As August continues, a number of game jam events are scheduled to take place. These game jams are giving opportunities for smaller indie developers to showcase their skills and network with others in the gaming community, all while enjoying a fun atmosphere.
One such event in particular taking place is Rainbow Jam ‘16. This is a game jam, in the Scottish community, starting August 20th and continuing until September 4th. What makes Rainbow Jam special is their focus on the LGBT+ community and diversity in gaming. Their goal is promote safety in the gaming community and for developers to create freely and openly without fear. They also have a goal of creating future meetups and opportunities for communication locally in “various Scottish cities”
According to the itch.io page, the theme for this game jam was selected by getting suggestions from participants and then the top category was voted to be the theme used for the games created, this year the theme is “Identity”. The top games in each category will then be awarded prizes. To participate in the jam, you do not have to be a certain nationality, sexuality or gender; everyone is encouraged to join the celebration and use whatever skill they can bring to help create. Submissions are made through itchi.io and participants can work in teams up to four or individually.
The jam was started due to the feedback and discussion from the Facebook group Scottish Rainbow Game Dev. and they are looking for more sponsors and participants for the jam and possibly for future jams. You can join or learn more about this open game jam at the website https://itch.io/jam/rainbowjam16.
This game jam is just one example of how to encourage diversity and new talent in the gaming industry. New voices, ideas and styles can mean a breath of fresh air and more choices for not only publishers, but for consumers as well.
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.
Many bad things have recently been said about The Division, which it would seem to many people has lost its way. Ubisoft has certainty not done a great job up till now dealing with cheaters, providing new content, and fixing broken exploitative content at all. Well now it seems they have head the cries of their fans and will at least attempt to remedy some of the worst cheaters in the game.
anyone still playing the division will tell you happily that the game is broken, that PvP is unusable, and that they still love the game, god only knows why. The dark zone in particular has been literally unusable due to cheaters and exploiters. Since the best of the game’s loot is contained in that zone, and you have to do an extraction that globally notifies everyone on the map you are extracting in order to be able to get good gear.
In a blog post today, Ubisoft talks about how it took action last month against more than 30,000 accounts for cheating, banning 3,800 accounts permanently in the process. “This led to a significantly improved experience, particularly in the Dark Zone,” it says. But if reports on the main Subreddit of the game are any indication this was not nearly enough. The post goes on to clarify “Following this campaign of suspensions and bans, it also became clear that while huge progress has been made in terms of cheat detection, our 14 day suspension on first offense policy has not been dissuasion enough,” its post continues. “Judging from your feedback, and based on what we witnessed when cheaters came back to the game, we have now decided to push our policy one step further: we will now start applying permanent bans on first offense when players are caught using cheat engines and we will communicate clearly when new ban waves are taking place.”
So there it is, right from god the words of UbiSoft themselves. 14 day bans are out for players who cheat (exploiters are not named as cheaters in this instance) and in their place are much longer life time account bans. Despite the dozens of posts that have been made and Ubisoft saying “take all steps necessary to track down cheaters and make sure they cannot spoil your enjoyment of the game.” its honestly still not enough for me. the game sever lack of content basically still means that even with out cheaters, those who were able to exploit the game to get top level gear will always have a huge advantage, and fixing that is no easy task at all. Cheating has been present in this game since the Beta, and I have no faith in Ubisoft being able to stop or control it this late in the game.
Have you ever wanted to feel like you are in the Hunger games? Yah, me either, but I always thought it would make a cool video game. The culling starts off sounding like it’s just another king of the hill style combat game with some light crafting and exploration, but its managed to win over my heart because it’s so much more. A rock-paper-scissors style combat system, the scarcity of firearms, and the simplicity of the crafting really make this game fun. While it’s still pretty basic, with only one map, it is in early access which gives the developers more time to work on and add to it.
Don’t let the fact that its early access fool you, this is a feature complete game. You drop in, and are forced to craft and find resources to survive. There is no instance where this game feels unpolished or not done. It has a great crafting system which relies on a resource called F.U.N.C and players have several ways to earn it. The easiest is to roam around the map and find barrels it’s stored in, or collect it from dead animals and piles of bones. The fastest way to gather F.U.N.C is to kill other players. Players also gather a limited amount over time and based on how far they move. Everything in the game requires F.U.N.C to create.
This tier three spear is not something you will be crafting.
Crafting is basic; the game has two materials, sticks and rocks. Both can be found lying around on the ground or produced by hitting trees or stone outcroppings. This means that the game basically has an infinite amount of basic crafting materials. However at least for now, you can only craft a small amount of items. These items are basically all tier one (weapons are divided in to tiers I, II, III and IV), and won’t do you much good in the later parts of the game. Still, after playing other games completely relying on RNG, it is pretty nice to be able to drop in and if you aren’t near any buildings or other lootables instead craft your early tier weapons. Currently there are about a dozen basic craftables, from a stone knife, to bandages. Most of what you need in the early part of the game is there. Crafting however won’t get you the win, though basic weapons like a spear and a bow can be crafted, more powerful weapons are scattered around the map waiting to be looted.
