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SpyParty's new art brings eerie new glitches

Posted by Joystiq Jan 11 2014 05:30 GMT

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Developer Chris Hecker recently added attractive new art to multiplayer espionage game SpyParty. With the new aesthetics, however, come entertaining new bugs that turn a suspiciously quiet dinner party into a squamous freakshow of floating bodies and contorted limbs.

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SpyParty's new art crashes the open beta dinner party

Posted by Joystiq Oct 05 2013 02:30 GMT

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The purty new SpyParty art, revealed back in August, has made its way into the ongoing public beta. In this latest developer diary, developer Chris Hecker walks us through how to access the new level and shows off some of the much more dashing player models.

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SpyParty's new art, animated for the first time

Posted by Joystiq Aug 15 2013 01:15 GMT

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Developer Chris Hecker revealed the new art style for SpyParty characters last year, and now we get to see those new pixels in motion for the first time. The first animated characters for SpyParty are Mr. A and Ms. B, each shown solo and side-by-side with their old, blocky selves.

These animations are in real-time, rendered on Hecker's two-year-old laptop - he and animation expert John Cimino want to keep the minimum spec for the full game as low as possible, while striking a balance between "uncanny valley" and "cartoony."

"The first animations are of two of the characters talking, so we looked for reference of people lecturing, giving monologues or just conversing in a stylish way," Hecker says. "We haven't chosen in-game names for the characters yet, so we're going to name them by letter for now, which sounds all spy-like and mysterious, but is mostly us just not knowing what else to call them."

SpyParty will be at PAX Prime from August 30 to September 2, and the new art will be on display in a supplemental form alongside the playable game with old art. That new build should hit the public beta right after PAX, Hecker says. Last week, Hecker showed off the new environment style for SpyParty, but said the remodeled art wouldn't be fully integrated into the beta for a "very long time."

Hecker plans to update the SpyParty blog with new animation videos every Monday, Wednesday and Friday right up until PAX. Check out Mr. A and Ms. B - names subject to change - above and below, respectively.

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In SpyParty’s Bloodless Cat-and-Mouse Chase, Your Life Ends Here

Posted by Kotaku Aug 08 2013 20:00 GMT

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Beautiful place for a headshot, no? And players won’t need to worry about staining the handsome furnishings after killing someone in SpyParty because there won’t be any blood.Read more...

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SpyParty invites you to the garden party: New art for old environments

Posted by Joystiq Aug 08 2013 17:00 GMT

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SpyParty has earned attention over the years for being an intensely addictive, competitive game. What a lot of people forget is that SpyParty is also supposed to be a pretty game.

SpyParty mastermind Chris Hecker released a batch of fresh, updated concept levels today demonstrating the intended final look. These new environments join the updated character models that Hecker released one year ago and will oust the placeholder art that players in the beta have come to associate with the game. Hecker, and even some players, lovingly call that art "ugly."

"I'm not ashamed to show my really ugly game because I'm really proud of the gameplay," Hecker tells me as we walk through the new screenshots over Skype. "If the game had looked like this when we first showed it, people would want to talk about how pretty it was, too, and that's just a distraction."

The remodeled environments won't hit the SpyParty beta for a "very long time" (surprise), but Hecker and his development partner, John Cimino, will work on implementing the new art on a separate plane and then slowly roll it into the game. These images are rendered concept pieces, but Hecker says they're a "visual target" and he's hopeful the in-game products will be a close match.

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The top SpyParty player is a fighting game guy from EVO 2012

Posted by Joystiq Jul 10 2013 22:00 GMT

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Four months before SpyParty debuted at EVO 2012's Indie Showcase, convention founder Seth Killian threw down a gentlemen's bet with SpyParty creator Chris Hecker: "An EVO attendee will be your No. 1 player in subsequent tests, and take down whoever the existing top players might be."

Hecker took the bet. One year later, SpyParty is on its way to EVO 2013, and Hecker owes Killian a beer.

