Games built in Unity using Improbable’s SpatialOS cloud server platform will not need to shut down, Unity’s makers have stated. Improbable claimed yesterday that a recent change in the popular game creation software’s rules would bar developers from using their cloud multiplayer services. This caused a big panic yesterday for developers who yesterday suddenly thought they might need to kill their games. Unity say it’s not a recent change, that Improbable have in fact been in breach of the terms for over a year – and knew it. Improbable responded by vaguely admitting to having made unspecified “errors” but said it’s time for game technology to be more open and accountable. Epic Games, the makers of Unreal Engine, have seized this opportunity to push their own product. Epic and Improbable are jointly establishing a $25 million (£19.5m) fund for developers to switch to “more open” technologies, by which they mean theirs. … [Read more...] about Unity say Improbable games don’t need to shut down after all, as Epic offer devs cash to go Unreal
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The making of The Game Awards 2018
Geoff Keighley owes more than you’d think to Britney Spears. In 2014, the first year of Keighley’s annual Game Awards show, he found himself in a precarious situation — his team didn’t have the money to build the type of show he wanted. Spears had recently begun a residency at the Planet Hollywood Axis Theater in Las Vegas, and happened to have a week off when Keighley’s team wanted to shoot. So, The Game Awards asked if it could use her stage. And Spears said yes. As Keighley tells it, getting the first Game Awards up and running had its fair share of challenges. From budgeting issues, to talent such as Trey Parker and Kiefer Sutherland not confirming their appearances until 72 hours before the show, to having to stretch for time as bands re-rehearsed after someone running sound accidentally deleted levels, Keighley’s team had an uphill battle just getting the show live. Now in 2018, The Game Awards is, in terms of viewership, budget, and scale, … [Read more...] about The making of The Game Awards 2018
Steam popularity skyrockets in China as government’s freeze on new game approvals continues
Steam's active user base has risen from 67 million to 90 million over the last year, with a majority of those coming from China - where the Chinese government is still refusing to approve new games for sale. Back in August, the Chinese government was reported to have put a freeze on new video game licence approvals, with president Xi Jinping's explaining that tougher regulations were now in place because he "cares for the children's eyes" and wants to "let them have a bright future". Shortly after, the Chinese Ministry of Education elaborated that the new measures were intended to combat health problems, including addiction, that were believed to be related to online, mobile, and console games. As a result, the total number of online games were to be restricted, the amount of new games allowed into the country would be controlled, the age-ratings system would be reviewed, and limits would be placed on how long minors could play. Unsurprisingly, the regulations have had a direct and … [Read more...] about Steam popularity skyrockets in China as government’s freeze on new game approvals continues
Dirty Bomb ending development, servers to stay online
Less than two months after finally launching Dirty Bomb in full, Splash Damage have announced they are stopping development on their free-to-play FPS set in merrye olde Londone tahn. The servers will stay up as long as enough players keep on playing, they say, but don’t expect any big future updates. Splash Damage say that, despite a big effort to renovate and finish it, the Enemy Territory-style shooter simply wasn’t making enough money to justify continuing live development. So it goes. “After regaining publishing rights for DB nearly two years ago, we staffed up a load of developers and tried our best to deliver a Dirty Bomb experience that would be feature-rich with tons of new content, while maintaining its great gameplay feel & balance,” Splash Damage said in Thursday’s announcement. “Unfortunately, despite all the added time and resources, there were some challenges we couldn’t overcome, and we were not able to make DB the success … [Read more...] about Dirty Bomb ending development, servers to stay online
An indie developer misclicked, got review bombed and now their game’s servers are “exploding”
Remember the saying "there's no such thing as bad publicity"? Following the events of the last few days, at least one indie developer may disagree. Evolvation, a space flying shooter made by two people, was originally released in February 2017. Earlier this week, it had an average concurrent player count of one person. Fast forward to today, and there are currently 53,487 people in-game, with a new all-time peak of 172,870 set yesterday evening. Unsurprisingly, the sudden influx of new players is breaking the small indie game's servers. How on earth did this happen? Unbelievably, it all began with one misclick. The carnage started just over a week ago when the game's developer, HyperReuts, accidentally deleted Evolvation's free Steam keys. In a Steam post, HyperReuts explained it had given out 10,000 free codes in order to expand the game's playerbase as part of its 2.0 update. Unfortunately, the developer discovered many of these were being sold illegally online. In order to stop the … [Read more...] about An indie developer misclicked, got review bombed and now their game’s servers are “exploding”