#apple mac games gameplay

[tailschannel]

Sonic Dream Team, new Sonic game from SEGA HARDlight, to be released this December

Announced by SEGA, Sonic Dream Team, a new Sonic the Hedgehog game, exclusive for the Apple Arcade platform, is on the way.

Developed by SEGA HARDlight, the same developers of Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, Sonic Dream Team is a new 3D action-platformer coming exclusively to Apple Arcade, Apple’s gaming subscription service exclusive to Apple products, with the title being playable across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.

"In this all-new Sonic adventure, the evil Dr. Eggman has discovered The Reverie – an ancient device with the power to manifest dreams in the real world. Navigate twisted dreamscapes, rescue your friends, and put a stop to Dr. Eggman’s nightmarish dreams of world domination!"

The game is bringing some features that will have fans with their eyes wide open:

Six Playable Characters

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, and Rouge are all playable in this new adventure. There will be three different gameplay/movement types that will be divided between the playable characters.

There is also a new character, Ariem, that will be featured in the game's story.

New Boss Battles

Four boss battles that will test the player's skills across the different movement types.

New Dream Worlds

The player will be able to traverse through 12 intricate levels set within four unique dream worlds with mind-bending environments that include wall-running, gravity changes and more.

Sonic Dream Team will be released 5 December 2023.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Muffin! It's ASP Inc, the conglomerate made up of the companies formerly known as Apple, Sony, and Pepsi-Co. Based on your credentials with prior projects, you've been conscripted again for another big budget Twilight media project! Probably the CEO is on drugs, but congrats on your $500m dollar budget.

Your task is to design a big-budget Twilight video game. "But I don't really play that many video games," you maybe say? Idk, the CEO doesn't seem to care and is maybe using this project for tax evasion, so your instructions are "Just make us a Twilight game with gameplay stolen from a popular thing like a Minecraft, Fortnight, Among Us, whatever the kids nowadays are playing. Maybe a Mario? Are Marios still a thing?? I played Oregon Trail on my mac once. Stick some story in it. Give it the Muffin treatment, kids like Muffins!"

Your project brief must include:

1) What non-story-based gameplay mechanic you're stealing ("It's like a Mario!") 2) What story set in the Twilight Universe (tm) you've decided is most game-able. 3) Where you're spending the big bucks.

Thank you and good luck! (I hope this is fun and not, you know, annoying)

That would be a very silly thing for them to do.

Caveat

Twilight already is a video game: it's a visual novel. You are Bella Swan, first person point of view, checking out hottie mchottie across the hall. You don't know it, but the wrong action you take, even if it's arriving in the parking lot late: you die.

It's up to you to find Bella's golden path to survival which is in fact the Twilight novels we know and love.

Ordinarily, I'm a big skeptic of medium jumps without much thought, especially to and from video games as they usually don't transition well. However, in this case, we're already there.

You don't even have to change that much of the narrative structure since it's all in first person and we have the visuals as we know exactly what everyone looks like down to what exact shade of red their hair is.

There's not much for me to do.

But That Will Never Fly/Isn't What You Asked For

It sounds like this merger corporation doesn't really understand Twilight or video games which is not surprising. So, I have to make a real person video game which is just like that thing the kiddos are playing.

And since I'm going to hell anyway: I'm making a Twilight game that's RDR/GTA styled and we're going wild.

You're Bella Swan going to high school but you can wander around the town of Forks/the world at large and do whatever the fuck you want. This often gets you killed horribly. You go to Mexico: you're eaten by vampires. You go to Alaska: you get fucked by vampires and have a wild time in their sauna. You go to Egypt: some guy named Amun locks you in a tomb where you hang out with Benjamin, Tia, and Amun's angry wife. You can take missions for the Volturi, which they never asked you to do, and every time you collect a bounty a Volturi member will give you a weird look and ask "what the fuck is wrong with you/why are you here?" but you'll earn in game rewards as they publicly shame you.

You can also get into affairs with your human friends and ruin Jessica's love life, go to Prom with five people, and so on and so forth.

You can also get involved in the La Push community where they stare at you for being this person who clearly doesn't belong and try to seduce Leah into a lesbian love affair with you. (This is a very difficult quest, Leah's not impressed and very confused and going through it with Sam right now). You get to hear all of people's drama that's going on in the side lines.

The actual plot is dating Edward, and somehow, he doesn't notice all your wild adventures because he can't read your mind and while he's been stalking you every time you leave the state he loses your scent.

Your missions are surprisingly difficult as you have to avoid death by Edward by saying the right things and avoid death by everything else in the universe by navigating Port Angeles correctly (shockingly hard as the rapists somehow corner you at every turn). You also get missions during the Hallucination Edward arc as you have to do increasingly difficult and dangerous things to get Hallucination Edward to appear at which point your player character gets sweet sweet endorphins.

In the online player mode, where you've probably become a vampire, you can engage in vampire warfare where the losing condition is you killed too many humans so the Volturi come to kill all of you.

And yes, of course, there is an honor system but you blow it yourself as Bella's honor plummets during New Moon when she has to endanger herself and others to see Edward.

The money's going into a) graphics b) the sheer open worldness allowed in the number of quests, the random events, and all that good points.

Conclusion

I imagine they ask me how I will market this game to Twilight's audience, who are presumably the only ones who will play this game, and I claim, "Young women love grand theft auto!"

[your-local-uwu-artist]

HELLAO how about 6, 14, 15, and 25 for the Kirby OC ask game!!! :D

🗣️: If you could cast a voice actor to voice your OC who would you choose?

tbh I havn't really been able to nail a voice-claim/hc down for Button. Though I def think he would have a more masculine-sounding voice, but with some sort of quick to it (like being raspy or squeaky) the only thing I know for sure is he needs like, a loser white guy voice.... if that makes literally any sense

also I think they have the vibe of a character whos eng and jp voices are very different but somehow both work equally very well (like calcifur and meowth, both of those have very different directions taken with their voices but both work in the same way somehow??)

ummm some potential candidates are Charlie Day, Jack McBrayer, maybe Jason Ritter? Daniel thrasher has never voice acted but he's def a candidate

for jp something similar to either Nate's pkmn masters jp voice, or like, something very raspy and mascot-character esque

14. 🍱: If your OC had a dish themed around them at the Kirby Cafe, what would it be?

hmm I'm not sure? this isn't really my area of expertise: here's some random ideas tho~

-apple pie flavored waffle? shaped like a star of course

-little button shaped sugar cookies?

