In this GDC 2018 talk, developers JC Lau, Leah Hoyer, Elaine Chase, Mary Olson and Kelly Snyder discuss their unique perspectives, struggles, and available tools as they work to improve diversity in games.

Games are a unique medium with power to unite. They create a common ground for people from diverse ethnicities, cultures, genders, and political views to connect with one another in an experience they all enjoy.

However, the percentage of women and people of color remains shockingly low, and there is much to be done within gaming companies themselves as well as within gaming culture to shift this status quo.

The talk dives into how the video games industry has struggled to develop and retain a workforce that reflects the people playing their games, and what work can be done to improve diversity in games. 

It’s an informative talk that’s definitely worth watching, so developers shouldn’t miss the opportunity to do so now that it’s freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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In Airheart, your goal is to get to the top of the skies and catch the legendary skywhale. To succeed, you’ll need to battle pirates and drones, catch lots of fish and most importantly: stay alive!

You play as Amelia, a young pilot, and fisherwoman wishing to reach the edge of the world and make the big catch. But since you’re living on the poor underside of Granaria, a flying city in the clouds, your way to the top will be especially hard.

I played a couple of hundred hours of Airheart during development and I think I’ve got some nice tips for you for making the life of a fisherwoman easier.

Don’t shoot the friendlies, or don’t be caught doing it

On the first few levels, there are a lot of neutral NPCs, fishermen and -women that are just making a living by catching fish. They are not armed, so it may be tempting to shoot them down for loot, but I’d advise against it. Shooting them will call the police, and they are not kidding around. There is no prison or fine for being hostile to the friendlies but being shot down and thus losing all your catches is probably punishment enough.

Better safe than sorry

It’s easy to get greedy with all the fish and loot, but at one point you must return to Granaria to craft some new weapons or buy better gear. Lots of times I got shot down because I just wanted to catch the next extremely valuable fish while already having low health. So, this one is very important and will help you a lot: when you see the warning of low health on the screen, return back home as soon as possible. Just do it. You’ll thank me.

Listen well when looking for a big catch

While the legendary skywhale is at the very top of Airheart’s world, there may be smaller whales in the skies between Granaria and the top. But how can you find one? I can tell you that there will not always be one of them flying around, but if there is, you’ll hear it, so listen well!

A little boost would be nice

There is a fixed speed to most of the airplanes in Airheart, but there are times when you want to fly a little bit faster – for example when you want to catch the speedy valuable skyfish. Do you see that weapon on top of your airplane? How about using its recoil? Of course, some guns give you a little bit more of it and some none. Personally, I use the machine gun for this all the time.

Good fisherwomen use the harpoon

Fast fish are maybe too fast for your airplane, but just use your harpoon and they will not be able to escape you. Also, when you get to the higher layers of Airheart’s world there will be much bigger fish which can’t be caught by just flying into them – but if you harpoon & drag them down to Granaria, you’ll get a nice reward.

A harpoon is not only made for fishing: Part 1

At the beginning of Airheart, your airplane will only have a small and pretty weak Bolt Caster as its main weapon. But it also has a very useful tool: the harpoon! While you can’t destroy enemies with it, it can make it a lot easier. Small enemies care stunned when harpooned and become very vulnerable. If you’re returning to Granaria with them, you can drag them down and will get part of their weapon as material for crafting!

A harpoon is not only made for fishing: Part 2

While most of the airplanes in Airheart are always in motion, the harpoon can be used to slow down the momentum. Whenever I need a moment to figure things out or I want to take a clean, precise shot at enemies, I just harpoon a rock and stand still. Be aware that this will also make you an easier target for your enemies!

The additional skins for the airplanes are very pricey, but…

If you’re short on cash, but really want one of the expensive skins for your airplane, you could try to shoot down some of your competition. Sometimes you’ll see airplanes which look like yours flying around. These are neutral NPCs we call Fortune Hunters. They have the same goal as you but are usually better equipped. There’s a small chance you’ll get a nice skin from them as loot if you ask them nicely…

Take a photo if you’re feeling lost

Sometimes during playtesting, we used this little trick when we badly needed to find the next portal but forgot where it was; taking a photo with the photo mode. It sounds strange but once you try it, you’ll understand.

Don’t get too greedy

There is a lot of fish in Airheart’s skies, and you could catch all of them for a lot of money. But when you do this, like in real life, there probably won’t be any new fish anymore – which means no new money. Make sure to let some fish life on every layer to be able to get more money on your next run. Personally, I make sure to not to fish more than about half of the fish on any layer to have enough fish every time.

With these tips, you should be good on your way to become a legend and get lots of gear and money in the world above the clouds. Good fishing and good luck with catching the skywhale! Pick up Airheart today on Xbox One here on the Microsoft Store.

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Do you like music? Then Fedora may have just what you’re looking for. This article introduces different music player apps that run on Fedora. You’re covered whether you have an extensive music library, a small one, or none at all. Here are four graphical application and one terminal-based music player that will have you jamming.

Quod Libet

Quod Libet is a complete manager for your large audio library. If you have an extensive audio library that you would like not just listen to, but also manage, Quod Libet might a be a good choice for you.

Quod Libet can import music from multiple locations on your disk, and allows you to edit tags of the audio files — so everything is under your control. As a bonus, there are various plugins available for anything from a simple equalizer to a last.fm sync. You can also search and play music directly from Soundcloud.

Quod Libet works great on HiDPI screens, and is available as an RPM in Fedora or on Flathub in case you run Silverblue. Install it using Gnome Software or the command line:

$ sudo dnf install quodlibet

Audacious

If you like a simple music player that could even look like the legendary Winamp, Audacious might be a good choice for you.

Audacious probably won’t manage all your music at once, but it works great if you like to organize your music as files. You can also export and import playlists without reorganizing the music files themselves.

As a bonus, you can make it look likeWinamp. To make it look the same as on the screenshot above, go to Settings / Appearance, select Winamp Classic Interface at the top, and choose the Refugee skin right below. And Bob’s your uncle!

Audacious is available as an RPM in Fedora, and can be installed using the Gnome Software app or the following command on the terminal:

$ sudo dnf install audacious

Lollypop

Lollypop is a music player that provides great integration with GNOME. If you enjoy how GNOME looks, and would like a music player that’s nicely integrated, Lollypop could be for you.

Apart from nice visual integration with the GNOME Shell, it woks nicely on HiDPI screens, and supports a dark theme.

As a bonus, Lollypop has an integrated cover art downloader, and a so-called Party Mode (the note button at the top-right corner) that selects and plays music automatically for you. It also integrates with online services such as last.fm or libre.fm.

Available as both an RPM in Fedora or a Flathub for your Silverblue workstation, install it using the Gnome Software app or using the terminal:

$ sudo dnf install lollypop

Gradio

What if you don’t own any music, but still like to listen to it? Or you just simply love radio? Then Gradio is here for you.

Gradio is a simple radio player that allows you to search and play internet radio stations. You can find them by country, language, or simply using search. As a bonus, it’s visually integrated into GNOME Shell, works great with HiDPI screens, and has an option for a dark theme.

Gradio is available on Flathub which works with both Fedora Workstation and Silverblue. Install it using the Gnome Software app.

sox

Do you like using the terminal instead, and listening to some music while you work? You don’t have to leave the terminal thanks to sox.

sox is a very simple, terminal-based music player. All you need to do is to run a command such as:

$ play file.mp3

…and sox will play it for you. Apart from individual audio files, sox also supports playlists in the m3u format.

