116 PAGES MONTHLY

LIFTING THE LID ON VIDEO GAMES

M AR THA IS DE AD
IN S IDE TH E
THR IL LER TH AT
AI MS TO B LUR
GAM ING A ND
R EAL IT Y

DIS CO
E L Y S IUM
The inner workings
of a modern classic

Issue 49 £6 | wfmag.cc PL AY
D E T E CT IVE
Film noir’s lasting
influence on video games
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 Coping with Covid:
crafting convivial online
communities can help

G
aming had always been a solitary hobby If it wasn’t for The White Pube and the community
of mine before we entered a global I have found on their Discord, I don’t know how I
pandemic. Sure, I had dabbled in the solo would have coped this past year. Like so many of us,
queue of Overwatch a few years ago, but my whole life is now lived through a single screen.
as an 18-year-old woman on voice chat, I’m doing two jobs on my computer, writing emails
I’m sure you can imagine how that often went. But back and organising projects, and I’m also trying to finish
in the ’s first lockdown in 2020, one of my favourite MILLICENT my degree remotely – somehow managing group
THOMAS
art criticism sites, he White Pube, put out its very first assignments and industry briefs from one corner of
Millicent is social
video game review. Gabrielle de la Puente had written & content lead at my bedroom. But now, like the classic meme, I can
the most beautiful essay on Santa Monica Studio’s Into Games, the switch from bad screen to good screen with just a
20 God of War and how gaming had been a saviour UK games industry single switch on my cheap Amazon HDMI splitter and
for her in lockdown. After reading, I quickly reached careers service, and join my friends for some rounds of Dead by Daylight.
she works in PR
out via Twitter, suggested upfront that we should be for cool top-secret We can fix some generators and run for our lives from
friends (hey, life is short!), and we ended up talking games on the side. Michael Myers or Pyramid Head and try to forget that
about the game for nearly two hours over Zoom. we’re all living through some of the worst years of
Following our conversation – and prompts from The our lives.
White Pube’s collective readership asking for a massive We’re all jumping between hobbies to find a
game of Among Us – Gabrielle created a Discord server; distraction from the unprecedented historical event
a space we lovingly call ‘The Game Pube’. The server festering around us – whether it’s banana bread,
has since grown into a tight-knit and wholesome sourdough, knitting, podcasting, or Animal Crossing: New
community, with channels for specific games, sharing Horizons. But I’m sure it’s not just me who can safely
art, opportunities, a book club, and more. Most say their social battery is almost non-existent. I want
importantly though, I have it to thank for making me to reach out to friends, sure, but I can’t take another

#49
finally feel comfortable in online gaming communities. call that goes something like “How are you doing?”,
Queuing up for a competitive Overwatch match alone “Not bad, just taking each day as it comes, you know?”,
once terrified me, but now that I have a group of friends “Yeah, yeah, same here”. We have literally nothing to
to play with, it’s something I actually look forward to say, we’re all just doing our best. But to hop on a call to
most nights. We can have a strategy, communicate talk team composition as we try and move a payload or
well, and cheer each other on when someone gets take an objective? It’s so much easier.
Play of The Game. Outside of the games, though, these So I guess this is a thank you letter of sorts, to The
people have genuinely become some of my closest White Pube, Overwatch, Dead by Daylight, and the
friends. Some I knew vaguely through Twitter or mutual friends I made along the way. It will be over one day,
acquaintances, now we chat about our work, our day, and we’ll come out the other end of all this – the silver
our families, and we’re even planning a classic Zoom lining is that we’ll still have the communities that we’ve
quiz soon so we can actually see each other. built to cope.

wfmag.cc \ 03
 Contents

Contents

6 Interface

28. Game Noir

Attract mode Exploring the cinematic genre’s
impact on video games

06. Martha is Dead 34. Lottie Bevan

LKA gives us an early look at its Why don’t more developers make
disturbing period thriller detective adventures?

12. Hidden Deep 38. Side paths

There’ll be no accusations, just How designers make straying from
terrifying aliens under the sea the beaten track fun

14. Slipways 68. AFTERLIFE

The space strategy game that avoids A blackly comic Argentine RPG about
the spectre of war the hereafter

18. News 70. Access Granted

Another wry glance at the month’s Towards better representation for
video game happenings those on the autistic spectrum

22. Letters 84. Sega Dreamcast

Your latest thoughts, feedback, and Saluting the late, great 128-bit console
general ranting and its games

24. Incoming 90. Steve McNeil

28 Winemaking, tactical cats in space,
and farming with foxes
More thoughts from Britain’s
foremost gaming personality

04 / wfmag.cc
 Contents

WELCOME
Video games have been in thrall
to cinema from pretty much
the beginning. Space Invaders
might have had a military theme
had the arrival of Star Wars not

WIN
prompted its creator to pivot to
a sci-fi theme, for e ample. en
today, at a time here the ideo
game industry has long since

50 An iiyama
gaming monitor
worth
£400
eclipsed cinema in financial
terms, th-century mo ies still
cast a long shado it’s hard
to imagine yberpun
See page 35 loo ing uite the same ithout
Blade Runner. ut this month,
prompted by my inter ie ith
’s uca alc see page ,
’ e been ondering should
more developers look to theatre
for inspiration?

s alc notes, there are a

number of parallels bet een
games and theatre. Theatre
directors can create a set and
decide here to put the props
and actors, but they can’t control
here the ie er loo s, hich is
a lot li e a ideo game. imilarly,
theatre is dynamic here
cinema is fi ed a theatrical

84 99
performance can be different
each time, much li e a player
trying something different in
each playthrough.

n other ords, there’s perhaps

Toolbox Rated as much inspirational value

for developers in plays and
musicals as the or of mo ie
directors like Ridley Scott and

48. Video game storytelling Curse of the Dead Gods

ames ameron. ut hat do
92. you think? Are games too in
A few tips on keeping your creative Choices have consequences in a thrall to movies – particularly
writing spark alive deadly roguelike the same ones hose names
pop up time and again? Is there

50. Retro Connect 99. Cyber Shadow a particular play or musical

that ould ma e a great ideo
Old consoles to modern TVs: the Ninja Gaiden-esque action, with game et us no your
ultimate guide di culty to match thoughts at wfmag.cc/hello, and
e might publish your reply in
56. Disco Elysium 100. The Medium ne t month’s issue.

An inside look at how its stunning city A psychological horror that’s neither
locations were crafted small nor large Ryan Lambie
Editor

66. Source Code 104. Backwards compatible

Make some crumbly platforms DOOM ports, Game Gears, and
straight out of Manic Miner other retro gubbins

wfmag.cc \ 05
 Attract Mode
Interview

06 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
Interview

A D E AT H
IN TUSCANY
L KA G A M E S ’ L U CA DALCÒ TAKES US B EH I ND
T H E S C E N E S ON H I S STUD I O’ S HAUNTI NG
P E R I OD T H R I LLER, M ARTH A I S D EAD

ne minute you’re out in impact of war on a pair of young women.

the Tuscan sun, taking It also sees the studio venture into more
photographs of birds with overt thriller territory; you play Giulia, a
your trusty box camera. The woman attempting to come to terms with
next, you’re tumbling down a the violent death of her twin sister – the
muddy track surrounded by woodland, the Martha of the title – and in the process,
way ahead illuminated by your torch, as finding out exactly how and why her
something spectral lurks in the trees. Such sibling came to such a grisly end. Where
are the stark contrasts offered by Martha The Town of Light was more about soaking
is Dead, the next game from Italian studio, up and interacting with background
LKA. You may recall its debut, 2016’s details, Martha is Dead will give the player
The Town of Light: a quiet, unforgettably more to do as they journey towards the
poignant, and interactive drama, for want truth: the aforementioned camera is a
of a better description, about a woman’s key device in the game, used to record
experiences in the archaic mental the world around you and also obtain
healthcare system of the early 20th vital pieces of evidence, and there are
century. That game bore the limitations numerous other puzzles and locked areas
of a small and new indie team, but it was to solve or uncover. There are also action
nevertheless an impeccably researched sequences, of sorts, to be found here; in
and moving experience. the hands-off demo shown to us in early
LKA’s attempting something even more March, we saw tense moments where
ambitious with Martha is Dead. Like The Giuila has to leap over logs and other
Town of Light, it’s set in Tuscany around obstacles as she barrels down a benighted
the 1940s, but this time deals with the woodland path.

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 Attract Mode
Interview

Despite its small size, LKA’s going


for some almost photo-real
detail in Martha is Dead.

TURN ON Martha is Dead is also a far more overtly

gruesome game than A’s first, and
is Dead, where the main topic is war – it’s
about the fragility of people in the face of

THE NIGHT creative director Luca Dalcò readily agrees

that there’s content in here that some
war, just as in The Town of Light there’s the
fragility of the central character and her
players will find disturbing. But far from challenges with mental health.
An early section of the game demo we
a jump-scare horror, LKA’s embarking on There was a desire to continue a journey
were shown in early March provided a
glimpse of the surprisingly expansive something deeper and more meaningful: that was started with The Town of Light, but
digital Tuscany that LKA is creating for it’s a depiction, backed up by historical take it in a different direction. Martha is
Martha is Dead. Where one chapter took research, of the horrors ordinary women Dead is a psychological thriller, which is very
place in broad daylight, and introduced experienced in the midst of World War II. It’s different from The Town of Light, which was
us to that detailed photo-taking system, another challenging game from LKA, then, a bit different, being about the history of
the second chapter plunges us into and with its almost photo-real depiction mental health.
darkness, and suddenly those lush Italian of central Italy circa 1944, an ambitious
hills don’t look quite so welcoming. As
undertaking for such a small team. o find Is there a political side to the game as
Giulia creeps forward, torch in hand,
out more, we caught up with Dalcò who, well, given the turbulent time Italy was
towards a foggy lake where her sister’s
via a translator, tells us all about Martha going through during World War II?
body was found, she encounters all
kinds of eeriness that we won’t spoil is Dead, and how a background in theatre One of the things that appears on the social
here. “I love the night,” Giulia says at one has set him up to make this forthcoming side of the game is the di culty of being
point, “but the night also scares me.” We interactive thriller… a young woman in the 1940s, [and] how
definitely agree ith the latter part. you lived your life – that’s what comes out
a as e mpin o poin or as a message, essentially. In that moment
Martha? How did it get started? in Tuscany, the war was just arriving there,
Luca: The idea partially came from the and this provides a setting to show how
amount of research my team and I did for women were treated, and how they lived
The Town of Light. This was the initial point their daily lives with the war going on.
that started the game, but Martha is Dead What the studio decided to do is
isn’t connected to The Town of Light – it’s not balance the point of view of the German
a sequel. and Allied troops. The game is seen
But there was a lot of research into through the eyes of two little girls. So, for
historical data and the setting, so all this a little girl, she probably doesn’t have a
material kicked off the idea of Martha is real distinction between the Allies and the
Dead. There’s a kind of parallel between The German troops – she probably doesn’t
Town of Light, which looked into the history know the difference. So to answer your
of the mental health system, and Martha question, there is a political background

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 Attract Mode
Interview

These creepy marionette



theatre sequences are

a motif through the
game, and are a means of
Giulia reliving her often
painful memories.

Although it isn’t billed as


a horror, there are some
tense and even
supernatural-seeming
elements in the hands-off
demo we’ve seen.

that is supported by fact, things that – the gameplay in Martha is Dead is much
actually happened, but the story is really more complex than The Town of Light, so
focused on the main character. there is a lot of work behind the balancing
of [that].
You describe the game as a thriller – but
is i also a ind o m rder mys ery o ld o o rap y s clearly a ey elemen o
you say? e ame. o o does i eed in o e
The trauma of losing the sister is what experience as a whole? Are we essentially
unleashes the will to solve this murder using the camera to gather evidence? said what they have to say, so one of the
mystery. But beneath this unfolds a lot The camera is an important element, but challenges is to deliver a strong narrative.
of different layers – further mysteries. it’s just one element in the gameplay loop.
So the main objective, yes, is a murder There’s also a lot of things you can do with There’s some quite gruesome imagery in
mystery, and it’s trauma that unleashes the the camera – it can be used outside of the game. How grim does the game get,
investigation, basically. the main gameplay mechanics of finding and what’s the motivation behind those
ima es Is i o s o e orror o ar

“THE FIRST STEP WAS MOVING

and e mis rea men o omen Is a
the thinking behind it?
Firstly, yes, the game’s going to have
uite a significant amount of potentially
disturbing imagery. But we don’t use these
Compared to The Town of Light, this clues and stuff. he player can actually moments to shock the player – that wasn’t
eels li e a s ep r er is ally i use it as a real camera that’s recreated the intention. It’s more to tell a story than
looks incredibly detailed. What are the with a lot of attention to detail. So there to shock. There are no jump scares in the
c allen es o a as an indie de eloper are all these elements that are important game – jump scares are a very easy tool
he first step was moving platforms from to the gameplay, but the camera is one if you want to make a horror game, and
Unity to Unreal Engine. That was a big of the most important ones. The idea is it’s easy to implement if you want to make
step. The second challenge was balancing to steer away from these old concepts of someone go, Ahh ’ But it’s something we
the indoor scenes with the outdoor the walking simulator, if you like – there’s deliberately haven’t used. These strong
environments, especially when you talk different stuff to do. I personally love visuals are used to describe the feelings
about lighting – it was quite challenging. walking simulators, but I also feel that that are inside the main character – the
Another step was balancing the gameplay the traditional walking simulators have trauma that she feels during the game.

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 Attract Mode
Interview

o came rom a ea re bac ro nd

so can you talk a bit about how you got
into the video games industry. Are there
in s rom ea re a yo re brin in
to Martha?
There are two main elements that came
from the theatrical background. I was
managing very complex situations and
meeting deadlines. When there’s a
première in a theatre, there’s a première –
there’s no way you can delay [it]. So those o o clari y yo ere sin a ame en ine
are two areas of expertise that I can bring to plan out set-pieces, where actors would
to the table. s and a ead o re earsals. Is a ri
I also started using a game engine The scenography was based on the
[Unity] to basically create scenography projection of really big images, so it was
[the design of theatrical scenery – Ed] for important to establish first how those big, finished product, and when it’s done, it’s
the Ravenna Festival and the Washington backlit images worked in a theatre, but also done. With theatre, you can change things
[National] Opera. Those were massive where to position the singer and all the every time you go on stage, and this is
theatres, so I started using a game engine other human elements so that they’re all similar to a player in a video game, who’s
to reduce the number of rehearsals and working together on the stage. Instead of trying to do things slightly different each
simulate these, because there’s a cost videoing the stage and then discussing [the time. One example is, when you go to watch
aspect – the theatre was using a lot of results afterwards], using a game engine a movie, you only have one point of view; it
investment money, so the game engine allowed us to see all the elements in real- can change a bit if you’re sitting too far to
allowed me to be more e cient in terms of time and move them straight away. Because the left or too far to the right, but it basically
cost and time. they’re on location, they already know how is what it is. heatre is different. In theatre,
Having said that, I have always loved the whole thing’s going to work. there’s a big focus on the field of view,
video games. I was also [previously] a because in some positions you can see the
university lecturer on an architecture De elopers end o be in enced by face of the main character, for example,
course, and so talking with some of my cinema. But do you think video games while in another position you can’t.
students, this idea of making video games have more in common with theatre? You So whenever you see something in theatre,
started flourishing. his is how I started create a set, you put elements in the set, there’s a lot of study about the positioning
developing games, and now here I am. It’s but you can’t really control where the of every single element. In a more complex
a long time since the business started, but audience looks. way, in a video game, you have to think
now four members of the team are former It’s a good question. In fact, with movies, about all the different points of view, and
students of mine! you have a movie and that’s it – it’s a fields of view, the players have.

oin bac o e ec nical side o ma in

As well as solving the central


mystery, much of the game is the game, has the team grown since The
about Giulia processing the Town of Light, and what’s been the biggest
tragic death of her sister.
c allen e o de elopin Martha so ar
The Town of Light was initially made by two
people, which became nine by the very end,
so still a very small team. Then we cut back
to five, and now we have twelve people. he
team’s bigger, but also we now have more
experience. When we started The Town of
Light, we didn’t know what to expect when
creating a game – our team’s now not just
bigger, it’s better.

a did yo learn ro e ma in o
The Town of Light that you’ve brought over
to Martha is Dead?

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 Attract Mode
Interview

There are some grotesque images in



the game, but they’re intended to

further the narrative rather than shock
for its own sake, according to Dalcò.

One of the main things was, with The

Town of Light, we had to manage a game
had the same goal about empathy, because
you end up knowing the main character in PHOTO
environment that is as big as Martha is
Dead, but the reason for this was because
such a deep, intimate way, and you live the
story through her. FINISH
we didn’t use the right approach. Moving
More than any other recent game we
onto Martha, we have the knowledge Finally, is there a mood or sensation you
can think of, Martha is Dead depicts
of how to better-manage a big game want to leave players with once they’ve
the minutiae of pre-digital photography
environment. Programming was also a big finis ed e ame in quite mind-boggling detail. While
thing – The Town of Light started very small, It’s di cult to say without spoiling the story, taking pictures, you can control the
but grew and grew and grew until it became but I hope this empathy I’m trying to build focus, exposure, and aperture size.
so big. So it was kind of a disaster in terms up with Martha will work well, so that the Down in the dark-room in your house’s
of code and programming, because what end of the game will be something quite basement, you’re asked to place
we thought would be a small game became di cult to absorb. I hope that there’s a your film under an enlarger, e pose
much bigger, so that created a bit of an feeling of being a part of what actually your photographic paper to light, and
finally de elop the photos in trays
of chemicals. It’s an example of the

“THE TEAM’S BIGGER, BUT ALSO WE immersive attention to detail LKA are
putting into the game as a whole. “Later
in the game, you’ll upgrade [the camera]
with many different lenses,” says Achim
Heidelauf, the game’s producer, as he
issue. nly two weeks ago, we just started happened in the war when you reach the demonstrates ho to de elop a finished
the Chinese and Japanese localisation for end. One of the most beautiful comments print in the dark-room. “Photo-taking
The Town of Light, so we had to go back and that a player gave to me about The Town of and photo development are a big part
look at the code, and it was quite tragic to Light was, I played the game, I finished the of the game, but they should be fun as
well. It’s as real as we can get, but it’s
see how it was put together. game a few times, and I couldn’t move on
still simplified so that it doesn’t ta e too
from what I’d experienced.”
much time or become too complicated.”
A developer once described games to I hope that with Martha is Dead, there’ll
me as ‘empathy simulators’. Do you also be the same feeling of leaving
in a s r e o yo r ames since something with the player after they’ve
they’re rooted in human experiences finished the game – again, it’s an empathy
and emo ions thing. The story stays with you.
I think this is a perfect description. [Evoking]
empathy is one of the biggest goals of Martha is Dead is due for release later in
Martha is Dead as a game… The Town of Light 2021 on consoles and PC.

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 Attract Mode
Early Access

Hidden Deep
e eloper ukas a uski takes us eneath the
surface of his physics- ased horror ad enture

S
omething dreadful stirs deep beneath subterranean lair, tunnels can collapse, floors
Info

GENRE
James Cameron- the ocean floor. eading up a search might crumble and give way, or freak fires could
’em-up
and rescue team, it’s up to you to leave you horribly injured. n the plus side,
FORMAT
journey into a top-secret, under-sea Hidden Deep gives you a wealth of tools to turn
PC / Mac / Linux /
Switch / Xbox One research facility and find out just these physics to your advantage: a careful use
what’s happened to its original occupants – and of explosives in the right place will open up new
DEVELOPER
Cogwheel Software if you’re as familiar with sci-fi movies like The passages you can use your grappling hook to
PUBLISHER Thing, Aliens, and The Abyss as solo developer winch your way across chasms or up tight shafts
Daedalic ukas a uski is, then you’ll know that hissing, (stop sniggering at the back) you can even use
Entertainment aggressive creatures are part of the mystery. the abandoned diggers and cranes to bash
RELEASE What catches our eye about this survival- through walls and other barriers.
TBC 2021 horror platformer is the physics simulation side Then, of course, there’s the alien threat
of it: as you and your team journey into the lurking in all these crumbly corridors. here are
flying things that look like fleshy bats. here are
maggot-like things that crawl along the ground.
he game’s threats are many and varied, and
worst of all, they have the ability to take over
human bodies without the player noticing.
In video game terms, this means that one of
your team members could be a deadly alien
in disguise – you could even flip control to a
member of the team, move them around, and
not realise they’re infected until it’s too late.
Sometimes even the character you re actually
playing will suddenly transform into the alien
creature, a uski confirms. It will be very cool in
co-op mode, and I’m currently designing how it
should work in single-player.
Hidden Deep began life around six years ago as
a pure platformer – a sequel of sorts to a game

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Early Access

nother team member



meets a grisly fate.

Expect a lot of this in
Hidden Deep.

 Aliens, The Thing,

Deus Ex, Half-Life,
The Abyss … they all
went into the Hidden
Deep sci-fi mi .

called Lost in Mine, which a uski made for the the 2D perspective means he can make uite
Commodore Amiga in . Based in Warsaw, a sprawling adventure game by himself, while
a uski was a web developer by trade, but he was still adding lots of details to build on the horror
determined to return to game development as atmosphere. he main advantage of 2D is
a side gig, which eventually led to him uitting that I can put much more content into the
his job to concentrate on Hidden Deep full-time. game – practically whatever I want to be there, ANOTHER
At first, it was a just-for-fun project, he says. he says. n the other hand, 2D also adds more
“I hadn’t any clear idea [for the game] besides possibilities for the player , like seeing what is
FLASHBACK
Although Hidden Deep goes for a very
the miner exploring around you instantly, playing
different vibe, Kaluski cites Amiga-
the mine – also, I “Enemies can take over with lighting, and so on. era cinematic platformers Another
didn’t know how to ou can work more with the World and Flashback as influences
code it. Back then, I
human bodies without player’s imagination, which on his survival horror. “Another
was working as a web the player noticing” is very powerful. World was revolutionary (also for me
personally),” he tells us. “I was super-
developer and spent To add to the suspense, immersed hen first played it in
only a tiny amount of time on my project. So Hidden Deep’s levels will be procedurally the early nineties. Everything was so
my unnamed game was evolving very slowly. generated, so you’ll never know exactly what well-made with that unique cinematic
hree or four years later, I got to the point where awaits you as you embark on each mission. vibe. And that feeling of being lonely
on some unknown planet – it made
it started looking interesting, and one day I Again, you’ll have plenty of tools at your
a huge impression on me. It was
decided to go full-time I had some life savings, disposal – a floating scanner to help map the the first and probably the last game
and most of that was spent on making this game. terrain, plus a trusty gun for close encounters that made me cry at the end scene.
Then suddenly I made a deal with Daedalic, and – but this is still the kind of game where you And all of it was done by one young
they’re supporting me now. should expect to die often, and under dreadful man… incredible. Flashback was also
a very well-made game for its time.
With publisher Daedalic Entertainment circumstances. r, to paraphrase the old It has super-cool animations and an
firmly in place, a uski has managed to make tagline from Alien: In a cave under the ocean, interesting sci-fi story, and impressed
the most of the resources he has available: no one can hear you scream…” me a lot.”

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 Attract Mode
Early Access

For(n)ever war
The fun face of colonisation: it’s Slipways

S
lipways is one of those rare games Chris Donnelly and artist Johan Törnlund)
Info

GENRE
3X that manages to distil an experience limits the needs for each system to an at-a-
FORMAT down to its fundamentals while glance shortlist. So, while the others feature
PC / Mac maintaining the full body of the intergalactic war as a cornerstone strategy, this
DEVELOPER experience you’d usually expect from demi-sequel to its Pico8 original absolutely does
Beetlewing the more bloated 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, not. Slipways, it seems, is actually a 3X game
PUBLISHER eXterminate) genre stablemates. Where the – dumping the ‘exterminate’ aspect out the
Beetlewing
Galactic Civilizations and Endless Spaces can nearest airlock.
RELEASE
take up tens of hours in a single playthrough, “Combat can be a giant albatross around the
Summer 2021
Slipways is content to ask for half an hour of neck for big, economy-focused games,” explains
SOCIAL
your time. Where the others ask for endless, Wasilewski. “Many times, working through a big
@SlipwaysGame
micro-level management to keep things running war after ten hours of gameplay is just watching
without your galactic empire collapsing in on a foregone conclusion unfold, with a lot of
itself, this little game from Polish dev Jakub busywork and micromanagement required to
Wasilewski (full-time, with help from musician see it through. At this point in the game, you’re
often just going through the motions. And it’s
even worse when the foregone conclusion is
You choose three races


to play as – balancing ‘You lose, better luck next time’.”

complementary skills
is the aim.
But the developer’s reasons stretch further
than just mechanical reasons, with more
philosophical thinking entering the fray. “There
is also a broader argument for leaving military
out, and that’s rejecting the idea that space
expansion has to mirror our unfortunate history
of war and conflict, says Wasilewski. here’s
something sad about most games imagining the
galaxy being forever torn by war, and it bothers
me even more that it’s usually war along species
lines – as if it’s somehow impossible for sentient
beings of different species to work together.
It’s not that Slipways began life as an
interstellar anti-war campaigning tool, of course

14 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
Early Access

BETA
GIVEAWAY
You can sign up for Slipways’
closed beta through the following
link - and if you enter WIREFRAME
as the secret code you’ll be in
with a chance of winning one of
six copies of the full game when
it releases! Your link is:
wfmag.cc/SlipBeta

Later technologies can


fundamentally alter your
style of play, like the ability
to detonate uninhabited
planets at will.
– it developed from a straightforward puzzle
idea Wasilewski came up with; one that both
sets the core challenge of the entire game
in motion and gives it a name. You begin in
uncharted space, pinging out probes to discover
PROBING
new planets you might settle on. Each planet has QUESTIONS
at least one item it needs, and at least one item There’s a palpable joy
it produces. Planets can be linked with the titular in pinging out probes in
Slipways , each click and drag
slipways – so A needs B, B needs C, C needs A, satisfyingly accompanied
you connect them all up with two-way space- by the right kinds of sounds
based highways in order to meet the needs of and visual feedback that
makes an utterly banal action
The original version of Slipways is still up on satisfying. As Wasilewski
“Combat can be an albatross


Itch.io, and offers a fantastic glimpse into the explains, this isn’t at all by
fine alities of the bigger game. accident. “I think strategy
around the neck of big,
games often overlook
economy-focused games” the user experience and
While that does sound like a lot, you can ease the ‘kinetic’ part of it in
particular,” he says. “There
your growing civilisation. Simple, and easy, and yourself into things – as well as using a robust, is so much to be gained by
oh how it escalates from there. No slipways can snappy, and delightfully non-mandatory tutorial making sure all the actions
cross over, meaning there has to be a clear line system to get to grips with things. “The current you can perform in the
of sight from one system to another. Distance video tutorial is something that materialised game are actually fun to do
on a basic, visceral level,
factors in. Needs both change and increase. after I scrapped a different approach that
regardless of their strategic
Happiness is a factor. Money needs to be very much felt like something ‘to sit through’!” implications. Hearthstone
managed. Research has to be carefully selected. Wasilewski says. “It was detailed, boring, and was a big inspiration in that
Species-specific traits prioritised. It seems so much too long for a game intended to be light regard. Its interface design
basic at first, but Slipways soon reveals itself to and quick to get into. In the end, I went to the is similarly focused on
making every interaction feel
be a pu le of magnificent depth – and deep same questions that steered the design of the right, and it’s a giant, often
satisfaction comes from trying to wrap your game itself: What’s the core idea I want to get overlooked edge that it has
head around it each new playthrough. across? How can I deliver this idea with a on other digital card games.”

wfmag.cc \ 15
 Attract Mode
Early Access

 Worlds become more

successful the more their
needs are met – and the more
their needs are met, the more
needs they develop.

LONELY
UNIVERSE
For the most part, Wasilewski
is working solo on Slipways.
e admits to finding the
process “both exhilarating
and exhausting”, with events
like the Steam Game Festival
– where Slipways was a
standout – offering its own
unique challenges that arrive
with the public both able to
play the game and to offer minimum of time investment and busywork? the game’s technology is centred around rule-
feedback on it. But if it was The purpose of the tutorial is to get you playing breaking,” he says. “There are only a few ‘You get
all bad, nobody would work
quickly and teach only what you need to have +X% something’ techs in the game. Most of them
like this. “I’m in full control
of the creative process fun – details can be left for later.” are more along the lines of ‘You can now move
and being a single person This approach – planets at will, go see
paradoxically helps me focusing on the fun, what that does to your
work more quickly
“So much of the game’s
pretty much – has been plans’. I’m afraid there is
sometimes,” Wasilewski
core to the development
technology is centred no magic formula here.
says. “If something in the
game’s design needs to be of Slipways, and it shows around rule-breaking” Balancing means letting
changed, I don’t have to in just how snappy it many testers of various
discuss my ideas with the is to get into things. But with complexity does skill levels play a lot, then listening hard to their
UX person, the 3D guy, and
come a need for balance, and that’s something feedback to see the through lines. I’m sure I’ll be
the engine programmer.
They’re all me, and they’re Wasilewski has worked just as hard to achieve. working on balance right until the release, and
already on board.” “It is a challenge, especially since so much of probably beyond.”
It’s been an iterative process from day one –
the first version of Slipways was actually made
for PICO-8, and is still available on itch.io to
play for those who want a taste of the full-fat
version (wfmag.cc/Slipitch). Going back to that
early version, you’re met with the foundational
complexities that have carried over perfectly
to the ‘main’ version of the game – it all shows
just how solid an idea the entire concept is
based around. “The game went through a lot of
iterations, since that’s the only way to do good
game design,” Wasilewski says. “But I was lucky to
have found the right core components early on:
the slipways, the selectable industries for colonies,
and the probe scan for exploration. This core
stayed mostly unchanged while the other systems
in the game changed around it, in some cases
going through multiple, very different versions.

16 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
Early Access

And this, dear reader, is about


as good as we got at Slipways
in a couple of weeks’ play.
Back to the drawing board/
slipway plan.

