As 2014 winds down and we look toward the new year, we wanted to take a moment to wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday season from all of us at Supergiant.
If the Red and the Kid can enjoy a little holiday cheer, surely so can YOU
It's been a big year for us, and we're very grateful for the incredible enthusiasm we've received from our fans. From the moment we revealed Transistor, you've been incredibly supportive, and that enthusiasm makes a huge difference during development. Even now, months after the game's launch back in May, we still get wonderful messages from you about your experiences with the game -- from all over the world.
Having launched Transistor first on PS4 and PC and more recently on Mac and Linux, we're now in that relatively quiet period where we're putting our heads together figuring out what's next. We're keeping busy in the mean time! Just this month we announced Bastion's coming to the PlayStation 4 and Vita, and Transistor for PS4 will soon be available on PSN in Japan, come January 8. Plus we just moved to a new space in San Francisco that's a better fit for us (and besides, our old lease was up). The change of scenery marks a fresh start for whatever comes next, and we'll be sure to keep you posted. Thanks for sticking with us in 2014, and see you next year!
File this one under things we never could have possibly imagined a couple years back: Bastion, our first game and recipient of more than 100 industry accolades, is coming to the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita next year!
"Proper story's supposed to start at the beginning."
Those attending the PlayStation Experience event this weekend in Las Vegas will have a chance to play a build of the PS4 version at our booth (stop by and say hello!). We always loved watching people try Bastion for the first time, so we're excited to bring the game to a whole new audience on PlayStation. For all the folks who played Transistor but not Bastion before it, we're looking forward to hearing what you think!
For now, we've put together a quick FAQ about Bastion for PS4 and PS Vita in case you have any questions:
What's Bastion? Bastion is an original action role-playing game featuring a reactive narrator who marks your every move, lush hand-painted high-definition 2D artwork, and tight responsive gameplay that rewards playing with finesse. The game is designed to be simple to pick up and start playing, while offering a lot of rich choices around character customization as well as a deep story and gameworld you can lose yourself in.
The first versions of the game launched in the summer of 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PC. Since then we've brought Bastion to a number of other platforms including Mac, Linux, and iOS, where it has enjoyed continued success, selling more than 3 million copies to date.
What's different about the PlayStation 4 and Vita versions of Bastion? Bastion for the PS4 and Vita is intended to be an exacting translation of the original game, for those who haven't played it or wish to experience it again on Sony's latest console or handheld.
Who's developing Bastion for the PS4 and Vita? We're working with the team at BlitWorks to create these new versions of the game. BlitWorks came highly recommended, which was no surprise given the great work they've done on PS4 and Vita translations of games like Spelunky and FEZ, and we couldn't be more impressed with the work they've done so far.
When will Bastion for the PS4 and Vita be available and how much will it cost? Bastion for the PS4 and Vita will be available sometime in 2015. Stay tuned for more-specific details on pricing and availability.
Will Bastion for the PS4 and Vita support "Cross Buy" and/or "Cross Save"? Bastion for PS4 and Vita will support Cross Buy, so if you purchase either, you'll be getting both those versions of the game. We're looking into supporting Cross Save, where your saved data transfers seamlessly between devices.
If I already own Bastion for another platform, will I get the PS4 and Vita versions automatically? Bastion for PS4 and Vita will be sold separately from other versions of the game.
Does this mean Transistor is also coming to the PS Vita? We have no plans at this time to bring Transistor to the Vita, though we appreciate the interest and haven't ruled anything out for the future.
Does this mean/Is there any chance Bastion and/or Transistor will be coming to/will never come to insert_platform_here? We often get various permutations of this question, and our answer is always the same: We have no plans for other versions of the game at this time, though we haven't ruled anything out for the future. The best way to keep up with the latest news about our studio is to follow @SupergiantGames on Twitter.
Today's announcement of Bastion for the PS4 and Vita is a good example of what we mean by "haven't ruled anything out for the future", as we wouldn't have considered something like this if not for Transistor's success on the PS4 following its launch in May of this year. For better or worse, bringing a game to a new platform tends to be challenging and costly, especially when you factor in what else you could have done in the same amount of time. So, we need to weigh these choices very carefully, especially since we're a small team. That said, we do appreciate hearing from folks who'd like to see our games on other platforms, and surely Bastion wouldn't have come to as many different platforms otherwise.
What if I have more questions? Ask away, preferably on Twitter or using the form on our Contact page!
Any chance you could sneak in a plug for the Supergiant Store holiday sale? Yes! While we have your attention, most everything in our online store is now 20-25% off for the holiday season, now through the end of the year. Our most popular items include the Transistor Flash Drive and the Bastion and Transistor soundtrack CDs. Thank you for all your support this year, and happy holidays!
