#marcus stewart

[bubblebuttgames]

GAME INFORMER #366 - THE MAKING OF HADES II

"The sorcerous Melinoë gazes with intensity toward her goal - and the audience!" says cover artist and Supergiant art director Jen Zee. "She's determined, focused, and powerful. Hecate, Melinoë's mentor, can be seen in the distance wielding her torches and gazing toward the moon. Standing on the precipice of the Crossroads with back turned, she is flanked by her trusty familiars, a hound and a polecat."

COVER STORY - HADES II

Supergiant Games is making its first sequel, and we visited the developer in California to find out why it wasn't quite ready to escape Hell and move on. We played the game extensively, spoke with the team about bringing the follow-up to life, looked ahead to the game's future, and lots more. If you're playing Hades II in Early Access, consider our cover story the perfect companion piece

Platform: PC

Style: 1-Player Action

Publisher: Supergiant Games

Developer: Supergiant Games

Release: May 6

BASTION. TRANSISTOR. PYRE. HADES. Supergiant Games built its name on four distinct, critically lauded titles, giving them a pristine track record few developers can boast But the thrilling roguelike action of Hades catapulted it above the rest to become the studio's most successful game and biggest mainstream hit. Four years, hundreds of runs, and thousands of hours later, the fanbase still can't get enough of Zagreus' adventure and Supergiant's captivating vision of the Greek Underworld.

They're not alone. The folks at Supergiant felt it still had more stories to tell, more places to explore, more deities to meet, and, most importantly, a new perspective for players to view it all. That enthusiasm inspired the studio to tackle its first sequel, Hades II. With players now taking it through its paces in Steam Early Access, we visited Supergiant Games to learn how it came to be and what to expect as it evolves over the coming months

LOOKING BACK AND MOVING AHEAD

Creative director Greg Kasavin declares Hades as "our most successful game by any sort of measure." A litany of industry awards, strong sales, and a passionate fan following have backed up this claim, earning Hades a place among the gods. Yet despite this overwhelming success, Supergiant remains the same as it ever was: a small team (currently 25 full-time employees) driven by a passion and enthusiasm to create unforgettable experiences that stay true to their personal tastes and interests.

When it came time to decide what the next project would be, they approached it as they always do by asking one question: what idea excites them the most? Knowing that they'll be spending the next several years of their lives working on it, making sure the game captures the team's collective passion ensures the best execution and, ultimately, the strongest product. Though it weighed various pitches and ideas, Supergiant had already recognized the potential to expand Hades' world even during the first game's development

"There are so many characters from Greek myth that we're very excited about that simply didn't have a place in the story of the original game," says Kasavin. "You've got these really big names like Apollo or Heracles and stuff like that. And they don't appear in the original Hades, not because we weren't excited for them, [but] just because we were focused on other characters..But we always wondered: how would we portray some of these other characters?"

Greg and the rest of the team soon realized it had much more it wanted to say with Hades. Speaking with five of the original seven employees who have been with Supergiant Games since the development of 2011's Bastion - Kasavin, studio director Amir Rao, art director Jen Zee, composer Darren Korb, and voice actor Logan Cunningham - all of them expressed excitement about returning to Hades' world for their own respective reasons

For Kasavin, Greek mythology's rich and expansive lore offers a multitude of storytelling possibilities. For Zee, the principal artist behind Supergiant's signature art style, redesigning beloved characters was as exciting as illustrating new ones. Korb looks forward to adding new thematic and tonal layers to Hades existing soundscape that exemplifies the new presentational direction for the sequel. Cunningham, the voice behind several key characters, including Hades himself, teases a new direction for the ruler of the underworld.

For Rao, however, he tells me this is the studio's opportunity to define, in their eyes, what a sequel looks like. Supergiant has been a one- and-done studio since its inception, to the point that some fans believe the studio has some sort of policy against making sequels. Kasavin says this has never been the case. Rather, the reluctance came from the studio's desire always to surprise players; sequels are known quantities. At the same time, the idea of making a sequel at a conceptual level became an alluring challenge in itself.

