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Chucklefish bringing Timespinner to Switch on June 4th, 2019, 3DS port cancelled

You spin me round
by rawmeatcowboy
29 May 2019
GN Version 5.0

Hi all! Today Chucklefish would like to invite you to go back... to the future!

We're excited to announce that Timespinner by Lunar Ray Games, a beautiful time-travelling pixel art action-platformer, is coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox One!

You wait be waiting long either...
Timespinner will be releasing next week, on June 4th!

Timespinner was met with a fantastic critical reception when it launched on PC, PS4 and PS Vita September last year, and currently sits with a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam.

It has since received several updates, supporting 8x playable languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian & Simplified Chinese).

About Timespinner

Timespinner is a beautifully crafted story-driven adventure, and an ode to classic 90s action platformers. Follow Lunais, a head-strong young timekeeper, on her quest for revenge against the empire that killed her family. Use time-bending powers to explore a vast, connected world, and change fate itself.

With her family murdered in front of her and the ancient Timespinner device destroyed, Lunais is suddenly transported into a unknown world, stranded with seemingly no hope of return. Using her power to control time, Lunais vows to take her revenge on the evil Lachiem Empire, but sometimes the course of history isn’t quite as black and white as it seems...

Key Features

Control the Timespinner to bend time to your advantage, evading foes, using them as platforms and solving puzzles
Discover a lovingly-crafted, beautiful pixel art world and uncover a rich story universe
Explore both the past and present of Lachiem, from grand medieval castles, to sparkling serene lakes, a bustling metropolis and even a space-age laboratory
Clobber enemies with Magic Orbs which grow in power the more you use them
Befriend mysterious Familiars and train them to aid you in battle
Take on challenging boss battles with an emphasis on skill, timing and dodging
Locate hidden areas and treasures through secret walls and platforming puzzles
Invite a second player to join the adventure by controlling Lunais’ Familiar in local co-op mode

Development History

Inspired by his love of the Castlevania series and Mega Man X, pixel artist, programmer and designer Bodie started crafting the game world of Timespinner when he was still in grade school, making fabric figures of each character and cataloguing their adventures in notebooks. It wasn’t until high school when Bodie could start turning this fantasy world into a reality, making several prototypes of the same game world using RPGMaker2000 and later turning it into a full game prototype for a programming class in college in 2008.

After graduating college, Bodie went on to work at Microsoft Game Studios and later Bungie, during which time he started refining his prototype into a full game with every free evening and weekend. After 4 years of working in AAA games, Bodie decided to leave to start work on Timepsinner full-time, living off his life savings, and determined to finish his dream project.

Inspired by successful Kickstarted indie projects at the time, Bodie set up a crowd-fund for the project in June 2014, and in a month alone successfully raised $176,667 (over 300% of his goal!) to complete Timespinner, with the help of 5,751 backers. The game is now available on PC, PS4 and PS Vita, soon coming to Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.

News of the Switch version was also shared on the game's official Kickstarter, along with confirmation of the 3DS version being cancelled. Check out the blurb on that situation below.

With much sadness I must announce that the 3DS version of Timespinner has been canceled. While there are many factors that have gone into this decision (including my lack of skill, the lack of an existing XNA-to-3DS port, the game’s code being too inefficient, and more), the biggest factor is that I was simply a fool for even promising it in the first place, as I had no idea if it was feasible to begin with.

When I started the Timespinner Kickstarter, I knew very little about what it would take to run a successful campaign, create an entire game, port that game to several platforms, and get it localized into seven new languages. All I had was determination and hope to make my dreams come true. And, with your support, I was able to succeed!

Once the Kickstarter campaign became wildly successful, its momentum and excitement led me to believe that anything was possible- all it would take is hard work! Without even double-checking that it was safe to do, I took a leap of faith to promise the console ports (PS4, Vita, and finally 3DS). By a stroke of fate, I was able to deliver the PS4 and Vita ports on my own (even though the Vita port’s initial poor performance was not well received). When it came to the 3DS, however, my luck ran out. I am deeply sorry for letting you all down.

Thanks to Aurora Unit for the heads up!

[PR email]
 
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