Built with security as the prime focus. Safe from SQL injection, CSRF attack, XSS attack and standard security measures in place.
Easy customization
Code is sleek, modular, separated in layers for easy understanding and customization. PSR standard compliant source code with optimum comments. Easy to understand, enhance and maintain.
VCF vCard support
Contacts can be exported as vCard files. It enables interoperability. As it can be imported with other contact management software.
Custom fields
Support for custom fields in the contacts. Everyone has different needs, the fields in the form may not be sufficient for you. But do not worry, there is support for custom fields. On the fly at runtime, users can add custom information. It can be searched too.
Import and export
Contacts form fields are carefully planned by considering standard address books. You can use the template and bulk import contacts to the address book. Also, you can export the contacts and use it in other contact management software.
[www.indiegala.com] Awesome Summer days await you with the IndieGala Scratchy Summer Sale. Get huge discounts on your favourite games + a Scratch Card with a secret Steam game in it!
The 195th GalaQuiz will be LIVE soon, win up to $50 in GalaCredit!
[www.indiegala.com] The GalaQuiz will take place in less than 15 minutes from this announcement Today's GalaQuiz[www.indiegala.com] hints are up. The theme will be 4th of July Movies.
Watch Dogs 2 Part 2: Watch Harder - Free Uplay Game
So after the spectacular disaster of the streaming service Ubisoft provided from their site, i have made another announcement to tag people again so you can officially claim the game here:
It should work this time, i claimed it myself and the page was fully responsive this time without log-in issues. There might STILL be issues with the game not appearing in the library, could again be traffic issues from the site and hasn't updated yet.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-15-2020, 03:48 PM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
Land O’Lakes cultivates tech to help farmers harvest healthier profits
Teddy Bekele.
That vision meshes with the 99-year mission at Land O’Lakes.
The company, based in Minnesota, is a farmer-owned cooperative with a network spanning more than 300,000 producers and touching about half of America’s harvested areas. In other words, Land O’Lakes is way bigger than butter.
Through the alliance, digital solutions built on Microsoft Azure and its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities will help farmers better react to current and future challenges that impact their bottom lines. The timing is urgent.
In recent years, U.S. farmers have been squeezed by international trade issues and changing consumer appetites. This year, COVID-19 has affected the food and ag supply chain, leaving farmers with millions of pounds in produce they can’t sell. Increasingly, each year climate change affects their operations and their bottom line.
Transform recently spoke with Bekele to hear more about his work to fortify American farmers – and honor his father’s legacy.
TRANSFORM: What is it like for you to blend your family’s agricultural history with your own tech expertise to help today’s farmers thrive?
BEKELE: That’s why I wake up. It gets me going every day. At Land O’Lakes, I started to see the impact tech could have on farming, how it could revolutionize this business and bring more stability during uncertain times.
Weather dictates 70 percent of what’s going to happen on a farm. Weather is still something we can’t predict accurately at the hyper-local level. But what if farmers could prepare themselves for these risks and react to them with data and insights?
I looked at what technology could do to protect the decisions farmers were making. I fell in love with that.
TRANSFORM: Your dad was an agronomist, yet he relied on his intuition to raise crops – as generations of farmers have done. How eager are modern farmers to use data, the cloud and AI to make crucial decisions on planting, feeding and harvesting?
BEKELE: Farmers in general like taking risks. If you didn’t like taking risks, I don’t think you’d be a farmer. That’s because every year is different and unpredictable. What you did last year won’t work out the same way this year. The challenges you face are going to be different, down to the individual field level.
So more of them would love to rely on the technology to make decisions and use data to be able to improve themselves from one year to the next.
TRANSFORM:By harnessing Azure, how will Land O’Lakes help farmers – and their fields – become more productive?
BELEKE: For almost 20 years, we’ve done research plots across the farming areas we serve. We planted different seed varieties and crop-protection applications, put in different farming practices then collected data on those plots to provide insights to farmers – like the right crop variety for the type of soil. But that research was all brute force, planting and collecting the data by hand.
Azure brings machine learning and artificial intelligence to the brute force that we applied in the fields. We use computer modeling, algorithms and replicated trials to derive the insights. The plots can then be used to validate our models and findings.
TRANSFORM: How do you envision farmers in the Land O’Lakes cooperative using AI recommendations to specifically react to what their fields are telling them?
