Have you ever wondered what it’s like to develop a video game? Building mods or custom maps is an honest way to gain some experience with game development, but doing so requires technical knowledge most people don’t possess – or want to spend the hard time learning. Thankfully, a few games over the years have simplified the process through level-editing software. The Perpetual Testing Initiative, a community-generated content add-on for Portal 2, is a really enjoyable, no-fuss way to try your hand at building your own mind-boggling stages.
The best downloadable content – in my opinion – adds new twists to gameplay, or extends the life of the game. Co-op features were added to the series in Portal 2 last year, and offered a new perspective to the game’s puzzles. Perpetual Testing Initiative, which launches today following a closed beta period, has the potential to keep you returning to the game for quite some time.
The add-on utilizes Steam Workshop, a content creation tool already available for Team Fortress 2 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. A new option appears in the Portal 2 start menu, taking you to a hub within the game where you can either create new test chambers or play those created by the community.
Creating your very own sadistic test chamber is a total cinch. The game starts you out with an empty, square room with a sidebar full of various Portal 2 assets, though altering the room’s features is as simple as clicking and dragging on panels. Want to make a pit full of deadly goo? Just select some floor panels, hit the minus-key, and drop the goo into the hole. Nearly every item seen in Portal 2 is available for your use, including pressure plates, weighted Companion Cubes, and those adorable turrets.
Coming up with puzzles is a game in and of itself. You’re forced to not only think of devious ways to perplex the player, but also to test all of the various ways someone might sneak around your intended path. Switching to a playable test-mode is just a button click away, and many times I had to alter my chamber when I found a potential exploit.
Of course, you don’t have to create a room to enjoy Perpetual Testing Initiative. A user-generated ratings system ensures the best chambers float to the top. Adding rooms from Steam Workshop to your queue was still a bit buggy at times in the beta version, but I’m confident that will change with the actual release going live today. From what I played, it seems Valve has concocted a super user-friendly way to extend the life of what’s already a fantastic game.
Infinity Blade II has been on the App Store for a few months now, but there’s been something lingering even further off in the distance: ClashMob. We first heard about this intriguing feature shortly after the game was announced alongside the iPhone 4S last fall, with developer Chair Entertainment promising that it would add a new kind of social gaming functionality to the gorgeous hack-and-slash affair. It’s finally available today, alongside a small stack of other improvements.
What ClashMob adds to the experience is the ability to tackle brief, quick-hit missions that the many thousands of other Infinity Blade II players will have access to, with all of your cumulative progress going towards the same goal. Case in point: one of the three active missions (as of this writing) is to deal 1,000,000,000 damage points to a monstrous beast over the span of 24 hours. Each player has one shot at it and only about 25 seconds in which to do the damage; you’ll be lucky if you take a few thousand points off of his tally. But if many thousands of players all do the same within that span, we’ll topple the beast and unlock a sweet sword just for us participants.
It’s all about shared effort and shared reward, with new missions cycling through all the time. Another active mission right now tasks 60,000 players with each killing just one titan within a short span of time, while another gives you about 10 seconds to tap gold bags that appear on the screen. It’s clear that these ClashMob missions are only meant to occupy a few total minutes of your time each day, but if you stick with them and come back regularly, you might find yourself with a nice selection of rare weapons and items. And it helps to recruit your friends — the more Game Center friends you have playing ClashMob missions, the more time you’ll have to play each mission, or you’ll pick up some extra cash as a reward. You do have to login with your Facebook account to use ClashMob, though, which could be a drag to some players.
Beyond ClashMob, the latest free update to Infinity Blade II on iPad and iPhone adds a Gem Forge feature that lets players create powerful gems, along with more than two dozen news items and weapons to accumulate, plus a light visual upgrade to take advantage of the new iPad’s Retina display. And the app promises an extended single-player campaign in a future update, so any chance of this excellent iOS exclusive losing its grip on fans seems terribly unlikely.
New parents: Drop those poopy diapers and head to the Mac App Store, immediately! (Or, you know, when you’re done cleaning up.) The best-selling Anne Geddes baby record book My First Five Years has now been converted to a Mac app and it looks pretty amazing. Don’t have a kid? Then gift it to someone who does! About the only way this could be even better is if they make it available for the iPad (hint, hint). While you ponder that, read on to find out what else is making news for this Thursday, April 12, 2012.
We’ve already seen Windows 7 running on an iPad, but that’s old news now that Microsoft plans to roll out the Metro-centric Windows 8 later this year. Splashtop Inc. today announced the availability of Win8 Metro Testbed, a remote desktop app for software developers and technology enthusiasts alike to simulate the Windows 8 environment on an iPad. Empowered with Windows 8 Metro touch gestures, the app allows developers to test this functionality as they code and compile new apps for Windows, without having to invest in a Windows 8-compatible tablet. “Since Apple’s App Store generates over 80% of all tablet app revenue, nearly every software developer that writes apps for tablets has an iPad,” noted Mark Lee, Splashtop CEO and co-founder. “With Windows 8 Metro expected to ship on over 400 million new PCs and tablets annually, these developers have high expectations for an enormous new market. Splashtop lets them turn their iPad into a development testbed to evaluate touch gestures and functionality of their app in a Windows 8 environment.” Win8 Metro Testbed is available now at a special launch promotional price of .99, which promises to jump to .99 at some undetermined date.
If you prefer to play fast and loose with your Apple ID, don’t be surprised if you’re soon asked to add some additional layers of security real soon now. The Next Web is reporting that Apple has started requiring three security questions as well as a backup email address for your Apple ID over the last 24 hours. If you don’t already have these in place — and many users may not — don’t be surprised if you’re prompted to enter this information the next time you purchase something from iTunes or either one of the company’s App Stores. “Whilst the new prompt will undoubtedly help secure accounts, many Apple device owners are confused by the new pop-up message and believe it is a phishing attempt,” the report adds. “In the past 24 hours, a number of threads have popped up on Apple’s Support Forums that discuss the added security step, questioning its authenticity.” Apple remains silent on these inquiries for the moment, but fear not — the additional information is legit and it’s for your own good.
Many parents are already familiar with Anne Geddes’ popular baby record book, My First Five Years. But did you know that the author has now created a digital version of the best seller? Available now in the Mac App Store for .99, My First Five Years is billed as “an incredible new way to record your baby’s precious early years.” Featuring the ability to add photos and videos at the touch of a button and share the final creation with friends and family, My First Five Years collects those treasured memories from your little one’s early years and preserves them forever in digital form. The Mac version includes more than 120 pages and users can create multiple variants of the same book, custom-tailored to family members. The completed book can be presented as a slideshow or pages can be shared online as well. My First Five Years is only .99 from the Mac App Store and the 520MB download requires OS X Lion 10.7 or later and a 64-bit processor.
Cupertino has taken some lumps in the last year since introducing the completely reworked Final Cut Pro X editing software, with many pro users jumping ship into the loving arms of Adobe’s Premiere Pro. However, Apple wants you to know that many pros are quite happy with the new version, which just received a fourth update ahead of the NAB 2012 convention next week. A section of the Final Cut Pro website has been carved out for “Final Cut Pro X In Action,” a trio of testimonials from working pros including Electric Entertainment, who uses FCPX for its all-digital workflow on the hit TV show Leverage, and veteran editor Knut Hake, who uses the software to cut Danni Lowinski, one of Germany’s top TV shows. Major New York post-production house @radical.media is also profiled after switching their entire facility over to Final Cut Pro X. If you haven’t tried it yet, Apple has a free 30-day trial available for download at the same website, and is patiently waiting for your 9.99 purchase in the Mac App Store.
While Adobe is making a splash with professional users with the announcement of CS6 Production Premium today, they’ve also got a little something in store for regular folks. Adobe Revel 1.2 is now available for both Mac and iOS, which beefs up the company’s cloud-based photo services with the ability to label and group photos by events, share, export and delete multiple photos at once and even update the time and date your shots were taken. A new grid view lets users focus on a single day or event, and photos can now be viewed by event or event date. Revel now offers a way to view only those photos tagged as favorites, and adds additional language support for French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Brazilian, Portuguese and Korean. The iOS version also takes full advantage of the new iPad’s Retina Display, while also gaining improved editing performance. Last but not least, users with a trial that expired prior to today will now get an additional 30 days to try out the new version, simply by logging in with your existing Revel (Adobe) ID. But don’t worry: You won’t be automatically charged at the end of this additional 30 days, which costs .99 per month as an in-app subscription should you decide to continue.
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If your business necessitates the persistent use of databases to interact with customers and employees alike, today’s your day. FileMaker Pro 12 was unleashed earlier today with an assortment of new themes, and if you’re looking to take the desktop application’s organizational power mobile, things are going to be a whole heck of a lot cheaper.
While it’s now possible to work with FileMaker Go’s suite of tools on your iPhone or iPad gratis, it should be noted you’re still going to need the FileMaker Pro 12 desktop application to really utilize the application. Considering the last iteration of Go carried a price tag of .99 for iPad — .99 on iPhone — Go 12 is an excellent perk for Pro users.
The new iOS FileMaker offers some impressive new features. Multitasking is front and center, allowing for seamless movement in and out of the app. That’s especially useful when comparing, say, customer order databases against another business-related app. Moving between said apps is as simple as a four-finger swipe.
When you’re done creating new forms, tables, and the like, FileMaker Go 12 now supports exporting those items in multiple formats. Supported extensions include Excel, CSV, TAB, dBase, and HTML. Enhanced security features even allow you to delegate which specific iOS devices – and thereby their owners – are actually able to access your files.
Syncing databases between your Mac desktop running FileMaker Pro 12 seems like a breeze, as you’re able to simply copy the files over or even just email them to your iOS device. It’s also possible to access items through a FileMaker Server setup.
While all of the preceding features look great, and the visual elements of FileMaker Go 12 are clean and streamlined, the new media integration features look incredibly appealing. It’s now possible to load media like music or video files stored in your company’s database directly to your iOS device. If you’re taking advantage of FileMaker Server, there’s no need to worry about data storage limits. Businesses with a focus on digital media will definitely benefit from the ability to instantly stream files to remote employees.
Have you ever downloaded a free game on your iPhone and wondered how in the world the developer could possibly be making money with it? As it turns out, the so-called “freemium” business model is actually far more lucrative than charging money, at least for mobile.
The New York Times has an interesting article that throws back the curtain on so-called “freemium” games — the ones you can download free of charge but can ultimately cost users far more in the long run than if they had just paid up front. While free games might come with the stigma “of being low quality or full of annoying ads,” it turns out they’re a great way to hook new users — and keep them coming back.
“When you tell a friend about it and they go to the App Store and it’s free, they download it without thinking about it,” explains Natalia Luckyanova, half of the husband and wife team that created the iOS game Temple Run. “Then there’s stickiness and the addictiveness and people talking about it.”
Luckyanova and husband Keith Shepherd released Temple Run in the App Store last August as a 99-cent game where “players must stay a step ahead of angry apes while avoiding booby traps and collecting coins.” While the first month of sales were decent, it was nothing compared to what happened in September, when Temple Run was offered as a freebie through the Free App a Day website.
Since going free, the app has topped 40 million downloads, and Luckyanova says upwards of 13 million people play Tempe Run at least once every day. Currently perched at Number 14 on Apple’s top-grossing charts, these “freemium” games bait users who might otherwise not spend even 99 cents on a given title — and once they’re hooked, they’ll spend money in “a virtual store to buy new characters, different backdrops and power-ups, or special boosters.”
The concept has proven wildly successful for Zynga, the creators of FarmVille who has expanded beyond their former comfort zone with Facebook and into a billion initial public offering — proving that the drug dealer’s mantra of “the first one’s free” can apply to other types of business as well.
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(Image courtesy of The New York Times)
