Sat.Dec 03, 2022 - Fri.Dec 09, 2022

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Player Empowerment as the Ultimate Success Criterion

Game Developer

A couple of weeks ago, I listed my success criteria as they relate to "player powered" games: aka "Immersive Simulations." This week, I talk about the first, and maybe most important of those criteria: Player Empowerment.

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14 low-budget, highly successful story games

Game Analytics

One of the reasons why hyper-casual games are so popular is due to how quick and easy they are to make. Simple controls, artwork, and game design make it easy for any developer to pick up. But hyper-casual isn’t the only way to go. There are other ways to build a game on a budget. One way is narrative. We’ve talked a lot about how to add new layers to your games by simply layering in a story.

Horror 109
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Unity 2022.2: Inside the new Tech Stream update

GamesIndustry.biz

Game tech has come a long way since Unity’s inception 18 years ago. It’s being used by a wider array of creators for a more diverse spread of projects than ever before, in tandem with the gaming medium’s tremendous increase in breadth as well as scale. As such, the Unity engine has had to continually evolve, both setting and supporting trends in the game dev space.

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Fan Collective Unimatrix 47: Star Trek Prodigy’s “Preludes” Episode

Game Industry News

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. While intellectually I knew that the backstories for Rok and Jankom Pog weren’t going to be full of sunshine and rainbows, Prodigy once again startled me with just how dark Rok’s story really was. Jankom’s was more existentially terrifying, but it was no less tragic. In the sixteenth episode of season one, Prodigy doesn’t shy away from the themes it wants to develop, which I knew, but I really wasn’t quite prepared for what “ Preludes ” had in store.

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European Commission argues FTC's Microsoft lawsuit is unjustified

Game Developer

The European Commission is looking into Microsoft's merger with Activision Blizzard, but doesn't think the FTC's lawsuit has any real substance.

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GameStop net sales decreased by 8% in Q3 2022

Game Daily

A lack of debt and minimal losses in the crypto space appear to have buoyed the worst of the damage.

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Hades 2, Death Stranding 2 and Armored Core 6 revealed at The Game Awards 2022

GamesIndustry.biz

The annual Game Awards ceremony took place night last night, and as always, the parade of celebrities dishing out the accolades was broken up by many game reveals, release date announcements and world premieres. One of the biggest reveals of the night was confirmation of Hades 2 , a follow-up to Supergiant Games' critically-acclaimed 2018 roguelike.

Games 98

More Trending

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Ubisoft's core Tom Clancy writer is departing after over two decades

Game Developer

Richard Dansky, who served as the company's "central Clancy writer," helped steer the franchise for 23 years.

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FTC reportedly split on Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Game Daily

According to sources, Microsoft has been readying its legal defenses against a potential lawsuit in response to the titanic deal.

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Battle passes are everywhere – but few of them are good | Opinion

GamesIndustry.biz

Monetisation isn’t really a topic that gets most gamers’ blood pumping – at least not in a good way – but it’s the lifeblood of the games industry itself, and in the past few years, it’s been at something of an impasse. There are a number of opposing forces pushing and pulling the discussion over how to monetise video games: there’s the reality of increasing development costs, matched against the equally important reality of decreasing consumer discretio

Balance 98
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CGS Dept. Head of VFX enters KitBash3D's Mission to Minerva Challenge

CG Spectrum

CG Spectrum's Dept. Head of VFX Daniel Hourigan ( Aquaman , The Hunger Games: Mockingjay , Terminator: Dark Fate ) takes us through how he built his KitBash3D Mission to Minerva settlement in Houdini, detailing key steps from his recent informative livestreams, including a great workaround for creating a fast rendering volumetric glow. Plus, we reveal the final shot!

Terrain 98
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Video on canceled Zelda tactics game shut down by Nintendo

Game Developer

Did You Know Gaming's video about a canceled tactics spinoff for The Legend of Zelda was hit with a copyright strike by Nintendo.

