First I was amazed by how beautiful it looked, then I was amazed by how fun it looked. I'm very excited for this game now!
That being said, I'm curious about what the requirements are to be an XNA indie game. Do you just have to make the game in XNA?
Because this clearly has a much larger development team than your typical XNA game, which in my mind makes it seem more fit to be an Arcade title, just based on polish alone.
I would wager a bet that no one posting here has ever blanketly written off Star Fox, Klonoa, Sonic, Tails, Banjo, Crash, Conker, Sly Cooper, Jazz Jackrabbit, Donkey Kong, any character Disney ever created before 1990, The Thundercats, Tom & Jerry, Duck Tails, Bugs Bunny, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo, Felix the Cat, Tony the Tiger, Chester Cheetah, Gromit, Hobbes, Sam & Max, etc. etc. etc, for being made by or for furries. Most likely because they are all pre-teens and have never even heard of all the things I just mentioned. When did this suddenly become such a cool way to slag a animal/human character? Do these people really have no clue about movie/tv/game/comic history? Seriously?
Oh well I guess, if that is the maturity level of such people, I guess we should just let them carry their warped sexual baggage and totally miss out on what looks like it could be one of the most impressive indie games to date. ...Even if it is one more of thousands of properties to feature animals that behave like humans.
@Cufo: Brilliantly put. It's mere trend that gets internet cool kids tossing out every bit of slang and meme they can at anything new. The few posters like you are the only thing that keeps me coming back to Kotaku, though the amount of people who actually say something worth hearing or even coherent is dwindling. There's other days that I weep for our species.
Nothing about the obvious furry-level of the creator (DeviantArt has broken me, ok, I can't help looking at this and see that, yes, the creator behind this is obviously a furry. I miss my innocent childhood)
But the game looks stunning. Also, the fight-mechanic seems to borrow heavily from Devil May Cry 3 which I do approve off.
Once we get XNA in Europe I can add this to my list of reasons to get a 360
From Dean's website:
"I'm the sole developer on this project. I'm handling the programming, writing, artwork, and sound effects/voices."
Yeah, that's pretty damn epic.
I don't get the people hating this game because it has "furries" or whatever, I've shown this to many friends who don't even know what a furry is, and they said it looked pretty damn great and were impressed with the fact that it was made by one person.
It looks fun and exotic, stop bashing it for taking some creative freedom with character design.
All the furry joy over this just makes me go "Why"? Oh wait, must be because anytime anything with anthro characters is released, the fandom automatically thinks this means that they are now accepted and the day of when it's okey to wear a tail in public is coming. Never mind that human like animals have been used in storytelling and more for countless years, somehow this..THIS game means that furries get a feather in their cap.
I'm sure Tex Avery and Walt were thinking of a fetish subculture when they created Mickey and Bugs too. Nope, telling a story with human like characters had nothing to do with it.
@Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.:
That's raging bullshit.
The game looks gorgeous, and that's all there is to it. Nobody called StarFox "Star Wars for furries". It's a goddamn fantasy world, and the creator chose to go with furry characters, so what?
Yeah, of course the furry fandom will be raving over this game for years to come, but if that's keeping you from enjoying it, you're even weirder then them.
I love it how furries are acting so condescending here stating that WE shouldn't slag the game for its' choice of main and supportive character and that "as long as it's a good game you should play it regardless" and oh yeah, that we should all "just grow up".
You know what furries, when I make it big in the gaming industry, I'll make the best damn game ever, critically acclaimed, hyped and sought after. And the main character will be an Anon and the entire game will be focused around fursecuting your kind in glorious exterminatus. I expect all of you to play and more so love it. Because, like you said "What's in a main character?"
So get out of your high horse. We get it, you got a nice game, big whoop, savor the moment in silence and stop thinking it entitles you to feeling any less socially unacceptable than you already are.
@Blue_Six : Can I really be the an hero?: I thought things were moderated here on kotaku? Why are posts like this not banned? Replace the word furry in this post with black, or gay or something similar and you've got yourself some good ol bigotry right?
@dathascome: Exactly, things are moderated, but my post was already calling out the furry bigotry and double standard that gameplay alone does not magically "override" the subject matter.
At first I thought about using the example of if it were Hitler exterminating jews, if the furries would still be asking people to "grow up" and that it's "just a visual design choice". But we all know where a discussion goes as soon as the first Hitler comparison is made. So I refrained from doing so.
I don't oppose the game, but I oppose the bigot mentality of those demanding that we blindly accept their ways because the gameplay in this case at least seems decent enough.
Reminds me of and old C64a game with a samurai bunny called Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo.. it was my faverite game back then ^_^
i will buy
@aquaviva: Ah, Usagi Yojimbo. Stan Sakai's creation. And a very cool comic too. I met him a few times. You'd be surprised how fast he can draw Usagi for someone.
I wasn't aware they made a C64 game out of Usagi though, although he did make a few appearances back during the late 80s in the TMNT cartoon.
What is this fucking madness shit talk about furies! Furies are sick human fucks who dress in animal costumes and give each other head! These are animated characters with human-like traits... something that's been used in animation since Steamboat Mickey and in illustration since the dawn of time.
Listening to the characteristics people are using to identify furies in this game, you'd think that ancient Egyptian gods where conceived by people who somehow traveled into the future and took back with them what they saw in second life.
The game's amazing people even if you want to dismiss it based on silly juvenile critiques so stop the silliness if you have nothing to say in the presence of greatness.
The game reminds me a bit of Odin Sphere, which is a good thing. Even if it doesn't play like Odin Sphere it still looks amazing. Definitely going to pick it up.
@lordkertaz: Yeah a lot of the box opening animation and combat seemed to remind me of odin sphere too. Not played Murumasa demon blade yet so hopefully it's got some good parts from that too.
Even though this game is being developed using XNA and is a contender in the Dream.Build.Play contest, it is very unlikely it will ever see the light of day on Indie Games.
Knowing Microsoft, they will work real hard to get this game on XBLA . . . and then charge us $10 or $15 for it.
Same thing happened with The Maw. Awesome game, one that I highly recommend to anyone who has an Xbox 360. However, The Max is an XNA title that started out as a submission for the Community Games channel.
With Indie Games now priced out at a $5 maximum for new titles, as much as I wish Dust would make it out on the Indie Games channel this year, I know better.
Sad thing is, Xbox 360's Indie Games channel needs a 'killer app' to draw attention to the channel and prove to everyone that awesome games can be made on the channel made using XNA tools. However, every game that is truly exceptional that comes along to the channel, is likely to get The Maw treatment, and pushed to the XBLA channel.
I guess that is good news for the developers, as it potentially means more money for them. It certainly means more money for Microsoft. However, in doing so, they are actually hurting the chances of other Indie Games developers of getting their games noticed. Most consumers are never going to take Indie Games seriously until the channel can produce a handful of bonafide hits. But every time a real hit comes along through the channel, it gets shuffled off to XBLA. Makes XBLA look better, but does nothing to raise the profile of Indie Games, or any of the developers publishing on that channel.
For once it would be nice if Microsoft would allow a few of the truly exceptional games that come along on Indie Games to remain there, and then promote those few games pro bono, as a means to promote the entire channel.
man this looks great. i know the game im about to mention looks nothing like it, but i instantly thought of astal for the sega saturn when i saw it.
i think sega would do alright releasing a psn/xbla sequel with hd sprites.
but back on topic.. this generation is really pulling me back into games because the stuff i appreciate like side scrolling, platforming and what not is seeing a return due to download services.
Quick! Quick! Everyone get on the bandwagon and write this game off because it features an animal that looks somewhat human! Oh god, we would never want to play a game like that. Forget that it looks incredible and is being developed by a single dude. No, forget that, the game features a guy...that looks kinda animalish! Why oh why would we ever play such a thing?! (Please don't think about Star Fox. Or anything like Klonoa, Banjo, Sonic, Jazz Jackrabbit, Crash, or other such games. All those were made long before words like "furry" became cool to toss around, so they don't count.)
@HannahSiskin: Naturally, people are entitled to their opinions, but I gotta say I'm surprised by the amount of people who seem to be saying they won't touch a game with a 10 ft pole just because it's got furries in it. I don't like furries (in looks or concept) and I'm not a big fan of anime style art, either. Neither of these things will stop me playing a game if it's a good one. Just double-take and move on. Or don't and give a game a chance based on the way it plays.
I mean, it's like cool and shit...dude is chatting up Bambi, then he skips through a few levels, then he pulls out his sword and ZOMGWTFBBQ!?! ZOUNDS...REALLY!?!
08/06/09
That being said, I'm curious about what the requirements are to be an XNA indie game. Do you just have to make the game in XNA?
Because this clearly has a much larger development team than your typical XNA game, which in my mind makes it seem more fit to be an Arcade title, just based on polish alone.
08/06/09
08/06/09
Oh well I guess, if that is the maturity level of such people, I guess we should just let them carry their warped sexual baggage and totally miss out on what looks like it could be one of the most impressive indie games to date. ...Even if it is one more of thousands of properties to feature animals that behave like humans.
08/06/09
08/06/09
But the game looks stunning. Also, the fight-mechanic seems to borrow heavily from Devil May Cry 3 which I do approve off.
Once we get XNA in Europe I can add this to my list of reasons to get a 360
08/06/09
"I'm the sole developer on this project. I'm handling the programming, writing, artwork, and sound effects/voices."
Yeah, that's pretty damn epic.
I don't get the people hating this game because it has "furries" or whatever, I've shown this to many friends who don't even know what a furry is, and they said it looked pretty damn great and were impressed with the fact that it was made by one person.
It looks fun and exotic, stop bashing it for taking some creative freedom with character design.
08/06/09
Also... damn this game looks pretty.
08/06/09
That fire pillar power on the end reminds me of Shadow Dancer...
08/06/09
I'm sure Tex Avery and Walt were thinking of a fetish subculture when they created Mickey and Bugs too. Nope, telling a story with human like characters had nothing to do with it.
08/06/09
That's raging bullshit.
The game looks gorgeous, and that's all there is to it. Nobody called StarFox "Star Wars for furries". It's a goddamn fantasy world, and the creator chose to go with furry characters, so what?
Yeah, of course the furry fandom will be raving over this game for years to come, but if that's keeping you from enjoying it, you're even weirder then them.
08/06/09
You know what furries, when I make it big in the gaming industry, I'll make the best damn game ever, critically acclaimed, hyped and sought after. And the main character will be an Anon and the entire game will be focused around fursecuting your kind in glorious exterminatus. I expect all of you to play and more so love it. Because, like you said "What's in a main character?"
So get out of your high horse. We get it, you got a nice game, big whoop, savor the moment in silence and stop thinking it entitles you to feeling any less socially unacceptable than you already are.
08/06/09
08/06/09
08/06/09
At first I thought about using the example of if it were Hitler exterminating jews, if the furries would still be asking people to "grow up" and that it's "just a visual design choice". But we all know where a discussion goes as soon as the first Hitler comparison is made. So I refrained from doing so.
I don't oppose the game, but I oppose the bigot mentality of those demanding that we blindly accept their ways because the gameplay in this case at least seems decent enough.
08/06/09
Reminds me of and old C64a game with a samurai bunny called Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo.. it was my faverite game back then ^_^
i will buy
08/06/09
I wasn't aware they made a C64 game out of Usagi though, although he did make a few appearances back during the late 80s in the TMNT cartoon.
08/06/09
Listening to the characteristics people are using to identify furies in this game, you'd think that ancient Egyptian gods where conceived by people who somehow traveled into the future and took back with them what they saw in second life.
The game's amazing people even if you want to dismiss it based on silly juvenile critiques so stop the silliness if you have nothing to say in the presence of greatness.
08/06/09
08/05/09
08/06/09
08/05/09
08/05/09
Knowing Microsoft, they will work real hard to get this game on XBLA . . . and then charge us $10 or $15 for it.
Same thing happened with The Maw. Awesome game, one that I highly recommend to anyone who has an Xbox 360. However, The Max is an XNA title that started out as a submission for the Community Games channel.
With Indie Games now priced out at a $5 maximum for new titles, as much as I wish Dust would make it out on the Indie Games channel this year, I know better.
Sad thing is, Xbox 360's Indie Games channel needs a 'killer app' to draw attention to the channel and prove to everyone that awesome games can be made on the channel made using XNA tools. However, every game that is truly exceptional that comes along to the channel, is likely to get The Maw treatment, and pushed to the XBLA channel.
I guess that is good news for the developers, as it potentially means more money for them. It certainly means more money for Microsoft. However, in doing so, they are actually hurting the chances of other Indie Games developers of getting their games noticed. Most consumers are never going to take Indie Games seriously until the channel can produce a handful of bonafide hits. But every time a real hit comes along through the channel, it gets shuffled off to XBLA. Makes XBLA look better, but does nothing to raise the profile of Indie Games, or any of the developers publishing on that channel.
For once it would be nice if Microsoft would allow a few of the truly exceptional games that come along on Indie Games to remain there, and then promote those few games pro bono, as a means to promote the entire channel.
08/05/09
i think sega would do alright releasing a psn/xbla sequel with hd sprites.
but back on topic.. this generation is really pulling me back into games because the stuff i appreciate like side scrolling, platforming and what not is seeing a return due to download services.
08/05/09
08/06/09
08/05/09
This is the work of the DEVIL HIMSELF.
I mean, it's like cool and shit...dude is chatting up Bambi, then he skips through a few levels, then he pulls out his sword and ZOMGWTFBBQ!?! ZOUNDS...REALLY!?!
Didn't see all of that coming.