Ascender Issue 5

ISSUE 5

Ascender a EVERYTHING YOU NEED to get into GAMING

Inside Elder Scrolls Online HOW TO

GO PRO What Makes a Great eSports Player

UNLEASH THE BEAST BUILDING A MODEST GAMING PC

KICKSTART

GAMING REVIVAL What a Long Strange Trip PC GAMING HISTORY

Kickstarting a Gaming Revival

Balancing an MMO

Inside the Elder Scrolls Online with ZeniMax Online Studio

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contents

Ascender a EVERYTHING YOU NEED to get into GAMING 4

What a long strange trip From the days of text adventures through to todays high action first person shooters, it’s been a long strange trip.

6 The Gaming PC difference Most people these days have a PC at work or home for basic tasks. What makes up a dedicated ‘Gaming PC’?

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Steaming into the lounge room Gaming PCs no longer need to be a tied to your desk, a new alternative uses Steam OS in the living room.

10 Unleash the Beast Even on a modest budget, you can build a gaming PC with the power to take on the latest games.

12 Micro Gaming Want to create a high performance gaming machine but don’t have the space for a larger gaming rig?

14 Balancing an MMO World We sat down with Matt Firor, Creative Director at ZeniMax Online Studios to discuss the challenges of bringing the Elder Scrolls to the MMO genre.

24 Starting Small A talk with the team at Flat Earth Games on the process of developing their first game, ‘TownCraft’ for iOS, PC and Mac.

26 The Art of Gameplay Even the most difficult games can be fun. We take a look at the essentials of what makes up good gameplay.

28 Pro Gamer Fitness To be at the top of your sport, fitness is the key. The same is true for Pro Gamers who keep fit for peak performance.

30 What makes a Great ESports player Team Dignitas coach William ‘Scarra’ Li, talks about what it takes to become a high calbre e-sports player.

32 How to Go Pro There is a massive difference between playing games for fun and do it professionally. Learn how to make the leap.

34 Indie Games Taking On The Industry Check out these five indepedantly produced games that have become so popular the gaming industry is taking notice.

20 Kickstart a Gaming Revival

COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF BETHESDA

Kickstarter can bring innovative ideas to reality but can also be used to revive much loved classics too.

22 Expert Kickstarter Tips For Success Have an awesome idea but don’t know how to bring it to fruition? Kickstarter is a brilliant way to get the word out about your product but how do you ensure success?

Ascender Magazine is published by GAP Marketing & Management Pty Ltd on behalf of WD. Managing Editor Dave Jansen Project Director Renato Catalan Designer Aimee Montano

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g n o L a t Wha

p i r T e g n a r t S es g a e h t h g u o r h t g n i m PC ga

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hile families across the world were marvelling at the innovative worlds being created by the Atari 2600, a tech savvy few, lit by the monochrome green glow of a cathode ray tube, were escaping into sophisticated text games like Adventure, Zork and later MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). You see, gaming actually started on the PC before it came to home consoles and has always persisted, evolving along a different path which, at one time, even dominated the scene.

By 1983, the home console market had become crowded, with everyone trying to cash in on the popularity of the Atari 2600.

With too many poor games and knock-off systems, the public lost confidence in gaming, and the ‘fad’ died allowing PC gaming to thrive.

PCs have always been more powerful than consoles of the same generation but have always had a barrier to entry that have forced them to take a back seat to the mainstream due to price or technical knowhow. The exception to that rule followed the 1983 crash when the Commodore 64 ruled the roost with over 2 million units sold in the US per year between 19831986. Parents were convinced that it was a serious Home PC while

their kids knew the real truth - it was an awesome games machine too. It was extremely cheap compared to other PCs by IBM, Texas Instruments and Apple and was one of the first PCs that could plug into a television, allowing it to fill the hole in the market.

For five years it dominated, until the consoles bounced back with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Commodore tried to fight back with the C-128 and various versions of the Amiga but they just couldn’t compete. While consoles once again took centre stage, the PC market continued to evolve in the wings but was once again something for enthusiasts only.

PC games trail blazed through much of the 1990s and 2000s as microprocessor and graphics card power exponentially grew. Some of the biggest games in history were PC games first or are still only available on PC. This was an era with titles like Kings Quest, Space Quest, Defender of the Crown, Ultima, Prince of Persia, Karateka and Monkey Island. It even gave birth to the First Person Shooter genre with Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake and Unreal Tournament.

Online gaming started on the PC, competitive gaming started there too and the boundaries of what could be done with 3D graphics were always pushed on PC first.

Diablo, Elder Scrolls, Warcraft, Starcraft, Half-Life, Counterstrike, Fallout, Grand Theft Auto, Battlefield and Call of Duty started on the PC, not to mention countless strategy games like Civilisation, Populous, Age of Empires and smash hits like SimCity and The Sims. These days, PC gaming is making a resurgence with online purchasing platforms like Steam and the upcoming Steam OS making a play for PCs to enter the living room and give consoles a serious run for their money.

The days of PCs being something out of reach for many people are over with them being cheaper to buy than ever before. While there will always be PC gamers that demand the highest specs and the most beastly machines, anyone can now get into PC gaming. Will PCs take over from consoles? That remains to be seen but one thing is assured, PC gaming is here to stay.

