By Quintin Smith on May 6th, 2011 at 11:57 am.
I know why you guys read RPS. It’s for the artisan-quality headlines. Admit it! There’s no shame in it. I personally have a first-class Journalism degree, which I bought at the Khaosan Road in Bangkok for a song.
A new developer diary has been released for From Dust, the terrain-sculpting puzzle game that tasks you with protecting a tiny tribe who love huge masks. The game’s looking plenty impressive, so if you haven’t had a look at it in motion yet then you’re in for a pleasant surprise. I’d also like to give thanks to this trailer for reminding me of the Yemeni island of Socotra, which I’ve been trying to remember the name of for years.
I also misheard the video as saying “The Central Sahara, with its otherworldly doomscapes.” Which is way better than what it actually says.
06/05/2011 at 12:03 Inigo says:
“Limpet seas”?
06/05/2011 at 12:53 suibhne says:
It’s clearly “limpid.”
Still a little poetically over-swollen, alas.
06/05/2011 at 12:09 SquareWheel says:
Pre-roll ads are the worst.
06/05/2011 at 13:38 scut says:
Especially when it’s delaying you from what amounts to another ad.
06/05/2011 at 12:12 Baboonanza says:
I’m really interested in this, it could be absolutely amazing. And I love the idea of the tribes people wearing masks for their entire lives, it’s both an interesting idea and a cute solution to the problem of having to model too many faces.
06/05/2011 at 12:16 itsallcrap says:
I would have been happy with just ‘Boom and Dust’, but parentheses in headlines are what makes you guys the best.
06/05/2011 at 12:23 Quintin Smith says:
Yes, I think so.
06/05/2011 at 12:24 President Weasel says:
What did you sing?
06/05/2011 at 12:26 Quintin Smith says:
Killing in the Name by Rage Against The Machine. But there were other people in the shop so I had to kind of tone it down.
06/05/2011 at 12:22 kyrieee says:
For a second I thought this was about Dust 514
06/05/2011 at 12:24 Quintin Smith says:
I actually attended a presentation on this at GamesCom last year, thinking I was about to see Dust 514. Better yet, I spent the first 10 minutes completely stunned, thinking they’d repurposed the engine and all of their assets. I was very tired.
06/05/2011 at 14:09 RC-1290'Dreadnought' says:
Yet you were still very friendly, very professional. Remind me to buy you some tea or coffee next time.
06/05/2011 at 12:28 Inigo says:
I will give this game (and, by proxy, Eric Chahi) a chance – if, by some divine intervention, it doesn’t require endless trial and error to play satisfactorily, then I will postpone my plans to hunt Chahi down and kick the French sod right in the balls.
06/05/2011 at 12:36 Urael says:
My name is Inigo, you killed my gaming, prepare to be kicked in the balls?
06/05/2011 at 12:54 Inigo says:
It would be more along the lines of “My name is Inigo, I do not wholly approve of your philosophy towards implementing elements of difficulty in video games as I remain convinced that they are potentially rich environments for fostering frustration, considering they are mainly dependant upon following a rigidly defined path of manoeuvres rather than encouraging the player to improvise different tactics to overcome the obstacles you have presented – prepare to receive specific injuries that will hinder if not outright disable your means of reproduction.”
Also, my username is actually derived from The Fifth Elephant, rather than The Princess Bride as so many people have assumed. I hadn’t even seen the film until recently – you have no idea how confused I was by other people’s references until about a year and a half ago.
06/05/2011 at 12:54 DeepSleeper says:
Here now, Heart of the Alien wasn’t his fault.
Edit — You of course explain moments before I post this, making it a worthless comment. Luckily I’m used to making those.
06/05/2011 at 13:02 Inigo says:
Be not ashamed.
I have an alcohol-fueled ability to pervert the flow of time itself.
Normally you would not notice, but I have been informed that I have missed Cinco de Mayo, thus I am attempting to make up for the past 24 hours.
I can’t feel my arms.
06/05/2011 at 14:36 Tei says:
Could you imagine the confusion of some dude called Rincewind?
06/05/2011 at 14:49 The Hammer says:
Inigo, you bastard! Linking to TV Tropes!
Nooooooo. :(
/break time demolished.
06/05/2011 at 16:45 Felixader says:
Please cease from linking to TV-tropes. It’s harmfull to my time. X-P
06/05/2011 at 16:52 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
I, too, often had my time stolen by this TV Tropes, but something I am not articulate enough to explain happened in a dark night, and now I just think it’s dumb. Maybe there’s a trope for that.
06/05/2011 at 18:14 JB says:
“I can’t feel my arms.”
Then what the hell are you typing with? Wait! Please, please don’t tell us. Please.
06/05/2011 at 22:36 Inigo says:
Trained cats.
06/05/2011 at 12:49 Chris D says:
Is it fair to characterise this as a shinier Populous: The Beginning?
06/05/2011 at 12:57 Inigo says:
I demand women with impressive masks.
Women with impressive masks and no apparent comprehension of underwear.
06/05/2011 at 12:52 Mike says:
What instruction was this woman giving before beginning the VO?
06/05/2011 at 16:46 Felixader says:
“This is a JRPG!”
06/05/2011 at 17:29 Soon says:
Let your voice roar like the crashing seas! Let the emotion swell like the heat of a thousand Suns! Let the passion erupt like a fiery volcano raining death upon the Earth!
….hmmm, that’ll do.
06/05/2011 at 12:57 bogeymanuk says:
what a pretty looking game, I especially like the billowing volcanoes. Reminds me of all the time a spent on populous many a moon ago; being God is very appealing.
06/05/2011 at 13:00 Brainz says:
Oh my, a game where black people get destroyed by lava. Ubisoft’d better colour them grey.
06/05/2011 at 13:08 Coins says:
I think they don’t need to bother. The volcano did that for them.
06/05/2011 at 15:21 Basilicus says:
And if they had Caucasians, the community would be in an uproar over how native tribes were being depicted as white. And if they had white and black, folks’d complain about how Mongoloid ancestors were being avoided, and then China would ban it, and if they depicted African, Caucasian, Mongoloid, blah blah blah, they’d be broke and we wouldn’t have a game to play because it was never finished.
Suggestion: chill.
06/05/2011 at 13:00 Selifator says:
Could anyone understand the name of the science fiction author? I honestly have no idea what it’s even supposed to be with the narrators weird voice.
06/05/2011 at 13:03 JackShandy says:
I come for the headlines, but I stay for the alt-text.
06/05/2011 at 13:06 Stijn says:
“You’re going to be recording a sequel to Unreal Tournament’s intro video”
Edit: That was RE: Mike’s question on the narrator’s instructions
06/05/2011 at 13:09 scoopsy says:
I am a mega Out of This World (Another World for most of you unfortunately) fan, so I cannot wait to see what Chahi is doing with this. It looks like he’s been given free reign to let his freak flag fly.
06/05/2011 at 13:13 MrThingy says:
As long as this doesn’t have:-
“Villagers need foooooood!”
“Villagers need shelterrrrr”
“Villagers need orrrre!”
.. being shouted every 10 seconds like B&W, it’ll be sweeeeet.
06/05/2011 at 13:20 Shazbut says:
“I also misheard the video as saying “The Central Sahara, with its otherworldly doomscapes.” Which is way better than what it actually says.”
I’ve just listened to it 5 times. What DOES it actually say?
06/05/2011 at 13:22 Quintin Smith says:
Dune scapes. :)
06/05/2011 at 15:25 Buzko says:
“The Planet Arrakis, Known as DOOON”
Also, “are-CHIP-ellago”?
I did like the way she had to talk louder when the volcanoes started erupting.
And masks are cool.
06/05/2011 at 13:23 skinlo says:
Looks quite fun, I’m looking forward to this. Anyone know when its coming out?
06/05/2011 at 13:26 DeanLearner says:
reminds me of magic carpet it does. Man I used to love magic carpet. Actually I still do.
06/05/2011 at 13:43 MrMud says:
Reminds me alot more of Populos 3 than it does of magic carpet (both had volcanoes and altering of world geometry)
06/05/2011 at 13:38 jackflash says:
I’m actually somewhat excited about this. Reminds me of the days when then-Bullfrog actually made cool shit for the PC instead of rehashing bad RPG-wannabes for the consoles.
06/05/2011 at 13:40 jplayer01 says:
So, I have only two questions. Where can I preorder it? When is it coming out?
06/05/2011 at 15:10 HeavyHarris says:
Last I heard it’s coming out in June-July on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam.
06/05/2011 at 16:07 hosndosn says:
“But the Ring betrayed them…”
06/05/2011 at 16:48 Felixader says:
Don’t marry then.
06/05/2011 at 17:22 ALJA says:
What do you actually do in this game? from what I can see you have to avert natural disasters from killing your tribes people by using a terraforming ability. Is this the whole game?
06/05/2011 at 17:48 Davie says:
Well, Socotra was even more interesting than this trailer. Thanks for the link, Quinns.
06/05/2011 at 17:48 bitbof says:
I guess there nothing cool left for them to show us after the first “dev diary”, so they already have to fall back on showcasing concept art which renders the ingame worlds bland in comparison.
06/05/2011 at 19:26 HexagonalBolts says:
I am so damned excited about this game!
06/05/2011 at 21:04 Araxiel says:
The masks kind of remind me of this piece of political uncorrect animation:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/551252
06/05/2011 at 21:15 Tei says:
I like what is see. Looks like a game that will put Minecraft to shame… at least in dinamic nature generation.
06/05/2011 at 22:29 satsui says:
I’ve been looking forward to this game since the announcement. Excellent second diary!
08/05/2011 at 21:21 Sleepymatt says:
Did anyone else think the art department fell on a cushy number here…
“.. Yeah, we think we need to ‘research’ some more environments… the Pacific Islands looks like a good bet.. maybe then the Mongolian plains… I suppose the beaches of the Bahamas are ok too?”
At least we know where the development budget went to.. *orders another daiquiri*