Video game development

Video game development is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC and console games is normally funded by a publisher, and can take several years to reach completion. Indie games usually take less time and money and can be produced by individuals and smaller developers. The independent game industry has been on the rise, facilitated by the growth of accessible game development software such as Unity platform and Unreal Engine and new online distribution systems such as Steam and Uplay, as well as the mobile game market for Android and iOS devices.
The first video games, developed in the 1960s, were not usually commercialised. They required mainframe computers to run and were not available to the general public. Commercial game development began in the '70s with the advent of first-generation video game consoles and early home computers like the Apple I. At that time, owing to low costs and low capabilities of computers, a lone programmer could develop a full and complete game. However, in the late '80s and '90s, ever-increasing computer processing power and heightened expectations from "gamers" made it difficult for a single person to produce a mainstream console or PC game. The average cost of producing a triple-A video game slowly rose, from 1–4 million in 2000, to over $5 million in 2006, then to over $20 million by 2010.
Mainstream commercial PC and console games are generally developed in phases: first, in pre-production, pitches, prototypes, and game design documents are written; if the idea is approved and the developer receives funding, then full-scale development begins. The development of a complete game usually involves a team of 20–100 individuals with various responsibilities, including designers, artists, programmers, and testers.
Overview.
Games are produced through the software development process. Games are developed as a creative outlet and to generate profit. Game making is considered both art and science. Development is normally funded by a publisher. Well-made games bring profit more readily. However, it is important to estimate a game's financial requirements, such as development costs of individual features. Failing to provide clear implications of game's expectations may result in exceeding allocated budget. In fact, the majority of commercial games do not produce profit. Most developers cannot afford changing their development schedule mid-way, and require estimating their capabilities with available resources before production.
The game industry requires innovations, as publishers cannot profit from constant release of repetitive sequels and imitations. Every year new independent development companies open and some manage to develop hit titles. Similarly, many developers close down because they cannot find a publishing contract or their production is not profitable. It is difficult to start a new company due to high initial investment required. Nevertheless, growth of casual and mobile game market has allowed developers with smaller teams to enter the market. Once the companies become financially stable, they may expand to develop larger games. Most developers start small and gradually expand their business. A developer receiving profit from a successful title may store up capital to expand and re-factor their company, as well as tolerate more failed deadlines.
An average development budget for a multiplatform game is US$18-28M, with high-profile games often exceeding $40M.
In the early era of home computers and video game consoles in the early 1980s, a single programmer could handle almost all the tasks of developing a game — programming, graphical design, sound effects, etc. It could take as little as six weeks to develop a game. However, the high user expectations and requirements of modern commercial games far exceed the capabilities of a single developer and require the splitting of responsibilities. A team of over a hundred people can be employed full-time for a single project.
Game development, production, or design is a process that starts from an idea or concept. Often the idea is based on a modification of an existing game concept. The game idea may fall within one or several genres. Designers often experiment with different combinations of genres. A game designer generally writes an initial game proposal document, that describes the basic concept, gameplay, feature list, setting and story, target audience, requirements and schedule, and finally staff and budget estimates. Different companies have different formal procedures and philosophies regarding game design and development. There is no standardized development method; however commonalities exist.
A game developer may range from a single individual to a large multinational company. There are both independent and publisher-owned studios. Independent developers rely on financial support from a game publisher. They usually have to develop a game from concept to prototype without external funding. The formal game proposal is then submitted to publishers, who may finance the game development from several months to years. The publisher would retain exclusive rights to distribute and market the game and would often own the intellectual property rights for the game franchise. Publisher's company may also own the developer's company, or it may have internal development studio(s). Generally the publisher is the one who owns the game's intellectual property rights.
All but the smallest developer companies work on several titles at once. This is necessary because of the time taken between shipping a game and receiving royalty payments, which may be between 6 and 18 months. Small companies may structure contracts, ask for advances on royalties, use shareware distribution, employ part-time workers and use other methods to meet payroll demands.
Console manufacturers, such as Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony, have a standard set of technical requirements that a game must conform to in order to be approved. Additionally, the game concept must be approved by the manufacturer, who may refuse to approve certain titles.
Most modern PC or console games take from three to five years to complete., where as a mobile game can be developed in a few months. The length of development is influenced by a number of factors, such as genre, scale, development platform and number of assets.
Some games can take much longer than the average time frame to complete. An infamous example is 3D Realms' "Duke Nukem Forever", announced to be in production in April 1997 and released fourteen years later in June 2011. Planning for Maxis' game "Spore" began in late 1999; the game was released nine years later in September 2008. The game "Prey" was briefly profiled in a 1997 issue of PC Gamer, but was not released until 2006, and only then in highly altered form. Finally, "Team Fortress 2" was in development from 1998 until its 2007 release, and emerged from a convoluted development process involving "probably three or four different games", according to Gabe Newell.
The game revenue from retails is divided among the parties along the distribution chain, such as — developer, publisher, retail, manufacturer and console royalty. Many developers fail to profit from this and go bankrupt. Many developers seek alternative economic models through Internet marketing and distribution channels to improve returns., as through a mobile distribution channel the share of a developer can be up to 70% of the total revenue and through an online distribution channel owned by the developer almost 100%.
History.
The history of game making begins with the development of the first video games, although which video game is the first depends on the definition of "video game". The first games created had little entertainment value, and their development focus was separate from user experience—in fact, these games required mainframe computers to play them. "OXO", written by Alexander S. Douglas in 1952, was the first computer game to use a digital display. In 1958, a game called "Tennis for Two", which displayed its output on an oscilloscope, was made by Willy Higinbotham, a physicist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1961, a mainframe computer game called "Spacewar!" was developed by a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students led by Steve Russell.
True commercial design and development of games began in the 1970s, when arcade video games and first-generation consoles were marketed. In 1971, "Computer Space" was the first commercially sold, coin-operated video game. It used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. In 1972, the first home console system was released called Magnavox Odyssey, developed by Ralph H. Baer. That same year, Atari released "Pong", an arcade game that increased video game popularity. The commercial success of "Pong" led other companies to develop "Pong" clones, spawning the video game industry.
Programmers worked within the big companies to produce games for these devices. The industry did not see huge innovation in game design and a large number of consoles had very similar games. Many of these early games were often "Pong" clones. Some games were different, however, such as "Gun Fight", which was significant for several reasons: an early 1975 on-foot, multi-directional shooter, which depicted game characters, game violence, and human-to-human combat. Tomohiro Nishikado's original version was based on discrete logic, which Dave Nutting adapted using the Intel 8080, making it the first video game to use a microprocessor. Console manufacturers soon started to produce consoles that were able to play independently developed games, and ran on microprocessors, marking the beginning of second-generation consoles, beginning with the release of the Fairchild Channel F in 1976.
The flood of "Pong" clones led to the video game crash of 1977, which eventually came to an end with the mainstream success of Taito's 1978 arcade shooter game "Space Invaders", marking the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games and inspiring dozens of manufacturers to enter the market. Its creator Nishikado not only designed and programmed the game, but also did the artwork, engineered the arcade hardware, and put together a microcomputer from scratch. It was soon ported to the Atari 2600, becoming the first "killer app" and quadrupling the console's sales. At the same time, home computers appeared on the market, allowing individual programmers and hobbyists to develop games. This allowed hardware manufacturer and software manufacturers to act separately. A very large number of games could be produced by an individual, as games were easy to make because graphical and memory limitation did not allow for much content. Larger companies developed, who focused selected teams to work on a title. The developers of many early home video games, such as "Zork", "Baseball", "Air Warrior", and "Adventure", later transitioned their work as products of the early video game industry.
The industry expanded significantly at the time, with the arcade video game sector alone (representing the largest share of the gaming industry) generating higher revenues than both pop music and Hollywood films combined. The home video game industry, however, suffered major losses following the video game crash of 1983. In 1984 Jon Freeman warned in "Computer Gaming World":
Chris Crawford and Don Daglow in 1987 similarly advised prospective designers to write games as a hobby first, and to not quit their existing jobs early. The home video game industry was revitalized soon after by the widespread success of the Nintendo Entertainment System.
"Compute!'s Gazette" in 1986 stated that although individuals developed most early video games, "It's impossible for one person to have the multiple talents necessary to create a good game". By 1987 a video game required 12 months to develop and another six to plan marketing. Projects remained usually solo efforts, with single developers delivering finished games to their publishers. With the ever-increasing processing and graphical capabilities of arcade, console and computer products, along with an increase in user expectations, game design moved beyond the scope of a single developer to produce a marketable game. The "Gazette" stated, "The process of writing a game involves coming up with an original, entertaining concept, having the skill to bring it to fruition through good, efficient programming, and also being a fairly respectable artist". This sparked the beginning of team-based development. In broad terms, during the 1980s, pre-production involved sketches and test routines of the only developer. In the 1990s, pre-production consisted mostly of game art previews. In the early 2000s, pre-production usually produced a playable demo.
In 2000 a 12 to 36 month development project was funded by a publisher for US$1M–3M. Additionally, $250k–1.5M were spent on marketing and sales development. In 2001, over 3000 games were released for PC; and from about 100 games turning profit only about 50 made significant profit. In the early 2000s it became increasingly common to use middleware game engines, such as Quake engine or Unreal engine.
In the early 2000s, also mobile games started to gain popularity. However, mobile games distributed by mobile operators remained a marginal form of gaming until the Apple App Store was launched in 2008.
In 2005, a mainstream console video game cost from US$3M to $6M to develop. Some games cost as much as $20M to develop. In 2006 the profit from a console game sold at retail was divided among parties of distribution chain as follows: developer (13%), publisher (32%), retail (32%), manufacturer (5%), console royalty (18%). In 2008 a developer would retain around 17% of retail price and around 85% if sold online.
Since the third generation of consoles, the home video game industry has constantly increased and expanded. The industry revenue has increased at least five-fold since the 1990s. In 2007, the software portion of video game revenue was $9.5 billion, exceeding that of the movie industry.
The Apple App Store, introduced in 2008, was the first mobile application store operated directly by the mobile platform holder. It significantly changed the consumer behaviour more favourable for downloading mobile content and quickly broadened the markets of mobile games.
In 2009 games' market annual value was estimated between $7–30 billion, depending on which sales figures are included. This is on par with films' box office market. A publisher would typically fund an independent developer for $500k–$5M for a development of a title. In 2012, the total value had already reached $66.3 billion and by then the video game markets were no longer dominated by console games. According to Newzoo, the share of MMO's was 19.8%, PC/MAC's 9.8%, tablets' 3.2%, smartphones 10.6%, handhelds' 9.8%, consoles' only 36.7% and online casual games 10.2%. The fastest growing market segments being mobile games with an average annual rate of 19% for smartphones and 48% for tablets.
In the past several years, many developers opened and many closed down. Each year a number of developers are acquired by larger companies or merge with existing companies. For example, in 2007 Blizzard Entertainment's parent company, Vivendi Games merged with Activision. In 2008 Electronic Arts nearly acquired Take-Two Interactive. In 2009 Midway Games was acquired by Time-Warner and Eidos Interactive merged with Square Enix.
Roles.
Producer.
Development is overseen by internal and external producers. The producer working for the developer is known as the "internal producer" and manages the development team, schedules, reports progress, hires and assigns staff, and so on. The producer working for the publisher is known as the "external producer" and oversees developer progress and budget. Producer's responsibilities include PR, contract negotiation, liaising between the staff and stakeholders, schedule and budget maintenance, quality assurance, beta test management, and localization. This role may also be referred to as "project manager", "project lead", or "director".
Publisher.
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by an external video game developer. As with book publishers or publishers of DVD movies, video game publishers are responsible for their product's manufacturing and marketing, including market research and all aspects of advertising.
