Monthly Archives: September 2014

8-Bit Studios: ‘Is making a quality F2P game possible for next gen?’

8-Bit

Bit, the independent development studio based in Barcelona, Spain and London, UK, today confirmed their attendance of EGX 2014 and also announced two developer talks which are scheduled to take place at 11am on Friday and Saturday morning of the show at the XboxOne booth (ground floor, zone 4).

8-Bit are currently working on a revolutionary F2P multiplayer online versus (MOV) third person hack n’ slash em up, ‘SKARA: The Blade Remains’ which utilises Epic’s Unreal4 Engine and is already looking triple AAA quality.

“We are constantly getting compared to big name games at the moment which is a little daunting as we’re only a team of 10!” commented Pablo Rodriguez, Creative Director at 8-Bit. “Having said that, we are very confident that our title will be top quality and we feel that we can perfectly balance F2P mechanics while maintaining a high quality game experience, it’s going to be ‘triple III’ rather than ‘triple AAA’ though, we are determined to break the stigma that F2P games seem to attract”
Pablo Rodriguez along with Cesar Ortega (Executive Producer on Skara) will be giving both talks at the show this week, the team invite attendees to participate in the discussion.

For more info, visit http://skarathebladeremains.com/

Rainbow Saga Closed Beta Test Launches Today

The latest addition to the popular Game321.com portal, Rainbow Saga is an arcade-style 2D fantasy browser-based game packed with anime-style characters, stunning scenery, and a compelling world brimming with adventure. Players journey across the colorful Troonmill continent as they fight to protect the sacred land from the evil Demon Lord. Explore exciting dungeons and a variety of wacky locations filled with mystical mysteries. Meet and team up with new characters and friends to tackle fun challenges!

Rainbow Saga’s anticipated closed beta phase launches today, September 24th at 9:00pm CDT (GMT -5). The testing is scheduled to run for 10 days, closing midnight October 4th.

To celebrate, NGames has loaded the world of Rainbow Saga with a host of special events, which reward players for testing the game ahead of its launch. Players will receive prizes for everything from reporting bugs (the bigger the bug, the better the prize!) and sharing their Rainbow Saga experiences in the community forums, to completing gameplay tasks, such as levelling up gear and wings, and raising pets and mounts.

A full list of the exciting closed beta events can be found on the official Rainbow Saga website: http://rainbow.game321.com/information/activities/6759.shtml

Spacecom Launch Review – Minimalistic Magic

By Glenn Rodgers (Vagrant), Guest Writer

Spacecom Review Large-Cluster-Map

In the sea of real time strategy games, Spacecom branches itself from the rest by sticking to one theme, depth with simplicity.  Spacecom’s lonely atmospheric indie galaxy experience offers more than what most would come to expect in a 2-dimensional strategy game. 11 bit studios and Flow Combine’s Spacecom is an absolute example of a great game not being reliant on great graphics. Behind its simple user interface hides a system of mechanical strategic depth that not many games can seem to match, despite their higher development budgets and massive art teams.

Spacecom Review Choose-Your-Mission

Within the world of Spacecom you are a space commander taking control of a small fleet of ships and sectors within space that will have you carefully planning each step of your star trek. Each match will have you controlling multiple ships that consist of three different types: battleships, invasion, and siege. Battle ships are self-explanatory and best in combat situations for obvious reasons. Invasion ships are used to take control of sectors that will allow you to increase your resource acquisition, repair your fleet and construct new ships for your fleet. Siege ships destroy sectors, denying them to your opponents but also removing them for your use as well.  Every choice you make in Spacecom is crucial towards building into a cunning victory with one wrong move possibly resulting in a devastating defeat.

Spacecom Review Cluster-Selection

Not only do players control ships within Spacecom, but they must also manage each sector. Sectors can be fortified with kinetic shields that will withstand attacks for a period of time or battle stations that can defend the sector from attacking units. Each sector will also need to be invaded by invasion ships first to be acquired and then later grounded to finally take advantage of their perks such as extra resources or repairing stations. All of this must be managed while also trying to attack or fend off enemy players or AI. It might seem complex and overwhelming at first but soon it all falls into place in a very simple yet rhythmic way. The end result is a title that eases players in gently, but offers plenty of areas for intense mastery to make the most of your choices and assure victory more often.

Spacecom Review Learning-The-Ropes

Spacecom offers a small campaign of 13 missions each with side objectives which in total equal 31 optional missions that will have players replaying missions to complete these sometimes challenging optional objectives. The campaign serves as more or less a tutorial for players getting their feet wet with Spacecom as the campaign will take roughly 5 hours to complete or less depending on their skill level as well as number of side objectives they choose to complete. Spacecom also offers online multiplayer as well as a skirmish mode that can have 6 factions fighting against each other in an all-out battle of wits. This is where Spacecom shines as each match can be tuned to different difficulties, color representations of opponents, and galaxy sizes. Expect to spend hours upon hours within skirmishes fighting AI opponents tuning your skills and ultimately your critical thinking.

