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Rename Screen Shots AppleScript

Working in a support role means I spend alot of time using the built in OS X screen capture facilities, which generally means I end up with hundreds of Screen Shot ****.png files scattered all over my desktop.

Today I started working on the AppleScript below, which I have set as a folder action on my default screen capture folder.

It’s far from complete, and is definitely a current project, however I thought I’d share it at each stage.

To change your default screen capture directory, launch terminal and run the following command

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /screencapturepath/;killall SystemUIServer

Would you do it differntly? Have an improvement to suggest? Drop me a note below.

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Elite Dangerous Black Friday Sale

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As of right now, the PC version of Elite Dangerous has gone on galaxy-sized sale, available via the Frontier Store and Steam for only £9.99 GBP. ($14.98 USD; EUR: 12.48; RUB: 748.92). That 67% savings

The sale runs all weekend and ends on Tuesday, December 1 at 6PM UK time.

The Black Friday Sale will include some merchandise and ship skins on FrontierStore.net including 40% off “existing” paint jobs, and discounts off some merchandise items; there will also be new paint jobs available at regular price.

This is the perfect time to get into the game for a great price as the beta for Elite Dangerous: Horizons is imminent, a season of content that adds incredible new features and challenges to the game. The first portion launching soon will include the highly anticipated Planetary Landings featureallowing players to land on airless worlds throughout the 400 billion star systems of the game’s simulated Milky Way.

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IndieCade Festival 2015 Awards Honor the Best Indies of 2015

IndieCade, the premier international festival of independent games, honored the winners of the 2015 IndieCade Awards at an event last Thursday evening, during IndieCade Festival 2015 in Culver City. In addition, the annual ‘Choice Awards,’ which are voted on by the attending media, developers and audience, were also presented.

This was our biggest and best IndieCade Festival ever and our amazing award winners reflect the incredible growth, creativity and diversity among indies that the Festival aims to foster, said Stephanie Barish, chief executive officer, IndieCade. Never before have independent developers been so critical to the health and success of the larger game industry, and we’re proud to celebrate and honor so many of the best the world has to offer.

Details on the award winning games can be found online on the IndieCade website

Winners in each category included: 

Trailblazer Award

BRENDA LAUREL Brenda has worked in interactive media since 1976 as a designer, researcher, writer and teacher. She also worked in research labs at Atari, Interval Research, and Sun Labs where she was a Distinguished Engineer. She co-founded Telepresence Research, a VR research and production company, in 1989 and based on her research in gender and technology at Interval Research (1992-1996), she co-founded Purple Moon in 1996 to create interactive media for girls. She designed and chaired the Graduate Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena (2001-2006) and the Graduate Design Program at California College of the Arts (2006-2012). Most recently she served as an adjunct professor in Computational Media and research associate in the Digital Arts and New Media programs at U. C. Santa Cruz. As Principal of Neogaian Interactive, her current work focuses on design research and strategy focused on helping clients incorporate diversity, social justice and earth justice in their work.

The Grand Jury Award

HER STORY [pc/ios ] by Sam Barlow: a crime fiction game that takes place entirely on the desktop of a 90s era police computer. Players search through a database of interview room video footage to piece together the story of a woman questioned seven times by the police. Players type words and the database checks them against her testimony, returning the clips where she uses those words. Watching clips, picking up on words and phrases, players take their own non-linear route through the story. 

The Visual Design Award

MEMORY OF A BROKEN DIMENSION [PC] by XRA: The emulator of obscure research software is spreading across the internet, origin unknown. Following a trail of files littering the RELICS virtual desktop; the player must trespass into the ruins of a fragmented world, suspended within a frozen data stream.

The Audio Design Award

MEMORY OF A BROKEN DIMENSION [PC] by XRA: The emulator of obscure research software is spreading across the internet, origin unknown. Following a trail of files littering the RELICS virtual desktop; the player must trespass into the ruins of a fragmented world, suspended within a frozen data stream.

The Game Design Award

LINE WOBBLER [PHYSICAL GAME] by Robin Baumgarten: a one-dimensional dungeon crawler with a custom wobble controller made out of a door-stopper spring and a five meter long ultrabright LED strip display. The entire game runs on an arduino, including sound, particle effects and 120+fps. The player navigates obstacles and fights enemies to reach the exit of a series of increasingly difficult levels. Movement is controlled by bending the Wobble controller left and right, while enemies are attacked by flinging the spring.

