The Independent Games Magazine Issue Six, Spring 2015
Serious, authentic and grim? Not this Second World War VR shooter... ALSO IN ISSUE FIVE FEATURES
REGIONAL
EVENTS
NEXT GEN
Beyond Flesh and Blood, Super Dungeon Bros, and so much more
We talk to Allyza Taylor, Mineski’s Shoutcaster from the Philippines
We were at E3 2015 in LA, the worlds’s biggest and best games event.
The Google Play Store is not without its flaws, says our Next Gen gamer
BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT ARK, THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT, AND ARK SURVIVAL EVOLVED REVIEWED
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Contents Editorial Page 4 Indie games are going full Steam ahead...
Pages 38 - 40 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Pages 42 - 46 Ark: Survival Evolved
IND13 Q&A Page 6 Can you tell us about a positive experience you’ve had working in independent gaming?
Beyond Flesh and Blood Pages 8 - 11 A new apocalyptic game set, of all places, in Manchester
Super Dungeon Bros. Pages 12 - 16 A cross platform, rock music themed, co-op dungeon brawler
War for the Overlord Pages 18 - 24 Harry Cole and Lee Smith talk to Lee Moon – Community Manager at Subterranean Game.
World War Toon Pages 26 - 32 A humorous first person shooter and tank combat game set in a whimsical, toon inspired world.
Sirius Gaming Reviews Section Pages 34 - 36 Batman: Arkham Knight
Allyza Taylor Pages 48 - 52 We caught up with allyza Taylor, Mineski’s Events Team Commentator/ Shoutcaster to know if there’s more to “gaming” than what she has now as a shoutcaster.
The Kraken Sleepeth Pages 54 - 56 The new game from Team Pesky, the studion set up by Andy Gibson.
Google Play Pages 58 - 59 Google Play is the official go-to place for Android games. But, is it all that it seems?
Brighter Day Pages 60 - 63 Probably the most colourful horror game you will ever play.
E3 Expo 2015 Pages 64 - 68 Richard, IND13’s globe trotting developer, went to the E3 2015 conference in LA.
Develop. Brighton. 2015 Pages 69 - 70 Richard went from LA to Brighton, to attend the annual Develop conference for the first, and not the last, time.
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FEATURE: Editorial
Indie games are going full Steam ahead...
The Independent Games Magazine Issue Six, Spring 2015
1850 games arrived on Steam in 2014, 2500 are predicted in 2015... That is a hell of a figure, and is one that was exclaimed earlier this year by TinyBuild’s Mike Rose.
Serious, authentic and grim? Not this Second World War VR shooter... ALSO IN ISSUE FIVE FEATURES
REGIONAL
EVENTS
NEXT GEN
Beyond Flesh and Blood, Super Dungeon Bros, and so much more
We talk to Allyza Taylor, Mineski’s Shoutcaster from the Philippines
We were at EGX 2015 in LA, the worlds’s biggest and best games event.
The Google Play Store is not without it’s flaws, says our Next Gen gamer
BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT ARK, THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT, AND ARK SURVIVAL EVOLVED REVIEWED
IND13 is a magazine dedicated to independent games. Our aim is to create interesting news, reviews and articles, all focusing on independent games. The nucleus of our team is based in the UK but also have a team stretching the globe. We have independent gaming news from all gaming territories including UK, US, Europe and Asia. The team behind IND13 are all volunteers, and we are giving our time because we are passionate about indie games. The content of the magazine will be made up of articles created by the IND13 team but also by voluntary contributors from the games industry. Advertising is available in the magazine, and all proceeds will go into the development and stability of IND13’s production. Please contact us to discuss the bespoke packages that we can offer all advertisers. If you would like to contribute, email us an example of your work. We hope you enjoy the magazine and please do get in touch with questions and comments. The Team: Richard Hoffmann: Editor-in-Chief Harry Cole: Publisher Lee Smith: Creative Director Our Channels: Website: www.ind13.com
Essentially what that means is that indie gaming is in good shape. Every year more gamers are turning towards the indie developers for their gaming fix which means that, not only do developers earn a little money to help them continue making games, but that more developers are working on games buoyed on by an increasingly successful market. Steam, the PC retail behemoth, currently has 125 million active accounts. 125 million potential buyers, and a market that is always eager to try out new and inventive titles. If you can gain the the attention of YouTubers, Mike has said, and get the marketing right, a top selling title can sell 3 million units. A game that does the bare minimum can still expect to shift 1000 copies. And big or small games can both benefit from sales spikes in later life thanks to the legendary Steam sales. Of course, gaming is not all about the PC, but with the console market increasingly open to indie games now, and the mobile market seeing no sign of a slow down in business (quite the opporsite actually), the indie gaming world has never been so good. In terms of mobile games, 500 games a day were going up on iOS in 2014, compared to 250 a day on Android. That’s a day. An incredible amount. Of course, that figure probably includes a fair amount of clones, but it is still pretty incredible anyway. Even the WII U has seen 80 indie games released in it’s eShop. The top price for a title on the Wii U eShop is around $15. However, Rose has warned that after the initial exposure of launch, developers could struggle to stimulate sales. In this issue of IND13, the sitxh, we are featuring some of the best indie games currently out there, and in developement, including Beyond Flesh and Blood, Super Dungeon Bros, War for the Overlord, World War Toon and more.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ind13 Twitter: @official_Ind13 Contacts: For editorial enquires: editorial@ind13.com For advertising enquires: advertising@ind13.com
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So, in short, carry on playing those games. Carry on making them, blogging about them, vlogging about them, because the indie game industry is thriving, and is here to stay. Lee Smith, Creative Director, ind13
R
500 MILLION PLAYS WITHIN 3 YEARS WE PUT SOME OF THIS SUCCESS DOWN TO OUR
MINIWORLDGAMES IS A
GAMES STUDIO
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POWERED BY
FEATURE: IND13 Q&A
Can you tell us about a positive experience you’ve had working in independent gaming? HARRY
SOPHIE
Harry There’s a great sense of community throughout the games industry and this goes into Indie gaming too, which makes working with Indie games a positive experience all-round. But a personal experience would be working with individual developers who take on their dream project and bring it to life.
RICHARD
LEE
that you only see once you open your eyes, unwire your brain from corporate mediocrity, and embrace the weird, the wacky, and the wonderful. So I am lucky that I have managed to get out there and experience a life outside of the AAA games, and you should too.
Lex Seeing someone dedicated to doing every aspect of a game themselves, that’s really special to witness and be a part of.
Our team is actually new in the games industry; and we are doing our best to give out every best quality way possible for our readers and visitors.
Lee It is all about those damned games because, when you work within the indie gaming world, you play games that challenge your thinking in a more creative way. Games that slap you around the face shouting “hey, gaming isn’t just about GTA you know fool!” It is truly a rich and varied gaming world out there, full of the sort of challenges, variety and invention
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The games community is big, bigger than what older people have ever imagined. We want our voices to be heard, opinions to be noticed, and our critics to be accepted. The experience so far as a journalist in the industry was actually great. We were given a chance to interview great people like Adam Kovic, review great and mediocre games, and most importantly write feature articles related to gaming.
JENNIFER
LEX
All in all, being in the gaming industry is actually fun, yet a bit stressful at times. But doing what we’re passionate about has always been our goal and it overlooks the bad side of things in the industry.
Richard Working in independent gaming is one of the most liberating experiences, as you can do anything to a game - no questions asked, well except if you add a Goat to it...
Sophie Seeing our first indie game blasted all over the front page of the PSN store, Nintendo eShop and Xbox One store and thinking ‘wow, anything is possible’.
Jennifer You can never predict who you’ll end up sharing a beer with! The conviviality of the industry means that I’ve been able to hang out with some of my personal heroes. Everybody’s excited about each others’ work - we never run out of things to talk about! «
FEATURE: Beyond Flesh and Blood
EARTH IS IN RUINS AFTER THE GLOBAL WAR... AND IT IS UP TO YOU TO SAVE IT. Beyond Flesh and Blood is a new apocalyptic game set, of all places, in Manchester. Harry Cole had a Q&A session with the makers PixelBomb Games about their horror-genre actionshooter. Phil Muwanga, Lead Dev, Code Lee Blacklock, Lead Dev, Design Jane McConnell, Community Manager Scott Wells-Foster, 3D Generalist
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FEATURE: Beyond Flesh and Blood
Could you introduce yourself, tell us about the team and your studio? Phil: OK. Hello! We’re Pixelbomb Games, a studio from Manchester in the UK. Some people call Manchester the second city of England… We started in 2011 as a collective before joining forces as a company, and we’ve been developing Beyond Flesh and Blood, along with building a studio, for the last four years. What is the history of Pixel Bomb and the details of your games careers? Lee: Well, I’ve worked with EA and Blade Interactive over the last 10 years. Phil: I’ve been an indie developer from the get go, I had a game called Balls, and then Funky Balls for Xbox back in the day. Jane: My background’s a bit different to the rest, from independent film, events and TV land. Scott: I’m new! I graduated from UCLAN in Games Design last year, but I originally started out in photography and graphic design. In your own words, how would you describe your game? Scott: Beyond Flesh and Blood is quite simply, a gory and intense game which takes a lot from what you might expect in a mech shooter… then changes those expectations by placing it in a UK setting, letting mechs climb into other mechs, and with it being story-driven as a single player experience. Also, as a northerner in the
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UK, I am very proud of its chosen location - Manchester. I just have to wait until we make the Preston version haha.
demos? The violence is easier to palate the more extreme it is, as it takes on a cartoonesque vibe.
Lee: Interestingly, when people ask us what the genre of the game is, we say that it’s a third-person action shooter, it’s different from your typical mech shooter.
What is the backstory to the game? What was the inspiration behind the game? Phil: The backstory is quite interesting, which you’ll see played out in the introduction to the game.
