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"Hardest Platformer Ever," Indie Game Cloudberry Kingdom Coming to Wii U and Steam

B

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
am1nV.jpg


Hardcore platformer, Cloudberry Kingdom, has been announced for a release on Steam in September and Nintendo’s new console, the Wii U, in December.

We remember watching the trailer for Cloudberry Kingdom a few months back and being excited beyond words. Being masochist gamers means that you’re always on the lookout for a new mistress and this one was bringing screen-filling to a new level. Somehow though, as much attention as we were giving the game, we missed the start of its Kickstarter campaign a couple of weeks back. Pwnee Studios are looking for a total of $20,000 to bring the game that they have been working on for the last three years up to a better polish by hiring a full time artist and animator.

Of course, if you do put your money towards this cause then you can secure yourself a copy of the game on Steam for $15, as well as early beta access. Upwards from there and you can snatch the soundtrack, get lots of swag and attend the game’s launch party (which, if its anything like the game, will be absolutely nuts). We found the news about the game’s Kickstarter over on the developers official blog where it quite clearly states that the game will be released in “September for Steam and December for Wii U”.

We’re very excited about this and can’t wait, quite frankly. That’s also another indie game being released on Nintendo’s new console too – that thing isn’t looking so bad you know. Anyway, enough gibberish, let’s revisit that very memorable trailer. [NOTE: Link below]

More information on Cloudberry Kingdom can be found on the developer’s official website.
Click to expand...

http://www.indiegamemag.com/hitting...udberry-kingdom-is-coming-to-steam-and-wii-u/

Kickstarter link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1564776348/the-hardest-platformer-ever
Trailer: http://youtu.be/NOTBy0lKSbo
 
C

CornBurrito

Member
I hope it is hard because it requires good reflexes, and not hard like IWBTG where there the game becomes a ton easier once you figure out where the traps are set.
 
M

mclem

Member
Obsessed said:
I hope it is hard because it requires good reflexes, and not hard like IWBTG where there the game becomes a ton easier once you figure out where the traps are set.
Click to expand...

I've a theory about how this game was designed to generate levels which I discussed in the general kickstarter thread when this was brought up. In short: if I'm right I expect it to require reflexes, but not necessarily in the way you're imagining. Also if I'm right, I don't actually expect it to be anything like as difficult as it *looks*.


I'd already pledged, but I might shift my pledge around a bit if the Wii U version becomes an option for pledgers.
 
P

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
So they spent three years on the game, went over-budget, and now want those lovely Kickstarter monies to bail them out.

Rewarding incompetent project management shouldn't be the baseline of what community funding is all about.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I thought this look neat when they unveiled it years ago.

I would not under any circumstance consider donating unless they could PROVE the game is getting a Steam/Wii U release. The wording on the KS is just vague enough that it seems aspirational.
 
E

Exterminieren

Banned
There are different difficulty levels, guys. I could see unpleasant being fun.

Will pledge when they offer a WiiU port for pledging. Nice to see WiiU is getting these sorts of titles right off the bat.
 
W

wsippel

Banned
Obsessed said:
I hope it is hard because it requires good reflexes, and not hard like IWBTG where there the game becomes a ton easier once you figure out where the traps are set.
Click to expand...
Looks like all the environmental hazards are visible and patterns are predictable - basically a "bullet hell platformer", more timing than reflex based. They also have some sort of AI running in the background to make sure the levels are actually winnable.
 
B

border

Member
Hardest Mario Level

It's not difficult to make a platform game hard. It's difficult to make a hard platformer any fun.

This game just looks impossible for the sake of being impossible, not because it's challenging or entertaining.
 
M

mclem

Member
border said:
This game just looks impossible for the sake of being impossible, not because it's challenging or entertaining.
Click to expand...

Then don't play it on the hardest difficulty? Those levels work as a proof-of-concept that they can automatically generate a nuts-but-winnable level, but they're not the entire scope of the project.

I do think this is a question of poor branding. Pitching it as an automatic platformer generator might have worked better. Use the term 'roguelike', everyone loves that! Even if it doesn't quite fit. And Spelunky has already cornered the market for platformer roguelikes. They seem to have noticed that it's an issue; the latest update is an emphatic "We can make easy levels too!". Although that update focusses solely on the easiest, whereas showing off the middle ground you can see in the video would have been smart.
 
M

Mrbob

Member
Stumpokapow said:
I thought this look neat when they unveiled it years ago.

I would not under any circumstance consider donating unless they could PROVE the game is getting a Steam/Wii U release. The wording on the KS is just vague enough that it seems aspirational.
Click to expand...

This has been my concern for a couple of the last kickstarters. Almost need a 'Valve approved' or 'Steam approved' logo for them. Promising Steam versions when I don't see any proof of a potential Steam release.
 
G

galvatron

Member
border said:
Hardest Mario Level

It's not difficult to make a platform game hard. It's difficult to make a hard platformer any fun.
Click to expand...

Truth.

border said:
This game just looks impossible for the sake of being impossible, not because it's challenging or entertaining.
Click to expand...

It actually just looks like a lot of noise thrown on top of some clear paths through the levels, like the dim lasers not hitting you, but serving as a warning on where the lethal ones will appear.

I think I might like this and multiplayer platformers are a hit with my few gaming friends...is it already out on XBLIG?
 
D

dock

Member
Automatically generated platform game levels are about as good as automatically generated music. It's well meaning but unappealing to me.
 
E

exmachina64

Banned
wsippel said:
Looks like all the environmental hazards are visible and patterns are predictable - basically a "bullet hell platformer", more timing than reflex based. They also have some sort of AI running in the background to make sure the levels are actually winnable.
Click to expand...

Once I realized this, interest dropped dramatically.
 
B

BHK3

Banned
Somethings telling me the lower difficulties will be a waste of time, horribly boring and shallow. Put it on something higher and now you have something to work with, until you see the pattern or just run through the level and win.
 
S

Salsa

Member
that shit looks doable, just needs an instant-retry thing a la Super Meat Boy, otherwise it would get boring fast.
 
E

EVIL

Member
Oh god, looks insane. will never play! and it kinda looks like a crappy flash game. I at least want some form of quality on the wii-u.
 
B

beril

Member
Generated levels are interesting but I'm highly sceptical they'll be any good. Other than that the game looks meh and the graphics extremely bad; though I guess they're aware of that as the point of the kickstarter was to fix that.

And yeah I'm a bit sceptical about every indie kickstarter promising a steam version (mostly because I'm frustrated that Valve keeps ignoring my game submissions), but then a Wii U version is far more strange (expecially since the game was at least originally done in XNA but that's another issue), and I'm not sure how they would even think of promising that unless the deal was done, so who knows
 
Mognet

Mognet

Member
Looks considerably harder than SMB and I loved that game. Well I'm up for the challenge and will probably end up buying this.

Wow at masochistic difficulty

Looks to have some character customization as well.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
I'm in two minds about this. Was quite excited when it was coming to XBLIG but for 15x the cost on PC, not sure. Also not sure about this Wii-U thing, are Nintendo really seeking out and publishing obscure indie games that nobody's heard of? It just seems like such an odd pairing.

I've got every faith that the auto-generated levels will work as intended, and the game can be as easy or as hard as you want so there's really no need to worry about it. What I'd worry about is the sense of progression you get. Completing a level and then going on to the next random level will get boring quickly without something to tie them together, so I hope there's a decent campaign within.
 
C

crimsonheadGCN

Banned
Well, the game has been in the Steam registry for the last two months and has been updated several times already, so that should at least confirm that it is indeed heading to Steam.
 
D

DarkSoul520

Member
Alright! A kickstarter for an independent game that isn't asking for half a million!
I'm going to back this later. Game looks completely insane.
 
T

Tain

Member
Kinda guessing this is one of those save-state "difficult" platformers that only ever rolls you back, like, two minutes at most. Procedurally generated junk lends itself well to that.
 
H

Hot Coldman

Banned
*sees thread title*

I sure hope it presents challenge in a fair manner, rather than ridiculously complex level design that demands memorisation to a degree that any entertainment value is pretty much eroded!

*sees video*

nope.avi
 
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