Improved Graphics

The biggest difference between Warcraft 3: Reforged and Classic is the massive graphical upgrade. Character models, units, buildings, environments and so on have been remade from the ground up, showcasing the likes of Jaina Proudmoore and Arthas Menethil in stunning detail. Battle animations aren’t being significantly upgraded, taking the same number of frames in Reforged as they did in the classic version. But other features like 4K resolution support allow one to truly appreciate the crisp new visuals.

Redone Cinematics and HD Cutscenes

To that effect, numerous cutscenes and cinematics have been revamped as well. This is best seen in the intro cinematic “The Prophecy” with all assets being redone and looking higher resolution with incredible texture quality. However, even the in-game interactions have seen some significant upgrades. Instead of Uther and Arthas standing around in a fixed perspective shot with talking heads and dialogue boxes, there’s now detailed facial and body animations with mid-shots of their character models. Even something as simple as Jaina leaving Arthas is now presented as a cinematic scene with camera cuts and the like.

Modified Campaign Maps

Reforged will have the same campaign by and large but some maps are seeing hefty changes. The Culling of Stratholme, for instance, is different from the original game. Blizzard went about changing this to emphasize the importance of Arthas as he began down the path to ruin. It’s also meant to further align the area’s look with that of World of Warcraft. Players can also expect the Exodus of the Horde prologue and the bonus Founding of Durotar campaigns to be included with Reforged.

Re-recorded VO

The overall dialogue is being re-recorded, which should bump up the quality significantly. It also doesn’t hurt that the dialogue in interactions is fully lip-synced, allowing the characters to fully convey the scale of their emotions. The script for the voiceovers will remain the same though as will the story.

No Story Changes

A lot has happened in Azeroth since Warcraft 3. Since World of Warcraft fleshed out the lore behind different characters and locations, Warcraft 3: Reforged will reflect this like Silvermoon City using elven buildings from The Burning Crusade and Jungle Stalkers now appearing more like bog beasts. Expect to see female Demon Hunters and Death Knights as well.

That doesn’t mean the story by and large will be altered. After senior producer Pete Stillwell initially said there would be more parity between the lore of Warcraft 3 and WoW, Blizzard executive producer and VP Robert Bridenbecker told Polygon that the team “veered away from doing that as much. Fundamentally, it was an amazing story, and everybody agrees it was an amazing story we don’t need to break that.”

The Frozen Throne

When it first launched, Warcraft 3 was initially just the base game with The Frozen Throne expansion coming later, not to mention its additional Acts added in patches. Warcraft 3: Reforged will include both in one package, so you can continue the story right after Reign of Chaos ends. The expansion contains two new protagonists, the return of sea units, eight total neutral heroes and more, which should help round out the Reforged package that much more.

More Accessible for Modern Players

If you tried playing Warcraft 3 all those years ago and found it tough to get into, Blizzard understands your pain. There was no “easy mode” per say. As lead artist Brian Sousa told GameSpot, “It was either hard or really hard, and so now, even me, I remember playing missions over, and over, and over.” The objective was thus to make things a “bit more accessible” for today’s players or those who new to the genre as a whole. Again, this doesn’t meant the game itself is changing or will play differently. “We just want it to be a little bit more accessible and look better for today’s players.” Basically, there will be an Easy Mode for the campaign to help ease new players in.

UI and Quality of Life Improvements

Warcraft 3’s patch 1.28 released in April 2017 and helped lay the groundwork for Reforged by introducing more viewing options, patching various exploits and issues like disconnecting from Battle.net when games were finished, etc. Subsequent patches introduced 24 player lobbies and upgrades for the World Editor. All of this was absent in the base game. Even the UI is seeing some improvements though players will still have the option to use the Classic interface.

World Editor

Warcraft 3’s World Editor is nothing to laugh at. It was instrumental in creating Defense of the Ancients, which would spur the MOBA craze behind Dota 2, and Blizzard has promised “millions” of custom games for tower defense, action RPGs, survival matches and more in Reforged. For those who want to use the World Editor in Reforged, it will include all of the custom maps from the base game. However, it’s possible to customize the UI, use Reforged’s model-creation tools and more.

