News! Tech! Tools! Talks! Games! And Stuff Worth Sharing!

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 16 Jun 2022, 00:34

ARK: Survival Evolved is free for a while! 3 days left.


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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 16 Jun 2022, 22:15

So the Steam Next Fest is on!

This is Jonaz-verified-good-stuff! :)
Of the stuff I played.. obviously there are A TON more I never will get to the time to check out.

Enjoy the demos while they last!












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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 17 Jun 2022, 15:17

A slightly old nordic game release I missed. Unfortunately the original developers are no longer alive so it was a challenge to spot.

It's a boardgame called Hnefatafl and it was quite popular a thousand years ago give or take a few hundred years. Until it was competed out of the market by Chess.

Haven't got time to play it yet but it should be pretty good and looks fun! :)



There is also a Steam version


https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hnefatafl

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 18 Jun 2022, 13:27

Beautiful Desolation is free on GOG for a limited time

https://www.gog.com/en/game/beautiful_desolation

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 20 Jun 2022, 10:06

Platformer Toolkit, cute little thing to play around with


Go here for the interactive verson
https://gmtk.itch.io/platformer-toolkit

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 20 Jun 2022, 19:02

Previously mentioned Flashback, is free on GOG for a limited time.
Remember to turn the >TERRIBLE< filters off in the options to get the proper pixel art. Wonky pixel art scaling NO THANKS!

https://www.gog.com/en/game/flashback

(The game is very far from a modern sesible control scheme) ;)

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 20 Jun 2022, 19:19

Journey talk - Stop Getting Lost: Make Cognitive Maps, Not Levels

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 21 Jun 2022, 10:10

DANSKE INDHOLDSPRODUCENTER 2022
Danske Indholdsproducenter 2022 præsenterer data for 2020 og viser en branche i stærk udvikling. Virksomheder inden for film, tv, reklamefilm, spil og interaktive værker beskæftigede i alt 4.416 årsværk og omsatte for 8,38 mia. kr. i 2020. De godt 1000 virksomheder eksporterede for 2,98 mia. kr. - en kraftig stigning i omsætning og eksport på hhv. 24% og 61% i forhold til året før. Set over perioden 2016-2020 viser branchen samlet set en vækst på hhv. 57% i omsætning og 133% i eksport.

Den markante økonomiske vækst i 2020 drives af spilbranchen, der ganske spektakulært omsætter for knap 3,2 mia. kr., hvilket er mere end en fordobling af omsætningen i 2019 og en stigning på mere end 200% i perioden 2016-2020. Det er også spilbranchen, der accelererer væksten i den samlede branches eksport – spilvirksomhederne eksporterer i 2020 for godt 2 mia. kr., hvilket er en stigning på knap 160% i forhold til 2019 og fire gange så meget som i 2016.

...


DANSKE INDHOLDSPRODUCENTER 2022 rapporten
https://pro-f.dk/files/2022-06/Danske_I ... 2022_4.pdf

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 23 Jun 2022, 11:53

(DK) Mind Diver has released on Steam (for free)
Developed at The National Filmschool of Denmark by 'Indoor Sunglasses'.

The ('Student Version') might just indicate a larger future version is in the works.

**Update: Actually just met Victor (Game Director on the project) when he was cycling by our offices. Hi Victor when you drop by the thread! :D
(Seems like there are more projects in the works so to say) :)



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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 24 Jun 2022, 11:40

And directly from Bedtime Digital Games in Aalborg >>>
Figment 2 - Creed Valley now has a demo available on the Nintendo Store for Switch.

Looking good! Played a demo on PC a while ago. It was great! Recommended.
A clear step up from the first game. It did great by the way. Gut feeling is that this will do pretty good as well if not better! :)

Figment 2 is releasing somewhere late in 2022.



https://www.nintendo.com/store/products ... ey-switch/

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 24 Jun 2022, 19:02

WHAAAAAT!! 8O
SYBO was just sold out to Miniclip! (For lots a monies!)

Slight update: Tencent owns a majority stake in Miniclip. So that explains the big China money floating in. I guess it's ChiBO now? ;)

Miniclip has agreed to acquire Sybo, maker of the smash mobile gaming hit Subway Surfers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But it’s a pretty big deal.
The move is a sign of consolidation in gaming, and it comes on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the launch of Subway Surfers. The game has become an evergreen title that has had more than three billion downloads since 2012.

In the last 18 months or so, Subway Surfers has seen its daily active users rise from around 15 million to 20 million a day to now 30 million or so a day, said Sybo CEO Mathias Gredal Nørvig, in an interview with GamesBeat. He credited the efforts to focus on live operations to keep players coming back. While he isn’t talking about the purchase price, as both companies are private, Gredal Nørvig said it is the biggest deal in European mobile games this year.

