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It’s hard to match the narrative scope and immersive experience that a compelling story-driven game has over other storytelling mediums, allowing players not only to fall into the world of a well-crafted story but to experience it firsthand. These types of games can empower someone with a new perspective or let us live a double-life as a superhero. Narrative-driven games allow us to become someone we’re not, which is perhaps the biggest reason we enjoy these experiences. Now, with the power of Xbox One X, creators can bring us even closer to their vision. With our Xbox One Storytellers series, we’ll sit down with some of the industry’s greatest creators to talk about the strength of storytelling within games, their inspirations, and how they see the genre growing in the years ahead. Today, we’ll be talking to Call of Cthulhu Lead Game Designer, Jean-Marc Gueney.

Is there a secret to crafting a compelling single-player narrative?

I don’t know if it’s the secret to writing good stories but here is how I start writing a scenario. First, I create the main plot which I then fill with characters. Then I go deep into those characters’ motives, personalities, goals, and how they are linked together within the story. It helps to fill the blanks and reveal inconsistencies as well as for writing their dialogues.

Do you think single-player experiences create a better sense of immersion than multiplayer experiences?

While playing in a group of people, there will be interactions that cause disbelief and break immersion. Of course, multiplayer experiences can absolutely be just as rich as a single-player one but they do tend to lack the immersion that many developers focus on when creating games. In single-player games, everything is considered for the player to feel the character they play, from the voice, the actions, the scenario, the pace.

How do you balance your narrative goals with your gameplay goals?

We use the narration to lead to situations that require more gameplay. During those gameplay phases the advancement of the story slows down. To offer a good pace, we mix sequences of primarily story-telling and primarily gameplay episodes. During narration, the gameplay is there to provide information, clues and dialogue options for the player; it is the reward of the gameplay.

Have things like branching missions and multiple unique endings changed single-player game development?

Offering many options and possibilities for the player does enhance the gaming experience while complicating development. You have to think of multiple branches and consequences, which means creating as many possibilities for the player to explore as possible. It’s a meticulous development and writing process.

Are there any genres you think story doesn’t matter, or ones you think fit the goal of telling a story better than others?

Any genre can benefit from a little story or background, but for games in which gameplay focuses mainly on player reflexes, dexterity and fast thinking it’s not as important as fully narrative games. Games like Tetris go well without story, as well as titles like Stick Fight or Bomberman. It can be fun to have a comedy background here and there to set the mood, but those games don’t require it. Of course, you can also play games like FIFA or Civilization without the need of a story.

What sort of benefits do more powerful consoles and PCs offer to single-player storytellers?

There are many aspects of a video game that benefit from more power. We have all seen the advances in graphical rendering of environments and characters making them more realistic and believable. The animations, particularly facial animations, are near flawless in AAA games. There are also some elements that can bring disbelief, which can now be strongly mitigated, like frequent loading screens or framerate drops.

Were there any particular single-player experiences in your gaming life that inspired you to create or really struck a chord with you?

Although it’s not very recent, the possibilities offered by game editors like those in Neverwinter or Oblivion have inspired me to create stories. Simple at first, intended to be shared with a few friends. This echoes the desire to share a story from paper role-playing games. Even if a game is single-player oriented, it’s the same creation process: what is the story and what will the player be able to do inside it.

Is there a specific game’s single-player level or narrative moment you consider close to a perfect narrative experience?

I was really impressed by the introduction of Bioshock infinite. From the start there were many questions that arose and for the next 15 minutes, with minimal gameplay and player interactions, the scenes catch you and don’t let you go. You plunge in this incredible universe and want to know more. In Far cry 3, scenes with Vaas are also very immersive thanks to the acting. Until Dawn is also a masterpiece in terms of narration.

How have single-player/narrative games changed most over the last 10 years?

Capturing the essence of acting is one of the many challenges of today’s games. Thanks to motion capture, for body and faces, the results can be as good as in movies. Voices are also carefully taken care of, from the casting to the recording. If you go back in time further than 10 years, narrative games were generally text-based. Recent advances have also made it possible to develop the writing of rich characters and scenarios. Characters are defined in greater depth to determine their reactions, behavior and ways of expressing themselves.

