Graceful Explosion Machine Trailer

I can’t believe it’s been a year since we released! Looking back it was such a whirlwind of emotions, before and after launch. So much happened at once and we never really had a moment to reflect on it. In honour of our GEM-iversary I wanted to share the story of Graceful Explosion Machine from inception to now, including our eShop sales figures and our biggest sale yet. The Initial SparkI began prototyping Graceful Explosion Machine in mid-2015.

We officially have our first Toronto-developed Nintendo Switch game! This one comes from Vertex Pop, in Gracefull Explosion Machine (GEM). A game we've talked about before.

The initial spark was creating a shoot-em-up with multiple weapons that the player could switch between effortlessly. It started with two weapons, but pretty soon I thought “Wait, why stop at two?!” With four face buttons on a controller, wouldn’t four weapons work?

It did, and everything else grew from there.So how did a game I was prototyping on my own eventually end up on the Switch? Like most “Whoa, how did that happen?!” stories, this one was pretty boring.

Literally, I just Damon Baker:@DWBakes Hi Damon, I’m interested in writing games for the 3DS. I’m in town for the week of and following PAX, can we meet up and chat?He said yes! I sat down for a meeting with at Nintendo HQ. This was way back in 2015, and though we wouldn’t discuss the Switch until more than a year later, this is where it all began. “Switch”-ing OverIn 2016 we went into full production, which meant expanding the team from just me to a team of five. The game really started taking shape: took my and turned it into something beautiful, came up with the perfect “intense-but-chill” musical direction, and our producers kept us on track. (Shoutout to for wrangling us into a meeting room every week and coaxing status updates out of us!) We were also fortunate enough to exhibit the game at PAX several times with.We learned about the Switch later in the year (with the, just like everyone else), and quickly put together a pitch for Nintendo.

We were the perfect match: the release dates for GEM and the Switch lined up, and more importantly, our in-house engine meant we weren’t dependent on anyone else to make or break our release date. The folks at Nintendo got it. They responded to our pitch quickly and a few phone calls later we were signed on to be a Nintendo Switch launch title. Everything was going great but then we actually had to port the game.In a month.On a console none of us had ever seen.We got our dev kit and I went into hiding, determined to not emerge until I had the game running in my hands. There were many days of me sending process shots to the team, and them cheering me on. It was a pretty overwhelming technical challenge at first, but once I got the basics working everything came together quickly.

Before we knew it, the whole game was running perfectly on the Switch. Down to the WireAll the while we were still working on finishing up the game. It came right down to the wire: we were at PAX East setting up our booth when I submitted the final build to Nintendo for certification. It was approved just a few days after we got back. (recounting this story to our is giving him a heart attack) In short, it was an intense month.The stress of shipping the game was softened by the love from press and fans.

Our got so much attention that it. GEM was featured in the inaugural, we were interviewed by, and on IGN’s excellent.

When press got their hands on GEM, we received pretty.(We were also featured in Nintendo’s in Japan, which may be the greatest achievement of them all). Launch & BeyondThe launch itself wildly exceeded our expectations. It’s been a whole year, but I still vividly remember everything: the game going live, watching our sales numbers grow every hour, climbing the, and our celebratory Korean BBQ team dinner.So just how well did it do? To date, Graceful Explosion Machine has sold just under 50,000 copies on the Nintendo Switch. This is such a remarkable achievement for our humble little game! We continued to support the game (with features like the new score screen, highlight screenshots, and video capture) and continue to be amazed by (and grateful for) the community’s support and enthusiasm.

Apollo liked it so much he forgot all about the cows. What was hades roman name.

Nba live 19 career mode. It doesn’t try to pull off gripping drama found in or go the route of a Spike Lee joint like NBA 2K, but it incorporates the more light-hearted aspects of basketball culture.

Most importantly, GEM’s success put us in a strong position to get back to workSpeaking of which! We are definitely working on a new game, and we’re excited to share it with you but not just yet. For now, let’s state the obvious: it’s an action game, it’s colourful, and it’s coming to Nintendo Switch in 2019. Sign up for to be the first to hear about it.Until then though, we want to celebrate our first year anniversary with our biggest sale yet. Graceful Explosion Machine is 50% off on the (and as well) starting today, for one week only.Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me!(Special Thanks to for our gorgeous, brand new key art at the top of the post!).

Canadian studio Vertex Pop announced that it will release its former Switch exclusive Graceful Explosion Machine to PlayStation 4 and Steam August 5, with an announcement trailer included above. In addition to the release date, the developers have also announced a few new quality-of-life changes for the current version of the game.Originally a timed exclusive release for the Nintendo Switch, Graceful Explosion Machine tasks you with defeating a horde of enemies in space using four different types of weapons. Each of the four planets include different obstacles and enemies you have to avoid, and you can work up the ranks in different leaderboards and challenges.“Whether you’re in the mood for a Zen-like experience or running up the leaderboards, Graceful Explosion Machine will have something for you this August,” said Mobeen Fikree, Founder, Vertex Pop. “We saw a wonderful reception when the game launched on Nintendo Switch this spring and look forward to the PlayStation community and PC gamers getting in on the fun.”The PlayStation 4 version will come with trophies, leaderboards, 1080p 60 FPS gameplay, and the ability to swap the controller’s lightbar color based on your active weapon. Vertex Pop has also detailed some quality-of-life changes for the score screen, which will give a clearer score breakdown at the end of the level as well as a highlight screenshot feature, where the game will automatically record a screenshot of your best moment within a level. Load times have been halved, and the update is available now for the Nintendo Switch.

Kakehashi Games will work with Vertex Pop to publish the game in Japan on all three announced platforms.And thanks to our friends at for helping us get out in Japan!??— vertex pop (@vertexpop)Graceful Explosion Machine is available now on Nintendo Switch, and will be available August 8 for PlayStation 4 and Steam. Read our review of the game here, “one of the best Switch games available right now.” Stay tuned for more news here on Gaming Trend.