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Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime preview: Don't die alone
"Death may be a given, but at least you don't have to face it alone!"Despite the deeply morbid implications behind that statement from Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime's description blurb, it perfectly belies the beauty of the game, an adorable neon micro-platformer about rescuing cuddly creatures from bad robots, shooting lasers at metallic jellyfish while flying through space, and dying alongside your partner after all of these ridiculous, futile trials.Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime looks too cute to be depressing, but in the end, the gameplay is simply a mad rush to delay the inevitable. I played a co-op round with a new friend in GDC's IGF booth, and together we attempted to save planets of birds and rabbits from a hostile robot invasion, while fending off attacks on all sides of our circular spaceship.The ship itself contains a mini platforming landscape, with myriad ladders and levels that the two lovers must navigate to operate the ship's weapons, its shield and the steering. With a controller, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime uses two buttons and one analog stick for all of its mechanics: One player jumps into the cockpit and steers the ship by sliding a single thruster around its outer rim, and the other player runs around, operating the shield and one of five weapons systems, whether that be lasers, turrets or superlasers.
Journey sweeps Game Developers Choice Awards, wins 6 of 11
Journey and thatgamecompany claimed six of the 11 total prizes at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony during GDC 2013 tonight: the Game of the Year Award, Best Audio, Best Game Design, Best Visual Arts, Best Downloadable Game and the Innovation Award. We have to say, the GDCA has good taste.The first-ever GDCA Audience Award prize went to Arkane Studios' Dishonored. FTL: Faster Than Light picked up the award for Best Debut, and Telltale's The Walking Dead walked away with the Best Narrative award. Take a peek at the complete list of winners below.
'Home' creator Benjamin Rivers wants to make a psychological dating sim
Benjamin Rivers has spent the last three years working on his atmospheric indie pixel-art horror game, Home, which started spooking up PCs through Rivers' official site last June and terrified a much larger audience once the game hit Steam last August. Despite being a tremendous labor of love, Rivers is ready to move on to his next project, which may be a romantic effort of a different sort."Well, I made a joke on Twitter like a month ago," Rivers told me during GDC, "where I was like 'Hey guys, if I did a horror game with a dating-sim element, would people play it?' and people were like 'Yeah!' Playing things like Mass Effect while finishing this game, playing Persona, that element of a really relationship-based game where you chase stuff like that, that's kind of my new jam."Like Home, Rivers' next game will likely still be two-dimensional and will focus on psychologically influencing the player in subtle ways, though this time the goal will be to induce emotional attachment to a fictional character, rather than instill terror. Not that love isn't terrifying in its own right.
Papo & Yo sales 'good' on PS3, but didn't cover development costs
Papo & Yo was a top seller when it launched on PS3 in August, and creator Vander Caballero is satisfied with its numbers, even though sales haven't covered all of the game's development costs, he told Joystiq at GDC. Papo & Yo will hit Steam for PC on April 18, and that extra push should cover the gap left by PS3, Caballero said."Despite the good sales, the cost of the game has to be covered," he said. "We have covered already parts of the cost of the game, but when it comes out on Steam, we'll make money. Then we'll cover the whole cost of the game."Caballero was excited about the coming Steam launch, which will begin accepting pre-orders on April 4. Those who buy it between April 4 and 17 will receive a 10 percent discount ($13.50), plus the game's original soundtrack for free. "We're really happy, since all the people who heard about it will actually be able to play it now," Caballero said.
Your first fleeting look at Keita Takahashi's 'Tenya Wanya Teens'
No questions will be answered by the six seconds of Vined gameplay shown here, in which two people use their delightfully be-socked feet to play Keita Takahashi's Tenya Wanya Teens. There's a "Confess!" button, and kneeling, and part of it takes place in a bathroom, and ... we don't know.Sure is cute, though! If anything, we're happy to be on the verge of discovering something weird and new.
Seen@GDC: A bunch of indie games in one place
The GDC 2013 Indie Press Mixer kept it bumping and brawling late into the night on Monday, with wall-to-wall indie games, developers and players. The games spanned PCs, laptops, tablets, with Xbox to SNES controllers, and the people covered the various stages of excitement and belligerence. Some of the games included Steve Swink's Scale, now with updated graphics and mechanics, along with Colorblind's Aztez, Erin Robinson's Gravity Ghost, Escape Goat 2 from Magical Time Bean, Intake from Cipher Prime, Pixelnauts' Lost Orbit, Daniel Benmergui's Storyteller, and tons more, including Matt Thorson's Towerfall, pictured from a player perspective above. Check out the sweet action in a few pictures below. If any parts are blurry, it's only because a camera can't contain all of that crazy Indie Press Mixer excitement.%Gallery-183868%
Capy's success and sworcery catchphrase: 'It's getting there'
At the conclusion of his GDC 2013 panel, Still Kicking: The Viability of Paid Apps in the Era of F2P, Capybara Games co-founder and president Nathan Vella offered unique insight into the trials endured by the company. The developers were pushing for creativity and originality in their games, but were beset by problem after problem."It's getting there" quickly became the company mantra, a mission statement of sorts and catchphrase that succinctly sums up the Toronto development house's endeavors.
