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

[jonaz.dk]

Fancypants art museum MoMA ( Museum of Moden Art) in New York now hosts Playdead's INSIDE for display as part of the exhibition (Never Alone) if you are in town.

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/409696

[jonaz.dk]

NY AMBITIØS STRATEGI FOR SPILBRANCHEN
Den danske spilbranche skal være blandt de bedste i verden til at udvikle kommercielt succesfulde kvalitetsspil, som bygger på stærke fortællinger og høje kreative ambitioner.

Den danske spilbranche buldrer derudaf. Producentforeningens seneste tal viser, at spilbranchen omsatte for mere end 3 mia. kroner i 2020. Det er mere end en fordobling af omsætningen fra året før. Eksporten steg med knap 160 pct fra 2019 til 2020 og løb op i 2 mia. kr.

Potentialet i den danske spilbranche er enormt, og vi har kun lige set starten. Men for at branchen kan indfri det fulde potentiale, er det afgørende, at den har de bedst mulige rammevilkår.

Producentforeningen lancerer derfor en ny femårig strategi med tre hovedfokuspunkter:

https://pro-f.dk/aktuelt/ny-ambitioes-s ... ilbranchen

Adding:
Producentforeningen vil give computerspil sit eget institut: »Kan flyve ud af skyggen fra film«
https://www.version2.dk/artikel/produce ... kyggen-fra

[MaxwellJoneZ]

Twisted BrainZ studio launches their award-winning game AST-Hero on September 20th 2022



AST-Hero, winner of the 8th Francophone Game Jam, will be released on Steam on Tuesday. On this occasion, the designers’ team will be live on Twitch at 5:00 pm!

A beautiful game, filled with nostalgia and fun.

If Asteroids had been done in 2022, what would it look like?

AST-Hero is a 2D top-down space-shooter inspired by the 1979 hit Asteroids. Featuring 40 levels and bosses with a reactive and addictive gameplay, breathtaking art & visuals and entrancing music, AST-Hero will take you back in time... and in the future at the same time!

AST-Hero takes you on a journey through space where you control a small spaceship. You must defeat increasingly strong enemies and unique bosses. To succeed, you will need various upgrades that you will find in the Moebius inspired shop spaceshift: weapon upgrades, shield upgrades... you can even buy some extra-luck! Powerups are also available and feature a super-powerful weapon. Five difficulty levels and an endless playing environment were designed to provide a gameplay experience filled with fun and excitement! A voiced starting tutorial, as well as a progressively increasing difficulty, give AST-
Hero a perfect learning curve for a flawless experience.

Swiss (hand)made
Post tenebras ludus

Twisted BrainZ is a small indie game studio based in Geneva, Switzerland. They partnered with Shaman77, a Swiss freelance developer, to build AST-Hero, a Swiss game made with love and dedication.
Coded from scratch, with handmade SFX and music, and a unique graphic design !
AST-Hero is a piece of art (and craft): while the talented Shaman77 went so far as to program the whole game without any libraries, Twisted BrainZ designed the hypnotic sound system, with tailored soundtracks that will keep you playing for hours. And as if it wasn’t enough dedication, they also created this unique, beautiful graphic design that will turn your playing session into a whole addictive experience!



Learn more
AST-Hero on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1258520/ASTHero/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/3zVD3PM
Web site: https://twistedbrainz.com/
Press kit: https://twistedbrainz.com/presskit/ast-hero/

[jonaz.dk]

Ohhh.. very coolses! A free Stable Diffusion based automatic texture tiler is available for Blender!

And not only limited to auto-tiling textures.. generate textures with text prompts as well.



Dream Textures on github
https://github.com/carson-katri/dream-textures

A bit on the same topic but not inside Blender
https://twitter.com/pushmatrix/status/1 ... GVwVyjV1ug

[jonaz.dk]

New graphics rendering things at Nvidia's GTC

New RTX Remix is Insane! Plus DLSS 3, Micromesh and More


GTC Sept 2022 Keynote with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang


https://www.nvidia.com/gtc/

[jonaz.dk]

Also a really nice view of working with Stable Diffusion in a more user directed way for image generation.

[jonaz.dk]

Kickstarter for Mandragora!