“Hundreds” of Balance Changes

It wouldn’t be a remaster without some significant changes to balance. Blizzard is planning “hundreds” of changes to different units and heroes and will even change up some maps that give advantages. How this will pan out remains to be seen – professional players and fans want the experience to remain unchanged (save for modern visuals and matchmaking, of course). If the balance is changed too heavily, it could lead to blow-back. These changes will be going back into Warcraft 3: Classic as well so there’s additional pressure to ensure the changes go off without a hitch.

Battle.net Multiplayer

Multiplayer will rely on Battle.net integration in Reforged. Lobbies have already been increased to accommodate 24 players and it’s possible to group up with Battle.net friends. Considering how dodgy multiplayer was back in the day and how much Blizzard has sorted out its issues over the years, the Battle.net experience should be a significant step up.

Classic vs. Reforged

If you own the classic game, you can play against those who own Warcraft 3: Reforged. The two versions will be cross-compatible and it should be possible to link accounts between the two versions. Just remember – even if you don’t agree with the balance changes, you’ll need the latest patches to play against Reforged owners. However, this means an expanded player base for both contemporary RTS fans and those who prefer sticking with the classic version.

Post Launch Content

There will be post-launch support for balance changes and the like but it’s possible that Blizzard could add more content. This will largely depend on feedback from fans and may not necessarily mean new campaign content (though the development team isn’t outright nixing the idea). Additions to the World Editor in the form of new assets along with more skins and variants are on the table though.

Remember Lucas Pope’s compelling but ultimately chilling Papers, Please which explored the nightmarish red tape of border immigration? It’s been adapted into a 10 minute short film that’s now available to watch on Steam and YouTube. Check it out below.

Directed by Nikita Ordynskiy and produced by Liliya Tkach, both based in Russia, the short film focuses on a checkpoint inspector in Arstotzka. It’s his job to admit or deny entry to a number of different individuals. How morality plays into his decision making and the impact of certain choices is beautifully captured.

If you haven’t played it, Papers, Please is currently available for Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, PlayStation Vita and iOS. As the short film depicts, it’s up to the player to inspect those entering the Arstotzka checkpoint, checking for discrepancies in their permits and passports. As one progresses, they must stamp even more passports in an effort to support their family with food, medicine and heating. It’s garnered tons of critical acclaim and sold over 1.8 million copies as of 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFHHGETsxkE

For several years now, Obsidian Entertainment has been known as the studio that made a triumphant comeback with Pillars of Eternity, its computer RPG which recently released for Xbox One and PS4. Though its next release Tyranny wasn’t quite as big a hit, the developer is currently busy with Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire after its successful crowd-funding campaign brought in over $4.4 million.

However, it has something even bigger in development. Eurogamer’s recent walkthrough video of Obsidian Entertainment saw CEO of Obsidian Entertainment Feargus Urquhart discussing the overall make-up of the studio.

At about 7:30 in the video below when asked if Pillars of Eternity 2 is the biggest project the team is working on right now, Urquhart noted that it wasn’t and that there was another project in development that was bigger. It was “close” though and there was a “corridor” that the interviewer was mentioned as not being allowed to walk down.

The obvious assumption is some new Fallout title as is usually the case with Obsidian. But regardless, the developer clearly has big things planned even after Pillars of Eternity 2 wraps. The sequel is currently slated to release in 2018 for PC, Linux and Mac OS X. You can watch Eurogamer’s full tour of Obsidian Entertainment below.

"We had experimented with some rogue-lite elements, but aside from randomly generated dungeons, it’s a fairly traditional death system."

What inspired you to bring Battle Chasers into the video game realm as a JRPG? How difficult has it been translating the comic’s tone and style to gameplay?

When we decided it was time to bring Battle Chasers back, one of our first questions was… which character do you play? Is there a way to play all of them? Those of us who started Airship all love the RPG genre, the classic JRPGs in particular, so when the thought occurred to us to bring the two together, it seemed like a perfect fit. Translating Battle Chasers into an RPG has been pretty easy, especially since the series itself was directly inspired by JRPGs. So in a way, it’s like the whole thing coming around full circle.

What is the overarching plot for Battle Chasers: Nightwar and how does it tie into the comic book?

