aabicus – Page 21 – The Daily SPUF

Friday Forzebreak tournament, with prizes!

May 17, 2018May 17, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments annoucement, community, competitive, event, forzebreak, tournament, twitch

Hi everybody! Remember that Major League Magic tournament we had a few weeks back? Another student project wants in on the action, and tomorrow will be streaming a “teams of two” elimination tournament from aabicus’ Twitch stream! Forzebreak is “a Vehicle Battle Arena game where Rocket League meets Super Smash Brothers in a Mad Max style world.” Players will be choosing their different cars and attempting to knock each other off the arena while collecting powerups. There are 5 different cars and over a dozen different powerups, and I’ll once again be shoutcasting the tournament! Tournament begins Friday, May 18th at 3:00 PST. Hope to see you… [Continue Reading]

Featured

Major League Magic – Big Terrain Updates!

May 12, 2018May 12, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments dev diary, major league magic

Hello everyone! As mentioned previously, I’m now the marketer for Major League Magic, and we’ve got some awesome new stuff to showcase from the past few weeks! Our primary goal has been implementing new dynamic environmental meshes, so that you can really see your spells leaving their impact on the arena. So far it’s gone great! (If you need a brush-up on what Major League Magic is, here’s our official announcement article) Look at Meteor for a first example. Now it leaves a satisfying impact in the terrain! Nature’s Energy has a radical new role to play, carving slices through the terrain.… [Continue Reading]

Community Announcements Random Game Announcements

The Flame in the Flood free on Humble Bundle!

May 10, 2018July 2, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments free game, giveaway, humble bundle, the flame in the flood

For the next 36 hours or so, you can get The Flame in the Flood for free from Humble Bundle! A rogue-lite river journey through the backwaters of a forgotten post-societal America. Forage, craft, evade predators. From the Art Director of BioShock and a team of veterans of the BioShock, Halo, Guitar Hero and Rock Band series comes The Flame in the Flood. Travel by foot and by raft down a procedurally-generated river as you scrounge for resources, craft tools, remedy afflictions, evade the vicious wildlife, and stay ahead of the coming rains. Features an original full length soundtrack by acclaimed Alt-Country rocker Chuck Ragan featuring The Camaraderie, The Fearless Kin and other special guests.… [Continue Reading]

Community Announcements Featured Random Game Announcements

Satellite Reign and Eador: Masters of a Broken World Free Today!

April 20, 2018July 2, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments announcement, community, free game, humble bundle, satellite reign

Looking for an open-world sci-fi strategy game? Satellite Reign is a co-op isometric shooter where you and up to three friends can sneak, shoot, steal and sabotage your way through a massive cyberpunk city. Satellite Reign is true open-world; there are no limitations and you can go anywhere and uncover new missions while you explore the city. It sounds like the perfect cross between Rainbow Six and Agents of Mayhem, and I can’t wait to give this game a try. Said game is available for free on Humble Bundle for today and tomorrow, so don’t miss out! Update: Turns out there’s a second… [Continue Reading]

Featured The SPUF of Legend

How to Become a Voice Actor

April 17, 2018April 13, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments advice, audio, practice, project, voice acting

I had the exciting opportunity last week to give a lecture to a class of my fellow college students, and it was only afterwards that I realized my voice-acting hobby was largely responsible for how easy this presentation was! Full disclosure: I’m not a professional voice-actor, and I don’t have the qualifications to teach you how to get paid to voice-act. This article is mostly describing the many fun reasons a voice-acting hobby can broaden your horizons and genuinely improve your life. I’ve been voice-acting for a few years, ever since deciding that the Daily SPUF needed to expand into videos.… [Continue Reading]

Featured

I went to GDC 2018!

April 16, 2018February 24, 2019 aabicus 0 Comments convention, marketing, real life

The Game Developer’s convention is a yearly expo where professionals in the games industry all meet up to swap stories, listen to lectures focused on the developer’s perspective, and give each other business cards in the hopes of forming connections and (for some of us) getting hired. This year I was lucky enough to attend! Due to my new position as lead marketer for Major League Magic, I prioritizing attending marketing lectures, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I never had trouble attending any lecture I wanted. Most of my fellow students reported their favorite lectures… [Continue Reading]

Featured

Medical Necessity – A Final Update

April 12, 2018April 10, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments cancelled, magebrawl, medical necessity

Hi everybody! A few weeks ago our most recent dev diary went live for Medical Necessity, and unfortunately, it will also be our last. As our final project for the quarter, every team needed to showcase their progress during pre-production and demonstrate that they have a schedule for finishing production in the next three months. Unfortunately, the judges decided that the game we were working on wasn’t in a state worth continuing. They mentioned that the game’s core concept seemed ‘self-contradictory’, in that the player didn’t have enough control over the gameplay and that led to the game not being fun.… [Continue Reading]

Community Announcements Random Game Announcements

The Darkness II Available For Free!

March 26, 2018July 2, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments announcement, free game

The Humble Bundle is having a two-day giveaway for The Darkness II! It’s been two years since Jackie Estacado used The Darkness to kill the men responsible for his girlfriend’s murder. He’s been unable to shake the memory of Jenny’s death since bottling up his supernatural power and now The Darkness wants out. A sudden, unprovoked attack by a mysterious organization known as the Brotherhood heralds the start of a full-scale war and opens the door for The Darkness to reemerge, setting Jackie on a journey to hell and worse. I haven’t personally played The Darkness, but I do know of… [Continue Reading]

Featured The Competitive Corner

I Attended IEM Oakland!

March 25, 2018March 25, 2018 aabicus 1 Comment Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, CSGO, esports, playerunknown's battlegrounds, pubg, real life, tournament

Hi everybody! I’ve been a bit silent on the blog recently, mostly been working on my first quarter of schoolwork at the UCSC Games & Playable Media Master’s program. It’s a lot of work, but it’s very rewarding, and I’ll be updating you all as soon as the quarter ends and I can catch my breath. One of my favorite parts of the program are the other students; they’re all driven game developers who look out for each other, and love to play board/video games together! Several of them are frequent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, and recently we got the exciting… [Continue Reading]

Featured

Payday The Heist: AI Bots Explained

March 22, 2018March 19, 2018 aabicus 0 Comments AI, analysis, bots, guide, payday the heist

The bots in Payday: The Heist are designed to fill the role of an average if unremarkable teammate. They’ve got a number of behavioral quirks and coded advantages over humans, but that’s just to compensate for all the really basic stuff they can’t do at all. This guide will cover every possible difference I’ve found between the Payday: The Heist bots and their human counterparts. Statistics AI bots have 75 hitpoints that are constantly regenerating, turning them into pretty impressive bullet sponges so long as they aren’t standing out in the open taking suppressing fire from three different directions. When… [Continue Reading]