BIGBITE Issue #15

Issue 15 - March 2018

BIGBITE Magazine

We Are Team BIGBITE BIGBITE Management Joe Dalton(@jxdalton) CEO John Byrne(@JRByrne88) COO Matt VanDeZande(@ALousyCopilot) CCO James Perrett(@jaaamesperrett) Advisor Kat Cirri(@cirrigneos) Director of Programming Michael Hernandez(@LOSx77_Michael) Social Media Director Caiti Mulligan(@heyitscaiti) Social Media Manager Sean Mullen(@smullen319) IT Specialist Jon Spiker(@TheOGSpiffy) Broadcast Director

Video Staff Aaron Collins(n/a) Video Editor Liv B.(n/a) Video Editor Aya(@BataraMulya) Video Editor Payden Addis(@ToastManPayden) Video Editor

Editorial Staff Joseph Dunlap(@joseph_dunlap) Sean McGuire(@ChidoriiChan)

Editor-in-Chief Art Director

Writing Staff Alexandria Barilone(@LetzkyBarilone) Writer Dan Cook(@dccrulez) Writer Rhys Morgan(Roxas_Sword) Sarah H.(@trisaratops65) Writer

Art Staff Brianna Stombaugh(@keariart) Artist Miranda Ramsey(@mirzers) Illustrator Chris Clegg(@Cleggend1) Animator Danielle Farah(@dellfarah) Layout Editor Les Vanpelt(Insta@lesvanpelt) Layout Editor Katja Hayrinen(n/a) Illustrator

Writer

BIgbitE MEDIA Dear readers, Welcome back to another issue of BIGBITE Magazine!

One of our biggest goals for 2018 was to ramp up our charity efforts, especially with our partnerships with Rooster Teeth, RT St Louis, and Extra Life. Well, I’m pleased to report that we’re off to a great start!

We kicked off our 2018 Extra Life Campaign with our first BIGBITE Block Party with Rooster Teeth St. Louis on February 17th. We had a blast, played some fun games, chatted with people in the stream, and raised money for Saint Louis Children’s Hospital. In fact, we hit all of our stretch goals, and broke our single-stream record, despite this stream being half the length of our next shortest stream! I can’t be more proud of Team BIGBITE for all of their hard work. Of course, we couldn’t have done this without the great friends we have at RT St Louis, who were a huge part of this effort!

This time, we recorded our stream and re-released it in its entirety. It’s currently available on our YouTube Channel (youtube.com/BIGBITEMedia). Additionally, we’ve got some supplemental content (including the payoff for our stretch goals) coming to the channel soon. We’ll be doing more streams throughout the year, so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss them!

Finally, much like we did with Extra Life last year, we are selling merch to help raise money for Extra Life!

Our BIGBITE Block Party design series will be available all year (designs may vary), and all proceeds from the sales of these shirts will go to our Extra Life efforts. You can get your own at Store.BIGBITE.Media today!

To everyone who has been involved in our streaming efforts, donated, watched our streams, and/or shared them with your friends, I want to take the time to personally thank you! If you haven’t done any of that yet, I’d like to invite you to help our efforts in the future!

Thanks for helping us raise money #ForTheKids!

Joe Dalton Joe Dalton,

CEO, BIGBITE Media

bigbitemedia

@bigbitemedia

bigbiteonline

bigbite.media

youtube.com/bigbitemedia

fan art friday AUGUST 4TH

Charles

@adipose _Von _Crompwell

Charles, a resident of dallas, Created this Video using after effeCts, premiere, and photoshop oVer the span of two days. https://youtu.be/7pe76JCtJ8 C

AUGUST 11TH

hannah

@sorCererinslytherin

hannah is a reCent College graduate based in ConneCtiCut. drawing inspiration from the heists and let’s play Criminal masterminds episodes, she Created this Video oVer the span of two weeks using premiere pro and after effeCts.

https://youtu.be/-yz1s g rsQi u

fan art friday AUGUST 18TH

deanna @arCherkasai

arCher liVes in southern missouri, where she’s a digital artist. she’s a huge fan of rwby, and penny’s “awkwardly upbeat and friendly CharaCter” is a personal faVorite of hers. to Create this illustration, arCher used photoshop and drew out a sketCh first, then added line art, then flat Colors, and then finalized it with all the extra details. this pieCe took about 25 hours, and the last step took up about 75% of that time.

AUGUST 25TH

benton @benton188

benton is a flooring installer/prop builder based in erie, pennsylVania. he made this Cosplay using a teChniQue Called “pepakura� and Crafting the armor out of eVa foam. the sword is also made from eVa foam and pVC pipe, and Can transform into the sCythe or gun mode. oVerall, the armor took around three months to Complete, and the sword took an additional two months of work.