The powerful wizard Knolan discovered that a deep and ancient reserve of mana was hidden on a mysterious island far off the mainland. Mana is the main source of magic in the world, also powering technology, and has been disappearing rapidly, so finding more is a big deal. The Battle Chasers all fear that August, the most feared villain in the BC universe, may be heading to the island to claim the mana for himself.

As they approach the island via airship, they are abruptly shot down, but not by August… by a group of local bandits. Once trapped on the island, they discover the mana reserve is the least of their concerns. What happens next would get into spoilers… but the narrative is a side-story in the Battle Chasers universe. It takes place after issue 9, but not in line with any existing story.

There seems to be a rogue-lite element to the overall experience. What kinds of traps, puzzles and secrets can players look forward to experiencing?

We had experimented with some rogue-lite elements, but aside from randomly generated dungeons, it’s a fairly traditional death system. Players may lose some dungeon progress, but they retain all of their items, experience and gold. There are plenty of traps, from classics like floor spikes and spinning blade pillars to those based in tech and magic, like mortar cannons and tesla coils. The puzzles and secrets all tie heavily into the lore, often challenging the player with riddles as well as logic.

"The overworld is about exploration and discovery and isn’t the primary threat to the player."

What can you tell us about the combat and how each hero’s skills will work? Do heroes have different talent trees and level up through defeating enemies or are there other wrinkles like the lore points?

Combat is turn based, with an initiative bar depicting turn order. Each hero has abilities that unlock as they level up and perks broken up into two categories. Perk points can be acquired through leveling, but also by completing quests or finding secrets. Players can equip as many perks on a hero as that hero has points available, and perks cost from 2 to 20 points to equip. With a few dozen perks each, there is a wide variety of ways players can spec out each hero.

Heroes also have unique special attacks called Battle Bursts. The burst meter is shared between all heroes and can build up to three levels of Burst. The attacks take either 1, 2 or 3 levels to cast, so with a full Burst meter, players can choose to do three level-one attacks, or one whopping level-three attack for maximum effect.

What unique spin has been placed on the mana system? What kinds of buffs and debuffs will payers have to face?

The main wrinkle in the mana system is the Overcharge system. Basic attacks are free and instant, also generating a temporary energy called Overcharge. This can be used in place of mana to cast special abilities, but is lost at the end of a fight. So players can use it to either save mana by building it before casting abilities, or to continue using abilities once their core mana pool is at zero. It’s a fun way to encourage players to use special attacks all throughout the game – not just on boss fights.

The overworld seems fraught with plenty of danger featuring bosses and hidden dungeons along with different NPCs. How do you balance out these random elements to keep the game fun but not too punishing for players?

The overworld is about exploration and discovery and isn’t the primary threat to the player. When entering a dungeon, though, players are given the choice between three difficulty levels: normal, hard, and legendary. On normal, all the items that drop will be of uncommon quality. If players play on hard, they’ll get rare quality items, and on legendary, they’ll get epics! So here in the dungeons players are given the chance to really challenge themselves, with the potential rewards being great. This way, players who are more interested in seeing the world and experience they game can play at a more steady difficulty, but those who love a challenge can push themselves and reap the benefits!

"It is a constant struggle to optimize the game to reach a stable and fluid gameplay experience. Using Unity is both good and bad in that regard."

How will players go about earning weapons and armour? Will there be items that can be permanently unlocked for different playthroughs?

Weapons and armor can be purchased from vendors, crafted, or found as loot. Loot can be affected by dungeon difficulty, and crafting is interesting: each item has a base number of ingredients required to craft the item. If players put more than the required ingredients into the recipe, they can increase the chances that the item will be higher-quality when crafted.

The percentage chance they’ll get a rare or epic item is displayed before they craft. Players can also attempt to craft an item with less than the required ingredients, but with a risk of failure. So if a sword that requires, say, 5 Leather and 5 Iron, the player can attempt to craft the sword with 3 Leather and 4 Iron with a 60% chance for success. If they fail, they lose all the ingredients!

What was it like working with Powerhouse Animation Studios for the 2D animation?

We’ve worked with Powerhouse for years and they’re both total pros and good friends. Their work is awesome, they’re totally reliable, and they’re a ton of fun. We hope to keep working with them!

What challenges did you face in bringing the game to multiple platforms? How do you think it will be received on Xbox One and PS4?

It is a constant struggle to optimize the game to reach a stable and fluid gameplay experience. Using Unity is both good and bad in that regard. It helps a lot as you have a great head start and can get the game running on the console platforms after a short setup time. But then it’s about fixing edge cases and dealing with issues of Unity.

When exactly can we expect Battle Chasers: Nightwar to release?

We are not announcing a date right now other than Summer 2017.

"The difference is that the 4K rendered output will look very crisp and smooth while the checkerboard technique will not look as sharp when directly compared but this depends also on the quality and size of the screen/TV."

With the PS4 Pro, Sony have increased the memory bandwidth a little bit, but they have kept the overall memory pool the same as it is on standard PS4 systems. Is this a fair trade off? Or do you foresee RAM becoming a bottleneck for game development as we move further on with this generation?

With regards to Battle Chasers Nightwar we fortunately don’t have to deal with any hardware limitations.

The PS4 Pro has double the GPU power of the original. What kind of advantages this has bought in for developers?

Theoretically a bit more can be offered and also higher resolutions. However as the PS4 and the PS4 Pro are still one ecosystem PS4 Pro exclusive features had to be considered carefully so it’s mostly just a higher rendering resolution that can be offered.

With the PS4 Pro, we now know the machine’s specs. What do you foresee being the biggest bottleneck to game development on the improved console? Would it be the CPU, which was always hamstrung even on the original PS4, but is even more so now, relative to the rest of the machine?

It’s still both the CPU and the GPU. With the PS4 Pros GPU we can’t offer native 4K rendering which is easy to achieve on good desktop GPUs nowadays.

What is your take on Sony’s Checkerboard technique for 4K rendering versus native 4K rendering that Microsoft are espousing with the Scorpio? To the naked guy, what will the difference be? And what are the differences from a development and programming perspective?

The difference is that the 4K rendered output will look very crisp and smooth while the checkerboard technique will not look as sharp when directly compared but this depends also on the quality and size of the screen/TV. From a development perspective the checkerboard technique is a bit harder to implement as it is a custom implementation while a native 4k resolution is just a higher frame output resolution. In our situation Unity takes care about it anyways.

"The rest is just pure technical optimization and here it is meanwhile certain that from a pure power perspective the Switch is on a different level than the Xbox One and PS4."

What are your thoughts on the Nintendo Switch? What unique challenges will a system like that would pose for game development?

The challenge will be to tune the game experience in a way that it can be enjoyed both as a home console game and a mobile experience. Also finding the ideal control styles on the Switch is a bit more work than with traditional controllers. The rest is just pure technical optimization and here it is meanwhile certain that from a pure power perspective the Switch is on a different level than the Xbox One and PS4.

What is the target frame rate and resolution for PS4 and Xbox One?

We haven’t locked that in. From a resolution perspective it will be Full HD on both platforms. From a framerate perspective we don’t know what’s possible but at least 30 is the goal.

Over the weekend, dataminers of the pre-release build for Torment: Tides of Numenera discovered that a companion promised through a stretch goal was missing. Developer inXile Entertainment quickly took to the forums to explain the logic behind some of the cut content.

It first noted that, “The companion roster has been slightly reduced from our initial plans. During development, we found that the more far reaching and reactive our companions were, the better they felt and the more justice it did to the original Planescape: Torment.

“We did not want to leave some companions feeling shallow, with storylines that felt incomplete, or be forced to shove them into the late game.”

It should be noted that any companions cut could re-appear in future DLC and expansions which backers will not be charged for. As for the Oasis, a hub area that was also part of a stretch goal, it actually hasn’t been cut but moved into a larger zone.

“Despite being one of the earliest locations we showed, the Bloom was originally intended to be smaller than it ended up being.

“Though we initially planned for the Oasis to be our second major story hub, over time our fascination with the Bloom’s darker, more Tormenty feel, led to it being recast as the game’s second major city hub instead. We felt creatively this was the right thing to do, and the change did not shorten the gameplay experience.”

