Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-09-2018, 08:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Humble-hosted Jingle Jam raises $5.2 million for charity
The Yogscast and Humble Bundle’s annual Jingle Jam game bundle has raised a total of $5.2 million for charity, bringing the lifetime funds raised by the event to $11 million.
Typically, Humble Bundles allow purchasers to divide and distribute their payment between Humble itself, charity, and game developers. But, in the case of the Jingle Jam, over 50 game developers and publishers donated more than 60 different titles in order for the entire amount raised by the bundle to go straight to charity.
The full bundle was unlocked for a $35 minimum donation and offered players roughly $850 worth of titles for their contribution. Humble saw as many as 148,853 individual bundle sales through its platform during the month-long sale. This year marks the sixth year of the event, with last year’s Jingle Jam raising a total of $2.6 million through 86,589 sales.
The funds are set to go to seven charities that were supported by the event, though donors were also given the option to donate to any of 3,000 other optional charities as well.
Star Wars Battlefront II offers an epic multiplayer experience and an engaging single-player campaign, one that follows the events surrounding Inferno Squad as the Empire preps for their next mission: Operation Cinder. In addition to Star Wars Battlefront II‘s story-based campaign, you’ll also get to experience expansive multiplayer modes that will have you playing across the galaxy against players from all over the world. And with our five tips, you’ll be prepared to take out the Empire, the First Order, or Rebel scum!
For even more strategies and tactics on today’s hottest games, plus plenty of other gaming-related fun, tune in to Tips and Tricks every Tuesday at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET on Mixer.com/TipsAndTricks!
Turbo Pug DX Has Been Confirmed for Nintendo Switch
If you’ve ever wanted to control a tiny pug as he jumps over boxes, platforms, and spikes whilst collecting little, spinning pug-head tokens, today is the day for you.
The creator of Turbo Pug, a game previously released on Steam with thousands of glowing reviews to its name, has confirmed that Turbo Pug DX will be heading to Nintendo Switch. The game is a casual runner with difficult, random, procedurally generated levels. Players have to keep an eye out for random weather types such as lightning which can give your pug a nasty zap, and you are able to collect new costumes and characters to play as.
Whilst there is no confirmed release date just yet, the Turbo Pug founder went on to say that they are going to do their best for “an ASAP 2018 Switch release.” Hopefully it won’t be too long before we get to see what all the fuss is about.
Are you ready for a new, cheap and cheerful runner to take with you on the go? Share your thoughts in the comments.
It’s a new week, so it’s time to check out the UK software charts again. Last week Super Mario Odyssey was the star of the show, holding its own against strong third party competition on PS4/Xbox One. This week we see it slip from 6th place to 8th place, but we’d imagine that Nintendo will more than happy with that.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild jumps from 10th place last week to 9th place this week. Could people who picked up a Switch be looking for that next game to add to their collection perhaps? Whatever the reason, it’s a strong showing for a game that is almost a year old.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-08-2018, 06:38 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Watch Live on Steam – Paladins World Championships
Watch the Paladins World Championships live on Steam.
The first-ever Paladins World Championship takes place at Hi-Rez Expo, and will bring top teams from the Paladins Premier League to face off against teams from China, LATAM, Brazil, SEA, Oceania, and CIS.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-08-2018, 06:38 AM - Forum: Lounge
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At GDC 2018 you’ll get a postmortem look at the design of Horizon Zero Dawn
You’ll have your pick of a boatload of interesting talks when you come to the Game Developers Conference in March, including a behind-the-scenes look at the design of Guerrilla Games’ hit game Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Guerrilla’s Eric Boltjes is coming to GDC 2018 to present “‘Horizon: Zero Dawn‘: A Game Design Postmortem,” a Design track talk that will run you through through early prototypes and delving into design decisions and processes that shaped development of the 2017 game.
You’ll want to make time for this, because Boltjes plans to give you insight into the journey Horizon‘s game design went through while moving from an ambitious paper concept to a finished open world action RPG, with all of the small and large design decisions and choices that had to be made along the way.
You won’t want to miss it, as well as the many more GDC 2018 announcements we’ll be making in the coming months! For more information about GDC 2018 head over to the show’s official website, and subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas
Woodle Tree Adventures from Fabio Ferrara and Chubby Pixel is a 3D platformer that takes place in a natural and soft yet rather angular world. You are the offspring of a giant mustache-toting square tree who tasks you with collecting fairy tears to quench the thirst of the increasingly demanding world you inhabit. With a rucksack on your back for storage and a magic leaf to defend yourself, our cute little tree stump hero ventures across eight levels (increased from the original six), swatting enemies, jumping around and collecting berries as you go.
