Wreck-It Ralph
Member
I've seen this posted in the indie developers thread a few times. Didn't know it had a Kickstarter.
Backed and voted on Steam.
Backed and voted on Steam.
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Steel Assault - Zipline-based 2D action (PC, Kickstarter) - Campaign Successful
- Thread starter Tain
- Start date
The more I think about it, it's cool that we're seeing more run & gun, Contra-like games pop up like this. As much as I like "metroidvania" (lol) games, they're like a dime a dozen these days and their appeal, for me at least, has somewhat diminished. Just to name a few that have stood out to me over the past few years, I'd take more stuff like Steel Assault, Volgarr the Viking, Bleed, Oniken, Noitu Love 2: Devolution, etc. any day of the week.
FrontalMonk
Banned
This game looks awesome, and definitely hits my sweet spot. I'm in.
Seriously, you guys are awesome:
We're just over $2500 right now, and almost at a third funded (in under 4 days)! Thanks again to everyone who backed us or commented supporting us.
Yeah, that's a good point. We're planning on updates explaining more about the game's mechanics (weapons system, HUD, etc.), as well as eventually releasing a full playthrough video of the first area after we finish some minibosses (we have this video of the metro areahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MROl2nG3KM8 but it's pretty short). A famous Youtuber also contacted us to feature our game on his channel, so we'll see how that goes as well. I'm just really interested in the technical aspects of old game consoles myself (I got into game development through the ROM hacking/fangame community as a kid), so I get hyped explaining this stuff lol.
Me too haha! The thing is that development costs increase exponentially between 8-bit and 16-bit style. There's an entire world of difference between the number of animation frames, complexity of backgrounds, etc. needed for an 8-bit game that looks like Shatterhand compared to a 16-bit game that looks like Demon's Crest (let alone Metal Slug haha). That's part of why you see stuff like Heart Forth Alicia or Owlboy being developed for years and years on end, whereas 8-bit styled retro games are coming out every other week (though a lot of these games aren't really even 8-bit, or good at being 8-bit, but that's another story entirely...)
Ideally I'd love to be making a 2D game that looks like the latest Guilty Gear with the soundtrack of Armed Police Batrider as much as anyone else. In the real world, though, I'm a broke 20-year-old college student, and no one knows who I am or has any reason to trust me with that kind of project lol. So this is the graphic style and budget level we're going for, we're committing to it as much as we can, and I think personally that Daniel's doing a really great job with it.
I was surprised that the name wasn't taken too. It's actually surprisingly Googleable! Never would have thought.
We're just over $2500 right now, and almost at a third funded (in under 4 days)! Thanks again to everyone who backed us or commented supporting us.
Yeah, that's a good point. We're planning on updates explaining more about the game's mechanics (weapons system, HUD, etc.), as well as eventually releasing a full playthrough video of the first area after we finish some minibosses (we have this video of the metro areahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MROl2nG3KM8 but it's pretty short). A famous Youtuber also contacted us to feature our game on his channel, so we'll see how that goes as well. I'm just really interested in the technical aspects of old game consoles myself (I got into game development through the ROM hacking/fangame community as a kid), so I get hyped explaining this stuff lol.
Me too haha! The thing is that development costs increase exponentially between 8-bit and 16-bit style. There's an entire world of difference between the number of animation frames, complexity of backgrounds, etc. needed for an 8-bit game that looks like Shatterhand compared to a 16-bit game that looks like Demon's Crest (let alone Metal Slug haha). That's part of why you see stuff like Heart Forth Alicia or Owlboy being developed for years and years on end, whereas 8-bit styled retro games are coming out every other week (though a lot of these games aren't really even 8-bit, or good at being 8-bit, but that's another story entirely...)
Ideally I'd love to be making a 2D game that looks like the latest Guilty Gear with the soundtrack of Armed Police Batrider as much as anyone else. In the real world, though, I'm a broke 20-year-old college student, and no one knows who I am or has any reason to trust me with that kind of project lol. So this is the graphic style and budget level we're going for, we're committing to it as much as we can, and I think personally that Daniel's doing a really great job with it.
I was surprised that the name wasn't taken too. It's actually surprisingly Googleable! Never would have thought.