I've been following the Hungarian project for a while.. now they are ready with a fairly high-goal Kickstater. They seem to be off to a very good start as they have done their homework and the game looks incredible! Confident they will reach the goal and beyond. Or I hope at least, the early projection looks good!

I have not played any demo things.. so impossible to say if it is actually good.

[jonaz.dk]

Publisher horror stories (Kasedo Games)



Thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/commen ... s_learned/

[jonaz.dk]

Can We Do It with Particles?: VFX Learnings from 'Returnal'


Building the World of 'The Ascent' (posted earlier.. this is just the youtube version)

[jonaz.dk]

The Last of Us | Official Teaser | HBO Max

Looks pretty neat! Facially Ellie looks a bit off, but Bella Ramsey is a great actor. I'll give HBO a lot of trust in creating a good show. So that's a small detail.

..Argh.. still have to pick up and play the damn games 'at some point in time'.. though time for gaming is far from in excess.

[jonaz.dk]

Top 10 Upcoming NEW Indie Games of October 2022


Indie Gaming This Week: 26 September - 02 Oct 2022

[jonaz.dk]

50 Truisms From the Business of Games by Peter Holm

50 60+ concise and to the point lessons and insights from my 20+ years struggling in the business of video games.

https://kulturprodukt.gumroad.com/l/50-truisms

[jonaz.dk]

(DK) Dania Games student project 'Cycle of The Moon' is launching in a few hours on Steam

[jonaz.dk]

More DK project spotting of art game 'A curious path' for mobile platforms. Developed by Taika Louhivuori and Paw Oktober.
The project got a tiny bit DFI fuding. Still very early in development.

[jonaz.dk]

NanoHive from (DK) EmptyBox has been released on Steam.

[jonaz.dk]

Another DK game project spotting in the works 'Bumper Cars - The Game' by Ree Animation & Gaming.
Mr. Ree is also working on The Adventures of Gorm.. but taking the dangerous route of side tracking on another project.

Work in progress

[jonaz.dk]

Growing Games: Levelling up – business basics for gamedev startups
https://www.visiondenmark.dk/events/gro ... ss-basics/
okt 12 2022

SpilBar 51: We need to talk about your logo
https://www.visiondenmark.dk/events/spilbar-51-logo/
nov 07 2022

[jonaz.dk]

The monthly free Unreal stuff!



Monthly free
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplac ... 0&tag=4910

Permanently free
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplac ... s?tag=4906

[jonaz.dk]

Steam Next Fest is on!

Spotted a few DK projects with demos.. actually I think I already played demos of the projects earlier. But it case you missed it!

Will update if I spot more

[jonaz.dk]

Played a few (ongoing) new games on Next Fest.. just posting the good stuff I find.

Turbo Kid! Haven't finished the demo yet.. but I like it!
BMX'ing MegaMan with blood and gore set in an retrovibing 80's postapocalyptic world... it's rad!



Apparantly it is also a tounge in cheek movie from 2015. Looks cute!
Better late than never PR campaign.


Undecember: Promising hack n slash ARPG! Felt good!


Many more demos to play! Will update if I find something good.

ADDING: Spark in the Dark
Besides the silly rimey title I think it's really cool and has an excellent mood... feels a tiny bit janky here and there and it is very hardcore dungeon crawling. But it's nice!
It doesn't play like most games in the genre so a little getting used to is required.

Also on itch:
https://stellar-fish.itch.io/spark-in-the-dark

[jonaz.dk]

MARIO MOVIE!!.. well well well.. looks pretty cool! I think I will let my inner child enjoy this one with the kiddo.

Adding: The lack of Mario's italian accent is off though, but not a complete deal breaker.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Official Teaser Trailer (Universal Pictures) HD





BTW: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is really rad! Give it a spin if you have not been there yet!
I did have my doubts after watching the almost non-sensical trailer. But it turns out they can actually do good characters and story telling with style.

[jonaz.dk]

Unreal Engine 5.1 preview.
Much stuff is going on!



Unreal Engine 5.1 - Public Roadmap
https://portal.productboard.com/epicgam ... n-progress

[jonaz.dk]

Slightly older doc from 2020

Making of Cyberpunk 2077 - Behind The Scenes (Documentary)

[jonaz.dk]

GMTK: How Game Designers Solved These 11 Problems

[jonaz.dk]

Danish gaming console company UDU launched a Kickstarter some days ago.

