As we prepare to release Bastion on Xbox LIVE Arcade this summer, one of the details we've worked out is our box art. OK, so the game doesn't technically come in a box but you'll still be seeing this on the XBLA marketplace:

What say you? Rather than try and capture the intense white-knuckle action of fighting a couple of Scumbags while the ground beneath your feet is falling away, we figured we'd go for something a little more in line with the tone and style of the game. Hope you like it.

Additionally, last week we got word from the ESRB about our official content rating, and it is:

E10+ means the game is suitable for ages 10 and up, at least according to the standards here in North America where. It felt good getting a content rating that reflected our desire for Bastion to be the sort of game that could be played and enjoyed by people of various ages... as opposed to just the 17-to-34-year-old male, the preferred target of most retail games. While Bastion was not designed specifically for younger players, it is meant to be an age-agnostic sort of game. If you know how to use a game controller and how to read basic onscreen prompts, the game will take care of you.

Let us know if you have questions about our content ratings in other territories.

This has been a crucial month for us at Supergiant Games: After a big push by everyone on team, we locked down all the game's content last week. That means we're just about finished with development. The Xbox 360 version of Bastion is nearly ready!

We're not quite there yet, of course. Andrew and Gavin are still hard at work on some key fixes so that we'll be good and ready for Microsoft's certification process to get on Xbox LIVE Arcade. In turn, that process can take a little while. Even so, at this point we can safely say it's been an amazing experience, late nights and all. We've had a great time playing through the game over and over in different ways and we're very much looking forward to getting the game out there to people. These next few weeks are going to be agonizing while we wait... fortunately, there's still a lot to do, and talk about! For example:

First Look at New Supergiant Games Logo Since we're on the verge of releasing our first game, it seemed like the appropriate time to update our studio logo to something that felt more in line with our spirit than what we started with. Here it is:

Through the course of creating Bastion we've gained a stronger grip on our identity as a team and studio, and this idea of wanting to make games that spark your imagination like the games you've played as a kid has stuck pretty well. Our new logo by Jen Zee reflects this, and even ties back to the game a bit, in ways you might notice when you play it. Hope you like it.

First Bastion Fan Art OK, I guess we're not counting the dude with the Bastion tattoo and the dude with the awesome Xbox 360 case mod, but notwithstanding those guys we're pleased to reveal the first piece of Bastion fan art we've received!

This one comes from Gabriel, the 6-year-old son of one of our colleagues from Warner Bros., who's been playing through the game father-and-son-style. In all seriousness it feels great to have made an impression on the young man (and his dad).

A Comment on Our Release Date This seems like a good time to point out that as soon as we have a specific announcement about a release date, we will come right out and say it. The exact timing is not entirely up to us since Microsoft works with publishers and developers to determine optimal release timing for its slate of XBLA titles. At any rate, there should be a good amount of advance warning before the release date so we'll all know well in advance exactly when to expect the game. Shouldn't be too long.

...

And that's all we've got for right now, but we'll have lots more in the coming days. We'll be presenting some new artwork from the game probably next week, and also giving details on how you can get your hands on one of our Bastion bandanas if you missed us at PAX East. With development wrapping up, you can expect us to be a little more talkative here for the time being as we change gears to getting the word out about our game. We think it turned out pretty special and very soon you'll be able to make that determination for yourselves.

Update: Thanks very much to everyone who tuned in live! In case you missed the latest installment, you can watch it here. As always the show was a ton of fun and it was great / slightly scary to show you examples of us ever-so-gently unraveling in these past couple of months as we've been putting the finishing touches on the game.

There was so much to cover this time that we couldn't give shouts-out to everyone we wanted to but we can make it up here: First off thanks to all the dudes from the Giant Bomb community who came up to us at PAX East recently, as your vote of support really means a lot. We're really happy to get to reveal so much of the process to you. Second, big thanks to our Seattle-based QA team that's currently putting the game through the ringer! You're helping us find all sorts of heinous stuff and giving us confidence as we put the finishing touches on the game. Everybody keep your fingers crossed for us, because even though we're almost done, some of the most important days are still ahead.

Original Post: This Friday, be sure to tune in to GiantBomb.com at 3:30pm Pacific and join Amir, Gavin, Jen, and Greg for the latest episode of Building the Bastion, in which we take you behind the scenes of the game we're making and give a rare glimpse into the world of game development. And as always, we'll be live on the air taking questions from the audience.

