We’re on a power trip and no-one can stop us. First we told you what the best Board Games were, then we dared to dream of what the best turn-based strategy games might be. Now we’re here to conquer a new genre – card games (although not counting CCG/TCG types).

Below are a wide variety of excellent examples which aren’t simply trying to be another Hearthstone. Some have excellent single player campaigns with persistent upgrades and unlocks, or customizable decks. Others skew towards the heavily-instanced, unique-runs roguelike approach, and then there’s digital adaptations of many of the excellent deck-building or other types of card games that exist. Between these extremes, there’s something for everyone.

Exploding Kittens

Developer: Exploding Kittens
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $1.99

A game of hot potato with a nitroglycerine-infused feline escalates until every player save one has met their maker. Fiery kitty death and simple humor belie a take-that game which puts everyone immediately at each other’s throats. Hostility and sabotage are the name of the game, because each player has only one life to live, and one defuse card to keep that hairball from becoming a fireball.

The game is a childish, cartoonish pastiche of obvious joke made too hard too often, but despite the unapologetic unrefined everything, it remains one of the best guilty mindless pleasures around. If you ever need a reason to froth at the mouth and fling spittle at your fellow humans over fictionally threatening cats, look no further: Exploding Kittens is simply an excuse to have a good time, a cheeky pretext. Irksome, shameless and perfect it its base way.

Guild of Dungeoneering (Review)

Developer: Gambrinous
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $5.99

With Guild of Dungeoneering you come for the game, stay for the jokes. The sing-song plot is doled out over each of the game’s regions and challenges, and while the class system isn’t strictly balanced, the overall arc of the regions is. A single play session will eat up a bit of concentration and a bit more of time, sometimes even the better part of an hour in the later stages, but even the basic encounters feel fresh, engaging and vital to ultimate success. Diverting but finite in its appeal, the Guild of Dungeoneering is not a calling for all gamers but is a welcome and refreshing quest whose expansions add more flair and mechanics to extend the main storyline.

Card Thief (Review)

Developer: Arnold Rauers
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: 2.99, free

Card Thief: Get in, get rich, get out. The story of a heist plays out with endless variety, thanks to Card Thief’s intermingling systems of light and shadow, directionality and position. These systems are intuitively taught through appealing sound and visual design, and the game rewards deeper understanding of the basics and their complex interactions by giving the player more finicky toys to play with. In short, an unstinting challenge to sink your teeth into, with a razor-sharp core idea enlivened by a pastel of special effects and alternate thieves.

Card City Nights

Developer: Ludosity
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $0.99

The characters are idiosyncratic, the game-within-a-game conceit a little cheeky but still refreshing, the consistent tone humor-ish, deadpan. Beating certain keystone characters unlocks their signature, ultra-powerful cards whose effects even jive with that character’s personality. In other words, there is a correspondence between writing, characterization and deck archetypes between. Never quite a rollicking good time or agonizing head-scratcher, the deckbuilding and collecting (yes, there are boosters, no nothing is truly ultra-rare) of Card City Nights makes for an easily enjoyed and easily binged experience.

Lost Cities

Developer: TheCodingMonkeys
Platforms: iOS
Price: $3.99

Good ole’ Reiner Knizia can always be relied on for some arithmetic fun. His success and sheer number of gaming hits with staying power can partly be attributed to a creative knack, but it also comes down to a large and prolific output, along with thorough playtesting. Players finance archaeological expeditions, building stacks of colors with cards numbered two to ten. Each of the five colorful expedition must have cards played in ascending value, with skpping permitted. So playing a tenner to start would doom an expedition, because at the game’s end any expedition is worth the sum of its cards, minus twenty, multiplied by the presence of any extra finance cards ($$$). Simple, right? The other half of the game is the push-and-pull with players drawing and playing cards one at a time, sometimes opting to discard cards into a common area rather than play them. Boring to explain, easy to play. Tense and fulfilling to win.

