Hey, here's a quick rundown of the latest happenings at Supergiant HQ:

Return from PAX East: We just got back from PAX East in Boston, where we had an excellent time meeting with hundreds of fans and letting them get their hands on the old, old first playable prototype of Bastion. We've got dozens of photos up on Facebook if you want to take a look. Included are several folks who showed up in amazing Bastion-themed costumes -- we were blown away!

We decided to bring our first prototype along since we figured folks would get a kick out of seeing (if not playing) such a crude and early version side-by-side with the finished game. This playable build was made just four weeks after Amir and Gavin founded the studio. In spite of its simplicity and placeholder art, the prototype does showcase some of the ideas and mechanics we ended up refining and using in the final game. We also like showing just how rough these things look when they start off. Take a peek, see if your eyes bleed:

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by our booth at the show! It was great, and we look forward to many more PAXes in our future.

Welcome Chris! We're also very pleased to welcome the ninth member of our team, Mr. Chris Jurney (@jurney on Twitter), a veteran engineer who's worked on a variety of outstanding games, from Company of Heroes to Iron Brigade. His most recent work, however, is a game in which a bear struggles to avoid accidentally crushing people to death in its quest for love, acceptance, and oxygen. He made it in a couple of days with the help of a few friends. With Chris on board, our engineering team swells to a whopping size of three, so we're very much looking forward to seeing what we can do with all this newfound power. You can learn more about Chris on our Team Page.

That's the latest from us for now! At PAX East we got tons of questions about what we're up to these days and whether we've got a new game in the works. It's still too early to say what we're going to do next, though we're by all means sticking together and are going to keep pushing forward. Stay tuned!

Hey, we've just added a couple of new goods to the Supergiant Store, for those who can't get enough of the sounds of Bastion:

Bastion Sheet Music

Ever since the debut of Bastion, we've received a lot of requests for guitar tabs or sheet music for the songs from the game. So, we decided to put together this new collection of sheet music, which features both guitar and piano arrangements of the four songs from the Bastion Original Soundtrack! We're pleased to offer this pack absolutely free, as a token of our appreciation for all the support you've given to our game and soundtrack. We hope you musicians out there enjoy this. Get It Free

Bastion Ringtones for iOS / Android

Another oft-requested feature is the ability to have Bastion's narrator invade on one's personal space outside the game, namely in the form of ringtones for your telephone-like device of choice. At last we have capitulated, in the form of this ringtone pack containing more than 30 different sounds from the game – including some never-before-heard bits of narration! Now you can experience Rucks' dry wit each time your mom texts you. Or you can listen to the smooth sounds of Build That Wall each time a telemarketer reaches out for a minute of your time. Think of the possibilities! We priced the ringtone pack at a steep 99 cents. Purchase for $0.99

Bastion Wins Big: In other news, we were honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards last week when Bastion earned Best Downloadable Game and our studio earned Best Debut! As the award winners are chosen by the development community, this meant a lot to us. What's more, we picked up two awards including 'Rookie of the Year' at the G.A.N.G. Awards for game audio! Thank you to everyone who believes in us and what we can do from here – we look forward to carrying on as a team!

Supergiant @ PAX East: Speaking of which, the next time you can come see us will be at PAX East, April 6 - 8 in Boston. Several of us from the team will be on hand, offering up some of the stuff from our online store. If you plan to make it to the show, be sure to stop by our booth and say hello!

Hey, how about we run down a bunch of stuff we've been up to lately, as general assurance that we haven't fallen off the face of the Earth? Here we go:

Bastion @ AIAS Awards: Last week we were honored to accept the award for Downloadable Title of the Year from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. What's unique about this award is that it's decided by members of the game development community. It's thrilling to have made something that earned recognition from fellow developers. Photo courtesy of VentureBeat.com.

Cold Kid Wallpaper: You might have seen this piece as part of our recent Steam sale or other places and now Jen's turned it into a good and proper wallpaper for you and your monitor to enjoy:

Supergiant Games @ GDC: The Game Developers Conference is right in our backyard here in San Francsico, and is only a few weeks away. Several of us have speaking opportunities lined up at this always-inspiring event.

- First up, our studio director and cofounder Amir Rao will be speaking as part of the Failure Workshop, about a particular aspect of Bastion that we worked on but ultimately threw out. It'll provide some new insight into Bastion's design process.

- Next, our audio director Darren Korb will be giving the audio track keynote, titled Build That Wall: Creating the Audio for Bastion. In it Darren will talk through our approach to audio at Supergiant and how he was able to pull it off.

- Finally, I'm giving a talk called Creating Atmosphere in Games, a subject that's of great personal interest to me. Bastion earned recognition for its atmosphere so as part of this talk I'll explain the thought process that led to the result.

(Also we're more than likely going to PAX East in April.)