BEKELE: It starts when you create the plan for the fields you will manage this year. What’s the best prescription for each field, given the topography, soil type and climate?
After planting, can you get early detection of where diseases might be occurring? If you give the fields nutrients like nitrogen or potassium, which field needs the most help today? What’s the right balance between what you put into the ground versus how many bushels per acre you will harvest?
Today, those calculations happen in a farmer’s head. But instead of manual thinking, an optimized algorithm says: This is how much money you should spend today for the outcome you are seeking.
TRANSFORM: Can you describe one way that the alliance with Microsoft will help improve sustainability on American farms?
BEKELE: For years, farmers put nutrients down in the fall to prep the fields they’ll plant in the spring. That was the old-school way. But what if you know – throughout the growing season – exactly what and how to feed the crop? That makes that field perform better now and in the future.
That can improve productivity. And you can do it in an environmentally sound way, for example by avoiding nutrients leaching out of the field into waterways when it rains. Any nutrient you put into the ground should stay in the ground – and then in the plant to make it healthier and more productive.
TRANSFORM: Land O’Lakes and Microsoft are working together to deliver AI solutions that will help farmers’ profit potential. What would that mean for one farm now on the financial edge?
BEKELE: If you’re at break-even today, the technology gets you to a spot where farming is exciting – you become a profitable farm. And you would not have to add more acres or put yourself at greater risk to get there. It just means you’re making better-optimized decisions with the technology.
For the smaller farmer who is facing a drop in commodity prices, they may be operating in the red. An improvement of 10 to 30 percent means they are no longer losing money. A life-altering change.
TRANSFORM: Could such an increase in profitability lead farmers to experiment with new techniques or new crops that improve the overall food supply?
BEKELE: If you’re questioning whether you will make it financially, you’re less willing to try different farming practices or change your nutrient recipe or try another crop. Maybe a farmer who has been growing corn and soybeans for years should be looking at lentils or peas. But when you’re at break-even, you’re not going to try something that might lose you money.
That reduces innovation and the diversity of crops. But if we can get folks into a position where they can try things, now you also have diversity of crops, which betters their business and betters everybody else.
TRANSFORM: How would these innovations have changed your dad’s life as a farmer – and maybe your own life?
BEKELE: If my dad had access to this technology, he would have tried it, for sure. He was on the bleeding edge when it came to emerging technologies. I would have then been exposed to them. If I had seen the transformation they were bringing, I might have stuck to a career in agriculture.
Or maybe I would have pursued computer science with a focus on agriculture. That would have been an interesting path – although I guess I still landed in basically the same spot 25 years later.
Top photo: A farm in Wisconsin that is part of the Land O’Lakes cooperative. (All photos courtesy of Land O’Lakes.)
Fixed an issue where a door in the Hexahedron would occasionally not open.
Gameplay and Investment
Controls
Remapping the input for Interact no longer changes the button prompt for Revive which will always be mapped to X/Square.
Fixed an issue where canceling a glide jump would cause Warlocks and Titans to auto-jump after landing.
Updated default custom controller binding for Vehicle Exit to match standard control preset (X/Square -> A/Cross).
Fixed an issue where Hunters would crouch after Dodging when using Hold Crouch, but stand when using Toggle Crouch.
Investment
Fixed an issue where Advanced Pyramid Focusing was only rewarding 50 Altered Elements instead of 150 as stated in the Triumph.
To help players optimize daily weapon bounties, Banshee now picks six new weapon types to focus on each week – three primary, one special, and two heavy.
Added a Season Rank Stat tracker for Season of Arrivals.
The Emissary Whisperer Triumph has been removed.
Weapons
Fixed an issue where Witherhoard’s projectiles would appear randomly on screen while using abilities or when stowed away.
Fixed an issue that caused Witherhoard’s direct hit damage to be unintentionally doubled if a player swapped to The Mountaintop after applying it.
Armor
Fixed an issue where the Surprise Attack perk does would not properly deactivate and reactivate when switching Sidearms
General
Fixed an issue where the Fencing Salute Emote could allow players to get out of the environment.
Fixed an issue where the “Hide Hints” settings option was currently displaying as “Never Show Full SteamID” and not functioning properly.
