The Game Music Podcast Interviews Composer Behind Guacamelee!

Our friend Jake Butineau (who recently launched a Patron by the way) interviewed Peter Chapman, who amongst other things, was the composer behind Guacamelee and Sound Shapes.

"Peter and Jake get excited for Guacamelee! 2 by talking about composing Guacamelee's soundtrack, retro games and the struggle of finding time to game while working as a full-time composer."

You can check out the full podcast on Youtube (and below).

Peter and Jake get excited for Guacamelee! 2 by talking about composing Guacamelee's soundtrack, retro games and the struggle of finding time to game while working as a full-time composer. Support Jake on Patreon and join our Discord!

Road to EGLX - Gaming Schedule

We're going to be doing a little lead up to EGLX, which is one of the biggest gaming events in recent memory. We'll start with the schedules, where a lot of good friends of the site will be doing talks - full schedule can be seen here.

Remember you can buy tickets to the show right here.

EGLX
EGLX
EGLX

I'll be doing a small talk as part of the microtalks on Sunday 4:00-6:00, so I'll see you there!

Way Of The Passive Fist Coming March 6th

We've been following Way of the Passive Fist's development since it was first announced in 2016, and now it looks like Household Games are ready to launch their debut side scrolling game. 

"Parry, dodge, dash and unleash counter attacks to survive on the harsh world of Zircon V in this comic book sci-fi universe filled with raiders, mutants, fanatics and mad scientists. Master new skills in this unique take on the brawler and be the ultimate Passive Fist!"

ay of the Passive Fist will be hitting PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam on March 6th.

Way of the Passive Fist is launching March 6th 2018, coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam! Wishlist on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/625680/Way_of_the_Passive_Fist/ http://www.wayofthepassivefist.com Follow Household Games: Twitter: @HHGamesInc Facebook: facebook.com/householdgames/ Instagram: @HouseholdGames Parry, dodge, dash and unleash counter attacks to survive on the harsh world of Zircon V in this comic book sci-fi universe filled with raiders, mutants, fanatics and mad scientists.

WAY OF THE PASSIVE FIST, SET TO LAUNCH MARCH 6 FOR PS4, XBOX ONE AND PC

Household Games’ Debut Title, Way of the Passive Fist, is a

Love Letter to the Great Licensed Cartoon Arcade Brawlers of the 90s

Toronto, CANADA – February 20, 2018 – Way of the Passive Fist, the debut title from Household Games, is slated to release on March 6, 2018 on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system via the PlayStation®Store, Xbox One on the Xbox Games Store as part of the ID@Xbox program (available March 7), and Windows PC/Mac/Linux via Steam for $14.99 USD (€11.99). Fans on Steam can wishlist the title now: http://store.steampowered.com/app/625680/Way_of_the_Passive_Fist/

In Way of the Passive Fist, a side-scrolling action arcade brawler, players take on the role of the mysterious Wanderer and master a rare defensive fighting style to outsmart and outlast their enemies. While utilizing parries, deflections, dashes, and dodges, the Wanderer’s foes exhaust themselves to the point that they can then be defeated and knocked out by a single finger “punch” or push.

During the development of Way of the Passive Fist - a love letter to the great licensed cartoon arcade brawlers of the 90s - the team applied a forward-thinking approach to accessibility, to shake up the traditional brawler game mechanics and give players a fresh take on the brawler genre. Players will be able to fully remap the control scheme to play one-handed, modify the game settings if they’re visually impaired or sensitive to sudden flashing lights, as well as customize gameplay difficulty settings to fit their play-style.

“We’re extremely excited to ‘unlock an indie studio achievement’ and to launch our first title, Way of the Passive Fist! It’s been such an awesome adventure and humbling experience for our small, yet ambitious, team,” says Jason Canam, Founder of Household Games. “We hope that players, especially fans of classic 90s arcade brawlers or fighting games, are quick to notice two distinctive characteristics in Way of the Passive Fist  - this isn’t your typical action arcade brawler since button mashing won’t get you far and it’s all about timing defensive moves, as well as the unique accessibility features .”

To learn more about Way of the Passive Fist, visit: www.wayofthepassivefist.com. Fans can follow the game and studio via social media: Twitter @HHGamesInc, Instagram @householdgames and Facebook www.facebook.com/householdgames.

