LatestMachine LearningModeling Digital Coin Trends 0 like December 26, 2024Share this postLast Updated on December 27, 2024 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): Shenggang Li Originally published on Towards AI. This member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.Leveraging Attention Neural Networks to Analyze Competition, Regulation, and Market TrendsPhoto by Traxer on UnsplashAre you curious about digital coins where they come from and where theyre headed? Are they set to grow forever, or could the hype around Bitcoin fizzle out? And what about investing in digital coins is it a golden opportunity or a high-stakes gamble? I tackle these questions using AI to uncover insights.Originally designed for transformers in AI, attention-based neural networks are powerful tools for understanding the evolution of digital currencies in competitive markets. These models can simulate the interplay of key factors, such as user adoption, transaction costs, government regulations, and market disruptions. They also uncover hidden drivers influencing a coins dominance and stability over time, offering a unique perspective on this fast-changing space.This research combines attention mechanisms from neural networks with economic principles to analyze competition among digital coins, assess the impact of regulations, and predict market trends. It also incorporates stochastic processes to reflect real-world uncertainties in the digital coin ecosystem.By digging into these dynamics, this research opens up new possibilities for future studies to:Use AI to explore how things Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

Kraven the Hunter is Sony Pictures worst movie launch since current CEO Tony Vinciquerra took the job back in 2017, he has admitted.The Sony Spider-Man Universe movie stars Kick Ass and Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular villain, a skilled hunter who sets his sights on Spider-Man after conquering all other prey in the animal kingdom.Kraven bombed at the box office with a paltry $11 million domestic haul from 3,211 theatres during launch weekend. That figure was enough to set an unwanted record: the worst ever opening for a Sony Spider-Man Universe movie. The R-rated action flick came in under the similarly disastrous Madame Web, which brought in just $15.3 million during its launch weekend earlier this year, as well as all the Venom movies and 2022s Morbius ($39 million). Kravens current $43,877,089 worldwide box office is especially awful given the movie cost an estimated $110 million to produce. When you add on marketing spend, Kraven is set for a big loss.In an interview with the LA Times, outgoing Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra described Kraven the Hunter as probably the worst launch we had in the seven-and-a-half years since he took the job, before going on to express his surprise at the films disappointing box office haul: so that didnt work out very well, which I still dont understand, because the film is not a bad film.In the same interview, Vinciquerra discussed Madame Webs launch, blaming its box office on the press. Indeed, Vinciquerra suggested the press was to blame for all the Sony Spider-Man Universe failures, pointing to the Venom trilogys success as coming despite this apparent campaign from critics.Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it, Vinciquerra claimed. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided that they didnt want us making these films out of Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.How to Watch Sony's Spider-Man Universe in Chronological OrderSony's Spider-Man universe officially includes six films, listed here alongside their IGN review scores: Venom (4/10), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (7/10), Morbius (5/10), Madame Web (5/10), Venom: The Last Dance (4/10), and Kraven the Hunter (3/10).The question now is, is Kraven the final nail in the coffin for Sonys Spider-Man Universe, a universe that, remarkably, does not feature Spider-Man? Earlier this month a leading talent agent told The Wrap that Sony had "developed what they want to develop for now" and was instead focusing on the next actual Spider-Man film under Marvel Studios, which is confirmed by star Tom Holland to begin filming in 2025. As a point of comparison, Spider-Man: No Way Home pulled in $587.2 million in its weekend box office debut.Vinciquerra admitted Sony needs to rethink its Spider-Man universe strategy, but blamed the need to do that on the press, rather than any deficiencies at Sony Pictures itself. I do think we need to rethink it, just because its snake-bitten, he said. If we put another one out, its going to get destroyed, no matter how good or bad it is.Overall, Vinciquerra insisted, Sony Pictures film effort has been very successful during his tenure as CEO, beating the companys budgets each year since 2017. It was a good run, and the film studio was a big part of it, he said.Sony has the aforementioned Spider-Man 4 to look forward to, at least. It arrives on July 24, 2026 as a continuation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy again starring Holland. It may even introduce Miles Morales into the MCU, something Holland is personally invested in.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sonic the Hedgehog film co-writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller to talk about everything Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Weve already published stories from this interview about Big the Cats almost-cameo in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Casey and Millers dreams of making a The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker film, but I had so much fun chatting with them it only seemed write to publish the full transcript of our Sonic banter.Before I started recording, Casey noticed a Waluigi plush hanging on the wall behind me on Zoom and started telling me about how he had been in an online sketch show years ago where he played Waluigi with prosthetics and everything. I asked him if I could start recording immediately, so thats where we began. This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.Pat Casey: I mean I don't even know if the sketch is still online. I don't even remember who it was, but my next door neighbor was a costume-maker and she was working on these sketches.IGN: You said you had prosthetics and everything?PC: Yeah, it was almost like 20 years ago, but they had a makeup artist and they gave me the nose and the ears and they were like, Can you do a Waluigi impression? I was like, I don't know. I don't remember what he talks like" So then I went and checked out some videos and I was like, "Yeah, I could do..." I mean it was just kind of like, WAAAH, something like that.Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for that delightful... just completely unrelated to Sonic, but still sort of tangentially related to video games of our childhood story.Josh Miller: I wonder if that's even findable.PC: Dude, it was like... the early 2000s, man. I don't know what has become of it.Okay, so Pat, you clearly have a video game history and Josh, I'm guessing you might as well. Tell me a little bit about your video game history and especially your past flirtations with the Sonic franchise.JM: I guess it was fortuitous in a way for us to, if we're going to do any video game thing to wind up on Sonic, we're both of the Sega Genesis era and I would say Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is probably the game I played the most growing up.PC: Me, too. I have a little brother and we would trade off, but most of the time I would make him play Tails when we were really trying to beat the game.JM: Because most two-player games it was like you played and then once you died you would hand the controller and your friend or sibling would play until they died. So it's like Sonic 2, it was kind of, not that it was the first game to do it, but it was certainly the first game I really had on a home console that was really easy and fun to play with two people simultaneously. I think that was-PC: You got to use real teamwork because when you're fighting a boss, it's Sonic's job to stay alive and it's Tails' job to just fling his corpse at the bad guy over and over again and die as many times as it takes.JM: It was great for if you had a younger sibling that they could be Tails and it was not as complicated for them to play.PC: Maybe we should explore that in the movie sometime, the fact that Tails is immortal.So did you two end up playing Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 when those games came out?JM: We did, just not, it was more an age thing. We