The trials, tribulations and faces behind Fez
Having been in development for over five years, Fez is a indie/special/something game that has embodied many of the personal challenges its creators have faced, not making the endless development of it seem any shorter. The attendees of the yearly Independent Game Festival Awards at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco were witness to the emotional release of Fez creator Phil Fish and his colleagues when they accepted the Seamus McNally Grand Prize and $30.000 dollars in prize money last month. Fish, a personal indie hero of mine, is currently starring in the renowned and Sundance award winning documentary Indie Game: The Movie, where he is followed through-out trials and tribulations of finishing Fez. His team’s journey up until receiving this award, touched me in a very personal way.
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Fez finally switches dimensions on April 13 for 800 MSP
Over three years later, we finally have a release date for Fez and it’s coming much sooner than the previous rumored May 2 date. It’ll be coming out on …
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Fez finally passes certification
In what feels like an eternity, the long-awaited two-time IGF winner Fez has finally passed Microsoft certification. This bodes well with hopeful release sometime very shortly. While the rumored …
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Footage shows off full Fez GDC demo
Polytron’s Fez has been getting a lot of exposure lately, but anyone who’s still pining for coverage of Gomez and Dot’s adventure just got their wish granted. The …
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Phil Fish on XBLA and Fez’s release
It seems like an eternity but we’re looking this year for the release of Fez, from Polytron Corporation and creator Phil Fish. Joystiq had an interesting interview with him during SXSW talking about the development and what’s next for Polytron Corporation. Originally, Phil wanted the game the come out during Q1 of this year but that sadly didn’t happen since they just got back from certification and didn’t pass it.
“We’re trying to put pressure on them to release it as soon as possible because the zeitgeist is really good right now, with the movie starting to get a lot of play and the award. And, also, it’s been five years. I don’t want to wait another two months after that.”
Fez wins and Super T.I.M.E Force announced at IGF Awards
Some pretty huge news came out of the Independent Games Festival with a brand new game and a soon-to-be-released game winning one of the big prizes. Before we start big, Capybara Games’ Super T.I.M.E. Force won the XBLA prize which ensures publishing and funding by Microsoft for the upcoming title. The trailer looks insane with questions of 12 player co-op or the amount of enemies on screen is amazing. It looks sort of like Metal Slug in crazy space. No pricing or date announced but watch the trailer so you know what craziness to expect.
Why has it taken Polytron so long to complete Fez?
A lot of people have been looking forward to the release of indie developer Polytron’s Fez for a very long time. The platformer has been in development for almost half a decade. It has made appearances at a plethora of industry conventions. Fez even took home top honors at the Independent Games Festival…in 2008. Rumors of a May release sprung up not long ago, and were then quickly debunked by Polytron’s own Phil Fish. No matter how badly the gaming public wants the title to finally see the light of day in the near future, however, it only just recently entered the certification process and is unlikely to be available before the summer.
Developer Renaud Bedard recently addressed a crowd at this week’s GDC in San Francisco about the prolonged process of making Fez a reality. “The fact that Fez was such a long project means that we kept upgrading,” explained Bedard. “Fez is our first game, our first project. It’s hard to manage the fact that you want the game to be perfect.”
No studio ever sets out to release a bad game, of course; they all want their baby to be flawless. Yet not everyone spends close to five years chasing down that dream. Joystiq, who was on-hand for Bedard’s GDC presentation, reports that the main reasons why protagonist Gomez’ adventure remains unreleased is technical enough that Polytron had to make up internal design terms to describe it.
As the Fez turns
Polytron’s latest trailer for its platformer Fez has arrived in dizzying fashion. Poor little Gomez isn’t quite tall enough to ride the Gravitron when the carnival comes to …
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Rumor: Fez set to release in May *Update*
Update: Polytron’s Phil Fish has informed Joystiq that Fez won’t be coming out May 2 after all. In reality, the game has only just entered certification, and a …
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Fez now in the certification process at Microsoft
Straight from Phil Fish and company themselves, Fez has finally been submitted to Microsoft. After the recent ESRB rating, it’s only moments away from Fez‘s release while it waits …
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