Another Moleman has arrived! In this Creators United interview, Nexus had the opportunity to chat with Dylan "Kinesisver1" Kruger. Dylan is quite passionate about his friends, making content with them, being inspired by them, and generally having a good ol' time with his group. So let's take a walk with another member of the Molecast and see what his inspirations, favourite dinosaur, and involvement in Creators United is. What inspired you to be a content creator? It's just a lotta fun, and also to do a lot of cool things with my friends. Who are your inspirations, and why? Anyone who creates for a living because they get to make beautiful things with their life. What type of content do you create? Mostly gaming content with a little bit of comedy. What would you do to further your field in the South African entertainment industry? Simply, learn more skills. What prompted you to participate in the Creators United? Doing fun things with my friends for a good cause! Have you ever worked with any charity events before? Nope. When you’re not a content creator/superhero, what do you do in your daily life? I am a software tester/support person. What are the greatest difficulties you’ve faced being a content creator? Releasing content a weekly schedule and getting content made, generally. How did you feel when your content was appreciated for the first time? I Was over the moon, honestly the best feelings of my life. What is your ultimate goal as a content creator? For everyone to enjoy everything that we put out there. Quick-Fire Questions Favourite dinosaur? Diplodocus, bone-head dinosaur. Why did you choose your specific handle? Kinesis was taken. Favourite video game? Board games is chess, and video games is Minecraft. How did you get here? Many long hours of playing fun games with my friends. What’s your favourite and least favourite food? Favourite, most kinds of food, though I don't like eggplants or onions. Favourite Pokemon? Blastoise. What's the story behind the gamertag? It's a Pokemon move by Alakazam, and since it was taken, I added 1. Mark your calendars for Creators United, happening July 27th and 28th at the Nexus Hub venue! Make sure you join in to see The Molecast's Dylan "Kinesisver1" Kruger and many other content creators collaborate to raise funds for the Abraham Kriel Bambanani Children's Non-Profit. Our theme is superheroes!

Simply keeping on top of the steady release of “AAA” games is challenging enough these days, with a larger market than ever before, and a massive number of devs and publishers trying to sate that demand. Unfortunately, that often means far too many good indie titles fly under the reader without the recognition they deserve. This weekly post aims to highlight some of those games we’ve got around to playing but never got around to reviewing. For the King Developed by IronOak Games, a four-man Canadian indie team, For the King describes itself as a “Roguelike Tabletop Adventure”. The only word missing from that description is “hateful”. The pairing of hex-based overworld exploration, first-person dungeon-crawling, and turn-based Final Fantasy-esque combat works out surprisingly well. Every gameplay element – from the number of movement hexes your character receives per turn, to the chance they can disable a devices, or the likelihood they’ll hit a target – are modified by a dice roll. The most miserable and unhelpful die I’ve ever encountered. You start out by creating a party from the available classes and limited cosmetic options, before setting out in one of six story modules (“For the King” is just the first, and most narratively-developed of them). Your task almsot always boils down to traversing a large map, hex-by-hex, clearing out dungeons and defeating key enemies to restore the world, saving it from some impending doom (usually the spread of chaos). There are towns that offer services and mini-quests, shopkeepers that buy or sell supplies, and a myriad of chance-based random events. For players who hate time limits, be warned there’s no relaxed free-roam mode that allows you to explore the procedurally world at your own pace. Careful planning allows you to keep the chaos level low, but this ever-present threat forces you to keep up the pace and makes the ruthless RNG system that much more frustrating. On the upside, For the King moves at a brisk pace, with movement turns, events, and battles playing out at speed. A successful adventure is usually over in about five hours, if the RNG-gods grant you great loot drops and merciful enemy combinations. A catastrophic adventure is usually over in less than an hour, with your party receiving almost no gear before stumbling into an enemy pairing that simultaneously curses your team with multiple status effects, while buffing themselves to the point you miss every attack or have any damage negated. Sure, you can be tactical in battle – trying to ambush your enemies before engaging in battle, picking your target based on the turn order, or investing “focus” points to ensure you succeed at a dice roll – but RNG still dominates in the early game. Death – of which you’ll experience many – introduces the unconventional roguelike mechanics. You can keep using the same party across multiple modules, but they’ll always be reset to level 1 after falling in battle. Instead, you find and collect “Books of Lore” during every run, which are used to unlock new additions that affect every campaign module. These can be new character classes, new encounters in the world, and even new legendary loot that might spawn in dungeons. It allows you to tailor the experience in your favour, or make it even harder - if you’re so inclined. It’s the digital equivalent of buying expansion sets for a board game and, better still, everything is earned in-game at a healthy rate. There are no [censored] microtransaction purchases in For the King. You can pick up For the King on PC, Xbox One, and PS4 , and it’s currently available on the Xbox Game Pass for both console and PC. My Time at Portia Developed by Chinese-American indie studio Pathea Games, and published by Team 17, My Time at Portia started out life as an early access title on PC before receiving console ports this year. It’s best described as a crafting- and exploration-focussed sim. You arrive in the titular Portia, inheret your missing father’s workshop, and set about building a new life for yourself (which can mean sprucing up your home or finding love), all the while performing crafting commissions for different NPCs and the town government. The visuals and soundtrack are a little repetitive, but charming as hell. This game is now my default example when I’m trying to explain what I mean by “nauseatingly cute”. You trek around the world with a conventional third-person contorl scheme, able to run and jump, hack down tress and mine stone, engage in simple combat, or partake in several social interaction mini-games. These tasks are basic in function and there are extensive tutorials to get you up to speed. My Time at Portia is one of those games that has several simple systems that don’t hold up on their own, but somehow manage to combine into a captivating experience. A big part of that success is the rapid day-night cycle and a limited stamina meter, which encourages you to plan out your activities for the day. It may sound restrictive – and sometimes it is annoying – but it also keeps the pace brisk and I kept coming back to complete just one more task Days last 20 minutes in My Time at Portia, with your character awake from 7AM to 3AM (you’ll pass out and wake up in bed if stay up too late). Natural resources illogically respawn in a matter of days to ensure you’re never stuck without a task. After you complete a few introductory missions and construct your first basic crafting station, the game opens up, and you’re free to follow the actual story missions - which explain the post-apocalyptic state of the world that, destroyed by technology gone wrong – or you can simply perform daily commissions, dig through ruins full of old-world artefacts, gather resources to expand your homestead and equipment, or farm crops and fabricate clothing to sell to the locals (and gift to your love interest). As a year in Portia consists of only four months, each representing a different season and full of unique activities, it’s easy to lose track of time, but the story missions never impose themselves upon you. If My Time at Portia has a major weakness, it’s one shared by the genre. A few bad decisions can leave you grinding for the materials required to complete a task, resulting in a frustrating gameplay loop with little sense of progression (albeit somewhat mitigated by the rapid time cycle). After mistakenly taking a commission that required crafting material I could not yet access, I had to mercilessly cull dozens of panbats (a cute panda-bat hybrid) for their pelts. You can pick up My Time at Portia on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and the Switch. It’s also currently available on the Xbox Game Pass for both console and PC. Let us know in the comments below what you think of our choices, or if you’ve been playing an indie game this week you’d like to promote to the community. Follow the link to see more of our picks for Indies of the Week.

