As part of our longstanding commitment to help students prepare for careers in our industry, we had the pleasure of hosting a group from Quinnipiac University's Game Design program once again this year.
Starting a career in gaming can be daunting for students. The industry is complex, competitive, and demands a profound passion for your craft.
Companies also face the challenge of operating in a market where gaming-specific skills may be hard to find.
The project collaboration between Streamplay and the Academy of Digital Arts offers students an invaluable opportunity to gain insight into the inner workings of the gaming industry.
Students were tasked with treating Streamplay as a client, accepting a gaming brief, and then delivering results in accordance with the specified requirements.
Below is a work-in-progress snippet showcasing the remarkable work accomplished by these talented students.
In what has quickly become one of my December traditions, I watched The Game Awards 2023 yesterday with great expectations and a lot of curiosity regarding the latest world premieres and announcements from the industry.
And oh, boy, from an award perspective, they didn't disappoint. As Adam Chapman, Giselle Mendez and I accurately predicted, Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 took the most prizes home, with Larian Studios netting an outstanding six awards – including Game of the Year and Best RPG – and Remedy Entertainment Plc getting three of the most important trophies of the night.
Seeing this, I jumped straight on Remedy's recently released Alan Wake 2 Art Blast on ArtStation, and it's just breathtaking. I have always admired Sam Lake's writing chops and creative direction – I loved to see both of his skills getting awarded yesterday – but the level of this game's art direction is simply off the charts.
This fact should not come as surprising by any means, considering the impressive, genre-defining art direction of Control – which I still hold is Remedy's magnum opus – but it's nevertheless astonishing to see a studio knocking it out of the park with such consistency and attention to detail.
If this is the 'Remedyverse', I'll gladly live in it!
#Haptic#Friday#TheGameAwards #2023 #TGA2023#Game#Games#Gaming#GamingIndustry#GamingCommunity#GameDev#GamingDevelopers#GameDevelopers#Awards#Art#ArtDirection#GameArt#AlanWake2#Remedy#Remedyverse#TopArt#GreatArt
🌌 Today marks the 3rd week from launch of Helldivers 2 which has been one of the most talked about titles of the year so far. We've updated our review breakdown, originally published on 15th February 2024, to see how things stand now!
The number of reviews have increased from 44 up to 142 taking the average review score up from 81 to 83, causing it to move up a position when ranked against all games released since the start of the year!
🎆 Congrats to Arrowhead Game Studios for all the positivity and support for this game, which doesn't seem to be suffering too much from the initial server issues that have occurred.
Stay tuned as we share more key findings and observations on newly released titles with you in the coming days. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts on Helldivers 2 in the comments below.
👉 Keep up to date with #GamesIndustry insights ▶ https://shorturl.at/krEN4#VideoGames#Data
The Rochester Game Festival is TOMORROW (9/9)! If you're in the area, make sure not to miss it. Over 45 game developers and organizations from across New York will be showcasing their work.
⭐ Spotlight Game: Check out "State of Matter" by Team Plutinite. As a part of the Project Eureka initiative, this student team was handpicked for a grant from O3DF after a competitive selection process. The initiative, a collaboration between the Open 3D Foundation and Rochester Institute of Technology, gives students support to get game development experience and grows the O3DE assets library while showcasing the engine's capabilities. Dive into this student-built FPS puzzler set against a dystopian sci-fi backdrop. Get hands-on with its unique mechanics like Glaciforming, allowing players to craft platforms, or the Siphon feature that shakes up the gameplay mechanics. As it's a work-in-progress, your feedback will be instrumental in refining the game for its upcoming launch.
💻 Behind the Scenes: State of Matter is brought to life with the Open 3D Engine (O3DE) — my team, AWS for Games, is one of 25 organizations that support it. O3DE has been described as a fully-featured, AAA, open source gaming engine, offering unparalleled freedom to developers. Check it out!
Have fun tomorrow. Share in the comments - who’s all going to be there? 👇
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The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall - a love letter. I just watched this documentary about Bethesda and it reminded me of my first encounter with The Elder Scrolls. The year was 1998 and there was a computer shop near my violin teacher's flat. One Tuesday afternoon, while waiting for my class, I found The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall (1994) in this shop, forgotten on a dusty shelf at the very back, still in its original packaging. The box and the screenshots on it immediately captivated me and never let go. Looking back, I'm pretty sure there was magic at work.
Even though it was a four-year-old game, it was still too expensive for me. It hurt but I had to be patient and save every bit of pocket money so that I could eventually buy it. Unfortunately, money came in very slowly back then and so the weeks went by and the tension grew: would it still be there next time? What if someone bought it? (it was kind of a unique opportunity, because old games were hard to get back then).
Finally Christmas came round and I was lucky enough to persuade my mum to buy the game and put it under the tree - that Christmas I was the happiest elf in the whole of Hamburg. For weeks I blocked the families computer, moved to Tamriel and ignored my brothers calling me - once again - a total nerd. I joined the Dark Brotherhood, bought a house, became a Lycranthrope and fought my way through endless dungeons.
