Super Brickanoid

Super Brickanoid is an upcoming puzzle platformer from Frogmind, the creator of Funcolony and T-rex. This title will launch on September 30th, 2012 for the PS3, PS Vita, Wii U and PC.

To coincide with the release, Frogmind released an HD trailer for the game, complete with music from Super Monkey Ball composer Tee Lopes.

This is the first time that Frogmind has gone on the record as a developer, and the publisher has stated that Super Monkey Ball creator Masaya Matsuura will be his "first part of a new studio" as well.

The official website has also been updated with some gameplay.

As usual, you play as a bird with special abilities that let you cause explosions and impale people. By using the weapons available to you, you can turn them into super-chicken versions of yourself, such as a pair of guitar-playing chickens. The best part is that you can pick up weapons and use them to destroy other birds.

This one will launch on the PlayStation Network on September 30th, 2012, with PS Vita and PC versions to follow later in the year.

This is the first Frogmind game that is built from the ground up, with a new engine that is powered by Unreal Engine 3.

To coincide with this news, Frogmind is releasing a new puzzle game called The North Pines. This is also the first Frogmind game to be developed by a studio called Pathway.

This one is a comedy/adventure game that tells the story of a little boy who lives alone in the village of Ponds.

You play as the tiny person responsible for one of the most important events in the world of Ponds. He goes on a quest to figure out what is going on with a sentient jellyfish and, possibly, to save the inhabitants of the village from the evil monster that is taking over the land.

It's out now on Steam for $9.99 and you can find out more by reading our interview with Frogmind's Adam Sellman.

"When it was originally unveiled last year, we showed the game off at a show where it had started drawing me in, and also answered a lot of questions about our game. And it didn't take long for people to come around to the idea that it's actually quite funny, and quite heartwarming to actually play the game."

These themes of empathy, loss, and reflection make Ponds one of the best Kickstarter titles of all time. It's easy to see how this game's adorable story would translate to a story about life and death, especially when considering that this game is written by brothers Caleb and Danny, and would be almost too difficult to digest for some players to handle.

Ponds sees you taking on the role of Nia's boyfriend, alongside two other companions: Danielle and Daphne. As one of the primary antagonists in the story, this game will be highly accessible, which means you can play it just as you would have liked.

"One of the things we did really well was have a number of key sequences in the game that were really interactive. One was a scene in which we could play as Danielle and Daphne and we were very pleased with how it turned out and it really showed how great it really was and it made the game a lot of fun and helped me be more involved in the development of the game."

Ponds talks about how the movie The Prestige of Love isn't set in stone, but that it is important to make sure the plot points are on point and not overstay their welcome. As with most of Telltale's episodic games, the choices you make will have huge implications in the game.

"The levels will have a big impact on the story and have a big effect on the game," reveals Ponds. "We wanted to have players experience the entire story and not just just some one scene. It's critical to make sure that players have an idea of what's going to happen and if it's not the best idea. We're using procedural generation for our characters, so that's something that we plan to use in the game, but it also needs to be based on the choices you make. If we don't get our dialogue correct we'd have to wait. If we didn't get to the point where we had to go back and skip the level, we'd have to go back and replay the level, because it's kind of a personal thing."

Though there are some very obvious paths to choose, such as how certain characters like Norman Reedus and Samantha Woodburn's Samantha work, players will also have a big impact on the game's story. "We have to be careful with what players do," says Ponds. "They can decide to leave the main story entirely if they want. If they want to play through a side story they can go back and replay that.