• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Pixeljunk 1-6 page appears (Platform: Steam)

Looks neat, glad to be P'C|S3' gamer.

I'm the same but I generally tend to attach franchises with different systems and that's exactly what I've done with PixelJunk and the PS3. I'm not going to buy this on PC.

Then again, I didn't buy Sidescroller or 4am either and only got Racer 2nd Lap because it was free (already had the initial Racer, which I bought because Monsters and Eden fooled me into thinking it was good), so I don't really care that much anyway. It just seems like over the last few years, all they've been doing is milking previous releases with sequels, spinoffs and ports.
 

V_Ben

Banned
This no PSN news kinda pisses me off.

It is pretty disappointing. Would love them to explain why they chose steam this time. I wouldn't have minded as much if they'd made it a dual release, but this is kind of odd, especially with them not even committing to a console release at all...
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
It is pretty disappointing. Would love them to explain why they chose steam this time. I wouldn't have minded as much if they'd made it a dual release, but this is kind of odd, especially with them not even committing to a console release at all...

Initially I though they had envisioned an heavily mouse-reliant control system but then FAQ says they are designing the game "to be super-awesome with a gamepad". So I really don't know what to think about this. First PJ game I won't play I guess (don't have PC).
 

V_Ben

Banned
Initially I though they had envisioned an heavily mouse-reliant control system but then FAQ says they are designing the game "to be super-awesome with a gamepad". So I really don't know what to think about this. First PJ game I won't play I guess (don't have PC).

Exactly. I hadn't read the full FAQ either, and now I'm just doubly confused at this decision. As somebody who only has a Mac, this just irritates and disappoints me. First one I'll never play over here too. Baffling.
 
Then again, I didn't buy Sidescroller or 4am either and only got Racer 2nd Lap because it was free (already had the initial Racer, which I bought because Monsters and Eden fooled me into thinking it was good), so I don't really care that much anyway. It just seems like over the last few years, all they've been doing is milking previous releases with sequels, spinoffs and ports.

4am is the most unique and experimental PixelJunk game there is. It was a total breath of fresh air after the samey Shooter, Shooter 2, Sidescroller and so on. So I urge you and everyone to buy it (yes, the Live Viewer "demo" you can't play because it is not a "demo"). But with the design of this new title, it does look a lot similar to some of the past titles, yes.
 

Ysiadmihi

Banned
Yep even i am pissed off considering its been a good year for psn games and i was looking forward to play more pixel junk games :x.

Kind of wierd seeing no psn esspecially considering Sony has been promoting them a lot this year


Ill get it on steam if they dont release on psn anyways but maybe during steam sales.

So if you have a PC and can play the game, why would you be pissed that it isn't coming to PSN?
 
4am is the most unique and experimental PixelJunk game there is. It was a total breath of fresh air after the samey Shooter, Shooter 2, Sidescroller and so on. So I urge you and everyone to buy it (yes, the Live Viewer "demo" you can't play because it is not a "demo"). But with the design of this new title, it does look a lot similar to some of the past titles, yes.

I'm sure it's great for the 5 people that own a Move.

Though even when I do buy a Move (once the Portal 2 patch is out), I still won't buy it. Just doesn't look interesting to me at all.
 
Initially I though they had envisioned an heavily mouse-reliant control system but then FAQ says they are designing the game "to be super-awesome with a gamepad". So I really don't know what to think about this. First PJ game I won't play I guess (don't have PC).

I can only think of two possibilities of why it's not coming to PSN (at least it seems that way). Either they aren't happy with the sales on PSN, or it's free-to-play and it's easier to do that on PC. Can't see why they couldn't on PSN. If anything I'd see XBLA being an issue with free-to-play, even with the recent Happy Wars which I assume had to go through hoops.
Another possibility is they're using the PC platform as a test for this "test project", but then again this is the next numbered PJ game and it sounds far from a side project.
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
Exactly. I hadn't read the full FAQ either, and now I'm just doubly confused at this decision. As somebody who only has a Mac, this just irritates and disappoints me. First one I'll never play over here too. Baffling.

In the FAQ they do hint at a possible console release if they get enough demand after the Steam version is released.

It sounds to me very strange for them to say that considering the demand for whatever PJ does is generally high anyway. I mean, it's not like they don't have a good chunk of fans on PS3 ready to "shut up and take my money!".

Maybe there is some kind of contractual obligation with Steam/Valve or something. Or maybe they want to maximize Steam sales before announcing the console version.