The mandatory objective in each themed world is to collect three magical fairy tears to progress, which then unlock new worlds to explore. There’s also a secondary task, which is to collect berries to gain access to three projectile-based power upgrades for your leaf attacks. Thing is, even with the extra worlds and the upgrades, your completion time probably won’t go over two hours. While it’s easy on the eye with its cute and charming animation, the overall experience lacks impact and detail.
Aside from the opening monologue, there are no names for the worlds and no indication within the level as to how many berries you’ve collected. Aside from the fact there are no bosses or extra tasks that deviate from the platforming, there is very little kinetic energy or effects to give the worlds life. As well as being relatively linear and not overly vast or complex, these levels are generic in terms of themes, offer little variety in the structure of the landscape and boasts few landmarks or points of interest.
There are some water jets that propel Woodle upward and platforms that present more complex shapes in the later stages, but for the most part, the range of textures, depth in colour palette and lighting are quite limited. In terms of audio, woodland animal sounds, occasional sound effects for collecting berries, hitting enemies and Woodle jumping are accompanied by a sometimes ambient but other times oddly jarring piano-based soundtrack.
While the game is enjoyable to a degree, there are a few design and mechanical issues that, while not game breaking, certainly restrict the freedom of exploration and detract from your enjoyment. First of all, there’s issues with the camera. You’re only able to zoom the it in and out, which severely interrupts traversing the static platforms. There are even some instances where the camera won’t budge and you find yourself hidden, so blind trial and error are constantly necessary. When the camera is autonomous, it’s sporadic to the point that it zooms in to the extreme, making your platforming duties even more frustrating.
Despite boasting improvements on previous versions, Woodle’s general movement and traversal of the levels just don’t feel anywhere near as tight or as varied as its competitors. Although by default, Woodle walks at an awkward and leisurely pace, there is a sprint button rather than analogue control to increase his speed. While there isn’t much in the way of obstacles, only Woodle himself has a shadow which makes gauging distance to gather berries or jumping across high platforms barely tolerable.
The whole experience doesn’t feel very tactile, and enemies dotted around the worlds don’t have much in the way of attack patterns or are even distinguishable as enemies in the first world, and the game even directly addresses this early on in dialogue. Thankfully, foes pose more of a threat later, but the sparse nature of interaction combined with inconsistent collision detection is progressively disappointing.
Conclusion
Even with extra content and performance enhancements, a frustratingly limited camera and lack of variety reduce Woodle to a cheap and cheerful but flawed and basic 3D jump and collect-athon. While its cute and whimsical charm and uncomplicated nature make it suitable and accessible to younger audiences, there are still plenty of contemporaries on the eShop that are more accomplished and polished. While adequate considering its price, it’s nonetheless an idyllic yet simple little game.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-07-2018, 06:08 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Civilization V mod adds realistic superintelligent AI research
Researchers from the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) have released a mod for Civilization V that introduces superintelligent AI into the game.
The project was managed by CSER’s Dr. Shahar Avin, who specifically chose Civilization V to draw attention to the impact and risks AI can have if they become smarter than humans, because of the educational benefits games provide.
“We want to let players experience the complex tensions and difficult decisions that the path to superintelligent AI would generate,” explains Avin. “Games are an excellent way to deliver a complex message to a wide audience. The Civilization games series has an amazing track record of presenting very complex and interlocking systems in a fun and educating way.”
As Rock Paper Shotgun notes, the Superintelligence mod adds AI technology to the tech tree, which includes players interacting with concepts like machine learning and constructing AI research labs in order to compete and be the first to develop artificial superintelliegence.
If players don’t manage their resources carefully, then an unaligned superintelligent AI will be created and all civilizations will be destroyed. CSER developed this mod to explore future risks derived from AI, and it can be downloaded on Steam.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 01-07-2018, 06:08 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Video: How reference data was captured for Forza Motorsport 5
3D artists have to create environments and worlds largely from their own imagination. In Forza Motorsport 5, designers had to piece together elements from the real world and their own fiction in order to place a race track right in the heart of Prague.
In this GDC 2015 session, Microsoft Studios’ Arthur Shek discusses the technologies behind gathering reference data for Forza Motorsport 5, explaining how the method can be used to create more assets at a lower cost.
The talk goes over best practices for taking environment references, where Shek explains reference planning as the process of documenting everything about a space so that environment artists can create those results in 3D. He goes on to highlight how this gathering technique became the foundation for creating content quickly and efficiently.
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.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas
