It’s clear that Chicory: A Colorful Tale is full of visual beauty, but when it comes to games there’s so much more that goes into making the experience immersive. Hi, I’m Lena Raine and I am going to tell you about the fun audioscape built for Chicory. I’ve worked on a lot of past titles such as Celeste, Minecraft, and Guild Wars 2. For Chicory, I did all of the music composition and soundtrack recording for the game. We also got to work with sound designer Em Halberstadt (Night in the Woods, Untitled Goose Game, Wandersong) who, along with Preston Wright, designed all of the sound you hear in the pleasant, cozy, and even spooky areas of the game. 

There’s a lot of tradition associated with music composition and implementation in screen-based adventure games like Chicory: A Colorful Tale. While composing for Chicory, I wanted to hold true to some of those traditions while also pushing conventions by drawing inspiration from the dynamic music of free-form open world games. 

Dynamic music helps give a sense of place between each screen of the game. While each major area has its own looping theme that enters alongside its title card, we made the transitions between areas feel much more smooth and gradual. So instead of simply hard cutting or fading between tracks, we have what we call “outskirts” areas that let each major area’s music drift away. 

Depending on where you come from, the music changes to a more subtle, low-key version of the music. Stick around long enough, and the track will simply fade away. But if you enter the same screen from another direction, that other area’s music will become more low-key. By making some screens music-agnostic, we’re able to help bridge the gap and smoothly transition between areas as you explore. 

Some places even have progressive music that changes and evolves as you explore, so keep an ear out to hear how the music follows your adventures!

As a fun fact, every woodwind you hear in the score was recorded live by Kristin Naigus! Here’s every instrument she recorded from the soundtrack all lined up, which joins an ensemble that also includes violin, viola, cello, and many more.

With Em’s input on the sound design side of things, the musical transition between areas was also intended to give the player a moment to sit back and listen to the ambience and all the detail we put into the paint sounds. We wanted the sound effects to help the player feel like they really are painting, so Em really made it as tactile and detailed as she could. 

EA has revealed the next iteration of its massive multiplayer shooter series. Battlefield 2042 launches later this year on October 22 with development handled by Dice, Criterion, Dice LA, and EA Gothenburg. Coming to both PS4 and PS5, it continues the series’ ambitious trajectory of incorporating cutting-edge tech to increase the size and density of its sandboxes, while retooling and expanding its vast armory of gameplay modes and mechanics. It boasts one of the biggest maps in the series to date. The real-time unpredictability of extreme weather systems that’ll tear through the frontline. Enhanced terrain deformation. And, on PS5, a 128-player count per match. This is Dice’s proprietary game engine Frostbite flexing all-new processing muscle acquired in the two or so years since last entry Battlefield V. 

It also marks the franchise’s return to (near) modern day. The real-world yet fictitious setting pitches a “what if” scenario of societies crumbling in the face of violent climate changes and diminishing resources. Stateless soldiers (“No-Pat Specialists”) now fight on behalf of the remaining superpowers. The setup is close enough to today to be recognisable, but far enough in the future to include advanced arsenals and destructive weather patterns. Fitting though with the series’ 20th anniversary coming up, that EA offers a nod – unintentional or otherwise – to franchise starter Battlefield 1942 in its selection of year.    

All Out Warfare’s Conquest and Breakthrough  

There are three gameplay pillars – “experiences”- to 2042. Only two have been named. Of that pair only All Out Warfare is the focus of this first look, debuting with a duo of familiar modes. Hazard Zone, as well as the mystery third pillar – in development at Dice LA – will get their full reveal at a later date.  Dice reinforce Hazard Zone is something all-new for the franchise: a modern take on multiplayer that’s a “high-stakes, squad-based game type”. The studio is emphatic in stressing it isn’t a battle royale mode.   

As ever, there’ll be a fleet of vehicles to jump into during matches. Players will have access to a call-in tablet, letting them request a land-based vehicle to anywhere on the map. They can be deadly even before you hop in: Dice example pinpointing a tank to land onto an enemy sniper position.

So, those two All Out Warfare modes. Conquest has two teams duking it out on a huge space, with epic clashes and more personal frays playing out in pockets across a map. Breakthrough also drops two opposing sides into a single location, but is more guided: maps are divided up into sectors, in which there are multiple capture points. Attacking or defending sides need to hold points to flip sectors and shift an ever-moving frontline in their favour. Want time to get adjusted to what’s new and test things out? You can launch both modes with AI squadmates (and Dice confirms doing so still contributes to your overall progress).  

In less than 24 hours, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade arrives. We know a lot of you can’t wait for the big day. Not only will you get to relive the wonder of Final Fantasy VII Remake as an enhanced adventure on PlayStation 5, you’ll be able to play as Yuffie Kisaragi for the first time in FF7R Episode Intermission.

You can choose to start with the original tale of Cloud and company or jump directly into the brand-new adventure with Yuffie. It’s entirely up to you. If you are planning to dive straight into FF7R Episode Intermission, we’ve put together seven (or should that be VII) tips and tricks to help you prep your strategy while you wait!

1. Use Yuffie’s Shuriken to collect items

Yuffie’s throwing arm is a force to be reckoned with. She can fling her oversized shuriken long range – not just in battle, but in town too.

Look around as often as you can to spot boxes that might contain items; you never know what might be hiding in plain sight.

2. Equip the right material for success

Yuffie has her own Elemental Ninjutsu, giving her the ability to change her attack’s affinity to fire, ice, lightning, or wind. This means she doesn’t need to rely on elemental materia like Cloud and his friends.

Instead, focus on equipping her with stat-boosting materia and ability material that expands her options in combat. We’re partial to Steal ourselves.

3. Know when to synergize

Pressing L2 will engage Synergy between Yuffie and Sonon. This allows them to team up for special attacks and more easily stagger enemies. Plus, it looks awesome.

If that sounds too good to be true… well, you’re right. Using Synergy will slow your ATB gauge regeneration to a crawl. So, be sure to maximize your time in and out of Synergy.