Telltale's Fables game, 'The Wolf Among Us,' due this summer
Telltale Games' adaptation of the Fables comic series is now known as The Wolf Among Us, and will be released sometime this summer on PS3, Xbox, PC, and Mac. Bigby Wolf – guess which character from the world of fairy tales he is – lives in New York City, and works a sort of security role, keeping other fairy tale characters hidden."Developing The Wolf Among Us based on the Fables universe has allowed our studio to build upon all of the hallmarks of what makes our episodic series so engaging for players," Telltale CEO Dan Connors told IGN. "Through an evolution of our approach to choice and consequence, we can further explore the complexity of each and every iconic character in a universe rich with untold history from the darkest sides of the storybooks."In other words, this sounds like The Walking Dead "dramatic" Telltale, more than the Sam & Max/Strong Bad "funny" Telltale.
'Ground Zeroes' is the prologue portion of Metal Gear Solid 5 [update: separate games]
In typical Kojima fashion, Metal Gear Solid 5 was shown off, separately, as three different things: Ground Zeroes, an open-world game about a rescue mission; The Phantom Pain, about a recovering amputee under attack, and finally, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. In a tweet (or, technically, a Twitlonger post) following the panel, Hideo Kojima cleared up the relationship between all these seemingly different properties."'Ground Zeroes' is a prologue of MGSV," Kojima said. "9 years after that event will be 'The Phantom Pain.'" Metal Gear Solid 5 comprises these two parts, much like Metal Gear Solid 2 opened with the Tanker chapter, then moved onto the Plant portion starring Raiden. "The game play demo I presented today is the opening of [The Phantom Pain] which is tutorial that starts from crawling." [Update: Contrary to what Kojima said during the GDC panel today, Konami has confirmed with Joystiq that Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain are indeed separate games.]Wow, what is this feeling? Is it ... understanding a Metal Gear game?%Gallery-184116%
Unfinished Swan's scrapped ideas and the future of Giant Sparrow
The Unfinished Swan originally had a river-painting mechanic and a playable library full of unfinished books, but Ian Dallas and the team at Giant Sparrow couldn't figure out a way to make these aspects fun, he told Joystiq at GDC. The river-painting tool allowed players to throw paint and create puddles 10 feet deep, and "it seemed cool. We had a whole playable prototype, it worked, it was there," but it wasn't fun, so Dallas removed it.The library of unfinished books would have been a space with "a million letters everywhere, running around," with tomes that contained the first chapter of brilliant novels, wonderful opening sentences or vague ideas only, nothing complete. While this would have been pretty, Dallas said, it didn't have a place in the game.The blueprint mechanic almost didn't make it into the final build of Unfinished Swan, but it made the cut, so, "Yay!" Dallas exclaimed.Giant Sparrow isn't in charge of the Unfinished Swan brand anymore, so if there's a Vita port on the way Dallas isn't aware. Sony isn't obligated to tell him if there's anything in progress, but it's generally up-front about these things; Dallas knew about the Unfinished Swan DLC for PlayStation All-Stars nine months ahead of time."I would be ecstatic if there were ports," he said. "If someone wanted to make a port of the game, it's awesome that we don't have to do that. I don't know if there are ports or what the plans are, but that's one of the nice things about having a publisher."As for that leak about "Edith Finch," Giant Sparrow's purported next game, Dallas can't say much. "We may have contracts, there may be a publisher involved, they may have people with feelings that may get hurt from time to time," Dallas said. "We can safely announce that we have an unannounced game that we're working on. I'm very excited about it."The publisher that Giant Sparrow "may" have might be Sony. Dallas said other publishers – Nintendo and Microsoft, specifically – are generally open to publish indie games but not fund them, while Sony goes all-in. "We've been so happy with Sony," he said. "It's amazing that Sony can do that and really put faith in these things. God bless Shuhei and Scott Rody and all these people ... They just really want to make interesting games."
