Aquaria Release Date: December 7th

Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:03:00 GMT

Coming out Friday, December 7th, 2007!

You heard it right. After years of development, Aquaria, Bit Blot’s IGF Grand Prize winning undersea adventure game, is done and slated for release on PCs everywhere Friday, December 7th, 2007! The game will cost a mere $30 USD, which, believe me, is an absolute steal.

Heralding the launch will be a new Aquaria-related post on the Bit Blog (which you should be reading already) every day this week, featuring concept art, music, development stories, and Kenta Cho knows what else.

I was lucky enough to have worked on this little gem, and let me say, I am so proud to have been involved at any capacity. The game is all content, professional and polished on every level, and chock full of soul. Alec and Derek have slaved over it for a long, long time—and it truly shows. (Internet whiners take note!)

Anyway, before I get too sentimental, I just want to express how proud I am of The Bad Boys of Bit Blot. Through consistent determination and sheer passion they have created something wonderful and deserve every ounce of success they get. These guys are in it for the love of the game, one hundred percent. I know this first hand.

Follow Aquaria here, on Bit Blot’s official site. And be there next Friday for the launch.

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Comments

  1. BMcC said 13 minutes later:

    With the creators of the game also running this place, we the editors have been pretty reserved about posting about it. So forgive me if my post seems a bit… glowing. But I really mean it. Alec and Derek are good people that have accomplished a great thing. It should be celebrated!

  2. BeamSplashX said 15 minutes later:

    Oh goodness gracious, the time is coming… I just need to find some means of getting it and I’m game!

    Haha, game. GET IT?! I don’t.

  3. Adam Atomic said 16 minutes later:

    slurpslurpslurp

  4. BMcC said 18 minutes later:

    Shh, Adam! That was in confidence.

  5. Albert Lai said 25 minutes later:

    Piraters will be shot.

    With bullets of pure shame.

  6. Joseph said 28 minutes later:

    YES I WANT!

  7. frosty said 33 minutes later:

    whoever herd of a underwater game lol

  8. TakaM said 39 minutes later:

    Awesome, congratulations to everyone involved, I hope to soon feel the accomplishment of finishing a game I’m very proud of :)

  9. BMcC said about 1 hour later:

    frosty: Hahaha

    TakaM: I hope so too! Hey, email me when the next playable demo of Twinsen is out, alright? :)

  10. Zeno said about 1 hour later:

    Yeah, I’m actually going to buy this one. Too much mad respect for piracy.

  11. Javet said about 1 hour later:

    I DESPRITLY NEED THIS GAME!!! But it probably won’t work on my piece of crap computer.

  12. Riegel88 said about 1 hour later:

    Awesome, I can’t wait to get this and play it. I’ve been stoked on it for a while. And frosty…go look up Evo for the SNES ;)

  13. JP said about 2 hours later:

    Congrats guys! Will there be a Buy/Order page closer to release?

  14. toastie said about 2 hours later:

    Congratulations, guys! You inspire us all.

  15. Sergio said about 2 hours later:

    I heard Aquaria is just a rip-off of the unreleased “Underwater Cave Story.”

  16. Sergio said about 2 hours later:

    By the way, that was a thinly veiled joke about The Underside being a Cave Story rip-off. Because those jokes will never get old, no sir.

  17. Trotim said about 3 hours later:

    Are there mermaids? …mermaiden?

  18. King-N said about 3 hours later:

    30 sounds a little too much for me…

  19. BMcC said about 3 hours later:

    Haha, yeah, Sergio, we got it. ;)

  20. Skyleak said about 3 hours later:

    Well if more people would have competed in my “let’s play” I would have bought the game for them.” Looks like I’ll be buying it for myself instead.

  21. Myster_EE said about 3 hours later:

    YES! Yes! yes! I have been waiting for 6 months for this, and I’m sure it will be worth it! :D

  22. deadeye said about 4 hours later:

    I’m only buyin it if Ariel gets nekkid.

  23. Xander said about 5 hours later:

    Haha, very nice! I figured being one of the newerest ones I definitely shouldn’t be the one to post this up. Weird having reservations about such a thing, but awesome regardless!

    And as always Derek and Alec; Congrats!

  24. Anthony Flack said about 6 hours later:

    Big, fat, warm, moist congratulations all round. Can you taste the freedom yet?

    I…um…ah… don’t suppose there’s any plans for a Mac version…?

  25. Native Canadian said about 6 hours later:

    $30 USD??? That’s not funny at all.

  26. Tr00jg said about 8 hours later:

    I would like to extend another congrats to Derek+Alec!

  27. PHeMoX said about 8 hours later:

    Damn, I have been waiting for this day a long time. :)

    Huge congrats and some manhugs to the people involved and 30$ is a steal indeed! Can’t wait! =)

  28. MedO said about 8 hours later:

    Last thing I heard, a Mac version is planned. However, they wanted to finish the PC/Windows version first.

