Patched

Patched May 2014

Sandbox Games and their evolution through gaming history

Independent Developers and how they’re shaping the games industry

Oculus Rift

a look into the future of virtual reality

Table of Contents

08 pg

10 pg

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly 06 Oculus Rift: A Look into Virtual Reality 08 Independent Developers: What They Do and Why 10 Creation of Indie Games 14 Top 9 Games of 2013 18 Into The Void 21 DayZ: Shaping the Survival Horror Genre 24 The Evolution Of Sandbox Games 28

14 pg

24 pg 18 pg

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Letter From The Editors

Dear Reader, Thank you for picking up our magazine. We made this magazine to tell about the world of gaming and what is going on currently from the developers that make them to the recent technology for gaming to great games you should play, both new and old. Games to us are special in that they aren’t just a way to have fun but can tell stories in a way no other medium can. We have seen them tell stories in their own unique way and think they are more than what some people would consider a time waster. They have told us and many others great stories and connected to us in a way no other medium has in the past. They have been with us in the best and worst of times and have let us meet with friends that we may have never seen otherwise. While games are still a young medium, we believe they deserve attention and can do much more in the future from alternate reality with the Oculus Rift to what the new console generation has in store to all the crazy ideas all kinds of independent developers are making. We hope that you enjoy games as much as we do and enjoy our magazine.

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From, The Patched Crew

Contributor’s Page Sebastian Evans S

ebastian Evans is a passionate gamer, and has owned a variety of platforms. His first console was the origional Playstation. He enjoys independentlydeveloped games and story-based games that differ from the mainstream cliches, such as “The Stanley Parable” and “FTL.” Sebastian also plays soccer for LBJ High School, and likes to read when he’s bored.

He is currently saving up for an expensive gaming computer so he can play graphically demanding games.

He is specifically looking forward to games like “Watch Dogs,” and indie games that are only released on PC.

A

Aidan Wilson

Kyle Wolff

Edison Bertotti

idan Wilson was born in Bryan, Texas and moved to Austin when he was seven to little regret. His first console was a Wii he got a when he was eight and has been an attentive gamer ever since. While Aidan likes to try out new games all the time, his consistent favorites have been “Fire Emblem Awakening,” “Garry’s Mod,” “Pokémon X,” among many others. He has a lot of big ideas for the gaming industry along with game design ideas, just not the skills to make them a reality.

He is also slightly embarrassed on how many hours he has spent is his all-time favorite game, “Team Fortress 2.” If he isn’t playing games he can be caught working on homework or talking with his friends over Skype.

K

yle Wolff is an avid gamer and a varsity lacrosse player. His main game choices consist of the “inFamous” series, “Team Fortress 2,” and “Garry’s Mod.” He plays as Spy, Demoman, and Axtinguisher Pyro in TF2. He is 14-years-old and is employed full time at LASA High School. He is currently persuing a small YouTube channel. He is also working on the Unreal Engine to create a game of his own. When he isn’t at school or playing video games, he enjoys hiking, biking, and swimming. His gear includes Logitech G602 Mouse, Sennheiser 240 Pro headphones, an old word soccerball mousepad, and his Lenovo y510p with dual nVidia GeForce 750M SLI graphics cards.

E

dison Bertotti is essentially an average gamer. Since he was little, he has enjoyed all types of video games. His first game was “Roller-Coaster Tycoon 2.”

Edison has always enjoyed games that allow creativity and wants to create his own game. He achieved this at first by using the campaign editor in “Starcraft.”

Also, throughout elementary school, he drew mazes in his free time. He still enjoys creating puzzles in games like “Trainyard.” He is equipped with some Java programming skills, and always has good ideas for games. Edison enjoys logic and likes to create redstone circuts in one of his all time favorite games, “Minecraft.”

He loves to invent, create, and design. Edison also has ADHD.

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the GOOD, the BAD & the UGLY By: Kyle Wolff

The Good

FTL Advanced Edition Released

T

he update for FTL is finally here with an new species, Lanius, a new ship, Kruos, ten new layouts, new content, and more amazing music. Hardmode has been added for those who really want a challenge, or just for those masochists out there.

wikiapedia

By: Kyle Wolff

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The Bad

Daylight’s release date has been delayed to make the game “scarier”

Z

ombie Studios™, the creators of Blacklight Retribution, fans are disappointed to hear that Daylight, a procedurally generated horror puzzle game, was delayed. The much anticipated game spread waves through the fan community after the statement was released.

