Bringing turn-based tactical RPG Divinity: Original Sin to consoles took more effort than Larian Studios had anticipated, says Swen Vincke, CEO and creative director of the studio. But with critical praise and solid commercial performance, he says the effort behind Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition was worthwhile.

Vincke explains the challenges of bringing such a PC-centric game to Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and has sound advice for studios looking to target the console market.

What kind of market research, or just general research, did you do in deciding whether you should do a new version of the game? What did you see out there that made you think this is a worthwhile thing to do?

Swen Vincke: The fact that nobody did it was pretty much the reason. We didn’t know whether or not there was an audience for it. There was nobody else doing an RPG like this on console, so we figured there were people who liked “traditional” RPGs, if you’d like to put it that way, that exist on PC. We thought if we made it for them, they might want to pick it up.

In general, when you’re in crowded markets, you tend to look for what’s called the blue oceans. You want to go somewhere where there is no competition. We saw that there was no competition for a game like Original Sin on console. We knew we had good content, because people on PC liked it. So we managed to convert it to console in order to appeal to people who like this type of game.

On top of that, we had a feature that was very special for console, that being the split screen co-op, a very key part of it. That feature was actually part of the original vision for the game—a game that you can play together on one screen.

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What do you think is keeping other PC-centric developers from launching a game on a console, or remaking a game for a console?

The thing is it’s pretty hard! If we were going to have to make a game like Original Sin from scratch, targeting both PC and console at the same time [at launch], I don’t think we’d have managed to make as good of a game as we did. We spent a lot of time and work making the Enhanced Edition. It was not something that was straightforward.

If you’ve played the PC and the console version, there’s quite a bit of transition between the two. It’s a completely different UI. We didn’t compromise on any of the gameplay systems. But it did take quite a lot of work before we got to something that was working well. So the investment you have to do for that is quite high. Plus, on top of that, you have to add all of the typical console things, like TRC, a lot more QA. It’s a very expensive operation. And you’re not exactly sure if you make something PC-centric, if it’s going to work or not.

How long was development on this again?

We started right away [after the June launch of the original Divinity: Original Sin], and we ended last month. And we’re still working on it because now we’re doing the patches. About 40 people worked full-time on this.

Now that it’s launched and you’ve seen how it’s performing in the market, are you seeing that it was worthwhile, financially, for the company?

Well we had a publisher for the console version [Focus Home Interactive], so that gave us some freedom. In that sense, we’re sure that the bills are paid for development.

“We didn’t know whether or not there was an audience for it. There was nobody else doing an RPG like this on console.”

I think it’s going to be profitable, because it scored really high with the critics. It’s scoring an 89 on Metacritic for PS4. For a turn-based RPG on console, that’s not a given. So I’m really proud of the team for that.

We achieved a whole bunch of things at the same time: critical recognition and validation that you can do this kind of game on a console, and it doesn’t have to suck. Also, now our engine supports console, and a controller. Original Sin 2 is running the same engine, so if we see it’s worthwhile, we’ll be able to port it to consoles. Our engine is a lot leaner now because of the port—it’s a lot faster, and we can do much more with it. I think it was a good move—I’m quite happy with it.

It was an interesting business decision to give the Enhanced Edition away to people who already own the original version on PC. Why did that make sense for you to do that.

You have to see that for us, this was a new game on console, then obviously you could reverse the port and bring it back to PC. So we had to think about what to do for the existing customers who have already bought Original Sin. Those are the same guys who make a lot of stuff possible for us—so are we really going to charge them for a vastly enhanced edition of the game, even though there’s a lot of investment that went into it?

Since we already recuperated on the console market, we figured that would be too much, charging existing customers full price. We’re not really fans of DLC and upgrades, so you know what? We just made this for a new audience [on consoles], and we’ll also give it to our fans, and hopefully they’ll appreciate it, play it again, and help us out when the next game comes out.

What advice would you give other PC-centric studios who are considering doing something similar—studios that are thinking of releasing a game on console?

Treat [the console version] as well as your PC version. Don’t try to make a quick port—go and rethink it completely for a console controller, rethink it completely for a television. If you look at Original Sin on a TV screen, you’ll see that everything has been made more readable from a further distance. That’s expensive, and it takes a lot of time. If you don’t do that, then you shouldn’t bother, because console player won’t like it anyway.

Console players need to feel like the console is an important platform to you. This is thing that PC players have always been complaining about with console ports, right? That [console ports] don’t adapt well to PC. Well, the same thing goes vice versa.

In this 2018 GDC talk, Ubisoft’s Etienne Carrier explains how Ubisoft developed a set of procedural tools to generate biomes, texture the terrain, setup freshwater networks, generate cliff rocks and more for Far Cry 5.

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 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.

Acclaimed MMO Black Desert Mobile is ramping up its content to see out 2020 on a high note. After the trashfire of a year we’ve had, games are the perfect form of escapism, and updates just keep us away from the real world for as long as possible.

