Having previously taken command of a spaceship in Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space?! and catered for the adventuring needs of fantasy heroes in Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! our valiant potatoes are back. In a title replete with the usual abundance of punctuation, our resourceful tubers have decided to now turn their hands to building their very own spy headquarters in Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?!

Twins Ren and Rexa are on a mission to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of their parents by infiltrating the shady spy corporation that they feel is responsible. You oversee the twin’s enterprise; hiring spies, building facilities, decrypting files and designing the kind of gimmicky gizmos that would make Inspector Gadget green with envy.  A spy agency obviously needs spies, ideally, spies with silly names that are parodies of well-known figures. Your basic spy will fall into one of four different categories of expertise. Brainy analysts are excellent code-crackers, whilst fighters favour a more direct approach to problem solving. Charmers are your typical James Bond style smoothies and thieves rely on some good old-fashioned skulking around in the shadows. Spies also have special skills and four characteristics, which improve with experience and training. These are fighting, intelligence, stealth and charm. It doesn’t take a genius to work out which class of spy favours which characteristic. As your reputation increases, famous spies with their own unique skill sets may also offer their services to your agency.

The fun really begins when you embark on a mission. These assignments require you to overcome various obstacles whilst taking care not to alert your target. Some missions will give you the choice of different paths and you can reduce the risk further by spending cash to carry out some preliminary reconnaissance. This will provide you with more information about the strengths and vulnerabilities of the challenges that lie ahead. For instance, you may discover that a solid security door is resilient to physical attack but vulnerable to hacking. Sometimes, an obstacle can remain stubbornly obtuse, forcing you take a lucky guess. Missions start off simple enough, an early one will have a spy sneaking into a bully’s bedroom and planting a spycam disguised as a bogey. This gives you an idea of the silly, off-the-wall storylines that you will encounter as the game progresses. When tackling a mission, the trick is to ensure that the agent you send is the best suited to deal with that particular set of obstacles, keeping detection levels low and reducing the risk of failure.

There are mission paths that will require a spy of a particular class; others require the use of additional gadgets. A spy can also take a vehicle on a mission which will allow them to carry even more gadgets, although don’t get too excited as your first mode of transport is a shopping trolley rather than an Aston Martin. Upon first sending a spy on a mission you will probably feel a little let down by the graphical representation of proceedings. A small window will open with tiny icons depicting the positions of your spy and any adversaries and obstacles. Your spy will make their way to the target, dealing with any problems along the way before reaching their goal. There are a few special missions that will require you to take a team of spies. To be successful your team should have a well-balanced range of abilities. These sections switch to real-time decision-making as you attempt to discover the weakness of your adversaries and defeat them before your energy bar hits zero. These intermissions are quite jarring, replacing the considered decision making of the rest of the game with a much more hit and miss approach.

When spies are not away on top-secret missions, sipping Martinis and seducing enemy agents, there are plenty of other less glamorous tasks that they can be assigned to. If you are going to stand a chance of completing the tougher missions then you will need to put your team through rigorous training regimes. A large range of different training facilities will become available as you play; you just need to have the funds and space to build them. Often, when you complete a mission you will find some form of encrypted digital media. Allocating a spy to the lab will let them unlock these secrets, maybe earning some cash or blueprints for new buildings. You can also allocate a team member to build or upgrade gadgets and vehicles.

You don’t want your HQ to look like a building site, so building a few decorative features is also a good idea, not only do they look nice but they also earn some nice bonuses, especially if you discover the best combinations. Be careful though, because if you give a spy too many domestic duties rather than missions then they are likely to become disillusioned. You can try and cheer up a member of your team with a gift, but if a spy is particularly grumpy then it may be best to retire them – after all a cranky spy could turn out to be a treacherous one.

In terms of playability, A Spy Story doesn’t stray too far from the template used in the previous two releases; the same cartoon-style graphics, crazy subplots, awful puns, popular culture references and catchy tunes. Thankfully, it also contains the same addictive and engrossing gameplay. Although it is very rewarding to oversee the development of your spies and HQ, the constantly ticking clock means that there will soon be 101 things clamouring for your attention.  It can become very intense and possibly a little too chaotic. A criticism that can also be levelled at all of the games in the series is that when the story missions get tough, progress stutters to a halt and you are forced to spend time grinding up levels which becomes a bit of a chore.

