I love to pick the brains of developers when given the chance, so I knew the opportunity to interview the developers of Dead Rising: Deluxe Remaster was too good to pass up. However, something was lacki??ng in this offer.

The offer was to ask “the development team�questions ??via email. Pressing for more information, I wasn’t told who my questions would be going to. That makes it difficult for me to know what sort of questions I should ask. Would they know anything about the development of?? the original? Whatever, I thought, it could be interesting.

As it turns out, my questions were answered by Producer Kei Morimoto, Art Director Satoshi Takam??atsu, and Director Ryosuke Murai. What’s more, I found their answers to be very insightful, so I ?am more than happy to share them with you. Stick around until the end to learn what is up with those convicts in the courtyard.

Zoey: W?ith?? the original version of Dead Rising still available on modern platforms, why did it seem like a full graphical overhaul was necessary?

The original Dead Rising had an excellent game des??ign when it first released, and even now, I think the game feels unique. That said, Dead Rising is an 18-year-old game with certain “usability�challenges by today’s gaming standards. The controls aren’t the most user-friendly for an action game either. Our goal was to preserve the original’s gameplay experience as much as possible, so we took a careful look at every element of the original game. I think the visual enhancements in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster are the most obvious change from the original game. The development team wanted to renew characters�aesthetics and background graphics and elevate the game’s visuals to modern standards in hopes of sharing the appeal of the Dead Rising series with an even wider audience of gamers.

Kei Morimoto (Producer)

Zoey: Was the goofy, B-movie tone of Dead Ri??sing intended from the start, or did it happen organically as the gameplay began to develop and take shape? I guess what I’m asking is: what’s u?p with that dark-as-hell opening prologue cutscene?

From early stages of development, our goal ?was to create visuals with inspirations from the medium of film, but we were only ??able to achieve a B-movie level of production based on hardware limitations at the time.

For Dead Rising Del?uxe Remaster, we were able to create a creepy atmosphere, more realistic lighting effects, area-specific thematic designs, and even the finer details of a zombie outbreak �none of which were possible in the original game. Based on this, I think DRDR offers players the chance to experience the atmosphere of a horror movie. I was in charge of lighting design for the original game, so I’m elated to be able to reflect my learnings and know-how of the last 20 years in Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. Players often emphasize the more comical elements of Dead Rising, but the story itself is a serious one. Thus, I think it’s only natural that the prologue would set the tone with darker contents that make viewers feel like they’re stepping into dire Hell-like circumstances.

Satoshi Takamatsu (Art Director)

Zoey: Was there anything that ??you wanted to change or add to th??e remake that didn’t get implemented?

There are certain aspects of Frank’s move set and the Psychopaths�battle designs that could use some fine-tuning when compared to the breadth of action games available to gamers nowadays. We considered making significant adjustments to these elements, but we u?ltimately decided against major changes such as adding new skills to focus on creating a remaster that values players�memories of the original game. Instead, we made detailed adjustments to item and skill parameters, increased “usability�for some of Frank’s skills, and tweaked some of the Psychopaths�routines among other things to make it easier for players of all backgrounds to feel and appreciate the charm of the original game. If another opportunity presents itself, I’d love to take a stab at creating a unique and exciting action gameplay experience that preserves the essence of Dead Rising.

Ryosuke Murai (Director)

Zoey: Was it difficult to mai??ntain the density of the zombie crowds when porting the game to the RE Engine?

It was difficult trying to maintain zombie density while keeping gameplay elements intact. The engine and programming language used to develop Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster were both different from those used for the original game, so?? naturally we encountered some problems.

There were definitely some accidents with imaging where the number and density of zombies on screen didn’t match our expectations, but we plugged along and made corrections while cross-referencing the appearance and actual code of the original game. I?n addition, r??endering a large number of zombies with higher polygon counts than those in the original game naturally impacted performance. Since reducing zombie count and density goes against DRDR’s concept, we made various optimizations to ensure we could maintain performance in the final product.

Ryosuke Murai (Director)

Zoey: One of my memories of the original Dead Rising on Xbox 360 is how frustrating it would get to try and lead survivors to safety. I didn’t have that same issue with the Deluxe ?Remaster, but I had trouble identifying what the specific improvements were. Can you explain what was changed?

While the frustration of guiding survivor??s in Dead Rising was certainly an issue, I think the humorous moments and the sense of achievement players felt when successfully rescuing survivors were also very memorable. For this reason, we’ve done our best to preserve survivors�original behaviors as their personalities, actions, and disregard for Frank’s requests illustrate how panic-stricken individuals would probably respond in a zombie outbreak. That said, we’ve made some adju??stments to frustration-inducing elements that players can’t solve on their own, such as friendly fire among survivors or survivors getting stuck in certain areas due to a poor navigation system. I think these types of improvements have helped create a less frustrating gameplay experience that stays true to the original game.

Ryosuke Murai (Director)

Zoey: Did the mechanics?? and controls (good or bad) in later entries in the Dea??d Rising series influence what was changed in the Deluxe Remaster?

We made sure to analyze the gameplay systems and mechanics in previous Dead Rising games, but our priority for Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster was to preserve the unique charm and appeal of the first mainline entry and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that modern action game fans can play the game comfortably. For this reason, we’ve made some changes to controls that make it easier to execute skills and commands characteristic of modern-day thir??d person shooters. However, we have not made any adjustments?? that would drastically affect the gameplay loop and feel of the original Dead Rising such as combo weapons or changes to item slot specifications.

Kei Morimoto (Producer)

Zoey: I’m sure there’s nothing to announce, but is there any desire to remake Dead Rising 2 in a similar way?

As part of Capcom’s strategy, we’re always looking fo?r opportunities to reactivate Capcom-owned IP’s, and we believe that Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is one title that fits well within that strategy. If Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster performs well, I think it could open up various possibilities for the Dead Rising series in the future.

Kei Morimoto (Producer)

Zoey: Why do the convicts keep coming back to life?

Similar to the original game, the convicts that playe?rs face after the initial encounter on Day 1 are

supposed to be different people than ??the original trio.

Ryosuke Murai (Director)

Wow, I’m not sure if I considered the possibility that the respawning convicts were meant to represent different people. I think they technically have names and prisoner numbers, but perha??ps their appearance wasn't varied with the limitations at the ??time.

I also found the information about the game’s technology and art to be interesting. Satoshi Takamatsu suggested that the team was aiming f??or the feel of a higher-budget film and landing in B-movie te?rritory to be fascinating. That makes me wonder about how Servbot heads and zombie bees came into the original vision, but I’m happy they did. Meanwhile, I imagined the challenge of getting the zombie hordes to fit on the RE Engine would be difficult, and the response from Murai certainly confirms it.

I really enjoyed Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. I have a soft spot for the ?original, but found aspects of it to be frustrating, but in its overhaul, they’ve all been polished over making it closer to the experience I was hoping to have in 2006. Not every glow-up turns out qui??te as well, but it’s obvious the team knew the mission.

The post Interview: Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster team tells us what’s up with those respawning convicts appeared first on Destructoid.

Ahead of the Early Access release for the new World of Warcraft: The War Within expansion, I had the opportunity to chat with two of the developers on the WoW development team: Associate Design Director Maria Hamilton, and Assistant Lead Quest Designer Mateusz Albrewczynski. As the first chapter in the new Worldsoul Saga trilogy, I feel like the story, and by association quest design headed into The War Within expansion are more important than ever. After all, the Worldsoul Saga will be told over the course of three expansions and is the first time Blizzard has told a Warcraft story in this way.

DESTRUCTOID: With The War Within being the first part of the Worldsoul Saga trilogy, what's the scope and scale going into this expansion from a story perspective compared to s?ome of the crazy things we've gotten into the past few expansions?

MATEUSZ: Oh I love the premise that we've done a lot of crazy things! That's 20 years of doing these things, and we like to think that those 20 years kind of led to this moment. When we first started talking about what's next, we figured that now is the time to tell a story that is so epic and so big that it cannot simply be contained in our usual one expansion, which is why this time around we're doing a whole saga about it. And this is not just a culmination of 20 years of WoW storytelling, but this wi??ll also set the stage for what is coming after. We have no intentions of slowing down, and we have lots of ideas.

MARIA: I would add that yes we absolutely get into it right away. There is no slow roll with this one, ??the action starts early, and big things happen and keep happening. It's been really exciting to pace out an entire trilogy and make sure each individual release is interesting and meaningful while still pushing our overall story. Hang on, it's a wild ride!

DESTRUCTOID: Character development and individual character stories are one of my favorite aspects of Warcraft and of WoW. Any specific characters we should look forward to delving into either in The War Within itself or over the course of the trilogy?

MATEUSZ: A lot of our characters have been through a lot of intense events recently. For some of them, the world was literally ending, and so they are starting to really feel it. They are starting to feel it, that once again they are finding themself in this situation. I'm absolutely excited to see how players will react to Xal'atath's story. This is not your usual Warcraft villain. She's way more complex, and we need way more time with her to explore her motifs as they are not all exactly known to us when we begin The War Within. So seeing this multi-dimensional villain?? is really interesting and I can't wait to see player reactions to it.

MARIA: I don't want to spoil anything, but we've got so many characters that we're going to see, characters that players love, and some new ones as well, like Faerin Lothar, who is quite important to our story. I really don't want to spoil it, but there are a lot of favorite characters that you will see and stories you will hear. Part of the theme for The War Within is family, so we're spending some time with Moira, Dagran, Brann, and of course Magni, so we're getting more of their story. But there are other stories we'll be looking at is well, such as Alleria. Her r??elationships and family also have a lot of meaning here. Once again, I don't want to spoil here, but lots of cool faces are coming back!

DESTRUCTOID: How does the new Delve system tie into the worldbuilding in The War Within? Any quests or stories tied directly to Delves, or is it a completely side-opt??ional thing?

MARIA: We wanted everyone to have the opportunity to try out Delves, so we did use this new feature in ??our main campaign. As you play through the main story, leveling up, you will enter a Delve and have specific goals in that Delve to complete to have the opportunity to see what they are like and learn about them. We can put objectives in Delves that feed into quests. Later, once you've reached max level, the later part of the story takes you through another Delve. The ability to change the difficulty of the Delve and have more of a challenge and greater rewards is something we want players to understand, so we did a lower level one and then a max level one. But we also know they may not be everyone's cup of tea. I think they're very fun, but it's a matter of personal p??laystyle, so we didn't want to force people to do Delves. We also haven't seen how much people actually enjoy them; we haven't gotten much feedback on them yet, so we didn't want to put a lot of questing into them. We want to avoid the early impressions we had with Torghast where people felt they were forced to play Torghast when it may not have been something they personally enjoyed. So we're waiting to see what kind of reception they have before we invest heavily into putting quests in them. It is a tool in our toolbox, and I'd very much like to use them more for questing, but I want to be respectful of player time and feedback around the feature, so we'll reassess once we have more player feedback.

MATEUSZ: What's great about Delves is they reinforce the worldbuilding and storytelling that's happening in their zones. For exampl?e, on the Isle of Dorn, we have a region that has a lot of Nerubian presence. So when you go into the Delve, you have to help rescue miners that are under attack by the Nerubia?ns. So it's definitely a tool that helps us tell the stories we have throughout the zones.

DESTRUCTOID: Time for a fun one. Which of the new dungeo?ns are each of yours favorit?e from a lore perspective?

MATEUSZ: I'm going to go with I think the very first dungeon we encounter which is The Rookery. It's right in the Isle of Dorn, right in Dornogal, the new capital city. This is the home of Stormriders, the elite force of the Earthen, the guardians of the Isle. It's a very important place for them, as it's where they tend for their Rooks and get them. And then something happe?ns inside The Rookery, and it's our task to make sure it's safe. ?I love this story because it shows the connection between Stormriders and their mounts. It's an excellent experience that resonates with me very well.

MARIA: I was going to say The Rookery too, because I also have enormous interest in that one, but I think the Cinderbrew Meadery a??lso resonates with me. In the cour??se of our questing, we learn about an extremely volatile substance...they drink it, but they also explode things with it. It's an entertaining idea in itself. But the Meadery has been overrun, and so it's quite interesting what happens when someone else has control of the mead, and how we have to deal with that. In some ways the humor aspect of it appeals to me especially; I'm a fan of those tongue-in-cheek moments. So for me, that's a fun one because it does a lot of good characterization and worldbuilding for the Earthen, and I quite like it. We've got another one, The Dawnbreaker, which is an airship that's trapped in Nerubian webs. That one is pretty amazing too because the whole circumstance is pretty epic, but a lot more serious.

DESTRUCTOID: Another fun one to end on. Any specific side quests I need to make sure I hit and d??on't miss?

MATEUSZ: What's great about local stories is they expand on the overall narrative of the zone over the expansion. I would definitely recommend diving into all the Earthen local stories in the Isle of Dorn. This is an interesting culture that has lots of little secrets waiting for you. Their relationships, how they perceive the world, and their very reason for being alive are very interesting. All of that is sprinkled across the zone waiting for you to discover it it. Some are high adventure, others we try to squeeze some tears out of you, and others? are pure joy to watch and observe as they unravel.

MARIA: If you're looking for lore tidbits, I think you'll find something in every zone that is a local story that expands on lore. If you're looking for "Don't miss because it's funny or cool," I'm going to suggest you play a quest in Azj-Kahet, which is a Nerubian who is absolutely terrified of bipedal creatures like yourself. You don't have enough limbs, it's really creepy, and they are just freaking out. It's such a wonderful and amusing take on arachnophobia but for a spider creature. The NPC is really struggling to see you as anything other than just something to be squashed because you're so creepy to them. I like when we flip things on their head like that. It's particularly amusing because we were aware of the impact spider-like creatures and Nerubians have on a portion of our community. Worldwide it's not an uncommon phobia. So we went ahead and created an option to turn them all into crabs, visually at least for you, so it's fun to have a quest and narrative designer that partnered up to create this comical situation: the Nerburian that can't cope with its fears. There are many local stories worth checking out; they are the ones that aren't marked with the shield campaign marker. It's highly recommended to dive into those quests if you want to really understand the places and cultures in The War Within.

World of Warcraft: The War Within launches globally on August 26, 2024. Players who purchase the Epic Edition can gain Early Access later today on August 22, 2024 at 6pm EST.

The post Interview: World of Warcraft: The War?? Within developers talk lore and quest design appeared first on Destructoid.

I recently took a trip to Firaxis Games to get some hands-on time with the upcoming historical strategy title Sid Meier's Civilization VII. After playing for about 40 minutes, I sat down with Executive Producer Dennis Shirk and Game Designer Carl H??arrison to talk a bit about some of the big??ger changes coming into the fabled franchise.

DESTRUCTOID: I noticed when you pick your civilization at the beginning of the game, at least all of the civilizations cu?rrently available seem to have two Legacy Path focuses, such ??as Militaristic, Culture, Economic, etc. Is this the case for all civilizations, and how realistic is it to actually succeed at both of those focuses as opposed to hyper-fixing on just one?

CARL: Yes, that's the case for all civilizations. I think it is realistic to succeed at both focuses. Because of our Legacy Paths, you're able to focus on two, sometimes even three of those, depending on how well you are doing, and get as far as possible into those Legacy Paths. Those have various stepping stones along the way, and you may not necessarily reach the very end of a Legacy ??Path and receive the top reward, but it is possible to at least hit maybe that first or second level in a couple of different spots. Those a?ttributes are reflective of the kind of playstyle that civ has and the bonuses that they get, so those will help you a fair amount towards those two Legacy Path areas.

DENNIS: That's a good example of the depth in Civilization 7. When I played the last couple of nights testing today's preview build, I played a lot of Hatshepsut and Egypt, a builder and culture-focused combination, and you can go down either of those paths. I typically play a culture game, but by having the strong builder options as well, I can go in a different direction. I think it depends on what bonuses you want to go for. You've got many Legacy Paths you can choose from for those bonuses, and you can analyze what direction you want to go. Once I've? played six or seven times and I'm an expert on that particular civ, I may decide to try two or three paths instead of the one, and see if I can earn some more before going to the next Age.

DESTRUCTOID: It seems like this change allows for a lot more build variety, especially with being able to choose Leader and? Civilization separately, which is exciting. How easy is it to change your Legacy Path in future Ages, and does it hinder you to do so, or can you simply take the bonuses from previo??us Ages and use them to build regardless of Legacy Path?

CARL: Both. I think you can double down and stay in the same sort of direction and keep leveling on the bonuses you received in the previous Age. So ??if you are going with a science civ, and in the next Age double down on another science civ, that is definitely a strategy. But also, you can pivot. If you have the proper paths unlocked, you could have been a science civ in the Antiquity Age but once you reach the Exploration Age you could pick a non-science civ and pivot into a different area. The bonuses that those civs give you will help you do that, even if the rewards you got from the previous Legacy Path may not be aligned with that.

DENNIS: That's really what I love about this new system. We have many player types here at Firaxis—hardcore players, and casual players—Carl for example is a deep math player. I'm a surface emotion player who goes off of feel for everything. This gives me a unique early marker. As a casual player or even a new player to Civilization, before when you played Civilization 6, when you start playing you may not know what sort of direction you are going and you just feel it out and see where you land but sometimes it may be too late to see where you are headed. But with this new system, Legacy Markers allow you to prepare yourself for say, a late culture push to victory. These Legacy Paths early on almost? give me a roadmap to set myself up for tha??t. But once I play more and become an expert on that civ, I can start branching out and there is a roadmap to pivot as well.

DESTRUCTOID: I definitely feel that as well. As a more casual player, from what I've played so far, I don't feel like I'm 'playing wrong' or hurting myself based on what I'm choosing to do now since I can sort of progress towards whatever I end up doing in the regard. As someone who enjoys playing Civilization with friends, are you guys quite ready to talk about multi?player just yet?

DENNIS: Not too much yet, but one thing I will say which is a really cool point for Civilization 7 is that because it's broken up into Ages, we?'re going to have the ability to have a much more focused multiplayer match. For example, you'll be able to really focus on playing an Age. We aren't going into too much detail beyond that just yet, but we've been playing multiplayer from the beginning and we're finding it a lot of fun to have a bite-sized chunk that you can play without having to sit down for an 8-hour?? mega session.

CARL: That bite-sized chunk extends beyond just that, though. Even for yourself, if you're streaming or making content that's one thing, but if you're playing by yourself it can be hard to sit down and devote an entire day to playing Civilization. ??B??ut this Ages system does allow you to have a breather in between.

DESTRUCTOID: How many turns does each Age typically last?

DENNIS: It really varies.

CARL: Yeah, your game speed will affect that. I think you could count on it being around 150 turns, but it could go up to about 200 if things are progre?ssing sl??owly.

DENNIS: There i?s a hard cap, so if everyone is just ignoring everything, there will be a cap when the Age transition crisis' will spool up whether you're ready or not.

DESTRUCTOID: On the flip side, is there an advanta?ge for a player?? to sort of rush toward the next Age as opposed to someone who may take their time?

CARL: Yeah, I think so. Everyone is wo?rking towards the same Legacy Paths, but it's not a competition. You are able to hit the third tier reward for Culture, Economy, Science, and Military, and so can every other player in the game and they will all have the same rewards. The faster you knock something out, so if you just push through had knock the Age out, the fewer Legacy Path rewards other players are likely to have, and therefore the fewer bonuses they will get going into the next Age. You can also sandbag and try to hit as many as possible as you can to set yourself up for the next Age, but every time any player advances a Legacy Path, you advance the Age progress, and when that hits 100% the Age will end. So that's why the turns vary because it depends on how fast every player ??is pushing towards it.

DENNIS: What he's talking about is actually a key point. All these choices you have the option of making, but at the same time as a first-time player, you can just play. All this stuff will be going on, and the new player can just go along for the ride unless they get wiped out, but the more and more you play you're exposed to the added systems and options and you could decide "Ok, I'm going to choose to sandbag here and go for more rewards and push the Age early." That's what I really like about the breadth of choices available in Civilization 7. As a new player, it could seem scary, so you can just play, or you can engage fully and dabble into everything and really have this completely d?ifferent experie??nce.

DESTRUCTOID: How many total Leaders and Civilizations are there in Civilization 7?

DENNIS: Lots! We're not saying how ?many just yet, but lots!

DESTRUCTOID: Do you guys ha??ve any favor non-historic Leader and ??Civilization combos?

DENNIS: That's a good question, I'm a historic-pairin?g guy myself.

CARL: Yeah, me too. I'd say my favorite historical one is Augustus and Rome. I'm a classicist myself and I designed both of those and so I put a lot of love into them. I actually have a hard time breaking them up. One of the things we did do is perfectly designed gameplay synergies into Civs and Leaders so there are interesting combinations that aren't historical. Obviously that's there f?or t?he historical path as well, but there are things that are like "Hey if I take this and this and put them together, they will work together really well even if they don't match historically."

DESTRUCTOID: I've only been able to play for a little bit before ??this interview, but right beforehand I encountered a flood. How common are natural disasters throughout the Ages?

DENNIS: We'r??e still sort of balancing those things, but flooding along the flood plain, and you benefit from being next to navigable rivers, floods will happen about once every 20 turns. It can happen more frequently or slower, and you'll see volcanoes going off and blizzards coming through, but it's a really cool system with some neat trade-offs. You know settling next to a river you're going to be repa??iring improvements from time to time, but you'll get some bonuses from it too.

CARL: And just like in Civilization 6, these disasters w?ill add yield to the tile. In a recent game I had a massive storm come through and devastate my city, but it added a ton of yield and so after I worked through the pain and got back on my feet, I had a bigger powerhouse city because of it.

DESTRUCTOID: I noticed the end-turn sequence is essentially instantaneous. I know late game will obviously slow down a bit, but compared to say Civilization 6, is end-turn sequence faster in the later game?

DENNIS: There is still a lot of work we are doing there. Right now your preview is on a small sized map, so on a bigger map with more players and later in the game when there is a lot more on the map, it will obviously get slower. But our goal is "It's better than Civilization 6." And really, that's our goal across the board with Civilization 7, is that it's better than Civilization 6.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII releases on February 11, 2025 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. To hear more about my hands-on time with Civ 7 where I go to play for three hours, check out our Hands-On preview.

The post Interview: Civilization 7 developers detail what’s new in the world of hexagons appeared first on Destructoid.

RetroStyle Games is making waves with its latest project, Codename: Ocean Keeper, an underwater roguelike currently making a splash in Early Access. In this undersea adventure, players plunge into the mysterious depths of a sprawling ocean, facing off against alien creatures and scavenging for crucial resources. With its procedurally generated environments, customizable submarines, and a host of formidable adversaries??, the game promises a heart-pounding blend of exploration, survival, and high-stakes combat.

Posed with the opportunity to inquire about the development of this title, we sent some questions to Lead Game Designer Eldar Kalinin, SEO Manager Mykola Vyhohradov, and CEO Pavel Konstantinov. Their responses shed light on the challenges they've faced, the unique features that distinguish Codename: Ocean Keeper, and what lies ahead for this undersea escapade.

Codename: Ocean Keeper has a little bit of everything; roguelike, shooter, RPG, exploration. What do you feel best defines your gameplay identity, and how have you tried to bring that through in the action itself?

Eldar Kalinin: To answer briefly, the game itself is a roguelike survival with elements of tower defense in underwater settings. Our gameplay is better defined by a combination of three things: intense roguelike mechanics (exploration, combat), strategic exploration (moving across the map between waves, finding artifacts), and resource management. To bring this identity through in the a?ction, we focused? on a few key aspects such as procedural generation, dynamic combat, and resource management.

