PlayStation News Message Board older than one year ago

Hi. I’m Greg (usually known as… well, Greg) from HumaNature Studios, the gang that brought you Doki-Doki Universe. You’d better sit down, because I have some big news. Well, at least medium sized news. Woohoo! Today we’re launching a new, steaming pile of awesomely exciting DLC for our game. Everyone thinks their own kid is adorable, right? But no, really, this is exciting, I promise.

Here’s what we’ve added to the universe of Doki-Doki Universe:

A New Planet Pack

Two new story planets, PIG PIG and ARCTIC 7, each with its own fun new story, and new set of summonables and planet decorations.

3 New Themed Packs of Animating “Dekos” for Doki Doki Mail

Each with 25 adorable new Dekos, named the “Romance Pack,” the “Daily Life Relationship Pack” and the “Vacation Time Holiday Pack.” We’ve also added 30 new Dekos to the basic free set in the game.

The Deluxe Quiz Pack

12 new asteroids with 48 new quiz questions! (These are REALLY good ones, too.)

A totally new feature to the game called Quiz Party Mode. You can now take the personality quiz from the front menu with up to 8 people. This lets you:

• Guess your friends’ answers and compete to see who knows who the best.
• It tells everyone in the group what their personality archetype is, and lets each person see the inside of their brain.
• It lets you know who is the most similar to whom and who is the most different from whom.
• It also tells you how the different people in the group match up compatibility-wise.

Quiz Party is tons of fun when you have friends over — it’s light and easy and very social. It gets conversations going, and It’s perfect to share with non-gamer types.

We’ve also added another fun new feature: now when you visit your friends’ planets, in addition to seeing their personality report, you can also see a report that tells you how compatible their personality is with yours. You also leave a “ghost” of yourself behind so that you can see who has been to your planet, and your ghost leaves a little gift for your friend.

Well I sincerely hope you will enjoy the new features. We’ve poured a lot of love into this game and as QT3 says to Alien Jeff on Planet Farroh, “Love is like diarrhea, you can’t control it. It just gushes out all over the place.” Disgusting? Okay, yes! But best to just go with the flow, as it were. Enjoy, be happy, and er, spread the love.

All the best from HumaNature Studios.

Good news — a selection of new apps are coming to PS Vita! Starting today, you can enjoy the following services on your Vita:

Crunchyroll — Watch the latest and best selection of Anime from Japan, including Naruto Shippuden, Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Hunter × Hunter and many more, as early as 1 hour after Japanese broadcast.

NHL GameCenter LIVE — Instantly stream live out-of-market games in HD quality with your NHL GameCenter LIVE subscription.

Qello — You can now watch your favorite artist’s full-length performances in HD whenever and wherever you want. Qello Concerts streams the largest collection of HD concerts and music documentaries right to your PS Vita, including popular artists such as Coldplay, Linkin Park, Nirvana, Bob Marley, Beyonce, and so much more. With Qello, the concert never ends!

PlayStation is dedicated to giving our fans the best entertainment options on our platforms, and we’ll continue to bring epic entertainment options straight to you. Look for these apps coming this spring to PS Vita:

Gaiam TV — From energizing yoga and fitness classes to inspiring documentaries and cutting-edge programs, Gaiam TV takes you beyond the boundaries of mainstream media to reveal new perspectives for our changing world.

Hulu Plus — Hulu Plus offers unlimited instant streaming of current hit shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons, Modern Family and Brooklyn Nine-Nine as well as original series including The Awesomes and The Wrong Mans for $7.99/month with limited advertising. (Available March 25)

Redbox Instant by Verizon — Redbox Instant by Verizon is offering new subscribers a free month of movies. Subscribers can stream from a library of Hollywood hits on PS Vita and receive four DVD or Blu-ray rental nights every month for new releases at the Redbox kiosk. You can also purchase or rent the latest movies on demand in the digital store. (Available March 25)

These apps join favorites such as Crackle, Facebook, Flickr, NBA Game Time, Netflix, Skype, TuneIn Radio, YouTube, and more. There are more apps coming later this year, so keep and eye on PlayStation.Blog for more PS Vita news.

All entertainment apps can be found in the PS Vita app section in PlayStation Store.

Epic Games has unveiled concept art for an upcoming unannounced project that bears a striking resemblance to its old Samaritan tech demo.

Did you know that fewer than half of the players who begin a campaign in Mass Effect 3, Arkham City, and Portal 2 actually finish it?

Tune in on Tuesday, March 18, at 5:45pm PT for live updates from Sony's 'Driving the Future of Innovation at SCE' panel at GDC.

Hi! I’m Ben Ruiz, the artist and combat designer at Team Colorblind in Arizona. I’m super excited to announced that Aztez, the brutal, bloody, expressive, difficult, and replayable action game I’ve been working on for two years now is coming to Sony’s magnificent, next-gen beast machines. For your own information, Team Colorblind is myself and also Matthew Wegner.

