Hey hi hello there. How're you? Craig from Superbrothers A/V here, ie. that bozo what co-created both #sworcery and JETT. A few weeks ago I popped up with a post to tell you about where #sworcery and JETT overlap. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/204060/view/3433458944730393702 Today I'm here to tell you a bit about: how #sworcery led to JETT, how JETT's memorable interstellar demo came about (incl some of my 2013-era character previz), and how my IRL experience as a new parent influenced aspects of its tone. Before I dig in on those topics, I'd like to lay out a little fall 2022 snapshot to catch you up on what my fellow #sworcery co-creators are up to!
@craigdadams on Twitter (RIP?) and Instagram @superbrothersHQ on Twitter (RIP?), @superbrothers on Instagram
COSMIC FRIENDS FOREVER For Capy, that beloved Toronto videogame studio that caused #sworcery to happen, here are a coupla notes:

• #sworcery's co-lead designer Kris Piotrowski headed up the audiovisually immaculate roguelike videogame Below, available here on Steam and on Switch, featuring an outstanding score by Jim Guthrie.
• Capy's latest videogame is the puzzler Grindstone, which lit up Apple Arcade in 2019 with rave reviews, and is now here on Steam and on Switch, featuring a heckuva score by Sam Webster.

Oh, and worth a mention: Nathan Vella, who was the head of Capy back in #sworcery days, is now co-running the show at Annapurna Interactive, publisher of amazing videogames like Outer Wilds, Simogo's Sayonara Wild Hearts, Stray, and many more gems.
As for maestro Jim Guthrie, he has been keeping it real in Toronto in his 'shedquarters', his backyard recording studio, belting out great scores for videogames like Nobody Saves The World from Drinkbox Studios, Bleak Sword, and Capy's Below. Alongside those efforts, it's worth noting that Jim Guthrie had a pretty key role to play in JETT. Jim composed a song called Out Of Our Hands that pretty reliably melts minds as it closes out the JETT demo. Check out the JETT demo yourself and see what you think!

Note: Before and after Jim's song you'll be hearing JETT's epic musical score by composer scntfc (OXENFREE, Old Man's Journey), who also composed the moon grotto music in #sworcery. You can get ears on scntfc's JETT: The Far Shore OST album here. If you're curious about what the JETT demo has on offer, or if you've already played it and you're curious how it came to be, then read on! . . . . .
DEEP DIVE ON JETT'S INTERSTELLAR DEMO Co-creator Patrick at Pine Scented and I had a JETT prototype in 2011, but it wasn't until 2013 that we started chipping away at the full concept, just the two of us. That's when the characters, the narrative and JETT's unorthodox gameplay came into focus. Note: If you'd like to see a glimpse of baby JETT from this time, here's Patrick's #jettdev thread on Twitter. By 2015, we had The Far Shore and Given Time campaigns roughly mapped out, but at that time the experience began with Mei and Isao deploying from The Mother Structure to the unfamiliar planet of the far shore. An epic science fiction moment, for sure, but as time went on it began to feel too abrupt. Who are Mei and Isao? Why are they deploying to this planet? What is a jett and how do I fly it? It occurred to me that, before immersing people in this complex unorthodox videogame, we really oughta consider cooking up and bolting on a kickass prologue. The spec was to 1) intrigue and interest the player right from the get-go with an intricate and distinct storyworld 2) put the player on the hook personally and emotionally, and get them to be curious about and care for the people in this society 3) give players a sense of the gee whiz thrill of how it feels at the helm of a jett...then 4) give the player an opportunity to get familiar with the ensemble cast all before 4) melting some minds and taking players across space and 1000 years into the future. Ideally we'd get all that done in a smooth 30 minutes. It was a tall order, particularly for two people, but a few months into 2016 we had it roughly in place and playable. When people played it in mid 2016 we could see it was delivering pretty well, and that was before Jim's Out Of Our Hands song showed up in 2017. Since those olden days the prologue and everything else got a metric ton of production effort, shaping and polish from dozens of people in the JETT Squad era from 2019 to 2021. I'm real proud of how it came together, and I hope it resonates with you.


At cosmodrome z-13 you'll meet the characters who make up your scout unit, from the leadership -- Misha, Pasha -- to Jones, jett ace and commander. In the JETT demo you'll get a sense of who they are and what kind of headspace they're in, as they leave everything and everyone behind and embark on a one-way trip across space and 1000 years in the future, in the hope of carving out a future on some faraway world. Here are a couple character drawings I had made back in 2013, including Mei's co-pilot Isao (a young George Takei) and jett ace Jones (what if Grace Jones was Captain Kirk). In the olden times of 2014 to 2016, when it was just Patrick and I, it was up to me to create all the 3D models and pretty much anything else visual. It was a relief when we were able to bring in help, with my old pal Chris Beintema on deck for models and rigs for the characters and creatures in the shipping game.

Eventually, the time comes for Mei to lapse into torpor -- JETT's version of cryosleep -- and for her and her fellow scouts to be put aboard a rocket. As the rocket ignites, we drop the needle on Jim's song "Out Of Our Hands"... and off we go, to dock with The Mother Structure in orbit above, and then set off across the sea of stars, to the far shore. [previewyoutube=x-OVkXdazBc;full][/previewyoutube] Here's a possibly interesting aside, about the tone of 0.Embark: At TCAF 2015 I crossed paths with Dan Berry and I bought his comic Carry Me, a book about parenting, life and death that stuck with me. Related to Carry Me, in 2015 I was a new parent, my daughter having been born in 2014, and I got to thinking about who I most identified with in JETT's emerging story.
The short comic Carry Me by Dan Berry can be read in a handful of minutes at the following internet website. http://www.thingsbydan.co.uk/2017/04/read-carry-me/ Upon reflection, I became aware that the character with whom I resonated most in JETT was the protagonist's father. We meet him once, he apologizes, then wishes Mei well. He is to remain behind, while she sets off to the stars. There's a very specific agony and heartbreak at work here, because a parent knows that, if all goes well, their child will outlive them, and that there will someday be a tearful parting. What's more, parents here on Earth in the 21st century feel an additional weight, a heavy brew of regret and helplessness at the thought of the troubled future our children have been born into. I felt compelled to reckon with these feelings, and bottle some of them up in JETT. Fast forwarding a few years, and Dan Berry found himself in JETT's orbit, climbing aboard the squad that delivered the Given Time expansion. Small world! You can read all about this in our recent JETT squad profile featuring Dan and Richard Flanagan. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1761600/view/3404184263846060375 Speaking of Dan, him and I are starting to broadcast dev commentary streams on the JETT Steam page. Keep an eye out for when our streams are live. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1761600/JETT_The_Far_Shore__Given_Time/
I hope you enjoyed the above! To get in the loop with Superbrothers and all things #sworcery, please like and subscribe and so forth. Wishlist JETT on Steam and Download Demo - it helps!

• Play the prologue to get warmed up, and ensure your PC rig works.
• Note: We recommend playing on a controller, with headphones!

If you're a streamer or press, and if you'd like to play JETT: The Far Shore + Given Time and help us get the word out, please get in touch!

• We have piping hot preview keys near-at-hand, and we're around to chat.
• Get in touch at hello@superbrothers.ca and/or pr@popagenda.co.

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• superbrothersHQ.com
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• jett.fyi

Thanks for your time and attention, cosmic friends!
we will meet again at the appointed time

[ 2022-11-25 19:43:28 CET ] [ Original post ]