This week at Bungie, we’re getting ready for Solstice of Heroes.
Once again, it’s time for the annual tradition of honoring Guardians and your great accomplishments. Our free summer event, Solstice of Heroes, starts next week on August 11.
The European Aerial Zone is back and full of Hive, Cabal, and Fallen enemies for you to dispatch. Defeat as many of the bosses as you can in a fireteam of three and then hunt for chests that are hidden away around the floating island. The more bosses you take down, the more rewards you will earn.
Armor
This year, we have a new approach to Solstice of Heroes armor that we think is going to give you far more flexibility on how you show off your Solstice-ness.
Similar to previous years, you will start with a Rare set and upgrade it into a Majestic Legendary set. Once you have all of your Legendary gear, you can start a final set of objectives to upgrade it to a Magnificent set. Here is a look at the objectives required:
Complete a Nightfall Ordeal on the Master difficulty.
Complete a Nightmare Hunt.
Complete Pit of Heresy.
Win seven Trials of Osiris matches. (Not on a single Passage)
Complete a Tier 5 Altar of Sorrow three times.
Completing these objectives will unlock a white glow on your armor. You need to upgrade your armor to Majestic during Solstice of Heroes but can continue to complete these objectives after the event ends. You can continue to earn more randomly rolled pieces for your Magnificent set in the EAZ.
Earning the Majestic Legendary set will unlock the option to purchase a Universal Ornament set from Eververse for either Silver or Bright Dust. This ornament will change its glow to match your Elemental subclass color. Unlike last year, you won’t need to purchase individual color glows. Each class set will be able to display three different elemental glows that will match whatever subclass you have equipped at the time.
Since the Elemental glow sets are Universal Ornaments, you will be able to apply them to any armor 2.0 pieces instead of only being able to apply them to your Solstice armor like before.
As a bonus, all of the Elemental Universal Ornaments will also support a fourth glow for players who equip the Stasis subclass when Beyond Light releases this fall.
One of our goals with the Solstice of Heroes armor was to improve the experience of earning over previous years. There won’t be any major armor updates, so once you earn your Majestic set it will be relevant up until next year’s event. The Elemental glows being made into Universal Ornaments will ensure you can use them on any of your high stat armor going forward.
Glows can’t be toggled on and off for Universal Ornaments. That is why this year’s glows are always on, as they are built into their Universal Ornaments.
The white glow on the Legendary Magnificent set are also always on once you complete the challenge for the corresponding piece. Both the white glows and the elemental glows will increase their intensity depending on how much super energy you have at the time.
Eververse
The Eververse store will also have some shiny new things available. Every new Solstice of Heroes item will be available for both Silver and Bright Dust at some time during the event with the exception of the “Iron Severance” Finisher.
Here is a quick look at some of the wares.
Lo-fi Beats
The Bungie Music team just released a remix lo-fi Destiny 2 track perfect for unwinding after an adrenaline pumping Crucible match or stressful Flawless dungeon finish. Put on some headphones and kick back with your feet up to these soothing jams.
THE END IS THE BEGINNING IS THE END
Our Player Support team is here to help. They are tracking known issues and making sure you have info on
This is their report.
MEANS TO AN END UPDATE
In Hotfix 2.9.1.2, we resolved an issue some players had where they couldn’t complete their “Means to an End” quest nor the Prismatic Recaster Weekly Challenge. To resolve the issue, the quest will now delete from player inventories at each weekly reset. If players try to hold onto their Pinnacle Engram from the Prismastic Recaster past the weekly reset, it will be lost and players will need to complete the new quest for that week to obtain another engram.
Additionally, players will now be able to complete the “Means to an End” quest on multiple characters of the same class. Each class is still restricted to a single Pinnacle reward engram and subsequent runs on characters of the same class will provide a non-powerful Legendary Engram instead.
Players still having issues should file a report in our #Help Forum.
API MAINTENANCE
Until September 23, post-game carnage reports (PGCRs) won’t be available between 1-4 AM PDT due to database maintenance.
RESOLVED ISSUES
Players should no longer have their name censored on Steam.
For players who can’t use chat while playing on PC, they can fix this issue by opting out of participating in the Steam Client Beta program.
KNOWN ISSUES
While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum:
The Corrupted Nightfall: The Ordeal has inconsistent respawn locations, causing players to spawn out of bounds.
