Niantic’s free App has taken the world by storm. People are coming together in local parks and downtown locations like never before. The Pokémon themed, augmented reality game has become a driving force for local clean-up projects, exercise events, and an overall sense of unity among its player base. Which sounds like a great thing! And it would be. If they weren’t constantly having obscenities screamed at them, eggs thrown at them, and getting harassed by drunk people. I know all of this, because I interviewed some of the community last night, and was yelled at 10 seconds into the first interview. See for yourself.

Sometimes I forget what year it is, because I feel like in 2016, we should have evolved beyond racism, hate, or derogatory slurs against a peaceful group of people. Except none of that is true. Which was made perfectly clear when myself and two friends, were screamed at while we had literally just started playing ‘Pokémon GO’. And reminded again when I was only 10 seconds into my first interview and heard someone scream, “F**k ‘Pokémon!” while driving past.

So I began reaching out to local Pokémon GO trainers via their various Facebook pages, asking what kinds of things they had experienced and whether or not they felt safe. Jordan Jeffries, a local trainer out of Ohio, told me about his concerns for the game.

“I really don’t feel safe alone,” said Jeffries. “Also there [was a] situation where a biker was offering drugs and trying to ask for drugs at the same time. Not in any case do I feel safe when drugs are by.”

Jeffries went on to say that whenever he heads out, he makes sure to have one or more people go with him, just for the sake of safety. But he wasn’t the only one, by far. You might have heard of the group of robbers using Lures to draw Pokémon GO players to a stop, and then attack them. But several local police department have issued safety tips for players. A couple stand outs were:

-Slow moving vehicles paralleling a person on foot (Following you as you walk), might be a sign it is a get-away car. If you get the sense you are being followed or set-up for a robbery, head to a lighted area with people around.

-Know where your kids are going when playing with the app, and set limits on where they can go.

-Do not try sneaking around police stations, fire stations or public safety vehicles. Your attempts to capture a Pokémon could be considered suspicious activity.

The main thing is to obviously stay safe. It isn’t worth risking your safety over a free game. Or any game for that matter. Safety or not, it just seems that most Pokémon trainers are just frustrated and disappointed in the people yelling at them.

“We were downtown and a guy stopped at a red light yelled ‘get a f**king life.’” said, Kellee Carbaugh, a local trainer.

“I’ve only ever had someone cussing at the group,” Landon Cooper told me. “And hey, if that’s what makes these people feel complete, then I feel sorry for them.”

While it is disappointing to say the very least, I am please to say that the community seems unified in protecting one another, and not giving up on having a good time.

Have you had any of these issue while playing Pokémon GO? Would any of this keep you from playing? Let us know!

Choosing Platforms to develop on

King has acknowledged that Australian developers have not really hit it big in the PC and console market. He puts it down to a capacity constraint, “we literally don’t have enough developers to allow for teams of that magnitude! I remember reading a while ago that after the downfall of Team Bondi, the number of game developers in Australia was cut in HALF. One studio closes its doors and half of Australia’s developers disappear overseas? That’s insane!” Nevertheless, his team is giving it a go.

The team chose the PC “mostly because the PC is the most forgiving platform to develop for at the moment. We started working with C# and XNA when we were 16, and PC development has grown as a natural extension of that. Although we’ve been trying to push ourselves in different directions recently (more on that in a second), it’s hard to escape the powerful debugging, lack of necessity for memory management (although that’s a horrible assumption) and strong 3rd party and online support that comes from PC development.”

When I asked about developing for consoles, King responded, “Although we’d love to develop for consoles, our company isn’t strong enough to extensively test games developed for those platforms and we’d be hamstrung by trying to pass certification. Although the new ‘indie’ initiatives introduced by Sony and Microsoft with the launch of their new consoles are very promising for companies like us, it’s still a little out of our reach.”