Black Desert Mobile is introducing a brand new crystal class for players. The Dimensional Crystal – aside from just sounding more epic than a journey to Mordor – grants new buffs to your attack points, defense points, and Black Spirit stat points. For those of you currently using the Abyssal-grade crystal, the effects of the Dimensional Crystal vastly exceed the highest potential of your current class.

Publisher Pearl Abyss also announced the return of the Field of Valor, which sees players form uneasy alliances with each other to fight hordes of enemies. The mode is here for two weeks (until December 8), so find four other players and take down as many monsters as you can in the 30-minute survival mode. A word of warning, however: you’ll need to spend Tokens of Valor in order to enter. So slay some monsters in the Black Desert world to gain access to the Field of Valor.

The full patch notes and information for the Dimensional Crystal can be found below:

• Added Dimensional Crystal
  
  • Dimensional Crystals can contain power for the Aal, Labreve, Serrett, and Ahib branches
  • Dimensional Crystal extraction is only possible for gear lower than Primal grade, and cannot be done otherwise
• Added a separate category on the craft menu for crafting Dimensional Crystals
  
  • You can craft Dimensional Crystals in the Alchemy Lab or Craft menu, under the Crystal category

• Added new items that are required to craft Dimensional Crystals
  
  • Obtain Dimensional Fragments from feeding Abyssal-grade items to the Black Spirit and from Field of Valor
• Dimensional Fragments cannot be obtained by feeding the Delphad Main Weapon and Sub-Weapon event rewards to the Black Spirit
  
  • Use Dark Coins to purchase Empty Crystals from Gervaise’s Shop

There is also – as with everything – a Black Friday sale in the Pearl Shop. Ornaments, outfits, and pets all have discounts, some of which reach 90% off. Pearl Abyss also says there will be special item bundles available, although we don’t know exactly what these include at this point.

Check out our picks for the best Black Friday deals on all things mobile and Switch gaming, or take a look at our roundup of the best mobile MMORPGs for more like Black Desert Mobile.

The latest Nintendo Download update for Europe has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!

Switch Retail eShop – New Releases

Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues (Game Mill, 24th Nov, £34.99 / €39.99) – Choose a side, master your moves and embrace your destiny in an epic beat ’em up adventure inspired by the hit show. Take control of 8 playable characters with deep movesets, combos, progression, real-time character swaps, ultimate attacks, and much more! 34 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament, the rivalry of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence continues. The fight is in your hands now! – Read our Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues review

Tracks – Toybox Edition (Excalibur Games, 24th Nov, £22.49 / €26.99) – Tracks is a toy train set builder which gives you the tools to play without limits. Jump into an extensive sandbox and lay down tracks, create bridges and build worlds, then hop into the driver’s seat of your train in first person view. Play with boosters, create firework displays, compose tunes and so much more. Jump into the Ultimate Toy Sandbox Start with a pre-made environment, be it a modern lounge or a night time Winter wonderland, or jump into an entirely blank world canvas.

Switch eShop – New Releases

2URVIVE (2BAD GAMES, 24th Nov, £6.29 / €6.99) – In 2URVIVE, the world is devastated by a virus. Your only goal is to defend yourself against hordes of Infected attacking you. Infected are too numerous and sooner or later, your time will come ! If you’re gonna die, fight till the end! 2URVIVE is a top-down zombie shooter with tactical and strategic elements. Prepare yourself before every wave. Buy weapons and ammo, set up turrets and stay alive as long as you can. Each wave becomes more dangerous than the previous one and the Infected are more and more numerous.

Arrog (indienova, 26th Nov, £2.51 / €2.79) – Arrog is an enigmatic puzzle adventure game featuring hand-drawn art and set in a bizarre black-and-white world with color accents. Features A tale about the journey of a man accepting his death through his dreams. A unique black-and-white art style and traditional animations used in a bizarre world. An intense 30-minute narrative experience. A hand-crafted soundtrack for each section of the game.

BFF or Die (£6.79 / €6.79) – As time traveling aliens, you must venture to a strange planet called “Earth” in order to rescue the Orbees, a mysterious species who help you build your crucial set of gadgets. Take charge of each gadget, combine your abilities and strategize to save your friends. Use your cunning wit and camaraderie to survive, but never forget the Academy motto: “BFF or Die! ” If you love couch co-op’s with friends and family then BFF or Die is for you! BFF or Die in 2-4 local player mode is a completely new and amusing cooperative experience.

Destropolis (£4.31 / €4.79) – Destropolis is a top-down shooter game, inspired by such classic games like “Crimsonland”, “Alien Shooter” or “Nuclear Throne”. It takes place in a futuristic city, filled with red, cube-like enemies. Tear them to pieces with bullets, lasers and nuclear explosions. Play alone or with friends in a local co-op mode. Destroy as many enemies as you can before they overwhelm you.

Dungeon Solver (QUByte Interactive, 24th Nov, £0.35 / €0.99) – Take all hero’s pieces to the exit of the dungeon, avoiding enemies and traps present on your way. Game feature: 60 challenging levels fases carefully designed;3 hero’s pieces with differents movements;relaxing atmosphere with colorful and bright aspects; With new elements as it progresses through the levels.

Electro Ride: The Neon Racing (£9.89 / €10.99) – Electro Ride is a Soviet Bloc Arcade Racer with neon lights. Become the fastest racer in Neon-alternative East Bloc from the Berlin Wall to Moscow. Neon lights, unique classic East Bloc cars, color-sensitive boosts strips, phisics, synthwave and beloved splitscreen. 100% adrenaline! In an alternate Europe in which the Eastern Bloc did not fall, but transformed into a center of eternal wealth and progress – this is where fame awaits you. No ABS, no traction control, no modern electronic system.

Girabox (£2.29 / €2.49) – This minimalist puzzler offers a unique premise for an innovative and deep gameplay: here you don’t control your character, but rather the world around it. Gravity is the only force applying motion, so you need to rotate the levels until your character reaches down to the ultimate goal. Every rotation is counted, meaning that the smaller score, the better! Be smart and compete with others for the online leaderboards podium. The minimalist visuals, the smooth controls and the puzzles architecture are specifically designed to provide a tight and frictionless experience through all the many levels available.

In Celebration Of Violence (Dolores Ent., 26th Nov, £11.69 / €12.99) – In Celebration of Violence is a fantasy action roguelike of exploration and murder. The methodical combat requires that you plan your attacks, dodges, blocks, and parries while considering your opponents and the environment. Death is permanent but you can improve your stats and purchase items to aid future lives. And if things get too tough then up to four local friends can grab controllers and aid the hero as player-controlled monsters, zombies, and bandits.

Lovekami -Divinity Stage- (MoeNovel, 26th Nov, £10.07 / €11.19) – It was a time when people had forgotten their dreams and lost faith. The silhouettes of goddesses revealed themselves to people who, at the time, could only believe in what they saw in front of them. The confusion surrounding the countless goddesses appearing in Japan was soon solved through the reveal that Japan’s guardian deity, Amaterasu, wanted to teach the goddesses about the human world. All of this brought about the implementation of the Divine Education Act.

Maid of Sker (Wales Interactive, 26th Nov, £15.99 / €19.99) – Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror, set in a remote hotel with a gory and macabre history from British folklore. Armed with only a defensive sound device, you’ll utilise stealth tactics to avoid death amongst a cult of sound-based AI enemies. Set in 1898 and inspired by the haunting Welsh tale of Elisabeth Williams, this is a story of a family empire driven by torture, slavery, piracy and a supernatural mystery that suffocates the grounds of the hotel.

More Dark (£4.99 / €4.99) – After the Lord of the Other World went on vacation his leadership was temporarily taken over by his sweet daughter, Evilina and chaos ensued. The prisoners of damnation have all escaped from their confinements and scattered about the kingdom, shattering the fragile peace of the devil’s dominion. Your task is to return order to Hell, corral the escaped convicts, and cleanse each area of chaos and anarchy. Can you save Hell, or perhaps earn redemption? Features: * 60 levels * Variety of mechanics * Hidden keys to unlock hats * Gloomy, stylish pixel graphics * Retro-inspired music

My Aunt is a Witch (Sometimes You, 25th Nov, £8.99 / €9.99) – ‘My Aunt is a Witch’ is a Visual Novel full of adventures and quests in the world of magic where you have an incredible chance to become an apprentice of one of the most peculiar and charismatic witches. The protagonist, a boy named Thomas, has a difficult life. It gets even worse when his father marries a woman who simply can’t stand her stepson. His whole life changes with a sudden trip to his aunt, whom he visited once many years ago.

Nordlicht (Koch Media, 26th Nov, £3.59 / €3.99) – Nordlicht is an adventure game in which you accompany an unusual family on a fascinating journey to the cold North. You control the curious Aurora, Peter Parsley (her guinea pig and best friend, who refuses to leave her side), and her clever dad, Rupert. Along their way, they discover the mysterious constellations of the polar night sky, and will have to face the dangers created by mother nature and their own fears. Sometimes, you’ll use and combine items you find in the traditional point-and-click manner.

Out of Space: Couch Edition (Plug In Digital, 25th Nov, £8.99 / €9.99) – You and your friends are about to move into a house in space, where you will have to deal with a deadly alien infestation and face the challenges of building a sustainable spaceship, all to make your new place feel as cozy as home! COUCH FUN MEETS STRATEGY Each match starts in a procedurally generated spaceship house that will demand your best planning and teamwork skills to become clean and comfy. You and your friends will need to generate resources, recycle trash and alien goo, buy and build new technologies, and take care of one another, if you ever want to call home the mess that you got into.

Picklock (No Gravity Games, 26th Nov, £5.59 / €6.39) – FEATURES: isometric mix of strategy, adventure and stealth;13 challenging missions; real estate agency to buy your dream house; car dealership to pimp your ride; jazzy tunes to listen and chill out to; travel agency so you can go on a well-deserved vacation; voxel graphics. Are you bored with an average, honest life? Picklock gives you an opportunity to break in, steal and deceive your way to a luxury, yet an illegal lifestyle. In each level, you will face a new challenge.

