Jul 15, 2011

Magicka’s buggy launch: “We didn’t know the game was being released”

Magicka

Wizarding adventure Magicka might have gone on to sell 600,000 copies, but the game had a rocky start. When the game first launched, players experienced bugs that made it basically unplayable in both singleplayer and multiplayer, and it was weeks before it was stable.

At E3 last month, I spoke to Emil Englund, one of the founders of developers Arrowhead Game Studios, and asked him how the buggy launch happened.

PC Gamer: When the first game out it had quite a few bugs, how did that happen?

Emil Englund: Oh, I mean, you have to start from the beginning. First of all, we were students, we were a very small team. We didn't have any experience. We started working with Microsoft XNA initially, and we were looking at the XBox, and then halfway through we changed to the PC. So, I mean, already there you have a foundation for a lot of bugs. Combined with not having a lot of resources to try the game on different platforms, you know. I read an article in Game Developer Magazine about the Civilization 5 development, and they said, 'Oh, and we had engineers from Nvidia and AMD at our office who constantly helped us try the game on the different graphics cards.' We didn't have that. So it's kind of hard for us to do everything right from the get go.

Also, some other things. We didn't know the game was being released, the time that it did. It's kind of stupid, but we thought it was released the day after or something. And all of a sudden someone says, "It's live!" And we were working on the Day One patch already. We're like, "What!?" We had like three hours where the game pretty much didn't work because we hadn't got out there with the release patch. There were a few bugs that snuck through at the end. We had them fixed, but it wasn't distributed to Steam. It was a nightmare.

And then, of course, there were a lot of other bugs as well. Many of the bugs were simply things we hadn't noticed. We had beta testing, but nobody reported it, so we didn't find it. So the only thing we could do was promise everybody we were going to patch this a lot. Which we did. We pretty much lived at the office the first two weeks and just kept pushing out patches each day, to fix as much as possible just to show our good will. And it seemed to work out. People appreciated it, and we kept patching, only we had to put more and more space in between the patches. Right now, we have a lot better quality assurance about patches as well, to make sure that the new patches don't break the game further.

But yeah, working with XNA wasn't really helping us. And right now we have a lot more resources. I mean, Paradox is helping out a lot as well. If we need somebody that knows more about something, they'll help to get a contact for us to talk to, and that has increased quality for DLC and patches.

Magicka is now polished, and last month Arrowhead pushed out an enormous free update adding PvP. I asked Emil what had changed for them since the game's success.

PC Gamer: The game has sold 600k copies so far. How has that changed your lives?

Emil Englund:Oh, we actually have a salary now, which we didn't before. We had a really low one towards the end so we could actually pay our rent, and buy food without loaning from parents. Right now we have salaries so we can live regular lives. We managed to employ some more people. We've grown from 7 to 11 since release, which is always fun, to bring some fresh blood aboard. And I don't know, it's kinda strange, sometimes I just don't get how much we've sold, how successful the release has been. And though there were a lot of issues, we have more plans for the future, there's a lot more stability in the company now. I mean, there was no money in it at all at the start. Right now, we at least feel we might be able to get somewhere. I guess that's the main thing, that we have a salary, so we can live ordinary lives.

Magicka is available through Steam for £8.

Jul 6, 2011

Paradox sales are 90% digital, “we don’t really need retailers any more” says CEO

PC Gamer

Recently, at E3, we got the chance to catch up with the CEO of Paradox Interactive, Fredrik Wester to discuss the company's recent success with Magicka, Mount and Blade and King Arthur. Wester revealed that 90% of Paradox' revenue is now made through digital distribution sales. He describes the company's lack of reliance on retail as "a release," saying that store chains have "not been good for the creative part of the industry."

Wester told us that "this year we’re close to ninety percent of our revenue being digital. Retail sales are like a bonus for us now. We don’t really need retailers any more and that is a release because retailers have not been good for the industry. They’ve not been good for the creative part of the industry, for finding new cool games."