In fact, Wasilewski sees the personal computer

release of Slipways as a sequel of sorts to the pay-
what-you-want PICO-8 game – he has certainly
approached development in a similar fashion.
“The challenge with sequels,” he explains,
“is that you want to add things to make the
game more varied and interesting, but avoid
smothering the basics that made the original
great.” The need to grow and improve has
inevitably led to “design cul-de-sacs”, in the
developer’s words, with approaches like the
main game being one long, multi-sector run, with
persistent technology upgrades dropped after a
fair bit of time had been put into it. “[It] was just Missions are another


important facet; micro-

not what the game wanted to be,” Wasilewski challenges that can allow
admits. And on playing the game – and playing it release, with support via updates and fixes you to pick up a much-
needed boost to cash ow
more and more – it’s clear he’s on the right path. coming after. “As for my hopes [for the game],” or research points, say.
Slipways is utterly captivating in the best kind Wasilewski says, “I keep them grounded to
of way, and precisely the sort of thing there’s a stay sane. My baseline is being able to support
dedicated audience already out there for. myself and work on another game without
Slipways is avoiding Early Access, opting for having to worry about going destitute. Anything
a closed beta followed by a – planned – June beyond that is a bonus in my book.”

wfmag.cc \ 17
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News

That
was the
month 02

that was
01

01. Fifa Ultimate 03

Scandal
02. Sumo makes 03. Hogwarts and all
It’s always good when you get a
new ‘gate’, except when it’s a social a splash Being delayed to 2022 isn’t the biggest
media hashtag in which case… well, news to come out of the Hogwarts Legacy
#EAGate does have a certain ring to Sumo Digital has o cially launched an camp these past few weeks, as a lead
it, doesn’t it Accusations have spread internal publishing wing to handle both designer on the game left the project
that an apparent employee of the games developed by the studio and after his controversial YouTube channel
publisher has been selling Fifa Ultimate titles from third-party devs. The new was unearthed and shared publicly. Troy
Team icon cards to players, bypassing business is named Secret Mode, and in Leavitt made the decision to leave (or was
the randomised card packs system its early incarnation aims to help smaller made to make it) after it was revealed he
of the game and netting themselves projects make their way to consoles and had published a number of anti-social
thousands of pounds in the process. computers around the world – titles justice and anti-feminist videos; while not
These icon cards are rare to the point that might otherwise have withered on particularly popular, it was still there and –
that you can spend thousands on packs the vine when looking for traditional it’s fair to assume – something WB Games
of random cards trying to obtain them publisher support. It’s just the latest step wasn’t happy with. Ah well. In better
and not actually succeed, so paying a in Sumo Group’s growth, with the once- Hogwarts-y news, players creating their
grand-plus to guarantee one is certainly tiny team now acquiring other studios characters in the game won’t be restricted
going to tempt a certain type of player. like The Chinese Room, and being heavily by gender-specific traits, allowing for trans
EA noted it was aware of the allegations involved with top-tier releases like characters to be made. JK Rowling was
and was investigating. Sackboy: A Big Adventure on PS5. unavailable for comment.

Epic Games buys Fall Guys dev Open-source scripting language Ink reaches
v1.0 – get it here: wfmag.cc/getinked

18 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
News

04 06

05
06. Well-raised
04. Japan Studio
05. EUr destiny #RaiseTheGame, the UK games
shrinks industry’s diversity pledge, released
Bungie sees its own personal destiny its first annual report outlining what
Sony has scaled down its internal Japan in spreading out worldwide, with plans progress has been made since its launch
Studio, with what remained of the dev to open an Amsterdam-based o ce by in the spring of 2020. The report covers
team bundled in with Astro’s Playroom 2022 revealed. he uropean o ce will case studies from companies signed up
creator, Team Asobi. The move comes, serve as the heart of many publishing and to the pledge such as EA, King, Xbox, and
claims a report on VGC, after Japan Studio marketing services, and arrived hand in more, and says that studios have, for
had seen a succession of not-quite- hand with the news that the studio would one, revamped recruitment practices to
profitable-enough releases in the past few be more than doubling the floor-space of incentivise both more diverse candidates
years. Staffers, both known and unknown, its Washington-based HQ. This, of course, and interviewers. Elsewhere, the report
had been drip-dropping their way out hammers home just how important – and highlights unconscious bias training
of the team since 2020, so the rumours big – Destiny 2 is for Bungie as an ongoing undertaken, additional support for new
had been swirling for a while, but now it concern, but also hints at the studio workers, and the push for more diverse
is indeed o cial: the 2 -year-old studio branching out into new properties as well characters and representation within
behind the likes of Ape Escape, Gravity as taking Destiny itself outside the realms games themselves. It’s all a very positive
Rush, The Last Guardian, and so many of just gaming. Seems the split with bunch of steps forward, though the path
more is a shell of its former self. Activision was a good choice, then. ahead remains a long one. Onwards!

Disintegration dev V1 Interactive to shut its

doors following game’s poor performance

wfmag.cc \ 19
 Attract Mode
News

09

08
07

07. Looting
09. Wham-pyre
Originally, it was thought Germany was 08. CONSUME
to slap an 18-plus rating on any game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
featuring loot box mechanics, but this First up: look at the image to go with this 2 has been delayed from 2021 to an
was soon downgraded – or clarified, story. Isn’t it wonderful Ah, the world of unspecified point in the future, with
really – to say games with ‘cost traps’ in free stock photography. Anyway, sales developer Hardsuit Labs shown the
them would instead feature a content of video games in the UK in 2020 were door by publisher Paradox Interactive.
warning. It’s certainly a positive step to digital, hammering home two things: In a statement released on social media,
help regulate the unchecked spread one, the rise of digital continues, and the publisher wrote: In order to meet
of gambling mechanics in video games two, something happened in 2020 to our goals for [the game], we’ve come to
that are open for anyone to play, and stop people from going to shops while the conclusion that a change is needed
hopefully can set us on the path to at the same time making them seek out and, as a result, more development time
recovering from trying to make children home-based entertainment products is required.” Originally in production
literal gambling addicts. Maybe. Possibly. more. £4.4 billion in total was spent on at Hardsuit since 2016, the game was
Meanwhile, a report from research video games – 48% of all entertainment delayed from its planned 2020 release
company Juniper pegs loot box earnings spending last year – with digital sales and, now, from its 2021 launch – it’s set
at £14.3 billion by 2025, so expect plenty seeing a . rise over 20 , and to release in 2022 at the earliest. And
of lobbying and pushback to maintain even physical sales upping by .2 . don’t count on it. It’s a shame, but if it’s
the status quo from publishers keen on These game things are probably sticking the move Paradox needed to make, it
the mechanic. around for a while. could all work out in the end.

Super Nintendo World in Orlando, Florida,

still on the cards – but delayed to 2025

20 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
News

11

11. Anthemic
Anthem won’t receive its vaunted Next
instalment, EA revealed, with the planned 12
10
major update being unceremoniously
thrown out and all work on actively
10. Common sense upgrading the game – beyond necessary
small updates/bug fixes – being halted. 12. (You can still)
The right to repair is increasingly a big The pandemic was blamed, with a blog
part of discussion when it comes to post from BioWare’s Christian Dailey Win!
the appliances and tech we have in our stating: Working from home during the
homes, and iFixit released a video on the pandemic has had an impact on our There’s still time to enter our fantastic
DualSense controller that highlighted productivity and not everything we had competition held in conjunction with
just why this is the case. Basically, the planned as a studio before Covid-19 FUZE Technologies – at least, that is, if
controller is technically good for around can be accomplished without putting you’re reading this before the closing
hours of play before it starts failing. undue stress on our teams.” In other date of 30 April 202 . A uick reminder:
That’s not to say it’ll disintegrate in your EA news, the upcoming Dragon Age 4 use FUZE4 Nintendo Switch to make
hands, but that certain components in the is said to have originally been akin to a game – any game – submit it before
pad are only rated for x amount of clicks/ Anthem, except with a fantasy setting. the deadline, and be in with a chance of
twists/swishes of the thumb, so after that Well, that’s all changed after the failure winning prizes from a pool worth over
rough time frame, you may well start to of the Iron Man simulator, with BioWare’s 3 00. Sound good It does, doesn’t it
see degradation. As such, it helps to know long-running series reverting instead ou can find out more details, including
how to fix things yourself, so here’s the to a single-player-only RPG. Some good full terms and conditions, right here:
video: i. comes out of this, then. u o i ion.

Live action Twisted Metal series greenlit;

Deadpool /Zombieland scribes to pen

wfmag.cc \ 21
 Attract Mode
Letters

Post Apocalypse
Tiny Dreamcasts, component shortages,
and yet more scalping: it’s your letters

Scalpers Part 2
Reading the letters in the Ryan writes: s on
latest issue of Wireframe, and I can’t help but feel that the is onso s s s
I saw Ryan Lambie’s reply to idea of Sony and Microsoft so oss so
the letter about the amount i i nu u in no u s in s s
of scalping going on with the scarcity of their consoles in us n
current generation of games is ss o i s i o in ion o
consoles. While I agree with ou s o s o s n supply line issues created by
o n i i
s so ff
“We won’t see anti-scalping laws, s s in
nor anything other than lip-service as n i o
to how to resolve the issue” o i s n o
outlets to online stores, are
o i u is o
him that the fact that we’ve ion s s in o s o s no
been buying consoles and on is s s s o
games online has made a big shared around, but they o i n ion n
difference, I don’t agree that on o n s i o in
Issue #48 console manufacturers have o o in i on off su o o u i
nothing to do with this all. and Microsoft need those desperately needs to be
Ever since Sony released consoles in people’s houses in onsu s n s n
the PlayStation 3 and had the so u s sin nin on
ignominy of not selling out
on launch date (remember
Want to write
that?!), it’s been heavily in the
to Wireframe?
manufacturer’s interests to
Message us at
make sure that stock sells out.
wfmag.cc/hello They’re playing us. The old
or tweet us economic basics of scarcity
@wireframemag driving up demand.
It’s why we won’t see anti-
scalping laws, nor anything
other than lip-service as to
how to resolve the issue. It’ll
all be forgotten about by the
time the PlayStation 6 and
Xbox Super Series XYZ comes
out, and the whole cycle will
start again.
Ian Stone

22 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
Letters

Shortcuts
Imagine this nightmare scenario:
your absolute favourite retro console
of all time has a game stuck inside it.
Mini Dreams So stuck that you’ll have to play that
game forever. We asked our good
Hi Wireframe – any more news o ssi s readers on Twitter: which game
on the Dreamcast Mini that n D s would that be, and why? A few of our
was rumoured last Christmas? ini ou n
Much obliged. I need my Power n n s on is on
favourite responses:
Stone fix. u o in i o s
Leanne Jones n in o in MaBoShi (WiiWare): it’s three games in one, has local
multiplayer, innovative gameplay, arcade hi-score-
u ion s i Power
chasing sensibilities, beams a portable version to
Ryan writes: Stone, Bangai-O, Crazy Taxi,
your Nintendo DS, and – since the closure of the
i n is i Rez, Shenmue, Cannon Spike, Wii Shop Channel in 2019 – is in danger of being
i o u s and Sonic Adventure on there, forgotten forever. But not by me! @gingerbeadman
o in s n so:
nni s i s no no o i so s
Rhythm Tengoku isn’t glued into my GBA Micro, but it
oi : oo s o it’s borderline unplayable,
may as well be. Superb stuff. So glad a friend was kind
o o n ou o s o o
enough to send me a copy over from Japan back in
inu s n oo ni D s o ou the day. (Note: please, Wireframe, don’t actually rock
o n in o su u ns i u o i up and glue the cart into my GBA Micro. Thanks.)
s i us ious is o s on on @CraigGrannell

Sonic & Knuckles: a) I love Sonic. b) I can still insert

It’s just not PC the other Sonic games into Sonic & Knuckles.
@VirtuaOllie64

There’s been a lot of talk in gaming and want to invest in it,

recent months about the simply can’t. PlayStation 2 with Gradius V. The visuals, the
soundtrack, the incredible coolness. Arcade
scarcity of a – yawn – certain Is this the problem, I
perfection. @KujiGhost
games console. But what about wonder, with a platform that
us PC gamers? For a good deal doesn’t have a central owner
of 2020 and carrying on into to it? Because something Operation Wolf on the Master System. It would save
2021, there’s been an ongoing surely has to be done. me a fortune in spare change and I’d maybe even
shortage in quality graphics Steven Collins actually get to see the credits roll, unlike seven year-
cards, with the higher end old me, who never did… I’ve never looked at a Light
models in ridiculously short Ryan writes: Phaser the same way since. @FuryAc3
supply. Now I read that these s s i on u o
shortages may go on well s o i no i
into next year, with the likes
of cryptocurrency miners
o
si
oun s
s si
issu u
so u ion
The burning question
helping to drive the prices to at least part of this: put BioWare recently announced the
up of those that do become ssi o on cancellation of Anthem NEXT, so we
available. Processors, too, are o u n inin s asked Twitter, which of these defunct
being squeezed. The PC has i o n i on n online games would you bring back if
you could? The power of the Force is as
been the constant platform for n n us no nothing compared to the allure of Club
gaming for over 30 years now, s n in o o o Penguin, it seems…
one that’s survived assorted speculate on – like tulips,
predictions of its decline. Now o i s o ion Club Penguin - 41% Star Wars Galaxies - 22%
it turns out the biggest threat u s o u
is that those who love PC so o no The Matrix Online - 28% City of Heroes - 9%

wfmag.cc \ 23
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Early Access

Lonesome Village
A uaint and cutesy farming/life sim starring
a fox called Wes, Lonesome Village looks like
another one of those lovely little games to
just curl up and ignore the real world with.
It’s hard to shake the feeling, though, that the
game hides something a bit darker under its FAITH
surface. We might be way off here, but we want
to n out. One of our two New Blood-published titles
on this month’s pages, FAITH presents a
1980s-themed horror in the style both of 8-bit
games of the era (when you’re playing), and
more 16-bit, Another World-y style visuals (in the
Instinction cutscenes). It’s an effective mix, both spartan
in presentation but riddled with character at
Hashbane Interactive is bigging up its aim to the same time – and definitely on the right side
have Instinction work as a spiritual successor of creepy to carry the horror mantle. A demo’s
of sorts to the Dino Crisis series, which has available; check it out here: wfmag.cc/FAITH.
worked well enough to get us to pay attention
to it. It’s still very early days – the dev is posting
animation tests and the like on its YouTube
page, so there’s a lot of work to go – but a first/
third-person semi-open-world survival game
with dinosaurs does sound, on paper, like it
could be a lark.

Hundred Days –
Winemaking Simulator
For once ‘stop wine-ing’ is the wrong thing
to tell someone to do. No, you’re wrong,
that’s an excellent pun and it should stay on
these pages. So Hundred Days – Winemaking
Simulator: it’s what it says, really. That being a
management simulation-style game in which
you craft your vineyard’s output from seed to
supermarket shelf, producing the best vintages
known to wherever it might be you’re located.
Straightforward, sim-based fun.

24 / wfmag.cc
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Early Access

Hellscreen
The nineties-themed shooters just don’t stop – but
Hellscreen brings a novel little twist to the formula to
help it stand out. You play with a rear-view mirror
on-screen and are able to fire both forwards and
backwards, meaning you’re engaged in multi-direction
Final Fantasy 7 combat a lot of the time. It could be a daft gimmick,
it could be revelatory, but whatever the case, it’s
Remake Intergrade certainly one that’s caught our attention.

It’ll be a while before the second proper instalment arrives, so

for this year, you’ll have to do with a PS update/expansion to
Final Fantasy VII Remake, subtitled Intergrade, because of course
it is. It takes the original Remake and buffs everything up to a
sheen (or a slightly lesser sheen/ 0 frames per second if played in
performance mode), taking advantage of the console’s DualSense
haptic feedback and the pacey loading afforded by the PS ’s SSD.
n top of those expected tweaks, though, arrives an extra episode
featuring u e isaragi in which players will control the young
ninja as she infiltrates the Shinra Corporation on a uest to steal a
valuable piece of materia in order to save her home village of Wutai.
It’s more a D D extra than a whole new and exciting era in FFVII
Remake, but it’s still appreciated. Also appreciated is how owners
of the digital version of FFVII Remake will be able to upgrade to
Intergrade on PS for free – though the u e chapter will cost extra
for those going the free upgrade route.

wfmag.cc \ 25
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Early Access

Bokeh Game Studio

untitled horror game
eiichiro oyama, director of Silent Hill, Siren, and Gravity
Rush, has revealed a smidge about his studio’s upcoming
horror game – it’s untitled as of yet, and there’s little
to go on beyond vagaries and some concept art like Space Cats Tactics
the above that might not even be from the game in
question. Still, when Toyama says he wants the player A mix of FTL-style space combat, XCOM-style
to feel exhilarated when they’re encountering horror, grid-based tactical combat, and cats: it’s Space
and espouses the view that horror should “question our Cats Tactics. Given what the game entails, that
position, [and] make us challenge the fact we’re living is a pretty solid name. Largely the work of one
peacefully , you have to sit up and pay attention. dev – help has come in the shape of music,
sound, and 3D modelling – Space Cats Tactics
looks like it could be a far more serious title than
its cat-focused preview imagery would have you
believe. It’s not set to release for a while, but
there is a prologue available: wfmag.cc/Cattery.

Anvil
Anvil is what would happen to Borderlands if you
excised the terrible sense of humour then pulled
the player camera out of your skull and made it
float above the battleground. hat is to say, it’s a
top-down vault-raiding shooter, but with added
roguelike elements. There’s a story behind it and
some fairly snazzy visuals, but the real meat will
be how good and chunky the shooting feels –
balanced and honed well enough and we could
have a great timesink here.

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Early Access

Red Solstice 2:
Survivors
Shooting things with friends, but a bit more
thought involved: that was the basic idea behind
the original Red Solstice, released some seven
years ago. Now the sequel looks to build on
the foundations of that first game, as any good
follow-up should, bringing more action, mission
types, and class variability to the game. he mix
of strategy and real-time action is sure to be a
big draw, and the fact Red Solstice 2 is keeping
things open for up to eight people to play
together is a real boon – it’s never more fun
blasting Zerg-like hordes than when you’re doing
it with friends. Gloomwood
The second of our two New Blood titles to adorn Incoming’s pages,
Gloomwood is another from the indie publisher that harks back
to the classic first-person titles of the nineties – in this case, huge
Sifu inspiration is taken from the incredible Thief games from Looking
Glass Studios. For those unfamiliar (or who need reminding), this
he next thing to come from Absolver developer means a lot of slinking around in the darkness of a steampunk-ish
Sloclap, Sifu will launch later in 2021 on PS5, city, finding the best way to sneak in, through, or around undetected
PS , and PC (and it’s fair to expect Xbox at some while heading for whatever your objective might be. Or, you know,
point later, as happened with Absolver). But what cocking up and getting into a stand-up fight against decidedly creepy
is it? Sifu sees players take control of a young guards who roam the streets.
martial artist on a quest for vengeance after his From a playthrough of Gloomwood’s demo, available for free
family was murdered – pretty standard kung-fu right now, it’s easy to see the game is on the right track. There’s
cinema fare – but the twist comes in the form of a fantastic balance achieved between necessary darkness and
a magical pendant the player wears. It protects toughness, to create a tone and mood, alongside more modern
them from death, but each time they are knocked conveniences to help players actually get to grips with things.
down to zero, they come back a few years older – There was no reason for Thief ’s style of play to go out of fashion,
so you lose out on time, but gain the experience so it’s a genuine treat to see a new take on the formula coming out
of age with each (sort of) death. The action looks sometime soon. The demo can be found here: wfmag.cc/Gloomed.
to be a virtual re-creation of The Raid crossed with
the corridor scene from Oldboy, so… yeah, we’re
keeping a big ol’ eye on this one.

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Out of the Past

O U T O F
THE P A ST IR
E A L L U R E O F F IL M N O
GAME DESIGN AND TH
a tt ra c te d fi lm makers with
ilm noir has lon o ile d roots ut wha
t
n d h a rd -
its isual style a in
a m e d e si n ers to work with
draws modern c e ntury-old enre
n fi n e s o f a
the narrow co
WRITTEN BY
DAN COOPER

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Out of the Past

Backbone proudly wears its


noir references. Note the
movie poster that nods to
ard-bitten heroes. Unending rain over sullen white male protagonists and duplicitous director Nicolas Winding
dark, brooding streets. Sultry femme females – many of whom are forced to use their Refn’s neo-noir Drive.

fatales. Long shadows and doleful jazz. bodies in exchange for physical protection – a
These are just some of the staples of problematic genre. ow, then, do you marry
film noir. With its rigidly archetypal film noir’s genre staples to modern storytelling
characters and shadowy aesthetics, it’s perhaps
the most recognisable of all film genres.
sensibilities Wireframe spoke to a range of
developers to find out.
DEV NOIR
Rooted in a tradition that can trace its What’s a noir game dev’s engine
way back through the German expressionist THE NOIR CONUNDRUM of choice? Here’s what they
told us:
movement, via American hard-boiled detective For Aleksandra orabelnikova, co-founder of
literature, back to the dawn of the moving image, ancouver-based developer gg ut, a journey CHICKEN POLICE: “We used Unity.
The main reason behind the
there’s something cinematically grand about film into noir storytelling meant finding something
decision was our previous
noir. he genre has a knack for telling cynical, that she could relate to within the genre’s
experience with the engine. It
even Shakespearean stories about the fault lines assorted tropes and conventions. As narrative suited our needs perfectly. We
that divide society. here designer for the upcoming had some special shaders we
are parallels between noir adventure Backbone created – for example, since
Hamlet and jaded “The experience I wanted to draw (see Wireframe ), she the game’s black and white, we
private investigator Philip sought a touchstone with packed four texture pages on
Marlowe in The Big Sleep:
on was growing up in the dystopian which to connect to the one RGBA image. As for effects,
both relate the doomed state of Russia” genre. Art should be shaders, and lighting, Unity
ambitions of a hero personal, she says. It coped with our needs quite well.”

undone by the corruption that surrounds him. should be truthful and come from the inside. ACTION TIME: “We picked Unity
Games developers, meanwhile, are often And so the experience that I wanted to draw on because it has a lot of assets;
drawn towards film noir. Its narrative tropes and was growing up in the dystopian state of Russia. instead of making systems
from scratch, we can reuse and
aesthetics are clear-cut and easy to recognise All of those experiences, systemic oppression,
modify them to our needs. I don’t
for creators and players alike, making it a useful and how those systems interact with each other,
know if Unity or Unreal is better,
foundation for all kinds of games, from Under a and how you are taught by them to behave in a but we’ve stuck with Unity.”
Killing Moon to ax Payne to L.A. Noire. certain way, and how the individual struggles to
BACKBONE: “We think Unreal
Familiar though the language of film noir break that cycle.
is really great. I think they’re
is, the world surrounding it has changed It’s a theme that sits well with the bleak the best technological partner
radically since the genre’s birth in the early 20th world-view of film noir, rooted as it is in the a game dev could have. If you
century. his is particularly true in the video hard-boiled crime novels of Great Depression- plan to go on and make a bigger
game medium, which has grown increasingly era America. For orabelnikova, the visual style game next, then you should start
diverse and progressive, making noir, with its of noir, with its high-contrast style of light with the best tool on the market.”

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Out of the Past

Chicken Police ’s visual



style pays tribute to

classic noir aesthetics.
and shadow, also translated perfectly to the fits because a good detective is empathetic
struggles she’s seeking to convey: hat’s where and wants to understand people and really get
the noir aesthetic came from as well. It plays to under their skin. Through empathising with
the societal contrast in Russia, of poor and rich people, it changes him by talking to these people
– something we developed further through the and understanding their lives better.”
contrast of retro pixel art and modern lighting.
Film noir’s literary roots took hold in THE MOTHER OF INVENTION
prohibition-era America, where ordinary citi ens ns tor a s is another upcoming
were criminalised for drinking alcohol or anthropomorphic noir adventure, created
gambling. his systemic suppression of liberties by solo developer ann (see Wireframe issue
is something that Korabelnikova drew on when 3 for more). e agrees that the detective
crafting her noir tale. In these situations, you character archetype is vital for any noir game.
can’t really comprehend your own identity in he detective element is the most important in
the midst of it,” she says. a point-and-click game,
Self-expression is so he says, because you
important, but it’s not “A good detective is empathetic and have to interview people
Action Time ’s high-contrast possible when the world to understand what’s
wants to understand people and really


lighting is both scene-setting

and a pivotal game mechanic.
is piling oppression on going on. I was inspired by
top of you.” get under their skin” games like L.A. Noire.”
Backbone’s protagonist, Both Backbone and
oward otor, is a classic noir staple: he’s ns tor a s are sumptuous games, their
a solitary private eye. But this choice of glorious pixel art further embellished by the
protagonist wasn’t necessarily as straightforward high-contrast, melancholy lighting. hat lighting
as you’d think. Instead, it was a decision that style is a hallmark of film noir, although it was
grew organically from a desire to serve the originally devised for practical rather than stylistic
story and its mechanics. sing a detective reasons film studios in recession-hit, post-World
character didn’t come from the old noir movies War I Germany simply couldn’t afford lots of
starring detectives it developed from the bright studio lights, and thus, the minimally lit
game mechanic of talking to people, says noir aesthetic was born. In the same spirit of
orabelnikova. Dialogue is the main game practicality, the Indonesian development team
mechanic in Backbone. A detective character behind Action Time, a top-down shooter in the

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Out of the Past

FILM NOIR
After all of this noir talk, maybe
you’re in the mood to watch
a classic film from the genre.
Luckily, our developers have a
range of noirs, be they classic,
neo, or otherwise, to recommend:
CHICKEN POLICE: “The Big Sleep,
Gilda, Double Indemnity, The
Killing, The Asphalt Jungle,
The Third Man, neo-noirs like
Chinatown, The Long Goodbye,
Farewell My Lovely, L.A.
As well as employing classic noir onfidential, Mulholland Falls.”


lighting, Backbone leans into the

lurid colours of neo-noirs like INSPECTOR WAFFLES: “When I
Blade Runner or Blood Simple.
was younger, I really remember
watching Dick Tracy, the movie,
it was so yellow… perhaps that’s
style of Hotline: Miami, embraced a noir aesthetic, was often implied, so as not to fall foul of the why Inspector Waffles is yellow
not initially for the mood evoked by the genre, censors and necessitate further editing costs. now. I really like Who Framed
but instead for the practical, affordable game But how does this translate to games What Roger Rabbit – you can see how
mechanics afforded by the high-contrast lighting is considered inexpensive in one medium it inspired Inspector Waffles.
It has an animal as a main
style. he first thing we thought about was the doesn’t necessarily translate to others, after all.
character, and the detective,
gameplay and then the setting,” says Kristian For B lint B nk arga of he Wild Gentlemen,
Bob Hoskins’ character, is a very
tomo, C of Freemergency Studio. We were Hungarian-based developers of Chicken Police:
depressed guy.
developing this rewind gameplay mechanic, but Paint it RED! (see Wireframe 20), each creative
ACTION TIME: “We saw Scarface
were asking What will the theme be to go with choice always came down to style, but this did
and thought the tommy gun was
it’ ou’re essentially a killing machine that can sometimes mean that certain development
cool. How about we make a
rewind time when you die, so it wouldn’t be fair if costs could be skirted. Says arga: he game about this? Voila, you got
you could see all of the enemies too. hat’s why greatness of noirs really lay in the fact that they Action Time.”
we hide them within a fog of war.” had to be made cheaply, e ciently, and because BACKBONE: “I think the most
ventually, the team settled on using inky of this, insanely creatively. In the case of games, influential [stories] for me were
pools of shadow to conceal enemies. As the the situation is a little different. In classic noirs, ones featuring a gentle man in
player dives into each room, they must react violence of any kind was only rarely shown due dire circumstances, such as [noir
to the sudden emergence of enemies from the to the heavy censorship of the era. his issue TV series] The Night Of.”
shadows, rewinding time if they fail to clear
a room without perishing. “The [noir] theme
is a by-product of the fog of war mechanic,
adds Alvin Ardianto Go ali, game designer and
programmer, but we switched from filling
the room with a greyscale fog of war to high-
contrast black and white shadows, and ended
up using that more because it fitted so well with
the theme.”
Hailing from an era of poverty and bleakness,
the spirit of film noir has always been one of
frugality. From classic noirs using fewer lights
and eschewing colour in favour of cheaper
black and white film stock, through to modern
neo-noir’ like 2’s futuristic Blade Runner
Why animal detectives? Is
repurposing old 0s sets, the genre’s films


it because they can ‘sniff’

are rarely lavish affairs. ven on-screen violence out the truth? (Sorry.)

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Out of the Past

was solved with shades, silhouettes, and other with the dichotomy here: GTA IV’s retelling of
cheap but symbolic solutions. We were similar in the rags-to-riches noir Scarface was somewhat
the sense that as a small, indie studio, we didn’t undermined by the tendency of the player to
have the money to produce CGI cutscenes, so pop on hospital scrubs, steal an ambulance, and
we had to resort to similar tricks to get through hurtle off on an unexpected tangent. Attempt
the experience we wanted. to preserve the tone of a game by exerting too
Chicken Police is a stylish-looking game, its much control over the player, and you run the
heady combination of photo-realistic animals risk of arriving at the same dissatisfying endpoint
and heightened black and white contrasts via a different route. When eam Bondi was
making it feel like the Sin City of games; a world developing 20 ’s L.A. Noire, another open-world
where the aesthetic elements of the film noir title published by Rockstar, its determination to
Suspect board. Raincoat- genre have been ramped up to eleven. Ironically, prevent the player from spoiling the noir tone of


donning detective. Light

diffused through blinds. achieving the stripped-back film noir look proved the world left players with little to do within the
Backbone nails all of the to be a greater stretch on resources than simply game’s ex uisitely recreated A, rendering
details of noir.
making the game in colour, says arga. For the the environments beautiful but ultimately sterile.
backgrounds, we had to make the scene in 3D Perhaps this is why the rigidly structured
with colours first, then put it to monochrome, nature of point-and-click adventures is so
and then fine-tune the shadows and lights to perfect for interpretations of film noir, with
make the scene as impactful (and noir-ish) their tightly plotted narratives and the very
as possible. But, in terms of the time we put mechanics of the genre regulating tighter player
into this, yeah, it was maybe a little bit more conformity and preserving that all-important
complicated and expensive instead of doing pace and tone. For Backbone’s orabelnikova,
this in colour or without the heavy usage of the a largely linear story was a deliberate choice ,
contrast of light and shadows. to give the game’s narrative a clearly delineated
nlike movies directors, game designers truth . he game’s choice-driven dialogue
have to consider player agency – an element of system still allows for players to sculpt the
the medium that can sometimes clash with a personality of their detective, however – an
Chicken Police uses
developer’s desire to tell a story. ou’re all familiar approach that serves both player agency and


familiar noir archetypes,

such as the femme fatale.