They usually finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer (the publisher calls this external development) and sometimes by paying an internal staff of developers called a studio. Consequently, they also typically own the IP of the game. Large video game publishers also distribute the games they publish, while some smaller publishers instead hire distribution companies (or larger video game publishers) to distribute the games they publish.
Other functions usually performed by the publisher include deciding on and paying for any license that the game may utilize; paying for localization; layout, printing, and possibly the writing of the user manual; and the creation of graphic design elements such as the box design.
Large publishers may also attempt to boost efficiency across all internal and external development teams by providing services such as sound design and code packages for commonly needed functionality.
Because the publisher usually finances development, it usually tries to manage development risk with a staff of producers or project managers to monitor the progress of the developer, critique ongoing development, and assist as necessary. Most video games created by an external video game developer are paid for with periodic advances on royalties. These advances are paid when the developer reaches certain stages of development, called milestones.
Independent video game developers create games without a publisher and may choose to digitally distribute their games.
Development team.
Developers can range in size from small groups making casual games to housing hundreds of employees and producing several large titles. Companies divide their subtasks of game's development. Individual job titles may vary; however, roles are the same within the industry. The development team consists of several members. Some members of the team may handle more than one role; similarly more than one task may be handled by the same member. Team size can vary from 20 to 100 or more members, depending on the game's scope. The most represented are artists, followed by programmers, then designers, and finally, audio specialists, with two to three producers in management. These positions are employed full-time. Other positions, such as testers, may be employed only part-time. Salaries for these positions vary depending on both the experience and the location of the employee. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, around $70,000 annually and an experienced programmer can make, on average, around $125,000 annually.
A development team includes these roles or disciplines:
Designer.
A game designer is a person who designs gameplay, conceiving and designing the rules and structure of a game. Development teams usually have a lead designer who coordinates the work of other designers. They are the main visionary of the game. One of the roles of a designer is being a writer, often employed part-time to conceive game's narrative, dialogue, commentary, cutscene narrative, journals, video game packaging content, hint system, etc. In larger projects, there are often separate designers for various parts of the game, such as, game mechanics, user interface, characters, dialogue, graphics, etc.
Artist.
A game artist is a visual artist who creates video game art. The art production is usually overseen by an "art director" or "art lead", making sure their vision is followed. The art director manages the art team, scheduling and coordinating within the development team.
The artist's job may be 2D oriented or 3D oriented. "2D artists" may produce concept art, sprites, textures, environmental backdrops or terrain images, and user interface. "3D artists" may produce models or meshes, animation, 3D environment, and cinematics. Artists sometimes occupy both roles.
Programmer.
A game programmer is a software engineer who primarily develops video games or related software (such as game development tools). The game's codebase development is handled by programmers. There are usually one to several lead programmers, who implement the game's starting codebase and overview future development and programmer allocation on individual modules.
Individual programming disciplines roles include:
Level designer.
A level designer is a person who creates levels, challenges or missions for video games using a specific set of programs. These programs may be commonly available commercial 3D or 2D design programs, or specially designed and tailored level editors made for a specific game.
Level designers work with both incomplete and complete versions of the game. Game programmers usually produce level editors and design tools for the designers to use. This eliminates the need for designers to access or modify game code. Level editors may involve custom high-level scripting languages for interactive environments or AIs. As opposed to the level editing tools sometimes available to the community, level designers often work with placeholders and prototypes aiming for consistency and clear layout before required artwork is completed.
Sound engineer.
Sound engineers are technical professionals responsible for sound effects and sound positioning. They sometimes oversee voice acting and other sound asset creation. Composers who create a game's musical score also comprise a game's sound team, though often this work is outsourced.
Tester.
The quality assurance is carried out by game testers. A game tester analyzes video games to document software defects as part of a quality control. Testing is a highly technical field requiring computing expertise, and analytic competence.
The testers ensure that the game falls within the proposed design: it both works and is entertaining.This involves testing of all features, compatibility, localization, etc. Although, necessary throughout the whole development process, testing is expensive and is often actively utilized only towards the completion of the project.
Development process.
Game development is a software development process, as a video game is software with art, audio, and gameplay. Formal software development methods are often overlooked. Games with poor development methodology are likely to run over budget and time estimates, as well as contain a large number of bugs. Planning is important for individual and group projects alike.
Overall game development is not suited for typical software life cycle methods, such as the waterfall model.
One method employed for game development is agile development. It is based on iterative prototyping, a subset of software prototyping. Agile development depends on feedback and refinement of game's iterations with gradually increasing feature set. This method is effective because most projects do not start with a clear requirement outline. A popular method of agile software development is Scrum.
Another successful method is Personal Software Process (PSP) requiring additional training for staff to increase awareness of project's planning. This method is more expensive and requires commitment of team members. PSP can be extended to Team Software Process, where the whole team is self-directing.
Game development usually involves an overlap of these methods. For example, asset creation may be done via waterfall model, because requirements and specification are clear, but gameplay design might be done using iterative prototyping.
Development of a commercial game usually includes the following stages:
Pre-production.
"Pre-production" or "design phase" is a planning phase of the project focused on idea and concept development and production of initial design documents. The goal of concept development is to produce clear and easy to understand documentation, which describes all the tasks, schedules and estimates for the development team. The suite of documents produced in this phase is called production plan. This phase is usually not funded by a publisher, however good publishers may require developers to produce plans during pre-production.
The concept documentation can be separated into three stages or documents—high concept, pitch and concept; however, there is no industry standard naming convention, for example, both Bethke (2003) and Bates (2004) refer to "pitch document" as "game proposal", yet Moore, Novak (2010) refers to "concept document" as "game proposal".
The late stage of pre-production may also be referred to as "proof of concept", or "technical review" when more detailed game documents are produced.
Publishers have started to expect broader game proposals even featuring playable prototypes.
High concept.
"High concept" is a brief description of a game. The high concept is the one-or two-sentence response to the question, "What is your game about?".
Pitch.
A "pitch", "concept document", proposal document, or "game proposal" is a short summary document intended to present the game's selling points and detail why the game would be profitable to develop.
Verbal pitches may be made to management within the developer company, and then presented to publishers. A written document may need to be shown to publishers before funding is approved. A game proposal may undergo one to several "green-light meetings" with publisher executives who determine if the game is to be developed. The presentation of the project is often given by the game designers. Demos may be created for the pitch; however may be unnecessary for established developers with good track records.
If the developer acts as its own publisher, or both companies are subsidiaries of a single company, then only the upper management needs to give approval.
Concept.
"Concept document", "game proposal", or "game plan" is a more detailed document than the pitch document. This includes all the information produced about the game. This includes the high concept, game's genre, gameplay description, features, setting, story, target audience, hardware platforms, estimated schedule, marketing analysis, team requirements, and risk analysis.
Before an approved design is completed, a skeleton crew of programmers and artists usually begins work. Programmers may develop quick-and-dirty prototypes showcasing one or more features that stakeholders would like to see incorporated in the final product. Artists may develop concept art and asset sketches as a springboard for developing real game assets. Producers may work part-time on the game at this point, scaling up for full-time commitment as development progresses. Game producers work during pre-production is related to planning the schedule, budget and estimating tasks with the team. The producer aims to create a solid production plan so that no delays are experienced at the start of the production.
Game design document.
Before a full-scale production can begin, the development team produces the first version of a game design document incorporating all or most of the material from the initial pitch. The design document describes the game's concept and major gameplay elements in detail. It may also include preliminary sketches of various aspects of the game. The design document is sometimes accompanied by functional prototypes of some sections of the game. The design document remains a living document throughout the development—often changed weekly or even daily.
Compiling a list of game's needs is called "requirement capture".
Prototype.
Writing prototypes of gameplay ideas and features is an important activity that allows programmers and game designers to experiment with different algorithms and usability scenarios for a game. A great deal of prototyping may take place during pre-production before the design document is complete and may, in fact, help determine what features the design specifies. Prototyping at this stage is often done manually, (paper prototyping), not digitally, as this is often easier and faster to test and make changes before wasting time and resources into what could be a canceled idea or project. Prototyping may also take place during active development to test new ideas as the game emerges.
Prototypes are often meant only to act as a proof of concept or to test ideas, by adding, modifying or removing some of the features. Most algorithms and features debuted in a prototype may be ported to the game once they have been completed.
Often prototypes need to be developed quickly with very little time for up-front design (around 15 to 20 minutes of testing). Therefore, usually very prolific programmers are called upon to quickly code these testbed tools. RAD tools may be used to aid in the quick development of these programs. In case the prototype is in a physical form, programmers and designers alike will make the game with paper, dice, and other easy to access tools in order to make the prototype faster.
A successful development model is iterative prototyping, where design is refined based on current progress. There are various technology available for video game development
Production.
Production is the main stage of development, when assets and source code for the game are produced.
Mainstream production is usually defined as the period of time when the project is fully staffed. Programmers write new source code, artists develop game assets, such as, sprites or 3D models. Sound engineers develop sound effects and composers develop music for the game. Level designers create levels, and writers write dialogue for cutscenes and NPCs. Game designers continue to develop the game's design throughout production.
Design.
Game design is an essential and collaborative process of designing the content and rules of a game, requiring artistic and technical competence as well as writing skills. Creativity and an open mind is vital for the completion of a successful video game.
During development, the game designer implements and modifies the game design to reflect the current vision of the game. Features and levels are often removed or added. The art treatment may evolve and the backstory may change. A new platform may be targeted as well as a new demographic. All these changes need to be documented and disseminated to the rest of the team. Most changes occur as updates to the design document.
Programming.
The programming of the game is handled by one or more game programmers. They develop prototypes to test ideas, many of which may never make it into the final game. The programmers incorporate new features demanded by the game design and fix any bugs introduced during the development process. Even if an off-the-shelf game engine is used, a great deal of programming is required to customize almost every game.
Level creation.
From a time standpoint, the game's first level takes the longest to develop. As level designers and artists use the tools for level building, they request features and changes to the in-house tools that allow for quicker and higher quality development. Newly introduced features may cause old levels to become obsolete, so the levels developed early on may be repeatedly developed and discarded. Because of the dynamic environment of game development, the design of early levels may also change over time. It is not uncommon to spend upwards of twelve months on one level of a game developed over the course of three years. Later levels can be developed much more quickly as the feature set is more complete and the game vision is clearer and more stable.
Audio production.
Game audio may be separated into three categories—sound effects, music, and voice-over.
Sound effect production is the production of sounds by either tweaking a sample to a desired effect or replicating it with real objects. Sound effects are important and impact the game's delivery.
Music may be synthesized or performed live.
There are several ways in which music is presented in a game.
A game title with 20 hours of single-player gameplay may feature around 1 hour.
Voice-overs and voice acting creates character gameplay interactivity. Voice acting adds personality to the game's characters.
Testing.
At the end of the project, quality assurance plays a significant role. Testers start work once anything is playable. This may be one level or subset of the game software that can be used to any reasonable extent. Early on, testing a game occupies a relatively small amount of time. Testers may work on several games at once. As development draws to a close, a single game usually employs many testers full-time (and often with overtime). They strive to test new features and regression test existing ones. Testing is vital for modern, complex games as single changes may lead to catastrophic consequences.
