Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:19 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Kickstarter’s games category surpasses $1 billion in pledges
Kickstarter’s games category has surpassed $1 billion in pledges, a milestone hit roughly a decade into the crowdfunding platform’s life.
It is worth noting that the $1 billion figure includes both video games and tabletop games, and Kickstarter’s blog post on the milestone unfortunately doesn’t include a deeper numbers breakdown.
All in all, that $1 billion in pledges is spread across 17,000 funded games projects, and was paid up by more than 3.2 million backers.
The post does call out a handful of notable video game campaigns across the years, including the Banner Saga ($723,886 pledged), Darkest Dungeon ($313,337 pledged), and Shovel Knight ($311,502 pledged).
By the end of 2018, the games category had just hit $946 million in pledges so this means that 2019 has seen around $54 million in just these early months.
According to data from Ico Partners however, the bulk of game-related pledges in just 2018 were directed at board games, not video games. Successful tabletop projects saw $165.3 million in pledges last year, compared to only $15.8 million for video game projects.
Slay enemies with speed and precision in an over-the-top show of blood and explosions. Play solo or with others, make split-second decisions, dodge bullets, and use weapons and abilities to inflict violence in the most graphic way possible.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:19 AM - Forum: Lounge
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This Week At Bungie – 4/18/2019
This week at Bungie, the Revelry has begun.
Everyone’s favorite space grandma has returned to the Tower, and the Revelry is in full swing. Pick up your Reveler’s Tonic, then set out to the Verdant Forest and beyond. Arbalest, our first Kinetic Linear Fusion Rifle, is now available to be earned by all players of Destiny 2. You can get the full details on the event in our Revelry event page.
There is one more Revelry reward we haven’t mentioned yet. Bungie Rewards is offering an emblem for eliminating 150 enemies with Super abilities during the Revelry. After you’re done dealing out space magic, claim the Super Celebratory Triumph, and then go to the Bungie Rewards Page to claim your reward!
Story Telling
The Drifter has a lot more to say than “Ding!”
Earlier today, we opened a window into the world of narrative design with a conversation about the stories our writers have been telling this season. If you haven’t watched it yet, here it is again…
Would you like to know more? Some of these same faces represented the team that spins yarn across the solar system in a conversation with Polygon. You can read the full article here.
Iron Islands
It’s time once again for one of Destiny’s oldest traditions, the Iron Banner. Lord Saladin returns to his perch at the top of the Tower next week to hold this battle between Guardians for control of territory.
Iron Banner and Double Valor
Start: 10 AM PDT on April 23
End: 10 AM PDT on April 30
Iron Burden was an experiment for Season 6. After reviewing community feedback, we are not planning to bring it back in Season 7. You will have this Iron Banner and one more to earn your Wizened Rebuke. And if you really want to showboat, you can use these next two Iron Banners to get 2,500 burdened kills for the “Now You’re Just Showing Off” Triumph. Completing this Triumph will reward the “Heavy as Death” emblem.
Lord Saladin will also have the following weapons available for purchase in his inventory.
Ghostly Blades
A few weeks ago, we let you know that we had some plans to adjust Spectral Blades in an upcoming update. The Sandbox Team has the details on what changes are in store.
Sandbox Team: As you’re all aware, Spectral Blades has been running amok in the Crucible. Below, you’ll find a brief on our plans to reign it in a bit. The two main issues are the length of the Super, especially combined with Gwisin Vest, and the survivability of the player while it is active. To address this, we have made the following changes to hit those specific issues:
Damage Reduction
Out-of-stealth DR reduced from 60% to 52%
In-stealth DR reduced from 62% to 54.4%
Previously, this Super had the highest damage reduction of all the roaming Supers, either in stealth or not. This change reduces Spectral Blades to have the lowest DR of all the roaming Supers while stealth is not active and to be in line with the low end while stealth is active. With stealth, vision through walls, and fast, shifty movement, this Super ability actually has a lot of built-in survivability. This means a lower DR will demand better planning and positioning to survive for multiple kills, which lines up well with the fantasy of the path.
This is also a first step toward trying out a roaming Super with lower damage reduction, so let us know what you think.
