Attract Mode Interface Toolbox Rated Great British Tie-In Game, Taking Keanu Reeves’ Bullet-Strewn Action Series in an Unexpected Direction
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Contents Contents WELCOME This edition’s cover game, John Wick Hex, got me thinking about licensed tie-ins. Games based on films and TV shows have been around almost as long as the medium itself, of course, as has their reputation for being a bit rubbish – a stereotype hardly helped by early examples like E.T., a game hurried into production in order to profit from the Christmas sales bonanza of 1982. But while there are dozens of examples of bad licensed games, it’s worth noting just how good British developers 18 often are at taking a property and doing something original with it. In 1986, programmer Jonathan ‘Joffa’ Smith took Cobra – a somewhat generic Sylvester Stallone action movie – and turned it into an eccentric platformer full of prams, hamburgers, and rubber ducks. It also had a dedicated ‘murder’ button, and a Rocky theme remix on the soundtrack. In short, it was brilliant. Also in 1986, there was Denton Designs’ The Great Escape, which turned an ageing classic into a riveting isometric adventure game. About a decade later came Rare’s seminal GoldenEye 007, which unexpectedly became one of the 44 62 finest – and most influential – Contents 6 console shooters of its day. So far, Mike Bithell’s John Wick Hex looks like another Attract mode Interface Toolbox Rated great British tie-in game, taking Keanu Reeves’ bullet-strewn action series in an unexpected direction. John Wick isn’t 06. John Wick Hex 18. Raw concrete 28. CityCraft 56. Fire Emblem an obvious candidate for a 50 Mike Bithell talks exclusively about Why game devs have fallen for Urban design, and how it can Superior sequel Three Houses strategy/tactics game, but then, his tactical Reeves-’em-up Brutalist architecture improve your games proves it’s good to talk it’s that kind of leftfield thinking that could make for something as curious and fun as those 10. Beyond Blue 24. Nauticrawl 30. Critical hits 61. A Short Hike tie-ins listed above. No pressure, The life aquatic, from the makers We chat to the maker of a unique The theory of hitboxes in This adventure is small yet then, Mr Bithell. of Never Alone undersea sim first-person shooters perfectly formed Ryan Lambie 12. Planet Zoo 44. Fan-made games 36. Building a game studio 62. Man of Medan Editor Hands-on with Frontier The players who’ve turned their hand First-hand advice on how to start Interactive co-op horror on the Developments’ latest to game development your own company high seas 16. Incoming 50. Developer Profile 40. Source Code 64. Super Dodgeball Beats Bees, literary platform heroes, The work of game artist and industry Recreate Scramble’s Simplistic rhythm-action, and Chinese legends advocate, Lisette Titre-Montgomery scrolling landscape super graphics 04 / wfmag.cc wfmag.cc \ 05.