Archive: 11 posts

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The Unfinished Swan Flies to PSN October 23, Early Access for Plus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A15hMzNvNbI&hd=1 When you make a game about something unusual like, say, throwing paint in an all-white world, you expect to get a lot of questions. But we were surprised that the question we got asked the most turned out to be ?when can I buy it?? Now we have an answer: you can buy The Unfinished Swan on October 23rd exclusively on PSN. And if you?re a PlayStation Plus member, you can get the game a week early ? October 16th. In the meantime, there?s still a lot to learn about the game. You?ve met the King, now get to know us: the team behind it all. In the first of a series of developer diaries, we?ll lift the curtain and give you some background on Giant Sparrow, the beginning of The Unfinished Swan and how we landed on PlayStation Network. Check it out: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/10/05/the-unfinished-swan-flies-to-psn-october-23-early-access-for-plus/

2012-10-05 16:47:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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Noone has an interest in the next big PSN game after Journey? The Unfinished Swan Dev Diary: Original Music & Sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H1ebugoPsP0 At its core, The Unfinished Swan is about the joy of creation and self-discovery. These themes revolve around two central characters: one young, who has dealt with great loss and loneliness, and one old, who must reconcile his current stage of life as well as his fate. One of the initial conversations I had with Peter Scaturro, music supervisor at the Santa Monica Studio involved using the key components of the score to offset the melancholy of the story. I consciously steered away from anything that felt too sad, stark or desolate. Instead, I focused on crafting a mood that was lush, curious, and warm. We wanted the music to serve as a companion for Monroe and the player as they explored the world of the game. To achieve this, I chose to highlight certain instruments and sounds that were inspired by the characters themselves. Monroe’s signature sound is played by plucked and mallet instruments like marimba and harp – youthful, resonant sounds that highlight his innocence as well as the storybook-quality of the game. The bizarre, pompous King is heralded by gritty, electronic harpsichord tones. I used acoustic sounds to imitate electronic, synthesized textures and vice versa – using analog modular synthesizers and extensive processing to evoke harpsichord and harp-like sounds. Too often, classical “thematic” scores are at odds with modern, texture-driven scores. My goal was to blur the lines and try to find the best of both worlds: to use the opportunity I had as a composer not just to write a score, but to knit the fabric for this world, completely from scratch. Aside from live string orchestra, every sound in the score is original. The compositional process was about subverting all traditional rules in favor of something more textural, more free-flowing – like an ocean of sound. Classical theory and traditional harmonic structures are here, but they’re lurking far below the surface. In-game ambient music is always evolving, never confined to a static loop. I wanted the music to feel seamless with the gameplay, as if it is part of the environment. And that brings us back to the joy of creation – there’s a certain naivety in so much of my favorite art. The Unfinished Swan was the perfect opportunity to explore that. I’m so excited to put this out into the world. It was an incredible experience working with Giant Sparrow and the SCEA Music Department. We can all relate to Monroe’s mother and The King. The spark at the beginning of a project is what we love best about creating. The real work begins when we have to develop that initial idea into a finished product, and I’m confident that no one has played or heard a game quite like The Unfinished Swan. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/10/10/the-unfinished-swan-dev-diary-original-music-sound/