Sadly, the Voluminous Codex journal will be released as an external lore book instead of the interactive in-game item most wished for. Finally, it seems crafting has been cut simply because it wasn’t working with the design.

“We had some early design done, but everything ended up feeling like an MMO-style system, and that just didn’t fit Torment’s gameplay. Instead, we re-purposed those resources, adding significantly more and better Cyphers and Artifacts to the game. We also added some elements that are thematically in line with crafting.” The replacements for crafting were detailed in the post.

The developer also noted that many other stretch goals had been showcased to backers and that “others, like the Ascension, the Labyrinth and its added elements, expanded epilogues, deeper companions, etc. will show up too”.

Torment: Tides of Numenera is out on February 28th for PC, Linux and Mac OS X. What are your thoughts on the content that was cut? Let us know below.

Confirmed earlier in the day, Obsidian Entertainment’s crowd-funding campaign for Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is now officially live on Fig. The funding goal is set at $1.1 million though backers can also purchase $2.25 million in equity.

Here’s something crazy to note though: Despite only being live for a few hours, the campaign has already garnered $271,838 which is 24 percent of its funding goal. Given how well the first title was received, it only makes sense that fans would be gung-ho for the sequel.

Among the many features promised – including transferring your saved game to the sequel to see how your decisions impact the new location – players will also encounter “truly living cities” and “more freedom to explore the open world.”

Check out the campaign launch trailer below. Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is currently in development for PC, Mac OS X and Linux. What are your thoughts on the features list thus far? Let us know in the comments below.

Don’t take this as confirmation but Double Fine Productions has noted that it’s very possible that Psychonauts 2 could head to the Nintendo Switch.

Answering questions about its titles, like Psychonauts 2 or remastered versions of its classics, heading to Switch, the developer said on Twitter that, “Very possibly for Psychonauts 2, I believe we’d like to hit up as many platforms as we can with that one!”

It then added that, “Clarifying this as it’s getting newsed: we have no existing plans for a Switch version, but it is possible we might later on!”

So right now there are currently no plans. It could happen later on but how much later is a question that doesn’t an answer right now.

Psychonauts 2 was first confirmed during The Game Awards in 2015 and went through crowd-funding on Fig, raising $3.8 million overall. It’s currently set to release in 2018 for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Mac OS X and Linux.

Inti Creates’ Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night has been picked up by publisher 505 Games, as announced by creator Koji Igarashi on Kickstarter.

Igarashi had noted from the beginning of the project that the aim was to fund 10 percent of the project in order to showcase a demand. It was made clear that the project would not have reached this stage without the support of backers.

A new video from 505 Games went into more detail about the partnership with Inti Creates and how things will work for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night going forward.

The Metroidvania-esque action side-scroller has been described as a spiritual successor of sorts to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It recently saw a demo and is slated to release in 2018 (after a recent delay) for PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, PC, Mac OS X, PlayStation Vita and Linux. What are your thoughts on Bloodstained being published by 505 Games? Let us know below.

GamingBolt spoke PR representative Tadeusz Zielinski and programmer Krzysztof Narkowicz from Flying Wild Hog for more information.

"Homeless in a cruel world with only the clothes on his back, Lo Wang set up a crude living space inside a former nightclub on the outskirts of the Yakuza’s town known as The Calamity."

Shadow Warrior 2 is the sequel to the remake inspired by the 3D Realms FPS of the same name. What are your thoughts on the transformation the franchise has undergone in recent times?

Zielinski: Well, it’s really hard for us to judge, since our company conducted the transformation, but looking from a distance seems like we did a good job. We wanted to ease up on the racism – lot of things have changed since the 90’s, but we are not giving up on humor, especially when it’s immature. After all – our hero is called “Wang” right? Also – we think that what we managed to achieve, when it comes to melee and sword fighting, is something really special – we don’t know any other game in which you could do stuff you can in Shadow Warrior and its upcoming sequel.

What is Lo Wang’s story in Shadow Warrior 2? How does it differ in tone and will we see any changes to Wang’s character in the five years since the previous game?