The Story/World Design Award

DONUT COUNTY [PC] by Ben Esposito: a whimsical physics toy that explores negative space by giving players control over a hole in the ground. Every time you swallow something, the hole grows a little bit bigger. Play with the characters and objects (all driven by physics) to devour everything in the scene, combine objects for surprising effects, and solve puzzles by launching objects back out.

The Technology Award

FABULOUS BEASTS [IOS/TABLETOP] by Sensible Object: Drawing on the laws of nature and the stories of creation myth, Fabulous Beasts is a digital / physical hybrid world-building game for two players, where every game is different and every world unique. Players take turns to stack objects into a balancing tower. Through the sensing platform the tower becomes the foundation of the digital ecosystem, which plays out wirelessly on a nearby tablet. Care must be taken when choosing which piece to add, as only a stable tower will ensure a sustainable world.

The Impact Award

CONSENTACLE [tabletop/CARD GAME] by Naomi Clark: a cooperative card game about trust, intimacy, and communication where two players take on the roles of a human being and a tentacled alien trying to negotiate a romantic encounter. Players draw and play cards that let them earn and invest tokens that represent trust and satisfaction in this inter-species liaison. Gestures, eye contact, divining your partner’s intentions and next moves, and salacious (but not explicit) illustrations on the cards all play a role in non-verbal communication and guesswork.

The Interaction Award

TRIBAL & ERROR [PC] by Grotman Games: You’re a robot sent back to observe the ancient times, but the Ice Age is coming and to save humanity you need to learn their language first. Observe, repeat and master the cavemen tongue. You observe and copy Cavemen symbols. Repeat symbols to the Cavemen in order to figure out their meaning. Translation can be added by your own interpretation and can be used to teach them new skills.

The Jury Special Recognition Award

RED & PLEASANT LAND [TABLETOP RPG/BOARD GAME] by Zak S.: a supplement for old school pen & paper role-playing games that allows you to play in a distorted world inspired by Lewis Carroll and inhabited by warring vampire lords, or any other place that might require intrigue, hidden gardens, inside-out-rooms, scheming monarchs, puzzles or beasts, liquid floors, labyrinths, growing, shrinking, dueling, broken time, Mome Raths, blasphemy, croquet, explanations for where players who missed sessions were, or the rotting arcades and parlors of a palace that was once the size of a nation.

Winners of the annual Choice Awards included:

The Audience Choice Award

BADBLOOD [MAC, PC] by Winnie Song: a violent stealth game for two. Find your unique style of murder in this intimate and visceral local multiplayer, and outwit your neighbor. Same bloody field, different bloody perspective. Hide, seek, and kill.

The Developer Choice Award

ROSE MACBETH by Wise Guys Events – “Rose MacBeth, Rose MacBeth, searched for her sister, Elisabeth ran through the graveyard, scared to death and that was the end of Rose MacBeth”

The Media Choice Award

CODEX BASH [PC] by Alistair Aitcheson: a problem-solving installation using four custom-made wireless buttons. Players must solve coded messages to determine the correct sequence for pressing the buttons before the virus reaches the mainframe. To find the sequence they have to decipher jumbles of symbols, solve a tangled maze or find clues in maps and circuit diagrams. Real-world props need to be used in the puzzles, and encourage the player to think outside of the screen and even recruit people watching to help them.

The IndieCade Festival has proven itself as the spotlight location for the best, the brightest, and the most inspired independent games in the world, and annually welcomes some of the most innovative and artistic developers in the industry. Past festivals have included games that have gone on to change the industry, including Braid, Flower, Johann Sebastian Joust, Skulls of the Shogun, and Towerfall among others.  

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Skullcandy Halo® 5: Guardians Edition Smokin’ Buds 2

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Skullcandy, Inc., the original performance and lifestyle audio brand, announced today the availability of the new Skullcandy Halo® 5: Guardians Edition Smokin’ Buds 2 gaming earbud. Designed in partnership with Halo® developer 343 Industries, the Skullcandy_Earphone_SMOKINBUDS2HALO_S2PGHY-507_11_1000_Herogaming earbud features a custom dark chrome matte finish, metallic blue accents, a striking honeycombed graphical treatment as well as Off-Axis™ and Supreme Sound™ audio technology to ensure an iconic representation of the Halo experience. The Skullcandy Halo 5: Guardians Edition Smokin’ Buds 2 is available now for ($29.99 USD) just in time for the biggest Halo game yet in Halo 5: Guardians, available beginning October 27, 2015 exclusively for Xbox One.

