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[jonaz.dk]

Mind blown! I'll do this one in danish.



Her er lidt til data-arkæologerne!
Det viser sig de at Nordjyske originaler Sussi og Leo startede en computerspilsvirksomhed i 80'erne!
Jeg ved pt. ikke om det blev til flere titler end en enkelt. Men en enkelt i hvert fald. 'Memoraklet' fra engang i 80'erne på Memotech MTX platformen.
Meget muligt (ikke verificeret) udviklet i det platformspecifikke sprog Nobby som var velegnet til branching text adventures.

Personligt har jeg aldrig hørt om Memotech MTX. Så det virker lidt som en stor strategisk bummert at lave en virksomhed omkring en så lille og obskur platform. Og så endda på dansk for at gøre nichen endnu mindre. Hvis det havde været C64 eller IBM-PC og med det rette koncept. Havde tingene muligvis set lidt anderledes ud på det tidspunkt. Musikkens vej blev det i hvert fald og det virker som om det var det rigtige for dem.

Men spænende er det i hvert fald at grave lidt i den ukendte spilhistorie!

Se klippet fra 7:30 i DR3 programmet. S01E03 - Pludselig boede jeg hos Sussi og Leo.
https://www.dr.dk/drtv/se/pludselig-boe ... ssi_179753

Memoraklet (c) Sussi & Leo - Memotech MTX


For nørder med interesse i hvad Memotech MTX 512 gik ud på.
Rare Memotech MTX 512 Computer - Show & Tell

[jonaz.dk]

More badass breakthroughs for machine learning. Now a single algorithm through self taught means can play all the Atari games better than humans.
One can only imagine what this will mean for bots in games in a short few years. If the progress in AI continues.. and it will.
It could break a whole lot of multiplayer games if people got access to AI agents that can play the latest and greatest competitive MP games perfectly or at a very high level. By just looking at the screen of any game and inputting control commands without detection.
We are not there yet. But in little while we will be.
So that's that's the bad news forecast!

DeepMind Made A Superhuman AI For 57 Atari Games!

[jonaz.dk]

Arkane is just an amazing studio. This docu is mandatory watching!
Too bad Valve pulled the plug on Half-Life - Ravenholm. It was actually looking like a really awesome game.

The Untold History of Arkane: Dishonored / Prey / Ravenholm / LMNO / The Crossing

[jonaz.dk]

And a teaser from ARBlox's mobile, AR enabled, puzzle game, The Door.
Looking good! Go Uffe and Jeppe!

[jonaz.dk]

For the artists out there. A super neat little tool to keep your image references in place when modeling or drawing.


Pay what you want!
https://www.pureref.com

[jonaz.dk]

Nordic Game Awards 2020 live stream


Winners:
Best Visuals - Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo, SE)
Best fun for everyone: What the golf? (Triband, DK)
Best technology: Control (Remedy Entertainment, FI)
Best music: Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik, DK)
Best game design: Baba is you (Hempuli Oy, FI)
Best VR/XR: Ghost Giant (Zoink Games, SE)
Best Nordic game of the year - Small screen: Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo, SE)
Special mention: Mosaic (Krillbite Studios, NO)
Best Nordic game of the year: Control (Remedy Entertainment, FI)

[jonaz.dk]

So let's take a look at some promising DK projects sadly not looking like they are going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

Mr. Dungeon from the 2 person brothers team at Tough Guy Studios seems like such a nice little pixel art dungeon crawler with lots of personality. And I might assume they are taking some design cues from the Dark Souls series.
I used to work with Lasse. Just had chat with him a few days ago. And for the moment the project seemed to have been abandoned.
I hope they will pick it up again at some point.

Gameplay video here. Sorry Vimeo doesn't embed on the site.
https://vimeo.com/350259922
http://toughguystudios.com


Another project I never heard about. From a company that I never heard about. Is Blood Brawl from Scarab Games.
It's looking like a game very much in the vein of Super Smash Bros and Brawlhalla.
So far I can see it's mostly a solo project. So development is set to hard AND lonely mode right from the beginning.
The art and game feel looks quite competent! But as far as I can see there has been no updates on the project since November 2018. So it's not the best sign. Maybe he is busy working on it while keeping quite. But I do have my concerns.


http://www.scarab-games.com

[jonaz.dk]

So a small teaser from Tideshell Studio's (DK) Noon's Journey has surfaced.
Looks very promising with a very high level of artistic flair. Amazing job @Salt (and team not to forget)

Noon's Journey
Point-and-click with a twist
- Learn strange new languages to communicate with the people you meet on your way by collecting drawings in a notebook, showing them to locals to get the word in their language and then using it in a sentence.
- Use the ancient Tideshell to manipulate the levels of water to make your way through a sunken city and catch fish in a dried out lake.

https://www.facebook.com/tideshellstudi ... 245370108/


There is also a bit of gameplay on their website
https://www.tideshell.studio/games/noons_journey/
https://vimeo.com/318603748

[jonaz.dk]

Upcoming Unity Asset, Claytxelas in the works. Built using Signed Distance Fields and shader magic. Pretty sweet!

[jonaz.dk]

Indie game Toodee and Topdee. Looks like a cool Little mechaic with 2D to 2,5D switching.

[jonaz.dk]

The Last Of Us Part 2 - PS4 Pro - Hands-On First Impressions

[jonaz.dk]

How Alan Wake Was Rebuilt 3 Years Into Development | War Stories | Ars Technica

[jonaz.dk]

Rovio Entertainment has acquired Darkfire Games - Copenhagen based mobile games studio

June 3, 2020 - Espoo - Rovio Entertainment Corp. has acquired a free-to-play (F2P) mobile games studio Darkfire Games (formerly Wargaming Denmark), focused on Role Playing Games (RPG). Rovio acquired all of the outstanding shares of Darkfire Games for an undisclosed sum on June 3, 2020, and the wholly-owned Rovio subsidiary will become Rovio Copenhagen.