"People complain to publishers that there are only sequels on the market, but that’s because retailers want to see sequels, because they can do their chart diagrams for how things sell and things like that. So one of the things preventing more creative gaming has been the retail challenge."

"I can only say this now because we’re not depending on them, so it’s really relieving to be able to say that."

Wester told us that Steam is Paradox' main partner, followed by Gamersgate. Paradox has recently had big success with Magicka, which as sold more than 600,000 copies since release, and is set to hit a million sales before the end of the year. The entire Paradox catalogue is currently enjoying a 90% as part of the Steam summer sale. You can grab the lot for $74.99 / £55.

Jun 22, 2011

Magicka PvP mode out now, new arenas and robes available

Magicka

If you read Arrowhead Game's Magicka dev diary right here on PCGamer.com yesterday, you'll know that the free PvP is out now. However, you might have have missed the Tarantino inspired trailer. It shows just one way in which wizards can fall out. The other is just to play Magicka's story mode, where friendly fire kills almost as many wizards as the hordes of enemies you're trying to obliterate.

The PvP mode comes with free two arenas, the Training Ground and the Havindir Arena. Each can host scraps with three different rule-sets. Classic deathmatch is a fiery free-for-all mode in which the last wizard standing wins. Brawl mode lets you form teams, but limits each player to a set number of lives. Krietor mode unlocks more powerful spells as the round progresses, and is named after the modder who invented it.

Three other maps can also be bought on Steam. The Frozen Lake (guess where that's set) combines unsure footing with a high probability of drowning to create a recipe for Magicka comedy, while The Watchtower map stages a battle at the top of a huge tower. To quote the Steam blurb, "The absense of a railing on a mountaintop ruin provides new environmental hazzard." These maps cost £1.50 / $1.99 each.

The third map is called Final Frontier, and has an extremely familiar sci-fi setting. It comes with an extra wizard robe, a "deadly duel staff" and boasts "fantastic quality props" for "Increased nerd factor." For maximum nerd factor, play this in the background while you fight. The Final Frontier is a little more substantial, thanks to the additional items, so that's priced at £1.99 / $2.99.

There's also a new Party Robes pack that adds three new wizard outfits, designed to improve your wizards' survival rate in co-op. The tank robe turns your wizard into an armoured powerhouse, the rogue robe can cloak on the battlefield and the support robe buffs the spellcasting power of those around the wearer - surely not a good robe to wear to a PvP fight.

As with all Magicka DLC, it's possible to jump into the hosts paid-for maps even if you don't own them yourself. The DLC is also available to buy on Direct2Drive, Impulse, Green Man Gaming and more, you can get the full list here. If you want to get an edge in PvP, check out our pick of Magicka's best spells.

Jun 21, 2011

Magicka Dev Diary: PvP is here!

Magicka

After weeks of waiting in anticipation, Magicka PvP has finally arrived. Now you can prove your wicked wizard skills by pummeling your friends and enemies alike with the power of the elements. Following last week's entry, the Arrowhead devs are back to thank the dedicated Magicka fans and explain some retuned spell mechanics. Whether you're about to go try some Magicka PvP or just got out of a match, you should definitely check this out.

The PvP release is upon us! In commemoration, let’s talk a bit about how we work with the community—and return to the concept of resistances once more. The community is very important to us, and we’re grateful for all the wonderful support we received from players and fans during the wild ride of Magicka’s initial release. Hopefully you'll find our thoughts on the game entertaining and informative.

Working with the community is important for us as a studio, and for Paradox as a publisher, and it’s a real joy for us. The community is an apt measure of how good your game is—not only in the sense of how stable it is, but also that people who really like your game will tell you so. The community doubles as a great support system for other players, and our community in particular has grown to be very helpful whenever someone presents a bug or problem. This takes a great load off our backs, and it's a blessing to see that whenever we go to comment on a thread, one of our helpful players has already been there, requested specific information, and suggested a couple of fixes. When working with the community, we always take note of those who put a little extra time into making it a great conversation. We would mention a few of them, but we wouldn't know where to stop!