“It is indeed monumental. The founders have been really proud of what they managed to accomplish with Subway Surfers becoming the largest game, seeing how the market kept downloading, how the players kept loving, how the fans kept coming,” Gredal Nørvig said. “We’ve had a very nice ride and over the last couple of years have seen the teams running very fine by themselves. With the consolidation happening in the market, and all the increased user acquisition budgets, all the things happening around us, they wanted to explore what that it could mean, if we could find the right fit or the right home for Sybo going forward. What’s really important for us is finding a partner who saw where we wanted to go and could enable our journey there.”


From VentureBeat
https://venturebeat.com/2022/06/24/mini ... aker-sybo/

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 27 Jun 2022, 11:24

DK release!
News paper manager 'Above the Fold' developed by Rasmus Rasmussen is finally out of Early Access on Steam after 4 years.

More here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 5487700549

Grats on the release! :)



Older Let's play

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 28 Jun 2022, 21:49

3DCoat 2022 looks neat!

Also it's one of the few tools that provides actual volumetric voxel sculpting.


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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 29 Jun 2022, 00:04

DK (Steam Early Access) release:

BACK OF SPACE developed by 3RD BOOK.


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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 30 Jun 2022, 13:07

So there has been a bunch of layoffs at Unity very recently. 4% of the company world wide got axed. (And more should be processing)

To no big surprise really. A company that has been hiring like mad to prop up the stock value (it worked for a while). Tallying in with 5200+ employees (by 2021). And buying studios left and right, while not being profitable.. eventually has to come down with layoffs.
And the overvaluation from the time also became quite clear.
Unity Ads (their far most profitable business) must also have been hit hard by Apple's IDFA Changes.

The price of admission on this particular rollercoaster is indeed that the general company reputation will suffer and people might be slightly less inclined to jump on Unity as their tool of choice for future projects. Also taken the pace of development of Unity into consideration. We must understand that is is biiiiig boat with so many chefs to steer so recent releases has not been mind-blowing compared to the competition. I hope they get it down.. soon to run a tighter ship. As healthy competition is great and needed to keep everyone on their toes. But it will take some long and painful fundamental reorganization me thinks.

Also I do actually think trimming the company is a very sane and needed thing to do. They should probably go even further. Even though it suck balls to get fired affecting peoples lives for a while negatively. At the end of they day the company has to be able to be a sustainable business.

I don't know how much this affects the Copenhagen studio. But talk on the net is they sacked a big chunk of the marketing department a while ago.

The good news is that (maybe depending on the roles) there might a few skilled coders who will join back into making games directly again. Who knows maybe even some startups will follow in the wake of this. :)

Best of luck to everybody affected. I'm sure you will all land somewhere nice eventually.

**And on another note:
John Riccitiello's handling of the situation is quite frankly horrible! Saying first that no-one is getting fired and then chopping heads two weeks later. A super damaging way of handling that. His massive pay increase also does not help. If that is the level of integrity you can expect from the CEO then they will find it harder to find the right hires in the future when things starts to turn around.

https://kotaku.com/sources-unity-laying ... 1849125482

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 30 Jun 2022, 23:03

10 years later. SYBO is releasing a new Surfers game. Subways Surfers Tag the 15th July on Apple Arcade.

Looks fine I guess! But probably not something you would exclusively want to start an Apple Arcade subscription over. Besides the more diehard fans of the IP perhaps. Of which there are many!

Picking Apple Arcade was probably a product of it's time of development. Back when Apple was dealing out very lucrative deals to developers to boost the new fresh platform. This is not the case anymore to my understanding. Last thing I heard was Apple Arcade is quite a flop in relative terms. But I would indeed expect Apple to have paid a handsome fee to get the game secured. So that would offset the (probably very high) development budget of the title. Not that SYBO was ever in dire need of that. But obviously it's nice to get partners to pay a large fee upfront to cover some of the costs. (Just speculating here)

I think we should expect other platform releases (Android obviously) down the line once the, very possible, exclusivity period is over. Usually it's a year on platforms. Actually Switch would make a whole lot of sense. Not excluding others either.