  29. Derek said about 8 hours later:

    Thanks, guys. After two long years you don’t know how much it means to us to hear your excitement. :’)

  30. Stwelin said about 10 hours later:

    $30, and I don’t even get a box?

    T_T

  31. mots said about 10 hours later:

    where’s the aquaria porn?

  32. DrDerekDoctors said about 10 hours later:

    PLAAAAAANT! ;)

    I shall be picking this up mere moments after it’s release. 24 hours worth of moments.

  33. Zeno said about 10 hours later:

    Once again the fatal flaw of the Mac rears its ugly head…

  34. beylita said about 11 hours later:

    Is it Vista compatible?

    If so… frothing demand++

  35. haowan said about 11 hours later:

    Day 1

  36. fish said about 12 hours later:

    HUGE SUCCESS.

  37. BMcC said about 12 hours later:

    Anthony Flack: Hey man! Good to see you ‘round here. :)

    Yeah, they signed a deal with Ambrosia a while back for Mac publishing. I believe the port will begin after the holidays, but I obviously can’t give you the official word. Alec?

  38. Xotes said about 12 hours later:

    Well, it’s about damn time. WOOTNESS!

  39. Alec said about 13 hours later:

    buys 5 hamburgers

    Oh what? Yeah, I don’t know when we’re going to finish the Mac version yet. I’d kinda like to take a nap sometime this holiday season.

    January is a possibility…

  40. OrR said about 13 hours later:

    30$? That’s like 20€… :P Maybe it’ll finally make me play with my PC again… Haven’t really done that in quite some time. :(

  41. MisterX said about 14 hours later:

    30$ is quite some more than I expected, for what I’m not yet convinced to buy after having watched the videos and read little about. Though if I recall correctly there is going to be a demo, which is what I’ll be waiting for then. The game sure looked great from what I’ve seen, so I’m putting up my hope for a truly great experience of course. And I don’t want to sound too pessimistic, I’m actually expecting Aquaria to be worth every one of these little dollars :)

    So, any word on a demo release?

  42. Pyrrhon said about 14 hours later:

    Awsome! I don’t think 30$ is too much, especially since the game looks very polished. Im 90% sure i will buy this game , it looks great but im still going to wait for some opinions first. A demo would probably be a very good idea!

  43. Smithy said about 15 hours later:

    WHY!?

    I’m inbetween computers at the moment!

    Why is this coming out now, of all times?

    Derek, if you’re reading this, I demand you postpone the release of aquarius to a later date when I have a computer to put it on.

  44. duh said about 17 hours later:

    too bad you you can’t wrap the game and give it as a christmas present. downloadable games doesn’t really work with christmas. :(

  45. fartron said about 18 hours later:

    too bad you you can’t wrap the game and give it as a christmas present. downloadable games doesn’t really work with christmas. :(

    This saddens me. Why not burn it onto a CD and make a nice case for it? Putting thought and care into a gift counts for a lot more than money.

  46. BMcC said about 18 hours later:

    Aw, that’s a heartwarming idea.

  47. colorFool said about 18 hours later:

    Whooop whooop! Awesome this is! Well, if Aquaria ain’t a sure shot, then I don’t know what - my 30$ definitely assured to you.

    Big fat congrats to the whole BitBlot team!

  48. Pyabo said about 19 hours later:

    games looking great… but for $30… ??

  49. BreadCultist said about 20 hours later:

    I’d buy it at a higher price!

    £15… sold.

  50. Calanctus said 1 day later:

    While I think indies can sometimes be overpriced, $30 seems like a steal indeed. Why would you balk at that? You’ll probably get more entertainment out of it than the latest 360 or PS3 game, and at half the price.

  51. Joseph said 1 day later:

    Yeah this game is going to be worth 30 bucks. But i’m kinda broke… I’ll rob a bank or something… MUST GET THIS GAME!!!!!!

  52. BMcC said 1 day later:

    Calanctus speaks only in truths!

    And I wholeheartedly endorse robbing and/or pillaging to buy this game. :D

  53. Joseph said 1 day later:

    For sure dood, your first on my list of peoples to rob >:)

  54. Syn said 1 day later:

    I see a lot of people getting annoyed by the 30$ USD. It would be important to note that the US dollar plunged within the last year. Hence why people from out outside US think it is a bargain in Euro, Pounds or myself in Canadian dollars. The creators are in fact getting the same money back that if they had charged people 20$ USD a year or so ago.

    Anyway, considering the quality of the game, this is the first independent game that I feel like it is worth purchasing.

