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Shadowgrounds
''Shadowgrounds'' is a top-down shooter for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, developed by Frozenbyte. The game takes place on a space colony on Ganymede which is being attacked by aliens. It was released for Windows on November 17, 2005, in stores in Finland and Germany, and in 2006 in the rest of Europe and North America. As well as being available through retail stores, the game began being distributed on Valve's Steam on May 8, 2006. The game was also available on Gametap as of January 31, 2008 until its close, and is on Good Old Games as of March 3, 2011. The game was later ported by IGIOS and published to Linux by Linux Game Publishing, with the Linux version being released on September 16, 2009. It was made available on Desura Desura was a digital distribution platform for the Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X platforms. The service distributed games and related media online, with a primary focus on small independent game developers rather than larger companies. Des ... ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Linux Game Publishing
Linux Game Publishing (sometimes also referred to as LGP) was a software company based in Nottingham in England. It ported, published and sold video games Linux gaming, running on Linux operating systems. As well as porting games, LGP also sponsored the development of Grapple, a free software network library for games. As well as acting as a Linux game porter in of themselves, they also functioned as a publisher for other Linux game developers and porters. The company was dissolved on 3 May 2011. History 2001-2012 The company was founded on 5 September 2001 by Michael Simms when the similarly oriented Loki Software filed for bankruptcy. Simms had previously founded the Tux Games retailer a few years earlier, and the collapse of Loki would have gravely affected his available stock. Linux Game Publishing had initially tried to pick up the support rights to many of Loki's titles, but in the end it was only able to acquire the rights to ''MindRover, MindRover: The Europa Project'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Frozenbyte
Frozenbyte, Inc. (natively Frozenbyte ) is a Finnish video game developer founded in 2001 and based in Helsinki. , it had approximately 130 employees. Frozenbyte's first commercial game was ''Shadowgrounds'' for Microsoft Windows. Both ''Shadowgrounds'' and its follow-up ''Shadowgrounds: Survivor'' were released for Linux in 2009, ported by IGIOS and published by Linux Game Publishing. They and all their later games use an game engine, engine that has been known internally as Storm3D, originally by Finnish programmer Sebastian Aaltonen. Frozenbyte's next commercial game, ''Trine (video game), Trine'' was released in 2009 for Microsoft Windows in 2009, and has since been ported to Linux, OS X, the PlayStation Network, and Nintendo eShop. The game spawned four sequels, ''Trine 2'' which was released on Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in December 2011, Linux in March 2012, and Wii U eShop in November 2012, and ''Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power'' which was releas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Ari Pulkkinen
Ari Pulkkinen (born 15 January 1982) is a Finnish video game composer, musician and sound designer. He is best known for his work on music for the ''Angry Birds'' series, mainly the song "Angry Birds Theme". Biography Pulkkinen was born in Helsinki. At the age of 6, he started studying piano and composed his first song at the age of 12. He was interested in the computer music demoscene and started making music with tracker software under the name "ArtZ" and "DJartz". He won many music competitions and made his first big public album to accompany a freeware game titled ''Starfight VI: Gatekeepers'' in 1999. Ari has never studied music composition academically. In 2003, he was hired as in-house audio director to game development company Frozenbyte Inc. Where he made the original soundtracks and sound design for video games '' Shadowgrounds'', '' Shadowgrounds: Survivor'' and '' Trine''. In his spare time, Ari earned diplomas in ''Professional Audio Design and Producing'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Level (computer And Video Games)
In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, mission, stage, course, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively increasing difficulty to appeal to players with different skill levels. Each level may present new concepts and challenges to keep a player's interest high to play for a long time. In games with linear progression, levels are areas of a larger world, such as Green Hill Zone. Games may also feature interconnected levels, representing locations. Although the challenge in a game is often to defeat some sort of character, levels are sometimes designed with a movement challenge, such as a jumping puzzle, a form of obstacle course. Players must judge the distance between platforms or ledges and safely jump between them to reach the next area. These puzzles can slow the momentum down for players of fast action games; the first ''Half-Life'''s penul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Cutscene
A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the player, introduce newer models and gameplay elements, show the effects of a player's actions, create emotional connections, improve pace (narrative), pacing or foreshadow future events. Cutscenes often feature "on the fly" rendering, using the gameplay graphics to create scripted events. Cutscenes can also be pre-rendering, pre-rendered computer graphics streamed from a video file. Pre-made videos used in video games (either during cutscenes or during the gameplay itself) are referred to as "full-motion videos" or "FMVs". Cutscenes can also appear in other forms, such as a series of images or as plain text and audio. History ''The Sumerian Game'' (1966), an early mainframe game designed by Mabel Addis, introduced its Sumerian setting wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Exposition (narrative)