“Brutal, bloody, expressive, difficult, and replayable?!” is probably what you’re thinking as your eyes widen in the dim glow of my audacity. But I sincerely believe that we are cooking up something you will like! At its core, Aztez is two games. One of those games is a full on real-time beat ‘em up combat experience. We’ve piped in the feel and creativity of Bayonetta, the sensationalism and mobility of Capcom’s Alien Vs Predator, and the precision difficulty of classic Devil May Cry. As the combat designer, I’ve been studying these types of games for years, and I refuse to produce and hand you something that won’t dangerously raise your heart rate and dopamine levels. I grew up in the arcade, and I want to do for you what the amazing developers of yore did for me with their coin-ops.

The other game that comprises Aztez is an empire management strategy game, and that’s where the aforementioned replayability comes from. We decided early on that we didn’t want to make another beat ‘em up that forces you through a linear narrative and rote platforming segments, so we’ve created what we feel is an infinitely more interesting vehicle for thrilling combat; a randomized, historical Risk-like. Haha! It might be an overly unusual combination, but the way we see it, it can’t be any worse than grabbing more ledges or pushing around more blocks. And besides, if you do well in our strategy game, you might get to do some pretty profound history rewriting.

But, ultimately, Aztez is about the combat, and we want to make our mark on this generation of Sony consoles with our own signature brand of digital power fantasy, and we want you to be able to do it in your home or on the move. Nothing makes the bus/taxi ride to work better than cutting down a hundred legendary warriors and offering their blood to the gods in real time.

That’s it for now! Tell me what you think about all this and I’ll answer back in the least ridiculous way I know how. Which is still sort of ridiculous. I MEAN WELL.

Hey everyone, I’m Kirby St. John, a designer with the MLB The Show development team. My main focus year-to-year is improving and evolving one of our most popular modes, Road to The Show. The mode made some big strides last year, especially in terms of gameplay and presentation, but for MLB 14, we really wanted to focus on the logic and systems that govern the mode in an effort to allow for more variety and less restrictions. We also wanted to provide some new experiences never seen before in RTTS. The video touched on a lot of topics, but in this blog I will expand on what was introduced there and discuss some of the exciting things that were only briefly mentioned.

Topps Amateur Showcase—A new beginning to your favorite mode

Covered In The Video:

• When creating your new ballplayer, you will select a home region (West, Central, East, International), which will become your team in the Showcase.
• The Showcase comprises of three games.
• Major League® scouts will be grading your performance in order to determine your Draft stock.
• The Draft experience includes the ability to hear all of the selections in your round called out, including your own name.
• You are able to re-play the Showcase by “returning to school,” but doing so will age your player.

More Info:
The addition of the Topps Amateur Showcase in MLB 14 The Show is really an exciting addition to RTTS because it opens the possibilities of what you can experience in terms of career progression. In past versions of the Road to The Show, it was always assumed your player was an A-Potential player, destined for greatness in the Majors, and he was treated as such. That all changes in MLB® 14, as the new RTTS player will start out as a middle-of-the-road, C-Potential prospect with many unanswered questions about his future skills. However, over the course of the three Showcase games, that blurry picture will become much clearer, as the scouts will analyze your every move on the field. It is important to know that they are not just interested in stats. They are mostly watching your approach to each situation you encounter. This means that a game where you get three bloop base-hits probably won’t be scored as well as a game where you go 0-for-4 with four well-hit missiles to the outfield. At the end of each game you will receive an update on how your stock has changed as a result of that game’s performance. Also, your Potential rating will reflect the rise or fall in your stock, so when the Topps® Amateur Showcase is all said and done, you may be anywhere from a F-Potential, 7th Round pick to an A-Potential, first overall selection.

More details regarding Road to The Show can be read here.

Thomas Was Alone is a charming puzzle platformer where a group of AI shapes try to find their way through various environments. Who knew that basic shapes could be so adorable? Each new friend brings something unique to the puzzle solving formula, so you’ll need to figure out how to use their talents to your advantage. This title is also Cross-Buy, so Plus members will receive this for both PS3 and PS Vita.

Unit 13 will help you get your third person shooter fix on the go. There are plenty of missions to perfect your skills, and you can select different soldiers depending on what the task at hand is. With various objectives like staying in stealth or clearing an area ASAP, be sure to pick to your soldier wisely.

Our Spring Fever sale is also continuing this week with discounts on Steamworld Dig and Luftrausers as well as a bunch of Grand Theft Auto franchise discounts.

You can download Thomas Was Alone and Unit 13 after the PlayStation Store updates tomorrow, 3/18.

