it`s been a while since i`ve updated. first things first, gonna discuss some interesting links i`ve found.

while browsing destructoid, they brought to my attention games from a developer known as pixeljam.

one of their most intriguing efforts is a game called dino run. here`s a valuable excerpt from the destructoid review

Dino Run, like so many other Pixeljam games, falls under the “neo-retro” category of games that give the cast of RetroForceGO! seven-hour erections. Certain aspects of its gameplay are totally familiar, while others are either borrowed from modern gaming or completely new. 

I feel grateful every time I see the term neo-retro pop up. gives my research some semblance of meaning.

anyhow, the game itself is a run from left to right to avoid death style platformer, like a reverse sabre wulf. there’s a lot of neat visual and audio tricks, like the music changing and distorting when the “doom wave” is merely inches behind you, and the visuals become silhouettes of their former selves. aside from that, the world itself is beautifully designed, there’s nary a modular assets in sight and despite using a NES-like resolution the jungles,caves and hilltops all look great due to some outlandish attention to detail and pixel perfect placement.

one more game of theirs I want to mention is captain commander.

it`s a 2D shoot-em-up with lots of narrative and set pieces. there`s things like a jailbreak sequence, a tank to control, and epic scrolling boss battle with a plethora of effects on-screen and so much more. check the trailer out. there’s also a lot of metroid in there. one of the giant robot battles is just like kraid and the player loses their equipment at a certain point into it.

another neo-retro intellectual property i`ve failed to report on so far is a little something called Wreck-It-Ralph

it`s a upcoming Disney film about a video game villain who essentially mirrors the story of donkey kong (begins life as a antagonist, but then branches out and becomes a hero in his own game) only ralph goes through lots of different games and genres to try to find his place. and it gives opportunity for a lot of fantastic cameos from things like halo, sonic and street fighter.

in the video you can see the game he is birthed from. I think the sequence is theoretically possible, it moves a bit too smoothly and some of the larger more colourful sprites would probably take up too much memory but it doesn’t feel out-of-place to say it could happen on a NES. seems like there`s nothing the artists at Disney can’t pull off.

there’s a game coming out in 2012 for the SNES. it`s going to come on a cart along with a box and instruction manual. developed by super fighter team, the game `nightmare busters` is a side scrolling hack and shoot platformer where you play as a purple leprechaun of sorts. it seems rather eclectic but at least the visuals are nice. it reminds me of some Disney platformers that came out on the system back in the day mixed in with a  little ghosts and goblins.

it`s certainly garnered enough interest to be profitable, the company has had so many pre-orders that the shipment of it has been delayed untill 2013. it`s good to know there’s still an audience of gamers interested in this sort of thing. and it also offsets the obsession of digital distribution a bit, people paying through the nose just for the right to physically own a game.

okay that`ll do for links for now. i actually had a lot more, but being how there’s only 2 months~ish left of 4th year, I should focus more on work. speaking of which, since last time. all of the environments for bit.cops are finished and i`ve moved onto character stuff.

as I said before, I used rotoscoping for it. initially a took videos of me and my room mates messing around with toy guns and outfits, then extracted frames from the videos and drew over them. here are a few example animations of the videos.

please click on them to view the animations.

only character i`ve managed to get fully done thus far is the white cop, the wild card character. still need names for all these people.

there’s a crazy large number of frames for all the animations in the game, around 300-ish. I`ll obviously be dropping the boss from bit.cops and also from patriot as time is a creeping and I havent fleshed those concepts out as well as i`d have liked.

i`m going to try to have something to show for the patriot demo for my pitch and crit sesh next week. and obviously have all the animations done and be onto making the bit.cops tech demo by then ~ hopefully.

also on the giant to-do list. business cards! i had a few ideas in my head. like using retro sprites or Sega influenced iconography. hence =

but it`s a bit meh. I might make something else which just shows off some of my character sprites. but i`m away upstairs right now to look at some for ideas!

update: got one of my boxarts done so here it is

it`s a little squashed, please click to see it properly

i have 2 SNES carts at home, it comes in two different shapes, so i`m doing both labels accordingly. the second one is gonna be bit.cops and the mega drive cart is going to be patriot.