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Transistor narration forges 'symbiotic' relationship with sword
When normal people lose their voice, they pick up cough drops. When Transistor heroine Red loses hers, she picks up a talking sword that acts as the game's narrator. Narration plays a large part in Transistor, but the philosophy behind the voice-over isn't one of exposition like in Supergiants' previous game, Bastion, it's one of relationships. Being a voice trapped in an inert object makes the relationship between player and narrator "symbiotic," according to a report from Polygon. The narrator in Transistor isn't an omniscient storyteller; he has feelings, and exists in the present, alongside Red. "I hope that what comes across is he really cares about Red the protagonist," creative director Greg Kasavin said. "If you get nothing else out of it, I hope you get that - that he cares about what happens to her and he doesn't want her to come to harm." Of course, being a sword, the Transistor is dang good at making sure Red is protected.
Bastion sales surpass 2 million
During a Transistor demo session at E3, Supergiant Games' Greg Kasavin confirmed that the studio's first game, Bastion, has sold over two million copies. "Bastion has done really well for us; it's sold over two million copies across all platforms," Kasavin said. "That puts us in a position to make games on our own terms and take the time needed to get it right." Part of that success was the seven-man team's pursuit of creating something "worth a damn" and not disappointing each other, Kasavin added. "Games take a lot of time and a lot of money, so we just wanted to make something that made people feel like they didn't waste their time or money playing it." Back at DICE in February, Supergiant founder Amir Rao said Bastion had reached 1.7 million sales.
Supergiant: Transistor PS4 deal doesn't influence port timing
Supergiant's relationship with Sony and the deal to bring Transistor to PS4 doesn't limit when or prohibit how the studio pursues ports. "Just the fact that we're shipping simultaneously on PC, I think, gives you some sense. They've been very accommodating," Supergiant's Greg Kasavin said of Sony during an E3 appointment. "After our initial launch, nothing is ruled out. It's our game and our IP – the game is making its console debut on PS4 and coming to PC as well. That makes the most sense for us as a small team; it's a similar path to what we did with Bastion," Kasavin said. "For us, it's really important to not be tied down for the long haul, because Bastion's success was not made on any one platform. That being said, our focus is absolutely on a successful PS4 launch and also our Steam PC launch, because if that does not go well, there will not be other versions of the game, most likely and so forth. "We're excited about what the PS4 is, what it represents and its potential to be a great home for a game like this. So that informed our decision and, you know, after the launch, who's to say? It's anyone's guess, but Sony has shown an incredible amount of faith in us. So in turn we plan to make it the strongest launch as we can. I think it's safe to say we're not going to be on other platforms two days after launch – or possibly ever. We simply don't know."%Gallery-191372%
PS4 media blowout: Driveclub, Knack, Infamous Second Son and more
Sony's lengthy E3 press conference was riddled with lots of game trailers - so many that we have to pile some of them into this little post for your viewing pleasure. While you take a quick break from your freak-out session over the PlayStation 4's $399 price tag, check out this trailer for Infamous: Second Son. Additionally, you'll find the likes of Driveclub, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Knack, Watch Dogs, Transistor and Batman: Arkham Origins after the break, each in trailer form. Grab some popcorn, you have plenty of footage to soak in.
Bastion is $3.75 today, more deals in GamersGate 'Spring Sale'
The Spring Sale over at Gamersgate continues with a nice daily deal on Bastion, Supergiant Games' wonderful action-RPG, for $3.75. Other deals today include Endless Space for $17.48 and half-off the Double Fine bundle, a collection of Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, Psychonauts and Stacking for $22.50.This sale is bolstered by ongoing weekly deals, such as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Collection for $12, Sine Mora for $4.98, Trine 2 for $3.75, Legend of Grimrock for $5.10 and Sonic Spinball for $1.70 – the full nine-page list is available through the source link below.
Supergiant may break free of publisher model with Transistor
Supergiant doesn't have a publisher for its next game, Transistor – but more importantly, it doesn't need one. Supergiant worked with Warner Bros. to publish Bastion, and since its launch in 2011, it's sold 1.7 million copies across PC, Mac, Linux, XBLA and iOS."It did well everywhere," Supergiant Lead Designer Amir Rao tells Joystiq at PAX East. Supergiant is now in a position to publish its own games, and Transistor might be the ideal candidate."We're showing it to the world for the first time," Rao says. "We don't have deals with anyone. This is the first time anybody has seen this game. It's really way too early for us to say if we'll have a publisher or what platforms it will be on."For what it's worth, Bastion moved the most units on Steam, Rao says. Supergiant may not seek a publisher at all, but anything's possible, Rao says. If it did want to snag a publisher, Transistor faces an issue recently vocalized by Epic Games and Dontnod. It features a female lead, and apparently that can make it a tough sell to publishers. Internally, it's not an issue for Supergiant."We put characters in our games that are representative of the worlds they're in," Rao says. "We don't think of her as a female character. She's just our character."
