Interviews Love, Death + Robots – Volume 4: Tim Miller& Jennifer Yuh NelsonBy Vincent Frei - 02/06/2025 Earlier this year, Tim Miller spoke to us about his animated anthology Secret Level. Now, he returns to discuss the latest season of Love, Death + Robots. Jennifer Yuh Nelson talked about season two of Love, Death + Robots in 2021. She later worked on The Sea Beast, before returning once again to the anthology universe. What was your overall vision for the fourth season of Love, Death and Robots and how did it evolve from previous seasons? Tim Miller// We have the same strategy as every volume – we try to pick the best stories we know of and provide a mix that is hopefully appealing to everyone. There are a lot of variables to consider. Including genre, tone, and style of animation, such as stop motion, CG, and 2D. We try not to have two stories that are too similar. For example, if there’s already a military sci-fi story, we avoid selecting another one. We like to mix humor, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and anything else that we think might be interesting from either a story or animation perspective. How did you approach the balance between experimenting with new styles and maintaining the signature identity of the show? TM // Honestly, we just try and follow our gut. What we think is interesting as filmmakers, animators, and storytellers will also be interesting to the animation community and fans alike. So, we keep an eye out for new voices, filmmakers, and new ways of doing things to keep things interesting. I’m not sure we have an identity of the show. In fact, I think if we did have an identity, it would be that we don’t have an identity… but we try and do whatever we think is interesting. Jennifer Yuh Nelson// The fortunate thing about LDR is that the signature itself is experimenting with new styles. The trick is finding new aggressively experimental styles that still communicate to a mass audience. The stories are key to that. If the story is engaging, even to an audience that doesn’t usually gravitate to animation, then you can make it looks as weird as you want. What are some of the key challenges you faced while overseeing this season and how do you tackle them? TM // This season, there was a lot going on in the animation community that created some challenges with getting work done, whether studios were too full or ceased to exist entirely. Everyone struggled with budgets. But I didn’t feel like it was a problem with our show but rather a problem with the entire industry. People were struggling. And then it’s just always difficult when your ambition is high, your budgets are reasonable but still challenging, and you have to wrangle hundreds of people to get on board with your vision.// These shows take a long time to make. R&D for a look that doesn’t exist can take a lot of trial and error. For example, Emily Dean, who directed Very Pulse of the Machine last season, did For He Can Creep this season. She had a cool angle of making her episode look like lithography. That was very very hard, but somehow Polygon, the studio that made both shorts, came through with it. And I think it turned out very well. Can you talk about how you selected the different animation studios for this season? What made you decide to work with the studios involved?// We’ve been very fortunate to have worked with amazing people and studios these last few seasons, so it made sense to float some stories by them again. But it really comes down to the stories, and how each leans towards a certain technique. For example, How Zeke Found Religion was holding a slot where we wanted something 2D. We went to Titmouse because they were great with pushing the boundaries of 2D animation, and they suggested Diego Porral as a director who could bring a modern edge. How do you ensure each studio’s unique visual style complements the story and tone of each episode? TM // I know this sounds a little mystical and I don’t mean it to be, but I think the story speaks to you about style. Some things just feels right, and you have an innate concept of what would be the best version of the story, whether it’s stop motion, CG, 2D animation, or even live action. When you start thinking about the story in a creative way, a style becomes apparent. Which is not to say there aren’t many ways to do things and tell stories, but we feel a best version becomes clear.// We do a lot of research, not just into what the studios have done before, but also into what they wish to do but haven’t had the chance to do. Often it’s just a matter of getting to know them and seeing if they have a philosophy of pushing for experimentation and risk. Then we try to support them as much as possible in their creative R&D. You both directed episodes for this season, what was that experience like? How did it differ from your work as overseeing directors? TM // For me, it’s really just trying to create the best story and I love working with the artists and trying to be open to what everybody brings to the table because everybody wants to do the best possible episode they can. I try and be open to letting people help carry that load. The best thing about being a director is that you get to pick and choose between all the great ideas that everybody has and shape the narrative by getting the benefit of everyone’s expertise and talent.// It’s a different mindset. As a Supervising Director, I help. As a Director, I do. On episodes I’m not directing, I am deciphering that director’s ambition and pushing for whatever is required to make that absolutely great. On an episode I’m directing, every choice and image has to go through my brain so it’s more a reflection of my personal taste. Plus I tend to storyboard a lot more on my own episodes since it’s a way for me to communicate to the crew. I storyboard a lot on other episodes, but mainly to help figure out problems here and there. It also doesn’t come out of those director’s budgets so the free storyboarding is often welcomed. How did you choose the episode you worked on yourself and what aspects of it made it resonate with you both? TM // In my case with “The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur,” it was really by default. I had written the episode for Zack Snyder but Zack was too busy, and by that time I’d already fallen in love with the story, so I figured, why not just do it myself? As for “Golgotha,” I always loved the story. It was very efficient and short, which is hard to find in a story – it felt like a full meal. It has a beginning, middle, and end and it resolves in a satisfying way. “Golgotha” had all of that, plus it was funny.// Spider Rose was on the story wall since the beginning. It was one of the “special” ones- very hard, ambitious, uncomfortable. Over the seasons we offered it to different directors and they veered away from it for one reason or another. But it glowed with a complexity that’s rare in a short story. I think that’s because it was written as an exploration for a far larger world that Bruce Sterling was developing. For me, it was the raw emotionality that drew me in. It’s how I understand how to communicate any story. And I love the way Spider Rose draws you in with emotion then shivs you with it. Were there any episodes in this season that particularly pushed the boundaries of what you had done before? How did that push happen? TM // I think “How Zeke got Religion” pushed the boundaries of 2D animation. The amount of detail and action that the guys at Titmouse were able to pull off was truly astonishing. Once again, Robert Valley outdid himself with 400 boys. The action scene at the end was one of my favorite pieces of animation in all of Love, Death, and Robots.