When holding a Sword, the ability to regenerate a melee won’t work for any class.
Some players still report that they can’t claim their “Means to an End” quest or don’t receive a Pinnacle Engram for completing the quest.
For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article. Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help forum.
Short Films
This is Movies of the Week. Sit down and watch.
Movie of the Week: Emergence
Honorable Mention: Try Hard Now
If you’re one of these winners, please make sure you have your Bungie.net profile in the description of said video so we can get you your emblem.
Hope you’re having a good week in the Iron Banner. Finish up your bounties and claim your pinnacles before the reset. Then it’s off to the EAZ to level up a fresh new set of Solstice armor. I’ll see you out there.
Turn up the volume and get ready to skate. 37 songs spanning five decades of music are joining the original soundtrack of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, available when the full game launches September 4 on Xbox One.
These extra tracks speak to the diverse sound of the ever-growing culture of skateboarding, from old-school 80s rap and 90s ska punk to international indie hits and the latest songs from up-and-coming artists.
For a longer, more in-depth look at some of the new songs, here’s the Official Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 Playlist on Spotify, now updated for your listening pleasure:
If you can’t rock out and listen to this now, don’t worry, we have you covered:
A Breakdown of the 37 New Tracks for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2:
A Tribe Called Quest – “Can I Kick It?”
Swayze & the Ghosts – “Connect to Consume”
Alex Lahey – “Misery Guts”
All Talk – “Let’s Do It”
American Nightmare – “Life Support”
Backchat – “Step It Up”
Baker Boy – “In Control”
Billy Talent – “Afraid of Heights”
Black Prez ft. Kid Something – “The Struggle”
CHAII – “South”
Charlie Brown Jr. – “Confisco”
Cherry Kola – “Something To Say”
Chick Norris – “Made Me Do”
Craig Craig ft. Icy Black – “Stomp”
Crush Effect ft. KARRA – “Coming Through”
Destroy Boys – “Duck Eat Duck World”
DZ Deathrays – “IN-TO-IT”
FIDLAR – “West Coast”
JunkBunny – “Sedona”
Less Than Jake – “Bomb Drop”
Machine Gun Kelly – “Bloody Valentine”
Merkules – “Bass (feat. Tech N9ne & Hopsin)”
MxPx – “Let’s Ride”
Pkew Pkew Pkew – “Mid 20’s Skateboarder”
Reel Big Fish – “She’s Famous Now”
Rough Francis– “Deathwire”
Screaming Females – “Let Me In”
Skepta – “Shutdown”
Spilt Milk – “Run It Up Pt II”
Strung Out – “Firecracker”
Sublime – “Same In The End”
The Ataris – “All Soul’s Day”
The Super Best Frens Club – “Like This”
Token – “Flamingo”
Tyrone Briggs – “Lose Control”
Viagra Boys – “Slow Learner”
Zebrahead – “All My Friends Are Nobodies”
Pre-Order Now for the Warehouse Demo
There is still time to pre-order Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 digitally and access the Warehouse Demo, available on August 14 for Xbox One and Xbox One X. Skate as Tony Hawk in the iconic opening level to THPS 1 in this demo, which serves as a warm-up to the full experience coming out on September 4.
Disbelief is a game development studio focusing on contracting and consulting services. We’ve worked with both AAA and independent studios to help their projects ship. Notable projects we’ve worked on include Gears Tactics, Gears 5, Borderlands 3, and Torn.
At Disbelief we value work-life balance, and want to create an alternative to the crunch-culture prevalent in game development. We also believe strongly in investing in our talent and our team. Disbelief is a place to puzzle out the solutions to cutting-edge problems in graphics and engine programming, but also a place where people can grow their careers and skill sets as valued members of a stable and close knit team.
Currently, we’re looking for a programmer. This opportunity is for a full-time position in Cambridge, MA. Programmers at Disbelief are called on to develop and debug in a variety of areas from game play to core engine programming. You are expected to learn new systems and projects as you grow as a developer. You are also expected to use your knowledge to solve problems both you and others in your team have.
Key Responsibilities:
Clearly communicate your work to others
Debug code
Estimate task work
Assess impact of issues on schedule
Write performant code and specialized systems
Document your code
Study version histories to guide current problems
Implement new system features
Skills and Requirements:
BA/BS in Computer Science, or equivalent experience
Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
1+ years of experience in writing software in C++
1+ years in game development, or 3+ in a related industry
Experience with version control with P4, git, or equivalent
Understanding of multi-threaded systems
Remote: Currently all of Disbelief is working remotely during the pandemic. Post-pandemic our plans are to return to a hybrid model where we still live near the office but often work from home. Some of our projects require access to physical infrastructure.