At this time features and levels are being finished at the highest rate and there is more new material to be tested than during any other time in the project. Testers need to carry out regression testing to make sure that features that have been in place for months still operate correctly. Regression testing is one of the vital tasks required for effective software development. As new features are added, subtle changes to the codebase can produce unexpected changes in different portions of the game. This task is often overlooked, for several reasons. Sometimes, when a feature is implemented and tested, it is considered "working" for the rest of the project and little attention is given to repeated testing. Also, features that are added late in development are prioritized and existing features often receive insufficient testing time. Proper regression testing is also increasingly expensive as the number of features increases and is often not scheduled correctly.
Despite the dangers of overlooking regression testing, some game developers and publishers fail to test the full feature suite of the game and ship a game with bugs. This can result in customers dissatisfaction and failure to meet sales goals. When this does happen, most developers and publishers quickly release patches that fix the bugs and make the game fully playable again.
Milestones.
Commercial game development projects may be required to meet milestones set by publisher. Milestones mark major events during game development and are used to track game's progress. Such milestones may be, for example, "first playable", "alpha", or "beta" game versions. Project milestones depend on the developer schedules.
Milestones are usually based on multiple short descriptions for functionality; examples may be "Player roaming around in game environment" or "Physics working, collisions, vehicle" etc. (numerous descriptions are possible). These milestones are usually how the developer gets paid; sometimes as "an advance against royalty". These milestones are listed, anywhere from three to twenty depending on developer and publisher. The milestone list is usually a collaborative agreement between the publisher and developer. The developer usually advocates for making the milestone descriptions as simple as possible; depending on the specific publisher - the milestone agreements may get very detailed for a specific game. When working with a good publisher, the "spirit of the law" is usually adhered to regarding milestone completion... in other words if the milestone is 90% complete the milestone is usually paid with the understanding that it will be 100% complete by the next due milestone. It is a collaborative agreement between publisher and developer, and usually (but not always) the developer is constrained by heavy monthly development expenses that need to be met. Also, sometimes milestones are "swapped", the developer or publisher may mutually agree to amend the agreement and rearrange milestone goals depending on changing requirements and development resources available. Milestone agreements are usually included as part of the legal development contracts. After each "milestone" there is usually a payment arrangement. Some very established developers may simply have a milestone agreement based on the amount of time the game is in development (monthly / quarterly) and not specific game functionality - this is not as common as detailed functionality "milestone lists".
There is no industry standard for defining milestones, and such vary depending on publisher, year, or project. Some common milestones for two-year development cycle are as follows:
First playable.
The "first playable" is the game version containing representative gameplay and assets, this is the first version with functional major gameplay elements. It is often based on the prototype created in pre-production. Alpha and first playable are sometimes used to refer to a single milestone, however large projects require first playable before feature complete alpha. First playable occurs 12 to 18 months before code release. It is sometimes referred to as the "Pre-Alpha" stage.
Alpha.
"Alpha" is the stage when key gameplay functionality is implemented, and assets are partially finished. A game in alpha is "feature complete", that is, game is playable and contains all the major features. These features may be further revised based on testing and feedback. Additional small, new features may be added, similarly planned, but unimplemented features may be dropped. Programmers focus mainly on finishing the codebase, rather than implementing additions.
Code freeze.
"Code freeze" is the stage when new code is no longer added to the game and only bugs are being corrected. Code freeze occurs three to four months before code release.
Beta.
"Beta" is feature and asset complete version of the game, when only bugs are being fixed. This version contains no bugs that prevent the game from being shippable. No changes are made to the game features, assets, or code. Beta occurs two to three months before code release.
Code release.
"Code release" is the stage when many bugs are fixed and game is ready to be shipped or submitted for console manufacturer review. This version is tested against QA test plan. First code release candidate is usually ready three to four weeks before code release.
Gold master.
"Gold master" is the final game's build that is used as a master for production of the game.
Release schedules and "crunch time".
In most AAA game development, games are announced a year or more and given a planned release date or approximate window so that they can promote and market the game, establish orders with retailers, and entice consumers to pre-order the game. Delaying the release of a video game can have negative financial impact for publishers and developers, and extensive delays may lead to project cancellation and employee layoffs. To assure a game makes a set release date, publishers and developers may require their employees to work overtime to complete the game, which is considered common in the industry. This overtime is often referred to it as "crunch time" or "crunch mode". In 2004 and afterwards, the culture of crunch time in the industry came under scrutiny, leading to many publishers and developers to reduce the expectation on developers for overtime work and better schedule management, though crunch time still can occur.
Post-production.
After the game goes gold and ships, some developers will give team members "comp time" (perhaps up to a week or two) to compensate for the overtime put in to complete the game, though this compensation is not standard.
Maintenance.
Once a game ships, the maintenance phase for the video game begins.
Games developed for video game consoles have had almost no maintenance period in the past. The shipped game would forever house as many bugs and features as when released. This was common for consoles since all consoles had identical or nearly identical hardware; making incompatibility, the cause of many bugs, a non-issue. In this case, maintenance would only occur in the case of a port, sequel, or enhanced remake that reuses a large portion of the engine and assets.
In recent times popularity of online console games has grown, and online capable video game consoles and online services such as Xbox Live for the Xbox have developed. Developers can maintain their software through downloadable patches. These changes would not have been possible in the past without the widespread availability of the Internet.
PC development is different. Game developers try to account for majority of configurations and hardware. However, the number of possible configurations of hardware and software inevitably leads to discovery of game-breaking circumstances that the programmers and testers didn't account for.
Programmers wait for a period to get as many bug reports as possible. Once the developer thinks they've obtained enough feedback, the programmers start working on a patch. The patch may take weeks or months to develop, but it's intended to fix most accounted bugs and problems with the game that were overlooked past code release, or in rare cases, fix unintended problems caused by previous patches. Occasionally a patch may include extra features or content or may even alter gameplay.
In the case of a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), such as a MMORPG or MMORTS, the shipment of the game is the starting phase of maintenance. Such online games are in continuous maintenance as the gameworld is continuously changed and iterated and new features are added. The maintenance staff for a popular MMOG can number in the dozens, sometimes including members of the original programming team.
Outsourcing.
Several development disciplines, such as audio, dialogue, or motion capture, occur for relatively short periods of time. Efficient employment of these roles requires either large development house with multiple simultaneous title production or outsourcing from third-party vendors. Employing personnel for these tasks full-time is expensive, so a majority of developers outsource a portion of the work. Outsourcing plans are conceived during the pre-production stage; where the time and finances required for outsourced work are estimated.
Marketing.
The game production has similar distribution methods to those of music and film industries.
The publisher's marketing team targets the game for a specific market and then advertises it. The team advises the developer on target demographics and market trends, as well as suggests specific features. The game is then advertised and the game's high concept is incorporated into the promotional material, ranging from magazine ads to TV spots. Communication between developer and marketing is important.
The length and purpose of a game demo depends on the purpose of the demo and target audience. A game's demo may range between a few seconds (such as clips or screenshots) to hours of gameplay. The demo is usually intended for journalists, buyers, trade shows, general public, or internal employees (who, for example, may need to familiarize with the game to promote it). Demos are produced with public relations, marketing and sales in mind, maximizing the presentation effectiveness.
Trade show demo.
As a game nears completion, the publisher will want to showcase a demo of the title at trade shows. Many games have a "Trade Show demo" scheduled.
The major annual trade shows are, for example, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) or Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). E3 is the largest show in North America. E3 is hosted primarily for marketing and business deals. New games and platforms are announced at E3 and it received broad press coverage. Thousands of products are on display and press demonstration schedules are kept. In recent years E3 has become a more closed-door event and many advertisers have withdrawn, reducing E3's budget. PAX, created by authors of Penny Arcade blog and web-comic, is a mature and playful event with a player-centred philosophy.
Localization.
A game created in one language may also be published in other countries which speak a different language. For that region, the developers may want to translate the game to make it more accessible. For example, some games created for PlayStation Vita were initially published in Japanese language, like "Soul Sacrifice". Non-native speakers of the game's original language may have to wait for the translation of the game to their language. But most modern big-budget games take localization into account during the development process and the games are released in several different languages simultaneously.
Localization is the process of translating the language assets in a game into other languages. By localizing games, they increase their level of accessibility where games could help to expend the international markets effectively. Game localization is generally known as language translations yet a "full localization" of a game is a complex project. Different levels of translation range from: zero translation being that there is no translation to the product and all things are sent raw, basic translation where only a few text and subtitles are translated or even added, and a full translation where new voice overs and game material changes are added.
There are various essential elements on localizing a game including translating the language of the game to adjusting in-game assets for different cultures to reach more potential consumers in other geographies (or globalization for short). Translation seems to fall into the scope of localization, which itself constitutes a substantially broader endeavor. These include the different levels of translation to the globalization of the game itself. However, certain developers seem to be divided on whether globalization falls under localization or not.
Moreover, in order to fit into the local markets, game production companies often change or redesign the graphic designs or the packaging of the game for marketing purposes. For example, the popular game "Assassin's Creed" has two different packaging designs for the Japanese and US market. By localizing the graphics and packaging designs, companies might arouse better connections and attention from the consumers from various regions.
Indie development.
Independent games or "indie games" are produced by individuals and small teams with no large-scale developer or publisher affiliations. Indie developers generally rely on Internet distribution schemes. Many hobbyist indie developers create mods of existing games. Indie developers are credited for creative game ideas (for example, "Darwinia", "", "World of Goo"). Current economic viability of indie development is questionable, however in recent years internet delivery platforms, such as, Xbox Live Arcade and Steam have improved indie game success. In fact, some indie games have become very successful, such as "Braid", "World of Goo", and "Minecraft". In recent years many communities have emerged in support of indie games such as the popular indie game marketplace Itch.io, indie game YouTube channels and a large indie community on Steam. It is common for indie game developers to release games for free and generate revenue through other means such as microtransactions (in-game transactions), in-game advertisements and crowd-funding services like Patreon and Kickstarter.
Game industry.
The video game industry (formally referred to as interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video games. The industry sports several unique approaches.
Locales.
United States.
In the United States, in the early history of video game development, the prominent locale for game development was the corridor from San Francisco to Silicon Valley in California. Most new developers in the US open near such "hot beds".
At present, many large publishers still operate there, such as: Activision Blizzard, Capcom Entertainment, Disney Interactive, Eidos Interactive, Electronic Arts, Foundation 9, LucasArts Entertainment, Namco Bandai Games, Sega of America, Sony Computer Entertainment America, THQ. However, due to the nature of game development, many publishers are present in other regions, such as Big Fish Games (Washington), GarageGames (Oregon), Majesco Entertainment (New Jersey), Microsoft Corporation (Washington), Nintendo of America (Washington), Take-Two Interactive (New York), SouthPeak Games (Virginia).
Education.
Many universities and design schools are offering classes specifically focused on game development. Some have built strategic alliances with major game development companies. These alliances ensure that students have access to the latest technologies and are provided the opportunity to find jobs within the gaming industry once qualified. Many innovative ideas are presented at conferences, such as Independent Games Festival (IGF) or Game Developers Conference (GDC).
Indie game development may motivate students who produce a game for their final projects or thesis and may open their own game company.
Stability.
Video game industry employment is fairly volatile, similar to other artistic industries including television, music, etc. Scores of game development studios crop up, work on one game, and then quickly go under. This may be one reason why game developers tend to congregate geographically; if their current studio goes under, developers can flock to an adjacent one or start another from the ground up.
In an industry where only the top 20% of products make a profit, it's easy to understand this fluctuation. Numerous games may start development and are cancelled, or perhaps even completed but never published. Experienced game developers may work for years and yet never ship a title: such is the nature of the business.