// Golgotha, Tim’s episode is live action, which is a rarity for the show. There was one live action episode in season 1, but none since. It is primarily an animation series, but nowadays, the line is so fuzzy that it seemed to make sense. How do you balance creative freedom with the thematic unity required for a show like Love, Death, and Robots? TM // There isn’t really a thematic unity. We’re just trying to create the best version of each of the episodes. They don’t tie into each other, they don’t relate to each other, they aren’t supposed to be about either Love, Death or Robots – the title is a meant to be a “catchall” that could hold ANY story or visual art we thought might be cool. Hopefully, the overall assemblage feels like a balanced meal with a little bit of something for everybody. But thematically speaking, again, I think our theme is that there is no theme.// We try to set the foundation with a good story, based off the many short stories Tim has read over the years. Then the HOW of what that story becomes is the wooly Wild West. The directors and studios are fully encouraged to push all the boundaries of how to make these as innovative, impractical, and beautiful as they want. And, since each short is under 15 minutes, the studios we choose can be as experimental and scrappy as each story demands. Looking at the overall direction of the season, was there any unexpected moments or surprises that stood out to you during production? TM // Yeah, I think the color palette for “Zeke” was a shock to me in a wonderful way because it was completely unexpected and nothing I would ever do as a director but boy did I love it. And I think that “Can’t Stop” was an interesting addition. We wanted to do a music video from volume 1 onward, and this was the moment that we took to do it. I think it’s the greatest concert video ever made.// Why do we have so many cats and babies? I’ve no idea. But when we saw the first giant baby shots in 400 Boys, it was a rare joy. They walk like babies, real babies. And somehow that was both accurate and terrifying. Looking forward, where do you see the show heading in future seasons, are there any new themes or concepts you’d love to explore? TM // So many directors in the industry have asked if they could play in our sandbox, and I would like to expand our reach to get some established names. Not that we don’t want new talent – we will always want that – but it would be great to have some really fantastic directors who have accomplished big movies come and play with our stories. I also think there’s a version where we bring in some content that may have existed in other mediums like comic books and perhaps tell some larger stories that take more than one episode to tell. Truthfully, I’ve already got a some really interesting stories picked out for the next few seasons, — of course those will change as the show evolves, but they’re fascinating stories that explore the whole arc of history… past, present, and future and some of the big challenges that humanity is facing today. I’d be lying if I didn’t mention that many of them explore the future of what mankind will become with the advent of AI and how artificial intelligence and humanity’s future intersect.// Often themes only show up afterwards. There is a bit of a “herding cats” energy to the show that promises surprises in the production process. But the point of a show like this is that it is surprising. It has its own energy, and sometimes we just have to listen to it rather than dictate. If you had the opportunity to create any kind of story for Love, Death, and Robots, what would your dream narrative and what type of animation style would you envision for it? TM // Well, I have to say that I love high-end 3D animation, and that’s what Blur does for a reason. And secondly, I’d like to do a kind of story that could be live action and has some vast scope to it, but we choose to do it in animation because we get more value from using the techniques that animation brings. We can tell a bigger story, with more scope, and more action than we would using any other methodology…. and it competes favorably with live action in terms of the kind of audience that comes to watch it. Not just fans of animation, but fans of good cinema.// I’d love to see an anime episode, like a Tsutomu Nihei fight scene, or something by Katsuhiro Otomo. A big thanks for your time. WANT TO KNOW MORE?Blur Studio: Dedicated page about Love, Death + Robots: Volume 4 on Blur Studio website. © Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2025 #love #death #robots #volume #tim

Elden Ring Nightreign is now up to 3.5 million copies sold after five days on sale, with its Steam user review rating improving from 'mixed' to 'mostly positive.'Elden Ring was a massive hit, selling 30 million since going on sale in 2022, and it seems unlikely that Nightreign will come close to matching that success. For better context, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion sold 5 million copies within three days of its release in 2024.FromSoftware’s multiplayer spin-off had launched to 2 million sales in just a day, but with a 'mixed' rating on Valve's platform.Much of the initial negative sentiment revolved around Nightreign’s brutal solo experience, its lack of duos co-op, lack of voice chat, and other archaic mechanics. That age-old multiplayer struggle to find enough friends to make up a coordinated three-player group is very much a part of the Elden Ring Nightreign experience, too.PlayAs explained in IGN's Elden Ring Nightreign review: "Let’s get the most important caveat out of the way first: if you are hoping to tackle Nightreign entirely solo, and are anything less than a hardcore Elden Ring player that actively seeks out ways to make that already difficult game even more challenging, Nightreign isn’t for you. Yes, there is technically a single-player option, but it is so poorly balanced that I would be shocked if it isn’t patched and adjusted within the first month of release. And this is coming from someone who lives and breathes these types of games."But on Monday, FromSoftware released a patch to make solo play much easier, and despite matchmaking problems over the weekend, sentiment has improved.Last week, producer Yasuhiro Kitao took to social media to comment on Elden Ring Nightreign’s early sales success and to thank players for giving the game a go despite its quirks.Every IGN FromSoftware Game Review“Nightreign has some peculiar aspects to its game design and is different from our recent titles in various ways,” Kitao said. “Nonetheless, many of you have bravely jumped into this world, and for that we're immensely grateful.“As with Demon's Souls or Sekiro, it may be confounding at first, but just like those games, Nightreign offers its own challenges and experiences. Once you overcome the initial hurdle, it'll surely provide a sense of accomplishment that's also its very own.“We hope you enjoy it.”So, what happens next? FromSoftware said that in addition to the DLC releasing later this year, new additions will be “gradually implemented,” including enhanced fights against existing Nightlords starting this month, as well as Duo Expeditions at a later date.”The addition of duos will come as some relief to players who have questioned its omission from launch. Elden Ring Nightreign drops players into the shifting lands of Limveld, exploring and fighting for survival either solo or in groups of three. There is no way to play two-player co-op.In IGN's interview with Elden Ring Nightreign director Junya Ishizaki, the Nightreign lead developer discussed the choice to lean on solos and trios as the core experience options. When asked why there's no option for a pair of players to drop in together without a matchmade third player, Ishizaki said it was overlooked."The simple answer is that this is simply something that was overlooked during development as just a two-player option, so we're very sorry about that," said Ishizaki. "As we said before, we set out to make this a multiplayer co-op game for three players, balanced for three players, so that was the main focus and it's at the core of Nightreign."Of course, I myself as a player understand that and often want times where I'm just playing myself, so this is something that we considered from the start," Ishizaki continued."And so we did put a lot of effort into creating this experience that was playable for solo players in as much as the rules and new systems allowed. So in putting all our efforts into that aspect, we kind of overlooked and neglected the duos aspect, but this is something that we are looking at and considering for post-launch support as well."This means that if you're playing with just your favorite duos partner, you have to accept a random third into your game. Playing trios is very much what Elden Ring Nightreign is built around.We’ve got plenty of Nightreign tips and tricks to help you take down all the eight Nightlord Bosses, and if you’re wondering how to unlock the two locked Nightfarer Classes, check out How to Unlock the Revenant and How to Unlock the Duchess, plus How to Change Characters.Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me. #elden #ring #nightreign #duo #expeditions