Disrespect/Hate Speech
Disrespect/Hate Speech
Harassment/Personal Attacks/Bullying
Name and Shame/Privacy Violation
Gory Violence/Explicit Sexuality
Threats of Violence/Illegal Activity
Political/Religious Discussion
Cheating/Hacking
Spoilers/Distributing Stolen Content
Soliciting/Plagiarism/Phishing/Impersonation
Disruption/Evasion
This site uses cookies to provide you with the best possible user experience. By clicking ‘Accept’, you agree to the policies documented at Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
Accept
This site uses cookies to provide you with the best possible user experience. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the policies documented at Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
close
Our policies have recently changed. By clicking ‘Accept’, you agree to the updated policies documented at Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
Accept
Our policies have recently changed. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the updated policies documented at Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
The latest snapshot brings changes to custom world generation. I can see myself creating fancy unique worlds in the future. What have you guys come up with?
Brewing stands can now be crafted with blackstone
Villagers now emit green particles when joining a village, setting a home bed, or acquiring a job site/profession
Totems of Undying now give the fire resistance status effect for 40 seconds when activated
Tweaked bartering loot
Custom worlds now support custom biomes
Dedicated servers can now rate limit clients
There is now experimental support for a worldgen folder in data packs
worldgen/biome can contain biome definitions
worldgen/configured_carver can contain definitions for world carver settings
worldgen/configured_feature can contain definitions for feature placements
worldgen/configured_structure_feature can contain definitions for structure placements
worldgen/configured_surface_builder can contain definitions for surfaces
worldgen/processor_list can contain sets of block processors
worldgen/template_pool can contain pool definitions for jigsaw structures
Custom biomes can now be used in the single biome/caves/floating islands world types (add the data pack containing the biome first)
Custom biomes can now be used in custom dimension generators
Dedicated servers can now kick clients that consistently send too many packets within a second
Controlled with the rate-limit settings in server.properties
Review: Neon Abyss – A Fun Romp, Even If It Doesn’t Glow With Originality
The Binding of Isaac begat Enter the Gungeon, which begat Neon Abyss: you could almost end this review there. Neon Abyss is so similar to Enter the Gungeon that we were fairly taken aback at first. Being a side-scroller, though, it’s actually closer to its less-beloved spin-off Exit the Gungeon.
So yes, this is another roguelite on a system positively festooned with them. It’s fun to play – we’ll get to that – but the real question is whether or not it’s worth picking up if you’ve already played its contemporaries such as the aforementioned games above, Rogue Legacy, Dead Cells or the like. Unfortunately, that isn’t an easy question to answer.
You begin each game dropped into the titular Neon Abyss, which takes the form of a somewhat nondescript dungeon. It’s colourful and well-drawn, but there’s not much in the way of environmental ‘pizzaz’ or standout gimmicks: there are platforms, bouncy platforms, disappearing platforms and different types of doors. It’s all very functional, but the result is that the contents of a room are rarely going to surprise you. It’s so straightforward that we were a little surprised to see some rare slowdown when the screen got especially busy.
Rooms are threaded together randomly, as you’d expect, and you can teleport between cleared rooms in exactly the same manner as Enter the Gungeon. Getting around is easy with the D-Pad and left stick, as is the jump button on ZL. It all feels very smooth and polished, and the gunplay – assigned to the right stick as in, you guessed it, Gungeon – is accurate and intuitive.
Another similarity with that other game we’ll definitely stop mentioning now is that its variation comes in the form of the numerous different items, weapons and buffs you can acquire. You’ve also got grenades, which can break through certain walls, blow open troublesome chests or simply take a chunk out of a boss’s health. These grenades and other consumables such as hearts and shields can be found all over, but more permanent, powerful items can be grabbed from treasure rooms and shops: these are accessed with keys and crystals, the latter a more common resource. Using said crystals also influences a semi-hidden ‘faith’ system, where you have the choice of which ‘path’ you want to follow: but we should probably leave some secrets for you to discover.
Throughout each stage you’ll find eggs that can randomly hatch into Binding of Isaac-esque followers, which can add various projectiles and effects to your attacks and even block enemy bullets. Keeping your followers alive for long enough can see them level up and evolve into more powerful variants: it’s not uncommon to have a long trail of creatures following you around, boosting your every move.
Even if you fail to make it to the end of a run, you’ll receive a currency that lets you gradually unlock more and more features, items and gimmicks to put into the levels. This keeps things interesting, as on top of this gradually encroaching complexity you’ll also unlock new and more powerful final boss battles, meaning the game gets longer and more varied as you keep playing.
