Tag: taps
How Ubisoft taps the strengths of its neurodiverse employees in game development
Marvel’s Blade Movie Taps True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto for Writing Duties
All the way back in 2019, Marvel Studios announced that it was working on a new solo movie for its famous vampire hunter Blade, with Mahershala Ali stepping into the shades once inhabited by Wesley Snipes. Since then, it’s been a bit of an ordeal trying to get the movie made. Now, as the film’s started to build out…
Redfall’s Environmental Storytelling Taps Into the Corruption of Safe Havens | IGN First
So far, Arkane Studios’ game playgrounds have been set in fantastical, odd futures or deteriorating steampunk cities. With Redfall, the team at Arkane Austin opted to take its immersive sim mechanics to something closer to a familiar but twisted reality. In an interview with Arkane Austin Art Director Karen Segars, IGN learned more about the inspirations for Redfall’s scenic island town setting, design challenges and solutions for the co-op mechanics, and telling Redfall’s story through its art.
Segars said their journey in designing Redfall began with a trip to New England that started in Bangor, Maine, and concluded a few days later in Boston, Massachusetts. It was October, making it the perfect time to collect close-ups of fall foliage and the general vibe of Redfall’s Halloween setting. Redfall is not based on a particular location in New England but Segars said it’s instead more of an amalgamation of locations including Camden, Bar Harbor, Old Orchard Beach, and Acadia National Park.
Segars said the district landmark locations were important considerations, not only aesthetically, but for Redfall’s gameplay design. Redfall marks two major development milestones for Arkane: not only is it the studio’s first major open-world game, but it’s also its first optional co-op campaign.
“One of the challenges is helping the players know where they are. [We] wanted to have various points of interest around the map so that they can orient themselves from wherever they are.” Segars said. “Also just setting up all of the level streaming and how everything streams around the player was a technical challenge we took on, right? Our tech team actually built our streaming system. We built our time of day system. Those were some of the core features we needed to make this game. I would say those were probably two of the biggest ones that we took on as far as what varied from previous games that we made. Prey did have time of day, but it was much more isolated on a space station [versus] people able to run across the town.”
The day and night cycle impacts Redfall’s gameplay. During the day, the vampire god The Black Sun looms over the town and speaks to any player who stares too long at the eclipse. At night, vampires are more active. Segars said another typical technique used to ground players is having a directional light. They sped up the sunrise and sunset timings to get the sun and moon in the sky faster to keep a key light in play.
Other major points for orienting the players include lighthouses — very New England, as Segars said — and major district landmarks, like the orchard in District 2. Redfall is played across two different maps. The first is home to the more dense town setting, while the second has farms and other aspects of rural life. One of Segars’ favorite elements of their design, though, are the three various churches. In IGN’s two hands-on sessions with Redfall, we saw that it boasts a fair amount of storytelling through art and the environment — a hallmark of Arkane.
“There’s a prominent [church] in District 2 that we may have shown a creepy belltower in one of our first gameplay trailers. The storytelling that happens in those is such a juxtaposition of what’s supposed to be a calm and safe space. Some of the set dressing that we show, and at least in the church of District 1, it was supposed to be a safe haven,” Segars said. “You could see survivors actually flocked to the church, but you know, it didn’t go so well.”
Accounting for Variation
Another important style choice for Redfall is its cutscenes. Rather than something fully animated, they take a storybook-like style that highlights particular moments with narration of the player character over it.
“[Creative Director Ricardo Bare] used a good word for them; they’re a flash sideways,” Segars explained. “It’s kind of like a summary of what you just learned so that you can go out on your mission. A large priority of ours was [since] you can change your outfit in Redfall, we wanted that to be reflected in these scenes. I’ve played plenty of games where I’ve customized my character and then it’s a cutscene and they’re in their base outfit. So if your friends are there, you get to see them in what they’re wearing. We opted for the still scenes to capture that essence.
“If you would think about cinematics, that’s a huge animation undertaking. Doing it with the poses, you get to capture the emotion of that particular scene and just really double down on the pose and the facial expression and just create this kind of mood without having to get too busy with all these characters [being animated]. Since you can play with up to three friends, that means that there are four people on screen most of the time. All of that movement would be just a little bit distracting for telling the story. So the pose, the facial expression, and then the dialogue really gets to sell the mood of what we were trying to tell there.”
Segars explained that if you’re not joined by any or the maximum number of friends, the named NPCs will fill in the hero character spots. Even though you and your prospective team are the hero, the civilians are also part of the fight in taking back the island. Segars said even when you’re alone, you’re not alone.
