It was a long time in coming, and then a long time in coming again, but now it's finally here, as promised: Edge VN 1.1 is now live, and a massive update to 1.0. Nearly 50% of 1.0's code was edited or rewritten, and many new features now join the roster as well. Edge VN 1.1 is the fastest, easiest, and best visual novel engine yet! If you're a new Edge VN user, you can pick it up from the Marketplace now. Existing users should delete Edge VN 1.0 from their projects' 'Extensions' folder and download/import the new version from the Marketplace Beta > My Library section of the Game Maker Studio IDE. Because so much has changed, you'll also want to give the documentation a read to see what's new and how to update old projects to the new version of the engine. The features of Edge VN 1.1 have already been discussed in a previous blog post, but there is one omission to make note of: backtracking. It was only ever subtly advertised, but nonetheless because...

You aren't imagining things, Edge Display Scaler really did just jump from 1.2.3 to 1.2.6! This was not an anticipated update, however when it was brought to my attention that 1.2.3 did not support Android devices with resolutions in excess of 2048 pixels in either direction (e.g. Motorola Nexus 6, LG G3), I got right on to discovering why and developing a solution. At the same time, a long-requested feature for Edge Display Scaler has been the ability to scale in one axis while leaving the other at a fixed pixel resolution. Since an update was in order anyhow, I also managed to throw in this feature. And for the cherry on top, Edge Display Scaler also now features a new DPI scaling mode that will attempt to scale not just based on pixels, but on the physical size of the display. With smartphones and tablets getting increasingly higher-resolution screens it's not enough to simply adjust an application to fill all the available pixels. While this results in a non-letterboxed, ve...

It may be a bit quiet around here as of late, but behind the scenes things are moving faster than ever before for Edge Engine. Edge VN was the biggest release yet, but being the first iteration of its kind for Edge Engine it left a lot of room for additions and improvement, and Edge VN 1.1 will deliver on most of them shortly. All features for the update are currently in-place and in-progress, with only a handful of outstanding checkboxes left to be ticked. Originally the plan was to have the update published by this weekend, but certain features are proving to be a bigger challenge than originally anticipated, so please be patient while 1.1 gets the finishing touches to be the best that it can be. Here's a quick rundown of what to expect: Updated syntax: Edge VN 1.0 relied heavily on 'if' statements and custom code to control the finer details of script parameters. A major goal of the 1.1 update has been to eliminate the need for additional code by providing new built-in ...

Every year at E3 a ton of new game announcements and demos hit the stages of downtown LA, and every year a number of great titles go unmentioned during presentations because there's just not enough time in the day to list them all. This year's E3 made a valiant effort as one of the most packed yet, but even with three extra press conferences there are still some games you'll only see this week on the show floor--arguably where the real fun of E3 takes place. It's become something of an E3 tradition for ThinkBoxly to pick three of the best as a special feature, but bear in mind that 'best' is relative, and opinions will vary. Still, in my opinion, here are three games from the E3 show floor that you ought to know about. Fire Emblem (See 24:46 - 28:05) The results are in: Nintendo's digital E3 presentation is officially a flop . However, that doesn't mean it was completely devoid of great showcases. Specifically, both Fire Emblem: Fates on the 3DS and Shin...

While it may not have the mainstream appeal of Xbox or Playstation, following a rather weak gaming generation the PC has come back strong as a highly popular platform that fewer and fewer developers are taking for granted. With digital distribution platforms like Steam and Origin it's become easier than ever for developers to take advantage of the PC while maintaining something of a console mindset, and as PC graphics hardware advances the requirements ultimately become more and more accessible to more and more casual players. That being said, there's never been a better time to be a hardcore player who routinely builds their own monster desktop PCs to eek out every frame possible with today's technology. And if you lean towards the latter camp, PC Gamer's inaugural E3 press conference is for you. Note that due to the high volume of titles and stage guests featured at the PC Gamer conference, not each one will be gone into detail. Many games at the event had already mad...

It's been almost a decade since Square Enix last claimed its own stage at E3--interestingly enough, to unveil a certain Final Fantasy game that we still haven't seen release to this day, aside from its demo form, Episode Duscae. That game wasn't at E3 this year, which we knew going in--we'll have to wait for Gamescom for that. So with one of their longest in-development titles a guaranteed no-show, what else could Square Enix have in store for gamers to warrant reserving their own time slot? Quite a bit, actually. The legendary Japan-based publisher and developer has had a few rough years in the recent past, but from the looks of it that's all behind them, now. Just Cause 3 While it hasn't been the biggest gaming franchise ever, Just Cause actually has a pretty decent history built up behind it at this point. The first game was an early release for last-gen consoles, and the sequel released in 2010 still has an active fan community today. Because of this, Square...

I have a saying: there's always something broken about a Ubisoft game. Sometimes I enjoy them enough to live with it anyhow, but in the past several years I've said it, so far I have yet to really be proven wrong. Well, that may just change. Like EA, Ubisoft tried to push 'listening to players' as the big selling point for their latest and greatest, and while at first coming from Ubisoft it just felt like marketing speak, after seeing what they have to offer for the near future, I'm actually inclined to believe them...for the most part. South Park: The Fractured but Whole South Park: The Stick of Truth is getting a sequel? Of course it is. For Honor It could either be said that it's hard to know what to expect from Ubisoft at E3...or that it's very easy, in a bad way. For Honor defies both types of expectations. There aren't a lot of medieval-style games that aren't called 'The Elder Scrolls', and there are even fewer that aren't some typ...

Electronic Arts is often the subject of harsh gamer criticism--it's the 'love to hate' company of the videogames industry, even though they make plenty of quality titles. But whether their reputation is founded or not, this year at E3, EA did everything in its power to shake that reputation and prove that it is a company that listens to and works with its fans. Mass Effect: Andromeda It has now been three years since we last had a Mass Effect game, and apparently we still have a while yet to wait. While EA did kick off their entire presentation with Mass Effect: Andromeda, what was shown was only a brief teaser that very nearly felt like repurposed footage from a certain Mass Effect 3 promo. It was a nod to the game's existence, but little more. We saw someone standing in a space ship, staring out into space, and they were wearing an N7 uniform despite being all the way out in our closest neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. The game is set to release Holiday 2016, so expect ...

For the past couple of years Sony has fairly easily 'won' E3, with little competition from all the other press conferences. E3 2015 hasn't pulled any punches so far, however, and with few first-party titles in the near future for Sony, the Playstation 4 was looking like it might struggle more than usual to keep up the pace following two such stellar years. While in part that was true, in the end Sony managed to secure enough major surprises to keep the ship right. And when I say 'major', I mean that on a galactic scale. The Last Guardian Wait, what? Is that a typo? Am I dreaming? No, it's the cold, hard fact: The Last Guardian was just shown at Sony's press conference for E3 2015. Yes, really! Next thing you know, Gabe Newell will announce some other game with a 3 in the title. Ok, maybe that won't happen, but upon seeing The Last Guardian, I'm about ready to believe anything. The sad part? It doesn't seem that remarkable, really. The earmarks of...