On the afternoon of April 4th 1999 Sammy Pak went missing. That night, a video of her last known moments was uploaded online. All of your friends excitedly watched as she is pulled from an elevator by something. otherworldly.
This is a story about what happens when you look for someone who cant be found and the strange things you invite into your life when you go to forbidden places.
Strap yourself into the cockpit of some of the worlds most formidable fighter planes and skim through the clouds embarking on daring aerial stunts and nerve-shredding tactical dogfights.
In Ace Combat 7, you take on the role of an Ace an elite fighter pilot tasked with patrolling the most open and intimidating space on Earth: the sky. Choose from an array of authentic modern and futurist aircraft and load them up with an arsenal of cutting-edge super weapons as unfolding events drive you into ever more dangerous aerial face-offs.
PlayStation VR support will allow you to actually climb inside the cockpit with a series of exclusive features that create a new level of death-defying immersion.
Ah, the age-old question: Which Linux distribution is best suited for servers? Typically, when this question is asked, the standard responses pop up:
RHEL
SUSE
Ubuntu Server
Debian
CentOS
However, in the name of opening your eyes to maybe something a bit different, I’m going to approach this a bit differently. I want to consider a list of possible distributions that are not only outstanding candidates but also easy to use, and that can serve many functions within your business. In some cases, my choices are drop-in replacements for other operating systems, whereas others require a bit of work to get them up to speed.
Some of my choices are community editions of enterprise-grade servers, which could be considered gateways to purchasing a much more powerful platform. You’ll even find one or two entries here to be duty-specific platforms. Most importantly, however, what you’ll find on this list isn’t the usual fare.
What is ClearOS? For home and small business usage, you might not find a better solution. Out of the box, ClearOS includes tools like intrusion detection, a strong firewall, bandwidth management tools, a mail server, a domain controller, and much more. What makes ClearOS stand out above some of the competition is its purpose is to server as a simple Home and SOHO server with a user-friendly, graphical web-based interface. From that interface, you’ll find an application marketplace (Figure 1), with hundreds of apps (some of which are free, whereas some have an associated cost), that makes it incredibly easy to extend the ClearOS featureset. In other words, you make ClearOS the platform your home and small business needs it to be. Best of all, unlike many other alternatives, you only pay for the software and support you need.
There are three different editions of ClearOS:
To make the installation of software even easier, the ClearOS marketplace allows you to select via:
By Function (which displays apps according to task)
By Category (which displays groups of related apps)
Quick Select File (which allows you to select pre-configured templates to get you up and running fast)
In other words, if you’re looking for a Linux Home, SOHO, or SMB server, ClearOS is an outstanding choice (especially if you don’t have the Linux chops to get a standard server up and running).
You’ve heard of Fedora Linux. Of course you have. It’s one of the finest bleeding edge distributions on the market. But did you know the developers of that excellent Fedora Desktop distribution also has a Server edition? The Fedora Server platform is a short-lifecycle, community-supported server OS. This take on the server operating system enables seasoned system administrators, experienced with any flavor of Linux (or any OS at all), to make use of the very latest technologies available in the open source community. There are three key words in that description:
Seasoned
System
Administrators
In other words, new users need not apply. Although Fedora Server is quite capable of handling any task you throw at it, it’s going to require someone with a bit more Linux kung fu to make it work and work well. One very nice inclusion with Fedora Server is that, out of the box, it includes one of the finest open source, web-based interface for servers on the market. With Cockpit (Figure 2) you get a quick glance at system resources, logs, storage, network, as well as the ability to manage accounts, services, applications, and updates.
If you’re okay working with bleeding edge software, and want an outstanding admin dashboard, Fedora Server might be the platform for you.