How do you see single-player games evolving over the next 10 years?

The use of VR has the potential to be a huge step forward – playing games like Resident Evil 5 in VR is very different than “normal” play. Maybe voice recognition will also see dramatic improvement. If you talk to a NPC not by choosing from a series of answers but by really talking to it, it will be fantastic. Maybe not in the next 10 years though. The excellent Event[0] tries to simulate interaction with an AI, where the player is free to ask any questions they want. By adding a good voice recognition plug-in, you can have a glimpse of the future of single player narrative games.

The Nintendo Download update is finally here, kicking off the month of July with all manner of summery delights ready to leap onto your Nintendo console of choice. From slices of retro goodness to all manner of indie curios, you’re bound to find something to tickle your fancy. Feel free to leave a vote in the poll below, and a comment or two as well with your potential purchases. Enjoy!

Switch eShop

Shining Resonance Refrain (SEGA, $44.99) – Play as Yuma Ilvern and stop the Empire from exploiting the power of the ancient dragons, including the soul of the Shining Dragon within you. With the help of your in-game friends, realize your destiny, save Astoria and unleash the strength you’ve always had locked away. This remaster features all of the original game’s DLC. The Shining Resonance Refrain game is available on July 10.

ACA NEO GEO SAMURAI SHODOWN V (HAMSTER, $7.99) – “SAMURAI SHODOWN V” is a fighting game released by SNK in 2003. Yoshitora Tokugawa, Mina Majikina and more join the cast of twenty-four warriors. New systems available include the Sword Gauge and Concentration One, for even more sword-swinging action.

Awkward (Snap Finger Click, $11.99) – Awkward is the ultimate test on finding out how well friends, couples, and family know each other. Players are asked to answer increasingly uncomfortable questions in secret, while their companions try to guess the outcome.

20XX (Batterystaple) – 20XX is a roguelike action platformer that you can play with a friend. Jump and shoot your way through ever-changing levels, collect awesome new powers, and battle mighty bosses in the name of saving the human race maybe! Available July 10.

Another World (DotEmu) – With ground-breaking graphics and narrative for its time, Another World™ still offers a superb gaming experience in a deep and unique science-fiction universe. More than twenty-five years after its original release, Eric Chahi’s masterpiece is still considered a classic adventure game and continues to inspire the biggest names in video games. Available July 9.

Bomber Crew (Curve Digital) – Bomber Crew is a World-war 2 strategic bombing sim, where completing the objective is just as important as keeping your crew alive, as death is permanent! Available July 10.

Hotel Transylvania 3 Monsters Overboard (Outright Games) – Dracula, Mavis and the gang have been marooned on the mysterious Lost Islands! Available July 10.

Muddledash (slampunks, $5.39) – Squidge up to four players on your couch for competitive fun (party hats are mandatory!). Join your friends on a mad-as-a-squid race to the most bopping octopus party of the year and wrestle the only present out of their wriggly tentacles. Be the first to present it at the octo-party to win! Available July 10.

Neverout (Gamedust, $5.99) – It will lock you down in a room and won’t let you escape. Will you survive or ever get out? Your only choice is to find your way to the next room, but watch out, many traps lie ahead. Wander around for hours solving over 60 beautifully crafted levels. Available July 10.

Pato Box (Bromio, $13.49 – normally $14.99) – Test your reflexes as you fight your way through an evil corporation in search for retribution. Available July 9. Read our review.

Rento Fortune Monolit (LAN – GAMES EOOD, $9.99) – Rento is online multiplayer business dice game. It is board game for 2 to 6 players. Available July 8.

The Wardrobe (MixedBag, $12.74, normally $14.99) – The Wardrobe is a 2D point & click adventure game in which you play as Skinny, a teen-skeleton with an impertinent attitude and a sparkling wit, willing to do anything to save his best friend’s soul from eternal damnation! Available July 6.

Disease -Hidden Object- (D3Publisher, $7.99) – This is a horror adventure game where the player go back and forth in between the real world and the hallucination world.

Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Two Crude Dudes (FTE Games, $6.99) – Play one or two mercenaries hired by the American government to stop the terrorist organization “Big Valley”. Take control of post-apocalyptic New York City away from the Big Valley terrorists.

Kill The Bad Guy (Plug In Digital, $6.99) – Hiding behind the mask of the average man on the street, and furtively blending into the background, many war criminals, ex-Mafia members and other criminals have been literally getting away with murder, or worse. That is, until you turned up to ruin the party. As part of a secret and mysterious society whose members have sworn to rid the world of these Bad Guys, it’s your responsibility to make sure justice is served in the bloodiest possible way, using your unpredictability to your advantage.

Miles & Kilo (Four Horses, $7.99) – Miles and Kilo have been attacked by a mischievous specter! With their plane in pieces and a gang of thieving scoundrels running off with the important parts, the unfortunate duo’s only hope of escape is to embark on a thrilling chase across a haunted island. Read our review.

Mushroom Wars 2 ($19.99) – Mushroom Wars 2 is an award-winning sequel to the critically acclaimed Real-Time Strategy hit built upon the core gameplay experience that made the original Mushroom Wars so enjoyable. Read our review.

Pocket Rumble (Chucklefish LTD, $9.99) – Pocket Rumble retains all the gameplay elements that make traditional Street Fighter-style fighters great, but reduces the level of execution and memorization necessary to the bare minimum. That way experienced players can learn the game fast and be able to focus on deeper elements of strategy and mindgames, new players can learn the ins and outs of fighting games without being overwhelmed, and everyone can get their skills to a competitive level without too much grinding alone in training mode.

Squids Odyssey (The Game Bakers, $14.99) – Build your team of Squid heroes for epic turn-based battles against corrupted crabs and shrimps!

Super Rock Blasters! (QuadraTron Games, $9.99) – Super Rock Blasters is a fun local multiplayer Asteroids/Space War mashup style arcade shooter where you blast friends into smithereens for points. Play with 2 to 4 friends (or enemies) for fast paced competitive fun!

The Journey Down: Chapter Three (BlitWorks, $19.99) – In the jungles of the Underland, scattered remnants of an ancient culture speak of a great evil that dwells in the shadowy depths of the Kwayerumoshi caves. But even the darkest secrets of this lost age are about to be revealed by the brave actions of three unlikely heroes.

Ultra Space Battle Brawl (Toge Productions, $14.99) – Fight against your friends in a super-silly-yet-most-awesome-intergalactic-definitely-not-baseball-fight-ever! Sit next to your opponent in this couch party battle game that will make your neighbor wish you were not there, or they were there with you making noise and have a really great time together.

Yuso (Vertical Reach, $7.99) – Yuso is a puzzle game where you have to clear the screen of Yuso! The game gets harder as you progress, introducing new colours and gadgets to help or harm you along the way.

NEKOPARA Vol.1 (CFK, $14.99) – “NEKOPARA”, a famous PC adventure game that has sold over 2 million copies of series worldwide, is out for Nintendo Switch!

Runbow (Headup Games, $14.99) – With tons of competitive modes for up to nine players online and eight players locally and a massive Single Player Adventure, Runbow is the crazy, color-based platformer you’ve been waiting for. Read our review.

Burnstar (Gearbox Publishing, $19.99) – Burnstar is a challenging, fast paced action-puzzle game that will get your brain blistering and set your fingers aflame! Use your explosives and powers to cause maximum damage to worksites of Evil Inc., an appropriately named corporation intent on ruining the homeland of Burnstar and his friends. Blaze your own trail, or play co-op for some friendly fire!

3DS eShop

PENGUIN HOP (RCMADIAX, $1.49) – In PENGUIN HOP help your penguin friend hop from each ice landing, but be careful you don’t fall in. How high of a score can you get? Endless fun for everyone! New Nintendo 3DS systems only.

Zeus Quest Remastered (Crazysoft, $8.89) – Zeus Quests Remastered is a Greek mythology game with Sci-fi effect where Zeus the God of War is about to save the world from the explosion and for that, he will be travelling the time to fix the explosion and for that Zeus underwent many exciting places and natural scenes of ocean, rain, volcano etc. New Nintendo 3DS systems.

