Call Me Ishmael

Hey, everyone. Dant here. Although I usually speak to you from the point-of-view of a producer, today’s post is going to be a little different. As is common in most indie studios, I wear a few different hats over here in Choice Provisions land. I’m the producer on Runner3, yes, but I’m also going to be the writer of it. 

Writing has been a hobby of mine since I was 14. In fact, before I started working at Choice Provisions, I was writing about video games for a living! That in itself was a dream come true, and it still blows me away that I ended up moving on to a job I enjoy even more. I know sincerity is pretty un-hip these days, but I really do have to admit how lucky I feel to do what I do for a living.

             This soap has gotten me through some hard times.

If you’ve played any of our more recent games, then chances are you’ve seen my writing pop up here and there. I contributed heavily to the writing of Destructamundo, and I’ve also written most of our store descriptions, press releases, marketing text, and blog posts over on the Choice Provisions site these past few years. I also wrote all those silly Good Friends Character Pack videos that Charles Martinet narrated, which still feels surreal to say.

With Runner3, I’m pushing myself to write the best—and silliest—story I possibly can. It’ll be a challenge, certainly, but it’s a challenge I’m incredibly excited to take on. And, truthfully, knowing that we have someone as talented as Charles Martinet to narrate means that I could just copy-and-paste the contents of the phone book and it would still sound great. I mean, I probably won’t do that, but it’s good to know I could.

Speaking of story stuff, a lot of you have been asking us what CommanderVideo and friends are up to in Runner3. We’ll be sharing some more information about that in the near future, but we’ve decided for now that we’d like to keep it under wraps. There is one thing I’m willing to tell you, however: You can expect to see a Stargazy Pie or two pop up at some point...

All that said, let me know in the comments if you have any questions/remarks about the story of Runner3! If you ask the right questions, we just might let a few more details slip!

- Dant

Winding Techknowledgy

Hello my fellow BIT.TRIP fans!  My name is Mike Roska and I'm the lead programmer on the 3D portion of Runner 3 (SPOILER).  My day is filled with typing things like "if (bug_Really_exists) { sweep_under_rug(); }".

Some of you may have seen me lurking around the Tharsis forums and Twitch streams being all friendly and polite, but behind the scenes I'm a typical programmer with the social skills of a Canadian Mounty.  Wait, that's a good thing?  Oh, well then, thank you!

Speaking of Canadian Mounties, I'd like to dip my toes (and yours, if you'll allow me) into the wonderful technical world of Runner3. 

Making a linear beat-based infinite-runner game isn't that difficult, technically.  However, one huge, awesome, mind-bending feature we're adding to Runner3 is winding paths!  That makes programmer-y things a little more difficult as CV can now go any-which-way Alex wants him to.  Not only that, he has to interact with things on the beat! However, at the cost of a little more elbow grease, the upside is tremendous, and we're seeing some amazing gameplay come out of it.  So, I'm up to the task of coding it.  Are you up to the task of playing it?

What do you think about all the possibilities winding paths bring?  What do you think of me?  How about my Canadian Mounty comparison?  My mom and I think all of the above are pretty amazing but we're biased.

It's been great meeting you all on here and I look forward to seeing your comments in the section below.  Mounty, out!

- Mike (Roska)

Introducing... Spookyland

We mentioned in last week’s post that we planned to announce something cool today. Well, seeing as how today is today, we figured the time had finally arrived. 

Some of our previous reveals hinted at it, but we’re excited to finally be able to come out and say it: One of the worlds in Runner3 is going to be a strange, peculiar place known as Spookyland.

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Pretty creepy, no? And yet, there’s also a bit of an undeniable charm to it. I think it comes from the doll heads in the background.

We have plenty more to share about Spookyland in the weeks ahead, including why it is that CommanderVideo and friends have made the crazy decision to go to such a place. Then again, maybe some of you already have some good guesses about this. Let’s hear them—along with anything else you’d like to chat about—in the comments!

- Dant

A Few New Faces

Hey! What’s up, everyone?  My name is Josh Defries and I’m the new guy here at Choice Provisions.  But I’m not just the new guy, I’m also an artist and when I’m not working hard on art for a character or level asset, I’m usually sinking shots at will from anywhere in the office on our basketball hoop.  For real, I can’t miss.  

Why am I telling you about my basketball skills?  Oh, I don’t know, most likely to remind the person I sit next to how much better I am than he is.  This probably isn’t terribly interesting to you, but I do know something that is, and its Runner3 and the characters that live in its world.

As many of you know the RUNNER universe is filled with an amazing collection of characters and personalities.  Some of them are a little more on the tame side and others not so much (I’m looking at you, Reverse Merman!).  But one thing is clear, they are all fun and bring their own unique flavor to the world.  For Runner3 you will see some familiar faces as well as a few new, and today I wanted to show you one of the latter.

Any clue what her name is?  Who she may or may not be romantically involved with?  Go ahead and speculate in the comments and be sure to check back as we reveal more details about the characters and worlds.

- Josh

It’s Schlörtz Tuesday!

Hey, everyone. I hope our twice-a-week posts have been keeping you entertained. More than that, though, I hope they’ve been increasing your excitement for Runner3. 

Today’s post is a new take on an old favorite. Many of you likely remember Schlörtz from Runner2, most notably as the preferred beverage of Bigfoot. Well, you may be chuffed to hear that the Schlörtz brand is doing better than ever, and you can expect to see it make a serious comeback in Runner3!

Here’s a sneak peek of everyone’s favorite Premium Malt Fluid:

The cans may be a little rusty, but the beverage inside is surely no worse for the wear.  Much like Twinkies, Schlörtz never goes bad. Our lawyers won't allow us to say why that is, but you can trust us when we say it's all on the up and up.

While I have your attention, I’d also like to mention that we’ll be announcing something appropriately spooky about the game next week. Does Monday work for everyone? 

Stay tuned!

- Dant