Cletus Clay - Entirely Created in Clay!

Friday, November 21st, 2008 | Games news, Press | No Comments

Cletus Clay

A rootin’, tootin’ platform brawler created and animated entirely in clay coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade® and PC in 2009

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – November 21 2008 – Independent UK developer Tuna are excited to announce Cletus Clay^TM, a manic side-scrolling platform brawler headed your way on Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PC. Released under Tuna’s new label TunaSnax, the Xbox LIVE Arcade version will be self-published.

Based on an original concept by acclaimed animator Anthony Flack, Cletus Clay^TM is a fast paced old-school run’n'gun with eye catching visuals and a seriously irreverent attitude. Playing as the eponymous Cletus, a bad-tempered, wise-cracking, gun-totin’ hick, you take on a bunch of uninvited alien visitors who have had the temerity to trespass through your farmland on their way to conquering the Earth. Cue flying saucers, ray guns, seemingly endless reinforcements, giant robots and motherships galore; but nothing is a match for an angry redneck and his pitchfork!

Created entirely from clay, the world of Cletus Clay^TM is a fusion of traditional model making, stop-motion animation and modern digital technology. Virtually every object in the game has been modeled, photographed and animated using similar techniques to those used on productions such as Wallace and Gromit (Aardman Studios).

So, grab your shootin’ iron and blast, punch, kick, and smash your way across 12 memorable levels in a quest to rid the Earth of them there boggle-eyed cow rustling invaders. Because nothing says ‘Welcome to Earth’ quite like a good old home cooked helping of whup ass!

KEY FEATURES:

• The whole game is made out of clay and presented in HD: you can even see the thumb prints on the models!
• Two player cooperative gameplay: a second player can join in as Cletus’ brother Emmett so the dynamic duo can beat up the marauding alien invaders as a team.
• A multitude of mini-games and bonus stages, including: blasting alien saucers out of the sky with a mounted cannon, rescuing sheep from a flooding valley, frantic egg gathering from chicken coops, exploring caves for hidden treasure and hunting down fleeing aliens in a hijacked flying saucer.
• Cletus has access to an impressive arsenal of weapons to lay down the pain, including: pitchforks, shotguns, dynamite, mini-guns, flame throwers, grenade launchers and alien ray guns. But, given half a chance, he’s just as likely to make use of a sturdy plank, a hay bale or even a pig!

There is a dedicated Cletus Clay blog at http://www.cletusclay.com

Assets are available for download here.

About Tuna

Established in 1996, independent developer Tuna create entertainment software across a wide range of platforms including console, PC and hand-held devices. Tuna handle both original and licensed properties, with an increasing focus on innovative and original content. Tuna manage their own independent games portal TunaSnax, where they also blog the life of an indie developer.

For more information please visit http://www.tunasnax.com

Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

NOTE: This post been edited following the administration of Pinnacle Entertainment.

Tags: anthony flack, claymation, cletus clay, xbla, xbox live arcade

Puzzler DS: Number 2 in the Charts

Friday, October 17th, 2008 | Games news | No Comments

An update to our previous Puzzler report, Puzzler DS has continued to ride high in the charts, reaching the lofty number 2 position during October 2008. This is second only to the all conquering Brain Training. MCV are reporting how Puzzler Collection has helped Ubisoft to be the first company in three years to beat Nintendo’s own software sales on DS. We had no marketing support on Puzzler, despite its success, so it was good to have Ubisoft themselves say as much in public:

“We’ve actually spent zero on marketing Puzzler because the licence markets itself.”

Screen Yorkshire are also reporting on our recent success.

The Nintendo Wii version is due to be released at the end of October.

Tags: casual game, ds, puzzler, ubisoft, wii

Puzzler DS: Top Ten Hit!

Thursday, August 21st, 2008 | Games news | No Comments

Tuna recently developed a title based around the Puzzler license across five different platforms, with the first published platform being the Nintendo DS, handled by Ubisoft.

Early sales figures are in, and for the week ending 16th August 2008 Puzzler was at number 9 in the DS chart and number 34 in the All Formats chart (Chart Track UK). To see us above games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Ubisoft’s own massively advertised Imagine DS range has certainly put a smile on our faces. The game has also been selling out in stores across the country.

For those across the pond who won’t know, Puzzler publish most of the puzzle magazines you find in newagents in the UK and across parts of Europe. They sell an astonishing number of copies every day.

The game is very much casual in nature, containing thousands of painstakingly created Wordsearch, Sudoku, Crossword, and Fitword puzzles. It’s an example of a game produced on a modest budget, with visuals based around Puzzler’s standard branding - they certainly won’t appeal to your hardcore gamer.

However, it’s also a game which we knew would have a very wide appeal which is what attracted us to it in the first place. We can’t always be writing arcade games!

For a casual game of this nature, we were also pleased to receive a respectable 7.3 from IGN, a site which generally does not rate these types of games highly.

Further SKUs will be released across Europe and North America later this year.

Tags: casual game, ds, puzzler, ubisoft