Joystiq

Penny Arcade Adventures Ep. 2 done, priced at $15

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-10-01T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

The elaborately titled adventures of the webcomic duo, Gabe and Tycho, are set to continue this Fall in Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness Episode Two. We're told that developer Hothead Games has just completed the downloadable RPG-adventure, bestowing "Gold Master" status upon the Windows, Mac and Linux versions.

The Xbox Live Arcade and PSN iterations are presumably still being tweaked (much like the PSN's Episode One), but will share the same price of 15 earth bucks. Hooray for subsequent episodic games becoming cheaper!

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2

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PAX 2008: Penny Arcade Adventures producer gushes about Episode 2

Ross Miller — 2008-09-04T10:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Adventure, RPGs, Interviews

Last week during PAX 2008, we sat down with Hothead COO and Penny Arcade Adventures Producer Joel DeYoung as he guided us through Episode 2 and improvements to the engine. The gist of it is: if you liked Episode 1, you'll like Episode 2 that much more. Here's the rundown from our talks:

Highlighting points of interest has been made easier! "If you have your proximity putting you close enough to 2 or 3 things, you can slide through that with bumpers," said DeYoung.
There are now difficulty levels, including an Insane Mode (unlockable only after beating the game). Special collectibles and pickups are only available if you play Insane Mode. Comparatively, Episode 1's difficulty is "a little easier" than medium.
All the weapons have been replaced. Tycho gets a shotgun, Gabe has new fist upgrades and your player now possesses -- wait for it -- a hoe! Also changed are the special attack minigames.
You now have, among other new items, a revive potion. Healing won't be enough to bring your troops back to life. "Just adds a little bit of depth to it," said DeYoung.
The real-time reaction for defense has been made more obvious (e.g. "Block!" now appears when you need to push block), but nothing analogous for attacking has been added.

More after the break.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2

You can import your Episode 1 character, but if you don't, your new player will start at level 13. Imported characters can update their appearance at the start with new clothing. DeYoung is "pretty sure" you can get to a max level for the episode whether or not you import a player.
With Ep 1, Tycho's writing imposed a certain structure on development, and so with Ep 2, Hothead built the whole flow of story and dialogue themselves and used placeholder text so Tycho can go back and add it later. He can still change the structure of it later, though.
Due to popular demand, there is a "little extra" voice acting. Not a lot, though, given their target download size. It was a mutual decision not to have Tycho and Gabe speak.
"Hot keys" for PC gaming has been considered. There are shortcuts for dialogue, but not combat.
"Backporting" the improved Ep. 2 code onto Ep 1 is definitely something they've considered and is feasible, but no confirmation either way.
Ep 2 wont be released simultaneously on the PlayStation 3 but there will be a "tighter timeframe" than Ep 1. Explained DeYoung, Garage Games' Torque Engine wasn't as prepared for console rendering as they thought. "So we had to at that time, we were really pushing to get the game out ... so we had to make a hard decision to get it on Xbox and push off PS development for a little while. So once it came out, we resumed work on PS3."
We asked DeYoung to sum up Ep. 2 in three points (we provided the following example for Ep. 1: Mimes, Fruit Fucking, Shit Hole). After a pause, DeYoung said, "Insane Asylum. Crazier. More Fruit Fucking."

As for non-Episode 2 discussion:

For the PSN version of Ep 1, all that's left is coding for integration with Network features and platform stuff, bug fixing, and Sony's own submission process.
"We were really pleasantly surprised" how many Mac and Linux units were sold. "The Linux people have been very appreciative," he said, adding, "all channels [i.e. Greenhouse, Steam, Xbox Live, etc.] performed very well," with not one sticking out.
Hothead is a licensed Wii developer. "We thought about [PAA for Wii], certainly, but we spent a lot of time getting it down to the size it's down to now ... It's kind of an order of magnitude out for what would be required for [proper size compression] for WiiWare."
About the controversial Xbox Live pricing: "When we announced the price of Ep 1, it was the same for PC and Xbox. The PC fans were like, 'yeah that sounds like a great deal,' they were really excited. However, on the Xbox forums, people were all upset -- some people -- they said "seems like an expensive price for a live arcade game," without discussing what the content or gameplay length was." DeYoung said they were one of the first M-rated games, and the first game at $20. "Ultimately, it's a business decision on our side" about the price, he said.

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New, fruit-tacular Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2 screens

Ross Miller — 2008-09-01T22:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Adventure, Galleries

With PAX 2008 bringing out oodles of Penny Arcade love, why not use this opportunity to pimp the upcoming PA Adventures Episode 2? In addition to chatting with COO Joel DeYoung (that aftermath of which will be published early this week), Hothead Games sent us more than a dozen new screenshots, including a few that are just for us (we feel touched by that, although on that note we wonder if some of them are creepy subliminal messages to us). PAA:OTRSPoD Episode 2 is due out later this year.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 2

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Penny Ar-cake makes Gabe cry, us drool

Kevin Kelly — 2008-08-30T19:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture

Click to giganticize

Penny Arcade's Mike/Gabe told us in an interview that he hates all cake coverage. The good news is, you can't hate our cake and eat it too. So, it's with love and appreciation that we present this glorious photo of a sweet-looking, sugary Penny Arcade cake, featuring deliciousness from the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.

