In 1998 a young developer called James Shaughnessy designed a game for Sony's black, PS1-shaped development console, the Net Yaroze.
The space-based racer/shoot em up was released via 'demo disc' on the cover of Official Playstation Magazine; a series of waxed paper pages onto which written features and details of upcoming games were printed before the whole thing was stapled, folded and distributed nationwide each month.
With satisfying physics and rewarding pick-up-and-gameplay, Shaugnessy's GRAVITATION became something of a cult hit among people who were cool at the time but who are now too old to use contemporary slang unironically.
James now runs Demon Studios, and last year he released the long awaited sequel, Super Grav, to near-silent acclaim, partly thanks to the fact that it's hard to nudge every PS1 owner at once and remind them of the original game's existence, and also because he changed the name and charged too much.
Thanks to James you can actually play the original Gravitation for free. But if you were playing in 1998, you surely owe him whatever pennies Steam is prepared to kick his way, in return for a discount copy of Super Grav. It's also available on android and in the appstore (thanks badasschris).
You know what I'm talking about. Pshhhh pchew pchew BOOM, oh yes.
1998__________________2017
12 comments
Rubisco
23 Jun 17#11
FFS why did this never cross my radar back in the day? Gravity Force 2 (later Gravity Power) was my favourite game on the Amiga and this is a clear rip-off cheeky
Just had a quick Google and I can't find anyone mentioning the two together, seems not many latter-day Amiga owners had a PlayStation in 1998 because nobody else bloody noticed either.
Thanks for the info, I'd never heard of Gravity Force or that it was Shaughnessy's main inspiration.
Stimpington
23 Jun 17#10
reddragon105
23 Jun 17#9
Yeah, well I didn't say it was good, just that I remembered playing it! I was just impressed that you could make your own games if you had a 'special' black Playstation.
Stefarno88
23 Jun 17#7
They must have sold a crazy number of copies of that demo disc - I think everyone had it!
thefox85
23 Jun 171#6
I still have that disc somewhere & after playing the MGS demo it got me to trade in my beloved n64 & get an import copy of MGS & i could only play it in black & white lol. Still worth it though!
reddragon105
23 Jun 171#5
Wow, the Net Yaroze, there's a name I haven't heard in some time. I remember playing a game called Terra Incognita that was made on it, I think it was on the same Official Playstation Magazine demo disc as the Resident Evil 2 demo (which is what I bought it for). It made me want a Net Yaroze to try to make my own games but I had no idea how to buy one and wouldn't have been able to afford one if I did.
TGPMatt to reddragon105
23 Jun 17#8
Terra Incognita indeed - played the same song on loop and you had an hour(?) time limit to complete it in. The Amazing Coneman won in the music stakes, though...
pazuzu17
23 Jun 171#4
Lovely spot. Great game. Support the creator of this game and buy.
badasschris
23 Jun 171#2
omfg, that demo was one of my favorite games of all time. I had no idea this existed. Thanks op
edit £2.49 on android
Opening post
Owned a PS1? Prepare to nostaldge..
In 1998 a young developer called James Shaughnessy designed a game for Sony's black, PS1-shaped development console, the Net Yaroze.
The space-based racer/shoot em up was released via 'demo disc' on the cover of Official Playstation Magazine; a series of waxed paper pages onto which written features and details of upcoming games were printed before the whole thing was stapled, folded and distributed nationwide each month.
With satisfying physics and rewarding pick-up-and-gameplay, Shaugnessy's GRAVITATION became something of a cult hit among people who were cool at the time but who are now too old to use contemporary slang unironically.
James now runs Demon Studios, and last year he released the long awaited sequel, Super Grav, to near-silent acclaim, partly thanks to the fact that it's hard to nudge every PS1 owner at once and remind them of the original game's existence, and also because he changed the name and charged too much.
Thanks to James you can actually play the original Gravitation for free. But if you were playing in 1998, you surely owe him whatever pennies Steam is prepared to kick his way, in return for a discount copy of Super Grav. It's also available on android and in the appstore (thanks badasschris).
You know what I'm talking about. Pshhhh pchew pchew BOOM, oh yes.
1998__________________2017
12 comments
Just had a quick Google and I can't find anyone mentioning the two together, seems not many latter-day Amiga owners had a PlayStation in 1998 because nobody else bloody noticed either.
Thanks for the info, I'd never heard of Gravity Force or that it was Shaughnessy's main inspiration.
edit
£2.49 on android