Germany's competition regulator has taken a strong stance against Amazon, deeming its pricing rules as anti-competitive and an abuse of market power. This development raises critical questions about fair competition in the e-commerce landscape, especially in Europe's largest economy. As we navigate an increasingly digital marketplace, it's vital for companies to foster an environment where innovation thrives without monopolistic practices stifling smaller players. It will be interesting to see how this might inspire similar actions in other regions, potentially reshaping the global approach to e-commerce regulations. Let's advocate for a balanced market that benefits consumers and businesses alike! #Ecommerce #Amazon #CompetitionLaw #MarketFairness #Innovation

Despite its appearance as just another arcady sandbox game, Deliver At All Costs is shockingly story-minded. So much so, that its constant focus on narrative might deter those just looking for some dumb fun. And after seeing the narrative through to the end, I wouldn’t blame them, given how hard the game tries to be a grand tapestry of storytelling excellence. The adventure is structured into three acts, each with a unique town to explore and complete missions in. One act even features a time skip accompanied by a moment of no return. So even if you just want to ignore story and focus on acing deliveries and causing mayhem in the streets, you still have to go through some cutscenes and narrative progression to unlock the next towns and side missions.   "The majority of the side content in Deliver At All Costs isn’t very enticing." Not that the side missions are worth doing anyway. The majority of side content in Deliver At All Costs isn’t very enticing. The rewards aren’t worth it and the fetch quest design doesn’t warrant the effort. I’d only recommend going out of your way for the side content if you’re already keen on exploring the various maps. The treasure chests and small boxes hidden throughout the game give cash that is used on materials for vehicle upgrades; however, a majority of upgrades can be purchased from the main story mission rewards anyway. I expected to have fun with the vehicle upgrades, but ended up sorely disappointed in their limited application. This is because upgrades cannot be used outside of curated story missions; bummer. Not that the crane attachment or extreme hauling capacity upgrade aren’t fun to play with; they are rather fun, but exclusively used for their particular missions. Again, if you’re expected a zany vehicular sandbox with a lot of options and unlockables, Deliver At All Costs isn’t that. The reason I keep associating the game with sandbox playability is due to its map design. It has an old-school 2D Grand Theft Auto style of isometric driving. In between story missions, you’re given the leisure to roam around town freely. All of your driving and running around is done through a top-down isometric camera angle that gives the environments a nice diorama look to them, and what’s more, you can move the camera between two different angles in case it’s difficult to see something. "Speaking of scenery, there’s a surprising amount of activity going on while you’re driving around delivering stuff." All the unique shops and landmarks of this diorama give off a classic vibe well. Oh, and the soundtrack fits the setting wonderfully. Lounge jazz and instrumental surfer rock accompany your deliveries, and it rarely gets repetitive. Tying it into GTA even more is the radio, with infrequent broadcasts that add flavor lore to the setting. Each town has multiple districts, each with their own theme, which helps vary up the scenery just that much more. Speaking of scenery, there’s a surprising amount of activity going on while you’re driving around delivering stuff. NPCs go about their business, birds glide across the sky, and plenty of vehicle traffic accompany the streets. In fact, there’s often a tad too much activity. Streets are so packed with cars and people that collisions are unavoidable. "NPCs roam the streets and become aggressive when threatened." I like how populated the game is, but it’s tuned a bit too high, getting in the way of enjoyability a lot of the time. Perhaps, it would have been better balanced to up the street traffic the further you get into the game, especially since the towns progress from rural to metropolitan through the course of the narrative. At the very least, there’s an attractive mini-map with well designed labels and indicators. Navigation is aided with helpful arrows showing the way to a mission destination too. But you aren’t merely delivering parcels to a destination in a given time limit; there’s a variety of ways the game mixes up its missions. Part of the game’s initial draw is its physics-based driving, which manifests in hilarious ways. One of the first missions tasks you with delivering a truck full of rotted watermelons. The first step is to bring them to a sanitizer, then you paint them so they look presentable, all while avoiding traffic and trying not to knock them over as they roll around in the back of the truck. It’s one of the enjoyable missions in the game, and one that demonstrates the physics gameplay best. I like how the missions get progressively more wacky and clever as you progress too. You even become a UFO hunter during one late-game job. It’s just too bad the very high traffic and wonky controls hamper the overall experience. "I like how the missions get progressively more wacky and clever as you progress." The driving controls are rather simple. Just aim in the direction you want to drive and hold the accelerate button. It’s the high sensitivity of the acceleration and the hard braking and turning that contribute to a somewhat frustrating experience. The high traffic just further compounds the controls to make for a somewhat clunky driving experience. Vehicles don’t differ in how they drive either, though you really only have the one truck for a large majority of the game anyway, so it doesn’t really make a difference. And the cars aren’t great to look at either. Heck, nothing looks particularly nice in the game, especially the characters. Facial animations are frankly bad and the bland art style doesn’t make up for the graphical shortcomings. What’s worse is there’s still some pretty substantial load times in-between regions, which hurts the flow of the open-world. But the element that gets hurt from graphics the most is the mixed story. It’s hard to take the drama seriously when its presented so poorly. There’s an attempt at cinematic camera angles during cutscenes, but textures are featureless and close-ups of people’s faces are serious PS1 quality stuff. Thankfully, a handful of characters are quite likable despite what their low poly models suggest. Winston’s delivery mates have surprising depth and a good amount of backstory. And Winston himself is a fully fledged personality and someone you can imagine working with. "Winston’s delivery mates have surprising