Forever Entertainment has been hard at work on Hollow 2 recently, a sequel to last year’s first-person survival game Hollow. A brand new trailer has been released today to give players a taste of the action.

It’s safe to say that we weren’t the biggest fans of Hollow when we played it last February. We felt that its visuals, controls, story, and more left a lot to be desired, and it would appear that the team has been taking these things into account for this new effort.

The PR team behind the game tells us that while Hollow received mixed reviews from press, it actually sold really well on Switch (generous sales might have helped here). For Hollow 2, Forever Entertainment has “tried to implement player feedback and added much more dynamic gameplay”, hopefully resulting in a better overall package.

It’ll be interesting to see how this one performs when it arrives later this year; the game will actually be arriving on Switch before other platforms, but we don’t have a solid date just yet.

Did you play the original? Would you be interested in an improved sequel? Let us know down below.

Twenty years ago today, on 21st March 1999, Pokémon Snap was first released in Japan.

A Nintendo 64 exclusive, Pokémon Snap follows the adventures of Todd Snap, a Pokémon photographer who is tasked with taking perfect shots of the adorable critters and showing them to Professor Oak for inspection. It features 63 of the original 151 Pokémon from Pokémon Red and Blue, with some only appearing after certain criteria are met by the player.

If, like us, you’re now feeling older than Professor Oak himself, know that the western releases for the game actually arrived several months after the Japanese launch. North America first got the game on 30th June that same year, but it didn’t make its way over to Europe until 15th September 2000.

Despite gaining a loving fanbase and being the eleventh best-selling game on the N64, Pokémon Snap has never received a sequel. It has seen re-releases on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles, but the idea has never been expanded upon; Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda once talked about a sequel needing to have “cool ideas” to work for the current generation of players.

The latest Nintendo systems have all felt perfect for a new game in our eyes – the 3DS’ camera, the Wii U’s GamePad, and the handheld gyro capabilities of the Switch – but there’s still no sign of something new. Hopefully it’ll happen one day.

Do you have any fond memories of playing Pokémon Snap? Would you like to see a sequel or even a remastered release of the original? Share your thoughts on the game with us in the comments.

One of the ‘wow’ moments from yesterday’s Nindies Showcase presentation was the reveal of Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer – a new game from the team behind Crypt of the NecroDancer which is set to feature none other than Link and Zelda.

The whole thing looks fantastic, from its bopping soundtrack to its gorgeous visuals, and it turns out that part of that successful art direction is thanks to a couple of members of the Sonic Mania dev team. It appears that both Midio and Paul Veer – two pixel artists who worked on Sonic’s wonderful 2D outing – have applied their talents to this upcoming game. Both were congratulated on their efforts by Sonic Mania art director, Tom Fry.

We don’t have a release date for the new Zelda goodness just yet, but you can learn more about it here if you need to catch up.

Has this one already been plonked on your Switch game wishlist? More Zelda on Switch can only be a good thing from where we’re sitting.

Xbox Live Gold members can play Vigor for free on Xbox One starting today until March 24, which makes this the perfect time to explore the beautiful landscapes of post-war Norway, scavenge for loot amongst other Outlanders in tense map-based encounters and start rebuilding your safe haven amidst a fallen civilization.

This free weekend hits shortly after the release of the 0.8 “Signal” update, which brought new content and game events, a player lobby and gesture system, as well as implementing numerous improvements and an enhanced gameplay experience overall. Previous updates 0.7 and 0.6 have already added optional objectives, randomized events, duos mode, improved weapon play (with over 17 additional weapons added) and numerous bug fixes and optimizations.

Although Vigor will release onto Xbox One as a free-to-play title this year, players can opt to continue playing – and supporting – the game after the Xbox Live free play weekend has ended by purchasing the game during its Xbox Game Preview period, which will also unlock the Founder’s Pack. This not only gives you immediate full access to the game but also rewards you with exclusive in-game items only obtainable during the Xbox Game Preview period of development. Please note that any progress made before 1.0 will be reset once the game fully releases – more info soon on vigorgame.com.

If the idea of a tense shoot n’ loot experience set against the picturesque backdrop of 90s Norway piques your interest, then be sure to head to the Gold Member of the Microsoft Store and download Vigor for free starting today.