We're happy to announce Transistor is now available for Mac and Linux! We promised these versions of the game would be our next priority after our PlayStation 4 and PC launch back in May, and we're grateful to those who've been waiting for them.
Where to Get Transistor for Mac and Linux: If you have Transistor on Steam, you'll get access to these two new versions auto-magically (and for free!) as part of our latest and biggest update. Thank you again for all your support!
Transistor for Mac is also available on the Mac App Store.
Further Updates! Transistor's minimum system requirements for Mac and Linux are listed on the Transistor page on Steam. Our thanks to Mr. Ethan Lee for all his help building these new versions of the game.
There's even more packed into this update! Two additional highlights:
all-new touch-based controls for compatible Windows 8 devices
Japanese translation (use Launch Option /lang=ja to enable this)
We'll be keeping a close eye on everyone's feedback about these versions so please let us know what you think in our Steam discussion forum or Twitter, and you can always contact us for technical support.
Until next time, we're keeping busy figuring out what's next for us as a team and continuing to support our games. Keep in touch!
It's a momentous occasion in the history of Supergiant: We have a new web site! Our last site had been around since even before our first game was announced. And it served us well, though we felt due for a makeover.
SupergiantGames.com In Memoriam 2010-14 Requiescat in Pace
And now, thanks to our friends at
Webhook, we've got a new look! We hope you enjoy it.
Our old site was configured around a blog, which made a lot of sense when the site first launched in 2010 -- especially since we hadn't even shipped a game then! But over the years, more and more of our day-to-day communication moved to
Twitter or Facebook, and now we have not just our games but also our online store to show for ourselves. We think this new site does a better job of presenting all of that.
We look forward to a new era of sporadic-but-exciting blog posts on this new site!
While we have you on the line, we've finally put together a set of
Transistor Sheet Music, as a free gift for our musically-inclined fans! The file contains nine pieces of original sheet music in PDF format, featuring the following songs written by our award-winning composer and audio director, Darren Korb.
Most songs have sheet music for both guitar and piano, complete with lyrics and vocal arrangements. We hope you enjoy it, and look forward to hearing your creations!
Thank you again for all your support of our game and its musical score.
We’re gearing up for PAX Prime this week in Seattle and wanted to let you in on our plans for the show.
Stop by our Booth 3010 in the main hall to meet members of the team, play very early prototype builds of both Bastion and Transistor side-by-side with the finished games, and (if you’re so inclined) pick up some new merchandise!
About the Prototypes: We loved showing a four-week-old Bastion prototype at PAX East back in 2012, so now, for the first time ever, you’ll get to see what Transistor looked like in very early stages of development.
Some folks come to PAX dreaming of making their own games one day, so we think it can be encouraging to show just how rough our games tend to look early on. It makes the game-making process feel more achievable.
Transistor PS4 on Sale: For a limited time, you can get a good deal on the PlayStation 4 version of Transistor as part of the PAX 2014 sale on PSN!
New Merch
We’re pleased to offer several brand-new items in our online store. PAX attendees get first dibs on the physical items! Online orders ship starting next week.
Transistor T-Shirt (Gray) – $20 Features a rendition of the city of Cloudbank as you’ve never seen it before. Original artwork by our art director, Jen Zee.
Transistor 8 GB USB Flash Drive – $20 We just had to make this one. Transport 8 GB of data in style with this USB flash drive styled after Red’s favorite mysterious weapon of unknown origin.
Transistor Collector’s Bundle – $60 Purchase the Transistor Original Soundtrack CD, T-Shirt, Flash Drive, and ‘Cloudbank’ Art Print together for a cool 15% off!
Here's the new Transistor 8 GB Flash Drive!
Transistor Ringtones – FREE! Available as a free download, this pack contains 16 ringtones from the game, e.g. the OVC Terminal start-up sound, formatted for iOS and Android devices.
Lastly, at our booth we’re planning to showcase a selection of some of the amazing fan art we’ve seen based on our games. We find the talent and imagination of our player community both inspiring and humbling, and we wanted to share some of their amazing work with you.
So, if you’re going to PAX Prime, stop by Supergiant Booth 3010 and say hello! We’ve been going to PAX Prime and PAX East since we first revealed Bastion in 2010, and had a wonderful experience each time meeting all sorts of different people. These days it’s always great to see familiar faces in the crowd as well.
It's been a rather overwhelming few weeks for us at Supergiant since the launch of Transistor. Above all, we wanted to say thank you to everyone who played our latest game. It's been wonderful to see the amazing response from players around the world, and the game sold even faster than Bastion over the same period. Simply put, this means we get to stick together as a team and keep making games our way, which was the outcome we've wanted with both our games.