Made Possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

About Household Games Inc.

Founded in 2016 by Jason Canam and based in Toronto, Canada, Household Games is an independent studio focused on creating high-quality and stylized original IP content for consoles and PC. The small team of DrinkBox Studios, Queasy Games & Silicon Knights alumni are combining forces, and their passions, to develop videogames that are fun and accessible for all ages and ability levels. Household Games is currently at work on their debut title, Way of the Passive Fist.

Job Alert - Social and Community Manager with Guru Arcade

Hey everyone!  New job posting up today--Guru Arcade is hiring for a Social and Community Manager.  Guru Arcade is housed within Guru Studio, and they are launching some exciting stuff on the mobile platform.  Definitely check it out!  You can see the posting on our Jobs page.

News Byte! February 13th - Alto's Odyssey, Debris Co-Op, Bleed 2

Remember to subscribe on Youtube!

Jobs!: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/jobs/ Debris: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/blog/co-op-mode-for-debris-announced Bleed 2: ...

Fossil Hunters Out Now On PC

From Kickstarter, to Ubisoft Indie Series and now to Steam - Reptoid Games' fossil digging game Fossil Hunters is out now on PC (Steam, itchio, and Crytivo).

Fossil Hunters is also planned for PS4, Xbox One, and Switch - but we'll have to wait a bit longer for that. Congrats to the team at Reptoid Games!

Guest Post - Tips on getting OMDC’s IDM Fund for a video game project

Our friend Danny Forest from Power Level Studios is back, and was kind enough to let us post his most recent Medium post on how his studio got OMDC funding. Check it out below, and make sure to follow Power Level Studios on Twitter and FaceBook.

Disclaimer: These tips are based on my own experience with OMDC. They are not endorsed by OMDC. They may or may not work for all studios. 

The idea to write this article comes from a private message we received on Reddit:

“[…]how was the OMDC process if I may ask? We are also from Toronto and thinking of applying this year with a roguelike we are making, and would love to hear about the process from someone who has been throw it if you had a moment =)”

Go To The In-Person Information Sessions

For every new round, there are always a few information sessions you can attend. Kim usually present the program and you have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have. 

Go see her after the presentation. Introduce yourself and your project. Ask relevant questions. Show you care. 

When you do talk to her, make sure you sound passionate. For the information session, try to stay on topic too, she’s always busy and there are other people who have questions as well.

Ultimately though, the jury chooses the winners of the grant, but I have a feeling she has some say in it. I could be wrong. It never hurts to make a good impression on the people managing the program!

Go To Local Events

There are plenty of good events to go to in Toronto. Kim attends them frequently. She even goes to local game launch parties. I met her for the first time at Massive Damage’s Halcyon 6 launch party. 

If you can see who attends events you want to go to, look for Kim Gibson. I won’t share any photos here for privacy reasons. 

Another great reason to go to the local events is for the other developers you meet. Having connections in the industry really helps. You never know when you’ll meet someone to partner with, cross-promote, etc. And also, the jury is composed of people in the industry. Any good impression you make during these meetups can increase your reputation.

If you don’t live in Toronto, drive to some events. Pick the ones you think will have a bigger impact. [Steve's Note - We have an events page here on the website.]

Write Freaking Good Documents

This is an obvious one, but I really mean it.

This is a competition. Other studios will write awesome documents. Be interesting. Do not be corporate. If you’re not a good writer, hire one.

When you think it’s good enough, do better. Go from good to great.

Share with people you trust to give you brutally honest feedback. If someone says it’s shit, listen to them. If they say it’s good. Improve until they tell you it’s the most amazing thing they’ve ever read.

Aim freaking high. Other studios will.

Only a few select studios get it. Everyone is great. You’re likely competing against studios who have a track record and you don’t.

Make All Your Documents Pretty

To me, this is another obvious one, but I don’t know how pretty other studios make their documents. Our documents look awesome.

Put game art, concept art, design special layouts. Make EVERY page appealing visually. Graphs are nice. Good tables may look appealing too when done right.

If you don’t have an artist helping you with that, you’re screwed. Just being honest here. I found great artists on Upwork.com before I had my team, just to make a good visual representation of the game. 

Make sure though that it still looks good when printing. Some members of the jury may print the documents. 

Be Impressive

Definitely easier said than done. 

When we originally applied for concept definition, we didn’t have a team outside of the two co-founders and had never released a game yet. 

We did however have a good track record of working in the industry for other studios and working on projects that were successful. 

Here’s what I did to look impressive:

Advisor Network

I sought out a network of advisors for Power Level Studios. People both in and out of the industry. People in games, other businesses, finance, etc. I looked for people with good credentials that I could trust to tell me the truth.

If you don’t know anyone, again go to local events and connect with people. CEOs and other important people do go to them.

Awesome Team Resumes

Make it shine, both visually and professionally. Don’t just print your LinkedIn profile, unless it’s really awesome. For your artists, they need to have someone visually stunning.

Track Record of Founders

Ultimately, investors invest in people. Be awesome. Show you can do great shit. If you haven’t released anything yet, show prototypes of awesome stuff you can do. Show you work great as a team. 

Get Featured Somewhere

For our second application, we were lucky enough to have gone through Square Enix Collective and received a very good rating. Do your best to get your project featured somewhere that matters. This mostly applies for Production.

Have A Team In Place, Or Prove You Can Form One

The first time I applied, the team was me, my co-founder and an unnamed artist. 

That was one of the negative point of our application. This hurt our credibility a lot. The point of our application for Concept Definition was to come up with a game prototype and define our art style. Yet we didn’t have an artist.

We didn’t hide that though. We did explain how we’d fix that weakness.

If you do have the team in place already, that’s a major plus.

Have A Good Project

As in, not a clone of another game with a different theme. 

They want you to show some innovation, but also that you can sell the game and make money. Another Candy Crush clone doesn’t qualify. 

Combine ideas from different genres. Combine ideas from awesome games. Design something unique.

If you’re a small studio, be realistic. Present a project that’s not too ambitious and not to easy.

Present your idea to potential gamers. When applying to IDMF, only present ideas that generate VERY positive reactions from the gamers you talked to.

Never Lie / Be Realistic

When I asked for feedback on my first application, a very positive point from the jury was that they saw how honest and realistic I was about everything. 

I didn’t hide any weaknesses. I showed them how I’d overcome them. With precision. Always. 

My numbers were backed by data I’ve analyzed. When I had to estimate things, I explained my reasoning. 

Never put numbers you can’t “prove”. 

Meet All Deadlines

If you were realistic to start with, that could be a non-issue. If you send your application before the program deadline, that won’t go unnoticed. 

If you do get the grant, respect your milestones. If you can’t meet your milestones, don’t lie about it.

Limit Deferrals As Much As Possible

You are allowed to defer payment for work done on your project. For a small studio with limited funds, it’s hard to avoid that. But make sure you limit it to the bare minimum. 

Invest your own money. Ask friends and family to invest as well. This shows how serious you are about the project.

If 50% of the budget comes from OMDC, provide 30% yourself. The more the better.

Apply For Concept Definition Instead Of Production

If you have no credentials yet, apply for Concept Definition. If you have an ongoing project currently, apply for a new project. You can’t have started the project beforehand, so it has to be a new one. 

Concept Definition is less competitive, and less risky for everyone. Plus, you receive money to build prototypes, how awesome is that! You get paid to make a better design of your game.

Once you receive the grant for Concept Definition and deliver successfully, it’s much easier for them to give you more money when you’re ready for Production.

Business And Marketing Plan Is The Most Important Document For Production

In one of the information session, Kim said that was the most important document. 

I took that seriously. I spent a shit-ton amount of time polishing that one. Again, make the text and the visuals awesome.

For Projections, Do Worst Case, Normal Case and Best Case Scenarios

This shows you’ve done research and are as realistic as you can be. No one can fully predict what’s going to happen. Prove that even if you reach the worst case scenario, you still benefit from the project.

Research your competitors, pretend you’re going to perform worse than your worse competitor. Put your numbers in the worst case scenario.

For normal case, pretend you’re going to do exactly like your worse competitor.

For best case, pretend you’re going to be doing a little better than your worse competitor. 

Play This Game: Borbudo On Google Play Store

Local and indie developer Rob Lehrbass emailed me this week to let me know about his indie game on the Google Play Store Borbudo - which you can pick up for free right here. Sadly I am without a Google device right now, but you can check out the description and screenshots below!

Borbudo is more than a simple shoot-em-up game; it's a collection of worlds to explore, each with diverse characters, challenges, quests, puzzles, missions, and more! Battle your way through abandoned space stations, jungle battlefields, arctic dungeons and puzzling labyrinths.

Your journey through the worlds of Borbudo will never be the same, but it will always be epic!

You can download the game on your Android devices here, and check out Rob's Patreon if you want to help support him and Borbudo.

Limited Run Games Releases Home On PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita [Updated]

Limited Run Games will be releasing Benjamin Rivers' horror adventure game Home physically on PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.

Home was released digitally on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita in 2014, and later ported on iOS and Steam.  You can buy the physical version on Vita here, and PlayStation 4 here.

"Awakened by an oncoming storm, you open your eyes to discover yourself in a strange, dark room—tucked away in a house that’s not yours.

As you play the game, it changes—subtly, almost imperceptibly—to reflect your perspective. It's a horror game unlike any other, and as you'll discover, its truths are entirely subjective."

Update: Originally the title was that the game came out on Xbox One - which should of read PlayStation Vita. 

Far Cry 5: Gun For Hire Trailer

Ubisoft have released a new trailer for Far Cry 5 which introduces the Gun for Hire characters in the game. You can check out the trailer below - and make sure to pick up Far Cry 5 on PS4, Xbox One, or PC March 27th.

See who joins the fight! Build the resistance and team up with Guns & Fangs for hire to take back Hope County. Far Cry 5 will be released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Learn more at farcry.com. Available March 27, 2018.

Bleed 2 Out Now On PlayStation 4, and Xbox One

Bootdisk Revolution have released their action platformer Bleed 2 on PlayStation 4, and Xbox One - previously the game was released on Steam.  The ports were handled by Digerati Distribution and Nephilim Game Studios.

You can pick up Bleed 2 on Xbox One here, and PlayStation 4 here. Make sure to check out the trailer below!

PS4 NA/EU: 6/7 February 2018 Xbox One: 9 February 2018 A furiously fun and fast-paced arcade action game, Bleed 2 welcomes back pink-haired heroine Wryn, the world's greatest - and only remaining - hero, as she fights to defend the globe from an invading force of villains.

Throwback Thursday - Fossil Hunters, EGLX, Far Cry 5

Another Throwback Thursday! Remember to subscribe :)

Fossil Hunters: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/blog/fossil-hunters-pc-release-date-announced For Honor: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/blog/for-honor-season-5-coming-february-15th EGLX: ...

Give-Away: $20 PSN/XboxLive/eShop/or Steam Gift Card

Make sure to follow us on Twitter, and RT this tweet to be entered in a give-away for a $20 PSN/Steam/eShop/or Xbox Live card.

Co-Op Mode For Debris Announced

Moonray Studios have announced a co-op mode will be coming to their underwater game - which you can pick up on Steam right now.

"You and a friend are trapped together, yet still somehow alone. An unconventional narrative co-op game set in a surreal frozen seascape. Developed over 3 years, this first-person co-op story takes place in a surreal sunken world locked between ice and rock. Following an accident, players must scramble to find power, defeat strange creatures and decipher what mysterious forces are attempting to prevent their escape. Debris is designed based on the challenges facing those affected by psychosis and created with the help of medical professionals, Debris explores the interplay between perception and reality in an unconventional narrative-driven co-op format."

Far Cry 5 Season Pass Announced

Ubisoft has gone ahead and announced the Season Pass for Far Cry 5 and...it seems pretty awesome. Included in the season pass will be a port of last generations excellent Far Cry 3 - which will come out in Summer 2018 and will be our 4 weeks earlier for season pass holders.

Re-experience the thrill of the Far Cry 3 single player campaign with Far Cry 3 Classic Edition, available for free in the Far Cry 5 Season Pass on PS4 and Xbox One. Far Cry 3 available on PC. Learn more at farcry.com. Available summer 2018.

Take your Far Cry® 5 experience beyond Hope County with the Far Cry® 5 Season Pass. Go on a ride through three uncanny adventures: face off against hordes of zombies, escape from behind Vietcong enemy lines, and save Earth from a Martian arachnid invasion.

seasonpass.jpg

Far Cry 5 will be out for Xbox One, PC, and PlayStation 4 on March 27th.