Visa Sponsorship: No
Technologies: Most of our work is C++ of varying standards with a sprinkling of other languages as needed for tooling. We do a lot of graphics programming work, using shader languages and platform graphics APIs. Since we often are debugging the lower levels of systems, being able to read x64 or ARM assembly is useful. Primarily we work with Unreal Engine, but we also work with Unity and custom game engines. Our work uses rendering, physics, audio, VR, AR, and other APIs frequently. Our primary platforms are PC, Xbox consoles, Playstation consoles, Switch, and VR/AR devices.
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.
How Disney makes RPG mechanics work in real life at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
When Disneyland & Disneyworld guests wander into the back end of the park, they have the opportunity to leave the wonderful world of Walt Disney behind and take a tour of a galaxy far far away–or, a small slice of it at least. At Galaxy’s Edge, park guests wander into the world of Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu, in an experience that recreates the world of Star Wars as defined by the new trilogy of films created by Disney.
At GDC 2020, Walt Disney Imagineering assistant producer Anisha Deshmane took some time to tell how the company turned Galaxy’s Edge not just into a tourist destination, but a storytelling opportunity using the mobile phones that guests bring into the park every day. It turns out that many mechanics used in role-playing games work equally well in real-life (something any dedicated LARPer is probably already aware of).
Like any well-designed RPG, the Galaxy’s Edge Imagineers needed a unique setting to attract ‘players’ when they set out. Star Wars means something different to every guest who comes through the park, and planets from the films like Tatooine or Jakku are better aligned with the stories of the movies’ heroes, rather than individual guests who come with other baggage. Deshmane said the goal was to create a setting where guests could “live their own personal version of Star Wars, no matter how new of a fan they are, or how dedicated of a fan they are.”
To that end, a visit to Galaxy’s Edge is bolstered by a number of role-playing game mechanics that might be at home in Dragon Age or World of Warcraft. Deshmane joked that park visitors might begin to feel like unique characters after their time at the park, what with the customizable outfits and (pricey) merchandise they can acquire.
Several of these mechanics are executed by way of a “Datapad” component to the Disney Play app, that the Imagineering Team used to build narratives that can’t be expressed through the park’s architecture or lifelike animatronics. There’s an interesting real-life behavior that Deshmane says the team was able to map onto— travelers, especially Disney tourists—are used to using their phones to explore a foreign country. That makes the Datapad app a natural hotspot for hosting interaction mechanics for the park.
The Datapad app has four key functions that interact with over 250 markers in the park. Droids and circuits can be hacked to trigger physical responses from Droids and ships, crates can be scanned, signals can be scanned, and signs written in Aurabesh can be translated.
“We’ve seen guests who’ve learned Aurabesh just from the app,” Deshmane said. The tool even works outside of the park, letting players translate some text in Respawn’s Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order.
The app also allows Disney Imagineering to merge the art direction of the park with narrative context. Deshmane pointed out a subtle detail in the park’s design that only some guests might notice–a stairwell pockmarked by blaster scorch marks. A guest not using their phone who saw the marks might form their own story about what took place on the stairs, guests who use the app’s scanning features can discover local gossip that tells the “true” story.
The app’s tools even have a mild difficulty curve—they’re accompanied by some minigames that may be familiar to the hacking systems of Mass Effect and BioShock, and higher-level story moments are able to rely on guests’ being skilled enough to tackle more difficult puzzles. These mechanics also interact with a series of quests that let players align themselves to Black Spire Outpost’s different factions using a reputation system like those from World of Warcraft.
A bonus effect for these quests–they send players physically around the park, helping keep foot traffic flowing and leading them to more physical attractions. Deshmane also discussed how the app keeps players entertained while waiting in line for rides like Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, alleviating the normal boredom of waiting in an hour-long line. How players perform in Smuggler’s Run and can be tracked, and sent to some cast members and animatronic actors who can offer unique responses to players based on their prior performance, much like how RPG characters in digital and tabletop settings.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge isn’t the first real-life location to borrow from the world of role-playing game mechanics, but it’s a neat exploration of how seemingly niche tools can be used to expand the experience of guests who are different kinds of Star Wars fans, from the newcomer to the lore-quoting veteran.