-half chocolate half vanilla cupcake? to represent the angel+demon thing, combine it with the sugar cookies maybe? have two of them decorated like his eyes mayhaps?

-apparently there is a way to make drinks glow in the dark but it requires a black light so dead end :(

-mac n cheese, idk how to make it cute but it needs to be involved

-wait! idea: pretzel shaped like a lyra?

15. 🧸: If your OC had any merchandise themed around them, what would it be?

now this one is actually right in my area of expertise I love toy design

for some less simple things:

one of those little craft kits that gives you the supplies to make something simple like a felt plush sewn together with yarn, you could sew a little small star-button billow, and a little kirby plush and the aesthetic is all Button themed. Or maybe a a friendship bracelet craft kit? there's a lot of potential craft kits what with being from patch land

or maybe a merry magoland themed re-ment set that features a little Button working a booth

or you know those little keychain plushies?

dude I could design these ALL DAY

hell I've thought a lot about button merch just with what I could feasibly make happen. Button acryllic charms? Button buttons? a Button themed candy bag keychain? those keychains with the little magnet heart accesories? I could do that with Button and characters he's shipable with. standee with tail wag? glow in the dark standee and the stand part is a magic circle? button enamel pins? button ACRYLIC PINS?

25. ⭐️: If your OC got their own spinoff game what would it be about and what would the gameplay be like?

a few ideas!

-epic yarn style! the story line is Button learns about Kirby's Magic sock and decides to visit home~

-game where you sail across the sea!!! Meta Knight wants you to collect a special flower that only grows on this one island, he's too busy with meta knight stuff to get it himself. So he has sent Button on this fetch quest. i guess you could make it into a platformer, but maybe it could be like a minigame collection? that would involve things like puzzle games to figure out navigation. or upkeep/tidying around the boat. maybe there could be 'events', like finding a waddle dee lost at sea and bringing them home. or needing to fix the boats engine

-prequel game of one of Button's journey's during angst-era. platformer but with a lot of puzzle aspects implemented

-if you wanted a more epic quest with co-op modes and all maybe Button caught wind of some powerful magic source and is seeking it in hopes of restoring his Halo, and of course theres a positive message in the end where no Button doesn't get his halo back but he got his Self worth back or smth. (the true halo was the friends we made along the way I guess) would still want puzzle aspects implemented

-game where kirby and co is on vacation but danger strikes and Button, Magolor, Taranza, and Marx has to take the place of Kirby and co.

-unrelated but take a moment to imagine Merry Magoland but with Button around doing his job. Imagine a special animation of them being shocked when the player gets a high score or smth

[letssgolesbians]

mutazione review

mutazione is a beautifully illustrated adventure exploration game where you play as 15 year old kai, a queer teen who travels to the strange island mutazione to take care of her sick grandpa, nonno. mutazione is an island full of mutated people, mysteries flora and animals, and a wonderful ecosystem. kai goes around the island building musical gardens that are requested by different residents and talking to other people and building friendships to learn the community’s juicy gossip!! there is an unfolding strange mystery for kai to explore, and many compelling characters to interact with, along with fun events to attend like music night and a bbq.

the genre is action, and it is available on mac, ios (part of apple arcade), windows, ps4, nintendo switch and xbox one. the age rating is 13+. the gameplay hours are around 6-11. it is a calming, addictive game that you won’t be able to put down. there are nice quality of life features like kai’s journal which guides players towards the next plot point, an encyclopaedia with loads of information about the island’s flora, and frequent auto saving so game progress is almost never lost.

it costs around £16.75, and the game does have an ending which you can’t play after, but there is a feature where you can receive letters from the ppl you’ve met in the next summer after.

i thought it was amazing, and it is one of my fave games i’ve ever played. the illustration was beautiful and really added to the game, it was low pressure and chill with no time constraints, the musical gardens were fun to make and organise, all the characters rly resonated with me (especially miu!!), kai’s queerness was not a central part of the story and was very casual and not like a shock to anyone, i enjoyed finding out the gossip and how it linked to the main plot, and the journal was a great resource to remember what i was doing after picking it up again.

it is a single player only game, and i found it very easy and forgiving, with a nice replay value and options to make new gardens after you’ve finished the game.

the game was released on the 19th september 2019, and has an ign rating of 8.5.

overall, i absolutely adored this game and think it is super underrated, and more ppl need to play it. i am eagerly waiting for the studios next games, and i would recommend this to basically everyone!!!!

[queriesntheories]

“…help…me…” - Dark NPC

I have been obsessed with this indie game called Communite lately; wholesome multiplayer game where you build a world with tiles and kindness!

It’s like everything I wanted out of Minecraft survival servers, but without all the faff of plugins and leaderboards and economies and stuff. Just nice simple chill gameplay. I think I would have loved it ten years ago, but the present is good enough!

You can download it for free on itch.io and get it on Apple’s TestFlight platform and Google Play :D

(Windows only download, but if you have a Mac you can play the iOS port with TestFlight)

Bonus doodles below! :D

[linuxgamenews]

Introducing Please Touch The Artwork 2 A Free Hidden Object Adventure Game

Please Touch The Artwork 2 releases the hidden object adventure game playable on Linux with Windows PC. Thomas Waterzooi's exceptional development skills have played a pivotal role in this achievement. Available now on Steam with 100% Positive reviews. So, today's a big day in the world of digital art and hidden object adventure! Please Touch The Artwork 2 has just hit the scene and this release is totally free. You can also play it on your smartphone or tablet from the Apple Appstore or Google Play. Or if you're more of a desktop fan, it's available on Linux via Windows / Mac through Steam. At least until the native release is available. And here's the best part – it's all about pure, unadulterated fun with zero ads, hidden fees, or paid DLC. This is all about enjoying at your own pace, without any pesky interruptions. Still due to receive a native build. The Please Touch The Artwork 2 release takes you deep into the world of James Ensor, a legend in Belgian Modern Art. The game is a playful stroll through his iconic works. It's not just about looking at art – it's about engaging with it in a unique way. You're there to help out some quirky characters by finding lost items and fixing up the paintings. It's a blend of art appreciation and a bit of detective work, all wrapped up in a fun, short trip. The thing about this release is that Please Touch The Artwork 2 is backed by the Flemish Government. Celebrating both the Belgian EU Presidency 2024 and the 75th anniversary of Ensor's passing. The idea is to make art accessible to everyone, and making this adventure free is a big step towards that.

