Firefall Beta Starts Now

Firefall is a team-based shooter / MMO hybrid under development for the PC by Red 5 Studios; a studio founded by Mark Kern, former team lead for World of Warcraft.  The game will be free-to-play once launched.  To take part in the beta, sign up for an account: beta invites will be issued in waves.

The latest Dev Diary details how player actions will affect the roll out of new content in the game:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQrQWRiXFss]

The game is set in a future Earth, where the promise of a new clean energy source leads to the arrival of a hostile energy storm called the Melding, that engulfs most of the world.  A bloodthirsty race known as The Chosen has also emerged and threatens humanity’s survival..

Players can choose from three battleframes: assault, medic and recon, each of which can be customised with different weapons and loadouts.  These are equipped by the player’s character, so you can switch between battleframes too.

Firefall has both PvP objectives and cooperative PvE missions.  PvP consists of Team Deathmatch, and a Sabotage game mode, which has teams take turns being on offense or defense, with three different points to capture and hold.  Confirmed PvE missions so far include a Thumper mission, where players defend a mining machine against waves of enemy creatures while it gathers resources, and Rescue missions, for which no information has yet been released.

Firefall has no set release date; as players join the beta and play, the team collect feedback and continue development of the game, with plans for the game to be rolled out ‘organically’, rather like Google’s Gmail service.

Fail-Deadly

I came across Josh Sutphin‘s rapid-fire RTS Fail-Deadly thanks to a high-score challenge competition on Eurogamer.  As it’s a Unity game, it runs nicely in a web browser without the need to download anything.. so trying it out is a no-brainer really 😉

The game has two opposing factions at war, and you.  You’re a sly third party with secret agents hidden within both factions, and your goal is the destruction of both factions!  Every five seconds, a building or power-up appears in the build queue, for you to deploy to the map.  It then belongs to whoever’s side of the map you placed it on, and produces units for that faction, or provides a boost for them.

This turns into a balancing act, as you don’t want either side to win.. instead, you want them to keep fighting until you can force them into nuclear war, where mutual destruction is assured!  The longer you can get them to hold out, the higher your score 🙂

However, in pursuit of a very high score, I found a slight flaw.  The boosts stop coming once each faction has three of each, which makes the game easier.. and the longer you last, the less each new item matters in the balance.  I guess chasing silly high scores wasn’t quite expected! 🙂

I also had a quick look at the developer’s blog, and I found this.. a quick overview of the techniques he used in making the game.  It’s not a beginner’s tutorial.. those can actually be found on the Unity forums, but I love it when developers share info like this.. the more people learn, the more awesome games we’ll end up with 🙂

Warhorse Studios Licenses CryEngine 3 for RPG

Warhorse Studios have announced that they have reached an agreement with Crytek to use their game engine, CryEngine 3, for use in an as-yet-unannounced RPG.

This will be the first game for Warhorse Studios, a new studio set up in 2011 by industry veterans who were previously involved with the Mafia franchise and Operation Flashpoint.

Though their new project has not been announced, they say “it is a game that is not going to disappoint fans of open realistic worlds and quality stories”.

Todd Howard’s DICE Keynote

I’ve just watched Bethesda’s Todd Howard and his DICE Keynote over on Gamespot.. “Why we Play, Why we Create”.

I found it rather interesting.. best practises in development, moods, why ideas sometimes have to be cut, and so on, all giving examples from the development of Skyrim.

Then there was the awesome “sizzle” video from Game Jam Week (21 mins in on the above video)!

For Game Jam Week, the team was told to make something cool for adding to the game.  They came up with loads of ideas, some of which didn’t make it to the game, but still.. so many brilliant ideas and improvements!

Magical and Ranged kill cams would have been great, and I’d have liked to ride a dragon or build my own home too!  I’m sure these and many more will be available soon through the Creation Kit, though 🙂

Double Fine Adventure

Last night, Tim Schafer announced that Double Fine and 2 Player Productions were to use Kickstarter to fund an adventure game and documentary.

Kickstarter is a funding platform allowing people to pledge money to support a creative project; money exchanges hands once the goal is reached.  You can back the Double Fine Adventure here.  While the creative owner retains all rights to the project, those supporting it can earn bonuses and rewards.. with larger pledges achieving better rewards.  Double Fine set up some extra rewards for “premium” pledges.. you can check those out here.

Within two hours, pledges had reached $200k, and before the night was up, it had passed the $400k goal, with more than ten thousand people having pledged to support it!  Update: The project reached 1 million dollars in funding within 24 hours, and is currently just over $1,500,000!

Tim Schafer has also recently announced that he’d like to make Psychonauts 2.. with Notch offering to back it.  The two have been talking about it, but as yet that’s all.

The Darkness – Completed!

After trying out the demo for The Darkness 2 last week, I was reminded that we have a copy of The Darkness for the 360..

Player-character Jackie Estacado is a mobster hitman, only just turning 21 and coming into a rather evil family inheritance: The Darkness! Following a botched job, a car chase and crash, and a rather fun shoot-out in a construction site, Jackie narrowly escapes his Uncle Paulie’s attempt to kill him in an explosion.  The mobsters were still coming after Jackie though.. when the Darkness decided to show itself in spectacular gory fashion!

The cutscene showed some awesome powers, and though most of them were locked to start with, I did get a few to starting off with: the ability to summon Beserker Darklings, a huge demon arm, and my favourite for most of the game, Creeping Dark!

Creeping Dark is a snake-like projection able to climb walls and fit through narrow gaps.. good for scouting, or sneaking up on enemies and launching at them for a fantastic, sudden attack, as well as for finding hidden collectibles.  Using this ability drains Jackie’s Darkness Energy, which means you can’t use it indefinitely.. though I still got a lot of use out of it by eating the hearts of those I killed as I went along!  Aside from a few clipping issues, I really loved this power 😉

After clearing away the mobsters, I found myself in the subway.  The different areas of town are all accessible via the subway, and there are quite a few people wandering around, some with quests, and some purely for ambience.  To start with some of the exits were locked; later I was able to take the train and wander through areas at will, to complete side-quests or look for collectibles.

I went to visit Jenny, Jackie’s girlfriend.. she had no idea about Jackie’s mob connections, or the fact that he now has demonic abilities.  Having just fought off some of Paulie’s men in the streets outside and eaten their hearts, sitting on the couch and watching TV felt a little surreal.

I soon left to meet the next NPC, Butcher, who was busy “cleaning up” at the back of a restaurant.  Butcher pointed me in the direction of Dutch Oven Harry, a drug dealer, who could be removed to disrupt Paulie’s operation.

Dutch Oven Harry’s den proved to be somewhat frustrating, thanks to the checkpoint positioned at the top of the stairs leading down to the secure door.  The henchman standing in for Harry had a rather powerful weapon.. if he didn’t kill me, his goons did.  The Darkness shield didn’t seem to make much difference to the damage taken by the goons, and I resorted to waiting in the shadows for them to come one by one.

Even after the intercom chat with Harry.. which felt like a natural break from the action.. a death anywhere within the den or in the carpark outside, threw me back to the checkpoint, with the whole thing to do again, including running through dialogues which rapidly became annoying.

A little disappointment followed too: instead of allowing me to vent my frustrations onto Harry, I only got to watch him fall to his death.

If I needed any more reason to dislike Paulie, I got it next as he kidnapped and killed Jenny! The Darkness prevented Jackie from doing anything but watch, and soon after, Jackie shot himself.

The next part of the game was set in some kind of hell, with World War trenches, bombings and blood red sky.. I fought my way out of the hostile German trenches and eventually found my way to the British trench, which felt horribly depressing as I’m sure it was intended to.

Wandering through the British trenches, I eventually came across Jackie’s great great grandfather, who admitted he had been the one who let The Darkness inside him, for it to then manifest in the males in the family as they reach their 21st birthdays.  He did give some clues on how to defeat it though, and told me where to find the Darkness Guns, meant to be able to control The Darkness.

While the guns seemed fairly good, I still preferred my Creeping Dark and went back to using that as soon as I was back in the “real” world.. which is where I ended up after going through preparations for an attack on the enemy German bunker.

Back in New York, there were some side quests to do; handling a few thugs, finding a lost brother, and playing chicken with a train for the amusement of a crazy old lady!

The main story, however, involved tracking down a briefcase full of evidence.. and then going after Eddie Shrote.  I learned the Black Hole power while going for the briefcase, and despite my love for the Creeping Dark, I switched to the new power as it was much more effective against multiple enemies.

I went to meet Shrote in the church back in Trinity Cemetary.. bringing the briefcase plus bomb.. and walked into a rather tough but fun fight with SWAT members and floodlights, before finding out how much of a psychopath Shrote is!  Demon arms plus briefcase bomb made an end of Shrote and myself.. again!

Back to the creepy hell world to finish off the bombardment of the German bunker.. though I was rather uneasy in this world, this time there was an on-rails tank ride, which was good fun as well as a break from the “make Black Hole; devour hearts” that the game had started to slip into.

I also confronted The Darkness, in what turned out to be a slightly confusing non-fight.. that is, until I figured out that I was supposed to not fire on him, despite the two attacking Darklings making it feel like I was supposed to fight.  Fighting him makes him stronger.. but accepting him was to control him.

Back to the real world, and this time for even bigger fights, one on a boat where I was to kill the Captain, and the second to go and help Aunt Sarah and a few of the other friendlies in a shoot-out with Paulie’s goons.

I approached both of the fights in the same way.. Creeping Darkness as far in as I could, and then Black Hole for those I couldn’t easily reach.. but once I got to the door of Aunt Sarah’s house, I was no longer able to use The Darkness.  Normal weapons just don’t feel as powerful as using The Darkness.. 🙁

Finally, I headed out to deal with Paulie.. in his mansion over on a little island.

I was joined by two Darklings.. and then many more as I got closer to the mansion and Paulie’s thugs.

Unlike anywhere else in the game, Paulie’s men were constantly spawning, though it took me a while to realise as I was approaching carefully, shooting out the lights and wanting to pick off all the men before going into the mansion.  My black holes made awesome piles of bodies here though..

Once I reached the doors of the mansion, I was frustrated to find myself relegated to spectator, as The Darkness took over and obliterated the front of the building, the men and even a helicopter.

I was given control back long enough to chase Paulie up into the lighthouse, and to shoot at him to injure him.  I would have liked the choice to leave him once he begged for his life, as each kill was another step towards being The Darkness’ puppet.. but the door was shut preventing me from leaving, and he eventually found a pistol and started shooting at me, which forced my hand somewhat.  For story purposes, though, it probably makes sense for Jackie to kill Paulie.. as he killed Jenny.

Having found a number of collectibles in the game, there were some cool bits of extra content available afterwards, including concept art and comics.  I like getting to see stuff like this 🙂

Skyrim: Creation Kit and High Res Texture Pack Available Now

Bethesda have now released the Skyrim Creation Kit on Steam, and along with it, a free high-res texture pack!  The Creation Kit will be available when you next log into Steam, with the texture pack an optional extra.  A wiki for the Creation Kit can be found here.

You can also now browse the Steam Workshop.. and discover another little surprise: Fall of the Space Core, Vol. 1!

To celebrate the opening of the Steam Workshop for Skyrim, Valve and Bethesda have teamed up to bring you the Space Sphere mod, which’ll let the aggressively space-centric little robot tag along on your adventures in Tamriel!

The Indie Royale Valentine’s Bundle: Pre-Order

The Indie Royale have now opened their Valentine’s Bundle for blind pre-orders, with a recommended £10 contribution and a minimum of $3.99 USD.

The games in this bundle include a fantastical first-person action-adventure game (Steam for PC), an IGF-nominated puzzle adventure title, a ‘scorching’ single and multiplayer arcade-strategy game, and a world premiere on PC for a pair of retro RPG-defense games.

Those who pre-order the bundle will also receive a bonus compilation album, Music To Play Games By Too from One Life Left, and will gain access to the games when the bundle officially launches.

The Valentine’s Bundle will launch later this week on a pay what you want scheme, starting with the minimum price of $3.99 USD.

Castle Story Timelapse

Sauropod Studio, creators of upcoming voxel-based RTS Castle Story, have released a timelapse video showing some new gameplay mechanics: gathering wood, mining, and the day and night cycle!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPAMXCCEgkA]

Hawken – Mech Combat FPS

Hawken is a multiplayer mech combat game, developed by Adhesive Games using the Unreal Engine from Epic Games.

The team have now announced an official release date of 12/12/12, and confirmed that Hawken will be a free downloadable title, with in-game purchases allowing greater customisation and weapon variety.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwA03XsKzbY]

While the 12th December is a long way off, you can get in on the action sooner by enlisting for the beta.