Player autonomy is often misunderstood as “giving players freedom”, which can lead to player frustration and disappointment instead of satisfaction.

In order to direct a good experience for players, developers must have an understanding of what player autonomy means in game design.  

In this 2017 GDC session, Immersyve’s Scott Rigby discusses the pitfalls of designing for player autonomy, providing developers with an accurate blueprint of what autonomy truly means.

Rigby uses open world games to give examples of how contemporary designs optimize for autonomy, and offers the best practices that developers should follow. 

Developers curious to learn more about player autonomy can now watch the talk completely free via 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.

Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas.

Today’s update unveils Dota Plus, a new monthly subscription service designed to help you get the most out of every Dota 2 match you play.

Dota Plus is an evolution of the Battle Pass. In the past we released two types of Battle Passes, ones that revolved around the Majors, and one around The International. As a result of the recent introduction of the Pro Circuit, we’ve replaced the Majors Battle Passes with a new type of service that doesn’t depend on a specific start and end date, and one that we can continually add features and content to over time.

This reimagining of the Majors Battle Pass will be an ongoing, uninterrupted service filled with features that provide both progression and opportunities for improvement. Hero Leveling offers you a way to make progress every match while earning Shards, a new currency that can be used to unlock rewards. Test your skills by completing hundreds of new Challenges of varying difficulties. Use the Plus Assistant to help you make build decisions by utilizing real-time item and ability suggestions. These suggestions are based on data gathered from millions of recent games at each skill bracket, ensuring your builds stay current in the ever-evolving meta. Better understand your playstyle by using new graphs and analysis tools both during the match and after it’s finished.

This update also includes the return of the Battle Cup. All Dota Plus members will have free weekly access to play in the weekend tournaments, while non-members can still purchase tickets for $0.99 to participate.

Everything Dota Plus has to offer is available now for $3.99 per month. Receive a discount if you sign up for a six- or twelve-month subscription. Want to gift Dota Plus to a friend? You can purchase gift memberships that will remain active for a fixed number of months.

Check out the Dota 2 store page for more information on all of the features included in your subscription.

Tesla vs Lovecraft is a rush of a twin-stick shooter, and everyone here at 10tons is abundantly delighted we now have a date for the Xbox One release: March 16! Launching a game is always exciting, but I’d like to take the opportunity to share some of the excitement during development as well.

You might think that after making top-down twin-stick shooters like Crimsonland, Neon Chrome, Jydge, and Time Recoil, we’d have solid routines to just put a plan together and know exactly what our next shooter would be like. While we certainly have plenty of genre expertise, things are rarely as simple as that.

Tesla vs Lovecraft started its life more than two years ago. We had finished the colossal project of upgrading our engine to 3D graphics, and the first game to use that capability was Neon Chrome. The idea was to make a simpler arena based twin stick shooter, something roughly along the lines of Crimsonland, but with the new tech. But as we weren’t making a Crimsonland sequel, we needed another theme.

The first concepts and prototypes of Tesla vs Lovecraft were in fact about wizards, even the internal work title was simply Magegame. With a skeleton crew of one developer, we tried all sorts of gameplay mechanics, the most notable one being the ability to teleport a short distance. It ended up in the final game as the Quantum Teleport.

Back then it also became apparent that making a great game wasn’t enough any longer, you also need a catchy marketing hook. We searched high and low for something with the right amount of uniqueness to stand out, but also with enough popular culture relevance for people to latch on to. We felt like being onto something by replacing wizards with a bunch of scientist from the golden age of scientific discovery, like Marie Curie, and by having the antagonists be some of the most iconic monsters of roughly the same period, like the Frankenstein’s monster.

Then, as almost a year had passed and the time to start production with a full team loomed, a revelation struck: What if we removed all the other scientists, and made Nikola Tesla the game’s hero. And maybe remove all the other monsters, and just leave H.P. Lovecraft the villain? We could call the game… Tesla vs Lovecraft. Heureka!

Not only does Tesla vs Lovecraft sound like a very cool shooter title, it practically paints the boxshot for us: H.P. Lovecraft riding something with lots of tentacles, eyes, and fangs, with Nikola Tesla riding something awesome equal in size, like… A Tesla-Mech? How cool is that! We didn’t have a battle robot mechanic in the game at that time, but we sure had room for another key feature in addition to the teleportation. And what a feature it turned out to be; pretty much every gamer reacts with at least a chuckle, some with maniacal cackle, when they call down the Tesla-Mech for the first time.

With that, we had the elements of Tesla vs Lovecraft in place. Fast forward a year, and the game is now heading for Xbox One. I hope you like it!

There are loads of amazing shmups available on the Switch eShop, and the fact that you can remove the Joy-Con and turn the console sideways means that vertical shooters are playable in all their TATE glory. 

However, one annoying element of this setup is that you have to rest the Switch on a surface or place it in some kind of stand, losing that all-important handheld form factor.

Video game journalist Jeremy Parish has the solution to this issue – he’s teamed up with Mike Choi and Fangamer to prototype a vertical Switch grip which allows the console to be played in handheld portrait mode.

We don’t have any details on when it’s come or how much it will cost, but we already want one. Badly.

We don’t think anyone was especially surprised by the news that Super Smash Bros. is coming to the Nintendo Switch. Relieved, perhaps, but we all assumed it was coming at some point. However no one is quite sure yet whether it’s going to be a brand new game built from the ground up, or simply an enhanced port of the excellent Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

We don’t have any concrete answers, but in the video above we explore both possibilities and weigh up the likelihood of each happening with the excellent Arekkz, who we’ve collaborated with before on numerous occasions.

What do you think will happen? Let us know in the comments below.

Ghost of a Tale is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!*

Ghost of a Tale is an action-RPG game in which you play as Tilo, a mouse and minstrel thrown into a perilous adventure. Through stealth and cunning you’ll be able to explore the secrets of Dwindling Heights Keep and navigate its dangers.

*Offer ends March 20 at 10AM Pacific Time