Retroware
joined
We are a collective of skilled, international developers, artists, and creatives working together on video games, rad swag, and arcade machines. We love providing retro-inspired gaming experiences as well as producing modern, carefully-crafted titles and merchandise without compromise. We’ve always been an Internet name synonymous with linking the past to present-day entertainment. But now, Retroware aims to be Today’s Source for Tomorrow’s Classics!
My Blogs
RETROWARE x PREMIUM EDITION
Final Days to Preorder Physical
Nintendo Switch Edition of Eagle Island Twist and LOVE 3
Indie Game Dev. Retroware Teams Up with Premium Edition Games
Preorders for LOVE 3 and Eagle Island Twist are now open, but will end on November 7th!! Both retro-inspired titles will receive the Premium Edition Games physical release treatment complete with Standard and Retro variants sure to satisfy any modern collector. Additionally, a super special Retroware Preorder MEGA PACK is available!
Again, the preorder window is LIMITED, so reserve your copies NOW!
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|| LOVE 3 ||
FIND HOPE WITHIN THE HOPELESS
With a minimalist aesthetic evocative of retro titles, LOVE 3 is an addictive and modern challenge for today’s gamers. As fiveEight, a lone survivor searching for others in a mechanical, apocalyptic world, players traverse through challenges comprised of cogs, spikes, keys, bumpers, and beyond. LOVE 3 features
- pick-up-and-play precision in 25 minimalistic, hand-crafted levels,
- an original soundtrack by James Bennett with songs for each level,
- an adaptive and diverse challenge: set your own checkpoints and number of lives, toggle slow motion, or try out different game modes, like speedrun,
- every level from LOVE, LOVE 2: kuso, and LOVE Remastered in addition to the original 42 track OST.
- Nintendo Switch physical case and LOVE 3 game
- Double-sided insert
- Full-color manual
- Numbered challenge card that players can earn a limited Challenge Patch from
- Super high-quality, glossy slipcase and sleeve in full color
- Bonus preorder-only dog tag
- Nintendo Switch physical case and LOVE 3 game with double-sided insert, challenge card, dog tag, and full-color manual
- NES-style retro box with art created by developer Fred Wood
- Jewel case CD featuring the LOVE 3 official soundtrack
- Premium quality mini-history/art booklet
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|| EAGLE ISLAND TWIST ||
SOAR INTO ADVENTURE…
…and embark on two separate, action-packed journeys across Eagle Island! Join Quill, Fia, and their projectile bird companions Koji and Kusako respectively to blast through baddies and navigate perilous platforming! Overcome rogue-lite challenges as Quill and Koji and rescue Ichiro in the classic Eagle Island, or navigate diverse, handcrafted stages as Fia and Kusako to restore the Manaroc Twist in Eagle Island Twist! Both entries include a range of accessibility and gameplay options that can be tailored to any play style.
- the original game, Eagle Island includes
- a captivating narrative story,
- procedurally-generated environments,
- collectibles, combos, and bird-flinging combat,
- and award-winning* accessibility options!
- the follow-up title, Eagle Island Twist features
- 45 handcrafted stages,
- nostalgic visuals and gameplay,
- pick-up-and-play projectile action,
- and 12 HUGE bosses!
*MomoCon Indie Awards Showcase Winner, 2019
- Nintendo Switch physical case and game
- Double-sided insert
- Full-color manual
- Numbered challenge card that players can earn a limited Challenge Patch from
- Super high-quality, glossy slipcase and sleeve in full color
- Bonus preorder-only dog tag
- Nintendo Switch physical case and game with double-sided insert, challenge card, dog tag, and full-color manual
- NES-style retro box
- Jewel case CD featuring the official soundtrack
- Premium quality mini-history/art booklet
RETROWARE PREORDER MEGA PACK EDITION
- Both Nintendo Switch physical cases and games with double-sided inserts, challenge cards, dog tags, and full-color manuals
- Both NES-style retro boxes
- Both jewel case CDs featuring the official soundtracks
- Both premium quality mini-history/art booklets
- A SUPER CUTE EAGLE ISLAND KOJI PLUSH!
|| ABOUT RETROWARE ||
We are a collective of skilled, international developers, artists, and creatives working together on video games, rad swag, and arcade machines. We love providing retro-inspired gaming experiences as well as producing modern, carefully-crafted titles and merchandise without compromise. We’ve always been an Internet name synonymous with linking the past to present-day entertainment. But now, Retroware aims to be Today’s Source for Tomorrow’s Classics!
|| ABOUT PREMIUM EDITION GAMES ||
Our specialty is high-quality releases created with ingenuity and passion inspired by the amazing work game developers have put into game creation. We take great pride in helping preserve games physically for posterity. We highlight every release by going over all the items in detail and interviewing all the people helping make it a reality! It’s Modern Retro… Done Right!
