Devolver Digital and Megacat Studios are teaming up to create a brand-new SNES game which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues within the game development industry.
Fork Parker’s Crunch Out was announced at the Game Developer Conference today, and is available to preorder at megacatstudios.com for $49.99 right now.
The entirety of Devolver Digital’s profits from the game will go to the Take This organisation, a nonprofit outfit dedicated to "informing the games community about mental health issues, providing education and services within the industry and tackling mental illness prevention."
Descrbed as a "classic arcade-style game" with Devolver Digital's CFO as the maniacal studio head, the game puts a satirical spin on the process of game development, but carries an important message - as Kate Edwards, board member at Take This, explains:
As demonstrated in our 2016 white paper "Crunch Hurts", crunch is an unsustainable practice that exploits game creators' passion at the expense of their physical and mental wellness. We applaud and appreciate Devolver Digital's and Megacat Studios' creative approach to exposing the reality of crunch while generously supporting our mission.
The game will be distributed on cartridge and will come boxed with a printed manual "that will be inevitably lost by a younger sibling", according to the amusingly-written PR. The game is limited to 1,000 physical copies and, as well as being available direct from Megacat Studios, will also be sold at select independent game retailers around the United States.
Comments 25
Eeeeh ?!
SNES Cartridge in year 2018 ??
I can't help but think that releasing this as a Super Nintendo cartridge will undermine their goal of spreading their message as widely as possible. They're going to release the game in other accessible formats, right? Because if not the only party this will benefit most will be collectors.
@Anti-Matter
That shouldn't be of any surprise.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/05/columbus_circle_is_releasing_a_new_super_famicom_game_this_year
Looks cool!
I love that SNES cartridges are still being made, and are becoming more popular recently. That console should never truly die.
No love for the pal Europe users
Looks cool! but i'm guessing it's US only and wont work on PAL SNES systems.
Would be nice if they released it on digital stores like the Eshop shortly after the cartridge stock is depleted.
I'd happily get it digitally on my Switch to help the cause.
The limited supply means that probably almost nobody will actually play them as the scalpers will buy them out almost immediately.
@Perryg92 According to the listing there's no region lock:
"The SuperCIC chip in SNES games allow the board to run in any region, but there will be some speed differences when played on a PAL console, since the PAL consoles have a different refresh rate than NTSC consoles."
Of course, if it's a standard US shell (as the images suggest) you'll need to remove the casing or find some other way to get the thing to fit.
@1UP_MARIO
"No love for the pal Europe users"
Pssst....
Use the Supaboy SFC......
This looks very cool! I can’t resist new NES or SNES games so I am in. The game concept sounds very interesting!
Once the stunt finishes, hope they port? it to the Switch. At the end the day, I expect the game to be fun!
I would love to get something like this but there's so many other games to buy. Hopefully they release a digital version at some point.
Glad there are devs out there that still appreciate the old NES, Super NES, SMS, Sega Genesis, and Dreamcast and continue to make games for those. These would look awesome on the Analog Super Nt.
This is great! I want it for the Switch though.
That is pretty cool. But my SNES is quite literally on the other side of the Earth. So I hope they port it to release in the Switch eshop later on.
@Jokerwolf I understand the joke, but this really isn't an okay thing to joke about. Some people really have that problem, and I know people who have done that in the past. Please don't make light of this issue.
@Heavyarms55 I have manic depression and making jokes is how I cope, I have also had bulimia and some other issues. If you cannot joke about these things then what is the point, I am not going to walk on eggshells my whole life because of SJW's.
@Jokerwolf Doesn't justify joking about serious crap in a relatively family friendly website like this one.
@Mew You cannot nerf the world, it just makes life harder and makes hard times even harder.
@Jokerwolf Remember that when someone cracks a joke about something terrible that happens to someone you care about.
For my own curiosity, since memory is so cheap, and a co processor 1000x faster than the FX2 chip could probably be added for less than a penny, I would love to see Nintendo put in the effort and seriously put out a final SNES game that truly pushes the limit.
With the extra memory, unlimited frames of animations, including video cut scenes (though I'm not a big fan of cut scenes).
Or just re release current games in their ultimate form, by adding more to the code. Raise all the resolution to the max, etc.
Of course this is just a fantasy, there's no real money in doing this.
I am thankful that I only ever did video game testing as an external contractor. Crunch time is deadly.
Not sure if it's "exploiting passion" as much as poor planning though. If everything is planned well and goes smoothly there's no need for crunch. But I think more studios do it than don't. IIRC one of the reasons many ex-employees of CD Projekt RED leave the studio is the killer crunch.
Nice.
@Heavyarms55 Doesn't bother me sorry. I have tough skin.
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