My Presentation For DIGRA 2018 - Playing With A Brand: The Brazilian McDonald's Paper Tray Case

I want to share my expanded abstract for DIGRA conference 2018. I'll be in Turin in the next week for the event. =)

• • •

Playing with a brand: the Brazilian McDonald's paper tray case

Keywords:
McDonald's, board game, Facebook bot, paper tray, marketing

Taking communication, marketing and entertainment as leading and intertwining landmarks of contemporary culture, this paper discusses an advertising piece from Brazilian McDonald's restaurants, which uses a gaming interface to cast a branding message to its consumers. Acknowledging the prominence of digital networks in today's mediapolis (Silverstone 2006), where mass self communication (Castells 2009) poses new challenges to understanding current modes of sociability and consumption, our focus will be directed to one promotional board game presented in the paper used to protect the food tray in McDonald's Brazilian restaurants. Created by the Brazilian advertising agency DPZ&T and launched in October 2017, the game uses a "race to the end" mechanic and could be played from one to four players using a Facebook bot.


Figure 1: McDonald's promotional paper tray using a board game with a Facebook bot interaction.

To play the game, one player must scan the special code using the app "Facebook Messenger" in their smartphone. The code starts a special bot that sends quizzes, enigmas, and trivia questions about McDonald's to the players. Each correct answer allows players to advance their pawn in the trail. The player who wins the race receives one special chance to earn a prize (pack of French fries, ice cream etc.) from McDonald's.

In the first part of the presentation, following the thoughts of Fullerton et al. (2008 15-16), we analyze the game design process for a promotional game. Based on information provided by the agency, we discuss the conceptual stage and the necessity to align gameplay with the marketing message; we also discuss how a prototype is created in this case, and how the beta test sessions occurred. In the end, we present technical information about how the final version is implemented with the interface between the board game (in the paper tray) and the Facebook bot (in the smartphone).

In the second part of the presentation, we highlight the strategic use of entertainment languages by companies in their marketing campaigns in the contemporary scenario, and how social media and mobile devices contribute to accelerate the process in this ecosystem. Following the idea that the quotidian is filled with playgrounds (Bogost 2016) where we can access entertainment anytime/anywhere, we discuss how companies like McDonald's are managing these aspects to promote brand and sell products.

In conclusion, we present data and results from the McDonald's paper tray board game. Since the game uses a digital interface, it is possible to collect data from the players, geo-locating information and inserting questions about the brand to test how players know about the company. We discuss how these data collected can be used in future campaigns or new promotional actions using games.

BIO: Vicente Martin Mastrocola, PhD. works as a graduation level teacher at ESPM São Paulo (Brazil); Vicente also works as a game designer, developing games for mobile platforms and analogical board games/card games. In the first semester of 2016, he studied at Paneurópska vysoká škola (Paneuropean University) in Bratislava (Slovakia) as part of his doctorate research.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, E.; Rollings, A. (2009). Fundamentals of game design. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Bogost, I. (2016). Play anything: the pleasure of limits, the uses of boredom, & the secret of games. New York: Basic Books.
Bogost, I. (2010). Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Castells, M. (2009). Communication Power. Oxford: Oxford Press.
Fullerton, T., et al. (2008). Game design workshop: a playcentric approach to creating innovative games. Burlington: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
Silverstone, R. (2006). Media and Morality: on the rise of the mediapolis. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

#GoGamers

Bright Memory Free Download

Bright Memory is a lightning-fast fusion of the FPS and action genres, created by one-man development studio FYQD using Unreal Engine. Combine a wide variety of skills and abilities to unleash dazzling combo attacks. SRO (Supernatural Science Research Organization) agent Shelia's adventure is about to begin.

This game depicts the maiden adventure of a woman named Shelia in the year 2020.

The 1000-year-old relic swords known as "Kanshou and Bakuya", discovered through SRO research, have been found to comprise a unique multilayered structure, containing a mysterious substance in their cores. This substance, known as the "Soul of Jiu Xuan", possesses the ability to reanimate the dead. In an attempt to take possession of the substance, the "SAI" – a massive terrorist organization controlling its own army – has used a cutting-edge piece of technology known as a "Quantum Transporter" to infiltrate the SRO research facility and steal top-secret and incredibly dangerous data. To make matters worse, while attempting to calibrate coordinates on the Quantum Transporter, Shelia mistakenly activates the device, immediately transporting everyone in the vicinity to the Floating Island – an airborne continent near the North Pole, undisturbed in its slumber for over 1000 years. It is soon discovered that the various beasts and corpses of those who once populated the island have been reanimated by the "Soul of Jiu Xuan", and they're coming for Shelia.

GAMEPLAY AND SCREENSHOTS :

DOWNLOAD GAME:

♢ Click or choose only one button below to download this game.
♢ View detailed instructions for downloading and installing the game here.
♢ Use 7-Zip to extract RAR, ZIP and ISO files. Install PowerISO to mount ISO files.

Bright Memory Free Download

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS GAME

➤ Download the game by clicking on the button link provided above.

➤ Download the game on the host site and turn off your Antivirus or Windows Defender to avoid errors.

➤ Once the download has been finished or completed, locate or go to that file.

➤ To open .iso file, use PowerISO and run the setup as admin then install the game on your PC.

➤ Once the installation process is complete, run the game's exe as admin and you can now play the game.

➤ Congratulations! You can now play this game for free on your PC.

➤ Note: If you like this video game, please buy it and support the developers of this game.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
(Your PC must at least have the equivalent or higher specs in order to run this game.)

Minimum:
• OS: Windows 7 64 Bit
• Processor: i5-3470 INTEL or AMD Equivalent
• Memory: 6 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon HD 7770
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 4 GB available space

Recommended:
• OS: Windows 10 64 Bit
• Processor: i7-4790K INTEL or AMD Equivalent
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon R9 390
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 4 GB available space

Supported Language: English, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Portuguese-Brazil, Simplified Chinese language are available.
If you have any questions or encountered broken links, please do not hesitate to comment below. :D

Pillars Of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition Available Now On PlayStation 4 And Xbox One

Independent games publisher Versus Evil and developer Obsidian Entertainment today announced that Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition is now available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a Nintendo Switch version following later in the year. Originally released for PC and Mac, Deadfire received universal critical acclaim and picked up numerous awards.

Priced at $59.99, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition features all the major updates and expansions available for the PC version made up of Beast of Winter, Seeker, Slayer, Survivor and Forgotten Sanctum.

With an enormous open world to explore and comprehensive cast of characters, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition builds on the foundation of classic tabletop gameplay more than ever before, providing players with a deeper single player RPG game experience with either Turn-Based Mode or Classic Real-Time with Pause.

Players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can now experience and craft their very own sprawling RPG adventure and explore the infinite possibilities that await them from detailed character customization to the individual meaningful choices they make in-game.

"Console gamers can fully immerse themselves in an RPG adventure of exploration and discovery in what will be one of the definitive tabletop role-playing experiences available in 2020," said Steve Escalante, General Manager of Versus Evil.

Consumers can digitally purchase the Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Ultimate Edition through the Microsoft Store and PlayStation Store fronts today. Deadfire is also available as a physical release from today in the form of a Standard Edition and the Ultimate Collector's Edition courtesy of THQ Nordic for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 at an SRP of €59.99 | $59.99 | £49.99 and €129.99 | $129.99 | £119.99, respectively. The Ultimate Collector's Edition will contain the following items.

• Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire [including the 5.0 PC patch], and all DLCs: Beast of Winter, The Forgotten Sanctum, Seeker, Slayer, Survivor
• 10"/25cm Od Nua Statue
• Spacepig Keychain
• Metal-optic 3D Sticker
• Premium Box

What Is Amnesia’s Hard Mode?

A year ago we brought SOMA to the Xbox One, and along with it the Safe Mode. The optional mode removed the hostility of enemies and let players explore Pathos-II in relative peace. Most  players were pleased with it, and at best it meant that players that hadn't dared to traverse the Atlantic ocean floor before now had a chance to experience it.

Now finally releasing the Amnesia: Collection on Xbox One, and decided to also spice it up with a little treat. We bring you the polar opposite of the Safe Mode: the Hard Mode!

Amnesia: Collection will be released on Xbox One on the 28th of September, after which the mode will be available on Xbox and PC.


What is the Hard Mode?

It is really just as the title suggests: a mode that makes it harder to beat the game. You know, in case The Dark Descent wasn't stressful enough for you.
The Hard Mode has the following features:

- Autosaves are disabled, and manual saving costs 4 tinderboxes
- Sanity dropping to zero results in death
- Less oil and tinderboxes throughout the levels
- Monsters are faster, spot the player more easily, deal more damage and stay around for longer
- There is no danger music when the monsters are near.

So in summary: the environments are harsher, the monsters more unforgiving, insanity is deadly, and death is final – unless you pay a toll.

You can pick between normal mode and Hard Mode when starting a new game of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The mode changes some fundamental elements of the game, and therefore can't be changed halfway through.

A Machine for Pigs and Justine do not feature this mode.


How does this affect achievements/trophies?

Beating the game on Hard Mode will earn you a new trophy called Masochist. Because, you know, you pretty much have to be one to complete the mode.

The mode affects the Illuminatus achievement, which you can't get during playing in Hard Mode as it reduces the amount of tinderboxes throughout the level.

The Masochist achievement.

Will it be on all platforms?

Yes! The Hard Mode will launch on Xbox and PC versions (Steam, GOG, Humble Bundle) simultaneously. We have started working on the PS4 version with our porting partner, and hope to have it out soon.

Extra

Want a Hard Mode wallpaper? Download a 4K version with and without the logo on our public Drive folder.