The weekend of July 12th saw 14 South African Dota 2 sides contest for five invitations to the VS Gaming Masters Tournament, their share of R70 000 and most importantly, the title of VS Gaming Champions. Held weeks after the far more highlighted WESG event at Rush, the VS Gaming Championships (VSGC) was not supposed to be special, not supposed to be exciting, and just like the teams playing, couldn’t care less about what was supposed to be. VSGC is a strange creature – an event that is quite literally a feeder tournament for its bigger, louder and more prestigious big brother, VS Gaming Masters. It has evolved from an unrelated tournament targeted at lower level teams, to one in which any team can register, but clearly focused at attracting the largest MGO’s and best players. VSGC has a considerably smaller budget allocated to it than many of the events we have seen this year and is run with light crews. The catch-all is that these crews often consisted of the very most passionate admin, casters and production crew. Short-handed, with the instruction of having fun and making the most of it – Of course that comes with its setbacks, but at its heart, it is an event that represents the passion that we gamers all share… As mentioned above, the budget for VSGC is a lighter one. Production is not an inexpensive trade and professional organisations that have become the norm in South Africa range from expensive to unaffordable. VS Gaming opted for an interesting choice, using the brains behind the TurboTortoiseTech (T3) YouTube channel to handle all the technical behind the scenes requirements. Fortunately for Dota 2 fans, the same production team has been used for the previous two CS:GO events. With a bit of help from community feedback and the individuals working on the weekends, the T3 offering has kept improving week by week. I’ll be honest, it’s not the most flamboyant production you will ever see, but if you consider budget, number of people behind the cameras and the lack of technical downtime during the event – what they have achieved is nothing short of commendable. Not perfect, but improving week by week and really, honestly commendable. Quick disclaimer - for those of you who do not know, I am about to discuss the talent at the event, and I am also one of the talent crew from all three of the VS Gaming Lan events. The Dota 2 shoutcasters in South Africa are exceptional though. Even some who were not included in this event can be incredibly proud of how good they are. Perhaps it’s the ease at which one can cast Dota 2, the extreme competitive nature of Dota 2 shoutcasting in South Africa or the international casting experience some have, but I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work with these guys. Shoutcasting can be an emotionally draining task, particularly since those with negative things to say are so much louder and so much more public than those who would offer constructive criticism or praise. I will gladly offer my praise though. As with most things in life though, it wasn’t perfect. With only one true-blue analyst on the team, the analytical insights into the game would have been better served should an additional analyst or player be added to the team. The panel guests that were featured on the final day had a mixed reception, which may simply be due to some unnecessary negativity relating to the individual but should be noted and an eye kept open regardless. With so many teams attending this event, each with their own aspirations and narratives, no matter how much I write here, it will not be fair to someone. The amount of upsets, close calls and emotional investment was incredible to watch, but a few stars shone brighter than others. The most emotional experience for any esports fan is watching an upset, but true upsets are rare. VSGC offered multiple and surprising upsets. None more so than the surprise victories of Origin over Exdee and Evo Esports over FIB Salt. Both these surprise upsets allowed them to jump the queue against Premier Leg teams and qualify for the VS Gaming Masters. Not to be outdone by the younger sides, Sinister 5 took down WESG Qualifier winners, Energy Esports, in a dramatic 2-1 series hot off a strong performance versus Goliath Gaming. Oh yeah… About that Goliath Gaming. Goliath met Energy Esports again in the lower bracket and ignored the current meta of the game, ignored the quality of their opponent and just like the VSGC tournament, couldn’t have cared less about what was supposed to be. With bizarre picks and an exceptional series, Goliath Gaming bested Energy Esports and forced their way into a grand final. Due to their lower bracket run, they would have to beat Sinister 5 three out of four times in a best of five with a one game disadvantage. We all went to sleep that night feeling that the event had been a success, a good time was had by all and hoping that it wouldn’t be a short grand final… We were so clueless as to what unholy-hellfire-monstrosity of a final loomed. I can’t do it justice, explaining it here is pointless, I didn’t have the words when it happened, and I don’t think I ever will. If you have ever had an interest in South African Dota 2 or esports at large… Go watch it and simply enjoy how close, how emotional and how phenomenal the games where. Goliath Gaming won three out of the four of the available games in their pseudo best of five and somehow, miraculously, are the VSGC Champions. Some players in this event really had special stories to tell and once more, it’s unfair on so many in this event, but these stars simply shone brighter. Some time ago, I met a young man who would go on to do great things, his nickname is Castaway. A former VS Gaming winner, part of a legendary feud with Bravado Emotion and I am glad to say, a former team mate and a friend. When I met him, he was clearly talented, rough around the edges and passionate about the game, but he also had an x-factor to him. I sat down with him many years ago and told him he would achieve great things. He did. This isn’t his story