By: Nvidia

The Ugly

Deus Ex: the Fall, falls on its face

A

By: Eidos Interactive

fter receiving a 3.0 by IGN, Eidos Interactive took a big hit to sales. Though the game was well transferred to tablets, the PC version seemed to have more cut corners than the tablet version. The mechanics were off, and It looks and sounds as clumsy as it plays.

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Oculus Rift - A Look Into the Future of Virtual Reality

By Edison Bertotti

T

he Oculus Rift is a developing technology that will show each eye a different screen, allowing games to include 3D graphics. The Oculus Rift team announced the second development kit for the Oculus Rift, which will allow people to start creating games for the consumer Rift.

Display Features OLED

960x1080 HD This display improves the clarity, color, and contrast and removes the screen door effect.

The OLED display removes juddering and motion blur.

This should prevent simulator sickness.

100 Degree FOV

75 Hz Refresh Rate

This large field of view means that the display takes up all of your vision.

The screen refreshes itself 75 times per second, which prevents strain after long periods of time.

Here’s an image of the first Oculus Rift Development kit.

Just as the first Oculus Rift Development Kit, the new Oculus Rift kit displays two seperate images, one for each eye.

Image by arstechnica.com 8

Tracking Features Gyroscope Accelerometer An internal gyroscope detects any head tilting, either leaning forward/backward, or left/right.

Magnetometer The magnetometer finds which way you are looking, so spinning in place can be detected.

The accelerometer reads in any movement that you make, other than rotation.

Infrared CMOS Sensor This is external and works like an infrared camera. The sensor is used to support/correct the other sensors’ data.

The Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 also has many more tracking features than the first DK. The DK2 can detect all head movement. This could add many game features, such as looking around corners, leaning in to get a closer look at objects in the world, and kicking back on a virtual beach.

All of the tracking devices besides the Infrared CMOS Sensor (seen below) are completely built into the headgear.

Image by arstechnica.com

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Independent Developers What They Do and Why It Matters By: Aidan Wilson

W

henever someone goes on some gaming websites like Steam they’ll find a diverse list of new games. While some are recognizable to be a franchise made by a larger company like Valve or Ubisoft, some might not be as easily recognizable.

They get the same treatment as the larger games, but some have only a few, maybe even just an individual person making them. People independently developing games like these weren’t as common before, but now this phenomenon has become a common case in the overall gaming industry.

“More people are starting to realize that as time goes on they can actually get into the gaming industry if they have enough hard work and perseverance to make it,” Peyton Tanzillo, a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, said.

Over the past few years there has been a rise in independent game development. It wasn’t always like this though. Around the 2000s most developers were owned by their publishers, meaning that lots of games were monitored by said publishers and these companies didn’t take too many risks. Then around 2010, a few big games like “Braid” and “Fez” came out to critical acclaim from reviewers.

With this wave of independent developers many other people wanted to try and develop games by themselves, greatly increasing the amount of developers and ideas in the market, changing much of the game industry for years to come according 10

to Gamespot. This is a repeat of history though since in the 90s there were a lot of independent game developers.

“More people are starting to realize that as time goes on they can actually get into the gaming industry.”

-Tanzillo “When I started in the game business that was pretty much the majority of games were developed by independent studios,” Dave Downing, a game producer from 1993 to 1998, said. “A few of them were owned by the publisher but by and large the development studios would market their game to the publisher and pretty much stay that way.”

Most of this situation was due to the fact that in the 90s gaming hadn’t become a major industry, meaning that small studios would have to dedicate themselves to make games and a large standard

hadn’t been set on how to run a large business to hold all the developers.

Once games started to grow into a bigger industry, developers started being owned by publishers more often. Many companies still kept their games but would work with and publish with larger companies more often according to Downing.

“It became more of a publisher owned agreement around the mid90s, the shift between mid to late 90s the publishers started owning the development companies.”

Downing said.

People saw more potential in the gaming market so it evolved and grew over time. Games were still of high quality and sold well so the market went on strong over time. Competition was also high now since the rise of the three main game companies today came to being, that being Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. The only real notable

Image from: Wikipedia Jonathan Blow, developer of Braid, was a major player in the indie gaming scene

Image From: Topwalls Games like Fez shown above got many developers inspired to make their own games along with games like Super Meat Boy and Braid

independent developers were few and far between, and many were doing smaller projects. Larger game series started making their mark and established franchises for the characters according to Gamespot.