But what about mobile devices, a trend currently present in the Australian game industry?
“I don’t think we’ve necessarily gone against the mobile trend, we’re just a little slow to arrive to the party is all. The few projects that we’ve completed on PC have taught us buckets about our own ability, the development cycle, how long certain tasks are going to take, and how hard it is to market your titles. Bringing all of that knowledge to mobile development means we have fewer new things to learn, focusing instead on unique ways of using the touch interface and other inputs, and working within the memory and size constraints. We’ve actually just invested in some mobile development technologies, so expect some Chaos Theory titles to pop up on the Play Store or iTunes store soon.” (Since the interview took place, Chaos Theory Games has announced two mobile games in development, Novae and Desola)

A love of multiplayer

Chaos Theory Games currently has three titles available – Oversight, a single player game, Infinite Loop and S.W.A.P, which are both multiplayer titles. I asked King why, at the moment, the studio gravitated towards the multiplayer landscape. While King admitted he does not prefer one genre over the other, he did acknowledge that it was a “subconscious shift towards multiplayer experiences.”

“Perhaps it’s because our company was formed from a strong friendship that grew out of multiplayer experiences. When the 3 Chaos Theory directors get together to share a vision, multiplayer is the thing we think of that we can all easily agree on and get excited about. Most of our collective gaming knowledge comes from endless nights spent playing couch co-op games. However, looking back on many of our brainstorming sessions and the ideas we force ourselves to come up with on a fortnightly basis, most of what we want to do is single player.”

“When the idea for S.W.A.P was first pitched, it was a single player game with a heavy emphasis on plot. The main mechanic, the ability to exchange bodies with someone, was what started everything. We loved the idea that if I put myself in imminent danger and then exchanged bodies with an enemy, it was possible to kill them, without using weapons!

As the concept progressed, the developers began to see the game’s multiplayer potential.

“We quickly developed a prototype to see what gameplay would be like. It was frantic, disorienting, interesting but most of all it was fun! I had never thought about the number of strategies and moves that could be executed. It was really refreshing playing a game that opened my mind and caused me to explore new ideas, rather than just using the standard mechanics of a FPS because that’s what everyone is used to.”

One of the contributing factors to S.W.A.P being a multiplayer concept was the fact that the original project was created by a group of students working with a limited time frame. “Rather than make a single player game with a short play through and limited replayability, we would create a multiplayer experience that would be enjoyed for a much longer period of time. We realised that good multiplayer experiences will develop their own content, due to the ability to create divergent gameplay from limited mechanics.”

However, this was another occasion where the students were over ambitious, not giving themselves enough time to implement everything they wanted. Once their degrees had been completed, the original group, bar King and lead programmer Greg Nott, went on to pursue other career pathways. King decided to team up with his friends at Chaos Theory Games so he and Nott could have some assistance completing the project. While it was a setback, King admits, “we are always coming up with improvements and enhancements that we would love to one day implement, perhaps creating a revised version, using all the skills we have learned.”

Oversight

King also provided an insight into their lone single-player game, Oversight. While it is a single-player experience, King admits that CTG has wanted it to be a multiplayer title ever since.

“It was released at an awkward time for all of us and we didn’t want the added stress of learning networking from the ground up, as Oversight really only suited an online or LAN based multiplayer experience.”

Infinite Loop

Chaos Theory Games’ Infinite Loop, currently available through Desura, was “born from an overnight obsession with Teknopants’ Samurai Gunn which we literally couldn’t stop playing after six straight hours.” King tells me this is what lead to their desire to make a multiplayer game at a game jam. That concept is now Infinite Loop.
“I guess I would say having multiple people sharing an experience really reminds me of the human element in gameplay.”

See, developers are like gamers

Just as most gamers like to dabble in various genres rather than sticking to one, game developers like to do that too.

“Although our titles have had a strong multiplayer focus so far, we really just want to stick our fingers in every pie and try developing games from every genre. There is so much good to be said about the strong community-forming aspects of multiplayer games, and some of the hilarious moments that arise when a group of like-minded people are able to have fun together.”

Next week in our final part of the Chaos Theory Games interview, Nico King discusses S.W.A.P’s Open Beta and what comes next for the studio.

