Super Meat Boy Message Board older than one year ago

When the long, draining development of Super Meat Boy was finally over, programmer Tommy Refenes headed to Hawaii, seeking relaxation.

Edmund McMillen, the other half of the two-person powerhouse that is Team Meat, didn't rest. He stuck around in Santa Cruz, California.

(It is awfully sunny and warm there, though!)

"I can't seem to stay happy without having something to work on," admitted McMillen during a recent email conversation.

Instead, he got in touch with Florian Himsl, a programmer he'd previously collaborated with on smaller Flash-based projects like Twin Hobo Rocket and Coil. Both of them were in-between games, and began a week-long game jam. A what now? A game jam is meant to foster innovation by having a developer creates prototypes at a rapid-fire pace.

Himsl and McMillen produced something they both felt good about at the end of it. That prototype was then fleshed out into The Binding of Isaac, which McMillen announced on its blog last month.

The ups and downs of Super Meat Boy's final stages of development were filmed as part of Indie Game: The Movie, but McMillen pushed back on the public perception regarding that final stretch, despite what they said at the time.

"I know we talked a lot openly about the stresses of SMB dev," he said, "but that was a very isolated incident, the stress was brought on by the pressure of [a] console release, and the time we were forced to get the game finished in. Most indie game dev isnt at all this stressful and very fun and relaxing for the most part. Isaac was very much my vacation."

The Binding of Isaac would be best described as a Smash TV-esque roguelike set within a dungeon structure modeled after The Legend of Zelda. It's awfully hard to not smile at the craziness of the mashup, which fits perfectly in line with McMillen's past work, whether with Himsl or Refenes.

I haven't played the game yet, but the released screen shots and artwork suggest the same sort of cartoonish absurdity that rightly encouraged comparisons to Red and Stimpy with Super Meat Boy.

"One of the things that I love about Edmund's art is that it can be disturbing and disgusting, but also adorable," explained Super Meat Boy composer Danny Baranowsky, a close friend of McMillen's and the man behind Isaac's music. "To me, that's incredibly interesting. I'm not at all an artist, so I don't really understand the technical reasons or whatever, but I love the idea of...there's blood and shit everywhere and deformed people and headless children and stuff--but it's adorable."

Baranowsky and McMillen have only met in person a few times--Baranowsky isn't even sure of the exact number. Two? Maybe three? In any case, the two chat constantly on instant messager. Their relationship sounds less like one of a designer and composer, and more like a guy who designs games and a guy who composes music who just happen to be good friends and can collaborate with one another.

At this point, if McMillen is working on a new game, Baranowsky is composing the music. No question. The only other designer Baranowsky has such a relationship with is Adam Saltsman, the designer of Canabalt.

As with Super Meat Boy, Baranowsky started composing The Binding of Isaac's music when a playable version was dropped into his lap. He started playing Super Meat Boy a full year before it was actually released. The turnaround time on The Binding of Isaac is much faster, but Baranowsky, who describes his work on this one as "dark," underscored the importance of actually playing the game before getting down to work.

"The very worst thing you could do with game music is take people out of it," he said. "It's very easy to do. If you overdo it or way underdo it, if you're just not matching up with how the game feels, it's just something people are going to want to mute. It's just one thing that people are conscious of a lot of the time--'there's something about this game I don't like and I don't understand it.' I guess it's not really shooting for the moon just to try avoid not sucking [laughs], but that's definitely the first consideration."

The Binding of Isaac is a roguelike, a niche subgenre of RPGs with a descriptor lifted from Rogue, a D&D-based game released in 1980. Roguelikes are best known for their harsh death penalties, and typically involve players winding through dungeon after dungeon in search of new loot. True roguelikes feature ASCII or tile graphics, but if the gameplay sounds familiar, that's because developers like Blizzard co-opted roguelike mechanics for mainstream success in games like Diablo.

McMillen is still working out the specifics of how The Binding of Isaac will play into traditional roguelike tropes. The game will have endings, for example, but he's unsure of the implementation.

"Isaac is going to be a very hard game, but not in the same way SMB was," he said.

The game will encourage players to keep coming back, even if they unlock an ending. More of the story will be revealed the more times you play. When you die, though, it's truly Game Over.

"So in that aspect the game is more hardcore then SMB," he said, "but also easier to continue to play because every game will be totally different."

As for the "Isaac" name check, McMillen is still mulling over how overt the biblical references will be in the game. He admitted to becoming enamored with over-the-top Christian scare tapes he's found online, chronicling tales of ritual sacrifice and satanism. In some respects, they've influenced the game, but with the narrative bits of The Binding of Isaac still up in the air, it's hard to say how they'll surface.

"I don't want anyone thinking the themes are serious in any way," he said.

There was discussion of releasing McMillen and Himsl's game jam projects for free, but after they started running with The Binding of Isaac, it was decided to release this as a real thing. It's not the next proper game from Team Meat, but it is the first game being released by one of them since that game. As such, headlines often read "from the co-creator of Super Meat Boy," creating a certain set of expectations.

These expectations make McMillen nervous. He's unsure if his newfound fans will dig this one.

"I have no *crag*ing clue, I've been reading press and it's starting to scare me," he said. "Isaac isn't SMB, and I'm not sure this game will be something SMB fans will dig at all. I'm in the dark here. [...] If it gets more people into roguelikes or more weird themed games then awesome. If they hate it I can just remind them that this isn't a Team Meat game, and they can hold their bitching till we release game two."

McMillen is not one to mince words. He's brutally honest, even outright blasting Microsoft's handling of Super Meat Boy's release in a post mortem feature for Game Developer (it's recommended reading). He's a creator that wears his heart on his sleeve, an endearing quality that no doubt contributes to why his fans love him so dearly and the games he works on resonate.

"Either way I try not to care or think about that stuff when deving," he said. "I'm just making games because I want to play them and they keep me sane."

You'll notice that McMillen did mention "game two" from Team Meat.

Yes, it's coming. Eventually.

When The Binding of Isaac releases next month, he'll head back into hiding with Refenes. McMillen doesn't have a timeline for the next one, but when it does get revealed, he hopes the final game will be about a year off--but no guarantees. Their experience with Microsoft over Super Meat Boy hasn't pushed them away from consoles, either.

"It's just made us a bit smarter on how to deal with business when it comes to console," he said. "We can say this about game two, it sure as hell won't be exclusive to console."

I told you he doesn't mince words.

The Binding of Isaac arrives next month through Steam for an unspecified price, but McMillen promises it won't cost that much.

What will the next game from Super Meat Boy creators Team Meat be? Well, it probably won’t be a Super Meat Boy sequel, going on their earlier comments. But it does, apparently, have something to do with one, some or all of these things: stabbing, cardboard, cats, trolls, teabagging, ninja sais, Benny Hill.(more…)

• Fixed (and confirmed said fix) for chapter upload bug. Start uploading chapters people!
  
• Added 4 more achievements along the same lines as the "Medium Rare"
  
• achievement added last week
  
• Renamed "Medium Rare" achievement to "Medium Well"
  
• I did all this while watching "White Chicks"
  

Holy… We’ve been pointed in the direction of DarkZero’s pretty fascinating chat with Super Meat Boy creators Tommy Refenes and Edmund McMillen, and amongst all manner of rumination on stuff like the importance of Steam sales and why “we don’t *crag*ing care” about piracy, they let slip a little number.

That number is 12. And what it relates to is how many copies of Super Meat Boy they sold on Direct2Drive.(more…)

The headline says it all, doesn't it?

Even better, it's coming from Edmund McMillen, one half of the two-man development team behind Super Meat Boy. Titled The Blinding of Issac, McMillen revealed details on his blog today, a project he's working on as Team Meat begins putting together whatever's coming after Super Meat Boy.

While the dungeons are imitating the structure established in The Legend of Zelda, the layouts themselves are randomly generated. The game even has a frickin' treasure room with items to buy! The specifics are still being worked out, but there will be at least six worlds/dungeons to fight through, with a minimum of 10 different bosses. And tons and tons of items.

Oh, and Danny Baranowsky of Super Meat Boy, Canabalt and others is doing the soundtrack.

Basically, this sounds awesome.

The game's coming in August sometime through Steam. Just take my money already, won't you?

Super Meat Boy was released quite a while back, developed solely by a two-man indie team by the name of Team Meat. Granted that the development time for the pair was less than two years, I cannot applaud enough what they had accomplished in this time. The game itself is a brutally punishing platformer that will have you feeling like a god in the end. One level giving you trouble for half an hour will become your greatest sense of joy in the 20 seconds it took you to complete it; and this feeling will happen all the time.

The game starts out with the simplest of stories. A fetus has a beef with a square of beef and he steals Meat Boy's love interest, Bandage Girl, only to dangle it in front of Meat Boy in every single level, in where our hero gets to Bandage Girl and then Dr. Fetus steals Bandage Girl again, accompanied usually with a classic gaming move, like the Doctor doing his best falcon punch impersonation, or sticking a spear in Bandage Girl and pulling her into whatever weird zone Dr. Fetus goes into when he teleports away. The cutscenes are pretty good, and they've always got a bit of humor, along with the intros showing a nice homage of games past.

Of course, the story is already pretty much a throwaway and then we see the game's shining area; the gameplay. You start off easy, where it's nearly impossible to die. In the course of a few short levels, you get up to speed with mechanics and then you're subjected to fiery pits and sawblades in which you'll surely die multiple times. The game quickly becomes familiar, though, and eventually your skills are sharpened to where the levels no longer pose a threat. On later chapters, often it will become a test of sharp reflexes and muscle memory. On Rapture levels, it's easy to spend ten minutes on a single level. After the initial five minutes, though, the beginning portion of the level can be cleared within seconds, and it's suddenly the easiest thing to do, no matter how many times you died to it. In the end, nearly every level you thought was hard at some point becomes easy.