depth and a good amount of backstory." Characters like Norman are instantly likeable while Winston’s arch-nemesis and hardline boss, Donovon, is perfectly punchable. I’m also impressed with a majority of the dialogue writing. Characters speak with a down-to-earth tone and level of informality that makes them realistic, even if they look like untextured Unity assets. Going back to where I started the review, the game goes surprisingly hard on the story axis, but it doesn’t fully land for me. The wacky yet earnest tone is great, but the execution of the plot doesn’t wrap up in a satisfying way. Winston’s mysterious past and the true motives of the delivery company’s executives had so much potential for an intriguing narrative thread. But alas, the finale just kinda falls flat without the payoff that the game was teasing. "The game goes surprisingly hard on the story front, but it didn’t fully land for me." As a whole, Delivery At All Costs delivers a zany and fun, though frustrating, isometric delivery experience with a story that tries a bit too hard. I can easily see this game being a cult classic, but for a majority of gamers, it won’t deliver a truly stunning experience. If you’re looking for a game with a wacky and inventive premise that experiments a bit, and don’t mind gameplay and graphics from three generations ago, give Deliver At All Costs a try and it might just deliver. This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5. #deliver #all #costs #review #lukewarm

CL02 Cabin / VinkluSave this picture!© Razvan DrinceanuCabins & Lodges•Valea lui Enache, Romania Architects: Vinklu Area Area of this architecture project Area:  55 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2025 Photographs Photographs:Razvan Drinceanu Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:  DÉCOR SEBMOB, ENIPAU, MIRADEX, MM THERM, PRO METAL CONT 2004, Topciment Lead Architects: Stefan Pavaluta More SpecsLess Specs this picture! Text description provided by the architects. An ideal rural scenario, well-oriented and connected, tries to outline the premises of a seasonal residence. I first had contact with O&A online, having been recommended by a good acquaintance from London, the clients being in the central area of ​​Europe, I in Bucharest, and the construction site in Arges. The kind of equation that always attracts me, if the intentions are aligned. The situation at that time had the wreckage of a first failed attempt, already erected on the ground, and a small annex at the bottom of the lot, at the highest point of the area. The decision was for a full project, but with a phased implementation. So we started with the small body, in order to have better control and a final evaluation of our collaboration, but also of the executors. Being a more rural area, the expectations regarding the quality of the result had to be proportionate from the start. The annex was a construction with a small footprint, maximum 25 sqm, built in the past by the family, with vaulted walls bordered by a wooden structure at the top that served as a lantern. During the dismantling stage, we discovered that it had no pillars at the corners, and the concrete slab with a large belly in the middle. In the end, only the walls remained, which were reinforced with interior-exterior mesh.this picture!this picture!this picture!this picture!Leaving aside the condition of the construction and the poor materials, the position and proportion of the annex were harmonious, and the intention was to preserve these aspects from the start. The solution proposed an extension with an interior staircase area and a reconfiguration of the gaps/orientations from the inside to the outside. Structurally, the base remains intact, reinforced, and the superstructure is timber-framed. Finally, the exterior finish in black autoclaved wood completes and reveals the proposed scenario. The height and dimensions slightly exceed the initial image. The choice of exterior color is a direct response to the context, offering different images and visual relationships depending on the season. The entrance porch mediates the relationship between the module and the exterior through a fine metal structure, proportionate to the tall surrounding vegetation. The slats and semi-circular areas spatially define the moments of approaching the house. In the same tone, the rest of the functional areas inside are supported by their own connections to the exterior. The veranda pergola transforms into a deep balcony for the living area, and the foundation of the house articulates into a small terrace for the night area.this picture!Functionally, downstairs is the entrance with the night area, and upstairs the entire living area with kitchen, dining, living room, and a small bathroom. Along the same lines, downstairs we have smaller gaps, and there is a panoramic orientation of some windows of considerable size, which offers a cinematic sensation in direct relation to the exterior. The house being well-positioned among the trees, any movement and change of nature can be watched, studied, and heard. Continuing the space-function relationship, the ground floor offers regular, intimate spaces, while the staircase opens the living area with a generous space and a gabled ceiling. The context being the main "reason", the finishes are clean, neutral, to further strengthen this relationship. In the living area, the furniture pieces define the micro-functions necessary for living, and are combined in a balanced way through proportion, color, and materiality.this picture!this picture!this picture!By reconverting the annex and using natural materials, local teams, off-site construction methods, we tried, in the true and local sense of the expression – minimal impact on the environment and sustainable architecture. The "design" itself is a direct result of the architectural process and the context, a stratification of functional and architectural solutions permanently correlated with proportions and materiality.this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Valea lui Enache, RomaniaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeVinkluOffice••• MaterialWoodMaterials and TagsPublished on June 01, 2025Cite: "CL02 Cabin / Vinklu" 01 Jun 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . < ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream #cl02 #cabin #vinklu

Elden Ring Nightreign is a tough-as-nails game that blends the beloved roguelike and soulslike genres into something fans of both should find appealing. However, unlike most games in either genre, this one’s inherently designed around working together in a group of three. So, you may be wondering if you can strike out on your own in Elden Ring Nightreign. While the game is about to get easier for folks who choose to go it alone, right now such a style proves an exceptionally difficult challenge.Suggested ReadingThe Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History Share SubtitlesOffEnglishview videoSuggested ReadingThe Most Sought After Elden Ring Sword Has A Storied History Share SubtitlesOffEnglish Elden Ring Nightreign solo?Let’s get this out of the way first: Yes, Elden Ring Nightreign offers the option for solo play. To do so, you’ll need to open the expedition menu at Roundtable Hold, then switch over to the matchmaking settings tab. At the bottom of the menu, set the Expedition Type to “Singleplayer.”The real question is whether Elden Ring Nightreign’s single-player experience is manageable or fun, and that really depends on your skill level, class choice, and patience more so than in any other similar game I can remember playing. If you really want to go at it by yourself,Ironeye or Wylder.Elden Ring Nightreign is already pretty damn challenging when running with a group of three other folks. The game’s sense of randomness adds a lot of unknowns to an expedition, and things can go wrong very quickly. But with a team, you can be revived, have someone else available to take