83w ago - HandCircus founder Simon Oliver has shared a video today containing the Okabu soundtrack, and announced that the game is floating to PSN tomorrow!

To quote: Since we started development, a lot of people have commented on how much they love the music of Okabu, created by our very talented partners at Resonate.

Liam and the Resonate team have blown us away with what they've managed to create, and they've made a behind-the-scenes video to give you a bit of background. I'll let Music Director Liam Paton explain in his own words!

With the release of Okabu almost upon us, we wanted to share a short film that documents our last 12 months working on the soundtrack to the game. It has been such a great project to work on and hopefully the footage captures the fun that we had along the way.





Meeting and working with an amazingly talented group of musicians, learning to play the Kalimba properly and working out how to record six-feet wide Marimbas have been just some of the highlights of the year. It feels like a long time ago since Simon first showed us that early build of Okabu last October and it's really exciting to know that people will soon be playing the results...

84w ago - Today HandCircus Founder Simon Oliver has revealed co-op adventure details alongside a video on Okabu for PlayStation Network.

To quote: With less than a week to go until OKABU launches, we're slightly over-excited about getting it into your hands!

There's still so much to talk about the game, so we wanted to delve a little deeper into the world of OKABU and the different lands that make up the adventure.

We got a slightly carried away during development, and the game ended up quite a bit bigger than we'd originally imagined. Personally I blame Shane (OKABU's level designer), who kept on suggesting awesome new ideas that we felt we really couldn't cut.

As a result the four worlds are pretty huge, so big that OKABU features a Platinum Trophy, earned through tracking down all the medals throughout the story campaign, finding the numerous secrets tucked away throughout the world, as well as besting the four minigames.

Following on from last week's post about the Heroes of OKABU, we really wanted to demonstrate how their different skills fit together, so we've got a fresh video below that shows longer sections of gameplay. It also shows how two players can work together when playing in Co-op mode.

85w ago - Today HandCircus Founder Simon Oliver has introduced the heroes in the upcoming PSN exclusive game Okabu as part of the video trailer below.

To quote: Its been a couple of months since we were last here talking about OKABU, our upcoming PSN-exclusive action-adventure, and we're thrilled to be part of this month's "Only On PSN" program, sitting alongside such awesome titles as Pixeljunk Sidescroller, Eufloria and Rochard.

So the big news is that we finally have a release date! OKABU will be hitting PSN on October 18th, and there'll be a demo available on launch day that'll let you take our cloud-flying heroes for a test flight. With launch only a couple of weeks away, we wanted to share a few more details about the game, and what you'll be doing as you guide Kumulo and Nimbe through the four worlds that make up the story campaign.

Since we started development one of our biggest goals has been to pack a ton of gameplay variety in the game, from physics-play and drivable vehicles to the ability to control the creatures that fill the world. These powers come from the cloud-flying heroes in the game, which you can pick up and drop off to swap abilities on the fly.

With our previous trailers we've been keen to show off everything that you can do in the game, but I realize that...

99w ago - HandCircus founder Simon Oliver has revealed more details on Okabu: The PSN Physics Toybox today which will be heading to PlayStation Network soon.

To quote: HandCircus is a really small team - there are only five of us at the studio! In addition to myself, we have Mikko and Matt handling art needs, Luke spearheading programming and Shane tackling level design. We've also been working with Resonate Music, who have been crafting Okabu's original, authentic African-inspired soundtrack.

Their studio has been filled to the rafters with all manner of exotic instruments like Marimbas, Kalimbas, Vibraphones as well as some extremely talented vocalists.

Always-on Co-op

Co-op is at the core of the game. Even single player is a co-op experience because it allows you to swap between Kumulo and Nimbe (and they hero that they may be carrying) at any time.

Much of the game revolves around using the different skills of the heroes together - get Monkfish to pull open a door, then Picolo can lure a bull through and get it to take out a dastardly Dozabot. If there's two of you the game is even more fun, as each of you can take control of Kumulo or Nimbe.

Let's...

100w ago - HandCircus Founder Simon Oliver has posted up a video today of The Tale of Okabu, which he also confirms is coming soon to PlayStation Network.

To quote: We're slightly over-excited about the upcoming release of our brand-new PS3 title Okabu.

While we're best known for creating handheld titles (we are the creators of the Rolando series), we've found the allure of developing for PlayStation 3 impossible to resist, and so have swapped our touch screens for Dualshocks.

For the last two years we have been beavering away creating a brand new world and an all-new adventure, Okabu, that will be coming to exclusively to PSN in the coming months.

Okabu is a co-op action-puzzle-adventure, following the exploits of a two Cloud-whales, Kumulo and Nimbe, as they battle to save their people and their world from the industrialized threat of the Doza clan (a rather unpleasant collection of machinery-obsessed tyrants).





The tale of Okabu begins in the ancestral lands of an ancient race of Cloud-Whales - as vast clouds of toxic pollution have risen from the surface, the sky-dwellers have become struck by a great sickness. Two of the remaining healthy Cloud-Whales (the brothers Kumulo and Nimbe) are dispatched by the Cloud-whale...