Please Touch The Artwork 2 - Release Trailer

The gameplay? It's like stepping into a hand-painted world where you assist a skeleton artist. Your task is to collect hidden items for the people and solve puzzles along the way. The artwork comes straight from Ensor's collection, giving you an authentic experience of his style. Here's what you can look forward to:

Exploring Five Unique Worlds: Each world is a gateway into Ensor's mesmerizing art, filled with mysteries and hidden treasures.

Hints for Tough Spots: If you ever get stuck, the Please Touch The Artwork 2 release offers hints to help you out, keeping the frustration at bay.

Simple and Intuitive Controls: The point-and-click style makes navigation a breeze, and the zoom function lets you get up close and personal with every detail.

Casual, Hand-Painted Art: The interactive elements and animations are straight out of Ensor's own works, bringing a unique life to the experience.

Relaxing Soundscapes: The audio is just as immersive as the visuals, creating a calm and captivating atmosphere.

Highly Accessible: It's light-hearted, playful, and suitable for pretty much anyone looking to dive into a cozy art adventure.

So, if you're into exploring new and creative worlds, the Please Touch The Artwork 2 release is worth checking out. The game is a fresh take on art, puzzles, and storytelling, and it's all just a download away on Steam. Available to play on Linux via Proton with Windows PC.

[pinerpage]

Screenflick and nvidia geforce now

SCREENFLICK AND NVIDIA GEFORCE NOW UPGRADE

SCREENFLICK AND NVIDIA GEFORCE NOW FULL

We made some performance optimizations that will result in the marque, and other parts of the app, loading more quickly. Just point your Google Chrome browser to and start gaming. If you've got one of these on pre-order, or already have another Apple M1-based product, good news: our latest browser app now supports these products. Our latest release will help further reduce stutter, and users on these networks will see less frozen or corrupted frames.Īpple's recent Spring Forward event introduced even more Apple M1-based products, like the brand-new iMac 24-inch. We continue to make improvements for users on congested networks that experience bursty packet loss. We will continue to add more games each month, so stay tuned! Since then we have added more games for you to try: League of Legends, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, Rust, ARK: Survival Evolved, Path of Exile, Dota 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year This is achieved without negatively affecting latency and, in fact, reduces latency on good networks. In this version of our native Windows and macOS apps we added a new feature called adaptive VSync, which reduces stutter on poor networks. We recommend that you connect to a 5GHz WiFi network for the best experience. Please be aware that by streaming games on your phone's mobile data plan, you may use up data quickly.

SCREENFLICK AND NVIDIA GEFORCE NOW FULL

Visit our knowledge base for a full list of supported gamepad.

For an optimal experience, we recommend 5GHz WiFi with at least 15Mbps internet access and a Bluetooth gamepad, such as: GeForce Now app works with Android phones with at least 2GB of memory and Android 5.0 (L) or later. If you do not have an activated account, join the waitlist: GeForce Now transforms your Android device into a high-powered gaming PC using Nvidia's powerful GPUs streamed from the cloud.

SCREENFLICK AND NVIDIA GEFORCE NOW UPGRADE

Or, upgrade your membership for faster access to our cloud gaming servers and extended gameplay sessions.ĭownloading the app will note give you access to the service, you must have a previously activated GeForce Now account from your PC, mac or Shield. Join GeForce Now and start playing for free. You make your purchase on your personal store account, your games will always stay with you.įrom massive wins to epic fails, all your best in-game moments are automatically saved with Nvidia Highlights and easily shared with the world. Instantly play the most demanding PC games and seamlessly play across your devices.Ĭonnect to your favorite stores and stream your library of games.

[qonqr]

QONQR 4.0

Greetings Players

It has been a very long time since my last formal update. I’ve been struggling with some tough decisions regarding QONQR over the past few years. The TL;DR; is that I’m working on QONQR again. I’m making efforts to keep it alive. The details follow. Warning: it is a lot of doom and gloom, but there is positivity at the end.

Some background and history

Version 2 and 3 of QONQR were written using a coding technology called Xamarin. It allowed us to write code once and run it on iPhone, Android and previously Windows Phone.  For a small company like ours, it wasn’t feasible to write the application 3 times for 3 different platforms. Xamarin was written on top of Microsoft’s technology, and Microsoft purchased Xamarin several years ago to make it the core of its cross-platform developer solution.

Several years ago, QONQR simply couldn’t pay my salary anymore. I started a new application with another entrepreneur and that project was also a cross-platform application, written in Xamarin, this time for PC and Mac. I’ll refer to this app as “NOTQONQR”.  For the past 10 years, I have worked in Xamarin on Android, iOS, MacOs, and Windows (and Windows Phone). Building cross platform software has become one of the most frustrating and unfulfilling career decisions I’ve made. I realized it wasn’t phone apps or gaming that was making me miserable. It was everything cross-platform and the dependency on multiple companies to make a good product so that I could in turn make a good product.

While things started out “OK”, building software in Xamarin over the past decade has destroyed my passion for building software. I, along with the developers I have worked with, had the attitude for years that the issues were the result of being on the cutting edge and early days of cross platform development. I lost that opinion years ago.  To this day, the outstanding bug list for Xamarin is thousands deep. Many of these bugs have been on the list for years, and now they will never be fixed.