A significant part of the game involves gathering and managing resources to upgrade your mech and im??prove your chances of survival. I guess this aspect adds a layer of ?strategic depth, as players must decide how to allocate their resources effectively. Balancing immediate needs with long-term upgrades is crucial to success.

Were there any tough decisions regarding features or content that had to be delayed until after Early Access?

Kalinin: Absolutely. One of the most difficult decisions we faced was delaying the delivery of full story content and some advanced customization features. We originally had ambitious plans to create a rich storyline with many branching paths and extensive character backstories. However, as development progressed, it became clear tha??t polishing the core mechanics and providing a seamless gameplay experience had to come to the forefront. We wanted to make sure that fundamental aspects of the game such as combat mechanics, mining, and resource management were fine-tuned and engaging for players.

Adding complex story elements and advanced customization options could have upset this balance if not properly integrated from the start. This decision wasn't easy for us? because we know that a comp?elling story and deep customization can significantly increase player engagement and replayability. Moreover, some features, such as multiplayer co-op and more complex mech upgrades, were originally part of our Early Access roadmap. So, due to the need for thorough testing and balancing, we decided to introduce these features gradually.

Codename: Ocean Keeper is set entirely in a vast underwater environment. How does this focus on an oceanic setting shape the game's design, and what unique opportunities or challenges does it present?

Kalinin: The ocean environment of Codename: Ocean Keeper fundamentally shapes the game's design, providing unique opportunities and serious challenges. The underwater setting allows us to create a special atmosphere of mystery and danger that is an essential part of the player experience. For example, we can create deep sea caves, sunken ruins, and vibrant coral re??efs, each offering a unique gaming experience. These environments are full of hidden treasures and resources that encourage exploration and discovery. Procedural generation of these levels ensures that no two dives are the same, making gameplay fresh and exciting.

At the same time, designing combat in an underwater environment presents special challenges. We had to make sure that the mechanics of movement and combat were intuitive in an environment where physics behaves differently. Buoyancy and water resistance affect how both?? mechs and enemies move and interact. This required us to develop unique attack patterns and behaviors for sea creatures to make battles both challenging and realistic.

What are your main objectives for releasing the game in Early Access, and which specific aspects are you most eager to receive feedback on?

Myola Vyhohradov: So far it looks like we need more information about the balance in the game (how it feels to different players), optimizatio?n on different devices, and player experience with different game mechanics. We want to know how players feel a??bout the combat system, including the responsiveness of controls, the variety of weapons, and the overall challenge level.

Feedback on enemy behavior and combat dynamics will help us refine these elements to make them fun but not too hardcore for fans of the rogue-lite genre. There will be NO donation in our game (hello F2P projects with skins, lol), so to be honest the support from the community wi??ll also allow us to develop the project more confidently.

What content and features will be available at the launch of Early Access? How does this differ from the planned full release?

Pavel Konstantinov: At the start of Early Access??, players can expect?? a powerful experience that includes such foundational roguelike elements as a dynamic combat system, two different bosses, and a HUB menu with extensive customization options for mechs, miners, and weapons

What are the key goals you hope to achieve by the end of the Early Access phase, and how do they align with your long-term vision?

Konstantinov: Our main goal is to create a we??ll-balanced, content-rich, and replayable roguelike game that will resonate with players. We plan to introduce a wealth of new content throughout the EA phase such as additional biomes, each with unique challenges and resources, as well as new enemies and bosses. For example, we're looking forward to introducing a bug boss that can attack from both the ground and the air, which adds a new level of challenge to the gameplay. These additions will keep the game fresh and give players a new experience, ensuring long-term engagement. As part of our optimization efforts, w??e try to improve performance for both PC and SteamDeck.

Engaging with our community is at the heart of our approach to early access. We plan to actively gather and incorporate player feedback to guide the development process. This collaborative approach will help us determine what works well and what needs improvement to ensure that the final product meets the expectations and desires of our players. By the way, if you like our project, don't forget to join our Discord channel to stay up to date with all the events around the game (we are also lo??oking for beta testers for the PC and mo?bile versions of Ocean Keeper.

How do you envision the game evolving between now and its full release?

Konstantinov: First of all, we plan to expand Ocean Keeper to iOS and Android platforms. This will allow players to take their underwater adventures on the go, battling sea creatures and exploring mysterious depths from their smartphones. We aim for the mobile versions to provide the same rich experience as the PC versions, with optimized controls and performance. In response to numerous requests from our loyal players, ?we are optimizing Ocean Keeper for macOS. ??This will allow Mac users to join the exciting underwater adventure, expanding the player base and making the game accessible to more users.

We are already working on significant visual updates to the main characters, mechs, and diggers. These improvements will include improved textures, dynamic lighting, and more detailed animations, prov??iding a more appealing visual experience. We will introduce three new monsters to the game, each with unique abilities and challenges to make battles fresh. These additions will require players to adapt their strategies and utilize new tactics to defeat these formidable foes.

We are developing a rich storyline that will engage players in an underwater adventure. As the story progresses, players will learn more about the circumstances of their survival and the impending danger they must unravel. This storyline will be augmented by the appearance of?? story bosses that players w?ill encounter as they progress through the game.

How do you plan to ensure that the gameplay remains fresh and engaging for both new and returning players throughout the Early Access period?

Konstantinov: We'll be introducing new content frequently, including additional biomes, weapons, and customization options. You can check out Ocean Keeper news on Steam to see that this is an ongoing process. Expanding the customization options for mechs and introducing new upgrade paths will keep the gameplay dynamic. Players will be able to personalize their experience more deeply, tailoring their mechs to their ?preferred playstyle. This includes adding new visual customizations, unique abilities, and intricate upgrade systems that offer meaningful progression.

Engaging with our player community and integrating their feedback is crucial. We p??lan to actively solicit feedback through forums, social media, and in-game surveys. This feedback will guide our development priorities and help us address any issues promptly. By making pl??ayers feel heard and valued, we can build a loyal community that is invested in the game’s success (at least I hope so).

The post Codename: Oc??ean Keeper team talks roguelikes, oceans, and why it went for Early Access appeared first on Destructoid.

For the entire time I've been a fan of Magic: The Gathering, which started at some point during the UK's various staggered lockdowns, fans have revered Modern Horizons 2 as o??ne of the greatest sets to gra??ce the TCG. Not only has its value never dropped, but every content creator I follow has nothing bad to say about it, often using boxes for giveaways.

That's why, when Wizards of the Coast announced Modern Horizons 3, I knew I needed to get in on it and pay attention. It would hopefully be the new standard for sets in Magic: The Gathering until Modern Horizons 4. Now that it's out, we know that this set absolutely lived up to our extremely high expectations. The Commander Precons are great, the Collector Boosters are fantastic, and the set is?? just great fun to play with, build decks around, and admire in a collection.

So when offered the chance to sit down with senior game designer Michael Majors and product architect Mike Turian, I wanted to ask about everything: the goals for Modern Horizons 3, the designs, the story implications and more. Here's everything we learned about the set from two?? of its designers.

What makes the Modern Horizons sets such massive cornerstones of MTG expansions for you?

Michael Majors: "There are multiple components. One is that I’ve always loved Modern. It has a deep card pool that enables and rewards creative deck building. That has always been my favorite part of Magic, figuring out ways to combine disparate pieces or diamonds in the rough in exciting ways that result in a sum greater than its parts. Giving folks more toys to add to their metaphorical sandbox is a real highlight for me, and I take a lot of joy in providing inte?resting ways for people to express themselves through t??he cards.

"The second is that Modern Horizons, by nature, not formally connected to a particular plane or story, gives us the opportunity to make both creative allusions and rich mechanical mashups that would be considered out of place or potentially too complex in a normal frontlist release. The product line was originally pitched as a 'Time Spiral 2,' a block known as a love letter to fans of Magic way back in 2006. Since then, there’s been a lot more Magic made that’s available to reference and draw upon. Modern Horizon’s creative conceit, which I often refer to
as 'canonically out of place and time,' gives us a ton?? of freedom to combine interest??ing ideas and reintroduce old characters."

What were the team's goals when sitting down to create Modern Horizons 3?

Michael Majors: "The short version ?was try not ??to break Modern too badly.

"Joking aside, there were a lot of challenges and expectations that needed to be managed. Tradeoffs are always going to be a reality. We had received ample data and feedback at that stage that Modern Horizons 2 was probably too pushed, and while fans of Magic love cracking open and playing with powerful cards, we needed to pivot in a slightly different direction. From the beginning, I knew we couldn’t “compete directly�with Modern Horizons 2.

"Early on, there was exploration done to find some lapsed themes that were a part of Modern and Standard previously th??at fans could be excited about if they were brough??t back. This resulted in some cornerstones of the set �Eldrazi, and Energy, as well as some one-off designs that aren’t intended to overwrite the usefulness of cards that folks already own but give them new options to play with.

"From the beginning, I intended Modern Horizons 3 to target three primary audiences �competitive Modern players per the set’s namesake, Commander players, and folks who have nostalgia for Magic’s history. A looser goal was that many of the most exciting cards in the set could overlap with multiple portions of these audiences. Some examples of this are the energy rares referencing powerful cards from Magic’s past, Necrodominance, and Birthing Ritual.

"The internet likes to joke that the Horizons product line is 'Commander Horizons,' but again, products like these require tradeoffs. Nobody would end up happy if the product had 200 shots at Modern, not only for its overall implications on the format but the simple reality th??at it would be impossible for the format to absorb that much content.

"On a micro level, Modern Horizons 2 providing a bevy of both powerful individual rate cards as well as many strong answers to those rate cards. For the most part, we didn’t focus as heavily on MH3 on providing more answer cards, with some exceptions, but wanted to give more power back to synergy cards, engines, and other lapsed strategies from Modern’s past. A good example of this is th?e MDFC Flip Planeswalkers. They’re individually powerful cards but shine the brightest when incorporated in some specific types of strategies �Spell-based combo, Gra??veyard strategies, Sacrifice decks, and Life Gain, to name a few possibilities."

Did you use Modern Horizons 1+2 as baselines or reference points when putting this set together? Or did you look at MTG as a whole?

Michael Majors: "Absolutely, bot??????????????????????????h! I admit, after having done all three of these sets, I’ve used a lot of my ideas, but g??rounding the set in more firm mechanical space (Energy, Eldrazi, Modifications) as well as getting fresh perspectives from team members helps a lot for creating more awesome and nostalgic content for folks.

"We also give ourselves a lot to work with �essentially all of Magic’s history! In this case, we even went into Magic’s future �sort of. While Modern Horizons 3 is releasing after Murders of Karlov Manor, of course, I loved the concept of using Collect Evidence on a graveyard-based card so much that we even pulled a mechanic forward from a set that hadn’t come out yet while we were designing Modern Horizons 3 for Detective’s Phoenix."

Are there any particular moments in the Modern Horizons 3 story that you're particularly excited about?

Michael Majors: "As noted previously, MH3’s story larger takes place out of time and space, but we do get to capture a few specific moments?? and characters that are always awesome to see. The headliners are the MDFC Flip Planeswalkers �seeing their spark moment, as well as the Eldrazi, most notably Emrakul, the World Anew back dropped against the Innistrad moon that would become her prison. Some other highlights include seeing Shilgengar, Sire of Famine - the Elde??r Demon that Sorin’s family makes a pact with, as well Genku, Future Shaper �Tamiyo’s husband with whom they run an orphanage."

The Eldrazi seem to draw upon the unknowable gods and ancient creatures from the entire cosmic horror sub-genre. How do you approach such powerful beings and bring them in line with all MTG cards so they're not as overpowered as they would be in real life?

Michael Majors: "The mana system of Magic does a lot of work for us! They are way more powerful than the normal creatures you might see in Magic, bu??t that’s the beauty of the game, you really must work for them. The question is where and how do you strike a balance of making players excited and satisfied by working so hard to cast these extremely powerful creatures. We want to make their arrival on the battlefield feel like an event that players will talk about �something worthy of their reputation."

Unlike most sets, Modern Horizons 3 seems to draw a line at where MTG expansions have reached and pulls mechanics from them to help push the game forward. Which ones are you most excited about in Modern Horizons 3 specifically, and why?

Michael Majors: "Energy! It’s cool and both tricky to develop and play with. I viewed it as a large opportunity to make cards that we can’t traditionally make �as an alternate resource, Energy really puts pressure on players to build around it synergistically and gives more freedom to us as designers to concentrate power among a very specific portion of the card pool. We wouldn’t really be able to make d??irection allusions to Recurring Nightmare or Alluren without severely powering them down, but using a restriction like Energy, we can make powerful cards worthy of their callbacks.

Magic: The Gathering isn't all card mechanics and playing the game, though, a decent chunk of the fan base consists of collectors who just want to pick up the cards and own them, Magic: The Gathering Arena players, and those who just want to watch others play but understand the c?ards on a deeper level by own??ing them. I'm certainly guilty of having purchased Commander Decks and not played with them yet.

What was the inspiration for the Ripple Foil effect in this set?

Mike Turian: "We are always looking to find new, striking foil treatments for Magic. Ripple Foil has an amazing sheen to it, much like looking out at a ripple in a serene lake. With Modern Horizons 3 being a celebration of Magic, we went out and searched for a treatment that would amplify the beauty of the artwork. Ripple Foil had that qu?ality of being striking and making the already amazing art stand out even more."

We've not seen Collector Commander decks since the launch of the Warhammer 40K sets. Why did you want
Modern Horizons 3 to have these?

Mike Turian: "When we set out making the first Modern Horizons set, we knew that it would appeal to players of the Modern format, and it did. What also happened was our community of Commander players got excited by the cards in Modern Horizons 1 too. We saw this happen again in Modern Horizons 2. As it turns out Commander players love powerful and appealing cards. So, when we were planning out Modern Horizons 3, it made sense to be able to create cards with the feel of a Horizons set that were focused on solely the Commander audience. With the Commander decks being part of MH3, we were able to create new designs that had the feel of being part of Modern Horizons 3, without having to w??orry about how they played in Modern.

"From there, the Collector editions of Commander decks had been quite popular with Warhammer 40,000 and with MH3 we saw a chance to combine the new Ripple Foil treatment with the cool new Commander-focused designs. The reception for the Collector Commander has already been so positive, I’m glad we could bring it all together for Modern Horizons 3."

If you're allowed to reveal it, what is your favorite card, or cards, that you worked on from the set and why?

Michael Majors: "Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd. I’m very biased. She’s based off my dog. The thought process was essentially: people like dogs. I have a corgi; and we’ve never done a corgi. Ok, how would I show a corgi in Magic’s language? They’re herding dogs. Flickering things is li??ke herding. If she herds your things, she gets a treat. And here we are."

What would you like players, both long-time fans and newcomers, to get out of Modern Horizons 3 as they pick up cards and sit down to play?

Majors & Turian: "Have fun and explore the possibility space. I’ve absolutely loved watching content creators brew with the cards even this early, and the fact that some of the cards don’t have so-obvious homes gives me a lot of joy as a deck builder. Whether you have nostalgia for the references and mechanical mashups of Modern Horizons 3 or not, we hope that players everywhere love playing with ?the cards."

The post In??terview: Designing Magic: The Gathe??ring Modern Horizons 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

Killing Time feels like such an obvious choice for Nightdive to tackle for a remaster. Initially re??leased on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer console in 1995, it received a port to PC in 1996. It’s an underappreciated gem that could use a polish and a second chance.

One thing that struck me in the recent trailer is just how much of an upgrade the new enemy sprites and textures look. Their remaster of Star Wars: Dark Forces was already an impressive touch-up, but the assets in Killing Time struck me as something that would be more difficult to really improve. Many of the enemies are digitized actors �pictures of people in costume. Others are 3D models turned into 2D sprites. How do you improve these without losing the feel of? the originals?

Nightdive artist Albert Marin Garau sent me some det?ails on the magic. Prepa?re to learn.

“We had access to old backup ??CDs that contained the original photographs they took to the real-life actors for the 3DO version of the game, and also higher resolution renders of other non-human enemies,�Albert told me.

The important thing to note is that the PC version of Killing Time wasn’t a direct p??ort. The map was expanded and changed, ??and all the enemies had different sprites. These new enemy appearances weren’t always better. They were often just different. Notably, they removed the actors. This may look less hokey, but also changes the feel of the game.

Albert explained, “All this backup data was for the original 3DO version of the game, so we don't have hi-res sprites of the enemies' PC version.�/p>

As I mentioned, the PC version added (and technically removed in a couple? of cases) new enemies. So, without having high-resolution versions of the assets, Albert had to do things the hard way.

“Since some of the enemies are exclusive to the PC version (the Gardener, the Sexy Maid, the Tough Guy, and even the final boss, Tess??, for example) we needed to do something to get a good quality balance between the backed and non-backed up assets. I modeled, rigged, skinned, and animated those exclusive PC enemies and rendered hi-res sprites that match the quality of the other ??hi-res assets,�he told me.

When the trailer flips from classic graphics to the remaster, the change in enemy design might seem a bit jarring. That’s not because Nightdive’s artists took liberties with the art style, it’s because of the change between PC and 3DO versions. “The low-res ones are the PC enemies, the hi-res are the 3DO enemies,�Albert explaine??d.

As for the textures, which also have been upgraded for the remaster, the team once again had acc??ess to higher-quality versions from backup dataâ€?some of them, anyway. 

“All backup data we have is for the 3DO version,�Albert explained. “Most textures used in the PC version came from the 3DO version, but around 25% of them are exclusive to PC. But thanks to the hand-drawn look nature of this game art style in the stage textures, it was possible to upscale and hand-draw all missing details with excellent results. All assets dimensions are 400% bigger than the original assets.�/p>

Altogether, while Nightdive’s upgrades to the visuals seem pretty stark, a lot of effort was taken to ensure it’s true to the original experience. Despite sporting a gloss that feels more at home on modern displays, you still get a sense of the �0s sensibilities. It’s true to the studio’s attempts to ensure that their remasters are the new definitive versions, compiling all the original content, and changing as little as possible, while presenting them with modern comforts. After all, if you’re interested in playing Killing Time: Resurrected, it’s probably because you want to play Killing Time; not somebody’s weak facsimile.

The post Nightdive ou?tlines the process of re?mastering Killing Time appeared first on Destructoid.

There was little doubt that Kaiju No. 8 was going to be a talked-about show when it debuted this season. It's got a little bit of everything: action, comedy, creature design, and originality. But having those qualities and doing them well are two diff?erent things.

Keeping the monster-mashing action and honestly surprising comedic moments in balance can be tricky, especially for the voice actors lending their talents to these characters. So when I was invited to sit down with three actors behind three leads in Kaiju No. 8, I wanted to explore how th??ey manage those tonal contrasts.

As it turns out, the dynamics are part of the fun. Actors Nazeeh Tarsha (Kafka Hibino/Kaiju No. 8), Abigail Blythe (Kikoru Shinomiya), and Adam McArthur (Reno Ichikawa) all bring something of their own to their roles, and a recurring notion was the range o??f depth and emotion th?ey get to explore. Here's our full conversation with the cast.

How did you first get introduced to Kaiju No. 8?

Nazeeh Tarsha (Kafka Hibino/Kaiju No. 8): "My introduction was through various friends that have consu??med the original run. I mean, still ongoing, of course. But you know, every so often you hear someone say, 'Man, this. This manga is like, so awesome.' And it's like, oh, okay, cool. Like, maybe I'll like, check it out every now and then. And then the reintroduction came when, you know, the audition came for the show."

Abigail Blythe (Kikoru Shinomiya): "Yeah, same here. I had seen some people talking about it online, some voice acting friends, of how they were so excited for the adaptation. A?nd I was like, 'Oh, yeah, that's gonna be a thing.' And then I read the first five chapters for the audition, and then I got a feel for the project, and I became really excited. I thought it was real??ly cool."

Adam McArthur (Reno Ichikawa): “Yeah, it's always, I think, it's like our job as actors to kind of keep an eye out for things that are kind of coming down the line, and things that might be a good fit for us, audition-wise and stuff like that. So yeah, it was kind of the same thing. Alejandro Saab, who voices Kaiju No. 9, is a massive fan of Kaiju No. 8 and I think he's the one who I first realized was talking a lot about this series, and all that stuff. So learned kind of about it from him, really.�/p>

What have y'all enjoyed the most about working on this project? What has stuck out to you the most about Kaiju No. 8, specifically?

Abigail: “Well, considering this is like my first lead, getting to explore all of the parts of her character development on-screen, I get to - since she has more screen time - I get to play the softer moments, the more comedic moments, her in action, and get to just explore all of these ranges, which is just suc?h a treat for an actor. So that's been most exciting for me, and just a dream come true, getting to play the entirety of like, emotional depth of a character is just, it's so exciting."

Adam: “Yeah, I think for me, it's just like, it has everything. Everything from amazing animation and character design, amazing music, amazing characters. It's got a lot of like, actio??n, but it also has a lot of humor. It's just been, like, refreshing to see s??ort of like, a new shonen take. Yeah, like a new take on the genre. And, yeah, it has something for everybody. I think that's kind of like my favorite part."

Nazeeh: "For me, it's the amount of heart that exists within the production on all aspects, you know, Between the writing, between the original Japanese performances, between the English direction, the castmates, the amount of passion that's going around in all aspects in order to bring the story, I think, is one that makes it truly a delight to work on. Because it's not so??mething that's inherently available within every production that we work on."

I find that Kaiju No. 8 has a distinct amount of comedy to it, for an action series - what you would normally consider like, a more-traditional action series - but it has a lot of comedy to it. Everyone I talk to is like, wow, it's funnier than I thought it would be. Do you find that balancing the action and comedy is difficult, or is it easy for y'all to kind of switch between those two vibes?

Nazeeh: "Every time I get in the booth, it's always a countdown timer of how many seconds before I immediately have to start screaming or shrieking or go into some sort of tonal whiplash. And it doesn't last more than that. It's always like, two lines in, here we go. Um, balancing it is definitely a little bit of a challenge, but you kind of learn to navigate it, especially thanks to our director, Shawn Gann, who does a fantastic job of sort of breaking the scenes down for us, letting us kind of experience them. And then separating the beats and the tonal shifts so that, you know, we kind of segment it a little bit, so that it's a little easier to tackle. But there are times where it's�there's nothing you can do, you are going from a hardcore kaiju punch to all of a sudden, comedic nipple peeing. Like, it is what it is. [laughs]"

Adam: “Yeah, I think that I think that a lot of that, like tonal like that the vast range and tone is sort of an anime specific, you know, it?'s specific to the anime, to anime genre, you know. Any anime kind of has stuff like that. So I think we've all, you know, been in the genre long enough and been working on things to kind of understand at least, conceptually, what that's going to require of us as voice actors when we're in the booth. But then there's the technical side of it when you're in there. And like Nazeeh said, like, our director Sh??awn will break things down where you know, if it's too fast, or you're going from like, you know, screaming like you're blocking bullets with your voice to a thought filter, where basically like, your character’s monologuing but it's all inside their head, he'll break it down so you can take it in chunks. And the power of editing makes us all sound amazing."

Abigail: “Exactly. I mean, it's definitely a workout for your larynx. It's going up and down all the time. But Shawn is great at navigating it. And I think also just the nature of ADR, as we are like dubbing actors, we have grown to be highly adaptable to any circumstance that is thrown at us because we ar??e acting on the fly constantly. And we, everything that we do is very much like cold-reading and improv, so we ??have been adapted to be ready for circumstances like this."