That being said independent developers weren’t obsolete. The technology to actually make a game

over time was made easier and many famous developers got their starts on small programs like flash like Markus Persson and Edmund McMillen.

“The first indie game I remember playing was flash games online,” Matthew Barnes, a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy said. “They were kind of a

precursor to the indie game.”

Small games like this were good practice for game developing and once some developers became skilled enough, they would start making their own big game. Some flash games would even gain mass popularity and would be adapted for more advance play later on like 11

Image From: The Witness Games like the upcoming The Witness shown above show lots of potential in game design 12

tower defense games and “Meat Boy”. Moving forward along into the early 2010s, people like Edmund McMillen, Jonathan Blow and Phil Fish release their own indie games, “Super Meat Boy,” “Braid” and “Fez” respectively. Their games became extremely successful and caught so much media attention that eventually a documentary was made on them. With this sort of mainstream success, becoming an independent developer seemed more realistic according to “Indie Game: The Movie”. A lot more people tried to become game developers trying to follow in their success and still continue to do so to this day. With so many new developers and games, many new games are brought to the table according to Gamespot.

“The main difference is that there are more options now and people know about them,” Barnes said.

With the popularity of independent games breaking the mold, people put their own spin on certain gaming genres and would experiment largely with concepts such as game design and visual design. While some would have mixed results, others go on to critical acclaim and some even start fads like “Minecraft” in the game developing world according to Gamespot.

Meanwhile, many developers and gamers think that larger companies are losing their edge and becoming too repetitive. Many of the recent releases over the past few years have not been of new franchises, but more so sequels of successful game from years ago. People often complain about how these sequels and reboots often don’t live up to the standards

of their prequels or origins, or how they can be rushed for quick, almost clockwork releases and profit to disappointing results according to Tanzillo.

“I feel that the larger companies are mostly rinse and repeat with the exception of a few things,” Tanzillo said.

Fortunately, the developers change up the formula enough to become a refreshing change of pace. With differing directions from the normal big name titles,

“The main thing to get from indie games is a good game” -Barnes independent developers make their stand by being unique. Usually these developers don’t make a franchise of their games, and if they do time is taken to make a largely improved sequel. With the increasing amount of independent developers, it’s getting more people into game development since there are living examples of people being successful in the gaming market all by themselves according to Gamespot.

“More and more people are starting to realize that as time goes on they can actually get into the gaming industry,” Tanzillo said.

Along with the large media coverage of independent developers, development has also become easier.

As technology grows it’s becoming easier to do more complicated

Image From: Flickr The indie game movement helped game like Journey shown above rise to critical acclaim

programming or to learn it, making independent studios and getting into general game design more assessable than ever before. Larger companies are even taking a notice to independent developers, making self publishing easier and more acceptable for smaller developing teams with platforms like the PlayStation 4 and Steam as shown in the E3 2013 press conference.

With the whole indie scene, a lot of different games have come out.

The whole scene has definitely made its impact on the gaming world and doesn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon according to Gamespot. In fact, there is a lot to look into the future of the scene with title such as “The Witness,” “Mighty No. 9” and “Hyper Light Drifter” in development. With all of this new

development, it makes the future of gaming look pleasing.

“The main thing to get from indie games is a good game,” Barnes said.

Image From: Steam Games like Thomas Was Alone help experiment with aspects of games like storytelling 13

Creation of Indie Games How the Indie Genre is growing

By Edison Bertotti

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Image By Polytron Corporation

I

t has been several days after the new release of the game created by Michael Dalton, an indie developer.

He has spent weeks creating his game, but only a couple people have bought it.

“My most recent game hasn’t been getting as many purchases,” said Dalton. “I’m kinda worried.”

According to GameSpot, independently-developed games are becoming more popular than ever.

There are tools that let anyone create their own games. They are now considered a separate genre from other games. The problem is that not all indie developers can create successful games. The game market is very competitive. Because there are so many indie games, many of them go unnoticed. Only a select few become popular enough to be a successful game. Because of this, independent developers like Dalton are struggling to create popular games.

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By Polytron Corporation Image By Polytron Corporation

“Coding a game takes a lot more work than you’d think.

People expected updates to happen a lot faster than I could update them.”