We just posted an update on our Kickstarter page talking more about Steel Assault's mechanics and design! Hopefully this clarifies some of the questions you guys (and others) had.
In addition, we're aiming to have a playable alpha build of the game ready within the next 1 or 2 weeks! Nothing too huge, just 1 or 2 small areas. We'll see how this goes (and if it doesn't work out, we'll release a more complete playthrough video of the game instead).
That's cool. I wasn't trying to suggests those topics weren't interesting or that your posts were bad or anything, I just think your KS would be better served if you staggered them between updates about the design process or the peripheral content or whatever, instead of posting too many back-to-back updates on the same topics. I'm sure the audience you're appealing to doesn't actually mind but you gotta hedge your bets, y'know?
Wreck-It Ralph
Member
We just posted an update on our Kickstarter page talking more about Steel Assault's mechanics and design! Hopefully this clarifies some of the questions you guys (and others) had.
In addition, we're aiming to have a playable alpha build of the game ready within the next 1 or 2 weeks! Nothing too huge, just 1 or 2 small areas. We'll see how this goes (and if it doesn't work out, we'll release a more complete playthrough video of the game instead).
Looking great!
Glad to hear this. I think the one life thing might have been too hardcore for me.
Also, a quick question about the controls: It says "Note that the final game will have the option to map individual weapons to keys/controller buttons". Does this mean that I'll be able to, using a 360 controller for example, map melee to X, grenade to B, electricity to Y, and beam to RT? Because it seems like that would be a pretty good layout to make all the weapons immediately accessible.
Also, how do you refill weapon ammo? Is it randomly dropped by enemies, or are there set points where you can collect it?
And come on, GAF, back this thing! It looks so awesome!
Fallout-NL
Member
That is so damn cool. Thanks for the explanation.
Thanks guys!
Yeah, exactly. You'll also be able to do the same with a keyboard.
There'll be specific points where you can refill weapon ammo, probably placed before boss fights (or "setpieces" that need a specific weapon).
Yeah, exactly. You'll also be able to do the same with a keyboard.
There'll be specific points where you can refill weapon ammo, probably placed before boss fights (or "setpieces" that need a specific weapon).
Anything to report?
I'm sure you're working hard on the game right now but you might wanna make an effort to throw up more updates--it's been a while since the last one, and based on the way you're trending right now, you're gonna need to drum up quite a bit more attention if you wanna get funded.
I'm sure you're working hard on the game right now but you might wanna make an effort to throw up more updates--it's been a while since the last one, and based on the way you're trending right now, you're gonna need to drum up quite a bit more attention if you wanna get funded.
We just posted an update on the history and evolution of Steel Assault! It includes old level art, music, and GIFs from earlier in the game's development.
Yeah, our main focus right now is trying to get a polished enough demo out there. At the very least, we want to finish something smaller-scale that we can send out to Youtubers (like I mentioned before, a famous YT channel contacted us to play our game on a video, so that's one of the things I'm banking on for publicity). It's also not unusual for projects to see a massive spike in the last week of funding, since tons of people hit the "Remind me" button and don't actually get reminded until then. (Though Kickstarter doesn't actually show you how many people hit the button lol... that's something they should really implement.)
Wreck-It Ralph
Member
This isn't going to make it, is it?
This isn't going to make it, is it?
Eh, the total goal is so low that it wouldn't take that much of a boost though.
Man, so much pessimism. I still have faith!
But yeah, any sort of help you guys can give us is greatly appreciated. Even if it's not backing the project, stuff like retweeting our announcement on Twitter or sharing the Kickstarter page (here's the link again) could go a long way. The main problem is exposure... game journos don't seem to want to write about "another retro-styled platformer", especially when there aren't any established names behind it. I just sent a pre-alpha build of our game to Two Best Friends Play, who had backed the project and contacted us earlier asking about featuring Steel Assault on their channel, so maybe that'll go up within the next few days and help generate some publicity.
But yeah, any sort of help you guys can give us is greatly appreciated. Even if it's not backing the project, stuff like retweeting our announcement on Twitter or sharing the Kickstarter page (here's the link again) could go a long way. The main problem is exposure... game journos don't seem to want to write about "another retro-styled platformer", especially when there aren't any established names behind it. I just sent a pre-alpha build of our game to Two Best Friends Play, who had backed the project and contacted us earlier asking about featuring Steel Assault on their channel, so maybe that'll go up within the next few days and help generate some publicity.
What kind of trucking wizardry made Batman:Return of the Joker possible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Ivxnpbd5Y
How did they get animations that smooth. Wow. (already know about the parallax trick due to reading the thread, but the cape etc? what the heck!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Ivxnpbd5Y
How did they get animations that smooth. Wow. (already know about the parallax trick due to reading the thread, but the cape etc? what the heck!)
Heart of Black
Member
I like a lot about this game's look.. but...
4 things bother me about this campaign.
1. Low amount of money - makes me think they either aren't taking it seriously or don't need the money. It's really easy to get an $8K loan.
2. Generic name - like, NES games had great names.
3. Generic character - I'd like to see why I give a fuck about this character. The dudes in Shatterhand or Vice Project Doom (again dope names) were dope looking and had great character art in game too. Same with Bionic Commando.
4. Their aesthetic qualities are skewed. A: They throw in a shot of SMB 3 to represent early primitive graphics, although 3 was a late release that used a lot of technical wizardry, it's just Nintendo didn't want to texture every wall and background with unnecessary details. B: Willow & Ikari 2 aren't necessarily *better* than other games graphically, they are just more busy. More detail does not make things better, as expressionism and impressionism and.. abstract etc. will say against realism.
4 things bother me about this campaign.
1. Low amount of money - makes me think they either aren't taking it seriously or don't need the money. It's really easy to get an $8K loan.
2. Generic name - like, NES games had great names.
3. Generic character - I'd like to see why I give a fuck about this character. The dudes in Shatterhand or Vice Project Doom (again dope names) were dope looking and had great character art in game too. Same with Bionic Commando.
4. Their aesthetic qualities are skewed. A: They throw in a shot of SMB 3 to represent early primitive graphics, although 3 was a late release that used a lot of technical wizardry, it's just Nintendo didn't want to texture every wall and background with unnecessary details. B: Willow & Ikari 2 aren't necessarily *better* than other games graphically, they are just more busy. More detail does not make things better, as expressionism and impressionism and.. abstract etc. will say against realism.
Why on earth would someone get a loan if they think they can do a successful kickstarter instead?
Hey Heart of Black, thanks for the feedback.
Maybe true (though I wouldn't know, is it really that easy for a 20-year-old in college?), but the benefit of Kickstarter is that it also builds up a community around the game. If I get an $8K loan, then I finish the game and no one knows about it (so no one plays it). If I run a Kickstarter, then I'm opening my audience much wider, and engaging directly with them.
Yeah, I've never been good at coming up with names for things. Still, this is actually surprisingly Google-able lol. I don't think it's much more generic than "Metal Slug" or "Gunforce", at least.
This is also a good point that's come to my mind a few times, the lack of a "human element" to identify with in the game. One thing I've been thinking about adding short mid-level dialogue playing over the action (with face portraits), like Assault Suits Valken and many of the games inspired by it did in order to mitigate the "sterility" of having a game world populated mostly by robots and random goons. Think Alia in Megaman X, except WAY more terse. And you wouldn't be stopped in your tracks every time dialogue appears, it'd play over the action instead (and there would be multiple randomized/shuffled options for each "dialogue point", so that it doesn't get too repetitive).
Also, the final game will have a Vice: Project Doom style cutscene as soon as you start the game to establish the actual characters, before you enter the first level. That's mostly up in the air right now though, I haven't really thought about this aspect of the game much.
I think that all of the latter four games look better than SMB3 (and all of them were released later than SMB3). I also don't like most impressionism/expressionism/abstract art, but yeah.
Maybe true (though I wouldn't know, is it really that easy for a 20-year-old in college?), but the benefit of Kickstarter is that it also builds up a community around the game. If I get an $8K loan, then I finish the game and no one knows about it (so no one plays it). If I run a Kickstarter, then I'm opening my audience much wider, and engaging directly with them.
Yeah, I've never been good at coming up with names for things. Still, this is actually surprisingly Google-able lol. I don't think it's much more generic than "Metal Slug" or "Gunforce", at least.
This is also a good point that's come to my mind a few times, the lack of a "human element" to identify with in the game. One thing I've been thinking about adding short mid-level dialogue playing over the action (with face portraits), like Assault Suits Valken and many of the games inspired by it did in order to mitigate the "sterility" of having a game world populated mostly by robots and random goons. Think Alia in Megaman X, except WAY more terse. And you wouldn't be stopped in your tracks every time dialogue appears, it'd play over the action instead (and there would be multiple randomized/shuffled options for each "dialogue point", so that it doesn't get too repetitive).
Also, the final game will have a Vice: Project Doom style cutscene as soon as you start the game to establish the actual characters, before you enter the first level. That's mostly up in the air right now though, I haven't really thought about this aspect of the game much.
I think that all of the latter four games look better than SMB3 (and all of them were released later than SMB3). I also don't like most impressionism/expressionism/abstract art, but yeah.
Might I suggest STEELIMINATOR? (do not call your game Steeliminator)
I kinda feel like you're getting dogpiled in this thread (not least of all by me!) and I don't mean to come off as didactic but it does seem like you've lost a lot of momentum simply by being unprepared. That being said, SBFP is a pretty clutch pull and if you're able to get something to them before the campaign is over they may very well push you across the line. Good luck!
I kinda feel like you're getting dogpiled in this thread (not least of all by me!) and I don't mean to come off as didactic but it does seem like you've lost a lot of momentum simply by being unprepared. That being said, SBFP is a pretty clutch pull and if you're able to get something to them before the campaign is over they may very well push you across the line. Good luck!
lmao Steeliminator. I don't really feel like I'm getting dogpiled, even though I guess it might look that way. In fact, I expected way more negative criticism or "not another retro game" posts, and those are basically absent from this thread (or even the Steam Greenlight comments). The criticisms/questions I have received are mostly well thought out, and for every post that could be read as negative there's 2 or 3 positive ones. Not to mention the people from this thread who actually backed the game (almost 30 now!) So overall, I'm happy with the reception here.
It's true that I underestimated the amount of promotional effort needed for this going in. Creating updates took much longer than I thought they would, and a new semester of school starting halfway through the campaign also didn't help (though that couldn't have been avoided without delaying the KS launch another 3-4 months). Contacting the press is way more hit-and-miss than I thought it'd be, and the conversion rate of Twitter/Tumblr followers to backers is also far lower than I thought it would be. (And the conversion ratio of Steam Greenlight users to backers is almost nonexistent! Seriously, why hasn't anyone written about this?) If I had to redo this campaign, I would try and build a solid press network before the launch (though I guess this is far easier said than done for an unknown developer) and plan out all of the campaign updates beforehand, or within the first week.
(Especially because I just found out that, every time you post a campaign update, all of the people who had hit the "Remind me" button on the KS are notified... the project has gotten more backers today than anytime within the past 2 weeks, probably because of this.)
Yeah, I gave Matt from SBFP a link to a pre-alpha build yesterday. He hasn't gotten back to me yet, but we still have 9 days, so I'm pretty hopeful he will.
Speaking of which, there are less than 10 days left in our campaign!
We're currently at just over $3700 (~46%) of our goal, from almost 160 backers (28 of whom are from GAF). This is fantastic, and I'm really glad that we've gotten this much support; however, we still have a ways to go until our goal (of $8000). We still need all the help we can get.
Even if you can't back our project, if you could find the time to share our Kickstarter page with others, or even just retweet our Twitter announcement/reblog our Tumblr announcement, that could go a long way in getting us the exposure we need as we head into this last stretch!
Thanks again to everyone here who's supporting us!
It's true that I underestimated the amount of promotional effort needed for this going in. Creating updates took much longer than I thought they would, and a new semester of school starting halfway through the campaign also didn't help (though that couldn't have been avoided without delaying the KS launch another 3-4 months). Contacting the press is way more hit-and-miss than I thought it'd be, and the conversion rate of Twitter/Tumblr followers to backers is also far lower than I thought it would be. (And the conversion ratio of Steam Greenlight users to backers is almost nonexistent! Seriously, why hasn't anyone written about this?) If I had to redo this campaign, I would try and build a solid press network before the launch (though I guess this is far easier said than done for an unknown developer) and plan out all of the campaign updates beforehand, or within the first week.
(Especially because I just found out that, every time you post a campaign update, all of the people who had hit the "Remind me" button on the KS are notified... the project has gotten more backers today than anytime within the past 2 weeks, probably because of this.)
Yeah, I gave Matt from SBFP a link to a pre-alpha build yesterday. He hasn't gotten back to me yet, but we still have 9 days, so I'm pretty hopeful he will.
Speaking of which, there are less than 10 days left in our campaign!
We're currently at just over $3700 (~46%) of our goal, from almost 160 backers (28 of whom are from GAF). This is fantastic, and I'm really glad that we've gotten this much support; however, we still have a ways to go until our goal (of $8000). We still need all the help we can get.
Even if you can't back our project, if you could find the time to share our Kickstarter page with others, or even just retweet our Twitter announcement/reblog our Tumblr announcement, that could go a long way in getting us the exposure we need as we head into this last stretch!
Thanks again to everyone here who's supporting us!
We just posted a new Kickstarter update talking about advanced parallax backgrounds on the NES and how they were achieved! The explanation was edited from my post in this thread earlier. We also discuss other effects you might not have known the NES was capable of, such as movie playback and rudimentary 3D engines.
Just did my part and tweeted about it to 600+ followers.
HellBlazer
Member
Can't believe this is having trouble reaching such a modest goal. Backed.
Also, a bit off-topic, but isn't it dumb that the "you may also like" projects it shows you after you back something are almost always about 100% funding? Like, how about supporting struggling campaigns, Kickstarter?
Also, a bit off-topic, but isn't it dumb that the "you may also like" projects it shows you after you back something are almost always about 100% funding? Like, how about supporting struggling campaigns, Kickstarter?
Breakfast at Noon
Member
why dont devs make some mid tier games for a change? Is no one else sick to the fucking teeth of all the pixel art based games now? All side scrolling or some shit game with "crafting"
whats wrong with somewsome low budget 3d games in the vein of Croc or roll cage? It never hurt on ps1 and it never hurt on ps2.
But no it has to be these kind of games every godamn fucking time.
And when it is on small occasion 3d, fucking zombies or some fucking survival bollox.
(no offense to the people who have worked hard on this, i really dont mean to slag you off personally or anything I'm just sick of seejng the same stuff)
Rant over, sorry but I'm tired and got no nicotine in me.
whats wrong with somewsome low budget 3d games in the vein of Croc or roll cage? It never hurt on ps1 and it never hurt on ps2.
But no it has to be these kind of games every godamn fucking time.
And when it is on small occasion 3d, fucking zombies or some fucking survival bollox.
(no offense to the people who have worked hard on this, i really dont mean to slag you off personally or anything I'm just sick of seejng the same stuff)
Rant over, sorry but I'm tired and got no nicotine in me.
This isn't an issue if you have discerning taste and rightfully avoided most critically-praised games with a throwback aesthetic! The number of recent games that nail a worthwhile 8-bit aesthetic as well as this game will (going by the GIFs in this thread) is, like, microscopic. Rockman 9 & 10, Shovel Knight, and, uh, nothing else comes to my mind.
It's not the same stuff at all. Rather than loosely mimicking those old styles because it's relatively straightforward to make a game that way, the devs are experts who are consciously reproducing the gameplay and visuals of that era with a high degree of faithfulness. All "retro" games are not created equal.
lolwut. Spencer looked like a fucking goober in NES Bionic Commando.
I'll take Power Armor man over him any day.
Wreck-It Ralph
Member
I'm more sick of the fact that every time there's a game with an 8-bit aesthetic, somebody has to come in and bitch that it's using an 8-bit aesthetic. You don't see this with any other art style. Just 8-bit graphics, because certain people see them as inferior for whatever stupid reason.
8-bit is a perfectly valid art style. You don't like it? That's fine. There are plenty of other games for you to play.