Super Duration
Super length out of stealth with no attacking: 17.5 -> 14.5 seconds
Super length in stealth with no attacking: 26.6 -> 23.5 seconds
Light melee cost increased by 50%
Basically, we reduced the duration by 3 seconds overall. We want you to feel like you have time to plan in stealth with the understanding that you need to be deliberate and swift with your strikes. Additionally, we increased the cost of the light melee attack. It may seem like a lot on paper, but previously it was almost nothing. Now you need to think just a little bit before spamming away. We didn’t want to make it cost too much, as it’s the only way to chase people down, but it did need to have at least a small visible cost to make it more of a choice.
Gwisin Vest
We are looking at Gwisin Vest now and playing with some changes. We also want to see how these initial changes go. If we decide to change Gwisin, you will see it in Season 7.
Kilts for Kids
In its eighth year, Seattle Ronald McDonald House is hosting its annual Men in Kilts Kilts for Kids fundraiser! This event is a Bungie favorite, and we are thrilled about the more inclusive rebrand. Help us achieve our $77k goal, and cast your vote for Team Bungie by donating $10 or more. Every $30 donated will pay for a family to stay at the House for one night. Head to the RMHC Donation Page to cast your votes by Friday, May 3 at 5 PM PDT!
Need a sweeter incentive? Check out these backer rewards for donating to Kilts for Kids!
$50: Receive an exclusive Kilts for Kids 2019 Destiny emblem
$100: The prize above, plus receive a postcard signed by our K4K team and mailed to you
$250: All prizes above, plus receive a digital print of exclusive art made by Mark Flieg
$500: All prizes above, plus receive a physical print of Mark’s exclusive art
$1,000: All prizes above, plus participate in a Bungie studio visit with you and two guests, dates scheduled quarterly in 2019/2020 and announced separately to donors after the event concludes
All travel and hotel accommodations are the sole responsibility of the donor
Top 50 Donors: Receive a signed PS4 Destiny 2 Collector’s Edition
Ties will be broken by donations received at the earliest date.
*An email will be sent to donors at each prize tier at the end of the event, no later than Wednesday, May 10, with instructions on redeeming each prize
As a reminder, the Gauntlet Tabletop tournament is in full swing! A huge thank you to everyone who has already participated. There’s still plenty of time to support—head to our Gauntlet Team Page.
Missing Eva
The Player Support team is always at your service. They keep a watchful eye over the Help forum and are ready at a moment’s notice to provide information on emerging issues.
This is their report.
Arc Week Emote
Last week, after Update 2.2.1 launched, some players who purchased the Resting Storm Bundle were given the Titan Striker’s Patience emote instead of the Warlock Stormcaller’s Patience emote.
We have identified the players who received the wrong emote, and they will receive the correct one in a future update. Players will also receive an in-game message confirming they received the correct emote.
Breaking the Rules
Eva Levante has invited all players to celebrate life and break a few rules in Destiny 2’s live spring event, the Revelry. Players must complete the introductory milestone offered by Eva Levante before they will be granted access to the Verdant Forest.
Players have until the weekly reset on May 7 to claim and complete all Revelry Triumphs.
Orb Generation and GUITAR Errors
Earlier today, we announced that we were disabling precision kill Orb generation in raids, Gambit and Gambit Prime due to the Orbs causing frequent GUITAR errors, leading to players being removed from those activities. We also disabled this functionality in competitive Crucible.
Revelry Triumphs and bounties that require Orb generation can still be completed in other activities listed on them. For more information, click here.
The Revelry Vital Info and Known Issues
While players down their Reveler’s Tonic to jump into the Verdant Forest, they may experience a few issues that we’re investigating:
Eva Levante Missing: We’re investigating an issue where Eva Levante doesn’t appear for some players in the Tower. Players who can’t find Eva may need to log out and log back in, then try launching into the Annex area instead of the Courtyard.
Virescent Emblem Tracking: We’re investigating an issue where the Virescent emblem doesn’t track the deepest branch reached during a single run of the Verdant Forest.
Unlocking the Verdant Forest: You need 50 Reveler’s Essence to open the Verdant Forest. Players must use the 50 Reveler’s Essence by inspecting the Reveler’s Tonic and choosing one of the three Good Moods. Players can acquire more Essence by completing various activities in Destiny 2, including public events, strikes, Crucible, Gambit, Escalation Protocol, and forges.
Verdant Light Triumphs and Orbs: For Orbs of Light to count towards the Verdant Light Triumphs, players must get precision kills that generate Orbs while affected by Revelric Light to count toward these Triumphs.
