Review: Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty – A So-So Remake Of A Legendary Game
What a difficult game to review. Yes, yes, you’re thinking. It must be so hard for you to review a well-received remake of a beloved classic. But, you see, it is, because Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty does so much wrong and is in many ways so utterly redundant that it’s difficult to keep a cool head when approaching it.
Here’s the thing; there was no reason to remake the original 1997 Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. At the time New ‘n’ Tasty originally launched (the halcyon days of 2014), its source material was widely available on PlayStation 3 and Steam. And it still is. But, no, folks wanted their Abe action to get some sort of spit-shine, so in comes New ‘n’ Tasty “fixing” everything that wasn’t broken and stripping the game of a good deal of its precision, atmosphere and general appeal.
Is it bad, then? Should we cut to the chase and just give it a low score? No, no, no. New ‘n’ Tasty doesn’t deserve that. It’s fun to play and the basic components that make Abe’s Oddysee so good are here. Some of the quality of life improvements are smart ones, most crucially the implementation of Abe’s Exoddus’ valuable “All o’ ya” command, which allows you to engage multiple Mudokons in Gamespeak at once, meaning no more painstakingly ferrying them back and forth one at a time.
Gamespeak? What’s that? Whoops, we got ahead of ourselves. I suppose we ought to explain what Abe’s Oddysee is, or was, but quite frankly you should already know and shame on you if you don’t. A cinematic platformer akin to the original Prince of Persia, the game took place in a flip-screen world with pre-rendered background environments, focusing on timing-critical action, tense stealth and light puzzle-solving. The widely-touted Gamespeak feature saw Abe able to command his fellow slave workers around using basic commands such as “Hello”, or “Follow me”. Simplistic, yes, but also fresh, exciting and organic. While the single-screen compositions were dated even in ’97, they served the action brilliantly, making each new area stick in the mind. It helped that it was (and still is) gorgeous.
And New ‘n’ Tasty is gorgeous, too. It looks fantastic in places, and the fidelity is enormously impressive even in handheld mode. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for many other aspects of the game when compared to Oddysee. Adding full scrolling gameplay to the experience seems like a no-brainer, but without adapting the level design it leads to a game that feels markedly less carefully designed.
In the original, you’d encounter sleeping enemies you’d need to sneak past. The transition between screens was just that – a transition, and it would give you pause. You’d think, hang on, I have no idea what’s coming next, and you’d sneak onto the screen just in case there was a Slig in the land of nod. Here, you never know what’s coming up, so you could find yourself just running headlong into a situation that you’re not prepared for in the slightest. The screen divisions made each space stand alone; it made you, as a player, consider what you were faced with. Here, it’s all muddied by this simple change. Some of the level designs have been altered to account for this. Others, not so much.
There’s also the animation – Abe seems much lighter and fleeter-of-foot here. The weight and energy of the original is gone. It’s not nearly as absorbing – you’re no longer at the mercy of a hostile world, you’re simply playing a game. More yammering, pointless dialogue has been added. The change of game feel has rendered some sections ridiculously trivial, others far harder. A quicksave feature has been added, but when you die it loads your last checkpoint rather than your last save. Abe’s Exoddus got that part right in 1998.
But we could be negative all day long if we focus on the minutiae, if we consistently compare this remake to its inspiration. As a game, New ‘n’ Tasty is good. Better than good, in fact. It’s a lot of fun, still, and if you’re not familiar with the original Abe’s Oddysee, it’s going to impress. The level design is still good, there’s still atmosphere here (though far less), the controls are slick enough and the multiple difficulty levels a sensible concession – though only the hardest mode is really worth playing, frankly, as this game was never that difficult in the first place.
It’s good because Abe’s Oddysee was good, but that’s the only reason. And that may seem petty, but really, why remake a game only to strip it of precision and atmosphere like this? What’s the point, ultimately? A nice port of Oddysee and Exoddus would have been far more desirable, and their “limitations” barely register today in a world where even more “primitive” indie titles have been wholeheartedly embraced. Abe’s Oddysee hasn’t aged, and this is a less good version of it. But it’s a less good version of a great game, and it looks and runs great, so it’s still plenty of fun. Just… why?
Conclusion
We realise it’s not a popular outlook. Games should generally be appreciated for what they are rather than blasted for what they’re not, but that’s very difficult to do in this case. New ‘n’ Tasty is an acceptable imitation of Abe’s Oddysee, but nothing more. It has its moments of inspiration – the Stockyards stage is so beautifully realised that it can momentarily trigger that “this is what I remember the original looking like!” false memory – but it’s not enough to make up for the frustrations that come from the many, many unnecessary changes. Even the sound of Abe’s chant, which once sounded mystical and otherworldly, now just sounds like babbling. We’re very torn. As this is the only way to play Abe’s Oddysee on Switch, we begrudgingly recommend it. But we do so with our arms folded, and pouting. Harrumph.