NethServer is about as no-brainer of a drop-in SMB Linux server as you’ll find. With the latest iteration of NethServer, your small business will enjoy:
All of the included features can be easily configured with a user-friendly, web-based interface that includes single-click installation of modules to expand the NethServer feature set (Figure 3) What sets NethServer apart from ClearOS is that it was designed to make the admin job easier. In other words, this platform offers much more in the way of flexibility and power. Unlike ClearOS, which is geared more toward home office and SOHO deployments, NethServer is equally at home in small business environments.
Rockstor is a Linux and Btfrs powered advanced Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Cloud storage server that can be deployed for Home, SOHO, as well as small- and mid-sized businesses alike. With Rockstor, you get a full-blown NAS/Cloud solution with a user-friendly, web-based GUI tool that is just as easy for admins to set up as it is for users to use. Once you have Rockstor deployed, you can create pools, shares, snapshots, manage replication and users, share files (with the help of Samba, NFS, SFTP, and AFP), and even extend the featureset, thanks to add-ons (called Rock-ons). The list of Rock-ons includes:
CouchPotato (Downloader for usenet and bittorrent users)
Deluge (Movie downloader for bittorrent users)
EmbyServer (Emby media server)
Ghost (Publishing platform for professional bloggers)
GitLab CE (Git repository hosting and collaboration)
Gogs Go Git Service (Lightweight Git version control server and front end)
Headphones (An automated music downloader for NZB and Torrent)
Logitech Squeezebox Server for Squeezebox Devices
MariaDB (Relational database management system)
NZBGet (Efficient usenet downloader)
OwnCloud-Official (Secure file sharing and hosting)
Plexpy (Python-based Plex Usage tracker)
Rocket.Chat (Open Source Chat Platform)
SaBnzbd (Usenet downloader)
Sickbeard (Internet PVR for TV shows)
Sickrage (Automatic Video Library Manager for TV Shows)
Sonarr (PVR for usenet and bittorrent users)
Symform (Backup service)
Rockstor also includes an at-a-glance dashboard that gives admins quick access to all the information they need about their server (Figure 4).
Zentyal is another Small Business Server that does a great job of handling multiple tasks. If you’re looking for a Linux distribution that can handle the likes of:
Directory and Domain server
Mail server
Gateway
DHCP, DNS, and NTP server
Certification Authority
VPN
Instant Messaging
FTP server
Antivirus
SSO authentication
File sharing
RADIUS
Virtualization Management
And more
Zentyal might be your new go-to. Zentyal has been around since 2004 and is based on Ubuntu Server, so it enjoys a rock-solid base and plenty of applications. And with the help of the Zentyal dashboard (Figure 5), admins can easily manage:
Adding new components to the Zentyal server is as simple as opening the Dashboard, clicking on Software Management > Zentyal Components, selecting what you want to add, and clicking Install. The one issue you might find with Zentyal is that it doesn’t offer nearly the amount of addons as you’ll find in the likes of Nethserver and ClearOS. But the services it does offer, Zentyal does incredibly well.
Plenty More Where These Came From
This list of Linux servers is clearly not exhaustive. What it is, however, is a unique look at the top five server distributions you’ve probably not heard of. Of course, if you’d rather opt to use a more traditional Linux server distribution, you can always stick with CentOS, Ubuntu Server, SUSE, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or Debian… most of which are found on every list of best server distributions on the market. If, however, you’re looking for something a bit different, give one of these five distos a try.
Learn more about Linux through the free “Introduction to Linux” course from The Linux Foundation and edX.
The Division 2's Dark Zones Are More Welcoming, But Will Make You More Devious
One of The Division's most notable achievements in 2016 was its rather unorthodox approach to PvP gameplay. Within the center of post-outbreak Manhattan was the Dark Zone, an isolated, untamed space where you could engage in timed events, small skirmishes, and even backstabbing temporary allies. With The Division 2, Ubisoft has some interesting plans for expanding the Dark Zone concept, most of which will have you rethinking how you'll tackle the infamous no man's land.
