N4G Reviews Compiler

Keep track of ITSP's reviews on N4G.

Reviews and Release

The reviews for ITSP have been coming in and we're keeping track of them on our twitter account. Check them out!

The game is being release on XBLA tomorrow! Make sure you download the trial and give it a spin. I think you'll like what you find!

ITSP's Animated Credits

I always enjoy seeing movies with animated credits. I even got to do the opening credits for the movie, Osmosis Jones, during my tenure as head of 2D special effects at Warner Brothers Feature Animation. We thought it would be fun to cap off our videogame with its very own set of animated credits. I had a blast putting those together. I hope you enjoy them!

Insanely Twisted Haiku

GameRevolution.com is having a little contest. Here's your chance to win a copy of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet! From their website:



Here's the deal: You have to write a haiku using any ONE of the following words: Insanely, Twisted, Shadow, or Planet. How you use those words is up to you. The words surrounding those words is up to you as well. Really, we're not about to inhibit your creativity. We want to see what you can come up with!

Check it out!

San Diego Comic-Con and More

Joe and I will be showing the game and unveiling the four-player coopetitive mode at San Diego Comic-Con at these events:

Thursday, July 21 - Xbox Media Showcase 8:00 pm – Midnight

Saturday, July 23 – Xbox Lounge in Hard Rock Hotel 9:00 am – 7:00 pm

Sunday, July 24 – Xbox Lounge in Hard Rock Hotel  9:00 am – 5:00 pm

We popped the champagne open this week as our game went gold and passed Cert with flying colors in both, Compliance and Functional. We are good to launch! The game will be release August 3rd as the third XBLA's "Summer of Arcade 2011" title. It will retail for 1200 points ($15).

I will also be signing my new 200-page full color graphic novel, The Saga of Rex (which might also become a game at a later date) at these times:

Friday, July 22 – Image Comics (Booth #2729) 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Friday, July 22 – Flight (Booth #2235) 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Sunday, July 24 – Image Comics (Booth #2729) 11:00 am – Noon

Concept Art

On your journey through the Shadow Planet, you will uncover icons that will grant you access to 37 pieces of concept art that I painted for the game. After we decided which 37 pieces would be hidden in the game, we were still left with a large amount of nice material. As a result, we decided to put some of this material on-line for your viewing pleasure. Click here to check it out!

XBLA Fans - Best of E3 Awards

Awesome news! XBLA Fans named ITSP, E3's Best of Show! Check out the full list of winners here.

And here's a nice write up from MSNBC Technoblog - "...breathtaking to behold. Like some kind of divine combination of art and gaming..."

More Coverage from E3 and a French Interview

LVL Up Podcast - E3 2010 Awards "Best Indie/New Original Game"

MTV - "one of those rare moments in this industry"

Movies for the Masses - This one is in Greek!

Games Radar - "Don’t sleep on this indie gem – it’s going to be fantastic"

Padinga.com released their top games from E3 and ITSP is in there!

At last, here's a little French interview I did recently about ITSP.

Follow ITSP on Twitter

Einstein Award

GamePro just released their list of "Best of E3" awards and I was delighted to see that ITSP made the cut!

ITSP Wraps Up and E3 Feedback

It has been a long and difficult journey, but we have persevered and conquered! ITSP is finally done! I want to thank from the bottom of my heart, my partner Joe Olson and his amazing team at Fuelcell Games (Jonathan Peters, John Scrapper, Garret Smith, Travis Phelps, Dmitri Salcedo, Troy Lawlor, Corwin Light-Williams, Chris Eng, Thomas O'Connor, Ryan Meyer, Kimberly Walker, Daniel Rosas, Bryanna Lindsay, David Heutmaker) for going above and beyond the call of duty. Five years ago, I went into this not knowing anything about how games were made. If it wasn't for their talent, guidance and expertise, this game would not exist.

I also want to give props to my wife, Nancy, who not only supported me through this demanding endeavor, but she also was an instrumental part in managing Shadow Planet Productions and Gagne International throughout the whole process. Big thanks also to my friend and noise maker, Andrew Scott, who like me, went into this project with no game experience and managed to create one of the most beautiful soundscape I've ever heard.

Last week, we presented the game at E3 and the response was fabulous. We received four "Best of E3" nominations:

Best Original Game from Machinima.com
Best Downloadable Game from 1Up
Best Downloadable Game and Most Original Game from G4

Several reviewers were able to try the game for themselves. We're delighted to see their positive  reviews. Check them out:

Destructoid
The Escapist
Game Spot
Joystiq
The Next Level
XBLA Ratings
XBLA Fans

We also made some very cool lists:

Top 20 games of E3 2011 from Men's Health (CNET)
Best Of Console Digital News: The E3 Roundup from Game Sutra
Top 10 Sleepers of E3 2011 from 1Up
Best Of E3 2011 - Top 10 Games From The Show from MTV

More updates coming soon!

Final Trailer + 10 Screen Shots

E3 and a New Review

Come play ITSP and meet Joe Olson and I (Michel Gagné) at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), June 7-9, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, South Hall – Space 1637.

On a side note, here's a new review of our demo that was just posted at Crush!Frag!Destroy! This brings the total of reviews of our PAX demo to 22 (those are the ones we know of). You can check out all the reviews at this link (PAX Demo Reviews).

Interview at Polygamer

For those who can read French, here's a recent interview that was published on Polygamer.

The First Official ITSP Collectible

One thing I forgot to mention about PAX East last March, was the fact that the XBLA marketing department released a set of 6 limited edition postcards featuring Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and other upcoming games. The postcards, designed to look like vintage movie posters, were quite a hit with the crowd. Only 700 copies of the set were printed so those puppies are pretty rare. Here's a look.

A Day In My Life...

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Mercedes Milligan, associate editor for Animation Magazine. She asked me if I'd be willing to be the subject of their monthly feature called, “A Day in the Life of...”, to which I answered, "sure, why not!"

And so, I proceeded to photographically document my day, giving an insight into my not so glamorous life. The pictures and captions I provided are featured in the April/May issue. I scanned the page for your viewing pleasure. Click here for a larger view.

Sweet Shadowy Dreams

Bartek Kielban sent me a picture of his bedroom. He writes: "After being inspired by your work we want to send you a photos of my room painted similar to your arts from Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet."

Nicely done!

Back From PAX

Joe, Andrew Scott (sound maestro) and I had a lot of fun in Boston at the PAX convention. The reception to ITSP was incredible. The booth stayed completely busy the whole time with lines of anxious gamers waiting patiently their turns to experience ITSP. Everyone was so excited and positive towards the game, it really warmed our hearts.

Joe and I did several interviews and answered a lot of questions. We were given the go ahead by Microsoft to reveal that the game will be released this summer and that it will feature a coop version.

Observing people playing the game was very insightful. We took a lot of notes and will make sure to use the knowledge we gathered to make the game even better.

Here's a sample of the reviews we received from journalists who got to test the game for themselves:

IGN
Critical Bits
Indie Games
Gay Gamer
Platform Nation
Horrible Night
Armless Octopus
Game Rant
Rax Dakkar
Side Questing
VGrevolution
My Gamers
4PlayerPodCast

PAX East Gameplay Footage

We'll have more on our visit to PAX East in the coming days! Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

PAX East, New Website and Press Release

The past few months have been quite a marathon, to say the least, with Joe and I, as well as members of our team working into the wee hours of the morning. We're approaching the completion of the game and we're all dedicating ourselves to make ITSP as memorable as possible.

Joe, Andrew Scott (our sound maestro) and I will be flying to Boston tomorrow to unveil the game at PAX East on March 11th. You can read our press release here.

I've also designed a new website that centralizes everything about Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. Even this blog will now be readable within the main website. Go check it out at www.InsanelyTwistedShadowPlanet.com.

The website is going to keep growing with artwork and videos added periodically until the release date. Check out the art gallery for a peak at what's coming!

Last but certainly not least, we're going to release a gameplay video with 10 minutes of footage to coincide with the PAX event. Make sure you check out our video section on march 11th when the videos go live.