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Dustforce now clearing cobwebs from your Xbox 360
Janitors, assemble! Despite a delay and launching on the PS3 and PlayStation Vita back in February, Dustforce is now available on Xbox 360. For $9.99, Xbox players can sweep, brush, mop and clean like a ninja as they make their way through the 2D platformer's colorful worlds, using acrobatic prowess and martial arts to defeat dirt. Mr. Clean, eat your heart out. Dustforce first cleaned up the acts of PC gamers in 2012, after receiving an honorable mention at the Independent Games Festival for Excellence in Visual Design. The game sold well, but not outstandingly so. Still, developer Hitbox Team was happy for the experience, saying that "the pleasure of making Dustforce was worth far more than the opportunity cost of working somewhere else." [Image: Capcom]
Dustforce's acrobatic janitor tidies up Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Vita in January
Capcom announced today that it will publish Hitbox Team's custodial platformer Dustforce for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita in January. Originally released for Windows in 2012, Dustforce is a side-scrolling platformer starring an acrobatic janitor who must scale walls, chain attacks, and air-dash across deadly chasms as he tidies up his surroundings. The game demands both precision platforming and an eye for cleanliness -- players can progress only after they have swept up piles of leaves scattered throughout each level. The PlayStation 3 and PS Vita editions of Dustforce will feature Cross-Play and Cross-Save support. The Vita version also includes an ad-hoc multiplayer mode, while the PS3 gets an exclusive replay save feature. Dustforce will be priced at $9.99.
Dustforce cleaning up PS3, PS Vita and Xbox 360
Capcom will publish Hitbox Team's lauded 2D clean-em-up platformer Dustforce on PS3 and PS Vita. The game will benefit from cross-play functionality on PS Vita and PS3, Sony's Adam Boyes mentioned during the PlayStation Indie Arcade event at PAX this evening, though no exact details on how that will work have been offered. The Sony side of the publishing agreement was revealed during the PlayStation Indie Arcade event tonight at PAX, though a Capcom-Unity post notes the game is also coming to Xbox 360. Despite being widely praised and earning close to $700,000 for the developer, the game was ultimately a financial wash for Hitbox. Hopefully these new console ports will help tidy up Hitbox Team's bottom line.
Dustforce devs announce FPS 'Spire'
Hitbox Team, the developer behind Dustforce, has revealed its next project, a first-person shooter entitled Spire (not to be confused with the other indie FPS, The Spire). The game sees players doing their best to ascend a mysterious tower. "The internals of the tower are ever-changing," according to the team, and the game will be different every time, challenging players to "climb as high as possible."Levels will be procedurally generated, though Hitbox designer Woodley Nye promises that they won't be merely random, and instead be "generated with intention." As an example, after creating an intense combat scenario, the generator "might think to then generate a scene with lower intensity to better control the emotional arc of the experience."Furthermore, while the game has a fantasy setting, Hitbox is promising creatures and items outside of the familiar "goblins and elves" tropes we're all used to. Instead, enemies and items will be "strange and unexpected." Gameplay mechanics too, will be different than standard FPS games, using tricks inspired by Dustforce, such as jumping and sliding on walls.Players will be able to generate random Spires for offline play, while the community will fight to dominate the leaderboards via a shared weekly Spire. Nye didn't offer a release window, saying only that Hitbox is "well into the development of Spire."
Humble Indie Bundle 6 devs ask you to ask them anything on Reddit
A few of the developers with games in the rather fantastic Humble Indie Bundle 6 are hosting an AMA on Reddit right now.In attendance is Runic Games co-founder Max Schaefer, representing Torchlight (and Torchlight 2, it seems); programmer Matt Bush and composer Terrence Lee of Dustforce's Hitbox Team; Jan Achrenius and Sampsa Lehtonen of Recoil and Rochard; Mario Wynands of Shatter's Sidhe, co-founders of MinMax Games Andrew Hume and Richard with Space Pirates and Zombies; and John Krajewski of Strange Loop Games representing Vessel.Already the developers are discussing the likelihood of their Linux games on Steam, the benefits of being in the Humble Indie Bundle, and answering programming and gameplay questions galore. If you want to know what engines these guys use, how they handle physics or what those space pirates are doing hanging out with zombies in the first place, head on over to Reddit.
Dustforce sweeping up on Mac, discounted for a limited time
Dustforce, the game about evil-vanquishing janitors that would bring Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to shame, is now available on Mac. In addition, Dustforce is this week's Midweek Madness deal on Steam. You can grab it now for $5, half the usual price.
Video: Getting down and dirty with Dustforce multiplayer
This multiplayer video for Dustforce showcases the game's local King of the Hill mode, in which a janitor battles a leaf man for control of platforms. How anyone ever managed to make a game about sweeping seem so interesting is beyond us, but there you go.
Dustforce cleaning out Steam's valves on Jan. 17 for PC, Mac to follow
The PC version of Dustforce, the sweeping side-scroller from indie studio Hitbox Team, is set to launch January 17 for $9.99 on Steam, with a Mac update to follow soon after. Dustforce has more than 50 disgusting levels for your janitor to spruce up, and will have an online leaderboard, 4-player local multiplayer modes and a soothing original soundtrack. Dustforce received an honorable mention from the IGF for Excellence in Visual Art, so even if cleaning isn't your thing, we bet you can still enjoy some pretty, stylized gameplay.
Dustforce trailer shows polish, polishing
When we saw the protagonist walk into an old stone building in this Dustforce trailer, we felt a thrill. "This place looks like it could be really dusty," we thought. "This is going to be awesome." And then the broom-wielding character walked into a room full of flying books and scrolls, trailing dust like exhaust. And then it was awesome. We'll get really hyped about cleaning again in January -- that's the new release window, according to a YouTube comment from developer Hitbox Team.
Indie game Dustforce looks so fresh, so clean
We're pretty sure you've never experienced a game about high-speed platform tidying, but you will soon. Dustforce, an indie game developed by Cincinnati's Hitbox Studios, will bring sweeping action to Mac and PC in early 2012. Be sure to watch the video -- it's a lot more exciting than it sounds. Dustforce puts players in the role of an "acrobatic cleaner" who wall-runs and jumps to sweep leaves, dust, and other detritus off of every available surface, while also defending himself with broom-based martial arts. Along with the new video (above) and screens (below), Hitbox Team released an audio sample, by composer Terence Lee. Listen to it while you clean your house!%Gallery-139163%