Players can review our Revelry Known Issues section for more known issues and vital information about the Revelry and are encouraged to report other issues to the #Help forum.
Other Known Issues
Ascendant Challenge Lore: We’re investigating an issue where Dreaming City lore isn’t dropping for players who complete Ascendant Challenges.
One Skip Ahead Triumph: Players who are having issues unlocking this Triumph must complete the entire Tier III Reckoning activity from beginning to end.
Sealed Ahamkara Grasps and “Nightmare Fuel” Perk: We’re investigating an issue where this perk doesn’t activate when Hunters use Knife Trick or a Tractor Cannon.
Wizened Rebuke and Collections: We’re investigating an issue where this weapon can’t be obtained from Collections.
Antaeus Wards and Misadventures: We’re investigating issues where players die due to misadventures when wearing these Exotic boots, as well as where projectiles may no longer be deflecting.
Blink Jump: We’re investigating an issue where players may not be able to Blink Jump when invading in Gambit or in other areas around the game.
For more known issues that DPS is tracking, players are encouraged to review our Destiny 2 Known Issues support page. As always, players should report any issues they are experiencing to the #Help forum.
Internet Flicks
It’s time to award some emblems to the creators of our favorite videos of the week. If you want your shot at winning, the best place to post your video is on our Creations page. If you do win, make sure you tag everyone who worked on the video in the description. Here are this week’s winners!
Movie of the Week: Saturn Moon
Honorable Mention: So Many Shields
I’ve seen a steady stream of Arbalests in my feed as Guardians report on their acquired goods. Let us know what you think of the new Exotic. I plan on diving into the Revelry this weekend to get mine. See you out there.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:16 AM - Forum: Lounge
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James Gunn's Suicide Squad Reboot Eyes John Cena For Role - Report
Noted invisible professional wrestler and former WWE Champion John Cena may finally be throwing his hat into the superhero movie ring. The self-proclaimed "Doctor of Thuganomics" is reportedly in talks to join the cast of the Suicide Squad follow-up being written and directed by Guardians of the Galaxy helmer James Gunn.
The news comes from Variety, which says Cena may join Margot Robbie and Jai Courtney--who starred in the first Suicide Squad as Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang, respectively--as well as Idris Elba in the film. At this point, Elba and Cena's roles remain a mystery, as does the state of the rest of the Squad. However, Variety previously reported Will Smith would not reprise his role as Deadshot.
Interestingly, this wouldn't be Gunn's first time working with a WWE star. He previously directed Dave Bautista in both Guardians films, with a third installment in the works. It would, however, be Cena's first role in a movie adaptation of a comic book. His previous big screen work includes roles in Bumblebee, Blockers, and the animated film Ferdinand. He'll next be seen on the big screen in Project X-Traction, alongside Jackie Chan.
Gunn's Suicide Squad film hasn't started filming yet but is scheduled to hit theaters on August 6, 2021. As for Cena, he recently made his WWE return at Wrestlemania during a segment with the guitar-strumming Elias, though there's been no mention of him getting back in the ring anytime soon.
Here’s The Full Lineup For Castlevania Anniversary Collection On Switch
I get it that it’s nice to have a collection about the eariler games in the series, this being an anniversary collection, it makes sense to go where the series actually started. And there are some nice games in there.
But really, no SOTN? No GBA/DS games?
I was hoping more for a “here are the best games the franchise offered” instead of “here are the first games from the franchise”. I think they shoul’ve labelled it the “Castlevania Origins Collection”. It would’ve been a more accurate name for this compilation.
But let’s just say I’m kind of disapointed. I was really thinking I’d be able to play SOTN on the go (like I did on PSP some time ago through the Dracula X chronicles), along with some GBA ones I missed (only played Cicrle of the Moon back in the days). Bummer.
Review: Cuphead – The Xbox Masterpiece Becomes An Essential Purchase On Switch
It’s a well-known fact that teamwork makes a dream work. Console wars are all well and good, but when great games are made available on multiple systems, the ultimate winner is the player. The recent love-in we’ve been seeing between Nintendo and Microsoft started a while back when Minecraft was released on Nintendo systems, and grew stronger when the two paired up to passive-aggressively taunt Sony’s refusal to embrace cross-platform multiplayer.