SEPTEMBER 1ST

kazenary @kazenary

kazenary is a graphiC designer based in stuttgart, g ermany. she sewed and Crafted eVerything in this Cosplay, eVen making the pattern from sCratCh. it took about a month to put eVerything together. her next addition? a CresCent rose!

fan art friday SEPTEMBER 8TH

ViCky

@ViCkykuJikawa

ViCky is a student based in madrid, spain. she Created this Cosplay after she first saw yang in the “yellow ” trailer. when the first season of rwby was released, yang turned out to be ViCky’s faVorite CharaCter. g ood thing she already had a yang Cosplay ready to go!

this Cosplay was ConstruCted oVer the span of a month, wheneVer ViCky was able to take breaks from studying. the entire thing was made from sCratCh; she made all the patterns and sewed them, and also made the ember CeliCa herself.

SEPT. 15TH

rose

@rosemarym rose liVes in Canada, but is originally from g ermany. she Created this illustration using Clip studio paint pro (Csp) and a star03 pen tablet. oVerall, it took about three hours to Complete.

SEPT. 22ND

tyler li @Van Citybball

tyler is a produCtion artist and freelanCe graphiC designer based in VanCouVer, british Columbia. this design was Created in adobe illustrator, but the “rooster teeth” writing was first done by hand in his sketChbook. you Can see more of tyler’s work on his instagram.

SEPT. 29TH

Jett furr @aeroJett

Jett liVes in north Carolina, where he’s a freelanCe artist and a part-timer at a fitness Center. to Create this pieCe, he used sketChbook pro to paint the baCkground, draw lines, and Color the fan serViCe Crew, then he remade the my hero aCademia logo in illustrator CC, and put it all together in photoshop CC. it took roughly 20-24 hours, partially due to a Change in the layout after the rough stage.

fan art friday OCTOBER 6TH

anthony @nguyen013

anthony liVes in diamond bar, California, where he’s a graphiC design student and a freelanCe illustrator.

he used a few different appliCations to Create this pieCe: the layouts were made in autoCad 2016, and illustrations of pyrrha’s emblem and sigil were made in adobe photoshop CC and ConVerted into adobe illustrator CC. the aCtual box is made of ¼” thiCk plywood, and was laser etChed. he added Coffee stains to Create a Certain effeCt on the wood, then pieCes were assembled and held together with wood glue. oVerall, this box took about seVen hours to Create.

SEPT. 20TH

niCholas @elessar7

niCholas liVes in minnesota, where he’s a barista and aspiring game deVeloper. he Created this animation during his spare time oVer the span of about seVen months. the models and animation were done in maya; the leVel was built in unreal engine 4 and shot with seQuenCer; and the musiC was added with adobe premiere. https://youtu.be/ pkkupsVzxx0

OCTOBER 27TH

elz @VJane

elz liVes in paris, franCe, where she’s a student/ researCh engineer/ neurosCientist (whoa). to Create this pieCe, she sketChed the lines with a penCil on paper and then Colored it with mypaint on her Computer. (side note: elz says, “if you’re looking for a good free software for painting, definitely go CheCk out mypaint.”)

this illustration was inspired by a Quote from ozpin to osCar: “greatness in knowing that, when the world needed help, you were the one to reaCh out your hand.” elz says it Captures how eVeryone has something uniQue that they Can Choose to put forward to help others and serVe a greater Cause, and that will be a game-Changer at a Certain point.

NOV. 10TH

Christian @xuelder

Christian liVes in new orleans, where he’s working on an indie game proJeCt and looking into freelanCe in the greater games industry.

on rwby rewind, Chad stated he wanted a kfsChnee design, so Christian granted him his wish. to Create this illustration, he used a program Called marmoset hexels and free-hand drew it. hexels uses six- or threesided polygons Called hexels and trixels, respeCtiVely, instead of the traditional four-sided pixel. this Creates stylized low poly style art fairly easily. the text was added in fire alpaCa.

fan art friday NOV 17TH

elz @VJane

elz liVes in paris, franCe, where she’s a student/ researCh engineer/ neurosCientist (whoa). to Create this pieCe, she sketChed the lines with a penCil on paper and then Colored it with mypaint on her Computer. oVerall, it took about six hours to Complete.