Adam: "Yeah, and I would actually just like to take one quick second to point out Abigail's correct use of 'larynx.' I always thought the word was 'lair-nyx.' So I just thought, that like, seamlessly rolled off your tongue and I thought that that was amazing. And it speaks to your skills as an actor. [laughs]"

Abigail: "Well, I was a vocal performance, I studied music for four years in school, so you have to take vocal anatomy classes.�/p>

When it comes to your individual characters, what did you find that you vibe with in your specific characters? Do you have a particular favorite aspect about playing your character?

Nazeeh: "I absolutely adore every aspect of Kafka. I've said this time and time again, he is just like, the embodiment of the human condition. He's got the comedy that comes into play, the sort of goofiness of his personality, with a person having fun. He has the tone of a person who kind of has life experience, and kind of got into complacency, then had renewed aspirations, and just kind of goes through the entire spectrum of human emotions. And more than anything else, he's also loyal to a tee, as exhibited by how often he tries?? to protect everyone. So yeah, I don't think there's a single aspect about Kafka that I don't vibe with."

Abigail: "On the same level, Kikoru is actually, the more that I delve into her ?character, I noticed that she was a lot - I was a lot like her. Like, perfectionist, hard to relax, doesn't always work well with others in a team aspect because you're always thinking like, 'I have to make sure that everythin??g comes out perfect.' I had those troubles growing up, not so much now because I've grown, but when I was her age, definitely. Emotionally withdrawn, very guarded. A lot of those qualities, I relate a lot to myself. So being able to play those into her character, and not just the negative ones but the positive ones too, have been really cathartic."

Adam: "Yeah, with I??chikawa, he’s just a good boy. He's just like a loyal, good boy. It's been really cool, sort of�He's unique though, in that I do feel like there's a lot bubbling underneath. We've yet to find out why he sort of is the way he is, we haven't got an Ichikawa backstory yet in the anime. So I'm very excited to explore more of his past and to see sort of what led him here, and why his drive to be great is what it is, and why he wants to be a part of the Defense Force. But then also why he takes to Kafka so quickly, you know. I think that it's really cool, and a testament to his character and how good of a boy he is that, you know, he sort of looks up to Kafka right away, but also does it in a way?? that he wants to keep him safe and make sure that he doesn't have to let this Kaiju out and all that stuff."

For Nazeeh - how do you find playing both Kafka and Kaiju No. 8? Is it fun to kind of switch back and forth between the two characters, getting to kind of style-switch that Jekyll and Hyde-type of character?

Nazeeh: "Yeah, no, it's really, really fun. Sort of exhilarating. Vocally taxing, I will also say. [laughs] But like I said, you get to explore the entire range of human emotion through it. And it's not often that you have a character, especially a protagonist of a shonen-like anime, where he is the comedic ??relief of his own show. And then all of a sudden, you get this sort of just like, hardcore, you know, fighting protag that we're all used to in various media. But yeah, no, it's super fun being able to explore all that, and it's very rewarding being able to pull off those like, moment-to-moment scenes and those beats, yeah."

You get like, a really fun dramatic range with that.

Nazeeh: "Yeah, no, I’ve definitely come close to losing my voice a couple times. So there is that. [laughs]"

Kaiju No. 8 is currently airing on Crunchyroll with new episodes each Saturday.

The post Laughing, roaring, and learning about the larynx with Kaiju No. 8’s English dub cast appeared first on Destructoid.

Over the last year or so, I’ve inexplicably joined the ranks of people collecting big, bulky vinyl soundtracks. Albums are enjoying their second coming in a mostly digital era, and initially, I picked up a few with the sole intent of hanging them on a barren bedroom wall. Yet somehow, somewhere along the way, I wound up with a record player listening to the Silent Hill 4 soundtrack?. It ?gives me a sort of haunted, pinky-out ambience.

Anyway, I’ve got no technical reason for it. My vinyl expertise doesn't extend beyond 'that sounds good' or 'that sounds bad' �and I don’t own any albums that could fund my retirement or make them worth all the fuss. Really, I just like how holding the unwieldy discs feels, and I'm especially into the ones that look a bit like vintage splatter ar?t. I like looking at the sleeves, blowing away the dust, and using a medium society had long aged out of by the time I was born.

A lot of people making games seem to share that sentiment, too. I recently spoke with Sabotage Studio president and Sea of Stars creative director Thierry ??Boulanger, who seems inspired by what drives us to revisit those little rituals with older media. In the interview, Boulanger offered Destructoid a peek into the studio’s process. It's a look into making something both new and retro, maintaining ?integrity between mediums, and how you decide where Yasunori Mitsuda slots into all of this. 

It’s all about touch

“From the get-go, it was a must,â€?said Boulanger, in reference to the decision to give Sea of Stars the retail and vinyl soundtrack treatment. The studio released its first game, The Messenger, in the same nostalgic vein back in 2018. They were already familiar with the path to getting something tangible made, and with Sea of Stars, Boulanger says it was always part of th??e plan?. 

“We want there to?? be intent in everything that we do. We don’t wanna just move plastic. It’s not so much about the units. It’s that we make something people want to touch, they want to own, they want to be able to keep. They want it to exist in their lives, more than the abstract, digital part of everythi??ng.�nbsp;

The holding, the touching, that’s all part of the retro experience for plenty of enthusiasts. It’s, mostly, a good-intentioned longing for different times or something comforting and familiar. For me, it usually boils down to some combination of childhood favorites and just wanting something a little simpler to manage. However, working within the limitations of yesteryear doesn't merit ?praise by default, despite what my nostalgia insists, and by no means is the pro?cess truly easier.

Sea of Stars gets that, I explained as much in my review, but eschewing what’s needlessly obtuse doesn’t detract from recreating classic RPG designs with modern sensibili?ties. The limitations, however, still exist when you move between mediums  �like making the jump from a limitless digital library to the more restrained, plastic discs.

Sabotage’s Iam8bit vinyl collaboration is a 2xLP collection, so it doesn’t contain the entire, hefty 200-song tracklist from Sea of Stars. Instead, it has to work as a sampling representative of the OST’s best pieces, capturing the work of composer Eric Brown and his legendary collaborator, Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono Trigger and Xeno-series fame, in a curated format. It’s a gauntlet of bangers already made within a limited fra??mework, and for the vinyl, they’d have to be culled again. 

“In capturing retro, we do like to work with the ??limitations because we sort of aim for the type of experience or the type of things that emerge from really harsh boundarie??s,�said Boulanger. 

“So, any track has to be a two minute loop maximum. You need to have a hook in there in like three sections, you know? You can't do this drawn-out intro into a symphonic thing that just goes on. So it's, it's less of a score and more of a classic soundtrack there. But since we don't have the memory limitations of a cartridge, then we can do as many tracks as we want.�/p>

For Sea of Stars, that meant any important cutscene could have “bespoke audio,�leading to its whopping 200 tracks. It’s not the usual setu??p for many of the games that inspired the RPG, so tha?t meant the vinyl would get picky. 

“The first thing we did was [say] ‘okay, we’re doing 2xLP, right? So, we’re gonna save one side for Mitsuda, because this collaboration is s?traight-up legendary.â€?Boulanger laughs describing the process, but that harsh curation left to the rest of the soundtrack was important to get Mitsuda’s 12 t?racks on the physical album. 

From there, Boulanger and Brown worked to sample a selection of its more iconic themes into so??mething that could flow outside the larger, digital collection. They needed the basics, like the town an?d battle themes, but Brown was left to much of the curation process to ensure the round-up was not only representative but balanced. 

“Eric also put care into the idea of the listening experience, trying to pace everything properly. Of course, you want all the heavy bangers, but you also want to sometimes take a bit of a break. So we feel it flows really nicely, but it was really something [of a process] because when you're doing digital, you're kind of boundless, right? You can just do? however much you want to do.

And this kind of brings it back to now, ‘but what if you distill your idea?�It forces you, it puts you in this mindset of like, ‘what's the nugget? What's the, the crystallized form of it that's concise?�It was a super fun journey to do that, even though it was a bit hard.�/p>

Moving with purpose

I describe my own recent affinity for vinyl with a bit of annoyance. If anything, I’m mostly embarrassed to be so sentimental about just stuff. I’ve already got an untameable retro collection of cartridges, discs, and guides eat??ing away at a finite amount of closet and shelf space. But there’s comfort in holding something, purposefully removing the cartridge, or smashing a physical reset button. It compels me into keeping a sea of N64 games. 

If anything, Boulanger’s enthusiasm for that sensation offers a far kinder look at the type of per??son hoarding a stash of CDs to unlock creatures in a decades-old PlayStation game. 

“There is this understanding, there is a commitment to being in the moment. If you're just playing some playlist on Spoti??fy or whatever in your Bluetooth speaker, it's like, yeah, you just go back 10 seconds to keep getting the dopamine hit of your favorite spike in the melody, or you hit next the second you're not like 100% vibing with the current track or whatever. 

Whereas when you have a vinyl, it's kind of like, in a way,  it's a presence. It's not just a thing that you consume. And just all the steps that you have to do to even get it to play, I feel like, your entire body understands that you are committing time to listening to music more mindfully.â€?/p>

It’s a process he sees as almost meditative, or at least shares roots with the grounding, purposeful steps involved in physical media. While there’s no shortage of stories from the director rooted in childhood nostalgia that leads to the creation of games like Sea of Stars, he seems just as compelled by the little processes. “For me, a vinyl is that, I’m going to actually sit down and listen to music. Not on the side, but that's my activity this afternoon, I want to listen to music fully.�/p>

I grew up using CDs, but I’m incredibly nostalgic for the physicality of the whole playing-a-record process. It’s certainly far more cumbersome to pull out the Silent Hill 4 vinyl and listen?? to 'Room of Angel' on a device drastically bigger than my phone, but I just brood better that way. I’m more emotional.

Ultimately, there's always a more critical read of my desire to buy another SNES game at a pawn shop or order more pieces of plastic to stack on a shelf, and I get it. I don't necessarily need every piece of digital media I own as a tangible, physical item, but there's value in that very purposeful, involved way an old concert or vinyl setup makes me interact with it. It's certainly a commitment, as Boulanger described, and in the attention economy where focus is a constant struggle, I appreciate the occasional game or album that dema??nds I slow down.

Sea of Stars launches its retail edition worldwide today and is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X. The exclusive edition with a retro game manual, di?gital game soundtrack, poster, and other collectibles launches in Q2, 2024. The 2xLP vinyl soundtrack is available for pre-o??rder now and is scheduled for release in Q3 2024. A digital download code with the full soundtrack is included with the vinyl.

The post Sea of Stars creative director talks crafting physical game releases?? and our craving for the tangible appeared first on Destructoid.

It's been roughly nine months since Capcom's dino-eradicating PvE shooter Exoprimal hit the scene. It's been an interesting game to follow, as it's continued to find new and surprising ways to twist the "shoot a ton of ??dinosaurs with guns" formula.

Title Update 4, out today, feels like the latest evolution of that. On one end, you have activities like the Neo Triceratops Savage Gauntlet and Time Loop Rebellion, both adding some high-difficulty options for kitted-out players. Custom matches also add a nice feature, for those looking to gather a dedicated party to tackle the hardest challenges in Exoprimal.

And then you also have the Mega Man Collaboration, bringing special cosmetics and suit skins into the world of Exoprimal, as well as a boss batt?le against the legendary Yellow Devil, a classic foe of the Blue Bomber. Plus, new suit variants, and plenty of other reaso??ns to return.

So, we took the opportunity to catch up with director Takuro Hiraoka to see just how things are going for Exoprimal. We talk player response, how the Mega Man collab came to?? be, and even what the future may hold for this dino-fighting PvE experience. Read on to learn more.

How has player response to Exoprimal shaped your post-launch support plans? For example, the Time Loop Rebellion challenge adds a more-powerful Behemoth fight - is this because players seem to want further endgame-level challenge?

Takuro Hiraoka: Following Exoprimal’s launch and the r??elease of new content with each Title Update, we’ve examined how players respond and utilized their feedback for reference. That said, we don’t develop new content or mak?e changes entirely based on these requests. Instead, the development team analyzes the root causes and true meaning behind these views and consciously combine players�wishes with our own aims.

In terms of Time Loop Rebellion’s addition, we understood the storyâ€?™s final battle was well received by players. We were also keenly aware the community found the 10-player co-op missions and event battles enjoyable, including the initial Neo Tyrannosaurus encounter. Based on this, ?the development team had the desire to add content that differed from the competitive PvE components of Dino Survival and the five-player co-op content of Savage Gauntlet. After careful consideration, we decided upon the addition of Time Loop Rebellion.

Another Capcom collaboration is on the way, this time with Mega Man. What was the reason the team decided on Mega Man, over other possible Capcom franchise collaborations?

Hiraoka: We considered collaborations with various Capcom titles, but the following items were
deciding factors for why we opted to move forward with a Mega Man collaboration:

• Personally, I am a fan of the Mega Man series.
• Masakazu Eguchi, who has worked on the Mega Man Battle Network series, was part of the Exoprimal development team and understands the game well. After consulting with him, we thought we’d be able to create an interesting and enjoyable collaboration.
• The development team wanted to see what sorts of fun elements we could bring to gameplay by recreating Mega Man’s 2D action in a 3D action format.

I’ll share more information later on, but the Yellow Devil boss battle is a genuinely interesting fight. I hope that both Exofighters and Mega Man fans enjoy it!

How did you decide which cosmetics you wanted to create for the Mega Man collab? Were there any parts of Mega Man history the team wanted to highlight, in particular?

Hiraoka: When thinking about cosmetic items for Capcom collaborations, we make sure to prior??itize the following things??:

• The game(s) featured in the collaboration are clear and easy to understand.
• The cosmetic items are impactful and leave an impression on players.

For the Mega Man collaboration, a variety of suggestions arose during internal discussions. After careful consideration??, we decided on the contents that are included in Title Update 4. Personally, I wanted to create a Dr. Wily Exosuit skin, but the team wasn’t able to bring that vision to fruition on an actual Exosuit, so we scrapped the idea. That said, Dr. Wily’s presence can be found in the collaboration’s charm and stamp cosmetics. Haha!

The Rajang skin from the Monster Hunter collaboration seemed to resonate well with players and became a hot topic of conversation. We wanted to create an equally impactful cosmetic item for the Mega Man collabora?tion and decided on a Yellow Dev??il Exosuit skin.

The special fight features the infamous Yellow Devil boss. Why did you opt for this fight, in particular? Was it difficult to incorporate a giant robot fight into a game where you normally fight a different kind of enemy (dinosaurs)?

Hiraoka: Based on Exoprimal’s gameplay, we thought it would be difficult to feature one of the Robot Masters that Mega Man fights (e.g., ??Cut Man, Fire Man, etc.) as a boss for the collaboration mission. These battles consist of ten Exofighters working together to defeat a formidable foe, so the boss would need to be large and pow?erful enough to compete with a ten-player squad.

We selected Yellow Devil as a boss-type entity that would be able to meet these challenging conditions. Yellow Devilâ€??™s size aligned perfectly with our needs, and we felt its well-known “block movementâ€?attack â€?where it dematerializes and shoots its body parts at you block by block â€?would give it a fighting chance against teams of ten Exofighters. Another factor that influenced our decision was the excitement the development team felt when imagining the possibilities for Yellow Devil’s “block movementâ€?attack in a 3D action format.

It’s been about nine months since Exoprimal first launched. How has the team felt about its reception since then? What has been the biggest surprise for you?

Hiraoka: The development team is incredibly happy and grateful that so many people have played Exoprimal despite it being a brand-new IP. As a new IP with an unconventional “competitive PvE�mode as its main feature, I feel there have been some challenges, but I also feel that Exoprimal has ?gained a solid fan base and is well received among players. Thank you for your continued support.

We are also appreciative of the game’s supportive and active community, including veteran Exofighters who are stepping up to support newer, less experienced players. I am amazed b?y how much players�skills have improved and matured since launch. The development team is also extremely impressed by how quickly teams are able to complete Savage Gauntlet trials each week. Well done!

What does the road ahead for Exoprimal look like? Are further Title Updates to be expected, or has the team considered any larger content drops like expansions?

Please stay tuned for announcement?s at a lat??er date.

Are there any remaining Capcom franchises that you’d still really like to work with inside of Exoprimal?

Hiraoka: Since Leviathan utilizes a variety of tactics to generate robust combat data, I think collaborations with other Capcom titles would be near-??perfect combat tests for aspiring Exofighters. Haha!

Putting aside the possibility of execution, I think it would be a lot of fun to fight one of the fantasy monsters that appear in Dragon’s Dogma. It could also be exciting to go head-to-head with a massive horde of zombies from the Dead Rising universe.

Exoprimal Ti?tle?? Update 4 is now live on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

The post Exoprimal director talks transporting a classic ??Mega Man boss into the dino-blasting PvE game appeared first on Destructoid.

Suda51, best known for the No More Heroes series, is no stranger to profanity. His games have always balanced surrealist metaphors and symbolism with gutter talk from foul mouthed wrestlers, cops and killers. What made Shadows of the Damned different, at least when it was first released ?in 2011, wasn't how it blended high and low art together. It was the way it was positioned by publisher EA to be a mainstream hit.

All of Suda's prior titles had been marketed as quirky, niche alternatives to normal. With Shadows, and its all star creative team (including Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka), the publisher was hoping? to have a AAA fra??nchise on their hands.

Flash forward to 2024 and Grasshopper Manufacture, Suda's studio, is planning to re-release Shadows on their own, and this time, they are really owning their outsider status. The new content for this "Hella Remastered" edition includes four new costumes. Two are basic change ups for leading man Garcia Hotspur, taking off his shirt and making him into a demon. The other two skins are deep cuts that will only be familiar to Suda's biggest fans. One is based on Eight Hearts, a character from Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, and the other is the same suit worn by the main character of Kurayami Dance, a Japan-only manga written by Suda, based on unused drafts for the original version of Shadows.

With the promise of an affordable price point, it seems like Shadows may finally become a hit, especially on Nintendo consoles, where Suda's games historically sell best. Filling the niche for M-rated content that Nintendo rarely produces themselves has been part of Suda's plan since Killer7 first launched on th??e GameCube. But on the other hand, it could be that the game's sexual, violent, and most of all, curse-laden game will be too much for Switch owners. At PAX East 2024, I got to ask Suda how he thought Nintendo fans would take to the game, if he would ever give people the option to cut out all the curses, and a lot more.

This is the first time Shadows of the Damned has come to a Nintendo console, which is really exciting. Any thoughts on how Nintendo fans will receive it? You know I love the game, but well, it definitely is a great fit for some families, the kind who watch R-rated movies with their children and grew up listening to the Sex Pistols and whatnot, but there’s a lot of families who might way it’s “too extreme for the kids�so...(laughter) How do you think Nintendo fans will feel about the game?

Suda51 (via translator): Well I guess Nintendo platforms aren’t really known for having lots of like super violent games, you know? And Grasshopper is one of the few studios that has been able to put out super violent games on Nintendo platforms. In fact, that’s kind of what we do. The thing with Shadows of the Damned though is there’s lots of violence, obviously, but it’s also with the extra added bonus of being vulgar as shit (laughter). The thing that I’m a little bit worried about in terms of families with little kids and Switches is I want all the families out there who have kids and Switches is to maybe make sure your kid hasn’t purchased the game or hasn’t ripped it off from somebody or something. Just because I don’t want to and can’t take responsibility if there’s a bunch of kids running around goi?ng “Big Boner! Big Boner!�(laughter). “Where’d you learn that word?�Parents, that’s not your kids' fault. You should be better parents (laughter).

That’s what my 8-year old does already. He learned to swear from watching me play No More Heroes 3. That’s where he learned the F-word. (laughter) I thought I turned down the voice acting, but one time I guess I forgot, and that was that (laughter).

Suda51: Sorry! (laughter)

Shadows of the Darned: Hecka Remastered?

So to that point, any thought on making a special mode for Shadows, maybe like the “Naïve Angel�mode in Bayonetta 3, where they tone down the M-rated content. They left in all the cursing, so I still couldn’t watch any of the cut scenes with my kid, but they self-censored all the gore and other visuals that kids might not be ready for. So instead of ripping out her heart when doing a magic spell, Bayonetta rips out a tomato. And instead of characters smoking cigarettes, they like, stick lollipops in their mouths. So maybe you could make a "Shadows of the Darned: Hecka Remaster" mode, sort of like how R-rated movies used to be edited for TV, with sound-alike actors dubbing over words like “Mother Fucker�with stuff like “Melon Farmer� so the mouth shapes more or less line up with the sounds. That might be a way to draw in the Nintendo crowds?

Suda51 (via translator): (laughter) We’re not going to b?e able to get a mode like that done in time for this Remaster, but if we do a sequel someday, that’s something we would actually give cons?ideration.

That would be amazing. I will work for free, by the way. I will play any character you want but, only doing weak swear words for children. But I’ll record any weak swear words you want. Crap. Fudge. You name it, I’ll say it.

Suda51: (laughter)

You know, before the translator told me what you just said, I thought you were saying “Jonathan, please stop giving me all these bad ideas. You do it every time we talk� But I guess you don’t hate this one, and that makes me feel fantastic.

Suda51 (via translator): Yeah, I think I get where you’re coming from this time. And we’re definitely not going to be doing it for th??is game because o?f time restraints and also... I don’t feel like it...(laughter) but we could probably add options to tone down some of the gore in some of our titles to take into consideration a wider variety of players, a wider audience and stuff. But we’re not going to do that for this one.

A game for fans of Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime 2?

Right (laughter) Good good good. So, on a more serious bent, sorta, what would you say to people who haven’t heard of  Shadows of the Damned, who maybe know Resident Evil 4, which has been on every Nintendo system since for the last 20 years or so, about the similarities and differences between the games? Do you think most fans of Resident Evil 4 would enjoy it?

Suda51 (via translator): Well, obviously it’s largely a Third Person Shooter, and a lot of the Third Person Shooter elements in the game came from Shinji Mikami [director of Resident Evil 4], who oversaw a lot of the action design?? and stepped in and helped with fine tuning the final product. So while I was responsible for the final script, there’s a lot of him in the game as well. Not just like the story and backgrounds and everything but the way it actually works, the way it’s played. So if you’re into Third Person Shooters, or action type games, then it’s probably worth giving it a try.

Probably? I mean, I don’t think you’re really selling it enough (laughter). Because I wanted to prepare for playing the Remaster today, I replayed the original last week, and I forgot how many times you throw curveballs at player to keep them feeling shocked and excited. Like if you’ve played Resident Evil 4, you can jump right in with the basics here, but you also get to the weird stuff like right away, like needing to change to the light shot in order to shoot goat heads and create safe zones, or having to go from full fight mode into flight mode when you run through the poison darkness to get to an exit. Which come to think it is, something you also had to do in Metroid Prime 2. So I guess that’s another reason for GameCube-era Nintendo fans to feel seen by your game. But yeah, you’re suddenly told you have to shove strawberries into monster baby door lock’s mouths, demons come in wearing shadow armor, all these change-ups that are often saved for later on in a game this size are all coming at you in the first ten minutes or so. Was it a deliberate decision to make the game rapid-fire with new mechanics and action puzzles?