Now, though, we’re being treated to the most impressive sign of their partnership yet: a Switch port of Cuphead, one of the most critically acclaimed games on the Xbox One and a title that was an Xbox console exclusive (until now, obviously). Not only that, but in a future update the game is going to receive Xbox Live integration, including the ability to unlock Xbox achievements. Yes, it’s fair to say that Nintendo and Microsoft are best buds just now, and Switch owners are starting to get the benefits of that.
Cuphead is already much loved by the Xbox community, so for those already familiar with it here’s all you need to know: the Switch version is a near-perfect port. For everyone else new to the game, read on.
When Cuphead and his brother Mugman enter the Devil’s Casino, the Devil himself offers them a bet: double their money or forfeit their souls. Naturally, the big man wins, but he gives the pair a chance to redeem themselves: if they can chase down other debtors who are on the run from the Devil and collect their souls instead, he’ll let the drinks-based duo go free. Cue a series of extremely difficult action stages in which you have to take out a bunch of boss characters on your way to freedom.
Cuphead mainly consists of two types of level: run-and-gun stages and boss battles. The former are much fewer in number (there are only six in total) and are straightforward enough affairs – get to the end of the stage with at least some health intact – but it’s the 19 boss encounters which are the real meat of this game, and the ones that will test your abilities to their limits.
In case you’ve missed out on its notoriety on other systems, Cuphead is known for being an exceptionally difficult game. The reality is that, yes, it can be tricky at times, but it’s not like it hits you with an endless onslaught of abuse: it’s more about pattern recognition. The boss fights may be a little longer than those in other action platformers, but the same general principle applies: learn each boss’s attack patterns, figure out how to avoid each type of attack, discover its weak spots and let it have it until it eventually keels over.
Most players’ frustration will likely lie with the bosses’ random nature; although they tend to have three unique phases, each with their own sets of attacks, these attacks are generally chosen at random throughout each phase. This means you can’t stand there thinking,“Right, he’s going to do this attack, then he follows up with that attack, then I can get him”, as if you were learning a sequence of fight choreography: instead, you have to wait to see which of their attacks they’ll use next and react quickly (and often you won’t have a lot of time to do this).
At the risk of sounding like an insufferable “git gud” macho man, practice really does make perfect with this one: this is a game where you’re expected to take on these boss fights over and over again and slowly learn every attack permutation as you edge ever closer to completely defeating them. While there is a ‘Simple’ mode, which greatly reduces each boss’s health and generally makes things more manageable for beginners, it’s not an ideal solution: it removes a lot of boss attack types – even entire phases at times – and doesn’t give you a soul contract when you beat them, meaning you can’t reach the final stages and beat the game. By all means, consider it a way to ease into Cuphead’s parry and weapon-changing mechanics, but you’re going to want to switch to Regular difficulty as soon as possible to make sure you don’t miss out on a lot of the game’s charm.
It’s this charm where Cuphead’s real strength lies. Designed in the style of 1930s Fleischer and Disney animations (think Betty Boop and Steamboat Willie) and nailing that style with laser precision, it’s easily one of the most visually jaw-dropping 2D platformers you’ll ever play. Everything is of an immaculate standard, from its hand-drawn animated characters to its deliberately blurry and scratched film look, to its fantastic original jazz and big band soundtrack: it’s not an exaggeration to say this game is a piece of art.
Thankfully, this Switch port handles everything masterfully, too. Image quality is more or less on a par with the Xbox One and PC versions – bear in mind this is a game that’s designed to look blurry and low-res anyway – loading times are nice and quick, and everything runs at a smooth 60 frames per second the vast majority of the time. There are occasional hiccups, most notably during the more intense run-and-gun moments, but these are the exception rather than the norm.
The Switch version also adds a few new features, which are also being added to the other versions in a free update. Mugman – who usually plays the Luigi role and appears during co-op play – can now be selected from the start in single-player mode, just in case you like your heroes wearing blue instead of red. There are also a bunch of new character animations included; while these are generally minor things like new pre-battle taunts, they’re still a welcome addition.
