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Monetizing Mods: What we Learned from Valve and ‘Skyrim’

There’s an old adage, “the best things in life aren’t free.” However, in the gaming community, this notion is completely upended. Mods are incredibly prevalent in the gaming world, and usually come at no cost. These normally free downloads change the original and unaltered, or vanilla, game in various capacities. Mods can present minor tweaks, like “Half-Life 2: Update,” or major overhauls such as “Half-Life 2: Cinematic Mod.” Whether a mod manifests as simply improved eye candy, or an entirely different experience, there’s usually one constant: it’s free. Well, aside from the cost of the base game.

However, the modding dynamic was poised for upheaval when the always-innovative Valve added a paid mods feature  to its signature Steam Workshop recently. An early paid mod for “Skyrim,” a fishing mod, was removed quickly because it apparently employed assets from another mod. This coupled with an internet outrage prompted Valve to nix the idea entirely. 

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Game Development Trends To Look for in 2021

2020 was a great motivation and, at the same time, a universal delayer when it came to game app development companies. On the one hand, the restrictive measures, the lack of proper delivery systems, and the challenges of self-isolation made game developers think creatively to develop new strategies, reconsider game development balance, and change the primary direction of the gaming sector. On the other hand, the industry lost its revenue, and the analytics have yet to calculate how much the actual income differs from the projections.

Nonetheless, last year brought about many new trends that are likely to persist in the industry for quite a while. Thus, some aspects, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, have acquired a new role, while the socialization of game app development is expected to become one of the top priorities in the short run. Read on to learn about the prevailing trends in the gaming domain and keep your game app development company on track with world leaders.

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Migrating to MRKT2: Using Extension Services for Dependency Injection

Learn more about dependency injection and extension services for MRTK2.

Coming from business development, you might get a little shock coming into Unity. Traditionally, game developers are much more focused on making the outside prettier than the inside. Things like dependency injection are kind of unheard of or considered 'too heavy' for game development. But if you are still in the process of development, actually being able to access a consistent (mock) data service instead of the real live data service might be a big advantage, especially when that data service is rate limited or expensive.

You may also like: Migrating to MRTK2: Interacting With the Spacial Map

The Mixed Reality Toolkit 2 offers a great feature for that: extension services. And it's actually pretty easy to use, and I am going to show a simple sample. I have written about this in a very early alpha stage almost a year ago, but it's now to a point that it's actually usable.

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Building an AR Game With Hololens, Part 2: Models and Assets

Enjoy this second installment on building an Hololens AR app. We focus on models and assets.

In this chapter, we will go through all the elements that you need to have in place to start building your game. I will use terminology that you should be familiar with, as well as software and tools that you will need to make the game. So we will be covering a lot of elements here. Once your environment is set up and you have a basic familiarity with Hololens/Unity development, we can really dig in.

You may also like: Building an AR Game With Hololens, Part 1: Introduction

Unlike many other series, I want to provide you with what you need so that you can jump into development. I will not be spending any amount of time on things like how to use the device or basic functionality. For that, I would encourage any reader to visit the Mixed Reality Acadamy on the Microsoft site. It is an excellent source of information that is designed to kick start your understanding and development.

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Building an AR Game With Hololens, Part 1: Introduction

An AR game built with Hololens

Microsoft’s Hololens is a truly amazing platform. Although out of the hands of the average consumer and more designed for the enterprise (as recently enforced by MS), it still demonstrates what can be done in the AR space. Also, with MS partnering with Epic, and not just Unity, the next generation of Hololens apps may be more consumer-friendly. That all being said, I have been working with the Hololens for some time and have noticed a lack of detailed help for some common applications.

You may also like: MS Hololens and How to Get Started

The purpose of this series is to help fill in the blanks and put together as many resources available on how to build a simple game. In this series, we will design a very rudimentary game using the main aspects of Hololens v1 to provide a good, in-depth understanding of how to use this piece of hardware. Please note: This is not a game development tutorial, and that is not the purpose of this tutorial series. However, since Hololens development uses Unity and now Epic, it will be necessary at times and I will discuss those relevant concepts.

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E3: Microsoft Steps Into the Gap With Scarlett, xCloud, and Games

This weekend was a whirlwind at E3 2019, with Microsoft bringing a wide array of games, Xbox Scarlett news, and xCloud information—albeit not enough on the latter two topics—Bethesda showing off DOOM: Eternal and a new game streaming framework, and Devolver Digital's par-for-the-course outlandish presentation.

Microsoft

Microsoft was the nearly-indisputable main event of the weekend, and while they did provide some information on Xbox Scarlett and Project xCloud, they did not provide much in the way of details. Although this was disappointing, Microsoft did announce an almost overwhelming number of games, including Gears 5 and Halo Infinite. 

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E3: The Details of Google Stadia

The official start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is still days away, but the news and announcements are already coming in fast. Between Wednesday and Thursday, THQ Nordic surprised fans by announcing two new games—with a third to follow on Friday — Nintendo's announcement of its playable games on the E3 show floor, and Google provided much-anticipated details about Stadia.

Google Stadia

While Google will not be present on the show floor at E3, the company's presentation on Thursday was arguably the biggest E3 news thus far. In their first Google Stadia Connect, Google elaborated on the details missing from their original Stadia announcement at Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019, including pricing, games, requirements, and a launch month. Even with these specifics, there was a general feeling of unease about Google's latest gaming endeavor and the jury is still out on whether Stadia will be the success story that Google hopes it to be—especially with Microsoft likely presenting its xCloud streaming service on Sunday.

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A First Look at Google Stadia (Part 2)

This article is a continuation of A First Look at Google Stadia.

The Features

While a vision and technical specifications are essential for a gaming system, they alone do not sell units or subscriptions. In the end, what matters are the features provided to the player and the developer creating games for the enjoyment of the player. The Stadia keynote was lacking some vital information in that department, but it did include some insightful information on features that align with its vision, including Couch Multiplayer, State Share, Crowd Play, and Style Transfer ML.