Suda51 (via translator): Well it was a pretty big team on this one, and we worked to fit in as many ideas from various team members that we could in the final game. And when it comes to the script, I really wanted to keep the dialogue going at a steady rate. One of the biggest elements that’s definitely my thing in Shadows of the Damned, from the very start of planning the game, one thing that I had decided from the beginning, is there was going to be a main character and his buddy. It was going to be like partners. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to work out, but it I knew I wanted it to be a dude and his buddy. And possibly, a dude and his buddy who is also a ghost (laughter). That was one of the parts of the game, throughout the whole process, I put a lot of work into, a lot of thought into. It was the thing from the very beginning the thing that I was going to do, really pushed for it and just kept putting as much thought and love into it as I could. If there’s one part of the game that’s specifically a Suda thing that I’m personally proud of, and would really like people to pay attention to, it would be the buddy element b?etween Garcia and Johnson.

Black Knight Sword: Also Hella Remastered?

Speaking of the script of the game, we’ve talked before about another game you wrote, Black Knight Sword, is like a blood relative to Shadows of the Damned. If I remember correctly, the story of Black Knight Sword was taken from one of your early scripts for Shadows. So it’s almost like a little brother to Damned in that way. The two have similar art direction as well, at least when it comes to the brief 2D segments of Shadows, though I know they had a separate dev teams and publishers. So is there any chance Black Knight Sword will see a Hella Remaster too?  

Suda51 (via translator): As for Black Knight Sword, we don’t actually have the rights to that. I believe it’s probably THQ Nordic that ?hold??s the rights.

Oh no! Do they even exist as that company anymore? They were bought and sold a few times since then I think.

Suda51 (via translator): I think some dude probably bought the rights on eBay a little while ago (laughter). But no, what you’re thinking is how Digital Reality originally published the game with us, but I think THQ Nordic bought them later on. So THQ Nordic, last I heard, still has the rights. We’ve actually spoken before about buying back the rights to Black Knight Sword, but unfortunately, it wasn’t really the right time, so we don’t actually have that right now. There’s no concrete plans to revisit it or bring it back or anything, but at least the first step is getti??ng back the rights, and that’s something I’ve considered multiple times in the past, so never say never. But not at all anything we’ve got on the blackboard right now.

Garcia's sexy road to stardom?

It’s amazing how many of your characters are in the hands of so many different publishers and have been in so many games on so many consoles. Like every time I see the Travis Touchdown spirit and Mii costume in Smash Ultimate, I still do a little spit take, seeing this foul-mouthed, murderous otaku next to Link and Mario in game. Travis is arguably more famous than his games, in that way. People who have never played No More Heroes still know him. And Garcia, for my money, is just as interesting of a character. In some ways he’s more dynamic because of his relationship with both Johnson and Paula, and all the ups and downs he goes through with them. So what do you think it will take to make Garcia as famous a Travis?

Suda51 (via translator): You have any good ideas? (laughter). ?I’m th??inking an OnlyFans. (laughter)

Well the truth is, I think it could happen and it should happen, just based on the quality of the game and the quality of the writing. I think that people are more ready to appreciate Shadows of the Damned now than they were 10 years ago. So I’m expecting this is going to do extremely well for you. This is going to be a lot of people’s first ever Suda51 game and they’re going to come away very impressed.

Suda51 (via translator): Thank you for saying that. And you know, back in the day when we released the original, we had a bunch of older dudes at EA who were extremely set in their ways in charge of promoting the game. And to put it in a polite way, it’s pretty clear these dudes didn’t know shit?? about this game (laughter). These were the guys who were supposed to promote it, really not understanding what it’s trying to do, what it’s about, what it is, you know? So hopefully, yeah. Maybe this time it’ll get a bit more of a chance to just be itself.

Super Mario, but in hell

And the way you’re promoting your game now shows that your heart is really in it. When Damned was first published by EA, some people thought “Maybe EA are the ones that really made this game and they just tacked Suda’s name on it for street cred.�But now you’re out here at replica of a bar in the middle of hell, hanging out with whoever comes in, just like Garcia and Johnson might hang out with whatever demons stroll into their life, you’re showing that the story is really about social connection. Garcia and Johnson are talking to each other non-stop in this game, and Garcia’s connection to Paula is the force that drives him forward from hell and back. And likewise, your drive to connect with the fans through this event, and through this game, well like I said, you wouldn’t be doing this if your heart wasn’t really in it. Now it’s just a matter of people taking a chance on the game and finding that out for themselves.

Suda51 (via translator):  Yeah, that’s still in question, right? One last thing that I wanted to say is there’s probably a lot of people out there who don’t really fully grasp exactly what Shadows of the Damned is about. So to put it in super simple terms, in the story you’ve got Garcia who is a demon hunter, and he’s got the love of his life, Paula who is kidnapped and taken away to Hell by Flemming, this badass demon. And so Garcia and his buddy Johnson traverse the deepest depths of Hell to take out Flemming and get Paula back. To put it in even simpler terms, maybe for the Nintendo fans out there, if Garcia is like Mario, then Flemming would be like Bowser. Paula would be like Peach and then Johnson is basically Luigi. Basically, you’ve got the same exact love triangle as Mario. It’s pretty much the same exact story. It’s like Super Mario Bros., but in Hell. (laughter).

Suda, thanks so much for the conversation. It’s always a pleasure.

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is set to hit PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam) sometime this year.

The post Suda51 doesn’t feel like self-censoring Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered appeared first on Destructoid.

The expression “kids these days...�never fails to precede a superior display of generational and cultural disconnect. I’m ??trying to i?noculate myself against one day getting the urge to say that by getting dangerously exposed to the thing that’s currently taking the youths by storm. That thing, right now, is Skibidi Toilet.

Skibidi Toilet is a bizarre YouTube series that combines Half-Life 2 character models with toilets to tell a bonkers story. If it helps, you can think of it as an attempt at making the new generation’s Space Ghost Coast to Coast, or the G.I. JOE PSAs by someone who likely doesn’t ev??en know those exis??t.

YouTube HL2 spoofs aren’t new, but the thing about Skibidi Toilet is how huge of a phenomenon it has become, and how it still managed to fly under the mainstream radar. To get an idea, "Baby Shark"—the most-viewed video on YouTube—came out in 2016 and has since amassed a bit over 14 billion views. "Despacito," the most-viewed music video that isn't about a Baby Shark, has surpassed 8 billion views after six years on YouTube. The Skibidi Toilet series is already past the 65 billion views mark being just a ??little over one year old.

I could try to desc??ribe what it's all about, but there's no replacement for watching it. Click play below! It's short and sweet �one of the reasons why it's such a big viral hit both on YouTube and TikTok.

To avoid assessing the cultural phenomenon from a place of dangerous ignorance, I asked for the opinion of Half-Life series writer Marc Laidlaw. Marc promptly said something along the lines of “What the hell is that?� but then went on t?o watch the whole thing and even shared his th?oughts with me.

How did it feel to see a series that turns the characters that you created 20 years ago into singing toilets becoming one of the biggest things in the history of YouTube?

Laidlaw: I don’t really feel any connection to the characters…I didn’t model the G-Man, for instance, and whatever part of that character I created, it’s not the visual aspect. So I experience no discomfort whatsoever, but just watch with bemusement as the Garry’s Mod community wreaks havoc with the old playset. I think those who sunk a lot of time and expertise into creating HL2’s facial animation system might feel differently when they see these models with their vertices twisted and distorted in ways that make the underlying models look broken and awful, but DFB clearly knows how to do careful facial animation when they want to, and they’re using the typical G Mod distortions to make the Skibidi Toilet people seem more alien. As if they came in at? a bad angle from another dimension, and they’re unstable here. Plus when they leap at the camera and their heads open up like a lamprey, that’s just scary. And I enjoy being scared. It’s certainly a testament to something that these 20 year old character models are still robust enough to be repurposed and weaponized for the wholesale colonization ??of the YouTube eco-entertainment niche, but not to my role in their original design.

What were your thoughts on Garry’s Mod back when it started making waves? Did you ever see this as a possible outcome?

I have always been all-aboard when it comes to fan mods, considering that my first entry into the game industry was in attempting to make maps for Quake. My background was in the [science fiction] and weird fiction communities, where you start out as a fan, imitate your models, borrow from them and warp what you’ve taken and somehow through that try to find your own path and build your own worlds. So the fans of today because the creators of tomorrow, and that’s perfectly natural. The cynical view is that by encouraging this, the industry trains up its cheap young labor, so they are excited to jump in and be worked to the point of burnout doing something that they started off in all innocence loving until it becomes their ruin. Garry’s Mod seemed too insane and chaotic from the outset to give rise to anything other than more playful chaos, and in fact that’s still pretty clearly visible even in the more recent installments of Skibidi Toilets. No way could I have foreseen this, but it encourages me. A few people out there are aware that deep in the doldrums between HL1 and HL2, I made a few surreal maps such as “Ickypop,�where I used the resources available to me at the time (a limited number of models and environments and map entities). I love this sort of thing, and I recognized the same impulse at work in the first skibidi toilet episodes—just to build the weirdest thing you can imagine, with no explanation, but simply because you can. And then, t??he best part, you can share it with other people to see if they think it’s as amusing as you do.

Time will see culturally relevant work end up estranged, sometimes to the point of it losing all connections to its original context. It goes from cover songs that replace original in our consciousness, to revolutionary messages becoming mass-produced merchandise. Skibidi Toilet has over 65 billion views, most from a demographic younger than Half-Life 2. It's possible some from the younger generations may know the G-Man as a huge toilet, rather than the enigmatic Half-Life adversary. How does this make you feel?

As you say, this is one way we pass down our cultural DNA. I grew up watching Looney Toons full of celebrities of the �0s, some of whom were already nearly forgotten by the �0s. Mad Magazine parodies were my introduction to all sorts of seminal movies I’ve still never seen, but feel I have. Kids younger than me who never read Mad still saw images of Alfred E. Neuman, though ?I’m sure many don’t really know where he comes from. Maybe the G-Man is just ou?r new Alfred E. Neuman.

Anyone who follows you on Instagram or YouTube knows that you love making music. You have already created at least two remixes of the Skibidi toilet song at the time of this writing. What are your thoughts on the song itself? Do you consider yourself involved in the movement now?

Well, I gotta say, Little Big’s original Skibidi song, which is where it all began, is really fantastic. I know there’s more to it than that but I haven’t dug into it too much. And yes, I did two remixes, but I can’t see doing any more of these. I love sampling but I’m wary of making music out of things that aren’t mine. However, if some actual rightsholder were to approach and ask and commission me to do a remix, then hell yeah! As far as being in the movement, I think my ongoing YouTube series sets about the right level of involvement�I’ve made over three hours of videos of me looking at my laptop, and somehow a number of people derive enjoyment from watching me watching a screen they themselves cannot see. But I confess the whole c?ulture of reaction videos, where an audience watches someone else watch something, is bizarre and unfathomable to me. I say that even having done it myself now. And I did it partly to understand it. If I were writing a new satiric sf novel about the near future, in the vein of Dad’s Nuke or Kalifornia,? this would be a pretty good starting theme. Maybe that’s why I did it. Yeah, it’s research! “Who will watch the watchers watching the watchers watch the watchers?�(It sounds much cooler in Latin, believe me.)

One of the most endearing aspects of the Half-Life series is its mysteries. Fans constantly wonder about things such as the (real) G-Man’s endgame. Does experiencing the Skibidiverse make you wonder similar things about this bonkers new world?

Hahah, not really. I am not all that big on the lore side of things, even as a consumer. I’m happy to just take what I’m giving, enjoy it as I’m watching, and move on. Very rarely does any kind of fictional world—game, book, or movie—no matter how much I enjoy it, make me want to delve deeper into its background. I like to know there’s shadowy stuff there and reasons under the surface level of what I’ve seen, but it’s enough to sense them. I think the only game that ever inspired me to seek out the external lore (whether official or pure speculation) was Bloodborne. I can’t say I spend any time wondering what’s going on between the Skibidi factio?ns when I’m not actually watching an episode.

Do you prefer to watch from the sidelines, or does Skibidi toilet give you even the slightest urge to come up with your own story set in its universe? Would you be down to a collab with the man behind this series?

I don’t like to interfere with people who are making cool stuff. My o?wn involvement o??r injection of myself into this world would just make it less amusing to me. It’s not very “me,�and I like that about it. It is its own thing and I respect that. It’s original and unique. Why mess with that?

Lastly, anything else you'd really like your fans to know about Skibidi toilet, and your feelings on it?

I try to express my thoughts and feelings as I watch the episodes, and interacting in the comments is enjoyable and the best way to keep up with how I feel at a given time. I learn from the comments…there? are people in there who know a LOT about Skibidi Toilets! I decidedly do NOT. I still don’t really know the whole kid angle, I admit, I don’t have any family members or friends who are the prime age for this as a youth phenomenon. Maybe I should be grateful for that.

When not binging Skibidi Toilet on YouTube, Marc spends his time writing and making music. Do you find yourself dearly missing the Half-Life series? Well, then you should consider heading right here and getting a book written by the person who wrote that universe. You can check out his solo tunes here, and his band Mort Solár here.

The post Plumbing the depths of Skibidi Toilet w??ith Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw appeared first on Destructoid.

It's looking like a big time ahead for Warframe. Publisher and developer Digital Extremes has been steadily ramping up, crafting an arc across updates leading all the way to the looming Warframe 1999 expansion.

Personally, Warframe fascinates me. It's one of those constant "always games," like EVE Online, that lingers on my periphery until some big news or wild story reminds me that it's got a fervent, engaged, huge fan base. I point this out to clarify that my handful of hours in Warframe don't really qualify me as a "Warframe player."

So when I sat down with four big names behind Warframe, I approached it as such. Warframe creative director Rebecca Ford, Soulframe creative Geoff Crookes, community director Megan Everett, and voice actor Ben Starr were all in town for PAX East, hosting the Devstream 178 live on-stage. [Disclosure: Ben was also on my PAX panel, swiping on fake Tinder profiles I made for video game characters. It was unhinged.]

Warframe is intimidatingly large, yet its fan devotion and turnout make it clear there's a lot to love here. So I tried to explore that, through the lens of what's in store for 1999, how Digital Extremes plans out such large updates ahead of time, what inspires and drives these updates, and how Warframe has stuck around for so long. And mayb?e also some funny j??okes, too.

The first thing I wanted to ask, and this might be explaining Warframe to me a little bit, but it really seems like you're ramping up. Whispers in the Walls, Jade Shadows, and into 1999, kind of building one large narrative arc across all these updates and expansions. So I was wondering how you plan around this. How do you plan those things out and space them out, over all this time?

Rebecca Ford: I think the planning of story and story elements has it's always been a, like, an acquired skill once you get handed the reins to Warframe. So generally, I am very much a planner, compared to my prior. [laughs] Geoff is laughing in ?the background. Why don't you answer that question, Geoff?

Geoff Crookes: No, I like this. [laughs] I'm just chaos.

Ford: I like organized plans. But I love Warframe. And I've been with Warframe for 11 years with the team. And I think just generally speaking, the aspiration to plan the story beats has always been part of Warframe. Like we're gonna have, we need one quest a year minimum, we want our players to always be fed a really interesting narrative experience in Warframe. And now we're doing that, we're just doing it with a lot of breadth. It's the same motivati??ons, the same desires, the same, a lot of the same teams working on it, we just are getting ourselves in a situation where we're really focusing on planning the year out. So people kind of know what they're working on or not. Longer, whether or not that proves itself remains to be seen. But that's sort of the, the energy we're bringing into this year, is plan the shit out of everything. Until we can't, until the plans fail or succeed. You tell us, dear reader.

Crookes: It's looking very promising.

Ford: Thank you, Geoff. We love to plan.

You mentioned wanting to have something big, every year, something narratively big. Warframe has been going for a long time. At some point, I'm not asking if you see an end point, but how do you keep building on a story and growing on it? Is 1999 part of that, you're looking back now?

Ford: Yes, I think the one thing that has me most excited for a lot of Warframe's next several years is the arc we're planning. I think that the first 10 years of Warframe have been like episode one, of what's going to be a multi-multi-season storyline, with really focused character development. The player will just absolutely be doing a lot of things they probably don't expect in the next couple of years. I've always loved the stories we've been able to craft together and sequence them in a way that has been unexpected, you know, from The Second Dream in 2015, to the New War in 2021. And now 1999, in [TBD]. And beyond that, it's just about continuing what makes Warframe very unique and special, ?which is unwavering and p??erhaps foolish ambition every year.

Crookes: I think you've fully embraced that.

Ford: Yeah, I'm a fool this year. An ambitio??us fool. I have the disease.

With all that, you've got the story going, but there are also players like me who are kind of newer players. How do you think about onboarding as you keep building on Warframe? Because when you add stuff to Warframe, that's more for a new player to potentially have to grapple with.

Ford: Yeah, we are very much in the thoughtful maintenance phase of onboarding, we know it can be a little rough early on. So we're not going to, you know, tear up the highway and put in a Shinkansen or anything, but we are going to give you�that’s a speed train joke for all you train-heads out there. [laughs]

Ben Starr: Never forget the train-heads.

Ford: But we find ourselves thinking that the experience is what makes a lot of people fall in love with Warframe. So rather than really re-architect for people that have never tried Warframe, make sure that the people that know and love it can tell their friends that it's only getting easier to get into the game they know and love. So we don't want it to become unrecognizable early on. And story matters for people to care about Warframe. So we don't want to??, you know, amputate the parts we don't have ?to.

So it's about the balance between bringing new players on, and then old players, obviously, you want to keep them happy and keep them playing. Do you find that difficult at all? It sounds like Warframe is just like, this is what we do, this is what we are, hop in if you want to hop in.

Ford: Honestly, there's no shame in that anymore. I used to be kind of self-conscious about, oh, we're not accessible to this and that, and that is a problem, and we aren't ignoring it. It's just hey, why hit the brakes on everything, when we know that the content we're making works for the people that love Warframe. This is evident, you know, not just at an emotional level. But when we measure performance of updates, Whispers in the Wall was one of our best performing updates?? of all time by every metric. And that was the tip-of-spear story, you had to have played everything to get there. And if it's performing and resonating with players, why would we move the gaze of focus away from those people that want to be fed ?a meal that we can cook? Versus the ones that we still learn the recipes for, which is onboarding.

When you look towards the past of Warframe, like you're doing with Warframe 1999, you're digging into the roots of Warframes and Protoframes. Is it weird to go and play with that stuff and go into the roots of what Warframe and be like, 'how are we going to detail this stuff out? How are we going to affect this?'

Ford: It's actually probably one of the most refreshing things we've done. For instance, with Ben - Warframe has always had faceless, silent protagonists, which it will still have. Play Excalibur, do what you want. But we're testing brand-new tech, prototyping some Warframe gameplay that has voice lines. So Ben has very kindly lent his voice to Arthur, as we're working out a way when you're playing that quest, which I won't say too much about, but you actually hear Arthur interact with the 1999 world. And it is, it's like...

Crookes: The prototype looks amazing.

Ford: Yeah, it's very interesting.

Starr: I've had a blast. I suppose it's kind of a cool thing, really, because I came on, I remember when you asked me to do this. And the whole t??hing has been very collaborative, I think. The process has been, what do we find interesting? How do you want to integrate this very new thing into a game that has an established toolset? And people understand how to interact with it and going well, what we're asking you is to understand what you've experienced for the past 11 years, but it's just something ever so slightly new. And I suppose that's how you re-engage an audience that have either experienced it before or fallen off a little bit and say, come back. And I just love the fact that we get to tell a really cool story.

Ford: Yeah, we're focusing a lot on the 1999 platform as a story for Warframe. And it's an expansion, you know, it's not a separate game. You, the player, if you've played Warframe, for 11 years, you'll be there, and Arthur, Protoframe. He's the first. There's other Proto?frames we'll be introducing. And you'll have to see how you, as a player, interact with these characters and what the future holds with that type of relationship, and what they want, what they need, or how they view you, as friend or foe.

Starr: Mmmm, the tease.

I'll come back to the Protoframes in a second, but I did want to ask Ben, when it comes to Warframe, what drew you to Warframe?

Starr: Do you know what genuinely drew me to Warframe? So Rebb and I were talking for a while, because we share a lot of like, loves, and we would just talk about stuff had nothing to do with work. Just Final Fantasy, but just like, weird shit that we were playing or whatever. We were just chatting. And then [Rebb] just said, 'Do you want to read some lines for this?' And I was like, 'Yeah, okay, fine.' And I did, and you went, 'Do you want to play this role?' And I was like, for real? You really want me to do this? And I knew you, I've known Warframe for such a long time because like, even though I've never played it, I've always been aware of the community. And specifically, I've been aware of a lot of great content creators, and it's like, there's a Noclip documentary about it. Like, I remember when you first started talking to me, I was like, 'Oh my god, you're Rebecca Ford from the Noclip documentary about Warframe.' And like, I know, Ralph, I know SkillUp, and I've watched a lot of his content. And it, it's been this amazing universe that's been so present and adjacent to my life at the same time, that I just haven't ever had the time to play. ??But the fact that you kind of tru?sted me anyway, 'do you want to come onboard,' and I was like 'yes I fucking do.'

Because I've been a part of, the past year, I've been a part of the Final Fantasy community, who are incredibly loyal and passio??nate. And I love being a part of, and engaging with, communities that love the thing that they play. So the opportunity to be a part of another community that are so deeply, deeply passionate about the thing that they love, I just think it's the coolest thing. And, yeah, I just like good characters. And I like playing badasses, because I'm not a really badass person. You sold it to me like, he's a badass.

Ford: He's got a sword. 

Starr: He’s got a sword, he's cool. So yeah, it drew to me, that is, the fan base, the people who make the games�I've never felt so welcomed into a process before. Like I had, obviously an amazing time on Final Fantasy, I've had an amazing time on other games that I've played, but this feels like a family and a community that I've been welcomed into more than ever. And I? feel like I'm also having, I feel like I get a little say? over the character, really. Like we're building it together and figuring out how we can bring the best of what we do, to make this the coolest thing that you could possibly play.

That segues neatly into the next thing I was going to ask, which was, compared to previous projects, how has Warframe 1999 been different? Especially the live service, evolving game aspect, does that change anything for you?

Starr: No.

Or does it kind of feel like you’re just playing a character?

Starr: It’s a story. It’s a story and it’s performance, at the end of the day, like, that's what I do. I'm not a game developer. I turn up and I read the lines, and I explore the world. And I work with the performance directors. We go, how can we make this as cool an experience as we possibly can, while still engaging people in the story and the gameplay. And it's not different, but it also is in some way, because we're building this as we go. We know what the arc is, we know what the character is, we know what the backg?round is, but the rest of it is very much play, explore, figure out what's good and what doesn't. And I'm really excited to go on this journey with a game that is so good at listening to, understanding, and respecting its fans. And that is going to be the coolest thing to get to do going forward. I just feel like I trust you guys. Like I really trust what this is going to ??be. Because we figured out whether we liked each other before we ever wanted to work together.

The team then lightly ribs each other about getting on each other's nerves.

Starr: But it's a different experi??ence, because?? every experience is different. But I'm so pleased that I get to play in this cool sandbox that they’ve created.

So playing Arthur, you get to like, define a character in this world. How much of it was brought to you, and how much do you feel like you've put into this character?