Working closely with the community goes a long way, which became even more apparent when we started working on the PvP patch. Everyone had their suggestions about what would make Magicka PvP the best it could possibly be, and although it’s impossible to follow every suggestion, it was great to get instant feedback from the community. Forum-goers conjured up some golden posts, including a post on our beta forums that stated, “Slightly overpowered spells is what we want to achieve.” This comment exemplified the mindset we had when designing Magicka's PvP. There were many, many other brilliant thoughts spread across countless posts and conversations, and they were all incredibly inspiring. We're delighted that our community has grown to be so supportive of us, and that they're not afraid of giving criticism and coming up with new ideas.

A couple of posts ago, we discussed the changes we made to resistances, and how this would affect gameplay. However, after countless hours of play-testing, we realized that we had ultimately created a situation where it would always be more beneficial to use a self shield than a resistance. It was clear that we had to rebalance the game to make sure that resistances were in fact as useful as intended: as a tool to force your opponent to alter his or her strategy. We put a lot of thought into the self-shield, and how its pros and cons weighed against the resistance auras. As it turned out, the self-shield was superior in every way: it was fast to cast, it protected you for a time equal to most auras, and it protected against everything, even physical damage.

With this newfound data, we decided to rebalance the self-shield. Because casting it was so simple, it felt natural to prefer using it in emergency situations—such as avoiding getting instantly killed by that next huge boulder coming your way. We decided to focus the self-shield as a short-term reactionary defense; now, when you cast self-shield, it'll protect you for a short amount of time, and you can increase the time by boosting the shield like any other. The trade-off is that you have to stand still to boost your shield, and that brings its own dangers. This change went a long way towards balancing the self-shield versus the resistance auras, but we decided to increase the duration of the resistance auras as well to achieve just the right balance. They now last for quite some time, and lead to some interesting tactics. For example, a more devious mage could poison the enemy, and then put up a life protection aura. As long as the enemy stays in the aura, they can't heal through the poison's toxic damage.

We've also completely redesigned the earth and ice variants of the protective aura. It used to be that using earth or ice in a self-shield spell would root you to the ground, encasing you in a shell of protective shards. This was the ultimate defense, but oddly enough, it went rather underused. Plus, the self-shield rebalancing called for another effect that would provide better resistance against physical damage. Both the earth and ice self shields were redesigned so that, instead of encasing you, they become like a hefty suit of armor that you can walk around in. This slows you down, of course, but it provides added protection. The ice variant has more armor and fewer hitpoints, while the earth variant provides no additional armor, but adds loads of extra HP.

All in all, we're quite satisfied with how the balancing process turned out. We'll probably have to make some changes after the community gets their hands on it and tries every single possible tactic, but that kind of highly-refined balance can only be achieved with time.

As of this morning, Magicka PvP has been fully released, free of charge! Get out there, and test your mettle in the arena!

Jun 14, 2011

Magicka Dev Diary: A multitude of modes

Magicka

Last time we checked in with the Magicka devs, they were debunking the ancient technique of "water bombing" and the frustrations of losing character control. Come take a seat at the Arrowhead campfire and listen to tales of PvP glory and fights to the death.

Another week, another Dev Diary! This time, we're going to talk about the various PvP modes—the different ways you can blast your friends to oblivion. Game modes have been a hot topic of discussion, both on the forums and here in the office. Without further ado, let's get into this.

When pondering what game modes we should have in Magicka, we took a good, long look at other games and the solutions they adopted; we also listened closely to the solutions posed by the Magicka community. Certain things about PvP seem fairly obvious: for example, we always knew we would need a classic Deathmatch mode. You know, the standard kill-people-until-they-all-die game mode. Creating the mode was a relatively simple matter of establishing a time limit and a kill counter. Throughout development, we reserved the word “Deathmatch” for this normal everyday meaning: it’s a very well known expression, and it means a very specific type of game mode which all players easily recognize.

But there’s more than one way to blast your friends to giblets. Considering a slightly different flavor of PvP, but something still quite familiar, we turned to the Brawl game mode. Brawl is largely inspired by Super Smash Bros., which doesn’t count how many kills you’ve scored, but instead gives each player a set number of lives. There was some question early on if this was really different enough from Deathmatch for it to be included, but after much heated discussion, we decided to implement it. Once we started playtesting, we found that it made for very different gameplay experience compared to Deathmatch, especially when playing four-player Free-For-All. It was definitely unique enough to warrant its own game mode, but familiar enough that players would immediately feel at home with it.

The final game mode we’re offering is a tribute to our awesome community—and the individual who created the very first Magicka PvP tournament. We call it Krietor’s Tourney mode. For those unfamiliar with his history, a forum member by the name of Krietor made a mod for Magicka shortly after it was released, implementing the rudimentary PvP functionality that was left in the game (which, for reasons of time, we had to cut before the main release). Instead of just publishing the mod and calling it finished, Keritor followed through and kept improving the mod for a very long time. He introduced an interesting tournament style which included a time limit, and set up timed rounds. Whenever someone scored a kill, the playing field was reset, with everyone healed up to full strength, and stripped of any spells or other effects. This introduced structure and fairness to an otherwise chaotic PvP environment. He also implemented a system whereby Magicks were unlocked based on how far the tournament had progressed. As you got further into a match, more powerful Magicks were unlocked. This made for very interesting tournaments—and we thought it a brilliant idea to implement these ideas in our official Magicka PvP release.

The official version of Krietor’s Tourney mode will feature the same basic functionality as Krietor's original home-made version, polished and refined a bit so it fits perfectly into Magicka PvP. Each round has a certain time limit, and whenever only one person or one team remains (yep, every game mode supports team play), time stops, and everyone is replaced at their spawning positions to begin the next round, with all remaining spells and effects removed for a clean start. This means that no matter who won the last round, nobody will have an edge from one round to the next. Magicks will be unlocked after certain time intervals, and the order and time at which they unlock is unique to each PvP map. The goal of Krietor’s Tourney mode is to make matches as fair as possible, while at the same time keeping things very interesting. (By contrast, randomization is basically fair, but when it comes to competitive multiplayer, randomization rarely generates interest.)

These three new game modes come with lots of new settings, and the lobby we have in the current version of Magicka has no way to represent the various options. So we've reworked the lobby to include PvP. When designing the new lobby, we tried to make it as flexible as possible, so we can easily add more features and options in the future.

It's our hope that these three game modes will satisfy the community’s PvP cravings. We all really enjoy them ourselves, and feel that each game mode contributes its own little piece of fun. We hope that this introduction of PvP will bring an exciting new facet of Magicka to light!

Jun 13, 2011

The biggest PC stories of E3 2011

RAGE

It's been a very busy year for PC news at E3. All last week we were bombarded with new trailers, announcements, screenshots and interviews from LA. We got to see some of the most exciting games of the next few years demoed right before our eyes. You can find all of our E3 2011 posts right here. If you don't fancy clicking through five days of madness, we've compiled the biggest stories of this year's conference into one post with links to all the best trailers, screens and stories of the show.

Battlefield 3 gets a release date, beta plans announced

Battlefield 3 was spectacular at E3 this year. It was one of the best looking games at the show. The EA conference tank mission demo stole our war-obsessed hearts and made us all go "ooooh!" at the screen. In terms of actual news, however, the October 25 release date is a big deal. Battlefield 3 will get a couple of weeks head start on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (out November 8). There will also be a Battlefield 3 beta in Septermber.
Far Cry 3 revealed

Far Cry 3 is coming. The sequel plans to combine the lush jungle environments of Far Cry with the open world of Far Cry 2. Ubisoft promise that the AI has been altered this time so the action happens when the player wants, not when an overzealous patrol comes within a mile. The lawless island will be fully explorable, and the game is built in an upgraded version of the powerful Dunia engine that fuelled Far Cry 2's enormous world. Check out our Far Cry 3 E3 preview for more.
Arma 2: Free announced

