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First Impressions: NEver Alone

11/21/2014

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INTRODUCTION AND DISCLAIMERS
Relevant information before reading this early impression article:
  • I was not given a review copy.
  • I have no affiliation nor contact with anyone at Upper One Games or E-Line Media.
  • Specifications of the system used for this first impressions article can be found here.
  • At the time of writing this article, I had played the game for 7 hours.
  • I played the game with mouse and keyboard rather than a controller.

Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) has an unusual development story.  It was actually made with the help of almost 40 Iñupiat Elders who contributed to the story and presumably some of the artwork & cut scenes seen in game.  It tells the story of Kunuuksaayuka, a legend where a young girl sets off to find the cause of an endless blizzard that is threatening her village.  Along the way she meets up with an Arctic Fox who becomes her companion.

THE PREMISE
Never Alone is an interesting take on educational gameplay.  It's clear with the story, the narration and the extra 'insights' that the goal of this game is to introduce people to the Iñupiat and their way of life - but it seeks to do so without compromising on the gameplay as projects like this can often fall into the trap of doing.

The girl and the fox are on screen at the same time, and both must be used to progress through the levels.  A co-optional mode is available.  Both have different abilities - the girl gains a bola part way through the story and can use it to destroy objects and reveal spiritual platforms.  The fox on the other hand is much more agile, and is linked to spiritual platforms that the girl cannot summon herself.  There are several obstacles and puzzles that require swapping between characters in order to progress - but you are only controlling one character at once, so it's not quite the same as Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
GAMEPLAY & MECHANICS
Earlier on I said the game seeks to keep a certain level of difficulty, and I feel it has succeeded.  Falling in the water is an instant failure, and there are plenty of times where this can happen.  Although the game is easy in the early stages, there are places where the difficulty  noticeably ramps up, and you will likely find yourself dying several times at one of these points.  Instead, they've chosen to make sure the punishment for dying is as light as possible (heart wrenching whimpers from the remaining character aside) - the number of checkpoints are generous and they are often placed immediately before the more trying parts of a level.

What I am pleased to see is that the developers have not tried to make the game look like a mobile port - presenting lots of tiny stages with 3 star rewards and a beat the clock incentive.  They've left it as an honest PC sidescrolling platformer, and I think that helps the game avoid some of the stigma that's now associated with mobile-esque games.

At first, there are not many different types of obstacles - the game will slowly introduce more as you progress through the story, and these can range from simple physics puzzles to spiritual platform that require interaction with the fox to reveal.  The main villain is introduced four levels into the game, and I believe this is where the game begins in earnest, as there are several new mechanics introduced very quickly at this point - wind that you have brace against to avoid being blown backwards, a bola that you can use to destroy select obstacles or reveal spiritual platforms.

So far I've only had positive things to say about Never Alone, but the game is not without frustrations.  I've found several times while playing with both keyboard and controller that the game is slow to respond to the jump command.  The characters cling to ledges constantly even if you want to drop down from them - and sometimes when the game controls the second character they can die through no fault of your own.  In situations like this it would be useful if the player could command the second character to wait.

The bola is aimed simply by following where the girl's arm is pointing - which is clever, but there is some discrepancy between where her arm is pointing and where the bola ends up going, which can again be frustrating - especially in time-critical situations.  It is something that you can get used to and compensate for with practice, though.

One of the worries that I had as I was playing through Never Alone would be that the game became monotonous - that there wouldn't be enough variation.  I'm pleased to say then that they did a good job of changing up gameplay - there are times when you're platforming and running from a chasing foe, other areas that are made up of several puzzles, and others that are simply platforming.  I haven't felt while  playing that the game has relied on one particular mechanic for too long.

There's also a collectible hunt, which come in the form of nicely animated little owls - often if not hidden but placed out of the way, which will unlock 'insights' - artwork and videos about the
Iñupiat that can be accessed both in game and from the main menu.  The developers are proud of the work that went into this game, and of the people that helped ot make it, and they have every right to show this off.
PRESENTATION
Never Alone is a lovingly crafted game.  From the detailed and aesthetically pleasing art style, to the well crafted animations and the Iñupiat language narration.  You will never feel while playing this game that there was a shortcut taken or a compromise made when it comes to production value, and it's very refreshing to see in a time where major publishers seem to be cutting corners at every opportunity.

The story is not rushed, it is given time to breathe in between sections of gameplay.  The what seem to be hand-drawn cut scenes are charming yet eerie, at times.  The quality of the overall presentation is enough to make the story emotionally resonant and engaging.  The music is there to add to the atmosphere and does  a wonderful job of enhancing the setting and story, even if it is sparse.  If you don't believe me, turn it off and see what difference it makes.

The level design is not complex and this is no Super Meat Boy in terms of difficulty, but there are definitely sections that require some working out and some skill in execution.  I think they've managed to fall in line with the level of difficulty offered by the Lego games, which makes the game accessible and engaging to both younger and older players.


TECHNICAL STUFF
From a technical standpoint, there are a couple of concerns.  The game has been developed with Unity 4.3, so certain limitations are to be expected - however there are only two graphical presets - low and high - although the game is no way taxing on the high setting.

VSync is available in 'full' and 'half', although I'd recommend leaving it off as the input lag introduced is noticeable.

Never Alone supports up to 4K at least, which was tested through Nvidia's DSR feature, and I'm pleased to say that the interface and menus remain usable when scaled to 4K.  In some aspects, the game becomes easier when playing at a higher resolution, as more of the level is revealed at once and it gives the player a better opportunity to plan and spot solutions.

There are separate sound sliders for narration, music, sound effects and the insight features, which is a welcome level of customisation that not enough indie games include.

Sadly, the keyboard controls are not customisable, so if you don't like using WASD then you're out of luck and I'd suggest using the controller - although here the layout is also fixed.  You can at least tweak controller sensitivity settings, though.

Another minor black mark comes with the lack of a borderless windowed mode, although it can probably be forced with a third-party utility.


FINAL SAY
I've enjoyed my time with Never Alone and have genuinely learnt about a fascinating tribe of people in the process.  The theme and origins of the story make it that much more engaging and I would be surprised if anyone were able to legitimately criticise the presentation of the game.  Barring a few minor complaints about the responsiveness of the controls and technical limitations mentioned above, I have not encountered any problems that prevent me from enjoying this game.  It will definitely be one that I look to finish to completion.  That being said, the Never Alone receives my "Worth a buy" recommendation, especially at its price point.  It is available on Steam for €13.49.
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Interview with Morgan Jaffit of Defiant DEvelopment - The team behind Hand of Fate

11/11/2014

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Following my first impressions look at Hand of Fate, I reached out to Defiant Development for an interview about the game, the studio and the industry.  Morgan Jaffit, director and co-founder of Defiant Development, took the time to respond to my questions:

Defiant Development was founded in 2010, correct?

"Yes.  We started as just Dan Treble (co founder, tech director), Shawn Eustace (Art Director) and I.  From there, we put together a few smaller contracts and rolled forward - we've now grown to about 15 full timers, along with some contractors."

You've worked at some pretty major names in the industry - Irrational Games (BioShock, System Shock 2), Relic Entertainment (Company of Heroes 1&2) and also at Ubisoft?

"Collectively the team here has worked for a huge number of studios, big names and small.  In terms of me personally, I started in game development in Australia (at Irrational doing Freedom Force) and from there spent a few years working at studios in Canada.  It was hugely educational to see how other studios made games, and that's played into the approach we take at Defiant strongly.  I like small (20 odd) person teams a lot better than larger teams, so we've tried to set our sights on making games at that scale.  I think you avoid a lot of middle management that way.  It also helps that we have a very veteran team, with some members having worked together for over a decade.  We all know how to work together to get great results, and that saves a lot of hassle."

So you're based in Brisbane - we've seen some Kickstarted projects fail at least partly due to the running costs of development studios in expensive areas with high median wages - such as San Francisco - how does Brisbane compare in that regard?

"It's pretty expensive, actually.  Dollar for dollar it costs similarly to US development, but the Australian dollar has historically been much weaker. Aus dev really peaked in the days when the dollar was at 0.6 of USD, and it all fell apart when it reached $1.10 because development was so expensive.  It's at around 0.88 right now, so it's better than it has been."

"Ultimately though we built our studio on the basis that great games should make a profit.  We don't try to compete on price, in terms of making the cheapest development shop we can, we compete on quality and make the best game we can for the money we spend.  So far we've done okay with that strategy!"

How do you see yourself as a studio - would you class Defiant as an indie studio?

"Depends on the definition.  We're completely independent and have no corporate masters telling us what to do.  So in the business perspective, we're indie for sure.  In terms of genre though, I don't think we make "Indie" games, at least not right now.  It's similar to the situation where indie record labels got bought by big publishers and kept making "Indie" music - it's a genre as well as a statement of your business model."

In 2010/11 you were working on Warco, which I remember got a little bit of notoriety in the press because of comments made by a BBC foreign correspondent who was questioning of the game's motivation and - again correct me if I'm wrong - it didn't get picked up by a publisher.  How disappointing was that?

"Incredibly disappointing, but we were over ambitious.  It was the wrong approach to take with that idea (which I still think is a very strong idea) at that time.  Everyone was reeling after the global financial crisis, and no-one was spending big money on risky ideas.  It was also before Kickstarter demonstrated what a good home it was for risky ideas that capture the imagination.   Ultimately, it was a timing issue for us, and also a big risk for publishers as we were an untested team at the time."

Hand of Fate on the other hand went through Kickstarter and now Early Access - was the decision to crowdfund this game a direct result of what happened with Warco?

"Definitely.  We wanted to make sure we had people involved pretty early in the process, both because we decided to make the game ourselves (without a publisher) and because it would help to demonstrate if there was a market for the idea.  It turned out that there was, fortunately!"

Hand of Fate was featured on Jesse Cox's Fan Friday! series - how much of a boon is it to get positive coverage from a personality with that many viewers?

"It makes a huge difference.  Every time a prominent streamer plays the game we see more people come through to the site, and that means more sales and more input.  It's great, and it's been the best think about Early Access from our perspective."

He also spoke about it glowingly on the Co-Optional podcast with TotalBiscuit and Dodger who both seem interested - have you heard from either of those?

"Not directly, although I know TB only reviews finished games.  In general we have an open door policy with streamers - if they have an audience, we're always happy to provide keys and answer questions."

In my article on Hand of Fate, I said that it is a very interesting combination of genres - I see in there some roguelite elements, choose-your-own adventure, RPG and CCG - it actually reminds me in some way of the old Amiga game Moonstone - what were the inspirations behind Hand of Fate?

"It's kind of a blend of everything I loved growing up as a gamer in the 80's and 90's.  Fighting Fantasy novels, the Ultima games, weird fantasy novels, Archon.  It's rooted in that era of gaming, while hopefully feeling modern at the same time."

Given that the game is driven by a single character, that character obviously has to be very strong and engaging.  How much time did you spend with Anthony Skordi?

"It took a long time to find Anthony.  We worked with the unbelievable Mario Lavin who handed casting and voice direction for us, and he really excelled in finding and directing Anthony.  I've know Mario for years, and he generally works with big studios so we were very lucky to have his expertise on hand."

How much of The Dealer's character came from your studio's writing and how much came from Anthony Skordi himself?

"A lot of both.  The performance is excellent, and it helped to drive our revisions of the text as we worked on our pickup sessions."

Did Anthony Skordi work remotely or did he come to the studio?

"He worked out of a studio in the UK, where both Mario and Anthony were."

Are you planning to expand on Hand of Fate after release?

"Definitely. We already have plans for updates, if it does well enough to warrant them.  There's a bunch of things big and small we'd like to do with it."

You've developed games for a range of platforms, including AR - if Hand of Fate continues to do well after launch, will PC be your main platform, or will you continue to work on a range of platforms?

"We make that decision from project to project, but we'll probably lead out with a PC project next.   It's been a great experience so far."

Sadly, this week we've seen another battle between a YouTube personality and an indie studio - Jim Sterling and Digital Homicide Studios LLC.  Without commenting directly on that ongoing matter, What do you think as a developer when you see this happen?

"I've got to say I'm pretty out of the loop here.  The last couple of weeks has been PAX Australia, and us working hard on getting the game to 1.0 release, so I've been very much heads down.  I think the short answer is that the whole area around development is changing every day at the moment.  It used to be (back in the old days) a bunch of creators speaking directly to each other and the public (do you remember the .plan wars?).  Then big publishers took charge of the messaging and almost everything went through professional PR mouthpieces, and you hardly ever heard a developer speaking frankly.  

"Now it's back to the wild west, and it's taking people a while to work out the new rules on the frontier.  I do think it's sad that peoples mistakes follow them constantly now - if you say one thing people disagree with, you'll read about it in comments until the end of time."

"It's a hard environment to work in, balancing being honest and open with your community and fear of upsetting people.  I also think a lot of indie developers simply don't know how to act in public, which is fine when no-one is paying attention but can go dramatically wrong if the internet at large happens to take notice."

Are you sympathetic with developers who acted like Fun Creators did with TotalBiscuit?

