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Tag: Peter Molyneux

  • Peter Molyneux’s Godus Gets A Trailer Ahead Of Its Paid Beta

    Last year, Peter Molyneux left Microsoft and Lionhead Studios to form his own indie studio. Their first game was more of a social experiment called Curiosity that had players working together to reveal what was inside a cube knowing full well that only one person could win. The legendary creator’s next game, Godus, will be a bit more familiar.

    22cans announced today that Godus will be entering a paid public beta on September 13. It will be available through the Steam Early Access program so those who buy it can help shape the game’s development as it nears completion. Of course, those who contributed £15 or more to the Kickstarter campaign will get into the beta for free.

    Before the beta launches, the team at 22cans have released a trailer to give you a look at the game:

    God games aren’t really in vogue anymore, but the Godus Kickstarter proved that people still want to toy with the lives of their digital citizens. Godus seems to deliver that gameplay in spades and it could very well catapult the genre to notoriety once again.

  • Peter Molyneux’s 22cans Posts Kickstarter For New God Game

    Peter Molyneux is no stranger to games which put the player in the position of ultimate authority over the lives of many. He designed games such as Populous and Black & White, and is considered by many to be the inventor of the “god game” genre. However, Molyneux is also no stranger to overhyping his games. So, when the man announces his intention to reinvent the god game, it’s perfectly natural to be both excited and skeptical.

    Today, Molyneux’s 22cans studio launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new god game called Godus. The game is being developed for PC and mobile platforms. It will task players with building up a cult and engaging in a power struggle with other gods and their cults. It promises to be set in a world that changes and is shaped by the actions of the player. 22cans promises Godus will be easy to learn, but “immensely deep.”

    The goal of the Kickstarter project is to raise £450,000. Judging by the recent overwhelming success of Kickstarter video game projects such as Obsidian Entertainment’s Project Eternity and Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Adventure, 22cans shouldn’t have much trouble reaching its relatively modest goal. Rewards for backing the Kickstarter project include in-game rewards, alpha access to the game, and signed t-shirts. For a £5,000 donation, players can travel to the 2013 E3 as a guest of honor with Molyneux and 22cans.

    22cans was founded by Molyneux to “make gaming meaningful.” They are calling their games experiments and trying to engage players in new ways. Earlier this month, the developer released a game called Curiosity, which tasks players with chipping (tapping) away at a shared cube with the goal of being the first and only person to find out what is in the center.

  • Peter Moylneux’s Cube-Tapping App Launches Today

    Peter Moylneux’s 22Cans game studio today released a mobile game that can be considered more social experiment than game.

    Curiosity is a game about tapping a giant cube. The tapping serves to chip away at the cube and reveal the secrets buried inside. There are billions of “cubelets” to chip off the cube, however, so everyone’s collective taps count toward the destruction of the one cube. The catch is that there is something in the middle of the cube that 22Cans describes as “life-changingly amazing,” but only the first person to reach the center will get to see it.

    The “game” is actually a social experiment. Players can earn coins for chipping away at the cube and then spend the coins on “new destructive and playful tools” to chip away at the cube faster. Tools include firecrackers, bombs, and chisels. Of course, you can also use real money to purchase coins. What that means is that the player who actually makes it to the center is likely to have paid real money for the amazing secret.

    Other than tapping the screen, there’s not much to the app, though it does feature some soothing music to tap along with. The developers openly admit that simply tapping on the cube can get addicting. In the app description on Google Play and the Apple App Store, 22Cans encourages players to create text and pictures by chipping the cube, so, of course, some minor vandalism involving strong language and crude pictures has begun.

    A beta test with 52 testers back in September managed to destroy 3,006,634 cubelets, averaging 14,455 cubelets destroyed per player, per day. If you’re set on becoming one of the cube tappers, you should know that multi-touch is useful and allows players to destroy multiple cubelets at a time.

  • Peter Molyneux Leaving Microsoft, Lionhead Studios

    Peter Molyneux, creator of Populous, Black and White, and Fable, has announced he will be leaving Microsoft for new ventures.

    Kotaku reports that Molyneux announced his departure this morning. He will be with Lionhead Studios as a creative consultant for the currently in development Fable: The Journey for Kinect. In a statement to Kotaku, Molyneux said, “It is with mixed emotions that I made the decision to leave Microsoft and Lionhead Studios, the company that I co-founded in 1997, at the conclusion of development of Fable: The Journey.”

    What will Molyneux be working on once he leaves his position as creative head of Microsoft Studios Europe? His Twitter feed reveals that he’ll be working for a new indie studio called 22 Cans.

    Microsoft issued a statement to Kotaku as well regarding the departure of Molyneux:

    “As co-founder of Lionhead and an integral part of Microsoft Studios, Peter was the creative visionary behind the blockbuster Fable franchise, and one of our most passionate and influential developers for the Xbox 360 platform. He has made an indelible mark on the games industry and we wish him all the best of luck in his future endeavors.”

    Molyneux’s impact on the gaming industry can not be understated. While Fable may not have been as ambitious as he previously claimed, gamers were enraptured when he made those first bold claims about the future of interactive entertainment and storytelling. Outside of games, he was a master storyteller that could sell you on his games based solely on his voice and vocabulary.

    Here’s the speech Molyneux gave at the 2011 BAFTA awards:

    Fans and game industry peers took to Twitter to wish him well:

    We here at WebProNews wish Peter Molyneux the best on his new venture. We can’t wait to see what he does next.