Hello again! It feels great to be back on the PS Blog! Especially now that we’re able to reveal a project that so many people have asked for: a native PS Vita version of our multiple award-winning PS minis game Velocity!
It’s called Velocity Ultra, and it features Trophies, online high scores and a completely overhauled visual style at native PS Vita resolution!
We’re reworking all the art in the game, so the cut scene stills have been recreated at a much higher standard than before.
We’re also unifying the art style throughout the game by ditching pixel art in favour of an edgy cartoon style.
The dinky (and rather pathetic) Quarp Jet now looks less dinky (and rather bad-ass)…
We’re also adding lots of visual effects. Here’s what Velocity Ultra looks like at the moment. Please note this is the game at pre-Alpha, and the PS Vita dev kit seems to be compressing screenshots. The graphics look considerably cleaner when running live on the PS Vita screen.
The dark shading at each side of the screen focuses the action, whilst explosions illuminate the environment to create a more dramatic experience. The PS Vita is a lot more powerful than the PSP, so we’re able to add these lighting effects whilst still running at a solid 60FPS – just like the original!
The Director’s Cut
You can think of Velocity Ultra as the director’s cut; everything we would have done the first time around if we’d had the budget. Our goal now is to create a perfectly formed piece of interactive art that will do your shiny PS Vita justice!
When?
We don’t have a solid release date yet, but we’re on track to submit to Sony at the beginning of April, so we are guesstimating a release date in May. We are extremely excited!
Is that all you’ve got?
We know that some of you might be a little disappointed, because you were expecting to see a sequel, not an HD rework. Well, don’t be too sad…
Velocity Ultra is a way for us to establish the Velocity franchise with a wider audience, and we’ve got plenty more Velocity in the works.
In fact, we’ve just published a Velocity Sequel Questionnaire to find out what you want to see in a sequel. If you fill it out, you could win a copy of Velocity Ultra!
If you’d like more information more frequently, just subscribe to our website: http://www.futurlab.co.uk and you’ll never miss an update!
We hope you like the look of Velocity Ultra, as we can’t wait to put it in your hands!
FuturLab on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FuturLab
FuturLab on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FuturLab
FuturLab Website: http://www.futurlab.co.uk
38 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:03 pm by almighty-slayer
Looks terrible.
TERRIBLY BRILLIANT.
Great job all
-Carl
2
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:03 pm by James Marsden
Yo!
Let’s go on the questions folks… :p
Also, I forgot to mention – we are soon to release an album soundtrack of Velocity music, featuring remixes by Cold Storage, Gan Juan, Tuffcub and Jonny Martyr. Mixing up the known and the unknown in exciting measures :p
3
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:04 pm by hjm50
Can’t wait for Velocity Ultra! Thank you FuturLab.
4
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:05 pm by Rushy
Amazing news
One of the best Vita games, but even better!
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:08 pm by James Marsden
Thank you sir
5
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:05 pm by chalky83
I wanted this as a native PSN title for Vita as soon as I played the mini. Didn’t think it would happen so soon though. Congratulations guys, hope to see quite a few Vita games from you!
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:07 pm by James Marsden
Hooray!
6
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:05 pm by Osahi_be
Woah! I loved the original. Will get this…
7
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:05 pm by Suzzopher
Shut up and take my money!
Excellent news. Will be great to play through this again.
8
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:05 pm by Christos-34
Do you know the estimated size of the game?
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:05 pm by James Marsden
Not yet! It won’t be GB though :p
9
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:07 pm by Erroneus
Day one purchase off course.
Any plans for a PS3 version, some cross-buy, cross-save love
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:12 pm by James Marsden
We’ll see what we can do. As always, we need support from you guys to be able to grow our games/ambitions/studio
10
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:11 pm by Diablo_Rosso
Really looking forward to this. Nice one guys.
11
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:13 pm by uk-kurorai
Hi James. I am so happy for you guys to be able to finally deliver your intended vision for Velocity without any hardware limitations. Velocity is bloody brilliant and you guys are way too awesome a developer to be restricted to the minis platform. I’m incredibly excited and Velocity is a definite d1p for me. Thank you and thanks to Sony for supporting your vision.
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:20 pm by James Marsden
Thanks matey!
12
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:16 pm by XDerKleineX
Loved the original, will there be any new levels in this version?
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:06 pm by James Marsden
No new levels in this version – it’s the same game, but let loose with trophies and leaderboards, and an ultra-fresh new style
13
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:19 pm by KiiillRoy
Hi FuturLab, this is a good news !!! I wanted a 2 but it’s good too. What about the price ?
14
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:19 pm by James Marsden
The link to the Velocity Sequel Questionnaire has been omitted from the Blog post above – please check it out here if you’d like to see a sequel:
http://www.futurlab.co.uk/win-velocity-ultra.html
Thanks!
James
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:21 pm by Fred Dutton
Adding this in now! Sorry James!
15
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:20 pm by TrulyALie
Velocity was a huge surprise to me, minis never really did anything for me but Velocity was just an unbelievably good game. So glad to see both the game and your studio break out into the bigger world of PSN, where I’m sure bigger and even better things are in your future. Can’t wait for Velocity Ultra.
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:06 pm by James Marsden
Thank you very much!
16
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:21 pm by Reality_palez
I was just thinking about this game last week
But don’t ruin it by not putting only 7 trophies in it also doing this is way better than minis
17
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:22 pm by Fred Dutton
I’m going to chime in here. Velocity is one of my absolute favourite shoot ‘em ups ever. If you haven’t played it, y’all should be really excited for this one! Very pumped!
