Month: November 2017

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– Will A:IR Reignite AAA MMORPG Development?

A:IR, or Ascend: Infinite Realm, was just fully revealed ahead of G-STAR 2017. Being made by Bluehole Studio (TERA) and brought west by Kakao Games (Black Desert), it looks to have everything an MMORPG fan desires. RVR combat, complex crafting, housing, customizable airships, pets, deep classes, a massive world, player-made quests, and so forth. Could it be that the first big AAA MMORPG to hit the West in years will come out of South Korea?

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The player selection process has begun for the first ever Smash 4 Boot Camp

Just as Smash Summit 5 has wrapped up for Melee, Smash 4 is getting its first ever Summit-style invitational, courtesy of VGBootCamp. Named “Smash 4 Boot Camp,” this four-day event will see 10 invited players squaring off against six players, voted in by the greater Smash 4 community.

Player opt-ins opened earlier this week, with that section of the selection process ending today at 2:00 PM PT. From there it goes to Twitter nominations, where the public must vote for the players they want to see in the next round. This stage lasts until November 13th, with the top 16 advancing to the final phase — the dreaded elimination stage.

From November 13th to 16th, the top two players will be voted into the Boot Camp, with the bottom two being eliminated from the contest. Just like Smash Summit, expect players humiliating themselves and pandering to the public on social media to get those precious, precious votes. For all the details on how to get and spend Boot Camp votes, make sure to check out the official Smash 4 Boot Camp smash.gg page, or this master post from GIMR on r/smashbros.

So far, these ten players have made it in:

  • TSM|ZeRo
  • NRG|Nairo
  • MVG|Salem
  • Dabuz
  • FOX|MVG|MKLeo
  • P1|Tweek
  • MSF|Larry Lurr
  • CLG|VoiD
  • Marss (via The Big House 7)
  • BSD|Elegant (via GameTyrant Expo)

There are over 50 players that have opted-in for the Twitter nomination portion of the selection process, so expect heavy fighting between candidates and local communities as they try to get their player through to the next round. I wonder if anyone will top Chudat eating several onions to get into Smash Summit 5…

Sources: smash.gg; r/smashbros

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Crowfall – Character Sheet Improvements and November Q&A

Crowfall’s biweekly updates are starting to show development towards it becoming a fulfilled, even if it is slow to those of us outside of development teams. Small details like UI visuals and character sheets are often overlooked quality of life improvements that make huge differences for players.

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Indie fighter “Slashers: the Power Battle” will have character customization

If there’s one feature that 2D fighting games haven’t really embraced, it’s the ability to customize characters. So far, only Injustice 2 has really run with the concept. Now, an indie fighter is looking to tackle characters customization in 2D fighter: Slashers: the Power Battle, now available on Steam as an Early Access title, will allow players to unlock gear that they can use to customize how their character looks. We’ve covered Slashers before, however, this is the first time we’ve gotten details on the game’s customization system. In the game, players can earn medals from playing the game’s “Journey Mode.” They can then use these medals to purchase and unlock customization gear.

The amazing thing here is that this is all done using 2D graphics. Other fighters that allow for character customization usually use 3D polygons (much easier to animate) even if they feature 2D gameplay. As for the game itself, Slashers borrows or pay homage to other fighting games with its mechanics. Slashers: the Power Battle features “Block ” and “Counter Block,” inspired by Street Fighter III‘s parry system; “Recovery” and “Power Recovery” inspired by Guilty Gear’s Roman Cancels, and the “Chaos Break” which serves as a combo breaking “Burst” mechanic.

The game is currently available on Steam as an Early Access title. In addition to this, it’s also subject to a 15% discount this weekend.

Source: Steam