As in the pen & paper games, I was completely free to make my own decisions in Daggerfall. I could go where I wanted, do what I wanted, and be whoever I wanted to be. Since then, few games have given me that feeling - even the following titles of the series felt a little limited compared to Daggerfall.
Don't get me wrong, the game was far from perfect. And of course this freedom came at a price, especially in a time when the performance and possibilities of games still depended on CD-Rom and a few megabytes of RAM (and apart from the monotonous enviroments & textures, swinging a sword in a computer game never took so long) - but it was still very immersive on the "social" level: You could be a law-abiding citizen, an outlaw or a wolf in sheep's skin. But no matter which path you took, every decision counted. People reacted differently to you, depending on their attitude and your actions, background, reputation and behaviour.
Looking back, it all makes sense: I was already looking for a playground for my own stories. No wonder I later became a storyteller & writer for films and games. And no wonder the only logical cure for my Daggerfall fever was the discovery of the Duke Nukem 3D level editor. Suddenly I could build my own dungeons full of deadly traps and hidden doors to battle my brothers and friends for days and nights at local Lan parties. But that story is for another time...
#daggerfall#elderscrolls#bethesda#duke3d#leveleditor#narrativedesign#gamedesign#videogames#rpg#openworld#tamriel#teso#adventure#fantasy#storytelling#childhoodstories#skyrim
Warren Spector's thoughts on Disney and videogames
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In 2019 I was able to interview Spector about his career for a website that is now defunct. Given that there is a renewed push for The Walt Disney Company to purchase a video game studio, I am re-publishing this interview because Spector's views on Disney's relationship to the video game industry remains relevant.
The full interview is in the link but here are some snippets I find deeply relevant:
"I read Bob Iger’s comments where he said Disney wasn’t good at making games, but someone pointed out to me that he specifically said “publishing games.” So, you could make the argument that a lot of people – including me – misread his statement. However, the fact that Disney shut down all of its internal development and went back to being strictly a licensing organization still shows a lack of commitment to the game space that’s not uncommon among traditional media companies."
"I’d say the lack of success among traditional media companies probably has to do with the fact that they just have other priorities. They have only so much money to spend. Where are they going to spend it? On their core businesses or in some crazy new field that is, formally, only tangentially related to those business even if the content often seems similar?"
"Then there’s the appearance that media companies overvalue their content. That leads to thinking along the lines of “Well, if we just move this superhero over to this new medium it’ll work because they’re so popular everywhere else.” That clearly doesn’t work. Gameplay has to come first. Layering in content over mediocre gameplay is a recipe for failure."
"Oh, and let’s not talk about budgets. To compete in the triple-A space, as all of these media companies seem to want to do, you need a lot of money. I’m just guessing, based on my experience, that the budgets just aren’t competitive…"
https://lnkd.in/e4DFu5e7#Disney#EA#videgames#gamingindustry
Let's celebrate the unparalleled artistry behind cinematics (and normalize the magic of emotional reactions too) 🎮✨
In light of the layoffs in the gaming industry, I want to take some time to celebrate the work of developers and artists by talking about one of my favorite parts of any game, the cinematics.
📽 I still vividly remember the first time I watched the Diablo IV trailer. Even before diving into the game itself, I sensed the immense potential for impact not just on me but on a larger scale. It was a moment of revelation, and I knew I wanted to be part of this incredible journey.
Since then, I've shared my genuine reactions to every Diablo IV cinematic, receiving a mix of reviews. Some say my reactions are ridiculous, dismissing the relevance of emotional storytelling in games as a whole. However, I believe in the critical power of storytelling through cinematics, and here's why:
🎭 Art and Storytelling: Cinematics, to me, represent the pinnacle of art and storytelling in gaming. They set the tone for the entire gaming experience and tee-up the gameplay one is to experience. At Blizzcon I had the pleasure of chatting with Lead Game Producer Kayleigh Calder about how the Diablo IV cinematic shaped the entirety of game mood and design. It's a testament to the critical role cinematics play in our enjoyment of games.
🌟 Impact Beyond Words: My reaction videos have been labeled as "ridiculous" by some, but they've reminded others why they fell in love with games, or why they decided to move into game development in the first place. They've rekindled childhood memories and inspired people to give a game a shot that they'd otherwise overlook.
💬 Normalizing Emotional Connections: Some might say, "It's just a game," but for many, including myself, it's an emotional journey. Let's normalize the joy, excitement, and impact that game cinematics can have on us. It's okay to be invested and share those genuine reactions!
So here's to celebrating the magic of game cinematics, the success of Diablo IV as they launch Season 3, and the emotional connections we forge through gaming. Let's continue to champion the importance of cinematic art and thoughtful story development in the world of gaming! 🙌🎉
#GameCinematics#DiabloIV#GamingPassion#Storytelling#EmotionalConnections
Interaction Developer | dandylion.dev
2moDid you get to prepare them for layoffs as well?