Fans of Timesplitters looking for something positive and good to come out of the community project Timesplitters Rewind... you need not look very far. The team of 35 or so part-timers have been working around the clock to crank out content for the multiplayer-based redo of the popular shooter franchise, but the experience may not be relegated to PC gaming.
As many of you know, Sony has gone over and beyond to reach out to the independent gaming community, putting a halt to patching fees and waiving a lot of certification procedures and their concept approval process. This step by Sony has made them look like an appealing option for many indie devs, and in equal measure, Sony sees independent developers as an appealing alternative to the standard AAA publishing and development schtick.
With all that said, Gaming Blend had a chance to chat it up with Michael Hubicka, the project lead on Timesplitters Rewind, which is a CryEngine 3 powered multiplayer compilation of maps, weapons and characters from the three Timesplitters games. One of the things that we discussed was the team's willingness to get the game up and running on home consoles... more specifically, the PlayStation 4. Things are actually looking up in a much better way than some may have originally thought, with Hubicka saying...
“We're actually going to go ahead and start development [of Timesplitters Rewind] on PlayStation 4. Just because we're pretty confident Crytek's going to say go ahead and do it. But we don't want them saying go ahead and do it when we're caught with our pants down and we're like halfway through development and [then] start something for the PlayStation 4."So we decided that since they released the SDK to allow us to do this, we're going to go ahead and do it ourselves, and when they say 'yes' or 'no' we can decide what to do with that. For now we're just going to go ahead and do it. So at least we're prepared”.
Smart man.
However, just because Timesplitters Rewind is in development for the PlayStation 4 doesn't mean that it's coming to the PlayStation 4. There are a lot of projects made for a platform but it doesn't always mean they're approved for release.
Right now the team is still seeking approval from Crytek's legal department regarding the actual release of the game on Sony's console, with Michael explaining that...
It's mostly just us waiting on Crytek's legal department to give us the go ahead. With these things it's not like they say 'Hey, we don't know you but we'll give you access to these things and you can release it on this or that console.' It's also their reputation on the line.”
He explains that it's not just about what the team working on Timesplitters Rewind wants, but what looks good for the company in the long run... and there are a lot of small details to work out before an actual release schedule is put into place for the home consoles.
As for a release on the Xbox One... don't hold your breath. According to Michael...
“In terms of the Xbox One, we haven't really looked into the development behind it, because there's still a lot of details we need to look into.“For example, the Xbox 360 did have that – I think it's still there or if they finally broke it off – but the certification process, I think, is like $10,000 per patch – that's if the patch gets approved, if not there's like some other fee just to do an update to that patch.“There was a weird process for the Xbox 360 and it was a huge turnoff for me, and they still haven't really said anything appealing to me that would definitely make me think 'Okay, let's do this for the Xbox One'. It doesn't mean that I don't want to, because the more the merrier.”
That incident regarding patching fees has supposedly (though Microsoft has never publicly stated such) been resolved, with some indie devs claiming that they no longer require specific fees to patch games... or so that is what was inferred by Phil Fish, though it was never fully or explicitly confirmed
We'll have up the full interview later on in the week. For now PlayStation 4-owners-to-be can rest assured that they're at least on the development block for Timesplitters Rewind. I bet you're feeling a lot better about that pre-order decision, eh?
A playable alpha is scheduled for release this holiday season. According to Hubicka, they're just around 20% done with the game, but they plan on releasing playable parts as they become available, with additional characters, maps and weapons scheduled to arrive at a later date.
You can learn more about Timesplitters Rewind or contribute to the cause by paying a visit to the game's official website.
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