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Out of the Past

Unity remains the engine of choice for many



developers in the point-and-click genre, though

Backbone uses Unreal Engine.

narrative authorship. Says Korabelnikova:

he choices we made regarding player choice
and branching dialogue came from a desire
to be as honest as possible. In real life, your
choices tend to matter on a small scale how
they affect the lives of the people around you, Noir isn’t about saving the


your relationships with those people, and your world; it’s about saving
yourself. Backbone ’s
understanding of who you are as a person. uest. It should be like watching a movie you dialog e options re ect that.
So most of the choices in Backbone are for the should always want to know what happens next.
players to express themselves and to better
understand the main character, rather than UNIVERSALLY NOIR
change the world. ltimately, noir remains as attractive to
Varga agrees that in a truly noir game, mood
has to take priority over player agency, but like
developers now as it was for filmmakers almost
a century ago.
MAMMAL NOIR
orabelnikova, he believes a balance can still Some may argue that its cultural specificity, Of the four titles covered here,
be struck. We want to be consistent with the being so inextricably linked to a certain time three replace humans with
animals. Coincidence? In true
tone and with the noir aesthetic as well, but also and place, has rendered it outmoded. For
detective style, we set out to
make a game with a heavy focus on the flow of Varga and the developers of Chicken Police
find the truth
the story. Chicken Police is built as a fairly linear though, the themes that run through noir still
INSPECTOR WAFFLES: “I like the
narrative adventure, which was crucial to make resonate deeply within today’s society. As he
idea that you can make a cat
the game as movie-like as possible. Yes, you puts it: I think not many things have changed
say something that a human
have opportunities to go wherever you want, but regarding the core themes of film noir’s classic wouldn’t. I wanted to create my
overall, the story’s main flow is straightforward. age. Police brutality and excesses Political own universe.”
In a game like this, the dynamic between the corruption and decadence Racial oppression
CHICKEN POLICE: “Using animals
gameplay and narrative is and abuse? Megalomania, was a world-building choice for
very fragile, but if you find hatred, jealousy, greed, us, and we want our characters
the balance, you will have “Police brutality and excesses? the list could go on We as human as possible. The
an excellent flow for the think these are timeless game plays a lot with the
entire experience.
Racial oppression and abuse? These are topics. Also, we made animal nature of our characters,
It’s a point that ann timeless topics” our own world, so we but the important factors are
of Goloso Games firmly had the opportunity to always the errors and faults of
human nature.”
supports too, arguing that player freedom – in make a strange hybrid that mixes issues of
the form of side uests and the like – can often several cultures and eras while keeping the core BACKBONE: “We were on a call,
dilute the charged atmosphere of a game, as themes, atmosphere, and mood of the greatest and raccoons attacked [EggNut
Studio’s co-founder] Nikita’s
players are free to break from narratively tense noirs alive.”
backyard in Vancouver, so
moments and complete inconse uential tasks. It’s undoubtedly a valid point. If developers
we decided to make a game
verything Wa es does, everything he has across the globe can use noir to express
about being a raccoon, set
to solve in ns tor a s, has a clear interest experiences as wide as Backbone’s take on in Vancouver. We wanted an
in the main narrative, like watching a movie, Russian systemic oppression, through to the allegory to talk about the issues
he says. I don’t like it in point-and-click, or ungarian social satire of Chicken Police, then in today’s society, but not
even triple-A games, where you have a very maybe noir’s creative possibilities are far less appropriate the stories of real
unimportant thing to do, this type of secondary narrow than they first appear. people who are struggling.”

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Column

The Little Grey Cells

D
id you know that Agatha Christie his is why the best detective games aren’t
is the bestselling fiction writer simulators or RPGs but simple pu le games. hey
ever uts to Dickens, olkien, and pare back their mechanics to a minimum, giving
J. K. Rowling. Murder’s what the players the space for the whodunnit guessing
public want. game. Return of the Obra Dinn, for example,
Detective fiction remains hugely popular, but doesn’t re uire the player to be Sherlock olmes.
it’s never taken off in games. here are notable It re uires them to be an insurance claims
exceptions like L.A. Noire, and triple-A RPGs often investigator and walk slowly around. It’s about
LOTTIE BEVAN include a uest where you determine whodunnit as far as you get from discovering a sensational
Lottie’s a producer and from a pool of PCs. But generally, detective murder in a first-class carriage of the rient
co-founder of award-
winning narrative games are few and far between, even though the xpress. ou look at things for a long time, and
microstudio Weather genre flourishes in books (The Thursday Murder then you choose a name from a drop-down menu.
Factory, best known for Club is the fastest-selling adult crime debut in But as Poirot himself says: It is the brain, the little
Cultist Simulator. She’s
one of the youngest history), (find me a channel that doesn’t screen grey cells on which one must rely. And that’s what
female founders multiple police procedurals and Scandi-noirs), and makes Obra Dinn so brilliant: its primary mechanic
in the industry, a
BAFTA Breakthrough
film (Knives Out saw universally positive reviews). is the player’s mind.
Brit, and founder of So why do games shun the murder mystery Another detective game, Her Story, also relies
Coven Club, a women Detective novels usually work on two planes. on the little grey cells. It doles out dopamine
in games support
network. She produces, here’s a plot propelled by a brilliant investigator every time you type something relevant into a
markets, bizzes, and who’s always one step ahead. hen there’s the search engine. ou only know what to type in by
arts, and previously reader, who competes with the investigator deducing things from the previous round of videos
produced Fallen
London, Zubmariner, and tries to guess the murderer before the you’ve watched. I applaud her excellent 0s
and Sunless Skies at book reveals them. Games can’t keep those fashion sense, but the lady in the video is your
Failbetter Games.
planes separate. Players become the detective, competition, trying her best to thwart you. Her
propelling the game themselves and removing Story is all about connecting the dots yourself, but
the competitive mental gymnastics you get from all you actually do is sit there watching video clips.
a book. ost players aren’t ord Peter Wimsey, Detective fiction is enduringly popular, but it
so the game probably won’t move along at the re uires people to think and the book to let them.
speed it would in a scripted’ novel. And you don’t Games don’t always trust their players. hey’re
have the same certainty that you have everything worried they might miss an item (give it a glow ), or
you need to solve the crime – there’s always a a cutscene (make it unskippable ) or, worst of all,
possibility that you missed a clue or took the get bored (Quick! Another minigame!). Detectives
wrong dialogue option somewhere, or simply that need space for their little grey cells – and it takes a
your reasoning differs from the writer’s. brave game to provide it.

Deduction on the poop



deck in Lucas Pope’s

Return of the Obra Dinn.

“Detective

e
hugely
ul u
e e
e ff
games”

34 / wfmag.cc
 Attract Mode
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ompe i ion closes on onday ay . ri e is o ered o par icipan s orld ide a ed or o er e cep employees o e aspberry i o nda ion e pri e s pplier
eir amilies or riends. inners ill be no ified by email no more an days a er e compe i ion closes. y en erin e compe i ion e inner consen s o any p blici y
enera ed rom e compe i ion in prin and online. ar icipan s a ree o recei e occasional ne sle ers rom ire rame ma a ine. e don li e spam par icipan s de ails ill
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wfmag.cc \ 35
 Interface
Gallery

GAME
Little Nemo and the
Nightmare Fiends
ARTIST
Pie For Breakfast/PXLPLZ
RELEASE
TBA 2022
WEBSITE
pfbstudios.com

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Gallery

Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends

Like Cuphead before it, Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends delves deep into the
history of animation for its cartoon look: it’s based on the work of pioneering
artist Winsor McCay, whose early 20th-century animation had a profound impact
on the medium that is still being felt a century later. his isn’t the first game
based on McCay’s work, though: in 1990, Capcom released the NES platformer
Little Nemo: The Dream Master, based on the McCay-inspired animated feature of
the same name. It was that game, says Nightmare Fiends developer Chris Totten,
that first attracted him to cCay’s work. I fell in love with the Little Nemo comics
years ago when trying to learn more about the original Nintendo game,” Totten
tells us. he Little Nemo comics went into the public domain years ago and I’d had
some success making games out of other public domain works, so I got a design
document together and put it in a ‘potential projects’ folder on my computer.
hat was several years ago.
Together with producer/tech lead Ben Cole and designer Adrian Sandoval, Totten
aims to make a modern platformer in the style of McCay’s comics and animation;
inevitably, the team’s making use of digital tools like Blender and drawing tablets,
but they’re keen to capture the delicate nuances of McCay’s analogue techniques.
cCay’s art style was indicative of Art ouveau – especially the thick outer lines on
background objects and characters – so we wanted to capture that in the sprites
along with the colours of the old newspaper comics, otten says. Secondly is the
temptation to not use some of the features of a digital art program that makes
artists’ lives easier… We wanted the game to have a classic hand-animated look,
so we had to cut ourselves off from some of the convenience items in the software
and do things the old-fashioned way.”
At the time of writing, Totten’s project is still crowdfunding on Kickstarter; if it’s
successful, Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends could introduce McCay’s work to a
whole new audience.

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Off the beaten track

OFF THE
BEATEN
TRACK
CAVES, DETOURS, AND BONUS ROOMS

How do platform games incorporate hidden paths and

rooms in their le els e speak to some e perts to find out
WRITTEN BY
DON EVERHART

P
latformers have a linear heritage, Side spaces and optional objectives make
but most resist leading players in levels and games distinctive. This was the case
straight lines. Recent games, from early on in NES platformers like Super Mario Bros.
SteamWorld Dig 2 to Celeste, Shovel or Kirby’s Adventure, in which hidden side areas
Knight and its related Treasure Trove could uncover shortcuts, extra lives, or unlock
games, and even Super Mario Maker 2, show how minigames in the overworld.
designers embrace side challenges and puzzle As games have increasingly moved away
rooms as part of the core design of their levels. from overworlds and to large, interconnected
Done right, such spaces offer a wealth of maps in the style of Super Metroid or Castlevania:
possibilities. They silently encourage players Symphony of the Night, designers have had to
to experiment with new mechanics, and push reconsider what it means to branch off from
them to attempt new challenges. They enable the main path. Interconnection dominates
designers to push mechanics to their limits, contemporary platformers, and designers have
to focus on detailed interactions, or to reward reconsidered the relationships between side
deeper exploration. spaces and main paths as a result.

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Off the beaten track

CAVES AND CONNECTIONS And so caves were added, which provide a

In SteamWorld Dig 2, side spaces primarily number of functions. Some caves are required
manifest as caves, which are accessible through for narrative progression or to discover new
the interconnected main world. Sometimes tools, and are therefore less ‘optional’ than
they lead to upgrades or new areas, and others. For Månsson, caves are a means of
sometimes they offer optional challenges teaching and then gradually complicating the
and rewards. Speaking to the game’s director game’s design. Caves found earlier in the world’s
Olle Håkansson and cave designer Markus map have a fairly simple exploratory goal, as
Månsson, it’s clear that caves were a major nsson says, to just make it around in a loop,
consideration for SteamWorld Dig 2, having spun avoiding ha ards and enemies. hen nsson
out from design and playtesting considerations can introduce more exacting paths through
during the original game’s early development. hazards, to encourage experiments with
As kansson explains: We played our own different abilities, or to set the possibility for a
game, and realised [the sequel] needs some moment of inspiration.
variation, some safe spaces where players could This played into the developers’ overall design
have detours, learn things, and so on.” philosophy that embraces soft rather than
In the rest of the world, you die and lose hard locks towards progress. Håkansson and
some resources and are teleported back to the nsson both enjoy having players find things
town, adds nsson. But introducing a new that verge on bugs or glitches to exploit. While
enemy or tool and having that rough penalty for players who move through SteamWorld Dig 2
failing… doesn’t work.” for the first time may find their skills being

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Off the beaten track

way of marking optional challenges and side

paths. Rather than placing challenges behind
doorways, thus signifying a clear break from the
In an early side room in surrounding world, Celeste uses strawberries.


Shovel Knight: Shovel of

Hope, the player has to These items signify a dare, a temptation, or a
pogo precisely to reach a burnished by caves, those same players may marker of a completed side path.
sheet music reward.
later find creative ways to avoid them entirely. Designer Maddy Thorson consistently
On the subject of soft and hard locks, Månsson describes the approach to Celeste’s design as a
points to some of the paths that require aerial fractal story . horson and team considered the
traversal, and observes that while players could game’s story, how it split into chapters, and then
use jet packs in these sequences, they can also how those chapters split into individual sections
manipulate keybindings to super-jump across . and rooms. A major challenge in developing
Håkansson adds that the aim is to give players Celeste involved arranging, rearranging, cutting,
a sense of freedom. ou’re breaking the and redesigning rooms in sequence. Describing
game a bit; you’re being this aspect of
a bit naughty”. “YOU’RE BREAKING development, Thorson
The interconnected says: he placement
paths of SteamWorld and design of
SUPER Dig 2 provide the larger rooms was primarily

FREEDOM canvas, with its caves

adding smaller, more checkpointed bubbles
determined by [their]
place in the larger story of the chapter – how
When it comes to player in which players can experiment with new Madeline feels and what kind of pacing helps to
freedom, the seminal Metroid mechanics. Players can work through multiple support that.”
games remain a platform layers of possibility in those spaces without So, Celeste is led by its narrative, which is told
game touchstone. find it worrying about a lengthy setback. From there, largely through the sequence of rooms and
so satisfying playing through the developers can plan for how players might the pacing of challenges rather than through
Super Metroid, which is experiment and take those mechanics and push dialogue and narration.
probably my favourite game of
them to their limits. Layers on layers on layers. While that approach to design offers
all time, and just sneaking over
players consistency, strawberries exist within
and stealing the Wave Beam
way before you’re supposed
FRACTAL DESIGN it as a kind of curveball. he strawberries are
to,” says SteamWorld Dig 2 ’s While SteamWorld Dig 2’s caves stand slightly categorically different from the other objects,
Olle Håkansson. “It’s just so apart from the game’s main path, sometimes horson explains. In one sense they are similar
rewarding to save those few with their own internal checkpoints and to features like spikes or springs in that their
minutes for some reason.” mechanics, Celeste’s designers had a different spatial placement matters, and helps define the

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 Interface
Off the beaten track

Celeste ’s strawberries


often hover just beyond
risky obstacles or over a
rules of the current level in interesting ways. Or they can function as lures into rooms that bottomless pit. Or, in this
case, both.
But I primarily thought of them as a meta-object, offer only one solution, making sure a player
because they represent permanent progression grasps an important mechanic or interaction.
by simply incrementing a global counter of your
total strawberries.” DESIGN PRINCIPLES
The only similar counter that Celeste displays For acht Club Games, makers of Shovel Knight
for players refers to the number of deaths and the subsequent games in the Treasure Trove
they’ve suffered within an area. Players series, the design of optional areas and screens is
encounter strawberries peppered through most nested within a cascade of other decisions.
of Celeste’s levels: some are found on the main Within the development of each entry, from
path, placed as an enticement to attempt more Shovel of Hope to Plague of Shadows, Specter of
tricky manoeuvres when travelling through a Torment, and King of Cards, decisions about how
room. While being pursued in one of several levels related to each other on the overworld
level-ending chase se uences, such strawberries could have an effect on the shape of optional
can further ratchet up the tension, especially in challenges and their di culty. As with the
long rooms without checkpoints and with more relationship between the larger worlds of the
freely moving adversaries. But strawberries SteamWorld Dig games and their caves, the Shovel
have many flexible uses, and aren’t necessarily Knight games order challenges within each level In Matilder’s Hacksaw


tied to tension and challenge. They can serve as with di culty and checkpoints in mind. Havoc, players are pushed
up and around saw-blades.
markers for exploration, as when adeline finds As a collective, the acht Club team explains: Early in the course, players
herself overlooking a ruined city from a clifftop, In Shovel Knight level design, di culty gradually might notice a pipe on the
left – this will warp them to
with a strawberry hovering just below the cliff. ramps upwards with small breaks after any a bonus room, complete
with a 30-coin reward and
celebratory confetti.

wfmag.cc \ 41
 Interface
Off the beaten track

Optional rewards aren’t only



hidden behind destructible

walls or in secret rooms.
Some, like this skull in milestone. In other words, each room is harder game designers, able to adjust the mechanics
Specter of Torment, are in
plain sight. than the last until you reach a checkpoint, of their games and to sit with playtesters and
each stretch of rooms between checkpoints team members to tune their levels, and make
is harder than the last until you reach a new connections between side rooms and main
level, and each level is harder than the last until paths. Super Mario Maker 2, meanwhile, makes
you beat the game. So it’s really just a matter a game out of putting the toolkit of Nintendo’s
of identifying its location in the level and its classic series in its players’ hands. While it’s
corresponding place on our di culty spectrum. easy to make a course in Super Mario Maker 2,
If it’s right after a checkpoint, it shouldn’t be it’s trickier to tune and embellish its themes
too challenging, and if it’s right before a without the collaboration that is often crucial
checkpoint, it should to game development.
feel pretty scary!” “A SECRET ROOM’S DESIGN Even so, skilled makers
This holistic find reasons and
perspective on room
NEEDS TO BE IN SERVICE TO ways to incorporate
and level design offers bonus rooms and
a perspective that branching paths.
emphasises new combinations of environmental Super Mario Maker 2 strips the Super Mario
CROSS challenges, enemies, and player abilities. ike any series down to its two-dimensional incarnation,

PLAY
room along the main path, a secret room’s design even while allowing for settings, objects, and
needs to be in service of the level as a whole,” the mechanics that never appeared in early games
The team at Yacht Club Games team says. Its gameplay contents and its di culty in the series. In other words, it’s a crossover
considered using a mechanic should relate to its place in the larger level, but it event and development kit rolled together.
from Celeste for Specter should still offer some uni ue idea or challenge Given the character of the game, it’s not
Knight’s campaign, Specter that doesn’t feel derivative. A lot of the times, surprising that Thorson, Håkansson, and
of Torment. Intrigued by how we see these rooms as an opportunity to test a Månsson have all created and shared levels
strawberries in Celeste were different flavour of challenge – if the preceding for it. he larger Super Mario Maker 2 community
not collected until the player rooms use a gameplay object or enemy in isn’t, however, made up of professional
safely makes it back to a
platforming-heavy setups, then the secret room developers, but players who enjoy working
platform, they tested doing the
might do something more pu le-focused or within Nintendo’s sandbox. Following the
same for Specter Knight’s red
combat-focused. example of platform designs new and old, they
skulls. However, they “didn’t
like the ambiguity it introduces also have ways of thinking about bonus rooms.
by not explicitly showing when BONUS ROOMS CaptainMatilder, a course maker from
your red skull or strawberry will Of course, Thorson, Håkansson, Månsson, Australia, concurs with some of Månsson and
actually collect”. and the folks at acht Club are professional kansson’s design philosophies. Both perceive

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 Interface
Off the beaten track

If Madeline sticks like glue


t t e tr e i t e first
panel, she will never clear
a need to balance designer expression and Instead, makers like atilder focus on single- that gap. But if she heads
ar s s e i fi a
player freedom. But where the Dig 2 team are course replayability, teasing bonus rooms that room that forces the issue to
more excited about leaving in ways for players to might seem unreachable the first time through a clear a menacing pile of
spikes (middle). After that,
break their designs and find new paths through level, but achievable the next time through. it’s quick work to apply the
same technique (right).
the game, atilder takes a different view. I think he flexibility of side spaces and objectives
there’s always a conflict between a creator and results in many differences in form, but
the players when making a course,” she says. there are some regular features to their use.
he more freedom the creator has, the more They relate to design goals of challenge and
linear the experience for the players.” exploration, encouraging players to go beyond
For Matilder, designing bonuses and secrets the obvious. But they don’t have to solely be
is about rewarding curiosity and multiple about challenging a player; side spaces are
playthroughs than it is about encouraging often supportive, helping players to deftly
flexible and potentially level-breaking play. navigate the game as a whole. They provide
By adding bonus rooms or little side areas, good opportunities for players and designers to
atilder continues, you add little pieces of stretch out and experiment.
freedom and exploration to your mostly linear Alternately, as with the strawberries in
course. Sometimes by thinking outside the box Celeste’s chase scenes or the warp pipes in
or taking a risk. Matilder’s autoscroller courses, they can
Also, I try to reward players in the end with a heighten tension. Side spaces allow 2D
cool ending section where you revisit the course platformers to do much more than simply move
in a new way. Sort of like ’Hey, I know the course a character from left to right; they show players
was kinda long and didn’t have much stuff that their curiosity will be rewarded with more
happen, but wait ti you s t n in ’” to do, find, and explore. here’s always another
strawberry to chase, long jump to make, or saw- There are many pipes in


AN ENDING
CaptainMatilder’s Vengeful
blade to dodge. Vegetables for Super Mario
Maker 2, but which one
All the people we spoke to for this piece leads to the bonus room?
consider different side areas to be important
for replayability. For professional designers,
that might involve placing escalating challenges
not only throughout the game but in epilogues
for completionists. In Celeste, players can find
cassette tape icons in game chapters that
unlock a B-side series of levels based on that
same chapter. Those levels, as well as the
even more exacting C-sides, are more highly
tuned for advanced techniques. Dig 2 similarly
incorporates a series of levels, somewhat
inspired by hardcore platformer Super Meat Boy,
for players who manage to complete every cave
and find every collectable. Shovel Knight sprinkles
its secrets throughout, tying them to each level’s
di culty arc.
In Super Mario Maker 2, on the other hand,
there’s no way to hide additional courses
behind hidden items or completion rates.

wfmag.cc \ 43
 Toolbox
Contents

Toolbox
The art, theory, and production of video games
46. Design Principles
Knives out, as Howard recalls his time at The 3DO Company

48. Narrative Design

Some valuable advice on finding the joy in game writing

50. Retro Connections

he in-depth guide to coupling old consoles with new s

56. CityCraft
he minds behind Disco lysium on their epic world-building

60. Lighting in Unity

An introductory guide to adding light and shade to your game

66. Source Code

46
What does a Swiss Army knife have to do with
Recreate the crumbly platforms of 1983’s Manic Miner  The Company oward e plains on page .

50
ondering what the best or most affordable


way of connecting an old console to yo r

modern T is Check o t o r g ide on page .

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 Toolbox
Contents

iscover the city-b ilding



secrets behind the mighty

isco lysi m on page .

56
48 Learn from the creators of Spec ps: The


Line and p t the passion back in yo r

writing. See page .

ind o t how to make cr mbling



platforms st like the ones in Manic Miner

in this month’s So rce Code. See page .

66

wfmag.cc \ 45
 Toolbox
Advice

The principles of
game design
Meetings, design docs, tiny knives: Howard recalls
his time at Trip Hawkins’ ill-fated The 3DO Company

AUTHOR
HOWARD SCOTT WARSHAW
Howard is a video game pioneer who authored several of Atari’s most famous
and infamous titles. His new book, Once Upon Atari: How I Made History by
Killing an Industry, is out now. onceuponatari.com

W
hen you stand in front of a R Sure, go up to the second floor, turn left at
mirror fre uently, you don’t the top of the stairs, head down the hallway, and
notice gradual changes turn right at the guy with the pants I was a 3D
happening. It’s only when you landmark. hat wasn’t what I set out to achieve,
Here they are: Howard catch a glimpse after not looking but in a way, it was exactly where I was headed.


Scott Warshaw’s incredible

3DO trousers (or pants). for a while that the differences jump out at you. ote for readers: for pants’, read trousers’ –
hat’s what 3D was like for me. After a decade just to avoid any startling mental images. d.
and a half away from the industry, coming back here are things we take for granted now
in was like getting back in front of the mirror for that didn’t exist at Atari. ike Design Documents.
the first time in uite a while. It was immediately he design doc for Yars’ Revenge consisted of a
apparent to me how things were dramatically few pages of graph paper with some graphics
different, for better or worse. concepts drawn out, box by box. At Atari, the idea
ne of the first things I noticed at 3D was an of a full-blown document describing every aspect
increase in female programmers, though still not of the game was as scarce as spreadsheets, which
a lot. wo of my favourites was very scarce indeed.
were uinn Dunki and “Head down the hallway Another thing that
ictoria ease. As luck shifted was how we spent
would have it, there came
and turn right at the guy our Friday afternoons.
a project in which they with the pants” Don’t get me wrong, Friday
wound up seated next to afternoons were always
each other in one bull-pen. he first time I walked special. But the Atari legacy beer bash blowouts
in there and saw them together I started laughing had been replaced by the 3D All- ands
hysterically. hey asked me what was so funny, eeting. A rather staid affair with company
and I said, othing, your majesty. announcements, a bit of rah-rah thrown in,
What do you mean, your majesty’ and a general updating on the state of current
Well it only seems appropriate when production led by 3D C , rip awkins. his
addressing uinn- ictoria. was usually followed by informal clusters of
bviously, my sense of humour was one thing casual conversation on a B B basis.
that had not changed, but my wardrobe had. At ne thing that hadn’t changed, however,
Atari, I was the guy with the whip (from doing was the presence of od Frye at a company
Raiders of the Lost Ark). At 3D , I was the guy meeting. I’m thinking of one All- ands meeting in
with the pants . I became part of the corporate particular. It’s the last company meeting before
culture or at least part of the building map. Christmas, which means 3D will give some little

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 Toolbox
Advice

One of 3DO’s early hits



was Army Men, an

RTS that ended up
spawning an entire
series of related titles.

Mirror’s Edge
When I look in the mirror and
see a noteworthy change, it
experiences and carries a tremendous load of usually raises the question:
supplies (graphics), but it re uires a huge crew Did I change, or is it the mirror?
The world around us evolves
and has tremendous inertia. nce it gets going,
at such a rapid pace, it takes a
changing direction isn’t much of an option. tremendous amount of effort to
he hardest adjustment for me was that even stay where we are. Think
gift to all the employees. his time it’s miniature modern game projects seemed to have the of how much work is required
Swiss Army knives. hey’re tiny, with just a couple responsibility diluted. When you did a game at to remain geographically fi ed
when you’re on a flowing river.
of blades, but they’re personalised: each one has Atari, it was all yours he success was all yours
Have I changed or has the ever-
the employee’s name printed on it. and the failure was all yours. In many ways it was changing world I’m in made me
So, the gifts are bestowed, and our C rip less comfortable, but I really preferred it. hat’s seem different by comparison?
awkins is talking about the gifts. e notes how not necessarily a big loss, because another thing Perhaps the only thing of which
I’m truly incapable is stasis.
special it is that we have our names on them. At that changed over time is I achieved a healthier
this point, od yells out, hey have the names perspective on work/life balance than I ever had
on them so when you find one in your back, you at Atari. ot perfect, but better.
know where to return it. he crowd roars with Again, joining 3D was like getting back in front
laughter, largely from recognising the truth of it. of the mirror, and in the interim, my reflections
his is pure od, pointing out both the humour had become more productive. f course, mirrors
and the brutality of developing video games. only reveal surface changes. here were obvious
And how about that 3D party mysti ue y things as soon as I got there, and then there were
first year, the party was held at an aeronautical deeper changes that became clear to me only
museum, to signify how we were taking off. In after spending more time in the new world. We’ll
subse uent years it was decided parties were talk about some of those next time.
frivolous wastes of time and money (read: we
have no money and you need to be working),
signifying the aeroplane was losing altitude.
Instead of parties, we received only the holiday
trinkets at the All- ands, thus leading to
od’s classic contribution. nfortunately, his
observation was truer than it was funny. Shortly
thereafter, the plane crashed.
EA founder and 3DO


3D also significantly tweaked my inner head honcho Trip

Hawkins. Not
concept of what game development means. At pictured: collection of
Atari, making a game was like piloting a small tiny Swiss Army
knives.
speedboat. ou can’t carry too much or go very
far, but you can make sharp turns on impulse The Panasonic 3DO


console’s existence
and land pretty much anywhere you want. ow, was brief, but it
game development is more like a cruise ship. It made enough of a
ripple to spawn its
delivers previously unimaginable entertainment own magazine.

wfmag.cc \ 47
 Toolbox
Advice

How to love
video game writing
Telling stories begins as a passion, but the reality of doing
it as a job can be daunting. Here’s how to keep the spark…

AUTHOR
ANTONY DE FAULT
Antony is Wireframe’s game writing and narrative design
columnist. He’s also creative director of Far Few Giants, and you can
default.games or @antony_de_fault on Twitter.

L
ast year, I had the privilege of taking something else. hat creativity comes easily,
part in a series of masterclasses because to put it simply, it’s what we want to be
given by an incredibly experienced doing. And since passion sells, and anyone who’s
and wise director of animated passionate is inherently engaging, we get good
films. here was one particular feedback from others. We may even start to feel
subject that blew my head clean off. It’s not an we have a talent, maybe good enough to get paid
understatement to say that it inverted my entire for it or go to uni to turn it into a career.
conception of writing as a profession. As soon as
they explained it, everything I’d been struggling TROUBLE IN PARADISE
with, and everything I’d been half-successfully But once writing becomes their vocation, many
already doing, clicked gently, decisively into place, writers oddly stop writing. It’s no longer fun.
like a cartridge in a Game Boy. ften, this is because either they don’t like the
Consider that we almost all begin creative story they’re being asked to write (they don’t
pursuits for the same reason: following a like the assignment or creative direction etc), or
Spec Ops: The Line is a good passion. We love games, so we try to make because the pressure on the uality of the work


example of a new team

discovering what they could them, or we love telling stories, so we tell them. ruins the enjoyment. ither way, the passion
love about a franchise they If we didn’t, we’d make more money doing isn’t there, the work’s lacklustre, opportunities
almost certainly did not.
pass them by, and they no longer enjoy writing
enough to pursue it as fervently as they thought
they would. I’ve been here. ost of us have, I
think. hose who continue often simply grit their
teeth and persist regardless. ven though they’re
not enjoying it, they’re determined to make
writing into work. hey come up with techni ues
to force themselves to write when they aren’t
feeling it, to overcome the blank page or the
crappy assignment. hey bash their head against
it. But that’s not what I’m suggesting here.
A writer’s job isn’t to write. he job is to fall in love.
Forget all that other stuff about overcoming the
barriers to writing. et’s say you’re on your dream
project. If you truly love what you’re working on, if
you’re elated just to be involved with this project,
we all know that automatically, with no struggle

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 Toolbox
Advice

or discipline on your part, you’ll bring your best

work, waste less time procrastinating, and be a
better team member. ike when you started out
on your own stories just for fun, you’ll get in the
one, loving every second of creation.

