Whatever Happened To… Owlboy

Around two and a half years ago, details started to emerge about a game being developed for Xbox LIVE Indie Games by D-Pad Studio. That game was a vertical scrolling platformer called Owlboy, and it looked wonderful.

Since then, things have been fairly quiet on the Owlboy front, so Achievement Locked caught up with Jo-Remi Madsen and Simon Stafsnes Andersen from D-Pad Studio to find out just where it is!

So, mainly, what people really want to know… What’s the current status with the game?

Jo: It’s currently in the finishing phase. All locations have soon been added. All of the starter areas are starting to get a real polish to them. We want to be able to release a playable demo very shortly. We’re expecting to use no less than 1-2 months on finishing the game. A release date has not been set, as we want to be absolutely sure the game is perfect before release. We hate nothing more than sloppy, unfinished and half-assed games.

Simon: Most of all, the game needs polish. There’s content being added all the time, but the point is to make something fantastic out of it all. As Jo stated, there’s little to gain from releasing the game half finished. A bad game is bad forever as they say. I’d rather spend that little extra time to make sure it’s something everyone will want to play. That said, there’s still a lot to add. We’re currently in the dungeon and boss phase. Once that’s complete (which should be soon if everything goes according to plan,) it’s on to scenarios and quests. In other words, making sure people get the proper motivation.

Interview – Mathieu Briau

Ambitious rhythm-action game, Shield the Beat, has hit the Xbox LIVE Indie Games marketplace. The game features music from, among others, Franz Ferdinand and DJ Champion. Achievement Locked caught up with Mathieu Briau to talk about his game.

How would you describe Shield the Beat to someone that knows nothing about it?

How to describe the game… Twin Sticks Rhythmic Rail Shielder? Seriously, I think half action, half rhythm game is a good start.

Interview – Evan Skarin

Following on from Intertia!‘s tremendous win at the DICE Summit, AchievementLocked.co.uk caught up with the team leader on the project, Evan Skarin, to find out what’s next.

How do you feel about Inertia’s winning of all those awards?

Euphoric is close to describing how I feel, but really, the English language cannot possibly encapsulate my feelings.  When we won the Gamers Choice Award I was pretty excited.  When I sat next to Adam Sessler and he told me we won Technical Achievement it was bullet-time mode from there on out as he proceeded to say we won Achievement in Gameplay and the Grand Prize.  Despite being in slow motion, it felt like someone pressed the fast forward button as it was hard to grab onto the moment and savor the experience.  It was a weird feeling, but it is one I will remember forever.

Interview – Fun Infused Games

This morning, Fun Infused Games released Trivia or Die onto the world. Achievement Locked chatted to Kris Steele to find out more.

I guess the first (most obvious) question is: how does one go from out of control hyperships, to game shows?

I started Trivia or Die while working my second release Abduction Action!, actually, long before I even thought up the idea for Hypership Out of Control. The game got tabled when I started to really focus on finishing Abduction Action! and stayed that way throughout the development of Hypership. It was only after I finished the reverse wave update to Hypership that I got back to Trivia or Die. I figured it wouldn’t take long to complete the game from that point and didn’t want my previous efforts to be wasted.