What happens to your Steam collection when you die?
The folks over at Eurogamer have asked an interesting question in the latest episode of Here’s a Thing: What happens to your Steam account when you eventually bite the dust?
Where do all of those cherished digital games actually go? Can you leave them to someone in your will, as you could with any physical media library, or are they destined to float around in the void until humanity meets what we’re assuming will be a fairly sticky end?
It’s a curious thought experiment. After all, as enter the digital age, it’s highly likely that by the time some of us meet our maker, we’ll have amassed a virtual library of considerable personal and monetary value.
In the case of Steam, the subscriber agreement suggests that it’d be near-impossible for account users to leave their collection to another person when they shuffle off this mortal coil.
The document states that Steam accounts are “strictly personal, and may not be sold or transferred to others unless “specifically permitted by Valve.”
Of course, that wording also implies that Valve could make an exception in certain cases. But would the company set a precedent by letting someone include their collection in their will?
Warframe dev Digital Extremes to set up shop in Toronto
The developer behind the free-to-play online action title Warframe has announced that it is opening up a second Canadian studio in Toronto this coming November.
Digital Extremes has long based its operations out of London, Ontario and, according to GamesIndustry.biz, the new studio will be only a short drive from HQ. While Digital Extremes works in both game development and publishing, its newest camp in Toronto will focus on the development side of its business
“Toronto has become a hub of impressive game development over the past 7-8 years. Being only two hours down the road from our headquarters in London, expanding to Toronto is a logical choice to continue growth plans for Digital Extremes and keep up with the pace of our growing stable of games,” said Meredith Braun, Digital Extremes VP of publishing.
“Our philosophy has always been to grow smart at a pace that’s manageable. We’re looking for the best people possible to join us in making games that touch people’s lives and grow fantastic communities.”
It remains to be seen how many Neo Geo titles HAMSTER will ultimately bring to the Switch, but there’s been no sign of the publisher slowing down in recent times. This has ensured that a good range of titles are available, but it has resulted in some that are surplus to requirements. There’s little reason to download Fatal Fury 2 when the Special update is also available, and now Metal Slug 2 becomes a game to skip in favour of its updated version: Metal Slug X.
At its core this is the same globetrotting game as Metal Slug 2, providing frantic run and gun action and featuring humorous character designs and detailed background art. Four characters are available to choose from and the challenge can be tackled solo or in co-operative two-player mode. Vehicles (tanks, planes camels) pop up every now and then allowing for an alternative way to blast away at the bad guys and rescue the POWs . A number of changes have been made to the game, however, with the biggest one being the reduction in slowdown.
The original version of Metal Slug 2 suffered frequent slowdown, sometimes slight, other times the action would slow to a crawl. It was quite off-putting and reduced the enjoyment the game provided. Slowdown is still present in Metal Slug X, but it doesn’t happen as often nor is it as extreme. There’s a dip in performance should a lot of activity be occurring on screen, but overall this is a much smoother experience.
There are other changes too, including colour palette differences to the stages; the opening mission takes place at night rather than during the day for instance. The opening stage also sees you fighting different enemies; the original had local thugs, but here a number of them have been replaced with soldiers. Additionally the end of level boss is taken from the first game, with the one that featured in MS2 being used as a mid-level boss in a later mission.
Elsewhere there is an increase in enemy numbers, a few new ones (like mummified dogs!) and the surprising foes that turned up at the end of the original game now make their presence known much earlier. This makes for a tougher, more chaotic adventure but there are new weapons to help you out, including the Enemy Chaser (homing missiles) and the Iron Lizard – a wheeled weapon that will scuttle along the ground towards your enemies. Powered up versions of weapons are also available, which come in very handy if you find yourself surrounded.
Energized, adventurous music and a variety of explosions and screams enhance the onscreen chaos, with the action entertaining throughout by providing a variety of different dangers for you to contend with. Soldiers may run or jump at you, ride bikes or just stay put; some shoot, some lob grenades at you. Tanks take time and/or precious grenades to get past and other times you’ll be hopping over rockets as you blast at the hovercraft below. Aircraft and helicopters attack from the sky, requiring you to run around shooting above, whilst avoiding the fire they rain down on you.
