Arrowhead | Page 2

Lunch speed-painting

By Jim Svanberg on February 7, 2013

One of the best things about working at a rad game studio is that you are surrounded by people with the same interests as yourself. And since I’m an artist, I love to paint (shocker). As do my fellow artists here at Arrowhead. So every Tuesday during the lunch hour, we digest our lunches (may or may not be from McDonald’s) and then we’ll grab our styluses and indulge in a thirty minute speed-painting session.

Speed-painting is just a popular term for doing a usually timed, rather quick, painting. The great thing about speed-painting, except that it is just plain fun, is that when you distill your painting session down to about 20-30 minutes, it is really much easier to get a grip on your own workflow. And thus, improve it! View full post…

Posted in Art, Fun | Tagged art | Comments Off

The Showdown Effect beta starts today!

By Malin Hedström on January 31, 2013

Today we are massively excited to let you all in to the beta of our upcoming multiplayer 2.5D action-hero slaughter fest! All players who preorder the game will be given instant access to the Beta that starts today, January 31. The game will be available for pre-purchase On this page right here.
Now, our acion-hero friends, will you be getting The Showdown Effect or Digital Deluxe Edition of The Showdown Effect?

Those who have been chosen from the earlier beta sign-ups at beta.theshowdowneffect.com will be gradually invited to the beta period and those that pre-order will join the ranks immediately and receive several other bonuses like weapon skins and new characters. Psst…there’s a special Magicka robe for the Deluxe Edition!

Also today, there’s the chance to follow a tournament of The Showdown Effect, streamed live from PDXCon in Reykjavik at 4 p.m. GMT (8 a.m. PST) on Twitch TV. This is going to be a major event with special guests like YouTube personalities Angry Joe, NorthernLion, Rage Gaming, and of course – Arrowhead’s Johan Pilestedt. The full press release of publisher Paradox Interactive is found Here.

Fight to the death, or die trying!

Posted in Announcements, Events, Games, Official, Streaming, The Showdown Effect | Tagged beta, events, games, showdown effect | Comments Off

Arrowhead – A semi-brief history

By Malin Hedström on January 27, 2013

In the beginning of 2008, two classmates with a lot of passion for video games came together after a presentation by Swedish Game Awards at Luleå University of Technology. They soon got a few others hooked, set out with the goal of “Let’s create the best game in the world, and win this whole competition!” and a great story began.

Our logo back then was a good start

I won’t pretend that I can capture even nearly all of that story with a single blog post but I will take a brief look back, try to patch together a bit of a timeline, and share some photos and material we haven’t shown before.

View full post…

Posted in Company, Development, Fun, Games, Magicka, Official | Tagged arrowhead, development, games, magicka | Comments Off

Working with your hobby

By Anton Stenmark on January 17, 2013

Some people may wonder what developers do in their spare time. Well, like most people, I enjoy spending time with friends, playing games and watching TV, among other things. But I also love making games.

At work VS. At home

It may seem crazy to think that when I get home from a day at the office, I would want to keep doing the same thing in my spare time. But here’s the secret: It’s not the same. All game development is different. That’s one of the things that make it so great. It’s also a completely different thing to work on a project with a bunch of people, fixed budgets and deadlines from working on a small little thing without any fixed deadlines or demands.

So in this week’s blog post I will share some of the stuff I have been working on outside of the office. View full post…

Posted in Fun, Programming | Tagged development, programming | Comments Off

Dota 2 Faceoff: Arrowhead vs Talawa

By Emil Englund on January 10, 2013

By the end of 2012 Arrowhead was struck with the affliction commonly known as Dota 2. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dota 2, it’s Valve’s sequel to the Warcraft 3 mod DotA (Defense of the Ancients) in which you have two teams – with 5 heroes on each side – trying to destroy the other team’s home base.

Just before Christmas, we faced off against Talawa Games - another small studio located here in Stockholm and one of the developers of Unmechanical - in an epic battle that would decide the fate of the next after-work, or at least who would buy the beer for it.

We gathered our most battle hardened players, people having played at least 15 games of Dota 2 in the past.

Get your game face on; it’s time to shine.

View full post…

Posted in Company, Dota 2, Fun, Games | Tagged arrowhead, games, nights | Comments Off

Progression in Games

By Johan Pilestedt on January 4, 2013

Hey there,

It’s Friday and as usual I overshot the blog-of-the-week-day!

I was originally going to write about the design of showdown, and well – it sort of tangents that area, but this is going to be a bit more specific and also bring in some other games that is related to this topic. So, prepare for a wall of text!

Progression in games have in recent times become a frequent occurrence, and while it is true that progression can prolong the lifetime of a game and give the game an extended purpose – I have begun wondering if there isn’t a backside to this as well; does progression always add to the gaming experience?

The thinking goes, games used to be enjoyed purely based on the actual gameplay. Games like Counter Strike, Quake, and Starcraft have had active communities for well over a decade and are totally devoid of progression. These games are in their nature designed to be infinite.

So, what effects would a progression system have on these titles? Would it really ‘add’ something to the game or could it possibly, have made the games less successful?

View full post…

Posted in Design, Development | Tagged design, development | Comments Off

The Showdown Effect Beta and Live stream

By Malin Hedström on December 18, 2012

Today is the big day!
The Showdown Effect is ready to face off against the world and today we invite You to join in on the beta fun.
But what is The Showdown Effect? you might wonder. A new trailer rocket-boosted onto the screen to give you a few answers.

This is your chance to Fight to the Death, or die trying
Beta sign-up here

Tonight at 7pm GMT / 11am PST there will also be a Live stream with developer commentary by Game Director Johan Pilestedt and Design Director Emil Englund. You will have the chance to ask any kind of questions during the stream.

The Showdown Effect is a 2.5D multiplayer action game inspired by 80’s and 90’s action movies where champions from different eras of time fight to the death, for fun, for glory and for awesome. Players will battle for the upper hand through cunning use of different weapons, the game’s wide range dynamic environments and even the engine’s own dramatic audiovisual effects.

Posted in Announcements, Events, Games, Streaming, The Showdown Effect | Tagged beta, events, games, showdown effect | Comments Off

Fare-thee-well

By Johan Pilestedt on August 20, 2012

For the better part of the four years we, who were to become Arrowhead GS, struggled to break through the veil of the games industry and successively crafted a studio with clear values, goals and characteristics. And this Friday, one of those founding fathers: Robin Cederholm, Executive Vice President of Arrowhead GS left the company to pursue other ventures in life. To this occasion I would like to tell the story of how Robin got involved in Arrowhead…

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Posted in Announcements, Company | Tagged arrowhead | Comments Off