This bonus album by our composer and audio director Darren Korb; contains more than 80 minutes of alternate music tracks, featuring the amazing vocals of Ashley Barrett; and instrumental versions of some key pieces from the soundtrack. We're releasing it as a free update to everyone who picked up the Transistor OST on Steam or our web site, and it's also available for free streaming. We hope you enjoy it!
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Besides supporting the launch of Transistor these past few weeks, we've officially welcomed two new members to the Supergiant team: Josh Barnett, our resident visual effects and user interface expert; and Morgan Wren, our quality assurance specialist. Learn more about them on our Team page. In fact Josh and Morgan have been working with us for some time already, and Transistor never would have been the same without them. We're pleased to give them an overdue public welcome and to have them as full-time members of our studio, where we expect they'll continue to be key to whatever we do next.
We recently also said goodbye to our senior engineer Chris Jurney, who joined the team at Oculus to do amazing stuff in the realm of VR, which is one of Chris' passions. Chris had a big impact on Transistor and our iOS version of Bastion so we're thankful for all his contributions and wish him the best.
As for what's next for us as a team, we're excited to figure that out! In a few weeks we'll be at PAX Prime in Seattle where we look forward to meeting many of you in person. Until then!
Note: We highly recommend playing through the game before listening to the soundtrack, since the soundtrack is deeply connected to the game’s story.
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There's a lot we want to say at a time like this but as ever, we like our games to do the talking for us.
But we'll just say this: To all you Bastion fans out there, we couldn't have made this new game without all the support you've shown us. We hope you find that Transistor lives up to it.
Two weeks from today, on May 20, Transistor will be available for the PlayStation 4 and PC!!! Today, we have a bunch of new details to share, starting with the fact that you can now preorder the game:
Announcing the Transistor Original Soundtrack
We're pleased to confirm that the Transistor Original Soundtrack will be released on our May 20 launch day for $9.99 for the digital version, and $14.99 for digital + compact disc. It will be available on Steam stand-alone and bundled with the game, and on this web site. The Transistor Original Soundtrack features more than 60 minutes of music created for the game by Supergiant's Darren Korb, with vocals by Ashley Barrett.
The OST includes an exclusive bonus track, "Signals", created especially for this release. We will have the OST available digitally on May 20, and the physical CD will ship soon after. If you preorder the disc, you will get the digital download immediately as of May 20.
* * *
We also have new details to share with you about the PlayStation 4 and PC versions of Transistor. The content of the two versions is identical, though certain aspects are tailored to the respective platforms:
Transistor for PlayStation 4 Features
- DualShock 4 Light Bar flashes in sync with the Transistor's speech
- More than 30 Trophies (including a Platinum Trophy)
- Remote Play & Share Button support (standard for PS4 games)
Transistor for PC Features
- Full controller support & fully remappable controls
- Steamworks support including cloud saves, achievements, & trading cards
- DRM-free: You can play the game offline if you want
PC Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows 7 or newer
CPU: 2.6GHz Dual Core CPU or greater
RAM: 4GB or greater
GPU: 1GB Video RAM or greater, e.g. Intel HD Graphics 3000, Nvidia 9400 GT, AMD HD 5450
Hard Drive Space: 4GB free
Lastly, we have updated our Transistor FAQ with several new questions and answers:
What is the game's native resolution?
Transistor runs at 1080p on both the PlayStation 4 and PC. The PC version also contains 720p assets for compatibility with less powerful systems.
Will there be a stand-alone DRM-free version of Transistor for PC?
We have no plans for a stand-alone installer for Transistor at this time. The Steam version of the game includes various features that require Steam, such as cloud saves, achievements, and trading cards, and for launch we did not want to create a separate version lacking these features. Note we have put no DRM in Transistor unless you count Steam as a form of DRM. Once you've downloaded the game from Steam, you don't need Steam to be running in order to play.
Which formats will the Transistor Original Soundtrack be available in?
The Transistor Original Soundtrack will be offered in MP3 and FLAC formats, and in compact disc format on this web site (which includes the digital version).
Can I preorder the game and the soundtrack from this web site?
Yes!
Our big news going into PAX East this past month was that Transistor is almost done, due out May 20! At the show, we let folks get their hands on a near-final build of the PlayStation 4 version of the game, and got a really great response. Check out our photo gallery below as well as excerpts of some of the coverage!
Transistor Comes to PS4 May 20 - PlayStation Blog
-- PlayStation Blog
Manipulating Time in Transistor [Video]
-- GameSpot.com
We're down to the last few weeks of development. We're very excited to see what everyone thinks of the full game less than a month from now! Until then.