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    Home Unlabelled Xbox One - I made a mod which won a Writer's Guild award and got 1M downloads on Xbox One, so I spent the last 4 years turning it into a stand-alone game (The Forgotten City)

    Xbox One - I made a mod which won a Writer's Guild award and got 1M downloads on Xbox One, so I spent the last 4 years turning it into a stand-alone game (The Forgotten City)

    July 06, 2021

    Xbox One - I made a mod which won a Writer's Guild award and got 1M downloads on Xbox One, so I spent the last 4 years turning it into a stand-alone game (The Forgotten City)

    I made a mod which won a Writer's Guild award and got 1M downloads on Xbox One, so I spent the last 4 years turning it into a stand-alone game (The Forgotten City)

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 05:07 AM PDT

    I made a mod which won a Writer's Guild award and got 1M downloads on Xbox One, so I spent the last 4 years turning it into a stand-alone game (The Forgotten City)

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    https://preview.redd.it/nhr9ws5w0l971.png?width=614&format=png&auto=webp&s=8073226e4b1b3bfc7d96aea552e6c934f9777535

    This is me, back in 2016, accepting a Writers' Guild award, and looking just as surprised as everyone else at the awards ceremony; it was the first time in history a mod had won a national screenwriting award.

    The Forgotten City was a big story-driven expansion for a popular RPG I've been asked not to mention. You discover a mysterious underground city in a state of ruin, travel back in time and meet its inhabitants. Then you learn about a terrible curse: If one persons sins here, everyone dies. So you try to figure out who's responsible for the sin that destroys the city, and prevent it - all while caught in a Groundhog Day-style time loop.

    https://preview.redd.it/3cy5e7601l971.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=05a593b513556fb2ff7bdb0dc6d2ffcb51a18bd1

    The mod was downloaded more than 1,000,000 times on Xbox One alone and IGN called it "simply amazing," but as popular as it was, I'd made it in my spare time on a budget of $0, and I knew I could do much, much better. So way back in 2017, I decided to develop it into a stand-alone game, bigger and better in every way possible. I just had 3 small problems:

    1) I had no time

    2) I had no budget

    3) I had absolutely no idea how to make an entire game

    Lol.

    Despite all that, it's about to launch this month on Xbox One and Xbox Series X, and this is a story about how it all came together.

    https://preview.redd.it/dbchu7601l971.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=56eda9d2fcde4ceb33c33d6ab8d253a6c815f6af

    My first problem - no time - I solved by quitting my job. It was insanely risky, of course, especially as I was in the legal profession where taking a few years out usually means you can't get back in. It felt like jumping out of an airplane, and my plan was to learn to fly by the time I hit the ground.

    My second problem - no budget - I solved by dipping into my savings and applying for grants. After making a rough prototype, I managed to land grants from a benevolent arts funding body (Film Victoria), as well as an Unreal Dev Grant from Epic. The mod and its reception really opened a lot of doors.

    My third problem - no experience - I solved by hiring a programmer who'd just finished making a VR spacewalk sim in collaboration with NASA - a one-man-army who's done the work of an entire team of programmers over the last four years. We met by chance at a party. Remember parties? Right place, right time. Here's Alex (below), on a visit to NASA:

    https://preview.redd.it/d5728m0y0l971.jpg?width=4928&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a1d5d5c9a90f941809b7d195eccdf4f734b5e1d

    The highlight of 2018 was seeing the game revealed on stage at E3. After a lifetime of watching from home, it was mind-blowing to see my little game up there. We even managed to win an Unreal E3 award: "Unreal Underdog" for being brave (read: crazy) enough to compete with the big dogs.

    It felt like a win at the time, but we later realized we'd made the mistake of announcing the game way earlier than we should have, because we kept finding ways to make it better, and ended up having to delay it a few times. *Cringe*

    https://preview.redd.it/38p37b601l971.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=687a5fdf722415cd92bd84dbc9d5f693f331a23e

    The highlight of 2019 was exhibiting the game at GDC and PAX East. We were just about out of funding, when I met a publisher called Dear Villagers, who gave us the support we needed to make the game we always wanted to make. Some time later they told me one of their scout's key criteria, in deciding who to publish, is "Would I like to have a beer with this person?", so never underestimate the importance of relationships. I couldn't visit them in France because of the pandemic, so I sent them a nice case of beer with a "thank you" note anyway.

    https://preview.redd.it/gqqgul601l971.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a7949896eeb1191a2138a45741c6c286c71c79c

    2020 was a blur, but two things stand out:

    First, we got to work with a couple of extraordinary historical consultants to make sure our game world - an ancient Roman city - has historically authentic art, architecture, costumes and customs. One, Dr. Philip Matyszak, has a PhD from Oxford, teaches at Cambridge, and has written 17 books. The other, Dr. Sophie Hay, has spent the last 20 years excavating the ruins of Pompeii. They're both really smart, lovely, and down to earth, and helped us immensely, as you can see:

    https://preview.redd.it/uj4ui7601l971.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=485bf1f11af5659a9235f75fc999fa357b07a70d

    Second, we finally figured out how to make good dialogue animations, thanks to a Zoom call with Shon Stewart, the Lead Animator at one of my favourite devs, Obsidian. No, our animations aren't Triple-A motion capture, but considering we're a core team of 3 devs, I'm super happy with the way they turned out. Here's a little clip highlighting the parallels between The Forgotten City's curse (if one person "sins", everyone dies) and the events of 2020:

    https://reddit.com/link/oetlc6/video/rnpj6v931l971/player

    That brings us to 2021. The game launches on Xbox One and Xbox Series X later this month.