Developer: Jerome Bodin
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $3.99, $4.49

Frost stands out from the other members of this list on two fronts. Firstly, for its palette, which is as frigid as monochrome as you’d expect. Secondly, because its gameplay is survival-based, not just thematically but actually. Gathering supplies, fending off nasties and keeping the elements at bay take every possible trick the cards will give you. Better performance will net you better tools, but unlike other games, Frost’s best rewards are a sense of security and temporary respite. In other words, the game won’t see you chasing exhilarating high score or excitement, but rather staving off the undesirable. Loss aversion, the fear of breaking a fragile equilibrium, the game daring you to take only appropriate risks when the phrase is a hollow oxymoron. The game rewards you with the chance to keep playing, keep exploring its stark dangers and bag of tricks.

Star Realms (Review)

Developer: White Wizard Games
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: Free, with content parcelled out as IAP ($4.99 for the full set)

Star Realms marries the level of expansion and customization of a TCG with the bite-sized crunchy decision-making of a deckbuilder. Its combat elements and faction-specific combos make for a serious nostalgia trip for those looking to revisit memory lane without first collecting, collating and crafting a custom deck just for the occasion. Star Realms’ many expansions, rapid-fire gameplay and clear iconography make it a compelling addition to the game enthusiast’s roster and an easy must-have.

Meteorfall: Journey (Review)

Developer: Slothwerks
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $2.99

In the happier sessions, Meteorfall ends with a successful final showdown against the aptly-named Uberlich. Working backwards from that ultimate battle to the four starting characters is much more challenging than the squidy art and breezy interface might suggest. Its fight-or-flight decisions and journeying remind me of FTL transported to a fantasy setting, with cards. Okay, so the likeness is weak, but the juxtaposition of richness and minimalism are what really matters here. Seriously, Meteorfall is a wolf in cartoon clothing.

Race for the Galaxy (Review)

Publisher: Temple Gates Games, LLC
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $6.99

Perhaps the quintessential engine-building card game, Race for the Galaxy is one of the more aged members within this best-of list, debuting originally in 2007. Its longitudinal sense of strategy and complex combos quickly made it a favorite amongst players. Along with this hefty strategic challenge,  the unique simultaneous action selection mechanic enlivened the game with some bluffing. Barring the official release of Dominion for mobile, Race for the Galaxy represents a classic, yet innovative take on a victory-point race. The app runs like a dream and offers stiff competition and solid multiplayer.

Reigns: Her Majesty (Review)

Developer: Devolver Digital
Platforms:  iOS, Android
Price: $2.99

Alright, it’s true: the cards in Reigns: Her Majesty only combine to create game paths and branching outcomes later on, but this sequel to the swipe-to-rule-them-all motherload of simple-yet-satisfying game, Reigns, deserves to be on this list because it has mastered what every good card game needs: flashpoint moments. The bite-sized binary decisions, served one-by-one in Reigns, amass weight, consequence and difficulty, not merely because of narrative investment but also because of a chain of causality. Much ado about something anyone who’s tried the game already knows, or more importantly, has already felt.

Hall of Fame

We’re keeping the list pretty tight at the moment, but there’s way more than ten excellent card games to celebrate, with more on the way all the time. Every now and then we’ll rotate games out for other games, but we don’t want those past greats to be forgotten. Below is a list of previous members of this list, lest we forget:

• Calculords
• Pathfinder Adventures
• Solitairica
• Flipflop Solitaire

What would your list of the best (non-CCG) card games look like? Let us know in the comments!

About a year ago, we started a project to lay the foundation for full-scale power management for applications involving the Xen Project Hypervisor on Arm architectures. We intend to make Xen on Arm’s power management the open source reference design for other Arm hypervisors in need of power management capabilities.

Looking at Previous Examples for Initial Approach

We looked at the older ACPI-based power management for Xen on x86, which features CPU idling (cpu-idle), CPU frequency scaling (cpu-freq), and suspend-to-RAM. We also looked at the PSCI platform management and pass-through capabilities of Xen on Arm, which already existed, but did not have any power management support. We decided to take a different path compared to x86 because we could not rely on ACPI for Arm, which is not widespread in the Arm embedded community. Xen on Arm already used PSCI for booting secondary CPUs, system shutdown, restart and other miscellaneous platform functions; thus, we decided to follow the trend, and base our implementation on PSCI.

