Rocket League dev did “custom work” to bring the game to Switch, currently ahead of schedule
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch | 6 Comments
Switch was made to be compatible with Unreal Engine 4. Unreal Engine 3, however, is another story. The older version isn’t supported as well, which made it a bit tricky to bring Rocket League to Switch.
Psyonix head Jeremy Dunham talked with GamesBeat about porting Rocket League to Switch, which is being done with some help from Panic Button – the same team that worked on the Xbox One version. He said:
“We feel really confident about it. In the beginning, we weren’t so sure. We had to do custom work. The Switch by itself doesn’t have inherent Unreal 3 support. It only has Unreal 4. To support 3, we had to do custom work.”
Dunham also reiterated what we’ve heard previously – that Rocket League will be 720p and 60 frames per second at all times.
“The main compromise we had to make is we’re running the game in 720p rather than 1080p, even on the TV. It’s our opinion that it’s much more beneficial for the game to run fast at 60 frames per second than to look the absolute best. We’ll ship at 60 frames per second for the docked version and the undocked version.”
Dunham also had some encouraging words about the overall state of Rocket League on Switch. The team “didn’t think we would have it running this smooth, this early.”
“We’re actually ahead of where we thought we’d be. We didn’t think we would have it running this smooth, this early. For a while we were concerned about whether we’d have anything to show at E3 at all. We have a very talented team at Psyonix. Our engineers have done a lot of hard work to make sure this runs as well as it does already. We’ve already discovered things in the last few weeks that we weren’t aware of a few weeks ago. It’s already made the game perform incredibly. We’re very encouraged.”
More: interview, Jeremy Dunham, Psyonix, Rocket League, top
Nights of Azure 2 details and screenshots cover Malvasi, The Three Popes, Lily characters
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Screenshots, Switch | 0 comments
New details are in for Nights of Azure 2. The latest information covers Malvasi (“Queen of the Moon”), The Three Popes, and Lily characters. Find everything rounded up below with screenshots included, courtesy of Gematsu.
Malvasia, the “Demon / Queen of the Moon” (voiced by Yu Shimamura)
– The head of the demons who emerged as a replacement for the Nightlord who disappeared
– She can be sealed away by offering the “Bride of Time”
– It is said that she was a calm demon in the past, but now for some reason seems to be trying to envelop the world in eternal night
– —A being that appears divine
– She addresses Alushe with cold eyes and a disinterested tone
The Three Popes, “The Top of the Curia” (voiced by Reiko Suzuki)
– The top of the Curia, who are trying to offer up the Bride of Time in order to seal the Queen of the Moon
– After reflecting on the dictatorial rule of the former pope, the new popes were established as a three-person parliamentary system to make decisions
– The three popes calmly gaze at Alushe and company through the openings of their majestic outfits
– With light shining through the stained glass behind them, the three popes give off a cold atmosphere during an audience
– Even those that belong the Curia have not seen their faces
Splatoon 2 devs on its competitive nature, Salmon Run talk, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 1 Comment
Interviews coming out of E3 continue to roll out from E3. The latest one is from Glixel, who spoke with Splatoon 2 producer Hisashi Nogami and programming director Shintaro Sato. The two weighed in on topics such as the game’s competitive nature and Salmon Run.
As usual, we’ve highlighted some of the noteworthy excerpts below. Head on over here for the full interview.
More: Hisashi Nogami, interview, Shintaro Sato, Splatoon 2, top
Designer talks about how Retro Studios turned an original FPS into Metroid Prime
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in GameCube, News, Wii | 15 Comments
Metroid Prime has a pretty interesting development history. Before it was a Metroid game, Retro Studios was working on an original first-person shooter that had no ties to anything Nintendo-related. It was only when the big N stepped in and saw a level of the game that the game eventually morphed into Metroid Prime.
Speaking in the latest issue of Switch Player, senior designer Mike Wikan noted:
“When I came on board, the Engine group was significantly behind schedule and there was no way to create gameplay demonstrables in an effective fashion. I was told, quite literally, by leadership that designers would design the game on paper, then hand it off to engineering and art to create it. In my opinion that was insanity.”
“When Nintendo arrived suddenly, wanting to see demonstrables of all the games that the teams were working on, only our FPS had demonstrable real-time scriptable content. Nintendo liked what they saw and proposed we adapt that game and viewpoint, but restart it as a Metroid game.”
“The moral of the story is that if you see a problem, work to solve it; don’t assume someone else will take that responsibility on.”
More: interview, Metroid Prime, Mike Wikan, Retro Studios, top
League of Evil Switch level editor teaser
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch eShop, Videos | 1 Comment
Ratalaika Games has a new video up showing the level editor in League of Evil running on Switch. When it’s ready, it’ll be compatible with the touchscreen. Watch the footage below.