Gabe, you might hate cake, but we think the masses would decimate this Penny Arcade pastry piece with vim and vigor. It was created by cakesmith Brian Kurtz, who is also available for weddings, bar mitzvahs, your LAN party, or "any other situation that calls for a bad-ass 3D cake that will make your guests crap their pants in disbelief." Stay tuned for our interview with Tycho and Gabe later this week.

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Penny Arcade Adventures due on PSN this Winter (with Trophies!)

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-08-28T18:45:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Action, RPGs

Oh, how you yearned for their unrestrained chuckles -- their sparkling smiles -- to be transformed into naught but a cacophony of wailing and ceaseless misery. What gave them the right? Was it their fancy PCs, Macs and Xbox 360s? Did they so enjoy coasting down The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness on their technological toboggans that they couldn't even cast a single glance towards you, sitting atop a lonely and immobile PlayStation 3? Well, when the snow falls again this Winter, revenge will be yours.

Also, Trophies! Posting on the official PlayStation Blog (they let anybody on there these days), Hothead producer Joel DeYoung confirmed that the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures would arrive on PSN before the end of the year, complete with Trophy support and 1080p resolution. "Looking back, I think it's a shame that we weren't able to release the PS3 version closer to the initial launch of the game," he said.

With the game's engine now up and running on the hardware, DeYoung expects that future episodes will arrive on Sony's platform in a more timely fashion. No more being left out in the cold, our monolithic friend.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 1 (PS3)

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Penny Arcade Adventures coming to PS3 this fall

Randy Nelson — 2008-07-23T14:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Adventure, RPGs

After managing the third best game launch to date on Xbox Live Arcade, Hothead Games is prepping the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness for release on PS3 via the PlayStation Store. It looks like the release has been part of the developer's schedule all along, but if you're one of the many people who've emailed them asking for the game on PSN, feel free to give yourself a little credit.

"We keep getting emails asking why our Penny Arcade game is not on PSN," said Vlad Ceraldi, Hothead's CEO, adding, "All good things take time and we are very excited to be debuting our first PS3 title and look forward to bringing more games to this platform in the future." By "more games" we think it's pretty safe to assume the rest of the Penny Arcade Adventures episodes - hobos, snark, fanboy in-jokes and all -- are on the way. You can view the first PS3 screens of the game in the gallery below.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 1 (PS3)

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Penny Arcade Adventures only $10 this weekend on Steam

Ross Miller — 2008-07-13T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, PC

Have you been sitting on the edge of the rain-slick precipice of darkness? Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One is half-off on Steam this weekend. That's right, an Alexander Hamilton (US $10) for verbose RPG romping. Deal ends today, so act fast!

[Thanks, Matt J]

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The Best Of Big Download: May 23-31, 2008

John Callaham — 2008-05-31T12:30:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Meta (about Joystiq)

Who says PC gaming is dying? We don't. The new Big Download blog site continues to gain readers and post up exclusive news and content on all aspects of PC gaming. This week we have a ton of Mass Effect PC features as well as other content for you to check out. Here are the highlights from the past week:

Exclusive Features

In-Depth: Mass Effect: We go in detail on the new PC port of BioWare's acclaimed science fiction RPG
Big Iron: Mass Effect's effective mass: We find out if your PC rig can run the game with all the bells and whistles.
Big Versus: Mass Effect: How do the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game compare to each other? We find out.
PvP vs PvE: EA Mythic on Warhammer Online: Our series of PvP interviews for MMO games continues with EA Mythic's Jeff Hickman on their plans for the feature in Warhammer Online.
Running With Scissors Vince Desi on the Postal movie: We chat with the Postal development head on the newly release movie version of their dark satire action game series.
Big Versus: Penny Arcade Adventures - Episode One: We compare the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the new downloadable adventure-RPG from Hothead Games
Casually Speaking: Are causal games really gateway games?: Our weekly casual games column looks at the debate on how playing casual games could lead some players to try more hardcore titles
Freeware Friday: Abuse: The weekly column on free games takes a look at a golden oldie; the side-scrolling sci-fi shooter Abuse
MODvelous Monday: This week's look at game mods looks at the Classic Doom 3 total conversion for Doom 3

Downloads

Sword of the Stars Collector's Edition Demo: Check out the new demo for the space strategy game from Kerberos Productions
World in Conflict Update 1.008 Patch: Download the latest patch for the alternate history RTS game from Massive Development
Prince of Persia trailer: Check out the first footage of the latest relaunch of Ubisoft's action game franchise
Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. trailer: Check out the teaser for the flying action game from Ubisoft.
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway trailer: Check out new footage from the Gearbox-Ubisoft WWII tactical shooter.

News

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Penny Arcade Adventures: XBLA, PC versions go head-to-head

Ross Miller — 2008-05-27T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360

Sure, there are demos for all the versions (download here: Windows, Mac, Linux), but if you still can't decide which Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is right for you, our friends at Big Download have sired Big Versus, a comparison of the Xbox 360 and PC versions. Their conclusion is a statistical tie, with minor complaints for both iterations, biggest of which is the lack of hotkeys for the PC. Read the details for yourself here.

