For real this time

It’s been ahot minutesince we last wrote aboutUFO 50, the 50-games-in-1 8-bit retro collection from the makers ofSpelunky,Downwelland friends. It’s been MIA for several years now (and no wonder, given these are 50 full-sized games being made by several different, and likely very busy, developers), but at long last, Spelunky creator Derek Yu has posted anupdateon Steam saying the project is finally nearing completion. “We should have a complete game in a few months but are planning for a release in the second half of the year to give us time to do more testing and then marketing,” he said.

In case you’re unfamiliar with UFO 50, the setup is that it’s a collection of games created by a fictional company in the 80s “that was obscure but ahead of its time”, as described on the officialwebsite. In reality, the development team consists of Derek Yu, Eirik Suhrke, Jon Perry, Paul Hubans, Ojiro Fumoto and Tyriq Plummer, who have respectively worked on Spelunky, Downwell, Time Barons, Madhouse andCatacomb Kids. It’s an exceptionally neat-looking project, with games covering all genres, fromplatformersandRPGsto sh’mups andpuzzle games, as well as single player and multiplayer experiences.

🛸Posted a small update about UFO 50 development on our Steam forums! It is looking like the game will be complete by the half year mark and we can plan for a release later in the year (after more testing and marketing, etc.). Also imo game is very fun?!https://t.co/3ZC31noXB9

With development nearing completion, Yu goes on to say in his Steam update that “polishing seems like it’s a bigger share of the remaining work than I thought. We’re having to clean up some prehistoric code and confront decisions we made for speed (?!) in the early days (in GameMaker Studio 1, no less). Thankfully, it’s been nothing too crazy and to be honest the housekeeping feels quite satisfying - it’s nice that we’re finally at the point where we can make it a priority.”

Just don’t ask him to pick his favourite game from UFO 50. “I love them all!” he professes.

Exciting times ahead, then, so please do excuse me while I go and pore over itsSteampage again while we wait.