Product Review : Retro-bit's Metal Storm NES Re-release

Reproductions of NES games are nothing new, people have been making them and selling them illegally for years.  Recently the retro gaming market has shown such strength and durability that legitimate companies have felt there was sufficient interest in making new copies of original games.  These games would come packaged as "Anniversary Editions" or "Collector's Editions" and come in packaging and with extras that would easily eclipse the original game's.  This of course requires contacting the rights holder and negotiating for permission to release more copies of their game.  Recently, the relatively uncommon but well-regarded NES game Metal Storm received a release from retro-bit and I had the chance for it to come into my possession, so let me use this blog entry to review the game and explain why I had the opportunity to briefly handle it.

I have often in conversation referred to retro-bit as one of the "Four Horsemen of the Retro-Gaming Apocalypse", one of four well-known companies (Hyperkin, atgames and Gamerz-Tek) that have consistently released garbage retro video game products over the years.  They are hardly alone among lousy retro gaming product makers, but they are the most prominent.  Hyperkin can put out a decent controller, so I guess it has graduated, just barely, from the "Horsemen".  Can retro-bit do the same with its release of Metal Storm?  Let's find out.

Read more »

You say "obsessed" as if it is a bad thing.

Earning Trophies In Eternity

PS Trophies or XBox acheivements don't really do too much for me, I'm not that bothered about them for some reason. But I know that there are plenty of people out there who really are.

Sometimes it is fun reading up about the trophies that are out there for games, the crazy little
challenges that have been added on top of a game to add an extra layer of challenge or competition. One I read about a little while ago was the challenge added to FFIX to get Vivi to jump the skipping rope in Alexandria 1000 times! From my memory, doing it 100 times was a challenge enough! Looking over FFVII, there are some hardcore challenges- get Aeris' final limit break, obtain maximum Gil, beat Emerald and Ruby weapon.




All these trophies got me thinking about our Holy Faith.
Maybe there are heavenly trophies to be gained in life, and stored up in eternity?

Resisted impure temptation on 5th May 2016,
went to daily Mass every day for a year in 2017,
spoke to a random person about saving their immortal soul last Tuesday,
this morning got up an hour early to make a meditation.

What if we are earning trophies all the time and don't even know it? What if there are trophies out there that we will only find out about in eternity? I think there are you know, I think there are acheivements to be earned every day of our lives, this is when we use our free will to co-operate with His Holy grace and do great things for Him. These are the kinds of trophies I am interested in, because they really mean something and they truly last forever.

Having Platinum trophies for 100 games, that passes away, but the trophies of merit that we earn for eternity, they will NEVER fade away.

Rev 22:12- Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.

1 Cor 3:8- Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

2 Tim 4:8- Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Matt 10:42- And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

What are you waiting for, through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, earn those trophies, build up a treasure for yourself in heaven! But remember, if you commit a mortal sin all those trophies get taken away from you, you disqualify from the race- but, praise God, they are returned when you make a good confession and return to God's friendship- He forgets your evil deed and returns all those trophies once more.


Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever! We are more than conquerors through Him.

People Of Frictional: Miguel Nogueira

Hi. My name is Miguel Nogueira and I am a concept artist and designer at Frictional Games. My job is to create art for concepts that we might or might not add to the game. The point of concept art and design is planting creative seeds in others through the means of art, to spark debate on the suggestions, and to bring the concepts to life from sketch to product.

I love horror and fiction, so when the opportunity to join Frictional as a freelancer game in August of 2017, I was too flattered to say anything but yes. And in October of 2018, I joined the company as a full member.

As a video games maker, I naturally played a lot of games when I was younger – almost to an unhealthy point. As a 7-year-old kid, this box that I could play on without going outside, or without touching physical toys, was like black magic or voodoo to me. The first game I played was the very first Wolfenstein 3D, released back in 1992.

I wanted to reverse engineer the game. While trying to do so, I broke the computer and got grounded so many times that it wasn't even funny. Fixing a computer or operating system error was not only hard in the early 90's, it was also expensive… But I was fascinated by it. The 7-year-old me had a plan to one day master video games.

Besides that, like any true 90's kid, I owned many cheap consoles that ran Super Mario, Bomberman, Duck Hunt and all that other fun stuff. But they weren't that inspirational – I thought of them as merely a hobby or a fun way to pass time. It was only when I got back into computer games that the immersion really kicked in. Eventually, I got the desire to be a part of the vanguardist front of the current game making age.

While in college, I was still playing a lot of games. I was studying graphic design and multimedia arts, so video games actually inspired me to come up with shapes, colors and designs. Around that time Dark Messiah and the Metal Gear Solid series were what glued me to the screen. There was something about Dark Messiah specifically, its environments, ambience and designs, that was so magical, but at the same time so haunting. It really drew me into the tales of primordial myth – the ones that make you ask what if?

I got into horror way late. I was just looking for ways to relax with films or, so didn't get the hype of media that would scare me or stress me out instead. But later on, I realized that there was also good horror out there, like there is in any other genre, full of mystery that unveils slowly. And then there's, you know, the cheap stuff.