See you in the game, outlanders!

It’s not often we get to do developer interviews these days, but thanks to the efforts of an interested reader, we’re pleased to be able to share with you a Q&A with Kyle Barrett, solo developer on generation-hopping rogue-like Immortal Rogue (which we recently reviewed). This interview was conducted by Sam Jeffreys, a designer for Feral Interactive who happens to be a fan of PT and now Kyle’s work. Sam is not an official staff writer, but he generously donated his time and his words to bring us this article. (ED)

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Pocket Tactics: How did you get started in game development?

Kyle Barrett: Well, I think the very first time I made a game I was about 10 and used the Age of Empires 2 scenario editor to make a little RPG for all of my friends to play. From there I started dabbling in GameMaker, the StarCraft editor, Morrowind mods, etc.

For some reason (probably because there was no real game industry where I grew up), I never thought making games could be a career. It wasn’t until I was over halfway through earning a degree in architecture that I had the idea to start sending out game design specs to my favorite companies. Eventually I got my foot in the door at a start-up in the bay area and the rest was history.

Pocket Tactics: Vampires, branching timelines, an elegant one finger control system… What came first, and how did everything fit into place?

Kyle Barrett: It was a combination of a couple separate ideas. One of those original design specs I created to try and get an industry job had this cool (or at least I thought it was cool) matrix that showed how worlds could evolve based on authoritarian factors and technological progress. I always wanted to put that in a game, ideally without a multi-million dollar production budget. I don’t remember where the vampire metaphor came from exactly, but it seemed like a great way to utilize a system with such a long narrative timespan.

The control system comes more from a personal challenge. Since I primarily work in mobile, I like trying to come up with control schemes that can provide dynamic gameplay with minimal touchscreen inputs. While there are pretty decent dual stick control schemes out there, they just don’t feel natural for a platform that doesn’t actually have buttons or joysticks.

Pocket Tactics: How long was the development time?

Kyle Barrett: Three months! I’m kind of proud of that. I knew I had three months where my work obligations weren’t going to be as intense, so I picked a concept I thought I could execute in that time period.

The first month was rapid prototyping and figuring out how the game would work. The second month I spent figuring out the art style and creating assets. The last month was spent importing the assets and polishing. It did take me a fourth month to fully launch the game, but that was because I neglected doing any marketing while I was focused on development.

Pocket Tactics: And what was your dev tool of choice?

Kyle Barrett: I used GameMaker Studio 2. While I mostly use Unity for industry work, GameMaker has always been my go to for rapid iteration and prototyping. It’s come a looong way since the ‘90s, and made a solo project much more feasible.

Pocket Tactics: Immortal Rogue is your second mobile title. What lessons did you learn from Ever Knight?

Kyle Barrett: Pretty much all the stuff that let me make Immortal quickly. How to work with the engine I was using, what animation tools and processes to use, the quirks of publishing on different mobile devices, etc. It probably took me longer to make Ever Knight than Immortal, even though EK is a much simpler game. The best advice I could ever give someone who wants to learn a game development tool is to just try making and publishing a simple project. I learned a ton.

Pocket Tactics: You have a full-time job in the games industry. How do you balance that with being a solo indie dev?

Kyle Barrett: I don’t have kids so that probably helps. But really, I think it’s about creating a habit and setting aside regular time blocks where you can work. For me, a few hours a night and larger chunks on the weekend seemed to work. I had to give up another hobby, but it was totally worth it.

It also helps if your bosses are cool and supportive (which mine totally were). Pro tip: mark down any game you want to make as a ‘previous invention’ when signing a job offer, so you can develop and own that project without making things messy for you or your company.

Pocket Tactics: What are your core design philosophies? What should every one of your projects have?

Kyle Barrett: That’s a tough one. For a personal project, I get excited if it has three things:

• An enticing player fantasy or story that could stand on its own (like the story of a vampire living through all of history).
• An addictive/novel core gameplay loop that works even in greybox. If I’m not playing the greybox in my free time then it’s probably not fun enough yet.
• Systems that tie the first two elements together in a way that they enrich one another. So it’s sort of like a sandwich: Metaphor on top, core gameplay on the bottom, and systems in the middle.
• Oh, and an art style that’s fun to draw…. So four things.