Starr: Both. It's like any, any process of creating a character is alchemical. It's like, you tell them, you go, I'm gonna bring you this. And then when we're working in the booth, there's like five people on a call, maybe, when we're there, because I'm recording it in the UK. And it's really cool because you know, we're actively changing the script on the fly. You'll have the script that will be there. We're going okay, here's some different versions of the lines, let's try them out. What sounds the best, what sounds the most authentic? And so what I really love about this is they're not, you're not forcing dialogue on me. You're going, 'what sounds the best and the coolest' in that moment, and then we'll?? kind of insert it into the game. So yeah, it feels like if I say a line and it’s not working, we can find a cooler way of saying that line. And I've loved in the sessions where it's always been like, 'let's try this, try this, and now Ben just do like five however you want.' And i??t's wicked, and for the weirdest ones. I really think that like someone’s�there are some weird versions of the lines, because they just go, 'Ben, just do weird stuff.' And I'm like, 'Okay, if you want me to do weird stuff�

Ford: What would a weird, '90s obsessed guy do? It's kind of because Excalibur, the ??frame, has existed in Geoff's mind for, since 2005.

Megan Everett: He is Excalibur. 

Crookes: Yeah, 2004?

Ford: 2004 was like the first Excalibur to paper, and then this year, or last year rather, let’s give him a face. Let's give him a voice. So you have like this, like, collision of everything that makes a character work in Warframe. And now I’m very grateful?? that Ben agreed to join, because it's like, he's so cool.

Starr: Also, how do you h??umanize that has been so�not-huma?n before?

Crookes: Weirdly, I think the 10 years of Warframe kind of set this up perfectly. And then the setting you [Rebb] came up with for it is just, I mean, it's just the right time for it. We always debated it, we always debated, how do we like�how are we going to tell stories with these voiceless characters. Like it was always a challenge for us, and we always had to write around it. And we talked about bringing it in, but it just, it would have been forced. And then this jerk comes along and pitches this brilliant idea. And honestly, it was amazing, and like, I was very jealous of it. But the timing of it also, with just how you segued it into where the story was going in Warframe, was just a perfect fit.

Ford: And I think the most important thing to respect, like a Warframe player that loves Arthur is not Excalibur. Like that's a very clear divide. Arthur is his own person from 1999. He is a Protoframe. So he is not Excalibur in the character sense. Your Excalibur could meet Arthur, but I think it's important that people know that we're not trying to take the frames you love and turn them into people. It's story driven, it's narrative. Your Excalibur can meet Arthur and most likely will, and that's, you can't avoid that I fear. And that's ??by design. It's so Arthur can be someone that you'll come to empathize with, and perhaps you know, really respect and see where he's going. So this is the Arthur.

Starr: You’ll definitely respect him.

Ford: He ??is a bit of a Boy Scout, I can’t deny. A Boy Scout with some grit.?? You’ll see.

Starr: A gritty Boy Scout.

Ford: A gritty Boy Scout. A Man Scout. [laughs]

"I'm not a Boy Scout, I'm a Man Scout." [mimicking writing on paper]

Starr: Put it on a T-shirt, put it on a T-shirt.

Ford: [laughs] Oh god, what have I done?

So when looking at frames, why Excalibur? Why Mag? For Protoframes, why these frames in particular?

Ford: Had to be Excalibur. That was, without a doubt, the most important thing to get right, is how do you give Excalibur a voice and a face and a character that isn't Excalibur, but is b??ased ??on him. Arthur, of course, being an old Arthurian legend, right, he had to. Arthur, Sword in the Stone, that was-

Crookes: He’s kind of the default mascot. 

Ford: He is, he’s the poster boy. Poster man. Poster Man Scout. [laughs] But then, Mag, we wanted to balance a pair, you know, and there will be more dynamics that play out in the initial cast of proto frames. It's not just two, there are more than two, we're not gonna say how many. But it was really important in the whispers in the wall quest to get that dynamic that?? Arthur had someone that cared about him and vice versa. We went with Aoi, which is a Japanese word for blue. And that is, of course, Mag’s Protoframe. And she, you'll meet her today [at the PAX East panel]. You'll see her for the first time, and you'll see their ba?nter. And she's, she's quite the gal. Super cool. Had to be Mag. I wanted a male and a female presenting characters there. And that's how we chose.

It's interesting now, to have these frames be around each other and interact. When I play Warframe, I've always thought of frames as like, you're taking on a body, it's like you're putting on a different suit of armor or a different class, or something like that. Do you feel like that dynamic changes now that there are voices in there, that there are people involved?

Ford: We’re writing to v?ery specific cases, that I don't think we're gonna talk about unt??il Tenno Con, but you'll see.

Crookes: Rebbecca has a very cool solution to this. It’s very? cool.

Ford: I’m just a problem solver.? I make the problems, then I solve them.

Crookes: It works really well.

Ford: So you’ll see. And yeah, I’m excited. We're gonna really show the world what we're cooking at Tenno Con. Today [at PAX] is very much a tease, setting up 1999. And then Tenno Con itself, we have a significant presentation on 1999 and all its parts. So that's where you'll see and figure out oh, that's what's going o??n.

So jumping to 1999, and I mean literally the year 1999, was it fun to just kind of like, dig into the �0s aesthetic and vibes?

Ford: It's actually the most soul crushing thing to do, because we have people on our team that were born in 2001. And I was talking to one of them, and they're like, ‘I wasn't even born in �9, bro.�And I was like, oh my god. And I was only nine, and I remember like Y2K, I was with my mom and my brother wouldn't even go with us because he was so scared the world was gonna end. So my mom and I went by ourselves, for like a New Year's party. And I love �0s, I think that we're approaching nostalgia with a very specific Warframe lens. So it's not just like, 'oh god, I’m getting old, �0s were the best.' It's very much, there's very specific conditions of the '90s we’re thematically exploring. We're going to be speaking to Y2K. That's kind of our, that's our�which s?ome people didn't even know for the record.

Starr: It was such a huge thing.

It was huge.

Ford: But people that were born in 2000, for instance, have no freaking clue what Y2K was. And that's fine, because we're going to redefine it and do our own thing with it. But we get to absolutely, just, touch on very specific parts of the '90s that support the themes we're going for thematically with stories, how we're going to deal with entertainment�/p>

Crookes: And we're also, and you also ma??naged to pay homage to kind of, what the artwork looked like as well.

REBB Yeah, Warframe was based on a Dark Sector concept from the early, early 2000s. And we're going back but (snaps) twisting it giving it a little, little, I don't know what that would be, a gesture of which I�/p>

Like a pepper grinder?

Ford: Yeah, we’re hitting the pepper grinder.

Starr: Do you have any like, I? don't know if you can answer this, but I'm asking, what were like�you said you've gone for a very particular style of the �0s. Can you touch on like, what are particular aesthetic inspirations?

You took my follow-up question!

Ford: Uh ohhhh�

Starr: I work for Destructoid now.

Crookes: This might go for half an hour.

Ford: Yeah, I know. Uh�What you’ll see today, is our version of the motorcycle. So the “Atomicycle�is a vehicle coming, so we're really leaning into�I don't want to say The Matrix meets�But I could. I could say. The Matrix is in holy matrimony with...? some nebulous partner.

Crookes: I don’t know if you want, like, people have made the Metal Gear references.

Ford: Yeah, it’s hard not to.

Ford: Matrix meets Metal Gear meets Warframe.

Starr: That’s how I’ve been describing it.

Crookes: But you’re looking at? some like, legit fashion references and stuff??, for sure.

Ford: Oh yeah, fashion for me, if I wasn’t in games I’d be in fashion, so there’s a lot of like�[click?s tongue]

Everett: Well even musically, Nin??e Inch Na?ils, being part of the trailer, such a huge moment.

Ford: That was Geoff who said, “Use Into the Void.�/p>

I was even having a moment where, I think one of the guns in the promo art was like, I’m used to seeing very sci-fi weapons in Warframe. And like the gun that was in the promo art, for I think Whispers in the Wall [ed. note - it was the 1999 art seen above], was like an AKM.

Ford: But it’s like, our own.

Retrofitted, yeah.

Crookes: The weapons team gets full credit for that, too.

Ford: The weapons team this update, so, when we get deeper into like, the big weapons drop, the weapons team has actually ascended to? a plane of existence I ??didn’t think possible.

Crookes: It’s phenomenal.

Starr: There’s something really exciting about analog, really. Kind of going like, I want to see something in a futuristic setting that I fundamentally recognize as grounded. I think that's it. All the stuff that we've been talking about is like, how do you ground this? How do you make this like, grinding gears or something? I want to see the mechanical a??spects of this work. And like, how does the how is that going to conflict with a lot of, kind of like, the smooth sci fi you might see and know, about, like, previous stuff.

Ford: Does rust exist in the Warframe universe?

Starr: They’ll find out.

Ford: It’s a rusty update. [laughs]

We’re at the 11-year anniversary of Warframe. Which, you know, that’s a lot. That’s a lot to do. And so, how far ahead do y’all plan with Warframe? Like, you’ve got 1999, I’m not saying tell me what the next thing is -

Starr: 2000. [laughs] 

But I guess, how do you think about a game in that many years? How do you start to expand the vision of, this is how far out we’re going to think about the game? Are you thinking about the game that far beyond 1999?

Ford: Absolutely. I’m already in the concept stage for next year with our art director. So yeah, we're already looking? to the next, at least, two years. And as long as our team continues to compress the game files�[laughs]

Crookes: But Warframe, in it??s 11 years, has always been, and I think you've, also the team, has embraced this as well, like j?ust - it's a live game, both in its service and its development. So even though there's plans to get there, a lot of times those plans divert.

Ford: Yeah, we have a pantry. And we keep it stocked. And the game sometimes has a meal that's based on what was in the pantry, or it's like, oh, we've been, ??you know, growing this corn for two years, time to harvest.

Crookes: It can be chaotic. And honestly, like.. humblebrag l?ike, as best a Canadian can do, I really do think our team is pretty special in the industry. They can.. It's kind of a gross tech industry term, but be agile, and just kind of pivot and, and kind of be creative, you know, when a new idea comes to mind.

Ford: We know that, at the end of the day, we have to ship something frequently. So we try and set ourselves up to do that. Sometimes things take longer, sometimes you get a really quick update. But our master is to ship often. ??Like we cannot go dark for longer than three, four, five months, otherwise, we lose, honestly, a lot of confidence, a lot of a lot of those things. So we've learned speed matters and agility supports speed. Therefore, have good ideas that are shippable is a lot of the challenge.

Everett: Yeah, like we have 1999, which is obviously huge and what we're focusing on, but you mentioned earlier, like, you have a Jade Shadows update that's going to b?e coming be??fore Tenno Con.

Ford: It should be coming befo?re Tenno Con. [laughs] But if it doesn’t, we h?ave to adapt.

Everett: Yeah. But it's it goes back to that, you know, always updating and giving players something. And this has its own flavor of�Stalker, who's been a huge character for a very long time, and kind of giving him a little bit more lore. So it's kind of, you know, breadcrumbs along the way of still working on 1999, and everything that's going to come with that. But there's definitely a ?lot of other things that we're working on. And like I said, two years, like at least two years, we know kind of where the story's going. And it's kind of in-between those big major beats, what it is the players want to see or play or learn about, we've got to take into account.

11 years is not just amazing in and of itself, but in this industry, where especially lately we’ve seen so many live service games go up and back down, and y’all have weathered the storm. Do you think that’s part of why you’re able to weather the storm, is just that the team has figured out the cadence, the development process, how to adjust?

Ford: Like Geoff said, we do have a special team. An??d I think part of that endurance is because we actually didn't know we wanted to make a live s??ervice game. We just wanted to make a game in update form, because that's all we could afford. So we didn't, we didn't embark on the quest for the Holy Grail to fail. We embarked on the quest to survive and succeeded. So it's not as though we were seeking live-service reputation and model. We were on the survival track, not the premeditated live service.

Crookes: And weirdly, and now that you mention that, I think honestly, I think survival is still kind of stuck in o??ur DNA. We still have that.

Ford: We are our own, we’re our biggest haters. So anyone out there that thinks that we suck, we think it more. [laughs??] Like, we are still hungry and scared, and the volatility that you referenced, that h??as not escaped us at all. It’s part of our, what makes us, us.

Everett: Yeah, like this could all end tomorrow, but let??’s try as hard as we can so it doesn’t. 

Ford: [To Ben] Yeah, you might be out of a job t??omorrow.

Everett: Yeah, sorry Ben.

Starr: I hate Warframe. [laughs] No, no, no, I love you all.

The post Warframe interview: Revisiting the ’90s and weathering the live service storm appeared first on Destructoid.

Today, Omeda Studios has released the Predecessor Open Beta for Xbox Series X/S via box Game Preview, opening it up for even more players to join its growing community thanks to day one crossplay.

The game was first released on Steam Early Access in December 2022. It's a reimagining and revitalization of the MOBA title Epic Games abandoned two years after its launch in 2016: Paragon. If that name rings a bell, you're not alone. There are loads of fans out there who played and enjoyed Paragon while it was li?ve, but its shutdown wasn't the end. Epic Games released all the assets it had made and left it up to the community if they wanted to band together to rebuild it.

Robbie Singh, who was at the time a Paragon content creator, wanted to see that very project through to the end. Over the following years, he and many other fans rebuilt Paragon, true to the vision they all had for it. Predecessor is so much more than a remake, though, because it feat?ures new heroes and hundreds of improvements that have been implemented thanks to the growing community the game has fostered over the course of the past year or so.

I adored Paragon when it was live on PS4. I thought it was what the MOBA genre was missing. That close-up, third-person gameplay makes for an unrivaled experience that I can feel when I play Predecessor today. I've had the chance to chat with Singh a couple of times now about the game and even play Predecessor with him during? its Closed and Open Betas. Today is a cornerstone date for the title and?? the developer behind it, marking the point that a huge new player base gains access, and here is how that all came about.

A little backstory

Before we dive into the driving force behind today's Xbox Series X/S launch, I want to briefly tell you about the behind-the-scenes journey it's been through. Something I'm constantly in awe of is the fact that Predecessor was initially built by fans in their spare time with whatever coding or game design experience they happened to have. Singh told me how the game looked rough, nothing like it does now in those days, but it was fun because everyone was wor??king together on something they believed in.

The Steam Early Access release was the proving ground for Predecessor. It quickly adopted a large fan base who wanted to be part of this game's interesting take on the MOBA genre. Omeda Studios always wanted to bring it to PlayStation because that's where Paragon also had a home, but the reception?? blew all expectations out of the?? water: there are now over 400,000 players regularly joining matches.

The swift expansion to Xbox

Singh explained to me how, "Feedback from the PlayStation beta really blew us out of the water. Even though we've been out on PC for ?lon??ger, the numbers are already massively skewed towards PlayStation."

For context, the PlayStation Closed Beta of Predecessor started on December 5, 2023, and proved to be so popular that it? was extended into the Open Beta indefinitel??y. It seems as though many players were enjoying the game that it changed the studio's plans from rebuilding and releasing an Open Beta with feedback to ensuring that player base doesn't dip.

Of course, a massive influx of players is one thing. I didn't expect to see the game come to Xbox so quickly, though. I asked Sing??h why the decision was made to come to Xbox so soon after PlayStation, and how the company?? managed to do it.

"We want to hit Xbox too because it's easier to develop in parity rather than wait," ?said Singh. "The PlayStation Beta influx informed the positive decision to do Xbox much sooner, so we move?d forward to do it in March and be ambitious. We built the Xbox version in about three to four months, so very quickly. We benefitted a lot from developing the PlayStation version and we're just excited to get the game onto Xbox."

I asked Singh to elaborate a little on the process of building the Xbox version, using the PC and PlayStation versions, and he managed to make it sound simple. At one point, the words, "??You just toggle Xbox on," were thrown around as a joke, followed by very nervou?s laughter from both of us.

In reality, Omeda Studios was able to build the Xbox version of Predecessor so fast because it had already made a solid foundation. From the word "go," Predecessor was built to support contr?oller? inputs. Adding this further down the line once a game is running on PC is, according to Singh, a load of work and a giant pain.

Thanks to the developer's work on ensuring every input would function well on a controller, a huge amount of work was saved. Robbie told me that building Predecessor's PlayStation ?version took between six to nine months, but a lot of that is building the systems that work with the new device, such as social interactions and databases for the homescr??een. This is still a lot of work, but it's not quite the same as building the whole game again.

With the experience of already having built a console version of Predecessor, the team was in a great position to jump in and make another, which is another reason the Xbox version didn'??t take as long to make. I should add that Omeda Studios also hired developers who had worked on Xbox and PlayStation games to help with these builds, almost certainly helping shorten that development tim??e.

"A lot of people were saying, 'When is it coming to Xbox?' Nowadays, people are much more aware of games that aren’t on their platform compared to when Paragon?? was first released, so we have an advantage here," Singh said.

Omeda Studios is seizing an opportuni?ty that a few games this year should have already taken advantage of: filling a massive gap in the market. "Xbox being new is exciting because it's fresh data for the experience of that audience. I'm interested to see if it doe?s as well as it did on PC and PlayStation," said Singh.

Building for the community first

Singh keeps coming back to the Predecessor community and how the main driver behind every decision is to serve it. In the week leading up to the Xbox release, the company reduced the prices of skins due to feedback it had received from players, refunding those who had purchased new ??ones in the interim.

From my point of view, this is als??o why the studio makes every gameplay decision it does. Singh is incredibly attentive, listening to content creators, play-testers, and casual players alike, and the company works together to find the best way to please as ma?ny players as possible. Whether it's an ability change, new hero, or damage buff, it's all being done to make a better experience for the end user.

Singh is ??very upfront with me about this. He and the studio want players to be able to trust that every skin purchased will go toward finding future development. It's refreshing to hear in an industry that's seen so many devel?oper layoffs while those high up in the same companies continue to be paid exorbitant amounts of money.

This even comes down to launch day. At this point, the team is experienced in releasing new versions of Predecessor and knows what it's doing. However, that doesn't mean that there won't be any issues with matchmaking or other potential problems. Singh explains that the experience for those who get into the game will be preserved, and there's a s?ystem in place to keep matches moving as quickly as possible to get players through any queues that form quickly and efficiently.

The Xbox launch is far from the end of Omeda Studios' plans for Predecessor in 2024. The developer has announced a new game mode and ranked mode coming soon. I asked, but at the time of writing, there are no Xbox-exclusive skins f??or those who jump in right away. The studio loves time-limited event skins, though, so it's worth keeping an eye out to see what can be earned if you try the game out alongside everyo??ne else on Xbox.

Predecessor is currently in open beta on Xbox Series X|S, PlaySta??tion 4 and 5, and PC.

The post Predecessor interview: Omeda Studios talks moving the MOBA revival to ??Xbox appeared first on Destructoid.

We need sites like MobyGames now more than ever. With the ongoing enshittification of the internet,?? where useful and trustworthy information is being buried under a mountain of worthless garbage, user-driven databases are becoming the last reliable, trustworthy sources. How standards have cha??nged.

It’s been 25 years since MobyGames was founded. However, its future was never guaranteed. In fact, I’m not sure I recall a time when it wasn’t at risk of disintegrating. But roughly two years ago??, in 2022, the website landed in the hands of Atari. At the time, I thought that was another twist in a series of bad turns, but now, I’m not sure that’s the case.

I was given the chance to speak with Atari CEO Wade Rosen and the general manager Jeremiah Freyholtz about the state and future of the site, which is something I couldn’t pa?ss up given my history with it.

I joined the MobyGames community in 2009. While I made some small contributions to the database, my main reason for joining was to cut my teeth writing about video games. What I did there 15 years ago led me here. Users are able to submit reviews for any game listed on the site, so that’s how I taught myself to be a critic. All my reviews are still up there, including the first I ever wrote, ?and it’s awful. I keep it up to show how much I’ve developed my craft, but I’m not going to link you to it out of shame.

More importantly, however, I connected wit?h the community there. At the time, the forums were an active place just for talking about video games. Just a bunch of people who loved video games from all eras, all who had very particular and eclectic tastes. I f??it right in.

In 2010, the founders of the site sold it to GameFly Media, and the results were catastrophic. It was done without informing anyone in the community. One day, there was just a GameFly logo at the bottom of the screen. Some longtime approvers and contributors resigned immediately. Even the most optimistic, however, quickly lost faith when the company rolled out an updated look for the site sometime in 2013.

The original look of MobyGames was aging fast, but the new version was b??roken and unusable. The remaining community crumbled. The forum conversations dried up. Even I left after it felt like there was nothing for me there anymore.

One day at the end of December 2013, one of the community members messaged me over St?eam. The old site was back. Suddenly, and out of nowhere. It was a gosh-darned Christmas Miracle.

GameFly had sold the site to Jeremiah? Freyholtz (who we knew as Reed at the time) and Simon Car?less of Blue Flame Labs. They had rolled everything back. More importantly, they were planning to do the work to help restore MobyGames.

The community, having been so badly burned by the Gamefly deal, wa?s skeptical. Work was beginning on Blue Flame’s own refresh on the site, and while Reed was communicating and taking the community’s feedback into consideration, it would never be possible to please so many passionate people. In retrospect, Blue Flame saved MobyGames. At least from my perspective.

Unfortunately, the community would never quite be the same. Don’t get me wrong; a good many of the people who I used to converse with in the forums are still there, and a lot of people still contribute to the site. But the random talk about video ?games in general and their history n?ever really came back. That probably moved to the Discord server, as is often the case these days.

However, the updates slowed down pretty quickly. In 2014, Simon Carless clarified that MobyGames didn’t make much revenue. This meant that Freyholtz had t??o focus on other things and couldn’t devote all his attention to the site. They brought on community member Tracy Poff to maintain things and fit in what upgrades they could.

I made regular donations to the site. I thought this was the primary, and I have no idea why because the site always had ads. Freyholtz told me, “Actually, for most of our history, the site was supported primarily by ads and affiliate links. Although we had donations at times, it was a smaller piece.�/p>

Sometime in 2020, Antstream bought the site, but things remained very much the same. So much so that I didn’t even notice, and neither did much of the community. However, it did open up Atari’s entry.

According to Wade Rosen, “We made a strategic investment in Anstream back in late 2021, which owned Mobygames, and as part of that investment secured the option to buy Mobygames outright. We exercised that option in early 2022. MobyGames was something that I had identified pretty early on as something I thought made sense within the Atari family.�/p>

“For me, Mobygames has always been the source of truth for information about video games,�Rosen said. “That has been particularly valuable to me in game publishing, first at Ziggurat and now at Atari.�/p>

When it was announced in 2022, I thought Atari’s acquisition would just be a repeat of the GameFly situation. The Atari I knew up to that point was coasting on past success by occasionally releasing (very) substandard entries in older series. But since Rosen took over as CEO, the company has made strides in proving that game preservation is their business model. Now it doesn’t seem like such a bad fit.

Development on MobyGames went into overdrive. The site got another interface update, but beyond that, a number of additional features were added. One of the more interesting? additions is still in beta, which is MobyPro, a paid subscription tier that provides improved analytics. Little changed for users who just want to access the database for free, but for people who commonly research games, like myself, it’s an appreciable addition.

“Originally, I wanted to do MobyPro about a decade ago,�Freyholtz explained, “but felt that it and the overall long term vision was untenable with the old backend from 1999. So instead, we put our efforts into first building a new site and infrastructure - effectively a new foundation from which to work from. Tracy Poff (the other developer at Moby) and I worked on that part-time, on and off, over the course of many years. Along with feedback from the approvers as we developed it. Ultimately Atari’s investment and support enabl?ed us to get it over the finish line!

