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 itâ€™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:

Weâ€™re making it.

Posted in Platformers, Social Impact, Tools, Unique / Bizarre | Tags: PhilFish, Polytron

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Super anon

I prefer the old art style :(
Huzzah

Polytron = Kokoromi?
GameFag

”Kokoromi is an experimental game collective formed to help hipster game designers get laid.”
Jad

Super anon: the old .. what?

it looks … the same .. ?
Dan Cardin

it seems to look a bit more colourful. And the 3d looks blockier than before. I like the old visuals better…or i like it being on a projector better (whichever makes it look like it did before)
Polytron Employee

Just a note, it looks blockier/more distorted because the screenshots were taken at a “bad” trixel/pixel ratio, to show more stuff in one image. We’ll probably take better, pixel-perfect screenshots eventually, the image quality of these ones don’t give the game justice.
jimmykane

I sure hope fez-collecting isn’t out!
king

I think I like this…yes…yes I do.
juma

Still no word on which platform it’s coming out for. I thought I heard originally that it was PC/XBLA. I hope so since I’m such an achievement whore.
http://0xdeadc0de.org/ Eclipse

WOOO HOOOO
Polytron Employee

Actually we just suck at taking screenshots =D
BeamSplashX

So are you merging into Kokotron or what?
FISH

nope.
nothing is changing on that front.
listentoreason

If Phil Fish could just stop fapping to his childish obsession with psychedelic 3D graphics for a moment, he’d be able get on with making the goddamn game.

Of course, all of us are to blame for fueling his ego and letting him get so complacent. I’d call him a corporate whore, but if Polytron’s (free) acquisition will get this thing done any quicker, so be it. I’m sick of this trash wasting room on message boards and gaming publications.

And of Fish taunting people with the game’s lack of progress; it’s not something to be proud of, in case he’s wondering. Almost as bad as Arthur Lee.

The new art style is quite nice, but these low-quality screencaps are ass.
http://0xdeadc0de.org/ Eclipse

Ok, if there’s someone that’s not getting it:

Polytron is Phil software house, even the old trailer had the polytron logo, and that stuff is only something to make the update funnier.

@listentoreason… GAMMA is a great event, it’s a fortune to have such cool stuff in the scene.

@FISH when i could be a Polytron employee too?
FISH

old art VS new art
http://polytroncorporation.com/?p=173

new art wins.
robolee

so a friend said they didn’t like the trees and they were unrealistic… I say they should look at these two pictures:
http://www.hikeaphoto.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Geocaching2008/Bent-tree.jpg
http://i.pbase.com/g6/58/636158/2/80730593.LmNajlMk.jpg

combine the two and you have fez’s trees
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

**@listentoreason:** You’re being stupid. Stop being stupid.

**@FISH:** New art style does indeed win. It’s cleaner, the palette is prettier, it’s closer to “pure” pixel art, and (my favorite bit) it has this funky square theme in the grass, trees, vines, clouds, everywhere.

For enjoy.
DaVince

Just a note, it looks blockier/more distorted because the screenshots were taken at a â€œbadâ€ trixel/pixel ratio, to show more stuff in one image. Weâ€™ll probably take better, pixel-perfect screenshots eventually, the image quality of these ones donâ€™t give the game justice.

About this, maybe it’s an idea to always force the pixel/trixel ratio at a multiple of 1, and pad the rest of the area with black borders when necessary (or just show a little bit more/less at different resolutions)? It’d ensure the visual quality of the game for all players.

Looking great by the way, hope you’ll guys do a great job on this one since it’s such an interesting concept. :)
http://gamecyte.com/author/alexander Al3xand3r

I prefer the old art, but perhaps the new art fits the mood of the game better, I wouldn’t know without having played it.
I Like Cake

I swear to god, the next person who says they prefer the original of something is getting punched in the yap by me.
PaleFox

You know, I don’t know if they’ve said, but the place where it says Systems: TBA confuses me. I thought it was for PC?

XBLA would be awesome, though.
Chris

I definitely like the new colors better (the old ones were too yellow), but I think I like the old style better. I find the new style distracting (too many sub-shapes in the background blocks, the green moss stuff is too healthy).

Just my opinion, ignore it if it’s not helpful.
headcrab.

Mm, does this mean the game is done?

@listentoreason: Wow, you’re really angry. Did Fish steal your money or something?

Patience is a virtue, the new art style is a sign of progress, so just wait. Although I liked the old style better, the new one looks like it’s trying too hard to be retro – still, I can’t help but be awed whenever the game does that rotation thingy.

@I Like Cock: I prefer Classic Coke over New Coke. I was a fan of Michael Jackson back when he wasn’t a pale hermaphrodite. I liked EGM back when they were a magazine, and not a website supplement…or a part of Hearst Corporation.

New ideas are not always good ideas.
BeamSplashX

I swear that for a second I though you said you preferred Classic Cock over New Cock. I think I need a break from the internet…
headcrab.

Bah. New Cock is way too salty for my palate.
Phasma Felis

I like the grass in the new one, but not the rest. I miss all the little weathering and details.
I Like Cake

Look, I’m not trying to say that everyone needs to love everything new, but it’s seriously such a downer when every post is just filled with complaints about how the old whatever was way better.
Jad

I still think it looks the same more or less. Quality- and feeling-wise.

New style has more .. err .. STYLE? Stylistic ideas. I like that. It makes me think about the best design choices from Sonic games and that’s good stuff.

listentoreason: Hey guy I dunno what you’re on about, fish has totally been developing the thing quietly for like forever to not be a damn cock-tease and now we finally get some eye-candy, so I trust that there is a game there too, under development, that we won’t see until the game is out.

Because that’s what I’ve heard from the man himself so I’ll just trust that O:
Polytron Employee

“About this, maybe itâ€™s an idea to always force the pixel/trixel ratio at a multiple of 1, and pad the rest of the area with black borders when necessary (or just show a little bit more/less at different resolutions)?”

This is already in (keep correct ratio, show more or less if not possible). We just made the viewed area bigger for the screenshots, turned out to be a bad idea.
http://0xdeadc0de.org/ Eclipse

“DaVince said about 19 hours later:
About this, maybe itâ€™s an idea to always force the pixel/trixel ratio at a multiple of 1”

every number is a multiple of 1 :
Mark

Eclipse: 2.5 isn’t a multiple of 1.
I Like Cake

To be fair, no one specified an integer multiple of one.
Valter

Mark: 2.5 * 1 = 2.5. Therefore, 2.5 is divisible by 1. That’s what Eclipse was saying.

I say we get some modular division going and confabulate the whole thing. Looks like the preambles are marring all the pimplexes as it currently is.
http://www.tscreative.net BMcC

Also, Fez.
BA

Polytron has 3 employees. How does that merit the word “giant”
FISH

we’ve had massive layoffs.
corpus

As listentoreason would have it, Fish sold out to… himself.

I like his style.