The Dishwasher Lives!

Fitting heading for a game about a dead samurai, eh?

I just put the flash site up at thedishwasherdeadsamurai.com.  Try to find the secret Neko video (no, not the age gate fail Neko video.  Hint: Sandra Bullock in The Net).

I think there was a bit of a marketing mishap leading into this: several months ago, gamerscoreblog wanted some previously unheard of Dishwasher facts for a post, so I told them about the killer solo minigames and hidden phantom guitar and shadow co-op features.  They posted on this, and somewhere in the shuffle, the secret features became selling points.

So, if you bought The Dishwasher just for killer solos or phantom guitar co-op, you may be disappointed because:

• there are only 3 killer solo tracks and
• phantom guitar is not a selling point.  It’s alright, but, well, there’s really only so much you can do with a guitar controller in an action game.

However, the rest of the game’s not that bad, right?  Well…

• TeamXbox liked it: “The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is an amazing game, even if you don’t have any idea of how it came about or about the size of the studio that made it.”
• OXM liked it: “From how Dishwasher bleeds details with its goth-y antihero cleaving chumps in two to how its meaty, crunchy jabs and slashes feel, it’s all incredibly well done.”
• IGN thought it was ok: “The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is an enjoyable button masher and a commendable effort considering it’s the work of one person.”
• Teletext Game Central (???) hated it: “It may be a matter of taste but we didn’t like the murky, indistinct graphics, whose endless spurts of blood fail to really titillate.”

What the heck is Teletext Game Central?

Anyway, love it or hate it, it’s here!  Deal with it!

Now, if you are wondering about those special modes:

• The phantom guitar is enabled by finding the Amulet of Phantom Rock.  This is hidden near the start of Ivy Trail.
• The Dishwasher’s shadow is enabled by finding the Amulet of Shadow Skull.  This is near the Killer Solo Amp in St. Crux Cemetery.
• There are 3 Killer Solo Amps spread out in the main game.  There are an additional 3 Amps in Samurai difficulty.  If an Amp has a spotlight glowing on it, that means winning the solo will earn you a Psycho Pick.

Really though, they’re not selling points.  They’re fun features, but they’re ancillary.  Awesomely ancillary.

Now for the ugly:

We passed!

We did it!  We passed cert!

Here’s some random (rough) statistics:

• Total development time: 2+ years
• Active bugs closed: 500+
• Builds submitted: 50
• Pre-cert milestone builds passed: 5
• Pre-cert milestone builds failed: Probably 5!
• Cups of coffee consumed: 2200
• Times thought project was doomed: 81020
• Times decided to have faith project would succeed against terrible odds: 81020
• Dev kits red ringed: 1

Amazing!

I don’t know when it will go live (and thanks for asking, all!) and when I do I’ll still have to keep mum, but now that we’re officially through certification, I’m sure your guess will be as good as mine.

Dishwasher goes into cert!

Well, I know it’s been a tad quiet on this front for awhile, but we’re here!  We just entered cert, so I can finally relax, play a few rounds of COD4, and hope that everyone hasn’t forgotten about this little operation!

Of course, the game now has to pass cert, so I’ll be doing a bit of praying over the next few weeks.

And if we hit any snags, well, it’s not the end of the world.  I’d rather have a clean, delayed final product than a buggy, rushed production (who’s with me on this?)

First Dishwasher review in, game still nowhere to be found!

Well, I’m still working out the kinks in The Dishwasher, but that didn’t stop OXM from reviewing the prerelease build for it’s February 2009 issue, at least if NeoGAF is to be believed.

What’d they give it?

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai – 8.0
+Feels good, controls well, looks lovely.
+ Substantial number of modes and options
-You’re too easily lost amid the onscreen chaos.
? Will there be a Dishwasher: Dead Again Samurai? Hope so!

Freaking awesome.

The being lost amid onscreen chaos point was a concern we looked at, ultimately deciding that the onscreen chaos was an integral bit of what makes The Dishwasher awesome.  It’s like Ninja Gaiden 2’s crappy camera: you hate it, but if we gave you God of War’s super-friendly, super-detached camera, the overall badassery of the game would be reduced to about 5-10% (I did the math).

Not to say I’m complaining.  Especially considering what I wanted to give the game…

Now if I can just fix this one last super obnoxious, cert crippling bug…

Juicy Screens

Here are some nice new Dishwasher Screenies, for your viewing enjoyment (and as a little “I’m not dead” post):

I’ve been hard at work implementing netcode and just generally cleaning and polishing, and I’m becoming quite proud of how The Dishwasher is starting to look. I think I’m at a point where I can call netplay on System Link fairly solid (except for a few teeny little bugs–like two machines not quite agreed on whose score is what).

I’m also trying to name my co-op characters–I’m thinking Loïc for the blue guy and Hargreaves for the red guy. They’re obviously not The Dishwasher, but they’re still very fearsome cyborg hunters!