GDC 15: Dissecting Narrative Design with Jurie Horneman

f there’s one thing that you can count on GDC delivering year after year, it’s the consistent distribution of new ideas and creative approaches shared from variety of talented game developers and visionaries in attendance.

Programmers and upstarts from around the world strive to share their ideas among their peers in hopes of improving the climate for video games, even when it comes to established philosophies and subjects in the field of design.

Jurie Horneman is one of these people, as he takes the stage at GDC 15 to challenge the climate of narrative direction in gaming, and how developers can be more conscientious with gameplay mechanics resonate with the plot and world of the experience in a way that can overcome the all too common issue of ludonarrative dissonance that currently plague modern gaming.

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PPR Presents Play Play: Slayin'

f you though thought the concept of moving left and right in a side-scrolling game was already simple in its own right, try narrowing it down to just a screen, with a bunch of shit that can kill you shoved in it for good measure.

Pixel Licker Game’s Slayin’ boggles the mind with a gameplay scheme that’s easy to pick up, yet challengingly difficult to master. Join Ser and Georgie as they go for broke on the latest Play Play!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

PPR 93

Some cool jokes, solid sound effects, and a lot of chemistry in each conversation: would listen to again—8/10, or something like that. Yeah, as silly as they can be, game reviews are one of the most polarizing, yet essential elements to the culture and industry of video games today.

As the medium of gaming grows, so too does the science of critiquing it for both consumer and developers alike. We here at Press Pause Radio decide to discuss this necessary evil in detail, ranging in our thoughts about the process from our fellow peers in games journalism, our very perspective on the concept of review, justifying our personal philosophy behind our very own grading system.

Along the way we talk about Valentine’s Day, The New Nintendo 3DS XL, The Order 1886, Club Nintendo, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Mexican Snowboarding, Life is Strange, Avernum 2, Kirby and The Rainbow Curse, The Last Guardian, and more!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on our Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 125 - Super Chain Crusher Horizon

shooting game with 3200 horizontal lines of resolution? Break out a second monitor, 'cause here comes Super Chain Crusher Horizon, a chain-based shooting game with one of the most extreme aspect ratios we've ever seen! But how does it stack up?

GET SUPER CHAIN CRUSHER HORIZON!

STEAM -- DESURA -- PLAYISM 

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Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 124 - Symphony

our music is actually an awesome vectored out battleground and you may not have even known it; Symphony takes any song you have on your drive (over 1:30 long) and turns it into a stage to an awesome shmup. Just how does it stack up?

GET SYMPHONY!

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QCF: Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2

ot long ago, NIS America released Hyperdimenson Neptunia Re:Birth 1, a full-on remake of the original Hyperdimension Neptunia which saw release on the PlayStation 3 in 2010. The first Re:Birth overhauled and vastly improved the RPG mechanics from the original 2010 release making the 2014 Vita release the best version of the first narrative by far. Continuing this trend, NIS America released Hyperdimension Neptunia Re:Birth 2 on January 27 2015, and the changes are even more dramatic.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk.2 was released to the PlayStation 3 in 2011; taking place directly after the events of the original game, the gameplay mechanics in Mk.2 were revamped greaty from the first release and forms the template by which Re;Birth 1 actually follws. Re;Birth 2 returns to this gameplay style—as such, Re;Birth 2 feels very much like a carbon copy of the original PS Vita release with a minor cast shakeup and very few actual additions—let's take a closer look.

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QCF: Evolve

Disclaimer: The following review of Evolve is from a press build of the game on PC. Because of the lack of online play with a large amount of players, this review is on the offline mode of the game. There was gameplay online with other players with early access, however because this title will be mainly a game with a online multiplayer focus, the final review score will not factor in the online play. We at Press Pause Radio will revise this review as necessary once the final build of the game has released. Thank you.

urtle Rock Studio’s upcoming shooter Evolve has been creating plenty of buzz since last summer when it won the Best of Show award at E3 as well as the Best of Gamescom award, the only title to win both prestigious accolades. After an alpha test on the various platforms and a beta run on Xbox One, the title is now set to release with it’s interesting concept of four human players playing against a fifth player taking on the role of the enemy boss. The brainchild from the same developers as Left 4 Dead has accomplished the goal in creating a multiplayer experience that has a large amount of recapitulation and depth, but the online component will be what decides if the title can live up to it’s potential.

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PPR Presents Play Play: Infintiy Blade

henever I am told that mobile games aren’t real games, I get a sweet satisfaction out of proving them wrong with a particular gem that still holds very true to that stance to this very day.

From out of the Undertow, and through the complex of shadows, Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade, the series that would gradually become one of the most cherished franchises to grace the iOS app store—and we’re going to play it for you all here for this latest edition of Play Play from PPR.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!