Transistor preview: A beautiful, tactical twist on action-RPG
Red is a fallen star, beautiful and talented yet broken and nearly defeated – until she finds the Transistor. In Supergiant Games' demo of Transistor, Red stumbles upon this giant, pulsating sword immediately, embedded in the gut of a corpse. The Transistor speaks with the voice of that dead man, urging her to take it and run. She does, with little hesitation; Red may have known this dead man once, as suggested by the stream of apologies and compassion overlaid on the gameplay.Transistor is gorgeous, seemingly hand-painted in muted neons backlit by futuristic skylines, similar in style to Supergiant's first game, Bastion. It plays, at first, with similar mechanics, as Red uses her initial two attacks to take down two robotic members of The Process, the main enemies of Transistor. In Red's world, more than 100 people have gone missing in the past year, and the imprints of the dead litter the streets, lorded over by floating white robots with glaring red sensors.%Gallery-183226%
Supergiant's next game is Transistor [Update: Logan Cunningham on board]
Bastion developer Supergiant Games' next project is Transistor, a sci-fi action RPG slated to launch sometime in 2014. In the blog post announcing the game, Supergiant's Greg Kasavin says the developer hasn't decided on any one specific platform or platforms for Transistor yet.Supergiant Games' freshman adventure Bastion launched in 2011, winning numerous awards and establishing itself as one of the best games of the year. Bastion has sold over 1.7 million copies to date.Update: Logan Cunningham, the voice of Rucks in Bastion, has confirmed on Twitter that he's working on Transistor "in a vocal capacity."%Gallery-183226%
Bastion sales reach 1.7 million
Speaking at DICE today, Supergiant Games founder Amir Rao mentioned that Bastion has sold 1.7 million copies across all available platforms.Rao's presentation at the annual executive conference explained how Supergiant Games went about porting Bastion from XBLA to PC and mobile. The company's porting team was ... well, it was eight people that composed the entire company. Staggering the releases of Bastion allowed them to keep the quality high and test ideas as the game expanded to other systems."We didn't lose an opportunity by not sim [simultaneously] shipping," said Rao. He pointed to his employment experience at EA, and simultaneously shipping Red Alert 3 for PC and Xbox, as an example of split focus.Bastion's slow multiplatform creep has been successful, with over 90 percent of sales occurring after its original launch month. Rao didn't mention any more upcoming ports of Bastion, but says it's the number one request they receive at Supergiant.
Hit List Q&A: Supergiant Games studio director Amir Rao
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Supergiant's Amir Rao. Amir Rao is the Studio Director for Supergiant Games, the team behind the AIAS award-winning downloadable game Bastion, which was released on Xbox Live Arcade, Steam, Mac, Linux, Chrome and iOS. Prior to Supergiant Games, Amir worked at Electronic Arts Los Angeles as a designer on Command & Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3.At the upcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit Amir will be speaking on the topic, "Multiplatformism." Over the course of a year, Supergiant Games shipped its award-winning game Bastion on six different platforms with three fundamentally different user interface paradigms. This session covers the design tenets that emerged in translating Bastion from controller to keyboard to touch. The talk will explore Superigant Games' ethos behind picking platforms, while considering if the future of elegant design is truly interface agnostic.
Punch Quest now costs a dollar, Bastion is universal
Here are two big updates to really great games on iOS. First, Punch Quest (which is one of my favorite iOS games this year so far) started out as a freemium title, given away for free with a number of in-app purchases to support it financially. But developers Rocketcat Games have said in the past that the in-app purchases just aren't making enough money to continue development, so they've taken the hazardous step of raising the app's price to US$0.99. Punch Quest is a terrific title that's well worth a buck or more, so hopefully it'll do better for the devs at the higher price. Second, Bastion, the XBLA hit that made its way to the iPad a little while ago, has released an update that makes the game universal. In fact, not only does the game now work on both iPhone and iPad, but it's also been updated to work with the iPhone 5's wider screen. iCloud syncing has been included as well, so all of your progress from the iPad should move over. Bastion is another terrific title, and it's available on the App Store right now for $4.99.
Bastion now universal iOS app, optimized for iPhone 5
Bastion for iPad is now a universal app with support for iPads 2-4, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and 5th generation iPod touch. Developer Supergiant announced the update on its site today, noting it includes upgrades such as full optimization for the iPhone 5 screen and iCloud support (to transfer saves).The developer previously stated it "felt the game experience would not translate well to the iPhone's smaller screen," but the launch of the iPhone 5 had them take another look. Bastion is currently $4.99 and the update is free if you already own the game on iPad.
