gdc-2012
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Fez wins 2012 IGF 'Seumas McNally Grand Prize'
The dust has settled and only one independently developed title is left standing. Seconds ago Fez was announced as the winner of the 'Seumas McNally Grand Prize' at the 14th annual Independent Games Festival Awards.This is the second IGF award for the Polytron-developed title. In 2008, Fez took home the IGF award for excellence in art. After nearly five years of development, Fez is undergoing certification for release on Xbox Live Arcade.
Capy Games wins 'XBLA Award' and guaranteed MS publishing deal for Super T.I.M.E. Force
Capy Games, developer of adorable guzzle-'em-up Critter Crunch and the gorgeous Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP, has won the Microsoft-sponsored "XBLA Prize" during the 14th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards, held this evening in San Francisco. The recipients receive a rare digital copy of the now-delisted advergame, Yaris.No, wait, it says here they get a guaranteed first-party publishing deal via Microsoft's Live service, including Xbox Live Arcade, Windows Phone and Windows ... Computer. In this case, the game headed to XBLA is Super T.I.M.E. Force!The award comes with a few other bonuses too: Microsoft will provide funding to complete the game if necessary, and augment its development with several first-party support services, including usability, testing, and a guy who never looks up from his Blackberry.
Tonight's nominees (and winners) at the 14th annual IGF Awards
In only a few moments, the Independent Games Festival will honor the best in indie gaming with the 14th annual IGF Awards.The nominees are listed after the break and we'll make sure to update the list as awards are handed out.
Keiji Inafune working on Vita
Keiji Inafune somewhat unintentionally let slip that he's working on a PlayStation Vita game during his "The Future of Japanese Games" talk. After speaking of work on his upcoming 3DS title, King of Pirates, as well as his company's work in social gaming, he mentioned that he's challenging himself once more with the Vita.That's the direct approach to discussing the future of Japanese games, right? Just tell people about a Japanese game that's coming out in the future.Inafune didn't offer specifics on the game, nor did he say which of his two companies (Intercept or Comcept) is responsible for the project. In fact, shortly after noting the existence of the project, he asked everyone to forget that he said it, alongside a big smile (not dissimilar from his visage above).
Our predictions for tonight's 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards
The industry celebrates the best games of 2011 with the 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards later tonight.Who will win? Who will be so devastated by an omission that they return to their homes, plot revenge, and finally unleash it upon the industry during next year's show? We'll find out soon and update this post as winners are announced. In the meantime, jump in for the complete nomination list and our predictions for the award show.
IGF nomination doesn't guarantee success, says Solipskier dev
Michael Boxleiter may not be a familiar name, but you've most likely played Solipskier -- at least we hope you have. Boxleiter was one of ten indie developers talking during The Indie Soapbox Session at GDC 2012, a freeform, large-group therapy session for indies to talk about what's on their mind.Boxleiter vented on the Independent Games Festival -- getting into the IGF isn't indicative of becoming a successful developer, he warned. "I believed this myth of IGF makes you, IGF creates the future and makes you into a superstar," he said of the time he first got into game development, years ago. "It's not important -- at least, not very. It's a media junket for you." He says that hard work, putting in the hours every day and making sacrifices is what makes the best game possible."Nobody gives a shit about the IGF," he told a packed house of developers, enthusiasts and reporters alike. It wasn't a statement meant to hurt anyone's feelings, but rather curb expectations that getting into the IGF "makes you." Boxleiter would know, having been chosen for the IGF last year.Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo aren't going to suddenly take interest in your project if you get into the IGF, he said.One particular anecdote about Nintendo icon and legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto delighted the audience. Apparently, after Boxleiter's own game was nominated, he saw Miyamoto wandering the halls of GDC and approached the Nintendo legend with a pitch document. Miyamoto then promptly signed his John Hancock and walked away."The IGF should not be as big a deal as it is." While it gets you some press and it's "cool" to see the announcement, he said, in the end it's just an awards show. "It's just hard, hard work. And if you do it, you can all show that amazing thing you have inside you that you want to show to people. You're just going to have to work your ass off."
