Darkest of Days Released in Europe
For all the European fans who have been paitently waiting, we’re happy to announce that the PC version of Darkest of Days is now available on Steam for all of Europe!
Pick it up through Steam here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/37700
DoD Postmortem on Gamasutra
We received a great opportunity from Gamasutra.com to release a postmortem on the making of Darkest of Days. It’s a great 4-page read that dives behind-the-scenes and shares the highs and lows we experienced through the development process on our debut title.
Check out the full article on Gamasutra here: Darkest of Days Postmortem
PC Updates for Darkest of Days!
The Darkest of Days v 1.05 “Instant Action” patch and the Darkest of Days Developer Tools are both now available for download!
Download the tools and create your own levels to wreak havoc inm, using Marmoset Engine’s level editing software, Habitat. Also included in the tools release is Toolbag, Marmoset Engine’s very own real-time model and animation previewer.
Download the Darkest of Days v 1.05 PC patch and unlock Instant Action mode, allowing you to travel back to your favorite missions after completing the story campaign. Wield weapons from any era and experience different gameplay styles by trying out various weapon upgrade modes!
Get the Darkest of Days updates here: DoD v 1.05 PC Patch & Developer Tools
View the full press release here: DoD PC Updates Press Release
StrafeRight Developer Interview
StrafeRight.com recently sent us over some developer interview questions. We were more than happy to oblige, and let the gamers out there check out what’s going on right now at 8monkey, what’s coming up next, and shed a little more light behind-the-scenes of the making Darkest of Days.
Check out StrafeRight.com’s interview with 8monkey Labs’ Director, Mark Doeden, at the following link:
Darkest of Days Patch Now Available
We’ve released the first patch for the PC version of Darkest of Days. It includes several new options for custom key bindings as well as some hardware specific optimizations. For full details and download link, visit the darkestofdays.com forums here:
Darkest of Days Xbox 360 Demo is LIVE!
The Darkest of Days Demo is now available through Xbox LIVE! For all of you Xbox 360 fans out there who have been patiently awaiting our demo, now is your chance to check it out!
Darkest of Days Xbox 360 demo is now available to all GOLD members as of September 15th, 2009. If you are a SILVER member, hold tight a few more days, and download it next Tuesday, September 22nd!
Darkest of Days is released!
We are proud to announce the release of our debut title, time-traveling, first-person shooter, Darkest of Days!
It is now time for you all to save history. Check out a major retail store near you and pick up your very own copy for the PC or Xbox 360! It’s also available for digital download through Steam and Direct2Drive. You are our last best chance to save history….so, no pressure.
Check out our Exclusive Launch Trailer on Gametrailers.com here:
Join us at PAX 2009!
Have any plans for this Labor Day weekend?
Come on out to Seattle and visit us at Penny Arcade Expo 2009!
Stop by our booth, #878, and get your chance to play Darkest of Days on Xbox 360 & PC, before it gets released this Tuesday, September 8th! You’ll also have a chance to talk with members of the development team, grab some swag ( including Darkest of Days t-shirts & NVIDIA graphics cards) and get your chance to see some 1800’s artillery up close in-person!
We look forward to seeing you there!
Darkest of Days Release Date Announced
For those of you who have not heard, Darkest of Days has an official release date! Our time-traveling, historically-based FPS, Darkest of Days will be hitting all major digital distribution sites and the retail shelves near you on September 8th!
You CAN wait until then, but it is strongly advised you secure your own copy now by pre-ordering Darkest of Days for the PC and Xbox 360.
View the full Release Date press release here: Darkest of Days Gets Official Launch Date
View the full Darkest of Days Pre-Order press release here: Darkest of Days Pre-Orders Now Available
Darkest of Days: Time and Punishment
Our second trailer for Darkest of Days was unleashed to the public this weekend on IGN. This video dives a little deeper into the game mechanics and shares a bit about a little feature we like to call “Auras”. Enjoy!
Visit our official Darkest of Days website here: www.darkestofdays.com
AquaSpank Lite released
It has been about a month since AquaSpank was first released for the iPhone and iPod Touch. We’ve had some great feedback so far, and we would really love to share the experience with many, many more! You can now try out six action-packed rounds of gameplay for FREE by downloading the “Lite” version of AquaSpank.