We recently played several hours of the upgraded multiplayer mode, designed by original Rainbow Six developer Red Storm Entertainment. In the first game, the Dark Zone incorporated competitive multiplayer gameplay into the core systems and mechanics of the online world, allowing the agents to seamlessly transition between engagements against AI and other players in the volatile region. The developers refer to this gameplay loop as PvPvE: player-versus-player-versus-environment. While inside the zone, there are many opportunities to acquire powerful loot, but with significantly greater risk tied to it, thanks to tougher enemies and the threat of shady players looking for a chance to steal your loot.
Though clever in its design, and offering some fun encounters, the Dark Zone in the original game--even after several updates--was largely dominated by the hardcore playerbase. This gave the setting a reputation for being uninviting for those that weren't used to the steep learning curve and sink-or-swim setup. With this in mind, The Division 2 places a larger emphasis on making the Dark Zones more worthwhile for all players, offering more reasons to stay and explore the new systems at work. Furthermore, the sequel will feature not one, but three separate zones across Washington D.C.--DZ East surrounding Capitol Station, DZ South encompassing the waterfront, and DZ West within Georgetown.
Over the course of the campaign, your agent will be tasked to investigate the Dark Zones, allowing you to get your feet wet before things kick off. During our session, we opened the massive door leading into Dark Zone East and established various safe houses throughout the region. The on-boarding process for each Dark Zone also offers up some interesting narrative details, revealing what went wrong in the area and which faction of enemies has taken over. After completing the zone's introductory missions, the core content in the region will unlock, letting you enter skirmishes against AI and other players, or team up with others to secure loot.
In another promising change, Dark Zone loot has been significantly overhauled. In the first Division, anything you found in the Dark Zone had to be "extracted" before it could be used. Extractions required you to make a last stand in a certain area to get gear airlifted out while enemies and other players swarmed in to stop you and steal the loot. For the most part, loot found in the zones in The Division 2 won't require extraction and will be free to use upon pickup. However, you'll still find contaminated weapons that will require extraction, but they're now for rarer types of gear. This is big improvement because it not only rewards those who can only invest so much time in the zones, but it also lessens the frustrations found from getting easily sniped by opportunistic players upon extraction.
The sequel also does more to balance the initial power dynamics within the zones, normalizing all players' stats to ensure they're on an even playing field. The developers described this change as "fair, but intense," with the expressed purpose of allowing players of varying skill levels to see what they can find in the untamed areas. While this may bother some of the hardcore players, this change makes exploration of the Dark Zones more viable during the initial grind. However, you'll still come across players possessing unique loadouts and skill levels, ensuring most encounters will be unpredictable.
One of the more devious aspects of the original Dark Zone was its Rogue gameplay system. At any point, players could choose to turn on one another and steal their loot before it reached extraction. While this was intended to be a strategic choice within the first game, it more often than not resulted in severe griefing from high-level players. In The Division 2, the Rogue system has gone through an overhaul, redesigning the general loop to offer more options outside of the strictly PvP design from the last game.
To put it simply, Rogue status activates when you decide to get greedy. Throughout the zones are loot caches and special events that tie into the Rogue loop. If you decide to break into a locked loot chest, as opposed to using a Dark Zone key, then you'll immediately become Rogue for a limited time, momentarily placing you on the map for others to see. Even looting dead players will briefly turn you Rogue. While you may want to keep a low profile and wait for things to die down, special events will open up for Rogue players, allowing you rack up credits and resources, which can be turned in to unique vendors hiding out in the Dark Zone.
Potentially, you could reach the upper Rogue tiers without engaging in combat. The more Rogue actions and events you take on, the better the rewards and the higher your status will become. If enough time passes, you'll eventually become a main target for others, opening up a manhunt within the zone. In our session, some of the most intense moments came from when we were Rogue, which meant we were constantly looking over our shoulders to make sure we weren't being followed by other players looking to take us down. With more incentive to enter Rogue status outside of general PvP hijinks, there could be some potentially challenging scenarios for players to tackle--especially for those who aim to stealth through the Dark Zone.
With that said, getting a handle on the new Rogue mechanics sometimes resulted in cumbersome and awkward moments. While it's easy to go Rogue, simply by engaging in nefarious actions or simply activating it with the press of a button, the system itself can feel a bit too nebulous. A big issue we came across was that it was difficult, trying to get a sense of when you could actually target other players, or if they could target you. Likely intended as a safe-guard against griefing, you can only fire upon other players if they share Rogue status. So if you see another Rogue player in the wild, and you're not of similar status, you'll need to enable it to engage.
As it stands, this approach can create a minor disconnect from the overall pacing and dynamic systems in the Dark Zone. In one case during a Rogue mission, we found ourselves trading bullets with another group, only for the fight to abruptly come to an end once we found out another player turned in a quest--which immediately disabled the Rogue status for all of us in mid-fight. Having said that, the developers are still tweaking aspects of the design, so the final game may see a change.
At first glance, many of these changes seem to lessen the risk and ensuing dread that was synonymous with the Dark Zone. While that's certainly true to an extent, it also serves as a sampling for what's to come during the end-game. After the campaign's completion, one zone will become a contested area, and this will switch to a different location each week. Essentially a hardcore version of the Dark Zone, level and gear balancing will be disabled, player status is neutral by default, and friendly fire will be active at all times. With these changes, the contested Dark Zones could become some of the most chaotic and unpredictable areas the series has seen yet.
While the Dark Zone is still the main attraction for The Division 2's competitive gameplay, the developers have also added in an additional layer that exists outside of the PvPvE loop. Picking up from the previous game's 1.8 update that brought in 4v4 PvP, The Division 2 will also have traditional competitive multiplayer modes. Known as Conflict, this organized form of PvP will allow players to take part in standard team deathmatch and domination game types against others--with all their levels normalized. Conflict will also feature unique stat-tracking and rewards exclusive to the mode, including new cosmetics. However, at launch there will only be three maps and two game types, which quickly became repetitive during our hands-on. The developers were clear in stating that more competitive offerings will come during post-launch, which they aim to keep supporting for the long term.
The Division 2 felt very familiar to the original game, and that's OK. As it stands, the original game had a pretty spectacular post-launch period, and seeing that the sequel aims to keep that second wind going is reassuring. While some of the new innovations and changes in the sequel still need some work, it is interesting to see that its developers are trying to rethink the various elements of the competitive multiplayer, and how it can all coalesce within the online world. If you want to get some hands-on time with The Division 2 yourself, Ubisoft recently revealed plans for the upcoming private beta, which you can register for now on their site.
Here’s Your First Look At The Special Detective Pikachu Pokémon Card Set
Earlier this month, we shared the news that a special set of Pokémon cards had been announced to tie in with the upcoming Detective Pikachu movie. Now, we can have our first look at what these cards, and even their packaging, will look like.
Firstly, in the image above, you can see exactly how the cards featuring Detective Pikachu, Charizard GX, and Greninja GX will look. We have to say, the “realistic” visual style actually suits the card format really nicely.
That’s not all, though, as we also have images of three ‘Case File’ sets for each of those three characters and a special Collector Chest. You can check them out for yourself below, as well as a description of all the goodies you’ll find in each one a little further down.
Pokémon TCG: Detective Pikachu Case File—Contains one promo card featuring Detective Pikachu, one metallic coin inspired by Detective Pikachu, two Detective Pikachu booster packs, and one additional Pokémon TCG booster pack.