“It was a massive project and I’m relieved we made it to the other side,�he added. “Especially since the site and database is now in the best shape it’s ever been.�/p>

As for how the community responded, Freyholtz says, “The community has been energized by the rapid pace of development we’ve been able to achieve since the upgrade. Prior to that improvements and bug fixes took *forever*. And with MobyPro, it’s still very early days, but it’s off to a good start!�/p>

I asked if contributions have picked ??up since the si?te’s update, and Freyholtz provided a graph to illustrate.

That is certainly a graph. We’re missing an a??xis here, but it definitely goes up.

Things are still in the midst of improvements, however. MobyPro is available, but it’s still in e??arly access. The site is already in better shape than I’ve ever seen it, but I w??as curious about what other additions were planned, so I asked Freyholtz.

“Oh absolutely, there are many!�He replied. “And some have been added since launching the new site. A favorite of which is Game Relations. Which allows contributors to link games to any of its expansion packs, DLC, conversions, compilations or special editions.�/p>

“But overall we’re focusing more on improving the UI and processes for our existing data types before expanding too much into other areas.�/p>

Game relations, in p??articular, have been something requested by the community since the time I was active there. Things like expansion packs and DLC would be listed with their own entry in the database, and you’d typically need to look at the description to see? what they related to. The game relations panel just shows it at a glance.

Speaking of community requests, I had to ask a cheeky question about whether or not the Famicom Disk System would become its own platform.

“As for Famicom, there are differing opinions about that (and some other platforms) in the community, and I’m not sure where we’ll land on that yet,�Freyholtz explained. “Currently we document it as a tech spec, which you can find here.�/p>

Yes, this has long been argued about in the community, even as far back as when I was active. If it’s not clear, I’m on the side that thinks it sh?o??uld be a different category. After all, the Sega CD and Turbografx CD are listed as separate platforms.

25 years is practically ancient on the internet. 1999 was even befor?e the dotcom bubble burst and ended Web 1.0. To close out the interview, ?I asked both Rosen and Freyholtz what they think MobyGames will look like in 25 years.

For Wade Rosen, “I am excited to see the professional layer added to an already rich body of information and active community. As you look forward to how the site will document and discuss more modern games, it opens up a host of possibilities. It is hard to predict exactly what it will look like, but my expectation is that MobyGames will continue to excel at its core mission, and it will remain the most authoritative source for video game information.�/p>

As for Jeremiah Freyholtz, “I think it will make the current MobyGames look like a baby in comparison, in terms of capabilities and scope of video game knowledge. And will be an increasingly important part of the industry.�/p>

MobyGames has gone through some rough patches in the past, and there’s no guarantee that ?it won’t hit another. However, with Atari providing Jeremiah Freyholtz the ability to implement his vision for the site, things are looking more optimistic than ever. Here’s hopin??g that the new owners and, more importantly, the hard-working community volunteer contributors and approvers can keep this important resource going strong far into the future.

As Freyholtz puts it, “Check back on our 50th Anniversary!�/p>

The post Talking MobyGames’ 25th anniversary with Jeremiah Freyholtz and Atari CEO Wade Rosen appeared first on Destructoid.

Vanillaware's latest game Unicorn Overlord arrives tomorrow. The embargo is up, and by now, sites are already posting thoughts and takes on the latest from the studio behind Dragon's Crown, Odin Sphere, 13 Sentinels, and many other well-loved games.

And as I've written about previously, Unicorn Overlord takes an interesting approach. It's looking back on the strategy stylings of classics like Ogre Battle, utilizing real-time strategy and an overworld map, setting it apart from other recent throwback tactics projects. Units move and fight in automated conflict using logical progression that you've set up ahead of time, similar to the Gambit system from Final Fantasy XII.

In the 20 hours I've played of Unicorn Overlord thus far, I've been fairly enthralled. It's a breath of fresh air in the strategy and tactics ?RPG genre, and feels like Vanillaware both broadcasts its strengths (art, music, desig?n, delicious-looking food) and breaks some new ground in tapping into the past.

S?o, ahead of the launch, I sent a few questions over to the Vanillaware staff, to ask about their process. Why did they choose to go this route? What was the development process like? And what's up with the card game in the collector's edition? We got back some answers from Vanil??laware's lead game designer Wataru Nakanishi and game director Takafumi Noma, as well as Atlus producer Akiyasu Yamamoto, to learn about all that and more.

With Unicorn Overlord, there are reports indicating it was in development for 10 years. What was that like, and
was development ever influenced by other projects the studio worked on throughout the decade?

Wataru Nakanishi, Lead Game Designer: Although it was a very long-term project, I did not work on it for the entire 10 years, but rather participated in the development of other projects in between, such as Odin Sphere Leifthrasir and Dragon's Crown Pro.

One project that had a direct influence on me was 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, which I was developing at the same time. When designing the Valor Skills for Unicorn Overlord, we incorporated eleme??nts ??of the meta skills system used in that title as an example.

How did you decide on the scenario and setting for Unicorn Overlord? Did the setting idea come before
deciding on making a strategy game, or vice versa?

Takafumi Noma, Game Director: We set out to make a tactical RPG first and foremost. The general fram?ework for the world, like its setting, and world map were ??developed next. It wasn’t until the later stages of development that we created the story and detailed characters.

The combat system of Unicorn Overlord is very intriguing, in the way it asks players to establish logic and priorities for what units will automatically do in battles. Why did you opt for this, over having direct command inputs for each unit?

Nakanishi: We wanted the focus of the game to be on troop building and the importance of preparing for battle. It would probably be overwhelming to have to give direct commands to all the units marching at the same time (laughing). The battl??e system itself was a result of our pursuit of combining strategy and ease of understanding.

Akiyasu Yamamoto, Producer: The project was proposed initially to ATLUS as a Tactical RPG with network? elements which remained at the core of the game throughout development. The result is a unique Tactical RPG, offering a deckbuilding like experience t?hat, even among Vanillaware, could only be brought to life by the minds of Noma-san and Nakanishi-san.

Why did you choose to forego tiles, and instead use a field map? How did that affect the way you think about
the world and battle maps?

Yamamoto: Perhaps you mean to point out that this type of game is not so common to see from a Japanese studio? As you’re probably aware, the strategy (tactical) RPG market here is quite different from that in the west. For example, the RTS genre has never really caught on here like it has with the numerous PC titles, indie titles, and more. But to return to your question, Unicorn Overlord does indeed stray from the “mainstream�Japanese SRPG tile-based system. To put it simply, the creators of UO had a true passion for the '90s tactical RPGs they played growing up, and wanted to create a new game system based on their experience with said games. If one were to draw a family tree of the evolution of gaming, I think you would find Unicorn Overlord would n?atural?ly sprout out from the same branch formed by those tiles which influenced it.

How did you go about creating some of the factions you interact with in Unicorn Overlord, like the elves and
angels? Were there any favorite factions to work on, amongst the team?

Noma: Since the? guiding motif was 90's fantasy, I thought I couldn't leave out the elf. Initially I?? was thinking of using elves and dwarves which were common to Japanese TRPGs from that era, but after researching the original Norse mythology, we decided to stick to elves and dark elves instead.

Regarding the angel, although the original setting itself was abandoned during t??he production process, the design remained, and I think it ended up being put to good use. I think each staff member likely has their favorites, but I personally like all races, so I don't have a favorite faction.

Unicorn Overlord is heading to PlayStation, Xbox Series consoles, and Switch, but not to PC - is there any reason in particular you chose not to aim for PC at launch? Has there been any discussion about a PC port later on?

Yamamoto: As a publisher, we would like to deliver it to PC users as well, but ??per our agreement with Vanillaware, we are only releasing on console. In other words, there are no plans to port it to PC c?urrently.

There’s been a resurgence in tactics games lately - including games like Triangle Strategy, the Tactics Ogre remaster, and even Mario + Rabbids. What do you think of this, and how do you think Unicorn Overlord stands out from other games of this style?

Nakanishi: As an SRPG fan, I am very pleased. Not only completely new titles, but also remasters of old titles are essential for the survival of the SRPG genre. I for one am very thankful for the recent trend of many SRPG titles b??eing released.

This title, which was created in the midst of all these masterpieces, is full of un??ique elements such as field parts and battle systems. I believe that both fans of SRPGs of the past and those who have never played SRPGs before will enjoy this title.

Yamamoto: Going back to your previous question, the market for “tile-based�SRPGs has been well explored by major developers and historical IPs for decades. What really drew ATLUS to Vanillaware’s proposal for Unicorn Overlord was how? it was a blue ocean opportunity that avoided the red ocean of tile based SRPG. We ourselves had played many tactics games in the 16-bit era of the 1990s and were moved by th??e proposal from Noma-san and Nakanishi-san, which led to the development of this title.

Vanillaware is well-known for its art style, especially its food. How did you decide on what kinds of food to have
in Unicorn Overlord, and does it vary by in-game region? Did you ever make any of the recipes yourselves?

Noma: At first, we wanted to be realistic and envisioned a scene of soldiers sitting around a campfire and eating porridge as their rations. However, we also wanted the food to look delicious to boost morale, so we asked Shigatake-san, who has done cooking animations for our past productions, to do the cooking animation again f??or this game.

We asked Shigatake-san to choose the types of dishes himse??lf. He chose dishes that looked delicious and made us want to eat them, while emphasizing visual differentiation. The dishes that can be eaten differ depending on the region in the game, so we hope that you will look forward to that as well in your adventures. Unfortunately, I have never actually made any of the in-game recipes myself�(chuckles).

13 Sentinels had a fairly winding story with multiple viewpoints, while Unicorn Overlord looks to follow one narrative thread through the prince Alain. How did that shift your way of thinking about the story of this game, and what would you say the defining characteristics of Unicorn Overlord’s narrative are?

Yamamoto: First, I’d like to point out that although both are developed by Vanillaware, the director of both titles is different. Where 13 Sentinels came about as Kamitani-san’s vision of an adventure game, the genesis for Unicorn Overlord was rooted in Noma-san’s passion for the elements from the SRPGs from the '90s that left an impression on him. Things like giving as much gravity to the emotional connection with the characters involved as their ac?tual battlefield functions and performance. Therefore, this work explores the story of the more than 60 unique characters and their motivations for joining the liberation army. It highlights how even the seemingly weak can bring change to the world by raising their voices and working together against tyranny and injustice. To me, that’s the real message of this story.

I’m really interested in the card game that’s included in the collector’s edition of Unicorn Overlord. How did that
come about, and was this something the development team worked on themselves?

Yamamoto: It came about when our publis??her, ATLUS, asked Vanillaware if it would be possible to create a deluxe version for users who wanted to continue to enjoy the Unicorn Overlord world outside of the main game. As for accessories, it would be difficult to use something metal for logistical reasons, so we requested a paper one, and the id??ea we struck upon was a card game. It was the first time for ATLUS to make such an accessory, but we were able to make it a reality by consulting with a long established company that handles card games and other physical games in Japan.

The reason for the extensive size is because the main game itself was created by staff who enjoy deck building and thinking-type card games. The accompanying card game was designed by Mr. Maeda who is a graphic designer at Vanillaware. Please note that although the setting ??and character classes are shared with the main game, each can be played independently, and this does not mean that you cannot fully enjoy the main game without playing the card game.

Unicorn Overlord is out for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox Series X|S on Marc?h 8, 2024.

The post Unicorn Overlord devs talk history, card games, and t??hat de??licious food appeared first on Destructoid.

After over five years in development, developer Inflexion Games is set to release its whimsical survival-crafting title Nightingale. Earlier this month I spoke with three Inflexion Games developers—CEO Aaryn Flynn, Director of Production Leah Summers, a??nd Art Director and Head of Audio Neil Thompson—about the upcoming release, the road to get there, an??d the road ahead.

The Game

DESTRUCTOID: Hello everyone! I had the opportunity to spend some time hands-on with Nightingale b??oth solo and co-op, with each realm I experienced having a completely different overall layout. However, I was the overall size between realms seemed to be rather similar. Is it possible for realms to generate smaller or bigger than usual?

NEIL: So al?l realms are 2km in total space, in terms of playable area. The realms are procedurally generated, so some might have ?more POIs or actual used space, and that does change and get bigger and smaller. Vaults, however, do not conform to that size.

DESTRUCTOID: In regards to the building aspects of Nightingale...I love the ability to mix and match the styles. At Destructoid, we've recently noticed some players tend to build simple cube structures when given the opportunity to open-world build, while others are a bit more creative and really put us to shame. (I'm working on it, I promise.) But are there plans to add more styles to Nightingale as well as additional foundation and structure shape similar to that in say Conan Exiles?

NEIL: Yeah. We've got seven styles at launch, but we're adding to those all the time. We got a running reference deck of architectural tileset ideas that the whole team contributes to. The ones we like we take forward and start conceptualizing with the intent to put them in, and I think that can continue to run. I'm pretty sure we won't run out of ideas for building pieces. There are also plans to add more custom individual pieces to the existing sets. You can be pretty flexible with foundation pieces already because there are no limits to where you can place them, so you can push them into rock formations for example. But, there are opportunities to bring in more things like curved foundations. The current foun?dation system is based around a grid, but you can still get pretty exotic with it. Go beyond the cube!

AARYN: Yep, guilty. I'm a cube guy, personally.

LEAH: We also allow you to clip into different POIs so you can kind of build your ba??se around a giant tree, make a treehouse, that sort of thing using the landscape to avoid cube city.

DESTRUCTOID: Having jumped into the co-op session with you all that was a bit further into the game. The Humbaba boss encounter was definitely more challenging than anything I had encountered solo. Is this encounter and ones like it able to be taken on s?olo or is there any sort of scaling based on your team and party size?

AARYN: So I suspect that for quite a while that will certainly be a social encounter where you call some friends to do it. There is a tier of gear that you can get at The Watch that is Tier 4 and pretty powerful. So just like my own son does torch-only Dark Souls runs a?nd stuff, I'm sure there will be players who figure that out and through building, crafting, and skill will be ?able to take on an encounter like Humbaba solo but that will take a while I bet. Well, famous last words right? Someone's gonna do it in week one now I'm sure.

The Vision

DESTRUCTOID: Let's switch a little bit to the less game-specific side of things. Survival games are suddenly getting super competitive with games like Palworld, Valheim, and Enshrouded, etc. With this suddenly crowded market, what sets Nightingale apart and ??makes it stand out compared to the recent survival-crafting?? games?

AARYN: We think about that a lot. Of course, we play all those games too. I think for us it's the worldbuilding, the universe we've created. I really hope players immerse themselves in it and I think Neil and the team have done an amazing job of bringing it to life. That's the big difference for Nightingale as a survival-crafting g?am??e compared to the others.

DESTRUCTOID: Following up on that question, all three of you were formerly part of BioWare. Is there anything from your time at BioWare that reverberates into Nightingale?

AARYN: I think definitely the worldbuilding. We got a chance to contribute to Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, those incredible universes. You learn a process for that, but you also learn what's got to be established early on. You learn what kind of IP or setting or premise you want to explore. We spent a lot of time in the early days not just emotionally choosing those features, but a little more operationally as well. Can we do this? Can we build this world? Do we have the expertise it takes to do this? What opportunities does survival-crafting offer that fits with our skillset at our studio? We were relatively methodical about that in the early stages before we committed to Nightingale being a gaslamp-fantasy alternate history game.

The Future

DESTRUCTOID: I know you said you expect the Early Access to last about a year or maybe a little less. Where do you see Nightingale three years from now or maybe even longer? What's the long-term goal once Nightingale is out and has an established player base.

NEIL: That's a great question!

AARYN: Yeah, I was hoping you ??knew as a player yourself!

NEIL: What I would hope is the network of Realms that exists and the group of players have a vibrant social hub that will hopefully be Nightingale city by that point. Players would be getting together, forming up in parties, going on adventures in new networks of realms with new biomes, new creatures, new quests, new encounters, and all the rest of it. I think that ultimately is the vision. We say a lot that Nightingale is endless adventures, and I think it really can be. We have no end to the amount of biome ideas, realm ideas, and creature ideas we can put forward into Nightingale if players want it and gravitate towards it.

Nightingale enters Early Access tomorrow, February 20 at 8 AM EST on PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store.

The post Interview: Nightingal??e devs talk worldbuilding and how to stand out in a competitive genre appeared first on Destructoid.

Originally released in 2022, Stray's tale of friendship and a search for?? home captivated the collective attention of the gam?ing world and the internet at large. Initially, that was all thanks to its biggest hook �playing as a cat. A nameless, adorable stray that had many charmed before it'd even launched.

And, to my surprise, what originally sounded like a gimmick turned out to be one of the year's most creative platformers. Refreshingly, Stray had proven me wrong.

In Stray, you're an orange tabby in an underground cyb?erpunk world of robots, many of whom have lost hope that there is a world outside. In a surprisingly heartwarming story with the robot B-12, you go on your quest to find your way home. It's a semi-open world, giving you areas to explore along its linear tale. In typical cat style, you aren't limited to the ground and are encouraged to come up with creative solutions to climb and leap around.

If you want to thank anyone, developer BlueTwelve points to the many team cats who served as inspiration. There's also the adorable real-life stray, Murtaugh, who influenced the game's protagonist. Little Murtaugh was found under a car, but now lives a comfortable life with one of the co-founders and, occasionally, is lovingly referred to as “the Boss.�/p>

Stray's just saw macOS port in December 2023, and has a movie on the way, bringing the tale to the big screen. Though it's still early days, Annapurna Animation's lead, Andrew Millstein, explains that the the game was chosen for adaptation because "it is just wildly popular." In an interview with Swann Martin-Raget from BlueTwelve Studio, Destructoid discussed the world of Stray and what's to come next.

Stray �On the big, the small, and the fuzzy

Destructoid: Stray mostly takes place in Walled City 99. Its cyberpunk aesthetic is beautiful but dystopian, with some inhabitants doubting whether it is even possible to leave the abyss they dwell in. By the end, the game offers a hopeful answer. Was the plan always to make a hope-inspiring game? 

Martin-Raget: What we really tried to do is to not add a moral point of view to the themes we're approaching in the game. We're only showing possibilities through the eyes of a very neutral character without taking sides between good or bad and we let the players decide what to make of it and if they think it's overall a sad or hopeful message.

Destructoid: Stray has plenty of action-packed segments, but what really captured me were some of the calmer moments, like just hanging out with Morusque the musician. What was the motivation for including these moments? 

Martin-Raget: We paid a lot of attention to the rhythm of the game in general. Having a good variety of action-paced sequences, some more puzzle-oriented phases and also times where you just have to look around and enjoy the vibe is very important to keep the story and the world engaging. But also nothing is more typical of a cat than just sleep and do nothing so it was a very natural thing to add!

Destructoid: B-12 is lovable! How did the character come about, and what were the influences? 

Martin-Raget: There was actually a lot of iteration on B-12’s character like how robotic his personality should be and whether his general tone should be more dramatic or more hopeful. It was a very fine balance that required a lot of different trial and error to identify who the character really was and so we are super happy to see people and players reacting well emotionally to him.

Destructoid: The game relies a lot on environmental storytelling, and it is led by a protagonist who can't speak. Did you find this style of storytelling a challenge? 

Martin-Raget: It’s definitely a wide-reaching constraint that changes a lot of things in how you approach the storytelling and the world building. But we also found that it opens up a lot of very interesting possibilities and it’s super helpful to “show and not tell�when we want to leave some room for the player’s imagination to fill the gaps. Creatively it ended up being something really inspiring and motivating for us.

Destructoid: Stray was developed by a relatively small team, which makes the game all the more impressive. What are the advantages of working with a small team and do you wish for BlueTwelve Studio to retain its size? 

Martin-Raget: We have a lot of variety in careers and experiences in the team and quite a few of us have known bigger studios with bigger teams and more complex organization. We know that communication between the specialties and emulation between the people can be very limited in bigger teams where the layers are deeper. As developers, we really enjoy the freedom and the flexibility that working in a small group gives and we will try our best to remain a size that is relatively small and human sized.

Destructoid: Were there any ideas you had to pass on that you wish made it into the final game? 

Martin-Raget: There's always on any project a million of ideas and inspirations that you do have to eventually let go to be able to actually finish a game and release it for others to enjoy. So the answer is of course yes, but knowing that we are such a small team with limited resources, I’m really happy to see how many cool ‘cat features�and ‘cat moments�we still managed to add in and there was not a lot of real heartbreaker in the end.

Destructoid: As an occasional Mac player, I'm quite pleased that Stray has made its way to the platform, as it is often neglected. What was the motivation for the port? 

Martin-Raget: As game creators, our goal is always to have as many players as possible being able to enjoy our game and visit this world we made with our hearts. So we were really happy to have this opportunity to allow Mac players that are as avid and passionate as the others to experience and enjoy Stray.

Destructoid: There are still so many mysteries by the end of the game. Are there any plans for more stories set in Strayâ€?/em>s world? 

Game preser?vation is a topic close to my heart. For me, video games never age. I spend just as much time playing games from decades ago as I do with modern titles. My favorite games are the ones I’ve never played bef??ore, and that isn’t exclusive to the future.

Accessibility is therefore important, especially when it comes to PC titles where changes in operating systems, graphical processing, and even monitor resol?utions have rendered a lot of old titles unplayable on modern setups. GOG has, for a long while now, been an important fixture to people like me. It provides easy access to retro titles from the DOS and early Windows days in formats that are typically simple to get working with minimal configuration.

Typically.

Recently, I’ve been interested in what drives the business of retro ???games. Is preserving old games on new platforms viable from a business standpoint, or is it always just a matter of passion? I got the chance to speak with Urszula Jach-Jaki, Managing Director at GOG, to dig deep into the details.

Publisher grip

There are only so many classic titles still up for grabs these days. Some might argue that the most important titles of yesteryear are still accessible, but that’s proveably bupkiss. Some large, significant publishers like EA and Warner Bros. hold on tightly to some of their most significant titles in their backlog. EA is perhaps the most vexing, as titles like SimCity or even The Sims aren’t readily ava??ilable on even their own storefront.

I asked Jach-Jaki if GOG has tried working with these companies and why they’re so tight-fisted with their properties. “We can cite a few examples of well-known franchises that were not initially available in digital distribution,�they responded. “Thanks to our efforts, a re-release became a reality �Diablo, for example. How??ever, it's always the publisher's decision, and we can only provide them with convincing arguments.

“There could be various reasons behind not releasing well-known titles. Sometimes, it's due to intellectual property ownership issues, with the publisher uncertain about whether they own 100% of the rights to the property (and proving this can be quite complex), or they simply lack the capacity to work on the old build and re-release the game on modern systems.�/p>

There’s also the theory that the availability of games that have newer iterations, such as The Sims, would have their sales cannibalized by older, cheaper versions. However, SimCity has the 2013 version, but you can still purchase SimCity 2000, so the validity of the assumption is ??questionable.

Immediate profit

For that matter, I wondered what games are actually fit for re-release. Specifically, how does GOG estimate the profitability of re-releasing old titl?es. “The key metrics we assess before making a decision typically involve a blend of our experience, conclusions drawn from the past, certain business metrics, and the develope?rs' vision and assumptions,�Jach-Jaki explained.

