Guncraft
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Guncraft, Cognition among eight games Greenlit on Steam
Steam Greenlight recently gave the go-ahead for eight games and three pieces of software to begin distribution on Steam. The greenlit games were Guncraft by Exacto Game Studios, Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller by Phoenix Online Studios, Wild Games Studio's Day One : Garry's Incident, Homesick by Lucky Pause, In Verbis Virtus by Indomitus Games, XGen Studios' Super Motherload, Vector by Nekki and Verdun by Blackmill Games. The apps greenlit this week were Actual Multiple Monitors, FL Studio and Leadwerks 3: Steam Edition.
Guncraft digs up a July 11 release date
Exato Game Studios' voxel-based shooter Guncraft will launch July 11, the developer announced in a recent blog. The game will launch on PC via Desura, Green Man Gaming, Rain Digital Games, GamersGate and the official Guncraft website. Guncraft blends first-person shooter action with Minecraft-like visuals, which has lead some to believe its the work of Minecraft creator Notch. Exato Game Studios raised $16,487 on Kickstarter in March 2012 to make the game a reality. The developer is now seeking community approval on Steam's Greenlight service to launch the game on Steam.
Notch responds to Guncraft: 'I'm a huge fan of clones'
Before PAX started up in Seattle last week, even before the booths were assembled in the convention center, we heard about Exato Games' plan to attract Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson's attention to its own Guncraft. "Notch, come have a beer with us," John Getty said through Joystiq last week. So how did that go?At least on Saturday morning, when Joystiq sat down to chat with Notch, that beer hadn't yet been shared. "I saw some video going on, and it looked like Minecraft with guns," Notch told us, "which seems like a fairly interesting game if you don't make it fantasy." But he hadn't stopped by the booth, and it didn't sound much like he planned on doing so.Notch that there was no drama between the two developers, however. "I'm a huge fan of clones," he said. "I think clones is how games evolve, I'm a huge proponent of patterns." At the same time, however, Notch says he's "been through hell and back" enough to know how trademarks work, and he's a fan of protecting those as well. "I think trademarks are great, because you can go this is our product, this is your product and it can all be seen by consumers."That's Notch's real response to Guncraft's attempts to get his attention. "A lot of people will come up and say, 'Oh, so Guncraft is actually your new thing?' They're kind of maybe sort of kind of maybe implying that we're connected somehow, and we're not," Notch said to us. "It's just a clone. If they want to make a clone, that's awesome, as long as it's clear we're not related in any way."
'Sup, Notch: Why Guncraft got a booth next to Minecraft's at PAX
Exato Games co-founder John Getty makes no apologies about the inspiration behind Guncraft. Yes, it's based on Minecraft. Problem?Getty can afford to be flippant about Guncraft's origins because his game, while it resembles Minecraft, utilizes entirely different mechanics and goals, and it simply isn't a rip-off, he says. Guncraft spawned while Getty and his partner Alex Schlee were working on another game, Progenitor."Our artist and former programmer were having a talk about how Minecraft isn't objective-oriented enough," Getty recalls. "They thought that it would be awesome if it was like an FPS, which is an objective-driven genre, where you could also make use of the levels you intricately design. They also thought it would be awesome to be able to blow the crap out of said level, without getting banned from a server for trolling someone's masterpiece."I overheard the conversation and thought it was an awesome idea. After a week of drawing up some preliminary game-design documents, I pitched it to my partner, we both decided it was too good to pass up, and we postponed Progenitor in favor of Guncraft."Guncraft is now a Kickstarter success story, raising more than $16,000 in March to continue development, and it's heading to PAX Prime in Seattle this week – in fact, it's heading to a very specific place on PAX's show floor. Guncraft has a booth right next to Minecraft's.
Guncraft is Minecraft with guns or Call of Duty with blocks, pick one
Insert a joke about us hearing you liked things and then putting those things inside of each other, dawg. Guncraft combines two massively popular gaming tropes, shooters and cube-inspired sandboxes (OK, one of those is more popular than the other), into a first-person shooter that looks as if it were made in Minecraft.As described by developer Exato Games, Guncraft has players construct their own levels and then share them in an online multiplayer battle, where every aspect of the environment can be destroyed. Levels are reset after each round, of course. "Voxel engines allow us complete and total environmental destruction," Exato writes on its Kickstarter page. "But wait, that's not all! We also have complete and total environmental CONSTRUCTION."Guncraft is looking to release a PC beta in March, with a full launch in June. Exato is also set on releasing Guncraft on XBLIG eventually. To finish its project, the Guncraft team is asking for $16,000 via Kickstarter -- they're on their way, but could use some love. If you're intrigued, head on over and support Guncraft here.
