What’s on your bookshelf: Fucksweeper and HoloVista’s Nadya Lev

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Booked For The Week is our (theoretically) weekly chat with industry folk about the books they love, have loved, and are hoping to love in the future

Hello reader who is also a reader! It’s time to upend another sackful of tomes over your head, care of another game developer. This week, we’re talking to Nadya Lev - co-founder of New York studio Aconite, and developer of the splendidly unsexy Fucksweeper , which I had the pleasure of trying not to be seen playing in a crowded airport lounge in 2024.

Lev is also one of the minds behind augmented reality phone game HoloVista, the publisher of US alternative magazine Coilhouse, and a lecturer “on everything from Soviet-era mind control techniques to ancient spells found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead”. Cheers Nadya! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

The Eudaemonic Pie . It’s a nonfiction book about how a group of Bay Area physicists invaded Vegas in the 1970s with the goal of cheating at roulette, a game of chance that was, famously, believed to be impossible to beat. Their plot included using Newtonian physics to predict where the ball would stop. They built a tiny microcomputer that fit into one of their shoes. They used foot taps to communicate with one another via shoes, electronically in secret. What they would do is observe the specific conditions of each roulette spin (how forcefully the wheel was spun, how the ball bounced, etc) and by feeding that data into their shoe microcomputer, they’d get predictions for what to bet on. It’s a wild, true story! I love the concept of the Eudaemon; it is a cybernetics term. In the olden days, it referred to a benevolent spirit bringing luck. But in this context, it refers to an unseen helper - an algorithmic spirit, quietly steering outcomes.

A/S/L by Jeanne Thornton. It’s a deeply mystical, extremely funny, very moving book about three trans women who meet online in 1998 and try (but fail) to ship a game called “Saga of the Sorceress.” The book is a love letter to ZZT (an ASCII game-making system with a very creative subculture around it), the 90s internet, Hermetic Kabbalah, mental illness and/or divine inspiration, and being an artist. The story starts in 1998 and flashes forward to 2016. Life took the three women in very different directions, but the process of trying to make this game together haunts each of them in a different way. The story is about what happens when they collide again. I feel like a lot of people missed out on this book because it was labelled “LGBTQ lit”, and people thought, “it’s not for me.” But it’s so universal and profound! I love this book so much. Thornton grew up making games, so she’s able to write about game dev from the point of view of a teenager who is at once grandiose and insecure, in a very real way.

It’s not out yet, but I am very excited for the book Making by Miracle Jones. It’s the fourth book in a seven-book series called The Fold . The first three books are utterly, brain-meltingly insane (the first one in the series is called Sharing and it’s wild). I love The Fold because it’s a completely different take on fantasy. Most of the fantasy genre has this European, old-world DNA, despite 90 years having passed since The Hobbit. Fantasy generally deals with lords, peasants, castles, throne succession drama, enchanted swords, names like “Aldric Thornwood” or whatever. It’s stale! Miracle Jones does this really interesting thing where he asks: “what would it look like if we started over and had a fantasy series that was purely American in its DNA?” What are the component parts of that? Diners, roadside attractions, melting-pot immigrant cities, Puritanism, criminality. The Fold series takes these as a spiritual foundation, and this absolutely insane world unfurls out of that… it’s hard to describe, but it’s one of the most breathtaking, imaginative worlds I’ve ever encountered. MJ’s short stories are also truly unhinged. Horror, sci-fi, too-strange-to-be-classified stories… they’re all up for free on his site and they’re all very funny and clever and weird! His writing can also be found in marketing-fetish horror sim Fucksweeper, and in our soon-to-be-announced new game!

There’s a scene in The Master and Margarita that I really love. Everyone remembers The Grand Ball at Satan’s; it’s one of the best scenes in the book! (I’ve actually given a talk about it.) But there’s another scene in that book that I love even more. It’s a scene in which Margarita, a woman who enters into a pact with Satan, is given a cream by Azazello, one of Satan’s henchmen. Satan wants her to host his ball, but in order for that to happen, she must transform into a witch. So she rubs this cream on her face and suddenly, she begins her transmutation. Her neat hairstyle falls apart and her hair is wild. Her skin takes on a preternatural quality. She begins to float. She laughs for the first time in a long while. She starts causing chaos. She hops on a broom and flies to the ball… but on her way to the ball, she casually flies through a window into the apartment of a guy she hates and utterly wrecks it. It’s just such a dark, joyful, beautifully-written scene. I think we all wish we had a little jar of that cream sometimes!

I love The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It’s one of my favorite books. I think it’s like… a true work of modern literature. It’s a book that really paints a beautiful picture of a lost New York and a desolate suburban Vegas. A lot of the themes in it are very universal. It’s sad, it’s funny, the prose is absolutely stunning. Everyone should read it. It’s the kind of book that makes you feel like you’ve actually lived someone else’s life by the time you finish it.

Labyrinths by Borges. Still one of my all-time faves! I’d love to see it turned into a series of little vignettes, a la The Beginner’s Guide. Infinite libraries, labyrinths that fold in on themselves, gardens where every path exists simultaneously, stories within stories… there’s such rich material for playable worlds in that book. David Foster Wallace once purportedly said, “When you read a Borges story you are playing a game, perhaps an amusing game and perhaps a deadly serious one — and you don’t know the rules of the game.” His stories are basically games already. I know that a level in the exquisite game Manifold Garden was inspired by it, but I want more!

One extra from me. The aftermath of the Geoff Awards is a good time to check out Brendan Keogh’s monograph The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist , which “challenges core assumptions about videogame production and reveals the diverse and precarious communities, identities, and approaches that make it a significant cultural practice”. I can’t remember if there’s a section on industry award ceremonies, but I’d be surprised if there isn’t. In other news, I have got to get me one of those eudaemons, with some regional modifications. I need a pair of shoes that lets me hack the UK housing market. Book for now!

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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