Ouya-exclusive puzzler Polarity heads to PC, adds Oculus Rift support
Dev couldn't negotiate a deal with Ouya to stay exclusive.
Ouya-exclusive first-person puzzler Polarity is heading to PC, one-man studio BlueButton Games has announced.
Better yet, it's adding Oculus Rift support.
Our Dan Whitehead reviewed the vaguely Portal-inspired puzzler upon its original Ouya release where he noted that while it couldn't best Valve's comedy classic, "there are still moments of ingenuity that come incredibly close to the best puzzles that GLaDOS threw at you."
Polarity developer Craig Littler - who's previously worked on Forza Horizon and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift - explained to me that he actually wanted to make Polarity a permanent exclusive for Ouya, but he would have required at least a little more money to broker such a deal. "I tried to negotiate with Ouya to remain exclusive but they were fairly resistant to change and as such I think there will be plenty of devs who just use them as 'another platform' rather than committing to them exclusively.," he said.
It's hard to know if Littler was expecting too much or if Ouya was being stubbornly strict, but the indie developer said he "wasn't asking for much" to stay monogamous to the fledgling platform. "We discussed it and didn't really work for either of us," he explained.
That being said, Littler bears no ill will towards the platform holder and he realises he's not exactly Tim Schafer and Polarity isn't exactly Broken Age. "I understand their motivations, my game is hardly a blockbuster but by the same token I want as many people to play it as possible so I can fund my next project."
"I always thought the Ouya was an exciting platform, and something I wanted to support and the best way to do that would be to make an exclusive game for it," he added. While this didn't work out as he'd hoped, it's hard to argue with his plan B of bringing it to PC and attracting a larger audience, ala other Ouya-exclusive TowerFall which is likewise heading to PC.
Littler is currently hoping to get Polarity on Steam, so if it looks like your cup of tea go ahead and vote for it on Steam Greenlight.
