With guests from politics, the games industry, universities, eSports and streaming, the Rhineland-Palatinate software and games forum GameUp! launched its GameUp! Live Event for the gamecom 2020.

In administrative and organizational record time, sponsored by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Economics and with the friendly support of Mainzer Breitband GmbH and the state capital Mainz, GameUp! was able to realize a three-day streaming event for this year’s gamescom under the technical direction and execution of Binary Impact GmbH from Niederelbert.

Guests included State Secretary for Economics Daniela Schmitt, game board member Stefan Marcinek, Andreas Garbe from the ZDF and board member of the investment and structural bank ISB Dr.Ulrich Link. In addition to companies such as Kalypso Media, Binary Impact and Grimbart Tales, universities and institutions such as the University of Kaiserslautern, klicksafe and medien+bildung.com of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Institute for Media and Communication also presented themselves.

„With GameUp! Live, we have successfully achieved a highly representative format for the Rhineland-Palatinate location at gamescom 2020 despite corona, which represents a great combination of talks, interviews, company presentations, cooperation with our regional streamers and the eSport players of Uniliga.gg“. the GameUp! project manager Ben Palfner is excited, „Despite Corona, we were even able to push the networking further. I see the consistently positive feedback as a signal to network more closely with eSport teams and regional streamers in the future.”

The three-day streaming program from the Club Imperial in the Alte Lokhalle in Mainz included podium discussions, interviews, company presentations, streamed Let’s Plays and external connections. The day’s program was rounded out in the evening with a Twitch exclusive League of Legends eSport tournament with the Uniliga.gg teams from the universities of Mainz, Koblenz, Trier and Kaiserslautern, which was commented and accompanied by the casters Tim „Probably“ Weckfort and Christopher „Slogan“ Newton. The winning team from the University of Mainz won 500,- EUR in prize money.

Also the assigned technical director Jens Wiechering of Binary Impact summarizes contently: „I think, the positive atmosphere in the Chat and the direct requests for further events of this format shows us and the whole team, how well the Stream was received. A future digital format seems to be a desirable goal“.

As an added benefit, the complete stream is available on-demand on YouTube, and in the next few days individual contents will be edited and supplemented again. 

The link to the YouTube channel of GameUp!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgwYT5JfiWkxWAJC8MCDHnQ

Das rheinland-pfälzische Studio Binary Impact veröffentlicht sein Erstlingswerk „BEAM“ am 29. September 2020 exklusiv auf Steam. Das Spiel kann bereits jetzt auf die Steam Wishlist gesetzt werden.

Eine ruhige Kugel schieben? Nicht mit BEAM! Der Puzzle-Plattformer BEAM ist das Erstlingswerk des Entwicklerstudios Binary Impact und erscheint am 29. September für 15,99€ auf Steam. BEAM bietet rund 10 Stunden kniffligen Spielspaß und schickt den Spieler und seine Kugel auf der Reise zurück in die Zivilisation durch drei Hauptkapitel mit je ganz eigenem Grafikstil. Der Physik-Rätsel-lastige Puzzle-Platformer punktet mit einer dynamischen 3D-Umgebung, einer 2,5D Spielmechanik und einer simplen Steuerung.

Einen ersten Eindruck bietet der offizielle BEAM Trailer unter: https://youtu.be/LYtmPjiwqYs

Der Spieler übernimmt die Rolle von Captain Martin, ein enthusiastischer, aber unerfahrener Kadettenoffizier, der auf einem großen Container-Schiff in Stralsund stationiert ist. Nach einem Unfall findet sich Captain Martin in einer rollenden, KI-angetriebenen Rettungskapsel wieder: Der MARBLE, mit der Captain Martin nun zusammenarbeiten muss. Die Spieler müssen die Kugel durch unterschiedliche, futuristisch-anmutende Level steuern, dabei Hindernissen ausweichen und jederzeit aufpassen, nicht abzustürzen. Um das Ende des jeweiligen Levels zu erreichen, müssen die unterschiedlichen Gameplay-Mechaniken der verschiedenen Lichtstrahlen sinnvoll genutzt werden. Während MARBLE orangene Lichtstrahlen mithilfe von Rauch als Weg nutzen kann, sind rote Lichtstrahlen beispielsweise elastisch und fungieren als Trampolin. Insgesamt fünf verschiedene Lichtstrahlen sorgen mit ihren jeweiligen Eigenschaften für Abwechslung. Kommt man jedoch mit Feuer in Berührung, so startet man beim letzten Checkpoint.

