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88 Articles

To buy or not to buy? That is the question

“Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.” Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, imparted these words of wisdom in LucasArts’ The Secret of Monkey Island. If we adjust for inflation – $43.79 USD as I write this, likely more by the time you read it – it remains a serviceable rule of thumb to help gamers navigate an increasingly crowded, ever-pricier marketplace. Of course, it’s not 1990 anymore. The industry has transformed in the past three decades as development costs have soared and distribution methods have evolved. In a world of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, biannual Steam sales, Epic Store giveaways, and massive itch.io bundles, should anyone pay full price for anything anymore? What if the most reasonable number of bucks to pay for…

To buy or not to buy? That is the question

To buy or not to buy? That is the question

“Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game.” Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate, imparted these words of wisdom in LucasArts’ The Secret of Monkey Island. If we adjust for inflation – $43.79 USD as I write this, likely more by the time you read it – it remains a serviceable rule of thumb to help gamers navigate an increasingly crowded, ever-pricier marketplace. Of course, it’s not 1990 anymore. The industry has transformed in the past three decades as development costs have soared and distribution methods have evolved. In a world of subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, biannual Steam sales, Epic Store giveaways, and massive itch.io bundles, should anyone pay full price for anything anymore? What if the most reasonable number of bucks to pay for a…

To buy or not to buy? That is the question

To reflect this month’s arcade racing theme, Aaron delves into the impact of WipEout on page 28. With its trendy graphic design and music, and timed to make the most of the then-new PSone’s hardware, it was easy to see why WipEout was such a hit in 1995. But this got me thinking: while it was arguably a pivotal release, WipEout wasn’t the first futuristic arcade racer. Nintendo used F-Zero to showcase the pseudo-3D prowess of its own new console, the SNES, in 1990. But that game was preceded by Atari’s half-forgotten S.T.U.N. Runner, a racer-shooter hybrid that saw you hurtling around high-tech tracks that bore more than a passing resemblance to those in WipEout. It emerged as a coin-op in 1989 before getting ports of variable quality to computers…

To reflect this month’s arcade racing theme, Aaron delves into the impact of WipEout on page 28. With its trendy graphic design and music, and timed to make the most of the then-new PSone’s hardware, it was easy to see why WipEout was such a hit in 1995. But this got me thinking: while it was arguably a pivotal release, WipEout wasn’t the first futuristic arcade racer. Nintendo used F-Zero to showcase the pseudo-3D prowess of its own new console, the SNES, in 1990. But that game was preceded by Atari’s half-forgotten S.T.U.N. Runner, a racer-shooter hybrid that saw you hurtling around high-tech tracks that bore more than a passing resemblance to those in WipEout. It emerged as a coin-op in 1989 before getting ports of variable quality to computers…

When Belgian studio Happy Volcano set up its stand at London’s EGX in September 2021, there must have been at least a hint of apprehension in the air. With the world only just emerging from the pandemic, it was the first time Happy Volcano’s work-in-progress, You Suck at Parking, had appeared in public. The team may have enjoyed the process of building the arcade racer up from a quick, physics-based prototype, but how would British gamers take to it? Fortunately, as players eagerly gathered around the pair of laptops running the game, designer and studio co-founder David Prinsmel realised that he and his team were on the right track. “We constantly had ten people around the booth,” Prinsmel recalls. “People were waiting to play the game. After two hours, we…

When Belgian studio Happy Volcano set up its stand at London’s EGX in September 2021, there must have been at least a hint of apprehension in the air. With the world only just emerging from the pandemic, it was the first time Happy Volcano’s work-in-progress, You Suck at Parking, had appeared in public. The team may have enjoyed the process of building the arcade racer up from a quick, physics-based prototype, but how would British gamers take to it? Fortunately, as players eagerly gathered around the pair of laptops running the game, designer and studio co-founder David Prinsmel realised that he and his team were on the right track. “We constantly had ten people around the booth,” Prinsmel recalls. “People were waiting to play the game. After two hours, we already…

A medieval kind of future

Info GENRE Action, RPG, roguelike FORMAT PC / PS4 / XBO DEVELOPER Spiritus Games PUBLISHER Prismatika RELEASE Q3 2022 SOCIAL @FabularGame Another day, another action indie roguelike vying for people’s attention. But at least Fabular: Once upon a Spacetime looks to provide some intriguing spins on the genre’s typical trappings. For instance, it isn’t set in either a ye olde fantasy land or far-off distant future, but rather a combination of both. Casting you as a chivalrous space knight on a quest to save your intergalactic kingdom from destruction, doing so means traversing a procedurally generated universe while engaging in top-down melee combat, all in the effort to loot better gear useful for upgrading your ship. Developer Spiritus Games calls this mixture of swords and stars a “techno-fantasy roguelike”. “The…

A medieval kind of future

A medieval kind of future

Info GENRE Action, RPG, roguelike FORMAT PC / PS4 / XBO DEVELOPER Spiritus Games PUBLISHER Prismatika RELEASE Q3 2022 SOCIAL @FabularGame Another day, another action indie roguelike vying for people’s attention. But at least Fabular: Once upon a Spacetime looks to provide some intriguing spins on the genre’s typical trappings. For instance, it isn’t set in either a ye olde fantasy land or far-off distant future, but rather a combination of both. Casting you as a chivalrous space knight on a quest to save your intergalactic kingdom from destruction, doing so means traversing a procedurally generated universe while engaging in top-down melee combat, all in the effort to loot better gear useful for upgrading your ship. Developer Spiritus Games calls this mixture of swords and stars a “techno-fantasy roguelike”. “The initial creative spark that ignited everything for us was that we wanted to make…

A medieval kind of future

Burn bright like no other

Info GENRE Turn-based RPG, tactical FORMAT PC / PS4 / PS5 / XBO / XB S/X / Switch DEVELOPER Firaxis Games PUBLISHER 2K RELEASE Q1 2023 SOCIAL @FiraxisGames Not every superhero saves the day with a smile, and Firaxis’ more strategic spin on the Marvel universe proves it. Taking its name from the nineties comic-book series of a similar name, Marvel’s Midnight Suns forgoes the squeaky-clean idealism you’d expect from characters like, say, Captain America and Mister Fantastic, in favour of a far grittier tone. Choosing to instead focus on the supernatural side of this world comprising countless heroes, after Hydra revives an ancient evil, it combines cinematic battles and in-depth character progression with a new flavour of the tactical gameplay the studio is known for. Wouldn’t it have been easier to make Midnight Suns play like XCOM with a Marvel coat of paint?…

Burn bright like no other

Burn bright like no other

Info GENRE Turn-based RPG, tactical FORMAT PC / PS4 / PS5 / XBO / XB S/X / Switch DEVELOPER Firaxis Games PUBLISHER 2K RELEASE Q1 2023 SOCIAL @FiraxisGames Not every superhero saves the day with a smile, and Firaxis’ more strategic spin on the Marvel universe proves it. Taking its name from the nineties comic-book series of a similar name, Marvel’s Midnight Suns forgoes the squeaky-clean idealism you’d expect from characters like, say, Captain America and Mister Fantastic, in favour of a far grittier tone. Choosing to instead focus on the supernatural side of this world comprising countless heroes, after Hydra revives an ancient evil, it combines cinematic battles and in-depth character progression with a new flavour of the tactical gameplay the studio is known for. Wouldn’t it have been…