It’s a third-person game, you just happen to be controlling mechs. We absolutely love robots and all forms of them, from the Japanese ones to the big stomping western mechs, so things like Steel Battalion were a big influence. Scott: We have an amazing artist called Tony who is looking after a lot of the overgrown greenery in the game – and he actually goes outside looking for these invasive plants that Manchester has on the streets already, and scans them in for design. Phil: The interesting thing is that you can’t die in this game. You’re in a space station in orbit, so if your suit is killed then they just send in another suit from orbit. I’m an old-school gamer – I like games that are hard, that you actually have to think about them and learn the gameplay mechanics, which is what we’re doing with our game. Indeed, we have been described as a ‘hardcore’ rather than an ‘implusive’ product, which is confusing but we guess it’s true. You can say also that it’s fairly gory. I hope you’ve experienced that for yourself in our
Why Manchester, why choose such a specific setting? What has this localisation brought to the game? Scott: If you mean localisation in terms of Manchester – then it’s brought us easy reference material! It’s literally outside. Are we going to see United shirts and Oasis posters? :) Lee: We get asked this a lot! Haha. We haven’t got any plans yet to put any Oasis references into the game, I don’t know our Oasis knowledge would do their fans justice! Jane: Ah, the football question. It would be cool, but given both our own team’s split with United and City supporters, as well as a few other teams out here, Pixelbomb’s taken a decidedly on-thefence approach to this. Might not stop one of the level designers from popping a few funny easter eggs in there though. They might not even be Manchester related. You’ll have to get the game to find them! As for Oasis… personally I’d like to see some gothic soundtrack references to Joy Division, Manchester Pale Ale posters
and a rebel that looks like John Robb, but life’s unfair, the war for resources clearly finished them all off. There is an independent soundtrack being scored right now for the game though, which is exciting. If mechs were to Be Here Now, then Manchester would be a different place entirely. You could say there are themes in Beyond Flesh and Blood which relate to concepts of existence that Cast No Shadow….get it… Wait, it’s OK, I’ll let myself out. The team is relatively newly formed, what have the challenges been for you? Lee: We’ve not really had difficulties, but it’s more about the amount of choices we’ve got – we’ve got to keep narrowing it down. Like Phil said, there’s lots of themes we’d like to explore but it’s a case of just how many of these we can effectively explore in the timeframe. You have a very British team, with members straight out of Uni, has this created a very British game? Phil: BF&B is set in Britain – Manchester specifically. It will feature a British cast, and it’s made in Manchester by a local team… Britain! Manchester! It was always going to be set in Manchester because it’s the city that’s adopted us misfits, creatively. Are your environments based on real life Manchester? Will there be parts we recognise? Scott: Loads. Town Hall, Albert Square,
“we have been described as a ‘hardcore’ rather than an ‘implusive’ product, which is confusing but we guess it’s true...” Deansgate, Great Northern Warehouse, Triangle, the big wheel that the council and the guys that own it are fighting about at the moment; Beetham Tower, the back of Quay Street…most of the city centre. You received tax breaks, how has this helped you create the game, what has it made possible? Phil: Made the money to go further. It’s your bread and butter as a business above it all, as that money goes back into production and lowers the risk. Basically, it’s enabled us to achieve the plan: make a big, bombastic game about our city. And how did it work in terms of application and receiving the breaks? Phil: The help from BFI was quick and friendly. It wasn’t as if we were waiting around for decisions. It’s continuing to be a good experience for the studio. How do the tax breaks work, and affect the day-to-day business? Is the British government making it popular to Develop games in the UK? Phil: We’ve added historically accurate ideas into the game. For example, we’re
creating AR to explain the real-world significance of certain famous buildings we’ve scaled in the game’s version of Manchester, which adds depth and familiarity to the story, where the old order of things is destroyed – it’s the perfect contrast. Jane: It’s a huge step forward for making the UK better for developers, UKIE and TIGA worked and lobbied really hard to make that happen. These kind of breaks happen already for film and big budget TV production, so it makes sense to make the whole creative playing field equal. When is the game out and how do you expect will be received? Scott: There will be announcements soon! It might not be wise to predict how people will react to the game – as long as gamers enjoy it, people recommend it and we’re able to make another one, that’s what we can hope for. « Beyond Flesh and Blood has been Greenlit by the Steam Community, and you can find out more about it here: www.beyondfleshandbloodgame.com
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FEATURE: Super Dungeon Bros
Axl
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Super Dungeon Bros, a cross platform, rock music themed, co-op dungeon brawler Harry Cole talks to Chad Lee and Brad Moss, from React Games, about the upcoming game. Could you introduce yourself, tell us about the team and your studio? My name is Chad Lee, I am the CEO of React Games and I’ve been in the industry 21 years now. I come from the creative side, working as an artist and animator before starting React in 2008. We have over 30 people now working on Super Dungeon Bros and a few other projects. Our team consists of some of the best talent in the world. Most of the team has been together since the beginning and we’ve shipped over 50 titles across various platforms for some of the top clients in the world, including Dreamworks, Disney, EA, Intel, Microsoft, Hasbro and others. We’ve been very fortunate to be on the cutting edge of innovation for many of our projects, doing things that have never been seen or done in the industry. My name is Brad Moss and I’m the President of React games and I’ve been a gamer all my life. I started out making games in Hypercard on my parent’s Mac in the early 80s. We have a strong studio with some of the best developer talent in the world. We’ve shipped over 50 games in our 7 year history. I applaud my team in their ability to do big innovative things really quickly. Because of their talent we’ve done stuff for Dreamworks, Disney, EA, Intel, Microsoft, Hasbro and others.
What is the ethos of the team, what sort of games to you strive to create? Chad Lee We strive to create compelling, innovative games without a particular regard to a certain genre. Our first game, Archon, was a strategy/action game, while Super Dungeon Bros is a co-op roguelike game. We strive to be the best at whatever we’re given, or decide to develop ourselves. Internally, we have a variety of players, for instance, one of our guys was ranked #1 in the world for Spelunky on the PlayStation Vita and another was a tournament HALO player … then there’s me, who generally plays mobile games when I get the chance.
Ozzie
Brad Moss We focus on finding fun in new places. This means we aren’t overly heavy in one specific genre, although I’ve noticed the team enjoys their work the most when making multiplayer games. We’re all gamers too, with several members of our team being top ranked players in games such as Spelunky, Geometry Wars, Halo, and Guitar Hero. Chad and myself are big on accessibility to all players, so we do have a healthy focus
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FEATURE: Super Dungeon Bros
on making our games accessible. That DOESN’T mean lacking depth or skill though – as you’d guess our guys make sure we always have depth for core gamers. What got you into making games? What’s your career history so far? Chad Lee Getting into games was purely accidental. Back in my day (I’m old enough, so now I can say that) there were no gaming degrees or anything like that. You went to college to become an accountant or something respectable. I never thought you could make money developing video games. Fortunately a small gaming company put an ad in the local paper, I applied as an artist and the rest is history. I’ve worked on almost every platform from SNES on up. I’ve worked on some of the best franchises in the world (Mortal Kombat 2, WWF Raw, Crash
Freddie
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Bandicoot) in one capacity or another. I loved animation, so in 2000, I left the games industry to start an animation company, then came back to gaming in 2008 when I started React. Brad Moss I was making games since I was a kid. I remember the first game I ‘modded’ was “Archon”. After that I made a game with a kid in Canada over ICQ program. I got into college, did film studies (there were no game programs at that time). But alas, before I finished my degree, I had a job in a local game dev studio. After that I did an MBA and worked for Amazon as a business leader. But the excitement and speed of innovations in games drew me back, and I’m really happy to be in such a fun and exciting industry.
In your own words, how would you describe Super Dungeon Bros? Chad Lee The best co-op roguelike dungeon brawler on the planet. What was the inspiration behind the game? Why did you make it? Chad Lee It came about during some down time between projects. We wanted to enter something into the KILLSCREEN/OUYA competition back in 2013 and the team developed a funky dungeon crawler. It quickly became a company passion as we saw the potential of what it might become. The more we played the more fun we had with the co-op elements, so we iterated the design a few times and ended up with what you see now. What is the setting of the game, where do the dungeons come into it? Chad Lee You play as one of 4 Bros (Axl, Ozzie, Lars and Freddie) who love the Rock-n-Roll lifestyle, even though they can’t play any instruments. They’re based in a medieval fantasy universe of Rökheim and love to live fast without much regard to the future. They’ve heard a cry for help from one of their favourite Rock Stars and have entered the dungeons to help him and be the heroes they always dreamed of being. What are the bosses like? Big Demons I hope. Chad Lee The bosses are varied and impressive. The main boss of Cryptheim (the first level in Super
Dungeon Bros) is “Duke Spookem,” who makes fun of you as you try to defeat him and dodge his balls of steel (spiked balls that extend from his arms!) I can’t go into too much detail about the others, but they are just as fun and wacky…They are a real treat to encounter and it makes the levels well worth playing … but they are really hard! Brad Moss Big Demon-ish creatures. These are the gods of each of the worlds that the bros will travel to and they aren’t happy the bros are there. They are big and exciting with unique mechanics, and really require a team to take them down. Levels regenerate in a totally new layout. How does that change the players’ experience each time they play? Chad Lee It changes the experience, but not the framework, similar to any sport. Take basketball, for example, the same rules apply every time you play or watch — 5 guys on a team and you’re just trying to get the little ball in the opponent’s basket as many times as you can. But each experience is totally different and immensely rewarding — which is why sports guys can play or watch basketball or football for 20 years and never get tired of it (and they get sooo worked up if something is on the line.) Similarly, Super Dungeon Bros can be played many times without getting repetitive because of how you’re levelling your weapon, how you’re interacting with your team and when you encounter enemies, traps and puzzles.
“We’ve spent a lot of time setting up a really intelligent procedural system. One of our internal tenets is that players will always need a fresh experience...” Brad Moss We’ve spent a lot of time setting up a really intelligent procedural system. One of our internal tenets is that players will always need a fresh experience. We started off with just building complete pieces that randomly hook up together. That wasn’t keeping the experience fresh enough. So we created a method that nests our procedural generation multiple times in each framework piece, so 1 piece can generate 1,000 different configurations instead of one. Now, another major tenet is that players will always want to apply what they’ve learned. So dungeons generate in a framework that focuses on the excitement curve, helps players level their weapons, and reach the big bosses with all the tools they need. Of all the innovations we’ve created in building Super Dungeon Bros, our procedural system is one of the best. We can’t wait for more people to play it and tell us what they think. Four player on one screen co-op, online and on-screen multiplayer? Is that a nod back to retro multiplayers? Chad Lee Yes and No. We wanted to
create an awesome couch experience (you should hear our playtests) while keeping all the players on the same screen, which is what a lot of old school games had done before because of technical restraints. But we also wanted to extend the “couch” experience to online play and have just as much fun. We also have some randomly generated levels, which is a great innovation. We use AI to populate the levels using a pacing algorithm so they get the right amount of excitement and strategy to break up the gameplay in an interesting way. Because of this, it never gets repetitive. Brad Moss From a design perspective one great thing that the ‘on-screen’ limitation gives players is team awareness. We are focusing on co-op, and when players can see their bro on the screen is in danger, they naturally want to help them out. It really adds to the game design, rather than feel like a constraint or limitation. How important is it to work with friends to progress through the game? Chad Lee It is imperative to work with
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FEATURE: Super Dungeon Bros
friends to get through the levels and puzzles. In Super Dungeon Bros, the co-op is not just thrown in, but the framework of design. You throw your bro across a chasm to retrieve a key, or unlock a feature. Or you stack on top of each other to reach treasures in tall towers. With that said, there is also a competitive element within the Bros…like who is going to be the jerk who gets all the health? Gets the most kills, etc. You’ll get bonuses for that at the end of each level. This way, it keeps the competitive tension within the co-op framework.
Chad Lee Not too deliberate, we just wanted people to know how Super our Bros were at raiding Dungeons! It’s a fantastic name that conveys the outrageous whimsy nature of the game. It’s epic, but doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Brad Moss If you are playing with your bros, you really need to work with your bros. So much of the co-op game is structured around co-op gameplay that if you don’t think about approaching a dungeon as a team, you will die pretty quickly.
What stage are you at in the game’s journey, when’s it released? Chad Lee We are currently in Alpha and will be heading towards BETA very soon with a release schedule for fall 2015.
Combo attacks, Booby traps, loot and plunder. These are a few of my favourite things. What can you tell us about them? Chad Lee There are LOTS! Since this is co-op, the combo attacks extend beyond your character…for example, we have the “Bro-nado” attack, where all Bros stack on top of one another and spin to create this whirlwind of doom, wiping out enemies with ease. We have certain Bro combos that if you use as a group, causes exponential damage…and you can always throw your Bro into enemies like a projectile weapon. It’s pretty fun! Each character has their own individual combos as well. There is a lot of loot to collect, traps to spring and enemies to destroy, so players will be very busy. Brad Moss One of the big focuses we’ve had as a team is in the weapons the bros use in a dungeon. Weapons in Super Dungeon Bros are like Champions in League of Legends. Each weapon is so unique, but has a general role to play in the team configuration. Collect loot, forge new weapons, and find the best items in the game! The name is similar to another game I have heard of, was this deliberate?
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Brad Moss There are a lot of tonguein-cheek moments in Super Dungeon Bros. The name really lives up to the theme of the game, rather than it trying to copy something else. These bros rock, their super in every way, and they crawl dungeons.
stages, so I can’t say too much about them. Brad Moss We aren’t working on anything that is as Super, Dungeony, or as Brotastic as Super Dungeon Bros! We do have some really innovative new ideas, some in other genres and some in similar types of games. We have some solid prototypes of these new ideas and will continue to work on them as the team starts to transition off Super Dungeon Bros. « Super Dungeon Bros is scheduled to launch in Fall 2015 and you can follow the games progress at www.superdungeonbros.com or www.facebook.com/DungeonBros
What other projects is React working on? Chad Lee We have several projects that we’re prototyping. One is an innovative MOBA and another is a mobile title, but they are in their early
Lars
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FEATURE: War for the Overlord
Are you an Underlord with unrivaled dark power and an insatiable desire for bloody conquest?
Than War for the Overlord might just be the perfect game for you then. Harry Cole and Lee Smith talked to Lee Moon – Community Manager at Subterranean Games.
