Like the rest of the gaming world, the eyes of the Shacknews community was on Tuesday's Xbox One reveal event. Some enjoyed the hardware and entertainment features, others are taking a wait-and-see approach until E3, but many others left the event disappointed. To help gauge our community's reaction, I reached out to some of the longer-tenured members of the Shacknews Chatty community for their thoughts.
Mike Stanton has been a part of the Shacknews community for three years, going under the handle of theDrMikey. When he's not helping his wife set phasers to "delicious," Stanton is wrapped in the world of indie game development. He's already had some success in that realm, taking home $75,000 for his previous effort, Planet Smashers. Now he's submitting his latest title to the Shacknews community for feedback--a 2D flight-based deathmatch game called Vespidae.
Mike Tipul has been working in game development for many years, having worked as a mission/game designer on various console titles. He recently decided to leave his position with an unnamed game publisher to pursue indie game development. He has also been a part of the Shacknews community since 2001, starting off under the name Flawless Cowboy before adopting the username Rampancy. He recently revealed his first project to the Shack community, a flight simulator called Enemy Starfighter.
"Enemy Starfighter is about being the commander and flight lead of a covert fleet sent into hostile star systems during the systematic conquest of the known universe," said Tipul. "Strikes you plan may involve anything from kidnapping a scientist at a research facility to taking out an enemy capital ship undergoing repairs. You're this grizzled commander on the bridge of a carrier, deep in space, planning your next move. Once you're done planning that next move, you jump into your starfighter and execute it, along with your fleet, which stays with you between missions. The combat and planning phases should only take a few minutes and you'll run this cycle several times over the course of a campaign."
Steam unveiled another group of Greenlight titles and John Locks (Shacknews user "johnlocks") couldn't be happier to see it. One of the titles revealed was Dawn of Fantasy, a game on which Locks serves as a programmer. As Valve hammers out the final details with developer Reverie World Studios for DoF's upcoming Steam release, Locks shared some details about the game with Shacknews.
Dawn of Fantasy is described as a step forward for the MMORTS genre--a full, free-to-play 3D experience with real-time siege combat, in which players can manage their economies, construct towns, direct their citizens, and complete dozens of quests in a growing online realm. Of course, Locks points out that this is the marketing department's description of the game, so how would he personally describe the game?
DayZ has become one of the Shacknews community's favorite games, with a dedicated server for community members to set up shop and go on raids around nearby towns. After months of playing through the game, however, at least one Shacker has found the game a little too forgiving. Sure, there are brain-eating zombies running all over the place, but there are just too many ways to dispatch the ambling undead.
Erich Geiger (aka BeowolfSchaefer in Shacknews circles) is a part of a team that's working on DayZ 2017, a mod designed to take DayZ to its logical next step. Fast-forwarding to the year 2017, zombies continue to roam the earth and the human population is quickly running out of defenses. "The core idea is that the events of DayZ took place five years ago and the world has moved on, so to speak," explains Geiger. "Remaining resources have largely been scavenged, exhausted or lost and mere survival has become even more of a challenge."
On the surface, Extreme Road Trip 2 appears to be a fun take on the endless runner genre that has rapidly filled the iOS App Store. What Etienne Giroux could not have imagined, however, was his game surpassing a million download. Giroux has been a member of the Shacknews community since 2002, under the name barichnikov, and was happy to talk about Extreme Road Trip 2.
You read the exclusive chapter from Stay Awhile and Listen by David Craddock. Now, we chat with the author about putting the book together, including more tidbits from Diablo 2, World of Warcraft and StarCraft.
Card games are among the best-selling apps on mobile devices. Solitaire, Poker, and Blackjack are some of the easiest games to pick up and play on-the-go, as evident by gamers and non-gamers alike normally carrying around at least one iteration of a card game on their phone. Kevin King (Shacker NeonGames_Kevin) decided to capitalize on this idea and create a twist on the traditional blackjack formula.
"I had worked in the console gaming industry for about a decade as a programmer and was disappointed that all of the games I had made could not be played by non-gamers," said King. "The interfaces were cryptic and the gameplay was twitch based that required years of experience with a controller to even be playable. I wanted to develop a title anyone, not just gamers, could pick up in a minute -- something that would be accessible for people with motor skill impairments without removing the depth, strategy, and challenge of the game."
After listening to the latest Weekend Confirmed, have you had the urge to listen to a gaming podcast by Shackers, for Shackers? Three members of the Shacknews community--Billy "Mercfox1" Spies, Paul "Sexpansion Pack" Montesanti, and Jeff "geedeck" Gondek--have come together for just that purpose. Together, they've created Gamers After Life, which is currently at 10 episodes and counting.