some aggro from you when things get hairy, and use your character’s abilities to complement one another in difficult showdowns. It’s often still hard as hell, but victory usually feels possible even when things don’t go quite as planned.However, when you’re alone…Well, you’re all alone. If you die on a solo expedition, that’s it. You’re done. Back to the Roundable Hold with you, loser.With this in mind, some folks may find the anxiety-inducing pacing and chaotic showdowns enjoyable even while solo; but those who struggle to succeed without a group may find it demoralizing to watch hours go by without making any meaningful progress. And since some classes are much better for solo play than others, it can be even more frustrating to go it alone for someone who prefers to play one of the support-focused classes.If you really want to go at it by yourself, I’d recommend taking a look at Ironeye or Wylder.Ironeye’s ranged playstyle is the safest in the game, giving you a lot of freedom to tackle enemies your own way. For instance, you can take the high ground against some foes to avoid their attacks altogether, or use his sliding ability to dodge an attack and get behind an enemy for better positioning.Wylder, meanwhile, is a jack-of-all-trades character with a solid health pool and balanced stats that make him great at adapting to whatever type of loot a run provides. Simply grab any melee weapon and you’ll probably be doing alright with this fella. Plus, he has some of the coolest skins in the game. That doesn’t help you in battle, but like…come on. He looks rad.In conclusion, while things can certainly go poorly even with a team, I’d argue playing by your lonesome leaves too little room for error for a game that requires such a hefty time investment and minimal payoff for failure. Elden Ring Nightreign is designed from the ground up to be played with others, after all. Your mileage may vary, though, so play however you have fun with it! You can pick up Nightreign now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs. You’ll have to look elsewhere to pick up two other friends to play with, though. #nightreign #solo #play #really #impossible

Nvidia's RTX Remix is a remarkable tool that allows game modders to bring state-of-the-art path traced visuals to classic PC games. We've seen Portal RTX from Nvidia already, along with the development of a full-on remaster of Half-Life 2 - but I was excited to see a community of modders take on 2004's Painkiller, enhanced now to become Painkiller RTX. It's still a work-in-progress project as of version 0.1.6, but what I've seen so far is still highly impressive - and if you have the means, I recommend checking it out. The whole reason RTX Remix works with the original Painkiller is due to its custom rendering technology, known as the PainEngine. This 2004 release from People Can Fly Studios was built around Direct X 8.1, which gave it stellar visuals at the time, including bloom effects – specular lighting with limited bump mapping and full framebuffer distortion effects. Those visuals dazzled top-end GPU owners of the time, but like a great number of PC releases from that era, it had a DX7 fallback which culled the fancier shading effects and could even run on GPUs like the original GeForce. RTX Remix uses the fixed function DX7 path and replaces the core rendering with the path tracer - and that is how I have been playing the game these last few days, taking in the sights and sounds of Painkiller with a new lick of paint. It's an upgrade that has made me appreciate it all the more now in 2025 as it is quite a special game that history has mostly forgotten. To fully enjoy the modders' work on the path-traced upgrade to Painkiller, we highly recommend this video.Watch on YouTube Painkiller is primarily a singleplayer first-person shooter that bucked the trends of the time period. After Half-Life and Halo: Combat Evolved, many first person shooters trended towards a more grounded and storytelling-based design. The classic FPS franchises like Quake or Unreal had gone on to become wholly focused on multiplayer, or else transitioned to the storytelling route - like Doom 3, for example. Painkiller took all of those 'modern' trappings and threw them in the garbage. A narrative only exists in a loose sense with pre-rendered video that bookends the game’s chapters, acting only as a flimsy excuse to send the player to visually distinct levels that have no thematic linking beyond pointing you towards enemies that you should dispatch with a variety of weapons. The basic gameplay sounds familiar if you ever played Doom Eternal or Doom 2016. It is simple on paper, but thanks to the enemy and level variety and the brilliant weaponry, it does not get tiring. The game enhanced its traditional FPS gameplay with an extensive use of Havok physics – where a great deal of the game’s environmental objects could be broken up into tiny pieces with rigid body movement on all the little fragments, or environmental objects could be manipulated with ragdoll or rope physics. Sometimes it is there for purely visual entertainment but other times it has a gameplay purpose with destructible objects often containing valuable resources or being useful as a physics weapon against the game's enemies. So, what's the score with Painkiller RTX? Well, the original's baked lighting featured hardly any moving lights and no real-time perspective-correct shadows - so all of that is added as part and parcel of the path-traced visuals. The RTX renderer also takes advantage of ray-traced fog volumes, showing shadows in the fog in the areas where light is obscured. Another aspect you might notice is that the game’s various pickups have been now made to be light-emissive. In the original game, emissives textures are used to keep things full bright even in darkness, but they themselves emit no light. Since the path tracer fully supports emissive lighting from any arbitrary surface, they all now cast light, making them stand out even more in the environment. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. The original game extensively used physics objects, which tended to lead to a clash in lighting and shading for any moving objects, which were incongruous then with the static baked lighting. Turn on the path tracer and these moving objects are grounded into the environment with shadows of their own, while receiving and casting light themselves. Boss battles are transformed as those enemies are also fully grounded in the surrounding environments, perfectly integrated into the path-traced visuals - and even if the titanic enemies are off-screen, their shadows are not. The main difference in many scenes is just down to the new lighting - it's more physicalised now as dynamic objects are properly integrated, no longer floating or glowing strangely. One reason for this is due to lighting resolution. The original lighting was limited by trying to fit in 256MB of VRAM, competing for space with the game’s high resolution textures. Painkiller RTX's lighting and shadowing is achieved at a per-pixel level in the path tracer, which by necessity means that you tend to see more nuance, along with more bounce lighting as it is no longer erased away by bilinear filtering on chunky light map textures. Alongside more dynamism and detail, there are a few new effects too. Lit fog is heavily used now in many levels - perhaps at its best in the asylum level where the moonlight and rain are now illuminated, giving the level more ambience than it had before. There is also some occasional usage of glass lighting effects like the stain glass windows in the game now filtering light through them properly, colouring the light on the ground in the pattern of the individual mosaic patterns found on their surface. Half-Life 2 RTX - built on RTX Remix - recently received a demo release. It's the flagship project for the technology, but modders have delivered path traced versions of many modern games.Watch on YouTube New