I had the opportunity to sit down and have a chat with Project Manager/Game Designer of MyDream, Michael Lynch. I had as I described a “small pile of questions” to ask, and he was kind enough to put up with it. Without any further ado, my interview on what to expect from the MyDream title and their developers! There is also a stream to take a look at, as well as a link to their early access on Steam; the MyDream community is very good at listening to the players in the early access, so if you are interested, now is definitely the time!

Ragachak: What can you tell me about MyDream that will help someone that has never seen the product/title before?

Michael: It is an online world building sandbox game, players can create worlds, and in these worlds they can terraform with organic voxel terrain, build off of a grid, similar to other building games, can create quests/adventures for other players. All of the worlds are connected, sort of like an online service and you have access to every world that has been created [through portals].

Ragachak: There are a few fairly popular world building/multiplayer titles going right now. In what way would you say that MyDream will make it stand out among the crowd, and draw players in?

Michael: I think we are more tailored to online play, like it’s not sort of attached to the game. The entire game is fundamentally built on being an online game. A lot of features we will be adding in early access will sort of will help in proving our intentions with the online, one of the things we’re going to add, is crafting and research, learn to create new items, and improve them by researching further. It’s going to be set up in such a way that it’s going to be hard to learn everything. It is set up here that you’ll have to sort of specialize, and there will be incentive to come into contact with players that have other specializations.

Ragachak: Now I personally am not too familiar with these voxel style sandbox games, so I have to ask: When creating structures and buildings on your world, do you have to mine materials first, or are you simply given access to all the tools you will need right out of the gate?

Michael: In the early access you have everything and you can just build since crafting is still in the works. You will have to find materials though, once crafting is in play. There may be a free-build added level, but that is still in discussion. There is also a leveling system in the works, where crafting/mining will give you experience, and if there is a free-build mode, it would not be connected to the leveling system, as that would be pretty unbalanced.

Ragachak: On the subject of structures, how is the crafting system? Do you use recipes, and if so, are they discovered or found? Or is it more like Minecraft where you piece things together and see what works?

Michael: Recipe/research, you will start with a subset of items, and based on what material you are using, you will be able to research more items that use that material, or improve what you already (reduce cost, taking more damage before they are destroyed). Crafting with that material will get research, and you can use that improve or research.

Ragachak: One thing I’m certainly interested in that I have seen is the ability to build adventures or quests into your world for other players to explore. Can you expand on that a little bit?

Michael: Right now it’s a very basic implementation, it’s simply an A to B system: you put in a starting marker, give it a name, add a story, and some basic parameters that you can set such as, “Can someone edit during this quest?”, “Will you empty their inventory when they take it [the quest]?”, “Will there be a lives/time limit? Then you put the ending marker wherever you want, and tie it to that beginning quest markers. You are given a list of quest markers on the world, and you pick the one you want to associate with. Any player who walks into the quest maker will be given the option to take the quest. Though A-B is very simple, the items in the game will make it more interesting. Jumping puzzles, explore this castle, hints and puzzles to solve along the way. There is a lot to do, but it will be expanded. Traps, interval spikes, dragon turrets that track and shoot players. Dart shooters, and just basic spikes, and then we have quest helper items, checkpoint blocks, regeneration stands, and we’re constantly adding more. There’s a lot of tools to make your quest come alive.

Ragachak: What about the idea of taming/breeding monsters to be added to these worlds/dungeons? Is this something you guys are looking at?

Michael: This is something that will come along eventually at some point. Maybe not taming, but we are looking into the best way to acquire monsters, such as maybe taming or raising. This has not been decided quite yet. We’re very serious about early access and listening to what players are into.

Ragachak: What are the odds of say, creating campaigns or tying quests together to make quest chains/longer adventures?

Michael: You can already tie quests together, and there are no limits to how many quests you can put on a world. Quest chains are definitely possible, and an example of this is “Masochistopia”, created by the development team. It features a jumping puzzle that is a part of a quest chain and shows off a good deal of what the game can do. It is also incredibly challenging! Since all the worlds are all connected, we can have portals from world to world. Say you have a quest on a mountain world, and you need to portal to a world where you’d need to get lava (still being implemented) and you would have to travel worlds to acquire it.

Ragachak: Can you tell me something about the Geocaches I’ve heard about? I’m familiar with the concept of them, but they are definitely unique to your game.

Michael: They aren’t really being utilized much right now, but we are trying to show them off to get use of them! They are items you can hide in the world for people to find. They can be used as collectibles or hidden items rewards for exploration. We want to have a checklist, to show you what is possible to be found on the world: EG: There are 8 geocaches on this world, you have 6, keep exploring!

Ragachak: I see in the current patch that you are updating some of the visuals, for players and the world, as well as working on water test worlds. Can you expand some on water worlds? Are players going to be able to create (or are already able to) structures underwater?