NOV. 27TH

miku

@mikururun

miku is a freelanCe artist/ unemployed nurse based in Chile. she was listening to musiC while working on some other artwork when “red like roses” Came on. miku says the song “exploded in her mind” and she was inspired to Create this pieCe in photoshop.

fan art friday DEC. 1ST

Christian @xuelder

Christian liVes in new orleans, where he’s working on an indie game proJeCt and looking into freelanCe in the greater games industry and any art opportunities.

to Create this illustration, Christian used a program Called marmoset hexels and traCed oVer the regular sugar pine 7 logo to make a sCalable VeCtor. using shaders, gradients, and post effeCts, he added the animatiC Vhs effeCts. the text was imported from fire alpaCa.

DEC. 15TH

daniel @dangerst

daniel liVes in georgia, where he’s a freelanCe 3d generalist Currently on the hunt for steady employment. to Create this pieCe, he made the ornaments/lights in zbrush and unwrapped them in maya, the tree in speedtree modeler, the textures in substanCe painter, and the final render in V-ray. oVerall, it took about nine hours to Complete.

DEC 22ND

Cole

@boutsoftheblind

Cole liVes in texas, where he works in retail and has his own webComiC. he used ink and waterColors to Create this pieCe oVer the span of three hours.

DEC. 30TH

elizabeth @nottagamer

elizabeth liVes in pittsburgh, pa, but she’s moVing to austin next month. she Created this illustration using meChaniCal penCils and three Cups of earl g rey tea. surprise, she was inspired by pudding.

fan art friday JAN. 12TH

kazenary @kazenary

kazenary is a graphiC designer based in stuttgart, g ermany. she made the ember CeliCa pieCes within a week to take to fotoCon, and says this Cosplay was largely assembled with blood and tears.

her main inspiration was barbara dunkelman. kazenary loVes her CharaCter, and eaCh time she’s wearing yang, she wants to be like her – a strong woman.

JAN. 19TH

ashleigh @ashtimelow

ashleigh is an admin based in newCastle, uk. she designed this pillow on her graphiCs tablet, basing it off of g eoff in skyfaCtory in ahaa. she then printed her design onto fabriC, hand sewed it all, and added the googly eyes. (who Could resist?!) onCe the sewing was Complete, ashleigh baCked it in fabriC and stuffed it to turn it into a small Cushion.

FEB 2ND

lilah

@geekyowlet

lilah is a high sChool student based in british Columbia. she Created this pieCe oVer the span of a week on an i pad pro using Clip studio paint and an apple penCil. it was inspired by the red trailer, when ruby smashed through the CloCk faCe. lilah wanted to make the drawing look like ruby was going to kiCk the Viewer’s faCe using perspeCtiVe, and the rose petals CoalesCing into her Cape signified that she had used her semblanCe.

fan art friday FEB .9TH

liliana @i111i1

liliana is a photographer based in southern California. this pieCe started off as a penCil outline sketCh, whiCh she sCanned and ConVerted to a digital painting in adobe photoshop. regarding her inspiration, liliana said, “nora Valkyrie has grown on me as a CharaCter sinCe rwby Volume 4. i was inspired by her spunky, Combat-ready attitude and deCided to render her in the style of wwii nose art.”

FEB. 16TH

edyta

@holyfudgin CraCk

edyta is a College sophomore studying marketing in greenVille, south Carolina. raVen is one of her faVorite rwby CharaCters. although raVen is a mother, many people wouldn’t desCribe her as “maternal.” edyta likes to think she Cared about her family in the past, and wanted to see if she Could draw raVen in a way that most don’t imagine her. this pieCe was Created digitally using paint tool sai and took about 14 hours.

FEB 23RD

haley @hessenerd

haley liVes in germany, where she works in graphiC design and marketing. this pieCe was Created using photoshop CC and a huion display tablet. it took about six hours to Complete.

fan art friday MARCH 2ND

elle @ellusiVe

elle is a freelanCe illustrator based on the east Coast. she Created this pieCe in about four hours using Clip studio ex and a waCom intuos tablet.

MARCH 2ND

mollie

@3slikeyouandme

mollie is a high sChool student based in the uk. she wanted to work on her portrait skills, so she set out to Create this pieCe using prismaColor penCils. it took about fiVe hours aCross the span of a few days.

MARCH 9TH

leon @leonryan

leon is a freelanCe illustrator from Canberra, australia. he Created this pieCe in adobe illustrator oVer the span of roughly 50 hours. leon says he enJoys grumpy old men beCause he’s a grumpy old man himself.

MARCH 16TH

brianna @oCCuli

brianna liVes in british Columbia, Canada, where she’s a CommuniCation design student and admin for rt new VanCouVer. she Created this pieCe in photoshop using her intuos 5 pro oVer the span of 12 hours.

fan art friday MARCH 23RD

amanda

@frostedangelinthesky

amanda is a student based in maryland. she Created this pieCe using Chalk oVer the span of a few hours.