We went to E3 expecting more information on Arma 3 following the announcement in the week leading up to the conference. What we got was entirely unexpected. Instead, Bohemia announced Arma 2: Free. One of the best military sims ever made will be free to download this month. The only caveats are a downgrade in graphics, and a lack of mod support. You'll still be able to jump into 50-player missions with your friends. Think of it as the best demo ever.
Modern Warfare 3 could get dedicated servers and mod tools

The fact that Infinity Ward and Activision are even thinking about adding PC specific features like dedicated servers and mod tools to Call of Duty is big news. While it faces stiff competition this year in the form of Battlefield 3, Call of Duty is still one of the biggest games in the world right now. If its creators start paying more attention to supporting the series on PC, that can only be a good thing.
Star Wars: The Old Republic raids revealed

The Old Republic's raids were shown for the first time at E3 this year. Tim dived in and got to see the improved UI and a raid set on Alderaan. You can read all his thoughts on the new raids here. Bioware released some footage of the Eternity Vault raid on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic site. They also released an in-depth dev diary detailing a whole mission set on Tatooine from start to finish.
XCOM returns

After a year of media silence, XCOM re-emerged from its alien cocoon this year a changed animal. The trailer wasn't great, but Graham reported distinct improvements when he saw the game behind closed doors. Check out Evan's overview for a summary of changes that have been made to XCOM in the past year.
Bioshock Infinite trailer and demo amazes

This year's Bioshock Infinite E3 trailer was impressive, but the behind the scenes demo Graham saw was even better. He saw a world full of big ideas and exciting gun fights, a battle of philosophies on a gorgeous floating city. Read all about it here.
Mirror's Edge 2 plans hinted at, could use Frostbite 2

While not quite exactly confirming anything, EA games president Frank Gibeau made it quite clear that EA plan to bring back Mirror's Edge. What's more, it could be powered by Battlefield 3's Frostbite 2 engine. We don't expect a sequel anytime soon, with DICE hard at work on Battlefield, but the prospect of a new Mirror's Edge game further down the line is still exciting.
John Carmack on Rage 2, and the power of PC

It's no understatement to say that John Carmack is one of the giants of the industry. The multi-talented engineering wizard has been building state-of-the-art engines for years. When Carmack starts talking about his predictions for the future of the gaming industry, it's a good idea to listen. We spoke to Carmack about his work on Rage, and his thoughts on where the PC is at. His says the PC is "an order of magnitude" more powerful than the consoles, and that he's keen to change his development approach to one in which id design more efficiently for the PC first, and then move to consoles afterwards. Coincidentally, this is the same approach taken by DICE with Battlefield 3.
Mass Effect 3 gets release date

Not to be outdone, Mass Effect 3 got a release date of March 3 2012, which feels like a long, long way away. It's looking good, though. Check out Josh's hands-on preview for more
World of Warplanes announced

World of Tanks developers, Wargaming.ne, revealed their next MMO at E3 this year. It's called World of Warplanes,and will follow a very similar 'free-to-play with microtransactions' pricing structure to World of Tanks. As with WoT, players will be able to build up their own hangar of warmachines, purchasing planes and upgrades with real and in-game cash.
Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 revealed

Brothers in Arms has gone mad. Gearbox unveiled a brand new direction for the series at the Ubisoft press conference, surprising everyone. Furious 4 replaces existential angst with axes and tactical squad combat with chaotic hyperviolence. It's a bold move by Gearbox, but will it backfire? Check out the Furious 4 trailer for a good look, and read Tim's impressions of the game.
Payday: The Heist unveiled

The choice discovery of E3 this year, Payday: The Heist mugged Tim with its foul language, feisty action and criminal sense of cool. Tim says it's like Left 4 Dead, but with cops instead of zombies. You can read his hands on with the game here. Check out the in-game footage for more.
Dust 514 to be PS3 exclusive, could come to PC

