matt thorson
Latest
Free 'Celeste' update adds 100 levels and 40 minutes of music
A free Celeste update will bring more than 100 new levels and 40 minutes of additional music to the charming platformer September 9th. It'll bring the total number of stages to more than 800. Creator Matt Thorson announced the "Chapter 9: Farewell" add-on at the end of last year. He and his team hoped to release the update around the time of Celeste's first anniversary in January, but that wasn't to be.
Towerfall expands into the Dark World on PS4 in 2015
Towerfall Ascension's forthcoming Dark World expansion will arrive on PS4 early next year, developer Matt Thorson revealed via PlayStation Blog. The update adds new playable archers, four levels, power-ups and more to the archery combat platformer. The developer also upped the number of team deathmatch levels per tower to five in the expansion. Thorson announced the Dark World update in September, and has since detailed several improvements to the game via his blog. Dark World will add the Vainglorious Ghoul red archer to the game's roster along with her ghostly ship as one of the levels, The Amaranth. The final tower of Towerfall's expansion, known as Cataclysm, features procedurally-generated levels to keep the action fresh for multiplayer bouts. Dark World will also include power-ups such as Prism Arrows and Trigger Arrows, the latter behaving like remote mines. [Image: Matt Thorson]
'Towerfall,' OUYA's most popular game, only sold 7,000 copies
If you're looking for a metric for the OUYA's (lack of) success, then the developer behind one of the platform's best selling games can help you out. Towerfall creator Matt Thorson has revealed that despite being the number-one title on the Android platform, the game has sold a measly 7,000 copies. In a conversation with Eurogamer, the developer said that the title was a smash hit on PS4, with PC sales coming in a close second, but added that "being the best game on OUYA isn't a huge deal, but it is nice" -- ouch. In response, OUYA's CEO Julie Uhrman has said that her company "helped put Towerfall and Matt on the map," adding that the company is "finding the next great developers and making them household names." That said, we suspect that since PS4 and PC sales account for nearly 80 percent of Thorson's $500,000 in revenue, we imagine the next great developer might just choose to bypass OUYA entirely.
Joystiq Streams: TowerFall creator Matt Thorson teaches Joystiq how to arch [UPDATE: Relive the stream!]
From afar we watched Ouya owners, rapt with pleasure as they bounced around the beautiful pixel caverns of TowerFall, hitting each other in the face with arrows over and over again. We, too, wanted to fall through the floor only to re-emerge from the ceiling, poised to strike down our foes with the vicious efficiency of a peregrine falcon. Ouya owners' grip on Matt Thorson's game has loosened, though! Now we're rocking that business on PC and PlayStation 4 on the regular. That's precisely what we'll be doing on Joystiq Streams today, with Mr. Thorson himself on hand to walk us through the ins and outs of his game. Come 4PM EST on Thursday, March 13, Joystiq's own Jess Conditt (@JessConditt) will be streaming TowerFall: Ascension on the Joystiq Twitch channel. Creator Matt Thorson (@MattThorson) will join us to talk about the game. Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello) will, as always, be hanging in the chat, referring your questions straight to the people. Join us for all the succulent archery. Joystiq Streams broadcasts every Tuesday and Thursday at 4PM EST. [Images: Matt Makes Games, Inc.]
PlayStation Blog details Towerfall: Ascension's Quest, Trials modes
Towerfall: Ascension is picking up Quest and Trials modes along with its subtitle in its upgrade for PC and PS4. While one of the modes was announced in Ascension's previous reveal trailer, a recent PlayStation Blog post offers details on actual gameplay elements from each style of play. In Quest mode, players can team up or fight on their own against varied waves of monsters, which the PS Blog notes range from "scythe-wielding warriors to leaping globs of slime." Some enemies will also have unique abilities, like the rival archers that can send arrows shot at them right back toward their origin. Trials mode is a solo affair, pitting players against dummy targets and a timer. The faster players kill off their inanimate opponents, the more prestigious their rewarding medal will be. The PS Blog describes Trials stages as "addictive as they are difficult," but adds that restarting a challenge takes less than a second, which should keep the frustration focused on the game instead of loading screens. Ascension will take its shot at PS4 and PC this week and has come a long way from its vanilla verison's Ouya-exclusive debut last year. [Image: Matt Thorson]
Catch arrows in Towerfall Ascension on PlayStation 4 this March
Those without an Ouya will be happy to hear that Towerfall, one of the nascent console's best games, is headed to the PlayStation 4 in the enhanced form of Towerfall Ascension on March 11. The original version of Towerfall mates the pixel-heavy aesthetic so popular with indie game developers with frantic, four-player multiplayer combat. In lieu of guns and a series of corridors, players are each given archery equipment, then dropped into a 2D stage rife with platforms and pitfalls. Think of it as a cross between the frantic combat of the Super Smash Bros. games, and the exacting, retro platforming and chunky aesthetic of Spelunky. Towerfall Ascension improves upon this basic template by adding 50 new Versus arenas, "a bunch of new variants" for the game's stages and a few new power-ups. Additionally, Ascension brings with it a new Quest Mode that allows two players to cooperatively battle waves of monsters spawned from portals. The gameplay here is similar to that seen in the game's core multiplayer modes, but as designer Matt Thorson notes, Quest Mode fleshes out Towerfall as a whole by adding "a bunch of new content to explore even when you don't have three friends around." As of now there is no price point attached to Towerfall Ascension. That March 11 release date only applies to the United States, but Thorson claims that a European release "shouldn't be far behind." [Image: Matt Makes Games]
Towerfall: Ascension coming to PC, online play not planned for launch
Towerfall: Ascension was announced for the PlayStation 4 during Spike's event for the console's launch, but we weren't sure if that was the same version as the one that was planned for PC earlier this year. Now that Matt Thorson, the sole designer of Towerfall, posted the above trailer on his YouTube channel this week, that seems to be the case. While it's mostly identical to the one shown just before the PS4's launch, the intro and outro graphics note both the PS4 and PC as planned platforms instead of just the PS4. Ascension's revealing trailer notes a co-op quest mode, new powerups and 50 new multiplayer maps. Although the game's focus lies in multiplayer, Thorson responded to a fan on Twitter to clarify that there "won't be any online at launch, sorry. It's really meant to be played together with friends." The vanilla version of Towerfall was launched as an Ouya exclusive back in July.
TowerFall Ascension coming to PS4
TowerFall Ascension, a significant update to Ouya's Towerfall, will be "exclusive" to PS4 and launch in early 2014. Towerfall is also scheduled for PC, but we're going to need to get some clarification if that version is a port of the Ouya game or of this Ascension version planned for PS4. "Brand new levels, we got 50 new levels coming. All kinds of new modes," said SCE America VP of Publisher & Developer Relations Adam Boyes on tonight's Spike PS4 launch special. Developer Matt Thorson writes on the PlayStation Blog, "50 new versus levels, 4 more playable archers, an all-new, twelve-player cooperative Quest mode, 6 additional power-ups, and more. We've even gone back and refined everything in the original release. It feels like a whole new game." Update: Incorporated info from PlayStation Blog post.
Towerfall PC aims for a complete single-player mode, more content
Towerfall on PC will have a "fully fleshed-out" single-player mode, creator Matt Thorson tells Shacknews. Towerfall launched as a multiplayer-centric game on Ouya and we noted it as one of the console's stand-out titles. The PC version will have a ton of new content, Thorson says. The PC version will include two new towers, balance changes, and new power-ups, archers and variants, Thorson says. He adds that the solo mode is for people without any friends – or at least friends who enjoy Towerfall. "It's going to be a massive update. I can't wait to see how people react," Thorson says. Recalling the game's Ouya demos, he said, "It's always great to see the moment when players realize that they can catch arrows, and the gameplay implications of that. At the Ouya booth at E3 I saw a little girl get super excited about the game and drag her mom over to show her; that was almost too much for me." Towerfall PC will take "a couple months" to develop and, afterward, he wants to work on Mac and Linux ports. The PC version may cost $20, at most, if the new content justifies a hike from its Ouya price of $15, Thorson says. Towerfall made it into the PAX 10 lineup, as one of 10 indie games chosen by a panel of 50 industry experts to be featured at PAX Prime in Seattle from August 30 to September 2.
Ouya exclusive TowerFall on its way to PC
Ouya exclusive TowerFall is on its way to PC, developer Matt Thorson announced on Twitter this evening. The game stood out as one of the highlights in newbie console Ouya's launch lineup. "Yes, I am working on TowerFall for PC. But it's going to take a couple months. There's going to be a ton of new content," said Thorson. Unsure about the price of the PC version, he said it would "probably" cost $15, or perhaps $20 if the new content justifies it. The game is currently $15 on Ouya and supports the PlayStation 3's DualShock 3. Thorson was quick to protect TowerFall's debut console in follow-up to his announcement, saying, "Ouya version is doing great! Just want to expand." Thorson's statement of PC expansion comes shortly after June's NPD data called sales of the Ouya "relatively light for a new console."