    The last 4.5 years have been terrifying, exhilarating, creatively satisfying, and all-consuming. They've also been super productive: We've re-written the script (it's now twice as long), and added new characters, quests, twists, endings, gameplay mechanics, as well as professional voice acting and a new orchestral score.

    Whatever happens next, I'm really proud of how The Forgotten City turned out, and I'm really glad I took the leap!

    Thanks for reading! :-)

    submitted by /u/ModernStoryteller
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    My journey of playing through the Halo games for the 1st time in my 30s is at an end! I just rolled credits on Halo 5 & I can't wait for Infinite! I loved every game! My favorites were Reach and Halo 3. Loved 4 and I think I get why folks had issues with 5. What an amazing adventure! I had a blast!

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 02:17 PM PDT

    July Gamepass additions

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 06:02 AM PDT

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    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 08:06 AM PDT

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    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 08:34 PM PDT

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    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 10:17 PM PDT

    RoboCop: Rogue City | Teaser Trailer

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 10:52 AM PDT

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    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 09:23 AM PDT

    Is the DVD player on xbox region free

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 08:33 PM PDT

    Want to know if it's region free any help would be great ive haven't seen an actual answer for this question after looking for an hour.

    submitted by /u/scaryghosties
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    King Of Fighters XV will launch Q1 2022

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 08:06 AM PDT

    External hard drive broken

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 05:44 PM PDT

    I have this external hard drive connected to my Xbox. I went on a trip for a weekend and before I left it was fine. After I came back it said "0.0 GB free of 1.8 TB" and "100% full" and I'm not sure what happened. It was actually like 80% full. When I open "My games and apps" it doesn't even show anything. I had about 86 games and 31 apps but now it says "reset or change filters" or something. It seems like it's maybe corrupted and I'm wondering if I can fix it and still keep all of my things since I have like 5 years worth of game progress on it and really don't want to lose it.

    submitted by /u/Previous-Product-907
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    Any body knows whats up with my clips. Eveything else looks normal but i get this effect when i try and play my clips. SERIES X.

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 08:26 AM PDT

    Why Avalanche's Contraband will debut on Game Pass

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 07:49 AM PDT

    The Lord of the Rings: Gollum | A Unique Promise

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 10:15 AM PDT

    Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown - Welcome to Hong Kong Island | Announcement Trailer | 2022 (PS4/5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 09:07 PM PDT

    Xbox one s digital beeps but won't turn on

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 05:42 PM PDT

    My xbox one s digital edition beeps but won't turn on. Light shows for about 2 seconds before turning back off. Tried to do a hard reset and tried different outlets

    submitted by /u/silence-goodbye
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    Oddworld Soulstorm rated for Xbox One and Xbox Series

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 05:19 AM PDT

    Best gamepass games to play while listening to music

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 07:54 PM PDT

    Hey guys, I want to find some games that I can play while I'm chilling and listening to music or a podcast, I've been playing 2K but I'm a bit sick of it now.

    Preferrably on gamepass so I don't have to spend money lol

    submitted by /u/optional_moosemilk
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    Microsoft enables Paysafe as new payment option for European Xbox users

    Posted: 05 Jul 2021 11:44 PM PDT

    Really impressed with backwards compatibility

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 05:20 PM PDT

    So I've always wanted to get into the Yakuza games, so I downloaded the Origins Collection on PS5, as I've been playing on the PS for the last ten years or so. It looked good, but there were a lot of jaggies and it could use an anti-aliasing pass.

    Got a Series X recently, and saw it (Yakuza 0) was on GP, so I downloaded it and was blown away. What Microsoft is doing with BC is far more impressive than what Sony is doing. For Sony to leave it up to devs to enhance old titles seems lazy to me. Of course their first party stuff (minus Bloodborne) get enhancements and they look great, but third party titles are fantastic on Xbox. My only real gripe with the console is that you can't see your download status on the mobile app, nor does it notify you when your download is done.

    Other than that, I'm thoroughly impressed with Microsoft and I think the Series X will be my main console for a while. Plus, gotta love Play Anywhere with PC.

    submitted by /u/xNeurosiis
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    Xbox rest mode

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 08:33 PM PDT

    I recently switched from PS4 to Xbox and to say the least, I like Xbox better. PS4 has a rest mode that puts the console in a low-power mode and focuses that power on updates/downloads. I was wondering if there's a setting like this on Xbox. All feedback is appreciated and welcome!

    submitted by /u/alecb427
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    Dolby Vision on Xbox?

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 05:59 PM PDT

    So I recently read that the insiders program is testing implementation of Dolby Vision in games. However does this mean Dolby Vision support would be patched into the blu ray drive app for physical 4k disc playback? Right now only HDR 10 is supported if I'm not mistaken, but wanted to see if anyone knew anything more about this.

    submitted by /u/Night_Screen
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    Not sure if this has already been noticed, but I love how Flight Simulator is releasing on 7/27. It’s small things that make me love owning an Xbox!

    Posted: 06 Jul 2021 09:52 AM PDT
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