Despite the undeniable silliness the Holy Potatoes! games still offer a surprising amount of depth and challenge, this probably explains why the developers take an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach.  The problem is that veterans of the series may feel that the format is becoming a little over-familiar and apart from the new theme and story (which are both great) the game doesn’t really bring anything new to the party. If you love the series then you will be reassured to discover that A Spy Story is another high-quality entry in the series. If you enjoy management sims but haven’t played a Holy Potatoes game before then, don’t be put off by the silliness, just choose your favourite potato dish (space, fantasy or spies) and tuck in.

The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!

Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Location: San Diego, California

The Behemoth is growing more Behemoth! We’re looking for an experienced person who can help develop and coordinate all of our marketing related initiatives.

About the job:

• Will be directly involved in both strategy and execution of marketing campaigns
• Will be responsible for helping us hire additional marketing staff, including a Community Manager and other positions
• Monitor and evaluate data and analytics
• Analyze effectiveness of marketing materials
• Conduct market research as needed; stay up-to-date on market trends and tendencies
• Writing copy and proofreading various marketing materials and initiatives across a broad range of mediums, including print, video and web

About You:

• You like to play video games, and you play a wide variety of different genres. You’ve even played ALL of The Behemoth games!
• You have a high degree of attention to detail and accuracy
• You can make sense of complex and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems
• You enjoy traveling and living out of a suitcase…after all we do a lot of tradeshows!
• You’re not only creative, but have the drive and focus to bring new ideas to fruition

Minimum Qualifications:

• Six years of related direct professional experience and has shipped at least 4 titles across multiple platforms
• Experience in presenting and demoing video games at trade shows or public facing events
• Strong time-management skills and the ability to inspire others
• HR experience required
• Multiple languages a plus
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Comfortable with on camera interviews

Full-time position at our offices in San Diego, California

Legal, unrestricted right to work in the USA is required

Interested? Apply now.

Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.

Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.

Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.

GameStop has announced its partnership with esports organization Complexity Gaming to open up the GameStop Performance Center in Frisco, Texas.

This news comes shortly after the company appointed George Sherman as its new CEO, just after the board of directors halted plans to sell the company after months of discussion and speculation.

As reported by Engadget, the 11,000 square foot venue will serve as Complexity Gaming’s new headquarters and host public events tailored to help casual players get into esports and provide a space for community.

The GameStop Performance Center will be sharing a location with the Dallas Cowboys (fitting, as Complexity Gaming partly owned by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones) and plans to provide equipment for the esports organization as well.

GameStop is also teaming up with a handful of other esports brands and companies to host “gaming clinics” (training casual players), Overwatch watch parties, and collegiate esports tournaments.

The venue will reportedly open in May of this year.

Suit up as Overwatch’s 30th hero, Baptiste, a versatile combat medic who’s not afraid to dole out a few bullets between bandages—available to play starting today.

Jean-Baptiste Augustin was one of millions of children orphaned by the Omnic Crisis, the rebellion of robots against their human creators that plunged the planet into a catastrophic war. The devastation he witnessed compelled Baptiste to enlist as a special operative and combat medic in the Caribbean Coalition. He joined for one purpose: to help. But when his service was complete, the demand for his unique skill set dwindled. So, when the Talon mercenary group made him an offer, he accepted.

At first, working for Talon suited him; the money was good, and the missions went smoothly. But over time, the assignments became more brutal, and soon his actions were harming the civilian population. Realizing that his behavior no longer matched his beliefs, Baptiste left Talon behind, vowing to work toward making the world a better place—healing where he could, and fighting when he must.

Talon was not willing to simply let Baptiste make a clean break. Baptiste was now a liability, and the organization took radical measures to silence him. Talon operatives—including some former comrades who fought alongside Baptiste—attempted to apprehend or eliminate him to no success. Baptiste knows he cannot undo his past, so he focuses on a new purpose: making a difference.

In battle, Baptiste splits his time between healing his allies and dealing damage. His primary weapon, the Biotic Launcher, fires a three-round burst, eliminating threats and giving teammates room to maneuver. The Biotic Launcher also lobs a healing projectile, which heals allies near the point of impact, allowing them to dive back into the fray.

Baptiste’s Exo Boots allow him to take the high ground. This fancy footwear charges while he’s crouched and launches him into the air when activated, giving Baptiste the ability to escape an intense battle, find a vantage point to support his allies, or get a better shot at his enemies.