Minute to Win It Indonesia

Minute to Win It Indonesia is an Indonesian primetime game show based on television shows in United States with the same name. This is still production handled by Endemol Shine Group and NBCUniversal. This show has been broadcast on MNCTV on 2017 and debuted on July 17, 2017. The show sponsors are Komix Herbal Lemon but uncredited in the beginning until the end.
Gameplay and location.
Contestants take part in a series of 60-second challenges that use objects that are commonly available around the house. Contestants will be faced with blueprints to give an instructions of the game. Contestants must complete the first game to win the first level with a prize Rp1.000.000, as well as other games to 10 games completed will won the grand prize, Rp100,000,000. The difficulty of the games progressively increase throughout the show. If time expires or the conditions of the game cannot be fulfilled (such as by the contestant exhausting any allotted attempts or committing a foul), the contestant loses a "life". If the contestant loses all three of their "lives", the game ends and the contestant's winnings drop to the previous milestone they passed. After successfully completing a game, the contestant can leave with the amount of money already won before seeing the blueprint for the next game. However, once the contestant elects for the game, the contestant cannot leave the show until that game is complete or they have exhausted all three of their "lives". Here is list of a money tree:
NOTE: Bold rows are the safe levels, if the contestant(s) clear the safe levels, the cash prize on the safe level is guaranteed.


List of video game remakes and remastered ports

This is a list of video game remakes and remastered ports.
This list includes remakes as well as remastered or enhanced ports of video games. However, it does not include clones.


Victor Blackwell

Victor Blackwell (born September 25, 1981 in Baltimore) is an American television news anchor who currently hosts the 2pm hour of "CNN Newsroom" with Alisyn Camerota on CNN.
Early life and education.
Blackwell was class president of his high school graduating class at Milford Mill Academy in 1999. He earned a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from Howard University in Washington, D.C. While in college, he worked at Howard University’s public television station WHUT-TV.
Career.
After college, Blackwell worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor at WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, MD. He also worked as a reporter and weekend anchor at WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, Florida. Blackwell was the first black main anchor at WPBF in West Palm Beach, Florida. Blackwell joined CNN in 2012 as a correspondent, based at CNN’s southeast bureau. In 2013, Blackwell’s exclusive reporting on the mysterious death of Georgia teenager Kendrick Johnson led to investigations by the Office of Secretary of State of Georgia and the US Attorney for Georgia’s Middle District. In January 2014, Blackwell was promoted to co-host of New Day Saturday and Sunday with Christi Paul.
On April 19, 2021, he began co-hosting the 2-4pm hours of " CNN Newsroom " with Alisyn Camerota.
Awards and honors.
In 2009, Blackwell received a Regional Emmy Award for Outstanding Feature Reporting. He was also nominated for a Regional Emmy in 2007, 2008, and 2011. Blackwell also received a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his reporting on the Stop Snitchin’ phenomenon and its impact on inner-city crime. Blackwell received the Unity Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association in 2007 for his reporting on the high school graduation rate of black boys.


