Monthly Archives: August 2008

Grimm

Grimm Episode 3 – “Fishwife”

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Fish Wife - Platform Madness

“Platform Madness from the Fisherman!”

After a whole entire WEEK of waiting, Episode 3 is here at last! Amazing how that works, isn’t it? And, best of all, many new game play elements are featured in this episode. See how that works? Ask and you shall receive! “The Fisherman and his Wife” features power-ups, more challenging platform gameplay, and some pretty wicked dark transformations. It’s also one of my favorite “Grimm” tales so far – everyone gets what they deserve in the end!

Best of all, this Episode, like all the others, is FREE TO PLAY for the first 24 HOURS! So head over to GameTap and get it while it’s fresh! If you happen to miss the 24 hour free play window, you can always purchase the episode in stand-alone form, either from GameTap or other digital download portals.

Check out the Fisherman and his Wife Episode Page.
For those of you unable to access GameTap, you can buy Grimm episodes via alternate digital download site, such as TryGames.com Again, Grimm IS coming to other digital download site soon. Just a few more days!

Finally, a question for all the hardcore gamers and hardcore writers: Do you realize Grimm is a casual game? Despite the fact it was developed with UE3, it isn’t targeted at people who’ve been waiting for the next “Gears of War” or “Halo”. When you state it’s “nothing more” than an interactive story, I think, “well, yeah?” Our design focus was: #1 Narrative, #2 Art, #3 Gameplay. And that’s not to say gameplay is last – just not #1 (the “focus list” goes beyond #3).

Maybe that sounds “wrong” or at least odd? Well, maybe everything about Grimm is a little different or odd. That’s part of the point. Certain elements of the game are purposefully experimental. And the beauty of episodic is that we can listen to feedback and implement it in upcoming episodes. If you want to be critical of the game, go right ahead. But imagine for once that your criticism could be constructive. The game is still evolving. It isn’t locked in a box. You didn’t buy it off a shelf. And for the most part, you didn’t buy it at all. You have 24 hours to play it for FREE, comment on it, and maybe even make it better!

Do yourself and other gamers a favor: contribute something. It’s harder than destroying something – especially when you call yourself “destructoid”. And if destroying is all you’re about, and the act of destroying stuff IN Grimm isn’t appealing to you, then go back to fragging space aliens. We still have 20 episodes of innovating, experimenting, and evolving to do. I wouldn’t want you to wear yourself out – remember this is episodic, this is something different.

Grimm

Get Grimm – Now on TryGames

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Victorian House and Bank

“The Bank of Digital Distribution”

Grimm episodes continue to garner positive praise from reviewers and audiences alike. Erin Bell over at Crispy Gamer especially liked the “Belly of the Wolf” sequence from Episode 2, “Red Riding Hood”, saying:

The scene that takes place inside the wolf after Riding Hood and Granny are swallowed verges on psychedelic as Grimm hops among the wolf’s innards turning everything blotchy shades of fuchsia and purple. There’s a surreal and well-crafted moment where the woodsman’s axe suddenly appears, cleaving downward, and the camera angle shifts to show the woodsman’s face peering in.

And Ian Grundy at Final Boss is mentions his appreciation of some Grimm-inspired gore during his review of Episode 2:

I quite liked part of the last scene as well, in it there are lots of axemen wandering around who serve as the cleaners of the area. If you manage to make one of them evil, he will go on a murderous rampage and axe all the good axemen to death in a shower of gibs that would make John Romero nod vigorously with approval.

Both reviewers also take time to offer constructive criticism towards game mechanics, harder platforming, power-ups, and other elements we know many people are looking for in future episodes of Grimm. To be clear: We ARE integrating these elements into upcoming episodes, but it’s impossible for us to implement these changes overnight. Expect to see incremental improvements to many aspects of the game in future episodes.

On that note, just yesterday the team had a meeting to prioritize and changes from a very specific list of requests and suggestions. For some of the bigger changes, look towards the episodes in the “second group of 8”, and for many of the smaller changes, look to this week’s episode – The Fisherman and His Wife.

“Fishwife” as we like to call it is one of my favorites. The characters and environments are distinct from previous episodes – much of the episode taking place near or on the sea.

Finally, I’m excited to announce that Grimm is now officially available via alternate distribution and download channels (well, one “channel” as of this morning, but more to come). For those of you unable to download from GameTap, please go check out the Grimm, “A Boy Learns What Fear Is” bundled together with “Little Red Riding Hood” available on TryGames.

At TryGames you’ll be able to purchase episodes of Grimm from any country in the world. So, for those of you having trouble access Grimm from overseas – now you have no excuse. Go give it a try!

Also expect more digital distribution partner announcements in the coming days.

GameTap, Grimm

Grimm – Episode 2 – Red Riding Hood

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Giant Thimble

“Thumbs up!”

