2020 and Beyond
We’re BACK…well we never left, we’ve just been working hard on a variety of exciting projects and it’s been a long time since we have updated the blog.
It’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room that is the global pandemic. We hope all of you are well and are looking after yourselves.
While we had some likely contact with the virus, all of the team is fine and has transitioned to fully working from home. We already had a very flexible working setup, but with console development requiring specialized hardware, there were a few interesting challenges to solve.
Catching Up
Since we last spoke 8 games we’ve worked on have been released!
Eastshade
XenoCrisis
Never Give Up
Ageless
Manifold Garden
Party Panic
Pinstripe (Asia & physical editions)
Monster Sanctuary
Of particular note is that 2 of those titles were online multiplayer across Xbox, Switch, PlayStation and Windows - that was quite a ride and we are looking forward to bringing our experience to more online titles this year.
We’ve grown the team with another 4 people and are still hiring for 2021.
Finally, we have been lucky to work with some new partners but also continue working with several long term friends. It’s been a great journey made possible by all the amazing partners we have who have trusted us with their games.
Even more than that, the time has come for us to launch our self-service product for console porting. We’re making the finishing touches to a new website explaining it all and looking for Indies developers with titles to release this year to sign up. We hope it will make porting and publishing much easier for all you out there, so we are hugely excited to announce it in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned.
Developments
2020 was a big year for game releases in the industry, including DO Games. It was our most successful year to date, with 7 new projects, 4 of which saw release during the year. Our team is split between customer project work and development of our porting and publishing tools known as Unify which we will launch in a few weeks time.
The fully remote working situation meant we had to get creative with how we shared access to our limited amount of console development kits. Some remained at our office, while others were located in our individual houses.
One of the first solutions was to allow remote computer access to one of the office PC's connected to the development kits. Although, this worked initially, as work piled on we found ourselves losing time having to funnel access through the one PC. So the second solution came by way of a distributed VPN. By creating a secure VPN connection on small but capable MikroTik HeX switches, and having one stationed at each location alongside the development kits, any member of the team could access any console remotely.
Game Releases
Did we mention already, 2020 was a big year for games? We began the year with the porting of Ageless for Nintendo Switch. Ageless is an adventure platformer by One More Dream Studios and published by Team17. The first game in a series of Team17 games we would work on, the start of a great relationship. In Ageless, you play as Kiara, a young girl who braves through heartache and loss as she journeys across a mysterious world to discovers it's (and her) secrets.
We then followed on with Manifold Garden, a beautiful Escher-esque world created by William Chyr Studio's. Witness infinity in first-person and master its rules to solve physics-defying puzzles. Cultivate a garden to open new paths forward, where an eternal expanse awaits. Our porting technology powered the Xbox One and Switch. It was a pleasure working with William and the team, we’re proud to see the critical acclaim achieved.
The next title in the series was Party Panic, developed by the one man team at Everglow Interactive. You host the craziest party in existence, competing against your friends in over 30 rapid mini-games, board games or go through the gruesome "Gauntlet" game mode. Party Panic was our first 4 player online multiplayer game to be released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
The last but not least title of the year was Monster Sanctuary, the second game in the series of Team17 products we have worked on. Developed by Moi Rai, Monster Sanctuary is a monster-taming RPG with multi party, turn based combat and Metroidvania like exploration. RPG style, glorious pixel art and an online battle arena with leader boards, across all 3 console platforms, we're very proud of our work on this title. The second title this year with online multiplayer and this time across Xbox One, Switch, PS4 and Windows.
Until Next Time…
We promise we won’t leave it as long next time.
While 2020 certainly brought it's challenges, we were lucky to keep moving forwards. 2021 will bring many surprises we're sure, but we also have a few surprises up our sleeves! Keep an eye out for our new website and for social media updates on the launch of our new porting product “Unify”.