just didn't play them as much. I mean, I never owned a Dreamcast though, so anytime I was playing it had to now be at a friend's place. The Xbox was kind of my console of that era.PC: The first time I played Sonic Adventure was actually, I had a friend from Japan and he got the Dreamcast early before I came out here. So I played Sonic Adventure in Japanese and I had no idea. I could not follow the story. I just knew I was running away from a whale. There was all sorts of great stuff going on. Later I played the English version. I was like, Oh, this all makes sense.JM: Oh, yeah. I mean I remember visiting, I mean we both live in LA now, we're from Minnesota, but I was visiting a friend in college who lived out here and they had the Dreamcast and I remember my mind kind of being blown by what 3D Sonic games looked like, but I guess that's how older people felt when they saw the Genesis games. I do remember my mom walking in the room for Sonic 1 and 2 and just kind of being like, How can you even tell what's going on?PC: Like, This isn't like the games I played when I was a kid. This isnt backgammon. Whatever happened to Shoots and Ladders?Did either of you have any core memories from playing Sonic that made it into any of the films, but especially Sonic 3?PC: When we were writing the first Sonic, we were actually on a really tight deadline kind of for no reason. So we didn't really even have a chance to be like, Oh wait, let's go play the games and then think of the story. We had to come up with the story immediately. So it was sort of like-JM: It was all sense memories.PC: The core memories is all that made it into the movie. It was like, there's rings, there's emeralds. That's all we were working with.JM: You've got to go through a loop. I mean, maybe that's a good example. It's funny because that's such a rudimentary thing, but I feel like it was always like, How can we get them to go through a loop de loop? I feel like we got to get that loop de loop back in there.PC: But we figured that was a good way to know if something was important was like, Is this something that we just remember all these decades later? Like the things that we remember, that's the important part. It's sort of like, Lynyrd Skynyrd never wrote down the lyrics of their songs when they were writing. If they couldn't remember them, then they weren't good enough.JM: Like Pat's saying, we were the Lynyrd Skynyrd of screenwriting. But also on the very first movie, too, it was kind of like the marching orders were a bit different from where the franchise has evolved. Sega wanted to view it as almost a prequel to what was happening with Sonic before we got to him in Sonic 1. PC: For Sonic 3, then, it was sort of like, what are the important parts of the Shadow story from Sonic Adventure 2, which is really, what did we already remember moreso than going back and playing? Yeah, Shadow being an edgy Sonic with jet-powered shoes.PC: Jet shoes we never explain in the movie. But we wanted to get him on the motorcycle, give him guns, the iconic imagery. Even though, why does he need a gun? Why did he ever need one?I understand that the story is a little bit darker this time around. I mean specifically because Shadow is involved. Is that correct?JM: Yes. I mean, I know the internet wondered if this one was going to be PG-13. I think our producers and Jeff Fowler felt pretty confident the whole time that they could somehow do it justice and still have it be PG. But yeah, I mean from the get-go the conversations were like, Well, this is the movie where a little girl is going to die.PC: We're certainly walking it right up to the edge of PG-13. But yeah, I mean it's like we're, I guess, four years into this franchise, three movies in, so it's like the franchise continues to grow up and our original audience is growing up. The kids who were little kids for the first one are a little older now. Its a little along the lines of how Harry Potter grew along with the kids, even though our CG guys don't have to go through puberty if we don't want them to. We have control over that.So I know that Dragon Ball was a huge influence on Sonic the Hedgehog, and I heard it had an influence on the films too. Can you talk about that, or any other non-Sonic influences you used?PC: It is true. The Chaos Emeralds and going supersonic, all these concepts were introduced to America in the Sonic games, but the Dragon Ball manga was already out in Japan. So it's like Sonic was parodying Dragon Ball even at that time. But it's like we in America experienced it first in Sonic before Dragon Ball hit. So the influence has always been there. I mean, we talked about Dragon Ball in the writer's room on Sonic 1 even.JM: But I mean, there's, trying to remember. I feel like I remember Jeff [Fowler, director] saying at some point that we're going to be in Tokyo and Shadow's going to get on a motorcycle. So he is like, Well, we've got to do the Akira motorcycle slide. It's amazing. I found a YouTube video, so I hope somebody updates it now that Sonic 3's out, but somebody put together every TV show and movie that does the Akira Slide and it's long. It's kind of amazing.PC: There's all sorts of references that we don't even know about, that we don't write in necessarily And then they hit this pose from that thing. But there's all these pose and shot homages throughout all the movies, and there are probably a bunch that Josh and I don't even catch.JM: I'm sure it'll be the same for 3... I feel like when 2 came out, a bunch of websites like, All the Easter Eggs in Sonic 2, and I'm looking at it, I'm like, Oh, I didn't even know about that one.So over the course of the films, first we just had Sonic and then we got Tails and Knuckles. Now we have Shadow, and I'm not going to spoil it for our audience who hasn't seen it yet, but I understand there is another character that is introduced at the end of this film potentially setting up more films to come. How do you two decide this progression? The Sonic cast is big!PC: It's certainly not only the two of us deciding.JM: That's above our pay grade.PC: Its a group discussion, but I think with Sonic 1, pretty early on, once we realized Tails wasn't going to be a main character, we were like, Let's do the teaser with Tails. Let's make him our Nick Fury. When we were working on Sonic 2, we were like, Who are we going to do at the end of this movie? And immediately Toby Ascher [producer] was just like, It's going to be Shadow.JM: Its got to be Shadow. And that I think is very much that the creative Powers That Be on the franchise are kind of trying to gauge what they sense the hierarchy is of who fans are most excited about next. That's who we'll do next.PC: I'll say that the next character is one that we've been wanting to get in there. We know that there's a great public demand, so I hope when you see the movie later, I hope you're happy.Are there any obscure deep cut characters that you're like, Dang, I wish we could find a way to sneak this person in? I know everybody's clamoring for Big the Cat.JM: Oh, yeah. I mean that's what we always say. That's our joke response. That's not even entirely a joke because it's so easy to imagine just kind of like a random joke you could use with him.PC: In one draft of Sonic 2, we actually, when they're going through the snowy mountains to the cave, we had a bit, because Sonic 2 was sort of an Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones, it's a trope that at some point a skeleton pops out at you and scares you. So we were going to do that, but with a skeleton of a, I would say, a Big the Cat, not necessarily-JM: Not necessarily the Big the Cat.PC: But we ended up cutting it. It didn't make any sense.The Sonic franchise over the years has been this magnet for all sorts of weird silly ideas over the years. But then you're also telling a story that has a little bit of emotional weight to it. How do you balance those two things to keep it just from being a humorous reference fest and make sure that there's a little bit of gravity to Sonic the Hedgehog?JM: I do remember there was a phase where we were kind of all worried like, Oh, is this too dark? But that was because we were really just trying to crack the Shadow story, and once you start dropping Sonic and Tails and especially Donut Lord in there, then if anything we're like, Oh, we got to make sure that we aren't undermining the seriousness of Shadow's storyline with how silly the rest of the movie is.PC: And well, Doctor Robotnik is always going to be very silly too. We found some good pathos for him in this one as well. But yeah, I mean it is about just finding that character. Like, that was the hardest thing in creating this whole franchise was kind of figuring out what Sonic's deal was in the first movie, and what was going to make people connect to him as a person and not just a silly animal, and finding that need for family, and the themes of loneliness and family carrying through all these films. And now kind of the hitting upon the theme also of loss and revenge.Well, you mentioned Doctor Robotnik, so tell me about writing for Jim Carrey, especially now that you're writing not just for one Jim Carrey, but a second Jim Carrey playing off the first one.JM: Much like we're from the Genesis generation, we're from the rise of Jim Carrey generation and the Ace Ventura years. So just the fact that we have done three movies that he's in is kind of mind-boggling to us and it's super fun, because when we wrote the first one, we didn't know that Jim was going to be Robotnik, so that was its own thing. But with the sequels now, it's so fun because we kind of compare it to... you want him to take whatever you wrote and find something even better to do. That's why you cast Jim Carrey. So we almost view it as like you're putting him in a playground or something and what can we design? What can this scene be to let him go bananas and do his Jim Carrey thing?PC: We're trying to give him a comic premise and roll out a box of toys for him. Him playing two characters in the same scene together so often, I mean, it was really interesting to watch how he did it even on set, because he would have to sort of build both performances at the same time, but he can only do one at a time because it took hours to get into his Gerald makeup, so he would do one side of it, and then come back the next day and do the other side, and it ends up cutting together so seamlessly. It's crazy.JM: We just saw it, I guess this is the third time we've seen it. We saw it yesterday in 4DX, which was great. But yeah, the more I see it, the more I just marvel at how complicated some of the routines he came up for himself to be playing off himself. That's normally the kind of thing that you have those two actors there rehearsing and honing these bits, but it was just like, nope, it was all in his head that he had to figure out.PC: I'm campaigning Jim Carrey, Best Supporting Actor nomination.I understand theres been a significant amount of improv done by the actors, and I was curious how you felt about that as writers, but it sounds like at least with Jim Carrey, you're like, Yeah, that's what he does. This is great.JM: Yeah, I mean, the truth is, if the improv's good, you always welcome it. It's only a problem if it's bad. Fortunately, I think this is a good enough creative team that if someone does a bad improv, it's not like Jeff's going to put it in the movie. I mean, with Ben Schwartz, Adam Pally, people who it's like that's their whole bread and butter is improv.PC: James Marsden is an underrated improviser.JM: Yeah. I think Jury Duty showed his skills off to the world for the first time.PC: And if an actor comes up with a great line and it makes the movie, we're always happy to take credit for other people.This is close to my heart because the memory I have of Sonic Adventure 2 is the Chao Garden. I lost it when I saw the trailer of the cast in the Chao Garden, which is now basically the Chuck E. Cheese of the Sonic world, I guess. Tell me about adapting that. How did you come to this? Are Chao even real in this world, or are they... what's happening?JM: You never know. Who knows how many sequels they'll end up doing? I think part of the logic was that Jeff has no immediate plans for the Chaos to really be in, and we already had that set piece, because that's a real type of restaurant that Jeff had encountered while promoting, I think, Sonic 2 in Tokyo. So we just thought-PC: We thought it would be funny, yeah, that this is a place where Sonic and the other critters can go without a disguise because they just blend in. I mean, obviously in real life, would that work? Would people think they're people in giant plush costumes? Perhaps not. But with the suspension of disbelief with film, you can believe it. It's like, Oh, we'll have a theme restaurant. And it's like, Of course it should be a Chao Garden.PC: It could be based on the real Chao.JM: Indeed. But yeah, I think in the context of this movie, Jeff just thought it would be a funny, funny nod to the Chaos and fans love or love-hate relationship with Chaos, I suppose, depending on-Who hates Chao? Who's doing that?JM: People with no soul.PC: I tell you what, Josh, last night watching the movie, I realized they cut out a shot that we saw in an early cut that was, I thought was the funniest shot in the movie. Its of the Chao, like on fire.JM: Oh, you're right. Every time I watch it, I just, my brain puts it in the movie.PC: We have to confront the team about this. What happened to that shot of the Chao getting killed?JM: Maybe that's what was going to push us to PG-13. It'd be like, You can't have a Chao on fire. Kids are going to run out of the theater screaming.Before the Sonic trilogy came out, there was a lot of talk, at least in video game spaces, about the fact that video game movies were sort of cursed to be not very good. I think that's largely been broken in recent years, not just by the Sonic movies, but we've had Detective Pikachu, there's been several other really solid video game films. And you two have been a big part of that, having these fairly successful, very enjoyable video game movies. Are there any other video games that you would want to adapt someday as films since this has clearly gone very well for you?JM: I feel like unfortunately we can't actually answer your question because there's going to be a couple of things we're trying to get going next year.Are there any that you're not working on at all that you can say?PC: I was going to say, we've already written a script for It Takes Two, which hopefully we'll get some good news on moving forward in the next year.JM: What's an old game that we're probably not going to adapt, that still would've been fun? PC: We've talked about Golden Axe. Golden Axe was another good Genesis multiplayer game.JM: A Boy and His Blob.PC: Oh yeah, that could work. Or the 7-Up game about the dot having a platforming adventure. [Cool Spot]JM: I think another easy one I think we can answer because the movie's already happening and we're already not doing it would be a Zelda. I remember always when we played Wind Waker, we were always like, man, I mean, it would probably be weird if they made a Zelda movie to start with Wind Waker versus the more classic Hyrule. But we both loved Wind Waker and it's so cinematic. Yeah. So after they make this Zelda movie, I guess we're putting it out there in the world, maybe we can do a Wind Waker spin-off.Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Mat, Matt, and Jen are here to present the IGN UK Podcast Alternative Game Awards for 2024. Which game had the best animal? Which simply requires you to get gud? Listen to find out.Remember to send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you're enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.IGN UK Podcast 780: The Alternative Game Awards 2024IGN UK Podcast 779: The Alternative Movie and TV Awards 2024IGN UK Podcast 778: The Game Awards Reveals and Ferry FightsIGN UK Podcast Special Episode: We Visited CD Projekt Red to Talk About The Witcher 4 IGN UK Podcast 777: Indiana Jones and the Great GameIGN UK Podcast 776: Breaking Down the Top 20 PlayStation Games

