Tag Archives: shooting game

Introducing Project MSG

It’s finally time to start revealing a little more about the project I’ve been working on. This is a game I’m co-developing with Hadokoa – an iOS app development specialist. 16-BIT Shock focuses on conceptualizing, prototyping and developing the game for PC. Hadokoa on the other hand, tests and fine tunes my builds and ports to the iOS devices. Both 16-BIT Shock and Hadokoa will make a combined effort in promoting and marketing the game for maximum reach.

The working title for the game is – ‘Project MSG’. This is a tentative title and subject to change before release, whereby the real title will be revealed.

As mentioned in my Cybermanga post, this is a retro-style 2D shooting game based in a cyberpunk universe. To elaborate further, it’s a single player experience with a strong focus on the main hero character. Unfortunately I cannot reveal the name of the hero, as that would give the actual game title away. Suffice to say the hero is a cyborg who is tasked with the unenviable job of dealing with some pretty nasty terrorists.

This brings us to the game’s difficulty. Given the backdrop of a singular man-machine against a legion of mechanical and bio-mechanical enemies. Our hero is hugely outnumbered and outgunned. It should come as no surprise that the prognosis for survival is far from high. Project MSG is destined to provide the ultimate balls to the wall shooting escapade and white knuckle ride.

Restrictions have also intentionally been applied to further aggravate eventualities. Limitations are set on movement, creating a somewhat claustrophobic play style. Avoiding enemy fire will be the preserve of the dedicated, skilled player. All enemy patterns and stages are carefully handcrafted and absolutely nothing is procedurally generated, as seems to be the trend with the current crop of indie games.

End of level bosses will also be present. What would any good arcade shooter be without a tough as nails boss at the end of each stage? Nothing seals the deal of accomplishment once the end level guardian has been brought to it’s knees. Bosses will also play an integral part in the story while sporting some wickedly cool antagonism.

The general direction of the story is headed toward transhumanist territory. This too, should not surprise, given the cyberpunk leanings of the project. The hero of the game will be dealing with his posthuman reality as the story unfolds. Likewise, his enemies face a similar predicament as they too are cyborgs. But that’s as far as I’m going to go on about the story for now. In fact, story updates will be kept to an absolute minimum right through to release of the game. This is done to avoid spoilers.

16-BIT Shock Blows My Fucking Mind — Screenshots in 2 weeks time?! My mind is blown!!

Now to conclude with the most important bit of information in this post. The first screenshots of Project MSG will be released on the 30th of July 2014. These will consist of 4 screen grabs initially but more will be added to the upcoming gallery as the game nears completion. In two weeks from now – prepare for the first barrage of cyborg shooting madness!!

Cybermanga

Plenty of people have asked about my game project – what is it really about?

I’ve always let them know, that it’s a 2D shooting game set within a cyberpunk universe, with anime/manga influences.

Response has been mostly positive. After all, shooting stuff, cyberpunk worlds and big eyes with speed lines are things of great interest to game fans. Of course one could also add anime, manga and sci-fi enthusiasts in there too.

The beauty of anime and manga is the sheer amount steeped in cyberpunk lore. At a drop of a hat I can think of several titles: Akira, Angel Cop, Appleseed, Battle Angel Alita, Black Magic M-66, Bubblegum Crisis, Cyber City Oedo 808, Cybernetics Guardian, Dirty Pair, Genocyber, Ghost In the Shell, M.D. Geist, Megazone 23, Roujin Z, Serial Experiments Lain and Silent Möbius. And that’s just the short list.

cybercityodeo808 — In the future, everyone has great hair

I would recommend, anyone who has even a passing interest in cyberpunk, anime and manga to check out some of the above. If you’ve been playing video games for the past 20+ years, it should not surprise you how much of an influence these have been on your favourite medium.

It’s quite harrowing to pick just one or two titles that have had the biggest influence on me, personally. However, the Appleseed manga just clicked with me two decades ago when I picked up my first copy. Likewise, Akira and Cyber City Oedo 808 both had a profound impact, visually stunning masterpieces that they were and still are.

When I commenced with development of my game, I opted for a cyberpunk theme. Due to the fact that there weren’t too many traditional shooting games based in such a universe. Most tend to be space shooters, which is perfectly fine but didn’t inspire me much to follow suit. It’s not that the concept of a cyberpunk shooting game is terribly original but far less common.

Nevertheless, still a window of opportunity to indulge and create a cyberpunk world with interesting characters that fit the bill. This presented a challenge on how to best depict all this within the boundaries of a two dimensional, top-down viewpoint. How the rich tapestry of manga-infused hyperreality would be brought to life as a shooting game, regardless of confines.

Fortunately pixel art lends itself beautifully in helping formulate such a world within a retro game format. The tinny, metallic sound of FM synthesis provide the ideal, aural backdrop of a future make-believe dystopia. Cataclysmic electropunk, new wave, synthwave or industrial beats for ersatz cyborgs. All angles are covered.

Sticking feverishly to 80’s neon-noir and anime aesthetics. This was always meant to be a brightly coloured dystopia. The dour mood brought about by modern grey/brown first person shooters have no place in a 16-BIT Shock production. As cheesy and trite as this may sound – I wear shades because the future is bright.

Shooting & Dodging

When Space Invaders was released way back in 1978, invariably it would lay down the fundamentals of the shooting game genre. We may refer to this genre simply as shooting games, shmups or even STG’s as the Japanese prefer to call them.

However, I wish to clear something up first. A game like Space Invaders is not a shmup in the true sense. This is often a reference to shooting games that have a forced scrolling background either horizontally or vertically. At the very least, Taito’s Space Invaders can be defined as a proto-shmup for lack of a better term.

Genre categories and deviations are not that important right now. The core game mechanics of all shooting games are similar. As the title of this post clearly indicates, it’s all about shooting and dodging. Simple really, almost primal. That’s the main draw after all, shooting the enemy while avoiding getting hit yourself.

Computers have always been able to handle shooting games incredibly well. It’s a piece of cake for even underpowered systems to make things appear and disappear on screen. All this may give the impression that developing a shooting game is easy peasy!

If only that were the case. Simplicity should never be underestimated in regards to making things – easier. It takes some deft skills and an elegant touch to piece together a playable shooting game. Developing one for commercial release will often require months of play-testing and polish.

Shooting games also demand a sharp eye for detail. Not just the visual aspect, but also every single enemy placement, every movement and every pattern. And it doesn’t stop there, every bullet that will be fired, direction of fire and even colour, size and damage it can inflict all have to be taken into account. In some cases, these can all total up to over a hundred sprites on screen at once.

With so much happening on the screen, there is plenty that can go wrong. The worst in my opinion is leaving very little wiggle room for the player. So incredibly confined that a direct hit is often unavoidable, thus rendering the game either unfair or unplayable. Reducing the size of the player sprite hitbox is a common solution. My preferred method to solve this issue is smart enemy placement and firing rates.

There are various other solutions, but I won’t go further now. What’s vital is ensuring that shooting and dodging are both fun. It’s essentially the yin and yang of the majority of shooting games and what makes them addictive.