Trailer – Steam store page

Today, I want to talk about a new game that’s going to come out later this year. It’s called Cave Hikers. It’s being developed by Porcupine Parkour. This small Croatian based studio reached out to me to review their demo in July. I would have written an article about it before, but I have been suffering from a writing burnout. Thankfully, I’m slowly getting back in the groove. And I’m going to make it up to the developers by publishing an article on their game today. Let’s take a look at the demo together, shall we? And I have a small surprise in store later.

Demo review

In this demo, you get an introduction to the gameplay. If you ever played a game like My Brother Rabbit, you will feel right at home in this game. This is a point and click game where you go from screen to screen. Each screen has a small puzzle or hidden object moment for you to take part in.

This game feels like playing through a children book. The voice of the narrator sounds like a (grand)father telling a story to their children. It’s extremely charming, and the story book art style really helps to sell this story.

Overall, there is no real tutorial in this game. Yet, the gameplay is quite simple. You learn quite quickly that this game is controlled with only the mouse. The menu system exists out of icons that make the game a lot easier to localize.

The demo is rather short but gives a very good impression of the full game. This game looks like it’s something I’m going to play. It’s a charming point-and-click game with hidden objects that feels nostalgic. Since the demo is so short, I don’t have a lot to talk about in terms of feedback.

The art style, voice acting, animation is all pretty well done. I only have a few minor complaints. The first complaint is that clicking to unmute the music or sound effects can’t be done right away. It doesn’t always register right away. And the second complaint is the in some rare spots, like with the red crystal at the end of the demo, the hitbox of placing it in the crusher is too tiny.

So, the game describes itself as:

Cave Hikers is a relaxing and humorous 2D interactive cartoon mockumentary that follows three characters through a cavernous world, on a quest to find the mystical “cave with an infinite ceiling”.

And I think it fits the game pretty well. Like I have been saying, the humor and charm of this game is there, and it’s pretty clear that maybe from some very minor things, this game is going to be an extremely charming game.

Now, how interesting would it be if I asked some questions to the developers of this game? Well, I had a few interesting questions in mind, so I went and asked them. Here are their replies.

Interview with the developers

– What games inspired you take to make this one?

It was mostly HOPA style games, which are usually made by much larger companies with inexpensive artists and a pseudo-realistic and kitsch-y style. So we went more in line with our own kind of art style, with some inspiration from Amanita games.

– What’s your process in creating puzzles?

It’s a strange process. As we started making the game in our free time for fun between odd jobs and more “serious” projects, we made a number of locations, creatures and simple mechanics. First we take a look at what already exists on the screen, then we intertwine the narrative with some clicking and potential puzzle elements. Then we play around with it until we are happy with the amount of “work” the player needs to do before accomplishing the goal.

Sometimes it includes a bit of moon logic. First, we make it clearer through conversation clouds and drawings. Then, whatever is unclear or hard to find for testers, we explain further through the Narrator.

– What are the funniest bugs or whoopies that happened during development?

For a while, we had a splash screen that looked exactly like the main menu, which created a lot of confusion! That was because the engine was upgraded, and also we started working with a much better programmer, we consolidated it into a coherent menu.

As for actually funny bugs, at one point we had Valeriano’s secret twin showing up at the cutscene. It took a while to realize we accidentally put two Valerianos of which one was outside the camera view.

– What engine did you use and why?

It’s Construct 3. At first, we made this project for fun and the Animator wasn’t exactly a programmer, so he used a really simple engine. (Un)fortunately, the project got out of hand and got some funding. Now we have a real programmer, but he had to learn Construct with all its limitations, but it’s also a really simple engine so we can still make a lot of the game without much hassle.

– What are some things you learned during developing this game?

Something that we re-learned time and time again… a game is easier to build if you have the whole team and a proper plan. Because otherwise you leave a lot of work and frustration for “future you”. We also learned that Construct can be a lot stronger than we initially thought… but also that it can be really stubborn in some areas.

– How many people worked on this game?

It first started with Sven the illustrator and Zvonimir the animator. At first, we were building a completely wordless game. But some testers were a bit confused at what the characters are really doing. So we hired Tom Bennet as the narrator and also Lea Konjetić to compose original music for the game. In the last six months, Fabjan the programmer also joined the team and superpowered our development process. All in all, five people, excluding all the translators.

Final thoughts

I’m very happy that games like these are getting more attention. Hidden object games have a strange reputation of being “too casual” or “boring”. Yet, I dare to argue there is something to love in these games. Especially when a game is created with this much passion and love.

I want to apologize to the developers again for taking such a long time in creating and article about the demo. But, I’m happy I did today. Since, if you have any interest in playing this game after reading this article, go and play the demo. Or share this article with somebody you think will enjoy playing this game. The demo takes roughly 15 minutes to finish.

I wish the developers a lot of luck and success with their game and when it’s fully released, I’m going to play this game and most likely review it on my blog. And with that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. Thank you so much for reading this article, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed making it. I hope to welcome you in another article, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

The Sunday Times has revealed the UK's top 30 wealthiest developers and gamers, including Rockstar's Sam and Dan Houser (#4), Frontiers' David Braben and Wendy Irvin-Braben (#10), and Rebellion's Chris and Jason Kingsley (#14), and Hello Games' Sean Murray (#17).

Other names on The Sunday Times Gaming Rich List include Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg (#25), Alastair "Ali-A" Aiken (#30), and KSI and The Sidemen (=#21).

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If you cast your minds back to October 2021, you may recall the news that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was set to make its way to the VR headset, Oculus Quest 2. While details on the project were thin on the ground at this time, it was said to have been "many years in the making".

However, not quite three years since that initial announcement, Meta has now said work on the VR port is "on hold indefinitely".

In response to a YouTube commenter inquiring as to the whereabouts of GTA: San Andreas VR, the official Meta Quest Vr account replied: "GTA: San Andreas is on hold indefinitely while we both focus on other projects."

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Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick says that putting a game like Call of Duty into Game Pass will inevitably push consumers towards subscribing, at least for a bit.

Take-Two does support subscription services through its legacy titles, yet it has been sceptical around the idea of putting brand new AAA games into the service on the day they come out.

Zelnick told us in 2022: "That doesn't make any sense to us, because economically speaking, we don't think consumers are prepared to pay for that. And we can't afford to turn our business upside down in a way that doesn't make sense economically."

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Well, root my toots. Unless you’re Australian, in which case don't do that. Just enjoy the now very much confirmed-looking release of the original Red Dead Redemption on PC. That’s according to a listing on the PlayStation Store, which contains the currently inaccurate but tantalising phrase “now on PC for the first time ever.”

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Well, root my toots. Unless you’re Australian, in which case don't do that. Just enjoy the now very much confirmed-looking release of the original Red Dead Redemption on PC. That’s according to a listing on the PlayStation Store, which contains the currently inaccurate but tantalising phrase “now on PC for the first time ever.”

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Everybody has several games that mean quite a lot to them. For me, one of these games is Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. I not only grew up with this game, but I also have a lot of memories of this game. Outside of that, I also met some amazing friends through the community behind this game. I even did several speedruns of this game, and I’m an active member of the community. Now, color me surprised that 25 years after the release of this game, we got new fan-made content for this game. Not just fan made content in the style of fan patches to solve bugs with the game, a whole new level and promises of a level editor to create even more new custom content. This blew me off my socks and in today’s article I want to talk about it. So strap in and let’s get ready to play new content for one of the best Indiana Jones games ever made.

The new level – SED

There is a speedrunning discord server for this game. Well, it was a speedrunning discord server but for a few years now, this server has grown into a server of people who appreciate this game. If you want to join this discord, here is an invite link. When the server started to grow, several modders joined our server. One of these modders is going under the name of Urgon (currently) and what we didn’t know is that he was decompiling the whole game. Not only that, he was creating a level editor based upon an existing level editor.