Heck if I know. I'm pissed regardless.
 

ChryZ

Member
Maybe they got burned with 4AM, getting it on PSN (cert, QA, read: upfront cost). Going through Steam first might be less risk? I'm sure they're only doing this to protect their business and not out of spite. This whole betrayalton talk is nonsense, I'm sure they're very grateful for their PSN fans and 1-6 will eventually come to that service.
 

Tomodachi

Member
Day one. They totally deserve it for the fact that Eden is not a lazy port. Controls are perfect etc.
They must have figured out that Steam is a more fertile platform for their games. Makes total sense. Sorry PSN, good luck with those prices though.
 
Nice...

With this many appraisals for Eden, it makes me feel kinda bad i STILL haven't tried it yet, and i have it sitting in my Steam account too :(

toomanygames.gif
 

HiVision

Member
This is Dylan here,
Just thought I'd pop my head in here - obviously if you have any questions feel to free post them on the blog where we'll be very quick to respond.

We still love PSN but for 1-6 we want to try a more open approach where we are revealing details in a blog continuously and perhaps even try a pre-release launch of a beta version to get proper feedback. These kinds of things are really only possible on Steam right now.

We have no idea whether we'll be successful or not on Steam as it is a big fat question mark for us but we are going to try once at least! (Eden was a pre-existing title so not really a good test)

All the support you guys and gals can give us to spread the word is really appreciated.
 

R1CHO

Member
Good luck, looks very promising.

Whats the deal with the PSN rant people? Are pcs a deluxe product now?
 

Withnail

Member
Just about to post that I bet it's because they want to update it a lot after release and then I saw Dylan had posted.

Makes sense I guess. Hopefully if the end product is good they can bring a version to PSN.
 

TTP

Have a fun! Enjoy!
Just about to post that I bet it's because they want to update it a lot after release and then I saw Dylan had posted.

Makes sense I guess. Hopefully if the end product is good they can bring a version to PSN.

I don't see that in Dylan's post. Or am I reading it wrong?

What I'm getting is that Steam allows them to talk about the game more often before release and perhaps do a beta. I guess he means Steams allows to do that more easily than PSN.
 
Nah. Fanboys will be fanboys.

Nothing to do with fanboys.

If someone has supported the series 1-5 on PSN the sudden shift to the possibility of no release on a platform they've been dedicated to can be frustrating especially when it comes from a company who on the whole has released five good games. I can understand that.

(Just not all of them are my cup of tea.)
 

meppi

Member
Nothing to do with fanboys.

If someone has supported the series 1-5 on PSN the sudden shift to the possibility of no release on a platform they've been dedicated to can be frustrating especially when it comes from a company who on the whole has released five good games. I can understand that.

(Just not all of them are my cup of tea.)
Understandable, but then again it's some of the usual suspects posting those things that puts the sentence "no PSN, no sale" into a different light.
 

Withnail

Member
I don't see that in Dylan's post. Or am I reading it wrong?

What I'm getting is that Steam allows them to talk about the game more often before release and perhaps do a beta. I guess he means Steams allows to do that more easily than PSN.

Well reading between the lines if they do a proper beta then it is going to involve updates and doing that through Steam is much much easier.

If they were to self-publish on PSN, which they already do in Japan, I don't see what would be stopping them talking about the game before release (obviously not including details of PSN cert process). Maybe self-publishing on PSN outside Japan would be difficult for them though.
 

yurinka

Member
Love their games. Buyed all their PSN games, and sadly PJM online tanked badly. Will support this one in Steam, and hopefully release it in PSN in the future (they mentioned that may consider future console version if the game gets enough attention).
 

Durante

Member
Well, to bring some balance to the thread, I'd rather buy this game (and any game) on PC than PSN. Despite having 3 PJ games on PSN. It's not even certain whether you'll be able to play PSN games on PS4!
 

Spy

Member
I get a Patchwork Heroes vibe.

usBmW.jpg
 

Pranay

Member
Well, to bring some balance to the thread, I'd rather buy this game (and any game) on PC than PSN. Despite having 3 PJ games on PSN. It's not even certain whether you'll be able to play PSN games on PS4!

That's something we will see when ps4 launches.
 

Durante

Member
Eden sold like x10 more on PSN then it did on Steam...



I did my part, but it seems the rest didn't -.-
I bought and completed Eden on PSN. I would probably have double-dipped, but certainly not for a version without co-op. I really don't get PC ports that remove (local) coop. How much work can it be to port if it already exists on another platform?