Demos

Hyper Sentinel – Demo Version (Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch)

So that’s your lot for this week’s Nintendo Download. Drop a vote in the poll above if you like, and a comment below with your chosen picks…

The Steam Intergalactic Summer Sale continues! For the next seven days, take advantage of huge savings throughout our store on over ten thousand games. You can also help unlock free games by playing our Summer Saliens Game.

Today’s Featured Deals include:

Stellaris – 60% off
Steep – 70% off
Dying Light – 67% off
ELEX – 50% off
Batman Franchise – Up to 75% off
Battle Chasers Nightwar – 50% off
Bioshock Franchise – Up to 75% off
Company of Heroes Franchise – Up to 75% off
and many more

Along with the sale is the Summer Saliens Game. Team up with other Saliens to fight The Duldrumz on different planets and free the abducted games. Gain XP as you battle, level up, unlock new abilities, and win cosmetic items to deck out your Salien. Plus, get Summer Sale Trading Cards just for playing.

Choose to battle on a planet that piques your interest and you’ll automatically be entered for a chance to win one of its rewards when it’s conquered. The longer your Salien spends on a planet the higher your chances of winning! The groups with the most tiles when a planet is taken will get to plant their flag as conquerors, undoubtedly gaining Saliverse-wide fame in the process.

The Steam Intergalactic Summer Sale will run until 10 AM Pacific, July 5th. Complete information can be found HERE.

This week at Bungie, Future War Cult took the crown.

It has been a long time coming. Future War Cult has always been celebrated among Guardians. I mean, who wouldn’t rally behind the faction who foretold of the Red War. Event after event, there were those who dismissed the cult, believing they’d never taste victory.

Zero Future no more. It was a wild race, from start to finish. Behind the scenes, we have the ability to spotcheck the pulse of each faction, and this event in particular was close. Each day, Dead Orbit was within reach, but ultimately lacking the proper dedication for another win.

Cheers to all who pledged their loyalty to Lakshmi-2. In just a few weeks, we’ll be watching the third and final Faction Rallies event of Season 3 unfold. New Monarchy, it’s your time to shine. That… or be left in the dust.

Guardians, Assemble!

Next weekend, after the smoke from tons and tons of fireworks has been carried away on the wind, we’ll be in Florida for the real celebration of rockets’ red glare. My fellow Community Manager has the details.

Cozmo: We’re heading down to Tampa for GuardianCon 2018. You’ve probably heard that Gambit will be playable at the show. It’s our pleasure to introduce the away team that will be inviting people to experience this brand new activity for Destiny.

GuardianCon Away Team

The Brass

Brittany Lichty, Captain

Matt Bianchi, Lieutenant

The Techs

Scott Kankelborg, TwitchMaster

Jason Pate, Master of Ceremonies

Nathan Henderson, Data Whisperer

The Gambit Experts

Robbie Stevens, Senior Designer

Peter Sarrett, Senior Technical Designer

Jared Berbach, Producer

The Community Team

Dylan Gafner, Skinny Jean Expert

Chris Shannon, Yours Truly

Griffin Bennett, Combat Correspondent

The Bungie Store

Katie Lennox, Proprietor

Chris Hausermann, Stock Boy

We’ll be in our booth, throwing all challengers into the arena we’ve created for the event. To close out Day One with a bang, we’re looking forward to hosting a Gambit Exhibition Tournament on the main stage. Don’t feel left out if you can’t attend the con—you’ll be able to watch the sparks fly on their live stream.

Gambit Exhibition Tournament

July 13, 6 p.m. EDT

GuardianCon Main Stage

Four teams featuring Bungie developers and some of your favorite content creators will compete across three matches. Alpha team will face off against Bravo team. Charlie team will face off against Delta team. The winners of each match will battle to the last in a final winner-take-all showdown. Color commentary will be provided by DrLupo and MTashed.

These teams won’t be duking it out for a big payout. This is all in the spirit of charity and goodwill. All your donations during the stream will go to support St Jude’s. Bragging rights are on the line, though!