PICROSS S5 (JUPITER, 26th Nov, £8.99 / €9.99) – Brand new puzzles for you to enjoy in all four regular game modes: Picross, Mega Picross, Color Picross, and Clip Picross, plus new large puzzles in the bonus Extra content! There are a total of 300 Picross and Mega Picross puzzles, 150 Clip Picross piece puzzles, 30 Color Picross puzzles, and 5 Extra puzzles, a grand total of 485 puzzles!

Ponpu (£14.99 / €14.99) – As a herald of the almighty creator of the Universe – the Duck-God, battle it out with your siblings in an epic quest to save the world from destruction! Once you’re done saving the world, engage in frantic multiplayer in a range of crazy game modes with up to 4 players. Bombs on!

QV (CFK, 26th Nov, £9.03 / €9.99) – In a universe, dimensions are connected to each other. In the center of the passages lies Dimensional Core, keeping the balance between dimensions. This balance began to collapse when the Core stopped working. Unless someone gives a helping hand, soon the universe will follow. The Gate doesn’t let anyone into the Dimensional Core. But Quby, as the last descendant of Chosen Ones, can access the Gate.

Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition (Sekai Games, 26th Nov, £35.99 / €39.99) – The year is 2030. Business is as usual in the isolated research city of Rokumei–that is until several explosions suddenly go off in the nuclear research facility known as “LABO. ” The city sends in “Sirius,” an elite rescue squad, to deal with the situation. But the situation only gets worse when LABO’s nuclear reactor melts down, –with members of Sirius and survivors still trapped inside. With radiation leaking everywhere and not enough anti-radiation medication to last until lockdown lifts, the survivors make more and more grim discoveries.

Sky Mercenaries Redux (PolarityFlow, 26th Nov, £2.97 / €3.49) – An epic sky battle awaits you! Sky Mercenaries is back with a overhauled 2020 Nintendo Switch exclusive redux edition. Choose your pilot and fighter to join the ultimate 2D polarity S. H. M. U. P action ! Fight over 50 enemy types on 8 worlds in over 32 story missions and unlimited random content. Be prepared for the overpowering enemy fleet and challenging bossfights.

Strike Force 2 – Terrorist Hunt (Polygon Art, 25th Nov, £16.19 / €17.99) – One of our agents was on the mission to investigate a para militarized terrorist organization lead by a former german secret service agent. We lost his tracking signal. The last message we got was his coordinates and request for extraction. You are a member of the Strike Force Unit. Your objective is to rescue our agent and combat the terrorist organization. Gear up with a modern arsenal of machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles and pistols and fulfill your objective.

The Alto Collection (Snowman, 26th Nov, £5.91 / €6.59) – Join Alto and friends as they set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Race down alpine slopes, over windswept dunes, through ancient woodlands and the long forgotten ruins of both critically acclaimed titles: Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey. Along the way you’ll pull off daring backflips, grind over rooftops and leap over vast chasms as you journey to discover what mysteries lie beyond the horizon. Full access to both Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey, including over 120 levels, 360 goals, 7 unique characters, and a workshop full of upgrades. Custom designed soundtracks for Standard and Zen modes for both titles. Full controller support. Online leaderboards.

The Explorer of Night (TERNOX, 26th Nov, £3.81 / €4.24) – In the game you will find interesting puzzles, boss fights and cute story. Beat the challenging levels;Defend yourself from a variety of enemies;Enjoy the pleasant gaming atmosphere.

Tiny World Racing (£2.69 / €2.99) – Hit the asphalt and leave your opponents in the dust in this top-down mini racing game! Blast your way through a variety of environments in 20 tracks across 5 different tournaments. From crumbling castles to volcanic islands, you’ll need to master all kinds of terrain to become the world’s best racer.

Switch eShop – Demos

DLC / Add-On Content

Nintendo Switch games with new DLC this week:

So that’s your lot for this week’s Nintendo Download. Go on, be a sport and drop a vote in the poll above, and comment below with your hot picks!

The latest Nintendo Download update for North America has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!

Switch eShop – Highlights

Empire of Sin (Paradox Interactive, 1st Dec, $39.99) – A new strategy game brought to you by Romero Games and Paradox Interactive, Empire of Sin puts you at the heart of the ruthless criminal underworld of Prohibition-era Chicago. Slip into the shoes of one of fourteen historically inspired mob bosses such as Al Capone, Stephanie St. Clair or Goldie Garneau and assemble a rag-tag gang, build and manage your criminal empire and defend your turf. Slug it out in turn-based combat to expand your territory – or send a message to opposing gangs. It’s up to you to hustle, charm and intimidate your way to the top and do whatever it takes to stay there. Break a leg!

