Making a multiplayer-focused game is always a big challenge for indie developers starting out, particularly for their first game.
That’s not to say it hasn’t been done of course, the leading example being Facepunch’s hit Steam Early Access game Rust. But the road is paved with many that have fallen before it.
New UK developer Freejam has taken on the challenge however, and what’s more, they’ve gone free-to-play. The game is called Robocraft, currently in a playable alpha, which its creators describes as the illegitimate child of Minecraft and World of Tanks.
The team consists of ex-Climax veterans and includes Mark Simmons, Sebastiano Mandalà, Edward Fowler, Brian O’Connor and Richard Turner. Game director Simmons tells Develop despite working on IP for the likes of Square Enix, Microsoft, Sony and Konami, the developers wanted to work on their own creation, a story increasingly familiar in the game industry.
“Working on major well known IP’s is one thing, but when they aren’t ‘your’ IP’s then you don’t get the full feeling of satisfaction when the user enjoys your game. That’s what we wanted,” he says.
Their debut title, Robocraft, is designed as a team-based eSport game that allows users to build their own tanks by piecing together blocks and verious tank parts.
"I know what you’re thinking 'oh no, not another minecraft clone', but we’re different,” says Simmons.
“We set about creating a credible team based eSport about the idea of building high fidelity battle machines from cubes. The cubes form the chassis, and then the user adds components such as wheels, jet thrusters, hoverblades, laser cannons, etcetera."
When I ask why the focus on user generated content for such a title, Simons says: “It really started out as the answer to a question: How can our little team of five developers deliver an epic team based MMO eSport without being able to produce tons of content?”
The free-to-play venture has worked out well for the team so far, attracting 300,000 users during the last three months, with 20,000 users playing each day and 2,500 joining on average every day.
Simmons says the developer was able to achieve this in part thanks to well known YouTubers in countries such as Poland sparking increased interest in the title, once again highlighting the importance of user videos and allowing players to create their own Let’s Play content – and letting them make money from your IP.
But being an indie, how do you attract enough players for a multiplayer game to ensure users will always find someone to play against while also keeping them engaged for the long-term? Simmons argues that’s why the team went free-to-play, but admits the problem was still tricky to tackle early on.
"If you’re free then you’re likely to attract more users, even if they aren’t paying.,” he explains.
It has come with it’s own issues though. Servers cost money, and if your users aren’t paying, then getting more users actually costs you more money. Luckily our user payments are covering the cost of the servers now so we haven’t got this worry anymore.
Of another solution to the issue of ensuring there are enough players, Simmons adds: “When we initially released getting enough users was a major problem. To fix it we had to release a ‘countdown timer’. The counter counted down from three minutes and every time the counter got to zero we launched a battle.
“This way, although there were not many users online they all went into battle at the same time, which ensured we had enough users to fight each other. We switched over to a ‘battle-whenever-you-want’ system when the user numbers were high enough."
Much like Wargaming claims World of Tanks is free-to-play and not “pay-to-win”, FreeJam also claims their title is playable “without spending a penny”. He admits that players can accelerate through the game by purchasing a premium membership, and users can also purchase cubs and components, but the latter is only available to those that have earned points through gameplay.
“Users can purchase cubes and components directly but only when they have unlocked the license for that component using Tech Points - which you have to play to earn,” he explains.
“There is no way to just put $100 down and get a fantastic Robot right away, even paying users must fight to progress. Users can also purchase a few items which are real money only, but they are cosmetic only, there are no pay for only items that can get you a competitive advantage. We’re really trying to play the F2P thing in an ‘indie way’, i.e. fair and not aggressively.”
Robocraft is currently in alpha phase, and the developers plan to take the title onto Steam Early Access having successfully gone through Steam Greenlight in just five days.
Source: www.develop-online.net
The antennas in most of today's smartphones do not function efficiently in 3G and 4G/LTE wireless environments. This leads to slower download speeds, reduced voice quality, lower energy efficiency and more dropped calls. A technology commonly used in satellite and defense applications-RF MEMS or Radio Frequency Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems-is now poised to improve smartphone performance in the near future by way of higher antenna efficiency.
"If you can make smartphone antennas 2 or 3 dB more efficient, you basically halve your download times. Truly, if we accomplish this with RF MEMS technologies, it's a huge deal," said electrical engineering professor Gabriel Rebeiz. His labs have accomplished many fundamental RF MEMS research breakthroughs, created proof-of-concept applications, and led key technology transfer efforts. This work has advanced RF MEMS to the point where large-scale incorporation into smartphone antennas appears probable if not inevitable.