This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 2.There are a lot of great characters in this season of Squid Game. With all players but Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) dying in last seasons games, series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk had the lofty task of coming up with a whole new cast of contestants, in addition to new supporting characters like Captain Park, Choi, and all of the mercenaries Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) has hired to try to find the island. But even though there are many compelling new faces this season, Cho Hyun-ju a.k.a. Player 120 (Park Sung-hoon) is definitely the MVP.Hyun-ju is a trans woman who joined the games to help pay for her gender-affirming care. Before her transition, she was a sergeant first class in the ROK Special Forces, but lost her job and her friends just because she wanted to live her life as her true self. Even though she does vote to stay in the games against her groups wishes during a crucial vote, its clear that shes torn about the decision, and does what she can to help them all survive the next game.She sticks up for her teammates and fellow contestants when it really matters. She encourages them throughout the Six-Legged Pentathlon game, ensuring their victory in the final mini-game Jegi. But most importantly, she is the only woman that helps with Gi-huns rebellion. She takes out the security cameras in the players quarters, she leads the charge to gather the soldiers weapons and ammo, and she shows them all how to operate the guns efficiently.Hyun-ju is the only one brave enough to follow Dae-ho (Kang Ha-neul) after he fails to return from collecting more ammo. As more soldiers breach the players quarters in the seasons final moments, she prepares to use the ammo Dae-ho gathered and take a stand against them on her own. The only reason she doesnt is because Jang Geum-ja (Kang Ae-shim), who has become a mother figure of sorts for several players, urges her not to, wanting her to hopefully have the chance to live another day.Despite how badass and heroic Hyun-ju is when it truly matters, its unfortunate that she has to risk her life in these games in order to afford gender-affirming care. The cost has to be substantial for her to willingly vote to stay after learning how deadly these games are. As an American, it isnt terribly shocking to see someone put themselves through literal hell in order to afford the healthcare they need, especially a type of healthcare that is currently under undue scrutiny here in the States.South Korea has yet to legalize same-sex marriage, and their Supreme Court has only recently ruled that same-sex relationships are entitled to the same healthcare benefits as heterosexual relationships. Hyun-ju not only reflects this lack of acceptance with her story in the show, but also in the actor who plays her.Hyun-ju is played by cisgender male actor Park Sung-hoon. Even though he does an incredible job at portraying this character as the compelling woman she is, the show has faced scrutiny for not casting a trans actor in the role. And rightfully so. One of the main arguments used by TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and other anti-trans groups are that trans women are just men who want to dress as women to invade our spaces. This is far from the truth of trans womens experiences, but casting cis men in trans roles doesnt do much to help this harmful stereotype.That being said, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk did intend to portray this role as authentically as possible when the role was first being created. Hwang told TV Guide that his search proved more challenging than he expected, and it was near impossible to find a trans actor who could play the role. When we researched in Korea, there are close to no actors that are openly trans, let alone openly gay, he says. Because unfortunately in the Korean society, currently the LGBTQ community is rather still marginalized and more neglected, which is heartbreaking.As easy as it is to say well maybe he just didnt look hard enough, its also important to recognize that the U.S. is in a different place when it comes to seeing the trans experience portrayed accurately on screen. And while we seem to be ahead of South Korea in this regard, were still nowhere close to where we should be. Even though both the U.S. and Korea still have a long way to go in terms of trans representation on screen, seeing an otherwise unproblematic trans character feature so prominently in Netflixs most popular series is arguably a very good thing, and I cant wait to see Hyun-jus story continue in season 3.All seven episodes of Squid Game season 2 are available to stream on Netflix now.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

Role: Mid-level / Senior Backend Engineer (Java/Spring)Location: Remote (you live in a time zone no more than 2 hours +/- GMT)Who are we?Hey there! Were YouCanBookMe: the online scheduling solution built for small businesses. With unbeatable customizations, we provide all the benefits of online scheduling while ensuring a seamless, branded experience to boost our customers success.Since 2011, weve powered 100M+ bookings for our 17,000 customers across the globe. From beautifully branded booking pages to real-time integrations with payment systems and CRMs, YouCanBookMe streamlines the scheduling process, eliminates admin, and empowers businesses to focus on what matters most: their clients.Were a fully remote team of over 25 people, working across multiple countries and time zones. Ranked among the G2 Top 100 software companies, were passionate about making scheduling work better for small businesses everywhere.Who are we looking for?Hopefully, you! Were looking for a few Software Engineers to join our agile team of developers who keep us running and growing. Reporting to the Head of Engineering, you will work on all our server-side technologies. In short, we need your help to improve and keep our API, core infrastructure, architecture, and development operating smoothly. Weve got big plans so were actively growing the team.Skills/experience that will come in handy:Core Java skills: J2SE/J2EE, SpringSupporting skills: Git, Maven, REST, Mysql, Redis, AWS (Beanstalk, RDS, DynamoDB), OAuthFamiliarity with libraries: Apache Commons, Apache HTTP Client, java.time (JSR 310)Nice to have: Twilio APIs, Google APIs, WebDAV/CalDAVIdeally, you will have a min of 4 years of experience in a similar roleWhat you will do in a typical day:Work on assigned code implementation tasksContribute to problem-solvingAid in the daily monitoring and maintenance of our APIs, services, and processesImplement new solutions and add additional functionality to the underlying code base, designed to be scalable and robustSip your coffee while discussing recipes on Slack with your teammates (our chat is called youcancookme and its delicious)Generate a clean, maintainable, and testable codeContinuously improve the current codebase as you go along, refactoring and proposing solutionsLocation:This is a fully remote position. Most of us are located in the UK, Spain, Portugal and other European countries. The best fit for our team would be if you live in a time zone no more than 2 hours +/- GMT.Now enough of the nitty-gritty, lets get to the fun part. What can we offer you?In a shocking twist of events, the first thing we offer is...money! We aim to be fully transparent so all salaries are public inside the company. You will get a salary based on your experience: 50,000 - 80,000 EURWell also pay for your stuff. Your equipment and tools (of your choice), including wifi, office, or co-working space are all coveredLots of time to rest. Everyone gets 25 days of paid vacation and all local public holidays. Work-life balance is protectedFully-funded leave policies for parentsWe offer private health / dental insurance or contributions in most countries where we have employees (although some local exceptions apply)International travel/company retreats. We may be fully remote, but we love to meet up in personA fantastic group of people we feel lucky to work with (we may be biased on this one)Some additional info:If you choose to apply (we hope you will), make sure to check your spam folder for any emails from bamboohr.com or hireflix.com. We use those to communicate recruitment updates. Related Jobs See more Back-End Programming jobs

As of 2023, nearly 2 billion metric tons of it were being produced annually, enough to cover Manhattan in a layer more than 13 feet thick. Making this metal produces a huge amount of carbon dioxide. Overall, steelmaking accounts for around 8% of the worlds carbon emissionsone of the largest industrial emitters and far more than such sources as aviation. The most common manufacturing process yields about two tons of carbon dioxide for every ton of steel. A handful of groups and companies are now making serious progress toward low- or zero-emission steel. Among them, the Swedish company Stegra stands out. (Originally named H2 Green Steel, the company renamed itself Stegrawhich means to elevate in Swedishin September.) The startup, formed in 2020, has raised close to $7 billion and is building a plant in Boden, a town in northern Sweden. It will be the first industrial-scale plant in the world to make green steel. Stegra says it is on track to begin production in 2026, initially producing 2.5 million metric tons per year and eventually making 4.5 million metric tons. The company uses so-called green hydrogen, which is produced using renewable energy, to process iron ore into steel. Located in a part of Sweden with abundant hydropower, Stegras plant will use hydro and wind power to drive a massive electrolyzer that splits water to make the hydrogen. The hydrogen gas will then be used to pull the oxygen out of iron ore to make metallic irona key step in steelmaking. This process of using hydrogen