Not sure how they define console. I am honestly confused as I can just see an enhanced Wiimote like device that is acting as a controller for your phone that runs the games. Correct me if wrong!

- Using the app will require a subscription.
- They aim for 100+ of games in the UDU Games app within the first couple of years. (Sounds very ambitious for a small startup)

The Kickstarter seems to be going pretty good so far (first day was excellent).. also the goal is very low everything considered, hardware things and all. The goal should be within realistic reach.

Outside of Kickstarter is another question, I hope to get positively surprised! But my usual old man skepticism grinds ye ol' bones yet again.
So warning.. brutally honest opinion incoming!

With all respect it is a noble cause and I do wish the best for the project. It is just hard to see it come to full fruition with the cards on their hand at moment. The hardware design looks nice and is probably really good?! (I can only take a leap of faith in a former LEGO designer on the team) The software side seems to be lacking.
The initial target audience seems to be parents who want's their kids to be more active. (Actually I AM! one of those!)
And not the kids coming to their parents begging for a new device to play 'must have game X' on. It's a bit of tough ask in the long run.
While also competing directly against all the free apps in the world already running on the kids phones without having to run around flailing arms. The whole 'physical activity premise' is a daring venture to begin with. I have unfortunate expert knowledge on how damn difficult it is to get kids off their ass in todays hyper addictive media landscape.

Theoretically maaaaaaybe.. if Nintendo had done a similar "Wiimobile" some years ago with the full force of the beloved IPs like Pokemon or Mario.. perhaps I could give the fundamental concept a lot more leeway. But damn it will be incredibility difficult to make a breakthrough for a small startup like UDU.

I would most certainly also start looking into what other use cases the device has.. perhaps there is some sort of B2B use case?
But there are probably also narrow options. It seems like most of the hardware implementation or fairly similar functionality already exists in your phone. Or in stand alone VR headsets just miles ahead. So that will also be a tough nut to crack.

Let's see where it goes! Hoping the best and best of luck to the team!


Update 1: I'd just like to add that I may not see a strong future for this particular product. BUT with the hardware design skills on the team I think it would be great idea to go back to the drawing board and develop a new product that has an excellent market fit for a specific target audience. Something that really solves a problem or does something much better than exsisting solutions. Without having to develop both the hardware and entire ecosystem of software on a too little budget, without owning any IP to a market that may not even need or want your thing. Waaaay easier said than done I know!
Building game software ecosystems for your own hardware is something only really big compaines does. Or it has to find a specific underserved niche longing for your thing.

And if ever attempting anything in games.. GAMES should be the focus.

With the right idea and excecution KS has shown time and time again that it is very possible to build and launch some kind of fancy device. So get back on on the horse and start cracking!

UPDATE 2: Well just got this idea on one of my semi usual almost sleepless nights!.. one possible scenario I 'could' see working and building on what is there is to pitch in and partner up with Nintendo about ACTUALLY doing a 'Wiimobile'. Not as a new new platform.. But as a retro gaming platform! Allowing people to play the Wii/Wii-U library using their phone. Imagine connecting your phone to on stand or through just over a Chromecast or similar device. And having Wii Sports as the main driver in this. Wii Sports was the complete system seller for the Wii. Naturally there are some technical challenges, but not insurmountable.
The biggest danger is that.. perhaps Nintendo is already working on some similar solution (Maybe for the Switch?!) or they prefer to do it in-house anyways.

Alternatively doing the same concept and as DAMN close to Wii Sports as possible without breaking any copyrights etc. That allows Wii Sports fans to play that old super fun party game using a few devices connected to their phone/TV screen.
And even better with online multiplayer.

UPDATE 3: On a side note some of my old colleagues developed Just Dance for mobile (50 mil downloads). It has connectivity with PC/tablet and chrome cast. Also there is an app for the phone to act as a controller. So the 'Wiimobile' concept I talked about should be very possible. Probably not that anyone will jump on it. But just for good measure anyways!
Adding: And why not pitch Ubisoft for a specific Just Dance controller?!
They usually don't do hardware things so it might be a bit easier than pitching Nintendo. Let me know if I can help with contacts!









More on:
https://udu.dk/