Vladimir Nenarokov

Vladimir Ivanovich Nenarokov (January 4, 1880 – December 13, 1953) was a Russian chess master and theoretician. Born in Moscow, he was one of the strongest masters in his home town around 1900.
In 1899, he tied for 6-7th in Moscow (1st Russian Championship, Mikhail Chigorin won). In 1900 he won the first Moscow City Championship. In 1901, he took 5th in Moscow (2nd RUS-ch, Chigorin won). In 1905, he drew a match with Savielly Tartakower (+2 –2 =0); won against Fyodor Duz-Khotimirsky (+5 –3 =1) in 1907, and won against the sixteen-year-old Alexander Alekhine (+3 –0 =0) in 1908.
Nenarokov won the Moscow Championship again in 1908.
In 1916, he took 2nd, behind Alekhine, in Moscow. He also took 2nd, behind Alekhine, and ahead of Abram Rabinovich, at Moscow 1918 ("Triangular").
He took 3rd at the 3rd Moscow championships in 1921 (Grigoriev won); tied for 3rd-5th at Petrograd 1923 (2nd USSR Championship, Peter Romanovsky won); tied for 6-8th at Moscow 1924 (3rd USSR-ch, Efim Bogoljubov won); took 18th at Leningrad 1925 (4th USSR-ch, Bogoljubov won); took 7th at Moscow 1927 (5th USSR-ch, Fedor Bogatyrchuk and Romanovsky won); took 2nd, behind Boris Verlinsky, at the 9th Moscow championships in 1928; took 6th at Odessa 1929 (6th USSR-ch, Quartel Final); won at Tiflis (Tbilisi) 1929; took 3rd at Tiflis 1930 (Vsevolod Rauzer won), and tied for 3rd-4th at Tiflis 1930 (Goglidze won).
Nenarokov was awarded the International Master title in 1950.
He is an author of many chess books, focusing on the chess opening. In addition to some good introductory books, he also wrote a more advanced book on the Ruy Lopez (Moscow–Leningrad 1932) that was later published in German.


TwixT

TwixT is a two-player strategy board game, an early entrant in the 1960s 3M bookshelf game series. It became one of the most popular and enduring games in the series. It is a connection game where players alternate turns placing pegs and links on a pegboard in an attempt to link their opposite sides. The rules are simple but the strategy complex, so young children can play it, but it also appeals to adults. The game has been discontinued except in Germany.
History.
TwixT was invented as a paper and pencil game in 1957 by Alex Randolph, a game designer. When Alex was commissioned along with Sid Sackson by 3M in 1961 to start a games division, the game was issued as a boardgame, one of the first 3M bookshelf games. Avalon Hill took over publication in 1976 when 3M sold its game division. Avalon's parent company was acquired by Hasbro in 1998, and the game was discontinued. The game is no longer produced in the United States, but a succession of German companies has produced the game since the 1970s under license from Avalon. TwixT was short-listed for the first Spiel des Jahres in 1979, and was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design's Hall of Fame, along with Randolph, in 2011.
Rules.
Twixt is played on a board comprising a 24×24 square grid of holes (minus four corner holes). The playing pieces are pegs which fit the holes, and link pieces which join pegs along the diagonal of a 3×2 grid (i.e. the move of a chess knight). In the 3M edition, players are Red and Black; different sets may use different colors. The topmost and bottommost rows of holes belong to the lighter color; the leftmost and rightmost rows to the darker color.
Computational complexity for general rectangular boards.
TwixT has been proven to be PSPACE-complete for determining the game value, via a reduction from Hex. TwixT has also been shown to be NP-complete for whether a single set of vertices can support a connecting path, via a reduction from 3-satisfiability.
These proofs are indicative of a complex strategy: the game has not been solved, no winning strategy has been discovered, nor is the outcome of the game with perfect play known.
Related games.
On the 24×24 grid, tactical considerations tend to predominate. The opening phase is over quickly, and the rest of the game is spent attempting to tactically execute the plan. Hex, which has a very similar game object, may have more predictable tactics, but strategical considerations are much more important. In this sense, Hex is more like Go than TwixT, since a single move is generally less committal, and consequences may take longer to play out.
Variants.
One variant is Twixt PP (Paper and Pencil). The rules are almost identical to standard TwixT, except links are never removed and your "own" links are allowed to cross each other. A winning path might loop across itself but crossed links are not connected to each other at the intersection. The P-P rules may reduce the number of draws (already rare) Whether it reduces the complexity of the game or not is highly debatable.
This rules difference makes no difference in terms of game outcome better than 99% of the time. Among those rare situations where it does, most of those cases are where a draw under standard rules is a decisive game under PP rules. The diagram shows a contrived position on a tiny grid where a win for black under PP rules turns into a win for white under standard rules.
Row handicapping can be used to equalize the game for players of different strengths. The simplest handicap is to allow the weaker player to move first (i.e. eliminate the pie rule). Beyond that, one dimension of the grid is reduced so the weaker player has a shorter distance to span.
The game may be played on different size grids. The 12×12 board shown here leads to a very short game. On the standard board, tactics dominate; larger boards introduce deeper strategic considerations. Since most commercial sets use boards which are made from four "quadrants" which either clip together or are hinged, a 36×36 grid could be assembled from three standard sets of the same size. In Europe, there briefly appeared a TwixT knock-off called "Imuri" which used a 30×30 grid. The board had no holes, and lines were drawn to indicate where the links could be placed. This edition was removed from shelves for copyright infringement.
Mark Thompson's variant Diagonal TwixT has the same rules as standard TwixT, but the border lines run at a 45-degree angle to the grid. David Bush's version has the border lines running parallel to link paths. These variants result in different tactical patterns.
Competition.
The official world championships were held as part of the Mind Sports Olympiad in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Since 2000 TwixT has had a major international tournament as part of the MSO but there has been no official World Championships. Since 2011, the TwixT event at the MSO has again become the World Championships. The list of winners is given below.
List of MSO champions


Rook on Pawn

Rook on Pawn or Vertical Pawn Picker (タテ歩取り or 縦歩取り "tatefudori") is a subclass of Double Wing Attack Floating Rook (Static Rook) openings in which the Floating Rook player moves his or her rook to the third file aiming to capture the opponent's pawn used to open the bishop's diagonal at the 34 square.
This rook attack can occur preemptively by moving the rook before the opponent's pawn push and, thus, preventing (at least initially) the opponent from opening the bishop's diagonal. This option is known as Cat's Rook on Pawn (ネコの縦歩取り "neko no tatefudori"). Hosking calls this Floating Rook Cat Variation. Or, the rook can attack the pawn after it has been pushed forward and the bishop's diagonal is already open, forcing the opponent to respond to protect that pawn. This option is called Floating Rook Hanamura Variation by Hosking.
Development to Twisting Rook.
This type of opening often leads to the Floating Rook player also moving their rook to the left side of the board, transposing from an initial Static Rook strategy to a Ranging Rook strategy, which is usually Third File Rook. When this happens, the opening is referred to as Twisting Rook (ひねり飛車 "hineribisha").
As an example of its formation, after the Rook on Pawn opening, White defends the pawn with a gold, and Black can open the bishop's diagonal leading White to exchange pawns on the eighth file. After this, Black pushes the seventh-file pawn one square further attacking White's rook causing White to retreat the rook. Black subsequently starts developing an Ishida structure and then moves the rook to the eighth file, threatening White with a rook exchange.
Note that the Rook on Pawn attack does not necessarily have to transpose to a Twisting Rook position, and that the Twisting Rook strategy may be played without first attacking the third file pawn.
Rook on Pawn Climbing Silver.
Rook on Pawn Climbing Silver (タテ歩棒銀 "tatefu bōgin" or 飛尻出棒銀 "hijiride bōgin") combines the Rook on Pawn technique with a Climbing Silver strategy.


Mad Libs (game show)

Mad Libs is an American children's game show based on the book/word game series. It aired on the Disney Channel from July 26, 1998 to mid-1999 (with a "special pilot" that aired in February 1997), and was hosted by David Sidoni. Dick Clark and J. D. Roth produced the show.
Gameplay.
Mad Libs pitted two teams of two kids (one red and the other blue), in a series of physical/mental-related challenges that pertain to the formula of the Mad Libs books, while trying to score points and win prizes.
The Main Game.
Round 1 ("Viewer Mad Lib").
In round one, a home viewer recited a Mad Lib that he/she wrote beforehand. That Mad Lib became a physical game, where the object was to make the most progress within a time limit or to be the first team to complete the stunt. The team who won the stunt got 20 points. If both teams won the stunt, they both got 20 points.
Round 2 ("Madder Than You").
In this round, a category was given by host Sidoni. The contestants would come up with a series of words that would fit the category, working back and forth while passing and controlling a white ball (referred to on the show as the "hot potato"). The process continued until one team gave a word that did not fit the category, repeated a word (including a different form of the same word), passed the hot potato before answering, or ran out of time.
When one of those violations occurred, the other team received five points, after which another category was played in the same manner. The round was played for two minutes.
Round 3 ("Mega Stunt").
Both teams competed in a stunt, consisting of anything from picking nose hairs to grabbing mohawks while being strapped to a mailbag, to grab items needed to create a Mad Lib. Each item in the stunt had a word on it, and the object of the stunt was to get four words in four categories. Doing so completed the Mad Lib and earned 20 points.
Round 4 ("Mixed-Up Mad Libs").
In this deciding round, the host read a series of statements that had a crazy word inserted in each one. The contestants buzzed in to correct those statements with the right word. If the buzz-in contestant gave an incorrect answer, the opposing team got a chance to answer. After each statement, the contestants at the buzzers switched places with his/her partner. Each correct answer was worth ten points. The round was played for 90 seconds, and the team with the most points when time ran out won the game. If there was a tie at the end of the round, one last Mixed-Up Mad Lib was read, and the first player to buzz-in and correct the statement won; otherwise his/her opponents automatically won. The winning team went on to the bonus round while the losing team went home with parting gifts including 1 free Year Of Disney Blast Online The D Show On CD Rom And Mad Libs Book .
Bonus Round ("Maximum Mad Lib").
In this bonus round, the team decided who would give and who would receive. The giving player during the last commercial break placed five words (given to that player via envelope) anywhere in the five clue areas. After the break, the giver was given 90 seconds to get his/her partner to say those words. Sidoni gave the category to each word.
The clue areas varied each episode, and the actions involved the giving player performing an unusual event, such as stuffing marshmallows in his/her mouth and saying the word, licking frosting and spelling the word with their tongue, or acting out the word without speaking.
Each time the receiver said a word, the team won that word. They could pass on a word and return to it if time permitted. When time ran out, the words were inserted into the Mad Lib. After it was read by host Sidoni, the identified words were checked one at a time. One of the five words was dubbed the grand prize word and if the team picked that word, or if they got all five words before time expired, they won the grand prize. If not, they received a consolation prize.
External link.
"Mad Libs" on IMDb


