Edinburgh’s Ant Workshop, also known as one-man-indie-powerhouse Anthony Gowland, is set to release its first title, Binaries, in April 2016.
Billed as a concentration platform game, Binaries requires players to simultaneously control two glowing neon circles and guide them through a series of increasingly fiendish and dangerous levels.
Ant Workshop thoughtfully provided a little background on the genesis of the game:
Binaries is a game idea that has been stuck in Tony’s head for a long while, and he thought it was about time to let it out. After years of being humiliated by his lack of skills at Super Meat Boy and n++, Tony decided the only way he’d be able to beat one of these fast-paced platform games would be if he made it himself, so he’d know the tricks to all of the levels. At the same time he wanted to add something new, and the idea of controlling two characters seemed fun. How to differentiate them? Well, the “all Hollywood movies are the same two colours” meme was doing the rounds at the time, and so Tealy & Orangey was born as a 20 level Flash game. It picked up some press attention and that was that. Except it wasn’t. There was always a lot that could be improved with the original, and seeing that nobody had used the same mechanics and gameplay since, Tony set about making a definitive take as Ant Workshop’s debut title in 2015. But the name had to change, obviously – it was awful. Binaries passed through Steam Greenlight in just 3 weeks, and is due for initial release on Windows & Mac OSX in April 2016, with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions to follow later in the year. (At the time of writing, Tony still cannot beat all of the levels in Binaries.)
The game has already inspired some excellent responses from the media and games industry luminaries. Ken Levin, the creative director of Bioshock called Binaries Very clever and unique, while Will Freeman, writing in the Observer said, Full of subtly brilliant flourishes, stimulating and delightful and implemented with attention to detail.
Yeah, celebrity endorsements too…
We will of course be covering the release with a famous SGN OUT NOW article when the game is launched. As an intelligent and crafty indie developer, Ant Workshop has sent out information about the game BEFORE is hits the market, encouraging media coverage and building expectation.Promising 101 levels and up to 10 jokes, Binaries is due out for Windows and Mac OSX on April 4th, priced £6.99/$9.99.
You can find out more on the Ant Workshop website, the Binaries microsite, or follow the studio on Facebook and Twitter.In the meantime, enjoy a promotional video…
