PS Vita’s Metrico gets a release date and new gameplay trailer

Hi fellow PlayStation enthusiasts! We’re finally ramping up to the release of our first big title, Metrico. We got loads of questions during the development, which we can finally answer in this blog post. One of the most frequently asked question is; when is Metrico coming out? We’re proud to announce that Metrico will be available on PlayStation Store from 6th August! That’s only a few weeks from now, which feels both very scary and exciting for us!

Another frequent question was: “Who did the awesome music?” You’re in the right place to find out as well! But the most frequent question was the request for Metrico gameplay footage. We want to start this post by giving you exactly that.

Showing gameplay

“A free demo will be available when Metrico releases”

The main reason we’re only showing gameplay footage a month before release is because we always felt the main mechanic of Metrico is quite a tricky one to explain through video. We never got around to solving this even though this is probably a recurring issue for novel concepts like Metrico’s. We tried to explain the ‘Input Morphing’ mechanic in a blog post before, but it explains itself best when you play Metrico yourself. Those of you who already played Metrico will hopefully agree on this.

We attempted to create a clarifying gameplay trailer using several different approaches, but it was hard and took a lot of time, so we chose to instead invest that time to work on the game. In the end, actually playing the game, experimenting with all the different forms of inputs and getting direct feedback through playing is absolutely the single best way to understand Metrico.

Therefore we also decided to offer a sneak peek into the world of Metrico for everybody. A free demo will be available when Metrico releases. This demo consists of the entire first world. In terms of gameplay hours, the first world is about 5% of the entire game. Please note that this world merely touches the surface of what we’re trying to do with Metrico. More inputs will be added in every world as complexity and difficulty increase. We sincerely hope you enjoy the demo and if you’re up for much more exploration and mindbenders, it will only be a few inputs away.

Music by Palmbomen

Palmbomen (Dutch for “palm trees”) is a Dutch, LA-based, synth hero who is able to capture the exact atmosphere fitting the world of Metrico. This talented composer and friend of the studio released several albums and since we were already a big fan of his work, we were thrilled he liked the idea of Metrico so much he wanted to closely work with us and create an enchanting soundtrack in the way he only can.

“We always felt the main mechanic of Metrico is quite a tricky one to explain through video”

Palmbomen already has one of his tracks “Stock” in GTA V, and showed an interest in having new ways for people to experience his music. Music is very important to us and therefore we’re very proud of the way his music is implemented into Metrico. The game acts as a ‘sequencer’, reacting to what the player does. This way all layers of music (bass, percussion, melody, etc.) are triggered by the way the player traverses Metrico, and thus creating a coherent experience.

Each world is a unique music track. The different hypnotic ’80s synth sound effects and psychedelic music he created accompanying each world tie in to the unique aesthetics and gameplay very well. It’s been a close and truly great collaboration. We encourage you to check out his other work on Soundcloud or Spotify!

Release!

Finishing development of Metrico feels very surreal for us. The project we’ve been putting our love in for such a long time has come to an end. Metrico is out of our hands and is going through Sony’s quality assurance as we speak.

We started fulltime development on Metrico nearly two years ago, so it has been a huge and important part of our lives. Making our first console game, effectively as a three guy studio, was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. It was a very ambitious project and therefore a lot more work than we’d anticipated, which I guess is quite common in game development. We’re very glad we got help from talented interns and freelancers along the way. We couldn’t have done it without them!

It’s been a crazy ride for us. We laughed and cried; saw girlfriends come and go; travelled the world for events; received invaluable feedback from testers; saw joy and frustration in players’ eyes; met countless of great games industry people along the way; moved in and out of offices; crunched with every deadline, and now we can’t wait until it goes live and hear what you all think about the game!

We’re going to sit back and enjoy the ride a bit before thinking about what’s next. Now, it’s time for your input!