to make ironand subsequently steelhas already been used at pilot plants by Midrex, an American company from which Stegra is purchasing the equipment. But Stegra will have to show that it will work in a far larger plant. The world produces about 60,000 metric tons of steel every 15 minutes. We have multiple steps that havent really been proven at scale before, says Maria Persson Gulda, Stegras chief technology officer. These steps include building one of the worlds largest electrolyzers. Beyond the unknowns of scaling up a new technology, Stegra also faces serious business challenges. The steel industry is a low-margin, intensely competitive sector in which companies win customers largely on price. The startup, formed in 2020, has raised close to $7 billion in financing and expects to begin operations in 2026 at its plant in Boden.STEGRA Once operations begin, Stegra calculates, it can come close to producing steel at the same cost as the conventional product, largely thanks to its access to cheap electricity. But it plans to charge 20% to 30% more to cover the 4.5 billion it will take to build the plant. Gulda says the company has already sold contracts for 1.2 million metric tons to be produced in the next five to seven years. And its most recent customerssuch as car manufacturers seeking to reduce their carbon emissions and market their products as greenhave agreed to pay the 30% premium. Now the question is: Can Stegra deliver? The secret of hydrogen To make steelan alloy of iron and carbon, with a few other elements thrown in as neededyou first need to get the oxygen out of the iron ore dug from the ground. That leaves you with the purified metal. The most common steelmaking process starts in blast furnaces, where the ore is mixed with a carbon-rich coal derivative called coke and heated. The carbon reacts with the oxygen in the ore to produce carbon dioxide; the metal left behind then enters another type of furnace, where more oxygen is forced into it under high heat and pressure. The gas reacts with remaining impurities to produce various oxides, which are then removedleaving steel behind. The second conventional method, which is used to make a much smaller share of the worlds steel, is a process called direct reduction. This usually employs natural gas, which is separated into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Both gases react with the oxygen to pull it out of the iron ore, creating carbon dioxide and water as by-products. The iron that remains is melted in an electric arc furnace and further processed to remove impurities and create steel. Overall, this method is about 40% lower in emissions than the blast furnace technique, but it still produces over a ton of carbon dioxide for every ton of steel. But why not just use hydrogen instead of starting with natural gas? The only by-product would be water. And if, as Stegra plans to do, you use green hydrogen made using clean power, the result is a new and promising way of making steel that can theoretically produce close to zero emissions. Stegras process is very similar to the standard direct reduction technique, except that since it uses only hydrogen, it needs a higher temperature. Its not the only possible way to make steel with a negligible carbon footprint, but its the only method on the verge of being used at an industrial scale. Premium marketing Stegra has laid the foundations for its plant and is putting the roof and walls on its steel mill. The first equipment has been installed in the building where electric arc furnaces will melt the iron and churn out steel, and work is underway on the facility that will house a 700-megawatt electrolyzer, the largest in Europe. To make hydrogen, purify iron, and produce 2.5 million metric tons of green steel annually, the plant will consume 10 terawatt-hours of electricity. This is a massive amount, on par with the annual usage of a small country such as Estonia. Though the costs of electricity in Stegras agreements are confidential, publicly available data suggest rates around 30 ($32) per megawatt-hour or more. (At that rate, 10 terawatt-hours would cost $320 million.) STEGRA Many of the buyers of the premium green steel are in the automotive industry; they include Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW, Volvo Group, and Scania, a Swedish company that makes trucks and buses. Six companies that make furniture, appliances, and construction materialincluding Ikeahave also signed up, as have five companies that buy steel and distribute it to many different manufacturers. Some of these automakersincluding Volvo, which will buy from Stegra and rival SSABare marketing cars made with the green steel as fossil-free. And since cars and trucks also have many parts that are much more expensive than the steel they use, steel that costs the automakers a bit more adds only a little to the cost of a vehicleperhaps a couple of hundred dollars or less, according to some estimates.Many companies have also set internal targets to reduce emissions, and buying green steel can get them closer to those goals. Stegras business model is made possible in part by the unique economic conditions within the European Union. In December 2022, the European Parliament approved a tariff on imported carbon-intensive products such as steel, known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). As of 2024, this law requires those who import iron, steel, and other commodities to report the materials associated carbon emissions. Starting in 2026, companies will have to begin paying fees designed to be proportional to the materials carbon footprint. Some companies are already betting that it will be enough to make Stegras 30% premium worthwhile. STEGRA Though the law could incentivize decarbonization within the EU and for those importing steel into Europe, green steelmakers will probably also need subsidies to defray the costs of scaling up, says Charlotte Unger, a researcher at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany. In Stegras case, it will receive 265 million from the European Commission to help build its plant; it was also granted 250 million from the European Unions Innovation Fund. Meanwhile, Stegra is working to reduce costs and beef up revenues. Olof Hernell, the chief digital officer, says the company has invested heavily in digital products to improve efficiency. For example, a semi-automated system will be used to increase or decrease usage of electricity according to its fluctuating price on the grid. Stegra realized there was no sophisticated software for keeping track of the emissions that the company is producing at every step of the steelmaking process. So it is making its own carbon accounting software, which it will soon sell as part of a new spinoff company. This type of accounting is ultra-important to Stegra, Hernell says, since we ask for a pretty significant premium, and that premium lives only within the promise of a low carbon footprint. Not for everyone As long as CBAM stays in place, Stegra believes, there will be more than enough demand for its green steel, especially if other carbon pricing initiatives come into force. The companys optimism is boosted by the fact that it expects to be the first to market and anticipates costs coming down over time. But for green steel to affect the market more broadly, or stay viable once several companies begin making significant quantities of it, its manufacturing costs will eventually have to be competitive with those of conventional steel. Stegra has sold contracts for 1.2 million metric tons of steel to be produced in the next five to seven years. Even if Stegra has a promising outlook in Europe, its hydrogen-based steelmaking scheme is unlikely to make economic sense in many other places in the worldat least in the near future. There are very few regions with such a large amount of clean electricity and easy access to the grid. Whats more, northern Sweden is also rich in high-quality ore that is easy to process using the hydrogen direct reduction method, says Chris Pistorius, a metallurgical engineer and co-director of the Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research at Carnegie Mellon University. Green steel can be made from lower-grade ore, says Pistorius, but it does have the negative effects of higher electricity consumption, hence slower processing. Given the EU incentives, other hydrogen-based steel plants are in the works in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe. Hybrit, a green steel technology developed by SSAB, the mining company LKAB, and the energy producer Vattenfall, uses a process similar to Stegras. LKAB hopes to finish a demonstration plant by 2028 in Gllivare, also