Retro Platformer Another Castle Is Coming To The Wii U eShop
Posted by Damien McFerran
Indie support on Wii U continues to grow
The Wii U eShop is quickly becoming the go-to place for indie developers — recently we've seen the likes of The 90's Arcade Racer, Armillo, Dusty Raging Fist and Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails all confirmed for release on the download service, and today we can exclusively reveal that another promising-looking title has joined their ranks.
Another Castle is the work of just one man — David Byers — who goes under the development moniker of Uncade. Byers has previously developed for iOS and Android, and has released titles such as Kid Vector, Love Me Not, Blast Soccer, and Haunted Hallway.
The game fuses 2D platforming with a unique twist — the levels in which you play are randomly-generated, and the item you're looking for always remains elusive (it's always in "Another Castle" — sound familiar?). Once you beat the game, the item becomes unlocked on the next playthrough, adding to the game's longevity.
Interestingly, Byers posted information about Another Castle on a thread on NeoGAF, which resulted in him being put in touch with representatives at Nintendo and ultimately led to approval to develop for the Wii U eShop.
We managed to catch up with Byers and quiz him on his background and Another Castle's development:
Uncade right now is basically just me. I’m based in Richmond, Virginia. Part of the reason I named my company Uncade, as in “unlike an arcade”, is that we are in a period of great disruption in the game industry right now. Everything from motion controls, digital distribution, smart phones, fantastic middleware, and the rise of indie development are shaking up what’s possible, even for just a solo developer such as myself.
I’m really excited to be working on the Wii U, and am especially looking forward to coming up with some funky uses for the tablet controller.
With the development for Another Castle I decided to switch things up. Instead of making a small mobile focused title, I decided to work on a larger game where I would release as early as I can for free, and iteratively improve the game, eventually getting to a saleable alpha and then full release.
Emily Rogers ended up playing the prototype and got in touch, asking if I would like to get the game on the eShop. I of course said yes, because I think Another Castle on the eShop should be a slam dunk, it’s something I think Nintendo fans in particular will really enjoy. I spent some time improving the prototype, and Emily then got me in touch with Dan [Adelman] at Nintendo, and I was just approved as a Wii U developer yesterday. The eShop seems pretty indie friendly from what I’ve seen so far, the most important thing for me being the ability to add post release content updates.
Another Castle is up on Kickstarter now, with a modest goal of just $12,000. As well as coming to the Wii U, the game will be available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and OUYA, and the release is scheduled for some time in 2014. A prototype of the game has been made available online, which you can check out here.
Special thanks to Emily Rogers.
#1
47drift said:
Man, you guys gotta be more careful when tossing the word Retro around. Any time I see it I get more excited than I ought to be.
#2
bfletchtone said:
Random shark!
#3
Jellitoe said:
Looks interesting in a weird way
#4
bahooney said:
Absolutely adore the graphical style. Holy cow.
#5
zane said:
Only Shinen giving wiiu the exclusive treatment? Multiports isn't as fun as games made espacially for the wiiu
imho
#6
Znerd said:
Must Have Platformers
#7
shinesprite said:
Strange, it seems like a better fit for 3DS.
#8
3Dash said:
Looks interesting, I'll keep my eye on this.
#9
ngamer155 said:
This game looks really cool! Kind of looks like Paper Mario: Sticker Star without the stickers.
#10
XCWarrior said:
Interesting, but 2014? Jeez. It's not even March of 2013 yet. Well, more stuff coming is what is important.
If the Wii U becomes the Indy console of this generation, I'm cool with that.
#11
AyeHaley said:
If I had the money I would back this definitely.
#12
WiiLovePeace said:
Awesome! Too far away but understandable given his company consists of just one guy. Looks like fun, its on my "games to watch" list.
#13
Hyperstar96 said:
Looks good; I did the $20 pledge.
#14
TysonOfTime said:
Wow, this is instantly on my look-out-foor list.
I'll take a look at the Kickstarter later and may just fund it.
#15
daveh30 said:
Sounds like an awesome idea... definitely one to look out for!
#16
FineLerv said:
My WiiU may end up being filled with E-Shoo games at this rate. I'll get a retail game every two or three months and fill the gap with Indie titles.
#17
daveh30 said:
After looking at the Kickstarter page, this looks pretty deadly. Did the $20 pledge, includes a copy of the game for the Wii U, and the first 200 pledges @$20 get your name in the credits! Pretty cool!
#18
3Dash said:
Hm. I may have to fund this.
#19
Mk_II said:
im sorry but this just looks awful to me.
#20
Moshugan said:
@shinesprite ''Strange, it seems like a better fit for 3DS.''
Yeah, I agree. Doesn't have that big screen flair. But it's good to have games suited for off-screen play also.
I'm just not really into randomly generated levels. But if the gameplay is tight, maybe. It sure looks lo-fi. I'm not a fan of the modern indie trend of bad graphics. I'm not against pixel graphics and such, but it should be done with grace. This looks a bit lame.
#21
Void said:
I don't like the art too much, if it was for the 3DS I might be more interested, but I'll still wait to see how it turns out.
#22
carlocunanan said:
Looks nice... I quite like the environment and surroundings in that game...
#23
Pixelroy said:
Good indie platformers, bring 'em.
#24
brandonbwii said:
The pop-out action just screams 3DS. Why isn't that system getting nearly as much indie love?
#25
Anvil said:
Looks similar to different Mario games put together. Not buying it if it's some mocked version of Mario with a yo-yo as a blunt weapon.
#26
Retro_on_theGo said:
I don't like the sounded of randomly generated levels. But I'll wait to see more on it.
#27
ogo79 said:
@47drift
/me tosses the word "retro" around and around
#28
Bazly said:
I don't understand why everyone on this site hates randomly generated levels so much. Those three words basically told me that I will be insta-buying this game.
#29
Big-Daddy said:
Not bad I may get.
#30
Henmii said:
Looks fun but it has random generated levels, sadly!
Besides: Is there ANYTHING happening on the Wii u retail side, or is that something from the past?!
#31
xBASSxMONSTAx said:
Day 1 purchase. I love it when Indie developers get the chance to shine.;
#32
ThreadShadow said:
Looks funny(and fun), has potential.
#33
Neram said:
This is fantastic, the folks at NoA are doing a great job of keeping Nintendo relevant in the Indie scene. I love supporting Indie games, especially when they get released on my systems of choice. I mean, I support Indie games on any platform, but I'm just saying it makes me happy to support them and keep Nintendo platforms relevant at the same time, being a Nintendo fan.
#34
emeyece said:
...hmm, don't like the graphics.
#35
Icefreak45 said:
Love the art style and the gameplay itself looks intresting. Im loving all the support Nintendo is getting/giving from indie developers!
#36
Mariru said:
Looks weird. And maybe fun. I'm interested now! But yeah, why not on the 3DS? Graphics like this looks really nice in 3D.