Beim Erkunden der Welt gibt es immer wieder versteckte Eastereggs und Secrets zu entdecken, zudem können Steam Sammelkarten und Achievements gesammelt werden. Zusätzlich ist ein eigener Level-Editor in Arbeit, mit dem die Spieler eigene Herausforderungen kreieren können. Dieser wird kurz nach Release im Rahmen eines kostenlosen Updates zur Verfügung stehen.

BEAM kann ab sofort auf die Steam Wishlist gesetzt werden und ist ab dem 29. September bei Steam für 15,99€ verfügbar. Weitere Informationen können unter http://beam-game.com/ abgerufen werden.

For our game BEAM we recently needed a shader that visualized some sort of acid or nuclear waste. After showing some pictures on our social media channels we got a lot of requests on how to achieve this.

In this tutorial we want to show you the basics of how you can replicate a similar look with Unitys Shader Graph. We cover every step, from the depth calculations to achieve the gradient effects for the coast or the objects in the liquid, how to get a nice looking swirly color to the surface displacement and normal map creation.

Here is a link to the complete tutorial playlist.

Logic puzzles are your thing? No brainteaser is too tricky for you? Your mastermind has cracked every code in the book? Then MasterMind Deluxe is perfect for you!

The classic 2-player codebreaker for your mobile device is now even more challenging with five instead of four colors. Combine the different pegs and find out the correct order by following the coder’s hints.

Accept the challenge and download the app now from the App Store or Google Play:

MasterMind offers a relaxing offline mode that lets you save and continue your game. So you can either crack the code at once or make small progress during the daily bus ride or your lunch break. With patience and logical deduction you will certainly reach your goal!

The intuitive drag-and-drop controls give the app a realistic feel, just as if you were playing a real board game. Drag the pegs across the board and put them in the right place. Minimal effort, huge fun!

Visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for news about the latest updates or to take a look behind the scenes.

The focus of our work for this version was split in two major areas.
First and foremost we wanted to get the demo ready for steam. In which we succeeded! The demo is available on steam Tuesday the 9th of June 7 pm CEST.

Secondly we were working on Level 1.5, the last level we were going to add to our demo. The new level is finished and playable in the new version.

Of course we also fixed a lot of bugs and minor game-play issues and replaced them with new ones for you to find 😉

If you have any questions regarding Beam, you can directly reach our community manager Zinni by mail (thomasz@binaryimpact.de), join our Discord or send a DM in one of our socials.

Donate for the project here: http://bit.ly/BeamOnItch

Wishlist the game: http://bit.ly/BeamOnSteam

Let’s dive into the details:

System

• Added – Steam compatibility
• Added – New music track
• Added – FOV change in the camera, our artists can now adjust it in the level trigger
• Added – Game version and date to the bug report file
• Added – Corrupt save file warnings to the in game console
• Fixed – Issues with the „continue“ button after finishing the demo
• Fixed – Small bug on level loading
• Fixed – Keyboard and controller navigation links through settings
• Fixed – An issue in the spline manager to get a better result for GetClosestPointLength
• Improved – Better chapter selection menu
• Improved – Better time measurement for level completion time
• Improved – Better blending of selection arrows in chapter menu
• Improved – Model and texture of a few wall pieces
• Improved – Did some house cleaning
• Changed – Camera movement to be more consistent and intuitive
• Changed – The player movement on splines to be exactly on the spline instead of „somewhere close“ XD
• Removed – Gizmos from the plane change to conserve performance

• Added – Level 1.5
• Fixed – Level 1.1 – Barrel getting stuck on first barrel puzzle
• Changed – Level 1.1 – Closed hole in ceiling
• Changed – Level 1.1 – Rebuilt the repair station room
• Added – Level 1.2 – New collider for top beams
• Added – Level 1.2 – Collider for pipes
• Improved – Level 1.2 – Removed flying ceiling
• Improved – Level 1.2 – Moved some orange beams
• Improved – Level 1.2 – Camera cover
• Changed – Level 1.2 – Camera trigger
• Added – Level 1.3 – A few camera triggers for better visibility
• Improved – Level 1.3 – Visibility in corridors
• Improved – Level 1.3 – Moved save point to the end of the corridor for better visibility after the big climb
• Removed – Level 1.3 – Unnecessary plane change positions in the airlock room
• Added – Level 1.4 – Missing colliders
• Improved – Level 1.4 – Visibility on plate puzzle in control room
• Improved – Level 1.4 – Big bridge explosion animation
• Improved – Level 1.4 – A new pipe construction prevents jumping on the bridge and missing the animation
• Changed – Level 1.4 – DOT effect flamethrower