Download planet coaster windows 10 version

DOWNLOAD PLANET COASTER WINDOWS 10 VERSION FREE

Planet Coaster serves only as a spiritual successor to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 instead of a direct sequel, as the company considered the use of the brand Tycoon "didn’t carry the cachet anymore" due to the releases of mainly poorly-received Tycoon games in recent years. These included the ability to ride go-karts and the ability for security guards to plough through guests similarly to a bulldozer.īefore the development of Planet Coaster, Frontier Developments had developed several other construction and management simulation video games, including 2004's commercial and critical success RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, which sold over 10 million copies. On 26 April 2017, Frontier revealed the existence of several cheat codes that were previously undiscovered on their official forums. Similar to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Career Mode allows players to progress by completing scenarios with objectives in different difficulties.įirst unveiled at EGX 2016, the game also features a dedicated mode called the "crash mode" which allows players to construct incomplete coasters and let them crash into the park's visitors. In the Career Mode, the player must complete objectives such as constructing roller coasters, achieving park ratings or hiring janitors. Upon completion of a challenge, the player is given a reward such as a park rating boost or a sum of money. As the player develops their park, the game presents the player with challenges that the player must accept or decline. In the Challenge Mode, the player must construct an amusement park on an empty lot (similar to Sandbox Mode) but with limited funds and research depending on chosen difficulty-Easy, Medium, or Hard. This is the mode most players use to create items (parks, coasters, scenery, etc.) and then post them to Steam's Planet Coaster Workshop. In Sandbox Mode, all features and rides of the game are unlocked and your funds are unlimited. Similar to Frontier's previous game, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, the Sandbox Mode enables players to construct their own theme park on an empty plot of land. Afterward, the player is able to choose between three game modes: sandbox, challenge, and career. The game also comes with ten mascots.īefore starting the game, the player must create their own avatar. These player-created attractions can be shared through a mechanic called "global village". Similar to its spiritual predecessor, the game allows players to build different theme park rides and roller-coasters. Planet Coaster is a construction and management simulation video game. It was a commercial success, with more than 400,000 copies sold in its first month of release. Criticisms were mainly directed to the game's career mode. The title received positive reviews upon release, with critics praising the game's sandbox mode and creation tools.

DOWNLOAD PLANET COASTER WINDOWS 10 VERSION FREE

The game was supported with free as well as paid post-release downloadable content upon launch. Frontier organized multiple alpha and beta testings before launching in November 2016. Planet Coaster is Frontier's second self-published franchise, following Elite: Dangerous. Originally called Coaster Park Tycoon, the game was revealed on 29 January 2015 and was renamed during E3 2015. The challenge mode is similar to the sandbox mode, but with added difficulty, as players need to take funds into the account. In Sandbox mode, players are tasked to construct their own theme park on an empty plot of land. In the career mode, players assume the role of a theme park manager and must complete tasks such as constructing unfinished roller coasters or hiring janitors. There are three different modes in the game, namely Sandbox, Challenge, and Career. It was released worldwide on 17 November 2016.įrontier had previously worked in the amusement park construction and management genre with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (to which Planet Coaster is a spiritual successor), Thrillville, Thrillville: Off the Rails, and Zoo Tycoon. Planet Coaster is a construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Frontier Developments for Microsoft Windows.

Dunno if you've posted a predictions thread already, but what do you think 47 is Envious about? In a way Lust felt like his envy of others' emotions and connections to other humans. Wonder what else is there to explore!

I had assumed Envy would be about 47's lack of human connection, which is something he cares about, but Lust definitely took that route. Maybe Envy will dive deeper into that?

David Bateson offered some insight into this a few years ago, and he talks about 47's melancholy quite often:

"I'm fascinated by his sense of being alone. He has this distance to reality, which makes him such a good killer because he has no remorse. So, I'm always interested in trying to bring a little bit extra into the dialogue, which - you wouldn't be able to hear it, but maybe you might feel it: a sense of that aloneness, maybe a drop of melancholy, a bit of anger, but firstly, very professional."

47 Minute Hitman Play-Through - EGX 2015 Developer Session

This sadness about being alone, being on the outside of life looking in, being angry about who he is - all of that is full of potential for both Wrath and Envy I think.

iconoclasts dev interview masterpost

i’ve been cataloguing a lot of various things, from sprite dumps to alpha demos to interviews, over on my teeny iconoclasts-personal discord, so i’m going to start posting them all here bit by bit. here are a handful of interviews and other miscellaneous articles i thought were interesting

dev interviews [release dates] (bolded are interviews i personally consider to be noteworthy)

TT@EGX - Iconoclasts Interview — TrueTrophies [Oct. 7, 2015] (archive)

Iconoclasts dev on finally finishing the game: ‘I feel nothing’ — Destructoid [Mar. 16, 2017] (archive)

Straight from the Source: Joakim Sandberg (Iconoclasts) — Source Gaming [Jun. 5, 2017] (archive)

Iconoclasts Developer Interview — Shacknews [Jan. 2, 2018] (archive)

Making Of ICONOCLASTS: Joakim Sandberg Interviewed — On Doubt, Bifrost Entertainment [Jan. 12, 2018] (archive)

The 10-year making of Iconoclasts — PCGamer [Jan. 16, 2018] (archive)

Iconoclasts Interview: Ivory Springs Paradise — GamingBolt [Feb. 26, 2018] (archive)

