Author: Thomas Ortsik

Founder and Kinda-Editor-In-Chief at Twinstiq.
Also known as Dr. Strangethumb

Age of Empires II HD Edition Expansion Out This Summer

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Age of Empires II HD Edition is getting an all-new expansion with original content this summer, in time for the 2 year anniversary of its release. The expansion will include work from dedicated community members, making this a work of passion.
From the official blog: "As with The Forgotten expansion, you can anticipate a lot packed in there, including new civilizations, campaigns, game modes, units, and more. If your focus is more on the original Age of Empires II experience, the new content development means you can look forward to additional support and features that benefit every owner."

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Going Portable

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Resident Evil: Revelations worked so well on the 3DS, you could play the game in bite sized chunks, and it was fun to play in bed just before going to sleep instead of reading a book. I'm happy to report that Resident Evil: Revelations 2 is coming to a portable, only this time it's on Sony's handheld, the Vita.

Releasing this summer, the Frima Studio port will package all four episodes and all downloadable content on one Vita cartridge.

Twinstiq Now Has A Shop

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Oh, btw: Spreadshirt is currently having a 15% off promotion, so it's a perfect time to launch our shop.

Until April 14th you will be able to use coupon code: 15OFF and save some money. I decided on not taking any commission for the first 2 days (meaning: all the money goes to Spreadshirt, none to us, but you also pay less), so if you are short on money and want some sweet Twinstiq merch, now is the time!
And if there are any items you would like to see, leave a comment or send us a mail.

WRUP: Big Hug Edition


I think I speak for the whole team when I say: It was a (bittersweet) pleasure!
Glad everyone liked it! Special thanks to Andrew, who wrote the introduction.

But before I’ll look for some tissues, what is everyone playing?

  • Greywolfe (@lostwolfe, YouTube): Hearthstone:  blackrock mountain.  The mage challenge.  forever.  quest for glory 2 and the dig.  i'm not sure what to tackle after beating phantasmagoria, just that it has to be less horror-esque.
  • Andrew J Amideo (@Andoro36): Hot Shots Golf 2. Also, maybe some Far Cry 4.
  • Cody Hall (@Yoda0VGs): In honor of International Table Top day me and my friends will be trying to play through the following games at least once throughout the weekend: Smash up + level awesome 9000, Betrayal at House, Ticket to Ride: Europe, $%/%&%ERROR: BUFFER OVERFLOW
  • Trisha Baumgartner (twitch): Going to be streaming some heists this weekend, will be on twitch@alonelyhawk
  • Jimmy Vegas (@JimmyPhantom17): Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 and a little ACIII
  • John Rausch (@visitzebes): I will *get* the god-awful controls of Kid Icarus Uprising and back to Bayonetta 2.
  • Billy Colley (@Amuntoth): I'll be getting back from a week long trip, so I'll mostly be spending time with my wife. Which means some Diablo 3 coop with her.
  • Thomas Ortsik (@Dr_Strangethumb): Probably some Helldivers with John Rausch and Bloodborne with a pack of blood pressure medication.
  • Jye Cauffle: Bloodborne
  • Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek): Long week of work. Have to finally do taxes, then work on my game, Codename: Colts! Oh, and GAME OF THRONES!!!!!
  • Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM): Bloodborne, obviously. Also Binding of Isaac on Vita. Feel like buying some PS1 Classics too.
  • Sam Prell (@SamPrell): I can't say, but sure wish I could!
  • Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello, Twitch):  I'll be playing a whole piping hot plate of City Hunter and Gotzendiener for PC Engine
  • Susan Arendt (@SusanArendt): Story of Seasons, now that I'm *finally* out of the tutorial.

Mattrick Leaves Zynga: Can I Predict the Future?!