This week The AA Meeting covers GRID Autosport, Valiant Hearts: The Great War; alongside Watch Dogs DLC, Escape Dead Island reveal,the latest Games with Gold and more.

Analog Addiction’s second award feature is going to be quite big, as it covers Sony’s PlayStation 3, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii U, the almighty PC, and the ever growing mobile platforms. First, let’s take a look at the PS3. The best five games of this year are the following:

• Splinter Cell: Blacklist
• Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
• Rayman Legends
• Grand Theft Auto V
• The Last of Us

And the winner is…

The Last of Us

“The truth is, there is so much I love about The Last of Us that a review cannot fully justify what I have to say. If I had endless amounts of time, and my reader had endless amounts of patience, I could tell you every little piece about The Last of Us that just makes it so special. By the time the credits roll, The Last of Us will have moved you and you will seldom be able to deny the impact this game has.” You can check out our full review, here.

Moving on, let’s see what did the 360 bring to the table, this year. And the nominees are:

• DmC: Devil May Cry
• Grand Theft Auto V
• BioShock Infinite
• Tomb Raider
• Rayman Legends

And the winner is…

Grand Theft Auto V

“Grand Theft Auto V is one of two very good ways to end this generation – the other being Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us. GTA V succeeds in just about everything it sets out to do, ranging from its satirical outlook on modern American life, to making sure the gameplay is so finely tuned to deliver the fun and memorable experience we have here. Everyone simply owes it to themselves to own this game, before making the jump to the next generation consoles.” You can check out our full review, here.

Next, let’s take a look at Nintendo’s Wii U. Even though the console still has a few problems on the sales side, it undoubtedly brought some great games to the market, this year. Here are the best five:

• Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
• Duck Tales Remastered
• Batman: Arkham Origins
• Super Mario 3D World

And the winner is…

Batman: Arkham Origins

“Warner Bros. Montreal had a tough task at hand – to deliver a Batman game experience equal to what Rocksteady essentially built from the ground up. For the most part, they succeeded. Among others, the multiplayer presents interesting ideas, and players finally get to trek through the streets of Gotham-“freaking”-City. Arkham Origins is well worth your time with all there is to do in Gotham. Though it wasn’t made by Rocksteady, Batman: Arkham Origins deserves your acknowledgement as canon to the franchise.” You can check out the rest of our review, here.

You simply can’t bring gaming in discussion, without mentioning the immortal PC. As always, the open-platform brought us a slew of new titles, this year, ranging from the smallest indie, to the biggest publisher. Here are the top five:

• Outlast
• Gone Home
• Rayman Legends
• BioShock Infinite
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

And the winner is…

BioShock Infinite

“BioShock Infinite is a game that many people will be talking about for many years to come. They’ll discuss the good. They’ll discuss the bad. From what you’ve experience in BioShock Infinite, you’ll remember it. One thing I do hope people remember is the hidden genius behind Infinite’s story telling and how you as the player are encouraged to get out there and discover the story for yourself. BioShock Infinite simply wants you to play the game which perhaps is a quality one might argue some developers have forgotten about over the years.” You can check out the rest of our review, here.

Finally, the mobile platforms have become so big, that they’ve earned themselves a spot in these awards. Sure, the list is smaller, but here are three games which are sure to keep you busy in your spare time on the bus, train, school (?) etc.:

• Device 6
• Plants vs. Zombies 2
• Year Walk

And the winner is…

Plants vs. Zombies 2

“PvZ 2 took vexations from the original addictive substance known as Plants vs. Zombies, and used its blueprints to build on the formula in a fantastic way. The new plants are formidable, the new Zombie types will make you think thrice about your strategy, the times you travel and its accompanying environments consistently keep the game at a fresh state, and the soundtrack maintains its delightful tone throughout your time-traveling endeavors.” You can read the rest of the review, here.

Agree? Disagree? We’re always eager to hear your thoughts, so don’t forget to put them down in the comments section below.