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[jonaz.dk]

Intensely Practical Tips for Growing an Indie Studio

[jonaz.dk]

Name change and PlayStation trailer for Time on Frog Island. Previously known as Trading Time a croak tale.
Besides there is also a physical box release on Switch and Xbox.

And even more of the old napnokkies joined the team on animation and music it seems.

If cute froggies, sailors and fetching things is your thing, this is the game for you!

[jonaz.dk]

Fanatical stand with Ukraine charity bundle
https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/sta ... dle?v=3837

And don't forget this.. it is truly important and will save countless innocent lives in the long run.
https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsion ... jBQKcM2R5k

[jonaz.dk]

To no big surprise.. AI can now build games from the input of a few input sentences in natural language. Still simple examples, but give it some years and it will be absolutely mindblowing on every front. There will be for sure be companies out there there will begin to specialize in AI generated games. Eventually ending up in being able to completely generate user specific games based on people's data and wishes on the fly and constantly adapting to the user in super high quality.
The initial forefront will probably be in the hyper casual market where simple games concepts can be mass produced and tested in the real world on a scale never seen before.
It hasn't arrived just yet but it is just a question of time.

Building games and apps entirely through natural language using OpenAI’s code-davinci model
https://andrewmayneblog.wordpress.com/2 ... ode-model/

[jonaz.dk]

DK project THE HIGHLANDS now has a steam page!
Developed by 3 man strong indies, Footstomp Studios in Aarhus.

"A top down-multiplayer-arena-brawler where you collect resources and craft your weapons of choice all while trying to stay alive and become the ultimate brawler in this fast paced game."
With LAN and online PVP.

They seem to aim for an Early Access release in 2022.





On the web
https://www.footstomp.studio/thehighlands

[jonaz.dk]

One of my old work buddies (Anders Nydam) back from the 3BGamez days (2004'ish) is part of Hopeless Games.

Hopeless Games has recently released a trilogy of dark and gloomy boardgames that is now availale on Faraos Cigarer.
Grats on the release!

Tower of Silence: The End of Prophecy
Iron Mountain: The Shadows Within
Pesta: Omens of Emptiness

Play of Tower of Silence: The End of Prophecy



More on
https://www.hopelessgames.com/

Get the games on
https://www.faraos.dk/filtrering?search ... ss%20Games

[jonaz.dk]

A look at the upcoming Godot 4.0
There is really something in store! Looks like a massive rewrite of the engine.

[jonaz.dk]

And a look at the upcoming technology NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields) from nvidia where 3D models can be recreated from a few photos or a video as neural objects.

It still has quite some limitations still to be truly useful outside of it's current confines. As in meshing it is 'not really there' just yet.

Years out we are likely see entire AI engines built around neural object representation, interaction and generation. That will be some mind blowing next level shit!

NVIDIA Instant NeRF: NVIDIA Research Turns 2D Photos Into 3D Scenes in the Blink of an AI


More on
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2022/03/2 ... yout_en-us

[jonaz.dk]

Just dropping a Spotify playlist I did, featuring modern remixes of some of the sweetest game tunes from the C64 and Amiga days (mostly.. might expand beyond a bit).

Note: The normally legendary Allister Brimble did fuck up his very own Project-X theme. It mostly sounds great but some places grinds my bones.. hard!

For the old-timers mostly!

[jonaz.dk]

Return To Monkey Island is coming in 2022! From the man himself, Ron Gilbert!

Sounds and looks amazing! Though I'm not sure I'm ready to accept a stylized vectorized Guybrush or Monkey Island game in general. Hmmm... let's see. Atleast I hope they don't do "Longbrush Threepwood" again.. yikes!

Not much on their website yet:
https://returntomonkeyisland.com/

[emilarsen]

Thanks a lot for mentioning my game Rogue Angels back when it launched
I hope to return in 4-5 months and present people with a better looking Kickstarter and a better deal that can do the game itself justice, as the game has been received with nothing but praise.
Thanks again.
Best regards Emil

For those interested, you can go here and learn more about the Rogue Angels and sign up for the relaunch: http://www.suntzugames.com/rogue-angels.html

[jonaz.dk]

Cool @emilarsen
It's a tough world out there in Kickstarter land. We are far from the humble indie beginnings.
Best of luck in round 2 Emil! Kick ass!


Speaking of board games. Ole Steiness has released another one a few days ago! Besides doing design on Deep Rock Galactic the boardgame
Apparantly there was also a Kickstarter some time ago


Meeples & Monsters Dice Tower peview

[jonaz.dk]

Unreal Engine 5 is now production ready

Unreal Engine 5 Release | The State of Unreal 2022 Keynote Presentation


https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/unreal-engine-5

[jonaz.dk]

LEGO and Epic is getting metaverse cozy!
https://venturebeat.com/2022/04/07/epic ... metaverse/

Not sure what how the practical implementation will look like just yet.
We can only speculate on what Epic is working on in this regard. They probably have something cooking!
I guess you could sort of define Fortnite as something metaverse-like in the Epic product fold. But that's probably not it. (**Screw you past Jonaz.. this is totally it!!) Tough they could clearly do a season of Fortnite with LEGO, in theory! If LEGO is not too affraid of jumping into something slightly more violent shooty shooty. Usually it's not their thing. But early interpretation is that they are working towards some sort of new metaverse project.

Though I do have my doubts a new standalone Epic Metaverse project will overshadow Fornite as the place to be for kids in the immediate future. Also it might be competing against Roblox AND Minecraft**. Now that would be a challenge of an order of magnitude! So let's see!