Thomas Was Alone (PS3)

Free for PS Plus members

Thomas Was Alone is the critically acclaimed indie platformer about friendship and jumping. Guide a group of sentient rectangles through a series of environments, combining their skills to reach the end of each level. Listen to awesome music by David Housden, negotiate obstacles meticulously placed by Mike Bithell and immerse yourself in the characters’ journey with a voiceover read wistfully and amusingly by Danny Wallace. Unit 13 (PS Vita)

Free for PS Plus members

Jump into the action with Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita and conquer 36 tactical missions and 9 high value target battles as you help take down global terror networks and earn your place in the military elite. With the precision of the PlayStation Vita systems’s dual analog sticks and unique touch interface, Unit 13 is the perfect on-the-go action shooter. Wi-Fi connectivity adds fast 2-player co-op action, and 3G compatibility keeps you connected for instant social updates and new daily mission challenges.

Title Plus Price Regular Price Luftrausers (PS3 and PS Vita, Cross-Buy ) $7.99 $9.99 Steamworld Dig (PS4 and PS Vita, Cross-Buy) $7.99 $9.99 Grand Theft Auto III $2.39 $2.99 Grand Theft Auto IV $4.79 $5.99 Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars $4.79 $5.99 Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City $4.79 $5.99 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories $4.79 $5.99 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories $2.39 $2.99 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas $3.59 $4.49 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City $2.39 $2.99 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories $4.79 $5.99 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories $2.39 $2.99

Other Discounts

Title Plus Price Regular Price 9-In-1 Mega Pack $1.49 $1.99 Atomic Ninjas (PS Vita) $2.09 $2.99 Atomic Ninjas (PS3) $2.09 $2.99 Foosball 2012 (PS Vita) $2.09 $2.99 Foosball 2012 (PS3) $2.09 $2.99 Real Boxing $5.00 $9.99 The Impossible Game $0.74 $0.99

Last Chance (Leaving on 3/25)

Instant Game Collection
Mod Nation Racers Roadtrip (PS Vita)

Discounts
Luftrausers (PS3)
Luftrausers (PS Vita)
Steamworld Dig (PS Vita)
Steamworld Dig (PS4)
Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Ethan: Meteor Hunter

What’s your favorite content from this week’s update?

If you’ve got feedback on today’s Plus update make sure vote in the poll and leave a comment below. To discuss all things PlayStation, including this update, you can also head over to the PlayStation Community Forums where you’ll find topics you can contribute your thoughts to, or start one for yourself.

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima has explained why Ground Zeroes doesn't have a Platinum Trophy, saying it's Sony's decision.

With Opening Day nearly upon us and the NBA Playoffs not too far behind, we’re excited to announce MLB 14 The Show and NBA 2K14 will be available together in PlayStation Sports Pack Vol. 1, launching exclusively for PS3 on April 1st for $89.99. These two titles represent the highest rated Baseball and Basketball franchises in the market over the last several years, and together are the spring’s must-have product for sports gamers.

The pack includes full versions of each game, as well as a bonus of $10 worth of in-game currency: 6000 STUBS for MLB 14 The Show and 20,000 Virtual Currency for NBA 2K14, bringing the total value to $129.99 worth of content for just $89.99.

MLB 14 The Show
MLB 14 The Show returns with new ways to play, more realistic gameplay physics, and the most authentic MLB gameplay experience ever. From the booth to the field, MLB 14 The Show captures the most exciting moments in baseball. Below are just a few of the many new enhancements in MLB 14 The Show:

• Year-to-Year Saves — For the first time in franchise history, saves can be carried over from MLB 14 to future releases of The Show, meaning that gamers won’t have to worry about starting their Franchise or Road to the Show seasons over in years to come.
• Quick Counts — Users will now be able to play a full nine-inning game in less than 30 minutes, half the time it takes in previous iterations of The Show. Despite the shortened game durations, realistic stats will not be compromised.
• STUBS — Playing games in MLB 14 The Show rewards players with Stubs. Stubs can be used to purchase additional in-game content — like Road to the Show training points — or used in our new mode, Community Challenges. Stubs can be earned in any mode, and they are not required to progress through a mode. You can still purchase additional in-game content through the PlayStation Store.

NBA 2K14
Following more than 38 Sports Game of the Year and “Best Of” mentions for 2K13, 2K14 rules the virtual hardwood once again. This year, 2K joins forces with the league’s most dominant force: LeBron James. With a soundtrack hand-picked by the King, refined controls featuring the new Pro Stick, the return of Crews, new Signature Skills, enhanced defense including blocked dunks, and more, NBA 2K14 raises the bar yet again. Below are just a few of the numerous new enhancements in NBA 2K14

• Crews — The single-most requested game mode is back! Face off against opposing crews online using your MyPLAYER. Create your logo and face off in 5v5 battles with other crews featuring leaderboards and stats.
• Pro Stick — Throw down show-stopping moves, pull off intricate shots, and toss flashy no-look passes with deadly accuracy with Pro Stick control. Easily the most intuitive basketball controls ever implemented.
• King James Soundtrack — Featuring artists and tracks hand-picked by LeBron James, including JAY Z, Eminem, The Black Keys, Daft Punk, and many more.
• MyTEAM — Back and better than ever, with new player modes, multi and single player tournaments, and much more.

A message from Konami, revealed when registering a copy of Ground Zeroes, suggests Metal Gear Solid 5 proper will arrive early next year.

Ubisoft has revealed just how long it'll take the average player to finish the upcoming hack-centric open world adventure.

inFAMOUS Second Son is almost here! An interview with Sucker Punch co-founder Chris Zimmerman is the highlight of this week’s show, followed by bountiful Dark Souls II and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes discussions. See you next week at GDC!

Subscribe via iTunes or RSS, or download here

Stuff We Talked About

• inFAMOUS Second Son
• Dark Souls II
• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
• N++
• Luftrausers

Recent Episodes

• Episode 111: 1001 Snipes
• Episode 110: The Secrets of Left Behind
• Episode 109: Podcast Evolved

Send us questions and tips: blogcast@playstation.sony.com or leave a voice message! 650-288-6706 The Cast

• Sid Shuman – PlayStation Social Media Manager
• Nick Suttner – PlayStation Account Support Manager

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

• Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.

Okay, I “get” Dark Souls now. 20 hours in, and I can’t stop. I think I have a problem.

So that’s out this week, and so is TowerFall Ascension — a must-have for any PS4 owner. We’re nearing the March 21st release date of inFAMOUS Second Son (check out Fred’s Q&A and this official gameplay video to prepare), Mercenary Kings is confirmed for April 1st (no foolin’!), we got a look at the 19 classes of Final Fantasy XIV, Hyper Light Drifter is coming to PS4 and Vita (I want it now), and the minimal indie racer Race the Sun is hitting those platforms plus PS3.

It’s gonna be a weekend full of Dark Souls II and TowerFall Ascension for me — what are you guys playing?

• I’m playing: Daaaark Soulllls II
• I’m watching: People playing Dark Souls II on Twitch
• I’m listening to: Uh… something something Dark Souls II

This Week’s Top 10 Posts Dark Souls II Out Today on PS3 TowerFall Ascension Out Today on PS4 February 2014 PlayStation Store Top Sellers inFAMOUS Second Son: Your Questions Answered Mercenary Kings Coming to PS4 on April 1st Bound by Flame on PS4: Crafting Items to Survive Teslagrad on PS3 and PS Vita: The Secrets of Magnetism The 19 Classes of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Tales from the Borderlands Detailed at SXSW inFAMOUS Second Son: Delsin’s Ruthless Powers in Action

This Week’s PlayStation Store Update

This Week’s PlayStation Plus Update

Most-Watched Video of the Week

In the second part of our two-week diary, the Endless Knights are our next target.

Two more titles to join PlayStation's growing library of downloadable games this summer. Will they be cross buy?

Sony has revealed just how many copies of Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic epic have been sold.

In previous blog posts, we’ve talked about the procedural system we use to create the enchanted forests that serve as your proving ground in Road Not Taken. This system is what makes Road Not Taken a fun game to play repeatedly, and — as with any good roguelike — you’ll need to play Road Not Taken many times before you’ve stumbled upon every interesting object and creature lurking in the forest.

But a purely random system, even a very rich one, can start to feel repetitive over time. Every snowflake might be unique, but after you’ve looked at a thousand snowflakes it’s easy to stop appreciating them!

Our roguelike developer ancestors have invented a few solutions to this problem, one of which is to change the look and feel of the environment to signal when something new/important/dangerous is happening.Sewers transition into dungeons, dungeons become underground caverns, etc. And in Road Not Taken, peaceful glades might lead to blizzard-ravaged woods, haunted groves, and dangerous ice caverns! The changing terrain is both a marker of your progress as well as a warning of new challenges to come.

Another classic component of roguelikes (and other procedurally-generated games) is the hand-crafted encounter and setpiece. These uncommon encounters stick out like a sore thumb precisely because they’re not 100% randomly generated. They’re specialized, memorable moments that punctuate the gameplay experience. The Chess Biome in Don’t Starve is an example of a setpiece. The major boss encounters in Diablo are another example.

In Road Not Taken, pretty much all of the setpieces that we’ve recently created are hand-crafted puzzles that demand careful planning if you want to solve them efficiently (And remember, in this game, inefficiency equals death!) They aren’t completely non-random puzzles, since that would limit their replay value, but they’re non-random enough to be very distinctive.