In all, Cuphead’s short bursts of action make it a perfect game for the Switch. Playing it in handheld mode is an absolute delight (though you may need to change the default controls for comfort’s sake) and it runs almost as well as it does on more powerful systems. If this is the sort of thing we can expect more of as a result of Nintendo and Microsoft being best pals, this could very well be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Conclusion
Cuphead was an absolute masterpiece when it launched on Xbox 18 months ago and nothing has been sacrificed in its move to the Switch. It’s the same visually jaw-dropping, aurally delightful, knuckle-whiteningly difficult game it was on Microsoft’s console and the Switch’s library is all the better for its presence. Its focus on intense boss battles won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into we can’t recommend it enough.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-19-2019, 02:16 AM - Forum: Windows
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News recap from ‘Inside Xbox’ April episode
Today, on our April episode of Inside Xbox, we made a big announcement about a brand-new Xbox One console, revealed some major news regarding Xbox Game Pass, unveiled some new features coming to Game Bar, shared info on new titles coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility, and much more. For a full recap, read on below or watch the replay of Inside Xbox episode above when the VOD is available.
The big news coming out of today’s show was our reveal of The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, which was created for those who prefer to find and play their games digitally and are looking for the most affordable way to play Xbox games. The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition comes bundled with three of our most compelling and popular games – Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3 and Sea of Thieves. It also comes with a special offer to get started with Xbox Game Pass. Available for pre-order today at $249.99 USD, the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is $50 USD less than Xbox One S, and we expect to maintain at least that price difference between the two consoles going forward. Read more here.
In June 2017, we launched Xbox Game Pass – with the goal of empowering gamers all over the world to discover their next favorite game. A top request fans have shared from day one is to provide an option to get Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold in a single membership. We heard you. Today, we’re excited to announce Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will include all of the benefits of Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass. That means the full Xbox Game Pass library of over 100 high quality games, and Xbox Live Gold online multiplayer, in one convenient membership for $14.99 a month. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, gamers will be able to play together on the most-advanced multiplayer network and discover their next favorite game. Read more here.
A few weeks ago, we shared that Game bar on Windows 10 was getting a major overhaul. From Spotify integration to improved social experiences that enable you to see what your friends are playing, quickly text or voice chat, and create memes to share via Twitter, there are a number of ways that the team is making this the best version of Game bar yet based on community feedback. Game bar is an overlay built into Windows so it works over any PC game. In order to make the overlay your own, we added the ability to customize Game bar. Choose which widgets to show/hide, where you want them located, and even pin specific widgets. Find your own favorite Game bar layout to enhance your gaming experience. In addition to all of those improvements, today we shared that our Looking for Group (LFG) feature will also be added to Game bar, allowing you to quickly and easily find people to bring into battle with you (or, if you prefer, battle against). To try out these features, launch the Xbox Insider Hub on your Windows 10 PC. Read more here.
New Competitive Game Mode and Story-Rich Quests are Coming to Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate made an appearance on this week’s show to share more on the updates the Rare team announced this morning. First there’s The Arena, a brand-new competitive game mode that offers all the best bits of Sea of Thieves concentrated into fast-paced and fun 24-minute matches. For players looking for rich and immersive new quests, there are Tall Tales. These are epic story-driven quests that play out in the shared world, with the first collection – Shores of Gold – taking players across the seas to experience a story of love, honor and betrayal in search of the mythical Shores of Gold. Finally, there’s a brand-new Trading Company, The Hunter’s Call. This will offer players new ways to play and progress and includes a raft of new features including fishing (with 50 different types of fish to catch), cooking and hunting. Watch the new trailer here.
In partnership with ELEAGUE, Xbox announced the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series: The Bonds and Betrayals of Brotherhood – a six-part event series and live tournament focused on the stories and players behind the world of Gears Esports with the first episode debuting on TBS, Friday, June 14, at 11 pm ET/PT. ELEAGUE will also feature the worldwide debut of Gears 5 Versus multiplayer, culminating in The Invitational at the end of the season, within ELEAGUE Arena at Turner Studios in Atlanta from Saturday-Sunday, July 13-14. Read more here.
Six Beloved Titles Join Xbox One Backward Compatibility with Xbox One X Enhancements
Announcing new titles coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility is always exciting, but it’s even better when we can reveal that said titles are being enhanced for Xbox One X. Today, we were happy to share that Ninja Gaiden 2, Fable 2, Fable 3, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent are all enhanced for Xbox One X. Best of all, they’re all available starting today! Remember, Xbox 360 games enhanced for Xbox One X run at a higher resolution and 9X the original pixel count. The power of Xbox One X enables the Xbox 360 emulator to showcase the very best version possible with the existing assets—all without touching the game code. Today’s additions join our existing catalog for a total of 62 Xbox One X Enhanced Backward Compatible games.