"We demonstrated that you can get a better antenna, a better filter, a better power amplifier using RF MEMS. These were the first demonstrations. Industry took this work and adapted it to their own situations," said Rebeiz. He was awarded the 2014 IEEE Daniel E. Noble Award for Emerging Technologies "for pioneering contributions enabling commercialization of RF MEMS technology and tunable micro- and millimeter-wave systems."
A 2012 article in MEMS Journal predicted that the RF MEMS market would expand by a factor of 200 to $150 million by 2015, driven by implementation in handsets and tablets.
In addition to antennas, RF MEMS technology could find its way into tunable filters for smartphone radios that might one day replace the tens of individual filters built into today's smartphones. With the rise of carrier aggregation-which is the use of multiple frequency channels to divide data, such as a video, that is being sent or downloaded in today's advanced wireless networks-filters are increasingly important, explained Bilgehan Avser, an electrical engineering graduate student in the Rebeiz lab.
"Metal-contact and capacitive switches could turn out to be extremely important for tunable RF front ends of next-generation communication systems," said Avser.
Cellphone base stations could also see RF MEMS implementations. But applications beyond tunable antennas could take more time to be implemented in commercial handsets and tablets, Rebeiz noted.
In recent years, antenna size-and by extension radio frequency performance-has lost ground in phones to larger screens and thinner form factors that exclude larger antennas. At the same time, the demands placed on these antennas have increased. For example, even though antennas have gotten smaller, they are being asked to cover low-frequency bands that would require larger antenna form factors.
"The smartphone antenna, which has long been neglected, now is of prime importance for how to make the smartphone more efficient," said Rebeiz. Incorporating RF MEMS into smartphone antennas yields "tunable" antennas that work efficiently across one or two frequency bands at a time. The frequency at which they function most efficiently, however, can be changed-and RF MEMS metal-contact switches and variable capacitors are used to make the antennas tunable.
"With RF MEMS, you can take an inefficient wideband antenna and turn it into an efficient tuned antenna," said Rebeiz. In this context, RF MEMS serves as a low-loss switched variable capacitor capable of changing the antenna's resonant frequency, which is the frequency at which the antenna operates most efficiently.
Rebeiz has been a leader in RF MEMS research for more than a decade. Much of the early research focused on defense and satellite communication applications such as phased-array systems with sophisticated "beam steering" antennas. In this arena, RF MEMS technologies enable the electronic steering of multiple antennas that function together in order to steer signals to a precise location and ensure the signal does not interfere with other systems. Another application: rugged hand-held radios that work efficiently at many different wireless frequencies.
His research group's contributions include making MEMS robust in the face of process stresses incurred during micro-fabrication, as well as temperature extremes. They also helped demonstrate the vast potential that RF MEMS hold for commercial applications.
In September 2006, Rebeiz became the founding director of the UCSD/DARPA Center on RF MEMS Reliability and Design Fundamentals. As the leader of this eight-year collaboration between universities, the U.S. Federal Government and industry, Rebeiz works to ensure that knowledge on RF MEMS advances are widely available in order to further spur innovation.
Many of the graduate students who worked on RF MEMS projects while at UC San Diego are now working on related challenges in industry-at companies like Cavendish Kinetics and WiSpry that are commercializing RF MEMS technologies, and at companies such as Apple, Qualcomm, Intel and Samsung that are looking to incorporate RF MEMS and other tunable technologies into their products.
A dual-band frequency tunable antenna for carrier aggregation systems. Varactor diodes (black cube above) tune the antenna's frequency. RF MEMS capacitive switches to replace the varactor diodes and improve antenna performance are being developed in the Rebeiz lab.
Source: UCSD Jacobs | School of Engineering
"If you can make smartphone antennas 2 or 3 dB more efficient, you basically halve your download times. Truly, if we accomplish this with RF MEMS technologies, it's a huge deal," said electrical engineering professor Gabriel Rebeiz. His labs have accomplished many fundamental RF MEMS research breakthroughs, created proof-of-concept applications, and led key technology transfer efforts. This work has advanced RF MEMS to the point where large-scale incorporation into smartphone antennas appears probable if not inevitable.
"We demonstrated that you can get a better antenna, a better filter, a better power amplifier using RF MEMS. These were the first demonstrations. Industry took this work and adapted it to their own situations," said Rebeiz. He was awarded the 2014 IEEE Daniel E. Noble Award for Emerging Technologies "for pioneering contributions enabling commercialization of RF MEMS technology and tunable micro- and millimeter-wave systems."
A 2012 article in MEMS Journal predicted that the RF MEMS market would expand by a factor of 200 to $150 million by 2015, driven by implementation in handsets and tablets.
In addition to antennas, RF MEMS technology could find its way into tunable filters for smartphone radios that might one day replace the tens of individual filters built into today's smartphones. With the rise of carrier aggregation-which is the use of multiple frequency channels to divide data, such as a video, that is being sent or downloaded in today's advanced wireless networks-filters are increasingly important, explained Bilgehan Avser, an electrical engineering graduate student in the Rebeiz lab.
"Metal-contact and capacitive switches could turn out to be extremely important for tunable RF front ends of next-generation communication systems," said Avser.
Cellphone base stations could also see RF MEMS implementations. But applications beyond tunable antennas could take more time to be implemented in commercial handsets and tablets, Rebeiz noted.
In recent years, antenna size-and by extension radio frequency performance-has lost ground in phones to larger screens and thinner form factors that exclude larger antennas. At the same time, the demands placed on these antennas have increased. For example, even though antennas have gotten smaller, they are being asked to cover low-frequency bands that would require larger antenna form factors.
"The smartphone antenna, which has long been neglected, now is of prime importance for how to make the smartphone more efficient," said Rebeiz. Incorporating RF MEMS into smartphone antennas yields "tunable" antennas that work efficiently across one or two frequency bands at a time. The frequency at which they function most efficiently, however, can be changed-and RF MEMS metal-contact switches and variable capacitors are used to make the antennas tunable.
"With RF MEMS, you can take an inefficient wideband antenna and turn it into an efficient tuned antenna," said Rebeiz. In this context, RF MEMS serves as a low-loss switched variable capacitor capable of changing the antenna's resonant frequency, which is the frequency at which the antenna operates most efficiently.
Rebeiz has been a leader in RF MEMS research for more than a decade. Much of the early research focused on defense and satellite communication applications such as phased-array systems with sophisticated "beam steering" antennas. In this arena, RF MEMS technologies enable the electronic steering of multiple antennas that function together in order to steer signals to a precise location and ensure the signal does not interfere with other systems. Another application: rugged hand-held radios that work efficiently at many different wireless frequencies.
"We laid out the fundamental work to make RF MEMS a reality, through investigation of so many fundamental problems of MEMS. We solved a lot of these problems and transferred the advances to industry," said Rebeiz.
His research group's contributions include making MEMS robust in the face of process stresses incurred during micro-fabrication, as well as temperature extremes. They also helped demonstrate the vast potential that RF MEMS hold for commercial applications.
In September 2006, Rebeiz became the founding director of the UCSD/DARPA Center on RF MEMS Reliability and Design Fundamentals. As the leader of this eight-year collaboration between universities, the U.S. Federal Government and industry, Rebeiz works to ensure that knowledge on RF MEMS advances are widely available in order to further spur innovation.
Many of the graduate students who worked on RF MEMS projects while at UC San Diego are now working on related challenges in industry-at companies like Cavendish Kinetics and WiSpry that are commercializing RF MEMS technologies, and at companies such as Apple, Qualcomm, Intel and Samsung that are looking to incorporate RF MEMS and other tunable technologies into their products.
"Our RF MEMS work has been a good ride. It has been exactly what I feel research should be. You take a problem. You spend 12 to 14 years on it. You solve its fundamental issues. You transfer it to industry," said Rebeiz. "Have we solved all of the problems? No. But we have gone from 10 percent of understanding of RF MEMS to 90 percent."
A dual-band frequency tunable antenna for carrier aggregation systems. Varactor diodes (black cube above) tune the antenna's frequency. RF MEMS capacitive switches to replace the varactor diodes and improve antenna performance are being developed in the Rebeiz lab.
Source: UCSD Jacobs | School of Engineering
Google Inc. is partnering with solar panel maker SunPower Corp. to invest up to $250 million in leasing solar systems to homeowners. The Mountain View technology giant is contributing up to $100 million, and San Jose-based SunPower will invest $150 million, Google said in a blog post. The goal is to make "it easier for thousands of households across the U.S. to go solar."
Google's plans come at a time when new financing methods are driving a boom in the residential solar market. More homeowners now lease panels from solar companies than buy them outright.
Renewable energy companies are also finding creative ways to finance their businesses. Solar developers who work with homeowners often have a difficult time convincing traditional banks to fund anything smaller than large-scale projects, analysts said. Many investment firms are unsure of the risks associated with solar and unwilling to wait out the payout period, which can last decades.
Google has shown a keen interest in investing in green energy projects in recent years. It has previously invested in solar leasing programs through SolarCity/Clean Power Finance. In November, the company said it planned to pony up $80 million for six utility-scale solar facilities in California and Arizona.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Google's plans come at a time when new financing methods are driving a boom in the residential solar market. More homeowners now lease panels from solar companies than buy them outright.
"Using the fund ... we buy the solar panel systems," Google said. "Then we lease them to homeowners at a cost that's typically lower than their normal electricity bill."
Renewable energy companies are also finding creative ways to finance their businesses. Solar developers who work with homeowners often have a difficult time convincing traditional banks to fund anything smaller than large-scale projects, analysts said. Many investment firms are unsure of the risks associated with solar and unwilling to wait out the payout period, which can last decades.
Google has shown a keen interest in investing in green energy projects in recent years. It has previously invested in solar leasing programs through SolarCity/Clean Power Finance. In November, the company said it planned to pony up $80 million for six utility-scale solar facilities in California and Arizona.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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Keyboards are an essential part of our computers. We use computer keyboards mostly to type but in recent times we have seen a lot of diversification in the use and design of keyboards. They are no longer used to type only text anymore, but to do a lot more tasks. Playing Games, Controlling Media Players and launching applications are just some of them.
To meet these user requirements, keyboards are no longer confined to having only alphabetical keys and numbers. They now come with Media Controlling Keys, Special Keys for Playing games, Shortcut Keys to launch applications and some have even taken a step ahead and come with touch screen instead of the traditional buttons.
We don’t usually get to see these types of keyboards in homes and offices. Let us take a look at some of these unusual but cool Computer Keyboards that make the use of Keyboards easier and much more sophisticated.
1.Optimus Maximus
Optimus Maximus is a fully customizable keyboard that lets you choose the sequence of the characters on the keyboard. Each key of the Optimus Maximus is a stand-alone display that shows the function currently assigned to it.
You can make use of any language like Cyrillic languages, Ancient Greek, Arabic etc. Apart from that you can use any other character sets: notes, numerals, special symbols, HTML codes, math functions etc. The possibilities are infinity.
You can also assign shortcuts of websites you different keys and add an image to easily find the shortcut later. The Optimus Maximus Keyboard has a total of 113 Screens each with a resolution of 48 x 48 Pixels.
2. Logitech diNovo Edge
The Logitech diNovo Edge Keyboard is one of the most stylish Keyboards you will find in the market. The diNovo Edge has been Laser cut from a single, semi-translucent piece of black Plexiglas and set into a brushed-aluminum frame.
The TouchDis navigation makes it possible to move the cursor by Moving a finger up and down or across the disc. A touch-sensitive volume slider will enable you to quickly adjust the computer’s volume. For the fluid and natural Keystrokes,
The PerfectStroke™ key system has been used. No matter how fast and hard you type, it will neither make any sound nor will it hurt your fingers. The Logitech diNovo is rechargeable and a two-hour charge yields up to two months of battery life.
3. Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard
The Logitech G19 Keyboard is the most sophusticated gaming keyboard. The Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard is powered by Two Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports which makes Transfer of data to and from peripherals faster. The Multi-Key input make it possible to use up to five keys at once to perform multiple complex actions while gaming.
The G19 Keyboard has Tilt-able, 320 x 240px, color GamePanel LCD which shows “unprecedented levels of information—both in- and out-of-game—including game stats, system information, VOIP communication data, video playback, image slideshows, and many other items”.
User-selectable back-lit characters make it possible to easily locate keys while playing in dark and Personalize the keyboard to better fit with the rest of your computer and gaming equipment.
Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard
4. Tipro Custom Assembled Keyboard
Tipro Custom keyboard is a highly flexible and fully customizable keyboard with a Rugged plastic housing. The keyboard has User definable input data control which makes it a best solution for a user’s particular needs. The Tipro has Optional pointing, reading and control modules.
Superior mechanical long travel key switches and metal carrying plate and secure cabling make it rugged and highly reliable. The Tipro Custom Keyboard is Assembled by Unique Micro Designs and comes with a 12 Months Return to Base Warranty.
5. Optimus Tactus
Optimus Tactus does not have any physical keys. Lack of any physical keys means that there are no restrictions on their shape and size of the keys. You can keep a single key on the keyboard or Display all of them on the Touch screen.
The keys can be set in any language. It is just a big Touch Screen Display which can be programmed to display any key or image. It can be programmed to display videos too. There are no limits to what you can do with the Optimus Maximus Keyboard. It is a concept for now but we are sure we will get to see this keyboard in markets soon.
Source: Geeknaut
