Ty Taylor‘s unique take on the match 3 puzzle formula, Tumblestone, is now available for free to all Xbox Live Gold subscribers on Xbox One and we got a chance to ask him a few questions. In our brief discussion we talked about what it was like to work with Microsoft on Games With Gold, the local Seattle indie games scene and what Ty’s plans are for the game post launch.
Ty Taylor of The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild with his game, The Bridge.
Broken Joysticks: How does it feel to have Tumblestone finally complete and about to be in the hands of potentially millions of players?
Ty Taylor: It’s certainly nearing complete! We’re still working 20-hour days to put as much into the game as we can, fix any last bugs, and just generally polish the game. I’ve been so busy it seems I haven’t really had time to stop and reflect on the project’s soon completion. In terms of number of players, that’s always an interesting and surreal experience. I remember with The Bridge, on our first Steam sale with a front-page feature, we sold nearly 90,000 copies in one day. I opened up a picture of the Seattle soccer stadium that was at full capacity with around 70,000 people, and I ended up starring at that for about an hour. More people had bought my game in one day than people in that picture, and that visualization was literally paralyzing. I try not to think about it at that scale. I try to think about it at an individual level. If my games can make a single person feel smarter, smile, laugh, grow a friendship…then it’s worthwhile. Having that effect on millions of individuals is just millions of times more rewarding.
Broken Joysticks: What was the experience of collaborating with Microsoft like? Did you ever expect Tumblestone to be chosen for Games With Gold?
Ty Taylor: Microsoft has been pretty excited about Tumblestone since early on. It helps considerably that I live and work 10 minutes away from the Xbox (and Nintendo, and Valve) headquarters, so I somewhat regularly see these people at local Seattle game developer events and can talk to them and show them updates on Tumblestone, but more importantly, they can watch other people play Tumblestone. The game has this magic to it that is hard to describe, but when we take it to events like PAX, it gets huge crowds and so much enthusiasm that is contagious. Microsoft themselves has sponsored the game at six different shows, even though there is a soft rule where they usually only sponsor an ID@Xbox game at a show one time. When I started having conversations with them about Games with Gold, I definitely got the feeling that Microsoft was already extremely interested in the prospect.
Four player competitive mode of Tumblestone.
Broken Joysticks: What can players expect in terms of post launch support and release on other platforms?
Ty Taylor: No software is ever free of bugs or issues, and we’ll fix them as they come in on all platforms. Updating Steam is something we can do in a matter of hours. Updating the game on consoles is a bit more of a hassle, but we will likely patch each game with some minor touch-ups and bug fixing/usability fixing/balancing a handful of times after launch as needed. And we’re still going to be working on it. My philosophy is to release on as many platforms as I possibly can, and while that is unfortunately not happening at the first launch, platforms such as mobile and micro-consoles are on our radar within the next year. If the game is well-received, we might even consider some sort of DLC packages for it down the line.
If you own an Xbox One make sure to grab the game on the Xbox Store, if you’re playing on PC the game is available on the Steam Store. Congratulations to Ty and his team on completing the game!
Niantic Lab & Nintendo’s smash hit mobile adaptation Pokemon Go has launched in an additional 26 European countries according to the developer’s official Facebook Page. This rollout on iOS and Android brings the total number of European countries with access to the game to 36 with 10 more until all of Europe & the UK has access to catch ’em all. Still no word on a Canadian launch date or a Mexican launch date leaving users in North America who aren’t American to side-load the game and possibly become infested with malware.
Here is a complete list of the new countries with access to Pokemon Go:
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Greece
Greenland
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Pokemon Go has been a runaway success which has caused Nintendo’s stock to rise to levels not seen since 2010 – just after the boom of the original Wii.
Need more Pokemon Go coverage? Make sure to check out our beginner’s guide if you are just starting your own Pokemon Journey.
Virtual Reality has been available to consumers on PC after years in development. While the system requirements can be a little daunting, new mainstream video cards like the Radeon RX480 and upcoming Geforce 1060 are helping to ease the pain on both owner’s wallets and their system’s power supplies. When it comes to the choice of headsets potential VR early adaptors have quite a few options – there are the rather expense HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift, probably the two biggest names in Head Mounted Displays, but other alternatives also exist. You can get a comparable experience out of mid-tier headsets like the Razer HDK and other Open Source VR-compliant devices that will be just as immersive without handing over an entire month’s rent.
The HDK Versus The Competition
From a technical standpoint Razer’s current Hacker Development Kit (HDK) V1.4 won’t go blow for blow with the hardware on offer from the big names in the VR space but what it does provide is a stable and enjoyable VR experience complete with 3-Dimensional positional tracking at almost half of the price of other VR solutions. It should be noted that the HDK, as it’s name implies, is aimed primarily at developers & hardware hackers who are comfortable getting a little dirty with the small parts that make the device work.
Razer HDK V1.4
Oculus Rift CV1
HTC VIVE
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 (960×540 per eye)
2160 x 1200(1080×1200 per eye)
2160 x 1200 (1080×1200 per eye)
Screen Refresh Rate
60HZ
90HZ
90HZ
Positional Tracking
Yes
Yes
Yes
Room Tracking
No
No
Yes – via Lighthouse modules
Open Source Drivers
Yes
No – Closedcommercialdrivers
No – Closedcommercialdrivers
Steam VR Support
Yes * With additional software download
Yes – out of the box support forSteamVR
Yes – out of the box support forSteamVR
MSRP
$299 USD
$599 USD
$799 USD
Setting Up Your HDK Step 1: Getting The Core Drivers
Using the OSVR HDK isn’t as easy as simply plugging the headset into your computer and expecting it to work. You are going to need one of two packages in order to make use of your OSVR – either the “OSVR Core” package which includes the server software needed to connect the headset to your PC or the “OSVR Runtime Package” which includes the aforementioned OSVR server but also drivers, an IR tracking program designed to test the infra-red camera and “Direct 3D demo” which is an interactive simple demonstration program designed to make sure the headset is working correctly.