Burn bright like no other

Info GENRE Metroidvania/shooter FORMAT PC / PS4 / PS5 / XBO / XB S/X / Switch DEVELOPER Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team PUBLISHER Team17 RELEASE TBC 2022 SOCIALS @SuperMegaTeam From the moment a gigantic mechanised boss rears up in front of you, firing off a kaleidoscope of burning projectiles, it’s clear that The Knight Witch isn’t your typical Metroidvania. You’re just a few minutes into the prologue, and you’re fighting Emperor Erebus, the tyrannical ruler whose relentless pursuit of wealth has brought the planet to the brink of environmental collapse. But you’re a Knight Witch, a member of an elite band of warriors who have the power to knock Erebus off his perch. Doing so means dodging waves of bullets and returning fire with your standard shots and card-based…

Info GENRE Metroidvania/shooter FORMAT PC / PS4 / PS5 / XBO / XB S/X / Switch DEVELOPER Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team PUBLISHER Team17 RELEASE TBC 2022 SOCIALS @SuperMegaTeam From the moment a gigantic mechanised boss rears up in front of you, firing off a kaleidoscope of burning projectiles, it’s clear that The Knight Witch isn’t your typical Metroidvania. You’re just a few minutes into the prologue, and you’re fighting Emperor Erebus, the tyrannical ruler whose relentless pursuit of wealth has brought the planet to the brink of environmental collapse. But you’re a Knight Witch, a member of an elite band of warriors who have the power to knock Erebus off his perch. Doing so means dodging waves of bullets and returning fire with your standard shots and card-based magic system. The Knight Witch offers an engaging mix of genres, then: there’s the…

That was the month that was

01. Dark remake After mostly sitting out “Not E3” earlier this year, Double-A specialist publisher THQ Nordic had a surprising amount to show recently as part of an hour- and-a-half digital showcase. The headline announcement by far was news that cult classic survival horror series Alone in the Dark is set to return, this time via a remake developed by Pieces Interactive. The short trailer gives off some serious Resident Evil vibes, right down to the eerie-looking mansion and an ability to play as a male or female protagonist. Fortunately, the 2008 version’s incessant blinking mechanic has been blinked out of existence. Phew! 02. Stayin’ switching Rumours of a Nintendo Switch hardware revision or a new console outright are forever swirling. The dream of something like this happening anytime soon has now died,…

That was the month that was

That was the month that was

01. Dark remake After mostly sitting out “Not E3” earlier this year, Double-A specialist publisher THQ Nordic had a surprising amount to show recently as part of an hour- and-a-half digital showcase. The headline announcement by far was news that cult classic survival horror series Alone in the Dark is set to return, this time via a remake developed by Pieces Interactive. The short trailer gives off some serious Resident Evil vibes, right down to the eerie-looking mansion and an ability to play as a male or female protagonist. Fortunately, the 2008 version’s incessant blinking mechanic has been blinked out of existence. Phew! 02. Stayin’ switching Rumours of a Nintendo Switch hardware revision or a new console outright are forever swirling. The dream of something like this happening anytime soon…

That was the month that was

Driving games are older than you think

Mr Biffo, better known as Paul Rose, was the creator of the legendary Digitiser. Check him out on wfmag.cc/digitiser “But wait! Gran Trak 10 wasn’t the first driving game either” What was the first racing game? You probably know this. It was Speed Race (known as both Racer and Wheels in North America), an arcade game released in 1974 by Taito. Designed by a certain Tomohiro Nishikado – he later went on to create a little-known game called Space Invaders – it was housed in a bulky cabinet, controlled using an unnecessarily massive steering wheel. It was played from a top-down perspective, Spy Hunter-style, making it also the first vertically scrolling game. Except… Speed Race wasn’t the first driving game. In fact it was Gran Trak 10, released earlier the same year by…

Driving games are older than you think

Driving games are older than you think

Mr Biffo, better known as Paul Rose, was the creator of the legendary Digitiser. Check him out on wfmag.cc/digitiser “But wait! Gran Trak 10 wasn’t the first driving game either” What was the first racing game? You probably know this. It was Speed Race (known as both Racer and Wheels in North America), an arcade game released in 1974 by Taito. Designed by a certain Tomohiro Nishikado – he later went on to create a little-known game called Space Invaders – it was housed in a bulky cabinet, controlled using an unnecessarily massive steering wheel. It was played from a top-down perspective, Spy Hunter-style, making it also the first vertically scrolling game. Except… Speed Race wasn’t the first driving game. In fact it was Gran Trak 10, released earlier the same year…

Driving games are older than you think

Forever Ago There’s a growing sub-genre of games about moving from place to place with a camera, whether it’s the eco-fable Alba: A Wildlife Adventure or Scavengers Studio’s upcoming SEASON: A Letter to the Future. Forever Ago, developed by Third Shift, strikes a similarly thoughtful tone: it’s about a middle-aged man named Alfred and the road trip he embarks on following a personal tragedy. With dog in tow and camera in hand, Alfred travels in his camper-van, making friends, solving puzzles, and documenting his progress in photographic form. Flock If you’re hankering for another meditative game in the vein of thatgamecompany’s output – think Flower or Journey – then the upcoming Flock is well worth keeping an eye on. In essence, it’s about the freedom of flying – you soar…

Forever Ago There’s a growing sub-genre of games about moving from place to place with a camera, whether it’s the eco-fable Alba: A Wildlife Adventure or Scavengers Studio’s upcoming SEASON: A Letter to the Future. Forever Ago, developed by Third Shift, strikes a similarly thoughtful tone: it’s about a middle-aged man named Alfred and the road trip he embarks on following a personal tragedy. With dog in tow and camera in hand, Alfred travels in his camper-van, making friends, solving puzzles, and documenting his progress in photographic form. Flock If you’re hankering for another meditative game in the vein of thatgamecompany’s output – think Flower or Journey – then the upcoming Flock is well worth keeping an eye on. In essence, it’s about the freedom of flying – you soar over green fields…

Where we’re going, we don’t need wheels…

Few video game genres exist where you can draw a clear line from origin all the way up to the reputation and prominence it still has today. The anti-gravity racer, however, by nature of it being so niche in its mechanics and distinct in design, is one of them. It was in 1990 specifically, with the launch of F-Zero on the SNES, that mass audiences got their first taste of what it could feel like to reach high-octane speeds without the use of wheels, instead using a ship’s thrusters combined with the Earth’s natural forces to zoom past racing rivals amidst a swathe of futuristic environments. This baton was eventually picked up and brought into the full 3D space thanks to the polygonal power of PlayStation, when a group of…

Where we’re going, we don’t need wheels…

Where we’re going, we don’t need wheels…

Few video game genres exist where you can draw a clear line from origin all the way up to the reputation and prominence it still has today. The anti-gravity racer, however, by nature of it being so niche in its mechanics and distinct in design, is one of them. It was in 1990 specifically, with the launch of F-Zero on the SNES, that mass audiences got their first taste of what it could feel like to reach high-octane speeds without the use of wheels, instead using a ship’s thrusters combined with the Earth’s natural forces to zoom past racing rivals amidst a swathe of futuristic environments. This baton was eventually picked up and brought into the full 3D space thanks to the polygonal power of PlayStation, when a group of ten…

Where we’re going, we don’t need wheels…

Behaving like a dick: a condensed video game history

Kim Justice is a YouTuber, streamer, and writer who specialises in the world of retrogaming. If she isn’t making lengthy documentary videos about old games and companies, she’s probably chatting and mouthing off about them live to a dedicated handful of people. They’re rare, but games where you can behave like a dick should be treasured. Now, being a dick in a video game is quite a specific thing – it’s not the typical murderous rampage you might find in a GTA, or the evil path in an RPG, it’s more something you can find in gameplay. It’s making someone’s lunch explode in the microwave in Half-Life, getting drunk and breaking things in Grand Theft Auto IV, throwing everything at NPCs in Deus Ex, or basically the whole point of playing…

