ALL FORMATS

LIFTING THE LID ON VIDEO GAMES

Cuteness takes
over in Autonauts

Issue 23 £3
wfmag.cc

Jesper Kyd’s stunning The curious prevalence Using sound to

career in music of drinks machines make better games
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 Why video game
critics need to stop
pulling punches

I
n the last 20-something years of writing about T  reviewing. ure, there are bad examples in all, but
games, I’ve apparently gained something of as a rule, in most other media you’ll see excoriating
a reputation. I am, I’m frequently informed, a reviews of dreadful movies, brutal take-downs of
“harsh reviewer”. I “bash games”. I interpret horribly written novels, and goodness me, don’t even
it somewhat differently I take the radical approach to look toward the flying viscera in the world of theatre
games criticism of telling the truth. JOHN WALKER reviews. We need us some of this in gaming!
The reality is, over my career, I’ve given colossally All too many reviews of the largest, biggest-budget
John Walker is a
more positive reviews than negative. I’ve celebrated lovely man who games, from the giant publishers, seem to go out of
wonderful games to audiences that otherwise might has some opinions. their way to avoid reviewing games as a piece of art,
never have heard of them. I’ve championed greatness, He’s been expressing instead resorting to s uiggly ways out, like perceiving
revered strangeness, and argued for the positive them about
them as a technical accomplishment. We can find all
games for the last
aspects of mediocrity. And alongside that, I’ve pointed 20-something years. sorts of reasons loudly given for this, from the most
out when something’s a big steaming pile of crap. insidious and vanishingly unlikely) suggestions of
I want to be clear – this can be a horrible industry to corruption, to declarations also not that realistic) of
write in of late. issent against the collectively agreed sheer incompetence. But I believe the number one
political opinions of any of a number of well-organised cause of this phenomenon, most especially when
groups of bullies and trolls, and your life can be made reviewing big-name games in isolation ahead of their
hellish. Not knowing which opinions those will be until review embargo, is a fear of not matching the others,
it’s too late is causing a lot of critics to write in fear of of sticking out as the one negative review.
accidentally triggering a backlash. I get that. I’ve been It’s a sort of pre-emptive mimesis. An assumption
on the receiving end of it. ultiple times. It sucks. that because this is the latest game in that most
It’s also not what we’re talking about here. popular of series, that everyone’s going to be loving it.
I’m here to argue that people need to toughen o even if the critic didn’t, they must be wrong, so

#23
up their reviews. To stop pulling punches. To stop they’ll skew their review toward the assumed norm.
hedging bets. And I mean this in a more specific way op in those concerns somewhere in the text, but bulk
than the usual, “We need to use the bottom half of the it up with comments on the excellent graphicsability,
out-of- scale. Because here’s a thing it’s really not and give it a safe , or an inoffensive .
worth getting worked up about those only marking No This has to stop ust say what you think
from five to ten, or to . If a game’s getting a five, And honestly, that the billion-dollar company could
it’s already half as bad as it’s good, and pretty hard to spend hundreds of millions making it look this good
recommend. cores below are ust more firmly is great, but that’s of side importance. Tell your
underlined appeals for someone to not buy it. truth, critics on’t worry about what others think.
Bet-hedging and punch-pulling have been a part Because if we start getting some proper criticism of
of games criticism for decades, in a way that ust the biggest games, maybe we’ll have some tiny hope of
isn’t apparent in other fields like film, theatre, and them reacting to it, and improving.

wfmag.cc \ 03
 Contents

Contents

6
Attract mode Interface

06. Autonauts 18. Jesper Kyd

How a trip to a farm gave rise The Assassin’s Creed composer
to a gloriously cute sim on his soaring soundtracks

10. Yokai Moon 44. Play. Pause. Refresh

A tower defence game steeped The prevalence and meaning
in Japanese art and lore of drinks machines in games

12. Zombie Army 4 48. Rainbow connection

Rebellion on its “bigger Astral Chain’s hidden link to
and better” horde-’em-up Namco’s arcade past

16. Incoming 50. Larian Studios

18 Cyberpunk, organic communities,
and cosmic horror
A profile of Belgium’s finest
RPG-making developer

04 / wfmag.cc
 Contents

WELCOME
As you’ll see in the news on
page 14, No More Robots studio
founder Mike Rose has collated
some disquieting sales data
from Steam. As of August 2019,
indie games on the platform sell
an average of 1500 units, and
each makes $16,000 in revenue
during its first year

Those numbers sound low

12
by themselves, but there’s
something even more troubling
about ose’s findings his data
only covers the top 20 percent
of games sold on Steam. As he
writes, “I removed the bottom
80 percent, as that 80 percent is
barely making any money at all.”

It’s a stark reminder of just how

tough the indie games market
is. We all love the ‘bedroom
coder’ narrative, but Rose’s
figures suggest that most indie
devs will never see their games
make a rofit

While it’s inevitable that some

games will struggle, more
arguably needs to be done to
ensure that talented newcomers
can get their games played,
and that smaller titles aren’t

60 44
eclipsed by triple-A behemoths.
There are certainly changes
to be made within the industry
– Rose argues that indie devs
are pricing their games too low,

Toolbox Rated
for one thing – but there are
things we can do as gamers,
too. If you see a smaller game
you like, then buy it, tell all your
friends about it, and retweet
30. CityCraft 56. Ancestors its dev’s videos. It’s easy to
Landmarks, and their usefulness Monkeying around with Patrice forget how hard it is to get the
word out without a marketing
in level design Désilets’s survival game budget; if we all bang the drum
for the indie games we like the
32. Game audio 59. Blair Witch most, then we’re all doing our
Using sound to transform the way The nineties horror movie franchise bit to support a fragile and ever-
changing ecosystem.
players interact with your games branches out

36. Ren’Py 60. Astral Chain Ryan Lambie

Editor
A guide to making your first PlatinumGames’ latest has us
visual novel feeling like a freak on a leash

40. Source Code 62. Oninaki

Code your own Daley Thompson’s More sullen storytelling from
Decathlon-style minigame Tokyo  actory

wfmag.cc \ 05
 Attract Mode
Interview

They, Robots
We might all lose our jobs when the
robots arrive in force, but for now we
can just enjoy the likes of Autonauts

S
truggling through Unity
with a lone programmer
on the team, having to rely
on the Unity Asset Store
for solutions to problems
popping up – it’s not the romantic notion
of Creating Art that you might think
of when it comes to small teams with
big ideas, let’s be honest. All the same,
Autonauts has – through sheer force of a simple coding-light interface, switching
will (and a lot of effort and iteration over around instructions, nesting actions in one
a number of years) – made itself one of another, and so on.
the most intriguing and engaging titles in As you progress more, the complexity
recent memory. of the actions required increases and
The ultra-basic thinking is: you’re a the limitations of your clockwork robots
person trying to keep other people alive. become apparent. Fret not, though,
At the outset, it’s your typical survival- because… well, there are more, better,
type game, all chopping down trees and increasingly complex robots to create,
and building farms and so on. But soon each capable of carrying more instructions
enough you unlock a basic automaton, in its limited memory banks and, so,
and this is where it gets really good. becoming capable of more actions and
The robots can be programmed to do more delicious automation.
what you can do – you set them to record, While you might start out life chopping
go out and do what you want them to and harvesting with your own hands,
do, then have them do it. So they can cut things do progress – if you code your bots
down trees and carry the logs back to a efficiently enough – to the point where you
storage facility, say. Need something more have an entirely self-sufficient town, robots
complex, or the order to be changed? chopping wood, farming, baking pies, even
The logic of the robots can be tweaked in building more robots. It’s that inherently

06 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
Interview

“ One of the hardest

things of all for us to
do has been to contain
its potential ”
satisfying nature of automation writ large,
and it’s utterly beguiling to boot.
Adorable? Check. Intelligent? Check.
Capable of stealthily teaching players the
basic tenets of coding? Check. Our three
checks checked, we spoke to creative
director (and former Zzap!64 editor) Gary
Penn, and technical director Aaron Puzey,
to find out more about Autonauts.

Where did the idea for Autonauts come

from? And just how good is Factorio?
Puzey: I worked on a friend’s farm for
a day and realised there are a lot of
interesting systems, some of which feed
back into each other. For instance, crop
waste is ploughed back into fields, sold
to other farmers, or incinerated to make
heat for growing berries in polytunnels.
I made obvious connections to Factorio
and immediately started on a prototype
the next day.
Penn: I think it was the day after that
Aaron brought in a Typically Aaron
Prototype: a sketch borne from a personal
game jam with enough functional charm to
win me over there and then. Factorio is ace
but too dry for my liking. The trailer video
they did was fantastic and made me feel
like an excited child desperate to play it;
the reality turned out to be too ‘grown-up’
for me.

It’s a small team with big plans – how

challenging has it been to get the project
up and running, and then to tweak it to
the point where it’s fit for release?
Penn: A lot of work – a lot of reworking,
actually. But we love working with each
other and love the concept, so it hasn’t
felt like work. Well, it has when it’s been
outside of our comfort zone, like when
we considered publishing it ourselves.
When there are only two of you, you
have so many different types of job to

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Interview

Putting that robot force to


work is inherently satisfying.

do, and some are more conflicting than Are you working with any schools or bots and fill their heads with long-winded
others – like being a creative child at the learning establishments? Why/why not? scripts, ‘cos I thought that was clever, but it
same time as a production [focused] adult. Puzey: We’ve been so focused on isn’t – it just unnecessarily overcomplicates
The community built up around the making it play well, we just haven’t things, and I’d quickly get into a right
prototype we first released in 2017 has had time to consider the educational old pickle.
been wonderful. We updated the ‘Pre-Pre- value of Autonauts. We’ve had a lot of
Pre-Alpha’ with new features and bug fixes encouragement from people saying how What is it about automation, about
every single week for 22 weeks without fail. well this would work in schools and it’s making things work, that’s so
We made sure we shared our feature and definitely something we want to push. inherently satisfying?
bug list with the players, to help shape our An obvious inspiration for this has been Puzey: For me, it’s the contrast between
output, and that relationship reminded Scratch. I’d like to see a free, educational doing it yourself and having someone else
me very much of working on a magazine. version of Autonauts released which do it. I’ve been slaving away chopping logs,
We learned a lot from doing that. has the current missions replaced with unable to do anything else because it’s
more coding-focused ones. Time is our consuming all my time. Suddenly, I have
The game acts in part as a stealth enemy right now. If we could automate a a bot to do it for me, and it’s such a great
teaching tool for coding fundamentals time machine… feeling of freedom – I have time to do
– was this always the plan? How did it something new and interesting.
come about?
Puzey: We’ve never had the intention “ It’s still not a full coding
platform… we’d like to
Penn: The sense of achievement when
you make even the simplest of processes
of teaching coding. The scripting was self-sufficient is unprecedented. Until it
really just a happy accident of prototype make it more like Scratch stops and you have to figure out what’s
evolution. The first version featured
farmers without any scripting. You clicked
in a future version ” gone wrong and fix it, which is satisfying
in itself – more so when you put it right.
on a target, and the robots assumed what Realistically, how useful will Autonauts
it was you meant. It worked but felt too be for an individual’s understanding
The game world is substantial, so your


simple, and sometimes didn’t do what the of coding? robo-towns can cover vast areas.
player intended. Initially, we displayed a Puzey: This has to be a game first, and
commentary just as a way for the player the coding is just a tool for the player.
to see what was going on in the farmer’s It doesn’t try to teach coding. Ever.
head, and then it was an obvious choice to It really is just a means to an end as
allow the player to edit it. It’s still not a full far as the player’s concerned. They will
coding platform, but we would like to make gain an insight into some fundamental
it more like Scratch in a future version. coding concepts whether they realise it
or not, but this will happen over a long
time as they solve the various problems
Autonauts is a positive, warm-hearted, and


not-at-all negative experience. Which is nice. they encounter.

The complexity of the commands

your robots can accept is limited by
their memory capacity, I believe, but
how complex can things get for your
auto-friends?
Penn: It gets complex when you have
dozens or even hundreds of simple bots
all working together. I used to make fewer

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Interview

I’m so bad at playing Autonauts. Well, not

bad – I just play it my way, which is quite…
erratic and messy, but I’m enjoying myself
so, yeah. Aaron’s the total opposite: all
neat and tidy and logical. Recently, I’ve
started watching him play and learning
what he does and finding that he does
have a point when it comes to storage and
keeping the jobs simple and distributed.
Aaron’s got this nice little ‘Just In Time’
manufacturing method for a tool supply Do robots dream


chain that I really like, so I use that now. of relaxing fishing?

Autonauts is decidedly nice – why? Surely

all gamers want to shoot and maim and Does your experience in games
nothing else, ever? journalism (still) factor in at all with your
Penn: It wasn’t a conscious decision to approach to development?
make such a nice game – not at first, Penn: My experience in games journalism
anyway. It was probably a deep-rooted has always factored in my approach to are settling down in the way that they
reaction to getting older, being a long- development. There’s a lot to be said work – the medium is more malleable
term parent, feeling sad about the way for frequent immovable deadlines, of than it was, which is good, but it feels like
the world works sometimes… There’s no having someone focused on the role of so many more interesting opportunities
political statement here, but there is a editor and tangibility. In print, there’s have been missed as a result. But, you
personal belief that we really ought to start no such thing as ‘slippage’; you run too know, we have a more stable foundation
being a lot nicer to each other and helping late, you lose your job: there are too on which to build, so... It’s not as if there’s
each other out more. I’ve definitely had many physical dependencies, too many any shortage of interesting ideas out there
enough of violence in my media. It’s not people adversely affected by your failure these days, but too often, I find myself
that there isn’t a place for it – that it’s not to deliver. You learn to adapt; most disappointed in terms of how those ideas
effective in the right context – but it’s rare importantly, you learn to make the most actually play out.
for me to experience violence in media of what you have, be that time, content, or
these days and it feels… congruous. ability. Working on print periodicals isn’t Finally, what are your plans, hopes, and
just about discipline – it’s understanding dreams for Autonauts, post-release?
and leveraging the power of editing and Potentially automating the game so it
presentation. That said, with Autonauts in manages to code itself a sequel?
particular, where there are only two of us Penn: We joked about automating
doing everything trying to make this very development… At one point, I gave
different thing, it’s so hard to make time to serious thought to the idea of a game
focus on production. that made itself, not necessarily for real
but presented as if it did. That said, I
You’re an experienced hand in the think it’d be fun to teach the Bots how to
industry, Gary – how do you see the play games, like simple sports or how to
health of modern gaming? navigate worlds like those in platformers
Penn: I like that games and gaming have and adventures and… Things like teaching
become mundane and they don’t stand bots to dungeon-crawl for you, for
out as… well, as weird any more. I think example. As we’ve developed Autonauts,
modern gaming is healthy enough in one of the hardest things of all for us to do
terms of it being easier than ever for has been to contain its potential; there are
anyone to make and share something so many different things we could do with
with the world, but it’s no easier to get the idea, and that paralysed us for a while,
noticed. I think the future of gaming… the but we had to go with something – so we
trajectory is set, which means so many did, and it seems to be working.
previous possibilities are unlikely to come
to fruition now. What I mean is, games Autonauts releases on PC very soon.

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 Attract Mode
Early Access

Edo-rable
Woodblock prints and defending towers in Yokai Moon

Y
okai Moon isn’t quite a sequel, but we looked to turn-based games from Japan
Info

GENRE
Tower defence does act as a follow-up of sorts to to prompt our artistic direction, such as Final
FORMAT
one Moonlight Fortress, another tower Fantasy IV, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, and the
PC defence game released through earlier Pokémon games. In this way, the world of
DEVELOPER itch.io. The newer title maintains Yokai Moon became our love letter to the games
A.C. Flores the fantastical air of the older one, but moves it and the stories that we loved growing up.”
PUBLISHER from Slavic folklore into the world of Japanese The game is being made using Clickteam
A.C. Flores myth. Made by a three-woman team – creative Fusion 2.5, the same tool used to make the likes
RELEASE director Abigail Flores, composer and game of Five Nights at Freddy’s and Wireframe favourite,
2019 designer Ashley Rezvani, and narrative designer Baba Is You. While it’s largely gone appreciated
Samantha Webb – Yokai Moon, as the three by the team, the drawbacks of Clickteam aren’t
told us, represents the best of each individual’s being ignored: “Game development in Clickteam
contribution to the project. Also, it looks pretty Fusion 2.5 revolves around editing a series of
nifty, but that’s just our editorialising here. events and so, by nature of the engine, we’re
“The aesthetic of Yokai Moon draws on constrained to the events that are provided
multiple different sources, from traditional for us, the team explains.
Ukiyo-e woodblock prints to present-day anime “This means there isn’t always a great way
and manga,” Flores explains. “Particularly, we of implementing relatively complex features.
Snakes? Yes, but also
wanted to create an inviting, charming world However, for what we’re trying to accomplish,


dogs, so don’t worry.

reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. Clickteam Fusion 2.5 has been very useful.
We also love the look and feel of pixel art, so The software boasts a lot of depth so it can be
quite powerful if you’re looking to create any
kind of 2D game. For developers seeking to
create 3D games, however, it might be best to
look elsewhere.
“We think that the best thing about Clickteam
Fusion 2.5 is that it’s accessible to everyone
regardless of their coding knowledge, allowing
anyone to sketch out ideas and draft quick
prototypes. The logic of the software prepares
you to learn code, which is incredibly valuable
if you ever want to start learning C# or other
programming languages.
“There’s also a great community around the
engine, so there’s always someone out there

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 Attract Mode
Early Access

who’s willing to answer questions and help you if have enjoyed working with two other intelligent,
you’re struggling.” driven, and talented women and I believe
And, of course, there’s the experience factor we’ve cultivated a safe, heartening work culture
– not just for the individuals working on Yokai between the three of us,” Rezvani says.
Moon, but through the simple fact Moonlight “I think that we have all been gracious and
Fortress acted as a smaller-scale test run calm about accepting criticisms of each other,
for the new game. “The greatest lessons we and we are respectful of each other and don’t
learned by sharing Moonlight Fortress online is interrupt each other. I think the most amazing The game’s pixel art evokes


the Edo period from which it
to never, ever assume anything will be obvious thing has been the fact that we all recognise takes inspiration.
to players and that frequent user-testing is each other’s strengths and happily let the
vital to crafting an enjoyable and intuitive game person with the most expertise take the lead
experience,” Rezvani says. “For example, even when it would make most sense, without having
though Abby was certain she had left enough to defend our own authority. This has made the
clues, a considerable number of players did development process enormously refreshing,
not understand how to complete the final task and I genuinely believe that it has improved our
in Moonlight Fortress. game by leagues.”
As we’ve worked on Yokai “Never, ever assume Asking Flores her
Moon, we’ve made sure hopes for Yokai Moon
to conduct user-testing
anything will be obvious leads to an answer
as much as possible to players” beyond the usual I hope REPRESENT
with testers from all it doesn’t fail’ you get for “I think it’s getting better,
certainly, but we’re still
backgrounds, and share our work as widely questions of this type, again with things coming
a long way off [from] the
and freely as we can to avoid this scenario back to the make-up of the team behind it: representation of women
happening again.” “The three of us want to serve as an example being where it needs to be,”
It feels a bit cynical to hoist it up the flagpole that anyone, regardless of their background or Webb tells us when asked
as a defining uality of the game, but this is still experiences, can make games,” she explains. about the visibility of women
in game dev. “You only have
an industry dominated – in the mainstream and “We hope to inspire others to get into game
to look on Twitter or other
elsewhere – by a narrow ‘type’ of developer, and development, cultivate our own little Yokai social media platforms to see
an equally narrow type of game coming from it. Moon community, and add a bit of happiness to how women are perceived
As such, Yokai Moon coming from a small-but- the world. And who can argue with that? and treated in the games
industry, especially in the
diverse team of women is worthy of note, even
dev space. I moved from the
celebration, and it’s something those working on tech industry and have only
the game have appreciated, too: “Personally, I been working in games for
just over a year now, and
one thing that has given me
 Action is of the turn- hope and continued to inspire
based variety. me is the other women I
have met, and who have
mentored, supported, and
taught me so far. Not least
having the privilege to work
with Abby and Ashley on this
project! The games industry
is full of strong, talented,
compassionate, and creative
women, and non-binary folks
as well, and with them all
working together I have no
doubt we will continue to
improve as an industry.”