MARCH 30TH

alex

@toast_ adox alex is a Junior in high sChool, based in miami. watCh this speedpaint Video to see how they Created this pieCe! https://youtu.be/bpy_ owQ5n3w

MARCH 9TH

Christian @xuelder

Christian liVes in new orleans, louisiana, where he’s working on an indie game proJeCt and looking into freelanCe and employment in the greater games industry. while watChing rooster tV, there was disCussion in the Chat of how old tV broadCasts had intros and endings like the playing of the national anthem. as a personal Challenge to himself, Christian deCided to reCreate one of those old teleVision station bumper logos and Came up with this rooster tV motion graphiC. to make it look eVen more authentiC, he made it look like it was on an old Crt as a nod to the era, eVen though it is in 1080 p.

regarding how it was made, Christian had this to say: “i made the motion graphiC itself in marmoset hexels using its VeCtor features. for the animatiC bits, i used a Combination of prepaCkaged and some of my own glsl post fx sCripts to Create the Crt effeCt. i modified the stoCk Crt effeCt in hexels by adding a feature to make it look more like an older Crt by adding some dither Code from an old College proJeCt i had years ago. that was added after some feedbaCk on reddit by staff member andré ouellette. the other effeCts, the statiC/filmgrain, the iris effeCt, and the drop shadow were stoCk effeCts from the hexels program and went unmodified aside from indiVidual settings within the shaders themselVes; howeVer, i am still unsatisfied with how the iris turned out, eVen after taking some adViCe and CritiQue on it. one of my next goals is to aCtually modify the stoCk glsl transition Code to be less linear, where the iris is made from. furthermore, i want to make the rgb banding stronger in the Crt shader, beCause it is not exporting it as seen on sCreen in the editor nor is it as strong as it is supposed to be, whiCh is rather annoying to me. i exported all 248 frames as indiVidual images to import it into magix Vegas, so that it Could be exported as a 24 fps Video file.”

戀椀最戀椀琀攀 瀀爀攀猀攀渀琀猀

ᰠ戀攀猀琀 漀昀⸀⸀⸀ᴠ 椀猀

戀愀挀欀

RTX Sydney 2018 Recap: Here’s Why It is Important

By Sarah

Imagine going back a few years - four or five would be enough - to when we all sat around wondering if RTX would ever expand. Imagine if they hosted an event somewhere besides Austin, you’d think to yourself. Maybe it’ll even be near me! Even if it’s nowhere nearby, it’ll still be closer than Austin so I can definitely go!

Then Rooster Teeth announced RTX Sydney.

Shit, you thought. Australia? That’s even further than Austin. Way to go, Rooster Teeth. Who cares about Australia?

Plot twist: Australia cares! Australia cares big time, and here’s why.

Australia. The land of diseased koalas that are definitely not bears, dingoes that survive on an all-baby diet, and that guy who was just waiting for a mate. All these wonders of nature were able to thrive because Australia is just so damn far away from anything else in the world.

When we joke about being the arse-end of the world, or talk about long-haul flights, we mean it, more than you could ever know. Flying to Asia from Melbourne?

It takes the better part of five hours to even leave Australia. Those pesky New Zealand cousins just over the border? Oh, you mean the four hour flight over the ocean. Perth?

Who’s even heard of Perth?

Australia is big, Australia is empty, and Australia is the place where any major worldwide tour is a capital-letter Big Deal. There’s no way an Austin, Texasbased machinima startup would even think about Australia. Why would they?

Because Australia, on the whole, donated so much to the Lazer Team campaign a few years back that Rooster Teeth thought to themselves, well shit. Time to go somewhere with worse Summer weather than here.

And RTX Sydney was born.

2018 saw the third annual RTX Sydney go live in Darling Harbour over the February 3rd and 4th weekend. After moving to the International Convention Centre in 2017, fans were treated to a fantastic event that showcased some of the best Rooster

Teeth had to offer.

There were plenty of live panels to keep the crowds entertained and as always, the Rooster Teeth Podcast was a huge success despite the Swinging Light of Doom that caused a brief evacuation from the area. It was only ever a minor issue; the poor thing didn’t stand a chance against the hurricane-strength air conditioning.

Always Open delighted fans of the lady-dominated podcast and Sugar Pine 7 provided what could only be described as a train-wreck in front of a captive audience who delighted in the chaos. On the Spot brought the laughs we’ve all come to know and love.

There were a few changes to the convention floor in 2018, with two of the main stages being brought in to allow more people to see events live. While the decision didn’t seem to go down too well at first, especially with the General Admission ticket holders who more than likely ended up standing through panels, overall the shake-up meant that attendees could come and go as they pleased and visit more booths in the main expo hall.

With a huge variety of stalls to see, including major players like Alienware and Hanabee, fans

“It means that a company based overseas, who live and work what feels like a million miles away, noticed us.” were kept occupied throughout the two-day event. Artist’s Alley was a smash hit, and as always, those booths that sell the long ropelike candy at every Australian convention were working overtime to provide the sugar highs.

RTX Sydney means a lot to Australian Rooster Teeth fans. It means that a company based overseas, who live and work what feels like a million miles away, noticed us. They saw our views, read our messages of support, appreciated our contributions to their projects and fundraising efforts over the years.

It means that in this global world we felt like a huge, meaningful part of the Rooster Teeth Community.

But hey, our turn is up for the year.

The next RTX is in hometown Austin, August 3-5. BIGBITE hopes to see you there!

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON

BIGBITE LET’S PLAYs PLAYs N攀w v椀d攀漀猀 攀v攀爀y F爀椀day

youtube.com/BIGBITEMEDIA

WINTER Snow Angel

Deep Freeze

• Hot chocolate packet • 2 oz Peppermint Schnapps • Shot and a half of Irish Cream

• 1/2 oz UV Blue • 1/2 oz Blue Curacao liqueur • 4 oz 7-Up® soda

Heat a tea kettle full of water and pull a coffee mug (or a bigger mug/plastic glass) off the shelf. Poor 1/2 to a full packet of hot chocolate into the glass, and put 2 shots (2 oz or more) of peppermint schnapps into the glass. When the water boils, fill the glass up, but leave room for “cream”. Add your Irish Cream, stir the contents, and enjoy during the Winter Season!!

Build over ice in a highball glass.

Spring Storm Chaser • 1 oz Peach Schnapps • .5 oz Irish Cream • .5 Grenadine • Add peach schnaps into a shot glass.

Gently layer in Irish cream over the top.

Slowly drizzle grenadine in, for the storm cloud effect.

Emerald Rain • • • •

2 oz Hpnotiq® liqueur 1 oz100 proof Stolichnaya® vodka 1/2 oz orange juice 1/4 freshly squeezed lime

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake well. Serve in a very cold cocktail glass or over ice in any other glass.

Easy to make and an instant hit!

Summer Warm Summer Night • • • • •

1 oz Cointreau® orange liqueur 1 oz Malibu® coconut rum 5 oz orange juice 1 oz pineapple juice 1 oz grenadine syrup

Mix all ingredients over ice and shake.

Serve in a highball glass over ice and garnish with a spiral of orange peel. Dip toes in pool.

Summer’s Melon Cooler • 2 oz Midori® melon liqueur • 1 oz Watermelon Vodka • 5 oz lemonade Build in Collins glass filled with ice.

Garnish with cherry/lime flag.

Fall Flaming Rasta • 1 part Amaretto almond liqueur • 1 part Grenadine syrup • 1 part Bacardi® 151 rum Take a tall shot glass, a straw and a lighter.

When the drink is poured make sure your 151 is on top. Take your straw and lick it so it is wet. Light the drink (run the lighter over top), put your straw in and drink it fast.

Foolproof • 1 oz. Fireball Whiskey • 1 12 oz bottle of Angry Orchard cider (original flavor) • Sugar and cinnamon for the rim • Cinnamon stick and apple slice for the garnish.

Lightly wet the rim of the cup with a lemon or bit of water, rub in the cinnamon and sugar mixture (easiest to do this on a plate if ya don’t know).

Pour 1 oz Fireball whiskey over the ice.

Top with the Angry Orchard cider (you might not even need a whole bottle).

Garnish with a cinnamon stick and apple slice. Try not to guzzle it down too fast!

BIGBITE previews: ■ GENRE

god game, simulator

■ DEVELOPER abbey games

■ PUBLISHER abbey games

■ SYSTEM

pc, linux, mac, ps4, xbox one

Reus

Controlling giants to terraform planets leads to addicting gameplay.

I’ve been a fan of Xbox since I learned about modern consoles through the Wii. That’s a long discussion for another time, but in my current life the Xbox One has become a weekly habit in itself. Even on days when I do not have the time, energy, or interest to play video games, I will turn my XB1 on for the sole purpose of seeing what has changed since I last checked it. I do this because I never know when there will be new game updates or sales on games I’ve either been interested in, or never heard of. This latter example has led me to some wonderful titles I would have never played otherwise, such as today’s topic, Reus.

Reus is an interesting simulation game that I found discounted on Xbox Live Gold during early January. I tried it out, and my early skepticism quickly turned to genuine affection.

The first thing that drew my eye was the art style, which gives every game asset a cute and unique appearance. What really got me interested in trying it out was the hints of gameplay I could glean from the trailer. I will be honest, the trailer did not do the gameplay justice and I had reservations on the very minor purchase (I’m cheap).

The main mechanic in Reus is the manipulation of four giants which act as a manifestation of the planet (and the player).

The game is played across sessions of either 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or 120 minutes, with an additional free play mode. Initially, the game only starts off with the tutorial sessions and the free play mode. Once you complete the tutorials, you unlock the 30 minute session, with each successive session length being unlocked through in game achievements.

These sessions all have the same gameplay loop: You start as a desolate wasteland planet that has to use the Water and Earth giants to create habitable zones by creating oceans and mountains respectively.

Oceans create wet zones that the Swamp or Forest giants can terraform into their respective biomes, while the mountains create arid zones that become deserts. Each tile of terrain can only support certain resources based on its biome designation: Desert, Mountain, Ocean, Forest, and Swamp. These resources come in three types: Plant, Animal, and Mineral, that each come in two varieties that are further differentiated by the biome they are placed in.

In addition to these six resource types, there are three different Aspects for each resource type that are added by specific giants.

These Aspects boost certain attributes on their resource and also allow it to be upgraded into a new resource. Lastly, each resource has a rarity rating that further affects is attributes and changes what upgrades can be applied to it. All these systems are quickly learned but take time to master, though time can be manipulated through the much necessary pause feature.

The attributes of each resource is difficult to manage. Each resource can generate Wealth, Tech, and Food, while also having stats such as Danger and Natura that affect other resources around them. Animal and Plant resources have effect ranges, but Minerals only apply attribute effects to their own tile. Lastly, all these attributes are affected by the resources Symbiosis - unique effects that are activated based on conditions of the civilization that owns its tile. This Symbiosis effect becomes resource outputs. The entire point of all these

one of the most critical aspects in maximizing one of the most critical aspects in maximizing resources and their attributes is to facilitate the return and growth of human civilizations, which thrive or die based on Attributes of each tile within their borders. Danger can kill a fledgling civilization within moments of it forming, or keep its greed in check long enough to avoid them becoming violent towards other civilizations or your giants. In contrast, Food, Wealth, and Tech are mainly used to fuel the Projects that each civilization starts. These are often determined by starting resources and biome types, but I have yet to fully form a model for predicting which project will be chosen. Each project has unique conditions, similar to the Symbiosis, that make completing it much easier but also force the player to carefully balance the resources they place around that civilization. Some projects even require that other civilizations be destroyed or that the civilization building it go to war.

All projects, civilizations, and ambassadors reset with the rest of the world at the end of the session, but long term progression exists through the achievement system. Based on how your civilizations progress, how strong or violent they are, which projects they complete, and the methods in which you achieve certain goals, you unlock achievements of different tiers. These achievements help to initially unlock the different session lengths, but more importantly unlock new resource upgrades. These become critical as some higher level projects actually require specific resources for their bonus effects, meaning those projects become nigh impossible without those higher level resources

This also requires a player to quickly and carefully upgrade their giants to achieve these higher rarity resources, which in turn requires swift management skills, as the player directs their giants all around the planets surface to adjust each civilization towards their current goals. I spent roughly five hours The point of these projects is to in in my last two hour session, because so much turn generate ambassadors who give more time needs to be paused to properly plan and power to your giants, giving them access to manage your giants. Luckily, each session more resources and aspects and increasing the has both regular autosaves and a manual save chance of higher rarity resources spawning.

These ambassadors can also unlock or empower system, allowing the player to leave at any time and come back when they’re ready. each giant’s special abilities, such as the water giant’s healing wave, the swamp giant’s moss Altogether, this is a fun but hectic ball attack, the rock giant’s earthquake attack, game with a ton of interesting mechanics, or the Forest giant’s fertility boost. While the resources, and projects that appeals both to first three abilities mostly focus on protecting strategy fans and collection addicts. Whether your giants or your civilizations, the Forest or not Reus goes on sale again on Xbox Live giants unique ability increase the chance of Gold, it’s a great game and you should keep an higher rarity aspects being placed on resources. eye out for it. ■ Dan Cook

Reus is a god game by Abbey Games in which you take control of nature through the hands of mighty giants. You possess all imaginable powers over nature! There is only one thing on the planet that you do not control: mankind, with all their virtues and and all their vices. You can shape their world, but not their will. It’s your responsibility to maintain a balance in which man is not overpowered by nature, and nature does not fall to man’s greed.

reusgame.com

art gone wrong

By Tigerpaw90 { The Salt Maiden } The art program I’m currently using is GRIMMP 2.8. Not the best one around, to be honest. It crashes more often than my hopes and dreams of becoming a professional artist and the only language available is Finnish (as you’ll soon find out.) This time, however, it was not the program itself that gave me trouble. Not at all. So what exactly went wrong? It all started long (a few days) ago, before the background for this piece had been created. I was doing my usual schtick, playfully goofing around with Wattstache when suddenly :

Whoa whoa whoa wait... what? Merc?!