W
ar for the Overworld is a real-time strategy video game developed by Subterranean Games. Inspired by Dungeon Keeper, players build dungeons containing deadly traps to kill adventuring heroes that enter. So far so
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good then it seems, and it is good. Really good. What started in 2009 as a fan-made sequel to Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Keeper 2, has just taken on a life of its own and spread its demonic wings. So, as we and IND13 are always curious about how games such as War for the
Overworld come into being, and as we love talking to indie developers, we managed to get in touch with Lee Moon, the Community Manager at Subterranean Games, who gave us a bit more insight. Such as, how it all started. “We’re extremely fortunate as an indie studio to have a relatively large group of incredibly talented and passionate people from across the world”, Moon says. “The majority of us met on a Dungeon Keeper fansite known as Keeper Klan where we debated and prototyped a project like this multiple times but never really got going until Kickstarter. Everyone else are individuals who shared a passion for this type of game who we’ve picked up along the way!” “Currently our team is 15 strong including three programmers, two 3D artists, two animators (one of whom is part time), a VFX artist, two audio designers, two on community and website and finally our CEO and Game Designer. That’s not including any external contractors who work on other projects as well.” Yep, it really is as it sounds. But we have all been there right? Where you are such fans of a game you would love to make your own version? Well, most of us don’t, by these guys did. They were/are massive fans of Dungeon Keeper and just thought ‘we should make this game’? “That’s right! We’re all huge fans of the Dungeon Keeper series as well as other entries into the genre such as Evil Genius”, Lee explains. “For us we’d been waiting to see a new Dungeon Management Game come around that captured the essence of what we considered to be the core of the genre.” “For years we debated and prototyped the idea of War for the Overworld but it was only with the advent of Kickstarter that we truly had the opportunity to make it more than a pipe dream!” It cannot have been easy though, tackling a project as big as this, and it wasn’t. It was
“a long bumpy road, and we’ve certainly taken our knocks” Moon says, “but we’ve also revelled in our successes.” He then says that in terms of down points they’ve “had our fair share over the two years and four months we spent in initial development; the biggest of which have probably been our troubles with our original plans for mod support.”
“In terms of projects there’s some huge gaps that have been left by the big publishers, and it’s a great place for aspiring developers to step in to fill the gap...” Originally their plans were to include extensive support through a piece of middleware which they would devlelop in-house, but this “proved to be overly ambitious and nearly cost us the whole project, thankfully some quick thinking helped us to turn it around though. It’s a long story that we touch on in our first year retrospective so for additional context you can read that: https://wftogame. com/war-for-the-overworld-a-year-inretrospect/” Other than that, their next biggest down point were the months leading up until release where they were struggling to keep themselves afloat. The crunch period they went through was “quite tough on all of us” Moon says, “but again we’ve made it through and while it was tough, we’ve come out with a lot of knowledge because of it. You can read more about that over in our State of the Game retrospective: https://wftogame.com/state-of-thegame-13-04-2015/” Optimisim abounds with Subterranean Games though, as there’s “always another edge to the coin”, Lee exclaims, “where we’ve had huge highlights, every time someone thanks us for making the game it’s like a bright light is being shone where we’ve just made someone’s dreams come
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FEATURE: War for the Overlord
“We were so excited we actually ended up buying all of the copies in our local game shop!” true. For us it’s always been about making this game, making War for the Overworld, a brand new Dungeon Management Game and to hear that there are people really enjoying it. That’s just fantastic and makes all the trials and tribulations we’ve faced worthwhile. In many ways that’s one of the things that’s kept us going.” So they were fans of Dungeon Keeper, but what made this game so cool to them? Well, as Lee explains, “the thing that most resonated with us and indeed many fans of the Dungoen Keeper games is how unique they felt, this is one of those rare opportunities where you get to be the bad guy and not only that, but you’re in charge of a whole dungeon of unique monsters with their own personalities.” “It was extremely cool to be on the opposite side, rather than being the goodly hero wandering in to kill the dark lord and plunder his riches you are in fact that very dark lord looking to stop that from happening. The whole concept was great and is still rarely seen today.” It must be immensely satisfying to make a game like this, as a fan of the genre especially, and a fan of games in general. I cannot imagine what that feels like, but I imagine that the first time they watch the trailer and hear the voice over, they must
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be like, “we did it!”? “It’s great to see all of your work finally come together into a product, seeing the trailer of the game was exhilarating”, Lee says, “especially after the work we put into the game and indeed the trailer. Even more so is being able to go into a local game shop and see it there on the shelves next to other PC Titles.” Infact, they were “so excited we actually ended up buying all of the copies in our local game shop!” It isn’t just the look of a game that ensures that it has the right amount of atmosphere. When you hear the sound effects of the Imps cutting away the soft earth and claiming rooms, you know how important is it to get these aspects into a game that you are affectively remaking.
“We spent a lot of time in the last few weeks implementing a huge amount of art and sound assets, the difference is staggering and you feel so much more involved in the world when you hear every little thing happening. In terms of getting a feel for a world, you’d truly notice if the sound design wasn’t up to scratch!” Those very sounds actually gave me goosebumps, and bought back amazing memories of early Dungeon Keeper. “As big fans of this genre we’ve always been waiting for the next big game in it. When it was clear that we weren’t going to see something akin to what we wanted we decided to go for it ourselves!”
“Sound design is something so very important in all games, yet often overlooked” Lee explains.
“For many of us these kinds of games were our childhood, it’s what we grew up with and something that has been so sadly missed in the past decade of video games. It’s great to see RTS Games, God Games and others making a return, we’re even seeing some new DMGs coming to the forefront. We live in exciting times!”
“We’re fortunate to have two incredibly talented Audio designers who have singlehandedly constructed all the Music and SFX in the game and even provided a huge chunk of VO for plenty of the units and other characters in the game.”
This is a pretty new team to the world of games development. Lee says that they could even be called “neophytes to the industry, as for many of us this is our very first project. Although some of the team have experience in modding WFTO is
Prepare to be Slain! A homage to the gory hack and slash games of the ‘80s and ‘90s.
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FEATURE: War for the Overlord
very much their first professional project.’ Although most of our talent comes from other industries or indeed straight from education, they do have people from all different fields joined by one common goal, to make the best Dungeon Management Game we can. And in a way this inexperience has occasionally netted them in a few difficult situations where our plans were bigger than their team could cope with, “all in all the project itself is a lot bigger than would usually be attempted with a team this size”, he explains, “but we’ve risen to the challenge at each step and we’ve found we’re much stronger for it!’ Crowd sourced, crowd funded, based on pre-loved concepts? It’s something that we have seen more of in the last year. Something which is on the rise. Lee agrees, saying that “it’s definitely something we’re going to see more of, in terms of tools available to indie devs to make their dreams come true there’s never been a better state in the industry. With the advent of Kickstarter, Steam Early Access, Patreon and other funding methods it’s now easier to acquire funding than ever before.” “In terms of projects there’s some huge gaps that have been left by the big publishers, entire genres have gone with very little input from them and it’s a great place for aspiring developers to step in to fill the gap.” Lee does advise, however, that’s “it’s important that aspiring Devs understand the commitment they’re taking on, we see all too many collapse under the pressure and that doesn’t help anyone, it destroys consumer trust and helps to make it more difficult for those who have the talent to be funded in this manner.” The key here, Lee suggests, “is to plan as much as you possibly can, research and develop a great pitch this will draw people in provided your idea is great. If you get crowdfunded then your next step
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is to remember your community is your lifeblood.” At every step of this project they believed in the power of our community, they know it’s the reason “we’re here so we’ve done everything we can to keep them informed and posted weekly news updates for the entire time our project has been running.”
“Although WFTO is entirely our own property, assets, code and design we wanted to ensure we kept off anyone’s toes and the guys at EA have been great about that...” With games in general, but especially games such as these, it is all about the paople that play the games, that build a relationship with the game. “Never doubt the power of your community,” Lee says, “look after them, respect them and they’ll help see you through. For us we’ve always seen it in one way, treat your customer as you would like to be treated while understanding all the risks.” They knew there was a big demand for this genre of games as they’d “often been on the demanding side. Then it was the case of taking the side of the community wherever we could, for a long time we’d been a part of that very same group of people and we don’t see any reason why it should be so differ” “We’re incredibly pleased that the game has been something the community could rally around. We believe that it’s through the strength of what we’ve created, on top of our continued commitment to engaging with our community that helps to give them faith in us.” As for the bigger companies, well, they have been surprisingly supportive of the team and War for the Overlord.
“We’ve been rather fortunate that we’ve had some great contacts at EA who have helped to keep us in the clear in regards to anything that we should avoid”, Lee says, “Although WFTO is entirely our own property, assets, code and design we wanted to ensure we kept off anyone’s toes and the guys at EA have been great about that.” “It was in our Kickstarter campaign that we were first contacted, they wanted to check in on us and make sure we weren’t a big company attempting to use any of their property, they were happy with what they saw. We got some advice on anything we should avoid and from there it’s been almost entirely clear sailing.” Amusingly they did have a small run-in where their voice actor Richard Ridings, who voices the Mentor and is famous for the part he played in Dungeon Keeper was potentially being prevented from voicing for them due to a supposed non-compete clause we had in his contract (Which didn’t exist but was presumed by his agent). “It was when they were looking at getting lines recorded for Dungeon Keeper mobile” Lee explains of the strange situation, “that his agent replied he was under a non-compete. It wasn’t long until we received a call asking “Did you get him to sign a non-compete” to which we
hastily double and triple checked before responding with a definitive no.” “It’s somewhat amusing though that for a short while it looked like we were blocking them in a small way, to think that we could hold up a giant is a scary thought.” Right now, though, since the release, they have been working on “fixing up all the bugs that people are finding, that’s currently our top priority. We’ve patched up a huge amount with the 23 hotfix patches we’ve had since launch but there are still some issues facing a few users, worst of all are the CTDs and we want to get those patched as soon as possible.” They are also working on the various parts of what will be included in the 1.1 update, particularly new hotkeys, multiplayer and skirmish lobbies as well as enhancements to both those modes, new maps, tooltips and other improvements that people have been asking for.
Going from a dozen or so users at a time to thousands was quite the profound change.” However they have been hard at work “patching things up and releasing huge numbers of hotfixes and we’re now hearing from players that the game has improved dramatically for them. People have been really happy to see our response, and this has helped assure players of our dedication to the game!” “Currently we’re sat on 75% Positive Steam reviews and we’re hoping we can grow that back up as we continue to improve the game and fix issues that players have faced!” It must have been an incredibly stressful project to undertake, though, especially given the sheer size of it.
How have the fans of the genre, and games in general taken to the game, what has the response been to this incredible project?
“It’s been a long road that’s for sure. I would say that the game was perhaps a little too big and ambitious for our small team, especially on the resources and experience we had and that’s certainly caused some stress at times.”
“Overall we’ve seen a mixed response”, Lee says honestly, “but gradually growing more positive. Our launch helped us to uncover a huge number of bugs which we hadn’t previously found, sadly this has negatively affected many peoples experiences.
“In the last few weeks running up to release especially we were working 18, 24 and even 48 hour shifts to push in as much as we could and straight after release we were doing the same. When you get to crunch time in game development you
What do they have planned for the future of this game and for the future of the studio? In the Short term we’re looking to improve the Skirmish and Multiplayer modes as a priority, we had to remove 4-Player maps as there were some issues that caused them to completely fall over so we’re hoping to get those back in soon. After that we have a couple of other features on the way, we have a completely overhauled Survival mode that will be more fully featured than the prototype we currently have, this update will be free to everyone. We also have some tentative plans for Story DLC which will be free to everyone who we consider to be an “Early-Adopter” that’s everyone who’s purchased the game within or before the first month of release.
In this DLC the players will be taking on the role of an Underlord they’ve previously met in the original campaign and exploring some of that Underlord’s backstory. As for the future of our studio in general we’d like to continue supporting WFTO for as long as we can, this has been our baby and it’s a project we’re very proud of. It’s been a labour of love from the very start right to where we are now. So hopefully we’ll be releasing updates and content for that for some time to come. We’ll also be looking at other projects in the future and while we have some ideas I’m afraid that I can’t talk about them just yet.