Redfall is out on May 2 on PC and Xbox. For even more on Arkane’s upcoming vampire hunting FPS, be sure to check out the IGN First hero features for Layla, Jacob, Devinder, and Remi, and see our exclusive preview of how Redfall plays in co-op. If you’re more interested in how Redfall plays solo, we’ve got a preview for that too.
Miranda Sanchez is the executive editor of guides at IGN and a member of Podcast Unlocked. She’s a big fan of stationery and fountain pens. You can sometimes find her on Twitter.
Lip-licking controller steers devices using tongue taps
Researchers at the University of Chicago have unveiled an alternative user interface called LipIO that receives and transmits digital information via small lip and tongue movements. This is obviously a boon to those with certain disabilities who may not have the use of their eyes or hands.
LipIO features a thin and flexible plastic sheet packed with conductive materials. The sheet is affixed to the skin along with electrodes that provide contact with the lip. The device works via electrostimulation, with the top layer receiving inputs from the tongue or lower lip via capacitive touch. The trio of researchers created the device using off-the-shelf hobbyist-grade components and have open-sourced all of their work.
While the lip system is perfect for people with disabilities, the inventors see plenty of alternative uses. Various demonstrations show LipIO being used to tune a guitar, receive navigation information while cycling and provide DJs with an additional control source for adding effects.
The tech could also be used for virtual reality applications. The research paper imagines a related haptic interface to, for instance, render a realistic sense of taste while in VR. In this case, the device would leverage prior research that successfully applied electrical stimulations to the tongue to render basic tastes like sour, salty, bitter and sweet. The researchers even imagine tasting “virtual ice cream” in the metaverse.
LipIO is a relatively cumbersome piece of hardware with plenty of wires, so the next step is to shrink the technology down so it is more practical for real-world use. The researchers also want to make the tech more appropriate for public spaces by eliminating the need to regularly lick your lips.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lip-licking-controller-steers-devices-using-tongue-taps-184230384.html?src=rss
Lip-licking controller steers devices using tongue taps
Researchers at the University of Chicago have unveiled an alternative user interface called LipIO that receives and transmits digital information via small lip and tongue movements. This is obviously a boon to those with certain disabilities who may not have the use of their eyes or hands.
LipIO features a thin and flexible plastic sheet packed with conductive materials. The sheet is affixed to the skin along with electrodes that provide contact with the lip. The device works via electrostimulation, with the top layer receiving inputs from the tongue or lower lip via capacitive touch. The trio of researchers created the device using off-the-shelf hobbyist-grade components and have open-sourced all of their work.
While the lip system is perfect for people with disabilities, the inventors see plenty of alternative uses. Various demonstrations show LipIO being used to tune a guitar, receive navigation information while cycling and provide DJs with an additional control source for adding effects.
The tech could also be used for virtual reality applications. The research paper imagines a related haptic interface to, for instance, render a realistic sense of taste while in VR. In this case, the device would leverage prior research that successfully applied electrical stimulations to the tongue to render basic tastes like sour, salty, bitter and sweet. The researchers even imagine tasting “virtual ice cream” in the metaverse.
LipIO is a relatively cumbersome piece of hardware with plenty of wires, so the next step is to shrink the technology down so it is more practical for real-world use. The researchers also want to make the tech more appropriate for public spaces by eliminating the need to regularly lick your lips.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/lip-licking-controller-steers-devices-using-tongue-taps-184230384.html?src=rss
Waze taps into the cosmos to make skipping traffic even more fun
Disney Plus Taps Game Of Thrones Writer To Lead Zorro Series
Disney+ is set to produce a new Zorro series, starring Wilmer Valderrama as the masked vigilante, and Bryan Cogman–writer and co-executive producer of Game of Thrones–has signed on as writer, showrunner, and executive producer. Deadline was the first to report.
The show was initially announced in December 2021, and the official logline teases a tale of tragedy, corruption, and justice that leads privileged caballero Diego de la Vega (Valderrama) to become the masked vigilante Zorro, “America’s first true superhero.”
Cogman will work alongside fellow executive producers Gary Marsh, Valderrama, and John Gertz, with Disney Branded Television producing the series. Best known for his work on HBO’s Game of Thrones, where he penned 11 episodes and served as co-executive producer, Cogman most recently worked as a consulting producer on Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He is also writing a feature remake of The Sword in the Stone for Disney.