The Archive

19/02/24

Demo Diving : Mario Vs. Donkey Kong (2024)

Most of my childhood game-playing was spent in the back of a car, usually after school. Whether it was a shop’s car park, an hour’s drive to relatives or a long trip to McDonald’s, I would fill the time blocking out the radio and playing on my DS Lite, later my 3DS (later still my 2DS after the 3DS met concrete too many times) and eventually my Switch.

Why do I say all of this? Because the new remake of Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is a dip-into-while-in-the-back-of-the-car-on-a-journey type of game.

Originally released on the Game Boy Advance as a successor to the original Game Boy’s Donkey Kong (1994), Mario Vs. Donkey Kong has always been good handheld fodder. Apart from Mario & Donkey Kong : Tipping Stars releasing on Wii U alongside the 3DS, the series has always been at home on the smaller screen. Something that’s perfect to play a level or two when you’re travelling over a few months. If you hit a wall, just close the game and look out the car window for a bit. Maybe switch the radio back on. By contrast playing the demo tethered to a TV under my own roof and giving it my full attention felt wrong. The music is pretty jazzy at least.

Apart from fully animating the original cutscenes, adding a Toad for co-op, and a Casual mode that removes time limits on stages, the demo doesn't show any differences from the original that aren't graphical enhancements. It's strange to play a game with such a NSMB house style Mario who controls like he's right out of the GBA. I had a similar adjustment period with the Link's Awakening remake, but that at least was classic Link. This is not classic Mario, but classic DK Mario : a very different beast that's slower and prone to handstands, now with sound bites from New Donk City.

Every level is timed and parcelled out in sets of six regular levels with two special levels on the side. The special level included in the demo tasks you with guiding the precious Mini Mario toys back to their toy box. The other special level seems to be a battle with Donkey Kong to get more Mini Marios back. I got through the four levels in the demo in about twenty minutes, taking care to not leave a trail of dead Marios in my wake.

According to the game’s website, there are new levels in the remake and later stages are sure to challenge more than the demo’s opening levels. Much like the original I feel Mario Vs. Donkey Kong will be a welcome companion on long journeys but doesn’t feel at home on the TV.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is available now on the Nintendo Switch for £39.99/$49.99. It is a puzzle-platformer developed by Nintendo Software Technology and published by Nintendo.

Thanks for reading Demo Diving - a series about the slices of games you can try before you buy. With high prices and long playtimes, starting a new game can be a big commitment. Thankfully many publishers choose to release a small part of their games for free. Let’s dive in the deep end and see what’s good!

13/02/24

The Spinning Man

The Spinning Man

A life in darkness
flat on my back
flat on my face
the view never changes.

The hand cuts through the dark,
dragging light in its wake,
blinding me.
The hand sifts through my box,
past building blocks and plastic cars,
and plucks me

out of darkness and into light.
Sometimes everything hangs off the ceiling.
Sometimes everything is stuck to the ground.
Always new faces in the crowd.

Held up on one end, I look around.
Fleeting fragments of the past stick out
before my four-walled world starts to blur.

I spin. Pillow forts turn to white streaks.
I spin. Bookshelves turn to a brown square.
I spin. My box stains the picture purple.
I spin.
I have no choice.

The streaks of light melt back into shape.
I stagger on the spot until I fall on my face.
The crowd applauds.
Footsteps trail away and I’m left to lie,
surveying the world from the corner of my eye.

A breeze may turn me over,
the dust may layer on thick,
but always the hand comes back,
stands me up on one end,

I spin.

The Birth of the Rose

The Birth of the Rose

Across the green Elysian Fields,
the dead and deathless dance.
They bask in the eternal light,
snared in harmonic trance.

The gentle nymphs dance in the dark,
the forest shade their shield.
Beyond Apollo’s golden gaze,
they yearn to join the Field.

They see their sister break away,
she dances in the sun.
They see their sister stumble down,
her gleaming light grows dun.

Kind Chloris found her lifeless child,
and cradled her and called,
for Gods of Wine, of Love and Wind,
to breathe life in the falled.

