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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Trending Sources

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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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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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Bucking the Recession in Mobile Gaming

Deconstructor of Fun

In data.ai and Deconstructor of Fun’s latest collaborative report, we dive deep into a comprehensive analysis of the mobile gaming sector and which genres are defying the economic slowdown. You can access the interactive charts and download the full report here. After soaring to new heights during the lockdowns, mobile gaming got hit by platform privacy changes and an overall decrease in engagement as the world opened up again.

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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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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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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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IGN part of Ziff Davis layoffs

GamesIndustry.biz

IGN has undergone a series of layoffs, according to a number of staff and former staff on Twitter. GamesIndustry.biz understands that IGN's content, engineering, and ad sales teams have been impacted, with the number of people out of work at least in the double digits. The cuts are part of a larger restructuring across IGN parent Ziff Davis, with other business units also impacted.

Content 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 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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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
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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 85
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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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FTC files lawsuit to block Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition

GamesIndustry.biz

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox. The Federal Trade Commission has filed a legal complaint in an attempt to block Microsof'ts proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Commission says the deal, if approved would "enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.

Console 98
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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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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.

Games 246
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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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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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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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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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The Transactional Nature of “Game Journalism”

Game Wisdom

The Transactional Nature of “Game Journalism” Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com. Discussing prestige games and chasing clout when it comes to these titles on my recent podcasts made me think about one of the most frustrating aspects of video games — not about the people who make the games, but the … The post The Transactional Nature of “Game Journalism” appeared first on Game Wisdom.

Games 52
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Humor in games: keeping it funny when going global

GamesIndustry.biz

Humor is a fundamental component of games. It's a great way to grab your players' attention and keep them hooked. Whether your game has a generally humorous narrative or just boasts a few puns in occasional dialogues, you probably want all your players, no matter their cultural background and native language, to join in the hilarity and enjoy the endorphin rush that comes with a good chuckle.

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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.

Dev 52
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Panda CEO departs after Smash Bros. tournament sabotage allegations

Game Developer

Following last week's allegations from Smash World Tour, Panda Global announced it would undergo an internal restructuring.

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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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Making a true detective game in Shadows of Doubt

GamesIndustry.biz

There's a knock at the door of your apartment. By the time you get there, whoever knocked has slipped a note underneath and left. The note says 'Find E. Smith.' You recall seeing a telephone directory on a table and you look up E. Smith, revealing both their address and phone number. There's no answer when you ring, so you take a short walk to that address.

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GameStop net sales decreased by 8% in Q3 2022

Game Daily

Games retailer GameStop has released its financial report for Q3 of the current fiscal year, and the numbers highlight continued losses for the embattled company. According to the data, net sales decreased to $1.2 billion, a drop of 8% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, gross profit reached $291.6 million compared to last year’s $318.6 million.

Retail 52
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The technical logistics of designing a diverse character creator in Witchy Life Story

Game Developer

In the second part of our interview, the developers explain how they streamlined the process while staying true to their design values.

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Indie Game Showcase #147

Game Wisdom

Indie Game Showcase #147 Josh Bycer josh@game-wisdom.com. width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen". The indie showcases highlight all the indie games we play here on stream, if you would like to submit a game for a future piece, please reach out. All games shown are either demos or press key … The post Indie Game Showcase #147 appeared first on Game Wisdom.

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Call of Duty on Nintendo is a sideshow | Opinion

GamesIndustry.biz

This week, in the latest round of noise around Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company announced it was committing to releasing Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles for ten years. The internet loved that, of course. And Xbox knew it would. Here was the company waving a piece of paper that proved to the world that not only is Xbox committed to not making Call of Duty exclusive, it is making it even less exclusive than ever.

AAA 98