And then there's the boss fights. At the end of each chapter, after you beat 17/20 levels (if you didn't do all 20 you're a wimp), you get to fight the chapter baddie. Usually, it's just another platforming level with some elements of danger added in. Get chased by a giant chainsaw mech, and get to the end without being ground chuck. The levels are still fun, however, and are usually accompanied with good music to boot. An exception to the rule is the chapter 4 boss, which is primarily a memory level. Once you're done with that and the excellent music, however, you're sent on another level in which to exercise your anger. (Rapture!)

Warp zones and bandages also give another layer of fun to the game. Warp zones can unlock new characters with abilities to play the game, and getting enough bandages scattered around levels (Usually in difficult or hidden areas) can unlock other characters not found in warp zones. The characters are familiar indie icons, with people such as Captain Viridian or The Kid showing up in the roster. Each one has their own power, with people such as Ogmo affording double jumps, or Runman being able to run really, REALLY fast. Not all characters are right for the job (Most of them are slower than Meat Boy) but some will make your life much easier. They aren't usable in boss areas or the final chapter, but they'll definitely help you on the way.

With the massive amount of levels even doubled with the dark world, levels awarded by striking an excellent time on the light world parallel, there's a ton of content waiting for you in this game. Along with the levels in-game, the PC version includes a special player-made world called Super Meat World, in which user levels and additional creator levels are uploaded. Given the amount of difficulty in the later levels, you'll be trying to save Bandage Girl (And fail at it) for months to come. This game is worth every penny, normal priced ($15) or on sale.

[The game is also on the Xbox 360. Bandage-unlocked characters are different, and there's less content on Super Meat World (Known on the 360 as "Teh Internets"), but all in all it's still the same old good game.]

I'm not a huge fan of the term "indie" because it forces developers into a stereotype, but I dare you to try and not fall head over heels in love with Indie Game: The Movie after watching its trailer. You may have seen filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot trudging around massive film equipment to places like PAX the past year or so, as they've put together Indie Game: The Movie.

Indie Game: The Movie follows Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes as they launch Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish showing Fez for the first time and the genesis of Jonathan Blow's Braid.

The film has been shot and edited, but in order to put that final coat of paint on--audio, color, mastering--Swirsky and Pajot are looking for a little help through a second Kickstarter campaign.

"So far, we’ve done everything ourselves on this project," reads the Kickstarter page, hoping to raise $35,000. "The producing, directing, cinematography, editing, and writing for the feature film and all the web videos we’ve made during the process. But, now we need some help from others and support to get the feature film done right and taken to the next level, technically-speaking."

Given the Kickstarter is already at $21,000 (as of this writing, anyway), it's probably not going to take very long before Indie Game: The Movie has everything it needs. I can't wait to see it myself.

I'm not a huge fan of the term "indie" because it forces developers into a stereotype, but I dare you to try and not fall head over heels in love with Indie Game: The Movie after watching its trailer. You may have seen filmmakers James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot trudging around massive film equipment to places like PAX the past year or so, as they've put together Indie Game: The Movie.

Indie Game: The Movie follows Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes as they launch Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish showing Fez for the first time and the genesis of Jonathan Blow's Braid.

The film has been shot and edited, but in order to put that final coat of paint on--audio, color, mastering--Swirsky and Pajot are looking for a little help through a second Kickstarter campaign.

"So far, we’ve done everything ourselves on this project," reads the Kickstarter page, hoping to raise $35,000. "The producing, directing, cinematography, editing, and writing for the feature film and all the web videos we’ve made during the process. But, now we need some help from others and support to get the feature film done right and taken to the next level, technically-speaking."

Given the Kickstarter is already at $21,000 (as of this writing, anyway), it's probably not going to take very long before Indie Game: The Movie has everything it needs. I can't wait to see it myself.

"running hell"

because why not

"It was a labor of Love/Hate but something we did because we knew the fans wanted it and were already creating so many awesome levels using our devmode. So think of this as a thank you to all the awesome fans who sent us cool shit, nice emails and created amazing levels with devmode, if you bitched us out because the free level editor was delayed, you should probably not update your game and burn in hell."

There are now over 500 levels in bastard-hard platform gem Super Meat Boy. Over 500. This absurd milestone has been reached as a result of a dramatic new update, known in continually Nintendo-prodding fashion as Super Meat World. It’s free, it was added to the game on Saturday, and it consists of a slew of new official levels and even more of a slew of approved third-party levels for the blood-smearing jumpy-runny game. (more…)