Switch eShop – New Releases

Arcade Archives ZERO TEAM (HAMSTER, 19th Nov, $7.99) – “ZERO TEAM” is an action game released by SEIBU KAIHATSU in 1993. Four members of the ZERO TEAM take off to save a woman kidnapped by evil ninja. Partake in technical battles with simple controls and, while using the environment from time to time, defeat the enemies attacking from all directions! – Read our Arcade Archives ZERO TEAM review

Arrog (indienova, 26th Nov, $3.99) – Arrog is an enigmatic puzzle adventure game featuring hand-drawn art and set in a bizarre black-and-white world with color accents. A tale about the journey of a man accepting his death through his dreams. A unique black-and-white art style and traditional animations used in a bizarre world. An intense 30-minute narrative experience.

Asphalt 9: Legends (Gameloft, 8th Oct, $0.00) – The multi-award-winning arcade racing game on Nintendo Switch just got its second major update: THE OSAKA UPDATE. 10 brand-new cars. Brand-new tracks in Osaka. New Career Seasons. New Multiplayer Seasons New customizable parts. New garage upgrade. – Read our Asphalt 9: Legends review

BFF or Die (2Awesome Studio, 27th Nov, $7.99) – As time traveling aliens, you must venture to a strange planet called “Earth” in order to rescue the Orbees, a mysterious species who help you build your crucial set of gadgets. Take charge of each gadget, combine your abilities and strategize to save your friends. Use your cunning wit and camaraderie to survive, but never forget the Academy motto: “BFF or Die! ” If you love couch co-op’s with friends and family then BFF or Die is for you!

Destropolis (No Gravity Games, 27th Nov, $5.99) – Destropolis is a top-down shooter game, inspired by such classic games like “Crimsonland”, “Alien Shooter” or “Nuclear Throne”. It takes place in a futuristic city, filled with red, cube-like enemies. Tear them to pieces with bullets, lasers and nuclear explosions. Play alone or with friends in a local co-op mode. Destroy as many enemies as you can before they overwhelm you.

Electro Ride: The Neon Racing (Ultimate Games, 27th Nov, $11.99) – Electro Ride is a Soviet Bloc Arcade Racer with neon lights. Become the fastest racer in Neon-alternative East Bloc from the Berlin Wall to Moscow. Neon lights, unique classic East Bloc cars, color-sensitive boosts strips, phisics, synthwave and beloved splitscreen. 100% adrenaline! In an alternate Europe in which the Eastern Bloc did not fall, but transformed into a center of eternal wealth and progress – this is where fame awaits you. No ABS, no traction control, no modern electronic system. Only you and a beautiful, classic vehicle with super-powerful neon lights.

Girabox (Drageus Games, 27th Nov, $2.49) – This minimalist puzzler offers a unique premise for an innovative and deep gameplay: here you don’t control your character, but rather the world around it. Gravity is the only force applying motion, so you need to rotate the levels until your character reaches down to the ultimate goal. Every rotation is counted, meaning that the smaller score, the better! Be smart and compete with others for the online leaderboards podium.

Hyperforma (HeroCraft, 5th Sep, $9.99) – Hyperforma is a captivating story about a lone explorer who makes his journey into the relic cyberspace “Ancient Network”, an artefact of a mysteriously vanished civilization of the past, hoping to reveal the secrets of its masters. During his search, the hero meets monumental “living” interfaces and overcomes numerous obstacles while breaching through the most complex defence systems to ultimately discover the truth, not only about the dramatic events of the past but also about his own being. – Read our Hyperforma review

In Celebration of Violence (26th Nov, $12.99) – A fantasy action roguelike of exploration and murder. In Celebration of Violence is a fantasy action roguelike of exploration and murder. The methodical combat requires that you plan your attacks, dodges, blocks, and parries while considering your opponents and the environment. Death is permanent but you can improve your stats and purchase items to aid future lives. And if things get too tough then up to four local friends can grab controllers and aid the hero as player-controlled monsters, zombies, and bandits.

jetPIN (KrzysztofPodsada, 20th Nov, $5.99) – Get to the top level and escape the flood. Collect extra points and pocket millions in the bonus zones. You can’t play this with a standard ball, this one has special skills – get it up to the maximum speed and score bonuses. Discover new higher levels and when the flood catches up with you and you’re in the water use the jet jump and rise above the water table. Remember, immersion in the water raises the electrical voltage of the ball, so lower it down to 0% at special ports. Are you falling down and see that the water is close? Use the rescue bubble and give yourself a chance, keep playing, break records. Are you ready for this challenge? The flood is coming near!

Lovekami -Divinity Stage- (MoeNovel, 26th Nov, $14.99) – It was a time when people had forgotten their dreams and lost faith. The silhouettes of goddesses revealed themselves to people who, at the time, could only believe in what they saw in front of them. The confusion surrounding the countless goddesses appearing in Japan was soon solved through the reveal that Japan’s guardian deity, Amaterasu, wanted to teach the goddesses about the human world.

Maid of Sker (Wales Interactive, 26th Nov, $24.99) – Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror, set in a remote hotel with a gory and macabre history from British folklore. Armed with only a defensive sound device, you’ll utilise stealth tactics to avoid death amongst a cult of sound-based AI enemies.