"Again, I'm not really informed.  I do think the currency of our new age is trust, though.  People trust TB, with good reason.  That means that if you're a relative unknown and you want to call him a liar you're probably pushing water uphill.  That's why I think it's so important for indies (and professionals) to understand that their reputation is their passport in the online world.  We spend a lot of time with our community, and it's important for a whole bunch of reasons - but building trust is a big one."

What is your stance on gameplay being used in monetised videos, for Lets Plays and critique?

"We have an explicit statement on our loading screen saying its okay.  I think it generally should be okay regardless of whether we approve or not, frankly.  I'm a big advocate of remix culture, and I think people should have freedom to riff on the work we do."

Do you think that the 'fair use' law is enough to protect both developers and content creators?

"I think the current legal frameworks around creative work are pretty terrible, and I look forward to the days when we have more freedom around them.  At the same time, I'm always keen when there are channels that allow creators to make a living for their work. "

It must hurt when someone with a large following is critical towards your work.  How do you deal with that personally?

"We get criticism and personal attacks all the time.  Me especially as I'm the face of the studio, but also members of our team.  I think you just have to take on board that you can't make everyone happy every time.  Also, the people who are most passionate about your game tend to be the loudest, so often someone who's really negative can be turned around just by listening."

Is there any advice you'd like to give to less experienced developers?

"Be careful, be thoughtful, and be honest."

Many thanks to Morgan Jaffit of Defiant Development for taking the time to answer a fair amount of questions.  You can check out Hand of Fate on the Steam store page and follow the studio on twitter (@DefiantDev) for the latest updates and information.

Are there any replies you found interesting, or any questions you'd like to follow up on? Let us known in the comments below!

 
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Ubisoft Withhold new titles from steam in the UK

11/6/2014

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Ubisoft have decided that their suite of new AAA releases, Assassin's Creed: Unity, Far Cry 4 and The Crew will not be sold on Steam in the UK over the Christmas period.  They may appear on the platform at a later date.

Ubisoft told PCGamesN:

“We’ve been in discussions with Valve about Assassin’s Creed Unity but for the time being the game is not available via Steam in the UK,”  

“In the meantime, UK customers wishing to purchase the game digitally can do so by visiting the Uplay store, our retail partners or other digital distributors.”

Ubisoft have not been popular recently in the PC market - touting the "advantages" of 30FPS, saying that "no one cares about 1080p" and releasing surprisingly high minimum and recommended requirements for new titles.

But what could the reasoning be behind this move?  Aren't they potentially losing out on a massive source of sales for their new titles in a large market area?

There are two things to look at.  Ubisoft have their own online platform, Uplay which isn't exactly popular at the moment.  It's often derided for a lack of stability and for being an unnecessary layer of DRM and complexity when launching a game.  It could be that Ubisoft are trying to 'push' this platform in order to allow it to compete more with Steam.

It's also worth noting that new releases on Steam in the UK tend to top out at £39.99 - although it's not unusual to see them cheaper.  Uplay on the other hand list new games at an eye-watering £49.99 - bringing it closer to console parity.  It could be that Ubisoft are looking to enforce stricter control over pricing of their titles.

What do you think of this decision from Ubisoft? Are you happy to use Uplay? Will you look for the game on alternative digital retailers like Green Man Gaming? Do you think they're right to withhold the games from Steam?  Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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Hand of Fate Beta: First Impressions

11/4/2014

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INTRODUCTION AND DISCLAIMERS
Relevant information before reading this early impression article:
  • I was not given a review copy.
  • I have no affiliation nor contact with anyone at Defiant Development.
  • Specifications of the system used for this first impressions article can be found here.
  • At the time of writing this article, I had played the game for 9 hours
  • This game is still in Beta and as such comments made in the article regarding performance and/or bugs may not be relevant to the state of the game at full release.

It's not often that I dip into the murky waters of Early Access on Steam - to persuade me to do so usually requires two things: First, that the game is close to a final state, and second that the game has an interesting premise that is fairly unique.

Hand of Fate, by Defiant Development of Brisbane, Australia is certainly an intriguing spin and meshing of the Roguelite, Card Game and RPG genres.  Perhaps you could call it a collectible card game that doubles as a choose-your-own adventure.

THE PREMISE
Hand of Fate uses a theme of a tabletop game in a Mystic's tent - complete with magical control over cards, cryptic advice,  veiled threats and a rather creepy looking spider that wonders around the table.  The game is driven entirely through playing cards.  Thematically, Hand of Fate is very strong - and the Dealer's voice acting is particularly well done by Anthony Skordi.  Hearing him complain about the amount of time you take to make a decision never gets old.

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