The teams and enemies will be revealed as we take the stage. Line up or tune in to the GuardianCon stream to see which team has the most cunning risks for tactical gain.

This Whole World Is a Story

If you’re looking to learn more about Destiny 2: Forsaken, Game Informer has you covered. Recently, a team of Guardians hungry for action descended upon our studio, leaving no stone in the Tangled Shore unturned. All month long, you’ll be invited to inspect their findings—everything from story to endgame, with a variety of topics in between.

Schedule Alterations

Last week, Senior Designer Joe Blackburn took some time to set expectations on the upcoming Prestige raid lairs. Since then, we’ve been fielding many questions about the World’s First race—will we have one? Can the release of each raid lair be staggered to offer multiple races? Luckily, Joe’s still here to answer these burning questions.

Joe: Hey everybody, 

I just wanted to swing back around and give a quick update on some changes to the Prestige lair launch plan. Based on player feedback—and to ensure each World’s First race has a clean start—we’re changing the release times of each activity. Eater of Worlds will receive a one-hour delay to ensure players have ample time to download and install Destiny 2 Update 1.2.3 once it becomes available. Spire of Stars has been delayed 24 hours to offset the activity releases. The following times are when each activity will become available:

• Eater of Worlds Prestige, 11 a.m. PDT on July 17
• Spire of Stars Prestige, 10 a.m. PDT on July 18

I want to quickly reinforce that the Prestige raid lairs are much more about week-to-week variety and less about a singular pinnacle challenge, but we are still excited to have the chance to watch the best of the best in the community sprint to the finish on both of these activities. 

Dmg04 really wanted me to spill the beans on the Week One weapon loadout and modifier combination. I’m not that nice, but I’ll give you a couple clues. The first week’s modifier is brand new. It’s called Arsenal. It’s weird, and that’s all I’ll say about it. As far as the curated loadout goes, I can only give you a little advice about one slot: 

I’ve been looking out from my Time-Worn Spire and I feel an Autumn Wind blowing.

Pyrotechnics 

Before we move along, we have some news hot off the press from the Crucible team. Senior Crucible Designer Kevin Yanes has been working behind the scenes to bring the following event to your PvP experience:

Kevin: Hey everyone,

While some of us at Bungie are off on holiday to celebrate our country’s independence, we wanted to make sure all Guardians in Destiny 2 had something to celebrate. Starting this Friday (7/6) at 10 a.m. PDT and lasting through the weekly reset, players may earn 3x Valor Rank gains in all Valor-supported playlists! If you want to nab that Exotic Ghost or are looking to finish your Crucible ornaments, this weekend is the time to throw down in the Crucible. We hope you have fun this weekend and maybe take a dip in the Mayhem playlist, where you can celebrate with your own brand of fireworks.

Trial by Fire

Whether you be a grizzled ancient from the early days of Destiny or a new Guardian fresh out of the EDZ, Destiny Player Support has your back. They’re at the ready to help troubleshoot issues you encounter on your journey forward.

This is their report.

Free Trial Campaign Access

Last week, Destiny Player Support became aware of an issue where some players attempting to participate in the Destiny 2 Free Trial weekend were unable to progress their characters beyond level 8. Additionally, affected players were unable to progress the Red War campaign beyond the missions available on Titan.

After investigating reports of this issue, we deployed a server-side fix which corrected this issue for all Free Trial players. All players participating in Destiny 2 Free Trial weekends moving forward should have complete access to Destiny 2 base game content for the duration of the promotional period.

For more information on the Free Trial, players should visit our Destiny 2 Trial help article.

Destiny 2 Known Issues

The Destiny Player Support team is always on the lookout for the latest issues impacting players in Destiny 2. Players who encounter issues should take the following steps to determine whether or not their issue is known and tracked by the Destiny Player Support team:

1. Search help.Bungie.net for localized help articles on issues archived since the launch of Destiny 2.

3. Players who are unable to find information regarding the issue which they are encountering should then post a report to the #Help forum.

