STAR OCEAN™ – THE LAST HOPE -™ 4K & Full HD Remaster is Now Available on Steam!
STAR OCEAN – THE LAST HOPE – 4K & Full HD Remaster Coming soon for PC / STEAM
Explore the galaxy on your quest, make allies and enemies among the alien races you encounter, and uncover a danger so great that it threatens all of creation.
The Nintendo Switch hardware has provided developers with a range of different inputs to utilise; we’ve seen games previously released on mobile taking advantage of traditional sticks and buttons, while the touchscreen has also been put to work.
There have been some interesting examples – the wonderfully kooky touch-only adventure SEVERED or piano-based rhythm game Deemo have excelled using touch and swipe controls, while console-like experiences that previously only had touch options have been optimised with varying degrees of care and attention, from games like Implosion to the neglected port of Maria the Witch. Some games – when possible – offer a choice of inputs, while others have missed the opportunity and arrived on Switch with only the original control scheme intact.
The curiously titled Green Game: TimeSwapper from developer iFun4all is a sequel of sorts to 2015 PC, PlayStation Vita and mobile title – also on Switch – Red Game Without a Great Name. While Red Game is more of an arcade-style touch-based game of traversal and survival using teleportation to avoid death traps, ‘Green’ adopts more of a puzzler approach along with its insistence on using the touchscreen. The steampunk mechanical avian protagonist and pretty silhouetted art style remain, but the main crux of the experience is a slower paced and slightly more strategic affair.
The TimeSwapper subtitle is employed as early as the level select screen, despite it being a tad misleading as the experience progresses. Zooming in and out of the intricate cog mechanisms shows off the layered silhouette style beautifully, and in general ‘time swapper’ is an initially intriguing prospect. As the bird flys at a constant speed throughout you are tasked, with the manipulation of time, to guide it through a series of increasingly complex levels. Using angled jet streams of gas / water, the two aims are to collect three gear shaped tokens and safely navigate your way to the end zone – a kind of glass windowed cage. After initially switching the stream directions between on or off, later on they can be adjusted in various increments, adding to both the challenge and the process of planning your route. With the introduction of obstacles and hazards, such as spikes and boxes, both reaching the goal and collecting the tokens (which are on a much more difficult route), becomes increasingly hard.
Although there is no real narrative to speak of, the art style is incredibly striking – different shades of green generate a layered silhouette effect, which is really nice to see in motion when rotating the mechanism on the level select screen. While the general presentation is pleasing to the eyes and the ears (the incredibly cool lounge jazz soundtrack is as refreshing as it is limited), unfortunately TimeSwapper never really lives up to the premise.
There is an angled green line to indicate which ‘timeframe’ you are in and it isn’t long before you will be swiping across the screen to simultaneously change the angle and flow of the jet streams, combined with altering boxes that can be disassembled and reassembled to clear a path; this will inevitably involve some trial and error, as the bird’s path can only be changed by the jet streams. Make a mistake and you’ll have to retry. As the bird stays on its course until its doom, it can occasionally become a slow and frustrating failure waiting for its demise before you can go for another attempt.
The initially interesting main mechanic becomes less about the intricate manipulation of time, more a case of simple timing – even when different angles are introduced it doesn’t feel as intuitive or as integral as other time-based games such as SUPERHOT, indie stalwart Braid or even Time Recoil. Furthermore, as an exclusively touch-based game it relies on a degree of precision that, given the input lag and inaccuracy, is just not present.
For all the intriguing set up, interesting art style and great – if limited – music, Green Game: TimeSwapper falls flat in the gameplay department. The tagline of manipulating time is as misleading as it is frustrating. There is a cute little puzzle game in here, but with unintuitive controls along with some bland and frustrating level design, the game is quickly reduced to a pretty average experience that fulfils neither its promise nor potential. You’ll never really feel like a ‘master of time’; it’s more a mix of stumbling through level after level or – if you’re a completionist – probably enduring some serious frustration before you 100% each stage. It’s a port that is another case of style over substance.