A Spoiler-Filled Conversation With Iconoclasts' Creator — Game Informer [Mar. 26, 2018] (archive)

‘Iconoclasts’ and the Power of Influence — Variety [Apr 23, 2018] (archive)

Interview: Joakim Sandberg (Iconoclasts) — Gaming Boulevard [Aug. 15, 2018] (archive)

I just want to go to bed — APWOT [August 2021] (archive)

misc. development articles [release dates]:

The Iconoclasts Impressions — Rock Paper Shotgun [Apr. 1, 2011] (archive)

The Iconoclasts Still A Stunning Action Platformer — Rock Paper Shotgun [Jul. 30, 2015] (archive)

Iconoclasts - An action platformer of gorgeous pixels!  — IndieRetroNews [Jul. 30, 2015] (archive)

Konjak Announces Release Date for Iconoclasts After Nearly 8 Years — TechRaptor [Dec. 6, 2017] (archive)

Behind the Scenes: Interviewing Joakim Sandberg (Iconoclasts) — On Doubt [Jan. 6, 2018] (archive)

Joining in the Cosplay vs Character fun. Since this came up on my Facebook memories yesterday, here’s #laracroft being captured by Trinity in #riseofthetombraider Different outfits but from the same game 😜 Awesome photo taken by @fudgeadoodledoo at EGX 2015. This set was amazing! #tombraider #laracroftcosplay #tombraidercosplay #cosplay (at NECBirmingham) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7lZ_hAD0K-/?igshid=1w25l4a1tz8ez

Skullgirls 7th Year Anniversary

Once every seven years, the Skull Heart grants one woman's wish...

...

...I'm weary of this.

A reminder of what was discussed last year can be found here - http://dreadwhoop.tumblr.com/post/172791426423/skullgirls-6th-year-anniversary

Let's get the good news out of the way.

https://gaming.tumblr.com/post/183773589342/indie-game-spotlight-skullgirls-this-weeks-indie

Tumblr's Gaming Section did an exposee on the enduring legacy of Skullgirls, interviewing Peter Bartholow and Mike Zaimont, as it headed into being released for Skybound and both Switch and XBoxOne this year. This marks over 10 seperate platforms for the fighting game.

http://indivisiblerpg.tumblr.com/archive

Indivisible turned up at PAX East and EGX Rezzed and will likely continue making appearences throughout 2019 as it shapes up into the game we've all been dreaming it'll be - a timeless and unforgettable experience.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robaato/cryamore-a-true-first-class-take-on-the-action-rpg/posts/2419603

Speaking of which Rob Porter and Alan Wansom were candid about the development cycle on their game Cryamore and although it is also a slow process it has not stopped and has momentum in the right direction. Patience is a virtue.

If you're looking for general links to either Indivisible or Cryamore please refer to the links from the 6th Anniversary or otherwise check their official websites or twitter handles.

https://twitter.com/IndivisibleRPG?lang=en https://twitter.com/cryamore?lang=en

You can leave now if you want to remain upbeat. If you made of sterner stuff please carry on.

Right now for a rant -

Back at the end of February we found out the 2019 EVO lineup.

EVO has now, once and for all, denied Skullgirls the main stage because of reasons they have either been hypocrites about (Blazblue last year and now Samurai Shodown this year) or nepotism from the organisers (as with 2013's charity drive having Smash Melee getting the place over Skullgirls) and despite being out year after year, told originally it was 'too new' and too much of a 'new IP', we've seen games who shortchange you out of content get a front seat (as seen back in 2014-2016 with Killer Instinct) and even PARODY games get a chance (as with 2015's Persona 4 Arena Ultimax) and quite frankly I am fed up with the FGC for allowing this crime to go unpunished every single time. What is your problem? Don't give me this regurgitation, this sickness of your head, it's a welcome 'side-board' game. You want to know what game needs to take a ‘side-board’ this year? Street Fighter V. What an embaressment to have advertisements on DHALSIM'S SKULL CHILDREN NECKLACE!

You can't unsee this - you can't even forgive it - this is the height of moral bankrupcy but I suppose morality and opportunity don't mix well do they? When Lab Zero Games were transparent about what they needed funds for it was because if they didn't get a fixed amount the devs leave and the game dies. People like me, people all around the world, they pitched in, like they did with the charity, like they did with the projects since Skullgirls, and they did it without having to brand any character like a slave. What do you stand for EVO? Bend the knee and kiss the ring right? Do you like the concept your entire fanbase praises a, in his own words, "a black gay furry" who turns up to The Game Awards as ‘Best Esports Player’ and still plays Skullgirls COMPETITIVELY as recent as in 2017? Hosted on your own YouTube Highlights page?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TExohIh-isc

It's cool though - Skullgirls isn't important anymore - 7 years is enough time to let something like this have its day in the sun...yeah it's fine to say this when you never gave it one chance. The truth is EVO has never been about representation it's about exclusivity and making back-end deals to promote games based on who pays them the most. OH WAIT GUYS! Did someone say 'exclusivity based on who pays them?' GEE WHAT DOES THIS SOUND LIKE?

http://dreadwhoop.tumblr.com/post/183654846723/how-obsidian-made-a-decision

I'm weary. Not because some of this is nonsensical and feels, despite being tied to a lot of evidence, an exaggeration on their decision-making and could very well be just a coindience to how events play out. Maybe I should see the silver lining. I mean Mike Zaimont is just a developer of the game it's not like he's one of the-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Championship_Series

They even stab in the back one of their own. One of their own.