GDC 2012: A look at Dark Legends with Spacetime Studios
Life, death, and a return from the grave: That sums up the life of a vampire, but it also sums up the journey of Spacetime Studios. What do the two have in common? The studio's upcoming title called Dark Legends. At GDC 2012 this week, Massively had a chance to talk with Gary Gattis, CEO of Spacetime Studios, and we got a first-hand look at how the company successfully created a game in which people can play together on laptops, tablets, phones, and virtually any mobile device available.
James Gunn on learning from Lollipop Chainsaw
Hollywood screenwriter/director James Gunn is working on the script for Lollipop Chainsaw, a game about a teenage girl using a magical chainsaw and cheerleading moves to kill zombies, with the help of her boyfriend's still-living, detached head.He seems to have some lofty ideas about games nonetheless. "In films, it's hard to say 'we're trying to do something new in a movie' -- it's kind of a simple thing," he told Joystiq in a GDC interview. "Games are infinitely more complex than film, and there's still so much stuff that hasn't been done, it's really exciting, because there's just so much untrampled ground. That's cool. There's so many things that haven't been done." Subtract putting an animate, disembodied head on a zombie body from that list -- that's now been done, and it's "the coolest thing in the world." For Gunn, Lollipop Chainsaw is a crash course in the world of game development. "When I was a kid, I used to make my own games on the computer, and I understood the basic dynamics of, basically, the 'choose your own adventure' style of how games worked," he said. "But being able to see it from the inside and how things worked -- just that balance between the gameplay and the storytelling aspect of it -- it's an interesting process the whole way through." He sees it as the kind of learning opportunity he had in the film industry, in which he came in as a screenwriter and "then I would just go ask everybody every question I possibly could about visual effects and how that works, and get to watch these directors direct." We can't wait to see what happens when Grasshopper Manufacture is your reference point for the video game industry.
Google plans unified gaming hub for Play, cross-platform titles a possibility
In other non-spotlight stealing tech news, Google's set to chop off some of its gaming arms in favor of a sole download hub as early as next year. Plans for this streamlined service were announced by Punit Soni, group product manager for Google+, at this year's Game Developer's Conference. According to VentureBeat, the company's virtual storefronts, which encompass the likes of Chrome, Android and Google+, will all be tied into a single Google Play-hosted destination that should ease game development, potentially making titles accessible cross-platform. In addition to the creation of this one-stop shop, features such as Native Client, Hangouts and a simplified payment system will also reportedly be integrated into the unnamed site. No immediate changes are on deck for this service overhaul, so it'll be a bit before we can see how this "One Google" vision pans out.
SimCity saves heading to the clouds, bringing the game beyond the PC
During the highly technical SimCity engine talk today at GDC 2012, a trio of Maxis creative leads went into more depth on next year's simulation. Specifically with regards to online play, the game will feature cloud saving which will work continuously in the background as you play online.SimCity was described as "built from the ground up to support online," which goes beyond the asychronus online play we heard about at last night's event. "Play anywhere" was mentioned, with the idea being that you could play the game across a variety of devices. We're thinking mobile as well as PC and (perhaps) console offerings, but the example given was accessing your games via web browser.Several videos were also shown off of the game in action, though heavily laced with debug graphics (read: placeholder, and not so attractive). Each of the four demonstrated different aspects of the game's building blocks and we'll hopefully have them up for you shortly. The internet here is ... not so fast.
GDC 2012: A look at Otherland and Grimlands with Gamigo
Do you prefer a post-apocalyptic world or Tad Williams' vision of the internet of the future? Luckily, you can have them both by the end of the year because Gamigo is working busy at work preparing to launch two new titles. Massively had a chance to talk with Anthony Guzzardo, Gamigo's North American Publicity Manager, as well as PR Manager Dennis Hartmann as they showed off Otherland, based on the works of Tad Williams, and Grimlands, a post-apocalyptic vision in the desert.