Gondek and Montesanti have been friends for many years and having gotten to know Spies through Shack, the trio decided to pool together their talents to start up a podcast. Together, they bring a unique "everyman" perspective to the world of gaming podcasts.
Games are often considered an immersive medium, allowing players to live out fantasies that were never before possible. Willie Zutz (known to the Shack community since 2004 as boarder2) has used his personal experience to create an iOS supplement to the Eagle Dynamics A-10C Warthog flight simulator. It's called iControl DCS, a virtual glass cockpit recreated in excruciating detail.
"iControl DCS allows the player to connect their iPad directly via WiFi to the simulator in order to manipulate switches, dials, buttons, etc.," said Zutz. "It also mirrors the MFCD (Multi-Function Color Display) and CDU (Control Display Unit) from the simulator to the iPad. The application makes it so the average Joe who already has an iPad, but doesn't want to spend $200-$400 on a complex HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle & Stick), and another $1k+ on a home cockpit build to get a very rich and engrossing experience at a much more reasonable cost."
Ray "aurealis" Keilman doesn't make video games for a living, but his love of those games prompted him to put an Easter Egg on his web design site that only one who knows the Konami Code could truly appreciate.
Keilman, a Shack community member since 2003, has been knee-deep in graphic design since he was first introduced to Photoshop in high school. He majored in Computer Graphics Technology in college, specializing in 3D animation. Years later, he found himself in New York City and, after bartending for a year, he learned the skills needed to become a freelance graphic designer. Keilman has since created Pixel Punch Creative, where he offers his talents in the areas of designing graphics, web pages, logos, and cartoon characters.
"Pixel Punch was born when I started browsing freelance directories from the point of view of a potential client," said Keilman. "I was clearly not standing out among the sea of names so I decided on a more personal and whimsical angle. Pixel Punch is influenced by my love for cartoons, video games and my bartending experience."
Polycount has been home to a large number of video game artists, both professional and amateur, since 1998. Like Shacknews, Polycount has deep roots in Quake. The site was once known as Q2PMP, an outlet for fans to create and show off Quake 2 skins. Since then, Polycount has grown to nearly 45,000 members and encompasses all aspects of game art (3D, 2D, concept, animation, and FX) across a full range of platforms.
Adam (familiar to Shackers as eonix) has frequented Polycount since his high school days in 1999. Now known as Shacker eonix, He now runs Polycount along with Drew "r13" Risch, and Polycount's team of editors and moderators. While the administration has changed, Polycount's dedication to cultivating a generation of video game artists has not.
Remember old episodes of Star Trek where Captain Kirk (or Picard, if you'd prefer) would ask for the Enterprise's computer to dim a room's lights? It was a fascinating example of what future technology would someday be capable of doing. Greg "OverloadUT" Laabs, a Shacknews community member for more than five years, was among those inspired by these scenes and he soon became interested in the world of home automation -- in particular, controlling lights with a computer.
Over the past few months, Laabs has taken his home automation system to new heights. Laabs has tied in his Harmony One remote control with his PC, Xbox 360, and home lighting system. His living room is now set up to remotely dim the lights whenever a movie is playing through his Xbox 360 or PS3 and automatically bring the lights back up when the movie stops. He has also hacked elements of the iPhone's SiriProxy to remote dim the lights through voice commands. Laabs has posted a demo on YouTube showing both the Harmony One and Siri controls, showing a culmination of nearly 10 years of work.
It's not easy coming up with a concept for a game, so the best start is to keep it simple--as simple as mixing balls and water.
Aqua Balls is a new addition to the growing casual gaming section of the Google Play store. It's a game about filling up the screen with friendly Aqua Balls by expanding them as much as possible while avoiding obstacles. In this case, the obstacles mainly consist of antagonistic bubbles called Angry Balls. Spanning multiple areas, with each containing 12 levels, Aqua Balls is an ad-supported free download.
Plague Inc. was featured near the top of the iTunes "Top Paid Games" list for a good part of June. It's an addictive strategy title that tasks players with eliminating all of mankind by choosing and evolving a communicable disease before a global cure can be produced and deployed. Plague Inc. infected about 750,000 iOS devices within its first three weeks in the wild, even without any significant marketing behind it.
The game was created by indie developer James Vaughan at his studio Ndemic Creations. Vaughan just happens to be a member of the Shacknews community, so we took the opportunity to reach out and pick his brain about Plague Inc.'s development and runaway success.
"No dp, don't you understand that everyone criticising the MS press conference actually thinks ..."
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