HypurrX - Arcade Style - Vertical Trench Runner

[HypurrX]

Hi all, I can feel the sweat in my palms as I write this..
We have a arcade-style vertical shooting game in development.. it's got shmup mechanics - far from where they need to be yet, but we will work on them!

Still, our theme, direction and wrapping are pretty well defined now.
It's our first own game as a studio, and I hope not our last.
We are going to do some closed playtesting in the coming weeks.

We are on steam, you can check it out here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2479520/HypurrX/

I know fans of this genre can be very particular about what they are looking for in a game,
I can partially see the work through this lens myself, although I am by no means hardcore.
Our game may very well not ever live up to many standards, but we are in a position right now to at-least try.

Here's some screenshots but you will get a better sense of what we are doing in this video:
https://youtu.be/C_FdhBo6JPo?si=-yQJ2zbnKaGMkAyf

..






We are entirely self funding this, husband and wife owners of a studio. (We are primarily an art outsource studio.)
I'm the husband part of that, with a love of all things 80's-90's sci-fi, and early generation gaming.
My wife, well she's the amazing -better half- of our business, and well.. she loves cats.

I'm happy talking more about the development, challenges, goals, aspirations and anything else.
But critically, we have yet to establish any real kind of relationship with fans of the arcade genre.
A lot of love is being put into it, a lot of hard earned pesos too.. O_O, in an industry that is taking a serious hit right now.
I'm looking at the commercial landscape for these kinds of games, and it's terrifying!

We have options to try crowdfunding, we have options on where we place our efforts, we can pivot, we can eject!
I'd love to connect with anyone that has, or is facing similar fears.
I'm really curious if our best chances for something like this are going to be on Nintendo Switch (possibly younger audience, less critical of deeper mechanics)

If our game looks like something you could get behind, we are going to need all the help we can get. -breaking even is going to be a challenge I think, but we can keep pushing for now.

Thanks all! Hope to check out some of your games in the coming weeks!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yes, it'd be awesome to see HypurrX on the Nintendo Switch (or perhaps on the Switch 2). To see HypurrX running at 1080p at 60 fps framerate would ace in my book, indeed, on the Oled-based Switch 1 setup. I thought that since you mentioned that your indie studio was making an "arcade game," I thought perhaps it'd be for the Exa-Arcadia arcade platform or even perhaps on the Airframe arcade platform. The indie four-stage 2-D sprite based shmup of "Sky Curser" runs on the Airframe arcade platform and had been in development since 2016-2017 -- it was shown at both the 2016 & 2017 California Extreme classic arcade game & pinball shows and got positive feedback on the four stages shown (there were plans to have at least five stages but only four stages were ever completed/finished).

I'd imagine an indie game studio releasing their first STG based game in the traditional Japanese game centers of Japan and American arcades/FEC (Family Entertainment Center) would be quite an honor/highlight/benchmark to attain, right?

I'd be interested in playtesting HypurrX on a Steam Deck setup -- please let me know via Shmup's PM.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[HypurrX]

I appreciate your words and taking the time to check out the game.
I'll update my post to say Arcade Style game - But, I've just checked out exa-Arcadia!-Looks great! I'll reach out to them also

I'll drop you a pm about playtesting! Wonderful!

[WitnessOfTheFall]

Yea ! The game seems fun and cute !!

[HypurrX]

Hope it's cool to post our development updates here in this thread.

We have a 1 min video update just posted to youtube:
https://youtu.be/bICpho080M0?si=rOYNL7TU7fjyEdUW

Here's some screenshots from that video.


𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲
As we rocket toward PGDX this July, we're excited to bring you another behind-the-scenes look at what we've been building in HypurrX. Expect some fresh concept art drops soon!

𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀
• Our pilot progression systems are taking shape. Beyond naming and customizing your feline flyer, we want players to develop their pilot's career. Gain experience, unlock gear and enhance your ship and skills with a variety of upgrades.

• We're also experimenting with cinematic camera work. We want to allow our animators to develop kick ass cutscenes. But we are also looking at a mix of traditional vertical shoot-em-up action, and angles to bring added immersion and playstyles to the game.
This is one of the genre blending initiatives we know we will need to work hard to refine and we're determined to get it right!

• Work is underway refining our models and animations to include greater levels of interaction with your ship and enemies.

• We are examining the best Steam Shmups, old and new, and going through some great review streams out there. Our team span generations of gamers, and we know how important it will be to get the combat systems feeling explosive, refined and responsive.

𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
Finally, we are calling on players and enthusiasts to participate in a closed playtest of our game over the next 8 weeks in the run up to PGDX.
We'll have a dedicated private channel on our discord and will be providing playtest game keys for a limited number of slots.
We are keen to hear feedback and to have players actively help us shape and tune our project.
Come and join us on discord:

Thanks everyone!
Let's gooo!
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

I'm planning to give more details on this thread of aspects of the game we are considering putting our efforts into.
I know we have a lot of work to go in to take this to something worthy of attention on here.

As an aside, can anyone recommend some enjoyable games that successfully blended genres in a similar way? or perhaps thoughts on the pitfalls of doing so, would love to hear feedback, but words of support are always appreciated!
☮