Getting into concept art

Ever since I was that 7-year-old, a part of me had subconsciously wanted to break into the creative field of concept art. I first found out about it when I was 15, and it was thanks to DeviantArt. Back then, around 2005, the site was at its prime, and the only good place to discover and share art. All the art there was mind-blowing, but there was something about concept art that I really loved.

Then in and after college I experimented a lot with fine art, graphic design, graffiti, typography, and other design fields. But it wasn't until I saw some robot designs by Darren Bartley and Nivanh Chanthara that I stopped and thought: "This is what I want. These people look like they're having a lot of fun doing those. I want in."

College itself was tricky for me. When people ask me if it helped me to get a career in games, I'm still on the fence. There was a love-hate relationship going on. On one hand, college provided me with inspirations that I will keep my whole life. It taught me about the European vanguardist artists and how their approach changed the art world, about the importance of the industrial revolution in arts and crafts. I learned about how public installation artists draw attention to their work, and so on. There were classes on graffiti and expression, typography, fine art… and those lessons are priceless. They were a nudge in the right direction. Without someone to teach me about them, I would not have found out about these topics for years.

On the other hand, to get any jobs, I had to lock myself in a room and put hours upon hours into practicing art. It's something you just have to do to get to the next level of art, and it's something college just doesn't quite nurture.

So I cannot give a definitive answer on college. I was either fascinated by the subjects presented at classes or hated myself for being there instead of sitting at home and practicing drawing.

After college, I took a year off to work on and perfect my craft: drawing, painting, designing… After that I took on whatever freelance job I could find, then found work at indie studios, and gradually ended up at more known studios. This was a turning point in my career, because I realized I was playing in the big league now. One day you're someone's groupie and the next day you're working with them.

Every time I connect with a studio or professional I've respected for a long time, my energy meter is filled for a long time. I feel the burst of stamina and will to work out of nowhere, like an energy blast. It's my muse, really. It is the reason I'm fortunate to say that every day may turn out better than yesterday.

And then one day Frictional contacted me because of an email I had sent a long time ago, saying they wanted me for a work test. I passed, and so the journey in Secret Project #1 began. I didn't know it yet, but it was about to be a wild ride!



My life at Frictional

I started at Frictional as a full-time concept artist. All the briefings were cool, interesting and creatively demanding. Working full-time meant I could work on what I liked all day. There was never a day where I thought gee, I wish I could work on something else instead. Soon I was working on props for pretty much all the levels on the project, then moved to characters, then environments – and now I do pretty much anything that comes my way.

When it comes to my work, I try to bring my sense of graphic design into the aesthetics and my experiences into storytelling. I also like to think in analogies, metaphors and jokes, which I like to sneak into the designs. I feel like every concept has capacity to be something more than just itself or what it looks like at first glance. So I try to add some substance, work on aspects of what the concepts stand for, and make sure they're not too literal or easy.

Besides that, I love studying and getting all into different subjects, as there is more chance of finding valuable things the deeper you dive. I draw diagrams, study anomalies of human DNA that can be used in monster designs, consume culture and subculture, capture accidents to use in a different context, experiment and drift, love my experiments as I would an ugly child, delay criticism and judgement.

I do a lot of work where I'm focused on details and injecting story elements into the props, environments and other bits of the world. While working, I have recalled some of my memories related to Dark Messiah. In the game there was a statue in a haunted necropolis that you could choose to interact with. It read something like: "Here likes cursed so and so. For his crimes against the king, let his torment be eternal." It is a really trivial detail and I am probably among the 1% of players that noticed it, but it just added a lot of believability to the world.

A lot of these romantic ideas and memories I have about games are blurry at best and inaccurate at worst. But they are something I gravitate towards when making my art. I study what other games have done well, find out why these things work, then adapt the formula to my own work.

I could go on about my favorite comics, films and games. But to be honest, every time I pick up a new book, game or film, there is a possibility that it will leave me with a long-lasting memory. And for me, that is very exciting.

Like most people at Frictional, I work from home – and in my case it happens to be the sunny Porto in Portugal. Here I have my work sanctuary, aka my office, where all the art making process happens.

My desk and setup are something I'm proud of. It's just tech, but because I built it myself, there's another level of affection I have for the tools. It must be a nerdy thing. Besides the obvious hardware my setup sometimes has a book or a magazine on graphic design, a ball or a fidget spinner to play with while I'm analyzing references or trying to focus mid-brainstorming. Simply reading a couple of paragraphs between drawings or throwing the ball at a wall for a few minutes is enough to get all the parts of my brain working again.

Which leads me to my last point: I want to close this with advice to aspiring video game artists. Sometimes us industry people are too serious and forget to have fun. We forget we're making games. A lot of times artists tend to copy what is popular in the industry, which is fine, but there is also a whole world out there to get influence from. Following in line with the entertainment industry will only get you so far. I find that the art that I actually stop to look at for more than three seconds is the kind of art where the artist is communicating something unique to them, something only they can say – not a copy of a copy of a copy.