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The

Gaming PC Difference

gaming CPUs are much faster than most office PCs as it’s used to power the game’s AI, sound effects, physics and much, much more.

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t doesn’t take a Top Gear host to spot the difference between a Ferrari and a Corolla, but the same can’t be said about identifying a gaming PC hidden amongst a bunch of office machines. Both can look identical from the outside, and removing the side panel reveals bits and pieces inside that all look pretty similar.

So why does a gaming PC cost at least twice as much as a regular PC, while delivering a higher standard of performance when playing 3D games? Closer examination reveals the answer; each of the components in a gaming PC are designed with one thing in mind - speed.

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The more you spend, the better the games will look, especially on higher resolution displays.

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The first and most significant difference is the inclusion of a dedicated graphics card. Most office PCs now use the integrated graphics processor built into the CPU, which is fine for surfing the web or playing a spot of Solitaire.

performance required. The more you spend, the better the games will look, especially on higher resolution displays.

Gamers also tend to go for the fastest processors that remain affordable, with Intel’s i7 4770K and AMD’s A10 6800K both pumping out the necessary levels of performance at just the right price.

Games are quite memory hungry too so a gaming rig needs at least 8GB of RAM these days. They also need fast hard drives to load games quickly, and to stream parts of the game into the RAM rapidly as the game is played high performance physical disk drives or SSDs are generally preferred.

Finally, games require quality sound, to achieve this they either include a dedicated sound card, or the motherboard used within has an especially good sound chip built into it.

Today’s gaming PCs might look a lot like a regular PC, but every component has been enhanced.

They might cost a little more in the process, but the result is a machine that is exponentially more powerful.

Choosing Cards

Popular graphics cards include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 and AMD’s R7 260X.

Fire up Call of Duty though and it’ll have a heart attack, with the game feeling sluggish and choppy. Gaming PCs use a dedicated graphics card to solve this, speeding up the 3D graphics used in games, and with various cost depending on the level of

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Steaming lounge into the room

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to sociable locations. With its upcoming SteamOS, Valve wants to put a gaming PC - a Steam Box - in entertainment centres next to Xbox Ones and PS4s.

However, with the world of digital entertainment increasingly moving to the lounge room and beyond, Valve is pushing the PC master race out of home office caves

By the end of this year PC makers will be rolling out a selection of off the shelf Steam OS computers, such as Alienware’s upcoming Steam Machine, but given the open nature of the system there’s no need to wait. PC’s have inevitably and rapidly outclassed

alve Software’s Steam service has gone from strength to strength, morphing from an answer to unobtrusive digital rights management into the PC’s premier cloud-based gaming delivery system and community.

console hardware, so you can build a fairly hefty system that will best Microsoft and Sony’s flagships at a low cost.

A 64 bit Intel CPU like the 3.3Ghz i5, 8GB of RAM, a Hard Disk Drive and a mid-level Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon Graphics card is all you need to get started.

With the hardware in place you’re going to need software to get your Steam box online, and

Clutter-Free

Together with a MiniITX motherboard and case, a wireless keyboard with mouse touchpad, and a wireless controller such as the Xbox 360’s, you can enjoy clutterfree gaming from your couch.

there’s two ways to go: Valve’s upcoming SteamOS, or Windows and Steam. Being based on Linux, SteamOs is free, and

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2o14 looks to be the year PC gaming will finally find a proper home near the couch, and with consumer VR headsets just around the corner, it could not have come at a better time.

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given its less resource intensive is expected to run games significantly faster. Unfortunately, as it’s currently still in Beta it can only run a fraction of the games available on the Steam cloud, and it runs them less well than it would on PC. Performance is expected to improve rapidly as the platform develops.

Windows with Steam “Big Picture Mode” on the other hand will provide maximum multimedia freedom, the widest selection of games, and far easier setup for the less technically-minded.

However, it does come with the trade off of more intensive hardware use, higher cost as you may need to buy a copy of Win7 or 8, and a less-streamlined interface experience.

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UNLEASH THE BEAST BUILDING A MODEST GAMING PC

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f you want to play the latest games and get the most out of the graphics they can offer, you will need the latest gear, multiple graphics cards, 4K monitors and therefore a massive wad of cash. However, if we are being honest, while these things are pretty awesome, they aren’t necessary as even a modest PC can still run most games at fairly high specs.

Before we run down a parts list and get all technical, let’s start off with destroying a myth about building a PC. It is not hard, it is not scary and your chances of blowing something up are very slim.

Also, when it comes to putting the Pc together, each of the different cables generally can only go in one place and for those that are a little trickier, like the front panel cables, the motherboard manual will tell you everything you need to know.

To get started on a build, the most basic components you will need are the case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, power supply, graphics card, fans and hard drive. Each of these are equally important in creating a stable system but there are some areas where you can save on cost.

Start by thinking about the CPU you want as that will dictate which

motherboard and power supply to buy. Buy a mid range of board and power supply but dont go for the cheapest as these are the backbond of your system and need to be reasonable quality.

For processors, Intel and AMD both have excellent offerings at the top end but if you are looking to save cash, the current crop of low to mid range AMD processors tend to be a little better. AMD also has processors called an APU which have built-in graphics so you can essentially do away with purchasing a separate graphics card. It won’t be as powerful as getting a dedicated graphics card but it will certainly play most games well.