More Dark (Ratalaika Games, 27th Nov, $4.99) – After the Lord of the Other World went on vacation his leadership was temporarily taken over by his sweet daughter, Evilina and chaos ensued. The prisoners of damnation have all escaped from their confinements and scattered about the kingdom, shattering the fragile peace of the devil’s dominion. Your task is to return order to Hell, corral the escaped convicts, and cleanse each area of chaos and anarchy. Can you save Hell, or perhaps earn redemption?

Nordlicht (Koch Media, 26th Nov, $3.99) – Nordlicht is an adventure game in which you accompany an unusual family on a fascinating journey to the cold North. You control the curious Aurora, Peter Parsley (her guinea pig and best friend, who refuses to leave her side), and her clever dad, Rupert. Along their way, they discover the mysterious constellations of the polar night sky, and will have to face the dangers created by mother nature and their own fears.

Picklock (No Gravity Games, 26th Nov, $7.99) – Are you bored with an average, honest life? Picklock gives you an opportunity to break in, steal and deceive your way to a luxury, yet an illegal lifestyle. In each level, you will face a new challenge. Your targets will range from a roll of toilet paper at your neighbours’ house to exclusive art, electronics and cold, hard cash. And even though you know your stuff, you’ll have to deal with security, alarms and sealed, secret compartments. Excited yet? Then grab your gloves and crowbar and get ready for a tricky, robbery adventure!

PICROSS S5 (Jupiter, 26th Nov, $9.99) – Brand new puzzles for you to enjoy in all four regular game modes: Picross, Mega Picross, Color Picross, and Clip Picross, plus new large puzzles in the bonus Extra content! A total of 300 Picross and Mega Picross puzzles, 150 Clip Picross piece puzzles, 30 Color Picross puzzles, and 5 Extra puzzles, a grand total of 485 puzzles! Link play data from Picross S, Picross S2, and Picross S3 to unlock the third Extra puzzle.

Ponpu (Zordix, 29th Nov, $14.99) – Get ready to break some eggs in this frantic multiplayer party-game! Ponpu mixes classic gameplay with new crazy mechanics, all packaged in one of the coolest art-styles ever seen! As a herald of the almighty creator of the Universe – the Duck-God, battle it out with your siblings in an epic quest to save the world from destruction! Once you’re done saving the world, engage in frantic multiplayer in a range of crazy game modes with up to 4 players.

QV (CFK, 26th Nov, $14.99) – In a universe, dimensions are connected to each other. In the center of the passages lies Dimensional Core, keeping the balance between dimensions. This balance began to collapse when the Core stopped working. Unless someone gives a helping hand, soon the universe will follow. The Gate doesn’t let anyone into the Dimensional Core. But Quby, as the last descendant of Chosen Ones, can access the Gate. To restore the balance between dimensions, Quby opens a portal to the Gate. With Varon, the talking penguin, she must explore the long-forgotten ruins of her ancestors and find a way to reactivate the Core. Let the journey begin!

Ragdoll Fighter (Piotr Skalski, 26th Nov, $1.99) – Ragdoll Fighter is a game where you need to test your battling skills against another ragdoll. Both you and the enemy have a blood bar and a specific blood count. You can use the joystick in order to control the character direction. How to play: You need to attack with your hands and feet, even use any weapons at your disposal in order to kill the enemy. When the health bar of your enemy reaches 0, you win. If your health bar reaches 0, then you will lose. Test out your skills and become the ultimate Ragdoll Fighter today!

Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition (Sekai Games, 26th Nov, $45.99) – The year is 2030. Business is as usual in the isolated research city of Rokumei–that is until several explosions suddenly go off in the nuclear research facility known as “LABO. ” The city sends in “Sirius,” an elite rescue squad, to deal with the situation. But the situation only gets worse when LABO’s nuclear reactor melts down, –with members of Sirius and survivors still trapped inside.

Sky Mercenaries Redux (PolarityFlow, 26th Nov, $15.00) – An epic sky battle awaits you! Sky Mercenaries is back with a overhauled 2020 Nintendo Switch™ exclusive Redux edition. Choose your pilot and fighter to join the ultimate 2D polarity S. H. M. U. P action ! Fight over 50 enemy types on 8 worlds in over 32 story missions and unlimited random content. Be prepared for the overpowering enemy fleet and challenging bossfights.

Slash Ninja (Piotr Skalski, 9th Nov, $4.99) – A classic games comes to your console today. Try your ninja moves today! Play, slice, dice, fight with time, your friends and CPU! Try to become the best! Play with gyro controlls, touch controls, or in handheld mode!

The Alto Collection (26th Nov, $9.99) – Across the endless desert and atop an alpine expanse two journeys full of wonder await. Choose your path and set off on a thrilling adventure with Alto & friends. Join Alto and friends as they set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Race down alpine slopes, over windswept dunes, through ancient woodlands and the long forgotten ruins of both critically acclaimed titles: Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey.

The Explorer of Night (TERNOX, 26th Nov, $4.99) – In the game you will find interesting puzzles, boss fights and cute story. – Beat the challenging levels; – Defend yourself from a variety of enemies; – Enjoy the pleasant gaming atmosphere.

