There’s still something to be said for 2D platformers. Sure, they may not be made as often as they once were in their SNES heyday, but they can provide a simple sort of gameplay that’s both elegant and very fun. Trine sums up this genre of game almost to the tee. It’s simple, but challenging. There’s really not much more we could ask for out of it.

Anyways, enough gabbing about the game. If you wish to read more about it you can head on over to our review. This is about more than the game. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with the CEO of Frozenbyte, Lauri Hyvärinen, about all things Trine and Frozenbyte, including plans for the future. Check it out!

Geoff Gibson: First, allow me to congratulate you guys on releasing your game onto the PSN. Its been a long wait, but its been more than worth it.

Lauri Hyvärinen: Thank you!

Geoff Gibson: Ok first question! How does it feel to finally get your game onto Sony’s Playstation Network?

Lauri Hyvärinen: The feeling is awesome! It has been a long road and finally when the game is out it’s really satisfying, especially when the game has been well received.

Geoff Gibson: Can you elaborate on just what went wrong between the PC release and the PSN release?

Lauri Hyvärinen: Both PSN and PC releases were set well in advance, but unfortunately PSN had a few bugs which resulted in new submission rounds, delaying the EU release until September. The NA release was delayed even more due to some other issues (we did both versions roughly at the same time).

Geoff Gibson: Are there any major differences between the two versions?

Lauri Hyvärinen: Not really. High-end PCs allow higher resolutions, but local co-op is easier on PS3 though, when you can just press START on the controller and join in. Other than that, there aren’t many differences…

Geoff Gibson: Are there any plans to bring Trine to the Xbox Live Arcade?

Lauri Hyvärinen: We have a lot of plans for everything, but what actually happens, we don’t know.

Geoff Gibson: I don’t know about everybody else, but to me Trine feel tailor made to be made into a PSP game. Have you ever considered porting the game over to Sony’s handheld?

Lauri Hyvärinen: Trine as a concept would be great for PSP, but we would also need to rethink some things and do a lot content optimization to make it happen. PSP is also a lot different to PS3 in terms of technology so a simple port is out of question.

Geoff Gibson: It may be too early to say for the PSN version, but how well has Trine done on the PC? Is it a profitable game?

Lauri Hyvärinen: Well, we’re not swimming in cash, but let’s say that thanks to Trine at least we here at Frozenbyte are able to continue working on great games!

Geoff Gibson: Enough of about Trine, let’s move onto your company in general. Now that Trine is done and out the door, what’s next for your company?

Lauri Hyvärinen: We are working on two titles, one smaller for Nintendo DS and one Trine-sized project. The first one is due in 2010 and the other in early 2011…

Geoff Gibson: Do you foresee your company putting out more PSN and Sony exclusives in the future?

Lauri Hyvärinen: PSN, definitely. We are strong believers in the digital download channels. Exclusiveness, that would be too early to say yet. We would prefer as many gamers as possible to have a chance to play our games.

Geoff Gibson: Is there any sort of basic design philosophy your company adheres to? If so what is it?

Lauri Hyvärinen: Regardless of genre or platform, we aim for high quality titles. Quality always over quantity. Sometimes this causes problems but in the end I think it’s worth it.

Geoff Gibson: Finally, five years down the road, where do you want to see Frozenbyte?

Lauri Hyvärinen: Being one of the top premium downloadable game developers.

Geoff Gibson: Thanks for taking your time to answer our questions! It’s much appreciated.

Lauri Hyvärinen: Thank you too!

Fascinating stuff! Personally, I do hope they make an XBLA version if only so the Xbox gamers can experience the joy that is Trine. Anyways, for those who have yet to take the plunge, the game is currently $19.99 on both Steam and the Playstation Store.

Or, you could enter into our contest where we are giving away two copies of the game. Free or $20… your choice.