When work first started on Cuphead, a new game that marries side-scrolling gameplay with 1930s-style American animation, Maja Moldenhauer went ahead and ordered a whole bunch of animation paper. Since the game was to be completely hand-drawn, in an attempt to emulate the process from the time, the paper was an integral tool. Moldenhauer, who served as an artist and producer on the game, thought that her initial paper order would be big enough to get the team through the development of Cuphead, and then get started on whatever the studio’s follow-up project ended up being.That didn’t happen. Instead, that huge stack of paper only lasted about a third of the way through Cuphead’s creation. One of the reasons was the game’s scope, which dramatically expanded midway through development, resulting in multiple delays and a lot more animation. But it’s also because of the fact that the team at Studio MDHR is full of perfectionists, who would toss out designs for characters and levels many times, until they landed on exactly what they wanted. That meant a lot of wasted paper. “We’ve been fine-tuning things that probably the majority of the general public won’t even notice,” says Moldenhauer. “But we’ve just been really picky.” Cuphead is a run-and-gun action game, one that attempts to emulate the hard-as-nails nature of genre icons like Mega Man and Gunstar Heroes. There are giant bosses that require pattern memorization and quick reflexes to defeat, and you’ll come across waves of enemies that include everything from fireflies to angry flowers. But the most striking thing about the game is how it looks. It’s a game that tries to capture the surreality inherent in cartoons from the ‘30s, like Betty Boop or Steamboat Willie. Enemies in the game include a towering cigar with a sinister grin, and a giant carrot with psychic powers. There are also plenty of sight gags, like a fish going fishing, or a coin who doesn’t trust banks. And, of course, the main character in Cuphead is, well, a guy a with a cup for a head. Capturing that style — and doing it in a way that both looked and felt authentic — required a lot of work. It meant utilizing most of the same techniques that gave early Disney and Fleischer Studios cartoons their distinct look. The backgrounds in the game consist of watercolor paintings, while every frame of animation was hand-drawn on paper, before being inked and ultimately inserted into the game. The only part of the process that was digital was the coloring. “When we did our tests at the beginning, we hand-painted each cell and then we colored it digitally, and we did a comparison,” explains Moldenhauer. “There really was no difference. So that’s why we took the easy path.” Development on Cuphead started in 2010, and it was first revealed back in 2014. At that point it was a considerably smaller game. In order to be realistic about what they could actually create, the team at Studio MDHR scaled back their vision to an experience that would consist entirely of a series of eight Mega Man-style boss battles. At the time, the studio consisted of just three people, making it a challenge to create anything larger than that, especially considering the time-consuming nature of the art style.
But after some very positive showings at trade shows like E3, the studio realized that the game needed to be more expansive in order to satisfy the ever-growing audience interested in its unique style. That meant more bosses, properly designed platforming levels, and an overworld that connected them together. It also required a lot more people — and a lot more time. Since 2015, the studio has grown dramatically. What started out as a trio is now a team 19-people strong, spanning multiple cities, from Toronto to Los Angeles. That includes a total of five artists, handling everything from concept art to animation. In addition to her role as producer on the game, Moldenhauer was the sole clean-up and inking artist on the game, meaning she had a hand in every frame of animation featured in the title. And now the game is finished.
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Studio MDHR will (officially) add Online Co-op in Cuphead in future, but are you aware of the fact that there is a way by which you can get Online Co-op in Cuphead right now? Thanks to the guide shared on Steam by user Phenomen – you can activate Online Co-op in Cuphead immediately after the release of the game. Sadly, there is a small catch – only players with Nvidia graphics card can do it. How To Enable Online Co-op ModeThis step below to enable Co-op Mode only works with Nvidia 600 Series or above Graphic card. Step by step instructions are below.