The bandwidth of the world is much broader than what you can get through your internet connection or TV set. Get some inspiration from unlikely places: graffiti, typography, furniture design and fashion, nature, travel… Everything has the power to amplify what knowledge you already have and show you entirely new avenues of exploration.

That's it! Thanks for reading!

If you're interested in following my work, you can find me here:

insta: https://www.instagram.com/miguelnogueira.art/
twitter: https://twitter.com/ignitionchemist
site: www.miguel-nogueira.com
artstation: https://www.artstation.com/migno

A Trainer's Resolve

The sky began to darken as I made my way back into Viridian City after defeating Wolf on Route 22. There was still time to push on through Viridian Forest to Pewter City, but it looked like the weather was going to take a turn for the worse. I had my eyes on the sky as I made my way toward the Pokémon Center to get treatment for Kiwi, so I didn't notice that I'd picked up a new follower. He had been watching me since I came back into town, but I barely noticed him. It wasn't until I came out of the Pokémon Center and saw him leaning casually against a light post that I really noticed him. His hair was messy, and his arms were crossed against his chest. He was younger than me, but he didn't carry himself that way. When he saw that I finally noticed him, he pushed off the light post and walked up to me confidently.
"I saw you fight," he announced.
"Yeah? Are you a trainer?" I asked.
"Yeah. Are you?" he asked. His words had a bit of venom in them.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"You aren't serious at all, man. I can tell. You wouldn't stand a chance against a real trainer like me." He was cocky, not unlike Wolf.
"Is that a challenge?" I asked.
He laughed at me. "Oh, no. I'm being sincere. You need to get serious before you can take on someone like me." I rolled my eyes and began walking away from him. I had swallowed enough attitude already that day. He quickly followed after me. "Hey, I'm not trying to offend you," he assured me, though his tone wasn't as convincing. "I just can't stand to see casual jokers like you walking around calling themselves Pokémon trainers. Sure, there are bug catching kids who are out having some fun, but then there's real training. Your friend back there on Route 22 said he was going to challenge the Indigo League. What about you? What are you doing?"
"I've been training," I said. "Real training. What do you know about it?"
"Are you going to take the Gym Leader Challenge? Are you going to face the League? What? I'm serious. Why are you here?" He was persistent.
"I am going to start a Pokémon Sanctuary," I reluctantly said, hoping it would be enough for him to leave me alone.
"Oh, like a Pokémon Safari?" he asked. He seemed genuinely interested which was a departure from my encounter with Wolf.
"Similar, I guess. I want to create a natural habitat for as many Pokémon I can and provide a safe place for them to live and interact with humans in a natural environment. You wouldn't catch them. You'd go there to understand them better. Maybe to study them in a safe environment, or just to understand yourself and your relationship with Pokémon better. You know?"
"My grandfather would love a place like that," he said with a snicker. "So you're what? Playing at training?"
"No. Not at all. It's important to me to understand Pokémon, so it's important for me to be a trainer. I'm traveling Kanto to catch, record and study as much as I am here to train and battle. Why do you care?" I suddenly stopped to ask him.
"I told you. I can't stand seeing trainers like you. You looked so pathetic out there against that other guy. Yeah, you won, but you looked like a chump. You gotta get serious," he announced. "If you want respect in Kanto, you gotta take your training seriously." He flashed a couple of badges he had pinned to his backpack. "You earn these and people will know you're serious. Maybe some day I'll see you up on the Indigo Plateau." He laughed as if that thought amused him, but I sensed he wasn't mocking me this time. He was genuinely enjoying a thought of us battling it out in the big league matches on the plateau.
"What do you think I should do?" I asked rhetorically.
"You need to figure out what Pokémon training means to you. Stop thinking about your Sanctuary, or whatever, for a minute. Maybe that will happen, or maybe it won't, but right now you need to figure out what kind of trainer you are and what your Pokémon mean to you." He ran his fingers through his messy, brown hair and nodded to the building across from us. "Look at that place. What a disgrace." We'd stopped just near the Viridian Pokémon Gym. "If I ran that place, it would be open all day every day, so trainers could come and train or challenge the gym. That's what it means to me. I'm ready to train, to fight, to win all day and every day. The guy who runs this place is a coward. The League should kick him out and give this gym to someone who actually cares." I could only nod in reluctant agreement. "Look, I just wanted to pull you aside and tell you if youI  are gonna face guys like that or guys like me, you better get serious about it. You're only going to get yourself or your Pokémon hurt if you don't and that really pisses me off."
"I'll think about what you said," I offered. He seemed to take that answer as the best he could get and nodded a gruff approval.
"Good. Maybe someday when you're ready we'll have a real battle. Smell ya later." He laughed at me and walked off.
I rolled my eyes behind his back. What did this kid know about me? Even still, his words stuck with me for a long time.