This existing level editor is for Star Wars Jedi Knight & Mysteries of the Sith. Those games used an engine that formed the basis for the Jones3D engine. While he was developing that editor, he tested his skills by creating a new level. So, basically, parts of this new level are tests of the new level editor and what you can do with it.

Now, information about this new level and the download link can be found at this GitHub repository. If you want to download the actual level, you have to go to this page and click the green button named “Code”. In that dropdown, you can choose “download zip”. You’ll need that later if you want to install/play this custom level. Now, if you read the pre-mod or the installation instructions for this level, you might feel overwhelmed if you aren’t very technically inclined. That’s why two community members wrote two special tools to aid you in preparing your game.

You might ask yourself, like Klamath did in at the end of our stream of this custom level, why are there two tools for basically the same? Well, let me tell you the history about it. When I wanted to play the custom level, I had a bit of trouble myself while figuring out the tutorial. I also found that the required steps were quite a lot to do. So, I decided to start writing a PowerShell script that did all the steps. I announced that in the Indy3D discord that I was writing this. When I almost completed my tool, the_Kovic dropped his version of the tool.

Personally, I didn’t want to throw my work out the window and continued finishing my GUI version. When I finished, I didn’t convert my tool to an EXE and left it just as a script file you could run using a command line or a code editor. The next day, Kovic released a GUI version of his tool and I gave some feedback on his tool. In the days after that, I created an EXE version of my tool and we both kept adding features in our tool. He wrote his tool in C#, which is a bit friendlier to create an EXE. If I didn’t release my first version as a script only and converted it to an EXE, I think it might have been less overwhelming for people.

That said, Kovic thanked me for creating my tool since like he said on our stream: “It put my butt into gear to create a tool and write a GUI, which I normally don’t write“. On top of that, our tools aren’t meant to compete with each other. I can’t write C# and Kovic can’t write PowerShell. And it would be a shame to just delete work because somebody else was quicker or made their tool more user-friendly first. The result now is that we both have two very strong tools with a very similar, maybe even completely the same, feature set.

Outside a different choice of coding language, the biggest differences between both our tools are under the hood. In Kovic’s tool, you get more files than in my tool when you download the tool. And that’s because to prepare your game for custom levels, you need to extract several files in the resource folder. The tool used for extraction has a bug where instead of extracting the folders of the archive into the resource folder, it extracts them into separate folders, like if you would extract a zip file. Kovic packs a modified version of this extraction tool so that part of the process goes a bit faster. In my version, the tool just downloads the latest official versions of the tool and prepare the game that way.

In the end, both our tools give you the same end result. They prepare your game to install custom levels and play them. If you want to try out the_kovic’s tool, you can find the latest version on this releases page. If you want to try our my tool, you can find it on this releases page. Feedback to our tools is always welcome! If you find an issue or if you have an idea, feel free to hit us up, and we will look into it.

Earlier I talked about a stream of the level we did. Klamath, the_Kovic and me did a live stream where we played through this level. Now, I have to emphasize that release of this level is an impressive technical achievement. Creating a level for a 3D game isn’t easy and requires a lot of work. It’s even more impressive when you know that not everything is documented about the engine, and you have to decompile a lot of it. In the next part of this article, I’m going to talk about the level itself and critique it.

If you don’t want spoilers, I’d advise you to skip that section for now and come back later. Now, I want to say that I start reviewing the level in a moment, but this feedback is mostly meant for people who want to make new custom content. What did this new level do right and wrong if you look at it as a player who doesn’t know the technical background of this level? This isn’t meant to break down the amazing work the modders did to make this work.

Reviewing the new level

Editorial note: this review will spoil quite a lot. If you don’t want to get spoiled, you have to skip this section of the article. This isn’t a walkthrough of the level either. Some sections are skipped, I’m only going to talk about the sections I want to talk about.

The new level takes place 25 years after the ending of the original game. Indy returns to his Canyonlands dig site. You are set loose at the tent where Sophia picked Indy up with a helicopter to start the Infernal Machine adventure.

In terms of new content, there isn’t a lot new to see. Some ladders are missing and some parts of the level are blocked off. Also, all treasures are missing that you would usually find in the level.

Before I continue, I want to mention that some parts of this level are made quite difficult on purpose. The developer wanted to give us the feeling we were young kids again, playing this game for the first time, and have us figure out the new puzzles by ourselves. Yet, finding a correct balance between difficulty and unfair is a very fine line to thread. Personally, I think that in some sections, the developer crossed the line into unfair level design.

When running on the top section, you notice that there are some new voice lines. These voice lines are made possible with a voice cloning AI tool that was trained on lines from Doug Lee, the original voice actor for this game. The new voice lines sound amazing, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think that Doug Lee came back to record the new lines. In most cases, these voice lines really fit Indy’s personality and fit right into the game.

We come to our first snag when we want to go to the new content. I can understand not seeing the shovel and being confused, since it’s hanging at the jeep on top. And you know what’s even more confusing, the other side of the jeep model has a shovel in its texture! Anyhow, when you pick up the shovel and dig up the Infernal Machine part, it’s clear that you need to break a wall. Here comes one of the worst parts of this level. The location of this cracked wall is insanely well hidden. It’s in one of the last places you’d look, and several of the first players ran around for hours upon hours in Canyonlands before it was found. And when it was found, it made us annoyed.

It’s a clear example of how players who are used to the level, overlooking the obvious. The wall you need to break has an actual cracked wall texture, but it’s behind something you can’t see through. I think it would have been fine if the location, where it is at, had a bigger ledge so you’d notice it somewhat instead of just having to go on a wild goose chase.

Now, we enter the new area. We come to a big open space where the next set of puzzles are. The first puzzle is actually a jumping puzzle. Now, I highly advise you to not play this level if you haven’t played through most of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Not that there are spoilers, but because some of the jumps in this level are straight up difficult and not what you really expect from this game. Kovic calls it “Kaizo Jones” for a good reason.

There are some small platforms and not having the look key working is going to be a pain in this section. Since, there are some moments where you need to be able to free look and not being able to see beneath or above you will make things a lot more tricky. After you finished these jumps, you might start to notice that the developer of this custom level added some details. Like, the rope bridges are gently moving in the wind. This is something that isn’t present in the original game. It’s a new “COG” script that makes that possible.

These cog scripts are a blessing for custom content. Since, this game isn’t hardcoded at all, so if you learn how to write these cog scripts, you can basically write new mechanics as well. It’s insane what possibilities there are going to be in the future for this game. I hope there is going to be good documentation so that custom level creaters know what’s possible and what’s impossible with the level editor.

While you are exploring this area, you notice that it’s huge. This also explains why it takes quite a while to load this level. Currently, modders are looking into why it’s running so slow. Since, we don’t really know if it’s the level size or something else slowing down the loading of this level.

So, after jumping around the central column, you’ll arive at the shed. Here you notice you can actually enter the shed from the top. Kovic explains it quite well during the stream. If you want to hear some technical explanations on how this level works, I’d advice you to watch our stream. Since there is a lot of interesting development talk in there. Later, Kovic and myself had a contest in trying to quote voice lines from the main game. We got close to 200. Kovic won that because I said a line he already said.

After you picked up everything from this shed and climbed outside, you experience another new mechanic of this game. It’s a mechanic that gets backported from Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb. The fact you can use your whip to go over a zipline.

After you returned and struggled with getting across the other bridge, you will encounter other parts of this level. Here you’ll encounter two voice lines that straight up lie to you. The first voice line is that you need more force, explosives to break a rock that’s blocking your way forwards. Here is the issue with that, you get an explosive barrel later. You need to find an extremely hidden swim tunnel in the water. It’s not the only hidden thing in the water, so investigate behind and underneath rocks quite well. Since, these puzzles in this water border in the unfair territory. What makes that explosive voice line even more evil is that there is a box of TNT in the shed earlier. But what’s the second voice line that lies to you?