textures and materials interact with the path tracer in ways that transform the game. For some objects, I believe the modders used Quixel megascan assets to give the materials parallax along with a high resolution that is artistically similar to the original game. A stoney ground in the graveyard now actually looks stoney, thanks to a different texture: a rocky material with craggy bits and crevices that obscure light and cast micro shadows, for example. Ceramic tiles on the floor now show varying levels of depth and cracks that pick up a very dull level of reflectivity from the moon-lit sky. Some textures are also updated by running them through generative tools which interpret dark areas of the baked textures as recesses and lighter areas as raised edges and assigns them a heightmap. This automated process works quite well for textures whose baked features are easily interpreted, but for textures that had a lot of noise added into them to simulate detail, the automated process can be less successful. That is the main issue I would say with the RTX version so far: some of these automated textures have a few too many bumps in them, making them appear unnatural. But that is just the heightmap data as the added in material values to give the textures sheen tend to look universally impressive. The original game barely has any reflectivity, and now a number of select surfaces show reflections in full effect, like the marble floors at the end of the game's second level. For the most part though, the remix of textures from this mod is subtle, with many textures still being as diffuse as found in the original game: rocky and dirty areas in particular look much the same as before, just with more accurately rendered shadows and bounce lighting - but without the plasticy sheen you might typically find in a seventh generation game. Whether maxed on an RTX 5090 or running on optimised settings on an RTX 4060, the current work-in-progress version of Painkiller RTX can certainly challenge hardware. | Image credit: Digital Foundry Make no mistake though: path tracing doesn't come cheap and to play this game at decent frame-rates, you either need to invest in high performance hardware or else accept some compromises to settings. Being a user mod that's still in development, I imagine this could improve in later versions but at the moment, Painkiller RTX maxed out is very heavy - even heavier than Portal RTX. So if you want to play it on a lower-end GPU, I recommend my optimised settings for Portal RTX, which basically amounts to turning down the amount of possible light bounces to save on performance and skimping a bit in other areas. Even with that, an RTX 4060 was really struggling to run the game well. With frame generation on and DLSS set to 1080p balanced with the transformer model, 80fps to 90fps was the best I could achieve in the general combat zones, with the heaviest stages dipping into the 70s - and even into the 60s with frame generation. The mod is still work-in-progress, but even now, Painkiller RTX is still a lot of fun and it can look stunning if your hardware is up to it. But even if you can't run it, I do hope this piece and its accompanying video pique your interest in checking out Painkiller in some form. Even without the path-traced upgrade, this is a classic first-person shooter that's often overlooked and more than holds its own against some of the period's better known games. #painkiller #rtx #pathtraced #upgrade #classic

It’s official: Elden Ring Nightreign is a success for Bandai Namco and FromSoftware, shipping over two million copies in less than a day. However, there are still plenty of issues, not the least of which includes unbalanced solo play. Thankfully, the development team is aware and confirmed a patch for next week. Patch 1.02 will increase the amount of Runes earned during solo expeditions and also allows for automatically reviving once after defeat during night boss battles. Other bug fixes are also inbound, though we’ll find out more details when the patch notes go live. Elden Ring Nightreign is available on Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Xbox One for Check out our review, where we scored it an eight out of ten, praising the signature FromSoftware combat, art direction and overall rogue-like approach. While it’s not a live-service title, it will receive additional DLC in Q4 2025. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime. Nightfarers,Thank you for playing #ELDENRING #NIGHTREIGN. Next week, Patch 1.02 will be released, and will include several bug fixes as well as improvements for solo expeditions.Further details will be provided next week.— ELDEN RINGMay 30, 2025 The following improvements for solo expeditions will be added to the game:– The effect "Automatic Revival Upon Defeat", which allows revival once per night boss battle, will be added to solo expeditions.– The amount of runes gained will be increased.Thank you for your support.— ELDEN RINGMay 30, 2025 #elden #ring #nightreigns #patch #arrives

Transparent design is the intentional use of see-through or translucent materials and visual strategies to evoke openness, honesty, and fluidity in both spatial and product design. It enhances light flow, visibility, and interaction, blurring boundaries between spaces or revealing inner layers of products. In interiors, this manifests through glass walls, acrylic dividers, and open layouts that invite natural light and visual connection. Transparency in product design often exposes internal mechanisms in products, fostering trust and curiosity by making functions visible. It focuses on simplicity, clarity, and minimalist form, creating seamless connections between objects and their environments. Let’s now explore how transparency shapes the function, experience, and emotional impact of spatial and product design. Transparent Spatial Design Transparency in spatial design serves as a powerful architectural language that transcends mere material choice, creating profound connections between spaces and their inhabitants. By employing translucent or clear elements, designers can dissolve traditional boundaries, allowing light to penetrate deeply into interiors while establishing visual relationships between previously separated areas. This permeability creates a dynamic spatial experience where environments flow into one another, expanding perceived dimensions and fostering a sense of openness. The strategic use of transparent elements – whether through glass partitions, open floor plans, or permeable screens – transforms rigid spatial hierarchies into fluid, interconnected zones that respond to contemporary needs for flexibility and connection with both surrounding spaces and natural environments. Beyond its physical manifestations, transparency embodies deeper philosophical principles in design, representing honesty, clarity, and accessibility. It democratizes space by removing visual barriers that traditionally signaled exclusion or privacy, instead promoting inclusivity and shared experience. In public buildings, transparent features invite engagement and participation, while in residential contexts, they nurture connection to nature and enhance wellbeing through abundant natural light. This approach challenges designers to thoughtfully balance openness with necessary privacy, creating nuanced spatial sequences that can reveal or conceal as needed. When skillfully implemented, transparency becomes more than an aesthetic choice, it becomes a fundamental design strategy that shapes how we experience, navigate, and emotionally respond to our built environment. 