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FEATURE: War for the Overlord
soon find your free time going out of the window and that can be tough.”
appropriate ones if there are applicable ones for you.
“There’s also a surprising amount that you have to have ready for release, trailers, screenshots, press kits, store pages and not to mention the game itself means there’s a lot to be done and not a lot of time to do it in! But we pulled through and we’re finally looking forward to going back to normal working hours and perhaps even seeing the mythical beast that is a weekend!”
You can also follow them on Twitter @ Wftogame, like us on Facebook (https:// www.facebook.com/wftogame) or follow their weekly news posts over at wftogame.com for news on development, patch notes and other information!
“Still, I don’t think anyone on the team would change it for the world, what we’ve accomplished here is something we’re proud of and something that we’re looking forward to continuing to dedicate ourselves to!” « You can purchase War for the Overlord directly from Steam (http://store. steampowered.com/app/230190), their site (https://wftogame.com/game/) and from various other outlets such as Humble, the Amazon App store and GMG. Physical copies are available in several countries throughout the world. Sean from Sold Out will be able to direct you to the
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“This has been our baby and it’s a project we’re very proud of. It’s been a labour of love from the very start right to where we are now...”
Save the sheep from a horde of wolves by building a fence around them, in this increasingly difficult new puzzler from McPeppergames www.mcpeppergames.com
IND13.COM SUMMER 2015 ISSUE SIX 25
FEATURE: World War Toons
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Serious, authentic and and grim? Not this Second World War VR shooter... World War Toon is a humorous first person shooter and tank combat game set in a whimsical, toon inspired world. Lee Smith talked to Pete Blumel,the Executive Producer at Reload Studios about World War Toons, Virtual Reality, and animation.
IND13.COM SUMMER 2015 ISSUE SIX 27
FEATURE: Beyond Flesh and Blood
“
In a stroke of serendipity, the cartoon aesthetic proved to be an ideal solution.” This is what Pete Blumel, the Executive Producer of Reload games, told me when we discussed their World War Two game with a difference, World War Toons. More specifically I was asking him how, in the midst of ultra realistic first-person shooter games, did they come up with an idea to make it fun? To take WWII and create a whimisical, cartoony, joy to watch and play, virtual reality based game. “In one sense, WWII was an opportunity to return to our roots”, he explained, “in another, the setting has always been very distinctive. One glance and players can quickly tell what side they’re fighting on, who’s friendly and who’s the enemy”. Which is indeed true. It was a true gift for film games makers that the uniforms were so markedly different. It is easy to pick sides, to see the enemy, to choose who best fits not your moral nature but your sartorial one.
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“However, in regards to VR”, he continues, “we really had to evaluate performance and frame rate vs graphics. In a stroke of serendipity, the cartoon aesthetic proved to be an ideal solution”. And bang, there we have it. World War Toons... in VR... with amazing graphics and a trailer which you would be happy to see made into a feature leangth film... it all proved to be, in the end, the ‘ideal solution’. If you are not already familiar with World War Toon, it is, in some ways, a playable cartoon where, in typical cartoon fashion you are more likely to see an anvil drop out of the sky than an air strike. Indeed, the game’s debut trailer shows a soldier skipping around a battlefield and committing random acts of lunacy like replacing an enemy’s gun with a chicken. Not only that, though, but it is also aiming to take advantage of the burgeoning virtual reality technology that it was primarily designed for. Where it will enable you too immerse yourseld in the madcap gameplay which, for all it’s cartoon style and fun, is promising amazing fun and addictive gaming.
It is also the first game from Reload Studios. Reload is at the forefront of the VR revolution, actively engaging and experimenting with virtual reality hardware in every facet and leveraging the capabilities of emerging headsets and hardware. They ar an independent game development studio formed by the talented developers that led the creation and production of some of the best selling video games in the world. They are developing content to entertain an ever expanding audience for emerging Virtual Reality and existing game platforms. What is really unique about Reload is that their background isn’t just in games, but from animated movies, from the media of films. Their team of veteran game developers has united with the feature animation industry’s most experienced creative artists to bring a unique set of highly stylised characters and environments to World War Toons. From games and films such as Call of Duty, Ghosts, Frozen, Wreck It Ralph,
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FEATURE: World War Toons
World of Warcraft and so, so much more, this is a studio that has a combined experience of a gazillion games and films and animations, which is what makes World War Toons so special. Pete describes it as a long term project, as in the team coming together, and almost destiny. With the emerging technology being the force that finally made them make the leap and set up Reload. “This team was several years in the making”, he explains, “as many of us have known each other for quite some time. The ascendance of VR was the perfect catalyst for us all to finally come together and do something fun and different.” Of course setting up a studio is no easy thing to do, and especially when your ‘day jobs’ are so enriching and rewarding. but sometimes you have to cross that rubicon in your career. That time when, no matter how good things may be, it is that time to be yourself almost.
“We love video games and we’ve created a culture where making games is fun again...” production. Even so, it is still a challenge when you don’t have the security and teams of people behind you when working on a major title. “It’s all relative. Working in indie development brings about different challenges than producing something like Call of Duty,” he says, “You learn to pivot quickly and eat stress for breakfast. In that regard, we’ve surmounted lots of obstacles and garnered tremendous insights in the process of going independent.”
But it is a big step to take, something which Pete completely agress with. “Indeed,” he says, “but there comes a point when you want to take back the reigns of your career and break away from the giant, risk averse corporate structure. We love video games and we’ve created a culture where making games is fun again.”
It is truly with the emergence of VR technology that is driving both Reload Studios in general, and their making of World War Toons. With the Oculus Rift, Project Mopheus, and various other VR devices being developed and readied for our eager use, we really are living in lucky and exciting times. Games wise that is, reality wise the world is very different which probably explains why so many of want to escape from the reality of collapsed economies, endless atrocities in the name of [insert religion/politic here] and Taylor Swift songs.
As mentioned before, though, these are no newbies to the industry. Pete himself has over 19 years of experience in feature film, animation and AAA interactive
That’s the thing about VR. It has long been dreamt about, especially by my generation (80s kids), who saw the gaming world evolve from the humble Atari to
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the powerful beast that is the PS4. In all this time, throughout all those years, it was always the one thing we wanted. We fantasised about entering some Tron like world to play our games and push our mental boundaries and imagination further than we ever could in reality. Now this is starting to become reality. The dream is starting to be realised and, thankfully, we are still yound enough to be able to enjoy it. A little podgier maybe, with more responsibilities, and endless bills to pay, but also enough money to want to immerse ourselves in a different landscape. And, as mentioned in the beginning of the article, World War Toons is the ‘ideal solution’. “We all saw the potential,” Pete says, “and believe there are great opportunities in VR, especially for game developers”, highlighting what the rest of us saw, but that most of us didn’t know what to do about it. It is an ever-evolving technology though, even before it has really been unleashed on the eager world. “There are innovations happening seemingly every day in VR. We’ve established wonderful relationships throughout the industry to find ways to push the boundaries of presence and
”Verdun is a squad-based multiplayer FPS in a realistic WW1 setting. The merciless trench warfare offers a unique battlefield for tactical squad play in the realistic Frontlines game mode, and raw gameplay in the rifle-deathmatch.”
Available Now www.VerdunGame.com IND13.COM SUMMER 2015 ISSUE SIX 31
FEATURE: World War Toons
immersion not just for World War Toons but for our other future projects in the space.” With so many different formats though, with so many companies throwing their vitual hat into the ring, does that create another set of challenges? Oculus/ Facebook, Sony, Samsung, Microsoft, even HTC… Pete doesn’t see this as creating a development nightmare, though, but as a good thing. A sign that people are taking the technology seriously enough to invest properly in it. “I think it’s great to have a variety of channels to distribute VR content and the fact that such big players are jumping in, clearly seeing the potential of the platform, is simply invigorating.” And the fact that so many people and companies are developing in it, means that VR is now about to have its moment. However, it doesn’t matter how great the technology is, if the games are not good enough for us to want to play. Just a small point, but one that is pretty crucial I think. With World War Toons, though, I think we are in safe hands. They are also
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“Working in indie development brings about different challenges than producing something like Call of Duty. You learn to pivot quickly and eat stress for breakfast...” ensuring that they cover all bases too, and are not just relying on people upgrading to the new gadgets as soon as they are shipped. All these things are expensive you see. So despite making World War Toons for Virtual Reality, it will also support standard play too. “VR performance, gameplay, design and controls are all things we’ve prioritized since day one,” Pete explained. “But as an indie developer, we feel our first title should leverage as many platforms as possible.” « Reload is planning on a 2015 release date for World War Toon. You can find out more by visiting: wwt.reload-studios.com
Click for video content
Review Section
BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT REVIEWED ALSO REVIEWED THE WITCHER 3: WILD HUNT
ARK: SURVIVAL EVOLVED
There’s no escaping from the fact that The Witcher 3 is this year’s big RPG, having won over 200 awards.
Stranded naked, freezing and starving on the shores a 33 IND13.COM SUMMER 2015 ISSUEof SIX mysterious island called ARK.