For graphics cards, you have the choice of NVIDIA or RADEON (also

by AMD). Which brand is better is hotly contested but generally either will do the job well. To save cash, don’t buy the top of the range as even a low to mid range card will do the job nicely.

For RAM buying the cheapest should be ok. There is no need for a massive amount RAM or the top of the range in a basic PC, just stick to around 4-8GB total and buy the cheapest you can find. The same can be said for cases as well. The better, more expensive cases have better cooling and more options but for a first time build, even a cheap case will do the job. Also, with most cheaper cases you get a power supply thrown in. For case fans, just make sure you have enough to so the PC doesnt overheat.

games that are constantly loading environmental details, a high performance drive is essential.

For a gaming PC, look at the WD Black or WD Velociraptor drives or the WD Black2 Dual Drive which is a combination of a 128GB SSD and a 1TB physical drive. if you want a second drive in your PC to store media, WD Green will be fine but resist the urge to purchase one for your main drive as while it is cheaper, it isn’t designed for that and will slow down your PC. Once you have all your parts, building is pretty easy and if you run into any trouble, youtube is your friend. Be bold, create your own beastly rig and happy gaming!

Lastly, you will need storage.

With many games that load one level at a time, the speed of a hard drive will have minimal impact but for MMOs or

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Gaming MICRO

TINy caseS with big power

Size matters

Even a small PC can handle the toughest gaming if built with the right components

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n the past, gaming PCs used the biggest tower cases possible, ensuring enough room and airflow to keep the large, hot components nice and cool. Unfortunately, this meant they weren’t exactly suitable for hiding next to the TV in the living room. However, as PC technology continues to deliver powerful components in smaller packages, it’s now possible to build a gaming PC size of a shoe box with enough grunt to run the latest games.

One of the key technologies that allow the building of small gaming PCs is the Mini-ITX form factor which first debuted back in 2001.

At the time, devices using this form factor were only powerful enough to be used with retail displays but have evolved since and now include a single PCIe 3.0 slot, used to connect a single high-performance graphics card to the motherboard.

Mini-ITX motherboards need a place to call home, which is where Small Form Factor (SFF) cases come in handy. Around the same size as a shoebox, they usually include a power supply.

In the past, these power supplies didn’t have the power to handle the needs of today’s demanding graphics cards, though recently this issue was solved. SFF power supplies increased their power output to the levels required, or clever engineering left enough space for an ATX power supply to be installed, allowing the user to select their own.

SFF PCs have one limitation – the interior of the case is extremely cramped and full of components.

As a result, it’s not possible to

install multiple hard drives, making the WD Black2 the perfect hard drive for SFF builders. This tiny 2.5 inch drive includes both a 120GB SSD for speedy game performance, along with a huge 1TB mechanical hard drive for media storage.

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It really is amazing to see how much gear fits into such a small space.

The smaller of these miniature gaming boxes also means that some of the larger graphics cards won’t fit inside, at least not on older models. Once again, the newest SFF cases solve this issue, somehow providing just enough room for a high end graphics card like

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AMD’s R9 290X, along with a speedy Intel CPU and a tiny water cooler.

With today’s graphics cards including HDMI outputs and by using wireless keyboards, mice and control pads, it’s possible to play PC games from the comfort of your living room couch, using your 60 inch plasma and home theatre surround sound to bring your games to life. All this in a package that will fit along side your Blu-ray player.

Mini ITX

These motherboards can now be used with the most powerful CPUs on the market.

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a g n i c n a l a B tiPlayer World Mul

Inside

The Elder Scrolls

Online

Discussing MMO balance with Matt Firor, Game Director at ZeniMax Online Studios

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alance is a term often thrown around when talking about online gaming but when talking about character power compared to other players in a multi-player environment. In a single player game, as a character becomes more powerful, the only balance required is scaling the enemies to provide enough challenge to keep the game fun.

In a multi-player world, if a player is overpowered, it is a whole load of fun to that player, but for everyone around them...not so much.

To talk about the importance of balance, we sat down with Matt Firor, Game Director at ZeniMax Online Studios who is in a unique position to speak with authority on the subject. Matt and his team were tasked by Bethesda Softworks with bringing the massively popular single player RPG series ‘The Elder Scrolls’ in to the MMORPG genre and understands the challenges in balancing not only player power but a multitude of other aspects unique to the genre as well.

Following the incredibly successful and beloved Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, translating Elder Scrolls into an MMO would be a monumental task. Unlike an RPG, every aspect of an MMO is subject to balancing including player power, item stats, crafting systems, world content, talent progression and questing experiences. We spoke to Matt about how they set about achieving the translation while also with meeting the expectations of Elder Scrolls fans.

ASC: For Elder Scrolls Online, how did you approach the concept of balance and how important is it to a successful game?

Matt Firor

ZeniMax Online Studios.

MF: Balance is one of the most important character decisions that developers make, because it’s a very personal decision for the players. We generally proceed very very slowly and methodically with any balance changes that affect character abilities and class abilities, because we know that that’s directly affecting how

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Balance is one of the most important decisions that developers make

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someone will play that class.

Generally over time, we will make all the changes that need to be made, but we don’t want to swing the pendulum too far the other way, so we make small incremental changes as we go.

