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.