Preorders End: November 7th, 2022
Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Physical Release)
Preorder HERE
Copies slated for fulfillment during Spring 2023
LOVE 3 | EAGLE ISLAND TWIST | RETROWARE | PREMIUM EDITION GAMES
MEDIA CONTACT
|| FOR REVIEW KEYS AND/OR OTHER INQUIRIES ||
Tara Tomaino
Publishing Coordinator, Retroware
(855) 908-8823 ext. 715
What Adjectives Can You Use To Describe This Image? || Iron Meat (Forthcoming)
To establish the setting in a video game and, more precisely, the appropriate tone that results from it, is to create a true emotional connection for players. To use a well-known example, I always felt drawn to Final Fantasy VII’s (1997) initial moments of swift urgency, the grimy permanency of a pre-rendered Midgar swallowed by cold steel and seemingly perpetual darkness. In the first playable moments, after Cloud does his flip off the train, we are met not only with the spiky hair protagonist, but with a world void of the natural, an environment entirely constructed, and consumed, by industrial design. After fighting your way through hordes of machines and all sorts of animate and inanimate baddies with lasers, the only reprieve from the brooding slum is at the conclusion of the motorcycle mini-game (and the end of Disc 1). We are finally able to zoom out from Midgar’s manufactured, depressive mood. By this point, the player has a good idea that this game will make them feel quite different from, say, Kirby’s Dream Land 3.
Flipadelphia, I mean Midgar.
We can plot across the medium’s timeline how tone is just as quintessential to game development as character design or controls. Additionally, it contributes to the overall balance of a title. In general, the tone, whether in a video game, book, or movie, is how a piece of art or entertainment makes a participant subjectively feel — the adjectives we use to describe both the title and our reaction to it. However, tone, unlike setting, is not as cut and dry. It is not one specific contribution, but rather is generated through a myriad of elements (setting, mechanics, music, etc.)
In forthcoming Iron Meat, player-character Vadim is met with a brutal onslaught of an alien life form dubbed “the Meat”. During the game’s earliest designs, the tone was lacking, but, perhaps intuitively, became more refined with each updated mechanic. As we continue to work on the title here at Screenwave Media Games, there is now no limit to how bloody, how explosive, how destructive we can make it. In turn, we’ve created a game with some serious psychological horror —a run-and-gun as addictively fun as it is disturbing. “The Meat” consumes and consequently mutates everything and everyone within everyday, real-life settings such as military bases, cityscapes, and moving trains.
Before “Tone” || After “Tone”
The locations at the core of Iron Meat’s levels can be argued as “generic” but in this commonality, developer Razz has set a tone that is actually easier for audiences to resonate with. In fact, the first level progresses in a forest — commonplace for the start of a game, especially one that is retro-inspired. Razz explained to me that it is “a very ordinary military base, where no one expected an attack, especially [from] mutants or aliens. What is happening is a shock [to] the garrison.”
When I think “forest”, visions of isolation or at least an untouched swath of nature comes to mind. By opening the game with a normally unscathed place, but then intertwining unexpected chaos within it, Razz is flipping player expectations and creating tension that drives the player to continue — that even a “peaceful” forest is not safe by the all-encompassing Meat. Players are able to envision these ordinary settings in the normalcy of their own lives, allowing them to be better invested with what is happening on the screen — and more open things a bit more… “meaty”.
Before “Tone” || After “Tone”
Developers should always consider the conflicting and harmonizing elements of their game in relation to the tone they are attempting to create, specifically in terms of mechanics. As YouTube channel Extra Credits exemplifies, “Imagine Silent Hill 2 with Bayonetta 2’s mechanics.” Which combat design you decide to use in your game is just as influential as the narrative, music, or setting to the game’s overall tone, thus a player's enjoyment.
Additionally, it is no secret that players take on a more active role in gaming than if watching a movie. The audience is solely responsible for a character’s controls and getting a sprite from point A to point B, not to mention the obstacles, NPCs, and decisions they may encounter along the way. As such, it is the job of a development team, regardless of how small the team or the game, to always invest in the proper tone so a player initially and continues to feel truly immersed in a title. It’s why Silent Hill 2 continues to be as eerie, as suspenseful as it is today. It is also why I am still able to play the original Final Fantasy VII — even as the sluggish mechanics, boxy graphics, and erroneous localization continue to poorly age.
-Tara
Hello Indie DB!
Admittedly, and regrettably, we have been lax when it comes to updating our presence here on Indie DB. However that does not mean we haven't been busy working on some new titles! For those who are following, THANK YOU! We are continuously in awe with your waves of support and also with the brilliant games fellow indie developers and publishers have released in the past several years. If you haven't yet, be sure to follow us on Twitter (@screenwavegames) or join the conversation in our public Discord. We love talking about video games and love talking to people who love to talk about video games!