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Rez, Ikaruga hold record for best XBLA launches

Ross Miller — 2008-05-27T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Online

In news post yesterday, Penny Arcade's Gabe revealed the top four best launches ever for Xbox Live Arcade, with the launch window being the first three days of availability. The list is as follows:

Rez HD, 25k units
Ikaruga, 22.5k units
Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 1, 16.5k units
N+, 13k units

Honestly, we're a bit surprised by the initial success of Rez and Ikaruga. Not that we didn't want them to succeed (they really are awesome games), but we didn't expect to see Xbox Live community rally so quickly around years-old re-releases. Now, if we could only see data for worst XBLA launches, or even total Rez playtime using multiple controllers as trance vibrators.

Gallery: Rez HD (XBLA)

[Via X3F]

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Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is on the rain-free precipice of sunshine and rainbows

Ross Miller — 2008-05-24T20:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Online, Polls

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! 'Tis not a single thing bad about this day! Althought we're knee-deep in the awesome Penny Arcade Adventures (hence the really bad tracing on the Photoshop above), we thought we'd take a moment to reflect on sunnier adventures. ... Okay, we're done, back to the game! Here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics. Voting after the break.

Bingo, the New Game by Rockstar (Married to the Sea)
Universal Access (Robot Martini)
Tales of the Boundless Universe (Nobody Scores)
Super Ultra Double Secret (Penny Arcade)
Million Dollar Arcade (Dueling Analogs)
The Case (CAD)
Ages 7 and Up ... and Up! (VG Cats)
A Turn of Events (2P Start)
Waistline Dilation (Digital Unrest)
D'awwwww! (Fanboys Online)

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Metareview -- Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One (PC/360)

Justin McElroy — 2008-05-22T20:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, RPGs

Though it's perhaps easier to write these metareviews when critics seem to agree, we really prefer to have some differing opinions in there. That's certainly the case with Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One which has already netted reviews ranging from a paltry 40 to a very respectable 80 (where Penny Arcade's own Gabe slots it, as a matter of fact).

That said, most of the critics are residing on the higher end of that spectrum. Here's a sample of what they're saying:

GameSpot (75/100): "This is not just some generic trash stamped with the Penny Arcade logo; this is the long-running webcomic seamlessly realized in video game form."
Edge (40/100): "With the episodic development cycle all but demanding that structure and form be locked down in the first instalment, with content added thereafter, the series' future looks precarious at best."
Wired (70/100): "...while it does try to bite off a great deal more than it can chew -- and suffers for it -- the game is a solid, clever, hilarious piece of entertainment that will more than please its audience."
OXM (85/100): "Twenty bucks is a perfectly reasonable sum when you consider how many retail Xbox 360 games offer the same quantity of content...and we'll bet you didn't laugh half as much playing any of those as you will playing this."

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The Best Of Big Download: May 16-22, 2008

John Callaham — 2008-05-22T15:45:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Meta (about Joystiq)

Hello once again, loyal reader. The team at Big Download has had an extremely busy second week with lots of features, downloads and news to report about on the PC gaming scene. It doesn't get much bigger than the release of Penny Arcade Adventures (and yes we have the PC, Mac and Linux demo versions available to download) and of course Age of Conan was pretty huge as well. We are still trying to iron out a few more bugs on the site but we are pretty happy with what we've got so far. Let's take a quick look at the highlights for our second official week:

Exclusive Features:

PvP vs PvE: ArenaNet on Guild Wars: We chat with game designer Isaiah Cartwright on how they develop the PvP and PvE aspects of Guild Wars.
Epic's Mark Rein on Chair Entertainment purchase: We chat briefly with Epic Games' VP on their acquisition of Chair Entertainment
Age of Conan: The pros and cons: Should you buy Funcom's new MMO? We look at the pluses and minuses of the fantasy game.
Big Iron: Age of Conan's demanding tribute: Our hardware columist takes a look at what kind of PC you will need to run Age of Conan
MODverlous Monday: Our new weekly mod column takes a look at two Half-Life 2 mods
Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games takes a look at the classic title N
Casually Speaking: Orisinal and the Zen of design: Our casual game columist checks out an impressive casual game web site
Talkin' Smack: Online voice chat in kids' games: An editorial on how game designers might deal with the tricky issue of game voice chat for children
Guide to Team Fortress 2 Medic Achievements: Check out the final two parts of our extensive look at the various achievements for the Medic class in Valve's multiplayer shooter: Part 5; Part 6

Downloads:

Penny Arcade Adventures Demo: We have the PC, Mac and Linux versions of the demo for the new Hothead Games RPG-adventure game based on the web comic strip.
Postal 2 free multiplayer game: Download the entire multiplayer portion of Running With Scissors' first person shooter for free
ArmA: Armed Assault patch: The new 1.14 patch to the military shooter adds the new RTS-like Warfare mode
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars patch: We have the 1.5 patch to the sci-fi multiplayer shooter.
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 trailer: The first gameplay footage from EA's alternate history RTS game
Spore Cell Phase trailer; Check out gameplay footage of the first portion of Maxis' upcoming evolution game

News:

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Tycho Brahe weighs in On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness

Michael Zenke — 2008-05-21T12:27:00+00:00

Filed under: Features, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, Adventure, Interviews

The unique experiment of Penny Arcade Adventures has already begun in earnest. The long-term question in the making -- "Can game comic-makers make a videogame?" -- is moot. On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is now available via Xbox Live and the Greenhouse website (with demos here: Windows, Mac and Linux). The question now becomes: What do the creators think of their spawn? We sat down with Jerry "Tycho" Holkins, Penny Arcade's writer-in-residence, to get some perspective on that very issue.