Rain drizzled down the leaves of Viridian Forest, methodically finding their way down to the ground where I was making my way. The dense forest was dark and gloomy even on the best of days. As a result it was full of bug Pokémon, including the newest addition to my small team. I was lucky to run into a Caterpie with my last remaining Pokéball. I was told by the Pokédex that they were quite rare that time of year. As a result, I named him Lucky. I ran into a handful of bug-catching kids who wanted to battle and throughout these few fights I could only think about what that kid in Viridian City had said to me.
Was I any different from these kids who were mostly playing at Pokémon training? Did I have what it takes to stand face to face against real dangers in the wild? Could I some day challenge the very best trainers in Kanto with confidence? In the wake of my battle with Wolf earlier that morning, and the unsettling conversation with a pushy little trainer outside Viridian Gym, it's fair to say that my trek through Viridian Forest changed me. It was where I decided exactly what kind of Pokémon trainer I was going to be, and how I would achieve my goals as a trainer and future preservationist of Pokémon.
I decided as I made my way onward to Pewter City that if I expected my Pokémon not to fail me, then I could not fail them. I decided that if I were going to build a safe place for Pokémon to live and interact with each other and with humans, I needed to build a safe space for them on my team. I needed to understand their strengths and their weaknesses. Unlike Wolf who was content to just laugh as his Pokémon fainted, laugh as he traded away a tiny fraction of his disposable credits to me, I would not accept fainting as a part of training. I made the decision that my Pokémon would never be pushed to the point of  breaking. If I ever failed them, even once, I would let them go. I would find them a better home, or release them back into their habitats to live out their days naturally. As I passed through Viridian Forest, I emerged from my own cocoon with a newfound purpose and seriousness. I had decided exactly what it meant to me to be a trainer and hopefully someday the owner of the world's first successful Pokémon Sanctuary.

Current Team:

Writing The Best Application For A Frictional Games Job

Written by Kira, who goes through and replies to all your Frictional applications.


So, you have decided to apply for a job here at Frictional Games? Great, we would love to hear from you!

…But before you hit that "send" button, you want to make sure that you are showing yourself and your talent in the best light possible. We have already written a blog post on how the recruitment process works, so you can mentally prepare for that.

In this blog we will help you construct a good application, consisting of a CV, a cover letter and the portfolio, and even get down the nitty-gritty of the email. While we hope you apply for our positions, you are obviously welcome to use the tips when applying for other jobs too.

Just remember the most important thing: Always customise your application for the position you're applying to.

A job application is like a love letter. You have to show interest in the recipient, and tell them why the two of you could be a good match specifically. You can write a letter about how great you are and send the same version to different recipients, but be warned – that's pretty transparent, and will not likely land you a (business) relationship, no matter how good you are.

In this economic situation it might be tempting to say fuck it and cast a net as wide as possible (yes, we have moved on to fishing metaphors now). But the best fish will slip through the loose holes of a haphazardly set net. Instead, try finding one good spot and throwing in a hook with a juicy bait – the juicy bait being your best application. If you are good enough, a fish will definitely bite, and a love letter recipient will definitely swoon.

Frictional is a small company with little turnover. We're not looking to burn through talent, but to find the right applicants who will stay with us for a long time. That's why we want the applicants to be interested in and motivated to work with us specifically.

Do you love us? We love you too! Now let's go write that application!


1. Read the job posting

This might sound obvious, but start by reading the job posting. Then read it again.

If you're exactly what the posting is looking for, then great. You can use your previous work as examples of why you're a good match. Are you a generalist? Pick your strong points that you would use in this job.

Feel like you don't quite fit the criteria? Do not despair. Especially women tend to not apply for jobs they don't feel 100% qualified for. Think about your best qualities. Think about the hobby projects that you've done. Those count too.

(But be realistic about it. If your skillset is wildly different from what the job would be, you might want to wait for another opening. Otherwise you are mostly wasting your own time.)

Now compare your skills to the job's requirements and get ready to use those points in the next steps.


2. CV

The CV is all about you, dearest. It's your dating profile where you can show your best angles, or that really big fish you caught once.

When the perfect job comes along, you don't want to spend hours digging out when exactly you interned at that one place. Keep a meta-CV of all your experience, skills and achievements. This can be a document, or it can be a website or LinkedIn page you can link in the CV. An accessible online CV especially good if you have gaps in your relevant experience because you were helping out at your cousin's ice cream business or similar.

Remember the previous step where we looked at the job requirements? You can now cherrypick the most relevant points from your meta-CV and put them in your tailored CV. Quality over quantity and all that. Start from the most recent relevant one.

A good CV is 1–2 pages long. If you only picked the most relevant experience, you should be able to keep it tight. But do write in detail about the relevant experience. If you only gloss over your experience in big strokes, the employer will not be able to tell what you have actually done and achieved. Share specific tasks and examples, list your best achievements.

If you have skills outside your field, such as multiple languages or software, you can list those too. Just keep them tight. But, despite being your so-called dating profile, listing hobbies might not be very relevant. But if you've done game jams or similar, go ahead! They are relevant and they count.

Do:

• Keep a meta-CV.
• Always customise your CV based on the position.
• Start with the latest relevant experience.
• Write in detail about your relevant experience.

Don't:

• Send the same CV to every position.
• List every job you've ever held.
• Start your CV with the first job you ever had.
• Start with education instead of work experience (unless you're a recent graduate).

3. Cover Letter

If the CV was your dating profile, the cover letter is your love letter. And a love letter cannot just be a glorified dating profile.

Picking relevant experience for the CV already shows that you put thought into your application. But the cover letter gives you an opportunity to show that you truly care about the company, their games and the position – or at least have knowledge about them. It's incredibly easy to spot if someone sends the same cover letter to everyone, because they only talk about themselves. You can reuse lines you've written for similar positions, but make sure to keep them relevant.

The cover letter is also a great opportunity to talk more about why the skills you have acquired would translate well into the position advertised – especially if your experience is moreso from hobby projects. Convince the company why you would be a good match for them.

It's easy to get lost in profound expressions of love, but a good cover letter is half a page to 1 page long. Being concise is also a skill.

If the job posting mentions expected salary, this is a good place to mention it.

Do:

• Talk about why you want to work with this company specifically.
• Talk about your skills in relation to the job's requirements.
• Tell the company why they should hire you. Be bold.

Don't:

• Send the same cover letter to every company. It's easy to spot.
• Only change the name of the company in the letter. Generic wording is also easy to spot.
• Only talk about yourself with no relevance to the company or the position.

4. Portfolio

For better or worse, looks are important. In this case your dating profile pictures are your portfolio. The portfolio is a way to back up the claim that you're as good as you say you are, for both artists, programmers and other folks.

While a good portfolio looks different depending on whether you're an artist, a designer or perhaps a communications person, there are still good general practices when it comes to putting one together. In this segment we will use artists as an example, but you can use your imagination to apply the tips to other fields.

Just like with a CV, keep a master portfolio. For artists it can be sites like Artstation or Behance, or perhaps your own site. Pick the pieces you are most proud of, but are varied enough to show off your versatility.

From the master portfolio, you should again pick the pieces most relevant to the position and create a tailored portfolio. If the company is looking for a props and environment artist, those are the things you should be concentrating on. Also look at the stuff the company has previously done. Have they only done high-poly? Their next product will probably not be low-poly.

There is no rule to how long the portfolio should be. The key is making it easy for the recruitment team to immediately see if you are a good or potential match. For an open position you can choose some pieces relevant to the position and put them in a PDF, or link them from the master portfolio. For an open job query, pick a few pieces that are most in line with what the company is doing.

It is also a good practice to mention what you actually did for your works. Here at Frictional we wear all of the hats. The artists do everything from whiteboxing to textures. We need to know if you know how to do those and didn't just make others' textures and assets look good.

Do:

• Keep a master portfolio of all your work.
• Send a portfolio or links to a few relevant pieces.
• Mention what you worked on for the pieces.

Don't:

• Send the same top picks to every company and every position.
• Send all the portfolio pieces as separate files (links are ok).

5. Email

Chances are, there are also other jobs you have or will apply for. It's good practice to have a professional email account for official business. Something with a neutral email handle and your real name as the sender. It makes it easier to find your application later. Having a signature with your contact information and links to your master CV and portfolio is also handy.

Some email platforms will show your profile picture, so make sure you at least know what it is. You might want to think twice before using a topless beach pic or a dank meme. The recruiter will probably have a chuckle, but might not be left with the best impression.

Make sure you include some sort of cover text in the email. It can be pretty generic, informing of your interest in the position and the attachments you have provided. This is also a good place to mention your master CV and master portfolio. Even better if you get a short elevator pitch in.

Do:

• Use your real name in the email.
• Have a signature with contact info and links.
• Write a short cover text, like an elevator pitch for your application.

Don't:

• Have a shirtless profile picture. No, seriously.

6. Personal Information

Getting a feel of a person is important, but not all information you provide will help us with that. There are some things the employer is not even allowed to ask (family relations, religion…), and being upfront about them puts the potential employer in an uncomfortable position. Emphasis on the potential part. If you get hired, we will ask you for the details we need.

What a potential employer DOES need to know:

• Real name
• Email address
• Country of residence
• Links to your master portfolio and CV
• Phone number (we don't need it but most companies do)

What a potential employer DOES NOT need to know:

• ID number
• Birthday
• Home address
• Marital status and/or children
• Ethnicity or nationality, gender, religion. disabilities or similar

7. Think of the recruiter

The recruitment team might get hundreds of applications every day. Sometimes the recruitment team is just one human being, who also does other things.

Just like with life in general, the key word is empathy. So send the kind of application that you would like to receive.

Make sure the application easy to go through, and that the attachments are easily accessible and in proper file formats. Be sure the relevant links are easy to find, and that they work. If you want to make a recruiter happy, include your own name in the attachment names (so it doesn't become CV(69).pdf on the recruiter's computer).

Do:

• Save your CV, cover letter and any other files in PDF format
• Make everything easy to find

Don't:

• Save your text files as doc/x, rtf or txt, or especially png or jpg.
• Send your portfolio pieces as multiple separate files.

8. Afterword

There is no sure-fire way to make the perfect application. But the more tailored your application is, the better your chances are.

And lastly: even in an application, feel free to let your personality show. If the company doesn't like your genuine application, you wouldn't be happy working with them anyway. If they do… they will remember you.

Good luck!

The Untold Sad Story Of Erangel

Erangel, one of the maps of PUBG, is 8×8 km wide containing grass, woodland, urban and sea terrains. According to PUBG team, this map was inspired by a real-life abandoned island located in the black sea near Russia. The story behind this island is full of sadness and sorrowful that might change the way you play this map.

Everyone knows that without struggle there is no success. But the story of Erangel is related to the society who never got the fruit of their struggles.

         

                  Erangel is a fictional island located in the black sea abandoned near Russia. Once this was a happy island but today there is nothing except silence. What happened to this island that it became an isolated land where not even a person exists?

    The story starts in 1950 when the island was under Soviet forces. They used to test their biological/chemical experiments on the local people. The people became aware of it and they decided to protest against it. A large mass gathering of people protested against this illegal experiments. The military also tried to confiscate the protest and bring it under control. They established electrical fences all over the area to restrict the protesters. In the game, the same thing happens where the players are restricted by the blue zone and they are pressurized to come into a small area. 

   

                  The protesters didn't give up and gave their best but in the end, they failed. They didn't get the fruit of their struggles and then they decided to leave the island. One after one they left the island leaving the island abandoned.

          Now the same island inspired to Tencent games and they decided to pick this Island as one of the maps of PUBG and they named the island Erangel. The name Erangel was actually inspired by PLAYERUNKNOWN'S daughter Eryn. 

          So guys you have to think now what is the role of PUBG players on this island? Are they the millitary campers who is trying to confiscate the protest or the civilians who are fighting for their own rights? Tell us in the comments section below!

Some Work From Zach

A collection of Zach's works

The Great White Ape of Barsoom

He did a good job on the white fur

Woola, the Calot

I forget which Barsoomian critter this is... 

A Chaos Warrior

Also, the flank of a Banth (Barsoomian lion)

 Chaos Beastman Army Centaur Banner

Another Chaos Beastman. Zach has an entire army of these fellows

Italian Wars Campaigning

An interesting question came up on the Twitters whilst I was chatting about my review of the Furioso rule set, what about a Campaign System ? You know each player is a Condottiero building his forces and manoeuvring for position, fortune and fame in late 15th Century Italy, that sort of thing.

Well sit back, I think I have found it.

I present Dell'arte Del La Guerra from a Company who are new too me Real Time Wargames. I found them during a random search on the Googles, I couldn't find much information or reviews about them on the tinterwebnet so I took a punt.

The book has a Campaign System for up to 6 players to take the role of a Condottiero in the late 15th Century in the years leading up to the French Invasion in 1495 (or invitation depending on your viewpoint), everything I mentioned in my opening paragraph.

They are avaliable as a PDF for around £10 from Wargames Vault (you would need to print and mount the game cards this way) or direct from the company as a printed version complete with gaming aids for £20 (link below)

https://www.realtimewargames.com/product-page/dell-arte-della-guerra

I bought the printed version and if it's your thing I would go for that version as will become plain during the review.

The Contents

First thing to say is that the book also has some tabletop rules within them, this review does not cover that part of the publication, I am happy with Furioso at the moment. 1st off a video covering the physical content of the book.

For those who don't do the Utube here are some stills of content. The use of the cards becomes clearer when watched in conjunction with the game play video.

Above are the game mats included in the printed version, we have,

1. A fast play sheet for the tabletop rules
2. A chart for recording current financial details of the players and the City States involved.
3. A campaign chart for army movement.
4. A Chart for recording passage of time during the Campaign 

A set of Unit Cards for each of the Condottiero, defining two units from that army, they are printed on decent card and are good quality. Each of the 6 players have 10 cards each.

Next up are three sets of cards, one each for the two schools of warfare in the game. These are specifically for the tabletop rules and are used to influence game play, however I don't think they would be too difficult to adapt to whatever rule set you use.

The third deck are objective cards, these are drawn at random each game year and provide a focus for the campaign.

Above is a picture of the remaining cards in the set, there a unit cards for the City States (50 cards) plus a number of cards representing the French Invaders.

The rest of the cards are for use on the Campaign Charts shown above, things like markers for money on the finance chart, army position markers, debt markers for money owed etc

In fact everything you need, bar a few dice and a deck of playing cards. There are hundreds of cards here and for me, well worth the extra 10 quid.

Campaign Game Play

The next section covers an example of the set up and workings of the Campaign, I have done this solely on the Utubes as it's much easier to present that way.

Hopefully that will have given you an idea of the rule set and how they might work for you. Don't forget they include a tabletop rule set as well.

The movement map for the armies is very straight forward and some may miss a more traditional map based system but it's a nice simple way of working out Army Movement and we will definitely be giving it a go. 

I'm off to raise (ok paint) some more troops for his Holiness, "Viva il Papa"