I need something to calm me down.

There we go. A sweet and blessed image of Voice Casting Director for Skullgirls Cristina Vee and Lead Animator for Skullgirls Mariel Cartwright. Here's to hoping they'll be back together for the sequel.

Until next year!

Industry Trend: Sony Drops Out. E3 Is Dying. Maybe That's a Good Thing?

Sony has decided it won’t have a showcase at E3 in 2019. Some see this as a terrible sign. However, even with this news, the expo has been slowly dying for some time. It might seem all doom and gloom but maybe this is all a good thing? We break down why the absence of the E3 Expo may do the industry some good.

It’s been a good few months since we all settled in to watch the events of 2018's E3 event unfold. We got to see what the beloved yearly showcase had to offer us whether it was news, surprises or cringe-worthy out-of-touch presentations. That said, the event came and went and it seems to have become largely forgettable already… Why? Because E3 is a relic of the past and something that probably doesn't need to exist anymore.

There’s no denying that E3 is a great time for video games and acts as both a celebration and showcase of what games can be, and how varied our medium is. With such a variety of genres and experiences at hand, we get to show the world just how great gaming can be and how it can resonate with people of all ages and origins. Make no mistake, that kind of event is incredibly important and is something that will always be cherished by game devs and players alike. I, like many others, absolutely love E3 week. For the past few years I’ve been able to book the time off for it so I can watch it all happen live as it happens. Sure, it usually takes place in the early hours of the morning for those of us in the UK but I don’t mind; some people go to watch their favourites sports teams or their favourite bands but this was the kind of event that could truly grab my attention.

To me, games are an important part of my life. Whether it be for the escapism of visiting weird and wonderful places, the friendships forged over multiplayer or the excitement shared leading up to a new release, there was a whole host of reasons games spoke to me and with E3 having become the golden boy of gaming conventions and shows, I always do what I can to watch. 

The past few years worth of shows have had their fair share of memorable moments. 2015 gave us Bethesda’s first showcase, the Final Fantasy VII Remake and Cuphead. 2016 gave us the reveal of Death Stranding, Project Scorpio and Spider-Man. 2017 gave us Metroid Prime 4, the Shadow of the Colossus remake and a trailer for Beyond Good & Evil 2. 2018’s E3 Expo, on the other hand, didn’t have anything that truly stood out for me. There were some surprises for sure but it all seemed to fade from memory within the space of a week. Some of the showcases given seemed almost pityful and lacking in content, with others arguably being dragged out longer than they should have been.

This isn’t something that’s unique to 2018’s show though; past E3 expo’s have seen an interesting shift and style as the landscape in which E3 sits becomes a more competitive one. E3 used to be the pinnacle of gaming events but that’s not the case anymore. As games have become increasingly embraced, more shows have expanded in influence and instead of having one huge blowout event to give us our news, we now have several. E3 is dying and, if you haven’t heard, Sony has recently hammered a further nail in the poor things coffin.

The news broke that Sony wasn’t planning on attending E3 2019 and that no presentation would be had either at the convention centre or elsewhere. Sony aren’t the first major player to turn their backs on E3 of course, with Nintendo opting to focus on their more polished Nintendo Direct presentations in more recent years. Presentations from the likes of Ubisoft, Square Enix and EA have been spotty at best and, to boot, PlayStation has an event of its own in the form of PSX. On top of all of this, other events are starting to step on E3’s toes. With so many events scattered throughout the year, there’s inevitably going to be a bit of a battle between them to see who can bring the biggest and best news to their own showfloors. PAX, EGX, GDC, Comic-Con, Paris Games Week, the Game Awards, Gamescom, QuakeCon, BlizzCon; everyone wants a slice of the pie. With so many shows in need of content and with only so much to go around, somebody has to draw the short straw.

One of the reasons so many events have sprung up and grown over the years is that it gives reveals a chance to breathe. Too often an announcement can be made and it is buried by bigger, better or simply more controversial news showing up immediately after. E3 is a prime example of this; with the conversation following such events always centering around a small handful of bullet-points, lesser known titles are being swept under the rug all too soon. By spreading out such things through the course of the year, it gives things a chance to hold the spotlight a little longer. What’s more, it also allows for more flexibility in release schedules; there’s often expectations attached to announcements and reveals that the content will surface within specific time frames afterwards. If you had the chance to reveal your game in January instead of June, people will instead have different preconceptions of when they will see more of the game and when it will release. A more flexible schedule allows for more flexible announcements and more flexible responses.

Why does this matter? Because game release schedules are getting more and more hectic. Just as they do within games conventions and conferences, releases are now battling it out for the best time to play their hand. Winter and Fall schedules are now home to countless big releases and all within a few weeks of each other. In years past we had Battlefield, Titanfall 2 and Call of Duty all surface within a matter of days. Both Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider took considerable hits in sales because they had been forced to face off against game releases that would unfortunately outmatch them. This year alone, we learned that Anthem, Days Gone and Crackdown 3 were all going to be released on the very same day in February of 2019 - something that has thankfully changed since.