"We made four original IPs in a row," says Rao "We are unpracticed at making a sequel [laughs]. So, this is our first time doing it. We had to reflect on what are some of the sequels that we loved? And what did they do to move the game world and mechanics and design and story forward?

To that end, Supergiant examined the team's favorite sequels that expanded on their predecessors in meaningful and dramatic ways while still retaining the elements that had worked before. Rao cites Portal 2 as an example, and he also names Diablo II as a personal inspiration, particularly his love for the magic- based sorceress class - a specific trait that would later prove a vital ingredient. As the team decided on ideas and priorities, Greg formulated the story and lore that would best fit these concepts. The journey would take him to lesser-known edges of Greek mythology and the discovery of another long-lost child of Hades himself.

MAKING A NEW MYTH

[oldcountrybear1955]

Marcus Stewart

[jetslay]

DC Super-Heroes by Bernard Chang.

[palazzodeipriori]

[crewdlydrawn]

It. Is. Happening.

LET’S FUCKIN’ GOOOOOOOOOO

[scenesandscreens]

Tremors (1990)

Director - Ron Underwood, Cinematography - Alexander Gruszynski

"Broke into the wrong goddamn rec room, didn't ya you bastard!"

[tx0r1a]

oh so the coll3cted news are real REAL apparently

WE'RE SO FUCKING BACK

source

also whoever Todd is, he's braver than US marine

[twilightronin]

The Collection - Marcus Dunstan 2012

[hyenabeanz]

Went to see Love Lies Bleeding (A+, no notes, much hot, very daddy issue, yay women's wrongs, etc).

But anyway, shoutout to the woman sitting in front of us who must've just wandered in unknowing anything about the movie, with negative points in gaydar, for letting out a startled "oh!" when Lou and Jackie started kissing.

Best comedy scene in the movie.

[galerymod]

Jon Stewart returns and correspondents (2024)

On January 24, 2024, it was announced that Jon Stewart would return as host for Monday night shows, while the remainder of the week would be hosted by the correspondents, beginning on February 12. Stewart accepted the single day a week contract deal as his initial run left him feeling exhausted. The producers of the show hope that Stewart will serve to cultivate and attract new talent to fill a full host role. In May 2024, it was announced that Stewart would additionally begin hosting The Weekly Show, an original podcast from Comedy Central. On July 14, 2024, in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Comedy Central announced that The Daily Show would not air live from Milwaukee, the host city for the 2024 Republican National Convention, and would preempt the Monday evening broadcast for July 15. The show returned to air on July 16, 2024, from its New York studio. In late October, it was announced that Stewart has extended his contract to host until 2025.

If you have a garden and a man like Jon Stewart, you have everything you need in dark times.

Marcus Tullius Cicero more or less

Satire has a big problem when you just have to point the camera at real politics because it is guaranteed that real satire can no longer be exaggerated by satire.

mod

[mariocki]

Death Curse of Tartu (1966)

"Now look, Billy, the human brain is very mysterious. Sometimes it makes us see things that don't exist and hear things that never were."

"How do you explain the people that were killed, then?"

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: New Talent Showcase: The Milestone Initiative #1

New Talent Showcase: The Milestone Initiative #1 preview. This special showcases all 12 stories created out of the Ally-sponsored Milestone Initiative #comics #comicbooks

[purplemoonabove]

My kind of guy, too 😊

Especially the last bottom right before the Bonus 😍

okay at what point of my life has it happened that my whole taste in men has become "softie with long hair and a big heart"

see:

and most importantly... is it because Freud was very right or because I'm actually a massive lesbian

bonus:

[felassan]

Game Informer:

"Dragon Age Cover Story And Shadow of the Erdtree Review | GI Show by Alex Van Aken on Jun 27, 2024 at 01:57 PM In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, the crew discusses our recent trip to Bioware for our Dragon Age: The Veilguard cover story, our Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree review, PS5-bound multiplayer shooter, Concord, a new battle royale from former League of Legends developers, atmospheric horror title Still Wakes the Deep, Dustborn, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD and even more! It's a packed show, y'all.  Watch the Video Version: [embedded link to Game Informer video titled 'Dragon Age Cover Story And Shadow of the Erdtree Review | GI Show']"

(On YouTube, the description box for this video looked like this:)

[Article continues] "Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Kyle Hilliard (@KyleMHilliard), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Wesley LeBlanc (@LeBlancWes) The Game Informer Show is a weekly gaming podcast covering the latest video game news, industry topics, exclusive reveals, and reviews. Join us every Thursday to chat about your favorite games – past and present – with Game Informer staff, developers, and special guests from around the industry. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Matt Storm, the freelance audio editor for The Game Informer Show, edited this episode. Matt is an experienced podcast host and producer who's been speaking into a microphone for over a decade. You should listen to Matt's shows like the "Fun" And Games Podcast and Reignite, a BioWare-focused podcast."

"The Game Informer Show – Podcast Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:42 - Cover Story: Dragon Age: The Veilguard 00:21:48 - Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Review 00:42:20 - Concord Preview 00:59:04 - Supervive Preview 01:11:59 - The Plucky Squire 01:24:37 - Magic: The Gathering – Assassin's Creed 01:35:01 - Still Wakes the Deep 01:45:52 - Dustborn Preview 01:55:06 - Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Review 01:58:26 - Housekeeping"

"The GI Show podcast is a weekly recap of exciting releases, exclusive details on upcoming games, and in-depth interviews with developers. Watch or listen to a new episode every Thursday!"

[source]

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Felassan's notes section of this post -

In this episode of the Game Informer show, Game Informer talk some more about their trip to BioWare's studio for the DA:TV cover story, when BioWare showed them hours of DA:TV content while playing it live.

Some notes from this and from what they said:

Wesley LeBlanc wasn't a huge DA fan and he went in with no expectations. The job to go to BW for this just landed on his plate due to other peoples' schedules. After seeing the game, it's probably his most anticipated game for the rest of the year and the one he's most looking forwards to

The game really wowed him and stuck with him, he said he is thrilled about it and is engrossed in the fantasy it's bringing

The visuals and world finally feel like what BioWare has maybe always wanted to make

This is the game where the team said, yeah, we feel fully in command of the Frostbite engine, and it shows

The world is more like Fable-type whimsy than prior DA games. It has a high fantasy feel

BW want new people to play the game. They're very aware that it's been 10 years since the last game and the game does a good job of catching people up

Rook as the PC really has no idea what's going on with Solas and all the other lore-specific stuff that's happening in the game, so they kind of act as the stand-in for newer players or people who have not caught up on the lore

But it's not just a game for newcomers, there is still a lot to chew on in the game for hardcore DA fans. BioWare were saying that they know their community, what it wants and what it's looking for out of these characters

Wesley enjoyed the music, visual design, and voice acting

Nothing that they saw about the game stood out as worrisome to him

Wesley has quite a lot of further stories to add to Game Informer's DA:TV hub

Wesley: "On the topic of the [Dragon Age] fanbase, I just wanna give a shoutout to that community, because, wow, I did not, I knew people would be stoked about this cover, but people are really stoked about this cover. And it’s really funny, the day that we announced it, I got like hundreds of new followers. Anytime, if I tweet about Erdtree or Destiny 2, I get like my normal amount of likes, like, a dozen maybe, y’know, whatever. If I tweet about Dragon Age, it’s like. Today I tweeted, ‘my next feature is coming at 3pm’ and it’s at 1000 likes, it’s so funny, like, this community is like rabid for information, which makes sense if you haven’t gotten a game in 10 years. But yeah, so like, shoutout to y’all, I’m loving you guys reading the articles and telling me what you wanna hear about. So if you have any questions or anything, get at me on Twitter for sure, and I will see what I can cook up with some writing for you. But yeah, shoutout to the BioWare community, y’all crazy.”

[source]