While this sounds like a Xamarin issue, it is an industry issue. Look around at other cross platform solutions, and you’ll be hard pressed to find one that doesn’t have many hundreds or thousands of outstanding bugs on their public bug trackers. Building apps is a nightmare, it has been from the start. I have spent most of my development time on both projects the past 5 years fixing issues caused by big companies or governments. I can’t count how many times I spent my days fixing something that worked just fine 6 months ago, but now is broken because Apple, Google or Microsoft decided to do the exact same thing a different way, and now a rewrite is needed.  Governments around the world have passed laws making it harder for developers to build apps. Privacy laws have made it nearly impossible to keep predators, would-be hackers and toxic people out of an app. Governments and consumer advocacy groups are suing and fining Apple and Google at every opportunity. As a result, Apple and Google are making changes that satisfy the mob, but hurt developers like me. No smart developer would build a game like QONQR today. The things we did before to ensure the GPS coordinates were legitimate, people were actual people, and gameplay was fair have nearly all been removed from my toolkit, making it very hard to protect my good players from bad people.

To further the opinion that this is an industry problem, a friend of mine who is a well-known Android podcaster, author of several android developer books, and speaker and many large developer conferences recently made a blog post about the state of app development. He mentioned that he is seeing burn out in both Android and iOS camps. Developers are tired of fighting the issues and are leaving to become web developers or leaving all together. He even admitted that he thinks his days as a mobile developer are numbered, despite being an internationally known and industry respected mobile dev. Too many developers are exhausted from the continual churn of fixing things that shouldn’t need to be fixed.

My mental status the last few years

I frequently receive support emails berating me for allowing cheaters to cheat, including two emails last week from a long-time player demanding I either “fix my shitty app or shut it down.” Sadly, most of the perceived cheating isn't actually happening, and the small number issues that we are blocked from addressing are the result of Apple and Google, and many of them are in direct response to new laws and regulations that protect everyone, including criminals and predators, but not developers.

In the first 5 years of QONQR, I would regularly work from 7am to 2am multiple days a week. However, for the last 5 years I have been in a developer depression of sorts. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I would sit at my computer for hours, sometimes an entire day and struggle to write 10 lines of code. I’d find any excuse not to code. Everything I looked at was broken. Internet searches showed me never ending bug reports in Xamarin, Android and iOS, that went unfixed, and workarounds that must have worked at some point, but no longer work today. I hated the profession I had chosen, the technology stack I had invested my career in, and felt trapped by being tied to two applications that I had ownership of, and from which I couldn’t just quit and find a new job. My wife would ask me frequently to consider finding a career I thought I would enjoy and just give up software all together. Unfortunately, I simply didn’t have passion for anything outside of my volunteering as a high school robotics coach. That is a retirement, not a career move.

The technology situation today

Xamarin was declared “dead” by Microsoft a couple years ago. It was replaced by a technology called MAUI. In nearly all respect, MAUI is identical to Xamarin, but of course different enough. My fellow developer and I started migrating NOTQONQR from Xamarin to MAUI about 3 months ago. Early indications are that MAUI will have better performance and stability than Xamarin had. It seems to be slightly or moderately better in most cases.

For the developers reading this, I’ll get into some technical details in this paragraph, skip to the next if you aren’t a developer. We built the UI for both apps using code. XAML markup wasn’t even an option for years when QONQR staring using Xamarin. You needed to build your pages one element at a time using code. No markup, no layout tools. Many/most developers who have been using Xamarin for more than 5 years, probably built their UI using code, rather than markup, even after XAML became an option. For the NOTQONQR app, I spent a week in June and completely converted the code from the Xamarin framework to the MAUI framework. It was pretty easy to get to a point everything would compile. I was able to get tens of thousands of lines of UI code to compile in the new framework in a few days. When the app would run, we found lots of minor issues with layout. Things didn’t align quite right or wouldn’t become visible when they should have been shown. We came to the realization that we needed to completely rewire the UI in XAML, and could no longer draw our pages using code. The rendering engine was built for pre-compiling your page layout and it was clear Microsoft had not put much emphasis or testing on generating UI on the fly. It makes sense. Given the timelines the Microsoft developers were under, it was the right choice. Unfortunately, it took a few weeks migration and made it into a few months for those of us who started with Xamarin a decade ago. The effort to get to MAUI even though it is basically the same as Xamarin is a huge lift due to the age of our code.

I attempted to migrate QONQR to MAUI two years ago when Xamarin was declared “dead” and MAUI the new successor. At the time, MAUI could not play sounds, did not have notifications, and could not make an in-app purchase. The product was “ready for production” and completely unusable. I was stuck. There was no way I could migrate QONQR to MAUI and given my mental state, I just couldn’t force myself to push through the issues like I had in the past. That was a stopping point for me and QONQR. I’m sure all the players noticed nothing new was happening.

Fast forward two years, NOTQONQR must migrate. I wasn’t the only owner of the app and my partner company needed to make it work. We were looking at a complete rewrite of the app in a new language, or push through a MAUI migration.  So we revisited MAUI. Things are much better two years later.

When I started working in MAUI for the NOTQONQR app, it felt like home. I spent years working in XAML markup before Xamarin. MAUI made sense and seemed to work well. Yes there are still thousands of bugs on the backlog. This is frustrating but not new.

My attitude got better. I have spent several days in the past month working past midnight in MAUI. I’ve spent my weekends writing code. It has been a significant change from being unable to force myself to write code, to looking forward to it again. I can’t say that I love writing code again, but I do feel productive.

The future for QONQR

I’m up against a big deadline. Apps written in Xamarin have an end of the year deadline to be migrated to something else or stop working. I am getting notices that maps will stop working in the next version of iOS if I don’t update my controls, and an update isn’t possible in Xamarin. It is very possible the current version of QONQR will not work on the new iPhone or when everyone updates iOS.

I had planned to try and work on QONQR over the summer, but having a summer intern at NOTQONQR I needed to manage and that MAUI migration taking months more than planned took all my time away. Now that intern has returned to college, and the NOTQONQR migration can be wrapped up by the other developer on that team, I have told the owner of the NOTQONQR company I’m taking a month off work. I’ll be avoiding my other job to focus on QONQR.

Sadly, the first two weeks of the QONQR migration have been painful and slow. After two weeks of long days and weekends, I have the Welcome page, login and map working including the Android Anti-hacker security checks. That’s it. Some of the simple pages may work as is, with the basic migration, but all of the complicated pages (which is a lot of the app) will need a fresh start. For example, the launch page draws everything in the middle of the screen stacked on top of each other. Very little can be salvaged, I need to start over and build the screen from scratch. I think many of our pages may be this way.

Admittedly, I spent much of my time the past two weeks just trying to get the core of the app to work. A lot of the system stuff like local storage, notifications, sounds, colors, fonts, images, etc all had to be setup differently. I had to start with a completely new map. Animations never really worked well in Xamarin and they aren’t any better in MAUI. I’m taking them out everywhere I can since they have always been the source of most crashes. Today I have a running app in MAUI, but it doesn’t do much yet. The past two weeks have shown me this looks possible to complete before the end of the year.

Beta release of QONQR 4.0.

Distribution: If/when I get to that point, the beta would be available through Google Play and Apple App Store and you would need to opt-in to the beta program. I previously had been using Microsoft’s App Center for pre-release versions of the app for player testing. That has been shut down. The only good option available is to release through the stores, which requires official (and long) app reviews on Apple, even for a test release. You won’t be able to run the beta side by side with QONQR 3.X

Barebones: Registration may have to be done online in the early releases. Upgrades and ordnances may also have to be purchased one the web portal. Probably no notifications.

No Chat: Right now, I am planning to remove chat from the app. The US Senate passed a bill in July that would make me responsible for anything posted in my app by a user. While this bill is unlikely to become law, it is a sign of further punishing app developers, but not giving us the tools to keep bad people out of our apps. I will replace chat with a link to the “Unofficial Community Discord”.  It is unclear how this potential law may impact the forums should something similar become law in the future.

Launch: I’m going to do my best to get something like the old launch screen working, but it may be just the simple launch screen to start. Whatever I come up with, I hope it will be temporary. A big challenge with QONQR is hackers attempting to automate launching. While I have some ways of stopping that after a few hours the current “are you human”, takes hours to have an impact. I’d like to redo this screen so that it requires more than just tapping in the same spot over and over to launch. No one likes change, but I hope you like cheaters less. I’ll do my best to come up with something players will tolerate but is harder to automate.

Messaging: Player to Player messaging may eliminate the use of the custom emoji packs we have sold. This will simplify the complexity of this screen and message passing. If you purchased one of these emoji packs, you will receive a bundle of cubes as compensation. I won’t know for sure if we are removing the packs until I get in there and attempt to migrate.

Sync Lock Mini Game: This unfortunately needs to stay as our only reasonable way to combat multi-scoping. I am well aware this still hurts families, but I don’t have an alternative giving the privacy laws the EU and US have enacted that prevent me from taking better measures. This is a very complex UI and I’m concerned about the effort it will take to migrate.

No music: I don’t think I’m going to migrate the background music. I think it is time to let this go. Background audio is hard and inconsistent.

Skins: This seems unlikely. The library I used in Xamarin to tint images doesn’t work on Maui. I don’t have plans to work on a replacement until everything else is working.

New features: None are planned yet, but the largest roadblock to new features in the past 3 years was the knowledge that anything we built was being built on a dead coding platform. If the migration succeeds, that roadblock will be gone.

Can developers help?

Many have asked me if they can help or if I can make QONQR open source. Sadly, I don’t think this is a viable path forward. Exposing all of the code would make it a trivial matter for a hacker to bypass all the protections in the app and automate and manipulate everything except buying cubes. Even if I went to the effort to pull out the secret code that stops hacking the app, any developer who worked on the code would be perceived a cheater. There are too many instances in the past where a player I asked for advice or tips, claimed to be a QONQR developer and claimed to have a special build and/or free cubes. This has never been true, but if people think their opponent is cheating they stop playing or stop spending money that is needed to keep the servers alive. The past has shown that letting anyone have even a little access never ends well.

Even today, with as hard as it is to stop hackers and cheaters the impact is much smaller than most people believe. Yes, some players are probably cheating their location, but they are put into overheat penalty on their scope when they do. They can deploy in two locations, but deploy fewer bots than if they stayed in one spot. I get many emails with “proof” that someone is cheating. Most of the claims don’t hold up when investigated. There are certainly limits on what I can do, but the perception of people cheating is much much higher than actual instances we have uncovered. Every day, I receive dozens of automated notices where QONQR code blocked devices that had a hacked version of the game, attempts to steel cubes, GPS spoofing penalized, too many failed launch verification, and players switching devices too frequently. There are many many cheater detections in place and they are working. For the most part, the biggest problem with cheating isn’t that it is happening, but that players think it is happening much more often than it really is. Giving anyone access to even part of the code would only make this problem worse.

In Reflection

Next week, it will be 14 years since the name “QONQR” came out of Justin’s mouth at a Starup Weekend competition. So much has happened in that time. There was a time when I felt like it was going to be time to turn off the servers because profits had gone negative. Then Gmenman goes and gets a huge damned Legion tattoo. There was no way it could be shut down in the months after that. A while later, profits got a little better and the servers were safe again. A few years ago, I posted a fairly negative blog post about how things were going, hinting that things may finally be coming to an end. The next day I received a heartfelt thank you message from a player who had shared that she struggled in her real life and QONQR was the first place where people accepted her as the person she was, and didn’t judge her as they did in the real world. She thanked me for making a safe place for her to be her true self. There was no way I was going to take that away from her, so I kept the servers up. TotallyGomer and YellerCukes both shared with me their appreciation for QONQR as a way to stay in touch with their friends and the outside world before their passings. This will forever be something I’m proud to have provided. Together we have grieved the untimely losses of several players, and the memorials show how much they are missed. Players have been through so many challenges in their lives, with QONQR friends supporting them along the way.

The necessity to either rewrite QONQR or shut it down has been looming over me for months. It doesn’t make financial sense for me to stop working at my other job and spend months rewriting the QONQR app to keep this going. The smart thing would be to shut it down and move on. Focus on something new and leave behind all the issues of mobile gaming, government regulations, and abusive mobile marketplaces.  But…  the smart decision has been the wrong decision too many times before.