Behaving like a dick: a condensed video game history

Behaving like a dick: a condensed video game history

Kim Justice is a YouTuber, streamer, and writer who specialises in the world of retrogaming. If she isn’t making lengthy documentary videos about old games and companies, she’s probably chatting and mouthing off about them live to a dedicated handful of people. They’re rare, but games where you can behave like a dick should be treasured. Now, being a dick in a video game is quite a specific thing – it’s not the typical murderous rampage you might find in a GTA, or the evil path in an RPG, it’s more something you can find in gameplay. It’s making someone’s lunch explode in the microwave in Half-Life, getting drunk and breaking things in Grand Theft Auto IV, throwing everything at NPCs in Deus Ex, or basically the whole point of…

Behaving like a dick: a condensed video game history

The Knight Witch

GAME The Knight Witch DEVELOPER Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team RELEASE 2022 WEBSITE supermegateam.com READ MORE turn to page 16 Aside from the mesmerising patterns of bullets flying around all over the place, it’s The Knight Witch’s vibrant artwork that immediately catches the eye. “I wanted to do something in the vein of Steven Universe or The Owl House – Cartoon Network shows, something like that,” explains art director Enrique Corts. “The ‘CalArts style’, it’s called – very simple lines, and kind of a mix between Japanese and western art styles. I think it’s very approachable for people… also, I’m only one artist making the game art, so I had to do something simple.” As Corts points out, though, The Knight Witch’s underground city is packed with detail: he…

The Knight Witch

The Knight Witch

GAME The Knight Witch DEVELOPER Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team RELEASE 2022 WEBSITE supermegateam.com READ MORE turn to page 16 Aside from the mesmerising patterns of bullets flying around all over the place, it’s The Knight Witch’s vibrant artwork that immediately catches the eye. “I wanted to do something in the vein of Steven Universe or The Owl House – Cartoon Network shows, something like that,” explains art director Enrique Corts. “The ‘CalArts style’, it’s called – very simple lines, and kind of a mix between Japanese and western art styles. I think it’s very approachable for people… also, I’m only one artist making the game art, so I had to do something simple.” As Corts points out, though, The Knight Witch’s underground city is packed with detail: he and his team have worked hard to ensure there’s plenty of variety…

The Knight Witch

Escaping the night trap

Live-action games have only recently begun to escape the taint of history. Whether you remember the 1990s or not, you probably know about the CD-ROM boom and its glut of grainy, schlocky ‘Full Motion Video’ (FMV) experiences – something now viewed as an awkward phase in gaming’s teenage development. And this reputation is far from undeserved, since many such ‘interactive movies’ barely passed muster on either side of that equation. It would surprise no one to discover them sealed off in a box marked ‘evolutionary dead end’. Nothing stays in its box forever, though, and in the last decade, game designers have successfully rethought the value of live action. Sam Barlow’s 2015 classic Her Story was undoubtedly the flag-bearer for the resurgence, while its highest profile boost was Netflix’s Black Mirror:…

Escaping the night trap

Escaping the night trap

Live-action games have only recently begun to escape the taint of history. Whether you remember the 1990s or not, you probably know about the CD-ROM boom and its glut of grainy, schlocky ‘Full Motion Video’ (FMV) experiences – something now viewed as an awkward phase in gaming’s teenage development. And this reputation is far from undeserved, since many such ‘interactive movies’ barely passed muster on either side of that equation. It would surprise no one to discover them sealed off in a box marked ‘evolutionary dead end’. Nothing stays in its box forever, though, and in the last decade, game designers have successfully rethought the value of live action. Sam Barlow’s 2015 classic Her Story was undoubtedly the flag-bearer for the resurgence, while its highest profile boost was Netflix’s Black…

Escaping the night trap

The curious mind of the Stray

Antony is Wireframe’s writing and narrative design columnist. He’s also a video game storyteller currently at FISHLABS, and you can find his work on default.games or @antony_de_fault on Twitter. It’s no exaggeration to say that the player avatar in Stray, who so fully embodies cat-ness through animation, sound, texture, and game feel, is far beyond any other digital feline we’ve experienced before. I loved playing her role, and her uniqueness highlights some key narrative design topics. Let’s dig into that. First, there’s the issue of how much the cat understands, with the game seeming hazy on whether the cat comprehends the world around her. Many puzzle solutions require the cat to have understood the complex causal relationships between buttons, levers, and electrical equipment, without the affordance of the little robot friend B-12…

The curious mind of the Stray

The curious mind of the Stray

Antony is Wireframe’s writing and narrative design columnist. He’s also a video game storyteller currently at FISHLABS, and you can find his work on default.games or @antony_de_fault on Twitter. It’s no exaggeration to say that the player avatar in Stray, who so fully embodies cat-ness through animation, sound, texture, and game feel, is far beyond any other digital feline we’ve experienced before. I loved playing her role, and her uniqueness highlights some key narrative design topics. Let’s dig into that. First, there’s the issue of how much the cat understands, with the game seeming hazy on whether the cat comprehends the world around her. Many puzzle solutions require the cat to have understood the complex causal relationships between buttons, levers, and electrical equipment, without the affordance of the little robot…

The curious mind of the Stray

The principles of game design

Howard is a video game pioneer who authored several of Atari’s most famous and infamous titles. His book, Once Upon Atari: How I Made History by Killing an Industry, is out now. onceuponatari.com Two thousand weeks ago, I was making games at Atari. This is significant because 2K was a big number at Atari. The original 2600 games had to fit in 2048 bytes of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM. Squeezing an entire game into that little space? Good Lord, that was painful! Which reminds me… I was in Jerusalem a while ago, and even though I’d never been there before, the whole scene was eerily familiar to me. The intriguing thing about Jerusalem is that everywhere you look, you’re struck by the contrast between the old and the new, not…

The principles of game design

The principles of game design

Howard is a video game pioneer who authored several of Atari’s most famous and infamous titles. His book, Once Upon Atari: How I Made History by Killing an Industry, is out now. onceuponatari.com Two thousand weeks ago, I was making games at Atari. This is significant because 2K was a big number at Atari. The original 2600 games had to fit in 2048 bytes of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM. Squeezing an entire game into that little space? Good Lord, that was painful! Which reminds me… I was in Jerusalem a while ago, and even though I’d never been there before, the whole scene was eerily familiar to me. The intriguing thing about Jerusalem is that everywhere you look, you’re struck by the contrast between the old and the…

The principles of game design

Make a multiplayer racer in Unreal Engine 5

An avid developer at The Multiplayer Group with a strong passion for education, Ryan Shah moonlights as KITATUS – an education content creator for all things game development. Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t an Add Multiplayer button in game development, and especially not in Unreal Engine. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible, though, and in this guide, we’ll prove this by remixing UE5’s Vehicle example content by adding features and including multiplayer functionality. By the end, we should have a playable race for two or more networked players. To begin, create a new Unreal Engine 5 project selecting the Vehicle template instead of the usual Blank template. With the new project loaded, we need to do a quick bug fix to ensure we can drive our car and we won’t…

Make a multiplayer racer in Unreal Engine 5

Make a multiplayer racer in Unreal Engine 5

An avid developer at The Multiplayer Group with a strong passion for education, Ryan Shah moonlights as KITATUS – an education content creator for all things game development. Contrary to popular belief, there isn’t an Add Multiplayer button in game development, and especially not in Unreal Engine. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible, though, and in this guide, we’ll prove this by remixing UE5’s Vehicle example content by adding features and including multiplayer functionality. By the end, we should have a playable race for two or more networked players. To begin, create a new Unreal Engine 5 project selecting the Vehicle template instead of the usual Blank template. With the new project loaded, we need to do a quick bug fix to ensure we can drive our car and we won’t face any…