As always, including footage or imagery of reported issues encountered in game is the best way to make sure your issue is able to be promptly investigated for future updates.

Bungie.net Account Creation and Companion Features

For players who have yet to join us on bungie.net, we highly encourage you to join. A bungie.net profile is required to post on the #Help forums, and creating a bungie.net account grants access to Companion features such as item management, Clans rewards, and more.

Blazing a Path 

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. This Gunslinger was ready for their moment, and they executed with style. For that, they’ve earned the Movie of the Week, and an emblem to prove it in-game.

Movie of the Week: I Can’t Believe What I’m Seeing

Honorable Mention: Gravitational Pull

Want a shot at the Lens of Fate emblem? Submit a video to the Community Creations page on bungie.net with #MOTW in the title.

The days are flying by. We have 8 days until GuardianCon, 12 days until Update 1.2.3, and a little over 60 days until Forsaken. There’s quite a bit to do between now and each of those, and we’ll keep the comms flowing throughout the summer.

Cheers,

Dmg04

How important is leadership for evolving open source projects and communities? According to the most recent Open Source Guide for the Enterprise from The Linux Foundation and the TODO Group, building leadership in the community is key to establishing trust, enabling collaboration, and fostering the cultural understanding required to be effective in open source.

The new Building Leadership in an Open Source Community guide provides practical advice that can help organizations build leadership and influence within open source projects.

“Contributing code is just one aspect of creating a successful open source project,” says this Linux Foundation article introducing the latest guide. “The open source culture is fundamentally collaborative, and active involvement in shaping a project’s direction is equally important. The path toward leadership is not always straightforward, however, so the latest Open Source Guide for the Enterprise from The TODO Group provides practical advice for building leadership in open source projects and communities.” 

Read more at The Linux Foundation

A personal account of a job interview held at Apple Park appears to paint a picture of the new headquarters’ inner workings, from staff docents to iPad-powered coffee dispensers, in intriguing detail.

Briefly published to Reddit before being deleted from view, the recent post from a throwaway account talks about a prospective hire being interviewed for a position on the Mac team. While the author does not discuss what happened during the interview itself, they do cover the experience of visiting the campus for the entire day.

On arrival at the Tantau Avenue reception center, the writer was checked in and provided with a green visitor’s lanyard, which also identified their host for the day. They were then instructed to follow a path to the main building, one that is obstructed by hills and the path itself before offering a “spectacular view of the side.”

Two sets of employees welcomed the individual, with blue-shirted Apple Security personnel accompanied by green-shirted “greeters,” who acted as guides in a similar way to front-of-store Apple retail employees directing customers to other store staff. Informed the building was quite confusing, “especially for guests,” the poster notes they received assistance from a number of the green-clad employees to the appropriate area.

Checked in by another greeter at Apple Park Section 1 and asked to wait in the lobby, the writer remarks the area “looked custom made and very new,” complete with comfy couches and beanbag chairs. Guests also had access to a pastry bar and coffee at the location.

The coffee stations are noted as having a “Moen faucet” style spigot that contains four smaller hoses, used to dispense hot, chilled, and ambient temperature water along with freshly brewed coffee. The station was controlled by an iPad, which offered to dispense coffee in a user-specified quantity, selected by a slider. Nearby was a “small but well-staffed cafe” that provided espresso drinks and pastries.

According to the writer, each of the nine sections has its own coffee station and cafe, separate from the main dining area.

The interview room is described as being made from wood, but one with small 1 to 2 millimeter holes across the surface used for ventilation. As the world’s largest naturally ventilated building, the writer noted they did not see any air vent grates, while the ceiling of the room was made from granite.

The room also had a circular table, chairs, a glass whiteboard, and a soft LED light strip that ran along the middle of the wall along the sides. The glass walls facing the hallway had motorized blinds for privacy, rather than the author’s expected use of frosted glass.

Two hours into the interview process, the writer was walked to another section of the ring for lunch, ordering from the app-based Caffe Macs menu. The low-cost food is reportedly similar in quality to that offered at Caffe Macs at Infinite Loop, but the experience of eating has apparently benefited from Apple “building the place to accommodate thousands upon thousands of people per day.”

