a fantastic game and gave it nine out of ten stars.
Is this a physical release you’ve been holding out for? Do you already own a digital copy? Tell us below.
It seems like it was just six months ago that we announced Fedora 29, and here we are again. Today, we announce our next operating system release. Even though it went so quickly, a lot has happened in the last half year, and you’ll see the results in Fedora 30.
Fedora Editions are targeted outputs geared toward specific “showcase” uses. Since we first started using this concept in the Fedora 21 release, the needs of the community have continued to evolve. As part of Fedora 30, we’re combining cloud and server into the Fedora Server edition. We’re bringing in Fedora CoreOS to replace Fedora Atomic Host as our container-focused deliverable in the Fedora 30 timeframe — stay tuned for that. The Fedora Workstation edition continues to focus on delivering the latest in open source desktop tools.
Fedora Workstation features GNOME 3.32 — the latest release of this popular desktop environment. GNOME 3.32 features an updated visual style, including the user interface, the icons, and the desktop itself. New to Fedora Server are Linux System Roles — a collection of roles and modules executed by Ansible to assist Linux admins in the configuration of common GNU/Linux subsystems
No matter what variant of Fedora you use, you’re getting the latest the open source world has to offer. GCC 9, Bash 5.0, and PHP 7.3 are among the many updated packages in Fedora 30. We’re excited for you to try it out. So go to https://getfedora.org/ and download it now. Or if you’re already running a Fedora release, follow the easy upgrade instructions.
Along with the release of Fedora 30, we’re moving our “Ask Fedora” support forum to the Discourse platform. Log in to Ask Fedora to try it out and watch for a Fedora Magazine article about it soon.
As always, thanks to the thousands of people who contributed in some way to the Fedora Project in this release cycle, and to the Fedora heroes who helped get this release out on schedule even with so much else going on. If you’re in Boston for Red Hat Summit next week, whether you are one of these contributors, would like to be one in the future, or just a friend, make sure to visit the Fedora booth in Community Central!
BabylonJS, an open source browser based game engine, just released a major update in the form of the 4.0 release. In addition to a website makeover and new forums, the 3D game engine gained several improvements including a new Inspector, improved PBR rendering capabilities, physics support via the Ammo.js plugin and much more. If you are interested in learning BabylonJS, be sure to check out our existing tutorial series available here.
Be sure to check the complete release notes for more details, as there are dozens more improvements as well as several breaking changes for Babylon v3.x developers to be aware of.
BabylonJS is open source and available on GitHub under the Apache open source license. It ships with an excellent interactive playground that makes learning and playing with BabylonJS a breeze. There is also a complete cloud based level editor available here. Check out the video below to learn more about this release and to see that playground, inspector and editor in action.
Chewbacca Actor Peter Mayhew Passes Away, Hollywood Stars Send Their Tributes
Actor Peter Mayhew, who is best known for his portrayal of Chewbacca in the Star Wars series, has passed away. Mayhew died on April 30 in his home in North Texas, USA. He was 74.
His passing was announced by his family in a statement posted to Twitter. After the news broke, tributes poured in. Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill said, "He was the gentlest of giants-A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly-I'm grateful for the memories we shared & I'm a better man for just having known him." Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo opposite Mayhew's Chewbacca, told The Hollywood Reporter, "Peter Mayhew was a kind and gentle man, possessed of great dignity and noble character. These aspects of his own personality, plus his wit and grace, he brought to Chewbacca. We were partners in film and friends in life for over 30 years and I loved him. He invested his soul in the character and brought great pleasure to the Star Wars audience."
A number of other actors and celebrities connected to Star Wars and otherwise have responded to the news. Scroll down to see their responses.
Mayhew played Chewbacca in the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens in a role shared by Joonas Suotamo. Mayhew did consulting work for The Last Jedi to help Suotamo feel capable in the role.
Outside of his film career, Mayhew did a lot of charitable work for groups like Wounded Warriors, Make-A-Wish, and the 501st Legion. He also created his own Peter Mayhew Foundation that supports individuals and families in need.
The family of Peter Mayhew, with deep love and sadness, regrets to share the news that Peter has passed away. He left us the evening of April 30, 2019 with his family by his side in his North Texas home. pic.twitter.com/YZ5VLyuK0u
Mayhew is survived by his wife, Angie, and three children. "His kindness, generosity, and care will live on in the Peter Mayhew Foundation with Angie taking the helm as his voice," his family said in their statement.
Mayhew's first big movie role was in 1977's "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger," which was released in the same year as A New Hope.
He was the gentlest of giants-A big man with an even bigger heart who never failed to make me smile & a loyal friend who I loved dearly-I'm grateful for the memories we shared & I'm a better man for just having known him. Thanks Pete #RIPPeterMayhew#Heartbroken@TheWookieeRoarspic.twitter.com/8xbq9HEWF2
"We are deeply saddened today by the news of Peter Mayhew’s passing. Since 1976, Peter’s iconic portrayal of the loyal, lovable Chewbacca has been absolutely integral to the character’s success, and to the Star Wars saga itself."-Kathleen Kennedy.
