Eugene Jarvis working on a new game with Housemarque

[system11]

It's going to have to be very good to stand out from the other twinstick shooters which have appeared.

[spadgy]

Yeah - you're right. But I have faith in Housemarque, especially with Jarvis.

[Satan]

I don't. Dead Nation was rubbish (I got it free).

[1up]

I believe in Eugene Jarvis and Housemarque. I was hoping for a new IP, but they have the talent to make something that stands out...


I hope

[320x240]

If this is indeed a follow up to Smash TV I wonder whether they keep it ground based or move it back into (abstract) space like Robotron.

[system11]

Well, let's see. Twinstick is saturated and Resogun was vastly overrated, that said the newbies will probably eat it up becase they haven't seen it all before as many times.

[Pretas]

Modern overhead twinstick shooters are enduringly popular with the sorts of people who are perpetually baked on weed.

[Special World]

To me, this sounds like the sort of "Kickstarter dream idea" that always ends up being pretty disappointing. But Robotron 2084 and Defender are both great, and they're pretty obviously the sort of games Housemarque really want to make, so more power to them. Hopefully it blows my expectations out of the water.

[antares]

There's a new video with Alienation gameplay, could it be that this is the game, on which Jarvis is working with them?

http://youtu.be/SvwcANvd72c

[spadgy]

Surely not!? Though I look forward to Alienation, as Dead Nation was a lot of fun.

You may be right antares, of course. I guess getting an old hand to put in on a contemporary iso run 'n' gun can't be a bad thing.

[Skykid]

Well, let's see. Twinstick is saturated and Resogun was vastly overrated, that said the newbies will probably eat it up becase they haven't seen it all before as many times.

Guys, guys, guyz.

What is this?

Kokuga was vastly overrated, Resogun is plain awesome. Hit the difficulty up to hard and play only for score. When you chain the entire first stage you'll be in gaming glory mode and loving it.

It might not be the best game ever, but I'll be damned if it isn't quite lovely in kicking a Defender style game into a solid modern format.

[spadgy]

Yeah - I'm with Skykid on this. Resogun is great. Maybe it's a Euroshmup in its own way, but it's a great one. When I learned that whole man-banking scoring thing of not cashing any of your men until a stage's end, it was like learning a new game.

[MJR]

I left Housemarque (almost) year ago, and I can confirm that there were already talks back at then doing something together with Eugene.

But that joint venture is certainly not Alienation. I know because I worked on Alienation for three years. It was different team, while Resogun was made by another team. Back at then I was asked if I wanted to work on Resogun or Alienation, and I said Alienation because I wanted to work with "Petsku", who was the Lead designer of Dead Nation.

Alienation is pretty much supposed to be spiritual successor to the Dead Nation, however Petsku left Housemarque in order to form Zorg entertainment (their debut game, AG Drive, has got rave reviews all over the place), so I doubt the end result will be very similar. What I've seen from recent videos, AN has not changed that much.

The joint project is, AFAIK, steered by some of the key people from the Resogun team, and I think it is supposed to be Robotron clone, but I would be really surprised if it were Smash TV - I don't think so. Even a straight reboot of Robotron is more likely. Me and Harry (lead coder of Resogun) used to play a LOT of Robotron during our breaks in our office Mame cabinet. Then, they heard that Eugene absolutely loved Resogun, and since and Harry and Eugene were mutual fans, one thing obviously lead to another

As a fun side note, back in 2011, when Resogun was still on the planning stages, Konami approached Housemarque and asked them to develop Gradius VI for them. I pressed the director very hard for accepting the offer, because I would have loved to be part of developing it, but I made a mistake of showing him the Gradius VI speculation thread here (I did it because I wanted him to see how anticipated it was). After reading it, he felt that Gradius fans here are so die-hard that there is no way he could ever make a sequel that could truly satisfy them. So they proceeded on making Resogun instead.

Anyway, I have lots of faith for Harry, he is genuinely capable of coming up with something good, and I am sure that his collaboration with Eugene will go well.

[DoomsDave]

As a fun side note, back in 2011, when Resogun was still on the planning stages, Konami approached Housemarque and asked them to develop Gradius VI for them. I pressed the director very hard for accepting the offer, because I would have loved to be part of developing it, but I made a mistake of showing him the Gradius VI speculation thread here (I did it because I wanted him to see how anticipated it was). After reading it, he felt that Gradius fans here are so die-hard that there is no way he could ever make a sequel that could truly satisfy them. So they proceeded on making Resogun instead.

[Cagar]

As a fun side note, back in 2011, when Resogun was still on the planning stages, Konami approached Housemarque and asked them to develop Gradius VI for them. I pressed the director very hard for accepting the offer, because I would have loved to be part of developing it, but I made a mistake of showing him the Gradius VI speculation thread here (I did it because I wanted him to see how anticipated it was). After reading it, he felt that Gradius fans here are so die-hard that there is no way he could ever make a sequel that could truly satisfy them. So they proceeded on making Resogun instead.

.....
Now that something is happening to Konami, you should contact them again and ask if you can make it now.
Or.. Housemarque should.

[spadgy]

As a fun side note, back in 2011, when Resogun was still on the planning stages, Konami approached Housemarque and asked them to develop Gradius VI for them. I pressed the director very hard for accepting the offer, because I would have loved to be part of developing it, but I made a mistake of showing him the Gradius VI speculation thread here (I did it because I wanted him to see how anticipated it was). After reading it, he felt that Gradius fans here are so die-hard that there is no way he could ever make a sequel that could truly satisfy them. So they proceeded on making Resogun instead.

Wow, indeed! Amazing, and a shame it never happened. I'd be interested to see what Housemarque would do with Gradius.

Also, perhaps we even met MJR. I visited Housemarque in Finland, about five years ago, on a trip the Neogames team organised.

But that joint venture is certainly not Alienation. I know because I worked on Alienation for three years. It was different team, while Resogun was made by another team. Back at then I was asked if I wanted to work on Resogun or Alienation, and I said Alienation because I wanted to work with "Petsku", who was the Lead designer of Dead Nation.

Alienation is pretty much supposed to be spiritual successor to the Dead Nation, however Petsku left Housemarque in order to form Zorg entertainment (their debut game, AG Drive, has got rave reviews all over the place), so I doubt the end result will be very similar. What I've seen from recent videos, AN has not changed that much.

The joint project is, AFAIK, steered by some of the key people from the Resogun team, and I think it is supposed to be Robotron clone, but I would be really surprised if it were Smash TV - I don't think so. Even a straight reboot of Robotron is more likely. Me and Harry (lead coder of Resogun) used to play a LOT of Robotron during our breaks in our office Mame cabinet. Then, they heard that Eugene absolutely loved Resogun, and since and Harry and Eugene were mutual fans, one thing obviously lead to another

And all this is very interesting. I still look forward to Alienation, and if the Robotron-like game is the Jarvis/Housemarque project, that's great.

[1up]

Everyone, get you pitchforks. MJR ruined the chance for a Gradius VI... or was it shmups.com?

A Robotron reboot would be really cool

[MJR]

Spadgy, I doubt. Whenever we had visitors I just usually hid behind my desk. I was stressed out and angry and did not like visitors. Surely, if I knew you were the Spadgy from shmups I would have been more social..

I think, in retrospective, that it was for the best that Gradius VI did not happen. The director wanted to reinvent it. I wanted to preserve all the coolest bits from all the Gradius / Salamander games, like all-stars collection, and I would have wanted the style to be 100% faithful. Which means I would have gone on serious collision course with him, and he would have probably smoked me out of the project. You would have not known it, as I would have not been able to comment on any internal strifes due to my employee status, and you would have ended up blaming me that I ruined Gradius. And I would not have wanted that kind of badge on my sleeve

Of course, this is just speculation, but my ultimate stance is that classic Gradius & Salamander games were truly a product of the time and the culture they were baked in. I would rather appreciate the original experience than play ambitious but disappointing sequel. Even less I would want to be involved in the disappointing sequel myself, it would have resulted in a heartbreak that would have lasted for the rest of my life. I think it was better that HMQ made Resogun instead, all things considered.

[spadgy]

Spadgy, I doubt. Whenever we had visitors I just usually hid behind my desk. I was stressed out and angry and did not like visitors. Surely, if I knew you were the Spadgy from shmups I would have been more social..

I'll forgive you!

I think, in retrospective, that it was for the best that Gradius VI did not happen. The director wanted to reinvent it. I wanted to preserve all the coolest bits from all the Gradius / Salamander games, like all-stars collection, and I would have wanted the style to be 100% faithful. Which means I would have gone on serious collision course with him, and he would have probably smoked me out of the project. You would have not known it, as I would have not been able to comment on any internal strifes due to my employee status, and you would have ended up blaming me that I ruined Gradius. And I would not have wanted that kind of badge on my sleeve

Of course, this is just speculation, but my ultimate stance is that classic Gradius & Salamander games were truly a product of the time and the culture they were baked in. I would rather appreciate the original experience than play ambitious but disappointing sequel. Even less I would want to be involved in the disappointing sequel myself, it would have resulted in a heartbreak that would have lasted for the rest of my life. I think it was better that HMQ made Resogun instead, all things considered.

Sounds like you're right. If Housemarque's games aren't the right match for Gradius, and vice versa, then it's likely for the best all round.