QONQR is too much of who I am, who you are, who we are. I’m going to try. QONQR may be always full of issues. It may have fewer features than in the past, but I’m going to try and keep the heart of what QONQR has always been in the new version. I can’t promise it will be done soon and can’t even tell you it will keep working on your current or new device in the coming months. However, I’m here today to tell you, QONQR is too important to let go, and I’m working on keeping it going until I find it just isn’t possible. I now believe I can make it work. I ask for your understanding and patience as the 4.0 beta moves forward.

For those that continue to buy cubes, thanks for keeping the servers alive.

-Scott (aka Silver)

[crypt1dcorv1dae]

Ok so far: I really love fields of mistria, the gameplay so far (haven't made it far yet) is lovely, I love all the quality of life changes made to the old stardew valley way of doing things negating the need for so many of the mods stardew players need just to play the game and have a good time at all, the characters are all gorgeous and I wish you could romance some of the older folks like dammit let me woo the middle aged fisher woman she's so cool and she has pirate vibes. I guess I can settle for being her best friend tho.

And ok yeah I do like March, predictably, cus I'm a very predictable man and I love a character who's a little bit of a brat, makes me wanna bully him but like because I think hes cute. Cuteness aggression.

But tbh I like everyone so far, but I haven't had much opportunity to get to know anyone cus my computer is EXTREMELY slow, so just running around trying to complete tasks takes forever. It took me like 3 hours just to get most of the way through TWO DAYS in-game...

My brother said I could use the old Mac that's been lying around here since he moved back out since he wasn't rly using it anyway, so I'm gonna try to get that working tomorrow so I can see if that's a better thing to play games on, but unfortunately I'm also absolutely not experienced at all with apple stuff so it's like Greek to me

[govindhtech]

Best PC Emulators: iPhone and iPad Users Can Play PC Games

iphone emulator for pc

iPhone and iPad Users Can Play Classic  PC Games From App Store: The first Best  PC Emulators for the iOS environment to run vintage apps and games has received Apple’s approval.

After first rejecting it and prohibiting it from being notarized for third-party app stores in the European Union (EU), the iPhone manufacturer finally authorized “UTM SE.” The app is now free to download for visionOS, iPadOS, and iOS. On your iPhone, it can run vintage games and applications for Windows, Mac OS 9, and Linux.

On the social networking site X, the app said, “They are pleased to announce that UTM SE is available (for free) on iOS and visionOS App Store (and coming soon to AltStore PAL).” It read, “Shoutout outs to Apple for rethinking their policy and to the AltStore team for their help.”

With the help of the Best  PC Emulators UTM SE, users can run vintage programmes and video games. For operating systems that only handle text, it supports terminal mode in addition to VGA mode for graphics. It may “create your own configuration from scratch” or run pre-built machines while emulating RISC-V, PPC, and x86 architectures.

App Store PC Emulator

Gamers and techies are excited that the App Store now lets iPhone and iPad users play vintage PC games. This historic step has made many beloved games Best  PC Emulators available to new gamers, giving them timeless experiences. They will go into great detail about this revolutionary upgrade, the games that are available, and how you can start playing your beloved  PC classics on your Apple devices right now in extensive tutorial.

A Novel Phase in Mobile Gaming

The App Integration of Vintage PC Games

The App Store‘s inclusion of vintage PC games is a major turning point in the development of mobile gaming. Several publishers and developers are leading this effort to bring PC gaming to iOS. Players can now enjoy a huge range of classic games that have been meticulously recreated for the iPhone and iPad to improve gameplay and visuals without sacrificing their appeal.

The Advantages of iOS Classic  PC Game Play

The convenience that this integration provides is one of its main benefits. Users of iPhones and iPads may now play their preferred old-school  PC games without requiring a separate gaming PC or console. These devices are portable, so users may play their favorite games anywhere. The App Store provides a secure environment for downloading and buying these games to ensure a smooth gaming experience.

Vintage PC games

Well-known vintage PC games are now accessible on the App Store

Best Books to Read

Many vintage Best PC Emulators have been introduced to the App Store, delighting gamers. You may start playing these popular iPhone and iPad apps right away:

Desolation

Famous first-person shooter Doom changed the genre. With iOS optimization, gamers can enjoy its iconic level design and fast-paced action on their phones.

The Gate of Baldur

This beloved role-playing game (RPG) has an intricate and captivating plot, fun fighting systems, and a world with lots of detail. The intriguing role-playing game Baldur’s Gate now on iOS.

Mystique

Myst, a game renowned for its breathtaking graphics and complex puzzles, has been masterfully ported to iOS, opening up its engrossing universe and difficult gameplay to a whole new player base.

Tycoon the RollerCoaster

As you create and run your own theme park, RollerCoaster Tycoon provides hours of captivating gameplay for fans of simulation games. The game’s original difficulty and excitement are all still included in the iOS edition.

How to Start Playing Old School Computer Games on Your iPhone or iPad

Detailed Instructions for Downloading and Playing

Getting on the App Store

Open the App Store on your iPhone or iPad to begin exploring the world of vintage  PC games on iOS. Enter the name of the game you want to play or seek for relevant terms in the search bar.

Buying and downloading

When you locate the game, tap to see more about it. The game can be downloaded straight away if it’s free. You must finish the buying process before downloading any paid games. Maintain a stable internet connection to avoid download interruptions.

Setting Up and Starting the Game

The game will install itself on your device automatically after the download is finished. Next, you can tap the game’s icon on your home screen to start it. Start the game and follow any on-screen instructions to get it set up.

Tailoring Your Video Game Experience

You can tweak the settings of several of these vintage  PC games tobest Best  PC Emulators improve your play experience. The game’s options panel allows you to change the controls, visuals, and other aspects of your experience. This lets you customize the gameplay to your preference and maximize the functionality of your iOS device.

Improving Your Experience with Games

Enhancing iOS Device Performance

Take into consideration the following advice to guarantee the finest performance when playing vintage PC games on your iPhone or iPad:

Make sure your device is updated

Update the software on your iOS device on a regular basis. Along with offering enhanced security and additional features, this also guarantees game compatibility with the most recent upgrades.

Oversee Storage Area

Verify that your device has adequate storage capacity to handle game updates and downloads. To make space, remove any files or apps that aren’t needed.

