Update News
Wooden Sen'SeY Release Date on Wii U
July 16, in the year of
our Lord 2014 -- The Release Date for Wooden Sen'SeY on
the Wii U has been finalized. Expect this game to arrive on July
24, 2014.
The Story
“WSS” is similar to a 2.5D game (a 3D game with movements on
2 axes).
The player will control Goro, a village chieftain on his
quest to trace the Sey, a vital beverage robbed by the infamous
Yokai.
In order to accomplish his destiny, the hero uses his twin axes
to slay his enemies but also to propel himself into the air. He
can also swing them around as if they were grapple hooks.
Just like any good warrior, Goro owns some shurikens as well,
and some bombs that become quite handy when it comes to cleaning
up enemy-filled zones.
There you are on your way for an exotic adventure, braving an
increasing difficulty that will remind you of your favorite old
school games and will take you from game over to ecstatic
victory.
Key Features
- Exotic worlds and beautiful 3D graphics.
- Hardcore old school gameplay.
- Awesome music and crazy voice actor.
- A unique environment style for each level.
- Several ways to follow the path of the Sensei: dive in or play
with finesse!
- "Dev-Time" challenge: beat the developers' time if you can!
- A Time Attack mode with 30 “hair tearing” levels!
- Wii U™ control options: Wii U™ Gamepad, Wii U™ Pro Controller,
Wii U Remote™, Wii remote™ + Classic Controller Pro™, Wii
Remote™ + Nunchuk™
- Off-TV mode
About the Studio
Upper Byte Studio, the French indie studio behind Wooden
Sen’SeY, is a tiny team with only two members: Cédric, the
creative force, and Camille, the insane coder.
Their ultimate goal is world domination… But for now, focusing
on making nice polished games with hardcore old school gameplay
and beautiful graphics will be enough!
The characters
Upper Byte Studio intended to establish a brand new universe
with WSS, in terms of lore as well as character design. For that
matter, they were influenced by Japanese culture. Indeed, the
designs of the main character Goro, along with those of the
other characters, are directly inspired by the “Kokeshis”,
traditional Japanese dolls.
Gameplay references
Upper Byte Studio’s goal was to transcribe the feelings that
marked their gamers’ experience when they used to play retro
games in the 80’s and 90’s.
With WSS, the progressive control of the character and its
possibilities in terms of gameplay goes along with the
increasing game difficulty.
They wanted to take the player back to that good old frenzy of
repeated attempts, each time more precise and accurate. For the
player, it also means to progress by taking risks that sometimes
won’t pay – except in terms of mastery!
They also wanted to bring up this thought they often had: “No, I
won’t give up, otherwise I will forget the path for this level
next time I play it, I absolutely have to finish it!”
WSS was designed with a specific vision: whether it relates to
game sensations of pleasure – and sometimes frustration - or to
a refreshing experience brought up by each new level’s own music
and graphical assets.
The combat sessions are inspired by good old “Streets of Rage”
gameplay and the underwater level is a cover of their friend
Alex Kidd’s gameplay!
For the anecdote:
- In level 7, the cage pays homage to their friend Eric Chahi.
- Pay attention in level 2, a Pacman is hiding somewhere!
The Game’s manufacturing Process
The studio began with implementing prototypes. It took them
6 months of testing the functionalities before they were able to
come up with a gameplay according to their desires.
Once they were satisfied with the selected features, they
created a test level. It would demonstrate the tone of the game
as well as the features they were expecting to incorporate in
the final version.
It is only at that stage that they were able to start producing.
One year of labor was necessary to create this new, original
universe.
Once this was done, a first version of the game was released but
the developer’s lack of marketing tools quickly became obvious.
First, they decided to partner with Neko Entertainment and push
WSS a step further by adding a Time Attack Mode that would
include about thirty levels.
They also wanted to approach Nintendo and develop the game on
the Wii U™. They had the chance to test the early Unity version
for Wii U™ and one year later, here’s the console version!
In short, WSS took three years to be where it is now!
Difficult times
For the first released version in 2012, Upper Byte Studio
had underestimated the communication and marketing needs.
Despite attending conventions and receiving awards for their
game, they still did not have enough visibility … the game was
not selling!
After that, the main challenge was to coordinate the work of two
studios. On top of the phenomenal amount of work required for
this game, Upper Byte Studio had to continue providing their
services and delivering clients’ orders so they could live (and
survive). They had some difficult times, doubts, ups and downs
which were tough to overcome. Thankfully, a third partner joined
them on porting the game on the Wii U™ platform!
Developing on Unity for the Wii U™
Porting the game on the Wii U™ was a long and complex
process, but it was not like the developers weren’t expecting
it!
They “signed up” for working with an alpha version of Unity for
the Wii U™, which came along with some surprises and setbacks.
People at Unity were really helpful with them and pro-active:
most of the technical difficulties they faced were rapidly
resolved. Almost all the system related troubles were handled by
Unity (access to backups, error messages, specific hardware
optimization) – which allowed the team to focus on the rest!
There was a lot of optimizing: game physics, partly done
manually, were way too greedy. They had to be clever and build
shortcuts and cheats in order to run the game’s dynamics in an
efficient and smooth way.
The developer’s great pride - that also caused them some dark
circles under the eyes during that time - was the graphical
quality. The game is fully optimized at 720p with antialiasing,
dynamic shadows, glow, reflection on the water and water
retraction, textures in maximum high resolution!
They did not have any experience on a HD console. Developing a
game for the Wii U™ taught them to be rigorous and to expect the
highest quality. The famous “Seal of Quality” that they had seen
since they were kids affixed on their favorite games’ packaging
suddenly had a very real significance.
This first game development on Wii U™ - together with Neko
Entertainment’s friendly support and its long experience of
developing on Wii U™ - gave them a most valuable knowledge.
Today, they are much more serene when it comes to start any new
project!