What's Next for Collapsus (+Nintendo Announcement) news

Hey guys! I know it's kind of unusual to see a blog post from us that's not on a Monday, but I figured that since we're competing for App of the Year, it would be best to get this out while all eyes are on us. Over the past couple weeks I introduced the uninitiated to the history of Collapsus and an exploration of what'll be in the game when it's released. This time around, I want to write an article about our development process and where we go up through release. Sound good? Lets get started!

Like I said before, we started in 2006 with a rough prototype and just this past year really started ramping up production (mostly due to the fact that we became an actual company with an LLC, actual studio space and whatnot). While the prototype used the awful Javascript engine, Stagecast, when the project was picked back up again we started with CoronaSDK but very quickly moved to Unity. Shortly after that, we needed to port from Unity 4 to 5!

Unity's been pretty reliable for us and as such, we've been getting quite a lot done, having the core gameplay (bar a few bugs) entirely playable at this point (as those of you who played it at OGDE can attest). After that, we started working on getting the new power-ups working. This involved working on a new system called the power-up "Dock" and making some really cool (and useful) effects!

If I had to guess, I'd say those are about 75% done or so. The next step is working on the Special modes. The entire point of the Special modes are to change the game perpetrators in some way that dramatically alter the gameplay you came to know in the Standard modes. Our favorite example is 'Gravity' mode, where by tilting your phone, you change the gravity of the screen which, of course, changes how the blocks fall. It's all pretty good stuff. We're probably about 85% with those.

As for the Puzzle mode, Daily puzzle and puzzle editor/sharing tool, they're a bit less developed. As a whole, they're about 45% done. Don't worry, though, that's mostly because the individual puzzles have yet to be generated (we have an algorithm that builds, tests and assigns them a difficulty) and all that crazy server stuff. Speaking of server stuff...

Sigh. Versus mode. It's about 10% done. There's so much going into Versus mode, we're still nt sure if it won't just be free DLC. So many new power-ups, new mechanics, an entire new screen layout and all that networking! It's so much work, but it's what we're mainly focusing on right now as far as design is concerned. The programmers are still doing everything else, but us designers... this is where all our time goes. We want it to be perfect... we hope it won't disappoint!

Well, what's after development? Glad you asked! We're still working on the Kickstarter video which means that the studio remodel had to be finished all the way. We're filming half of it here and the other half at Arcade Legacy so we can have real people try it out and talk about it. Right before the launch, we're releasing our press kit and we already know of a few places who asked us to let them know when we're launching so they could do articles on it. Around that time, we'll be releasing online weekly builds, playable in your browser, on Kongregate and Newgrounds... that way you can get a feel for the game before you go support it.

After that, though we're putting it up on Greenlight and shipping it off to the App Store, Google Play, Amazon and Microsoft Marketplaces. Funnily enough, while writing this article right now, Nintendo just called approving us as authorized developers. Like, seriously... while I was writing this. That's just awesome!

We're also then going to be putting the Android build up on Piratebay for free and hopefully we can get onto GOG as well as some smaller marketplaces as well. After that, though we're going to try to approach the Humble Bundle (and various other bundles) as well as submit to IGF, IndieCade and IndieMEGABOOTH! There's a whole lot going on for us in the next few months and that's not even considering the other games we're already working on!

Now, as for even smaller releases like on the dedicated Collapsus arcade cabinet going to Arcade Legacy, the version going onto the Winnitron network and the release for the Pebble smartwatch, we'll have to see. They shouldn't be a problem still, but they may be delayed until after the release proper!

There's so much left to do, but so much done already! We can't wait to keep showing you guys what we got!