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 Attract Mode
Early Access

Zombie Army 4: Dead War

When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will
star in a successful multiplayer shooter franchise

I
t’s still a bit of surprise – especially and better in every way. We added options for
Info

GENRE
Horde-’em-up if you haven’t been paying attention players, much bigger levels than any Zombie
FORMAT
to stuff and things – that the Zombie Army game we’ve seen before, a lot more
PC / PS4 / XBO Army series is as successful as it is. depth, and a lot more storyline with things to
DEVELOPER Seems people can’t get enough of the discover throughout.” Part of the new newness
Rebellion thrill of teaming with up to three other players comes in the form of perks and upgrades,
Developments and battling their way through increasingly with this offering players a broader sense of
PUBLISHER di cult waves of ombies. Who are also Na is. customisation as they make progress, allowing
Rebellion So, a horde mode, but with more questionable them to make a character very much their own.
Developments
application of real-world history. And yet here Naturally, this brings up questions of balance
RELEASE
we are: what began as a bit of a throwaway – is it something Rebellion has had to focus
2020
add-on to Sniper Elite V2 developed into its own a lot of effort on? Well, yes and no. We focus
series, became really very successful, and has heavily on balance throughout development, we
a full, proper fourth game coming in 2020 with playtest a lot internally, and we balance for one-
extra bells and whistles to boot. It’s the great to-four-player games specifically, Woodward
British indie success story, except the indie in explains. With the perk system, though, it’s
question is a relatively massive one, and the more about offering options for the game
story concerns ombies. Who are also Na is. rather than trying to balance for every single
Our heroes, in all Jordan Woodward, lead level designer on combination – that would have been a gigantic


their c rtoon
om ie- sting g or
Zombie Army 4, explains the rationale behind challenge to do. So rather than trying to balance
going back to the well once again ans were for every single combination, we focused on
basically asking for more, so we went bigger allowing people to specialise and have fun
with the perks system, trying to maximise their
gameplay with it.”
Another pivot for Zombie Army 4 is a focus
more on the storyline aspect. You’re not going to
be sat in front of Kojima-level cutscenes taking
up eight hours of your time apiece, but there is
more of a narrative thread running through the
previously mindless slaughter of the hordes.
Again, balance is key.
The story’s always there running in the
background, so if you’re interested in it there’s
a lot of depth to pick up,” Woodward explains.
r you can focus on the game as ust a ombie-

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Early Access

t s s e to s the g me s


environments owe a fair
debt to Sniper Elite 4
killing shooter. It’s not something you have to the team is now in a position where the burden
pay attention to, but there’s a lot of depth there has become a boon in a big way. I love Asura
if that’s your thing.” as an engine, Woodward says. I’ve used a ton
It’s all presented with what could potentially of different engines, and Asura is technically
be described as ‘a bit of swagger’. Rebellion is a really good, as well as being really intuitive for
confident developer at this point, long removed designers… Well, for anyone really, who’s used
from the days of the grinding output of a work- industry-standard engines. Having our own
for-hire schedule, and the ability for the team independent engine internally allows us to
to draw from recent successes has proven iterate in a way that suits us and develop the
another boon to Zombie technology that plays
Army 4. We’ve looked at “Fans were asking for to the strengths of the
what people liked about games we typically make.
Strange Brigade and Sniper
more, so we went bigger It’s massively paid off. It’s
Elite, and brought those and better in every way” competing strongly with
things across to Zombie a lot of other engines.”
Army, like the X-ray kill cams, traps, that sort of f course, making your own entire engine isn’t
thing, Woodward says. There’s also the fact something every indie can actually do – it’s not
the dev teams from the previous two titles and just the actual creation of the tool, but the ability
Zombie Army Trilogy have transitioned across to to survive a further couple of decades and be
the Zombie Army 4 team, so a lot of what people able to improve things as you go. BUT… HOW
learned on Strange Brigade, Sniper Elite 4, and ZAT Rebellion is in the unique position to be able DOES IT PLAY?
has trickled down into Zombie Army 4 as well. to use Asura at its best, and as such has focused Yeah, it usually helps to tell
That experience comes across in the game. more on the stuff that really matters to those you this stuff, doesn’t it?
Powering all of this – and most of Rebellion’s making the games: how it plays. It was evident Zombie Army 4 plays… well.
If you did pick up either
output since around 2000 – is the proprietary with Sniper Elite 4 and Strange Brigade, and – so
Sniper Elite 4 or Strange
Asura engine. Rebellion co-founder Jason far – it’s looking like it might be the case with Brigade, you’ll know roughly
Kingsley once said that the studio making its om e m   , too. what to expect – especially
own engine ‘probably wasn’t the best idea at if it was the latter you went
the time’, but decades of upgrades, updates, for. The third-person action
is snappy and satisfying,
tweaks, and experience (on the dev side) means
rarely leaving you wanting
with navigation, shooting, or
even turning tail and legging
 Situations like this will
rise consistent n re
it from an unexpected swarm
o ten high-pressure un of the undead. It’s instantly
satisfying, and there’s no
doubt it’ll be fun with friends,
but the real test will come
with those added perks and
upgrades: will they alter the
balance too much? And will
it lead to a false sense of
progress, or really bring
something solid to the table?

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 Attract Mode
News

Headlines
from the virtual front

02

03

01

02. Anti-sale to 03. Angry, or just…

increase sales
Huge news from Sony HQ as PlayStation
01. Ubi opens up No More Robots chief Mike Rose has owners around the world were served
publicly stated he thinks indie devs a diktat from the Japanese platform
Sometimes, a news story comes out should charge more money for their holder. Turns out we’re supposed to be
and you have to double-check – is this releases, along with making concerted calling it the ‘cross’ button, not the ‘ex’
something I’ve already heard? This is efforts to build stronger communities button. Apologies to anyone reading
one of those cases: Ubisoft chief Yves around their games. iting team figures, that who wasn’t sat down, we should
Guillemot said the studio will focus Rose said sales of indie games are have forewarned you. The claim came
more on open-world games in future. around 70% lower year-on-year between from the o cial lay tation Twitter
Turns out he hadn’t said it before, it ust 5 July 2018 and 6 August 2019. feed, which named the four face buttons
felt like he had, given it’s an incredibly “Games released in 2019 are making as square, triangle, circle, and cross.
obvious thing for Ubi – the studio that around half as much money as games Reactions were swift and brutal.
mainly does open-world games – to do. released in 2018,” Rose said. “Developers Not long after this vile communiqué
Speaking with GI.biz, Guillemot added are pricing their games too low – higher was handed down, 168,950 people
that he wanted Ubi’s games to cater for prices are, on average, resulting in better had voted on a Twitter poll started
those not after gigantic 150-hour epics, sales, and much better revenues… It’s by lay tation , with of them
but that the main focus would be on tricky to pin down [exactly] why this is agreeing it was, in fact, the ‘ex’ button.
crafting those gigantic beasts of games happening, but the average developer is No word at the time of writing if
which can live on for many years with pricing their game lower, which definitely PlayStation will bow down to the will of
new content being added along the way. isn’t helping them.” the people and correct its huge mistake.

KFC releases PewDiePie abandons £40k donation

dating sim. Yep to Anti-Defamation League

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 Attract Mode
News

05

All these stories

and more!
(we have more space
on the internet)
can be found over on
wfmag.cc

06

04 05. Spooktacular
In other, spookier news, a crafty hacker 06. Switchtacular
(they’re all crafty) worked their way
04. Speccytacular through the backend of P.T. – onami’s You’ve probably already seen them, if not
aborted Silent Hill proof of concept played them, but it’s still worth pointing
Aspiring Speccy developers can enter demo, directed by ideo o ima – and out ust as it took so long to happen
this year’s Yandex Retro Games Battle discovered a shocking truth doctors Nintendo has released a batch of 20
competition, held by Moscow’s Yandex didn’t want you to know: malevolent SNES games for the Switch. Huzzah!
Museum. What’s the stipulation? spirit Lisa is behind you the entire time. The selection, included with a Nintendo
Well, you need to make a game for the Well, except for when she’s in front of Online membership, includes rewind
pectrum or , it can’t use you, scaring the be ee us out of you. functionality and online multiplayer – as
any special peripherals beyond the Hacker Lance McDonald revealed well as local, of course. Get on it, if you
basics, and… that’s about it. that Lisa is attached to the player’s back, haven’t already.
Winners will be awarded cash prizes, meaning the noises you hear behind As well as the obvious big hitters of
and entries are being accepted until you – and the fact you see nothing when Super Mario World, Zelda: A Link to the
3 December. Though do remember engaging in more panic-induced turning Past, F-Zero, and so on, there are a few
to read the small print: this is not an – is all down to her actually being right outliers such as Brawl Brothers, Super
endorsement of the competition from us behind you, and not any other trickery. E.D.F. Earth Defense Force, and Joe &
– we ust think it sounds cool. Is that the spookiest development c  . Thus proving Nintendo does
wfmag.cc/speccy technique ever? Quite possibly. have a sense of humour.

The Game Awards returns 12 Dec. Nintendo releasing a ring

peripheral. For 60-odd quid

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 Attract Mode
Early Access

Paranoia: Happiness
is Mandatory
Based on the 1984 tabletop RPG, Paranoia is set
in a dystopian future of compliance and double-
dealing, with people living constantly in fear of
being removed from the population if they’re
seen – or even perceived – to be working against Gold Express
the desires and guidance of the world’s central
AI, known as Friend Computer. The video game The ever-growing growth of the Chinese
version takes that premise and sticks pretty dev scene continues its… growth, with Gold
close to it, resulting in a tactical RPG where Express offering some asymmetrical cyberpunk
opting for individuality over conformity will lead multiplayer action. It’s four versus one, with the
to all manner of problems. Mainly death. human team – the four – trying to steal data
Depending on how it all comes together, from the machine team – the one. So think
there’s a captivating premise in there – Evolve, but with more neon and without the
unsurprising given it’s based on the classic vast expectations burdening it from the get-go.
tabletop game. From what we’ve seen, Paranoia arly Access is launching imminently, and private
plays out as an XCOM-alike, bookended with betas have seen some level of success for the
role-playing choice and all that entails. The USP game, mainly in Europe and the US. One to keep
is, of course, played out when you can (“do”) turn half an eye on if you wished Evolve was pinker,
on your teammates and dob them in to Friend we’d say.
Computer, giving a boost to your standing in
the world and, thus, a higher security clearance
to make your way around and explore. Simple,
straightforward, honest dishonesty. Hopefully,
the game will make us happy by choice, though.

Seed
Klang Games’ Seed is, right now, still in a very
early stage. Announced over two years ago,
it’s playable – we played it – but it’s light on
content for the time being. All this is set to
change, of course, and plans are in motion to
make this an innovative, unique MMO coupling
organic community-building with a persistent,
supermassive game world. Just remember,
it’s not ‘conquering planets’, it’s ‘making
them habitable’.

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Early Access

Overwatch
This little-known indie darling is making a move few
others have in recent memory: a port to Nintendo’s
unloved Switch console. Huzzah for false statements!
No, but really, Overwatch is coming to Switch, that
bit’s true. ow well it’ll run is anyone’s guess, but we’ll find
out by 15 October when it releases.

Deadly Premonition 2:
A Blessing in Disguise
Just when you thought it was safe Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro and sees
to stop washing, thus making our hero agent York investigating
a swarm of flies follow you a serial killer in New Orleans. If it’s
wherever you go, an unexpected even half as idiosyncratic as the
se uel appears. Deadly Premonition first game, we’re in for a treat when
2 is being directed by series creator this releases on Switch.

Ary and the

Secret of Seasons
The Zelda influences are sure to grab your attention,
but Ary’s actual mechanics are worth sticking around
to see. The hero’s powers include the ability to create
spheres containing localised seasons – for example,
water becomes traversable with use of winter powers, as
it becomes frozen. A simple concept, seemingly executed
well, this is looking like a solid adventure to get stuck into.

Edgar - Bokbok in Boulzac

Look at the screenshot for this one. Now if you said
‘That’s a cosmic horror point-and-click game full of
witty dialogue and with a chicken sidekick’, you’ve
been reading our notes. Edgar sees the titular outcast
venturing into the bright lights of the titular Boulzac,
alongside his titular companion Bokbok, as a result of
a disaster forcing the move. In the city, where a fire has
been burning underground for 800 years, a mystery
awaits, and a conspiracy theory is ready to be uncovered.
eveloper  a  oule Noire operates as a co-operative
too, which is another thing that has us focusing our laser
sights (in a good way) on this one.

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A Symphony of Shadows

A SYMPHONY
OF SHADOWS
The music of Jesper Kyd
Assassin’s Creed II composer Jesper Kyd talks exclusively
about his two-decade-long career

WRITTEN BY MATTHIAS SUNDSTRÖM

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A Symphony of Shadows

or years, Jesper Kyd’s

r e e e u
e e u r
re g i e i e g e
r i e ei i g
ei er Borderlands 3 marks Kyd’s
ur ri u i e u r
erie i e e urre r
r erie er ee r i g
e e r Assassin’s Creed II i u i
r e r i e i re e egi
i er Kyd, pictured here in the

studio, has crafted scores that
The end of the year will also see the release of h e efine the soun o
multiple video game franchises
an expansive, long-awaited vinyl release of Kyd’s for the past two decades.
much-lauded work on the Hitman franchise,
spanning his scores from 2000’s Hitman:
Codename 47 through to Hitman: Blood Money.
yd’s first foray into music came at an early THE SETUP
age, as he regularly wrote original compositions Sub-Terrania’s success prompted the team to
on the family piano. It wasn’t until Kyd received move to America, where they remained for
a Commodore 64 at the age of 13, however, five years, before returning to openhagen to
that he started to realise the full potential establish IO. Kyd, meanwhile, opted to remain
that computer technology could have for in New York to focus on his career, but it
musical arrangement. wasn’t long before IO approached him with the
“When the Commodore 64 came around, opportunity to work on their very first title –
there was suddenly a way to put all of those Hitman: Codename 47.
arrangements together,” he recalls. “You could “The only brief I was really given was that
have a theme, and you could have something they wanted something unique and original,”
arranged around Kyd recalls.
the theme. You “It was very
could have a “THE ONLY BRIEF I WAS REALLY GIVEN much a process
bass line. You WAS THAT THEY WANTED SOMETHING of creative
could make UNIQUE AND ORIGINAL” freedom I had
some percussive been working
stuff happen And that was the first time that with these people from the demoscene days,
I felt like I could put everything together into a so I had proven myself and they trusted my
cohesive piece of music. It was almost like you instincts, so in that respect, it was more about
didn’t have to sit and play everything. You could finding out what the NA of this game is and, as
put it in, and then you could sit back and listen a gamer myself, what would I want this game to
to it, and that really fascinated me.” sound like?”
Kyd’s curiosity led him to the international Kyd’s work on Hitman: Codename 47 set the
demoscene, a computer-art subculture focused bar for stealth scores to come, particularly as
on creating collaborative, audio-visual demos. the game represented one of the very first
It was here that Kyd met the future founders examples of truly interactive music. “There was
of IO Interactive, David Guldbrandsen, Karsten an interactive music system [Direct Music] built
Hvidberg, and Jesper Jørgensen, with whom he into that game, and it was a very challenging
would later found the game developer Zyrinx, programme to work in,” says Kyd. “It was almost
which went on to create Sub-Terrania for the like a database programme, whereas today you
Sega Mega Drive. have very creative music programmes

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A Symphony of Shadows

STAYING like Cubase or Pro Tools. Back then, I found this Undeterred, Kyd set about immersing

POWER programme was so stifling my creativity that

I had to write all of my music outside of the
himself in orchestral music, which proved to
be a formative experience that would go on
“I like to think that the music,
programme and then somehow try to fit it back to shape his composing process today. “I was
when you listen to it outside of
the game, will help draw you in]. That was a big challenge.” totally taken aback by the whole experience,
back. It’s one of those things When it came to the sequel, Hitman 2: Silent so that’s something that I added to my palette
that’s perhaps not talked about Assassin, Kyd faced a new hurdle: the prospect of sounds and music styles,” he muses. “I really
much, but I do feel that when I of recording a video game soundtrack with a appreciate IO Interactive for that. They really
listen to soundtracks, if I listen full symphony orchestra – an idea proposed to helped me connect that interest that I now have
to the score for First Blood by him by the CEO in orchestral
Jerry Goldsmith, one of my of IO Interactive, music I ended
favourite scores, I’m like, ‘I want
Janos Flösser. “WRITING A SCORE ABOUT MANHATTAN up being able to
to watch that movie again.’
“Janos was a BEING INVADED BY A FOREIGN POWER, blend all of these
And I don’t see how that can’t
happen with games, either…
big orchestral IT ALL CONNECTED IN MY HEAD” different music
When they come out with a music fan, and styles together.
sequel, guess what? You don’t he had some connections with the Budapest [But] just because I am now fascinated with
need a reminder. It’s already in Symphony Orchestra and Choir, so he had this orchestral music, it doesn’t mean that I’m going
your head.” idea to bring in a fully symphonic score for the to stop writing electronic music. I don’t just
second one,” Kyd tells us. “I had never written move on. I like to keep everything intact, moving
a symphonic score before, so this was just forward with all of the different things I do.
another one of those crazy challenges that seem Kyd built on this experience with his work on
to happen quite often in my career where I had IO’s much-loved standalone title, 2003’s Freedom
no idea how to do this, and I’m like, Are you sure Fighters. A collaboration with the ungarian
you have the right guy?’” Radio Choir, its score built on the groundwork

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laid by Silent Assassin’s unique sound and was

heavily inspired by what was happening in
America at the time. CREED’S DNA
“I remember writing a lot of the music “Ubisoft gave me three key words,”
right after 9/11 happened,” Kyd recalls. “I was says Kyd. “‘Tragic’, because of the
time period; ‘war’, because there
in Europe at the time, trying to get back to
was a lot of war going on back
anhattan It was very di cult to get back, but
then; and ‘mysticism’. ‘Mysticism’
we were finally able to get back in, and you see
is something that I really grabbed
this stuff, and you can clearly see how this city onto and that became the DNA
ust changed overnight itting and having to of my sound for Assassin’s Creed
write a score about Manhattan being invaded by in general, and the three future
a foreign power, it all kind of connected in my Assassin’s Creed games that I
head, and I was able to use a lot of what I was worked on. It really became a big
feeling to put into the Freedom Fighters score.” building block.”

