July 28, 2015

The Swindle Out Today on PS4, PS3, PS Vita

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have always longed to burgle some Victorian idiot’s house, but due to the cruel ravages of linear timelines, you’ve been forever denied the opportunity of that joyful, joyful experience.

The sheer misfortune of being born in the wrong century means we’ll never get to see a marvellously-mustachioed gentleman slowly removing his top hat as he realizes some scamp’s nicked all his cash, and that simply isn’t fair.

Fortunately, thanks to Computer Technology, we’re in a position to digitally recreate the halcyon days of busting open some primitive chump’s front door, smashing all their robotic guards about the place, and chuckling into the night with all their hard-earned cash. Which is precisely why I have created The Swindle for your PlayStation.

The Swindle is a 2D RPGish, roguelike-like platformer about pulling off various burglaries in a stylized steampunk/cyberpunk London. How many of those have you played this year? None, hopefully.

Each building is procedurally generated: everything from the layout, what’s in it, what security measures it has, the address — it’s all generated on the fly, meaning no two heists are ever the same. From your airship up in outer space you’ll be commanding a group of randomly-generated thieves on a string of increasingly-daring heists, in an effort to steal enough money to upgrade your thieves with the kind of cool gadgets necessary to pull off bigger and better heists.

Get spotted, and the game turns on a dime. It’s no longer a sneaky-sneaky stealthy experience, it suddenly becomes an all-out action race against the clock as you desperately set about trying to hack as many computers as you can before The Police inevitably show up and ruin everyone’s fun.

If that all sounds like your kind of thing: congratulations, you’re a sociopath. But it’s fine, you can live out your Victorian bot-smashing fantasies from the comfort of your living room.

The Swindle is out today on PS4, PS3, and PS Vita. It is cross buy, and I really, really hope you enjoy it.

Comments are closed.

18 Comments

11 Author Replies

RhonnyK
July 28, 2015 at 6:06 am PDT

Loved the art style! I will give it a look!
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 6:59 am PDT
  
  Thanks! Art is all done by a guy called @michaelfirman. He has this crazy amazing style, I’m lucky to have nabbed him :)
- CrusaderForever
  July 28, 2015 at 7:51 am PDT
  
  Umm, yeah! Michael Firman has mad skills!! Very impressed!
- RhonnyK
  July 28, 2015 at 8:10 am PDT
  
  Thank you! I’ll look for his work!
  
  A question: What is the price on the release?
SaviorMachine
July 28, 2015 at 6:07 am PDT

I’ve seen this in a bunch of LPs, it looks extremely cool. I love the finite time limit, nothing like urgency!
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 7:00 am PDT
  
  Thanks! The time limit is kind of core to the game’s mechanics. There’s a *great* video here by Game Maker’s Toolkit that really understands what it’s doing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUbyNJKsi7E
CrusaderForever
July 28, 2015 at 6:54 am PDT

I am very intrigued by that trailer. I have my eyes on this one. The art style is very good and looks like there is a ton of strategy! Well done, I wish you much success!
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 7:00 am PDT
  
  Thank you very much! Hope you enjoy the game :)
paulogy
July 28, 2015 at 7:01 am PDT

Well, if the game is as amusing as this post was, I think we’re in for a real treat! So glad to see this supporting three-way cross-buy too :-)
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 7:15 am PDT
  
  Thanks. I was sleep-deprived and stressed out when I wrote this. Hope you enjoy the game :)
musibat
July 28, 2015 at 7:21 am PDT

@ DanMarshall:

Congrats on the launch of your game :) I’ve been eyeing this game for a long time will def buy it.

Is it true that you hate stealth games?
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 7:49 am PDT
  
  Thanks! I don’t hate Stealth games. I sort of do. I think I’m just fed up with vague systems and AI turning around on a whim and crawling behind an enemy hammering the square key so I do a takedown the second the prompt comes up.
  
  I think Stealth games are ace, I think they just need a few tweaks. One of the great things about The Swindle is the procedural generation – there’s no going back in time if you fail and have to reload, you just press on with your mistakes. Who enjoys taking out the same 8 guards over and over at the start of a tricky stealth bit? ;)
supermoc10
July 28, 2015 at 7:57 am PDT

Just saw this game on Mark Brown’s Game Maker’s Toolkit show. Really impressing. I added it to my wishlist.
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 8:03 am PDT
  
  Thanks. That video is amazing, he really gets the mechanics and how it all ties together. I’ve been a fan of the series since the start, didn’t imagine in my wildest dreams I’d even be mentioned in one, let alone the focus of one :)
judasgoat
July 28, 2015 at 7:59 am PDT

Brilliant. I’m in. Presumably it’s not impossible to “ghost” any mission, assuming you don’t run out of time? Or is combat a delayed inevitability?
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 8:04 am PDT
  
  You can absolutely ghost levels, and it’s encouraged, you get a bonus for doing it. It’s tough, though ;)
rjbooth
July 28, 2015 at 8:15 am PDT

Are all three games part of one trophy set? whats the frame rate on Vita and PS4?
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 8:22 am PDT
  
  They’re cross-buy, cross-play. Frame rate on PS4 I’m pretty sure is 1080/60, and Vita’s framerate is really smooth :)
einstein_79
July 28, 2015 at 9:20 am PDT

Looks and seems a lot like a cross between Mark of the Ninja and Rogue Legacy (my favorite Vita game). I look forward to trying this out. I’m sold!
- supermoc10
  July 28, 2015 at 9:31 am PDT
  
  Those are exactly the games I thought of, especially Mark of the Ninja.
  
  Btw: SONY GET MARK OF THE NINJA ON PS4!!!!!! (unless there’s a deal with Microsoft that prevents you from doing so).
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 9:57 am PDT
  
  Hah, it’s definitely more Rogue Legacy than MotN.
arcadean1
July 28, 2015 at 9:44 am PDT

HI Dan, Your game looks like a ton load of procedurally generated fun. I saw it a few days ago on the blog and said this is my kinda game. Hope I get to enjoy all the hard work and heart that you guys put into making it soon. Can’t wait for the store to go live.
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 9:56 am PDT
  
  THank you very much! I hope you enjoy it :)
nov_17th
July 28, 2015 at 10:02 am PDT

The only side-scroller that I actually enjoy playing is Braid but I will give your game a shot. Mainly because of the unique look.
- Dan Marshall
  July 28, 2015 at 10:49 am PDT
  
  Thanks!
sfbsfb
July 28, 2015 at 11:48 am PDT

This seems like a game I’ll enjoy. I never tire of Spelunky, largely because of the procedural generation, so this game might have the same kind of replayability. Rogue Legacy also held my interest for an extended time, and of course that also has procedural generation.
gabieve
July 29, 2015 at 9:43 am PDT

I had a go at it in a UK gaming festival. It has a very cool design, but I was quite confused about how the gameplay worked. Hopefully it was just because the tutorial wasn’t completely ready yet! I hope it does well :) I love seeing indie devs having success. I think they bring life to the gaming industry.
Orpheus_Aeons
July 29, 2015 at 3:07 pm PDT

It looks kinda neat…and I’m REALLY intrigued by those “randomly-generated thieves”. If they’re as cool as it sounds…and the pricing is right…I’m buying this for sure. ;)

PS: These kind of games badly NEED a Demo… =\
CuriouslySane
August 1, 2015 at 6:17 pm PDT

Fair warning…difficulty progression scales whether you’re earning enough to buy new skills or not. This unforgiving mechanic quickly becomes tedious. 20 missions in, and I’m just not having fun anymore. It’s a shame because the art style and skill tree looked so promising.