Welcome Michael! Last but definitely not least, we have a new member of our team, bringing us to eight people strong. Michael Ailshie is helping us keep our new studio space in order and is also handling all order fulfillment and customer service at our new online store. Any time you order something from us, Michael's the one shipping it straight from our studio space to wherever you are. He's quickly become invaluable around here and his efforts mean that the rest of us can stay focused on development. Check out Michael's full bio on our Team Page.

That’s all for now! Other than that, we're keeping plenty busy as a team these days and are excited to keep pushing forward.

While most of our team is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bastion’s audio was done all the way over in New York. So it’s always a treat when the rest of us get to see Darren Korb (our audio director and composer) and Logan Cunningham (our voice actor) over on this side. They’ve been in town over the holidays, and same goes for Ashley Barrett, the vocalist behind two of the most popular pieces from the Bastion Original Soundtrack. In fact, Darren and Ashley stopped by today for a little impromptu session right in our studio:

This is the first-ever video of Darren and Ashley playing music from our game live. We thought you’d enjoy seeing this inside look at some of Bastion’s music being performed by the people who created the sound you’ve heard in the game.

Well it's been a good year.

First off, this week marked a major milestone for us when Bastion sailed past half a million copies sold.

Recent holiday sales on Steam and Xbox LIVE Arcade put us over the top. We're happy to have this many people playing and to be in a position to make more games on our own terms. When we set out to make Bastion, a sales number like that seemed astronomical to us, so it feels great to have hit that mark. It goes to show that a lot of folks out there like what we're doing and want us to keep going, which is great, because we intend to stick together as a team and do just that.

What's more, we're honored to see Bastion getting plenty of attention in various Game of the Year awards lists across all kinds of different publications including some big old mainstream ones. We wanted to make a memorable game so it's great to see this level of recognition.

Awards for Bastion: Here's a list of the dozens of different publications who've recognized Bastion for various year-end accolades:

Game Developers Choice Awards - Best Debut, Best Downloadable Game

Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences - Downloadable Title of the Year

Associated Press – Top 10 Games of the Year

Entertainment Weekly – Best Videogames of 2011

TIME – Top 10 Games of 2011

USA Today – Top 10 Games of 2011

NPR – Ten Best Video Games of 2011

CNN - Top 10 Video Games

Wired – Top 20 Best Games of the Year

Paste Magazine – Game of the Year

Boston Herald - Best Game of 2011

A.V. Club - 10 Best Games of 2011

ScienceFiction.com – Top 10 Best Sci-Fi Video Games of 2011

Spike VGAs – Best Downloadable Game, Best Original Score, Best Song

Inside Gaming Awards - Best Downloadable Game, Best Indie Game, Best Original Score

IGN.com - Best XBLA Game

VentureBeat - Best Indie Games of 2011

Giant Bomb - Best Music, Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, Top 10

TotalBiscuit - #1 Game of 2011

UGO - Best Downloadable Game of the Year

Yahoo - Best Downloadable Game

Game Audio Network Guild - Best Soundtrack (Indie), Rookie of the Year

MSNBC - 5 Great Games for the Art Lover

Game Informer - Best RPG Innovation (The Narrator)

Eurogamer - Games of 2011, Pick

Kill Screen - Best Games of 2011, Pick

Official Xbox Magazine - Best Music

GameSpot - Song of the Year

Joystiq - Top 10 of 2011

Team Xbox - XBLA Game of the Year

Quartertothree – Game of the Year

New York Videogame Critics Circle - Best Music, Best Indie Game

NAVGTR - Original Role-Playing Game, Best Performance in a Comedy

XBLA Fans - Best Audio, Best Visuals

Xbox 360 Achievements - Best Arcade Game

Zero Punctuation - Top 5 of 2011

Electric Playground - Best Downloadable Game

Rock Paper Shotgun - The Games of Christmas

Boy's Life Magazine - Best Downloadable Game

IndieDB - Worldly Award for Best Gameworld, Players Choice Top 10

Gamereactor UK - Digital GOTY, Music of the Year

HorribleNight - Best Downloadable Game, Best Soundtrack, Indie Developer of the Year

IndieGames.com – Top 10 Indie Games of the Year

The Escapist – 12 Games of Christmas

/v/GA Vidya Gaem Awards - Eargasm Award, Stylish Aesthetics Award, Most Interesting New IP

Reaction Time - Best Downloadable, Best Voice Acting, Best Soundtrack

TrendyGamers - Downloadable GOTY

Gamezebo.com - Best PC Game of 2011

XBLARatings - XBLA Game of the Year

Press X or Die - Game of the Year

Video Game Writers - Best Indie Game

GameCola.net - Most Innovative, Best Indie Game, Best Downloadable Game

Unwinnable.com - Best Surprise Indie Darling

Ripten - Best Downloadable Game, Biggest Surprise

Reviews on the Run - Best Downloadable Game

Capsule Computers - Best Downloadable Game

IndieGameReviewer.com - Best Indie Game of the Year

GamingUnion.net - Best New IP, Best Indie Game, Best Indie Developer

TIGSource - Top Indie Game of 2011 (by Community Vote)