THE CLEAN-UP
Hitman: Contracts, the third title in the series, It was a fusion of genres that few video
was released in 2004. It saw Kyd experimenting game composers had dabbled in before, and
further, shifting away from choral sounds to effectively offered yd the chance to write his
electronica and something altogether more own rulebook. At that time, there wasn’t a lot
sinister. “The brief really was how dark this of music being written where orchestra and
game was going to be, he says. Agent is electronics were being blended together,”
stuck in a hotel room, wounded, and having he says. There weren’t a tonne of references
these flashbacks of his life while the rench out there that I could go and listen to... I felt very
police are approaching his apartment. It’s a very much on my own throughout that whole thing
dark premise. There really is kind of no hope and I think the way I look at it is, I took a lot The Symphony of the


Shadows is a unique concert
when you’re thrown into that world, and that’s of risks and a lot of chances, and I had a lot of devoted entirely to Kyd’s
something that we really wanted the score fun with that. I think that reflects in the music work from both Assassin’s
Creed II and the entire
to reflect. I really was able to get inside the head of Agent Hitman franchise.
As the game itself reworked several It kind of ust flowed, because
environments and missions from Codename 47, I knew at that point exactly what I
Contracts served as an opportunity for Kyd to was doing.”
revisit themes and ideas that he’d been unable
to explore due to technical limitations at the A NEW SET OF TARGETS
time of Codename 47’s production. “I’d always Following the release of Blood
wanted to go back and create an updated sound Money, the Hitman series went on
of Codename 47, so I really wanted to bring in hiatus for several years. Kyd didn’t
everything that this electronic sound could be return to the franchise again, but
for Hitman, and that’s why I felt that that was he wasn’t quite done with the
my goal.” stealth genre. Ubisoft Montreal
As yd’s final entry in the franchise, the were already hard at work on a
soundtrack for Hitman: Blood Money served new IP, and it had all the hallmarks
as a culmination of the various palettes that of a great Jesper Kyd project
Kyd had been playing with throughout the written all over it.
franchise, blending elements of orchestral “I was pitched this idea in a
and electronic music to create one of his most hotel room at E3,” he recalls. “They
distinctive scores to date. “I wanted to combine showed me the concept art, and I
Contracts’ electronics with the orchestra of Silent was like, This is cra y ou can go
Assassin to create the ultimate version of what anywhere in the environment that
the Hitman score should sound like,” he says. you want? You can scale buildings?’
When Blood Money came around, it was more Nobody had done that before.
like, take everything I’ve learned and find a way At that time, the only thing that
to blend them together.” even came close was Grand Theft

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A Symphony of Shadows

writing or doing this kind of stuff for a video

game. It just felt so new.”
Assassin’s Creed’s blend of historical settings
and contemporary science fiction greatly
influenced yd’s creative process. The Animus,
a machine that transplants the player from the
present day to the Holy Land during the Third
rusade, played a significant role in shaping
the game’s sound. With the Animus, we take
everything and make it sound like it’s coming
through a filter to remind you that you’re in
some kind of simulator,” says Kyd. “That put a
spin on everything I wrote.”
Scoring the sequences in which the player has
to make a hasty exit from the Animus following
an assassination also proved to be a huge
undertaking, largely because of the way the
audio coalesced with the unique visual aspects
STANDING OUT of the Animus. robably the most di cult thing
for Assassin’s Creed was the chase sequences,”
“As long as I can keep going to new places, I feel like I have something to offer when it comes to
creating something that stands out, or perhaps is a bit more unique… If you ask me to do something Kyd recalls. “When you’re playing those escape
I’ve never done before, I can’t tell you what it’s going to sound like, but I know I’m going to keep sequences, we really wanted it to feel like the
working on this until something interesting happens, and that’s what I’m still doing to this day.” Animus was being pushed to the limit.

Auto III, which had ust been released They had IMPROVISING UNDER PRESSURE
ust figured out how to take Grand Theft Auto When it came to working on Assassin’s Creed II,
and put it in a 3D environment, which to me Kyd was already well-versed in the art of upping
felt like a bit of a revolution. And so the second the ante, and the advantages and disadvantages
revolution, to me, was Assassin’s Creed.” of working on a sequel. “The games industry
The rest, of course, is history. The Assassin’s is one of those rare places where you have a
Kyd’s work shaped and


efine the soun o the Creed universe would go on to become Kyd’s sequel and it’s often usually better than the
Hitman franchise for more
than half a decade.
playground for several years, with original,” he muses. “The sequel is usually
him working on four titles from 2007 where you get to do what you wanted to do,
to 2011, later passing the mantle to a but perhaps didn’t get to do previously There
line of successive composers. might be some themes that you bring back, but
As well as building on his stealth- you still have to rewrite those themes to fit with
genre roots, the series also granted the new storyline or new location, and I often
him an opportunity to experiment put a lot of pressure on myself when working on
with a wealth of environmental a franchise and coming back to a franchise – I
challenges and unique play states always like to explore new areas, and it’s not so
that had indeed never been seen in much outdo myself, but I like to keep trying to
a game before, let alone considered explore new things.”
from an audio perspective. One thing that continues to surprise Kyd is
There was so much new stuff the enduring legacy of the game’s main theme,
happening in this that nobody Ezio’s Family, which has gone on to attain a
had ever attempted to do before,” life of its own, both as a recurring motif within
he recalls excitedly. “Gameplay the franchise and as a piece of music in its
elements, such as sitting on a bench, own right. “It’s great to see that it’s outlived its
eavesdropping that needed music. original purpose,” he laughs. “I don’t think I could
Then the character you eavesdrop on have named that track better, too. It’s very much
gets up and starts walking off – you tied to Ezio, but it is also able to transcend its
have a choice. Do you want to follow original purpose. When I hear Ezio’s Family in all
him? I had never heard of anyone these Assassin’s Creed games, I think more about

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A Symphony of Shadows

the sacrifice that the assassins go through to

become who they are. That’s what that theme “WHEN YOU’RE PLAYING THOSE ESCAPE SEQUENCES,
represents to me now when I listen to it.” WE WANTED IT TO FEEL LIKE THE ANIMUS WAS
This year sees the return of the Borderlands BEING PUSHED TO THE LIMIT”
franchise, the open-world RPG shooter series,
which Kyd has scored since its inception
in  . An entirely different proposition to the Assassin’s Creed II’s tenth anniversary and its
likes of Hitman and Assassin’s Creed, the series enduring musical legacy – something that yd is
has evolved since yd first came aboard, from still touched by to this day.
a gritty, realistic art style to the cel-shaded look “It’s hard to put into words, but it’s quite
and feel that has come to define it. amazing to think something that was written
that long ago still remains a type of blueprint,”
UNSETTLED SCORES he says. “It’s a great thing that the fans and the
At the time, I hadn’t written a tonne of music, so game players have kept this music alive. The fact
it didn’t really affect me in a big way, yd recalls. that it’s out in symphony halls around the world
“But it did suddenly become something that and is being played by orchestras – that is really The groundwork laid down


on the first our
looked a little more ‘gamey’, a little more fun. something that blows my mind.” Assassin’s Creed games
can still be heard in the
That’s how I see Borderlands It’s a good franchise today.
time. And that’s something that I really feel
Borderlands 3 represents as well.”
The franchise’s expansive apocalyptic setting,
combined with its RPG elements, also granted
Kyd license to experiment with sounds that
are led less by a linear narrative and more by
the player’s own choices. “I very much felt I was
given more creative freedom, because there
weren’t so many restrictions due to all of the
little gameplay things you have to play with.
It was more like an open world, and I interpreted
the different environments and wrote themes
for them.”
Borderlands 3 has provided Kyd with an
opportunity to branch out further with a new
music system, which integrates music and
interactive elements in exciting ways. “I’ve
had to write music in ways that I’ve never had
to before, he explains. A lot of the music is
constantly evolving and never goes back
The first few music cues were written completely
outside of the music system, in order to put all
the focus on finding the sound of the score first.
Once we had the sound, I started to focus more
on making the music work with it... I’ve really
been striving to find what the Borderlands sound
is and what it represents for me. And I think that,
with this one, I’ve come closer to that than any of
the other Borderlands games.”
For now, Kyd is focused on the upcoming
Symphony of the Shadows concert at the
Game Music Festival in Poland this October,
which celebrates his contributions to both the
Assassin’s Creed and Hitman franchises. It follows
a series of celebratory concerts marking

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Interactive

Interactive You agree to help the


enigmatic fox, but can
he really be trusted?

Taru Taro Legends

We chat to the trio of international developers behind a
browser-based platformer steeped in Japanese lore

A
bit of advice for newcomers: Axe placement aside, there are plenty of
Are you a solo if you’re exploring Taru Taro other mysteries left to uncover. As the game
developer working Legends’ leafy world for the starts, its young hero Taro encounters a white
on a game you first time, don’t do what this fox, who’s blindfolded and, thanks to some
want to share with
Wireframe? If you’d hapless writer did, and plough on unknown curse, chained to an empty rice wine
like to have your through the level without taking note of the axe barrel. etermined to find his missing friends,
project featured in sitting high up in a tree right at the beginning. Taro agrees to carry the barrel for the fox, and
these pages, get Without first climbing sets off on his side-
in touch with us at
wfmag.cc/hello a bough and grabbing “Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, scrolling adventure.
the weapon, you’ll be The origins and
Metal Slug, and Sonic the
defenceless against intentions of just who
the barrage of flying Hedgehog are all cited and what the fox is
insects, and pretty a in n isn’t known to the
much guaranteed player at the start of
to die within seconds. rab the axe, and you the game, tr bi says. ince the fox needs
discover that the game’s world is an awful lot Taro to carry the barrel, there’s a who’s-helping-
bigger – and friendlier to navigate – than it who’ element that might make players question
initially appears. the fox’s motives.
In fairness, browser-based platform adventure o begins a free-roaming etroidvania,
Characters are drawn with Taru Taro Legends is still at a relatively early where you explore the landscape in search


pencil and paper before

the re tr ce n refine stage of development, and designer ilvan of energy-reviving fruit and items you can use
in Illustrator. tr bi is already thinking about making the to progress. As you’ve probably gathered by
axe a bit easier to spot in later builds. “I watch now, Taru Taro Legends is steeped in Japanese
other people play in front of me as much as culture, from the folklore that runs through its
possible to see where they’re having issues, story and characters to the arcade games that
tr bi says. or example, most players miss the inspire its action: Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Metal
first weapon placed on the first branch, so we Slug, and Sonic the Hedgehog are all cited as
have to consider making it more obvious rather influences. The small team behind Taru Taro are,
than mysterious. however, properly global tr bi once lived in

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 Interface
Interactive

The barrel Taro carries can also be used as a



shield to protect him from enemy attacks.

apan, but is now based in wit erland graphic

artist Rubén Peña was born in the Dominican
Republic and spent his formative years in the or the game’s bold, cartoon-like graphics,
before moving to saka sound designer meanwhile, e a sketches out his characters
Troy anning is also an saka resident, but on paper before redrawing and animating them
is originally from anada. Together, the trio with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Animate
have spent the past three years or so creating respectively. ostly, though, Taru Taro Legends is
their platform adventure in their spare time – developed using open-source software like Tiled
or in the hours between hours, as anning – used to build its levels – and p . s, a physics
memorably puts it. library that gives the game some unexpected
glimmers of realism. It’s possible, for example,
DESIGN, DEVELOP, DRUM to throw an axe straight up in the air to kill a
Each member of the team is an expert in their flying enemy – but if you don’t get out of the way,
respective fields – tr bi is a web developer you can easily be injured as the weapon comes
by trade, anning is a drummer and former tumbling back down to earth. This latter aspect
hip-hop band member, while e a’s a freelance is particularly important to tr bi I like games
designer and illustrator – but none have been which have real-world physics, a sense of reality,
involved in making a game before, and so Taru or at least reality in their own logic. 2D games
Taro Legends’ production has also proved to be where enemies also get wounded by spikes and
something of a learning process. ays tr bi As where enemies could kill each other.
this is our first attempt, we often stumble into Work on Taru Taro Legends is still ongoing, but
uncharted territory, making mistakes, learning the team has big plans for it, whether it’s refining
about game development and the tools we are its levels and ironing out bugs, or coming up with
using as we develop our game. Needless to say, new challenges and minigames their goal is to
the learning part is the most time-consuming. enter the game in next year’s Bit ummit – apan’s
The team have also been careful to tailor huge annual games expo. ntil then, you can
the game not only to their skills, but also the freely explore its mystery-filled world for yourself Peña regularly shares his


work-in-progress on
resources they have to hand. “At the time we at tarutarolegends.com. Just remember: if you Twitter. “It’s a good way to
give the audience an
started, there was no nity for inux, and at the really must throw an axe in the air, be sure to get in-depth look at how our
same time, my home was ust too slow to out of the way before it lands. game is made,” he says.
run Windows, tr bi explains. That left me with
T game engine haser as the framework.
Also, T games run anywhere – we’re very
happy that anybody with a medium-powered SPOOKY UNDERPINNINGS
device can play our game in their browser. Among his inspirations, illustrator Rubén Peña cites GeGeGe no Kitar as a reference point for
“I’ve had to pool every resource available to Taru Taro Legends ’ folklore and character designs. Beginning as a manga series created by
me, anning concurs. The soundtrack was Shigeru Mizuki in 1960, GeGeGe no Kitar tells the surreal and often darkly funny tale of a lonely
ghost boy – the Kitar of the title – and his encounters with assorted ghouls and monsters.
almost entirely produced on a 1993 Korg X3
Widely credited with bringing traditional Japanese legends back into modern consciousness,
workstation that was given to me by a friend the manga spawned an astonishing array of animated shows, movies, and video games.
who ran a studio in saka that went bankrupt. Without Kitar , we probably wouldn’t have Level-5’s media-hopping franchise, Yo-Kai Watch – or,
The fox’s voice is my neighbour, who ust less memorably, the early NES game, Ninja Kid, which began life in Japan as a GeGeGe no Kitar
tie-in before its graphics were changed for its release in America.
happens to have a cool Toshiro ifune kind of
voice. Taro’s voice is my five-year-old son.

wfmag.cc \ 25
 Interface
Column

“It’s (not) the

Real Thing”
I
’ve been playing Fallout 4’s Nuka-World The dystopian plots usually revolve around the
. oofing it through postapocalyptica negative possibilities of integrated tech, like the
with a customised robot companion and rules of relationships in virtual reality or the
shooting raiders in the face has always dangers of using biotech for a responsive user
been fun, but I was surprised to find that experience. owever, you’re reading an article by
Nuka-World, though vast, felt constrictive. It’s a bit possibly the world’s only oogle lass fan. o I’d
like an ocean tuna transported to a nice a uarium counter that there is so much positive stuff that
that’s chock-full of specially constructed tuna- comes out of merging games and reality, whether
LOTTIE BEVAN tainment but where the coral’s all made of plastic. that’s encouraging people to exercise with Zombies,
Lottie’s a producer and art of the reason for this, I think, is that Nuka- Run! or the huge entertainment value in League of
co-founder of award- World is in a separate area from the rest of the Legends’ augmented reality opening ceremonies, or
winning narrative
microstudio Weather game there’s not much interaction between Nuka- ust the spicing up of a tedious commute to work
Factory, best known for World and the ommonwealth. It got me thinking on the Tube.
Cultist Simulator. She’s about partitioning in games, and particularly – as o games seem to be trending towards a more
one of the youngest
female founders in I rummaged through another bin full of clinking, integrated game reality experience. ddly, the
the industry, a current thinly-veiled allegories for corporate America – industry still seems rather separatist. We’re
BAFTA Breakthrough
about the partition between games and real life. connected to neighbouring industries like film
Brit, and founder of
Coven Club, a women ames are at once very separate and very close and T through organisations like BA TA, but
in games support to the real world. n one hand, we no longer there’s far less overlap than you might expect.
network. She produces,
markets, bizzes and believe that violent video games encourage actual ost people outside of the industry, including
arts, and previously violence, or that pouring hours into Final gamers, have little to no idea how games are made,
worked on Fallen Fantasy XV has any demonstrable effect other than and most developers know people who ust on’t
London, Sunless
Sea, Zubmariner, reducing the amount of time you spend with your et what the hell we do in our obs. perating on
and Sunless Skies friends. n the other, we see games we’ve been our own terms has both good and bad effects
as producer at
bingeing behind our eyelids when we go to sleep. the good is that there’s a lot of new and exciting
Failbetter Games.
Nuka-World does have something to say about things going on, while the industry itself is healthy
the emptiness of mass-consumerism. And when and expanding. The bad is that we don’t yet have
I visited the uomo in lorence, the first thing I the structure to ensure everyone gets treated
thought wasn’t how glorious and ineffable the well, resulting in everything from crunch to low
architecture was, but I climbed that bit as io’. salaries to mistreating each other without much
A number of Black Mirror episodes highlight the established process to help.
uneasy relationship between games and reality. I suspect the industry will follow its tech and
become more connected with the wider world.
o I wonder what this will do to its products. Will we
see our narratives change, focusing on subtle
“Most people human dramas rather than fantasy playgrounds?
Will tech really trend towards wearables, and will
outside of
A defeat because it integrates rather than
the industry, partitions the real and the unreal?
including I’d guess at least that we’ll see a wider variety of
gamers, have games, as the industry starts incorporating a wider
range of influences, with shifting target audiences
little to no idea
of complex psychographics rather than fans’
how games or likes shooters’. Now, though back to rummaging
Fallout 4 ’s Nuka-World – the scariest
are made”


fiction theme p r since rust n through bins.

