Super Meat Boy Galaxy is a prototype I put together for my friend Tommy’s 30th birthday a bit more than a year ago. I only recently released a video, and it seems to have gained a fair bit of attention.
For me, it was just a bit of a throw away experiment. It was never intended as a “pitch” to make such a game (although Tommy and I discussed something a bit like it a long time ago when working on Goo!). The video started to get interest from various reputable web sites and pretty soon, had more youtube views than every original work of mine, combined. As you might imagine, this made me feel… ehhhh… “great”.
Much to my surprise, some people said they’d like to try it out, or would be quite excited about a game based on the premise of “happy death” 3D platforming. Obviously, this is encouraging to hear, but I’m trying to be realistic about it all. From experience (soul crushing, inescapable experience) I know that going from a playable concept piece to a full game is degrees of magnitude more difficult than pooping out the initial prototype, while the end result is often only a few times more fun (if at all).
Releasing it as a “real” product, for money, has its own issues: I genuinely wouldn’t have the time to support it as it stands, and I haven’t the means or hours in the day to develop it further. And developing it further would be rather a case of “ill gotten gains”, since I’m riding the success of Tommy and Edmund’s fantastic game. Basically, if I could just make prototypes for the rest of my life, that’s what I’d do. All the sweet, none of the sour. But then, I’d never be able to charge for them, so it’s hardly realistic.
Ethically, and practically, I just can’t do anything with this project. Charitably, though…?
To that end, I will be releasing the Super Meat Boy Galaxy prototype. It’s going to cost you, though.
Windows, Mac, and Linux (when I get around to it) builds will be available in one bundle.
Bear in mind that this is a prototype, and as such will not be as friendly and polished as a final game. Its main purpose was to investigate whether Super Meat Boy’s kinaesthetically pleasing platforming physics could survive the leap to 3D, given the right camera and level layouts.
I’ll probably use a torrent so that costs aren’t eaten up in hosting. I have to figure out how to do that… but it’s cool, I can probably work it out! No worries! There will be other methods of downloading, also, in case your ISPs are weird about that kind of thing. However you get it, it’ll be free to copy and pass around. I *may* have to do something about that music before I release, though.
I’ve chosen The Samaritans to be the beneficiary of these donations. I’m sorry it’s not from an international charity, but… this is for personal and private reasons. I hope you understand.
All donations go through JustGiving.com, which seems like the best way to get money to its target without so many processing fees. Also, it lets you pay what you want, which is good, right?
