Aparece el prototipo de unos nuevos mandos para #HTCVive en los #SteamDevDays

Desde los Steam Dev Days, hemos podido conocer que Valve está desarrollando y probando un nuevo modelo de mandos para su visor de realidad virtual HTC Vive. Gracias a varios desarrolladores que asistieron al evento, hemos podido ver el aspecto del prototipo y las primeras impresiones desde Twitter y YouTube.

Lo más destacado a simple vista es que, al contrario que los actuales, no hará falta…

Looking at that hefty stack of #Steam Controller's, it makes a person wonder just how much native support is going to be available at #DevDays? Apparently further details of Linux and VR support have been cropping up on Twitter. Steam Dev Days has been kind to native support this week. As part of its annual effort to educate developers about PC gaming and Steam VR platforms. Valve outlined that developers have published more than 10,000 titles on Steam for Windows, PC, Linux, and Mac over the past 10 years. A milestone, seeing only a little over 2,600 of those titles are available on Linux. Steam VR support was brought to the gaming community just six months ago with the launch of the HTC Vive. And now Valve points out that developers have already published over 600 VR experiences via Steam. This also includes those using OpenVR. However it seems there have been dev's keen to make the VR transition to Linux, according to a couple of recent tweets:

So many Linux nerds are happy right now #SteamDevDays pic.twitter.com/UlV4ZVXVzz

— Kevin Lee (@infinite_lee) 12 October 2016

It looks like Steam VR is being shown off for Linux via AltspaceVR:

So many Linux nerds are happy right now #SteamDevDays pic.twitter.com/UlV4ZVXVzz

— Kevin Lee (@infinite_lee) 12 October 2016

A new Vive Controller is in the mix as well:

WOAH WHAT new Vive controller! (On the right) #SteamDevDays 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/FfnhYPqwLL

— Eva @ SteamDevDays (@downtohoerth) 12 October 2016

Valve’s two-day event features speakers from third parties and Valve, discussing local and long-term expansions for Steam. The new VR peripheral prototypes will available for demonstration and design collaboration for attendees. Some of the featured content includes "VR content", "Vulkan graphics", "steam controler", "building Unity games for Linux/SteamOS" and "the future of VR and PC games". The adoption of SteamVR Tracking does continue, there are over 300 licensees planning to incorporate the technology for entertainment VR, automotive, televisions, and toys. Many of these products will ship in 2017. To learn more about what is happening in Steam Dev Days, check out the official website. Details right now seem viable, but we will keep on top of the Dev Days progress as more content is revealed.

Steam Is Getting Full Dualshock 4 Support

At this years Steam Dev Days Valvee’s Jeff Bellinghausen announced that Steam will get full Dualshock 4 support. Using the same API as the Steam controller, which means it will come with pretty much the same configurability as the aforementioned Steam controller and it will alleviate the need for third-party software like Xpadder. Also announced was that “similar support for other controller…

Valve Bringing Dualshock 4 Support to Steam

At Steam Dev Days, Valve announced that both developers and players will soon be able to use and configure Dualshock 4 controller inputs for Steam titles. Currently, most games require some sort of third party emulation software for DS4 gamepads. Valve’s Jeff Bellinghausen stated that using the PS4 controller through Steam’s API is “exactly the same as a Steam Controller,” claiming that the API…

We just booked our next trip!  It seems like we’re traveling a lot lately, but we like to combine Chris’ business trips with little vacations.  His business is already paying for the hotel and his flight, so we just have to pay for my flight using our personal money (even though his business usually pays for that too!).

We’re headed to Seattle in October for Steam Dev Days!  This is a developer only event hosted by Valve where developers can get together to discuss new Steam features and advances in gaming.

We’ll be heading into the city a few days early to be tourists and enjoy some time together.  We’ll be attending Dev Days and then heading out of town and back home the day after the conference.

I definitely have some plans for us while we are in Seattle, nothing set in stone yet, just things I’d like to do and places I’d like to eat.  Chris usually lets me plan the activities and since I know what he likes and doesn’t like (particularly to eat!) it usually goes pretty well!

Here’s a few of my ideas for activities:

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Pike Place Market

Space Needle

Smith Tower

Great Wheel-Chris asked me to marry him at the top of this wheel overlooking the Pacific!

And here’s some places we’d like to eat:

Gelatiamo-we stopped here for a treat after I said yes! :)

Lunchbox Laboratory

Legit anything from Mobile Mavens-all their carts look amazing!

Daily Dozen Donuts

Mike’s Noodle House

Six Strawberries

Matt’s in the Market

This probably should've been the first post on here, but I guess third is close enough.

I was watching the steam dev days videos on youtube, this one in particular about marketing. When the devs on the panel were put on the spot to describe their game in a sentence, they all did really well. But posed with the same question, I'm actually not sure what I'd answer.

What is Dandy?

Depending on who you are or where you're coming from I think I'd answer that question very differently. If you're a gamer the answer is sort of easy because genre names and game comparisons are inherently easy to describe, "Dandy is a horizontal schmup done as a rogue-like" or "Dandy is a slowed down, pensive Gradius." But that's just categorization.

Games are really unique in that the player has direct interaction. So maybe they should be described by the interactions the player makes, "Dandy is a game where you kill monsters by solving puzzles." I think that gets closer but it's also kind of confusing. Dandy isn't a puzzle game. Once you've learned how an enemy can be killed, the game becomes about efficiency and understanding how the game uses your own input to challenge you.

There's also the entire narrative side of things, which I tend to think of as secondary. "You're a candy wizard fighting hordes of monsters to discover new ingredients," doesn't even scratch the surface of what Dandy is, but maybe that's because it was designed with the narrative/art playing a very secondary role.

Maybe the reason it's so difficult to describe is because the flavor of the game isn't that referential to the real world. What the hell is a "Candy Wizard" and why does he shoot beams of energy from a candy cane. Why is he floating through the sky on a lollipop? It could also be because the game isn't remotely done. Could what Dandy is, not even exist yet despite the games design being substantially planned.

I'm not entirely sure what the answer is in short form. "Dandy is a game where you're your own worst enemy" has emerged as a big theme in the gameplay so maybe that's the best answer. It describes how the players input directly affects the monsters and obstacles in the game. How small decisions can make or break your success.

I've always thought about Dandy as a game about addiction in a really abstract way. When we pitched it as an iOS game to Adult Swim a few years ago addiction was in the narrative. It was tied into the gameplay as well. You'd grow weary and insane if your supply of candy collectibles ran low. It was kind of dark, but for some reason I feel like this design actually still carries a bit of that and maybe more effectively.

Steam Dev Days session videos now available

by Abdul Rob

Valve has released 28 sessions from the Steam Dev Days conference as videos, PDF's and PowerPoint Presentation. The sessions cover a whole different host of topics related to developing games for Steam, from coding, design, music to marketing and more. Follow the link below to check out the Steam Dev Day sessions.