Here’s Your Change is a game set in a small store in a low income Oakland neighborhood. It’s a first-person game structured like Papers, Please, which its designer Rogelio Lara cites as a key inspiration. The player stands behind the shop’s counter and serves a series of customers, all of whom bring small stories of struggle and frustration. Some of the customers are friendly, others less so. As the game progresses, the store’s clientele begins to shift, reflecting a rapid gentrification of the neighborhood. It’s a short, nicely illustrated game that tells a powerful story. Lara created Here’s Your Change with help from other students at an educational initiative called Gameheads in Oakland, California. The game was recently demonstrated at the Intentional Play Summit in San Jose, and at Gameheads’ own annual showcase. Gameheads is an initiative designed to build a pipeline into game development for low-income students and people of color. It … [Read more...] about Low-income, minority students tell their life stories through games
Story life games
Ghosts, cocaine, fistfights, porn, poop, and police – the untold stories of game development
Every job has its weird moments. When I used to manage a gentleman’s club, I once went handing out fliers with some of the girls and was attacked by a door supervisor from a nearby bar. He picked me up and ran me across a street, almost putting me through a shop window. When I worked in retail, an old dude came out of the changing rooms to ask for another size in trousers. Thing is, he should have had another size of boxer shorts on because his testicles were near his kneecap. I can still see them when I close my eyes. This got me thinking – what are some of the weird, awful, and funny untold stories of game development? We asked a bunch of games industry people to tell us their weird stories, many of them anonymously, and here are the results. Those who chose to share their names also wanted to make it clear that these stories were nothing to do with their current roles. Strap yourselves in because shit is about to get strange. This is it, the apocalypse Sometimes … [Read more...] about Ghosts, cocaine, fistfights, porn, poop, and police – the untold stories of game development
11-11: Memories Retold is a new story-driven game set during the First World War
By Alex Donaldson, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 16:17 GMT Bandai Namco has announced a new game that’ll see them partner with award-winning animation house Aardman Studios and successful indie studio DigixArt – and it’s set during the First World War. 11-11: Memories Retold looks like it’s going to go to great lengths to show players the horrors and struggles of the war, with Bandai Namco describing the game as “a story-driven narrative adventure” that has a “unique painted art style”. That art style really is unique – take a look at it in motion in the very first teaser for the project: “Engaging audiences with compelling stories through animation is at the heart of what we do at Aardman. With this project we want to produce an emotionally rich experience with a distinctive visual identity that reflects the sentiment of this narrative,” said David Sproxton, Co-founder of Aardman. “11-11: Memories Retold is truly … [Read more...] about 11-11: Memories Retold is a new story-driven game set during the First World War
Wooga makes layoffs as it pivots towards story-driven games
German mobile studio Wooga has laid off 30 employees as part of its pivot to story-driven casual games. After finding success with narrative-focused efforts like Pearl's Peril and June's Journey, the developer is convinced story-driven titles will shape the future of the casual market. "In 2017, we focused even more keenly on narrative design with the release of June’s Journey. The game has already become one of our biggest titles and, like Pearl before it, attracted a sizeable following of loyal players," reads a company blog. "That's why today we are announcing our goal to become the market leader in developing story-driven casual games, but doing so means enacting several organizational changes." Those changes will see the company ditch its current development model -- which sees individual studios handle genre-specific development cycles -- and reorganize around the life cycles of its games. It means 30 employees have been … [Read more...] about Wooga makes layoffs as it pivots towards story-driven games
E3 2017: 11 Cool Games You Might Have Missed
E3 is often where we get to see or hear about major games for the first time (this year featured Metroid Prime 4 and Anthem, for instance) or where we see more of a previously announced big-name game (like Super Mario Odyssey or God of War). But there's far more at E3 than just those huge games with major franchise or developer names attached to them. Many other games fly under the radar but are nonetheless well worth your attention. We've rounded up a small handful of these games for you below. Semblance (PC) Alex Newhouse | News Reporter I'm always on board with a platformer that manages to find an innovative mechanic, since the platformer genre is so saturated with games. Semblance, a game that started as a South African developer's final university project, creates a world that's essentially made out of Play-Doh, and it lets you deform it to achieve your objectives. Slamming into certain walls or floors compresses or warps them to allow you to reach higher places or avoid spikes … [Read more...] about E3 2017: 11 Cool Games You Might Have Missed