though, it’s a comparison to a player that won his first LAN event that he attended. Suhail “Soup” Khan. He is clearly talented, rough around the edges and passionate about the game. “You are going to achieve great things.” He was fairly unknown to the greater community, he got noticed playing alongside the veteran, RDK. Castaway and Soup were both 16 years old in their first LAN event, playing alongside RDK and made it all the way to the grand finals… The only difference – Soup won. Who knows what the future holds for this young man, but it surely is going to be a fascinating journey. I’ll keep the rest of these stories as short as possible, but as usual Traxion was a terror to deal with for his opponents. Last year at Comic-Con he stood alongside the Sinister 5 lineup and played a massive part in their victory… This year, he stands on their doorsteps– pounding at the gates. Stickalish just won both a CS:GO VS Gaming Lan event and a Dota 2 event, in the space of three weeks. Never done before, may never be done again… Awesome. Although I have less personal-narrative to explore about Mental, that's likely my own fault. He’s an incredible player though and I thought at the very least should mention him. A slightly quieter individual compared to his team mates, but a special Dota 2 player who contributed well to their win this past weekend. This next one however, this is the one that I think is the most special story I have had the privilege to tell in many years. Rynhardt “RDK” De Kock. You could call him the gentle giant of SA Dota 2, the meme-overlord, a mechanical genius, one of our finest… But he has also been called time and time again, “the best player to never matter.” His tale has not seen success at a tier 1 event before. Although he has won the former iterations of the VS Gaming championships, he won it when it was separated from the premier teams. He has played this game for as long as any and has always been a destructive force. To RDK, my HoN-trash friend… Finally… “Congratulations… Champ.” But what would all this emotion I feel matter if this was but a tree falling in a forest? The South African Dota 2 community has come under fire of late, issues of racism, infighting and criticism of their level of support for their own game. However, it’s a beautiful community underneath all the loud issues, these are passionate gamers who will stand up to greet you during their pre-event scrims. The Dota 2 community in SA gave a little taste of how good they can be, how supportive they can be and how utterly fantastic they can be. We just need to be in it more consistently now. This past VSGC has shown that budget and prestige have nothing on passion. This is the event that has somehow set the bar for South African esports in 2019. It’s an event that I will never forget. It’s an event that can remind us all how much potential this industry has and what can be achieved when we work together towards a greater good. It was “the beautiful LAN.” #dEaDgAmE *Article submitted by Dota 2 Shoutcaster Devin "HellbirD" Rigotti

In the next interview of superheroes lined up to participate in Creators United, we sat down to chat with Wednesday Lefey from the all-female DND crew, Dum Dum Die! Wednesday Lefey has big aspirations for the future, but made it known that she would like to do it for a good cause, in order to help as much as she can. From her humble beginnings to her favourite Pokemon, let's take a stroll with another member from the Dum Dum Die crew. What inspired you to be a content creator? I was just recruited for a DND female podcast, but I have been role-playing since I was a teenager. Who are your inspirations, and why? I'm inspired by people who manage to make it through hardships, like the average person, and people who do whatever they can to help others. What type of content do you create? Dum Dum Die is a live-play DND podcast, and we're going to be video streaming on Twitch. We also do spoof videos on DND. What would you do to further your field in the South African entertainment industry? South Africans are so talented but they don't make it here, they make it overseas, which is weird. We don't support people as we do as a nation. What prompted you to participate in the Creators United? We did a thing at The Nexus, and then they asked if we had signed up and then that basically how it happened. Have you ever worked with any charity events before? Yes, Creators Ball last year, and we also we had a charity event at the Nexus and CodeBros, for Cat Angel Refuge. When you’re not a content creator/superhero, what do you do in your daily life? Geneticist. I run a research lab, and I'm currently in the middle of my PHD. What are the greatest difficulties you’ve faced being a content creator? Role-playing is a lifestyle, and I get withdrawal if I don't play every week. It's all passion driven, but you can't support yourself with role-playing. How did you feel when your content was appreciated for the first time? I was over the moon! I was like "I'm famous!". Then I started calling myself a professional role-player. What is your ultimate goal as a content creator? To actually be a professional role-player, get paid for doing so, get calls, and just be a pro and passionate about what I do. Quick-Fire Questions Favourite dinosaur? Velociraptor. Why did you choose your specific handle? From the song, the "dum dum dum!" dramatic death thing, and you are most likely to die in a role-playing game (ed - From Software approves). Favourite video game? Tekken. How did you get here? I came through the veil. I am actually a fairy, and lived through multiple lives. What’s your favourite and least favourite food? Favourite, authentic oriental, except Thai. Least favourite is pizza. Favourite Pokemon? Jigglypuff. Mark your calendars for Creators United, happening July 27th and 28th at the Nexus Hub venue! Make sure you join in to see Dum Dum Die's Wednesday Lefey and many other content creators collaborate to raise funds for the Abraham Kriel Bambanani Children's Non-Profit. Our theme is superheroes!