Among the typical power management features, such as cpu-idle, cpu-freq, suspend-to-RAM, hibernate and others, we concluded that suspend-to-RAM would be the one best suited for our initial targets, systems-on-chips (SoCs). Most SoCs allow the CPU voltage domain to be completely powered off while the processor subsystem is suspended, and the state preserved in the RAM self-refresh mode, thereby significantly cutting the power consumption, often down to just tens of milliwatts.

Our Design Approach

Our solution provides a framework that is well suited for embedded applications. In our suspend-to-RAM approach, each unprivileged guest is given a chance to suspend on its own and to configure its own wake-up devices. At the same time, the privileged guest (Dom0) is considered to be a decision maker for the whole system: it can trigger the suspend of Xen, regardless of the states of the unprivileged guests.

These two features allow for different Xen embedded configurations and use-cases. They make it possible to freeze an unprivileged guest due to an ongoing suspend procedure, or to inform it about the suspend intent, giving it a chance to cooperate and suspend itself. These features are the foundation for higher level coordination mechanisms and use-case specific policies.

Solution Support

Our solution relies on the PSCI interface to allow guests to suspend themselves, and to enable the hypervisor to suspend the physical system. It further makes use of EEMI to enable guest notifications when the suspend-to-RAM procedure is initiated. EEMI stands for Embedded Energy Management Interface, and it is used to communicate with the power management controller on Xilinx devices. On the Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC we were able to suspend the whole application subsystem with Linux and Xen and put the MPSoC into its deep-sleep state, where it consumes only 35 mW. Resuming from this state is triggered by a wake-up interrupt that can be owned by either Dom0 or an unprivileged guest.

After the successful implementation of suspend-to-ram, the logical next step is to introduce CPU frequency scaling and CPU idling based on the aggregate load and performance requirements of all VMs.

While an individual VM may be aware of its own performance need, its utilization level, and the resulting CPU load, this information only applies to the virtual CPUs assigned to the guest. Since the VMs are not aware of the virtual to physical CPU mappings, while also lacking awareness of all the other VMs and their performance needs, a VM is not in a position to make suitable decisions regarding the power and performance states of the SoC.

The hypervisor, on the other hand, is scheduling the virtual CPUs and needs to be aware of their utilization of the physical CPUs. Having this visibility, the hypervisor is well suited to make power management decisions concerning the frequency and idle states of the physical CPUs. In our vision, the hypervisor scheduler will become energy aware and allocate energy consumption slots to guests, rather than time slots.

Currently, our work is focused on testing the new Xen suspend-to-RAM feature on Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC. We are calling the Xen Project developers to join the Xen power management activity and implement and test the new feature on other Arm architectures, so we accelerate the upstreaming effort and the accompanying cleanup.  

Authors

Mirela Grujic, Principal Engineer at AGGIOS

Davorin Mista, VP Engineering and Co-Founder at AGGIOS

Stefano Stabellini, Principal Engineer at Xilinx and Xen Project Maintainer

Vojin Zivojnovic, CEO and Co-Founder at AGGIOS

In today’s technology arena, open source is pervasive. The 2018 Open Source Jobs Report found that hiring open source talent is a priority for 83 percent of hiring managers, and half are looking for candidates holding certifications. And yet, 87 percent of hiring managers also cite difficulty in finding the right open source skills and expertise. This article is the second in a weekly series on the growing importance of open source certification.

In the first article, we focused on why certification matters now more than ever. Here, we’ll focus on the kinds of certifications that are making a difference, and what is involved in completing necessary training and passing the performance-based exams that lead to certification, with tips from Clyde Seepersad, General Manager of Training and Certification at The Linux Foundation.

Performance-based exams

So, what are the details on getting certified and what are the differences between major types of certification? Most types of open source credentials and certification that you can obtain are performance-based. In many cases, trainees are required to demonstrate their skills directly from the command line.

“You’re going to be asked to do something live on the system, and then at the end, we’re going to evaluate that system to see if you were successful in accomplishing the task,” said Seepersad. This approach obviously differs from multiple choice exams and other tests where candidate answers are put in front of you. Often, certification programs involve online self-paced courses, so you can learn at your own speed, but the exams can be tough and require demonstration of expertise. That’s part of why the certifications that they lead to are valuable.

