Retro RPG Pier Solar HD delayed until June
Dev blames its "never-ending perfectionism" and the certification process.
Successfully Kickstarted oldschool RPG Pier Solar HD - a remake of the 2010 Sega Mega Drive cult-favourite - has been delayed until June, developer Watermelon has announced.
Part of this is due to the developer's high standards. "Beta test is still going on: the game is super stable but some bugs are still being found. We can't, in our right mind, ignore those and go for release and rely on patches from day one," Watermelon said in a backer-only Kickstarter update (via Sega Nerds). "As long as there's a bug, there will be a fix until the game is as smooth as the original."
The developer went on to namecheck "never-ending perfectionism" as another reason for the delay. "Not only did we program some enhancements to the game such as the Director's Cut, but also some other improvements are being made to make Pier Solar better in usability and gameplay. Some of these improvements came a bit late in the project but we considered them essential for this release... some extra dev time was added due to those new features."
Pier Solar HD was originally scheduled for a December 2013 release, but in a lot of ways this delay isn't surprising given that the game is being ported to far more platforms than the developer initially planned for. That's just what happens when one's game nearly doubles its $139K Kickstarter goal with a healthy $231,370.
Currently, Pier Solar HD's roster of impending platforms include: PS4, PS3, Wii U, PC, Mac, Linux, Android, Ouya and Dreamcast. Yes, Dreamcast. Maybe that's not so surprising given that the 2010 original game was produced for the comically antiquated Sega Mega Drive.
"Only after the game passes WM's internal QA can we consider it Gold Master, and send to our distribution channels (Aka: Steam, PSN, XBLA, e-Shop...)," Watermelon explained. "This process not only takes a bit of time but it also makes sure that our game is compliant with their standards. Only after we're certified, we'll be able to get a final release date."
Watermelon's current goal is to get the game out before E3 kicks off on 10th June.