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 Toolbox
Contents

Toolbox
The art, theory, and production of video games
28. Design Principles
The thinking behind Atari’s
infamous E.T. tie-in

30. CityCraft
Using recognisable
landmarks in your game

32. Game Audio Part 1

How sound can transform
the player experience

36. Ren’Py
Create your debut visual
novel in our handy guide

40. Source Code

Make your own keyboard-
bashing minigame

42. Directory
Code Club’s Shaun the n m r s c n he p orient the p er


n gi e our g me sense o histor

Sheep competition in out more on p ge

e our first isu no e in the ree



g me engine Ren P ee p ge

wfmag.cc \ 27
 Toolbox
Advice

The principles
of game design
What was the thinking behind the infamous E.T.?
Here’s the truth, straight from its creator

AUTHOR
HOWARD SCOTT WARSHAW
Howard is a video game pioneer who authored
several of Atari’s most famous and infamous titles.
onceuponatari.com

“
W
hat were you thinking? The first choice is the genre. What kind
After nearly four decades of game will fit the bill? There are a number
of talking with people of basic game types combat, racing, action
about the E.T. video game, pattern, pu le, and sports. ombat, racing
this uestion still rears its and action pattern games all share the same
ugly head. sually in close proximity to h my liability tuning. They re uire striking a delicate
od, all those pits balance of challenge and reward. This takes lots
What was I thinking? mm. With your of time, which I do not have. u le-solving takes
permission, I’d like to settle this once and for time to think up little tricks and nuances and
all at least until the next time someone asks. clue planting – time I do not have. And sports
The big thing about E.T. was actually the little games need artificial intelligence to make the
thing the schedule. At a time when video games computer opponent worth playing, which sucks
ith itt e more th n fi e
typically took at least six months to develop, up most of the development schedule. I need


weeks to complete the game,

Howard spent unfathomably I had five weeks to deliver a completed game for something different.
long hours at his workstation.
a high-profile property.
E.T. ’s map layout was I usually have time to play around and SHIFTING FOCUS


essentially laid out around

a cube – an ingenious idea, experiment. Not on this occasion. I need a I shift my thinking, focusing on the basics. At its
but one that had a tendency
to confuse players.
strategy to get the most results with the least essence, a game is simply a goal in a specific
risk. I get one shot and I’ve got to make it count environment with a set of rules, obstacles, and
by allocating my resources wisely. It’s a good a well-defined start. What makes a game good?
thing I have a degree in economics. That’s easy, a game is good if it’s fun to play.
nfortunately, fun is very di cult to define or
predict – I ust know it when I see it. There are,
however, some common themes that good
games share.
In my opinion, one significant factor in a
game’s entertainment value is the relationship
of game rules to game possibilities. The best
games, the classic games, have the magic
balance of few rules and a huge number of
possible outcomes. Take hess for instance,
or Backgammon. And the uintessential model
for thousands of years, o. imple rules,
vast hori ons.
This formula is especially useful for good
video games, because game rules cost

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 Toolbox
Advice

programming time. ewer and simpler rules are

uicker to program. Therefore, I need a game
with few rules and a simple environment which
combine to create lots of possibilities.
ow about a treasure hunt game? The basic
treasure hunt game goes something like this
find some treasure. Is this enough treasure?
No, get more treasure. When I have enough,
take it to the bank and win the game. The game
components are simple pieces of treasure,
places to hide them, obstacles to increase the
challenge, and some way to use the treasure
to win the game. I only have to tune the basic
process of finding the treasure and using it.
This sounds like something I can make happen
in five weeks.

“Fewer and simpler

rules are quicker
to program”

But meeting the time challenge isn’t enough. Released to a huge marketing


campaign in December 1982,
What about longevity or replayability? I can make E.T. so e ut re ie s ere
the game shorter, but it still has to have legs. .T. assembles a phone from a variety of unk. poor, and Atari produced a
huge o ersupp o c rtri ges
The key feature of the treasure hunt game nce assembled, he uses it to call home.
is the fact you can actually win it. With the Then he must find a way to evade interfering
exception of Warren obinett’s Adventure, most humans and board the returning ship.
video games of the era had no win’ condition.
layers played until they ran out of lives, trying PHONE HOME
to set new high scores. It’s the ow- igh-Is- p It’s a beautiful, multilayered structure of uests.
model of gaming. This is because most thinking Number one find all the phone pieces hidden
about home game creation was based on in various places pits). Number two find the
the arcade paradigm. aving a win condition place to call home among all the locations’ in Spielberg’s
makes no sense in an arcade game because the world. Number three find the designated Suggestion
you need people to keep pumping uarters into landing one in the forest while avoiding the hen first resented my
the machine. But home gaming? Not so much. humans) in time to meet the ship. design to te en ielberg,
he suggested do a ac an
ow do you keep a winnable’ game fresh? Three successive treasure hunts, each
like game sus ect he was
If I can make the basic mechanics of the game building on the last. As long as I have enough thinking about the action
en oyable enough i.e. finding, collecting, and phone pieces, pits, locations, and ones, the se uence near the end of the
using treasure), the player will want to do it random redistribution each time hopefully mo ie, with lliott running
again after they succeed. Then I randomly creates a challenge fresh enough to motivate around town the ma e and
eo le chasing him the
redistribute the treasure for another round, the player to try again particularly if executing
ghosts is friends are hel ing
and if there are enough hiding places, then the the search and rescue feels fun). The player him along the way, and ’s
challenge level should be maintained. This could will be  .T. This way, they can have special in the basket as a wild card for
give the game some life. powers more credibly, and it’s probably a s ecial owers t’s a erfectly
reasonable conce t for a
o how does all this fit with the movie? more interesting graphic than lliott. The game
ideo game ’d considered it
After all, at some point in the E.T. video game practically designs itself. Nothing else to it but initially, but getting something
design process, I’m going to have to account generating assets and coding. This could work like this rogrammed and
for the teven pielberg film it was meant to be And there you have it. The next time you or layable at an acce table
based on. someone you know asks what that guy was le el was unlikely to ha en in
fi e weeks
When I think about the treasure hunt model thinking when he made the E.T. video game
in the context of the E.T. movie, it goes like this This is what I was thinking.

wfmag.cc \ 29
 Toolbox
Advice

Landmarks
an ifi
There’s a good reason why King Kong
only ever climbed iconic buildings

AUTHOR
KONSTANTINOS DIMOPOULOS
Konstantinos Dimopoulos is a game urbanist and designer, combining a PhD
in urban planning with video games. He is the author of the forthcoming Virtual
Cities atlas, designs game cities, and consults on their creation. game-cities.com

C
ities are about the life and of the city and everyday experience. They’re
societies they contain, but they can handy for navigation, and are often used to
Natural sometimes be summed up by their provide directions (“The pub’s on the left,
Landmarks most famous buildings: landmarks next to the great tower”) or serve as common
Dramatic topographic features, that encapsulate local daily life, meeting points. Landmarks can vary greatly in
vast ancient forests, and societal aspirations, historic achievements, function, shape, size, and even visibility, as their
so-called natural monuments
and dominant ideologies. These edifices can perception is up to a point always subjective
such as Mount Fuji, the hills of
Rio de Janeiro, Lake Geneva, become iconic, and define a city’s character – there is, after all, such a thing as a personal
or the L-shape of the Thames they’re often considered recognisable enough landmark. That colourful shop we pass on
as it crosses central London to act as a logo or trademark as a summary of our daily walk to the o ce? That’s a personal
can function as perfectly
a city’s identity. landmark, just like the brightly painted home of
memorable landmarks.
Adding natural elements like The Parthenon and the Athenian Acropolis an oft-visited friend.
these to an imaginary city will around it, the Colosseum in Rome, London’s Big
give it another layer of richness Ben, New York’s Empire State Building, Christ the SIGNATURE BUILDINGS
and character, as well as more Redeemer in Rio De Janeiro, and the Forbidden In video games, level design should give players
points to navigate by.
City in Beijing are all synonymous with the cities the chance to make personal landmarks, and
in which they were built. should also provide recognisable buildings that
Besides being recognisable, landmarks also will serve as the focus for their setting. The latter
tend to function as spatial points of reference. are the objective landmarks, if you will: the
They instantly draw the gaze, and thus become waypoints players can mentally note and use as
part of the citizens’ (or visitors’) mental map reference points for other important locations,
just as you might remember where a jazz club
is in relation to the Empire State Building in
real-world Manhattan. These grand landmarks
should be important and imposing enough to
define an area, or even a whole metropolis.
A landmark gives us a simple way of
describing a city. As in real life, they should be
recognisable, sport a distinct architectural style,
carry some sort of historical significance, and be
ideologically important to the city. ike the iffel
Tower and the Sydney Opera House, and like
Perdido Street Station in China Miéville’s novel
 The Citadel in Half-
Life 2 ’s City 17 not only of the same name, such buildings are shorthand
establishes who rules for the city itself. See the Space Needle, and you
the place, but also acts
as a clear gameplay goal. instantly think of Seattle.

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 Toolbox
Advice

The Brandenburg Gate is often regarded as



the symbol of Berlin. Photo by Runner1928.

 Pathologic 2 ot
town landmarks
have to make
Though few things last forever, landmarks immediate sense.
carry a sense of permanence, even as history
changes societies and upsets political realities.
Old, usually minor, landmarks are sometimes
destroyed, though many societies seem to
like claiming some sort of continuity and thus
prefer building new ones while preserving the
older ones. The iffel Tower was a symbol of
a new industrial era that no longer needed
the old Parisian palaces, just as London’s Sometimes a single landmark


is enough to imply an urban
cathedrals gave way – without being destroyed environment. Here’s the Super
– to vast, iconic train stations and eventually, Common characteristics of landmark buildings Computer Complex from
Space Quest IV.
corporate skyscrapers. include their si e and scale, significance, and
purpose, as well as their defining architecture,
DESIGNING GAME LANDMARKS which often influences the wider styles of
So, how do we make an objectively recognisable, an urban region. A clear, unique form is also
memorable landmark for a game city? ow can important, as is positioning: it’s no accident
we add gravitas to a virtual edifice? Well, first that Florence’s Duomo is visible from both
of all, we must make sure our landmarks fit near and far away. What’s more, buildings are
our world. The weird and unsettling Abattoir easier to identify when contrasted against their
of Pathologic, the ruined background (the Acropolis On Monuments
tower in Destiny’s Last City, against the sky, say, or Landmarks don’t have to
“Gameplay is a key be part of the flows of the
and the Combine Citadel of the Sydney Opera House
Half-Life 2’s City 17 are all
on i ation w n against the sea), and have
contemporary city. They can
be, and usually actually are,
fine examples. The latter designing a landmark” been placed in prominent remnants of a past that exists
in particular, an out-of- locations such as a great separately from the city’s daily
activities. These monuments
proportion behemoth that is both otherworldly civic axis, a hill, a major junction, or surrounded
often describe how a
and strikingly new, is more than just the by open, low-density areas. society views itself; they’re
expression of alien dominance on Earth – it’s an Occasionally organising an entire game city expressions of cultural
instant gameplay goal. See it, and you instantly around a landmark can thus work wonderfully. heritage, and a constant as
want to reach it. Even after the details of City 17 The Cathedral at the core of Anor Londo in life around them evolves.
They’re often considered
have faded, the tower lingers in the memory. Dark Souls dominates everything around it, and worthy of preservation even
Gameplay is therefore a key consideration sits at the prominent end of the city’s raised under extreme conditions
when designing a landmark. Historical context promenade (a major axis). It’s the heart of the such as war.
should be another one, as it greatly influences city, the plot, and gameplay, and definitely looks
architectural styles, the building’s possible the part. Oh, and do note that emphasising
functions, and even placement. A central Gothic landmarks in games is much easier than in
cathedral – a place of worship but also social real life. We can give them the backstories and
interactions – would be perfect for a burgeoning names that will truly make them shine play epic
medieval city, whereas floors of corporate music when first they come into view light them
o ce space will show economic dynamism in a to stand out from their environs and even make
contemporary setting. the weather part of their very own backdrop.

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 Toolbox
Game audio part 1: Voices and listeners

Game audio part 1:

Voices and listeners
An intelligent use of sound can transform how a
player interacts with a game. Simon explains all

AUTHOR
SIMON N GOODWIN
Simon N Goodwin has been making games and audio
tech professionally since 1979, including twelve years
as Codemasters’ Principal Audio Programmer.

D
ecades ago, Apple and ZX to smooth out the agged clicks. imilar filters
Spectrum programmers built are still used to vary the tone of modern game
up sounds by toggling a single sounds, to hint when the source is distant
bit of hardware connected to a or partly blocked, mimic concussion, or just
speaker. My 1983 Spectrum game add variety.
Gold Mine mimics the sound of digging with
a one-bit beeper. Imagination was required, PRINCIPLES OF SOUND
and back then, sound generation stalled the Sound is a form of vibration. The rate of
. The multichannel sound chips of s vibration, measured in cycles per second or
consoles and home computers helped out Hertz and known as frequency, determines the
later, by buzzing to order while the processor perceived pitch, with shorter cycles giving higher
attended to graphics or gameplay. notes. Intensity, or wave height, determines
These chips played three or four buzzy notes volume. Vary these parameters fast enough,
or ‘voices’ at a time, with crude volume and and any sound can be synthesised. Adding
Figure 1: Audio mixing pitch controls. A ‘noise generator’ mimicked vibrations together creates chords, or the


superimposes waves, rough hissing and explosions. ommodore’s  I impression of several sounds playing at once.
so e he r t o or more
istinct soun s rom one chip sounded superior because it had a filter Figure 1 shows a combined wave at the top,
oice ut the come
rom the s me irection
and two components, which will be heard as
distinct tones three octaves apart, in the lower
rows. lectronic or digital filters sift out tones of
differing fre uencies, though the separation is
rarely as precise as shown here.

CURVES OF PERCEPTION
Computers measure time and intensity
linearly, but brains deal in relative differences.
Audio systems and their designers must heed
this, or players will get confused.
In Figure 2, dark bars represent changes
that sound smooth to the ear. Bigger values
need bigger changes to give the same
apparent interval. The lighter bars are linear
to the computer, but the leftmost steps

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 Toolbox
Game audio part 1: Voices and listeners

HOOT ORDER
Computers had speakers
long before they had
displays. Early British
computers made in the late
1940s and 1950s featured
what Alan Turing called a
‘hoot order’ which could
make sounds to alert – or
entertain – their operators.
In 1951, Christopher
Strachey ported a draughts
player from the Pilot ACE
computer and added code
Recor ing engine noises in the to play the national anthem


nechoic ch m er t the otor

on the hooter of the
n ustr Rese rch ssoci tion
he m ssi e n c e rs out the Manchester Mark 2.
are barely perceptible to humans, and smo e et een t es
erky later. esigners favour psychoacoustically
weighted units like decibels or semitones,
and programmers must understand both. by fiddling with noise and tone controls, and
ne decibel of change sounds the same wrapping the lot up in machine code which the
amount wherever you start. game could call or times a second to keep
Pitch is the logarithmic counterpart to the bleeps coming.
frequency, which doubles across any twelve The Commodore Amiga introduced sample
consecutive piano keys (semitones). Brightness replay, then some audio engineers specialised
is perceived similarly. Whenever a game models in recording or replay. There were still only four
these properties, it needs ‘voices’ but they could
to follow the human “Vary these parameters sound like anything you
curves rather than the could spare memory to
electronic ones, or fades
fast enough, and any describe. Any sequence
sound unnatural, and sound can be synthesised” of samples, played at a
players will struggle to steady rate, generated a
determine the direction, distance, and speed of correspondingly shaped waveform. Varying the
the game objects they’re trying to catch or avoid. rate varied the pitch. PC sample replay cards like
the Sound Blaster followed suit.
FILTERING FREQUENCIES
Figure 3 shows how filters divvy up sound.
ix the low-pass and high-pass bands to
exclude frequencies in the middle, or emphasise
the passband component for the opposite
effect. arying the gap width – known as
resonance, or sometimes ’ – selects ust
the frequencies you wish to catch or lose.
weeping the centre fre uency fc) of filters
applied to output for each ear, rapidly up and
down in opposite directions left and right, gives 
Figure 2: Human
a di ying effect that makes players think their perception is
non- ine r so g ins
heads are spinning. must e mu tip ie or
eci e ttenu tions
At first, one engineer did all the audio obs e or mi ing to
– se uencing music, creating sound effects soun re istic

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 Toolbox
Game audio part 1: Voices and listeners

Passband
Low Pass Response High Pass Response
0dB

-3dB
Band Pass
Response
Priority systems somewhere in-between. Split-screen multiplayer
allow sound effects to games always require multiple listeners, at least
HP LP
share voices with music. one per screen slice. Their diegetic sounds must
Modern games can usually be played twice – once for each view – to
mix a hundred or more bed them individually into each window in the
fc Frequency (Hz) voices, but still need a game world.
designer to help work For convenience when mixing, and sometimes
Figure 3: riterion s


shooter c in ic tes out which are most to give the player extra control, voices get
the p er s he th important in a busy game world, with thousands grouped together, so all the speech, music, or
ee ing most the
entire g me u io mi of potential sound sources. ambiences and weather sounds can fade up
through s eeping
reson nt fi ter i e this
Long samples are played or ‘streamed’ from and down in sets. Changes in camera position
disc, or ‘looped’ to make characteristic sounds also affect the mix, varying exhaust and engine
of any duration – great for weather, surfaces, sound levels, helping to distinguish noises inside
and engines, as well as music. Stream mixing and outside the vehicle, or those made by the
allows interactive music, like the eight layers in player, or other players.
FREQ AND RES Race Driver: Grid which fade up and down as you Figure 5 shows how voices are mixed as
he fi e knob arametric filter, overtake, crash, or enter the final lap. groups, then the diegetic ones are positioned
pioneered by Commodore’s For a decade, triple-A games have routinely via listeners before panning for the appropriate
C64 SID chip and now common
juggled thousands of short samples in memory, endpoint. Non-positional sounds may be added
in modern games, splits
plus music and ambience streamed from disc, into the main mix, routed to a secondary
sounds into three frequency
along with perhaps hundreds of thousands of output like the Wii U GamePad, or sent
bands – bass on the left, treble
on the right. Two more controls localised speech samples, loaded on the fly. directly elsewhere.
set the centre frequency and
resonance (or width) of the LISTENERS AND CAMERAS WHERE’S THAT SOUND?
‘passband’ in the middle. There are two sorts of sounds in a game: We determine the distance, direction, and
Analogue synthesisers label diegetic ones are the sounds of things in the movements of sounds around us using a
those articularly e ressi e world which you can potentially see, while mixture of cues. istant sounds are uieter,
knobs Freq and Res. non-diegetic ones include commentary, radio duller, and tend to have more echo. The relative
Nowadays, the same effect
messages, local ambient sounds like weather, loudness and timbre of sounds reaching each
can be achie ed with half a
and most sorts of music. iegetic sources are ear give us an idea of their direction in two main
dozen lines of C and two static
all positioned, mixed, and played in association ways time and phase-based up to about ,
ariables er oice, though
you do need to run the code with one or more listeners’ – these are virtual or two-thirds of the way up a piano keyboard;
o er e ery sam le, tens of microphones, often associated with the and intensity-based at higher frequencies.
thousands of times a second. camera position or where it’s looking. This inference is inexact, particularly prone to
A third-person game may associate player- front/rear confusion, especially in the presence
centric sounds with either position. This isn’t of realistic reverberation. In the real world and
Figure 4: n ustri n strictly accurate but sounds natural enough VR games, we resolve such ambiguities with


scientist hristi n opp er in most games, providing clear direction and small unconscious head movements. Sounds in
sho e ho re ti e motion
ects soun es r ising distance cues. But weird things happen, audible front move the opposite way to those behind.
their re uenc upon equivalents of oversteer, if you try to put them Camera and listener movements, controlled
ppro ch o ering it s
the rece e by a twitch of the thumb, are the equivalent in
conventional games, whether played in stereo
or surround. The importance of movement
and orientation in spatial perception cannot
be understated, and the player’s control over
this and consistency of rendition in the game
is critical.

WHERE’S THIS GOING?