We had the chance to discuss a number of the game's elements -- from the origins of the Startling Developments Detective Agency to the foul creation of the evil bums. Mr. Holkins also shed a dim light on future episodes in the series as we discussed the music and writing that surround the overarching story. We also clarified that for Penny Arcade, as a creative team, there is no rest. Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins are not celebrating today, they're not patting themselves on the back. Instead, they're returning to what they do best: working.

Read on to find out why these guys are driven to mine the funny for your benefit.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures

Joystiq: You've intimated several times in the past that you're unsure you would have made the game if you'd known how much work it was going to be. Now that the game is launching, do you still feel that way?

Tycho Brahe: Yeah, yeah ... I said that because it was true. For me the journey is in no way over. Encapsulated in my answer to those questions is the totality of the project. For me the totality of the project is going to continue on for at least another year. Even from now ... the story is four chapters long, and I'm more than halfway through the second game.

"Making one game was difficult but it has not destroyed me."

Once that's complete we'll beat the shit out of that game and we'll be jumping into the third episode, and the fourth one immediately thereafter. For me, when I answer this question, it was taking into account the entirety of the experience. Making one game was difficult but it has not destroyed me. What may destroy me is the reality that by the end of these games we'll have been talking about almost three years total.

Do you take any solace at all in the fact that the first game is launching?

No, absolutely not. That's one of the more difficult things about the process. Making the game is difficult enough, now putting it in front of people is additionally difficult. The way that Mike and I see it is that we're now 25% complete. We're thinking about the whole project, and so for us ... no. Our experience on this project is also, obviously, very different from Hothead's. I can guarantee that Hothead is celebrating.

But with us this is just an opportunity for us to think a little bit about how we were able to accomplish this first one, what would we like to do better. What do we think succeeded this time around. Ultimately you have to understand that we don't really celebrate our accomplishments.

That isn't really a part of our thing. Penny Arcade as a project is perpetual. There are three strips a week, and three posts dealing with those strips or other items. Occasionally there is a book released that compiles them, but that's more a convenience than anything else. Our approach to making work is that it's a perpetual cycle. We don't see this as a tremendous opportunity to congratulate ourselves, or some bullshit.

Our response to completing a task is to begin another task. That's the only thing we know how to do. We're always in the process of making something else. We know what to do in that middle part, we know how to manage it when we're actually at work. The extraneous ends of these processes we don't know how to deal with, so we just start another project.

Mike has mentioned reviews for the game a few times on the site, and he pegs it at a solid "8." Do you have any thoughts on how the game has been received?

I only know about two, so past that I'm not sure. I only know about the two reviews I heard about, and ... maybe there are more, I dunno.

We assume one of those is the Edge review? Do you have any particular thoughts on Edge as a magazine, what was your reaction to their score?

Yeah, I think Mike talked about that. I think getting a great review from Edge would have been amazing. As Edge is ... probably the most savage, possibly the most respected games magazine in print right now. So getting a higher score would have brought me more joy. I think that I would like them to score the next game with a higher number. I will be doing what I can on my side, on the writing side, to convince them that we've earned it. There's simply no dialogue to be had on that, right? He was simply not satisfied with the product.

**"Edge clocked it in as a 4 out of 10. That means we need to be doing more."**

Where's the dialogue to be had? There's no question for me on that point. He's delivered a numerical value that, to him, represents the level of enjoyment that he derived from the game that we made. He clocked it in as a 4 out of 10. That means we need to be doing more. There's nothing mythological about reviewing or scoring, and I certainly don't have any smartass commentary to make. I simply need to work harder.

You've mentioned that you feel the PC version of the game approximated an RTS-like experience, while the Xbox 360's feel was closer to a traditional console RPG. Which of these textures were you folks aiming for when you were developing the game?

For me what we wanted to have was a game that was reminiscent of adventure games, that evoked an adventure game atmosphere. That means specific things, right? Crazy characters, a dialogue system with branching trees, invoking the trappings of that genre. Interesting in-game objects, a storyline, all the things we sort of associate with those.

But we like RPGs, playing RPGs on console is something we really enjoy. That style of RPG is not PC-native. Well ... I guess even that's not true. Very old-school PC RPGs certainly executed their combat in a mode like that, like Bard's Tale, Wasteland, games like that. In the modern genre, though, we think of them as a console thing.

The game itself, on the two platforms, is identical numerically. What tool you use to interface with that experience is defined by the platform. You have that accurate pointing device, and on the other you have more directional control. Interacting with the same system and the same numbers happens to feel differently. It's almost purely to do with the interface.

You've mentioned Final Fantasy as sort of being in the back of your mind while developing the game; were there any other titles in specific that you folks were thinking of?

Not especially. They asked us what kind of game we wanted to be making. It was that elemental. We basically said that we want to make an adventure game where you had these people, and you move around, and you interact with a weird world. It's basically a combat system along with it to have these kinds of interactions. That came through in the design of the world.

Now that the RPG metaphor is in place, instead of going to a magical desert or something now you're going to the slums. What are the denizens of the slums? What are some of the strange characters that are there and can talk to? Somewhere between those genres, they informed each other in sort of strange ways. You fight the creatures that live in a given realm, but because we're doing an urban fantasy our realms are districts of a town.

You've said before that the game is for fans of the comic, and that folks who like the comic will probably like the game. People that don't, probably won't. Was there any sort of effort made to make an outreach to people who may not have ever read Penny Arcade?

Well, hopefully the comic fans will enjoy the writing, at least. We didn't make any outreach in specific, no. Hopefully the game is just interesting, in general. Hopefully people will find the situation, the scenario, the art, and the writing interesting in general terms even if they don't know that these characters are actually archetypes instead of just being repurposed from another context.

They might not know Gabe and Tycho contextually, either as pseudonyms for people writing the comic or as characters that comment on the games industry or popular culture. Maybe they'll get to know this Gabe and Tycho and grow to like them.

Was there any particular place that the detective agency came from as a framework for the story?

Yes. I am a huge fan of Call of Cthulhu. Characters in CoC are called investigators, and invariably whenever I roleplay in that context I always create a company. There have been so many different companies, I can't even remember the first one. At one point my character had to go underground for a while, and he created a company called The Terrible Secret. My characters are always making these companies. We just recently had a campaign where my character created another company ... that's just always how it goes.

"We needed an anchor, something to catalyze the rest of it. Startling Developments Detective Agency is our toehold."

In this context Gabe and Tycho exist before the place does in this universe. That is what they do. As investigators of the paranormal. Paranormal investigators, that's not a new concept, I certainly didn't invent that, but it gives everything else something to hang on. When we want to tell stories in that world, the hook is ready made. It's ready for us to play with it.

It's a very solid foundation for telling stories. We needed an anchor, something to catalyze the rest of it. Startling Developments Detective Agency is our toehold. "What are they investigating?" It provides us with all the questions we need to get a base camp to tell stories from.

In future episodes are we going to see you taking that framework and moving to other settings?

I only know about this game, which is told in four episodes, and the process has been extremely grueling as I have just related. I can't actually imagine where it goes from here. It was not our intention to create like an ultra-franchised experience that can be reinterpreted in different ways. Although, now that you've brought up the idea that sounds really exciting. That was not the plan -- I made one story for this and it is told in its entirety in these four episodes. I would love to do that, though, that sounds like a hoot.

Right now I can't imagine what would inspire me to ... because there are definitely other things we could do. As it stands, the year is pretty packed, there's a major project, and then this is always there, lurking.

Are there any particular words you enjoyed using in writing this game?

I had to make a couple up. There is a material called Strengthium, which is very durable as I'm sure you can imagine. There is a couple of other new ones, but for me the scripts are sort of monolithic. There are words that I might have used in the second chapter that I don't want to go into. There is a lot of reading to do in the game? Hopefully people like to read? Maybe that's not true?

"Hopefully people like to read ... Maybe that's not true?"

Hopefully they want to read the things that are in it. I tried to be as pulp writerly as possible. When you're talking about words, the person that I made up to do this writing, that handles a lot of the narration and item descriptions, is very overwrought. It's possible I went too far on that, we'll see.

I think that for people who like this kind of thing, that sort of "nerd porn,"there's a lot to enjoy here. There's raw, red meat for that constituency.

We assume that at some point, something is cyclopean?

I'm not sure if I actually used the cyclopean in the first game. You have to understand, this is an introduction to the setting. Things begin at a point of relative normalcy. It's not like, hey the second screen over "oh, it's a cyclopean tunnel. It's a warren!" That doesn't happen right away. We're starting off a four chapter event and as per usual no one has a clear idea of the stakes at first blush.

You have a background in music and audio, obviously. Did you touch base with Jeff Tymoshuck, the composer for the game? Did you have any input into that aspect?

Hothead has an audio designer as well, who is friends with the composer. Basically what happened between the audio designer and I (and the audio designer is a composer as well), he and I laid down the major tones. When I got music back I would make comments on it. I've already heard stuff from the second episode and we've already laid down the major themes for the third and fourth episodes in terms of instrumentation, presentation, things like that. Conceptually that's something that I take pretty seriously.

Are there any composers or bands that remind you of what the sound of the series sounds like?

I'm not really the right person to answer that? The music is very orchestral, but it also has some sort of jazzy-type elements. It's in a venue ... I listen to a lot of music, but I don't listen to a lot of music that is in the style presented here. As it progresses, the third episode draws much more from bombastic, hero-type games. With that you've got some fairly obvious inspirations.

To wrap things up, at the beginning of the conversation you mentioned again how challenging this has been for you. Is there anything that you can look back on during the experience and say, "I'm glad I did the game because I got to do this?"

[long pause] Well, I'm not going to take any pride in it until someone enjoys it. If someone, even a single person, hopefully more ... If someone enjoys it, if we were able to impart something that we tried to communicate, I'll be happy taking credit for it at that time.

Thank you very much for your time, sir.

Demo Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One right now! On your platform of choice: Windows, Mac or Linux.

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Xbox 360 Spring Showcase impressions roundup

Ross Miller — 2008-05-14T19:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360

Our friends at Xbox 360 Fanboy are having a ball at the Xbox 360 Spring Showcase, sending word of their hands-on experiences with the console's upcoming lineup. (Update: Now with more Human.) Check out their impressions below:

	Impressions: Ninja Gaiden II It's unapologetically hardcore, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
	Impressions: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts There is good reason that Rare did not decide to title the game Banjo Threeie. It's something new.
	Impressions: Penny Arcade Adventures On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Turns out the game is a meld of Japanese RPG and old-school adventure.

	Impressions: Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise With so much added to the formula, it's hard to see downsides to Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, and that's because they're mostly endemic.
	Impressions: Too Human If you're in the market for a slower paced action experience and enjoy (or don't mind) the leveling up and tweaking of your character then Too Human could be for you.

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Xbox 360 Spring Showcase screenshot roundup

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-05-13T18:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Microsoft Xbox, Galleries

If a picture's worth a thousand words, we'll spare you the copious blabber and lead your eyeballs right to the trailhead (just hop past the break to get started!). Be warned though, the path through Microsoft's Xbox 360 Spring Showcase is a long one (but thankfully smooth and well lit). Be sure to sit a few feet from the screen, rest your eyes between galleries and drink lots of water! Enjoy.

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Penny Arcade Adventures hitting XBLA on May 21

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-05-13T12:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, Adventure, RPGs

Microsoft has politely informed us that next week's Xbox Live Arcade game is none other than Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One. It should be out by the time you're done saying the title, then. Developed by Hothead Games, in collaboration with mighty adventure game designer, Ron Gilbert, and the folks behind Penny Arcade, the game sees Gabe and Tycho leap out of their webcomic frames and into an episodic RPG adventure.

Even at 1,600 MS Points ($20), we don't think anything short of a clawshrimp attack will keep us away from this one.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures

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Penny Arcade announces 'Greenhouse' online game store

Scott Jon Siegel — 2008-04-02T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, Business

Penny Arcade and Hothead Games -- the developer behind On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness -- have just announced a joint partnership to launch Greenhouse, a brand new online game store, focused on digital distribution for independent games.

Not to be mistaken for a downloadable client application (like GameTap and Steam), Greenhouse is simply a website for digital distribution, putting it in direct competition with fellow indie game portal Manifesto Games. The site, which is currently in beta, will initially be the exclusive download source for Precipice, offering the PC, Mac, and Linux versions. Later, more Hothead Games will be distributed via the service, along with other indie offerings.

While the digital distribution market is getting a bit saturated as of late, let's hope Greenhouse's platform-agnostic approach to publishing keeps the service on our radar.

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Penny Arcade Adventures priced at $20, specs released

James Ransom-Wiley — 2008-03-27T16:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Mac, PC, Microsoft Xbox 360

Hothead Games today punched its rambling epic, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One (phew!), with a $19.95 price tag. That's just over 30 cents a letter (colons not included), assuming cost is derived, as it is for all episodic games, by the title's length. Currently, that price applies to all versions of the game, which include PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox Live Arcade editions. 1600 Microsoft Points ($20) would be new territory for digital distribution on Xbox 360, but clearly, Hothead and its two stars have made it a point to be living on the edge.

PC, Mac and Linux specs are posted after the break.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures

Minimum System Requirements

Recommended Configuration

Operating System

Windows and Linux

Windows(R) 2000/XP/Vista^TM with latest updates or Linux(R) 32-bit x86
Pentium(R) III, AMD Athlon^TM 1.0 GHz or better

Mac

Mac(R) OS X 10.4/10.5 with latest updates
PowerPC(R) G4, G5 or Intel(R) based Mac 1.0 GHz or better

Windows and Linux

Pentium(R) IV, AMD Athlon^TM 1.5 GHz or better

Mac

PowerPC(R) G4, G5 or Intel(R) based Mac 1.5 GHz or better

All Platforms

ATI Radeon^TM 9500 or better, NVIDIA GeForce^TM FX 5200 or better, Intel(R) GMA 950 or better with 64 MB of video memory (shared or dedicated)*
512 MB of available system memory
OS-supported keyboard and mouse
OS-supported sound card
350 MB of available hard drive space (185 MB installed)
Available Internet connection for download and one-time authentication

ATI Radeon^TM X800 or better, NVIDIA GeForce^TM 6600 or better video card with 128 MB of video memory*
768 MB of available system memory
16-bit stereo- or surround-capable sound card with latest drivers

*All Windows- and Linux-based system video cards require latest drivers supporting OpenGL(R).

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Joystiq interview: Penny Arcade Adventures

Ludwig Kietzmann — 2008-03-03T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, Adventure, RPGs, Interviews, GDC

It's fair to say that quite a lot is expected from Vancouver-based developer, Hothead Games. The group not only has to deliver a series of downloadable and episodic adventure RPGs in regular intervals, but also appease a fanbase so large and rabid that it can click your website to death -- accidentally, if you're lucky. On top of all that, the poor developers are occasionally dragged into a tiny room for the sole purpose of being poked by a plethora of questions regarding their upcoming games.

Penny Arcade Adventures producer, Joel DeYoung, and Hothead creative director, Ron Gilbert, had to endure just such a prodding during GDC, the results of which can be viewed after the break. Appropriately enough, our interview's almost as long as the title of the series: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.

Gallery: Penny Arcade Adventures

How far along is Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness?

Joel: It's very close to done, we're beta on Episode One right now, and because it's episodic and we're gonna release episodes every few months, a lot of the work and content on Episode Two is already done. We've already started started work on Episode Three and so the team is split in working on them in parallel.

Do you have a maximum number of episodes already planned out?

Joel: We haven't announced how many episodes we're gonna release, but we do have to plan a fixed number of episodes. Each episode has its own story, bu the story arc runs the entire length of the game series and so it definitely has a beginning, middle and end.

Ron, what have you been doing for the last few years? We've been reading your ramblings on Grumpy Gamer, but what have you done outside of that?

Ron: For most of the last couple of years I've been doing two things: I do a lot of consulting with companies, which is how I hooked up with Hothead, because I'm doing consulting on the Penny Arcade game for the adventure game aspects of it. The other thing I've been doing is just working on the design for my DeathSpank game and pitching that to different publishers which, once again, led me to Hothead since they're gonna be publishing and funding the game.

So it has nothing to do with that Monkey Island money finally running out?

Ron: [laughs] There was no Monkey Island money to run out, so no.

What exactly does your job entail at Hothead? What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

Ron: Two basic things. As creative director, I work with the other designers, just brainstorm with them and look over their designs and provide support where I can. And for the Deathspank stuff, I'm the designer for that and also leading that project. We're in pre-production right now, so I'm working very closely with the artists, getting the whole look and feel of the thing figured out.

How was the connection made between Ron and the Penny Arcade game?

Joel: Well, at PAX back in 2006 we announced we were doing the game, and Ron actually sent us an e-mail. We were a bit cagey about what style the game was -- we said it was a "comic adventure" -- and so he said, "If that means it's at all an adventure game or even close to an adventure game, then I'm really interested in working with you guys on it." So, he jumped at the opportunity for sure.

So you guys didn't just say, "Hey, we can put Ron Gilbert's name on our game!"

Joel: Well, it's great having Ron associated with Hothead and having him on as our creative director, but he's really brought a lot to the process of helping our design team. And frankly, Mike and Jerry at Penny Arcade understand how you structure a story for an adventure game.

What's it like working with Mike and Jerry? They're obviously familiar with games; they write about them, they make fun of them, but they're not really known for designing them.

Joel: Well yeah, they're not game designers and they've never made a game before. They're absolutely insane to work with, they're very creative guys. We'll sit around at their office around the whiteboard, brainstorm out the story, the structure, the way the adventure game stuff's gonna work. It's been a real eye-opening experience for them I think, seeing the process of making a game from beginning to end. They do see a lot of games, they talk a lot about games, they know a lot about games but, I think it was eye-opening for them seeing how unfinished games look throughout the process. That being said, they have definitely been involved day-to-day. Jerry has not only written all the dialogue, but every word in the game has had his hand on it. And Mike did a lot of the character design and environment design and they work on a daily basis with our people at Hothead.

Ron: They're both really great people and I think the brainstorm meetings we've had with them have been some of the best brainstorming I've been involved with. They really understand the whole brainstorming process and how you churn ideas through really really well. So, it's been wonderful to work with them.

That's an interesting way to approach game design, isn't it? Getting people who aren't already entrenched into the development scene, acting like a fresh pair of eyes.

Ron: I think there's a little bit of that. I think with Mike and Jerry, they're very very creative. And Jerry is such an incredibly good writer, and that's something that the game industry really needs more of -- really really good writers. So, it was really great to be able to work with him and yeah, he does kind of bring a fresh perspective to things and how they approach things with the comic versus games.

So, why choose episodic for this series of games?

Joel: Well, for several reasons. It's really the best way to tell a story in a lot of ways. Because, you know, we're pretty familiar with TV shows and having self-contained stories, but having a larger story arc. But it's also just getting the game into the hands of the gamers earlier and being able to hear their feedback and respond to that. I'm sure we'll get lots of feedback from the Penny Arcade fans after Episode One comes out, and we will listen to that and incorporate that into future episodes. It's also very difficult these days -- you buy a game for fifty bucks, and it's forty hours of gameplay and it's actually really hard to make it through the whole thing. And episodic, I think, is just reflective of how a lot of hardcore gamers or formally hardcore gamers now have busy lives and aren't able to actually play a game. I've picked up some big AAA games recently and they look really great, they're really polished, it's just almost a daunting feeling that I'm gonna have to work through this and finish it all. And as you know, a lot of games don't get finished. We think episodic lets people have a chance at having a self-contained experience that they can get through.

Ron: Yeah, I think the number one thing for me and why I'm interested in episodic, is I want people to see the end of my game. I think for a lot of games the endings are just not seen by most players.

Or they're just not very good.

Ron: Well, I think they're not very good because ... who puts the time into them? I think a lot of developers know that 15% of the people are actually going to see the ending, so why build an arc towards things? Why spend time and effort, technically and creatively, on the ending when 15% of the people are gonna see it?

