GDC ’09: Fez Trailer II

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: March 24th, 2009

Polytron Corporation Acquires Fez

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: January 25th, 2009

Hurrah, the Polytron site is live! And I’ll be darned if it ain’t the slickest thing ever. More good news! Fez is planned for a 2009 release. Here’s the press release, direct from Polyplex One:

Montreal, Thursday the 22nd of January , 4:29pm, Montreal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Polytron Corporation is proudly excited to announce its friendly takeover of Fez!

The venerable multimedia multinational giant today announces it has taken control of the production of highly anticipated indie darling sensation Fez. The rights to the game were transferred from indie darling sensation collective Kokoromi, who demanded nothing in return but a dream, and a wish.

Winner of the 2008 IGF Excellence In Visual Arts Award, Fez also features 2008 IGF nominated design innovation.

Polytron is vibrating with glee at the prospect of bringing it’s much needed decades of experience in the field of computer entertainment to Fez, and its team.

Confident in its dedication to the project, Polytron projects a release in 2009.

More screenshots here. (Check out the new and also improved art style!)
More press after the jump.

About Polytron:

Worldwide leader in the field of polytronics, The Polytron Corporation is a name you can trust for all your electronic computer entertainment needs.

About Kokoromi Worldwide:

Worldwide game/art party leader Kokoromi an experimental game collective formed by a rare union of Montreal gamemakers and curators to promote games as an art form and expressive medium worldwide.

About Excellence In Visual Arts:

Fez won it.

About Fez:

We’re making it.

The 1UP Show, Featuring Phil Fish

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: February 22nd, 2008

Here is an indie-centric episode of The 1UP Show, featuring an interview with the ever awesome Phil Fish — now an IGF winner at long last.

I’ve had the pleasure of spending some time with a few of the 1UP folks since I’ve been here and, I gotta say, it feels good knowing there are people who “get” indie games within the mainstream press. (Also, they’re pretty cool to hang out with.)

FUN FACT: Cactus is older than I am.

GDC: Oodles of Videos

By: Derek Yu

On: February 21st, 2008

Not sure when video of the award show in its entirety is going to be available, since G4 is covering it this year. It’ll be pretty awesome to see Phil Fish say “fucking” (or rather, “bleep!”) on national t.v. And they’ll undoubtedly blur out Petri’s amazing sign…

In the meantime, hit the jump for some indie-related vids:

Fez: World 1-1

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: February 19th, 2008

Please, enjoy some straight gameplay from the GDC build of Phil Fish and Renaud Bedard’s dimension-bending platformer Fez.

P.S. Though previously from Kokoromi, the company behind Fez is now officially known as Polytron, with a super-sexy new logo and all.

Fez Teaser Trailer

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 10th, 2007

At long last, the great Phil Fish has unveiled in-game footage of his IGF contender Fez.

Early on he had mentioned a big, secret element to the gameplay… but people say that kind of thing all the time, yeah? Usually it’s some gimmick, or something not as great as they imagined. Not so with Fez. Once you experience it, you realize it’s not only no gimmick — it’s an entirely new and compelling experience.

I cannot wait to play the finished game!

It’s fun looking back now and noticing the little hints Phil dropped along the way… If you had a keen enough eye, you probably could’ve figured him out.

Awesome job, Phil and Renaud!

Watch the video. DISCUSS.

UPDATE: Fish just released a new shot of the game showing off their 3D 2D rendering tech, which they call “Trixels.” (Not voxels, I swear!) Check it out here.

Notice how every “pixel” (trixel) is rendered in 3D. Very cool.

UPDATE II: Fez programmer Renaud explains Trixels vs. voxels, and a bit of Fez’s gameplay, on the Kokoromi blog. (Thanks Petri!)

Early Preview: Fez

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: July 27th, 2007

Just as Shih Tzu is indie gaming’s ambassador to the East, Phil Fish is indie gaming’s ambassador to hipsters across the galaxy. And also French-Canadians, I guess. Yeah.

Anyway! Phil has revealed, on these very forums, his latest project. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “It’s got to be some impenetrably abstract piece of art-game nonsense, right?” Not at all! Why would you think that?

The game is (tentatively) called Fez and it features a wee dude with a fez all done up in pixely, low-res beautifulness like everyone secretly adores (Phil included). While very little has been revealed of the gameplay itself, we do know it’s a “puzzle/platformer/explorer” with some super-secret twist. Also, provided this screenshot isn’t a red herring, you will be able to pick thigs up.

Fez is being developed by Phil Fish and Renaud Bedard, with 6955 on music. There’s a possibility it might be freeware! Check out the ongoing thread right here.

Be sure to complain about the use of gradients.

Update: Phil has blessed us with a high-res, corrected version of the screenshot, which can be witnessed here. Praise be to Fish!