Yooka-Laylee was one of the most high profile and successful Kickstarter campaigns of 2016, but its path to Nintendo systems has been a little troubled. The planned Wii U version eventually bit the dust, with confirmation coming after it was already suspected, and the game had a mixed critical reception when it launched on other platforms earlier this year. Since then there have been some major updates and adjustments to improve the game, while the internally developed Switch port has taken a little longer than expected to arrive.
Well, the wait is almost over, with confirmation that the game will launch on Switch on 14th December, with the option to pre-load / pre-purchase on the eShop from 7th December; it’s download only for now.
We’ve also had a chat with Playtonic Games’ creative lead and managing director, Gavin Price. He gives us the full lowdown on unique features on the Switch, the resolution when playing docked and undocked, and the humbling experience of working with Nintendo to get this version out of the door.
What have you made of the critical response to Yooka-Laylee so far? Has it met your expectations?
We’ve received tons of amazing messages and great critical feedback, which has helped us improve the game further. It’s difficult to please everybody all the time of course, but the comments we saw suggest that fans of golden age 3D platformers enjoyed Yooka-Laylee a lot. Of course, we take all constructive criticism on board, which is why we’ve spent the months since release adding significant updates to address as much feedback as possible and further improve things like performance and polish. The Switch version has all of this on day one and we hope fans will be pleased.
The Switch port has been subject to quite a lengthy dev period – what issues have you encountered during the transition?
It’s never easy developing for a new console, especially when you’re one of the first indie games of this scale on the platform. But thanks to support from Unity and Nintendo, plus Team 17, we think the hard work has paid off. The Playtonic team has personally handled development on Switch and spent months adding really significant optimisations and dozens of updates, so we think this version has turned out really great.
We definitely needed assistance from Unity to get the game performing up to our standards, but you can see from the final results they gave us the support we needed to make Yooka-Laylee on Switch our most optimised release yet. We realise it’s been a long wait but we hope our fans on Nintendo Switch will be pleased.
We spent a lot of time adding tons of optimisations to ensure that Switch players will enjoy a smooth experience. On top of that, there’s single-Joy-Con support across our eight multiplayer games, the ability to play on-the-go, plus a massive list of updates since launch such as a brand new camera mode, control improvements, menu options, music… there’s a lot!
What kind of resolution can we expect from the Switch port, in both docked and portable modes?
We’re running at 900p docked and 600p undocked, while the UI always renders at 1080p, which we’re really happy with and is competitive with other games. This is the balance we’re most happy with, one that still looks great and runs as smooth as possible. Our priority for Nintendo Switch was to deliver players a smooth, optimised experience and we hope they’ll be pleased with how the game looks and runs.
How close will the Switch port be to the Xbox One and PS4 versions, in visual terms? Have you had to make any big graphical sacrifices to get it running on the system?
We’ve actually made improvements and this is definitely the most optimised version of the game. Our priority with the Switch version was to deliver a smooth experience for players, so some compromises naturally had to be made, such as comprimises a small amount of resolution for better performance and optimisations. However, it’s nothing that we think players will notice, especially in handheld mode on that excellent screen. In fact, some elements such as shadows are actually improved since the original release! We’re really pleased with how this version is running.
Why digital only?
Our aim was to get the game into players’ hands as soon as possible and a digital launch allowed us to do that. We haven’t ruled out doing a physical release in future and would strive to make sure it would have added value which takes time to get right.
What do you make of the Switch as a machine, purely from a gamer’s perspective?
It’s answered all of my lifestyle requirements to enjoy playing games. 12 o’clock and 5 o’clock are always Karting time in our office and to be honest, it’s totally dominated my playtime this year. Nintendo have had a phenomenal line-up of games.
What kind of relationship have you had with Nintendo so far?
Brilliant and very humbling. Nintendo have helped us both technically and with support for stuff like marketing and release plans. We were really chuffed to be honest to receive so much attention from them for our tiny indie company.
Could you see yourselves developing a game exclusively for Switch which makes use of its unique features?
That would be awesome, especially if it involved working closely with Nintendo itself.
What’s next for Playtonic?
Free-to-play, Battle Royal meets Match-3 puzzling. Wait until you see how many customisable hats we’ve made for Trowzer…
We’d like to thank Gavin Price and Andy Robinson for their time. Let us know if you’re planning to pick up Yooka-Laylee on Switch on 14th December.
We’ve had our eye on Vostok Inc for a little while – it blends twin-stick shooting with a quirky dose of capitalism as you try to exploit various planets in order to get rich.
Nosebleed Interactive and Wired Productions recently confirmed some quirky exclusive content for Switch – the inclusion of Pluto as a planet – and has now announced the release date. It arrives on 7th December and will have a pre-load option at some point; its US store game page gives a price of $14.99USD.
With its gameplay hook and some cool minigames this one seems rather promising, and it’ll be interesting to see whether it takes off on Switch.
Splatoon is fantastic in 3D, but what exactly would it look like in 2D? That’s what former Vitei (Steel Diver, Tank Troopers) staffer Nathan Heckel pondered last year.
“While I was at Vitei wrapping up work on Tank Troopers as a gameplay programmer, I wanted to start my own project to pitch to Nintendo for a follow-up contract,” explains Heckel. “As I’d been studying NES programming as a hobby for some time, I suggested the idea for a NES version of Splatoon to my former boss, Vitei CEO Giles Goddard.”
Work progressed swiftly, with the prototype getting to the stage where it was possible to run, jump, shoot and transform, and “rudimentary” collision detection was implemented. Even the audio side of things began to develop. “Mark Sparling’s MMC5 cover of ‘Splattack!’ [which you can listen to below] plays in the background through the Famitracker driver,” says Heckel. “This all runs on real hardware using dev carts I had made from repurposed copies of Sangokushi II for the Famicom.”
Heckel also enlisted the help of Pirate Pop Plus developer Dadako’s Hawken King to create the visuals. The aim from the start wasn’t just to create a cool “demake” of Splatoon, but to somehow get it into the hands of players. “While actual cartridges would’ve been really cool, that was always the longest shot,” he says. “Short of that, I was hoping to have it packaged with Splatoon 2 like Star Fox Guard was packaged with Star Fox Zero, used as a mini-game like the retro-themed diversions in Splatoon 1, sold on the Virtual Console, or included in a hypothetical 2nd version of the NES Classic Edition.”
Naturally, a project of this kind would need Nintendo’s official blessing, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. Heckel thinks the project was simply the victim of bad timing. “In terms of presenting to Nintendo, I put together a set of slides outlining the progress on the demo, possible scope of the game, a development timeline, and sales avenues. I sent this to a member of the Splatoon team I was able to reach. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. While I can’t speak for Nintendo, the pitch was sent after Splatoon 2 had been announced for the summer this year. Not having any visibility into unannounced projects, my guess had been that a sequel wouldn’t be out until the summer of 2018, and a NES version could be paired with it in some form. Instead, I caught them when they were probably very busy finishing the game.”
However, it might not be the end for this interesting venture, and Heckel says he’s open to continuing development – albeit with different visuals – assuming a publisher is willing to back him. “While I can’t use the Splatoon IP without a development contract with Nintendo, it’d be possible to repurpose it as a different title entirely. Continued development in full would depend on a publisher expressing interest.” If there are any publishers reading this who can help, but sure to get in touch – or, if you’re at Nintendo and you can make this happen, it’s time to do the right thing.
The biggest shopping weekend of the year has now passed, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. It’s a hugely important period for retailers, and the shift to online shopping continues to gain momentum; data from Adobe suggests that’s the case.
In a press release outlining its estimates for the Holiday Weekend (as it is in some countries), Adobe Data has estimated that Cyber Monday brought record online sales in the US of $6.59 billion, up on Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day in terms of online revenues. Its analysis also suggests that 47.4% of visits were on smart devices (phones and tablets).
From a Nintendo perspective it seems like the Holidays have been lucrative, too.
Top sellers on Cyber Monday included the Nintendo Switch, PJ Masks and Hatchimals & Colleggtibles figurines, Apple AirPods, streaming devices like Google Chromecast and Roku, and Super Mario Odyssey, the video game.
In previously released estimates via Adobe Digital Insights the Switch was listed as the top selling product on both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. With momentum reportedly then continuing through Cyber Monday, that would suggest that Nintendo also got decent stock in place to meet demand.
These are all estimates from Adobe, albeit based on a huge amount of data and analysis.
It seems like the Switch and Super Mario Odyssey were headline successes over the past few days, then, and it’ll be interesting to see more data and information once the US NPD results roll around for November.
In the late ’80s and early ’90s Nintendo had an iron grip on gaming culture, and merchandised the heck out of it – that was especially the case in North America. There were lunchboxes, official magazines, loads of console accessories and, of course, cereal.
Those days have been gone for a long time, to varying degrees, though Nintendo is in the midst of a big push to regain its foothold in popular culture. There’s buzz around the Switch, theme park attractions are being built, and there may even be a movie; now, it seems, the company is heading back into the cereal game.
According to cerealously.net (nice one) Kellogg’s is getting ready to release ‘Super Mario Cereal’, a berry mix with marshmallows. Though it’s apparently not the final box art, it seems to suggest that the box (or at least one version of it) would have a small NFC chip in order for it to function as an amiibo.
One of the Cerealously readers has apparently had this confirmed by Kellogg’s, though we can only take their word for it until confirmation comes along.
We’ll see whether this is real or not very soon, we suspect. Would you start your day with Super Mario Cereal?
Plenty of genres have been covered already on the Switch eShop, but a bit of 3D brawling certainly won’t go amiss. With that in mind it’s good news that BadLand Games is publishing Heart&Slash on the system, with release set for December.
This brawler is treated as a roguelike, so each run throws up different stage designs and weapon pick-ups. What’s particularly neat is that there are “up to 75 different weapons and 60 different robot body parts”, which all affect how you fight and play. In theory that should keep things very interesting.
It looks like an intriguing title – let us know whether you’re interested in the comments.
Free-to-play social/casino game studio Huuuge Games confirmed today (via Medium post) that it has raised approximately $50 million from investors in a Series C round of funding.
This may help mobile game devs better understand the state of the industry, as Huuuge’s business seems to revolve around mobile F2P slots (pictured) and video poker games.
It’s also the studio’s biggest fundraising round yet, as it previously raised $4 and $4.6 million, respectively, in a 2015 Series A round and a 2016 Series B round. Most of the funding appears to have come from investors headquartered in South Korea.
In his Medium post detailing the Series C funding Huuuge chief Anton Gauffin claimed that, while the company grew 900 percent last year and still generated a profit, it needed more funding to ramp up both game development and its marketing efforts.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap developer Lizardcube today revealed (via Twitter) that the game’s internal dev toolset can be accessed by editing a config file in PC builds released through Steam and GOG.
The secret? Apparently you just find the “Editor=false” entry in the game’s Settings.cfg file and switch it to read “true”, then hit F while playing the game.
Having easy access to the tools used to build Wonder Boy both affords fellow devs more insight into how the revamped game works (allowing players to seamlessly swap back and forth between the original and remastered assets while playing) and opens it up to modders looking to put their own spin on The Dragon’s Trap.
However, the dev team also acknowledged that the tools aren’t always easy to use or even complete; in response to a fan question about whether the studio might reuse the tools to make more classic game revamps, a Lizardcube representative stated that “it’s honestly too much of a mess to be considered a reusable tech for anything, tbh. Maybe next iteration will be.”
Lizardcube cofounder Omar Cornut has a track record of making game dev tools publicly available, having previously released (and since supported) ImGUI, a free GUI library for game devs that was forged in his time working at Media Molecule.