Rovio Copenhagen will continue to operate as an independent studio focusing on mobile RPGs. At present, the studio comprises 20 gaming industry veterans with vast expertise in making RPGs. As part of the acquisition, Rovio takes on the studio’s currently soft-launched mobile RPG, Darkfire Heroes. The game’s development will continue in Copenhagen, with Rovio providing synergies and support for the studio in central functions and areas such as user acquisition, technology, analytics and live operations.

“We are very excited to have Darkfire Games joining Rovio’s network of game studios,“ says Kati Levoranta, CEO of Rovio. “This strengthens our game genre mastery and expansion to Mid-Core games, where we see attractive opportunities in RPG’s. In addition, there is a great strategic and cultural fit for both teams. The talented team in Copenhagen will be a fantastic addition to Rovio’s already highly skilled flock.”

The studio will continue to be led by Rune Vendler. Rune has an extensive career in mobile gaming and he has previously worked at companies such as Lionhead Studios, Hapti.co, IO Interactive and Wargaming.

“We are excited and proud to be joining Rovio, a company that shares our ambitions for high quality and innovative games,“ says Rune Vendler, Head of Copenhagen studio. “We’re looking forward to becoming part of the company that created a mobile game phenomenon in 2009 and has since grown to be one of the leaders in mobile gaming. We are also excited that we will be able to leverage Rovio’s vast skills and expertise to create fantastic RPG games.”

https://investors.rovio.com/en/news-and ... agen-based

So now it's Rovio Copenhagen! -> Formerly Darkfire Games -> Formerly Wargaming Copenhagen -> Formerly Square Enix studio, Hapti.co.
Grats to the team!

My best guess is that their only known released title Darkfire Heroes (under the Wargaming brand) didn't live up to expectations. With 100.000+ downloads on droid it's very likely not a profitable business.
As a result Wargaming let them go their own ways as independent DarkFire Games.
And probably Rune pulled another rescue out of the hat with the Rovio Acquisition. Well done Rune!

Style and portfolio wise it's probably a better fit with Rovio. Hopefully things will turn out great!

Darkfire Heroes can be found here.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... roes&hl=en

[jonaz.dk]

Spotted another DK game in development. It's the F2P successor version of Mad Machines, Mad Ball from the team at Hero Blocks in Esbjerg.
Their Mad Machines didn't really get mad enough I guess and it probably makes sense to give i a F2P shot?
Best of luck with the latest ball shot in the cannon!

[jonaz.dk]

And another DK project in development. Above from Mighty Moth Games!

Also possibly in limbo at the moment?!? Correct me if I am wrong! (Everybody is always welcome to do that of cause).
Last public update was about a year ago. So I have my worries.

Played it ages ago at Nordic Game.. 2016 I think.
The button mapping was a bit odd back then. I'm sure they fixed it quite easily.
But overall the game looks and feels really nice! Pretty casual, (bit of action?), adventure, exploration, narrative driven type of game.

I could imagine project fatigue and getting development funding is some real tough challenges they are facing.
Hope they will make it to release!

[Christoffer]

And another DK project in development. Above from Mighty Moth Games!

Also possibly in limbo at the moment?!? Correct me if I am wrong! (Everybody is always welcome to do that of cause).
Last public update was about a year ago. So I have my worries.

I could imagine project fatigue and getting development funding is some real tough challenges they are facing.
Hope they will make it to release!

I haven't heard about the project in a while too, but in regards to funding they are DFI funded with a total of 2.500.00,- kr. The last funding they received was back in 2018 with 1.500.00,- kr, so hopefully they are still working on the project!

[jonaz.dk]

Now I had to look it up!
There was also an early Capnova investment (technically a loan) in 2017 I think.

I'm FAR from an expert on yearly reports and budgets. But it looks like a whole lot of ouch after 2nd quarter 2019 till today. 1-2 employees. And a spent development budget.
https://datacvr.virk.dk/data/visninger? ... anguage=da

Things could very much still be happening but at a reduced pace from a few years ago.

So yeah.. :/ as usual.. games is hard!
And I hope they will find some footing again and deliver the baby sooner or later! Looks like a cool and unique project.

[jonaz.dk]

Blender 2.83 LTS (Long Time Support) is out!


https://www.blender.org/download/releases/2-83/

'Free Of The Month' assets for Unreal Engine 4 is out!
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/store#

[jonaz.dk]

A bit of new Diablo 4 gameplay footage. Barbarian and sorceress plays.

[jonaz.dk]

A casual Friday post.

Sound ON!

[jonaz.dk]

A show reel from the current projects (some released some in development) Game Hub Denmark is involved in. Good to see a lot of stuff is going on in Jutland!

Game Hub Denmark Reel 2020


More info on Game Hub Denmark
https://gamehubdenmark.com/

[jonaz.dk]

Nyt spilmuseum på vej i Odense.

Odense Game Museum

Skulle efter planen åbne i 2021.



Det bliver ikke det første. Som er Spilmuseet i Ikast. Www.spilmuseet.dk
Men de har haft en del problemer med godkendelse af kommunen til at holde åbent for gæster. Af uransagelige årsager!

[jonaz.dk]

The remasted version of Hell March is music to my ears

[jonaz.dk]

Also OpenRA deserves a mention. The open source version of the classic game Red Alert. Its an amazing game! Played it on LAN with a friend some time ago. This game still holds up!


https://www.openra.net/

On GitHub
https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA

[jonaz.dk]

Never played it. Also personally not super hot on simulation games in general. But it certainly is interesting!

Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains its Complexity & Origins | Noclip Interview