Puzzle-platformer Constant C heading to Xbox Live Arcade

Today at the Tokyo Game Show, developer IGS and publisher Mages announced that Constant C, a 2D puzzle-platformer recently approved for Steam Greenlight, is headed to Xbox Live Arcade in Spring 2014.

The game stars a silhouetted, big-headed main character wearing what look like oversized headphones. He or she is surrounded by a bubble, and the world's time and gravity are frozen everywhere except inside that bubble. So puzzles come from knowing when to touch objects with the bubble, and then moving the character based on what happens.

For instance, in the version of the game on display at TGS, the character primarily interacts with square blocks. Rub the bubble up against them and gravity will knock them to the ground, creating new platforms to jump on. Combine this with the ability to rotate the world 90 or 180 degrees at any point, and the main character has to sometimes touch a block, then rotate the world and jump quickly to avoid falling or being squished. Picture And Yet It Moves and you won't be far off.

One of the people behind the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game is Mages Producer Makoto Asada, best known for his work at shoot-'em-up developer Cave. His recent job transition, it turns out, led to Mages signing IGS, a developer with roots in arcade cabinet parts which in recent years has moved into mobile and now console games.

"While I was at Cave, IGS — the developer in Taiwan — approached me and said, 'Hey, we want to get this on consoles,' because there's a few steps to getting a game on consoles," Asada told Polygon at TGS. "And I told them, 'I'm actually leaving Cave and going to Mages really soon, so after I move I think we can help you bring it to 360."

Asada isn't heavily involved in the game's development, though, serving mostly as a producer to put the pieces together while he works directly on two unannounced games for Xbox One — one a shoot-'em-up and one in another genre. He said he'll likely have more to say about those games by the end of the year.

For the moment, Asada said Constant C will debut on Xbox 360, with Xbox One plans "on the drawing board" and possible if the game performs well.