Hello from Dakko Dakko! Today I’m here to talk about ‘Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims in HD!’, which we’re bringing to PS Vita this Summer!

This brand new Vita remake of Dakko Dakko’s second game ‘Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims’ (originally released on PSP minis last year) comes with a set of enhancements and upgrades over the original to take advantage of its new home on Vita.

When we embarked on this version there were two things we most wanted to do – the first was a full re-mastering of the game’s art to make the most of the Vita’s huge screen, and the second was a new way to control Floating Cloud God.

The original ‘Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims’ on PSP featured beautiful artwork depicting Japanese folklore and myth, by Army of Trolls’ Gary Lucken (http://www.armyoftrolls.co.uk). Drawn as pin-sharp vectors, the art was a perfect fit for the Vita. It was great to go back to the original images and re-create all the sprite sheets at double the size (to match the Vita’s resolution), and the results were amazing. Below is an image showing just how much better it looks on the new system.

Implementing a whole new control system was less straightforward! We were determined to leave the original controls intact, and to add a new system alongside that taking advantage of the Vita’s extra control options. The original game combined player movement and shot direction on the d-pad or left stick. For the Vita version, we wanted to try separating the player’s shot direction from movement, to allow skilled players to save their pilgrims with more flair!

We started by using the rear-touch panel to control Floating Cloud God’s shooting arm, but it was when we switched to a twin-stick configuration that we knew we had nailed it. Plenty of balancing later, the game retains both the original’s control options and this new vita-exclusive system that really opens the game up, whilst keeping the original challenge, which we’re really proud of.

With a full set of trophies and all the little fixes and tweaks we did along the way, we think this is the definitive version of the game. I’ll be around on the blog to answer all your questions of course, and we hope you enjoy playing ‘Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims in HD!’ as much as we have enjoyed making it.