Make a multiplayer racer in Unreal Engine 5

Create a 3D world in Unity

Marc Scott manages the creation of informal learning content for the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s network of clubs, home learners, and hobbyists. You can follow this project online at wfmag.cc/explore-3d or use the instructions below to create your own 3D world. To begin, open Unity Hub and create a new project, choosing 3D Core from the list of available templates. You’ll need to select a location to save your project. Your new project should then open in the Unity Editor. Next, download and import the set of assets to create your 3D world. These are available to download for free from wfmag.cc/unity-world. You’ll need to unzip the directory once it has downloaded. To import the assets into your project, click on the Assets menu and select Import package and then Custom…

Create a 3D world in Unity

Create a 3D world in Unity

Marc Scott manages the creation of informal learning content for the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s network of clubs, home learners, and hobbyists. You can follow this project online at wfmag.cc/explore-3d or use the instructions below to create your own 3D world. To begin, open Unity Hub and create a new project, choosing 3D Core from the list of available templates. You’ll need to select a location to save your project. Your new project should then open in the Unity Editor. Next, download and import the set of assets to create your 3D world. These are available to download for free from wfmag.cc/unity-world. You’ll need to unzip the directory once it has downloaded. To import the assets into your project, click on the Assets menu and select Import package and then Custom Package… then…

Create a 3D world in Unity

Ico’s level design: when less is more

Stuart Maine has been a designer for 24 years, across PC, console, and mobile. He helped set up Well Played Games and is working on an unannounced title. Released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, then re-released on PlayStation 3 in 2011, it’s fair to say that Ico (pronounced “ee-ko”, by the way) was not a big sales success. But despite that, over time it’s become something of a cult classic and is credited with inspiring the developers of games including Uncharted 3, RiME, FEZ, Halo 4, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and The Last of Us. Film director Guillermo del Toro even called Ico a masterpiece. But what makes this game so special? At first glance, it’s a simple 3D platformer, with you controlling the young boy Ico as…

Ico’s level design: when less is more

Ico’s level design: when less is more

Stuart Maine has been a designer for 24 years, across PC, console, and mobile. He helped set up Well Played Games and is working on an unannounced title. Released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, then re-released on PlayStation 3 in 2011, it’s fair to say that Ico (pronounced “ee-ko”, by the way) was not a big sales success. But despite that, over time it’s become something of a cult classic and is credited with inspiring the developers of games including Uncharted 3, RiME, FEZ, Halo 4, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and The Last of Us. Film director Guillermo del Toro even called Ico a masterpiece. But what makes this game so special? At first glance, it’s a simple 3D platformer, with you controlling the young boy…

Ico’s level design: when less is more

Code an homage to Excitebike

Most early games started out as coin-ops, but in 1984, Nintendo first released Excitebike on the NES. Later that year, Nintendo ported Excitebike to arcades as it became one of its best-selling console games. The smooth, side-scrolling motorcycle racer laid the technical foundations for the way Super Mario later moved around his world. Excitebike allows a player to race against three computer-controlled opponents along a track that has ramps to jump and debris to avoid. The player must try to keep the momentum of their bike going to get the best time. In this example, we’ll replicate the scrolling track, which moves faster as the player speeds up. We’ll add ramps to jump and bits of debris to avoid. Using Pygame Zero and the time module for keeping track of…

Code an homage to Excitebike

Code an homage to Excitebike

Most early games started out as coin-ops, but in 1984, Nintendo first released Excitebike on the NES. Later that year, Nintendo ported Excitebike to arcades as it became one of its best-selling console games. The smooth, side-scrolling motorcycle racer laid the technical foundations for the way Super Mario later moved around his world. Excitebike allows a player to race against three computer-controlled opponents along a track that has ramps to jump and debris to avoid. The player must try to keep the momentum of their bike going to get the best time. In this example, we’ll replicate the scrolling track, which moves faster as the player speeds up. We’ll add ramps to jump and bits of debris to avoid. Using Pygame Zero and the time module for keeping track of our lap…

Code an homage to Excitebike

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GAME The Unliving DEVELOPER RocketBrush Studio RELEASE 31 October 2022 WEBSITE rocketbrush.com The Unliving is an upcoming action rogue-lite marked out by its epic battles. Cast in the role of a powerful Necromancer, you’re capable of building huge undead armies (hence the title) which you’ll use to fight your way through a randomly generated world and its bestiary of aggressive creatures. A considerable amount of work went into crafting the game’s sumptuous pixel art, beginning with its hooded, spell-casting lead character. “When designing the Necromancer, we referred to the other dark heroes and necromancers from popular culture,” a team member from RocketBrush Studio tells us via email. “Our core idea is more about the art of necromancy rather than the Necromancer character in any specific way. We can say that one of the stories that inspired us was…

GAME The Unliving DEVELOPER RocketBrush Studio RELEASE 31 October 2022 WEBSITE rocketbrush.com The Unliving is an upcoming action rogue-lite marked out by its epic battles. Cast in the role of a powerful Necromancer, you’re capable of building huge undead armies (hence the title) which you’ll use to fight your way through a randomly generated world and its bestiary of aggressive creatures. A considerable amount of work went into crafting the game’s sumptuous pixel art, beginning with its hooded, spell-casting lead character. “When designing the Necromancer, we referred to the other dark heroes and necromancers from popular culture,” a team member from RocketBrush Studio tells us via email. “Our core idea is more about the art of necromancy rather than the Necromancer character in any specific way. We can say that…

Breaking the fourth wall for fun and profit

The term comes from the theatre: the idea is that in addition to the three walls on stage, there’s an imaginary fourth wall that the audience can see through, but the actors can’t. So when an actor breaks that fourth wall, it’s an exciting, unexpected event – an acknowledgement of the artifice of it all, a recognition that they’re in a play, in a theatre, talking to an audience. A sudden grounding of the suspension of disbelief. Video games have been breaking the fourth wall almost from the day they were invented. Every time you’re told to ‘press A to jump’ and the like, the game is acknowledging the space outside the game world, breaking the illusion. But some games go further than that, leading to some of the most…

Breaking the fourth wall for fun and profit

Breaking the fourth wall for fun and profit

The term comes from the theatre: the idea is that in addition to the three walls on stage, there’s an imaginary fourth wall that the audience can see through, but the actors can’t. So when an actor breaks that fourth wall, it’s an exciting, unexpected event – an acknowledgement of the artifice of it all, a recognition that they’re in a play, in a theatre, talking to an audience. A sudden grounding of the suspension of disbelief. Video games have been breaking the fourth wall almost from the day they were invented. Every time you’re told to ‘press A to jump’ and the like, the game is acknowledging the space outside the game world, breaking the illusion. But some games go further than that, leading to some of the most memorable…

Breaking the fourth wall for fun and profit

Are you a solo developer working on a game you want to share with Wireframe? If you’d like to have your project featured in these pages, get in touch with us at wfmag.cc/hell For just under a decade, Japanese studio Toaplan made some of the most distinctive and innovative shoot-‘em-ups around. Tiger-Heli (1985) featured video gaming’s first-ever smart bomb. The likes of Slap Fight, Flying Shark, and Truxton (aka Tatsujin) established a visual and gameplay style that lasted until its closure in 1994: devastating weapons systems; enemies that attacked in elaborate patterns and shot at the player with unnerving accuracy; and unforgettably catchy music, often composed by founder members Masahiro Yuge or Tatsuya Uemura. The work of Swedish developer Mikael Tillander, Twin Tiger Shark affectionately revisits Toaplan’s late-eighties heyday, channelling the spirit…