Pocket Tactics: I love seeing early concepts and prototypes. Is there anything you could share?

Kyle Barrett: The first few weeks went through a ton of changes as I figured out how the gesture controls and visuals would work together. I actually started with Ever Knight sprites. (Oldest to newest from left to right)

Pocket Tactics: Any tips for indie devs on staying the course and keeping focused?

Kyle Barrett: I’m still pretty new to the indie side of things. I think just setting a small, achievable goal and following through is the first step. Also, prioritize! You don’t have to do everything; Find a simple mechanic or idea and build your game around that. Bells and whistles are fine but they don’t make a game fun if the meat isn’t there first.

Pocket Tactics: Why knights?

Kyle Barrett: Because they’re awesome! I was originally thinking the hooded character would be Immortal’s mascot, but I ended up liking how the knight armor looked too much. Also, a shout out to my friend Matt Elser (http://www.elserart.com/) for making the awesome splash art character.

Thanks again to Sam for writing this up for us, and thanks to Kyle for agreeing to be interviewed.

Today at their GDC 2019 keynote, Google announced Stadia, their upcoming “gaming platform”, a server based streaming game service that runs on any Chrome enabled device.  Powered by custom GPUs designed by AMD using Vulkan on the Linux OS and spread across the same networking powering the Google search engine, Stadia promises to bring 4K at 60FPS gaming to the masses, with future support for 8K and 120FPS promised.

Being entirely server side, Stadia offers a number of innovative features.  Combined with their newly announced Stadia Controller, you can play games across any Chrome device and seamlessly transition your game between devices.  Since all the work, client and server are done on Google’s servers, they claim this will make cheating virtually impossible, while being able to scale existing game play up to thousands of users over night.  It also offered unique features like Streaming multiple sessions to the same endpoint, enabling flawless couch co-op, or the ability to use multiple server side GPUs for a single game instance enabling advanced special effects.

Stadia is built on top of familiar developer tools:

Unreal Engine

Epic Games’ official support for Stadia means you’ll have access to the latest technology and features of the world’s most powerful creation engine.

Unity

Unity is the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform, enabling developers to create rich, interactive experiences.

Custom tools

A suite of debugging and tuning tools help you get the most out of our platform, from fine-tuning streaming performance to diagnosing GPU crashes

Industry tools

Current dev tools include Havok^®, RenderDoc, Visual Studio, LLVM, AMD Radeon^TM2 GPU Profiler, IncrediBuild, Umbra^TM 3, FaceFX and Intelligent Music Systems, plus we’re constantly expanding to deliver a familiar development experience

For developers interested in getting started with Stadia, you can sign up at Stadia.dev.  For gamers interested in learning more visit Stadia.com for more details.  If you missed the GDC keynote, you can watch our condensed developer focused version in the video below.  We have done a similar treatment for the Unity keynote as well, available here.

GameDev News Engine Unity Unreal

Google unveiled a controller alongside its cloud-based game streaming service Stadia this week, but players aren’t locked into using Google-made hardware to play games on the service.

It’s a move that opens Google Stadia up to anyone that has a Chrome capable device like a PC, tablet, or Chromecast-enabled TV without requiring them to buy any additional Stadia supplies so long as they already own a controller of some kind.

What’s even better though is that Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller is included in the list of devices supported by the service, making possible for players that use the device and its highly customizable setup to play games using Stadia as well.

Microsoft’s Bryce Johnson tweeted about the support yesterday after the announcement, imploring other platform owners to include support for the controller in their own services: “It is great to see [Google] supporting devices like the Xbox Adaptive Controller in Stadia. Please consider enabling the copiloting of these devices. It will really help gamers with limited mobility a lot.”

Developers should strive towards moving the workplace past being “diverse” and focus on making them more inclusive instead.

That was the talking point during GDC 2019 earlier this afternoon, where several developers shared their personal and professional perspectives for building an inclusive game studio culture.

They advised how fellow devs can change their studio cultures to be more welcoming and supportive of underrepresented employees.

