Solarus 1.6 Is Out, Progress On Ocean's Heart

Some of you might remember previous coverage of Solarus, the Free Software Zelda-like ARPG engine that comes with its own complete game creation suite and a pretty impressive palette of Zelda fan games already available under its wing. As of last December, version 1.6 has been released, and while the changes under the hood are too many to number (check the full announcement and changelog here), it is worth highlighting the package now includes a more varied amount of libre tilesets, meaning developers now have available a wider choice of default non-proprietary graphics to use on their own creations. While the community is still very much focused around Zelda fan-games and their respective copyrighted graphics, this is an important first step to attract more developers and spark future libre game projects.

The Ocean's Heart tileset, now part of the Solarus package.

One such project is Ocean's Heart, the brainchild of Solarus community member Max Mraz. The game follows a gameplay structure similar to classic Zelda games transported to a Viking age-inspired setting. It features an entirely original story and a beautiful pixelated tileset, which Max was kind enough to license under a Creative Commons license for integration with the Solarus suite. Upon completion it will become the first true libre Solarus-made ARPG in code and assets, which makes for very exciting news.

Stay tuned for further developments on this, and be sure to check the Solarus website for news on their upcoming game projects, along with complete instructions and tutorials on how to create your own game using the development tools.

Code License: GPLv3
Assets License: Mixed  (most sprite packages copyrighted by Nintendo, original Solarus assets under CC-BY-SA)

This post was retrieved from freegamer.blogspot.com.

The Obscure Ultima, Ultima: Escape From Mt. Drash

Back in Ye Olden Days, I knew nothing of blogs and was content to post materials on forums and newsgroups and the like.  I contributed a few writings to GameFAQs back before the days when it was purchased by GameSpot.  The only actual FAQ for a video game I ever contributed that described how to beat a game was for the VIC-20 game Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash.  When GameFAQs took over, I removed all my content from that site.  Now, having finally been able to play the game on original hardware, I think it is time to revive the old FAQ.  Moreover, no longer limited to plain, monochrome text, I can do more now that I have my own blog and the ability to add images, color text and link video.  Let's take a trip into a rarely visited part of the Ultima Universe.

Read more »

You say "obsessed" as if it is a bad thing.

Press Release: Announcing Succulent - A Beautiful Strategy Game! From Renegade Game Studios

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Announcing Succulent - A Beautiful Strategy Game! Compete to find out who is the master horticulturalist!

We're thrilled to announce Succulent - a beautiful and strategic tile-laying game designed by J. Alex Kevern and illustrated by Anna Daviscourt. You are a gardener tasked with thoughtful selection, delicate pruning, and tireless care. You've earned a reputation as a master horticulturist. In Succulent, you compete against your peers for lucrative and prestigious projects that will cement your place as the community's premier succulent gardener.

The game is played over a series of turns where players collect succulent cuttings from their gardens along with water crystals and use them to complete projects which grant various benefits, including earning points. Optimize every turn to become your community's premier succulent gardener and earn the most victory points to win. Succulent is designed for 2-4 gardeners, ages 10+, cultivating their gardens in 45-60 minutes.

Lucky gamers will be able to catch an early release and demo day of Succulent at select friendly local game store on April 4th with Board Game Expo!

Find a local store and ask if they're participating in Board Game Expo!

Pre-order the Game Now!

Did you like this press release?  Show your support: Support me on Patreon!Also, click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

Square Tiling Of A Sphere, Part 2/3

In the previous post I described how I learned about HEALPix because I wanted to try covering a sphere with square tiles for a game map. During that exploration I realized that HEALPix with 12 square regions is similar to cubes with 6 square regions, but HEALPix has some nice properties for numerical calculations such as spherical harmonics. I don't need those properties. Instead, I am looking for something that's simpler to program, so I explored cubes.

Earth mapped onto a cube

The goal is the same: I want to play a game on a flat top-down tile map (roguelikes, Dwarf Fortress, Factorio, etc.), but these games have one of three approaches to the map:

1. The map is finite and has borders. You can't move past the border. Most roguelikes fall into this category. SimCity, Dwarf Fortress, and most building games do as well.
2. The map is finite and but some borders allow wrapping. Civilization allows east/west wrapping (cylinder); Asteroid has both east/west and allow north/south wrapping (torus).
3. The map is infinite, so it has no borders. Factorio works this way, with a procedurally generated map.

I wanted to explore type 2, but with a sphere instead of a cylinder or torus. The usual approaches to representing a sphere with flat tiles is to use one of the 5 Platonic solids: tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, isocahedron. There are also approaches that aren't based on Platonic solids: HEALPix, Mercator-like projections, Peirce Quincucial, and others.

