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Retro/Grade preview: A step forward, backward
Much like the classical pianist who has thoroughly mastered his craft and finds the act of reading sheet music to be perfectly droll, the multicolored gem charts of Guitar Heros and Rock Bands have become easy pleasy lemon squeezy. If you've been playing those games since the genre's inception, you can probably tap and strum through most songs on the hardest difficulty settings. It is unlikely, however, that you could do so backwards while dodging increasingly violent salvos of enemy lasers. 24 Caret Games' PSN-exclusive indie shoot-em-up Retro/Grade asks you to do just that, forcing you to use your brain (and your digits) in a manner which you're almost certainly unaccustomed to. In case you haven't been following it (you terrible dummy), here's the pitch: You're a pilot who's flying his spacecraft through a reversed flow of time, dodging enemy fire as it's sucked back into their ships, while re-collecting your own fired bursts by navigating to the appropriate track and strumming, in time, on a guitar peripheral. (Or a controller, if you're so inclined.)
Retro/Grade headed to PAX Prime with fancy ID cards
Retro/Grade developers 24 Caret Games will print customized ID cards for PAX Prime attendees this August, giving some peace of mind to those dreading sudden separation from their like-minded groups in Penny Arcade's increasingly packed event. The crew from 24 Caret will be at this year's Seattle-based soiree, showing off its game and holding a promotional contest -- and that's where the ID cards really come in. Entry in the high score contest is tied to pre-registering for a card (which you can do right here) for free -- if you're not into that kinda thing, generic Rick Rocket cards will be available otherwise at the show. That said, if you pre-register, it'll also net you a totally swanky identification for the duration of PAX, undoubtedly helpful in your repeated self-introductions as "The guy who plans to conquer your Retro/Grade high score."
Retro/Grade devs document a thrilling 48 hours in indie development
Whoever said indie development was all chiptune dance parties and NOS-sponsored galas clearly never worked with the dudes at Retro/Grade dev 24 Caret Games. The studio condensed 48 hours of development time on its latest game into a terrifying one-minute clip, as seen below the break.
Retro/Grade preview: Rock your brain off
I set down the guitar controller and start walking back through the layers. I'm sitting at the PAX booth of 24 Caret Games, taking my first spin behind the frets of Retro/Grade, which has one of those great premises that only a video game could really do justice to. As ace spaceship pilot Rick Rocket, I've done it again: I've saved the galaxy by defeating the horrific final boss. The credits begin to roll and it's only then that I realize that, somehow, as a byproduct of this victory, all of space and time has come to an end. I do the only thing I know how to do, I reverse the flow of time, intercepting the shots I once fired and sucking them back up into my ship. This is where I, the player, take over. Unfortunately, as the level unprogresses, I miss unfiring too many of my shots and get hit by too many enemy bullets I dodged the first time. I get a game over screen, but I don't see the end credits I saw at the beginning/end, but rather the real "Game Over." Only, it's not literally Game Over, since my ship is equipped with a Retro/Rocket that lets me unreverse the flow of time and unmiss the shots I originally made so I can unmake them correctly. I notice my right temple has begun to throb.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Retro/Grade
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 Matt Gilgenbach, co-founder of 24 Caret Games, the developer behind upcoming PSN release Retro/Grade. How did your company get started? We always dreamt of having our own game studio. In the summer of 2008, the game business was booming, the sun was shining, and birds were chirping, so the time seemed right to venture out on our own. Unfortunately, soon after we started, we were caught by surprise by the great recession of aught-eight. Perhaps it wasn't the best time to start after all! Despite that setback, we decided to follow our dream against innumerable odds. We are hoping to option the true story of 24 Caret Games to Hollywood for one of those feel good triumph of the human spirit movies. I was thinking Rpattz could play me. He had the appropriate game developer complexion in Twilight. So far, no studio has gotten back to me about it ...
PSN's Retro/Grade is progressing, but not coming in 2010
In an interview with PSNStores, 24 Caret Games' Matt Gilgenbach offered an update on the development of the time-reversing rhythm shmup ... thing, Retro/Grade. Most obviously, the PSN release is getting a nice visual boost over what has been shown: "We've redone pretty much all the graphics to make the game look really snazzy on your HDTVs," Gilgenbach said, "especially because Retro/Grade runs at Full HD (1080p) at 60 fps with anti-aliasing." Power-ups (and power-downs) have also been added, as have "some epic reverse boss fights" that the team isn't talking about yet. If you want to try out the odd guitar-controlled PSN game (and there will be a demo!) you'll have to jump forward in time to next year: "I am confident we will release it sometime in 2011," Gilgenbach said, "but I can't really narrow it down too much further."
Retro/Grade reverses time and shmup expectations on PSN
Retro/Grade, an Independent Games Festival nominee for best game design, is making its way off of PSN ... we mean, onto PSN. See, the thing that makes this shmup different is that all the action happens backwards -- like a classic space shooter meets Memento. Comparison can also be made between this game and WiiWare's Bit.Trip.There's a long writeup of the game over at the PlayStation Blog. One of the cooler things implemented in the title is the use of a guitar controller to control the ship. The fret buttons will allow the player to move, while the strum bar is used as the "shoot" button. You can get an idea of what it'll look like in the video after the break.