Castle (shogi)

In shogi, castles (囲い "kakoi") are strong defensive configurations of pieces that protect the king (玉).
In contrast to the special castling move in western chess, shogi castles are structures that require making multiple individual moves with more than one piece.
Introduction.
Usually the pieces involved in constructing castles are golds (金), silvers (銀), and pawns (歩). Typically, they also require moving the king from its starting position – often to the left or right side of the board.
The simplest castle involves two pieces and requires three moves, but it is more common to move at least three different pieces. For example, a simple Mino castle requires moving the king, the rook (飛), a silver, and two golds for a total of six moves. Others such as the Static Rook Bear-in-the-hole castle are more complex, which requires moving the king, a pawn, the bishop (角), a lance (香), a silver, and two golds for a total of twelve moves.
The lack of a castle and with the king in its start position is known by the term "sitting king" (居玉 "igyoku"), which is typically regarded negatively. However, there are a few strategies (often involving early attacks) that allow a sitting king (such as the Ureshino opening).
There are many types of castles and variations on those types which can be used, but it is important to understand which ones are useful in the current situation and how to compensate for their weak points.
As an example from a professional game, Shino Kumakura (Black, on bottom) is using a very hard castle, which is a variant of a Left Mino castle with an extra dragon and gold reinforcement that was created after an aborted attempt at making an Bear-in-the-hole castle. She used this castle in a Static Rook Counter-Ranging Rook position (that is, her rook remained in its starting position in the opening). Her opponent, Fusako Ajiki (White) was using an Incomplete Mino castle (on the right side of her board) that has been attacked forcing the silver previously on 72 to move to 61. Ajiki's castle was used (as is typical) with Fourth File Rook, a type of Ranging Rook position.
Castle development.
There are piece development relations between castles. For instance, a basic Mino castle can be developed into a Silver Crown castle, a Gold Fortress castle can be developed into a Complete Fortress castle, a Boat castle into an Bear-in-the-hole castle, a Gold Excelsior castle into a Right Fortress castle, and so on.
Castles and opening types.
Certain castles are generally paired with certain openings. For example, if White is playing a Ranging Rook opening like Fourth File Rook, then White often uses a Mino (or related) castle on their right side of the board. A Fourth File Rook opening can be met with Black playing a Static Rook opening, which may often lead to Black building a Static Rook Bear-in-the-hole castle.
Fortress.
The Fortress castle (矢倉囲い "yagura gakoi") is considered by many to be the strongest defensive position in shogi in Double Static Rook games.
A common Fortress structure is the Gold Fortress (金矢倉 "kin yagura"). It has a strongly protected king; a well-fortified line of pawns; and the bishop, rook, and a pawn all support a later attack by the rook's silver or knight. It is difficult to break down with a frontal assault, though it is weaker from the side. It is typically used against Static Rook openings that involve advancing the rook's pawn. However, one's opponent may just as easily adopt this defense, giving neither side an advantage.
Although the Gold Fortress is the most common form of Fortress, there are many variations of Fortress. A Fortress may be developed into a Fortress Bear-in-the-hole castle.
Helmet.
The Helmet or "Headpiece" (カブト "kabuto") castle is a structure often used to protect the king while playing a Reclining Silver strategy usually in combination with a Bishop Exchange opening.
The Helmet castle is structurally related to the Fortress castle and is also known as the "Helmet Fortress" ( or 兜矢倉 "kabuto yagura").
If bishops have already been exchanged, then the silver that originated at 79 will have moved up to 77 via 88. And, for Reclining Silver, the right silver that originated at 39 will have reached the central file at 56 (through 38 and 47) with pawn on the fourth file moving up to 46 to make way for the silver.
Crab.
The Crab castle (カニ囲い "kanigakoi") three generals 金銀金 "gold-silver-gold" lined up next to each other on rank 8 (or rank 2 for White) starting from the sixth to the central file. The king is moved one square to the left behind the middle silver.
The crab name comes from the way the king at 69 can only move from side to side (79, 59).
The Crab castle is used in Static Rook positions and also appears in handicap game positions played by Black (such as the 2-Piece handicap).
Furthermore, it may be possible to utilize the Crab castle in a Ranging Rook position in Double Ranging Rook games.
When playing the Fortress opening, a Crab castle is usually constructed as a strong intermediate castle in the development of a Fortress castle. In these positions, the three pawns above the castle generals are advanced with the bishop in its start positions and the right silver is developed to the 48 square adjacent to the other generals so that the pieces are lined up as 角金銀金銀 "bishop-gold-silver-gold-silver."
Bonanza.
The Bonanza castle (ボナンザ) is a castle that used to be built by the computer shogi engine Bonanza. It has some similarities with the Incomplete Fortress castle.
Snowroof.
Snowroof (also Snow Roof Fortress or Zigzag, Japanese: 雁木 "gangi") castle has the left silver positioned on 67 and the two golds positioned on 78 and 58.
Typically, the right silver is also moved up to 57 as well making a four general castle.
Since a silver is placed on the 67 square, the sixth file pawn must be pushed forward to 66. Thus, Snowroof positions are characterized by having a closed bishop diagonal just as in traditional Ranging Rook positions and Fortress positions played by Black.
In Snowroof, the bishop may be kept "in situ" (居角 "ikaku") on the 88 square. In this case, the 86 square is not defended allowing the opponent to trade off rook pawns at any time in contrast to the Fortress castle and the Helmet castle (used in Bishop Exchange openings). If the eighth file pawn trade happens, the side pawn on 76 cannot be captured as it is defended by the 67-silver. Alternately, the bishop may be moved up to 77 so that it defends 86 preventing the eighth file pawn trade. However, once the bishop is on the 95–59 diagonal, then the Snowroof player's bishop may be traded off if the opponent pulls their bishop back to attack along the 31–97 diagonal. Thus, the Snowroof player must weigh the pros and cons of a rook pawn trade vs a bishop trade. Yet another common possibility has the bishop moving B-77, B-59 aiming for a position on the 37 or 25 squares so that it may be utilized on these diagonals.
Silver Horns Snowroof.
Silver Horns Snowroof (ツノ銀雁木 "tsuno gin gangi") is a recent variant that positions the right silver on 47 instead of the usual 57.
This allows the possibility of moving the silver to the 56 square in a Reclining Silver position.
The "silver horns" name comes from the similar positioning of the two silvers on rank 7 flanking the central file on the sixth and fourth file that is found in the Central Rook Silver Horns variation. The horns metaphor is describing the way the two silvers extend out from the corners of the gold positioned on the 58 square.
Right King.
Right King (右玉 "migi gyoku")
Bishop Exchange Right King examples.
Yoshiharu Habu (White) used a Right King castle in a 2016 Ōi tournament game on September 12 against opponent Kazuki Kimura (Black). The opening was Bishop Exchange Double Reclining Silver.
Although Habu had initially moved his king leftwards to the 42 square earlier in the game, he later moved his king rightwards (K-52, K-61, K-72) to form a Right King position. Additionally, his left silver that was earlier on the 33 square has moved after a pawn trade on the fourth file to the 53 square (via S-44) further strengthening the Right King castle.
Kimura is using a Gold Fortress castle with his king on the 79 square.
Silver Horns Snowroof Right King examples.
Black's Silver Horns Snowroof Right King
Black's Silver Horns Snowroof Right King 48-Gold variant
Central House.
 (中住まい "nakazumai") is a castle characterized by the king being one rank above a sitting king position, that is, in the case of Black the king is moved to 58. While the positions of golds and silvers are not particularly fixed, the golds are often moved to 78 and 38, while the silvers are often moved to 68, 48 or 38.
Putting more emphasis on a wide defense than on solidness, the goal of the player using this castle is to prevent the opponent from dropping pieces into their camp. Usually the player is also aiming for the same goal of dropping into the opponent's promotion zone. Therefore, the castle is often used Double Wing Attack openings and in the Aerial Battle variation of the Side Pawn Capture opening. In some rare cases, it is also used with Fortress openings and Double Ranging Rook as well as other uncommon openings (such as Takishita's Spread Golds opening).
It's considered to be weak against attacks from above the king's position.
It used to be a popular castle among non-professional players playing "bench" shogi in the streets.
This castle is also called "Spread Golds" (金開き "kinbiraki"), which is also another name for the Duck castle.
Central House game example.
A Kōji Tanigawa vs Kenji Waki game in an All Nihon Pro tournament from August 1993 shows Tanigawa (Black) using a Central House castle. The opening is the N-33 variation of the Side Pawn Capture opening.
Nakahara.
 (中原囲い "nakaharagakoi")
The castle is named after Makoto Nakahara, for which he won the Kōzō Masuda Award in 1996. The Nakahara castle was originally part of the Nakahara Double Wing Attack, and consisted simply of the silver moving up from its initial position. Since the obtained position with the gold at 59 and the king at 69 resembled old-style Double Attack, Nakahara asked Yasujirō Kon, the teacher of his own teacher (Toshio Takayanagi), to teach him the basics of it. With this knowledge, Nakahara went on to apply it to modern strategy. A similar castle has been since discovered in an early game during the Edo period.
While Nakahara developed it originally as a castle for "sente" (black), it is nowadays used almost exclusively by "gote" (white), particularly as this castle is played often along with the R-85 variation of Side Pawn Capture. The typical configuration involves S-22, G-32, K-41, G-51, and S-62. Although feeble in appearance, the main characteristic of this castle is that as the formation is low the king has plenty of routes to escape from attacks coming from right or left. While according to Nakahara this castle is less flexible compared to a Central House castle, thanks to its having a gold in the 1st. rank it is strong against both rook drops and knight attacks. Moreover, because it is easy to build up Nakahara thought it would be safe to presume that its use would become widespread.
In recent years attention has been paid to its use for "sente" (black) in Side-Pawn Capture openings, and some research has been conducted about the solidness of the king, and following this research the Right Nakahara variation, where the position of the pieces on left and right of the king are reversed, has become rarely used.
Duck.
Duck or Duck Legs (アヒル "ahiru") or Spread Golds (金開き "kinbiraki") is a Static Rook castle used in the surprise Duck opening.
Paperweight.
Paperweight castle (文鎮囲い "bunchingakoi") is a Static Rook castle used against Ranging Rook opponents in the Subway Rook opening (地下鉄飛車 "chikatetsubisha").
It is named after the long row of pieces on rank 8, which is like the shape of traditional Japanese paperweights used to hold down parchment paper for brushwork calligraphy.
Truck.
Truck castle (トラック囲い "torakkugakoi") is an uncommon Static Rook castle.
Boat.
The (舟囲い or 船囲い "funagakoi") is a Static Rook castle used against Ranging Rook, where the king moves next to the bishop and moves the right hand gold diagonally forward above the king's throne. This castle can also be an intermediary towards making stronger castles, such as Left Mino, Silver Crown or Bear-in-the-hole. This castle is often considered weak although Static Rook has the option of engaging in a rapid attack through various means, especially against Fourth File Rook and by making use of the left silver.
A rapid attack isn't guaranteed to be successful, since Ranging Rook will try to trade off the bishops and bring the game into a full-scale battle. This can lead static rook into a difficult game, because their Boat castle is too weak compared to the opponent's Mino castle. As such, Static Rook would rather resort to making stronger castles, such as Bear-in-the-hole or Left Mino.
Daddy's Dearest.
 or "Girl-In-The-House" (箱入り娘 "hakoiri musume", lit. "daughter inside box") is a development from the Boat castle with the fifth file gold moving to the sixth file getting closer to the king.
Diamond.
The Diamond or Lozenge castle (菱囲い "hishigakoi") can be developed from a Boat castle by moving the left silver up to 68 and incorporating the right silver above the gold on 57. The Diamond is relatively stronger than the Boat.
Strawberry.
The Strawberry castle (イチゴ囲い "Ichigo") is a simple way of castling that appears in Double Wing Attack openings. The Strawberry castle is used for Static Rook positions and has golds positioned on the 78 and 58 squares (like in the Snowroof castle) while the left silver remains in the start position so that it defends the bishop. The king is moved up and leftward to the 68 square. It is structurally identical to the Helmet castle before the bishops are exchanged.
Yonenaga King.
 castle (米長玉 "Yonenaga gyoku") is used for Static Rook vs Ranging Rook games. This castle is named after Kunio Yonenaga.
This castle is similar to an Edge King Silver Crown.
The Yonenaga King variant show here is almost the same as a Left Silver Crown castle but with the king moved leftward one file to the edge. Thus, it may called by the name Yonenaga King Silver Crown (米長玉銀冠 "yonenaga gyoku ginkanmuri").
Elmo.
Elmo (エルモ "erumo" or Left Mountain 左山 "hidari yama") castle is a Static Rook castle used against Ranging Rook positions. It is found in the computer shogi game records of the elmo shogi engine. The elmo engine (which is an eval function and a book file used with the YaneuraOu search engine) was the undefeated winner of the 2017 World Computer Shogi Championship beating the previously dominant Ponanza engine.
This castle is characterized by the position of the king on K-78 (K-32 if played as White), silver on S-68 and gold on G-79 (or S-42 & G-31 for White).
Subsequently, the castle has been used by professional shogi players in 2018 and recently featured in a book on a new Anti-Ranging Rook Rapid Attack strategy.
Elephant Eye.