Jordan Peele Is Remaking Wes Craven's People Under The Stairs - Report
The huge success of Get Out and Us has made Jordan Peele one of the hottest filmmakers in horror, enabling him to produce movies for other directors too. The Peele-produced Candyman reboot is set for release next year, and it's been reported that he's developing a remake of Wes Craven's The People Under The Stairs.
According to Collider, Peele will produce a new version of Craven's movie for Universal, through his company Monkeypaw Productions. As with Candyman, which is helmed by Nia DaCosta, Peele won't direct. However, it's possible he and co-producer Win Rosenfeld might have input into the script, as they did with Candyman.
The original People Under The Stairs was also written by Craven and released in 1991. It combined horror with a dark social satire, and focused on a young man who breaks into the house of his married landlords when he learns he is being evicted. He discovers that the couple are keeping dozens of disfigured children in the basement of their house. The movie starred Everett McGill and Wendy Robie, best known for their roles as Big Ed and Nadine Hurley in Twin Peaks, plus A.J. Langer and Ving Rhames. Craven himself was reportedly working on a new TV version of the film before his death in 2015.
Jordan Peele Is Remaking Wes Craven's People Under The Stairs - Report
The huge success of Get Out and Us has made Jordan Peele one of the hottest filmmakers in horror, enabling him to produce movies for other directors too. The Peele-produced Candyman reboot is set for release next year, and it's been reported that he's developing a remake of Wes Craven's The People Under The Stairs.
According to Collider, Peele will produce a new version of Craven's movie for Universal, through his company Monkeypaw Productions. As with Candyman, which is helmed by Nia DaCosta, Peele won't direct. However, it's possible he and co-producer Win Rosenfeld might have input into the script, as they did with Candyman.
The original People Under The Stairs was also written by Craven and released in 1991. It combined horror with a dark social satire, and focused on a young man who breaks into the house of his married landlords when he learns he is being evicted. He discovers that the couple are keeping dozens of disfigured children in the basement of their house. The movie starred Everett McGill and Wendy Robie, best known for their roles as Big Ed and Nadine Hurley in Twin Peaks, plus A.J. Langer and Ving Rhames. Craven himself was reportedly working on a new TV version of the film before his death in 2015.
Freelance Software Development in the United States (US)
The next disruption is about to happen in the freelancing space. Freelancing platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr grow double-digit per year.
But what if you’re living in the US? Is freelancing still a great opportunity for you—given the worldwide competition? How much can you earn in the US?
In this article, we’re going to answer these most common questions!
What’s the Hourly Rate of an US-Based Freelance Developer?
What’s the hourly rate of a freelance developer? If you’re like me, you want to peek into the potential of a given profession before you commit years of your life to any profession like freelance developing.
The average freelance developer in the US earns $56 per hour with conservative estimates ranging as low as $31 and aggressive estimates ranging as high as $82.
The following table compares the hourly rates of employed developers and freelance developers:
Job Description
Status
Hourly Rate
Web Developer
Employee
$31.62
Freelancer
$34.78
PHP Developer
Employee
$46.28
Freelance
$50.90
.Net Developer
Employee
$55.06
Freelance
$60.56
Python Developer
Employee
$56.90
Freelance
$62.59
About the Data. Our data is based on various online sources such as indeed.com, neuvoo.co.uk, and other portals where professionals can report their earnings. We state the sources below in the image captions.
We modified the expected earnings of a freelancer by increasing the average earnings of an employed professional by 10%. This is based on the findings of this study: the average freelancer earns about 10% more than his employed counterpart. We found that in practice, the difference is often much higher than that—freelancers earning much more than employees. One of the reasons may be that freelancers have more control of their earnings—an ambitious freelancer tends to earn a higher percentage more than an ambitious employee in the same profession. This is because there are no caps in freelance earnings.
If you want to earn your full-time income working in your part-time freelancing business, check out our course “Become a Python Freelance Developer”.
The average hourly rate of an employed web developer is $31.62 per hour in the US. The average hourly rate of a freelance web developer is $34.78 in the US.
The average hourly rate of an employed Python developer is $56.90 per hour in the US. The average hourly rate of a freelance Python developer is $62.59 in the US.
