Indie games are very hard to market especially during the holidays where big companies push their Triple-A titles to the most spotlight they can get. This didn't stop D-Pad Studio, an indie developer from Norway to release their game amidst the season. Owlboy, a platform-adventure game that is famed for its very long development cycle of almost 10 years, has finally seen the light of day.
Though a bit late, a week at least, I would like to congratulate D-Pad for having released the game. According to its Steam page, Owlboy was released last Nov. 2 and it has been receiving very positive reviews. It currently has a Metacritic score of 90/100 which is pretty good. Mostly, the reviews said that the game is awesome from end to end.
What's the game about?
Owlboy is described as a "hi-bit" game. In layman's terms, this is a 2D game that emphasizes what seem to be 'pixels' in the game giving it a retro look representing 8-bit and 16-bit games. The game features our protagonist, a boy that has an appearance of an owl and can fly like one. During your adventure, you meet various friends that you can take along to your advantage. Say you grab some character with a gun and you'll be carrying him in-flight blasting your way together through armies of bad guys. The levels and their transitions in the trailer look amazing too.
My schedule is quite full for the rest of the year but I'll be glad to purchase this game and make a review about it before the year ends or when it makes its way to the Vita or 3DS, whichever comes first - it will be awesome if Owlboy makes its way to Nintendo Switch.
What factor made Owlboy its way to my good mood and article?
The fact that it took 9 years or so (according to its Steam page) to create a game with awesome reviews after it released is personally a good sign of development that they took from their hearts. I appreciate the almost 10 years that D-Pad has spent on this game and never gave up. I did not dig into the details on their development story but I bet there were ups and downs, or probably the game development wasn't continuous due to the fact that it's indie. Indie games need money too, and that's one factor to halt game production if lacking.
I have a team of good friends who make indie games, we've been on and off with our development due to personal schedules, and I'm glad to hear that a Norweigan indie game development studio has made its way to success. Kodus to the Indies!
Any news on console releases?
The game is currently released for PC but according to this Reddit post, it's possible to have console ports. As per D-Pad's art director, they are going to take a look at other platforms now that their hands are kind of free after the launch. No promises though, as he emphasizes that porting is a complicated process when applied to Owlboy. However, if this pushes through, they will certainly announce it properly.
"We're going to have a look at other platforms now that the initial launch is complete, though we can't promise anything just yet. Porting is a complicated process with this game.We will make an official announcement once we know anything for sure."
As support to indie devs, be sure to check out their website and play Owlboy as well. If you stumbled upon this article, I'm pretty sure you'll have time to purchase and play the game.