If there is a choice between a PSN and a PC version on day 1, and they are feature equivalent, that's a very different situation.
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
I only played the first 2 levels of Eden. It wasn't bad, but didn't clicked with me yet, and I found it overly complicated.

Don't know how the rest of them are. For unknown reasons, I always thought this series was similar to Bit.Trip (which I love), though after googling the other Pixeljunk games they have nothing in common.
 
The PixelJunk series is very weird for me. I bought and played every title except for sidescroller and somewhat enjoyed them at that time, but looking back they are not really games I would seriously recommend to other people or play them again.

The only game that became one of my favourite games on PSN is Eden, which seems to be the PJ game that is generally disliked the most. Double dipped on Steam and 100%ed it in two days as well. Absolutely fantastic game and I don't understand why people don't like it.
 

Zia

Member
Looks nice, but I hope this isn't their next game, as I'd assumed they were pretty far along on something and this seems very, very early.

Also, what's up with the Shooter hate? The first Shooter is the best PixelJunk game.
 

corn_fest

Member
Wow, so they really are switching their lead platform to PC. Looking forward to it... and I wonder if they'll bring the other games to Steam also.
 

Burekma

Member
Wow, so they really are switching their lead platform to PC.

If you read Dylans post, they're expanding, not really switching. They've correctly assessed that a 4 year old unique title isn't really the best way to judge a market, so they've decided to experiment with a new one, built from the ground up.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
I can live with that answer. I will likely support the PC version of this but hope it doesn't canalize a potential future PSN release as people like to play the new things as they are coming out and not months later.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
They must be really disappointed with PSN sales. I heard Closure bombed and Derrick the Deathfin won't make enough to pay off the developer's debts. Must be why a lot of indie devs avoid PSN.

Assuming you're correct, XBLA has been on a similar down-trend. I think there might be a sort of end-of-generational fatigue setting in, where people aren't "sampling" random games anymore. Super smash hits are still doing well (like Minecraft, Trials, etc) but the average game being released is just cratering.

So I guess the real question is how does Steam avoid it, having an even bigger library than either, and how do Sony/MS improve their fortunes as the next generation launches? (Or do they just cut PSN/XBLA loose and start from scratch?)
 

p0rk1ns

Q-Games
Sup people!

John here. I do all of the Q-Games social stuff and community shenanigans. I just wanted to jump in to clarify a few things.

As Dylan said, PixelJunk 1-6 isn't a referendum on PSN, or Sony, or anything like that. Developing 1-6 for the PC just offers us different opportunities than leading off on PSN would. I don't know if you guys follow us on Twitter (hint, hint - follow us on Twitter! @PixelJunkNews) but I've been addressing the same concerns you all are mentioning here through tweets today.

The PC, or Steam specifically, gives us flexibility to try different things during development. Like our dev blog, for example. We're essentially inviting the whole world into our weekly development meetings. It also gives us options such as early alpha or beta access, quickly updating the game, quick price changes, etc.

These are all things we could do on PSN, don't get me wrong. But with the nature of this project, it just feels like a better fit to go the PC route. We don't have a hard-line stance against the consoles, by any means. If 1-6 sells gangbusters on PC, we'll definitely have a lot of incentive to look at PSN.

We'd love to have all of the PixelJunk games on as many platforms as possible, honestly. But we're a small, independent studio, and the 1-6 team is only made up of four hardworking guys.

For all of the folks who are PixelJunk fans, we're just hoping that you cheer us on here, regardless of the platform. We want to continue making interesting games and not hop on the latest trend or start suffering from sequel/port-itis. Even if you aren't in love with all of our games, we hope you can respect that. With your help, I'm sure can help make PixelJunk 1-6 a huge hit and we can continue bringing awesome games to gamers.

Cuz it's about the games, right? ;-)
 
I can see several reasons for them doing this.

1. I get the feeling that this is a more experimental game where they´re not completely sure of the direction it will head in, and such games are always a better fit for PC.

2. It´s no suprise that a developer of this size want's to get in to the PC market considering what has been said from other similiar developers about the development freedom and close contact with your customers on PC.

3. And since a port of an old game like Pixeljunk Eden wasn´t a great success for them, an original title seems more appropiate for their second attempt for that.

I think its this, but amended to point 2: taking a break from PSN for a small while as they released PJS2, S, and then 4am in quicker succession than usual. Returning to PSN with ideas that fit consoles better as well as starting series 2 of PJ.
 
Top Bottom