The major problem is that it’s hard to make Neon Abyss sound fresh, new, or vital because, well, it isn’t. Everything here has been done before, but don’t write it off immediately: it’s a very enjoyable action roguelite, and actually one of the better takes on the genre that we’ve played. The major reason for this is that even failing is fun here: that drip-feed of extra stuff is as compelling as it was in Dead Cells, but it’s somewhat more forthcoming with new content, characters (with different starting loadouts, natch), and generally cool things.
The basic movement and shooting controls are reliable enough that the game is a pleasure just to play, even if you’re not doing well. Getting an overpowered run is always great, but here it’s a particular treat to combine that kind of luck with the simple joy of the familiar. It’s an earnestly enjoyable take on something that has sadly been done to death.
With the game’s difficulty scaling to your skill level and a brace of interesting items, this is an accomplished example of the genre. The most prominently interesting feature is the ‘skill tree’ you use to gradually add more and more to the game, which makes it difficult to resist another go-around to check out the new thing you’ve just bought. Honestly, there’s stuff we haven’t even mentioned like the diversions you’ll find in the dungeons (a piano room is a fun one, early on), but we suspect there are systems in Neon Abyss that we’re yet to discover.
Conclusion
Neon Abyss is a game that offers a lot, but we have the feeling it’s going to be a bit of an also-ran in the roguelite genre. If so, that’s a shame, because it’s an enormous amount of fun, with a good challenge, lovely controls and plenty of scope for craziness: which is all a roguelite really needs to be compelling. As long as you don’t expect to be blown away, we can give Neon Abyss a strong recommendation. It’s up there with the best roguelites on the Switch: it’s just a shame it wasn’t there first.
Pokémon Center Online Store Adds New Shirts, Posters And More
If you or someone you know is in the market for some lovely new Pokémon merchandise, you’ll want to check out the latest offerings over at the official Pokémon Center store.
A whole new wave of items has appeared over the past few days, including lots of new t-shirts featuring favourite monsters from Pokémon Sword and Shield, hoodies, bags, scarves, Trading Card Game accessories, and even things like chairs and water bottles.
Perhaps our personal pick of the bunch is the new Galar poster, which looks particularly lovely when combined with the full set of Pokémon region destinations.
You can check out the whole range for yourself right here. Note that the store only ships to the Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico – so those of us in Europe will sadly miss out.
Anything taking your fancy? We need a European Pokémon Center immediately.
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One and Windows 10 PC! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to change).
The official video game of the world’s most popular stockcar racing series puts you behind the wheel of these incredible racing machines and challenges you to become the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Features all the official teams, drivers, and cars from the three NASCAR National Series as well as the Xtreme Dirt Tour, racing on 39 authentic tracks.
Superliminal is a first-person puzzle game inspired perspective and optical illusions. Players tackle impossible puzzles by thinking outside the box and learning to expect the unexpected. This game features a wonderfully subdued world, an intriguingly voiced narrative, and things that are really weird.
Help the mighty Raccoon overcome obstacles and labyrinths in this family-friendly game set in a fantastic world. Solve puzzles by interacting with different types of blocks and colors as Raccoon meets a bunch of friends and foes, including Fox, Snail and other animals.
A physics-based 2D action game where robots B0-3 and 0-Ramatron embark on an epic quest through the outskirts, underbelly and rooftops of Mech Angeles to uncover the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Dr. Zarro.
CrossCode is a retro-inspired 2D action RPG that combines 16-bit SNES-style graphics with butter-smooth physics, a fast-paced combat system, and engaging puzzle mechanics, served with a gripping sci-fi story.
Following the events of the first game, Distraint 2 is a sinister tale about restoring hope and finding your purpose. You are Price, a man who sold his humanity to get a partnership from a leading company: McDade, Bruton, and Moore. Collect items and solve puzzles to progress through the story and find out if Price can reclaim his lost soul
Kirito awakens in a completely unknown virtual world, but something about it feels a bit familiar… Set in Underworld, an expansive world introduced in the “Sword Art Online” anime, Kirito sets out on adventure in the series’ latest RPG! Enjoy seamless, action-packed real-time battles using a combination of sword skills, sacred arts, and your favorite SAO characters.
The most comprehensive F1 game yet, putting players firmly in the driving seat as they race against the best drivers in the world. For the first time, players can create their own F1 team by creating a driver, then choosing a sponsor, an engine supplier, hiring a teammate and competing as the 11th team on the grid. Build facilities, develop the team over time and drive to the top.