In the previous post I mentioned that this is a "gamejam" style project. I give myself one week to work on the topic, and then I wrap it up. If I found something interesting I'll write it up, but many times I'll discard the project. Allowing myself to discard projects removes the penalty for making a "wrong turn". This allows me to explore more quickly.

After HEALPix I decided to explore cubes for the next week's project, using cube maps from graphics programming. It turned out not to be so useful. I had made a wrong turn. That's ok! Because each of these is a separate standalone tiny project, I can easily abandon the code and move on.

The flat square tile map and also its projection onto a sphere

The week after that worked pretty well. I was able to learn how to render and also represent a square grid map on a sphere/cube.

I wrote notes about square tiles on a cube/sphere, including some animations showing how a cube morphs into a sphere, how a cube unfolds onto a plane, and how there are different ways to project a grid on the sphere.

The next "gamejam" style project will be to generate a map on this sphere.

Golden Axe (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Developer:

Sega

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Release Date:

1990 (1989 in Japan and Arcades)

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Systems:

Lots

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the legendary arcade game Golden Axe! On the Mega Drive!

It might seem a bit strange that it's taken me like eight years to finally get around to Golden Axe as it's fairly well known. Maybe not Mario or Doom tier, but definitely Alex Kidd tier. Higher than Toki, lower than Tekken. Anyway, one of the reasons I haven't played it yet is because when I started this site I was only writing about games I hadn't seen before and knew nothing about, and this is one I know a bit about. In fact it's probably the first Mega Drive game I ever owned. I wasn't very good at it and I've never reached the ending, but I've seen those first few stages at least a half dozen times!

The other reason I've put off writing about it, is what am I going to write? You walk to the right and you hit things, there's not much else to it. I suppose I could mention that the arcade game was created by the team that made Altered Beast the year before. Also, they were apparently going to call the game Broad Axe, after they couldn't use their first choice, but then the president of Sega US noticed that the dwarf's axe in the game looked golden and decided that they were going have to change the title to Golden Axe or else they weren't going to sell it. That's what I've read anyway!

By the way, the kanji in the logo with all the weapons hidden in it, "戦斧", means 'battle axe', which is what they wanted to call the game in the first place. I think Golden Axe is a better name to be honest.

Read on »

The Lossen, Short Film, Review And Interview

In wanting to write something about The Lossen I feel like if I go more than what is in the synopsis I will be giving too much away about this insightful short film. I will just leave it that this is a film that can be enjoyed by everyone as I think every adult can find some level of being able to relate to the story.

The Lossen was screened at the 2019 FilmQuest film festival (website). It was nominated for Best Fantasy Short and Best Actor (Sean Knopp).

Synopsis

In the dead of night another-worldly visitor drags its hulking, hooded mass to the front door of 70-year-old successful businesswoman, Sylvia Cappleman, but this mythical Grim Reaper is not all it seems and so appears The Lossen, the Reaper's agent of death. In the final moments of her life The Lossen discovers a complication with Sylvia's passing, she cannot be taken by death because she has not fulfilled her dream. In order to rectify the problem, The Lossen takes Sylvia on a journey to confront her lost dream and the secrets of her past.

The director, Colin Skevington, provided some additional information about the film and their personal journey into film making.

The Lossen won the Grand Prize for Best Fantasy Short at the 2018 Rhode Island International Film Festival, a Gold Remi Award at WorldFest 2019 in Houston and Best Art Direction at the Vienna Independent Film Festival 2019.

 

What was the inspiration for The Lossen

The inspiration for The Lossen came whilst I was researching a documentary about the differences in attitudes towards death in the East and West. Sadly, in the West death is still a taboo subject and most people want to avoid any thought of the inevitable. The opening scene of the The Lossen came to me as a daydream. I could see the imposing figure of the Grim Reaper, scythe in hand, walking down the path of an impressive, old country house. It raps on the door awakening Sylvia, a woman in her 70s and in the final moments of her life, but this Reaper is not what we expect. This dramatic opening scene gave me the perfect opportunity to write a script that would begin a journey to turn our view of death on its head and show us a possibility of what could be, but in an entertaining and gripping way. It reflects one of the key themes of the film; that death is not what we think it is.

What project(s) do you have coming up you're excited about?

The plan is to produce more Lossen films. I am working on the script for the next one. It follows on straight after this one. There's a little insight at the end of The Lossen. I also have a screenplay which is an epic tale with a supernatural undertone, of course. We will be working towards getting that into production and hopefully The Lossen and the follow ups will lead the way.

What was your early inspiration for pursuing a career in film?

I've always been fascinated by how things work. As a child I was always breaking open toys to see what was inside them and made them work. The first film I saw at the cinema was Snow White. I just wanted to know how it got on to the screen and films have fascinated me ever since. As I got older, I realised that film making is all about storytelling and how it's one of the most powerful ways for us to reflect on our own lives.