REVIEW: Batman: Arkham Knight
Batman: Arkham Knight... the most disturbing Batman story ever told
Review by Lexuzze Tablante The highly anticipated final installment of Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Batman Arkham franchise came in with negative feedbacks from the PC community as the game itself had a lot of technical issues. The PC port was developed by an outsourced development team named Iron Galaxy Studios. There were a lot of frame rate drops when driving the Batmobile or gliding, no SLI and Crossfire profile support, and textures not rendering fast enough even on high-end videocards like
the GTX 970 and R9 290X. These concerns, however, are being worked on by Rocksteady while Warner Bros. suspended the game’s sale through Steam and physical copy shipments until they fix the issue. I was able to get the game since I pre-ordered a physical copy from our local store Datablitz because Warner Bros. PR didn’t provide us any press copies for us to review Batman Arkham Knight on PC. I will make sure that this PC review and score will be updated as soon as they fix the game. For some PC gamers who already bought the game and experienced the performance issues,
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follow these configurations as what Rocksteady suggested. Following these configurations, I was able to play the game smoothly with less stuttering on 30 frames per second. Batman Arkham Knight is the third and final installment of Rocksteady’s Batman Arkham series which concludes the story of the Dark Knight. The game is still an openworld action adventure title. The narrative is set in Gotham City to stop the not-so-scary psychopath Scarecrow from spreading a highly concentrated fear toxin while introducing a new character joining the bandwagon of villains
who wants to stop Batman, the Arkham Knight. The darker twist of the game’s story is simply fantastic. If you have watched the famous Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rising movie, you will know that Batman Arkham Knight’s dark-themed narrative is great. It makes the players want to re-play the whole Batman Arkham series, except Arkham Origins, and feel the emotional impact of Batman Arkham Knight’s story. Batman Arkham Knight retains the main gameplay element and gadgets from its predecessors. There are some added elements in the game like the “Fear Takedown” which players can do the “Takedown” move to a certain amount of enemy AI in a slow-motion effect, giving the last blow that accomplished feeling to players. Combat feels more faster than what we’ve seen in Arkham City. Adding the “dual-play” gameplay, it lets the player switch from one character to another and do combined takedowns with Batman’s buddies like Catwoman, Tim Drake, and Nightwing in certain side quests. However, Dual-Play is a weak gameplay element that should have been better if it was utilized more in the game’s main story. Now, gadgets, gadgets, and gadgets… Batman Arkham Knight still
“Combat feels more faster than what we’ve seen in Arkham City. Adding the “dual-play” gameplay, it lets the player switch from one character to another ” showcase some old favorite Wayne Industry technologies present from its predecessors like the Explosive Gel, Remote Controlled Batarangs, Remote Hacking Device, Batclaw, and more. Along with these classic gadgets are 2 new devices: the Voice Synthesizer where players can imitate certain villains to order them to open gates or investigate certain areas for you to take them out, and most importantly the Batmobile Remote that controls the highly anticipated Batmobile. The Batmobile is the main attraction of the newest feature in Batman Arkham Knight. It allows players to roam around Gotham City like never before in any Batman Arkham title. The Batmobile transforms to a tank-like destroyer to take out unmanned remote controlled tanks, and shoot enemy AI with rubber bullets to instantly taking them down, not killing them. The controls of the Batmobile are pretty smooth, especially drifting. The tank-like mobile of the Dark Knight is not overpowered, there are options to upgrade the Vulcan
gun, 60mm Canon, Armor, and the magnificent Afterburner. However, the visual design of the Batmobile have references from Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (the Tumbler) for being a tank-ish vehicle and the canon as what we’ve seen in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. The Batmobile did live up to the hype of all Batman fans who were waiting for this and it wasn’t a disappointment. With all the impressive elements that were shown in its gameplay, Batman Arkham Knight’s overall graphic design is spectacular. Even if the game can’t run on Normal for now because of the game’s optimization issues, running it on Low settings with Anti-Aliasing turned on in 1080p resolution already makes the PC version on par with the console versions. Gotham City looks astonishing, smokes, the splash and explosion effects from the tanks, the Batmobile, rain effects, villain’s visual designs, and as well as Batman looks great on Low settings. It’s pretty much stable on Low
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REVIEW: Batman: Arkham Knight
configuration as long as you meet the minimum specs and experience minor to no stuttering in gameplay experience. Smooth as butter. The pretty graphical effects of Batman Arkham Knight also came with an impressive voice-acting from Kevin Conroy as Batman and the most precious voiceover of John Noble as Scarecrow. Even if Scarecrow’s plans and looks were not that scary or even intimidating to players and Batman, Noble gives out that horror atmosphere for being Dr. Crane’s voice that will overlook the character’s weaknesses. The game’s soundtrack was not that impacting and emotional at some point in the game than what Arkham Origins and Arkham City have. Composed by David Buckley and Nick Aundrel, they’ve mixed some tracks from Arkham City and Arkham Asylum to make it darker which I thought that it didn’t have that “emotional” feel than what I’ve heard from Christopher Drake’s tracks in Arkham Origins. Just on a side note, I know this is a PC port and this should not be taken lightly. What I wrote in my previous paragraph is the mere review and
experience that I had with the game. I am comfortable playing the game at 30FPS and I know most of you readers and PC gamers don’t understand why we should play at 30FPS when our beast computers can run it more than 30FPS and even more than 60FPS. For me, it’s basically on pure preferences of the players. If you guys wants to play it on 60FPS or higher, then that’s your choice. I wouldn’t force you to play it or even suggest it if you’re not comfortable playing a game on 30FPS. And I wouldn’t want to be too biased in this review because the game’s first release was horrible. I’m reviewing the game based on my experience of the game as a critic, and for me it was a great Batman experience. The graphical improvement can wait until they patch the game. I know the game has issues with performance and stability, in short poor optimization overall. It’s worse than what Ubisoft had with Assassin’s Creed Unity and this is because the development of the game was passed to an inexperienced outsourced development company and it was
GRAPHICS (WILL BE UPDATED)
75%
SOUNDS
80%
GAMEPLAY (WILL BE UPDATED)
80%
REPLAY VALUE/DLC
95%
FIRST RELEASE SCORE
35%
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a bad move from Rocksteady and Warner. They were too focus enough of having the game released on par with the console versions. Now, the game is currently unavailable on Steam and physical copies are currently suspended until the game is fixed. There was already a minor patch that fixed some bugs and added the rain effects on the PC version, Rocksteady already posted in their forums that they’re now focusing on the game’s major patch update and that’s already coming. Overall, Batman Arkham Knight is still a great game despite its optimization issues. I already used Rocksteady’s configuration advice for graphics and it already gave me a great experience in the gameplay. The story was spectacular, graphics were great even on Low how much more if we can set it on High after Rocksteady fixes the game, and the overall experience was fantastic. Batman Arkham Knight is a game where players can now experience what a Batman game should be and the epic conclusion of the Batman Arkham franchise. «
Despite having poor optimization, the temporary suggested configuration from Rocksteady made my gameplay experience a lot better. Batman Arkham Knight is one of the best Batman game there is and brought us the epic conclusion of the Dark Knight himself.
83
%
overall score
Voted one of the
top 5 Indie games
at Play Expo 2014 - Gamertime.co.uk
HARD-HITTING BEAT-EM-UP ACTION! ‘MakinGames has got that beat'em-up feel just right, complete with bone-shuddering weapon attacks and weighty divekicks.’ - Pocketgamer.co.uk
- BONE-CRUSHING MOVES - DEADLY WEAPONS - INSANE BOSSES DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?
COMING SOON to CONSOLE, PC, MAC, AND MOBILE
REVIEW: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt The years big RPG reviewed indepth Review by Davrel There’s no escaping from the fact that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is this year’s big RPG, having won over 200 awards, this mammoth game casts you in the role of Geralt of Rivia, a Witcher, and sets you off on a continent-spanning adventure that’ll see you facing down man and beast alike. For the uninitiated, a Witcher is a kind of bounty hunter, but one that deals specifically in the killing of unnatural creatures, demonic beings, ghosts and the like. You play as Geralt, arguably the most famous of Witchers, as you search the continent for “the child of prophecy, an ashen-haired girl, a living and highly volatile weapon everyone wants to control.” The world you explore in Witcher 3 is without doubt one of the most absorbing, atmospheric, and despite the monsters, realistic game worlds I’ve encountered. Take Velen, one of the several distinct main regions you travel to, as an example: it’s a bleak, miserable, swampy place, struggling to adapt to the outcome of a recent invasion – it delivers all this atmosphere without becoming a stereotype ‘gloomy swamp’ location. In terms of what it looks like, the
closest real-world approximation I can give would be Scotland, if Scotland were much flatter and closer to sea-level; the terrain is made up of rugged heathland, lakes, bogs, etc. And yes, plenty of fantasy tropes are dotted around the landscape like mage towers, ancient caves and forts, but everything has a sense of solidity – it looks like somewhere that could actually exist. There are battlefields where corpses lay rotting, villages and cities where peasants eke out a living, forests – actual damn forests (not just impassable areas of trees added for effect) – filled with bandits and other nasties, granite boulders peeking out from dense heather, and wild dogs roaming in packs. The rain pours, the wind blows, the sun rises and sets. Solid worldbuilding is top of my wishlist when it comes to RPGs and this game does it expertly. And it looks beautiful on PC too, despite the uproar over the graphical
‘downgrade’ in comparison with early gameplay videos. With a few exceptions (red bricks, for example), the textures are sharp; character and object models and animations are well-realised and and let’s not forget the hair. If you’re rocking a relatively beefy NVidia card, you can even use their proprietary hair rendering software to cast Geralt in his own Herbal Essences ad… Only with more blood and death. A further staggering hair-related innovation is that Geralt’s beard grows in real time! Amazing! Jokes aside, it really is a very pretty game to look at, and well optimised too. In a time when we seem to be heading into a dark era where PC games are released with chronic bugs, The Witcher 3 is a shining example of how to launch a game properly. As well as the main storyline, the world is littered with long branching side-quests requiring you to use your special Witcher
“I got into a bar fight with some of a local ruler’s guards. Ultimately, I decided to murder them because they were rude...”
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abilities, talk to locals and cross the world on foot, horseback or even by boat. The side-quests are miniature story-arcs unto themselves, with actual impact on the game world. They’re overwhelmingly bleak and usually result in at least one unexpected death or maiming, but this fits well with the whole atmosphere of a war ravaged land. In addition, these quests far from the mmo-esque tedious fetch quests that marred the experience of Dragon Age: Inquisition. And best of all, your choices (both in action and speech) have a meaningful impact on how other characters react to you and how events pan out. Case in point: I got into a bar fight with some of a local ruler’s guards. Ultimately, I decided to murder them because they were rude, later on I earn the respect of their leader and the fear of his other guards for my behaviour – NPCS would mutter about their fallen colleagues as I passed. Even when your choices don’t impact the overall story dramatically, it’s satisfying to see then referenced by other characters.
And when these characters speak, it’s a joy. Bethesda take note: this is now you do voice acting. The cast has a range of interesting, world-appropriate accents and (in my experience so far) when there is a repetition of an NPC voice actor, it’s barely noticeable. This isn’t Skyrim. The rest of the sound too is generally first rate, with wind and rain, steel against steel, and general ambient sound all adding to the immersion and sense of being in another world. My only real grumble about this game is the combat, and I fully admit that this probably wouldn’t have come up if I was better at playing games. Fighting monsters and people can be at times be a little tricky, not from the difficultly level so much, but because Geralt’s fighting style is highly acrobatic – if you fail to lock on to a particular target, you can find yourself murdering the scenery around you and not the guys about to stab you in the spine. I also find switching between Signs (Geralt’s semi-magical abilities) in combat can be a little fiddly; it works much the same way as the weapon wheel system in GTAV – with the action slowing
down almost to a pause as you enter the quick-select menu – but I quite often find myself thinking I chose a certain Sign, only for nothing to happen. I think this is because rather than just highlighting the Sign required, you have to highlight and then click it. You can avoid this process altogether by using the mouse wheel, so this is probably more a case of me getting used to using the controls more effectively than a major flaw. One minor, additional complaint I have is that weapons and items seem to wear out very quickly, meaning regular boring trips to a blacksmith. That being said, despite its flaws the combat is far superior to the original Witcher game and Witcher 2. Overall the game’s difficulty level is slanted somewhat towards the harder side, it’s not exactly Dark Souls, but it can take a little while to get used to, especially if you’re a bit inept like me. This is by no means a bad thing, in fact, it’s a good thing, but when looking at the difficulty settings, think of them as one level above
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REVIEW: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
the usual, so ‘Easy’ would equate to ‘Normal’ in most other games, etc. It’s also very hard to play the game properly without making full use of Geralt’s abilities, you’ll need to become proficient in alchemy, explosives and general crafting; this is a game that really does reward character mastery – knowing which potions to brew, what items to use, etc. Again, not a complaint, but unless you’re playing on easy, don’t expect
to just steamroll through it. Despite my minor complaints regarding the combat and the (massively inflated) controversy over the graphical downgrade, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a staggeringly accomplished game. The developers, CD Projeckt RED should be proud of what they’ve created. I just hope that others are paying attention. Click for video content
Buy the damn game already. «
GRAPHICS
93%
SOUNDS
93%
GAMEPLAY
92%
REPLAY VALUE
90%
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a staggeringly accomplished game. The developers, CD Projeckt RED should be proud of what they’ve created. I just hope that others are paying attention.