REFOCUS
Don’t waste energy by forcing yourself to write
when you don’t want to. se that energy to find
a way to fall in love with the story you’re telling,
and the rest will come. Realise when you’re not
enamoured with a project, spend a short while
solving that, then coast by on the good, hard
work that spills out. But how to fall in love
For every project, no matter how uninteresting
we might feel it is, there exists a version that we When the emotions are


genuine, subversion is
could love and fight for. If assigned to write about rewarded with acclaim. Who
gung-ho S soldiers, but you hate American for fun. Playing and exploring without pressure expected The LEGO Movie’s
villain to be… literally one of
imperialism, find a way to subvert it that’s true will often help you find an approach you love. their main customer groups?
to you. Write Spec Ops: The Line. If writing a tie-in 3. Refresh your process. Change the working
for an expensive children’s toy line, but you method, go from digital to physical, use
can’t stand the brand’s increasingly rigid and different software, work in a different
unimaginative products or their pandering to environment. Process shapes the work, so if
nostalgia-shackled adults, write The LEGO Movie. you don’t love the current stuff, switch it up.
f course, in real life you’d often just be told o , 4. Refresh yourself in leisure, too. If you usually
watch a movie to relax, watch opera. If you
“Playing without pressure normally go for a walk, go cycling. Challenge
yourself to like it. Different ideas will bubble up.
ll f e el u d 5. eep a morgue’ – for example, a random
approach you love” collection of every image that snatches your
attention and makes you go oh . r keep
but there’s always a million ways to subvert a story ideas on your phone, or a list of scenes
story into something you can love. Finding one you liked. hese should persist between
that flies with everyone else is the hard part, but projects, and when your passion runs dry, you
makes the work infinitely better for you and them. can revisit these morgues, find something you Create an
love, and insert it into the story.
TECHNIQUES
ideograph!
Sketch a symbol, shape, logo,
Sometimes, though, you won’t have the ability OUTCOMES or other graphic item which
to change or subvert the story you’re telling. Since the masterclasses last year, I’ve refocused summarises the whole project,
ither you’re already too committed, or you my (small) potential for di cult work into then keep checking in with
simply aren’t high enough up the chain. If you’re just this area: falling in love with the project. it and update it over time.
Sometimes keeping an eye on
struggling to find something to love about your And the difference has been night and day.
the big picture can stop us from
project, and can’t change the project itself, here I’m procrastinating way less. I’m getting a losing sight of what we really
are a few ways to discover what you can love lot more done, and my work ethic has been love about the project.
about what’s already there: energising others. he people I’m involved with This works on a smaller level
are responding to me differently, and looking too: cultivate motifs, things that
symbolise elements of the story
1. When you don’t know what you love about the to me more fre uently to lead the charge on in some way. Such as the buck
work, or what to do next, don’t be afraid of whatever we’re making. in Red Dead 2 representing
saying I don’t know yet to your team. hat’s So if you find yourself stuck in a rut, unable wilderness, coming back to
a good place to be, not a bad one. hen try to enjoy writing (or, really, any creative work), a motif you already have a
relationship with can really help
the below. gritting your teeth, and forcing yourself to just
you to feel attached to a scene.
2. Allow yourself to do the job badly. Do a put one word after the next, consider a refocus.
deliberately wrong version of your scene just ne last time: the job is to fall in love.

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 Toolbox
Playing retro consoles on modern TVs

Playing retro
consoles on
modern TVs
Want to connect your vintage console to your
modern TV? Here’s the only guide you need…

AUTHOR
MARC DUDDLESON
Marc Duddleson is one half of YouTube channel My Life in
Gaming. MLiG’s speciality is breaking down the tech of classic
gaming into terms they (and hopefully you!) can understand.

G
et a Raspberry Pi. Done.” It’s But for me, the core of my gaming experience
probably the most frequently still tends to revolve around the joy I feel in using
recurring comment we get across authentic cartridges and discs. But as you may
all videos on the My Life in Gaming have noticed, 2021 isn’t 2001, and using pre-HDMI
YouTube channel, which often consoles isn’t so easy these days. A standard CRT
revolve around playing classic games on original television is the most direct route to getting a
hardware. Not everyone has held onto their old solid experience with vintage consoles. But let’s
consoles through the years, so I get it. Software face it – not everyone is willing to work a CRT into
emulation, whether through a PC, Raspberry Pi, their setup. Plenty of people are content with
or any other device, is easy on your wallet and just plugging the cables that came with their old
solid enough to give most people the experience systems (usually composite) into their HD or 4K TV
Standard RCA cables


with composite video. A they’re looking for. – and that’s OK! But whether for the blurry looks
direct HDTV connection
is a poor experience.
or the input lag they feel, this simply isn’t good
enough for a lot of people.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

“There has to be a better way,” you say as you
browse Amazon’s assortment of analogue-to-
HDMI converters, HDMI adapters like Wii2HDMI,
or D I cables for specific consoles by a variety
of brands. You might think these are just what
you’re looking for, but remember: your TV has
its own internal video processor. Just like your
TV, they’re going to treat 240p like 480i. Not only
is it unnecessary to deinterlace 240p, but doing
so actively degrades the experience – motion-
adaptive deinterlacing takes time, adding input
lag. That Sega Saturn HDMI cable is going to
deinterlace your gorgeous 240p sprite-based
games so hard that they’ll look like some sort of

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Playing retro consoles on modern TVs

Cheap converters: likely not



much better than plugging

directly into your TV.

SCART (left) and


Component (right). RGB
and YPbPr are good, but
still need proper conversion.

art restoration disaster in motion. The dark secret

of these products is that you’re buying something
you already own – a basic video processor
designed for video, not video games, and the
result will likely not be tangibly better than what
your TV could do. The only reason to go this route
is if you have no analogue inputs and could not
possibly invest more than $30.
So what is the better way? The primary
purpose of an external video processor is to send
a properly handled signal to your TV that won’t
trigger its lag-inducing processes and turn your
pixels into sludge – basically any progressive
resolution other than 240p. Luckily, there are
several devices in various price ranges that are exciting alternatives have cropped up over the
designed to do exactly this. past half-decade.
We at My Life in Gaming got started in 2013 with
a device called the XRGB-mini Framemeister by LAG-FREE LINE DOUBLING
Japanese company Micomsoft (bonus points if you At present, the leading products are the
didn’t parse that as ‘Microsoft’). The Framemeister RetroTINK series, produced in California, and
brought together RGB input and HDMI output the Open Source Scan Converter (OSSC) from
with proper video game scaling techniques Finland. Let’s start with the RetroTINK lineup,
– not to mention fairly low lag – providing because the products are practical and easy to
utterly transformative results. At the time, the get into, no matter where you’re starting from.
Framemeister cost a little over $300 – yikes, right? At $80, the RetroTINK-2X MINI is my go-to
It took a lot of courage to drop that cash. Totally recommendation for someone who wants to
worth it. But today? Don’t do it. use original consoles, recognises the drawbacks
Micomsoft warned in late 2016 that they of cheaper solutions, and is willing to invest a
would not be able to continue producing minimum in raising their baseline experience.
Framemeisters for all that much longer due What you’re getting: 240p and 480i line doubled
to the Marvell Qdeo chip being discontinued. (2X) into 480p over HDMI with no added lag
By now, a Framemeister will cost you way more beyond what’s inherent in your display. The
than the $300-ish we spent in 2013, and a limitations: it only supports composite video and
successor is yet to be unveiled. It’s still a useful S-Video inputs. The device also comes with an
device if you already own one, but several S-Video cable that works with SNES, N64, and

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JARGON
CHEAT SHEET
CRT: Fat analogue displays.
Input lag: Image delay that
wouldn’t occur on CRTs.
NTSC: Analogue video
system used in North
America/Japan. 60Hz.
PAL: Analogue video system.
Common in Europe and
elsewhere. 50Hz.
Interlaced: Video divided into
alternating fields’ e.g. i.
Progressive: Each frame is
a complete image e.g. p,
p.
240p/288p: Nonstandard The Framemeister is still


nice, but there are arguably

progressive signals used by better, less expensive
most 20th-century console alternatives today.
games.
Deinterlacing: Blends
interlaced fields into a GameCube consoles (there are a ton of bad transcoder, also from RetroTINK developer Mike
progressive image. S-Video cables out there, so this is a huge plus). Chi. One caveat, however, is that the 2X Pro can’t
15kHz: p i , I especially recommend the RetroTINK-2X MINI accept 480p via its component input. For those
p i the signals if Nintendo 64 is one of your main priorities – who really need to route 480p component video
accepted by typical CRT TVs. seeing as S-Video is the best signal the console through to HDMI, there’s also the RetroTINK-
Composite: Messy natively supports, you aren’t paying for extra 2X Pro-M or ‘Multiformat’ version, but it runs
analogue video. features you don’t need. But even if you’re using, on different hardware that results in less crisp
RGB: Clean analogue video. say, an NES or PlayStation, with the RetroTINK-2X results for 240p games.
Common in Europe. MINI, you can quickly get up and running with There’s also a related series of products,
YPbPr: imilar to , but – at the very least – cleaner-looking composite RAD2X, which licenses Mike Chi’s designs for
adopted much later. Common and much less input lag than you’d have had by console-specific cables. While I’ve never had a
in North America. Aka plugging those same chance to test these
‘Component’. cables directly into your “The OSSC has been the for myself, they’re well
Line Doubler: Video HDTV. And hey, you can worth considering for
always upgrade that
heart of my gaming setup those who are interested
processor performing a fast
conversion of a lower-res PSone to an S-Video for several years now” in only one or two old
signal to a higher-res signal. cable later. consoles – especially for
lso see line tripling’, line Next up is the RetroTINK-2X SCART ($95), which those in the UK who’d like to minimise shipping
uadrupling’, etc. is for RGB signals only. When going SCART, the costs by buying a domestic product.
Upscaler: Video processor costs do add up since you really shouldn’t cheap- Then there’s Markus Hiienkari’s Open
that may scale more freely out on RGB cables – as a rule of thumb, be wary Source Scan Converter. This is sold by
within a frame buffer. of any that cost less than $25. videogameperfection.com for €110 (pretty
he current flagship Retro I product is the much the same price as the RetroTINK-2X Pro).
2X Pro, which sells for $130. This one includes The OSSC has been the heart of my gaming setup
composite, S-Video, and component (YPbPr), for several years now, and is still one of the most
but no RGB. Luckily, there are ways to use important devices in the classic gaming scene.
component with systems like SNES and Sega However, without the companion Koryuu device,
Genesis by converting their native RGB output the OSSC lacks composite and S-Video inputs, so
into YPbPr with products like HD Retrovision it’s more for us crazy sorts who are committed
component cables, or the RGB2COMP not only to using the best possible cables with

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RetroTINK-2X MINI (left)


and 2X Pro (right). The
MINI pairs great with N64.

every system, but also having the consoles that composite video as an artist’s tool itself, especially
don’t natively support RGB – such as the NES – be for how it blends colours on the Sega Genesis in Don’t let the homemade/


utilitarian looks fool you
modified for it. he SSC supports RGB, PbPr, particular. My belief is that any game artist from – the OSSC is a real
and RGBHV (such as VGA from a Dreamcast). In the early decades of gaming would be nothing but game-changer.

addition to handling inputs from 240p on up to shocked and honoured by the notion that people
1080i, it also supports much, much higher output still want to enjoy their work all these decades later
resolutions than the existing RetroTINK products – no matter how those pixels are displayed. It’s a
– going up to 1200p. You can take 480p over video game – you’re in control. Look at them the
component from an original Xbox (be sure to not way you want to.
use bargain-priced cables on Xbox, trust me),
line double that to 960p, and it looks absolutely
gorgeous. The OSSC can take 240p beyond 2X,
going to 3X (720p)… 4X (960p)… and even up to CABLE TABLE
X (in both 0 0p and 200p flavours) ou like
Yellow RCA Provides a dirty picture. Games were arguably
pixels? The OSSC will serve ‘em up as crispy as
(composite) designed with it in mind.
you like. Just keep in mind that the higher the
line multiplier, the more likely you are to run into Huge boost in clarity, but falls short of RGB.
compatibility issues with certain TVs or capture S-Video Uncommon in Europe. SCART: Could be RGB,
cards. But going by anecdotal evidence, this but could also be composite in disguise. 480p
seems to be becoming less and less of an issue and HD are possible, but support is spotty.
with newer TV models year after year. Shorthand for YPbPr, broken out into separate
Here’s the point of contention, though: is this RCA cables or ‘components’. Results similar
Component
crisp look how the games ‘should’ be viewed? Back to RGB. 480p and HD are possible, but not on
in the day, I would get out a pad of graph paper 15kHz TVs.
and coloured pencils, putting my nose up to my VGA/DE-15/HD-15 Fancy RGB. Usable with Dreamcast.
crummy RF-only CRT, and do my best to copy the
sprites from my favourite SNES games onto the A secure connector for professional CRTs and
BNC video switchers. Can carry various analogue
grid so that I could then recreate them in Mario
si a s r e ti t e t fi e ires
Paint. If only I could wipe the metaphorical Vaseline
off my screen, I knew I would see those beautiful Digital audio and video. For old game consoles,
pixels for what they really are! For others, they HDMI HDMI is only as good as the quality of the
signal conversion.
saw not pixels, but scanlines and deep texture
embedded within the backgrounds. Many view

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OH GREAT. HERE COMES 480i

Something you should be aware of regarding
HOW MUCH
nearly every lag-free solution – including the
WILL I HAVE OSSC and RetroTINK devices – is that when
TO SPEND? playing interlaced games, they use what is known
Just make it work! et a as ‘bob’ deinterlacing. While it’s not as pleasing
basic analogue-to-HDMI box to look at as motion-adaptive deinterlacing, I
$30 or an adapter feel that the result is somewhat similar to how
cable for a specific console 480i jitters on a CRT, and I don’t mind it all that
$10–$30 . much. Most people, however, seem to hate bob
I’ll do it myself! uild a deinterlacing. To be fair, bob is pretty bad for a
ontrol $30+ for parts . lot of IPS displays, which tend to be more inclined
I just need one system! Try to temporarily retain flickering patterns even after
the cable £48 . the image goes away. The RetroTINKs do have
Just lose the lag! et a good a smoothing option that softens the bob quite
Many gaming-focused video processors offer


picture with the RetroTINK-2X a bit (and if you don’t like pixels, you can even scanline options for a more vintage look.
series $80–$130 . use smoothing in 240p mode). Alternatively, you
Gimme a video upgrade! could just set these devices to pass digital 480i to
uy an €110 . ome your TV and let it handle the deinterlacing, which PlayStation, and Nintendo 64 that switch between
consoles need mods, will probably look OK, but there will be more lag. 480i and 240p resolutions. On CRTs, this works
including $180+ for the kit Luckily, there’s a fairly new and promising seamlessly, but on the Framemeister, OSSC, and
and installation ser ices . ood solution for those who often play interlaced games RetroTINKs? Not so much. A number of games
cables cost $25 minimum. (if you’re a PlayStation 2 fan, for example). An (such as Chrono Cross, Silent Hill, and Dino Crisis on
My favourite system is open-source project called GBS Control by Rama PSone) have 240p gameplay with 480i in-game
Saturn, PSone, or PS2! is both a physical mod and a custom firmware for menus. With the signal constantly dropping in and
andle i more smoothly some widely available, $20-ish scaler units with out, it can get your character killed while you wait.
ith the - $122 .
VGA output called the GBS8200. A stock GBS8200 It’s worth noting that your typical generic scaler
I want real HDMI output! would have many of the same flaws as other from Amazon (or even your own TV) might also
igital costs $160 for the
generic upscalers, but it’s long been an underdog go between 240p and 480i without dropping the
kit and Voultar’s installation
upscaling favourite for original hardware fans on a signal, but the difference is that those handle
service is $125.
tight budget. GBS Control turns the GBS8200 from 240p poorly, while the GBS Control handles both
I need the best for a scrappy lightweight into 240p and 480i nicely
everything! Wait for
the ultimate affordable and seamlessly.
etro - or ro. “Leading the charge on
video scaler for do-it- For those interested
mod , , and ngine
yourselfers. The end the HDMI modding front in the functionality of
uo. lightly impro e
and enesis ith bypass result is proper handling is the new Pixel FX” the GBS Control, but
mods. Buy coax-shielded of 240p, motion-adaptive not so much the idea
cables, component deinterlacing for 480i, and a variety of output of constructing it and flashing the firmware,
cables, and the best s itchers. options over VGA – all with quite low latency. a product called the GBS-C AIO (all-in-one) is
Cost: it never ends, send help! The craziest thing about the GBS Control? It’s presented as a ready-to-go version of GBS
the only gaming-focused scaler we’ve tested to Control with some extra features, including a
date that handles resolution switching instantly. pretty solid analogue-to-HDMI converter.
There are a number of games for Sega Saturn, So are we in the video processor endgame?
Not yet. Markus Hiienkari is working on the OSSC
Pro, and ike Chi is nearly finished designing the
RetroTINK-5X, both of which I can safely predict
will totally change my life (in gaming, at least).
Since they’re still in development, we can’t be sure
of everything they will offer, but more complete
 Left to right: CRT sets of inputs and seamless resolution switching
(composite), 4K TV
(composite), RetroTINK do appear to be on the table. However, they’re
MINI (composite), also sure to be much more expensive than the
RetroTINK MINI
(included S-Video). OSSC v1.6 and the RetroTINK-2X series – likely

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PS1Digital on


a 4K OLED TV.

twice as expensive, at least. As such, these should

not be thought of as replacing those if the existing
models already suit your needs and budget.

MOD MANIA
Does all of this just sound like too many wires
Mega Man 5 on a real

and boxes for you? Well, what if you bypassed RGB-modded NES via
this whole analogue video situation and modified the OSSC on a 4K OLED.
your favourite vintage consoles for HDMI?
I’m not talking about one-off projects where
someone jammed a generic analogue-to-HDMI of my all-time favourite mods). All these mods
box inside a console. These mods are painstakingly pull digital information from an internal source
developed products, packed with smart before the video and audio are converted for the
technology like FPGAs and WiFi chips (for firmware console’s stock analogue output, so they truly
updates) integrated onto carefully designed PCBs provide digital graphics and sound.
for optimal installation. Leading the charge on the Two systems you might not want to hold your
HDMI modding front is the newly minted Pixel breath for: Sega Mega Drive and Sega Saturn.
FX, a company formed by veteran mod design We’ve been told that the way these systems
duo Dan Kunz and Christof Harnischmacher, work, tapping into the digital video processing
alongside Stephen Williams. Between the three of chain isn’t terribly realistic, short of designing
them, they have previously produced the GCDual something like an FPGA VDP replacement – in
The community pushes for


and WiiDual (GameCube and Wii mods that use which case, the system wouldn’t exactly fit the ‘no-cut mods’ wherever
possible. PS1Digital
open-source firmware by Ingo orb), DCDigital definition of original hardware’ anymore. occupies the Serial I/O port.
(Dreamcast), PS1Digital (original PlayStation), and Many people in the classic gaming scene
the GBA Consolizer (Game Boy Advance), all of worry about their chosen device becoming
which add HDMI output to their respective original ‘obsolete’ should an updated version come about
consoles, along with advanced features and scaling later – and get angry about it when it does. But
algorithms tuned to each console’s peculiarities just as the SNES didn’t suddenly become bad
– without adding input lag. The team already has when newer consoles released, any of the well-
mods in the works for Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, designed cables, video processors, and mods that
Xbox, and even Nintendo DS. are good today will continue to be worth using
While Pixel FX is the most prolific D I mod well into the future. That’s what classic gaming
maker, there are a few other designs out there, is all about: celebrating what we already have.
including the Hi-Def NES by Kevin Horton and Because a good game is worth experiencing no
the UltraHDMI for N64 by Marshall Hecht (one matter when – or how – you choose to play it.

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Advice

Disco Elysium:
designing the city of Revachol
A behind-the-scenes look at Revachol, the city at the
heart of one of the most innovative RPGs ever

AUTHOR
KONSTANTINOS DIMOPOULOS
Konstantinos Dimopoulos is a game urbanist and designer combining a PhD in
urban planning with video games. He is the author of the Virtual Cities atlas, designs
game cities, and consults on their creation. game-cities.com

D
isco Elysium is a unique narrative bigger out there; the hustle and bustle of human
experience, and a rare game that life that has continued for thousands of years.
FINAL CUT tries to depict all the layers and And then the question: what am I doing here?
Disco Elysium has evolved
textures of a real city. With Disco Every citizen of Revachol is wrestling with that
since its launch, and its
Elysium: The Final Cut out now, I in one way or another. We truly tried to write
definiti e Final Cut version
caught up with lead writer Helen Hindpere and every character as if they’re the real protagonists.
was released for Windows,
Mac, and PlayStation in March artist aspar amsalu to find out what went into Examine their loneliness, their longing.”
2021. It features full voice- designing the city of Revachol. Regarding the choice of setting, the district
over, new characters and “There’s a murder quest in the Bridge District of of Martinaise is, according to Hindpere, not
cutscenes, UI improvements, Baldur’s Gate [II] that first showed us the potential “representative of the rest of the city or the
and ‘political visions’ quests. of an urban detective RPG,” says Hindpere of world”, but rather, “works as a microcosm”.
“All four quests – for moralism, one of Disco Elysium’s early creative touchstones. his poverty-stricken, forgotten area in Revachol’s
communism, ultra-liberalism, From it, she adds, came the desire to further far west wasn’t the writers’ favourite – “We were
and traditionalism – play out
explore the idea of chasing a suspect through a more fond of using other districts, like culturally
so differently from each other
living city: “Every street corner, every apartment diverse Jamrock,” says Hindpere – but Martinaise
that it’s worth chasing them all
block hides a new clue, a revelation. A character is where an attempted revolution failed, and the
down; but you can only get one
in a single playthrough,” says to talk to or an object to examine”. area bears its scars. “You can still see artillery
Helen Hindpere. The Final Cut Hindpere says that city locations are what damage and bullet-holes in the walls, indpere
is free for existing owners of makes her want to crawl inside an RPG’s world. continues. “There’s this feeling of being stuck in
Disco Elysium on PC. “Cities are inherently existential, melancholic the past ou have to dig uite a bit to find the
places,” she says. “There’s this sense of something soft core of its people, to get under their skin.”

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The wider world of Elysium, meanwhile, spans

over 50 states and 8000 years of history. And
although the setting has been fleshed out with
places such as the Scandinavian-inspired social Harrier Du Bois


rocking above the
democracy of Vaasa, the team still needed to Jam in Martinaise.
keep the game’s central location to a reasonable about the crack. he guy in the uniform tells
size – which is where Martinaise came in. you about artillery damage – it turns out there’s
Besides, giant open worlds often end up barren been a war. Now, that type of storytelling
and repetitive, explains Hindpere. “Players are isn’t anything new, but our twist has been to
so used to hearing words like ‘massive’ that add talking skills to the mix. This makes each
saying anything else about your game sounds such interaction deeply personal: it brings up
underwhelming,” she says. “How do you describe memories, stirs up opinions. You’re not passively
a world that’s vertically built content-wise, the taking in the lore; you’re building up your
way city blocks usually are, with characters character with his own internal understanding of
thrown closely together? One reviewer called the complexities of the world.”
Disco Elysium an ‘intricate’ open world – what a
beautiful term for what we set out to achieve.” MAKING THE GAME
When it came to storytelling, Hindpere and Revachol was first conceived in 200 , and,
her team realised that players become more Hindpere reveals, its name is a misspelling of
engaged in lore when it’s French anarchist François
Long-hauler designs by
personal or helps solve “Every street corner, every Claudius Koenigstein’s


artist Jüri Saks.

a mystery. Tempting as nom de guerre Ravachol,
it is to “throw parts of
apartment block hides a lifted from the lyrics of
the world-building out new clue, a revelation” Estonian punk band
there, without much Vennaskond’s lyrics
curation or editing , hoping players will figure it in the song Welcome to America: “Welcome to
out, developer ZA/UM tried to use more natural Saint Petersburg, Emile Henry and Ravachol!”.
storytelling to open up the world. “When you here, next to Saint Petersburg, Revachol
first step out of the hostel, there’s a crack in the sounded like the name of a city that could be the
pavement – it’s important for you to understand capital of another world. A place where (for some
why the earth is cracked,” says Hindpere. improbable, magical reason) Paris and Tallinn
aybe there’s a sea-monster on the loose meet. A place with a very specific feeling that
If you follow the crack, you’re led to a crater lingers on long after you’ve left.”
where you meet two old men playing pétanque. Tamsalu points out that “when you play the
ne of the fellows is wearing a uniform. ou can game, you’ll quickly realise that while everything
ask them about the crater; you can ask them looks familiar at first glance, lysium is actually

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VOICES AND
LANGUAGES
”Another Herculean task
we’ve taken on our shoulders
is voicing the one million
words of dialogue,” says
Hindpere. “For that, we’ve
gotten the entire studio
involved – we have three VO
directors leading the show
and all other departments
assisting them in any way
possible. The outcome feels
lush and colourful.” Equally
demanding were the many new Concept painting for the


fishing village in Martinaise.

translations the studio have
added, though Hindpere adds
that there’s “this cool little
feature for those interested a world unlike any other . ven passing details “The architecture in Martinaise mirrors its
in language learning: you can like vehicles were given special consideration, turbulent history, and we wanted to use our
select the languages you’re Tamsalu adds. “Artist Jüri Saks sketched the references to bring it out,” says Hindpere.
interested in and then switch uni ue designs for motor carriages and long-haul For urban planning, we looked into Caribbean
between them at any time in motor lorries – there are no [traditional] cars in colonial architecture, particularly in Cuba and Haiti.
the middle of a dialogue with a Elysium,” he says. There Paris was an inspiration
single key press”.
are entire art histories “The technical side of video for the pre-revolutionary
and technologies dating revival project of
back millennia, as well as
game art-making was Martinaise – the plazas
narrative, thematic, and uncharted territory” and townhouses that have
gameplay needs that had now fallen into disarray.”
to be depicted by environment artists. Designing Then, she adds, “there’s the utter libertarian
the city and its surrounding areas was, Tamsalu chaos of 0s astern urope thrown into the
explains, “anything but a straightforward process”, mix”, with its disregard for urban planning. “It’s
A tiny old church on as locations went through total redesigns due these unorganised shanty town aesthetics that


the coast of Martinaise. to rewrites, while others received innumerable define artinaise – a chaotic mix that looks
All the art presented
here, unless otherwise tweaks “until they felt right”. hideous in real life, but great in isometric 3D.
specified, was created
by Aleksander Rostov.
A place where the ruins of a commercial complex
become modern dungeons, and an old wooden
church becomes an entire questline… it’s a mix of
two 0s: the 0s and the 0s .
To manage the characters populating this
unique place, ZA/UM used an inclusion matrix to
ensure the balance of kids, old people, men, and
women was just right. Says Hindpere: ”Revachol
is a world capital with people from many different
cultural backgrounds. We wanted to use these
differences to show more of the world – there’s
a merchant from another archipelago to tell you
about Revachol’s colonialist past.”

A DISCO SOUL
Hindpere points out that music is the soul of any
place. Walk around London, and “it’s mostly grime
or garage you hear from the cars passing by.

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The complex, deeply


evocative Revachol skyline.

In Athens, it’s Greek folk music entertaining information , she adds. ou’re not a role-player
tourists in restaurants – and noughties indie anymore, you’re a vacuum cleaner. Guns, crafting
rock coming from the balconies above”. As for parts, trash; every piece of paper, every stupid
the soul of Martinaise, it’s best captured in the USB stick – as a player, you’re compelled to pick
melancholic soundscapes of British Sea Power. them up.”
“Their music works wonders with literature,” adds Disco Elysium combines imaginative world-
Hindpere. “It has the power to express something building and an emotion that ZA/UM describes
that manages to elude the narration itself – as “Elytical”. But what is this emotion? It’s despair
something ghastly, emotional, yet hopeful.” and hope walking hand in hand, Hindpere tells
Regarding the game’s painterly visuals, Tamsalu us. “It’s the shadow of utter annihilation waiting in
reveals that “ZA/UM’s two principal concept the wings – next to the unshakeable belief in the
artists come from a fine art background For greatness of [human]kind,” she explains. REVACHOL
us [artists], the technical side of video game “That’s what we’re trying to chase down every
REVOLUTION
art-making was completely uncharted territory, time we consider whether an event or a name
In Revachol, as in our world
and experimenting in these circumstances [was] or an object belongs to Elysium. It’s not just
and throughout the history
endlessly inspirational and invigorating. While the characters that are emanating this feeling – it’s
of civilisation, revolution is
majority of video game art riffs off other video the entire world.” still a hope, according to
game art, we took what we knew best and ran Hindpere. “But there is another
wild with it”. hope hiding in the depths
And then there’s the detective genre itself, of Elysium: death and total
which helps audiences take in the granularity of annihilation. What makes this
Revachol. “It invites the player to go over every world sparkle ever so slightly
nook and cranny with the utmost care,” Hindpere like snow in the dark is the
subtle presence of apocalypse,
notes. “Every character, every object becomes
the lifting of the veil. I guess
part of a larger system.”
in that sense it is a thoroughly
It’s not only the murder case you’re
Christian world – it is either
investigating, either: you’re learning more redemption or the end of the
about the world itself, or even what killed your world. If all else fails, perhaps
character’s soul. It’s an approach that stands making peace with your own
in stark contrast to more loot-obsessed RPGs, mortality is not such a bad
Hindpere says. “One of my pet peeves in modern Early on in development, the team considered building thing after all.”


the city using prefab modules like these, but eventually

open-world games is how they handle loot and dropped that idea.

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Create lighting and atmospheric effects in Unity

Create lighting
and atmospheric
effects in Unity
Lighting and effects generate atmosphere and highlight
points of interest to the player. Here’s how to get started

AUTHOR
RYAN SHAH
An avid developer at The Multiplayer Guys with a strong
passion for education, Ryan Shah moonlights as KITATUS – an
education content creator for all things game development.