Silver Elephant Eye (銀象眼 "gin zōgan") and Gold Elephant Eye (金象眼 "kin zōgan") may be used in bishop handicap games.
Skewered Cutlet.
 castle (串カツ "kushikatsu") is used for Static Rook vs Ranging Rook games. It is named after a kushikatsu.
The Skewered Cutlet is structurally similar to the Static Rook Bear-in-the-hole, but unlike the latter, the positions of the king and the lance are reversed. This makes it look as if the king is skewered by the lance beneath, hence the origin of the name.
Among its advantages is that since the king is away from the bishop's diagonal, it can easily escape towards the top from side attacks,
and furthermore, that it can be formed in one less move than Bear-in-the-hole. In contrast, the lance is unable to defend the king, and since the king is on the lance file it prevents the lance from attacking (hence, none of its two typical functions can be used), and as a result it's
weak to edge attacks, so it's a castle better known by its weaknesses than its strong points.
Once the Skewered Cutlet castle has been formed, five further moves are required for it to convert into a Bear-in-the-hole castle. In contrast, it takes only two moves to convert into a Millenium castle, so care needs to be taken to use it properly depending on the circumstances.
Because of the king's position at 98, it's also possible to move to a Yonenaga King.
Bear-in-the-hole.
The Bear-in-the-hole castle (穴熊囲い "anaguma", lit. "hole-bear") is a very common and often used in professional shogi.
This castle can be executed on either side of the board.
Mino.
The Mino castle (美濃囲い "minōgakoi") is a defensive position that is considered easier for beginners, but still popular with professionals. (Mino is a historical province of Japan.) The King is placed in a safe position, while the three generals work well to back each other up.
Silver Crown.
The Silver Crown castle (, "ginkanmuri") is often a further development from Mino (via a High Mino castle).
Silver Crown is stronger than both Mino and High Mino from above.
Wall.
 (壁囲い "kabegakoi"), also known as Quick Castle (早囲い "hayagakoi"), is used for Static Rook vs Ranging Rook games. According to Hosking, it can also be called Edo Castle as it often appeared in Ranging Rook positions during the Edo period.
The castle requires only three moves, and so, can be formed very quickly if under attack. And, for this reason, yet another name for this castle is Three-Move castle (三手囲い sante gakoi). However, this name also refers to another simple castle constructed by three moves (see section below).
The Wall castle can develop later into the stronger Gold Mino with two moves. (That is, it requires five moves in total.)
Wall game examples.
Although the Wall castle is often found in very old shogi games from the Edo period, it may occasionally be found in modern professional games.
Yasumitsu Satō (Black) used the Wall castle in a 2017 NHK tournament on October 22 as shown in the adjacent diagram. The castle is paired with an Opposing Rook attacking formation.
Iijima is using an Bear-in-the-hole castle that has not yet been completed yet along with a Static Rook formation.
This game features aggressive attacks very early in the game, which partly explains the presence of the Wall castle instead of more complex Ranging Rook castles like Mino.
Three-move.
The Three-Move castle (三手囲い "sante gakoi") can be formed with only three moves (like the Wall castle).
This castle also goes by the name 早囲い "hayagakoi". (Thus, this name is ambiguous since it can also refer to the Wall castle and rapid method of forming a Fortress castle.)
Small/Rapid Castle.
The Small or Rapid castle is another simple castle that can be formed by only four moves. This castle itself is not very common, but it can transition into a Gold Mino.
Another quick castle built in four moves has the silver on 48 and the gold on 59.
Flatfish.
The Flatfish castle (平目囲い or ヒラメ囲い "hiramegakoi") is used in the Flatfish opening.
It is structurally similar to a Mino castle but with the two golds positioned adjacent to each other on the same bottom rank rather having the centermost gold on the same rank as the silver.
Millenium.
 (ミレニアム "mireniamu") is a newer castle developed in response to the Fujii System (藤井システム "Fujii shisutemu") opening. It's a static rook strategy used against ranging rook strategies. The name "Millenium" is due to the fact that it first started to be deliberately played among professional players around the year 2000. It's also known as Kamakura castle, Kamaboko castle, or Tochka (Pillbox). Kunio Yonenaga is said to have been the first player to use it in the modern era (although, his using it was probably not deliberate). Hiroyuki Miura first started to use it, and his popularization of the tactic among pro players awarded him the Kōzō Masuda Award for innovation in shogi strategy in 2002. It is also suggested that the popularity of the castle occurred thanks to the internet activity among amateur players.
At the time, the Fujii System was making its fury felt, which unlike Bear-in-the-hole Static Rook made threats against the king difficult by way of the bishop and the knight, which consolidated it as a strong tactic. However, it is not as solid as the Bear-in-the-hole due to the number of moves it takes, and because of the time it takes to set up it could be taken advantage of by Ranging Rook hence showing a counter-measure against the formation of Bear-in-the-hole, a perfect countermeasure to the Fujii System had not been arrived at. Furthermore, as countermeasures against the Fujii System were established for both Bear-in-the-hole Static Rook strategies and Rapid Attack-type strategies, the use of this castle became less common after 2006.
The Millenium castle is characterized by the King being positioned in the place of the left knight, and surrounded by three (or four) golds and silvers. In terms of solidness, it is slightly inferior to Bear-in-the-hole, as solid as a Skewered Cutlet castle (Kushikatsu), and stronger than a Mino castle. Furthermore, the most important difference with Bear-in-the-hole is that since the king isn't on the rival's bishop diagonal this makes it easy for the left knight to attack and capture.
From the point of view of defending the edge (i.e., the ninth file), compared to the Skewered Cutlet castle which defends it with silver and knight, the Millenium castle defends with silver and lance. By placing the king on the eight file (White's second file), it's more durable against edge attacks, and in contrast due to the distance from the center it can reach places that the Bear-in-the-hole and Skewered Cutlet castles cannot. Because of the king's position on rank 1, it can be said to be far or deep away from attacks from above, but it can hardly be said to be strong against this type of attacks, so this is also a weakness. Further, compared to the Bear-in-the-hole castle, due to its close proximity to the center, it shows weakness against attacks with promoted pawns. Some variations exist in order to make it stronger against attacks from above.
Aerokin.
This castle usually develops when your opponent tries to attack your Silver Crown from the side with rooks (or dragons).
Gold Excelsior.
 or Peerless Golds (金無双 "kinmusō") is a castle used in Double Ranging Rook openings. It has an alternate name of Two Golds or Twin Golds (二枚金 "nimaikin") or Silver Wall.
From the point of view of Black, this castle is formed by moving the king to 38, the left gold to 58 and the right gold to 48. The most predominant feature is, of course, the fact that the two golds stand side by side, this also being the origin of the adjective "peerless" or "unrivalled" in the Japanese name of the castle (無双). Because of this peculiarity, this castle makes it difficult to play a Central Rook strategy, as the position of the left gold prevents the rook from ranging back and forth freely along the central file.
All in all, as attacks from above are frequently the case in Double Ranging Rook games, the right silver is often moved to 28 so that it provides a way of defending against such attacks. This isn't recommended, however, against horizontal attacks as the silver in that position easily turns into a wall that blocks the king's escaping route (hence the name "Silver Wall"). Therefore, the silver should either stay on 39, or move to 37.
Compared to Mino castles, the Gold Excelsior is stronger against attacks from above (especially those from the first and second file). It's somewhat weaker than Mino, however, against side attacks. Gold Excelsior is also weak against attacks from the fourth file, which is often called "the rabbit's ear." In the case of Static vs. Ranging Rook games, in which side attacks are typical, Mino castles are superior. In contrast, against side attacks in Double Ranging Rook games, Gold Excelsior is superior. However, positions where a silver wall is formed have been falling out of favor recently due to their weaknesses against Fortress castles, and hence Mino has become more predominant even in Double Ranging Rook games. Since Mino is particularly weak in the first and seconds files, it has problems against Opposing Rook, but is superior against Fourth File Rook and Third File Rook. Insofar as the silver does not need to moved up, Golden Excelsior is formed one move faster than Mino (hence why the king in Double Ranging Rook games is often left at 39 when playing Mino), and hence is effective in rapid attacks.
In the case of switching to a Fortress castle, Golden Excelsior can go to Incomplete Fortress in just
one tempo, but it would lose one tempo to form a Complete Fortress. Therefore, leaving the right gold on 49 and make a boat castle variant (same gold formation, just opposite side) as an intermediate for the Fortress castle on the right hand side.
Mid-Rank King castles.
Aerial Tower.
Aerial Tower (空中楼閣 "kūchū rōkaku") is a (中段玉 "chūdan gyoku") type of castle in which the king is positioned on the middle ranks 4–6.
Fourth Rank Edge King.
Fourth Rank Edge King (四段端玉 "yondan hashigyoku") is a Mid-Rank type of castle.
Fourth Rank Edge King examples.
In a Double Static Rook game from an April 1970 Meijin title match, challenger Renshō Nada (灘蓮照) (Black) used a Fourth Rank Edge King castle (which requires many moves to construct). Yasuharu Ōyama initially used a Snowroof-like structure for his castle that later developed in response to Nada's position. Ōyama has dropped a pawn inside of Nada's camp on the 67 square, which Nada cannot easily attack. Later in the game, Nada was able to move his king to an "entering king" state. However, ultimately, after an exhausted attack on Ōyama's king, Nada resigned on the 185th move.
Another Double Static Rook Nada vs Ōyama game features a somewhat different castle form by Black that resembles a Fourth Rank Edge King castle. Black's castle was originally a Snowroof castle. White started with a Gold Fortress castle that developed into a Complete Fortress and then a Fortress Bear-in-the-hole.


