Welcome to the Nano Gaming News Weekly Rewind for October 10, 2020 where we cover stories and events that we missed over the past week.
This past week saw the start of The Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition with hundreds of demos, live events, developer chats and other gaming related information of upcoming releases on Steam. As the 2020 US Election nears Brooklyn based developer Cosmo’s Tuxedo is getting ready to release Electioneering in less than two weeks. Lastly, there were some major developments in the Epic Games versus Apple story that should give game developers a bit of relief.
Here is a quick recap of a few stories Nano Gaming News covered over the previous week. Players can demo their fantasy workshoppe skills and watch a trailer for Craftlands Workshoppe. Tactical Adventures released their latest demo for Solasta: Crown of the Magister. The metro commute management simulator Overcrowd: A Commute ‘Em Up has fully launched on Steam. Another management simulation, Actor Tycoon 2, sets players loose in the world of acting by means of running a talent agency. As Halloween nears one can get their fear on and watch the release date trailer for The Medium which is set to hit PC and the Xbox Series X/S in December.
Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition 2020
The Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition for 2020 is well underway with lots of game demos, developer chats, live streams and featured upcoming games on Steam. All of the gaming fun started on Wednesday October 7 and will continue until 10AM PST, Tuesday, October 13.
Not only is this event helpful for players to explore, learn about, and experience new and upcoming games, the event is a great opportunity for developers to get feedback from players and build an audience for their game’s future release. For a game to have been eligible for the Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition it would need to have a release date on Steam set between October 13th, 2020 and May 1, 2021, with a visible Coming Soon page by the start of the festival. In addition a publicly playable demo will need to be made available by the start of the event.
A Spring Game Festival was held earlier this year by Valve in an effort to help developers with the cancellation of the Game Developers Conference. This opportunity allowed indie game developers who lost their chance to demo their titles get featured on Steam. During the spring event over 40 indie games were featured.
Based on the success of these digital events, Steam has decided to make the Steam Game Festival a recurring event. Tentatively the next two events are scheduled for February 2021 and June 2021. New guidelines and criteria have been created for developers to help keep the selection of games relevant for customers.
The Steam Game Festival: Autumn Edition runs from Wednesday, October 7th, 10AM PST to Tuesday, October 13th, 10AM PST. Currently there are hundreds of games to try and plenty of live stream events to watch before time runs out.
Electioneering Early Access Later in October
Indie developer and new game company Cosmo’s Tuxedo is getting ready to release their first game, Electioneering, on Steam early access on October 20. The Brooklyn based developer’s game is full of shadow agents and campaign events that work to shape the media and voter’s opinions of the candidates.
This is a war of information and disinformation presented as a turn-based simulation of the 2020 US election. Players are tasked with using their electioneering skills to influence and steer voters to their candidate. Researching news topics, polling voters, and spying on opposing campaigns are just some of the tools one can use to deploy their strategy.
During the campaign there are dozens of events that will challenge the candidates from COVID-19 to impeachment hearings. These events can be used to one’s advantage by delivering ads, even twisted ones if necessary, to spin the news of the day in one’s favor.
Each game of Electioneering is different as the simulation is based on up to 51,000 unique virtual voters.
Electioneering is a response to all the mounting evidence that the people voting in the elections in the United States are having trouble getting the facts.
Jordan Smilovic, CEO, Cosmo’s Tuxedo
Electioneering is set to release in Steam early access on October 20, 2020. For more information about the game visit electioneering-game.com.
Epic Games and Apple Court Court News
It is Week 9 of the Epic Games versus Apple story and if you are anything like this writer, this story feels like it has been going on for much longer than just two months. Some big information came from the court room on Tuesday and Friday that leaves Fortnite’s future on iOS in jeopardy, but developers should be able to breath a sigh of relief.
On Tuesday according to a court filling confirms that the case will be a bench trial rather than a jury trial as requested by both parties. A pre-trial hearing is set for October 19 to help streamline trial issues. The actual trial will being on May 3, 2021. A pretrial conference will be held on April 21, 2021.
Friday saw two big rulings from Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers. The first was the refusal to grant Epic Games a preliminary injunction against Apple that would allow Fortnite back on the App Store. At the same time the judge granted an injunction that keeps Apple from retaliating against Epic’s Unreal Engine.
Going forward one can expect continued back and forth between the two companies as they prepare for the noted court dates while still trying to persuade the general public on the validity of their arguments.
Thank you for reading the October 10, 2020 Edition of the Nano Gaming News Weekly Rewind. Don’t forget to check back with us next Saturday for the next edition of Nano Gaming News Weekly Rewind and until then, keep on gaming.