1. Expands Perception of Space Transparency in spatial design enhances how people perceive space by blurring the boundaries between rooms and creating a seamless connection between the indoors and the outdoors. Materials like glass and acrylic create visual continuity, making interiors feel larger, more open, and seamlessly integrated. This approach encourages a fluid transition between spaces, eliminates confinement, and promotes spatial freedom. As a result, transparent design contributes to an inviting atmosphere while maximising natural views and light penetration throughout the environment. Nestled in St. Donat near Montreal, the Apple Tree House by ACDF Architecture is a striking example of transparent design rooted in emotional memory. Wrapped around a central courtyard with a symbolic apple tree, the low-slung home features expansive glass walls that create continuous visual access to nature. The transparent layout not only blurs the boundaries between indoors and outdoors but also transforms the apple tree into a living focal point and is visible from multiple angles and spaces within the house. This thoughtful transparency allows natural light to flood the interiors while connecting the home’s occupants with the changing seasons outside. The home’s square-shaped plan includes three black-clad volumes that house bedrooms, a lounge, and service areas. Despite the openness, privacy is preserved through deliberate wall placements. Wooden ceilings and concrete floors add warmth and texture, but it’s the full-height glazing that defines the home that frames nature as a permanent, ever-evolving artwork at its heart. 2. Enhances the Feeling of Openness One of the core benefits of transparent design is its ability to harness natural light, transforming enclosed areas into luminous, uplifting environments. By using translucent or clear materials, designers reduce the need for artificial lighting and minimize visual barriers. This not only improves energy efficiency but also fosters emotional well-being by connecting occupants to daylight and exterior views. Ultimately, transparency promotes a feeling of openness and calm, aligning with minimalist and modern architectural principles. The Living O’Pod by UN10 Design Studio is a transparent, two-story pod designed as a minimalist retreat that fully immerses its occupants in nature. Built with a steel frame and glass panels all around, this glass bubble offers uninterrupted panoramic views of the Finnish wilderness. Its remote location provides the privacy needed to embrace transparency, allowing residents to enjoy stunning sunrises, sunsets, and starry nights from within. The open design blurs the line between indoors and outdoors, creating a unique connection with the environment. Located in Repovesi, Finland, the pod’s interiors feature warm plywood floors and walls that complement the natural setting. A standout feature is its 360° rotation, which allows the entire structure to turn and capture optimal light and views throughout the day. Equipped with thermal insulation and heating, the Living O’Pod ensures comfort year-round and builds a harmonious relationship between people and nature. 3. Encourages Interaction Transparent design reimagines interiors as active participants in the user experience, rather than passive backgrounds. Open sightlines and clear partitions encourage movement, visibility, and spontaneous interaction among occupants. This layout strategy fosters social connectivity, enhances spatial navigation, and aligns with contemporary needs for collaboration and flexibility. Whether in residential, commercial, or public spaces, transparency supports an intuitive spatial flow that strengthens the emotional and functional relationship between people and their environment. The Beach Cabin on the Baltic Sea, designed by Peter Kuczia, is a striking architectural piece located near Gdansk in northern Poland. This small gastronomy facility combines simplicity with bold design, harmoniously fitting into the beach environment while standing out through its innovative form. The structure is composed of two distinct parts: an enclosed space and an expansive open living and dining area that maximizes natural light and offers shelter. This dual arrangement creates a balanced yet dynamic architectural composition that respects the surrounding landscape. A defining feature of the cabin is its open dining area, which is divided into two sections—one traditional cabin-style and the other constructed entirely of glass. The transparent glass facade provides uninterrupted panoramic views of the Baltic Sea, the shoreline, and the sky, enhancing the connection between interior and nature. Elevated on stilts, the building appears to float above the sand, minimizing environmental impact and contributing to its ethereal, dreamlike quality. Transparent Product Design In product design, transparency serves as both a functional strategy and a powerful communicative tool that transforms the relationship between users and objects. By revealing internal components and operational mechanisms through clear or translucent materials, designers create an immediate visual understanding of how products function, demystifying technology and inviting engagement. This design approach establishes an honest dialogue with consumers, building trust through visibility rather than concealment. Beyond mere aesthetics, transparent design celebrates the beauty of engineering, turning circuit boards, gears, and mechanical elements into intentional visual features that tell the product’s story. From the nostalgic appeal of see-through gaming consoles to modern tech accessories, this approach satisfies our innate curiosity about how things work while creating a more informed user experience. The psychological impact of transparency in products extends beyond functional clarity to create deeper emotional connections. When users can observe a product’s inner workings, they develop increased confidence in its quality and craftsmanship, fostering a sense of reliability that opaque designs often struggle to convey. This visibility also democratizes understanding, making complex technologies more accessible and less intimidating to diverse users. Transparent design elements can evoke powerful nostalgic associations while simultaneously appearing futuristic and innovative, creating a timeless appeal that transcends trends. By embracing transparency, designers reject the notion that complexity should be hidden, instead celebrating the intricate engineering that powers our everyday objects. This philosophy aligns perfectly with contemporary values of authenticity and mindful consumption, where users increasingly seek products that communicate honesty in both form and function. 1. Reveals Functionality Transparent product design exposes internal components like wiring, gears, or circuits, turning functional parts into visual features. This approach demystifies the object, inviting users to understand how it works rather than hiding its complexity. It fosters appreciation for craftsmanship and engineering while encouraging educational curiosity. By showcasing what lies beneath the surface, designers build an honest relationship with consumers that is based on clarity, trust, and visible function. Packing a backpack often means tossing everything in and hoping for the best—until you need something fast. This transparent modular backpack concept reimagines that daily hassle with a clear, compartmentalized design that lets you see all your gear at a glance. No more digging through a dark abyss—every item has its visible place. The bag features four detachable, differently sized boxes that snap together with straps, letting you customize what you carry. Grab just the tech module or gym gear block and go—simple, efficient, and streamlined. Unlike traditional organizers that hide contents in pouches, the transparent material keeps everything in plain sight, saving time and frustration. While it raises valid concerns around privacy and security, the clarity and convenience it offers make it ideal for fast-paced, on-the-go lifestyles. With form meeting function, this concept shows how transparent design can transform not just how a bag looks, but how it works. 