You can follow those steps or just use a Xbox controller. A recurring argument has raged for as long as I've lived: How much should we blame creators for how their work influences people? Not much, I've always thought. We've just seen why. Between charges of widespread sexual harassment in Hollywood and Eminem in parking garages, you may not have noticed men and women around the US losing their minds over McDonald's sauce. Like, really going crazy. It's all linked to "Rick and Morty," the hit Adult Swim animated TV show that just ended its third season. In the show, Rick goes on a 30-second rant about Szechuan McNugget sauce McDonald's briefly offered in 1998 as part of a tie-in with Disney movie "Mulan," joking that he'll get more if it takes nine seasons. That was back in April. McDonald's, looking to make some much-needed McDollars, earlier this month announced it'd bring the sauce back for one day only, Oct. 7. That's when everything got wild. There wasn't enough supply to meet the rabid, internet-fueled demand, leading to ridiculous rabble across the US. People have been buying pictures of the sauce on eBay. One guy even traded his car for a packet of sauce. Thankfully, no one is blaming the show or its creators for the stupidity of a small number of fans. But that's not always the case. Musicians, movies and especially video games often get accused of influencing our behavior, usually after some grim incident. Just last year, state government here in Australia actually blamed a crime spike on "the Grand Theft Auto generation." Of course, violence and crime are different than stupidity and disorder. You can only guess whether more people would be reprimanding "Rick and Morty" creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland or the content of the show if something unfortunate happened as crowds chanted for sauce they could literally buy at a grocery store. But as it stands, people have a largely unspoken understanding that this is symptomatic of geek culture's dark side. The culture, or at least part of it, is to blame, not whatever stimulus mobilizes it. A lot of that dark side, incidentally, has previously been exemplified within the show's fan base, which is renowned for being obnoxious. Many pat themselves on the back for that reputation, to the extent that their arrogance has become an internet meme unto itself. More worrisome, some "Rick and Morty" superfans last month harassed and even doxxed the show's female writers, blaming them for an apparent dip in show quality. Crucially, none of this was incited by the show itself. Rick's whole Szechuan riff was about rejecting sentimentality, and actually discouraged this type of, well, sentimentality. Meanwhile, if you Google "Is Rick and Morty sexist," you won't even get any Tumblr photo essays on how the show is covertly oppressive. That's a monumental achievement for a show in 2017. Instead, if you do actually search that, you'll find Harmon slamming the guilty fans, calling out "a testosterone-based subculture patting themselves on the back for trolling these women." This isn't all of the show's fans (#NotAllMortys). The third season of "Rick and Morty" had an average viewership of well over 2 million, and it's likely only a tiny minority of those viewers doing the damage. I like the show, and if you've seen it you probably like it too. But a small percentage of 2 million is enough to cause scenes in McDonald's around the US and make life difficult for a team of female writers.
The unique art style, fast paced action, perfectly accurate animations make Cuphead one of a kind experience. The game controls are smooth, the boss battles are difficult and it really urges you to step up your game. It’s both frustrating and addictive all at the same time. The game with in 2 weeks of its launch reached a benchmark of 500,000 steam unit sales. That’s coming from a small team of indie developers. Cuphead lived up to its hype with its gorgeous graphics, challenging gameplay, high replay ability. The animations are one of a kind, with hand drawn characters, it literally looks like you are watching a cartoon from the 1930s. The game has different difficulty modes, there are certain weapons to pick and choose, that give you an edge in game progress. I myself have yet to play the game, since because of the fourth quarter there are many games in my list but I’ll make sure to give Cuphead a priority above all. This game is love at first sight. A solid GOTY contender. The controls of Cuphead are responsive, music is great, art-style as mentioned is uniquely accurate, gameplay is both frustrating and addictive at the same time. In my opinion this game deserves to be a GOTY contender. The gameplay is so difficult that you will have to memorize the patterns of each boss and minions to work your way around beating each stage. There’s at least 15-20 tries for a newbie to complete a stage, depending up on your reflexes and pattern recognition. Patience is truly tested here. It’s an experience that you’ll have to have. Enough fanboyism from my side. Let us know your take on Cuphead. A guest is a special user for players wishing to not use a ROBLOX account. Guests are known as "The True Testers of ROBLOX" by the administrators. Either way, a guest is a user playing ROBLOX without an account. When a player hovers the mouse over a guest image when viewing game servers, the name will appear as "A Friendly Guest".
Nintendo Switch-exclusive fighting game Arms is getting a new update soon, and it will seemingly include a new character. Check out the trailer above and you'll catch a glimpse of what appears to be a mecha version of Spring Man from the base game. In addition, the new update will add Badges that unlock when you complete certain challenges, such as winning your first Grand Prix or playing a number of matches with one character. Nintendo only says the free update is coming "later this month;" we'll let you know when a precise release date is announced. The last couple of Arms updates have included a new character, Lola Pop, and two new stages: Sparring Ring and Via Dolce. Nintendo has continually added new Arms content since launch, with previous free DLC adding another fighter called Max Brass and including a new set of training exercises. In other Switch news, Nintendo has reportedly increased production of the hybrid console to 2 million units per month in light of its high demand, particularly in Asia. In addition, Splatoon 2 has a new map and weapon available now, and a bunch more games came to the Switch Eshop this week.
Mr. Robot is back for a third season After one of the most original, ambitious and brilliantly head-scratching debut seasons in recent memory, the Emmy-nominated Mr. Robot lost its way a little with an unremittingly bleak and occasionally boring second season which turned viewers off in droves. But can one of the decade’s surprise hits rediscover its form for the upcoming third season? *If you haven’t seen the end of Season 2, there are spoilers below so you have been warned* Here’s a look at everything we know so far about the latest adventures of TV’s greatest socially-anxious, morphine-addicted vigilante hacker. When can I watch it? The first episode of Mr. Robot’s third season will premiere in the UK on Amazon Prime on October 12, a day after its first screening in the US. There are ten episodes in total, which makes this season two episodes shorter than the last. What’s the story? We last saw troubled Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek) being shot by the villainous Tyrell Wellick, who we now know is most definitely not just a figment of his imagination. Of course, the show isn’t going to get rid of its titular antihero, but the trailer suggests that he’s still initially in a bad way. Creator Sam Esmail has revealed that the third season, the theme of which is ‘disintegration,’ will see Elliot ‘trying to bounce back and fight against the people who have been using him’. The show, which will continue to take place in an alternate world where Obama, and not Trump, is president, will also deal with the aftermath of Darlene’s capture by the FBI, Tyrell and Mr. Robot’s plans to blow up E-Corp, and the revelation that Angela is now helping the Dark Army. Who’s returning? Alongside Rami Malek (Elliot), Christian Slater (Mr. Robot) and Martin Wallstrom (Tyrell), the third season will also welcome back ever-presents Carly Chaikin (Darlene), Portia Doubleday (Angela), Michael Cristofer (Phillip Price) and Stephanie Corneliussen (Joanna). Season two addition Grace Gummer will also return as Dom, while B.D. Wong (Whiterose) has finally been upgraded to regular status. Who are the new faces? Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) is the major new addition, with the Boardwalk Empire star playing Irving, a ‘laconic’ and ‘no-nonsense’ used car salesman. The only other new face confirmed so far is Rizwan Manji (Schitt’s Creek) who will appear as Dom’s new partner Norm. Will there be a fourth season? If ratings can bounce back to the highs of the first, then Mr. Robot will be with us a little while longer yet.