Also, Dalton said he takes inspiration from his customers’ reviews of his games. If his games were unnoticed, his career would never have started.

“[My game’s] reviews were really inspiring, and so I felt that my work was appreciated. I went back and started to fix all of the problems in the code, releasing new updates almost every week.”

Indie games are especially known for creating original content, according to Davis.

Image By Polytron Corporation

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“Indie games create more original content than companies. Companies are big for usually one game that they made, and they don’t want to lose buyers, so they create basically the same game over and over.”

-Collin Davis

When companies run out of game design ideas, they create games that are very similar to pre-existing games.

“On the other hand, indie games are created to try to get some attention,” said Davis. “A wave of indie ‘artists’ got good ideas and made those ideas into games. There were so many new original games that they were grouped into a genre and people loved them!”

Image By Polytron Corporation

Indie developers generally begin their career with an original, innovative idea, so they avoid this downfall. Dalton started his career this way, with game design in mind.

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Top Nine Games of 2013 By: Aidan Wilson

N

ow that 2013 has come and gone, we were left with a lot of games. While 2013 was considered a “down year� due to the shift in consoles, a large amount of quality games were still released. Which ones are worthy of attention though? Here are the top nine games of 2013, according to Metacritic.

1. Grand Theft Auto 5 (Xbox 360, PS3)

Image From: Rockstar Footage from Grand Theft Auto 5

The fifth in the critically-acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto 5 continues the open world sandbox gameplay the series is known for. This time around it brings three playable characters, Michael, Franklin, and Trevor and a new online mode, Grand Theft Auto Online. With lots of new features and side quests, Grand Theft Auto 5 has shot up the sales chart and to number one to reviewers everywhere.

2. The Last Of Us (PS3) The Last Of Us, the new series from the PlayStation exclusive developers Naughty Dog is an action adventure set in a postapocalyptic world. The strength in the game comes from the story and interactions between the two main characters, Joel and Ellie. The games takes elements of stealth and survival games in your journey to survive the apocalypse.

Image From: No High Scores Promotional art for The Last of Us

3. BioShock Infinite (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

Image From: TechnoBuffalo Footage from BioShock Infinite 18

The next in the BioShock series, BioShock Infinite differs from the rest of the franchise in its new world and story. Taking place in the floating city Columbia, the main protaginist, Booker De Witt, is sent to rescue a girl named Elizabeth. The story lies as one of the games strong points, which compliments the new world beautifully, bringing a unique and sometimes dark story of a supposedly peaceful city.

4. Super Mario 3D World (WiiU) The next in the Super Mario series, Super Mario 3D World brings the 3D gameplay of Super Mario 3D Land to the Wii U, along with up to four player co-op. With new power ups such as the Cat Suit and the Double Cherry, it brings more content to the Mario universe and opens up some great level design. With some more players, Super Mario 3D World can be chaotic fun with your friends.

Image From: PixelVolt Gameplay screenshot from Super Mario 3D World

5. Fire Emblem Awakening (3DS) The next in the long running Fire Emblem series, Fire Emblem Awakening makes its debut on the 3DS, bringing the permadeath grid based strategy game on the go.

New to Awakening is the pairing feature, which allows units to pair up and fight together in battle. With different difficulties and downloadable content, Awakening is a game that will last a while and give a good challenge in the mean time.

Image From: Edge Online Gameplay screnshot from Fire Emblem Awakening

6. Rayman Legends (Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, PS Vita, WiiU, PC) The sequel to the critically acclaimed Rayman Origins, Rayman Legends brings more colorful levels and silly humor to follow the last game. Bringing in new features on the WiiU version, up to five players can be playing simultaneously, with special levels built for five people. More challenge levels have been added using features like rhythm based jumping to keep the game fresh.

Image From: Nintendo Life Screenshot from Rayman Legends

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7. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) The next in the Legend of Zelda franchise, A Link Between Worlds serves as a sequel to the Super Nintendo game, A Link To The Past. Bringing back the 2D game play of the older Zelda games, A Link Between Worlds uses several aspects of older games in making a new Hyrule. Along with this comes a new item system in which items can be rented until death so that you can explore new dungeons and eventually keep the item for good.