Adding:Oh actually! CORRECTION! I dont think Android is happening anytime soon. Been searching a tiny around and the Apple Arcade games doesn't pop up on Android 1 year later. So its a lengthy/endless exclusivity thing they have going on it on mobile it seems. 🤔

Also sorry I sounded a bit hard on 'Tag'. I just cant help to see the production in relation to company success. They have been aroud for 10+ years. 100+ employees. Having made hundrede and hundred millions kroner.
My expectaions was just somewhere else! 😅
Their midway game Blade of Brim was a different take on the runner genre. (But fundamentally "just treading water" but different)
This just doesn't seem like a bold new push forward. In a different direction for sure nothing wrong with that!
Perhaps it plays just super great and everything! Though looking at what we can see I would have been impressed it if was something much earlier by a small team.
I hope the game is great and wish it great success! 😁

A big thing to commend is trying to step other than way F2P. 👍


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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 05 Jul 2022, 10:05

EPISODE 23: Soloudvikling og indie-succes med Mads Skovgaard (Necesse)
https://www.idsu.dk/podcast/episode-23


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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 05 Jul 2022, 17:16

Time on Frog Island sing along song



Developed by (DK) Half Past Yellow and launching next week the 12th of July.

Featured on Nintendo Life
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/ ... nd-trailer

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 09 Jul 2022, 13:01

New trailer from (DK) Professional Villians latest project, Anglerfish.

It has a quite interesting mechanic where the game saves only when you die and the world changes.
Releasing somewhere in 22.

Update: Oh! There is also a free demo on itch
https://professional-villains.itch.io/a ... elor-party




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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 09 Jul 2022, 13:07

Anohter DK project. This time from solodev @AlexanderBirke comes a playable prototype of his game Wayfarer.
(Actually had a beer with Birke here a few days ago where he talked about it... cheers!) :)
The beer unlocked some new traits. ;)

The game looks promising! Could do with a coat of art. But the mood and mechanics is certainly evolving into something. Still early days! Also I will make sure the youngling will play Kaptajn Kaper. ;)
You need to play it too for historical reasons. (Use the nummerical keyboard for navigation)
http://www.spiludvikling.dk/jonaz/kaper.zip

Wayfarer is a roguelike nautical adventure that aims to tell an emergent story through systems, simulation and narrative. Manage your ship's resources, engage with your crew's needs and capabilities, and explore the mysteries and horrors that lurk in the depths of the Shifting Seas.

There's plenty of discoveries to be made so hold fast Captain, your crew and ship needs you.


Image

Wayfarer prototype on itch
https://outofbounds.itch.io/wayfarer-pr ... 79adC58WtM

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 09 Jul 2022, 16:58

Late eighties and early ninties are knocking on the door again! Get ready for thouse sweet memberberries.

Oh man! I was a big fan of the movies leading up to these games. In both cases only the first two. ;)
Robocop, Robocop 2, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement day. WAS THE SHIT! :cool:

Robocop Rouge City is releasing somewhere in 2023. (Voiced by Peter Weller.. how cool is that!)


'Terminator Survival Game' was announced
I could really see this working with the right execution. Open world survival in the post apocalyptic Termiator universe. Sounds badass!



Just a bit of nostalgica posting.
I can imagine the feeling is hard to understand with the level of game quality we have nowadays. But back then it was something else.

Also played Robocop 2 and 3 on the Amiga.
Robocop 2 Amiga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCTiYxugBPk
Robocop 3 Amiga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYFdgyuv6fU

Played a ton Robocop on the C64. :) The SID soundtrack is awesome btw.
And back then the loading times was 'something else'.. maybe 10-15 mintes on tape. :rolleyes


Actually did manage to get a few plays on the arcade.
Robocop on the arcade looked so badass!


Played a bit of T2 on the Amiga.. it was pretty crappy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baxvJ-kUnvM

But the Midway arcade version with rumble lightguns.. OMG!! It was flipping awesome!
Never got past the supidly hard helicopter stage and got this almost out of body hyper adrenaline experience from playing it once. :D That was wild!
In lightgun games I also loved Operation Wolf the arcade especially. But T2 the arcade was absolutely mindblowing at the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_1hD8uvUpU

You can actually buy a modern version of the arcade with lightguns and all from Arcade1Up.
https://arcade1up.com/products/terminator-2



Terminator 2 the arcade In proper screen quality

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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 10 Jul 2022, 11:07

The story of 'Let me solo her' in Elden Ring. :)


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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 11 Jul 2022, 08:35

A bit of talk and praise of the AI in Rainworld.

I picked up the game quite some time ago. Never got around to notice all the super cool features of the emergent gameplay it lends to the player. Also there is lots more going on under the hood. Quite impressive!
I do wish it as a bit easier.. :blush it's a hard game man! ;)


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Unread post by jonaz.dk » 12 Jul 2022, 08:39

Noclip: Unreleased DOOM 4 [cancelled] & DOOM 2016 Development Gameplay

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