The game can get very tough, but a visit to the options menu will allow you to change the difficulty (eight settings) and adjust the number of lives available. Unlimited continues removes the challenge from the game, but you can always limit yourself to how many you use. For an enforced challenge there are the usual ACA Hi score and Caravan modes that work particular well here. With only one credit to try and beat the game, Hi Score requires you to be less reckless than you might otherwise be, whilst Caravan sees you trying to work out how best to rack up that score as you attempt to move up the online leaderboard.
Conclusion
The original version of Metal Slug 2 suffered horrendous slowdown, and whilst Metal Slug X doesn’t completely fix the problem it reduces it enough for the quality of the game to shine through, with bright (recoloured) cartoony visuals and great music enhancing the frantic gameplay. Some enemy changes increase the difficulty, but this is offset somewhat by the inclusion of new weapons. Show restraint with your use of credits and the game can be very challenging with numerous attacks coming from all directions. If you just want to see events unfold, however, additional credits are just a button press away. The ACA Hi Score and Caravan modes work well with this game, adding to the replayability, but it’s also enjoyable to replay the regular arcade mode. Whether you’ve handed a Joy-Con to a friend or are playing solo, Metal Slug X provides quality “fun and gun” action.
In this hack 'n' slash adventure co-developed with Tamsoft and Compile Heart, everyone's favorite four Goddesses enter an online fantasy game world inspired by...themselves! Joined by the CPU Candidates, you'll fight in 4-person real-time brawls, unleash devastating Awakening Skills, customize with tons of cosmetic accessories, and even play online with others!
Welcome to a new world of Danganronpa, and prepare yourself for the biggest, most exhilarating episode yet. Set in a psycho-cool environment, a new cast of 16 characters find themselves kidnapped and imprisoned in a school. Inside, some will kill, some will die, and some will be punished. Reimagine what you thought high-stakes, fast-paced investigation was as you investigate twisted murder cases and condemn your new friends to death.
KEY FEATURES:
* A New Danganronpa Begins - Forget what you thought you knew about Danganronpa and join a completely new cast of Ultimates for a brand-new beginning.
* Murder Mysteries - In a world where everyone is trying to survive, nobodys motivations are quite what they seem. Use your skills to solve each new murder or meet a gruesome end.
* Lie, Panic, Debate! - The world is shaped by our perception of it. Fast-paced trial scenes will require lies, quick wits, and logic to guide your classmates to the right conclusions.
* New Mini Games - Between the madness of murdered peers and deadly trials, enjoy an abundance of brand-new mini games!
Guide the Bros. on a journey through the Beanbean Kingdom to recover the stolen voice of Princess Peach. Every step on your path and every stomp on a Goomba has been completely recreated with enhanced graphics, lighting, and new gameplay options. Take down enemies using special Bros. Attacks and solve puzzles with Bros. Actions!
You can also captain an army of Bowser’s minions in the Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser story. There are more than 50 types of minions to recruit in this all-new squad-based strategy adventure that sees Bowser’s Minions on a quest to stop Fawful. For something extra, you can earn in-game stamps, equipment, and bonus content using compatible amiibo™ figures.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions is available now, only on the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. It can be purchased in stores, in Nintendo eShop, and at Nintendo.com. For more information about the game, visithttp://marioandluigisuperstarsaga.nintendo.com.
Game in 2D. amiibo sold separately. Visit amiibo.com for details on amiibo functionality.
Game Rated: Mild Cartoon Violence Mild Suggestive Themes
Blog: Tips for improving your GameMaker platformer
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
I want to tackle some game-feel issues with jumping that I often see in beginner GameMaker platformers. If you are a student learning about game development, or a hobbyist learning GameMaker to prepare for your first game jam, this article is for you!
