ALL FORMATS LIFTING THE LID ON VIDEO GAMES JOURNEY TO THE SAVAGE PLANET A SLAPSTICK SPACE ADVENTURE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF FAR CRY 4 VITA FOREVER HOW HOMEBREW, HAS KEPT EASTWARD SONY S HANDHELD ALIVE EXPLORING A GORGEOUS TOP-DOWN ZELDA-LIKE FABLE, THE RPG SERIES EPIC MAKING-OF STORY Issue 27 £3 wfmag.cc JOIN THE PRO SQUAD! Free GB2560HSU¹ | GB2760HSU¹ | GB2760QSU² 24.5’’ 27’’ Sync Panel TN LED / 1920x1080¹, TN LED / 2560x1440² Response time 1 ms, 144Hz, FreeSync™ Features OverDrive, Black Tuner, Blue Light Reducer, Predefined and Custom Gaming Modes Inputs DVI-D², HDMI, DisplayPort, USB Audio speakers and headphone connector Height adjustment 13 cm Design edge-to-edge, height adjustable stand with PIVOT gmaster.iiyama.com irtual rality dfit rb daci ad ral world convenience y plane cuts through a sky the colour eperience has been truly wireless. here frame rate of a television screen tuned to a dead and tech specs are such that the eperience is smooth. channel. I glance over my right shoulder nd it is smooth – the eperience is brilliant. M and see a bogie approaching. I yank the But those in the know about VR are those who took yoke and spin wildly, losing all sense of orientation. that early rush of venture capital cash, predicated y goggles weigh heavy, and my brow drips sweat. WILL LUTON off the salesmanship of a young, barefoot, alt-right Rat-a-tat-tat. I’ve been hit. Smoke gushes from my inventor. They, like Mark Zuckerberg, see how Will Luton is a veteran engine, and there’s a grotesque smell. Not burning. undeniably cool this technology is. They believe in this game designer and What is that? It’s a fart. product manager technology and they want it to succeed. y first eperience of virtual reality, a Kicstarted who runs Department But consumer interest has been lukewarm, with the culus ift K, was punctuated by the uncontrolled of Play, the games S now liely selling five, maybe, si million units industry’s first sphincter of an intern. His warm flatus left a distinct at most. These numbers betray the complete lack of management impression of our unique vulnerability inside VR. consultancy. He is cultural impact PSVR, Oculus, and the also-rans have ut today, over si years later, I’m playing a game the author of Free-to- had. Headsets gather dust, with PSVRs cluttering eBay again – and I’m dancing with a robot. I pull close my Play: Making Money and ’s glass shelves, slashed below . This future mechanical partner, then pop him back, and release From Games You isn’t the one Ernest Cline wrote about in Ready Player Give Away, and has the grip of my left hand. He spins away from me, his worked with Sega, One. Nobody wants OASIS. CRT eyes meet mine, and he smiles. My cheeks rub the Rovio, and Jagex. While it’s easy to point at the technical limits of the edge of the headset as I start to spea ecitedly. He is also an avid Quest – the light leaking, the weight, jaggy rendering “You need to see this,” I call to my real-life partner retro games and – the technology has surpassed the point where it’s pinball player. upstairs. “It’s a game-changer…” merely good enough. The problem with VR is not I hear the creak of the landing. Did she hear me? the technology or ergonomics, but a fundamental Is she coming? Is she in the room? I swing the robot’s usage issue. hand back and forth as I drop low. He follows me. VR bucks a trend not just in technology but in society re you here I call out again. ou need to see this. over the last century – VR is a technology that is less It’s a game-changer.” convenient than its incumbents. As devices become I feel like I’m on the last week of Strictly. more immediate and physically shareable, VR is slow, “What are you doing?” my partner says as she enters cumbersome, and isolating. As we increasingly use the room. “Why’s the sofa pushed up against the wall?” #27 more screens to tackle more tasks, VR is devoutly I lift the Oculus Quest from my head and strap her in. single-screen monotasking. Strapping on goggles to She complains that everything’s blurry. We adjust the stand, duck, and wave our halo wands is immersive, but lens distance and shift the headset. Then she’s dancing. it’s a much more arduous way of wizarding than sitting, Much better than me, but then, she is professionally twiddling our thumbs. Meanwhile, making a brew or trained. Her lips curl into a smile. She’s loving it. tweeting our head-composed political hot take means ow That’s so cool. Then, mere minutes later, she completely unstrapping. says, “Can you help me with the sofa?” Is the eperience worth the inconvenience