PlayStation 4 uses both real names and PSN handles, DualShock 4 charges in standby
Chris Norden, Senior Staff Engineer at Sony, just concluded a talk about development on PS4 here at GDC. While mostly aimed at the improvements to the development environment over its predecessor, Norden also offered some interesting factoids for those of us lacking the know-how to create games. For example, the upgraded Blu-ray drive spins discs at three times the speed of PS3. Norden's talk didn't offer much on the PS4 architecture that we didn't already know, but he elaborated on the DualShock 4 and PS4 Eye peripherals. The DualShock 4 features enhanced dual vibration over the DualShock 3, with lower latency and reduced dead zone – the area surrounding the center point on the analog sticks where the console doesn't pick up input. Unlike the PS3 buttons, the face buttons, L1, and R1 on the DS4 are digital. DualShock 4 controllers will also charge now when the system is in standby mode – not possible with the DualShock 3 on the PS3 – and he said every PS4 will include a headset in the box, another thing Sony avoided with the PS3. The new ID system was also demonstrated, where each PS4 player will have two identities. There's obviously the requisite online handle, but also true names for friends pulled from Facebook and through true name search on PSN. By default, true names will not be displayed. Finally, Norden said that per the PlayStation 4's ability to capture game footage and share online, the system itself will automatically record your last few minutes of gameplay at all times. If you did something interesting or impressive by accident, you can hit the Share button and retrieve that footage; each clip is broken down into chapters that are labeled right in the video editor suite.
GDC 2013: Dragon's Prophet video reveal
As Dragon's Prophet flaps and flies toward a closed beta weekend, the SOE crew have put together a reveal trailer for this week's GDC. Set against the backdrop of some fairly epic music, the trailer shows off dragons, dragons, and even more dragons (with a heavy dollop of the world and combat). Our intrepid reporter MJ is putting together a meaty article on Dragon's Prophet for later today, so consider this trailer something to tide you over until the full course is delivered. Enjoy!
The Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain trailer [update 2: separate games]
Rather than describe the intricate detail with which Kojima Productions' Fox Engine renders Big Boss dragging himself around on the floor, you can just see for yourself.You'll also hear the surprise Kiefer Sutherland voice work and Garbage soundtrack behind the GDC trailer for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.Update: Konami has not yet confirmed if this is Kiefer Sutherland we're hearing in the trailer, or if it's the best Kiefer Sutherland impersonator we've ever heard.Update 2: Contrary to what Kojima said during the GDC panel today, Konami has confirmed with Joystiq that Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain are indeed separate games.%Gallery-184116%
The Phantom Pain is Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain [update 2: separate games]
Update: A press release confirms Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.Update 2: Contrary to what Kojima said during the GDC panel today, Konami has confirmed with Joystiq that Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain are indeed separate games.As many suspected, The Phantom Pain is in fact a new Metal Gear game. It is Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Kojima Productions head Hideo Kojima revealed during a GDC panel today. Kojima told the audience that Metal Gear Solid 5 is made up of both Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, and the influences of both could clearly be seen in the trailer.The game stars a Snake who has been in a coma for 9 years. Its opening section will be familiar to anyone who's seen the Phantom Pain trailer, as Snake wakes up in a hospital and must escape an unknown enemy. He's accompanied by a man with a bandaged face and a voice that sounds very much like Kiefer Sutherland. Naturally, it's pretty hard for Snake to stand up after 9 years of lying down, so most of his escape (and the GDC demonstration) is spent crawling on the floor.Hallucinations seem to play a role in the game, as Snake spies a woman with a resemblance to Psycho Mantis mystically floating up an empty elevator shaft. The hallway is then engulfed in flame, and Snake and his new friend are accosted by a huge, intimidating man ... who soon spontaneously combusts and disappears. Whether these scenes are real or merely hallucination isn't quite clear.The hospital section serves as a tutorial, after which the game proper begins. Today's demonstration was running on PC.The Phantom Pain was revealed during the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, with many immediately speculating that it was related to Metal Gear.
Forward Unto Dawn and staying true to Halo
You might think that the biggest challenge in creating Halo 4's Forward Unto Dawn series was translating one of gaming's most beloved franchises into a live-action film that was not only true to the source material, but also worth watching. You'd be right, of course, but for fans the biggest challenge was in making sure Master Chief sounded right.During the Forward Unto Dawn postmortem at GDC, 343 Industries franchise development director Frank O'Connor noted that the casting of Master Chief was "a source of much consternation" for series fans. "We did a couple of tests using the actor who plays Master Chief in the game, and he's an older guy," said O'Connor.The ending of Forward Unto Dawn reveals that the superhuman Spartan soldiers are just as young as the film's UNSC cadets, so giving Master Chief the gravelly voice we all know and love would be out of place. "He can't sound like he's 50," said O'Connor, "and so we had to find a young actor whose voice sounded like his voice might eventually grow into the Chief's."
