Wind & Water Puzzle Battles For Dreamcast

[AZanshin]

Is this still coming out? I have been checking the site regularly but it hasn't been changed for months am just hoping that it is not canceled and Hopefully they will bring out a version for Pandora.

 

[PandoraNoHako]

Rest assured, it won't be canceled!

The developers (Yuan Works) might have been busy with other things than updating their website and blog, but that doesn't mean the publishers (redspotgames) did the same. They attended two conventions in Germany, always taking Wind&Water with them:

From their summary of the Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig (8/20 - 8/24):

“Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles”: People were able to play the 95 % finished exhibition version on two Dreamcast store displays with VMU save option in the middle of our booth. For the first time people could have a first look at the VMU character, which is new for the Dreamcast release. In the left corner of our booth we had the preview build of the game, which was already available on the “Retro Magazin” issue #6. The issue #9, which containted a Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles review was on display as well.

Posted on Monday on the publisher's website regarding the upcoming retro bazaar in Karlsruhe (10/11):

(English summary: We are glad to inform you that we are attending at the “Retro-Börse” in Karlsruhe, Germany, with a booth. “Last Hope” and “Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles” will be playable and we are going to reveal new information and details about our new game. The Retro-Börse takes place on October 11th 2008 in the ZKM in Karlsruhe.)

The "new game" they are going to reveal information about once again IS Wind&Water - it gets clear if you read the German entry.

So in summary 95% of the dreamcast version were already done before August the 20th, but the game is probably still unfinished (I guess otherwise they would have announced that the final version would be in Karlsruhe on Saturday). A release date is still missing and mass production has not started. Nevertheless, it would be a bit too late to cancel it now.
It's coming. I can feel it.

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Hopefully they will bring out a version for Pandora.

I have actually asked them about the Pandora and they admitted to be very excited about and following the project but they also clearly stated that they are first going to try a real Pandora themselves before they decide on or promise anything.

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If you care to hear my personal bits of speculation:
According to their official site they really added a lot of content for their dreamcast release. Most probably they are going to make a new portable version including these contents sooner or later. Partially to bring it to those people without a dreamcast who will be missing the current port. Partially because it all started on an opensource handheld, and this is where it emotionally belongs. Now the big question is whether to make their port for the Pandora or the Wiz. Of course they would want to test both devices on a technical level before deciding anything. But they would also profit from paying attention to which device the gp2x community will eventually favor. Either way, you would probably have plenty of time to play your dreamcast port before another portable release is announced...

 

[YuanHao]

Hi everyone

Sorry, it's been a long road but we have good news for you at the Wind and Water website preorders for the Dreamcast version are now open!

Edit: Oh, and here's a little teaser

 

[PoisonedV]

beautiful packaging. :lol:

 

[PandoraNoHako]

They are still taking custom sprite orders!!
I guess this means it's still not 100% finished, but probably that's the only thing delaying production at the moment.
I wonder why they didn't just included an option to load a custom sprite from your VMU. They could have left the many homebrew developers to code some app that loads the sprites from the CD it was burned on and transfer it to the VMU, no?
That way they could still make money buy selling custom sprites way after the game's release.

I have already received my custom sprite.
Hurry up if you haven't yet!

 

[PoisonedV]

Since i got the gp2x version but was too cheap for a sprite, I have a question: will there be a pandora version, and if so, will there be custom sprites in it?

 

[YuanHao]

They are still taking custom sprite orders!!
I guess this means it's still not 100% finished, but probably that's the only thing delaying production at the moment.
I wonder why they didn't just included an option to load a custom sprite from your VMU. They could have left the many homebrew developers to code some app that loads the sprites from the CD it was burned on and transfer it to the VMU, no?
That way they could still make money buy selling custom sprites way after the game's release.

I have already received my custom sprite.
Hurry up if you haven't yet!

Well, that's true however, when we thought about it, some users could have had quite a troublesome time learning how to plug the Dreamcast to a LAN, or burning a bootable Dreamcast disk, so in the end we decided to keep it this way (DC users are probably not as tech-savvy as the ones from our beloved open-source handhelds). And well the game is actually 100% finished, still little issues to solve but these really are the last days for the custom sprite, since production will start soon h34r:

PoisonedV:
PandoraNoHako answered the question some posts above :lol: We would first need to get our hands dirty with a Pandora to see how it goes with the porting. But adding to his speculation yeah, there is a high chance that W&W will hit the Pandora One step at a time, that 40-page manual almost killed me