Image From: Game Informer Gameplay screenshot from A Link Between Worlds

8. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an independently developed game from 505 Games, focusing more on telling a short story than extensive game play. The story is based around two brothers trying to save their father from illness by collecting some of the Water of Life. The game uses a unique control system in that on controllers, each joystick controls a separate brother, implementing game play with story in a way never done before.

Image From: Game Freaks Gameplay screenshot from Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

9. Dota 2 (PC) Dota 2 is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (or MOBA as it is abbreviated) made by Valve. It is based off of an old mod for Warcraft 3 and has been made to be a free to play five versus five team fighter. It has been in open beta for quite a few years and was released to the public in 2013, leading to many events, e-sports matches, and even a documentary in early 2014.

Image From: Giant Bomb 20

Gameplay screenshot from Dota 2

Into the Void

T

he space simulator genre was started long ago, but since the initial craze, the space sim category has been sparce. Commercial series have tried to make a comeback, but many have failed like the hated X- Rebirth, and few have succeeded. With little to quench the gaming thirst of the far reaches of space, there has been a flurry of crowdfunded space simulators appearing, including the famous Star Citizen. But first, let’s take a look at how it all started:

July 1990

By Sebastian Evans

Wing Commander The very first of its kind, wing commander established the space sim genre. Chris Roberts, developer of Wing Commander and now Star Citizen, has been obsessed with space sims ever since.

Eve Online Perhaps an inspiration to the ever famous Star Citizen, this game was the start to the Massive Multiplayer online Space games.

Photo by: GiantBomb Wing Commander box art

May 2003

FTL: Faster Than Light Photo by: Eve Online Promotional art for Eve Online

September 2012

This modern take on roguelike space games surprised and delighted gamers. It may seem simple at first, but it takes a lot to master.

Photo by: Steam

An FTL gameplay screenshot

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Dubbed the most successful crowdfunded campaign in history at $42 million and counting, this game looks to be the ultimate space sim MMO that fans have been waiting for.

Featuring a persistent multiplayer universe and stunning visuals, this game has set the stage to stun. In addition, it is being developed by Chris Roberts. He was the creator of Wing Commander, and the pioneer of space simulation games. It has a player avatar system, so you can get out of your ship and walk around instead of having to spend the whole time inside your ship. It has a dynamic economy, meaning planets and bases will request services for higher prices, depending on how badly they need them. It is set in the 30th century Milky Way galaxy, and is centered around the governing faction “United Empire of Earth”. Players can choose whether or not to join the

UEE. Gameplay includes massive multiplayer combat online, and intergalactic trade. Players can access planet surfaces in a first person perspective. When it launches, Star Citizen will not feature procedural generation, but the developer has announced it is one of his goals for the future. In addition to the online component, Star Citizen will have a single player campaign dubbed “Squadron 42”. Little is known about this part of the game, but it is expected to release before the persistent universe. This is a good example of a big budget production, but there are space sims with just as much potential on the other side of the spectrum like...

Photo by: US Gamer

Several ships in Star Citizen dock and trade with a space station in close orbit with a planet 22

LIMIT.THEORY Unlike some procedural games however, in Limit Theory everything is procedural. This includes systems, planets, nebulae, stars, space stations, ships, etc. Another defining characteristic of LT is its ambitious AI. Unlike in most games, in Limit Theory everyone is equal. The player isn’t the center of the universe, but just another explorer among the numerous NPCs. Speaking of NPCs, they have long, medium, and short term planning. This is in situations like combat, mining, planetary

This groundbreaking simulator takes advantage of something called “procedural generation”. This is when instead of everything in the game being hand created, it is randomly generated by the computer.

Photo by: Limit Theory

A ship speeds towards a procedurally generated Earth like planet in Limit Theory

Photo by: Limit Theory

Three AI ships glide over to mine some asteroids in Limit Theory

interaction, etc. NPCs can do anything the player can using the same resources, and vise versa. This in turn creates a dynamic economy of supply and demand from planets and space stations. The price of minerals is actively influenced by how much the planet needs it, and how abundant the resource is currently. Everything has a purpose.

If there is a space station somewhere, it’s because an NPC (or even a faction) wanted it there. Which brings us to contracts. Contracts can be posted by a player or an NPC. They can ask for resources, supplies, weapons, or even request an assassination in exchange for another resource or currency. This keeps the NPCs interacting between each other, and allows the player to hire them and vise versa. In addition to these complex and deep systems, LT also boasts magnificent visuals. Watching the sun eclipse a giant gas planet or the rays shine through a dusty asteroid field is simply spectacular. In addition, LT is being developed by one person, Josh Parnell. He is a junior at Stanford University. While he may not have the huge funding and support of the likes of Star Citizen, it remains to be seen which proves to be the more satisfying experience.

