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:

April 1st is Dishwasher Day!

The press release went out, so I can finally open my big mouth!

April 1st is Dishwasher Day!  (no joke)

From the release:

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is a 2-D stylistic action platformer for Xbox LIVE® Arcade showcasing fast action, deep gameplay, and a unique visual style. An undead samurai dishwasher in a dystopian universe is on a quest for revenge against the evil cyborg army. To dispatch hordes of zombies, cyborgs, and robots, the Dishwasher has at his fingertips a devastating array of attacks using ancient blades, disturbing machinery, and screen-obliterating Dish Magic. Compete with the rest of the world in a variety of speed run and high score challenges to become the most formidable Dishwasher yet!

• Fresh take on gameplay: Gameplay in The Dishwasher is a fresh take on popular stylistic action combat, taking combo- and timing-intensive combat into a 2-D, blood-soaked environment emphasizing speed, vertical movement, and maneuverability, and player-driven pacing to create a truly unique, fluid and visceral experience, with an appealingly psychotic art style.
• New game modes with guitar peripheral: The Dishwasher has arcade co-op, drop-in solo campaign co-op, and drop-in solo phantom guitar co-op using the guitar peripheral. Phantom guitar players can unload electric death by playing wicked solos, perform basic movement, and use the guitar’s motion control to rip through enemies with a razor-sharp headstock.
• The power of XNA: The Dishwasher is a testament to the power of XNA. The game was created by one guy with no professional game development experience (and a self-described lousy programmer) in about a year and a half.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai releases for the Xbox LIVE Arcade on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 for 800 MS Points. Check out the video trailer by clicking here

Discounted Alien Hominid too!  Not a bad week…

Update: xbox.joystiq.com put in a kind word.  Love you guys!

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?)

To Answer All of Your Questions

Since the The Dishwasher trial went live, I’ve been getting a lot of emails from people. At first I did my best to answer them, but now I’ve been so inundated, and I’ve got so many deadlines coming up, that I figure it would be easier to just identify the common thread of questioning and answer that here!

Here are the big ones:

1. How do I make games?
   I’d definitely recommend taking any classes if they’re available, whether you’re in high school or college. Though XNA is all C#, learning C, C++, or Java will still help to familiarize you with the basics of programming.

   Also, my advice to everyone is always this: start small! Not to sound arrogant, but The Dishwasher is basically the culmination of 6 years of hobbyist game development experience; if you’ve only got a week of experience you’re not exactly going to be able to match the caliber of The Dishwasher. And forget 3D altogether if you’re just starting. Basically, if you set out to make something that would’ve been considered cool in the 80’s, you’ve got a fighting chance.

2. Is The Dishwasher coming out for Windows?
   There aren’t any plans currently, for a few reasons. The biggest reason, of course, is because Microsoft is publishing it as an XBLA title, so I’m going to focus on that. Also, the game plays like rubbish with a keyboard, and adding support for multiple gamepads is always ugly in my opinion. The Dishwasher is made for the Xbox360 controller (though I could see the DualShock working). I also think PC piracy is a really, really, really big problem.
3. When is The Dishwasher coming out?
   When it’s done! The XNA team and I are both breaking new ground by adding all sorts of new functionality, and there certainly is a lot to do. I’m 99.9% certain it’ll be out in 2008, but beyond that, I can’t really say anything, because it would amount to nothing more than a politician’s promise.

So there you have it!  I’m always happy to answer questions, so keep ‘em coming!

GameSpot Bit

GameSpot let me do a little Q & A with them.  I felt the need to say something!

From the article:

Far from a typical retail boxed product, The Dishwasher is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up with a penchant for Kill Bill-style blood geysers, shambling zombies, and maniacal robots. Inspired by equal parts jeet kune do master Bruce Lee, poseur Italian restaurants, and Ryuhei Kitamura’s epic Versus, The Dishwasher in many ways acts as a proof of concept for Microsoft’s ambitious service and gives players the chance to channel their inner butcher while bounding off walls and mashing on buttons in the process.