This time around we'll be showing you one of the most up-to-date versions of the game, including some of the rich RPG systems you'll get to sink your teeth into as a core part of the experience. We'll also show more of a build from around a year ago, when the game's reactive narration system first came online and when we were still exploring different ideas for the art style and world design. Be sure to let us know what you think!

If you need a refresher, check out the previous episode of the show!

It was only months ago when we first unveiled Bastion at PAX Prime in September 2010. That show was a truly amazing moment for all of us involved with the game, since Bastion struck a chord with a lot of people there. So, we really really wanted to make our next big appearance at PAX East. Thankfully the stars aligned and the folks at Warner Bros. really came through to help us have a great presence at the show. Our objective was simple: get as many people to play Bastion as possible. Our five stations were always full every minute of the show. We handed out thousands of our bandanas and overall we couldn't have been any happier by the amazing response we got. Here's a rundown of some of the show highlights:

Bastion in the News We got a lot of great press coverage during PAX East (and just prior). Check out what people are saying and let us know if we missed anybody.

The Escapist "Out of everything I played at PAX East 2011, the game that got me most excited was an action-RPG called Bastion."

Rock Paper Shotgun "What captured my imagination about the game was that it was just so charming."

GameSpy "Bastion ... is generating some serious buzz as it approaches its summer Xbox Live Arcade debut."

Destructoid "With lush visuals and an interactive story told by a narrator in real time as you play, it seemed like the best of brilliant games I love, yet something entirely all its own."

GamePro "An innovative new action role-playing game with a fantastic and unique narrator."

Wired "When the 20-minute demo ended, I wanted nothing more than to keep hacking, collecting and listening."

GameSpot (New Video Interview w/ Greg)

Shonen Jump (we're cheating, this is from GDC last week) "From the soulful guitar strumming to the gravely voice of the narrator, [the audio] really adds a whole other dimension to the game."

Team Xbox "With quality as its pedigree, I wouldn't be surprised to see this game headlining the Summer of Arcade."

Evil Avatar "I absolutely adore the art style and the narration elements."

Gaming Lives "Bastion has that something special that not many games have... It has a soul."

Shogun Gamer "So far Bastion is turning out to be one of the greatest indie games to be released in recent years and I am not alone on that one."

Armless Octopus "What Bastion does to stand out from the rest... is offer a fresh look on exploration through engaging narrative and dynamically built paths."

8-bit Horse "As apocalypses go, this is one of the more beautiful ones you’re likely to find."

It's the Lingo "Was [I] in for a shock when I laid my eyes on what may be the most beautiful game I’ve ever seen."

Co-Optimus "Supergiant Games' first effort appears to be a classic in the making."

ScrawlFX "It's certainly BIG for a downloadable title crafted by a small team of garage developers, and more than certainly promising."

GameHounds "Bastion is far from just another dungeon hack, and if you enjoy RPGs, I highly suggest checking it out."

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle "It...feels really different when you’re actually playing the game versus just watching a video and hearing the narration, you feel a deeper connection."

Gaming Bits "Within the first few minutes you realize Bastion is more than just a gorgeous game."

Sit Sam's Video Game Resource "... a game that will not only draw you in visually but will keep you tied to your seat with its narrative."

Warp Zoned "I can tell Bastion is going to have some truly great pacing."

Games James "The colorful art style, the smooth combat, the amazing voice work, and interesting storytelling all come together to create something I found to be worth a lot of attention."

Whew! Still with us? Let's move on!

PAX East Twitter Giveaway Winners During the show we randomly gave away 14 signed, framed Bastion posters to folks who posted photos of themselves wearing our Bastion bandana. Here are the winners! @billyteng, @iheartnerds, @grioden @kayma, @gam3rg1rl, @RobTheArtist, @lim3light, @migalicious, @iamdeantate, @outsydr, @mattmoody, @ThatDispenser, @KROmphroy, and @GreggTurek

Congratulations again you guys! We'll be in touch.

Supergiant Games @ After Hours with Kris and Scott In the hard-to-describe-but-awesome department, we got to be special guests during an epic late-night live panel by Kristofer Straub and Scott Kurtz of Penny Arcade fame, who blew threw a whole series of hysterical misadventures that left us completely exhausted and bleary-eyed... no thanks to a couple of shots of alcoholic whipped cream. You don't want to know. As part of the show our own Amir Rao and Darren Korb performed their infamous Internet-hit single, "Bind Those Keys", a musical tribute to Diablo II. Here's the video on YouTube in case you're not sure if we're serious.