Tiny World Racing (27th Nov, $3.99) – Hit the asphalt and leave your opponents in the dust in this top-down mini racing game! Blast your way through a variety of environments in 20 tracks across 5 different tournaments. From crumbling castles to volcanic islands, you’ll need to master all kinds of terrain to become the world’s best racer. Play alone or take on your friends in split screen couch multiplayer – which one of you will come out on top?

Under the Jolly Roger (HeroCraft, 3rd Sep, $19.99) – Under the Jolly Roger is offering an ultimate ability to free roam three vast worlds filled with dozens of colonies and forts, hundreds of quests, and countless ships to plunder. You can trade, fight, explore on your own, or call friends to do the same together! Set your foot on the land to plunder it!

UNREAL LIFE (room6, 19th Nov, $22.99) – After losing her memories, the girl could only remember one name—”Miss Sakura”. She set out to find Miss Sakura, aided by a talking traffic light, and by the power to read the memories of the things she touched. “Unreal Life” is the story of her journey. Compare memories of the past with the present, solve mysteries, and follow the girl and the traffic light in this atmospheric puzzle adventure game. Follow the memories, follow the path, and what you will find is. . .

WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE WOLF (HeroCraft, 23rd Jan, $17.99) – Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a turn-based tactical strategy in which you have to take command of the Space Wolves and join the battle against the wicked servants of Chaos and the sinister Necrons. Game features: An epic story campaign, a unique survival mode A system for levelling and tuning the squad Different classes of armour and a huge number of weapons All previously released DLC. – Read our WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE WOLF review

So that’s your lot for this week’s North American Nintendo Download. Go on, be a sport and drop a vote in the poll above, and comment below with your hot picks!

This tutorial taken from my upcoming programming book “From One to Zero” (NoStarch, 2021) will show you how to write great comments. While most online tutorials focus on a bullet list of commenting tips, we dive deeper into the meat exploring the underlying reasons for the commonly recommended commenting principles. So, let’s get started!

Code For Humans Not Machines

“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” — Martin Fowler

The main purpose of source code is to define what machines should do and how to do it.

Yet, if this was the only criteria, you’d use a low-level machine language such as assembler to accomplish this goal because it’s the most expressive and most powerful language.

The purpose of high-level programming languages such as Python is to help people write better code and do it more quickly. Our next principle for clean code is to constantly remind yourself that you’re writing code for other people and not for machines.

If your code will have any impact in the real world, it’ll be read multiple times by you or a programmer that takes your place if you stop working on the code base. Always assume that your source code will be read by other people. What can you do to make their job easier? Or, to put it more plainly: what can you do to mitigate the negative emotions they’ll experience against the original programmer of the code base their working on? Code for people not machines!

Reduce Time to Understanding

If you write code for humans not machines, you’ll need to use comments to help readers of your code understand it better and quicker. A short comment can greatly reduce the time to cognitively grasp the meaning of the code base. Consider the following code example:

import re text = ''' Ha! let me see her: out, alas! he's cold: Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff; Life and these lips have long been separated: Death lies on her like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field. ''' f_words = re.findall('\\bf\w+\\b', text)

print(f_words) l_words = re.findall('\\bl\w+\\b', text)

print(l_words) '''

OUTPUT:

['frost', 'flower', 'field']

['let', 'lips', 'long', 'lies', 'like'] '''

Bad code example without comments.

The previous code snippet analyzes a short text snippet from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet using regular expressions. If you’re not very familiar with regular expressions, you probably struggle understanding what the code does. Even the meaningful variable names don’t help much. Let’s see if a few comments can resolve your confusion!

import re text = ''' Ha! let me see her: out, alas! he's cold: Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff; Life and these lips have long been separated: Death lies on her like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field. ''' # Find all words starting with character 'f'

f_words = re.findall('\\bf\w+\\b', text)

print(f_words) # Find all words starting with character 'l'

l_words = re.findall('\\bl\w+\\b', text)

print(l_words) '''

OUTPUT:

['frost', 'flower', 'field']

['let', 'lips', 'long', 'lies', 'like'] '''

Good code example with comments.

The two short comments greatly help understanding the regular expression patterns '\\bf\w+\\b' and '\\bl\w+\\b'. While I won’t dive deeply into regular expressions here, the example shows how comments can help you getting a rough understanding of other people’s code without understanding each and every syntactic sugar. For introductory tutorials into the powerful technology regular expressions, check out our two technical books Python One-Liners and The Smartest Way to Learn Python Regular Expressions.

You’re the Expert—Share Your Wisdom!

Helpful comments give a glimpse into your thinking—as you’ve written the code, you possess valuable insight into it only matched by very few persons. Don’t miss out on sharing your insights with other people! Comments can be very useful to “abstract” over blocks of code. For example, if you have five lines of code dealing with updating customer information in a database, add a short comment before the block to explain this. This will help the reader get a quick overview of your code and accelerates their and your “code loading time”. You can find an example of such an instance next:

# Process next order

order = get_next_order()

user = order.get_user()

database.update_user(user)

database.update_product(order.get_order()) # Ship order & confirm customer

logistics.ship(order, user.get_address())

user.send_confirmation()

Commented blocks help get an overview of the code.