in northern Sweden. However, progress has been delayed by challenges in getting the necessary environmental permit. Meanwhile, a company called Boston Metal is working to commercialize a different technique to break the bonds in iron oxide by running a current through a mixture of iron ore and an electrolyte, creating extremely high heat. This electrochemical process yields a purified iron metal that can be turned into steel. The technology hasnt been proved at scale yet, but Boston Metal hopes to license its green steel process in 2026. Understandably, these new technologies will cost more at first, and consumers or governments will have to foot the bill, says Jessica Allen, an expert on green steel production at the University of Newcastle in Australia. In Stegras case, both seem willing to do so. But it will be more difficult outside the EU.Whats more, producing enough green steel to make a large dent in the sectors emissions will likely require a portfolio of different techniques to succeed. Still, as the first to market, Stegra is playing a vital role, Allen says, and its performance will color perceptions of green steel for years to come. Being willing to take a risk and actually build thats exactly what we need, she adds. We need more companies like this. For now, Stegras plantrising from the boreal forests of northern Swedenrepresents the industrys leading effort. When it begins operations in 2026, that plant will be the first demonstration that steel can be made at an industrial scale without releasing large amounts of carbon dioxideand, just as important, that customers are willing to pay for it. Douglas Main is a journalist and former senior editor and writer at National Geographic.

via X ShareIt appears that another new Chinese combat aircraft has already entered flight testing, and it is also an advanced, stealthy, tailless design. The imagery of the previously unseen aircraft began to circulate on social media today, only a matter of hours after the first appearance of a remarkable diamond-shaped, tailless, heavy tactical combat aircraft design, which you can read more about in our initial analysis piece here.A video and several photos of the second, apparently smaller aircraft began to emerge today and, so far at least, they are fewer in number and of inferior quality, making it harder to determine particular details.Before we continue, its important to note that so far this imagery looks remarkably legitimate. That is not to say that its verified authentic at this time. There remains the possibility it has been fabricated, but also considering the timing with the other reveal, that seems increasingly unlikely.According to unconfirmed accounts, the second combat aircraft design is from the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), while the first, larger design is from the rival Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC). While Shenyang is responsible for the production of Chinese developments of the Flanker multirole fighter family and the medium-weight J-35 stealth fighter family, Chengdu builds the J-10 multirole medium fighter and the heavy J-20 stealth fighter.The second tactical jet aircraft design was shown in some of the photos being chased by a Flanker-series fighter, perhaps a two-seat J-16, which would lend further support to the idea that its a Shenyang product.A rear-aspect view of the reported Shenyang combat aircraft design. From this angle, a prominent flight-test data probe can be seen on the nose. via X via X While the Chengdu design has a modified diamond-delta wing planform, with extended wing-root chines, the Shenyang aircraft has a relatively sharply swept wing, although this is hardly conventional, being more in line with a lambda wingprofile.This platform creates prominent triangular-shaped trailing-edge extensions that taper back from roughly mid-point in the wing, and project out beyond the engine exhausts.Unlike the apparent new Chengdu design, which is understood to have a three-engine powerplant, the Shenyang design is a more conventional twin-engine aircraft, in also keeping with its smaller size. The engines appear to be fed by what seems to be diverterless supersonic inlet (DSI) intakes on either side of the forward fuselage, below the wing root, and which look to be very angular in shape.The apparent Shenyang combat aircraft design seen from below. via X Two engine nozzles are evident, with some kind of a protuberance between them. From the available angles, its not immediately clear if the aircraft has a cockpit. While it would make sense for it to be a part of Chinas crewed combat aircraft development path, it could also be a drone or an optionally crewed aircraft.The fuselage is somewhat angular, and deep, suggesting a diamond-shaped cross-section, which would offer a blend of low observability and useful internal capacity for fuel and weapons.Two views of the apparent new Shenyang combat aircraft alongside what looks to be a J-16 chase plane. via X via X The Shenyang design also has a more standard-looking tricycle landing gear, with single wheels on each main unit, while the Chengdu design uses more robust twin-wheel bogies on the main gear to accommodate its larger size and gross weight.Neither of the two designs features any kind of vertical or horizontal tail surfaces. This is entirely in keeping with what we expected of Chinas next-generation fighter designs, with tailless concepts having previously appeared in the form of various studies, as well as a mysterious tailless vehicle that appeared in satellite images at Chengdu in October 2021.Tailless designs are something we have previously discussed in depth before, in relation to future Chinese fighters, but its worth noting that the main advantage they confer is in terms of broadband low observability against a variety of radar types operating across multiple frequencies. At the same time, the radar signature, especially from the side and rear perspectives, will also be reduced significantly.The new heavy Chinese combat aircraft alongside a J-20S chase plane. The new design, like the J-20, is thought to be a Chengdu product.via X Two more views of the new heavy Chinese combat aircraft, perhaps designated J-36.via X Other advantages of a tailless design include reduced aerodynamic drag, which provides improved performance for sustained high-speed dashes and cruising flight. Additional beneficial factors will almost certainly include a large internal volume for the carriage of fuel and weapons critical for extended combat radius and persistence on-station, two key concerns in the Asia Pacific theater.At the same time, a tailless configuration can adversely affect overall stability and maneuverability, requiring advanced fly-by-wire digital flight control technology to simply keep it in the air. One feature that could help mitigate stability and maneuverability deficiencies would involve thrust-vectoring engines, something China has tested in the past. Without a good view from the rear, its impossible to say for certain, but the nozzles could conceivably feature F-22-style two-dimensional thrust-vectoring.Unconfirmed reports suggest that the Shenyang design is a prototype fighter and made its first flight on Dec. 20 this year.Another view of the apparent Shenyang combat aircraft design from below. Test flights performed over populated areas suggest no great desire to hide the aircraft from prying eyes. via X However, it seems that Beijing very deliberately ensured that the two new designs broke cover today, for maximum impact.This would make sense given that Dec. 26 is the birthdate of Mao Zedong, founder of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). It is also exactly 13 years to the day that the J-20 first broke cover.At this point, its worth noting that in both cases, we cannot currently confirm the identities of the manufacturers or even the intended roles of the new aircraft.So far, there have been no official comments from the Chinese government or industry, although internal security services certainly appear to have let imagery be leaked via unofficial channels, and its also notable that these test flights were documented in the daytime.As we have discussed before, the design now thought to be from Chengdu is notably large, suggesting that it could possibly be related to the so-called JH-XX. This is described by U.S. intelligence officials as a regional bomber, with a shorter range, smaller payload capacity, and more of a tactical focus than the H-20 stealth bomber. The H-20 is being developed by the Xian Aircraft Corporation (XAC) and is widely expected to be a flying-wing type aircraft, like the B-2 and B-21.The JH-XX remains a very shadowy