When I noticed that I was giving the same feedback to student games over and over, I dug into the tutorials they used. Many GameMaker students referenced Shaun Spalding’s excellent platformer tutorials for their first game. I like these tutorials because they are simple and straightforward in a way that won’t overwhelm a beginner, even one with no coding experience.
The trade-off for this simple approach, however, are a couple of game-feel issues that pop up as a result of the jump code. I’m going to focus on two small ways that beginners can modify the tutorial to make their jumping feel better: Ledge Assistance and Jump Input Buffering
These are common platformer implementation techniques, so the good news is that a lot of excellent stuff has already been written in depth about these concepts. But if you’re a beginner just building your very first platformer, this sort of stuff probably isn’t on the forefront of your mind. It’s already a big task to create all the pieces of a platformer from scratch, down to just getting your character moving at a basic level, so something like “jump input buffering” isn’t going to be a thing a beginner considers researching.
My hope is to connect these concepts to the base tutorial to help ease students into thinking about this sort of stuff with their games. Let us begin!
1. Ledge Assistance
Also known as ledge forgiveness, grace period jumping, coyote time, or a number of other terms, this is a fix for the following issue you may run into when setting up your jump code: You try and jump off a ledge at the last possible moment in order to clear a really big gap, but your jump input doesn’t register and you fall off the ledge instead.
The fix for this is allowing a few frames where the player can be not-on-the-ground but will still register a jump input – a grace period for jumping off of a ledge.
Since this concept is so closely tied to input and feel, it can be difficult to fully understand by visualizations alone. So I made a simple demo to help people understand how the grace period changes the feel of jumping.
This is a very simple platformer setup based on the code in Spalding’s tutorials, but one where you can adjust the number of frames in the ledge assistance grace period.
The default is the grace frames set to 0, which is what it feels like in the default tutorial version. As you may be able to feel as you try to make the long jump from one ledge to the other, you can get into a situation where you try and jump at the last possible minute, but fall lifelessly to your death instead.
This feels terrible because there’s a disconnect between your input and what you expected to happen as a result. Kyle’s article goes more in depth into why this happens and provides an alternative implementation to avoid the issue, which is what I used to make the grace period.
By adjusting the grace frames (by clicking the up and down arrows), you are controlling the number of frames the player can simultaneously be “in the air” and press the jump button and still have that jump register. This is the “grace timer” that Kyle mentions in his article. Play around with this number and feel the difference it makes in the jump. Check the “show feedback” button to get a visual cue to illustrate when the grace period is active.
But Lisa, what is the right number of frames to use for a grace period?
Well, this depends entirely on your game and what player feeling you’re going for. If you are making a very tight, precise action platformer, then you’ll probably want to make the frame window as small as possible while still compensating for human reaction time (if you want to get all mathy, consider your target frames per second, and the fact that average human reaction time is somewhere in the realm of ~215ms, or you can just do it by feel. I recommend starting with 6 frames and adjusting from there).
However, let’s say you’re making a game about the laziest bat who “jumps” by flapping her wings a single time, in which case it may make sense to have a super floaty jump and really long grace period, so the bat could amble off the edge and start visibly falling before “jumping.” I dunno, I just made that up off the top of my head.
My point is that there’s no universal right answer here, you’re going to have to tune it with the feel you’re going for in your game, in which you have to consider many things: level of challenge, experience of audience, reaction time factors for your audience, input device, the fantasy of your movement, etc.
You will find the script example at the end of this article.
2. Jump Input Buffering
Another issue I see in a lot of student platformers is no input buffering on jumping, which is something that can feel bad if you’re making a game that requires a lot of repeated, precise jumping. Once again, Kyle Pulver has written about this and illustrated it at length, and I recommend reading his article
The solution to this issue is in a way the opposite of the ledge assistance issue: you still want a grace period in which a jump input will register as true, but in this case you want it *after* you hit the jump button instead of before.