L
ighting is one of the most powerful to break things down. A good example of this
tools in a creator’s toolkit. From is sunlight. Does your scene have any outdoor
illuminating important goals elements, such as open spaces or windows to
to adding spooky atmosphere the outside world? If so, you’re going to need a
– the importance of light and sun. Does the sun move (is there a change to
understanding light cannot be overstated. time of day during playtime)? If so, we’ll need
To use the lighting tools within Unity, we must to dynamically change the light properties at
first know our limitations. here are two main runtime, and thus rely on dynamic lighting. Even
types of lighting to consider: baked and dynamic. if the sun doesn’t move, if you have moving
Baked lights are ones that are pre-calculated by objects in your scene that need to cast shadows,
Unity, whereas dynamic lights are calculated at dynamic lights are still re uired.
runtime. he benefits here are that baked lights You don’t have to use just one type of light in
are essentially ‘free’ in terms of performance your scene, however. It’s possible to mix static
within your game, and also offer high- uality and dynamic lights together to get the best of
shadows for static objects. With dynamic lights, both worlds in terms of their functionality. Here,
you gain the advantage of having shadows for we’ll use a number of different lights and lighting
moving objects, as well as total control of adding, profiles to add atmosphere to our scene.
removing, or altering lights at runtime.
The drawbacks of one type of lighting are LIGHT IT UP
complemented by the other. For example, a To get started, let’s look at Environment Lighting.
drawback of baked lighting is that your game First, head into the Lighting menu by going to
re uires more memory to read the lighting Window > Rendering > Lighting Settings (see
data. As dynamic lighting doesn’t pre-compute Figure 1). Inside the Lighting menu, there are
this data and creates it on the fly, this is more several features we can use to fully exploit
his article first appeared lightweight in terms of memory re uirements Unity’s lighting features to our advantage.
in uild our n irst- the trade-off is that dynamic lights are more he first one we’re going to look at is the
erson hooter in nity, performance-intensive. Environmental Lighting feature. This is useful for
a ailable no . ind out Figuring out what lighting to use in your project lighting that has no origin within the scene but
more at wfmag.cc/fps may seem like a daunting task at first, but the still needs to exist. You may be thinking that this
process becomes much easier when you start doesn’t make sense – after all, if you’re creating

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Create lighting and atmospheric effects in Unity

Figure 2: You can customise the environment



lighting in numerous ways. You aren't restricted to

using a simple colour – you can also import
c bemaps and skybo es to add realistic re ections.

a realistic game, you want your lights to come give us an effect akin to The Matrix, but will also
from natural locations. But there are important brighten our shadows a little to make sure our
benefits to using environmental lighting, even in scene isn’t too dark. To do this, head back to
realistic scenes. Environment Lighting and change the source to
In most movies, lighting emanates from Color for Ambient Color, click the colour (to open
sources outside the scene captured by the up the property window) and add these values:
camera. In many behind-the-scenes videos, you R: 0, G: 185, B: 22 (alternatively, you can set the
may notice additional lights and fixtures behind hexadecimal value to 00B916). If you take a look Figure 1: The Lighting


Settings window allows us
or around the camera. Environmental lighting at your scene now, you’ll notice everything is to make a number of
is usually to either diffuse the existing lighting coated in a bright shade of green – even our dark changes to the lighting in
our scene to help us achieve
within the scene – to brighten up dark corners – shadows have a green tint to them. the effect we’re looking for.
or to highlight an object There are still
or character in “In most movies, lighting plenty of steps we can
the foreground. take to improve the
emanates from sources
We can do this in atmosphere of our level.
Unity with Environment outside the scene As our scene takes place
Lighting. We have three captured by the camera” outdoors, we’re going
main options in this to need some sunlight.
section: Source (which defines where the light’s In most cases, especially in modern games,
coming from), Intensity Multiplier (how strong sunlight is displayed using a Directional Light.
the light is), and Ambient Mode (if you have In Unity, there are four key lighting types: Point,
global illumination turned on for your scene, this Spot, Directional, and Area. 'Point' lights are
would control how this light should be treated). placed in the scene and emit light in a spherical
As you may have guessed, in the Source fashion. 'Spot' lights act like real-life spotlights
section, Skybox means the light will come from – they radiate a cone of light from the point of
the sky. Gradient deals with our scene in three origin. 'Directional' lights have no clear point of
chunks: the sky, the distant horizon, and the origin, but act as if the light is omnipresent (like
ground. With the gradient, you can set specific a sun) and blanket the whole scene with lighting
colours for each of these three areas and based on the rotation of the directional light.
Unity will blend these colours together based Finally, 'Area' lights are a baked-only light that
on location, to coat your scene in a naturally emit rays uniformly within a rectangle.
blended light. The colour option blankets the
There are the three options

whole scene with a colour of your choosing, for Environment Lighting,
which is great for diffusing your scene. where you can change the
source of the lighting, the
As a cool example, let’s coat our scene in a intensity of the light, and
how the light is treated.
luminous green (see Figure 2). This will not only

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 Toolbox
Create lighting and atmospheric effects in Unity

Figure 3: The rotation of



a directional light will

change the time of day
of the default skybox in he best way to understand these different a warm, dawn sunlight by setting our rotation
your scene.
lighting types is to use them in practice, so (via the Inspector) to X: 0, Y: 0, Z: 0.
let’s get started by creating a sun. Take a look We now have a spring morning breaking out
in your scene Hierarchy (usually on the left- across our scene. As we’ve already covered,
hand side of the main editor view). If you see a this light is a dynamic light (that doesn’t use
Directional Light in there, delete it by selecting pre-baked lightmaps) because it has to calculate
it and pressing the shadows for objects
DELETE key on your “The best way to understand that move. You can
keyboard. Now our see what lighting
these different lighting types
scene is lit solely by mode the light is set
the ambient lighting is to use them in practice” to by clicking the
we set up earlier. To light and, within the
make a new directional light, right-click inside Inspector, going to the Mode area, where you
your ierarchy within the menu that pops up, will see Realtime for our directional light.
select Lights > Directional Light. Before we dive deeper into the lighting system,
Wherever directional lights are placed, let’s look at a couple of effects we can add to our
they’ll blanket the whole scene in light. What scene to further flesh out the atmosphere.
does matter with directional lights, however, is
rotation. If you select the Directional Light and POST-PROCESS
press E to edit rotation mode, grabbing the To really add atmosphere to our scene, let’s
X-axis (the red spherical line) will let you spin the use the Post-Process feature. A post-process
light. You should immediately notice that the adds effects to the rendered image just before
The four lighting
time of day for the skybox changes when you do it’s displayed to the end-user. It’s useful


options can be accessed this. This is because this light is simulating your adding atmosphere and style to your scenes.
via right-clicking in the
Project tab, or by using in-game sun. An X rotation of 0 is dawn, where If you haven’t brought in the post-process
the drop-downs at the the light bleeds over the horizon, an X rotation tool yet, you need to add it via the package
top of the Unity Editor.
of 90 is midday, and an X rotation of 180 is dusk manager. To do this, you can go to Window >
(see Figure 3). Unity does this because using a Package Manager. Once it’s loaded, select Post
directional light as sunlight or moonlight is about Processing on the left-hand side, and press the
as helpful as this type of light can be. Let’s create Install button on the top right of the window to
install it into the project.
To start using the post-process, we need to do
two things. First, we need to add a Post-Process
Layer to our camera. This tells the engine, “Hey,
this camera gets affected by the post-process
settings we’re going to make.” In order to do this,
select the camera within your scene, head over
to the Inspector, and select Add Component.
 You can select the colour
of your directional light, Now select Rendering > Post-Process Layer.
and the kinds of
shadows it creates, in
There are a few options in the Rendering
the Settings menu. submenu, so ensure you select the correct

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Create lighting and atmospheric effects in Unity

going to focus on the last piece of the puzzle:

the Post-Process Profile. his is where the magic
happens – this is the asset we can use to adjust
the post-process settings we want to implement
in our scene. o create a Post-Process Profile,
either head to the content browser and create
The Post-Processing Volume allows
it there, or you can press the handy New button


yo to define specific areas and

select effects that apply to them. next to the Profile heading in the Post-Process
Volume. Go ahead and create one now.
From here, open the newly created profile
option. To ensure this camera captures our by either double-clicking the asset or double-
post-process work, within the newly created clicking the now filled-in variable in the Post-
Post-Process Layer section in our Camera, go to Process Profile. Within the Inspector, we can
Layer and select Everything. This means that the now add and alter effects for our post-process The Lighting tab has a


camera will react to every post-process volume profile. Getting a post-process to look exactly plethora of options to
choose from.
in the scene – as opposed to the default value how you want will be a subjective experiment,
of none, which means none of the post-process turning on and tweaking effects as you see fit to
volumes can affect the camera. get the exact atmosphere that you’re looking for.
The second step to deal with is the post- Below is a list of the effects you can
process volume itself. These are trigger boxes implement with this post-process profile system: DOUBLE
placed within your scene that can either affect INSTALL?
the area covered inside them or the whole Ambient Occlusion: Darkens calculated
f you’re ha ing trouble
scene. We will look at how to set this up in just ambient shadows between objects and surfaces. acti ating post-processing
a moment. Before we do, we must first spawn features if you find options
a Post-Process Volume in our scene. To do this, Auto Exposure: Mimics the human eye’s are missing, for e ample you
head over to the Hierarchy and create a new reaction to light. It simulates those few seconds might ha e a double install .
component. Select 3D Object > Post-Process where, if you’re in a dark room and then head his is here you ha e t o
Volume to spawn the system we need. outside on a sunny day, your eyes take a few instances of PostProcessing
We now have a working post-process system seconds to adjust. in your pro ect. he ac age
anager is the intended ay
in our scene, but there are still a couple of things
of using the system, so ta e a
we need to do before we can tune the settings. Bloom: Makes the light around a bright object
loo in your content bro ser
Click the Post-Process Volume and, over in the leak out a little, creating the illusion of a really
and delete any folders mar ed
Inspector, tick the Is Global checkbox so it’s true. bright light source – a common artefact with PostProcessing that isn’t a
This tells Unity that instead of turning the post- real-life cameras. You can also add dirt masks to Packages subfolder .
process on if the camera is inside this trigger emulate a dusty lens.
volume, it should apply it to the whole scene. If
you’re wondering when would be the right time
to have Is Global set to false, if you had multiple
post-process effects in your scene, if Is Global
was set to true then they would conflict and
cause unintended results. Basically, if you have
more than one post-process, turn Is Global off
and scale the trigger volumes accordingly to
cover the area you want said post-process to
appear in. If you only have a single post-process
that you want to cover the whole scene, set Is
Global to true.
There are a few other settings both within
the Post-Process Volume and the Post-Process
Layer we’ve created. Many of them are designed
The Package Manager is


to be tweaked by hand to get the exact specific filled with tilities and
packages you can use to
aesthetic you’re trying to achieve. For the improve the look and feel
purposes of what we’re doing here, we’re simply of your project.

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 Toolbox
Create lighting and atmospheric effects in Unity

Chromatic Aberration: Emulates the Diffusion: 4

multicoloured halo effect sometimes seen on • Chromatic Aberration:
real camera lenses. Intensity: 1
• Color Grading:
Color Grading: Uses a look-up table to adjust Mode: ACES
the palette and tone of colours in a scene. Temperature: 9
Saturation: 1.2
Depth of Field: Replicates the focal point of a Contrast: 1
camera lens. You can change what objects are Channel Mixer:
blurred out and what’s in focus, just like a real Red: 40
camera lens. Green: 110
• Depth of Field:
Grain: A film grain effect that can be used Focus Distance: 15
to mask jagged lines or to provide a classic Aperture: 3
cinematic feel. Focal Length: 70
With Post-Process Volume
• Grain:


Profiles, keep performance

in mind, as some of the Lens Distortion: Changes the shape of Colored: False
effects can bring a large
performance cost. the virtual camera lens to provide a distorted Intensity: 0.15
effect, commonly seen in skateboarding videos • Motion Blur:
of the nineties. Shutter Angle: 310
Sample Count: 20
Motion Blur: Enhances the look of a • Vignette:
fast-moving object. A popular techni ue Intensity: 0.425
in modern video games. Smoothness: 0.2

Screen Space Reflections: Alters the One important thing to note with post-process
appearance of objects that appear in reflective effects is that they’re not all created e ual in
materials, such as a puddle or a mirror. This terms of performance. Some effects come
effect saves having to render geometry twice with a large performance cost, and it’s down
by using the depth buffer to calculate how the to you to decide if the effects are worth the
reflection should look. performance trade-off, or if you want to disable
(or in some cases enable) specific effects on
Vignette: Darkens the edges of the image specific devices.
to emulate a real camera. his effect is used Before we go back to talking about lights,
a lot in horror games because it adds to the let’s look at one last effect we can use to add
spooky atmosphere. atmosphere and further stylise our project.
Head back into the Lighting window. If you’ve
I have included an example below of a post- closed it, you can find it again in Window
Spot light settings give
process file you can use, but feel free to tweak Rendering > Lighting Settings. If you scroll


you plenty of control over

things like angle, range, the settings within this profile until you come through the list, you’ll find Fog. Fog has been a
colour, and intensity.
up with a visual style and aesthetic that suits staple of video games for many years as an easy
your project: way to build atmosphere, as well as hide any
imperfections in your game’s world. Select the
• Ambient Occlusion: checkbox next to Fog to turn the feature on and
Mode: Scalable Ambient Obscurance play with the settings until you find a look that
Intensity: 4 suits you. For my project, my settings are:
Radius: 1
Quality: Medium • Fog:
• Bloom: Fog: True
Intensity: 2.5 Color: (Hexadecimal) D2C1C1
Threshold: 0.85 Mode: Linear
Soft Knee: 0.5 Start: 0
Clamp: 31250 End: 150

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 Toolbox
Add lighting and atmospheric visual effects

There you have it: the scene is lit


with a pleasing shade of green.

here are many different tweaks and changes The last light I wanted to touch on is the point
you make in both the Post-Process settings and light. These are ideal for areas in your scene that PREVIEWING
the Lighting settings, so I highly recommend re uire a realistic-looking light bulb, or an area of
ou can instantly see the results
going through and making tweaks to values until your scene that re uires a particular light or hue of your post-processing effects
you find a style you are happy with. that you’re not getting from your direction light, by heading o er to the ame
Now that we’ve covered post-processing, such as an exaggerated glow from a neon sign. ie port. he cene ie port
let’s add a few more lights to gain a deeper You can create a point light in almost the doesn t include post-process
understanding of the options available to us. same way as we’ve created the other lights within effects, due to performance and
the scene. Within your Hierarchy, right-click and usability ris s.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT select Lighting > Point Light. For our example,
There are two important light types we touched we’ll pretend there’s a street light at the corner of
on earlier, but are worth exploring in more our scene that has an evil, red tint. I’ve placed my
detail: point lights and spot lights. point light at the position: X: 0.5, Y: 2.5, Z: -5.
Let’s start by making a spot light. You can Earlier, we saw how point lights emit light
do this by right-clicking in the Hierarchy and evenly from the centre of a sphere, so rotation
selecting Light > Spotlight. Earlier, we looked isn’t necessary in most cases. Here are the
at how we can emulate a real-world spotlight settings I’m using for my red light (if you’d like to
here, we’ll use a spot light to create a torch. emulate them, or create your own style make
Find the camera in your Hierarchy and drag sure the point light is selected and head into the
the spot light on top of the camera. You’ll notice Light section of the Inspector):
that your spot light now becomes a child of this The Lighting Settings

window contains many
camera. We changed the parent of our spot • Light: helpful settings to
light, but it has stayed in the same location it Range: 15 further tweak the visual
style of your scene,
was in before the merge. o fix this, select the Color: (Hexadecimal) FF0000 from fog settings to
camera and head into the Inspector. Set the Mode: Baked – This light isn’t used to global illumination.

location and rotation to: X: 0, Y: 0, and Z: 0. This shadow dynamic items within this scene
will move the spot light to the camera, creating it is simply used to further colourise our
the illusion that the torch is being held by the in-game world so we can go for the more
player character. performant Baked option.
Below, I’ve provided settings to create a Intensity: 15
realistic-looking flashlight. Again, feel free to When viewed in the game,


tweak these values as you see fit. As we have a number of lights in our scene – our point lights give off a
sickly orange glow, and
and process effects that also affect the visuals generate the kinds of
• Light: – it might be hard to see this light while playing shadows you'd expect
from a sinister castle.
Range: 10 – How far into the distance your game. To combat this, you’ll have to tweak
does the light affect. your various lights and post-process settings
Spot Angle: 45 – This is how big the cone until you get the style you’re looking for – it’s a
of the light should be. case of balancing your project’s systems until
Mode: Realtime – As this is supposed to they look right.
act as a flashlight, we will need real-time We’ve just taken our first steps into the lighting
shadows due to the many moving objects and effect systems within nity, but this is just
within our scene. the tip of the iceberg. If you're interested in taking
Intensity: 10 – Intensity deals with how these systems a step further, I strongly suggest
bright the light source is. looking into global illumination and how to alter
Indirect Multiplier: 5 – Deals with how lights via code – for example, you could create a
much light bleed you get from this light. spooky, flickering light in a lonely hallway.

wfmag.cc \ 65
 Toolbox
Source Code

Manic Miner’s


cover art was
wonderf lly lo-fi.

Our homage to the



classic
Source Code Manic Miner.

Remake Manic Miner’s

AUTHOR
collapsing platforms
MARK VANSTONE Traverse a crumbly cavern in our homage to a Spectrum classic

O
ne of the most iconic games Both Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy featured Instead of checking to see if Willy has
on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum unstable platforms which crumbled in Willy’s collided with the whole platform, we only
featured a little man called wake, and it’s these we’re going to try to check to see if his feet are in contact with
Miner Willy, who spent his recreate this month. the top. This means he can jump up through
days walking and jumping In this Pygame Zero example, we need the platforms but will then land on the top
from platform to platform collecting the three frames of animation for each of the and stop. We set a variable to indicate that
items needed to unlock the door on each two directions of movement. As we press Willy’s standing on the ground so that when
screen. Manic Miner’s underground world the arrow keys we can move the Actor left the SPACE bar is pressed, we know if he can
featured caverns, processing plants, killer and right, and in this case, we’ll decide which jump or not. While we’re checking if Willy’s
telephones, and even a forest featuring little frame to display based on a count variable, on a platform, we also check to see if it’s a
critters that looked suspiciously like Ewoks. which is incremented each time our update() collapsible one, and if so, we start a timer
Written by programmer Matthew Smith function runs. We can create platforms from so that the platform moves downwards
and released by Bug-Byte in 1983, the game a two-dimensional data list representing and eventually disappears. Once it’s gone,
became one of the most successful titles positions on the screen with 0 meaning a Willy will fall through. The reason we have
on the Spectrum. Smith was only 16 when blank space, 1 being a solid platform, and 2 a a delayed timer rather than just starting
he wrote Manic Miner and even constructed collapsible platform. To set these up, we run the platform heading straight down is so
his own hardware to speed up the through the list and make Actor objects for that Willy can run across many tiles before
development process, assembling the code each platform segment. they collapse, but his way back will quickly
on a TRS-80 and then downloading it to the For our draw() function, we can blit a disappear. The disappearing platforms
Spectrum with his own hand-built interface. background graphic, then Miner Willy, are achieved by changing the image of the
he success of Manic Miner was then closely and then our platform blocks. During our platform block as it moves downward.
followed by Jet Set Willy, featuring the same update() function, apart from checking key As we’ve seen, there were several other
character, and although they were originally presses, we also need to do some gravity elements to each Manic Miner screen, such
written for the Spectrum, the games very calculations. This will mean that if Willy isn’t as roaming bears that definitely weren’t
soon made it onto just about every home standing on a platform or jumping, he’ll start from Star Wars, and those dastardly killer
computer of the time. to fall towards the bottom of the screen. telephones. We’ll leave you to add those…

66 / wfmag.cc
 Toolbox
Source Code

Download
the code
Crumbly platforms in Python from GitHub:
wfmag.cc/
Here’s Mark’s code for a Manic Miner screen, complete with collapsing platforms. To get it working on wfmag49
your system, you’ll need to install Pygame Zero – full instructions are available at wfmag.cc/pgzero.

# Manic Miner
def moveWilly(x,y):
HEIGHT = 400 if willy.x+x < 730 and willy.x+x > 70:
willy = Actor(‘willyr0’,(400,300)) willy.x += x
willy.direction = “r”
willy.jump = 0 def checkGravity():
willy.onground = False if willy.jump > 0:
count = 0 willy.y -=2
platforms = [[1,1,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,2,2,2,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0], willy.jump -=1
[0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,1,1,1], if willy.y < 320:
[1,1,1,0,0,0,2,2,2,2,2,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0], willy.onground = False
[0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,2,2,0,0,1,1,1,0,0], for p in range(len(platformActors)):
[1,1,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,2,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1], frame = int(platformActors[p].image[-1])+1
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]] if platformActors[p].status > 0 :
platformActors = [] platformActors[p].status -= 1
for r in range(len(platforms)): if platformActors[p].status == 0 :
for c in range(len(platforms[r])): platformActors[p].y += 1
if(platforms[r][c] != 0 ): platformActors. if frame > 8 :
append(Actor(‘platform’+str(platforms[r][c])+”1”,(70+(c*30),1 platformActors[p].status = -1
20+(r*40)))) else:
platformActors[len(platformActors)-1].status = 0 platformActors[p].image =
“platform2”+str(frame)
def draw(): platformActors[p].status = 30
screen.blit(“background”, (0, 0)) if((willy.x > platformActors[p].x-20 and willy.x <
willy.draw() platformActors[p].x+20) and willy.y+20 == platformActors[p].y-
drawPlatforms() 14+(frame-1) and platformActors[p].status != -1):
willy.onground = True
def update(): if platformActors[p].image[8] == “2”:
global count if platformActors[p].status == 0 :
willy.image = “willy”+ willy.direction + “0” platformActors[p].status = 30
if keyboard.left: if willy.onground == False:
moveWilly(-1,0) willy.y += 1
willy.direction = “l” else:
willy.image = “willyl”+ str(int(count/8)%3) willy.onground = True
pass
if keyboard.right:
moveWilly(1,0)
willy.direction = “r”
willy.image = “willyr”+ str(int(count/8)%3)
pass
checkGravity()
count += 1

def on_key_down(key):
if key.name == “SPACE”:
if willy.onground == True:
willy.jump = 40

def drawPlatforms():
for p in range(len(platformActors)):
if platformActors[p].status != -1: Miner Willy makes his way


to the exit, avoiding those

platformActors[p].draw() vicio s eighties telephones.

wfmag.cc \ 67
 Interface
Interactive

Interactive / AFTERLIFE
The hereafter is a bureaucratic, neurotic
comedy in a unique RPG from Buenos Aires

T
he first thing about AFTERLIFE that in: little more than a white lo enge with wide,
Are you a solo caught our attention is its witty in uisitive eyes, this lost soul aims to escape
developer working dialogue. he game takes place in a the afterlife and return to his or her former
on a game you
monochrome town full of neurotic (unspecified) existence. But to do that, the soul
want to share with
Wireframe? If you’d spirits whose bleakly cynical, will have to navigate a boxy world of fantasists,
like to have your sometimes disarmingly surreal outbursts kept aggressive guards, locked doors, and ultimately
project featured in us hooked throughout the demo’s brief running face a mysterious antagonist named Dr rull.
these pages, get
in touch with us at time. y house is empty because material stuff AFTERLIFE is an RPG, but one stripped down to
wfmag.cc/hello can’t buy you happiness, one character says its raw essentials: battles take the form of short,
of his depressingly sparse living room, before fast-paced shoot-outs, where you avoid your
adding, ust kidding. I’m poor. opponent’s projectiles and chip away at their
utside, there’s a guy in a top hat who energy by blasting them with your own. It’s an
cheerfully introduces himself as the mayor of unexpected, snappy change of pace from the
Alpha own, before guiltily admitting he just turn-based battles we were initially expecting.
enjoys going around pretending as much. Such I didn’t want to use turn-based combat
is the strange world our protagonist wakes up because I feel it can get very repetitive after a
while, and sometimes you need to battle every
enemy just to get some XP and increase your
stats, or else you won’t be able to defeat a
certain enemy, explains Fu , the solo developer
behind AFTERLIFE. ther times, you become
In place of too powerful and some battles don’t feel like a


turn-based battles
are these surprisingly
challenge at all. I preferred to use a shooting
fun shoot-out approach because, in each battle, you have to
sequences.
study your enemies and their movements or
 Despite his minimal patterns in order to know when to attack and
design, AFTERLIFE ’s
nameless protagonist when it’s better to avoid them.
has a lot of character Based in Buenos Aires, Fu (not his real
– partly thanks to
those big eyes. name) began work on AFTERLIFE when he

68 / wfmag.cc
 Interface
Interactive

The early Game Boy



Pokémon spurred Fuz’s

desire to make his own RPG:
“I admire how they managed
to create that whole world
with just four colours.”

realised there wasn’t another RPG with a similar As for the script, Fu says the game’s dry
premise. I decided that if no one else was one-liners and situations are often drawn
making the game I wanted to play, I should do from things he sees in the real world. I force SOCIAL
it myself, he says. With his weekdays taken up myself to write new jokes at least once a week NETWORKING
with his job as a programmer at a local game – they come up uickly. I try to observe daily Head to AFTERLIFE ’s Twitter –
studio, Fu has spent his weekends gradually situations and use them as triggers for new twitter.com/onetappsgames
and you’ll find a ealth of
working his game up from its rough initial ideas or jokes. owever, the best ones appear
scenes and uir y e changes
concept originally, he envisioned the game as a when I just throw some characters on the scene that aren’t in the demo. or
more serious meditation on life, death, and the and start improvising on what they could be u , social media’s been a
afterlife – before all that surreal, cynical humour talking about. useful ay of both promoting
the game and its premise and
kicked in. When I started creating this game, I AFTERLIFE’s playable demo – downloadable at
gauging public reaction to
wanted it to be more serious, and explore the afterlifegame.itch.io – is just the right length his or -in-progress. hey
death topic from different perspectives and talk to give you a taste of the curious, captivating itter and nstagram are
about regrets, loss, and grief, Fu says. But netherworld Fu is busy creating. o sooner both great the community
then I found out that had we gotten into the is ery supporti e, he
says. ery li e, repost, or
people really enjoyed “I think you can talk about rhythm of finding all
comment means a lot hen
some jokes I shared the hidden medikits,
serious stuff and send a you’re de eloping a game on
on social media, so I defeating enemies in your o n. t really gi es you
decided to give them powerful message while rapid-fire shoot-outs, and the moti ation to continue
more space. I think you still having fun” retrieving a key locked or ing hard e en hen your
to-do list seems endless.
can talk about serious in a murky tower, when t also allo s me to analyse
stuff and send a powerful message while still an ominous character swooped in and brought hich things are more
having fun. the whole thing to a close. hankfully, Fu has alued for potential players
AFTERLIFE’s visuals also evolved over time, big ambitions for the full game: if he can find a and here should put my
focus on.
from a top-down perspective akin to an early publisher willing to back AFTERLIFE, he hopes to
Pokémon game to the 3D viewpoint it has bring it to every console he can. So what does
today. At first, it was just 2D because I wanted Fu expect players to feel when they’ve finished
it to look exactly like a Game Boy game, says playing the full version of AFTERLIFE rue to
Fu . hen I discovered a tool (called Sprytile) form, his response is a drily amusing one. For
that allows you to paint your 3D models with those who actually bought the game, I hope it
2D tiles. I made some uick prototypes, and makes them feel like it’s worth fighting for what
it felt great 3D environments allow me to you believe is right and that you can achieve your
better-use fog, lights, and darkness to create goals, no matter how many obstacles you find
more atmospheric places while 2D characters along the way, he says. For those who download
maintain that Game Boy, nostalgic feeling that the game illegally, I hope it makes you feel like you
I like. should buy the game.

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Access Granted

Access
Granted
WRITTEN BY
LAURA FRANCIS How video games are improving the
lives of people on the autism spectrum

O
f all the tools and techniques that
can help people on the autism
spectrum, video games often
take a back seat. Yet games are a
perfect way for autistic people to
engage with others and build connections – and
an increasing number of games, both in the
triple-A and indie realm, are acknowledging and
including people on the spectrum.
Recent years have also seen an increased
focus on helping autistic people find careers
in the games industry. UK charity Autistica, for
example, is leading the charge when it comes
to helping studios recognise the importance
of inclusion and accessibility for people on
the autism spectrum. It’s still a new area of
advocacy, but as we found out after speaking to
A ten-minute demo of Disconnected was
those making these games, and to those hiring


showcased at EGX 2019 and at the London

Games Festival in 2020. for industry roles, it’s a narrative that’s shifting,
slowly but surely, in a more positive direction.

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Access Granted

Overwatch is an example of a


mainstream game known for
its roster of diverse characters.
DEFINING AUTISM could be appealing [to people on the autism
Autism is a neurological condition that can spectrum , says Shah. ideo games offer
affect a person’s ability to socially interact, make a world with solid rules and predictable,
eye contact, or read facial expressions. Other controllable events, in which social interaction,
signs of autism can include sensory issues and whether with NPCs or online with other players,
repetitive behaviour. Autism can affect people is easier to navigate with less emphasis on
in a multitude of ways, then, and people on the non-verbal communication… Compared to DEEP
autism spectrum can also be affected by mental a neurotypical person, autistic people will
health issues, including loneliness and anxiety. have some degree of di culty with social IMPACT
ideo games can, however, play a significant communication and social interaction, which can Savan Gandecha is a British
role in the lives of autistic people. While the make it hard to get by in society.” content creator on the autism
media sometimes paints “I think playing games spectrum. For him, the positive
benefits of ideo games can’t
gaming as a lonely “In my experience, games can help people who are
be understated. “The impact
and isolating pastime, on the autism spectrum
there’s some evidence
aren’t just games to learn about the world
gaming has had on my life
has been profound, he says,
to suggest that people someone with ASD” and how to socialise because it’s helped ith my
on the spectrum can with others in a safer creati ity and is a form of
find solace and a sense of community in gaming, environment,” says Xu He, founder of Grand escapism into different orlds
whether it’s via streaming, online forums and Neuron Studios. On the autism spectrum ccessibility is so important
groups, or on social media. “In my experience, herself, Xu He is a 2018 BAFTA scholar because it helps autistic
games aren’t just games to someone with ASD who’s currently developing Disconnected, people to play ideo games
(Autism spectrum disorder),” says Gemma a “narrative documentary” which tells the and not be isolated from the
rest of the gaming community.
Johnson-Brown, COO of Dovetail Games. story of an autistic girl. Rejecting common
t’s also important that
“They’re an integral part of their lives, their autistic stereotypes, as often depicted
game de elopers implement
connection to the outside world, their release, in movies like Rain Man, Disconnected
accessibility as a top priority,
and their fun.” illustrates that autism just means and or ith those ith
Dr Sachin Shah, who is part of a collective having a slightly different brain. conditions and disabilities to
of mental health professionals called Gaming Xu He interviewed four autistic ma e their games inclusi e and
the Mind, concurs. “It makes sense that games people for the voiceover, which gives en oyable for all.

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Access Granted

the game context; as they progress through for autistic people, and also to reduce stigma
the game, players hear real autistic people towards autistic people.
tell their stories. Accessibility has also been a To the Moon , a 2011 adventure by Canadian
huge priority when it came to working on this studio Freebird Games, also features a character
game, particularly when it comes to visuals. on the autism spectrum. River isn’t presented
“To make Disconnected accessible, I used a very as a hero, but rather an ordinary person who
pure art style, made experiences similar
the game mechanics “With representation, there’s struggles that autistic
QUICK START easy to understand, people can face in
hen it comes to helping and there’s very little
the aspirational kind, like the real world. “[The
those on the autism spectrum text in the game,” Xu Symmetra from Overwatch ” game] shows that
get into games, more could He says. “For example, the communication
be done hen it comes to
a simple or desaturated background can help di culty is on both sides of the e uation:
accessibility, says r hah.
autistic players focus on the characters in the River’s neurotypical partner needs to learn to
ame instructions should
foreground easier.” understand her, not just the other way around,”
be clear and unambiguous,
ithout the use of metaphors, says Shah. “She’s still someone with needs
sarcasm, or idioms that could REPRESENT and desires, and has worth as a person. She’s
be misunderstood. ontrols Overwatch is a rare example of a triple-A title someone for autistic people to relate to, and
should remain consistent. that features an autistic character: the Indian for neurotypical people to empathise with and
lear tutorials at the beginning architect, Symmetra. In response to a fan care about.
of the game can help prepare uestion, the game’s director, eff aplan, Citing Hellblade as an example, Shah suggests
the player for sudden changes confirmed that Symmetra is indeed that game designers are becoming more
in modes that might occur.
on the autism spectrum – something open to exploring different neurodiverse
here should be consistency
that Shah welcomes. “With autism experiences” in their work. “The success of
in ho the game is engaged
representation, there’s the aspirational Hellblade shows there’s interest in exploring
ith for e ample, if the
player can interact only ith kind, like Symmetra from Overwatch, different states of mind, he says. Ideally, such
certain ob ects, it should be which shows an autistic person as a games shouldn’t just encourage pity from
clear hich ob ects these are, powerful hero,” Shah says. “Symmetra players – they should address the social and
perhaps ith highlighting. is a role model, [which is] important political challenges autistic people face, and

Grand Neuron Studios is now



seeking funding to develop

Disconnected into a full game.