Director of marketing and communication at iThrive Games Foundation Cat Wendt began by highlighting the importance of retaining diverse developers once they’re brought into the mix.

“Inclusion is active and ongoing, not performative or temporary. It involves not just hiring, but also retention. Tolerating isn’t the same.”

She lead her fellow panelists JC Lau (Technical producer at Harebrained Schemes), Alexandra M. Lucas (independent writer and narrative designer), Sonia Michaels (DigiPen Institute of Technology), and Chris Wright (test manager at Bungie) into a discussion about inclusion by posing several questions.

Why do studios need to care about diversity and inclusivity efforts?

“There is no single default type of human being. We need to invite the broad variety of people to work alongside each other,” Michaels began.

Lau chimed in, noting that there isn’t just one type of developer either. “In order to fully make a product that’s inclusive, you need to have people in studios that are inclusive and diverse. Those things go together.”

“We need to get people in the door who are best able to tell different stories. Hiring is one way to do that,” Lucas added.

What are the biggest challenges facing diversity and inclusivity efforts at studios today?

“That’s kind of where it stops,” Wright said, referring to diversity initiatives.

“If you just focus on getting people in and don’t look at your studio culture and broaden it, you’re going to have the same problem tech has also seen: you hire lots of diverse people without making them feel welcome and they leave.”

There’s also the fact that the distribution of labor usually falls upon the marginalized employees. “The work that is done to make a studio inclusive is often voluntary,” Lau added. “I think this is part of the retention problem.”

If a studio wants to make a point of doing diversity and inclusion work, where should they start?

“Talk to the underrepresented developers at your studio,” Lau suggested.

“Actually try to help people by finding out what their needs are. Find out what the actual problems are and then ask what the members of your studio want to see and then figure out the path to get there.”

“You have to work with your leadership groups,” Wright added. “The leaders often set the studio culture, so its important to find out if they’ll be allies, or potentially help them build empathy for grops they might not be familiar with. It takes a lot of work to get something like this going.”

“Some folks do great consulting work in this area,” Wendt said. “You don’t have to add this work to your devs. It can also be helpful to bring in people and pay them to do the work.”

Developers who have any level of privilege need to be mindful of how they use their voice. Be prepared to fail, learn from mistakes, and do better.

How do you reach the employees who are least receptive to inclusion?

It begins by building empathy with those who are least receptive to inclusion.

“It’s not easy, it’s going to take a lot of work,” said Wright. “For inclusion to really work, you’re going to have to have difficult conversations. It’s necessary if you’re going to build that empathy.”

“I’d be interested to know why they’re not receptive to it,” Lau admitted. “Do they need additional training, do they need to develop more empathy? From there, once we understand what the problem is, it’s easier to approach.”

“Consider that people who are less receptive are also different people with different backgrounds.”

Today, on our March episode of Inside Xbox, we made a big announcement about one of the world’s most popular games coming to Xbox Game Pass, revealed some major news regarding Halo: The Master Chief Collection, unveiled some of our plans for E3 2019, introduced a gorgeous new controller, shared info on new modes coming to State of Decay 2, and much more. For a full recap, read on below or watch the replay of Inside Xbox episode above when the VOD is available.

Minecraft is Coming Soon to Xbox Game Pass

Beginning April 4, Xbox Game Pass members can join the Minecraft community of millions of players from around the world. Discover limitless ways to play and create anything you can imagine. Plus, with Minecraft´s free content updates, you´ll always find new environments to explore, tools to create, and mobs to meet. Last summer, the Update Aquatic filled Minecraft´s oceans with dolphins, turtles and more, and the upcoming Village & Pillage update will expand the game even further later this spring. With over 100 great games, including Minecraft, there´s never been a better time to be an Xbox Game Pass member and discover your next favorite game. If you haven’t tried Xbox Game Pass, join today and get your first month for $1.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is Coming to PC and Adding Halo: Reach

On today’s show, the crew was joined by Brian Jarrard from 343 Industries, who shared a couple of pieces of exciting news. First, we announced that Halo: The Master Chief Collection is officially coming to PC! Built specifically for the PC audience, players will be able to experience generation-defining campaigns and iconic multiplayer modes, many for the first time, on Microsoft Store and Steam. On PC, titles within Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be released individually over time to ensure that we are partnering with the community and investing the time into development to create a premier PC experience. We’ll have more to share during the Halo Championship Series Invitational at SXSW on March 15-17. We also announced that we’re bringing Halo: Reach to Halo: The Master Chief Collection for Xbox One and PC! Players will be able to experience this legendary title in stunning 4K/60fps and we’ll have more to share in the future.