Well, that is after you made your way past said boulder. You find a minecart and interacting with it, Indy says that it will run with gasoline. And there is still gasoline left in the shed. Sadly, you can’t pick it up anymore. Now, this is a red haring, you don’t need this minecart at all.

By now, you have learned that this level likes to break the rules of how the main game is designed. You’ll have to think outside of the box sometimes to beat this level. But, for some jumps, you need to use your knowledge of what’s possible and impossible to progress. This makes it quite tricky sometimes to progress. And this brings me to a conclusion we also said on stream. I think that the issue is that people expected a more tame level than what we actually got and that might turn some people off. But, I’m so glad that the quick save system exists in this game. So, abuse the quick save system and make multiple saves since you’ll need them if you aren’t a veteran player of this game.

Anyhow, let’s get back into the flow of the level. After we completed the lever puzzle, we go back towards to the huge open area and take the lift to a new location. What follows is a totally new area where it’s a good thing if you saved up on health packs and you have a great sense of direction.

So, the short minecart ridge comes to an end. It doesn’t take long before you find yourself into a watermaze. This watermaze is unfair in my honest opinion. Klamath had a tricky time solving it and he had to use almost every health pack to get through it. Without Kovic pointing out the right tunnel, I think it would have made the stream quite a bit longer. There was supposed to be a minecart section instead of this swimming maze, but the developer had a hard time making the minecart section to work and he gave up and made this swimming maze.

Now, I’m all fine with this swimming maze, but the map glitches out at certain parts. I have a mediocre sense of direction and I wanted to rely on the map. The map doesn’t always render the tunnels correctly. You sometimes swim off the map or “in nothingness”. Sadly, I have to draw my own map. I wish I still had it, since it would make for a nice screenshot here… But I threw it out but me and my clumsiness… I knocked over my waterbottle over it.

After the swimming maze, we get a new section of “Kaizo Jones”. Where we get some extremely tricky platforming. Here is where you need to use the look key again and be sure you are playing in 4:3. If you are playing in another resolution like 16:9 or 16:10, this will also be one of the moments where you don’t see all the information.

The block puzzle that follows, feels right out of Tomb Raider. The initial reviews of this game called out this game as a Tomb Raider clone. While, this game does the formula a whole lot differently. We even talked about that during the stream. In terms of theming, Infernal Machine is a lot better. Tomb Raider feels like obstacle courses. But that’s thanks to a different engine and control style. If you want to hear the whole discussion, you can watch the stream from this point. Excuse Kovic’s internet being spotty while he was replying.

After the block puzzle, a new path opens in the swim maze. Then, some platforming comes. Something I love is how there is even a troll hidden inside the platforming. It caught me off guard and made me smile. This platforming section was also love to do. It felt like a real test on how well I know the game. This platforming section feels a lot better put together and feel less cryptic on where you need to go next. You really start to notice that the developer was getting more used to the level editor and made better puzzles. The moment of having to use the whip to swing over the gap while the platform underneath you was breaking was amazing.

After that, we get into the finale of this level. We jump into a portal and we land in a playable area which is shown at the end of Shambala, the 4th level in the original game. That area that’s shown to you after you have beaten the Ice Guardian. The path that takes you to Palawan Lagoon. It was possible to explore that using cheats and modified saves, but now it’s in a level for real. Exploring the little house at the end brings us to something you totally don’t expect this custom level to do. You’ll find a parchment inside with a riddle and at the end you notice something in red saying: “MAT -> ZIP”.

There is some meta gaming now going on. You’ll need to make a hard save and exit your game. You’ll need to go to your resource folder & then open the MAT folder. In there you’ll need to rename “SED.MAT” to “SED.ZIP”. You’ll also need to enter the password for the zip, since you get a new cog script to continue the level, which you need to place in your cog folder. In there, there is another surprise. But, that’s something I’m not going to spoil. But, be sure that Kovic is playing with that surprise and maybe I’m going to dig into it. PS, the next paragraph is in white with the right spelling of the password:

Marcus

The way the level ends is bittersweet. If you solve the final puzzle, something special happens and you can beat the level. You could argue that the ending of this level is “lazy” or “creative”… But, it’s an amazing way to wrap up the story in one level with a nice bow.

At the start of the custom level, I felt that it was quite rough around the edges and it had some moments that felt badly designed. In terms of game design that is. If you look at it visually and level flow wise, I personally think that this level would fit right into the original game as a final challenge. But, the further you go into the level, the more you start to notice that the developer of this level is getting used to the tools and the editor and more polished puzzles and area’s are coming through. You notice the journey of the developer and see it becoming better and better.

I want to give a big congrats to everybody who was involved in releasing this custom level. It’s a blast to play and I can’t wait to see more custom levels. The stream I did with this level was one of the best streams ever and it was also quite a lot of fun to write the tool to help people play this custom level. I’m curious what you think about this custom level and/or the content of this article. Feel free to drop something in the comment section down below.

And with that, I have said everything I wanted to say about this for now. I want to thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to welcome you back in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Have you ever wanted to wage war against the machines? Well, buckle up for this “bullet hell,” select your pilot, and earn those Risk Stars, because, if you’re into shoot-em-ups (shmups), Wings of Bluestar is your destination.

Wings of Bluestar delivers a very engaging story, which is unusual for this genre. The cutscenes in between stages involve dialogue choices that will even affect the ending you receive after conquering eight stages.

The hand-drawn graphics give a stylish anime feeling to the game. This might cause some disorientation between background and foreground elements, though, leading to some cheap deaths. Nonetheless, the game is short, so it will not take long to learn the stages, preventing further aggravation.

Power-ups are plentiful and come quickly for your pilot. The additional turrets you can get are rotatable. I found this mechanic awkward at first, but it quickly became second-nature. You can also level up your pilot’s special ability: One has a R-Type shield while the other has a chargeable beam attack.

Overall this shmup is fun to play. The heavy story combined with the anime-styled graphics are welcoming. It has a decent risk-reward system and plenty of power-ups. If you want to cut out all the story, then try arcade mode. There is even a co-op mode. Altogether, there are plenty of options for everyone. This is a very solid entry for this genre, and the high replay-value has me coming back for more!

PROS
+ heavy story-driven game
+ multiple endings for high replay value
+ beautiful hand-drawn cutscenes

CONS
– cheap deaths from the environment
– very fast gameplay might turn off some
– overwhelming mechanics to newcomers of the genre

Game Title: Wings of Bluestar
Platforms: PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
MSRP: $14.99
Release Date: January 18, 2023
Obtained: Code provided by developer/publisher for press purposes

Source

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The phrase that gets thrown around the games industry a lot right now is 'Survive until 2025'.

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It’s been a helluva week for video games, with mass layoffs at Destiny 2 studio Bungie, and a few hands-ons for upcoming high-profile releases like Marvel Rivals and Star Wars Outlaws. As usual, we weighed in on the goings-on of the week, so click through to read all of our big opinions and spicy takes.

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Limited Run Games has announced that 20 new-old games will be released in physical form, including Fear Effect, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, Starship Troopers: Extermination, and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus.

As part of its LRG3 2024 showcase, the distributor confirmed not only the 20th anniversary edition of Beyond Good & Evil, but also physical releases of classic PS1 games Gex Trilogy, Tomba Special Edition and Tomba 2, Fear Effect, and more – much, much more.

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Recent data states Rockstar's GTA trilogy has hit a combined total of over 30m downloads on Netflix.

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In January, it was subsequently reported that the arrival of these three games had given a boost to Netflix's gaming endeavours, with monthly mobile game downloads nearly tripling to 28m in the December. 18m of these downloads were a combination of San Andreas, Vice City, and GTA 3.