92
%
overall score
disrupts.tv
the video station for the startup scene. beta now live
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REVIEW: Ark: Survival Evolved review
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Stranded naked, freezing and starving on the shores of a mysterious island called ARK
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REVIEW: Ark: Survival Evolved review
Review by Lexuzze Tablante I stood upon a small grassy hill overlooking an azure sea, the tail of some horrifying sea creature arcs back into the water; pterosaurs soar in flight above. Turning to my right, I catch sight of a diplodocus and marvel as it crashes through a forest, leaving trees smashed in it its wake. Suddenly there is a large, naked man standing in front of me. ‘Hello?’ I type tentatively. ‘Hi’ he replies before punching me in the face. Welcome to ARK: Survival Evolved. I flee. Not really knowing what to do, I just turn and run. But after running in circles for a few minutes I realise I can’t shake my pursuer and turn to fight him. I land a couple of blows and he backs away, grabs some berries from a bush, and eats them. ‘Clever’, I think, he wants to regen some health… He then drops down dead. Great! I walk over to his body, wondering what the hell is going on. Turns out he’s not dead, just unconscious and the berries he ate are ‘Narcoberries‘. I’m laughing out loud at this point, and in my good humour I decide to be merciful and grant him a swift death by… err… repeatedly punching his head. Five minutes into the game and,
despite the optimisation issues, I’m already having a blast – I’ve seen dinosaurs, met other people, learned some important things about berries, killed other people – what more could you want from a game? It’s only then that I find out that you press Z to defecate. Amazing! I turn to the corpse of my fallen enemy and, in time-honoured gaming tradition, proceed to enthusiastically commit a war crime. So, Ark: Survival Evolved is a game that sees you dropped onto tropical island littered with dinosaurs and bizarre alien artefacts and leaves you to fend for yourself. Starting from nothing but your bare hands, you must forge the tools of survival; gather rocks, wood, berries, leaves and plants to make a fire, basic tools, a primitive shelter and simple meals. As you again experience and level up from foraging (often amounting to literally punching the wood right out of trees) and exploring, you’ll get the chance to boost your stats and unlock new ‘Engrams’, which act as blueprints for more complicated craftable items. To put things into perspective, the first tool you’ll make is a stone pickaxe, but eventually you could be wielding an RPG, and sending rockets into the faces of nearby dinosaurs/ other players. Although, considering how much time it takes to gather basic resources, it looks like playing
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co-operatively with others and joining a ‘Tribe’ is going to be the only way you’ll ever do that though. Any player can form a tribe of their own and invite friends to play cooperatively, gaining bonus XP for performing actions like crafting and foraging near other tribe members. I’ve yet to join a tribe, but only because every interaction I’ve had with other players has ended in murder. Still, other people seem to manage it and they’re off riding Tyrannosaurs around – must be something about my face… In my time playing, I haven’t got much past the ‘managing to just about survive’ stage where you’re too weak to kill anything more serious than a Dodo (and even that’s a challenge), you’re constantly scavenging for berries to eat and other players are a serious menace. I built a house made out of straw and (in a severe breach of health and safety laws) put a fire in it, and spent my time scavenging for food and not venturing too far from safety, slowly levelling up in the hopes of one day being able to ride a T-Rex. The day and night cycle adds some variation to this routine. When night falls, you’re forced to stock up on torches, find warmth and shelter and keep an eye out for lurking predators – not really being able to see where
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REVIEW: Ark: Survival Evolved review
“I built a house made out of straw and (in a severe breach of health and safety laws) put a fire in it...”
you’re going definitely adds to the feeling of vulnerability and it can be especially daunting when you realise that you have no shelter, no food, and you’re freezing to death. There are perks for night time exploration, however. Beams of light mark points on the map where loot-crates are dropped. These are usually filled with tools and supplies and are often worth a night time trek. Without them, it would be very tempting just to sit inside and wait for daybreak. As you might expect with an Early Access title, there are some optimisation issues. I’m running a fairly high-end machine, capable of smoothly running the Witcher 3 on ultra, but in ARK:SE, I get around 2030 fps. Apparently this is a wellknown issue and the developers do seem to be pumping out updates and patches every other day or so – it’s already running better than when I started playing. Messing about with some of the settings also improved, but the performance is still sub-par and leads to my eyes feeling grainy after an hour or so of game time.
Click for video content
The low fps can also cause problems in melee combat – frantically trying to land a punch of a dinosaur’s face is only made harder when it feels like you’re watching something that’s
GRAPHICS
80%
SOUNDS
70%
GAMEPLAY
75%
REPLAY VALUE
75%
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already happened. Aside from these issues, the game does generally look gorgeous, with a colour palette that appears similar to Crysis or the original Far Cry – bright leafy greens, sandy beaches, blue waters, etc. The dinos themselves all look realistic enough if they stand still, but some of their animations need a bit of work. Pterosaurs fly in sort of m-shaped patterns, and rarely higher than about 20ft. The really big dinosaurs, whilst impressive, lose some of their majesty and begin to look downright derpy when they move, with legs not quite reacting properly to the slope of the terrain under them and tails and necks passing harmlessly through tree trunks as the big beasts pirouette on the spot. Still, this game is very much in Early Access and (judging by the rate of patches) I’m confident that most, if not all, of these issues will be addressed eventually. My only other gripe with the game so far is that the official servers appear to be perpetually full, meaning you’re left with a choice between waiting or playing by yourself. Which, considering the brutality of other players, probably isn’t entirely a bad thing… «
75
%
overall score
Overall, Ark: Survival Evolved has great potential. It’s a gorgeous-looking game with a great (if not entirely original) concept. If you have a high-end machine, then it’s probably worth getting now, but if you’re playing on a potato then you might want to wait until a few more optimisation patches come out before getting out your wallet.
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REGIONAL REPORT: Philippines
“Live simply. Love generously. Speak truthfully. Breathe deeply. Do your best. Leave everything else to the powers above you...” Lex from Sirus Gaming, IND13s partners caught up with allyza Taylor, Mineski’s Events Team Commentator/Shoutcaster to know if there’s more to “gaming” than what she has now as a shoutcaster.
C
ertain video games are treated as sports by the gaming community. Big events on the rise where Major League Gaming (MLG), Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), DreamHack, and Dota 2’s The International are having more views than a regular sports would have. These events feature competitive titles like StarCraft, Dota 2, League of Legends, Call of Duty, CounterStrike, and other games that gives “competition” as the main attraction. With events like MLG, there will always be a shoutcaster to commentate on the matches; they give you knowledge about the game and details on what the
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game’s situation is. And Allyza is one of those shoutcasters. Hi Allyza, thanks for accepting our interview request. Can you tell me more about your general gaming experience aside from eSports? Hahaha! No problem! I started playing games basically my entire life. I could already talk and play. Haha. I just go by my cousin’s house then we play on the first Playstation since thats what was popular at the time. Then we have a computer shop in Bicol and, of course, I stayed there because it was our business. My cousins are always there, They were the one who taught me how to play Counter Strike and then after bloomed my love for FPSs. When I was with my mom already and we transferred to a house in Cainta because of my studies, we didn’t have any PlayStation console or some sort. So, I would go to these computer shops
just to play Special Force; it’s an online FPS game and it’s free to play. So I started playing it with my friends that I already knew from that area as well after a while of playing it casually, there is this game that my friends introduced me to: “Crossfire“. Crossfire is almost the same as Special Force and by that time the game was under Gameclub. So my friends and I switched to Crossfire, since most of them already migrated to that game,so I joined them. Then I met a lot of friends with Crossfire, from school there were people who played it so they decided to ask me if I want to join and I always do. That time my mom bought a system unit since she complained that I always leave the house to play hahaha. I have alot of friends in the Crossfire community by that time and up to the point I joined the group “Vanguard”. These people introduced me to the competitive scene on FPSs. (Shout out to Vanguard and Eric Marquez!). Haha,
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sorry would slip that in since they were really the one who introduced me to this scene. But of course shoutout to my mom cause she was really supportive all the way. Super casual gaming by that time.
Auto: Vice City for me and my mom actually helped me finished missions. She was really cool hahaha. I remember her finishing a mission which I can’t and she stayed up to 3am just to get it done.
Anyway, I started joining mini tournaments with my friends from vanguard, just for the sake of playing that time since it was more fun and it feels REALLY GOOD. The adrenalin. its different. Its sort of addicting but not totally. It’s like playing against players who would like to win as well. So both of our teams want to win which makes it a good fight and its really fun, especially the bonding with your team during practices. You learn more about the game and you know your team mates more.
Nostalgia with Crash Bandicoot. It was an awesome game. I’m actually amazed that you were able to play certain titles in PS2, especially GTA. Was your mom a gamer too? I think she was actually kinda of a gamer. Haha. She would really stay up all night just to finish missions and tasks. I know her favorite game was Red Alert! By the time we got a system unit we were arguing whose going to play first cause she wants to play too. Of course i had classes the next day so she would let my play first and she would stay all night to play her game hahaha.
By 2012, Gameclub made a tournament called “Women’s League”, this time its an all girls competition which makes it really interesting for me, since I play with guys and mostly all the people ive met in Crossfire are guys. In the Vanguard group, there were girl gamers. So we made a team composed of five players and we were all girls so we can compete for the Women’s League. We came 4th place for that tournament and after that so started to lie low on the competitive scene since I joined Mineski. Technically, you’ve been exposed to first person shooter games when you guys moved to Cainta. We never really see a lot of girl gamers who actually play competitive shooters. So, basing on what you said, you played on a console. What was your first game on PS? Was it PSone or PS2? How was your playthrough experience with your first video game? PS1! We didn’t own any PS1 by that time and I will just go by my cousin’s place for us to play Crash Bandicoot. I really can’t remember a lot from that time since i was really young. But I owned a PS2 because my mom gave it as a gift for my birthday. The first game she even bought me for it was Bratz lol. But I was super boyish and I really wanted to play something with action so she bought Grand Theft
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Not a lot of parents supports their kids in gaming. You have a great mom. So, moving on, have you played first person shooter games on consoles? We know FPS games are preferred on PCs, but for you, what do you think about FPS games on consoles? And what FPS games have you played on consoles? I didn’t get to play with my PS2 for a long time because we had a financial problem and offered my mom that we sell my PS2 for us to have money. So I only played FPS in PCs ever since. To be honest though when I try playing fps in a console it’s kind of tough for me. Since I don’t find it precise when aiming especially using a controller. But i have tried playing some Battlefield 3 on a ps3 since my friends and I sometimes had LAN parties and he actually had a PS3. But most of us brought our laptops and played there. I agree, it’s hard to get used to the aiming mechanisms without really strafing in consoles. Currently, we heard that you have a team with Strategic Technologies? What game are you playing on? Do you play competitively til now? Kinda complicated though because I
“Gaming and esports will forever have a place in my heart. I grew up playing, I will die playing...” can’t really go on full time playing as a competitive player because I am currently an FPS shoutcaster for Mineski and a Mineski talent, which means I host eSports events and related events to gaming. Aside from not having a lot of time to play anymore, sometimes it’s a conflict especially if the tournament is hosted by Mineski. I couldn’t play, but I am actually a 6th man of Strategic Fuma. It’s an all-girls team under strategic gaming. I stand as a manager/6th man for the team. Hehe. There are a lot of issues with it since I am also studying and working at the same time, I feel like i couldn’t do a lot for the team especially being an active member. So I decided to just manage teams under Strategic technologies. Having a lot of things to do like being employed, studies, shoutcaster, that’s honestly of work. You don’t feel stressed out sometimes? Do you ever plan doing this in the long run? I mean, sometimes we grow up and do other things, but for you? Will you still continue your part in the gaming industry? I am in love with eSports and I am devoted to eSports and gaming. Maybe in time I would be doing other things, but gaming and esports will forever have a place in my heart. I grew up playing, I will die playing. I want to be someone who was a part of making this industry grow. Philippines doesn’t accept eSports that much but I believe that one day eSports will become something that is worth working hard for that’s why as of now I have no doubt into switching professions or some sort. I feel stressed but after a while and completing all the work. Seeing the
outcome or the result of what you are doing is a fulfillment for me. I love what I am doing and eSports is my passion It’s really fun in being part of the esports scene. You get to meet a lot of people, of different race and of different personalities. You get to know how to talk with these people, how to be with them and everything that follows. It’s a really huge advantage for me; experience is the best teacher and experiencing this things while I am this young is a huge part of my character. The passion that we have as gamers is the only thing that keeps our community strong. Stronger than any other mediums in this world. For being a part of the gaming industry, what can you do to contribute as being part of the community aside from eSports? Before even being a shoutcaster and a host for gaming events. I was actually a forum moderator of Crossfire PH. I understand and help these players having a hard time or having problems within the game and I help them establish and connect with the GMs about how they feel or what can be the possible solutions or even making the game a better one. The greatest part of being a player of the game before being one of its personalities is that you experience it first-hand. From problems to solutions you were there. Even with events though, before I was just attending events for fun, and I was so happy getting these ballers and freebies. To be honest I didn’t even imagine that one day I will be the one in the stage and hosting these sorts of events knowing that I was just an attendee before. I am actually secretly happy when I host events and get freebies. You know, maybe for other hosts
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“I always remember trying to fit in to a crowd of guys and trying to raise my hand for the host to pick me...”
