PixelJunk Eden: Trophies Galore!, Demo Tomorrow, worldwide release

[Corris Veteran]

PixelJunk Eden: Trophies Galore!

Hello, this is Dylan from Q-Games (the Cuthbert one, not the Warhawk Jobe one - when did all these Dylans suddenly start turning up eh?).

We've just wrapped up PixelJunk Eden, and it has been an incredibly interesting project from start to finish. We started off by getting an intern programmer from France to try and implement Baiyon's out-of-this-world foliage designs, and he did a good job with the help of one of our tech guys, and managed to replicate the look. So after he went back to France, we assigned a proper team and went gung-ho into development. That was around December last year. Back then all it had were plants. There was no player character or any real idea for what the game would become, but over the new year I had some sparks of inspiration and that's when things really started getting moving, leading to the demo video we played at GDC '08.

Anyway, this all leads into trophies somehow. Ah yes, because our development cycle is so short, we find ourselves being able to implement all the latest OS-supported features before anyone else can. For PixelJunk Monsters it was Dual-Shock 3 support, but this time there have been a couple of really cool new features and we have put both in. These are the Trophy support and the YouTube video upload support. Both of which are really cool.

Initially we implemented all our own trophy screens etc., but then Sony Computer Entertainment built it all into the OS, which really helped us out. The trophy comparing and your "gamer card" screen really up the ante for those hard core gamers out there. In fact, it might make some of the non-gamer types even turn hard-core as chasing trophies can be rather addicting.

PixelJunk Eden is a short-form PSN title so there are fewer trophies when compared to, say, a Blu-ray title (which can have the esteemed platinum trophy), but we still managed to pack in quite a few. To begin with, you can get a bronze trophy for opening every "seed" in a stage. This is quite a challenge on some of the stages as the gardens are large and expansive. Then there are trophies for a load of other things, such as destroying 500 of the "prowlers," or collecting 15 "crystals" in one jump. My personal favorite is a trophy that you can only achieve in 3P mode, where you have to "volley" a player between you back and forth five times without him/her landing on a plant, a bit like tennis.

The YouTube upload feature is going to revolutionize how people share tips. Up until now it has been limited to people with video capture equipment, but from now on, anyone can record their game and upload it directly to YouTube from within the game! It is as simple as pushing one button to start and one button to stop and upload, and there is no affect on the gameplay thanks to the power of the PS3 and its abundance of SPU processors.

Oh, and we have been totally inundated with requests for trophies in PixelJunk Monsters via some kind of patch. As this goes to press, I can say we are definitely looking into it - you just need to badger Deborah Mars and her team in Santa Monica to get some dates set. If we release a patch, we will not only implement this but we will also implement XMB music and a couple of other things.

One final note about Eden, I really can't emphasize enough how much pure fun this game is, and I'm saying this as a gamer, not as the developer of the game! My mail box has been overflowing with direct mails full of the same kind of comments from online review sites who have preview copies and I have never had that before, so we must be onto something (fingers crossed)!

Playstation Blog

PixelJunk Eden demo available tomorrow

We just got off the phone with Sony, trying to see if we could get more info on Fat Princess, and were told that the demo for PixelJunk Eden will be available tomorrow with the regular PSN update. We're looking forward to people finally being able to test the game out for themselves, instead of us trying to explain its simple and addictive gameplay. If you can, grab a friend and play co-op, since the title is even more enjoyable with a companion. The full game will be available next Thursday, July 31. The price for the full game has not been confirmed.

Joystiq

Wow.. what a huge response to my blog entry today!

To answer a few of the queries, the July 31st release date is worldwide (touch wood), I think this even means Australia.

This is NOT the last game in the series, by a long shot. However, we are going to be secret - we actually work on a lot of ideas and already have a ?lost work? (ie. a title we cancelled halfway through development because it just wasn?t working the way we wanted it to)

I also heard there will be another blog enry tomorrow with some more info from the team at Santa Monica.

Oh and there will be a demo for the EU store too for a change! (a first for a PixelJunk game)

I think that will go up simultaneously with the full game next week.

I really can?t see anyone not buying it after playing the demo

(but I am bound to say that, right?)

Thanks for the TON of fan-mail we have been getting by the way - I try to answer most of them directly but if some got missed I apologize.

Playstation Blog

I like the sound of the extra bits, Youtube uploading and such like.

And if Pixeljunk Monsters did get an update for Trophies and Music, that would be a:Dsome. :D

Better get to Europe at the same time, they can definitely have my money for the:Ditle. :D

Edited July 24, 2008 by Corris

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Awesome! :D

[.KICK]

Yes, the demo is out today, not sure if it is up yet already!

[popisdead uk]

This game (demo) is fantastic!!! It's a definite purchase for me.

[Dc'1]

I can't find it lol. Is it in the European store? I can find the trailer, but not the game.

[popisdead uk]

US store mate.

[morficus]

I just dl'ed the demo... and I have to say that it's prolly the LONGEST demo I've played in a while.

2 gardens.... and each has 5 stages with increasing difficulty.

great music, nice eye-pleasing color combination and soft graphics. I really like how audio plays a pretty important role in this game.

I honestly can't wait for the full version :D

oh yeah... the demo does not support in-game music :-(

[Guest]

oh yeah... the demo does not support in-game music :-(

Wait... So a game has to be designed with in-game music in mind?

[popisdead uk]

Wait... So a game has to be designed with in-game music in mind?

Yes due to a patent MS have on 'in game music'. Nice of them isn't it.

It's no biggie though, most games will feature it now anyway, same as trophies.

[Guest]

Yes due to a patent MS have on 'in game music'. Nice of them isn't it.

It's no biggie though, most games will feature it now anyway, same as trophies.

How does Sony's implementation bypass microsofts patent.

Its up to each developer to write code for this feature rather than being to launch from console?

[popisdead uk]

Do a search in google. It's all there for you to read. Something to do with ingame music and a patent that MS have that stopped Sony from doing it the same way, left them with no choice but to patch games to allow access.

I have no idea how, who, or where, and nor do I care if I'm being honest. I'm just posting what has already been posted a dozen times here, and god knows how many times outside of this site.