The @WaltDisneyCo mourns the loss of our beloved #chewbacca portrayer, #PeterMayhew. Peter was larger than life in so many ways...a gentle giant playing a gentle giant. Rest in peace.
RIP Peter Mayhew. To create a beloved character with warmth and humor is a testament to any actor’s spirit. To do it under a half ton of yak hair takes a true legend. ❤️❤️
?I am so sorry to hear about Peter. We had so many fun and memorable tweets back and forth over the years plus seeing each other at a convention here and there. My deepest condolences to his family. He will be sorely missed! ? https://t.co/R3lAEvkQJc
Nintendo Reveals The Switch eShop’s Best-Selling Games For April 2019 (Europe)
Not surprised Cuphead is doing well, it’s one of my favorite games and deserves the top spot for sure. Anyone saying otherwise is just hating. I haven’t seen a single legit criticism for it above, so yeah.
My only personal gripe with the game is that King Dice is a bit unfair at the end due to the fact you have to bounce off the pink cards he sends out, but he doesn’t send them out fast enough and I find myself getting hit because the pink card isn’t coming out before I start descending.
The Detective Pikachu Movie Reviews Are In, And It’s Actually Pretty Mixed
The Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie releases in cinemas worldwide next Friday, just one week from today. We’ve been feeling pretty optimistic about this one – the trailers have seemed surprisingly promising throughout the build-up to the film’s release – but now it’s time to see what the critics think.
Yes, select media have now had the opportunity to check out the full film and have posted early reviews online. We’re pretty shocked to see that views are rather mixed; at the time of writing, the film has a Metascore of 50 out of 100 – you can’t get much more average than that. On Rotten Tomatoes, it’s currently sitting at a much better 74%, however.
We’ve included a few snippets of reviews for you below (with links to all of the full reviews provided).
IGN,Joshua Yehl [8.0/10]:
“Smith’s character gives the story an emotional weight and Reynolds delivers an endearing comedic performance that’s closer to his subversive Deadpool schtick than you’d expect. While video game movies haven’t had the best track record, this movie is by and far the best example of how to do one right.” Read full review
The Guardian, Steve Rose [3/5]:
“Without Reynolds this would be pretty run-of-the-mill; with him it’s a perfectly acceptable family movie. Given the history, that’s a giant leap for Pokémon-kind.” Read full review
The Verge, Julia Alexander:
“Detective Pikachu is a fever dream — a product of night time car rides with a Game Boy, staring up at the street lamps that pass you by, painting the darkened sky with wild imaginations of what a world full of Pokémon might feel like. Detective Pikachu is a silly, almost hallucinogenic ride.” Read full review
ScreenCrush, Matt Singer [5/10]:
“Beneath the predictable story, Detective Pikachu isn’t about much, and if you need Wikipedia to explain who Mewtwo is, most of the jokes will go right over your head. The whole thing is a bit too childish for adults, and a bit too convoluted for kids. It absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects however, even if the subject matter makes me think it’s unlikely to receive one.” Read full review
Variety, Peter Debruge:
Though consistent with the game (with a few extra but obvious twists thrown in for good measure), the story of “Detective Pikachu” doesn’t allow nearly enough Pokémon-related action, while the quality of the computer animation (by Moving Picture Co. and Framestore) falls far short of the basic level of competency audiences have come to expect from effects movies. Read full review
Empire, Olly Richards [3/5]:
“It’s impossible to overstate how much this film owes to Ryan Reynolds. Even if you don’t understand Pikachu’s world, everyone can understand a great joke superbly delivered.” Read full review
The Associated Press, Mark Kennedy:
“Live-action feature film adaptations of video games have proved a dicey proposition in the past. For every ‘Mortal Kombat’ there’s a ‘Prince of Persia.’ This one just feels like a venal money grab from a mega corporation. You’ve played Pokémon Go, right? Call this one Pokémon Don’t Go.” Read full review
We wouldn’t be too disheartened, though. Interestingly, comparing the reviews from major film industry press outlets to those from video game backgrounds shows a common trend, and this gets extended even further when taking into account the views of online personalities and influencers who have already seen the film.
Sites such as Polygon and Eurogamer had fairly mixed-to-positive reviews on the whole, but both highlighted the joys of the Pokémon themselves and the world around them. The more film-centric sites, who we’d assume don’t have quite the same knowledge of the Pokémon franchise, have commonly argued that the acting of Ryan Reynolds is the saving grace here, with the Pokémon not being particularly special.
Pokémon fansite Serebii scored the film 4/5, saying that it “really plays the line a lot between hardcore Pokémon fan references and things for the uninitiated, but it never goes over the line one way or the other and keeps a perfect balance”.
Perhaps this suggests that the film is great for fans of the series, while being simply ‘OK’ for those who don’t know the Pokémon world and not so great for those who have no interest in it at all – which would make sense, after all.
We’ll have our very own review of the film right here on Nintendo Life next week, so make sure to keep an eye out for that if you’d like to read our verdict. Until then, why not let us know if you plan to see the film with a comment below?
