Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The Microstudios panel proved to be the most controversial and widely talked about at Develop 10, but the exchange of commentary followed by detente wasn’t all that was worth taking away from the gathering, where Beatnik‘s Robin Lacey (Plain Sight), Positech‘s Cliff Harris (Kudos, Democracy, Gratuitous Space Battles), Introversion‘s Mark Morris (Darwinia, Defcon, Uplink) and Hello Games‘ Sean Murray (Joe “They’ll all be in” Danger “if there’s not a PC port”) talked about the state of the Microstudio. Starting with what a microstudio is anyway…
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I first saw Joe Danger about a year ago, in a fairly awful pub just off Soho. I liked it so much, I gave Hello Games pretty much every useful contact in my big bag of games journo-names. It’s a high-concept bike game for people who thought Trials 2 a little too trialing. It’s picked up a nomination for technical excellence and the grand prize in this year’s IGF. And it’s totally coming out on the PC. No, really. We take the opportunity to sit down and talk to Hello Games’ Managing Director Sean Murray and avoid Danger! Danger! High Voltage! gags.
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Kieron already thought of describing Joe Danger as Trials 2 meets Trackmania, and therefore I must be more original. It’s a cross between Bergman’s Nattvardsgästerna and a puma. Too original. It’s a cartoony platform bike riding bounce fest that looks awesome fun. It’s in this year’s IGF running for the grand prize, and we should have an interview with creators Hello Games just as soon as they hurry up and reply. Meanwhile, there’s a new trailer that shows off why this is bulging with potential, as well as doing that clever thing with the quotes in the background that I always like.

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A few months back I met up with Hello Games, a new British indie who emerged from places like Criterion, Sumo, Kuju, EA and Climax. And since there’s four of them, that’s a fairly impressive roster. Anyway! They’ve made their game public and while it’s a little off – Spring next year – I wanted to bring it to your attention. It’s called Joe Danger and it’s a much more free-flowing stunt-lead Trials 2 with a whole splash of Trackmania. I’d direct you to the hands-on with the ever-lovin’ Jon Hamblin over at Eurogamer for more information, and some splendid quotes. Oh – you can guarantee it’ll lead on a console, unless people like us make a lot of noise about it. On Steam first! Didn’t hurt Trials 2!