Yes, Intrepid Izzy is officially released on the SEGA Dreamcast! Get yours from one of the wonderful stores listed on intrepid-izzy.com!  Also, in celebration of this joyful fact, you can temporarily get Intrepid Izzy with a 50% discount on Steam! |
Because 20 August will be here before you know it! And that's when Intrepid Izzy is coming to SEGA Dreamcast!  |
Just two weeks (or to be more precise, 13 days at the time of this writing) to go until Intrepid Izzy is released on SEGA Dreamcast. Have you pre-ordered yours yet?  |
Yes! We are happy to announce that the release of Intrepid Izzy for Sega Dreamcast will be 20 August! And for those people who are reading this update a bit late: this means August 2021  We've experienced some delays in the manufacturing of the Collector's Edition, which unfortunately have not been resolved yet. But we are doing the best we can to sort that out before the 20th. In any case, we decided it was best not to let that stop us from moving forward, so you don't have to wait any longer than necessary.  Oopsie While making the CD master of the Intrepid Izzy soundtrack we noticed that we forgot to add two tracks when we sent out the digital soundtrack. The Chocolate Mine and the Mine Cart level are missing, which are some of my personal favourites. Everyone who has selected this reward has already received a message with the download link. You can use the same link to download the updated soundtrack. Sorry for the earlier omission. Our bad. Interview Roel was a guest in an in-depth interview stream with Gamesreup. One of the other guests was Ian Michael, who is well known for his work on several Dreamcast projects including DreamBOR, which brings newer Beats of Rage mods to the Dreamcast. If you wish to know more about misusing compression techniques to create colour tables, then you should definitely click the picture. (Fortunately, most of the time the discussions were about topics normal humans can also understand.)  |
Hi everyone, This update is a bit later than usual as Roel had a short vacation (and I, your trusty narrator, as well). But you're not here to hear about vacations, you're here for some good news. And we have good news! Because the Sega Dreamcast version of Intrepid Izzy and its wonderful soundtrack have been sent to the CD pressing plant!!!! Although we are still working on some other items that need to be included in the Collector's Edition, the release of the game will definitely be this summer! We don't know the precise date yet, since we are still working on some things, but we will let you know as soon as we know In the mean time, check out these renders of what the jewel case and CD will look like. As you can see these are renders of the Japanese version. KickStarter backers will also receive bonus US and PAL designs!    |
Production Status So what is the status of those physical rewards? We have promised our Kickstarter backers a lot of stuff, and in our last update we said we'd be preparing that stuff for manufacturing. Well, we have checked and compared quotations and samples, and we have selected the manufacturers for the various parts. However, there is still some work to be done to make sure everything fits together and the ultra sexy Collector's Edition will be at its finest. Right now we don't have everything we need in order to determine the exact measurements. We expect that to be resolved very soon, though! A number of Collector's Editions will also become available for non-backers. The exact numbers will become clear after production has been completed. The Intrepid Izzy digital soundtrack has also been sent to Kickstarter backers. This too will become available to non-backers soon. |
As you may have heard, Sony will end support of the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita this year, but no worries, the Dreamcast is still supported after 20 years! (By us, no less.) So on to the update!
 What's next? According to our schedule, this very April is when we complete the packaging designs, finalise the CD masters (game and soundtrack), and send everything to be manufactured. Yes, really! Delivery dates are of course not yet set, and also more fluid in these Covid times, but when we have an actual release date you will be the first to know! |
We are happy to report that progress on the Dreamcast version of Intrepid Izzy is moving steadily forward. We are quite confident with the current state of the game, but we are still making some tweaks here and there. At the same time we are working on all the other elements needed to send out all the Kickstarter rewards, such as the packaging, the physical and digital art book, the soundtrack CD, etc. As you can see below, the cover for Intrepid Izzy is already complete!  In short, we're keeping busy and the Dreamcast release is coming closer and closer! However, we can't give you a firm release date yet. There are still too many elements that can affect the timing of the release, and we first want to have everything completed to be able to give you a release date that will not be delayed. |
Due to all the ongoing COVID restrictions, it has been a challenge to do some game testing with real actual players. As you can imagine we - as developers - have played Intrepid Izzy a million times already, and can no longer look at the game with fresh eyes. Luckily we managed to do a QA session on the Dreamcast version with some fellow retro developers in our hometown of Dordrecht. Tweaks and improvements The QA session has led to some useful insights, which in turn led to various tweaks to the difficulty and level layout.  Furthermore, we have added and improved sound effects. Audio is extra important on DC because you can't see quite as far as in the PC version since the screen resolution is lower. Some extra cues when things happen outside the screen can really help. But wait! There's more! We've put some red sneakers on the source code and now the game has MUCH faster reloading of levels, which is especially nice for players who die a lot. Loading between different levels is also faster. Hardware upgrade Senile Team is now the proud owner of a GDEMU. (For those who don't know, the GDEMU is a drive replacement that allows you to use an SD card instead of discs on the Dreamcast). This is quite useful for testing purposes, and also helps us decide if we wish to offer a downloadable version of Intrepid Izzy. Hardware downgrade You may know that Ultra Bazoop is a silly playable retro game found in Awesometown's arcade, but now it will be an actual retro game on an actual retro console. We have the wonderful Sjors to thank for this, who is developing a version for the NES! It is already fairly playable. The ROM will be available for free when it has been completed.  |
2020 - Retrospective A difficult year (obviously). Although the pandemic forced us to stay at home for a large portion of the year, this does not mean it made development any easier. Negative effects on mental and physical well-being, not being able to do collective test sessions, etc. The list goes on, but we're not here to be negative. We're using our powers of positivity to look at everything that went right! And much was achieved this year, including, but not limited to:
And this is what the game looks like on Dreamcast! 2021 - Things to come Although the pandemic is still not gone, the end is at last in sight, and next year things should finally return to something resembling normal. But that's not the only thing to look forward to! In order to do so, lets take a look at what needs to happen next year:
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