And then I say cool things like:

GS: In terms of ease of use, does XNA have the potential to be the magic bullet for bringing game design and development to the masses? As in, are we going to see a lot of average joes making quality, fun games?

JS: Game development is still an extremely ambitious venture, so depending on your definition of “the masses,” we may never see this type of magic bullet. Otherwise, a guy like me is probably always going to be the best you can hope for as an average joe. I went to school for computer science while working a series of crappy jobs and have always dreamed of making video games but have no industry experience or special game development education.

Then I checked the GameSpot forum on this, and found some excellent nuggets of InterWeb wisdom; some good ones:

1 of the best Arcade games out

I want to buy it now but that not a option. Dam you Microsoft, Dam you.

The one drawback to this game being so amazing

Is that every Wed. until it releases will be a disappointment no matter what comes out.

…and some not so good ones:

This is the most hot topic game in the world.

It might as well be called Johnny the Homicidal Douchebag.

There are a lot more good ones then there are not so good ones, so I’m really pleased (and I’m getting a little better at accepting criticism).  It seems like people are really hungry for some XBLA content that isn’t classic arcade games or cutesy casual games.  Not like there’s anything terrifically wrong with classic arcade games and cutesy casual games (I like a little Boom Boom Rocket and Metal Slug 3, thankyouverymuch), but I think people are pretty agreed about the desire for interesting new content, even if it is “hot topic.”

And for the record, I prefer Salvation Army for my counterculture wardrobe over Hot Topic.  Think I can afford Hot Topic?  I’m still poor, you know.

GDC and Me!

I’m at GDC!

I got to step on stage for a minute or so during the keynote and play some Dishwasher.  Joystiq loves me, they really do.

Gamespot got to play the game at the demo kioks.  They did a hands-on, with nice bits like:

The terrific visual design is replete with muddy blacks and rusty reds, and we especially loved the splashes of blood that splattered against the screen and trickled down. Ska Software has delivered a demo with remarkable potential, and we look forward to getting our hands on the complete product.

A trial of The Dishwasher is available on XBL for a very limited time.  Also, this crazy video they made about me should be on XBL somewhere.

This has been an awesome week–so far I’ve met a bunch of Bungie guys, Cliffy B and his lancer (he does impressions), Itagaki-san (major Dishwasher influence right there) and Peter Molyneux, who gave me lots of interesting advice.  It’s a bit surreal to get attention from a total industry icon.

I’ve also been chillaxing with the XNA team a bit, which has been a kind of neat experience all around: I’ve been working with the XNA framework–their baby–for over a year now, and they’ve been watching XNA being promoted by The Dishwasher–my baby–for about the same amount of time.

More updates to come!

Major Pluggage

It turns out I wasn’t the only one who got a kick out of that last video.  It got picked up by some pretty high profile gaming blogs and news sites.

From Destructoid:

I’m excited for The Dishwasher because it represents something different on the XBLA horizon. I, for one, have had enough of the standard XNA fare with its miniature graphics, thrown-together “pew pew pew” gameplay, and disgusting overuse of the same red/green/blue/purple color palate. This game is stylish, it’s fast-paced, and it looks challenging and incredibly fun to play. It shows developers out there that a little creativity with XNA can go a long way.

From Xbox360fanboy.com:

How exactly the guitar sections — in which players match button inputs with corresponding prompts — meld with the game proper we have no idea, and honestly don’t care. All we know is it looks like glorious, violent fun.

From XBLArcade.com:

Along the way we have been granted various glimpses into the world of this dishwashing rampage.  And perhaps those earlier videos left you wanting more?  If so a new trailer has just arrived that features more blood, more insane massive damage combos, and more…guitar?

Thanks as always to these great sources for the coverage.  I keep feeds on these sites, so it’s always a bit of a surprise to see The Dishwasher show up in the wild!