A Humble Indie Bundle print you can proudly own
You've most likely bought Humble Indie Bundle 6 by now. Now you can continue your streak of unavoidable Humble purchases by picking up a print of Supergiant art director Jen Zee's incredible Humble Bundle 5 group shot.Unlike the actual bundle, you can't just pay what you want for this, unless what you want to pay is $14.99, divided among the Humble 5 developers and the Bundle organizers.
Bastion heading to iPad tomorrow [updated]
The kid is sauntering over to Apple's iPad tomorrow in Bastion from Supergiant Games. New Zealanders – beyond the beautiful rolling hills and verdant greenery – get iOS games ahead of the rest of the planet due to the position of the sun and how that relates to our definition of time, you see, so it's already available in that territory. The game has a set launch date of August 30, but some territories are already in the future.Anyway, Bastion's iPad-only for now, which Supergiant says was a decision made due to "technical reasons." Additionally, the team, "felt the game experience would not translate well to the iPhone's smaller screen."When it arrives on the US App Store, it'll cost $4.99 and there's no demo version – you could always try it out in Google Chrome first? Don't hesitate to let us know if you see it pop up on our digital shores, which should be sometime tonight around 11PM ET. And head over to Supergiant's page for a ton more info about the new release.Update: This story was updated to reflect the official announcement of Bastion on iOS.
Humble Indie Bundle V includes Psychonauts, Limbo, Superbrothers, Amnesia, Bastion (as a bonus)
The fifth iteration of the Humble Indie Bundle has gone live, granting donors their choice of Mac, PC or Linux versions of Psychonauts, Limbo, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as well as the soundtracks for each game. Anyone that pays above the average price (currently $6.71) will also receive Baston and its soundtrack.Seeing as the Steam release of Sword & Sworcery EP is still only available on PC, this bundle is currently the only way to buy it for OSX. As per usual, patrons can decide how much of their purchase price goes to the developers, to charity, and as a tip to Humble Bundle folks.
Bastion gets Steamplay support, on limited sale
Months after winning numerous end-of-year accolades, Bastion can append one more teensy triumph to the list: Steamplay support. If you purchase Supergiant's vibrant action-RPG through Steam, you'll be able to play it on PC or Mac.Bastion is on sale for six bucks through Valve's service for a limited time (until May 3). The discount also applies to a game and soundtrack bundle, which can be had for $9.98. And if you must have a physical copy ... try Afghanistan.
PSA: Bastion now available on the Mac App Store
If you don't have access to a PC or an Xbox 360 or Google's OS-independent Chrome browser, and yet your need to play Bastion simply cannot be satiated or forgotten, your hope for a narration-filled future is probably starting to wear pretty thin. What other possible form of digital distribution could placate your need for tonics, shards and acoustic guitars?Rest your weary head, traveller – there's light at the end of your remarkably specific tunnel: The Mac App Store has what you need, all for $14.99.
Play Bastion (circa October 2009) at PAX East this weekend
What's that? You already played the entirety of Bastion, bought the soundtrack, and have been learning how to play those tunes on your Wurlitzer? That's all fine and dandy, but you probably haven't even seen how the game looked way back in October 2009 when its first playable demo burst into existence. As the picture above reveals, that demo will be available for PAX East attendees.Supergiant and the super early build of Bastion will be on the PAX East show floor just behind The Behemoth. If you get lost, just start shouting, "Bastion! I'm looking for Bastion!" That should work out pretty well.
Bastion sheet music now available for $0.00 through Supergiant
Bastion's soundtrack has received almost as much praise as the game itself, which earned a spot on our list of 2011's best games, among other accolades from consumers and industry folk. Its haunting vocals, 1800s gospel-esque melody lines and character-relevant lyrics are an exceptional work on their own, as you can clearly tell from the video above featuring Bastion composer Darren Korb and vocalist Ashley Barrett.Now you too can play the part of a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter, assuming you have the ability to command a guitar and/or piano in coordination with sheet music and/or tabulature. Charts for all four songs of the Bastion soundtrack are now available for free from Supergiant's store, which we're certain will vastly improve the accuracy of YouTube cover videos the world over. Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to remind ourselves why we dropped out of music school.
Bastion's canceled feature: 'Find a shoe? Plant it.'
Supergiant Games spent one year working on a "rich gardening feature" for Bastion that the entire team was "really excited about," but was eventually cut from the game, designer Amir Rao said at GDC. The final version of Bastion demonstrates the team's obsession with plants, but gardening itself was set to play a pivotal role in exploration and players' overall sense of accomplishment, Rao said, breaking it down into four functions: Players would find seeds for story items and worlds Planters on the Bastion would open up gradually, limiting how many seeds could be planted Plants would be watered with blue "cores" They would sprout and the fruit would offer its item, world, etc.Gardening in Bastion faced a slew of problems, but mostly the seeds had no aesthetic connection to the final plant -- "What does a 'hammer plant' look like?" Rao asked -- and Supergiant eventually realized that they were solving the wrong problem. What Bastion really needed was a menu.
