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PS4, Vita game Axiom Verge isn't Metroid, but it's damn close
Pixelated platformer Axiom Verge is on its way to PS4 and Vita thanks to a boost from Sony's Pub Fund initiative, which offers cash and support to independent developers. Axiom Verge is a blend of Metroid, Contra and pretty pixel art, and it has a hacking mechanic on top of its shooting and platforming elements. The game comes from one-man studio Tom Happ. He introduces the storyline as follows: "A failed scientist dies in an accident, only to awaken in a mysterious, alien world. Where is he? How did he get here? And why do the fundamental laws of reality appear broken?" Maybe because we can't handle all of this awesome nostalgia, Happ. Maybe that's it. As of April 10, Axiom Verge was in development for PC and Xbox 360. [Image: Tom Happ]
Putting personality in pie charts with Metrico
Metrico is a platformer about bar graphs, pie charts, statistics and angles, asking players to repeat motions in order to shrink and grow their surroundings and advance through various vague landscapes. It's minimalistic and the presentation is concise – your character (a boy or girl) is a silhouette, and the surrounding objects are largely monotone. The build we played in August was rough, but almost one year on, the game is starting to round out. The animations are smooth, the puzzles border on frustrating difficulty without actually becoming a chore, and the game takes advantage of all of the Vita's senses. A fingertip on the back touch pad aims a line to measure angles, the bumpers shoot a projectile, and you use the touchscreen to select the gender of your character. Metrico feels like it's almost done, and Digital Dreams CEO Thijmen Bink says it might be ready for launch in a few months' time. The team has to polish the final levels and do one more, tiny thing: add a story.
Guacamelee has expanded Vita controller functionality
Drinkbox Studios will be attending this year's PAX Prime festivities in Seattle at the end of this month, and while it's there the developer will be showing off one of the benefits of Guacamelee's PlayStation 3/Vita exclusivity."We're integrating the Vita as a PS3 controller for Guacamelee, utilizing the Vita screen for a mini-map, and hopefully more," Drinkbox's Chris McQuinn told Joystiq. "Does this sound like a next-gen console you've heard of perhaps? As far as we know, we're the first game doing this."PAX Prime attendees, however, won't need a transmedia map on a $250 handheld to find Guacamelee on the show floor: Juicebox will be setting up shop inside the Indie Megabooth, which will be discernible from other, mainstream booths due to its abundance of pixel art and stylish, easily accessible development teams.
Sony to invest $20 million into PlayStation Network and Pub Fund over the next three years
Sony believes in its Pub Fund initiative and the PlayStation Network, and is putting up the cash to prove it. Over the course of the next three years, Sony will commit $20 million in seeking out independent developers to create games like Papo & Yo, Okabu and PixelJunk Sidescroller. Brandon Stander, director of marketing for PlayStation Network, describes it as a commitment of faith in the Pub Fund and a goal to bring "innovative, different, unique gameplay" to PSN.
Papo & Yo preview: O meu amigo, o monstro
If you haven't seen Papo & Yo's endearing announcement trailer, you should probably go check that out right now. Go ahead, I'll wait. All set? Great. Now that you've seen it, you'll understand why it was one of the few E3 2011 games that I made a specific point of going to play, just for me. Papo & Yo is a story-driven puzzle game about a boy named Quico who lives in a Brazilian favela, and his two best friends: a quirky robot named Lula and a rhino-like creature named Monster. Lula, unfortunately, scares the hell out of Monster, rendering him too petrified to move when she's nearby. Monster, on the other hand, is an adorable, friendly giant. That is, until he eats a frog (he's addicted to 'em!), totally flips out and tries to kill everything. I didn't see that part, though -- the demo actually ended with Monster gobbling a frog and a fade to black. What I played, rather, was all about puzzle solving. %Gallery-126125%
Papo & Yo turns a friend into an adversary on PSN in 2012
They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. But what if your best friend is also your worst enemy? That's a question posed by Papo & Yo, a new puzzle-platformer from independent Canadian studio Minority. The game stars Quico, a young boy living in a favela with a giant pink monster for a best friend. The only problem is the monster has a taste for frogs and whenever he (she? it?) eats one, a change occurs. Quico's also got a super high-tech robot for some reason. Frankly, if we were Quico, we'd sell the bot and move the hell out, but that's just us. Papo & Yo will be exclusive to PSN through Sony's budget-matching Pub Fund and has a 2012 launch timeframe tentatively penciled in. Papo & Yo will make an appearance at E3, so we'll get our hands on it then. In the time being, hit the jump for a teaser trailer.
Eufloria blossoms this June on PSN
Sony's Pub Fund project, which provides support to bring independently developed titles to the PSN without the help of a traditional publisher, has announced its next big release: Omni Systems' IGF-nominated artsy strategy title, Eufloria. The title has had its awfully vague 2011 launch window on PSN tightened up to a somewhat less vague "latter half of June," when it will hit the PlayStation Store for $9.99. The game, which sees players inhabiting procedurally generated asteroid fields with spores in a strategic attempt to ... well, inhabit all the asteroids, is a port of the PC title of the same name. This time around, however, the game will have extra content, enhanced graphics, an extended soundtrack and improved AI -- all at about half of the game's PC price. To quote our favorite collegiate economics professor: "More stuff for less money? That's always a totally rad deal." (He wasn't very good at his job.)
Tales From Space: About a Blob arrives Feb. 1 for PlayStation Plus users
DrinkBox Studios will see its Sony Pub Fund-backed platformer, Tales From Space: About a Blob, released on PSN on February 1 -- for PlayStation Plus subscribers, at least. The rest of the PlayStation Network populace will be able to download the title the following Tuesday, February 8. Tales From Space: About a Blob bears a resemblance to LocoRoco in terms of gameplay, with the added twist of its oozing protagonists (it's a two-player game) possessing the ability not only to grow larger by absorbing items, but fire them back out as projectiles, too. You know, like blobs tend to do. Final pricing hasn't been set, but DrinkBox CEO Ryan MacLean says on the PlayStation Blog that it should come in at $14.99 with a free trial version available, as well. Sounds like a goo-ed plan to us.
Tales from Space: About a Blob now PS3 exclusive, backed by Sony's 'Pub Fund'
Tales from Space: About a Blob joins the slowly-growing list of games taken in by Sony's "Pub Fund" program. Like Burn Zombie Burn and Joe Danger before it, the title will enjoy additional marketing support from Sony in exchange for exclusivity to the PlayStation Network. "Unlike most publishing deals, the SCEA Pub Fund lets us keep ownership of our game. It has provided us with invaluable input and feedback from Sony," developer DrinkBox's Chris Harvey explained. About a Blob looks to be a good fit for PlayStation fans, combining Katamari Damacy with LocoRoco. You control an alien blob who can eat anything smaller than him, allowing him to grow. Eventually, you'll grow large enough to be able to "eat the world." Tales from Space is expected to hit early next year.%Gallery-103867%
Joe Danger speeding towards late May/early June release
We're quite smitten with Hello Games' Joe Danger -- you only need read our latest hands-on impressions to glean as much -- so you can imagine we're anxious to take the final product for a few laps around the track. According to recent statements from Hello Games' co-founder Sean Murray (via Eurogamer), it may be available for download as soon as late May or early June. Murray said that his team has their "fingers crossed" they'll be able to meet the proposed release window. "We're in 100 percent full-on crunch at the moment trying to put that layer of finishing touches on," he added. We can't imagine how bumpy that road to release is for developers, but we can certainly imagine doing some backflips on our dirtbike off those bumps. Does that make us selfish? ... maybe a little.
Grin praises XBLA/PSN development, dislikes submission process
Stockholm, Sweden-based Grin, developer of last year's superb downloadable title Bionic Commando: Rearmed, recently told Develop magazine that while XBLA and PSN give smaller developers a chance to get just as much exposure as the largest publishers, the process of actually getting a game onto them can be daunting. Grin CEO Bo Andersson expressed, "It's really nice that, whoever you are, you can get the same sort of attention [on XBLA and PSN]. I don't think the big publishers can muscle their way in for more exposure on the platform; it's a level playing field. That promotes quality." His brother Ulf, the company's creative director, admited that actually getting onto that field can be tricky."It's still much easier to make digital games on the PC than it is with XBLA and PSN. With the consoles' online platforms, Sony and Microsoft have their own rules and regulations to follow, and you have to have a pretty robust [bug testing] session to get your game out there," he said. "That's something which smaller independent developers run into." Sounds like Sony's Pub Fund could be quite useful for bringing on the extra bug-squashing muscle.
Sony 'Pub Fund' paying off for PSN-exclusive devs
Announced during GDC 2009, Sony's development-cost-matching scheme, "Pub Fund," is already garnering praise from the first company to take advantage of it. Burn Zombie Burn studio Doublesix tells Develop that the program -- which matches a PSN game's production costs in royalties, in exchange for PS3 exclusivity -- is "invaluable," not only in terms of funding, but marketing support as well.James Brooksby, studio head of Doublesix, spoke to other developers, saying, "I think there's a number of other ways in which the Pub Fund can help you, not least because Sony suddenly has a more vested interest in your product's success." Since Sony is looking for a good return on its considerably sizable investment, not everyone can get on the Pub Fund. "Obviously there will be a level of quality expected from Sony's side, so not everyone will be suitable for Sony either," said Brooksby."We put a lot of money into the marketing of Burn Zombie Burn," Brooksby said. "And our own funding, along with Sony's, helped achieve great exposure for the game." That exposure has left the developer "absolutely delighted" with BZB's sales to date, and, according to Brooksby, the team is already at work on its next title -- no doubt with the assistance of the Fund.
GDC09: Sony encourages PSN exclusivity with Pub Fund
Developers will have one big reason to make games exclusively on the PlayStation Network: money. Sony's Chris Eden spoke at GDC about a new program available for developers called "Pub Fund." In an effort to make the online service more lucrative, the Pub Fund deal has Sony matching development budgets of PSN-exclusive titles. "We're looking for a number of great games, and in return for exclusivity we'll match your development budget with guaranteed royalties," Eden said.The first game to be developed under the Pub Fund agreement is Burn Zombie Burn (pictured), available today on the PlayStation Store. The Pub Fund will entitle developers to financial assistance, without having to sacrifice their IPs. "This is not Sony buying your product," Eden noted. "You'll be the publisher, you'll own the IP and you'll control your product. This is assisting you to make your next step from developer to publisher."We're not sure what the fine print entails, but Pub Fund sounds like an overall "win" for developers. Developers -- if you want to work with Sony, you may want to contact them at devrel-scea@playstation.sony.com.