The Great Perhaps tells the story of an astronaut returning to Earth destroyed by natural cataclysms. There, among the ruins he finds an unusual artifact — an old lantern, in the light of which you can see glimpses of another time and travel to the past. Experience constant time traveling between an empty, melancholic scenery of the post-apocalyptic Earth and its vivid days gone by.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 – July 10
Curse of the Moon 2 brings classic 2D action and a dark, 8-bit aesthetic together with modern playability. The multiple-scenario structure of the previous title returns with an epic new story. Players take control of Zangetsu, a swordsman from the far east who bears a deep grudge against demonkind and the alchemists who summoned them.
Five uniquely talented sisters are squabbling over which of them will marry the angel in this new vertical scrolling shooter game. Featuring the Tension Bonus System (TBS) means your score and number of coins multiplies based on your distance from enemies and their attacks, and the Powershot System changes normal attacks into strong attacks, further ramping up the tension.
Blog: Can you be a full time solo indie developer?
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
Hi, I’m Karl Kontus, one of the creators of a free games market research platform Video Game Insights. In this article I will cover how much a typical indie game developer is expected to earn by releasing a game on Steam. Is it boats and private islands for indie devs or super noodles and credit card debt?
Let’s start by looking at Steam games lifetime gross sales.
This graph looks at all 41,000 games on Steam and ranks them into percentiles by estimated sales. I’ve used the Boxleiter method for sales estimates, which has its imperfections, but works well when looking at a large sample size.
Initial insights:
Over 50% of the games on Steam have never made more than $5,000
Only 23% of the games have made over $50,000, an average annual salary for a full time game developer in the US
Oh dear. That doesn’t sound promising. But then again, the majority of the games on Steam are hobby projects and c20% of the games are free to begin with. So let’s apply some filters to our criteria.
Earnings potential of a full time solo dev
I’m narrowing down the list by looking at self-published single player indie games that are fully released (eg not early access). They have to have at least 5 ratings in order to remove the really low end of games on Steam and it has to be in the price range of $4.99-$19.99, where most indie games lie. I’m also only looking at games released after 2018.
We’ve narrowed the # of games down from 41,000 to 3,300. That’s better, but we’ve also removed the AAA games with hundreds of millions of sales. So where does it leave us?
Results:
Bottom Quartile: <$5k / game
Median: $13k / game
Top Quartile: $44k / game
Top 15%: $108k / game
Top 5%: $555k / game
Only 15% of indie games make more than $100k. Scanning through games in that scale we find examples like MicroTown and Horizon’s Gate – Games with beautiful, but simple art and refined look. This looks like the kind of target an ambitious solo dev could set.
What it means to be top 15%?
Now, leaving aside that the solo dev has to be good enough at art, coding, marketing and the business side and needs a bit of luck on their side, let’s have some faith and say we can get there. Let’s also assume that the development time of such game would be c. 1 year, which is on the faster end, but not unheard of.
You’ve achieved greatness! You’ve proven the doubters wrong and have made it to the top of the solo dev food chain. You’ve made it to the top 15% of indie games in terms of earnings on Steam. Where’s your $100k?
Not so fast.
This $108k is the gross revenue, not including Steam’s cut, discounts, chargebacks, returns etc. Let’s see where we get after taking these out.
Gross Revenue: $108k
Post Discounts: $86.4k (A typical game like this sells a fair amount of games at discounts of >50%. On average, a good rule of thumb is to apply a 20% discount to gross revenue to account for discounts)
Post Returns and Chargebacks: $77.8k (Typically c. 10% of games are returned and chargebacks applies)
Net Revenue Post Steam Cut: $54.4k (Steam takes 30% of the revenue)
So, even in the optimistic case, defying odds and making it to the top, a solo indie dev would make as much as an average developer in a typical games company in the US, but without the job security and other benefits.
Is this the death of the dream?
Well, no. There are successful solo devs out there and there are many things a developer could do to improve their chances. I would argue that most of these, however, lie on the business and marketing side. A successful solo developer must realise that they are a solo entrepreneur. That means making the right pricing decisions, devoting a LOT of time on marketing efforts and doing proper research into the game space and competitors before fully getting into the development phase.
Being a solo dev is an option, but one that comes with some typically less appealing sides of game development if you want to succeed.
in GalaCredit!
Results: