Digitally Downloaded – Page 747 – Your specialist source of news and reviews for games, anime, manga, film and literature

Hands on with Lucas Pope’s new game, Return of the Obra Dinn

November 9, 2016

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Preview by Harvard L. Tucked away in the PAX Rising international section at PAX Australia 2016 was a peculiar game: a black and white representation of a 19th century sailing ship with barely any promotional material at the booth all. Indeed, the actually screen was obscured, and you basically had…

Aussie indies: on what it was like to develop in Flash, and moving to more robust platforms

November 9, 2016

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Feature by Harvard L. Macromedia Flash, for all its benefits and pitfalls, was a revolutionary platform for the gaming industry. Before it, game design only happened in dedicated studios, with difficult programming languages being a barrier of entry into the industry. A game was a big project requiring a team…

Do Australian games need an Australian identity?

November 9, 2016

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Opinion by Matt S. Over at Daily Review, I’ve written a piece looking at PAX Australia, and one of my observations about the Aussie developers that were there. Essentially, I absolutely loved what I saw, as the sheer number of developers showed us a breadth and depth of game development…

kept-australias-new-storytelling

November 9, 2016

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Article by Harvard L. If the golden rule of writing is “show, don’t tell”, then the equivalent for game development is surely “feel, don’t show”. The greatest strength of video game storytelling is the ability to make the player an agent: for the actions they take to affect the overarching…

The catch-up coffee: November 9, 2016

November 8, 2016

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News by Britta S, Brad L. Welcome to Digitally Downloaded’s regular catch-up news feature. With each issue we will bring you the best news that you may have missed. Grab the biggest mug you’ve got, fill it with your favourite brew, and catch up with us (and our favourite news…

Review: Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky (Sony PlayStation Vita)

November 8, 2016

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Review by Matt C. Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky is a very good game, but it’s also a game that takes a really long time to get to that point. It’s a given that it might take an hour or two for a game to find its…

On the loveliness of a world of tanks and warships

November 8, 2016

Features/PAX Australia/PAX Australia 2016/wargaming/wargaming.net/World Of Tanks/World of Tanks Blitz/World of Warships

Article by Harvard L. Wargaming.net has been a big contender in the online multiplayer scene for a few years now, but the size of their company sure hasn’t affected its humility, or closeness to its playerbase. Having developed the phenomenal World of Tanks in 2011 and following up with World…

Review: Root Letter (Sony PlayStation 4)

November 8, 2016

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Review by Matt S. Root Letter is one beautiful detective mystery. It’s a visual novel, so for the most part you’re looking at static images of backgrounds and portraits of the various characters, but every single part of every single image drips with the most subtle, elegant, deft touch of…

Review: Mallow Drops (PC)

November 7, 2016

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Review by Nick H. Mallow Drops should appeal to those who really enjoy some mind-bending puzzle games. There is a fairly basic set of physics at work in the game, but the development team has figured out some fiendishly challenging ways to apply them. Easy to pick up and play,…

Retro reflections: Nobunaga’s Ambition then and now

November 7, 2016

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Retro reflections by Nick H. We all know that games can change a lot over the years, and many different titles influence future ones. However, having been gaming for as long as I have (35 years and counting), it is always fascinating to me to play and compare games from…

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