E3 is arguably the largest of those gaming showcases and is seemingly shrinking. This may well open the doors to a more varied and well-balanced schedule for the plethora of conventions spread throughout the year and, in turn, the multitude of games we get to enjoy too. A less competitive peak period would also allow for games to get the focus they deserve in periods of the year we don’t often see larger titles. Would the original Dying Light have done so well if it had released in late 2014 instead of January 2015? Would the Witcher 3 have become the enormous hit it was if it had been released in the middle of the huge Fall 2014 releases such as Destiny, Fifa and the Grand Theft Auto V rerelease?

The absence of Sony at E3 next year also presents a unique situation for those who still plan on showing up. While it can be argued that Sony’s absence may well strike a significant blow against the game industry’s annual trade show, it does free up a significant amount of space for Microsoft and Nintendo to potentially occupy. It’s the first time in the event’s 23-year history that Sony hasn’t been there but with it being one of the strongest presences at the event it could prove an opportunity for others; maybe Nintendo could return to the E3 stage in full force. It’s also foolish to deny that Microsoft struggled during the first few years of this console generation. The Xbox has certainly come along way since and is in a stronger position than ever; Microsoft has done well to introduce new policies and features into their console infrastructure that have caught peoples attention. With the host of studios they have also taken control of, they may well be able to get of to a flying start in the generation to come. With an E3 stage next year that’s more spacious than ever, both Microsoft and Nintendo have the chance to grab it with both hands and show people what they’ve got that PlayStation hasn’t. More fierce competition brings fierce change.

With PlayStation having scrapped plans for PSX this year, there’s certainly a sizeable lack of Sony within the next year or so. Maybe they want to have PSX 2019 be one huge PlayStation celebration that’s topped with a PS5-shaped cherry? Maybe Sony just doesn’t want to have to be confined by the typical structure of games media year by year? Maybe Sony simply hasn’t got much to show off next year? Whatever the case may be, the gradual withering of E3 as the industry staple is actually a sign of something bigger.

We’re now spoilt for choice. While there was once a time where we had only one event to turn to, we now have a multitude of them. There is no longer just one celebration of the medium we love so much, there is a multitude of them. Gaming isn’t that hobby people didn’t understand like it used to be. Gaming isn’t seen as the cause of troubled youth like it used to be. Gaming isn’t the niche medium it used to be. We are now at a point where gaming is something that’s just part of nearly everyone’s day to day lives. We don’t need a single celebration of our industry because it’s celebrated consistently. While the slow death of E3 is certainly a shame, it symbolises more that the industry is getting bigger and better year by year.

The death of E3 might very well change the landscape of games media and the industry as a whole but it’s been allowed to happen because changes are already underway. Gaming media has embraced the culture of YouTuber’s, Twitch Streamers and Infuencers. It’s expanded into cross-media promotions. It’s working more closely with the fanbases that follow it. Games are forming passionate communities of players. Games are becoming services that are captivating players for longer than they used to. Games as a platform and medium have changed and so to must the means used to showcase them.

Sony has dropped out of E3. They’re undoubtedly gearing up for their next console and want to make sure that it surfaces with a far share games and revelations. Looking at the release schedule for big games going forward, they seem to all be releasing in the first half of 2019 or don’t have a solid date at all. Big changes are coming for PlayStation. Big changes are coming for gaming. Big changes are coming for E3.

E3 Is dying. Maybe that's a good thing? Change can be a good thing. In the next few years we will see new consoles, new approaches to gaming experiences and new ways that developers and publishers choose to interact with their players. For a group of people that love to spend their 1-UP’s and start things over, why not let our favourite trade show do the same…

Virginia - Part 2/2 Xbox One X Playthrough Virginia is a 2016 first-person mystery adventure video game developed by Variable State and published by 505 Games. The game follows graduate FBI special agent Anne Tarver as she investigates her first case: the disappearance of a boy in rural Virginia. The game was directed by Jonathan Burroughs and Terry Kenny, with music composed by Lyndon Holland. Burroughs, Kenny and Holland co-wrote the screenplay.The game was first announced in July 2014 and originally slated for release in 2015. A game prototype was showcased at the 2014 Future of StoryTelling summit and at the EGX Leftfield Collection that year. On August 30, 2016, it was announced that video game publisher 505 Games would be publishing the game. A game demo was released on Steam to coincide with the announcement.Virginia released on September 22, 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and OS X. Gameplay Virginia is a first-person mystery thriller adventure game that takes place in a fictionalised Virginia in 1992. Players take on the role of Anne Tarver, a graduate FBI special agent who is assigned a partner, special agent Maria Halperin. Much of the game involves the player, as Tarver, in the company of the non-playable Halperin, travelling between locations, interacting with other characters and with objects in the environments. Scenes transition using real-time cinematic editing, with cuts and dissolves occurring as dictated by the story, to propel events forward and to juxtapose moments for dramatic effect. Premise Set in the last days of summer 1992, players investigate the disappearance of Lucas Fairfax, a young boy from the fictional rural town of Kingdom, VA. The game is experienced through the eyes of Anne Tarver, a graduate FBI special agent assigned to her first case. As a rookie detective, she's paired with an experienced partner, Maria Halperin, whom Tarver's superiors instruct to keep a watchful eye on. As the story progresses, the pair's trust in each other is tested, and their investigation takes a supernatural turn. Reception On Metacritic, it holds a score of 82% on Xbox One, 77% on PlayStation 4 and 76% on PC. The Daily Telegraph awarded it 5 stars, saying "It is the game that titles like Dear Esther, Gone Home and Firewatch have hinted at, but in a way that evolves the interactive narrative form way beyond anything we’ve seen before." TIME awarded it 4.5/5, saying "what gorgeous, reverberant moments there are in this game, empowered by its absent words and explanations." Game Informer awarded it a score of 9.25/10, saying "Virginia is a taut thriller that strikes a fine balance between storytelling and interactivity in a way that narrative-driven first-person adventure games have not accomplished since their inception." PC Gamer awarded it a score of 72%, saying "A slick cinematic thriller, but interaction is limited and the story loses focus in the final act." Caitlin Cooke of Destructoid agreed, saying the game "sadly sacrifices the player's ability to absorb what's happening around them for the sake of cinematics" and that the story "falls apart towards the end". Accolades TIME, The Washington Post and The Telegraph included Virginia in their respective lists of the top 10 games of 2016. Mic included Virginia in a list of the 10 most underrated releases of 2016. NO COMMENTARY GAME-PLAY #fru77y Video Games Guide Solo and Coop PLAYTHROUGH Complete Campaign Story 100% WALK-THROUGH Puzzle Solution LET'S PLAY https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUpomBjSkMr-AfhAR-dH8vhA&playnext=1

Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition coming next year

Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition is the latest announcement for Linux, Mac and Windows PC. Thanks to Failbetter Games. Who revealed the details at EGX. The game is also going to be available on Humble Store, GOG and Steam. Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition will include new content. And also various improvements. Releasing on Linux, Mac and Windows PC at the same time as on console. Therefore, players who already own the game. We will receive the Sovereign Edition for free in the first half of 2020. The critically acclaimed literary horror RPG contains over 800,000 words of hand-crafted stories. Which also has nominations for a dozen high-profile awards. And likewise, one of the ten best indie games of 2019 by an industry panel at PAX West. “The Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition will add new stories when your crew is starving. As their desperation grows. You’ll be able to try and eat a variety of unwise, unpleasant or tragic things. So by that point, your mascot probably looks quite tasty.” adds Narrative Director Chris Gardiner.

Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition Trailer

“We're overhauling the character progression user interface. And introducing a range of new Facets to define your captain's past. Perhaps you lost your soul (and found it again). Or attended a seance. Perhaps you have a hobby. Or are close to rats, Devils, spies or Rubbery Men. Experienced captains will be able to continue to raise their stats. Even after reaching the level cap. Also extending the late game experience.” “There'll also be new opportunities for traders to exploit in Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition. A new exotic engine to acquire. Which skilled players, in particular, may find rewarding. It's a big, exciting update. Which we like to imagine will be the jewel in Sunless Skies' crown.” Sunless Skies is the follow-up to 2015’s Sunless Sea. Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition is coming Free in the first half of 2020. So this announcement is for all existing owners of the game. Currently priced at $24.99 USD, available from Humble Store, GOG and Steam.

THQ Nordic brings Monkey King and Darksiders Genesis to EGX 2019

THQ Nordic brings Monkey King and Darksiders Genesis to EGX 2019

THQ Nordic has announced that it is bringing three of its biggest titles to EGX: Monkey King: Hero is Back and Darksiders Genesis will be playable at the consumer show, running October 17-20, 2019, at the ExCeL London.

Monkey King: Hero is Back

A new, never-before-seen chapter in the Chinese legend of Journey to the West is about to unfold! Based on the 2015 Chinese box office record-shattering…

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Tommy: For this month's diary, I wanted to talk about a big part of Sure Footing's aesthetic and appeal: our music and sound design. Despite being such a critical part of the game's identity, it didn't appear in the game until recently during our itch.io first access builds. At the time of writing, we now have several music tracks alongside in-game sound effects and voice work for Pete, Polly, Blip, Plunk and Dave. So in this piece, I want to talk about the journey to finding our sound and let you hear some of the development and progression being made.

History

First things first, I need to talk about the timeframe. Our audio came on board late in the development process, given we were still unsure of the game's visual identity. In the video I link to below, you can see the visuals shifted several times. While not significantly, it did leave me pondering what that should sound like. I started to get an idea in my mind, but a new problem emerged in finding someone who could deliver.

We’ve met a lot of musicians and sound designers in the last couple years. But when listening to portfolios I was struggling to hear something that said: 'this is the person we need to talk to’. Then from an unlikely source, I found my answer. Back in 2015 I gave a talk at PROCJAM about the first playable Sure Footing build. But before that, there was a talk by Sean Oxyspring and Kieran Hicks on their PCG project 'Hashtag Dungeon’: a PC game where you fight through dungeons influenced by Twitter data.

You can watch Sean and Kieran’s talk here.

You can buy Hashtag Dungeon on Steam here:

The game launched on Steam last summer (go pick it up, it's great) and I was immediately drawn to the soundtrack by Liz Rainsberry. It had an intensity but mellowness to it that caught my ear. It wasn't what I wanted Sure Footing to sound like, but I felt confident that Liz would give my ideas form. Also, as you'll know if you check out her impressive portfolio, Liz is highly versatile in her music and shows a lot of range and creativity. This made me all the more confident given what I wanted from the music. I dropped Liz an email and after some initial discussion, she was happy to be on board!

The Music

I always envisaged that Sure Footing had a core beat to it. Something that synchronised with the movement happening on screen. The music itself would always play off that beat or tempo and shift as we visit new worlds. For me, one of my favourite features of the game is how we move from one sector to the next. Introducing not just a change in scenery, but often in game modifiers to introduce a new challenge. I imagined that the music would also be unique to each world. This would really help in establishing progress to the player, but still, keep that underlying sense of pace and urgency.

Liz continues to deliver on this premise in spades: with each world carrying its own distinctive tune. They're all kinda catchy too. Check out the track to Cacheville I’ve linked to at the top of the post. The tracks we have are also embellished with more thematic elements; specific inflections that repeat themselves in different ways across each track. One track that has been updated several times is the opening main menu theme. One aspect that can be found in the more recent versions is that these thematic elements are being added to it. That way when you hear them for the first time in a given sector, you may well be wondering why you’ve heard it before.

However, one exciting and important aspect of this is that sometimes - as more music is added - tracks are revisited in order to improve the synergy between them and reinforce the core beats, tempo, and themes of the music.  

Sound and Voice

With our music largely established and development ongoing, we’re now just putting the finishing touches to many of the sound effects into the game itself. These effects are really important in order to reinforce the feedback a player receives when conducting a given action. Did this action prove successful? How do I need to respond to the sounds that I have heard in the game? We’re currently embedding these throughout both the main gameplay as well as the user interface, such that we can reinforce whether actions made have been processed by the UI, which can often be confusing for users if there are little to no visual cues being produced.

However, the most recent change is the introduction of voices to the game which we added for the EGX Rezzed launch. The voice work arose from a discussion between Liz and me about having some element of voices to add some charm and charisma to each of our playable characters. With this in mind, Liz contacted her colleague Eddie Bowley - an established voice actor and writer in his own right - to deliver a collection of sounds that would allow us to add some spice to our characters.

A big thing for me was ensuring that the characters rang true in Eddie’s voice work. While our game is relatively straightforward in its structure and style, I have a very particular understanding of who each of our characters is in the game: their personality and history which informs them. We brought this to the table as Eddie worked on establishing what each voice should sound like and I feel he did a fantastic job of aligning our characters with my understanding of how they should sound.

At present, the big challenge is deciding what sounds to use and where to use them. We’re fortunate in that Eddie and Liz have provided us with loads of different takes of each character, allowing for us to decide which sounds to use at particular points in time. It’s a great problem to have rather than struggling to scrape together what we want from a limited collection of sounds.

Lessons Learned

There are several aspects of this experience that we’ve found highly positive. If anything, my takeaways from this are below:

Wait For The Right People: It can take time and a lot of networking, but you need to find people who understand and appreciate the project you’re working on and you feel will be a great asset to your team. We’ve been fortunate in that our collaborators in every aspect of the game have been fantastic to work with.

Establish What You Want: While a game design document is not necessarily critical to the development of your game, I would encourage creating documentation on core aspects of lore and game world. Who are your characters? What is the backstory or theme of your worlds? These are really useful not only in establishing the sound you want, but also give direction and clarity to your sound designers.

But Despite That, Be Flexible: You might have a very concrete idea in your mind of how you want your game to sound, but remember that you are not the person entrusted with completing this task. More importantly, you’re not the expert on this topic. Your sound designer is. You’re also paying for them to deliver this work (this is a given: pay your contractors), so let them work. But make sure to work with them, reach common ground on what these deliverables should be and trust them to do their job.

EGX 2017 Rezzed Trip

I went to the EGX on 31st March 2017 and I got to have a look at a handful of games in their prototype/beta state and even talk to some developers in the indie room. ----------------------------OCTAHEDRON Panel-------------------------------------------- (Enclosed in dashes because I go into detail about the game after looking up so many details  One game that I had a strong interest in was ‘OCTAHEDRON’, I saw the stand and recognised it from a previous EGX event 2 years ago. The developer of the game himself was in charge of the game setup there and we talked while I played his game. He had been developing the game for 4 years so far using GameMaker Studio, and he brought it to the last EGX event in 2014 for playtesting. Before making the game, he studied music and had a small background in coding, he taught himself code by watching Youtubers like Shaun Spalding and looked into the source code of existed games made with GameMaker Studio which is the same approach I was having to learning GameMaker Language code. For the music in his game, he collaborated with a Chiptune artist called ‘Chipzel’, who is a long time friend with the developer, and she appears to create the SoundTracks for games like Interstellaria and Super Hexagon and she remixed the original soundtrack for ‘Crypt of the NecroDancer’ and her remix became one of the many additional soundtracks for the game that people could buy. OCTAHEDRON was made using GameMaker:Studio and was put on Steam Greenlight 27th Dec 2015, it has been accepted to be put on steam, the game is made by a One-man indie game studio called ‘Demimonde’ which itself is run by someone who goes by the name of ‘monomirror’. It’s release does seem to be constantly pushed back, like the Steam Greenlight page stated 2016, the page for the game itself says Q1 2017. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I checked out lots of other panels around the Indie room. One panel was this game called ‘SureFooting’ Surefooting was a really nice looking game that looked right about finished, it was a side-scroll platformer where you pick 3 abilities and use them to navigate a level while a large monster try to hunt you down. The game features varying levels that get harder, like level 2 features a foggy city so you can’t see directly down, you can also pick 4 different characters and pick 3 of 16(more i think) power ups to use. I talked to the guy behind the panel and he said how he was a lecturer and he made this game as a night-job.

I also checked out this game called ‘Ealdor Light’, showing off a very early concept for a Randomly Generated Turn-Based RPG, the guy there told me it was made over the course of 4 weeks in Unity Engine, and it was going to have a kickstarter open up too. When I played the game, it was definitely far from completion but still showed what it had to off, as in the game you use your turn to move and attack enemies, attacking has you select 1 of four attacks and 1 of 4 areas to attack, while the enemies move and attack you too. I was also the third person that day to crash it and I’m proud of that. It looks like the game was brought over to EGX to promote the game during it’s very early production phase unlike the other games which all seem to be near completion. I actually did a little background check, same guy also made a game called ‘Sol Trader’, which had a kickstarter that had a 29 day funding period, 21/9/15 - 20/10/15, pledged £10,615 of £10,000 goal with 593 backers. Looking at how much of a solid game Sol Trader turned out, I’d say it’s pretty promising to see the end product of Ealdor Light I can see two different financial paths to game development here, the Lecturer already had a job to provide him with an income while making the game in his own time outside of work, while this other game is promoted and funded using kickstarter. I myself would rather get a job for income while I work on a game instead of relying on a kickstarter to cover the whole thing since kickstarter will only give you the pledge money if the pledge is reached. I don’t understand the best plan for putting games up on kickstarter but I do see a couple projects with games that appear to be far in production. I did go outside to check out the Careers bar and I got to see what work experience I could get for college and even what I could be doing after education. I’m still pretty set on completing Interactive Media and Games then seeing about doing Music so that I’m sorted for creating a game all by myself.

It's EGX 2019 weekend! Over the next few days we'll be bringing you quickfire impressions of some of the highlights from the show floor here at London's ExCel centre. You'll find them all here - and if there's anything out there you want to bring to our attention let us know!

I don't want to jinx it, but I think we're in something of a golden age for rally games at the moment. Codemasters is flying high with Dirt Rally and its sequel, Kylotonn has entered the fray as a serious contender with WRC 8 and, coming in from leftfield, we have this; art of rally, (the lower case is intentional, in case you think my shift key has stopped working), an isometric off-roader that takes the bones of Neo Geo classics such as Thrash Rally and adds a bit more meat.

You might be familiar with the style from 2015's Absolute Drift, Funselektor's prior work - it's a sort of pastel paperwork aesthetic that gelled brilliantly in the developer's depiction of Japanese car culture first time out, and it serves just as well in this take on classic rally of the 70s, 80s and 90s. It looks like a particularly tasteful piece of poster art for some period classic, and in motion it moves with all the grace of an arcade great.

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EGX Rezzed Day 4 part 2: Indivisible

Since being announced back in 2015 Indivisible has continued to be a good-looking game, but also one that not many have played. After raising 1.5 million dollars the game has been in production for a while and should finally be releasing at some point this year. While this may seem like a long time, it’s […]

The post EGX Rezzed Day 4 part 2: Indivisible appeared first on Green Man Gaming Blog.

EGX Rezzed Day 4 part 2: Indivisible published first on https://skidrowpcgames.tumblr.com/

EGX Rezzed Day 4 part 2: Indivisible

Since being announced back in 2015 Indivisible has continued to be a good-looking game, but also one that not many have played. After raising 1.5 million dollars the game has been in production for a while and should finally be releasing at some point this year. While this may seem like a long time, it’s […]

The post EGX Rezzed Day 4 part 2: Indivisible appeared first on Green Man Gaming Blog.

EGX Rezzed Day 4 part 2: Indivisible published first on https://juanaframi.tumblr.com/

Egypt’s Top Stock Set to Renew Gains

The best-performing stock in Egypt this year might be about to reward investors even more as a turnaround plan moves forward and the company completes a long-awaited project.

Qalaa Holdings SAE, the Egyptian investment firm formerly known as Citadel Capital, is pushing to end annual losses by selling underperforming assets and lowering debt before its flagship oil refinery venture in Cairo comes to life next year, co-founder and Managing Director Hisham El-Khazindar said.

Qalaa has operations in industries including energy, cement and logistics, and has been selling businesses to focus on more profitable assets. Bogged down by impairments and write-offs, it’s posted losses every year but one since going public in 2008.

Still, the stock has surged 139 percent in 2018, versus a drop of 2.6 percent for Egypt’s benchmark EGX 30 index, even after losing one-fifth of its value following a regulatory dispute in July that the investment firm has partly resolved. Three analysts surveyed by Bloomberg recommend buying Qalaa stock, with an average return potential of 37 percent in the next 12 months.

The current year is seen as a turnaround period, and “in 2019 we expect Qalaa to be back to sustained bottom-line profitability,” El-Khazindar said in an interview in London earlier this month. “We are at this inflection point, with the wind in our back. Building on the momentum of reforms taking place in Egypt, we are now starting to reap the benefits of these big bets that we have made through our investments.”

The $4.3 billion Egyptian Refining Co. construction project is almost finished and the plant is scheduled to begin production in early 2019, reaching full capacity later that year, according to El-Khazindar. ERC, in which Qalaa holds a 17 percent stake, is designed to produce 4.7 million metric tons of refined oil products and derivatives annually, primarily Euro 5 diesel, which will give it a key role in replacing about half of Egypt’s imports of the fuel, he said.

The facility “needs to start production as soon as possible” to enable Qalaa to meet debt commitments, Karim Ezzat, a senior equity analyst at Pharos Securities Brokerage, said by phone. “The market is betting on ERC,” which represents about 43 percent of Pharos’s valuation of Qalaa, he said.

Qalaa is working to cut consolidated debt, excluding figures from ERC, to a targeted 7 billion Egyptian pounds ($390 million) by the end of 2018 from 11 billion pounds in 2015, El-Khazindar said. He expects to sell some cement businesses within a year.

The company posted a second-quarter profit of about 487 million pounds compared with a loss of about 2.8 billion pounds a year earlier. Revenue climbed 39 percent to 3.1 billion pounds. The gains came on the back of the “deconsolidation” of operational liabilities of Africa Railways.

El-Khazindar also said: Qalaa is seeking growth in subsidiaries either through new projects and investments or through selective mergers and acquisitions; it doesn’t intend to diversify again into new sectors The company continues to look at an IPO of energy distributor Taqa as well as of Arab Refining Co., a venture that includes its ERC stake, once the refinery has had “a couple of quarters of normalized earnings” after reaching full operating capacity The company has been discussing an increase in its shareholding in ERC, and will provide an update on any plans at the beginning of 2019

The post Egypt’s Top Stock Set to Renew Gains appeared first on Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East.

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Virginia - Part 1/2 Xbox One X Playthrough Virginia is a 2016 first-person mystery adventure video game developed by Variable State and published by 505 Games. The game follows graduate FBI special agent Anne Tarver as she investigates her first case: the disappearance of a boy in rural Virginia. The game was directed by Jonathan Burroughs and Terry Kenny, with music composed by Lyndon Holland. Burroughs, Kenny and Holland co-wrote the screenplay.The game was first announced in July 2014 and originally slated for release in 2015. A game prototype was showcased at the 2014 Future of StoryTelling summit and at the EGX Leftfield Collection that year. On August 30, 2016, it was announced that video game publisher 505 Games would be publishing the game. A game demo was released on Steam to coincide with the announcement.Virginia released on September 22, 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and OS X. Gameplay Virginia is a first-person mystery thriller adventure game that takes place in a fictionalised Virginia in 1992. Players take on the role of Anne Tarver, a graduate FBI special agent who is assigned a partner, special agent Maria Halperin. Much of the game involves the player, as Tarver, in the company of the non-playable Halperin, travelling between locations, interacting with other characters and with objects in the environments. Scenes transition using real-time cinematic editing, with cuts and dissolves occurring as dictated by the story, to propel events forward and to juxtapose moments for dramatic effect. Premise Set in the last days of summer 1992, players investigate the disappearance of Lucas Fairfax, a young boy from the fictional rural town of Kingdom, VA. The game is experienced through the eyes of Anne Tarver, a graduate FBI special agent assigned to her first case. As a rookie detective, she's paired with an experienced partner, Maria Halperin, whom Tarver's superiors instruct to keep a watchful eye on. As the story progresses, the pair's trust in each other is tested, and their investigation takes a supernatural turn. Development Virginia is the first game developed by Variable State, a British independent game developer founded by Jonathan Burroughs and Terry Kenny, former developers with DeepMind Technologies. Lyndon Holland joined the project early in development in the role of composer and sound designer and is responsible for creating the entirety of the game's music and Foley. Virginia is developed in the Unity game engine.Variable State is a virtual studio, with all of the team working remotely and coordinating each morning over Skype.Upon forming Variable State, Burroughs and Kenny initially pursued a range of game ideas, but met with frustration, deeming early concepts to be too ambitious. Progress resumed after the developers played Brendon Chung's Thirty Flights of Loving for the first time and found themselves inspired by its creative use of cinematic editing in the context of real-time gameplay. In combination the team's shared interest in American television and films of the 1990s, in particular FBI noir productions such as Twin Peaks, The X-Files and Silence of the Lambs, this gave the developers a stepping off point from which they could fashion an original story.The developers took the unusual decision to omit dialogue from the game. This was due to the Burroughs' and Kenny's desire to keep the team small and agile and keep the focus on the cinematic editing, a technique that would require experimentation to get right. Spoken dialogue was perceived to be risky because of how many factors were involved in achieving quality; the writing, the choice of actors, the performance and the dialogue systems themselves. Instead of dialogue, Virginia conveys its story through the physical performances of its large cast of characters. The large animation workload required Variable State engage the help of Niamh Herrity and Aoife Doyle, Irish animators who run Pink Kong Studios animation company.During development, Variable State expanded the Virginia development team to include programmer Kieran Keegan, the lead programmer on Kitty Powers' Matchmaker. Additional contributors included technical artist Matt Wilde, 3D artist Stephen Brown and animators Abby Roebuck, Steve James Brown and Mikael Persson. 3D artist Wayne Peters assisted in an outsourcing capacity. NO COMMENTARY GAME-PLAY #fru77y Video Games Guide Solo and Coop PLAYTHROUGH Complete Campaign Story 100% WALK-THROUGH Puzzle Solution LET'S PLAY https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUpomBjSkMr-AfhAR-dH8vhA&playnext=1