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It was just an April Fool's joke, but it became true. Mattrick leaves Zynga, and the stock is tanking. Ok, it's not exactly the way the prophecy foretold, but pretty close. Read on to see how my vision of the future held up.
As the Sopwith Camel crossed over enemy lines, the pilot observed the network of trenches below. Suddenly, a bullets from the Red Baron peppered the side of the plane, and Don Mattrick clutched his golden parachute and jumped out the side. The World War I flying ace was left to fend for himself.
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The company hasn't yet filed chapter 11, and luckily the previous CEO Mark Pincus has jumped in to save the day, taking the reigns as Don Mattrick bails out. The stock has taken a hit and dropped 10%. Swimming in a sea of free-to-play games, Zynga will have a hard time sticking its head above water and differentiating itself among the other fish in that sea. Citing competitors Clash of Clans and Game of War, Zynga has its sights set on some lofty targets.

Stay tuned to the same Bat Channel and the same Bat Time, we'll let you know how it all shakes out.

Jimmy’s Thoughts: How Hard Is It To Make A Game?

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Since the dawn of video games, gamers have longed to create their own little masterpieces, whether it be a clone of Final Fantasy, a brand new game idea, or just a mod added in to Fallout: New Vegas. Most of the time, we give up, we run out of ideas, or we just forget about it completely. For me, it's a combination of all three.

Why do we want to make games? Why do we want work with the very thing which we enjoy? I don't enjoy work, so why would I want to work on Video Games? The answers are short and sweet, but that is only the silver lining. Games are hard to make these days, but it was never always the case.

After the jump, we will delve straight into the depths of hell… I mean game development.

Have You Made A Game Before?

In my 30 years on this planet, I have managed to make 3 complete games (of which I am extremely proud of), around 30 incomplete games, hundreds of test projects and probably around a thousand pieces of paper with ideas, sketches, notes and rubbish. The earliest I can remember trying to design a game was when I was around 10 years old. I had created this weird sort of character named “Indle”’ and thus created "Indle's Adventure". Safe to say that was stupid. It was some blue squiggly bloke with a cheesy grin. He would wander around doing... uh… stuff. Actually I forget the rest. At one point after playing Goldeneye 64, I tried to create an FPS game. I designed “Boris Schneider” and drew a few levels. Looking back, that was just trash, but Boris looked awesome.

Since then, I'd tried multiple times to create games - all without a computer might I add. I got my first PC when I was about 13 years old and quickly found a game maker online. The first engine I found was a very early version of the DOS based program called OHRRPGCE (Official Hamster Republic RPG Creation Engine). With this new found program, I designed and developed a game, but as the engine wasn’t advanced enough to import assets, everything in the game had to be drawn pixel by pixel, but it didn’t take too much to put together. The final game was called The Legend of Marsden.

Before we go any further I'll quickly explain something. In High School, my Geography teacher was Mr. Marsden, he had a moustache – a very prominent moustache, and to be frank, we sort of picked on him. In the year 2000, I decided that I'd use him for my game, but he was to be the hero. I also used some of the other teachers from my school – Mr. Dempster (the villain), Mrs. Shortly (a boss) and Mr. Bannister (another boss). The game was set in and around the grounds of my school, so I went about developing the entire school in the game. Anyway to cut a long story short, the game was somewhat successful. I gave it out to my friends, who gave it to their friends, and even Mr. Marsden himself played it. Everybody was having a great time.

In 2001, I left school to go to college, and it was at this point I had finished my next "masterpiece" - The Legend of Marsden II: Moustache of Time. I'll assume at this point you've picked up on my influences for these games. In this game, Mr. Marsden sported a Hawaiian shirt and was the king in a land known as Tirmena (Yes, it was influenced by the Legend of Zelda games on the Nintendo 64). Top and bottom of it all was that this game had more RPG elements than the first, but by the time I had finished it, nobody was interested in Mr. Marsden anymore. It took me longer to make the second game due to the depth of it. Shame really, it was better than the first game in almost every way.

In 2003, I attempted to make a third one, but after multiple failed attempts, and an aging development kit, I ultimately scrapped it. It was tentatively titled The Legend of Marsden III: Moustache Mask. The two previous games were fairly easy to make but didn't look amazing, and I wanted the third to be so much better. Putting everything into perspective, it wasn’t worth my time to send Mr. Marsden on another adventure. They looked like they belonged on the NES or Master System... Games were easier to make back then.

