From a 5 Year Old Fan

It's always a pleasure to get fan mail. A couple of weeks ago, we received an email that really put a big smile on my face. I asked Jamie, the author of the email, if it would be okay to share it with our readers and I was enthusiastically given permission. Here it is!

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Hi Michel

My daughter, Milla Beene, she's 5 years old, loves your game. She finds it delightfully scary and is always getting us to play it. She really loves the art of the game and I guess the cute little spaceship, fighting against the odds.

Anyway, she drew a whole heap of pictures in honour of the game (this is what is attached). I tried to find some comparison screen shots so you have some idea of what she was drawing. She calls the eyeball monster at the end of the demo the 'mummy' monster and absolutely loves the spider stalking creatures.

So thanks for making a game that delights a little kid so much that she feels the need to replicate the art.

Looking forward to see what you come up with next. Congrats on all your success.

Cheers
Jamie Turnbull

Dark Planet

In August of last year, we received the following email:

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My name is Arlete Shaeffer and I'm the photo editor for "Current Science", an educational magazine for school children published by Weekly Reader. Our magazine goes out to over 200,000 middle and high school students throughout the United States.

We are working on a story that mentions the comparison between a real planet and "Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet". We try to introduce science topics to our young readers in a really cool and interesting way.

We would love to use some art from your game to go along with the article. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for all your help and time.

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When I was a high school student, one of the subjects I liked the most was science. I loved watching films like "Our Friend the Atom" and going through illustrated text books dealing with space, inventions and discoveries. The thought of my art inspiring young minds through educational science was very appealing, so I provided Arlete with some concept artwork from the game.

I had completely forgotten about the whole affair (I must have supplied art to a hundred media outlets last year!) until this week, when I received an envelope with two copies of the issue of Current Science featuring ITSP! Click here to read a PDF file of the article.

Ten Questions for the ITSP Creators

ITSP Receives BAFTA Nomination

We were just informed that Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet has received a BAFTA nomination! That's pretty cool! You can read the full list of nominees here.

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Friday 16 March at the London Hilton on Park Lane and, for the fourth year running, will be hosted by comedian and gamer Dara O’Briain.

For information on either buying tickets or about the Awards in general, visit BAFTA’s website at www.bafta.org/games/awards or contact Kelly Smith at kellys@bafta.org.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet at Del Taco

A few months ago, Joe and I worked with Idea Planet to design a tie-in package for Del Taco using the art of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. I provided them with high resolution art files and some layout mock-ups and from there, the Idea Planet designers did a mighty fine job putting the final package together!

So if you feel like getting some food at Del Taco, make sure you get your ITSP playset!

ITSP Wins Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game of the Year!

Just got back from Los Angeles and we had a blast! On Saturday, Nancy and I met Joe Olson, his lovely lady, Susan, and Travis Phelps (our lead animator) at our hotel in Westwood, and from there we proceeded to Royce Hall where the pre-show champagne cocktail was taking place. Had a few drinks, saw a few celebrities, and felt very antsy with anticipation.

The suspense wasn't too long, as the videogame award category was the first one on the schedule. The nominees were announced and time seemed to stand still as the envelope was opened... and then... Hurrah!!! What a great surprise to hear our game getting the prize, especially considering some of the heavy hitters that were featured in the category. Big congrats to the whole team!

The evening was capped by a nice dinner where all the presenters, nominees and winners gathered to eat, drink and chat and have a good time. A night to remember!

Above: Joe Olson, Michel Gagne and Travis Phelps at the post show dinner.

The full list of nominees and winners can be found here.

The Independent Gamer Issue 2

Issue 2 of The Independent Gamer is out and it features an interview I did with them about a week ago. You can download a digital copy of the magazine for free or get a printed one for $3.80. Check it out! You can also visit their official website here.

Lantern Run World Record Captured on Video

One of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet's mode is called Lantern Run, which can be played with up to four players on line or locally. Recently, I received a YouTube message from Davio14U informing me that the Lantern Run world record had been captured on video, and that it would be uploaded soon. I got a notification this morning that the videos are up! Those guys are crazy good players! Check out the three-part video below.







You can also see the single player world record on Davio14U's channel.

ITSP Nominated for an IAA

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) today announced the finalists for the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs) and we were delighted to see that Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet received a nomination in the "Best Downloadable Game of the Year" category.

The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, February 9th at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas during the 2012 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit. They will be hosted by comedian, actor and proud game enthusiast, Jay Mohr. This year’s IAAs will be streamed live on GameSpot.com in its entirety at 7:30pm PT / 10:30pm ET.

Check out the press release for additional info.

Countdown to 2012 - ITSP Half Price

Xbox Marketplace has kicked off its holiday sales with "Countdown to 2012" and is offering Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet at 50% off for the entire duration of the promotion. Quite a steal, if you ask me.

You might also want to pick-up the add-on, Shadow Hunters. The add-on is awesome, but we need more people playing it on Xbox Live so that gamers can get the full benefit. It really shines when you can get a team together.

In the meantime, the game has been picking up more award nominations. Here are the latest:

Best Downloadable from Velocity Gamer Best of 2011

Best Xbox 360 from Diehard GameFAN’s 2011 Gaming Awards

Best of XBLA from IGN Best of 2011

Best Xbox 360 from 2011 Gamers' Choice Awards

Best Downloadable from BuzzFocus: Best of Video Games 2011

The Independent Gamer

Read the first issue of "The Independent Gamer", the magazine for independent games and developers, on-line for free. Click here.

ITSP at Disney's Tomorrow Land Pavillion

When Joe and his charming girlfriend walked into the Innoventions Pavillion at Disneyland's Tomorrow Land to see an exhibit on the future of gaming, they were surprised and delighted to see videos of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet playing on several monitors of the exhibition wall! Now, how cool is that?