Dust: An Elysian Tail To Unleash the Furry On Steam

The Wooster

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Jul 15, 2008
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Dust: An Elysian Tail[/I] To Unleash the Furry On Steam

XBLA's prettiest 2D game is finally getting a PC release.

Like many, I assumed that one of the caveats of Dust: An Elysian Tail winning Microsoft's 2009 Dream.Build.Play Challenge was that the game would end up a permanent resident of the XBLA exclusive club. Thankfully, that isn't the case. At PAX EAST, creators Dean Dodrill and Alex Kain informed the news-collecting creatures at Polygon that Dust is set for a Steam release this April.

So what's so special about Dust? Well, not only is it visually stunning (which is probably the only thing you can glean from the hectic trailer in the above right), it's also sporting a surprisingly deep combat system and a glut of Metroidvania-esque platforming. Our own Heather McLellan gave it a none-too-shabby four-and-a-half out of five. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9899-Dust-An-Elysian-Tail-Review]

The more beardy (or furry) among you might recognize Dean "Noogy" Dodrill as one of the animators who worked on Jazz Jackrabbit. A once active member of the furry community, Dodrill has been working on an animated film by the name of An Elysian Tail since the turn of the century. After learning how to code in 2009, he started work on Dust, an early build of which went on to win 2009's Dream-Build-Play competition, earning Dodrill a XBLA contract and a smooth $40,000.

There's no news on an exact release date for the PC version of Dust, nor any info on price or whether the spectre of Games For Windows Live will raise its ugly head.

Source: Polygon [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/25/grime-to-kill-dust-an-elysian-tail/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RockPaperShotgun+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%29]





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Worgen

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Apr 1, 2009
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Whatever, just wash your hands.
According to destructoid it wont have games for windows live, which is awesome since that's already kept me from getting insanely twisted shadow planet.

http://www.destructoid.com/pax-dust-an-elysian-tail-announced-for-steam-249490.phtml
 

Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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This is one of my favourite games of last year. It's so vivid and colourful, there's humour and references aplenty and, perhaps most importantly, plays incredibly well. The voice acting isn't half bad either; I've certainly heard worse! Anyone who hasn't given Dust a try should certainly take a look.
 

TrevHead

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This and Aquaria are great action rpgs, much better than the Vannilaware games they were cloned off imo.
 

Alcaste

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Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!

This is amazing. Always being told 'Oh It's XBLA exclusive forever' made me so upset. I was looking forward to this for the longest time. Jazz Jackrabbit was THE game that I grew up with. As soon as I heard about this game, I just had to have it.

You just made my day.
 

Nightvalien

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Oct 18, 2010
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*Clears throat* YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!
This is awesome, now let's get Journey on steam.
 

-Dragmire-

King over my mind
Mar 29, 2011
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*reads title on main page*
"!"
*quickly checks steam*
"..."
*comes back and reads article*
"oh... in April... damn."
 

Andy of Comix Inc

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Apr 2, 2010
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I'm slightly bummed now that I bought it on XBLA, played it for half an hour, enjoyed it, said "well I'll get back to that one!" ...and then didn't.

I wasn't sure if this game wasn't so surprisingly successful I wouldn't be saying that, would I. ...this is a good sign then. I would've preferred having it on PC, though, and I really ain't payin' for it twice.

Also, I still don't understand why this game warrants the use of the term "furry" so often. It's anthropomorphic animals doing anthropomorphic animal things, yes. It's made by a furry, I suppose. Yes. But it sort of diminishes the point of the actual game, doesn't it? Unless you mean it as a term of endearment. But... I dunno. It's like "hey, a great game, also by a furry so that's news!"

Eh. I guess I wouldn't say the same thing if it was a gay person making a game about gay people... yeah, okay. Alright. I'll cop to that.
 

Ghonzor

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Jul 29, 2009
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I was wanting to play this, but didn't quite feel like dusting off my Xbox. Wonderful.
 

Andy of Comix Inc

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cursedseishi said:
Andy of Comix Inc said:
Also, I still don't understand why this game warrants the use of the term "furry" so often. It's anthropomorphic animals doing anthropomorphic animal things, yes. It's made by a furry, I suppose. Yes. But it sort of diminishes the point of the actual game, doesn't it? Unless you mean it as a term of endearment. But... I dunno. It's like "hey, a great game, also by a furry so that's news!"
I don't see anyone trying to call the Egyptians "furries" for their pantheon of gods. I don't see anyone trying to call Hercule's mom a "Furry" since she slept with a swan, or Zeus a furry for wanting to shag as said swan.
I'm always reminded of Sonic the Hedgehog, Starfox, and the countless other games starring anthropomorphs that almost never get labelled as "furry," ever, except maybe when talking about its effects on furries.

Hell. Never saw Looney Tunes or the plethora of animal-starring Disney cartoons face that. It's such a recent thing. And not one I'd argue with, mind - if there's a good reason to apply it. But anthropomorphism is not the same as "furry." It never has been. It certainly has its connections, no doubt, but so rarely would there be an instance where you could call an anthro character in a game a "furry" character and full well literally mean it.

Like I said before, though. If this article was about a gay man making a game starring gay people, and people complained about it saying "the gay" would "put them off," I'd say those people are fucking stupid and should get over themselves. I don't see a huge difference between that and "a furry made a game about anthro characters," so I'm actually a little reluctant to voice my complaints; I can't quite seem to put my finger on their origins. Regardless, I do have issues with it... for the life of me can't condone them, though. So that's awkward.
 

Colt47

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Oct 31, 2012
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People talking about another persons personal life and making a spectacle out of it while trying to advertise a perfectly good game. Hello internet sensationalism! Honestly the writer probably should have just left that part out of the article as there are people who are biased against those kinds of individuals and will now likely not play the game. =(

Still, glad it got off Xbox Arcade so I can now enjoy it on the PC. Stopped using Xbox live almost a year ago.
 

Quiotu

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Mar 7, 2008
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Andy of Comix Inc said:
I'm slightly bummed now that I bought it on XBLA, played it for half an hour, enjoyed it, said "well I'll get back to that one!" ...and then didn't.

I wasn't sure if this game wasn't so surprisingly successful I wouldn't be saying that, would I. ...this is a good sign then. I would've preferred having it on PC, though, and I really ain't payin' for it twice.

Also, I still don't understand why this game warrants the use of the term "furry" so often. It's anthropomorphic animals doing anthropomorphic animal things, yes. It's made by a furry, I suppose. Yes. But it sort of diminishes the point of the actual game, doesn't it? Unless you mean it as a term of endearment. But... I dunno. It's like "hey, a great game, also by a furry so that's news!"

Eh. I guess I wouldn't say the same thing if it was a gay person making a game about gay people... yeah, okay. Alright. I'll cop to that.
Well, Dean Dodrill is known to be part of that community from way back, like early 90's. It's public knowledge, and like most smart members of that community, he doesn't wear it like a badge of honor. But this is Dean basically going 'yep I'm a furry artist, and here's a furry game... now watch me make it good enough that you don't care'. That's a hell of a feat, and sorta invalidates the stigma. Sometimes that community can create things everyone can enjoy. He doesn't push the label, which is a serious problem with a lot of furries... he's not in your face about it, it's just in his work.
 

Denamic

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Aug 19, 2009
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TrevHead said:
This and Aquaria are great action rpgs, much better than the Vannilaware games they were cloned off imo.
HERETIC! YOU SHALL BURN IN THE CLEANSING FIRE!
Still though, Aquaria was amazing, and I can't wait to buy the shit out of this game.
 

Quadocky

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Aug 30, 2012
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I didn't know this guy did the art for Jazz Jackrabbit. That explains a lot really.

Andy of Comix Inc said:
Also, I still don't understand why this game warrants the use of the term "furry" so often. It's anthropomorphic animals doing anthropomorphic animal things, yes. It's made by a furry, I suppose. Yes. But it sort of diminishes the point of the actual game, doesn't it? Unless you mean it as a term of endearment. But... I dunno. It's like "hey, a great game, also by a furry so that's news!"

Eh. I guess I wouldn't say the same thing if it was a gay person making a game about gay people... yeah, okay. Alright. I'll cop to that.
Furry is suppose to mean "Fandom for people who like Anthropomorphic characters" or to describe a member of that fandom.

It has become slang for many different things though and makes it very confusing as it could imply: 'Sexuality', the fandom, an anthro character, or a fetish.

The problem I have with the slang is that it creates a sort of alienation for artists who draw anything that isn't human and retroactively becomes associated with a controversial fandom in popular thought.