Author: sick skills

There have been a lot of download game announcements for the Switch eShop in recent weeks, with Mantis Burn Racing being one in the pack; its developer VooFoo Studios may be familiar to some eShop veterans as it brought us Pure Chess on the Wii U and 3DS eShop. This latest project is a top-down racer with various single- and multiplayer options, and based upon recent social media posts the developer has aspirations to encourage more serious competitive play in the game.

Keen to learn more about what the Switch version will offer later this year we caught up with Sean Walsh, Marketing & PR Manager at VooFoo Studios; we asked about the included content, modes and – naturally – the performance we can expect on Nintendo’s diminutive system.

For those unfamiliar with it, can you outline the key details around Mantis Burn Racing?

Mantis Burn Racing is a fun, top-down style racing game that combines real-world ‘fun’ physics with intuitive arcade racing in highly competitive, fast and frenetic races. There’s a huge selection of game modes in the game that challenge every aspect of your driving ability and allow for a quick five minute local race or hour long sessions in the 11-season long career mode. The game’s multiplayer options include 4-player local split-screen racing, a local Wi-Fi multiplayer mode and online options for up to 8 players, making it a highly social and fun game that is a great fit for Nintendo Switch gamers, on the move or at home.

At what point was the decision made to bring Mantis Burn Racing to the Nintendo Switch?

We want Mantis Burn Racing to be available to as many gamers as possible, on as many different consoles as possible, so we knew we wanted to bring it to the Nintendo Switch pretty much as soon as the console was announced. More importantly, it’s one of the most exciting consoles to be released in recent years with a unique feature set that is such a great fit for our top-down style racing game. Just like the Switch, Mantis Burn Racing is built around multiplayer and social play. For that reason we believe our game will really appeal to Switch owners looking for a fun racing challenge, whether playing on their own or against friends.

Starting with the Career mode, can you talk about the progression through the campaign? Can players anticipate quite a lengthy career experience?

With all of the DLC packs released to date included in the Nintendo Switch version of the game, I can safely say that Switch players are getting a really extensive career experience! Standard careers are set across three difficulty levels, Rookie, Pro and Veteran, each comprising of three seasons. Add to that a stand-alone career for our super-fast ‘Elite’ hover vehicles and another for the destructive ‘Battle Cars’, and that’s over 160 events with 3 mini-challenges for each. To fully complete the campaign will take players around twenty to twenty-five hours; so there’s a lot of depth and replay-ability in the game.

As the Switch edition includes all of the DLC, can you tell us how that’s introduced and how it fits into the game? For example are the ‘Snowbound’ tracks worked into the Career mode?

The ice and snow-themed ‘Snowbound’ tracks integrate into the campaign after Veteran Season 1, but can be played both locally and multiplayer from the start.  As mentioned, ‘Elite’ class vehicles and’ Battle Cars’ have their own stand-alone careers that are also available straight away, and can also be used on all tracks in all event types. ‘Battle Cars’ also introduce their own events in ‘King of the Track’, ‘Survival’ and ‘Accumulator Rumble’.

In terms of the local multiplayer, can you break down how many players are supported in each option?

We will be supporting up to four players on a single system in local split-screen races, which is so much fun. We will also be supporting local wireless play, allowing up to eight players to race each other in the same room without the need for an internet connection.   

Can you outline the setup and options for jumping into online races?

We use a very simple Lobby system that allows players as much or as little control over the racing as they desire. Hosting a lobby provides the player with a host of options from the obvious, such as track and car selection, to more fine grained choices such as the use of upgrades or to race with a level field. If you’re happy to go with the flow, just join another player’s lobby and get racing within a couple of button presses.

Does this support single Joy-Con play?

It does. Controls have been re-mapped to match standard controls as closely as possible.

Is HD Rumble supported?

Mantis Burn Racing supports HD Rumble and there are noticeable improvements over standard, it really adds to the racing experience. It’s widely agreed in the VooFoo office that Switch rumble is by far and away the best haptic feedback of any console.  

How has the development process worked out on Nintendo Switch, in terms of challenges and unique considerations when working on the system?

The game was built using our own propriety game and physics engine and we’ve spent a lot of time porting this architecture to Switch, which is quite a big undertaking, as well as optimising the framerate. Of course there have been challenges, but we’re really pleased with how the game plays on Switch. As a new console, we’ve had to get to grips with new possibilities to ensure we are making best use of the Switch’s unique features. We’re really pleased to have implemented ‘cross-table’ play, which enables players to go head-to-head in 2-player local split screen races using individual Joy-Cons at opposite sides of the Switch. Players can also steer by tilting the Switch to the left and right in handheld mode, which offers a fun, intuitive way to race.

Can you confirm the resolution and frame rate across docked, portable and split-screen modes?

The game defaults to try and run at 60fps in all modes. However, if players prefer a consistent frame rate there is an option to lock it to 30fps and split-screen modes will always default to 30fps. In terms of resolution, we decided the best experience was achieved by offering a better frame rate and slightly dropping the resolution, which isn’t really noticeable.

You have multiple titles coming to the Switch; what are the biggest factors attracting you to the system?

As I mentioned earlier, we want our games to be on as many platforms as possible. We want to reach out to more and more gamers and the Switch gives us a great opportunity to do that whilst offering new, unique ways to experience our games. Of course, the Switch is going from strength to strength, which certainly makes it attractive to developers, and with Nintendo’s support for ‘Nindies’ we’re really excited that the Switch can become a lead platform for us.   

Do you have a final pitch for the game that you’d like to share with our readers?

We really feel Mantis Burn Racing is a fantastic fit for the Nintendo Switch. The game has been built around addictive ‘one-more-go’ style social gameplay and a highly competitive multiplayer experience, both of which translate fantastically well to the Switch. The game looks and plays great on Switch and the reaction we’ve had to the announcement, across social media and when talking to gamers at shows like EGX, has been nothing short of amazing. There’s nothing like it currently on Switch and we’ve worked hard to give Nintendo players the chance to play the best version of the game, we can’t wait to bring classic top-down racing back to a Nintendo console! 

We’d like to thank Sean Walsh for his time.

Stardew Valley is arguably one of the most hotly anticipated indie titles to have made its way to Switch. The game was insanely popular on other platforms for doing pretty much everything just so, and we don’t think anyone can object to such a well-received game making its way to Nintendo’s hybrid.

Being able to take such an engrossing title with you wherever you go is a dream come true for many, which we explain in far greater detail than a single line in the video above, so check it out!

Super Mario Odyssey is three weeks away, which is one of the most pleasing sentences we’ll write today. Plenty of Nintendo gamers are no doubt curious to see how its undoubtedly impressive variety of gameplay ideas merge into a full, cohesive game. Is Mario ready for a sandbox adventure?

We’ll see soon, but Nintendo of Europe has released a neat overview trailer to showcase what it’s all about. It’s about 90% recycled footage from previous videos, but has a few little snippets of new scenes and gives a handy overview of the game’s main hooks and features.

Are you excited about Super Mario Odyssey’s release at the end of the month?

TriForce – a creator of high-end, officially licensed scale replicas of famous video game characters – has revealed its next venture, and it’s likely to be of interest to fans of Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee, which is due out on Switch some time in the near future.

The company is producing a 10-inch statue as part of its Yooka-Laylee Collector-Boxie. The 1.25lbs figurine depicts both Yooka and Laylee, and comes with five art cards, three laser-cut character pin badges and a metal Quill keyring, all presented in a package “inspired by the magical Grand Tomes”.

The Collector-Boxie is due for release in December and costs $59.99. Tempted? Let us know with a comment.

Those that follow the weekly Nintendo Download Updates will have seen a busy few weeks on the store. Last week brought 17 releases (download-only and retail) to the eShop in North America, and this week’s update brought another 10 overall in the same region. What’s exciting for many eager Switch owners is that a lot of the games are high quality and big name offerings, with this week including the likes of Stardew Valley, Axiom Verge, Oxenfree and more. It’s bad for bank balances, of course.

The rush has obviously been in the works for a while, and even in quieter weeks it’s common to see half a dozen or more Switch releases that are new each week, with only a minority (so far) of those being low quality efforts. Following the recent surge GamesIndustry.biz chatted to some developers to learn more about the Switch eShop ‘gold rush’.

Shahid Ahmad, formerly a PlayStation Indie boss and now an independent developer and consultant himself, highlighted that Nintendo had done a good job harnessing early enthusiasm from smaller developers. He also made the point that, aside from the usual risks with releasing a game, being there early can be beneficial.

Nintendo has done well to court independent developers. The messaging isn’t always perfect, with ‘Nindies’ implying a kind of ownership that is dissonant. That said, developers love them – I certainly do – and Nintendo has some really great people who just get it.

There’s always going to be a window of opportunity for anyone competent launching a game early in the life of a device; it’s high demand, low supply. Few mainstream consoles have had the foresight to capture the imagination of independent developers out of the gate though, I can only think of the PS4 and the Switch as examples of this phenomenon. This works because the big publishers are hesitant to commit when they don’t know how well the device will sell, and the addressable market, no matter how good the numbers, is unlikely to provide a healthy ROI for the bigger publishers. This is when a platform often provides incentives to share some risk.

It’s at the start of the life of a device that the pond is small and there are few fish where the chances of a breakaway hit are there. After the Switch’s first Christmas, as sales of the device spike, the pond will be bigger, attracting bigger fish just as a lot more small fish are attracted to the growing pond.

As highlighted in recent weeks, early visibility and buzz on the eShop has brought some publishers and developers significant sales, eclipsing sales on more established systems. David D’Angelo from Yacht Club Games said this was even the case for his studio with Shovel Knight, though he hopes to see updates to the eShop itself.

Shovel Knight, which was almost 3 years old when the Switch launched, sold more units out of the gate than any other platform.

I believe many developers right now are experiencing the same phenomenon. At the moment, games definitely stand out when they launch and consumers are excited to purchase, but at this rate there will be an over-abundance of games. We hope Nintendo updates the eShop to make it easier to highlight and find new and old titles.

Some of the developers in the article caution that the window for making a big splash in the eShop won’t be open to smaller studios forever, as the library – and competition – continues to grow. One even described the recent burst of releases as “amusing and frustrating in equal measure”, though also suggested there are ongoing opportunities for quality games to do well. Shahid Ahmad also spoke out against ‘scare stories’ about the challenges ahead once the library fills out.

Developers, by and large, love Nintendo and it is a sensational device, so I expect them to keep trying even when the numbers aren’t in their favour.

I do wish some people would drop the scare stories though. This isn’t rocket science. The market gets tougher as the quality of software improves from both small and large developers as the addressable market also increases. So what? Saturation will be an issue, but that’s hardly a surprise. 

The whole point of easy access for a developer to a platform’s digital store is not to guarantee sales, but to give them a shot, where once upon a time they didn’t have that shot, at all. I do wish some of the doom-mongers would remember that.

Some of the wisest words were from Tom Tomaszewski of Crunching Koalas. Now that any notion of ‘curation’ has passed we’re seeing a rapid influx of games, including a modest number that can politely be described as sub-par. He suggests that this won’t necessarily pay off for developers and publishers seeking a quick buck from shoddy games, but that projects with a solid amount of effort have a chance.

There’s definitely a rush, everyone wants to get their titles to the Switch as fast as possible, which in my opinion isn’t in the best interest of Switch owners.

Some developers and publishers are releasing very unpolished builds – just look at the number of patches released on the eShop in recent weeks – or very un-complex titles that require a relatively small amount of work to be ported to Switch. I know that 18 titles were released this week, but how many of these have a true chance of succeeding? I think just a handful.

It’s still not to late, but you can’t release just about anything – there aren’t many shooters or puzzle games. And if you’re an indie bringing a game that’s already on the market, on a different platform, definitely add some new content for the Switch; it’d make your marketing much easier, and maybe even the nice folks at Nintendo will help with your visibility.

The cream, as always, will rise to the top.

It’s well worth checking out the full article at the link below; let us know what you think down in the comments.

After the overwhelmingly positive release of Sonic Mania, the impending release of Sonic Forces is still a big question mark. Pre-release demo impressions haven’t all been glowing and there’s still lots of uncertainty over whether SEGA has finally cracked the 3D Sonic formula that it’s been chasing for years. Even so, the game seems to be shaping up pretty well, and with just a month to go until release, hype is starting to seriously build.

In the latest issue of Game Informer, producer Shun Nakamura explained various elements of the game, from the change up with the rings system to the overall darker tone. One interesting tidbit was how adamant he was on the value that the game will offer to the player, here’s what he said:

The gameplay content is going to be very similar to Sonic Colors or Sonic Generations, if you want to think about experiencing it from start to finish. What’s going to be additional is all the extra little things the team has hidden inside the game that will require you to go back and play with different and more powerful Wispons. There’s content in there to make sure that everyone can play through the game and have a fun time, but there’s also all these little things to do later that, if you really wanted to dig into the game, will be there for you. 

One thing I do want to make sure everyone understands is that we’re selling Sonic Forces at $39.99 in America, and we don’t want people to think that maybe this is a short game or this is a lesser experience than what we’ve done in the past. When we were thinking about pricing and what our audience was, we really wanted to make sure we could get as many people to play this game as possible by putting it at that price point. Even with Mania, we had a really solid, great game that everyone loves and we put it at $19.99 because we wanted everyone to play it and enjoy the content. So with Forces, nobody should be worried that they’re getting less content, or there’s not even [extra] stuff in there, or that we cut some corners. That’s really not the case. We’re aggressively pricing it to get this great content out to as many people as possible and really have people secure when they buy and play it to know that this is the same as all the other Sonic games we put out there, plus extra content for people to find and enjoy.

It sounds like there’s a lot to look forward to then, the question is just how good that content will actually be.

What do you think? Will you be picking up Sonic Forces? How do you think the game will turn out? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

With the rapid expansion of the Switch eShop we’re gradually seeing more genres and variety. We’ve had a few top-down shooters of various styles, for example, and next week Neon Chrome will add itself to the list.

Developed by 10tons Ltd, it’s a stylised title with procedural generation; a trailer and details are below.

Neon Chrome is a top-down twin stick shooter with a science fiction setting. Each level is procedurally generated, meaning levels throughout the game will be unique on every play session. The game features intense gunfights, destructible environments, and light role playing elements such as permanent statistics upgrades, better weapons, cybernetic enhancements and different character classes.

Features:

• Shoot through walls, make rooms explode, and obliterate whole floors
• Explore procedural levels with endless variety
• Defeat bosses in hand-crafted boss fights
• Unlock new abilities, enhancements and weapons
• Install enhancements and upgrade your weapons

It’ll arrive on 12th October with a confirmed price of $14.99USD for North America. Will you be tempted to give this a try?

Just recently Curve Digital confirmed two games that it’s bringing to the Switch eShop, including The Flame in the Flood (developed by The Molasses Flood). Pleasingly a press release has now confirmed that it’ll arrive next week (12th October), so we’ll get a chance to put it to the test.

You can see the Switch trailer and some blurb below.

The Flame In The Flood is a bleak but beautiful rogue-lite set upon a treacherous, procedurally generated river. With the help of your trusty dog, Aesop, The Flame In The Flood tasks you to make the most of your surroundings by foraging, hunting and scavenging your way through nature and the remains of society. With an evocative, homespun art-style and lilting, original soundtrack by Chuck Ragan, survival has never been this enjoyable.

It seems like quite a challenging game based upon comments from those that have played it elsewhere. Not only do you need to stay safe on the river but also make landfall and find vital resources; nature is rather cruel in the process.

Are you planning to venture into ‘post-societal America’ in this title?