RPGamer.com - RPG of the Year, Most Original Game, Best Downloadable Game

NeoGAF - Digital Distribution Game of the Year

gamrFeed - Best Downloadable Game, Best XBLA Game

The Game Effect - Best Indie Game, Best Original IP, Best Musical Score, Best Story

RPGFan - Best Downloadable RPG

TrueAchievements.com - Best XBLA Game

The Thrifty Nerd - Top 10 Games of 2011

Media Kick - Readers Choice, Best Downloadable Game

Kotaku Australia – Readers Choice, Indie Downloadable GOTY

Level Save - Game of the Year Pick

Click Online - Top 7 Pleasant Surprises

Piki Geek - Top 10 Best of the Year

nJoystic - Best Soundtrack

Press2Reset - Best Soundtrack, Best Song

The Sixth Axis - Best Downloadable Game

MiddleEast Gamers - Best Indie Game

The Cross and the Controller - Best Downloadable Game, Best Voice Acting

Kotaku - Pick, Best Game Music of 2011

GamerCrash - Best Soundtrack

Gamercast - Top Downloadable Game

We Got This Covered - Best XBLA/PSN Game

Bishop's Gaming World - Best Soundtrack, Top 10 Games of the Year

Infinite Ammo - Top 10 Games of 2011

Rotorob - Downloadable GOTY

Mash Those Buttons - Best Arcade Game of 2011

Warp Zoned - Best Music

RPG Site - Indie RPG of the Year, Surprise of the Year, Best Soundtrack in a 2011 RPG

Tom's Hardware Turkey - Most Original Game, Best Narrative, Best Original Score

Whew... did we miss anybody? Let us know and we'll update this list accordingly.

Thanks again to all of you for making this a year we'll always remember, and here's to a great 2012.

Our team is back from an exciting whirlwind weekend in Los Angeles where Bastion racked up three wins at the Inside Gaming Awards, followed by three wins at the Spike Video Game Awards! Check out our photos from the events, and here's a summary of damage dealt:

At the Spike VGAs, Bastion earned Best Downloadable Game, Best Original Score, and Best Song in a Game for Build That Wall (Zia's Theme). Watch the Spike VGA pre-show segment in which Darren Korb and I accepted the awards on behalf of the team.

At the Inside Gaming Awards, Bastion earned Best Downloadable Game, Best Indie Game, and Best Original Score.

We owe a great big thank-you and congratulations to Ashley Barrett, who sings "Build That Wall", for her outstanding performance that's made such an impact on so many listeners!

And of course, thanks again to the judges of the respective awards for their recognition of our game, as well as to our families and friends for their love and patience all through development. Thanks as well to the team at Warner Bros. for their support, and to all our players out there for taking a chance on a game from a small, unproven studio.

We ain't resting on our laurels, either. We're releasing the Stranger's Dream DLC for Bastion later this week while keeping a close eye on the launch of our new Chrome version of Bastion, which has been getting a tremendous response. Lots of exciting plans for the future, too!

One of the most frequently asked questions we got since Bastion's release this summer is, will there be any DLC for the game? We've brushed it aside, stating that we designed Bastion to be a complete, stand-alone experience and would never seek to extend the story through DLC. All this is true.

HOWEVER! In the weeks following the release of the game, we decided to put a little something together for the holidays as a show of thanks to our fans. So, on December 14, we'll be pleased to bring you the Stranger's Dream DLC for Bastion, which should give you some good reasons to come back to the game while preserving the core experience just as we intended. Here's a sneak peek:

· The Stranger's Dream: a new fully narrated Who Knows Where sequence, bigger and tougher than the others. You'll gain a bit more insight into Rucks' backstory as well as the history of Caelondia if you can survive this fight.

· Score Attack Mode: a challenging new way to play through the story! You start at level one with all Spirits and Idols unlocked. Your combat performance is rated for efficiency, and all areas are repeatable.

· No-Sweat Mode: for those who just want to experience the story of Bastion, this mode provides unlimited chances to carry on from where you left off if you’re defeated in battle.

The Steam and XBLA versions of the game will also contain new Leaderboards for the Stranger's Dream and Score Attack Mode.

To access the Stranger's Dream sequence as well as Score Attack Mode, you need to have finished the game at least once. The Stranger's Dream sequence will be available early on in your New Game Plus or Score Attack play-through.

How to Get the Stranger's Dream DLC Steam Users: You’ll receive this free update automatically through Steam when it becomes available.