Further than that, they explain that sometimes it isn’t about how many sales a title will get. “It is not always about pure profit. Oftentimes, we invest to bring back games that didn't achieve commercial success, aiming to make fans of the game and our community happy �especially if fixing the game is not time-consuming. What helps us with these decisions is our community wishlist which we monitor on a regular basis. Some of the games at the very top are challenging to get, so we focus our attention on whatever's next in line, based on level of complexity (and that's usually a mix of who owned/owns the code/IP and what's the history behind the title).�/p>

Since, as I said in the intro, I have to wonde??r if a lot of game preservation is a? matter of passion over profit, I asked if all the games GOG has made available turned a profit, whether after launch or even during its lifetime. Is it worth bringing them back, even if they don’t turn a profit?

“Reviving many 'forgotten' titles may not be profitable in the short term,�Jach-Jaki told me. “Despite marketing efforts around these games, it won't change the fact that many of them may not garner enough attention. While we acknowledge this reality, preserving the legacy and keeping those games alive and accessible to all the gamers who appreciate them, as well as introducing them to new generations, is an important factor. This commitment sometimes means having to wait more time to recoup the investment. However, we can name many examples of re-released games, that continue to be very popular and profitable.�/p>

“This may sound somewhat idealistic,�she continues, “considering we are a store and our primary concern should be generating profits from all the titles in our offering. Game preservation goes beyond financial gain for us and by bringing old games back to life we aim to stay true to our roots and recapture the spirit of our early days with games when we were children. For most of us, these old games played a crucial role in shaping our identities. We strive to extend this opportunity to the younger generations of gamers, whose gaming experiences differ significantly, allowing them to experience the same excitement we felt.�/p>

“As long as this ambition is achieved, it’s perfectly acceptable even if it doesn’t yield immediate profits.�/p>

The lawyers

This made me wonder about something else. Some of the releases on GOG have been modified to be playable on modern operating systems, but others have merely been packaged with DOSbox, and presented as is. This has caused some problems with? games on the storefront, requiring a bit of finessing to get them working properly.

The example that still bothers me to this day is 1997’s Interstate â€?6. It’s a game that has a myriad of problems today that make it nearly unplayable. Even if you do get it running, physics are based on framerate, which makes a particular level impossible to complete. As a result, fans have had to step in and provide workarounds and fixes for the game. These havenâ€?™t been incorporated into the ac??tual store release, so if you buy the game, you then have to dig for the fixes and implement them. If CD Projekt Red and GOG are passionate about these games, why release anything in this sort of state?

The answer was something I hadn’t even conside?red before.

“It depends on the specific contract provisions,�she explains. “In most cases, we do not possess the rights to modify the game build, and if bugs are reported, only the developers can address them. Our role here is to report any issues and offer technical support when necessary, but we cannot act independently to alter the game files. Of course, there are certain situations where we can implement fixes or perform deeper modifications to the game, but such arrangements are relatively rare.�/p>

Oh, right. It’s always lawyers.

Source Port

This is also why GOG usually can’t incorporate fanmade source ports on their storefront. Duke Nukem 2, for example, has the fantastic Rigel Engine that allows the game to run natively on modern operating systems with a myriad of additional t??weaks. But if GOG isn’t allowed to modify the game in any way, even if they had the fan’s permission to use the port, they wouldn’t be allowed to.

A major exception with this was the Daggerfall Unity - GOG Cut, which not only ports the game to the Unity Engine, but also implements a number of fan mods that make Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall more comfortable to play.

“Daggerfall Unity �GOG Cut was our passion project and we were very thrilled with its critical acclaim,�Jach-Jaki said. “In many ways, what the modding community does aligns with our mission �making games look and play better, regardless of their age. Mods can enhance the overall experience with games not only by fixing bugs, but also by offering diverse content and improving gameplay mechanics. We see them as a way to cater to various gamers�preferences and we are eager to work closely with modders to facilitate the integration of their input into the games.�/p>

I’m hoping we get more of that from the platfor?m. At least now, there’s some precedence.

Dragon's horde

In recent years, GOG has slowed down a bit from its original mission of making old DOS games accessible again. More focus seems to be on modern titles. As Jach-Jaki puts it, “The vision for Good Old Games in 2008 was simple: bring back games from the pre-digital era of gaming. This provided us with plenty of fuel for many years. Fast forward 15 years, and we have 1600+ classic games (10Y+) which is roughly 20% of our catalog.�/p>

“We want to be a store that invites modern games as well because, at the end of the day, it's about providing amazing games to our community and catering to various tastes and needs. Even better if we can do it DRM-free!�/p>

It’s still pretty unfortunate that there are some games that may never get a re-release simply because of licensing issues. Even getting a game as historically important as Goldeneye 007 available on modern consoles took decades, and I feel we had to make a compromise as there were very few quality-of-life improvements in the releases we did get. Meanwhile, Activision and EA are sitting on piles of 007 titles that I doubt anyone would go to the trouble of re-releasing.

Jach-Jaki explains, “This is essentially why reviving classic games based on huge licenses (many of which are held by AAA publishers) is such a challenge. There are expired OST rights to consider, sometimes actor fees, product placements, or outdated credits content. All these factors, combined with the necessary involvement of legal teams, producers, and brand teams, make it a significant undertaking. It's a lot of work, not only for us but also for the publisher. Sometimes, as harsh as it sounds, however amazing it might be to restore a game, the opportunity cost does not add up.�/p>

“There are plenty of games like this that will probably never be enjoyed by new generations again unless game preservation is taken seriously. This is precisely what we are here for!�/p>

The future of retro

Finally, I asked if t?here were any games that U?rszula Jach-Jaki personally wants to see preserved.

“There are many of them!�she said. “Allow me to be somewhat vague here and refrain from mentioning specific titles, but rest assured that we have major announcements pending regarding titles we've been diligently working on for an extended period. The classic games community has much to be excited about.�/p>

“Let me also take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our fellow gamers for suggesting titles that should be revived and contributing to the growth of our community wishlist. While we may not be able to fulfill all the requests, we strive to release as many as possible.�/p>

The post GOG’s Urszula Jach-Jaki discusses game preservation and the business of retro appeared first on Destructoid.

It's been an incredible year for gaming with a bit of something for everyone. One of the unexpected gems of 2023 is Jusant, a game by DON'T NOD.

The game doesn't ask you to do anything particularly complicated - there's a tower, and you're supposed to climb it. Proceed, and you'll find yourself on a delightful and occasionally challenging journey that manages to t??ell an emotional tale.

What is Jusant?

It's unlike anything else, though there are some games worth comparing it to if you're trying to figure out what you're getting yourself into. Much like Journey, Jusant offers a calm yet curiosity-piquing atmosphere, and while you're not always certain where you're going and why, the promise of solving mysteries motivate??s you to keep moving forward.

You'll also find Jusant familiar if you've played Death Stranding, as your main rival is the landscape, and gameplay is almost entirely composed of traversal. Lastly, like Team Ico games, Jusant relies on environmental storytelling to t?ell its cryptic tale.

It's a relatively shor?t game that can be completed in an afternoon? or two though it's engaging enough to have you wishing for a sequel as soon as you're done. To help you climb up the tower, you have rope, some pitons, and an adorable sidekick that's able to affect your environment in useful ways. Climbing is a matter of finding the right pathways to progress, which occasionally requires a little out-of-the-box thinking.

It's a gorgeous game with relaxing gameplay that'll put a smile on your face. As you ascend, you'll be treated to breathtaking views and beautiful environments that feature aesthetically pleasing use of light. Thanks to a recent acces??sibility update, more players than ever can access this title. The update brings several accessibility options including a simplified climbing mode and colorblindness settings.

Sitting down with Jusant's art director

I recently got the chance to interview Jusant art director E?douard Caplain. We covered several topics, including the inspiration behind the game, how it has been received, as well a?s how it fits into DON'T NOD's body of work.

Destructoid: Jusant has a very distinct art style, featuring simple, rounded shapes, bright colors, and smooth textures. What was the inspiration for this art style?

Caplain: It’s something I've always been keen to try. Working with almost flat colors, shapes, and lighting works very well in painting, but having this translated in 3D is another story. The art team behind INSIDE did it very well, it looked fantastic. Jusant has t??his distinctive climbing gameplay where the goal is to ‘read�the walls and find where the grips are. So, relying on 3D shapes �like real climbers do �felt right.

And the colors, along with the music, aim to bring t??he positivity and oneirism that we wanted the player to feel throughout the game.

Destructoid: The game’s story unfolds through environmental storytelling, as well as notes left lying around. Were there any challenges working with this minimalist storytelling style?

Caplain: It was definitely a challenge, as devs coming from the Life is Strange series we are used to relying heavily on dialogues to convey our stories. But for Jusant we wanted to make a game less grounded in our reality, something almost drea??my - where everything didn’t need to be explained.

So we lost the dialogs, but we kept everything else that we did before: zen sequences in Life is Strange became the shells in Jusant where you listen to the sounds of the past for example, and the letters?, cinematics, music, and of course ??the environment storytelling.

It’s a different approach as the player ?may not read any of the letters but it’s okay �it’s not mandatory. The game is made so you have a chill and meditative experience on a mysterious tower. It’s up to the player if they want to know more about the lore.

Destructoid: How did the idea for Jusant’s unique gameplay come about?

Caplain: The gameplay came first: the very first pitch for Jusant was about climbing a giant mysterious tower. Then a??fte?r that came everything else.

The gameplay is a crucial part of Jusant, so finding the right balance between challenge and fluidity in? the climbing, the use of the rope, the pitons, the interactions with the world, was important. Basically, all the gameplay bricks that are n??ecessary to keep the player entertained on the big climb.

Destructoid: I found Jusant to be an incredibly meditative experience that managed to be engaging without causing frustration. What feelings were you trying to evoke with Jusant and why?

Caplain: Definitely this! One of our main inspirations was Journey, that we all really loved. Like Journey we tried to challenge the players enough to push them up the tower, and also give them the time to relax and feel the atmosphere. Somet?hing important was to let the player climb at their own pace.

Destructoid: The ending is weird yet hopeful, giving you and your water blob buddy a satisfying reward for your arduous climb. Did you intend for Jusant to be a hopeful game?

Caplain: We tried to, yes. The setting on paper could feel pessimistic: it’s a post-apocalyptic barren world that everybody left, and you’re climb?ing in the middle of the ruins of past civilizations.

But we tried to convey hope through nature. Nature has taken over this world again and the animals are roaming free. Your ballast companion interacts with this nature to help you climb up. The ide??a of connecting with nature to elevate yourself, and overcoming your challenges together, was important for us.

Destructoid: The game is quite different from the projects DON’T NOD has put out in the past. Was this an intentional choice, and did you draw from any past DON'T NOD titles during development?

Caplain: Jusant had to be a game with a narrative aspect, but DON’T NOD didn’t push us into doing another Life is Strange. And as a team we wanted to try something different, smaller, and gameplay oriented. But we did of course keep and use our experience in invoking emotion �through music, cinematics and environmental narrative �??and designing singular environments to substantiate this smaller project.

Destructoid: Are there any ideas that never made it into the final cut?

Caplain: A couple of early ideas didn’t survive conception and preproduction, as they would raise too many questions or not fit into the narrative. For example, at one point, interactions with?? other humanoids were discussed. Another idea was to ride one of those big beetle-like creatures, but the idea was dropped in the end.

Destructoid: Jusant is an eccentric game, which comes with risks. Are you surprised by how well the game has been received?

Caplain: Yes, both surprised and very happy with the amount of interest the game has raised. We knew it was a singular project and thus complicated to market to the outside world. But DON’T NOD has been very supportive throughout its development and since launch �the amount of exposure we’ve had has been incredible. It lets us reach more players that we hope will see what we tried to achieve with Jusant.

Destructoid: Any plans for more stories within Jusant’s world?

Caplain: Nothing is planned yet but the lore we created is rich a?nd there is defi??nitely space for more games in this universe.

Jusant is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

The post Interview: Climbing the tower with Jusant’s art director appeared first on Destructoid.

It’s hard to get excited for a new Contra game. It has been a series with some excellent ups and severe downs. As a publisher, Konami doesn't seem to be the most discriminating when it comes to handing their properties to outside developers. However, the fact that Contra: Operation Galuga is being?? han?dled by the more reliable WayForward gives reason to be optimistic.

I was given a chance to talk to Operation Galuga’s director, Tomm Hulett. Unfortunately, my optimism has been dashed. My first question was the ever-important “What is the best Contra game?�/p>

Hulett responded, “It's gotta be the NES original. The 16-bit games especially have some amazingly memorable moments, but when you want consistent run 'n' gun perfection, there's no surpassing original Contra (though we are trying, of course!)�/p>

Tsk tsk. Everyone knows the correct answer is Contra: Hard Corps.

I’m joking, of course. While I love Contra: Hard Corps for its Treasure-esque variety and weirdness, the first NES Contra is a solid choice. It’s a terrific translation of the 1987 arcade original, but despite its more limited hardware, it’s better in most ways. There’s a mechanical feel to it that is just so satisfying, especially if you see it through without the “Konami Code.�/p>

Contra: Operation Galuga isn’t even WayForward’s first experience with the license. In 2007, they handled Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS, which was well-received, even right here in primordial Destructoid.

For Operation Galuga, the series is going back to the beginning. According to Tomm Hulett, it’s a reboot of the series. It takes us back to the first game’s Galuga Island, “fighting a terrorist uprising before uncovering the true threat.�However, it’s not at all just a remake of the first title. Even when it comes to narrative, Hulett says, “There are a lot of new characters and plot details to flesh out what was originally very straightforward.�/p>

The trailer that hit during the September 14 Nintendo Direct also depicts a mix of classic Contra standards. There’s a hill stage reminiscent of 1990’s Super C, as well as one with hangbars like in Contra 3: Alien Wars and Contra: Hard Corps. According to Hulett, “Gameplay wise, it's all new. Well, obviously there are returning elements �you're running, gunning, picking up Spread Shots, and so on. But we were not beholden to ‘well, let's keep this simpler because it's the first Contra�or ‘we can't put that element in this stage because that's not what happened.�There are original enemies and bosses, and the returning favorites will behave in new and exciting ways. Stage designs are completely new as well.�/p>

Konami was a bit of a different company back then, however. These days, I don’t really know what to make of them. At all. I have no idea what’s going on with them, and I’m someone who watches pretty carefully. It sometimes seems like they just license their old properties to other studios. That feels like their current approach to Silent Hill, which is rather alarming.

That made me wonder how Contra: Operation Galuga happened. Do they just license to interested parties, or does Konami actively seek out partners? “Konami brought up the idea of WayForward returning to the series with the general guideline of it being classic 2D gameplay with modern 3D visuals,�Hulett explained. “WayForward pitched some gameplay concepts, and it was full steam ahead from there.�/p>

Okay, but was Konami just selling door-to-door? According to Hulett, “Konami was very specific about the overall story. They actually developed a full universe bible before even approaching us. It has been a very collaborative process, with Konami and WF workshopping the story of Operation Galuga specifically and how that drives the stages you visit and encounters you have. In my understanding, Konami really values reestablishing Contra as a key brand for old and new players alike, so they were very involved in how characters look and the overall brand direction.�/p>

“For the gameplay itself,�Hulett added, “they really let us at WF take the lead and develop concepts and encounters that we believed in. Obviously, there was some feedback and a lot of playtesting data, but they let us pursue our vision for the player's experience. Overall, it's been a great partnership!�/p>

While the original story of Contra simply had Lance Bean and Bill Rizer as selectable characters, they’re maybe not as interesting as some of the later creations that became playable in the series. Specifically, I asked about that chances of seeing Fang or Sheena from Contra: Hard Corps.

“Several characters will join Bill and Lance on Galuga Island, and they become available as you progress through Story Mode,�Hulett replies. “We’ve revealed a few, like Ariana and Lucia, already! There may even be some unlockable characters if players put in the time.�/p>

Fingers crossed. In the meantime, both Ariana and Lucia sport some interesting designs. I’m down. I just hope they’re playable in story mode. Story mode only allows two players, whereas arcade permits up to four players. I hope that’s not because they insist on Lance and Bill being the only canonical participants in Operation Galuga. Although I could understand why,?? that’s just no fun. Lance and Bill are like the sugar glaze, whereas everyone who has come since is more like buttercream frosting. I’ll take glaze only when there is no other option.

By my count, this is the first time WayForward has worked with Konami since 2012’s Silent Hill: Book of Memories. A lot has no doubt changed since then, so it left me wondering what the chances were that this could lead to WayForward taking on other licenses. My initial thought was Castlevania, but that’s hardly the only property I’d love to see a new game from. Ganbare Goemon, maybe? Or dare I dream and wonder if Rocket Knight Adventures might get resurrected? Tomm Hulett was, after all, the Producer on 2010’s Rocket Knight. He also is credited with scenario.

“From your mouth to Konami's ears!�Hulett replied. “I know exactly how I'd pick up from the ending of RK'10 so my fingers are firmly crossed. In the words of Sparkster, ‘Let's go!’�/p>

For now, I’ve got my fingers crossed that Contra: Operation Galuga turns out to be a success. Considering the last console entry we saw in the series was, uh�questionable, we could certainly do with a win. WayForward did a stellar job with 2007’s Contra 4, so here’s hoping they can? duplicate that ?success.

While we’re at it, is a port of Contra 4 too much to ask for?

Contra: Operation Galuga is coming to Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbo?x One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC sometime ??in early 2024. A physical version will come afterward.

The post WayForward’s Tomm Hulett talks Contra: Operation Galuga and working with Konami appeared first on Destructoid.

Like many video game hobby?ists, I’ve had dreams of making a game of my own. Before I was even in high school, I had a binder full of designs for a game I had dreamt up, but I never really got the means to even attempt to make it. Programming has always bored me, and I tend to get frustrated with art. Even attempts at small projects to just motivate myself with some visible progress fizzled.

The closest I got was a brief stint writing for a ??game company. I co-wrote a game that is still unannounced and may, at this point, ?be canceled. I’m not sure. However, I got the gig at the lowest point of my life, and it gave me something to focus on. I’ve always wanted to return to doing it, but again, there’s a wall I have to climb over to make any progress.

Jordan Weisman is among those looking to make game development more accessible. Weisman was one of the founders of Virtual Worlds Entertainment and FASA Interactive, responsible for the creation of the Battletech and Shadowrun series. He later returned to Shadowrun when he created Harebrained Schemes to help with the creation of Shadowrun Returns and the sequels that followed. After that was acquired by Paradox, he moved on. Now, his latest endeavor, Endless Adventures Inc., is set to release Adventure Forge later this year. Promising “No-code, no Limits, only imagination required,�it’s a platform to allow anyone to get their feet wet with game desig?n.

Mr. ?Weisman and his business partner, David Reid, sat with me to discuss the upcoming toolset, as well as address my concerns about its us?e of generative AI.

The goal of Adventure Forge is “to create a toolset that allows storytellers, writers, artists, and designers to create narratively-focused video games without any coding or scripting necessary,�Weisman explained. They’ve spent “many years of tinkering trying to find authoring paradigms that enabled very rich, sophisticated logic for narrative games.�That led them to “a system of highly contextual, auto-populated drop-down menus so that you can create very sophisticated logic but never get syntax wrong.�/p>

Weismann explained that the driving force behind it was years of creating interactive experiences, including both digital and tabletop games. “The part that brings the biggest smiles to my face are the stories that players told me, rather than the ones I told them,�he explained. “In video games, I never really felt that we were able to offer that level of creativity to players. To people who wanted to tell stories and make games.�/p>

He further elaborated and said that he hoped to see more diverse voices making games and telling stories. “For the most part, we’re still in an industry where it’s old white guys like me who are telling stories. The entire universe plays games, and the entire universe is not old and white.�/p>

“My other hope is that we also see a lot more innovation in narrative game design. Even those of us who have the privilege of having development teams available to us to create games, we don’t get that much time to really play with new ideas because it’s expensive. I write a design doc, send it to engineering, engineering sends it back to me, it sucks (because everything I design sucks the first ten times). That loop is slow and expensive. Your time for real innovation is relatively narrow. So, selfishly I also wanted a tool that allowed me to just screw around and try different things. Try to shorten that loop.�/p>

The plan for Adventure Forge is that it won’t just be a to?olset but also a platform. In order to share and play content, you’ll need the application itself. Its target platforms are Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Chrome.

The reason for the limitation is, as Weisman puts it, “Sometimes art, specifically narrative art, isn’t meant to be shared with the whole world. It might be a very personal story.�So, the platform will allow you to control how i?t's shared, whether it’s with the whole community or just a select group of friends.

Currently, the plan isn’t to allow you to publish your creations externally from the app. However, Weisman says, “The premise is to see what games start getting tra??ction with?? people and then reach out to those creators and work with them to move it into a standalone application that will be available in app stores to expose their great work to an even larger audience.

All this empowerment for solo developers comes at the price of Adventure Forge’s integrated generative AI. Behind those contextual menus is an LLM, and it goes beyond t??hat. One of the touted features of the platform is that if you can’t find a premade asset for something you need within the extensive list of items provided, you can have the AI create one for you, replicating the art style and perspective. It can also generate written text based on the context given, so it might handle the environment descriptions for you.

AI �or rather, what industry backers are pushing as AI �is an extremely nuanced topic of debate. Procedural creation has been part of the industry since the beginning before video games even migrated off of huge mainframe computers. Game en??gines ha??ve long integrated tools to make certain processes of game design easier or even automated. Generative AI might be seen as the next step in this, or even a step too far. There are facets of it leaking into every form of media, and creative people are rightfully afraid of being devalued further in a world where people already seem to believe art should be free.

“The way we view generative content creation is as an author-facing tool, not player-facing content,�Weisman explains. “For us, the most important thing is that the designer/artist/writer/creator of the experience is in control of the experience. That they can guarantee that their creative intent is coming across to the player.�Further, he explains that attempts to use chatbots to supplement the characters and story just don’t provide the desired result. A carrot that is currently being chased by some other big publishers.

Instead, you can get writing prompts from the LLM based on what you’ve written previously. Weisman says, “It’s just text for you to manipulate. For myself, maybe 5% of the actual words that the language model made may end up in something I’m working on. But often, I find that it's blathering of some tropes out will inspire me quicker than if I were just staring at the blank prompt.�He describes it as “the super-next generation of predictive text that we’ve had in our word generators and our emails for quite some time.�/p>

Using generative AI is a bit of a tightrope walk, to put it lightly. The crew at Endless Adventures are being careful with how they approach it, but I still have conflicted feelings on the matter. It’s important to keep in mind that learning to be a traditio??nal solo developer is not impossible. There are a lot of people from diff?erent backgrounds who have taken the dive and met with success. The truly hard part of the ordeal is getting your work noticed. This would be even more difficult to navigate if marketplaces were packed full of quick, low-effort AI-generated projects.

“I think there are many axises to this challenge. To me, even in a big team, players want to play something created by a human that has the thought process of a human," said Weismann. "The human condition that they’re bringing to that story that makes it interesting and relatable. To me, it’s a matter of if they can use those tools in a controlled enough environment to get that creative intent across in a real and cohesive way and develop a style that is going to make each game look unique. Because games need to look unique to stand out in the marketplace. You can’t have your game look like everyone else's.�/p>

David Reid added, “AI is really good at looking backward and building things that humans have thought of doing already. But if you make a game solely on AI, the only things that will play it is AI. Humans will find them very dull and uninteresting. Really, what we’re trying to do with Adventure Forge is unleashing the creativity of people who have been unable to turn the stories and ideas they have into full-fledged interactive games. AI is a tool for that.�/p>

“A lot of entertainment is pattern-driven,�Weisman explains. “Patterns will always have a place in entertainment. One of the things when I lecture that I talk about with designers is that you have to establish the familiar in order for your audience to appreciate the exotic. And the familiar is patterns. Things that we’re used to in our world and our own life experience. And then the human element is how to find the interesting twist. That’s the part that I don’t see a computer coming up with soon.�/p>

That’s pretty o?ptimistic. In my experience, humans have an insatiable appetit??e for the familiar that seems to get more and more overwhelming as the years go by. There’s often a pop where we get tired, and suddenly, super-hero movies aren’t getting the same traction, but I don’t think that results in seeking something unique. There’s usually a holding pattern while we seek the next trend that the masses cling to.