No because I only play the good ones. Sucks that you have to play all of them
There are definitely a lot of them, most of them hideous too (unlike this one).It happens in basically every thread about a low resolution pixel art game, not just 8 bit stuff. My favorite were the people complaining about pixel art in a Hyper Light Drifter thread.
It's shorthand for "don't pay attention to me".
Jacksinthe
Banned
Go make a game and get back to me. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Better yet, don't. I want you to give me a financial breakdown, project management timeline and write a design doc on an entire game selling everything that makes this game special alongside a marketing strategy and it cannot be longer than 1 printed page.
You seem to know a lot about just how easy game development is. You should have no problem knocking it out of the park.
Thanks for all the new pledges and the support, guys!
I think you might be underestimating the leap in budget, time commitment, and development talent required in the jump from 2D to 3D (or even 8-bit 2D to high-res 2D, or modern-pixel-art styled 2D a la Owlboy). Consider that STRAFE, a game with about Doom-level aesthetics, is asking for $185,000 on Kickstarter (that's over 20 times our goal) and probably needs it to finish development. Also consider the $35,000 goal that Hollow Knight had. "Mid-tier" games cost mid-tier money, take mid-tier time, require mid-sized teams. As such, it's completely expected that they'll be less common.
The trend toward retro style in 2D games isn't necessarily based on laziness as much as developers simply being conscious of how much money, time, and overall resources they have. A well-executed simpler style is almost always going to win out over a poorly executed complex one (poorly executed because the developers don't have resources). Of course, the ideal is a well-executed complex style, and I'd love to make a game that looks like the latest Guilty Gear with a live orchestrated post-rock soundtrack (synchronized perfectly to the level design) as much as anyone else... but in the real world this takes TONS of money and TONS of talent, which no one has any real reason to trust me with yet. So this is the graphic style and budget level we're committing to, and I think personally that Daniel's doing a really great job with it.
Zombies are popular because they don't require many varied assets. That's also why they're boring, of course, but it's still a really understandable decision. Similarly, survival requires far less design, time, and money than more sophisticated game models. These aren't reasons to praise these games, and I'm not a huge fan of these things either, but there's a clear reason that smaller-team developers tend to gravitate towards these things.
I think you might be underestimating the leap in budget, time commitment, and development talent required in the jump from 2D to 3D (or even 8-bit 2D to high-res 2D, or modern-pixel-art styled 2D a la Owlboy). Consider that STRAFE, a game with about Doom-level aesthetics, is asking for $185,000 on Kickstarter (that's over 20 times our goal) and probably needs it to finish development. Also consider the $35,000 goal that Hollow Knight had. "Mid-tier" games cost mid-tier money, take mid-tier time, require mid-sized teams. As such, it's completely expected that they'll be less common.
The trend toward retro style in 2D games isn't necessarily based on laziness as much as developers simply being conscious of how much money, time, and overall resources they have. A well-executed simpler style is almost always going to win out over a poorly executed complex one (poorly executed because the developers don't have resources). Of course, the ideal is a well-executed complex style, and I'd love to make a game that looks like the latest Guilty Gear with a live orchestrated post-rock soundtrack (synchronized perfectly to the level design) as much as anyone else... but in the real world this takes TONS of money and TONS of talent, which no one has any real reason to trust me with yet. So this is the graphic style and budget level we're committing to, and I think personally that Daniel's doing a really great job with it.
Zombies are popular because they don't require many varied assets. That's also why they're boring, of course, but it's still a really understandable decision. Similarly, survival requires far less design, time, and money than more sophisticated game models. These aren't reasons to praise these games, and I'm not a huge fan of these things either, but there's a clear reason that smaller-team developers tend to gravitate towards these things.
Breakfast at Noon
Member
Ta for the reply considering i sounded a prick.Thanks for all the new pledges and the support, guys!
I think you might be underestimating the leap in budget, time commitment, and development talent required in the jump from 2D to 3D (or even 8-bit 2D to high-res 2D, or modern-pixel-art styled 2D a la Owlboy). Consider that STRAFE, a game with about Doom-level aesthetics, is asking for $185,000 on Kickstarter (that's over 20 times our goal) and probably needs it to finish development. Also consider the $35,000 goal that Hollow Knight had. "Mid-tier" games cost mid-tier money, take mid-tier time, require mid-sized teams. As such, it's completely expected that they'll be less common.
The trend toward retro style in 2D games isn't necessarily based on laziness as much as developers simply being conscious of how much money, time, and overall resources they have. A well-executed simple style is always going to win out over a poorly executed complex one (poorly executed because the developers don't have resources). Of course, the ideal is a well-executed complex style, and I'd love to make a game that looks like the latest Guilty Gear with a live orchestrated post-rock soundtrack (synchronized perfectly to the level design) as much as anyone else... but in the real world this takes TONS of money and TONS of talent, which no one has any real reason to trust me with yet. So this is the graphic style and budget level we're committing to, and I think personally that Daniel's doing a really great job with it.
Zombies are popular because they don't require many varied assets. That's also why they're boring, of course, but it's still a really understandable decision. Similarly, survival requires far less design, time, and money than more sophisticated game models. These aren't reasons to praise these games, and I'm not a huge fan of these things either, but there's a clear reason that smaller-team developers tend to gravitate towards these things.
I understand that and appreciate the hard work that goes into it, i really do which is hard to believe looking at my post i know.
just as a end user i wish for more
To be fair, as a consumer, none of that is my problem.. You would think it is my problem, but it really is not.
I'll back this as well soon.
Glad to finally see a NES inspired game reach Kickstarter that acknowledges the great, non-cartoony art found in games like Batman and Shatterhand. I love how (you, SriK, describes how) these games use negative space / darkness to somehow make the levels feel more detailed, 3-dimensional, foreboding and (in my own words) "Escape from New York"/"The Warriors"-ish.
SriK, if you haven't, I'd suggest you also look especially close at the original Batman (not just Return of the Joker), Double Dragon 2, Faxanadu and Shadow of the Ninja as well for good examples of this "film noir"-esque technique, the use of interesting color palets and in some cases (like Batman's sewer level) fuid animations in combination with negative space.
In addition, Totally RAD might be worth a look for its use of parallax scrolling (in stage 1).
Vice: Project Doom and Nightshade (both of which I'm not very familiar with directly) might also be good sources of inspiration, the former for gameplay action with a similar sized character, the latter again for its use of negative space.
Maybe I missed it, but does Powerblade (II) count as an inspiration for you guys as well, perhaps if only for its music? Or any other NES games, especially those often overlooked perhaps? Would love to hear your thoughts on more games!
A heart-pounding, energetic OST will help this game tremendously of course, but you guys are well aware of that going by the samples provided. I'd again use Powerblade and Batman, and also Journey to Silius, for inspiration here. Good luck with the rest of the Kickstarter!
Glad to finally see a NES inspired game reach Kickstarter that acknowledges the great, non-cartoony art found in games like Batman and Shatterhand. I love how (you, SriK, describes how) these games use negative space / darkness to somehow make the levels feel more detailed, 3-dimensional, foreboding and (in my own words) "Escape from New York"/"The Warriors"-ish.
SriK, if you haven't, I'd suggest you also look especially close at the original Batman (not just Return of the Joker), Double Dragon 2, Faxanadu and Shadow of the Ninja as well for good examples of this "film noir"-esque technique, the use of interesting color palets and in some cases (like Batman's sewer level) fuid animations in combination with negative space.
In addition, Totally RAD might be worth a look for its use of parallax scrolling (in stage 1).
Vice: Project Doom and Nightshade (both of which I'm not very familiar with directly) might also be good sources of inspiration, the former for gameplay action with a similar sized character, the latter again for its use of negative space.
Maybe I missed it, but does Powerblade (II) count as an inspiration for you guys as well, perhaps if only for its music? Or any other NES games, especially those often overlooked perhaps? Would love to hear your thoughts on more games!
A heart-pounding, energetic OST will help this game tremendously of course, but you guys are well aware of that going by the samples provided. I'd again use Powerblade and Batman, and also Journey to Silius, for inspiration here. Good luck with the rest of the Kickstarter!
breakfastchampion
Member
Ah, it's beautiful! So backed! Come on guys spread the word!
breakfastchampion
Member
Bro I'll make you a sandwich & we'll both have time to check it out.
I'm pretty sure it's not the developer's problem that you'd prefer a completely different product. Since many of us like these games, it's silly that you think they shouldn't exist.
We just broke 50% funded!
We’ve began to regain some momentum over the past few days. This is really good news, and we’re hoping this continues!
We still have a ways to go, and as always, anything you can do helps. There’s still just over a week left, and we still believe that Steel Assault can be pushed over the finish line!
Thanks for the pledges, breakfastchampion and Geedorah! And thanks, Easy_D and Raitaro!
The original Batman is a huge inspiration (ROTJ looks fantastic but it's kinda unplayable), as is Vice: Project Doom. Shadow of the Ninja is a super good game as well (and that's a really fantastic looking area of it, hahah).
I haven't put much time at all into Faxanadu or Power Blade 2 (maybe one or two hours each?), and haven't played Double Dragon 2 (NES). I hadn't heard of Nightshade before now, it looks interesting and seems to have a nice visual style.
I think you've essentially covered most of the NES games that serve as our inspirations in your post. There are other fantastic games on the NES too, like Gimmick! (which might actually be my favorite game on the system), but they aren't really serving as direct inspirations.
There are a few other later-era titles that I think are worth mentioning too. One game that immediately comes to mind is Treasure's Alien Soldier, which is one of the most insane games ever made -- anyone who's a fan of sidescrollers needs to play it ASAP. The game's boss rush structure is absolutely nuts, I don't think there's anything else quite like it. This isn't something that can be grafted on to every game of course (it wouldn't work for Steel Assault nearly as well, due to its far larger focus on platforming), but it works really well there. And of course, stuff like Contra: Hard Corps is really inspiring as well (Hard Corps: Uprising will probably be as well once I put more time into it).
We’ve began to regain some momentum over the past few days. This is really good news, and we’re hoping this continues!
We still have a ways to go, and as always, anything you can do helps. There’s still just over a week left, and we still believe that Steel Assault can be pushed over the finish line!
Thanks for the pledges, breakfastchampion and Geedorah! And thanks, Easy_D and Raitaro!
The original Batman is a huge inspiration (ROTJ looks fantastic but it's kinda unplayable), as is Vice: Project Doom. Shadow of the Ninja is a super good game as well (and that's a really fantastic looking area of it, hahah).
I haven't put much time at all into Faxanadu or Power Blade 2 (maybe one or two hours each?), and haven't played Double Dragon 2 (NES). I hadn't heard of Nightshade before now, it looks interesting and seems to have a nice visual style.
I think you've essentially covered most of the NES games that serve as our inspirations in your post. There are other fantastic games on the NES too, like Gimmick! (which might actually be my favorite game on the system), but they aren't really serving as direct inspirations.
There are a few other later-era titles that I think are worth mentioning too. One game that immediately comes to mind is Treasure's Alien Soldier, which is one of the most insane games ever made -- anyone who's a fan of sidescrollers needs to play it ASAP. The game's boss rush structure is absolutely nuts, I don't think there's anything else quite like it. This isn't something that can be grafted on to every game of course (it wouldn't work for Steel Assault nearly as well, due to its far larger focus on platforming), but it works really well there. And of course, stuff like Contra: Hard Corps is really inspiring as well (Hard Corps: Uprising will probably be as well once I put more time into it).
AzureSkies
Member
Congrats on 50%. Here's hoping you guys can reach the end of the goal!
I'll try to spread this game around as much as possible.
I'll try to spread this game around as much as possible.
It seems like Batman must move each tile by two pixels then? The effect on a real NES appears to operate at half the refresh rate (looks like 30 fps while the game scrolls at 60).Here's the corresponding "map", like the above Shatterhand example:
Da fuq? The background and foreground are mixed up all over the place! You can see the sky through the building! How are they doing that?
Because they're not actually scrolling the background, they're scrolling the tiles that make up the background. If you open up a ROM of this game, you'll find dozens of variations of those little sky tiles, all just offsetted 1 or 2 pixel off from each other! Something like this:
And the game is cycling through all of those, changing which tiles are being used every single frame, to give the illusion that the background is scrolling and the NES has multiple image layers. This is basically the Inception-level of NES effects, and as you might expect, it can take up TONS of cartridge space.