PAX East Photos & Video Check out our PAX East photo gallery on Facebook for a taste of what happened. We also filmed a bunch of the proceedings, which may be showing up on a future installment of Building the Bastion on Giant Bomb. Kudos to all those folks out there who said they've been watching the series.

What's Next What's next is that we're wrapping up the game! With PAX East and GDC out of the way, our focus now is on tuning and polishing the game as close as we can get to perfection. We're re-recording tons of narration to get it just right, tweaking all the weapons, upgrades, creatures, and spirits to get them feeling really good, and fine-tuning tons of encounters across all our different scenarios to make sure the whole game feels great. It's going to be an intense next couple of months but at the end of it we should be sitting on a finished game that we'll be absolutely thrilled to share with you this summer when it lands on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Special Thanks One of the greatest parts of events like PAX East is getting to meet and hang out with fellow industry folks. So here's to the guys at (in illiterate alphabetical order) Uber Entertainment, Twisted Pixel, Haunted Temple Studios, Firehose Games (Slambolt Scrappers is out now on PSN!!), Trapdoor, Capy, Harmonix, Turbine, Moonshot Games, Doublefine Productions, Irrational Games, Valve, 2K Games, Penny Arcade, and all the other folks who were at the show for more than just fun, for taking time out of your busy schedules to come say hello or check out the game. You guys are no small part of the reason we won't forget this show.

We're very happy to announce we've joined forces with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to bring you Bastion this summer. Check out the official announcement right here, and read on for our take on the news.

The big question is, what changes now that we have a major game publisher like Warner Bros. in our corner? You may be surprised to learn… not much! We're still six people making Bastion out of a living room in San Jose with the invaluable aid of a few of our close friends. We're still an independently owned game studio creating our first game and, with it, our own original IP. What Warner Bros. provides is the opportunity to release the game on Xbox LIVE Arcade – all XBLA titles are either published by Microsoft directly or by a licensed third-party – as well as heavy-duty promotional support for events like PAX East and E3. In other words, Warner Bros. is helping us see to it that Bastion reaches the biggest possible audience. They saw the potential in Bastion straightaway and it's great to be working with the folks over there. As stated in the announcement, Bastion will be debuting on Xbox LIVE Arcade and coming to the PC later this year. These are the only platforms we expect to support in 2011. Beyond that, anything goes – it's going to come down to how much demand there is and what makes the most sense for us to do next. We're now in the process of putting the finishing touches on Bastion for the Xbox 360 and you'll be able to try and it and play it before long. That will be the deciding moment for Bastion and Supergiant Games, but until then, this is a pretty big one for us. So thanks again to all of you who've been following us to this point, and to those of you just joining us, it's great to have you along for the ride – the best is yet to come!

All right, here's the deal. We made a whole bunch of these rad Bastion bandanas and we're going to be giving them away at our PAX East booth, #724, all throughout the show. Limit one per person unless you do the old Trick-or-Treating trick where you come back disguised as someone else and freeload more, but please don't. On top of that, we figured we'd do a little something extra:

If you post a photo of yourself wearing a Bastion bandana on Twitter with hashtag #bastion during PAX East, you'll automatically be entered into a random drawing to win a signed, framed Bastion poster. Twice a day for three days we'll pick winners from the pool to receive a poster that we'll send you sometime after the show. Or if you want the info in the form of a JPEG:

One more thing: The more followers we get during PAX East, the more prizes we'll give out, so by all means retweet us with impunity.

We'll have photos of the posters soon. The wallpaper we released recently is based on the same piece, and is the original work of our amazing artist, Jen Zee. The bandanas feature her original design as well.

Lastly, a note to those of you who can't make it to PAX East and have been asking if there's a way to get one of those bandanas: Don't worry! While we created these especially for the PAX East crowd we'll make sure the people who can't make it to the show have a chance or two to get their hands on one sometime down the line.

So yeah, come play the game at booth 724 at PAX East, meet some of the team, and join us for what ought to be a show to remember!

What a week...! First off, thank you very much to everyone who took the time to check out Bastion at the Game Developers Conference this week. It was an honor to be included among the games in the 13th annual Independent Games Festival, and we couldn't have asked for a better couple of neighbors with QCF Designs' elegant Desktop Dungeons on one side of our little IGF kiosk and the raw awesomeness of Brian Provinciano's 8-bit-style Retro City Rampage on the other. One of the best parts of a show like this is getting to meet fellow developers, many of whom we look up to as masters of their craft, and then being treated as peers by them.