A few years later I discovered RPG Maker XP - one of the most well-known RPG maker kits out there. After getting to grips with it I designed a massive RPG game as a tribute to Final Fantasy. 

I had several ideas, and as the engine provided so many assets for commercial use, it was easy to use, but required much more time than my previous attempts. I had to use some of my own assets during the process as I eventually ran out of the given material. Anyway, time passed and I devoted myself to finishing the game.
After around two and a half years my game was nearly finished. I was very proud of the amount of content I had put into the game, and as my influence was Final Fantasy, there was plenty of hidden content in the game, mini games and side quests. In late 2007, I had it finished. It was named Beyond Eternity, and it was in the style of a SNES RPG game. It looked amazing, and a speed run of the game took me about 8 hours. I had somebody who had never seen the game before play it, and it took them 20+ hours to get through. At the time, I estimated that if you did everything in the game (the story, side quests, bonus dungeons etc.) it would take you over 40 hours.
I even attempted to sell it, and I made a little money off it and got some good feedback, but way back in 2007, I had no idea how to market a game, so that’s why you've never seen or heard of it (until now). To this day, I still have the game, data files, scripts and assets to Beyond Eternity. Maybe I will distribute it again someday.

Roll on to 2014, and in that time I've tried several times to create a new game, but everything I did failed in some way. As some of you may already know, I now run several YouTube tutorials on how to develop your own game in the Unity 3D Engine. As time has passed, I found it increasingly difficult to put together a game, so I resorted to showing people how to make games instead.

Where Is The Learning Curve?

Back in the 90's games were simple, and didn't require too much precision. It was pretty simple to put together a platform game like Mario or Sonic. As the years passed, and the 3D worlds of video games became more prominent, it took bigger and smarter teams to develop games. Compare Super Mario Bros to Mario 64. The team had to be expanded, as there were new elements in games which were not around 10 years earlier. 3D modelling had to be used more efficiently over the years, and as consoles became more powerful, the gamers demanded bigger and better games.

Think about it, one man could have created Super Mario Bros in a relatively short time, as there wouldn't have been too much programming, minimal assets and the repetition of gameplay. To create Mario 64 would have taken one man much longer - most likely several years. Skip ahead to something like Dark Souls II, could one man on his own have created this within a reasonable timeframe? I highly doubt it.

How Do Developers Get Games Out Every Year?

Yes, games are difficult to develop in this day and age because they are so demanding, but don't forget that the size of the team on some of these projects is huge! Credit rolls for games are getting longer and longer by the day. There is absolutely no way one man could make a game like Assassin's Creed Unity all on his own. In fact, when you look at it now, even a massive team is finding it too difficult to develop a game. With the amount of bugs and glitches we see in new games every day, it begs the question: Have games become too difficult to develop?

No, they haven't, but developers are becoming too ambitious too quickly. Assassin's Creed Unity was a very ambitious game, and given the time it was developed in, it clearly wasn't ready for release. Sure, every game has a glitch or bug - whether it be a little spelling mistake or a spinning head on a deformed doctor, the fact of the matter is that games are easy to develop, but hard to develop flawlessly.

Annual franchises are things we have come to expect, and these sorts of games usually fall under one of two categories: 1. They are rushed and broken, or 2. They are short and not quite as broken. I'm not going to start banging on about how short and pointless some games are, or how some games are a broken mess, just remember that they are difficult to get out each year.

What About Those One-Man Indie Developers?

Some games today are still made by just one person - Thomas Was Alone is a good example - but let's be honest, it's no Elder Scrolls is it? Indie game developers strive to create huge masterpieces, but even some of these developers struggle - and they work in teams. Several games over the years have come out from Indie Developers, but you have to sit and think just how long it took them conception to release.
Minecraft is a good example of an Indie Developer doing it right. Notch created the game, marketed it right and went on to make millions (billions maybe?). How long did it really take to make though? Think about it, all the hours he put into making that game. The simplicity of the game on the outside appeals to almost any gamer, but beneath the surface is a complex routine of programming and logic.

Conclusion: Is It Hard To Make A Game Then?