End Background Apps

To enhance game speed and free up system resources, close any background apps. This can improve the overall gaming experience and help avoid slowness.

Prospects for Retro PC Games on iOS in the Future

Growing the Library

They may anticipate an ever-expanding selection of games on the App Store as the demand for vintage Best  PC Emulators on iOS keeps rising. With each passing day, game creators strive to add even more beloved classics to the platform, giving iPhone and iPad owners an ever-expanding library of titles to pick from.

New Updates and Innovative Features

To improve the gaming experience, developers are concentrating on including cutting-edge features and upgrades in addition to growing the library. Better graphics, touch-screen controls, and interaction with other iOS features like Game Center for multiplayer and achievement possibilities are all part of this.

In summary

Playing ancient  PC games on iPhone and iPad is groundbreaking for mobile gamers. The App Store now has more famous titles, letting gamers relive the thrill and nostalgia of vintage Best  PC Emulators anywhere and anytime. You can quickly begin downloading, setting up, and refining these games on your iOS device by following their guide. As the mobile gaming industry develops, stay tuned for additional news and releases.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[jcmarchi]

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard And Resident Evil 2 Remake Are Coming To iPhone 15 Pro And Other Apple Platforms

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/resident-evil-7-biohazard-and-resident-evil-2-remake-are-coming-to-iphone-15-pro-and-other-apple-platforms/

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard And Resident Evil 2 Remake Are Coming To iPhone 15 Pro And Other Apple Platforms

Resident Evil continues to gradually infect Apple platforms with the reveal that Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and the remake of Resident Evil 2 are coming to iOS. The series’ first foray into first-person arrives first on July 2, while the RE2 port is “currently in development.”

Both entries will be playable on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs with the M1 chip or later. Both games will feature enhanced controls and a new Auto Fire feature, a more approachable option that causes guns to automatically fire when aimed at enemies. RE7 will also include the Not A Hero story DLC starring Chris Redfield. You can also purchase the Gold Edition that includes additional DLC such as the End of Zoe, Vol. 1 and 2. of Banned Footage, the Madhouse difficulty mode, and more. At launch, players can try a slice of each game via a free download before making a purchase. 

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard launched in 2017 and introduced fans to Ethan Winters, who travels to a terrifying house in the backcountry in search of his missing wife. The game kicks off the current storylines for the mainline series, which continued in Resident Evil Village. Speaking of Village, that game, along with the Resident Evil, were ported to Apple platorms last year. You can watch us play Resident Evil Village on iPhone in this episode of New Gameplay Today for a look at how well Capcom has managed to get these games to run on phones. 

[rpgse7enx5]

Atari Breakout, and how gameplay loops influence its design, an explanation - by RPG.

(Atari Breakout, original arcade version)

Breakout, otherwise known colloquially as "Atari Breakout", is a blockbreaker-style video game developed and published by Atari Inc.

Notable developers for the game include Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (who became both co-founders of Apple Inc).

While the concept for the game was predated by another blockbreaker, named as Clean Sweep which was developed by Ramtek in 1974, Breakpoint's release spawned a whole slew of clones. Such uses for technology utilising what Breakout has created were some aspects of the Apple II computer system, and Taito's blockbreaker release Arkanoid.

The main objective for the player in Breakout concludes with the player having to bounce a ball off a paddle onto the coloured bricks, which are divided into layers of points, and getting rid of them all without the ball falling and hitting the bottom. The maximum amount of points a player can get is 896, this is done by getting rid of two screens of bricks worth 448 for each screen.

How gameplay loops influence the gameplay aspect of Breakout:

Breakout utilises the same style of gameplay for all of its levels, the objective being that the player is expected to get rid of the coloured bricks without once dropping the ball or having it land on the floor; a score system allows the player to keep track of the amount of points they have, and lets the player progress onto the game by either retrying the level to get a better score or restarting the level to try and beat it again.

The game doesn't take too long, and the movement is reasonably quick; making it both enduring enough but also retaining a difficulty rating. The difficulty of the game is dependant on which block you hit, the red ones being the ones that decrease the size of the paddle; this makes playing the game more challenging and engages the player into wanting to beat the level.

The game isn't too complicated in both design and mechanics. For controls, they are simplistic, allowing the player to get a quick understanding of how to play the game and what the objective will be.

In terms of the USP (Unique Selling Point) for the game, it can be decided from a multitude of things that the games has either achieved or inspired others to make; I think that its fair to say that its unique in the sense that it inspired a whole spectrum of clones that took what Breakout had and made it into their own version, thus both advancing and in some way modernising the game. Additionally, it is unique in the fact that it inspired some of the aspects of the Apple II computer; which is still to some effect seen (however in more modernised approaches) in newer Apple devices, like the Apple Mac (Apple's first-generation Macintosh was relevant to Apple II in terms of design elements, utilising the same style of OS that Breakout inspired).

RPG-7

[imacgeeks1]

Apple M1 Ultra: All You Need To Know About This Powerful Chip

Apple has once again pushed the boundaries of innovation with its latest chip offering, the M1 Ultra. Announced in [insert date], this new silicon represents the pinnacle of Apple's in-house chip design prowess, promising unprecedented levels of performance and efficiency across a range of devices. Here's everything you need to know about this groundbreaking chip:

1. Unmatched Power: The M1 Ultra is Apple's most powerful chip to date, boasting an incredible 20-core CPU configuration. This configuration comprises a mix of high-performance and high-efficiency cores, ensuring optimal performance for a wide variety of tasks, from intensive computational workloads to everyday browsing.

2. Cutting-Edge Architecture: Built on a 5-nanometer process, the M1 Ultra leverages Apple's advanced chip architecture to deliver exceptional performance while maintaining energy efficiency. With a unified memory architecture and integrated graphics, this chip ensures seamless operation across different applications and workflows.

3. Graphics Performance: In addition to its impressive CPU capabilities, the M1 Ultra features a staggering 64-core GPU, providing unparalleled graphics performance for demanding tasks such as gaming, content creation, and professional-grade rendering. Whether you're editing high-resolution videos or playing the latest AAA titles, the M1 Ultra delivers stunning visuals and smooth gameplay.