Pokémon TCG: Detective Pikachu Charizard-GX Case File—Contains one foil promo card and one foil oversize card featuring Charizard-GX, four Detective Pikachu booster packs, and two additional Pokémon TCG booster packs. Pokémon TCG: Detective Pikachu Greninja-GX Case File—Contains one foil promo card and one foil oversize card featuring Greninja-GX, one pin featuring Greninja, five Detective Pikachu booster packs, and two additional Pokémon TCG booster packs. Pokémon TCG: Detective Pikachu Collector Chest—Contains seven Detective Pikachu booster packs, two additional Pokémon TCG booster packs, one collector’s pin inspired by Detective Pikachu, and one Pokémon notepad and sticker sheet, all in a sturdy metal case.
The new Detective Pikachu set will be available from 5th April in the US and 29th March in international markets; it’ll contain 26 cards featuring Pokémon from the movie.
Would you like to get your hands on these cards? Which of the three above is your favourite? Tell us below in the comments.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-18-2019, 01:22 PM - Forum: Windows
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Daily Deal – Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War, 25% Off
We’ve just rolled out an update that makes it easier to find downloadable content for your favorite games. Any game that offers DLC will now have a sortable, featured page of all of its DLC in one place. Furthermore, (and especially for games that have a tons of DLC) we’re providing ways for developers to customize how these pages by creating lists, adding branding and specifying which titles to feature.
Blog: It took us over a year to learn what our game was about
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.
Let’s talk a bit about what this post is about. This is NOT a post detailing the progress of each individual mechanic of the game from iteration to iteration or about how time and experience influenced our design decisions. This is NOT a technical post. It’s more about production rather than development. These posts will come later, so if you are interested in that just be patient and I promise I’ll deliver.
“What the hell is Rise?” you may ask.
Well Rise is a puzzle game in which you have a simple goal. Use emitters to generate beams that activate some sort of mechanism while finding ways around blockers.
Solving a puzzle in the first three iterations of Rise.
That’s it. Rise is that simple. It could be a mobile game and we’d be done with it in a month or two. So why did it take us 1.5 years to even start making it?
Childhood
Akin to a child the first iteration of Rise was all over the place. Absorbing everything from its environment and constantly falling on its face while performing even the simplest of tasks. Yet it was full of potential waiting to be harvested.
Rise was conceived during the “Prometheus Game Jam” organized by the National Technical University of Athens in July 2017. Even though eNVy softworks existed as a team of different individuals for about 4 years already we had just solidified our lineup and started the company. Furthermore, it was the first time all 4 of us would get a chance to work together on a game that was not commissioned by a client and were justifiably excited.
The jam was taking place in the Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park, an hour-long drive from the center of Athens. The place is a huge complex of stone buildings that reminded me of those old abandoned places you always seem to stumble upon in horror games. During the weekend only the jamers had access to the place and we were free to explore and get inspired by it. Words can not describe how much I loved the place. It was hands down the best venue I’ve ever jammed in; and I’ve jammed in a castle… in the middle of a lake… in Sweden.
Our first ever design meeting on Rise
Of course, all good things must come to an end. The theme was disappointing to say the least. I am not sure how that came to pass but the organizers decided that the theme for the “Prometheus Game Jam” should be, well, Prometheus…
Oh well… We work with what we have!
In Greek mythology, Prometheus was the titan that stole the fire from the Olympian Gods and gave it to humanity thus kick-starting our civilization. It is a nice myth that made something very clear to us. We had to play with fire.
A few hours of talking and doodling and we had decided on our course of action. Risewas going to be a third person puzzle exploration game set in a dark post-apocalyptic world with prominent themes of fire and sacrifice. You would solve puzzles by spreading fire to altars that would lift some environmental constraint that halted your progress. To make our world seem richer, we had the protagonist give exposition in the form of transitional audio between the puzzles.
Playing with fire.
Development went surprisingly smoothly. Despite hitting some speed bumps over arguments concerning the art style and suffering a couple of nervous breakdowns. 48 hours later and we were pretty satisfied with the result. Unfortunately, the judges weren’t.
A problem I have with competitive game jams that offer monetary rewards is an artificial feeling of authority the judges often radiate. It’s easy to assume that if a panel of people did not find your game worthy of any recognition, your game must be trash. If I remember correctly the jam had 3 winners and 7 honorable mentions for categories like narrative, art, innovation etc. We won nothing.
We are not sore losers but after 48 hours with almost no sleep it’s easy to get depressed. “We are finally professional game developers, how bad is this thing it did not win anything? Amateurs fared better than us!” I now realize that this kind of thinking is idiotic. No panel can judge the value of a game. Not everyone will like it and that’s okay. The players will always have the final say.
A few minutes before the submission deadline.
Of course, no game is perfect but if no one gets any feedback from the judges, winning can be worse than losing. I am of the opinion that the secret to improving a game lies in a fundamental belief that the game is flawed. After all, you can’t fix that which is already perfect. In retrospect, I am happy we lost that game jam. If we won I think that the journey of Rise would end 48 hours after it began.
In any case, after suffering such a defeat we needed some time to recuperate. Now of the opinion that Rise had nothing to offer on a commercial level we retreated to our hometowns to wait out the summer.
The Teenage Years
During this iteration, Riseas most teenagers was struggling to find an identity. It had some questionable beliefs and experimented a lot. It was obsessed with space and insisted it was going to be an astronaut when it grew up.
Because of us being a business that sells primarily to corporate clients we have what we jokingly call an “exhibition-based” approach to commercial game development.
We are very extroverted when it comes to our work. We attend exhibitions, conventions, game jams, and miscellany events all the time. We are also very self-aware to the point of not wanting to show the same game over and over again, one event after another. This is why we tend to develop prototypes or updates to older prototypes just to showcase at a particular event.
Around this time we learned that the Greek government in collaboration with Nordic Game was going to sanction an international indie games expo simply named “Athens Games Festival” in October. As you can imagine we were thrilled to see what we would create this time!
Creating a new game just because an exhibition is approaching is obviously far from a perfect strategy. It has, however, some unquestionable benefits. First, there is no negotiating the deadline. There is no way around the date of an event. You are either ready or you are not. Once we get started Sunk Cost Fallacy has us going until we finish no matter the cost. (This is probably the same reason we are still trying to make Rise work after 1.5 years). This works great for prototyping but of course, you can’t just crunch through the entire development process. Right, Rockstar?
Get your fans young enough and the possibilities are endless!
If I’ve learned anything after 6 years in game development is that player feedback is key. Guess what creating prototypes and the immediately exhibiting them gets you… Yes! Feedback! Pure, raw, unadulterated feedback. If you want my advice; be brave. Find a cheap, or free exhibition somewhere near you and showcase whatever broken mess you’ve been working on. The results might surprise you.
We only had a week until the exhibition when we were finally done with a complicated commission. A couple of months earlier we got an Oculus Rift and did not yet get a chance to check it out in development. We decided to kill two birds with one stone.
When you have just one week to make your first ever VR game you decide to keep things as simple as possible. We removed the narration entirely, emphasized on the delivery method of the fire by having the players throw the balls of energy with their own hands and set the game in space to cut down on modeling time. A week later it was time to show Rise VR to the world!
Activating an altar.
As of the date of writing this post we’ve exhibited Rise VR in 7 events. None of them can compare to that first one. Other than the fact that our only VR ready PC broke down mid-expo and we had to borrow that of a dear friend the event went splendidly. Around 500 people tried it and we got more feedback that we knew what to do with.
Getting useful feedback from players can be tricky. It’s a process similar to mining. What you see on the surface is not necessarily what you are going to get. Positive feedback can mask negative aspects of the experience, while negative feedback can be easily ignored if you disagree with it. Oh, and don’t forget that one kid that tries to explain to you why you should run two GTX 1080Ti instead of just one GTX 1070, because “he knows VR”.
A big issue we quickly realized we had to filter through, were people playing a VR game for the first time. Having an absolutely novel experience impaired their ability to judge our game. We had to dig deep and observe them in order to understand the game’s strengths and shortcomings.
