Glad you like the screens, and thanks for the kind words everyone (Solid Snake Man i am looking mostly in your direction). I'll see what i can do about getting some wallpapers sometime soon. The SOTC comment also made us all happy. definitely a big compliment. I actually LOL'ed at the global illumination comment. nice shot
The wait for this game is getting long in the tooth. It has been my most anticipated game (on any platform) since I first saw it in March. To hear it may be releasing after the holiday season is disheartening to say the least. Love the screens, love the videos, but God help me, I want to PLAY it now, not just look at it. I sure wish I could pay someone gobs of money to play it... soon... (nudge nudge wink wink)
Better late than never.. but this game really shouldn't have won the IGF 'game of the year' for 2009 if it's not even going to be out in 2010.. kind of a farce, but I suppose friends scratch other friends backs.
Good thing it didn't win the 2009 IGF Game of the Year then, huh? That was Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor. Achievement in Art, on the other hand, S:SS EP did win and, any internal friendships aside, it deserved it hands down. Craig's art and animation are really something special. He is a super talented guy. Now add Jim's soul moving music, the creative efforts and direction of Kris and Nathan, and the programming talents of Jon and Frankie too make all this usable by the masses, and you've got a game that is going to knock people's socks off. Maybe not everyone's, as a fair few might not make it past the pixels, but that will be their loss. Anyway... I have no doubt the game will be done this year. The business part of me understands the reason for possibly holding it up until 2011, but the gamer in me hates that decision venomously. Sigh... Just want to play the thing.
The fact that a piece of vaporware won anything is a farce. Plain and simple. The competition was for games that were released in 2009 and thus should have been thrown out of the competition entirely. Case and Point, the Oscars don't hand out awards to directors who show storyboards and trailers, no matter how talented they might be. Which just goes to show how worthless and backwards the IGF is. ..and in my personal opinion, while the game looks stylistic, it also looks boring as hell. Which is why it doesn't surprise me that it isn't out. Lastly, when quality software is released, it sells itself. Waiting for the 'right time' is just another cop out. The developers know the game is slow and not fun. They're just grasping at straws hoping they find something that'll turn the title around.
Er... the rules for the Oscars and the rules for IGF differ slightly. As per IGF rules: "State of Development" : All entered games must be in a beta state or better (entered games must be feature complete). At least one (1) level of each entered game must be complete and fully playable. Pretty sure it met these requirements. Don't think there was any foul with it's win. Boring? Yeah, to some, perhaps many. Those enthralled by fever pitched twitch gaming aren't going to find what they are looking for here, I agree. I've always gotten more of an exploration vibe from S:SS EP, and that's what *I'm* looking for. If you didn't enjoy games like Ico, SOTC, Knytt, Small Worlds, older adventure games... I don't contend that you won't like this. It will be about as deep as your imagination, I'm guessing. I think they know it's definitely a niche game, to be sure, hence the possible decision to remove it from the glut of holiday releases. However, AS a niche game, I think it would do just fine regardless.
I can't freakin' WAIT to see and play this game! What we've seen from it so far looks absolutely fantastic.
As much as i enjoy a good e-hating, i hope i can still use this thread to keep interested folk updated side note in relation to Erikthered's post... the Beta-stage rule was just introduced in 2010. Prior years IGF submissions could be at any stage of development (see: Fez, Cortex Command, etc). But I do like the oscar comparison!
No offense, Eli. Just because you work in games journalism doesn't mean you have good taste in games. You only ever really get excited about RPGs. Which is fine for your personal tastes, but is hardly fair and balanced. In fact, friends and I joke about how TA is the Fox News of iPhone games journalism. Don't get a big head about the comparison. I could have just as easily said they don't give out MTV 'music' awards to those who show sheet music. Fact remains, nearly every award ceremony is a back scratching event meant to push others agenda. It's clear Capy has plenty of friends in the media, especially when we look back at how many blogs shamelessly tried to plug Critter Crunch, crying for people to buy it. Which is a title I was less than impressed by as well. Yes.. the fight sequence on the following page is epic... <snore> http://www.creativeapplications.net/games/sword-sworcery-iphone-games-preview/ Don't get me wrong. I want every game to be awesome. I want Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP to be the best thing since Zelda on the NES. I want to it completely transform what I think about gaming. However, until the game is released, I see little to no use in anointing this as anything but vaporware. What I hate is having the media ride these guys jocks because they are their friends, which to me, is utter BS. There are plenty of other solid game creators that deserve an ounce of recognition, and when nonsense like this happens (ie. a game winning an award 11 months ago -- long before it's released) it prevents others from being recognized, who probably deserved it just as much. So that's all. I don't care to hate. I smoke way too much green to have that on my agenda. I do however supremely dislike favoritism, especially when it's undeserved. This game can earn its acclaim when it's released. To do so this far before hand is just absurd.
That's the second most ridiculous and most hilarious thing I've read today. The first involved people wearing skidmarked underwear. Based on your posts here this afternoon, you might want to consider smoking a wee bit more.
Is there any chance anyone here will be going to Gamercamp in Canada this weekend? It would be great if someone could get the keynote or any other S:SS EP related info on video and upload it somewhere. I thoroughly enjoyed Craig's talk from Fantastic Arcade. Otherwise, Nathan, any chance some info will be captured in one form or another for mass consumption? Unfortunately I'm on the wrong side boarder / continent to get any footage this weekend, though I wish otherwise.
http://gamenorth.ca/2010/11/18/gamercamp-lv2-sword-sworcery-ep/ Please tell me the last line of this article is a misprint.
Please consider releasing an "official clone" for iOS if Ubisoft won't let you port Clash of Heroes! There's already one pretty blatant clone of your game on the App Store... Could you, theroretically, develop a different game, with different characters (the Critter Crunch crew maybe?) but the same puzzle mechanics, or is everything Ubisoft's property, gameplay style included?
