Dwarf Fortress is getting a makeover ahead of its upcoming Steam release, ditching its ASCII style in favor of a tile system. Now, developer Bay 12 Games has posted a comparison picture to its website, showing the difference between the original ASCII version of a “medium” map and the same map rendered in the new style.
Dwarf Fortress originally released in 2006, and has been updated numerous times since. The two maps below show the most significant change to the game yet, though.
Among the numerous Hollywood adaptations of video games in the works is an animated film based on Nintendo’s Super Mario series. The film is slated to arrive in 2022, but some are wondering if the COVID-19 crisis may lead to a delay for the movie.
That remains to be seen, but a new report from Deadline paints an optimistic picture. The site reports that the Super Mario movie remains in “active development and production.” This is made possible because the team at Illumination was working remotely already. “They’ve always worked remotely,” Deadline reported.
A source familiar with Illumination’s plans stated that the studio has been able to remain “extremely productive, innovative, and creative” over the past two months working remotely on its various movies. In addition to the Mario movie, Illumination is producing a new Minions movie, The Rise of Gru, and Sing 2. Two other original movies are in the works at Illumination that have not been announced.
In the midst of lockdowns and restaurant closures around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Guy Fieri has stepped up to help provide aid to thousands of out-of-work restaurant staff, Variety reports.
In partnership with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, Fieri has helped to raise over $20 million, which will be distributed to restaurant workers experiencing hardship in grants of $500. In the last two months, over 40,000 of these grants have been awarded.
“I started thinking about my brothers and sisters in the restaurant business, and a bunch of restaurants that I was closing–we gotta do something,” Fieri said in an interview with TMZ.
Game developer Cliff Bleszinski, who designed and directed the original Gears of War trilogy, is keeping busy in his post-Epic life. His latest project is a little different, however.
Bleszinski said on Twitter that he’s seriously thinking about starting a Twitch channel. He was inspired to start streaming due to the “cabin fever” he’s feeling during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Bleszinski added that he’s starting to feel comfortable again on camera thanks to all the Zoom calls he’s been on lately.
Cabin fever may finally be the straw that broke the camel’s back to cause me to start a Twitch channel. Zoom has made me feel comfortable on camera again after all this time.
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) May 11, 2020
Bleszinski potentially launching a Twitch channel of his own comes at an interesting time, given that he just recently announced he has begun work on a new IP involving dogs. An outspoken and opinionated individual known for decades of experience in games and his hot takes on various gaming industry topics, Bleszinski would certainly have a lot to offer viewers on Twitch.
Digital Extremes, developers of free-to-play shooter Warframe has held its latest Home Devstream, offering updates on many of the announcements made in last week’s stream. Most notably, Nightwave’s long awaited Series 3, Glassmaker, is set to drop very soon.
While there isn’t a set date yet, the devs have indicated that we can expect the all-new take on Nightwave to drop within the next week. Glassmaker is currently awaiting certification approvals, but will go live once those have cleared. The new Nightwave event is an interactive murder mystery, asking the player to find the identity of the mysterious Glassmaker. For the first time, the Nightwave vignettes will be interactive, allowing players to explore.
The game’s next core update Deadlock Protocol is also in the works, featuring a new Warframe and an associated story quest. Digital Extremes’ Rebecca Ford has teased that fans of 2017’s Chains of Harrow quest are likely to enjoy Deadlock Protocol too, with the two updates sharing a lot of similar themes. While there’s still no date confirmed for its release, Deadlock Protocol is still being planned for late May, although it could see a delay into early June.
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord has pushed beta version 1.3.0 to its main servers after just under two weeks of testing, bringing with it more refinements, crash fixes and improvements in the behavior of its many AI characters.
Leading the patch notes for the new game version 1.3.0 is a collection of crash fixes, which have been the main focus of most of the patches to date. While the game has suffered from crashes and bugs since release, the developers have been working hard in conjunction with player feedback and bug reports to fix them. The new beta branch has also allowed crashes to be detected before they make it to most players’ games.
The new patch also applies yet more AI tweaks to balance out the game–lords and other NPCs have become better at managing their money, while mercenary groups in taverns have become larger and stronger.
Call of Duty: WWII developer Sledgehammer Games is ramping up. The studio’s COO, Andy Wilson, confirmed in a new interview that the developer is looking to fill 100 positions at its locations around the world as it moves to take on more responsibilities including working on two games at once.
Sledgehammer was founded in 2010 by Dead Space and EA veterans Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, both of whom have since left the studio. With Sledgehammer now entering its second decade of existence, Wilson told VentureBeat that the studio is launching an initiative called “Decade II,” and this includes hiring many more people across its offices in California and Australia.
Wilson shared that Sledgehammer has already received more than 2,000 applications for its numerous open roles in its offices in Foster City, California and Melbourne, Australia.