CCP are trying to realise a staggering vision. They're trying to unite PC and console gamers in the same universe. Their FPS, Dust 514 is designed to let PC players send console players on missions to take strategically important planets in the Eve Online. Dust 514 players will share the same chat channels as PC gamers playing Eve Online, and will be able to join Eve's player-created corporations. Eve players floating high above conflict zones will even be able to deliver orbital strikes that will have a direct effect on the FPS battle raging below. It sounds incredible. It will release as a PS3 exclusive, funded by microtransactions, but we'll eat our hats if it doesn't come to PC within a year. You can read Josh's Dust 514 impressions here.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has 30 hour main quest and horses

We got a good look at The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at E3 this year. The footage and screenshots Bethesda released showed dragon-slaying, horse-riding and plenty of combat. Graham delivered his impressions from the show floor, while Tom delivered his analysis of the video. We discovered a few more facts about the game as well. The main campaign will be about 30 hours long, but with enormous scope for exploration. You'll be able to ignore the main quest from the start of the game, and a carriage-based fast travel system will let you travel to all of Skyrim's major settlements straight away.
Torchlight pirated more than 5 million times

We managed to get hold of Runic Games' CEO Max Schaefer on the show floor for a frank discussion about piracy, DRM and Torchlight 2. The former vice president of Blizzard North revealed that Torchlight has been pirated "millions and millions" of times in Asia, and explained why that doesn't bother him. Check out the interview for more.
Magicka has sold 600k, PvP DLC will be free

Magicka has been a runaway success story for Paradox games. Graham had a chat with Paradox CEO Fred Wester about the future of the game, which Wester predicts will sell a million by the end of the year. He also reveals that the next piece of DLC, which will add a PvP mode to the game, will be free to everyone who owns the game.

And there you have it, an overview of some of the best showings at this year's conference. What were your favourite bits of E3 2011?

Jun 12, 2011

Magicka: Vietnam review

Magicka: Vietnam

A helicopter lands in a jungle glade and four wizards jump out. A vampire in aviator shades leans out of the chopper: “Oogle blurble barble ’Nam!” he says. The wizards, wearing helmets and flack jackets over their robes, nod to each other and charge off into the jungle. Magicka: Vietnam’s first moments set the scene nicely for the madness to come.

Magicka’s first expansion throws your pint sized combat-mages into a fantastical version of the Vietnam War, in which the Vietcong are replaced by gun-toting goblins, and the US forces by a team of one to four psychotic wizards. There’s a rescue mission and a survival arena to battle through, both of which ask the important question: what’s best, magic, or bullets?

It’s a trick question. The answer is napalm. As well as fresh enemies and soggy jungle environments, there are also new weapons, including machineguns and rocket launchers, but the real star of the show is the napalm air strike. Casting this ‘spell’ causes a US bomber jet to fly across the screen, leaving a streak of white-hot death in its wake.

Here’s why it’s great. To cast spells in Magicka, you summon elemental orbs, then combine them for use on yourself or your foes. Different combinations of orbs cast different spells. There’s no mana bar, or any restriction on the number of spells you can throw out. You can call in air strikes as fast as you can type.

Imagine, then, four wizards each calling in a bombing run every minute or so, throwing up protective shields and frantically healing between bombardments as an endless supply of goblins charge out of the jungle. These insane defences with friends on Magicka: Vietnam’s survival map are easily the best part of the expansion.

The rescue mission is more staid. You’re dropped into a jungle and instructed to save a number of prisoners of war. Side objectives ask you to destroy ammo dumps and topple radio towers, but these extra objectives never force you to veer too far from a narrow path. Armed goblins and the occasional ogre with a minigun try to stop you. Often by standing slightly off screen and shooting you, which is especially infuriating given how powerful the new guns are.

It takes about 40 minutes to play and is extremely difficult, especially if you’re trying to run it solo.

Play with friends, and it’s possible to overcome the difficulty spike and enjoy the game’s terrific sense of humour. The deliberately mangled speech and the constant war movie references are a recipe for good comedy. When combined with the new toys and the endless survival map, Magicka fans who play often with friends will be happy with the £3.49 price tag. If you were expecting to play through alone, however, you should give this one a miss.