Are you a solo developer working on a game you want to share with Wireframe? If you’d like to have your project featured in these pages, get in touch with us at wfmag.cc/hello When thinking about ‘cinematic’ influences in games, the mind might jump to beautifully framed and lit cutscenes, epic action set pieces, and a lavish scope. Gloomy Juncture is heavily inspired by cinema, certainly, but it doesn’t have any of those – it veers closer to the pessimism and grimness of Taxi Driver and Oldboy as opposed to Hollywood’s conventional blockbuster fare. In search of that rawness, one-person studio Filipe Rodrigues opted for a sketch-based art style for this first-person adventure. And despite hoping to capture the essence of noir movies of the seventies, its aesthetic is also rooted in…

Are you a solo developer working on a game you want to share with Wireframe? If you’d like to have your project featured in these pages, get in touch with us at wfmag.cc/hell For just under a decade, Japanese studio Toaplan made some of the most distinctive and innovative shoot-‘em-ups around. Tiger-Heli (1985) featured video gaming’s first-ever smart bomb. The likes of Slap Fight, Flying Shark, and Truxton (aka Tatsujin) established a visual and gameplay style that lasted until its closure in 1994: devastating weapons systems; enemies that attacked in elaborate patterns and shot at the player with unnerving accuracy; and unforgettably catchy music, often composed by founder members Masahiro Yuge or Tatsuya Uemura. The work of Swedish developer Mikael Tillander, Twin Tiger Shark affectionately revisits Toaplan’s late-eighties heyday, channelling the…

How I became a… Level Designer

“At a young age, I knew I had a love for the art of video game design” What was the game that first made you want to work in the industry? As a kid, I grew up playing all sorts of games. I would get the same games as my friends and they would rush to beat it. [However], I would happily take my time, soaking up all the art and content the developers made. At a young age, I knew I had a love for the art of video game design. However, there is one game that made me fall in love with level design. Black Ops 2 will always be my favourite FPS and Call of Duty. The multiplayer level design in that game is some of the best. Treyarch’s…

How I became a… Level Designer

Are you a solo developer working on a game you want to share with Wireframe? If you’d like to have your project featured in these pages, get in touch with us at wfmag.cc/hello When thinking about ‘cinematic’ influences in games, the mind might jump to beautifully framed and lit cutscenes, epic action set pieces, and a lavish scope. Gloomy Juncture is heavily inspired by cinema, certainly, but it doesn’t have any of those – it veers closer to the pessimism and grimness of Taxi Driver and Oldboy as opposed to Hollywood’s conventional blockbuster fare. In search of that rawness, one-person studio Filipe Rodrigues opted for a sketch-based art style for this first-person adventure. And despite hoping to capture the essence of noir movies of the seventies, its aesthetic is also…

Studio highlights

Perfect Dark TBA Knowing a thing or two about strong female protagonists, Crystal Dynamics is currently aiding development on Xbox’s in-house reboot of Perfect Dark, in addition to an untitled Tomb Raider project. Marvel’s Avengers 2020 Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were the subject for Crystal Dynamics’ first live-service game attempt. New characters are still being added to this day, with the latest being Jane Foster’s Thor. Rise of the Tomb Raider 2015 Crystal Dynamics lived up to the promise presented at the end of its 2013 Tomb Raider reboot with this Siberia-set sequel. Digging Lara’s pickaxes in ice never got old.…

Studio highlights

How I became a… Level Designer

“At a young age, I knew I had a love for the art of video game design” What was the game that first made you want to work in the industry? As a kid, I grew up playing all sorts of games. I would get the same games as my friends and they would rush to beat it. [However], I would happily take my time, soaking up all the art and content the developers made. At a young age, I knew I had a love for the art of video game design. However, there is one game that made me fall in love with level design. Black Ops 2 will always be my favourite FPS and Call of Duty. The multiplayer level design in that game is some of the…

How I became a… Level Designer

Penning the writer’s journey

Making a game has a bit in common with putting a magazine together. Go figure. That’s according to Denki co-founder and industry veteran Gary Penn, who started his career writing for publications like Zzap!64, The Games Machine, and The One before making the jump to development. It was in 1996, as creative director at DMA Design, that he played a key role in a little title called Grand Theft Auto. Setting deadlines, it turns out, can be useful in both disciplines. While Penn got his start on the editorial side of gaming, making video games was something he was fascinated with from a young age. “I used to make all sorts of different games when I was a kid,” he says, “including computer games as I got older, so it’s more…

Penning the writer’s journey

Studio highlights

Perfect Dark TBA Knowing a thing or two about strong female protagonists, Crystal Dynamics is currently aiding development on Xbox’s in-house reboot of Perfect Dark, in addition to an untitled Tomb Raider project. Marvel’s Avengers 2020 Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were the subject for Crystal Dynamics’ first live-service game attempt. New characters are still being added to this day, with the latest being Jane Foster’s Thor. Rise of the Tomb Raider 2015 Crystal Dynamics lived up to the promise presented at the end of its 2013 Tomb Raider reboot with this Siberia-set sequel. Digging Lara’s pickaxes in ice never got old.…

Studio highlights

Whoops, it’s 4am: a novice’s guide to management sims

Steve can’t come to the phone right now, he’s “busy”. Like all right-thinking people, I’ve fallen down a massive hole. Not literally, of course, but figuratively, with the recent release of Two Point Campus and its resultant impact on my productivity. From the moment Peter Molyneux released 1994’s Theme Park onto his unsuspecting victims, I was hooked. Bullfrog and Molyneux continued to monopolise my time for years with titles like Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital, until the dastardly Chris Sawyer came along and robbed me blind with RollerCoaster Tycoon and its must-have expansion packs and sequels. Peter Molyneux made a final grab for my heart with the criminally underrated Hollywood film studio sim The Movies*, before stupid things like “work” and “baby” stole me away from my one true love for a…

Whoops, it’s 4am: a novice’s guide to management sims

Penning the writer’s journey

Making a game has a bit in common with putting a magazine together. Go figure. That’s according to Denki co-founder and industry veteran Gary Penn, who started his career writing for publications like Zzap!64, The Games Machine, and The One before making the jump to development. It was in 1996, as creative director at DMA Design, that he played a key role in a little title called Grand Theft Auto. Setting deadlines, it turns out, can be useful in both disciplines. While Penn got his start on the editorial side of gaming, making video games was something he was fascinated with from a young age. “I used to make all sorts of different games when I was a kid,” he says, “including computer games as I got older, so it’s…

Penning the writer’s journey

1–9 Trash. Unplayable. A broken mess. 10–19 A truly bad game, though not necessarily utterly broken. 20–29 Still awful, but at a push could be fun for two minutes. 30–39 Might have a redeeming feature, but otherwise very poor. 40–49 Adds in more redeeming features, but still not worth your time. 50–59 Average. Decent at best. ‘Just about OK’. 60–69 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?…

Whoops, it’s 4am: a novice’s guide to management sims

Steve can’t come to the phone right now, he’s “busy”. Like all right-thinking people, I’ve fallen down a massive hole. Not literally, of course, but figuratively, with the recent release of Two Point Campus and its resultant impact on my productivity. From the moment Peter Molyneux released 1994’s Theme Park onto his unsuspecting victims, I was hooked. Bullfrog and Molyneux continued to monopolise my time for years with titles like Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital, until the dastardly Chris Sawyer came along and robbed me blind with RollerCoaster Tycoon and its must-have expansion packs and sequels. Peter Molyneux made a final grab for my heart with the criminally underrated Hollywood film studio sim The Movies*, before stupid things like “work” and “baby” stole me away from my one true love…