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What happens when the boss of a massive video game publisher—in this case the company behind Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands—is asked a question about a PC port that is almost definitely going to happen but hasn’t been announced yet? You get a funny and messy answer from an executive unable to say what we all already…

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Assassin’s Creed Shadows is adding two new heroes to the pantheon of brave and stealthy killers that span the centuries of the series’ historical fiction. One is Naoe, a ninja who will don the hood and hidden blade commonly associated with the titular Assassins of Ubisoft’s open-world action franchise. The other is Y…

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Grand Theft Auto VI’s release date, a never ending well of speculation and hype, has just gotten a little more exact. Take-Two announced in its latest earnings report that it expects the most-anticipated sequel ever to hit PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in fall of 2025.

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Let's great straight to it - Penny's Big Breakaway is one of the best platform games I have ever played. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with this game to the point that even months on from its original release date, I still think about and play it regularly. It's the kind of game where within the first few minutes, you instantly know you'll be playing and replaying for years to come. Developed by Evening Star - the team behind Sonic Mania - what we're looking at here is a game that fully understands Sonic's momentum-based platforming on a level that is rarely observed, translated into 3D in a way that not even Sonic Team has truly managed.

In a sense, Penny's Big Breakaway is a game that feels as if it were built in 1995 during the rise of 3D graphics by time travellers from the modern era, bringing with them today's modern knowledge and know-how. It's a perfect blend of old-school sensibility and innovation: a rare treat in today's gaming industry. It's also a game built entirely using in-house, from-the-ground-up technology. This is not a Unity or Unreal project, it's entirely bespoke, running at native 4K at a full 120 frames per second on everything from Xbox Series S upwards - another rarity.

At its core, Penny's is a 3D platforming game. You play through a series of stages all based on different themes, you jump, you run and aim for the goal - with a twist - the Yo-Yo. Yo-Yo is Penny's personal multi-tool - harnessing its power, players can attack, fly and speed across the map - it's fast, it's original and it's fun. It's also the key to the game's momentum system: tap the Yo-Yo button and Penny hops on board, riding the Yo-Yo like a Razor scooter around the map. Even better, Evening Star has implemented a simple combo system allowing you to chain together moves as if you were playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - the Yo-Yo basically works like a manual in that game chaining together combos along the way. The thing is, like Sonic, while the controls feel simple enough, there is a lot of depth there and, as you play, you'll find yourself adapting, slowly mastering the controls while executing increasingly lengthy combos.

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This didn’t go the way anyone (other than cops and their unions) wanted it to, but first let’s acknowledge the fact that the city of Denver is actually trying to make things better for both cops and the people they serve.

Here’s how that’s going:

In its first three months, STAR handled 350 calls — only a very small percentage of 911 calls. But the immediate developments appeared positive. A supposed indecent exposure call handled by STAR turned out to be a homeless woman changing clothes in an alley. A trespassing call turned out to be another homeless person setting up a tent near some homes. Suicidal persons were helped and taken to care centers. Homeless residents were taken to shelters. No one was arrested. No one was beaten, tased, or shot.

The zero arrests streak continues. STAR has released its six-month report [PDF] and the calls it has handled have yet to result in an arrest, strongly suggesting police officers aren’t the best personnel to handle crises like these — unless the desired result is more people in holding cells.

Denver decided to try what (far too few) other cities are trying: routing mental health/social services calls to professionals in those fields, rather than hand them off to police officers. And for good reason! Police officers aren’t trained to handle these sorts of issues. That lack of training tends to result in arrests, violence, and even the killing of people police have been asked to help.

Denver’s STAR (Support Team Assistance Response) has been able to handle many calls normally routed to cops without deploying cop tactics: you know, the command-and-control aggression that often manages to make these situations worse, if not actually deadly for those requiring mental health assistance.

So, there’s that. A limited test has shown consistently good results, which should be all the argument Denver legislators need to provide funding to expand STAR assistance to a round-the-clock effort.

But that’s just Denver. Even though it’s the state’s most populous city, its success story has been overlooked by state legislators who apparently feel the best thing for cops is the same lack of accountability they’ve enjoyed for years.

Legislators had a chance to impose greater accountability, but decided to go the other way, as Marissa Ventrelli reports for the Denver Gazette.

A bill that would have required law enforcement agencies to investigate all allegations of officer misconduct died in the House last week following significant revisions.

Sponsors said the measure would increase protections for officers who report alleged misconduct by their peers. Critics, notably law enforcement agencies and organizations, argued the sponsors did not include them in discussions for such an important measure.

Under House Bill 1460 as introduced, the failure to investigate reports of misconduct would have constituted workplace discrimination, for which civil action may be initiated.

The bill’s origin story is one of cop-on-cop harassment. Former Edgewater police officer McKinzie Rees helped craft the bill after being sexually assaulted twice by a fellow officer. Reporting it to supervisors did nothing but force Rees to resign, along with being placed on the state’s Brady list, ensuring she’d never be used as a witness in court, no matter what law enforcement agency employed her.

But it had obvious benefits for regular people, too. It strengthened whistleblower protections for cops reporting on other cops, but also would have benefited citizens who’ve filed complaints by forcing law enforcement agencies to instigate investigations, rather than just ignore the complaints of the policed.

The main opposition was none other than the state’s largest police union. Police unions routinely oppose efforts that might result in more scrutiny of officers. In this case, though, the union opposed any additional scrutiny being applied to cops who attacked, harassed, or sexually assaulted other cops.

The Fraternal Order of Police requested sponsors withdraw the bill and to instead convene a working group during the interim to discuss a multitude of issues related to whistleblowing, such as officer obligation to report misconduct, due process for officers facing allegations by whistleblowers, and protections for the whistleblowers themselves.

“We hope that you will accept this offer to engage in research and dialogue over the summer and fall so that all interested parties can feel assured that any future legislation on these topics in the upcoming session is founded in fact, necessity, and effective collaboration,” the group said. 

This makes it clear police unions are there to protect the worst cops — the ones willing to cross the “thin blue line” to harm other police officers. While everyone expects cops to treat citizens like punching bags and doormats, the “thin blue line” illusion is supposed to trick everyone into believing cops stand together united against evil. But if it’s internal evil, the police union wants nothing to do with any efforts to root it out. That’s just fucking disgusting.

And that’s how a bill dies, with the approval of people who think cops shouldn’t be scrutinized — much less punished — for any misconduct they commit, even if the targets of their wrongdoing are their fellow officers. These are the words of a legislator who seems more willing to provide gratis car washes for officers’ personal cars than serve any member of his constituency that can’t be bothered to get a badge-wearing job.

Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, a former law enforcement officer and member of the committee that heard the bill, said he was “offended” that law enforcement agencies had not been involved in discussions about the bill to the extent they wanted to be. 

Here’s an idea, Rep. Armagost: fuck ’em. If these agencies want to be involved, they’re sure to be involved. All this statement means is this rep is offended someone didn’t ask the kind of cops he likes (which would be the kind that sexually assault fellow officers) what kind of legislation they wanted and instead tried to right some wrongs by offering the state’s sexual assault victims (well… at least those in uniform) some form of protection, redress, and deterrence.

And it was state reps like Armagost who got what they wanted by stripping the bill of anything meaningful and parking it on blocks out in the front yard. For those of you who still think there’s nothing partisan about full-throated support of the worst cops this nation employs, please re-read the second quoted paragraph until the truth sinks in.

By the time the bill reached the floor for its third and final reading, all of its major provisions had been amended out, save for the creation of a working group. 

Ultimately, the bill died, 31-33. All of the Republicans, except Soper, voted in opposition, though it’s possible he would’ve asked for a recount and switched his vote if the bill had passed.

To add insult to the injuries suffered by former officer McKinzie Rees, the union added this statement after the bill was carved up by bootlickers and left to die on the House floor:

“We appreciate that the majority of House members shared our concerns about the need for a robust stakeholder process before passing legislation of this importance. Ensuring law enforcement employees have due process protection and a safe and healthy work environment are serious, complex issues that warrant responsible and thoughtful solutions.”