Similar to the other demo, when the jump input buffer frames is set to 0, this is what you get with the base tutorial version. If you happen to hit the jump button just slightly *before* the character collides with the ground, it will not register, and so the character will sit there on the ground and you will feel grumpy about it. This happens more often when you are trying to do a series of jumps one after the other, jumping as soon as the character hits the ground.
Increasing the buffer frames is basically saying “if the player hits the ground within this number of frames after I press the jump button, just execute the jump as soon as they touch the ground”
Again, there’s no universal answer for how big of a buffer to use. Play around with different frame amounts and try to feel the difference it makes in the jumping. You’re trying to find a balance between compensating for player reaction time and still having the movement look and feel grounded and believable.
And think about what player feeling you are fulfilling with your game. Would it ever make sense to have a really really high input buffer? What would that game look like?? What would the fantasy be for that input to make sense and feel good? Maybe you should try and make that game!
Read on for a script sample.
The Point
When it comes to the wide world of game feel, these are but two small tweaks, and one can really dig in and get really deep into shaping player input to feel amazing. There are many others to explore: tuning variable jump height, nudge assistance, the idea of programming jumping in terms of max time to peak as a number to tune around, and so on.
But when you are just getting started with your first platformer and are feeling like you have a handling on the basics, I think these are good places to introduce yourself to tuning player input. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, especially if you aren’t an experienced coder, when you take on too much right off the bat.
And you can see when looking at the script itself below, even these two tweaks get quite a bit more complicated than the original tutorial script for player movement.
But I think it’s a good place to start, and a great way to add a little extra polish to your first platformer, be it for a class project or a game jam or just for fun.
Script Samples
If you are following Spalding’s GameMaker tutorial, you should be able to copy and paste these scripts into the player object’s Create event and Step events, respectively. Set grace_jump_time and jump_buffer to whatever number felt good to you when playing with the two demos. I tried to comment thoroughly. Or you can just look at the whole GameMaker project attached below. Good luck!
We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox!
Forza Motorsport 7 Now Available Worldwide on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs Today is the day! Get ready for the thrill of motorsport at the limit. Gear up for the most comprehensive, beautiful and authentic racing game ever made. Forza Motorsport 7 is here, available worldwide today on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, in three different versions. Standard Edition – This edition features the full version of the game running at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second… Read more
Xbox One X: What It Takes to Build a Console Peanut butter and jelly. Shaq and Kobe. Master Chief and Cortana. If there’s anything we’ve learned during our short time on this planet, it’s that collaboration is the driving force of creation (and tasty sandwiches). We recently heard from Bryan Sparks, Senior Designer, Microsoft Device Design Team, and Leonardo Del Castillo, GM of Xbox Devices Console Development to learn… Read more
Play Star Wars Battlefront II Open Beta During Free Play Days For All Weekend We believe games are more fun with friends. Starting Friday, October 6 at 1:00 a.m. PDT to Monday, October 9 at 11:59 p.m. PDT, you can play online in any game you own with your friends for free during our Free Play Days For All weekend on Xbox One and Xbox 360 — Xbox Live Gold membership not required. There’s more! If you’re looking for a new multiplayer experience… Read more
Bringing Middle-earth: Shadow of War to Life in 4K Next week Middle-earth: Shadow of War will launch on Xbox One and Windows 10 as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, sending us back to Mordor to fight all manner of orcs and other fantastically evil creatures. But it’s this Fall when the Xbox One X hits store shelves that we’re most looking forward to our return to Middle-earth. Not only has the game grown in scope from the 2014 classic… Read more
Assassin’s Creed Origins: Using All of Bayek’s Tricks in the Nile Delta Like no other game in the series so far, Assassin’s Creed Origins will push you to use every tool and tactic at your disposal as you hunt for the secret society known as the Order of the Ancients. In our case, this was something we realized during a quest in the latest preview demo, set in the Giza Plateau and in the Nile Delta — both of which looked beautiful running on Xbox One X… Read more