Is a The Oculus Quest, those in the know about VR tell twirl with Johnny 5 worth the isolation and vulnerability me, is a game-changer. It’s the first time a decent of our nostrils? My sofa remains four feet from the TV. wfmag.cc \ 03 Contents Contents 6 Attract mode Interface 06. Savage Planet 18. Leaving Albion Typhoon Studios give us a tour e uncover the epic story behind of their antic sci-fi world the Fable series 10. Haven 44. Vita forever oved up on an alien planet in The homebrew community eeping The ame aers’ latest the S ita alive 12. Eastward 48. Lunark sumptuous piel art elda-lie solo dev’s homage to rince from Shanghai of ersia and Flashbac 16. Incoming 50. Namco p to our nees in a liard of slice of arcade history, a selection 44 game announcements of fine titles 04 / wfmag.cc Contents WELCOME I had the article all worked out in my head: introduce a rare piece of development software for a half-forgotten handheld, explore how it all works in a bit more depth, and then relate my flailing attempts to make a game with 60 it all. The dev software in question is called the WonderWitch, released in the early 2000s for Bandai’s Japan-only WonderSwan handheld. As you’ve probably gathered, the WonderWitch offered a combo of software and hardware that allowed you to connect the handheld to the PC and make homebrew games using C+. In fact, the WonderWitch was so comprehensive that a couple of commercial games were made using it, including a vertical shooter called Judgement Silversword. The WonderWitch is pretty rare nowadays, but I recently managed to pick up a copy for 18 50 a surprisingly low price from an eBay auction. A few days ago, the parcel came through the door; I opened it, and found a WonderWitch box, but no Toolbox Rated software or connective dongles inside it. Baffled, I went back to eBay and checked the auction 28. 56. listing again. It turns out I’d Design principles John Wick Hex misread the description and reaing the rules to mae odies hit the floor in a methodical paid the princely sum of £40 for better video games eeves-’em-up an empty box. My hopes of properly exploring 32. Blender add-ons 58. EarthNight a rare piece of game history Using Python to speed up your stylish roguelie runner has us are, for the time being, on hold. asset creation chasing dragons Enjoy the new issue, readers. 38. War on piracy 60. Valfaris Ryanyan Lambie How Steamwors fends off pirates – lasting alien scum has never felt Editor with angry fish so roc and roll 40. Source Code 62. Blasphemous ecreate Konami’s Frogger in just etroidvania with a side order a few lines of code of dismemberment wfmag.cc \ 05 Attract Mode Interview Forbidden Planet Typhoon Studios tell us about their slapstick scifi adventure, ourney to the avae lanet, and its debt to tarship roopers he last time we spoke to James Cameron’s Avatar and a psychedelic Typhoon Studios’ Alex rock album cover. Most of the alien Hutchinson, it was autumn life forms you encounter in the game’s 2018, and Journey to the early stages – bird-like critters called Savage Planet was still ufferbirds – pose almost no threat at firmly under wraps. But here we are all, and while you’ll soon encounter much again a year later, with the Montreal-based more aggressive creatures as you progress studio on the cusp of releasing its debut through the Metroid-like game structure, title: an upbeat action-adventure that there’s an overwhelming sense that the feels like a playful riposte to those tough, most savage animal on the planet is the vast survival games designed to soak up gun-wielding one you’re controlling. hundreds of hours of your time. Then again, this is all part of Typhoon Cast as an intrepid astronaut (one Studios’ grand design: Savage Planet is of a pair if you choose to play in co-op intended as a focused, light-hearted game mode), it’s up to you to explore an alien that evoes memories of pulp sci-fi movies planet, scanning the flora and fauna, and books, while its procession of organic collecting materials to turn into upgrades, upgrades send you bouncing and swinging completing missions, and seeking out the around its exotic landscape. truth behind a mysterious alien structure To find out more about Savage Planet’s looming up on the horizon. You’ve been blend of first-person action and manic despatched by a dubious corporation, comedy, we caught up with Hutchinson, Kindred Aerospace (“voted the fourth-best the game’s creative director, head of art interstellar exploration company by our Erick Bilodeau, and executive producer peers”) to size up the planet’s suitability Reid Schneider.