We infer motion from both volume and pitch.
The crucial oppler effect’ is easy to implement
by varying the pitch of moving sounds. In a
Source at rest Source in motion fast-moving game, it means that almost all the

34 / wfmag.cc
 Toolbox
Game audio part 1: Voices and listeners

Commentary
Pit radio Speech Player’s
Network chat
headset or
controller
Loading loop User music
Front-end music Music XMP override
Replay music

New lap record

Position change Front-end
Select/Cancel etc. and HUD

Crowds Environment
Wind and rain ambience
Environments
View
Listener
Wipers, Horns Misc vehicle
Displacement sounds
Sense of speed Main
Speaker
Prop collisions Player Outputs
Crashes, Scrapes Collisions
Breaking glass
AI Collisions

Rolls, Splashes Wheels and Player

Peels, Scrubs surfaces
Bumps, Skids Listener
AI Wheels

Engine Exhaust
Aspiration Player
Transmission Collisions
Damage
AI Engines

Figure 5: ources mi -groups isteners n outputs soon



up hen simu ting the soun o motor r ce

oun esigners perio ic


r g g o c sh o n to
the scr p r in return or
diegetic sounds – other than those on top of significant sounds and tweak them continuously crunch ne imp ct s mp es

the listener – play a bit faster and at a higher so the player doesn’t factor them out and can
pitch when approaching us, and deeper and infer useful things from the fluctuations.
slower as they recede. Figure 5 shows how sounds are grouped and
The same principle, on a grander scale, mixed in racing games, like my F1, Lego Racers,
affects the colours of stars in the night sky. DiRT Rally, and Race Driver titles. ther sims,
Those approaching Earth are shifted to including shooters, sports games, and even
the bluer, higher frequency end of the physics-based puzzles, use similar categories.
optical spectrum, while Notice how music and
the majority are moving “Modern games speech are grouped
away, causing the so- separately. These non-
called redshift.
can mix a hundred diegetic sounds might
If we represent sound or more voices” have their own volume
radiating from a source as controls, in the pause
concentric ripples, these will be evenly menu. Game music may be overridden by the
SOUND JOBS
Audio team roles split beyond
spaced around a stationary source. In Figure 4, user’s own – icrosoft’s feature re uires
designers, composers, and
listeners on either side of the first source hear this, and it’s easily done on PlayStation and
programmers to include
it at the same pitch. But the second source iOS too, though not compulsory. Speech could
game trigger, effect, and
is moving, so the waves it emits are packed be routed directly to the player’s headset, as mixing system programmers,
together in front and spaced out behind. shown, or mixed into the main speakers. lus full time s ecialist
The pitch heard depends on which Apart from menu beeps and notifications, in designers concentrating on
side the listener is. the ront end ’ group, all the other sounds dialogue, location recordings,
The ‘correct’ formula depends in principle on are positioned in , relative to two virtual front end, ambience, and
the speed of sound and, in practice, also the microphones or ‘listeners’ placed in the game engine noises. Codemasters
scale of the game. A few sounds like church world. Player-centric sounds have their own has specialists who do
nothing but capture engine
bells sound weird if given the ‘correct’ amount listener, and equivalents from other players or
recordings on location
of oppler and need to be scaled down, as AI cars are mixed with environmental sounds –
(unless you’re Phil Spector,
we did in Colin McRae Rally, to sound realistic. local ambience, crowds, and weather – into the
it’s frowned on to re motors
Even when placed in the world, music sources View Listener. in the studio or ha e a full
from static radios or PAs sound weird if In the second part of this article, we’ll time job editing the results,
oppler-shifted around a fast-moving listener. consider how sounds are placed and processed back at the office
emember, it’s a game – prioritise the most so that each gamer gets a custom mix.

wfmag.cc \ 35
 Toolbox
A beginner’s guide to Ren’Py

This game tugs at my heartstrings in just the


right m not usu n o rom nce g mes
ut ter this m more open to p ing them

A beginner’s
guide to Ren’Py
Creating a visual novel is a snip thanks to the free
engine, Ren’Py. Anna shows you how to get started

AUTHOR
ANNA BLACKWELL
Anna Blackwell is a freelance game journalist and hobby
game designer in both the digital and tabletop worlds.
Check her out at blackwellwrites.com

I
nteractive fiction is an oft-overlooked With a visual scripting language and ython
genre that hosts some fantastic functionality, en’ y can be used to create
games in a wide variety of styles, straightforward visual novels or complex
from the world of visual novels to simulation games.
Twine’s hyperlink choose-your-own- In a more direct sense, en’ y is the
adventures to uest’s parser format to ulti- tool behind thousands of visual novels on
ser ungeons. In Wireframe , we looked platforms like team, itch.io, Android, and i .
at Twine and how to create your first text Its popularity is likely because the software
adventure using ugar ube or arlowe. is open source and free for commercial use,
This time, we’re going to take a look at an easy to grasp for beginners with no coding
alternative engine that’s free to download and experience, compatible with , inux, ac,
similarly easy to use en’ y. Android, i , and hrome , is fre uently
updated, and has a large and helpful community.
WHAT IS REN’PY?
eveloped by Tom othamel and first released ENGINE OF CHOICE
in , en’ y provides creators with an easy If you like visual novels, you’ll likely have played
to understand engine that uses text, images, a en’ y game high profile titles like Doki
and sounds to create high- uality visual novels. Doki Literature Club!, Black Closet, and tte

36 / wfmag.cc
 Toolbox
A beginner’s guide to Ren’Py

Soup having been made using it. But en’ y extra mechanics – the whole experience is a
isn’t restricted to purely visual novels some showcase for its sharp writing.
developers have used the engine to make text air warning to any newcomers, though itch. THE BEAUTY
adventures, a Pipe Dream-style pu ler, and even io is one of the more popular portals for en’ y OF SIMPLICITY
hidden ob ect games. games, but be aware that itch.io has a lot of It can be tempting as a
The excellent royalty simulator, Long Live The adult content, and you’ll find a large amount of game designer to fall victim
Queen, which tasks you with making choices erotic visual novels on there. to feature creep, especially
as the princess lodie in order to survive when your tools suggest
long enough to become a monarch, is a great WHAT CAN IT DO? all the extra stuff you could
example of a non-standard visual novel. en’ y uses a stage direction style language add to your game. Don’t fall
for it. Novels and movies
The core mechanic of choosing your classes that lets you write your scenes in a similar
are still going strong thanks
to improve your various skills, in order to fend format to a screenplay. ven dialogue is easy
to their makers’ focus on
off the multitude of to coordinate, with refining their craft rather
attempts on your “Ren’Py lets you write characters’ lines and than relying on gimmicks.
life, makes for an their timing simple to You can make an excellent
engaging pu le. At the
your scenes in a similar construct with a handful visual novel without
same time, choosing format to a screenplay” of commands. ou can overloading your story with
where to go after the also play video, music, extraneous mechanics.
end of your lessons gives the story some much- define characters’ positions on the screen,
needed exploration, and allows you to discover define backgrounds for each location, and
some interesting side stories. even set up minigames within your game by
One Night Stand mixes point-and-click using ython.
investigation with branching dialogue to create et’s start with the basics, though, and ump
an emotional experience in a similar vein to right in to making our first game.
Gone Home. Built using en’ y and featuring
some beautiful rotoscoped animations, One GETTING STARTED
Night Stand is a great example of how detailed To start making your game, click the reate
you can be with your visuals. New ro ect button and give your game a name.
Alternatively, you could take the same path or this tutorial, I’ve gone with the genius name
as the beautiful romance road trip, Wireframe Tutorial ame’. elect an aspect ratio
Blossoms, a straight-up visual novel without any I’ve stuck with the default recommended)

e ing poor o ie to the



throne is i ficu t n
ngerous t s th t sti
h en t m n ge

Figure 1: hene er ou go to


or on our g me ou
c ic it cript n Ren P
i open up the e itor

wfmag.cc \ 37
 Toolbox
A beginner’s guide to Ren’Py

Figure 2: s mp e o the comm n s ou common use in Ren P Figure 3: ou c n efine the ch r cters use in our g me n set


t s orth eeping note o these to h n s ou re getting st rte their positions on the screen ith ust coup e o ines o co e

and a colour scheme. en’ y will then build your define function to determine the colour, si ing,
pro ect, and you’re almost ready to get started. font, and style of a character’s name, saving you
nce your pro ect has been created, go over from setting it every time.
to script.rpy and pick a text editor to install
see Figure 1). or this tutorial, I’m using Atom, Label start: This tells the game where to start,
and en’ y recommends you do too. All you and with the use of the jump command, you can
need to do is click on the name and en’ y will use labels to ump to different sections of your
take care of downloading and updating it. nce game. or example, you could use labels as a
you have your text editor installed, you should way to allow the player to navigate a world map,
see something along the lines of Figure 2. umping to the appropriate location on a click.

“With just these simple Scene: lears the screen and sets a new
background image. ou’ll likely use this if you’re
functions, you can make changing location or ending a chapter. Bg’ is
a visual novel in Ren’Py” ust shorthand for background’, and room’
is the name of the image the default game
VISUAL NOVEL
We’ll delete most of this in a second, but uses. or your own game, I recommend using
DATABASE it’s useful to see how en’ y sets itself out. If you something more memorable, as room’ can
Like IndieDB for indie games want to see this script in action, go back uickly become ambiguous as your game grows.
and for interacti e fiction, to the en’ y launcher and launch your pro ect.
visual novels have their own
In the meantime, let’s break down what the Show: astly, show is the function for displaying
database that lists basically
commands in the script mean characters on the screen. ileen is the character
every visual novel ever made.
With over 25,000 listed on
and appy is the specific emotion to call.
vndb.org at the time of writing, Hashtags: These are Atom’s way of putting in The best format for saving your characters is
you can be sure you’re not comments. These lines will not appear in the ‘character emotion.jpg’ so en’ y can read
going to run out of games to game and are skipped during compiling. it correctly.
play any time soon.
Define: A way of storing a character or ob ect o, the first step for us is to define our own
into an easily called variable. If you’re going to characters. I’ve decided to go ahead and use
be typing your character’s name a lot, then you two free-to-use character images – a rather
might want to ust use their initial as you can charming fox and hamster duo – that I’ve
see in the green text. ou can also use the downloaded from itch.io.

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 Toolbox
A beginner’s guide to Ren’Py

Figure 4: ou c n so ch nge the  Figure 5: ere ou c n see ho ec n



c groun o the i ogue r so use simp e comm n s to p soun

th t it s op ue n oesn t sho e ects or pieces o music t specific
o our ch r cter s o ting torso moments in our g me

ou can see how characters are defined and command play sound, and in double uotation
positioned in Figure 3, with f being our fox marks, follow this with the file name and its
and h being our hamster. ou won’t necessarily extension see Figure 5). The same goes for
have to use the transform function, but as my music – you can see in the example script that
character images were a bit shorter than they I’ve used play music fo song.mp ” to set a
usually are in visual novels, I’ve had to place melody playing between two lines of dialogue.
them higher up the screen, so they aren’t Note that en’ y doesn’t like spaces in audio file
obscured by the dialogue window. align sets names, so you’ll want to get used to including
their position hori ontally for left and for dashes or get really good at coming up with
right) while yalign sets their position vertically single-word names.
for the top of the screen, for the bottom). As you can see, I’ve also included another
As I’m ust having the characters stay in one show function for fo normal and hamster normal,
position for this tutorial, I’ve only set two custom which ust shows you how simple it is to change
locations, but you may want to set more. your character images for different emotions
The {w} tag tells en’ y to display the first part within a scene.
of the dialogue then wait for my click to display With ust these simple functions, you can
the rest. And by having show after the dialogue, make a full visual novel in en’ y. ven if you
the game waits until it has displayed the can’t draw or write a soundtrack, there are
dialogue before displaying the hamster. ou can tonnes of free-to-use resources out there
see what the results look like in Figure 4. – incompetech, for example, is an ama ing
Now let’s add some uick sound effects resource for free music. o what are you
and music. To play sound effects, use the waiting for? o and tell your story.

ith the go o isco ering



h t h ppene or esc ping t

the right moment One Night
t n cre tes er re n
tense e perience

wfmag.cc \ 39
 Toolbox
Source Code

Spurred on by the success of Konami’s



Hyper Sports, Daley Thompson’s

Decathlon featured a wealth of
controller-wrecking minigames.

Source Code

Make a keyboard-
bashing sprint game
Learn how to code a sprinting minigame
AUTHOR
RIK CROSS straight out of Daley Thompson’s Decathlon

R
eleased in 1984, Daley variable is used to ensure that keys are To give the illusion of movement, I’ve added
Thompson’s Decathlon was a pressed alternately. The player also objects that move past the player: there’s
memorable entry in what’s decelerates if no key is being pressed, and a finish line and three markers to regularly
sometimes called the ‘joystick this rate of deceleration should be su ciently show the distance travelled. These objects are
killer’ genre: players competed smaller than the acceleration to allow the calculated using the sprinter’s x position on
in sporting events that largely consisted of player to pick up enough speed. the screen along with the distance travelled.
frantically waggling the controller or battering For the animation, I used a free sprite However, this means that each object is at
the keyboard. I’ll show you how to create called ‘The Boy’ from gameart2d.com, and most only 100 pixels away from the player
a sprinting game mechanic in Python and made use of a single idle image and 15 run and therefore seems to move slowly. This can
Pygame. There are variables in the Sprinter() cycle images. The sprinter starts in the idle be fixed by using a SCALE factor, which is the
class to keep track of the runner’s speed state, but switches to the run cycle whenever relationship between metres travelled by the
and distance, as well as global constant its speed is greater than  . This is achieved by sprinter and pixels on the screen. This means
ACCELERATION and DECELERATION values using index() to find the name of the current that ob ects are initially drawn way off to the
to determine the player’s changing rate sprinter image in the runFrames list, and right of the screen but then travel to the left
of speed. These numbers are small, as they setting the current image to the next image in and move past the sprinter more quickly.
represent the number of metres per frame the list and wrapping back to the first image Finally, startTime and finishTime variables
that the player accelerates and decelerates. once the end of the list is reached). We also are used to calculate the race time.
The player increases the sprinter’s speed by need the sprinter to move through images in Both values are initially set to the current
alternately pressing the left and right arrow the run cycle at a speed proportional to the time at the start of the race, with finishTime
keys. This input is handled by the sprinter’s sprinter’s speed. This is achieved by keeping being updated as long as the distance
isNextKeyPressed() method, which returns track of the number of frames the current travelled is less than 100. Using the time
True if the correct key (and only the correct image has been displayed for (in a variable module, the race time can simply be
key) is being pressed. A lastKeyPressed called timeOnCurrentFrame). calculated by finishTime - startTime.

40 / wfmag.cc
 Toolbox
Source Code

Download
the code
Sprinting in Python from it ub
wfmag.cc/
Here’s Rik’s code snippet, which creates a sprinting game in Python. To get it running on your wfmag23
system, you’ll first need to install ygame ero you can find full instructions at wfmag.cc/pgzero

from time import time self.speed = max(0, self.speed-DECELERATION)

# use the sprinter’s speed to update the distance
WIDTH = 800 self.distance += self.speed
HEIGHT = 300 # animate the sprinter in relation to its speed
self.timeOnCurrentFrame += 1
ACCELERATION = 0.005 if self.speed > 0 and self.timeOnCurrentFrame > 10 -
DECELERATION = 0.0008 (self.speed * 75):
# number of pixels representing 1m self.timeOnCurrentFrame = 0
SCALE = 75 self.nextFrame()
# set to idle animation if not moving
# display an image at a specific distance along the track if self.speed <= 0:
def displayAt(img, pos, y): self.image = ‘idle’
screen.blit(img,(sprinter.x + (pos * SCALE) - (sprinter.
distance * SCALE), y)) sprinter = Sprinter()

class Sprinter(Actor): def update():

def __init__(self, **kwargs): # move and animate the sprinter
super().__init__(image=’idle’, pos=(200,220), **kwargs) sprinter.update()
self.startTime = time() # add to the finish time if race is still in progress
self.finishTime = time() if sprinter.distance < 100:
self.runFrames = [‘run’ + str(i) for i in range(1,16)] sprinter.finishTime = time()
self.timeOnCurrentFrame = 0
self.speed = 0 def draw():
self.lastPressed = None screen.clear()
self.keyPressed = False # draw the track
self.distance = 0 screen.blit(‘track’, (0,0))
# draw distance markers and finish line
def nextFrame(self): displayAt(‘25m’, 25, 200)
# start the running animation if currently idle displayAt(‘50m’, 50, 200)
if self.image == ‘idle’: displayAt(‘75m’, 75, 200)
self.image = self.runFrames[0] displayAt(‘finishline’, 100, 230)
else: # draw the sprinter
nextImageIndex = (self.runFrames.index(self.image) sprinter.draw()
+ 1) % len(self.runFrames) # draw the current distance and time
self.image = self.runFrames[nextImageIndex] screen.draw.text(‘Distance (m): ‘ + str(int(min(100,
sprinter.distance))), (20, 20), fontsize=32, color=”white”)
def isNextKeyPressed(self): screen.draw.text(‘Time (s): ‘ + str(round(sprinter.
if keyboard.left and self.lastPressed is not ‘left’ and finishTime - sprinter.startTime, 2)), (250, 20), fontsize=32,
not keyboard.right: color=”white”)
self.lastPressed = ‘left’
return True Press the left and right arrow keys alternately to increase the sprinter’s


if keyboard.right and self.lastPressed is not ‘right’ speed. Objects move across the screen from right to left to give the
illusion of sprinter movement.
and not keyboard.left:
self.lastPressed = ‘right’
return True
return False

def update(self):
if self.isNextKeyPressed() and self.distance < 100:
self.speed = min(self.speed + ACCELERATION, 0.15)
# decelerate if no key pressed
else:

wfmag.cc \ 41
 Toolbox
Source Code

Directory

Telling stories with

Shaun the Sheep
Code Club is running an exclusive Shaun the Sheep
competition in collaboration with Aardman Animations

Code Club is a worldwide network of free teaches learners to create

teacher- and volunteer-led coding clubs for young an animation by using
GET
people, and it’s part of the Raspberry Pi family. repetition to move
INVOLVED The Code Club team is currently collaborating sprites around the
Do you have an online with Aardman Animations, the studio behind screen. It’s a suitable
tutorial you’d like to share the Shaun the Sheep series/movies, to bring project for beginners,
with readers? Have you
an exclusive coding competition to more than and more advanced
created an online resource
that other game developers 13,000 clubs around the world. To mark the learners can easily
might find useful aybe release of   n t e ee o e m eddon, expand on it to challenge
you ha e a local code club ode  lub members are getting the chance to themselves. In addition, entrants will be judged
you’re keen to promote?
use Scratch to tell a story about Shaun and his in one of two age categories: 11 and under,
f you ha e something you’d
like to see featured in the new friend Lu-La, and to maybe win a prize for or 12 and above. This way, judges can fairly
Directory, contact us at their digital creation. To enter, young learners compare entries of learners with similar literacy
wfmag.cc/hello create a Scratch animation based on a ready- and numeracy skills. To help learners who aren’t
made project guide provided by Code Club and fluent in nglish to participate, the pro ect guide
images provided by Aardman Animations. is available in eight languages.
The competition’s open exclusively to
From beginner to advanced registered Code Clubs across the world.
The competition is accessible to all learners, If you’re interested in starting a ode lub
regardless of their coding knowledge, and entries in your community, register to get involved.
will be judged on their creativity and storytelling isit codeclub.org if you’re based in the UK, USA
as well as the quality of their code. Code Club’s or Republic of Ireland, or to codeclubworld.org
Shaun the Sheep: Mission to Space project guide to start a club in the rest of the world.

 In Code Club’s
competition, children
use Scratch to tell a
story about Shaun
n his ne rien
u- he c osing
te or entries is
25 October 2019.

42 / wfmag.cc
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 Interface
The pause that refreshes

How virtual vending

machines make
us feel at home in
video games

WRITTEN BY JESS MORRISSETTE

W
hether it’s Grog in The
Secret of Monkey Island,
Nuka-Cola from the
Fallout series, or Juicy
Raccoon in Resident
Evil 3, if you’ve spent much time playing
video games, you’ve likely encountered
a virtual soda machine or two in your
adventures. Some are interactive and
dispense drinks or power-ups; others are
merely decorative. Some are destructible,
showering the player in cans or coins when
smashed; others are impervious to assault.
If you happen to be playing Deus Ex: Human
Revolution, some can even be telekinetically
lifted into the air and hurled at your
enemies, crushing them with refreshment.
I’ve thought a lot about drinks machines
and where they fit more broadly into game
design since I launched The Video Game
Soda Machine Project in 2016. The project,
like all the best ideas, started out as a joke.
I tweeted a screenshot of a Sprinkle Fizz
drink machine from Batman: Arkham Knight
and suggested someone should compile a
list of similar machines from other games.
That someone became me. The collection,
housed at vgsmproject.com, has since
grown to include screenshots of more than
3000 drinks machines, spanning every
major platform and genre. If you vaguely
recall seeing a vending machine in the final
level of an obscure Game Boy Advance title
you played in 2002, there’s a decent chance
it’s already archived at The Video Game
Soda Machine Project.

44 / wfmag.cc
 Interface
The pause that refreshes

gaming circles, while 1998’s Mr. Pibb:

The 3D Interactive Game invites players
to chug large quantities of Mr. Pibb and
vanquish zombies with the ensuing
burps. Nevertheless, instances of product
placement – perhaps surprisingly –
represent only a small fraction of the drinks
machines present in games. Players are far
more likely to encounter an ersatz Loco-
Cola or Bepsi machine than, to borrow from
an old Coke slogan, the real thing.
Mega Man Legends originally


featured product placement for the

Japanese energy drink Oronamin C, Design purposes
cited by fans as a possible
explanation for why the game isn’t
Moving beyond these commercial concerns
available for modern consoles. to matters of design, drinks machines can
also contribute significantly to a game’s
overall look and feel. A well-placed drinks
As my peculiar collection grew, I started machine, for instance, can add variety and a
to reflect on what these machines do in pop of colour in an otherwise drab setting.
terms of game design, what they mean, and The aforementioned Sprinkle Fizz
why they appear so frequently throughout machine in Arkham Knight stands out
the history of the medium. After all, it’s because it’s a brightly lit cotton-candy pink
not as if they appeared at random in CATCH-A-COKE and blue anomaly in the gloomy streets
our favourite games; developers made The earliest known video game soda of Gotham City. The flickering light from
conscious design choices to include them, machine appeared on screen in 1983’s a drinks machine in a shadowy corridor
presumably with a sense of purpose that Catch-A-Coke, part of the backdrop not only adds dramatic tension to survival
varied from one context to another. My goal in a game that involved a delivery horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil,
here is to explore the roles these drinks man catching soda cans thrown by a but it can also serve as a visual waypoint
machines play in game design, suggesting monkey perched in a coconut tree. The to guide players through a level. From a
simple LCD game was mounted on
that one of their most critical functions is practical standpoint, it’s worth noting that
actual Coca-Cola vending machines,
to help us feel grounded and at home in the simple geometry of vending machines
and customers could play a short
the virtual worlds of video games. makes them relatively easy to implement
round while they waited for their drinks
to dispense. Coke later partnered in both 2D and 3D environments.
Product placement with Bandai Electronics to produce a Pokémon Red and Blue for the original
and advergames handheld version of Catch-A-Coke to Game Boy serve as illustrative examples
Perhaps the most obvious role virtual distribute to its sales team. of how a few monochrome pixels can
vending machines can play is as a form effectively communicate the idea of a drinks
of product placement for real-world machine to players.
beverages. Memorable examples include Additionally, developers have worked
Coca-Cola machines in the original Japanese soda machines into gameplay in a myriad
release of Shenmue, Powerade machines in
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, and SoBe
machines in Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee.
In-game advertising has grown into a
IS PEPSI OKAY?
multibillion-dollar industry in recent years, In 2006, al-Qaeda’s propaganda wing released a
and placement deals to feature familiar first-person shooter titled Quest for Bush (also known
as Night of Bush Capturing). Intended as a recruiting
brands can obviously help underwrite the
tool, the game casts players as an al-Qaeda operative
rising costs of game development.
carrying out a campaign of violence against American
In other cases, beverage companies
foes. While infiltrating a military base in an early
themselves have commissioned mission, players encounter a lone Pepsi machine.
‘advergames’ to showcase their brands. Whether this is intended as a sly critique of western
The PlayStation curiosity Pepsiman has consumerism or simply an attempt to create a more
achieved almost legendary status in realistic setting is left to the player to decide.

wfmag.cc \ 45
 Interface
The pause that refreshes

of reason and Gunther as stubborn and

conspiracy-minded.
Virtual soda machines also represent
opportunities to inject humour into games.
Why drink Mountain Dew when you can
enjoy parodies like Fountain View (Hitman)
or Mountain Screw (Rise of the Triad)
instead? Sure, it might be difficult to track
down a proper pixelated Dr Pepper, but
When Bethesda added player-controlled


vending machines to Fallout 76, a F.E.A.R. 2 has you covered with its spoofy
vibrant economy sprang up around Professor Doctor machines. Soda machines
them, selling everything from weapons
to armour to (of course) Nuka-Cola. can also aim for satire with brand names
like the “deliciously infectious” eCola from
Grand Theft Auto and Halo 2: Anniversary’s
of ways. The most common is as a means of straight-to-the-point Sugar Water machine.
dispensing health or power-ups to players
in the form of beverages. For example, Presence and ‘being there’
arcade brawler Two Crude (or Crude Buster Taken as a whole, the roles played by
in Japan) offers players the chance to drinks machines in game design contribute
punch a Power Cola machine at the end of to an overall sense of what scholars call
each level to replenish their health bars. THE LOST ‘presence’ – the sense of ‘being there’ in
Downing a Nuka-Cola from a machine in the MACHINES a virtual environment. Drinks machines,
Fallout series similarly restores the player’s One of the fundamental challenges
and any number of other otherwise
health, albeit with the potential risk of of preserving video game history – mundane environmental objects, help make
addiction or even radiation exposure. Perk- including collecting virtual drinks game worlds feel more natural, real, and
a-Colas from the Call of Duty series bestow machines – is tracking down complete. In other words, these machines
a wide range of power-ups on players, content from games that are simply serve as familiar, predictable objects that
including faster reload time, increased fire no longer available. This includes connect gaming environments to players’
rate, and immunity from falling damage. instances where companies have actual lives.
Other titles have employed drinks machines shut down the official servers of After all, drinks machines are a fixture
once-popular online games. Thanks
as save points (City Shrouded in Shadow), of everyday life in many countries –
to ongoing fan efforts to keep these
interior décor (The Sims), and masquerading particularly in Japan and the United
games alive, The Video Game Soda
as extraterrestrial enemies (Alien Storm). States, which are major centres of the
Machine Project has catalogued
In some instances, designers have even ‘lost’ vending machines from games industry. A drinks machine in the
leveraged vending machines as storytelling several defunct MMOs, including background of a subway platform in Metro
devices. A soda machine serves as the The Matrix Online, City of Heroes, Exodus not only makes the setting feel
setting for Do Not Fall; the entirety of the and The Sims Online. more authentic, but it’s also an object that’s
game’s platforming action takes place inside
a drinks machine. In NightCry, a survival
horror adventure, one of the first hints of
the terror that lies ahead is when a drink
machine gruesomely devours a supporting
character during an early cutscene. In an
eminently meme-able moment from the
original Deus Ex, the player overhears a
conversation between two NPCs, Anna
Navarre and Gunther Hermann, about
what Gunther suspects is a secret plot to
deprive him of his preferred orange drink
from the breakroom machine at UNATCO
headquarters. This incidental back-and- Inflict additional damage on your


opponents by body-slamming them

forth offers important characterisation, into a backstage vending machine in
establishing Anna as the pragmatic voice WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.

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The pause that refreshes

instantly recognisable to players. They know

what a drinks machine is, and they can
anticipate a range of likely interactions
with it. As a result, they feel present in the
space. Whether players consciously realise
it or not, familiar environmental objects
help ground them in a place that feels like
home. It should come as no surprise that
nearly every game in The Sims franchise has
allowed players to decorate their virtual
homes with a variety of vending machines.
This is particularly important, however, KEEP IT REAL
in more fantastical settings. The voodoo- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a prime of a consumer culture that surrounds
infused piratical backdrop of Mêlée Island example of how designers can use gamers on a daily basis. Players can easily
in The Secret of Monkey Island or Mass environmental objects to advance suspend disbelief when it comes to games
Effect’s futuristic Citadel space station are a game’s themes. Mankind Divided featuring dragons, zombies, superheroes,
undoubtedly strange places, but the drinks depicts a world teetering on the brink and blue hedgehogs in tennis shoes. But a
machines in these environments serve as of conflict between cybernetically world without capitalism? That’s a pretty
augmented humans and their baseline
subtle, yet meaningful, points of connection big stretch.
counterparts. Early on, players
to orient unmoored players. To quote Sierra Petrovita, a soda-
encounter drinks machines with
Of course, that’s not to suggest drinks obsessed supporting character from the
provocative slogans like, “They may
machines are the only environmental have batteries, but we got this” and Fallout series, “I guess sometimes I just
objects that can create a sense of presence “Machines cannot taste, but your tongue take this Nuka-Cola stuff so seriously!”
in games – or, for that matter, even the does. Keep it real.” These vending In fairness, sometimes a soda machine
most common examples. Trash cans, machines help build the world of is just a soda machine. Still, while virtual
lamp posts, and any number of other Mankind Divided by driving home just vending machines and other environmental
unremarkable objects can help accomplish how pervasive this social division is – objects have the design potential to
the same immersive ends. Rather, The so much so that it has even seeped into create an immersive sense of presence
beverage advertising.
Video Game Soda Machine Project’s ever- and realism in game environments, it’s
growing collection simply suggests that important to note that these artefacts also
developers have frequently fallen back on come embedded with meanings.
soda machines to perform this role. Exploring these values not only holds the
potential to tell us more about the games
Welcome to we play, but also about ourselves and the
Nuka-Cola World world in which we live.
If soda machines are such effective tools
for making virtual worlds feel like the
real world, what does that say about
the real world? It’s difficult to discuss
soda machines in this context without
thinking of them as reflections of modern
consumerism. Actual soda machines and
the drinks they dispense epitomise several
facets of consumer culture – advertising,
brand affinity, impulse purchasing, and
disposability for starters. Virtual drinks
machines take this a step further by offering
a commodity with even more dubious value
than carbonated sugar water: a collection of
pixels representing a beverage.
It’s perhaps telling that game The fictional Sprunk and eCola brands


environments only seem ‘real’ to us seen in this selfie from Grand Theft
Auto 5 have been fixtures in the series
insomuch as they reproduce the signifiers dating back to its Vice City days.

wfmag.cc \ 47
 Interface
Interactive
Libble Rabble

Libble Rabble
str h in s in to the p st
With their “synergetic action game” Astral Chain, PlatinumGames
harked back to an obscure relic from Namco’s archives

A
ith its otoro stral Chain’s opening hours throw you can move your monster – or egion – around


processor the Libble

Rabble rc e m chine
so much at the screen that it almost the battlefield to fight enemies.
cou isp r more feels a bit overwhelming at first. It’s If your egion’s close to an enemy, it’ll start
enemies on the screen
th n P c- n a third-person brawler. No wait, it’s fighting it, but by manipulating the astral chain
also a kind of detective game. It’s a that connects it, you can perform special attacks
monster-hunting-and-catching , like Pokémon and even use the chain itself to wrap up and
but with the stylings of The Guyver. There are also ensnare enemies. This latter techni ue soon
pu les, elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and general becomes a useful tactic, since it prevents foes
anime strangeness, including a police o cer who from fighting back as you and your monster
provides advice while partner finish it off
dressed as a big canine with a killer blow, or
mascot named appy.
“On occasions, a chiptune switch your focus to
Like Nier: Automata rendition of Mendelssohn’s another enemy.
before it, Astral Chain Wedding March would play” This chain attack also
has the feel of a game has an interesting origin:
Libble Rabble ’s arcade where its creators at in a June interview with


er ttempts to e p in PlatinumGames have allowed their imaginations olygon, director Takahisa Taura revealed, in
its rr o ru es shishi
is the g me s n me or to run riot. But while director Takahisa Taura’s an almost casual aside, that the mechanic was
the stretch e stic
game feels like a bewildering melange at first, it directly inspired by a little-known Namco game
soon snaps into focus thanks to the coherence of from the early eighties. Now that we’ve got a
its world – where the notion of cops fighting crime chain between these two characters, we decided
with the help of a supernatural being on a leash to use that within the gameplay, Taura explained.
actually feels plausible – and some rock-solid Whether that’s using that chain to wrap up
design principles. Astral Chain’s action essentially enemy characters, or pulling it tight to trip them,
boils down to a kind of co-operative mode, except at the time of development we kept putting out
with the player controlling both central characters; ideas like that to better-use the chain. I don’t
as a skilled member of a special police task force know if you know about this, but this is an old
named Neuron, you can freely move and attack, arcade game that we were influenced by called
and by pressing and holding the left trigger, Libble Rabble.

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Libble
Interactive
Rabble

Libble Rabble ’s


i ficu t cur e isn t
he pe the sheer
num er o enemies
n ru es it thro s
t the screen rom
the eginning
eleased in , Libble Rabble was an arcade
action game created by design genius Toru
Iwatani – the creator of Pac-Man, as well as
another of Namco’s golden-age money-spinners,
Pole Position. ike Pac-Man before it, Libble Rabble
was a bright and cheerful romp that emphasised
timing and precision. It placed the player in same time manoeuvring the connective elastic
control of two characters at once – the arrow- to ensnare and destroy enemies. There are
shaped Libble and Rabble of the title – which other rules and ideas to wrap your head around
could be moved independently with their own too, including hidden treasure chests, an ever-
separate oystick. The aim was to draw polygonal decreasing energy bar, big-mouthed enemies
shapes around enemies to trap them; this was capable of munching through your elastic, and
achieved by stretching what felt like an elastic goblin-like critters that show up if you take
vector line around fixed points on the play area. too long to complete a stage. n occasions, a
Think of pulling a rubber band around a handful chiptune rendition of elix endelssohn’s Wedding RABBLE
of nails hammered into a piece of wood, and you’ll March would start to play. Libble Rabble is such an ROUSING
get the idea. eccentric game that it’s hard to imagine Iwatani Despite its relative failure in
would’ve been given the chance to make it without arcades, Libble Rabble was
still ported to a couple of home
SURROUNDED the success of Pac-Man behind him certainly, its
systems from the nineties
In designing Libble Rabble, Iwatani once said he complicated controls counted against it in the onwards, including the Sharp
based the game around a one-word concept – competitive world of eighties arcades. X68000 and the Japanese
urround – and at first glance, his idea simply It was an interesting game, but unpopular Super Nintendo. The former
included a special gamepad
looks like a more whimsical mid-point between because it was so hard to play, Iwatani admitted
with twin direction controllers,
his own Pac-Man and Taito’s much earlier coin- in a interview with Wired. ou used oysticks while the latter came with a
op, Qix, which also involved drawing shapes to on the left- and right-hand sides to control two circular piece of plastic that
score points. The twin- oystick controls, however, arrows on the screen, but when they crossed turned the SNES controller’s
make Libble Rabble a completely different kind of over each other, the right hand was controlling action buttons into a second
joypad. Sadly, these ports were
experience unlike Pac-Man and Qix, Libble Rabble what was going on on the left side of the screen,
never released outside Japan,
needs considerable practice to get to grips with, like a mirror. meaning a vanishingly small
since you’re effectively having to coordinate the lsewhere, Iwatani expressed his pride in number of western gamers
movements of two ob ects at once, while at the Libble Rabble, and even suggested that it was ever got to sample Libble
Rabble ’s dual-control delights.
better than Pac-Man Not to toot my own horn,
he said in the mid-eighties, but Libble Rabble’s
the best ). Inevitably, the gaming public didn’t
tretching our e stic
agree, and a few home system ports aside see


roun posts to c pture

boxout), Libble Rabble ranks as one of Namco’s enemies soun s simp e t
e st unti our p er
more obscure outings from its early-eighties ch r cters cross o er n
boom years. That Takahisa Taura wound up using ou get mu e up

the game’s defining mechanic in Astral Chain –

albeit in a way that’s much more user-friendly to
deploy – is belated proof that Iwatani really was
onto something with Libble Rabble. It may not have
been a smash hit in , but its surround the
str h in s ction c n get


prett renetic ut its enemy’ concept was ust sitting there, waiting for
u -ch r cter mech nics a designer like Taura to pick up the baton and run
someho ee much more
intuiti e th n Libble Rabble s with it.

wfmag.cc \ 49
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Developer Profile / Larian Studios

Developer Profile

Larian Studios
A tale of slow-burn Belgian success

I
t feels typical that this all comes
from little old Belgium; the
European nation plenty of us
pass through on our travails
across the continent, but not
necessarily the one many of us end up
staying in for any period of time. Or even
really thinking about. It’s just… Belgium,
you know? And yet it’s the seat of power
for much of the EU, it hosts NATO’s
European headquarters and – most
importantly – it’s the country from which
we’ve had one of the best, if not the best,
RPGs ever made. Little old Belgium,
you’re not just full of chips and old
statues, it seems.
Larian Studios came to be back in
1996, the brainchild of founder Swen
Vincke, and began life just as you’d
expect a celebrated role-playing game
studio would: with a Command &
Conquer-derived RTS. Alright, so the
studio did attempt to make something
resembling its contemporary output,
but was forced into making L.E.D.
Wars – a low budget C&C-alike with
hints of Total Annihilation sprinkled
on top – in order to prove its
development mettle. It made
the game, it did… well really,
who here had heard of it
before today? If you say
yes, you’re probably telling
porkies. Or you just really
love Belgian games.
Either way, it wasn’t
something that put
Larian on the map.
And that’s the
story here: no
single game for

50 / wfmag.cc
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Larian Studios \ Developer Profile

 arian’s games are known for their

L


smart writing and deep storytelling.

almost 20 years managed to put Larian  Pictured: a chap who probably isn’t
on the map. Yes, Divine Divinity and the very happy.

sequels and spin-offs set in its narrative I n the centre we see Vincke, Larian’s


founder, probably not dressed how he

universe were generally well-received – does every day for work. We hope.
even loved in some quarters – but the
audience was niche. Your hardcore RPG
fans, those hardly catered for through
the lean decade-and-a-bit following
Baldur’s Gate II and Fallout – they knew
they had something special, a studio
capable of building and refining in a very
real sense over the course of iterative
releases. The rest? Well, they were being
wowed by the surging popularity of the
FPS, bewildered by the lifelike animation
of Paul Scholes’ face in FIFA 20XX, and
generally building towards widespread
acceptance of the lifestealer itself, But at its heart, the attempt to use (in a new-school skin). It was natural a
Assassin’s Creed. But Larian continued on. crowdfunding to bypass publishers – sequel would follow, and just a few years
specifically in video gaming – meant – and another Kickstarter later – Divinity:
MASS EFFECT there was always a chance something Original Sin II launched. Then, like its
It’s not that Vincke and his studio great could come of it. Larian took predecessor, an updated version hit
actively avoided attempts to court the full advantage of the platform and, in consoles. Then, not too long ago in
masses – Divinity II: Ego Draconis made 2014, released Divinity: Original Sin. 2019, it landed on Nintendo’s Switch.
its way to Xbox 360 in 2009, Larian A CRPG seemed a risky choice when the If that’s not a mainstream breakthrough,
obviously keen to get a foothold in campaign launched, given the genre had I really don’t know what is. It’s almost
the console market for the first time. been written off an afterthought
Elsewhere, it had made inroads towards as dead since “A CRPG seemed a risky here to point out
the educational market, teaming with about the late
choice, given the genre had development
Belgian children’s TV channel Ketnet for 1990s, but the duties for the
a kid-focused, branded tie-in. There was reaction of the been written off as dead” upcoming
even a re-dabbling in the RTS genre with crowd(funders) Baldur’s Gate
Divinity: Dragon Commander, with Larian said otherwise: a giant thumbs-up to III – sequel to the series that was such
testing its mettle in yet more unfamiliar the tune of three-quarters of a million a huge influence on the studio – were
territory for the studio. None of this was pounds, and an instantly renewed handed to Larian. After all, it just feels so
a stubborn approach; it wasn’t a closed- interest in the genre (alongside other obvious – of course it’s making Baldur’s
off one in which Larian only ever wanted Kickstarter big hitters like Pillars of Gate III.
to appeal to the niche it had already Eternity, naturally). It might have taken around 20 years to
carved out. It was just that things hadn’t Original Sin managed some really get noticed, but just like everything
exploded in popularity. Yet. breakthrough, garnering as it did huge else in Belgium, Larian has been quietly
Kickstarter gets a lot of stick these amounts of praise for its atmosphere, making itself a central seat of power on
days, and a lot of it with good cause. writing, and old-school RPG sensibilities the world stage.

wfmag.cc \ 51
 Interface
Developer Profile / Larian Studios

Larianmania
10 steps to CRPG glory
From low-rent C&C to high-profile D&D

01 02 03

L.E.D. Wars The Lady, The Mage Divine Divinity

PC 1997 and The Knight PC 2002
Seen as something of a low-rent Command PC Cancelled The European alternative to Diablo, Divine
& Conquer, L.E.D. Wars acted as a proof of The Lady, The Mage and The Knight was Divinity combined your pursuit of loot with
concept of sorts for Larian Studios, showing actually the reason Larian popped out L.E.D. thwacking loads of enemies about the head –
the world it was a studio capable of actually Wars to begin with: this was the real passion as you’d expect – with a slightly deeper RPG
making a game. The end result was another project, said to be set in the Realms of Arkania system than seen in Blizzard’s classic series.
me-too real-time strategy title, similar to oh-so- world, though not a sequel. Collaboration with Much-loved in its day, Divine Divinity finally saw
many in the latter half of the nineties, and Attic Entertainment didn’t go well, and the Larian on the path it had wanted to be on for
is largely forgotten these days. project was abandoned around 1999. just over half a decade.

04 05
Beyond Divinity KetnetKick
PC 2004 PC 2004
This follow-up to 2002’s successful original Sidestepping dark fantasy, Larian went down
carried on with the action-RPG theme and was the child-friendly educational route with this
largely successful at making those incremental one, made for Belgian kids’ TV channel Ketnet.
updates you’d expect of a sequel. Sadly, it A combination of platformer and creative
arrived with a host of issues, looked even more outlet, KetnetKick saw a sequel and the general
old-fashioned than the last game, and suffered idea reworked into both Adventure Rock (for
some genuinely atrocious voice acting. By no CBBC), and GulliLand (for Jeunesse TV). But it
means a bad game, but definitely a misstep. was back to the dragons soon enough.

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Larian Studios \ Developer Profile

06 07

Divinity II: Ego Draconis Divinity: Dragon

PC / X360 2009 Commander
The technological step-up needed at the PC 2013
time, Divinity II: Ego Draconis took the action Another step out of the comfort zone, Dragon
to a third-person 3D realm and added in Commander remained in the Divinity world but
the chance to control a dragon as well as took things in an RTS direction – a return to
your human avatar. An impressive narrative the genre Larian began with. Seen as a brave
backbone and plenty of choice throughout effort, Dragon Commander did receive a bit
made it a hit with fans, even if critics remained of criticism for trying to be too many things at
cautious with their praise. once. All the same, those who loved it, loved it.

08 09 10

Divinity: Original Sin Divinity: Original Sin II Baldur’s Gate III

PC / PS4 / XBO 2014 PC / PS4 / XBO / Switch 2017 PC / Stadia TBC
What do you do with a committed fan base, a This is way too short a space to do a game After making one of the best games ever to
media focused elsewhere, and the desire to as truly stunning as Original Sin II any justice. emerge from the Dungeons & Dragons-alike
make a game in a genre seen as ‘dead’? You go Safe to say, it earned a lot through Kickstarter, wheelhouse, it’s of little surprise Larian was
to Kickstarter, raise over £750k, and you it over-delivered, it put its excellent precursor handed the reins to the actual D&D-based
make one of the best CRPGs ever, that’s what. in the shade, and if you haven’t played it, you Baldur’s Gate III. We know little about this
Original Sin may have been bettered, but its really should do yourself a favour. Hand on long-awaited sequel, but with a team capable
launch changed Larian – the studio suddenly heart one of the best RPGs ever made, and a of putting together Original Sin II at the helm,
became hugely respected across the industry. no-brainer recommendation for any and all. there’s little doubt it’s going to be a good ‘un.

wfmag.cc \ 53
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 Rated
Review

Review

GENRE
Ancestors:
Info

The Humankind Odyssey

Survival
FORMAT
PC
DEVELOPER
Panache Digital
Games
The beginning of the end for Planet Earth

T
PUBLISHER
Private Division he beginning hours of Ancestors: of recent years, except Ancestors is so incredibly
PRICE The Humankind Odyssey are filled opaque that much of your time is spent trying to
£32.99 with promise and intrigue. The first figure out what you’re supposed to be doing and
RELEASE game from Panache Digital Games, how you’re supposed to do it. This makes sense
Out now
headed up by Patrice Désilets – best conceptually, considering you’re in the body of a
known for creating the Assassin’s Creed series – protohuman discovering the world for the first
takes place ten million years in the past, putting time, but it doesn’t take long before the whole
you in the primitive body of an early hominid. It’s game descends into a monotonous grind of
REVIEWED BY a fascinating premise for a video game, revolving repetition and frustration.
Richard Wakeling around humanity’s evolution from early apes to Take the routine discovery of ob ects in
something more closely resembling humankind, the environment as an example. This is done
whether you’re gradually learning how to walk by using different senses to examine your
on two legs or discovering how to craft spears surroundings, but the act of doing so uickly
to defend against the myriad predators stalking becomes a laborious test of patience. ach time
the African continent. Beyond those first few you opt to use one of your senses to uncover
HIGHLIGHT hours, however, I spent the rest of my time with the various plants, water sources, and other
I once decided to make my Ancestors ust waiting and hoping for it to evolve animals lurking amidst the ungles, swamps,
whole clan follow me out into in some way if you can pardon the pun). and savannahs of Africa, you have to come to
the jungle. Surely our sheer
Your long-term goal is to advance the species a complete stop and spend time hovering over
numbers would intimidate
any predators, right? Wrong. and ensure your clan’s lineage by surviving a surfeit of icons that appear on the screen.
Watching my clan of apes across eight million years. What this boils down If you find something foreign, you need to pick
struggle to work out how to to on a moment-to-moment basis is relatively it up and examine it to reveal its true identity
run away from a giant cat
simple you’ll venture out into the wilderness,
eating their mates would’ve
been funny if it wasn’t discover your surroundings, and find ways to
ou c n on e rn neuron energ


so disheartening. use tools and the local flora in order to survive. doing everyday tasks with an infant
It’s a similar structure to other survival games on your back. Figuring out how to
m te is nee ess gue though

The food chain in



Ancestors isn’t huge, but

ou re efinite t the
bottom of it to begin with.
e our pre tors i
just eat each other?

56 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

and potential purpose. Initially, this taps into an

inherent sense of discovery as you spend time
uncovering the numerous food sources and
tools within close proximity and figure out how
to combine them, but it doesn’t take long before
this turns into another repetitive task to tick off Fear of the unknown is a


prominent o st c e or
on a checklist of increasingly repetitive tasks. Ancestors ’ hominids.
There’s a lot of tedious stopping and moving, obvious as they maybe should be, but there’s Venture too far from
home and you get this
and the slow process of uncovering everything a definite thrill that comes from learning how creep ss u t o
is only exacerbated when you’re in ured and to use and combine the various tools. i -e e pre tors

in desperate need of a particular plant to Ancestors has some great moments like this
heal yourself. in isolation, such as the first time you pierce a
And believe me when I say you’ll be in ured spear through one of your predators’ skulls, or
a lot in Ancestors. Almost every surface is clamber up the ma estic world tree – but they’re
climbable, whether you’re scaling a sheer cliff fleeting and punctuated by sheer tedium. The 
face or scurrying up a towering tree. silets’ I and skill tree are at odds with the primitive
background designing Assassin’s Creed is evident game wrapped around them, focusing on
in the way you climb and move through the evolution like you’re sat in a science lesson as
trees, yet traversal isn’t as intuitive as I had opposed to inhabiting an ape. New skills range
hoped. limbing is fine, but navigating amongst from learning how to pass items from one hand
the branches is overly cumbersome, and to the other and increasing the range of your
there’s no easy way to climb senses. nlock enough of
down beyond umping to “Believe me when I these and you can advance
other surfaces. Think back time by a single generation
say you’ll be injured
to Assassin’s Creed 3 and the or leap forwards hundreds
way the position of trees was a lot in Ancestors ” of thousands of years. When
contrived so you could uickly you do this, you can only VERDICT
move from one to the next without missing take a couple of your learned skills with you, Ancestors’ fascinating
a beat. In Ancestors, the formation of trees is and if your whole clan dies, you lose everything, premise gets bogged
much more natural, but this means the distance which forces you to go back and relearn every down by a repetitive
between them isn’t always conducive to free- skill you had on top of discovering each plant, game of tedious survival.
flowing platforming. I can’t count the number rock, and predator all over again. Whether you
of times I had to take a leap of faith only to fall
feet and break a bone for the umpteenth
time. ovement is already lethargic without a
progress through time or lose everything, the
game doubles down on being a ma or drag that
could’ve really used some kind of persistence.
40%
leg in ury slowing you down to a crawl. As it is, Ancestors’ novel premise isn’t enough
Despite the perils of falling, trees do provide a to stave off the repetitive, dull, and unstructured
measure of safety compared to what’s prowling game wrapped around it.
on ground level. iant snakes, crocodiles, and
big cats are ust a few of the animals with hunger
pangs for a slice of ape flesh. There’s a tangible
sense of peril and vulnerability when you’re on
the ground, especially when you’re helpless to
fight back against all the things trying to eat you.
ventually, you might learn how to craft a spear,
but this is another part of the Ancestors learning
process. The game tells you absolutely nothing
beyond the basic controls. ome of the shoulds’
and should nots’ are common knowledge, like
don’t drink from a standing water source, and
n neuron energ ou e rn is


probably don’t stuff those mushrooms down used to make new connections in
your hominid brain. There are four
your gullet. thers, like figuring out how to s i p ths motricit inesics
sharpen a stick or open a coconut, aren’t as perception, and memory.

wfmag.cc \ 57
 Rated
Review

 Rae’s a true believer in the

Eliza software, and one of
the game’s nicer characters.

 our clients are a mix of

Y


newcomers and repeat

customers who treat Eliza
like an old friend.

HIGHLIGHT
Although Eliza isn’t a particularly romantic
Review game, there’s something charming about the
extraordinarily low-stakes flirting you can
engage in. A handful of characters will develop

Eliza
a bit of a crush on Evelyn, and while there’s no
‘partnering’ system, which characters you’re most
receptive to might impact your final decision.

Therapy for the gig economy

I
n the world of Eliza, mental health concerns with data privacy to consider, and the
care has become a thriving business. effectiveness of a system that removes so much
Machine-based AI therapy has emerged, of the human element from therapy, and limits
GENRE
Info

and the titular Eliza is the market leader many of its suggestions to games and exercises
Visual novel
because it retains the human touch, available within parent company Skandha’s own
FORMAT
PC delivering consultations through low-wage human app, is called into question.
DEVELOPER
‘proxies’ who read from a teleprompter. You play It would be all too easy to veer into a Black
Zachtronics as Evelyn, one of the program’s original coders, Mirror-style style takedown of a thing that doesn’t
PUBLISHER who has returned to the industry that burned actually exist, but to the game’s credit it never
Zachtronics her out to experience Eliza as comes right out and says that
PRICE a proxy and see whether it’s “It never comes out the concept of automated
really helping people.
£11.39
and says the concept therapy is inherently bad, as
RELEASE Eliza is a visual novel that long as it’s not viewed as the
Out Now purposefully and cleverly of automated be-all and end-all of mental
limits your ability to interact therapy is bad” health treatment. The game is
with it. You’re only given a few consistently well-written and
choices per chapter, and during therapy sessions, voice-acted, but it’s perhaps, ultimately, a bit soft
REVIEWED BY you can’t deviate from the script provided by on its targets. It’s unlikely that you’ll come away
James O’Connor Eliza, even when it seems cold or unhelpful. from the experience with a changed perspective
Evelyn gains more agency as the game goes or deep takeaway.
on; in the early stages, your choices will often As a story, Eliza is effective, with interesting
amount to whether you say ‘yes’ to requests with characters, solid dialogue, and tremendous
conviction or hesitation. It’s restrictive by design, flavour text in the various texts, emails, and
because that’s the nature of the technology reports that make up much of the experience.
VERDICT Evelyn is handling. This means that once bigger As an interactive experience, it lacks bite,
A well-written and decisions start to present themselves, your though, rarely asking you to engage with its
engaging visual novel with choices feel more meaningful, although there’s themes on a deep level. Even the ending is based
a little less on its mind than nothing here you’re likely to agonise over for long. entirely on a single decision you make right at the
it initially suggests. Much of the game is about the Eliza system, end, and viewing all of them is easy, so there’s
and the concept of AI-driven therapy. There are little sense of consequence (even if you pick

67% advantages to this system: therapy is now more

affordable, less time-consuming, and easier to
seek out. On the other hand, there are serious
the one extremely sinister ending). But even if
it doesn’t always have good answers, Eliza asks
plenty of interesting questions.

58 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
The 1990s setting is reinforced
by the inclusion of video
camcorders and Polaroid
photographs, but the best part
is being able to pull out your
old brick phone and play Snake.
A perfect way to recover during
a tense moment. Admittedly, it’s
an anachronism by a couple
of years, with Snake not hitting
phones until 1998, but at least
this isn’t the kind of magazine
to be pedantic enough to… oh.

Review

Blair Witch espite the technic issues orest en ironments


h e ne er oo e this e uti u

A fright in the woods

I
t’s 1996. A boy has disappeared in the dodgy pathfinding and confusing level design
woods near Burkittsville, Maryland. can frequently have you getting lost. While it may

Info
GENRE
ou’re llis, a former police o cer with seem apt for a Blair Witch game, there comes a
Psychological horror
a tortured past who’s joined the search point where it’s more frustrating than scary.
FORMAT
for the child with your reliable canine I think one of my favourite parts of wandering
PC (tested) / XBO
companion, Bullet. Blair Witch puts you at the these woods was how much uncertainty there
DEVELOPER
heart of the forest with little more than a radio, was with every step I took. ike the film, the Bloober Team
a torch, and a video camera. It’s a horror that geography seemed to ‘warp’ depending on my PUBLISHER
appeals to the senses, with subtle noises and movement. Walking in a straight line eventually Bloober Team NA
visual cues driving the main scares. Part of the returned me to a spot I’d visited earlier, creating PRICE
mystery comes from trying to solve what exactly the illusion of a circular journey while reinforcing £24.99
is happening in this twisted place. Is a person a distorted perception of the world. It made me RELEASE
behind this kidnapping, or is it the work of uestion myself. id I really circle around this area, Out now
supernatural forces? or was the game intentionally messing with me?
As you proceed further into the forest, you espite the trickery, Blair Witch isn’t as terrifying
find creepy photos of missing children and video as it promises. Getting lost, questioning your own
cassettes that allow you to psychokinetically perception, and hearing tree branches break in
manipulate the world around you. Bullet comes the darkness all feel in line with the film’s legacy, REVIEWED BY
in handy, as he can collect hidden items and but it’s also reliant on hallucinations to create jump Olly Smith
sniff trails to lead you on the right path, but scares and moments of anxiety. Flashbacks to Ellis’
time as a police o cer and the emotional toll it
had on his mind take precedence over the scary
things happening in the woods. Once you deduce
the events that aren’t real compared to the ones VERDICT
that are, it doesn’t work for the horror it tries to be. The Blair Witch fil
If there’s a true horror in Blair Witch, it’s series could be perfectly
the bugs. oor frame rates and occasional translated to a odern
crashes are one thing, but the game’s also host orror ga e ut t e
to a myriad glitches. If Bullet isn’t clipping through execution doesn’t respect
trees, he’s running around in circles, ignoring my the legacy the franchise
commands. While they‘re uncommon enough to has built over the years.
not be a real nuisance, these moments ended up

While largely disconnected

ruining any sense of tension the sequence had
going for it. In the end, Blair Witch’s horror ebbs 60%


rom the origin fi m ot o

its imagery is used in the game. rather than builds to a terrifying crescendo.

wfmag.cc \ 59
 Rated
Review

Review

GENRE
Astral Chain
Info

Action
FORMAT Police armed with angry, invisible monsters. What could go wrong?
Switch (tested)

W
DEVELOPER
PlatinumGames alk around Astral Chain’s stop society dissolving around you, as long as
PUBLISHER police station, or its Harmony you keep it on a leash.
Nintendo uare, and you’ll notice The surprising brilliance of Astral Chain is how
PRICE how clean everything looks. it uses this setup to thematically unite all kinds
£49.99 This consumerist idyll of chatty of disparate objectives, making you play both
RELEASE vending machines, electronic J-pop melodies, everyday beat cop and superpowered action
Out now and backlit advertising displays also implies a hero. Here, rescuing cats, collecting litter, and
strict order, where citi ens are gently herded chasing down gra ti artists are as much your
by holographic barriers, and a discarded drinks ob as flying through a dimensional portal to
can feels so incongruous you can’t help but pop take down some vicious fiend. In one mission,
it in the nearest bin. It’s beautifully clinical, but you have to destroy a colossal creature tearing
at the same time unnervingly sterile. So when up the city centre. In the next, you’re sent to
the rifts appear in this society, literally, as gaping help with the clean-up effort afterwards. But it
REVIEWED BY
Jon Bailes red holes punched into that pristine surface, never feels disjointed. As a kind of total action-
spewing forth warped creatures and dragging adventure that constantly segues between
civilians into a nightmare dimension, it somehow exploration, environmental pu les, platforming,
feels fully deserved. and combat, it has parallels to the recent God of
It seems you can’t maintain perfect order War, but with a streamlined cohesion that stops
HIGHLIGHT without a touch of chaos bursting through. it feeling so overweight.
omehow, it’s necessary to balance the two. The result is a game of huge variety
he fi e egions are the stars
And this is where you come in. Part man (or where everything somehow slots into place.
of stral hain ach has its
own fighting style and sync woman), part commander of dimension-shifting irector Takahisa Taura brings aspects of his
mo es, not to mention a little monsters, all cop. The titular astral chain links
ersonality ut the fun often the law to its repressed opposite, with your
comes from de loying their rookie o cer shackled to a egion’, an enslaved
indi idual skills in and out of
battle, from se ering wires
chimera’ from the Astral lane that might help
and sni ing targets to sniffing
out hidden items and lobbing
hea y ob ects around

The game’s atmosphere is



fantastic throughout.