18
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:27 pm by Bjarno86
Haven’t played a lot of minis, but Velocity is without contest the best of them all. So good to see this getting a proper PS Vita revamp
Are we getting a trailer (or teaser) soon?
19
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:35 pm by James Marsden
Check this folks: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/01/11/velocity-ultra-new-art-style-trophies-online-leaderboards/
20
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:42 pm by Osahi_be
Will you be able to transport your ship with touch controls now? That function was made for touch!
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:43 pm by James Marsden
We’re looking into this. If it works well, we’ll use it for sure. Velocity is fast paced, so forcing players to move their hands from the buttons to the screen quickly will ultimately suck.
But it might be useful for the odd dash when you want to teleport somewhere tricky to get to quickly.
We’ll experiment!
21
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:48 pm by cowbanana
I will buy this game… again!
I have one concern though. I don’t really like how the level tiles have taken on the irregular lines of a cheap flash game
The original level tiles are detailed and clean (within the limits of the resolution). I like that mechanically precise look. Something is lost in translation here.
I like the ship redesign, but the level tiles shown are sort of fugly like a cheap, cartoony flash game :/ Sorry.
I will get it for the gameplay though and to support people doing nice things on the Vita.
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:09 pm by James Marsden
Please excuse my confidence, but sometimes, something comes along that is so unbelievably awesome that you don’t realise it straight away. Until it has time to sink in.
Like a piece of music that is different to what you’re expecting, but you grow to love it, and before you know it, you can’t possibly imagine it being any different.
That’s what’s happening here :p
22
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:51 pm by Osahi_be
Allright, that’s an answer I can relate too. Didn’t think of the obligation to remove your fingers from the buttons. It’s just that when I played Velocity on Vita I instantly thought: how much more intuitive it would be when you could just press where you want to go.
Maybe you can test if the rear touchpad would work? If you place your index finger on it you get a cursor for instance (like with LBP Vita, where you get a circle if you place your finger on the rear of the vita), so you can move your index finger around, en when you press let’s say triangle, you transport to that spot. Just an idea
23
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 4:57 pm by cowbanana
I will buy this game… again!
I have one concern though. I don’t really like how the level tiles have taken on the irregular lines of a cheap flash game
The original level tiles are detailed and clean (within the limits of the resolution). I like that mechanically precise look. Something is lost in translation here.
I like the ship redesign, but the level tiles shown are sort of ugly like a cheap, cartoony flash game :/ Sorry. It would look so much better with tight linework.
I will get it for the gameplay though and to support people doing nice things on the Vita.
24
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 5:28 pm by Psyde
This is looking really good!
25
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 5:31 pm by Gary485
Will this game have a trial? I’m kind of anal about trying before I buy unless it’s from a series I’m familiar with.
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 5:46 pm by James Marsden
I *think* so, yes…
26
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 6:08 pm by Mojo__Man
OMG CYCLOPS DOES PS BLOG!!11!!1
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:10 pm by James Marsden
Haha!
To be fair he did come first…
27
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 6:37 pm by Rytteren
its just that awesome.
“As always, we need support from you guys to be able to grow our games/ambitions/studio ” – then let me preorder the game
ohh.. and the music.. any chance it can join the music unlimited lineup?
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:10 pm by James Marsden
We’d love for that to happen!
28
Posted on 11 January, 2013 at 7:09 pm by artopand
This is really exciting news for Vita gamers, so thanks! I loved the original and will certainly play this as well. I just filled in the questionnaire for the sequel, so thanks for giving us the opportunity to voice our ideas. Keep up the good work!
29
Posted on 12 January, 2013 at 12:25 am by anunnakid
Great! Getting this!
30
Posted on 12 January, 2013 at 9:50 am by SirTodge
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:11 pm by James Marsden
31
Posted on 12 January, 2013 at 1:15 pm by MaxiM_82
I wasn’t too excited about the original, because I’m not really into minis on PSV, but this one… Yep, count me in!
32
Posted on 12 January, 2013 at 1:57 pm by quackerzacher
just dont think $10 is ok you will probably get 3 or more times the sales at $5 i know i would be interested
33
Posted on 12 January, 2013 at 5:28 pm by Private-Lu
Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God.
I loved the original, I played it for hours, now it’s getting a Vita upgrade, got a price yet? I’d love to play this.
If I could I’d buy it twice. Oh better yet, I’ll get that soundtrack too.
I wish more games would come out like this, it’s unique, first you think it’s something you’ve seen before, but then it gets amazing and cool. I really wish I hadn’t read this blog post, now I can’t wait.
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:11 pm by James Marsden
How much would you pay for it?
34
Posted on 12 January, 2013 at 5:58 pm by bennyrafal
survey submited….
35
Posted on 13 January, 2013 at 7:51 pm by frodouk
Best news ever… Thank you!
36
Posted on 13 January, 2013 at 11:34 pm by siavash_uae
Wow…I love the original! I bought it a couple of weeks ago on my Vita.
Everything is awesome about this game! The music, The art style, The gameplay !
Keep up the good work. I’m happy to buy it again to support you guys.
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 7:12 pm by James Marsden
Thanks!
37
Posted on 14 January, 2013 at 10:31 am by chrisboers
Amazing. This game is WAY too good to be a Mini
I have it as part of the PS Plus offer, but never actually played it, because most minis are just not that great. This one is the positive exception.
I checked out this review of the mini, and now can’t wait to get home and play it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A034seB6E24
38
Posted on 16 January, 2013 at 3:59 pm by dillusion
I would pay 5.99 GBP for it. Of course, more as well, but I am not sure how many would try it at a price beyond that.
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