In addition to the “Lite” version, to make the idea of personally owning 8monkey Labs’ little iPhone experiment even sexier to the skeptical mobile shoppers of the world, we’ve also dropped the price of the full, unlimited-gameplay version down to $0.99!
Download the “Lite” version of AquaSpank now by clicking the link below:
Darkest of Days - NVIDIA Developer Roundtable
A few members of our development team recently took part in a roundtable discussion with NVIDIA and several media outlets to shed some light on how NVIDIA’s PhysX is used in our upcoming FPS, Darkest of Days.
One feature definitely worth mentioning is NVIDIA’s GPU acceleration for PhysX. The ability to compute PhysX on the GPU has been incredible for us, and truly has taken the level of naturalism in our environments to a much higher level. With that feature enabled, we are able to fill our battlefield’s with thousands more physically-active particles — everything ranging from leaves blowing through the fields with each gust of wind to the billowing smoke clouds and dirt clods thrown up by every artillery strike.
Screenshots and videos of the effects in action will be coming, but in the meantime:
Find out more by visiting the latest headlines at NVIDIA’s nZone.
Go directly to the transcript of the roundtable here: Darkest of Days—Interview
Your iPhone Has Been Spanked
Our first mobile application is now available! Aquaspank represents a fun little excursion from our regular work here at 8monkey. It has been a chance for some members of our team to try a new platform, solve some new problems, and just generally do something completely different. We were all surprised by how fast the iPhone actually is; it’s been a while since we looked at any mobile platforms and the difference from just a few years ago is striking. Aquaspank is able to draw up to about a thousand blended, textured, particles on screen at once in addition to a refraction effect and a basic physics sim on each bubble. We hit the limit on pixel fill long before the CPU became a factor, so there’s probably even more room to play with there. This should be an interesting platform to keep an eye on to be sure.
You can view screenshots and details on Aquaspank at our games page here.
If you’re already sold and just want to get the game, then head on over to the store:
NVIDIA PhysX Press Release
NVIDIA is doing a bit of work publicizing titles using its PhysX technology, including Darkest of Days. A press release sent out today contains some info about the game, a few new screen shots, and of course plenty about PhysX. You can read it here.
PhysX is part of an interesting trend toward moving more non-graphics computation onto the GPU. 8monkey is currently conducting some research into adding some GPU simulated particles and fluids to Darkest of Days with PhysX. Expect more developments in this area soon.
Press Release: NVIDIA PhysX Technology Brightens Darkest of Days
Gaming Nexus Goes Behind the Scenes
Gaming Nexus dives deeper into the inspiration and technology that stand behind our debut FPS, Darkest of Days. You’ll find out a bit more on the “who, what, why and how”, and the balancing act and decision making that goes into time travel, historical battles, and of course…future weaponry.
Read through the full interview here: Gaming Nexus Article
Marmoset’s Fluids
Fluid Dynamics on the GPU from andres reinot on Vimeo
Mostly for kicks, Andres has been working on a fluid dynamics demo. This video is of PhysX fluid particles being simulated on the GPU and rendered in the Marmoset Engine (in a Toolbag module actually). A fountain of 20,000 particles is being simulated by one GeForce 8800 GTS and being drawn by another GeForce 8800 GTS runs at 50 fps on a good day, though no actual optimization work has been done. This demo does serve a purpose: it is preparation for our super-cool, super-secret tech plans this summer.
Marmoset Toolbag Released
After much anticipation brewing in the underground, we’ve released Toolbag, Marmoset Engine’s toolset for artists. The main features in this nice little bundle is our real-time model viewer, material editor, and animation previewer. This tool give game artists a quick, easy-to-use application to show off their hard work to the rest of the world.
For more information, check out our Toolbag page in the Technology section of our site.
For those of you that would like to get your hands on it right away, download it here: Toolbag Installer
Darkest of Days in play® magazine
Hey everyone! We’re sorry for the late notice, but check out the February 2009 issue of play® magazine for the 3-page spread on Darkest of Days. They have some cool screenshots and updates on development so check it out while it’s still on the newsstands!
You can find a preview of it online at play!