To our surprise, people had mostly nice comments about the game. Of course, not all feedback was positive. Thankfully because we were on a high, it was easier to take the negative criticism at face value and extract useful information from it instead of feeling hurt or acting defensively.
Players are all well and good but you also need the opinion of your peers. A lot of our fellow Greek Game Developers tried the game out during the expo. Most of them had a positive experience. For the first time since we’ve started making games, I felt that some of the older developers were finally noticing and respecting our work. At that moment losing that jam a few months back did not matter. I realized Rise could be so much more, and, for the first time, I started toying with the idea of actually releasing the game. Then; life happened.
How many developers does it take to hang a sign?
Game development can be a taxing process. In smaller countries, where the industry hasn’t quite flourished yet, like Greece, it’s very rare for developers to work on their games and be able to pay their bills at the same time. We do what we have to do to survive and that more often than not means freezing a project for a few months every now and then. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to Rise after Athens Games Festival 2017.
Don’t get me wrong, we did not forget about the project. We just stopped working on it. We got a big contract that would keep us occupied for at least 6 months pretty much full-time. Because of our lack of solid management and scheduling we could not even imagine the possibility of working on Rise on the side.
I am often asked how it feels to work on smaller projects and delivering every few months instead of making larger commercial releases. I always answer that I regret nothing. Even though we’ve taken this approach out of necessity and not choice it has only served to improve our company.
For one we learned to deliver. If you’ve been in the industry a while you know what a huge difference delivering a finished product makes. I am proud to say that between commissions, game jams and personal prototypes we have worked on over 30 projects.
A few of the games we’ve worked on.
Because of the variety of projects we had to tackle we developed a plethora of different skills. From multi-platform VR to online multiplayer the commissions we took on helped us become better developers.
Finally, and I am still surprised how often indies choose to ignore this, we kept on being cash flow positive without any outside funding. I don’t know about you guys but not starving to death is pretty high on my list of priorities.
The College Years
During this iteration finally free of artificial constraints Rise started to come on its own. Leaving its goth phase behind it decided to try more colors on, embrace its artistic side while never shutting up about how much of a contemporary masterpiece Monument Valley is.
Between October 2017 and July 2018 we exhibited Rise VR on a few more expos but did not alter or expand the game in any meaningful way. Just like that we had given up on the idea of ever releasing it. We just did not have the time.
In the summer of 2018 the company itself was going through some major changes. We just got a new art director, we streamlined most of our processes, got a dedicated project manager and were finally able to organize ourselves in such a way as to allow us to work on multiple projects simultaneously. That was exactly what a team like ours needed. We could now work on our projects and take on commissions at the same time.
We hadn’t worked on something worthwhile of our own for six months and were excited to see our new workflow in action!
Then we got an invitation to exhibit at TIF, Greece’s largest trade fair. It would be the largest expo we’ve ever been part of. With an estimated attendance of 300,000 and the United States as the honored country, the pressure was on!
The Minister for Digital Policy of Greece checking out Rise VR during the 83rd TIF.
As you’d expect we did not panic. We used the workflow we’ve been developing for the past few months and started polishing some of our… NO! Have you been paying attention at all? We threw every semblance of order out the window and started crunching to remake Rise VR from the ground up. Why not make something new you ask? Because at this point we had exhibited Rise in four different events and hadfeedback from over 1000 people. We knew where the game was suffering and decided to fix it.
After the accidental authoritative regime reminiscent logo of the previous iteration we were very careful to not invoke similar emotions ever again. Therefore the Third Rise was born.
This time we focused on level design and the fantasy of being able to manipulate energy more than the puzzles themselves. Instead of figuring ways to quickly create puzzles we focused on making the environment make sense. In combination with a more colorful palette two weeks later we had an entirely new iteration of Rise and where heading straight to Thessaloniki.
A fly-over the last puzzle of the first wold.