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Symmetra’s place on the autism



spectrum was underlined in the

Overwatch spin-off comic book,
A Better World .

inspire the need for societal change… Studios OPENING DOORS

need to realise that there need not be a ‘reason’ o ma e the games industry more elcoming for autistic or ers,
for a character to be autistic; autism doesn’t there are some things a studio should do, says r hah, li e
need to fill a plot re uirement. Some people are ensuring that there’s no culture of crunch, hich can result in burnout.
just autistic, so some game characters should utistic people may be more ulnerable to the effects of high
be, too. As with all forms of diversity, this shift stress and o er or , and there’s also the ris that if certain autistic
will be easier with more diverse creative teams.” employees are highly focused on completing their tas s, this could
be e ploited in a crunch en ironment. or er’s rights should be
JOINING THE INDUSTRY protected in order to ensure it is a elcoming industry for e eryone,
including autistic people.
Although we’re beginning to see greater
representation and accessibility within video
games themselves, the wider industry has
been slower to catch up when it comes to job
opportunities for those on the spectrum. “Only
a third of autistic people are in any kind of
paid work, though most unemployed autistic shouldn’t discriminate against autistic
people would like to be in work,” Shah points people, as autism is considered a disability,”
out. “Autistic people may be attracted to the he says. “Employers must make reasonable
games industry for the same reasons as anyone, adjustments so that autistic people are not
stemming from an interest in games, art, or substantially disadvantaged at work… This could
programming. They may have traits more suited include steps such as ensuring all qualifying
for the industry, such as attention to detail, need autistic candidates are given an interview.
for routine, or having specific related interests. Experience and educational requirements
Shah also argues that studios should take can also be a barrier to recruitment, and
positive action to recruit more autistic people studios could consider developing roles,
and increase representation among employees such as apprenticeships, to encourage Dr Sachin Shah says that


autistic people should be

– indeed, the 2010 Equality Act (or the Northern autistic candidates who are able to do the involved in playtesting in
order to receive relevant
Ireland Disability Discrimination Act) make work but lack formal ualifications. Greater feedback on a game and
such action a legal requirement. “Employers representation brings greater awareness of its accessibility.

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Access Granted

 Dovetail Games is the UK

developer of such sims as
Train Simulator, Euro Fishing,
Train Sim World, and Fishing
Sim World.

CHANGE
AT UBISOFT
or is being done to ma e the
games industry a better one for
those on the autism spectrum
including at bisoft ontreal,
according to the firm’s
accessibility pro ect manager,
a id isserand. e ha e
se eral initiati es to support
ma ing more accessible
uni erses and ser ices for all
players, isserand tells us.
he future of gaming ill be
an accessible user e perience
from end to end. rom the first
time a player hears about a ne
game for e ample, a trailer
up to the last time they are in
A NEW INITIATIVE
touch ith our company the Specialising in autism research, Autistica
customer support ebsite launched Autistica Play in March 2019.
and e erything in bet een, It’s an initiative that sees the charity liaise
e’re ma ing progress to with various professionals across the
remo e barriers for all players. inclusivity adjustments that need to be made, gaming industry in order to promote more
and better collective security for workers to inclusivity and neurodiversity. “By raising
re uest these changes. awareness, understanding, and involving more
“More needs to be done to challenge neurodiversity in the games industry, we can
negative attitudes about disability,” Gemma increase representation and inclusivity,” explains
Johnson-Brown concurs. “The full possibility and Jake Mackey, Autistica’s gaming partnerships
power of games is yet to be realised because manager. “We also know that 79% of autistic
the industry isn’t diverse enough across the adults have had a mental health problem, with
spectrum, including over 50% of autistic
neurodiversity. “The games industry is adults experiencing
Dovetail Games are anxiety and/or
working with a local
currently not the most depression in their
organisation called inclusive environment” lifetime. Combine this
Bemix that works with with the fast-paced
people on the spectrum and supports them in nature of the games industry, with work cultures
the workplace. We view them as long interviews; like crunch or potential sensory overloading
our first supported internship has resulted environments like expos and events, and it
in the individual being offered a permanent becomes clear that the games industry is
position, and we have a number of employees currently not the most inclusive environment for
Says Jake Mackey, “As a on the spectrum. I have found time, acceptance, the neurodivergent.”


medium, gaming can be

a way for autistic people understanding, and minimal adjustments have Helen Carmichael, a long-time games industry
to socialise, connect, and opened up a tonne of value and [more] fresh professional and an Autistica Play ambassador,
interact in a more controlled
environment.” perspectives than we have ever experienced. also believes that industry conventions and

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Access Granted

Ubisoft’s David Tisserand says that


the most accessible games for
people on the autism spectrum
are the ones that allow them to
customise their experience.

events could do more in terms of support

for people on the autism spectrum, such as
designated quiet areas. “Many people would
welcome more quiet or less sensory challenging
areas at industry events,” she says, “and more
social or networking opportunities that are not
parties in noisy bars.”

MAKING PROGRESS
Overall, it seems as though the gaming industry
is continuing to take steps towards promoting
more diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility for A moment of calm in


the charming 2011

those on the autism spectrum. Companies adventure, To the Moon.
like Dovetail Games are working closely with GAMES OF THE FUTURE
local organisations to help autistic people into
uture ames of ondon is a bisoft-o ned studio that focuses
employment. A growing number of studios on mobile and tablet gaming. ts technical director, eter odges,
are avoiding overused autism stereotypes and is an industry eteran of o er years, and argues that, hen it
caricatures in their games. Social media and comes to inclusi ity, much has impro ed in that time. e’re ta ing
streaming mean it’s easier for autistic people to more feedbac from our players and listen more to the di erse
see there are others like them who share a love range of ie s e ha e as game de elopers, he says. ommonly,
of gaming. autistic people are lumped into one or t o stereotypes, and this is
Inevitably, however, there’s still more work something e should stri e to a oid if e are to be more inclusi e,
not ust in games, but as a society as a hole ithin our or ing
to be done in the games industry to make it
day, e should be mindful that not all people ill or at their best
more inclusive to all types of people. Hopefully,
hen as ed to pro ide rapid-fire ans ers, and that the creati e bu
employers across the gaming sector will
in the or place can be both inspiring and o er helming at times.
recognise the benefits of recruiting someone on ’d suggest e ensure that e loo at the ay in hich e engage
the autism spectrum, and appreciate the fresh ith each other pro iding enough time to digest information and
ideas their unique minds can bring. gi e opinions to each other.

wfmag.cc \ 75
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 Interface
Seacorp Technologies: the little studio with big ambitions

SEACORP
TECHNOLOGIES
THE LITTLE STUDIO WITH BIG AMBITIONS

Founder Richard Seabrook tells us about the

challenges of setting up an indie studio – and why
releasing a game is like launching a rocket…

WRITTEN BY RYAN LAMBIE

T
here’s the fantasy version of running
a studio that goes something like this:
your close-knit team comes up with a
unique game concept, puts it up on
Steam, and thanks to the enthusiastic
response of streamers on Twitch or YouTube,
it quickly goes viral. Your game goes on to sell
millions, providing enough profits for you to buy a
sleek German car and never have to worry about
paying the bills ever again.
For all but those lucky few, the reality of
founding an indie studio is rather different. It’s
more likely that success will come gradually, as
your body of work builds and players begin to latch
on to the quality of your games. This, at any rate,
is the experience of Richard Seabrook, founder of
Bournemouth-based studio Seacorp Technologies,
or SC . I think the first thing people need to
realise is that once you remove the ‘anomalies’
– and by this I mean the games that release and
make millions of dollars out of nowhere – it’s really
hard to make a game and make a profit these
days, Seabrook tells us. It’s a multifaceted project
Part driving game, part multiplayer
that needs to have many things going right at the


Marble Madness, part manic party

game: it’s Kinetic Edge. same time in order to succeed.”

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Seacorp Technologies: the little studio with big ambitions

The global arms trade forms the basis



for Gunsmith. Your squeaky-clean

factory oor provides the f el for a
distinctly messy, murky industry.

Seacorp’s big calling card right now is Gunsmith, where the real challenge lies. In some ways, it’s
a management sim akin to Factorio or Astroneer, easier to run a studio because your startup costs NO CODE
but set in the arms industry. You build your can be incredibly small,” he says. “But launching REQUIRED
factory, start manufacturing weapons, and then a game is exactly like launching a rocket – if one
If you fear that your lack of
deal with the morally murky bit: do you even single thing isn’t correct on that launch, more
programming skills rules you
attempt to filter your customers, and try to only than likely the entire thing will either fail to launch
out of a career in the games
sell weapons to ‘reputable’ sources, or throw your entirely and just sit there on the platform, or
industry, then Seabrook has
humanity out the window explode into a huge some words of encouragement
entirely and supply “In order for your product to fireball wiping out all your for you. “I am a terrible, terrible
guns to any bloodthirsty hard work. In order for programmer,” he admits. “I
warlord who’ll stump
succeed, it needs the perfect launch your product to succeed, understand the logic behind it
up the cash It’s a bold, – and that’s the biggest challenge” it needs the perfect all, I can describe how things
thought-provoking launch – one where you work in programming terms, and
concept for a game. But then again, the studio reach orbit and come back down to earth with I can also script basic things
and rig things up to work in
behind it has had some big ideas on its mind no major issues, and that’s the biggest challenge
levels, but if you asked me to
from the very beginning. of all.”
make something from scratch,
Prospekt was a strong start for SCT, given that
I wouldn’t have a clue. As much
PUSH START it was essentially a fan-made project: with over as I tried to learn C++ or C# etc,
Seabrook founded SC in 20 , and its first release a dozen levels and a campaign that lasted for it just wasn’t for me. I’m much
was also Seabrook’s first commercial game: 20 ’s around five hours, it was comparable in length more of a visual designer. When
Prospekt, a standalone shooter set in the Half-Life 2 and scope to Half-Life 2: Episode One.. But, says it comes to my specialisation,
universe and built with Valve’s own Source engine. Seabrook, “unless a game achieves ‘legendary’ I would have to say, in part, it’s
Gunsmith launched into Steam Early Access two status, it fades away. I get the occasional, h probably 3D work and design,
years later, while today, the studio’s still compact yeah, I remember that game’ from people, but it’s but most of all, getting an idea
from a sheet of paper to a
but growing, with seven full- or part-time staff no GoldenEye.”
working game is probably my
working across various disciplines. Gunsmith,, meanwhile, would be a much bigger
main talent, as it takes a lot of
According to Seabrook, who studied Game undertaking: a detailed management sim with
things to come together at once
Design and Business at Portsmouth University a bewildering variety of complex interlocking to make that happen.”
before founding SCT, actually setting up a studio systems. For Seabrook, it’s by far the most
is the easy bit. Launching a game? Now that’s challenging game he has attempted so far.

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Seacorp Technologies: the little studio with big ambitions

CAREER
PROSPEKTS
Like a generation of other
fledgling developers,
Seabrook found that tinkering
with Valve’s Source engine
provided a valuable grounding
in game design. “I think
Valve realised long ago that
there’s no point having these
amazing tools if they’re only
being used internally,” he tells
us. “Its mantra is if people Seacorp’s debut title: the


standalone Half-Life 2 fangame,
have the power to join in and Prospekt, released in 2016.
create, e eryone benefits.
think being able to make a
mod is kind of like learning to
For sure, I bit off more than I could chew as a is more contained than the sprawling Gunsmith,
ride a bike with stabilisers –
you can learn the ropes and, business, he says. I wanted to make a Paradox which was part of the concept’s appeal. “Honestly,
if you make something good, Interactive level game with an indie level I sat around the table and decided I wanted to
you can use it to help you amount of staff, and that’s the best way I could make a fun game we could make in a relatively
further your goals.” summarise it… Sometimes, your ambition can small amount of time, the main goals being fun
just shoot you in the foot. with your friends, cheap, and quick to play,”
Embarking on Gunsmith has, however, paid Seabrook tells us. Still, he adds, having a seven-
off so far. aunching on Steam arly Access strong team work on two games simultaneously
has allowed the studio to bring in profits from was a challenge, albeit a necessary one. At first
the game as it grows, and also garner valuable it was hard. sually, one project at a time is the
feedback from its growing audience. For most goal, but we realised if we wanted to grow the
developers, continuing to build and refine a company and continue to be in a good financial
project like Gunsmith would be enough to be position, there’s simply no way we can reasonably
getting on with; instead, SCT decided to start rely on one game to take us all the way. Again, if
development on another game: Kinetic Edge. your game launches and makes millions, you’re
Admittedly, this fast-paced action game – which set, but that’s not the case for us. I decided the
Seabrook describes as “crazy golf meets TRON” – best approach to stabilise the business for the
future was to diversify sooner rather than later.”

TOP GUNS
There was another, less risky option on the
table before work on Kinetic Edge began: take
the basic framework for Gunsmith and retool it
with a different theme. We know Gunsmith is
very successful, and that it has a lot of potential,”
Seabrook explains. We have had meetings where
the concept of using the same framework but
restyling it to cover a new area has been openly
discussed, which is something we may do in
the future, but for now, I don’t want to end up
as a cookie-cutter studio, bashing out the same
 Seacorp game over and over. I’m sure we’ll use all of the
Technologies’
base of operations
Gunsmith architecture for another game sooner
in Bournemouth. or later, but it has to be the right one. I’m not

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Seacorp Technologies: the little studio with big ambitions

Kinetic Edge’s clean design



made it a more contained

pro ect than the sprawling,
comple Gunsmith.

saying there’s anything wrong with that approach, uoting lon usk, it likely has a very high
either, as there’s a tonne of games that take the rate of failure’,” he says, “but that doesn’t matter
business angle. And put it this way – I wish I had to me. I’d like us to be making games on the level
their bank balance.” of Frostpunk as a minimum. I’ve built the company
Besides, Gunsmith itself is still growing as SCT up over the course of nearly seven years now,
prepares it for full release. There are plans to and I’ve reinvested nearly every penny into
explore the political and moral implications of its getting a great team together.”
premise further still, with the player able to pursue From there, Seabrook plans to branch out
multiple paths through the game depending on further into the publishing realm. he five-
how amoral they’re willing to be. He cites gangster year plan of SCT is to have multiple high-
movie Scarface, and director Andrew Niccol’s quality titles launching on Steam and other
weapons trade drama Lord of War as examples platforms depending on who approaches us
of the routes players will be able to take as virtual and what’s best for the business. From there
arms dealers. I intend to expand even more on I want to establish us as a large company that
that angle soon,” Seabrook helps publish other
says. We want to basically “I don’t want to end up as a indie games without
go down multiple routes obscene contractual
of either Scarface level
cookie-cutter studio, bashing out obligations. This all, of
criminality, or Lord of War the same game over and over” course, depends on
level business, each with the successes of our
its own benefits and drawbacks. future launches and whether we can get the
There are also plans to bring Kinetic Edge to investment re uired to get there. It’s about
Switch – pending Nintendo’s approval – and while making great games, or they’ll never sell anyway.”
there’s still “a tonne of work left” to be done on Going back to his rocket analogy from earlier,
Gunsmith before it leaves Early Access, there are Seabrook has some advice for any other budding
expansions planned, and even another, as-yet- studio owner or game developer: prepare for
unannounced title waiting in the wings ( I’m not launch, and prepare carefully. “Plan what you
quite ready to show that one yet,” Seabrook tells want to achieve far in advance, break your project
us. “Maybe in a few weeks.”) down into component parts, make sure you have
True to form, Seabrook has big ambitions for enough customers seeing your product before it
SCT itself; it may still be a small studio by most launches, and start that process early. If people
standards, but he hopes to continue to grow it don’t know about the game or it’s not functional
“into one of the biggest studios and beyond”. for, say, 90 percent of customers, then don’t
his will, he concedes, be a massive task . launch. It’s that simple.

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Interactive
Online Diary

Online Diary

GITTIN ’ GUD
A three-hour-plus session and not a heist in sight:
struggling again with GTA Online
WRITTEN BY IAN ‘NO HEAT’ DRANSFIELD

G
TA Online is a broken hellscape of series of ups and downs – mainly downs – and
cheaters and endless content drops while some fun had been had, this was the entire
that only the most dedicated of point of the Sisyphean task we had unwittingly
players will make head or tail of. It is engaged in. It was time. The heist was here. Three
an uncontrollable mass; a blob the known quantities plus one random hanger-on
scientists who made it long since lost control of, would first head out to steal an aeroplane as
marauding its way across the virtual landscape the first part of a handful of stages in putting
absorbing as much as it destroys, leaving either together a Heat-worthy crime. Three hours and
echoes of violence or goo-smeared converts in 17 minutes into our session, on the road for our
its wake. It is big, clumsy, and surprisingly dumb. first proper heist, and GTA Online crashed for two
But it also has heists, and heists are some of the of the team. I gave up.
absolute best things in any online game – so it is You see, GTA Online is a broken hellscape of
Wireframe-o the Great donned her top hat and cheaters and endless content drops that only the
went striding back into the world of GTA Online. most dedicated of players will make head or tail
And this time she brought friends. of – and on top of that, it’s also the least friendly
Over three hours into the session, we were online game for a bunch of chancers to jump into
finally able to start a proper heist. It had been a and play about in it. Whereas other games rely
on wild concepts like ‘using a menu’ to sort out
your games, GTA Online demands steps before
you can crack on. To unlock heists, you have to

 The whole world (of

GTA) in your hands,
except, actually, it’s in
the hands of the
hackers and cheaters.

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 Interface
Online
Interactive
Diary

When you’re waiting for



interminable cutscenes
to play through for your
heist leader, why not
amuse yourself by
shooting everything?

The toppest of
top Theft tips

be level 12 or higher. You need to own a high-end

in-game apartment, costing at least 200,000
in-game dollars (£3.19 real money, if you want Waste time
to skip earning it). Then you need to get to your In the initial setup, there can
apartment to kick the whole thing off. be a lot of waiting around, so
As GTA Online’s lobby – of a sort – is the main jump in to the daft little side
open world, this means running the gauntlet of setting things up I could handle. The challenge missions around and just
from wherever you are to said apartment. And of getting through the game world without being waste time losing to children
at internet games. Fun!
as GTA Online’s lobby is lousy with cheaters, this the victim of hacking gits, I could navigate. But it
means risking engaging with random idiots who all being topped off with inexplicable, complete
feel the need to ruin everything for everyone else crashes that utterly ruin any fun you might have
just because they think they’re in tune with the eked out? Like I said: I gave up.
Joker or some such silliness. More than once, we In limited groups, where there’s little to no
were unable to make it to the mission start areas chance of interaction with cheaters, and you’ve a
thanks to hacking sorts exploding us, or putting focused mission at hand – that’s what makes GTA
Cop games
massive bounties on us, or Online shine. For all we – well,
It’s very tempting to shoot
otherwise getting in the way. “GTA Online ’s lobby I - wanted Grand Theft Auto everything while on your way
Do you know what would to make the leap into the to a mission, but be warned:
fix this A menu system.
is lousy with cheaters multiplayer world back in a wanted level usually
hey exist for jumping into who ruin everything” the PS2 era, it turns out the precludes you from starting a
jobs and heists with other wildness of the open-world… job. So keep a lid on it.
people, but our particular experience this day world doesn’t work very well. Also, just to reiterate:
was marred by the stop-start nature of things, cheaters. But playing a heist distils things to that
the endless array of cheaters and – to get back to purer form, and makes for an experience that is –
what was mentioned earlier – crashes. especially with a known group of chums – up there
hat’s something I didn’t expect from GTA with the absolute best. It doesn’t matter if you get
Online: flat-out crashing. o warning, no it right, it doesn’t matter if you come out as the
instability, no error message after the fact. n five best performer, if you even get to the mission area
l ffl e
It’ll always be a
separate occasions in the three-and-a-bit hours without understeering around a corner and hitting
recommendation with GTA
of play, it just up and crashed to desktop, forcing an explosive gas tank – it’s fun. It’s thrilling, and Online: play it offline instead.
a restart and sitting through the excruciatingly over the top, and di cult to parse in all the right If you just want to mess about
long loading screen (which may be fixed by the ways – but it’s fun.. But to get to that enjoyment, with no structure, just play
time you read this, thanks to a regular member of first the bloody game has to work. Ah well, back to GTAV. For jobs and heists, go
the public telling Rockstar how to sort it). The slog the drawing board. to Online.

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System Profile / Sega Dreamcast

System Profile

Sega Dreamcast
Time to wake up

E
verybody had heard of the It’s worth pointing this out because
Sega Dreamcast by late 1999. these days Sega’s final console is seen as
Plenty of the committed a tragic failure; a machine too good for
In the early DC days we were
gamer types knew full well this world cruelly taken from us thanks


having an ORCA of a time! Ah what Sega’s follow-up to the to a combination of Sony not playing
no, got that one wrong.
Saturn had been pumping out in the Far nice and people not paying enough
East following its 1998 Japanese launch, attention. But Sega spent in excess of
of course. You might even have had a $100 million (£72m in today’s money)
friend who imported one, so you could marketing the Dreamcast – its new 128-
be vaguely wowed but not quite blown bit console would arrive in the States on
away by Virtua Fighter 3tb. But just before the fantastic launch date of 9 September
we entered a new millennium, around 1999 – 9/9/99. It would bring the arcade
the same time Millennium was on telly home for real this time. It would have
and Willennium was in the charts, the four controller ports as standard,
Dreamcast was ubiquitous. because games were made to be played

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 Interface
Sega Dreamcast \ System Profile

The Dreamcast


continued down the

Saturn’s path of
pumping out some
stellar fighting
games throughout its
short life, like here with
Capcom vs. SNK:
Millennium Fight 2000.

with friends. It would include a built-in soon enough, Sony stepped up the hype
modem, in case your friends weren’t in for the PlayStation 2. Why would people
the same house, or town, or country. And care about the console that was out now
while doing all this, it would be cool. when they could get excited about the
The console launched in the west and upcoming supercomputer Iraqi WMD-
sold hundreds of thousands of units, powering obelisk of fury that was the
repeating the early success seen over PS2 And, well, it just sort of petered off
in apan and kicking off the post-PSone after that. Hidekazu Yukawa, one-time senior


managing director of Sega,

generation… but it was a false start. It shouldn’t have. The Dreamcast was featured surprisingly heavily in the
While in Europe, Sega managed to shift brilliant. It didn’t just have the might of console’s early Japanese marketing
– even appearing in a promotional
half a million units Sega and its superb Shenmue demo, and his own game.
in the two months “Sega spent in catalogue of titles
following release, it backing it – this
took another whole
excess of $100 million machine made up
year to up that figure marketing Dreamcast” for the mistakes Jet Set Radio: the coolest game of


2000, and... well, yep, still the coolest

to a million. People of the Saturn by game out there.
were ja ed at first – the marketing involving every major third party. There
push was working, the sponsorship of was a knife in the side when EA and
Premier League bigguns Arsenal FC Squaresoft refused to play ball, but
being a particular highlight in the UK Sega’s own sports games and a flurry of
(and other major football teams across RPGs made up for that gap in the most
Europe got in on the action too). But the part – no FIFA must have hurt, though.
people weren’t quite ready; they were But largely, the Dreamcast was home
still happy with their PlayStations (and, to a varied catalogue of high-quality
more in the States, their N64s) – and releases, proving to be a console

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 Interface
System Profile / Sega Dreamcast

Some Dreamcast efforts,



like Blue Stinger, were bold

but ultimately not great.

where developers could bring the a modem as standard until the 2004
arcade to the home and improve on it, launch of the slim console.
as with Soulcalibur; where they could Part of the reason the Dreamcast
make true next-gen masterpiece RPGs, resonates so much with people even
like Skies of Arcadia; where Sonic could to this day is simply because it was the
go on an actual adventure, like in Sonic loser in a stand-up fight. here’s a deep
Adventure. There was variety, scope, a affection that arrives hand in hand with
genuinely visible step up in quality from support for the aggrieved party. But the
the PSone releases of the day sitting bigger part of the story, so often lost
next to the DC ports. when going over the machine’s history,
The inclusion of four controller ports is that the Dreamcast resonates so
wasn’t a first, but it much with those who
was still a novelty. “Sega just gave up. It played it because
Console modems it was a standout
wasn’t quite reaching
existed before 1998, console. It had its
but being included the mass market issues like any other
as standard made appeal Japan wanted” (early GD-ROM
the Dreamcast the drive problems, for
first major console capable of online example), and there were gaps in the
play out of the box. Even being able to catalogue (again, FIFA), but the overriding
hook things up to a monitor (or some feeling anyone got on sitting down and
TVs) via a VGA cable was a point of note: playing any number of Dreamcast games
an early step toward the now-standard for any amount of time was one of
‘make sure you connect to your display happiness, contentment, and that they’d
in the best way you can’ approach. The had fun.
Dreamcast was ahead of its time not just The Dreamcast failed, but not
Initial marketing for the US launch relied because fans of it say so, but because necessarily because it was a failure. At


heavily on the beautiful 9.9.99 release

date. In the UK, we got it on 14.10.99,
it genuinely, demonstrably was ahead the time, it might have felt that way, but
which is far less exciting to look at. of its time. The PS2 didn’t even feature contemporary retellings have framed

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Sega Dreamcast \ System Profile

Before Sony’s follow-up console



arrived, the Dreamcast had free rein

on pumping out ports of PSone games
it as something far more surprising: that ran and looked significantly
better than the 32-bit opposition.
Sega just gave up. Sony had pulled
ahead, Sega wasn’t quite reaching the Don’t stop believin’
mass market appeal the apanese o ce
Sega gave up on the Dreamcast long before
wanted, and, frankly, it just didn’t want the people did – and there are plenty of
the fight. Discussion had been on the ongoing efforts to keep the dream(cast)
table for a while concerning a transition alive. All the way back in issue 7, we took
to acting as a third-party publisher, a look at the vibrant homebrew scene
on Sega’s ill-fated console, with the likes
and while initially angrily laughed off, of Sturmwind and the recently released
it soon became the company’s plan. Xenocider grabbing the attention there.
Sonic arrived on Sony formats, Microsoft But it’s not just games – Retro Fighters
formats – even Nintendo formats – released an updated version of the awkward
Dreamcast controller in 2020, and it’s an
and the legacy of a truly legendary
absolute beaut. Elsewhere, Black Dog’s
hardware manufacturers’ final console DCDigital mod brings the console
was abandoned by those who created into the HDMI era, and if
it. It was instead a dedicated core of you’re keen on… well,
cheerleaders left to forever recite the ruining its intended
function, you can
mantra: “It was, like, really good, you even mod a VMU to
know?” Because the Dreamcast was,, like, run as a micro-
really good, you know? emulator. And
there’s so much
more besides. We
just can’t let it go.

Aggressive


marketing just
wasn’t Sega’s forte
– this was about as
snippy as it got.
And honestly, that
bit Sega on the
backside in the
long run.

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System Profile / Sega Dreamcast

10 coin-op greats brought

home on Dreamcast
‘Arcade-perfect’ was never truer than with
this selection of awless ports

01 02 03

Soulcalibur Power Stone Marvel vs. Capcom 2

1999 1999 2000
You might call it a decent launch title if you’re in Capcom’s one-on-one arena-based 3D battler While the world patiently awaited arcade-perfect
the mood for gross understatement: Soulcalibur arrived on Dreamcast and promptly became versions of Street Fighter, Capcom took a slight
immediately set out the stall for the Dreamcast a mainstay for a massive percentage of the detour – took us on a ride, you might say – to
by being not just an arcade-perfect port, but console’s owners. Its mix of simple-but-deep one of the best tag-based fighting games
better than the arcade version. To this day, combos, open spaces to dash about, and e er made. t as ne er the technical fighter’s
it’s still a stunner of a fighting game, home to environmental attacks made the home version a favourite, being big and dumb and ludicrously
hidden depths (and hidden lizardmen), and is winner. The sequel focused more on four-player over the top, but Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is an
well worth its status as a legend. chaos, but was another fab arcade port. absolute top-tier arcade port on Dreamcast.

04 05
Crazy Taxi Gunbird 2
2000 2000
Nothing has ever felt as vibrant and alive as that Psikyo’s shooter sequel brought its mix of hectic
first time you played Crazy Taxi on Dreamcast. blasting and lovely 2D art to the home console
Sure, you didn’t have the full-size cab to sit exclusively on Dreamcast, where it joined
in at home, but you did have The Offspring many other dodge-and-weavers vying for the
going “YA YA YA YA YA!” in your ears and a affections of home-based players. And… it was
ridiculous, smooth-running cab-’em-up to enjoy good! Sub in the more obvious choice of Ikaruga
for as many hours as you wanted, no extra 50p here if you prefer, or even Giga Wing 2 if you like
pieces necessary. to have scoring systems that hit the trillions.

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Sega Dreamcast \ System Profile

06 07

Virtua Tennis 2 Dynamite Cop

2001 1999
Is it the most realistic tennis game ever made? The sequel to Die Hard Arcade that dropped the
Of course not. Did Top Spin better the Virtua licence and went unnoticed by many as a result;
Tennis series? Arguably. Does it matter when Dynamite Cop was a wonderful continuation
this is one of the finest arcade sports titles e er of the madcap antics of the first game. t’s big,
made, and one all the better for its perfect-port bold, unapologetically silly, and very much an
leap to the Dreamcast? Not in the slightest. arcade game in the purest form. That it came to
here are fe finer multiplayer sports games Dreamcast as such a flawless port was just the
out there, even to this day. icing on the delicious 3D violence.

10
08 09
Super Street Fighter II
Virtua Fighter 3tb Cannon Spike X For Matching Service
1998 2000 2000
It wasn’t quite a masterpiece, but Virtua Fighter Capcom loaned a bunch of its characters Other Street Fighter games might have been
3tb did help set out the Dreamcast’s stall as from Street Fighter, Mega Man, and more to expected, but there were issues in all of
home of the arcade-perfect ports. The original Psikyo for this 3D shooter – and it worked them. The Dreamcast port of Street Fighter II,
game missed its release on Sega’s Saturn, but out pretty darn well. Cannon Spike is an meanwhile, was the absolute best there had
this updated ersion of the fighter ith overlooked great of the arcade-at-home ever been to that point – arcade-perfect-plus,
added team battles – landed in the early days Dreamcast scene and the sort of unique and the ideal ay to play one of the best fighting
of Dreamcast. It might have been surpassed little wonder that really encapsulates the games ever made. If you could get a copy from
elsewhere, but it’s still worth a mention. feel of the turn of the century. Japan, at least.

