Blast Works

By: Derek Yu

On: June 28th, 2007

Don’t tell me this is going to be a trend where American companies take great Japanese freeware and port it to a console, molesting the software as much as they can in the process. “Coming up next, it’s La Mulana! Or should I say: ExploreyTown for the PS3! Just like you remembered, except now in 3d and we got 50 Cent to rap the new theme song for the game!” Cha-ching cha-ching!

Because this Gamasutra report is the only place I’ve seen Kenta Cho’s name mentioned with the Blast Works press release, I’m extremely dubious about K.C.’s involvement in and support for the creation of this new Wii title. Because really, not even a quick name-drop in the release itself?

Also, the name “Blast Works” makes me think about either a steel factory or explosive diarrhea. Or exploding diarrhea in a steel factory. Either way, it’s horribly generic and doesn’t begin to evoke the playful theme of the game.

Fail. Would love to see Tumiki Fighters on the Wii, though. With full support of Kenta Cho with 90% of the royalties going to him.

Download Tumiki Fighters for free here at Kenta Cho’s website.

(Thanks to raigan for the heads-up.)

EDIT: Here’s the actual press release (Kotaku).

Posted in Community, Previews, Remakes, Shoot-em-ups, Wii | Tags: KentaCho

King_N

“â€œComing up next, itâ€™s La Mulana! Or should I say: ExploreyTown for the PS3! Just like you remembered, except now in 3d and we got 50 Cent to rap the new theme song for the game!â€ Cha-ching cha-ching!”

Ugh…*shivers*
Let that NEVER happen!
crackers

Tumiki Fighters doesn’t need to be remade as a commercial product, it works perfectly well as a freeware game. Which is there is no way in hell that I am spending my money on this.
http://www.rsblsb.com Shawn

It looks like shit. I wouldn’t want my name on that either.
Citrus

â€œComing up next, itâ€™s La Mulana! Or should I say: ExploreyTown for the PS3! Just like you remembered, except now in 3d and we got 50 Cent to rap the new theme song for the game!â€

I’d buy it for the lulz.

Tumiki Fighters kicked my ass. I didn’t expect such a cute-looking game to be so brutal. I don’t think I got to see a most of the game. Should download it again and use my PS2 controller…
merkwuerdigich

Someone should protect indie games from their developers entrusting such jewels to greedy “casual” publishers. What they do is just plain profanity.
Pigbuster

What the hell?

I can barely see what’s going on in that screenshot.

Tumiki Fighters worked because the backgrounds were simple and pasteled. Making them complex and dark makes everything too hard to see.
It had style. Now it looks like piss.

And “Blast Works” doesn’t fit the game at ALL.
You’re flying colorful building-block planes around, not blowing up factories.
failrate

I especially can’t understand the dark theme given the generally cheerful ouvre of Wii games.

I would image that the original style of graphics would be ideal for that platform.
rusmas

yeah, horrendously generic re-titling, and stop retouching the graphics, but hey, glad it’s on the Wii nonetheless!
Lorne T Whiting

Shawn, I think I speak for most of us when I say “Eat cock and die.”
Well, maybe it should be less hostile “Be like Tim Allen and be down on your luck”.

Unless, of course, you’re sarcastic. In which case, you should learn, that it translates very poorly over the internet.
Davide “Gendo Ikari” Mascolo

This time, I find the animosity excessive. True, the title’s too generic and unimaginative and we hope for more credit given to Cho (BTW, why not asking him directly before jumping to any conclusion?); but other screenshots I saw aren’t so dark or confusing, the graphic style appears intact and the ability to add custom content, presumably building it through a set of premade pieces (Fraxy, anyone?) could extend the game’s lifespan a lot. I already imagine building a giant boss ship by placing the blocks with the Wiimote!

My true doubt is about double-play: what happens when both players take a lot of enemy pieces, becoming flying behemots?
Derek

Of course the game looks good… because Kenta Cho made it. But his name’s not in the press release. Can you imagine someone porting your game to the Wii and not mentioning you in the press release? At _ALL_.

Instead, it says:

“Developed by _Budcat Creations_ and scheduled for a Q1 2008 release in Europe, Blast Works is a side-scrolling shooter that lets players craft the game to their liking by building their own levels, ships and enemy ships.”

Therefore, I cast my doubts!
Derek

…although I agree I’ve been pretty aggro lately. :)
Davide “Gendo Ikari” Mascolo

“â€œDeveloped by Budcat Creations and scheduled for a Q1 2008 release in Europe, Blast Works is a side-scrolling shooter that lets players craft the game to their liking by building their own levels, ships and enemy ships.â€

Therefore, I cast my doubts!”

I second such doubts, but I’m still conviced that we should first ask Cho himself on the matter – where’s Shi Tzu when you need him? We should start to make donations to pay him for translating letters and interviews to japanese indie developers :P

To keep in the subject, I’d like to know more about Every Extend, altohugh this time it is a Japanese free game whose concept was ported to a portable console by a Japanese company: how much the original author, Omega, was involved in Every Extend Extra for the PSP? Was he mentioned in the game, or he just took the money and stayed apart?
juice

There’s not too much point in kicking up a fuss until someone (i.e. Majesco or Kenta Cho) can make a definitive statement. Majesco is a pretty big, established company, so hopefully we won’t get the same situation as happened with Jester International (who re-used the Jet Set Willy IP without asking Matthew Smith, and ended up logging onto newsgroups and actively insulting and swearing at people trying to work out what was going on).