Are You Ready for E3 2019?

At Xbox, planning for E3 2019 has kicked into high gear and we couldn’t be more excited for what we have in store for our fans.  As you may have heard, Bonnie Ross head of 343i, recently confirmed we’ll learn more about Halo Infinite at the show.  Our community team is hard at work getting ready for the return of Xbox FanFest, one of our favorite events at E3.  And we’re stoked to announce that in collaboration with AEG and L.A. Live, Microsoft Square will soon be renamed Xbox Plaza and will be a big part of what we have in store for E3 in June.  Cool, right?  We’ll have more to share on how Xbox Plaza is shaping up, all things FanFest and so much more goodness on E3 2019 in coming weeks and months ahead so be sure to stay tuned to Xbox Wire, This Week on Xbox and Inside Xbox for all the latest info.

The Phantom White Special Edition Joins the Xbox Wireless Controller Family

Controller announcements The Xbox Wireless Controller – Phantom White Special Edition is the second controller in our Phantom Series following the Phantom Black Special Edition.  The design is the optimal blend of luxury and Sci-Fi, embodying a new slant on technical beauty. You can grab the Phantom White Special Edition at retailers worldwide beginning April 2 for $69.99 USD, or pre-order yours today at select retailers, including your local Microsoft Store or online.

State of Decay 2 Lets You Choose Your Own Apocalypse

During today’s Inside Xbox segment, we revealed more about the two all-new terrifyingly awesome difficulty levels coming to State of Decay 2 with the free Choose Your Own Apocalypse Update (that we mentioned late last year) coming to Xbox Game Pass members and current players starting on March 26. Dread Zones will offer exciting challenges for experienced players, such as deadlier zombies, plague-infected juggernauts, a faster-acting blood plague, and fewer resources to scavenge. Want the ultimate challenge? Nightmare Zones are grueling endurance tests for hardcore players, featuring wandering groups of freaks and hostile humans capable of scoring lethal headshots against your survivors.

A Closer Look at the Future with Project xCloud

On today’s episode of Inside Xbox, we gave viewers their first real look at Project xCloud, a vision for game-streaming technology that will complement our console hardware and give gamers more choice in how and where they play. We’re developing Project xCloud not as a replacement for the video game console, but as a way to provide the same choice and versatility that lovers of music and movies enjoy today. We’re adding more ways to play Xbox games. We’re excited to share more about the technology in the coming months, including the first details of how and when you can help us to test it in real-world scenarios later this year.

Spatial Sound and the Wireless Display App are Changing the Game

As you might have heard, Xbox One currently supports Spatial Sound that’s specifically mixed for Dolby Atmos. During today’s show, we announced that the team is working to bring Spatial Sound to your whole Xbox One experience, regardless of whether it was specifically mixed for it. That includes all your games, movies, TV shows, and music content. Think as it as up-scaling for sound. To put it in simplest term: In the near future, all the content you experience through Xbox One is going to sound like it’s been mixed for Spatial Sound. We also announced that the team is in the process right now of rolling out the Wireless Display app, which is available in the Microsoft Store today. This app lets you project from your desktop or laptop PC or even your tablet onto the biggest and best screen in the house. Go check it out now!

DayZ Shambles Out of Xbox Game Preview

Bohemia Interactive’s DayZ has been a big hit on Xbox Game Preview, so we were happy to share on today’s episode that this intense RPG shooter will be coming out of XGP on March 27. Yes, you and your friends will be able to take on zombie hordes, as well as other players, in an attempt to stay alive. You’ll need to scavenge the world for weapons, food, water, weapons, and medicine, dealing with both zombies and competing players as you try to survive the outbreak. It’s one of the most intense experiences on Xbox One, and we’re excited for the full version to be released.

We hope you enjoyed the show, and we’ll see you next month!