Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)

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Saint of Killers
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PostEarthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by Saint of Killers » Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:12 pm

Earthblade — that's the name of our next game! We‘re also showing off this teaser poster, and a snippet from the game's soundtrack. The poster and logo are by Pedro Medeiros, and the music by Lena Raine.

Think of this as a vibe reveal. We didn't want to reveal much about the game or its story yet, but we think that this well establishes the world and the feeling of being in it. We also just wanted to let everyone know the name of the game now that we've settled on one, so that we can all stop calling it EXOK4.

We've debated back and forth how to talk about this game during development. While making Celeste, we basically tweeted out whatever interesting-looking thing we were working on day-to-day, when we were in the mood for sharing. But an air of mystery lends itself particularly well to this project, so we've opted to save it all up for a big reveal that will hopefully blow your socks off.

It'll probably be a while before you get more information about Earthblade. When we finally do show it off, be sure to point your feet away from animals and small children, and prepare for your footwear to be blasted clean off your feet. In the meantime, now you know the general vibe. Vibe reveal!
The Unknown

It took us 4 prototypes to find Earthblade, and it's now been over 3 years since Celeste's initial release. I think a lot about an exchange I read on a gaming forum (or maybe it was on Reddit), soon after Celeste's release, where a player expressed how excited they were to see what our team would make next. I was happy to read that, but then I saw the only reply, which was from someone who had evidently followed us since TowerFall because they responded with something like, "Get ready to wait 5 years :/"

At the time I thought to myself, "No. This time we'll be faster." Now it sounds optimistic to say out loud that Earthblade could be released within 5 short years of Celeste. The truth is that we don't know how long it will take, just that it will take as long as it takes (and that it will take a long time).

Finding the right project is hard! It has to hit that tiny sweet spot between the unknown and the comfort zone. The unknown is exciting, but scary and difficult. The comfort zone is safe and easy, but boring. It's tempting as an artist to push yourself too far into the unknown, into a project that's not going to get finished given the constraints of your circumstances (budget, time, motivation, appetite for failure). It can also be easy to get stuck in your comfort zone producing lifeless work, particularly when there's a lot of financial pressure. I've fallen into both traps before, but this time the success of Celeste gave us a lot of runway and we tended to swing too wide. Prototypes EXOK1–3 taught us a lot, but ultimately we ventured way too far from our comfort zone for them to realistically ever get finished. It took a while, but we feel like we've settled on the right compromise between the two with Earthblade.

https://exok.com/posts/2021-04-19-earthblade/

Poster and music teaser: https://exok.com/games/earthblade/

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by ITSMILNER » Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:16 pm

Loved Celeste, this is probably quite far off but it’s great to hear they have started work on a new game

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by OrangeRKN » Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:01 pm

GOTY 20XX

Can't wait to tell karl how good it is

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by Balladeer » Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:27 pm

This is the only game in existence I'm hyped for right now and we don't even know what it is.

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by Jenuall » Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:03 pm

Yes, so down for this!

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by That » Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:36 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:Can't wait to tell karl how good it is

"The Earthblade is actually a very touching metaphor for grief" - you, 2022

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by Pedz » Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:57 am

OrangeRKN wrote:GOTY 20XX


A 5 year old game is going to be GOTY?

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by deathofcows » Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:48 am

OrangeRKN wrote:GOTY 20XX


Likely!

Naff teaser though. Good logo. Great pedigree.

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by Balladeer » Fri Dec 09, 2022 9:21 am


NEW game by EXOK Games, the creators of Celeste! You are Névoa, an enigmatic child of Fate returning at long last to Earth, in this explor-action platformer. Earthblade's lush pixel art world offers seamless exploration, challenging combat, and countless mysteries to pick apart. Travel the remnants of a ruined world, encounter denizens both friend and foe, and piece together the Earth's fractured history.

:toot: Coming 2024.

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by OrangeRKN » Fri Dec 09, 2022 10:41 am

I bet someone has stitched the frames of that together into a map already :lol:

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by Octoroc » Fri Dec 09, 2022 10:59 am

This is exactly the kind of woke pixel-hugging gooseberry fool that is causing the gamers to cancel their Game Pass subscriptions.

Not me though, I like the look of it - this is because I'm one of those woke pixel-huggers that like this kind of woke pixel-hugging gooseberry fool.

So far this year, I have eaten NO mince pies.
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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by ITSMILNER » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:25 am

This has been delayed out of 2024 now

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PostRe: Earthblade - New game announcement from the creators of Celeste (very early in development)
by rinks » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:36 am

strawberry floatin’ BOOO.


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