This time the feedback was even more positive than before. It was actually us that noticed most of the design problems with this iteration. We took notes aiming to fix them after TIF.
A month later “Athens Games Festival” was back for a second year in a row and Kostas was determined on creating a second world for our best Rise yet. He managed to complete it in time did not get a good chance to play-test the second world ourselves.
One year later and we are back
Player feedback was again mostly positive but something became immediately clear to us. The second world was vastly inferior to the first one. In our quest to make the environment matter we had sacrificed modularity. At this point, it was obvious that our “exhibition-based” approach wasn’t going to cut it.
When we realized our mistake the solution was simple. Scrap everything and start over. Armed with all the information we needed, knowing what works and what doesn’t by having players test all our ideas up to this point and by having a streamlined management system we were finally ready to focus on the development of Rise VR.
Adulthood
Building upon the lessons of the past Rise now knows that every game is unique on its own right and we all evolve day after day. But most importantly it knows what it has to be.
After this long journey it’s not that hard to understand the reasons why Rise was stuck in pre-production for so long. It was our lack of experience in game design, proper management and money.
I’d love to discuss where the game is at right now but this post has already been blown way out of proportion. This post exists to help you understand what this game has been through and what it means to us. How easy it is to get derailed or discouraged and how even an experienced team will make rookie mistakes that can be easily spotted by observing the players. I want this post to serve as a reality check to people who are trying to pursue a game development career by starting an independent studio without any prior experience or money. Finally, this post is about how even a derailed and fragmented pre-production can lead to a solid production. A production we are going to talk about in great detail in the coming weeks.
The fourth and final iteration of Rise has a solid vision behind it. hundreds of hours of filtered ideas, feedback from thousands of people and a stubborn team determined to make it work. I have but two resolutions for 2019, releasing Rise to as many virtual reality platforms as I can and maintaining a weekly development blog to keep everyone that might be interested up to speed. After all, it would be really embarrassing to not ship after all this!
Rock Band 4 is a celebration of music and rock and roll culture. The game comes with a top-notch selection of songs you can play, and with the Rivals expansion, you get access to an additional 44 free songs. But for the true music gaming aficionados out there, the real magic of Rock Band comes from the unparalleled DLC catalog; a collection of over 2,000 songs from across the world of music – from the heaviest of metal to top forty hits. Now, for the first time, players can get their hands on new music through 4 special bundles, each designed for a unique audience.
Amongst the largest bundles we’ve ever assembled, the Rock Band Hits bundle features 25 selections from our DLC catalog, featuring fan favorites including Boston – “More Than a Feeling”, The Killers – “Mr. Brightside”, Toto – “Africa”, and more.
The Guitar Glory Pack includes 18 selections tailored for the guitar enthusiasts out there. It includes Chuck Berry – “Johnny B. Goode”, Franz Ferdinand – “Take Me Out”, Van Halen – “Hot for Teacher” and more.
For the singers in the band, the Grab The Mic Pack features 12 of the best sing-along songs in the Rock Band DLC catalog, including: Otis Redding – (Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay”, The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”, Whitney Houston – “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and more.
The smallest and most affordable of the featured packs, the DLC Sampler features a fun mix of 9 songs you are sure to recognize, including Harvey Danger – “Flagpole Sitta”, Natalie Imbruglia – “Torn”, Violent Femmes – “Blister in the Sun” and others.
It goes without saying that Rock Band 4 dials up the fun when you are playing songs you love and we hope that these bundles serve as a welcome introduction to the wide world of Rock Band DLC.
Daily Deal – Crash Bandicoot™ N. Sane Trilogy, 35% Off
We’ve just rolled out an update that makes it easier to find downloadable content for your favorite games. Any game that offers DLC will now have a sortable, featured page of all of its DLC in one place. Furthermore, (and especially for games that have a tons of DLC) we’re providing ways for developers to customize how these pages by creating lists, adding branding and specifying which titles to feature.