 

What would be your dream project?

To direct a movie of the screenplay I have written. A supernatural tale set in different times and will lead the audience to question where they come from and why they are here.

What are some of your favorite pastimes when not working on a movie?

For me the greatest thing is tending the garden. It's a place to shut off and escape. I could say I'm a snowboarder and light aircraft pilot but that would be a lie.

What is one of your favorite movies and why?

Pan's Labyrinth. It's the most stunning and engaging film to watch. Magic realism is one of my favourite genres and for me the idea of the natural world and supernatural world co-habiting and influencing each other is inspiring.

You can find more about The Lossen on the on the following sites.

IMDb (link)

Website: www.thelossen.com

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=51&v=Ga3Ya4TKxEI

Facebook: @thelossen

Twitter: @TheLossen

Instagram: @thelossen

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If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

I have articles being published by others and you can find most of them on Guild Master Gaming on Facebookand Twitter(@GuildMstrGmng).

 

Games Designer And UCLan Alumni, Steven Thornton In MCV Interview.

Lead games designer at 'Sperasoft' Steven Thornton, who worked on Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Rainbow Six Siege and over ten Lego games, explains how QA is still a route to games design and what he looks for in applicants.

See the interview with Steven at the following link:

Steven has extensive experience in Games Design having worked as Games Director and Lead Level Designer at TTFusion in Wilmslow, prior to moving to his current role as Lead Games Designer at Sperasoft in Russia.

We're very proud of Steven's achievements as we're pleased to say that Steven completed both his MA and BA at Uclan Games Design with First class distinction.

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    Jim Thompson

    Principal Lecturer at University of Central Lancashire

     2014, 

    "Working with Steven was a pleasure from day 1, 

    one of those rare students who not only immersed 

    themselves in their work but challenged me, and 

    always brought positive energy to the group. 

    Steve's questioning nature and drive to develop 

    his skills will always be one of his key attributes. 

    His on-going input to our post graduate students 

    is highly valued and a rare resource. 

    He has a significant knowledge of games and 

    he draws on this in order to generate innovative 

    ideas around all aspects of his work."

    
    
    
    
  • 
    
  • Quote from Steven

Brave Browser the Best privacy-focused Browser of 2019

Out of all the privacy-focused products and apps available on the market, Brave has been voted the best. Other winners of Product Hunt's Golden Kitty awards showed that there was a huge interest in privacy-enhancing products and apps such as chats, maps, and other collaboration tools.

An extremely productive year for Brave

Last year has been a pivotal one for the crypto industry, but few companies managed to see the kind of success Brave did. Almost every day of the year has been packed witch action, as the company managed to officially launch its browser, get its Basic Attention Token out, and onboard hundreds of thousands of verified publishers on its rewards platform.

Luckily, the effort Brave has been putting into its product hasn't gone unnoticed.

The company's revolutionary browser has been voted the best privacy-focused product of 2019, for which it received a Golden Kitty award. The awards, hosted by Product Hunt, were given to the most popular products across 23 different product categories.

Ryan Hoover, the founder of Product Hunt said:

"Our annual Golden Kitty awards celebrate all the great products that makers have launched throughout the year"

Brave's win is important for the company—with this year seeing the most user votes ever, it's a clear indicator of the browser's rapidly rising popularity.

Privacy and blockchain are the strongest forces in tech right now

If reaching 10 million monthly active users in December was Brave's crown achievement, then the Product Hunt award was the cherry on top.

The recognition Brave got from Product Hunt users shows that a market for privacy-focused apps is thriving. All of the apps and products that got a Golden Kitty award from Product Hunt users focused heavily on data protection. Everything from automatic investment apps and remote collaboration tools to smart home products emphasized their privacy.

AI and machine learning rose as another note-worthy trend, but blockchain seemed to be the most dominating force in app development. Blockchain-based messaging apps and maps were hugely popular with Product Hunt users, who seem to value innovation and security.

For those users, Brave is a perfect platform. The company's research and development team has recently debuted its privacy-preserving distributed VPN, which could potentially bring even more security to the user than its already existing Tor extension.

Brave's effort to revolutionize the advertising industry has also been recognized by some of the biggest names in publishing—major publications such as The Washington Post, The Guardian, NDTV, NPR, and Qz have all joined the platform. Some of the highest-ranking websites in the world, including Wikipedia, WikiHow, Vimeo, Internet Archive, and DuckDuckGo, are also among Brave's 390,000 verified publishers.

Earn Basic Attention Token (BAT) with Brave Web Browser

Try Brave Browser

Get $5 in free BAT to donate to the websites of your choice.