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DAYZ

Shaping the Survival Horror Gene

By Kyle Wolff

Y

ou wake up on a beach with no recollection to what happened before, how you got there, and who you are. Are you a murderer, a business man without a business, or just a lost soul? Then you see a man running towards you. He shouts out in a blood curling scream and bites into the flesh of your arm. Then you pass out‌ and wake up on a beach with no recollection to what happened before, how you got there, and who you are.

Welcome to

Chernarus.

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“ I would look more for the survival aspect, like hunger and thirst, not regenerating health and things like that” said Collin Davis, a professional gamer.

DayZ has created a new, realistic gene of games that focus more on the survival aspect more so than the zombie. The point in DayZ is to survive not kill endless numbers of zombies that become increasingly difficult to kill. So I talked to gamers and Dean Hall, the project lead for DayZ Standalone, to find out what makes DayZ tick and what other types of games we can expect from this gene.

Before the creation of the standalone was announced, the mod community only really found ingame, what players experienced from other players was the community.

So when a player would see a person they would try to communicate and make a truce, or would they would blast their head of before they blew

by Kyle Wolff

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D

Drops in DayZ

rops are a major part in any game, survival or not. DayZ is no differant, you can pick stuff up off of zombies, find food in convienent stores, find guns, ammo, and planes at an airfield. In DayZ, the mod, the drop system was so bugged that you had to stay in the town that you were in for almost 10 minutes in order for drops to start spawning. In the Standalone, this bug was fixed and now the drops are there when you show up, not after staying there for a while.

by Wikipedia

them away.

“Usually I would say most people are kind of nice, until they kill you”, said Collin Davis, a professional gamer.

Just as the with other people, everything is up to the player.

“I’ve broken my legs, then was devoured by zombies, committed suicide, been shot by trolling

snipers in Elektro, and I jumped off of a cliff.”, Said Jerry Bush, a gamer.

A player can drive a car into a cow, climb a building and spend the afternoon picking off zombies that get too close, or you can meander down the road with an army of zombies following you. Within the limits of the game, the possibilities are endless.

The controls are as complex as an Antichamber puzzle, and since the mod hasn’t changed in so long the controls haven’t been refined for DayZ.

As Collin said, “The controls tripped me up the most”, there is room for improvement that should be implemented in the standalone.

I also got the privilege to talk to Dean Hall, who is the director of the DayZ Standalone project.

I talked to him about the future of DayZ and how he got the ideas and concepts for Standalone.

“I mean, think about it, in a zombie apocalypse are you going around with unlimited ammo, being practically invincible, and running and gunning mobs of zombies”, said Dean Hall, Project lead for DayZ standalone.

The game play may be what players are looking for but it takes a hefty computer to run all of the high detail graphics.

DayZ was the one first modern Survival Horror game, and it won’t be the last. Rust and Don’t Starve are two other recent games that have been working in the

“They see me rollin’, they run off cowering, and, well, then, I kinda get sniped in the face.”

- Jerry Bush, gamer

by Kyle Wolff

genre on survival horror. The main focus is the players, remember zombies are predictable, people are not.

“They seemed pretty friendly, and they would have a conversation before they would flat out kill you, and I think they are out to have more fun than play competitively”, said Collin Davis.

Jerry’s Story

You see… I spawned in a little to the west of Cherno, at that little air base. On this server you start with a Silenced M9, so I walked out to the road and I saw two guys riding toward me on Old Bikes. So I called out to them, “Hey I’m friendly don’t shoot”, so we shoot all of the zombies that were chasing them. So after a little bit of small talk, we move on to the countryside and we collect another member, Peter. This guy looked like he had just bought the game, standard skin, pistol with no ammo, and no microphone or other ability to communicate with the rest of us. So we get to a warehouse and peter and another guy fall off the roof. So peter goes unconscious and the other guy is passing out but we manage to exchange contact info so we can join another server. So the other guy dies from bleeding out and me and Gamer, the other guy, start going through his stuff, then I get the you died screen, then I catch a glimpse of peter shooting gamer in the back of the head. There was a lot of confusion after that.