GDC 2012: CCP talks DUST 514 PC possibilities and World of Darkness development
GDC 2012 is now in full swing, and today we had the chance to sit down with CCP's Hilmar Petursson, Halldor Fannar, and David Reid to chat about the studio's upcoming FPS title, DUST 514. When asked about the studio's primary goal with DUST 514, the team had a simple reply: Make the best AAA free-to-play shooter possible. But is it coming to the PC? While many EVE Online players aren't thrilled with DUST 514's PlayStation 3 exclusivity, there may be hope for a PC release yet. And while the devs weren't ready to make any official statements on the spot, a bit of wink-nudging indicates that a PC release may still be in the cards. As the devs note, mouse and keyboard controls are already supported in the PS3 version of the title. "I wonder why we did that," Hilmar joked during the interview.
Quantic Dream reveals new prototype, serves as the foundation for studio's future [Update: Now with video!]
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Fractured Soul dev looking to Nintendo eShop
Back in 2011, we featured an interesting DS platformer called Fractured Soul, which was being published by the tiny Graffiti Entertainment. Then ... we didn't hear anything, and the game later showed up in remade polygonal form on 3DS as Fractured Soul 3D, with a new publisher, Ignition. That was last year.So what happened? Why are there two versions with two publishers? And ... what's happening now? I asked Grant Davies, co-founder of developer Endgame Studios, what the deal is with the dual versions of the dual-world, dual-screen action game.First, the DS game. "We sold the distribution rights for that to N3V Games," Davies said. "Basically, what happened was, toward the end of the project when they were looking to place it with distributors, the DS market kind of fell down at that point -- the 3DS was coming out. They had a bit of trouble placing it with distributors." N3V signed up with publisher Graffiti, and the game just hasn't made it to retail. N3V owns the rights, so the fate of Fractured Soul DS is now in their hands -- Endgame can't seek a new publisher or take its game back.Instead, Endgame remade it with new graphics for 3DS. And ... that publishing deal also fell through. "With the 3DS, we got involved with a publisher on that one [Ignition]," Davies said, "and they got to the point where they could no longer honor their contractual obligations to us."This time, however, Endgame still has the rights. "Now it's no publisher," Davies said, "and we have the rights, and we have a completed game, so that's why we're kind of thinking maybe eShop is the way forward." Endgame is now looking at self-publishing digitally, perhaps breaking the finished retail-sized game into two downloads for 3DS. Fracturing it, if you will.
Eets: Munchies is Klei's new title, man
Yesterday CEO of Klei Entertainment Jamie Cheng casually announced he was working on a new Eets title during the Q&A of the Failure Workshop panel at GDC, and today he told Joystiq that it is indeed a thing, and it has the munchies. Er, we mean, it's called Munchies. Cheng showed us a brief demo of Munchies on the iPad, and it looks appropriately adorable for the next Eets game, starring the classic bunny-like main character and clean cartoon graphics, in line with the screen from the first Eets shown above.Eets: Munchies is coming to the iPad for sure, but Cheng has yet to reveal other platforms. He said the title is far from being complete.
Epic Games China isn't quite part of Epic Games [update: even more info!]