Games 246
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Marvel Snap is a testament to the power of ruleset design

Keith Burgun

About a month or so ago, Marvel Snap was launched. At first, I was very skeptical: not only was this a CCG, but also it’s a mobile gacha game, but ALSO it’s some Marvel IP thing? The odds were not looking good for me! However, I quickly noticed that this was not your average mobile card game. And almost all of the things that make it “not your average mobile card game” are good old fashioned game design: bold, systemic decisions made surrounding the ruleset.

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Days Gone developer distances itself from former director

GamesIndustry.biz

Days Gone developer Bend Studios has published a statement distancing itself from its former creative director John Garvin, saying that it "does not share his sentiment.". On Wednesday, Garvin had commented on Days Gone's disappointing launch in a now-deleted tweet ( archived here ), saying it was due to three reasons: tech issues, "reviewers who couldn’t be bothered to actually play the game," and "woke reviewers who couldn’t handle a gruff white biker looking at his date’s as

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How Splitting Point caught 80% more bugs with real-time data

Game Analytics

Catching 80% of their bugs. One of the main reasons that Splitting Point integrated GameAnalytics was because of our bug-tracking capabilities through our error reporting dashboard. This was particularly important to the studio as the Roblox platform is extremely fast-paced. They would be updating their game every week, and finish the changes two hours before the deadline.

Data 97
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The FTC sues Microsoft to block its Activision Blizzard merger

Game Developer

The FTC has become another roadblock in Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

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Dev snapshot: Godot 4.0 beta 8

Mircosoft Game Dev

Godot 4.0 has been in beta for over two months , and the overall feature completeness, stability and usability have improved a lot during that time. We initially had beta snapshots every other week, and now we've decided to accelerate the cadence to release a new snapshot every week, to get even faster feedback on our bugfixes, and the potential regressions they may introduce.

Beta 95
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Ubisoft asks players to stop being toxic | This Week in Business

GamesIndustry.biz

The Anti-Defamation League this week released its annual survey on hate and harassment in online gaming , and unsurprisingly, it remains a problem. STAT | 86% - The percentage of US online game players aged 18-45 who had experienced harassment in the past six months, a number that has increased for four straight years now. Read the story for a bunch more deeply concerning stats about how online gaming can be a sewer full of excrement for kids and adults alike to splash around in.

Games 98
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Fruit Ninja dev talks porting to VR

Game Analytics

Obsessed with making games that people will remember for a lifetime, Halfbrick decided to convert their hit title, Fruit Ninja , into a VR game. It was a natural evolution – people apparently really enjoy slicing fruit and swinging swords. After that success, they created Fruit Ninja VR 2 – adding more features and exploration to the game. “Making a game for VR is very, very different,” said Liam Potter, one of the lead gameplay programmers on Fruit Ninja VR 2.

Dev 97
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QA workers at Activision Blizzard call for an end to bug quotas

Game Developer

QA staff at Activision Blizzard's Texas and Minnesota offices want to stop being required to hit inconsistent quotas and more transparency from management.

Bug 246
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FTC sues to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Game Daily

The Federal Trade Commission voted 3-1 in favor of the filing.

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The Outbound Ghost dev says Digerati released game without permission

GamesIndustry.biz

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Conradical Games is currently considering taking legal action against publisher Digerati over the quality of The Outbound Ghost's release. According to a video statement from the developer , relations with the game publisher have allegedly dissolved and it is refusing to hand back control of the title.

Dev 98
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Capitalize on Automated UI Testing and Stay Competitive

Rocket Brush Studio

Before deep diving into UI automation testing, let’s talk about the fundamentals of UI. The user interface is the most critical component of any web or mobile application. After all, it is by interacting with the UI that users access the core functionalities of an application.

Mobile 83
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Media Molecule co-founder and art director Kareem Ettouney to depart in 2023

Game Developer

Ettouney helped establish the Dreams developer in 2006.