The average hourly rate of an employed PHP developer is $46.28 per hour in the US. The average hourly rate of a freelance PHP developer is $50.90 in the US.
The average hourly rate of an employed .Net developer is $55.06 per hour in the US. The average hourly rate of a freelance .Net developer is $60.56 in the US.
How Do You Compete with Cheap Labor Countries as an US-based Freelance Developer?
In the following video, I discuss little-known but very effective strategies to compete in a globalized economy as a US-based freelance developer.
How Many Freelance Software Developers Are There in the United States?
How many freelance developers are there in the US? There’s no official and precise answer. However, based on three credible sources—Upwork, Freelancer Union, McKinsey—I calculated an estimation stemming from each source.
Here are our estimations for the number of freelancers based on three independent data sources:
Upwork Data: 12,500,000 freelance developers in the IT sector.
Freelancer Union Data: 1,740,000 freelance developers in the IT sector.
McKinsey Data: 5,400,000 freelance developers in the IT sector.
The median of these three data points—Upwork, Freelancer Union, McKinsey—is 5,400,000 freelance developers working in an IT related field and the average is 6,560,000 freelance developers. Thus, the number of freelance developers is between 5 and 7 million.
A more in-depth explanation of these estimations is given in my detailed blog article.
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.
[www.indiegala.com] Future wars, apocalypses and lots of indie noms await! Your Future Self, Backspace Bouken, Nom Nom Apocalypse, Trigonarium and more indie games are fighting the good war...the war on boredom...borenom? And you can help!
FREE Dashing Dinos
[freebies.indiegala.com] Play against a couple of friends on your couch Dashing Dinos, the latest fast-paced, physics-based, local multiplayer FREEbie!
The 001 Game Creator game engine is currently featured in the Game Dev STEM Humble Bundle that just launched. 001 Game Creator was previously featured in a Humble, so be sure to check your library to make sure you aren’t purchasing it twice. If you are interested in learning more about 001 Game Creator, check out our hands-on review available here.
As with all Humbles, this bundle is organized into tiers:
1$ Tier
Misc design documents
10$ Tier
001 Game Creator Engine
001 Basics E-Book
001 Resource E-Book
20$ Tier
Point and Click Adventure Kit
Dragons Den Resource Pack
Retro Fantasy Music Pack
Sound Effects Pack Vol 1
25$ Tier
Enhanced RPG Kit
FPS Kit
MMORPG Kit
Visual Novel Kit
As with all Humble Bundles you get to decide how your money is allocated between the publisher, charity, Humble and if you so choose (and thanks if you do!) to support GFS using this link. You can learn more about the bundle in the video below.
For those who haven’t had a chance to see what all the fuss is about, you just might be in luck. Nintendo Japan has announced it will be offering a trial of the game next week between 2nd – 8th November to all Switch Online members.
There’ll also be a sale on the game reducing its regular price by a whopping 50% that will last until 4th November.
If this is anything to go by, the same trial will hopefully be made available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers here in the west. Just recently, Japanese Switch owners got access to an Overwatch trial and sure enough, the same offer was made available locally. Some other games to receive trials in the past include Disgaea 5 Complete and Pokkén Tournament DX.
Would a Rune Factory 4 Special trial be of interest to you? Would you like to see more trials like this made available to NSO subscribers? Share your thoughts down below.
If you’re new to Secret Neighbor, welcome to an ever-growing and constantly updated multiplayer social horror game. Communicate and cooperate with other players to sneak into the creepy basement and learn your Neighbor’s dark secrets. The twist? Someone in your group is the Neighbor in disguise, so trust no one!
This Fall, as usual on Halloween, the Secret Neighbor is getting a major update that adds new features to the Xbox One version: the new Neighbor class add an extra layer of challenge in the game; a darker visual presentation and Halloween decorations deliver a spooky experience to the players, and gift customization for everyone who’s going to celebrate the anniversary with us. Alongside with that, the new major update contains a plenty of quality of life improvements as well as some new content for players to enjoy.
The new Neighbor class and dark Halloween atmosphere
The new Neighbor moves in town, and now the Neighbor players have more choice on how to deal with the intruders. There are a few interesting details about the new class. The Butcher can hunt down other players by following their footsteps, and grab the players with his grappling hook. Apart from that, the new Neighbor class is able to fake the key marker and ambush other players from dark corners.
The next big update, to no-one’s surprise, is Halloween-themed. It’s not just the scary decor and pumpkins – we’re significantly changing the game’s visual presentation. The game is getting a bit darker, and the reasoning behind it is two-fold. Gameplay-wise, it would make a Neighbor’s life a bit easier, with his various traps and other shenanigans being harder to spot. Another reason is to take an advantage of the flashlights and play hide and seek in the dark.
Quality of life improvements and new content
We’re improving the performance a lot in the Halloween update to let you have the pleasant in-game experience across all Xbox One devices family. We’re also taking time to improve the balance in the game and fix some glitches that you’ve been reported to us.
The new update includes all three maps: The Neighbor case, Return of the Guest, and The Storm is Coming. And of course, no update is complete without new fun skins, and Halloween 2020 is no exception.
We’re treating our players to some additional free customization this Halloween because this is Secret Neighbor’s first birthday! We really appreciate you being with us this year, and want to give you something valuable. Every day, starting from October 26 through November 2, you will find a new free customization item in our store.
Whether you’re a new or experienced player,Secret Neighbormajor update is sure to bring you goosebumps on this Halloween. Get ready!
Secret Neighbor
tinyBuild
☆☆☆☆☆262
★★★★★
Xbox Game Pass
A group of kids are trying to break into their suspicious Neighbor’s basement to rescue their missing friend. Only problem is that one of the kids is a traitor – a Secret Neighbor in disguise. His job is to gain the trust of other players and betray them. Kids win if they get into the basement. Playing as a child: – Collect keys
– Save you friends from the Neighbor
– Cooperate but don`t trust anyone If you are lucky enough to play as Neighbor: – The house is your territory! Use it to separate, scare and confuse intruders.
– Use your gadgets to get advantage over the kids’ team.
– Gain trust amongst your foes and attack in the right moment.
– Protect your basement!
A Systems Designer at The Gearbox Entertainment Company is a development role focused on creating gameplay systems and systemic content that result in a fun, imaginative, rewarding experiences for all players.
A Systems Designer is responsible for creating and maintaining systems based on the direction of the Lead Systems Designer. In addition, this role involves working with a small team of other systems and content designers, making sure the team maintains quality, consistency, and cohesive vision across multiple game systems.
This role often works in collaboration with representatives of various other departments (code, art, animation, level design, etc) to ensure new systems are built well for other departments to use and implement and for players to experience with optimal performance.
This role requires deep understanding of modern first-person shooters, RPG growth systems, and core gameplay tentpoles from various Gearbox games. For the right candidate, this job might also entail training and mentoring entry level hires.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Design, build, and iterate core gameplay systems for a multi-platform AAA FPS
Coordinate with the Lead Systems Designer and Creative Director to make sure core gameplay systems are meeting their goals and delivered to players in a complete, polished, and fun state
Work in multidisciplinary teams with coders, artists, and other designers to coordinate development complex systems and solve problems
Ability to break down requests from other departments into standardized systems
Provide feedback for the development of internal tools and processes to ensure rapid content production and fewer bugs
Take a keen interest in team morale, and the growth of other team members’ craft. This may include mentoring entry level hires
QUALIFICATIONS
1 or more AAA Projects shipped to completion in a design role, leadership roles are a plus
Understanding of the Borderlands franchise and core gameplay mechanics
Shipped Unreal Engine 4 experience is preferred
Must possess proficiency in math.
While previous software engineering is not a must, previous work or examples of coding or text based scripting are a huge plus for the position.
Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.
Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.
Microsoft’s game revenue up by $550 million as Xbox readies for Series X debut
While the Xbox One generation is winding down, the Xbox brand is holding strong and is even listed as a driving force behind year-over-year growth in Microsoft’s “more personal computing” segment as a whole.
Revenue for Microsoft’s game business is up 22 percent year-over-year, an increase of $550 million when compared to Q1 FY2020.
This is, according to Microsoft, largely thanks to the strength of Xbox’s content and services dealings which includes Xbox Game Pass subscriptions as well as game sales.
Unfortunately, Microsoft stopped sharing exact subscriber counts for services like Game Pass a while back, but the growth this close to the end of a generation bodes well for Xbox’s plan to push the service as an enticing buy for players regardless of when they plan on making the jump to the next-generation Xbox Series X or Series S.
Xbox content and services revenue alone is up $646 million year-over-year, or 30 percent, thanks to third-party games, Game Pass, and first-party games and helped to offset a 27 percent year-over-year decrease in Xbox hardware revenue due to the rapidly approaching end of the Xbox One generation.
For the entire more personal computing segment, Microsoft says revenue is up 6 percent year-over-year, growth driven by both its video game dealings and its Surface brand.