Whoops, it’s 4am: a novice’s guide to management sims

Two Point Campus

Info GENRE Business management sim FORMAT PS4 / PS5 (tested) / PC / XBO / XB S/X / Switch DEVELOPER Two Point Studios PUBLISHER Sega PRICE £34.99 RELEASE Out now SOCIAL @TwoPointStudios It’s been 15 years since I left university, but after playing Two Point Campus, it’s like no time has passed at all. The only difference now is that I’m running the place, and I can put Crazy Taxi arcade machines in every hallway if I want to. Although, that would probably take away money that would be better spent on staff training, new classrooms, or perhaps a party at the student union. Decisions, decisions… You start off your career in Two Point Campus at the modest Freshleigh, where expectations are low, and you can learn the business of campus management. You’re introduced to the game’s mechanics via bite-sized tasks, and anyone who has played…

Two Point Campus

1–9 Trash. Unplayable. A broken mess. 10–19 A truly bad game, though not necessarily utterly broken. 20–29 Still awful, but at a push could be fun for two minutes. 30–39 Might have a redeeming feature, but otherwise very poor. 40–49 Adds in more redeeming features, but still not worth your time. 50–59 Average. Decent at best. ‘Just about OK’. 60–69 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?…

Two Point Campus

Info GENRE Business management sim FORMAT PS4 / PS5 (tested) / PC / XBO / XB S/X / Switch DEVELOPER Two Point Studios PUBLISHER Sega PRICE £34.99 RELEASE Out now SOCIAL @TwoPointStudios It’s been 15 years since I left university, but after playing Two Point Campus, it’s like no time has passed at all. The only difference now is that I’m running the place, and I can put Crazy Taxi arcade machines in every hallway if I want to. Although, that would probably take away money that would be better spent on staff training, new classrooms, or perhaps a party at the student union. Decisions, decisions… You start off your career in Two Point Campus at the modest Freshleigh, where expectations are low, and you can learn the business of…

Two Point Campus

Lord Winklebottom Investigates

Info GENRE Puzzle, adventure FORMAT Switch (tested) / PC / XBO DEVELOPER Cave Monsters PUBLISHER Wings/Cave Monsters PRICE £15.99 RELEASE Out now SOCIAL @cavemonsters VERDICT It’s British. It’s barmy. It’s bound to make you smile. It’s also in need of some refinement, but don’t let that put you off. 67% The simpler a video game is, the more precise its individual parts need to be. This is certainly true of Lord Winklebottom Investigates, a pointand-click murder mystery that has you playing as a 1920s giraffe detective. With its locations and objects depicted with (admittedly lovely) static images, it’s left to the voice acting, plot lines, and some good old British humour to engage the player in its Agatha Christie- and Sherlock Holmes-inspired yarn. For the most part, Lord Winklebottom delivers. One of the first notable elements is the acting, with the entirety of the animal cast fully voiced with…

Lord Winklebottom Investigates

Bear and Breakfast

Hank the bear was trekking through the forest with his friends, minding his own business, when suddenly, out of nowhere, the shrieking of an electronic voice brought him to a halt. Pressing a green button on a curious metal shark, Hank learned the story of how humans fled the forest. From this moment on, he decided to open his own bed and breakfast in the hope of coaxing humans back into the countryside. Developed by Romanian studio Gummy Cat, Bear and Breakfast puts us in Hank’s hairy paws, gathering resources and materials to restore decrepit cabins to their former glory, thus providing comfortable stays for potential guests. After cleaning and restoring cabins, we’ll have to craft beds, vanity tables, and footrests to add an extra dash of comfort. Trash can be collected…

Bear and Breakfast

Lord Winklebottom Investigates

Info GENRE Puzzle, adventure FORMAT Switch (tested) / PC / XBO DEVELOPER Cave Monsters PUBLISHER Wings/Cave Monsters PRICE £15.99 RELEASE Out now SOCIAL @cavemonsters VERDICT It’s British. It’s barmy. It’s bound to make you smile. It’s also in need of some refinement, but don’t let that put you off. 67% The simpler a video game is, the more precise its individual parts need to be. This is certainly true of Lord Winklebottom Investigates, a pointand-click murder mystery that has you playing as a 1920s giraffe detective. With its locations and objects depicted with (admittedly lovely) static images, it’s left to the voice acting, plot lines, and some good old British humour to engage the player in its Agatha Christie- and Sherlock Holmes-inspired yarn. For the most part, Lord Winklebottom delivers.…

Lord Winklebottom Investigates

Info GENRE Third-person shooter, sports action FORMAT PC (tested) / PS4 / PS5 DEVELOPER Roll7 PUBLISHER Private Division (PC), Take-Two Interactive (console) PRICE £24.99 RELEASE Out now VERDICT A short yet oh-so-sweet spin on the skating game genre, packed with fluid action that feels rewarding for all skill levels. 82% Momentum is king in the eponymous, near-future blood sport Kara Hassan finds herself taking part in. It’s there each time she forward-flips into a new arena, performs the cool tricks needed to refill her ammo belt, and skirts a rail or rides a wall in the hopes of gaining a better vantage point on her next enemy target. This combination of factors quickly sees Rollerdrome evolve into a delicate dance of dodging, shooting, and grinding in the best way; the pursuit of improving on them also rendering it a dangerously addictive endeavour. And yet, having already…

Bear and Breakfast

Hank the bear was trekking through the forest with his friends, minding his own business, when suddenly, out of nowhere, the shrieking of an electronic voice brought him to a halt. Pressing a green button on a curious metal shark, Hank learned the story of how humans fled the forest. From this moment on, he decided to open his own bed and breakfast in the hope of coaxing humans back into the countryside. Developed by Romanian studio Gummy Cat, Bear and Breakfast puts us in Hank’s hairy paws, gathering resources and materials to restore decrepit cabins to their former glory, thus providing comfortable stays for potential guests. After cleaning and restoring cabins, we’ll have to craft beds, vanity tables, and footrests to add an extra dash of comfort. Trash can…

Bear and Breakfast

Do you remember that episode of Muppet Babies where they shrank down in a tiny submarine and went into Gonzo’s body through his belly button? You probably don’t; you’re probably far too young. And I’m not even sure if it was Gonzo. It doesn’t matter: the point is, it was really weird. One minute they’re mucking about in the nursery, and the next minute they’re navigating through Gonzo’s alimentary canal. And that’s just what Lost in Play feels like. No, hold on, that’s a terrible image. I don’t mean that Lost in Play is like worming your way through the guts of a beloved puppet. I mean that it constantly surprises you, throwing in giddy little trips of the imagination, bizarre little snippets of oddness. Here’s a seagull playing draughts with…

Info GENRE Third-person shooter, sports action FORMAT PC (tested) / PS4 / PS5 DEVELOPER Roll7 PUBLISHER Private Division (PC), Take-Two Interactive (console) PRICE £24.99 RELEASE Out now VERDICT A short yet oh-so-sweet spin on the skating game genre, packed with fluid action that feels rewarding for all skill levels. 82% Momentum is king in the eponymous, near-future blood sport Kara Hassan finds herself taking part in. It’s there each time she forward-flips into a new arena, performs the cool tricks needed to refill her ammo belt, and skirts a rail or rides a wall in the hopes of gaining a better vantage point on her next enemy target. This combination of factors quickly sees Rollerdrome evolve into a delicate dance of dodging, shooting, and grinding in the best way; the…

Endling: Extinction Is Forever

Info GENRE Survival FORMAT PS4 (tested) / PC / Switch / XBO DEVELOPER Herobeat Studios PUBLISHER Handy Games PRICE £24.99 RELEASE Out now RELEASE @HerobeatStudios Like a nature documentary, Endling wants to tell a story as well as display the brute facts of life. Just as the TV lens frames real-life creatures with tales of hardship and heroism that prick your sense of empathy, this survival game wants you to root for a vixen and her cubs sniffing out food among man-made rubble and pollution. The result is a melancholic rumination on rapacious human appetites, and a close-up shot of one four-legged family’s tribulations. In isolation, each half of this equation is easy to appreciate. From your foxy perspective, humanity is an ongoing natural disaster and constant thorn in the side, right from the start as you guide the pregnant animal from the grasp of a…

Endling: Extinction Is Forever

Do you remember that episode of Muppet Babies where they shrank down in a tiny submarine and went into Gonzo’s body through his belly button? You probably don’t; you’re probably far too young. And I’m not even sure if it was Gonzo. It doesn’t matter: the point is, it was really weird. One minute they’re mucking about in the nursery, and the next minute they’re navigating through Gonzo’s alimentary canal. And that’s just what Lost in Play feels like. No, hold on, that’s a terrible image. I don’t mean that Lost in Play is like worming your way through the guts of a beloved puppet. I mean that it constantly surprises you, throwing in giddy little trips of the imagination, bizarre little snippets of oddness. Here’s a seagull playing draughts…

Itch.io roundup

Carphero Coast City Games / Name your own / wfmag.cc/carphero Enough time has passed from the UK’s recent heatwave for us all to get nostalgic about it every time we have to put on an extra jumper, so there’s no better time for a trip to the sunny, voxelated beach of this enjoyably stressful plate-spinner. You play an overworked, legless cuboid tasked with running back and forth down a dangerously hot beach, fulfilling the needs of fussy holiday-makers. Quick deliveries earn tips, but miss too many and it’s game over. Spend too long on the sand, and your brisk cuboid sprint will gradually degrade to an exhausted waddle. Evokes a distilled, single-player Overcooked. Covert Critter sodaraptor / Name your own / wfmag.cc/covert You know that Simpsons gag with the rainbow paradise depicting a world without…

Itch.io roundup

Endling: Extinction Is Forever

Info GENRE Survival FORMAT PS4 (tested) / PC / Switch / XBO DEVELOPER Herobeat Studios PUBLISHER Handy Games PRICE £24.99 RELEASE Out now RELEASE @HerobeatStudios Like a nature documentary, Endling wants to tell a story as well as display the brute facts of life. Just as the TV lens frames real-life creatures with tales of hardship and heroism that prick your sense of empathy, this survival game wants you to root for a vixen and her cubs sniffing out food among man-made rubble and pollution. The result is a melancholic rumination on rapacious human appetites, and a close-up shot of one four-legged family’s tribulations. In isolation, each half of this equation is easy to appreciate. From your foxy perspective, humanity is an ongoing natural disaster and constant thorn in the…

Endling: Extinction Is Forever

Itch.io roundup

Carphero Coast City Games / Name your own / wfmag.cc/carphero Enough time has passed from the UK’s recent heatwave for us all to get nostalgic about it every time we have to put on an extra jumper, so there’s no better time for a trip to the sunny, voxelated beach of this enjoyably stressful plate-spinner. You play an overworked, legless cuboid tasked with running back and forth down a dangerously hot beach, fulfilling the needs of fussy holiday-makers. Quick deliveries earn tips, but miss too many and it’s game over. Spend too long on the sand, and your brisk cuboid sprint will gradually degrade to an exhausted waddle. Evokes a distilled, single-player Overcooked. Covert Critter sodaraptor / Name your own / wfmag.cc/covert You know that Simpsons gag with the rainbow…

Itch.io roundup

Stream of consciousness

What would you say is your favourite game of all time, and why? If I was stuck on a desert island and I could only take one game with me, it would have to be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I could play that game for hundreds of hours and still have places on the map to discover. There are many different ways of solving the same puzzle or defeating an enemy. That game ranges from super-relaxing when travelling the hills with an ambient soundtrack to dark and eerie in the maze of Hyrule Castle. I love it! Can you remember the game that first got you into gaming? My love for video games was ignited by growing up around a family of gamers. I don’t know if there was…

Stream of consciousness

The Wireframe HOTLIST

The games for… BIG ADVENTURES Elden Ring / Bandai Namco / 95% (Issue 61) Assassin’s Creed Odyssey / Ubisoft / 93% (Issue 1) Yakuza: Like a Dragon / Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio / 90% (Issue 45) Amnesia: Rebirth / Frictional Games / 87% (Issue 46) Death’s Door / Acid Nerve / 87% (Issue 55) The Last Campfire / Hello Games / 86% (Issue 47) Resident Evil 2 / Capcom / 86% (Issue 7) Stray / BlueTwelve Studio / 86% (Issue 65) Lost in Play /Happy Juice / 86% /(Issue 66) Journey to the Savage Planet / Typhoon Studios / 84% (Issue 33) The games for… REPEATED PLAY Hades / Supergiant Games / 94% (Issue 44) They Are Billions / Numantian Games / 88% (Issue 20) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice / FromSoftware / 87% (Issue 11) Streets of Rage 4 / Dotemu/Lizardcube/Guard Crush / 86% (Issue…

The Wireframe HOTLIST

Stream of consciousness

What would you say is your favourite game of all time, and why? If I was stuck on a desert island and I could only take one game with me, it would have to be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I could play that game for hundreds of hours and still have places on the map to discover. There are many different ways of solving the same puzzle or defeating an enemy. That game ranges from super-relaxing when travelling the hills with an ambient soundtrack to dark and eerie in the maze of Hyrule Castle. I love it! Can you remember the game that first got you into gaming? My love for video games was ignited by growing up around a family of gamers. I don’t know…

Stream of consciousness

The Wireframe HOTLIST

The games for… BIG ADVENTURES Elden Ring / Bandai Namco / 95% (Issue 61) Assassin’s Creed Odyssey / Ubisoft / 93% (Issue 1) Yakuza: Like a Dragon / Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio / 90% (Issue 45) Amnesia: Rebirth / Frictional Games / 87% (Issue 46) Death’s Door / Acid Nerve / 87% (Issue 55) The Last Campfire / Hello Games / 86% (Issue 47) Resident Evil 2 / Capcom / 86% (Issue 7) Stray / BlueTwelve Studio / 86% (Issue 65) Lost in Play /Happy Juice / 86% /(Issue 66) Journey to the Savage Planet / Typhoon Studios / 84% (Issue 33) The games for… REPEATED PLAY Hades / Supergiant Games / 94% (Issue 44) They Are Billions / Numantian Games / 88% (Issue 20) Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice / FromSoftware / 87% (Issue…

The Wireframe HOTLIST

1 Elden Ring / 95% (Issue 61) A game of massive scale, packed with intelligence and mystery. A towering achievement. 2 Disco Elysium / 94% (Issue 28) Smarter and deeper than anything else; truly an RPG in a class completely of its own. 3 Hades / 94% (Issue 44) Proving ‘roguelike’ isn’t a dirty word, learning- and-dying is a joy from start to finish. 4 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey / 93% (Issue 1) The point where Ubisoft realised over-the-top adventures were the right direction. 5 Telling Lies / 92% (Issue 24) This FMV mystery asks more of the player than most, with rewards to match. 6 If Found / 92% (Issue 44) A compelling and beautifully illustrated narrative, as moving as it is memorable. 7 Yakuza: Like a Dragon / 90% (Issue 45) A bold, brash, and joyous rebirth for the long-running gangster series. 8…