60 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

 Your own weapons are limited

to a baton, pistol, and blade,
but can be upgraded between
missions for new techniques.

design approach over from Nier: Automata, with

a playful willingness to impede predictability,
using shifts of pace and perspective to keep
the experience fresh. As you gather more towards you. ombined with more familiar
egions, each with its own helpful abilities, they latinum flourishes – well-timed dodges enable
create potential for new forms of navigation, uick counters, combos end in sync’ attacks
minigames, and detective work (handled in that combine the power of human and egion,
a more interesting manner than in Judgment, finishing moves can be triggered to refill lost
incidentally). It’s not deep or taxing – the game health – and the uni ue abilities of each egion,
rarely seems keen to hold you up for long – but there’s incredible flexibility, and it eventually
it’s so slick and seamless that even occasional becomes second nature.
busywork never feels gratuitous. The camera does still struggle, and you can
Besides, Astral Chain knows when to shift sometimes lose track of your position in the
away from minor distractions to more sustained mayhem of a large brawl. Platforming can also The visual style has an almost


cel-shaded sheen, with the
objectives, and has the perfect narrative be needlessly fussy for a game that otherwise city especially giving off Jet
mechanism in place. Entering doesn’t place a premium Set Radio vibes.

a rift leads you to the Astral “Astral Chain is on precise movement.

lane, an abstract void filled But these issues do become
Platinum’s most
with huge cuboids of floating less bothersome over time.
rock that provides the game’s well-rounded game” nce you’re spinning through
conventional challenge space. the laser breath of a huge
With the clutter of reality swept away, it serves boss to wrap your chain around its feet, and
purely to construct cunning arrangements of especially when the S+ ranks start to trickle in, VERDICT
platforms and switches, or provide flat, open anything else fades into insignificance. Astral Chain is
stages for more substantial battles. Astral Chain is latinum’s most well-rounded Platinum at its most
And the battles are of course the key to the game. Structurally, it nestles between Bayonetta daring and confident.
game’s depth, as latinum’s latest system of and Nier: Automata, offering exploration and side A genuine pleasure.
flair and intricacy remains the centrepiece of uests within the confines of designated mission
the show. It’s not easy to grasp, as the game
bombards you with instructions and piles on
techniques with each new upgrade. The control
areas, and combining light RPG upgrading with
expressive and rewarding combat. But most of
all, with its laid-back tone, variety, and human-
91%
pad can seem overloaded with possible inputs, legion partnership, it’s a thing all of its own.
to the point that remembering what you can do It’s a game created through carefully-ordered
and deciding when to do it can be paralysing. precision, with just enough joyful chaos to make
With a camera that misbehaves in tight spaces, it truly special.
the opening chapters can be a mess of air
shots and pratfalls as you stumble between
D-graded victories.
But in full flow, it’s as oyfully artistic and
comprehensive as Bayonetta’s more immediate
fighting style. ou soon ad ust to moving
yourself and your egion simultaneously and
turn the chain itself into your biggest asset.
hain  umping’ is a game-changer, as you fire
your egion towards a single opponent or weave
it into a pack then yank your character in behind,
knocking down anything en route. Or you wrap
an enemy in the chain to briefly immobilise Legions will attack on their own, but


learning how to combine your damage

them, or catapult them away when they charge and theirs is key to quick victories.

wfmag.cc \ 61
 Rated
Review

Review

Oninaki
GENRE A matter of life and death
Info

JRPG

I
FORMAT
Switch (tested) / n trying to emulate the JRPGs of the ou’re also accompanied by a daemon – these
PS4 / PC nineties, Tokyo RPG Factory’s past two are former lost souls that now serve as powerful
DEVELOPER efforts – I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear weapons, a bit like the Blades from Xenoblade
Tokyo RPG
– felt too much like games rolled off a Chronicles 2. You can equip up to four daemons
Factory
production line. Third time’s the charm, and switch between them at any time with a
PUBLISHER
you might think, with Oninaki, which adopts directional jab of the right stick.
Square Enix
a different, more anime visual style, switches There’s a decent variety of play styles for
PRICE
£39.99 turn-based battles for real-time action, and even each daemon, from Aisha’s swift sword slashes
adds partial voice-acting albeit only in apanese). to aav’s spear, which includes a ump ability
RELEASE
Out now Nevertheless, the earlier games’ themes of similar to the dragoon class in the Final Fantasy
death and lost memories remain the core here. series. aemons even dictate your actions
et in a realm where the population believes with the B button, so while Aisha might let you
in reincarnation, death is supposed to be dash to evade attacks, the tank-like avod
REVIEWED BY accepted with oy, while grief can prevent can help you set up a shield, while for others,
Alan Wen the departed from moving on to the afterlife. it acts as a jump button. The idea is to switch
Naturally, this belief system is all too between daemons, depending on the situation.
uestionable when lovers are buying special aemons aren’t ust weapons, however, and
charms in the hopes they can reunite in the function more like party members with their own
next life, while bereaved parents can choose progression systems. The more you use them in
to be with their dead child by taking their combat, the more you get out of them.
own lives. ust to make matters worse, a serial This becomes a problem when your current
killer known as the Night evil is on the loose. daemons are already providing you with a
As you might gather, Oninaki’s tone is almost suite of skills and buffs, so that taking on a new
unremittingly grim. daemon can feel like starting from scratch. Still,
You play as Kagachi, whose role as a Watcher it’s worth putting in the grind to unearth their
is to help lost souls pass on in peace, lest they potential scythe-wielding I ana’s moves start
Using soul stones, you stray into the purgatorial dimension of the Veil off much too slow and limited, for example,


can expand your daemon’s

skills and buffs. Naturally, for too long and turn into monsters. To do this, but after investing the time, the extra buffs and
the more you use a you have the power to cross between the world skills I’ve unlocked make her much swifter and
daemon, the more you
get out of them. of the living and the eil at the press of a button. deadlier, including an attack that has a chance of

62 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

Gameplay is mostly from an overhead


perspective, but dialogue scenes allow for
more detailed cel-shaded character models.
one-shotting the enemy. Unless you’re prepared Animated cutscenes are kept to a handful.
to grind all your daemons, though, it’s likely that
many just fall by the wayside as you stick to one
or two favourites. potions, meaning you might have to restart from
There’s nonetheless plenty of opportunities your last manual save point.
to level up, if only because allen are in The repetition and frustrations of combat
generous supply. n occasion, you’ll be trapped would be easier to overlook if there was a
in a purple ring until you defeat all the enemies compelling reason to endure them, but even a
there, but even if you decide to clear the midpoint twist doesn’t save Oninaki from being
room, plenty more just miraculously spawn in. weighed down by a miserably heavy-handed HIGHLIGHT
Sometimes it just gets taxing on the eyes, not story. Despite the many tragedies that occur, Daemons aren’t just sentient
helped by all the particle effects or your own I found myself unable to invest emotionally in weapons. As you upgrade
floating daemon obscuring your view. the characters, and I soon became as jaded as their abilities and your
affinity with them builds, you
The real frustration’s Kagachi, who follows the
can also unlock memories,
reserved for the bosses, “Just to make angsty hero stereotype to unearthing fragments of their
which have a habit of matters worse, the letter. tragic backstories, which are
unleashing a flurry of As interesting an idea fully voiced. The caveat is
attacks that put you in
a serial killer known crossing between realms that, after the first one, each
a stunlock, leaving you as the Night Devil is, besides speaking to lost
memory costs soul stones to
unlock, which you’d rather be
vulnerable to the next is on the loose” souls, there’s barely any using on a new upgrade.
hit, and the hit after that. distinction between worlds,
An autosave system that lets you restart a so there’s very little incentive to traverse the eil
boss fight immediately after death is also far unless the narrative dictates it. The lost souls
from ideal if you went in with low health or no themselves are also reduced to uest givers,
though their requests aren’t logged anywhere,
making it even more di cult to compel yourself
You’ll often have to


defeat tougher to carry out their wishes, if you can even

enemies called ‘Sight
Stealers’ in the living
remember what they are. VERDICT
world before you can Oninaki is a worthy attempt to break from Another downbeat JRPG
safely traverse the Veil.
the mould of I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear, but from Tokyo RPG Factory,
ultimately, it’s just another underwhelming Oninaki never quite delivers
JRPG that can’t hold a candle to the classics on its intriguing premise.
that the studio holds dear. When Square Enix
already seems content repackaging its rich back
catalogue, pumping out ersatz titles like this is
starting to feel redundant.
58%
wfmag.cc \ 63
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Hunt didn’t start out life as a
battle royale game, and it shows.
I can’t stress enough how much
Hunt ’s aesthetic carries the
whole thing. The music, the
grotesque monsters, weapons,
sounds, and world itself all knit
together to make a Deep South
nightmare that is begging to be
expanded on in future games.

Review

A mutated cesspit of evil

Hunt: Showdown


shouldn’t look this pretty.

Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans

H
unt: Showdown has a tough job. up from rytek’s usual fare of gruff supersoldiers
In the couple of years since its in skintight nanosuits. The design on offer here
breakthrough, the battle royale could stand alongside gaming’s Gothic greats, like
GENRE
Info

genre has lost some of its lustre, Bloodborne or Legacy of Kain.

Battle royale/
survival horror
with the tactical kill-or-be-killed Hunt: Showdown also builds on earlier battle
drama and chicken dinners of PUBG and its royale games by introducing elements of character
FORMAT
PC (tested) / contemporaries overtaken by promotional progression and permadeath, which makes each
XBO / PS4 events, battle passes, and stolen dances being bout more than a discrete -minute affair with no
DEVELOPER sold as emotes – even relative newcomers like longer-term impact, as is all too common for the
Crytek Apex Legends or Black Ops 4 showed signs the genre. Progression is tracked by your ‘bloodline’,
PUBLISHER genre’s popularity may already have peaked. which dictates some weapon and equipment
Crytek Hunt: Showdown breathes new life into the genre, unlocks. Your characters can, however, be
PRICE though, by making it trouser-fillingly terrifying. permanently lost out in the bayou, making kitting
£35.99 Hunt: Showdown has most of the battle royale them out a balancing act between keeping them
RELEASE trappings: an open-ended map full of people out strong enough to survive while also risking only the
Out now (PC
for blood, with the primary goal being survival e uipment you can afford to lose.
and Xbox
One), TBA against your fellow player. On top of that all-too- Hunt: Showdown points to a bleak yet beautiful
(PS4) familiar foundation, however, is a big dollop of future for the battle royale genre beyond Fortnite.
creating-and-hunting action akin to Capcom’s Its high price, horror elements, and emphasis on
Monster Hunter, as each team takes on the role monster-hunting may make it less of a mainstream
of bounty hunters competing for jobs in a success. In a world full of generic clones, though,
REVIEWED BY monster-ridden, 19th century Louisiana bayou. Hunt attempts to build something new – and that
Joe Parlock Setting isn’t usually the battle royale genre’s alone makes it more than worth your time.
biggest strength – it’s considered ground-breaking
when a desert map is replaced with a snowy
one – but Crytek has poured a striking amount
of personality into this a un-flavoured hellhole.
VERDICT The enemies are intimidating, disgusting, and
Brings some much-needed fascinating in equal measure: mutated dogs,
atmosphere and tension to walking hives of venomous bugs, and brutes
the battle royale genre. with armour made out of wasps’ nests stalk the
swamps, and bigger bosses look like something

75% straight out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or

John Carpenter’s The Thing. Hunt’s world is the best hoose our first hunter ut on t get too tt che to


the genre’s ever seen, and it’s also a massive step them he on t st ong

64 / wfmag.cc
 Now playing
To infinity… and explode

Wireframe
Recommends

To infinity…
and explode Universe Sandbox 2
PC
Education might be its
erbal pace rogram is still harder than actual space ight intention, but the universe
physics simulation

W
encountered here lets you
ith the announcement of safely bringing my people back to the safety of crash planets into each other.
a sequel coming our way, the ground. That’s boring. Alright, it’s not, it’s So, really, that’s all you end
the dried-out old husk of an absolutely brilliant. The point I’m making is that up doing.
excitement gland actually I wanted to show off to myself and to you, dear
started to uiver a bit. readers, that I’m able to remember how to do
It’s happening, and it’s going to be great. things, and apply some general physics-based
nless it’s terrible, but I won’t accept that as a knowledge to anything I might apply myself to.
possible outcome. Anyway, inevitably this leads Physics is straightforward, right?
to the desire to go back to one of nature’s finest The rocket was built, a series of large boosters
ever games: Kerbal Space Program. And going engaging in two stages to offer the most
back to it leads to the discovery propulsion possible from the Bridge Constructor
that, while I had learned a ground – exactly where it’s Portal
“The launch PC, PS4, XBO,
fair bit about the game in the needed the most. A third-
was an absolute, SWITCH, MULTI
years following its 2015 (full) stage engine to give that final
catastrophic Bridge Constructor might
release, I’ve since forgotten push out of the atmosphere.
have started out with serious
it all. Kerbal might look cutesy, failure” Trinkets and scientific intentions, and its physics are
but it is harsh. e uipment, auto stabilisers, and sound, but the Portal spin-off
Actually, considering the accurate simulation other such luxury compute-o-parts to make the really grasps what makes the
of real-world (and out of this world) physics, whole thing go without a hitch. It was a beaut. series fun. Failing, basically.
it’s a bit rich calling it harsh. True’ would be a Alright, it was really ugly, but the parts were
better descriptor. ee, Kerbal has you building there, they would work, and they would throw
up a space program – the clue is very much me back into Kerbal with a head start.
in the name – and while you can go through a Naturally, I’d forgotten a crew module so had
campaign mode of sorts, managing money and no way of controlling the rocket, so it wouldn’t
achieving goals of exploring your solar system, take off. ne uick fix later and we’re there
what I wanted to go back to was the professional at ground control, counting down the launch.
mucking about bit the sandbox. This mode tability support on, thrust at maximum, three, Euro Truck
removes the need for money and research, two, one blast off... oh. The precariously Simulator 2
PC, MAC, LINUX
instead ust letting you run free with all the off- balanced fuel tanks atop the rocket’s side
The one everyone always
brand NA A e uipment you need. boosters had bent inward on take-off, colliding
wants to laugh at – until
tep one build the rocket. I’m keen to get with the main body and exploding spectacularly.
they play it. Euro Truck
back into Kerbal with something more on the The launch was an absolute, catastrophic failure Simulator 2 is bewildering in
ambitious side of things – I’d been through the and would need some serious redesign to even just how much it can take over
baby steps of making tiny rockets, getting them get off the ground to begin with. Kerbal Space your free time, given half the
to the stratosphere, manoeuvring a bit, then Program is an astoundingly good game. chance. Absolutely compulsive.

wfmag.cc \ 65
 Killer Feature
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

20 years since the first game was released: an apt
time to talk about the third entry’s killer feature

NEVERSOFT / 2001 / PS2, GC, XBOX, PC, MULTI

H
indsight is a luxury, but the context it offers scores – were now feasibly unlimited in scope. That’s how to
can bring about some fun little realisations. add something of value to a yearly update.
Now the Tony Hawk’s series is long-dead (THPS5 Neversoft had seen what made the Tony Hawk’s
never happened), we can reflect and not worry games successful so far – a fiercely competitive local
about what’s next, what changes will happen, multiplayer mode. A room with a bunch of people in it
what tweaks to the formula will occur. Actually, that’s quite all taking their turn to better each other across a few
sad at the same time. But I digress: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 different modes. The one constant? It was all about
is, with the benefit of hindsight, the most exciting point in the the score. The contributing factor to scores? Combos.
series’ history. Whoever took that knowledge and decided to add in revert-
The first game was revelatory, the to-manuals as a combo extension
second had the finest soundtrack of any “Whoever had that idea made deserves the highest honour gaming
game ever made, but it was the third is able to bestow (probably a furry
the Tony Hawk ’s series one of
game where those solid, compulsive badge with the Wireframe logo on it),
mechanics were introduced that made the best multiplayer games because whoever had that idea made
this a competitive player’s dream. If you of the early noughties” the Tony Hawk’s series one of the
know, you know. If you don’t: I’m talking best multiplayer games of the early
about reverts. That is to say, pivoting your stance on landing noughties. Not to go too old man on you whipper-snappers,
from a jump or drop in order to switch your dominant footing but that thrill of face-to-face competition – not the band, they
on the board, be that left or right-sided. That sounds awful weren’t on the soundtrack – is a thrill no amount of superb
and boring, of course, but hey – would you believe it was much online multiplayer games can beat.
more than that? The Tony Hawk’s series would have been absolutely fine
Reverts in THPS3 could be chained with manuals (balancing had it continued the way it was heading. Uninspiring, maybe.
on the front or back two wheels while still being in motion), Perhaps it would have expedited the series’ plummet toward
and when you did this, the combo you had been building up the likes of Ride and Robomodo’s other execrable entries to
just before landing did not end. Manuals were introduced in the series, I can’t say for sure. But with the benefit of our good
the second game, but the simple act of adding and allowing friend hindsight, I can say it was the addition of reverts in Tony
you to chain reverts into manuals meant combos – and so Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 that made a great series transcendent.

66 / wfmag.cc
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