At the IGF we showed off a fresh new build of Bastion, which got a great response -- everything we hoped for. The content of this build was similar to the one we showed at PAX in September, though we've since made a bunch of improvements to the interface and visuals. We thought about showing new areas from the game, but the setup in the very first scenes is so important to us that we didn't want to present anything out of context. We'll have the same build at PAX East this coming week, where many more people will get to experience the game for themselves.

PAX East is going to be a huge deal for us, and next week we'll have more details about why. This is the first time we're going to have a proper setup where more than one or two people can play the game at once, plus we have some great giveaways in store. We won't be able to get our whole crew out to Boston for the show but four of us will be there. If you're attending, we'd love to meet you and let you try our game. Once again, thanks so much to everyone for their support and kind words about Bastion, as your encouragement means an awful lot and makes all the difference.

Check out our beautiful new wallpaper image design by our artist Jen Zee, something we cooked up in preparation for PAX East. We have it in 1920x1080 and 1680x1050.

If you study this image closely it will give you an impression of some of the different places you'll go in this new world of ours.

We knew this month was going to be crazy so at least it's all gone according to plan. We are in the thick of things over at Supergiant HQ, and here are the highlights: Bastion @ PAX East: It’s pretty much official, we’re going to PAX East. After the awesomeness of PAX Prime in September, how could we resist? Besides, all you folks on the east side of the nation haven’t yet had a chance to play Bastion, but soon you’ll be able to fix that. What’s more, we’ll have a little present for you for your trouble -- the official Bastion team bandana. There’s something special about this bandana that we’ll reveal closer to the event, but for now, check out this bad camera-phone photo of one of our early comps for the bandana. The final version will be brighter red.

New Web site: Check out our fresh new coat of paint! This new format is meant to put Bastion front and center, let us update more frequently, and provide easier access to our presence on Twitter and Facebook since that's where we post daily updates. We hope you enjoy the new site, and in honor of the occasion, we've got a new Bastion wallpaper that Jen cooked up (available in 1920x1080 and 1650x1050. Set-as-Background this sucker! We're Alpha (just about): At the end of this week Bastion will be content-complete. That means every environment, every story moment, all our RPG systems, and all our thousands of lines of reactive narration will be implemented, and that the whole thing's playable start to finish. We've pushed hard to get to this point, but to be clear, we're far from finished, because now we change gears and start tuning and polishing the holy hell out of the thing until it's as close to perfect as we can get. Then we’ll let it out the gate this summer. Stay tuned for an official announcement about that before long.

Bastion @ GDC: The Independent Games Festival is right around the corner, and we’ll be showing Bastion at GDC as part of the IGF pavilion. If you’re going to the show, please stop by and say hello.

We're still working away like mad for the moment so 'scuse me while we get back to it. Thanks as always for keeping up with us,

-- GregK

We're very happy to announce that Andrew Wang has joined Supergiant Games. Just like that, we've increased our engineering bandwidth by a whopping 100%! As our chief technology officer, Andrew's primary role will be to make Bastion and any other game we make run beautifully on every platform we want to be on. He's well acquainted with coding at such depths thanks to his years spent working at Infinity Ward, on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and its sequel.

Making the leap from developing some of the all-time-biggest blockbuster games to developing a small independent game where an old man talks at you the whole time may not sound like an obvious career choice. But then again, most of us at Supergiant Games come from a background of working on big franchises for big publishers, so we're kindred spirits that way. The difference is... dude Modern Warfare is AWESOME!!! WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE??!

Not that we're complaining. Like the rest of us, Andrew's been playing games practically for as long as he can remember, and his favorites include PC classics like Sid Meier's Civilization, Warcraft II, and Counter-Strike. Born and raised in Boston, Andrew graduated from MIT with a master's in computer science and electrical engineering, which is to say, He Is Smart. And he is worldly! From teaching computer science in China to volunteering at an orphanage in Morocco, Andrew's done much more than his killer monitor tan. Once all that philanthropy was out of his system, Andrew decided to get into game development. He and Amir met years ago in Purgatory, aka Orlando FL, where they were both just getting started with their game industry internships, and later shared an apartment in LA while working for gaming's two biggest megapublishers. It's great to be under the same roof again.

You can get to know Andrew better by checking out his newly launched blog, Coder Optimizations. There he puts it all pretty succinctly: And besides, Andrew says it best: "...in college, making games was just a bunch of close friends working hard, working fast, and making fun. It’s what got me hooked on programming and making games in the first place. So I’m returning to my roots." Also he just might make a cameo appearance in our live show on GiantBomb.com on Friday, January 28. Welcome, Andrew!