It pretty much makes you want to vomit. The union cheered on “due process” and “a safe and healthy work environment.” But it really doesn’t care much about the first (the bill only required an investigation to be opened, which means plenty of due process was still available to officers) and obviously gives zero shits about the latter, since it means officers attacked/assaulted by other officers will continue to be frozen out by the worst in their ranks and expected to leave the force, rather than see their grievances adequately addressed by the government agencies that hired them.

This didn’t go the way anyone (other than cops and their unions) wanted it to, but first let’s acknowledge the fact that the city of Denver is actually trying to make things better for both cops and the people they serve.

Here’s how that’s going:

In its first three months, STAR handled 350 calls — only a very small percentage of 911 calls. But the immediate developments appeared positive. A supposed indecent exposure call handled by STAR turned out to be a homeless woman changing clothes in an alley. A trespassing call turned out to be another homeless person setting up a tent near some homes. Suicidal persons were helped and taken to care centers. Homeless residents were taken to shelters. No one was arrested. No one was beaten, tased, or shot.

The zero arrests streak continues. STAR has released its six-month report [PDF] and the calls it has handled have yet to result in an arrest, strongly suggesting police officers aren’t the best personnel to handle crises like these — unless the desired result is more people in holding cells.

Denver decided to try what (far too few) other cities are trying: routing mental health/social services calls to professionals in those fields, rather than hand them off to police officers. And for good reason! Police officers aren’t trained to handle these sorts of issues. That lack of training tends to result in arrests, violence, and even the killing of people police have been asked to help.

Denver’s STAR (Support Team Assistance Response) has been able to handle many calls normally routed to cops without deploying cop tactics: you know, the command-and-control aggression that often manages to make these situations worse, if not actually deadly for those requiring mental health assistance.

So, there’s that. A limited test has shown consistently good results, which should be all the argument Denver legislators need to provide funding to expand STAR assistance to a round-the-clock effort.

But that’s just Denver. Even though it’s the state’s most populous city, its success story has been overlooked by state legislators who apparently feel the best thing for cops is the same lack of accountability they’ve enjoyed for years.

Legislators had a chance to impose greater accountability, but decided to go the other way, as Marissa Ventrelli reports for the Denver Gazette.

A bill that would have required law enforcement agencies to investigate all allegations of officer misconduct died in the House last week following significant revisions.

Sponsors said the measure would increase protections for officers who report alleged misconduct by their peers. Critics, notably law enforcement agencies and organizations, argued the sponsors did not include them in discussions for such an important measure.

Under House Bill 1460 as introduced, the failure to investigate reports of misconduct would have constituted workplace discrimination, for which civil action may be initiated.

The bill’s origin story is one of cop-on-cop harassment. Former Edgewater police officer McKinzie Rees helped craft the bill after being sexually assaulted twice by a fellow officer. Reporting it to supervisors did nothing but force Rees to resign, along with being placed on the state’s Brady list, ensuring she’d never be used as a witness in court, no matter what law enforcement agency employed her.

But it had obvious benefits for regular people, too. It strengthened whistleblower protections for cops reporting on other cops, but also would have benefited citizens who’ve filed complaints by forcing law enforcement agencies to instigate investigations, rather than just ignore the complaints of the policed.

The main opposition was none other than the state’s largest police union. Police unions routinely oppose efforts that might result in more scrutiny of officers. In this case, though, the union opposed any additional scrutiny being applied to cops who attacked, harassed, or sexually assaulted other cops.

The Fraternal Order of Police requested sponsors withdraw the bill and to instead convene a working group during the interim to discuss a multitude of issues related to whistleblowing, such as officer obligation to report misconduct, due process for officers facing allegations by whistleblowers, and protections for the whistleblowers themselves.

“We hope that you will accept this offer to engage in research and dialogue over the summer and fall so that all interested parties can feel assured that any future legislation on these topics in the upcoming session is founded in fact, necessity, and effective collaboration,” the group said. 

This makes it clear police unions are there to protect the worst cops — the ones willing to cross the “thin blue line” to harm other police officers. While everyone expects cops to treat citizens like punching bags and doormats, the “thin blue line” illusion is supposed to trick everyone into believing cops stand together united against evil. But if it’s internal evil, the police union wants nothing to do with any efforts to root it out. That’s just fucking disgusting.

And that’s how a bill dies, with the approval of people who think cops shouldn’t be scrutinized — much less punished — for any misconduct they commit, even if the targets of their wrongdoing are their fellow officers. These are the words of a legislator who seems more willing to provide gratis car washes for officers’ personal cars than serve any member of his constituency that can’t be bothered to get a badge-wearing job.

Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, a former law enforcement officer and member of the committee that heard the bill, said he was “offended” that law enforcement agencies had not been involved in discussions about the bill to the extent they wanted to be. 

Here’s an idea, Rep. Armagost: fuck ’em. If these agencies want to be involved, they’re sure to be involved. All this statement means is this rep is offended someone didn’t ask the kind of cops he likes (which would be the kind that sexually assault fellow officers) what kind of legislation they wanted and instead tried to right some wrongs by offering the state’s sexual assault victims (well… at least those in uniform) some form of protection, redress, and deterrence.

And it was state reps like Armagost who got what they wanted by stripping the bill of anything meaningful and parking it on blocks out in the front yard. For those of you who still think there’s nothing partisan about full-throated support of the worst cops this nation employs, please re-read the second quoted paragraph until the truth sinks in.

By the time the bill reached the floor for its third and final reading, all of its major provisions had been amended out, save for the creation of a working group. 

Ultimately, the bill died, 31-33. All of the Republicans, except Soper, voted in opposition, though it’s possible he would’ve asked for a recount and switched his vote if the bill had passed.

To add insult to the injuries suffered by former officer McKinzie Rees, the union added this statement after the bill was carved up by bootlickers and left to die on the House floor:

“We appreciate that the majority of House members shared our concerns about the need for a robust stakeholder process before passing legislation of this importance. Ensuring law enforcement employees have due process protection and a safe and healthy work environment are serious, complex issues that warrant responsible and thoughtful solutions.”

It pretty much makes you want to vomit. The union cheered on “due process” and “a safe and healthy work environment.” But it really doesn’t care much about the first (the bill only required an investigation to be opened, which means plenty of due process was still available to officers) and obviously gives zero shits about the latter, since it means officers attacked/assaulted by other officers will continue to be frozen out by the worst in their ranks and expected to leave the force, rather than see their grievances adequately addressed by the government agencies that hired them.

This didn’t go the way anyone (other than cops and their unions) wanted it to, but first let’s acknowledge the fact that the city of Denver is actually trying to make things better for both cops and the people they serve.

Here’s how that’s going:

In its first three months, STAR handled 350 calls — only a very small percentage of 911 calls. But the immediate developments appeared positive. A supposed indecent exposure call handled by STAR turned out to be a homeless woman changing clothes in an alley. A trespassing call turned out to be another homeless person setting up a tent near some homes. Suicidal persons were helped and taken to care centers. Homeless residents were taken to shelters. No one was arrested. No one was beaten, tased, or shot.

The zero arrests streak continues. STAR has released its six-month report [PDF] and the calls it has handled have yet to result in an arrest, strongly suggesting police officers aren’t the best personnel to handle crises like these — unless the desired result is more people in holding cells.

Denver decided to try what (far too few) other cities are trying: routing mental health/social services calls to professionals in those fields, rather than hand them off to police officers. And for good reason! Police officers aren’t trained to handle these sorts of issues. That lack of training tends to result in arrests, violence, and even the killing of people police have been asked to help.

Denver’s STAR (Support Team Assistance Response) has been able to handle many calls normally routed to cops without deploying cop tactics: you know, the command-and-control aggression that often manages to make these situations worse, if not actually deadly for those requiring mental health assistance.

So, there’s that. A limited test has shown consistently good results, which should be all the argument Denver legislators need to provide funding to expand STAR assistance to a round-the-clock effort.

But that’s just Denver. Even though it’s the state’s most populous city, its success story has been overlooked by state legislators who apparently feel the best thing for cops is the same lack of accountability they’ve enjoyed for years.

Legislators had a chance to impose greater accountability, but decided to go the other way, as Marissa Ventrelli reports for the Denver Gazette.

A bill that would have required law enforcement agencies to investigate all allegations of officer misconduct died in the House last week following significant revisions.

Sponsors said the measure would increase protections for officers who report alleged misconduct by their peers. Critics, notably law enforcement agencies and organizations, argued the sponsors did not include them in discussions for such an important measure.

Under House Bill 1460 as introduced, the failure to investigate reports of misconduct would have constituted workplace discrimination, for which civil action may be initiated.

The bill’s origin story is one of cop-on-cop harassment. Former Edgewater police officer McKinzie Rees helped craft the bill after being sexually assaulted twice by a fellow officer. Reporting it to supervisors did nothing but force Rees to resign, along with being placed on the state’s Brady list, ensuring she’d never be used as a witness in court, no matter what law enforcement agency employed her.

But it had obvious benefits for regular people, too. It strengthened whistleblower protections for cops reporting on other cops, but also would have benefited citizens who’ve filed complaints by forcing law enforcement agencies to instigate investigations, rather than just ignore the complaints of the policed.

The main opposition was none other than the state’s largest police union. Police unions routinely oppose efforts that might result in more scrutiny of officers. In this case, though, the union opposed any additional scrutiny being applied to cops who attacked, harassed, or sexually assaulted other cops.

The Fraternal Order of Police requested sponsors withdraw the bill and to instead convene a working group during the interim to discuss a multitude of issues related to whistleblowing, such as officer obligation to report misconduct, due process for officers facing allegations by whistleblowers, and protections for the whistleblowers themselves.

“We hope that you will accept this offer to engage in research and dialogue over the summer and fall so that all interested parties can feel assured that any future legislation on these topics in the upcoming session is founded in fact, necessity, and effective collaboration,” the group said. 

This makes it clear police unions are there to protect the worst cops — the ones willing to cross the “thin blue line” to harm other police officers. While everyone expects cops to treat citizens like punching bags and doormats, the “thin blue line” illusion is supposed to trick everyone into believing cops stand together united against evil. But if it’s internal evil, the police union wants nothing to do with any efforts to root it out. That’s just fucking disgusting.

And that’s how a bill dies, with the approval of people who think cops shouldn’t be scrutinized — much less punished — for any misconduct they commit, even if the targets of their wrongdoing are their fellow officers. These are the words of a legislator who seems more willing to provide gratis car washes for officers’ personal cars than serve any member of his constituency that can’t be bothered to get a badge-wearing job.

Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, a former law enforcement officer and member of the committee that heard the bill, said he was “offended” that law enforcement agencies had not been involved in discussions about the bill to the extent they wanted to be. 

Here’s an idea, Rep. Armagost: fuck ’em. If these agencies want to be involved, they’re sure to be involved. All this statement means is this rep is offended someone didn’t ask the kind of cops he likes (which would be the kind that sexually assault fellow officers) what kind of legislation they wanted and instead tried to right some wrongs by offering the state’s sexual assault victims (well… at least those in uniform) some form of protection, redress, and deterrence.

And it was state reps like Armagost who got what they wanted by stripping the bill of anything meaningful and parking it on blocks out in the front yard. For those of you who still think there’s nothing partisan about full-throated support of the worst cops this nation employs, please re-read the second quoted paragraph until the truth sinks in.

By the time the bill reached the floor for its third and final reading, all of its major provisions had been amended out, save for the creation of a working group. 

Ultimately, the bill died, 31-33. All of the Republicans, except Soper, voted in opposition, though it’s possible he would’ve asked for a recount and switched his vote if the bill had passed.

To add insult to the injuries suffered by former officer McKinzie Rees, the union added this statement after the bill was carved up by bootlickers and left to die on the House floor:

“We appreciate that the majority of House members shared our concerns about the need for a robust stakeholder process before passing legislation of this importance. Ensuring law enforcement employees have due process protection and a safe and healthy work environment are serious, complex issues that warrant responsible and thoughtful solutions.”

It pretty much makes you want to vomit. The union cheered on “due process” and “a safe and healthy work environment.” But it really doesn’t care much about the first (the bill only required an investigation to be opened, which means plenty of due process was still available to officers) and obviously gives zero shits about the latter, since it means officers attacked/assaulted by other officers will continue to be frozen out by the worst in their ranks and expected to leave the force, rather than see their grievances adequately addressed by the government agencies that hired them.

• For the first time, Roblox is making it easier for anyone to create in Marketplace.
• Marketplace is a powerful place for creators and brands to connect with their audience.
• We’re expanding Marketplace to be more personal and to foster more self-expression.
• We’re developing new tools and systems to ensure that Marketplace is safe and that creators’ and brands’ IP is protected. 

At Roblox, we’re building an immersive platform for connection and communication where 71.5 million users* come every day to entertain themselves, hang out with friends, and have fun. 

Nearly everything users discover on Roblox is made by our global community of creators. And our job is to help creators make the experiences, avatars, clothing, and accessories our users will enjoy.

Since 2019 we’ve allowed, through application only, a small and growing number of people to create 3D virtual items in Marketplace, one of the key destinations on Roblox for users to shop and express themselves through their avatars. 

Today, we’re making it easier for anyone to create in Marketplace. This will be a powerful step forward for creators and brands to market a diverse collection of avatars, clothing, and accessories, and to connect with their audience.  

One of the biggest benefits of this is the surge of great new content that we expect will soon be available there. Millions of users already visit Marketplace every day, and in December, 2023, nearly 71 percent of them spent time editing their avatar. And people have bought billions of items there, including nearly 1.6 billion digital fashion items during the first nine months of 2023. Brands are also getting in on the action: in 2023, our brand partners sold about 27 million items on Roblox.

adidas is bringing its iconic sport and lifestyle brand to Roblox

A great example is adidas. The brand has collaborated with Roblox creators like Rush_X and CoffeeNerdz on a diverse catalog of hundreds of items, including rare, sold-out Limiteds like its Neckpiece. adidas is bringing its iconic sport and lifestyle product to Roblox and plans to experiment with a shopping experience where users can create their own adidas virtual items and outfits.

In Marketplace, some creators have found success by diversifying the variety of things people can buy. A great example is Lirn, an original Marketplace creator, who wanted to fill a gap in gaming for authentic Black hairstyles. A self-taught creator, she’s collaborated with brands like Gucci, and created items like her HeadScarf, Bantu Knots, Pigtails Locs, Box Braids, and others. Roblox users have bought millions of her items. 

By opening up creation on our platform, we’re now able to welcome more creators like Lirn. Moving forward, here are the three areas we’re focusing on to achieve this:

• Making creation easier for anyone
• Evolving Marketplace to foster more self-expression
• Laying the foundations of a healthy Marketplace 

Making Creation Easier for Anyone

Making it easier for anyone to create and sell 3D virtual items in Marketplace and/or in experiences is just the start. We’re also working to inspire professional creators to build successful businesses on our platform by developing new ways to make creation on Roblox easier, regardless of their experience level. 

For example, our new Avatar Auto Setup tool leverages AI to quickly and automatically convert 3D models into avatars people can use on Roblox right away. Using this tool, which is launching broadly in the coming month, can reduce the time it takes to create an avatar from days to minutes.

Our new Avatar Auto Setup tool quickly converts 3D models into avatars**

And soon, we’ll offer templates allowing creators and brands to build customizable shopping experiences dedicated to the buying and selling of avatar items. For example, Dress to Impress is a space that celebrates diversity and inclusivity, and where users can dress up as themselves and then walk a runway or vote on others’ looks. 

There’s a growing number of experiences like this, and we’ll begin by surfacing them in Marketplace, which will help connect the creators and brands who make them with the broader audience there.

Evolving Marketplace to Foster More Self-Expression

We want Marketplace to be a more inspiring, personalized, and social shopping experience than ever before. In the coming year, we’ll expand what’s available there beyond individual items and focus on developing an avatar-first shopping experience. This will create more personalized and diverse content and unlock social shopping. It will also provide new ways for creators and brands to share their collections and connect with their audience.

Avatar-first shopping experience

Buy entire outfits or mix-and-match before you buy.**

Since its inception, Marketplace has been dedicated to selling individual avatar items. Now, the Marketplace shopping experience is evolving. Users will be able to find inspiration from styled avatars and outfits and buy an entire outfit’s items, or just some of it. Shopping in Marketplace will soon be similar to the physical world. When users look for a specific item, they’ll be able to see how everything they discover would look in their existing wardrobe or what they might wear it with. 

That’s important because we know that when users shop in Marketplace, they want to complete their avatar’s look with multiple items. In fact, users buy more than one item 60% of the time.

In addition, Roblox users can search for outfits. That means creators and brands can express their full creative vision by selling entire looks and avatars rather than just single items. And creators will be able to collaborate and sell outfits made of items by different people.

More Personalized and Diverse Avatar Content

We know that many people on Roblox want to express their individual personalities and identities. To do that, shopping needs to be personalized and it should be easy to move between discovery and avatar customization. That’s why we’re developing new tools that make all that possible. 

For example, AI has become a crucial technology across our entire platform, powering things like creation and safety. Soon, it will provide individual shoppers with diverse and personalized items rather than showing everyone the same list. Someone might see collections or outfits from creators or brands that fit their style or outfits that are popular with their friends. They might also see trending shopping experiences, or seasonal collections (like for Halloween or Christmas).

A More Social Marketplace Will Unlock Users’ Creativity

Digital fashion is increasingly a source of inspiration, and we believe the next wave of fashion designers will emerge on our platform. We want to support their efforts, and we’re proud to see digital designs created on Roblox recreated in the physical world. For example, at RDC 2023, we showcased physical replicas of two Parsons School of Design students’ Roblox creations. 

At RDC 2023, we showcased physical replicas of two Parsons School of Design students’ Roblox creations.

Going forward, we’ll make it easier for users to discover and follow new creators and brands and always stay up to date on their latest offerings. In turn, creators and brands will have new ways to connect with their audience and showcase their creations.

Many people see their avatars as intrinsically social — a way to connect with friends. We want to help them share their newest avatar outfits. Many users and creators are already doing that by posting screenshots or videos on external social or messaging platforms.

WhoseTrade, who created 20 items which sold more than 100,000 times (and dozens more with at least 50,000 sales), is an exceptional example. He collaborated with the electronic music brand Monstercat on a rare Limited that sold for 1 million Robux, as well as with Nivea. Like others, he’s significantly grown his social channels by posting his creations.

Soon, users will be able to share their latest avatar creations or newly-purchased items on Roblox. We think this will unlock more creativity for many users. It will also help them become curators and influencers while boosting creators’ exposure.

Laying the Foundations of A Healthy Marketplace

We’ve developed new methods to help creators and brands find success. Those include tools to defend their IP, maximize their earning potential, and simplify managing competitive pricing. 

Protecting Creativity

We recently launched Rights Manager, which helps creators, developers, and brands manage their content and IP on Roblox, and increases transparency around filing removal requests. 

We’ve also introduced a publishing advance system that inspires creators to focus on their highest-potential creations rather than generic items that distract buyers. 

At the same time, to ensure accountability and deter bad actors, creators wanting to build on Roblox must verify their identity through our ID verification process. This allows us to enforce our Marketplace policies and deter violators from returning to the platform.

An Economy Responsive to Supply and Demand

Our virtual economy should reflect market conditions, so we’re implementing a new system to ensure prices on Marketplace respond to supply and demand.

Previously, some creators had a difficult time knowing how to price their items and when such prices should be increased or reduced in response to fluctuating market demands.  Guessing at how to price items does not benefit creators or buyers.  

Our new system can help support smarter pricing to better reflect market conditions by automatically setting the lowest price in an item category based on demand. We also give creators controls that let them set rules for how much to charge for their items relative to these dynamic prices. We’re confident this will help make sure creators can earn a fair return while giving consumers more access to items at fair market prices.

Diverse Ways of Expression

We know that the Roblox ecosystem is richer and stronger when we enable varied and diverse ways for people to create and express themselves. We’re excited to build tools and systems that expand our creator community while giving people more opportunity to buy things they’ll love.

____________________________________________________________________________

* As of Q4 2023

** Rendering shown for illustrative purposes only. Actual features and other visual depictions may vary and are subject to change at any time.

The post Making Creation and Expression Easier for Anyone In Marketplace appeared first on Roblox Blog.

This next sentence might make you feel very old and I’m sorry: Earlier this week, Cartoon Network’s first original show, Space Ghost Coast To Coast, turned 30 years old. And while many have spent the week celebrating the strange series, its best bits, and funniest episodes, I want to take a moment to remember a…

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Pretty much every change Niantic makes to Pokémon GO results in enormous backlash from its vast community of players. That’s usually because pretty much every change Niantic makes to Pokémon GO is disastrous and stupid. The latest is a new avatar creator, and guess what.

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Self-expression is a vital part of many people’s experiences in immersive 3D spaces—especially Gen Z, who are growing up building connections in digital worlds. That’s why we’ve put together the 2023 Digital Expression, Fashion & Beauty Trends Report, which explores the full spectrum of self-expression through avatars, including brand considerations, the psychology behind creating an avatar look and the impact of authentic self-expression on people’s physical style, purchasing decisions, and even mental well-being. 

This work builds on the research we did last year that provided valuable early insights on how people express themselves in immersive spaces. Our 2023 report offers new insights that will help creators, brands and industry experts better anticipate and respond to quickly evolving consumer needs.

Here are the top 5 takeaways from the 2023 report*:

1. The importance of digital self-expression continues to grow

In this year’s survey* of over 1,500 members of Gen Z in the U.S. and UK who are active on platforms like Roblox, 56% say styling their avatar is more important to them than styling themselves in the physical world. And for older Gen Z aged 22-26, 64% say that, given a choice, dressing up their avatar would be more important than dressing up in the physical world.

Additionally, 84% of Gen Z respondents say digital fashion is at least somewhat important for them, and  85% think the importance of digital fashion has grown at least some over the past year. More than half (53%) think it’s grown a lot.

These findings echo what we see on our platform: self-expression through digital identity and fashion is an essential part of people’s experience. For example, during the first three quarters of 2023 on Roblox, there were a total of 165 billion avatar updates, up 38% year over year, and people bought nearly 1.6 billion digital fashion items and accessories, up 15% year over year. Plus, millions of Roblox users continue to update their avatars every day.

But the influence of digital style and fashion doesn’t stay in the virtual world. In the survey, 84% report that their physical style is at least somewhat inspired by their avatar’s style, including 54% who say they are very or extremely inspired by what their avatar and other avatars wear.

2. Brand recognition matters for Gen Z in the metaverse

When it comes to metaverse fashion, survey respondents stress that they care about distinct styles and brand recognition: 52% say “stylish digital clothes” is the attribute they pay most attention to when deciding if an avatar is “cool-looking.” And three in four say wearing digital fashions from a recognized brand is at least somewhat important, including 47% of survey respondents who say it’s very or extremely important.

This dynamic can drive purchasing behavior: 84% say that after wearing or trying on a brand’s item in virtual spaces, they’d be at least somewhat likely to consider this brand in the physical world. In fact, 50% say they’d be very or extremely likely to do so.

3. Consumers are open to spending on digital fashion—the more exclusive the better

Meanwhile, designers and brands will be happy to learn that most Gen Z users are also willing to spend on digital fashion: in our survey, 52% say they’re comfortable budgeting up to $10 each month, while another 19% are willing to spend up to $20 monthly and an additional 18% are open to buying $50-$100 of items every month. 

The launch of Limiteds this year highlighted Roblox users’ demand for exclusive and rare items, as evidenced by most Limiteds reselling for more than their original cost.

For example, community members lined up to earn Limiteds via challenges in the Gucci Ancora experience and to buy up items from Roblox-native brands like CHRUSH.

Similarly, a leading electronic music brand, Monstercat, recently teamed up with community creator @WhoseTrade on six single-edition necklaces. Each sold within minutes, including the Ruby Pendant, acquired for 1,000,001 Robux (approximately $10,000), the highest initial Limited sale to date.

4. From head to toe, avatars enable experimentation with expression

While digital fashion is important to Gen Z users, people are also experimenting with other innovative ways of expression through their avatars.

One example of this is avatar makeup, which is already available in some community-created experiences. In addition, numerous brands—like Fenty Beauty, Maybelline, NARS, Givenchy Beauty, NYX, and L’Oreal—are now investing in meeting customers’ interest in it. 

And there’s real opportunity for them. According to our survey, more than a third of all respondents (35%) say it’s important to customize their avatar’s makeup daily or weekly, and the number rises to 51% for self-identifying female respondents. 

People are also increasingly customizing their avatar hair on Roblox. This year alone, users purchased more than 139 million hairstyles, up 20% over the year before, including more than 7.3 million people who bought five or more hairstyles on Roblox.

But self-expression doesn’t end there: Roblox users have increasingly been adopting emotes, and so far this year, 9.8 million Roblox users bought them, up 64% year over year. That’s something that Tommy Hilfiger took note of in introducing emotes into its Roblox digital fashion collection.

Users are also choosing fantastical auras that match their vibe, like a colorful variety available within Paris Hilton’s Slivingland.

And soon, Roblox users will be able to have expressive avatars featuring realistic emotions. That’s likely to be well-received by Gen Z users since 86% of survey respondents say it is at least somewhat important that their avatar is able to express emotions in order to feel fully represented in the metaverse. 

5. Authenticity drives self-expression in immersive spaces and positively impacts well-being

One striking finding from the survey is that most members of Gen Z strive to look good in the metaverse for themselves rather than for others. When choosing their avatar look, 62% say they care a lot that their avatar looks good to them as compared to 37% who say they care a lot that it looks good to others. 

And 40% of Gen Z feel it’s easier to present their authentic selves in the metaverse than in the physical world. Among the reasons cited: more “freedom of expression” and “creative options.” Further, people feel they “can be whoever we want” and that it’s “less judgemental” when they interact with others as avatars in immersive spaces.

In fact, our research showed:

• Twice as many respondents believe they are judged less on their looks in the metaverse than in the physical world, and;
• Respondents were 2.2 times more likely to say that expressing themselves in immersive spaces via their avatar feels better (“more me”) than posting 2D photos from the physical world on social media. 

Finally, respondents cited a positive impact on their mental well-being: 88% say expressing themselves in immersive spaces has likely helped them comfortably express themselves in the physical world. They note it helps build connections with others (29%), boosts confidence (24%), allows for true self-expression (21%), and helps improve mental health in other ways (25%).

A Universal Connector

Authentic self-expression is often described as a universal connector for people: by sharing who we truly are, we can make genuine connections. As Roblox continues building its platform and products for immersive communication and connection, we’re ensuring that people have the broadest set of opportunities to authentically express themselves. We’re excited to continue studying this space because as our research demonstrated, we know that when people have more control over the many elements they can choose to represent themselves in immersive 3D digital spaces, it can lead to positive impacts on their physical-world connections and well-being.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT HERE

* Methodology: The ‘2023 Digital Expression, Fashion & Beauty Trends’ report includes two complementary sets of data: 

• Behavioral data collected from the Roblox platform from January through September 2023.

• Self-reported survey data collected from 1,545 Gen Z users between the ages of 14 and 26, living in the United States (1027 respondents) and the United Kingdom (518). To obtain these responses, Roblox commissioned a nationally representative survey from Qualtrics fielded September 27-29, 2023. Included stats represent the full respondent sample given sentiment between the two markets (U.S. and UK) was largely similar. The sample has been balanced for gender in both markets using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for the U.S. and Office for National Statistics in the UK to reflect the demographic composition of these markets’ population in that age range. In the full report data is referenced as ‘2023 Roblox Self-Expression Survey.’

• For any additional clarifications or questions on the data please contact [email protected].

The post Insights From Our Latest Digital Expression, Fashion & Beauty Trends Report appeared first on Roblox Blog.

At the time of writing, the GTA 6 trailer is sitting pretty at 178 million views on YouTube. But that's not what most people are interested in. What we want to know is exactly when it's coming out. Well, the end may be in sight for the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto game.

According to a report from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Rockstar is asking all staff to return to the office for "five days a week starting in April." This is for "security and productivity reasons," according to Rockstar Head of Publishing Jenn Kolbe.

The report goes on to say GTA 6 is about to "enter the final stretch of development." This means we're getting ever closer to its release, though we obviously still don't know when that's likely to happen.

Employees "not thrilled," it seems

The fact that Rockstar Games is putting out the clarion call for employees shows the company is looking to end hybrid working conditions. It's a topic that's been quite prevalent in the working world, and Rockstar asking staff to return to the office is likely due to security breaches, such as the great GTA 6 leak of 2022.

Companies asking people to shift to on-site working on a more permeant basis is becoming more common as the memories of the pandemic begin to fade for a lot of people. However, such a move may prove unpopular with those in the gaming industry who have adjusted to working remotely.

That aside, we don't exactly know when the game itself will actually be launching, even if it is heading towards the finish line. We're being told it's aiming for a 2025 release, so we're still looking at nearly another year yet, give or take.

No doubt it's going to be one of the biggest releases of all time. Given the legacy of Grand Theft Auto 5 – which came out over 10 years ago, don't forget – there's no way the follow-up is going to be anything other than a money-printing license for Rockstar.

The post GTA 6 reportedly entering final stages of development as Rockstar asks staff to return to office appeared first on Destructoid.

A new report confirms that as Rockstar Games is entering the final stages of development on Grand Theft Auto 6, the company is mandating that employees must return to the office five days a week starting in April, to no applause from anyone.

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Mini PC maker AOOSTAR has begun taking pre-orders in China for a new computer that supports up to an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS processor configured to run at up to 75 watts, up to 64GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and up to two M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs. But what really makes the AOOSTAR GEM12 Pro […]

The post AOOSTAR GEM12 Pro mini PC has an OCuLink port, optional status display, and up to AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS appeared first on Liliputing.

Yesterday's Nintendo Direct got rather overshadowed by a certain trailer for Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree, but there were still plenty of good news nuggets to be had in there for us PC folks - which I've summarised for you below. The long and short of it is: more release dates! Loads of 'em! And they're all coming in the first half of 2024 as well. I love it when a schedule comes together.

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It’s been a few years since we’ve heard or seen anything about that Borderlands movie starring Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Kevin Hart. So it was great to finally get our first real look at the cast in some new screenshots and oh… oh no.

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If you’d been gazing at the present glut of new survival games and bellowing for more, as though engaged in a drinking competition with some kind of cartoon Viking, then rest easy. Gord developers Covenant.dev have announced To The Star, a "whimsical" survival adventure that takes heavy inspiration from Alice In Wonderland, and features a cooking system that lets you combine monster parts with "suppressed emotions", so as to produce both consumable foodstuffs and weapons.

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