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Fez coming to Steam May 1
A Windows version of Polytron's infinite puzzle dimension portal, Fez, will be released on May 1, as revealed by the game's new Steam page. Like the XBLA version, it's listed as developed by Polytron and published by Trapdoor.The Steam page does not show any new features, but at the very least it'll be easier to take screenshots of all the beautiful things you'll see, and, for the sake of your own sanity, the occasional screenshot of a glyph you hope to translate later. Patches should be easier too.If you'd like to start the fun before the release of the game, you can ask creator Phil Fish anything on Reddit right now.
Joystiq Top 10 of 2012: Fez
Years of hype, several delays, a self-destructively outspoken developer, framerate stutters, game-breaking crashes, and now post-patch blues. While I don't agree, I can certainly understand why some have little time for Fez even before getting into the game underneath all the mess. That's a shame, because the game is an absolute peach.The Fez I played back in April, which crashed nine times in all and stuttered on numerous occasions, was worth the tribulations and then some. I raced through it across the release weekend, throwing myself at the challenge of finding all the cubes hidden within the cryptographic platformer, and doing so without any outside help whatsoever (OK, maybe a little). It should have been a maddening exercise of frustration and ire, but instead I had an airy grin plastered across my features throughout.
Fez coming to other platforms in 2013
In a sweet "State of the Polytron" post, Fez designer and sole Polytron employee Phil Fish revealed plans to port his cryptographic adventure game to platforms beyond XBLA in 2013, potentially platforms with friendlier policies toward updates. "Yes, i've heard you, dozens of people emailing me everyday telling me how much of an idiot i am for not porting FEZ to everything," noted Fish. He also teased future developments relating to Disasterpeace's soundtrack for the game (which you can buy here) and "something about a US branch" of Polytron.Fish also reaffirmed plans for two more games, and expressed interest in designing non-game projects. "I want to design everything," he said. "Maybe not a videogame? Maybe something else entirely. I JUST DON'T KNOW."
Fez going half-off on XBLA for one day only
Phil Fish's mysterious, beautiful puzzle platformer, Fez, will be available for half off on Xbox Live tomorrow, for one day only.That means it's down from the usual 800 Microsoft point price to 400 Microsoft points, or $5. At that price, you'd be crazy to pass up the game we said "burns with a brilliant, red-hot, yellow-tasseled flame."
Fez programmer Renaud Bedard joins Capy
Capy Games announced earlier this afternoon that Fez programmer Renaud Bedard has joined the team at the Critter Crunch, Clash of Heroes and Super TIME Force developer. Bedard was one half of the Polytron team, with Phil Fish, who put out the critically acclaimed game, Fez. The game's lengthy and volatile development was chronicled in Indie Game: The Movie (on Netflix streaming)."The remaining employees of the Polytron Corp. would like to say goodbye and thank you to [Bedard] for all the years of amazing work," Fish tweeted out.Asked for more details on how Bedard came to Capy, studio founder Nathan Vella told us that the company wasn't saying anything beyond the tweets it put out.
PBS mini-documentary explores indie game creation, shows what they do that majors can't (video)
The indie game world has undergone a metamorphosis over the past few years, transforming from an often overlooked niche into as much a staple of the game industry as once-every-year blockbusters like the Call of Duty series. It's that fast-rising side of gaming that PBS' Off Book has explored in a succinct documentary. As both developers and game journalists explain, the small and more flexible nature of indie teams lets them delve into game concepts, art and sound that major developers typically avoid -- you probably wouldn't get Bastion, Fez or Super Meat Boy out of a company focused mostly on hitting its quarterly revenue targets. Crowdfunding and internet distribution methods like Steam and Xbox Live Arcade have similarly removed many of the barriers that either kept these games from commercial success or forced uncomfortable deals with large publishers in the past. Accordingly, the indie sphere that PBS sees in 2012 is less about trying to become the next Activision or EA and more about experimentation and personal expression. If you've ever wanted an elegant summary of what makes Spelunky feel so special, the whole Off Book episode awaits after the break.
Indie Game: The Movie is streaming on Netflix
Go to your Netflix account and add Indie Game: The Movie to your Instant Queue right now, because you totally can. Indie Game: The Movie won a Sundance award for editing, was an official SXSW selection and was the first feature-length film to ever launch on Steam. How inspirational.