All Halo-branded Skullcandy Gaming products include Supply REQ Packs*; special in-game content for Halo 5: Guardians on Xbox One redeemable online, while supplies last, and with select retailers. REQ Packs are a bundle of random, digital goods in the form of unlockable weapons and armors, skins, vehicles and more that players can use in the Halo 5: Guardians Arena and Warzone multiplayer modes. Participating audio gear includes the Skullcandy Halo 5: Guardians Smokin’ Buds 2 and the Skullcandy SLYR Halo® Edition.

Skullcandy Halo 5: Guardians Edition Smokin’ Buds 2 features include:

  • Off-Axis™ Technology: Off-Axis™ technology was designed based on the ear’s internal shape. Its unique angle and oval port into the ear optimizes comfort, stability and acoustic performance
  • Skullcandy Supreme Sound™: Engineered for gaming, music, movies and more, Skullcandy’s Supreme Sound provides powerful bass, natural vocals and precise highs with a rich and detailed stereo sound field tuned specially for gaming.
  • One Button Mic/Remote: A single button in-line remote with mic can take/make calls, play/pause music and cycle through tracks.
  • Fold-Flat Audio Cables: Skullcandy’s incredibly durable, flat audio cables look great, prevent annoying tangles and ensure long lasting audio performance.
  • Durable Design & Custom Fit: Made from moisture resistant materials that won’t play victim to your sweaty labors. Also, a selection of earbud gels to suit any comfort preference.
  • Satin Travel Bag: An included stylish satin travel bag providing a convenient location for storing or carrying Skullcandy earbuds.

The Skullcandy Halo 5: Guardians Edition Smokin’ Buds 2 ($29.99 USD) and the previously released Skullcandy SLYR Halo Edition ($99.99 USD) are both available now from select retailers nationwide or directly online at www.skullcandy.com.

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HEX: Shards of Fate tournament details

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Gameforge and Hex Entertainment have announced details surrounding their upcoming international tournament for HEX: Shards of Fate, which starts on October 6 and features a prize package of $100,000!

Schedule

The full tournament will take place over the course of a number of months. To ensure that all players enjoy the same conditions, irrespective of their local time zones, the tournament is split into a variety of phases. In the opening phase, the regular rewards in the form of booster packs will be complemented by so-called Qualifying Tickets.

In this way, all players participating in the planned daily Constructed and Sealed tournaments will have an opportunity to qualify for the next round. The number of tickets earned is determined by the players’ rankings in their respective rounds.

The best players from the first round will subsequently play off against one another in fixed qualification tournaments for the HEX Invitational. Requirements for participation include a qualifying deck, which includes the starter decks, and 10 Qualifying Tickets. Players surviving this knock-out phase will then travel to the USA for the grand offline final to determine the ultimate winner of the tournament.

Modes

Given the number of players and the large number of individual matches, the qualifying tournaments will make use of the Swiss system. Participants will compete against one another over a fixed number of rounds, where defeat does not entail being eliminated from the tournament.

Once the playing field has been reduced, the tournament will move onto a knock-out phase using a single elimination format, whereby only the victors of each duel will progress in the tournament. The winners of this stage will qualify for the grand finals in the USA.

In combination with the different game modes used during the tournament schedule, the two chosen systems serve to underline the level playing field this competition provides all participating players.

About HEX: Shards of Fate

HEX: Shards of Fate combines the challenging and strategic planning of a trading card game (TCG) with the rich depth of a multiplayer online role-playing game (MMO), creating a whole new genre: the MMOTCG. Thanks to the fully digital nature of HEX: Shards of Fate, entirely new game dynamics are made available to TCG fans, making the experience even more varied and strategic. In addition, HEX: Shards of Fate offers the unique elements of an MMO, such as PvE campaigns, guilds and customisable Champions. The game breaks genre-boundaries and ensures extensive and tactical entertainment.

About Gameforge

With a portfolio of over 20 titles and over 450 million registered players, Gameforge is one of the leading providers of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) in the western hemisphere. Based in Karlsruhe, the internationally active group of companies offer their games in more than 75 countries. Their portfolio contains client-based games such as the award-winning AION Free-to-Play, TERA: Fate of Arun, Metin2 (Europe’s most successful MMO), HEX: Shards of Fate, Orcs Must Die! Unchained, Sigils: Battle for Raios, Runes of Magic, Elsword and Wizard101. They also offer browser-based online games such as the classics OGame and Ikariam, plus a growing selection of mobile games. The company has around 450 employees. You can find more information at http://corporate.gameforge.com.

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