“Rise now our child,” they spake. And lo,
sprang up their toil of hours.
No more the verdant nymph that fell,
but Rose – Queen of Flowers.

Fullbright and Open Roads Developers Separate

Fullbright and Open Roads Developers Separate

"It's just no longer Fullbright's place to represent Open Roads publicly going forward."

As of 12th May 2023, the developers behind Gone Home and the upcoming Open Roads have parted ways with their founder Steve Gaynor and the Fullbright name. This announcement comes not from what are now known as "The Open Roads Team" or from their publisher Annapurna Interactive, but Gaynor himself in his first Fullbright newsletter in years.

In the newsletter, Gaynor alludes to "serious turmoil" at the studio that came to light shortly after the announcement of Open Roads and acknowledges that events have shown his "own strengths do not lie with attempting to manage a large project or direct the work of others", but does not detail what happened at Fullbright.

Within a year and a half of Open Roads' announcement at the 2020 Game Awards, fifteen employees left Fullbright. Current and former members of the studio spoke to Polygon in 2021 about their concerns with Ganyor's behaviour toward them, specifically the women. They emphasised that the behaviour did not veer into sexual harassment or explicit sexism, but Gaynor's "controlling" behaviour and "demeaning presence" that wore many down, to the point of their quitting en masse. The overall impression was that Gaynor saw Open Roads less as the team's game and more as his; Fullbright as an extension of his auteurship. Indeed, his personal Twitter account was Fullbright until forced to change it by the unrest in May 2021.

By the time of the Polygon report, Annapurna were already aware of the situation and had conducted an internal investigation, but the team were dissatisfied. When speaking to People Make Games in 2022, the staff - again anonymous for fear of repercussions from either Annapurna or Gaynor - said that Annapurna "talked around" the issue when asking the staff what they would need to finish the project and the prospect of removing Gaynor from his position at the head of the studio and writer on Open Roads was not brought up.

After the report went out and news of Gaynor's misconduct was public knowledge, the Open Roads twitter issued a statement now deleted saying : "Fullbright's co-founder Steve Gaynor has stepped back from his role as creative lead and manager, and transitioned to a role as a writer". The statement could also be found on the game's website, which was a part of Fullbright's website and is currently down. A day later, Gaynor issued a statement on twitter saying much of the same and acknowledging his "hurtful" leadership, but also not giving details. Through all of this, Annapurna Interactive remained silent and continues to do so.

When the changeover from Fullbright to The Open Roads Team happened is unclear : Gaynor's influence on the game was gone from June 2021 according to the Game Informer interviews and Amy Fincher's job as executive producer on Open Roads changed from under Fullbright to under Annapurna in September 2022. The game's website and Steam page were both linked to Fullbright as recently as early May and the developer still hasn't been updated on Annapurna's website. Whether Gaynor's announcement was ahead of or instead of a statement from Annapurna or The Open Roads Team, the developer is once again in his shadow, hopefully for the last time.

Open Roads is a mother-daughter road trip currently in development by The Open Roads Team at Annapurna Interactive. In light of its rocky development, the release date is unknown.

https://youtu.be/xDPzZkx0cPs?t=1015
https://fullbright.cmail20.com/t/t-e-fhtudtt-pikikkhuk-k/
https://web.archive.org/web/20210806094550/https://twitter.com/OpenRoadsGame/status/1423071532952080386
https://twitter.com/SteveGaynorPDX/status/1423094322396762113?cxt=HHwWgsCsheKv7L8nAAAA
https://www.gameinformer.com/feature/2022/07/21/a-new-destination-how-open-roads-changed-direction-and-saved-its-turbulent-road
https://www.polygon.com/22610490/fullbright-steve-gaynor-controversy-stepped-down-open-roads

(originally published as part of Girl Games Network #1 on 21/5/2023; Open Roads is now set to be released on 28/3/2024)

Streamer Alanah Pearce banned for watching Zelda trailer footage on Twitch

Streamer Alanah Pearce banned for watching Zelda trailer footage on Twitch

"It would appear that Nintendo DMCA'd me for watching approved Zelda gameplay."

When their long-awaited game The Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom leaked over a week before release, Nintendo's notorious legal efforts and takedowns only got more aggressive.

One person caught in the crosshairs was Alanah Pearce, game writer for Sony Santa Monica as well as YouTuber, boxer, DJ and most importantly Twitch streamer. During a stream where she watched a TOTK preview video from SkillUp that only contained pre-embargo footage, Pearce's channel charalanahzard received a DMCA strike from Nintendo and was suspended. The SkillUp video has not been subject to any takedowns.

After 70 minutes, Pearce managed to appeal and reverse the Twitch ban and regained access to her channel. With over 163K followers on Twitch alone, the size of her audience may have sped up her appeal; smaller streamers may not be so lucky.

https://twitter.com/StreamerBans/status/1655817156553060353
https://twitter.com/Charalanahzard/status/1655799864457035776?cxt=HHwWgIDQwYbNyvotAAAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKc2_3-vRf8

(originally published as part of Girl Games Network #1 on 21/5/2023)

Riot Games paying out $100 million to 1,500 female employees

Riot Games paying out $100 million to 1,500 female employees

"It isn't everything you deserve. But it is an acknowledgement that you aren't alone, you are never alone, and we can stop this across the industry together."

US game developers Riot Games (Valorant) are paying out $100 million to 1,548 women employed at the company between 6th November, 2014 and 27th December, 2021. This follows a 2018 class action lawsuit for gender discrimination from former employees Melanie McCracken (Nuverse) and Jes Negrón (Retcon Games) that had its final approval hearing on 16th May, 2023.

After the initial $10 million settlement was objected to by California's Department of Fair Employment & Housing (DFEH), the $100 million was agreed on in 2021, with $20 million covering legal fees.

According to the settlement Riot must pay out the following to those eligible :

$2,500-5,000 depending on whether they worked as an employee or temporary agency contractor, and regardless of whether they exclude themselves (the “Minimum Payment”), and
$15,000-35,000 if they worked as an employee and do not exclude themselves, or
$5,000-10,000 if they worked as a temporary agency contractor and do not exclude themselves
Group/Class Members may also receive an additional $40,000 if they worked as an employee in or before 2015 and do not exclude themselves.

In statements on LinkedIn, Negrón and McCracken both expressed relief at the end of their four year journey. McCracken emphasised that "this is just the beginning" and talked about the importance of "inclusivity and belonging" in the workplace, while Negrón spoke about the stories of "disgusting bro culture" she and other women involved in the case had to endure and repeat throughout the process to get a "modicum of justice".

Any "current and former female employees and temporary agency contractors" at Riot in California between 6th November, 2014 and 27th December, 2021 can participate in the settlement and payment will be distributed in the three weeks following the final approval hearing last Tuesday. If you think you or someone you know might be eligible, go to https://www.riotsettlement.com/ for more details.

https://www.axios.com/2023/05/04/activision-riot-settlement-payments
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/riot-s-100-million-gender-discrimination-settlement-granted-final-approval
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7064643428264857600/
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/melaniemccracken_toggle-navigation-activity-7064744567169822720-sS-t/
https://twitter.com/JesNx/status/1659212142829264899?cxt=HHwWhoDTxeWp2oYuAAAA

(originally published as part of Girl Games Network #1 on 21/5/2023)

Summer Games Done Quick Returns!

From the 28th May to 4th June, 2023 the annual speedrunning fundraiser Summer Games Done Quick is back on Twitch raising money for Doctors Without Borders. Many of the runs are taking place at the Hilton Minneapolis, Minnesota for in-person attendees and VOD recordings of the runs can be found on GDQ's YouTube page afterwards.

Some runs and runners of note this time include :

31/5 Shadow the Hedgehog - Gamecube by MetalMedB (Glitchless Bidwar)
1/6 Golf It! - PC by Nichole Goodnight & Bathinjan (Classic First 5 Maps 100% Race)
1/6 Give Me Toilet Paper! - Switch by Asuka424 (Hand%)
2/6 VVVVV - PC by Metroid Crime (Any% Glitchless)
2/6 Pokémon Colosseum - Gamecube by Swiftalu and Sparkle (Any% Race)
3/6 Fire Emblem Engage - Switch by Claris (Any%)
4/6 Super Mario Maker 2 - Switch by TheRileyC, Aurateur, PangaeaPanga, TanukiDan, Shoujo, Caspur189, LilKirbs and Thabeast721 (Relay Race)

In addition to SGDQ, GDQ hosts charity speedruns throughout the year and gives a spotlight to female and non-binary runners in their Frame Fatale events. On-site and remote volunteer registration for the next FF event "Flame Fatales'' will be open from the 9th-17th of June if this week's show inspires viewers to contribute.

As with every GDQ event for the last six years, programmer and artist lexyeevee (Fox Flux Deluxe) is hosting a game jam concurrently on itch.io, this time called "Games Made QVIICK??? HD REMIX", which will be running until the 5th of June.

(originally published as part of Girl Games Network #2 on 31/5/2023)

Super Free Games Faces Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

Former Super Free Games (Word Collect) employee Haley Bowman (Sonos) filed a lawsuit in the San Francisco Superior Court on the 11th of May, 2023 against the company for gender discrimination, unequal pay and being terminated while pregnant.

Super Free Games, formerly known as Super Lucky Games is a word and trivia game developer owned by the Stillfront Group and based in California with global remote employees, mostly across America. Although their careers page boasts a "flat management model" and insists on valuing a work-life balance, Bowman's case alleges "cronyistic" hiring practices, backed up by an anonymous former employee's review on Glassdoor.

In 2022, a Marketing Department Reduction in Force Committee was established at SFG and asked Bowman to leave her managerial marketing position for a position with a 20-26% pay cut in production on the grounds that she "had poor communication issues and created a level of mistrust with UA [the User Acquisition Team]". In her case, Bowman has said that there were no issues between her and UA. When she refused to take the cut and role change, she was terminated two months into a pregnancy she alleges SFG knew about and that her firing was falsely presented as a workforce reduction externally.

In addition to this, the lawsuit alleges an "unmistakable bias" against women, who make up less than a third of SFG, often being excluded from important meetings and social opportunities. Bowman also was not consulted on the marketing decisions that were key to her role in the Marketing division. SFG have not made any statements regarding the case as of two weeks after the filing.

(originally published as part of Girl Games Network #2 on 31/5/2023)

23/06/22

PullFrog Review

As far as game titles go, Joven Paul & Mario Carballo's PullFrog certainly can’t be
accused of false marketing – a puzzle-platformer designed for the PICO-8 (a
“fantasy console” that imposes 8-bit-era limitations on its developers), the game puts
you in control of a lineage of Frogs (aptly named ‘frog’) and tasks you with pulling the
falling cactus blocks to survive.

Unabashedly inspired by TETRIS and PuyoPuyo, the green blocks of PullFrog
rain down one square at a time, giving players the opportunity to line them up to
clear rows by dragging them across, and destroying them one square at a time
after they land and dry up.

Every time three rows are cleared, you’re offered a reward : either an upgrade
to your jump or tongue length (did I mention that you’re licking the cacti to get them
moving?), or an illuminati-esque Eye. Collecting five Eyes gives you the chance to
“uncover the secret” promised by the game’s instructions, but little else.

Being designed for another era, the controls for PullFrog tend to be a bit finicky, with
as many deaths attributed to the game and the slow-down that occurs when the
Upgrade pop-up appears as my own mistakes. I also couldn’t help but feel like being
able to push the blocks would open up the game, especially with the great difficulty you
have with getting a block to either extreme of the screen.

As a result, at least one death is inevitable when starting out with the game, but the
often darkly-humourous quotes from the fallen frogs keep things light. The death counter
does stop keeping track at thirty (XXX), but I can guarantee my toll was in the hundreds
as of this review.

If you want to know what it feels like to be trapped in a TETRIS game as a cute frog,

PullFrog is available to download and play in your browser from
https://afk-mario.itch.io/pullfrog.
This game was featured at FrogCon 2021 alongside other ambitious amphibian
endeavours and has a sequel for the PlayDate in development as of the writing of this
review in late 2021.