Zielinski: Lo Wang, the former corporate assassin, master swordsman and all around bad motherf***er, just wants to be left alone. His days of fast cars, faster women, strong drinks and murder for hire evaporated along with the corporations that supplied him with  rare comic books and exotic weapons. After decades of constructing a life in which he needed no one, he finally made a true friend. Then he looked on helplessly as that friend died. Homeless in a cruel world with only the clothes on his back, Lo Wang set up a crude living space inside a former nightclub on the outskirts of the Yakuza’s town known as The Calamity. He makes ends meet doing jobs too dirty or too difficult for the local Yakuza, Most of the time this involves taking care of the lower demons and mutant animals that emerge from the forest from time to time to terrorize the locals. In other words, he’s a dog catcher.

One of the biggest changes with Shadow Warrior 2 is the implementation of four player co-op. How does this significantly change up the experience?

Zielinski: We wanted players to be able to play together, but in the same moment to keep that unique single player experience. So every player sees him/herself as Lo Wang and all other players as what we call “dojo kids”, ninjas in different outfits. This way everybody can differentiate themselves, but also “stay in character”.

As for the co-op itself – our character progression system is based on upgrades you will find on your way. Some of those will function only in cooperation mode so you will be able to heal your friends or take aggro from the enemy. We don’t want to spoil the fun but rest assured that the game is as fun in single player as in co-operation mode.

Along with more open levels, what is the impact of player’ abilities to scale walls and double jump?

Zielinski: The impact is huge. We ditched the stamina system, so now Lo Wang is much more agile, not losing the flow of movement. You can combine jumping, double jumping and dashing (also mid-air) so you become this zigzagging bundle of blades and guns, that swooshes through the level, obliterating anything in its path. It’s not a parkour game, but you will have tons of joy with just traversing from one end of the map to another.

How does this affect one’s approach to battles and is there an increased emphasis on verticality for the same?

Zielinski: Of course expanded and more accessible movement has a great impact on the fights themselves. Especially dashing is something that players will have to embrace and use a lot – you will be dodging attacks coming from all directions (also from above), double jumping over the heads of the enemies, climbing roofs to gain tactical advantage, and then descend using our superhero landing move (which has an actual professional stunt name –  “5-point landing”).

As for verticality – when we designed the levels, one of the main drives was to create them as vertical as possible. Not all of them of course, but a fair amount. You will explore huge caverns and mines, you will experience an out worldly dangers of floating fractured islands, so the short answer is “yes – you will have to embrace verticality to fully experience our level design”.

What can you tell us about the 70 weapons present in game?

Zielinski: I can tell you that it will be one of the best arsenals you can imagine in a First Person Shooter. We have guns, blades, chainsaws and some other toys we don’t want to talk about now – we need some surprises for the launch. All of those will be fully upgradable with up to three upgrades and all of those are friggin lethal.

I can also tell you that we are planning on some really cool weapon cameos. Keep your fingers crossed!

How does the upgrade system work? What kinds of buffs and other rewards can players earn to make their characters strong?

Zielinski: The whole progression system is based on perks and upgrades. Perks you will unlock on the course of the game, and upgrades are the “items” dropped by some monsters or found in chests. You will also receive them as rewards for quests. In every weapon you can slot up to three upgrades, adding some effects (like extra crit %,  extra power, or elemental effects like ice or fire), and sometimes – changing the way the weapon works entirely! One of the upgrades allows you to dual wield smaller firearms, another adds a quick shoot option (think – gunslingers in the Wild West), there is even one that allows you to set up your guns as stationary defenses.

You can also upgrade Lo Wang’s armor (again – adding some cool stats) and the perks themselves, making them last longer, heal more, or deal more damage.

"The combat system didn’t change a bit. It’s still as tight, responsive and visceral as it used to be…"

Level design was reported to be procedurally generated. What kind of variety does this add to the experience and how does it encourage replay value?

Zielinski: There is a small misunderstanding here – our levels are not procedurally generated but rather randomized from a pre-designed pool. We wanted to keep the artistic control on the visuals of the game and procedural generation would cause too much chaos and would be too unpredictable. So we resorted to randomization – we prepared a set number of level layouts and when you load the game they are being picked at random. Furthermore we also randomize some parts of pre-selected levels, so even if you see a familiar environment rest assured there will be some surprises waiting for you. At the end of the day every time you play through the game your experience will be unique.