2. Enhances User Engagement When users can see how a product operates, they feel more confident using it. Transparent casings invite interaction by reducing uncertainty about internal processes. This visible clarity reassures users about the product’s integrity and quality, creating a psychological sense of openness and reliability. Especially in tech and appliances, this strategy deepens user trust and adds emotional value by allowing a more intimate connection with the design’s purpose and construction. The transparent Sony Glass Blue WF-C710N earbuds represent something more meaningful than a mere aesthetic choice, embodying a refreshing philosophy of technological honesty. While most devices conceal their inner workings behind opaque shells, Sony’s decision to reveal the intricate circuitry and precision components celebrates the engineering artistry that makes these tiny audio marvels possible. As you catch glimpses of copper coils and circuit boards through the crystal-clear housing, there’s a renewed appreciation for the invisible complexity that delivers your favorite music, serving as a visual reminder that sometimes the most beautiful designs are those that have nothing to hide. 3. Celebrates Aesthetic Engineering Transparency turns utilitarian details into design features, allowing users to visually experience the beauty of inner mechanisms. This trend, seen in everything from vintage electronics to modern gadgets and watches, values technical artistry as much as outer form. Transparent design redefines aesthetics by focusing on the raw, mechanical truth of a product. It appeals to minimalism and industrial design lovers, offering visual depth and storytelling through exposed structure rather than decorative surface embellishment. DAB Motors’ 1α Transparent Edition brings retro tech flair into modern mobility with its striking transparent bodywork. Inspired by the see-through gadgets of the ”90s—like the Game Boy Color and clear Nintendo controllers—this electric motorcycle reveals its inner mechanics with style. The semi-translucent panels offer a rare peek at the bike’s intricate engineering, blending nostalgia with innovation. Carbon fiber elements, sourced from repurposed Airbus materials, complement the lightweight transparency, creating a visual experience that’s both futuristic and rooted in classic design aesthetics. The see-through design isn’t just for looks—it enhances the connection between rider and machine. Exposed components like the integrated LCD dashboard, lenticular headlight, and visible frame structure emphasize function and precision. This openness aligns with a broader transparent design philosophy, where clarity and honesty in construction are celebrated. The DAB 1α turns heads not by hiding complexity, but by proudly displaying it, making every ride a statement in motion. Beyond just materials, transparent design also reflects a deeper design philosophy that values clarity in purpose, function, and sustainability. It supports minimalist thinking by focusing on what’s essential, reducing visual clutter, and making spaces or products easier to understand and engage with. Whether in interiors or objects, transparency helps create a more honest, functional, and connected user experienceThe post Transparent Design: How See-Through Materials Are Revolutionizing Architecture & Product Design first appeared on Yanko Design. #transparent #design #how #seethrough #materials

Tools have long been evaluated solely on their utilitarian merits, how efficiently they perform their designated task, how long they last, and how comfortable they feel during extended use. This sterile approach has dominated tool design for generations, yet for those who appreciate the subtle harmony between form and function, it’s simply not enough. There exists a profound hollowness when using tools that assist the hand but leave the mind unmoved, tools that accomplish their purpose without elevating the experience of craftsmanship itself. The Fusion Driver transcends these limitations, transforming the humble screwdriver from a mere implement into an object of desire that commands attention and inspires creativity. Conceived at the intersection of industrial design and functional art, this exquisite tool redefines what a screwdriver can be: a sensory experience that, quite literally, turns the mundane act of driving a screw, into a moment of genuine pleasure. A brief communion between craftsman, tool, and material that elevates the entire process of creation. Designer: Daniel Fajkis Click Here to Buy Now: Hurry, only few left! The tactile experience begins the moment your fingers wrap around the Fusion Driver’s meticulously crafted body. Unlike conventional screwdrivers that prioritize principle at the expense of sensory pleasure, this masterpiece features surfaces that engage your fingertips with subtle variations in texture and haptics. Necessary are such attributes when evolving the average into an obsession, leaving addicted hands defiant to return the tool once a task has been completed. In terms of feel, it’s simply divine. Precision engineering reveals itself in the Fusion Driver’s perfectly tapered weight distribution. The shaft’s mass and center of gravity have been perfectly refined, creating an implement that translates even the slightest wrist movement into efficient rotational force. This linear power transfer lets you feel every subtle variation in resistance as threads engage, providing lossless feedback when precise torque is most important. An experience akin to driving a finely tuned sports car, where every nuance of the road transmits directly to your fingertips. Material selection for the Fusion Driver reflects uncompromising commitment to excellence that would satisfy even the most discerning of collectors. The stainless steel shaft connects to the brass crown via a full-ceramic alumina bearing, each component perfectly balanced and leveled by hand, creating a rotation so smooth it’s bound to be addictive. Interchangeable bits are secured by an N-52 neodymium magnet, providing a connection that feels both secure and trustworthy. This harmonious marriage of premium materials ensures not just durability, but a sensory richness that mass-produced tools simply cannot achieve. The accompanying base transforms storage into a display worthy of the tool itself. Machined from a solid block of stainless steel with twelve powerful N52 neodymium magnets concealed within, it firmly holds up to six 1/4″ hex bits while presenting the Fusion Driver as the objet d’art it truly is. The velvet felt underside protects delicate surfaces, and adds another layer of tactile luxury to the experience. This equally luxurious accessory transforms the Fusion Driver from merely a tool into a statement piece that deserves prominent placement in your workspace. The true value of the Fusion Driver lies not in its ability to perform a task that countless other tools can accomplish, but in how it transforms the task into an experience. Like a fine writing instrument that makes you eager to put pen to paper, the Fusion Driver creates anticipation for work that would otherwise feel mundane. It represents a philosophy that the objects we interact with daily deserve thoughtful design and exquisite execution, and that even the most utilitarian items in our lives can and should bring moments of genuine pleasure and satisfaction. For the discerning collector who understands that true luxury lies in the details, the Fusion Driver represents the pinnacle of design, acknowledging that we are sensory beings who deserve more from our tools than mere functionality. It creates a connection between craftsman and craft that transforms work into pleasure and utility into art, making it an essential addition to any collection of exceptional objects that enhance our experience of the world. Click Here to Buy Now: Hurry, only few left!The post Fusion Driver: The Luxurious Screwdriver Blending Craftsmanship, Beauty and Utility first appeared on Yanko Design. #fusion #driver #luxurious #screwdriver #blending