Okay but seriously where did you come from?! I don’t remember drawing you...

*sighs* Well at least things can’t possibly get any weirder...

There is nothing you can do to defeat me!

You guys leave my memes alone or I’ll* trash bin sound effect *

After that they deleted system 32 and my laptop exploded. The end.

Like I’ve said before... As much as I love my villains, working with them can sometimes be a real pain in the butt. But anyway, if you’re still reading this, have an awesome day. ~ * stares sadly at the 4th wall * aww... It’s broken.

Hei vaan kaikille! / Hello, everyone! :3 I’m your fabulous stache maiden from Finland and I make comics and stuff.

Most of my RWBY art can also be found on DeviantArt and tumblr (Tigerpaw90. I know... I’m so creative when it comes to usernames) I’m not a professional artist, just a self-taught potato. I draw my sketches traditionally and do the rest digitally. I have to use the mouse 90% of the time because I’m still learning how to use a drawing tablet. It might take a while before I get used to it. And yes... drawing with a mouse is about as slow and frustrating as you think.

One short comic usually takes me 2 to 4 weeks to complete. That’s why I don’t post very often. But when I do, I always try to make sure the post is worth the wait. ^^” ■

BIGBITE Reviews: ■ GENRE fighting

■ DEVELOPER

arc system works

■ PUBLISHER bandai namco

■ SYSTEM ps4

dragon ball fIghterz True power knows no limits!

· steam · xbox1

Dragon Ball Fighting Games have a long history stretching back to the 1980s, including one of the first games that shaped me into an actually decent gamer: Dragon Ball Z Budokai. This was the first game where I ever beat my older brother, and the last game where he could even compete with me. I quickly became infatuated with the series and reveled in details like Budokai 2’s fusions like Tiencha, and Budokai 3’s open world game play that easily allowed for the what if’s and movie tie ins.

Installments like Tenkaichi were disappointing with the removal of one of my favorite aspects of Dragon Ball as a whole transformations. Of course, after I transitioned to Gamecube I fell out of touch with nonNintendo games, a trend only recently reversed by playing Call of Duty World at War on the Wii. Nowadays I play mostly on Xbox, so when

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 came out, I was very excited to return to my roots with Dragon Ball fight games and the interesting prospect of character creation.

Sadly I must say, as fun as it was, Xenoverse 2 disappointed me. Much like Budokai Tenkaichi, I just felt that Xenoverse 2 lost focus on the campy fun of 3D Dragon Ball fighting games. Sure, the roster was considerable, including alternate costumes and custom characters, but the characters felt hollow. The models weren’t well made, the moves were excessive and repetitive with little impact or flare, the transformations felt pointless, and the post game content focused too much on the unreliable multiplayer. It didn’t take me long to desire a new game, to the point of dreaming up my own mechanics and fanservice. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long as a new game was soon announced.

I quickly understood that even FighterZ would not live up to my ideas of a dream game or even my memories of the Budokai series, but I would not let that ruin the game for me. I am not very good at serious 2D fighters. I could barely beat the Mortal Kombat reboot, but I knew enough to appreciate the mechanics. After much consideration I decided to get the game, and despite a lot of frustration, I still enjoy the game. Some of the most readily known positive aspects of FighterZ are the art and the new story with original characters created by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball.

The art is extremely faithful to the source material, with most animations looking as if they were lifted right from the pages.

The story is very interesting and well spaced into three arcs that slowly explain events in a satisfying manner. More importantly, the story fights are relatively easy, allowing even novice players to enjoy the singleplayer. Some are even treated as tutorial fights that give the player objectives to teach them the mechanics while also changing AI behavior to facilitate the learning of these moves.

While this is great for learning the game and getting better at it, certain characters can become extremely difficult as their attacks loop in a way that the player is supposed to reflect or counter. In one instance with Trunks, the AI nearly killed one of my characters because I simply couldn’t get out of the corner. Regardless, the story is very much worth playing an a great stepping stone to what I would say is the next important mode for learning the game.

Before one attempts online play, they should consider trying out arena. The arena is reminiscent of the classic Mortal Kombat ladder matches, in which the player’s selected

team is pit against a series of enemies, with different paths being chosen based on player performance. This mode is much more difficult than the story mode and quickly forces the player to learn and adapt to the mechanics, with some AI easily cutting your first characters’ health in half with their first combo.