The code exemplifies how an online shop completes a customer order in two high-level steps: (1) Processing the next order, and (2) Shipping the order. The comments help you understand the purpose of the code in a few seconds without the need to look at each individual method call.  

Comments as WARNINGS!

You can also use comments as a warning of potentially undesired consequences. This increases the level of attention of the programmer working with your code. The following code shows such an example where programmers are warned before calling a function ship_yacht() that will actua ship an expensive yacht to a customer.

##########################################################

# WARNING #

# EXECUTING THIS FUNCTION WILL SHIP A $1,569,420 YACHT!! #

##########################################################

def ship_yacht(customer): database.update(customer.get_address()) logistics.ship_yacht(customer.get_address()) logistics.send_confirmation(customer)

Comments as warnings.

There are many more ways to use comments in a useful way. Comments are always there for the human reader, so always keep in mind that you’re writing code for humans not machines!

Avoid Unnecessary Comments

Not all comments help readers understand code better. In fact, there are many cases where comments reduce the clarity and confuse the readers of a given code base. If your goal is to write clean code, you must not only use valuable comments but also avoid unnecessary comments. But what are unnecessary comments? Let’s dive into those next.

During my time as a computer science researcher, many of my senior-level students described me in great detail how their job interviews at various companies went. A very skilled student had successfully applied for a job at Google. He told me that the Google headhunters—they’re usually Google engineers—criticized his code style because he added too many unnecessary comments. These types of comments are so called “code smells”—expert coders can figure out very quickly whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or expert coder yourself. Unnecessary comments make this very obvious. But what are unnecessary comments? In most cases, they add a level of redundancy to the code. A great coder will use meaningful variable names (Principle: Use the Right Names), so the code often becomes self-explanatory—at least in comparison to code that doesn’t use the right names. Let’s revisit the code snippet with meaningful variable names.

investments = 10000

yearly_return = 0.1

years = 10 for year in range(years): print(investments * (1 + yearly_return)**year)

No comments needed.

The code calculates your cumulative investment return for ten years assuming a 10% yield. Now, let’s add some unnecessary comments!

investments = 10000 # your investments, change if needed

yearly_return = 0.1 # annual return (e.g., 0.1 --> 10%)

years = 10 # number of years to compound # Go over each year

for year in range(years): # Print value of your investment in current year print(investments * (1 + yearly_return)**year)

Unnecessary comments.

All comments in the previous code snippet are redundant. Some of them would’ve been useful if you’d chosen less meaningful variable names such as x, y, or z. But explaining a variable named yearly_return by means of a comment doesn’t provide any relative value. Quite contrarily, it reduces the value because it adds unnecessary clutter to the code. The additional clutter makes your code less readable and less concise. There are a few rules that may help you avoid unnecessary comments—although the best rule is to use your common sense to identify whether a comment really improves the readability of your code.

Code Smells — Negative Commenting Principles

• Don’t use inline comments. They have little value and can be completely avoided by choosing meaningful variable names.
• Don’t be redundant. Redundancy is the enemy of clarity—this also holds for comments!
• Don’t add obvious comments. You can see an obvious comment in the previous code snippet just before the for loop statement. Any coder knows the for loop, so what additional value do you provide with the comment # Go over each year when the for loop already states for year in range(years)?  
• Don’t comment out code. If you’re a programmer, it’s very likely that you’ve been guilty of this. We programmers often hang on to our beloved code snippets even if we already (grudgingly) decided to remove them. The shy approach to removing unnecessary code is to comment it out. However, commented code is a readability killer and you should avoid it at all costs if you want to write clean code. Instead of commenting out the unnecessary code, boldly remove it. For your piece of mind, you should use a version history tool such as Git that allows you to get any old code snippet if you need it.

Many programming languages such as Python come with documentation functionality that allows you to describe the purpose of each function, method, and class in your code. If you’ve carefully chosen the abstraction level of each function (Single-Responsibility Principle), it’s often enough to use the build in documentation functionality instead of comments to describe what your code does. This largely removes the need for additional comments in your code.

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Where to Go From Here?

Enough theory, let’s get some practice!

To become successful in coding, you need to get out there and solve real problems for real people. That’s how you can become a six-figure earner easily. And that’s how you polish the skills you really need in practice. After all, what’s the use of learning theory that nobody ever needs?

Practice projects is how you sharpen your saw in coding!

Do you want to become a code master by focusing on practical code projects that actually earn you money and solve problems for people?

Then become a Python freelance developer! It’s the best way of approaching the task of improving your Python skills—even if you are a complete beginner.

Join my free webinar “How to Build Your High-Income Skill Python” and watch how I grew my coding business online and how you can, too—from the comfort of your own home.

Join the free webinar now!

The post Show Don’t Tell: Commenting Python Best Practices first appeared on Finxter.