A44 Games Share a Behind the Scenes Look at Environment and Character Design in Their Upcoming Action-RPG
[LONDON, 11 May 2022] – A44 Games® and Kepler Interactive®, are delighted to further draw back the curtain on Flintlock®: The Siege of Dawn in their latest behind-the-scenes look at the game.
From the team behind Ashen, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is an epic adventure where players join Nor Vanek, a member of the coalition army, and her mysterious companion Enki, working together to seek revenge on the gods, cutting a swath through an army of the undead that wait in their path. Join A44 Games’ Art Director, Robert Bruce, and Principal Environment Artist, Steven Chen, as they share details of the rich and vibrant world the studio has created as the backdrop to their tale.
For the behind the scenes look at the world of Flintlock visit:
https://youtu.be/OBzYKVFpZEE
Inspired by the nature and landscapes of A44’s native New Zealand, Flintlock is aesthetically diverse which not only influences the game’s visuals but also adds depth and fullness to this brand-new world. From towering citadels to cavernous ruins and far-reaching desert sands, Flintlock is designed for exploration and rewards players who go the extra mile to uncover even more.
Alongside environmental design, Bruce and Chen shed light on Flintlock’s character design and the high level of detail in every encounter that players will have with the gods that rule the game’s world. As a small studio, A44 is at the forefront of design leveraging tools such as Unity’s MetaHuman Creator to bring its characters to life through highly detailed animation.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn will be available later this year for PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PC (via STEAM® and Epic Games Store®), Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One – available on day one with Xbox Game Pass. For more information visit www.playflintlock.com
Battle millions of procedurally-generated monsters in a cosmic horror action RPG built with a machine learning AI
Gothenburg, Sweden - May 11th, 2022 - Thunderful & Carry Castle are delighted to announce that their side-scrolling roguelite action-RPG, Source of Madness, is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The game also moves into full launch on PC, exiting its successful Early Access run. The game is available for $19.99 / €19.99 / £16.99.
Source of Madness is a Lovecraftian odyssey with ever-changing landscapes to explore and new monstrosities to face on every run. Each playthrough will feature not only unpredictable terrain but up to billions of permutations of procedurally-generated beasts born of a neural network that concocts creatures from a seemingly endless abyss, offering a unique spin on the genre. These physics-rigged monstrosities climb and stretch in billions of different ways as they’re brought to life by a powerful machine-learning AI that will do anything to make your life a living hell!
Take on the role of an acolyte in an alternate reality controlled by cosmic entities. These worlds warp and distort each day, leaving the Loam Lands unpredictably terraformed and inhabited by grotesque beings of celestial origins. To get to the source of this unknowable evil, your voyage will take you across nine biomes, from the depths of Dungeon of Forgotten Knowledge, the eerie landscape of the Forest of Lies, to the grand non-euclidean citadel R’Lyeh, all the way up to celestial bodies on the rims of the universe.
Face off against Source of Madness’ transmuted abominations using a wide variety of spells. Choose between five classes, upgrade your skills, and unlock all manner of magic abilities as you collect equipment and items left behind by those who came before you. Build your arsenal as you go by infusing the blood of your enemies into magical altars to unlock new spells. But beware: every time you perish the world will be reborn and all your equipment will be lost. On PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, Source of Madness runs with up to 4K resolution at 60fps, keeping the action fluid and responsive. On PS4 and Xbox One, players can enjoy a native 1080p resolution at 60fps. On Nintendo Switch, Source of Madness runs at 1080p docked and 720p in handheld/tabletop mode, targeting 60fps.
“With Source of Madness we wanted to make a roguelite that does more than simply rearrange level layouts and enemy combinations, but rather creates all-new unholy beasts to face off against in each playthrough,” said Per Fornander, CEO at Carry Castle. “We’ve been working hard on adding to and improving the game throughout its time on Early Access, and we’re really excited to launch today with a smooth and polished title that runs fantastically on consoles and PC”.
Thunderful Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thunderfulgames Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thunderfulgames Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/thunderfulgames Carry Castle Twitter: https://twitter.com/carrycastle Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarryCastleGames Discord: https://discord.com/invite/xKnJtqU Website: https://carrycastle.se/ About Thunderful Thunderful Group is a group of companies that develops, publishes, and invests in games as well as distributes Nintendo products, games, game accessories, and toys. Founded in 2017 Thunderful Games is one of the two business segments in Thunderful Group, the other being Thunderful Distribution. Over the last few years, Thunderful Games has, organically and via acquisitions, grown into a global organization with eight development studios and over 300 employees. Besides the award-winning internal development pipeline, Thunderful Games also publishes a large number of third-party titles and invests in external game projects. About Carry Castle Carry Castle is a small game company based in Sweden that loves new technology and was born from thier great passion for playing and making games. Its titles include the musical VR relaxation experience Zen Garden, the action-packed VR physics adventure Everything Must Fall, and its upcoming gothic action-roguelike Source of Madness.
Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die!, a rocking indie adventure inspired by classic point-and-click games, heavy metal, and underground comix, is finally out on Steam (PC/Windows). It's time to jump into the beer-soaked denim vest of a middle-aged teddy bear to orchestrate the comeback of his old glam metal band. One tiny problem in this quest is the fact that glam metal has been the laughing stock of everyone in the music industry since the 1980s, but a true heavy metal heart never stops beating!
The game deals with rock clichés and music industry shenanigans through comedy and satire. The player gets to experience all the fun that the life of a middle-aged musician has to offer: organizing schedules with bandmates who have families and careers, rehearsing in moldy basements and playing Tuesday night support gigs in empty bars for no money. All the things that are collectively known as "The Rock 'n' Roll Dream"!
After over three years in development, Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die! offers about ten hours of wild adventures all over the rock sphere with cool hand-drawn graphics. The project director is Valtteri Tavast, a Finnish cartoonist and musician, and many of the game's adventures are based on real-life experiences as a bass player in a punk band no one's heard of.
Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die! on Steam (PC / Windows):
Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die! contains scenes of cartoon violence, including blood and death. There are also instances of strong language, alcohol and drug use, and sexual innuendo.
LONDON, UK – May 11, 2022 –Pugstorm and Fireshine Games are thrilled to announce that a new update forCore Keeperis now available, introducing official dedicated server support to the hit 1-8 player mining sandbox adventure.
From today, Core Keeper players will have the option to operate their own dedicated servers, allowing them to host multiplayer worlds for players to access at any time. More information on how to set up your own dedicated server is available on Steam.
Pugstorm today also revealed the first official details on 'The Sunken Sea' update, the first major content update for Core Keeper planned to release in June.
The Sunken Sea update will introduce a brand-new water-based biome to the game filled with large, mysterious bodies of water to explore and islands to uncover. Explorers will be able to traverse The Sunken Sea in boats, a brand-new method of transport introduced with the upcoming update, and encounter multiple new enemy types as they get to grips with new weapons and gear, mine new valuables and ore, experiment with new base building items and discover new fish, plants and food.
For the full reveal of The Sunken Sea update, check out the PC Gaming Show on June 12.
"We are delighted to officially introduce dedicated server support to Core Keeper and reveal the first information on The Sunken Sea update," said Sven Thole, CEO & Animator at Pugstorm. "Dedicated servers have been requested since the start of the game's launch into Steam Early Access, and we'd like to say a huge thank you to the members of our incredible community who have helped test this feature ahead of its official launch today. We're also excited to see players' reactions to the reveal of the first details on The Sunken Sea biome and are looking forward to sharing much more with players in the weeks ahead."
Core Keeper is a 1-8 player mining sandbox adventure set in an ancient cavern of creatures, treasures, and trinkets. Mine relics and resources to build your base, craft new equipment, and survive. Defeat giant monsters, discover hidden secrets, farm crops, go fishing, cook new recipes, and explore a procedurally generated underground world to unravel the mystery of the ancient core.
Since launching on Steam Early Access in March, Core Keeper has become Fireshine Games' fastest-selling digital title of all time, with almost 1 million players now having started their underground adventure. The game is also officially verified for Steam Deck, allowing Steam Deck users to continue their mining adventure on the go.
Port forwarding Ethernet connection is a skill. It’s a skill you need to understand and master if you want to set up your own dedicated private server for gaming. But it’s not that complicated once you understand the concept.
What is an IP? Your external IP address, the address your internet provider gives you to get on the internet, will be something like this, 37.201.19.137. Your internal IP is assigned to your PC and other devices by your router and is usually something like 192.168.1.100. This is just an example, but the IP address is in 4 decimal places with up to 3 numbers. No number can be above 255. Your router see your external address as the gateway and forwards all traffic out to it. Your internal devices see your router as the gateway and forward all traffic to it. That’s the basics.