SpyParty is slow-paced for a one-on-one "fighting game," but it requires the same mad obsession with detail prevalent in many fighting games. Players are either the spy or the sniper: As the spy they must blend in with a room of AI characters attending a fancy party and complete tasks unbeknownst to the sniper. The sniper has to spot the human character with enough certainty to shoot it before the other player completes all the tasks.

The top SpyParty player in the world is Korey Mueller, AKA "kcmmmmm" (pictured above, standing in the blue button-down), and as a lifelong fighting game fan, it's fitting that he first heard about SpyParty at EVO 2012. Since the convention, Mueller has played 6,436 games of SpyParty and has spent 262 hours in-game, with 1,020 hours total log-in time. The player that comes closest to these numbers clocks in at 5,151 games and 213 hours in-game.

After picking out which beer he's going to buy Killian, Hecker asked Mueller about his fighting game roots and how he thinks SpyParty fits into the fighting game community.

"There's always this feeling that there's some way I can improve, and every time I meet a personal goal, I find another one," Mueller tells Hecker. "I couldn't really look at the game and decide to be a top player, I just wanted to continue to improve - and at some point, I guess I got pretty decent at it. Now that you mention it, 6,000 games is a lot."

Yeah, it is.

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SpyParty open beta is live, pop some bubbly and lie to your friends now

Posted by Joystiq Jun 05 2013 00:02 GMT

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SpyParty is throwing an early-access beta and you're invited! For $15 get your mitts on SpyParty, or spend $50 or more to get the game and some warm fuzzies for helping a developer make his game great.

SpyParty is about subtle behavior and scoping out the real person in a room of fancy robots, and it's been in closed beta since 2011. The game's mechanics and graphics have intrigued us since 2009, when former Spore frontman Chris Hecker announced its development, and today you can finally see what all the fuss is about.

SpyParty is a one-on-one, live Turing test with strict rules (if you want to succeed, at least) and a loyal, underground fanbase. Hecker even brought it to EVO 2012's Indie Showcase, giving fighting game players a taste of intense espionage.

Hecker hosted a final closed-beta loadtest last night and drew in 170 players, so the SpyParty lobbies should be nice and primed for some fresh blood.

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SpyParty's graphics leap from 1998 to 2012 in one gallery

Posted by Joystiq Aug 27 2012 17:00 GMT

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Up until now, the most interesting thing about SpyParty was its ridiculously deep gameplay. That remains the case, actually, but the game's new look is certainly something to write home about. We've got a full feature with Chris Hecker detailing how the changes took place, but if you just wanna take a looksy, here you go!

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SpyParty redesign: The new art of espionage

Posted by Joystiq Aug 27 2012 17:10 GMT

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Last year, animator John Cimino turned down a cushy position at Zynga, pre-IPO, to work out of Chris Hecker's garage redesigning Hecker's ambitious, notorious indie game SpyParty. Cimino worked in secret since September 2011 to transform the primary colors and block-based skeletons of SpyParty's characters into the artistic, realistic designs revealed today.

Hecker calls the new style "illustrative," and he's extremely pleased with it.

"We spent a ton of time trying to figure out the best possible art style for the game," Hecker tells Joystiq. "We really wanted the art style to reflect the same level of subtlety that the gameplay has. I didn't want it to be too realistic or too exaggerated, and I think we hit it on this really nice, call it naturalistic or illustrative - they look like illustrations. I'm super excited."