Narrative exposition, now often simply exposition, is the insertion of background information within a story or narrative. This information can be about the setting, characters' backstories, prior plot events, historical context, etc. In literature, exposition appears in the form of expository writing embedded within the narrative. Infodumping An ''information dump'' (more commonly now, '' infodump'') is a large drop of information by the author to provide background they deem necessary to continue the plot. This is ill-advised in narrative and is even worse when used in dialogue. There are cases where an information dump can work, but in many instances it slows down the plot or breaks immersion for the readers. Exposition works best when the author provides only the bare minimum of surface information and allows the readers to discover as they go. Indirect exposition/incluing ''Indirect exposition'', sometimes called , is a technique of worldbuilding in which the reade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Personal Digital Assistant
A personal digital assistant (PDA) is a multi-purpose mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. Following a boom in the 1990s and 2000s, PDAs were mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of more highly capable smartphones, in particular those based on iOS and Android (operating system), Android in the late 2000s, and thus saw a rapid decline. A PDA has an electronic visual display. Most models also have audio capabilities, allowing usage as a portable media player, and also enabling many of them to be used as telephones. By the early 2000s, nearly all PDA models had the ability to access the Internet, intranets or extranets via Wi-Fi or wireless WANs, and since then generally included a web browser. Sometimes, instead of buttons, later PDAs employ touchscreen technology. History The first PDA, the Psion Organiser, Organiser, was released in 1984 by Psion (company), Psion, followed by Psion Series 3, Psion's Series 3, in 1991. The latter began to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Non-player Character
A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by another player. In video games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer (instead of a player) that has a predetermined set of behaviors that potentially will impact gameplay, but will not necessarily be the product of true artificial intelligence. Role-playing games In traditional tabletop role-playing games such as ''Dungeons & Dragons'', an NPC is a character portrayed by the gamemaster (GM). While the player characters (PCs) form the narrative's protagonists, non-player characters can be thought of as the "supporting cast" or "extras" of a roleplaying narrative. Non-player characters populate the fictional world of the game, and can fill any role not occupied by a player character. Non-player characters might be alli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Quest (gaming)
A quest, or mission, is a task within video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games. Rewards may include loot such as items or in-game currency, access to new level locations or areas, an increase in the character's experience in order to learn new skills and abilities, or any combination of the above. Quests often fall into several types, such as kill quests, gather quests, delivery/"fetch" quests, and escort quests. However, quests can include more than one mission, such as gathering something and transporting it somewhere. Quests can be linked together to form quest series or chains. In this manner, quests are used to provide the player with further background to the setting their characters are in. This mechanism is also used to advance any story or plot the game might have. Many types of quests are referred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Trope (literature)
A literary trope is an artistic effect realized with figurative language – word, phrase, image – such as a rhetorical figure. In editorial practice, a ''trope'' is "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase". Semantic change has expanded the definition of the literary term ''trope'' to also describe a writer's usage of commonly recurring or overused literary techniques and rhetorical devices (characters and situations), motifs, and clichés in a work of creative literature. Origins The term ''trope'' derives from the Greek (), 'a turn, a change', related to the root of the verb (), 'to turn, to direct, to alter, to change'; this means that the term is used metaphorically to denote, among other things, metaphorical language. Tropes and their classification were an important field in classical rhetoric. The study of tropes has been taken up again in modern criticism, especially in deconstruction. Tropological criticism (not to be confused with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Space Colonization
Space colonization (or extraterrestrial colonization) is the human settlement, settlement or colonization of outer space and astronomical bodies. The concept in its broad sense has been applied to any permanent human presence in space, such as a space habitat or other extraterrestrial settlements. It may involve a process of occupation or control for exploitation, such as Space mining, extraterrestrial mining. Making territorial claims in space is prohibited by international space law, defining space as a Common heritage of humanity, common heritage. International space law has had the goal to prevent colonial claims and militarization of space, and has advocated the installation of international regimes to regulate access to and sharing of space, particularly for specific locations such as the limited space of Geostationary orbit#Orbital allocation, geostationary orbit or the Moon. To date, no permanent space settlement other than temporary Space habitat (facility), space ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
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Death Rally
''Death Rally'' is a vehicular combat racing video game developed by Remedy Entertainment, published by Apogee Software and distributed by GT Interactive. Originally known as ''HiSpeed'' during development, it was released on 7 September 1996 for MS-DOS. In the game, the player starts with $495 and a weak car named ''Vagabond'' (based on the VW Beetle), and must compete in deadly races where all cars are armed (although a game without guns is an option). The player wins money by finishing in front positions, collecting money bonuses during the race, fulfilling missions and destroying other cars. The ultimate goal of the game is defeating the "Adversary", the undisputed king of ''Death Rally'', in a one-on-one race. In October 2009, Remedy updated ''Death Rally'' with compatibility for Microsoft Windows and re-released the game as freeware. A remake of the game was developed by Remedy in cooperation with Mountain Sheep and Cornfox & Brothers. The remake was released for iOS in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |