News involving the video games developed in Canada, and the people who make them. Indie Games, AAA Games, and in between featured and reported on.
Toronto-based indie studio Vertex Pop (@vertexpop) has partnered with Super Rare Games (@SuperRareGames) to release a limited 4,000 copy physical release of their 2017 shoot 'em up Graceful Explosion Machine.
Read MoreStill on the fence about Vertex Pop’s shoot em up? Well now there is a demo available on Switch you can try out. The game is also on sale for 30% making the decision even easier if you should pick it up (you should). You can head to the e-shop right now to download the demo and pick up the game.
And as a friendly reminder, Vertex Pop is still working away at Super Crush KO, which we should see on Switch and PC next year.
Skillfully pilot the advanced Graceful Explosion Machine (GEM) fighter while blasting swarms of crystalline enemies with your ludicrously overpowered quad-weapon array! Lost in deep space, you'll shoot, dash and combo your way through jewel-hued alien worlds, fighting to find a way home. Learn More About Graceful Explosion Machine!
After launching on Steam last year, St Catharines based Rocketship Park will be porting their puzzle story-driven adventure game LOVE to Nintendo Switch “soon”.
Published by Noodlecake, and developed by FaceIT, the previous Mobile/Steam game Summer Catchers will be hitting the Nintendo Switch tomorrow (February 11th)
Reptoid Games (@reptoidgames), the developer behind 2018’s Fossil Hunters, announced their next game Fire Tonight, a narrative puzzle game “about two people trying to find their way back together in a city on fire”.
Graceful Explosion Machine launched one year ago on Nintendo Switch, and developer Vertex Pop is celebrating the anniversary with a sale. Mobeen Fikree discussed the early days of GEM:
"I began prototyping Graceful Explosion Machine in mid-2015. The initial spark was creating a shoot-em-up with multiple weapons that the player could switch between effortlessly. It started with two weapons, but pretty soon I thought “Wait, why stop at two?!” With four face buttons on a controller, wouldn’t four weapons work? It did, and everything else grew from there."
The game is currently on a 50% sale on the eshop, but if you're Switch-less the game is out on PC, PS4. In the same post, Mobeen Firkee mentioned the game sold just under 50000 copies on the Switch. We also know what's next up from the developer:
"Speaking of which! We are definitely working on a new game, and we’re excited to share it with you… but not just yet. For now, let’s state the obvious: it’s an action game, it’s colourful, and it’s coming to Nintendo Switch in 2019"
Tribes of Midgard Season 3 drops later this month which comes with a slew of free updates, including a new Saga Boss, a revamped survival mode, new weapons, enemies, armors, and more.
Nintendo is celebrating the new year with a sale, and a couple of Toronto games are involved.
It's the #NindiesNewYearSale and Severed is 33% off on Switch this week! Check out all nine indie Switch games on sale: https://t.co/JwcFiFZk6Z pic.twitter.com/5kjvx0xImu
— DrinkBox Studios (@DrinkBoxStudios) January 8, 2018
You can also check out an AMA where all the developers involved answered questions from the fans - including Vertex Pop saying they were thinking of a sequel or DLC on GEM, but are instead moving onto something new.
Happy New Year!
— Asteroid Base (@AsteroidBase) January 8, 2018
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is now 33% OFF ($9.99) on #NintendoSwitch along with a bunch of other cool games in the #NindiesNewYearSale
Check it out: https://t.co/5MPiKyawes pic.twitter.com/JezVMnFpvP
Montréal-based game dev Johan Vinet has partnered with Limited Run Games to release physical copies of his upcoming 2D cinematic platformer LUNARK for PlayStation 4, 5 and Nintendo Switch- set to release later this week.
Vancouver-based Daniel Mullin Games is working with Special Reserve Games to release a physical edition of his 2021 roguelite deck-builder Inscryption for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.
Toronto-based indie powerhouse Vagabond Dog is releasing a physical copy of their cult classic 2014 RPG maker title Always Sometimes Monsters in partnership with Limited Run Games.
Cuphead is celebrating its initial launch on PC and Xbox One 5 years ago today, September 29, with the announcement of a physical copy of the game coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch.
Tribes of Midgard Season 3 drops later this month which comes with a slew of free updates, including a new Saga Boss, a revamped survival mode, new weapons, enemies, armors, and more.
Sea of Stars, the Sabotage Studio follow-up to The Messenger has been delayed into 2023. Originally announced in 2020 with an extremely successful Kickstarter for a 2022 release date, the team has pushed it to next year citing two main priorities: quality of life for their team, and the quality of the finished product.
Toronto developer Mighty Yell (make sure to check out their amazing website) has released the Grift of the Year edition for their 2021 adventure game. This new update includes new puzzles, dialogue, collectibles. and quests - all free as well so previous owners of The Big Con don’t miss out.
It’s been less than three years since Next Level Games released Luigi’s Mansion 3 but they are at it again, with a sequel to one its earlier games, Mario Strikers: Battle League. The game is expected to hit Nintendo Switch later this year on June 10th.
Sabotage Studios announced late last year that their Chrono Trigger inspired RPG will be coming to Nintendo Switch when it launches later this year. The game smashed its Kickstarter goal from a few years ago and has even brought on Chrono Trigger/Cross composer Yasunori Mitsuda to work on the games soundtrack.
One of our favourites on iPhone, and Nintendo Switch is now heading to PC via the Epic Game Store. Grindstone, the Capybara Games hit also recently received a new Daily Grind mode and Fortune Grind on both Nintendo Switch and Apple Arcade, the Epic Game Store version is out tomorrow.
Graceful Explosion Machine: https://t.co/nDFPGA678R Shwip Turbo Thumb: https://t.co/sVSX43jZEb Far Cry 5: https://t.co/l0i1JD5k1p The Game Awards: http://thegameawards.com/ Follow Jake at: https://www.youtube.com/c/jakebutineau https://twitter.com/jakebutineau http://www.torontogamedevs.com/
We speak to Québécois game dev Dragon Slumber, creator of Tech Support, Aethernaut and other games.
We reveal the winners of our ‘23 Community Awards poll and discuss Drinkbox’s latest teaser for their next project- and more!
This week thousands more game developers join Stephan in the "terminated by evil, stupid people" camp as layoffs hit tons of studios all over Canada and the world. We discuss Sonic as well. Sonic supports Unionizing your Workplace!
Stephan got terminated but that’s okay he just has more time to cover Canadian games now.
After a (ginormous) hiatus, Steve and Stephan are BACK to discuss some Canadian Games Industry news from the past few months but just catch up and talk about games and big game thoughts, man… and launch our end of 2023 Community Awards Polls! Nominate now!!
KEIGH THREEEEEE! New Compulsion Games’ game, Thunder Lotus goes multiplayer, age-old game development questions pondered and Zelda hierarchy debated.
In Stephan's last recorded and produced episode in Halifax, NS, we dive into a bunch of Canadian games from Fire Station to Super Animal Royale to Project Dark. We also talk new Canadian Nindies announcements and more news!
Big few weeks of releases for Canadian indie studios Behaviour Interactive, Cococucumber Co, Mighty Yell, Red Hook and Red Meat Games! (Red!) We also talk early access, the ideal platform release schedule for your indie game (including the Limited Run Games release) and giving everyone some freakin' menstruation days.
Nintendo recently updated the Switch to allow video capturing, and slowly games have been patched to allow it. We can now add Vertex Pop's Graceful Explosion Machine to the list - the game has been patched to add functionality.
"We have a small (but pretty cool!) update out for Graceful Explosion Machine today which adds Video Capture support for Nintendo Switch. Now when you pull of a particularly gracefulrun, you can just hold down the capture button and share.
We’re excited to check out all the cool videos you post, so please make sure to share them with us on Twitter!"
Vertex Pop was kind enough to give me a code for Graceful Explosion Machine on Switch so I wanted to do a quick video on my thoughts - in short - I'm really digging it! There will be an actual review on www.torontogamedevs.com - so look forward to that!
The new studio founded by ex-BioWare devs Humanoid Origin is looking to fill multiple roles.
After gracing the Nintendo Switch in April as a launch window game, Vertex Pop's Graceful Explosion Machine will be making its way to PlayStation 4, and Steam next month.
“Graceful Explosion Machine (GEM, for short) goes light on story and all-in on intense action gameplay. Sure, you’ll face an overwhelming swarm of enemies, but to help you out you have access to four unique and devastatingly powerful weapons at all times.
Each weapon is mapped to a face button, so switching between them is instant and effortless. Before you know it, you’ll be chaining weapons attacks together, building stylish combos, and racking up huge scores.”
Graceful Explosion Machine is coming to Steam and PlayStation 4 on August 8th, 2017. http://vertexpop.com/gem
There was a few more tibits information in the announcement. The game will be coming to Japan thanks to Kakehashi Games, and there will be an update that speeds up the loading times, and introduces some changes to the scoring system, and sharing:
“We started by redesigning the score screen to give a clearer breakdown of your score, weapon usage, and additional stats that better reflect your play style. It’s both fun and functional.
We also wanted to make it easier to capture and share those clutch GEM moments. Once you’re in the zone, we know it’s hard to stop the game even for a few seconds to grab a screenshot, so we had to come up with a really creative solution.
Or, more accurately, a really technical one: We designed an AI system to pinpoint the most exciting moment of your run, which we then automagically screenshot and display on the score screen. You can fullscreen it, add it to your Album, share it, etc.”
That patch is out now on Switch, and will be available on PlayStation 4 and Steam when the game launches August 8th.
Toronto-based indie studio Vertex Pop (@vertexpop) has partnered with Super Rare Games (@SuperRareGames) to release a limited 4,000 copy physical release of their 2017 shoot 'em up Graceful Explosion Machine.
We were big fans of Vertex Pop's Graceful Explosion Machine when it launched on Nintendo Switch back in April. We talked about it on the podcast, and did a few Youtube videos playing it.
One of the biggest criticisms with the game was you couldn't uploaded scores if you weren't online, even at a later date. With the Switch being a very portable system, it was kind of a bummer.
Vertex Pop has changed that with Graceful Explosion Machine v1.0.2 which adds the ability to add a high score later, as well as reducing the screenshaking.
"We’ve heard from people playing GEM on trains, buses, at work, etc. who get really great high scores, but can’t upload them because they aren’t online. This breaks our collective developer hearts, so for v1.0.2 we’ve added Upload Score Later.
From the Score Screen, choose “Later” instead of “Submit Score” to save your score for uploading later. Then, when you’re back online, go to the main menu and select “Upload Scores” (by pressing X) to upload all the pending scores. (And don’t worry, if it fails to upload you can retry later!)
We also added the option to reduce or disable the Screenshake effect. If you have motion sickness related concerns, this should really help. It may not be perfect (our options are limited given what a fast-paced game GEM is), but it’s definitely an improvement!"
They also mentioned they snuck in some "smaller" fixes as well. You can check out Graceful Explosion Machine on Switch.
Kitchener-based indie studio Fluxscopic have released their 2021 puzzle-loaded action adventure game Mayhem in Single Valley on consoles.
Toronto-based indie powerhouse Vagabond Dog is releasing a physical copy of their cult classic 2014 RPG maker title Always Sometimes Monsters in partnership with Limited Run Games.
Cuphead is celebrating its initial launch on PC and Xbox One 5 years ago today, September 29, with the announcement of a physical copy of the game coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch.
Vancouver-based Next Level Games are releasing a 2nd free content update for their wacky sports game released earlier this year, published by Nintendo.
Vancouver-based live service game devs Phoenix Labs (@PhoenixLabs), best known for Dauntless, have announced their new project Fae Farm (@fae_farm) in today’s Nintendo Direct- which will launch exclusively on Switch in Spring 2023.
Halifax-based indie dev @dicey announced in today’s Nintendo Direct that TUNIC (@tunicgame), his action adventure about a tiny fox in a big world, is coming to Nintendo Switch at the end of this month.
There’s a new physical edition (including a collector’s edition version) for Toronto-based Adam Robinson-Yu (@adamgryu)’s delightful 2019 park-platformer A Short Hike.
It’s been less than three years since Next Level Games released Luigi’s Mansion 3 but they are at it again, with a sequel to one its earlier games, Mario Strikers: Battle League. The game is expected to hit Nintendo Switch later this year on June 10th.
Partially developed in the new Respawn Vancouver office, Apex Legends sees its release on Nintendo Switch - which will feature a Legendary Pathfinder skin, 30 free levels for the Season 8 Battle Pass, and double XP for logins in the first two weeks - however there is no cross-save with Apex Legends.
Well, we were late on this one! With Snowman announcing Skate City coming to Consoles soon it seems like their other Apple Arcade game Where Cards Falls is also coming to PC, and Switch in “early 2021”.
We give a (very quick) review of Graceful Explosion Machine as well as our thoughts on the Nintendo Switch roughly 7 weeks in since launch. Remember to subscribe!
We're back playing Graceful Explosion Machine from Vertex Pop. We give a very quick general review, while also talking our thoughts on the Nintendo Switch so far. Website: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/torontogamedevs Patreon: patreon.com/torontogamedevs Store: designbyhumans.com/shop/TorontoGameDevs
Chris and I are back! Make sure to subscribe on YouTube!
Remember to subscribe and leave a comment! Graceful Explosion Machine is out on Nintendo Switch, and we sit down to play through the first few levels! Remember to subscribe! Website: http://www.torontogamedevs.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/torontogamedevs Patreon: patreon.com/torontogamedevs Store: designbyhumans.com/shop/TorontoGameDevs
Kitchener-based indie studio Fluxscopic have released their 2021 puzzle-loaded action adventure game Mayhem in Single Valley on consoles.
Toronto-based indie powerhouse Vagabond Dog is releasing a physical copy of their cult classic 2014 RPG maker title Always Sometimes Monsters in partnership with Limited Run Games.
Cuphead is celebrating its initial launch on PC and Xbox One 5 years ago today, September 29, with the announcement of a physical copy of the game coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch.
Vancouver-based Next Level Games are releasing a 2nd free content update for their wacky sports game released earlier this year, published by Nintendo.
Vancouver-based live service game devs Phoenix Labs (@PhoenixLabs), best known for Dauntless, have announced their new project Fae Farm (@fae_farm) in today’s Nintendo Direct- which will launch exclusively on Switch in Spring 2023.
Halifax-based indie dev @dicey announced in today’s Nintendo Direct that TUNIC (@tunicgame), his action adventure about a tiny fox in a big world, is coming to Nintendo Switch at the end of this month.
There’s a new physical edition (including a collector’s edition version) for Toronto-based Adam Robinson-Yu (@adamgryu)’s delightful 2019 park-platformer A Short Hike.
It’s been less than three years since Next Level Games released Luigi’s Mansion 3 but they are at it again, with a sequel to one its earlier games, Mario Strikers: Battle League. The game is expected to hit Nintendo Switch later this year on June 10th.
Partially developed in the new Respawn Vancouver office, Apex Legends sees its release on Nintendo Switch - which will feature a Legendary Pathfinder skin, 30 free levels for the Season 8 Battle Pass, and double XP for logins in the first two weeks - however there is no cross-save with Apex Legends.
Well, we were late on this one! With Snowman announcing Skate City coming to Consoles soon it seems like their other Apple Arcade game Where Cards Falls is also coming to PC, and Switch in “early 2021”.
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