Tumeki fighters does have the potential to be good on the Wii – and screenshots rarely do 3d games justice. Time to wait and see…
http://www.rsblsb.com Shawn

@Lorne T Whiting

I’m not being sarcastic. Those screenshots look disgusting. If some publisher changed my graphics to what’s shown in those screenshots I’d be pissed.
jonathan mak

>but other screenshots I saw arenâ€™t so dark or confusing, the graphic style appears intact

i dunno, tim’s blog has more screenshots of the game at http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/06/tumiki-fighters-for-wii-renamed-blast.html and all of those mess with the graphical style. The unnecessary glow, weird triangles in the sky, reflections in the water (which could’ve been cool), gradiants… it’s not so much that it’s too dark, but it’s too cluttered, especially when the original seemed to be more whimsical/clean in nature.

all those screenshots
http://www.rsblsb.com Shawn

I don’t know how you can say “the graphic style appears intact”

The graphics looked “nextgen-ified” and butchered to me.

The original looked like an innocent childs toy, this looks like a complex mess of blurs and glows.
crackers

So you could say that it is Technic to the original’s Duplo.
moi

Don’t you know that glowing triangles are a requirement to have your game approved on XBLA?
Glowing triangles are to 2007 what FMV was to 1997…
Jonathan Blow

I think instead of “Blast Works”, this game should be called “We Need an Art Director”.
negative zero

i dunno Derek, jumping to conclusions like that is a bit off. Kenta Cho prolly just sold the rights to the game over to Budcat Creations, explaining why they have no need to mention Cho’s name.

it’s sad that such a great gem is being abused like this, but that’s how the mainstream industry works. it’s all business, and unless KC says otherwise, there’s really no point in defending his decisions unless they weren’t his in the first place.

the additional content does sound promising, and the graphics don’t deviate too much (albeit, should be toned down a bit…those clouds are just wack). the title’s awkward though…just doesn’t do the game justice.

but i must say, if i were KC, i’d wanna have my name on it and work closely with the developers porting it to the wii.
jonathan mak

>itâ€™s all business

but is making a game look like shit good business? i mean, do those shitty clouds actually make people want to buy the game more? that’s what I don’t understand about business/industry. sometimes, i think it’s just someone who has a lot of money, who WISHES they were creative, but just aren’t.
http://www.merseyremakes.co.uk/gibber Oddbob

They honestly don’t bother me, when I saw the piccies I thought “ooh, thats Tumiki Fighters alright”.

They’re not a choice I’d make design wise, but they’re nothing to shit your keks over I don’t think.

I’ll wait and see, I’m quite looking forward to getting my mits on it to see how it plays.

I don’t understand this pitchfork wielding at all in this case, sorry.
OrR

Worst renaming ever…
Kenta Cho is pretty well known… Why don’t they try to cash in on his established brands?! Blast Works sounds like boring crap. Kenta Cho’s Tumiki Fighters sounds like quality.
I still have hopes for the game, though. Tumiki Fighters was a great idea but I didn’t really enjoy playing the game. Maybe this will do better even though it sure doesn’t sound like it.
Why didn’t they remake other Kenta Cho games instead? Mu-cade, Torus Trooper, A7Xpg and the classic Noiz2sa are much more fun…
OrR

Worst renaming ever…
Kenta Cho is pretty well known… Why don’t they try to cash in on his established brands?! Blast Works sounds like boring crap. Kenta Cho’s Tumiki Fighters sounds like quality.
I still have hopes for the game, though. Tumiki Fighters was a great idea but I didn’t really enjoy playing the game. Maybe this will do better even though it sure doesn’t sound like it.
Why didn’t they remake other Kenta Cho games instead? Mu-cade, Torus Trooper, A7Xpg and the classic Noiz2sa are much more fun…
negative zero

@ jonathan mak

lol, you’d be surprised how much that tends to be the case, or at least, how i perceive it to be at times. but i don’t think they’d give a flying fuck for creativity. how do you think games like barbie’s beach vacation get the funding needed to be made? why do you think blockbuster movies almost always have a crappy game followed up?

money talks, and it’s the investors and businesses that are loaded with it. to them, it’s just another way to cash in.
Derek

What’s up with this attitude that if a developer gives a company the rights to their game, that that somehow absolves the company of any kind of responsibility to treat the developer and his title with respect? Just put Kenta Cho’s fucking name in the press release! Is that so difficult, for Christ’s sake?!

I’m not jumping to any conclusions, and I don’t care what Kenta Cho said or didn’t say, signed or didn’t sign, give credit where credit is due! There is absolutely NO reasonable reason not to.
Davide “Gendo Ikari” Mascolo

“Kenta Cho is pretty well knownâ€¦ Why donâ€™t they try to cash in on his established brands?!”

Well known between us. The other 99% of the world will say “Kenta who?”
negative zero

“What’s up with this attitude that if a developer gives a company the rights to their game, that that somehow absolves the company of any kind of responsibility to treat the developer and his title with respect?”

why not ask them yourself? seriously though, there is no reasonable ethical answer to justify their exclusion of Kenta Cho’s name, and for that they’re creativity grubbing assholes. but on a technical level, it would be based on the conditions of the contract…if any, i mean, i haven’t heard any news on that specifically. that’s just how things are.

if they can lawfully get away with it (which i’m guessing they can), then that’s what they’ll do, simply because they can. it’s pathetic, but when you make deals with such people, what else can you expect?