No, it's not hard to make a game, but it is very hard to create a game. The days of easy coding and easy graphics are long gone - you're around 20 years too late for that. There is nothing stopping anybody making a retro-style game on Steam Greenlight, but the future of gaming is intense for developers.

Even doing my tutorials in Unity 3D is demanding, and so many things can go wrong. For example, I had a problem with some trees behaving badly in a recent tutorial. If I were a professional developer, that was time and money wasted. Developers want to spend as little money as possible on making their games, but in doing that, they make it even harder for themselves.

Games are getting harder and harder to make each day, and it is highly doubtful that you could feasibly make an AAA game in under a year. Remember, Beyond Eternity took me over two years to make and even now I know there are one or two bugs in it – Nothing game breaking, but it still sold a few copies and I still profited a little from it. If you want a deeper look at the game, speak up in the comments.

By all means, expand your knowledge on game development. It may even land you a job in the industry. Just don't forget your old pal Jimmy when you're making Fallout 5, Resident Evil 8 or Half Life 4.

Jimmy Vegas
All images are my own creation!

Starter Pack Contents For Lego Dimensions

Ohh, Lego/Warner Brothers is doing the whole Skylanders thing now. Lets look at the press release for the starter pack:
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With the success of free2play, Warner Bros. now innovates and goes pay4air. We'll see if they are successful with this bold move.
The Starter Pack will cost $99.99 when it launches on September 27.

Steam Greenlight: Football Tactics

Remember Blitzball in Final Fantasy X? How I loved that. It was actually the only reason why I got a copy of the remastered edition on my Vita. Here’s an idea Squenix: Instead of giving us another loveless port of a previously released title, make a standalone Blitzball game. Until you do that, I will have to get my turn-based sports fix from somewhere else, like the “newly” announced “Football Tactics” from Creoteam.
Disclaimer: It’s actually an iOS port with an “improved single player campaign”. Don’t like them? Don’t click read more. I wouldn’t blame you.
To be honest, you won’t find much Blitzball in this. From the looks of it, it’s more like a very basic version of Blood Bowl, minus the blood and using the European definition of football. (Soccer, you uncultured brutes. You know, the sport where you actually use your feet to move the ball)
But take a look at it yourself:

Like Blood Bowl and Blitzball, the game will have certain managing aspects, like buying and selling players, hiring assistants, upgrading the stadium, earning experience and learning new skills. The team behind it, which previously released the shooter Collapse, also intends to add Steam Workshop support, which should make up for the missing licenses. BUT a word of warning to them: EA still owns the rights to most teams and leagues, and they have shut down sites that offered real life data mods for non-EA games in the past.

The game is now on Steam Greenlight, so if you are interested, make sure to vote for it.

Throwback Thursdays: Gargoyle’s Quest

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I received Gargoyle's Quest for my birthday one year. My mom picked it out because she had been reading some MythAdventures books with me, involving a green reptilian man named Aahz, and she thought the guy on the cover looked like him. This is one case where the bad US box art worked in my favor. I guess the artists didn't know the Ghosts 'n' Goblins character was supposed to be red. I spied the "Capcom" name on the cover and felt my mom made a good choice: These were the same guys that did Mega Man II!

I popped the cartridge into my GameBoy, fiddled with the contrast, so I could make things out amidst the blurry scrolling the screen exhibited, and set off on my quest. With only two hit points and tons of enemies and traps to deal with, I was stuck in that first level for what seemed like ages. My character could float over dangerous spikes, but only for a second and a half. I worked hard to master the exact timing to start floating at the apex of my trajectory and to halt my landings right over a bed of spikes as I swooped down a mandatory pitfall.
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Gargoyle's Quest was incredibly harsh and punishing right from the start, demanding that you master every single move in the first level. I was used to finishing games well before my peers, having them hand me the controller whenever they needed to get past a difficult part. Here I was, stuck for weeks on the first level. I thought maybe the game was bad. It wasn't unfathomable, HydLide for the NES still managed to get Nintendo's Seal of Approval after all.