We’re hoping to launch with a healthy variety of these setpieces. Some might have that good-old “boss encounter” feeling to them. And more often than not, those bosses won’t just be coming after you — they’ll be hunting the children you’re sworn to rescue. Protecting others from harm can often feel more intense than just trying to save yourself.

We’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about and testing new setpiece ideas over the past couple weeks. It’s been a lot of fun, and we have way more ideas than we’ll ever have time to implement! But even so, it’s worth noting that all of this stuff is just icing on our procedurally-generated cake. The hand-crafted content won’t be the defining feature of your many journeys through Road Not Taken… but we really hope it’ll provide some memorable moments along the way.

In Hyper Light Drifter you’ll travel a ruined land with a twisted past, delving deep to collect lost technologies and unveil secrets long buried. I’d like to share a few of the key components under development that make Hyper Light what it is: 1) combat that’s lightning quick, brutal and never unfair; 2) a strong narrative and character interactions expressed through visual design; 3) a rich and varied world to explore with an intense atmosphere.

Combat

At Heart Machine we’re all fans of fast, heavy­-hitting combat that requires skill and rewards a bit of finesse. To hell with bullet­sponges, witless drones and unfair scenarios. We spend a great deal of time tuning our systems, ­adding meaningful feedback in the controls, visuals, and audio design ­so they feel responsive and satisfying each time you lop an enemy in half, blow something up, or wipe out entire packs of ravenous creatures.

Each enemy reacts to strikes with visible knockback, flashes, and brutal sound effects. No weak or shoddy weapons (I’m looking at you, Klobb), no pea­shooter projectile sounds. The player should feel empowered in every encounter.

Creating intelligent and tactical scenarios with enemies is key, rather than stacking cannon fodder that waits gleefully in line to get their heads chopped off. Some enemies dodge projectiles, others deflect attacks, some (the poison wolves) attack you and vulnerable enemies as a pack. We even have enemies that command weaker types in order to gain an advantage. Each encounter should feel different, and remain challenging.

Narrative & Design

We are wary of endless blocks of text, poorly designed UI, and explicit hand­holding, which can often dilute a great experience. These leave a player frustrated, or worse, disinterested. Instead, we want players to uncover the rich mythology along with the Drifter in a more organic way, with a narrative that’s not explicit. We chose to recognize that players are smart.

We keep the systems management as straightforward as possible, with zero visible UI elements that don’t relate to the world itself. This helps to keep the player immersed and focused on the moments and constantly unfolding story in the world, rather than on numbers, bars and maps.

Dialogue and quests are presented in storyboard­like sequences, which convey a specific mood without the use of text or voice­overs. This also allows us to keep the game as visually lush as possible and break past language barriers.

Atmosphere

To make the world of Hyper Light a believable and compelling space for the player, we’re focused on the excitement of discovery and conveying specific feelings while traversing each new area; you recognize that something is always slightly off, but you don’t know precisely why. A sense of anxiety will build as you travel further and deeper into this savage world.

To achieve this sensation we rely on the soundtrack, which is being scored by Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace), a master at atmospheric audio design. It will create an identifiable and eerie atmosphere for the landscapes, and develop a darker sound the deeper you explore, pushing the dangerous nature to the forefront.

The visuals will be the other major factor in forging the tone and intention of the spaces. Each environment uses a striking and specific palette to highlight landmarks, and they’re littered with touches like reactive wildlife and intricate architecture. The world is long past its era of great carnage, but remnants are everywhere: craters from battles fought, wreckage from hulking machines grown­over, bones from mammoth creatures, tubes of rotting experiments in ancient labs.

Conclusion

Our goal to make an experience that’s visually and atmospherically compelling, has a well­-crafted story and is a hell of a lot of fun to play remains a challenge each day, but it’s incredibly rewarding. We’ll be posting more screenshots, videos and other items on our devlog and in future PS.Blog posts, so stay tuned.

Please feel free to ask us (mostly) anything about the game, and we’ll do our best to answer without spoiling the experience.

There’s just something about going fast. The desire for speed seems to be ingrained in our very nature. Race the Sun is our attempt to distill that desire into its basic form — to strip away all pretense and let players experience pure, brutal speed. Building a game with this goal in mind took a lot of trial, error, and some new ideas.

The Goals

When we first played the prototype that would become Race the Sun, we felt like we had something special. Every time one of us would crash, we’d say “Just one more run. I know I can do better.” It felt like we were playing a classic arcade game designed to suck you in.

After quite a bit of discussion and thought, we decided on some specific goals for Race the Sun. It had to be fast, fun, and challenging. We knew that some of the fastest games out there were encumbered by complex rules and controls — and we really wanted our game to be fun right from the start. The mantra “easy to learn, hard to master” was adopted in lieu of design documents, and we got to work.

Easy to Learn

The first major problem to tackle was control. When it comes down to it, controls of any racer (no matter how complex) usually revolve around making your vehicle turn left and right. We decided that we wanted the turning mechanism to be super simple, and that turned out to be easier said than done.

When simulating the physics of a real object moving in 3D space, there are tons of things to consider. Acceleration, inertia, and drag need to be calculated, and the control algorithms need to act in harmony with those forces. Every little change to one of the variables makes the controls feel totally different.

So you test, you play, you try a different number, you test again, you try a different algorithm, and so on and so forth. The process was time consuming, but ultimately worth it. We didn’t stop tweaking until we felt we had struck the best possible balance: not too tight, not too loose.

Hard to Master

After a few months of work, we had a vehicle that felt great to control at crazy speeds, and a really basic world to race through. Aaron (our programmer) had created a procedural system to make the world go on forever, and we had decided on solar power as the source of energy and speed. The heart of the game was there, but once you got good at it there wasn’t much challenge.

We knew what needed to happen. We needed to hand-design more varied and interesting obstacles in the world, but — being a small team — we didn’t know how we were going to pull it off in any reasonable amount of time.

This is when Aaron came up with an idea for generating the world out of a combination of hand-designed and procedural elements. The end result was that we were able to make complex combinations of obstacles in short order. This also meant that we could make the world rearrange itself each day — so you could never quite predict what would be coming.

On the Horizon

Making this game has been crazy, interesting, stressful, and fun, but we feel like we’ve accomplished what we set out to do. The simple, arcade-inspired heart is still there, but there are layers of complexity that let skilled players advance and get higher scores. The core experience has remained centered on that feeling of pure, deadly speed.

Our top priority in bringing the game to Playstation is to keep that experience consistent and pure. To that end, we’ve decided to support cross save and make the game a cross buy purchase. Everything is falling into place for Race the Sun, and we’re pumped to launch on PS3, PS4, and PS Vita this Summer.

We can’t wait to share our creation with you, the Playstation community, and hear what you think about our game of unsafe speeds. Feel free to comment or ask us anything below!

TowerFall Ascension launched on PS4 earlier this week, introducing PlayStation gamers to an addictive, challenging, and delightfully pure arena game. With an electric, competitive design and an all new, co-op Quest mode, TowerFall Ascension is a great reminder of why local multiplayer is so much fun.

I touched base with TowerFall creator Matt Thorson to hear more about what inspired TowerFall, how it feels on PS4, and what it was like working as a small indie developer. My thanks to Matt for spending time on PlayStation.Blog!

PlayStation.Blog: What inspired your original vision of TowerFall? Did you always have a competitive element in mind since the game’s conception?

Matt Thorson: I tried a lot of things with TowerFall early on, with a focus on single-player gameplay. But the competitive modes just clicked, and it was obvious I had to follow the game in that direction. I realized, once I started designing the versus gameplay, that I had been thinking about local multiplayer for years. I was happy to finally have an outlet for those ideas.

PlayStation.Blog: What’s it like working as a small indie team?

Matt Thorson: Leading a team and being the backbone of the project was stressful. It’s a heavy weight knowing the whole project can stall if I lose motivation or get stuck on a problem. But it was also incredibly rewarding and just a lot of fun to see the game take shape. It helps that everyone on the TowerFall team is brilliant, capable, and a joy to work with.

PlayStation.Blog: How did you come to the decision to launch TowerFall Ascension on PS4?

Matt Thorson: The game did really well on Ouya and it felt like it was time to expand to a larger audience. We continued working on it because there was a lot of stuff we still wanted to add, and PlayStation was super proactive in helping me figure out how to bring the game to PS4. It felt like the natural next step for TowerFall.

PlayStation.Blog: Why do you think competitive, local multiplayer works so well in TowerFall — and in games as a whole?

Matt Thorson: Local multiplayer is just a great way to bring people together. These games can allow players to express themselves socially through play, and get to know each other by interacting in the game. And those interactions can bleed into the real world. It’s really simple, but so powerful.

Being local rather than online makes those interactions even more personal — these are actual people sitting right next to you, not a vague representation of a person somewhere else in the world. The energy in the room is a big part of TowerFall.

PlayStation.Blog: How did you settle on the retro sprite style of TowerFall Ascension?

Matt Thorson: The retro style started as a constraint for me, so that I could draw all the graphics myself. When Pedro took over for pixel art, we kept the low resolution and what he did with it is just perfect for the game. I love how he made it so dark and gothic — my original art was a lot less moody.

I love pixel art as an aesthetic. It would be nice to see people appreciate it as more than just a nostalgic artifact of previous generations. It definitely ages better than most 3D styles.

PlayStation.Blog: Tell us about the new quest mode in TowerFall Ascension! How challenging was it to implement this addition?

Matt Thorson: Making Quest mode was scary because I had already tried four or five different variations on single-player modes and failed. But I gained a lot of understanding of what makes TowerFall fun by working with the versus mode, and that knowledge helped us make something I’m really proud of. I think it stands on its own as an interesting part of the game. Quest mode lets you see the same mechanics from versus mode in a new light.

PlayStation.Blog: What new power-ups have been added in TowerFall Ascension? How do they compare to the original power-ups?

Matt Thorson: There are four new arrows types and one new orb pickup that affects the entire arena in a crazy new way (you’ll know it when you see it). My favorite new arrows are probably the drill arrows that burrow through walls toward players — they completely change the game.

When I created these new power-ups, I had a more complete understanding of how players think while they play TowerFall. So they were designed to shake things up, to encourage players to change their strategies, and surprise each other even more.

PlayStation.Blog: What was it like working with PS4? What sort of advantages does DualShock 4 provide you as a designer and the players you’re designing for?

Matt Thorson: Bringing TowerFall to PS4 went smoothly — Sickhead Games down in Dallas handled the majority of the work. DualShock 4 quickly became my favorite controller to play the game with — the d-pad is perfect for TowerFall.

Once I realized how useful the controller speaker was, we experimented with that a lot, too. It’s a cool way to give feedback to specific players. For example, when you die or run out of arrows, the sounds play through your controller as well as the TV, making it that much more clear what is happening. In a game as fast and chaotic as TowerFall, this feedback helps a lot.

PlayStation.Blog: What’s your favorite local multiplayer game? Did you draw inspiration from it, or try to design in a different direction?

Matt Thorson: Smash Bros. Melee. I’ve played thousands of hours of that game, and studied every aspect of it. TowerFall draws inspiration from a lot of places, but the influence from Melee is most apparent once you know to look for it.

Unlike Smash Bros., I designed TowerFall with the hope that it would develop a hardcore player community, but I wanted to capture the same pick-up-and-play instant fun, the focus on spatial positioning, and dramatic kills.

This is Si at indie games developer Eiconic Games in the UK. We’ve been busy developing Final Horizon for PS4 and PS Vita, and are excited to share the first batch of screenshots with Playstation.Blog readers.

Final Horizon has some great puzzling levels that will demand all your skills to solve, and frantic action levels where you won’t even have time to blink.

The story takes the player on a journey from planet to planet and into dark, undiscovered galaxies that are home to the alien Swarm. But not only will you play on planetary surfaces, but you’ll also get to take over the Overwatch orbital satellite as a killstreak reward. Ever want to shoot the legs off a spider from space?

As you play through Final Horizon, the levels get tougher, the Swarm gets stronger, and you’re going to need to think fast and act faster.

This is a strategic, puzzling, action-packed tower defense game. We’ve developed and optimized our PS Vita engine to be able to pack more action in that we know Vita players have been asking for. Developing on PS4 means more of everything — more explosions, more special effects, and we plan to add more during the coming months.

Final Horizon is coming exclusively to PS4 and PS Vita.

We’re celebrating! We’re in the final stages of Metrico‘s production. We’d like to celebrate this phase with a special, branching trailer. We got a lot of requests to show some Metrico gameplay, but we’re not showing everything just yet. We’re really excited though to finally release a trailer with in-game footage.

As we explained in our previous blog post, Metrico is all about using input to shape the infographics around you and solve puzzles. In this blog entry, we’d like to give a bit more insight into the world of Metrico and our design approach.

Over the last few months, we’ve been working hard on finishing Metrico’s last worlds. There will be six worlds in the final game. We wanted every world to feel fresh and exciting, that’s why each world has its own shapes, type of infographics, colors, music, mechanics, challenges, typography, and animation, which all tie closely into the world theme.

But we’re also introducing new means of input for the player to play around with, in each subsequent new world. Therefore, it made a lot of sense for us to design the game in chronological order. This helped bolt down the way each specific mechanic works, and how they work in combination with the previous ones.

It also helped us get the difficulty curve right and understand what the final experience will feel like. In fact, we believe the experience you’ll have with the game to be quite similar to how we designed and created Metrico: we had to experiment a lot and come up with new ideas every time, and hopefully so will you when you play.

When we started out, we thought Metrico was mainly about infographics and finding out what to give as an input to solve puzzles. But when we played around with PS Vita and all of its hardware features, it became clear that the game is not just about solving puzzles.

Metrico is a lot about the player and his or her physical presence while playing. With all the hardware inputs, PS Vita is the perfect console for this. For instance, Metrico knows how you’re holding the Vita, or how much light is in your room.

We’re working hard and putting a lot of effort into getting the overall experience to feel just right. The next time you hear from us, we’ll have an exact release date in Spring of this year!

In the first part of our two-week diary, we tackle the Last Giant...