As a bonus, because sox is a terminal-based application, you can run it over ssh. Do you have a home server with speakers attached to it? Or do you want to play music from a different computer? Try using it together with tmux, so you can keep listening even when the session closes.

sox is available in Fedora as an RPM. Install it by running:

$ sudo dnf install sox

Photo by Malte Wingen on Unsplash.

Welcome to the Weekender, your weekly look at the best new games, sales, and updates. This week features new games and sales across five different genres of games… which means there’s something for everyone!

With Gamescom dominating the industry at large these past few days, we thought we’d have a more low-key week: check out our reviews of One More Button and Holedown if you haven’t already. Otherwise, we gave our guides to the Best Rougelikes & Best RPGs on mobile a bit of a dust off. Also, did you hear? Reigns is getting a Game of Thrones spin-off! 

Out Now

One Hour One Life for Mobile (iOS Universal and Android) – Full Review Coming Soon!

One Hour One Life for Mobile is a multiplayer survival game where you have to stave off starvation and the cold and craft what you need to survive. Time passes quickly, and the game occurs over many generations. A year happens in a minute and birth to death in one hour, so there’s no time to waste. Civilization has collapsed, and it is up to you, your descendants, and other players to rebuild it. It’s each generation’s job to make things a bit easier for those to come by crafting necessities and securing superior shelter and equipment.

The game is adapted from the original desktop version of One Hour One Life and it’s a really cool idea. I like how each generation builds on the next, not just for your particular family but for everybody playing the game in aggregate. It’s an intriguing micro/macro dichotomy.

Unfortunately, the controls are too finicky for my liking. You do a lot of swiping in one direction or another and it is easy to do the wrong thing. I found myself making multiple attempts to do basic things and needing to do a fair amount of positioning of my avatar a well. I’d wager it gets better as you get used to it, but I’d prefer that controls weren’t an acquired taste. Also, since the game is online multiplayer you can’t wander away from the app for long. If you do you’ll come back dead (from starvation or having disconnected from the game). This isn’t a huge deal if you can make time for good-sized, uninterrupted play sessions.

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Powerless (iOS Universal)

Interactive fiction meets simulation in Powerless, an “interactive doomsday simulator.” The source of the doom is the sun. A coronal mass ejection is hurtling toward earth and when it hits our atmosphere it will disable electronics the world over. It’s into this new world a host of characters awake, and you are put into their shoes to work through a variety of crisis like delivering a baby or landing a helicopter. It’s a compelling post-apocalyptic world and has an interesting variety of characters you can get to know and develop. Worth a look if you’re into the genre.

Rome: Total War (iOS Universal) (Review)

One of the greatest RTS/turn-based strategy games ever is now available on the iPhone. The app is universal, so you can play on either and share games across them, and the developer videos look great. Unfortunately, the universal part isn’t working on my account for some reason, so I’m unable to provide any impressions or comparisons to iPad. I’ll drop something into next week’s Out Now if I can get it sorted out.  

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Front Armies RTS (iOS Universal and Android) – Full Review Coming Soon!

Front Armies is a premium real-time strategy game with simple graphics and good but not great gameplay. The limitations are it’s not terribly deep and you can only play against the AI or local multiplayer. Still, it’s not a bad game and is relatively inexpensive. 

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Sales

Project Highrise (iOS Universal and Android: $2.99) (Review)

Skyscraper simulator Project Highrise puts you in charge of the growth and management of a building. You decide how to grow—office space, shops and restaurants, hotels, and more—and work to attract visitors and keep your tenants happy by offering the right mix of amenities. It came out earlier this year and is on sale for the first time.

Transistor (iOS Universal: $2.99)

Supergiant’s RPG hit, sci-fi title Transistor, is on sale for $3. You wield a weapon of extraordinary power as you fight through a futuristic city in this action RPG.

Chrono Trigger (iOS Universal & Android: $6.99)

Yet another great example from our list of best RPGs, Square Enix’s classic dungeon-crawler CHRONO TRIGGER is 30% off. 

Seen anything else you liked? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!