Assaulting the objective can sometimes be perilous. When teammates are pinned down or taking damage, activating Baptiste’s Regenerative Burst ability triggers a healing surge, restoring health to allies within the affected area.

Keeping teammates in the fight is Baptiste’s primary objective, and Immorality Field lets him do just that. Tossing the field generator into a battle will prevent allied health from dropping below a certain threshold as long as they remain within the protected area—even while enemies continue to try to deal damage.

Light them up! When Baptiste’s ultimate ability is charged, he can deploy the Amplification Matrix, a field that Baptiste and his allies can shoot through to amplify any damage and healing effects that passes through it.

Combined, all of these experimental devices and weaponry give this battle-hardened soldier a unique support role on the battlefield, spending time as both a healer and damage dealer. We’re calling all prospective agents from across the Xbox community to leap in-game and give Baptiste a go.

You can learn more about Overwatch and Baptiste—and check out his animated origin story—at PlayOverwatch.com, or you can just head into the game right now to join the battle on Xbox One. The world could always use more heroes.

Risk of Rain 2 is Now Available on Steam Early Access!

The classic multiplayer roguelike, Risk of Rain, returns with an extra dimension and more challenging action. Play solo, or team up with up to four friends to fight your way through hordes of monsters, unlock new loot, and find a way to escape the planet.

Snapshot intros are hard to write! They need to perfectly summarise all the information we gather each and every week, like the fact that Illagers now have amassed enough intelligence to open doors (congratulations!) or that you can trade in the middle of a raid. They should also act as a lighthearted segue into all that heavy information that are the bug fixes. Add a fair portion of memes, and you have the perfect Wednesday read! Since I’ve already rambled long enough, I can’t provide the latter. Oh well, maybe next week?

A full summary of the content available in this snapshot can be found in the changelog on Minecraft.net.

• Accessibility button is now available on the title screen
• Accessibility and narration improvements
• Raid tweaks
• Bugfixes

RAIDS

Raids now follow a set pattern based on difficulty to determine the exact number of groups that will spawn as part of the raid: Easy – 3 Normal – 5 Hard – 7

If you or your fellow village mates brought more than one level of Bad Omen into the village during the raid or at the initial trigger of the raid, then you will experience a bonus wave equivalent to the final base wave you would normally see for your difficulty. Ex: Bad Omen levels 2-5 would experience 4 waves on easy, where the fourth wave is the same as the third.

BAD OMEN:

You can now get up to Bad Omen 5, and you only get 1 Bad Omen at a time from killing a captain. Each person that brings Bad Omen into the village will increase the Bad Omen level of the raid on that village up to Bad Omen 5. A higher level of bad omen means a higher chance that the enemies you face will have enchanted weapons.

HERO OF THE VILLAGE:

You now get an effect called Hero of the Village after successfully defending your village from a raid! The level of this effect that you get is equivalent to the Bad Omen level of the village that was raided. This effect will last for ~2 in game days and will give you great discounts on trades, with the discount dependent on the level of the effect. Villagers will also show their gratitude, so look out for your new fans in the village after you save them!

BELL CHANGES:

If the bell is rung, villagers will run into a random nearby home and hide for a short time.

OTHER CHANGES:

• All Illagers can now open doors, but Vindicators will still chop them down if they feel like it
• All raid waves have been rebalanced, with certain waves more heavy on specific mobs than other waves and the earlier waves being significantly less easy than the later waves.
• Evokers will spawn in waves 5-7, as opposed to just in the final wave before
• Raiders are much better at going door-to-door now, and seek to be constantly moving during raids, always looking into houses to try and find villagers
• Villagers now sweat all the time during raids, not just when you try to trade with them
• Also you can trade with villagers during raids again!

