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Post-apocalyptic city builder Frostpunk 2 arrives on July 25
11 Bit Studios has announced at the Xbox Partners Showcase that Frostpunk 2 will be available for Windows PCs and on the PC Game Pass service starting on July 25.
Robot builders work together to create structures much bigger than themselves
If you've ever read a novel from Iain M. Banks's Culture series, then you'll know that builder-bots play a huge role in his vision of the future: A future in which houses, cities and even entire planets can be built on the cheap by armies of drones. In a very modest way, something like this is already possible, thanks to a team of researchers from Catalonia's Insitute of Advanced Architecture. They've created a prototype design for an "ecology" of mini robots, which work together to squirt out various materials that harden to create the frame and skin of a building. Wheeled Foundation Bots come first, building up the base layers, and then Grip Bots clamber up these structures to create further levels. The video after the break makes it all so sound very simple and inevitable, but it slightly glosses over an important fact: these bots can only build according to an architect's exact instructions. And, as any builder will repeatedly tell you, architects know almost nothing about how to actually build stuff. (At least, not until robots take their jobs too.)
MMObility: Manyland is deceptively simple and surprising
Is the primitive 8- or 16-bit design movement becoming too much of a good thing? At first it presents a cool way to see and interact with the game world, and it does so with a style that is familiar but in many ways more fresh than anything we've experienced for a while. But, then we grow used to it and it starts to feel a bit dated... even though it's only been introduced (in its unique way) in recent years! If you're a designer and you design a game with mining and artwork that looks like something that came from an 80s arcade, do you risk a backlash from writers and gamers who yawn and say "ah, more Minecraft stuff?" Of course you do. That doesn't mean that fun things can't be done within the genre, and Manyland is a great example of that. It's also free and runs right in your browser, so you have zero to lose in terms of checking it out!
Daily iPad App: Pets vs. Orcs combines cuteness with battle
Pets vs. Orcs (free) is a game that seems to have been designed for my gaming tastes. It's got a few flaws, but when I saw that screenshot heard it described as "a mix between Civilization and Warcraft 3," and I couldn't download it fast enough. Now that I've played Pets vs. Orcs, I'm disappointed that it doesn't live up to that description (or the screenshot, unfortunately). It's more of a cross between We Rule and tower defense, which is less epic than Civilization plus Warcraft 3. There are two modes in Pets vs. Orcs: town mode and fight mode. In the town mode, you place and grow buildings (freemium style) and queue up training camps to build up your army of pets while you wait in real time. When fighting, you send various waves of pets to battle the orcs. The gameplay is simple and the colorful graphics are simpler, so don't expect polished good looks. But the core mechanics are good, and those who like freemium city-building games will enjoy assembling an army sending them into battle. Pets vs. Orcs doesn't quite live up to the promise of its premise, but it doesn't completely fail either. It's a solid title that I suspect will improve with a few more updates. Pets vs. Orcs is a freemium app, available on the App Store right now.
WildStar's Bartle-inspired paths offer players unique and shared content [Updated]
Jeremy Gaffney recently opened up on the connection between WildStar's Paths and Richard Bartle's famous breakdown of playstyles. While Gaffney admits that WildStar drew inspiration from Bartle's categories, the team has tuned the four paths -- Explorer, Soldier, Achiever and Builder -- to fit the devs' vision for the game. No matter which path you pick, Gaffney promises that there will be something meaningful for you to be doing at all times. The important part is that the game has a deliberate balance between path-specific activities and universal ones: "What we do is we take 70% of the world, and that's a mix of all the styles, and then about 30%, depending on the zone, swaps over and that's about you and about your path. So, as an Explorer you have your normal mix of stuff, but then an extra chunk on top of it that's all about exploring." People from different paths have many ways, reasons, and incentive to interact as they progress through the zones. Gaffney says that WildStar will "pile on the layers" to keep players involved and active. He also assured fans that all paths will have plenty to do in the endgame so that the journey doesn't come to a crashing halt. [Update: Carbine also released another WildStar Wednesday this afternoon; it features some community discussion all about events in MMOs.]
SGW builder describes the challenges of making an MMO
French Stargate SG-1/Atlantis fan site Stargate Fusion landed an interview with Stargate Worlds world builder Josh Kurtz. The interview understandably represents a Stargate SG-1 fan's interests more than it does those of a gamer, but presumably if you're interested in SGW at this early point in development you're already a fan of the franchise to begin with.Kurtz talked about the relationship the SGW team has with the producers of the TV series and about the rules the team follows to make sure they stay faithful to the source material. He also described the challenges of making an MMO, saying "the MMO market is a dangerous place because to be honest the exploration of how to build one and what will make a good one has only just begun."He's confident (of course) that the team at Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment is going to be able to rise up to the occasion and produce a top tier game.[Via WarCry]