Media 246
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VR for everyone: Accessible game design tips from Owlchemy Labs

Unity Blog

Learn how Owlchemy Labs uses accessible game design principles to reach more players and create better VR experiences for everyone.

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God of War Ragnarök storms The Game Awards 2022

GamesIndustry.biz

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox. PlayStation and From Software were the big winners at last night's The Game Awards. The latter's acclaimed action RPG Elden Ring won four prizes, including the coveted Game of the Year award, while PlayStation titles took the top honours in seven categories. Read more.

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Comparing a Test Plan vs Test Strategy for Software QA (Infographic)

Rocket Brush Studio

When planning a software project, the common question is, “Where do we start testing?” Before initiating any QA process, it’s necessary to define the scope of the test, and have a good understanding of the overall strategy. The test plan and test strategy play different roles in the SDLC, and it's important to have a clear understanding of the difference between the two.

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Epic Games launches "Cabined Accounts" to protect young players

Game Developer

Cabined Accounts will restrict access to new downloads of games that aren’t owned by Epic until a parent gives permission.

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What Game Should I Make First?

DameDev.tv

Do you ever wonder what game you should make first? Or how to keep the development within a realistic scope? If so, keep reading this What Games Should I Make First Livecast and learn more. Laurie (Avocado Fire) joins Rick Davidson & Tim Ruswick* to talk about ideas and how to start your first game without following a tutorial and starting from scratch, along with other helpful tips.

NPC 57
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PS5 and Modern Warfare 2 help drive November spending to $6.3 billion | US Monthly Charts

GamesIndustry.biz

Consumer spending on video games was well over $6 billion in November, marking a 3% increase over the same period in 2021. That's according to the latest figures from The NPD Group, which reported that this uptick was primarily driven by hardware sales. With PlayStation 5 more readily available than it was in November 2021, overall spending on consoles and other devices was up 45% year-on-year.

Console 98
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Is/was space ever an issue with games in discs? I heard cartridge games like the older pokemon had to find hack-y solutions to make room

Ask a Game Dev

ALT Initially, transitioning to discs actually left us with too much space. Games weren’t anywhere near big enough to fill up a whole CD, but the nature of a spinning disc actually means that the outer part of the disc spins faster (and can be read faster by the laser) than the inner, so we would actually pad the disc to full with dummy data in order to get faster game data reading speed.

Data 52
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Square Enix' Nier series has sold 8.5 million copies

Game Developer

Copies for all mankind.

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Michael Blaker’s Retro Game Friday With Rocket: Robot on Wheels

Game Industry News

Hey all, I’m back with a relatively unknown game, that was notable nonetheless, for this week’s Retro Game Friday. It’s Rocket: Robot on Wheels ! Plot: The plot is pretty standard. The plucky creation of a somewhat mad genius tries to save said genius’s work when he leaves, and some of the other creations go bonkers from jealousy.

Puzzle 52
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Lawsuit against ZA/UM majority shareholder withdrawn

GamesIndustry.biz

ZA/UM partner and Disco Elysium producer Kaur Kender has withdrawn a lawsuit against Tütreke, the company's majority shareholder. News of Kender's lawsuit surfaced last month, claiming that ZA/UM CEO Ilmar Kompus had "cheated" him out of €1 million as part of a larger plot to acquire control of the studio. ZA/UM tells GamesIndustry.biz that Kender's claims will not move forward in Estonia courts, and provided a statement from Kompus.

Studios 98
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5 Critical Business Software Development Goals for 2023

Perforce

Five software development goals to maximize existing resources and improve code compliance, safety, and security.

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Saber's new chief narrative officer discusses good game storytelling

Game Developer

Evil Dead: The Game developer Saber Interactive has a new chief narrative officer: Craig Sherman. We discussed why studios might need this kind of role.

Studios 246
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Step-by-Step Guide to Creating the Top NFT Project

Juego Studio

The post Step-by-Step Guide to Creating the Top NFT Project appeared first on Juego Studio.

Studios 52