Battlefield 4 skipping Wii U to avoid stretching team 'too thin'
There will be no touchscreen leg-cutting minigames at launch for Battlefield 4. DICE Creative director Lars Gustavsson told Videogamer a flat "no" in response to a query about the existence of a Wii U version of the military shooter."I think overall for me as creative director, number one is to deliver a really great game and experience," Gustavsson explained. "Sometimes, at least for us, it's focus on what you do well and what you know well, and ensure that you deliver something good than trying a bit too much, stretching yourself too thin and risking it. I'd rather play it safe, deliver something really good and then look at the future and what could possibly be done than trying a bit too hard and then, flat."Just a few minutes earlier, on stage at the presentation, EA Games vice president Patrick Söderlund touted the game as "a new era of interactive entertainment," built on an engine that provided "no excuses. There's nothing really holding us back anymore."
Take a tour of the Videogame History Museum at GDC 2013
One of the cooler installations at this year's GDC is the Videogame History Museum, a travelling collection of gaming's greatest and oldest creations. Spotted among the various consoles, games and merchandise are classics like the Genesis, Super Nintendo and Atari 2600. There's also some less prominent devices like the Vectrex, Sega 32X, Sega Nomad, Sega Saturn and ... well, Sega had a lot of less prominent devices.And, like any good museum, there are some oddities, including development kits, an Atari "mind control" peripheral, prototype Genesis cartridges and a mock-up of the Neptune, a combination 32X and Genesis that never saw the light of day. Check out the video above and lots of pics below. %Gallery-183810%
Editorial: How the Concessions Stand in Battlefield 4
EA seized an entire movie theater in San Francisco in the midst of GDC 2013 to demonstrate nearly 20 minutes of Battlefield 4, which is also a video game. The venue was large and loud enough to encapsulate the shooter's cinematic aspirations, and flaunt every extravagant detail manifested in the weapons, soldiers, lighting and urban environments – right down to the cracking, withered paint on a door. Battlefield 4 belonged on every inch of that big screen.And that's fine. I enjoy shooters, I adore movies, and I think there's a valid convergence to be found between the two. It's rarely a shortcut for superior storytelling, but the medium is malleable and fit for many authors. Some strive for realism, others seek expression in the abstract, and some guys prefer to make a crazy game about shipping soup to other planets.None of those, however, have claimed responsibility for a "new era of interactive entertainment." That would be Battlefield 4, according to EA Games Vice President Patrick Söderlund. "Revealing the game to you all today is a big deal for us," he said in epilogue to the game's exquisitely rendered destruction. "It signals a new era of Battlefield and, frankly, a new era of interactive entertainment."%Gallery-183940%
Home to hit iOS 'hopefully before summer,' Android port still a possibility
Benjamin Rivers' Home, first released on PC last year, will be legitimately terrifying iOS and Mac users "hopefully before summer," the one-man studio told us during GDC. "If I could do this before the summer, that would be ideal, but that all depends on getting certified and making sure that all the bugs are worked out," Rivers said.While Home's mobile port has never had an official release date, the original plan was for the game to come out much earlier this year. "The scope of getting this thing re-ported was a huge thing," Rivers said. "I use Game Maker, and they have a new suite of tools which lets you do iOS, Android, all that stuff. The unfortunate thing was that they came out with all that stuff after the game was released, so I've basically been spending the last six to seven months re-coding the whole game to match the new suite and to get everything up and running."Rivers' work re-coding the game for iOS may have been time consuming, but it also may allow him to release an Android version of Home some time in the future. "Theoretically, it's easy to do Android because it's all running off the same code base," Rivers told us. "What I want to do is target the most popular phones and make sure that it's good. If things go weird and wonky, it's so easy to ruin that immersion, so I don't want it to be like 'Oh yeah, it'll totally work on your three year old HTC 2.1 device,' it can't do that."As a result, Rivers anticipates that an Android version of Home would likely be optimized to run on a small selection of the most popular/common Android handsets, such as Samsung's Galaxy S line of devices.
GDC 2013: DUST 514's Uprising update conquers your PS3 on May 6
Although DUST 514 is still in open beta, a big update will soon deliver some significant changes to the game, changes that will bring it more in-line with the CCP's vision for this MMOFPS companion to EVE Online. During a presentation at GDC 2013, Thor Gunnarsson (VP of business development) and Halldor Fannar (CTO) shared more details about this update, dubbed Uprising after a merc revolt in the title's lore. Fannar explained that Uprising focuses on two main themes. "The first theme we are calling 'making it matter.' It's about creating a more meaningful connection between DUST 514 and EVE." While the Caldari Prime event was the first step on that journey (20,000 battles took place on the ground), the planetary conquests system in this update will introduce features that will further intertwine the two games. "The other theme is basically visual improvements," Fannar explained, "making the graphics look better, making the graphics run faster, and also adding more graphics." Players will get to see for themselves exactly how these themes play out when the updates releases on May 6th. In the meantime, enjoy our impressions from GDC.