Sony appears to be testing game rental links tied into PlayStation Now on the US PS Store.

Adam Boyes takes to Twitter and boasts about PlayStation's friendly developer policies — but obviously throws a jab at Microsoft in the process.

March is here and it’s already feeling a little toasty in VidZone HQ. And so it makes sense that we have some particularly HOT new videos for you this week. We have fantastic new clips from ‘Kings and a Q to be precise, as well as some particularly sunny pop-rock videos to get you bouncing in your chair/sofa/bed. Finally, to cool off, we also have some videos from the coolest man in Soul and RnB right now.

Read on for more info and to find out what else is new!

Artist Of The Week: Paramore

Tennessee pop-rockers Paramore released their number one, self-titled album last year. They’re still a hot property since they now have a world-record breaking music video on their hands! Check out the brilliant new video for ‘Ain’t It Fun’, in which they attempt to break as many bizarre records as they can. Also, you can see all of their previous hits including ‘Still Into You’, ‘Ignorance’ and the Twilight smash ‘Decode’ in their Artist Of The Week Playlist!

And here are the highlights from the hottest Zones…

Hip-Hop Zone

VidZone is focusing on German born rapper ScHoolboy Q this week as he released his brilliant third album, Oxymoron last week. You can now watch the videos for ‘Man Of The Year’ and ‘Collard Greens’ featuring fellow Hip-Hop star Kendrick Lamar in his Playlist.

• ScHoolboy Q – Artist Focus
• Future – Center Stage
• YG – Must See Video
• Snoop Dogg – Live: The Control Room

Alternative Zone

Another Tennessee band to rave about this week are Kings Of Leon, who released their sixth album, Mechanical Bull, last year. The album’s brilliant third single ‘Temple’, came with a brand new video which you can now watch on VidZone alongside all of their previous hits including ‘Supersoaker’, ‘Radioactive’ and the 2008 smash ‘Sex On Fire’.

• Kings Of Leon – VidZone Recommends
• Neon Trees – Artist Focus
• Foster The People – Center Stage
• RAC – One To Watch

RnB Zone

He was featured on Swedish DJ Avicii’s massive dance anthem ‘Wake Me Up’, and now Aloe Blacc is ‘The Man’ on his second single from new album, Lift Your Spirit. VidZone has the inspiring ‘Must See Video’ for you to enjoy right now!

• Aloe Blacc – Must See Video
• Beyoncé – Center Stage
• Pharrell Williams – VidZone Recommends
• New Jack Swing TV

Latest Videos

Check out our great selection this week…

• 5 Seconds of Summer – She Looks So Perfect (Pop)
• Paramore – Ain’t It Fun (Rock)
• DJ Cassidy – Calling All Hearts (Party)
• Future – Move That…(Hip-Hop) EXPLICIT
• blessthefall – Hollow Bodies (Metal)
• Aloe Blacc – The Man (RnB)
• DVBBS & Borgeous – Tsunami (Dance)

VidZone brings you a world of music videos tailored completely for you. Download it now for free from PlayStation Store for both PS3 and PS4. As always, keep in touch on Twitter and Facebook. We read everything and love your comments, so don’t be shy! Got any requests for VidZone? Let us know!

Hello friends. Things have been quiet on the home front here at Dynamighty in the last few months. The truth is we’ve been quietly working hard to make CounterSpy as awesome as it can be. In the world of espionage, this is known as being Deep Undercover.

Well, all our diabolical plans are finally falling into place, and we have some exciting news to share. When we partnered with PlayStation, PS4 was but a fantastical dream of uber console heaven somewhere off in the future. We originally announced that CounterSpy was coming to PS3 and PS Vita.

Since the PS4 launch, we’ve had a steady stream of requests from people as to when or if we would be releasing on PlayStation’s new hardware. We’re thrilled to declassify this information and officially confirm that, yes, CounterSpy WILL be launching on PS4 this Summer.

We’ve been eagerly working with PS4 now. I think the extra power of the system is going to open up some really nice possibilities for us. At the same time, we remain committed to PS3 and PS Vita (the game is looking great on both those platforms).

One of the features that we think you’ll like is the ability to link the mobile version of CounterSpy with the PS4, PS3 or PS Vita version to share progress across all devices. Certain intelligence that you gather gets shared across the devices, so for example you can unlock weapons on your console that are then available on your mobile device.

For those who expressed support and passion from the game since our announcement last year (and those finding us for the first time), THANK YOU. We look forward to sharing more in the weeks ahead.

For a peek behind the development curtain at Dynamighty, we’ll be posting a series of weekly development updates on our blog. You can also follow us at @dynamighty.

Stay tuned!

An unspecified number of employees have been let go from the Seattle-based developer.

Pocket Watch Games is developing an RTS that favors a controller over the traditional mouse and keyboard.