RPG vs MMORPG

A Role Playing Game (RPG) is generally set in the Fantasy genre starting as a low powered character and through the progress of the game, increasing in strength through upgrades to gear and abilities. In a single player RPG this delivers on a sense of progression and accomplishment through achieving personal goals and finishing a story by defeating a final boss.

A Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMORPG) is an online experience played with other players to achieve group goals, work together or even fight each other. The story of an MMO tends to have no end as each time you defeat a final boss, expansions and patches add new bosses and story content.

Since you can fight other players, characters and classes need to be balanced to ensure a fair fight and every game system requires a level of balance as well to keep players engaged.

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ASC: Coming from a game like Skyrim where the talent system was fluid and players had a wide range of options when it came to the power (or overpower) of their character, how did the development team approach transferring that system to a more traditional class-based game while still maintaining the Elder Scrolls feel?

MF: The joy of the Skyrim character development system is that you can make yourself ridiculously overpowered, which you can’t do in an online game because then every player will be tremendously overpowered. With online games, especially ones where you are fighting against each other, it’s very important that you make a system that is very fair across the board for all classes.

We have a system that has traditional classes in that sense, but it’s not traditional in the way that you learn your abilities, because really there are 14-15 skill lines in the game and your class only determines 3 of them. So you can go through the whole game and never put a point in your classes and be a completely separate entity.

That’s where the Skyrim/Oblivion and other Elders Scrolls influences comes in, because you can start with the base line and modify based on the weapons you use and what armour you wear, without restricting that at all.

You learn new skills as you use things.

ASC: How much of class balance was predicated on PvP abilities vs PvE? MF: Our design philosophy in development was that there are no PVP abilities and no PVE abilities, there are just abilities. We did not want a character to have to have 2 different specs, one for PvE and one for PVP, and wanted to make sure everything you did would

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Balance is one of the most important decisions that developers make

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answer that question to a certain extent. We made the decision that crafters would be able to make any item that a player found in the game better. You can take a really good item to a crafter and they can make it even better. That gives players incentive to go out and get into dungeons and fight dungeon bosses to get good loot and then get crafters to improve it. That way, we’re not forcing the players into a situation to buy something off the crafters to get the best item.

ASC: During the levelling experience, how did the development team approach introducing players to class talents without feeling overwhelming?

ASC: When developing crafting systems and item augmentation, how much consideration is given to balancing the power of crafted items vs item drops?

MF: We want to give players the sense that there is a lot out there in the early parts of the game, but don’t want them to get overwhelmed with information and choices. We have tons of abilities but you unlock them as you level. Even when you start the game, you have a limited number of skill lines and then you go out and find more hone your new and existing skils. That way the player is not deluged with information that they are not going to need, they are basic choices and then they go from there.

MF: That is a question that goes to the heart of online game design, because every game has to

ASC: Elder Scrolls has long been known as a series with expansive worlds filled with opportunities for

transfer seamlessly back and forth.

Obviously, over time we have to make sure that those decisions are correct, and that’s where a lot of the balance comes in, making sure that an ability which is too weak in PVE is not too powerful in PVP.

as you want. There is a story in each zone that leads you through it, but you don’t have to follow the story in any specific sequence. You can go off and do points of interests, or POI’s, and quests all over that part of the zone. When you get to the veteran ranks, the 50+ zones, every monster in there is veteran rank so you can actually do stuff in any order you want at that point. It’s more difficult but you can solo and group anywhere you want.

ASC: A staple of the MMO genre is questing and gaining experience as you level up. How did the team balance the types of quests on offer so the levelling experience wasn’t a chain of fetch quests?

exploration. In an MMO with a core levelling component, certain areas in the game will naturally be targeted at players of different levels and gear sets. How did the team balance exploration vs this required restriction while keeping with the Elder Scrolls ethos?

MF: Well, the dirty secret of all RPG design, is that at some level you are doing something for someone when you do a quest.

So there is no way around that.

Even in Skyrim, if you’re killing an ancient dragon, or helping him, you’re still doing something for someone. In Elder’s Scrolls Online – it is no different to any

other RPG. The way that you make it more interesting is instead of just , ‘go kill ten rats’, you craft a really good story around that so you care about the characters that you are helping in the game. That way when it’s things like ‘go save the citizens of Bleakrock Island from the Daggerfall Covenant invasion’, yes, you’re saving 15 villagers, but you don’t have to save all of them, it’s up to you if you want to get all of them or not. You can actually leave the island after just saving 2 if you want. But it’s up to you to go around and meet the villagers and care about them and then decide whether to save them or not. And that’s how we do it.

ASC: In playing through the questing experience in ESO, there is a clear distinction between the main story quests, overarching world ramification quests and one-shot stories.

How did the team balance the different types of story elements while remaining focused?

MF: The world design is basically 3 sets of zones - one for each Alliance and there is a story for each Alliance. Then there is the players story line,

MF: We spent a lot of time discussing that in the early days of the project.

We came up with a system where there is a certain amount of hours of expected gameplay in different zones and it goes up and down based on level. If a zone is, for example, 20hrs of game play, we wanted to make sure you explore through a 3rd of that zone with no repercussions at all to the level. So you can explore say 7 hours of gameplay, and you can do it

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the main story, which goes throughout the players 1-50 experience which is done solo so whenever you go into an instance, you are the hero, you are saving the world, you are getting your soul back. The rest of the zones are filled out with what we call local interest stories. The side quests are just mostly for fun and exploration, they are not even marked usually, but you may come across someone and talk to them and discover a story there, and sometimes you’ll even get an achievement for it.

ASC: Since this is the first entry into the MMO market for the Elder Scrolls franchise, what were the goals the developers wanted to achieve and following the launch, how close to those goals have they become?

MF: It was pretty clear after the success of Oblivion and Skyrim, that there was certain expectation people had for games that had the Elders Scrolls name in front of it.

We wanted to ensure we had a similar combat system and similar feel. A lot of the design decisions

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came from the experience of combat and the experience of interacting with an NPC. We started with, how does it feel, and then its quests and killing monsters etc, but this time it’s with other people, so we had that component too. Ongoing, we are working on refining that feel, so you can make sure that you move easier and you don’t lose contact with friends, and refine some of the other rough edges in the game.

ASC: If you were talking to someone who had never played an MMO before, what would you tell them to convince them to try Elder Scrolls Online?

MF: It’s the Elders Scrolls MMO – a lot of people have played Elder Scrolls games in the past. So I think, definitely the mix of the action combat system, where you have a reticule in the middle of the screen, with soft aiming, without needing the lock on targets. Also, the limited ability bar, so the skill points you put into your abilities really matter and of course the story system is fantastic. It’s filled with really good stories and all voiceovers are done

by top notch voice interesting world, content there and for days and days to the end of it always good. it’s fun!

actors. It’s an there is a lot of you can play it and never get which is Most of all -

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KICKSTART A GAMING REVIVAL we check out the epic stories of successful crowd-funded kickstarter projects bringing back classic games and genres

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iven the way the tech-loving world has embraced crowdfunding models, it’s no wonder games represent some of the most successful campaigns. Kickstarter has heralded the return of dormant series, bolstered offerings in niche genres and even brought back at least one genre from extinction.

Here is a run down of the games born from this new funding model:

remake of the controversial alliteration-loving 1987 title Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, while Carmageddon: Reincarnation is a reboot of a tongue-in-cheeky bloody franchise that fans feared had sped off into the sunset long ago. While neither rebirth shattered any Kickstarter records, they both comfortably hit their

Even older risqué franchises have risen out of their publisherimposed exiles by way of Kickstarter. Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded is a contemporary

Kickstarter has even brought at least one genre out of extinction

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lofty milestones.

Another space-simulator, Elite: Dangerous, scored a slightly higher Kickstarter pledge result than Star Citizen, so it’s safe to say the genre has a strong following ready to pay for its glorious return.

Judging from the quality of the Kickstarter-funded titles that have already been released and the progress updates/pre-access on those that have yet to be finalised, it offers the potent promise for any dead genre or dormant series to make a crowd-funded return.

Role-playing-game features may be infiltrating all other gaming genres these days, but Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun Returns are two successful Kickstarter projects taking the old-school genre back to its classic roots, complete with turn-based gameplay and isometric perspective.

The point-and-click adventure game is poised to make a mainstream resurgence, thanks to the likes of successful Kickstarter campaigns such as Broken Sword 5: The Serpent’s Curse and Broken Age. Interestingly, Broken Age was initially crowd-funded on its working title ‘Double Fine Adventure Game’, banking on the reputation of legendary adventure developer Tim Schafer. It smashed the US$400,000 asking goal with US$3,336,371 pledged by eager fans.

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Kickstarter pledge goals.

Star Citizen, on the other hand, has obliterated all game crowdsourcing records.

The space-simulator revival, championed by the man who helped to shape the genre, Chris Roberts, earned a tidy US$2,134,375 on Kickstarter after initially requesting US$500,000.

Since the Kickstarter campaign ended, the game has pulled in just shy of US$44,000,000 (at the time of writing), adding substantial ‘stretch goals’ that are set to bolster the final content offering each time the pledge tallies pass

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Expert

KICKSTARTER Tips for Success

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rowdfunding presents a significant opportunity for independent developers and small studios to gain funding to create their dream projects.

It’s not easy to run a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign and by launching a campaign you’re asking people to give you money for a product you haven’t made yet. That means you’re going to need to have more than a good idea; you’re going to need to be an excellent salesperson as well. Below you’ll find key pieces of advice for anyone looking to crowdfund their game:

One of the most common mistakes made by people running crowdfunding campaigns is to launch the campaign too early into development, and have very little content to show potential backers. Make sure your video contains footage of the near-final version of your game, and you have detailed

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If you’re based in Australia or New Zealand, then you’re able to run a Kickstarter. Anyone else in Asia Pacific is out of luck for now. Kickstarter is easily the most high profile crowdfunding site out there, though plenty of game developers have also had success with Indiegogo, and there are other specifically tailored towards videogames – Gambitious is a good example of this (https://gambitious.com/).

Before launching a campaign pick the one that will give you the right target audience

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screenshots to go with the cool promotional art. In addition to giving people an idea on how the game is going to play, in-game footage and screenshots will allay any fears about the campaign being a scam. Unfortunately, you’ll still need to find a different way to fund the project to get it to this prototype phase before you start the crowd funding campaign but it is worth doing.

As long as the crowdfunding campaign is in place, do not turn down a single opportunity for an interview, and be active on social media; Facebook and Twitter at the very least. Do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit.

Respond to any and all questions and comments made on the crowdfunding campaign. The most successful crowdfunding campaigns have authentic, grassroots marketing, and it will take as much as 18 hours a day, every day, for the duration of the campaign to make it happen.

Game developers turn to crowdfunding because they often lack finance, but if you can find any money at all, spend it on a good PR to help you out. They have contacts, if not friendships, with the gaming press, and will get you the coverage and marketing you could not have hoped for otherwise.

CHECK THESE GREAT CROWDFUNDING SITES WWW.GAMBITIOUS.COM WWW.INDIEGOGO.COM WWW.KICKSTARTER.COM/ AUSTRALIA

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STARTING SMALL

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aking a few seconds out of their busy schedule, the lads take some time to talk to us about the crazy journey so far. Working in the industry when the idea first came to them, Rohan explains that inspiration came from writing about similar games.

“We were both working as game journalists, and I had been writing an article on how I felt Minecraft would spearhead the creation of a whole new genre of video game, and as part of that I was brainstorming to think of theoretical games which might

happen under the assumption peoples’ public love of crafting and exploration kept up. One of the ideas seemed not just good, but actually pretty plausible.

One of my mates ran a game studio and did some iOS game development, so I figured I’d run the idea by him - just to see if he thought I should pursue it. That studio was Epiphany Games. He took my pitch as, well... a pitch.

He said he’d love to be involved, and so I called up Leigh and said, “Hey, can you come to a lunch meeting tomorrow? We’re making a video game.” Next day

Rohan and Leigh Harris of Flat Earth Games talk about building their first game - A medieval town builder for iOS

they were off to meet the head of Epiphany to discuss the steps forward from there.

To proceed they needed a PTY LTD company (to put a game on the iOS store) and so Flat Earth Games was born.

“We didn’t get any funding to start with.” Rohan explains.

“But Epiphany co-developing with us effectively counted as such. They didn’t give us money, but they brought us expertise, advice, resources and even office space once they moved into the city. Those things are more important than money could ever

have been for us back then.”

“Once the iPad version was out, though, that’s when we applied for the now-defunct Australian Interactive Games Fund through Screen Australia.”

Leigh continues. “We had proved we could make a game well. It charted well here in Australia, the reviews were all great - we used that coverage and those sales as proof that we were worth investing in by Screen Australia. With their funding, we quit our day jobs and worked full time on the iPhone and Mac versions of the game, and when it came time to launch them (last month), we were able to afford to give it a proper push out the gate with support from an agency in the US and that sort of thing.”

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Being that they had only a basic understanding of what needed to be done, partnering up with an established company made it more than just a hobby and instead become a business

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But it hasn’t all been fun and games (excuse the pun), the programming took some getting used to. “Some of the biggest problems for me arose from developing a specifically isometric game.”

Rohan muses. “There’s plenty of basic tutorials available on the net, but we still made a ton of design decisions early on which we were unable to fix, and have had to live with/work around ever since.

For instance, having walls which exist as 2D objects ‘between’ tiles turned out to be a massive problem, resulting in a nightmare of tricks and work-arounds to make it function.”

Leigh remembers other issues. “I’m not sure I’d call it a hurdle per se, but working with a team of people who were in it for a share of the profits was

Meet Rohan and Leigh Harris

two brothers who took an idea of a crafting and exploration game and decided to see if they could make it sell in the harsh worlds of iOS development. difficult. Each of us, Rohan and myself included, had our day jobs to work around. It’s kind of a doubleedged sword - on the one hand it’s tough to keep motivated when no one is being paid until much later on, but on the other hand the more you put into making it a great game, the more likely you’ll see big rewards at the end of it all.”

But after years of struggle and effort, things have worked out well, both Leigh and Rohan are now developing full time, and they now have three part time employees working with them. As the continue to drive forward, the hold no real regrets for the road so far: “I would maybe change one or two things like some technical design mistakes, but on the whole I’m proud of what we did and I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Rohan Beams.

CLICK TO VISIT FLAT EARTH GAMES

25

The

Art

of

Gameplay even the most difficult games can be fun to play with good gameplay

G

aming has evolved into a truly special experience over the last few years. As technology makes leaps and bounds, the games we play are becoming more and more impressive. However, when we talk about games, the focus tends to be on graphics, story, cut scenes and audio and sometimes we forget about one of the most important things - the art of gameplay.

We have all played an average game, one where no matter how good the overall experience looks and feels, frustration begins to get in the way as the game fails to deliver on the primary reason we play: to have fun. It is a difficult thing to balance and measure when making a game but there are a few simple aspects that should be strictly adhered to.

Firstly, the basic control system needs to be easy to understand. No one enjoys playing a game where the control system fights you at every turn.

Gamers need to feel in control of the experience otherwise immersion is distrupted.

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Gamers need to feel in control of the experience otherwise the immersion is disrupted.

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Secondly, games need to have replayability. This does not mean it needs to be a long RPG, just that you want to go into the world of the game over and over.

Games on tablets and phones are perfect examples of this. An Angry Birds level is only a few seconds long, however the gameplay model has users spending hours

Gameplay is measured by a few simple aspects.

on a single level. How? By giving people a ranking on how well they did. Passing the level is only one part of the experience, the enjoyment comes experimenting so players can find the right way to finish a level.

The last aspect is possibly the most important: balance.

A game is only as good as the overall experience, and hitting random walls of difficulty halfway along or breezing through the experience without even feeling challenged will leave you cold towards the game. Mario Bros. is the perfect example, the first worlds are simple, teaching you the moves and tricks to the game then as you continue the difficulty begins to increase reflecting the increase in skills mastered These points we have talked about are what makes a good game great, and if you are developing your own game it is important to remember that gameplay is where you need to spend the most time. Remember this and you are on your way to a great game.

Dark Souls 2

is a world hit, even though it is insanely hard. Why? Because it’s gameplay is perfectly designed to push you, gamers are not always looking for the most impressive looking one, they are looking for a challenge and something to enjoy.

27

Being fit and eating right: the secret weapon of any great pro gamer.

Pro Gamer

Fitness

A

s with games such as Chess and Poker, professional gaming is rapidly becoming serious business. There is everincreasing money involved in e-Sports, and it’s now recognised as a sport in the US. With that level of notoriety comes sponsorships, audiences, and more and more competitors looking to bag themselves some trophies.

Gaming can be mentally fatiguing work, especially if the competition runs all day, so players that are able to keep their minds fresh, and their bodies free of illness will have an advantage.

Therefore, just as the top chess and poker players have support teams that include nutritionists and personal trainers, serious e-Sports competitors are going to want to start preparing their bodies, both in terms of mental and physical fitness, in order to maximise their competitiveness at the highest levels.

Going to the gym and pumping weights is a relatively pointless exercise for an e-Sports competitor. Rather, the goal

should be to develop endurance and reflexes; endurance because e-Sports competitors might need to be alert for hours at a time as they work through rounds in a completion, and reflexes because those have a direct impact on their ability to play any video game that involves fast response, such as Call of Duty or even League of Legends.

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Repetition is key in building endurance.

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Building endurance is easy – do a lot of aerobic exercise, such as cycling, running, and swimming.

It’s better if you do an exercise that allows for consistency; for instance running a few kilometres rather than playing a game of soccer where you’ll be taking a break when the ball is away from your position.

stay hydrated with water, and make sure you eat something at least 30 minutes before each competitive event; fruits are good here. Eat light meals after breakfast, and for e-Sports athletes, carbs are good, so go to town with the pasta. Don’t bother with supplements, though a multivitamin a day can help.

Finally, if it is an especially long day, mental fatigue will inevitably start to set in. In other sports sugar is often the solution, but stay away from Gatorade with e-Sports. Coffee drank 30 minutes before a match is best but keep it limited to a maximum of three cups per day.

Building reflexes is even easier; buy yourself a reaction ball and hit up YouTube for some examples on how to use it.

Pro gamers will need to put away the Doritos and Mountain Dew. Stick to a routine that involves a low GI breakfast,

29

About Scarra William “Scarra” Li, 24, is a native of Houston, TX, and has played as a professional gamer for two years as a League of Legends player. He left school just 16 credits shy of earning his economics degree from Texas A&M to pursue pro-gaming

What Makes a Great eSports Player Team Dignitas: Coach William ‘Scarra’ Li

Meet William “Scarra” Li, League of Legends coach for Team Dignitas. He and his team are redefining sports for a new generation.

W

hen he was young, Scarra, a coach for Team Dignitas, played plenty of titles on the Sega Genesis, Nintendo Gamecube, and Sony PlayStation consoles.

“I just grew up playing games with my brother,” explains Scarra, “I was never a person who ever liked to do anything else but watch Power Rangers and play games when I was little.”

You can’t play games full-time until you find one you love.

None of those console games captured his attention. “I think it was just that I had really average games,” Scarra laughs. It was the PC — specifically Blizzard games — that really piqued Scarra’s interest. “I think I played everything in terms of just Blizzard games. They’re the things that shaped my childhood the most. I played Diablo, Diablo 2, WarCraft 3, and StarCraft.”

It wasn’t long before Scarra discovered Riot Games’ League of Legends (LOL). Over the last two years, Scarra has been clocking in between 10 to 14 hours a day, six days a week on LOL as a professional player.

Be patient when finding a game you love and adore.

Despite having been able to make a career out of playing LOL professionally, he actually didn’t much care for the game when he

first tried it.

“It was OK,” he recalls, “That was my first thought: it’s an okay game, but I don’t really know if I’m gonna stick with it all the way through. I didn’t even know how the game worked. I had no idea what I was doing.

When I first joined the beta, I played the champion called Karthus — just for one game. But then I quit the game for like, eight months.”

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People have always considered me as more of a cerebral player. I may not be the best mechanically or otherwise, but in terms of just thinking about the game, I tend to do that a lot.

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However, after that long hiatus from League of Legends, Scarra eventually made his way back to the game and something clicked.

To succeed, you need to immerse yourself in your game

Sometimes you just need good luck to win the day While great reflexes, adaptability and focus are supremely important in the world of eSports, there’s one factor that no one can plan for - luck.

“At the time I started, there weren’t many pro-teams,” he says, explaining that an empty playing field played a part in his rise as a professional gamer, giving him a chance to shine.