Xbox LIVE Arcade Users: Start the game on December 14 or later to be prompted to download our new Title Update. You’ll see an option to download the new content from the main menu once you have the Title Update, which also fixes various minor issues in the game.

The Stranger’s Dream DLC will be available for 80 Microsoft Points ($1) on XBLA, which we can't make free due to Microsoft policy, so it's about as close as we could get. Though, since you’ll be getting a good chunk of new content, we think you’ll be satisfied with your purchase.

Non-Steam PC Users: We'll be working with the various online vendors to update their versions of the Bastion installer so that you can download the latest version containing the update.

Google Chrome Users: Our newly-announced Google Chrome version will be getting this DLC as well, in the coming weeks. Your version of the game should update automatically when the DLC becomes available.

We hope you enjoy this little encore in the Bastion universe! Thanks again for making 2011 an amazing year for us at Supergiant Games, and here's to many more!

Check this out: If you use Google Chrome to browse the Internet, now you can also use it to play Bastion right in your browser. Our game is now available in the Chrome Web Store. Crazy, but true!

We’re very excited to have Bastion now available on Chrome since it makes getting into the game easier than ever before, and opens up the experience to tons of new players... including players using computers other than Windows-based PCs.

The Chrome version of Bastion requires: - Processor: 1.7 GHz Dual Core or Greater - Memory: 2 GB - Hard Disk Space: 1.0 GB - Video Card: 512 MB graphics card (shader model 2) (Note: Gamepad controllers are not supported in this initial release.)

We’d like to thank the team at Google for collaborating with us on this project, and Roger Hanna, Ryan Williams, and Griffin Chronis for their additional engineering work.

Also, we owe a special thanks to all you folks who’ve taken the time to request Bastion for your gaming platform of choice. This new version means many of you should now be able to play Bastion for yourself. This is also a good time to reiterate our stance when it comes to bringing Bastion to other platforms: We have no confirmed plans for other versions of Bastion, though we haven’t ruled anything out for the future either. The quality of our game is our primary concern, and that means having to focus on developing for one platform at a time. We aim to be super careful about how we make these choices, to bring you the highest possible quality in any new game we make available.

And that's not all. We'll have some more Bastion-related news tomorrow!

It’s that time of year when game critics look back on the past 12 months and single out those titles that had the greatest impact. We’re very happy to see Bastion showing up on some of their lists. To give a couple of recent examples:

TIME Magazine named Bastion one of the Top 10 Video Games of 2011.

Paste Magazine ranked Bastion as the number one Best Game of 2011.

To put it in perspective, some of our favorite games of the year haven’t made these lists at all. We feel humbled and all the more honored when we look at the titles we’re stacked against.

When we were working on Bastion, we wanted it to be the sort of game that could leave a lasting, positive impression on players, for the experience to stick with people long after they moved on to other games. It's really rewarding to see that the game has continued to stand out to critics such as these even after the onslaught of high-quality titles released this fall.

Guess what?! As of right this second, we now have several pieces of Bastion merchandise for sale at our brand-new online store!

Our first crop of items includes:

Bastion Original Soundtrack CD ($14.99)

Own a physical copy of the highly acclaimed Bastion original soundtrack! Features an hour of original music by Darren Korb, including two bonus tracks. (Also available as a digital download.) Purchase

Bastion Bandana ($4.99)

You don’t have to be a Kid to rock this 21" x 21" cotton screen-printed bandana, featuring the Star of Caelondia emblazoned across the center, and the Bastion logo plus an unassuming Squirt adorning the corners. Purchase

Caelondia Masons Society T-Shirt ($19.99)

Now you can join Rucks and the Kid as an honorary member of the Caelondia Masons Society, the hard-working folks who built the City and the Rippling Walls. (Also available in crimson and olive.) Purchase

Kid vs. Scumbag Limited Edition Print ($9.99)

The Kid stands his ground against the oldest Scumbag of them all in this high-quality limited edition print by Bastion’s art director, Jen Zee. The artwork is 11” x 17” in size. Purchase

Bastion Ultimate Collector’s Bundle ($39.99)

Includes all of the above at a discounted price, plus -- for a limited time -- a copy of the Kid vs. Scumbag Limited Edition Print autographed by all seven of us at Supergiant! Purchase

Since Bastion came out this summer, we’ve received a lot of requests for various Bastion-themed memorabilia, so thanks to all of you who’ve expressed interest and we hope you enjoy our initial selection.

By the way, we’ve received a ton of requests for different kinds of items, so just because we’re not offering all that other stuff now doesn’t mean we’ll never do it. We design all our own merchandise, so we’d much rather release a smaller number of high quality items over time than try to do everything at once. We will also be handling order fulfillment from our new HQ in San Francisco.