ALL FORMATS EXCLUSIVE Staying Alive Far Cry 4’s Alex Hutchinson How the British games industry survived its on his “louder, brasher” game turbulent early years Fallout 76 Bethesda, BETA and “spectacular” bugs Issue 1 £3 wfmag.cc 01 72000 GRIS 16 7263 97 Subscribe today 12 weeks for £12* Visit: wfmag.cc/12issues to order * UK Price. 6 issue introductory offer In search of real criticism an games be art? Roger Ebert judge – the critic is a guide, an educator, and an argued that they couldn’t. He was interpreter. The critic makes subtext text, traces C wrong. Any narrative medium themes, and fills in white space. Put another can produce art. But I’m not sure way, the critic helps the audience find deeper we’re producing many examples that meet JESSICA PRICE meaning in a piece of art. Or: the critic teaches that definition. Let’s be honest: everyone keeps Jessica Price is a the audience the rules of the games artists play producer, writer, and talking about BioShock because it had something manager with over a so that they’re on a level ground with the artist. to say and said it with competence and style, decade of experience One only has to compare movie or TV reviews in triple-A, indie, and not because what it had to say was especially tabletop games. in any mainstream publication, in which at least profound. Had it been a movie or a book, I doubt some critical analysis beyond “is this movie it would have gotten much attention. worth watching?” is fairly standard, with most of Part of that is because the industry’s the entries on major game review sites, which economics don’t provide fertile ground for tend to focus on specifying what content is in auteurs. This begs the question: given the the game and whether it’s fun. In an economic inherent conservatism in the way the industry sense, such reviews certainly serve consumers, makes decisions about content, would we be but they’re not exactly serving those who making more art if customers demanded it? consume media. (That’s not to say that no one’s Probably, but that’s not the core audience for doing real criticism: there are plenty of brilliant most triple-A games. Besides, very few sources game critics – mostly writing for sites outside are providing audiences with the tools to even the mainstream.) recognise art when they encounter it. I’m I read reviews of my favourite TV shows on the speaking, of course, about the lack of genuine A.V. Club and other sites after I’ve watched the criticism in games. show, because I learn things from those writers. For the past year, when I speak at conventions, It’s part of the digestive process, and I get insight I’ve been asking gamers, and game devs, what a from it. I’ve rarely had reason to read game critic does. The only answer I’ve received is that reviews after playing the game. a critic tells you whether a game is good or bad. Video games are a geek medium, and the Or, worse, that a critic tells you whether to buy hallmark of the geek is passion and deep a game. Given the corporate entanglements engagement. In theory, with an audience primed between game companies and many review to devour and pore over every detail, the back- sites, that last bit is especially chilling. and-forth conversation we have through games I die a bit inside, sitting here with a literary should be richer than other media. It’s not. And criticism degree, every time I hear that. The role I wonder if that’s because very few people are of the critic isn’t purely that of tastemaker or teaching gamers the rules of the critical game. wfmag.cc \ 03 Contents Contents 6 Attract mode Interface 06. Hands-on with Gris 18. Sta ying alive An early look at Nomada Studio’s Revisiting the British games industry’s ethereal platformer turbulent early years 08. Alex Hutchinson 24. Portal on the C64 The Far Cry 4 director talks to us The Valve classic Portal gets a about his new indie studio Commodore 64 demake 14. Ne ws 44. Artf ul avoidance Bethesda adopts a candid approach The invisible workarounds indie to the launch of Fallout 76 devs use in their games 16. Inc oming 50. T reasure at 25 Talking bananas, gloomy dystopias, The Japanese master of chaotic 18 and honking geese action games profiled 04 / wfmag.cc Contents WELCOME One of my most cherished video game memories involves Skyrim, some hens, and an angry farmer. While wandering around a village in Bethesda’s classic RPG, I accidentally- on-purpose killed a chicken. Seconds later, a farmhouse door crashed open and a screaming 08 woman charged at