That summer, stuck on a 32 hour car ride across the country, I found myself with nothing but time on my hands. I had just finished reading my new comics, ate my fill of snacks, and got bored of looking out the window anticipating our arrival. Having had my fill of Tetris and finising Super Mario Land multiple times, I had exhausted my tiny library of GameBoy games. Here I was, with not much else to do and so I found a scab to pick at.

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I had just made it to the boss of the first level days before. A giant fish-like monstrosity that spat fire, vanished into the murky waters and surprised me from behind. Whatever it was, it handed my ass to me over and over. I renewed my determination, it was better than being bored.

Thanks to repetition and memorization, I had mastered the path through the maze-like area and was able to reach the battle with the daunting gatekeeper in mere minutes. Somehow, after butting my head against a brick wall for what seemed like ages (I was a kid), I finally managed to kick his fishy ass and open up the gates to the next level.

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What I didn't expect was to be thrown out into an overhead map, which I had previously seen only in Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. Was this the same game? It was incredibly rare for any game at the time to include multiple play styles and viewpoints. This was like getting out of Midgar in Final Fantasy VII, the world really seemed to open up at this point. This surprising mix of action and RPG really drew me in. It's just too bad it was hidden behind a discouraging introduction.
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There were random battles which presented to me a side scrolling area with a handful of enemies, leaving me only with a few "vials" to add to my stock. Then I made it to the first town. Through its inhabitants I learned that the world was full of monsters in peril and they needed me to help them out. I could also finally use those vials I was collecting in the town's shops to purchase items.

Best of all, I got a password that guaranteed I would never have to play that initial stage again, I had spent far too much time there to want to go back. I reached a new threshold and it seemed like the world had just opened up to me, offering different paths and places to visit. I was able to upgrade my character to fire more bullets, and float for much longer, letting me access brand new areas.

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After getting over the huge initial difficulty curve, I was really enjoying myself. Unfortunately, Gargoyle's Quest didn't last too long and I found myself wishing for more. Luckily, I had no problem playing the same game over and over though, as kids often do. I was now glad it was part of my library, and when Gargoyle's Quest II on the NES came out, I immediately wanted it. Demon's Crest followed on the SNES, but over 20 years later, Capcom hasn't done anything else with the series.
Thanks to Nintendo's Virtual Console, we have the opportunity to revisit this spinoff of Ghosts 'n' Goblins. Red Arremer, renamed Firebrand in the English adaptation, is a unique hero with interesting moves. The monster world he lives in is the type of setting we haven't seen much of in gaming altogether. Playing as a bad guy saving his kin still feels like a fresh idea, and the entire trilogy still stands out in gameplay and setting.

New Nintendo eShop Releases: Separation Anxiety

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This week's set of eShop games marks the release of the first (and to date, only) New Nintendo 3DS exclusive, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D. While the New 3DS isn't the first instance of Nintendo choosing to introduce a 1.5 upgrade version to an existing hardware line (see the Nintendo DSi), Xenoblade Chronicles 3D will be the first Nintendo published retail release that is exclusive to an upgraded system. There weren't any for the DSi.

There are sure to be fans clamoring for the game. Likewise, there are certainly Nintendo fans who are excited about the new upgrades and features that the New 3DS offers. But personally, I have to question Nintendo's wisdom in regard to separating their userbase with this release. I can't imagine that sales of this game will be that high. Far fewer people own the New 3DS than the original and XL models. Moreover, the very existence of the New 3DS and its own exclusive game(s) can only lead to further market confusion and animosity from uninformed consumers.

It just seems ill-advised to have made this game an exclusive when they could have just as easily made it playable on all 3DS systems. After all, Nintendo has already released 3DS games that took advantage of the New 3DS features but were still universally playable. But the decision is made, the die is cast, and now I suppose only time (and sales) will tell. In any case, Xenoblade Chronicles is but one of several new games this week. Joining last week's initial Wii U Nintendo DS Virtual Console release is WarioWare: Touched! and Yoshi Touch & Go. Head past the break to be reunited with the complete list of new releases.

Wii U

New 3DS

3DS

[Image: Nintendo]

Andrew J Amideo
[Source: Business Wire]