What are Ports? A port is a virtual point where network connections start and end kinda. There are a total of 65,535 available on a PC. Ports are software-based and managed by a computer’s operating system. Some ports are associated with a specific process or service. Ports allow computers to easily sort where traffic is going on a network.
In this case, we are specifically talking about Steam ports that you’ll use for the Steam games. I don’t want to over-complicate this for you but Port Forwarding isn’t any big magic trick. In your router, regardless of brand, Port forwarding is either a direct link in your interface or under the advanced tab. Most interfaces don’t hide it so it should be easy to find!
Concept: You have an external IP address given to you by your ISP(provider). That IP and port being used for a game is what you give your friends to connect to your server, either hosted or dedicated server in your home. it would look something like the example above but with the port number at the end of the IP address separated by a colin, i.e. 37.201.19.137:25000 with no spaces. In your router interface, you will create a new rule and that rule will contain the port # or range of ports that you want to add and where you want that port to go, which should be your dedicated server in your home. Now if it’s a hosted Server it will be the external IP address of that server(your hosting service will give you that).
For Steam games, you don’t have to use the default query ports. You can change them to any available port that is open as long as you're not using a port that is already being used. I’ll show you how to check for open ports below.
Service Name is the name I gave the rule so I could identify it easily. The external starting port is the port # or range of ports you want to use. The internal starting port is the same in this case as the external. Unless you're doing NAT(Network Address Translation) on your network these should be the same. The internal IP address is where you want the port(traffic) to be forwarded to, in this case, it’s my Ded-Server. You can have multiple servers and each server hosting a game and the appropriate ports point to the appropriate server. As you can see you can have multiple ports point to the same machine at the same time. The game running on that server is listening for connections on a particular port. Once the connection is complete it drops that port so it can listen for more ports.
Advanced Tip: In the router setup these as permanent ports, since they never change between games. Create the following rules rules, TCP/UDP port# 7777–7830, TCP/UDP port# 27015–27050. Most games will run withing these ranges and shouldn’t need to be changed. Then the only ports you will have to add are the odd one offs. If your running only one server at a time you shouldn’t have an issue. But if you have more than one game server running make sure the server config files of each are using different ports within those ranges. Two server using the same port at the same time will cause all kinds of problems. Example of a bad rule, from other media sources on the web, will be something like “use UDP 27031 and UDP 27036, TCP 27036 and 27037”. WHY? Just create one rule that looks like this TCP/UDP 27031–27037. This is easier to manage, covers all the ranges needed and simplified! This can be done for most games and setups. Most outbound rules do not need to be entered. Primarily you should only be concerned with inbound rules and ports.You should not, in most cases, not need to manage your windows firewall for these either. Windows FW will alert you if it has an issue with inbound or outbound traffic and request your permission to be allowed. It will then create the rule needed in the Windows FW.Advanced Tip: Because I test and run multiple game servers on multiple machines, No I don’t expect you to do this because most people only have one at a time. Even with that, here is a tip if you plan to change between game servers. In the router setup these as permanent ports, since they never change between games. Create the following rules rules, TCP/UDP port# 7777–7830, TCP/UDP port# 27015–27050. Most games will run withing these ranges and shouldn’t need to be changed. Then the only ports you will have to add are the odd one offs. If your running only one server(one machine) at a time you shouldn’t have an issue. But if you have more than one game server(or multiple machines) running make sure the server config files of each are using different ports within those ranges. Two servers using the same port at the same time will cause all kinds of problems. Example of a bad rule, from other media sources on the web, will be something like “use UDP 27031 and UDP 27036 TCP 27036 and 27037”. WHY? Just create one rule that looks like this TCP/UDP 27031–27037. This is easier to manage, covers all the ranges needed and simplified! This can be done for most games and setups. Most outbound rules do not need to be entered. Primarily you should only be concerned with inbound rules and ports.You should not, in most cases, not need to manage your windows firewall for these either. Windows FW will alert you if it has an issue with inbound or outbound traffic and request your permission to be allowed. It will then create the rule needed in the Windows FW. **Note** Multiple machines will require multiple rules with their own ranges and they cannot be the same port #s as the other machine.
To view available ports open CMD as administrator and run netstat -a, this will list all connections and listening ports. Other commands netstat -b shows the excusable and the ports they are listening on. You can run Netstat -ab. Google netstat for more defined uses.
If you have questions please watch the video, most of your questions can be answered there, and feel free to email me at lughthepict@gmail.com or post your question in the video comments(preferred)! I will respond as quickly as possible.
