Posts tagged with “psn”

Ever wonder what we think of Slam Bolt Scrappers? What we feel we did well, and where we think we goofed? Well, today is your lucky day! Last night I spoke at the monthly video game developer meet up here in Boston and gave a run down of what went well and what didn’t go well while we were making Slam Bolt Scrappers (what is called a post mortem in the vernacular), and it was really interesting!

In the talk I discuss how we messed up (tutorial problems, too chaotic), how we did well and got lucky (working with SOE, getting the game out early and often), and what was bittersweet (not putting in networked multiplayer, being especially innovative). If you are a SBS fan or interested in how games are made I highly suggest checking it out, it’s a fun watch!

Also, here are the slides if you want to check them out:

It’s been a long wait, but the PSN store is finally back online! SWEET! That means that you can get your two free games, check out a bunch of new content that updated during the outage, and most importantly, you can buy Slam Bolt Scrappers. Yes, life is good.

We know that a lot of people were bummed that they couldn’t get our game this past month, and of course we’re concerned that some former PSN store users my be apprehensive about coming back. To help sweeten the deal a bit beyond what Sony is already doing we’ve decided to drop the price of Slam Bolt Scrappers from $14.99 to $9.99. That’s means you can get a face full of four way multiplayer mayhem for 1/3 less than before. Pretty awesome, amiright?

So go grab Slam Bolt Scrappers in the PSN store now for the new low price of $9.99. If you like it tell your friends and get them to play it too! If you don’t like it tell your enemies and inflict it upon them.  Happy Scrapping!

By now you’ve probably noticed the PlayStation Network all over the news, it appears that the service was hacked and user information was compromised. It’s recently escalated to the point where somehow Sony is explaining the situation to Congress!

A lot of people have been asking us lately how the PSN outage impacts Fire Hose Games. Obviously it’s been a huge bummer for us as people can’t buy Slam Bolt Scrappers right now, and we hope the problem is resolved quickly! With any luck we’ll be able to get SBS involved in the Welcome Back program or something similar when the store comes back online.

It’s also important to remember not to blame Sony for this. Near as I can tell this was much more a product of competent hackers than incompetent security. Unfortunately this sort of thing does happen on a regular basis (remember back when Gawker got hacked?), and I think that Sony’s handling of the situation has been pretty decent so far. We also feel that Sony has been a good partner to work with, so we’re trying to keep things in perspective and keep our Zen.

In the meantime, while you’re waiting, those of you who were smart enough to download Slam Bolt Scrappers already can enjoy the awesome non-networked multiplayer in the comfort of your own homes.  I recommend surrounding yourself with friends, cursing each other and swearing vengeance after each match.

OK, I’m seriously pumped. It’s incredible how much of a roller coaster the past 24 hours have been. First the game goes up on PSN. Then BAM, the entire store is reskinned with a SBS theme. AMAZING. And then if that wasn’t enough, today Tycho let us post our story on Penny Arcade. I don’t even know what to say at this point, I’m totally floored at the support we’ve been getting.

So maybe I won’t say anything about the game, and will instead just say thanks to everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying playing Slam Bolt Scrappers as much as we enjoyed making the game.

For those of you new here to the website, welcome! Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting more information about how we created Slam Bolt Scrappers and the challenges we faced along the way, so if you’re aspiring to jump into the indie game dev biz this might be as good a place to start reading up as any. I also wrote a great post last year on last year’s PAX East panel about starting your own indie studio, maybe you’ll enjoy giving it a read.

A quick note: All of us at Fire Hose are really concerned about everyone caught up in the Japan disasters. Our thoughts go out to you, and we hope that our Japanese friends and fans are safe.

YESSSSS!!! Today is the day! After 2.5 years of love, Slam Bolt Scrappers is finally out today on the PlayStation Network! We’re ecstatic here at the office, and can’t wait for all of you to finally have the chance to experience first hand what we’ve put our heart and soul into.

If you’ve played the game before, and you probably have if you’re here, then please go check out the final version online, we’re really proud of it. If you haven’t then go check out the free demo on PSN and see what we’re all about. We know you’re going to love it.

Thanks to all the fans and people who made this game possible! Our full list of credits are after the jump.

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