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Voice-controlled RTS There Came an Echo speaks up in Feb.
There Came an Echo, the voice-controlled real-time strategy game from Iridium Studios starring nerd royalty Wil Wheaton, is due out on February 24 for $20 via Steam for PC. The release date comes courtesy of a new trailer (below), featuring players that Iridium "totally found on Craigslist." These uninitiated few try out There Came an Echo's voice controls, including the ability to change characters' names to things like "Sweetie Pie" and something naughty that appears to rhyme with "Duckface." There Came an Echo was successfully funded on Kickstarter in March 2013, raising $115,000 of a $90,000 goal. It's Iridium's second successful Kickstarter game, following Sequence. There Came an Echo stars Wil Wheaton and Ashly Burch, and puts players in charge of a small, gun-wielding squad in a near-future sci-fi environment. "Corrin (played by Wil Wheaton) is a 31-year-old cryptographer and inventor of a very particular encryption algorithm ... one that currently holds safe a shocking secret," the game's Kickstarter reads. "His comfortable existence is interrupted by the enigmatic Val, who informs him that his life is in very imminent danger. His desperate attempts to uncover the truth are aided by a mercenary, Miranda; a vengeful young woman, Grace; and a mysterious British gentleman named Syll." Players are able to customize the voice controls in There Came an Echo, and Iridium promises that it's possible to play the game without speech at all. It's also coming to Xbox One and PS4, eventually.
Bark out orders in There Came an Echo's War Room
Guiding a squad of soldiers through a campaign of missions with just your voice might take some practice, but There Came An Echo's War Room could serve as a pretty serviceable training ground. Whereas Iridium Studios' Jason Wishnov describes Echo's campaign as "narratively complex," War Room will let field commanders get right to the battlefield and experiment with weapons, voice commands and strategies to defeat waves of enemies. If you're of the "I'll believe it when I see it" mindset, Wishnov stated that the trailer's voice commands were "captured live and unedited," but it should be noted that the above demonstration of War Room is pre-alpha footage, and it isn't specified which version of Echo was used for the recording. You'll be able to call the shots when Echo reaches Steam later this year, with PS4, Xbox One, Mac and Linux versions also in the works. [Image: Iridium Studios]
Strategy game There Came an Echo voices PS4 support
Voice-controlled RTS There Came an Echo is headed to the PlayStation 4 alongside previously announced ports for Xbox One and PC, developer Iridium Studios announced this week. In There Came an Echo, players control an armed squadron using voice commands, issuing orders to the group and to individual teammates amid hectic firefights. Players can fully customize the game's recognized commands (allowing your squadmates to respond to a Captain Picard-esque "Make it so!" during combat, as the trailer above demonstrates), and the game features DualShock 4 controller support in addition to the default microphone controls. There Came an Echo earned more than $115,000 in backer funding when it turned to Kickstarter for support in 2013, and is due for a Steam release later this year. [Video: Iridium Studios]
There Came an Echo reverberating to Xbox One
After Iridium Studios launches There Came an Echo, an in-development, isometric strategy game that can be controlled with spoken commands on PC, Iridium will say "Xbox, port ... no, Xbox, port! Xbox PORT!" Official Xbox Magazine has revealed Iridium's plans to launch an Xbox One version of There Came an Echo "shortly" after its PC launch. Although a June 2014 release date was suggested during the game's Kickstarter campaign, a backer update from last month states that October 2014 is a bit more likely. During Destructoid's recent e-mail exchange with Iridium, Iridium calculated that the delay would put the Xbox One version's launch near early 2015. Mac and Linux ports are also planned, but Iridium told Destructoid that they're unlikely to launch alongside the PC version. The delay will allow Iridium to add gesture controls, but if you're worried about the technology being unable to pick up the eyerolls you've been practicing over the aforementioned speech controls, know that you'll be able to use a keyboard and mouse for the PC version. Presumably, that suggests controller support will also be available for those who don't want to use the Kinect. [Image: Iridium Studios]