me, iron dagger held aloft. It’s an example of how complex and surprising games have become in a relatively short period of time, and it’s a flavour we’re hoping to capture in Wireframe. The games industry has grown and matured to the point where it can offer a diverse range of captivating and sometimes bizarre experiences – from tiny, jewel-like 2D indie games to vast, unpredictable sandboxes like Skyrim or Red Dead Redemption 2. Behind all those games are artists and programmers with their own ways of working, their own design philosophies, and their own unique paths through the 44 50 games industry. That’s what we mean when we talk about ‘lifting the lid on video games’: Wireframe’s goal is to uncover more about the making Toolbox Rated of games and who makes them. With our regular selection of tutorials and tips from veteran 30. CityCraft 56. AC: Odyssey developers, we also hope to The design theory behind Our verdict on Ubisoft’s prove that making games is video game cities Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey now within the reach of just about anyone. 32. Source Code 60. No Man’s Sky So here it is: Wireframe issue How particle physics turned Hello Games’ Next update sends its one. We hope you enjoy it. Defender into a coin-op classic space sim into orbit Ryan Lambie Editor 34. Maths of balance 62. Timespinner Examining the curves and formulae A flawed yet charming homage to behind the games we play the Castlevania series 64. The Bard’s Tale IV A vintage RPG returns following a 14-year hiatus wfmag.cc \ 05 Attract Mode Early Access What dreams may come: hands-on with Gris We take an early look at Nomada Studio’s ethereal platform game, Gris Info n Gris’s surreal world of pen lines and beginning, we knew [the titular protagonist] GENRE Platformer delicate splashes of watercolour, it’s Gris couldn’t die in the game as it didn’t fit with FORMAT possible to see subtle hues from other the story, and we wanted to encourage casual PC, Switch I games. There’s the meditative air of gamers to play it. On top of that, we didn’t want DEVELOPER Journey here, a hint of Team Ico-esque to have repetitive mechanics, and we love to Nomada Studio melancholy there, plus a dash of Fez’s laid-back add a twist after you have mastered a skill.” PUBLISHER 2D platforming. At the same time, Gris takes all Devolver Digital these hues and mixes them up in a way that’s A QUESTION OF TIMING RELEASE all its own. The world its silent heroine inhabits In the brief portion we played, the main challenges December 2018 – all crumbling towers, strange foliage, and we faced were of timing: how best to negotiate geometric shapes – looks like something from a series of platforms that appear and disappear the pages of a French graphic novel, and the in a predefined order; what path to take in a French illustrator/writer Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud is meandering network of underwater caverns. one of several artists whose work, Gris’s creators Elsewhere, it’s simply enough to take in the admit, influenced the game’s look. scenery, the gently downbeat piano soundtrack, DRESSED Beguiling in still images, Gris looks even more and figure out how we’re meant to interact with TO KILL enthralling in motion: its shimmering backdrops this odd new world. Gris entirely lacks a HUD, As Gris progresses through and delicate hand-drawn animation is really and button prompts are kept to an absolute the game, her experiences and something to behold. The heroine moves with an minimum, so it’s up to the player to read the subtle abilities will be reflected in her ethereal grace, whether she’s bounding through environmental clues about how everything works. dress. Early on, she acquires an adorable ‘ground-pound’ deserted colonnades or leaping across angular Spectral balls of light can be collected and plugged move, where her dress swells tree-tops; in a playful nod to Super Mario’s ground into certain areas to create shimmering bridges; up into a cube, allowing her pound, she even has a quirky move that sees dancing clouds of red, triangular butterflies to smash objects. According her dress puff out into a solid cube, allowing represent areas that boost our heroine to new to Nomada Studio, this is just her to crash down onto objects like a falling heights. These are ideas we’ve seen in countless one of several abilities Gris and the player will pick up on anvil. Not that you’ll find anything in the way of earlier platformers, but the fascination of Gris their travels.