• MC-132313 – Buttons and levers can be placed on the bottom of hoppers
• MC-137467 – Ender dragon does not spawn if render distance is set to 10 or below
• MC-139376 – Crash when putting spaces and clicking on “Done” in the jigsaw GUI
• MC-139798 – Bad Omen disappears upon entering villages in spectator mode
• MC-141009 – Clicking “done” on a Jigsaw disconnects client on dedicated server
• MC-141358 – Tridents have the SoundEvent tag, but don’t use it
• MC-145758 – Villagers constantly breeding but don’t produce baby villagers
• MC-146282 – Entering Command Block UI Causes All Music to Stop
• MC-146346 – Backup world file saved without .zip
• MC-146350 – Splash water bottles do not put out fires
• MC-146353 – Structure integrity does not work, RNG runs for all blocks at once
• MC-146359 – Crash whilst rendering overlay
• MC-146360 – Exiting bed always puts the player or villager in blocks
• MC-146367 – Hostile mobs spawning on glass
• MC-146377 – Beacon UI is nonresponsive and doesn’t allow you to change the beacon effect
• MC-146380 – After sleeping in a bed, the player always spawns on top of it if there are no blocks next to it
• MC-146381 – Sleeping in a bed always resets the player’s spawn point to the world spawn point
• MC-146387 – Monsters spawning on leaves during night time
• MC-146454 – Eating food no longer plays the burp sound
• MC-146470 – Entities in forceloaded or world spawn chunks cannot be selected
• MC-146594 – Villager babies don’t have biome-specific skin
• MC-146707 – Splash text in main menu changes every time you resize the Minecraft window

This week at Bungie, Lord Saladin is watching you.

The Iron Banner rages on. Once again, players are invited to test their mettle in Crucible combat—with Power enabled. The Iron Burden and Wolf’s Favor are new features we’ve added to mix things up, and rewards have been refreshed to offer two updated weapons and the new Iron Symmachy armor set for each class.

If you haven’t jumped in just yet, Iron Banner bounties have been updated with new objectives, and each bounty will grant a powerful reward. Some quest steps for Thorn and the Recluse also progress faster in the Iron Banner, so if you’re on the hunt for these rewards, now’s the time to grind them out!

Today, we’re focusing on change. Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1 is on approach, and we have another round of server-side changes coming to Gambit and Gambit Prime Matchmaking to tune your experience.

Refreshing

Each Tuesday, Guardians look forward to a new set of objectives and challenges to complete in the world of Destiny 2—rotating Crucible modes, new bounties to complete, and every so often, a Curse Week in the Dreaming City.

For some time now, we’ve been encountering issues where some of our resets would catch bad streaks, preventing players from completing various Triumphs or earning their desired Titles. We’ve taken some time to address these issues and wanted to give an update on status.

Ada-1 Weapon Frames

While weapon frames aren’t tied to any specific Seals, we understand that players are on the hunt for new and exciting rolls on their favorite weapons. Since Black Armory released, there have been a few streaks where Sniper Rifle or Machine Gun frames didn’t appear for many weeks in a row.

In Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1, Ada-1 will begin offering all weapon frames each week. While players will still be limited in how many different frames they may acquire per week, we are removing the weekly rotation.

As Destiny 2 continues to evolve throughout the Annual Pass and beyond, we’ll continue to deliver quality-of-life changes like the ones described above to address common feedback items. Some changes may come more quickly than others, but we’ll continue to deploy updates to provide a better player experience. Speaking of these changes, read on for a quick preview of our next update!

Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1 Preview

Tentatively planned for April 9, Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1 will bring a variety of quality-of-life changes and bug fixes. Below is a short list of topics that we commonly see in the wild. Note, if any issues are found in the final weeks of development, the following may change or be delayed. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on status as we get closer to release.

Destiny 2 Update 2.2.1 will also kick off Arc Week. Be sure to check back next week for information on how we’ll be celebrating Arc Energy in Season of the Drifter.

Security Update

Members of our Security Response Team spend their days swinging the banhammer against those suspected of cheating. They also inform players they they need to work on improving their network connections. This week, we have a few updates on their efforts.

Security Response Team: Our mandate is to safeguard the experience of our players against those opponents who would detract from your fun in the Destiny universe. Today, we want to talk about two different initiatives we’ve been focused on recently.

Aimbots vs Macros

It’s important to us that people with disabilities be able to use accessibility tools, which sometimes include simple automation. It’s one of the reasons why we fixed the Titan Skating macro issue in-game, instead of simply punishing people running automation tools. However, there is a clear line between macros and aimbots. Players who stray into the latter territory will find themselves no longer welcome in the Destiny universe. We’re currently in the process of banning a number of players on PC who have been detected using aimbots to unnaturally augment their skill. Defeating your opponents, whether they’re AI or other Guardians, should always be about your own skill. We’ll continue to make sure that’s the case.

Plugging In

In December, we announced that we would begin issuing warnings and restrictions to players with extremely poor network connections that lasted for a prolonged period of time. We’re happy to report that 90% of the players who received a warning have not been detected for having a poor connection again.

