In my review of Lovely Planet , I criticized it for not including global leaderboards outside of one nameless world record per level. It just makes sense that a game built for speedrunning would show off the best speedrunners—and with today's update, it now does. And now that I can etch my name on a bragging wall, I have to replay every level 100 times to make sure my name is in the top 15.
The full leaderboard is only accessible after beating a level, but I hope developer Quicktequila adds a way to check the rankings from the menu. I'd just like to pop in now and then to make sure no one has beaten my best times, because I'm deranged and Hearthstone isn't going well this season, and this is all I have. Don't try to take it away from me.
Publisher tinyBuild also released the Lovely Planet soundtrack as $3/£2 DLC, and for an interesting reason. "Many people have said we priced the game too cheap," writes tinyBuild's Alex Nichiporchik, "so by buying the OST people can show their support."
Lovely Planet is $6/£3.50 , and that is pretty cheap for one of my favorite games of the year. I'd still have recommended it at $10 or more, but it's the "right price," according to Nichiporchik.
"Many will argue that we're starting a race to the bottom, much like the AppStore has driven prices down, but I believe the market will adjust itself," he writes. "We're all already used to buying games super-cheap during sales. Developers know that sales bring in most revenue. And many people hold off buying games until sales. So by pricing the game lower from the get-go, we open up to that audience that'd otherwise wait for a sale. You also create more value for the end-user, and that's becoming more and more important—value per dollar."
Funnily, Lovely Planet is on sale: at the time of writing, its launch sale still has 23 hours to go. Even the just-released soundtrack—the thing you can buy to show support—is 15% off. I am not complaining.