The main dining area is described as sizable, both in terms of floor space and with a ceiling taking advantage of the size of the building, complete with ample natural light and trees within the dining space. Sitting on a third-floor balcony to eat, the author was able to look out onto the campus’ inner ring, calling it “honestly breathtaking.”

Following lunch, interviews continued for another four hours. Potential employees are warned that a 6 to 7-hour interview process is “the norm,” so to expect spending an entire day going through the process.

While the original post about the visit was posted on Thursday, the entire post was removed and the associated account deleted hours later. It is possible that the author removed it due to the risk associated with publishing details about Apple’s headquarters affecting their chances of getting the job they interviewed for, a probable conclusion considering the comments below the now-wiped post.

Numerous commenters advised to take down the post, suggesting it would be against any signed non-disclosure agreements, and that it was highly probable someone at Apple would have read the post and identified the author.

Despite the anonymous nature of the post, numerous elements of the article match up with the experience of one AppleInsider contributor’s own visit to the campus. Descriptions of the food, coffee stations, and the iPad-based menus correlate with what was seen on that occasion, as well as the heightened security and the attention to detail in building and decorating the working environment.

As of June 25, the version of Bower shipped with Visual Studio was deprecated, resulting in Bower operations failing when run in Visual Studio. If you use Bower, you will see an error something like:

EINVRES Request to https://bower.herokuapp.com/packages/bootstrap failed with 502

This will be fixed in Visual Studio 15.8. In the meantime, you can work around the issue by using a new version of Bower or by adding some configuration to each Bower project.

The Issue

Some time, ago Bower switched their primary registry feed but continued to support both. On June 25th, they turned off the older feed, which the copy in Visual Studio tries to use by default.

The Fix

There are two options to fix this issue:

1. Update the configuration for each Bower project to explicitly use the new registry: https://reigstry.bower.io
2. Manually install a newer version of Bower and configure Visual Studio to use it.

Workaround 1: Define the new registry entry in the project’s Bower config file (.bowerrc)

Add a .bowerrc file to the project (or modify the existing .bowerrc) with the following content:

{
 "registry": "https://registry.bower.io"


}

With the registry property defined in a .bowerrc file in the project root, Bower operations should run successfully on the older versions of Bower that shipped with Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2017.

Workaround 2: Configure Visual Studio to point to use a newer version of Bower

An alternative solution is to configure Visual Studio use to a newer version of Bower that you have installed as a global tool on your machine. (For instructions on how to install Bower, refer to the guidance on the Bower website.) If you have installed Bower via npm, then the path to the bower tools will be contained in the system $(PATH) variable. It might look something like this: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\npm. If you make this path available to Visual Studio via the External Web Tools options page, then Visual Studio will be able to find and use the newer version.

To configure Visual Studio to use the globally installed Bower tools:

1. Inside Visual Studio, open Tools->Options.
2. Navigate to the External Web Tools options page (under Projects and Solutions->Web Package Management).
3. Select the “$(PATH)” item in the Locations of external tools list box.
4. Repeatedly press the up-arrow button in the top right corner of the Options dialog until the $(PATH) item is at the top of the list.
5. Press OK to confirm the change.

Ordered this way, when Visual Studio is searching for Bower tools, it will search your system path first and should find and use the version you installed, rather than the older version that ships with Visual Studio in the $(VSINSTALLDIR)\Web\External directory.

Note: This change affects path resolution for all external tools. So, if you have Grunt, Gulp, npm or any other external tools on the system path, those tools will be used in preference to any other versions that shipped with VS. If you only want to change the path for Bower, leave the system path where it is and add a new entry at the top of the list that points to the instance of Bower installed locally. It might look something like this: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\bower\bin

We trust this will solve any issues related to the recent outage of the older bower registry. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Happy coding!

Justin Clareburt, Senior Program Manager, Visual Studio

Justin Clareburt is the Web Tools PM on the Visual Studio team. He has over 20 years of Software Engineering experience and brings to the team his expert knowledge of IDEs and a passion for creating the ultimate development experience.

Follow Justin on Twitter @justcla78