Michael: We have been working on dynamic liquid and it was just added. This is the first public viewing of it in the current patch, it’s nice to see the ability to make dynamic liquid, it has a long way to go, right now they are treating the ice blocks like a water source, you can drop down a water source, and it will be less blocky as the game progresses. You can create water in the world, and as you dig under, the water will continue to flow and fill the area. But it’s in the water test worlds, if anyone wants to test it. Underwater structures would function very much like a terrain, not attached to the grid. We have an actual organic terrain system that is not attached to the grid, and you can attach items that intersect with the terrain, including Underwater Palaces. They are really open to letting players have total control to the world owner as possible and I really like this idea.

Ragachak: What direction do you see the game moving in the future?

Michael: One challenge we have on the team is the sheer amount of things we can work on. Right now we’re sort of focusing on a building/creation game, with tools and features to expand that. But if the player consensus was that they are looking for more than an adventure-centric game, there’s a lot of cool things to do with that avenue. So we’re kind of leaning more towards building and creation, but we are listening to what our players want and are definitely willing to transition to something. We are open to let it evolve wherever it will organically. We are in a position here they not only they can listen, they should. In essence, the players are creating the game. We are providing the tools to do that.

Descent: Underground

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Descent: Underground aims to bring back the six degrees of freedom (6DoF) gameplay that made Descent popular in an earlier gaming era while using new gaming technology to add new layers to the classic action space shooter gameplay.

Features:

Competitive Multiplayer: Compete with other pilots across multiple categories, from kill count to ore harvesting and more. Join a player “corporation” and rank against others in a massive ranked leaderboard with regular tournaments for glory and prizes.

Multiple Ways to Play: Multiple game types will include Capture the Asteroid, Capture the Ore, Deathmatch Destruction, Mining for Minerals, and more.

Diverse Role Choices: Choose from eight unique ship types, each one showcasing a different play style and combat role.

Customizable Ships: Deck out your ride with custom art and complex loadouts that include weapons, sensors, engines, deterrents, and more.

Assorted Asteroids: Multiple maps and voxel-style elements mean a variety of environmental hazards, secrets to uncover, and battle tactics.

Descendent Studios

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Descendent Studios

SMITE Season 2: Gods of Future Past (Updated Review)

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Smite Season 2: Gods of Future Past (Season 2 Update/Thoughts)

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

As a regular MOBA player, I was like many others who were skeptical of giving SMITE a fair shot at launch. The notion of a third person MOBA seemed almost repugnant, though I did enjoy the idea of Gods from all cultures duking it out. While I was not playing, I have done a lot of reading and watching as the game has developed. Has it really changed all that much from the launch? In my humble opinion it has captured not only my attention, but that of the world. Unlike the countless other MOBAs rising up these days, it has done its best to be the anti-League of Legends, growing and updating graphics, maps, items, and modes over time, to create an incredibly loyal following. Sure, some of the powers are familiar, and the maps might feel similar in some regards, but that is simply the nature of the genre.

There are of course similarities, but for each there is a unique feature that keeps SMITE fresh. The large 3D models are certainly a selling point, and SMITE painstakingly designs and redesigns them to be the best they can be. Older gods are rarely neglected for long. Plus while other games wait months between releasing fun side maps and modes, SMITE throws something new your way every day with the Match of the Day System, offering everything from Pantheon vs. Pantheon to Infinite mana. After over 60 god releases, you’d think they would be running out of ideas. Yet their unique Y axis offers so many fresh options to the skill pool that each god to date seems to bring some sort of unique mechanic to the table. Minus the recent Bellona launch, most new gods launch balanced or are quickly adjusted to be so. Season 2 seems to be the sweet spot as most pros agree the game has never been this balanced. Combined with the skill shot heavy atmosphere, player skill means more here than in any other MOBA, and its not uncommon to see teams down by 15 kills make epic comebacks even at the professional level. Enough overview though, let’s jump into the mechanics.

Cookies, Cookie Cutters, and Chaos

Cookie Cutter Itemization is not really an issue that I’ve seen in Smite. There are always items that favor one God or another, and items that synergize well together, but there are a lot of new and interesting toys that came along with season 2. One key difference in SMITE versus other MOBAs is their active system, a summoner skill style item that can’t be sold once purchased, and offers utility style itemization separated entirely from stat distribution itemization. Players can only have two total so much strategy is involved in their purchase.

Season 2 saw the introduction of new and valuable actives such as Shield of the Underworld. Upon activating it, 40% of the damage your God takes over 5 seconds is sent back as magical damage. This can completely change the course of many fights with proper timing and activation. Achilles’ Spear is another great example, offering a temporary boon to your attack, lifesteal, and movement speed at the cost of making you extremely susceptible to damage for the duration. Actives like this aren’t just a nice bonus to gameplay, they are gameplay changing items that force players to react accordingly and approach enemy gods differently depending on what is purchased. Also unlike League, you won’t have to worry about seeing the same 3 actives used by all 10 champions in one match, as many actives have situational value and see the light of day often.

Season 2 also introduced new starter items as means to make some of the gods early games more viable. One instance is the Bluestone Pendant. Physical Power, Health, Mana Regen, and it restores a % of your missing mana every five seconds. This can be a powerful force in a solo lane where a player desperately wants to stay in lane longer, particularly when they have health regenerating skills. The Hirez balance team is going bonkers with all these new items though so don’t call me out if these numbers or items have entirely changed by the time you read this!

Existing items were not left untouched with Season 2 either. Hirez had been keeping a careful eye on things, and as the second season came upon us, a humongous number of items got rebalanced! The entire boot/shoes series got a revamp which was definitely called for. We said goodbye to Radiant Orb and the Spiked Shell, among other items. Hydra’s Star took a huge wallop in nerfing, and that’s not all. These changes are incredibly important, just as important as the large amount of Gods that got rebalanced including the great Hunter nerfs that realigned the ranged carry class to lessen their early wave clear. This is not only to keep the game fresh and interesting, but to show that Hirez is paying attention to how their game is evolving. They are putting in work to make sure that one or two Gods aren’t going to simply snowball and win every game every time, and I can appreciate that.

Keeping it Funky Fresh

As mentioned above, SMITE offers a different game mode everyday in addition to their fast and furious team arena, classical conquest, four player tower Siege, all random all mid Assault, three player single lane skirmish, and one versus one Joust. Match of the Day is a nice change of pace in the MOBA world though in that it mostly doesn’t take itself seriously. Most options throw balance to the wayside in exchange for having a bunch of drunk Bacchus slam their mugs into each other in a pointless affair of tipsy trolling. Situations like this force players to think way outside their normal box, building tank characters for damage or support, or glass cannons as decoy tanks. The fact it offers a win of the day bonus akin to other SMITE modes is the last incentive I ever need to jump into the madness.

Back to the other modes, SMITE truly stands out for offering inventive game modes outside the classic three lane moba map that people regularly play. Many burnt out MOBA fans seem to flock to SMITE for its no lanes arena mode simply to experience something new in the genre. It’s action packed and there is always something going on from beginning to end, while often being short enough in length that the toxic side of players doesn’t have time to dwell its ugly head. It’s a blast because everyone can be useful there, and there is a lot less “Stand by the tower and farm patiently” and more “Run in as a squad, and blast the other team into pieces as your ulties come up,” which is a standout opportunity for Moba players.

And that’s what makes Smite stand out; a year later, the game is still trucking forward. It’s unique while standing in a sea of LoL/Dota clones. The skill ceiling is so high that when you face off against a master of their character, they can easily field 3-4 novice players on their own. Your hard work and diligence playing is rewarded with nifty ranks on gods, and who doesn’t love a little RPG progression in their game. The perspective truly puts you in a deeper connection to your character, making close call moments that much more impactful, and outmaneuvering foes that much more meaningful. Season 2 may have had a rough, rocky start (particularly with their Heroes of the Storm styled new glitchy UI!), but most online games experience that, if not all. It won’t stop the folks at Hirez from standing strong and delivering new content on a regular basis. Considering the massive expansion of their team in recent months, we expect said content to flow like a waterfall in the coming months. Daily login bonuses and the ability to purchase most content using Influence Points is another definite notch in Hirez’s belt.

What Does The Future Hold? Success!

Current Score: Excellent (5/5)

Smite is setting itself apart from the rest of the MOBA community in a few ways; one of the biggest is the upcoming console release (presently in beta form on Xbox One); I’m really looking forward to that, and I hope my prediction of a wider console release comes true. I feel that if they want to really expand their market, both of the big consoles (PS4/XB1) will see releases of this terrific third person action title. As this season moves on, expect bigger and better things coming from Hirez Studios’ SMITE! There were a large number of bold changes in the Season 2 patch, and far more than I could conveniently list here. It shows to me that they are dedicated to their product, and are listening to their community; they’ve come a long way in the past year, and I see nothing but good things on the horizon.

Guns and Robots: Spring Season Events Announced

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Masthead Studios announced today new Easter themed event that will start this Friday, 3rd of April in their free to play cartoon-style shooter Guns and Robots. To mark the event, all available Guns and Robots’ DLCs on Steam will be on sale.

Guns and Robots will give to its fans new Easter event to participate in from 3rd of April till 14th of April. The event will be divided into two phases granting special Easter themed items for the best players who manage to collect most rabbit minions. Players who rank second will win egg themed accessories (a hat or a mask) and all other participants will be awarded for their event attendance with sparks.

To mark the beginning of the festivities all available Guns and Robots bundles will be on sale for 10 days. Fans of the title can purchase with fifty percent off Guns and Robots Starter Pack and could benefit from discount on all other available packs on Steam.

For more info, visit http://store.steampowered.com/app/293540?beta=1