Will there be different modifiers or special versions of missions that players can experience in order to gain greater rewards?

Zielinski: You will be able to play the game on different difficulty levels but we’re not planning on creating “Heroics”. But we will have something for all the players that like to “grind”.

The combat was one of the greatest appeals of Shadow Warrior and Shadow Warrior 2 appears to up the ante with a procedural damage system for limbs. How does this work and how do you prevent any severe glitches from turning up?

Zielinski: What glitches? There are no glitches. Move along. Nothing to see here. But on more serious note – the combat system didn’t change a bit. It’s still as tight, responsive and visceral as it used to be with one small exception you already mentioned – our procedural cut system. The way it changes the fights is not that obvious at first as it seems like a rather cosmetic upgrade. In the reality it’s the reason why you will look for enemies and weapons – to have fun with their bodies. To cut them in slices, puncture them or nail them to the walls. It’s difficult to find a game in which you can have so much fun just by mutilating the monsters you encounter.

Is the game going to run at 1080p and 60fps on both the PS4 and Xbox One?

Zielinski: We are aiming for 30fps 1080p. Both consoles. It will probably change on Neo/Scorpio.

"We entirely rebuilt almost every part of the engine – from optimizations in order to make use of multiple CPU cores, to a new physically based renderer."

With Scorpio, Microsoft is talking a lot about blurring the line between PC and console. What do you think of that? What’s your own understanding of where that line might be in the future?

Narkowicz: I rather expect consoles to become tablet-like. Something in-between previous gen consoles with long lasting single configuration and ever changing PC.

Do you have any plans to bring Shadow Warrior 2 to Xbox Scorpio given the rather big claims of the “most powerful console” ever?

Narkowicz: Yes, sure. We will bring Shadow Warrior 2 to Xbox Scorpio when it will be available. The claim was made a bit in advance. At the moment, we don’t have any Scorpio dev kits and don’t have any official information about it, so those claims don’t have any valid basis.

“There have been reports that the PS4 NEO will be weaker in specs compared to Xbox One? What is your take on that? Will we see a repeat of the resolutiongate but with the Scorpio in the lead instead?”

Narkowicz: None of those consoles have been released, or even have an exact release date, so comparing them makes no sense. Basically, the later new hardware will be released the more powerful it will be. On the other hand, you can’t play games on the unreleased hardware and there is always something better from the competition lurking behind the corner. If the consoles are to be updated every few years, then I guess every vendor will take the lead in turns and gamers will have to choose to buy and play now or wait for the next better one. Just like with iPads or iPhones.

“What kind of updates you have done to the game’s engine in the last couple of years? What kind of advancements (in terms of physics, graphics and AI) can players expect?”

Narkowicz: We entirely rebuilt almost every part of the engine – from optimizations in order to make use of multiple CPU cores, to a new physically based renderer. You should expect a huge leap from our previous Shadow Warrior title. It’s a lot of changes, so I’ll just mention a few highlights. We have new fancy renderer with volumetric lighting, realistic materials and weather effects. Engine now supports generated and open levels. AI learned to navigate and fight in a more vertical levels – e.g. enemies can jump from a rooftop to a rooftop. Last but not least it wouldn’t be a Shadow Warrior without gore, so we have new systems for (literally) making holes in enemies, spectacular flying guts and procedural cutting of enemies.

ROBLOX in 2016 and beyond

We are creating a platform where, each month, over 15 million people come to play games, create, learn, and imagine with their friends. At peak times, there are over 500,000 concurrent users playing ROBLOX across all platforms, including mobile, computers, Xbox One, and now VR. On ROBLOX, users can share experiences together in family-friendly immersive 3D worlds where they can imagine what it’s like to work in a restaurant, be a fashion model, survive a natural disaster, and much more. All of these experiences are created by our community, where over 500,000 builders each month are continually providing an infinite variety of things for people to explore and do with their friends.

This year alone, we launched ROBLOX on the Xbox One, which continues to be the top free downloaded Xbox One game. We also launched on Oculus Rift with cross-platform capability. As we continue to add more and more platforms to our portfolio, the growth of ROBLOX continues to exceed all expectations. Everything that we do today and in the future will adhere to our vision of driving social immersion and co-experience, powered by user-generated content.