it’s nothing to them just normal things that they give away to the people. But the feeling i get when I am the one handling these things is genuine happiness. Hahaha I’m such a kid. Because I always remember trying to fit in to a crowd of guys trying to get these ballers and trying to raise my hand for the host to pick me. Hahah it’s just funny that I didn’t actually expect that the next events that I will be going to, I won’t even need to jump and raise my hand anymore because I am the one picking who the winner is. Kind of amazing right? Sometimes you just don’t know where fate would take you. Whatever makes you happy go for it. When opportunity comes, grab it because you wouldn’t know what would be its effect on your life. Bad or
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good, you will learn a lot from experiences. That’s the perks being in the industry, right? Free ballers and tshirts and even more! Before I was just a hardcore gamer who didn’t really mind anything at all for the community, but now I was able to form a team to contribute for the gaming community by giving unbiased reviews and news within the industry. Great thing about you Allyza is that you actually also have passion in gaming and that is certainly great. Now, do you have anything to say for your fans, for the community, and for the girl gamers out there? I would like to tell you guys that Gaming
is a lot of fun. Yes it is, but never ever forget your priorities. Your studies or work is important. But what is more important is the time for your family, please just please love your family. Time flies, it’s up to you to be a navigator. Maybe the death of my mom made me this person, which I would cherish every second and every minute being with someone I love. anyways, love your family more than anything. And of course pursue your dreams, do what makes you happy as long as you’re not stepping on someone and do not exchange short term happiness. I dont really have a message specifically for girl gamers, because whatever you are, a guy, girl, gay or whatever your sexuality is. A gamer is a gamer. For all the gamers out there who is really passionate for esports. «
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FEATURE: The Kraken Sleepeth
The Kraken Sleepeth The Kraken Sleepeth is the new game from Team Pesky, the studion set up by Andy Gibson. IND13 caught up with him to talk about games and Victorian Sci-Fi. Could you introduce yourself, tell us about the team and your studio? Hi, I’m Andy Gibson and after 13 years of professional game development I took the plunge to set up Team Pesky in 2012. The idea was to focus on smaller, polished titles and that lead to the release of Little Acorns (iOS, WinPhone, Vita, Xbox 360 Indie & 3DS) and The Kraken Sleepeth (Windows App Store). What’s your game making history? My first gig was at Revolution as a junior artist and I worked my way up through lead to art director at studios around the UK. I also did 2 years as Producer so have a pretty rounded experience across projects and platforms. Working on titles like Tomb Raider opens a few doors but I’ve really dropped out of working for other people to develop my own ideas now. I consider myself pretty lucky to be able to do what I do. In your own words, how would you
Click for video content
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describe your game? The Kraken Sleepeth is a twin-stick gothic undersea arcade adventure. It’s an experiment in narrative and arcade action - sort Asteroids in a Jules Verne/Lovecraft underwater world. The game challenges the player to explore sites around several locations around the world and has a lot of subtle and hidden secrets to uncover. The core mechanic of moving and shooting are very easy to pick up but the game offers upgrades so the player can invest more in the game as they progress. What is the back story to the game? What was the inspiration behind the game? B Movies? The Kraken Sleepeth was inspired by the classic family movies like ‘20,000 Leagues under the Sea’ and ‘Warlords of Atlantis’. I’m also a huge H P Lovecraft fan so a few tentacles and mythos references made it into the game. I wanted the game to feel like a real B-movie so focussed on colour schemes, posteffects like grain and noise, etc. and
commissioned a professional actor Peet Torjussen for the voice over. The incredibly talented Ben McCullough wrote and recorded an original soundtrack which is amazing. The music reacts to your progress in the levels, something which really adds a rich, dynamic feel. There are several easter-egg secrets across the game so players can work out backstories if that interests them. There’s certainly a mix of eras used in gaming, why did you choose Victorian? The archetypal arrogant, English Victorian explorer was a simple choice for me. Someone who believed they were “on the edge of knowing all there was to know”, as he says in the game. Someone who would be challenged by what he gradually uncovered. This means the final choice confronting the player at the ‘end’ of the game actually matters, they’ve travelled with the Professor and shared his adventure.
A platformer with a
unique mechanic USD $9.99 EUR €7.99 CAD $11.49 GBP £6.49
You can dive into the ground. Momentum is conserved but gravity is reversed, letting you fling yourself high into the air or deep beneath the surface. The goal is always straightforward - collect the three orbs in the level and jump into the wormhole - but spikes, endless drops and impossible heights make this more and more difficult.
“Overall winner of Ludum Dare 29.” April, 2014
PC / Mac / Linux Steam
www.daniellinssen.net
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FEATURE: The Kraken Sleepeth
Who is the hero of the game, what character do you play? You control the bathysphere designed and occupied by Professor Eldritch. He is researching the flora and fauna around the north coast of Scotland when he finds evidence on a sunken ship. His curiosity piqued he explores neighbouring sites, finding weird, unnatural mutations and the hull of a ship he discovers was reported sinking in Antarctic waters... And the mystery begins in earnest! How important is the narrative to the game, would you say it is an important as the gameplay? I really don’t separate narrative from gameplay in TKS, one drives the other drives the other. The story is intrinsic to the game, but it can be played without any interest in the narrative. The structure of the story arcs across the locations around the world but the puzzle elements require no memory of previous events. The game is designed so players can enjoy the narrative as part of the atmosphere, it’s told via voice over (with subtitles) but doesn’t require reading or press-A-tocontinue mechanic, so it can flow a bit quicker and keep the tension. I want drive the player on to explore another site on the map, or retry on failure. Tell us a little bit about the game play? The heart of the gameplay is a twin-stick shooter with asteroids-like control eg. a slight weight to the bathysphere to get the underwater feel. Movement is left stick/ keyboard and directional shooting is right stick/mouse. Touch screen controls are also supported. By collecting artefacts across levels the player can choose upgrading paths for Engine (top speed), Weapon (5 classes with sub-class improvements), Hull strength (health) and Battery (torch life). The right stick/mouse also directs a torch light with fades as the battery is used. This limits the range the player can see so as they sink into the depths the atmosphere because more claustrophobic. I don’t want to detail more as discovering the world is part of the fun of games I think. The levels are randomly generated apart from the top
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and bottom. This makes replaying levels much more interesting and enhances the feeling of mystery I hope. The game looks sublime, was it important to get that B Movie look spot on? Thanks, I’ve a strong background in art direction and as a solo project I wasn’t limited by a licence or conflicting opinions. I love those old movies for their visual style as much as their sense of wonder, and fun. Games obsessed with photo-realism miss a trick as far as I’m concerned, expressive styles are another tool to make the player feel scared, or elated, or anxious. As game designers we should exploit the tools we have and not seek to copy films or TV slavishly. Interaction is what make games different so we need to exploit that to offer unique experiences. So the sound, music and visual effects actually change in reaction to the players performance in TKS. The light shining on the pod, the music, it feels like you are on your own sinking to the bottom of the ocean. How did you create such an atmosphere? Visually it’s about the combination of slightly saturated palette, a little bloom, some post-effect noise really. The sound design, music, voice over and art direction all support each other so the final effect is more cohesive. My approach is prove the fun and core mechanic first, then start to hone the direction. No amount of great music or pretty content will rescue a poorly executed game mechanic. I made plenty of mistakes on TKS and I’m still learning and practising the craft of making games after 15 years. I honestly wish I’d spent a lot more time designing the backgrounds and enemies but TKS was my first coding project really and I spent a lot more time on code than I’d expected. How did you find the voiceover for the game? It’s great. My original direction was Brian Blessed (turned down bit) but through Jerry
Ibbotson (the audio engineer who recorded the voice over) I was introduced to Peet Torjussen, a professional actor who gladly obliged, delivering just what I’d asked for at an audition. He also suggested another tack, the voice we ended up recording, which was so much better. It sounds like John Hurt to me, more breathy and has a fragility whilst still being bombastic enough. Can you tell us about any sharp learning curves that you have had creating games? Cue old man’s voice, misty screen timewarp effect... When I joined the industry 15 years ago things were very different in terms of tools and technology but as an artist the core skills are still the same. Drawing, lighting, form, composition, colour theory, etc. still separate artists. I was lucky enough to work with some really talented people and put the time and effort in. It’s easier than even to make games now, but still hard to make games well, and nigh-impossible to make a living from making your own games. If you’re interested in making games just download Unity and follow some tutorials. Keep your idea as small as possible but finish it and release it in some shape or form. Watch other people play. What is next for you and the game? TKS was a great ride for me, I was nominated for a TIGA award and invited to show the game at the BAFTA Inside Games Arcade at Rezzed. Since then I’ve been playing with 4 new ideas and showed one Insomnia last week to a great reception from players. I’m now focussing on turning that into a full game and will be showing builds across this year. Follow @teampesky for dates and information, maybe even open playtests. « The Kraken Sleepeth is available for a free trial. Visit the Facebook page for more details: www.facebook.com/TeamPesky
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NEXT GEN: The flaws of Google Play
The flaws of google play Google Play is the official go-to place for Android games, without all the controls of Apple’s App Store. But, says Ophelia Matthews-Smith, is it all that it seems?
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oogle Play is one of the most used apps when looking to download a new game… yet it has its flaws. When you look for a game, you’ll rarely come across a dodgy game. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist because they can be found. By ‘dodgy’, I mean a game that has a virus. Like a computer, things that you install can wield viruses… but because it’s a phone, the viruses are much harder to get rid of. If you’re lucky, it may just be a virus that will take a while to get rid of however, if you’re unlucky it may destroy your phone. Not all dodgy games have viruses though. Some games may be really good games but are so riddled with pop-up ads that you can’t even get to the game. Every couple of seconds an advertisement will pop up, sending you to the Google Play store, only to find yet another game riddled with ads. They then expect you to pay money to remove the ads, but you won’t know whether it is worth paying for the game or worth uninstalling it, or if the game is even good. Sometimes, the game may ask for your card details to remove the ads, and then not even remove the advertisements. There’s also been cases where a game has had so many ads that you couldn’t even enter your details to remove them without the game being too glitch or full of ads! Inappropriate content is a major issue on the Google Play store for many separate reasons. Most people who
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use Google Play to install games are children as they get bored of games quite quickly. When they’re looking for a game, inappropriate content will come up. Whether it is pictures, names or descriptions it shouldn’t be where children will be able to access it.
Also, the App Store is more childfriendly than the Google Play store, because here are less people swearing, less inappropriate content in games and when it comes to buying apps (games), it is harder for a child to pay using their parent’s credit or debit card.
Personally, I think that there shouldn’t be content un-suitable a game store. This leads on to the security levels of submitting a game.
So, the conclusion is: Google Play have some games that have viruses, some games have so many pop-up ads that you can’t play the game at all, Google Play doesn’t check the games that are let onto their store for people to download and there is inappropriate content lurking in the depths of games.
Google Play is different to the App Store in many different ways. For instance, Google Play tend to not look at the games that are submitted, they just submit the games onto their store for anybody who uses Google Play to access. Anything can be added to Google Play, almost instantly! What is said and described to be a game might not actually be a game, but because Google Play has no security or control over what is added to their store it will be added anyway! Surely they must have enough people working on the Google Play store to monitor the games that are added. The Apple App Store has many areas that are worse than Google Play. For instance: Google Play gives companies a chance to make games worth billions of pounds or dollars, yet the App Store is strict and because a lot of their games are extremely good, new games won’t be noticed by many. Google Play is extremely quick to add a game to their store (partly because they don’t look at the games that the companies submit), yet it takes weeks for a game to be accepted onto the App Store.
However, they give companies in their youth the chance to share their games, they give people the chance to download games, whether they’re good or not. Talking of games, I heard of a game I might want to download… «
“Inappropriate content is a major issue on the Google Play store for many separate reasons...”
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FEATURE: Brighter Day
Brighter Day – Probably the most colourful horror game you will ever play. Sometimes a game comes along and turns an entire genre on its head. A game that makes you think “but wait, it shouldn’t be like this...” One of those games is Brighter Day, says Lee Smith.
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FEATURE: Brighter Day
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t’s the eyes. Those blooming eyes. There I am playing a game that has more sickly bright colours than Jony Ives version of iOS, and this eye appears and I scream like a school girl who has just learned that a member of One Direction has left the band to embark on a solo career. This shouldn’t happen. I have watched far too many horror films, and played too many horror games, for this to happen. This is no ego trip, no ‘hey man, I am unscarable, I am a freaking hard man, nothing scares me...’ kind of boast. Mearly a statement of fact. Everyone becomes desensitised a little after a while, that is just normal. Which makes the fact that I jumped, literally jumped, at certain points while playing this game. My wife thinks that I am a little mad but my daughters, who have played the game, know. This is quite simply the scariest game I have ever played. As I have mentioned Brighter Day is awash with very bright colours, and it also has some of the spookiest music you will ever hear too.
