By Adam Smith on September 28th, 2012 at 5:00 pm.
Project Giana, the 25th anniversary homage to/evolution of The Great Giana Sisters, has a proper, actual name now. If I have a child, I’ll insist that the wailing bundle be referred to as Project Baby for the first six months of its life, and only then will I name it after a popular chart musician of the times. Project Giana has become Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, the post-colon words referring to the platformer’s dual realities, which can be flipped at any time. From fluff and nonsense to tentacles and spikes. The video below shows it all in action and the game is actually out on October 23rd.
Giana Sisters wasn’t so much Kickstarted as Kickfinished. The developers claimed they could released the game by October if they managed to raise the $150,000 that they needed to achieve their goals. They offered a demo to show the progress they had made and they were clear about what needed to be done and when they could deliver.
Well, by my reverend eyebrows, they’ve only gone and stuck to the schedule and it looks like an attractive piece of work. The proof shall be in the pudding, of course, and the pudding in this case is a fairly old-fashioned platformer with a twist. The twist sits in a big office, the one where a publisher would normally be smoking a cigar and cackling like a banker. Who’d have thought it? A platformer that was outlawed in olden times for being a Mario clone, was released on Nintendo DS in 2009 and now, in 2012, has a full sequel, built on PC and temporarily exclusive to PC, free of publishers.
I think I’ll wear my crowdfunding cape today. Not content with being an actual thing that exists, Twisted Dreams would also quite like to be on Steam and, for that reason, has a Greenlight page.
28/09/2012 at 17:43 Gonefornow says:
Looks like Trine to me.
28/09/2012 at 18:03 InternetBatman says:
It looks a bit more exact than Trine to me, with more responsive platforming.
28/09/2012 at 18:58 pilouuuu says:
Yeah! I wasn’t expecting such good graphics! Hopefully the gameplay is quite good too.
29/09/2012 at 06:24 kalirion says:
Looks more like Donkey Kong Country to me, made with today’s tech.
28/09/2012 at 17:51 Legion23 says:
That was quick! Really looking forward to playing this.
28/09/2012 at 18:02 Prime says:
Did anyone else enjoy the video much more when the music stopped the guitar-RAWK and went all tinkly?
28/09/2012 at 18:05 InternetBatman says:
I definitely do. I think the decision to tie the music to the princess rather than the world was a mistake.
29/09/2012 at 00:39 Caiman says:
I don’t. It annoyed the crap out of me, especially in areas where you’re constantly switching back and forth. Still, I appreciate that they give you the option to make your ears bleed should you wish it.
28/09/2012 at 18:31 c-Row says:
If I remember correctly the devs confirmed that you can switch off the change of music and stick to one style.
28/09/2012 at 22:47 TotalBiscuit says:
Nope, I don’t have a vagina and Machinae Supremacy are great :P
28/09/2012 at 22:49 jrodman says:
Gamer tropes ahoy!
29/09/2012 at 08:37 23YearOldBedWetr says:
I think this game’s title sounds a lot like “vagina sisters” and that’s just gross.
29/09/2012 at 13:00 Pemptus says:
Hear hear!
29/09/2012 at 14:39 elBrainvomito says:
Nice way to bring all the horrible memories of 80′s “brilliant” music back to mind, is all I’m saying. Wallowing in nostalgia isn’t bad per se, but when it turns out this way…ugh.
28/09/2012 at 18:47 Vexing Vision says:
Brilliant!
And I’m one of the people who Kickstarted this (happily) with the WANT for the Machinae Supremacy soundtrack.
28/09/2012 at 19:22 empty_other says:
Huh. The original was my first game, pirated on a casette for Commodore 64.
Didn’t know it had actual sequels.
28/09/2012 at 22:08 jrodman says:
To be fair, it didn’t.
28/09/2012 at 20:26 JackDandy says:
Man, this actually looks damned nice. I didn’t pitch in for the KS, but I might just buy this.
Looks like it takes Trine’s good looks and adds some better platforming mechanics.
28/09/2012 at 21:56 Shadrach says:
I am really really looking forward to this. I just hope they got the gameplay and controls down right, I would hate for it to be an exercise in frustration like so many other similar platformers.
29/09/2012 at 01:52 Nevard says:
Thought I was looking at a Mists of Pandaria screenshot for a moment there, need to step away from the computer a bit I think
29/09/2012 at 02:29 DarkFenix says:
This didn’t appeal to me personally, but I’m certainly glad it got its funding. It’s good to see Kickstarter bearing fruit of apparent polish and quality.
29/09/2012 at 11:59 Shadowcat says:
Twisted Sister?
29/09/2012 at 15:14 zhanbao12 says:
http://au81.com/3iAnA3
29/09/2012 at 21:25 kyrieee says:
Not as good as their original cover of the theme
30/09/2012 at 13:13 sdancer says:
Maybe, but having the old cover running in the background the entire time would be kind of gross. Imagine a movie with the main theme playing all. the. time.
It reminds a lot of JnG, which is a good thing.