Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com Joystiq http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Edge of Space]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/30/the-joystiq-indie-pitch-edge-of-space/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/30/the-joystiq-indie-pitch-edge-of-space/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/30/the-joystiq-indie-pitch-edge-of-space/#comments Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, lead game designer at Handyman Studios, Jacob Crane, talks Edge of Space, his space shark exploration game in beta and on Greenlight now.

The Joystiq Indie Pitch Edge of Space
What's your game called and what's it about?

The game we are working on is Edge of Space, and it is a 2D sandbox exploration game. You, one of the ArkCo Recruits, have been dropped into an area where terraforming should never have been attempted. Stranded in an unknown region of space on a busted-up planet where early terraforming protocols have gone horribly wrong, it's now up to you and whoever else you can find to overcome the obstacles ahead.

How is the beta going?

The beta is going very well. It has kept our feet on the ground and really helped us identify issues in the core system early on. Whenever you are developing multiplayer, we think it is key you get it out into the "wild" as soon as you can. We wanted to experiment with a different kind of development style to match our small team. After alpha, we pulled out all but the basic features for beta, and then started adding them back in layers as we found things were stable and the necessary iteration was put in place.

This is very much a bottom-up approach. To ensure our foundations are rock solid is paramount. Even though mod development is not being released right at release day, everything has already been made to support it when we do. This has served us very well. It does come with the drawback of not being able to show everything we want to, but it allows us make the code infinitely more stable.

Continue reading The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Edge of Space

JoystiqThe Joystiq Indie Pitch: Edge of Space originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 30 Dec 2012 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>betaedge-of-spacegreenlighthandyman-studiosjoystiq-indie-pitchpcreverb-publishingsteam-greenlightSun, 30 Dec 2012 17:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Reverb forced to clarify 'homeless kittens' press release]]>http://www.joystiq.com/2012/10/02/reverb-forced-to-clarify-homeless-kittens-press-release/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/10/02/reverb-forced-to-clarify-homeless-kittens-press-release/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/10/02/reverb-forced-to-clarify-homeless-kittens-press-release/#comments Reverb forced to clarify 'homeless kittens' press releaseReverb Publishing was forced this morning to clarify a press release which implied the company would only donate $5000 towards care for homeless cats if Edge of Space was approved on Steam Greenlight. The press release, while jovial in language, clearly said the money would only be donated to The Humane Society, an animal protection organization, if the game was approved by October 15 for release on Steam. The press release quickly dominated the comments on the game's Greenlight page, with views swinging both against and in defense of the publisher. This led Reverb to issue a clarification:
"Hey everyone! There has been a misunderstanding on the marketing side of Edge of Space. We do not support guilt voting in any way and our sincere apologies go out to anyone who felt that way. This was meant in fun, if anything, Reverb's intent was to add a bonus; if we can make it to the top 10 by the 15th, we will help out a worthy cause. Understand that there is some dark humor in the game and they wanted to play off of that. We love CATS!!! That's why we have them in our game to begin with! We have sugar bears too!!! So we like exotics."
In the Greenlight page's comments section, Reverb's VP of business development Doug Kennedy claimed that "even before the promotion was approved" his company had agreed to make the donation to The Humane Society.

Whichever side you fall on, this is by far not the first time a game's controversial PR campaign didn't go as planned, and certainly not the first one involving animals. We're, of course, talking about the debacle surrounding Sony and the dead goat at the God of War II event. Then there are the things that sound cool on paper when they're dangerous or awkwardly unethical. The inarguable good side of this story is some homeless kittens will be getting much needed care.

JoystiqReverb forced to clarify 'homeless kittens' press release originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>edge-of-spacehandyman-studiospcreverb-publishingsteam-greenlightTue, 02 Oct 2012 11:15:00 EST