Superdata a market research firm, are reporting this week that the digital games market in 2015 was worth $61 billion across all platforms. This is over 8% more than last years numbers. Despite the largest jump (34%) being in digital sales on consoles, League of Legends leads the pack for most money made by a game in 2015. League reigns supreme but just after League is mobile titan Clash of Clans. Which pulled in a very impressive $1.3 billion over the year. The remainder of the top 5 games are all on PC, with Smilegate’s Crossfire, at $1.1 billion, Dungeon Fighter Online from Neople at $1.05 billion, and World of Warcraft, which in its 11th year of existence earned $814 million dollars.
Perhaps most encouraging to PC gamers is the reports assertion that the top ten PC games actually pull in more money than the top ten mobile games, with $6.3 billion earned on PC compared to $6.1 billion on mobile. This is a good sign, it means that PC gaming is healthy that players are buying games, and that E-sports is big business with Riot leading the way.
The report goes on to says “PC-based gaming—consisting of free-to-play MMOs, subscription-based games like World of Warcraft, social games and PC downloadable games—earns over $32 billion annually, well above the $25.1 billion generated by mobile games, Three of the year’s top five digital PC games (Grand Theft Auto V, Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3) were released in 2015, indicating that PC gamers have made significant progress transitioning to purchasing games digitally.”
The full list of top-grossing PC games in 2015, in millions:
League of Legends (Tencent/Riot Games): $1,628
CrossFire (SmileGate): $1,110
Dungeon Fighter Online (Neople): $1,052
World of Warcraft (Activision Blizzard): $814
World of Tanks (Wargaming.net): $446
Lineage 1 (NCsoft): $339
Maplestory (Nexon): $253
DOTA 2 (Valve): $238
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve): $221
Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two Interactive): $205
this is a pretty interesting list, League I excepted to to see but CrossFire, and Dungeon Fighter Online, I had never even heard of! Turns out both are free to play Asian market releases. In each case both were/are being ported to the States as well, but its intresting that the top 5 contain two games that are not even available in the west.
League of Legends preseason for season 6 has hit, and it’s a doozy. We’ve got some heavy hitting changes, and one of the heaviest hitters is Graves. Graves has always had trouble finding his niche to fit, but now it’s even harder. Because he can go everywhere.
Graves is overpowered. You can argue people just haven’t learned him yet, but this is pretty empty considering he can burst people down faster than he can fire three shots. Top Laner, ADC bot lane, Jungle, you could probably even Mid Lane him, no position is safe from his long arm of the law. This man has had a few changes to make him work everywhere, and I’m gonna make a quick review of how to fight against, or as, this Cigar lacking powerhouse.
Graves is all about the burst, and that extends to even his auto attacks. He finally has a real shotgun now, and each shot is a spread of multiple bullets. The more bullets hit, the more damage dealt. When Graves gets a critical strike, he fires more bullets in the same spread area, for more damage. Graves uses an Ammo system, which can be seen by all players in the game. He has unlimited ammo, like everyone else, but only two shots can be used at a time, before a notable “reload” delay. Graves has to reload then, significantly reducing his fire rate. He automatically reloads when inactive, walking around, whenever he gets the chance. So you only need to worry about ammo when combat rolls around. Your auto attacks should be planned well, and interspersed with his powerful abilities. Before we continue, he has one more very important passive, although it is rather easy to ignore at first. Graves gains bonus armor and magic resist while in combat, including last hitting minions, jungle camp fighting, everything.
“what do you expect out of an episodic story based game?”
I found myself asking this often. Tales from the Borderlands is my first of this genre, and I took the opportunity to review it because it seemed like a good way to try out episodic games. I loved both Borderlands 1 and 2, but this game is not either of those.
Tales from the Borderlands was a pleasant surprise. I went into the game expecting a comedic game with somewhat likeable characters, that were more funny, than interesting or lovable. This might sound like a very negative outlook on the game, but I never really found much to love about borderlands characters. They were funny and amusing, but never made me care.
Being a story focused game, I am hesitant to spoil anything off the bat with specific facts, but some things are important: There is a Canon lesbian couple, who are both badasses. They are not queerbaited. They are not made fun of. They are treated the same as all the other crew, and were extraordinarily human. The game makes you like some people I really did not expect to like. This is of course, relevant to my specific playthrough, but there are many characters who have done some terrible things, and your choices can lead to very likeable and friendly outcomes. At the end of the story I believe there were around 5 characters I originally expected nothing but comedic amusement from, who not only delivered on that, but also showed a genuinely interesting and complicated character.