Spacecom Review Multiplayer-Mayhem

Spacecom’s multiplayer options were plentiful. Players can choose from player made lobbies that allow players to change cluster size, check ratings of other players and even add AI opponents to matches. Cluster sizes can range from having up to 6 players playing within a match to as few as 2. The size of the cluster will factor in how long it takes to complete a match or even how difficult it can be. Each match that you play will earn you experience towards your next ranking and will have you climbing the leaderboards towards the top. Your own statistics can also be seen within the main menu checking your own ranking as well as your friends.

Spacecom Review Leaderboards

The sound within Spacecom never grained on its gameplay unlike some real time strategy games. Moving units around the map will seldom feel like a chore as clicking within sectors and space will make the appropriate beep and blip as you explore space. Battles that break out within games will also make a tense sound that will alert you to when you’re being attacked as well as alert you when enemy units are moving so you can prepare your next move.

 

The few music tracks played in Spacecom are appropriate and are even catchy when playing during the right mood. Space battles can seem quiet at first but it gives the feel of the starry emptiness of space that your fleet is being commanded in and overall adds a sense of atmosphere when controlling your ships.

Spacecom Review Multiplayer-Fun!

Graphics within Spacecom are not its selling point. Everything is very simple right down to its gameplay, and it’s meant to be this way. Ships are represented by triangular sprites that are differentiated with stripes across certain parts of its body to represent what type of fleet it is. Clusters (Game Maps) will show systems represented by simple circles and rings to show captured or uncaptured territory as well as icons to represent system perks. Graphically the game is extremely simple but it works for what it attempts to accomplish, a deep yet simple space real time strategy game.

Spacecom Review Taking-Control

If there was ever a time to revisit the starry skies, Spacecom encourages you to take its simplistic nature to heart and break out your thinking cap. Flow Combine and 11 bit studios’ challenging yet simple space trek is a stunning example of doing a lot with little. If you’ve ever loved exploring space and the idea of controlling a fleet of spaceships tickles your fancy, give Spacecom a shot, it deserves your attention.
Rating: Great

Infinite Crisis Launches Massive Update with Two New Champions

Infinite Crisis

Infinite Crisis, the free-to-play MOBA from Turbine based in the DC Universe, today launched its largest update yet introducing a new tutorial mode where players are coached by famed DC heroes and unlock six free Champions as they learn to master the game.  In addition, today’s update features major performance improvements, completely remastered maps and two new champions — Atomic Joker and Nightmare Robin!

Nightmare Robin:

Atomic Joker:

For more info, visit www.infinitecrisis.com

ESL announce Intel Extreme Masters stops in Cologne and more

ESL

ESL’s record-breaking elite pro gaming tour, Intel® Extreme Masters, today announced that events in Cologne, Taipei and Katowice are set to round off season nine. Having already stopped in Shenzhen and Toronto this season, with preparations in full swing for Intel Extreme Masters San Jose in the iconic American SAP Center, the final three locations confirm: six events in six different countries for the tour this season.

Just three weeks after San Jose, Intel Extreme Masters Cologne (December 18th – 21st 2014) kicks off in the German ESL Studios. Featuring a US$30,000 League of Legends® competition, the pro gaming tour will once again welcome the world’s best gamers to the European esports capital. The corresponding event in Season eight broke ESL viewership records.

The first Intel Extreme Masters event in 2015 will take place in Taipei, the leading esports country in Southeast Asia, with both StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm® and League of Legends® esports competition at the Taipei Game Show from January 28th – February 1st.

The season will conclude with the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship on March 12th – 15th, 2015 in the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland. This IEM stop will be attended by eight League of Legends teams from North America, Europe and Asia (including the winners of each stop) and the best StarCraft II players of the season. The event will have over $200,000 in prize money.

Michal Blicharz, Managing Director Pro Gaming at ESL, is looking forward to the next stops in season nine of IEM: “It’s a massive milestone for us to go to two major sports arenas in one season. This is really shaping up to be the best Intel Extreme Masters season ever. I couldn’t be more excited about the rest of the tour!

I am very excited to bring the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship back to Poland.” says George Woo, Event and Sponsorships Program Manager Intel. “The passion of Polish fans is unparalleled. They help elevate our events to a whole new leve l.”

For more information concerning the tournament series, please visit www.intelextrememasters.com

Underworld Drug Lords: New Crime Simulator Available

Underworld Drug Lords

Internationally operating indie game studio A-Steroids announced that their newest online free-to-play mobile drug dealing simulator Underworld: Drug Lords, a full scale sequel to the original title created back in 2008, is now available on Google Play. Players start off as a corner street hustler, buying cheap merchandise from local drug labs, and selling for profit to junkies and other live dealers, simultaneously building respect on the street level. Rank up from a small time street peddler to a global drug kingpin, using money, power and influence to build your multi-billion criminal empire.

To download Underworld: Drug Lords visit: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asteroids.uw