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Transistor |OT| Super Giant Sword

The game uses 2D art assets so AA is not relevant in our game (as Andrew one of our engineers puts it "wouldn't really do anything but slow down the game"). Hop in one of those King of Fighters / BlazBlue threads around here on GAF and ask those guys what they think of smoothing / anti-aliasing...
Hi kasavin, I appreciate you coming and answering our questions here. Quick question how much say our influence does a developer have when it comes to embargoes? What's you opinion on them? Thanks again for rolling through
 

kasavin

Member
Quick question how much say our influence does a developer have when it comes to embargoes? What's you opinion on them? Thanks again for rolling through

Assuming you mean review embargoes, we had complete influence over Transistor's review embargo. It's our game.

Some reasons we felt a review embargo was appropriate:

- While it is unavoidable to some extent, we wanted to give at least some media outlets an equivalent and sufficiently reasonable amount of time with the game. (We still have hundreds of requests for review code that we're evaluating.)

- We want to protect our game so that it's not spoiled for people before they can play it for themselves. We've purposely withheld a lot of information about Transistor. If someone live-streamed the whole thing yesterday, we would have been sad.

- We think it's good when reviews coincide with the availability of the thing being reviewed. I hate reading reviews of things I don't have the option to buy or play (regardless of whether the review is positive).

So, my opinion is that a review embargo such as this is primarily a request for courtesy between publications getting early access to a game, but it is also somewhat self-serving (as is the act of sending out review code). We have no real leverage to enforce this embargo, being a small studio that's only released one other game. However, we respect the editorial process and have faith that publications will honor the embargo for the sake of their peers in the field, if for no other reason.

Back in my game-reviewing days we would sometimes get reviewers' guides with lists of topics we were asked not to cover or spoil, or whatever. I think that stuff is nonsense and that we have no say in those types of decisions. Publications best know what level of detail their audiences want. It's right there in the word "Editor".

Anyway some reviews should start hitting before the game comes out for those interested. I will find out what reviews this game gets no sooner than any of you.
 
Man, my hype for this game is rising!

And a big thank you to Greg Kasavin for replying to everyone's questions in this thread! It's great that a game developer takes the time to listen to fans.
 
Assuming you mean review embargoes, we had complete influence over Transistor's review embargo. It's our game.

Some reasons we felt a review embargo was appropriate:

- While it is unavoidable to some extent, we wanted to give at least some media outlets an equivalent and sufficiently reasonable amount of time with the game. (We still have hundreds of requests for review code that we're evaluating.)

- We want to protect our game so that it's not spoiled for people before they can play it for themselves. We've purposely withheld a lot of information about Transistor. If someone live-streamed the whole thing yesterday, we would have been sad.

- We think it's good when reviews coincide with the availability of the thing being reviewed. I hate reading reviews of things I don't have the option to buy or play (regardless of whether the review is positive).

So, my opinion is that a review embargo such as this is primarily a request for courtesy between publications getting early access to a game, but it is also somewhat self-serving (as is the act of sending out review code). We have no real leverage to enforce this embargo, being a small studio that's only released one other game. However, we respect the editorial process and have faith that publications will honor the embargo for the sake of their peers in the field, if for no other reason.

Back in my game-reviewing days we would sometimes get reviewers' guides with lists of topics we were asked not to cover or spoil, or whatever. I think that stuff is nonsense and that we have no say in those types of decisions. Publications best know what level of detail their audiences want. It's right there in the word "Editor".

Anyway some reviews should start hitting before the game comes out for those interested. I will find out what reviews this game gets no sooner than any of you.

hey your a great stand up guy Kasavin. i like you. i'm in full support of supergiant and transistor.

wishing you the best
 

ACESmkII

Member
I absolutely adore the art style in this game, and the music from the Trailers is fantastic. I assume those tracks will be available on the OST?

Pre-Ordering for PS4 for sure.

Great job Greg and everyone else at Supergiant Games.

Kassavin, you rocking the Sänger Zonvolt avatar shows you have great taste in games.
 

Vire

Member
Watched the clip from the Gamespot lobby video, wow this game looks so polished! Even more so than Bastion.

The death animations of enemies are awesome.
 

hwy_61

Banned
I could listen to kasavin talk about game design for hours. Really enjoyed listening to him on the latest bombcast.
 

Lunzio

Member
Which of your systems is hooked up to a bigger and better screen? That one.

On a side note, DS4 is damn comfy, but so is the 360 pad if you have one for your PC.

Same screen!

DS4 is definitely more comfy than my 360 PC pad though :p
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
How long is this game?

see here

Man I hate talking about game length. I feel like it's a multiple-choice question where all the answers are wrong.

TL;DR
if you've played our first game then this one should be in the same ballpark for you
.

And now, for a treatise on game length! <standing on soap box, clearing throat>

In our playtests there was a lot of variance in play-through durations (as much as 50% difference from one player to the next). Some players take the fights in this game very deliberately while others don't, due to the nature of the planning mode and how it works.

Also there is (in my take-with-a-grain-of-salt opinion) a considerable amount of side content in this game that you can simply skip if you want to get to the end faster.

When making games at no point do we aim for some magical "hours of gameplay" number. It is more about making sure the promise set forth by the narrative and gameplay is delivered upon, without wasting the player's time. It's not difficult to make a game longer. It's more difficult to make a game with a good pace. We're more interested in seeing if we can do that.

The result we want is: If you're the type of person whose time is precious, we want you to be able to get through the game in a reasonable amount of time and hopefully have an experience that leaves a lasting and positive impression. We want you to not regret having played and finished one of our games.

If you're the type of person who wants to really dig into a game and spend a lot of quality time with it, we want to provide a lot of richness and variance in the gameplay to make it replayable and stay fresh so that you get a really good value. That's not about trying to be all things to all people, it's more about catering to two specific mindsets we happen to have on team and naturally gravitate to as game players.

Expectations about game length are all over the place so I hope this helps you calibrate yours.
 
Okay, I preordered this on PS4 today, and I still don't really feel like I understand anything about this game.

Maybe that's okay though.
 

VanWinkle

Member
Really excited about this. The art style and combat doesn't intrigue me as much as Bastion, but it still looks to be a great game.
 

Tohsaka

Member
The embargo is up at 12pm on May 20th(release date). I doubt Sony will release it 12 hours prior to the embargo being up.

Child of Light was released at midnight, and Bound by Flame was on PSN three days before the embargo (and retail release) last week.
 

kasavin

Member
Games available for pre-order on PSN usually go up at midnight.

Transistor will not be a midnight launch. The Steam version should be available at 10am Pacific on the 20th, and the PS4 version should be available that afternoon whenever the PlayStation Store updates (I think usually around 12:30pm though it varies). In Europe, the PS4 version will release the following day on the 21st as per the custom there.
 
Bastion is one of my all-time favourite games. Not feeling this game quite as much, but I will definitely buy it.

I'm kind of in the same ballpark with this sentiment...I actually bought Bastion on the strength of the soundtrack alone, then fell in love with the game itself. It was absolutely one of my favorites that year. I almost feel as if I'm interested in Transistor because of Bastion, and that's not fair to this game.

That being said, I just recently got a Vita and this looks like it'd lend itself well to a remote play experience.


Yeeeeah, I think I'm on board.
 
Didn't know LiK made OTs, very classy looking!

Nice to have a turn based RPG (Child of Light) and now an action/turn-based RPG with incredible art released, back to back.
 
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