Since I was able to check out Galaxy’s Edge before COVID-19 swept across the nation, and compare it to the usual Disney experience, one of Deshmane’s quotes stood out for me, since it sums up how drastically different the park’s design is once you step onto Batuu. (You can even contrast it to the longstanding Star Tours ride to see how this philosophy holds up). “We really think of the land itself as an attraction,” she said. “This is where guests are spending most of their time, we know they love Star Wars for different reasons.
“Instead of seeing them as visitors to the land and telling them what to do, we see them as explorers on a new planet, and want to provide them the opportunity to become part of whatever stories pique their interest.”
5 Freelance Developer Tricks to Build a Sustainable Business
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[www.indiegala.com] Draw your own adventure & aim for the stars! Make sure you do not miss the special 24h launch price and get a great deal for 6 indie Steam games: Scribble It!, One Person Story, Last Room, Flyist, the complete Odysseus Kosmos and his Robot Quest season and more! [www.indiegala.com]
Game Rewards: • Quake • Quake II - If Quakecon donations reach $10,000
In-game Rewards: • Elder Scrolls Online Flame Atronach Pony Pet - Need to watch any Official ESO Streams each day • Elder Scrolls Online Ouroboros Crown Crater - Need to link ESO and Twitch accounts • DOOM Eternal QuakeCon Slayer Skin, QuakeCon Slayer Icon/Player Badge - Across all platforms • Quake Champions QuakeCon 2020 Railgun Skin • Fallout 76 Sheepquatch outfit and Mr. Fuzzy Backpack Demonic Variants - Need to claim from the Atomic Shop at any time during the weekend, across all platforms
Braid was one of the first indie games on Xbox Live to really gain widespread critical acclaim and opened the eyes of many players to the potential of small-scale independent game development. Soon, those who missed it the first time will get the chance to see what the fuss is about, as Braid is getting remastered in 2021 – and its coming to Switch.
With improved visuals and an audio commentary, it should prove to be the definitive version of Jonathan Blow’s seminal indie hit – but you’ll be able to switch to the original graphics too, if you so wish.
Braid Anniversary Edition is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2021.
Nintendo Is Recruiting Level Designers To Work On New 2D Action Games
Looking ahead at Nintendo’s future release schedule, there are only so many games to anticipate, and right now we know very little about each one. The major Switch exclusives in development at the moment include Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, and of course, a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The tweet above reveals Nintendo is currently seeking level designers to develop new 2D action games. As noted, applicants need to be able to create “specifications for objects placed in game courses” at Nintendo’s Tokyo office – there’s also mention of the Kyoto office. As can be seen, the tweet features screens from Yoshi’s Crafted World, NSMB. U Deluxe and Super Mario Maker 2. On the same Nintendo webpage, there’s an application looking for level designers to work on new 3D action games.
While any new 2D action game could be based on completely new IP, this job post has already got many Nintendo fans on social media hoping for a side-scrolling Metroid game. At the start of this year, alongside the Paper Mario Switch rumours, there was mention of a classic Game Boy Advance Metroid title potentially returning.
What 2D action games do you think Nintendo could be recruiting level designers for? Share your thoughts below.
Story Of Seasons Remake Gets Update Fixing Mythic Ore On Switch
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town on the Nintendo Switch has received the 1.0.2 update, which addresses some minor issues with the cutesy farming simulator. The update fixes the appearance rate of Mythic Ore and adjusts a townsperson's dialogue.
As detailed on Marvelous Games Twitter account, the patch makes it so Mythic Ore now appears in the mines, so long as you have the blessed tools and reach level 60 in the mine. It also adjusts Brandon's dialogue so he now talks more than previously and, fixes some minor bugs and text issues.
Reminder: STORY OF SEASONS: Friends of Mineral Town on the Nintendo Switch has been updated to v1.0.2. This fixes: ✅Mythic Ore appearing in the Mines ✅Brandon's dialog (he now talks more) ✅Minor bugs & text issues To update press "+" on game icon & select "software update".
This patch only pertains to the Nintendo Switch version of the game, as the Steam version is handled by Xseed Games. Marvelous Games also said on Twitter that there are no plans for any additional DLC for the game, beyond the costume packs currently available.