More: League of Evil, Ratalaika Games
Nintendo Minute – “ARMS Master Class w/ Mr. Yabuki”
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch, Videos | 0 comments
The latest episode of Nintendo Minute has gone live. In today’s video, Kit and Krysta get a special ARMS training session with ARMS producer Kosuke Yabuke. View the full episode below.
More: Arms, Nintendo Minute
Fire Emblem Warriors devs on hardcore mode, permadeath, choosing characters, more
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in New Nintendo 3DS, News, Switch | 31 Comments
Kotaku caught up with Intelligent Systems’ Masahiro Higuchi and Koei Tecmo’s Yosuke Hayashi for a chat about Fire Emblem Warriors at E3. The developers spoke about the hardcore mode, permadeath, how they went about choosing characters, and more. Higuchi also showed some interest in wanting to remake Famicom Wars.
Head past the break for notable comments from Higuchi and Hayashi. The full interview is on Kotaku here.
Hyper Sentinel dev blog
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch eShop, Videos | 0 comments
Huey Games released a new dev blog for Hyper Sentinel, which is coming to Switch. The video below shows the latest footage and making improvements to colors in particular.
For a game as fast as Hyper Sentinel, everything has to be clear and intuitive from the corner of your eye. Latest #gamedev blog #indiedev pic.twitter.com/WJLoObqh0Q
— Huey Games (@huey_games) June 25, 2017
More: Huey Games, Hyper Sentinel
Steredenn coming to Switch
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Pixelnest Studio’s roguelike-shmup Steredenn is on the way to Switch, the studio has revealed. A tweet sent out late last week showed the game running on Switch.
Oh ho!
It's happening.#STEREDENN is running on the Switch, omg #stg pic.twitter.com/h2E4NJ9BYw
— Pixelnest Studio (@pixelnest) June 23, 2017
For more on Steredenn, read up on the overview below. We’ve also included a trailer for the game.
STEREDENN is a frenetic and chaotic space shooter, carved in big beautiful pixels with insane boss battles. Embark in your ship and engage the fight against dreadful space pirates in a never-ending combat for your survival. The game is fast, addictive, hard and action-packed.
STEREDENN is at the crossroads between a shmup and a roguelike. The gameplay is infinite and unforgiving. The levels are (almost)-randomly generated, with a lot of different and completely unpredictable events (asteroid fields, laser rains, meteor showers, an old battlefield, labyrinths of lasers, etc.). Boss fights are hard, intense and epic. And each time you defeat one of those, you can upgrade your ship to unlock new powers and abilities. Grab your guns and go kick those big-badass-bosses you’ll definitely encounter. Forge your own path across the universe. Good luck.
Features
– Beautiful art and spaceships.
– Awesome boss fights.
– Addictive, ruthless.
– Endless arcade gameplay.
– Quick and intense sessions.
– INFINITE REPLAYABILITY: levels are (practically) randomly-generated.
– ARSENAL: 35 mighty weapons. Driller, ultralaser, giant saw, robots, hypergun? We got you covered.
– UPGRADES: enhance your ship and unlock new powers and abilities with more than 25 upgrades. Many interactions and combos with your guns and other boosters.
– SCORING: beat your friends and be the best!
– DAILY RUN: everyday, try to be the first in a special leaderboard where all players share the same run, guns and bosses. Beware, you only get one chance per day!
– ARENA: Unlock a boss by defeating it in the normal mode. Then, train against it in a 1 to 1 duel. Your guns, your laws, your fight.
– SUPERPLAY: Defeat the game in a fixed variant where there’s no random.
More: Pixelnest Studio, Steredenn
SteamWorld Dig 2 planned for late summer / early fall
Posted on 8 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS eShop, News, Switch eShop | 7 Comments
Image & Form announced SteamWorld Dig 2 earlier this year. The game is “pretty much finished now,” but the studio will be taking “a few more months to polish the game to the level you all expect.” It’s now planned for late summer / early fall.
Image & Form wrote on its blog today:
“When we plan the release for any SteamWorld game, we always want to finish as soon as possible so everyone can play and and have fun with it. But at the same time we want to create something new. It’s hard to estimate how long that’s going to take and at what point whatever we consider to be new is done. More often than not problems take a lot longer to tackle than anticipated. These extra months will take pressure off our team and give us enough time to give you the game you deserve.
We’re going on vacation now, and will reveal the final release date some time after that. And then we’ll talk price, too.”
Finally, SteamWorld Dig 2 isn’t coming to Wii U, but it sounds like Image & Form will be supporting 3DS:
“Even though we love Wii U and had great success on the console, there’s no denying that Nintendo Switch has firmly taken its place by now. For that simple reason, we will no longer make new Wii U games. Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita are still important to us. We won’t talk more about portable versions today, but rest assured we have not forgotten where we came from.”