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The Evolution of Sandbox Games Exploring the changes, past and present, of the sandbox genre

By Sebastian Evans

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Image by: Steve Upton

A sp

// I

n a studio in Mexico City, a 16-person development team works on a sandbox video game called Kerbal Space Program. KSP is a video game currently in a paid alpha, where players can pay to get the alpha, and all future versions. KSP started with just two people, and expanded as the years went by.

“We started with Felipe Falanghe, the creator and lead developer, and Alex Mora, a web developer,” Assistant Producer Miguel Pina said. “The team has grown since then and includes some people who were originally modders in the community.”

KSP is a relatively new independently developed sandbox project in a blossoming world of independent video games. A sandbox game is a type of video game that affords the player a large amount of freedom, and allows them to tackle objectives in multiple ways (or have no real objective except to survive i.e. Minecraft). As the name implies, you run a space program of little green people called “Kerbals.” They have a solar system similar to our own, complete with fully simulated orbital mechanics. “Kerbin” is the Earth-like starting planet, around which orbits “Mün.” Players can choose from a vast variety of spaceship parts to build ships to traverse different planets and moons on a massive scale. They must plot their trajectory accurately in order to position themselves how they would like.

The sandbox genre has been around for a long time, since 1991 when the game “Hunter” was made, and was eventually the inspiration to the famous Grand Theft Auto series. KSP is

pace station in high orbit in Kerbal Space Program

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almost in a category of it’s own though, being closer to “open galaxy” (as in you can explore the whole solar system) than open world.

“We started with a sandbox because we want players to have a lot of freedom in choosing how to play KSP,” Pina said.

“We’re big believers in allowing players to create their own narratives while playing the game and an open experience allows for that.”

There is much variety in sandbox games, ranging from shooters to building games. All of them, though, have some common aspects including an unprecedented amount of freedom. “[A sandbox game is] an open world game where you can go choose what you

“We want players to have a lot of freedom in choosing how to play KSP” -Pina want to do whenever,” Rene, a dedicated gamer, said. “I play Minecraft [and] Red Dead Redemption… In Minecraft, you do absolutely anything you want, whereas in Red Dead… there’s like missions and there’s a storyline.”

Sandbox games, unlike most other game genres, afford the player an immense amount of freedom. Other games often confine the player to a specific storyline or area, while sandbox games either have no story or a story which allows the player to choose what they do, rather than making the decisions for them.

“You can go choose what you want to do whenever,” Gordy said.

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A player-made moon base in Kerbal Space Program

games like KSP often are much closer to their fanbase and community than most AAA games.

There are developer-made forums in which fans can discuss the game, and what they would like to see in it’s future iterations. As a result, many times fan ideas end up being incorporated in the game.

In addition, they support modding, or in other words they let the community change the game and

add new features themselves.

This openness to the community improves the experience overall, and even helps the developers produce a game that the fans enjoy.

“KSP is available to play while being developed,” Pina said. “So our process has been iterative with regular updates as we develop new features. As the first game developed by Squad,

it’s really been an exciting experience and since we didn’t know how far we’d go with the game, we treated each update like it could be our last. We have an alpha and beta process internally, so there is a certain level of polish for each update.

Sandbox games of course can attract

“You can go choose what you want to do whenever” -Gordy the typical gamer, but, according to Peyton Tanzillo, they can provide outlets for creativity as well.

“I can create whatever I want,” Peyton Tanzillo, an experienced Minecraft player said. “I love being able to create things… I build whatever the heck I think would be fun to build at that moment. I find that Minecraft is way more fun when you are able to create and design everything you build as opposed to someone else doing that for you.”

In Minecraft, players are allowed to create whatever they want, and a prime example of this are puzzle maps. Players create an experience where instead of a survival game, it forces the player to solve Photo by: Rockstar Games

A helicopter soars over the vast city of Los Santos in GTA 5

Photo by: Mojang

A screenshot of a cave opening in Minecraft

puzzles of varying complexity. According to Gamepedia, puzzle map are Minecraft creations in which the player is challenged to solve block-based puzzles to progress.

“I build whatever the heck I think would be fun to build at that moment” -Tanzillo “I am addicted to puzzle maps in Minecraft,” Tanzillo said. “It gets me to see what others have created and gives me inspiration to create my own stuff. Along with solving puzzles. It’s like all the things I like piled up into one awesome experience.”

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