Games News
22.12.2021

Bringing Back 2012 – Dev Diary 2: Your questions answered!

Executive producer, Sami Ronkainen, and Angry Birds Brand Director, Steve Porter answer your questions about the Bring Back 2012 project.

Article Games News default 22.12.2021

Following last month’s announcement that we’re bringing back Angry Birds Classic, you flooded our tweet with questions!

So in this dev diary update, we want to tackle these head on, as best we can. Here to give you more insight into the project and current status are Sami Ronkainen and Steve Porter.

We have gathered the most recurring questions under certain themes, and will be going through the larger themes, with topic-specific questions to be able to cover as much depth per topic as possible.

 

What exactly do you mean by “premium” and will I be able to transfer my progress from the original game?

Steve Porter:
When we say the Angry Birds game will be premium, we mean there will be a one-off purchase price for all the content at release, just like the original game. We don’t know the price point yet, but it will be cheap. To clarify @KartProEz, yes – to play this remastered, rebuilt version of the original Angry Birds game you will have to buy it – and note: it will not be a free-to-play game and it will not have in-app purchases or ads!

Imagine this as a redux of the original game as it was in 2012, updated to work and be maintained on modern devices – just like old console games that get re-releases on modern platforms.

Sami Ronkainen:
To be totally clear, this will be a completely new app. As we announced in our first update, we are recreating Angry Birds Classic in Unity from scratch, using the 2012 version as a reference. The existing Angry Birds Classic is unmaintainable as it is, being built on an old and non-updateable game engine, and we are having to build this from the ground up. Also with Rovio Accounts long discontinued, you won’t be able to carry progress over from the original game – which again is no longer available in app stores, or supported. But we do hope this rebuild, or remastered version if you will, ultimately gives our fans the opportunity to relive their legendary bird flinging experience from a decade ago!

 

What other games, apart from the Angry Birds Classic, are you planning to bring back?

Steve:
At the moment, we don’t have any plans to reproduce or re-release any of the other titles. We want to use the new version of the original Angry Birds game as a test to not only learn about recreating these famously nostalgic experiences for you all, but also to understand if they truly resonate and get engagement from the community. When we know how well this has been received, we’ll be in a better place to make decisions on other titles.

As far as Star Wars and Rio go, these include 3rd party licenses which would require a lot of investment – so are extremely unlikely to ever get a remastered re-release (sorry to break it like this, but it’s the honest truth).

 

What about other platforms than mobile? Will you be porting this game to consoles, Steam or any other platform?

Sami:
Many of you asked this, including @hectorama501st, but beyond iOS and Android mobile, we don’t have plans to port the games to any other platforms for the foreseeable future. While we hear these wishes from our fans regularly, porting games to platforms like these is unfortunately not a simple process from a technical point of view.

Steve:
With that in mind, it also has to make business sense for both the IP and the Rovio strategy, which is mobile focussed. While we aren’t ruling this out definitively for any title, new or old, currently it is just not in scope of our #BringBack2012 project.

 

So the character designs, which version of the birds are you using? What about new characters like Silver?

Steve:
You guys are obsessive about which generation and specific art style we use! I love it. So for this re-release, we will be using our game-style birds – so not the movie birds. As for the specific style, they will resemble the birds we had in the Classic game before it left the store, very similar to the style used in Angry Birds Reloaded.

As for new characters – no, of course not! No Silver in this game I’m afraid. This is a release of the original game as it was in 2012. The characters and content from 2012 is what will be in this game. You asked us to #BringBack2012 after all.

And yes @YanNobrega1, we will use the same logo from this time as well – if that’s what you meant. Fonts? Well we’ll see what is practical.

Sami:
We aim to make the game feel as close to the 2012 version as possible, so you will see some very classic bird designs. In fact, one of the challenges we have faced in re-creating the game has been to decide which versions to use. There have been many different generations – but we certainly aim for the retro feeling when playing the game.

 

What content is in the game? Will it have all episodes from 2012? Will it have the Mighty League or multiplayer components? Will there be a roadmap of content updates, new plots etc.?

Sami:
The content will have all 8 episodes that were live in the game by mid 2012. The Mighty League feature divided the community somewhat, and since it was also released in 2016, won’t be appearing in this game. In terms of new content, stories or characters – again, we are sticking to bringing back the game as it was in 2012. We aren’t ruling out releasing some of the later episodes, but this is something we can only decide with time.

Also this will be a new app – essentially a retro remastered version of the original game – so this means connecting progress from the original app will not be possible, so hopefully that clears things up @Felipne98r.

Steve:
The game will be a premium experience, which means no interruptions from ads. There won’t be power-ups either, except MAYBE the Mighty Eagle which was introduced into the original game version 1.5 in late 2010. If he makes it into the game, he won’t need an additional purchase of course.

 

What about the original plush toys that launched soon after the original game? Will there be merchandise and licensing products? What about TelePods?

Steve:
We love that our fans are itching to get their hands some nostalgic merch! Give us some time, and I am sure you’ll see merchandise with the classic characters and styles soon! Regarding the original plush many of you are eager to see, like @AngryBirdsAvent, let me see what I can do.

 

Thanks to the Angry Birds community for all of the questions, and not least of all, for being so passionate about Angry Birds. It’s clear to us that the classic Angry Birds game means a lot to you all, and we’re going to do our best to do it justice in this re-release. Thanks again for the feedback and comments – keep them coming! We will follow up with more info on the project next month so stay tuned.