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 Interface
Column

Game Friends
U
nless you’re one of those people to have a catch-up, I’ve begun to blend the two
who hates people and was glad to by spending time with friends gaming, while
see the back of them, the last year catching up. What I mean by this is, rather than
will have taken a real emotional picking games that lead to the conversation being
toll on you, as it has on me. When dominated by tactical chat about squad gameplay
lockdown began in March 2020, we were all or whatever, I’m focusing instead on things like
doing our best to navigate the ‘new normal’, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour with my old comedy partner
and there was undoubtedly an initial level of Sam Pamphilon, or Minecraft with GINX Esports
excitement and novelty in Zoom calls – whether TV stalwart, Chris Slight; the sorts of games
STEVE MCNEIL
for work, online quizzes, or whatever else it is we that are so familiar they don’t really require a
Steve likes friends
that play games. used to do on Zoom. significant portion of your attention.
Of course, we all eventually got fatigued from I appreciate there’s every chance some of
staring at an endless parade of alternate-reality you are reading this and thinking “Yes, Steve,
The Brady Bunch title sequences. (A special shout that is how I have been using online games for
out to the many parents who had to endure social time with friends for years”, but to me,
‘home-schooling’ on Zoom too, something that and several other people I’ve mentioned it to, it’s
I’m sure caused more actual pain than an army been something of a revelation, so I wanted to
of sadistic dentists could ever hope to.) pass it on, in the hope that it’s of help to some
As a result, I tended to do less and less of you reading this. As the months have passed,
online as time passed, but this ultimately meant anxieties and fatigue have led to many of us
I spent significantly less time with friends, reaching out less to people as we have ‘no news’
“Recently, something I hadn’t appreciated was so central because ‘nothing happens anymore’. But, with
to my emotional well-being until it all but my guard down and the slight distraction of a
I’ve been
vanished. But this isn’t a sob story. No ‘woe game that doesn’t require complete focus, I’m
playing is me’ to be found here. Rather, I come with finding hours have passed with a good friend
games an offer, a suggestion, which I hope will serve and a good game in a similar way to how I used
online with some of you well, as it has me. to go for ‘a quick pint’ after work, and then
Recently, I’ve begun playing games online with discover it’s already last orders, I’ve had a lovely
friends more
friends more regularly again, but with a different evening, and I’m heading to bed feeling the glow
regularly focus. Rather than arranging a ‘proper’ gaming of connection, uplifted.
again” session with friends, or alternatively just a chat And drunk. Some things never change.

 A nice, relaxing time

chatting with friends
– oh, and there’s
some Minecraft too, if
you want.

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 Rated
Contents

Backend Contents
Reviews, retro games, and lots more besides
92. Curse of the Dead Gods PC, PS4, XBO, Switch
94. NUTS PC, Switch, iOS OUR SCORES
95. Disjunction PC, PS4, XBO, Switch, Mac 1–9
Trash. Unplayable; a broken mess.

96. Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon iOS 10–19

A truly bad game, though not
97. Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood necessarily utterly broken.
PC, PS5, XB X/S, PS4, XBO 20–29
Still awful, but at a push could be
98. Gods Will Fall PC, PS4, XBO, XB X/S, Switch fun for two minutes.

99. Cyber Shadow PC, Mac, Linux, PS5, PS4, XBO, Switch
30–39
Might have a redeeming feature,
but otherwise very poor.
100. The Medium PC, XB X/S 40–49
Adds in more redeeming features,
101. Eternal Hope PC, Mac, XBO but still not worth your time.

102. Blue Fire PC, Switch, PS4, XBO 50–59

Average. Decent at best. ‘Just
about OK’.
Page 102: Lifting from other


greats isn’t the worst idea, 60–69

as Blue Fire shows.
Held back by glitches, bugs, or a lack
of originality, but can be good fun.

70–79
A very good game, but one lacking
spit and polish or uniqueness.

80–89
Brilliant. Fabulous fun. Everyone
should at least try it.

90–99
Cutting edge, original, unique, and/
or pushes the medium forward.

100
Never say never, eh?

PLUS
104. Backwards compatible
Unexpected releases make their way
to the present (from the past)

108. Now playing

Getting stuck in mud in cars, then
smashing things up. Also in cars

 Page 110: It’s not just mud. We’re

getting stuck in the snow too
with this month’s games.

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 Rated
Review

Review

Curse of the Dead Gods

Let sleeping gods lie

A
s soon as you start Curse of the Dead There’s also a note of good old Dark Souls.
Gods, you can almost hear the click For as much as the arena battles channel Hades,
GENRE
Info

of roguelike systems slotting into your gruff, heavy-booted charge has none of the
Action roguelike
place. Weapon synergies, passive preening agility of Zagreus. This is a game about
FORMAT
perks, currencies to spend between age, not eternal renewal, about mortal limitations
PS4 (tested) / PC
Switch / Xbox One runs. Click, click, click. Interlocking like a jigsaw and the rusty deni ens of long-sealed tombs.
puzzle, complementing their neighbours. It’s It’s fitting that your movements are weighty, and
DEVELOPER
Passtech Games all so perfectly rehearsed you might long for a constrained by pips of stamina displayed beneath
PUBLISHER jagged edge, something that sticks out as boldly your feet.
Focus Home innovative. But settle into its cycle of micro- It’s exciting too, goading you to drive to the wire,
Interactive decisions and expressive combat, and its steady to toy with your final pip like a game of chicken.
PRICE method reveals an elaborate beauty. As a harpy prepares to swoop, can you squeeze
£17.99 he influences on Curse are clear – a checklist in a finishing blow, do you dodge and recharge,
RELEASE of today’s most cherished roguelike touchstones or try and parry for a bonus refill then counter
Out now – but developer Passtech manages them more At the back of your mind is the greed kill’ timer,
deftly than most. he perspective and action badgering you to make uick, faultless takedowns
can’t but recall Hades, with the giveaway glint of for larger cash pri es. So you segue into a tick-tock
incoming assaults and colourful circles to herald rhythm of last-second cancels and hit-and-run
explosions. Weapon combinations rub off from combos. Or push too far, and are left lumbering
REVIEWED BY Dead Cells. The route selection through each of pipless as a barrage of enemy attacks converge.
Jon Bailes three Aztec temples nods to Slay the Spire. There’s more to juggle besides, and it’s a lot
when you’re bedding in. You can hold three
Each temple focuses on one of
weapons at once, two one-handers – sword and


three elements fire, lightning, shield, perhaps, or claw and dagger – plus a slow
and poison which yo can
channel thro gh certain weapons. two-hander, from charging bows to monstrous
hammers. It’s dangerous to get in close, safer
to rely on projectile fire or the delicious whack
of a whip to keep foes at bay, circling in Benny

92 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

There’s a hint of arkest


ngeon in the vis als,
albeit too literally at
times it’s hard to see
what’s going on.

efeat a boss and yo



can p rge one of the

c rses yo ’ve accr ed
before moving on.

Hill trains, while holding dodge roll potential in

reserve. ven then, long-range attacks and aerial
bombardments are a concern, while booby traps
are as likely to catch out the inattentive gladiator
as lure opponents to a uick demise. And there’s
the light, blooming from your torch only when yang, right up to sacrificing e uipment drops to
weapons are sheathed, relighting braziers that those unseen gods for minor health refills and
monsters snuff out. It’s not merely a matter corruption salves. our relationship with the HIGHLIGHT
of visibility – getting stabbed in the dark is far powers that be is in constant, unspoken flux, Lore is sparse, but subtly
more damaging. exploiting their boons to help kill their servants. All worked into the systems
Yet Curse doesn’t pile its ideas on so much the little give and takes make every decision that of exploration. A sense of
crumbling decay contextualises
as arrange them in conveyor belts of pointed bit more succulent.
cracked walls harbouring piles
dilemmas. It’s an acolyte of the mantra that every he one bump of note is a challenge curve that of gold, and collapsing bridges
roguelike choice should have conse uences, holds shallow too long then steepens abruptly. that gate off retreat. Ancient
from fight-or-flight instincts to an explorer’s o start, you can only attempt a one-act run in worship has left entry halls
littered with material offerings,
deliberations. Dungeons are denser than in each temple, emerging victorious if you defeat
gold, and common relics,
Hades, with arenas split by winding passageways, a boss. ou then unlock a second act, a third, while the depths bare their
forks, and nestled treasures. and a gruelling fourth, teeth with signs of depraved
Between battles, you gambol “The perspective and extending future forays. But human sacrifice.
like Indiana ones over spiked by the time you’re seriously
floor traps or scoop up coins
action can’t help but planning to bring down third
amongst poison-spewing recall Hades ” act bosses, the content of
statues. xit a section and early stages matters less
you plot a restricted path based on promised than the rewards they bestow. It’s a problem
rewards – more gold, or altars selling stat boosts many roguelikes share, but still, working
or weapons very cash stopover is a missed your way through basic traps and foes does
opportunity to upgrade, but upgrades cost money. become routine.
xcept, altars don’t only take gold, they also therwise, the teeth in the cogs tessellate near-
accept payment in blood. And that links back to faultlessly. Yes, that’s in part because they follow
the titular curse. ou’re a icted with dark magic, established blueprints, but they’re executed here
signified by a corruption’ meter that fills each time with uncommon proficiency and detail. If Curse’s
you exit a room or offer blood, that sporadically intricacies may feel uninviting at first, once they
brands you with a random hex. Maybe you become second nature click.
can’t light certain braziers anymore, or defeated
enemies spawn smaller enemies, or – the horror
– you lose a stamina pip. In truth, it’s rarely all that VERDICT
devilish. ost curses are minor thorns or trade- Curse of the Dead Gods
offs, which only occasionally stack significantly. ot blends familiar roguelike
the jagged edge they might have been, pushing elements with rare
you to switch styles on the fly. refi e e t a d de sit
Because streamlining takes precedence in
Curse, the team of parts, not star players. And
while it lacks genuine flair, fine-tuning the mesh ll weapons have a charge attack 77%


that delivers critical damage, and

of each run is thickly engrossing. For every yin a some also interr pt enemy attacks.

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 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
The biggest highlight in NUTS
isn’t a nocturnal animal – sound
designer and composer Almut
Schwacke provides many of the
 Handling your old-school best elements in the game.
equipment feels wonderfully She not only wrote the
tactile, but playing NUTS with
a controller is finicky. soundtrack, including her own
performance of the ending
espite the stark lines and the theme, but she also voices


striking colo r scheme, the

your boss. Most importantly, the
forest feels dense and real.
sound engineer and multi-
instrumentalist is an
accomplished Foley artist, which
explains the life-like atmosphere
Review
in NUTS ’ virtual forest.

NUTS
Shooting squirrels, the humane way

I
’m in a forest, drawn with stark lines just this: you set your camera down, you witness a
against a soft yellow background. squirrel run in and out of frame, then jog into the
GENRE he trees are different shades of blue, woods to put your cameras further along what
Info

Adventure the camera I carry stands out in bright hopefully was the critter’s path, and rinse and
FORMAT orange. The view is a colour-blocking repeat until you find a s uirrel’s nest or its stash.
Switch (tested) / PC /
marvel, but I don’t have the calmness of mind xactly two types of people are reading this
Apple Arcade
to properly appreciate the tableau. I’ve just review right now – those to whom this sounds
DEVELOPER
Joon, Pol, Muutsch,
stumbled down an underpass and now can’t relaxing and satisfying, and those who are
ar rfi remember if I’ve been here before or not. I’m on thinking, “No, thank you”. Maybe you enjoy bird-
PUBLISHER the hunt for a squirrel, and I’ve just lost its trail. watching, or taking a lot of care to frame and
Noodlecake The experience at the rearrange your photos.
PRICE heart of NUTS is quickly “Rinse and repeat until In that case, NUTS is for
£15.49 explained – you’re a grad you. But everyone turned
RELEASE student who takes a job
u d u el off by the main in-game
Out now in squirrel surveillance nest or its stash” loop won’t find much else
for a research project. here, as the mystery at the
That’s literally the whole task – watching squirrels heart of NUTS remains a mystery to the very end.
from a caravan out in the woods. At first, you’re he setup is promising – from a shadowy
REVIEWED BY simply confirming the rodents’ existence: you corporation to a squirrel population exhibiting
Malindy Hetfeld place a camera at a particular spot, then go back some very un-squirrel-like behaviour, there’s
to the trailer to press the recording button on a lot that could’ve happened – but NUTS ends
your equipment. If a squirrel appears on your without telling me what, or if anything, ever did
recorded footage, you press pause, print the happen. Instead, I have to spend large swathes of
VERDICT picture, and fax it to your boss, a researcher my playtime in silence, left alone in a forest, in a
NUTS is an artistic called Dr. Nina Scholz, who then gives you a game where everything feels like work.
accomplishment, but the call. It’s all pretty low-tech and easy enough to
conceptually intriguing do: you’re a student, after all. ach task takes
idea doesn’t make for you to a new location within the forest, where
engaging gameplay. the parameters of your job change slightly. The
subject you’re tracking might change, or you’re

60% asked to catch a squirrel at a particular time.

There are six assignments in total, and while the
effort to offer variety is palpable, NUTS is really

94 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Key names and organisations are
highlighted in text, and moving
your mouse over them tells you
who they are and what they’re
about. We’d love to see this in
more games to stop you getting
confused about who’s who and
what’s going on.

Review

Disjunction
Enemies will investigate downed


comrades – you can hide bodies to

avoid this, or use them as bait to
lure guards off their patrol route.

Cyberpunk stealth offers a sneaky take on Hotline Miami

I
f there’s one thing I want from my stealth with the genre, its story ends up being a bit by
games, it’s that the terms of engagement the numbers, with a ‘revelation’ that you’ll spot
are clear. If you’re ever unsure about coming a mile off. here’s nothing here that’s GENRE

Info
when enemies can spot you and when going to stop you enjoying what’s good about Stealth-action RPG

they can’t, or how they are going to the game though, and the cyberpunk setting at FORMAT
PC (tested) / PS4 /
respond to particular actions, then stealth is least provides an excuse to equip each character
Xbox One / Mac /
always going to be an exercise in frustration. with a series of special abilities that add a layer Switch
Disjunction understands this. Each enemy has of finesse to the basic formula of sneaking DEVELOPER
clear vision cones while you’re sneaking, meaning around and bashing enemies unconscious with Ape Tribe Games
you can always see when you’re safe and when melee attacks. PUBLISHER
you’re not, and can plan your actions accordingly. Vision-obscuring smoke bombs, an enemy- Sold Out
The game counterbalances its provision of an stunning dash attack, and a holographic cat that PRICE
empowering bounty of visual information with draws the attention of patrolling guards are just £12.99
intricately overlapping patrol patterns and a a few of the abilities on offer to help you sneak RELEASE
vulnerability to enemy attacks that ensures through criminal hideouts and corporate labs. Out now
its levels work as a series of challenging and For the most part, they’re effective and fun to use,
satisfying action-puzzle rooms. At its best, it balanced with a cool-down timer and energy cost
feels like a slower-paced take on Hotline Miami, that ensures they can’t be spammed.
combining a satisfying loop of planning and ou can enhance your character’s skills at
execution with moments of thrilling seat-of-the- the end of each level via experience points and REVIEWED BY
Paul Walker-Emig
pants improvisation. upgrade kits, the game making a well-judged
Disjunction sees you playing as three decision to let you reallocate them each time,
characters – a private detective, an ex-merc freeing you to experiment with different tweaks
turned underground boxer, and a hacker – to your playstyle. heoretically, you’re given yet
unravelling an archetypal cyberpunk conspiracy. more choice via the gun each character carries.
In trying to hit all the notes typically associated he game half-heartedly tells you you can choose
to blast your way through and ignore stealth,
Stupid sexy cyborg-man.
but it’s so obviously designed with stealth as its VERDICT


primary focus that you’re best off ignoring that, or A sneaky success from a
you’re going to be playing an inferior game. new studio showing plenty
There are things that let Disjunction down, from of potential.
the rote story to inconsistent check-pointing that
can be maddening at times. None of these rough
edges would make me hesitate recommending a
solid stealth experience with some good ideas.
72%
wfmag.cc \ 95
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Swapping between characters
in single-player offers some
really interesting tactical
possibilities, especially when
combined with the different
equipment. You’ll blast out
some ranged attacks, switch to
a melee attacker, drop a bomb,
and then finish off the
stragglers with a special wand.
Experimenting is loads of fun
and keeps things entertaining.

The Grandmaster character


has a long melee reach, but
Review he’s vulnerable to attacks
from the side.

Oceanhorn:
Chronos Dungeon
A hack-and-slash RPG that’s infinitely more fun when
played with a few friends
GENRE
Info

T
RPG
FORMAT he best moments in Oceanhorn: the level, so making use of all of them is one of the
iOS Chronos Dungeon are the ones you keys to success.
DEVELOPER make yourself. The same-room co- You also get one piece of equipment. These
Cornfox & Brothers
operative gameplay is designed to can be offensive – bombs, energy-blasting wands,
PUBLISHER elicit reactions, the simple controls razor-edged boomerangs – or used to revive fallen
Cornfox & Brothers
meaning anyone with an iOS device and an heroes when their health drops to zero.
PRICE
Apple Arcade subscription can jump in to slice up The violence here is tight and sharp, and it’s
Free (Apple Arcade)
monsters and set the fantastical world to rights. easy to get overwhelmed if you’re not paying
RELEASE
Out now That world is randomly generated, meaning attention. You need to pick the right time to
each time you step into the game, you’re attack, keep away from enemies when they start
going to be facing something slightly different. to flash, and use your gear to turn the tables if
he experience remains mainly the same, though. things start to go awry. In multiplayer games,
You wander through dungeons, smashing pots you’ll need to work together, using the skills of
and crates, butchering skeletons, blobs, and bats, the different warriors together to battle back the
and making your way to the exit stairs. villainous hordes.
REVIEWED BY There are some interesting ideas here. One of his is definitely a game you’re going to want to
Harry Slater them involves a golden statue that’s hidden on play with others. The single-player is solid, and it’ll
every level. Find it, spend some of your hard- keep you entertained for a while, but it slowly and
earned gold, and you can take the di culty surely falls flat if there’s no one else to share the
– or risk, as it’s called in the game – down a experience with. hrow in some friends, and you’re
VERDICT few notches. Your characters change between dealing with a completely different beast.
With friends, this is a must- playthroughs, too, with a random build based on It’s a real shame there isn’t an online mode
play. On your own, it loses star signs and temperament granted at random. here, although regular challenges do manage to
its sparkle a lot quicker. When you’re playing with fewer than four keep things fresher than they otherwise would be.
players, you can swap between the idle characters As a single-player experience, Oceanhorn: Chronos

76% with a tap on the top of the screen. Characters

have different strengths and weaknesses, and get
boosts depending on the season and setting of
Dungeon lacks the meat it needs to keep you
deeply engaged. With friends, it’s a brilliant piece of
social glue that’ll have you adventuring for hours.

96 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Cahal can also shapeshift
into a regular wolf during
stealth sections. There aren’t
any real benefits to this
considering you still have to
be in human form to silently
take down guards, push
buttons, and interact with
computers, but it does mean
you can move a lot faster
than you otherwise would.

You spend the game



fighting thro gh grey

factories in a forest, and
Review then later on thro gh grey
factories in the desert.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse

– Earthblood
You’ll have a more enjoyable time howling at the moon

I
t’s a bad sign when the actual act of mashing is the key to ending most fights, while
being a werewolf isn’t particularly bland and uninspired environments do little to

Info
satisfying in a werewolf video game. alleviate the tedium. GENRE
Action adventure
There’s an inherent power fantasy The story is more entertaining on paper,
FORMAT
involved when you’re behind the eyes but that’s merely a mirage. Part of the World of
PS5 (tested) /
of a giant mythical beast, yet, Werewolf: The Darkness series of tabletop role-playing games, PS4 / Xbox One /
Apocalypse – Earthblood misses out on the whole Earthblood does tap into its tabletop origins by XB X/S / PC
‘power’ angle by a large margin. This can be delving into the series’ complex lore. The problem DEVELOPER
attributed to a few different factors, from the way with this is that Earthblood assumes you already Cyanide
combat functions, to a misguided over-reliance know everything there is to know about the World PUBLISHER
on stealth, and the game’s banal story. of Darkness by constantly using concepts and Nacon, Big Ben
Let’s start with the combat. One of the main terminology it refuses to explain. ou’re going to Interactive

problems with Earthblood’s fisticuffs is that it lacks be in the dark for all its big picture ideas if you’re PRICE
£44.99
a tangible sense of weight. This would be a glaring not familiar with the source.
omission in most action games, but especially All you really need to know is that you play as RELEASE
Out now
one where you’re a ten-foot-tall hunk of pure a werewolf called Cahal who’s part of a tribe of
muscle and rage. Limited animations compound eco-terrorists. As it turns out, the lycanthrope
the issue by making each swing of your deadly population is very big on environmentalism, so
claws feel clunky and lifeless, while the enemy AI you’re pitted against an evil corporation that’s
rarely ever reacts to your scything blows. That last knowingly polluting the environment. his sounds REVIEWED BY
part might be the most egregious of the bunch mildly interesting and is at least unique, but the Richard Wakeling
considering the amount of regular humans you story suffers through stale dialogue and wooden
fight. ou would think these armed guards were voice acting, where Cahal sounds bored and
being inconvenienced by a toddler as opposed to uninterested when he’s supposed to be wrestling
ravished by a deadly lycanthrope. with an uncontrollable rage. VERDICT
Different enemy types shake things up a tad Stealth is Earthblood’s strongest component by Bad combat is the silver
by forcing you to dodge shotgun blasts and silver virtue of being merely competent. Its fre uency bullet through the heart for
bullet-tinged sniper fire. here’s also a small is misplaced, though, considering how irrelevant this werewolf action game.
assortment of abilities for you to unleash, but it makes the whole werewolf concept. And that’s
Earthblood’s skill tree is underwhelming, with
most of the options improving existing abilities
rather than adding new ones. Simplistic button-
where Earthblood’s failures lie: being a werewolf
just isn’t fun. Nothing else will reconcile that
disappointing conclusion.
26%
wfmag.cc \ 97
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
The morale of your team is
palpable as they gather around the
entrance to a dungeon. Never more
than after defeating a god, when
the gate reopens and the victorious
hero returns to great relief and
celebration. The flip side of course
is when you fail a mission, and feel
the dismay as nobody emerges.

Review

The realms vary

Gods Will Fall
Make your makers meet their makers


greatly in shape,
from at spreads to

E
clifftop climbs.
ven deities can push their luck too far. to succeed, whether you’ve sent in a proven hero
Gods Will Fall shows what happens or cowed underachiever. Each step through the
when a bunch of eldritch dictators densely woven monuments to enslavement and
GENRE overindulge in human sacrifice: depravity feels singular and nervy.
Info

Action- now there’s a mob of lapsed pagans here’s a double-edged sword here, however,
adventure
marching around their homeland, intent on and not the kind wielded by your Celtic
FORMAT
extinguishing their wrath. combatants – Gods Will Fall’s pleasing blend of
PS4 (tested) /
PC / Switch / You control this eight-strong group, scouting proc-gen and bespoke design is also the source
Xbox One / the isle of the gods before selecting any of the of its limitations. It would feel lesser without its
XB X/S ten gates that grant access to their divine realms. crafted layouts and their unique quirks, such as
DEVELOPER Only one would-be champion can enter at a time, a hellish descent that throws you into its grubby
Clever Beans to bash through clusters of crazed acolytes then gutter should you die, from where you might just
PUBLISHER smite the deity itself. Fail, and that warrior is lost climb back up. But these, and various tactical
Deepsilver
until another team member destroys the god in morsels, aren’t uite enough to stop the maps
PRICE uestion. h, and each new game shu es the becoming routine after a few forays. Combat too
£19.99
di culty of the realms, so you don’t know on hits a sweet spot where you’ve adjusted to the
RELEASE
arrival which are sparsely protected and which are foibles of different weapon types and slipped into
Out now
crammed with monsters. a slick rhythm, before starting to feel one-note.
here’s a hint of the classic Mega Man formula Fortunately, with the ability to rescue lost
REVIEWED BY here as you dip toes into stages early on, losing a fighters, it’s not a big ask to finish the game in a
Jon Bailes life or two, before zeroing in on a manageable zone, few attempts. hat’s fine, but it leaves scant reason
beating a boss, and earning stat boosts. Gods Will to revisit and begs the question whether all the
Fall adds more intriguing wrinkles to this fabric, random elements were worth the bother. Gods
though, by intertwining its numbers game with the Will Fall is a strange hybrid, then, whose charms
randomised biographies and personalities of your are entangled with its flaws. Still, nobody’s perfect
charges. Stats may rise or fall as victors evolve into – not even gods.
raging champions or return from battle exhausted.
A warrior might be reduced by fear for a period, or
be spurred on by vengeance if their best mate falls.
VERDICT Combined with the do-or-die structure, these
An original take on Souls- personal touches nudge up the stakes of each
like combat that runs out of mini-odyssey. Death can come quickly from rank-
steam a little too soon.
and-file mutants or clumsy missteps into sheer
drops (some of which are annoyingly hard to spot),

68% while tricky boss encounters are energised by the

prospect of redoing the whole mission should you
god’s health is partially tied to its


fall. But you also just want your chosen underdog acolytes – kill more to make the boss easier.

98 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Cyber Shadow ’s boss battles
are tough but creative, and
these encounters are the
one arena where the game’s
difficulty feels most fair.
With checkpoints right
outside the boss chamber,
Review you can focus purely on
nailing this one short but
challenging encounter,

Cyber Shadow
instead of maintaining a high
level of performance across
dra n-out platforming.

Cyber Shadows Die Twice

C
yber Shadow looks and plays like an design choices. nlike other recent masocore
HD take on the NES Ninja Gaiden platformers, Cyber Shadow has a nasty habit of

Info
GENRE
games but with Ryu Hayabusa separating checkpoints by really long distances.
Action-platformer
transplanted into a cyberpunk future. ou thankfully have unlimited lives, but even with
FORMAT
Mechanical Head Studios’ debut that modern convenience, I was often stuck on PC (tested) / Mac
action-platformer has a story, if you’re interested, one section for an hour at a time. The level design / Linux / PS4 /
in why the dark future still has ninja clans. But is consistently engaging, but the varied threats PS5 / Xbox One /
the real draw here is the retro thrill of running, that kept me on edge quickly became frustrating. Switch
jumping, and slicing your way through gorgeous I found myself wishing that Mechanical Head had DEVELOPER
pixel art environments. kept the same content in place, but with extra Mechanical
Head Studios
Cyber Shadow is the first externally developed checkpoints to take some of the edge off.
PUBLISHER
game published by acht Club Games, and it fits Cyber Shadow offers minor tweaks that can
Yacht Club Games
right in with the tone the Shovel Knight dev has make the di culty less punishing. At each of
PRICE
established for itself. Like that 2014 hit, it looks the checkpoints, you have the option to spend £17.99
the way you remember, but with a significantly orange orbs that you can collect throughout each
RELEASE
expanded pixel count and colour palette. And, level on upgrades that can provide a small buff. Out now
more importantly, with some of the rough edges his system feels pretty undercooked, though.
sanded off the gameplay. Given that you can keep orange orbs when
Not all the rough edges, though. Cyber you die, I always had more than enough to buy
Shadow is the toughest platformer I’ve upgrades every time they were available.
REVIEWED BY
played in a long time, and that di culty can, Additionally, the upgrades on offer are
Andrew King
unfortunately, come from some frustrating inconsistent, and, often, when I reached a really
di cult section, there was nothing useful for sale.
So, rather than feeling like a potential purchase
The platforming action


heats up once you unlock to help you proceed through especially di cult
the double-jump toward
the end of the game.
moments, these purchases instead feel like VERDICT
foregone conclusions. Of course you’ll buy it. Cyber Shadow has tight
What else are you going to do with all this cash platforming, solid action,
Not that it will help much. and impressive art, but
Overall, Cyber Shadow is a fine homage that ee s st defi ed its
does little to differentiate itself from the many r strati di fic t
tough-as-nails action platformers that came
before. Its one innovation feels inessential. But, if
you really like being a ninja who is having a hard
time, check it out.
65%
wfmag.cc \ 99
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
The visual design of The
Medium’s spirit world is
modelled after the late
Polish artist Zdzisław
Beksiński’s work. Each
location is suitably grim,
with early sections
resembling a hive that’s
been moulded together by
mucus and human bone. Yet
it still never quite matches
up to the work it was
inspired by.

Review

The split-screen mechanic

The Medium


allows for some unique

framing during cutscenes, A psychological horror game that’s light on both

D
but the real world is
generally only used to show
Marianne talking to herself. eath seeps into every facet of The threads act as unnecessary padding. But the
Medium, from the opening line heart of Marianne’s journey is a compelling one;
of dialogue to its final poignant it’s just a shame that it stands apart as the only
moments. Combine this morbid aspect of The Medium that’s interested in coaxing
GENRE theme with fixed camera angles, you towards its conclusion.
Info

Psychological a score partially composed by Akira Yamaoka, The actual act of playing the game is consistently
horror and Bloober Team’s history of developing horror dull. Take the marriage between the real world
FORMAT games, and it would be logical to surmise that The and the spirit world as a prime example. his is
PC (tested) / Medium is a terrifying love letter to Silent Hill and an interesting concept that uses split-screen to
XBS X/S
games of its ilk. Aside from one cheap jump scare, place you in both words simultaneously. It’s an
DEVELOPER
however, The Medium is almost entirely bereft of impressive technical feat, but the way it’s used is
Bloober Team
tension and frights, instead relying on its story disappointing, with progression often achieved
PUBLISHER
Bloober Team to carry you through to the by completing the most
end credits. “The actual act of predictable puzzles, often
PRICE
That story centres on revolving around finding
£39.99
protagonist Marianne, a
playing the game is spirit energy to power up
RELEASE
Out now clairvoyant who’s able to consistently dull” junction boxes and open the
commune with the dead path forward. Sometimes
in both the real world and the spirit realm. After puzzles are slightly more involved, tapping into
REVIEWED BY receiving a mysterious phone call urging her the setting and its history, but these moments are
Richard Wakeling to investigate a post-war holiday camp called few and far between. When not puzzling you’re
the Niwa Resort, Marianne heads to the Polish avoiding a malevolent spirit called The Maw, the
hinterland in search of answers. What she initially form of which is revealed way too early, meaning
finds is a brutalist eyesore of Soviet architecture there’s no suspense in future encounters.
VERDICT – the resort now dilapidated and morose after Piecing together Marianne’s past is the only
The Medium lacks decades of neglect. The Medium’s central mystery engrossing part of The Medium. There are
scares and struggles to revolves around what exactly happened to the interesting ideas scattered throughout, but
fi t e te tia its denizens of this hotel to leave it in such a state, these moments are fleeting and bogged down by
headline gimmick. but the narrative gradually expands and evolves humdrum puzzle and stealth sections. Even the
into a tale that’s deeply personal for Marianne. game’s headline gimmick squanders its potential

44% There are missteps, such as attempts to tackle

P SD and child abuse in a manner that lacks the
required depth and tact, and some of its story
by playing it too safe, rendering its dimension-
switching mechanic little more than a backdrop
for bland puzzle-solving.

100 / wfmag.cc
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
The forest isn’t completely
filled ith peril e ery step
you go. esides the shado y
n’mu ho lend a literal
hand, you also encounter a
couple of animal allies that
come to your aid, including
one ho initially seems li e
a threat but the sight of
hunted ildlife strung up is a
sign they probably ha e more
Review to fear than you.

