Polygon - DICE 2015: Gaming's brightest gather to discuss the art of developmenthttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/42931/favicon.ico2015-03-02T16:00:03-05:00http://www.polygon.com/rss/stream/77416302015-03-02T16:00:03-05:002015-03-02T16:00:03-05:00Building galaxies in Star Citizen's expanding universe
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<p>With $74 million raised and a universe of promises made to more than three-quarters of a million people, some may wonder just how realistic Chris Roberts' vision for the all-encompassing, but still unreleased space simulator <em>Star Citizen</em> is.</p>
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<p><span>While bits of the massively multiplayer game featuring space combat, mining, piracy, trading, first-person shooting and a persistent universe have been released, a bulk of the game remains to gamers little more than promise.</span></p>
<p>Meanwhile, Roberts Space...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/features/2015/3/2/8131661/star-citizen-chris-roberts-interviewBrian Crecente2015-02-27T11:00:02-05:002015-02-27T11:00:02-05:00Floating through Adrift's hypoxic first-person experience
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<p><em>What starts as slow, rhythmic breathing becomes heavier, ragged. In the background I hear the beeping of a heart monitor.</em></p>
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<p><i>There's a strange absence of any other noise, though the sounds of breathing and beeping seem to almost sharpen, filling that void.</i></p>
<p><i>"Am I going to die?" I ask.</i></p>
<p><i>"Not yet. Reach out."</i></p>
<p><i>The breathing is coming in shorter bursts now, sharp, painful pants.</i></p>
<p><i>"You've got to get closer to it. You actually have to go there and grab it."</i></p>
<p><i>A hiss.</i></p>
<p><i>The ragged breathing stops.</i></p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/27/8112811/adrift-hands-on-vr">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/27/8112811/adrift-hands-on-vrBrian Crecente2015-02-26T11:30:02-05:002015-02-26T11:30:02-05:0020 years a developer, Jade Raymond weighs her next step
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<p>Months after <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/20/7016823/jade-raymond-leaves" target="new">leaving Ubisoft Toronto</a>, Jade Raymond still can't help but say "we" when referring to the studio she built.</p>
<p>It's tough to let go, she says in a recent interview with Polygon, because she really loves the team and was there building the studio from scratch, watching it grow alongside her newborn daughter.</p>
<p>"I moved there five years ago," she says. "I actually started working on that two weeks after having my daughter. I was hiring the first people on the phone, finding the building. It was pretty crazy. It was pretty cool.</p>
<p>"We found this huge building that would fit 800 people, because we knew the objective was to grow to 800 and we didn't want to move. We found the building and it was huge. There was me and the three...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/26/8078083/jade-raymond-next-stepBrian Crecente2015-02-16T13:30:02-05:002015-02-16T13:30:02-05:00A generational shift powered Twitch's transformation into cultural phenomenon
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<p>Twitch is a cultural phenomenon, a service that tapped into a generational shift in the way people interact with video games at a time when few realized that shift was happening.</p>
<p><span>The desire by so many to watch others play video games through live video streams was an untapped demand that propelled Twitch's success and launched it onto mobile platforms and two gaming consoles.</span></p>
<p>Speaking with Twitch co-founder and COO Kevin Lin earlier this month, he told Polygon that while it was "latent demand" for live streaming that helped Twitch grow so rapidly early on, the continued growth is powered by the service's community.</p>
<p>"I think part of it was latent demand," Lin said. "A lot of the growth though has been the community sort of figuring out...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/16/8046741/twitch-evolved-video-upstart-cultural-phenomenon">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/16/8046741/twitch-evolved-video-upstart-cultural-phenomenonBrian Crecente2015-02-10T13:30:02-05:002015-02-10T13:30:02-05:00Finding more fun in the world of Fat Princess
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<p>Think of it as <i>Diablo</i> meets <i>Fat Princess</i>: A story-driven game powered by loot collection, leveling up your characters and a love of cake.</p>
<p>Fun Bits, a collective of developers pulled from <i>Fat Princess</i> creator Titan Studios, created DLC for the original game before turning to a new title: <i>Escape Plan</i>, for the Vita.</p>
<p>"After <i>Escape Plan</i>, Sony decided to allow us to take the Fat Princess franchise to the PlayStation 4," said Chris Millar, CEO of Fun Bits.</p>
<p>The idea was to create a game in the world of Fat Princess that was easy to pickup and play and a little Diablo-esque, a title designed for people who were interested in more than the team battle play of the original.</p>
<p><a style="line-height: 16px;" href="http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/9/7358733/fat-princess-adventures-ps4-release" target="_blank"><i>Fat Princess Adventures</i> was unveiled during the PlayStation Experience...</a></p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/10/8007883/finding-the-fun-in-the-world-of-fat-princess">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/10/8007883/finding-the-fun-in-the-world-of-fat-princessBrian Crecente2015-02-10T11:30:02-05:002015-02-10T11:30:02-05:00You (and your money) are driving today's gaming renaissance
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<p>Video games are a first love, but second job for Nicolas Augusto.</p>
<p><span>His first career, kicked off by a UFO sighting in Greece in 1997, was running a popular ghost-hunting show in Europe.</span></p>
<p>Augusto co-starred in <i>Research, Investigation, Paranormal</i> (<a target="_blank" href="http://rip-paranormal.com/">RIP</a>) in France for five years, shooting 52 episodes that had him and his team of five visiting haunted locations around Europe, including Dracula's castle.</p>
<p>The 35-year-old said he became obsessed with the paranormal after seeing a strange floating object while on a trip in Greece. He started reading up on the topic, visiting places where there were sightings of not just UFOs, but also ghosts.</p>
<p>"I fell in love with the field," he said. "I started writing a documentary. People called me Mulder [of <i>X...</i></p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/10/8011631/you-and-your-money-are-driving-todays-gaming-renaissance">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/10/8011631/you-and-your-money-are-driving-todays-gaming-renaissanceBrian Crecente2015-02-09T14:00:03-05:002015-02-09T14:00:03-05:00As Richard Garriott's new RPG approaches $6M, he eyes a 2015 full release and book trilogy [correction]
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<p>With nearly $6 million raised and 50,000 people spending an average of $115 each on Richard Garriott's still-in-development role-playing game, <em>Shroud of the Avatar</em> looks like it will get its full release by the end of the year.</p>
<p><span>But that's just the beginning.</span></p>
<p>It's been more than a year and 13 updates since the first bit of <i>Shroud of the Avatar</i> went live and it's taught the father of Ultima, some would say the father of modern MMOs, quite a lot.</p>
<p>"Running a crowd-funded game is a very interesting life as you might imagine," Garriott said. "It's a constant internal introspection you have to do as to how much money you currently have in the bank, how much you should be willing to spend on speeding up or improving quality, versus what you...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/9/8005433/as-richard-garriotts-new-rpg-approaches-7m-he-eyes-a-2015-full">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2015/2/9/8005433/as-richard-garriotts-new-rpg-approaches-7m-he-eyes-a-2015-fullBrian Crecente