There Came an Echo, voice-controlled strategy starring Wil Wheaton
Iridium Studios, the team responsible for 2011's Kickstarter success, Sequence, is tackling the widely untouched genre of speech-run gaming with There Came an Echo, a voice-controlled strategy game. Iridium hopes to cash in on Kickstarter once again with There Came an Echo, asking for $90,000 to complete the game for PC, with a launch on Steam scheduled for mid-2014 (no Greenlight required).Players in There Came an Echo act as the field commander of a small squad and talk members through operations to achieve various objectives. The game will recognize a pre-programmed vocabulary of a few hundred commands, such as "head to Bravo 3," but each command is fully customizable."For instance, instead of 'Grace, hold position,' you might choose to say 'yo girl, hold up,' or instead of 'weapons free,' you might say, 'not the gumdrop buttons!' You'll be able to direct your troops in a style completely your own," Iridium's Kickstarter description reads.If that's not intriguing enough, Iridium roped in geek extraordinaire Wil Wheaton to star in There Came an Echo. Iridium founder Jason Wishnov has a pretty hefty industry track record himself, including freelance work for Joystiq's Wii Fanboy and DS Fanboy when those were still things back in 2007. Check out Wheaton and Wishnov in the Kickstarter promo video above.
Indie Royale goes back to school with new seven-game bundle
The latest Indie Royale game bundle is serving up seven games at a low, pay-more-than-the-minimum price for Steam and Desura. The Back to School Bundle includes Ronimo Games' Swords & Soldiers, along with the game's Super Saucy Sausage Fest DLC.The bundle also includes Lunar Flight by Shovsoft, Bunny Must Die: Chelsea and the 7 Devils, Qlione and Flying Red Barrel by Rockin' Android, rhythm-RPG game Sequence from Iridium Studios, and the game and original soundtrack for Cute Things Dying Violenty from ApathyWorks. Those that spend over $8 on the bundle will also receive an 18-track chiptune album, BIAS. The Back to School Bundle will be available over the course of this next week.
Rhythm RPG Sequence now available on Steam
The Xbox Live Indie Game Sequence, which recently took home third place in Microsoft's Dream Build Play competition, is now available on Steam. In case you've missed our previous coverage, Sequence offers a unique take role-playing games, replacing traditional combat with rhythm game mechanics. Basically, imagine tapping along to a slammin' beat, except you're not earning points, you're slaying monsters. Sequence is currently available for $4.50, 10 percent off the usual price.
Rhythm/RPG hybrid Sequence out now on Xbox Live Indie Games
Iridium Studios' unique role-playing rhythm title Sequence has finally arrived on Xbox Live Indie Games. For the uninitiated, Sequence sees players conducting battle using a DDR-esque four direction input set to the rhythm of tracks from Michael Wade Hamilton and YouTube sensation Ronald Jenkees. On the RPG side, there's a ton of character customization, item crafting, pithy dialogue and also magic and stuff. The game's available now through the Xbox Live Indie Games storefront for 240 Microsoft Points ($3). If you're still confused on how this Frankensteinian genre-bender works, check out a launch trailer after the jump!
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Sequence
Being a giant, beloved video game site has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with former DS Fanboy blogger and Iridium Studios head Jason Wishnov, about his rhythm RPG Sequence. How did you or your company get started? This is a boring question. I am going to replace your questions with interesting questions instead. What? But that's not how- Hello, Jason! You are handsome and talented. Can you please explain the trailer to me? Of course, Justin! The trailer shows off some of the core gameplay of Sequence, which is a fusion of RPG and rhythm mechanics. You see three streams of notes falling down from the top of the screen; each corresponds to a different action. You can rotate between them freely, but you can hit only one stream at a time. The stream in red is where you play defense; if you hit a note, no damage is done, but if you miss, you lose some HP. The stream in green is where you cast spells (found at the bottom of the screen, in the Spell Ring); you need to hit every note of a spell for it to actually activate. There are damage spells, healing spells, barriers, and so forth. And finally, the stream in blue is where you regain mana to cast more spells.