New Xbox One S Assassin’s Creed Origins Bundles Launch October 27 Step back in time and discover the beginning of the Assassin’s brotherhood with two new Xbox One S Assassin’s Creed Origins Bundles (1TB and 500GB) launching October 27. Experience a new way to fight by using powerful weapons to protect Egypt from epic enemies, while exploring the Great Pyramids and uncovering lost tombs across a vast and unpredictable land… Read more
Dishonored: Death of The Outsider Tips & Tricks Hey, Xbox gamers! The Tips & Tricks team is here with 5 tips for Arkane Studios’ latest game, Dishonored: Death of The Outsider. Death of the Outsider is a standalone DLC that takes place a few months after the events of Dishonored 2. You play as Billie Lurk: Daud’s most trusted assassin… that is, until her betrayal in The Knife of Dunwall DLC. Now, Billie’s out to find Daud… Read more
Party-Based Dungeon Crawler Battle Chasers: Nightwar Available Now on Xbox One When people see Battle Chasers: Nightwar for the first time, they’ve got a lot of questions. Is it a Diablo-style dungeon crawler? Is it more of a party-based tactical RPG? Is it action or turn-based? The short answer is: all of the above. It’s a bit of a hybrid. But understanding all the nuances of our strange brew, and why we made the choices we made, requires… Read more
Taking on Big Game in theHunter: Call of the Wild on Xbox One Here at Avalanche Studios and Expansive Worlds, we are incredibly excited to bring theHunter: Call of the Wild to Xbox One. It’s the first venture for theHunter franchise into the world of gamepads and comfortable couch gaming and we can’t wait for you to take a stroll in our virtual worlds. A lot of you have been asking to get the game on Xbox One and now it is finally here… Read more
Gears of War Pro Circuit Season 2 Announced with new expected prize pool of $2,000,000! Xbox, Gears of War Esports, and The Coalition are proud to announce Season 2 of the Gears Pro Circuit for Gears of War 4. Gears players from around the world can compete in marquee live open events for a starting $1,000,000 in cash prizes. With the addition of new regional events and grassroots tournaments, plus crowdfunding through Esports Supporter Packs… Read more
Feature: Four Horses Discusses the Process of Bringing Kid Tripp to the Switch
Not long ago Kid Tripp arrived on the 3DS eShop, an auto-running platformer that offers snappy but challenging stages. Some balked at its mobile origins but that was to do it a discredit; in our view it’s a well-constructed and fun game.
Four Horses produced that version and is now working on a Switch port, so we caught up with director and programmer Michael Waites to learn more about the process of jumping a generation in hardware, and why this was always a ‘console’ game despite its smart device origins.
How has the development process been on Switch?
So far, it is all going well. I’ve taken a little break from it to help out another publisher with a conversion of a Unity project but I expect to be back onto it shortly. Some of the work on the other project crosses over with Kid Tripp anyway, such as handling all the controller configurations that are possible and other aspects, which have inspired ideas to make Kid Tripp even greater on the Switch, so it is all good!
When did it start?
I started the conversion to Switch in the week of the launch of the 3DS version. Getting the game running with identical content to the Nintendo 3DS version was fairly rapid as all it involved was getting my in-house engine up and running on the Switch. All that remains is to get the Switch-specific functionality added.
What attracted you to develop for Switch?
I’m a huge fan of Nintendo, both the games they make and the hardware they release, so as soon as I heard about the Switch I wanted to own one for game playing. I love the design of the console and wanted to get set up as a developer as soon as possible as I have a few ideas for games that make some use of the unique hardware. Getting Kid Tripp onto the platform seemed to be a good springboard to getting hold of the development hardware, getting familiar with it and then going on to develop the ideas I have into full games.
What was your exposure and interest to the rumours of the ‘NX’?
Sadly no different to any other Nintendo fan. As a developer, I had no early access to the hardware or any information about it. It wasn’t until what seemed like an age after the launch of the hardware in March that I got access to the Switch developer site. In some ways, I’m happy with that because I did enjoy all the hype as a consumer.
It must be exciting to launch on Nintendo platforms that have huge popularity at the moment, one well established and the other in its infancy?
It really is. I never thought I’d be self-publishing a game on Nintendo hardware within a year of its launch, but that is going to happen. Plus, the 3DS has had a special place in my heart since its launch. Hopefully I’ll be able to develop and publish on its eventual successor, too!
The game is certainly charming visually, yet has elements and a degree of difficulty associated with classic platformers. How was this aesthetic/ gameplay balance approached (to appeal to different ages and skill types)?
I wasn’t involved in the design of the original game, so I don’t have too much information on that front. I do know that Mike Burns, the original creator, spent many hours with friends and family balancing and tweaking the levels based on their feedback. I’ll hand over to him!
Mike Burns: I started making Kid Tripp as a hobby way back in 2011. At the time there wasn’t a huge catalog of challenging, quality platformers on the iOS App Store, so I figured I’d jump in and help fill the void. I’m a big fan of New Adventure Island (the TG-16 one — I actually discovered it on the Wii Virtual Console!). It’s fast, colorful, and fairly tough. One of the cool ways that the Adventure Island games differ from the Mario games is that they kind of subtly encourage the player to never stop running. The more I played it, the more I realized I could beat pretty much the entire game without ever letting go of the right arrow on the d-pad. I think that’s what sparked the idea to bring that kind of classic platformer gameplay to mobile devices (via an autorunner.).
The decision to go with the game’s cute pixel art style was definitely influenced by games like Adventure Island and Super Mario Bros. (Bright, colorful pixel art just makes me happy!) The difficulty was a bit of a different story. The plan was always to make a tough game, but the funny thing is that I didn’t think the game was particularly hard when I first finished it up. I had spent about two or three years testing it almost daily, so by the time I got around to creating the final level design the physics were totally second nature to me. The thing is, because I designed the levels to feel challenging for me, personally, they ended up being super difficult for people who had never played the game before.
That said, I did offset the difficulty with some other design choices, so I think it worked out pretty well in the end. For instance, the player respawns practically instantly, and the levels are short enough that dying doesn’t feel like a huge loss of progress. The satisfaction of beating a super tough level is always just a few seconds away (which works great for holding a player’s interest), but it’s also really easy to just put down and jump back in later. I knew that that was a really important thing to have, especially for a game people would be playing on their phones.
With the ‘endless runner’ genre being linked predominantly with iOS, was this technically expanded and tweaked for consoles?
Michael Waites: The original game was developed as a console game that could be played easily on a touch screen with two fake buttons, so to a degree it already was a console game. Having said that, the game is considerably more difficult to play in two button mode as there are three controls – running, throwing stones and of course, jumping. We made the decision to split those controls fully for the console versions but retain a Hardcore control option that just uses two buttons the same as the iOS version. I don’t know if anyone really wants to use those “authentic” controls, but I didn’t want to make any irreversible changes to the original game.
How was the transition from one to two screens – from iOS to the 3DS, and now being able to transfer between home and portable with the Switch?
In some ways it was really difficult, mainly because we decided to just use the top screen – it is that decision which was difficult. We had some ideas for things we could put on the touch screen such as a permanent display of your current statistics and a little mini-map of the level with markers for all the places where you lost a life, but in the end we figured that it was additional work that would only delay the release without adding any value for the player. If you take your eyes off the top screen whilst playing, you tend to lose a life!
So, with that in mind, how did you decide on unique features for each system?
Since the game was already designed we were never going to be making any changes that would affect the content of the game, so unique features were never factored into the game. I was always going to be making use of the 3D effect of the 3DS, though. I personally don’t like getting multi-platform games on the 3DS that don’t utilise the 3D effect when they could do. For the Switch, the only thing I can confirm right now is that we are supporting all controller configurations – attached to the console, dual Joy-Con, single Joy-Con (left or right) and Pro Controller. We are experimenting with another feature based on the controller, but until we know if that is going to add value to the project are keeping it to ourselves!
We’d like to thanks Michael Waites and Mike Burns for their time.