Esmail has revealed that he plans for the show to extend to at least a fourth season, with a fifth also a possibility too. The second season of Stranger Things will release on Netflix on Oct. 27th, but for those of us who only watched the first season once, here's a quick refresher on everything that happened in Stranger Things Season 1. Not that it wasn't memorable--it's just been a while! Now let’s travel all the way to back 1984, to a little town called Hawkins, Indiana. The gang The series begins with young Mike Wheeler (Finn Woldhard) playing Dungeon Master to a game of Dungeons & Dragons for his friends Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), and the ill-fated Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). During the RPG adventure, the boys encounter a monster called a Demogorgon. This creature from the underworld foreshadows the shenanigans this whole town is about to get into. After leaving the game, Will Byers is waylaid by a creature not unlike that very demon, and he disappears into another dimension, which is referred to later as "the Upside Down." The search for WIll is the reason for the season. Will’s mother, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), is a smoking wreck for most of it, due in large part to monsters regularly popping out of her walls, her butthead of an ex-husband, Lonnie (Ross Partridge), and her extradimensional son consistently blowing up her phone. Get it? Wheres will? Meanwhile, a girl name Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who has telekinesis and severe--but not unfounded--dad issues, escapes a local department of energy facility. She's being hunted by the most motivated government employees since the movie E.T., led by a Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine). Eleven’s real name is thought to be Jane, after we see a expository scene involving a catatonic woman named Terry Ives (Aimee Mullins), who was apparently pregnant with Eleven while involved in a clandestine government test called MKUltra. Eleven eventually shacks up with Mike and takes up the task of eating all his Eggo waffles. After a bunch of friendship-stressing, prepubescent drama, she uses Mike’s walkie-talkie to contact Will in the other dimension, which convinces the group she can find him in the Upside Down. The sheriff of this here town is Jim Hopper, Alcoholic (David Harbour). He has good reason to be one, though, since his young daughter, Sara (Elle Graham), died of cancer. When Joyce implores him to search for Will, he does so with a personal motivation, occasionally flashing back to moments he spent with his dying daughter. When a body resembling “the Byers boy” is found floating in a reservoir, Jim Hopper cuts it open--you know, like an autopsy. Only with a pocket knife, and he's totally not supposed to, but he does it anyway, because he's Jim Hopper. It turns out the body is a fake, injecting the story with yet more juicy mystery. Young Americans No story is complete without a teenage love triangle and the death of an innocent, so let’s get into the young adults of the tale.
Mike’s older sister, Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), is best friends with the nerdy Barbara Holland (Shannon Purser). When the two go to a party at Nancy’s crush Steve Harrington’s (Joe Keery) house, Barb winds up in the deep end. She's seen one other time in the series--though not in very good shape. Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) is Will’s older brother, and in addition to having the issues of searching for his brother, dealing with his hysterical mother, and navigating high school on a television show in the simulated 1980s, he may or may not have feelings for Nancy. After Jonathan and Nancy join forces to look for Will, Jonathan and Steve clash, but when it comes down to it they all get together to try and kick Demogorgon ass. Under threat of ambiguous government agents, Hopper, Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy and the boys build a sensory deprivation tank for Eleven, so she can think her way into the Upside Down and find Will and Barb. Joyce and Hopper break into the Hawkins Laboratory, but they are captured by Dr. Brenner. Hopper trades Eleven's location for access to the dimensional gate, while Eleven and the boys hide out at their middle school. Dr. Brenner shows up for Eleven, but she kills most of his agents before subsequently passing out from the effort. Her power brings the Demogorgon to her location, and it conveniently kills Brenner and his agents. Just as the Monster turns its attention to the boys--and they uselessly wrist-rocket it--Eleven regains consciousness, bleeds from her eyeballs, and blasts the monster out of existence, before vanishing herself. Joyce and Hopper find Will unconcious with demogorgon boogers in his nose, and they return him to the Rightside Up. A month later Will is still coughing up Demogorgon boogers, and Eleven is still absent, but hey, happy ending? |
AuthorFlash- aka: Non-Stop Monkey Archives
November 2017
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