Microsoft responds to Polytron's Fez patch claims
Developer Polytron issued a statement two days ago, saying that a save issue affecting a small number of Fez players would no longer be resolved with an additional patch. Microsoft, who Polytron laid the brunt of fault on for demanding an expensive fee to certify and issue the new patch, has now shared its side with Giant Bomb."Polytron and their investor, Trapdoor, made the decision not to work on an additional title update for Fez," the statement starts. "Microsoft Studios chose to support this decision based on the belief that Polytron/Trapdoor were in the best position to determine what the acceptable quality level is for their game. While we do not disclose the cost of Title Updates, we did offer to work with Trapdoor to make sure that wasn't a blocking issue. We remain huge fans of Fez."That last part is perhaps the most interesting, since Polytron claimed Microsoft's price for a new title update was $10,000 – this statement makes it sound like Microsoft may have been willing to negotiate on the price.In the meantime, you can keep playing an improved post-patch Fez, in the hopes that your save makes it through the whole adventure. Polytron says less than one percent of players have succumbed to the bug.
Developer won't patch XBLA game because Microsoft would charge 'tens of thousands' of dollars
Seeing as how so much software is moving to online distribution, the significance of this controversy might extend far beyond gaming and XBLA. For now, however, the spotlight is firmly on Microsoft and the way it charges developers for testing their games and patches, after a well-known developer made an unusually public complaint. In a post on its official blog, Polytron said it would not patch a rare game-saving bug in its popular title Fez, because Microsoft would charge it "tens of thousands of dollars to re-certify the game." It added that "had Fez been released on Steam instead of XBLA," the problem would have been fixed "right away" and at no cost to the developer, which strongly hints that it'll jump to another platform as soon as its XBLA exclusivity expires. Responses to the story over at our sister site Joystiq are decidedly mixed, with some folks outraged that Microsoft's high maintenance attitude could hold back improvements in this way while others suspect Polytron of blame-shifting.
Polytron bringing back Fez patch, won't fix save issues
After seeing major issues with a patch released for Fez on XBLA, Polytron and Microsoft decided to pull the patch from servers, returning the game to an earlier version. But now Polytron has posted that the patch is coming back, and it will not, repeat not, be fixing the issue where players may lose their save.Why's that? It's a numbers game, says Polytron. The patch fixes multiple issues with the game (including framerating and loading problems, death loops, and more), and the save corruption issue affects less than one percent of players overall. Because sending out another patch to fix the first patch would cost Polytron "tens of thousands of dollars" to get the game re-certified by Microsoft, the patch is coming back, and any players thus affected by the save issue will just have to deal with it.Polytron points to this as a major drawback with Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service, in that the company charges exorbitant fees to developers to release even free updates and content. "Had Fez been released on Steam instead of XBLA," posts Polytron, "the game would have been fixed two weeks after release, at no cost to us." Does that mean a Steam version is in progress? "Only a few months left to our XBLA exclusivity!" says the company on Twitter.
Fez creator Phil Fish working on two new games
Phil Fish, the man behind the mutton-chops and this awesome indie game you probably haven't heard of, Fez, has some new projects in the works.Fish is currently developing two new games with some friends, he said at Gamelab 2012 (as reported by Eurogamer Spain). Fish began working on one of these projects during the development of Fez, but he was forced to stop in order to finish his own game in a semi-timely manner. Fish has been involved with Super Hypercube, a game in development for Kinect from Kokoromi and Polytron, Fish's own studio. The last we heard from Super Hypercube was December, when Fish said it was "a bit early" to talk details.Fish spent five years of his life developing Fez, and now that it has been released into the wild of Xbox Live Arcade, sold 100,000 copies, and suffered its first patch malfunction, Fish is "learning to live again" without the constant strain of high-profile indie development. Fish said Fez's development has left him "exhausted and traumatised," but he will continue making games.Launching a game on Xbox Live Arcade added to Fish's stress; he began development at a time of rapid change in the indie community, and what worked four years ago on Xbox Live now makes more sense on Steam, he said. Fish hasn't announced details about the two titles he's involved in, but he will choose his focus wisely since "it can be something that consumes many years of your life," he said.
Fez patch pulled by Microsoft
A recent patch for Fez that fixed exploits but also corrupted save files was pulled from Xbox Live by Microsoft, according to an update on developer Polytron's blog. The issues caused by the title update could potentially be resolved by clearing the Xbox 360 cache, though now new players shouldn't be affected.We reached out to Polytron for comment, and were told the developer will "have more details as we work things out with [Microsoft] after the weekend."
Fez patch released, absolutely do not play it
The long-awaited patch for Fez has finally arrived, though you may want to hold the fanfare. While the patch does fix a number of glitches and prevents a lot of exploits and problematic "infinite death loops" (eek!), it also introduces a "fairly widespread" new problem, according to Polytron. Specifically, "the save file can be seen as corrupted by the game after installing the patch."Clearing the Xbox 360 cache "should resolve the issue." If that doesn't work, however, "there is no known workaround." In other words, you probably shouldn't play Fez until Polytron patches the patch.
Fez patch still incoming
Fez programmer Renaud Bedard has provided an update on the patch meant to handle some "nasty" bugs in the XBLA puzzle platformer. Turns out the patch was submitted on May 17, entered certification on May 21 and failed four days later due to two critical issues.Bedard was finally able to reproduce one of the issues on June 8 and the patch is back at Microsoft for certification. He estimates it'll take another two weeks for the update to hit – you know, unless there's another hiccup. He notes on the Polytron blog, "Many apologies for the delays. It was a tricky one."Fez has sold over 100,000 copies since its April launch. You can watch Polytron's labor on digital celluloid in Indie Game: The Movie, available now on iTunes, Steam.
PSA: Watch Indie Game: The Movie now on Steam, other places
Indie Game: The Movie has come full circle, first covering games as they limped their way to their first platform launches, only to end up on one of those very platforms itself. Indie Game: The Movie is available on Steam for $10 as the first feature-length film to ever be hosted on Valve's service.The full documentary is also now available via iTunes and on its official site.
Fez sales shift 100,000 copies across XBLA
Phil Fish (and co.'s) passionate labor has paid off with Fez having reached 100,000 sales on Xbox Live Arcade. Fish made the announcement this morning on the Polytron site. Looks like Microsoft finally gave Fish a sip of that secretive sales data.Following years of development, which made it feel like Fez had become the second-cousin of Duke Nukem Forever, the game finally launched last month to high critical praise – which is more than we can say for that cousin we mentioned.
Indie Game: The Movie: The Worldwide Release: June 12th
What, you didn't think those games appeared on Xbox Live through some act of magic, did you? No, they're the product of insanely small teams working insanely long hours, at the risk of their well-being, social lives and, in some cases, personal hygiene, in order to bring you a downloadable break from Call of Duty. Indie Game: The Movie is a beautifully shot, occasionally heartwarming and perpetually fascinating look at the intersection of art and technology currently being explored by indie game developers, focusing on the creators of Fez, Braid and Super Meat Boy. We managed to get a sneak peak of the Sundance documentary, courtesy of filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot, who appeared on the most recent episode of the Engadget Show -- and now you can join in on the fun: the film is getting a worldwide web release on June 12th, by way of iTunes, Steam and the official movie site. If you can't wait until then, however, you can pre-order the movie now for $10 in the source link below.
Minecraft XBLA was profitable within an hour, broke digital sale records
Minecraft is digging its own grave with its latest release on XBLA -- and by "grave" we mean "lavish, gold-plated throne room with indoor pool and grape-feeding robots." Minecraft was profitable within an hour of its launch on XBLA, developer Markus "Notch" Persson tweeted today. That's on top of Notch's multi-million-dollar PC version.Based on leaderboard participation numbers, Minecraft sold more than 400,000 copies in 24 hours, Notch said. Minecraft broke digital sales records for the console, selling more than any other XBLA title in its first day, according to Microsoft.Earlier today, Notch tweeted that he had sales numbers for Minecraft (turns out they were the above leaderboard figures), which sparked a conversation about the inner workings of XBLA developer contracts with Fez's Polytron. Polytron still doesn't know Fez's exact numbers, even though it came out a month ago."Standard procedure" according to Polytron is "you find out how much you sold when you get your first check three-four months later." Notch thought getting immediate numbers was standard, but he avoided contract negotiation and doesn't know what it says on the subject, he replied.Minecraft also gets free updates, "which is something every other developer on the platform is told is simply not an option," Polytron wrote. Notch replied: "We had to fight for that, and we got a limited number of them. Not sure why they don't like it."We may have discovered Notch's hidden talent and secret to his success: fighting for something in a contract while avoiding contract negotiation, and winning.
How the community solved Fez's hardest puzzle
Fez players be forewarned, the following contains spoilers. Stay far, far away if you want to uncover all of Fez's secrets for yourself. With that out of the way, dedicated fans know that collecting cubes is only half of Fez. The other half is solving puzzles, some of which hide their solutions in plain sight, while others taunt players with obtuse, seemingly indecipherable clues.
PSA: Fez soundtrack now available for purchase, free streaming
Fez keeping you up at night? Do you struggle to sleep as the solutions to puzzles maliciously circle around in your brain, refusing to take shape? You might as well compliment the madness with the full Fez soundtrack. You can now stream the entire album for free, or secure a download for a measly seven bucks.Composed by Rich Vreeland (A.K.A. Disasterpeace), the soundtrack features 26 deliciously lo-fi tracks. Go ahead and give it a listen. At least then you can convince your friends that it's not just playing in your head.