Exploring Some Exciting New Games on the Horizon
During the show, we took a closer look at some games that’ll be hitting Xbox One in the coming months. First up was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the new Star Wars game from Respawn Entertainment that was revealed this weekend at Star Wars Celebration. Next, got up close and personal with Rage 2, the upcoming shooter from Bethesda that offers up one of the wildest post-apocalyptic settings we’ve ever seen. Finally, we shared that Warhammer Chaosbane is set to launch on June 4th. If you love the warhammer universe or some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling, then this game is for you. Best of all, the next closed beta is about to start in just two days. That’s right: On April 18th, you’ll be able to jump into the action as Bragi Axebiter, the Dwarf-killer and Elessa the Wood Elf, who will be joining the soldier and high elf classes from the first beta. This means that all four classes will be playable at once, and in a whole new region!
On today’s episode, FanFest Lead Chris Munson shared that this marks the 5th year of FanFest, which explains why he was so excited to reveal brand-new details on Xbox FanFest at E3 2019 during his segment. With E3 2019 marking our biggest E3 presence ever, we’re thrilled to share that 700 tickets will be available for E3 FanFest, which will include experiencing the Xbox Briefing, a FanFest Showcase, and much more. Chris broke down some of the details on things like the ticketing process and how you can bring a guest along with you, as well as what you’ll get with your ticket. There’s a lot of goodness this year, so be sure to check out our full FanFest post for the complete details! Read more here.
Phil Spencer Talks E3 2019, Xbox Studios, and More
To close out today’s show, we had a special guest appearance by the Head of Xbox himself, Phil Spencer. During his segment, he talked Project xCloud and how we at Xbox put the gamer at the center of how we build our strategy and services, driven by the idea that as a gamer you should be able to play the games you want to play, on the devices you want to play them on with your friends, anywhere you go. Spencer also talked about his excitement to be representing the broader gaming community at E3 2019. We recently announced plans for our biggest presence ever, including Xbox E3 FanFest, and the diversity of the content across Xbox and PC that we’ll be highlighting in the briefing from both Xbox Game Studios and third-party partners from around the world.
We hope you enjoyed the show, and we’ll see you next month!
When a genre is defined by immobile structures shooting at lanes of slow-moving massed minions it’s easy to gain a reputation for being predictable. You could be forgiven for dismissing tower defense games as dull casual money grabs, especially as they become loaded up with IAP.
Not so much in Dungeon Warfare II. This game takes the classic Dungeon Keeper theme and builds on it with open, tile-based construction and extremely physical traps. Why should you just pelt your enemies with arrows when you can hurl them into bottomless pits, smash them against walls, or drag them apart with harpoons? Dungeon Warfare II has a surprisingly robust physics system for a game made of such tiny pixels, and one of the greatest joys in the game is sending a whole row of armor clad knights to the bottom of a river with a row of push traps.
Unluckily, it’s often not so easy. The environments in Dungeon Warfare II are often quite mercurial. The changing maps are partly on you: the most useful trap you can lay is the basic barrier, which mobs avoid like the plague even if it means running your gauntlet of spinning blades and axes instead. On the other hand, those pesky heroes also have some tricks up their sleeves, since some tiles can be destroyed, whether by errant missiles or the deliberate efforts of minion miners who tear apart your carefully constructed mazes. What’s more, other mobs will zipline over pits or build bridges across them. You can’t sleep on Dungeon Warfare II or you’ll quickly find your best-laid plans blown up with a mass of dwarven bombers.
The map itself is also frequently not your friend. Walls move, crushing some mobs to death but also opening up new paths for your enemies. Doors offer choke points but sometimes also shortcuts. Mine carts can do a lot of the work of running down heroes for you, but will also occasionally detonate a load of dynamite in the worst possible place.
Each map then becomes something of a puzzle. It’s not simply a matter of spotting and defending choke points, but finding places where your traps can work in concert to multiply their efficacy, predicting the movements of the minions, preparing for new paths to open, and managing your budget. On top of this, you’ll have to compensate when your plans inevitably go awry.
All this tile-based complexity means that what Dungeon Warfare does really well is give the player a strong sense of place. It’s not just lanes and minions and towers, it’s demon-haunted tombs and lost jungle temples and abandoned ghostly mineshafts. Although the different environments are largely just palette swaps without gameplay effect, those switched pixels do a lot of work in building the game’s atmosphere.
Dungeon Warfare II is also massive. Let’s start with just the 60 difficult and distinct levels you’ll want to work your way through. You can control the difficulty of each of these levels by putting buffs or restrictions down with ‘runes’ you pick up through the game. These runes grant you bonus experience points in exchange for increasing the speed, number, or ferocity of the minions you’ll face. Each map also has several bonus objectives, like avoiding any damage or completing the map in a time limit, which are occasionally mutually exclusive, requiring multiple, wildly different approaches to clear each map completely and unlock everything. There are also unlocks located directly on the maps that require some creative trap placement to blast open. When you’re all done with those, the game will also generate more levels for you procedurally–and given the inherent unpredictability of the game’s basic design, these can be almost as much fun as the crafted maps.
To tackle all these levels, you’re looking at over thirty distinct traps, each of which has several levels of upgrades. These traps are rarely dull and usually have some kind of special effect that can totally transform your approach to a level or symbiotic effect with other traps. Chakrams bounce around, making them a great choice for tight quarters compared to your basic darts. Slime traps slow minions, making a slime/spike checkerboard on your dungeon floor a deadly combination.
If that’s not enough, you can also unlock skills that have universal effects and can grant you special powers. These are on three tracks of complementary abilities, letting you take on the game through aggression, finesse, or massive piles of cash. Then there’s the special items you can pick up from fallen heroes that offer their own buffs. Oh yeah: none of this costs any extra money; this is a purely premium game with no IAP.
It’s easy to bemoan the dearth of complex, satisfying gameplay on mobile, and especially in the tower defense genre, but you can’t do that here. Dungeon Warfare is certainly not the first dungeon-themed tower defense game, but it’s rare to see it done with so much verve.
GB Studio was just released. It’s an open source MIT licensed game engine for creating top down JRPG style games for the Gameboy. Capable of generating ROMs that can be run in an emulator, as well as playable web versions that can be uploaded to Itch.io. Summary details of GB Studio from their website:
Visual game builder with no programming knowledge required.
Design your graphics in any editor that can output PNG files e.g. Photoshop, Tiled, Aseprite.
Example project included to get started right away.
Make top down 2D JRPG style adventure games.
Build real GB Rom files which can be played in an emulator or on device using USB Carts.
Build a HTML5 playable game that also works on mobile and can deployed to any webserver or uploaded to Itch.io.
Built for macOS, Windows and Linux.
Supports both macOS light and dark mode.
Includes the full tools that were used to build Untitled GB Game, free to play on Itch.io.
The source code is available on GitHub. Windows, Linux and MacOS downloads are available here. Check GB Studio out in action in the video below.
Smash Bros. Ultimate's Pichu, Pokemon Trainer, And Isabelle Amiibo Dated
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's big 3.0 update wasn't the only Smash news Nintendo had to share this week. The company has also announced that a trio of new Amiibo figures are on the way, and they're slated to hit stores this summer.
Starting July 26, players will be able to pick up the Pichu, Pokemon Trainer, and Isabelle Super Smash Bros. Amiibo at retailers. Nintendo hasn't specified how much these new figures will cost, but previous Smash Ultimate Amiibo have run for $16 USD each. You can take a look at images of the new figures below.
Nintendo has released nine other Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Amiibo thus far, with even more on the way this year. The most recent batch, which consisted of Young Link, Daisy, and Ken, arrived earlier this month. Figures of Squirtle, Ivysaur, Snake, and Simon Belmont are also slated to release sometime in 2019.
In the meantime, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's 3.0 update arrives today, April 17. The biggest addition is undoubtedly Persona 5's Joker, who is joining the roster as a playable character. Joker arrives alongside a new stage, Mementos, as well as an assortment of music tracks taken from the Persona series. The whole Joker pack is available for $6 / £4.49, or as part of the $25 Fighters Pass.
In addition to Joker, the 3.0 update introduces a Stage Builder to the game, allowing players to create and share their own levels. Additionally, the Nintendo Switch Online phone app is receiving an update that adds the previously announced Smash World hub, which lets players view user-created videos and stages. Finally, the update adds a new assortment of Persona and Sonic Mii Fighter costumes to purchase.