Generative AI and LLM are inevitably going to find a place. If we’re lucky, it will be as Endless Adventures envisions it, and creative people will be empowered to create more. The general fear is that there will be fewer places where creativity has value because AI has filled them all faster, cheaper, and without complaint. It’s hard to have ??your voic??e heard over the din of so many robots.

In the Shadowrun universe, one of the first sentient AIs developed took over a large arcology, locked the doors, and killed most of the inhabitants in what’s known as the Renraku Arcology Shutdown. It’s a good read, but with the way AI has been applied to non-sentient programs that browse data to generate content based on patterns,?? it’s more likely that our world’s AI is just going to suck all the flavor off the bones of the world than destroy us all. Such a shame.

There’s a lot more to discuss on generative AI, but I find the whole debate so tiresome. From this conversation, I’m at least convinced that Jordan Weismann is doing what he’s always done; attempting to empower people to tell stories. There doesn’t seem to be anything malicious about Adventure Forge’s approach, and he’s spent a good a?mount of time consi?dering the potential issues of AI and weighing them. He sees value in pursuing it.

I’m generally on the mixed-to-negative side. As I’ve said, games have used procedurally generated content as far back as 1980’s Rogue. The first two games in the Elder Scrolls series used it to craft their worlds (which were so terrible th??at they never did it again after that). So, maybe it’s, as Weisman says, and that as long as there’s a human behind the wheel, generative AI can be more of a tool than a crappier substitute for creativity.

At the time of this interview, Adventure Forge was expecting to enter its beta period this Fall. It could still ?happen, but I haven’t heard anything since, so we’ll have to wait and? see.

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Based on what we've seen so far, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth looks similar to Final Fantasy 7 Remake. However, it also appears to hide subtle refinements underneath?? the surface that may make it a substantially different experience. And according to game dir??ector Naoki Hamaguchi, it seems this vibe is, indeed, by design.

Last month, I had the opportunity to play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for myself. While I gave my honest thoughts about what I saw during that demo, the experience left me deeply curious about Rebirth's adherence to the original formula and what pieces would deviate. Fortunately, I didn??'t have to leave every curiosity unfulfilled, and I was provided the opportunity to email a few questions directly to the game's development team, which Hamaguchi himself kindly ans??wered.

Below, you'll find our full exchange, which includes insight into how the game will appro?ach both its evolved combat system as well as its new story. Also, there's ?a line about Zack that I can't get out of my head. Enjoy!

Interview with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Director Naoki Hamaguchi

Naoki Hamaguchi: It was a significant decision not to carry over the growth element while keeping this installment format. However, I would like to explain that this decision was made with clear intention. The FINAL FANTASY VII remake project is planned to be a trilogy, ?but we don’t intend to develop the second game to fit the first game's format, only with different content. The second title has evolved based on feedback from the first title, and naturally, the third title will evolve even fu??rther based on the feedback from the second title.

This has an impact on the battle system and the entire game experience in the field, so even if elements appear similar to the? previous game, they have been adjusted, expanded, and are therefore not the same. Rather than forcing the game to be carried over and creating discrepancies in the gameplay experience for each player, we decided that it would be better for all users to be able to enjoy the game in the same state, which would result in a new and fresh experience for everyone. Of course, ?we’ve heard a wide range of opinions and feedback from users, but we’ve also put tremendous effort into creating an experience that will satisfy many fans, and hope those decisions will be received well.

As of Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy XVI, the Final Fantasy series has become much more action-oriented in recent years. Has this influenced Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in any way?

I’ve worked alongside many of the creators who’ve helped develop FINAL FANTASY XV and FINAL FANTASY XVI in several other past projects, and I deeply respect every one of them. So, when asked whether their games have influenced me in any way, naturally the answer is yes. I also have my own answer as to why we’ve seen higher demand in recent years for more action-oriented games. As game graphics have improved and can render much better immersion into the games, the user’s control functionality must also be that much more responsive in real time, otherwise that sen?se of immersion w??ill be disrupted.

Although turn-based strategy certainly still has its appeal, I believe that this?? trend of high-end games pursuing more realistic, real-time control functionality will not change in the future.

When I played the demo for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, I noticed some subtle changes to the returning characters. Aerith, for example, has new attack options and more mobility compared to her appearance in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Was feedback from players who played Final Fantasy VII Remake taken into consideration for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?

We've definitely paid close attention to our player’s feedback from the ??previous title. The previous game was designed ?with an emphasis on command-based strategy, so the action portion of the game was intentionally deemphasized.

For the current title, we’ve given more latitude to action-based strategies and designed the g?ame to allow a variety of playstyles. From there, further suggestions were made by the battle director, Endo. Following his suggestions, large adjustments were made to existi??ng characters, and the changes made to Aerith were a result of this process.

With Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, players will get to explore more open-ended fields and pursue optional objectives. How did you decide on what kinds of sidequests to include in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?

The two major side-content elements are "Odd Jobs" and "World Intel". "Odd Job" side-quests are standard side-quests that can be found in most games, where the player receives a request from a client and ventures off to resolve it. However, to ensure each quest is distinct, they feature exclusive mini-games and gimmicks. In "World Intel," you’re basically asked by Chadley to investigate points of interest around the world to help develop Materia. However, "World Intel" is much more than just that�as you ??investigate e??ach region, the adventure unfolds into a much larger story that spans the entire world, and this comprehensive scale is one of its core appeals.

We've also added further stories and worldbuilding into "Card Game: QUEEN'S BLOOD" and "Piano", which unfold throughout the world. Since there is a large amount of side-content included within the world map, we wanted to maintain the distinctiveness of each one, so players won’t be bored through repe?titive tasks.

Final Fantasy VII has a history of surprising players. For example, I can still remember first seeing that there was an entire world outside Midgar when I first played Final Fantasy VII on PlayStation. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy VII Remake took a new direction with its story that gave new meaning to the word “Remake.â€?Is there an aspect of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth that you hope similarly surprises fans? No spoilers, of course!

The FINAL FANTASY VII remake project titles, including FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, were developed with two ideas in mind, in terms of their core appeal. The first is re-creating what could not be expressed in the original FFVII, using modern techniques to make the audience aware of things they previously didn’t notice, therefore providing an element of fresh surprise. In the demo, the personality of young Cloud during the Nibelheim flashback was rece??ived incredibly well by fans and media alike, and similar to that, we've put in a lot of care to re-create certain scenes with increased realism, which allows for additional layers of discovery without changing the fundamental experience of those scenes.

The second are the deviations from the original game. Overall, we wanted the player to follow the familiarity of how this game progresses in the same way as the original, while still picking up on subtle differences in certain details, which are meant to keep the player on the edge of their seats, speculati?ng what those deviations might mean for the story’s climax. In the previous title, the Whispers played this narrative role, whereas this?? time around, Zack also joins in. He will certainly entertain and wrangle the player in the best way possible.

Both of these two elements are scattered all throughout FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, and will ??surely provide many surprises for fans.

What would you like to say to fans looking forward to the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth?

After a four-year wait, we are proud to present to you FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, which has evolved even further from the previous title with its explorative world map, enhanced battle system with synergistic attacks, and storytelling that keeps you guessing as to what will happen ne??xt. The game will be released Feb. 29, and we look forward to seeing it in the hands of many people.

Once again, thank you for your time!

As Hamaguchi said himself, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launches on PlayStation 5 on February 29.

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At this point, it's safe to say that people are ready for The Elder Scrolls 6. While we're likely still years away from playing it, it feels as though Bethesda will start putting more stock into the Skyrim follow-up now that Starfield is out.

With that in-mind, a recent interview with MinnMax suggests that some elements from previous TES games will make their way into the sixth installment. Former Bethesda employee Bruce Nesmith �who was lead designer for Skyrim �has said that elements that go as far back as Oblivion could be "further developed" for The Elder Scrolls 6.

That particular part of the interview?? begins around the one-hou?r 13-minute mark.

However, Nesmith is not certain what these aspects will be. He does add that we will find his "fingerprints" in the next installment based ?on how the games have been? designed in the past and his impact on the series.

It's a kind of magic

Nesmith then goes on to say that TES6 will likely have traces of the magical elements from Skyrim. So if you like the magic system in TES5, that's something to p??erhaps look forwar?d to (maybe).

Bruce had been involved with the Elder Scrolls franchise since 1996's Daggerfall, eventually becoming Senior Game Designer for Bethesda. He was also a quest designer for Fallout 3. If you've played a Bethesda RPG since the mid-90s, you'll have experienced Nesmith's input. These days, he's a fantasy novelist. His first novel, Mischief Maker: Norse Mythology Reimagined, was released in 2021.

As for The Elder Scrolls 6, we're still pretty much in the dark. Nesmith's comments seem largely speculative, so it's best not to take what he says as the final word in what the elusive Skyrim follow-up will be like.

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When looking at the breadth of war games out there, the ones that inspire players to buy, paint, and field massive armies in skirmishes with each other, few names loom quite so large as Warhammer 40,000. But with Rogue Trader, Owlcat Games is giving the 40K universe a slightly different treatment. And to ?me, they look like the right studio to do it.

I’ve been a digital admirer of the WH40K realm for a while, thanks to the Dawn of War series. A real-time strategy game just makes sense for the world of Warhammer 40,000, as its tabletop versi?on already inspires devotion to the little dudes you send off to battle against Orks, Necrons, and heresy. But how do you translate that to a more narrative CRPG approach?

The answer Owlcat Games has come up with is Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, an RPG that manages to meld the worlds of role-playing and tactical sci-fi carnage into something that, honestly, seems like it just might work. I recently got a chance to sit down and play a new build of the currently in-beta RPG and chat with creative director Alexander Mishulin about their approach to building Rogue Trader.

A classic legacy

If you’re not familiar with Owlcat, the studio has been steadily on the rise in the CRPG space. The team has tackled another tabletop property twice now, with Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous, each time to increasingly positive response. Though Warhammer 40,000 is a decidedly diffe?rent kind of uni??verse, Owlcat wants to keep its approach the same.

“We really want our ga??mes to focus on choices and consequences and reactions,�Mishulin tells me.

In Rogue Trader, you play as just that: a Rogue Trader, given relative freedom to search for discoveries and profits. In the world of 40K, it’s a clever choice; a Space Marine may not have? so much freedom for role-playing, but through a Rogue Trader, you can make choices and determine outcomes independent of any restrictions. You can adhere t?o the Imperium’s will, and preach the word of the God Emperor. Or, maybe, indulge in a little heresy.

Mishulin tells me companions will react in kind, and possibly even turn on you depending on your choices. But that’s a big part of the appeal, for me at least; the nature of Rogue Trader lets Owlcat smash together factions and forces that might normally be at each other's throats. Heck, they might still be there, but have to play nice around you.

The Rogue Trader aspect also opens u?p some interesting avenues for role-playing. On top of being an explorer and adventurer, you’re also a merchant. That means managing a ship full of goods and, occasionally, playing diplomat. Mishulin described to me a situation where another party member might seek my Trader’s help in gaining some permits, and that the player’s Trader might have various ways o?f approaching this bureaucratic issue.

It can lead to funny moments, but also interesting choices as you begin to choose sides and push relationships to a potential breaking point. Those who played Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous know that Owlcat has no qualms about letting you veer down a dark path. It sounds like with Rogue Trader, that isn’t changing.

“What we are trying to bring, to channel, is our narrative experience and the way we construct our stories, with binary choices that are usually left out,�said Mishulin. “We are trying to allow you to play any possible side. Of course, not like any interaction or just killing any character in the game, but allowing you to evil or good, or to dabble in heresy or be loyal to the Imperium, or try to save everybody and see what happens in Warhammer 40K when they try to do that.�/p>

As Mishulin explains, it’s very important to Owlcat that you be able to roleplay in their game. But role-playing is one piece of the pie. Where WH40K starts to look a bit more familiar is in Rogue Trader’s combat.

Squares and corners

Previous Owlcat Games projects, or at least their Pathfinder ones, adhered to a real-time approach with a turn-based option available. The option was nice, but as Mishulin tells me, the turn-based option felt “a little bit secondary�to real-time combat. There were different areas they wanted to explore with Rogue Trader.

So, in Rogue Trader, combat is exclusively turn-based. It uses a grid system that maps out onto the world, and will probably feel familiar to anyone who’s played something like XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

“It’s not like we’re building up on our experience, but we are branching out a little bit and trying to, this time around, to make very interesting turn-based combat, nut based on our strengths,�Mishulin says. “Like a lot of abilities, a lot of combinations between the characters and deep build complexity.�/p>

Builds may not get as wildly complex as Pathfinder’s 26 classes, but a big part of Rogue Trader seems to be the way characters can interact.

Take, for example, the ability to define stratagems on the field. Mishulin showed me how you can desig??nate certain areas of the field as specific areas of battle, like Assault or Blitz, to add bonuses for allies in the area. Using these tools, he could quickly map out a battle plan on the first turn and start to execute it, or counteract the enemy’s formation.

Adapting fast is key, as Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader looks quite capable of being brutal at times. Hits can d?o a lot of damage. Enemies can shatter fast, but so can you. And, in a very interesting move, bullets are all tracked as their own object. If you spra??y fire down a corridor, there will be spread, and you could hit anything from objects behind your target to your own allies.

“It builds the physicality of the space,�Mishulin tells me about their combat. �em>Warhammer is dark and gloomy and visceral. And we wanted to convey this throughout the whole game and mechanics as well. And when bullets start flying, it adds to that.�/p>

Yet the myriad numbers, abilities, synergies, and systems all seem crunchy and enticing for someone looking to play tactician in the WH40K universe. In a way, it marries in the strengths of the war-gaming side of 40K and attaches it onto t?he RPG potential; build your party and manage them outside of combat, then see how they synergize and refine in battle.

The far reaches of space

When talking about Owlcat, it’s easy to draw comparisons to fellow burgeoning CRPG studio Larian, who just had a home-run hit with Baldur’s Gate 3. And I only bring th?is up because Owlcat finds itself in a similar situation: building up year-over-year on its RPG systems, now stepping up to the plate with a massive tabletop franchise.

And so far, I think Owlcat is doing a solid job. I’m keen to see a bit more of the role-playing side; my demo primarily focused on combat and tactics, showing off a new Aeldari party member. That side of Rogue Trader looks solid so far, as I was already drawn into the gritty but well-paced turn-based combat.
If Owlcat can lock down the storytelling side too, Rogue Trader could continue their upward trajectory. Especially as more players are now getting into this style of RPG, the timing seems ripe for Owlcat Games to make a mark. We won’t be waiting long to see whether it does either, as Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader officially launches on December 7, 2023.

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In an interview with GameSpot, World of Warcraft Game Director Ion Hazzikostas hinted that another old-world revamp of Azeroth is "likely to happen". The last time this happened was the 2010 WoW expansion Cataclysm. According to Hazzikostas, the development team would learn lessons from Cataclysm which got a lot of negative criticism for deleting parts of the 2004-era WoW that many players loved. The goal woul??d be to use modern solutions to preserve currently existing pieces of the game.

"We are definitely open to it at some point," Hazzikostas told GameSpot. "It is a shortcoming, if you take a step back and think about World of Warcraft as an ongoing living world, if we've kind of painted ourselves into a corner where we have all these iconic locat??ions but we can't r?eally use them because they've already been used."

Even though not everyone likes this sort of change, it's definitely an understandable situation for WoW. The popular MMORPG turns 20 next year and much of the current game world exists on old technology and assets. However, with the popularity of World of Warcraft: Classic, it's easy to understand why the hesitanc??e is there. Even though the two games run ?separately from each other, a part of the player base prefers the old content.

[caption id="attachment_403050" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

New expansion on the horizon

Blizzard revealed the final update of the current expansion World of Warcraft: Dragonflight yesterday. The update will pave the way for the next WoW expansion which may get a reveal at BlizzCon 2023. The event takes place November 3-4 and the announcement is expected to come in the opening ceremony. Even though Hazzikostas didn't confirm when the revamp will happen, we could see it as soon as this next exp?ansion. However, it's also possible we see the start of the revamp, b?ut not the entire thing. The complete overhaul could take place over the course of the expansion or even several expansions.

Dragonflight has been one of the better expansions recently, so hopefully the new expansion builds upon it. Legendary writer Chris Metzen, one of the original creators of Warcraft, recently returned to Blizzard. Hopefully, he's a large part of the creative process and can help build upon the positives of Dragonflight.

Looking back, Cataclysm was definitely not the greatest expansion. Other than ?visually, the world revamp felt like a downgrade as opposed to an upgrade in many ways. I wouldn't mind seeing a more modern take on a complete overhaul though, using what Blizzard has learned over the last 20 years.

The post Blizzard hints another Catacylsm-style world revamp may be coming to World ?of Warcraft appeared first on Destructoid.

Once the hype around Starfield dies down a bit, discussion will once again turn to the next Elder Scrolls game. Nearly twelve years after Skyrim, the next installment is now finally said to be in the early stages of development.???? As such, Xbox head Phil Spencer has been asked whether the elusive RPG will be an Xbox exclusive.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology, Spencer is asked a question about exclusivity. In particular, journalist Caroline Hyde is curious about what platforms The Elder Scrolls 6 may be on. Spencer answers by saying that the company looks at things "on a case-by-case basi?s."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-yYmq35E3I&t=83s

He adds ?that Xbox wants to make sure that the games made by the studio are "available in many different places." However, he specifically mentions the Xbox consoles, PC, and "via cloud," with no me??ntion of any other platforms.

Too early to say, really

It kind of sounds like Spencer is circling the bit when it comes to The Elder Scrolls 6 and potential exclusivity. Consider that Starfield being an Xbox Series and PC game only seems to be w?orking out ni??cely for the tech giant.

As such, it's not above the realm of possibility that Xbox may keep Skyrim's follow-up for its own platforms. H??owever, we can't say for certain, but Spencer's response to the question does seem rather vag??ue.

As for when it's actually coming out, speculations suggest it might be another five years until we see TES6. By that point, we'll be on ??the next generation of consoles anyway. Great. More money to spend.

The post Phil Spencer asked about Elder Scrolls? 6 exclusivity, gives vague response appeared first on Destructoid.

Among all this Starfield talk, it's easy to forget that The Elder Scrolls 6 is even a thing (maybe). It's been five years sinc?e we were treated to a brief tease of the next installment in Bethesda's flagship series, and the face of ??the studio seems to regret being too hasty with things.

In a recent interview with GQ, Mr. Skyrim himself, Todd Howard, says he me have been a bit too quick to announce TES6, adding, "I probably would've announced it more casually?."

//youtu.be/OkFdqqyI8y4

Of course, the interviewer asks whether Howard can divulge any further details about The Elder Scrolls 6. Naturally, the director isn't saying anything, though he does say that the upcoming RPG does have a codename. He also says that he and the team want the next TES game to "fill that role of the ultimate fan??t?asy-world simulator."

So when is it co-

When's it coming out, I hear you ask? Again, nobody can really say. As a sidenote, Howard does make a comment about how he wants to keep making games, with no plans to retire any tim?e soon. He even likens his career path to Nintendo's own Shigeru Miyamoto, who's now in his early 70s.

It's at this point that the GQ interviewer offers their own speculation, saying that The Elder Scrolls 6 may not be out until Todd Howard reaches 60. Given that his Wikipedia page has him down as being either 52 or 53, this means TES6 might still be a good seven or eight years off.

Obviously, that's just speculation. Although recent rumors suggest the long-awaited follow-up to Skyrim might be at least five years away. In any case, Bethesda definitely seemed to have done itself a disservice by announcing ?it so soon.

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Every mission in Armored Core VI  Fires of Rubicon throws something new at you. Whether it be a special scenario, challenging objective, strong enemy pilots, or a gigantic? co??lossus, evolving and adapting is key.

We recently got some hands-on time with Armored Core VI ahead of its August release, along with the chance to speak to the devel??opers behind it. And as director Masaru Yamamura puts it, building the Armored Core (or AC) you pilot is a key place FromSoftware built upon.

"This has always been a staple of the series, and it’s always been a part of Armored Core’s identity," said Yamamura in a roundtable interview. "So we wanted to see what that would look like in a modern-day AC. We fel??t like that was an element that could translate very well, even in a modern day game and a modern day mech game. So we kind of used that as ??the impetus for this project."

[caption id="attachment_393344" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

Players can observe this in many places. While Yamamura notes that different parts have usually denoted different stats or parameters, the team wanted choices in the garage to be felt in the game. "F??or instance, if you change up the leg types, you get a very different feeling mech or mobility system," Yamamura explains.

In my own experience, I saw how different loadouts could deal with different challenges. Where some missions with swarms of smaller enemies meant dual-guns were effective, I gravitated towards the? sword in one-on-one duels with other ACs. It's all about the right tool for the right job.

Hitting the garage

Customization isn't just about guns and parts, though. Past Armored Core games have let the player customize to a degree. But there are some bells and whistles FromSoftware included for Armored Core VI that get pretty interesting: text?uring, weathering, even the reflection of a particular piece.

While I spent some time blowing up enemy ACs, I also fooled around a bit with the custom mech creator. I made an EVA Unit-01 mock-up, as well as an Optimus Prime and Gundam-inspired look. (I sadly didn't have capture on hand, but trust me when I say: they looked great.) I?t was really fun to see just how in-depth and creative these tools were, for making a mech of my own.

[caption id="attachment_393345" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

"So in this sense, we hope that players will be able to depict their ideal AC," said Yamamura. The director hoped players would be able to "bring their mech fantasy into the game" and sh??owcase it.

Corporate backing

When it comes to the parts in Armored Core VI, I did ask whether there were any outside inspirations on the new designs. Of course, series like Gundam got mentioned. But more importantly, FromSoftware looked t??oward its own w??orld for inspiration.

The world of Armored Core VI is embroiled in a corporate war for control of Rubicon. Those companie?s develop weapons and field their own forces, and when thinking of what new parts might be in play, Yamamura says the team looked at the corpo?rations' backgrounds.

[caption id="attachment_393342" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Bandai Namco[/caption]

"We wanted to study the backgrounds of those corporations and factions and figure out what they prioritize, and what they develop," said Yamamura. "Maybe like, where they originated, in the?ir sort of company development. And then what that would look like in terms of parts, and how you identify eac??h corporation based on its parts."

Idiosyncrasies

Of cour??se, I did ask Yamamura and producer Yasunori Ogura what their own mech loadouts would be, were they to duel at that very moment. Yamamura opted for a double Gatling gun approac?h, with a missile launcher and cannon. Ogura went for a rapid-fire ballistic weapon in one hand, high-impact bazooka in another, with a couple of plasma rifles for good measure.

"This is part of the fun of AC," said Ogura. "Is sharing your own idiosyncrasies with other playe??rs."

Armored Core VI  Fires of Rubicon arrives on August 2, 2023.

_{Travel for this event was provided by the publisher.}

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