Certification options

Many people are familiar with the certifications offered by The Linux Foundation, including the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) and Linux Foundation Certified Engineer (LFCE) certifications. The Linux Foundation intentionally maintains separation between its training and certification programs and uses an independent proctoring solution to monitor candidates. It also requires that all certifications be renewed every two years, which gives potential employers confidence that skills are current and have been recently demonstrated.

“Note that there are no prerequisites,” Seepersad said. “What that means is that if you’re an experienced Linux engineer, and you think the LFCE, the certified engineer credential, is the right one for you…, you’re allowed to do what we call ‘challenge the exams.’ If you think you’re ready for the LFCE, you can sign up for the LFCE without having to have gone through and taken and passed the LFCS.”

Seepersad noted that the LFCS credential is great for people starting their careers, and the LFCE credential is valuable for many people who have experience with Linux such as volunteer experience, and now want to demonstrate the breadth and depth of their skills for employers. He also said that the LFCS and LFCE coursework prepares trainees to work with various Linux distributions. Other certification options, such as the Kubernetes Fundamentals and Essentials of OpenStack Administration courses and exams, have also made a difference for many people, as cloud adoption has increased around the world.

Seepersad added that certification can make a difference if you are seeking a promotion. “Being able show that you’re over the bar in terms of certification at the engineer level can be a great way to get yourself into the consideration set for that next promotion,” he said.

Tips for Success

In terms of practical advice for taking an exam, Seepersad offered a number of tips:

• Set the date, and don’t procrastinate.

• Look through the online exam descriptions and get any training needed to be able to show fluency with the required skill sets.

• Practice on a live Linux system. This can involve downloading a free terminal emulator or other software and actually performing tasks that you will be tested on.

Seepersad also noted some common mistakes that people make when taking their exams. These include spending too long on a small set of questions, wasting too much time looking through documentation and reference tools, and applying changes without testing them in the work environment.

With open source certification playing an increasingly important role in securing a rewarding career, stay tuned for more certification details in this article series, including how to prepare for certification.

Learn more about Linux training and certification.

The nearly 40,000 employees of Eli Lilly and Company are on a mission to make medicines that help people live longer, healthier, and more active lives. But they know that developing new treatments for cancer, diabetes, and other debilitating diseases requires collaboration with the best minds working together to foster innovation.

That’s why Lilly takes a collaborative approach to discovering and developing new medicines—between lab researchers and the rest of the company—as well as with a global network of physicians, medical researchers, and healthcare organizations. Working together—creatively and efficiently—can help generate new ideas that fuel innovation. To bring together scientists across hundreds of locations and organizations and truly empower the workforce, Lilly selected Microsoft 365 Enterprise.

While Lilly is in the early stage of deployment, these cloud-based collaboration tools, including Microsoft Teams, are making an impact. Mike Meadows, vice president and chief technology officer at Lilly, says that the technology will allow for enhanced productivity and teamwork, while helping to protect IP:

“Collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams enhance our ability for researchers and other employees to work together in faster and more creative ways, advancing our promise to make life better through innovative medicines. Microsoft 365 helps us bring the best minds together while keeping data secure and addressing regulatory compliance requirements.”

Like enterprise customers across the globe, Lilly sees Microsoft 365 as a robust, intelligent productivity and collaboration solution that empowers employees to be creative and work together. And when deployment of Windows 10 is complete, employees across the company will advance a new culture of work where creative collaboration that sparks critical thinking and innovation happens anywhere, anytime.

At Microsoft, we’re humbled to play a role in helping Lilly make life better for people around the world.

—Ron Markezich

In this GDC 2018 talk, Ubisoft’s Jason VandenBerghe takes a crack at refining his five domains of play theory to better account for the realities of game design.

VandenBerghe starts off by admitting that the the five domains model (which he introduced last year) needs restructuring, explaining how he streamlined the theory to include a complete set of player archetypes (and the games they would play) for each set of facets primary for gaming.

He goes on to discuss how developers can apply the five domains model (and every other psychological model) to game development by developing accurate empathy. Accurate empathy, he argues, makes for better game developers and thus better games.

It was an informative talk that’s still definitely worth watching, so developers shouldn’t miss the opportunity to do so now that it’s freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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