I honestly have completely avoided online play except for with friends, as I would not enjoy being tossed around like a Yamcha ragdoll, but in my experience the lobby systems are a little clunky and could use some refinement. Fortunately, a new offline mode was recently added that should alleviate some of the issues with getting together with friends.

The fighting mechanics are fantastic with a fair level of difficulty that shouldn’t be too hard to learn, but difficult to master. The fact that combos seem uninterruptible is a little annoying but seems fair enough. If a player truly can manage to accurately perform all the moves they are trying to perform, I can’t say it would be fair to just teleport out of it. I often find my combos are cut short by nothing short of my own struggle to memorize the proper stick and button movements, not to mention the incredibly fast rate of input necessary to

keep up with the AI. Some of the best parts of the game, are just the way the characters interact: seeing your team groan in awkwardness as the Ginyu Force poses, or seeing Yamcha flip around and flash that smile are both incredibly enjoyable sequences. The issue is some characters like SSGSS Vegeta and Kid Buu aren’t very interesting and often don’t make much sense, as Vegeta seems to assume everyone else has been doing more than just training in between fights.

From start to finish each fight feels like a hypothetical episode of Dragon Ball Z, with interesting characters and intense action. For that alone, I feel this game deserves 6 out of 7 Dragon Balls, I can’t wait to find that 7th and see what Shenron actually does, since he never shows up for me. ■ Dan Cook

bigbite interviews:

rtx missed connections

By Joseph Dunlap and Rhys Morgan Welcome to a most intriguing interview! This month, we had the rare opportunity to have a chat with the anonymous hero who runs the RTX Missed Connections Twitter account. Ever since RTX Austin 2017, this account fires up following each RTX event and gives RT Community members a way to connect.

If an RTX attendee enjoyed a conversation with a fellow fan but didn’t think to ask for their name (or didn’t have the courage to strike up a conversation in the first place), RTX Missed Connections aka “RTX Crushes” was there to help. Attendees need only send their anonymous message via Twitter DM, and their proclamation of admiration is Tweeted for the world to see.

Through mostly legal methods, Joseph and Rhys managed to procure the e-mail address of RTX Crushes’ mysterious administrator. The resulting exchange has been transcribed and censored below...

Joseph: Thanks for agreeing to speak with us today! I’m sure you have a busy schedule of being the RT Community wingman and arranging marriages and whatnot.

Rhys: We have a few questions for you. First off, when did you first get the idea to create a missed connections Twitter account for RTX attendees?

After RTX 2017, we had a group chat in which, at one point, we were joking about two friends of ours we had met at RTX who would make an awesome couple. A joke about playing Cupid between the two of them sparked an idea about making a Twitter in which people could send us messages about their crushes.

Joseph: What were your goals going into the the project?

Probably the biggest goal was just to make people happy. Between the happiness of people discovering that someone had posted about them, and just the enthusiasm of people following along, the joy spreading through the community was amazing.

Rhys: Shortly after you created the account on Twitter and it gained some exposure, things sort of exploded out of nowhere. What do you believe led to this sudden boost in followers, and in what ways did the project exceed expectations?

Like we said before, when people start seeing the love that’s being spread, they get excited at the prospect of a message being about them, and it keeps them coming back for more. That and people posting messages about

RT staff members and guardians just makes it more wide spread.

Overall pretty much the fact that people even latched on to it made it exceed our expectations. At the beginning we all pretty much thought that it would be a fun little thing that would fizzle out in a day. It wasn’t even until we saw the overwhelming response that we realized that this was the something that community was going to latch on to.

Joseph: In regards to the Rooster Teeth Community’s involvement with and use of RTX Crushes to reach out to fellow community members, what moments in the past year have stuck out to you as particularly interesting, peculiar, or heartwarming?

One of our most fun moments was being at the pub with a group from RTX London and hearing someone at the table suddenly just blurt out, “I made it on RTX Crushes!” They were so excited that it was so hard to keep our role as part of the Twitter account under wraps.

Rhys: Based on your experiences in the past year, what advice do you have for would-be suitors in the RT Community?

Don’t be afraid of telling the truth!

It’s so daunting when you want to speak the truth to someone, whether that’s “Your cosplay was awesome,” or “You are a beautiful person, I would love to take you out,” the comment will most probably make someone’s day, and who knows where that could lead to?

Joseph: What do you believe the future holds for RTX Crushes? Do you plan on continuing this amazing public service for the community, or is there an end goal you are hoping to achieve?

We will try to be around for as long as the community chooses to interact with us.

There isn’t a big end goal, we are just trying to spread joy and help extend the sense of community past the closing of the hall of the last day of an RTX. ■