Eternal Hope
Can love conquer all?

W
ithin a few minutes, Eternal Each of the short chapters does try to
Hope will have your emotions introduce a new threat or mechanic, from Cutscenes using some


careening from one end to the fleeing from traps and trolls to manipulating simple yet effective
illustrations do much of
next. hings start off rather water levels while avoiding drowning yourself. the story’s emotional
heavy lifting.
twee as your silhouetted boy Much of this will feel familiar, but it’s all executed
Ti’bi mopes about alone in the woods, until one with real design flair, and the controls are nicely
day he happens to meet the love of his life, only judged. he obvious influence is Limbo – down
for her to be taken away after a tragic accident. to the silhouette figures with white dots for eyes
But when a shadowy figure called the eeper – but Eternal Hope lacks the same mystery in its
Info
GENRE
of Souls tells Ti’bi he can still save his belle by storytelling, even if it does sometimes succeed Puzzle platformer
retrieving fragments of her soul, our protagonist in tugging at your heartstrings. It doesn’t help FORMAT
is prepared to go to hell and back for love. that its visuals are sometimes more complicated PC / Mac / Xbox One
What this boils down to is than they need to be, so there DEVELOPER
a 2D puzzle platformer where “The obvious are moments where you Doublehit Games
you have the power to shift flue e Limbo, don’t realise which objects PUBLISHER
Kwalee
between your world and a can be interacted with and
shadow plane where you’re
but Eternal Hope which are simply part of the PRICE
also assisted – sometimes l e e background. On a number
£7.19
RELEASE
unwittingly – by masked mystery” of occasions, I found myself
Out now
figures reminiscent of Spirited stuck on puzzles where I
Away’s o-Face. A mysterious fairy called eli, who didn’t realise something was interactable or
accompanies you for most of your journey, isn’t that I had to die a few times before the solution
REVIEWED BY
just there to chat lore, but also to keep your power became apparent, which led to some frustrating
Alan Wen
in check, with a gauge limiting the time you can trial-and-error moments.
remain in the shadow world. For the most part, the For a game that can be finished in a couple of
puzzles are basic, and simply require getting from hours, Eternal Hope often feels like it drags on
A to B by pushing or pulling an object or hitting a for longer, as it doesn’t manage to do enough VERDICT
switch. The shifting mechanic adds a bit of a twist, to make its puzzles and encounters have the A heartfelt story that’s
but not enough on its own. aving otherworldly same level of invention and intrigue as its sadly hollow in execution.
beings appear in the shadow world is one thing, influences. After that emotional opening, I was
but there’s no real logic to platforms or objects
only being in one realm or the other, so it comes
off as a contrivance.
surprised to find myself a bit bored by the time
Eternal Hope’s predictable conclusion emerged
from the shadows.
55%
wfmag.cc \ 101
 Rated
Review

HIGHLIGHT
Blue Fire has some fantastically
tough platforming challenges
that make full use of the game’s
expansive moveset. These
‘Void Challenges’ are optional, Review
so you can walk away from any
that give you too much trouble.

Blue Fire
They grant health upgrades,
though, so you’re rewarded for
mastering the platforming.
Navigating Blue Fire ’s world requires


wall-running, dashing, double
Providing a familiar warmth jumping, and more.

B
lue Fire isn’t doing anything new, and makes fights energetic and acrobatic. Boss
that’s OK. encounters can occasionally be a pain point, but
GENRE
Info

During my 25 hours with the debut are mostly good fun.

3D action-
title from Robi Studios, I thought, “Hey, Blue Fire has a strange structure, though, that
platformer
this is a lot like The Wind Waker,” and, hurts its momentum somewhat in the later game.
FORMAT
PC (tested) / Switch “Hey, this is a lot like Dark Souls,” and, “Hey, this is The early hours pack in plenty of exploration and
a lot like Super Mario Sunshine,” and I was correct a few Zelda-style dungeons, which I loved solving.
DEVELOPER
Robi Studios each time. Derivativeness But the later game mostly finds
PUBLISHER notwithstanding, Blue Fire “A full-fledged 3D you searching through areas
Graffiti Games is one more data point in you’ve already visited in search
platformer from an
PRICE a welcome recent trend: a of critical path boss battles.
£15.49 full-fledged, big, 3D platformer indie studio that Exploration is still rewarding,
RELEASE from an indie studio that also feels great to play” though, with side content
Out now manages to feel great to play. hidden away throughout
Its interconnected world, Penumbra, is terrific Penumbra that makes backtracking worthwhile.
to explore. I loved using my double jump, dash, Though I’ve rolled credits, Blue Fire’s world still
REVIEWED BY and wall-run to navigate its ominous spaces. All of has plenty of secrets to find. It may not be doing
Andrew King your adventures happen within a castle floating anything new, but it offers a world that’s well worth
in the sky, and while most of this self-contained exploring as well as, like the name implies, one
world is delightfully dark, the spots of colour – like that’s comfortingly warm.
the verdant Stoneheart City and the
VERDICT lava lakes of Firefall River – keep it Blue Fire probably won’t


Blue Fire isn’t the visually interesting. Each new area is an make you care about its
characters, but their
least bit original, but – exciting discovery. designs are pretty good.
occasionally annoying Combat isn’t super-deep, and mostly
reliance on backtracking, requires locking on to your enemies
aside – it is a terrific and wailing on them with the same
pastiche of other, more attack until they die. You also have a
groundbreaking games. ranged energy shot, but many bosses
are immune, so you won’t want to rely

78% on it when things get tough. Despite

the limitations of combat options, your
character’s jump-focused moveset

102 / wfmag.cc
THE BESTSELLING MAG FOR PC HARDWARE, OVERCLOCKING, GAMING & MODDING

PC HARDWARE
ENTHUSIASTS

ISSUE 212 OUT NOW

VISIT CUSTOMPC.CO.UK TO LEARN MORE
 Retro
Backwards compatible

WRITTEN BY IAN “EVERDRIVE” DRANSFIELD

The Rarest games

GoldenEye 007 HD landed the other
month, but there was always something
in the back of my head saying that would
happen. The abandoned pre-Star Fox
Adventures Rare project, Dinosaur Planet?
Nope. Never going to happen. Holy grail
stuff. Well, here we are, me sitting at my
desk happily playing away at a game Rare
worked on for years before it was bundled
up and reformed into a GameCube
adventure starring Fox McCloud at the
behest of Nintendo honcho Shigeru
Miyamoto. This is: a surprise.
So Dinosaur Planet, then: it’s Star Fox
Adventures. Basically. In fact, the version
leaked online – apparently from a collector
and unrelated to Nintendo having a hell of
a lot of its data nicked – comes from the
point where the game had been updated See, where Star Fox Adventures was an
to include Fox McCloud as a playable odd misfire for both Rare and intendo,
character. There’s plenty that carried over before all that, Dinosaur Planet was meant
from Dinosaur Planet into the finished to be the ’s last big game. Well, one
GameCube game, so it’s not hugely of its last big games. I don’t think it was
unrecognisable if you’ve ever played particularly well-known at the turn of the
Adventures – action-adventure, a Zelda-lite millennium, and quietly transitioned to a
feel to things, dinosaur companions, that Star Fox game behind the scenes (in this
sort of thing. version, Fox McCloud is sometimes still
But where the game might not be referred to as Sabre, the original name
hugely surprising, the fact I’ve been sat for the character he was introduced
here playing it on an N64 absolutely is. to replace). But for years we’ve known
Dinosaur Planet was a thing, and as with crikey it makes the N64 (original hardware,
so many tantalising cancelled games, it’s fact fans) chug a fair bit – the mere fact we
always seemed ethereal, forever out of are able to play this once-lost curio speaks
reach. Similar to the remastered GoldenEye volumes for the power of the internet, and
007 HD, you could say. collectors, and wonderful nerds the world
So while I might not be utterly over. Now let’s work on rescuing Prey 2
enamoured with the actual game – and by from the bin, shall we?

104 / wfmag.cc
 Retro
Backwards compatible

DOOM’s genesis
I’ll never stop playing ports of DOOM, and I’ll never stop being
surprised by them – good and bad. The most recent additions
to the list come in the form of MegaDoom and a couple of
versions of the game ported by flashcart-making master,
krik . he latter offered a huge surprise, in that krik had
been able to hack together a version of DOOM that would work
on a stock Mega Drive with no enhancements or workarounds
necessary. The downside? It runs at around two or three
seconds per frame. Another version from the hacker works on SA-1 it ain’t so
his ega verDrive Pro flashcart, and runs a smidge better as
it takes advantage of the cartridge’s FPGA – it’s still woefully, Elsewhere in mucking about with old consoles, I’ve been playing
unplayably slow though, so not anything beyond a curio. my way through a bunch of SNES games that have been
I’d given up all hope ‘til a Valentine’s Day release, though, enhanced thanks to one nifty little trick. Nintendo’s early nineties
when someone going by the handle @GamesUniq on Twitter beast was beset with various enhancement chips in cartridges,
released MegaDoom. It’s another version requiring the Mega including the Super Accelerator 1 (SA-1) – titles like Super Mario
Everdrive Pro and uses the FPGA again, but this… crikey, RPG and Kirby’s Fun Pak using that particular bit of hardware.
it works. It’s a stable frame rate, runs quickly, has everything But now we have a few more games – Contra III, Race Drivin’,
from the original game, supports a bunch of different wads Super Mario World, Super R-Type, Gradius III, and maybe some
– it’s DOOM! OK, so it’s others – that can tap into the SA-1’s extra grunt. At least if you’re
cheating, it’d never run emulating or can cannibalise an existing SA-1 cartridge, that is.
on a regular cart, but it is What I’ve found with these upgrades is a bunch of games that
still DOOM on the Mega run almost entirely without slowdown, seeming to actually run
Drive, and for that, I will faster than the original versions, and there’s a distinct feeling that
be eternally impressed. – maybe – developers designed some things with slowdown in
Check it out here: mind. Because crikey, they seem a lot harder. It’s going to be cool
wfmag.cc/MegaDoom. to see what else these dedicated modder-hackers can come up
with in future, though.

wfmag.cc \ 105
 Retro
Backwards compatible

WRITTEN BY RYAN LAMBIE

Ultimate Sega Game Gear: Part 3

If this mini-series on modifying a Game
Gear has had any use at all, I hope it’s this:
it proves that if even a clumsy oaf such as
myself can successfully breathe life into a
broken console, then you can do it, too.
As previous instalments have proven,
the McWill screen isn’t what you’d call a
drop-in solution – there are components
to be removed from the console and
wires to be soldered onto thin data lines
– but even with my cheap soldering iron
and unsteady hand, I managed to get it
installed and working.
With the soldering work done, next
At last: my ultimate Sega
comes the last and (hopefully) more of the wires will get


Game Gear is finished.

straightforward step: rehousing the whole caught on the screw posts It’s love at first sight.
lot in a brand new shell courtesy of Retro when the two halves of the shell are
Six (retrosix.co.uk). As part of the project, married up. On this subject, it’s important Once I’ve got the buttons, membranes,
I also have new buttons, membranes to to remember to cut off the post that holds and speaker installed, I can screw the
replace the worn old ones, and a shiny the security bit screw, just above the Game main board back in place. I then turn my
new lens for the screen. The shell even Gear’s cartridge slot – the McWill screen’s attention to the CleanPower Regulator
comes with a complete set of screws for ribbon cable is situated right underneath, – Retro Six’s replacement power board
both the case itself and the circuit boards so it’s vital that you snip this off with a pair which provides USB-C input. This is a
– which is handy, because my current of flush-cuts or pliers before you start straight swap for the Game Gear’s OEM
ones are quite dirty and even corroded in reassembling the console. (And to reiterate board, and simply screws in place like the
places, most likely from a leaking battery. my warning from last month – don’t be a original. With that and the sound-board
Fitting everything back together is as scatterbrain and put the security bit screw installed, I’m almost done; all that’s left
simple as locating the boards in the new in the back of the Game Gear at the end. It’ll to do is reconnect the power and sound
shell and screwing them into position – almost certainly destroy the McWill mod’s cables, screw the two halves of the shell
albeit with a check to make sure none ribbon cable. Ahem.) together, and apply the new lens – this
has an adhesive back, so it’s a case of
making sure it’s straight before pressing it
in position.
As you can see from the pictures, the
results are impressive – and if you’re not
into the white-and-teal look of the case
and buttons, there are all kinds of other
shell colours available. It’s been a long
and, at times, fiddly project, but the end
product has made the effort worthwhile:
with that pin-sharp screen and responsive
The CleanPower is a straight


drop-in swap for the Game new button membranes, it’s arguably even
Gear’s original power board, better than the system Sega first gave us
meaning I can power it with
a modern USB-C cable. over three decades ago.

106 / wfmag.cc
 Retro
Backwards compatible

McWill-ternatives

Master Blaster
One of the Sega Game Gear’s pluses was its compatibility
with the Master System: with the addition of a chunky
adapter, you could happily slot in the latter’s cartridges to
enjoy, say, Alex Kidd in Miracle World on the go. There was,
however, a catch: the Game Gear’s blurry, 160 × 144 pixel As you’ve probably gathered, the McWill screen is a great
screen couldn’t always faithfully render the Master System’s modification, but it’s also about seven years old now. his
256 × 192 resolution games, which left some titles borderline means that other companies have stepped in with similar
unplayable. Install a McWill (or similar) screen, however, and solutions of their own. I haven’t tried any of the alternatives
you’ll find that aster System games now look positively yet, but I’ve read nothing but good things about RetroKAI’s
sparkling, with the new 320 × 192 panel capable of crisply Magic Screen, which comes with such improvements as a
rendering every pixel. This is ably demonstrated with a quick working brightness function (something the McWill currently
blast of R-Type: on an original Game Gear screen, its tiny lacks) and something called an Easy Soldering Guide –
bullets are almost invisible and impossible to avoid. With a essentially a small PCB which sidesteps the need to solder
modern display, it’s pin-sharp and perfectly playable, with wires to the Game Gear motherboard’s datalines. At €84.99,
none of the pesky ghosting effects that plagued fast-moving it’s also slightly cheaper than the McWill, which retails for
games on the handheld’s OEM screen. around 00. At the other end of the affordability spectrum,
It’s taken the best there are the numerous cWill homages’ you’ll find on
part of 30 years, but Chinese outlets like AliExpress. These typically cost about £50
suddenly, the Master excluding shipping; I can’t personally vouch for their quality
Gear converter – or or longevity, but I’ve read on several forums that the resulting
the cheap ‘Gear image is on a par with the McWill.
aster’ knock-off Finally, there’s Retro Six’s CleanScreen, a cheaper
pictured here – alternative to the McWill; it’s a shade over £50 for the driver
opens up a whole board and a TFT or IPS display, and reportedly easier to
library of extra 8-bit install. We’re hoping to get our hands on one for a future
Sega games. edition of the magazine, since it sounds like a more beginner-
friendly alternative to
the McWill: there are just
three components to
remove from the Game
Gear’s PCB, while an
accompanying wire-free kit
cuts down the amount of
fiddly soldering re uired.
Watch this space.

Now we’re talking: the Master



System version of R-Type has

never looked so sharp.

wfmag.cc \ 107
 Now playing
Destruction derby

Destruction derby
A nice, relaxing car crash: Ian’s entering Wreckfest

S
poiler: the game I’ve actually been And, well, it’s plugged that gap. Basically.
playing most this month is The Last Nothing can recreate the nostalgia, of course,
of Us Part II, but given it’s a) big and nothing will ever quite be as magical as the
and long, and b) at times utterly first time you saw a car do a proper barrel roll
harrowing, I haven’t finished it. aybe playing down a hill because of Excellent And Accurate
a game about a viral outbreak wiping out most Physics, but Wreckfest has been doing a job. It’s a
of humanity wasn’t the best of ideas for the mix of racing and destruction derbies; the former
sanctity of one’s mental health, but there you go. is a mix of the usual racing game fun where
Regardless, I wanted something dumb. Having your brain switches off and you go with the flow,
craved a replacement for PS classic Destruction punctuated with the odd wrong turn into sheer,
Derby 2 for many a year, my eyes pricked up unmitigated frustration. It’s one of those games
when I saw Wreckfest had been added to Xbox’s where the slightest mistake has you going from
Game Pass. It’s called Wreckfest, for one, and it first place to th in a few seconds.
In-car views might be has a picture of broken and busted cars on its The latter is where most of the fun can be


atmospheric, but they’re

useless for knowing what’s artwork. Seemed like a goer to me. found – for me, at least – because it’s just
actually going on at times
like this.
wanton catharsis. Of course, I’d prefer it if I had
this running through VR and had hooked up
some kind of force feedback chair situation to
simulate the entire effect (and impact) of it all,
but this will do. This is making me sound like
some kind of thrill-seeker, but really, I think it’s
just lockdown boredom creeping through to
the pages. Smashing cars, with the slightest hint
of strategy about it, is just a lot of fun when it’s
done competently, as it is in Wreckfest.
But best of all: this is a silly game. It comes at
you with a straight face, the cars are analogues
to real-life bangers and racing vehicles, and
both races and destruction events are built on
the foundations of strong real-world physics
simulations. But then you find yourself racing
around on sit-on lawn-mowers, with a couple
of racers driving combine harvesters for

108 / wfmag.cc
 Now playing
Destruction derby

It might not be entirely



clear here, but I am

actually racing around on
a sofa. Of course.

Wireframe
Recommends

Destruction Derby 2
PS1, PC
The game that made me
realise the (then-)next-
generation had arrived, DD2 ’s
incredible, life-like physics
model might have been
some reason. Carcasses (they’re not dead) fly technically bettered, but it’ll
as crashes knock racers out of their seats, and never be bettered in my heart.
the whole thing swiftly devolves into beautiful,
chaotic nonsense. When you hit your first sofa
race, it’s hard not to at least raise a smile. I mean, The lawn-mower


racers are
watching eight sofas smash into each other at punctuated by
high speed and most of their riders go rag- combine harvesters.
dolling through the air at equally high speed is
objectively funny. It just is.
All of this means I’m delighted I chose to give in the very early days of what it is video games
Wreckfest a chance, because it’s exactly what as a whole will end up producing as this grand Twisted Metal 2
PS1, PC
I wanted. It taps into my happy memories of experiment rolls on. But sometimes, you just
While this one didn’t make
destruction-based racing games, it presents want to crash cars and see the metal-warping
me think the next-gen had
everything in a competent – nay, solid – package, carnage unfold.
arrived, it did make me grin
and it’s able to have a bit of fun with things The Last of Us Part II is still taking up more of from ear to ear by adding in
along the way. There is depth in the way you the real estate in my head, because it’s just that zany characters and machine
can modify your vehicles, type of experience – but guns. Still does make me
but it’s limited. There’s a “Sometimes, you just Wreckfest has wedged itself grin, actually.
hint of tactics in setting firmly in there alongside
want to crash cars and
your gear-box ratios et al. Naughty Dog’s haughty dog
before a race, or opting see the metal-warping ( game ). here’s absolutely
for the ol’ switcheroo carnage unfold” no chance in all heck I’ll still
during a destruction derby be playing Wreckfest much
and driving around in reverse to protect your by next issue, I can tell you that, but it would be
vulnerable engine. But (and I don’t think anyone foolish of me to say it’s not something I’m going
at developer Bugbear Entertainment will mind to come back to periodically. The Last of Us Part II
PS4
if I say this), it’s not like Wreckfest is a particularly Where Forza Horizon 4 has the presentation
I avoided talking about it in
taxing game on the grey matter. To be fair, that’s and the ‘cool’ going for it, Wreckfest both
detail this issue, but by next
absolutely something we’ve all needed in our encourages crashing and doesn’t try to be some month, things should be
lives for a fair while now – games can be (and kind of aspirational lifestyle simulator full of suitably far along that I can
are) art, the depth of the experience is limited inhuman automatons masquerading as Gap dive right in. Because hey, it’s
only by the human imagination, and we’re only models. And sofa racing is funny. clearly brilliant.

wfmag.cc \ 109
 Now playing
Stuck in the mud

Stuck in the mud

It takes a heck of a lot of patience to end up as
immobile as Ryan does in SnowRunner

I
’m stuck on the side of a hill and I’m So goes my first hour with SnowRunner, the
raging. After what feels like hours of slow latest in Saber Interactive’s series (see also:
progress – getting my truck trapped in a Spintires and MudRunner) that has long made a
uagmire for the umpteenth time, using feature out of slow, painful progress. Rather than
my winch and careful blasts of acceleration to hurtle around tracks, you trundle, grind, and
untrap myself, only to get trapped again – I’m skitter your way from point A to point B. here
well and truly stranded this time. I can’t drive are missions to complete – in my first, I have to
forward I can’t reverse even lashing my trusty find a bigger haulage truck, then find materials
winch to a nearby tree doesn’t help. By now I’m to fix a bridge – and successfully finishing them
It’s telling that,


unusually for a driving shouting at the screen uite a lot. And then I re uires skilful navigation of the rough, all-
sim, there’s no speedo realise that, in the midst of my frustration, I’ve American terrain and careful deployment of the
in SnowRunner. Your
progress is measured in accidentally engaged my handbrake. I turn it back tools you have available to you.
the vast quantities of
fuel you gobble up.
off with a dab of the right button, and I suddenly Because this is a driving sim, those tools are
realise I’m not uite so stuck after all. Ahem. basically whatever’s e uipped in your current
truck: the aforementioned winch is ideal for
pulling you out of lakes of slippery muck, but
you’ll also need to learn when and where to
employ all-wheel drive (which gives you more
power, but at the expense of fuel), low gear
(which helps you navigate rutted tracks at low
speeds), and when to simply throw your vehicle
in reverse and choose a different course.
Although the tone couldn’t be more different,
SnowRunner shares a bit of D A with ideo
ojima’s Death Stranding: both are about the
minutiae of reading terrain and getting from
one place to another, often at an incredibly
slow pace. here’s also the contrasting interplay
between frustration and mild exhilaration: there
are the moments of knuckle-gnawing irritation
as you realise you’ve chosen a horrible path

110 / wfmag.cc
 Now playing
Stuck in the mud

Whip the camera around, and you’ll



see your driver. Look at those dead

eyes. This guy’s seen a lot of mud.

Wireframe
Recommends

ATV Simulator
ZX SPECTRUM, C64,
AMSTRAD CPC
The limitations of 8-bit
computers meant that
the variety of terrain was
somewhat limited here, but
there was still a nervy thrill
to driving your little quad
bike over hay bales, blocky
hillocks, and, er, seals playing
that’ll take ages to manoeuvre your way back out
with beach balls.
of, but these are often followed by the low-key
thrill of freeing yourself from a grimy prison or
completing an objective.
And you know what It’s gripping. ore
gripping than the slippy tyres on my battered Ah. I’m stuck. Again.


old haulage truck, at least. So gripping, in fact,

that my initial frustration at my slow progress
and constant mishaps (like accidentally engaging fall, and it struck me just how pretty SnowRunner
Colin McRae Rally
the handbrake without even noticing) gave actually is: it’s a modest sort of pretty, granted,
PSONE, PC, GAME BOY
way before I’d consciously noticed it. It was but there’s something soothing about the way Sure, it’s more than looking
only towards the second hour that I realised the sky falls from pale blue to purple as the sun its age these days, but Colin
the muscles in my shoulders were tense from sets, or how the mist and fog plays on the trees McRae Rally still has that
gripping my controller as I tried to guide my as the bright lights of the town give way to rural perfect balance between
fragile truck up the side of yet another hill. ichigan’s rocky landscapes. (It was around this arcade thrills and (somewhat)
By this point, I’d gotten a better handle point, as I admired the boulders and trees jutting realistic car handling. It’s a
on the basic controls, and finished my first out of the mist, that I realised I had no idea how racer we still load up and
enjoy from time to time.
mission. aving gotten to a to turn the headlights on –
watchtower, I uncovered the fortunately, an on-screen
“You trundle, grind,
location of the big haulage prompt saved me from
truck I’d need to pick up the and skitter your way navigating the byways of
steel and wood re uired to from points A to B” ichigan in pitch darkness.)
fix up a nearby bridge. But A few trips back and forth
after getting infuriatingly stuck between two and I’d repaired my first bridge – an act that
trees, and noticing that the day was drawing to a opened up a bit more of the map, prompting
close, I decided to take a shortcut down the side an invite from the game to claw my way to a Super Off Road
of a steep bank, which resulted in some wince- garage somewhere on the other side of yet more ARCADE/VARIOUS
An early (1989) stab at having
inducing damage to my engine and suspension, rugged terrain. etting off an inward cheer, I set a
trucks trundling around muddy
but meant I got to the big truck I needed without marker for said garage, headed down a dirt track,
tracks, Super Off Road is also
having to take a longer route around some and promptly got stuck in another bog. ashing
one of the most entertaining
winding, rutted tracks. my winch to a nearby tree, I gritted my teeth, top-down racers ever. We’d
By the time I’d hopped into my hulking flatbed tensed the muscles in my back, and started pay actual money out of our
truck and driven over to the small town where grumpily dragging myself out of yet another wallets if someone could
the steel girders awaited, night was beginning to grotty mire. Ah well. ere’s mud in your eye. revive this one for a new era.

wfmag.cc \ 111
 Killer Feature
GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007
Spray and pray took a back seat to aim mode in the Bond classic

RARE / 1997 / N64

F
or some reason, possibly contained in a boxout popularised the concept. And what a simple concept it was: you
on these very pages, the topic of GoldenEye 007 hold a button, a cross-hair appears on screen, and from there,
has been at the forefront of many a mind in recent you can precisely target whoever or whatever you like without
weeks. In heading back to the wonderful world of movement – halted while holding the button – factoring in.
the world’s worst spy (he never, ever blends in) Suddenly, what was an imprecise and somewhat clunky
though, one thing stands out more than the rest: aim mode. approach to hitting the target became an elegant, smooth
We’re accustomed to how first-person shooters work on pads solution that empowered players to – quite literally – take
these days, but back in 1997, it was still a relatively new thing – their best shot. Of course, a lot of this came down to three
especially with an analogue stick – to move your gunman with very important factors at play: GoldenEye 007 in its very early
anything other than a keyboard and mouse. days was pitched as a rail shooter like Operation Wolf; the
We’d got by OK for a while with standard N64 featured an analogue stick on its
controllers, of course – a static series of “Aim mode did a great job controller as standard, and GoldenEye
inputs for a thoroughly digital time while while it lasted, but it was 007 was being made specifically for
skating around low-res, warped-polygon the console. Had it been any other
mazes, but things had changed. The 3D
– rightly – usurped by a combination of the three, it’s unlikely
space had gone from a technical showcase better mechanic” we’d have ended up with a solution that
to an integral part of a game’s design, and fitted so very well – had it been a game
with that came the need to shoot your guns at people who also coming to the PlayStation, say, where not everybody had
weren’t just stood right in front of you (or registered as though an analogue controller, there’s no reason Rare would have
they were, à la DOOM etc.). Standard controllers picked up thought of introducing a mechanic in which players control
the baton, of course, and I have strong flashbacks to an era of a cross-hair on the screen, given digital inputs would make
having to press shoulder buttons to look up and down – but the whole process… let’s go with ‘irritating’. So it really was
this was boxy, imprecise. It wouldn’t do. perfect storm stuff.
Rare, of course, understood this – that’s why it invented aim That additional input players have via aim mode lifts
mode for GoldenEye 007. Well, I say ‘invented’ – it’s the earliest the whole experience of GoldenEye 007; even if the core
example I could find of a system like this in a console FPS, but mechanics are similar to any other FPS before or since, the
there’s every chance something else did it prior. Either way, it feeling you get thanks to that extra slice of controllability
was the game with Pierce Brosnan’s mug on the front of it that marks the whole game as something different. Something

112 / wfmag.cc
 Killer Feature
GoldenEye 007

more. It strips away some of the feelings of linearity – of an

FPS being whack-a-mole across various grey corridors – as
you wrest direct control of Bond’s aiming arm and take full
advantage of that licence to kill. Pop, body shot. Pop-pop,
couple in the arms. Pop, ah yes, I shot him in the groin as I Hello Dear
am a monster. You may have heard about GoldenEye 007 ’s HD version getting leaked
Aim mode made its return in the GoldenEye 007 follow-up on the interweb, maybe from the very pages of Wireframe last issue, but
that came sans Bond, in 2000’s Perfect Dark. The breakaway we’re still here to report that… it’s actually pretty good, yeah. It’s a 2007-ish
dev team of Free Radical, formed from many of the old era remake of the N64 original and brings with it basically everything
from that first iteration, adding on top a nice sheen of high-def goodness.
hands behind GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, kept aim mode
We can’t tell you where to get it, or even how to play it, but if you’re curious
relevant in the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era with its TimeSplitters enough, then all the information’s out there online, so fill your boots.
series. There are other examples too, often in titles named
Operation Smash The Foreigners and the like, but aim mode
specifically didn’t find a huge footing in the world of the FPS.
Not for a bad reason, mind you.
Because, of course, we’ve evolved into using aim down
sights (ADS) for the vast majority of FPSs these days: the 3D
re-creation of a lovingly crafted and rendered gun model
raising up to the centre of the screen, the camera zooming in
to emulate our avatar leaning forward into an aiming stance,
and the chance to pick our targets however we see fit using a
bit of metal, or a red dot, or a holographic sight, or some other
terrifying thing that makes it easier and easier for people to kill
other people.
Aim mode served a purpose and did a great job while it
lasted, however it was – quite rightly – usurped by a better
mechanic. But that doesn’t stop it from being a killer feature in
its own right, though.

wfmag.cc \ 113
Next Iss
Issue
Editorial
Editor
Ryan Lambie
Email [email protected]

Features Editor
Ian Dransfield

O N S A L E 6 M AY
Email [email protected]

Sub-Editors
David Higgs & Vel Ilic

Design
criticalmedia.co.uk
Head of Design
Don’t t! Lee Allen
ou
miss Designers
cribe Sam Ribbits, Lucy Cowan
Subs 76
PG
Contributors
Jon Bailes, Lottie Bevan, Dan Cooper, Marc
Duddleston, Konstantinos Dimopoulos,
Antony de Fault, Don Everhart, Malindy
Hetfeld, Andrew King, Steve McNeil,
Harry Slater, Millicent Thomas, Richard
Wakeling, Paul Walker-Emig, Howard Scott
Warshaw, Alan Wen

Publishing
Publishing Director
Russell Barnes
Email [email protected]
Director of Communications
Liz Upton
CEO
Eben Upton

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Commercial Manager
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Also
assessed as conforming to ISO 14001.
Wireframe magazine is published by Raspberry Pi
(Trading) Ltd, Maurice Wilkes Building, St. John’s
Innovation Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0DS.
The publisher, editor, and contributors accept no
 Western developers and their  Recreate Metroid’s Morph Ball responsibility in respect of any omissions or errors
relating to goods, products or services referred to or
experiences in Japan in Unreal Engine advertised in the magazine. Except where
otherwise noted, content in this magazine
 The most influential Japanese  Charting the rise and is licensed under a Creative Commons
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