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Use State Share to give friends an advantage while saving the world in PixelJunk Raiders on March 1

StadiaTeam
Stadia Employee
Stadia Employee
83 19 8,872

PJR_keyart.png

PixelJunk Raiders, the action-adventure rogue-like from Q-Games is built with State Share, the exciting feature that’s only possible with Stadia. Inspired by 1970s pulp sci-fi, players take control of a mercenary called in to rescue planet Tantal from a fiendish alien threat. You'll slash, smash, raid, and rescue your way through hundreds of procedurally-generated stages that are entirely unique. Ahead of the launch of PixelJunk Raiders within Stadia Pro and on the Stadia store ($19.99 USD, €19.99) on March 1, Q-Games is sharing how State Share changes the game for players.

In games that support the feature, State Share turns a normal screenshot or video capture into a portal to a unique game experience. By embedding a game state within each capture, sharing gameplay for others to watch is transformed into the chance to try a playable slice of the game yourself at the click of a link. For more information on State Share functionality, see our Help Center article.

We chatted with Dylan Cuthbert, President and Founder of Q-Games, to learn more about how they used State Share to create asynchronous multiplayer gameplay in PixelJunk Raiders.

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Hi Dylan! Before we dive specifically into State Share, can you tell us more about the inspiration of PixelJunk Raiders and its creation?

Hello, it's exciting to be this close to launch! PixelJunk Raiders is a 3D rogue-like sci-fi adventure game. The art style of PixelJunk Raiders draws upon my childhood, growing up reading the beautifully illustrated and colored sci-fi comics from the late 70s/early 80s era. Regular rendering wouldn't do, so I invented a bespoke algorithm to colorize the world exactly the way I wanted it. I hope it inspires you as much as it has inspired me.

The backstory of the game is that a quantum anomaly has engulfed the planet Tantal out on the frontier of space and you play a mercenary who has been called in as first response to try and rescue the indigenous Tantallians before they are wiped out. Players will teleport their avatar down into a hostile environment crawling with aliens, armed with melee weapons that have different combo attacks and characteristics to take advantage of. 

On top of this, you can place traps and turrets and other gadgets to help you take out the alien forces, because they can get pretty tough! With procedurally-generated landscapes filled with unique settlements, towns, underground cantinas, canyons, and monolithic temples, each stage and challenge is unique.

How does State Share work specifically in PixelJunk Raiders?

In the game, players take advantage of what we call ‘imprints’ in each stage - turrets, gadgets, and other weaponry that help take down the alien forces holding the indigenous Tantallians hostage. Once you capture a screenshot or gameplay clip from your stage, State Share ensures that your game state is saved as well, allowing other players to play the same procedurally-generated stage. 

By clicking the link to your capture, they can start from the beginning of your unique stage in PixelJunk Raiders and use your imprints - as well as any they create - to complete the level and save the Tantallians! In this way, states passed between several players will evolve slightly depending on how each person plays the game.

Of note, players will need to collect Axontium, a golden resource found all over planet Tantal, in order to use each imprint. Be sure to grab as much as you can within each stage to use to your advantage!

PixelJunk Raiders.jpgWith State Share, recreate imprints left behind by other players by spending Axontium collected across the stage.

So it sounds like players can use State Share to beat difficult stages?

Precisely! We developed PixelJunk Raiders to use State Share so that when a particular stage is too tough to beat by yourself, players can cooperate to overcome the alien invasion by sharing their states back and forth, building up the available imprint defenses. Which one of you will beat it first?

What kind of imprints will players be able to create?

Here are just a few of the imprints that players can use in PixelJunk Raiders. There are others that provide a number of utilities that can be very useful. Test them all out and find creative ways to use them!

  • Quantum Turrets - These gadgets will lock on to nearby enemy units and shoot them. Turrets are a great way to establish control of a specific area. Be careful not to be damaged by the Bomb Turret!
  • Quantum Mines - These nifty imprints have a proximity trigger that when triggered will explode and hurt everything caught in the blast zone, including your avatar if it’s too close.
  • Quantum Minions - These trusty companions will follow and fight with you. If they take too much damage they’ll die - but in a pinch, they can be used to distract pursuing enemies.

Screenshot (818)(1).pngThis avatar is using imprints like Turrets to take control of the area and Minions to fight with them and distract pursuing enemies.

