We could finally set a strict release date and even attach a price tag to the game:

Twin Blades will be out december 7th at 2,39€ (2.99$). We said we would reward fans who have been supporting us while we were in development and thus we will launch the game at a discount price of 0,79€ (0.99$) for the first week!

And here are 3 new screenshots introducing the flamethrower, the skill shop and the third environment, boy it feels like its Christmas already!

Whilst Mako was worryingly occupied in getting all the Open Feint achievements of the game we could salvage the splashscreen to make these neat desktop-wallpapers!

And because we refuse screen-segregation they come in different resolutions:

1920×1200 (16:10)
1920×1080 (16:9)
1680×1050
1600×1200 (4:3)
1280×1024
1280×800
1280×720
1024×768
800×600

Enjoy!

Press Starters were happy to see Twin Blades featured in the latest Gamekult’s webshow as they interviewed Bulkypix’ staff in their office. There are a few nice words and tiny bits of gameplay demonstrated by Vincent whose neatly manucured hands are also featured in the second in-game footage of the game.

Good job Bulkypix, we want a storm trooper at our place too!

P.S: Oh yes, its in French by the way.

Jeff has fixed the very last (hopefully) bug and the build is now passing through the hands of Bulkypix which will then approve it (hopefully) and send it to Apple.

If everything goes smoothly we might have our first resting week-end in a long while, and maybe even have the opportunity the play the extremely good-looking games released recently which have been piling up on the side of our desks.

VICTORY! we yell, anticipating Apple’s validation without the touch of uncertainty that characterize wise people.

NO WAY! categorically says the girlfriend, who apparently missed the point of the post and only heard “play games all week-end”.

Bulkypix our publisher has released a new video showing the first level of the game and the grabbing zombie. The video also features an improved version of the HUD, and the naked version of the nun.

We are well aware of that, and are actively trying to fix the issue without having to plugg it off out of shame.

Thus there might be weird messages, error codes and even -god forbid- random French words in the days to come, if you find yourself contemplating such unpleasurable experiences please report them at info [at] press-start-studio.com stating your browser and operating system.

Apologies for the inconvenience, its gonna get worse before it gets better.

Press Start Studio is a moral person, which doesn’t mean it doesn’t ogle at women and try to sqeeze an eye under their skirts: it means it has rights and can defend itself before a court of law.

Yes PSS has rights, so why wouldn’t it be allowed to have its very own Facebook page just like everyone else? Be able to reunite with long-time highschool friends, suffer status-updates spam and enjoy viral videos?

Thus we’ve decided to grant PSS with a shiny brand new Facebook page of its own, which you can become a fan of and let the latest infos come directly to you!

In order to celebrate we’ve added 2 kickass new Twin Blades screenshots over there, make sure to check them out!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Press-Start-Studio/189435761816?v=wall

The beta is in the box. For those of you unfamiliar with game development’s lexica it means we are nearing completion of the game. Yet somehow the release date remains evasive and people are asking: why o why are thee covering thine great game with such a shroud of mystery?

Its because we don’t have a clue.

How can you not have a clue when as a developer you are in first line? Say you, slightly sceptic and impatient enough to raise a clenching fist.

Because the release date is beyond our knowledge, because the release date is beyond anybody’s knowledge. We reply, before disappearing into a magic cloud.

Sure, I might have made that magic cloud thing up but you get the general idea, and here are the less magical details.

Most developers follow this kind of plan when working on a game, its more of a global guidelines thing rather than a fixed set of rules but the main deliverables tend to be the same everywhere:

- The first playable is exactly what it says it is. In our case there wasn’t much to see beyond a character in a game area but it gave a basic idea of what the game would look like. Noticed how the first playable doesn’t have any block capitals? That’s how low it is in my esteem.

- The Alpha contains all the game features, the first video released last week from our publisher was made from Twin Blades’ Alpha.

- The Beta not only contains everything else that should be in the game such as the menus, translations etc. but also have the game feature balanced in order to tune the gameplay. This is where we are now and the video which Bulkypix will publish tomorrow will feature footages of the beta.

- The Gold Master is fully debugged and clean for the public to enjoy. However one last step remains before said public may access the game: the Apple submission process.

- The street release has passed the certification process and is available on the App Store.

Thing is, there is no ETA on how long the submission process might take at this time of the year where Apple is swarmed with release candidates. As a result delays become unpredictable for developers and even for Apple: it’s the twilight zone, and it’s ugly.

In this world of uncertainty however one fact remains: Twin Blades will be available before Christmas, and maybe even before, who knows?

(No one!)

We’ve received so much positive feedback about the game and how good it looks that we wanted to share something back with you, so Mako our concept artist made this sweet wallpaper for your iPhones and iPods!

Granted, we’re two days late to be in-synch with Halloween, but we at Press Start Studio have always had this bad habit of being a couple of days late to celebrate birthdays so we maintain a certain continuity. Please bear with us and pretend we’re within a reasonable time-frame to call it Halloween still, it’ll make our artists happy.