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When you start the game, you awake in what looks like a heavily sanitised hospital room, which it is. You are in a psychiatric hospital and something has gone very wrong it seems. There are no people around, only these ‘eyes’ roaming the corridors. Somehow you have to find a way to escape from there and also find out exactly what has happened. You do this by reading some of the messages of the computers that have been left on, and start building a picture of why there is nobody there. As I mentioned, the eyes patrol the corridors, searching for you. Now you can toss collected pills which are left in the bathrooms of various rooms to distract them, or exploit their fondness for big glowing lights, but there are an awful lot of them and they catch you... quickly... What is refeshing about Brighter Day is that it doesn’t rely on the usual tactics employed by those whose aim is to scare the bejesus out of you. There are no long dark corridors that you have to walk down, that has just one flickering and slightly swaying light at the
other end. There are no blood splatters on the walls, and promises of zombie Nazis. There isn’t even a weird old woman rocking back and forth on her chair, warning you of the “terrors ahead mwah ha ha ha...” It does, however, create a tension in the game that is very seldom felt, with just a few simple graphics and a gameplay that takes grip of your every emotion without overburdening you with convoluted story lines that, often, don’t even make sense. There is a demo of the game available which is a free download. This gives you the chance to play the first level, up to when you manage to escape from the hospital and when even more scary fun begins, but the game itself is only £1.99 to buy anyway. This is both for the PC and the Mac. Personally, I wouldn’t want to see this game on the mobile apps stores, purely for the reason that I don’t want to be playing it, on a game, and then screaming and running down it like the complete wreck that this game turns me into. « theloneliestpixel.itch.io/brighterday
“This eye appears and I scream like a school girl who has just learned that a member of One Direction has left the band...”
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EVENTS: E3 Los Angeles 2015
E3... We ‘Experienced the Evolution’ in the sunny LA climate. Richard, IND13’s globe trotting developer, went to the E3 2015 conference in LA... one of the highlights of the gaming year.
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oing to the E3 in Los Angeles is one of the highlights of the year for me. Not only because of sunny LA California and the T-Shirt (or Tees how they call them here) climate, but also because of the attractions and bit less public access to check out the upcoming video games. Having said that, this year they handed out 5000 tickets to gamers. It seems the E3 is mutating slowly from a Tradeshow to a consumer Expo like the Gamescon. This is just an observation some people shared with me, who going there for almost a decade. What I find also great about the E3 are the pre-show live-stream announcements by Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA and Ubisoft.
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The biggest 3 things I remember from the Microsoft announcements were the Rare Replay - 30th Anniversary Edition - with 30 games for a ridiculously low price of $29.99, but exclusively for Xbox One. Lets hope it will take us less time to play all those times in a game marathon after release of August 4th this year Also interesting was the fact that the Xbox One will have backwards compatibility with a growing number of your dust catching Xbox 360 games. Surprisingly this comes with no extra cost, but not all games are working yet. Microsoft says over 100 titles will become available to resurrect on your shiny Xbox One by this fall (yes meaning 2015), and hundreds more in the months to come. I hope they will announce the first Xbox backwards compatibility, so that I can recoup my long term investment Steal Battalion (2002) aka Tekki and (possibly) the most unique controller in games history. Well maybe it just stays a dream.
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EVENTS: E3 Los Angeles 2015
The most memorable part of the show was obviously the Mindcraft and HoloLens plus Surface in a cool and heart warming 2 player demo. You must check this out on the YouTube channel to believe it. Playing MindCraft together with others in the same room and on a table is pretty cool if it all work as advertised. To Microsoft I have to say this: Don’t mess this cool tech up like the Kinect 1 or 2, or Peter Molyneux’s project Milo (RIP). Which were discontinued and harder to get these days, if you fancy doing some (relatively) cheap motion capturing on your PC for example. Also the Google Glass comes to mind,which was super expensive, but on the plus side it made you look like a cool weirdo with one rapid eye ball movement always looking up north. No offense. Put it next to the Virtual Boy in the dusty shelf… Microsoft said the HoloLens is an Enterprise device first, so lets see what it will cost at the end as well. Price point and usability are important for the success of this intriguing device. It is comes through the backdoor as the good old IBM PC Compatible discussed as a working horse that was actually a better and more meaningful gaming machine for most of us.
Lets Talk Indie! GALAK-Z is still on of my favourite games and I can’t wait to play it. It was seen for a while now and it seems it is coming out this year after all on PS4. Jake Kazdal the Founder and Creative/Art Director at 17-Bit reveals in an interview
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“There is so much more I want to do as a player then just stand in static position. Not the best first VR experience I would give to a VRgin (VR virgin)...” that they are useing a pretty intelligent AI by Cyntient. The pixel art Nuclear Throne looks also good on the PS4 and the big screen. I saw Rami later at the Devolver trailer park. This guy is everywhere I go, seriously ;) Also a highlight was the IndieCade Showcase and also the University and College stands with all kind of interesting and some strange games such as Dysforgiveness or FUNBOX with more physical and intimate collaboration with friends. Or TRIPAD minimalist 3-player game ‘platform’, constructed using LaunchPad DJ controllers, mounted in an angled cubical configuration. Those defiantly quality for a ‘The wild Rumpus’ event with friends. It was a bit surprised to see also a few VR Indie titles there too. For example Pixel Ripped by Ana Ribeiro which is a madcap, VR homage to gaming history. A VR gaming experience that transports the player back into a 1980s classroom, where they must try to complete their favourite handheld video game but not get caught in the process. Unlike anything else available, Pixel Ripped is a crazy, retro and meta
experience that is full of geeky references and easterggs designed to excite the inner child in all of us. Gameboy nostalgiawatery-eyes guaranteed! Starport on the other hand is a VR social app that features games, expressive avatars, and amazing environments. The Lost Valley VR by Paper Crane Games is a virtual reality photography excursion into the land of beasts that time forgot. The SMS Racing is about the thrill of texting and driving. I like their blurb: ‘Do you have what it takes to race at the highest level while responding to your friends’ messages? You don’t want to be rude, do you?’ – Most defiantly SMS over Driving in this game, or is it… Btw, if you are in LA around October between 22-25 by pure accident or luck, then you have the chance to play those titles at the IndieCade® Festival in Culver City, CA. Outside of the E3 in a Parking lot not to far far away was the Devolver trailer camp with nice air-conditioned Airstream trailers to prevent the inside PCs from melting. I was running a bit out of time, to check out all the games, but the one that sticked out the was most defiantly
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EVENTS: E3 Los Angeles 2015
Mother Russia Bleeds. Unfortunately also the people in this 4 player co-op beatem-up are bleeding - a lot, which makes it at least an PEGI 15 title or higher. In Germany it might not even come out after all with, who knows. It does take itself not to serious though, which makes fun to continue playing through the levels.
Where is VR and Quo Vadis? There was not so much buzz about VR in the mainstream as I hoped. Partially I think it is a problem that VR is more an experiential, then ‘intellectual’ thing. You only get it really after trying it on yourself. Talking about it is useless. I had the chance to try out a few new games on the Gear VR and latest Oculus after queuing 45 minutes for each game and platform. Omega Agent by Fireproof and Anshar Wars 2 by OZWE where my favourites on the Gear VR with the Samsung Galaxy S6.
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The new final Oculus Rift was very light and tiny compared to all previous Developer Kits I had. Unfortunately I was allowed to test the new Touch (Halfmoon) hand devices. They had them only out for display, which seem they are not confident to be tested by the public yet. AirMech VR by Carbon Games, Damaged Core by High Voltage and Eve: Valkyrie by CCP Games are my favourites. VR sports: Challenge Ice Hockey, Edge of Nowhere by Insomniac Games and Chronos by Gunfire Games did not worked for me in VR. They don’t seem like games design for VR and made me a bit disorientated. I liked the VR sports idea with Ice Hockey, but it was more a left right hand limited movements experience, which I would expect for Google Cardboard, but now when I have a Xbox One controller in my hands. There is so much more I want to do as a player then just stand in static position. Not the best first VR experience I would give to a VRgin (VR virgin). «
“Microsoft said the HoloLens is an Enterprise device first, so lets see what it will cost at the end as well...”
You can read more about the E3 LA confernce s on the IND13 website: http://ind13. com/e3-awesomeness-2015/
EVENTS: Develop 2015
Brighton. Sun. Develop... Richard went from LA to Brighton, to attend the annual Develop conference for the first, and not the last, time.
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eing first time at the Develop conference in (almost) sunny Brighton UK at the Hilton Hotel close to the beach, I honestly wasn’t for sure what to expect from the conference, well except it is for developers obviously. Over 1800 joined the 3 day conference this year, of which the last 2 days also contains the Develop Expo. The line-up of speakers was quite something I have to say. I really appreciated the open keynote speachand honest shares by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer), Randy Pitchford (Gearbox Software), Neil Young (N3TWORK, DeNA, ngmoco:) ) and may more. The first day was already quite packed with talks Neil Young with his Evolve Keynote about VR and AR and mobile. The essence of his message is: ‘Mobile is not dead and VR/AR is taking longer to be where we actually want it to be at the moment’. Randy Pitchford’s (Gearbox Software) keynote speech ‘Why We Fight’ was
inspiring, interesting and an entertaining speech as he also showed a magic card trick in front of the audience. Develop 2015 also interviewed Rami Ismail from Vlambeer about his keynote speech and the way they treat and educate their customers. Also interesting is how to deal with those less pleasant once and that developers need gamers, but not the other way around. The talk and interview Jennifer Schneidereit (Nyamam) about being Indie, traveling to conferenced and talking about here game Tengami, which received Apple’s coveted Editor’s Choice Award. Jennifer looked at the 3 and a half years spent making Tengami and share Nyamyam’s key findings on topics such as how to stand out in the F2P dominated mobile world, working with the different platform holders and lessons learned from self-publishing on several platforms. Mike Rose (tinyBuild Games) talked about ‘Keeping Ahead of the Video Marketing Curve’ Mike Rose talks about the importance of using ‘YouTubers’ and ‘Twitchers’ helping to promote your game. Very useful to
watch and learn more on the YouTube the Develop channel.
VR Talks: This time we had two ladies talking about there experience with there Indie VR games year. Ana Ribeiro with Pixel Ripped (http:// www.pixelriftgame.com) also launched her Kickstarer during the conference. Support this great game. It is totally worth it as it is so different from most VR games I played so far. Katie Goode from Triangular Pixels talked about her VR game Smash Hit Plunder and creating Rich Dynamic VR Gameplay. Definitely worth checking out the talk and her interview on the Develop channel as well. London Studios talked about London Heist and how to load a gun in VR with two Move controllers and Atomhawk shared insights about iterations of the VR UI in the game CCP’s EVE Valkyrie. I met the Atomhawk guys on a party before there talk and I go to know that they also worked on movies such as Guardian of the Galaxy and games like The Order or Mortal Kombat X. «
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EVENTS: Develop 2015
Indie Showcase Awards The Develop Awards are run by Develop Magazine, with more than 170 companies in the room this year. The winner of this years Indie showcase awards were Dan Da Rocha and Henry Hoffman with the game Hue. Congratulations to you guys!
New Games IP – PC/ Console Life is strange
New Games IP – Mobile Plunder Pirates
Engine
Micro Studio
Unity 5
Roll7
Services
Independent Studios
Audiomotion
Space Ape Games
QA & Localisation
In-House Studio
Testology
Rockstar North
Creative Outsourcer – Visual & Development
New Studio
Use of Narrative Life is strange
Speech Graphics
Technology Provider
Creative Outsourcer – Audio
Development Legend
Oculus VR (aka Oculus Rift)
Side
Chris & Tim Stamper
Design & Creativity Tool
Recruiter
Speedtree for Games
Amiqus
Production Tool
Publishing Hero
Perforce
Team 17
Use of a Licence or IP Alien: Isolation
Visual Arts Lumio City
Audio Accomplishment Alien: Isolation
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Starship
You can read more about the Develp conference on the IND13 website: http://ind13. com/develop-brighton-2015/
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