project, but you can read more about what is known here.A picture that has previously emerged showing a model of a design that might be tied to work on the JH-XX. Chinese Internet In the past, we have also suggested that the JH-XX bomber could finally emerge as something closer to a fighter-bomber:The design could prioritize speed, as well as stealth, too. This could give the smaller fighter-bomber added advantages when it comes to sortie rates and for successfully penetrating through an enemys integrated air defense network. Above all else, it allows for multi-role operations, including supporting long-range air-to-air missions, without a heavy reliance on vulnerable tankers or even the use of coastal airfields, which would be the most vulnerable to attack during an all-out conflict.While the new three-engine design could be related to the JH-XX, it could also be a more generic demonstrator intended to test a variety of combat aircraft technologies. It could also be a more heavyweight fighter being developed under Chinas next-generation airpower initiative.Speaking to TWZ, Chinese aerospace observer and author Andreas Rupprecht explained that his assessment is that we are seeing combat aircraft demonstrators from Shenyang and Chengdu and that these are both closer aligned to fighters rather than bombers. Using the sixth-generation description is perhaps a little too hasty, but I think we are at the point where we can really say the Chinese have shown us for the first time their idea of air combat and new-generation fighters, Rupprecht said.Certainly, China now appears to be flying two different, very advanced combat aircraft designs that could also be rivals, with one being smaller than its competitor, which would have certain advantages in terms of cost, complexity, and performance. They could also be intended to complement one another as a medium/heavy future manned fighter combat mix.This latter would parallel Chinas pursuit of the single-engine J-10 and the twin-engine J-11/16 series, followed by the co-development of the medium-weight J-35 and larger J-20 stealth fighters. At one stage, it looked like the J-35 would be primarily aimed at export customers, as well as for Chinese naval use, but a Chinese land-based version is now also known to be in development.A Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter. Photo by Wang Jingtian/VCG via Getty Images A J-20 stealth fighter rehearses for the 2023 Changchun Air Show in July 2023 in Changchun, Jilin Province of China. Photo by Wang Jingtian/VCG via Getty ImagesA Shenyang J-35 stealth fighter. Chinese Internet Chinese InternetWhat we do know is that China has an active sixth-generation fighter program. It would not be surprising for more than one flying demonstrator design to be built to support it, or even prototypes much closer to planned production aircraft.Whether China plans to introduce more than one sixth-generation fighter, or simply determine what kind of design best suits its needs, there are plenty of signs that the country is fully committed to a future air combat program, which will include a crewed fighter as well as complementary drones, and also the JH-XX, which may well be being developed as part of the same ecosystem, perhaps even sharing certain subsystems and technologies. The H-20 could also form part of this same broader airpower architecture.The previous boss of Air Combat Command, Gen. Mark D. Kelly, spoke in September 2022 about Chinas future fighter program, noting that it was likely to follow a system of systems approach similar to the one that the U.S. Air Force has been pursuing and would certainly include a sixth-generation crewed fighter.Kelly also said he expected the platform or platforms to emerge with an exponential improvement in stealth compared with current Chinese aircraft. Of course, a tailless design could help achieve this.An artists impression of a generic U.S. Air Force tailless sixth-generation crewed fighter, of the kind being developed under the NGAD initiative. Collins Aerospace Collins AerospaceNotably, the U.S. militarys latest annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments, an unclassified versionof which was released on Dec. 18, doesnt mention potential sixth-generation crewed fighter developments.Chinese officials, meanwhile, have given very little away about the countrys future tactical air combat program. However, in a 2019 interview, Wang Haifeng, chief designer for CAC, described a project that aimed for service entry around 2035. That would also seem to be broadly in keeping with the first flight of a Chengdu demonstrator around now.In the past, Andreas Rupprecht told TWZ that: Allegedly, since 2018, CAC and its related 611 Institute have been working on the development of key technologies for the next-generation fighter.As well as testing for future crewed combat aircraft, China is already heavily engaged in developing various supporting technologies. These include the ability for future crewed combat jets to team with drones, and the use of artificial intelligence, as well as advanced sensors and weapons that will be brought together as part of Chinas broader future air combat architecture.While the appearance of one new-generation Chinese combat aircraft design is notable, the apparent emergence of two different such designs in a single day would truly be a milestone.Todays developments should also be seen in light of the U.S. Air Forces equivalent Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative, which includes its crewed sixth-generation stealth combat jet. A final decision on this has now been pushed to the incoming Trump administration, amid uncertainty about the Air Forces ability to pay for NGAD. At the same time, questions have been increasingly asked about the relevance of NGAD in a future high-end combat scenario.A rendering of a notional U.S. tailless sixth-generation crewed fighter, refueling in flight. Lockheed Martin Lockheed MartinIt will be some time before we get a better understanding of the precise roles and attributes of Chinas new combat aircraft designs. However, the country is clearly already committed to developing successors to its current combat aircraft fleet and appears to be looking at how best to achieve significant advances in terms of range, payload, speed, and low observability.While its still unclear what Chinas next-generation fighter or fighters will end up looking like, and how they might be related to the JH-XX fighter-bomber, the current pace of development puts the uncertainty around the U.S. Air Forces NGAD efforts into even sharper focus.Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

CodmasBlack Ops 6's double XP event is here to get you through the holidays with new modes and modified mapsJust like every year, the Call of Duty gods have blessed us with days of double XP to end the current year, and kick off the new one.Image credit: Activision News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Dec. 27, 2024 Earlier this week, the very much expected double XP event kicked off in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 across all platforms. This is something that happens every year, and 2024 is no different.The event grants double soldier/character XP, as well as double weapon XP - though sadly not double battle pass token earn speed.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. The double XP event went live on December 25, and will continue to be active in Black Ops 6 until Friday, January 3, meaning we're getting over a week of increased XP earn rate. Not bad at all. This all coincides, of course, with the holiday-themed updates the game received in the most recent mid-season patch.Season One Reloaded brought Nuketown Holiday into the map roster, which is a snowy, festive variant of the classic multiplayer map. There are two in-game events, too, Merry Mayhem, and Archies Festival Frenzy. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Many of the existing Black Ops 6 multiplayer modes, and even Warzone, have been touched up to give them a new coat for the holiday. In multiplayer, youll find a special version of Infected called Infectious Holiday, as well as some tweaks to the newly-added Ransack to turn it into Ran-Snack.In Warzone, theres Holiday Rush, available on Area 99, and the return of Slay Ride Resurgence on Urzikstan. Even Zombies gets some of the fun, thanks to the new modified zombies in Liberty Falls. If you've ever played Zombies over the holidays, you know what to expect here.Now is also a good time to catch up on everything new added in the Season One Reloaded update, such as the new Zombies map, new weapons, and more - in case you havent had the time to recently.

