The indie studio Twisted Pixel Games has spilled the beans about its first full-fledged title, "The Maw", which is now set for an XBLA release by the end of this month.
Almost a hybrid of "Banjo-Kazooie", "Katamari Damacy" and "Kirby's Dream Land", players will find themselves in control of Frank, a cute alien, and his friend Maw, a purple blob able to increase in size and absorb the traits of anything it eats, as they try to find their way to freedom.
"The Maw" will become available on the 21st of January and cost 800 Microsoft points. It looks like quite an ambitious little game, especially for an XBLA title, so it will hopefully receive the attention it seems to deserve, from both game critics and gamers alike.
You can view the full press release below. It's actually worth the read, as it includes information about the studio's wondrous 85:1 (!) compression ratio, which significantly reduces the initial file size of 2GB, and about the extra freebies included with the game.
AUSTIN, TX – January 12, 2009 – Twisted Pixel Games, working in conjunction with the Galactic Council, mistakenly let The Maw escape from his quarantine early Monday afternoon. Scientists predict the destruction of all life in the galaxy "probably by next Wednesday." Twisted Pixel's CEO Michael Wilford responds: "Real sorry about that. That's totally my bad." Twisted Pixel refused further questions, instead announcing the award-winning game's release date, price point, and website location. The Maw is the company's first original IP, a product of monumental effort by a passionate and loving team, and also their first venture into galacticide.
Release Date
The Maw is coming on January 21st to Xbox LIVE® Arcade. The game will be localized for a wide range of languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Traditional Chinese. Pleas for help in any of these languages have all gone ignored by this one-eyed purple beast of the apocalypse, currently measuring the size of a basketball.Price Point
The Maw will be available for 800 Microsoft Points ($10 USD). "We set out from the very beginning to create the most content-rich and impressive game that we could for ten bucks and 150 megabytes," said CCO and Director Josh Bear. "There are over 900 animations, 1000 sound effects, 25 music tracks, 200 visual effects, and 150 models, making this an incredible value for your $10… in the time that we have left." Bear then wept bitterly.2GB == 150MB
The Maw will weigh in at a slender 150MB due to the superpowers of Granny 3D and its stupefying 85:1 compression ratio for animation data. Without it, The Maw would require more than 2GB of space, a size more attributable to retail titles. "I don't think we could have done it without Granny," says CTO Frank Wilson. "The simplicity of integrating the technology into our engine, the artist-friendly tools, and the brilliance of their compression algorithms are unbeatable."Unlockable Free Premium Theme
The Maw will offer the rare opportunity for players to win a free premium theme as an in-game unlockable. The only way to get the theme (and free gamerpics) is to play The Maw and find them.Website
www.WhatIsTheMaw.com has officially launched today, featuring additional information about the game, downloadable wallpapers, and more. The site was created by SBS Studios, a web design firm with a focus on the website needs of game development companies.
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