2012-10-10 17:22:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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The Unfinished Swan: 10 Things You Need to Know + Posted by Ben Esposito // Game Designer, Giant Sparrow The Unfinished Swan on PS3 The Unfinished Swan is an unusual game with an unusual history. We wanted to give you an exclusive look into its history before it lands on PSN October 23rd — as well as some secrets you’d never guess. Find out where we came up with the idea, who helped make it happen, and some techniques we used to make the game feel just right. 1 Virtual reality: The Unfinished Swan started as a student project in the University of Southern California’s Interactive Media program. Originally it was meant to be played with a head-mounted display. Over time, the game eventually became a PS3 exclusive. 2 Showing our roots: The pond, which is the opening area of The Unfinished Swan, hasn’t changed since we entered the game into the Independent Games Festival in 2009. The reasons were partly to keep a homage to the area that got us started, and also because it’s a successful level layout. 3 Tiny team: Giant Sparrow started as a two-person company and grew to 12 people at one point during production of The Unfinished Swan. Being a small team provided a lot of advantages; we were able to try things big studios wouldn’t touch. 4 Auto-aim: When we were first testing the game, we heard more than once that players wanted some sort of gun that would shoot paint where they were pointing. We weren’t about to give Monroe – the main character of The Unfinished Swan – a gun but we did come up with a fix. It happens behinds the scenes: the game will adjust the arc of your throw to hit things that you’re pointing at. 5 Secret run: It’s very subtle, but if you walk forward for long enough, Monroe starts to pick up his pace. We added this for players who like exploring so there’s less time spent walking long distances. 6 Not quite white: The white color you see in The Unfinished Swan is actually not pure white, but a slightly warmer yellowish white. On certain LCD TVs, pure white shows up with a bluish tint – which is not very befitting of a storybook style. 7 Getting closer to the narrator: The voice of the narrator was originally recorded with temporary dialogue – it’s the voice of creative director Ian Dallas’s aunt. After auditioning other narrators, we weren’t able to find a voice as authentic as a real mother. 8 Legendary art director: The Unfinished Swan’s art director, Hokyo Lim, was previously the art director for League of Legends by Riot Games. While they are tonally very different, Hokyo’s strong 2D skills have translated beautifully to both League of Legends and The Unfinished Swan. 9 Stay a while: The Unfinished Swan has four different chapters, each with their own visual style and mechanics. Part of the design philosophy for The Unfinished Swan is to let players figure things out for themselves, so there are a few parts of the game that have never been shown before. 10 Becoming a minimalist: The Minimalist trophy, unlocked when a player walks through the opening area without using more than three splats of paint, was originally unlocked by not splatting a single ball. Ben, the level designer, could stumble through it using sound but when the rest of the team tested it nobody was able to figure out how to navigate without using paint. After changing it to three splats maximum, it felt like a more balanced challenge. http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/10/10/the-unfinished-swan-10-things-you-need-to-know/

2012-10-11 14:24:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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9/10: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2012/10/15/the-unfinished-swan-review/ 9/10: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/372924/reviews/the-unfinished-swan-review-a-concoction-of-colour-and-craft-review/ 10/10 : http://nextgengamingblog.com/blog/the-unfinished-swan-review/ 10/10 : http://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/psn/unfinished_swan 9/10: http://www.godisageek.com/2012/10/unfinished-swan-review/ 8.2/10: http://translate.google.com.au/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vandal.net%2Fanalisis%2Fps3%2Ft he-unfinished-swan-psn%2F15923 GREAT! :http://www.theaveragegamer.com/2012/10/15/the-unfinished-swan-review-ps3/ EXCELLENT!: http://www.shopto.net/news/40981/The-Unfinished-Swan-Review 9/10: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/10/15/the-unfinished-swan-review

2012-10-15 12:32:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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I've just been reading the review on IGN. Looks a great game, but for the length of the campaign (they say around 2hrs), the price is a bit steep. I'd rather wait for a price drop.

2012-10-15 12:52:00 Author: Ali_Star Posts: 4085

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I've just been reading the review on IGN. Looks a great game, but for the length of the campaign (they say around 2hrs), the price is a bit steep. I'd rather wait for a price drop. others are saying it's about the length of Journey and for ?9.99 that is well worth it.

2012-10-15 12:56:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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others are saying it's about the length of Journey and for ?9.99 that is well worth it. Do you know whether there will be a trial?

2012-10-15 14:29:00 Author: Ali_Star Posts: 4085

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Ten quid for an Unfinished Swan is a bit of a rip-off when the finished Swans are available for free.

2012-10-15 14:38:00 Author: Rabid-Coot Posts: 6728

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Do you know whether there will be a trial? I don't think there could be to be honest. Playing one area or part of one area doesn't represent what the other areas are like, so you would be judging it wrongly. There are hidden secrets just as there was with Journey and it takes you at least three hours if you find them all. Many are saying it's actually better than Journey. It's ?9.99... come on, you know you want it!

2012-10-15 15:20:00 Author: GribbleGrunger Posts: 3910

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I don't think there could be to be honest. Playing one area or part of one area doesn't represent what the other areas are like, so you would be judging it wrongly. There are hidden secrets just as there was with Journey and it takes you at least three hours if you find them all. Many are saying it's actually better than Journey. It's ?9.99... come on, you know you want it! I wish they made this for Vita. My PS3 being dead is really killing me.

2012-10-15 20:48:00 Author: CyberSora Posts: 5551

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Ten quid for an Unfinished Swan is a bit of a rip-off when the finished Swans are available for free. Plus, you can get Black Swans for less than a fiver, and they come with Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman! I don't think there could be to be honest. Playing one area or part of one area doesn't represent what the other areas are like, so you would be judging it wrongly. There are hidden secrets just as there was with Journey and it takes you at least three hours if you find them all. Many are saying it's actually better than Journey. It's ?9.99... come on, you know you want it! We'll see. I have money on my PSN account, but was saving it for when all the Walking Dead episodes came out.

2012-10-15 20:53:00 Author: Ali_Star Posts: 4085

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