Has it already been a week since we launched Grimm Episode 1?! Man, time flies when you’re releasing weekly episodic content. The response to the first episode has been overwhelmingly positive, with an expected dash of “what the hell is this” criticism tossed in for good measure. All in all a very successful launch of the weirdly innovative little product known as Grimm.

The team here at Spicy Horse has continued to crank on production for upcoming episodes. And now we’re able to start thinking about feedback from YOU, the audience. So, here’s a bunch of random stuff we’re hearing and thinking about:

1. LOTS of confusion over the distribution/pay structure for episodes. Frankly, I think the press outlets are mostly to blame for this. Note how IGN’s Jimmy Thang bungles it when he states, “The first episode of this new adventure series is free on GameTap, but its sequels will not be free.” Wrong. I’ve yet to see more than a handful of reviewers who correctly communicate the model. I don’t know if that’s because they aren’t being fed the right info, or if because the model is so mind-numbingly innovative it causes brain failure. Anyway, the model is this: Episode 1 is TOTALLY FREE FOREVER EVERYWHERE (not just on GameTap). Consider it the Grimm demo. Future episodes are free for 24 HOURS after their initial release on GameTap. Then they become available for a variety of pay methods (subscription to GameTap, single episode purchase, alternate distribution streams, etc). As for how we’re going to repair the “instructions” related to this aspect of their product’s design… only repeated communication of the facts will do the trick. I’d ask that industry press outlets try to help us reinforce the true nature of the distribution model.

2. The game is too EASY, SHORT, CASUAL. The only issue I have with this statement is the “too” – as it creates a subjective opinion. The truth is, the game is designed as a “casual game”. Sure, we used the Unreal 3 engine to develop it, so call it a “next gen casual game” if it makes you feel better. Anyway, the whole point of episodic is to evolve the episodes based on user feedback. So here’s what we’re going to do about “too casual” – in future episodes you’ll see more use of power-ups, areas tuned for more challenging “transformation game play”, and more emphasis on classic platform game mechanics. But try to keep in mind: If you don’t like simple, casual, short games – you might not like Grimm. He won’t like you either. No hard feelings.

3. Much love of the Grimm transformation process, art style, story elements, etc. And some suggestions for improving these aspects of the game and/or linking them more tightly together. We hear you and want you to know: changes should be expected. You’ll see gradual improvements to many aspects of the game art, story, and mechanic over upcoming releases.

If you have thoughts on improving the game or criticism, please post it here in the comments, or head over to the forum on am.com or forum on gt.com to discuss with others. We look forward to your feedback!

OH! And most importantly – Episode 2 is OUT NOW and available for free during the first 24 hours! Go check it out on GameTap. This week: Red Riding Hood

Episode listing update:

A Boy Learns What Fear Is AVAILABLE NOW!
Little Red Riding Hood AVAILABLE NOW
The Fisherman and His Wife Coming August 14
Puss In Boots Coming August 21
The Girl Without Hands Coming August 28
Godfather Death Coming September 4
The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs Coming September 11
Beauty and the Beast Coming September 18

GameTap, Grimm

Grimm Episode 1 – Goes Live

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Grimm,

“Look ma, No Hands!”

Well, the day we’ve all been waiting for is finally here: Grimm Episode 1 has launched on GameTap!

For me and the team here at Spicy Horse this is a momentous occasion. Everything we’ve worked for and built since starting the studio has gone into the Grimm project – and Episode 1 is the first of many offerings to an audience we hope will enjoy the game as much as we enjoyed making it.

And so far the response has been great:
Ars Technica says Grimm is “simultaneously goofy, child-like, and completely twisted.”
GamePlasma says “Grimm is an excellent example of a great episodic platform game.”
GamesRadar says “Dirtying the pseudo puppet show world is devilishly satisfying…”

I’ve noticed there’s more than a little confusion about the free/episodic nature of the game, which is a shame because, in addition to the fact Grimm’s a lot of fun, the distribution model is quite awesome. So, let’s clear it up once and for all:

  • First, Episode 1 is FREE now, FREE forever. You can access it using a FREE GameTap account. Free, forever, fun.
  • Next, future Episodes will be FREE for 24 hours – again, using a FREE GameTap account. After 24 hours, you’ll need a paid subscription to GameTap and/or you can purchase a single download of an Episode.
  • Finally, there will be alternate digital distribution channels in the near future. More on that before the next episode.

    • Now, I hope that clears things up. Stayed tuned for more cool new regarding Grimm. And be sure to head over to GameTap next week so you can tune in for “Little Red Riding Hood”. Remember, it’s FREE during the first 24 hours!

    Here’s an episode listing for the first 8 episodes:

    A Boy Learns What Fear Is AVAILABLE NOW!
    Little Red Riding Hood Coming August 7
    The Fisherman and His Wife Coming August 14
    Puss In Boots Coming August 21
    The Girl Without Hands Coming August 28
    Godfather Death Coming September 4
    The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs Coming September 11
    Beauty and the Beast Coming September 18

    Enjoy!