Backwards compatible

Nice rendering, Dave Collecting retro games is an expensive hobby these days, but then, there are certain old games that have always been absurdly pricey. Just look at Rendering Ranger: R2, an obscure run-and-gun released solely for the Japanese Super Famicom in 1995. An expensive game to pick up even 20 or so years ago, it’s only skyrocketed in price since, with asking prices going from around £800 for a loose cartridge to over £3000 for a boxed copy. Annoyingly, Rendering Ranger isn’t one of those games that’s collectable even though it’s slightly rubbish, like Stadium Events, say – it’s a lesser-known work from Turrican developer Manfred Trenz, and it’s an absolute corker. Much like Turrican, you control a masked, gun-wielding space warrior capable of blasting gigantic warships out of the sky. It’s…

Backwards compatible

1 Elden Ring / 95% (Issue 61) A game of massive scale, packed with intelligence and mystery. A towering achievement. 2 Disco Elysium / 94% (Issue 28) Smarter and deeper than anything else; truly an RPG in a class completely of its own. 3 Hades / 94% (Issue 44) Proving ‘roguelike’ isn’t a dirty word, learning- and-dying is a joy from start to finish. 4 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey / 93% (Issue 1) The point where Ubisoft realised over-the-top adventures were the right direction. 5 Telling Lies / 92% (Issue 24) This FMV mystery asks more of the player than most, with rewards to match. 6 If Found / 92% (Issue 44) A compelling and beautifully illustrated narrative, as moving as it is memorable. 7 Yakuza: Like a Dragon / 90% (Issue 45)…

Backwards compatible

Nice rendering, Dave Collecting retro games is an expensive hobby these days, but then, there are certain old games that have always been absurdly pricey. Just look at Rendering Ranger: R2, an obscure run-and-gun released solely for the Japanese Super Famicom in 1995. An expensive game to pick up even 20 or so years ago, it’s only skyrocketed in price since, with asking prices going from around £800 for a loose cartridge to over £3000 for a boxed copy. Annoyingly, Rendering Ranger isn’t one of those games that’s collectable even though it’s slightly rubbish, like Stadium Events, say – it’s a lesser-known work from Turrican developer Manfred Trenz, and it’s an absolute corker. Much like Turrican, you control a masked, gun-wielding space warrior capable of blasting gigantic warships out of…

Backwards compatible

Backwards compatible

Animal espionage action “Metal Gear Solid but what if Solid Snake was replaced with a gecko? Not a person codenamed ‘Gecko’ but an actual, human-sized gecko” appears to be the pitch behind this unabashedly indie-fied take on Konami’s PSone magnum opus. As far-fetched as Covert Critter first appears on the surface, however, it actually does well to parody the po-faced nature of Kojima’s tactical stealth series while still paying true affection to it. It’s made all the more impressive when you consider that it was made by two people as part of a game jam in just twelve days. They hardly kept us waiting, huh? You play as Koss, a cigar-chomping covert operations specialist who must use his skills of camouflage, distraction, and evasion to thwart the efforts of the Red Hawks…

Backwards compatible

I really, really hate those dogs. And that killer mermaid, or whatever the heck it is. Yes, I decided to take a return trip to Playdead’s 2016 side-scrolling nightmare Inside this month, and was surprised to find just how little the intervening years have dimmed its raw, oppressive power. Like the Danish studio’s debut, Limbo, Inside follows the progress of a solitary boy across a stark landscape. In Limbo, the world felt like a Gothic fairytale storybook; Inside, on the other hand, goes for pure sci-fi dystopia. The absence of dialogue or descriptive text forces you to comb your surroundings for clues. There are signs of some sort of biological or environmental catastrophe everywhere – perhaps even both. The sky is perpetually grey and sunless, while a trudge through a farm…

Backwards compatible

Animal espionage action “Metal Gear Solid but what if Solid Snake was replaced with a gecko? Not a person codenamed ‘Gecko’ but an actual, human-sized gecko” appears to be the pitch behind this unabashedly indie-fied take on Konami’s PSone magnum opus. As far-fetched as Covert Critter first appears on the surface, however, it actually does well to parody the po-faced nature of Kojima’s tactical stealth series while still paying true affection to it. It’s made all the more impressive when you consider that it was made by two people as part of a game jam in just twelve days. They hardly kept us waiting, huh? You play as Koss, a cigar-chomping covert operations specialist who must use his skills of camouflage, distraction, and evasion to thwart the efforts of the…

Backwards compatible

I really, really hate those dogs. And that killer mermaid, or whatever the heck it is. Yes, I decided to take a return trip to Playdead’s 2016 side-scrolling nightmare Inside this month, and was surprised to find just how little the intervening years have dimmed its raw, oppressive power. Like the Danish studio’s debut, Limbo, Inside follows the progress of a solitary boy across a stark landscape. In Limbo, the world felt like a Gothic fairytale storybook; Inside, on the other hand, goes for pure sci-fi dystopia. The absence of dialogue or descriptive text forces you to comb your surroundings for clues. There are signs of some sort of biological or environmental catastrophe everywhere – perhaps even both. The sky is perpetually grey and sunless, while a trudge through a…

Truly scrumptious

You don’t need me to tell you how drop-dead gorgeous Cuphead looks. But I’m going to anyway. Studio MDHR’s mastery of the hand-drawn, rubber hose style evocative of 1930s cartoon serials never fails to be absolutely on point; it’s there in every jump of the frame, inventive boss transformation, and the way faux film scratches appear on screen as the fights grow ever more intense. The recently released DLC, cleverly subtitled The Delicious Last Course, proves the developers haven’t missed a step in the five years since the base game released and wowed everyone who played it. In addition to an entire new isle to roam, the main inspiration for an Inkwell return trip is Ms. Chalice being made a playable character. Her fleeting appearances before always hinted at a deeper…

Truly scrumptious

NINTENDO EAD / 1996 / NINTENDO 64 The Mario Kart series, often lauded for how fun and approachable it has made the racing genre for all, actually has a dark side: the Blue Shell. Picture the scene: there you are, ahead of the pack by a country mile, counting down the last remaining turns needed for you to secure first place and win the cup by gunning it across the finish line. But oh no, what’s this? Suddenly an erratic beeping has appeared out of nowhere, until a flying overhead shell comes into view and blasts down on you. You’re robbed of your coins and forced to come to a complete standstill, while other Mushroom Kingdom racers whizz on past and potentially claim the cup. I say… what a cruel price…

Truly scrumptious

You don’t need me to tell you how drop-dead gorgeous Cuphead looks. But I’m going to anyway. Studio MDHR’s mastery of the hand-drawn, rubber hose style evocative of 1930s cartoon serials never fails to be absolutely on point; it’s there in every jump of the frame, inventive boss transformation, and the way faux film scratches appear on screen as the fights grow ever more intense. The recently released DLC, cleverly subtitled The Delicious Last Course, proves the developers haven’t missed a step in the five years since the base game released and wowed everyone who played it. In addition to an entire new isle to roam, the main inspiration for an Inkwell return trip is Ms. Chalice being made a playable character. Her fleeting appearances before always hinted at a…

Truly scrumptious

NINTENDO EAD / 1996 / NINTENDO 64 The Mario Kart series, often lauded for how fun and approachable it has made the racing genre for all, actually has a dark side: the Blue Shell. Picture the scene: there you are, ahead of the pack by a country mile, counting down the last remaining turns needed for you to secure first place and win the cup by gunning it across the finish line. But oh no, what’s this? Suddenly an erratic beeping has appeared out of nowhere, until a flying overhead shell comes into view and blasts down on you. You’re robbed of your coins and forced to come to a complete standstill, while other Mushroom Kingdom racers whizz on past and potentially claim the cup. I say… what a cruel…

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