For people who have struggled to improve their connection after receiving a warning, we want to be clear: Stability is more important than speed. Latency and Packet Loss are the biggest concerns for Destiny, not throughput (mbps). Here are a few choice quotes from our Network Troubleshooting Guide:

“While average bandwidth usage is considerably lower, Destiny may request up to 1 Mbps download and upload bandwidth. Destiny creates connections between a player’s console, Bungie’s servers, and other players in a unique way. As such, network performance in other games and applications is often NOT a good indicator that the network is setup for a stable connection to Destiny. The most common sources of lag and frequent disconnects are high latency and packet loss.”

We encourage players who receive a warning or restriction due to their network connection to visit the Latency and Packet Loss section of our Network Troubleshooting Guide.

Finally: Thank you to the players who have used the Player Report features in-game and on bungie.net to help us identify opponents who are hurting your experience. While we’ll never rely on Player Reports alone to issue restrictions, it is incredibly helpful for corroborating the hard data we gather.

Time for Prime

Two weeks ago, we made some adjustments to Gambit Matchmaking to help even the playing field. To give a refresh of what the change was and why it was made, here’s some context from a previous edition of ‘This Week at Bungie’:

Gambit is a team-based activity. As such, players who are in a pre-made fireteam have a communication advantage. To offset that advantage, we’ve raised the internal skill rating of pre-made fireteams to pull in higher skill enemies to fight against. With this change, even as a solo player, you’ll still have a chance. Plus, your other matched fireteam mates should be higher skilled as well.

After modifying normal Gambit settings to try to create fairer matches, we re-evaluated the settings and have further tweaks to try to get them even fairer. We’ve also now had a chance to collect data on Gambit Prime and are applying these changes to Gambit Prime matchmaking to take advantage of our findings. The changes to Gambit Prime matchmaking are live now. If you encounter any issues, please report your experience to the #Help forum on bungie.net.

Iron Support

Whether you’re on the road to increasing your Power or taking your first steps as a Guardian, Destiny Player Support is at the ready to get you the information you need for success. If you need an assist, you can find then in the #Help forum, or content authored by the team on help.bungie.net.

This is their report.

Saladin’s Pride

This week, we kicked off the first Iron Banner for Season of the Drifter. Unlike other activities, which may require Destiny 2: Forsaken or Annual Pass ownership, Iron Banner is available to all Guardians in Destiny 2 who wish to test their mettle.

Last week, we highlighted some key differences in this season’s Iron Banner experience. For players joining us in progress, we’ve got a convenient summary below.

Changes in Season of the Drifter:

We are also tracking two issues that players may encounter in Iron Banner:

Dancing with Crustaceans 

Selecting the winning entry for Movie of the Week is a team effort. Cozmo and Griffin have been arguing for hours over whether this week’s winner is a better meme than Bread. The answer is obvious. Join us in celebrating their creation.

Movie of the Week: Crab Rave, but it’s Destiny 2

Runner up: Arcana

If you’d like a chance at the Lens of Fate emblem, be sure to submit your footage to the Community Creations portal on bungie.net.

Don’t forget, next week is our Bungie Bounty on PC. Cozmo will be leading the team in Gambit Prime on stream!

They’ve been working hard to fully kit out their Guardians in Notorious armor sets, granting full role benefits in play. Expect to see Large Blockers, marked invaders, and some locked banks throughout the session.

Bungie Bounty PC: Gambit Prime

10 AM–Noon PDT

Twitch.tv/Bungie

If you think you’ve got what it takes, jump into matchmaking and kick our asses. We’ll give you a sweet emblem for the troubles.

Now, I’ll send you off into the weekend with some community creations at the helm. Maybe they’ll inspire you as your journey continues in Destiny.

See you out there in the wild. I have a Nightfall to run, and some Reckoning Tier 3 to grind.

Cheers,

Dmg04

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s flagship conference gathers adopters and technologists from leading open source and cloud native communities in San Diego, California from November 18-21, 2019. Join Kubernetes, Prometheus, Envoy, CoreDNS, OpenTracing, Fluentd, gRPC, containerd, rkt, CNI, Jaeger, Notary, TUF, Vitess, NATS, Linkerd, Helm, Harbor and etcd as the community gathers for four days to further the education and advancement of cloud native computing.

Learn more