Posted on 6 years ago by Tyler(@tylerlelliott) in News, Switch eShop, Videos | 0 comments

Image & Form have announced that El Huervo, known for his music on Hotline Miami, will be contributing to the SteamWorld Dig 2 soundtrack.

You can listen to the new track “New Heights in El Machino” below, starting at the 3:04 mark:

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Posted on 6 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch eShop, Videos | 0 comments

During its Gamescom stream, Nintendo showcased the latest footage from SteamWorld Dig 2. Get a look at the gameplay below.

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Posted on 6 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.”

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 5 Comments

Image & Form recently revealed that Switch developers only need to submit one version of their game for the entire world. Speaking with MCV, community manager Julius Guldbog further explained why this is so significant, and said Nintendo is “basically taking the Steam or App Store approach”.

Guldbog said:

“With the Wii U and 3DS, [Nintendo] started to realise that they had to get with the times. Publishing for Nintendo consoles has been, in the past, not a nightmare, but pretty close. They make sure every QA gate is good enough. It takes months, and you have to do that for every region, and if you fail, it takes even longer. You have to get a new slot, and release dates are pushed back.

But with the Switch, we only have to make one version and only have one launch – and that’s one version for the entire world, so we’ll have the same version in the US, Europe and a little bit later, Japan and China as well. That saves so much work. It means we can do the translations ourselves, we don’t have to have a new publisher for one specific region – it’s going to be so much easier. They’re basically taking the Steam or App Store approach: one version of the game for the entire world.”

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch, Videos | 1 Comment

Today, Image & Form published the latest video in its video series known as “The Engine Room”. The studio chatted in-depth about SteamWorld Dig 2 by answering various fan questions. Some portions of the video touch on old subjects (release date, physical version), but new topics as well such as the possibility of a demo, the game’s scope, soundtrack release, and more. Watch the full video below.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 3 Comments

As of now, SteamWorld Dig 2 will be a digital title on Switch. The game could eventually go the physical route as well.

In a Reddit AMA, Image & Form community manager Julius Guldbog said the team is “looking into” the possibility of SteamWorld Dig 2 seeing a retail release. Guldbog added in a separate comment:

“No word on a physical release yet. We’re in the talks with distributors, but have nothing to announce at this moment. BUT SteamWorld Collection did REALLY well for us, so physical makes a lot of sense.”

Guldbog was also asked throughout the AMA about bringing past SteamWorld entries to Switch. Image & Form would “love” to make that happen, but SteamWorld Dig 2 is the focus for the time being.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch | 2 Comments

Nintendo has made a big deal early on about how third-party development tools are very compatible with Switch. This is a big contrast to previous Nintendo hardware, as some engines and technology weren’t supported until later on. And when they were, such as with Unity on Wii U, they weren’t in the best of shape. Nintendo made sure to rectify this with Switch.

Speaking with GamesIndustry, Zoink CEO and creative director Klaus Lyngeled talked about how Unity is well supported on the new console:

“When we tried to do Zombie Vikings for Wii U – when I got Unity I could see it just wasn’t going to work, it was too slow an engine; then we got Unity for Switch and we saw directly, ‘wow it’s actually working’ and the tools are much better. So that part is very important for most indies. Most indies are using Unity and that makes a huge difference. It feels like they are pushing Unity more to make it good from the beginning.”

On a similar note, Image & Form CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson spoke about how developing for Switch is easy thanks to its straightforward nature and power.

“We’ve made games for the 3DS, the DSi, for the Wii U and they all had some issues – the 3DS and DSi were just weak. Since we were developing for them specifically it wasn’t like we were watering down our games, but all the time through development we had to think about how not to overtax the system. With the Wii U there was more power but you had the gamepad where you could use the [screen] and TV at the same time and so you had to show different things and take that into consideration. This is straightforward, period. What you see on the big screen is what you’re going to see on the handheld as well. It’s very simple and powerful, and ingenious – it’s a home console and a portable unit. Everybody’s wanted to say that in the past but here it is now. It’s powerful and really easy to develop for. There’s not very much wrong with the system.”

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch eShop, Videos | 0 comments

SteamWorld Dig 2 received its debut trailer earlier today, and now we have the first gameplay to go along with it from Polygon. Watch the video below.

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 3 Comments

IGN wrote up a new article on SteamWorld Dig 2, which was just announced for Switch today. Along with tidbits of information, some comments from Image & Form CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson are thrown in as well. Find a roundup of everything below.

– Set just after the original Dig
– Dorothy has given up on finding ex-hero Rusty and moved to the town of El Machino
– Something spurs her to head underground once more
– Much bigger than the original
– Should feel like a more traditional Metroidvania
– Uses the first game’s gently ballooning inventory of items and skills as more like puzzle pieces than simple keys to the next area
– “in Dig, the only way was down. With Dig 2 you’ll be spending more time exploring and figuring stuff out.”
– Demo is set in a Spelunky-esque temple environment
– Here you’re introduced to new heroine Dorothy’s digging, wall-jumping, boss-killing and upgrades through a twisting course of tunnels
– Dig 2 will be entirely handcrafted as opposed to procedurally-generated
– Part of the developer’s aim to make the sequel fairer to those looking to rush through the sequel’s new, wide world

“It’s one of the ways Image & Form has improved over the past four years, we now have resident level designers, and we’ve spent thousands of hours on the level design of the game. Not only does that mean that we can make the game as interesting as possible, there are other benefits as well. We don’t have to program around possibly dead-end scenarios as we did for Dig.”

“Although it was very well received, we knew there was more to SteamWorld Dig than we managed back in 2013. Ironically, it was a bit frustrating to see all those great reviews when we’d had so much more planned for it initially. So I think we knew we’d revisit the Dig era rather sooner than later.”

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Posted on 7 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 2 Comments

Following today’s announcement of SteamWorld Dig 2, Image & Form issued a blog post with a brief Q&A. On top of that, a new episode of The Engine Room went live discussing how SteamWorld Quest is actually this game. We’ve posted it all below.

For which platforms will it be released?
SteamWorld Dig 2 will debut on Nintendo Switch. Stay tuned for more platform announcements in the near future. We’re exploring the possibilities of a multiplatform release on day one. Stay tuned!

What was “SteamWorld Quest” and “SteamWorld Project 2017?”?
There’s a really fun connection between SteamWorld Quest/SteamWorld Project 2017 and SteamWorld Dig 2. Get the full story behind it in the latest Engine Room episode on YouTube.

Will the sequel be longer than the original SteamWorld Dig?
Sure thing! It’s a meaty exploration platformer with a wide variety of upgrades and worlds to discover. Expect a vivid underworld in which you’ll encounter all kinds of enemies, treasures and traps. We’ll reveal more details in the coming months!

Where’s Rusty?!
We have not forgotten about Rusty. He’s very important to the events unfolding in SteamWorld Dig 2. We don’t want to spoil anything this early, but rest assured knowing he’s present in the game.

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