All driller, no fillerNintendo Life: Firstly, congratulations on Pepper Grinder! How does it feel to finally see the game come to Switch after seven years of work?Riv Hester, Ahr Ech: Thanks! I wasnt working on the game for the WHOLE seven years, but its definitely been a long road and it still doesnt feel real to be done! Im really excited to get it into everyones hands, though; some people have been waiting since the beginning and I cant believe their patience.Have the games core concepts changed very much over this time?Not that much, actually! Its been more of a process of refining and expanding on the core concepts, but everything works more or less the same as the original prototype. It just feels much, much more tight and responsive now in the release version.Image: Devolver DigitalThis is a game that feels great to play with the drilling mechanic allowing for fluid flow and motion. How important was game feel to you when developing Pepper Grinder?Pepper Grinder is all about that game feel! I think finding joy in movement is the cornerstone of a good platformer and I tried to leverage that as much as possible. I spent a long time making sure the core movement was its own reward and then tried to build from there to make everything else as satisfying by extension. Im a sucker for nice, crunchy feedback in games too, so I also went as hard as I could on good use of sound effects, screenshake and controller rumble. (Dont worry though, I know some people can be overwhelmed by some of that stuff so you can turn it all down or off.)Of course, its not all about blasting through things as quickly as possible. There are plenty of collectibles and time trial challenges to keep you coming back for more. Do you think that replayability is key for a good 2D platformer?you can see influences from all my favourite platformers growing upIt probably depends on the platformer, but I definitely prefer the ones that extend things that way! Often Ill be replaying anyway to really try to master a game, but getting to track my best times and unlock some goodies along the way is always appreciated, and Im really glad I had time to add those features here!Speaking of the games collectibles, we understand that the idea for Pepper Grinders sticker system originated from your love for Smash Bros. Melees Trophies. Can you tell us a little more about how Melees unlockables informed your approach to Pepper Grinders collectible items?Yeah! I had a lot of fun unlocking trophies in Melee and even more in Brawl where you could arrange them in fun ways, so I wanted to do something like that in 2D for Pepper Grinder but expand on the ability to make weird scenes with it. You can get common stickers in shops and get special ones as rewards for the Time Attack mode, and all of them can be arranged however you like in various unlockable backgrounds. It wont be for everyone, but I think its neat!Image: Devolver DigitalYou have previously described the game as Dig Dug plus Ecco The Dolphin, though the likes of Drill Dozer and Sonic also came to our minds when playing. Are there any specific inspirations that you looked to during the games development?Oh yeah, you can see influences from all my favourite platformers growing up in there. Donkey Kong Country 2, Yoshis Island, Sonic 2, 3 & Knuckles, Drill Dozer for sure though I only got to play that after starting work on Pepper Grinder. There are stages involving cannons that are just obvious love letters to Donkey Kong Country. There are also inspirations from other media like Tank Girl, Gurren Lagann, and the art of Yoshitomo Nara.Pepper Grinder is one of an increasing number of neo-retro games to have arrived on Switch in recent years. Have you always been interested in tapping into this old-school aesthetic and how do you think Pepper Grinder stands out from the neo-retro crowd?there are so many curveballs game development can throw at youI do love the aesthetic of older games, but a lot of it has to do with scope as well. Pixel art takes a lot of practice to be able to express things well with it, but once youre comfortable in that space it allows for a lot more speed and agility in terms of production, especially if you dont have a big team. As for how it stands out, I honestly never put much thought into it. I just made a game I always wanted to play but could never find, and luckily it seems like a lot of other people want to play it too!The retro feel extends beyond Pepper Grinders gameplay we particularly enjoyed (virtually) flicking through its SNES-inspired manual! How closely have you worked with publisher Devolver Digital to maintain this aesthetic in the games marketing?Weve had a pretty constant back-and-forth and they had full access to all the games assets while putting that stuff together. Everyone at Devolver is just really good at their job and they were able to match what I was going for right away. The manual in particular was put together by Andy Kelly, who absolutely knocked it out of the park capturing the SNES style! Dig into the "free demo" todayImage: Devolver DigitalIt seems that you have taken on the lions share of Pepper Grinders development, only getting assistance with the games music and ports. What has been the biggest challenge in working as a solo dev on this project?Ive been careful not to let the scope of the game get too big for one person from the start, but even then there are so many curveballs game development can throw at you that it still manages to be a challenge! I really wanted to have a unique mechanic or combination of mechanics in each stage to keep things fresh throughout the game, so approaching these different ideas in a way that would let me easily adapt them to different environments while allowing them to interact with each other took a lot of planning and forethought. In the end I think I pulled it off pretty well, though!Finally, do you have any plans about whats next for Ahr Ech? Would you like to see the return of Pepper Grinder one day?First, a long break! After that, I think whatever I work on next will be something really different, with hopefully a much shorter dev cycle. Ive got a few more prototypes on the side that might make the jump to full projects already, so well see what happens! And Pepper Grinder might be something I come back to down the road, but I gotta clear my head with something else and come back fresh, you know?Thank you to Riv for taking the time to answer our questions. Pepper Grinder is now available on the Switch eShop for 13.49 / 14.99 / $14.99 and there's even a free demo if you want to see what's under the surface before digging in.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube789kRelated GamesSee AlsoShare:07 Jim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since. 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