We are all very painfully aware of the direct impact that COVID19 has had on both our personal and work lives, and, at Screenwave in particular, we really miss meeting fans during conventions and other public events. Too Many Games' Game Swap this past weekend was a HUGE success and not only were we able to showcase some of our newest demoes to hungry congoers but also had some very insightful conversations.
Recently, on the conversation of conventions, we also entered a GAME JAM on itch.io hosted by YoYo Games with the extremely vibrant theme of neon! In just under 2 weeks, our team developed a fully-functional, aesthetically pleasing title, aptly named N.E.O.N.: Never-Ending Onslaught of Nerds. In this addictive arcade-style romp, you play as a cosplayer, posing for photos with adoring fans; but watch out! If one of these "nerds" touches you, things will get AWKWARD. Although the judges are still deliberating on the winners of this contest, we just wanted to express how much we learned from the experience and how many incredibly talented designers/developers we discovered! Good luck everyone!
So, since it's been awhile, grab your favorite retro system (I'll be bringing my N64) and gather around the fire... LET'S CHAT.
2021 RELEASES
We are already deep into 2021 as I type this. As such, some notable releases have passed, including:
ANGRY VIDEO GAME NERD I&II DELUXE for STEAM, NINTENDO SWITCH, PS4||PS5, XBOX|X|S||XBOX ONE
Released March 19, 2021
With the overwhelmingly positive feedback on both Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures and Angry Video Game Nerd II: Assimilation, we decided to bring fans the ultimate experience; two revamped and remastered platformers that will bring out your inner Nerd rage. Available for digital purchase, AVGN I&II Deluxe features an all-new final chapter, new characters, an updated game engine, and faster respawning. Be sure to check out the game's page on Indie DB here to look at some "shi**y screenshots" and check out this "bull****" trailer:
EAGLE ISLAND TWIST for STEAM, NINTENDO SWITCH, PS4||PS5, XBOX X|S|| XBOX ONE
Released May 28, 2021
We teamed up with Pixelnicks once more, addressing much of the feedback from fans on the original Eagle Island! A year and a half later, Eagle Island Twist was born! Featuring over 45 hand-crafted stages of single-player, pick-up-and-play action, players can expect to battle fauna and flora, master retro-style platforming, and defeat 12 huge bosses, all in crisp, pixelated detail. Eagle Island Twist is a massive DLC expansion for Eagle Island, and, as a result, both games are included in the digital purchase (not to mention, if you already own Eagle Island, you will get Eagle Island Twist for free).
2021 FREE DEMO DROPS
SO, that covers what we have released since we all got together. But what about the titles we have yet to release? There's many, and each have their own demo available now on STEAM for FREE!
LUME and the SHIFTING VOID || Release Date: TBA
Developer(s): Howltide, Freak Zone Games, Screenwave Media
Join Lume in a fight against the other-dimensional hordes of The Shifting Void with her experimental Holostrikers in this platform-action adventure!
LOVE 3 || Release Date: Late 2021
Developer: Fred Wood (Mokuzai Studio)
LOVE 3 is a precision platformer where you control fiveEight, a lone survivor searching for others in a mechanical, apocalyptic world. Face challenging obstacles, discover hidden secrets, and try to find hope within the hopeless as you overcome each new danger.
IRON MEAT || Release Date: TBA
Developer: Ivan Suvorov (Razz)
Iron Meat is a apocalyptical run-and-gun shooter featuring an onslaught of mechanics ripped from the dawn of the NES.
Well, that's all for now! I am probably forgetting something here... and if you are in the Washington D.C. (USA) area, be sure to say "hi" at OTAKON 2021 this August!
Be well and be happy!
- Screenwave Media Games
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Drop a Comment or Shoot Me an Email!
tara.tomaino@screenwavemedia.com
tel:1-855-908-8823 ext.715
Screenwave Media has an update on Use Your Words! If you’ve received one of our Steam/PC codes and are looking to stream yourself playing Use Your Words or want to post coverage of it on YouTube, there’s an additional step you should take. When you first turn on the game, we recommend you capturing footage while in Let’s Play mode, located in your settings. Let’s Play mode adds an extra 30 seconds to the clock to allow for stream lag. It will also turn off any copyrighted music that is used in the game. This will avoid any Copyright claims made by the Music Rights Holder. You can also turn the Music Volume fader all the way down in the settings menu.
Follow these simple steps:
- Press the ESC button when game loads
- Go into settings
- Switch to Let’s Play mode (you can press ESC at any point in the game to get to the main menu)
- You can turn on Spectator mode and Family mode by doing the same steps above
- Screenwave Media
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