VR gaming scene in 2016

Virtual reality is a relatively new frontier for many traditional games businesses, but there’s an even bigger opportunity that’s still burgeoning. As virtual reality matures, a new category known as “social co-experience” will emerge and will ultimately surpass video games. Typically, platforms like Minecraft, ROBLOX, and Second Life have been associated with video games. However, what separates these platforms from conventional video games is that they are powered by user-generated content. Today’s AAA video games don’t always provide the variety or the social graph one might find on these platforms because big budget titles are limited by certain market factors.

In the past 10 years, we’ve learned what inspires our users and we’re constantly learning about their changing behaviors and patterns. We found that our developers are creating experiences that go beyond traditional games. They are creating experiences that mimic what kids will play in the real world, such as hide and seek or tag. We are also finding that our developers are also creating immersive role-playing experiences; they can build a world where users can imagine what it’s like to be a high school student or what it’s like to manage your own supermarket. Being able to co-experience and imagine with friends in an immersive social environment is what keeps people coming back to ROBLOX. The future of VR is social.

Indie gaming scene in 2016

Today’s technology allows anyone to create content and share it with the world. Platforms like ROBLOX give young independent developers the opportunity to monetize their creations through a shared economy and ultimately create successful endeavors from the comfort of their own home or anywhere around the world.

ROBLOX is fostering the growth of many budding game developers, some as young as 13. These developers are creating new and emergent games and experiences you wouldn’t necessarily find on other app stores. Many of them are also utilizing our Developer Exchange Program to take virtual currency they earned from their ROBLOX games and convert it into cash. To date, we have paid out more than $6 million to our developers, and they’re using these funds to pay for their college tuition or to advance their careers in game development.

This summer, we have also invited 14 ROBLOX community members to work in-house on their games together with our R&D teams as part of our Accelerator Program. We enjoy working hand-in-hand with our community to support their aspirations as game developers. We take great pride in watching how these talented developers find their passions as artists, creators, and coders.

Mobile gaming scene in 2016

The mobile gaming scene today is brimming with gimmicky, limited, and two-dimensional experiences that don’t always operate on the social graph. ROBLOX and other platforms like it are looking to spearhead the development of cross-platform, 3D mobile multiplayer gaming. Many of our user-generated mobile experiences can also be played cross-platform with other devices, including PC, tablets, and Oculus Rift.

AAA games development scene

AAA game studios produce enormous, beautiful games. But because of their huge budgets and long development cycles, they cannot deliver the volume or the infinite variety of experiences you can find on ROBLOX. As a result, AAA game studios, like blockbuster movie companies, tend to invest a lot of money to develop titles they know will be a hit, rather than cater to the niche interests of consumers. This is where ROBLOX and other user-generated content platforms like YouTube succeed. We appeal to the user who wants to create and play anything they imagine.

ROBLOX’s plan for the future

ROBLOX is focused on the future of play. Our vision is to empower the imagination of kids and teens so that they are encouraged to create and think outside of the box without boundaries or limits. As new platforms like VR emerge, you’re going to see ROBLOX become more and more immersive as environments continue to look increasingly real over time and co-experience play becomes more robust. It will be easier to find your friends and have a rewarding social experience in VR. In terms of content creation, we will continue to offer accessible, easy-to-use tools to create amazing VR experiences. Our developers will have the power to make their VR games more transformative and immersive than ever before.

Everything that we do today and in the future will adhere to our vision of driving social immersion and co-experience, powered by user-generated content. We want to satisfy a core human need that not only incorporates communication and storytelling, but doing things together.

In the next ten years, ROBLOX will continue to provide the foundation for immersive 3D gameplay, while simultaneously elevating the graphical fidelity to that of today’s CGI films. On the social spectrum, more and more users and their friends will immerse themselves in the world of ROBLOX using their virtual reality headsets. As our top developers begin forming their own game studios, ROBLOX will branch out into more and more entertainment mediums and platforms. All the way from connected smart toys to potential licensing deals based on the biggest ROBLOX properties, we are excited to forge the future of play.