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SpyParty's Deadly Hide & Seek To Appear at Evo Fighting Game Championship

Posted by Kotaku Jun 27 2012 00:00 GMT

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#spyparty The Evo Champtionship Series is a hardcore, competitive gaming gathering dedicated to the purest fighting games. Street Fighter IV, King of Fighters XIII, Street Fighter X Tekken, Soul Calibur V. And now… SpyParty. Wait, what? More »

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Crashing EVO: SpyParty's Chris Hecker on depth and fighting games

Posted by Joystiq Jun 26 2012 00:00 GMT

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When we asked Chris Hecker how SpyParty snuck its way into EVO 2012, we didn't think he'd actually tell us - revealing sensitive information is opposed to an entire half of his game's title, after all. We assume it was the other half that allowed him to divulge the details behind how SpyParty, a one-on-one asymmetric Turing Test, snagged a featured spot at the year's largest fighting-game gathering:

"It all started with Seth Killian," Hecker said. "Seth and I have talked about my goals for SpyParty to be a game that can eventually be counted among the most intensely competitive player-skill games we have, games like Counter-Strike, Starcraft, LoL, Dota and Street Fighter, and he's been really supportive of that goal.

"Seth emailed me and asked if I'd be interested in bringing SpyParty to EVO. I knew a bit about EVO and was kind of blown away by the offer."

SpyParty is EVO 2012's Indie Showcase title, and will be available for anyone to try out on the expo floor, which is completely free and open to the public July 6-7 at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace.

The game itself is based on subtlety, precision and practice, much like many fighting games, but it doesn't involve any twitch movements, bright, flashing colors or hadoukens - and it comes with a four-page manual that must be read before anyone attempts to play it. In terms of pacing for the American audience: if Mortal Kombat is football, SpyParty is soccer.

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SpyParty selected as the Indie Showcase title for EVO 2012

Posted by Joystiq Jun 22 2012 03:45 GMT

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Remember Spy Party, that sniper vs. spy game Chris Hecker made and showed off at our E3 meetup last year? The game, originally designed as the ultimate test of deep gaming skill, is getting a spotlight on one of the biggest competitive gaming stages as the Indie Showcase title at EVO 2012.

That means Spy Party will be playable at the event in Las Vegas in two weeks, and Hecker says he's hoping to have the demos hooked up to the Internet, letting attendees play some of the top players online. 50 beta invites are also being given away right now, so head over and sign up if you're interested. Spy Party was designed to test and highlight extreme player skill, so it's awesome to see it get placed in an event that brings in skilled gamers from all over the world.

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Spyparty: Learn To Party Like The Spies

Posted by Rock, Paper, Shotgun Apr 18 2012 11:30 GMT

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SpyParty remains one of the most fascinating propositions in indie gaming, but it’s perhaps not all that clear from the outside how the game plays out. Fortunately for the SpyParty-oblivious, Indiegames have spotted that Mr Hecker has posted a tutorial video for his early-access beta folk, and that gives us a good impression of the game’s systems, as well as an idea of how to play. Go take a look, below!(more…)

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Overheard@GDC: The craft of mining

Posted by Joystiq Mar 10 2012 04:00 GMT

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Minecraft creator and recent millionaire Notch held a fireside chat with Spyparty's Chris Hecker, seated alongside a pixelated fire roaring across a plasma screen in one of the large halls at GDC. Hecker and Notch kicked off the chat with two bottles of Sierra Nevada and a cheers, and for one hour, a roomful of fans and developers listened to the pair of them talk about the intricacies of Minecraft's development in some of the most riveting, "you had to be there" moments.

But one thing Notch said applies to everyone, even those who weren't cool enough to be in the room:

"There is one thing that hasn't been found," he declared, referring to the Easter Eggs and cool tricks buried in Minecraft gameplay. Grab a beer (or legally applicable beverage) and get diggin', folks.

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Spy Party preview: Turing, eat your heart out

Posted by Joystiq Sep 03 2011 03:09 GMT

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These days, multiplayer games are all about letting the player play the way that they want to. Shooters let you customize your loadouts, racers give you a selecton of cars. If it's online, it's all about standing back and letting players determine their experience. And Spy Party creator Chris Hecker couldn't care less.

Spy Party, his multiplayer espionage game, demands that you play by its rules. It doesn't bend the rules, even in the slightest. Either you learn its complexities, or you lose. Every time. Guaranteed.

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SpyParty early access pricing solidified (also: appear in the credits!)

Posted by Joystiq Aug 11 2011 17:30 GMT

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We know you're sick of hearing people gush about Chris Hecker's thrilling duel of wits and subterfuge, SpyParty. Though we sympathize, there's really only one antidote and that's to become one of those people yourself. The quickest way to do that is by paying for beta access, and Hecker solidified exactly how much that'll run you today.

As we learned in May, the base rate for early entry will be $15, which includes the full game when it launches on PC and -- down the road -- Mac (free console copies likely won't happen). But, and this is the new bit, if that fee just doesn't seem like enough, you can give $50 or more and have your name included in the game's credits. Hecker stresses that beta access will be just that, with no other in-game perks, badges, awards etc. for early birds.

Apparently, Hecker wasn't listening after all those early SpyParty sessions when we offered him "Anything! Anything! Take it all! Just one more game!" with tears streaming down our faces and wallets upturned. Probably for the best.

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Spied: Spy Party Beta Access Pricing

Posted by Rock, Paper, Shotgun Aug 11 2011 08:27 GMT

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Chris Hecker has posted over on the SpyParty blog to explain his early-access beta pricing for the game of spy-spotting. “$15 gets you access to the beta SpyParty and all the updates during the beta, access to the private beta website, which includes forums for announcements, finding games, and discussing strategies, and eventually a bug/feature tracking system,” says Hecker. He’s also allow the truly excited to pay more on top of that if they really want to support the project.

Hecker also confirms that he’ll probably miss the “mid-June” launch date for this beta, but he’s busy working ahead on it anyway, and there should be more news soon.

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Zoom in on these SpyParty Joystiq E3 meetup stats

Posted by Joystiq Jun 17 2011 05:15 GMT

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Playing SpyParty at the Joystiq E3 2011 reader meetup may have been a lot of fun, but it was also serious business. As it turns out, attendees were not only having a good time; they were helping SpyParty developer Chris Hecker collect some important data. During our roughly three hour shindig, only 10 spies were shot during the 35 games that were completed. This confirms our long-held suspicion that Joystiq readers are indeed a crafty bunch.

Hecker also tracked the location and direction of the sniper's laser sight, though he notes he doesn't quite no what do with the data just yet. At the very least, it looks like the snipers were a busy bunch. Pore over lots more data over at the SpyParty site.

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Relive the Joystiq E3 2011 meetup through this video

Posted by Joystiq Jun 13 2011 20:20 GMT

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Max Paolucci (thankfully) took some video of the Joystiq E3 meet-up, both as evidence it actually happened (that whole week was a blur) and as a kindness to those unable to physically attend. It suffices to say that we love Max dearly.

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E3 reader meetup: SpyParty

Posted by Joystiq Jun 07 2011 05:30 GMT

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Perhaps you've been hiding in the bathroom, terrified that a sniper will spot you? We can't think of any other reason you wouldn't have heard of Chris Hecker's SpyParty otherwise. But in the off chance that you don't know what it's about, SpyParty is a two-player co-op game where one player controls a sniper and the other a spy. While the sniper seeks out the spy (to murder him, naturalmente), the spy attempts to complete a variety of tasks without being spotted.

Moreover, the game is being developed by just one man -- the aforementioned Chris Hecker. And Hecker, along with a handful of other developers, will be on-hand at our E3 2011 meetup this Friday evening, SpyParty in-tow, so you can tell him yourself how incredibly impressed you are with his unique game.

Last month, Hecker announced his game -- like Minecraft before it -- will enter a paid beta in the near future. Given his presence at Friday night's event, Hecker answered a handful of questions we had about his game's upcoming beta.

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Come hang out with Joystiq (and play a bunch of great games!) at our E3 2011 reader meetup

Posted by Joystiq Jun 03 2011 00:45 GMT

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We love you, Los Angeles, you know that. Sure, it's been awhile since we last hung out, but we wanna make that up to you. And not just any boring old dinner-and-a-movie kinda thing either, a full blown party! Next Friday, June 10, Joystiq will take over the La Cita bar in downtown LA between 5:30 and 9:00PM PST for a game-filled, giveaway-packed reader meetup.

As our staff will be all up in your city for the duration of next week, we took the liberty of renting out a bar for a few hours so you -- our best friends -- could hang out, talk about the week's big news, play a bunch of great games, and take all the game swag that's been piling up in our domiciles. Chris Hecker will be swinging through with SpyParty, as will Andy Schatz with Monaco, to name just a few of the games/game devs at the event. And how about a chance to play Harmonix' next project before anyone else? 'Cause that'll totally be there too.

Unfortunately, for our friends under 21, the event space is restricted to those of us with legal access to alcohol. We're really sorry and we still love you! It was, as they say, out of our hands. An extra big thank you to all of our participants!

SpyParty, Chris Hecker (@SpyParty)
Nidhogg, Mark Essen (@Messhof)
Unannounced Project, Ska Studios (@SkaStudios)
Monaco, Pocketwatch Games (@MonacoIsMine)
Retro City Rampage, Brian Provinciano (@RetroCR)
Q.U.B.E., Toxic Games (@qubegame)
Unannounced Project, Harmonix (@Harmonix)

Still with us? Head past the break for details, and make sure to RSVP on our Facebook event page so we know how many of you to expect!

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SpyParty Goes the Minecraft Route, Launching Paid Beta

Posted by Giant Bomb May 10 2011 21:46 GMT

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Former Maxis employee and outspoken developer Chris Hecker has received a steady stream of attention since debuting his independent creation, SpyParty, at GDC a few years back. Hecker has been showing off updated versions of SpyParty at various trade shows, including some fascinating-to-watch demonstrations at PAX, but the project moved one step closer to reality today, moving into a paid beta.

The paid beta (aka the Minecraft model) will cost you $15, according to Hecker.

"This will let you play the beta as much as you want as I update it over SpyParty’s development, and also get you a copy of the finished game when it’s released on PC," he said. "I still have a lot of work to do in figuring the details out, so this stuff could change, but $15 is what you should expect when you get your invitation."

Minecraft will transition from paid beta to final game in November. SpyParty isn't anywhere near that, with Hecker noting it's a "long way from the finish line," so a release date is the furthest thing from his mind.

If you'd like to sign up for the beta, head on over to the official SpyParty website.

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SpyParty 'Early-Access Beta' sign-ups begin, costs $15 when beta opens

Posted by Joystiq May 10 2011 19:25 GMT

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Like Minecraft before it, SpyParty is both being made by just one man, and it will cost a nominal amount to access the game's public beta. Creator Chris Hecker announced as much on the SpyParty blog today, detailing the game's $15 beta access -- which will eventually roll over into a full game license when SpyParty officially launches -- and also noting that it will be rolled out in batches "over the next few months" as he expands server capacity.

While signing up to be part of the "Early-Access Beta" program doesn't cost anything, Hecker encourages only serious inquiries to add their email. OS X users should also hold off for the time being, as the beta will be PC-only initially, though Hecker adds "but not forever" in the same breath. Finally, though no specific parameters are given, he says "any 3D graphics card from the past few years" should be sufficient enough to handle the game's visuals.

Wondering what all the hullabaloo about SpyParty is? Catch up with our extensive coverage of the bizarre and endearing two-player psychological strategy shooter right here!

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SpyParty Beta Starting Soon, Here's How to Sign Up

Posted by Kotaku May 10 2011 17:20 GMT

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spyparty.com

#feelsmart I've been impressed with SpyParty since the day I first played it, but soon you'll no longer have to take my word for it. The game's creator, Chris Hecker, is about to pull a Minecraft and launch a $15 beta. More »

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GDC 11: Creator Interview

Posted by GameTrailers Apr 04 2011 23:45 GMT

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Welcome to a world of high-class espionage! The practice of spying back to its hay day in this work-in-progress interview with the game's indie creator Chris Hecker at GDC 2011!

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