  55. BMcC said 1 day later:

    You should probably focus on people with money. :|

  56. Mike said 1 day later:

    Sweet. I played this at ACMI (in Melbourne, Australia) and it was really interesting; it seemed a head above the rest of the games there. I couldn’t really get into it at the time though, because there were tons of people around. I’m really looking forward to playing it at home and getting emersed in it! Huge congrats to Derek, Alec, Jenna, and anyone else involved!

  57. Derek said 1 day later:

    Mike, thank you so much for the kind words! The game’s improved a lot since the version that ACMI has, actually (the IGF build). :)

    Also, I’m going to head out to Melbourne in late December/early January to check out that exhibit myself. I can’t wait!

  58. Fost said 1 day later:

    Can’t wait!!! I’ll be first in the (virtual) queue - camping overnight from the 6th ;)

  59. Del_Duio said 1 day later:

    While I think indies can sometimes be overpriced, $30 seems like a steal indeed. Why would you balk at that? You’ll probably get more entertainment out of it than the latest 360 or PS3 game, and at half the price.

    Yes, but it’s too bad not enough people will ever realize this :(

    Derek, this is so great that you have so many people willing to shell out $30 for your game. I had trouble selling my old one for $2 :)

    Good luck!!

  60. MisterX said 1 day later:

    Ah, screw it. If there’s not going to be a demo soon enough, I guess I’ll just buy it right away anyway, hehe. But don’t you dare release a game that’s in any way not awesome! :)

  61. Bob said 1 day later:

    The game will cost a mere $30 USD, which, believe me, is an absolute steal.

    Sure it is.

  62. BMcC said 1 day later:

    It sure is.

  63. Space Ranger said 4 days later:

    omg its out today omg omg

  64. Mandrake42 said 5 days later:

    Wahhhh! Its the 8th here in Australia and its still not out. Where is it? Where in the states are they located Ill look up the time on World Clock!! :P

  65. Mandrake42 said 5 days later:

    I think I read something about an 8pm release and I checked world clock and its not that yet on either the west or east coast :P

  66. saharo said 5 days later:

    Here in Italy it’s 8th december since 2 hours! I should either wait a pair of hours or go to sleep and check the demo tomorrow… what a hard decision to take!

  67. Mandrake42 said 5 days later:

    Makes Saharo a strong coffee It will be worth the wait :P

  68. Mandrake42 said 5 days later:

    I cant get into the buy page :P

    “The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems.”

    Mayne that means lots of people are buying it? Oh well, Ill download the demo instead

  69. saharo said 6 days later:

    I had a volleyball match today, so I had a chamomile instead, and got to sleep.

    Anyway, I’ve played the demo and the game is at least as good as I expected it to be… and I had a lot of expectation!

    Did anyone noticed that everything about bit-blot.com id unreacheable? Both the main website and the forum, everything. And it’s not a 404 error or something… if I manually try to visit index.pgp it says that the file is not on the server!!! Anyone know what’s going up? I was planning to buy the game!

  70. imp said 6 days later:

    Yah, the site is down.

    You can still get the demo at: http://www.derekyu.com/aqdemo/AquariaDemo.2007.12.07.exe

    And order at: https://www.plimus.com/jsp/buynow.jsp?contractId=1724988

    Thanks to Pirate Neilsouth from the rage3d forums:

    http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33880292

  71. saharo said 6 days later:

    Luckily I’ve found on http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/12/aquaria.html the following link https://www.plimus.com/jsp/buynow.jsp

    It should be possible to buy the game from there!

  72. BMcC said 6 days later:

    I should probably make a quick post, huh? :P

  73. Gesso said 6 days later:

    BMcC, you really should.

  74. deadeye said 6 days later:

    Hey Derek, is it true that the page is down because of a DOS attack?

  75. BMcC said 6 days later:

    Gesso: http://tigsource.com/articles/2007/12/08/aquaria-is-out

    There. Just for you. ;)

  76. Mandrake42 said 6 days later:

    Waahh! I hope it wasn’t disgruntled fellow contestants who hacked the site. That would just be so wrong. One of the things I like about the indi community is that they seem to be supportive of one another. Alec and Derek have worked hard on this game Hugs my full ver and it shows, they deserve their moment to shine.

  77. BMcC said 6 days later:

    It’s just the traffic, don’t worry. :)

  78. Mandrake42 said 6 days later:

    Good, Its Sunday morning here and I didn’t want that can’t of bad taste clouding my day. Lots of traffic is good :)

  79. Mandrake42 said 6 days later:

    Can’t of? That was supposed to be kind of. Bleh, thats what I get for pre coffee posting.

  80. Gesso said 6 days later:

    Why, thank’s BMcC. But we really should help Derek and Alec out. If there’s people that want to buy the game, and don’t know how, we should do our best to inform them.

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