“I feel like I hit a lot of areas where I just ended up being a little bit lucky. I feel like with all success, a little bit of luck is always there.

I’m not going to say that it’s only reason I’m in eSports but I feel like at least in some situations, luck had a little bit to do with it.”

Focus on the Present

He gained a reputation as one of the best League of Legends players around — an assessment he owes to the amount of time the game occupies his mind.

After spending two years as a pro-gamer, Scarra has decided to focus his skills and knowledge as a coach for Team Dignitas. What does the future hold? For Scarra, that question never even enters his mind.

Scarra adds that being adaptable to the ever-changing game conditions is definitely important but knowing your game inside and out is paramount to anticipating your opponent.

“In general, eSports is very, let’s say, volatile.”, he said, “so I don’t really like thinking too far ahead.

I’d rather just try to focus on what I’m doing right now and be the best I can be at that.”

31

HOW TO

GO PRO

As the popularity of gaming grows, more and more opportunities are opening up for players to get paid to play. Here’s how to do it

I

f you love a particular game and are already a contender in your favourite online servers, use these tips to push your expertise to the next level and you’ll be in better standing to convert your pastime into a payday.

The notion of getting paid to play games is, for lovers of games, akin to winning the lottery.

That said, the average salary for the elite professional gamers is around $60,000 per annum. That shouldn’t be a deterrent though, as the popularity of competitive gaming by way of eSports is a steadily growing interest.

You first need to pick your game of choice. The most popular genres for professional gaming are first-person shooters (FPS) and real-time-strategy (RTS) titles. If you love shooters, you’ll have a choice of Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Battlefield 4 and Quake Live. Strategy enthusiasts can choose from the infinitely popular StarCraft II or Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

Map knowledge, expertise of specific game mechanics and continued mastery of the updated gameplay balance means it’s best to stick to one title. Pro gamers practice a minimum of three to four hours a day. Use your practice hours to identify weaknesses in your play style and strengthen them; turn flaws into strengths, and turn strengths into victory.

There’s a wealth of knowledge on sites such as Major League Gaming, World Cyber Games, YouTube and Twitch to expand your skill set. The best players match replays are available for free online. Analyse their strategies, make them your own and improve them. When practicing online, always play against top-tier players with a higher skill level. Learning to best them is the best way to improve.

When you start beating the best players, you’ll know you’re in with a shot. Enter tournaments online and become a familiar face at a nearby localarea-network (LAN) party. As you start beating the players whose replays you’ve been consuming, consider making your own

YouTube or Twitch channel. By sharing your replays and creating tactics videos for other players to watch, you can grow a fan base and turn viewership into advertising income, with a view to attracting paid sponsorship.

The bigger cheques, though, are in competition prize money. Keep an eye on the Cyber Gamer and Australian Cyber League websites to track pro tournaments and sign up for them for your chance to dominate nationally. Depending on the popularity of the game, there’s also the option of individual Australian players or clans (read : teams) competing internationally.

RTS or FPS

Starcraft II is massive world wide and even Quake Live is still played competitively.

33

5

Indie Games Taking On The Industry An exceptional number of recent indie games have burst on the scene competing with big budget titles and making the industry take notice with fun and unique games or spins on classic genres. We count down the top five you need to play immediately.

1

Path of Exile Grinding Gear Games Path of Exile is an isometric dungeon-crawling RPG which is does free-to-play right. No pay-to-win or pay-to-advance here, instead players are simply paying for cosmetic changes to the game with the developer relying on gameplay to inspire fans.

2

Ascend: Hand of Kul Signal Studios Ascend: Hand of Kul is a free hack-n-slash RPG that takes basic PvP and re-imagines it by implementing an indirect rivalry between players. Casting spells that destroy your enemies sends them to your rival faction’s world to raise hell as players battle for control.

3

The Stanley Parable Galactic Cafe A unique experience, players simulate a day in the life of Stanley, your everyday office worker. You’re able to play the game as you see fit and to discover various endings. Due to the multiple options for playing, it can be replayed and never the same.

4

Papers, Please Lucas Pope Papers, Please takes the mundane and makes it spectacular.

You are a border patrol agent in Eastern Europe during the early 80s, working to pay for food, clothing, and heat for your family. It is a great example of how engaging gameplay is most important.

5

Rogue Legacy Cellar Door Games An entirely new twist on a classic side-scrolling RPG, Rogue Legacy is difficult. Each time your character dies, you continue as their child with new skills and traits. Adventure through the ever-changing castle to restore your family’s name while avoiding traps, enemies and massive bosses, along the way.

IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF

Ascender GRAPHIC DESIGN

In issue six of Ascender, we explore the what it takes to be a top notch graphic designer and talk to professionals working in the industry to get their insights.

interviews

We talk to artists to find out how they got started in the industry and how they approach their work.

expert TIPS

Experts offer the best tips on how to make your designs memorable and engaging.

ESSENTIAL TOOLS

We take a look at the best tools to get the job done right and what you need to start off in your graphic design career.

FEATURED ARTISTS

Check out the work of artists working in graphic design today and how their design choices and typography tell their story.

and much more....

If you are into graphic design or are interested in innovative content creation, issue six of Ascender will deliver all this and more. Stay tuned...