4. Machine Learning Powerhouse: Thanks to its dedicated machine learning accelerator, the M1 Ultra excels at handling AI and ML tasks with ease. Whether it's real-time voice recognition, image processing, or natural language understanding, this chip delivers lightning-fast performance for a wide range of machine learning applications.

5. Enhanced Connectivity: The M1 Ultra incorporates advanced connectivity features, including support for Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4, enabling lightning-fast data transfer speeds and seamless integration with a wide range of peripherals and accessories. Whether you're connecting external displays, storage devices, or high-speed networking equipment, the M1 Ultra ensures optimal performance and compatibility.

6. Power Efficiency: Despite its impressive performance capabilities, the M1 Ultra remains incredibly power-efficient, allowing for extended battery life and reduced energy consumption. Whether you're using a MacBook, iMac, or Mac Pro powered by the M1 Ultra, you can expect exceptional performance without compromising on battery life or heat generation.

7. Future-Proofing: As with previous Apple silicon chips, the M1 Ultra is designed with future-proofing in mind, ensuring compatibility with upcoming software updates and applications. Whether you're a professional user or a casual enthusiast, investing in a device powered by the M1 Ultra guarantees a seamless and responsive computing experience for years to come.

In summary, the Apple M1 Ultra represents a significant leap forward in chip design, delivering unmatched performance, efficiency, and versatility across a range of devices. Whether you're a professional user or a casual enthusiast, the M1 Ultra sets a new standard for what's possible with silicon technology, reaffirming Apple's position as a leader in the industry.

[newtechworld]

LC-Power LC-M29-UW-UXGA-75: Monitor Ultrawide da 29 Pollici per Gaming e Lavoro

LC-Power LC-M29-UW-UXGA-75: Monitor Ultrawide da 29 Pollici per Gaming e Lavoro

Il monitor LC-Power LC-M29-UW-UXGA-75 offre un'esperienza visiva coinvolgente e un'efficienza ottimale per gaming e lavoro. Ecco perché questo monitor è una scelta eccellente per chi cerca prestazioni elevate e funzionalità avanzate:

Immersività e Fluido Gameplay Grazie alla risoluzione di 2560 x 1080 e alla frequenza di aggiornamento di 75 Hz, il monitor LC-Power LC-M29-UW-UXGA-75 offre un'esperienza di gioco fluida e dettagliata. La tecnologia Adaptive Sync riduce i ritardi e gli strappi dell'immagine, assicurando un gameplay impeccabile.

Protezione degli Occhi e Comfort Visivo Dotato di filtro Low Blue e pannello IPS Non-Glare, questo monitor protegge gli occhi dall'affaticamento eccessivo durante sessioni di utilizzo prolungate. Il rivestimento anti-riflesso riduce i riflessi indesiderati, garantendo una visione chiara da qualsiasi angolazione.

Massima Produttività e Personalizzazione La funzione Picture-in-Picture e Picture-by-Picture permette di aumentare la produttività, consentendo di visualizzare più contenuti contemporaneamente. Con il supporto regolabile in altezza e il meccanismo di rotazione di 90°, è possibile personalizzare facilmente la propria postazione di lavoro per massimizzare il comfort e la praticità.

Connessioni Versatili e Avanzate Il monitor LC-Power LC-M29-UW-UXGA-75 offre una connettività completa con porte HDMI, DP, USB-C e Audio out, consentendo di collegare facilmente tutti i dispositivi necessari senza alcun problema.

In conclusione, il monitor LC-Power LC-M29-UW-UXGA-75 è una scelta eccellente per chi cerca un'esperienza visiva coinvolgente, prestazioni elevate e funzionalità avanzate. Acquista ora su Amazon cliccando su questo link affiliato: Acquista su Amazon

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[linuxgamenews]

A Homage to James Ensor: Please Touch The Artwork 2 Releasing Free

Please Touch The Artwork 2 the hidden object adventure game is coming Free on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Thanks to the amazing developer Thomas Waterzooi for his continuous and impressive support. Due to release on Steam. Thomas Waterzooi, a talented solo developer from Belgium, has just announced his latest creation, Please Touch The Artwork 2. And here's the best part – it's completely free! That's right, no ads, no in-app purchases, nothing. It's about enjoying the experience without any interruptions. Due to launch on February 19th, this title is more than just a regular game release. It's also a celebration of art, specifically in honor of James Ensor, a legend in Belgian Modern Art. This year marks the 75th anniversary of his passing, and what better way to remember his genius than by diving into his world through this unique offering? Well, native Linux support for Please Touch The Artwork 2 is coming, just like the original.

A Linux version is definitely coming, yes. I've made one for the first Please, Touch The Artwork so I've figured out the process now I'm using the Unity game engine so not a lot of surprises there.

I just received an email from Thomas Waterzooi. He's keen on keeping up the native support for his upcoming project, using Unity 3D again. And the release is going to be Free. This is certainly a surprise since the original release still has 91% Very Positive reviews.

Please Touch The Artwork 2 - Release Date Trailer

The Flemish Government, in line with the Belgian EU Presidency 2024, is backing Please Touch The Artwork 2. That means anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or computer can get it on Apple Appstore, Google Play, and Steam for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Since it's not often that you get to enjoy such a creative piece without any cost. Now, let's talk about what makes Please Touch The Artwork 2 stand out. It's a hidden object adventure that takes you through four distinct worlds, each meticulously crafted from Ensor's works. Relaxing and you're in for casual point and click gameplay. While you explore intricate paintings, help their quirky inhabitants, and solve puzzles at your own pace. The artwork here is actual hand-painted art that brings each scene to life. Add to that the setting and relaxing sounds, and you've got yourself a deep game. It's both silly and quirky, designed to be a relaxing journey for anyone between the ages of 12 to 99. Please Touch The Artwork 2 is your ticket to a slow-paced, hidden object adventure. Whether you're a hardcore art fan or just looking for something different to unwind with, this is something you don't want to miss. Get ready, it's not just about playing; it's experiencing art in a whole new way. Coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC via Steam. So show some love and be sure to Wishlist the title. The original game is available on both Steam (discounted 60%) and Humble Store. The regular price is $9.99 USD / £8.37 / 9,75€.