** Adding: Not talking about product specifics. But the 'broadly defined audiences'.

Epic did put some money in Core Games back in 2020. 'Could' (with low likelyhood) be related.. But they would likley work on their own thing first.
https://blog.coregames.com/epic-games-l ... 196726d4d6

[jonaz.dk]

Previously mentioned Hopeless Games is inviting to a dark night of despair and hopelessness with gloomy bands and board games at Mayhem Kbh.

THURSDAY, 5 MAY 2022 AT 19:00
Hopeless Games Live at Mayhem!
Mayhem Kbh

See you there maybe?!
** Actually not.. too old and too tired.

More on: (30 Kr. Entrance)

[jonaz.dk]

And following the LEGO x Epic metaverse annocement. KIRKBI A/S (LEGO owners) and Sony has invested 2 billion USD in Epic Games in total, 1B USD each.. that's quite a substational amount! Not sure how much ownership that gives them.
But now a Danish company owns a (currently unknown) percentage of Epic Games.

Great with a bit of DK ownership of Epic Games! Nice!
I do like their tools a lot! Good call! They have much in store! I work with both Unity and Unreal on a daily basis. Unreal gives me the most freedom and best overall experience with less problems for me needs.

Sony and KIRKBI Invest in Epic Games to Build the Future of Digital Entertainment
https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/ne ... dated=true

[jonaz.dk]

AR game Monster Gardening developed by Serious Games for mobile devices.

Monster Gartner is a game that motivates hospitalized children to move around the hospital while solving tasks related to their monster plant.

Apple AppStore
https://apps.apple.com/dk/app/monster-g ... 87709?l=da
GooglePlay
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... tergartner

More on
https://www.rigshospitalet.dk/maryeliza ... rtner.aspx

[jonaz.dk]

I guess it's the same old song one more time!
But a song worth singing!

I do see various examples of local private funding around the local industry. Recently is seems to be going in a slightly better direction. Not sure how much they take ownership though. Probably generally too much.

Looking outside Denmark for >real funding< to run a team of professionals for your projects has become a mainstay!
Companies in the danish games industry has dropped the ball SO many times in the past it almost hurts. Of cause there are some wins as well. And naturally everybody can't win all the time, that's just the natural order of things. But I do wish the win rate was a wee bit higher.

@dino Has a few words on the situation.

Dansk succes-udvikler har forladt Danmark: »Pengene er for små og for dyre«
Pengene er »for små og for dyre«, når danske investorer skal støtte spiludvikling, mener Dino Patti, grundlægger af et af de mest succesfulde spilstudier i Danmark.
https://www.version2.dk/artikel/dansk-s ... aa-og-dyre

[jonaz.dk]

Oh yeah also went to see Sonic 2 with the kiddo yesterday.

Kiddo thought it was ok!.. so that was my enjoyment! Always is!

The movie did not go beyond hohum forgettable pop corn flick in my book. Also I did not expect it to be cinematic hallmark of moviemaking. So yeah... expect a basic Hollywood'ish kids/familymovie. That's all.
Though it has already proven itself at the box office so they will probably keep pumping Sonic movies out for a while. So no doubt the formula works on a broader audience. I would probably also expect even more SEGA related IP movies down the line. Golden Axe 'could be' cool 'if done right'.

But go watch it if you have kids and nothing better to do during easter vacation for a few hours. Or maybe you are a die hard Sonic fan.

Otherwise you can most certainly spend time and money better elsewhere.

I did spot so many render issues all over the place it hurt.. low sample rate there.. oh they forgot Tails wasn't wearing his rucksack in this shot.. and oh that's some weird smudgy compression artifactistuff... OMG! look at the edges of the simulation!
So that was a sort of torture! MUST have been a rushed production releasing just 2 years after the first one.

Oh well!

Also I will MOST certainly not spend time and money on Unchartred. The trailer was super weak... the reviews even weaker.

[jonaz.dk]

The latest from Deep Rock Galactic.. it's now sesonal. But no FOMO content. Keeps the players happy! Good call!

Deep Rock Galactic - Season 02 - Narrated Trailer

[jonaz.dk]

VR game 2 player party game Chicks & Tricks from Shapeshift Entertainment ApS is now almost close to free, permanently.

[jonaz.dk]

Programmable LEGO robots at Nordic Game Jam. Cute!

[jonaz.dk]

Just a few quick recommendations in the category "top down vehicle combat games few'ish people have played that won't win any awards but is just plain old fun".
**UPDATE: Oh.. actually Gearshifter won 2 awards! Sorry!

Played the Gearshifters (2021) demo yesterday.. damn it feels good! I was initially a bit sceptical with the side scrolling nature of the game might make it feel a bit too limited. But it works just great! It was super fun!
Sadly my selfimposed "you are only allowed to buy new games on Steam that are project research relevant... or maybe if it is super cheap". Is preventing me from buying the game just now.. very possibly later.
FYI roughly 20% of my 1536 games large Steam library is unplayed... sooo maybe just pressing the break a little on purchaces is perhaps healthy, while trying to catch up and give most games a minute or two. My Epic library is far worse on the played games ratio.



There is a free demo! Give it a shot and push the pedal to the metal!


A few years ago I took Renegade Ops (2011) for a spin. Just a super great little open worldish car shooter. Boom!
Developed by Swedish Avalanche Studios.. now owen by Nordisk Film.

[jonaz.dk]

A look at solo project 'Operation: Leaf Shift' from DK based developer 'NWDM - 1H'

No idea about when it will be releasing. But things seems to happen on a regular basis.

[jonaz.dk]

New DK games company spotted!

The Apothecary ApS

Not much is currently shown about the project. Only that everything loooks very artsy and indie in name and style.