Berlin Defence (chess)

The Berlin Defence, also called the Berlin Wall, is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The opening is a variation of the Ruy Lopez and is assigned codes C65-C67 in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings. The code C65 covers White moves other than 4.0-0, such as 4.d3 (4.Nc3 is considered a variation of the Four Knights Game). The code C66 covers the variation 4.0-0 d6, and the code C67 covers the variation 4.0-0 Nxe4 (usually regarded as the main line of the Berlin Defence)
History.
The opening was first analysed in depth in the 19th century, and received its name from the Berliners that examined its variations. Due to the defensive and drawish nature of the opening, it is sometimes referred to as the Berlin Wall. The opening was rarely used in high level games and received little attention until the Classical World Chess Championship 2000, in which challenger Vladimir Kramnik used it as a drawing weapon against champion Garry Kasparov. Kramnik used the Berlin in games 1, 3, 9 and 13 in the match (each time as black), all four of which were drawn. After losing the match, Kasparov cited Kramnik's superior opening preparation as a reason for his loss. In an interview with John Henderson, Kramnik described his use of the Berlin:"The Berlin Defence suited my strategy for the match. I had a defensive strategy – Actually, I had in my pocket some other sharper stuff to fall back on – but first I wanted to try the defensive strategy with Black and it worked so well. This was all new to Kasparov – he probably expected me to fight for equality with Black."The 2000 match caused a resurgence of interest in the Berlin Defence at all levels of the game, such as its use by Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand in games 4, 6, 7 and 8 of the World Chess Championship 2013. It is now regarded as a solid opening for Black to use in order to achieve an equal endgame.
Basics.
Black's third move attacks the e4 pawn. However, it is not an actual threat, since if Black captures on e4 then White can win back the e5 pawn. Usually in the Berlin Defence, the players exchange queens early, causing the game to quickly enter an endgame. The resulting endgames are generally viewed as equal or very slightly favourable for White. Black has the disadvantage of doubled pawns and a king stuck in the centre, but has compensation in the form of the bishop pair. Strategically, the Berlin Defence is normally used as a drawing weapon by players who want to obtain a draw as Black, and by players who prefer to play defensively and reach endgames.
Statistics.
The chess database chessgames.com contains 9,264 games in which the Berlin Defence was played, making it the second-most popular variation of the Ruy Lopez and constituting about 17% of all Ruy Lopez games. Of the games in which it was played, 33.1% were wins for White, 22.4% wins for Black, and 44.5% drawn. The relatively high drawing rate of the opening compared to other lines has contributed to its reputation as a drawing weapon. For comparison, the overall rates for the Ruy Lopez are 36.7% wins for White, 24.7% wins for Black, and 38.6% drawn.
Main variations.
The most common fourth move for White, which leads into the main lines of the Berlin, is 4. 0-0. The typical continuation is ...Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 (sometimes called the l'Hermet variation), which was played in all four Berlin games of the Classical World Chess Championship 2000. The queens are exchanged off the board early, leading to a position that is difficult for White to win. Vladimir Kramnik assesses the endgame as better for white, but believes that this advantage is usually insufficient to win and that Black should be able to draw. Black's alternatives are generally regarded as inferior, such as 4...d6 which is considered too passive, and 4...Bc5 which allows white to play 5.Nxe5 (preparing to respond to 5...Nxe5 with 6.d4) or 5.c3.
An increasingly popular option for players who wish to avoid this line is 4.d3, known as the Anti-Berlin. This line avoids exchanging off the queens early in the game and so sidesteps the traditional Berlin endgame. Black typically responds 4...Bc5 or less commonly 4...d6. 4...Ne7 is the Mortimer Trap, which wins a piece if white plays 5.Nxe5, but is regarded as an inferior move because it loses time by moving the same piece twice.
White can also play 4.Nc3, which transposes to the Four Knights Game.
Other than 4.0-0, 4.d3 and 4.Nc3, other fourth moves for White are rarely seen.


Indy 4 (video game)

Indy 4 is a 4 player arcade game by Atari, originally released in 1976. It was preceded by its larger 8 player counterpart, Indy 800, in 1975.
Technology.
The game is housed in a large custom square cabinet with two steering wheels and four pedals on each side. The monitor sits in the top of the cabinet. The game uses a full-color RGB display and does not use color overlays.
The cabinet also features overhead mirrors to allow spectators to watch the game while it's being played.
Gameplay.
Gameplay is a simulation of an Indianapolis 500 style of race, in which players compete by racing each other with simulated IndyCar race cars. The player cars' colors are light blue, green, red, and dark blue.


Dragons of Underearth

Dragons of Underearth is a 1982 role-playing game published by Metagaming Concepts.
Gameplay.
"Dragons of Underearth" is a game designed to be fully compatible with "The Fantasy Trip".
Reception.
Paul Manz reviewed "Dragons of Underearth" in "The Space Gamer" No. 55. Manz commented that ""Dragons of Underearth" is a simple FRP game that anyone new to the gaming field can learn. For those of you just starting out, it's a worthwhile game [...] Anyone who already has TFT products would be advised to stay away from this one, unless you're into counters or have got money waiting to be spent."