Snag either the full runtime package or core builds right here.
Setting Up Your HDK Step 2: Steam VR Integration
SteamVR integration, that is playing games on the OSVR headset using Valve’s open API approach to VR isn’t as easy as downloading the SteamVR package, but it is pretty painless if you can follow some simple steps.
Make sure your Steam install is up-to-date and that you are logged in.
Go to Library and then select “Tools” and search for SteamVR.
Install the standard version of SteamVR package – which is a 1100 MB download.
Within the directory structure of the OSVR SteamVR plugin zip file find the SteamVR-OSVR/lib/openvr folder
Extract the OSVR folder to %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\steamapps\common\SteamVR\drivers\osvr\bin \win32″ if you are using the default Steam file structure.
Hook-up your VR headset, Run the OSVR server and get ready to enjoy some great VR content.
Optional Step 3: Headtracking and SBS (Side-By-Side) For Non-VR Games
If you are looking to experience some of your favorite titles in Virtual Reality but they don’t natively support OSVR/SteamVR you have a few choices to make your game of choice playable on your headset. Essentially there are two components that go into this: ensuring your content is displayed on the headset correctly and adding in optional head tracking to the game so that your view moves with your headset in first person games, for example.
For Viewing Content:
Steam packs in a free “Steam Theatre” mode that you can activate with any non-SteamVR game by left clicking on the game in your library and selecting “Play In SteamVR”. The SteamVR theatre essentially makes it appear as if your content is being displayed on a large screen in front of you.
Use a paid program like Tridef Ignition to split the image into two distinct halves. As of the writing of this guide Tridef does not support “direct mode” rendering – that is sending the image directly to your headset, you’ll have to display content in “extended mode”. Tridef also does not support lens distortion so your image may be cut off when viewed through the OSVR without some sort of barrel distortion add-on like SweetFX running on top of Tridef.
Use a free program on the Steam Store like Big Screen Beta to display the content of your monitor (or Monitors if in Extended) in a virtual environment. Like Steam Theatre mode this won’t support all titles and may have some lag.
For Headtracking
I highly recommend FreePIE for your head tracking needs, it is an open source fork of GlovePIE and allows your computer to take one form of input and translate it into another. The most common use of this software is to translate the head tracking movement from the OSVR headset and map it to the mouse for use in games like Fallout 4, Skyrim and other first person titles.
Below is the headtracking script that I personally use for non VR titles – more scripts, including one that uses a Wiimote for headtracking, check out this forum thread:
## change z or x to any key board key you want.
toggle = keyboard.getPressed(Key.Z)
toggleoff = keyboard.getPressed(Key.X)
## you can bind this key to a mouse button by changing this to
## toggle = mouse.middleButton
## or you can just bind z to a mouse key useing your mouse key software
## please change this script to how ever you like.
if toggle:
enabled = not enabled
off = 0
if toggleoff:
off = not off
The Future For VR Hardware?
To say that Virtual Reality is in its infancy would be an understatement – none of the headsets listed in this article, even the OSVR have been on the market for six months. VR is an evolving experience that manufacturers and developers are still exploring – some headsets offer resolutions beyond Full HD, while others limited room sensing which enables players to walk around a physical environment. A VR experience in 2016 may feel nothing like the VR experiences of 2018 or even sooner, before making the leap into VR potential owners should be well aware that regardless of your choice in hardware there is a chance within the next 24 months that new expensive headset could be outclassed by the competition or even replaced with a newer model. Oculus has gone on record stating that it could be a while before we see the second generation headsets from them however.
Razer has already announced the OSVR HDK 2 – a fully upgraded headset that features a higher resolution screen among other enhancements. The display resolution of OSVR2 is exactly the same as the Oculus Rift & HTC Vive – 2160 x 1200 – providing an impressive 441 PPI and optimized for 90hz. The HDK2’s impressive display does come at a financial cost – it is priced at $399 USD – $100 more than the 1.4 and as of the writing of this article is currently on back-order.
Useful Community Resources
The OSVR community is alive and well and if you’re new to the community you might wonder where you can get some help with your headset or just catch up on the latest developments within the Open Source Virtual Reality movement. Below are a few of the key sites that I feel every OSVR HDK owner should check out, regardless if they are a developer or not. Thanks for reading my guide to the OSVR Headset, please look forward to more videos and instructional guides surrounding VR in the coming weeks.
A few months after a price drop in the United States, Nintendo of Canada has followed suit with a price reduction for the Nintendo 2DS.
As of yesterday, July 15th, Nintendo lowered the price of its kid-friendly portable Nintendo 2DS system to a suggested retail price of $109.99. The previous price point for the portable system was $129.99.
The Nintendo 2DS launched in October 2013 and is part of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
“Nintendo 2DS is the best value available for a portable dedicated gaming system and is great for gaming on the go,” said Pierre-Paul Trepanier, Nintendo of Canada’s General Manager and Senior Director. “The system has a library full of high-quality games for purchase, some in our Nintendo Selects category for less than $30 each, featuring Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi and Zelda.”