Yesterday, we went to a GDC appointment with "Epic Games China" to see a game called Mercenary Ops. Built in Unreal Engine 3 and filled with Gears of War-esque gameplay, it was revealed as the first project from "Epic Games China." As it turns out, that's not quite true. "Mercenary Ops is being developed by Ying Pei Games, which was formerly Epic Games China. However, as with our many development and publishing partners, they are utilizing Unreal Engine technology," Epic Games' US reps told The Verge.More bizarre? "Ying Pei" in Mandarin means "Epic," making "Ying Pei Games" the equivalent of ... "Epic Games." According to Epic Games (the American one), "We do own a minority stake in Ying Pei Games and we do work with them as with our other Unreal Engine developers, but Epic Games is not developing Mercenary Ops."Additionally, EpicGamesChina.com directs to the Ying Pei website, and we were told by reps yesterday that the studio is a "subsidiary" of Epic Games US. The game's publisher, "Delkans," is brand new to North American publishing and has two mystery owners from the tech sector, making this whole story all the stranger.Update: Epic Games' US reps tell us, "When they first launched the studio we clearly gave them Epic's blessing to call themselves Epic Games China. We were ready to have a more on-the-ground presence in China to reach those developers with our technology more effectively, not to mention we wanted to learn more about that market's needs and its growing talent base."They changed their name in 2010, can't recall which month. We didn't make a big fuss over it because our working relationship hasn't changed. They use our tech, they sell it, they make their own games, nothing new to report." So there's that!Update 2: Ying Pei Games' publisher, Delkans Publishing, issued the following statement to Joystiq this afternoon: "Delkans Publishing, a new North American game publisher, wants to clarify that Mercenary Ops is being developed by Yingpei Games, Ltd., which is formerly known as Epic Games China. Yingpei Games, Ltd. is going through a transitionary phase and will continue to garner support from Epic Games and utilize their Unreal Engine 3 technology. Delkans Publishing will provide further background information on the developer, Yingpei Games, Ltd. in the coming weeks. Delkans Publishing apologizes for any confusion."
Seen @ GDC 2012: Source of Inspiration
Valve boss Gabe Newell is so popular, the city of San Francisco is using his face to inspire its citizens. Or maybe Newell just wants us to know that no matter where we are, he's watching ... and we're still not playing Half-Life 3.
The Failure Workshop: How four studios built success from defeat
Succeeding in the indie game industry often takes years of patience, personal sacrifice and Ramen, a lifestyle often not discussed in popular stories of underground triumph and million-unit sales. The Failure Workshop at GDC aims to highlight the failures of otherwise successful studios, this year from Supergiant Games, Klei Entertainment, Enemy Airship and Northway Games.We've listed the lessons from each below:Jamie Cheng, Klei Entertainment (Shank, Eets)After Eets and before Shank, in 2006, Klei began working on Sugar Rush, a second game in the Eets universe. It was greenlit by Nexon America, but was dropped two weeks before it was set to launch. Klei then tried to pitch it to consoles, but that fell through as well. During this process, Sugar Rush went through five art changes, three closed betas and a name change -- Scrappers -- transforming from a marshmallow-inspired character design, to tween, to adult, to mature and finally to cool, and all of it canceled for good in 2010.Sugar Rush's failure stemmed from Klei's lack of conviction with the title, studio co-founder Jamie Cheng said. Klei didn't know exactly what it wanted Sugar Rush to be, meaning feedback from every beta tester and publishing partner affected its development dramatically. However, success did come from Sugar Rush's failure."Shank never would have happened without this," Cheng said.
GDC 2012: A look at Seven Souls Online with the NEOWIZ team
Just a few short weeks ago, Seven Souls Online was in closed beta and Massively readers were scooping up beta keys to test it out. Now, with closed beta, well, closed and open beta just around the corner, the team at NEOWIZ GAMES sat down to show off the state of the game and its plans for launch. The devs showed some beginner gameplay and then revealed some of the content that's ready and waiting for the higher levels. From jackpots to cubes to rage mode, Lead Community Manager Cesar Gatica and Marketing Manager Joon Yoon explained it all. What the heck are jackpots, cubes, and rage mode? Read on!
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack moving from Vita to PC [update: 'aiming' for May or June]
Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack!, the acclaimed indie platformer for Vita, is about to become the acclaimed indie platformer for PC. During a GDC meeting, developer DrinkBox Studios showed me the PC port of the game, which trades touchscreen support for mouse control with the "telekinesis" ability.DrinkBox is still working on the port, so details of the release plans are uncertain. The developer plans both PC and Mac versions; either the Mac version will hit soon after the Windows release, or they'll appear simultaneously. Mutant Blobs Attack will also support Steam Achievements. Naturally, it'll support features like "absorbing terrified people" and "otherworldly magnet powers."Update: Drinkbox CEO Ryan McLean said the studio is "aiming" for a May or June release.