Do you know how long it'll take between episode releases? Do you have a fixed schedule?

Joel: Yeah, definitely there's a fixed release schedule. It's tentative right now, but we're talking about one every four months. Because, you know, this is a new model for us, and it is quite tricky with all the project management scheduling, making sure we're officially overlapping the work on all the episodes.

I imagine deadlines are a huge issue when it comes to episodic games.

Joel: Absolutely. People know it's going to be coming out regularly, they're gonna expect that it comes out on time at a regular interval. I think Telltale's done a great job of saying, we're gonna release episodes of Sam & Max every month, and people that are fans of the series look forward to the release day very much.

Do you think the constant pressure of deadline after deadline -- you have to finish the game and work within your allotted amount of time -- spurs on creativity?

Joel: Well, it's always a struggle making video games. You always have deadlines, you always have these pressures, but you also don't want to release something too early. Certainly in the case of the Penny Arcade game, we know the fans are very particular about their games, and we think they'll be really critical of this game, as they should be. So, it's important to us to make sure they get an authentic Penny Arcade experience and something that's really high quality. While we certainly have our own pressures to get it out as soon as possible -- we want to get this in people's hands -- we've always said we weren't going to release this until we really felt it was ready, and frankly, until Mike and Jerry really think it's ready. One philosophy we have at Hothead is to get the game running as soon as possible and then take the time to step back, see what's good, see what's maybe not so good, and take the time to iterate. We've really done that with this first episode.

Ron: I think with episodic games, you have something else going on in that a lot of creative work is really done upfront. It's not that, you know, we're making a game a month or a game every three months. There's a whole lot of work, so I think that creativity isn't really cut short because it's episodic since a lot of work is done upfront. I think with the episodic stuff, at least for me designing the Deathspank games, is it really focuses me. It really says, "You know what, I need to put the important things in this game and not the unimportant things." I think in some ways that's a good thing creatively.

The first Penny Arcade trailer you guys released was met with a bit of a lukewarm reception. Was that too soon?

Joel: Well, possibly. Looking back on it, we definitely wanted to show people we were very excited about the 2D look and the sort of vector graphics style cutscenes that we have in the game and how you're customized player shows up in there. But we also didn't, because it was very early, we didn't want to give the wrong impression that it was a strictly 2D game, so we threw in bits of 3D. Definitely, we were at a very early stage with not only the look of the characters, but the rendering approaches we were using -- the toon shading wasn't in at all and so forth -- so I think some people might have misinterpreted what that means. It simply means that when the next trailer released, people were able to see the progression we were making along the way.

I was looking at it yesterday, and you have these really neat transitions from 2D to 3D. Did that present a notable technical challenge?

Joel: Absolutely. Even just aesthetically, trying to bring a 2D comic IP into 3D games is a challenge. It's two very different art styles, and we wanted to make sure that it was very seamless. So, there's aspects of it in the 3D world. When you run to the edge of an area, a little comic panel appears and the whole thing slides over. When you're watching the 2D cutscenes, you see them in comic panels and you can see the other panel (non-animating) that's coming next and then one panel freezes, it slides over ... We wanted to just have those themes go through the entire game to make it seem as seamless as possible.

Why did you decide to make the game into an adventure RPG? When you read the comics, they don't immediately lend themselves to any specific genre.

Joel: Yeah, it's true. I think the story, being set in an alternate universe -- it's in the 1920's, it's kinda H.P. Lovecraft style -- It's a story that Mike and Jerry have wanted to tell for a long time. In terms of the style of game, we think that people who are fans of Penny Arcade are pretty hardcore, and we believe that there are a lot of RPG fans that are also fans of Penny Arcade, so we wanted to definitely get those RPG elements in. But, the adventure stuff comes from the fact that this is a very story-focused game and it's about telling that story in the way that only the Penny Arcade guys can. You know, we've all got a soft spot in our hearts for adventure games, having played a lot of the old adventure games (it's why we're so happy to be working with Ron), but we believe that for today, to bring adventure games back if you will, we wanted to add something extra to it.

It's kind of an unusual game for XBLA in particular, since most of the games are action-based, pick-up-and-play titles. In this one, you have to immerse yourself in the story and RPG elements. Do you think it'll be tough getting the attention of Xbox Live Arcade gamers?

Joel: We think there's a lot of people that are Penny Arcade fans and that really like Xbox, so a lot of them are gonna have Xboxes. The thing about Live Arcade, certainly it has been pretty focused on arcadey-type games and this is definitely going to break new ground, but we think Live Arcade is a great service because it's focused on digital distribution. More and more people have broadband, more and more people want to be able to just be on their couches and download a game directly to either their PC, which they'll be able to with this game, or to a console. So, we're very excited about the platform and we're excited to be breaking some new ground with it as well.

Any other target platforms under consideration aside from XBLA and PC?

Joel: We've always said that we want the gamer to choose the platform they play this on and not have the game impose it on them. We don't have any extra news to announce at this time, but there's probably going to be some stuff coming up about being able to get this in other ways as well.

So, Gizmondo version?

Joel: [laughs] We'll have to see, we're doing that after the Amiga.

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