What attracted Q-Games to Stadia as a cloud gaming platform and creating a game around State Share?

I love the ease of access players have to Stadia, you can stream amazing quality games right there in your browser or even on a tiny notebook PC. I had always wanted to make a rogue-like game with vast automatically generated alien vistas and when I heard about the tech behind Stadia, I saw a great opportunity to expand the concept into a fully realized 3D world. 

I have a keen interest in asynchronous multiplayer games, so State Share enabled me to create a really unique and collaborative way to play PixelJunk Raiders. Paired with the accessibility of Stadia, State Share is such a compelling feature since it allows players to try a new game state as easily as clicking a link and running it right there in your browser.

Screenshot (816).pngGestures from other players are visible in PixelJunk Raiders when sharing game states with State Share.

You can also place gestures for other players to see, such as hand-waving, laying down to enjoy the view, or expressing anger. I can imagine a chain of people sharing game states and their gestures being seen by a much larger audience than they originally intended. In this sense, it’s a form of communication too, so I'm interested to see if any emergent player behavior evolves from it. It's in the hands of players now!

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PixelJunk Raiders is launching March 1, 2021, available to claim free in Stadia Pro or purchase in the Stadia store ($19.99 USD, €19.99). Sign up on Stadia.com for your free month trial of Stadia Pro and instant access to claim and play PixelJunk Raiders. State Share functionality is only available within PixelJunk Raiders and the HITMAN trilogy on Stadia, with support coming to more games in 2021 and beyond.

More than 100 games are coming to Stadia in 2021, including FIFA 21, Outriders, Judgment, Far Cry 6, Riders Republic, Hello Engineer, and others. For a full list of games available now on the Stadia store, visit Stadia.com

Follow Stadia’s Twitter and Facebook for more news on upcoming games and announcement

19 Comments
applesoff
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Glad to see state share getting some more love

DaBaldEagul
Silver Stadia Guide
Silver Stadia Guide

State share as the original announcement made it seem! Gonna love it!

DubVillMill
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Exclusive game with exclusive features, and it's included with Pro subscription!  Awesome news and highlight!..  still will see the troll train come through.

GamerGer
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Thanks for another great game :hugging_face:

Gfan08
Founder
Founder

The gestures element seems really interesting. Will love seeing how people leave their mark on different game states over time. Can't wait to try this game!

4ScarrsGaming
Founder
Founder

Great to see State Share being used more and more in games. Can't wait for Monday!!

xgudwilx
Founder
Founder

Can I get a state share for all video games in general?  How does anyone have the time to learn these **bleep** games. I think I've played maybe 10 hours of Pubg and killed  what 3 people? When I'm not trying to remember where x and y are or R1 this and R3 that means..  I'm trying to figure out how to wrap my head around a new map for each game I play. God forbid I wander off into my weapons & settings. What the hell is all this stuff? Guess the days of run jump shoot are over.

 

Chufu
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

Good to see State Sharing is growing. Personally the new game though is nothing for me ^^

RXShorty
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

This sounds like a amazing implementation of state share!

GNico
Founder
Founder

Well, it looks like I'll be buying this game next week.

lclbestgamer
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

excited to play it!!!!!

carlthewinner
Founder
Founder

Awesome can’t wait to state share this!

Use my link to get an extra free month of pro! :slightly_smiling_face: we can state share together! https://stadia.com/link/referrals?si_rid=2347796724000529332&si_rt=1

Wisperingdeth
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Sounds intriguing. Looking forward to trying it out later.  

SquatterMadras
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Shame this game is unplayable for myself and I imagine many more due to being unable to invert the y axis.

DaddyRim
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

how do you play multiplayer on pixeljunk raiders?

SQUiDzzz
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

I loved playing this game Live!! Can't wait to get into this more and see how the story/game unfolds!! Thank you for all the support in this awesome Community! zzz

Drogrush
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Osceno! 

10€ all mese per giochi osceni! 

Libertonyan
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Awesome feature, and I'd love to take advantage of it, but I'm unable to play this game because, for some baffling reason the developer chose to not let us players INVERT THE F@CK!NG CONTROLS! 

FantiR
Founder
Founder

@SquatterMadras @Libertonyan The update with inverted X and Y axis came out this week, enjoy :beaming_face_with_smiling_eyes: